Suicide bombing in Lahore

Just as a sense of security seemed to have set in across the country except in Balochistan, a suicide bomber struck at the Data Darbar in Lahore, killing 11 people including six policemen, and wounding 25 others, some of the grievously. A teen-aged boy can be seen in a CCTV footage approaching a van of the Elite Police posted near one of the shrine's gates and blowing himself up. Hizbul Ahrar, an offshoot of a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the carnage. The provincial police chief told reporters the target was the police since the bomber hit a police van. Perhaps he should have waited for the completion of investigation to reach any conclusion. All the more so in view of the fact that this is not the first time TTP terrorists have bombed Data Darbar. Back in 2010, two suicide bombers blasted at the shrine killing 40 people.
Various TTP factions have been attacking police, paramilitaries and security forces as well as Shias. In this case, though, the real target appears to be the shrine's devotees rather than the police. As a matter of fact, most Pakistani Taliban are 'takfiris' who view practices at Sufi shrines as bida'at. They have been killing people at shrines all over the country, including Sufi poet Rahman Baba's in Peshawar, Bari Imam in Islamabad, Baba Farid in Pakpattan, Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Shah Noorani in Khuzdar, Pir Rakhel Shah in Jhal Magsi, and many more. In any event, this ghastly incident underscores the unsavoury reality that extremist elements are still active. Once a suicide bomber sets out on his nefarious mission, it is almost impossible to stop him without the loss of life. But their handlers and facilitators who have no qualms about killing innocent people can and must be eliminated.
One obvious way to deal with these heartless terrorists is better intelligence-sharing between civil and military intelligence agencies. The threat, however, will not go away until and unless a determined effort is made to eliminate violent extremism root and branch. The political consensus-based National Action Plan shows the way forward. Unfortunately, so far it has remained a mere talking point, mainly due to resistance offered by religious parties. Meanwhile, sectarian seminaries have continued to poison young minds against the 'other' providing terrorists with suicide bombers to play havoc with lives. The proscribed sectarian organisations and their heads, too, have been allowed to remain functional under new names. Horrors like the latest one in Lahore can stop only if and when effective action is taken against all these sources of trouble. The present government has vowed to fully implement the National Action Plan (NAP). Hopefully, it will take courage in both hands and do all it takes to decimate violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations.