Pakistan: Karachi attack

Terrorists attacked Karachi airport on Sunday night, triggering a protracted siege at the airport, leaving as many as 20 people dead and more wounded, though that number is likely to change once the sequence of events becomes clearer. Reports say that just before midnight on Sunday, a group of terrorists armed with explosives and ammunition, carrying backpacks and dressed in Airport Security Force (ASF) uniforms entered the Fokker building at the old airport terminal, which is used mostly for cargo and occasionally for VIP movement. The terrorists gained access and began firing and lobbing hand grenades, killing several ASF personnel in the vicinity before going on a shooting spree that took them nearer the main terminals. The military was called in to back up the civilian security forces and a siege started. The last two terrorists were only caught in the morning, 14 hours after fighting began. Flights to and from Karachi were cancelled but resumed late on Monday afternoon. Two PIA planes were damaged and according to the initial report presented to the prime minister, the terrorists intended to destroy all the planes. Earlier reports said they aimed to hijack a plane being boarded at the main terminal and went on a rampage after being repelled. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. While the government and the military are bandying about official sounding terms like ‘cleared and secured’, the attack highlights the many flaws in security arrangements and the laxity or incompetence of people charged with overseeing them.

First is the ease with which apparently any person in uniform can penetrate secure areas. Facial recognition, fingerprint identification, even electronically coded security badges could prevent an attack on what is meant to be a secure installation. One should also know in principle that terrorists and militants love attacking airports, as evidenced by every insurgency in twentieth century history. The psychological and economic impact of attacks on airports is appreciated by terrorists, as well as the possibility of immense physical damage. While PIA has restarted flights, will foreign airlines be likely to land in Karachi after this? We are fortunate that the terrorists were unable to do more than lightly damage standing aircraft and we were not treated to Hollywood-style pyrotechnics. Given this, the apparent lack of measures to keep terrorists from masquerading as security officials is criminally negligent. Once again, their ability to penetrate ‘high-security’ areas bespeaks a depth of intelligence and operational awareness that cannot be achieved without insider information. While we have been consistently told that security agencies were purged of terrorist operatives and sympathisers, as last week’s assassination of two lieutenant colonels near Islamabad and now this event show us, this is far from the truth. A concerted effort needs to be made to find people who are aiding terrorists from within state security organisations. It appears that after a few weeks of relative quiet and with an attempted negotiation strategy in place, the government and security agencies became complacent, which is extremely foolish. There can be no complacency in the fight against terrorism since it is not restricted to the tribal areas but is spread throughout Pakistan, and the vast, sprawling metropolis of Karachi is a known hub.

Furthermore, the negotiation strategy is bankrupt now, and a new comprehensive policing and military strategy needs formulation. Given the price our national security strategy has incurred, a fundamental re-evaluation of national security priorities and methods should occur in the near future. The jihadi proxy strategy and the national security state are clearly failures. The media began blaring hysterical reports of Indian weapons being found while at the same time broadcasting the movements of security forces. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had to ask television reporters to stop live transmission of the scene so that terrorists would not get the information via television. While no one doubts the courage of journalists on the ground, this kind of ratings-obsessed, irresponsible journalism could become a casus belli for a return to state censorship. The attack then shows flaws in our state and social institutions that need redress urgently. Most importantly, the government and the military need to wake up to the terrorist threat and tackle it head on.