The latest addition into the casualty list is the gory murder of Federal Minister for Minority Rights Shahbaz Bhatti and nobody knows how long this casualty list will continue to unroll to accommodate many more deceased. The file of this cold-blooded murder would also be piled away after some routine official claims, establishment of some new committees and their blockbuster revelations but it will end in the same old-fashioned cold response what we have witnessed in many other instances.
The actual dilemma is either the government least appears to be serious to cope with this frowning menace or lacks the ability or foresight to deal with the issue. Bhattis killing reminded me of an article by Samson Simon Sharaf Time for Pakistan to Reassert he wrote on February 20, 2011 in which he has rightly diagnosed the real hands behind this gloomy situation. The government can take lead from the following lines when he says Raymonds act is just a glimpse of what could happen in Pakistan. Agents undercover of contractors, subcontractors and businessmen have been active in Pakistan for some time. Some are busy training the security forces in equipment training, while others direct drone attacks through their networks. The most lethal are the ones who have established contacts with militants and sectarian outfits to conduct operations against the security installations within Pakistan, and assassinate national and nationalist leaders to keep the instability pot on the boil.
Keeping in view the above assertion, there is no qualm in saying that once again the killing of Shahbaz Bhatti will be termed a sequel to Salmaan Taseers assassination and this may be true but at the same time we never forget that American and CIA operatives have well penetrated in our capital and there are instances that traces of such operatives and officials were found and observed every time a terrorist incident inflicted upon the innocent citizens of Pakistan.
The option of third party involvement in Bhattis killing must not be overlooked amidst a situation when there is greater likelihood that America must be thinking ways to divert the attention of national media over Raymond Allen Davis case in order to isolate and strike a deal with the relatives of victims. It is time for the government to wake up and search for a panacea because freedom requires constant vigilance.
MALIK AAMIR SALEEM
Rawalpindi
