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| India-Pakistan |
| Attack on a place of peace |
| 2017-02-18 |
| [DAWN] THE terrorist violence unleashed across the county culminated on Thursday with a devastating attack on the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Sindh. The country is at war. While high officials of the state have vowed to take the fight to the bully boyz and Lions of Islam with renewed vigour, it is apparent that an urgent overhaul is needed in the state’s approach. From the scale and geographical spread of the recent attacks across the length and breadth of the country, it appears that myrmidon networks have either been rebuilt or that they were not depleted to the extent claimed by the state in the first place. The two metrics of anti-militancy success most touted by the state were the overall decline in terrorist incidents and the number of bully boyz killed. While eye-catching, those numbers conceal a great deal about the extent of myrmidon activity, particularly the network of facilitation that hides attackers, and arms and helps them to reach their targets. So, the first thing that should be determined is why the recent wave of bombings, whether deliberately coordinated or opportunistically coincidental, is taking place. A fierce response by the state must be rooted in an honest, accurate assessment of the militancy problem in its latest manifestation. Unsurprisingly, the military leadership has turned instantly to Afghanistan and the problem of anti-Pakistain militancy sanctuaries there. There will almost certainly be some evidence linking at least some of the recent attacks to myrmidon leaders and fighters in the Pak-Afghan border region; bully boyz invariably congregate and are concentrated in areas where the state’s influence is relatively scarce. But the reactive nature of the Pak demand to capture or eliminate bully boyz is familiar and worrying. The Afghan government and US forces in that country can surely do more to prevent anti-Pakistain bully boyz from operating on Afghan soil, but it appears to be a policy problem tied to the overall issue of militancy in the region. Pakistain cannot and should not accept the current state of affairs and the indifference that Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the Worldand didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... has shown towards its core concerns. Afghanistan must be made to understand and accept that the fight against militancy is a common war that requires regional effort and coordination. Yet, does Pakistain truly make the diplomatic and security effort needed to persuade Afghanistan in what amount to peaceful interruptions between waves of violence? Six months from today, will Pak officials be as determined to seek and win Kabul’s cooperation? |
| Posted by:Fred |