Revisiting the Pakistan Navy Station (PNS) Mehran attack is inescapable even after the passing of four days. The tragedy did not end at an intelligence failure, security lapse and inefficient response to the audacious attack by the militants. The sorry saga continues in the utterly confusing manner information about the attack is being handled now. No conclusive figure has come about the number of attackers, those who were killed, and those who escaped. Different figures, between six and 18, have been quoted by different officials, including the interior minister and the Pakistan Navy chief. The impression that the right hand does not know what the left is doing is adding to the confusion of the already confused and disillusioned public. This is a very alarming situation. From various news reports its appears that the terrorists were much better organised and informed than the tally of the military and civilian leadership who are dishing out conflicting claims. This has prompted the rest of the world to express concerns about our nuclear installations, despite the fact that Pakistan meets the best international nuclear safety standards, making it all but impossible to take them out. During his visit to the PNS Mehran base, the prime minister said it was a cowardly attack and that the militants would not be allowed to destabilise Pakistan. Such statements cut no ice with the public who cannot dismiss the growing perception that our security agencies are neither capable of dealing with external nor internal threats. Pakistan is already undergoing multifaceted instability in large swaths of its land. This is not due to scarcity of resources or skills. In fact, until some years ago, Pakistan’s defence bill used to constitute the largest chunk of its national budget when it was overtaken by debt servicing, and in term of skills, Pakistan’s military competes with the best in the world. The problem lies with the paradigm espoused by our security establishment that looks on India as an archenemy and Afghanistan as its backyard. In pursuit of a flawed security policy premised on this paradigm, the security establishment has put its entire stakes in the ‘strategic assets’, i.e. religious extremist militants, purposely created to fight as proxies in India and Afghanistan. The proliferation of jihadis and their activities on our land has obliterated the difference between the ‘good Taliban’ and ‘bad Taliban’. Arguably, there are jihadi elements or sympathisers within the armed forces, who believe in the overthrowing of the state for the establishment of an ‘Islamic’ caliphate in Pakistan and elsewhere. After a series of recent incidents, no one should doubt that we are facing a Frankenstein’s monster that has come back to haunt us. We must brace to deal with this monster and, in addition to carrying out internal purges amongst the security forces, dismantle the jihadi networks and block their sources of funding. Pakistan should focus on developing friendly relationships based on mutual respect with all its neighbours, including Afghanistan. No one has been able to control the Afghans, nor should Pakistan harbour this dream at the expense of its own security and survival. The cabinet defence committee that met yesterday, chaired by the prime minister, should take into account the overall security policy, not just its political aspects. In addition to evolving a plan to safeguard our military bases and strategic assets, the government and the military must redouble their efforts to get to the bottom of the jihadi nexus and smash it.*