Author: Baqir Sajjad Syed
Publication: DAWN.com
Date: July 8, 2010
URL: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/16-punjab-govts-inaction-against-militants-irks-ghq-870-hs-08
While public attention has been focused on
the political barbs flying between Islamabad and Lahore, behind the scenes
the Pakistan Muslim League-N has earned itself a new and very powerful adversary
thanks to its inaction against the 'Punjabi Taliban' -- the Pakistan Army.
It is now evident that the Punjab government
led by the PML-N and the army, which is spearheading counter-terrorism operations,
are on a warpath.
At a recent meeting at the General Headquarters
(GHQ), senior intelligence officers conveyed their serious concern to the
Punjab government over its failure to act against terrorists based in the
province on the basis of information provided to it.
Other issues that were discussed included
the lax handling of detained terrorists, especially of an injured assailant
apprehended after the recent attack on Ahmadi places of worship (he was allowed
to communicate with his accomplices from his hospital bed by a cellphone which
allowed them to launch an attempt to free him).
Sources say that the meeting was attended
by the top officials from both sides.
Nonetheless, officially both sides are denying
any knowledge of this exchange. Punjab Government's Public Relations Director-General
Raoof Hassan said he was not aware of any such meeting since it did not appear
on the official schedule. He also declined, in his capacity as one of Punjab
government's spokesmen, to assist in getting the comments of Chief Minister
Shahbaz Sharif on the issue.
Long before the attack on Ahmadis, an alert
was circulated by an intelligence agency warning that a group of militants
led by previously little-known Qari Daud had been tasked by the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) leadership to attack the community in Punjab. However, the
warning was not heeded.
It is said that warnings about an attack on
Data Darbar were also ignored by the provincial authorities.
Besides citing specific instances, sources
in the national security apparatus said it was particularly worrying that
the PML-N government was in a state of total denial about the existence of
the problem in the province which was in the militants' line of fire.
This spat between the Punjab government and
the army turned into a more serious war of words after a news report based
on leaks by the provincial authorities surfaced.
The report said the army and intelligence
agencies were not cooperating with the Punjab government in investigation
into terrorist attacks.
Senior officers, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, scoffed at the report. "Nowhere in the world do spies stand
in the witness box and give testimony," one of them said.
They also questioned why had the provincial
government failed to crack down on militant bases identified by intelligence
agencies, including the Bahawalpur seminary run by Maulana Masood Azhar of
the banned Jaish-i-Muhammad.
"What has the Punjab government done
to round up middle- and low-ranking activists and office-bearers of these
outfits? Has it confiscated hate material churned out by them?" are other
hard-hitting questions the officers are now raising.
"We have time and again told them to
act against the Bahawalpur madressah where a number of militants are hiding.
But they are not ready to do so," one official said. He alleged that
the Punjab government was sitting on the fence as far as sectarian-cum-militant
organisations were concerned.
Earlier criticism by the federal government
was ritually dismissed by the provincial leadership as political point-scoring.
A security analyst said militants always benefited
from poor civilian intelligence; a politicised police force; and de-motivated,
poorly trained and ill-equipped local law-enforcement paraphernalia in the
province.
But now they had a new advantage -- those
in the provincial political leadership, bureaucracy and LEAs who are willing
to turn a blind eye to their activities, he said.
Investigators said that most terrorist attacks
in Punjab were linked to the TTP and Punjabi Taliban in contrast to claims
by certain quarters that the so-called 'foreign hand' was involved in them.
The message from the terrorist groups perpetrating
these attacks is that the government should negotiate with the militant organisations
and stop its efforts to help the Afghan government reconcile with various
warring factions, notably the Haqqani network.
Security officials said they felt encouraged
by the federal government's position of not entertaining any such demands.
However, they revealed that they were taken
aback by PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif's recent media remarks articulating
views similar to those of the Taliban and their sympathisers.
Recent media reports had quoted the Punjab
home department as having planned action against 23 militant organisations
working under new names.
But, the sources say, no notification has
been issued to proscribe the outfits that have resurfaced under new names
after having been outlawed.
Police officials say they now have new, specific
orders to act against terrorist groups. The police, they say, are already
working against 'suspicious elements'.
