The assassination attempt on the Karachi Corps Commander yesterday raises the level of threat to security in the city to unprecedented levels. If the top military commander in the city can be targeted, what chance do ordinary citizens have against the terrorists?
The Corps Commander's motorcade was apparently fired upon by one or more gunmen, killing nine of his security detail.
The Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, remained unscathed. As soon as the firing on the motorcade began, the vehicles in the convoy speeded up, according to standard operating procedure, and whisked the General to safety.
A small bomb/grenade explosion was reported subsequently in or around a garbage dump by the roadside, which mercifully did not cause any loss of human life.
Karachi has seen more than its share of violence in the past few weeks. Starting with by-elections and ending up in sectarian assassination, bombings, riots and deaths of rioters at the hands of the law enforcement agencies, the failure of the provincial government in controlling the situation led to the axing of Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Maher.
The opposition's demands for the removal of the MQM Governor, Ishratul Ibad, and allowing the party that holds a plurality in the Provincial Assembly, the PPP, to form the provincial government have so far fallen on deaf ears.
The incoming Chief Minister, Arbab Rahim, has been greeted with this latest incident of terrorism, which can only serve to highlight the challenge facing him in tackling the security and law and order situation in the city.
Analysts are of the view that the attack on the Commander V Corps, Karachi, cannot be viewed in isolation from the events in South Waziristan.
It may be recalled that after the disastrous military operation in March in and around Wana, the South Waziristan Agency's headquarters, a political solution to the presence of foreign militants aligned with al Qaeda and the Taleban in the Tribal Areas had been sought through negotiations with Nek Mohammad, former Taleban commander from the area.
The sceptics (including the US command in Afghanistan) saw this effort as doomed from the start. Nek Mohammad declared war on the Pakistan government after the tribes were cajoled into forming a lashkar to hunt out the elusive foreign elements, none of whom appeared for registration and amnesty as promised by the government in the Shakai agreement.
The rocket attack on a security post the other day has seen a fresh outbreak of fighting between the military and hostiles, which is continuing.
Whether this is a fresh military offensive or simply retaliation for the rocket attack, ie whether hostilities have been initiated by the authorities or the militants, the surmise is that Operation Wana-II seems to have begun.
The assassination attempt against the Corps Commander Karachi may well be the handiwork of al Qaeda, the Taleban, or their local allies and supporters. It only underlines the need to root out terrorist elements from Pakistani soil, whether in the Tribal Areas on the periphery, or in the heart of metropolitan Karachi. Without improved intelligence, however, the terrorists will always remain one jump ahead of the authorities, striking when and where they please, with the element of surprise being a major weapon in their armoury.
Penetration of local groups aligned with al Qaeda and the Taleban may be the way forward, whatever the risks involved.
Without reliable information from the inside of the terrorist network, the security and law enforcement agencies will always be seen as fighting with one hand tied behind their backs, with horrendous results as seen recently.
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