But the government still doesn’t have a response
Matters are getting more difficult in terms of the security situation in the country as the ramped up Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak has pushed attacks in the country up a gear. Three attacks occurred on Monday in Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakthunkhwa (KP) while the intelligence agencies have warned of attacks on high-profile targets in the country. After a message from key TTP leader Waleed bin Talib was intercepted, security in Islamabad was put on high alert with attacks expected on targets ranging on Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force installations, the Benazir International Airport and the parliament. As the TTP appears to be set in terms of what it wants to do, it is the government and the security apparatus that still does not know what they want to do. Amidst this situation, the ramifications of the DI Khan jail attack are also coming out.
With no consensus on whether it is to go ahead with talks, or to take out a full assault on the Taliban and extremists, the TTP will take the upper hand in front of a clueless government. Attacks occurred in Chilas, Bolan and Toba Tek Singh which all have footprints of the Taliban. In Chilas, the SSP and two army officers were killed after firing on a government convoy. A blast occurred inside the Karachi-bound Shalimar Express in Toba Tek Singh which injured around 14 people while a security man was killed as militants attacked oil tankers in Bolan. The intercepted TTP message has Waleed bin Talib read, “We have achieved some of our objectives in the attack on DI Khan jail, but for achieving bigger objectives we need to take action where the ‘big bosses’ sit.”
The postmortem of the DI Khan attack makes for difficult reading. A senior defense analyst has criticized the “protocol-oriented conventional peace-time security” failed against the TTP’s sophisticated guerilla tactics. The criticism of the security apparatus is also due which has consistently failed to learn from a decade-long war in which it has been on the losing side. The DI Khan attack itself was masterminded by a former jailbreak from the Bannu Jail, Adnan Rashid, who is also known for writing a letter to Malala Yousafzai and fast becoming a big shot in the extremists circle. In this situation what is to be said of the inaction of the federal government and the security agencies on the matter of the TTP. All political parties are yet to have agreed upon sitting together on a joint agenda of formulating a new security policy. Some parties are continuing to criticize the military and government of obfuscating the matter. The government needs a plan and needs it quickly – or else it shall continue to play the defensive role.
