In less than 48 hours the terrorists have hit the third Pakistan Navy (PN) bus in Karachi. In the latest attack that took place at Sharea Faisal near Karsaz, four sailors and a passer-by were killed. On Tuesday, in two separate bomb attacks on buses ferrying PN officials to their places of duty, four persons were killed, who included a lady doctor.
All three attacks are believed to have been carried out by remote-controlled devices probably by making use of mobile phone connectivity, at three separate locations in the metropolis, which is the principal base of the Pakistan Navy. The number of the injured is disproportionately high, suggesting that explosive material used in the bombing devices was perhaps different in quality from what is generally used by suicide attackers. But it's only after the concerned agencies have collected and analysed all the evidence would we know as to how the attacks on PN buses are different from other terrorist-inflicted attacks.
Not that Karachi has been any time free of violence, but it's the kind of co-ordination in conducting these three attacks, the nature of explosive material used and the mechanism employed to carry out these attacks that set them apart from what is routine in Karachi. So, even when the concerned agencies insist the attacks on Pakistan Navy could be the handiwork of al Qaeda or some of its affiliates, and even when the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan is said to have owned responsibility for them, the concerned agencies would do well by digging deeper into the difference in these incidents from others.
Apparently, by attacking the buses ferrying the Pakistan Navy personnel the enemy has tried to project itself as a matching potential threat to the security of Pakistan. Given that in the city of Karachi the PN puts up the most pronounced presence of the writ of state and that it's the third most vital arm of national defence the challenge posed by the attackers in this case is far more serious than what the targeted-killers do on day-to-day basis, or the mafia hoodlums present on the streets of Karachi.
The concerned agencies must dust up their old files and try figuring out how these attacks are different from the rest and who could be the ultimate beneficiary. Merely doling out information to media as to the type of bombing devices and how the motorbikes were rigged for timely explosions would not do. Here in this case of attack on naval buses the challenge is not of ordinary nature; it's a threat to the state.
The PN can't be asked to stop running the bus service, nor all of the routes these buses take can be protected against acts of sabotage and terrorism. The evil of terrorist attacks on Pakistan Navy has to be nipped in the bud and that is what intelligence outfits must do now.
Of course, one would be tempted to recall some extremely horrendous events that in not-too-direct way relate to the latest incidents of terrorism against the Pakistan Navy. It was near Karsaz when Benazir Bhutto's home-coming caravan was attacked in which some 160 persons lost their lives in 2007. Who ordered this carnage is a mystery as yet. Earlier, in 2002, 11 French engineers and technicians who were working on construction of a submarine for the Pakistan Navy were killed in a terrorist attack, and it also remains a mystery who ordered that attack. But, things should change, and the perpetrators of the attacks on the PN buses must be hunted out and punished.
Being the financial hub and the largest industrial base of Pakistan, peace and tranquillity of Karachi brooks no ifs and buts. Various contending forces who may be involved in score-settling by way of targeted killings but it's inconceivable that they might be helping the enemy by paralysing the Pakistan Navy at its main base, Karachi. All sections of society and everyone who can help in uncovering the conspiracy owe it to the country to help expose the elements who are behind this nefarious operation in Karachi.