Pakistan today needs national unity more than at any other time because the country stands at the centre of a multidimensional security crisis created by external aggression, internal vulnerabilities and a renewed wave of cross border terrorism. The eastern border remains tense as India’s hostility shapes a constant climate of danger. The western frontier has become even more volatile, with Afghan Taliban networks, hostile non state proxies and foreign aligned actors using Afghanistan’s transformation into the global hub of modern terrorism to target Pakistan. More than twenty internationally banned organisations now operate freely inside Afghan territory, maintain cross border linkages and remain directly involved in terror attacks inside Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban as a governing authority is exporting militancy as a matter of policy, providing shelter, facilitation and ideological cover to banned TTP and BLA factions.
More than one hundred thirty Afghan militants killed in Pakistan during recent counterterrorism operations are evidence of a cross border network that is active, structured and increasingly hostile. At the same time, Pakistan faces internal complications involving political militancy, narcotics trafficking, propaganda campaigns run from abroad and the persistent operational presence of suicide attackers, ambush teams and IED cells striking across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and major urban centres from Islamabad to Karachi. These threats continue despite the fact that Pakistan’s security forces have consistently inflicted major losses on their adversaries. What remains essential for the complete dismantling of these threats is national unity, and fortunately the people of Pakistan, across ethnic and religious lines, stand with their security forces and law enforcement institutions like a fortified wall.
In this environment, the most important factor is not firepower, it is public resolve. National unity has become the first and strongest line of defence. Without the collective support of the people, no counterterrorism strategy can sustain long term pressure on these networks. With public support, every external and internal conspiracy collapses faster and more decisively.
From Punjabi plains to Sindh’s cities, from Baloch and Hazara communities to the Pashtun belt, from Saraiki regions to minority groups including Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Hindus, the collective position is unambiguous. The public sees every attack on the state as an attack on the entire country. This national resolve is the central pillar that has allowed Pakistan to confront external and internal conspiracies alike. The time has now come for this unity to translate into consistent, structured and organised public participation in every district where terrorism, political crime alliances or narcotics based financing create space for militancy.
Recent developments across KP underscore a simple truth, when the people stand up, terrorism collapses. In Bannu, the Hatikhel tribes formed peace committees, enforced strict bans on armed entry and blocked militant movement by coordinating directly with security agencies. Within days they cornered infiltrators and made it possible for forces to neutralise them swiftly. In Bajaur, the Salarzai tribe drew a red line by issuing an absolute ultimatum to militants and by committing to hold facilitators accountable even within their own families. Similar steps must now be embraced by districts like Hangu, where administration and security forces have initiated a hard crackdown on terrorists, facilitators, illegal Afghan residents, tinted vehicles, illegal weapons, unverified gunmen, drone camera misuse and the propaganda networks that often accompany extremist activity. These measures require complete public backing.
The warnings emerging from Tirah Valley demand immediate attention. Militant activity has increased, narcotics linked interests are active, and networks based in Tirah have once again begun directing attacks toward Peshawar. The valley sits only seventy kilometres from the provincial capital, a two hour drive, which makes it the single most sensitive launch point for external and TTP linked cells. Afghan militants involved in the November attack on the Federal Constabulary Headquarters used Tirah to enter the area. The IED attack that destroyed a gas pipeline in Hassan Khel was executed by elements linked to the same network. The planning of the 2014 APS massacre was carried out in hidden command centres in Tirah, and the valley is reemerging as a sanctuary. Without a hard, targeted and locally supported operation, Peshawar will remain exposed.
Across the province, public action is strengthening state response. In Bannu, tribal elders from Mamandkhel, Mamashkhel and Mehmoodkhel have engaged directly with Brigade Headquarters, discussing curfew zones, white flag demarcations and coordinated emergency communication procedures. Peace committees and armed community watches have been reactivated. In Lakki Marwat, new police stations have been supported by joint visits from brigade commanders who reaffirm the unity of police and army. In North Waziristan, large jirgas with GOC Miranshah and tribal elders have focused on welfare projects, counterterrorism coordination and the principle that defeating terrorism requires simultaneous civil military public cooperation. In Khyber district, Khugakhel elders have raised economic and security challenges at Torkham and received assurances of strengthened border management.
This pattern is repeated from Kanju in Swat, where National Youth Convention 2025 gathered student groups, madrassa students and civil administration under one platform, to Bannu’s multi tiered jirgas that clarified rules for curfews, relocations, orchard clearances and precise no collateral operations. The public has made it clear that militants will not be allowed to exploit tribal customs as cover, that reconciled youth will not be harmed and that misguided individuals will be urged to surrender. The message is simple, any attack from any area will trigger a unified response from the tribes themselves.
Why Public Support Determines Victory
This war cannot be fought by the state alone because the battleground is not only physical geography, it is social space. Militants rely on safe movement, disguised entry, complicit facilitators, narcotics linked funding, propaganda channels, urban anonymity and cross border havens. Only the public can close these gaps. When locals deny shelter, monitor suspicious movement, restrict armed entry, collaborate with police, protect critical infrastructure and challenge militant enablers within their own communities, the architecture of terrorism collapses faster than any kinetic operation can achieve on its own.
The War on Terror in Pakistan is therefore no longer a conventional conflict. It is a societal battle in which unity, vigilance and active public participation are force multipliers greater than any military weapon system. The successes of Hattekhel, Salarzai, Hangu’s new crackdown model, Bannu’s coordinated jirgas and the strengthened engagement in Tirah and Peshawar show that the path forward is clear. Terrorism grows where the people step back, and it dies where the people stand up.
Pakistan’s victory depends not only on its security forces, but on the collective refusal of its citizens to allow militants, facilitators, narco networks or foreign linked extremists to exist in their midst. National unity has brought Pakistan this far, and only national unity will take it the rest of the way.
