The War For Pakistan Has Begun
The War For Pakistan Has Begun
Days ago in Peshawar, Pakistan, a suicide bomber detonated his suicide vest inside a mosque during worship services. The casualties were horrific. As of this writing, at least 100 people are confirmed dead.
The number of dead keeps rising. That’s not so much because the wounded are succumbing to their injuries although that’s happening too. It’s because it takes a while after a major bomb blast to figure out how many people died. You don’t so much collect corpses as you collect body parts.
Horrifying as that is that’s not nearly the worst part. Most of the casualties were Pakistani police officers. The mosque was inside a supposedly secure compound surrounded by high walls and armed guards. The bomber penetrated that security got inside and carried out his attack without being detected.
Mohammad Asim, a spokesperson for the Lady Reading Hospital (LRC), confirmed the casualties, adding that some of the injured persons were in critical condition, and the death toll is on the rise.
There have been conflicting claims of responsibility. A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban (the Movement of Pakistani Taliban – TTP) has denied the group carried out the attack. Another prominent Pakistani Taliban official has stated that the group did carry out the attack and it was in direct retaliation for the killing of ex-TTP Commander Omar Khalid Khorasani.
“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan,” tweeted Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who visited the wounded in Peshawar and vowed “stern action” against those behind the bombing. He expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, saying their pain ”cannot be described in words.”
The ability of the TTP, now in league with the Taliban in Kabul, to strike inside a high-security government compound is alarming enough. Even more alarming, this is just the latest in a whole series of high-profile attacks by the Pakistani Taliban against Pakistani security forces inside secure areas previously thought safe from attack.
In late December a car bomb detonated in a residential neighborhood in Islamabad, the highly secure capital city of Pakistan. The vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint inside the city by police, and the driver then detonated his device. Two militants and a police officer were killed. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Islamabad has always been Pakistan’s safest city. It is an artificial government town awash in police and military personnel. That the Taliban can now move vehicles laden with explosives into the city is highly concerning.
Shortly before the bombing in Islamabad Pakistani Taliban detainees at a counterterrorism center in northwest Pakistan overpowered their guards and took control of the center. Several Pakistani police officers were held hostage. It ultimately took an assault by Pakistani special forces to retake the compound.
Roughly a year ago the TTP announced that it would overthrow the government of Pakistan and hoist the white flag of the Taliban over Islamabad. The TTP statement read in part,
“…Pakistan has been used as a cantonment [military camp] of the West for decades. It is for this reason that most of the prime ministers of Pakistan did not complete their terms [of office]. Despite the tall claims of democracy, slogans, and promises, the army (whose only job is to be a guard) has been dominating and controlling the politics of Pakistan… The same military junta is responsible for all the riots, civil war, sectarianism, bargaining on national integrity, turning the country into a battleground of American proxy war, price hikes, and insecurity that have made the lives of the people miserable.
So, it is our utmost responsibility to get rid of this cancer. Therefore, if you cannot stand with us shoulder-to-shoulder against these dollar-hungry mercenaries [i.e., the Pakistani military], at least quickly get your loved ones out of this dirty rank and think about their future. Otherwise, they will not have a place to hide… Join us in utilizing all your energies for the Islamic Emirate style of politics. The time is not far when, like Kabul, the white flag will be hoisted over Islamabad.”
That statement was a declaration of war on the Pakistani state in general and on its security services in particular. That war has begun in earnest, and the TTP has already demonstrated a very concerning ability to carry out deadly attacks in the most secure areas in the nation.
Afghanistan is a terrorist super state awash in drug money and American weapons. The Afghan Taliban are providing the TTP with secure bases and support. What has happened to date is as nothing compared to what lies ahead.
The war for Pakistan, and its nuclear arsenal, has begun.
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