ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The deadly suicide truck bomb attack on Marriott Hotel in the heart of the capital highlights security inadequacies and the urgent need to rethink strategy to combat surging militant violence, analysts said on Sunday.
Four foreigners were among those killed, including the Czech ambassador, with more than 270 people wounded in the worst terror attack in Islamabad. "The whole region is in turmoil. Every day there are casualties in military operations in Bajaur, so the bomb attack should not surprise anybody," said Masood Sharif, a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) director general, adding, "The immediate future doesn't look good."
Al Qaeda: A US intelligence official said the bombing bore signs of an attack by Al Qaeda or an affiliate. Whoever was responsible, the message was clear. "It's a very clear signal to the government that nobody is safe," said Riffat Hussein, professor of defence studies at Quaid-e-Azam University.
"The fact that it happened in the high security zone, which includes the parliament where the president addressed a session a few hours earlier, underscores the ability of these groups to really challenge the state's authority in the heart of the capital," he said.
What appeared to be a well-planned attack happened just after Iftar when many security officials protecting the city centre were eating their meal. "Security was at a minimum around that time," said Hussein, adding, "Somebody obviously took a good look and were able to take advantage."
Threat to spread: Defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa said the bombing highlighted a breakdown in morale in the security system as a whole. "Police do not want to be targeted, so they are not filling the gap, and other forces cannot do the job. So the law and order system really is collapsing," said Siddiqa, adding, "Whatever the threat, it is definitely going to spread because you cannot control it."
The former IB director general said stepping up security and military offensives in the northwest would not work. "There are hundreds of thousands of trucks out there. You can put out high alerts 10 times over, but you cannot check every single vehicle," he said, adding, "You already have 150,000 troops deployed there. What more can one do? You've gone to the limit of trying to control it with the gun. It's very difficult to believe putting in 50,000 more troops will help."
He said the Americans, Afghans and Pakistanis had to work out a solution together. "We need to have a look at the complete canvas and the policy level," he said, adding, "We can't have an endless war on terror. It's been going on for seven years and there's no end in sight. If you look at any armed conflict, eventually there's a negotiated settlement."
Hussein said the government had to deploy all its resources, including intelligence agencies and security forces, and come up with an appropriate response. "You need to examine your strategy, which obviously isn't working. Just being in a reactive mode and condemning incidents simply will not do," said Hussein.
"The standard argument is that nobody can prevent a suicide bomb attack but if you look at how the Israelis have dealt with Palestinian suicide bombers, their track record suggests a different kind of model," he said.
"We focus on the symptoms, the people who carry out the attacks, but you need to get behind the planning structures and try to dismantle them," he said. reuters
