Peshawar bomb blast

A powerful bomb explosion in a crowded fruit and vegetable market near Jinnah Park in Peshawar in the evening rush hour last Friday left seven people dead, and over 40 others injured, 13 of them seriously, which means that the death toll may go up.
A Recorder Report says the bomb was apparently planted in a pushcart. It was the sixth blast to hit Peshawar in a month, and the deadliest in terms of casualties, which makes it almost one bomb explosion a week, though the earlier five are now being seen as merely "warning shots". Nobody has claimed responsibility for any of the six explosions.
The blast site is said to be located hardly 300 yards from the historic Balahisar Fort that houses the headquarters of the Frontier Corps. Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said that the aim of the perpetrators seems to have been to "create chaos and harassment." Going by the high power of the IED used as well as the location of the blast, this would appear to be a rather facile explanation. However, IG Peshawar Riffat Pasha has termed it "a terrorist act" which seems to be a more realistic assessment. Another high police official has been quoted as saying that Friday's blast shows that the perpetrators mean business now.
In their initial reactions, President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have both strongly condemned the blast, with the former vowing to continue the war on terror, and the latter asserting that terrorists were attempting to derail the development programme and progressive steps taken by the government. Meanwhile, two soldiers have been killed and another three injured in an attack by militants on a check-post in South Waziristan, where mortars were used by both sides.
All these incidents of terrorism and sabotage are being largely seen as manifestations of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the sensitive tribal belt, and are believed to be linked to the US-led war on terror being waged in neighbouring Afghanistan. Security circles suspect that the Peshawar carnage may well be the handiwork of militants involved in North Waziristan unrest.
So there seem to be both internal and external factors involved. However, targeting innocent shoppers is an act of extreme callousness on the part of those claiming to be waging a just struggle. It is an indefensible act of sheer brutality, whatever their deranged motives. Meanwhile, the mounting number of suicide attacks inside Afghanistan targeting the Karzai government high-ups and Nato forces for which Kabul irrationally holds Islamabad responsible, have taken the strain in Pak-Afghan relations almost to a breaking point, one manifestation of which was the cold Karzai-Musharraf meeting in Washington.
Further, the resurgence in Taliban activities on either side of the highly porous and mountainous Durand Line has become the latest irritant in Pak-Afghan relations that remained historically cordial, before the proponents of the "strategic depth" implemented their otherwise good agenda but without first conducting the diplomatic spadework for it.
Again, thanks largely to some of our ambitious schemes, the Frankenstein phenomenon of Taliban has haunted us to this day. And our hard-hitting, no-nonsense policy in Balochistan has done the rest. India too has contributed its devious share in making things really tough for us. The spate of bomb blasts and other acts of sabotage in different parts of the country, particularly in the tribal belt, is apparently the whirlwind we are reaping for our past and present policy follies.
The Peshawar blast is not a disease but only a symptom of the disease, ie extremism that we have contracted or been infected with. Instead of playing any more ducks and drakes with the nation's destiny or playing in the hands of others, it is about time our rulers shook off their colonial hangovers, and steered the country into the 21st century as a sovereign, self-respecting state. They owe this debt to the nation. Meanwhile, let the law enforcement apparatus be activated to hunt down the callous perpetrators of the Peshawar and other blasts that have taken countless innocent lives in the country.