Security to remain Pakistan's top concern in the year to come

The year 2014 was marked by brutal deadly attacks in Pakistan, the deadliest of which occurred on Dec 16 in the northwestern city of Peshawar where at least 132 school children and nine staff members were killed and another 125 people, mostly young students, injured.

Seven Taliban attackers wearing bomb vests gained entry into the Peshawar Army-run public school and mercilessly gunned down hundreds of students taking an exam in the school's auditorium.

The attack, which has sparked international outrage, has prompted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to announce an end to the moratorium on the death penalty in his bid to "eliminate terrorism and violence" in the country.

The attack in Peshawar, where the Pakistani Taliban admitted responsibility, was the worst in Pakistani history.

Despite the Peshawar bomb attack, the number of terror attacks and the death toll from such incidents dropped last year.

Although with lesser frequency, the terrorists still managed to make headlines during the year.

On the night of June 8, 10 heavily armed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militants raided Jinnah International Airport in the southern port city of Karachi. The attack left 40 people dead, including the 10 militants, and scores injured.

On Nov 2, a bomber exploded his suicide vest in a crowd of more than 200 people who were coming back after attending the "lowering of the flags" ceremony near Wagah crossing point at Pakistan-India border in the eastern city of Lahore. Sixty people were killed and 118 others injured.

These attacks reinforced the general perception that the Taliban and other terrorists are getting more brutal and are now targeting public places and innocent civilians instead of military facilities or security personnel.

Peace far away

The Pakistani government started the year with a policy of engaging the Taliban militants in negotiations to end years of fighting. Although the Taliban declared a 40-day cease-fire in March and April, terror attacks did not slow down during the period.

Both sides formed their respective dialogue teams to carry on the peace process, and talks were held. However, the Taliban's unrealistic preconditions, including return of some areas in South Waziristan and the release of their prisoners, hindered progress in the peace talks.

The Taliban's deadly attack on the Karachi airport ultimately buried the fragile peace process. On June 15, only one week after the attack, thousands of Pakistani soldiers, backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships, launched the biggest offensive against the Taliban and its affiliated groups in their last stronghold of North Waziristan, a tribal area in northwest Pakistan that borders with Afghanistan.

The operation, code-named "Zarb-e-Azb," has so far killed around 2,000 militants and destroyed more than 900 hideouts of suspected militants in various areas of North Waziristan.

The military offensive has destroyed the network of the Taliban, and the country has seen a substantial decrease in attacks and fatalities. Internal rifts caused by the operation also weakened the terror group.

With the operation still ongoing, most Pakistanis feel the country's security situation is taking a turn for the better. However, just as the sense of fear among the public of the Taliban attacks was fading, the terrorists carried out the Wagah border attack and the Peshawar massacre.

Uncertainty ahead

Although the government has stepped up anti-terror efforts, there remains uncertainty in the security situation in the country.

As the Peshawar carnage has shown, although the Taliban and other militant groups are now on the run, they can still find ways to carry out terror attacks and pose serious security challenges to the country.

It is also widely believed that some Taliban militants have either fled to neighboring Afghanistan or moved to nearby tribal regions from North Waziristan, which leaves possibilities for them to reorganize.

(China Daily 12/27/2014 page11)