Black shadow

The dark shadow of the Islamic State (IS), the extremist organisation that has terrorised the Middle East and wishes to establish a caliphate across the Muslim world, has fallen over us. The assailants who shot at US national Debra Lobo in Karachi, have claimed to be affiliated to the organisation. This is the first such incident where militants have claimed affiliation with the IS instead of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or al Qaeda after carrying out an attack of this kind.

Ms Lobo, the vice-principal of Jinnah Medical and Dental College (JMDC), was shot at as she was leaving her place of work on April 16. The 55-year-old was fortunate to survive but has been critically injured. The unknown assailants, four persons on two motorcycles, shot Ms Lobo and have since vanished. Leaflets on the scene in Urdu and English claim that the attack was carried out to avenge the killing of five suspected TTP militants who were killed by Rangers personnel in Kaemari on April 8. Ms Lobo, who had moved to Pakistan from the US in 1998 and has been associated with the JMDC since then, was apparently targeted since she was a US national. The manner in which the attack was carried out raises many questions for the future. Are we to now see an active wing of the IS, or groups affiliated to it, operate in our state? If so, what will this mean for all of us? The scenario does not appear to be a pleasant one. If militants claiming affiliation to the IS were able to strike on a busy Karachi road, in a city where a massive security operation is currently underway, they can strike again elsewhere. This is not something that will help our wider battle to overcome militancy. The complacency in certain government circles that the IS has little or no presence in Pakistan needs to be revisited. Any denial of facts and being ill-prepared in the face of a crisis is the last thing we need. How we combat this state of affairs remains to be seen. We have to succeed if we are to survive.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2015.

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