Lahore Attacked

The siege at Manawan Police Academy in Lahore has ended. It is reported that 4 terrorists were killed and 4 captured. The attack killed 8 policemen and 95 injured reports The News.



BBC's Jill McGivering reported the following from outside the Academy as the operation was underway.

"This was a well-organised attack that will raise concern about the sophistication of the group behind it.
Pakistan is facing a broad insurgency from groups linked to al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taleban and the Pakistani Taleban, as well as from religious extremists and criminals taking advantage of the situation.
It is unclear who was responsible for this attack, but its co-ordinated nature could point to one of the more international groups."

Now this raises some serious questions for us including:
1. Is it an all out war? And should we stand divided on justifying the terrorist attacks or fight it?
2. Can this common threat become an opportunity to unify the nation across ethnicity, provincialism, and sectarian divide?
3. How to prepare our security apparatus (Police, Para-military forces, and Army) to fight this menace? Our forces are trained to deal with traditional crime/ security threats. For that matter for now no one in the world is prepared to deal with this menace fully. Two parallels in recent times are Algerian fight against militants (though scale was limited) and India's handling of Punjab militancy. Can we learn something from them?
4. How to mobilize public opinion for this fight?
5. Are we ready to triumph as a nation or have we given up?
6. Should we do a symbolic trial of Gen. Zia Ul Haq?