The bombing of the Federal Investigation Agency’s offices in Lahore on Tuesday brings the total of such attacks since the February 18 elections to at least seven. With the exception of the March 2 attack on a gathering of tribesmen in Darra Adam Khel (in the North-West Frontier Province) each of the other 6 have targeted military and / or law enforcement personnel; the last two in Lahore, the third such attack their in the last few months.
The consensus in the Pakistani press is that these bombings are the work of Islamic militants, although no groups have come forward to accept responsibility. What there motivations might be is anyone’s guess. The conventional wisdom seems to be that the attacks are a response to increased engagement from Pakistani security forces in the North-Western area of Swat; are aimed at creating pressure on President Musharraf; at creating pressure on the incoming government or any combination of the above. So anyone’s guess, really!
Public opinion on the bombings, similarly, has been relatively difficult to judge. Ahmed Rashid (the author of ‘Taliban’ and ‘Jihad’) is quoted in the Christian Science Monitor as saying: “It is leading to enormous public revulsion and a backlash against militants”. Ejaz Haider (of the Pakistani daily, The Daily Times) suggests, however, that “Pakistan is still passing through the stage where most people, if not all, consider acts of terrorism as begotten of a flawed foreign policy. In other words, terrorism is being seen as a reaction and that shifts the focus away from the innate dastardliness of act. In doing so it also makes it almost acceptable”.