ALARMING news has been coming out of the ongoing operation in Khyber Agency. Fourteen bodies found on Sunday raised suspicions that men in custody had been killed, a charge denied by security agencies. This followed the discovery of 12 bodies last week that locals claimed belonged to non-combatants. Civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire or in shelling. Meanwhile, Mangal Bagh and his Lashkar-i-Islam remain undefeated, holding onto control in certain areas of both Bara and Tirah and continuing to attack security forces. But this story is a longer one — military action in Khyber has been going on since the autumn of 2009. More than two years later, LI remains a threat, tens of thousands of residents remain displaced and security forces continue to get killed at the hands of militants. Largely independently of other domestic militant groups, and despite his enmity with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, how did Mangal Bagh, a small-time transporter who got involved in a local religious dispute and later took over the LI, become such an intractable problem?

The issue appears to be not so much with the power or resources of Mangal Bagh himself as with the nature of the ongoing military activity in the agency. All kinds of resources were brought to bear when troops went into the settled areas of Malakand — the political leadership, the media and, of course, the army itself. IDPs have returned and, although security forces cannot yet leave, the state has largely restored its writ. The same commitment is lacking in Khyber. Those with knowledge of developments in the area claim the operation has been piecemeal and mismanaged. Little knowledge is shared about its progress besides occasional statements about the numbers of militants and soldiers killed. The political set-up in the area is reportedly kept out of the loop. Meanwhile, the methods used in the operation, including shelling, mean that civilians continue to die and IDPs cannot return. It is time for committed and strategic action in Khyber, and greater transparency about why one man has been able to keep our security forces engaged for so long.