The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has not only claimed the attack, but also made it clear that the spillover from the military operations in Swat and other tribal areas will not end in Lahore.
‘Residents should leave the cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan,’ the purported aide of Baitullah Mehsud warned.
Is the Pakistani state ready to deal with the emerging threat? What measures should the authorities take to ensure the security of citizens in cities and the rest of the country?
Today in morning I came to know about the sad incident in Peshawar about the bomb blast, which took lives of the innocent people and injured many.
The government always pass the statement that we are inquiring and we will maintain law and order, but the result is still the same. Please stop this terrorism in our loving country
May Allah bless us.
The Article by Kunwar Idris “Reluctance to slate suicide bombing” posted June 21, 2009 is an important piece. It lays down the roots of the Taliban problem and suggests an intelligent solution.
I hope it will provide some direction to the policy maker and advisors in the civil and military establishment of the country. Who are bogged down by a Jinni that came out of the bottle and they don’t know what to do with it.
Is the Pakistani state ready to deal with the emerging threat?
Not at present. Leave the Taliban alone since they are hiding, the civil society has yet to protest the release of the Lal Masjid cleric (Cleric is not the right word though). This is one person who is responsible for so much but has yet to be accounted for.
The authorities need to ensure the security of citizens in cities and the rest of the country.
In the name of religion, Talibanis are attempting to destroy the civilized society of Pakistan. They have the plans to take Pakistan back to the stone age. The People of Pakistan should do the following:
1. Support the Army to conmletely eliminate Talibans.
2. Get the IDP’s back to their homes safely.
3. Continue to support DEMOCRACY
4. Continue to provide full freedom to PRESS
5. Provide good governance.
6. Educate the masses, Math, Science, Humanities and Not Wahabi Sectarian.
7. Empower WOMEN and build more schools for the girls as they are going to be the future mothers.
8. Empower YOUNG and groom them to be tolerant.
9. Uplift the living stadards, by promoting agriculture and industry.
10. Make peace with all the neighbouring countries including India.
All of the above can be accomplished as I think the talent and the intellectual level of the People of Pakistan is very high. Thanks to DAWN to provide this kind of open Forum.
in simple words flush out all those people from pakistan who are against pakistan, it does not matter who they are. there are also some of politician who are against the army operation, clean them up we don’t need those kind of people in pakistan.
the only solution to our problems is to address the root causes of terrorism. talibans were not the enemies of pakistan some times ago,it was the pakistani military who engaged talibans to defend american forces in afganistan. since the creation of pakistan we are ruled by some families who are looting the wealth of pakistan from the last 66 years.we need a revolution.we need to read and understand quran,we need to be educated,we need to educate the poor children working in our homes,we need to be muslims,we need not to vote on biraderi system…………….we have too many things to change. please understand this talibans are bad but still we can make them understand to join the main stream
Bravo Saf
Excellent letter and not afraid to call a spade a spade
Judging from the letters in this forum ,it seems that there is still hope for Pakistan.Pakistan should end it support for all Taliban.There is no good or bad Taliban.India ended its support for LTTE and hopefully there will be peace in Sri Lanka.
Abdullah,
You are right to get rid of terrorism, we should remove the root causes of terrorism, but the root causes are not only the un-resolved issues of Kashmir and palistine. One of the biggest root causes is the extremist thinking of so called good muslims towards moderate muslims, toward other sects of Islam, toward other religions. In case Kashmir and Palestine issues are resolved peacefully, US forces leave Afghanistan then who will give guarantee that these so called good muslims will accept and peacefully co-exist with other sects of Islam and other religions. They will not try anymore to conquer the world by gun to fly the flag of Islam.
I believe to settle the chaos in the muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular the extremist mindset need to be changed by imparting quality education and by learning to co-exist peacefully.
It’s a very difficult situation indeed. Authorities really need the support from the people in terms of sharing information with them if anything suspicious is found. I really look forward to the arrest and the elimination of Taliban leadership in the country. I guess building the fence along the border with Afghanistan can also be helpful. The political leadership is not taking the ownership of the operation resulting in the frustration amongst people which motivates these terrorists. We know that these attacks can’t be prevented overnight, but at least we can address our nation once in a month showing them full support for IDPs and determination against militancy.
Threats given by TTP should not be taken lightly as these fanatic ruthless group are brought up in torture and killings, they suffered during Russian invasion. We must take stringent measures and get the latest technology to combat threats and effectively wipe out these ruthless criminals, thriving on enemies of Pakistan, who are financing them. I have strong faith and believe in our army and government, who will overcome.
To Shaikh Mohommad
I am not sure why people don’t use a very important attribute allaha almighty (god) gave to human being ….non as “Common sense”. For basic humanity you don’t need to belong a particular relegion, race or athnic group.
Military action was inevitable because of Taliban actions against humanity i.e. beheadings, burning girl schools, prosecution of women, challenge the writ of government by creating their own state within a state, millions IDPs above all… this all on the name of Islam.
I think its nothing wrong changing the side in this war because end of the day it is a war for Pakistan survival (in longer terms) not USA/NATO…and if Americans/NATO interests help Pakistan to get rid of this mess then nothing wrong ethically or religious-wise to get their help and listen to them
And wrong is wrong if some terrorist or Jhiadi groups use Pakistan land for Afghanistan, India or Iran, we should tackle them seriously to promote Pakistan credibility as a peace lover nation in international community and then we can deal effectly and boldly with so called “foreign hands”……..simple common sense.
Nasir Shah said “Not a single person has come out to protest the hooliganism & bombing going on for the last 5 years, but they did come out to oust Musharraf & re-instate the SC Judge & that they achieved.”
Nasir, you must accept that President Musharraf and Pakistani Government failed to seal Pakistan/Afghanistan borders preventing militants’ crossing over in Pakistan and seeking refuge here to escape American Military offensive. This failure of Pakistan was greatest blunder. America could have attacked Pakistan. The hard fact is no country, regardless of nuclear weapons can match United States. Do not forget, United States was attacked. They felt they will go after their attackers wherever they are. Will Pakistan not do the same if Karachi or Islamabad was attacked by foreigners?
What President Musharraf did by helping America fighting terrorist, is that he saved Pakistan. Musharraf should be praised for saving Pakistan.
The militants and terrorist have no sympathy for any human being. The have killed men, women and children in mosques, schools, hospitals, markets, homes, office buildings.
Those Pakistanis who have helped these militants and terrorists to hide in their communities and provided them shelter and hospitability are also enemies of humanity as well as enemies of Pakistan.
Golden words written by one “Abdul”:
“Sorry to say but too much addiction towards religion without understanding the spirit of it, is the main cause why muslims are most poor,illiterate and unemployed in the western world.”
I disliked some comments about president Zardari. Too much criticized, yet he has proved to be the best president so far… because he has done what many powerfull presidents could not do. He is fixing the wrongs done in the past 30 years. Maligned to whatever extent, his actions are wise and fruitful. Well done Zardari.
I just want to say that why, we do not eliminate the root cause of terrorism, as every body know that before 9/11 there were no suicide attack in Pakistan and our life are safe and pleasant, so when we think about it and catch the root cause the solution is no more far away…..
The answer to your questions is pretty easy & clear
Is the Pakistani state ready to deal with the emerging threat??
Not a single person has come out to protest the hooliganism & bombing going on for the last 5 years, but they did come out to oust Musharraf & re-instate the SC Judge & that they achieved.
What measures should the authorities take to ensure the security of citizens in cities and the rest of the country?
The present governments act will show in time if they are serious to deal with them or are they just waiting for the spoils. The past government on the other hand clearly sided with the Taliban, and you can see the results.
Thanks Hafiz, Kesar and Proud Indian (I’m afraid, Proud Indian, your praise may cause me some damage amongst the paranoid posters here!).
But as you can see many posts later, we still have the same conspirator stories going on.
Afaque and Sheikh Mohammad.
I’ll just say this. I tracked the beginnings of Maulana Fazlullah since the day he came out with his anit-polio rubbish. I was fascinated by him and started a Wikipedia page (needs updating, but thanks to those who have contributed and made it better). I can give more details if you like, in finances, organization membership, etc. But I can equivocally say, he has his own free will and believes in what he’s doing and resurrected a movement that his father-in-law Sufi Muhammad left behind and could only dream of. Making him sound like a CIA/RAW/Mossad , etc. stooge is false, being naive and giving him no credit. He is the real thing!
Pakistanis must improve critical thinking (I admit, I commit a lot of fallacies too) and question their sources, especially rumors (One rumor such as the 20 Indian consulates and 5,000 Indian soldiers in Afghanistan. I researched it. They have 5 consulates which is equal to the number we have there, and no known soldiers except for staff – but of course no one’s going to say there aren’t any spies, but still the gap in facts and fiction is alarming, and many middle-class educated Pakistanis like engineers and doctors believe in it!)
We need education of critical thinking in the current school setup in Pak or elsewhere, teaching basic techniques (Sources, Evidences, Research, Authenticity, Reliability, Fallacies, Argumentative, Logic, Contradictions, Observations, Background context – historical or otherwise, Bias, etc).
Newspapers (especially Urdu papers) must raise their standards in this as well.
Most of the commnets pointing towards India!!! Its not a surprise for Indians. The whole world knows who created this Talibans and other terror groups in Pakistan.
Many people are writing , Kashmirs are suffering in India. Please look inside every days 100s of musilms dying in Pakistan killed by fellow Musilms. Please dont look out side, look inside and correct yourself.
Good luck..
Pakistan’ ruling elite, past and the present, has been dealing with the whole messed-up situation extremely naively; thereby, has invited trouble in to Pakistan.
Karzai should have handled ‘the out of control scenario’ really well by sealing the Afghan/Pakistan border very long time ago in order to stop the infiltration in to FATA as suggested by the previous Pakistani dictator. But, Karzai did never cooperate.
Pakistan Army has a great deal of responibilty at this point to continue ‘the filtration process’ in order to weed out the Terrorist elements who are harming Pakistan.
Pakistan Army has a long way to go yet, as they are facing a very strong & united enemy, who are backing the guerrilla warriors.
The guerrilla warriors are criminally motivated for being rewarded in cash. They have nothing to do with Islam at all. Using ‘Muslim-name’ means nothing.
Because, every Muslim is supposed to look after the entire humanity.
Who are shifting battlegrounds? Are they Muslims? No way.
There is something going on behind the scene.
Pakistan needs a longterm strong leadership.
Pakistan is ruled by people who cannot speak there national language properly or by people who were good at selling cinema tickets in black, by street thugs who are fighting among themselves like small little girls over small issues. We are ruled by people who are trying to flirt with middle aged women. Or they are gone over tours in the name of collecting alms for Pakistan which most probably ends in there own pockets.
On the other hand we have overweight Maulanas who forget to getup from an eating table and inturn even miss out on their fidays prayers.
Me being a Pakistani and my whole family being a Pakistani my grandfathers father were Pakistani we have to run around for more than six months to get a simple passport renewed because we wanted to go through right chanels this is just one of the few cases that I have faced in Pakistan.
I am afraid if the Taliban bribes the government trough the backdoors definetly they might ask the army to halt the operations before its completion and let the Taliban regroup. People of Pakistan does not know to what extent the Pakistani government is corrupt.
I dont blame the army they are the only reliable instituition in Pakistan and they have always come to rescue Pakistan. Long live Pakistan and its Army.Ameen
In my previous comment (below), I did not mean to link JeM to Mumbai (LeT is the one that is culprit). I am making a general point how Pakistan treats these terorists.
2. This is one face of terrorism. There is another one still sponsored by Pakistan against India–LeT,JeM, HuM etc. Post-26//1 Mumbai untill now, Pakistan’s actions are limited to house arrest of JeM chief Masood Azhar and some others. By doing so, Pakistan is putting these terrorists inh the same league as Scientist A-Q Khan who who was also under House arrest.
To those who say the Taliban are enemy agents receiving arms and funding from “hostile powers”, my question is: All the more reason, shouldn’t we whack them twice as hard?
What kind of discussion is going on here?
There is nobody on this planet can fix these kinds of war, etc. until the cause has been removed and resolved like Kashmir and Palestine. These kinds of suffering is not only can be found in the muslims countries, but also non-muslims like in Africa: When you have unjustice you will have problems in the society and hence there won’t be any peace,no matter what people talk about.
I think most of the people, both from Pakistan and outside, are naive about the logic of militancy. More than accepting how there might have been national and international involvement to cater to various interest, it is important to see what direction Pakistan has taken of late. Not only are the people of Pakistan ready to exterminate the menace after their distorted view of Islam has been exposed but also the government and army are adamant. US was prudent enough to have admitted its mistakes of the past as was Pakistan. So should other countries, in case they remained involved one way or the other, for that is the only way to foster a bond of sincerity and committment in the global context in this fight against terrorism and militancy.
Dear Dr. Junaid Tipu,
I agree with you that most Americans are ignorant of the fact that “these devils”, i.e., the Jihadis … from the so-called Mujahidin to the al-Qaidah of Bin Ladin to the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban — and their likes in other parts of the Islamic world — would not be so strong and a pain in our neck today had we Americans not masterminded and encouraged their ‘creation’ and sustained them with our immense financial, military and diplomatic support DIRECTLY AND/OR IDIRECTLY.
However, My Dear Dr. Tipu, you would not have counted me as one of these “ridiculously irresponsible, merry-making and ignorant Americans” had you been familiar with my published writings, comments,and statements (in Balochi, Farsi, Urdu and English) of the last three decades. These, my 1017-page dissertation which earned me a Ph.D. degree, my teaching record at Michigan State University, and my ongoing political-human rights activities — and I think some of my comments recently published in washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com and dawn.com — will indicate that I have been a consistent and persistent critic of some aspects of American foreign ploicy, particularly of our flirtation with the Islamists. (With the election of Barack Obama as our president, I hope we will not repeat our mistakes of the last half a century.)
Dr. Sahib, now I will ask some simple related questions:
Could the US do all this without, e.g., Maulaanaa Maududi’s fatwa in the very beginning of the Cold War that the West compared to the Soviet bloc was AHWAN AL-BALIYYATAYN, the Lesser Evil, worthy enough to work with as an ally!? (By the way, almost all of the ulama and mullas of the Islamic world followed this line of supporting the West against the Soviets.)
Could the US do all this without the willing cooperation of the ruling elites and a significant number of the middle and lower class masses of the Islamic world including Pakistan??
Dr. Tipu Sahib, Let me end this note by quoting a Persian / Farsi proverb, Word of Wisdom:
TAA IYN HAMEH/HAMAH KHAR BAASHEH /BAASHAD, CHERAA AADAM SAWAAR-ISHHAN NASHEH/NASHAWAD !!?
Roughly translated, it means: As long as there are so many asses, why not ride on their backs?!
Let me try an Urdu translation: JAB ITNE SAAR-E GADHE MAUJOOD HO’N, KYOO’N NA INSE SAWAARIY LIY JAA-E?!
Peace !
Malek Towghi, Ph.D., Liaison, Baloch Human Rights International (USA)