Once more, Pakistan is enmeshed in the grip of terrorism. It would be an understatement to say that we are at a crossroads surrounded by uncertainty. The fog of uncertainty may blur our vision, but beneath it lies a decades-old narrative that resurfaces with new twists. The Global Terrorism Index 2025 mirrors our faults, shortcomings, inadequate decisions, and policies driven by expediency. Now ranking second most affected by terrorism worldwide is Pakistan. Could we have ever imagined finding ourselves here once more? After Operation Zarb-e-Azb, we dreamed of lasting peace. We persuaded ourselves, following Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, that the chapter of terrorism was closed permanently. But it was only a pause—a hush broken by the echoes of gunfire today.
This is not just a report; it is an indictment. It suggests that the past has taught us nothing. In just a year, terrorist strikes in Pakistan have doubled and crossed the 1,000 mark. The death toll has surged from 800 to over 1,100. The most alarming truth? TTP is back to where it stood in 2010. TTP conducted 482 strikes in one year, killing 585 persons. These are stories of broken homes, silent cries, and numerous funerals, not just numbers. But how did we end up here again? How did a nearly dismantled group regain such strength that once again, both the state and its people find themselves vulnerable?
To understand this, we must turn back the clock to August 2021, when the Taliban took over Kabul. Some considered it a warning, others a triumph. Two stories developed in Pakistan: one praising Afghanistan's stability as a symbol of peace for Pakistan and another silently fearing and wondering who this stability would really benefit. The numbers today validate what the mute witnesses dreaded. Terrorist attacks in Pakistan surged by 90% immediately after the Taliban took control. Across the border, a government was established whose policies have made our security methods useless, which does not respect our issues or match our values. Once a secure refuge for TTP, a launchpad for strikes against Pakistan, Afghanistan has once more become such. While we, as always, lodge diplomatic protests, send letters, and sit at negotiating tables leading nowhere, fighters are trained there, logistics are controlled there, and resources flow from there.
And another was gathering force in Balochistan while this tempest developed on one front. Once considered only as a security concern, a territory where the government's reaction to discontent has been mostly force and repression is seeing a concerning rise in separatist activities. In contrast to just over 100 attacks the previous year, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) carried out over 500 attacks in 2024. Targeting governmental institutions, military personnel, and economic projects like CPEC, deaths topped 388. More than just an attack, the suicide bombing at Quetta Railway Station—which claimed 25 lives—serves as a warning that the conflict in Balochistan is escalating into a more dangerous phase.
Does the government still hold that the only answer is pure force? Can military force by itself wipe out economic deprivation? Alternatively, is it time for a paradigm change—a fresh approach stressing communication, inclusion, and the recognition that Balochistan deserves the same share in Pakistan as any other area?
However, the dispute concerns a larger reality we reject, not only two combat zones. Pakistan is caught in a cycle of political unrest, economic downturn, and fresh bloodshed right now. Whether it's the eastern or the western border, uncertainty hangs about everything.
Once more, terrorism has become an economic barrier; already cautious international investors have become even more so. The dream of internal stability is sliding further away as CPEC's development slows the economy, which is already in crisis and under more strain than ever. This situation is about survival as much as security.
Following that? Shall we start yet another military operation? Zarb-e-Azb again? Still another Radd-ul-Fasaad? Alternatively, will we seek to identify the underlying causes of this crisis? Will we review our relationship with Afghanistan, stop funding terrorism, change madrassas, and—above all—create chances for the young people so they could pick books over bullets, companies over bombings?
These are issues for all of us, not only concerns for legislators. History will never pardon us if we once more close our eyes and await the storm to pass. Pakistan must decide now: Do we genuinely want to end terrorism once and for all, or will we remain trapped in this vicious cycle, waiting for the following report to remind us that we are still the world's second most terrorism-affected nation?
