Terrorists up the ante

As many as 40 people, including foreign militants and their Chechen commander holed up in a North Waziristan residential compound, have been killed in a dawn assault by Pakistani security forces.
Thirty people, including women and children, were also injured in bombing by gunship helicopters that first blasted the hideout in Danday Saidgay village, before the ground forces moved in to launch search and mopping up operations.
The security swoop was reportedly followed by "pitched" gunbattles between local tribesmen and paramilitary forces, which lasted for several hours. An arms cache in the compound was also destroyed. North Waziristan's chief administrator, Zaheerul Islam, claimed at a press briefing that foreign and local militants were using the facility to mount attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
(The collateral damage in such operations is usually due to close proximity of hideouts to residential houses, which the militants use as a cover to avoid detection.)
Meanwhile, a car bomb blast in Karachi's top security zone has uncovered as if a new dimension of the overall security situation in the country. Apparently remote-controlled, the blast caused extensive damage to buildings, and destroyed vehicles parked in the vicinity of the US Consulate.
According to initial reports, four people including a US foreign-service officer died in the blast. Given the severity of the explosion, the death toll may go up.
Although there does not seem to be any direct link between the latest North Waziristan security operation and Karachi blast, the fact that both have taken place during President Bush's South Asia itinerary, signals an extensive backdrop of terrorism that cannot be overlooked completely.
After the successful conclusion of security operations in South Waziristan last year, Islamabad's focus in the war against foreign and local militants has shifted to North Waziristan.
However, what makes the sudden air and ground assault at Danday Saidgay village rather puzzling is the NWFP governor's announcement at a Miranshah jirga about a week ago that the government wished to suspend the operations, as it believed that the tribesmen were able to restore peace and normalcy through their own customs and traditions.
He had also warned the tribal elders, though, that the operations would be resumed if the government received credible information about militants' presence in the area. A resident of Danday Saidgay village is reported have claimed that the compound used by the militants was "empty" at the time of the attack. If so, was there an intelligence failure?
Many analysts are likely to see a possible link between the airstrike, the terrorist bombing in Karachi and President Bush's scheduled arrival in Islamabad. During his unscheduled stopover at Kabul on way to New Delhi the other day, Bush had declared that he would raise the issue of cross-border "infiltration" of militants in his talks with President Musharraf.
It is said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, during his recent visit to Islamabad, had also handed over a list of Afghan and other militants hiding on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.
However, the claim has since been rebutted by Islamabad, and the Karzai government advised to take care of its own side of the border. It cannot be denied that the Pakistani security apparatus has played a crucial role in the US-led war on terror by handing over some 700 al Qaeda and Taleban militants to Washington.
Yet, its allies, surprisingly, demand that it should do more to prove its commitment. Not to be left behind, New Delhi has also been occasionally raising the issue of "cross-border infiltration" with Pakistan, though admitting that its frequency has gone down. Pakistan has borne a heavy cost of its part in the war on terrorism, but no one, it appears, is prepared to give it due credit.
The persistent restlessness and militancy in Balochistan and elsewhere in the tribal belt stems basically from political causes that need to be handled politically.
The spate of bomb blasts and incidents of sabotage do not augur well for our long-term security and economic interests. Thanks largely to our hasty policy manoeuvres, we have only ended up exposing our western flank also to hostile forces. If terrorists still possess the wherewithal to engage high-security targets in the country, it means that there is something seriously lacking with our internal security policy and its implementation.
Both the North Waziristan operation and the Karachi car bombings will not project a pretty security picture for the world to see, particularly when the global media glare is going to be focused on Pakistan during President Bush's visit. A drastic policy review may well be in order.