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The shockingly profitable assault on a authorities compound that ought to have been one of many safer components of Peshawar has raised critical questions on Pakistan’s skill to confront its long-standing militant risk because the Muslim-majority nation of 220 million stays mired in an financial disaster and a political standoff.
“This must be totally investigated as to how the bomber succeeded in reaching the goal by crossing all of the checkpoints,” mentioned Syed Masood Shah, a senior police official and minister within the present caretaker authorities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “This isn’t attainable with out some ‘assist.’ The bomber appears to be effectively conscious of the realm, and he might need visited the spot earlier than he executed his plan.”
The bombing was claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban militia, referred to as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which mentioned the assault was carried out to avenge the loss of life of its former chief. Nonetheless, a TTP spokesman later denied the declare, saying that such an assault — on a spot of worship filled with males at prayer — was un-Islamic. The contradiction recommended splits throughout the group for the reason that loss of life of its chief, Police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari mentioned.
Witnesses and survivors described scenes of panic and chaos because the mosque roof collapsed, leaving many worshipers trapped and screaming beneath heavy rubble. Muhammad Kamran, 26, a police trainee, mentioned he had been sitting behind the prayer chief when the blast erupted and the roof overhead collapsed on him and the rows of worshipers round him.
“A portion of the roof fell on me, however I used to be close to a wall,” Kamran recounted from his mattress at Woman Studying Hospital. “After I was struggling to discover a method out of the rubble, I noticed two heads close by and one man caught beneath the particles. … He was screaming and crying for assist. I attempted my finest however couldn’t.” Kamran mentioned he was nonetheless shaken and sleepless from the expertise, however meant to return to police obligation after recovering.
A police officer, who gave his identify solely as Tajir, was guarding the Capital Metropolis Police Workplace compound the place the blast happened. He mentioned he was frightened about how the bomber had entered the realm, including that it was “very troublesome to go looking each particular person right here as often there’s hustle and bustle on working days. Authorities officers and guests are passing by means of this gate.”
As households started burying their useless in cemeteries throughout this historical metropolis and Pakistani officers scrambled to style a coherent response, leaders and commentators of all stripes, from spiritual celebration chiefs to secular liberals, joined in common condemnation of an assault that harked again to a daunting period of fixed terrorist threats.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who visited blast victims with extreme burns and fractures at a Peshawar hospital alongside the military chief Monday, later addressed the attackers in an emotional tweet, warning that “you can not underestimate the resolve of our folks” and declaring terrorism to be the nation’s “foremost nationwide safety problem.”
Military head Gen. Asim Munir mentioned Tuesday that “such immoral and cowardly acts can not shake the resolve of the nation; however somewhat invigorate our willpower to achieve the continued struggle in opposition to terror.”
However some political leaders sought guilty officers for failed anti-terrorist insurance policies or for being distracted by an influence wrestle that has paralyzed the federal government as elections loom. The federal government can be coping with floods that ruined huge components of the agricultural heartland, a monetary disaster that includes hovering inflation and heavy overseas money owed that the nation can not pay, and a relentless opposition led by ousted prime minister Imran Khan.
Between the “harmful battle of nerves” over elections and the paralysis of presidency actions “because the financial system nosedives,” the editors of the Daybreak newspaper wrote Tuesday, “this excellent storm represents a super alternative for the TTP and others of their ilk to strike on the state.”
On Tuesday, Sharif despatched out a second tweet that sought to rise above the political fray. He mentioned such “despicable actions” because the bombing are meant to unfold public concern and “reverse our hard-gains in opposition to terrorism & militancy. My message to all political forces is one in every of unity in opposition to anti-Pakistan parts,” he mentioned. “We will battle our political fights later.”
However some consultants mentioned the second referred to as for a serious reassessment of the Islamist militant risk that has out of the blue flared after being overwhelmed again in a army crackdown up to now decade. The TTP has been reinvigorated for the reason that Afghan Taliban returned to energy in 2021, and a few of its fighters took refuge throughout the border. The brand new rulers in Kabul helped dealer the peace talks that broke down in November, however there’s new concern that the truce backfired, permitting the TTP to regain power.
“This can be a very decisive second for Pakistan,” mentioned Muhammad Amir Rana, a safety analyst in Islamabad. “The errors made by the state, to offer a method for the TTP to return again to Pakistan, shouldn’t occur once more. There ought to be no coverage to speak to them and supply them with a chance to regroup and get strengthened. We’d like a agency resolve in opposition to terrorism.”
The contradictions between varied TTP leaders who claimed or denied the Monday bombing have spawned a number of theories amongst observers of militant actions. One is that the assault was carried out by an excessive rogue faction, based mostly in one in every of Pakistan’s tribal areas. The opposite is that it had secret TTP approval however was belatedly disowned on account of stress from the Taliban rulers in Kabul, who denounced the lethal assault on a mosque as un-Islamic as they themselves are in search of worldwide recognition.
No matter the true story behind Monday’s bloodbath, it has immediately dashed the nation’s sense of complacency as the sooner period of violent militancy light, and has additionally thrust Pakistan’s insecure, beleaguered authorities right into a tense new battle that it by no means anticipated so as to add to its present woes.
As Shah, the chief provincial safety official in Peshawar put it, the bombing has “created an atmosphere of concern” throughout the nation. He referred to as on all safety companies to share intelligence and “collectively battle” the specter of additional militant assaults. “We’re in a state of struggle, and we should be vigilant,” he mentioned.
Constable reported from Kabul. Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Paul Schemm in London contributed to this report.
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