While protests related to the killing of over 70 people in Quetta in August (mostly lawyers) still continue, there was yet another major terrorist attack in the city. The DG Rangers announced within hours of the incident that the attack was launched by LeJ al Almi and that the terrorists had been receiving instructions from Afghanistan. Chief Minister Zehri said he had reports about four terrorists entering Quetta. What is the use of this information if those possessing it failed to stop the attack? While there is a need to identify the terrorists and their associates, even more important is to inquire into the lapses on the part of the provincial administration and the security agencies that made the task of the terrorists easier. While it might suit some to explain away an avoidable tragedy as the handiwork of the enemies of CPEC or RAW or Afghan agents, many think domestic incompetence helps the latter carry out their designs.
There was no proper enquiry into the August attack. The facts that surfaced during the SC hearings into August killings indicated serious lapses in the working of the provincial administration and security agencies When SC appointed a judge as Enquiry Commission, the provincial administration opposed the appointment. Instead of hiding things there is a need for an independent, high level probe into the present terrorist act that resulted in the killing of more than sixty young police cadets.
The unending attacks from across the LoC and Working Boundary already pose a threat to Pakistan’s security. To add to these there were no less than five terrorist attacks, albeit of relatively minor significance, on Tuesday in KP, Balochistan and Sindh besides the one on police training academy. The PTI’s call for locking down Islamabad could not have come at a more inopportune moment. The events indicate a similar attack could not be ruled out during the sit-in. This would give birth to uncertain conditions that do not suit the country. One expects Imran Khan to revise his decision regarding the sit-in.http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/10/26/comment/how-much-is-too-much/
Another Quetta Attack: edit in The Nation, October 26, 2016
The city’s misfortune seems never ending; heavily militarised, stringently patrolled, but a constant target for all manner of extremist forces – each more horrific than the next.
60 young men destined to protect the city and province in the future, died unceremoniously in the night as heavily armed suicide bombers stormed Quetta Police Academy, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families. So dire is the condition of the city that the phrase “Quetta attack” has lost its significance – it needs to be followed by a place and date to specify which tragedy it is actually referring too.Such a state of affairs should put the government and military establishment on high alert, and looking at the flurry of activity that has followed the attack it seems that it has.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif on Tuesday attended a high-level meeting on security at the governor house in Quetta, while similar consultations were held by other government departments too.
But it must be asked, behind the meetings, the gallantry awards, and national days of mourning, is there any real substance? How many times have these meetings been held, and yet the nation winds up on the same spot again – standing shell-shocked at another tragedy.Pro-activism and solidarity are important at this moment, but at some point it becomes necessary to assign blame and ask for accountability.This is not the first attack, nor second or even the fifteenth; if the state fails every time in protecting it’s citizens, then the state – which includes the civilian government and the military establishment – needs to answer for its failure.And it has clearly failed, especially when it comes to the attack on the police academy.This was no unexpected attack against a random ‘soft’ target; the police force has been a favoured target by militants, and policies academies even more so.Furthermore, this specific academy has been the target of rocket attacks in the past too, which makes it a prime candidate for maximal protection at such a critical juncture.
Yet we find the facility sparsely manned, not monitored by intelligence agencies, and shoddily constructed.What baffles the senses is the sight of the facility’s back wall – which was scaled by the militants incidentally – which is of human height and made out of mud.The wall of a highly sensitive facility in the most dangerous city in Pakistan is made out of crumbling mud.Who is responsible for this? The government, the military, the civil service? Someone is.That someone must be found and held accountable, as must be the everyone else who has shirked the duty of implementing NAP and fighting terrorism.Without such accountability, nothing will change, and we will be standing over the coffins of the next batch of citizens killed in Quetta. http://nation.com.pk/editorials/26-Oct-2016/another-quetta-attack
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