Pakistan army has taken an inhuman and savage approach to its own Pashtun citizens. For long, they have treated anyone who is not a Punjabi and not from Karachi or Lahore, as a second class citizen. Now, in a heartbreaking incident, Pakistani Army has killed four innocent children during what they called ‘counter-terrorism’ offensive in a civilian home situated at Hurmaz, North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Counterterrorism activities have long been a strategic tactic employed by Pakistan’s elite to obtain foreign financing rather than to actually fight terrorism. Because of this policy, the area has become a chessboard where common people’s lives are worthless. In light of the present humanitarian disaster in North Waziristan, it is hard to disregard such claims.
This is a pattern, this attack which claimed the innocent lives of these four children is not an isolated incident. A terrible illustration of how military actions frequently ignore the human cost is the situation in North Waziristan. The Pakistan Army began artillery shelling in the area on September 26, 2024. Soon after the bombardment, local activists reported an increase in illnesses, raising suspicions that chemical phosphorous may have been employed.
The impact on the local populace and their means of subsistence has been disastrous. A livestock market in Mir Ali was the target of mortar fire, which killed over 25 cows and buffaloes by burning them alive. In addition to taking human lives, these attacks ruined the livelihoods of innumerable locals who depend on their animals for existence.
The recent attack which claimed four children’s life and injured at least five people, including a woman, is also in the Mir Ali, which highlights a prolonged, thought out and strategic state sanctioned plan to displace and destroy the Pashtun area. The chosen weapon of the Pakistani state is TTP and if that doesn’t work, the Army rolls in. Both security forces and ‘outlawed’ Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan are known to have been using quadcopters, reported Dawn.
The repeated human rights violations and complete disregard for human life by the Pakistani Army did not illicit any online criticism. Nobody is creating a campaign calling for ceasefire, nobody is raising awareness, nobody cares. What might be the reason behind this social media silence? Maybe for the world, the decreasing cost of lives and the death of children is selective to a few areas of the world.
For the people of North Waziristan, the message is clear from the conscience of the world – If you are poor and have no international backer, your children will die, your homes would be bombed , your culture will be trampled upon and nobody will even bat an eye. It is worth to note that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has seen 300 terrorist attacks in 2025 alone.
