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Karachi blast: What's security got to do with it?

Karachi blast: What's security got to do with it?

Anchors ask "Was there a security lapse?" but the question they are really asking is "Who should we blame?"

Faria Syed November 11, 2010

The blast that has rocked Karachi's grand Club Road and claimed (so far) 15 lives has sparked a familiar line of questions on news channels. The question the anchors ask is "Was there a security lapse" but the question they are really asking is "Who should we blame?" and thus who can we crucify on live TV.

After every blast the question emerges - was enough done? Where were the police? The rangers? Where was everyone when this bomb was mysteriously planted in random building X?

Somehow we expect that a platoon of police officers can prevent a bomb blast. But the fact, as we have so painfully seen, is that they can't.

Even if we had 30 rangers patrolling each street round the clock attacks would happen. The police do not have x-ray vision and real life bad guys don't wear red spandex jumpsuits and spout catchy "I'll get you next time" type lines - so how are they supposed to spot them in a crowd?

What exactly is it that we expect security forces to do? There is no way that they can bullet proof the city. They cannot possibly, isolate and interview every suspicious looking character in Karachi. So, when we eagerly ask officials "Was there a security lapse?" what do we really think the answer will be?

When targets like the CID building and a police training school in Lahore are attacked there is often a greater need to ask how this was allowed to happen. After all if security forces cannot protect themselves how can we expect them to protect us?

The real question to ask here should perhaps be why was this building attacked in the first place. According to officials the CID received a threat yesterday, following a raid on in Pirabad which resulted in the arrest of six suspected members of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehreek-i-Taliban. Assertions have been made that this attack is a sign that militants are gaining strength in Karachi.

If militants do indeed have the ability to lash back at our security forces in righteous fits of violence shouldn't our goal be to stop them in their tracks? Far before the metal detectors or security checkpoints. These militants are not going to stop by our paltry efforts to "beef up security."

WRITTEN BY:
Faria Syed

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (18)

istanzeelforreal | 13 years ago | Reply My god.....those who were mudered kept us safe. They are shaheed and they died for Pakistan . has anyone really got any sympathy for thier loved one's ? A state pension for security forces is meaningless in Pakistan. We balama...BLAME the security forces but the enemy is within, especially in these pages they are here! Did anyone of you go up to the secirity forces to wish the "Eid Mubarak"?Did you really? A demoralised, underpaid jawan's are murdered in the name of religion, politics, right in front of our eyes, we balme the media (yes its run by corrupt industrailists who seek political favours), we all look on...., proscastinate, express our shock and horror. Guys and gal's let's just get off your butt's and let's do something for the "shaheeed" who were murdered in Pakistan Select a leader who can lead, try the politicians, the corrupt and especially the Qari's , any single cell zenophobic illeterate amoeba and put them back in the gutter where they came from. Yes this includes MANY so called "high profile industrialits" who keep choking the progress of Pakistan by not paying bills, tax evasion, etc. So the infrastructure disaaperas or is redundant and we are sold once again to the foreign powers like the Chineese....used to be russionas in Karach. Now WAPDA/KESC is all under the chineese thumb with the government officials getting swiss bank accounts etcx etc etc etc etc etc

parvez | 13 years ago | Reply Fully agree with you. The answer to stopping this is two fold: 1. Intelligence gathering is absolutely paramount (not Rehman Malik style) because police check posts,scanning, cameras etc help only in a limited way. Superb intelligence followed by action is the immediate answer. 2. The root causes have to be addressed - the militant madrases - the use of religious parties whose own agendas are not in sync with national progress - the agencies that operate independently resulting in as @faraz rightly says ' the chicken has come home to roost' - KSA and Iran using Pakistani soil to carry on a sporadic proxy war - criminal mafia operations especially in Karachi - total lack of political leadership in ensuring the people get the basics to exist - enforcement of the rule of law across the board.

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Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply India has sealed off the border with Pakistan to ensure Terrorists dont crossover. But, a border cannot exist within Pakistan, can it. Unless, Terrorists are hunted irrespective of if they are going to target India, Afghanistan, NATO or Pakistan things will stay the same in Pakistan. Lesson: Dont support armed guerrillas inside your territory for any reason.

Sadaf Khan | 13 years ago | Reply We would be much better equipped to handle such threats if all our political parties, security agencies and management authorities were working together. But sadly, the federal government is busy blaming the provinces, the provinces keep fighting for more power but don't seem to want their share of responsibility. Pakistani citizens face the wrath of the terrorists while Gov of Punjab throws tantrums over the term Punjabi Taliban, and MQM threatens to withdraw it's few National Assembly votes unless it is given attention. As the political forces fight over power, the militants grow stronger and we face the consequence. Did you hear Qaim Ali Shah today? Apparently, we, the citizens are supposed to be 'ready' for such attacks.

AUN ZAHOOR | 13 years ago | Reply When such sad incidents take place ,institutions responsible for providing security ,in my opinion, should be blamed ....All over the world such institutions take such sad incidents as their failure , after all our intelligence agencies are being fed lavishly on public money ,it is their responsibility to curb such attacks even when they are planned........ Now if our security institutions are so week and inefficient it does not mean in any way that they should not be held accountable on media.....

Imran | 13 years ago | Reply Everytime a bomb blast of this intensity happens we are always highlighting the fact that we have hit rock bottom and it cant get any worse now. But still these 9/11 and 11/11 in yesterdays instance keep on happening! And the manner in which last nites blast occured it totally intensifies the role of superior planning and flawless execution of a cause! surely this cant be the militants who are planning these action drives. There has to be some proper thinktank which is after destroying Pakistan reputation in all walks of life be it the security of its citizens, its economy, and even sports! and surely it cant be the militants playing this hi fi game

faraz | 13 years ago | Reply The chicken have come home to roost!

Tanzeel | 13 years ago | Reply "Allah ko yehi Manzoor tha". Now move on!

Hassan | 13 years ago | Reply Completely agree with humanity, by talking about beefing up security or other such tactical responses will not eradicate the menace of terrorism till we address the root cause, which is the mullahisation of this country coupled with the war on terror and then finally a complete lack of social and economic justice. The media and the anchors get away with it because we dont raise our voice....lets get together and let them know we dont appreciate this kind of sensationalism in our news.

Haris Masood Zuberi | 13 years ago | Reply

If militants do indeed have the ability to lash back at our security forces in righteous fits of violence shouldn’t our goal be to stop them in their tracks? Far before the metal detectors or security checkpoints. These militants are not going to stop by our paltry efforts to “beef up security.”

Absolutely Faria! We've been going round n round with the same ritual each time. It's time decision-makers realized the SOPs in superficial security and clumsy post-trauma remedies just aren't enough. The only way is to intensify the hunt for troublemakers, to somehow work more effectively to nip them in the bud. And when those charged with responsibility (the military) to hunt down troublemakers and confront them do actually nip them, our naive sympathies must stay home and recall the miseries inflicted upon our nation by these uncouth militants. It's horribly sad to see the loss of life, prperty, livelihood women weeping sitting across from the rubble that was their home till last evening. Now the'yre on the road, have no posessions, their loved ones wounded or gone, their life-long posessions and valubales lost and nowhere to go... May God shower His Mercy.

IZ | 13 years ago | Reply "Security lapse" is one of those cliches parroted by mindless morons who simply have no understanding of any of the issues at hand. The point is that our law-enforcement agencies are engaged in a difficult and deadly cat-and-mouse game with highly resourceful, highly motivated and highly funded militant groups who received their training from the best (the ISI) and have turned against their own country. They will not go away with a click of the fingers. In fact CID in Karachi has had several major successes in the last few months in tracking down and catching some militants which is why they were targeted. And even this attack was not a 100% success for the militants - it took place at night when there were less people in the offices so less got hurt and the poor policemen at the gates held them off in a firefight for some time and even when the truck bomb got into the compound it exploded before it could ram the building which would have brought down the entire structure. Rather than appreciating the sacrifice of those who died or the work the CID has done, the moronic TV anchors keep talking about security lapse. Maybe they should think about their own "reporting lapses" instead?

Maryam | 13 years ago | Reply i agree with you Faria... suicide bombing cannot be stopped by deploying armed or police forces not only in pakistan but anywhere in the world as we have clear examples that the bombers exploded themselves on security checks . this is sad and perhaps now we are used to it. these blasts are so frequent and have become a part of your routine life. may Allah protect us and give "hadiyat" to the people responsible for it.

zaigham | 13 years ago | Reply they are routine media question... don't take them seriously... after journalism and mullahism are probably the only two professions where you are not required any degree or prove any kind of professional competence... lol... i ask for similar treatment in other professions as well... that would at least speed up our fall...

Syed Nadir El-Edroos | 13 years ago | Reply Terrorism is a form of asymetric warfare, where measures such as placing pickets or beefing up security presence, or raising barb wired walls and blast walls is going to do little to deter violence. While its true that successes in capturing terrorists are not highlighted, we expect too much from a police force and security agencies that are ridiculed, under paid, under trained and mired by corruption. Terrorism cannot be stopped by conventional means. They only act as a deterrence and show the general population that something is being down. Policeman have always borne the brunt of terrorism, be it on attacks at police stations or being gunned down in drive by shootings at check points. Has everyone forgotten the dead policeman by the roundabout after the Sri Lankan team was attacked? A hopelessly under resourced and demotivated police force in an urban sprawl such as Karachi is hung to dry everytime a terrorist attack takes place. Talk shows and media pundits should discuss how the police may be better trained and funded rather than perpetuating a cycle of victimization, de motivation and poor performance.

Uni | 13 years ago | Reply One very pertinent question that was asked was: If the gunmen had been shooting at the building, and have a huge battle with the police/guards for ten whole minutes - why wasn't SOME action taken at least? We're not demanding policemen who were there to somehow turn into supermen and 'defeat the bad guys' but the least we can expect is (since the Chief Minister house isn't far off, the American Consulate is nearby, etc etc), that extra security will immediately be brought in! To thwart these men before they had a chance to bring in their truck. If even that didn't happen, then again, the question about security lapse has to be asked. It should be demanded in fact to at least know why the terrorists were allowed to merrily shoot away, and gain entry - and the whole process spanning 15 minutes.

M Usama Kabbir | 13 years ago | Reply 1000 KG of TNT was used. I have been to this place and it is a Security Red Zone with Pearl Continental, Sheraton, PIDC and Chief Minister House nearby. It was definitely a 'State Sponsored' affair. By 'State Sponsored' i mean the beloved ...'ISI'. Four terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were arrested a few days back and were tried in the Court today. All the suspects were inside the CID Building at the time of Blast. Karachi has indeed become a safe heaven for these banned out-fits. Where is the 29th Most Powerful man in the World? Any guess? We are all in a habit of blaming the 12th man Asif Ali Zardari for nearly everything. Government is very incompetent. From flood mismanagement to the rise in prices and the reformed GST thing. But will somebody ask General Kiyani to tell what the best Intelligence Agency in the World is doing? Criminal Negligence i'm sure.

SadafFayyaz | 13 years ago | Reply This was extremely shocking.....................:_(

Humanity | 13 years ago | Reply Deeply saddened by the loss of life and sense of hopelessness! "shouldn’t our goal be to stop them in their tracks?" How to do that? How did the nation get to this point? What were the mistakes? Intolerance and hatred is a slow poison. The snake's first bite was the Objectives Resolution many, many decades ago when Pakistan was still an infant. Over the years, the poison worked its way through legitimizing bigotry and hatred. Discrimination and disintegration of the nation was carried out by the mullah, the poli-tics, and the people themselves, sanctioned by the constitution. The better half of the country was lost by the power hungry mullah/poli-tics alliance. Hatred and bigotry was taught in schools and madrassas. Poison runs in the veins of the nation, which is now every ready to pounce for the jugular when shown the mirror. The saying goes that one reaps what one sows. How long will the people watch the death throes of this morally dead nation? It is high time to get out of denial and correct the mistakes of the past. Pakistan must become a secular-democratic homeland for people with equal rights for all. Every foreign enemy will back-off only when the enemy within is subdued. Mixing religion with state affairs has been a fatal mistake. Islamic Republic of Pakistan is absolutely contrary to the country the forefathers had envisioned. The disaster has led to outcome that naa khuda hee milaa naa wisaal-e-sanam naa idhar kae rahe naa udhar ke rahay Pakistan has only desecrated the name of Islam and has decimated itself trying to become a Median-like state, which it never can in the 21st century ecosystem. On the other hand, India despite its ills, did not loose focus and continued to work hard to create a name for itself by engaging with the global community. It is time to stop preaching how to be superior Muslims. Better roll up the sleeves and practice being Muslims through tolerance, forgiveness, and humility. God will be mighty proud with a nation of humans, who learn to live and let live.

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