Pakistan: A theatre of war turning on itself

http://gulfnews.com/

By Aamer Ahmed Khan

Three attacks within 10 days killing nearly 150 people in Pakistan’s northwest city of Peshawar is an escalation even by Pakistani standards — an escalation in a war that has killed 45,000 civilians over the last 10 years in attacks as random as they were brutal. Coming in the backdrop of the government’s efforts to initiate peace negotiations with Taliban militants, a hugely controversial initiative which seems to have divided Pakistani opinion makers along seemingly irreconcilable lines, these attacks have thrown up questions that go beyond the obvious and all-encompassing label of terror.

None more so than the deadly suicide attack on a Sunday mass in one of the oldest churches in the city which killed more than 80, left thousands mourning and a nation stunned at its own inability to stop the bloodbath. Never before has the country’s Christian minority been targeted with such deadly intent. Always a discriminated minority, they have been a silent witness to the country’s steady retreat against hardline Islamist ideologies espoused by a mushrooming array of militant groups. At times, they have fallen victim to Pakistan’s contentious blasphemy laws, but by and large they have gone about their business even as the sphere of social, cultural and religious tolerance around them has continued to shrink. But on September 22, as two suicide bombers positioned themselves among the 400-odd worshippers at the conclusion of the ceremony, this under-2 per cent minority suddenly found itself on the frontline. As Pakistan mourned its latest tragedy analysts went into overdrive, with some arguing there was no reason why the Christian community had been singled out for this outrage. Like their 180 million fellow Pakistanis, irrespective of their caste, creed or religion, they were just caught up in a war that seems to be pushing its boundaries with every passing day. Confirmation of the feeling that anyone and everyone could be a target came with an attack on a bus carrying civil servants a few days later, followed by an attack in the city’s oldest bazaar whose inhabitants shared everything with their attackers — religion, ethnicity and nationality. This is a theatre of war turning on itself. For years, Pakistan has bet on the Taliban as the glue that could bind a fractious Afghanistan together once international troops withdraw from the country. It has sat by and watched the Taliban’s ideological merger with Al Qaida in the hope that the latter would melt away once Afghanistan stabilises, with the Taliban as part of the ruling mix.