Revenge Killings: What Needs to Be Done?
By Air Mashal (Retd) Ayaz Ahmed Khan
Los Angeles, CA
Following Osama bin Laden’s assassination on May 2, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had specifically mentioned Pakistan as its first target and America as the second in order of priority for attacks aimed at avenging the death of the Al-Qaeda leader.
TTP has declared war on Pakistan. TTP and Al-Qaeda attacks have already claimed 150 lives in Pakistan, and the two have vowed to continue death and destruction in Pakistan till doomsday. Already Al-Qaeda and the TTP have killed 35,000 Pakistanis, including five thousand soldiers.
The latest spate of suicide bombings prove that the TTP is determined at spreading mayhem and destruction across Pakistan. In the audacious attack on May 22 at Pakistan’s major naval air station on Sharae Faysal in Karachi, 13 Pakistan Navy personnel, including Lieutenant Yasser, were killed. In the battle which lasted for 17 hours, the terrorists destroyed two out of the three P3C Orion sea surveillance aircraft. Pakistan Navy’s Quick Reaction Force responded within three minutes, but could not stop the determined suicide terrorists from burning to cinders the Navy’s two most important surveillance aircraft.
The P3C Orion is a vital naval operational asset with over and underwater detection and destruction capability. With their loss, Pakistan has lost 66% of its sea search and detection capability. India is a clear beneficiary, with its warships and submarines now free to roam undetected in the Arabian Sea, including Pakistan’s coastal waters.
There is a strong suspicion that the TTP and Al-Qaeda are enemy mercenaries, funded, equipped, trained and launched by the Research and Analysis Wing - the RAW - and Indian naval and military intelligence agencies. The terrorist mission achieved its objective and dealt a very serious blow.
The attack proves that defense installations, especially those of the Pakistan Navy, are inadequately protected and the TTP terrorists consider them as soft and easy targets for revenge attacks to avenge Osama’s killing. With Al-Qaeda and TTP determined to continue their revenge rampage, Pakistan stands to suffer grievously, unless all security and intelligence agencies gear up their resources, and deal with the terror menace.
Another revenge attack was the twin suicide bombings outside the Charsadda FC Recruits training Center in KP on Friday May 13. In these savage attacks, 90 people were killed, including 80 young recruits, who were going home on summer leave. 120 innocent civilians were injured. This TTP terrorist carnage must not go unpunished. Indisputably, it was a very serious security lapse considering that the TTP killers have bombed the Frontier Constabulary camps, posts and recruit centers repeatedly. What have the senior FC officials done to protect their young soldiers, and what has KP provincial government or the agencies concerned done to track and bring to justice the TTP culprits engaged in mass slaughter?
The next revenge bombing was the destruction of the three story CID police station on University Road in Peshawar on Wednesday May 25, which killed eight police constables, and injured thirty others. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack. The CID is engaged in investigating militancy and is the prime target of TTP terrorists. The CID building was exposed and inadequately defended. It was leveled by the blast of the 300 kg explosive device, which exploded when the killer truck hit the police station. CID capabilities and performance needs to be reviewed, and the KP government and officials concerned must take immediate action to shift police stations and CID offices so as to make them safe from the terrorist bombings. The government must seriously consider construction of bomb and blast proof bunkers under the police stations to save the lives of the police personnel. This advice may kindly be taken seriously. It will cost less and could be expeditiously completed.
The May 2 attack by USN Navy Seals on Osama bin Laden’s compound, his killing, kidnapping and dumping in the Arabian Sea, revealed big gaps in our intelligence, security and air defense capability, which need to be fixed. But this wanton assault proved that the American special forces including the USN Navy Seals, can land, hit, kill, kidnap and destroy, whatever they want to do, at their will. Pakistan’s vital installations, including nuclear assets, must be immediately dispersed and made secure and safe. The incompetence of our intelligence and our defensive vulnerability stand fully exposed, and must be reviewed and improved.
Rahimullah Yusufzai has correctly stated, “The kind of brazen attacks witnessed on military, paramilitary, police and intelligence installations in the country in recent years clearly show that no institution or place in Pakistan is secure. The militants pick the target from among the dozens waiting to be attacked, gather actionable intelligence, penetrate the targeted institution and undertake elaborate suicide missions employing highly motivated individuals.”
On May 23, The New York Times published the following eye opening report by Robert Mackey: “Before the May 22 attack at the Mehran naval-air base, Pakistan’s Navy boasted of role in fight against Taliban. To start with why did the Taliban militants carry out the elaborate raid on Pakistan’s Navy base by the Arabian Sea, 770 miles away from their strongholds in the mountains of North Waziristan? One Pakistani journalist pointed out that the Pakistan Navy’s Chief of Staff said recently that his service had used the American supplied P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft to help find and fight the Taliban insurgents in the mountains. TTP militants must have studied the presence of American made surveillance planes clearly visible on Google Maps satellite images of Mehran base at Karachi, before attacking the base on Sunday 22 nd May. Abdullah Saad a Pakistani journalist pointed out that Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral Noman Bashir boasted during an interview on Pakistani television in March 2011 that his service had provided the P-3C surveillance aircraft and a contingent of Pakistan Navy commandoes to operate hand in glove with the Pakistan Army in recent offensives against the militants in the tribal areas. This explains why the TTP militants bombed two Pakistan Navy buses and the Naval Air Base in Karachi. These were revenge attacks in response to Pakistan Navy operations in the tribal areas, and to avenge murder of Osama bin Laden by the US Special Forces. The vulnerability of military (Army, Navy and PAF) installations and expertise and audacity of the TTP fighters has become an extremely serious threat. The war imposed on Pakistan by Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-Taliban-Pakistan is a challenge, which the Pakistani nation, the government, and the military must confront and defeat with resolve, and patriotism.
Another very serious revenge attack was the target killing of Mr Hasan Al Qahtani the Saudi diplomat in Karachi. He was assassinated in cold blood in a targeted murder attack by armed motorcyclists during rush hours. Who were the mercenary killers, the mastermind and planners of this extremely serious barbarity? Considering the love and respect of the Pakistani nation for Saudi Arabia, the Sind government and the agencies concerned should have no respite till the criminals are brought tyo justice.
After the visit of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the US Secretary of State, and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff, the most important US officials after President Barrack Obama, a joint intelligence and operational strategy must be developed to deal with the revenge bombings.
The advice of the US Secretary of State to take decisive action against militants must be accepted and treated with utmost seriousness. The irresponsible whimpering of government detractors needs to stop. Hillary Clinton has rightly said that “anti-Americanism will not end Pakistan’s problems”. Her positive mindset and professional approach to solve problems must be emulated by the Pakistani rulers and leaders.
