Massacre in the Mosque

Suicide attack inside a place of worship in Peshawar has shaken the country

Peshawar: As the death toll from the terrorist attack inside a jam-packed mosque in ‘Malik Muhammad Saad Police Lines’ crossed 100, many in the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are asking vital questions that need sincere and timely answers to prevent a repetition of similar tragic incidents in the future.

Named after one of the finest officers produced by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Malik Muhammad Saad Khan – who was martyred in a terrorist attack on January 27, 2007 — the Peshawar Police Lines is situated in the city’s red-zone, housing several important buildings including the provincial assembly, the Peshawar High Court, the secretariat, the central jail, central police offices, the Governor and the Chief Minister houses and the IGP House.

One of the most asked questions is how the suicide bomber bypassed all the security checks and able to reach the mosque.

The heavily guarded main entrance of the Police Lines can be reached via two paths. One by foot, after crossing a sloppily-guarded access point near the central jail, where two policemen ask simple questions and occasionally body-search the people, while the other access is via Khyber Road — after crossing a two-tiered security check either by foot or automobile.

Thorough checking is done at the later checkpoint. However, it is at the main entrance of the Police Lines where one enters only after furnishing personal details and purpose of visit, and going through a metal-detector walk-through gate. This makes it almost impossible for anyone to enter the secure area carrying explosives-laden with metal. Therefore, the police rule out the possibility of the terrorist getting inside by foot.

That’s why shortly after the incident, Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Muhammad Ijaz Khan informed the media about the possibility of the attacker going inside the premises onboard a vehicle. It merits mentioning that on any given day, vehicles and their occupants would randomly get searched. However, this check usually would only consist of asking basic questions or checking the CNICs.

The First Information Report (FIR) registered at the Counter Terrorism Department by the Station House Officer (SHO) Peshawar East holds unknown terrorists responsible for the mosque attack.

Another burning question asked by experts and common people alike is about the mode of the attack. Many are of the view that a terrorist wearing a suicide vest could only carry between 10-15 kilograms of explosives, which can kill people but it takes a lot more to bring down a large part of a concrete building. Questions are being asked whether the attack was possibly a result of a planted bomb.

Like any terrorist attack, the focus turned to finding out who would claim the responsibility. Since the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been actively targeting security forces and police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country, it was expected that the outlawed terrorist group would claim responsibility for the attack.

Hours after the incident, A TTP central shura member, Umar Mukaram, claimed responsibility of the attack, saying it was the fourth suicide attack in a series of operations launched to revenge the killing of a former TTP commander Umar Khalid Khurasani. But TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani later distanced his group from the attack. However, many experts believe that it is the group’s practice to distance itself from any attacks on religious places.

Umar Khalid Khurasani, real name Abdul Wali, was a hardline commander and one of the founding members of the TTP in 2007. Khalid Khurasani was killed in an Improvised Explosive Device attack in the Birmal district of Paktika province, Afghanistan on August 7, 2022. Many among his followers believed Pakistan to be behind the attack on their leader. He parted ways with the group and formed a new group by the name of Jamaat-al-Ahrar after developing differences with the then-leader Mullah Fazalullah in August 2014. Later, JA joined the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISK) for a short time before returning to mainstream TTP in 2020 after the efforts of the group’s current leader Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud resulted in reuniting over 20 splinter terrorist groups, including the JA.

The confusion over claiming responsibility for the attack also gives weightage to rumours that Khalid Khurasani’s followers in the TTP were either joining ISK or were working on their own without the approval of their group’s high-command. In any case, it seems that the TTP might no longer have the former JA fighters on its side.

One of the main concerns of Pakistan is the origin of the terrorists that have been frequently targeting the security forces since the Afghan Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021. Pakistan has all reasons to suspect that the TTP members are living unharmed inside Afghanistan and that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) or the Afghan Taliban were not doing anything to stop them from waging a war against Pakistan. And like many recent terrorist attacks, Pakistan again showed its displeasure over the existence of safe havens for the TTP in Afghanistan.

While Afghan Taliban representative at their Political Office in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, tweeted that “Places of worship have their sanctity in our religion and none has right to violate it,” their Minister for Foreign Affairs Molavi Ameer Khan Muttaqi was not so diplomatic when he advised Pakistan to ‘search for a solution to the problems inside their own house’. Speaking at a gathering in Kabul, Muttaqi suggested that there should be thorough investigations into the Peshawar attack. “Our region is familiar with fighting, explosives and bombs. It is not possible at all that a suicide bomber, a suicide vest or a bomb can cause so much damage. We have not seen a bomb in the past 20 years that can blow buildings away and kill hundreds of people. Therefore, there should be thorough investigations into this attack,” the Afghan Foreign Minister said.

Rejecting Pakistan’s concerns that terrorism in Pakistan was coming from Afghanistan, Ameer Khan Muttaqi said that Pakistan should not point fingers at Afghanistan. “If someone says that Afghanistan is the centre of terrorism and at the same time, they say that terrorism has no borders then this terrorism should have split over to China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. But they are all at peace, including Afghanistan, hence it is proven that there is no such thing as terrorism here. Therefore, we should cooperate with each other, extend brotherly hands to each other, not blame each other and not sow seeds of hatred against each other.”

The recent statement of the Afghan Foreign Minister shows how relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are heading from bad to worse. Both countries are facing a trust deficit which can only be restored through regular engagement, allowing both sides to openly discuss various issues of common interest, including terrorism and the fact that the TTP leadership is based in Afghanistan which the IEA has entirely under its control.