Peshawar terrorist attack

An epitaph for the National Action Plan

THE terrorist attack inside a Peshawar madrassa shows that much needs to be done to improve the country’s security. The use of TNT with a sophisticated timing device has led some to conclude that the attack does not bear the typical signature of the TTP and its offshoots, and has been conducted by an erstwhile unknown group. While at least eight students have been killed, as many as 120 were injured, more deaths cannot be ruled out. In a stock response, the Prime Minister has vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Keeping in view the past performance of the government, the statement would inspire confidence in few. About two weeks back as many as 20 security personnel died on a single day in two terrorist attacks. At a Corps Commanders Conference held soon after it was decided to undertake a comprehensive review of the recent surge in terrorist incidents in the country.

A newspaper report tells of a heated debate having been going on between the Afghan cleric during whose sermon in a Peshawar mosque the terrorist attack took place and another cleric, with both sides hurling charges of heresy online against each other. The possibility of extremist thinking being behind the attack cannot therefore be ruled out. One expects the security agencies to be not only monitoring hate material on the net but also getting leads from it to identify terrorist networks and infiltrate these.

The recent Peshawar incident has roused the memories of the Army Public School massacre and the National Action Plan formulated subsequently. Had the NAP been implemented, there would have been fewer incidents of terrorism in days to come. It has been rightly pointed out by the Supreme Court and sections of media that soon after its announcement the NAP was consigned to oblivion. While online space for dissent and freedom of expression has shrunk in Pakistan, religious extremism, which acts as the fountainhead of terrorism, is allowed to flourish instead of being curbed as required by the NAP.

Complaints continue to emerge that the security agencies are more active in keeping a tab on opposition leaders, creating divisions within parties, and stagemanaging elections rather than directing their energies to curbing extremism and terrorism.