On November 2, the Wagah border which collects curious crowds on either side of the border gate to witness the interesting manoeuvres of border guards on either side were witness to a gory incident of a terrific explosion on the Pakistani side,
On November 2, the Wagah border which collects curious crowds on either side of the border gate to witness the interesting manoeuvres of border guards on either side were witness to a gory incident of a terrific explosion on the Pakistani side, resulting in the death of at least 61 persons including women and children and injuries to over 100 people, all on Pakistan side. It was revealed later that a teen-aged suicide bomber who was suspected to have been carrying 20-25 kilo of explosives detonated the bomb at the peak moment of the gathering crowd on the Pakistani side of the gate. For this mindless brutal attack, three different Taliban factions claimed credits which, in itself, showed the dire straits that Pakistan has been reduced to. One of the Taliban groups claimed that the attack was reaction to the military operation which Pakistan army was conducting in North Waziristan. Another Taliban group claimed that the suicide attack was to tell the Government that it had failed to enforce the Taliban version of Islamic law. Yet another Taliban faction which was supposed to be loyal to Hakhimullah Mehsud stated that it was in response to the killing of Mehsud in a US drone strike last year. These counter claims of different Taliban factions only expose he ugly fact that Pakistan's security is at the mercy of the Talikbans.
Predictably, the serious suicide attack on Pakistani side of the border led to the BSF guards of the Indian side taking all precautions to ensure safety and security on the Indian side .
The tragedy in Pakistan is that apart from the Pakistan army which has assumed powers of directing Pakistan's foreign policy and also inspires and partly controls the agitations of the Canadian born cleric Qadri, as well as Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan, the Pakistani judiciary also interferes in the administration in a mindless manner, for example, a Pakistani court ordered on October 26 that all the arrested workers of Tehreek-e- Insaf party of Imran Khan and followers of Qadri should be released forthwith. The Islamabad Police Chief Tehir Alam said that he would request the court to review its orders since the arrested persons were involved in the attack on Parliament. Meanwhile, Imran Khan vowed to continue his seize of Pakistan Parliament and that they would not leave till the Prime Minister Nawas Sharif resigned.
The well known Pakistani commentator Khaled Ahmed has stated that the Young Malala Yousafzai had openly objected to Taliban's policy of destroying girls' schools and had been shot in the head by Taliban terrorist and went on to get Nobel Peace prize was denounced by Mullahs of Pakistan as an American agent. But for her post haste despatch to London by the then Army Chief Genl. Kayani, she would have been liquidated by radical Islamic elements in Pakistan.
Khaled Ahmed also pointed out that Pakistan's Abdus Salam, who got Nobel prize for Physics in 1979 was denounced since he was member of the Ahmadi sect and considered to be non-Muslim in Pakistan. He returned to Pakistan dead, only to be buried in Pakistan, but not honoured.
Haqqani has drawn attention to an American, Grossman, who was present in Islamabad at the time when Osma bin Laden was spotted and killed by American forces in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. Grossman said that he felt that Pakistani officials and the rest of the world seemed to exist in a parallel universe. Haqqani went on to say that he had often noted his compatriots' tendency to live in a world of their own.
The fact is that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawas Sharif is too weak to assert himself or exercise his authority as Prime Minister. One possible line of hope and encouragement to Nawas Sharif may be India's willingness to resume talks with him in the forceable future. The next possible opportunities are during the SAARC Conference in Nepal, followed later by G-20 Conference in Australia. However, Pakistan has to demonstrate its bonafides by moving decisively against Jihadi terrorist elements based in Pakistan.
Amidst all this chaos, the disgraced Genl. Perez Musharraf made an appearance and made a speech that Pakistan Government should continue to give all support to the pro-Pakistani agitators in Kashmir and keep the agitation up till the situation turned favourable to Pakistan. Genl. Musharraf said that he was not running away from Pakistan and that he would visit Karachi of and on from his temporary residence in Dubai. It is obvious that Musharraf was fishing in the troubled waters of Pakistan and would only be too happy to grab power in Pakistan again if possible.
The well known Pakistani analyst, Khalid Ahmed of News Week says that the unkindly world called Pakistan a failing State and goes on to analyse what factors had brought about this conclusion. Another well known Pakistani, Husain Haqqani, who was Pakistan's Ambassador to USA for some time and presently working at the Hudson Institute, Washington DC, describes the chaos in Pakistan which was living in denial, having lost its sense of direction. He deplores the agitations being carried on by Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan and describes Jihadi terrorism as the principal threat to the country's survival. The suicide attack at Wagah border on November 2 was only a face of Jihadi terrorism. Haqqani says that even in Pakistan's closest ally China, only 30% of people held a positive view of Pakistan.
Husain Haqqani goes on to say that Jihadi extremists could embark on new dangerous missions against India while Prime Minister Sharif is pre-occupied. Haqqani fears that sooner or later, the Taliban and their backers would make a bid to grab power in Pakistan which would lead to a big setback for Pakistan.
One of the important ways of preventing Jihadi terrorism becoming the threat to the State itself is to initiate action against the terrorist organisations which are active in Pakistan but concentrating in planning attacks against India. These are Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jammat-ud-Dawa, which are in fact used as terror assets by the Pakistani Army and its creature, the ISI.
To begin with, Pakistan should stop offering specious alibis against prosecuting Hafiz Saeed, who was the brain behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Ajmal Qasab, who was captured and successfully prosecuted in India acknowledged his links with Hafiz Sayeed. The former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee had written recently that US State Department had designated Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist in 2012. Hafiz Saeed openly lived in Muridke and roamed freely in Pakistan. Sorabjee went on to ask whether Hafiz Saeed was more important to Pakistan than friendly relations with India. Pakistan knows the answer very well and it would realise possibly very soon that unless it moves against terrorists stationed in Pakistan and indirectly supported by Army and the ISI are as much threat to the Pakistan itself than India. The suicide attack at Wagah border on November 2 was only a reminder to Pakistan in this direction.
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