Daily Times

It seems as if Pakistan marks religious occasions not
with holy reverence but with the blood of its people. On the day of the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), a suicide bomber detonated himself in the Urdu Bazaar a short distance from the entry point to the procession. Incidentally, this was also the entry point for those attending the urs of Hazrat Ali Hajvery (RA). The attacker managed to kill 10 people and injure some 85 others. Lahore was once again turned into a macabre vision of death with an extremely panicked citizenry being made victim of the religious intolerance of the jihadists. While the blood of Lahore’s people was still soaking the pavement, news reports started pouring in of another bomb blast in Karachi, this time targeting a police mobile in Malir when devotees were returning from the chehlum procession. Three police constables were killed and others were injured. These twin bombings, aimed at disrupting a religious occasion, fervently followed by the Shia sect, succeeded in adding more fear to the hearts of anyone who follows a belief other than that of the hardliner militants.

The militants are continuing their pattern. While they attack security personnel and law enforcement agencies on a regular basis, they also turn up the ante and attack civilians especially when they are partaking in a religious event. Processions and shrines have all been attacked by suicide bombers in the past. These intolerant monsters have spared nobody and no sect; even the Sunnis are murdered without any remorse — the attack in July of Data Darbar is just one such incident.

It would be unfair to say that security was inadequate as previous incidents have made law enforcement agencies tighten security whenever there are such processions. It is just not possible to provide foolproof security when there are militants ready to blow themselves up for no cause whatsoever. The police must be commended for stopping the bomber before he entered the area proper as a lot more damage would have been inflicted. It is vital that the government start some far-reaching, wide-scale public awareness campaigns to educate the citizens on detecting suspicious looking characters, what they wear (puffy jackets, etc) and how they act. In this way, more citizens will be actively involved in helping to catch those who attack their way of life.

What is really alarming is the fact that the bomber was a mere 16-year-old. Why would someone so young be ready to die for intolerance? This is because the militants know no bounds; they have gone on record as saying that, in this war, it is children who will be trained to spread the message of Islam. It is terrifying that these children are so easily brainwashed that they believe bloodshed and carnage is the word of God. The government needs to start focusing on these easy recruits; it needs to tackle the abysmal state of education, the inadequate job opportunities and massive poverty that are providing the terrorists with willing recruits.

The army needs to understand that the enemy is a body of guerrilla warriors who are now filtering in from FATA to attack urban centres. There are splinter groups of militants in the cities who provide suicide bombers with strategic and logistical planning, making their attacks a lot more organised. The army has got to start infiltrating into the ranks of the terrorists to have up-close and personal intelligence on potential targets and sensitive areas. It needs to fight fire with fire. It is no secret that our intelligence agencies have been nurturing the terrorists, it is time that trusting relationship was used to our advantage.

Unless a two-pronged strategy is adopted, with political and military tactics employed to wipe out this scourge, many more innocent people will be murdered like they were on Tuesday.*