The militant method

There is further evidence that in the city of Karachi, militants remain well embedded. On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated his jacket in the Malir area after police conducted a raid there in search of terrorists. He was apparently one of the persons being sought. Before blowing up his vest, he shot at the police team, injuring two policemen. Police fired back and the weapons used by the wanted man who is believed to be an Al-Qaeda operative have been taken into custody for forensic analysis. This was not the only violent incident of the day. In a separate attack, unknown persons on motorcycles fired at an empty DSNG van belonging to Samaa television channel. No one was injured in the attack, but the message sent out was frightening. Just days before, there had been an attack on a Geo TV DSNG and a senior journalist had been killed in the city at the same time. The assault on the media then continues. The latest incident has been condemned by government ministers. The real question, however, is whether they have the ability and the will to bring an end to the incidents and keep journalists safe.
We have been hearing for some time about terrorists sneaking into Karachi, with the apex committee on law and order in the city also bringing up this issue time and time again. It is obviously impossible to guard every corner, every alley, every street crossing in a city as massive as Karachi. But what we do need is more intelligence information on who is carrying out the attacks and how they can be detected. It is time that this happened. It is unclear how much information we are receiving from our intelligence networks. Only when intelligence and law-enforcement agencies work well together is it possible to get to the heart of the terrorist threat and work towards demolishing it. We still appear to stand rather far away from this goal. It is essential that we move closer step by step, as quickly as possible with all agencies working in harmony before there is yet another incident of multiple deaths caused by terrorism in Karachi. We must not wait for that day.