In Bajaur district, a long and complex military campaign named “Operation Sarbakaf” began on July 29, 2025, when the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, and local police—acting on the recommendations of the District Intelligence Coordination Committee—launched targeted clearance operations in the Loi Mamund tehsil. The objective was to dismantle militant hideouts and restore peace to the area, particularly in the backdrop of an escalating insurgency and the relocation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operatives into secure hideouts. At the start of the operation, a three-day curfew was imposed in 16 villages, later extended from August 11 to 14 to 27 areas, in order to flush out suspects from secure locations and ensure the safety of civilians during the cordon. One major trigger for the operation was the July 2, 2025 roadside bombing in Bajaur that killed an administrator along with four other officials; although responsibility was not clearly claimed, suspicion fell on TTP—an organization with close ties to the Afghan Taliban, which has grown stronger in recent years following the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan and the creation of new safe havens. As a result of the operation, roughly 100,000 people were displaced—many taking shelter in government buildings, schools, and sports complexes—while the government announced financial assistance of Rs 50,000 for each affected family. Relief organizations such as Al-Khidmat Foundation provided food and other emergency aid. However, civilians have borne heavy losses during the campaign—for instance, on the night of August 13 or the following day, a mortar shell struck a home in Mamund town, killing a woman and her two children, and wounding two others. The incident sparked outrage, prompting over a hundred residents to refuse burial of the victims until a transparent inquiry was promised. Local tribal elders—while supportive of government efforts to combat terrorism—condemned the manner of the operation, insisting that military action, when peaceful or non-military solutions are possible, inevitably causes civilian suffering without guaranteeing lasting results. Some political parties, including JUI-F and PTI, criticized the provincial government for launching the operation without proper consultation, further arguing that past military offensives have often displaced large populations without decisively eliminating militant threats—as in the major 2009 operation, when hundreds of thousands fled, and despite official claims, non-combatants were often the ones harmed. The campaign is ongoing, with the government maintaining that it is a limited and targeted operation to avoid unnecessary civilian harm; yet, in reality, it has severely disrupted the economy, infrastructure, and social fabric of affected villages—residents live in fear, agricultural lands have been partly destroyed, and many homes now lie in ruins. This situation must also be understood in the context of the last two decades of conflict—2008–2009’s Operation Sherdil and subsequent security operations in Bajaur—which repeatedly inflicted heavy costs on ordinary people while militants often managed to escape to safe havens. Thus, “Operation Sarbakaf” represents a delicate balance—the need to act against insurgents and restore order versus the risks of humanitarian crisis, civilian casualties, and long-term socio-economic decline in an already fragile border region. At present, the ones suffering the most are those closest to change and peace: civilians, families, small farmers, and the region’s fragile social networks, whose lives have been upended by a conflict in which they are not combatants but bear the greatest cost.
