IN 2014, the military reported that 90pc of North Waziristan had been cleared as a result of Operation Zarb-i-Azb. There are still areas that remain to be cleared. But from the latest pronouncements of the military, it appears that the army is about to declare victory.

There is still time for celebration. But the important question to ask is this: have the Pakistani Taliban been vanquished? If this claim cannot be made then the nation should be told where the militants have gone. A splintered and dispersed Taliban force can wreak more senseless havoc on the civilian population as is happening at the moment in the hapless KP province and its environs.

An accepted adage is that if guerrillas are not defeated then they have won. In 2002, hailing an American victory over terrorism, the then US vice president Dick Cheney announced, “The Taliban is out of business, permanently.” The Afghan Taliban are reported to be in a much stronger position in 2016.