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Pakistan's terror war has a long way to go

Another daredevil attack on a military base near Peshawar should serve as an eye-opener in the ongoing fight against terrorism. More than 30 people were ambushed, including air force officers, as militants went on a killing spree in the small hours of Friday in an Air Force camp in Badaber. The most dangerous aspect was that the militants were disguised as security personnel. All the terrorists were, however, slain after a prolonged gunfight. Though the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack, the army spokesperson says that the men came from Afghanistan and the conspiracy was hatched and monitored from across the Durand Line. This has once again brought to fore the sensitivities involved in the war on terrorism and underscores the fact that it is far from over. While Pakistan has attained major successes against homegrown and foreign-infiltrated terrorists, and has also moved against their abettors in the civilian and military rank-and-file, the decay is yet to be stemmed.
The military top brass should take an introspective look and ask several soul-searching questions to itself, as to how every time a bunch of indoctrinated men manage to sneak into its highly guarded installations? The attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, on Karachi's Mehran Air Base and the slaughter in the Army Public School in Peshawar are some of the incidents, which hint at an alleged insidious agenda to destabilise the country and the conspiracy is to stall the action against militants and their sympathisers. This has to be fought tooth and nail and the culprits taken to task without any further delay.
The current army leadership, which is at the vanguard of netting and trying terrorists and their abettors, should not be distracted with such attacks. It should relentlessly go ahead and crush them. The war against religious extremism, militancy and corruption are interwoven and the nation cannot afford a moment's let-up. Unlike Iraq, Syria and Libya, the good point is that Pakistan is slowly but steadily winning the war against terrorism.