A united stand against terrorists is the only solution
The news of a terror strike here, a suicide bombing there has become a routine matter for most of the citizens; however, recent strikes on the political cadre clearly show where things are headed. The three-way response – the civilian government succeeding in managing the menace in a few troubled areas of late; the army pushing the terrorists into a corner; and most importantly a disapproval of their violent ideology by the public – to the militants violent methods has assured that they won’t be able to achieve their agenda. However, they can still disrupt country’s business, just as they did with attacks on politicians in the past few days.
As political parties have ramped up their campaigns for the elections on 11 May, it makes them vulnerable to such attacks. With centre-left parties like the ANP on a pronounced hit list of these militants, the situation gets even more serious. These attacks do have the potential to derail the democratic system in the country, a concern voiced rightfully by Imran Khan the other day. The democracy in the country is not as strong yet to withstand such attacks on its foundations but giving in to the ideology of violence would only ensure that the country is headed towards doom. Standing up against this dark path is the responsibility of the state, which being in the hands of caretakers these days, might be a little difficult but not impossible yet. While they are not mandated to make any strategic decisions, they still have to maintain law and order. Matters have worsened so much that the CEC had to write a letter to the ANP leaders explaining that the CEC had not ordered any security to be withdrawn tasked with the party’s members. However, the ineffectiveness of the security measures calls for more stringent and fool proof security. The situation in Balochistan is even worse, where shutter down strike was observed in many cities the other day after an attack on Sanaullah Zehri’s convoy.
Surprisingly, most of the politicians appear to have a united stand on the issue. Holding the government and the security forces responsible for the politicians’ safety and security, PTI has demanded that all political parties and leaders must be provided with adequate security, a demand that appears to be justified considering the number of such attacks that have taken place all over the country, a number that is so alarming that the HRCP was forced to say that these “terrorist attacks on politicians may sabotage election process”. However, the caretaker Cabinet’s decision to seek army’s assistance in this regard could offer the much needed reprieve from these attacks and help restore law and order to a peaceful state so that the election process goes ahead without any mishap.
