Moral madness

For the first time in Lahore, shops selling CDs on the bustling Hall Road, the centre of the electronics business in the city, have been targeted by militants. Two low-intensity blasts over the weekend, at a time when the market was at its busiest, injured 11 people and sent a chilling message to owners of DVD and CD shops. The threats are not new, though. In late 2008, as militants launched what appeared to be an attempt to introduce Taliban-style ‘morality’ in Lahore, Hall Road shopkeepers set fire to piles of CDs in an effort to ward off such attacks. This time they had not succumbed.

The pattern of terrorism along these lines in the Punjab capital is now well established. Over the last year and a half, we have had blasts at juice kiosks frequented by young couples, at theatres, at restaurants, in the red light area amongst other places. Co-education schools have been threatened and administrations warned to ensure segregation. It is today almost impossible to believe that Lahore was once a city where music, dance and art in all forms flourished. The terrorists have succeeded in changing all this; they now seek to stifle life still further. There is a question that arises from these attacks. It is quite evident even to laypersons that they follow a distinct pattern. So why have the police and the powerful intelligence agencies of the province failed to track down the perpetrators? They have left behind many fingerprints. Notes and letters have been sent out, security guards approached to make queries about specific shops, schools or hotels and bearded young men have been seen slipping away from scenes of crime. It is true some arrests have been made. But they have not led far down the road that leads to the terrorists behind what is clearly an organised campaign.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2010.