The two successive suicide attacks on Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday and Thursday indicate that those who are after him are quite determined. That one police officer in the first and three security personnel in the second lost their lives protecting him indicates there was no security lapse on the part of the provincial government. The Maulana had in fact ignored the advice by security agencies to postpone his programme of addressing public meetings in view of reports that terrorists intended to target him.
While the Maulana is noncommittal about the identity of the masterminds behind the attacks, suicide attacks in Pakistan are widely considered to be the trademark of the TTP syndicate, comprising a number of terrorist groups. There are many in the religious parties and extremist organisations working inside the country and in the neighbouring Afghanistan who have reasons to strongly dislike the JUI(F) chief. WikiLeaks cables published last week indicate Fazlur Rehman had tried to approach the US authorities to act as mediator with the Taliban. This is likely to be seen by some of the terrorists deadly opposed to the US as an act of betrayal. Explaining the possible motives behind the attacks, President of JUI (Ideological Group) Maulana Mukhlis has accused Fazlur Rehman of duplicity because, while claiming to be anti-US, he supported Musharraf for five years and then joined hands with the pro-US PPP. A newspaper report claims it was due to the pressure of the TTP that the Maulana withdrew his party members from the cabinet but the terrorists were unhappy at his retaining the post of Chairman Kashmir Committee.
As the head of his own faction of the JUI, the Maulana can ill afford to cut himself off from political activities. After leaving the ruling coalition, it is all the more important for him to initiate public contacts in the terror-ridden KP. Before the last elections, the JUI(F) had ruled the province but it has now lost ground to the ANP-PPP alliance. Like Benazir, he has to make the tricky choice between political survival and personal security.
