Salman Masood
The attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ), the nerve centre of the Pakistan Army, should not have come as a surprise to the country's 'powerful' security establishment given that the Punjab police had already sounded prior warnings of such an eventuality earlier this year. What is surprising albeit disturbing is how the response to this piece of intelligence -- so as to thwart the attack -- proved to be so lacking and inadequate.
The attackers used almost the same modus operandi – masquerading as soldiers -- as the intelligence communiqué had mentioned while adding another innovation of using a vehicle that bore an army number plate and insignia of GHQ on the windscreen. This helped them drive up to the guard post unnoticed. The guards manning the post were always vulnerable and caught by surprise, unable to respond effectively in the face of a sudden spray of bullets. The second guard post should have been better equipped and trained to respond to such an attack. It failed.
The heavily armed men, under the leadership of Aqeel, who also goes by the nom de guerre Dr Usman, afterwards not only managed to get inside one of the security buildings but also took more than three dozen hostages that included several officers.
Aqeel, an army defector, had earlier led an equally daring and galling attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket team but managed to escape the scene. Investigations by the Lahore police revealed that the attackers wanted to take hostages in that assault as well. So a hostage situation at the GHQ fits the profile of attacks led by Aqeel.
Major General Athar Abbas testified to this at a news briefing to journalists at his office located close to the building that was the scene of the bloody siege. Abbas said the terrorists wanted more than a hundred of their jailed 'brothers-in-arms' to be released. Other demands were dismissed as inconsequential by the general and were not disclosed. Media reports suggest that one of the demands included a trial of former President Pervez Musharraf. Since when have these militants started caring about the rule of law that the former general is accused of flouting?
What really happened in the 24-hour hostage situation is unclear. The media was inevitably blocked from having access and most of the information filtering out has been carefully structured and leaked. A predawn commando operation secured the release of 39 hostages. Nine attackers, including the suicide bomber who kept an eye on the 22 hostages bundled in a small room for most of the night, were killed. And the biggest reprieve was that their ringleader was caught alive – though in a severely injured condition.
The commando operation was portrayed, understandably, as an exemplary show of the valour and bravery by the soldiers who took part in the rescue effort. Congratulatory messages by the civilian leadership, which has always seen the GHQ with awe and fear, were sent, eulogising the dead soldiers and condemning those who had attacked. Patriotic songs were aired repeatedly on television news networks. A major terrorist attack had been foiled with traces linked – as usual -- to South Waziristan, the militant safe haven from where almost all of the major terrorist attacks have been planned. Thus, vows to launch an operation in South Waziristan were made yet again.
All of this aside, the fact of the matter is that the terrorist attack was neither random nor did it totally fail. The attackers did manage to get inside the premises of the army headquarters. The sense of impregnability surrounding the headquarters has been dented.
Questions about the security and safety of the nuclear facilities have surfaced yet again and should haunt those at the helm of guarding the nuclear installations. An attack on a nuclear facility is perhaps only a natural and logical progression of the way the terrorist masterminds would want this asymmetrical war to move towards.
Pakistan Army can salvage its pride and prestige only by launching a frontal assault on the terrorists who are wreaking havoc in the country. The safe havens in South Waziristan need to be eliminated.
The nexus between extremists groups operating in Punjab and the militants operating in the tribal areas is widely known and needs to be broken. Army defectors and lower ranked officials have consistently been found of involvement in high profile attacks on military targets. Safety valves against such scenarios need to be worked out.
The civilian government is apparently apprehensive of ordering an inquiry into the attack, as suggested by a news report carried by The News on Wednesday. General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani should make a few heads roll. Someone should be held accountable for not following through on the intelligence reports, which were not vague or cryptic but accurate in their predictions. It would be less embarrassing than the secret, nocturnal meetings with opposition politicians.
