Terrorists Strike The Heart Of Pakistan

Terrorists have struck Lahore, the second biggest city which is being considered the heart of Pakistan. The whole country is in the grip of severe fear and terror. Reports said thatThe death toll in suicide attack and explosions at Pakistan Navy War College near Mall Road Underpass Lahore has increased to seven with several injured in the incident.

"After suicide attack at Pakistan Navy War College cylinders in vehicles parked in the premises explode in a series," a spokesman of the government of Punjab said on Tuesday.

"Two persons were killed in the cylinder blasts," the spokesman added.

Twenty seriously injured persons have been provided medical aid at Mayo and Services Hospital in Lahore. While remaining injured have been admitted in other hospitals of the city.

According to a comment, barely two months into the year and already suicide bombers have struck at least 12 times in various places across the country. Dozens of lives have been lost. Who knows what the toll taken by the killers will be by the time the year ends? The latest attack, believed to be a suicide bombing, took place during a tribal gathering in Darra Adam Khel, where around 1000 tribesmen had gathered to discuss the formation of a force to drive militants out of the area. The message as such was clear -- with the tribesmen evidently punished for making an effort to restore peace to the lives of people. The 'jirga' had been convened, with official support, in the wake of an operation launched against militants in the Darra Adam Khel area since January. In the months before then, the small, dusty town of Darra Adam Khel, best known for its arms bazaar, had been over-run by militants who closed down schools for girls and ordered men to grow beards.

As has been the case in other attacks, the perpetrator seems to have been a teenaged boy. It appears that many of the 'madressahs' operating across the country have become sources of human fodder for militant commanders, with the boys enrolled here apparently brainwashed into conducting such attacks. Reports suggest that in many cases, promises of a place in paradise are used to tempt young men to blow themselves up. For many impoverished teenagers, this may seem an attractive option compared to a life of constant deprivation with little hope of change. It is important to remember, even as the tally of deaths in suicide bombings climbs higher, that the entire issue is not about numbers but the loss of life. The agony of families deprived of loved ones in so brutal and senseless a manner is almost unimaginable. Others meanwhile are left permanently disabled by acts of terrorism, with few details available as to how many have been affected this way over the past years, as suicide bombings have become a regular feature of our lives.

The question of course is how the problem is to be tackled. This indeed will be a key challenge for the next government, due now to take charge within days in Islamabad. It is not easy to offer them advice. No amount of security can defeat the determined suicide bomber. Similarly, the problem of militancy and all the horrors it has brought with it, will not disappear quickly. It is the policies set in place in the 1980s, and allowed to continue for far too long, that have allowed extremists to take root and permitted and encouraged madressahs to mushroom. It may take at least as long to uproot the menace.

The involvement of tribesmen to deal with the problem seems to offer one way forward. The policy must be continued. Many elders in northern communities are horrified by the descent into violence witnessed in recent years and are desperate to stop it. The outrage committed against a 'jirga' will no doubt add to their determination to prevent militants taking over all aspects of life. In the longer run though, it is important to recognize that militancy is a by-product of the socio-economic conditions of people's lives. It is only an improvement in the circumstances in which they live that will enable people to escape the net of extremism. In this, there is a message for the country's leaders -- for without major measures to end deprivation, there can be little hope of ending the suicide bombings that have already claimed so many lives and threaten to claim still more.

The End