At last the dreaded commander of the banned terrorist organisation, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been killed in a US-operated drone attack in Kunar province of Afghanistan, reportedly conducted on 13th June.

Media reports also informed that the TTP has confirmed the killing of its chief whereas Afghan president Ghani also echoed the reports of the killing of Fazlullah.

With the killing, a very critical chapter in the history of terrorism in Pakistan has ended. Fazlullah became the TTP head in November 2013 after the death of then TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud,

who was also killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan. The killing of Fazlullah hours after a day-long visit of Pakistan COAS Qamar Bajwa to Kabul speaks volume of the importance of cooperation – which is unfortunately quite lacking – between Kabul and Islamabad in jointly fighting the menace of cross-border terrorism. Fazlullah had been hiding in Afghanistan since 2009 when the army recaptured the scenic Swat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa from the Taliban.

His most despicable crime was claiming the terrorist attack on the Army Public School on December 16, 2014, which killed more than 150 people, including schoolchildren. Fazlullah also known as Maulana FM radio had established an illegal court at the Maam Dheri village where a sprawling mosque-madrassa edifice had been erected.

The complex, which started with the donations given by local people, had become a base and a virtual court of Fazlullah’s fiefdom. Subsequently, Fazlullah had announced the imposition of Ushr (a land tax), which was urgently needed to run the affairs of his parallel administration.

Whereas he had also warned the government that if any operation would be launched against his shadow ‘government’ in Swat, it would be a do-or-die situation.

With his killing, his words have proven exactly that after nine years. Perhaps if the banned TTP announces the death of its leader or footage appears of his funeral, there will be greater certainty that a reign of terror has come to an end. Fazlullah would not be the first anti-state or TTP supreme leader killed by a US drone. The Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014 finally and irreversibly turned national sentiment wholly against the TTP.

Today, it appears that a fresh outreach by General Bajwa and the Pakistani state to Afghanistan may be producing results. It is sincerely hoped that peace in the region will eventually prevail.

The continued presence of the TTP head in Afghanistan unscathed for so long had been raising many eyebrows in Pakistan. Now his killing in a US drone attack has come as a huge relief for the country. It now seems that the efforts to revive the TTP would be extremely difficult and this is good news for Pakistan’s peace and security.

Here the effectiveness of the border fence being constructed by Pakistan on its 2,400-kilometre-long historically porous border with Afghanistan becomes apparent due to which militants like Fazlullah and followers have been finding it increasingly difficult to sneak back into Pakistan. Now Pakistan,

Afghanistan and US forces in Afghanistan have to earnestly cooperate to eliminate all symbols and vestiges of terrorism in the region. This is the only way forward for lasting peace in the region.