Violence and Pakistan appear to be synonymous, however, the continued violence in Kurram tribal districts is worrying. Despite a ceasefire being in place violence has not abated. The latest round of bloodshed was sparked by the deplorable attack on a convoy on Nov 21, and since then a retaliatory spiral of conflict has resulted in 100 deaths and more injuries. A combination of terror groups, sectarian conflict and tribal feuds over land, have turned the district into a powder keg.
Unfortunately, as an editorial in Dawn noted, “all tiers of government — the centre, the province, and the security apparatus — have taken a lackadaisical approach to the violence in the district, as the bodies continue to pile up.” While there are historical, geopolitical and religious factors behind the violence the state appears to have abandoned its duty of maintaining law and order.
As an editorial in Dawn lamented, “in Kurram, as elsewhere in Pakistan, the state has miserably failed to do that. The coercive power of the government was on full display recently in Islamabad to counter a political protest. Yet the same urgency has not been applied to Kurram in order to warn armed actors that any loss of innocent life will be firmly dealt with.”
