Let’s just mourn the dead and take a long NAP
The interior minister had assured the chief of ASWJ Ahmed Ludhianvi of the government’s support and told him that the crackdown against militant groups will not include action against his outfit
On Monday the provincial capital of Balochistan was once again under attack as militants wearing suicide vests stormed a police training academy in Quetta, killing 61 cadets and injuring over 100 others. The inaction of the government and its failure to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) led to the carnage.
Three days before the incident, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar held a meeting with a delegation of banned terror outfits. The delegation that met the interior minister included the leaders of Difa-e-Pakistan Council headed by Maulana Samiul Haq, the chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulem-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) and known as ‘father of the Taliban’. Among those present were Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, the chief of terror group Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jam’at (ASWJ), and Maulana Younas Qasmi, another leader of the outlawed ASWJ.
Qari Muhammad Yousaf Sheikh, a leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), was also part of the delegation of DPC, an umbrella coalition of more than 40 right wing and religious parties of the country.
The interior minister had assured the chief of ASWJ Ahmed Ludhianvi of the government’s support and told him that the crackdown against militant groups will not include action against his outfit.
“I consider myself the soldier of religious movements and this government believes in protecting the ideology of Pakistan”, he had told the extremist clerics of Pakistan Defence Council (PDC).
Just three days after this meeting, we lost 60 young men to terror. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack.
Time to ask the real questions
It’s about time the leadership of the country is asked the real questions. Why are such attacks still taking place in Quetta despite a heavy deployment of Frontier Constabulary (FC) in the city for years? Why are the militants not being stopped despite the fact that the city has been under the control of army for a long time? And most importantly, why was intelligence information not shared on time and in case it was, why was no action taken to prevent the attack?
The negligence and complete failure on the part of the government led to the carnage in the city. IG Balochistan had on 6 September publicly demanded the provincial government to reconstruct the wall of the police training academy and improve the security situation. But neither the federal nor the provincial government paid heed to the demand and no security arrangements were made. Those responsible for this negligence should be taken to task.
A lot has already been written and said on how the government has completely failed to implement the National Action Plan (NAP), and it’s pathetically sad how there’s a need to say the same things after every attack. If only the government had listened to those who were asking for implementation of NAP, if only they had taken measures to stop the attack. Those 60 lives we lost were the result of our incompetence and inability and we could have saved them had we acted on time.
Glorification of ‘martyrs’ needs to stop
The cadets who lost their lives in Queta were not even full policemen. They did not die because it was their duty; they died because we failed them. And glorifying their deaths by declaring them ‘brave martyrs’ is the last thing we should be doing right now. The best way to honour them is to break the shackles of fear and start asking the real questions from the establishment.
Why are banned terrorist outfits still being allowed to operate? It is a known fact that LeJ at one point enjoyed backing of the military. Former ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha is on record saying groups like LeJ, JuD are being used as ‘strategic assets’ by the state. The authorities need to answer whether or not that long-held policy has ended. The PML-N government should be asked why it has not ended its alliance with militants of banned terror outfits and why are they still able to operate.
Following the Quetta attack, the usual point scoring erupted. As odd as it sounds, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) started blaming each other for the attack
Political leadership’s disappointing response to the tragedy
Following the Quetta attack, the usual point scoring erupted. As odd as it sounds, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) started blaming each other for the attack. A statement from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif hours after the Quetta attack read: “India attacks LOC and working boundary .Quetta and Peshawar attacked from Afghanistan. Imran Khan preparing to attack Islamabad. Accidental coordination?” This was in response to PTI chairman Imran Khan’s statement where he had said that every time he planned a protest against the government, a terror attack happens — indirectly suggesting that the government had planted the attack to divert attention from the PTI’s ‘lockdown’ call.
Banned outfits marching in capital days after the attack
When the capital was being shut down by the government on Friday to stop the PTI protest, banned terror outfits under the umbrella of Difa-e-Pakistan Council, including ASWJ, were holding a rally in the capital — and that too under police protection.
Three days after the attack, on Friday, the ideological brothers of those who perpetrated the Quetta attack were marching on the streets of Islamabad and the government was not stopping them. They were instead being provided ‘security’ by the capital police. Hate speech was practiced in the rally and lots of anti-Shi’a slogans were chanted, yet the state turned a blind eye. It’s disturbing how whatever anyone says about the implementation of NAP is not taken seriously by the government. This is not how we are going to win this war. If the government continues this policy of indifference, the number of attacks might even increase in the coming days.
