
The political parties in the city, meanwhile, seem too busy making scapegoats of one another to unite against the Taliban threat. The MQM accuses the ANP of sheltering militants while the ANP retorts by claiming the MQM is profiling all Pakhtuns as militants. This battle is fought with both words and guns, allowing the Taliban space to thrive. Karachi has become so awash in arms and the political parties are so used to fighting violent turf battles that they have overlooked this new emergent threat which doesn’t distinguish between the MQM and the ANP or Muhajir and Pakhtun.
An added worry is the strategic thinking behind recent Taliban attacks. The TTP has been trying to destabilise the state by going after security forces. In Peshawar, the target was an FC commander, in Karachi it is the Rangers. However, this must not be interpreted to mean that they are sparing civilians. The Taliban have shown no hesitancy in killing civilians in the past and even these attacks, carried out in the heart of urban areas, cause civilian casualties and terrorise the entire population. We have long known that the only solution to this problem is a comprehensive military defeat of the TTP. All that is lacking is the will.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ