Resurgence of terrorist attacks

After a relative lull in terrorist activity inside the major cities of the country during the last two months, there is suddenly an outburst of suicide attacks in the country. In the latest event of the series, two suicide bombers struck R.A. Bazaar area in Lahore cantonment on Friday turning it into a killing field.
According to the FIR registered with the police, 50 to 60 people, including eight army personnel died in the attack and 120 were injured. According to the cantonment area police chief, limbs scattered all over made it difficult to give an exact toll and to identify the dead. The choice of the area indicated that the military personnel were the intended target, but what invariably happens in such cases, the attack resulted in the indiscriminate killings of innocent people. Two suicide bombers struck their targets within minutes.
According to the ISPR, personnel of the Army's Garrison Security Force (GSF) were hit while on their way to carrying out security duties during the Friday congregations. As this was a busy shopping area, and there was a bus terminal also in the vicinity, most of the victims were unwary shoppers or commuters, including women and children. Some of those were proceeding to offer Juma prayers in a mosque situated near the blast area.
Such was the severity of the two blasts that it destroyed two GSF vehicles, several cars and motorcycles, while windowpanes and doors in the surrounding locality were shattered. It was carnage, pure and simple, which was yet another example of the brutality of the terrorists, who have no respect for human life.
In the evening, six blasts of relatively low intensity rocked two thickly populated neighbourhoods in the city, presumably to cause panic in the population, already rattled on account of the deadly attacks in the R.A. Bazaar.
Meanwhile, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the heinous crime, as it had done for the attack four days back on a Special Investigation Agency (SIA) facility in Model Town locality, in Lahore, which killed 14 and injured 80.
On Saturday, terrorists struck in Swat. A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people in Mingora as he rammed his explosive-laden car into a checkpost. After a respite of two months, there is again a spurt in terrorist attacks. The failure of the terrorists to target major cities in January and February was attributed to two reasons.
The military operations had deprived the TTP of its traditional strongholds, where it harboured hundreds of militants and had set up training centres and kept caches of arms. With two top leaders killed and a number of second rank leaders and commanders eliminated or arrested, the terrorists were demoralised.
What is more, their leadership was scattered over different areas and was unable, for a time, to communicate and co-ordinate its policies. The provincial governments and the security agencies had meanwhile raised the level of their alertness. Checkposts on roads leading to major towns made the entry of explosive-laden vehicles difficult.
There was also better co-ordination between different agencies as well as between the centre and provinces. This forced the militants to confine their nefarious activities only to the small towns and outskirts of the big cities. What has apparently happened during the last two months is that the terrorist leadership has come out of the initial shock and is making better use of its sleeper cells and remaining manpower in the major towns.
On the other hand, the provincial governments and the security agencies have become lethargic, with the result that the level of alertness has come down, allowing the terrorists to use the chinks in their armour. The fight against militancy is a gruelling contest of wills.
Terrorists are down, but not out. They are a part of an unbalanced fringe, which is driven by a madman's frenzy. While from a strategic point of view they are bound to be defeated over time, tactically they have to be taken seriously to avoid the tragic loss of innocent lives that is again taking place on an unacceptable scale. The government and its agencies cannot, therefore, afford to lower their guard.
There is a need to raise the level of alertness on checkposts. That two men carrying heavy suicide jackets could enter a high security area indicates there are lapses in security arrangements. So is the fact that an explosive-laden vehicle could be brought inside Mingora, while another one was able to negotiate security checkposts to enter Model Town on Monday.
It won't do explaining away the tragic incident by blaming India, as was done by the two provincial bigwigs on Friday. That, whoever was behind the incident succeeded in his mission indicates serious security lapses on the part of those charged with the responsibility to ensure the security of the life and property of the citizens.