Pakistan, June 21 -- The horror of what happened in Bannu is difficult to overstate. According to security sources, terrorists first targeted a passenger vehicle in Ping Musa Khel with an improvised explosive device, leaving seven people martyred and several others injured. Then, in an even more depraved act, they struck the vehicle carrying the dead and wounded. There is no political vocabulary that can soften such barbarity. Those who target civilians and rescuers are not rebels or aggrieved actors. They are enemies of Pakistan and enemies of life itself.

This is exactly why the state's description of Fitna al-Khawarij goes beyond mere rhetoric. These networks now seek soft targets because they cannot face the state directly. Their str...