Lahore again

Even as the siege of a police academy on the outskirts of Lahore was on,speculation had begun on the possible antecedents of the terrorists. Mondays terrorist attack at Manawan,just 12 km from the India border,came less than a month after gunmen opened fire on a coach carrying Sri Lankan cricketers to Lahores Gaddafi Stadium. Eyewitnesses spoke of similarities between the two incidents,and together they could impose isolation on Pakistans most lively city. Thats always an objective of terrorists. But,in a reflection of the complex and perilous situation in Pakistan,there are other timelines that Mondays siege can follow. The strike on the police academy,which took the security forces seven hours to defeat,also came just three days after a suicide bomber struck a mosque near the border with Afghanistan,killing dozens of people. On Friday,too,US President Barack Obama announced his Af-Pak strategy.

The facts particular to the attack on the police academy are obviously not in. But coming just three days after Obama called the Pakistan-Afghan border the most dangerous place in the world,it,cruelly,shows the complexity of the task he is trying to pare down to an effort to disrupt,dismantle and defeat Al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda and Taliban are words that have changed to include ever more extremist forces than they did before the war in Afghanistan dispersed them geographically into Pakistan and local affiliates threaded themselves into a growing network. Obamas reiteration of focus on taking on terrorists on Pakistani territory is timely. But as this newspaper responded to his announcement,it is the modality of carrying through that intent that invites a degree of scepticism.

Obama made the fight against terrorists in what is now called the Af-Pak region a key foreign policy component during his campaign. But there is concern that while he recognises the security challenges emanating from the region,he has not modified his predecessor administrations mode of operation enough. After all,he appears still reliant on the Pakistan army to deliver,even though his generals are reported to have told Pakistan that they believe elements in the ISI continue to maintain links with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.