In what seems to be a change of strategy the terrorists are now zeroing in on specified individuals instead of striking at public places for indiscriminate killings. The latest victim of the new strategy is Commandant of Frontier Constabulary Safwat Ghayyur, who died in a suicide attack in Peshawar on Wednesday.
His killing comes quick on the heels of murders of MQM provincial legislator Raza Haider and son of KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. While nobody, as yet, has claimed responsibility for murder of Raza Haider the other two killings are the Tehrek-i-Taliban Pakistan's work.
"We shall continue to target law-enforcement personnel and leaders of the ruling Awami National Party (ANP), says Azam Tariq, who styles himself as the spokesman of the Pakistani Taliban. But if the circumstances in which the FC commandant lost his life are any indication - he had changed his route as well his vehicle but the suicide-bomber made no mistake in reaching him - it seems quite plausible the terrorists have also infiltrated the security apparatus.
Without getting into debate over the government claim that terrorists have already lost and the recent strikes are 'last hurrah' of the losing side one would tend to believe that defeating terrorism is still a long way off. As we look at the looming welter of terrorism and how costly it is in terms of human sufferings, population dislocations, political uncertainty and economic losses, one is struck by the inadequacy of official response. No question about the amount of sacrifices our law-enforcing agencies have made; in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone some four hundred policemen have fallen in the battle against terrorism.
The armed forces' casualties are even more staggering. Hundreds of thousands of peaceful citizens are dislocated. And as to the economic cost terrorism is exacting it would be suffice to quote the informed circles that during the last three days alone Karachi businesses incurred losses exceeding 15 billion rupees. This is a frightening spectacle, but equally disappointing is the quality and quantity of measures taken by the government to fight back the curse of hydra-headed terrorism in Pakistan.
In fact, even a realistic appraisal of this challenge is not available with the government. One would like to know what happened to the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Authority. Why is it not possible to convene an all-parties roundtable conference to evolve a common approach to fight terrorists? And, how is that while some of the political parties nurture clearly contrasting perspectives on terrorism in the country they blithely share the fruits of coalition power.
Frankly speaking, terrorist threat confronting Pakistan today is not merely a law and order situation; nor is it only an imported commodity. It is a multi-faceted threat stalking the length and breadth of Pakistan in many forms and shapes. At some places it is purely sectarian while in other areas it is ethnicity-based.
Then there is a whole host of religious crusaders flaunting varying ideologies, committed to elimination of the opponents. That a neighbour too is muddying the water cannot be doubted. And last but not the least, there also exists a band of geo-strategists who dream of rewriting the geography of this region. So by all measures terrorism in Pakistan is a huge challenge and those who think it can be tackled by force alone are sadly mistaken.
We are caught up in an ideological warfare, fought on both sides by the same people. By all accounts it is an extremely complicated situation, and demands scientific handling and an out-of-the-box-solution. Of course the lead role in this is with Prime Minister Gilani, and he should know the history would judge him not by his words but by his actions.
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