Pakistan in Media

The terrible aftermath of the Rawalpindi carnage is now before us. Among the 40 dead are children and the elderly. Devastated families organise funerals and try to find ways to cope with their grief. They will, like the thousands of other victims of terror, never fully recover from death that took place so mercilessly and with so little reason. It is of course ironic that the killing took place during Friday prayers – marring an occasion that is most sacred to Muslims. The men behind it clearly have no faith, no morals and no humanity. Yet, despite this, condemnation from our religious leaders has been muffled. We have not heard the kind of outcry that would be expected. Such acts of course can never be condoned. We should all ask ourselves what we can do to protest against them more strongly and urge all those with any kind of influence in society to do the same. We have heard too from people who insist that 'agents' linked to RAW carried out the act. They base their reasoning on the argument that no Muslim would carry out such pure evil. This thinking is flawed. The premise on which it is based has proven to be false again and again. The killers, who grabbed people by their hair, shot them at close range while they still stood on prayer-mats and hurled grenades into the rows of worshippers, come from among us. There is every reason to believe they are not Muslim – on the basis that no true believer would be capable of such brutality, for Islam preaches tolerance and peace and love for all. But they are not outsiders planted by enemies. This is a reality we need to accept so that we can combat it.

There is now a growing sense that the militants may have links to the security apparatus. There have been unconfirmed reports that former police or army personnel could be involved. This is something that needs to be examined in some depth. It is possible that the brainwashing that in the past used 'jihad' as a motive has somehow become distorted and is now being used against the state of Pakistan. Over the past years we have seen many terrible scenes of death. The time has come to contemplate what can be done to ensure a better future. We must consider a programme to de-brainwash the affected. We must reach into madressahs and consider what is happening there. The issues of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and frustration must be addressed. These are giant ones and cannot be tackled overnight. The question is whether our government has the ability, the competence and the will to chalk out a plan to solve these problems and, by doing so, raise the hope that we can escape the violence that has overwhelmed us.

RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday reaffirmed that the Army would defend, protect and preserve Pakistan at all costs.

He said this while offering condolences to the bereaved families. The nation, including the Army, stands united in sharing their grief, he said. Having met and talked to these families, he praised their exemplary strength of faith at this moment of trial. ìThis intrinsic strength is a true reflection of the will and resilience of the nation, he said.

The COAS attended funerals of some of Shaheeds of the Friday's tragic terrorist attack, in which officers, soldiers, elders, children and civilians lost their lives. The COAS thanked the nation for their wholehearted support and sympathy at this hour of grief. This spontaneous and overwhelming show of solidarity by the nation with the Army is a treasure, which we deeply value and cherish,î he said.

Pakistan is our motherland. It is the bastion of Islam. We live and die for the glory of Islam and Pakistan. Our faith, resolve and pride in our religion and in our country is an asset, which is further reinforced after each terrorist incident, Gen Kayani said.

The COAS concluded by reaffirming his conviction in the will of the nation to fight all odds. He said the Army, with the help of the people of Pakistan, will Inshallah protect and preserve our core values and interests in a dignified and chivalrous manner.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: After nine months of a suicide attack on the general bus stand, the police arrested a former Taunsa Sharif Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer and his relative on Saturday night on charges of facilitating the mastermind in his visit to the Dhodak plant of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).

The police arrested JI former Tehsil Ameer Dr Naseemullah Qaisrani from his residence at Taunsa Sharif and Asif Khan from the Dhodak plant when he was on duty. Asif Khan is an employee of the OGDCL.

According to the police, Naseemullah Qaisrani and Ghulam Mustafa Qaisrani befriended during the Haj last year. Asif Khan had allegedly arranged a visit of alleged mastermind Ghulam Mustafa Qaisrani to the Dhodak plant before a suicide attack at the general bus stand on February 5, which left 28 people dead and over 50 injured.

The police had arrested Ghulam Mustafa Qaisrani in the last week of February and another accused, Qari Ismail Khalool, in the first week of March after the incident. The case is under trial in an anti-terrorism court. The families of both accused, Dr Naseemullah and Asif Khan, denied their involvement in any terrorist activity.

The causes of suicide bombings lie not in individual psychopathology but in broader social conditions. Understanding and knowledge of these conditions is vital for developing appropriate public policies and responses to protect the public

Suicide bombing attacks have become a weapon of choice among terrorist groups because of their lethality and ability to cause mayhem and fear. Though depressing, the almost daily news reports of deaths caused by suicide attacks rarely explain what motivates the attackers. Between 1981 and 2006, 1200 suicide attacks constituted 4 percent of all terrorist attacks in the world and killed 14,599 people or 32 percent of all terrorism related deaths.
more

Dawn, Pakistan, Saturday, 04 Jul, 2009
A SUICIDE bomber rammed his motorcycle into a bus carrying employees of the Kahuta Research Laboratories in Rawalpindi on Thursday, mercifully resulting in the death of only the attacker. At least 40 were injured, some critically. Simply yet another horrifying attack to be condemned and blamed on the militants? Not quite. A report in this paper has suggested that the four check-posts on Peshawar Road where the latest suicide attack took place are ineffectual and, worse, a magnet for unscrupulous elements in the police force looking to shake down ordinary civilians. “Innocent people are apprehended at one post and released at the other after ‘investigations’ and payment of what some of the police victims called ‘ransom’.” This is simply outrageous. A suicide attack on March 16 killed 10 people on the same road, and Rawalpindi generally has been attacked repeatedly in recent times. The very point of security check-posts is to make the city safer, not to harass the innocent. And with the threat to the city from militants still at an all-time high, it is doubly damning if inefficiencies and a business-as-usual approach to policing are allowed to reign.
More

Dawn, Pakistan
Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009

THE devastating strike against the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar is another sobering reminder that the terrorists are continually adapting their modus operandi and probing gaps in security arrangements in what should be high-security areas. The attacks on the FIA centre in Lahore in March 2008 and the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September introduced the devastation of truck-bombing to Pakistan and led to a scramble to put up heavy-duty security barriers at the entrances to buildings that could be potential targets of terrorists across the country. Then last month in Lahore, a similar attack on an ISI building may have been thwarted but it did severely damage a Rescue 15 building and killed dozens. Seemingly having learned from that experience, the terrorists in Peshawar arrived at the hotel in an innocuous looking car, and when the barrier was lowered for them they fired in the air dispersing the guards. Then, followed closely by the truck filled with the explosive material, they drove to their target. Even more alarmingly, the terrorists appear to have thoroughly reconnoitred their target: they exploded their truck at a point that caused maximum damage to the portion of the hotel that reportedly was occupied mostly by foreigners.

Read More

Daily Times, Pakistan
Saturday, June 06, 2009

* Over 70 injured as suicide bomber rips through worshippers in Hayagai Sharqai village of Upper Dir during Friday prayers
* Toll likely to rise as several people trapped under debris of severely damaged mosque

LOWER DIR: At least 40 people were killed and another 70 injured on Friday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in Hayagai Sharqai village in Upper Dir district, sources said.

Read More

Editorial, Dawn, Pakistan
Saturday, 30 May, 2009

ON consecutive days two of Pakistan’s largest cities, Lahore and Peshawar, have been attacked by terrorists, killing dozens and sowing the seeds of terror in an unprotected, vulnerable population. Connecting the dots between suicide attacks and bombings in cities and towns to the operation under way in Malakand division and the one perhaps imminent in South Waziristan is not very difficult: under pressure and under siege by the security forces, the militants are hoping to break the will of the state by attacking soft targets elsewhere. The police are a primary target, but the bombing of a historic bazaar in Peshawar suggests that the general population may soon become a regular target too. Hard choices confront the state today. The more it goes after the militants, the more they will lash out against the population in the hope that short-term political calculations will cause the state to back down. And securing the cities always has a trade-off: a total security clampdown, even if possible in theory, would leave life for ordinary citizens unbearable and make cities unliveable.

Equally, however, without striking at the roots of militancy in the country, the pipeline that churns out suicide bombers and terrorists can never be shut down. And that would leave all the security arrangements in the cities redundant; a steady stream of terrorists determined to attack cities would suck the state into an endless game of cat and mouse that it can never win. So the military option in the northwest and Fata is the correct one, but it comes with two caveats. One, the military option must be effective: destroying entire areas and the lives of local populations in the effort to eliminate militants is counterproductive. If the state acts clumsily, it may well succeed in killing today’s crop of militants, but it would do so at the cost of possibly creating a new generation of militants culled from among the disaffected and abused local populations. So, without doing everything it can to protect the local populations, the state may find itself facing an even greater problem of militancy.

Second, intelligence-gathering and policing in the cities must be stepped up. At the moment, riddled as they are with inefficiencies, the police forces in the cities are not up to the task of counter-terrorism activities. Arrests are made frequently and alleged terrorist cells have been broken up in cities on a regular basis. But there is a gnawing sense that the intelligence apparatus and police set-ups in the cities are severely overstretched. They may be doing their best, but their best is limited by the resources, manpower and training at their disposal. More of everything is needed, and the federal and provincial governments must work to ensure it reaches the right hands at the earliest.

Source

Editorial, The News International, Pakistan

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Within two days of the Lahore blast, they have struck again – multiple times, in Peshawar and DI Khan. At least 14 people have died; hundreds have been injured. The trauma in terms of the panic that hit Qissa Khwani bazaar in Peshawar, where two of the blasts took place, followed by a gun-battle in the alleys of the city's biggest market is immeasurable. There is a limit to what we can do to safeguard ourselves. Measures announced, such as the checking of all trucks as they enter cities, will be effective only if they are properly implemented. In the past this has not happened even in Islamabad. There is also a need to seek public vigilance and ask citizens too to keep a watch out for potential bombers. It has been seen that in the aftermath of every attack, as blood stains streets, there is chaos first at the site of the incident and later at hospitals. This is an area that can be corrected. Rescue services can be bolstered and given better training, as can hospital staff. Trauma care is a specialized sphere. Our allies overseas can help us improve the limited expertise we currently have.

The war being fought in the north has entered our cities as well. The militants have in the past used their ability to strike here as a tactic of blackmail. This time round there can be no question of giving in to them. The COAS has stated Pakistan will not give in to terror. The resolve is a welcome one. But we must also face up to the fact that the fighting will continue for some time; that the Taliban will not simply disappear. Even now, though we hear that they have 'retreated' from a specific area, one wonders where they have gone – and whether they are hoping to save men so they can one day, strike again. Until they are finally vanquished, we will see more mayhem in our cities. We must do all that is possible to secure them, and take measures, like any nation caught up in war, to minimize casualties and ensuring victims of bomb attacks receive the best possible care.

Source

By The Associated Press – 1 day ago

A look at some recent major attacks in Pakistan or blamed on Pakistan-based militants:

_ May 27, 2009: A suicide car bomber targets buildings housing police and intelligence offices in the eastern city of Lahore, killing about 30 and wounding at least 250.

_ March 30, 2009: Gunmen armed with rifles and hand grenades attack a police academy on the outskirts of Lahore, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens.

_ March 27, 2009: A suicide bomber demolishes a packed mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud, killing about 50 people and injuring scores more.

_ March 3, 2009: Gunmen attack the Sri Lankan national cricket team in Lahore, wounding several players and killing six policemen and a driver.

_ Nov. 26-28, 2008: Ten attackers, allegedly from Pakistan, kill 164 people in a three-day assault on luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other sites in Mumbai, India.

_ Sept. 20, 2008: A suicide truck bomb kills at least 54 and wounds more than 250 and devastates the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.

_ Sept. 6, 2008: A suicide car bombing kills at least 35 people and wounds 80 at a police checkpoint in Peshawar.

_ Aug. 21, 2008: Suicide bombers blow themselves up at two gates of a weapons factory in the town of Wah, killing at least 67 people and wounding at least 100.

_ March 11, 2008: Suicide bombs rip through seven-story police headquarters and a house in Lahore, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 200.

_ Feb. 29, 2008: Suicide bomber strikes funeral of slain police officer in the Swat Valley, killing more than 40 people and wounding at least 60.

_ Jan. 10, 2008: Suicide bomber blows himself up among police guarding the High Court in Lahore, killing 24 people and wounding scores more.

_ Dec. 27, 2007: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and 20 other people are killed in a suicide bombing and shooting attack in Rawalpindi, just south of the capital.

Source