The military and political leaders have vowed to defeat terrorists and their facilitators through a unified national response. While the sentiment is commendable, implementing the plan will be a huge task on account of the prevailing political polarisation and the support some terrorist networks enjoy abroad. Another challenge will be the strict enforcement of anti-terror policies that were softened in the past as well.

A massive surge in terrorist attacks during the first quarter of 2025, especially the attack on Jaffar Express in Balochistan, the first incident of its kind in Pakistan’s history, has led the military and political leaders to rethink their anti-terrorism resolve.

In a rare gesture Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir has briefed the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. The main highlight of his speech was the pledge to transform Pakistan into a hard state. He maintained that no agenda, movement or individual was more important than national security. “All elements of national power must work in harmony to ensure sustainable stability,” he added.The army chief described the fight against terrorism as a war for the survival of the nation. He underscored the need to improve governance and transform Pakistan into a hard state. He asked how long the country could continue being a soft state while its defenders sacrificed their lives. He also expressed concern over governance gaps for which armed forces and security personnel had to pay with their blood. The army chief urged the ulema to expose the falsehood of Khawarij militants’ interpretation of Islam. He remarked that the survival of the country was paramount. He said, “[Only] if this country exists, we exist as well. Therefore, nothing is more important than the security of the nation.” He stressed the importance of unity to protect Pakistan and the adoption of a national narrative that rises above political and personal interests.

The parliamentary parties in the ruling coalition, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party, fully endorsed his stance. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged the government to convene another All Parties Conference and offered to engage Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders who had not attended the briefing.

Soon after the attack on Jaffar Express, the ISPR director general and the Balochistan chief minister had addressed a media briefing. They revealed that there was evidence that India and Afghanistan were behind the recent wave of terror incidents.

Some important elements in Pakistani establishment several decades ago had developed a misunderstanding that the Afghan Taliban could become Pakistan’s eternal allies and lend it strategic depth. The policies base on this notion enabled the rise of violent extremism in Pakistan.

By 1997, several Pakistani groups, some of them engaged in sectarian terrorism in Pakistan, were running training camps in Afghanistan. The then prime minister Nawaz Sharif sent several emissaries to Afghanistan to persuade Taliban’s emir, Mullah Omar, to close the camps. However, that did not happen

The PTI government undermined the National Action Plan by negotiating with the TTP, releasing its top commanders and rehabilitating thousands of TTP operatives. The allowed the terrorists to double the number of attacks in 2018 compared to the previous years.

There is a need for a clear understanding that the Afghan Taliban and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan are close collaborators. The commanders of several TTP groups have served the Afghan Taliban as commanders and warriors in their war against the United States and its allies in Afghanistan. In recent weeks, Pakistani security forces have arrested several terrorists, including Afghan citizens. “During preliminary interrogation, a couple of them revealed that they had fought for the Afghan Taliban before arriving in Pakistan to launch terrorist activities,” a security official told The News on Sunday on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan must take a firm stand vis a vis the Afghan Taliban. It must insist that the TTP operatives be expelled from their ranks. This will not be easy as most of the Afghan Taliban leaders have relied on their support in the past.

After the deadly Army Public School attack in 2014, Pakistan had evolved a 14-point National Action Plan with a pledge of zero tolerance against terrorists and their supporters. Unfortunately, the political and military leadership later made several compromises for political reasons that weakened the enforcement of the NAP. Several leaders of the banned extremist groups received concessions. Some were freed from prisons and went back to spreading hate speech and inciting violence against people of other beliefs.

The PTI government and some of the military supporting it undermined the NAP by negotiating with the TTP, releasing its top commanders and rehabilitating thousands of the TTP operatives. This allowed the terrorists to double the number of attacks in 2018 as compared to the previous year.

Another example of policy ambiguity was that when Pakistan was weathering the worst wave of terror attacks from 2008 to 2013, some religious and political parties supported the Pakistan Defence Council, which included several banned outfits. It was during those days that the then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif famously urged the TTP not to carry out attacks in the Punjab. Also some of the top leaders of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, one of the most feared terrorist networks, were released from jail. Before the release, they assured the authorities that they would not indulge in terrorism. However, their release was followed by havoc. In the end many of them were killed over twe years while fighting the state.

Such contradictions in state policies have brought the country to the present juncture. Today, our security forces are paying a heavy price for the ambiguous policies of the past.

The army chief’s pledge is all the more significant because he will in office till 2028. The government’s tenure will end in 2029. This mean that the current military and political leaders can develop a long-term anti-terror policy and transform the country into a hard state where there is no room for non-state violence. The state must give up its willingness to make compromises in this regard for short-term gains.

The author is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and analyst. His X handle: @BukhariMubasher