Rawalpindi bomb blast

EDITORIAL: Late Friday evening brought distressing news of a bomb blast in Rawalpindi. One person was killed and 12 others injured, including three children, when an explosive device planted close to a motorcycle went off in Kabari Bazaar in the Saddar area. According to a senior police officer, the device may have been timed or detonated by remote control. The explosion, he said, was like the one that took place three months earlier, i.e., on March 12, not far from the present site of the incident, and caused injuries to 12 people, and also similar to what happened in Morgah area earlier this year. No one has claimed credit for this mindless violence. So, who could have done it, and to what end?

The usual suspect, TTP militants, may or may not be involved. Having been significantly weakened, they are fighting their last battles in the erstwhile tribal areas. Media reports speak of frequent exchange of fire with the security forces and explosive device (IED) explosions in the restive North and South Waziristan districts, where they have also been targeting civilians and government officials. Their modus operandi in settled areas, however, has been the use of suicide bombers to cause maximum loss of life; and claim responsibility, too. The present incident and the ones before it seem to bear a different signature. They have more in common with what went on a decade or so ago. In many incidents at the time, explosives attached to bicycles or fruit carts parked in bazaars or to passenger buses went off, killing and/or injuring several innocent people. That was before the advent of extremist violence in this country or elsewhere. It was believed to be the handiwork of Indian intelligence agency, RAW, that also drew a tit-for-tat action. New Delhi appears to be playing that game, again.

Its Hindu extremist rulers make no secret of their desire to destabilise this country. The BJP government's national security advisor Ajit Doval, in fact, is on record to have openly declared that intention. Then there is substantial evidence of India inciting and aiding Bloch insurgents to create trouble in Balochistan through sabotage and violence, and also of using certain Afghanistan-based TTP groups to stage acts of terrorism in other parts of this country. It would be hardly surprising if low intensity violence, like the incidents in Rawalpindi, is part of a well thought-out strategy to keep this country on its toes - all the more so at this time to distract attention from the human rights crisis in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad must keep its guard up. Various intelligence agencies ought to improve their performance through better liaison and information sharing.