Questions that need to be answered
He remained non violent throughout his political struggle but unfortunately the institution named after him in his home district of Charsadda was soaked with blood this week when four terrorists attacked Bacha Khan University, killing 20 people including 14 students. The crime scene presented a terrible picture as the books and other paraphernalia of students tainted with blood were scattered on the floor, reminding us of the mass carnage at the Army Public School (APS) in December 2014.
Although fewer people were killed this time the intention of the terrorists was the same; to kill the maximum number of people. The terrorists were eradicated after a military operation of three hours in the same fashion as was done in the APS. It is really disgraceful that assailants decided to storm the university on the death anniversary of Bacha Khan when a function was going to be organised to pay homage to the great freedom fighter.
The attack was claimed by Khalifa Umar Mansoor, who runs his own faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He was once associated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and now operates from Nazyan district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. It is pertinent to mention here that the same Khalifa Mansoor claimed the APS attack and recently warned to carry out similar attacks against other education institutes of the country.
The attack was claimed by Khalifa Umar Mansoor, who runs his own faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He was once associated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and now operates from Nazyan district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province
He said in a message that this was revenge for four of his colleagues who were executed by military courts. These were the terrorists who carried out the APS attack in December 2014, in which more than 140 people were massacred. The Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (DGISPR) Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa said the terrorists used two Afghan SIMs during their attack and also received phone calls from Afghanistan.
Whenever a terrorist attack takes place in Pakistan, the finger of blame is pointed towards our neighbour Afghanistan, as was seen just after the APS attack when the COAS flew to Kabul. A see-saw in the Pak-Afghan relation was witnessed for some time as Afghanistan also accused Pakistan of Taliban attacks inside is territory. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani reluctantly participated in the Heart of Asia conference that was held in Islamabad. It is often said that peaceful Afghanistan would be in the better interest of Pakistan but it is a mystery that both the countries have been engulfed by terrorist activities, be it the attack on Indian Consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif or the recent attack on Bacha Khan University.
Since the attack on APS, our national narrative has drastically changed as was seen in the attack of Bacha Khan University, when a faculty member fired at the terrorists. The faculty members in the northern areas were allowed to carry weapons in the aftermath of the APS tragedy. This raises several questions about where we are going as it is not the job of teachers to hold a weapon as it is the duty of security guards.
Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, the provincial Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), who rushed to the Bacha Khan University after the terrorists attack, told DNA that Indian hand cannot be ruled out from this massacre. He said the attack on innocent students is extremely condemnable and a cowardly act of terrorism. He was critical of the government of KPK of which Jamaat-e-Islami is also a part by saying that it was a security lapse from the provincial government as well.
“The tribal belt of the country has been facing a war on terror since long and this region is deprived of basic necessities of life, which leads people to join the networks of terrorists”, he deplored and demanded the speedy reforms to uplift FATA. He was of the view that Afghanistan has become a hub of foreign intelligence agencies which are crafting nefarious designs to destabilise Pakistan. He concluded by saying that Pakistan and Afghanistan must develop friendly relations as it would be in the bigger interest of both countries.
It is a mystery why a wave of terrorism has started just after the Lahore visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One can see that the incident of Pathankot took place in India just after his visit and since then 60 deaths have been reported due to terrorism here in Pakistan.
It is a mystery why a wave of terrorism has started just after the Lahore visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One can see that the incident of Pathankot took place in India just after his visit and since then 60 deaths have been reported due to terrorism here in Pakistan
Dr Maria Sultan, the Director General (DG) of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI), while talking to DNA said that the attack on Bacha Khan University was state sanctioned militarily terrorism which was jointly planned by India and Afghanistan. She was of the view that time has come when Pakistan must tell its eastern and western neighbours to halt the nefarious designs against it. According to Maria, our fight against terrorism is multi faceted as it has several dimensions.
She said that it was mandatory to comprehend the structure of this complex war and said that the issue of governance and lacunas in our criminal justice system can be a factor of increasing radicalism which leads to terrorism. She added that the second factor in the monster of terrorism is the Afghan border as more than thirty thousand people enter Pakistan from this border and most of them do not have official documents with them, which are a serious threat to Pakistan. “Our state institutions must tell our people that the war against terror is our own war and this war must be won at any cost for the survival of Pakistan”, she maintained.
When the APS attack took place in December 2014, messages of condemnation came from all over the world and the same was done this time as the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a phone call to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to sympathise over the tragic incident. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to twitter to condemn the incident as he mourned over the APS attack as well. The US State Department issued statements after both occasions also. Our army chief also visited the crime scene on both times and the country announced days of mourning. Would all these actions be regarded as compensation to those families whose loved ones were martyred? Are these steps enough to fight the war against terror or have we to give more precious lives to save this country from the monster of terror? These questions really need to be answered by the security apparatus of this country.