And government still lags in performance
Punjab government had long resisted demands to initiate an operation by Rangers in the province maintaining that the provincial police was fully capable of dealing with the terrorist threat. The devastating terrorist attack in a Lahore park, which killed over 70 including a large number of children, once again exposed the hollowness of the government’s claim. A high level security meeting at GHQ presided over by the COAS has decided to immediately launch an army operation against the terrorists and their facilitators across Punjab. The Army and Rangers personnel conducting the operation would send their reports directly to the concerned corps commanders. The COAS will personally oversee the operation.
The fact that the army had decided to undertake the operation indicates its dissatisfaction with the ongoing civilian efforts to control terrorism. What a clueless Nawaz Sharif said in his address to the nation indicated that the government is neither contrite over its failures now does it have any concrete plan to overcome them.
What needs to be watched is the course the army operation takes in days to come. It remains to be seen whether it is going to be a brief intervention targeting only those who planned and facilitated the Lahore carnage, or like the Rangers operation in Sindh turns out to be a long term multi-purpose operation that targets possible facilitators from the political parties also. It would also be watched keenly if the operation is across the board or suffers, as in the past, from cherry-picking.
Nawaz Sharif has postponed the long awaited US visit in view if the new situation at home. The government needs to fully cooperate with the army-led operation while improving the performance of the civilian law enforcing bodies. The Prime Minister needs to realise that the best way to stop army from transgressing into the civilian turf is to be well ahead of it in performance. Sluggishness which characterises the government can be dangerous for the system.