Bloody Wednesday

For months and years now, no day would pass without bringing in reports of murderous violence somewhere in the country, but this past Wednesday was singularly the bloodiest. As the day wore on and darkness descended upon the national landscape one was overwhelmed by the eerie feeling that perhaps the long simmering cauldron of unchecked violence was coming to its dread boil.
Terrorists struck with full force, with absolute impunity, in all four provinces, seriously eroding the public confidence in the viability of the state to deliver on its fundamental duty of ensuring protection of life and limb of citizens and evoking a thought that perhaps the terrorists will always remain invincible. In Quetta, a motorcycle-planted bomb exploded killing three security personnel who were escorting a school bus. And the banned Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Twenty-eight others were injured, some critically. In Bannu, two motorcycle riders waylaid a police party and killed three policemen including an SHO, and injured three Frontier Constabulary men. Near Shangla, a police constable was killed and his four colleagues were injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside blast. And in the vicinity of Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a ton and half of explosives was interdicted by the police. If one particular brand of terrorists was hitting out at security forces in Balochistan and KP, another brand was on a killing spree in Karachi and Rawalpindi, where their suicide-bombers targeted Muharram mourners. That all this blood-letting took place on the eve of the D-8 Summit when the highest possible security arrangements were in place all across major cities is a development which requires the government to do more than the usual optics and cosmetics.
Though, it bears repetition, it is necessary to say that terrorists have quite a few brands; while some are the foot soldiers of forces fomenting insurgency in Balochistan, the others have been rented by mafias of all varieties. But the ones who are taking the heavy toll of life these days are the sectarian zealots. If the much-talked about 'foreign hand' is making hay while the sun shines in Pakistan the government has yet to come out with more information which it hasn't so far, for reasons beyond comprehension. That only in Pakistan - excepting Iraq where the post-Saddam situation remains volatile - in none of 52 Muslim-majority countries, sectarian strife acquires such a savage display. Why and how: our religious leaders owe an explanation to the nation. Is it that they have failed to subordinate their big egos to realism dictated by ground realities; or is it that they are incompetent to do so? They need to know how the sectarian peace and harmony have been ensured by the governments in other Muslim countries, and for this the government should provide necessary help and guidance. The unpalatable truth is that if the unity and strength of the Muslim Ummah is today in a shambles it's mainly the doing of its religious leaders. That the Ashura passes without bloodshed in other Muslim countries is a strong reality because in these countries organisers and governments sit together and hammer out workable plans.
That said we cannot overlook the lingering incapacity of the police force and colossal failure of the elected leadership in carrying out its fundamental responsibility of putting in place relevant laws and forensic wherewithal to ensure effective law-enforcement. Most of the penal laws, particularly the Pakistan Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act, are too antiquated to effectively deal with modern-age crimes. To amend and update the legislation in the field, the government doesn't need, the difficult to come by a two-thirds majority in parliament. No less detrimental to the cause of law and order is the growing political influence which tends to politicise the police force, if not in demoralising honest and hardworking personnel. Then there are lots of problems in securing effective prosecution. Yes, the courts would let go the guilty if prosecution fails to establish the guilt by providing strong evidence. If necessary, which is indeed is presently the case; the government should go for special legal framework to deal with the emergency-like situation that obtains in the country today. All this needs to be done, on a war-footing, before things begin unravelling. The clock is ticking away.