Stock Exchange Attack | Talat Hussain

Syed Talat Hussain

The good news is that the Stock Exchange Attack was foiled from becoming a big catastrophe. Going by the preparation of terrorists, their arms, ammunition and the ready to eat meals (REMs) they looked set to make a longer stay in this financial nerve center of the country and extend the damage to the repute and image of the business and investment climate in Pakistan.

Another good news is that the opposition in the assembly session on the budget roundly condemned the attack. You can ask what else can the Opposition do at any rate if not condemn it? Well, for a perspective, see this. Imran Khan’s usual take on terrorism during the previous government’s tenure used to be suggestions that such acts of terror were perhaps the handiwork of Nawaz Sharif’s alleged friends in India who wanted to help him in his times of political trouble.

Beginning to wonder why whenever Nawaz Sharif is in trouble, there is increasing tension along Pakistan's borders and a rise in terrorist acts? Is it a mere coincidence?

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 13, 2018

The bad news is that while all the terrorists were killed, they created the hype that they were looking for across the world.  This news was picked by all major networks across the world and world financial experts had tweets and comments on the situation that lasted for a good one hour and was cleared in the next hour and a half.

The worse news, however, is that, typically, officials have gone into a frenzy of self-praise on having thwarted the attack, manipulating a chained media to build a narrative of great success.

This obviously means that serious debate regarding this worrying development will be drowned in silly hurrahs of victory. As with all such events in the past, there will be no inquiry into how the terrorists were able to make it this far in their design and were able to crack through the first cordon. Nor will there be any honest assessment of the increasing number of terrorist actions that restarted in Balochistan and KPs border areas with Afghanistan and are now yelping at our heels in Karachi. What lies behind this design of terrorism and what are we doing to comprehend and cancel the motives of their funders. While BLA has claimed responsibility for the attack, the dots connecting them with the network operating across the country are still to be joined.

Air-head (they call it positive) reporting on how the stock exchange is showing signs of improvement post-attack misses the point that the attack did take place and that it is a sharp blow to the image of the country already reeling under the self-created Aviation scandal. After prime minister Imran Khan’s endless refrain of the country being in the grip of the corrupt mafia, the pilots license crisis combined with negative economic growth and rising terrorism paints a dreary picture.

On top of it all, the domestic situation remains uncertain, marred by misgovernance and several local crises afflicting the lives of a people on the edge of their patience.

The country needs a serious and focused debate on its current challenges and its future direction. The Stock Exchange attack has been turned into a photo opportunity and useless PR. This does not do anything for the nation.  This is the worst part.