While the nation had barely recovered from the shock of Tuesday's car bombing in Faisalabad which left 25 people dead and more than 125 injured, terrorists struck again on Wednesday - this time in Andezai village near Peshawar. A suicide bomber carrying his lethal load of 8-kg explosives and ball bearings killed 43 people and wounded at least 52 others at the funeral of the wife of a Qaumi Lashkar volunteer.
The lashkar was formed about three years ago to help the law enforcement agencies fight terrorists. Its founder, press reports point out, was killed in November 2009 in a bomb blast along with 13 others.
According to the present head of the lashkar, Dilawar Khan, as many as 47 volunteers have been killed in various attacks and encounters with the militants. Hence, unlike the carnage in Faisalabad where the terrorists targeted the office of the country's premier intelligence agency, killing also unsuspecting ordinary citizens at a CNG station and a poor neighbourhood in the vicinity, the present incident, perhaps, was not so surprising. In fact, the lashkar head has claimed that he had informed the police of the possibility of an attack but no action was taken. He also expressed bitter disappointment with the government, saying it did not provide sufficient arms, ammunition and ration to the volunteers. The anger of the lashkar volunteers is perfectly understandable. However, police protection or better arms could hardly help prevent the butchery. As eyewitnesses have recounted, those present on the scene saw a young man walking towards them and actually waited a few moments so he could join the prayers.
It is true that better police vigilance on certain occasions has helped to minimise the loss of life, although not to prevent it completely. But there is no foolproof method to stop this madness once a suicide bomber sets off on his evil mission. There is an obvious need for better intelligence so as to nip the evil in the bud. In fact, a bigger and broader response is in order. First of all, increased systemic cooperation and intelligence sharing is necessary between agencies as well as the federal and provincial governments. It is too grave an issue to be used by federal or provincial ministers for point scoring, as has been the case in the recent days when the Federal Interior Minister spoke in an accusatory tone about 'Punjabi Taliban' as being a major source of terrorism, to which the Punjab government reacted angrily. The fact of the matter is that a typical suicide bomber is a teenaged boy from a poor background and an alumnus of madrassah whether in southern Punjab or another province. The bombers' handlers and perpetrators are different people with agendas to pursue. Security experts are now also pointing to involvement of foreign elements - aside from the usual suspect, India - in destabilising this country through terrorism. It is too grave a challenge. All concerned must rise above narrow political considerations and devise a well-co-ordinated strategy to deal with the problem.