Pakistan: Mounting security challenges

The security situation in Pakistan is deteriorating. The country’s economy also continues to decline. On the security situation, several deadly attacks have occurred in Pakistan in the past one month. This is heinous indeed, but at the same time a big failure of the state security brass to prevent them from occurring.

There were nine attacks in southwestern Baluchistan province alone on Sunday in which at least six Pakistani soldiers were killed and 17 more were wounded. This wave of attacks against the country’s security forces happened in different districts of the province.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the “nation pays its tributes and respects to our heroes who laid down their lives for Pakistan. The perpetrators of terrorism will be brought to justice. Let there be no mistake about it.”

Action is required to fight the terrorism. Such mere condemnation and statements will carry no weight. How Sharif can think about the security situation while the mainstream remains busy to deal with different political turmoil.

Using this gap, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have reached Islamabad, other cities and hoisted their flags in North Waziristan, throwing the Pashtuns people, who are living in the area, to the wolves once again.

“Very alarming and concerning scenes from Mir Ali bazar, N. Waziristan where Taliban hoisted their flag and issued warnings. A new great game and a new war is underway with Pakhtunkhwa as the primary battleground. All at the cost of the lives of our people,” Mohsin Dawar, a member of the National Assembly said.

A day ago, Dawar also tweeted that “Security forces get away with attacking civilians in N. Waziristan. They opened fire on 2 locals in Eidak. Shahid was killed “martyred”. The army is refusing to hand over his dead body to his family. This second young man was injured. Our people remain caught between terrorists and the army.”

The TTP onset in the capital

The TTP’s return to Islamabad, the capital city last week should not come as a surprise. A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle close to a residential area in Islamabad on December 23, killing an officer. The Pakistani Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack as the group has been stepping up a violence campaign against the government. Another three police officers and seven passersby were wounded in the bombing.

The blast in Islamabad happened some 15 kilometers from the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where the military and government intelligence agencies are located.

The TTP has been carrying out more attacks across Pakistan after ending a month-long cease-fire with the government last month.

TTP’s spokesman Muhammad Khalid Khurasani said that the attack was in revenge for the killing of a senior leader.

In August, Abdul Wali, aka Omar Khalid Khorasani, considered one of the most influential TTP leaders, was killed in a roadside bombing in Paktika province in Afghanistan. The TTP has blamed Pakistani intelligence for the killing Khorasani and vowed revenge.

Meanwhile, the bombing in Islamabad comes days after Pakistani Special Forces said they have killed 25 suspected TTP-linked militants in a raid on a detention center in Bannu, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Three Pakistani soldiers and at least three hostages were also killed in the raid.

This is the first attack in Islamabad in a short period of time as Pakistan recorded 420 attacks since August last year, where many of them were in provinces. Of these, TTP has claimed responsibility for 141 attacks in the last three months, where Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been the worst hit.

Potential terrorist attack at Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel

The United States embassy in Pakistan issued a warning about a possible terrorist attack against its citizens at the Marriott Hotel in the capital city Islamabad.

A view of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. (AFP)

“The US government is aware of information that unknown individuals are possibly plotting to attack Americans at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad sometime during the holidays. Effective immediately, the Embassy in Islamabad is prohibiting all American staff from visiting Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel,” the embassy said in a security alert.

It furthered, “Islamabad has been placed on a Red Alert citing security concerns while banning all public gatherings, the embassy is urging all Mission personnel to refrain from non-essential, unofficial travel in Islamabad throughout the holiday season.”

Besides the US, the United Kingdom also urged its citizens to avoid visiting the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad.

“We advise British nationals in Islamabad to exercise additional vigilance and minimize exposure to densely populated and unsecured areas that pose a higher risk,” the advisory from the British Embassy in Pakistan read.

In 2008, an attack at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killed 54 people and wounded more than 250 others.

UAE visa ban for Pakistanis

Following the news that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is no longer providing visas to Pakistani citizens belonging to certain cities, Pakistan had refuted the report.

“We have seen the reports. We can confirm that no such ban is in place by the UAE for issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens,” Pakistan official at Foreign Affairs Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.

The responses came as reports were being circulated that the gulf country is not allowing visas to some of the Pakistani cities including Abbottabad, Attock, Bajaur Agency, Chakwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu, Hunza, Quetta, Kasur, Kohat, Kotli, Khushab, Khurrum Agency, Larkana, Mohmand Agency, Muzaffargarh, Nawabshah, Parachinar, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Skardu and Sukkur.