It does not make much sense when the prime minister talks about non-leniency towards terrorists to be uttered in a mild manner in his address to the nation following the terrifying attack in Lahore that claimed over 70 lives, mainly children, at a park. Though his address to the nation has been received with mixed views, and that he has had nothing concrete in his speech to share, he failed to deliver an aggressive message to terrorists, which is what most of the people were expecting and hoping to hear from him. And although there had been many a contradiction in his statements with that of the military, instead of showing that military and government are on the same page, he had instead praised his government for taking action against terrorists by bringing in the National Action Plan (NAP), and ordering Zarb-e-Azb during his tenure, the hard interventions against terrorism that had been ignored by previous governments. This again appeared to be an overstatement, as attacks on the Army Public School attack and Bacha Khan University happened during the tenure of the current government.
Moreover, according to South Asian Terrorism Portal, which carries record of all the reported terro- related incidents across the country, the fatalities today have had an increase by 122.22 percent since 2010. The portal has recorded that there are about 57 extremist and terrorist groups in Punjab, out of which 28 belong to Lahore alone. The groups in Punjab consist of Jamat-ud-Dawa, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad, many others of their splinter groups that are working under different names, mainly portraying themselves as charity organisations. Also, it would be wrong to assume that this devastating attack in Lahore on Sunday was the first of its kind where women and children were mainly targeted. Between 2008-2016, there had been about 17 terrorist attacks in Lahore alone, which resulted in over 518 deaths of men, women and children. Moon Market, Youhanabad, Data Darbar, Model Town and Garhi Shahu, worship places of the Ahmadiya community and RA Bazar had been direct civilian targets, but the lessons on security lapses had not been learnt.
There remains a strong disconnect between the warnings of security agencies and the action of the authorities to preempt the attacks. The coordination has always been a less-addressed issue between the government institutions and the military, which is causing the major security lapses in the country. Moreover, the army has also been not very clear in its communication about its actions, leaving the public in the dark about the current status. There had been claims that terrorism is under control, but with each attack, it appears that the terror network is becoming more and more strengthened, and terrorists find their opportunity in the state’s administrative weaknesses. Sharif in his address said that terrorism is a global phenomenon. Well sir, that is true, but our homegrown terrorism is a very real problem as well, which has given room to global terrorists/operatives belonging to the Daesh and al-Qaeda in the country. It is not so simple an issue as has been reflected in the address. Please address the issue of the militant wings of the extremist groups operating freely and undeterred here.
The civilian authority seems to remain in a state of denial. Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister of Punjab has repeatedly denied presence of militant factions of madrassas (religious seminaries) in the province, but the empirical data on that has been communicated by the intelligence agencies earlier. The prime intelligence agency has communicated to Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar about the Ghazi Force of Lal Masjid, but so far, he has denied that any illegal activity is taking place right under his nose. One cannot fully determine if the government is aiding the militants by denying their presence and whether the agencies are compiling false reports to the authorities on which they refuse to act. Whatever the case maybe, it appears there is a major deficit of trust between the departments. The nod for a military operation in Punjab by the COAS and the later PM’s address to the nation has left one baffled about anti-terror policies. The Punjab law minister said that crackdown is a national operation and the army and Rangers would only be called in if and when required, whereas Lt-General Asim Bajwa made it clear that army is already taking action against terrorists in Punjab. Previously, COAS General Raheel Sharif said that there would be no joint action with the police in Punjab, nor will that action cede into any pressure from the government. The confusion remains as to who is doing what, and there seems to be nonchalance about the actual fault-lines of the province. The culture of denials by the top leadership in Punjab is troublesome. In January and in a press statement on March 29, 2016, Sanaullah has repeatedly rejected the notion that there are safe havens for terrorists and no-go areas in Punjab. This, in itself, is contestable.
An operation against militants is urgently needed, and the pressure has been mounting on the Punjab government for quite some time. However, government has always shied away from taking stern actions in Punjab, which has resulted in this ultimate showdown. On January14, 2015, the federal interior minister had stated in a press conference on the implementation of the NAP that there are at least 95 proscribed organisations operating in Punjab.
If government does not get serious now, it will have to face very serious consequences that will end in more chaos. The lessons need to be learnt from the past by now. Making more JITs and fact-finding missions is not always the answer if it means a mere public show of administrative efficiency. And there is no time to waste in political issues parties have with one another, nor should it become an ego issue between the military and the government. A bit of sincerity from both towards the people of Pakistan would certainly be more beneficial.
The writer is a freelance columnist and can be contacted at [email protected] or on twitter @zeeahashmi”