Sage
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2014
- Messages
- 2,373
- Reaction score
- 1
- Country
- Location
The elite culture in Pakistan is infested with the fatal symptoms of self-esteem and protocol by acquiescing to the unnecessary need for unlimited security details in the name of insecurity. The sheer size and length of their entourages are such that it can be easily compared to those of the Mughal’s era monarchs. The only difference, one can see is that elephants and chariots are replaced with vehicles and bulletproof vehicles. Their over speeding not only endangers the lives of innocents as many pedestrians have been killed in such drag races, but it also has developed the killer gene of ‘let go’ in the overall security apparatus which needs immediate treatment or else nothing will be able to preclude the destruction, that it is capable of.
In September 1986, at Karachi Airport a group of four Palestinian hijackers, cladded in the uniforms of airport security guards boarded the Frankfurt-bound Pan Am Flight-73 on the tarmac so easily as if it was a scene from a movie. Despite the fact that there were guards all around to whom an alert had also been issued, These PLO members were successful in seizing the plane. The crack commandos from SSG responded and the ensuing battle within the plane having 360 passengers on board resulted in a blood bath. The subsequent investigation by both the FBI and ISI found that the hijackers drove a van that had been modified to look like an airport security vehicle, passed through all security checkpoints up to one of the boarding stairways. They were dressed like the security guards and instead of falling under even a slight suspicion; they received some tight salutes upon their entry.
These are the real kinks and bends that the terrorists look for, to exploit it to their advantage. However, we have to accept the bitter truth that as a nation we don’t like to be disciplined or patronized. We curse the constable if we are stopped to show the NIC or if a casual search is demanded. These constables are also imbued with the protocol procedures, the main element of which is to always ‘let go ‘anyone wearing a uniform or driving with some body guards in a luxury vehicle. Many low ranking security personnel had been suspended and beaten literally by high ranking officers when they were stopped for a routine check.
In September, 2009 a warning was issued about an impending attack on the GHQ by terrorists dressed in army uniforms. Security was beefed up by erecting more barricades on the road and deploying sharp shooters on the roofs of GHQ. Despite all this preparation, on 10th October, Dr. Usman and his seven fighters reached inside the GHQ and made many army personnel hostages. What happened further is history, but there are two points to ponder that’ How come the terrorists breached inside the GHQ and what was their real objective? They sneaked in because they were in military fatigue and their van looked like one that the army uses. Their objective was assassinating the then Army Chief, General Kiyani or taking him as a hostage. But again, how did they know that the General was there in his office? The terrorists did not acquire this valuable information through satellites circling in the orbit tracking Kiyani. They simply observed for some days and grasped the schedule of his convoy of jeeps laden with soldiers and fitted with LMG’s rolling towards the GHQ. The nerve center of the armed forces was hit, yet no one received a nudge to realize that they have exposed themselves to the enemy by travelling with a lot of pomp and show. Ambushing the military convoys have always been the most favorite of the terrorists. The first of it took place in 2004, when the then Core Commander Karachi Lt. General Salim Hayat’s motorcade was sprayed with bullets. More than a dozen soldiers were ruthlessly perforated and later died, many others wounded while the General narrowly escaped by dent of luck. General Musharraf was attacked in the same manner twice, in the same city, on the same bridge. Some vital bits of evidence show that no lesson has so far been learnt even that it has been taught to us in such a hard way.
Just a week before the attack on Karachi Airport, A double door vehicle with tinted glasses was attacked by a suicide bomber killing Lieutenant Colonel Zahir Shah and Lieutenant Colonel Arshad. Both officers were attached to Strategic Plans Division. SPD looks after the safety of Pakistan’s upper atmosphere’s assets, long range missiles including nuked one and is considered to be the last line of defense within the army. It appears as if both colonels were possibly targeted because of the vehicle in their use as it is no difficult even for an ordinary eye to differentiate between a civilian’s vehicle and those of the armed forces. These vehicles become more easy targets especially when they travel on the same roads daily with full escorts. Islamic history tells us that even the great caliph Hazrat Umar would travel incognito whenever required so. Once Khalid ibn Walid left all alone in the guise of a layman to perform Umrah at a time, when he was the serving commander of Islamic Army. War strategies pioneered by Muslim chieftains are taught in the armed forces as a compulsory subject, yet the habit of being escorted overshadows it. You can’t ward off the blood hounds by exposing yourselves like a flock of jack rabbits running around with full glare. It’s foolish to think that ‘one being a vegetarian may not be eaten by a lion’.
The bravery of our soldiers is undeniable. ASF at Karachi airport must be lauded for their high-spirited action against the Uzbek assailants. Many of the ASF personnel did not bother to wear their bullet proof vests and fought with a true valor, worth a soldier’s salt. Uzbek terrorists made a forced entry by shooting four ASF guards on the main gate. But reaching the main gate, with a van full of rifles, rocket launchers and grenades without being stopped at any checkpoint is the real concern. They passed through several checkpoints and surely every time they must’ve been given the ‘let go’ attitude, just because they were in uniforms.
Famous investigative journalist, Salim Shahzad in his book ‘Inside the Taliban and Al-Qaeda’ states about an army officer Major Haroon who had joined Al-Qaeda after he took relief from his service. He states’ Haroon visited China to purchase Night Vision Goggles (to be used by Al-Qaeda).The biggest task was to clear it through the customs in Pakistan. Haroon called on his friend Captain Farooq, who was President Musharraf’s security officer. Farooq went on to the airport in president’s official car and received Haroon at the immigration counter. In the presence of Farooq, nobody dared touched Haroon’s luggage, and the night vision glasses arrived in Pakistan without any hassle’. So to say, the protocol environment actually helped the terrorists so much so that next time they fought a pitched battle at Mehran Airbase at night having the ability to see through the NV goggles.
Airports are not like local bus stops which can be attacked at will any time and then a quarter can be given to the law enforcement agencies by retorting ‘The terrorists planned their attack well’. Airports present a vibrant channel of communication of one country with another. From here you send them a message of excellent management, extreme care and fool-proof security. We cannot afford to let bungle up the security at such vital installations at least. It gives me a tremor to think what if the terrorists were more resourceful and could afford more expensive vehicles and well-stitched uniforms? Where they would’ve infiltrated had they gained some more assistance from somewhere? The terrorists have adopted the modus operandi of ‘Fake it and Make it’ and no doubt that it will work, provided the fact that the protocol culture is not abandoned which our elites have adopted; for the sake of cosmetic effects only.
In September 1986, at Karachi Airport a group of four Palestinian hijackers, cladded in the uniforms of airport security guards boarded the Frankfurt-bound Pan Am Flight-73 on the tarmac so easily as if it was a scene from a movie. Despite the fact that there were guards all around to whom an alert had also been issued, These PLO members were successful in seizing the plane. The crack commandos from SSG responded and the ensuing battle within the plane having 360 passengers on board resulted in a blood bath. The subsequent investigation by both the FBI and ISI found that the hijackers drove a van that had been modified to look like an airport security vehicle, passed through all security checkpoints up to one of the boarding stairways. They were dressed like the security guards and instead of falling under even a slight suspicion; they received some tight salutes upon their entry.
These are the real kinks and bends that the terrorists look for, to exploit it to their advantage. However, we have to accept the bitter truth that as a nation we don’t like to be disciplined or patronized. We curse the constable if we are stopped to show the NIC or if a casual search is demanded. These constables are also imbued with the protocol procedures, the main element of which is to always ‘let go ‘anyone wearing a uniform or driving with some body guards in a luxury vehicle. Many low ranking security personnel had been suspended and beaten literally by high ranking officers when they were stopped for a routine check.
In September, 2009 a warning was issued about an impending attack on the GHQ by terrorists dressed in army uniforms. Security was beefed up by erecting more barricades on the road and deploying sharp shooters on the roofs of GHQ. Despite all this preparation, on 10th October, Dr. Usman and his seven fighters reached inside the GHQ and made many army personnel hostages. What happened further is history, but there are two points to ponder that’ How come the terrorists breached inside the GHQ and what was their real objective? They sneaked in because they were in military fatigue and their van looked like one that the army uses. Their objective was assassinating the then Army Chief, General Kiyani or taking him as a hostage. But again, how did they know that the General was there in his office? The terrorists did not acquire this valuable information through satellites circling in the orbit tracking Kiyani. They simply observed for some days and grasped the schedule of his convoy of jeeps laden with soldiers and fitted with LMG’s rolling towards the GHQ. The nerve center of the armed forces was hit, yet no one received a nudge to realize that they have exposed themselves to the enemy by travelling with a lot of pomp and show. Ambushing the military convoys have always been the most favorite of the terrorists. The first of it took place in 2004, when the then Core Commander Karachi Lt. General Salim Hayat’s motorcade was sprayed with bullets. More than a dozen soldiers were ruthlessly perforated and later died, many others wounded while the General narrowly escaped by dent of luck. General Musharraf was attacked in the same manner twice, in the same city, on the same bridge. Some vital bits of evidence show that no lesson has so far been learnt even that it has been taught to us in such a hard way.
Just a week before the attack on Karachi Airport, A double door vehicle with tinted glasses was attacked by a suicide bomber killing Lieutenant Colonel Zahir Shah and Lieutenant Colonel Arshad. Both officers were attached to Strategic Plans Division. SPD looks after the safety of Pakistan’s upper atmosphere’s assets, long range missiles including nuked one and is considered to be the last line of defense within the army. It appears as if both colonels were possibly targeted because of the vehicle in their use as it is no difficult even for an ordinary eye to differentiate between a civilian’s vehicle and those of the armed forces. These vehicles become more easy targets especially when they travel on the same roads daily with full escorts. Islamic history tells us that even the great caliph Hazrat Umar would travel incognito whenever required so. Once Khalid ibn Walid left all alone in the guise of a layman to perform Umrah at a time, when he was the serving commander of Islamic Army. War strategies pioneered by Muslim chieftains are taught in the armed forces as a compulsory subject, yet the habit of being escorted overshadows it. You can’t ward off the blood hounds by exposing yourselves like a flock of jack rabbits running around with full glare. It’s foolish to think that ‘one being a vegetarian may not be eaten by a lion’.
The bravery of our soldiers is undeniable. ASF at Karachi airport must be lauded for their high-spirited action against the Uzbek assailants. Many of the ASF personnel did not bother to wear their bullet proof vests and fought with a true valor, worth a soldier’s salt. Uzbek terrorists made a forced entry by shooting four ASF guards on the main gate. But reaching the main gate, with a van full of rifles, rocket launchers and grenades without being stopped at any checkpoint is the real concern. They passed through several checkpoints and surely every time they must’ve been given the ‘let go’ attitude, just because they were in uniforms.
Famous investigative journalist, Salim Shahzad in his book ‘Inside the Taliban and Al-Qaeda’ states about an army officer Major Haroon who had joined Al-Qaeda after he took relief from his service. He states’ Haroon visited China to purchase Night Vision Goggles (to be used by Al-Qaeda).The biggest task was to clear it through the customs in Pakistan. Haroon called on his friend Captain Farooq, who was President Musharraf’s security officer. Farooq went on to the airport in president’s official car and received Haroon at the immigration counter. In the presence of Farooq, nobody dared touched Haroon’s luggage, and the night vision glasses arrived in Pakistan without any hassle’. So to say, the protocol environment actually helped the terrorists so much so that next time they fought a pitched battle at Mehran Airbase at night having the ability to see through the NV goggles.
Airports are not like local bus stops which can be attacked at will any time and then a quarter can be given to the law enforcement agencies by retorting ‘The terrorists planned their attack well’. Airports present a vibrant channel of communication of one country with another. From here you send them a message of excellent management, extreme care and fool-proof security. We cannot afford to let bungle up the security at such vital installations at least. It gives me a tremor to think what if the terrorists were more resourceful and could afford more expensive vehicles and well-stitched uniforms? Where they would’ve infiltrated had they gained some more assistance from somewhere? The terrorists have adopted the modus operandi of ‘Fake it and Make it’ and no doubt that it will work, provided the fact that the protocol culture is not abandoned which our elites have adopted; for the sake of cosmetic effects only.
