THE state has a major problem on its hands. The people of KP are repeatedly making it clear that they have no stomach for another military operation; the provincial government seems to have run out of ideas about how to secure their consent; and security forces are constantly pushing for action because they appear to feel there is no option but to take the kinetic route to purge the region of hostile elements. Past security operations involved mass relocation and displacement of local populations, which not only socially upended the affected areas but also fractured local economies. With those memories........

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