The failure of those who were well aware that the jailbreak was imminent is crystal clear.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: Many quarters got upset when Osama bin Laden’s six-year long questionable presence in Pakistan and the American raid in Abbottabad to eliminate him were termed either inefficiency or complicity on the part of those responsible for ensuring the country’s security. But we can’t always hide behind the line that exists between inefficiency and complicity. The attack on the DI Khan’s high security jail may be a daring and morale-boosting act for the Taliban as they got around 250 of their comrades released, but at the same time, the failure of those who were well aware that the jailbreak was imminent is crystal clear.
Apparently, intelligence agencies had earlier informed everyone responsible in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government of the upcoming danger. Even the city commissioner held a meeting with law-enforcement agencies and the civil administration to chalk out a strategy, but when the real attack came within a few hours, as someone quite aptly described, there were guns but no one to pull the trigger. Should we again hide behind the cowardliness of the security staff? No, I don’t think so.
The DI Khan jailbreak highlights a very alarming situation (though already known to many higher-ups) — the possible infiltration of the Taliban and their sympathisers within the law-enforcement agencies.
Is someone in Islamabad and Peshawar awake to this state of affairs? What are the priorities of the federal and provincial governments? Load-shedding, the presidential election, dealing with the Supreme Court’s contempt notices, sitting in itekaf and leaving the country to perform umrah may be the priorities for the governments but for the general public, the topmost priority is stopping the terrorists from taking over the whole country. But who cares about the public as our rulers have five years before they have to return to the people for votes.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2013.
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