As serious as the fidayeen attack on the mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, the reaction seen there is equally important and worth noting. This cannot be considered a normal terrorist attack. The manner in which the terrorist blew himself up inside the police headquarters in Peshawar during prayers by reaching the heavily guarded mosque, is indicative of the deep preparation behind this attack. Of the more than a hundred people killed, 97 are policemen and officers. Obviously, through this attack, there was an attempt to break the morale of the police force. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been carrying out such terrorist incidents in Pakistan for some time now, so naturally the first suspicion went towards it. TTP also took the responsibility of this attack. One of its commanders told that the purpose of this attack was to avenge the death of TTP commander Umar Khalid Khurasani. But in a subsequent interesting development, the official spokesperson of TTP said that targeting mosques and other religious places is against TTP’s policy and those who have done so may face action.
This is a clear indication that even within this terrorist organization there are different factions whose differences are getting out of control. But the most interesting thing is the reaction of the Government of Pakistan after this incident. The Defense Minister of Pakistan rightly expressed concern in the Parliament that attacks on people offering Namaz or worshiping do not happen anywhere anyway, but now this is also happening in Pakistan. He agreed that Pakistan needed to set its house in order. Blaming the past policies of the Pakistan government, he even went on to say that we (Pakistan) created Mujahideen, but they became terrorists. It is not yet clear to what extent this statement of the Defense Minister given in the Parliament can be considered as proof of the policies of the Government of Pakistan, but if it is indeed a sign of introspection going on within the Government of Pakistan, then it is a good thing. India has been repeatedly reiterating that the policy of promoting terrorism is suicidal for the neighboring country. Pakistan has been facing the consequences of this policy for a long time, but it never accepted this openly. Belatedly, but even now if he is realizing that promoting terrorism in any name was his mistake, then it should be reflected in his decisions and actions.
