Daily Times

The aftermath of the tragic bomb blast in Quetta has been mired in controversy of the most loathsome type, and not even the slightest regard to the suffering of its victims was given by those who wished to make political capital out of it. Some members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in their attempt at making their party and its leadership the centre of attention suggested that the timing of the bomb blast was suspect since their “accountability movement” was underway. As if this thinly veiled blame towards the ruling party was not reprehensible enough, these stalwarts of PTI even had the temerity to suggest the same for the Army Public School attack in 2014. While the PTI leadership has long forsaken adherence to the acceptable norms of political discourse, this is a new low for the party, and it is imperative that PTI chief Imran Khan discipline those who have brazenly adopted this position, and distance himself and his party from this position.

However, government’s response to this horrific tragedy has been woefully inadequate. Chief Minister of Balochistan Sanaullah Zehri has suggested that the involvement of Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), cannot be ruled out while Home Minister of Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti has even said that government has ample evidence of RAW sponsoring attacks in Balochistan. While it would be naïve to believe that certain foreign forces would not take advantage of a crisis in the region to cause further instability, nevertheless, ascribing blame on RAW has become a scapegoat for the state. In the already heavily securitised province of Balochistan, security failures must be taken seriously, and the cause of these security lapses must be identified and rectified. Intelligence agencies must work with the local police force to clamp down all militant hideouts. After all, only once these militant organisations are completely dismantled can these extremists be deprived of the support to carry out these attacks. Moreover, proper training must be provided to security guards and the state must step in to ensure that guards are well-equipped and vigilant at all times.

It is true that terrorism is not something that can be fixed overnight as it would require a sustained effort, which addresses the myriad dimensions of the problem not least of which is the socio-economic aspect. Abject poverty coupled with misappropriated religious scripture has created a monster that has proved to very difficult to fight. Whether it is the “Islamic State” (IS) or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), their method — use of violence to create fear and panic — is identical. It is highly unlikely that IS’s claim to be behind this attack is true, as local militant groups have for long carried out sectarian attacks in the region. Jamaat-ur-Ahrar’s claim, a splinter group of TTP, seems more probable, but all of this still remains unsubstantiated. Regardless, the direction that the state should take is the same. In addition to a military campaign, it is also imperative that these extremist ideas also be contested at the ideological level. The clergy in Pakistan must reclaim the space that has been ceded to these militant groups and spread the message of peace in Islam. Only through a multidimensional approach can the roots of militancy and extremism be completely eliminated. *