Unlike India and Afghanistan, Pakistan has not raised accusing fingers in haste towards its neighbours as far as the tragedy of Bisham is concerned and instead preferred forming a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the terror attack but deliberation of the high level huddle of the civil-military leadership on the gory incident and the statement of Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif point to the apprehensions of the authorities concerned. An emergency meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the aftermath of the Besham terrorist attack on Chinese nationals working on the Dassu Hydel Power Project expressed serious concerns over sanctuaries available to terrorists across the borders and emphasized the need for a regional approach for countering terrorism. And the Minister for Defence described Afghanistan as a source of terrorism in Pakistan, underscoring the urgent need for fundamental changes in the functionality of the Pakistan-Afghan borders amidst escalating terrorism ac-tivities.
The Prime Minister has rightly pointed out that terrorism is a transnational threat that has been instrumental-ized by the enemies of Pakistan to stymie Pakistan’s progress and development, adding that the acts targeting Paki-stan-China friendship are particularly aimed at creating mistrust between the two iron brothers. In this backdrop, the meeting expressed firm commitment to completely rooting out terrorism from the country and reiterated to comprehensively combat terrorism, employing all resources available to the state. Given meticulous professional-ism of our law-enforcing agencies, the JIT would surely bring to fore the hidden facts identifying the culprits and their handlers and we hope the information would be shared with the members of the international community to seek their cooperation as well in addressing the root causes of terrorism in the country. However, the country can-not afford to sit idly till completion of the investigations and apart from initiating necessary measures to beef up security for Chinese nationals and their projects in Pakistan, the proposal of the Defence Minister to upgrade bor-der mechanisms at the Durand Line must be implemented in letter and spirit. It is an open secret that thousands of people cross the Western border daily on the pretext of promoting intra and inter-tribes relationship but in its garb illegal movements and free for all smuggling is taking place on a daily basis inflicting heavy losses to the economy of Pakistan and facilitating movements and plans of the anti-state and anti-social elements. Nowhere in the world, this is allowed to happen for whatever reason and it is time to reject the false notion of serving the cause of kinship and formalize border crossings. What is wrong in issuance of passports and visas to all those who want to cross the border to meet their relations or carry out legal trade? Kh. Asif has pointed out that while other traditional borders adhere to international rules, the Pak-Afghan border stands as a unique case, necessitating Pakistan’s adherence to international regulations in the face of Kabul’s non-cooperation. Cooperation or no-cooperation, Pakistan must regulate movement of people and goods on the Western border as is done elsewhere in the world. Kabul has a vested interest in an unregulated border because of its economic conditions, international isolation and its habit of closing eyes to the activities of terrorist outfits. It was in this backdrop that both the previous as well as the incum-bent Afghan government vehemently opposed border control measures initiated by Pakistan at a cost of billions of rupee out of tax-payers’ money. There is also a need to add new elements to the country’s existing counter-terrorism strategy in view of the latest surge in terrorist incidents, conspiracy to target Pakistan-China relationship, scuttle Pakistan’s economic interests and pressure tactics being used to force Islamabad to change its policy vis-à-vis repatriation of illegal foreign nationals including Afghans. It is also time that the issue of the unnecessary stay of Afghan refugees on Pakistani soil is also settled keeping the country’s core interests in view. We now have an elected parliament and it would be in the fitness of things to discuss the issue threadbare and the policy should be revised with necessary input from the elected representatives.
