February 2014 has been unfolding as the month of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Imran Khan, the PTI chairman, recently made a startling revelation that an ex-army chief had told him that there were less than 40 percent chances of success of any operation against the banned outfits. The then army chief, however, categorically denied the attributed statement. With this disclosure, whether true or erroneous in reality, some mainstream media channels have started allocating undue coverage to the heads of banned outfits. They are airing long interviews in which they explain their own version of sharia and try to justify terror strikes. The print and electronic media is the most powerful weapon to mould the minds of young people. The Pakistani nation is already distressed and undergoing agony and the pain being afflicted by daily terror strikes. Such media acts add insult to their injury.
The terrorists have been fighting in a guerilla war-like style. They attack their targets and flee easily from the rampage. The Wall Street Journal has reported that one third of Karachi lives under TTP and al Qaeda influence and dominance. The report further elaborated that the sympathisers of so-called terrorists run in the hundreds of thousands. With that revelation, the police have started digging trenches around their police stations to save their own lives while the common citizens remain as vulnerable and as soft a target for the terror hits as they were before. These guerilla-like fighters cannot be defeated like this where the Karachi police have adopted the cowardly policy of only protecting themselves. In the view of the Wall Street Journal report, the fate of the September 2013 launched Karachi operation does not seem good and positive. The Karachi operation was started with the aim of bringing lasting peace to the once titled city of lights, Karachi. The law enforcement agencies, being in a defensive position, cannot free over 33 percent of Karachi from the clutches of terrorists.
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, faces the same threat. A television channel news item claimed that a report prepared by the interior ministry has declared the capital city as ‘extremely dangerous’ due to the presence and functioning of banned outfits along with other forces. According to the report, the capital city is at high risk and has many sleeper cells of banned organisations including al Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Nasiruddin Haqqani, the chief financier of the Haqqani militant network, one of the most feared groups fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan, was shot dead in the Pakistani capital in November last year.
The capital city, Islamabad, and the commercial hub city Karachi are certainly at high risk. The foreign embassies have warned their citizens and staff about the prevalence of terrorists in Islamabad and have told them to be cautious regarding their movements. The atmosphere of fear and insecurity reigns supreme over these two most important cities. The terrorists are at large and stain the roads of Karachi with the blood of a dozen innocent people almost every day. We lost international cricket for Pakistani grounds after an abortive terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. Foreign tourists have been avoiding visiting Pakistan after the coldblooded murders of some foreign tourists at the base of Nanga Parbat mountain. Our country’s international image is at its worst point in history. Whatever name and fame we had, we almost lost all in the war on terror.
Only recently, Iran has threatened to intrude into Pakistani territory to free its five security personnel from the captivity of terrorists. Twenty-three of our Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers’ heads have been chopped off, after being held captive by the TTP since 2010. Now we have just our cities and their citizens as our only real assets. We can regain our lost name and fame if our real assets are saved from the terrorists’ savagery and barbarism. Our rulers are brave enough only to the point of issuing anti-terrorism narratives from inside their highly guarded palaces. The security forces have finally resorted to digging trenches to protect themselves. It is the hapless citizens of Karachi who are, on the one hand, being targeted by the terrorists and, on the other, are not being allowed by the security forces to place barricades to resist the hit-and-run strategy of the terrorists.
The PML-N government is over eight months down the road after the elections but it has failed to devise a comprehensive, coherent and workable anti-terror policy. The September 2013 All Parties Conference and the launched Karachi operation have so far not been successful in bringing the desired result of peace. More importantly, an anti-terrorism strategy backfires when there is lack of intelligence to ascertain who the terrorists are. What is their capability? Who are their financiers, abettors and sympathisers? And what is their mechanism of operation? Undoubtedly, our anti-terror policies lack these elements. This is the reason why we have lost over 60,000 civilians and the many in uniform in the war on terror.
The writer is a blogger and a freelance columnist