Guest post: A war-torn region of Pakistan gets a dangerous ultimatum

Mohsin Dawar is a political activist & former MP in North Waziristan, where the Taliban's war is getting hotter, and the State has run out of ideas

July 7, 2025 — War has returned to my home region of North Waziristan, near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. And with it, it seems, we have gone back to the future as the authorities seek to revive a traditional way of resolving local disputes, rather than doing their job of applying the constitutional law to all citizens of our land.

A couple of weeks ago, in Miranshah, the main town, a jirga, or council of elders, was held at which local people were issued an ultimatum: stop giving refuge to the Pakistani Taliban or face a military operation.

This is a bizarre turn of events: the region suffering the most from Pakistan’s reckless policy on Afghanistan is now being offered such an absurd solution to the violence that is ripping us apart.