Pakistan is the target of terrorist attacks almost every day now. The spread and range of attacks seems to be widening with each passing day. On December 7 we saw two major cities — Peshawar and Lahore — being targeted and the very next day the office of a sensitive agency in Multan was also rocked by blasts. A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Peshawar Sessions Court while the twin blasts in Lahore occurred at the Moon Market, which is considered one of the busiest markets in the city.Attacks in three major cities of Pakistan highlight the reach of the militants. The terrorist network seems not only to be strengthening, its choice of targets too is widening. In Peshawar they targeted the judiciary; in Lahore they targeted civilians, including women and children, while in Multan they targeted the security agencies. The militants have targeted the security forces time and again; the GHQ attack proved that they have the means to target one of the best guarded places in the country. Security checkposts, offices of intelligence agencies, the Naval Complex, police academies, etc., have been the target of the militants. To execute attacks against the high-profile security apparatus takes more time and planning while targeting civilians is a far easier task. Now there is a generalised terror campaign against the public. This is a serious threat for the entire country.The government and the security agencies need to take stock of the situation and come up with new strategies to counter this rise in terrorist activity. They also need to stop living in denial about certain things. For terrorist attacks in Peshawar and surrounding areas, it can be said that there is an involvement of the local people or militants from FATA, but can the same thing be said about Lahore or Multan? For a long time now the authorities have not been very forthright about the seminaries in south Punjab. There is a strong presence of jihadi outfits in south Punjab and if we do not take steps to deal with them immediately, it would be too late and there might be another ‘South Waziristan’ on our hands very soon. It seems as if the nexus between other jihadi organisations and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is getting stronger. Intelligence reports have also warned of terrorist attacks in Karachi at the airport, hospitals, and against foreigners. Karachi is already a tinderbox waiting to explode. The ethnic divide in the city has led to many casualties in the past and if the terrorists manage to give an ethnic colouring to the attacks, the situation could become serious. After the Lahore attack, the authorities said that since it is a large city, it is hard to monitor activities citywide. These remarks apply with greater force in Karachi. One of the inherent difficulties in countering terrorism is devising a mechanism to prevent these attacks. For that we need good intelligence and police work so that pre-emptive action could be taken. Only then can a terrorist attack be stopped. Once the attack is launched, it is very difficult to stop it. The terrorists have launched a campaign to paralyse state institutions and intimidate the public. There is a dire need to launch a public awareness campaign about suspicious characters, vehicles and objects and to persuade the public to report these to the concerned authorities. The state’s security agencies cannot be present everywhere. In order to prevent catastrophes, the state needs to mobilise the public. The public can be the eyes and ears of the state. A political consensus is needed to launch this campaign. Rehman Malik’s efforts to bring the ulema on board are commendable, but now it is time that all political parties come together and launch a countrywide campaign against terrorism. g The Balochistan Package In a rare concession shown to any sitting government the 39-point package, known as the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan presented earlier by the government on November 24, has received commendation from the leader of the opposition, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. The package, prepared by a seven-member parliamentary committee headed by Senator Raza Rabbani, aims to redress the decades old woes of Balochistan, and has purportedly been drafted with attention focused specifically on issues covering political, administrative and economic aspects.Simultaneous to these felicitations comes criticism from Baloch leaders who, yet again, feel excluded from the process of decision making and policy formulation for their province. Given the restive history of the province and the ongoing military operation, some Baloch leaders eye the package with suspicion and have criticised it for disregarding certain aspects considered critical by the people of Balochistan. Featuring high since the time of independence is the grievance of the Baloch nationalists of being treated as a colony by the state instead of integrating the province as an equal part of the federation. In terms of area covered, the 135,000 square miles province is the largest, comprising nearly 43 percent of the total area of the country, but with a population of 7 million people. Its long borders with Iran and Afghanistan point to its geo-strategic importance. Reports of extremists using the province’s rugged and often inaccessible terrain for anti-state activities have led the government to initiate a military offensive. Statistics compiled on the province indicate that it falls lowest on literacy, school enrolment, educational attainment index and health as compared to the other provinces. Nearly 78 percent have no access to electricity, and despite providing the bulk of natural gas to the entire country, 79 percent of the Baloch people remain deprived.If those grievances are not enough to view the present package with suspicion, the issue of missing persons stands as a potential threat in completely eradicating trust between the state and the province. Perceptions of alienation and exploitation held by the majority of the Baloch people are not helped much by reports of disappearances and torture by intelligence agencies. A report published by the Asian Human Rights Commission on June 5, 2008, claims that torture and detention centres have been set up where people are detained incommunicado. Various political Baloch groups have cited thousands of cases of arrests and have accused the intelligence agencies of picking up dissident political leaders on trumped up charges of terrorism or anti-state activities without the prospect of a fair trial.If the PPP-led government cannot radically undo past instances of injustice, as a preface to the Balochistan package it can, at the very least, commit to the provision of the rights inherent in the constitution to a province struggling to achieve control over its natural resources and safeguard its cultural identity. *