Dargai Sucide Attack
09 November, 2006
In what appears to be the backlash of Bajur air strike, at least 42 soldiers were killed and 20 others wounded when a suicide bomber struck a military base in Dargai, 100kms north of Peshawar on Wednesday morning.
The suicide attack, deadliest of its kind on armed forces in the country`s history, has taken the bloody conflict between the Pakistan`s military regime and the Fata-based militants to a new and, perhaps, a more dangerous level.
The government is taking the suicide attack as a "revenge" to the brutal air strike on a madrassah in Bajur agency last week, in which 80 civilians, whom the government agencies considered militants, were killed.
The intelligence agencies had already warned the government of deadly reaction to the air strike as hundreds of emotionally charged youths of Bajur and its vicinage areas produced themselves for suicide attack to avenge the killing of their near and dear ones.
The latest suicide bombing has literally stunned the nation as the security analysts observe that the conflict has now made the common soldiers or anyone else associated with the state as vulnerable as the leadership. They fear that in the coming weeks and months, the situation may assume a real nasty turn.
No matter how valid President Musharraf´s reasons for fighting the so-called Islamic extremists, the growing perception among the people, and to an extent among some in the lower ranks of the armed forces, has been that his actions are all dictated by the United States.
The so-called war on terror, and the constant pressure from the Americans for quick results, has pushed the Pakistani military establishment deeper and deeper into a mess, whereby the armed forces have become the epicenter of an ever-increasing criticism from their own people. The gunship helicopters jet fighters and other weaponry are being used by the armed forces against those whom they are supposed to protect.
The difference is that while Mr Bush has been using his military might thousands of miles away from home in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pakistani forces are being used to pound parts of their own territory.
Here are some questions
1) Where will the ongoing chaos lead?
2) Do you agree that Dargai suicide attack was reaction to Bajur air strikes?
3) Keeping in view the latest suicide attack, how far should Pakistan go to fight the US war in the region?
4) Some analysts believe that killing of innocent people in so-called war on terror, has created a gulf between masses and armed forces. Do you agree with that?
5) What three immediate steps the government should take to tackle with this chaos?
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