Wazoo tribal region bordering Afghanistan.The offensive which Pakistain's military claims to be against all myrmidon groups, without discrimination of good and bad, will decide whether they will be able to go back to their motherland in weeks, months or remain in Bannu, a town adjacent to North Waziristan, for a long time. The military announced on Monday it has launched a ground offensive in this hilly tribal belt, which was once considered to be the epicentre of global terrorism. But for the displaced tribes, the peace in their motherland is as far as they are from their ancestral homes.
The North Waziristan operation has its national, regional and international significance. The links of most terrorist attacks at urban centres in the country were traced to North Waziristan. Several myrmidon groups have used the region as a launch-pad for attacks against US forces in Afghanistan. The international community will watch closely this operation with its binoculars because for them the terrorist outfits may have linkages with the Islamic fighters in Syria and the ISIS in Iraq. Washington faced embarrassment after the withdrawal of forces from Iraq, and it cannot afford the same script to be rewritten on Afghan soil, especially when it has announced withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan.