Terror attack in Pak

AT least 54 people were killed in Sunday’s suicide bombing that targeted workers of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan-Fazl group (JUI-F) in Bajaur, located on the border with Afghanistan. What makes the strike particularly significant is that the JUI-F is a part of the country’s ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement; the JUI-F chief, Fazl-ur-Rehman, is also the president of this coalition. Investigators in Pakistan are blaming the outrage on the ISIS, which had so far been operating just across the border in Nangarhar province. The core of the ISIS is said to be made up of Pakistan Pashtun tribals who revolted against Rawalpindi for its double-dealing.

It was in Bajaur that a US airstrike had killed several women and children in 2006, triggering a bloody insurgency that was suppressed by the Pakistan army at a great cost to itself. It is due to these self-inflicted wounds that Pakistan rather archly calls itself a victim of terrorism. The JUI-F has had its hands soaked in blood ever since the CIA decided to take on the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Indian investigators believe that the JUI-F’s madarsas have produced many Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists who have perpetrated attacks in India.

The blast comes at a time when Pakistan is surviving on financial support from the IMF, China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Even these emergency bailouts cannot compensate for the lack of visionary leadership as politicians and army squabble to secure their interests. With elections to take place within 60 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 13, the snakes in Pakistan’s backyard have struck at a critical juncture.