Violence in NWFP: Who is behind it?

The News, Editorial: October 22, 2006
Attacks in NWFP

Friday was a tragically violent day for NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Seven people were killed and over a dozen critically injured when a bomb exploded in a crowded Peshawar bazaar a little before iftar. The timing and placement of the device was clearly done to create maximum damage and that is precisely what happened. Also, on the same day two soldiers were killed when two army camps were attacked by suspected militants in South Waziristan. Though it is too early to say whether the two incidents have any links, a senior police official in Peshawar called the bombing a terrorist act. While there is no way to ensure that such attacks never happen, what the authorities could do for sure is to beef up their intelligence gathering network so that those planning such acts could at least be pre-empted.

As for motive, the likely option could be the unrest in FATA but again it is far too early to make any connection between that and what happened in Peshawar. Other than intelligence gathering, security may well be an issue as well given that the bomb exploded just opposite the Balahissar Fort which is the headquarters of the Frontier Corps. Perhaps, investigators will find clues as to the identity or at least motives of those behind the blast in the choice of location. There may well be another angle to the bombing as well. In the past Peshawar has seen several bombings, many of which were linked to the regions connections with the Afghan jihad and the fight against the Soviets. When the Soviets retreated, the bombings did not subside because Afghanistan was gripped by factional fighting and the main players tended to carry out proxy battles on this side of the border as well. This did not end even when the Taliban took power, with Islamabad's blessings, in the nineties. Now with a Kabul administration that tends to every now and then issue statements accusing Islamabad of still aiding and abetting the Taliban in their attacks inside Afghanistan, who's to discount the possibility of there being a across-the-border link to what happened in Peshawar on Friday? Whatever the motive and whoever carried out the ghastly act, one hopes that the police and security forces will find the perpetrators.