Security lapse or sign of terrorists’ invulnerability?

Army chief directs intelligence agencies to help find the perpetrators

ISLAMABAD: The assassination of Punjab Home Minister Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada is the first major high-profile terrorist attack since the country’s civil and military authorities crafted a new anti-terror strategy in the wake of last December’s massacre at the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar.

The suicide attack that left scores of other people dead is a grim reminder that the fight against terrorism and extremism is far from over.



Khanzada, security sources said, was on the hit list of terrorist outfits given the fact that he was spearheading the anti-terror campaign in Punjab. Following the killing of head of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Malik Ishaq in a police encounter on July 29, the home minister’s life was increasingly under threat.

Read: Khanzada’s martyrdom: PM, others express profound grief

This raises the question as to why he was not provided enough security. Was it a security lapse on the government’s part? Or does the attack show that terrorists can still hit their targets at will despite the recent gains in the war against terror under the National Action Plan (NAP)?

There are no clear answers yet from the government.

Security experts, on the other hand, believe it to be a clear case of security lapse.

“He [Khanzada] was naturally on the hit list of certain sectarian outfits so his security had to be foolproof,” commented Amir Rana of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), which deals with security situation and keeps track of progress made under the NAP. He believes the assassination of Khanzada to be the work of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to avenge the killing of Malik Ishaq.



“We had been alerting the government that the next big threat is being posed by sectarian groups active in urban areas,” Rana said.

The military has claimed to have destroyed the command and control structure of terrorists as a result of the ongoing operation in North Waziristan Agency and other tribal regions. But some militants are believed to have fled to either Afghanistan or urban centres in Pakistan.

A security official while speaking condition of anonymity said the military was not oblivious to the problem and will find out such terrorists and eliminate them. He pointed out that intelligence-based operations were already under way in urban areas, including those in Punjab, where such militant outfits have strongholds.

The official said the operation will be intensified in coming days and not only militant outfits but also their sympathisers, supporters and financiers will be taken to task. When asked, the official conceded that the assassination of Khanzada could have been prevented had there been better security arrangements but added that it did not mean the anti-terror plan has failed.

Perhaps that was the reason the military carried out air strikes in Shawal Valley of North Waziristan, killing at least 40 militants, just hours after the Punjab home minister’s assassination.

Although, the latest air strike may not be connected to the Attock incident, it clearly shows that the authorities will not be deterred from implementing the NAP, said the official.

Army chief General Raheel Sharif was one of the first to strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Attock in the strongest terms.

Read: Shuja Khanzada, the spearhead of Punjab's anti-terror movement

“The chief of army staff directed intelligence agencies to help find the perpetrators. Such dastardly, cowardly attempts cannot dent our national resolve to eliminate the menace,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.

“Khanzada Shaheed was bold officer whose sacrifice for greater cause of cleansing Pakistan won’t go to waste,” Gen Raheel remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2015.