Angry protests flared into violence at the funeral for the head of a Pakistani sectarian militant group, officials said Thursday, as at least two people were killed in an apparent reprisal attack on a police checkpost. Malik Ishaq, the chief of the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), behind numerous bloody attacks on minority Shiite Muslims, was killed in a shootout with police in the early hours of Wednesday, along with 13 fellow militants. Police said violence broke out in Ishaq’s hometown of Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab province when the bodies arrived for burial late on Wednesday evening. “Protesters tried to damage a Shiite mosque and private properties and attacked police with stones,” district police officer Tariq Mastoi told AFP.Mastoi said police flooded the streets with around 5,000 officers and brought the disturbances under control.Hours later, a group of around 10 militants attacked a police post in an eastern part of the province, sparking a gun battle that left two attackers dead and two policemen seriously wounded.Under Ishaq’s leadership, LeJ claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest attacks on Shiites in Pakistan’s recent history, including two suicide bombings in the southwestern city of Quetta in early 2013 that killed more than 180 people.This incident shows that simply killing off the leadership of a militant organisation cannot always eradicate it. The remaining terrorist cells can continue their attacks under new leadership, or join a different militant group. In Operation Zarb-e-Azb, for example, hundreds of militants have been killed but many have fled, some across the border to Afghanistan. Though beaten back for the time being, these organisations might resurge in the country in the future. Events such as the LeJ members’ attempts to avenge their leader raise questions as to whether the military operations against terrorists will result in a complete eradication of the terrorist and sectarian groups that have become so entrenched in various parts of Pakistan. Although the killing of both Ishaq in the crossfire that followed when the convoy transporting him was attacked by LeJ militants and Mumtaz were defensive reactions by the police, they reflect the inability of our justice system in dealing with terrorist cases. The Anti-Terrorism Courts were set up for the very purpose of trying and putting away terrorists expediently, yet they have not proved to be effective and Pakistan is becoming more and more reliant on the security forces to re-establish and maintain peace in the country. The reactions of the LeJ and other proscribed organisations to the ongoing military operations against them, such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s attack on the Army Public School in December 2014, suggest that Pakistan’s war against terrorism may last longer than anticipated. Even after the operations are over, law enforcement will have to remain vigilant on the security situation of the country and will have to secure the borders to prevent the resurgence of these groups.
pk.shafaqna.com
