Daily Times Editorial June 28, 2013

TTP’s extended reach The remote control bomb secreted inside a motorcycle that targeted Sindh High Court senior puisne Justice Maqbool Baqar, failed to kill its intended target who was miraculously saved with only injuries but wiped out 10 of his security detail while 15 were injured. The motorcycle was innocuously parked before a mosque on the judge’s route to the Sindh High Court. It is said the blast site had no CCTV cameras. Later reports said most of the CCTV cameras installed in the city were out of order. So much for surveillance and monitoring. Justice Maqbool Baqar, who has a reputation for honesty and integrity, was probably targeted for his earlier services as a judge in the anti-terrorism courts. This was confirmed by a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) statement by spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claiming responsibility for the attack and attempting to justify it by characterising the judge’s decisions as ‘against Sharia and the mujahideen’. The other angle DIG South Dr Ameer Shaikh was about 70 percent convinced of was that Justice Baqar was targeted because he is a Shia. Condemnations of the attack came thick and fast, from the top political leadership to the Sindh judiciary, Bar Councils and others. The lawyers community of Sindh went on strike in protest. Security of superior court judges, the chief minister, governor, etc, is being reviewed by the Sindh government, especially those amongst them who are Shia. The Sindh Assembly passed a condemnatory resolution and MPAs warned the attack was a wakeup call indicating the terrorists were ‘close’. Dr Farooq Sattar of the MQM saw the attack having taken place purely because Justice Baqar was striving for truth and justice. He underlined that the prime minister needs to sit with the chief ministers of all the provinces and the security agencies, presumably to forge an efficacious response to terrorism, whose demonstrated deadly efficiency now reaches from north to south and east to west through the length and breadth of the country. However, Dr Sattar’s suggestion to summon an all parties conference, which Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also ‘announced’ in Lahore, does not inspire confidence, based on past experience of such conferences. They may provide much sound and fury, but in the end all that amounts to nothing. If at all any such conference can have a beneficial outcome, it would be if all the political forces agree a common position on terrorism and how to combat it. There too, however, opinion is divided, with the range of views extending from talking to the terrorists to wiping them out. The military has been trying for at least the last five years to nudge the politicians to a consensus on anti-terrorism strategy in order to strengthen the military’s hand vis-à-vis anti-terrorist operations. Alas, we are no nearer that goal today and the new dispensation has still to come out with a clear cut strategy on the issue, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar’s wish list notwithstanding. While the country as a whole is terrorism-afflicted, perhaps the one city most affected has been Karachi. The metropolis of at least 18 million people, contributing 42 percent of GDP, has been beset for years with murders, kidnappings, ethnic, sectarian and political violence. To this combustible mix has been added terrorism for some years. The result is that the industrial and commercial hub of the country ha s been virtually brought to its knees. One estimate says 2,000 people were killed in the city last year due to ethnic and political violence, the deadliest toll in two decades. As we have emphasised repeatedly in this space, it is the lack of coordination between civilian and military authorities, and the federal and provincial governments that leaves gaps and holes for the terrorists to wriggle through and breach even the most elaborate security regime. Talk is in the air finally of the need for a coordinated and cooperative coming together of all these state actors if the hydra of terrorism is to have all its heads cut off. The sooner that comes to pass, the better. Already, too much water (and blood) has flown down the river. Time, gentlemen, for action, not just words.