Mysterious Blasts In Peshawar

Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North-West FrontierProvince (NWFP), has been the scene of seven explosions directed againstdifferent targets since September last year.

Thirty cars were badly damaged on September 18, 2006,in an explosion in a parking lot near the West Cantonment Police Station. Therewas no loss of life. A bomb exploded near a bus terminal in the city onOctober 12, 2006, injuring a fruit seller.

Seven shoppers were killed and many others injured onOctober 20, 2006, in an explosion with a crude device with a timer planted in alocal public park. After the blast, Riffat Pasha, of the provincialpolice, told the media: "It appears to be a locally-made device and was timedto detonate during the peak shopping time for Eid."A suicide bomber killed himself and wounded two policemen when he targeted a police van onNovember 17, 2006.

A bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in the DefenceOfficers’ Colony killing one person on December 1,2006.A car park attendantwas killed on December 26, 2006, in a timed car bomb explosion outside the Peshawar international airport located in a military area.

In the most serious incident so far, six Policeofficers and nine Shias were killed on January 27, 2007, when a suicide bomberblew himself up in the vicinity of a group of senior police officers supervisinglaw and order during a Muharram procession being taken out by the local Shias.Among the police officers killed were Malik Saad, the Commissioner of Police ofPeshawar, Khan Raziq, Superintendent of Police, and Nawaz Khan, a Station HouseOfficer. All the three of them were actively involved in the investigation ofthe earlier blasts.

Acts of terrorism directed against the Shias duringtheir annual observance of Muharram by Sunni extremists are a normal feature inPakistan. This year, there was added concern of greater violence because of theanti-Shia, anti-US and anti-Iran resentment in sections of the Sunni communityover the brutal execution of Saddam Hussain, by the Shia-dominated government ofIraq and the action of the Iranian authorities and the Shias of Iraq incelebrating it. More than the normal acts of violence against the Shias was,therefore, apprehended by the local police, but the latest incident seems tohave been directed more at the local police than the Shias.

No organisation has so far claimed responsibility forany of these blasts. The Police too has not made any progress in theinvestigation.

On the basis of the evidence available so far, it isdoubtful whether the Taliban or Al Qaeda would have been responsible for theseexplosions. In the past, the Taliban and Al Qaeda had not hesitated to massacrethe Shias (Hazaras) in Afghanistan, but after taking shelter in Pakistaniterritory, they have been avoiding any provacation of the local Shias lest theyattack their sanctuaries and help the Americans in their hunt for Osama binLaden, Mulla Mohammad Omar and others.

Presently, the needle of suspicion points to theLashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), the extremist Sunni organisation of Pakistan, which hasperiodically been attacking not only the Shias, but also the more tolerantBarelvi Sunnis. The LEJ often carries out acts of terrorism on behalf of theTaliban and Al Qaeda. Some police officers of Peshawar have been allegingthat the earlier blasts were probably got carried out by the Afghan intelligencein retaliation for the Pakistani assistance to the Taliban.

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), CabinetSecretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute ForTopical Studies, Chennai.