Pakistan in Media

The simultaneous attacks by up to 20 terrorists on three separate targets in Lahore Thursday morning have added to the mayhem caused by militants who have struck repeatedly over the last week. At least 17 people, among them five militants, were reported dead. The toll is expected to rise as the chaos created by the multiple attacks clears and a more complete picture emerges. We are fortunate there was not greater carnage. Media reports immediately after the siege -- that began just after 9 am was ended between two and four hours later at various places -- spoke of unexploded grenades and suicide jackets being discovered. The terrorists had also evidently planned for a long siege. The fact that they failed must count as some kind of success. It seems apparent the militants will make more such attempts in the future. This is something that we must focus on.

The attacks in Lahore took place despite warnings from intelligence agencies that this would happen. Some of these warnings had appeared in the media. The Punjab government had spoken openly of them and had cited the security threat as a reason to delay by-polls. If we are unable to stop the militants despite such precise intelligence, there is quite obviously something that is very wrong. We need to find out where these oversights or lapses or negligence are occurring and why. In times of war there can be no room for mistakes, especially ones that lead to death and destruction on this scale. Worse still are the reports that at the Bedian Elite Force Training Centre, the militants, who reportedly included three women, may simply have climbed in over a back wall and taken up positions. A number of the militants are said also to have escaped, possibly by fleeing into the fields around. No one quite seems to know what has become of the terrorists who were not killed by the military operation staged at Bedian. The tactics used by the highly organized militants were an obvious replication of what we saw just days ago at GHQ. Three buildings belonging to the security apparatus were picked out and moved on almost simultaneously. The FIA building at Mozang, the police academy at Manawan and the sprawling Elite Force Training Centre at Bedian Road were obviously selected on the basis that they housed the personnel entrusted with the task of battling militancy. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has quickly claimed responsibility and the Lahore attack may have been a part of its bid to warn against an operation in South Waziristan. Police believe Punjab-based groups may have aided the TTP. The same partnership could be used again to stage more coordinated attacks. We do not yet know if a suicide bombing in Kohat that killed at least ten people was linked to the Lahore incidents. But the mere thought of strikes at the same time in different cities is terrifying. The war in our tribal areas has once more forced its way into our cities. There is a possibility that rival Taliban groups are engaged in an attempt to demonstrate superiority. It is possible too that the daring assaults are an act of desperation by a militia that faces defeat. But whatever the truth may be, the government must assess why authorities have repeatedly failed to pre-empt the strikes despite the existence of intelligence and why terrorists from the northwest have faced few problems in moving into fortified cities. For all the claims of our interior minister of having 'foiled' the militants, the fact is that bodies today again lie in morgue and the injured crowd hospital wards. We must find out why it has occurred and come up with ways to stop the other bombers who even now may be chalking up their plans and detecting security weaknesses they can exploit.

Source: The News International, Pakistan, Friday, October 16, 2009