This is truly horrible. Terrorist would go to any length to kill and maim innocent civilians.
This is also a reminder that terrorists cannot be defeated by Jirga-bazi. Jirga is outdated, and so is the whole tribal system.
You cannot use bullock carts on super highways, and similarly you cannot use old tribal systems in a modern world. Just like bullock cards would create a huge mess on a super highway, the tribal system is creating a huge mess in Pakistan.
By the way we should not be surprised to see the failure of Jirga and other tribal systems. Next door neighbor aka Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan has been trying to keep primitive tribal system alive, and look what they got in return.
Same thing is true for many other tribal societies. They cannot cope with modern challenges.
Coming back to the FATA area. We the Pakistanis are equally responsible for this mess. For sixty odd years we let the primitive tribals to remain so, without ever thinking that at some later stage the whole thing is going to come back and bite our big behinds.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Let's learn our lessons and take care of our future. Our future doesn't belong to primitive uncouth tribalism. The things that worked centuries ago must be evaluated for their applicability. And most likely the old stuff really belongs to the museums and not on the city streets.
We don't use donkeys to go to Saudi, then why we insist that jirga system must be used in 21st century?
FCR must go and so should all the political agents, Maliks, and Khans. FATA needs modern court system, a police system, and a set of business rules. Anyone who wants to fight for Pakistan must wear a proper uniform. We must not allow plain shalwar kameez wearing AK-47 toating tribals to defend us. This is cowardly on our part to use civilians for waging battles against hardened Talibans. Only a properly trained military force can deal with Taliban. Let's quit dreaming about tribal lashkars' value in this war.
While we are at it, we must improve infrastructure in FATA in particular and Frontier in general. These areas should be open for "real" and lawful business.
Do you ever wonder why a FATA resident can show up in Karachi and do whatever business he likes. But a Karachi-walah dare not show up in Miran Shah and open up business or buy property.