The chilling report of the murder of 18 persons belonging to a particular religious sect in an otherwise quiet northern region of Kohistan on Tuesday raises more than one question. Killers in military uniform stopped a bus and three minibuses, travelling from Rawalpindi to Gilgit, as they reached Harban Nala, about 210km from their destination. Boarding the vehicles, they asked the passengers to identify their sect, called their targets out and mercilessly shot them down. The cruel incident immediately prompted the government to order the closure of offices and schools as a safety precaution against further bloodshed. Security in six of the adjoining districts was tightened and Interior Minister Rehman Malik has constituted a joint investigation team to probe the heinous crime.
That the attackers were clad in military fatigue was not only intended to increase the possibility of the drivers obeying their command to bring the buses to a halt without much fuss, but was also meant to convey the impression that the security personnel were taking sides in the unfortunate sectarian clashes in the country. The wicked stratagem to put the blame on the army would not, however, have any credibility since the people across Pakistan are well aware of the genuine efforts of the armed forces to put down militancy in the country. Besides, the involvement of Jundullah, a faction of the Taliban that is engaged in destabilising Iran by committing terrorist acts against it carries far-reaching implications for Pakistan’s relations with the friendly neighbour Iran. Jundullah, it is no longer a secret, has been brought into being by certain foreign forces with the intention to create mistrust between Iran and Pakistan. Its staging point has been Balochistan, but to engineer a sectarian attack by it, far removed from its usual crime scene, could possibly reflect the mischievous intent of its masters to suggest that Jundullah is not a foreign-installed terrorist group but represents some religious groups in the country. And that would convey a wrong message to Tehran making the Iranians rethink their offers of $250 million for the implementation of Iran gas pipeline and delivery of 80,000 barrels of oil per day to Pakistan. Similarly, the murder of a Chinese woman in Peshawar appears to be sponsored to affect Pak-China relations.
The people of Pakistan must see through this hostile game and root out the menace of militancy among them. At the same time, the situation constitutes a clarion call to put aside its internal differences and like one man stand together to frustrate nefarious designs. The Ummah’s inaction has led to the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan and is encouraging hostile forces to threaten another Muslim country. It should not at all be difficult to foil these designs, given the huge resources at its disposal. If it does not recognise the looming danger now it would be left to rue the day when it failed to act.
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