Pakistan: Suicide bombings follow mosque siege - full text
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In one of a growing wave of suicide attacks, on Aug. 2 a failed suicide bomber was shot dead having entered a police training centre in Punjab and killed a policeman. He was shot before being able to detonate the bomb he was wearing. A government motion to condemn suicide attacks proposed on Aug. 3 was rejected by the opposition, which instead challenged the government over its activities against militants near the border with Afghanistan in North West Frontier Province and North and South Waziristan.
Immediate context
The suicide bombing campaign had intensified following the storming on July 10-11 by Pakistan’s military of the Red Mosque in Islamabad (the capital). The Mosque had been occupied by Islamist fundamentalists. At least 75 pro-Talibaan militants were killed in the assault, prompting a series of retaliatory attacks throughout Pakistan. In one such instance at least 13 people were killed near the Red Mosque on July 28, in what the authorities said was a suicide bomb attack targeting policemen.
On July 29 the government reported the presence of 600 suicide bombers within the limits of national capital and asked security personnel to avoid gathering in groups and not to wear uniforms in public.
On July 31, a 21-minute video was posted to an Islamist website calling for Muslims to overthrow the government of President Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf in response to the storming of the Red Mosque. In the message, al-Qaida’s second most senior leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, described the July 10-11 storming of the mosque as a “dirty, despicable crime”.
In another blow to Musharraf, on July 20 Pakistan's supreme court reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to his post. Musharraf on March 9 had removed the chief justice, leading to protests by lawyers and supporters of opposition parties. The supreme court also ruled that the government charges against Chaudhry--which alleged that he had improperly promoted his son to a senior police post--were “illegal”.
Reaction and Outlook
In addition to the increasingly dangerous security situation, exacerbated by his controversial and failed attempt to dismiss Chief Justice Chaudhry, President Musharraf was also under pressure from US politicians who were increasingly critical of Musharraf's efforts as an ally in the US-led “war on terror”. The Reuters news agency reported on Aug. 1 that US officials had demanded decisive military action against pro-Talibaan areas in troubled North Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan.
Several US Congressmen and at least one presidential candidate said that they would use unilateral US action to destroy Talibaan and al-Qaida forces in north-western Pakistan, a move that could further weaken Musharraf, Reuters reported. Democratic Senator Barack Obama (Illinois), who was campaigning to be the Democratic presidential candidate, announced on Aug. 1: “As president, I would make hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid to Pakistan conditional, and I would make our conditions clear: Pakistan must make substantial progress in closing down the training camps, evicting foreign fighters and preventing the Talibaan from using Pakistan as a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan.…If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will.” However, the current Republican President George W. Bush refused to answer questions on whether the USA would intervene in Pakistan without consulting the Pakistani government.
The Pakistani media widely reported that Musharraf met former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi on July 23. The US State Department-sponsored Voice of America reported on July 28 that the meeting was a sign that Musharraf felt imperiled and wanted to gain support for his regime. Bhutto, the leader of the secular Pakistan People's Party (PPP), said that she would not embrace an alliance with Musharraf while he remained a military leader, declaring “[T]he post of army chief must be separated from that of the president”, the Times of India reported on July 29.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), condemned the meeting, stating “The charter of democracy very clearly says that there can't be any parleys or any negotiations which deal with dictators, especially military dictators” the Gulf News reported on July 23.
Historical Context
The remote tribal areas in north-western Pakistan, across the border from Afghanistan, had long operated out of the reach of the central government. The border between the two countries had been drawn up by the UK colonialists in the 19th century, cutting through traditional tribal territories, and was largely ignored by local people. The harsh, mountainous terrain was not easily controlled by organised military and security forces. As a result, hardline Islamists had exerted control, in 2003 giving sharia (Islamic law) precedence over federal law (this was declared illegal by the supreme court in 2006).
Counterterrorism experts contended that al-Qaida and the Talibaan continued to hide along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, seeking refuge in the area after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and ousting of the Talibaan regime in 2001.
Musharraf had risen to power in 1999 in a bloodless military coup and promised to hold elections as soon as possible, but soon imposed a ban on political party activities and no elections have since been held. After the September 2001 attacks on the USA, Pakistan became an important US ally in the “war on terror”.
Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), and daughter of politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (the leader of Pakistan from 1971 until 1977), was democratically elected prime minister twice. In 1988 she won elections, but was deposed 20 months later by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dissolved the legislature and forced an election. She was re-elected in 1993 but was dismissed in November 1996 by President Farooq Leghari, amid corruption allegations.
Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), was elected prime minister of Pakistan twice, serving non-consecutive terms. His first term was from November 1990 to July 1993, and his second term lasted from February 1997 to October 1999.
President Musharraf was not only opposed by democratic secularists but also by Islamist extremists. He had survived at least four assassination attempts by Islamist militants since 2001, when he ended support for the Talibaan regime in neighbouring Afghanistan. Islamic parties in Pakistan, the world's second most populous Muslim country, in particular opposed his alliance with the US administration of President Bush.
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