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A warning sign
[DAWN] THE states action against snuffies in the aftermath of the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. tragedy was bound to produce a bloody reaction. Friday nights bombing of an Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... in the garrison city of Rawalpindi seems to be the first major salvo fired by the forces of Evil as part of this blowback. A number of people were killed and injured in the kaboom at the entrance of the place of worship as a milad ceremony was under way inside the premises. It is a small miracle the bombing did not occur within the crowded Imambargah, or else the body count would have been much higher. On Saturday, a foreign news agency quoted the front man of the banned TTPs Jamaatul Ahrar ...A Pak Taliban splintergroup that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough... faction claiming responsibility for the atrocity. While this claim needs to be verified by the security establishment, it must be noted that Rawalpindi has in recent times seen ugly sectarian violence; the caretaker of the targeted Imambargah was also murdered a few years ago. Local police are reportedly looking into these angles, too. Whether it is places of worship, schools, markets or other public spaces considered soft targets by the bad boys, in the days to come both state and society will need to redouble efforts to thwart terrorist attacks. While Peshawar may have shaken the leadership out of its slumber, dismantling the bad boy infrastructure across Pakistain will not be an easy task, considering how deeply entrenched militancy is within this society. Thinking that battling the bad boy hydra will be a surgical, bloodless operation is a fallacy. What the nation needs is preparation and resolve to confront the challenge. But while the security forces have been carrying out raids and there are efforts to shore up the defences of schools, much more needs to be done on the ground to reassure citizens that the state is ready to tackle the problem. And preparing the nation for the blowback is firmly the responsibility of the government. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... while the elected leadership has activated itself on the security and legislative fronts, where public interaction is concerned it still needs to improve its efforts. Just saying we are in a state of war is not enough; the prime minister and the top leadership need to reassure the nation that steps are being taken to ramp up security and uproot bad boy infrastructure. Things like regular public contact through the media, visiting survivors of terrorist attacks or condoling with heirs can go a long way in reassuring people that their government stands with them. What is certain is that more attacks like the Rawalpindi bombing will only further demoralise the nation, even as Peshawars pall of gloom still hangs heavy. It is time for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... to lead from the front and for the elected leadership to be seen at the front and centre of the fight against militancy. Posted by: Fred 2015-01-11 |
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