DESPITE all the talk about becoming a ‘hard’ state, Pakistan is still looking incredibly soft when it comes to dealing with ongoing state failures, such as the months-long siege of Parachinar. Tuesday saw the traders of Parachinar city go on a shutter-down strike in protest against the months-long closure of the Thall-Parachinar Road, which has cut off the city’s only trade route with the rest of Pakistan. The road, the only one that leads to the city, has been cut off ever since a convoy travelling along it was attacked last November. That attack, which left 50 dead, triggered a spiral of violence that killed 130 more over the next few months before a ceasefire agreement reached earlier this year helped stem the wanton bloodshed in the area. However, the so-called ‘peace agreement’ has been violated off and on, with spoilers targeting not only the locals, but also aid convoys, security forces and government officials. The people of Parachinar, meanwhile, have been rendered collateral damage, with both young and old suffering because nothing can get in or out of the city. As the president of the Parachinar Traders Union put it: “Those who are ill must wait for death, as they do not have medicines nor can they travel [for treatment].”

Locals have long complained about widespread malnutrition, untreated illnesses and the general desperation for basic necessities in Parachinar. How can such suffering be countenanced by a responsible state, especially one so enamoured of its own might and ability? How can it allow a few miscreants to make a mockery of its writ upon territory that it has dominion over? It is difficult to blame anyone in particular for what has been happening, and continues to happen, in Parachinar. This level of human suffering, regardless of who is suffering, ought to be unacceptable for any self-respecting society. That it has continued for months on end makes it the collective failure of the civilian government, of the security forces supposed to protect the area, as well as the local religious and political leadership, who ought to have by now arrived at a durable settlement of the long-standing issues that fuel routine outbreaks of bloodshed. The state should draw the line somewhere. The road to Parachinar must be reopened, and the miscreants told that there will be severe consequences for their misadventures.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2025