Kabul, Karachi and Islamabad blasts

They point towards the ruthless bombing of Taliban ruled Afghanistan and Saddam ruled Iraq for “one time defiance” after a long history of friendly cooperation. The Taliban are the product of the failure of the rulers. The Taliban are willing, and now they have shown to be able, to deliver where the governments failed. That is why the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan are perceived as “illegitimate” even though the elections that led to their formation were largely free and fair.

The Taliban is not merely an organisation, it is a phenomenon. All of them are angry - furious with their government who they see as inept, weak and unpatriotic. The disenchanted young have been recruited by the ethnic minorities just as vigorously as by the militants. Musharraf has used both to his advantage to perpetuate himself in power. That is why I have been saying it for nearly two years that if Musharraf remains in power in 2008, the war for the liberation of Afghanistan would be fought on the Pakistani soil. He is still in power and the war has widened. He is still using the same methods that he employed on May 12 last year to prevent Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry from leaving the Karachi airport to address the bar council. After the visit of Richard Boucher, US Under Secretary of State for South Asia, Musharraf felt secure enough to venture out of Islamabad to Karachi. Seven bombs exploded in Pathan colonies in Karachi on the same day as the suicide bomb blast in Kabul.

It could not have been a counter attack to the Kabul incident as it occurred later. But it clearly sent a message: India has intelligence assets in Karachi to counter the Taliban. It is more likely to be a response to the suicide bomber, who killed 21 including 11 policemen in Islamabad close to the Lal Masjid. That attack coincided with the large protest meeting to commemorate the first anniversary of the military attack on Lal Masjid. That message was for Federal Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, who is also in charge of the operations against the Pakistani Taliban.