Daily Times

Forewarned is forearmed. Not so. Armed are those who know they can pass through the leaking system of countering terror. And leakages are many. When the virus has affected the whole system, doing a localised operation will only result in temporary relief. When selectiveoperations, selective justice and the selective action takes place, it logically results in selective relief. The Lahore blast, followed by blasts in all provinces especially the terrible Sehwan Sharif tragedy, is a horrendous reminder of how fragile and misleading this sense of security is where we are led to believe that by in large the terrorists have been rounded up. These blasts are a torturous reminder of how even when we know; we don’t know. Eight blasts in five days is a taunting rebuttal of all claims that the National Action Plan is really a plan in action and not just in conversation.

Patterns are frighteningly familiar. The terrorists recoup and restart their hunt. The intelligence agencies send written warnings to concerned ministries. The relevantministries show minimum concern and promise maximum safety. The terrorists follow through their plan unhindered creating tragic massacres. The ministers vow not to rest till they put these barbarians to rest. However, what follows after the cries of the families die down and the media finds new breaking news is that action is not taken where it should be and not with the collective force of all “concerned”. What is happening to Quetta Commission report itself is an evidence of the attitude and mindset of the people who are directly responsible for countering and controlling terror. The Commission report has been termed almost a conspiracy against the Ministry of Interior and its findings almost a blasphemy on government.

The best way to fail is not to accept failure. The Quetta Commission report made a very detailed examination of flaws in the pre- and post-attack gaps. There were serious questions raised on why the Minister of Interior met the head of a banned organisation hours before the attack. This produced an angry and prolonged press conference by the minister of how he wanted to resign after this false reporting and how the Prime Minister did not allow him to take this step. He vowed to fight this report at every stage, and the blasts in Lahore and other cities is a confirmation of his success in this pledge. In a comprehensive reply placed before the Supreme Court on Friday, the Interior Ministry dubbed the damning findings of the Quetta inquiry commission on terrorism ‘unnecessary, uncalled for and violative of natural justice’. And this was in response to one of the biggest tragedies in Quetta where a generation of lawyers passed away.

Why was the Lahore blast of extra significance? Firstly, this was the most viral pre-warning given for this attack. Nearly every social media site displayed this letter. On 7 February, a notification addressing the Home Secretary, Punjab, the Provincial Police Officer and DG Pak Rangers Punjab, the National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA) had warned of a possible terrorist attack in Lahore. NACTA had directed that all vital installations, including important buildings, hospitals and schools, be kept under strict vigilance. Only a proper enquiry can reveal what happened and what did not happen in the week before the attack. Going by the government’s response to Quetta report it is highly unlikely that another “independent’ commission will be set up to find where the system lapsed.

However, these are tactical and procedural findings, what is more, important is the sustainability of the terrorist organisations despite three years of the most comprehensive operation in the country. The organisation that has taken responsibility for this attack, Jamaatul Ahraar is an old hand with a new name. Jamaatul Ahrar is a splinter group from the Movement of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), announced during August 2014. The splinter group is led by former commanders of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, such as Ihsanullah Ihsan, the former spokesman of the TTP, and Omar Khorasani, a senior leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. They also claimed the responsibility of the deadly attack on Easter in Gulshan-e-Ravi Park Lahore where over 70 people lost their lives just eight months ago. What action has taken place against them in eight months is again a top secret only to be shared with secret agencies perhaps.

The National Action Plan has come under fire for its nominal implementation. The tricky areas of banned outfits, mainstreaming madrassahs, counter narrative development and choking terror financing are all areas that are vague, nebulous and grey. The federal government evades these discussions or simply puts it on provincial shoulders and provinces complain about thelack of resources and support from the capital for these operations. Meanwhile, this breathing space has given the time for the splinter groups to regroup under different names and reorganise their terror efforts. The foreign policy debacle with Afghanistan has now opened an India like the cross-border blame game. Any bomb blast in Afghanistan is blamed on Pakistan nursing Haqqani network, and any bomb blast in Pakistan is blamed on Jamaatul Ahraar being nursed by Afghanistan. Whatever the truth maybe, the fact of the matter is that if the leaders in the two countries are not serious about making an all-out joint effort to eradicate these groups, both countries will continue to suffer.

But what can be done and has not been done is putting our own house in order. The CounterterrorismDepartment of Punjab Police had given a report in the Lahore High Court that 1000 wanted terrorists were at large in Punjab and blamed the lack of capacity and performance in the CounterterrorismDepartment. The system of political recruitments in institutions and the system of political adjustments with offenders is now assuming monstrous proportions.

The recent victory in a by-election of Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi, son of Haq Nawaz Jhangvi who founded Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan — a sectarian organisation that was later banned in the country, is case in point. This is indeed the failure of a system that allowed entry of a person in the Fourth Schedule to the provincial legislature, giving a wrong message to the world community and the security forces fighting against extremism and terrorism. He is rumoured to be supported by Rana Sanaullah, and thus the “seat adjustment” compromise has resulted in a compromise with the national interest. At the end of the day, it is this dangerous mindset that trivialises lost lives, family traumas and tragic injuries that nourished dangerous actions. What more can be said for countering terror when your Minister of Interior pledges to fight an enquiry into the causes of the Quetta tragedy and your Minister of Law blames the protesting public as an instigator for the Lahore tragedy.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com