Will terror victims ever become state's priority?

In March 2025, the prestigious Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) rolled out its Global Terrorism Index 2024, with West African nation Burkina Faso and Pakistan emerging as the hardest hit by terror, taking the top two slots, respectively.

When we talk about the history of terrorism and its victims, it often starts with 9/11 in the modern era. In Pakistan, however, this story begins in the 1970s, when ordinary Pakistanis were first mobilised in the name of jihad during General Ziaul Haq’s era, as the country joined the American war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, challenging communism in the process. When Pakistan joined the war, later financed by the Americans, the crucial element in that covert war was that its fighters were not American, but rather young men from Pakistan and other Muslim countries. To date, no one knows how many Pakistanis died in that war, in the name of jihad, then secretly organised by the Americans and Pakistani rulers.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989 and Russian forces withdrew from Afghanistan, terrorism in Pakistan re-emerged in the form of sectarianism. Pakistan is flanked by Afghanistan on one side and Iran on the other, two neighbouring states with opposing sectarian identities, making it almost inevitable that sectarian terrorism would rise and that Pakistan would become a battleground for fanatical fighters killing one another.

It is important to note that by 1994, the first Taliban government under Mullah Omar had already come into power in Afghanistan, whereas Iran was being run by the clerics since 1979. Around the same time, the now-banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Sipah-e-Muhammad (SM) were on the rise in Pakistan. Their sectarian clashes left countless casualties in Pakistan. Until then, there was no formal compensation policy for the victims and their families.

When General Pervez Musharraf took over as military ruler in 1999, the Pakistani establishment’s ties with militant outfits, born out of the anti-Soviet jihad, were at their peak. But 9/11 changed the definition of jihad, with the United States labelling it terrorism, and Pakistan fell in line with the new world order.

Responding to the changing global dynamics and its own interests, Pakistan reviewed its policies and became an ally of the United States in the "second war on terror". As a result, the extremist organisations embedded in the Pakistani system began to react, unleashing a new wave of bloodshed inside the country. Throughout these years, Pakistan remained among the most terrorism affected nations in the world. Pakistanis continued to die or get wounded, often with little support for the victims or their families. Occasionally, the government would announce compensation for the deceased and injured, and over time, these stopgap measures developed into a formal “martyrs’ package” policy.

In 2014, the massacre at Peshawar’s Army Public School, which claimed the lives of 150 people, including 134 students, shocked not only Pakistan but the entire world. That day, the globe was shocked. Terrorism was not limited to Pakistan alone; it was unfolding across many regions and countries, yet Pakistan, unfortunately, remained the worst-hit country on the world stage. On one hand, Pakistan was a victim of terrorism, but on the other, the world continued to view it with suspicion, not as a victim, but as a perpetrator of terror. A key reason was the discovery of Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden hiding in Abbottabad in 2011 by American forces.

Meanwhile, American forces in Afghanistan were already grappling with Taliban attacks, and fingers were being pointed at Pakistan for its alleged double game. Where there is smoke, there is fire, and so Pakistan’s victims of terrorism found themselves caught in a double narrative.

Following the terror attacks in New York, Madrid, Paris, Baghdad, Kabul, Islamabad, Peshawar, Nairobi, and many other places, the world decided to formally have a resolution for the victims of terrorism only in 2017, almost 16 years after 9/11 and 3 years after the Army Public School Peshawar. By then, terrorism had already claimed thousands of lives. It was unanimously decided that August 21 would be observed as the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, and thus UN General Assembly Resolution 72/165 was passed.

The core idea was the formulation of counterterrorism frameworks to revolve around security, prevention, and diplomacy. The day aims to focus on those rarely seen in headlines: the wounded, the widowed, the orphaned, the traumatised, and the forgotten.

This day serves multiple aims:

a) To honour and remember victims and survivors of terrorism.

b) To amplify their voices so their stories are preserved.

c) To advocate for justice, compensation, and long-term care for them.

d) To fight social stigma so they are not isolated or shamed.

e) To promote policy change so counter-terror strategies include real victim support.

Why it matters

Terrorism leaves behind far more than rubble, and victims often feel sidelined in state policy, even in the headlines.

According to the United Nations:

1. Survivors suffer physical disabilities, trauma, and financial loss.
2. Orphaned children face educational and psychological challenges.
3. Families are forced into legal and social battles.
4. Affected communities endure suspicion and discrimination.

When victims do not receive support, their pain multiplies, but with solidarity and assistance, healing becomes possible.

The UN also lays out a way forward:

This day is not only for mourning, but demands policy change, so states:

1. Establish comprehensive funds and laws for victims.
2. Speed up judicial processes.
3. Ensure medical, psychological, and social rehabilitation.
4. Include victims in policymaking.

Pakistan, since this resolution in 2017, created a fund, but its distribution was discriminatory, separating ordinary civilians, government employees, and security forces officials, in terms of payments and privileges. Special anti-terror courts already existed, but their painfully slow pace has never improved to date. Medical, psychological, and social rehabilitation has never been our priority. And policymaking on terrorism continues to happen in closed rooms by the officials of the establishment, with parliament merely stamping approval.

Despite covering every major event in the war on terror in Pakistan since 9/11, to the Taliban US Doha talks and the Taliban’s return to Kabul in August 2021, I still cannot forget the mother of that one student killed in the 2007 Melody Market blast in Islamabad. She had sent her only son out to buy vegetables, and he never returned. For thousands of such mothers and relatives, no formal legislation has yet been passed by Pakistan under the UN resolution for equal compensation and other benefits, including mental trauma treatment, which is mostly not even considered a problem in this country.

Instead, on August 19, 2025, the parliament granted security forces new powers under the new amendments in the Anti-Terrorism Act 1999, to detain individuals for three months without giving any reason. This may not end terrorism, but in the name of eliminating it, countless citizens and families will have their human rights snatched away from them. In my experience, until and unless our policies put people at the centre, counterterrorism itself will continue to fuel terrorism in the country. Will we ever put people at the top of our agenda?

The author is a senior correspondent at Geo News