Leading from the front

The Punjab chief minister has pledged to play a central role in tackling terrorism and ensuring that the National Action Plan is implemented. Addressing a press conference at his Model Town home, Shahbaz Sharif said the provincial government was determined to act against militancy, and crack down on edicts declaring specific groups ‘kafir’, hate speech, illegally run seminaries and the various other structures which gave support to terrorism. He listed evicting students whose visas had expired from seminaries and acting against Afghan refugees still based in the province among the measures he planned. The CM also noted that a significant number of arrests had been made for inciting hatred. He also made highly pertinent points when he spoke of reforming school curricula and criticised media outfits for giving time to hate speech during transmissions. While Punjab has remained relatively free of terrorist violence compared to each of the other three provinces, there have been consistent reports about militant outfits operating within it, notably in the south. As is the case with the rest of the country, the militant threat has also gripped Punjab, with a continuing alert against a major attack. The barricades and sandbags outside schools signify how seriously this is being taken while the suicide bombing earlier this month near the Qila Gujjar Singh police station, which killed eight people, suggests that the militants remain capable of striking when they choose to do so.
To a considerable extent inaction, or insufficient action, in Punjab has been responsible for the problems the province faces today. For reasons that need greater debate and assessment, extremist forces, notably anti-Shia outfits and pro-jihad organisations, have been allowed to operate with far too little check. Some of them run giant seminaries and other institutions, the presence of which could not have escaped the attention of authorities. Congregations of some of these groups have also been permitted and have taken place in full public view, with police offering security cover. As is the case at the national level, we seem to see a degree of confusion between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ militants. We must hope these mists have been cleared. The fact is that groups that have operated for decades in Punjab have today linked hands with the TTP and have been involved in a series of heinous attacks, including the 2010 massacre of nearly 100 Ahmadis in Lahore. To tackle militancy effectively it is vital to go after all the terrorist groups. We cannot pick and choose. An attempt to do so has been made in the past in Punjab. It is also true that even while claiming full attention to law and order, the provincial government appears to have done little to stop these groups or tackle the accusations that have come up of their links with government members and key officials. We hope the determined tone taken by the CM marks a change in this attitude, and that in the future we will see a real effort to tackle extremism. The measures Shahbaz Sharif has laid out are solid. We now need to see them being implemented consistently and forcefully.