By: Asem Mustafa Awan
Deadly bomb blast targeted Lahore Anarkali Bazaar as a result three people were reportedly killed and 29 injured. The condition of the injured is said to be critical. Law enforcement agencies say that the terrorist placed more than a kilogram of explosive device in a bag. The explosion took place in the Lohari Gate area, a densely packed neighbourhood consisting of small shops packed into narrow crisscrossing streets, on Thursday afternoon. Baluchistan Nationalist Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan has fought war against terrorism for nearly two decades and sacrificed nearly 80,000 lives in the process including men, women and children besides security forces who went all out in protecting the nation and laid down their lives in defending them and bearing the maximum brunt. Manyterrorist organisations, on different occasions, tried to put pressure on Pakistan and did its best to isolate Pakistan in severing her ties with United States. Pakistan on the other hand played her part with great political acumen and statesmanship and made sure Afghanistan is not left alone after the withdrawal of the United States.
Pakistan played the pivotal role in finding a peaceful solution to the Afghan conflict and the effort bore fruit. Taliban after taking control assured that Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan or any other country for that matter.
After the US withdrawal terrorist group started reorganizing and these anti state elements under Indian patronage had agenda to create chaos and instability in Pakistan. It is pertinent to note that intelligence agencies were already reporting the re-emergence of terrorist activities in some parts of the country.
The dilemma in Lahore points out at the flaw in which billions were spent on the Safe City Authority cameras which were installed on different streets and road especially places that attracted crowd. The findings were disbelievingly true as the cameras operated on the VIP routes and roads.
To everybody’s disappointment, the cameras in the Safe City Authority were out of order since long as commoners since long have little priority in the mattes that related directly to them.
Billions of rupees spent were a waste and the optimum utility was not there life so many projects initiated at the name of the public but results in massive irregularities.
There is possibility if the cameras of the werefully operational, the entire movement of terrorists would have been monitored before and after the incident.
The incident also put a question mark on the performance of the tall claims of the security agencies besides the security situation of Pakistan.
The sad fact is that human lives as that of common man in the country, comes at a very low priority.
Intelligence agencies are of the view that there is a threat of such incidents in different parts of the country. The concerned authorities ought to learn lessons from this incident as it is never too late to fix a situation. In these circumstances, loopholes in security arrangements need to be addressed immediately.
The writer is Special Correspondent at The Dayspring