Editorial: Beyond The Boundary

By M H Ahssan

Safe havens for terror leave the rest of us unsafe

That international cricketers can be attacked with assault rifles, grenades and rocket launchers on their way to playing a Test match in Lahore is a shocking indictment of the current security situation in Pakistan. While cricketers have been peripherally involved in terror incidents before, this is the first time a cricket team has been directly targeted. Six Sri Lankan players were injured, leading to the termination of the tour. Sport is not beyond politics at all, particularly politics of the unhinged kind.

Plans for South Asian countries to co-host the 2011 cricket World Cup are now in jeopardy. Pakistani venues are almost certainly ruled out. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka look iffy at the moment. The former has just suffered a bloody mutiny with possible political repercussions down the line, while the latter is embroiled in a messy civil war.

That leaves just India. Although the Mumbai terrorists inflicted far greater havoc on 26/11 similarities have been observed in the modus operandi of terrorists in Mumbai and Lahore, leading to speculation that the Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible for both. In which case, as India goes to the polls, election rallies could represent the next target of opportunity for terror. The problem, as US defence secretary Robert Gates has noted, is that any number of major terrorist networks have found a safe haven in Pakistan.

Unless that changes the world is threatened, with South Asia at the bleeding edge. Concerted pressure must be brought to bear on Pakistan by the international community to dismantle its terror networks. As the attacks on the bus carrying the Sri Lankan team show, Pakistan itself is paying a big price for harbouring them. It’s not only well on its way towards becoming a sports pariah, investors and tourists will largely shun it as well, making any prospects of economic rescue bleak unless it does something about those safe havens.

Instead of joining forces against the fundamentalist threat, the manner in which Pakistani politicians continue with their infighting is almost surreal. Asif Ali Zardari, on coming to power in a democratic election, has gone back on promises and done nothing to review the dictatorial powers that had accrued to the presidency in the Musharraf era, perhaps because he is president himself now.

His government has also been party to a peace deal that, in effect, cedes power to the Taliban in Swat. Nawaz Sharif, as principal opposition leader, has been pandering to the dangerous myth that the fight against terror is America’s war, not Pakistan’s. Key players in Pakistan need to be persuaded that while democratic debate is fine, jockeying for political advantage by placing their country in peril isn’t.