Once again, Peshawar bleeds. All too soon it is once again the site of carnage, leaving the country begging for answers and demanding action be taken. An imambargah in the city was attacked during Friday prayers with militants rushing in armed to the hilt with grenades, machine guns and suicide vests. As many as 20 worshippers were killed, all of them Shia, with scores more injured. The scene was bloody and brutal, the aftereffects leaving more unanswered questions than ever before. Peshawar was the site of the most savage attack in this country’s history in December last year with some 142 people, mostly students, killed in the Army Public School (APS). That was a do-or-die moment in this country’s history but what we are seeing today is nothing but death. The responsibility of the Peshawar imambargah attack has been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the enemy number one of the Pakistani state.
Friday has become the bloodiest day for Pakistan’s citizens. Some two weeks back, an imambargah in Shikarpur was targeted by the TTP, killing more than 60 Shia worshippers. Again, the country was stupefied how such a massacre was possible after the vows and promises made in the wake of the APS slaughter. It seems the Taliban brand of terror has turned a darker shade of sectarian. Shias are the new sacrificial lambs providing the most suitable type of ‘soft target’. With the war against terrorism in the tribal areas being waged by the Pakistan army, the terrorists are becoming increasingly desperate to inflict fear and dread into the heart of the nation. What better way to do that than to raise the threat alarm over sectarian conflict, to instil in all minorities, especially Shias, that they are safe nowhere, least of all in their mosques and at their most revered sites? The TTP are in it for the long haul, aiming to create as much chaos and destruction as possible, unwilling to challenge the army head on in the military operation, choosing instead to deal a deathblow to the citizens in the shape of sectarian murder and the execution of innocents.
And what about the government? Is it in it for the long haul? What was supposed to be the National Action Plan (NAP) has actually turned into the non-action plan. Much sound and fury was heard about implementing the 20-point agenda of NAP but, true to its name, the plan and its facilitators have been found napping. The attack on the imambargah in Shikarpur should have alerted the authorities to the changing pattern of terror strategies and militant motives. They should have realised that sectarianism was going to be cashed in on by the militants. As usual, they did not catch on. Now Peshawar has happened, a city under siege once again. NAP needs to be initiated in its most effective form; it needs to not only be implemented, it needs to also reorganise its command and operations structure. The intelligence agencies need to not only work, they need to work together. There has to be a central infrastructure from which intelligence can be shared and disseminated. There is no way law enforcement agencies can prevent terror attacks, particularly of a suicidal nature, without the ability to pre-empt such occurrences. Once a suicide mission has been launched, it is almost impossible to stop it.
How many more massacres will we have to witness before the government takes real action to eliminate those who are hell-bent upon our extinction? We need to protect the victims of sectarian strikes and make it our national priority to make Fridays safe once again.
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