Editorial: Pakistan’s Serial Bomb Attacks A Personal War
…there’s a pattern to these attacks. Attackers are targeting places near police stations, courts, military establishments, but not politicians. Pakistani government’s silence in the matter is an enough pointer that it’s avoiding a more effective crackdown on them for fear lest Taliban should target politicians as well, and it’s unable to rule its army officers…
If ceaseless terror strikes that were triggered in South-West Pakistan following its military offensive against Taliban are counted and compared with similar such attacks in any other part of the world, then a conclusion can be reached at without doubt, that Pakistan faced in a few month the highest number of terror attacks in the world, perhaps more than what the most terror-stricken country faces in a year. Notably, there’s a pattern to these attacks. Attackers, including the suicide bombers, are targeting places near police stations, courts, military establishments. Well, they’ve struck mosques, too. But in the areas where military personnel live and their family members go to mosque to offer prayers. Indutibly, Taliban, as Pakistan charges that it’s engineering these strikes to avenge military offensive, is not just attacking the system – military that fought, police that registered cases, court where cases were tried – that operated against them, rather it’s getting personal, for politicians have been spared. Clearly, the recent attacks have more to do with Taliban and Military rather Taliban and the government that dismissed their demand for Sharia law and ordered army offensive against them. Why so? Why those following the orders but not ones giving them?
US created Taliban with the help of Pakistan, everybody knows. After fulfillment of American objective, Pakistan, in particular its army and the ISI, wanted to use them for its personal agenda. Army and ISI used them as much as they could, reports suggest. A time came when a section of little educated, easily manageable, puppet-like Taliban got wiser and comprehended the Paksitani intents of using them. They turned disobedient. Neither American war (against Russia) nor Pakistani one (against Afghanistan government, India) was theirs. They no longer wanted to be used as fodder. But yes, they wanted the goals of Islam – due to the impact of the misinterpretation of the book presented to them by the US and Pakistan for their vested interest – to succeed. That’s what forced Pakistan to crackdown on them under the US pressure. Pakistan cracked down on disobedient Taliban, not its obedient sections. Remaining fighters of this disobedient faction is plotting attacks and revenging army, even their families. Their sense of hostility is targeted against Army rather than government because army (perhaps individual officers) used them for their (individual) purposes.
Pakistani government’s silence in the matter, though the fear of attacks has considerably hiked up among masses calling for effective government action, is an enough pointer that it’s avoiding a more effective crackdown on them for fear lest Taliban should target politicians as well, and it’s unable to set wrongs of history right, to keep its army under its control, to check clashes of ambition, sense of hostility (against many people) of its army officers. What Pakistan needs to come out of this mess is a judicious approach towards Taliban and reforms in its army, which, in turn, calls for sacrifice of its own agenda, though political, of enmity against neighbouring countries.
