The security delusion

The bloodiest of Fridays, the last Friday of Ramazan, saw carnage in Quetta and Parachinar. Parachinar suffered two explosions, the second timed to cull the first-responders to the first. At least 57 died and 300 were injured according to some reports. The Quetta bombing produced 13 dead including seven policemen. At the time of writing there were no claims of responsibility for either atrocity but it may be reasonably assumed that the Parachinar attack was sectarian in nature. On the same day in Karachi, four policemen were gunned down. Pamphlets found at the scene were left by the gunmen who returned after the initial killing, and they indicate that a new terrorist group is operational. The Ansar al Sharia (AaS) group claimed responsibility in the pamphlets which were written in Urdu, and that this was the start of Operation Radul Artedad. The terrorists now have names for their own dedicated operations. This may be the third or fourth operation by AaS.

The AaS is probably a mélange of groups that have come together for operational reasons under a single flag. They are likely to have pooled resources and be to a degree interdependent. There will be a command and control structure, planning and reconnaissance capacities and the capability to mount complex targeted operations as evidenced by events on Friday. The perpetrators were sufficiently confident to return to the crime scene to leave their organisational fingerprints on it. Terrorism is alive and flourishing in Pakistan, almost a growth industry, and in parts of the country in particular Balochistan, completely beyond the control of the security agencies. It is diverse, highly adaptive and well-funded.

This is a picture and a perception that is not shared, at least publicly, by the government and law-enforcement agencies. The attacks in Quetta and Kurram agency are being linked to ‘sanctuaries’ across the border in Afghanistan. ‘Stringent action’ is reportedly going to be taken against those crossing the border illegally and ‘security would be tightened’ across the country. It will be recalled that Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad commenced earlier this year after terrorist incidents again began to rise and that it sought to eliminate ‘the residual/latent threat of terrorism’ — and therein lies the germ of institutional delusion.

There is nothing ‘residual’ about the groups that carried out the attacks on Friday 23 June, and neither are they ‘latent’. They are not a figment of the imagination but effective and deadly operational realities and a slap in the face for the National Action Plan (NAP) that was formulated in the wake of the Peshawar massacre. Little is heard of NAP these days, its 20 points fading into the distance, many of them partially addressed or gradually being covered by undergrowth. Banned organisations continue to operate across the country with apparent impunity and south Punjab remains uninvestigated beyond a scattering of cosmetic raids designed as much to feed the media as to delve deep into the extremist groups that operate there. The National Counter-Terrorism Authority remains a largely paper exercise. There has been no national effort to create and sustain a countervailing narrative in schools or anywhere else.

Taken together the above and a host of other enabling factors create an environment that is conducive to the formation and operationalising of terrorist groups nationally. Terrorism finds its roots in extremism and Pakistan has drifted towards an ever greater tolerance of extremist positions for decades. The world beyond our borders is not blind to this either, and the profound doubts expressed externally about the commitment to ending terrorism are unsurprising. Delusion and denial are building a solid foundation for the terrorists to go about their business. The state, wittingly or unwittingly, colludes at that. Reap as you sow.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2017.

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