On a bloody day for the people of Pakistan, at least 20 people were killed in three separate attacks across two provinces and a tribal region of the country. The attacks targeted security officials in the coastal town of Gawadar in Balochistan, the office of an anti-TTP commander in the tribal region of North Waziristan and a vehicle in the Upper Dir district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The attacks in Dir and N. Waziristan have been blamed on militants from Fazlullah and TTP groups, while the identity of the attackers in Gawadar remains unknown.
These attacks came five days after security forces came under attack on July 16, when Taliban stormed a police station in the tribal town of Bannu.
Prior to this, in two incidents last week, militants attacked a building housing police cadets in Lahore. Most of the young cadets who came under attack belonged to the northwestern region and it was reported that the Taliban targeted them for not treating the Taliban prisoners well.
On July 9, a military camp near Wazirabad (Punjab) was the target of an armed attack by assailants who opened fire and drove away, killing seven soldiers. While no responsibility was claimed for this attack, security officials said the involvement of the Taliban could not be ruled out.
There have been some reports that these attacks could be some form of retaliation by the militant organization over the reopening of supply routes for Nato forces in Afghanistan. The routes were reopened on July 4, following a statement issued by US Secretary of State where she conveyed an apology for the Nato attack on a Pakistani military check-post last November.
While it is clear that militants have stepped up the offensive against security forces and ordinary citizens, there has been no official word on how the government and law enforcement agencies will counter these acts of terrorism. It has been said that some areas previously controlled by the Taliban have been reclaimed by the security forces and some semblance of normalcy has returned to these regions, it remains to be seen how long peace will prevails in these sensitive parts of the country, given the recent surge of terrorism.
Will it be correct to link these attacks to the reopening of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan?
How can the government and security forces try to curtail these attacks?
Are military operations the answer to fighting terror threats posed by militants?
Dawn.com invites its readers to share their views and suggestions…
Pakistan can use UAE security model to coup up with all related issues. There is strong stress on IT related services and surveillance systems. All cities are tightly monitored by command and control system with rapid reaction force to address issues with utmost vigilance. There is strict documentation of all process especially citizens and expats. Furthermore, all cities are fenced with only legal entry exit points for road transport. All provinces need tight surveillance especially satellite monitoring.
Furthermore, Digital maps should be used to pin point exact trouble areas. All transport moving in and out of the city should be recorded to filter and reach all numbers which are illegal of misused.
Automation of all services is the only answer.
Pakistan has been sucked into a low intensity conflict which is not its war but one from which we have to extricate itself. Recognition of this fact and a firm coordinated response is needed. Our economy cannot sustain this war which makes it imperative that we crush these forces with an iron hand, go into immediate elections and let the new government firm up a new policy. Legislation to deal with terrorism and better governance is needed urgently.
“Legislation to deal with terrorism and better governance is needed urgently.”
How can one expect strong and effective legislation on terrorism from a parliament that is divided into groups; many of which do not blame the terrorist but somehow hold the government responsible every time a terrorist action is conducted.
The difference between Pakistan and the US or the European Union is that when a terrorist action is conducted there, the entire Parliament, media and population unites in holding the terrorist responsible for the action and not the government.
Pakistan is a very rich country having a lot of natural resources and the human power its over 50 % population is young , but unfortunately pakistan has never tried to utilize its power in a better way .Instead thinking for the development , peace building and social buildup pakistan is more interested in keeping its neighbors on track pakistan wants to teach its neighbors the way of life in reality its neighbors like iran and india are having much better economy and a very good life standard and life style as compared to pakistan . Taliban were created by pakistan and i believe that each and every Taliban is still in the hands of pakistan military if its TTP or the Afghan Taliban this is reality , why do not people try to understand using their common sense that Taliban would never talk to Israel , India , America and operate against Pakistan .But this is the propaganda and the fear campaign by the military to continue their hold on the country and suck the money out of the poor people .
Pakistanis must think of economics first. Look at Sweeden Denmark, Germany, Japan and now china. NO WARS FOR OVER 60 YEARS. People their have education, good quality drinking food, poor man has good health care. Pakistan haS BEEN at war for the past 60 years. Poor man has just suffered more and more. Only one solution all Politicans from Imran to JUI , Nawaz etc OPENLY DENOUINCE TERRORISM in news and mosques and support police and security forces. Otherwise Pakistan will definetly become another Sudan/Afghanistan. So Sad
i think we all should play an important role in denouncing the terrorism. and there should be better training for our police and especially there should be some cells or offices where public can send secret information about suspected people. may be these police cells already exist but really public do not know where to give information about terrorists. there should be an informative campaign. and mosque should be monitored tightly because in many mosques imam sahib spread firqa waradiyat which should be banned and any person who spread hate should be arrested and severely punished.
“Politicans from Imran to JUI , Nawaz etc OPENLY DENOUINCE TERRORISM in news and mosques and support police and security forces.”
Openly denouncing terrorism and showing support for our police and security forces is easy. Everyone, including the terrorists already does that. Politicians and the rest of the population need to go a lot further. Our politicians and every peace loving citizen of Pakistan should openly denounce each and every terrorist action and call out by name and hold the terrorists and their respective organizations responsible for the actions and not dilute the problem by holding the government or some foreign forces responsible for the actions.
You are correct but, there is a major problem. 80% of adult population is uneducated and are like sheep who just follow. That is why all Politicans and people like us should come out and guide the population to a better life than we are getting here.
Good to see overwhelming people on this board agrees that terrorists needs to be destroyed and provided justice. And yet none is provided and the killers operate with complete confidence that nothing can be done to them. When in some rare case someone is captured ….. are released by courts and then roam freely in limelight. Many known criminals and killers were captured during swat operation… what happened to them? all were released. We have suo moto notices on trivial things but nothing is being done on huge gaps that exist both in the system and the intentions of the personel who are running the affairs… regardless whether they are from the govt or judiciary.
Were there no Talibani attacks on innocent when Nato Supplies were blocked?
Well said Ajaya. Unfortunately justice is not provided….
Military operations are not the answer. Pakistan needs a functioning government.
yes i agree with you dear. and i think better education can solve our problems. we must focus on building more schools and giving moderate information to our youngsters. and especially we should create harmony among different sects of religions. and we must report all those people to police who spread hates in religious places.
Not much is to be expected of a Govt. that gets the “contempt of court” law nullified in three days, whereas the anti terror bill has been languishing in the corridors of power for years.
They’re all in it for themselves.
It is about time for the Pakistan government to fight back against all these murderers.
Now Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has the chance to take fast action to stop them.
sorry, he is not going to do that!
Pakistani leaders and military are hesitant to deal ruthlessly and forcefully with militants and terrorists because they have beard and they are Muslim brothers. They do not care about bloodshed of innocents and destruction of properties at the hands of enemies of humanity. If they did care about it, Pakistani Army is strong enough to wipe out militants and terrorists from every inch of land in Pakistan without outside help. There is lots of lip service but no action..
Tow main strategies are needed to eliminate terrorism from Pakistan.
1 Zero tolerance to any act of terrorism by killing on the spot or capturing and hanging all those involved including those preaching terrorism and hatred in the name of religion.
2 Developing a long term plan to close down all religious schools (madrasas) and absorbing all the students to modern education system to get education and open their eyes. foreign governments that help terrorist organizations should be stopped by any means. it will take a while but this will certainly work in the longer term.
very well said dear. we must arrest all those people who spread hate in madras and in other places.
Killing of innocent peoples can never be justified whether they belong to any community or caste. I totally fail to understand that whosoever is involved in such killings are humans, what to talk of being a Muslim. If they call themselves Muslims then what book are they following because Qur’an is very clear about Its rulings. Qur’an never allows Its followers to resort to such gruesome behavior. Lack of education, knowledge, proper guidance & tribalism have rendered these peoples insane.
Have a zero tolerance for terrorism – especially religious terrorists.
Stamp them out with an iron hand regardless of whether they are PRO Pakistan, ANTI Pakistan or NEUTRAL to Pakistan.
The present half baked version of good terrorists or freedom fighters and bad terrorists confuses groups of people and actually provides fodder for the creation, support and growth of hate institutions.
Until and unless this is done, there will always be blow back because EVERY terrorist group that is enthusiastic enough to kill for their Islamic beliefs will one day find the Pakistani government not Islamic enough for their tastes.
Also the time to do this will run out once the “silent majority” stop dwindling. And it is only a matter of time before someone motivated enough gets hold of a nuke. It may be 20 years from now but that is not far enough into the future.
A mind is a beautiful thing, especialy yours. May God bless you and multiply you, in mind only (keep your pants up otherwise).
P.S.: Well connected fundamental thinking, better than this article.
One way is to acknowledge that Talibans are a justified force, are very strong and as they have beards we can not blame them. If this is the case, then do what ever they tell and demand. The other is to realize that they are evil. They will do to the heartland of Pakistan, what they did to Afghanistan, while they were in Govt. They want to make Pakistan look alike Saudi Arabia, where religious police is chasing and caning women to cover their hands and faces.
If we do not like the picture, we have to fight them. Fight them by having laws that can actually try a terrorist. In our country where a person, who was arrested with a suicide vests can be released on bail, where a moulvee can sermon to go and kill someone, thus performing a religious duty and getting the heaven at the same time; we need to have a new set of laws. Above all, we need some real seriousness to to eradicate the evil.
Pakistan needs to create a more credible rule of law. If insurgents felt disputes were being fairly resolved in state-run forums (i.e. the legislature, courts) they wouldn’t resort to violence.
Pakistani security forces are sitting ducks for these terrorists. They are in a stand down mode not realizing that country is in a state of war. It is totally unforgivable that Pak army was camped out in Wazirabad next to a bridge, on a low ground, leaving itself open to any attack from the main highway.
Pakistani security forces will have to go into highest state of alert to avoid high casualties.
There should be a quick reaction force in every city consisting of highly trained personnel who are able to respond to these situations within minutes. These units are typically transported to the area of theater through helicopters. They quickly cordon off all the exit routes and then start hunting the terrorists. Every attack by terrorists also presents an opportunity to capture or kill the terrorists. Traps can also be part of the strategy in dealing with this menace.
My other suggestion is to use media to train your public in responding to a bomb blast or suicide attack. Most of the casualties are due to lack of knowledge about basic first aid techniques. Stopping the bleeding should be the immediate response to any bomb blast. Tourniquets should be distributed to the public. Any piece of rope can save a life. A person with a limb cut off will bleed to death in few minutes unless the bleeding is stopped immediately.
Pakistan needs to wake up and get serious about this fight with terrorism. So far I see our security forces sleeping through this critical time.
Very well said.
The only way to stop terror attacks in Pakistan is to form an organization like American FBI,send dozens of police officers for training to the US,Scotland Yard,and countries like Saudi Arabia,UAE where law and Order are maintained.Be able to provide witness protection,create a no non-sence judiciary,finish thana system culture,reduce police constabulary and increase educated police officers,preach and practice a sense of security.It has not much to do with the US presence in Afghanistan.Terror attacks will continue to happen years after American would have left Afganistan.
Better way to take responsibility of fix this message and say US to go back. After that you can clear this mess by yourself because no one would accept killing by foreign forces.
US have already provided lots of AID to Pakistan.Nothing comes free in this world and their is a price for everything.Pakistan is now paying the price and it will continue paying it in future.There are simply no free donuts.
Taliban strikes at will, USA can not be blamed for all the strikes by taliban, only taliban and lack of proper motive to stop strikes is to be blamed. Destroy taliban destroy roots of evil tree.
i agree. they need to go all out against the taliban and others.
As long you blame the Americans for the resurgence of terror you will never focus on the real enemy – the Talibans.
I could not agree more
These terrorists are stepping up their attacks just as Ramadan, the month of peace and forgiveness has begun. I don’t understand how these barbarians have the gall to claim that they are Muslims.
If they wanted to protest the resumption of Nato supplies, the logical way was to hinder their transport by blocking the roads and holding rallies, not killing innocent people who have nothing to do with those supplies.
Pakistan has to be firm with Taliban and you said is well they are barbarians and preach eschewed version of Islam.
As we have seen some peaceful interval due to the suspension of NATO Supply, with low level activity. However after the resumption of NATO Supplies, a series of attacks over the law enforcement agencies, is a clear message by the terrorists that such attacks will continue. Now at this critical stage people of the country can not afford high number of causalities, just to provide a victory to NATO over the cost of national interest. We have also experienced heavy causalities in the past in the wake of war against terror. On the other hand no Indian soldier so far died or wounded to safeguard US or NATO interest, but the worst is that no recognition in this regard have been made by US & the same tune of Do More is following us like shadow. These kind of behaviors will never provide victory to any nation who put their allies under pressure & are dependent largely over them to stop the crossing of border by terrorists & the blames of harboring terrorist groups etc. Instead their troops should be self sufficient to fight war. In any case military operations are not answer to fight terrorism, but a political solution is required by putting NATO under pressure.
if you had gone all out and focused and targeted the taliban and treated it like a war to begin with then it may have been over a long time ago. you need to destroy the taliban completely and other terrorists around the country for the forward development of pakistan and the region.
Did the same strategy of “Destroying the Terrorist” worked out between England & IRA? I guess not, at the end England had to use political ways to resolve the conflict. History tells us that military intervention is not the solution for fighting terrorists, it actually produces more terrorist over time.
If military was the solution then US and NATO would have had won the “War of Terror” by now…
Which terms do you think we should talk to Taliban in Pakistan? They want to use Waziristan as a base to lauch attack in Afghanistan? Should Pakistan allow this?
If ” do more” had been done we would be at a different level. unless of course if we think Haqqani network is our do more.
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