Suicide attack on US car in Pakistan shows resistance to offensive

Terrorist attacks have increased in Pakistan since the announcement last month by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta about Pakistan’s openness to a possible North Waziristan operation.

|
Mohammad Sajjad/AP
Officials and rescue volunteers gather at the bombing site in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Sept. 3. A car filled with explosives rammed into a US government vehicle on Monday, killing at least two and injuring at least 18.

A suicide bombing targeted a US consulate vehicle in Peshawar on Monday, killing at least two and injuring at least 18, highlighting resistance within Pakistan to the prospect of a long-controversial military mission against elements in restive North Waziristan

Two US personnel and two Pakistani staff of the US consulate were injured and are receiving medical treatment, according to US officials there.

The attack comes amid reports that the Pakistani military is planning a controversial offensive against militants in North Waziristan. And although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, this is the kind of blowback that has driven some Pakistani leaders to resist any offensive there in the past. 

“This suicide bombing is the latest in a string of terrorist attacks, which have increased in Pakistan, since the announcement last month by the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about [Pakistan’s commitment to] a possible North Waziristan operation,” says Brig. Mahmood Shah, a retired military official in Peshawar.

“These attacks are a way to terrify the public, so that the government comes under pressure to abandon the plans to clear North Waziristan,” says Shah.

Washington has long asked Pakistan take action in North Waziristan against the Haqqani network, a militant outfit run by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his sons that the US government blames for attacks inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan, meanwhile, is more interested in tamping down the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the North Waziristan-based group responsible for attacks within Pakistan.

Just last week, terrorists struck a local market in Peshawar, killing at least 11 people. And earlier in August, nine TTP suicide bombers stormed a Pakistani military base in Kamra, some 30 miles northwest of Islamabad.

Though Secretary Panetta said that Pakistan’s main target would be the Pakistani Taliban, and not the Haqqani network, the Pakistani military and government have since denied plans for an operation in North Waziristan in an effort to appease political opposition and public fear that this will result in a new wave of terrorism.

Some analysts believe an operation in North Waziristan would ease US drone attacks, which the US has stepped up as Pakistan has focused mostly on fighting the TTP and avoided the Haqqani network.

“The fallout from such [a] pick-and-choose policy by the Pakistani military results in the continued drone strikes,” says Shamim Shahid, editor of an English daily newspaper in Peshawar.

Badruddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, was reportedly killed in one such drone attack, a claim denied by Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Even if he is killed, it does not mean that the Haqqani network is now weak,” says Mr. Shahid. “He was an important commander in the network, but they have a huge number of fighters so they will continue their operations unhindered,” he adds, pointing to the fact that there has been a rise in attacks in Pakistan.

Shah says the real reason the Pakistani state is dragging its feet on operating against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan is because the Pakistani government is hedging its bets that the Haqqanis have a political future in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban in Afghanistan have a history with the Haqqanis and they respect them. They may even want to form the government with them in [the] future because Haqqanis have considerable influence in many areas of Afghanistan still,” he says, adding that Pakistan hopes that by not attacking them it can have more influence on Afghan policy when the US withdraws from Afghanistan in 2014. 

Already fearing a military operation, locals from North Waziristan, which is one of the most populated tribal areas in the region, have started fleeing to safer locations, according to Safdar Dawar, head of the Tribal Union of Journalists.

“With an announcement like this, it is unlikely that any of the terrorists will also sit and wait. Most of the militants will escape to other areas of Pakistan or even Afghanistan,” adds Mr. Dawar.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Suicide attack on US car in Pakistan shows resistance to offensive
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2012/0904/Suicide-attack-on-US-car-in-Pakistan-shows-resistance-to-offensive
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe