Suicide attacks and other terrorist activities in various parts of Pakistan have become a routine affair. And other than issuing strongly worded statements of condemnation with promises of exemplary punishment to the criminals concerned, no serious notice seems to have been taken by those responsible for assuring the safety of citizens as a basic function of the state functionaries. Nevertheless, various segments of society are equally responsible for not pressurising the authorities to take action against the militants' challenge to the writ of state. The latest barbaric massacre in the Parade Lane Mosque of Qasim market in Rawalpindi may perhaps provide an opportunity to awaken, from their slumber, those elements who regard the perpetrators of such heinous crimes against humanity as "their estranged Muslim brothers who have been forced by the foreign and local anti-Islam elements simply as a reaction to their evil designs, and therefore the government should remove the root cause of the present acts of violence and negotiate with these estranged faithfuls instead of taking army action against them. The recent suicide bombings in Peshawar, Kohat, military installations in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Kamara are only a reaction to the military operations in South Waziristan and Malakand, Swat, Dir and Bajaur....Stop this operation.....Pull out the army from FATA as well as Balochistan and all will be well and honkey dorey thereafter." It is with a sense of deep pain and anguish that I have to state that after the holocaust in the Parade Lane Mosque, the worst of its kind targeting senior military officers and their children who had joined their parents in offering the Friday Prayer (of which harrowing details have already been splashed in the media), the response from the government and the nation as a whole has been no different from the usual routine statements and condolences to the families concerned. As in the past, speculations are rife and widespread with regard to the mastermind behind the massacre - Indians, Israelis, Russians and Blackwater. Everyone agrees that no Muslim other than hired assassins could indulge in such filthy killing of their Muslim brothers while offering prayers in mosque. Unfortunately, no one is moving beyond the oft repeated allegations which have never materialised into any solid conclusion. I can only hang my head in shame for the knee-jerking succumbing to expediencies by those championing the cause of independence, sovereignty and national honour. Time has come to stop this hypocrisy and stand up to defend our national honour, sovereignty and peace. And we can only do this by holding all those guilty of planning such terror attacks accountable. Could this heinous crime of targeting top brass of the army and their children take place without internal intelligence sharing from circles close to the mosque? Every time the suicide bombers manage to escape no heads roll for criminal neglect of responsibility. Certainly, those responsible in the administration as well as the intelligence set up for ensuring security in the most sensitive areas of Rawalpindi must be held answerable. Needless to say, what happened on Friday is a dangerous conspiracy against the state than the eye can see on the surface. There was a time when injustice done against the Chief Justice of Pakistan took the shape of a movement that ultimately led to the establishment of a free judiciary. What is going on at present is far more dangerous; a conspiracy against the state. But there is no public movement against terrorism which is endangering the very existence of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Will the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan take suo moto notice of the Rawalpindi mosque massacre on Friday last? The writer is the president of the Pakistan National Forum.