Logically speaking, the Wagah suicide bombing was something that should never have happened. But it did, because logical thinking and a terrorist’s outlook are as different as chalk from cheese. Those who were targeted on that fateful day were a mixed lot of people who had nothing in common except the desire to witness the flag lowering ceremony at Wagah and cheer the efforts of the Pakistan Rangers as they tried to outdo the theatric performance of the Indian Border Security Force soldiers during this event. Amongst those killed and injured in the Wagah suicide bombing, there surely must have been many who like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), despised the drone campaign and some may have even taken part in anti-drone protests and in the process braved police batons and tear gas. Perhaps, amongst the victims, there may have also been some who were actually enthused by the TTP’s call for ushering in Sharia rule in Pakistan and were even looking forward for this to happen.
Some believe that the Pakistani Rangers were the actual targets of the Wagah suicide attack, but failing to get the chance to reach them, the suicide bomber chose to blow himself up near one of the exit gates just when the mammoth crowd of spectators was leaving after having witnessed the flag lowering ceremony. There is no way by which this theory can either be conclusively proved or convincingly contradicted, but one thing is clear- if the suicide bomber really wanted to target Pakistani Rangers, he could have easily done so. Wagah has a fairly high concentration of Pakistan Rangers and since there has been no instance of any terrorist attacks here in the past, the emphasis has been more on ceremonial drills and the associated dramatics during flag lowering than on security measures against terror attacks. Therefore, in all probability, this suicide attack was not directed against any specific target but was undertaken just to inflict casualties and create mayhem.
Though there may be a difference of opinion regarding the intended target of the Wagah suicide bomb attack, there can be no doubt that this was in retaliation to the ongoing military offensive in North Waziristan. However, though reprisals against security forces and government officials were expected, none would have imagined that a cosmopolitan crowd would be targeted. More disturbing is the fact that it is not one but three terrorist groups who have claimed responsibility for this gruesome act as it not only goes to show how low terrorists groups can stoop down, but also exposes their perverted mindset which makes them take pride in targeting innocent men, women and children. There is no point for us to either lament what happened or try to drum-in sanity into the terrorists as the one ingredient that is common to all terrorists, irrespective of their geographical location or the ‘cause’ they are fighting for, is the complete absence of rational thinking. In other words, what appears to something absolutely absurd to a normal mind is considered normal by a terrorist’s absurd mind.
The Wagah attack is a slap on the face of all those who felt (or still feel) that the TTP will listen to the voice of reason and that they can be persuaded to eschew violence through negotiations. Though there may have been negotiated settlements between various governments and terrorist outfits in the past, in all such cases, the disagreement between the State and the terrorist groups were ideological in nature and as such, could be amicably resolved. However, when terrorist groups start following obscurant religious beliefs and consider enforcing these upon others as their ‘divine responsibility’, then the trouble starts. This is because unlike conflicting ideological issues where scope of resolving differences by mutually accommodating each other’s point of view exists, those fighting for the establishment of a radical and hard-line religious order consider the very idea of any compromises or concessions sheer sacrilege and thus outrightly reject any negotiation. And once the terrorists start believing that their heinous acts of violence against innocents have a religious sanction, nothing can make them see the light!
There is also a less holy reason for terrorist groups like the TTP not to give up violence. It must be remembered that terrorist leaders know very well that they remain men of consequence and wield influence only as long as they have the gun. They also know that as long as they are using their guns against their declared ‘enemy’, they will continue enjoy their mentor’s blessings. In fact, it is this policy of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ terrorists is what is helping terror groups to flourish in the subcontinent and has given them the military capability to even challenge the writ of governments. When things become really ‘hot’ for the terrorists, they conveniently withdraw to their safe sanctuaries in the country that is patronising them and there is ample proof of this. When the Pakistan army commenced its military offensive against terrorists in North Waziristan, the terrorists quietly crossed over to Afghanistan. So, despite the claims of the Pakistan army that terrorist activity had been effectively capped by ‘Zarb-e-Azb’, the TTP terror infrastructure remains intact and so, incidents like the suicide bomb attack at Wagah would continue.
It is high time that India, Pakistan and Afghanistan realised that their policy of nurturing ‘good’ terrorists is nothing but a self-defeating proposal. Eradicating terrorism through application of force only against those whom a nation considers to be the ‘bad’ terrorists and simultaneously nurturing ‘good’ terror outfits cannot be expected to give any positive results. While the NATO presence in Afghanistan may have had several negatives, even if it was purely for its own self serving interests- it has atleast ensured that the actions of the ‘good’ militants of one country in the subcontinent did not exceed a certain level of violence in another. However, with the American led coalition pulling out of Afghanistan, things could spiral out of control and this cannot be allowed as once things go out of hand, there is no way in which the situation can be restored. As it cuts both ways, waging ‘proxy wars’ against those considered being ‘hostile’ neighbours has to end. This requires someone to take the first step, but in an environment fraught with deep mutual suspicion, this will be no easy task.
We are fast running out of time and if something is not done immediately to stop the menace of terrorism, there will be hundreds of ‘Wagahs’ in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan which will kill, maim and injure thousands. So, in case New Delhi, Islamabad and Kabul genuinely consider the safety and wellbeing of their people to be more important than the need of creating “strategic assets” in the form of ‘good’ militants to counter the imaginary threat of invasion from their neighbours, then they have no other choice but to collectively discard their parochial mindset regarding ‘good’ and ‘bad’ terrorists. Ever since the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan have suffered at the hands of terrorists and even though in this ongoing proxy war all three have been the losers, no one is ready to recant. Therefore, if we fail to see the writing on the wall and this paranoia of misplaced ‘ultra-nationalism’ persists, then we should blame none expect ourselves for authoring the script for our own self-destruction!