Rising death
Who will stop the militants and how, so that this ceaseless cycle of death can be broken?
After what had seemed to be a period of lull, the terrorists appear to be striking back with a vengeance. Just two days after the daring attack on the Peshawar airport and a nearby PAF base, a massive car bomb planted in a white car tore through the main bazaar in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency. The death toll was 21 persons, including women and children. The 64 others who were injured were taken to the Jamrud Civil Hospital and some were shifted to nearby Peshawar. A remote-controlled device is said to have detonated the explosives, leaving behind scenes of horror for emergency crews and families of the deceased. At least three small children, including an Afghan girl, were among the dead.
Such scenes have been witnessed before as this is the third major attack in the same Jamrud Bazaar. This latest attack on innocent lives dashes any hope that the terrorists may have been pushed into retreat. Instead, they seem determined to reassert themselves and demonstrate they are alive and well — and ready to murder more people. We need to think why this should be so. Is there some link to the tussle for power currently rocking the TTP? This is possible, but it is only a conjecture. It is hard to know quite what has instigated this new round of killing. There is also the possibility that the attack in Jamrud targeting helpless people may be some kind of revenge for the militants killed during the battle at the airport.
Theories abound but the reality stares us in the face as 21 more people are dead while others may succumb to their injuries. And we do not know what the Taliban are planning or where they may hit next. This does not say much for the capacity of our state machinery to tackle militancy. So far, it has not worked at all against them, with the killers still able to murder at will. This is alarming. Was the action against them that we heard so much about all a charade? And, most importantly of all, where will we go from here? Who will stop the militants and how, so that this ceaseless cycle of death can be broken before further damage is inflicted on innocent people?
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2012.
Such scenes have been witnessed before as this is the third major attack in the same Jamrud Bazaar. This latest attack on innocent lives dashes any hope that the terrorists may have been pushed into retreat. Instead, they seem determined to reassert themselves and demonstrate they are alive and well — and ready to murder more people. We need to think why this should be so. Is there some link to the tussle for power currently rocking the TTP? This is possible, but it is only a conjecture. It is hard to know quite what has instigated this new round of killing. There is also the possibility that the attack in Jamrud targeting helpless people may be some kind of revenge for the militants killed during the battle at the airport.
Theories abound but the reality stares us in the face as 21 more people are dead while others may succumb to their injuries. And we do not know what the Taliban are planning or where they may hit next. This does not say much for the capacity of our state machinery to tackle militancy. So far, it has not worked at all against them, with the killers still able to murder at will. This is alarming. Was the action against them that we heard so much about all a charade? And, most importantly of all, where will we go from here? Who will stop the militants and how, so that this ceaseless cycle of death can be broken before further damage is inflicted on innocent people?
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2012.