Pakistan: Airport security- How safe are they, really?

The Peshawar airport incident, where ‘unknown armed men’ fired at a PIA flight as it was about to land, once again proves that airports have not been provided the security they need, especially in light of previous attacks and blowback threats. With operation Zarb-e-Azb about to transform from aerial bombardment to ground offensive stage, it is all the more important to limit reprisal attacks in main cities. And Peshawar, along with the rest of the province, is the natural strike-back point for militants, considering its proximity to the tribal area. That its airport is still not secure, and people can fire at will at planes landing and taking off, betrays an unbelievable lack of understanding of the gravity of the situation on the government’s part. It seems they are still ok with handling crises as they come, rather than prepare in advance.

The Karachi attack took lives and hurt the country in many ways. But in hindsight, in addition to security challenges, one of the biggest problems it brought was the chance of foreign airlines pulling out of Pakistan – as Cathay Pacific did eventually. And now with one passenger dead and two injured during the Peshawar attack, there is a bigger concern than people refusing to fly to KPK’s capital. It exposed the government’s unpreparedness, and the spillover is very important to consider. We are likely to face further international isolation which, along with a bad name, also brings financial and investment problems, driving the country further into a corner.

Unbelievably, this was the third attack just this year at the Bacha Khan airport. There have been rockets fired in February and again in April. Yet we still have a situation where people, apparently hidden safely, can fire at planes a thousand and a half metres in the air. Immediate steps must be taken to provide fool proof security to airports, airliners, and passengers. We are already suffering from international isolation. We must arrest this trend before it gets any worse.