THURSDAY morning’s strike in Lahore reconfirmed fears about the intent of militants in the country and the expanse of their activities. This was the second incident of similar severity in the space of a few days in Punjab. On Monday, an army camp near Wazirabad had come under an atrocious attack. Six army personnel and a policeman were killed in that incident. Thursday’s raid added nine unfortunate names to the list of victims. These nine were among the 30-odd police and prison staff lodged at a house in a busy city locality. The news that came out after the attack identified the victims as officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who were in Lahore for training. According to one report, the local administration had been forewarned. Another spoke about the lax security at the targeted house and comparisons were made with the Wazirabad attack as the dominant question was whether the two strikes had been carried out by the same group. Amid this rush for quick explanations, a statement was flashed which said that the Taliban had taken responsibility for the brutal act.

Even before the gory incident, security on Lahore’s roads appeared to have been beefed up. This would lend credence to the theory that the Punjab government’s security apparatus had some inkling that something horrific was building up — something that they might not be able to avert even if they bolstered safety measures. And if this is not enough proof of the inadequacy of the government’s defence against the militants, the police discourse post-attack reeked of an old desire to build false security covers around Punjab. That the victims belonged to the security departments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa set a familiar tone for statements and discussion. Punjab, the leading shareholder in the federation, seemed once again in danger of looking on it as ‘someone else’s’ problem instead of recognising the attack as a direct threat to its own peace. This is an extremely dangerous view, one which has been proven wrong time and again. A better policy would be to be prepared and willing to take on the militants.