Terrorism against public health

A basic health unit is more than a building. For the people living around Sheikh Sultan in Tank, it represented access to essential medical care and the reassurance that help was available when illness or injury struck. By blowing up BHU Sheikh Sultan with explosives during a late-night attack, the Khawarij did not merely damage public property; they attacked a facility established to protect ordinary lives. The human cost of such violence extends far beyond the moment of an explosion. When a health facility is destroyed, local people lose access to services upon which their well-being depends. Families must confront greater difficulty in obtaining basic treatment, while vulnerable residents face additional hardship. The burden does not fall on any political or security institution alone. It falls directly on the surrounding community. This attack demonstrates the indiscriminate character of Khawarij violence. Their destructive actions make no distinction between public institutions and civilian needs. A basic health unit does not represent conflict or confrontation. It serves patients, families and communities. Targeting it reveals complete disregard for the welfare of the very people whose interests the Khawarij may claim to represent. Public infrastructure is often built gradually through collective resources and sustained administrative effort. Destroying it can take only moments, but restoring its services may require considerable time and resources. Through attacks on essential facilities, the Khawarij seek to interrupt normal life, create fear and deny communities the stability necessary for social progress. Their objective is not public service or reform; it is disruption through violence. The choice of a health unit as a target is especially disturbing because healthcare is a basic human need. Illness does not wait for security conditions to improve and medical requirements do not disappear after a facility is attacked. By depriving people of nearby healthcare, the Khawarij have increased the difficulties faced by ordinary residents who had no role in any conflict. This is the clearest evidence of how extremist violence punishes innocent communities. For communities already seeking peace and stability, such attacks create uncertainty and deepen public hardship. They are intended to make residents feel unsafe even in places associated with care and assistance. Yet the destruction of a facility cannot conceal the nature of those responsible. It instead makes their priorities unmistakably clear: spreading fear, weakening public services and obstructing normal life. The people of Tank deserve functioning healthcare, secure public facilities and an environment in which families can live without fear. They should not be forced to bear the consequences of an extremist campaign that treats community welfare as a target. Every attack on public infrastructure is ultimately an attack on the people who depend upon it. The destruction of BHU Sheikh Sultan must, therefore, be understood through its human consequences. It deprived a local community of an essential service and demonstrated that the Khawarij are enemies of public welfare, peace and stability. Their violence offers communities nothing except fear, deprivation and destruction. Protecting and restoring such facilities is not simply an administrative responsibility; it is a commitment to safeguarding the dignity, health and future of the people. —The writer is contributing columnist.