Adil Najam
In yet another brutal attack on Pakistan, terrorists targeted a police training facility near Lahore. In many ways the attack has similarities to the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, also in Lahore.. News reports suggest a rising toll of dead and injured.
In a recent update, the siege of the compound has ended. Four of the militants have been caught and four have died. One hopes that investigations with the ones caught will lead to more concrete information, especially about the planning of these and other (past and future) attacks on Pakistan (more updates in comments section).
In an eye-witness account recieved by email, on an email list, Farooq Tariq writes:
I am writing this at 10am on 30 March 2009.
As I arrived back from my usual morning walk around 7am, a massive round of firing was heard at my place. I asked my partner Shahnaz, if she noticed that, she said maybe, a routine matter and such incident of firing is taking place almost daily. Then another round of firing started, I told her this is very unusual. It went on for some time.
I live near Jallo Park, and not for from G T Road that leads to Wahgha border. Manawan Police Training Center is on this GT Road and just opposite to our place, around a kilometer away.
I turned to the television, there was not any mention of this firing, but the firing was still going on. Around 7.30am, some private television stations started telling that firing and some blast is heard at Manawan Police Training center and no more details.
Manawan is name of a village at the suburbs of Lahore and now it has become almost part of Lahore. Just opposite Manawan, a police training center is located on main GT Road Lahore. One of the newly formed trade union of New Khan Transport Workers Union Office is just opposite this police training center. Next to this center is a bus depot of private bus company New Khan Transport. We have gone to this office many times. The area is newly built.
Now at 10am, nearly after three hours of the firing, It is now clear from all the reports that terrorist have struck at this center killing at least 20 police trainees and injuring over 100. The firing is still on. I can hear that even at my home, a kilometer away from the scene.
Rangers and special police squad have come to the area while still they are not yet abe to bring out all the injured from inside the compound. The private television channels are broadcasting scenes showing police men bodies lying at the morning police parade ground. The terrorist are still inside the compound.
I just called Kashif Aslam, a youth leader of Labour Party Pakistan Lahore, he lives very next to this Center, he told me that he heard massive blasts and then firing for a long time. He said many hundreds of people are watching the whole episode from their roof tops around the area. He had already left the area from back streets as the whole area is cordoned off already and GT Road a closed.
It seems that it is the same terrorist gang that had attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team on 2 March in Lahore. The gang is around ten persons who had all the latest arms and ammunitions. GEO tv reported that the gang has bags on their shoulders full of arms. They have now occupied roof top of the building. Although, police helicopter is seen flying over the compound.
After the attack on Sri Lanka cricket team, police had failed to arrest a single person involved in the attack. They group has now targeted a police center, it is believed that the numbers of the killed will be higher what is reported at present.
Earlier report in The News:
At least 20 people have been killed and 25 injured when gunmen attack police training center in Manawan near Wagah border on Monday. Attackers take positions inside police training center. They are wearing police uniforms and carrying backpacks and guns.
Rangers and police take positions around police training center. Army has also deployed to aid police. Emergency enforced in the hospitals. Police helicopters hover training center. The bodies and injured have been shifted to different hospitals. According to DIG Mumtaz Sukhara, the exact number of attackers yet to be known. Police have directed people to stay away from training center, however, large number of people present outside training center to support security forces. They are chanting slogans in favour of Punjab police and Pakistan Army.
Earlier, a series of at least five blasts were heard at the training centre at Manawan, and the explosions were followed by an exchange of fire between the attackers and policemen that is still underway. The officials said about 850 trainee policemen were present within at the facility.Reports said the gunmen lobbed several grenades as they launched their attack and then fired indiscriminately.
Week after week, month after month, one tires of writing again and again about these brutal murderous attacks on Pakistan and Pakistanis. But the pain does not lessen with familiarity to such news. The anger only grows.
Better wake up sirs, and fast - Kamran Shafi in Dawn today.
http://tiny.cc/kDm5V
This is the state of Pakistan under attack, by an enemy that knows no bounds. This is also unlike any war that we have seen. Unless we wake up and join hands against it, it will eat us all up. The problem so far has been that we fail to recognize the enemy within us - there has to be no excuses for murder and crimes against humanity.
The state has failed because we have chosen to hand over the country to the most inept, the most corrupt. Those who aren’t competent to run a “karyana” store are trying so miserably to call the shots, giving the criminals (read TTP) a free hand. If the ISI is complicit in safeguarding the Taliban leadership as alleged by the Americans, those responsible need to be hanged. If the Army does not wake up to this threat from within now, there won’t be a PakLand left to defend in the near future. D-Day is here and it is now. We have to decide if we are going to counter this threat now, or if the dillydallying will continue, because we have run out of time.
The 2nd video shows: Too many in people in uniform, nobody incharge or running the show. Mayhem, confusion, civilians being allowed to walk around in unsafe and dangerous situation. Clearly our security ‘forces’ of which we have one too many have wasted the time, money and effort of whoever they’ve been trained by. And why is this Betullah Mehsud criminal not being blasted out of his hole by our mard-i-momin’s, custodian’s of our wretched land? where are our second to none flying falcons and out elite commandos who can drop from the sky and impress us during our extravagant independence day parades? Are they only trained to harass and bully unarmed civilians? what are they waiting for? the disintegration of our motherland? Which country’s flag will they then paste on their starched uniforms? Why do we find it so difficult to get rid of these vermin and stop being ridiculed by the rest of the world? why can’t we clean up our act? we dont need someone from outside to put our house in order. We need to correct our mind and stop taking Pakistan for granted.
@ Lutful Islam…
I couldnt agree with you more….
my heart welled up when I heard the Takbeer go up as the Jawans were preparing to enter the compound………………
but then I thought…the jawan…is willing to fight and die …for what? a thankless…gutless…confused mob of a nation who will spit on their sacrifice due a blinkered view of religion…..
What fate should become of a nation that displays nothing but confusion and cowardice in their darkest hour?….The answer is obvious….
@ Mabool, Do you mean we should OUTSOURCE our security? I have an even better idea- how about just giving up on Pakistan.How about if we destroy it. Someone might argue that it would be a CONSTRUCTIVE DESTRUCTION. What do you think?
From Dawn Today …..
Lawyers’ struggle: another view
By Kaiser Bengali
Monday, 30 Mar, 2009 | 07:54 AM PST |
THE successful movement for the reinstatement of Iftikhar Chaudhry is being billed as a historic watershed event that has redefined the politics of the country and, in particular, the relationship between citizen and state.
Whether this conclusion turns out to be an illusion or reality will be tested in due course of time. In the meantime, however, an examination of the composition of the movement raises some disturbing questions.
The movement was started in March 2007 by the lawyers’ community and emerged as a rallying point for democratic forces opposed to Gen Musharraf’s military-backed regime. In the process, it attracted support from a broad spectrum of society — political parties of all shades, civil society and even retired military and intelligence officers. The latter formally organised themselves under the banner of the Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society.
Following last year’s national polls and Gen Musharraf’s subsequent departure, a section of this coalition lost its enthusiasm for Iftikhar Chaudhry’s reinstatement. The vast majority of dismissed judges also agreed to be reinstated after taking a fresh oath of office under the constitution. However, a core — largely centred in Punjab — remained committed to the original objectives of the movement and continued the campaign. By early 2009, PML-N — the majority party in Punjab — took control of the movement and led it to a successful conclusion.
The movement’s advocates saw themselves on a pedestal as ‘crusaders’ for justice and rule of law and couched their rhetoric in highly moralistic terms. Undoubtedly, the movement comprised eminent individuals of impeccable integrity, who have devoted their careers uncompromisingly to the cause of rule of law and democracy. Due credit in this respect has to be accorded ungrudgingly.
However, a perusal of the roster of the ‘crusaders’ does not inspire unqualified confidence, as many have their past to answer for. There are questions with respect to their commitment to democracy, constitutionalism and rule of law — and their political orientation; with implications for the direction of politics in the country.
It cannot be comforting to note that some of the advocates of the movement were active members, collaborators or supporters of military regimes. Among leaders of the lawyers’ movement, one was a provincial minister under Gen Musharraf’s military regime and another a prosecutor for Gen Musharraf’s National Accountability Bureau. They also included many in the legal fraternity, political parties, civil society and media who were ardent supporters of Gen Musharraf when he subverted the constitution and turned into his bitter critics when he dismissed Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Some of them tried to make their contribution through print and electronic media and others through marching on the streets. That the subversion of the constitution did not stir the conscience of all of the above, but the cause of a PCO judge did is a sad commentary on their credentials with respect to their principled commitment to the rule of law and democracy.
The record of political parties in this coalition also merits close scrutiny. In this respect, the role of Jamaat-i-Islami is particularly murky. It collaborated with the Yahya Khan regime in the massacre in erstwhile East Pakistan, served as the B-team to the violently repressive Ziaul Haq regime, and supported the Musharraf regime in imposing the 17th Amendment — which it now opposes! Under the circumstances, it appears to be a strange voice for judicial, civil rights and democratic causes.
The PML-N has struggled against the Musharraf dictatorship; as such, its leadership’s collaboration with Ziaul Haq’s military dictatorship can perhaps be condoned and their credentials as champions of democracy and constitutionalism accepted. However, they cannot escape responsibility for the terrible mess the country is in today in terms of institutional breakdown and internal terrorism. Notably, their then comrades-in-arms included many military and intelligence officers, some of whom are now their comrades-in-arms in the current movement.
The ex-servicemen are mostly those who served in the armed forces and its intelligence wings during the Zia dictatorship. One of them is a 1977 coup leader, another an intelligence officer who publicly claimed the right to destabilise democratic governments in the name of protecting ‘national interests’, and yet another an intelligence officer who publicly confessed to using state funds to ‘manufacture’ a political party that included the present PML-N leadership.
Some of the officers were integrally involved in the so-called Afghan jihad and in creating the jihadi infrastructure in Pakistan. Allegedly, the core of this jihadi network is located in Punjab, to the extent that the then ruling Taliban cadres in Afghanistan in the late 1990s referred to many of their commanders generically as ‘Punjabis’. Even recently, many of the terrorist perpetrators in the country have been traced to Punjab towns like Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Rahim Yar Khan and Faridkot. The southern Punjab-centricity of all the above ‘crusaders’ is striking.
The questions that arise are: can the emergence of the above coalition be a mere coincidence? Or has the cover of the issue of Chaudhry Iftikhar’s reinstatement been used to attempt to band together Ziaist rightwing elements, denominated by the military’s national security agenda, religious parties’ theocratic agenda and the business community’s neo-liberal economic agenda? And what does this development portend for the conflict vis-à-vis democracy and federalism in the country and religious extremism in the region?
After all, there is a history of an integral nexus between PML-N leaders, now retired military and intelligence officers and Jamaat-i-Islami under the Ziaul Haq dictatorship. Of course, PML-N has attempted to cast itself in a liberal mould, but two facts militate against an unqualified acceptance of their liberal credentials. One is the fact that many of the important PML-N leaders have a background of association with religious parties, particularly Jamaat-i-Islami. And the other is the fact that it made an abortive attempt in 1998 to introduce the Sharia through the 15th Amendment to the constitution. At the least, these factors raise likely suspicions about its lack of committed opposition to a theocratic agenda.
It appears that ideological battle lines are being drawn. One side appears to coalesce with the largely Punjab-based, PML-N-led rightwing neo-conservative remnants of the Ziaist establishment, committed to a centralised state with a quasi-theocratic national security agenda. The other side appears to comprise nationally based forces, disparately comprising the PPP, ANP, MQM and Baloch parties, seeking a society sans religious bigotry and a polity that is federal and pluralistic. The choices for the people are stark and clear.
I have said before; nationalization is a solution to a failing corporation. Similar takeover of Pakistan by a group of foreign nations or placed under UN protectorate for a limited period will be an emergency solution. Want to know the capabilities of security forces? Just see a pic of them holding a suspect. There is a pistol pointed to his head, but he is not even handcuffed!!!
Here’s what the Western media are reporting about responsibility for the tragic attacks on the Police Academy in Lahore:
The head of the interior ministry, Rehman Malik, said the militants were Pakistani Taliban elements loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, a commander who claims to have trained a succession of suicide bombers, and was accused of involvement in the December 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Other experts speculated that a Punjabi group may have been responsible, though the lines between the various outfits trying to undermine the Pakistani state are increasingly becoming blurred.
With many different terror outfits operating under the “Taliban” label, it is possible some have been infiltrated by those who support a “covert war” in Pakistan to destabilize the state. Instead of automatically blaming and indiscriminately targeting all such groups, it is important for Pakistani investigators to carefully follow all the leads and single out the source of each terrorist incidents. A careful approach will help separate those who are reconcilable from those who must be defeated.
Jaise Us Se Pahle Nikle- Zardari Bhi Vaisa Nikla
Qaum Ne Phir Se Naak Katai-Vardi Laiee Diya Salaee
Rehman Malik Ne Aag Jalaee-Malik Qayum Ne Kheer Pakaee
Kale Kot Ki Shaamat Ayee-Asif Musharraf Bhai Bhai
Sher Ne Aakhir Ghas Hee Khaee
Aas Ke Patte Jhad Gaye Saare-Sheeda Shoki Dur Gaye Saare
Daawe Saan Pe Chadh Gaye Saare-Justice Vustice Vadh Gaye Saare
Tau Aye Bhole Pakistani
Bhool Ke Sub Kuch Kho Ja Ab Too
Bund Ker T.V. So Ja Ab Too