Terrorism: The Ultimate Inhumanity: New Age Islam’s Selection, 01 April 2016
New Age
Islam Edit Bureau
01 April 2016
• Terrorism: The Ultimate Inhumanity
By Malik Muhammad Ashraf
• The Qadri Narrative
By Faisal Raja
• The Lahore Blast
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
• Operation in Punjab
By Zeeba T Hashmi
• Bloodbath in Lahore — Where Does The Fault Lie?
By Rustam Shah Mohmand
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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Terrorism: The Ultimate Inhumanity
By Malik Muhammad Ashraf
April 01, 2016
The suicide attack in Lahore on Sunday, which claimed 73 lives and injured more than 350 persons, mostly children and young men and women at a recreational venue, is yet another act of ultimate inhumanity perpetrated by the renegades who have taken leave from all kinds of humanitarian traits and religious commandments. Whenever acts like this and attacks on the Army Public School and Bacha Khan University happen, they invariably cause a deep sense of grief among the masses. The natural reaction, rightly so, is the outright condemnation coupled with the expression of the resolve both at the government and public level not to succumb to the machinations of terrorists and take the fight against them to its logical end. That kind of determination is a vital ingredient in ensuring success against beasts that are an ideological weapon of mass destruction.
In times of adversities faced by nations, the intelligentsia and media are supposed to play their role in lifting morale of the nation and lending support to the strategies and policies evolved by government to deal with the diabolical challenges. And while evaluating the efficacy of the state initiatives they are required not to lose sight of the prevalent ground realities and the internal and external factors that create impediments in the implementation of those policies. An objective and well-meaning appraisal of such policies is always a welcome and appreciable undertaking. But, regrettably, that kind of constructive support is not forthcoming. The media in its coverage of such incidents has invariably exhibited an impulsive propensity to attribute the tragic incidents to inability of the government to provide adequate security and denigrating the anti-terrorist policies of government, completely ignoring the successes achieved against terrorists. That reflects their inability to comprehend the complexities of war against terror. First of all, what is needed to be understood is that tackling the phenomenon of terrorism is a long-time undertaking, which needs a combination of military, administrative, political and ideological initiatives to challenge the narrative of terrorists. It took Sri Lanka nearly three decades to quell insurgency by Tamils, and Italy also had to endure this menace for an equally long period. The war against terrorism has just begun. There is no quick-fix solution to this phenomenon.
Criticism is the easiest thing to do and the most damaging when undertaken without understanding the dynamics of different variables that are involved in sustaining this phenomenon. Extraordinary situations like terrorism demand extraordinary solutions, and those worried about fundamental rights need to understand that these rights are contingent upon subservience to the state. Anybody taking up arms against the state loses his claim to the fundamental rights that the state grants to him. Even our religion forbids insurgencies against the state.
It is an undeniable reality that the Operation Zarb-e-Azb and implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) have achieved tremendous success on the internal front. The overall law and order situation in the country has improved. According to military sources, 6,000 intelligence-based operations have been conducted, and 2,000 terrorists captured in addition to thousands killed in the operation. This has also created space for the implementation of the NAP, which too has created quite an impact in the fight against terrorism.
The critics of the slowness in the implementation of NAP, particularly in regard to the seminaries that are breeding places for terrorists, probably are not aware of the sensitivities involved and the political repercussions in taking random action against all seminaries. This path needs to be followed with utmost care. Government is determined to take care of this aspect and already 182 seminaries have been closed. It is working with religious circles to find a plausible and practicable strategy to oversee the working and performance of all seminaries, including the sources of their funding, without compromising on the basic objectives of the NAP. The foregoing facts are irrefutable success stories, though we still have a long way to go.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon of terrorism that we are confronted with also has external dimensions. Terrorists who escaped from North Waziristan have relocated themselves in Afghanistan from where they have planned and executed attacks through their operatives and local facilitators. Then there is the Indian factor. The scourge of terrorism cannot be eliminated until and unless there is peace in Afghanistan, and our relations with India see a turnaround and the strategy of proxy wars is abandoned for good.
That does not seem a near possibility in view of the prevailing situation. The process of dialogue between the Afghan Taliban and Afghan government is on hold at the moment. Though Afghanistan and Pakistan are working together to check cross-border acts of terrorism, and intelligence is being shared, it has not produced desired results as yet. The military establishment has also urged the NATO commander in Afghanistan to target the TTP leader, Maulvi Fazlullah, who is based in Afghanistan, with drones.
The arrest of an alleged agent of RAW in Balochistan who has made startling ‘revelations’ about the alleged terrorist acts and insurgency that India has been supporting and financing in the province make the issue quite complicated. The efforts to improve relations with India could also be on the anvil again. However, the success of any peace initiative is not in the hands of the Pakistan government alone. As they say it takes two to tango. A matching response by India is absolutely necessary to achieve that objective and subduing the alleged RAW-sponsored acts of terrorism within Pakistan.
The critics of the war strategy against terrorist must consider these factors before taking a swipe at the performance of the government, security establishment and the intelligence outfits, all of which have their limitations in view of the external involvement in acts of terrorism. In my considered opinion, the government of Nawaz Sharif, the security establishment and our intelligence agencies deserve unqualified accolades for what they have achieved so far.
No actions and strategies of government can, however, succeed without the unqualified backing and support of the people. On the internal front, there is a need for participation of all the segments of society in the war against terrorism, not only by supporting the government initiatives but also to lend a helping hand to it by exercising utmost vigilance in their localities and immediately reporting any suspicious activity to the concerned authorities. Their help in identifying the sleeping cells of terrorists, their supporters and abettors is an indispensable ingredient of winning the fight against terrorists. Similarly, media needs to give top priority to boosting the morale of the masses, and creating understanding of the complexities involved, instead of focusing on negatives to improve ratings.
Malik Muhammad Ashraf is a retired diplomat, a freelance columnist and a member of the visiting faculty of the Riphah Institute of Media Sciences, Riphah International University, Islamabad.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/01-Apr-2016/terrorism-the-ultimate-inhumanity
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The Qadri Narrative
By Faisal Raja
April 01, 2016
The religious parties have observed chehlum of Mumtaz Qadri on March 27, 2016 at Liaqat Bagh Rawalpindi. The announcement was made from the platform of Tehreek Sirat-e-Mustaqeem (Movement for the Right Path) at the time of the burial of Qadri at Bara Kahu, Islamabad, on March 1, 2016. A sit-in has been continuing at the D-Chowk, Islamabad for the last couple of days after the participants started marching towards Islamabad at the end of the commemoration services. What does it bode for the state of Pakistan and for the military strategic thinkers? This question needs to be responded clearly in order to evaluate future strategy of religious organisations in Pakistan.
Before the execution of Qadri on February 29, 2016, numerous agitations were held to pressurise the judiciary to acquit Qadri in the Salmaan Taseer assassination case. A type of religious frenzy is being witnessed after Qadri’s hanging, which includes bombastic speeches by religious leaders, press conferences by politico-religious parties, small rallies for show of street strength by Beralvi organisations, sit-ins by Sunni elements and demonstrations by traders and lawyers at selective places in Punjab. These activities are putting pressure on the government to concede space for action to religious establishment. Lately, the provincial government has given assurance to amend Protection of Women Act (WPA) before its formal implementation throughout the province. Since some religious leaders have nearly succeeded in holding an impressive show at Liaqat Bagh last week, they have therefore put forth a number of demands to get maximum benefit out of the Qadri issue. Let us analyse how these demands are going to assist and preserve relevance of religious parties in Pakistan.
The execution of Qadri has not only provided a common platform to all religious parties but also reinvigorated their activities across Punjab. These parties had employed innovative practices for public mobilisation for the occasion. For example, Dr Muhammad Asif Jalali while criticising District Administration Sheikupura for stopping people from participating in commemoration services of Qadri maintained that District Police Officer would bear a heavy price for taking legal action against followers of Qadri. Many students of seminaries had also distributed pamphlets among the rural population of different districts in the province. Even school children were employed for propagating the news of the Chehlum. The religious conferences had also been arranged on daily basis to criticise the government on execution of Qadri, demanding exemplary punishment to denigrators of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). They had also criticised Punjab Sound System (Regulations) Act whereby legal action is being initiated against prayer leaders and scholars especially during Friday sermons. A consistent effort has been seen for keeping Qadri issue alive through these antics till the acceptance of their demands.
After the sit-in at D-Chowk nine demands have been laid out to end the protest in the Red Zone, including execution of Asia Naureen, imposition of Islamic Order, no amendment in blasphemy law (295-C PPC), release of detained workers of religious organisations, punishing blasphemy convicts, public declaration of martyrdom of Qadri, no Diyat or Qisas of any accused of Namoos-e-Risalat, swift action against ‘Qadyanis’ and that they should not be given jobs in government departments.
The first demand of the religious junta is execution of Asia Naureen (Asia Bibi) who has been incarcerating in jail for the last seven years. There are multiple issues involved in hanging of Asia Bibi. She was accused of blasphemy in June 2009, and a case was lodged against her. She was sentenced to death by a local district court judge in November 2010. Point to be noted was that she became the first woman to be condemned to death in a blasphemy case in the history of Pakistan. Her appeal was rejected in the Lahore High Court Lahore in October 2014. Her clemency appeal is already lying with the president of Pakistan. In July 2015, Supreme Court suspended Asia’s death sentence for the duration of appeal process and the Supreme Court Lahore Registry Branch is going to hear an appeal in the case. If the three-member bench rejects the appeal and maintains her punishment then the office of president will have to make the final decision on her execution. The religious clergy have been criticising the government and the judiciary for sending Qadri to gallows and not deciding Asia Naureen’s case. Government cannot remain ambiguous and will have to take a decision in the matter.
The demand regarding imposition of Islamic Order, though enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan, carries a number of pitfalls owing to different interpretation of Islamic principles. Moreover, a change in section 295-C PPC will require proper debate and discussion so that its wrong use can be curtailed. Similarly, demands coupled with changes in Diyat and Qisas also require proper consultation and examination. The Ahmedis were declared non-Muslim in 1974, and the present call to expel them from government jobs will be against the spirit of the constitution. At present, government can only release the arrested religious activists with verbal commitments to look into the other demands. They can also concede some space on a number of other issues like National Action Plan (NAP), Punjab Sound System (Regulations) Act (PSSA) and WPA.
After the Army Public School massacre in December 2014, the NAP was agreed upon by politico-military leadership in Peshawar. A systematic crackdown was conducted against violent religious elements along with strict implementation of PSSA. Any violation of the Act has resulted into legal action against the violators. The public contact space has therefore shrunk for religious elements through these actions. Any relaxation on the matter will be readily taken by religious organisations. Interestingly, if we look at the recent actions under the NAP, then majority of the cases are either pending trial with courts or under investigation.
The Qadri narrative has also provided the religious organisations to relate the event to the ideological basis of Pakistan. They have even criticised the army leadership for supporting the government and not playing an effective role against Qadri’s execution. It seems that it has contributed to a new lease of life to religious parties especially the JUI-F and JI. The latter has even started mass contact campaign against corruption to mobilise the people and cash in on the prevailing religious outpouring in the province. Any forceful eviction of demonstrators will create ill will among the general public. The central government will also have Model Town incident at the back of its mind. A non-lethal force may best be employed for clearing D-Chowk in Islamabad with mass arrests if negotiations fail to resolve the matter. Nonetheless, the religious establishment will enjoy a high moment provided to them through the execution of Mumtaz Qadri for months to come.
Faisal Raja is the Senior Superintendent of Police, Special Branch, Lahore
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/01-Apr-2016/the-qadri-narrative
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The Lahore Blast
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
April 01, 2016
A blast ripped through the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore, on Easter Sunday, killing 72 people and injuring more than 300, most of them poor, vulnerable and helpless, people who went with their families to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether or not Jesus was resurrected on the third day after Crucifixion is a religious debate that will never be settled. What can be settled meanwhile though is that the people who lost their lives in Lahore are not going to be resurrected, not in this world, regardless of their faith, age or gender.
It has saddened everyone — me, you and everyone around you — so much so that I think we would not mourn any differently if anyone in our family had lost his/her life. I see people around me in tears, their souls heavy, their arms folded, as if time for talks and discussion is long gone for them. It is time to show some muscle. Their response makes me happy. Somehow, looking at their resolve, I feel positive about the future of Pakistan. I feel that eventually we would come out of it — weak, wounded and disfigured for sure but not without a victory clutched in our hands. I have no doubt that it is waiting for us so long as we are ready to put our acts together and seize it, however, it is not a low-hanging fruit. It has to be earned through hard work.
Do not get me wrong, I am as angry as you are on the loss of each and every soul, maybe even a little more. However, after a long painful decade — as if my prayers have finally come true — I notice that the Sunni majority of Pakistan also carries a heart in its chest that can beat for the Christian minority of the country, that it considers non-Muslims as human beings too who need to be protected and be permitted to celebrate their religious festival. And even though many of them would not like to share the same crockery with the people of the book — a deplorable tradition — they are still capable of considering the followers of Jesus Christ worthy enough to share their blood. Just a few years ago, I thought in the race of becoming a good Muslim we have lost touch with humanity. That anyone who does not agree with our faith 100 percent does not deserve a single gesture of sympathy from us. Doing so would tarnish our reputation and may compromise our religiosity. That the God of all universes has opted to limit His blessing to the chosen few who do not obey Him in the first place when it comes to serving their fellow beings. From that point of view, my hope is that this attack jolts us up from our oblivion regarding the rising extremism throughout the country, and the violence unleashed upon minorities in the name of blasphemy and the honour of the Prophet (PBUH).
Overconfident and arrogant, we thought (or maybe we were led to believe) that we have won the war against terror in a matter of weeks just after the first few air strikes and the successful evacuation of the most obvious terrorist hideouts in North Waziristan. The truth, on the contrary, is that the two superpowers in the last three decades have lost the same war using the same strategies that we are employing nowadays: heavy airstrikes, then tank fires followed by troop invasion without focusing on the ideology that drives the terrorists in the first place. What happens then must not surprise us: we take out the enemy here and it sprouts somewhere else in another form, only to be bigger, more powerful and more dangerous. For example, Afghan Mujahedeen end up becoming Taliban and al-Qaeda. We then fight the al-Qaeda and Taliban to deal with the ISIS. Now imagine what is waiting in line after we have got rid of the ISIS. Don’t you think that we need a different strategy?
Shouldn’t we understand that extremists win the war based on an inflammable but an effective ideology and can be defeated only with an equally powerful ideology that proposes peace and tolerance? We have not built that perspective yet. Not only us, has the whole world failed to provide an attractive and meaningful plan of action to fight it off. We can bomb them all we want, and we have done that in Tripoli, Baghdad and Kabul, but in the absence of a revolutionary rhetoric that challenges the jihadi mindset on religious grounds, future bombings will also fail to yield positive results as they have failed in the past. And trust me, whether these bombs are fired by a Pakistani jet or shot by an American plane, the result would be the same.
Having said that, I am not favouring any negotiations with them, I never have. I think force needs to be applied, but force alone is not sufficient, and that is my point. It has to be substantiated with an effective philosophy. To put things more in perspective, we need a military operation to deal with the planners and supporters of the Lahore attack; however for the 80,000 people who gathered in Islamabad or attended the funeral of Mumtaz Qadri, an army operation will only lead to civil war. For that we need to change the mindset of a significant portion of the nation. How? Through proper education, national discourse and the involvement of clerics. We will have to talk to them in the language that they understand, not in the language we think they should understand.
Syed Kamran Hashmi is a US-based freelance columnist
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/01-Apr-2016/the-lahore-blast
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Operation in Punjab
By Zeeba T Hashmi
April 01, 2016
It does not make much sense when the prime minister talks about non-leniency towards terrorists to be uttered in a mild manner in his address to the nation following the terrifying attack in Lahore that claimed over 70 lives, mainly children, at a park. Though his address to the nation has been received with mixed views, and that he has had nothing concrete in his speech to share, he failed to deliver an aggressive message to terrorists, which is what most of the people were expecting and hoping to hear from him. And although there had been many a contradiction in his statements with that of the military, instead of showing that military and government are on the same page, he had instead praised his government for taking action against terrorists by bringing in the National Action Plan (NAP), and ordering Zarb-e-Azb during his tenure, the hard interventions against terrorism that had been ignored by previous governments. This again appeared to be an overstatement, as attacks on the Army Public School attack and Bacha Khan University happened during the tenure of the current government.
Moreover, according to South Asian Terrorism Portal, which carries record of all the reported terro- related incidents across the country, the fatalities today have had an increase by 122.22 percent since 2010. The portal has recorded that there are about 57 extremist and terrorist groups in Punjab, out of which 28 belong to Lahore alone. The groups in Punjab consist of Jamat-ud-Dawa, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad, many others of their splinter groups that are working under different names, mainly portraying themselves as charity organisations. Also, it would be wrong to assume that this devastating attack in Lahore on Sunday was the first of its kind where women and children were mainly targeted. Between 2008-2016, there had been about 17 terrorist attacks in Lahore alone, which resulted in over 518 deaths of men, women and children. Moon Market, Youhanabad, Data Darbar, Model Town and Garhi Shahu, worship places of the Ahmadiya community and RA Bazar had been direct civilian targets, but the lessons on security lapses had not been learnt.
There remains a strong disconnect between the warnings of security agencies and the action of the authorities to pre-empt the attacks. The coordination has always been a less-addressed issue between the government institutions and the military, which is causing the major security lapses in the country. Moreover, the army has also been not very clear in its communication about its actions, leaving the public in the dark about the current status. There had been claims that terrorism is under control, but with each attack, it appears that the terror network is becoming more and more strengthened, and terrorists find their opportunity in the state’s administrative weaknesses. Sharif in his address said that terrorism is a global phenomenon. Well sir, that is true, but our home-grown terrorism is a very real problem as well, which has given room to global terrorists/operatives belonging to the Daesh and al-Qaeda in the country. It is not so simple an issue as has been reflected in the address. Please address the issue of the militant wings of the extremist groups operating freely and undeterred here.
The civilian authority seems to remain in a state of denial. Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister of Punjab has repeatedly denied presence of militant factions of madrasas (religious seminaries) in the province, but the empirical data on that has been communicated by the intelligence agencies earlier. The prime intelligence agency has communicated to Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar about the Ghazi Force of Lal Masjid, but so far, he has denied that any illegal activity is taking place right under his nose. One cannot fully determine if the government is aiding the militants by denying their presence and whether the agencies are compiling false reports to the authorities on which they refuse to act.
Whatever the case maybe, it appears there is a major deficit of trust between the departments. The nod for a military operation in Punjab by the COAS and the later PM’s address to the nation has left one baffled about anti-terror policies. The Punjab law minister said that crackdown is a national operation and the army and Rangers would only be called in if and when required, whereas Lt-General Asim Bajwa made it clear that army is already taking action against terrorists in Punjab. Previously, COAS General Raheel Sharif said that there would be no joint action with the police in Punjab, nor will that action cede into any pressure from the government. The confusion remains as to who is doing what, and there seems to be nonchalance about the actual fault-lines of the province.
The culture of denials by the top leadership in Punjab is troublesome. In January and in a press statement on March 29, 2016, Sanaullah has repeatedly rejected the notion that there are safe havens for terrorists and no-go areas in Punjab. This, in itself, is contestable.
An operation against militants is urgently needed, and the pressure has been mounting on the Punjab government for quite some time. However, government has always shied away from taking stern actions in Punjab, which has resulted in this ultimate showdown. On January14, 2015, the federal interior minister had stated in a press conference on the implementation of the NAP that there are at least 95 proscribed organisations operating in Punjab.
If government does not get serious now, it will have to face very serious consequences that will end in more chaos. The lessons need to be learnt from the past by now. Making more JITs and fact-finding missions is not always the answer if it means a mere public show of administrative efficiency. And there is no time to waste in political issues parties have with one another, nor should it become an ego issue between the military and the government. A bit of sincerity from both towards the people of Pakistan would certainly be more beneficial.
Zeeba T Hashmi is a freelance columnist
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/01-Apr-2016/operation-in-punjab
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Bloodbath in Lahore — Where Does The Fault Lie?
By Rustam Shah Mohmand
March 31st, 2016
The explosions in Lahore that killed more than seventy people, including children and caused injuries to hundreds, would be a watershed in Pakistan’s continuing battle against insurgency. The Lahore tragedy has caused deep anguish throughout the country. A defining moment has arrived. Will Pakistan adopt the stereotypical approach i.e., round up a few hundred innocent citizens while the leaders will focus on rhetoric and make tall promises? Or will there would be a restructuring of the state machinery into robust organisations, capable not only of preventing such attacks, but also vigorously safeguarding the lives of the citizens? The latter is necessary in creating a secure environment, free from fear and intimidation.
For a reappraisal to happen there has to be a dispassionate evaluation of the faults in the system that allows such attacks to take place. The federal and provincial government institutions have either succeeded partially, or failed to deliver. For although it has been acknowledges that the threat exists, what steps have been taken to prevent such attacks or to reach those who sponsor, train and finance the perpetrators of such atrocities? There is a wide gap between what the institutions could do and what they have done. After all, despite tall claims, what concerted action has been taken against the Punjabi Taliban, who have reportedly accepted responsibility for the Lahore carnage? Why has the Punjabi Taliban network, operating in the heart of Punjab, not been broken?
Institutions or departments of both, the federal and provincial governments, continue to suffer from that fundamental malady that has afflicted them — the inability of departments to coordinate or share information with other law enforcement organs of the state. This lack or absence of an integrated approach lies at the bottom of the systemic failures of our administrative machinery. This passion to pass on information vertically has gravely impacted on the performance of the country’s institutions — especially those concerned with security, peace, and law and order.
One major reason for the lack or absence of such lateral coordination is the non-existence of any team captain at the district level. The dismantling of the institution of district magistrate by the Musharraf regime, has dealt a death blow to the concept of an institutionalised accountability of the police — affecting not only the output of the police but also generating umpteen administrative problems in the execution of policy for maintenance of peace, and law and order in the district. Indeed in the absence of a captain of the team, the police performance has nosedived over the last 14 years.
The lack of unity of command continues to exact a heavy toll, not only in a district but also in the province. It is shocking that in the basic administrative unit i.e., a district, no one has the responsibility of maintaining peace and no one has complete authority to administer the district.
The government’s inability to enforce its writ in accordance with the law, is at the core of the lingering violence, attacks and insurgency. The credentials of the government — with regard to its resolve to punish those who are involved covertly or overtly in attacks on public places — are tested by the miscreants repeatedly . A classical example is Karachi, where scores of people, indeed in hundreds, have confessed to having carried out murders by the dozens, at the behest of party leaders, who are sitting members of parliament. Scores of criminals have confessed to having killed people, burnt buildings, burnt people alive on orders from ‘party’ bosses. Scores have been sent abroad for training to India. And yet the state is so awfully helpless in the face of such glaring, shameless atrocities!
Political expediency is at the heart of the government’s indifference towards such abominable crimes. Lack of professionalism in the police poses a formidable challenge. In a country where the main focus is on ‘VIP’ duties, escorting and protecting ministers, judges, politicians — little attention is paid to improving the professional competence of those who are entrusted with the job of providing security to ordinary citizens. Lack of accountability for lapses, incompetence, or lack of motivation for improved performance, lack of opportunities for training and, of course, corruption, continue to impinge negatively on the performance of the main law enforcement organ of the state.
The inability of the state to address issues that cause mayhem and deaths every now and then is manifested in its lack of determination to address issues that cause alienation in Balochistan and the tribal areas. There was a time when the tribal areas were more peaceful than the rest of the country. To this day, the state has not been able to identify the causes of the current turmoil and insurgency in the tribal areas. Before 2002-03, there were no signs of any rebellion in the area. When causes of insurgency cannot be identified, it is not possible to design appropriate measures to restore complete normalcy.
It is pathetic to observe that no government, over the last two decades, has been able to engage the angry Baloch nationalists with a view to addressing and resolving the long simmering discontent amongst the Baloch people. It is not realised that such lack of capacity to respond to serious issues and seek ways to find durable solutions would have a hugely negative impact on such issues as development, education, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects, pipelines and so on.
Finally, in a climate where the culprits operate under a belief that getting away with crimes is no big deal in a society or culture where the emphasis is more on symbolism than substance, horrendous crimes would continue to be committed. There is no better mechanism than the institution of penalties and retribution, in accordance with law, to prevent the occurrence of attacks and bomb blasts.
The malaise has deep roots — social, administrative, religious and economic. An integrated approach, that will incorporate the factors listed here as well as many others, will have to be evolved. But more importantly, lessons have to be learnt from past failures; lapses have to be identified; clear responses worked out for a coherent policy that is not based on any political agenda or compromises, but on the objective of elimination of the scourge of insurgency.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1076006/bloodbath-in-lahore-where-does-the-fault-lie/
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