Attack on Peshawar airport

One would very much like to believe that the back of militancy has been broken, but the Saturday night attack on Peshawar airport, followed by the daylong fight between militants and security personnel in airport's neighbourhood tends to suggest that some part of that is still firmly and dangerously intact. And that part may be hard to break given the sophistication underlying the strike plan and the quality of weaponry the attackers were equipped with.
All of the 10-man squad sent by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan to attack this civilian-military facility perished as there was no surrender. Perhaps, had some of them not got killed at their own hands when their explosives-laden van crashed into the airport protective wall they would have succeeded in destroying aircraft parked at the facility.
But if the attack on Peshawar airport shows that tactical skills of militants have improved so it does prove that the defenders' capacity to foil such attacks is much better. Not only was the airport better secured, the manpower deployed carried out their task more effectively.
The attackers' attempt to reach the military aircraft was foiled - unlike the earlier situations at air bases in Karachi and Kamra. The way security personnel carried out the follow-up action in the residential area where some of the attackers had taken cover is yet another evidence of local law-enforcing agencies' fairly augmented capacity to deal with such attacks.
It's certainly a significant success on the part of security forces, but to suppose that the terrorists' capacity to wreak damage and undermine public morale is over the hump may be a case of over-optimism. But effective response put up by the defenders of Peshawar airport complex does throw up some signs significant enough to show the TTP's capacity to strike at will, would find a matching response in Peshawar and around that place. Firstly, the government agencies had a fair amount of intelligence on the impending TTP attack and defensive measures were well in place.
Obviously, there is the need to build up on this aspect of terrorism - because it's well-known that the best weapon to counter terrorism is effective counter-intelligence. And as work on intelligence gathering is intensified the government should boost anti-militancy hype, particularly cashing in on the growing perception that the TTP is essentially a mercenary outfit. If at all at some time it gave the looks of a Jehadi force it's no more the same.
That at least four of the attackers appeared to be 'foreigners' and in this case were Uzbek, and that the suicide jackets and the explosive material they contained bore marks of their foreign origin, is an aspect of the attack which should be looked into critically and incisively.
The experts should be able to figure out the place of their origin and how did they reach Pakistan. With evidence in hand, the government should take this issue to international forums. Far too long we have been hearing about the 'foreign hand' doing all this mischief to destabilise Pakistan. Time has come that foreign hand should be identified without any further loss of time. And as all this is set in motion the defences of city of Peshawar should be strengthened.
Having failed to make any significant mark elsewhere in Pakistan, the TTP has sharpened its focus on the capital city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Let Peshawar be another Stalingrad. No wonder this is the second attack on Peshawar airport that sits on the border with Fata; it came under a rocket attack in August 2009 also. Other than suicide-bombers the use of rockets seems to be the TTP's weapon of choice. Ideally, the rocket-firing emplacements should be promptly picked up and destroyed. At the same time, anti-terrorism strategy - if it is there - should be reviewed, especially by way of undertaking plans to decapitate the terrorist networks. Enough is enough.