Rising tide of terrorism

Of various considerations that weighed in with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to forego his party's right to form government in Balochistan and opt for a nationalist Dr Malik as chief minister the most compelling was the perception that this would help check the scourge of ethnic cleansing. But this appears to have not worked, as evidenced from the massacre of Punjab-bound travelers near Bolan on Tuesday. But for the graphics of the incident one could think the carnage just another act of terrorism that so much abounds in Balochistan. But this is a case of ethnic cleansing that was promptly owned by the banned Baloch Liberation Army - in line with the outfit's similar pogroms in the past.
The victims were labourers from the adjoining districts of Punjab who were on way to their homes to celebrate Eid with their families. The poor souls must be oblivious of the fact that their better-off counterparts in the cities have already run away if not been murdered. Given that over the last couple of years the Punjabis in the province are under the sword of nationalist militants, there are large-scale desertions of academics, doctors and business leaders. And as usual Chief Minister Dr Malik hasn't done anything more than his predecessor; he condemned the killings and his government promised to conduct 'targeted operation' against the perpetrators - his message being not very different from similar expressions of helplessness made by President Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
How to tackle the rising tide of terrorism the elected leaders have yet to sit together and decide - thanks to the post-election bickering among the elected over their share in the national pie that refuses to abate. But terrorists have no such problem. Least inhibited by the spirituality that's so much that part of Ramazan they are on a killing spree all over the country. On this holiest day of the month, 27th of Ramazan, their activities were simply stunning. They succeeded in killing more than a dozen bus passengers near Bolan, bombed a passenger train in Punjab, carried out a murderous ambush near Chilas in Gilgit-Baltistan region, killing two army officers and a senior police officer and exploded bombs and crackers at numerous places in the country. As to the reach the terrorists have acquired in conducting their operations it may be instructive to note that among the Chilas victims was Colonel Ghulam Mustafa who was recently deployed to the area to help investigate the killing of 10 foreign mountain climbers this past June. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who earlier owned the killing of the climbers, has taken responsibility fot this action also. 'Catch me if you can'- the challenge is loud and clear to the elected governments in the centre and the provinces.
Even when the military operations have considerably degraded the TTP's strength and clout in tribal areas there is no relenting of terrorism in the rest of country. In fact of late it's on the rise, more often depicting the anti-terrorism forces pitted in a defensive mode instead of putting terrorists on the run. One would resist holding any particular force or agency responsible for this reversal of roles, but it has to be said that it's a collective failure of the elected leadership across the political divide. What could be more heartlessness that as the country burns they are off the scene - while some were immobilised by their spiritual supererogation others were duelling the rivals over share in the national pie. Not that exceptional insight is required to size up the magnitude of terror; it's there in all of its most palpable forms and manifestations. On Monday, the nation's capital, Islamabad, was a besieged city, as it was on red alert fearing a terrorist attack from the overlooking Margallas. "We have a very specific threat. Our men are searching through the hills," said the city police chief. In Sindh, authorities called in commandoes to secure jails in Hyderabad and Sukkur. It would be a fatal mistake to consider the electoral victory a license to rule sans accountability.
Much time has already been lost. Terrorism has lingered on for over a decade at a prohibitively very high cost in terms of life and liberty of the people of Pakistan. It bears repetition but it's necessary to count the cost that terrorism has exacted: more than 50,000 fellow Pakistanis including thousands of security and military personnel have been killed; hundreds of schools destroyed, scores of places of worship desecrated, funerals bombed and the country's economy has been thrown out of gear. And yet there is no worthwhile counter-terrorism policy. This is a colossal political failure; if its implications not comprehended we would live to repent. What we have so far is merely firefighting, and even that's half-heartedly. Just think how others react in similar situations. While we failed to protect the Dera Ismail Khan jail even where there was adequate actionable timely forewarning, as against the United States which closed 22 embassies just on receipt of a single piece of intelligence. APC or no APC, and who would and won't participate - these questions have lost relevance. That others don't join the APC, it doesn't absolve the government of its responsibility to stem the rising tide of terrorism - least the balance tilts in favour of terrorists. The time therefore is of essence.