THE situation in Swat remains tense. The locals have, for quite some time now, been raising the alarm over the growing threat of militancy and terrorism in the picturesque valley. At the same time, they seem to be growing sceptical of the state’s ability to maintain peace in the region and have been demanding more power for local police forces to deal with the challenges they face. This is of concern. On Friday, a large number of people took to the streets in Mingora to protest against not only growing incidents of terrorism but also the military operations proposed to counter them. Vowing not to let anyone sabotage their ‘hard-earned peace’, participants of the protest said they would “take matters into their own hands to defend their homeland” if the state failed to do so. The rally was reportedly well-attended by citizens from all walks of life and was the latest in a series of rallies in which similar concerns have been raised. The frequency with which these protests are being organised and the level of public participation in them demonstrates the seriousness with which Swat’s people view the security challenges they face.

From an outsider’s perspective, it is clear that both Swat’s locals and the security forces want the same thing: durable peace in the area. However, matters seem to have been complicated by distrust between the stakeholders, which has made the achievement of a common objective an unnecessarily complicated task. This need not and should not be the case, as it allows the mutual enemy to continue spreading chaos and destruction. Both the commanders of local security forces and community leaders must sit down and figure a way out of this impasse. The community leaders must be educated properly about the risks that could arise if security forces are prevented from operating freely in the area, while the commanding officers must listen to people’s fears and respect their concerns. A workable solution must be found. The best possible outcome would be, if operationally feasible, for antiterrorism operations to be conducted jointly by locals and armed forces. However, if that is not possible, then the minimum requirement should be to let locals take ownership of the issues they face. The only goal is to eliminate all threats to peace. It should not matter who takes the lead in doing so.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024