The Kohat Attack on Bus

Source The News

The suicide attack on a bus – with mostly Shia passengers aboard – as it prepared to pull out from the crowded Tirah Bazaar in Kohat for the Orakzai Agency is a reminder of just how difficult it is to vanquish sectarian hatred. Only days ago Shia and Sunni tribal elders had reached an agreement to end bloodshed which has claimed hundreds of lives. Eighteen people died in the suicide bombing carried out by a child who a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister is said to have described as no more than 14 years old. Another 32 were injured. The bomber too is a victim of circumstances that have led to teenagers being brainwashed and then sent out to commit the most evil deeds, often in the name of religion. We do not know precisely what lies they are told and what propaganda they are fed – but it is not hard to imagine. The military has already established one institution for rehabilitating such bombers and other youngsters recruited by the militants. We need many more such centres and also an operation to rescue future bombers who still remain in the clutches of the Taliban and other groups engaged in violence.




This latest attack of course comes just as the month of Muharram begins. It is tragic that a month holy to all Muslims should have turned into an occasion when so many lives are lost. There is a need of course to review security across the country so that further bloodshed can be avoided. But there is a need also to do more. One question we should be asking is why our intelligence agencies have not been more successful in infiltrating the various terrorist outfits and gaining access to their power structures. This is essential both to pick up information of what is planned and to work towards the dismantling of groups that have created so much mayhem. We must also dismantle what they preach. Sectarian hatred is now common in many places. The killing of innocent people is an outcome of this. We need then to rekindle a spirit of tolerance, to persuade people that they must accept diversity of all kinds and learn to coexist. A strategy towards this end must be devised.