Pakistan: Islamabad under siege

By Inayatullah Rustamani

The carnage among common citizens in Islamabad may not be disturbing our government at this point because it does not affect them indirectly or directly, but the complete ignorance to them will one day have lasting and uncontrollable implications on our elected representatives and the political elite too

The relentless terror strikes in the last few weeks presage the fact that peace is unlikely in Pakistan even with a ‘successful’ ceasefire between the government of Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, has been bathed with blood twice after the so-called ceasefire. The first attack was a suicide-cum-firing inside a district sessions court in Islamabad last month, causing the deaths of a judge and nine other people. A terror group, Ahrarul Hind, claimed responsibility. However, the TTP disowned the attack, and its like-minded political and religious supporters lauded the TTP statement and instantly conceded its truth. The Ahrarul Hind claim of the attack cannot be taken seriously even with a pinch of salt, considering the group’s limited capability for strikes within the country. It is an established truth that suicide attack capability, in broad daylight inside Pakistan, belongs only to the TTP. It is altogether another matter that the TTP is being disingenuous by claiming that groups outside its control are involved in or responsible for that attack.

The latest bomb blast in a fruit market in Islamabad on April 9 has taken the lives of more than two dozen people and maimed over 50. The attacked was claimed by the banned United Baloch Army (UBA), though this claim was dismissed by the interior ministry and the Islamabad police. Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and its population is less than 1.8 million people. It is strange that law enforcement agencies are unable to protect the citizenry of this city that has a population less than that of Hyderabad, Sindh. The brazen broad daylight attacks in Islamabad raise concerns among many in political and other circles with regard to the security of the Prime Minister’s and President’s Houses, the Supreme Court (SC), and the parliament house that are located in the city. The carnage among common citizens in Islamabad may not be disturbing our government at this point because it does not affect them indirectly or directly, but the complete ignoring of them will one day have lasting and uncontrollable implications for our elected representatives and the political elite. The outbreak of the Karachi unrest and lawlessness in the 1990s was not taken seriously at the time. It was ignored first because it had sweeping effects only on the common man and the workers of certain specific political parties. The long ignored violence in Karachi has eventually now started affecting lawmakers, law enforcement agency personnel, the business community, doctors and other ‘important’ segments of society. No one is secure in Karachi now. The latest Karachi operation has completely failed to bring peace to the city. This is because acts of violence have become a flourishing business in the city. Many law enforcement agencies have started investing in that lucrative business by involving their men in the criminal groups to make money by committing murders and looting banks and the affluent people of the city.

The incumbent federal government is apparently bereft of an anti-terrorism plan. It banks on a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) appeasement policy. There has been no respite from terror strikes during a month long ceasefire. Despite that, the PML-N government has reportedly freed 19 TTP prisoners. This was never a wise move because the government could not even secure the freedom of prominent non-combatants like Professor Ajmal, Ali Haider Gilani and Shahbaz Taseer from captivity by the TTP. Media reports also say that friction has developed between the federal government and the Pakistan army over the government’s release of the TTP prisoners and two federal ministers’ criticism of the Pakistan army. The civil-military imbalance in relations has never proved in the interest of the country, which is already plagued by multiple crises. The PML-N measures are incomprehensible. It has unilaterally approved the Pakistan Protection Ordinance (PPO) as a bill in the National Assembly. This bill authorises law enforcement agencies to pick up, detain, or even shoot on sight a suspect. This will further provoke human rights groups in the country against human rights abuses. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have lambasted the ordinance. Some among their ranks have designated it a “black law” and others as a draconian law. Some parties have threatened to oppose it in the Senate and others have vowed to force the matter into the courts. Given the track record of enforced disappearances, allegedly by law enforcement agencies, suggests that the PPO or another similar law will further worsen human rights abuses in the country. Islamabad is the capital of the country. It must not be left at the mercy of a bunch of terrorists. The capital city must be guarded at every cost before it becomes another Karachi. It should not be forgotten that the uncontrolled and unchallenged bunch of terrorists can plant their roots in Islamabad like they have Karachi. The terror strikes are in full swing so as to bring the country’s economy and its social life to a complete standstill. Pakistan is a nuclear country and its capital being frequently attacked does not bode well for the national and international image of the country, not to mention its security. If the attacks continue on Islamabad, the day is not far when the international media will dub Islamabad as a city under siege.