The carnage in Pakistan continues with at least 49 people killed and hundreds more injured yesterday in a suicide bombing in a Peshawar market. The attack followed hard on the heels of the assault on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, which left 19 security personnel dead.
The wave of recent attacks has wrong-footed the government that recently crowed it was winning the battle against the militants. The renewed violence, particularly in the Swat Valley from which the military had supposedly ousted the terrorists, must give some cause to doubt the likely success of the widely publicized planned government assault on the tribal region of South Waziristan.
The Taleban claim this new outbreak of bombings is in revenge for the death of their top commander Baitullah Mehsud, slain in August in a US drone airstrike. Mehsud’s demise did seem to slow Taleban terror operations for a few weeks. However, the present crescendo of violence may also be designed to undermine plans for the army’s drive into the militants’ heartland.
The frustration and perhaps also confusion in Islamabad was made clear yesterday when Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced, somewhat fatuously: “One thing is clear. These hired assassins called Taleban are to be dealt with more severely.” Just how much more severely could the authorities deal with deluded fanatics who are prepared to throw away their own lives slaughtering dozens of other, all too often entirely innocent people?
President Asif Ali Zardari’s administration needs to do a reality check. The militant leaders have the money to pay many hundreds of foot soldiers and the ability to persuade all too many dupes to be suicide bombers. On top of which militants in South Waziristan are undoubtedly prepared to fight ferociously to maintain their historic independence from central government. The assault of the region will be a tough and bloody affair and all the time the terror bombers will be doing their deadly work in the country’s main urban areas. How the army handles the population in areas it overruns will be crucial to long-term peace.
One reality that clearly must be recognized is that despite their vaunted standing, Pakistan’s armed forces need shaking up. It beggars belief that terrorists disguised as soldiers could talk their way past the tight security cordon at the Rawalpindi army headquarters. If this can happen at one of the supposedly most secure buildings in the country, then what hope is there for altogether softer targets? The army needs to demonstrate its once fabled discipline and motivation. The vast majority of Pakistanis, appalled at the wicked violence that has come to their streets, wants the army to beat the militants. The string of security failures, which began with the Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, has undermined public confidence.
The military needs to tighten up discipline and restore its reputation. Meanwhile, the government must understand this is a struggle that can be won but only with wisdom and magnanimity as well as weaponry. Premature boasting of victory and blustering about punishments for terrorists are counterproductive.
