Pakistan's Civil War
It is now clear the ISI building in Lahore was the target of Tuesday’s deadly blast. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the blast yesterday that killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 200.
“We have achieved our target. We were looking for this target for a long time. It was a reaction to the Swat operation,” said Hakimullah Mehsud, a militant commander and deputy to TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud. More attacks are on the way, he added.
“We want the people of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Multan to leave those cities, as we plan major attacks against government facilities in coming days and weeks,” he told the Reuters news agency.
Also, just a day after the Lahore bombing, at least 13 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a series of bombings in Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan.
Pakistan policemen look through the window of an ambulance bringing another dead body to the morgue killed in the suicide bomb attack in Lahore, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
But what does that mean that the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, which for years has cultivated jihadist militants, has become a target? For one, it shows that even in the face of a month-long military effort, militant groups can still plan and execute sophisticated attacks. And it shows they can execute them outside their usual territories (the FATA and NWFP) in nominally unfriendly terrain (Punjab.) The additional bombings from today show that the operational capacity of the TTP and other militant groups does not seem to be much diminished despite the Pakistani military’s operations.
On the other hand, it shows that Pakistani security measures are at least able to mitigate attacks. Were it not for the stand-off security measures in place, the ISI building would have been destroyed and the death toll would have been far higher. That’s a valuable lesson for the security forces to learn.
And finally, what it means is that Pakistan is, without a doubt, in the midst a civil war. Stratfor reports that the growing violence and attacks against civilians are forcing a degree of introspection among Pakistani leaders and its people as to what kind of society they want to be. This could be a good thing as the Pakistani establishment has long struggled with how to deal with the “good” Taliban — those militants who strike outside of Pakistan — and the “bad” Taliban. Now, things have been clarified. Pakistan today issued rewards for the arrest or death Taliban leaders in Pakistan, including Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah ($61,690) and Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan ($37,014).
If this offensive against jihadi militants continues, Pakistan will have taken another step in an identity struggle that begun at its inception. Would it be a homeland for South Asian Muslims, but allow other religions and sects to worship freely in a secular public space? Or would it be a vanguard of Islamism, protecting both its physical and ideological frontiers from India and other non-Muslim threats? That debate — which will continue to be violent — is fully engaged now and it remains to be seen what the outcome will be. I hope Pakistanis choose the first choice — it was the likely vision of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, after all.
I wonder what the average Pakistani’s perception of the Taleban and affiliated groups is compared to anti-Indian terrorist groups. I find it possible that the public might find one more palatable than the other. Beyond that, I am somewhat relieved to see more evidence that the military’s actions are determined efforts to fight such groups. I (and the United States) could live with another nation politically closer to China than the US, I’m not sure we could endure a government giving insurgents and terrorists refuge and support.
there will be no Peace in Pakistan and Afganistan until americans and neto are in afganistan.