Abstract:

The post 9/11 immense wave of militancy has affected the lives and slandered of living of common people across the country, especially in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Such menace gave birth to numerous apprehension and affected lives subject masses and adversely impacted the institutions. The current research works attempt to investigate the socio-economic impact of militancy on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with a case study of district Charsadda (2007 to 2017). This research focuses on period 2007-2017 because the militancy became more visible in the form of suicide attacks in Charsadda in 2007. It existed earlier but increased manifold during this period due to lawlessness, religious extremism, and terrorism. As a result of 9/11 attacks, the United States started “Operation Enduring Freedom” against the key leaders of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Due to the close proximity and porous Pak-Afghan border, the militants infiltrated into erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan making FATA a safe sanctuary for the militants. This militancy did not remain confined to FATA, but also spilled over into the mainland Pakistan, especially to the adjacent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Charsadda being adjacent to the erstwhile Mohmand agency suffered the most. Charsadda was mainly targeted, because, the key political figures of this area have opposite ideology, as opposed to the militants.

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