The Pakistani Spectator

Karachi is bleeding after the twin blasts on Chehlum Day claimed 33 lives and left more than 170 injured. The law enforcement apparatus has not learnt its lessons, as usual even before collecting evidence for investigation, there were contradictory statements from Police Officials and Bomb Disposal Squad on the nature of blast. One agency stated that it was suicide blast while the other said it was a planted bomb. Most interestingly, the Federal Interior Minister sitting in Islamabad hurried to call both attacks remote controlled.

As I write today, the bomb disposal squad is still trying to prove that at least one of the blasts was suicidal while Police claims otherwise. With a live and vibrant media and paparazzi messing around and pressuring officials for information in crisis situations, such slips are expected. The competitive media thrives on feeding viewers with graphic details of such incident latching on to any piece of information authenticated or not. There is no such compulsion on government officials but unfortunately every time a crisis unfolds, projection hungry officials always manage to reach the affected place and oblige the media by offering their views and comments on the incident without verifying any of the details. Being senior officials they are credible and when they feed incorrect information to the media, it sows such confusion that the same ultimately even impacts on the outcome of cases against the bombers in the court. I remember, the Governor of Sindh, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad had once promised in a briefing to the press that, the Sindh Government will have one single trained competent spokesperson to handle the media in crisis situations. Similarly, the Federal Government too is expected to have a single spokesperson, where has the Federal Crisis Management cell and Brig Cheema gone!!!?.

We don’t have to look abroad for examples of mature media handling; we have an example of the same within the country. The Armed Forces have conducted numerous operations in the past two years, despite the best efforts of the eager media, they have followed a disciplined, rather conservative pattern where information was only communicated by assigned spokesperson which was always credible and moreover they did not create unnecessary controversies. The Armed Forces have a system, there are officials assigned to deal with the media, anyone else opening up to the media is given a deterrent dose. Why can’t the Federal and provincial governments do the same and stop incompetent self-projectionist coming on the media and creating confusion. Even if this blast was not a failure of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies as claimed by them, the murderers and criminals did succeed. For continuous three days before the Chehlum Day blast, there was widespread violence in the city claiming 40 plus lives.

The Government’s kneejerk reaction was to make administrative changes in the responsibilities of law enforcement agencies, with Rangers being assigned additional powers, there was also changes due to this violence on troop resource allocations. Such changes prior to a major event like Chehlum would definitely affect the overall efficiency of the force. The attention and focus of senior law enforcement officials both from Rangers and Police were obviously divided between the ongoing crisis in certain localities and the Chehlum processions in town. Was the violence preceding the Chehlum Day carnage a deliberate diversionary play by the forces who carried out the blasts. If they did, it had the desired effect and threw our law enforcement apparatus off balance. The Chehlum carnage was followed by the usual rhetoric from the political leadership with announcements of condemnation, compensation and direction to law enforcement officials to arrest the culprits at the earliest and get them exemplary punishment through courts of law. They also promise that the security would be beefed up and no such incident allowed to happen in future. etc etc. Terrorism is spreading like plague in the country, we are living in difficult times, security is a major issue, nobody feels secure.

In this crisis situation we need to field maximum of our force in providing security to the people. It is shameful to know first hand that, around one-third of Karachi Police Force is assigned to provide protection to 337 VIPs and their likes, the rest may look after the remaining 17 million population. Apart from manpower, a huge number of vehicles and weapons which have been purchased from tax payers money for protection of people are seen following VIP’s around the town. How can we justify the disgusting sight of a brave Edhi volunteer carrying an unexploded bomb only because the Sindh Government’s Bomb Disposal Squad didn’t have the remote control vehicle to safely lift the said bomb. Talking to the Bomb Disposal Squad after the incident, it was shocking to know that they are awaiting delivery of a decent and safe bomb disposal kit for the last four years. Karachi is the commercial capital of the country and we cannot give the bomb disposal squad the proper equipment. If the government can’t do it, I appeal to the citizens of Karachi to buy the best for the BDU. On Sunday, news were being flashed that the Head of BDU, Mr. Munir Sheikh has been sacked for informing the media about the lack of equipment with his unit. The Government must also invest in our intelligence agencies who entirely rely on human intelligence alone.

It’s time that we give them electronic gadgets and tools. They need scanners, telecom intercepting equipment, city security camera network, ID Verification systems to foot soldiers, explosive detection kits etc etc. We also need to provide extensive counter terrorism training to our police, rangers and intelligence agencies. Unfortunately, where the government did provide some thing in terms of security, it wasn’t well handled. It is said that the very expensive sniffer dogs trained to pick up explosive failed to either detect the explosives in the Green Box on the route of Aashura procession nor could they detect the bomb in Jinnah Hospital. It’s a terrible waste of resources. The imported German sniffer dogs are as good as their handlers, their efficiency drops drastically with an incompetent handler. These dogs need to be trained and retrained and not be allowed to get lazy and lethargic through regular exercise, fed the right food diet, kept in appropriate accommodation under specified temperature, they be protected from strong smells. The people expect the government to provide a decent security cover to the people. The Government’s credibility rests on its ability to solve the crime, arrest the terrorists, prosecute them and ensure that they are punished for the crimes against humanity that they have committed.

That is exactly what is not happening, the terrorists arrested are in the jails but since fear prevents credible witnesses to take the stand, they are getting away scot-free. Many get bails and many simply spend time in prison without being sentenced. In jail, they continue to function, they add sympathizers and change mindsets of other prisoners towards extremism, they remain in contact with their organizations through cell phones. The Government machinery has failed to get all the non-registered cell phone SIMS deactivated and the criminals thrive on this. The government needs a re-look at the evidence act in terrorism cases to make it easier for judges to prosecute terrorists. We need to address these serious security issues at priority. Let it not be said again that the state failed in its primary function of providing security to its people.

Published in The Frontier Post on 08.02.10