Marka-e-Haq-II: Governance and security

THE recent anniversary of Marka-e-Haq has been celebrated with great zeal and zest across the country by all segments of society, reflecting a strong resolve of faith in unity and complete trust and solidarity with their defence forces. However, the recent midnight attacks on May 10, 2026, on police check posts in Koser Fateh Khel and Kangar, District Bannu, shattered the families of martyrs and the general public emotionally and psychologically, wherein fifteen police personnel embraced martyrdom. Before this, the martyrdom of Sheikh Idrees had also made the environment beleaguered and gloomy. The Khawarij have not stopped their terrorist activities and destroyed Lora Bridge in the Nurar area of Bannu on May 12, 2026. On the same day, they blasted a bomb in the main bazaar of Naurang, Lakki Marwat, in which two police personnel and five civilians lost their lives. This is not the first incident in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where police stations, check posts and cantonment security installations have repeatedly come under attack. The Khawarij’s attack on September 2, 2025, on the Federal Constabulary Lines Bannu, where police under RPO Sajjad Khan and Major Adnan Aslam demonstrated extraordinary bravery and the November 2025 attacks on Cadet College South Waziristan, along with attacks on a police van and the killing of five police personnel in an ambulance in Gurguri area of Karak, are key examples. Bannu Police has largely controlled general crime and, through an “Open Door Policy” and regular “Darbar” meetings, has improved liaison with the public and boosted police morale. Despite these efforts, southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—including Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, North & South Waziristan and former tribal areas—continue to face persistent insecurity, where kidnapping, ransom cases and killings of security personnel remain routine occurrences. A serious question has come to the surface amid the prevailing anarchy in South KP: