Pakistan violence puts government on defensive

Separatist group claims bus attack, Taliban allies kill security officials, and cross-border gunfire kills five Indian soldiers
Baluchistan victim
People move the body of a victim of the bus attack in Baluchistan. Photograph: Naseer Ahmed/Reuters

The dizzying range of threats to stability in Pakistan were on full display on Tuesday when militants of nearly all stripes launched attacks across the country, including on the highly sensitive border with India.

The strikes by religious extremists and separatists, and border clashes in the disputed region of Kashmir, came amid a state of high alert in the capital, which is bracing itself for a possible spectacular attack in the runup to the religious holiday of Eid.

The latest attack, on Wednesday morning, killed 11 people and had apparently targeted a provincial government minister after he watched a late-night football match in Karachi. He was unhurt when a bomb went off near his vehicle – young boys at the game comprised many of the dead and wounded.

Imtiaz Gul, a security analyst, said the recently installed government of the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was being inundated with multiple crises, in contrast to the hopes of many observers that security might improve following May's elections.

"He finds a situation in which various parts of Pakistan are on fire," said Gul. "This is a multi-dimensional challenge, with both sectarian groups and political Islamists inspired by al-Qaida. They are ratcheting up violence to put the government on the defensive."

On Monday night dozens of gunmen dressed as security forces kidnapped a group of people travelling on a bus convoy in the south-western province of Baluchistan, shooting 13 of the passengers and dumping their bodies in a nearby gorge.

The Baluchistan Liberation Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack on travellers returning home for Eid.

The bus was believed to be carrying people from Punjab, the province that dominates Pakistan politically and economically, to the resentment of some ethnic groups including many in Baluchistan.

Normally bus convoys in Baluchistan are afforded police protection, but officials said local security forces were dealing with a nearby attack on a fuel truck that may have been a ruse to distract the authorities.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning a police senior superintendent and two army officers were killed in the mountainous northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan when gunmen attacked a small security force convoy.

The area has long been wracked by Sunni sectarian terrorist groups waging a bloody campaign against members of the minority Shia community. It is the same area where a group of 10 foreign climbers were killed last month in an unusual attack on Pakistan's small foreign tourist sector.

A faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Pakistani militant groups that pledge loyalty to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Muhammad Navid, a senior local policeman, said the men had been attending a security meeting in the remote town of Chilas which had been called after intelligence reports warned that "high-profile personalities" were likely to be targeted by militants.

"When they finished their meeting and rushed back home they were ambushed a few metres from the house of the administration official," Navid said.

In the nearby disputed region of Kashmir, five Indian soldiers were killed by what New Delhi claimed was firing by Pakistani troops across the "line of control" that marks the uneasy ceasefire point between the two countries.

India's defence minister, AK Antony, said India strongly condemned the attack, which he claimed was carried out by "20 heavily armed terrorists, along with persons in Pakistani army uniform".

Firing across the line of control and raids by Pakistan-based militant groups, many of which are believed to have ties with the Pakistani army, is a longstanding problem in the disputed region.

Pakistan said Indian claims that its troops were involved were "totally baseless".

The killings represents the first major challenge to Sharif's policy of improved relations and trade with India.

Gul said Sharif had to contend with powerful "war lobbies" in both countries that had no interest in peace. "There is a pattern in the past where we have also seen high-profile attacks designed to undermine any significant development between the countries or any development on the way to normalisation and dialogue."

Only last Thursday India's foreign minister vowed that New Delhi would be "picking up the threads" of peace talks with the new Pakistani government, and Sharif vowed to resolve "all longstanding issues with India, including Kashmir".

A major beefing up of security in Islamabad has heightened tensions. Pakistan's security agencies have reportedly intercepted messages between TTP commanders stating their desire to attack prominent targets, which are believed to include parliament and military buildings.

The city has responded by erecting a towering line of concrete blast walls near the exit of the international airport, which cars are banned from entering after dark, creating chaos on the roads outside.

Muhammad Rizwan, a senior officer from the Islamabad police, said extra men had been deployed to the city's landmark Faisal mosque, market places and 10 entry points to the city. "All law enforcement agencies are performing on high alert, in their own sphere," he said.