Lakki Marwat: The War Beneath Our Feet – OpEd
By Advocate Mazhar Siddique Khan
On a dirt road in Machan Khel, Lakki Marwat, Pakistan came dangerously close to yet another tragedy. Hidden beneath the soil, an 18-kilogram improvised explosive device (IED) lay in wait—silent, deadly, and intended for innocent passersby. But thanks to the vigilance of Pakistan’s security forces, the device was discovered and safely defused. A bomb meant to shed blood was instead disarmed by those sworn to protect it.
This is not just another narrow escape. It is a snapshot of a war Pakistan has been fighting for decades—a war not against a state, but against a twisted ideology. The group responsible, the so-called FAK (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP), has perfected the art of cowardice. Their weapon of choice is not debate or defense, but detonation. Since their reorganization under Mullah Fazlullah in 2013, the use of IEDs has become their gruesome signature—cheap, crude, and brutally effective.
But here’s what needs to be said, and said often: this is not jihad. It is not resistance, nor rebellion. It is fasad fil ardh—corruption in the land, a term rooted in Islamic scripture that exposes the moral perversion behind such acts. Blowing up roads, targeting schools, planting explosives in villages—none of these are acts of faith. They are the desperate last gasps of a doctrine that has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with anarchy.
The defused bomb in Lakki Marwat may not make international headlines, but it speaks volumes. It reveals the quiet, daily victories of Pakistan’s security forces, who work tirelessly not for glory, but for survival. It is also a reminder that while global attention may drift, the threat has not. In the tribal belt, in Balochistan, in KP’s rural heartlands, these homemade devices are buried not just in dirt, but in the very soil of fear.
Since 2001, Pakistan has lost over 80,000 lives in the fight against terrorism. From the horror of the Army Public School (APS) massacre to village bombings like this one narrowly avoided in Lakki Marwat, the throughline is heartbreak. The difference is resolve. The extremists plant bombs; Pakistan plants the flags of peace. One is driven by death, the other by the stubborn will to live, rebuild, and endure.
The world must stop reducing Pakistan’s struggle to a geopolitical footnote. What happened in Machan Khel is not just a regional issue—it is part of a larger global fight against radicalism, extremism, and ideological decay. And Pakistan, for all its flaws, has been on the frontline.
An 18kg IED may seem small on a global map. But it is symbolic of the immense weight Pakistan continues to carry in a war that shows no sign of ending. It is time the world sees that weight for what it is—and stands with those who continue to lift it.
