THE most dangerous moment in a troubled society is not the first act of violence but when violence becomes ordinary and a province is left to bleed in silence.

When explosions no longer shock, when funerals follow one another like clockwork and when the daily news treats killings as routine weather updates, the bond between state and citizen has fractured. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa today teeters perilously close to that breaking point.

Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, violence has become a grim part of daily life. In Bajaur, civilians were recently killed by mortar shells fired from across the Afghan border. In Kohat, militants ambushed a police vehicle, killing six officers, including a DSP. In Karak and Lakki Marwat, improvised explosive devices target security personnel, while in DI Khan and Bannu, gunmen continue to attack checkpoints and patrols. Each day brings another assault, another funeral and another grieving family.

What is particularly disturbing about the current wave of violence is the deliberate targeting of the state’s front-line defenders. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, already operating under extraordinary pressure, have become primary targets of militant groups, with patrols ambushed, stations attacked and officers assassinated in coordinated strikes. Soldiers of the Army and Frontier Corps have also faced repeated assaults in the province’s volatile southern belt, while government officials, tribal elders and individuals perceived as cooperating with........

© Pakistan Observer