Daily Times

At last, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi have spoken about the March 26 suicide attack on Chinese engineers in Bisham shedding light on the sinister plot hatched by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) with the help of hostile foreign intelligence agencies. According to the minister, the suicide attack, which claimed the lives of five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver, was planned and executed from Afghanistan, with the TTP leadership receiving heavy funding from enemy intelligence agencies.

The interior minister has taken a diplomatic route by demanding that the Afghan interim government arrest and prosecute the alleged terrorists, including TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud. While his press conference is for domestic consumption, the government had better activate diplomatic channels towards ensuring accountability and preventing future attacks. Pakistan Foreign Office should reach their counterparts in Kabul to act against TTP terrorists operating from its soil. The lack of action has emboldened militants to launch attacks from these safe havens. In recent days, the country has seen several terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunwak and Balochistan. In all attacks, facilitation and funding from hostile countries are evident. The timeline of events leading up to the attack, as revealed by National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) coordinator Rai Tahir, is chilling. The attacker, an Afghan national, traveled to Pakistan four months before the attack and was facilitated by local handlers, who prepared him for the deadly mission.

The involvement of TTP leaders and foreign intelligence agencies in the suicide attack on Chinese guests exhibits the cruel reality that hostile forces have safe havens in Afghanistan and sleeper cells in Pakistan. These threats have lingered on for decades. The government’s resolve to take unilateral action if Afghanistan fails to cooperate is a necessary step to ensure national security. While the minister has taken up the issue with foreign countries, he must look into the working of law-enforcement agencies. Questions remain about the negligence of security officials who failed to detect the car carrying explosives, which traveled over 1,000km inside Pakistan without being intercepted. Action against these officials is essential to prevent similar lapses in the future.

Learning lessons from the Bisham attack, we should remember that the dangers posed by terrorist groups and hostile foreign agencies are far from over. We must continue to press Afghanistan to act against TTP terrorists and take all necessary measures to protect its citizens and national interests. *