Who could be happier than Zarmash as he left for Saudi Arabia last month saying goodbye to an enduring spell of no-work-no-food in the suburbs of Peshawar - for him a life-time dream had come true. But it was too early and his three teenaged sons - Sadarat (18), Riasat (16) and Tariq (13) - had to be on the road as usual to make a living by selling snuff and boiled cobs. On Sunday, they were also there on the Zar Saz road, in the Badabher area, when terrorists struck a Frontier Corps convoy. The convoy escaped but Zarmash's three sons didn't, along with a score others, all innocent including women and children. As fate would have it, Zarmash's happiness didn't last a month - like many others' in Pakistan who too lost their near and dear ones as the terrorists ran riot this past Sunday throughout this 'land of the pure'. If the intended target was the security convoy in Peshawar, in Quetta a suicide-bomber exploded himself at the gate of an Imambargah, in North Waziristan four soldiers were killed in an IED attack and in Naseerabad three labourers were murdered by the roadside.
The day's casualty tally ran into more than 50 killed and 100 injured. Since by now the killers have given up their guise so who-killed-whom is no more a mystery. It is not guerrilla warfare, in Pakistan but an open war on the state and people of Pakistan by a multi-faceted enemy who is daring the government 'catch me if you can'. Of course the terrorist bands do join hands for co-ordinated attacks, but generally they conduct ambush on individual basis. If you know the identity of the victim of a terrorist attack the probable identity of the culprit outfit is no big problem. Shia persons and places fall victim to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi; security men and convoys are attacked by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP); small-scale sabotage and ethnic killings is the specialty of the Baloch Liberation Army and targeted killings on the streets of Karachi is generally the work of sectarian hired guns and cracker-throwing is the sport of the extortionists.
We would like to thank British Prime Minister David Cameron for his offer of "technical support for the new counter-terrorism policy" the PML-N government is trying to formulate, particularly for the equipment to tackle IEDs. But more than that the government needs to evolve a comprehensive anti-terrorism strategy, not only by way of securing better technology but also by thinking through a political approach. No doubt, the latest spike in terrorist attacks tends to put supporters of the peace talks option on defensive. What is it that the government can possibly concede to the Taliban in return for their demand for obtaining a non-democratic theocratic state, ask the people. But juxtapose this demand with the reality the Taliban are quite familiar with that even much more heightened violence would bring no city under their control to establish their 'caliphate'. If the formula that the peace talks with Taliban can be held only within the framework of the constitution and that they should lay down arms before coming to the negotiating table did not work, then this is proof positive that the enemy is not ready to talk yet. If the adversary is ready to give up on his political dogma and disarm then he is already peaceful, obviating the need for peace talks. History tells us that peace talks are held to end a raging conflict. The insurgency in Balochistan merits similar approach, that's fight, talk. But there can be no talks with the murderers of Shia community or the target killers of Karachi. They are outright criminals and must be dealt with accordingly. Given the stepped up pace of terrorist attacks and the official reaction being only issuance of condemnatory statements the man in the street tends to be pessimistic. He is not sure if this genie can be put back in the bottle. It is therefore imperative that the concerned authorities should stand up to the challenge and evolve a workable strategy. And for this to happen time is of the essence.