SHIREEN M MAZARI
The terrorist attack in Lahore targeting a Special Investigative Unit has once again highlighted all the things wrong with our government and the state structures, especially when it comes to dealing with the terrorist problem. The plethora of statements, coming from various segments of the state in the immediate aftermath of the blast, shows the confusion that still prevails when it comes to the terrorist threats. There seems to be no proactive policy at the macro level to tackle the issue pre-emptively with good human intelligence and isolation of the militants and their supporters amongst the populace. After all, without local informants and local support, non-state actors cannot get shelter. In military terms, for the militants, a local sympathetic population forms their rear and it is here that they blend in to carry out their lethal activities.
So the first job of the intelligence set-ups and the government should be to ensure that the local population not only does not support the militants but also gives information about suspicious activities in their neighbourhoods. It does not seem possible that strangers simply drove into Model Town, found the target and carried out their terrorism. In urban residential areas, especially, it is easy for terrorists to blend in and watch their targets once they have been correctly identified. At the very least the government needs to encourage local watch groups so that suspicious people or strangers are identified and checked. These are abnormal times and require measures on an emergency footing. Television can aid in educating the public on how to arrange for local watch patrols and so on.
Equally important, it is absolutely necessary for the government to move interrogation and other high profile targets out of residential areas where innocent citizens lives can be placed in jeopardy. Locating such centres in the midst of schools and homes is showing scant regard for the lives of the citizens. Ironically, this was not the first time that an intelligence office located in Model Town was targeted; yet the government made no attempt to remove this interrogation set-up from this residential area. It stands to reason that militants would want to get rid of detained people who may reveal sensitive information. So all such interrogation centres are high value targets for them.
At a more general level, the state needs to be clear who are the groups they are fighting in terms of the terrorist threat. We seem to be particularly weak on this count. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the latest Lahore attack but Rehman Malik and Punjab
