The “victory” celebration after the calling off of the Long March was still going on when a suicide-bomber struck at the Pirwadhai bus station in Rawalpindi, killing 14 people. The immediate speculation was that the suicide bomber was despatched to hit the Long March itself since it was to pass near where the terrorist finally killed himself. Those who think that the attack had some other purpose will have to explain it more cogently than they are doing it now. “Creating panic among the general public” won’t do. All terrorism is supposed to do that in routine.
However there are certain expressions which we must avoid as victims of terrorism. The Interior Adviser Mr Rehman Malik has said “he could not say anything about the involvement of foreign quarters” and then added: “Only anti-Pakistan elements could be involved in such heinous acts”. This is not original. As if to put the record straight, the Taliban Tehreek of Mohmand has messaged to own the Pirwadhai suicide attack.
Let us be frank. The victory of the Long March which came at the end of an almost year-long political bickering has been gained at the cost of ignoring the two-ton gorilla in the drawing-room: terrorism from the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the erstwhile jihadi organisations now on the payroll of Al Qaeda. For the last several months Pakistan has seen an alarming increase in the incidence of terrorism while the campaign went on against the government’s broken promises on the restoration of the judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf.
The Indo-Pak proxy war has heated up in Afghanistan and then spilled over into India itself. The Mumbai attacks have implicated a jihadi militia once nursed by Pakistan into an instrument of the war of liberation in Kashmir. As if to satisfy those who had sought diversion through the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan engaged India in the media war with retired army officers exhorting the nation into supporting a new war with India while expecting the terrorists to fight India “shoulder to shoulder” with us. In Swat, the administration of justice was handed over to the very people we should have brought to justice.
One big reason behind this turning of the face away from the growing dominance of Al Qaeda and its foot soldiers in Pakistan was the separation of the crisis of the judiciary from all other crises. That the lawyers’ movement has been politicised is accepted on all hands without taking away anything from the probity of the lawyers. But the lawyers’ movement could not have been politicised without politicising the growing menace of terrorism. From Mr Imran Khan, who took the extreme view of denying concrete events, to Mr Nawaz Sharif, who recommended “negotiation” instead of military action, everyone in the opposition thought terrorism was not Pakistan’s crisis number one.
The PPP government saved its skin by hiding behind a “consensus” in parliament. The parliament was actually taken out of its “weak phase” through unanimous resolutions about terrorism. Trying to prove that the parliament had come into its own after the exit of President Musharraf, the elected politicians made fun of the army as it briefed the joint house on terrorism. When the unanimous resolution came out it was impossible of implementation because it contained contradictory contents. This was the most mistaken interpretation of unanimity in the history of resolutions. The army later required — justifiably — a clear civilian mandate to confront the terrorists.
Now that the battle has been won by the PMLN, it is time to show true solidarity against the menace of terrorism. Mr Nawaz Sharif has given some good interviews on the subject of terrorism — like saying “we must set our own house in order” — and should change tack to give the kind of support the government and the army need to go out and fight Al Qaeda. The terrorists attack the PPP and the ANP. Their next target is the PPP and the MQM in Sindh; and the Karachi police now makes no effort to hide that the Taliban are converging to the no-go areas planning their next assault.
Because of politicisation of terrorism, Pakistan has lost both face and faith in the world community. It is today facing not only terrorism but also charges of terrorism. Will the politicians choose to come together and use the parliament to strengthen Pakistan instead of weakening it? *
(Editorial:Back to the business of terrorism) Daily Times, Pakistan