5 min readNew DelhiAug 5, 2026 06:31 PM IST
A suicide bombing at an anti-militant rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Sunday (August 2) killed at least 17 people, mostly civilians and police officers, and wounded more than two dozen others, officials said. The attack happened in Kabal, a town in the province’s Swat Valley, where protesters had gathered near a police station, raising slogans and demanding peace and calm in the valley. The rally, called the Swat Peace Rally, was organised by the Swat Aman Jirga, a local tribal council.
The bombing was the latest in what’s been a grave year for Pakistan in terms of internal security and human casualties. According to a Dawn report, a spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces said in a press conference on Friday (July 31) that 2026 had seen 3,145 terrorism incidents in Pakistan, of which 1,971 were in KP. Until July 2026, more than 800 Pakistanis have been killed in terrorist incidents, including over 300 security personnel.
Here’s why KP has seen peace rallies over the past decade and a half and how this plays out in South Asia’s geopolitics.
Aman Lashkars
Swat Valley used to be a stronghold of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of distinct Islamist militant groups that emerged in 2007 following Pakistan’s military operations against al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now part of KP) on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The stated objective of the TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, is to overthrow Pakistan’s elected government “in order to establish an emirate based on its interpretation of Islamic law”. To that end, it has attempted to destabilise Pakistan by directly attacking its army and assassinating politicians.
After the TTP’s rise and the violent attacks that followed, peace rallies began being held across KP from 2008-09 onwards to counter terrorist attacks in the region. Known as Aman Lashkars (meaning “peace force”), these rallies often assembled thousands of protesters demanding peace and stability from the State.
Anchita Borthakur, senior research associate at the Chintan Research Foundation, told The Indian Express: “These peace rallies are significant because they challenge the widespread stereotype that Pashtuns (a major ethnic group native to KP and eastern Afghanistan) are inherently violent or opposed to peace. They demonstrate that resistance to militant groups is not merely a military objective imposed by the mainland Pakistani armed forces, but also a strong grassroots demand in the Pashtun belt.”
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In recent months, Swat Valley has seen militants resurface — fuelling fears that TTP are seeking to regain a foothold in the region. In response, residents have repeatedly staged anti-Taliban rallies to protest the militants’ presence. Sunday’s Swat Peace Rally was one such rally.
Counterterrorism operations
Over the years, Pakistan has conducted major counterterrorism operations in KP, including Operation Zarb-e-Azb (2014-16), the four-phase Operation Khyber (2014-17), and Operation Azm-e-Istehkam (ongoing since June 2024). These campaigns have resulted in thousands of militant and security-personnel casualties. But local communities often oppose such operations because of the displacement and destruction they bring — a pattern reminiscent of the most dreadful years of the “war on terror” — a reference to the US’s two-decade-long operations in Afghanistan (2001-21).
Since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Durand Line — the 2,611-km international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan — has seen recurring skirmishes and attacks, displacing hundreds of thousands over the years. Kabul does not recognise the Durand Line, drawn by the British in 1893, as an international border. Besides, cross-border tribal and familial loyalty runs deep among Pashtuns on both sides, keeping the frontier volatile.
“Despite Pakistan’s declaration of an ‘open war’ and the launch of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against Afghanistan and the TTP, attacks by the group continue to intensify within Pakistan. Geographical proximity, along with deep-rooted social, tribal, familial, and sympathetic networks across the Durand Line, has strengthened the TTP’s mobility and operational resilience,” Borthakur said.
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The grievances also stem from poverty and underdevelopment. The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises placed Pakistan among the 10 worst-affected countries for acute food insecurity, with KP one of the hardest-hit provinces. The UN Development Programme’s Multidimensional Poverty Index estimates nearly 48% of KP’s population lives in poverty.
Why this matters for South Asia
So far, Pakistan has played the role of a mediator in the ongoing US-Iran war. At this delicate moment, rising casualties at home could complicate its international standing.
KP is also central to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: it hosts Chinese-backed investments such as the 884 megawatt Suki-Kinari Hydropower Project, the Hazara Expressway and the Karakoram Highway, and the Rashakai Special Economic Zone, leaving open the question of whether those investments stay secure.
Considering that Afghanistan is already gripped by hunger and poverty, any spillover from KP’s instability compounds a regional crisis. India, which has separately voiced concern over civilian casualties during protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir since June, remains vigilant and is watching the crisis closely.
