Less than a week after a deadly suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) plans to resume food aid for victims of deadly floods. The attack killed 46 and wounded over 100. The attacker was reported to be a woman wearing a burqa, the first time such an attacker was deployed in Pakistan.
Faheem Haider of FPA’s Pakistan blog wrote recently how the attack marks a “brutal game of one-upmanship” by the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-e-Taliban) against targets perceived to be allied with coalition forces.
However it cuts, there is no doubt that the Tehrik-e-Taliban, who have rung out responsibility for the day’s militant action views any cooperation with the international bodies delivering aid and sustenance as soldiers in some global war, in which their cause is righteous. How else can one explain the vicious move to kill people waiting to receive food that they would have then used to feed their families. How else to explain a murderous move against an aid delivery institution that readily tries to face the near impossible task of delivering food to tens of millions who would have gone hungry for months in the aftermath of the devastating summer floods?
These questions will be pondered as 42,000 people in the Bajur district, where the attack took place, remain internally displaced and dependent on aid from organizations like WFP.
Posted by Michael Lucivero.
