Where it stands
If Shuja Khanzada’s assassination does not get relevant authorities to finally get the National Action Plan (NAP) rolling in letter and spirit, then they should prepare for less good and more bad news periodically as Zarb-e-Azb naturally flows down to urban centres, especially in Punajb. That Nacta informed him about possibility of reprisal attacks after Malik Ishaq’s ‘removal’ is simply insufficient, and inefficient. Such information was common perception. And that more than two dozen intelligence agencies – supposedly sharing information since NAP – failed to trace the attackers at any point speaks of disorganisation that will have to be addressed if this war is to be won.
The immediate official reaction, too, has not been up to the mark. A militant organisation claiming a successful multiple suicide attack on the sitting Punjab home minister should have been followed by the government going after it with all its muscle. Yet there was nothing beyond the usual sabre rattling, promises of revenge, and the predictable airstrike in the badlands that killed an undisputed number of people. Some news from Fata has also been worrying of late. It seems the enemy has suddenly gone active in areas allegedly already cleared. The bomb attack in a school playground in Khyber Agency, for example –signature TTP tactic — which would have claimed many lives had heavy rain not dispersed crowds gathered for an Independence Sports Festival.
The attack in Karachi on MQM leader Rashid Godil is another example of the failure of law enforcement agencies to do their job. Again, intelligence failed to pick up any chatter, and the parliamentarian was not provided adequate security. Official inaction, therefore, continues to make the enemy’s job easier. The government has also resisted taking the fight to the terrorist for fear of violent backlash that, despite its rhetoric, it does not have the stomach for. But it cannot delay tough decisions any longer, not the least because its own officials have now obviously become fair game. That makes it even more urgent, of course, to follow through on the strategy envisaged after the Peshawar attack. All intelligence agencies must work under one umbrella, for starters, so crucial information can be shared in real time. And all militant outfits, no matter how dear to some in power or how heavily armed, must be crushed. That alone will rid the land of terrorists ‘of all hues and colours’. So far, the government’s performance has been unsatisfactory.
