Another day, another imambargah attacked ruthlessly by the militants. This time, a suicide blast rocked a Shia place of worship in Rawalpindi, killing as many as three and injuring scores more. The attack comes just one day after the suicide blast near Police Lines, Lahore and soon after another imambargah was targeted last Friday in Peshawar. Before this, an imambargah in Shikarpur was attacked by the militants, killing as many as 69 worshippers. There is a clear pattern at work here and it would be foolish not to recognise what that is. The Shia minority is not just being targeted, it is being annihilated swiftly by the terrorists. Jundullah, a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack. This is the same group that has proudly claimed being behind the attacks on the imambargahs in Peshawar and Shikarpur. It seems the vengeance for the army operation being conducted in the tribal areas is being taken against the Shias in a bid to provoke and create intense sectarian strife of which there is already a mighty hot spark in the country. Routinely Shias have been attacked, gunned down and marked for cycles of destruction — we have seen that with the Hazaras in Quetta when more than 200 of them were killed in two separate attacks just a couple of years ago. This is an old game the terrorists play, bringing into scope sectarian conflict and decades’ old enmities. It is the oldest trick in the book but we should not fall for it. We should not be provoked. The militants are claiming responsibility and we must fight them, not allow the same hatreds to provoke all out sectarian warfare to break loose in the country.
The National Action Plan (NAP) or whatever there is of it, is seeing the apex committee of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif and the Chief Minister (CM) of whichever province the committee is touring, sitting down and coming down hard on how NAP is being implemented in the provinces. For now, it is Balochistan’s turn to get tough on terrorism. This meeting also had in attendance the Director General (DG) of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the DG ISPR. The Balochistan government was quick to point out that as many as 53 cases had been referred to the military courts since the launching of NAP. These are all good measures but we need to move out of the committee and talking stage and really, actually implement NAP right down to the very core of society that the militants are so wantonly attacking. Political parties such as the PPP have voiced their disapproval of the apex committee visiting the provinces and advising how to run their affairs in such matters of national interest. It is understandable that democratic parties are wary of relinquishing provincial authority to the Centre and armed forces after all the blood, sweat and tears that went into the passing of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. However, they cannot afford to look at this situation through such lenses. We are living in extraordinary times and need to take extraordinary measures, one of which is the establishment of military courts.
Everyday now Pakistanis are dying, being killed in a brutal war between the state and its hardened proxies. There is no time for the government to start napping on the full implementation of the 20-point agenda of NAP nor is it time for any dissenting calls from other democratic parties. What is needed is unity and a firm commitment to end this bloodbath that is everyday life in Pakistan.
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