Terror lives on

While the strategy to tackle the terrorist threat continues to be clouded by a marked degree of confusion on the part of the government — it is clear the militants suffer from no such doubts. Even as politicians dither on about talks with the Taliban, or other measures to combat terrorism, the bombers in our midst seem to know exactly what to do. They demonstrated this on October 10, as bomb blasts hit all four of our provincial capitals. It is uncertain if the strikes were coordinated, but they certainly made a powerful impact.

Of the 12 people killed in the attacks, the highest toll came in Quetta, where eight people were killed after an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike detonated in the heart of the busy Liaquat Bazaar, apparently targeting a police station. A vehicle of the Balochistan Constabulary was destroyed by the blast. In Karachi, three men, apparently terrorists, were killed while apparently transporting a bomb in Orangi Town. In Lahore, one person died in a blast in Anarkali and in Peshawar, three police volunteers were injured when a bomb struck their vehicle.

Whether or not these attacks were coordinated, they have driven home a message. They show that the killers we have bred have grown into a monster we can simply not tame. But we cannot allow it to run riot through our country either. Something needs to be done urgently against the militants, who demonstrate no desire to end their killing run. They have shown that they are capable of striking as and when they choose and we obviously need to determine how to deal with these criminals who have already unleashed havoc and who threaten to unleash more. There is simply no more time to lose; a plan needs to be devised and acted on quickly, given that our country simply cannot bear the weight of more death and more destruction. The awful suffering this extracts must be brought to an end and we, as citizens, told how this is to be done by our leaders.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2013.

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