Crescent Magazine

Lahore, Crescent-online
March 8, 2010 - 12 noon EST

In continuing attacks on Pakistani military and government installations, a truck packed with explosives rammed into the main gate of a safe house in Model Town, an upscale neighbourhood of Lahore, on Monday morning (March 8). At least 15 people were reported killed including guards at the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) that also left 83 people wounded; nine were reported to be in critical condition, according to hospital sources.  

Model Town is not only home to the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif whose brother Shabaz Sharif is the chief minister of Punjab Province, but also the Qur'an Academy of Dr Israr Ahmed is located there. Lahore has been targeted on numerous occasions but the latest attack came after a lull of several months.

Exactly a year ago (March 2009), the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in a commando-style operation that most observers believed was carried out by Indian agents. Pakistani and Sri Lankan cricket teams had both defied threats and refused to cancel the tournament. Later that month, the policy academy was targeted just outside Lahore. While several hundred police cadets were participating in a morning drill, the attackers scaled the academy's walls and sprayed them with bullets leaving eight dead.    

In May, assailants attacked another police building in Lahore. The attack was intended for the provincial headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency. While unable to penetrate the ISI building, the assailants went to the residential quarters and killed 23 people by firing bullets and ramming an explosive laden car. Most of the dead were family members of ISI officials.

In the firefight that ensued, more than a dozen police officers were killed and almost 300 people were wounded. The attack was carried out in broad daylight in one of the busiest districts of Lahore and reflected the brazenness of the assailants.

With recent lull in such attacks, it was presumed that the worst is over but such attacks have revived fear among people that seldom venture out unless it is absolutely necessary. The random and senseless violence has paralyzed life and left people in a state of shock and dismay, unable to comprehend why such attacks are taking place and who is really behind them. While allegations fly thick and fast, there is no one version that anybody can believe in with certainty although most observers, including many Pakistani officials especially in the police and intelligence agencies, are convinced that such attacks have the support of American Blackwater mercenaries as well as Indian intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).     

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