The terrorist trail

The bloody terrorist trail has been getting longer and longer. Beginning in FATA and KP, its tentacles have now spread to as far as Karachi, Larkana, Quetta, Mustang and Lahore. After the attack on a court in Charsadda and a bus in Peshawar, last week’s suicide bombing in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Lahore was the third in a month. It seems, despite notable successes in the war against terror, the monster of militancy is alive and kicking both in the tribal territory and urban centres.
It was not the first-ever attack in Lahore. The city which is the heart of Punjab has been witness to many mega incidents of terrorism in the past. In 2008, four major terrorist attacks were mounted on the Naval War College, the FIA office, Alhamra Arts complex and a police station, killing 40 people. In 2009, in a series of terrorist strikes, the Sri Lankan cricket teams, Manawa police training school, an intelligence agency’s offices and Moon Market, Iqbal Town, were targeted, killing 105 people.
 The year 2010 witnessed six  more incidents of terrorism in Lahore, including the FIA headquarters, two places of worship of Ahmadis, a hospital, a sectarian procession and the shrine of Data Gunj Bukhsh, in which 188 persons lost their lives. In 2011, a sectarian procession was targeted and 13 people were killed. During 2012, in three incidents, a railway station, a fruit market and officials of the prison department were targeted, resulting in 12 deaths. In 2013, in two incidents, explosive devices were deployed outside restaurants, resulting in the death of one person. In 2014, a terrorist attack at Wagah resulted in the death of 60 people. Last year, in two incidents outside the premises of police lines and two simultaneous attacks on churches, 22 civilians were killed.
The Gulshan-e-Iqbal attack was executed on a day when the followers of a Muslim sect were observing the chehlum of Mumtaz Qadri, and Christians were celebrating Easter. It was a Sunday when families visit various parks in the city in large numbers. In selecting the venue, the terrorists made sure that they would kill the maximum number of Muslim and Christian men, women and children.
The suicide bombing in Lahore that killed more than 70 people, including 25 children, came at a crucial moment in Pakistan’s continuing battle against insurgency. An intelligence analysis of the frequency of terror attacks reveals that depending upon circumstances; the militant masterminds select both hard and soft targets. In the backdrop of the APS and BKU attacks, the law-enforcement agencies concentrated too much on the security of educational institutions. Changing tactics, the TTP planners then selected other targets such as the NADRA office in Mardan and court premises in Shabqadar, followed by an attack on a public park in Lahore. Terrorism experts expect more such attacks in the days ahead, requiring security agencies to adopt appropriate pre-emptive measures to ward off the looming threat. Since Lahore is a hub of tourism, the security of parks, cinemas, stadiums, shrines, historical and religious places, needs special attention.
The Lahore attack has put the focus on the activities and networks of terrorists in Punjab. Although both media and intelligence agencies have been reporting on the expanding networks of militants in southern Punjab for quite some time, the provincial government has not responded in the way it should have. Additionally, there have been persistent reports of recruits from Punjab getting training in the sanctuaries along the Pak-Afghan border in eastern Afghanistan.
Security experts have long descried Punjab as the biggest hole in the war on terror. FATA has witnessed multiple military operations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have been zones of conflict for well over a decade and Karachi is undergoing an anti-criminal, anti-militant operation. It is now Punjab where the war against militancy needs to be seriously fought.
Agenda Point no. 15 of the National Action Plan emphasises zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab.
But tall claims by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah notwithstanding, no concerted action has yet been taken against the Punjabi Taliban, who have accepted responsibility for the Lahore carnage. The question is: Why has the Punjabi Taliban network, operating in the heart of Punjab, not yet been smashed? In this context all kinds of rumours are afloat, including a secret understanding with some elements in the provincial administration.
After the Lahore carnage, the enormity of the terrorist challenge in Punjab can no longer be discounted. This requires intensified coordination among various intelligence and security outfits for improved information gathering and sharing. The existing system is full of loopholes and needs to be discarded in favour of a new one based on a dispassionate analysis of the situation. Both the federal and provincial government institutions have so far failed to deliver. There is need for a drastic change in our anti-terrorist strategy. While taking steps to strengthen security around likely targets in the cities, we should also go after those who sponsor, train and finance the perpetrators  of terrorist violence.