Pak security apparatus' 'impotence' against brazen Taliban attacks 'pathetic': Editorial

Islamabad, July 18 (ANI): Referring to the latest Taliban attack on a police station in Bannu, an editorial in a Pakistani daily has said it can no longer be tolerated that the Taliban make bold threats against the state's nerve centres, then carry out attacks with reckless abandon, and the sovereign is left picking up the pieces.

The daring Taliban attack on Monday, again targeting a police station, is confirmation of a clear escalation in militant attacks on the security forces, the editorial in the Daily Times stated. This latest round of violence may stem from the reopening of the NATO supply route through Pakistan. Despite the fact that the reaction was widely anticipated, it has regrettably still caught the security agencies napping, which is cause for serious concern, it said.

Bannu was the location of a spectacular jailbreak just this April, in an operation that bore the hallmarks of meticulous planning and execution. The fact that after that debacle it was still possible for two burqa-clad terrorists to walk into a police station in the same area without being stopped and checked, exposes worrying loopholes in the security arrangements, it added.

Now we again have easy infiltration of police stations, which is alarming, it further said. There is a need for better coordination among various security, secret and law enforcement agencies mandated with dealing with just this kind of militancy, it added.

Both civil and military agencies are advised to consider an overarching intelligence body, one whose core responsibility is to coordinate intelligence among various agencies. Such a body should have an oversight mandate to call upon the services of all relevant organisations - military, paramilitary, police as well as civilian. One of its biggest advantages would be a consolidated, centralised database gathered from across the intelligence spectrum, it concluded. (ANI)