The explosion during an Ashura procession in Bahawalnagar not only killed two people and injured 59, at least two critically, but it also exposed a worrisome fecklessness about the government, which did not pay enough attention to the locality’s potential for sectarian violence. It is always unfortunate when there are casualties to mar the commemoration of Ashura, but the reasons why it is particularly unfortunate at this juncture are also the reasons why this incident was particularly disturbing.
That Bshawalnagar is known to be a hotbed of sectarianism is known, and it is one of those districts where militants have emphasized sectarian elements of conflict. At this particular juncture, with the allies of the sectarian militants having taken over in Kabul, and with the potential reviving of old relationships, which allowed sectarian militant groups to set up training camps in Afghanistan, any resurgence of militancy must be the cause of trepidation. It is not enough to rely on assurances of goodwill by the new Kabul government, it is important to stop Pakistan becoming victim to the sort of militancy that made the War on Terror one which Pakistan itself owned, which it found itself having to fight if it hoped to survive.
This incident should serve as an eyeopener for the authorities not just in Punjab but Pakistan as a whole. Militancy is apparently back even earlier than expected. Its geographical reach is wider than the former tribal areas of KP, or Quetta, which had recently experienced terrorist incidents which were ascribed to militancy. If this phenomenon is not checked in the bud, and if the militants are allowed to regain the initiative which they had only recently lost, the entire country runs the danger of going in fear of another sectarian outrage. As bitter experience in previous years has shown, there is no part of the country safe from having sectarian disharmony imported into it. The responsibility for law and order may rest with the provincial governments, but the federal government must not forget that it must play the lead role in coordinating activities to prevent this developing into a nationwide scourge.
