Daily Times

“I know that my brother will not come back with the arrest of the killers, but this process of taking innocent lives must come to a stop.” This was Barrister Aman Ullah’s brother, talking to the media after the death of his brother, the young barrister and principal of the Law College of Quetta.

Sadly, “the process of taking innocent lives” continues…

It was the same process that took away the life of senior lawyer Bilal Anwar Kasi, and it is continuity of the very same process that took away a whole generation of lawyers from Quetta. Lawyers who had gathered at the Civil Lines Hospital in Quetta on Monday to receive the dead body of Anwar Kasi were targeted in one of the most horrific attacks taking place in the country during 2016.

According to a young lawyer and member of the Balochistan Bar Council, Barkhurdar Khan, “All, I repeat all senior practising lawyers and barristers died today.” This is the extent of damage that the lawyers’ community in Quetta had to bear. They not only lost their seniors, but the most well-known lawyers the city had ever produced.

The whole country is asking the state and the government the very same question: what happened to the National Action Plan (NAP)? It was the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar that led the country to formulate and implement NAP, but are we still committed to the cause as we were back then? No sir, I don’t think so.

Do we need another plan to stop attacks like the one in Quetta? Or do we need to revisit our priorities when it comes to saving the country from terrorists and their heinous agendas? Well, I personally believe that instead of switching from one plan to the other, it is better if we stick to the original, and take a look at our individual and collective actions. Instead of playing the blame game, it is better if all of us begin to realise that terrorism or violent extremism cannot be rooted out until all of us stand against it together. The federal government blaming the provincial governments or vice versa is not in the best interest of the country.

NAP was formulated after a detailed consultation with all the important stakeholders then why are we lacking in its implementation? It is true that the implementation of NAP is not the sole responsibility of the armed forces or the various law enforcement agencies, and that it is the collective responsibility of all of us, especially those who have been given a mandate by the voters from across the country.

By killing lawyers, media personnel, academicians, youth, doctors, engineers and members of civil society, terrorists are trying to prove that they can hit us where it hurts the most. There is no doubt that this attack or the others before it represent the worst form of extremism that the country has ever endured, but this shouldn’t be the end of it. We must stand firm against this threat.

It is always heart-wrenching to see that we as a nation have developed a dependency on such horrible incidents to renew our resolve against violent extremism. Why can’t we take preemptive measures to avoid such incidents? Why can’t we develop and, most importantly, follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) and codes of conduct for every public place or gathering, especially at places that remain vulnerable to such attacks?

It is true that suicide attacks are hard to avoid, but I firmly believe that by following certain SOPs and codes of conduct we can avoid damage of this scale. It is shameful for all of us, especially the provincial government and law enforcement agencies, that despite warnings by intelligence agencies, we were unable to avoid this or other similar incidents. The security personnel responsible for the security of the hospital were unable to protect the hospital premises, especially when a large number of lawyers and media personnel were expected. The provincial police department was unable to deploy extra security even though the intelligence agencies had given a prior warning. Similarly, the hospital management and administration and every other department that was responsible for the safety of those entering the hospital premises failed, and with them failed the National Action Plan.

It is about time that we started taking responsibility for our actions instead of blaming one another. The National Action Plan is an agreed upon plan that must be followed by every responsible government and department in order to make
it successful.

The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com