Shikarpur tragedy: No quick fix to chronic menace of terror, says Nisar

Interior minister says war against terror is ‘long, uneven and difficult'

ISLAMABAD: Citing the complex nature of the ‘war against terror’, the government’s security czar warned on Wednesday that terrorist attacks like the Shikarpur Imambargah blast or the Peshawar school rampage could occur in future too.

“This is a long, uneven and difficult war,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told lawmakers in the National Assembly while speaking on the Shikarpur bombing that killed 60 worshippers on January 30. He said terrorists wanted to spread fear and panic through such attacks.



“There is no quick-fix to this chronic menace of terrorism. It may take weeks, months or even years to eliminate this scourge,” he said, adding that the recent uptick in violence was a backlash of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which, he said, was launched with the approval of all parliamentary parities after the government’s peace initiative collapsed.

It is difficult to identify the enemy in this war but “we will fight till the death of the last terrorist”, he added.

At the start of Wednesday’s proceedings, the interior minister came down hard on the PPP for questioning the federal government’s ‘inaction’ over the Shikarpur tragedy, saying that it was the Sindh government’s responsibility to ensure law and order in the province.

The intelligence and security agencies work under provincial chief ministers and the federal government only shares intelligence, he added.

“The intelligence agencies share information with the provinces whenever they seek help. Neither any province is blamed for terror incidents nor any province is criticised over the law and order situation,” he added. “It is not right to play politics on security issues.”

“Accusatory finger should be pointed at terrorists rather than at each other,” Nisar said as he called for shunning blame games and forging national unity against terrorism.

He cited terrorist attacks from across the world, including the lone gunman’s siege in the United States, the militant standoff in Germany and the Charlie Hebdo attack in France to make his point. However, neither Nisar nor any of his cabinet colleagues could reply to the opposition’s question as to why he or Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not visit Shikarpur to sympathise with the distraught families of the victims.

The minister told the lawmakers that Shikarpur had become a hub of elements fuelling sectarian hatred. “According to intelligence agencies, terrorists from Afghanistan and Fata use Shikarpur as a route for operating their networks in Quetta and Karachi,” he added. “To keep an eye on these activities from a distance is not an easy task.”

The minister said that five to nine kilogrammes of explosives was used by the ‘suicide bomber’ in Shikarpur. He said a finger of the alleged terrorist had been found and could lead to his identification. “The tailor who stitched the terrorist’s clothes is under custody,” he added.

Leader of the Opposition Khurshid Shah said they were not doing politics and would continue to extend all possible support to the government on the issue of national security. However, he added that the prime minister or any senior member of his cabinet must visit the area to sympathise with the families. The house also unanimously adopted a resolution on Kashmir Solidarity Day, demanding that India allow human rights groups to visit Kashmir.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.