Pakistan: The police lines debacle

Dailu Times

In what is being called one of the deadliest attacks on the Pakistan police, at least 21 senior and mid-level police officers died amidst high security at the police lines in Quetta on August 7. The entire top police cadre of Balochistan had assembled in the ground adjacent to the mosque in police lines to offer the funeral prayers of one of their officers who had died earlier in the day while he was returning with his two children from Eid shopping. Luckily his children and driver escaped the attack, save a few injuries. As the name denotes, the police lines is one of the highly secure areas of any city. Heavily armed police officers were guarding the gates of the ground when the suicide bomber, wearing a vest containing ball bearings and shrapnel, exploded it while he resisted checking at the entrance. Within seconds the ground presented a scene from some battlefield. Bodies and human flesh were strewn all over. At least 30 people died instantly, most of them police officers. Nearly 62 were reported injured, some sustaining serious injuries. This episode a day before Eid had taken the spirit out of the nation, already inflicted with trauma by incessant terrorist attacks. The unabated spree of terrorism, which has hiked following the new government coming to office, calls for immediate attention. Two months in office and the government has done little to arrest terrorism. The PML-N government is either oblivious of the intensity of the threat confronting the country or is buying time to elicit a favourable response from the stakeholders considered important to develop and implement any National Security Strategy (NSS). The main stakeholder in the anti-terrorism struggle is the Pakistan army, which has been calling the shots on this issue for many years, independent of any government intervention. However, its recent insistence on the government taking ownership of the war on terrorism, though belated, awaits a response. Naturally, reconciling opinions takes time, but given the enormity of the situation, the time lapse is simply putting more energy into the efforts of the terrorists. The terrorists are now being seen as a more unified, determined and well-equipped force, far ahead in capability and preparedness than our soldiers and police. A bad sign indeed. When this serious observation was put to Inspector General (IG) Police Balochistan after the attack, he took exception to the fact. To him the attack was not a security failure. To the IG, blaming the police for the failure to guard its own home, where it was just police everywhere, is tantamount to insulting the sacrifices made by the police in the war on terrorism. According to the IG the police officers had been putting their life at stake to secure the lives of the citizens. One cannot deny the sacrifices made by the police and the army. However, saying that the forces are securing the lives of an ordinary citizen, when anyone could be killed anywhere, depending largely on the whims and plans of the terrorists, is a bit hyperbolic. Getting officers and soldiers killed will not solve the problem. Neither does it add any strength to the national image. These officers are our assets and we need a holistic approach to save them and citizens, instead of making them vulnerable by not appropriating any viable strategy to combat terrorism. The government is expected to announce today the NSS, though the Minister for Interior Chaudry Nisar in his press conference yesterday has hinted at buying more time to develop a composite NSS. However, any delay in developing and implementing a security plan will be detrimental to the sovereignty of the country that we have already blighted by our weakness and inability to understand our national interest.