Suicide bombings lead to suffering, fear

On the surface, life seems to be back to normal in Wah, a town in the northern Punjab which was hit on 23 August by twin suicide blasts, killing at least 70 and injuring over 100.

People shop for groceries, men wait for buses at stations and vehicles ply the streets in this town of 500,000 inhabitants some 50km northwest of Islamabad.

But scratch the surface and there is a sense of anger everywhere.

"In my neighbourhood, six funerals took place this weekend. Six men, most of them young, were killed in the blasts. Some were the sole wage-earners for their families. They leave behind small children and elderly parents. Others I know have been injured," said Muhammed Afzal, 65, a retired government employee who lives in Wah Cantt, the area housing the cantonment.

"Why can't the government protect citizens?" he asked.

Farzana Bibi, 40, from a village close to Wah, told IRIN she had lost a nephew in the blasts. "The 6,000 rupees [some US$85] he brought in each month enabled my sister, a widow, to survive. She was saving to marry off her daughter. The government has promised compensation, but this does not take away the grief of a woman who has lost her only son," said Farzana.

The Pakistan Ordnance Factory at Wah, which employed over 35,000 people, according to official sources, and consisted of various units manufacturing arms and ammunition for Pakistan's army, was the target of the suicide bombers. It was one of a series of “terrorist” offensives against Pakistan military and government installations.

Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN

State authorities, most often represented by police, have been a key target of terrorists

According to the New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Institute for Conflict Management, which maintains a detailed list of “terrorist” incidents in South Asia on its South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Pakistan has suffered at least 25 suicide bombings in 2008, in which at least 500 civilians have died.

The overall toll from the violence, when the conflict-hit northern areas of the country are included, rises to over 2,000. The number for those injured soars well above this figure.

The number of suicide bombings has risen steadily over the past seven years. Compared to two bombings in 2002, according to SATP, there were a record 56 in 2007. There are fears the figure for 2008 may be higher, with extremists in northern areas threatening attacks in major cities.

Immediately after the Wah blasts, Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the extremist outfit which seeks Islamic Sharia rule in northern areas, claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying they were in retaliation for the "air strikes and military operations in the Bajaur tribal agency and other areas". He said there would be "more attacks" if the operations were not halted.

The prime minister’s interior affairs adviser, Rehman Malik, said his government is "determined to combat terrorism". He also told the media "valuable information" had been gathered from a man arrested following the Wah blasts.

But while the process of interrogation and investigation continues, the victims struggle to handle their pain. "I saw bodies, limbs, blood everywhere. It was like an image from hell," Amjad Khan, a local resident, told IRIN. He also spoke of "terrible scenes" as mothers, fathers and others saw the bodies of relatives torn apart by the ferocity of the explosions.

"It's an awful situation. No life is safe," said I. A. Rehman, the secretary-general of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

kh/at/cb