 | | Security forces have become the main target of suicide attacks since the Red Mosque operation last year. | KARACHI — Unlike Iraq where civilians have been the main victims of suicide bombings, security personnel are the primary target of a series of suicide attacks that ravaged Pakistan since last year's Red Mosque military operation. "The purpose behind targeting the security forces is to demoralize them," Ikram Sehgal, a senior security and defense analyst, told IslamOnline.net on Thursday, January 10. "This is the only way whereby they militants can stop the actions against them." At least 22 police and four civilians were killed Thursday when a bomber blew himself up outside the high court in Lahore, a relatively prosperous and secure city of about seven million people in Punjab province. The blast ripped through a busy square in the city center as dozens of riot police gathered ahead of a protest by lawyers against embattled President Pervez Musharraf. Dead police officers, dressed in full riot gear with protective vests and helmets, were seen lying side-by-side where they had fallen. Sehgal believes militants are sending a message. "They have sent a clear message to the security forces that they are their targets. And this is a very horrible factor when the law enforcers become vulnerable." More than 800 people have been killed in attacks -- mainly suicide bombings targeting the security forces -- over the past year, making 2007 the deadliest for militant violence in the country's history. The attacks, which claimed the lives of more than 500 security personnel, are largely seen as reaction to an eight-day military onslaught on Islamabad's Red Mosque, in which hundreds of students, including women and children, were killed. Sehgal says the wave of suicide bombings took a surge in Pakistan after the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. "Pakistani militants learnt this tactic from Iraqi and Afghan insurgents who applied this against foreign aggressors." The year 2002 is said to have seen the beginning of suicide bombings when a truck with a fertilizer bomb driven by a suicide bomber was detonated outside the US Consulate in Karachi. Twelve people were killed and 51 injured, all Pakistanis. Since then, Pakistanis have been facing the growing specter of suicide bombings. Though, there are no official figures, it is estimated that thousands of Pakistanis, including security officials, have been killed in suicide attacks over the last five years. Jihadis, Foreign Intelligence  | | Mir says some bombers are trained in Afghanistan and indirectly financed by Indian intelligence. | Sehgal argues that not only pro-Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants but foreign intelligence agencies are behind the growing suicide bombings in Pakistan. "Definitely we cannot rule out the involvement of so-called Jihadis in suicide bombings. They are the major players. They are involved in 60 percent incidents of suicide bombings." He claims that the remaining 40 percent incidents involve the Indian intelligence agency (RAW) and the Afghan intelligence agency (Khad). "There are strong evidences that Indian intelligence has been patronizing various secular and religious extremist groups in Pakistan." Hamid Mir, an Islamabad-based veteran journalist, recognizes two types of suicide bombers operating in Pakistan. "The first one are those being trained in Paktia and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan and are indirectly financed by the Indian intelligence agency (RAW)," he argues. "The second kind of suicide bombers belong to indigenous Jihadi organizations," he told IOL. He insists that Pakistan restive northern tribal belt is the producer of suicide bombers. "They feel that the army has killed their sons and brothers. And in Pushtun society, revenge is an integral part," adds Mir, who shot to international fame after his interview with Osama bin Laden. "They can't live without! taking their revenge. That is why they have been merely targeting the security forces." He notes that this "phenomenon" of targeting security personnel has increased after Red Mosque operation. Mir says Pakistan has become a laboratory test for international intelligence agencies. "The CIA, FBI, Mosad, RAW and other intelligence agencies are playing their games here with impunity. Nobody is here to stop them." Unsafe Nukes  | | "The current situation suits the international powers, especially America, which want to take our nuclear assets under their control," says Sehgal. | Sehgal, the security and defense analyst, sees some degree of security lapses. "But one thing we must not forget is that such attacks cannot be countered hundred percent. The target of terrorists is to create a sense of insecurity in society." He blames the poor performance of the intelligence agencies such security lapses. "There have been threats of suicide bombings in European countries too, but they have managed to reduce the risk to a great extent through their effective intelligence systems," notes Sehgal. "But in Pakistan, intelligence agencies instead of nabbing the terrorists before the bombs come out into the streets, our agencies are chasing anti-government politicians, journalists and lawyers leaving an open field for the terrorists." He maintained that intelligence agencies should recognize the difference between anti-state and anti-government elements. "They are chasing anti-government elements instead of anti-state ones." Some experts believe that such suicide attacks may prompt the government to re-impose the state of emergency. "If we see these incidents from the opposition's point of view, which thinks that the government is allowing the terrorists to operate and strike freely so that it gets another chance to impose state of emergency, to an extent, the opposition is within its right to think like that," says Sehgal. He believes the growing insecurity and deteriorating law and order situation serves the agenda of international powers playing the nuclear weapons safety card. "The current situation suits the international powers, especially America, which want to take our nuclear assets under their control. "This is what India wants too. That is why it has been involved in disturbing law and order in Pakistan," he charges. Citing various international reports pointing fingers at safety of Pakistan's nuclear program in favor of his contention, Sehgal says the growing insecurity will strengthen their case. "Unfortunately, these so-called Jihadis are playing in the hands of western powers. "They think they are sacrificing their lives for the sake of Islam, but in reality, they are not merely tarnishing the image of Islam, but also jeopardizing the country's nuclear assets." The security of Pakistan's estimated 50 nuclear warheads has been under global scrutiny since Musharraf declared emergency in November and concern has only risen since the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto on December 27. The US had voiced concerns that some scientists connected with the nuclear program were suspected of harboring extremist sympathies and could leak secrets to groups such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. | 
