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Burqa an emerging security challenge
By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: The use of women suicide bombers by Taliban to target security personnel in Peshawar on Thursday - the second attack of its kind in one and a half month poses serious security challenges as security forces appear to have failed to learn any lesson from previous such attack on June 26 in Bajaur.
The attack on a checkpoint near a World Food Programme centre in Bajaur tribal region on June 26 was said to be first such attack of its kind in which a woman suicide bomber was employed along with her husband, and killed 46 people and injured over 80.
The modus operandi of by the terrorist in the Thursdays attack was similar to that adopted in June 26 attack, as burqa-clad women were used since traditionally the male police staff had been reluctant to check women for security needs. In Thursdays attack the women terrorists reportedly found no hurdle in getting closer to the site where their fellows had already detonated a planted bomb, outside the Lahori Gate. In June 26 attack, the husband and wife with the suicide bomber clad in a burqa managed to swiftly get closer to the police checkpoint since the man was in the company of a woman, something which generally doesnt raise suspicion in a society like ours in general and in Peshawar and Tribal Areas in particular.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for that attack, with spokesman Azam Tariq telling the media that the group has a large number of women suicide bombers who would be used in attacks in the future. Officials later on said that an examination of remains confirmed the bomber was a woman.
Witnesses were reported as saying that they had heard the woman scream before the explosion and one claimed her last words were: Ya Allah khair. The Thursdays Lahori Gate attack with the reported involvement of women suicide bombers particularly poses grave security challenges at a time when Eid shopping has already commenced with Eid itself only about twenty days away.
Since the Eid shopping spree is a primary task of womenfolk and the security agencies have yet to device methods and get means to detect suicide bombers from among the burqa-clad women who turn up in large numbers at shopping malls and bazaars close to Eid, the task to let pass the event peacefully largely becomes uphill and laborious.
The tradition of wearing burqa, which is now considered by many as Islamic way of covering up of women particularly before going out of their houses, is an accepted norm in society. However, this needs to be reviewed under the existing security conditions of the country, particularly when suicide bombers are striking at their will where ever they find a target, particularly the centres of security agencies and public places.
A senior police official who is overseeing the security measures adopted in Lahore for the month of Ramazan and upcoming Eid festivities said the Peshawars Lahori Gate attacks teaches many lessons regarding security in Lahore and elsewhere. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said the government needs to a get a decree from ulema to ask burqa-clad women to remove their burqas, as a security measure, before entering shopping malls meant for them.
He was of the view that the measure was required since the available female police staff could not fulfil security needs, particularly close to Eid when shopping malls are thronged by women. Another police official contended that Peshawar attack represented a new challenge for security forces in a situation when it is not possible for male police to search women due to the cultural sensitivities.
The attack does pose serious problems for security personnel, who will have to find ingenious ways to avert such bombings. We need to improve intelligence and gadgetry, said the official seeking anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the issue.
A knowledgeable observer said the tradition of wearing burqa, the covering of women in this style with a long sheet pf cloth, existed in pre-Islam era too, particularly in Arabia and Persia. In Pakistan too, they said, the tradition existed before and after the country emerging on the map of the world. However, the tradition attained rigidity and more acceptance while it was given Islamic colour during one of the harshest military rule of Gen Ziaul Haq in the 80s.
By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: The use of women suicide bombers by Taliban to target security personnel in Peshawar on Thursday - the second attack of its kind in one and a half month poses serious security challenges as security forces appear to have failed to learn any lesson from previous such attack on June 26 in Bajaur.
The attack on a checkpoint near a World Food Programme centre in Bajaur tribal region on June 26 was said to be first such attack of its kind in which a woman suicide bomber was employed along with her husband, and killed 46 people and injured over 80.
The modus operandi of by the terrorist in the Thursdays attack was similar to that adopted in June 26 attack, as burqa-clad women were used since traditionally the male police staff had been reluctant to check women for security needs. In Thursdays attack the women terrorists reportedly found no hurdle in getting closer to the site where their fellows had already detonated a planted bomb, outside the Lahori Gate. In June 26 attack, the husband and wife with the suicide bomber clad in a burqa managed to swiftly get closer to the police checkpoint since the man was in the company of a woman, something which generally doesnt raise suspicion in a society like ours in general and in Peshawar and Tribal Areas in particular.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for that attack, with spokesman Azam Tariq telling the media that the group has a large number of women suicide bombers who would be used in attacks in the future. Officials later on said that an examination of remains confirmed the bomber was a woman.
Witnesses were reported as saying that they had heard the woman scream before the explosion and one claimed her last words were: Ya Allah khair. The Thursdays Lahori Gate attack with the reported involvement of women suicide bombers particularly poses grave security challenges at a time when Eid shopping has already commenced with Eid itself only about twenty days away.
Since the Eid shopping spree is a primary task of womenfolk and the security agencies have yet to device methods and get means to detect suicide bombers from among the burqa-clad women who turn up in large numbers at shopping malls and bazaars close to Eid, the task to let pass the event peacefully largely becomes uphill and laborious.
The tradition of wearing burqa, which is now considered by many as Islamic way of covering up of women particularly before going out of their houses, is an accepted norm in society. However, this needs to be reviewed under the existing security conditions of the country, particularly when suicide bombers are striking at their will where ever they find a target, particularly the centres of security agencies and public places.
A senior police official who is overseeing the security measures adopted in Lahore for the month of Ramazan and upcoming Eid festivities said the Peshawars Lahori Gate attacks teaches many lessons regarding security in Lahore and elsewhere. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said the government needs to a get a decree from ulema to ask burqa-clad women to remove their burqas, as a security measure, before entering shopping malls meant for them.
He was of the view that the measure was required since the available female police staff could not fulfil security needs, particularly close to Eid when shopping malls are thronged by women. Another police official contended that Peshawar attack represented a new challenge for security forces in a situation when it is not possible for male police to search women due to the cultural sensitivities.
The attack does pose serious problems for security personnel, who will have to find ingenious ways to avert such bombings. We need to improve intelligence and gadgetry, said the official seeking anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the issue.
A knowledgeable observer said the tradition of wearing burqa, the covering of women in this style with a long sheet pf cloth, existed in pre-Islam era too, particularly in Arabia and Persia. In Pakistan too, they said, the tradition existed before and after the country emerging on the map of the world. However, the tradition attained rigidity and more acceptance while it was given Islamic colour during one of the harshest military rule of Gen Ziaul Haq in the 80s.
