Punjab's false sense of complacency - Devastation in Multan

It seems the people of Pakistan, especially Punjab, had lulled themselves into a false sense of complacency. It has been a while since news dominated the press about a terror attack targeting civilians in an urban centre but Sunday’s bomb blast in Multan will surely make everyone reassess their illusions of safety. A rickshaw stand in Vehari Chowk, Multan was targeted, leading to the deaths of 10 innocent civilians and injuries to scores more. So far, investigators are terming this a bomb attack and not a suicide bombing but conflicting reports about the manner in which the strike was carried out rule nothing out. It looks like the militants are back in action and are striving to let people know there is no such thing as safety in Pakistan.

Multan belongs to the province of Punjab, a region previously left relatively unscathed by the militant onslaught. This is because the rulers in Punjab have always preferred to let sleeping dogs lie, letting the monster of terrorism continue its bloody reign all over the country in return for Punjab remaining comparatively untouched by the murder and rampage of the militants. Over the last year or so Punjab has changed its stance. Since the creation of the National Action Plan (NAP), Punjab has decided to go after the militants with a fervour quite unlike anything we have seen before. Seminaries are being streamlined and efforts made for their reform, Punjab-based militant cells are being dismantled and the likes of Malik Ishaq, who used to run around and do as he pleased, are being dealt a death blow by the authorities. It seems that retaliation is what the Multan attack is, a response in kind for the targeting of terrorists in Punjab. That is the reason Punjab’s home minister, Shuja Khanzada, was killed by militants last month in a suicide attack. His efforts to curb the extremist elements in Punjab led them right to his doorstep in Attock. It would serve us well to brace ourselves against what could be a militant backlash against Operation Zarb-e-Azb in general and the clean up operation in Punjab in particular. It is alarming to think that Multan could be a precursor for upcoming incidents but we must think it nonetheless.

As if threats from home-based militants were not enough, Islamic State (IS) seems to have made inroads into Pakistan, something Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has been very vocal about denying. For the very first time IS has claimed responsibility for an attack on a paramilitary check post in Bajaur, FATA. Militants based in Pakistan who have sworn their allegiance to the Middle Eastern terror outfit have claimed responsibility, prompting fears that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) may not be the only brutal militants the country will have to deal with. Chaudhry Nisar likes to think IS cannot travel to Pakistan all the way from Iraq and Syria but little does he know that ideas and ideologies can travel like the speed of light and infect already vicious elements into doing their bidding. If this attack really was carried out by IS, we have much larger things to worry about than Chaudhry Nisar sticking his head in the sand.It would be foolish to imagine the worst is behind us. Multan has demonstrated that the worst may still be yet to come.