In most countries of the world, bombs do not go off in crowded places killing innocent citizens. But even in those few in which civilians or military institutions are targeted, the bombers are either inclined to identify themselves and take responsibility, or the government usually knows who is behind the attacks. For instance, in Israeli-occupied territories, various Palestinian resistance movements publicly take responsibility for the bomb attacks. Similarly, various jihadi organizations are quick to claim “credit” for the bomb attacks in Indian-occupied Kashmir. When the bombs were going off in Algeria and Egypt in the 1990s, the radical underground Islamic groups proudly left their calling cards all over the place. Equally, when Al-Qaeda activists attack Western targets these days they are not only ready to say that they did it and why, but also to warn that more will follow.
But Pakistan must be one of those rare countries in the world in which bombs have been going off routinely in the last twenty years, killing innocent people, while the government of the day either hasn’t quite known whodunit or hasn’t been prepared to take the public into confidence about the blowback consequences of its foreign policies. Indeed, official fingers have often been pointed at more than two or three possible perpetrators, the all time favourite being the “foreign hand” of India through its RAW intelligence agency. But if memory serves us right, the other hot historical foreign contender has been KHAD, the Afghan intelligence agency, which was alleged to be responsible for a spate of bomb attacks in the NWFP, Karachi and Punjab in the 1980s and early 1990s when Pakistani “interference” or “strategic involvement” in Afghanistan was at its height. Indeed, we are reminded of a famous statement by the then information minister Mushahid Hussain in the 1990s when Karachi was laid low by bomb attacks in which he alluded to a mysterious link between “three Ks” – Karachi, Kabul and Kashmir – suggesting that Karachi was paying the price of our military adventures in Kabul and Kashmir.
Of course, many bomb attacks have baffled even our evergreen conspiracy theorists. Who planted the bomb many years ago that destroyed a small culvert on PM Nawaz Sharif’s route to his family farm on Raiwind road near Lahore, and why? Who was responsible for the bomb attacks on Shia or Sunni congregations in Quetta, Karachi, Jhang, Lahore some years ago – was it one sectarian organization or another or was it some foreign hand that wanted to trigger a sectarian war in Pakistan in order to destabilise the country? Similarly, no one has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on the American consulate in Karachi or on the bus in which many French naval engineers were killed some years ago. Was it RAW scaring away foreign military experts or was it the local branch of Al-Qaeda attacking a Western ally of America? Worse, the government has rarely caught the bombers or told the public why they carried out the bombings.
The two recent “bicycle bombs” in Lahore defy any readymade explanation. There was no sectarian cause this time like the one behind a similar bicycle bomb that was planted on the premises of the lower courts in Lahore by a religious fanatic in the mid 1990s. India’s RAW is also an unlikely candidate because the two neighbours are moving to mend fences and the level of alleged “Pakistan-inspired” terrorism in Indian held Kashmir has significantly abated in recent months. Nor is this likely to be the handiwork of Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan – according to General Pervez Musharraf, their organizational structure has been smashed by the Pakistani military and whatever is left is confined to their hideouts in the tribal badlands of Waziristan bordering Afghanistan. So whodunit, why, and will more follow?
To be sure, there are a lot of angry, frustrated, alienated, disgruntled people and groups in Pakistan who might be motivated to express their sentiments in this fashion. The Baloch Liberation Army, for instance, has claimed responsibility for planting bombs to damage gas pipelines and electrical installations in Sindh, Balochistan and Southern Punjab. Equally, there are hundreds of footloose religious fanatics trained in Afghanistan and Kashmir with all sorts of scores to settle with General Musharraf for thwarting their domestic and regional ambitions. Many are outraged by his recent moves to normalize relations with India and Israel and crack down on Al-Qaeda activists at the behest of America. Even the mainstream religious parties like the Jamaat i Islami and Jamiat i Ulema i Islam are bristling at General Musharraf’s attempts to curb their zeal. In fact, these parties now see General Musharraf personally, rather then the Pakistan army, as the key stumbling block to their political ambitions.
Are we then about to enter a period of militant “Islamic” reaction to a pro-West military dictator in Pakistan as happened in Algeria and Egypt in the 1990s? This is a frightening prospect. That is why the government should not trifle with ready-made, “foreign-hand” conspiracy theories for a moment longer. It is time to knuckle down and uproot the causes of religious rage and reaction that threaten Pakistan in myriad ways.