Terror struck in Islamabad once again on Monday: a suicide bomber killing several people in the UN World Food Programme’s offices. It is the first attack in the capital since the elimination of Baitullah Mehsud and comes after a relative lull in violence across the country in recent months. It is too early to conclude which group may be responsible for the attack, but some general points can be made.

First, the military operations in Malakand division and parts of Fata have clearly damaged the wider nexus of militancy in the country and several groups are on the run or in disarray. Second, intelligence breakthroughs in recent weeks have led to the rounding up of a couple of dozen suspected militants and the smashing of several militant cells in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Third, the security precautions taken in Islamabad may have been effective in disrupting the militants’ plans to attack in recent months.

Yet, Monday’s attack is a grim reminder that the fight against militancy is far from over. The state may be growing in confidence and developing better means to thwart the militants, but the threat of violence is still very real. Indeed, the central question remains unanswered: is the present, sporadic violence a sign that the militancy phenomenon is in its last throes or does it represent a relative lull while the militants regroup? Whatever the answer, now is not the time for the state to change course. The military operations against the militants’ strongholds must continue; intelligence-gathering and policing in the cities must continue to be beefed up; and the security net around public and private places must continue to remain tight. ‘Peace deals’ and secret bargains that could allow the militancy threat to live to see another day must be eschewed.

In targeting the offices of the UN World Food Programme in Islamabad, the militants have once again violently demonstrated their shrewdness. All foreign agencies and governments with personnel in the country will automatically be re-evaluating their presence and the militants will no doubt be hoping that some of them will pack up and leave; isolating Pakistan further and bringing more pressure to bear on the government. We hope that will not happen. The WFP is providing a desperately needed service in Pakistan, feeding the poorest of the poor in some of the most backward areas in every province and Fata. Nobility of purpose, however, clearly has no effect on the militants. The people of this country and those helping them deserve that the fight against militancy continue until it is finished.