Ziarat attack and war on terrorism

July 8, 2026

Nine police officers were martyred in Ziarat. Heavily armed militants attacked a police checkpost in Mangi Phase III. The gunfight lasted through the night. Two station house officers were among the martyred. This is not a small loss. This is nine families destroyed in one night because men in uniform stood between armed killers and the people of this country.

There is no cause, no grievance, and no political goal that justifies gunning down police officials at a checkpost. The men who were martyred in Ziarat were doing their job. They were protecting ordinary citizens who never asked to live near a battlefield. Their killers deserve no sympathy and no understanding. They deserve justice, delivered swiftly and without hesitation.

Balochistan has suffered this kind of violence for years. Checkposts have become frequent targets. Officers report for duty knowing they may not return home. This cannot continue as normal life. A state that cannot protect its own police officers cannot claim to protect its citizens either. Every attack like this is a direct challenge to the writ of the state. It must be answered as one.

The security forces have launched a search and clearance operation in the area. This is the right first step. But a search operation after the fact is not enough. Pakistan needs sustained, aggressive military and intelligence action against these networks, not just reaction after each attack. The militants who struck in Ziarat did not appear out of nowhere. They have shelter, funding, and routes of movement. These must be found and cut off, one by one, without political interference and without pause.

This newspaper fully supports the armed forces and police in every lawful effort to eradicate terrorism from Balochistan and from Pakistan as a whole. Soldiers and police officers cannot fight alone. They need the backing of the entire nation, from the government in Islamabad to ordinary citizens in every province. Silence or indifference in the face of such attacks only helps the killers.

The families of the nine officers who died in Ziarat deserve more than statements of grief from officials. They deserve to see the state finish what these men died defending. Every checkpost attacked, every officer killed, must be met with a stronger and more determined response, not a weaker one.

Terrorism thrives when a nation grows tired of fighting it. Pakistan cannot afford that fatigue. The blood spilled in Ziarat must strengthen the resolve of this country, not weaken it. The armed forces have the right, and the duty, to pursue these militants relentlessly until Balochistan is safe again. This newspaper stands firmly behind that mission.