The Parachinar atrocity

The bomb that killed at least 24 people in Parachinar on the morning of December 13, was a clear and bloody message that terrorism is a long way from being eradicated. There has been a reduction in terrorist activity in the last year but some aspects of the terrorist threat are particularly difficult to eradicate and sectarianism is one of them. The friction at the interface of the sectarian divide kills and maims by the hundreds every year. The supposedly banned organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was in revenge for those purportedly supporting Iran and the Assad regime in Syria. The innocents who died in Parachinar were civilians going about their daily lives and possibly only dimly aware if they are aware at all, of the war in Syria or the complexities of geopolitics.

At the other end of the country on December 12, a retired army major was shot and killed in an attack claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. The attack took place in the supposedly secure Defence Housing Authority in Karachi. The attackers escaped. On the same day in Quetta, one soldier was killed and four others wounded when a bomb went off at a paramilitary checkpoint. On the same day again, but this time in Peshawar, a Deputy Superintendent of Police was shot and critically wounded.

No matter the claims on all sides that terrorism is in retreat, the daily reality is that there are incidents that rarely make the headlines as the body count is too low to merit media attention beyond a brief mention. Terrorism is infinitely adaptable, a shape-changing entity that responds, sometimes quickly, to efforts to kill it off. It may choose to lie low, go silent for a while in the face of external pressures and operations to shut down terrorist outfits. But it persists and what is today on display is the durability of terrorism; which points up the absolute necessity of countering it everywhere in the country. Because any relaxation in this endeavour creates an opportunity for the bomber and target killer.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2015.

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