Civilian Deaths Cast Shadow Over Pakistan Army’s Claims of Counterterrorism Success
Pakistan’s military said Wednesday it had killed 13 militants in an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district. The announcement, delivered through the army’s media wing, ISPR, was framed as a major blow against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Weapons and ammunition were recovered, officials said, while the slain men were accused of orchestrating suicide bombings, abductions, and killings of civilians and government officials.
Yet the operation comes at a moment of deep public anger and suspicion. Just days earlier, a separate army airstrike in the same region killed more than 23 civilians, including women and infants. The attack, widely condemned as indiscriminate, has brought tens of thousands of people into the streets of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demanding accountability and an end to what many call “collective punishment” of their communities.
Protesters carried coffins through city squares, chanting against both terrorism and the military’s heavy-handed tactics. “We have lost children, we have lost mothers,” one demonstrator told local reporters. “If the army says it is here to protect us, why are our homes being bombed?”
The backlash has cast a pall over the military’s latest announcement. While the ISPR described those killed as “Indian-sponsored terrorists,” critics argue that the line between militants and civilians has blurred dangerously in recent campaigns. Analysts warn that civilian casualties risk fueling the very extremism the army seeks to suppress.
Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in terrorist attacks since late 2022, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The TTP ended a ceasefire that November and vowed to escalate its campaign against state institutions. But with mounting civilian deaths, the government now faces a dual crisis: fighting terrorism while regaining the trust of its own people.
