:: Editorial

Pak Army HQ hit: Questions remain

Oct.12 : The international media suggests that people in Pakistan continue to be puzzled about the weekend’s attack by terrorists on the Pakistan Army headquarters in Rawalpindi, and the prolonged siege of an exterior section of it that commenced Saturday morning and ended early Sunday with the release of hostages and the death of many on both sides, including a brigadier. The surprise is on account of the fact that the General Headquarters (GHQ) is thought to be one of the best-guarded places in the world. In the past, an attempt by extremists to mount an assault had been thwarted at a checkpoint more than a kilometre short of the nerve-centre of the Pakistan military, which in reality also doubles as the epicentre of Pakistani politics, such has been the Army’s dominating position in that country’s public life for decades. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that it is relatively easier to target the Chief of Army Staff, as Gen. Pervez Musharraf once was, when he is commuting in the twin cities of Rawalpindi or Islamabad, than mount an assault on the heavily-fortified Army headquarters. That’s a different ballgame altogether, unless insiders are part of the conspiracy. In that event, the world is unlikely to be told officially. A successful attack of a certain scale on the GHQ, in which the nerve centre itself is hypothetically seized, will in fact have an unsettling influence on security establishments round the world, including New Delhi, as Pakistan is a country with nuclear weapons. The fear of terrorists seizing command and control of the Army is tantamount to their getting hold of the nuclear arsenal, and the capsizing of the Pakistan state. At a joint press conference in London with British foreign secretary David Miliband on Sunday, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton appeared visibly relieved to announce that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were safe.

One thing is clear. The terrorist hit was clearly of a limited scale, just to make a point, as it were. Last week, the Taliban had also attacked the reception area of the UN’s World Food Programme in Islamabad, posing as a securityman , as in the case of the GHQ strike, and blown up an explosives-laden vehicle in a crowded market in Peshawar, killing nearly 50 people. Taken together, are the three violent incidents — especially the GHQ strike — intended to convince an increasingly cynical world that the Pakistan military is not in cahoots with terrorists and jihadists, and that the Pakistan Army is really a foe of the Taliban and a serious participant in the war on terror, as America defines it? The international backdrop in which the GHQ attack comes — US President Barack Obama about to decide on the contested issue of significantly raising American troop levels in Afghanistan — suggests that the Pakistan military has a stake in seeking to reinforce that impression, especially for the consumption of American policymakers.