http://www.bbc.

com/news/world-asia-25870662
bbc news
25 January 2014 Last updated at 01:47 GMT

Share this page

Print

Share

Facebook

Twitter

Pakistan is in the grip of chaos

A bus full of Shia pilgrims returning from Iran was completely destroyed in a bomb
attack on 21 January.
Continue reading the main story

Taliban Conflict

Why poll matters

Rush to polls

Before and after Taliban

Security struggle

Violence is soaring to new levels in Pakistan, with militants unleashing a wave of

deadly attacks - and the government is dithering about what to do, writes guest
columnist Ahmed Rashid.
Tuesday 21 January was a fairly normal day in Pakistan. Twenty-nine Shia Muslims
were killed by Sunni militants near Quetta in Balochistan province after a suicide
bomber rammed a car filled with explosives into the bus they were travelling in.
Meanwhile, in Karachi, three Shias were shot dead, in another attack claimed by
Sunni extremists.
And on the same day, renowned Urdu writer and professor Asghar Nadeem Syed was
wounded by unknown gunmen in Lahore.
Meanwhile three anti-polio vaccinators, including two women, were gunned down in
Karachi by Taliban militants - the third such attack in Karachi in a week.
Continue reading the main story

Find out more

Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist and author based in Lahore

His latest book is Pakistan on the Brink - The Future of America, Pakistan and
Afghanistan

Earlier works include Descent into Chaos and Taliban, first published in 2000,
which became a bestseller

Meanwhile, the army claimed it had killed 40 militants in a bombing raid that was
itself retaliation for a suicide attack near army headquarters in Rawalpindi the day
before. That attack left 13 people, including eight soldiers, dead.
A day earlier, 20 soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on an army convoy in the
north-west of the country.
That attempted army show of force only encouraged further attacks by the Taliban,
who killed 12 security personnel in different incidents on 22 January.

The violence is unsparing, unprecedented and reaching frightening proportions.

There has been a flight of capital in recent months and many of the elite are sending
their children out of the country.
For months, Nawaz Sharif's government has had a fruitless policy of wanting to
negotiate with the militants, but that has made no headway and now lies in a
shambles.
Yet Mr Sharif appears paralysed, with no sense of urgency over tackling the crisis,
which would entail abandoning the false hope of talks and giving the army orders to
go after the extremists.
Since he came to power last June, Mr Sharif has moved very slowly on his entire
promised agenda of economic reform, making peace with India, encouraging
reconciliation in Afghanistan and countering militancy at home. He appears
overweight and ill, and many people fear he has given up.

Accused of policy paralysis: Pakistani

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Strains between the army and the civilian government are multiplying - with the army
now extremely frustrated at the government's policy paralysis while its soldiers die in
unprecedented numbers.
However, neither the army nor the government have shown any signs of adopting a
zero-tolerance approach to terrorism, which would mean going after all terrorist
groups, including those Punjabi groups who fight against Indian rule in Kashmir.
Yet the militants are gaining ground every day by demoralising the public and the
security forces with their persistent attacks.
Continue reading the main story

Start Quote
Militant groups... operate with virtual impunity across Pakistan as law enforcement
officials either turn a blind eye or appeal helpless to prevent attacks

Human Rights Watch

Pakistani Taliban attacks on military personnel and civilians now include mass
bombings of mosques, churches and bazaars. And in recent months the Taliban have
become adept at targeted killings of politicians, bureaucrats and senior officials in the
army and police, too, using suicide bombers, gunmen on motorbikes or mines laid in
the road.
Meanwhile the Sunni extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose leaders live openly
in Punjab but have not been arrested, is carrying out a virtual genocidal campaign
against Shias across the country.
The anti-Shia campaign is now nationwide and affecting every city and province,
including Punjab, which was considered safe until recently.
''Militant groups... operate with virtual impunity across Pakistan as law enforcement
officials either turn a blind eye or appeal helpless to prevent attacks,'' said Human
Rights Watch in its annual report released on 21 January. The report says that Taliban
attacks now amount to war crimes.

The army is fighting a tit-for-tat war with the country's militants. Here, volunteers
search the site of the Rawalpindi suicide bomb attack on 20 January
So dire is the situation that Bill Gates, whose foundation is helping fund the campaign
to make Pakistan polio-free, has suggested suspending that aim because of the
violence, with nearly 30 polio vaccinators killed in the past 24 months by the Taliban.
''The Pakistan violence is evil,'' Mr Gates told reporters in New York on 22 January.
It is clear to everyone what needs to be done.

People think Mr Sharif needs to address the nation on TV and describe how dire the
situation is. He then needs to rally as many opposition political parties to his side as
will join him - and those which do not can be deeply embarrassed by the government
and the army for supporting terrorism. Finally, he needs to order the army to clear up
the main hub of militancy in North Waziristan.
However, the problem has become more complicated in recent months as Islamic
extremists in Karachi, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, who were once separate,
isolated and operating independently, now appear to have come under the banner of
the Movement of Pakistani Taliban. Collectively, they are aiming at toppling the
system, defeating the army and imposing a caliphate in the country.
The world has seen the dramatic resurgence of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria, which has
greatly complicated the civil war in Syria. Nobody would have thought that al-Qaeda
had the power to conquer cities, but that is exactly what it has done in Iraq with the
capture of Falluja and Ramadi.
Similarly, so bad is the security situation in the Pakistani border towns of Peshawar
and Quetta, as well as the sea port and trading hub of Karachi, that it may not be far
off when an urban area - or part of one - falls into the hands of the Pakistani Taliban.
If the present security situation worsens, the next step for the Taliban is an urban
insurrection, while tensions between the military and civilians could lead to a
military-led state under emergency or even martial law.

More on This Story

Taliban Conflict

Why poll matters

Rush to polls

Before and after Taliban

Security struggle

Who are the Taliban?

Leaving Afghanistan

Q&A: Foreign forces

Warlords and technocrats

Pakistan's interests

Tribal politics

Meeting Fazlullah

Militant nexus

Profile: Mullah Fazlullah

What next for Pakistan Taliban?

Taliban 'open to talks'

Path to talks

Q&A: Doha office

Insider attacks: Causes

Afghan peace hopes

Background

How Qatar hosts the Taliban

Nato's exit strategy Watch

Inside Camp Bastion

Eight weeks to face the Taliban

Related Internet links

Pakistan government

Ahmed Rashid

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites

Share this page

Share

Facebook

Twitter

Print

More Asia stories

RSS

Tear gas fired at Thai protesters

Police in Thailand fire tear gas at anti-government protesters in Bangkok, two
days after a court ousted PM Yingluck Shinawatra.

Ferry relatives protest in S Korea

Australia fines billionaire in brawl

Top Stories

Russia's Putin visits annexed Crimea

Berlusconi begins community service

Family rows linked to early death

US, UK teams help Nigeria seek girls

Apple 'in talks' to acquire Beats

Features & Analysis

'I'm just a cyclist'

The Italian sporting legend who hushed up his wartime heroism