The elusive goal

Declaring victory too soon

In the wake of the dastardly terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University, it is almost laughable to claim that backbone of the terrorists playing havoc with a fresh vigour since the advent of the New Year has been broken. The statement made by the ISPR (Inter Services Public Relations) about intelligence agencies having identified the perpetrators is scant solace for those who lost their near and dear ones in the tragic incident.

After every serious terrorist attack there is a wave of platitudes and expressions of resolve that those using violence to promote their hate ideology will not be spared. But soon after it is business as usual, until the next episode of mayhem and violence.

Certainly the attack on Army Public School in December 2014 was a game changer. The whole Nation and a wide political spectrum rallied behind its armed forces to redouble efforts to remove the existential threat.

The twenty-point NAP (National Action Plan) was launched with much fanfare and expression of a firm resolve to implement it. But despite the consensus building and the apex committees formed under it meeting regularly, most of the Plan’s vital components still remain unimplemented.

The Bacha Khan University incident also brings into sharp relief our misplaced priorities. It is music to the ears that without making any distinction, no terrorist will be spared. But ground realities tell a somewhat different story.

Our counter-terrorism measures — both short term and long term — have proved to be only partly successful. The army chief, General Raheel Sharif, has spoken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani about the actionable intelligence regarding the Taliban groups holed up in Afghanistan and operating from there with impunity within Pakistan.

So far so good. But what about the TTP terrorists holed up in different parts of Pakistan, comfortably ensconced in their sleeper cells, acting both as perpetrators and facilitators?

Admittedly there has been some movement to apprehend the JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) operatives after receiving actionable intelligence from New Delhi regarding perpetrators of the Pathankot incident. But what are our security agencies, buttressed by the civilian apparatus, doing to break the back of the other terrorist groups operating in different parts of the country?

Certainly the attack on Army Public School in December 2014 was a game changer. The whole Nation and a wide political spectrum rallied behind its armed forces to redouble efforts to remove the existential threat

Take the case of Karachi, the Rangers in the mega polis is obsessed with somehow breaking the back of Asif Ali Zardari’s henchman Dr Asim Hussain in the name of combating terrorism. The doctor has been in jail on one pretext or the other since August last year.

We are made to believe that he is some kind of a don who was financing terrorism in the city. It must be conceded that Karachi is a much safer and secure city, thanks to the LEAs cleanup operation launched almost two-and-a-half years ago.

Perhaps there is a kernel of truth behind tales of corruption in the corridors of power in the province. But does this mean that those who are entrusted with the onerous task of ridding the city of terrorism should go off the message? Reportedly Karachi is infested with sleeper cells of the TTP to the extent that there are certain no-go areas in the mega polis areas outside the writ of the local administration and law enforcing agencies.

It will be grossly unfair to say that Nero is fiddling while Rome is burning. Nonetheless the Bacha Khan University tragedy is symptomatic of a monumental intelligence failure.

Educational institutions, euphemistically called ‘soft targets’, were especially vulnerable after a security alert was sounded merely a week before the incident. But nothing was done to protect the university observing Bacha Khan’s death anniversary with a heavily attended poetry recital.

Was security clearance for the event sought or granted thereof? And what was done to afford security protection to educational institutions, which were in any case under a general threat?

After the event everyone is wiser. But post per functionary mourning and high profile visits to the hospitals and morgues it is back to square one.

There is no gainsaying that the military has led by example in its heroic efforts to remove the existential threat to the country. The civilian leadership also pays much lip service on being the same page as the military.

But the hype notwithstanding, the hydra headed monster has been scorched not killed. Hence to claim victory is certainly premature, like former US president George W Bush giving thumbs up sign declaring ‘mission accomplished ‘in Iraq on aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2013. But Iraq ever since is in a bigger mess post US withdrawal.

Nonetheless, our leadership’s penchant for engaging in hyperbole, declaring victory over terrorism is still a long way. Instead of cool headedly examining its context, outrage has been expressed at US President Obama’s recent remarks in his State of the Union address that Pakistan might remain a terrorism-infested country for decades to come.

That the killing machine of the TTP terrorists is very much intact is the stark reality. And so is their command and control apparatus functioning in Pakistan

Although a perceptive and cerebral person like Senator Mushahid Hussain knows the score, surprisingly even he was appalled at the US president’s last swan song. Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz was understandably quick on the take to endorse the opposition senator.

The Bacha Khan University incident taking place the very next day proves beyond doubt that combating terrorism is going to be a long haul. The COAS’s recent claim that 2016 will be the year of ridding Pakistan of terrorism is reassuring. But perhaps it is too optimistic in the wake of incidents that have taken place during the first few weeks of the New Year.

Despite the hype a seamless and a comprehensive policy to extricate Pakistan from its present abyss is still lacking. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his military chief were recently on a quixotic mission to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Now the prime minister is seeking foreign investment in the cool heights of Davos at the World Economic Forum, lamely claiming in his speech the terrorists’ back has been broken.

That the killing machine of the TTP terrorists is very much intact is the stark reality. And so is their command and control apparatus functioning in Pakistan.

It is easy for our civilian and military leadership to conveniently absolve itself of culpability by putting the blame on the ubiquitous Afghan and Indian hand for terrorist incidents in Pakistan. Incidentally we are paying our eastern and western neighbours — who blame Islamabad for fomenting terrorism within their borders — in the same coin.

It is time to curb the urge for scaling foreign heights and instead put our house in order back home. In the absence of urgently required short-term and long-term measures and basic policy decisions on part of both the military and civilian leadership, the fight against terrorism will merely remain a cliché and an elusive goal.