Quetta carnage

Letter October 26, 2016
If the attack was not a security and intelligence breach, than what else can we term it

LAHORE: The inhumane Quetta act was committed by beasts, many of them who have sought refuge in this country. We are paying for the sins of men like Ziaul Haq and General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who compromised the sovereignty of this country by giving sanctuary to mercenaries of all shades and nationalities. It is time that Pakistan’s ruling elite and establishment understand that our salvation lies in pursuing the vision of Quaid-e-Azam, who wanted this country to be a modern democratic welfare state and not a theocracy.

Pakistan needs stricter border management control, even if that means restricting the quantum of transit trade to Afghanistan. This requires political will and the commitment of those at the helm, to resist temptations of the billion-dollar smuggling industry and their collaborators within the political elite and establishment of this country. The bitter reality is truckloads of smuggled petroleum that enter this country daily. To date, not a single top bureaucrat or uniformed officer, responsible for the prevention of such acts, has been held responsible and given exemplary punishment.

If the attack was not a security and intelligence breach, than what else can we term it? There will be the usual condemnations and meetings and thereafter, it will be business as usual, with the prime minister, president and others busy with their never-ending spate of foreign tours, which have yielded nothing but more expenses for a state burdened with debt and declining exports.

The arm chair security analysts will come on television talk shows and give their lectures. It should be food for thought that in a country that is insecure from within, where law enforcement has failed in its primary objective, those who are employed for these specific tasks are too busy developing housing societies for commercial profiteering, which has adversely affected their professional capabilities.

Ali Malik

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2016.

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