Attack in Murree

YET another Christian target has been attacked in Pakistan, killing six people, all of them Pakistani. The nationality or the religion of the killed is not the point here. The real issue is that it is the third Christian institution to be attacked within ten months. On Oct 28 last year, terrorists raided a church in Bahawalpur, killing 18 worshippers. Then on March 17, a church in Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave was attacked, resulting in the death of five people. These attacks should be seen as forming part of a chain of such occurrences — the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the killing of 11 Frenchmen in a suicide bombing attack in Karachi on May 8, and the attack on the US Consulate in Karachi killing 10 persons, including four women, on June 14. The overall picture that emerges is frightening. Knowing the virulence and daring that religious extremism has acquired in the country following the American-led war against terrorism in Afghanistan, the attack on the missionary school in Murree is probably not going to be the last one. Indeed, the authorities should brace themselves for more such attacks not only on Christian institutions but also on diplomatic missions and foreign nationals. So ruthless are the perpetrators of such acts that they are not bothered who else, besides the targeted, gets blown up. The only point of solace in the attack on the Murree school was that children and teachers remained unharmed.

Needless to point out, terrorism is now Pakistan’s foremost problem. Without rooting out this menace in all its forms, the economy cannot pick up, nor can political stability be achieved, whether the government is military or democratic.

Quite clearly, the international terrorist network, in league with local operatives, is very much alive and seems determined to mount more such deadly attacks — to punish Pakistan for its active role in the world coalition’s war on terror. What matters is that their capability to strike at will must be crippled and their network smashed.

At this stage, it is only a matter for conjecture who precisely are behind the attack at Murree. An unknown organization — al-Intiqaami al-Pakistani has claimed responsibility for the dastardly act. Whether this group is genuine or just another cover for terrorists sympathetic to Al Qaeda and the Taliban is not known. But whosoever are behind it have links with the international terrorist network — or with its local affiliates that are probably under instructions to target churches and other Christian institutions in Pakistan. The law enforcement agencies, in close collaboration with the intelligence services, have to redouble their efforts. Men in uniform and in vehicles are ubiquitous these days in cities and towns. This is, no doubt, necessary and gives the citizens a sense of security, but that appears more a show of force than a genuine strategy to combat terrorism. More sophisticated intelligence methods are needed for penetrating the terrorist networks, pre-empting blasts and attacks, unmasking the elements behind these crimes and bringing them to justice. The challenge facing the country on this score may be formidable, but so must be the resolve to overcome it by taking all necessary preventive and precautionary measures to protect the lives and property of its citizens and foreign guests, and that it will not allow its soil to be used for terrorism anywhere in the world.

Truth about Gujarat

JUSTICE J.S. Verma, chairman of India’s National Human Rights Commission, did not mince words about the truth regarding the Gujarat carnage while addressing law students in Bangalore the other day. The former chief justice of the supreme court likened the situation in Gujarat to a war, as it left over 2,000 Muslims dead and hundreds of thousands homeless after mobs of Hindu extremists targeted them in an organized manner. The state’s erstwhile chief minister, Narendra Modi, was largely blamed for the carnage, with some disgruntled politicians even within the ruling BJP openly accusing the Gujarat government of having planned and fanned the riots. Now with the investigations into the Godhra train burning completed, it has become clear beyond doubt that the Muslims, after all, did not act as the agents provocateurs in the eruption of the bloody communal riots, which were arguably the worst since partition. Today, almost six months after the Godhra incident, hundreds of Muslims are still forced to seek shelter in make-shift camps near Ahmedabad because the state would not guarantee their safe return home. Justice Verma is right in comparing the death and destruction caused by the riots with that of a mini-war.

Clearly, when a human tragedy is caused on such a massive scale, it cannot be dismissed as ‘India’s internal affair’ - New Delhi’s standard refrain with regard to the treatment meted out to the minorities. In Gujarat the slaughter was so brutal and widespread that no extraordinary investigative skill is needed to get at the bitter truth. Yet, blinded by its obduracy, the Vajpayee government continues to jealously guard the doors of the troubled states, expecting the world would soon forget about this dark episode. This was exactly the case last month when a group of British MPs and Amnesty International were denied permission to visit Gujarat and Kashmir to ascertain the veracity of India’s claims. Justice Verma’s candid statement about the Gujarat carnage now holds a mirror to New Delhi and the image it shows is quite likely unsightly.

Checkpost harassment

THE presence of security and customs pickets in Punjab and the NWFP, especially on the G.T. Road that links the two provinces via Attock bridge, has often proved irksome for travellers. Stories of people harassed by customs and police officials for no reason other than to get some money out of them are common. Setting up a checkpost or a picket to tackle rising crime, or prevent the entry of potential troublemakers, or even to detect smuggled goods might be necessary but only if a professional approach is adopted by the personnel manning them. It often happens that if no contraband or weapons are found, and even if the vehicle’s papers are in order, the guards on duty come up with all sorts of procedural requirements to be complied with before they let the car through. Another example of security pickets working much to the discomfiture and inconvenience of the general public is in Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave where the behaviour of the policemen once forced an ambassador to send a written complaint to the local authorities.

The relevant authorities should reexamine the manner in which checkposts operate on the G.T. Road. The guards and the staff posted at these pickets should be instructed to make inspection and checking a quick and simple process and not a harassing or exasperating experience for the travellers on one pretext or another. They should not wait until a series of unpleasant incidents occur at these points to wake up and act.