A day after the government called off surgical strikes, two more incidents of terrorism shook the country raising questions about Pakistani Taliban’s promises. The TTP spokesman has disowned both the attacks. Keeping in view the militants policy of disowning attacks that would widely discredit them, it is difficult to go by their denials. Both the incidents bore the well-known signatures. The first in Landi Kotal was a remote controlled explosion which targeted a convoy of FC personnel and killed two soldiers while injuring five others. As is widely known IED’s have become the militants’ weapon of choice. The second was firing followed by suicide bombing inside Islamabad district courts, instantly killing 11 including two judges and five lawyers while injuring 14.
That the second terrorist attack took place in Islamabad raises questions about the intelligence gathering capacity of the interior ministry and its ability to provide security in the national capital. When major terrorist incidents take place anywhere outside Islamabad, more often than not one is likely to be reminded by the interior minister that the intelligence sources had passed on the information about the impending doom to the relevant authorities which failed to act promptly. How come this time Ch Nisar was found with pants down? The attack inside the Islamabad court was no ordinary matter. This indicated a lack of alertness on the part of the twenty odd intelligence agencies in the country. Besides the intelligence failure the incident also marked a serious security failure. That terrorists could enter the premises of a court in Islamabad, kill judges and lawyers without anyone stopping them, indicates that the courts in the country have been left at the mercy of the banned outfits. The incident also shows that after attacking the common people and security personnel the terrorists have now put the judges and lawyers in their crosshairs. The policy of appeasement is leading to a situation where criminals would be dictating judgments to the courts.
The incident shows the terrorists remain on the offensive instead of being put on the run. This raises the question if with an interior minister having a soft corner for the terrorists it is possible to bring peace. Whenever there is a talk about dealing the terrorists with an iron hand, one finds their apologists vociferously holding the US policies like employment of drones responsible for all the militancy in the country. The mindset takes the focus away from terrorists to extraneous issues. This has led a PPP leader to demand that Ch Nisar offer resignation from the post of interior minister to enable a more balanced colleague to take his place.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Pakistan: Talks under the shadow of terror
A day after the government called off surgical strikes, two more incidents of terrorism shook the country raising questions about Pakistani Taliban’s promises. The TTP spokesman has disowned both the attacks. Keeping in view the militants policy of disowning attacks that would widely discredit them, it is difficult to go by their denials. Both the incidents bore the well-known signatures. The first in Landi Kotal was a remote controlled explosion which targeted a convoy of FC personnel and killed two soldiers while injuring five others. As is widely known IED’s have become the militants’ weapon of choice. The second was firing followed by suicide bombing inside Islamabad district courts, instantly killing 11 including two judges and five lawyers while injuring 14.
That the second terrorist attack took place in Islamabad raises questions about the intelligence gathering capacity of the interior ministry and its ability to provide security in the national capital. When major terrorist incidents take place anywhere outside Islamabad, more often than not one is likely to be reminded by the interior minister that the intelligence sources had passed on the information about the impending doom to the relevant authorities which failed to act promptly. How come this time Ch Nisar was found with pants down? The attack inside the Islamabad court was no ordinary matter. This indicated a lack of alertness on the part of the twenty odd intelligence agencies in the country. Besides the intelligence failure the incident also marked a serious security failure. That terrorists could enter the premises of a court in Islamabad, kill judges and lawyers without anyone stopping them, indicates that the courts in the country have been left at the mercy of the banned outfits. The incident also shows that after attacking the common people and security personnel the terrorists have now put the judges and lawyers in their crosshairs. The policy of appeasement is leading to a situation where criminals would be dictating judgments to the courts.
The incident shows the terrorists remain on the offensive instead of being put on the run. This raises the question if with an interior minister having a soft corner for the terrorists it is possible to bring peace. Whenever there is a talk about dealing the terrorists with an iron hand, one finds their apologists vociferously holding the US policies like employment of drones responsible for all the militancy in the country. The mindset takes the focus away from terrorists to extraneous issues. This has led a PPP leader to demand that Ch Nisar offer resignation from the post of interior minister to enable a more balanced colleague to take his place.
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