Daily Times

Three terrorists armed with AK-47, wearing suicide vests, stormed into the New Sariab Police Training College (PTC) on Monday night killing more than 61 and injuring dozens, majority of them cadets, in a most callous and cowardly attack. After an hours-long operation by army, FC and police the three terrorists were neutralised. Two of them detonated themselves while one was killed by LEAs. Communication intercepts showed the attack was carried out by the Al-Alimi faction of the nefarious Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militant group.

After the deadly attack on the PTC, we again experienced different reactions to the attack. TV channels covering the incident asked security and political experts to comment on this grisly incident. One section of the experts, as usual, was of the view that such attacks are being carried out on the behest of our neighbouring ‘enemy’, India. And that India is waging this indirect war on us, and has accelerated it to sap our prosperity in the context of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). They were of the view that it was an attack on CPEC.

The second section of experts was of the view that it is the homegrown militants who are responsible for this turpitude, and that state institutions are unable and unwilling to disarm these functional militias. As per the experts, these militias are being used by our enemy agencies to carry out attacks on LEAs and civilians.

The third section was underscoring ‘terror’s whack-a-mole problem’. They were of the view that the Pakistani nation has seen more gruesome attacks than this one, and that they shall be ready to witness some more bloody incidents. They tried hard to desensitise Pakistanis on any future terrorist attack. After the attack on the PTC, we also witnessed, as usual, a flood of condemnation by our political leaders. The most intriguing and shameful comment was that this attack had been carried out to stop the November 2 Islamabad lockdown, followed by a federal minister’s remark that every time a political party announces or is undergoing a protest there surfaces some terror attack. Both ask the masses to muse if there is any link.

According to the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Sanaullah Zehri, the provincial government had reports by state’s intelligence agencies that some militants along with two suicide bombers had entered the city of Quetta. He stated: “They did not get a chance to enter the city so they carried out the attack on city’s outskirts.” So the chief minister believes that the militants without even doing any homework or preparation entered the academy? They were on their way to hit some public/government place in the center of Quetta, but when they saw some extraordinary security within the city they changed their mind and conducted an impromptu attack on the PTC? And that they were not aware of the dilapidated walls of the facility, and when they saw that there was negligible security they decided to target it on a whim? Seriously, the statement is more of a surprise than the attack itself.

The dynamics of this attack suggest incompetence and lack of determination. Balochistan is a hub of militias. Mainly, three types of militant outfits operate there: Taliban, sectarian outfits and separatists. The capability of separatists in Balochistan has been greatly diminished. Literally, they do not have the capacity now to carry out such a massive massacre, mainly because of the determination of state institutions to finish the insurgency in Balochistan. There is zero tolerance policy for the separatists. The sectarian outfits, mainly and the most conspicuous, SSP/LeJ/ASWJ, are not on the radar of state institutions. And if they are, they still manage to orchestrate such massacres on the streets of Quetta. Our state institutions have told us that they have taken a stern action against sectarian outfits in Punjab, killing the supremo of the LeJ, Malik Ishaq, and arresting his close aides, but can they please apprise us why they are lenient on them in Balochistan?

The Taliban, ‘friends of Pakistan’, are in full swing in Balochistan. We are being told that they never carry out any attack on Pakistan. They are the friends. The attack on the PTC raises some serious questions. Why were there no proper security arrangements to protect the cadets in the facility? As the country is undergoing a war against terrorism, why were there no drill exercises in the training college to avoid or minimise casualties? Why did the institute have only the first line of defence? Why did the terrorists only encounter a watchtower sentry to enter the building? Why is it so easy for militants to enter Balochistan from Afghanistan? Is the responsibility of the intelligence agencies to just apprise the government of the possible attack or are they also needed to thwart the plan?

It does not matter whether it is RAW, Mossad, CIA or any other foreign agency that is wielding such appalling attacks in Pakistan; the fact of the matter is that so far we have not killed any militant who was an Indian or Israelite or American. It Is Pakistan’s own nationals most of the time who lead such brazen attacks. A lack of security system in the country is making such attacks easy for the beasts.

The Baloch have seen many such bloodbaths. Recently, they witnessed their young and energetic lawyers being slayed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s religiously motivated terrorists. The sorrow of that massacre had not yet ended, and now they have experienced another massacre of their young people. Let us hope that the elected government and military establishment will leave no stone unturned to protect this country’s citizens, and dispel the impression that some state institutions are condoning some ‘privileged’ militias. Let us hope that no Pakistani, regardless of his/her creed, ethnicity and race, pay the price of state’s plagued and flawed security and foreign policy. In lieu of relying on various unofficial ‘armies’, why can’t we rely on just one? The official one. And that the adamant braggadocio of our political and military leadership meets sanity.

The writer is a freelance columnist