This time it was the Bacha Khan University in Pakistan’s northwestern Pushtun belt town of Charsadda – a center of ancient Gandhara civilization – in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which along with tribal areas has been on the forefront of the country’s fight against terror. Four terrorists barged into the University campus on Wednesday and shot more than 20 persons dead including students, faculty and security guards – in a painful reminder that Pakistan remains one of the biggest victims of terror in the post-9/11 era.
All four assailants- said to be in their teens – were eliminated by Pakistani security forces. This was the second major terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a span of 24 hours. Tuesday’s bomb attack on security forces in Jamrud area on the outskirts of Peshawar had resulted in 10 deaths.
By attacking the educational institutions, terrorists want to terrify people and discourage the youth who wish to pursue progress with modern ideas and means of development. Just over a year ago, foreign terrorists had mowed down more than 130 children in Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014 in a gruesome attack that jolted every conscionable citizen of the world.
The APS massacre in Peshawar had triggered a strong reaction from all segments of Pakistani society, bringing the military establishment and the civilian government on the same page in the fight against terrorists. A National Action Plan was launched to smoke out the terrorists from their hideouts in lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border, as well as some urban centers like Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Islamabad also lifted a moratorium on capital punishment to ensure execution of the terrorists and murderers. The counterterrorism departments in Sindh, Punjab and other parts of the country also carried out operations and claimed big victories. But Wednesday’s attack should trigger an honest assessment of the counterterrorism strategy and performance by all arms of the government.
An important measure put in place was stepped-up security arrangements at educational institutions and government offices. Most of the security arrangements, however, were relaxed after the lapse of few months, with the result that fewer and fewer schools and colleges have security posts now.
This lowering of guard means the terrorists have allowed terrorists to strike at places of their choice. Although a faction of the Taliban has claimed the responsibility, yet there is no clear indication or concrete evidence as to who might have perpetrated the heinous crime.
As this Charsadda attack has taken place only four days after the Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar’s threat to Pakistan of a strong retaliation for what he called Pakistan’s alleged connection to attack on Pathankot airbase, some analysts have pointed their fingers towards the hostile eastern neighbor, claiming that the Indian intelligence agency RAW might be behind this carnage.
Others cite reports of interception of some calls made by certain persons to Afghanistan after Wednesday’s killings. They suggest that the terrorists who carried out the attack appear to be locals.
Then there are also reports that there are certain clues that lead to possible involvement of Mullah Fazalullah faction of defunct terrorist organization, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Fazaluulah has for years been operating out of his sanctuary in Afghanistan.
If the TTP is actually behind the murders, this means that some nurseries of the suicide bombers and extremists are still intact. These may be in the urban centers of the country or on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border or inside Afghanistan.
But whosoever planned and perpetrated the attack, one thing is clear that Pakistan cannot relax or lower its level of security vigilance, and it must constantly evaluate its performance. That remains the case despite success of Zarb-e-Azb operation in destroying militants and their hideouts in North Waziristan and other Taliban-infested areas.
Recent examples of effective counterterrorism efforts including Pakistan’s stamping down of militancy in Swat and in countries in the region – like Sri Lanka’s putting down the Tamil insurgency – suggest that it is not the government agencies or even one country alone that can completely defeat the terrorists.
Regionally, it is important that neighboring countries cooperate in crushing the menace of terrorism through intelligence sharing, as Pakistan and Afghanistan have done over the years along their restive border.
Domestically, the role of the civil society is also important in stopping the non-state actors from plunging the regions into turmoil.
For example, in the militancy-hit areas the owner of a house should check the credentials of a family before making any lease agreement. In many instances, in the urban centers like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Peshawar, the owners of houses don’t bother to know about the background of the families seeking to get houses on rent. Such practices compromise security of a neighborhood or the city, and could in some cases lead to sleeper cells or sanctuaries for terrorists. Another area, where, strict vigilance is urgently called for is a check on transportation of materials that terrorists use. Similarly financial system should be geared to detect suspicious transactions. Other areas include reform in educational system in religious seminaries. But all this will require a comprehensive implementation of a counterterrorism strategy, and ultimately the terror challenge tests the ability of a nation to safeguard its present and prepare for a secure future.
Better to keep vigilance on suspects than hold candle vigils for victims after some terrorist attack.
