Bombers redux
We report that once again girls’ schools in the North Waziristan agency have been attacked
It is with a sense of exasperated resignation that we report that once again girls’ schools in the North Waziristan agency have been attacked and this after a leaflet campaign by an extremist group that clearly telegraphed their disapproval of female education. They made the threat then acted on it, and two schools were attacked fortunately with no injury or loss of life. Walls and school buildings are going to be repaired eventually but the two incidents beg a host of questions about claims that the area had been cleared of terrorists because it is clear that is not the case. Indeed there are reports of targeted killings and other bomb blasts in the area that merely underscore the failure to effectively counter the extremists. When contacted the local administration denied all knowledge of the schools being bombed which is a return to the culture of denial that has characterised official responses to such incidents for years.
It is not that the bombers are back — they never went away. They are not strangers to the area, they will have lived there probably all or most of their lives and been educated there themselves if they were educated at all. They will have learned their bomb-making skills locally as well as been trained in reconnaissance and surveillance. They will be a part of a sophisticated group that is well armed and funded and in all likelihood enjoys the patronage of at least some powerful local figures as well as sympathisers in the police and security services.
All of this follows a well-worn road that leads to a culture of impunity. The bombers will have no fear of being caught let alone put on trial or punished for their crimes. The reason why these men are able to create mayhem at will is that there has never ever been any attempt to create a narrative that countervails that which drives and motivates them — and the same is true in most of the areas that are supposedly “cleared” of such groups with malign intent. Nature abhors a vacuum and the bombers are happy to occupy the one left by civilian administrations.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2018.
It is not that the bombers are back — they never went away. They are not strangers to the area, they will have lived there probably all or most of their lives and been educated there themselves if they were educated at all. They will have learned their bomb-making skills locally as well as been trained in reconnaissance and surveillance. They will be a part of a sophisticated group that is well armed and funded and in all likelihood enjoys the patronage of at least some powerful local figures as well as sympathisers in the police and security services.
All of this follows a well-worn road that leads to a culture of impunity. The bombers will have no fear of being caught let alone put on trial or punished for their crimes. The reason why these men are able to create mayhem at will is that there has never ever been any attempt to create a narrative that countervails that which drives and motivates them — and the same is true in most of the areas that are supposedly “cleared” of such groups with malign intent. Nature abhors a vacuum and the bombers are happy to occupy the one left by civilian administrations.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2018.