Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid issued a warning on Tuesday, of an increased risk of terrorism-related incidents, after two terror attacks took place the last week. He was not wrong. Two days later, on Thursday, Lahore witnessed a highly powerful bomb blast in Pan Mandi in Lahore’s Anarkali area, that took the lives of at least three people, and injured more than 20.
At the time of reporting, two of the injured are in critical condition while the wounded are being treated at Mayo Hospital. Several shops near the site were damaged by the impact of the blast, with TV footage showing burning motorcycles in a crowded bazaar.
This attack is a formidable warning of things to come. The area where the bomb blast took place, near the Mall Road, at the historical Anarkali bazaar, has previously been the target of blasts and terrorist attacks by the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) at the time when the war was at its peak.
We have seen several utterly horrific and large-scale attacks in this stretch of the area, including a horrific car bombing at the police headquarters in 2009, and several blasts at the historic Charing Cross chowk at Mall Road. Those attacks, for which the TTP took responsibility, have become a symbol of the heavy losses Pakistan suffered due to the war on terror; this attack again, as well a bombing earlier in the last year in Johar Town, following a near-constant decline in Lahore since 2016, is an alarming reminder of the tragic fact that there is a renewed threat of terror attacks being faced by the country.
The TTP claimed responsibility for seven attacks across the country on the weekend; while details are not confirmed yet, this attack in Lahore also appears to follow the pattern of TTP attacks. The government can no longer afford to allow civilians’ blood as collateral as it waits for TTP to respond to negotiations. We need to firmly pursue a peace deal, or abandon the option forever. Even in the first case, a ceasefire with a group that resorts to suicide bombings at the first sign of difficulty, looks to be a highly flimsy deal.