Launched on the 15th of June, 2014 operation Zarb-e-Azb  is a joint military offensive by the Pakistani armed forces being carried out to eliminate the terrorist outfits in North Waziristan.

This new operation is an addition to the armed offensives being carried out in the North Western part of Pakistan. Part of the ongoing war in North-West Pakistan, Zarb e Azab employs around 30,000 troops and is being dubbed as a “comprehensive operation” to eradicate all the militants the region.

Very Effective

The operation has so far been very effective. It has been well planned and executed and has been able to achieve its objective to a very large extent.

If you analyze the results so far, the terrorist attacks that were a monthly – if not weekly – norm, have significantly decreased and you don’t hear of schools being blown up and people being executed publicly in the north west, among the many things, as the army has claimed to have killed thousands of militants.

But on the other hand, none of the major leaders have been killed. In fact, when the operation started it was reported that most of the militants have already left the country and crossed over to Afghanistan.

A Bit Late

In my opinion the operation began a tab bit too late. The negotiations phase and the period before that, where there was political wrangling on whether to carry out the operation or not, was a waste of time.

When you have people killing innocent people and want to destroy the country why negotiate and why wait to attack?

I understand that the earlier operations led to an increase in terrorist activities, but that (in my opinion) that was due to the lack of a comprehensive operation. When the Swat operation began the militants just moved to another area and continued their work.

Now that Swat is clear and Zarb e Azb began it turned out to be very effective because the terrorist had nowhere to go.

And as I mentioned above, the political wrangling also gave the terrorists time to leave to fight another day.

I believe that the army has done a very good job in running these militants down but because of the initial delay I don’t think this is the last battle. And unless the areas are not properly rehabilitated post operation it is very likely that these militants will return again to terrorize us.