Since siding with the US in war against terror after 9/11, militants assaulted offices of the military intelligence agencies successfully breaching security measures, but after each instant, the nation remained confident that our nuclear assets are in safe hands.
Subsequently, the 2009 infiltration of the Pakistan Army headquarters in Rawalpindi occurred when the Al-Qaeda, operating logistically through the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ran riot and held officers and soldiers hostage for 22 hours, killing several, which was the peak of the confrontation between Al-Qaeda-TTP and the Pakistani military forces since it all began in 2003 with twin attacks on then army chief and president Pervez Musharraf.
Soon after the attacks, top military brass claimed that country’s nuclear installations are protected and secure and its command and control structure is as sound as anyone else’s.
Later, a day dawned, when a couple of US helicopters entered the Pakistani borders, accomplished covert operation against Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad and returned silently without coming into the notice of the country’s civil and military intelligence agencies and security forces on May 2, 2011. Again, military establishment was of the view that the nuclear assets are impregnably safe.
Now again, the audacious 16-hour hostage-and-suicide terror attack on a military base in the heart of Karachi has left 13 dead, including 11 Navy officials; when 10 attackers successfully mounted a coordinated offensive that inflicted major damage in men and materials including expensive planes.
MUHAMMAD ADNAN HANIF
Karlskrona, Sweden
