Boiling cauldron of suicide bombings

The month of October, already known through its sixty year's history as a bad omen for the country, has brought another tragedy of killings in the reception rally of Benazir Bhutto at Karachi on October 18, 2007. Just two suicide bombing attacks have caused the death of over 138 people, physical injuries to about 500 and miseries to unaccountable families.

The chronological review shows that these suicide attacks have multiple dimensions. Spreading from sect oriented attacks in the start, the suicide bombings targeted hotels, convoys of security forces, security check posts, military training centers, military convoys, government buildings, and high value personalities of the Government and now the targets are political gatherings and rallies.

The breeding and training ground, the source of ideological motivation and also the venue of maximum number of suicide bombings, as known so far, had been FATA and NWFP. But after the present tragic attacks at Karachi and the earlier attacks at Islamabad and Kharian etc it appears that no place in the country is safe from these terrorists.

The year began with four suicide attacks in January including attack on a military convoy at Mir Ali (South Waziistan) and one suicide bomb attack on the gates of an Islamabad hotel. On March 29 it was at a Kharian Military Training area. On 28 April the Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao was targeted during a public meeting at Char Sadda.

The month of July, queuing from operations against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, was worst with 14 suicide attacks claiming 243 lives including 45 security personnel. To count a few, on July 4 in two suicide bombings that occurred in NWFP six soldiers and two children in one and four civilians in the other got killed. On July 6 a suicide bomber threw himself at an Army jeep killing six soldiers and on. July 8 a policeman got killed in a blast in NWFP. The same day unidentified gunmen shot dead three Chinese workers in Peshawer.

On July12, two suicide bomb attacks killed seven people including three policemen in North Waziristan. On July 14, a suicide car-bomber killed 24 paramilitary personnel and wounded 29 in North Waziristan. Two security officials got wounded in another blast in NWFP. On July 15 sixteen people, most of them paramilitary soldiers were killed in a suicide-bomb-ambush in Swat Valley. The same day a suicide bomber targeted a police recruiting centre in Dera Ismail Khan and bagged 29 lives of under training recruits. A suicide bomber killed 16 people on July 17 outside PPP reception tent in Islamabad. On July 18, Seventeen soldiers were killed when militants attacked a convoy in North Waziristan.

July 19 brought three suicide attacks and killed 52 people- 30 in Hub, 7 in Hangu and at least 15 worshippers in a mosque within Army Training Centre in Kohat. On July27, a suicide bomber targeted a group of policemen near Lal Masjid, Islamabad and killed 13 (mostly) policemen.

The next spate started on Aug13 claiming 4 lives in NWFP, on Aug16, two soldiers killed in North Waziristan and on Aug.18 a soldier was killed on a security post near the Afghan border. On Aug 20 three paramilitary soldiers were killed and 8 wounded when a bomber rammed against a check post in Thal. On Aug 24 a suicide bomber killed 5 soldiers and wounded 30 in an attack on a convoy in Waziristan and hours later the same day another bomber killed another soldier in the region. On August 26 four policemen were killed and two wounded in a suicide bomb attack in Swat Valley.

September again was a bloody month when one suicide bomber killed 3 paramilitary soldiers and 2 civillians in Bajaur on first day of the month. Two suicide bomber attacks on September 04 in Rawalpindi Cantt killed 31 and wounded more than 70. One of these suicide attacks occurred at Qasim market, reportedly, in a parked ISI staff Bus with 25 to 30 on board and the other suicide attack was at RA Bazar in the early hours of the morning at about 7.30, when a motor cycle rider exploded himself in the center of the chawk to deliberately target maximum GHQ/office/ school going persons.

Another suicide bomb attack in Dera Ismail Khan on September 11, 2007, by a suicide bomber aged 14-15 years, left more than 18 including 3 policemen dead and a score others seriously injured. On September 13, a lone bearded suicide bomber riding a bicycle got into the restricted area of the SSG Soldiers Mess of KARRAR Company at Ghazi (Terbela) and got him blown up among the group of men sitting by. Twenty killed and twenty five were wounded. In the month of October, before this Karachi carnage, a burqa clad suicide bomber attacking a police check post in Bannu had the toll of at least 16 people including 4 policemen and 4 women dead and over 29 persons wounded.

The end effect is that the people have lost all sense of security and safety. State of uncertainty also prevails due to the un-finalized results of the presidential elections and the halted process of transition. Now instead of indulging in any sort of 'blame game' relating these suicide bombing attacks, there is need of serious thinking by the government and the peace loving analysts to tackle the on going trends, before this phenomenon engulfs the entire Pakistani society. If the situation remains unaltered, the stakes are too high. We may have to then forget about any peaceful transition towards meaningful democratic process. From the scrutiny of the prevalent trends of suicide attacks and the number of hundreds who became victims of these attacks one has every reason to raise many questions in this context.

The answer to these questions must be sought to reach the roots of these suicide bombers. Have only the outright radicals and religious fanatics become suicide bombers? Does any violence loving religious or sectarian creed existing in the country? Are they local or of foreign breeding? Are these picked up from poverty stricken families in early ages to be motivated for such errands, if so where are they trained? Are they as President Musharraf says, "Handful strength holding the society hostage," whereas the analysis of the frequency and the pattern of these attacks show the presence of big breeding ground? Are these the men obsessed with the feeling of hatred or revenge or suffer from some mental disorder? Taliban could only be their institutional identity, but these may no more be the same who got organized under patronage of certain seminaries into a private army of its own kind calling themselves as "jehadis" and enjoyed US cordiality till 9/11.

Only use of force to fight the curse of suicide attacks has become ineffective. The driving force behind these suicide bombers has turned into faith oriented mindset. Dangerous threats are boiling in the cauldron of coming events. It is a war unleashed on the people of Pakistan. This war is a 'total war' and has to be fought not only by the Army but also by the entire nation. Military options could be effective against individual terrorists but never against an ideological group.

(Courtesy: Pakistani Observer)