THE bloodbath at two prayers houses of a minority religion at Lahore on Friday, which sent shock waves across the country, left the citizenry in a state of utter dismay and disgust at the apparent freedom with which the attackers were able to play havoc with the lives of people. One could also see anger on the faces of people at how small bands of terrorists could defy the security alert and destroy life, as well as fear of insecurity that unpredictable deadly occurrences inevitably create. The police officers remark on a private TV channel that when anyone has resolved to throw away their lives for the sake of a cause, howsoever devious, they hold the initiative, particularly in a sprawling town like Lahore, perhaps, explains the reason why the security establishment of the province could not forestall the gory event despite the warning from the centre. However, the real story will come out once investigations have been completed. With more than 90 deaths and a lot more injured, some still fighting for their lives, the Lahore incident was, perhaps, the deadliest attack, in a day, on prayer houses of a minority community of the country. One cannot help but condemn it. Condemnations have also poured in from different parts of the world. The incident should rouse the nation to seriously reflect upon the causes of such unfortunate events that keep recurring with frightening frequency. The massive inroads of intelligence agencies of enemy powers out to destabilise the country; the worsening economic conditions that make it possible for them to lure away the poor, hopeless youth to work for them and even resort to suicide for meeting the needs of survival of the remaining family members; the high rate of illiteracy that proves a fertile ground for breeding a mindset of militant fanaticism and readily accepts the logic of throwing away the gift of life; and, above all, a weak, inefficient and corrupt government that lets the above ugly scenario build up as a result of its policies, which promote foreign powers agendas to the detriment of national interests - these are some of the glaring factors that lie at the root of such bloody happenings. That the country has been caught in a vicious circle of military operations and militant attacks points to the myopic outlook of our leadership, not only which held the reins of power at the time of 9/11 but also today. When we mercilessly kill tribesmen, calling them terrorists without any evidence, it would be nave to expect the revengeful Pushtun to take it lying down. We have to set our own house in order, root out the foreign networks operating in the country - the involvement of RAW has already been cited in the May 28 incident - and turn the tide of intolerance to a heterogenous tolerant existence.