Narrow escape for foreign diplomats: How terror chickens are coming home to roost Pakistan

On September 22, Pakistan suffered a very major embarrassment. A convoy escorting a group of Islamabad-based foreign diplomats, including ambassadors, from eleven countries in the Swat valley, which is the pride of Pakistani tourism, was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED). The lead police vehicle was severely damaged. The explosion led to the death of one policeman and injuries to three others. Fortunately, no diplomat was injured.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry has tried to downplay the incident. In a statement it stated: “Today a group of diplomats travelling to Islamabad after their trip to Malam Jabba and Swat witnessed an incident. An advance scout police vehicle was hit by an IED which resulted in a casualty of the police detail. All members of the diplomatic corps have returned safely to Islamabad. Our sympathies are with the families of the shaheed policeman and three injured in the incident. We honour our law enforcement authorities that remain steadfast in the face of terrorists. Such acts will not deter Pakistan from its commitment towards the fight against terrorism.”

It is noteworthy that the statement does not mention the countries from which the diplomats came and the purpose of their visit. It is also silent on the basic question: Was the visit officially arranged? That is important because if a government takes diplomats on an officially organised tour to a place or area, even if it does so through the aegis of a Chamber of Commerce, it is absolutely essential that its security agencies evaluate the situation prevailing there. This is because any incident like the one which occurred in Swat inevitably and negatively profiles the country concerned. It results in making the entire purpose of such a tour counter-productive. This is what has happened in this case. Besides, it is impossible, especially in this era of saturated mass media and social media, to keep details of an incident like the Swat one behind a veil.

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Thus, despite the cryptic nature of the Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement details have emerged in the Pakistan media. The Russian embassy has also mentioned it on the social handle X. According to the Russian embassy, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised a ‘Swat Tourism Summit’. This event was arranged at Malam Jabba, which is one of the two places in Pakistan where skiing is possible. Clearly, the main purpose of the ‘Swat Tourism Summit’ was to showcase to the diplomats, perhaps, among others, the facilities available at Malam Jabba and its beauty so that more tourists, particularly foreign tourists, would be attracted there. An additional and very important part of the exercise of taking diplomats was to demonstrate that conditions were entirely safe for tourists to visit Swat and Malam Jabba. This was because some terrorist incidents had taken place in the Swat valley earlier.

While the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce may have formally extended the invitation to diplomats, it would have been only the vehicle for the event which was actually a Pakistan government one. The lead, as far as the diplomats were concerned, would have been taken by the Foreign Ministry. It would have doubtless consulted the intelligence and security agencies on the safety aspects of the diplomats’ visit. The diplomats who went to Malam Jabba were from Russia, Iran, Indonesia, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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While it is not known at what level were other countries represented, the Russian embassy social media post states that Russian ambassador Albert P. Khorev was part of the group. It is doubtful if the Russian ambassador would have gone for the event if no other ambassador was doing so. The Russian embassy social media post also reveals, “On the way to the hotel from the town of Mingora in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, an escort vehicle hit a mine. Several policemen were injured; diplomats were not harmed.”

Mingora and Saidu Sharif, which is formally the headquarters of the Swat district, are twin cities. Mingora is based on the Swat river. The Swat valley is truly historical for it was once a flourishing centre of Buddhism and the ruins of that period are present in large parts of the valley. Mingora is also the third largest city in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The twin cities have grown in recent years because of tourism and it is the intention of the Pakistan government to promote the growth of tourism in Swat.

All that will now be, at least for the foreseeable future, become difficult because of this incident. In fact, that is not all. At a time when Pakistan is attempting to secure foreign investment this incident will constitute a setback. This is because any such incident involving diplomats, even if no diplomat is injured, makes all countries cautious because the safety of diplomats is always a great priority for all governments.

As I write these lines, no terrorist group has taken responsibility for the IED blast. It could have been the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), but it really does not matter which of the anti-Pakistan state militant outfits undertook this activity. This is because so long as Pakistan continues with its policy of using some groups to promote its interests abroad, it cannot stop others from training their guns against its own security agencies. The fight against terrorism can never be fought in a segmented manner. This is one lesson which the Pakistan army, which is the final arbiter of the country’s security policy, just does not understand. This is so despite the dire economic straits that Pakistan finds itself in today. This is also despite the social havoc that violent extremist ideologies have wreaked in Pakistan. Further, this is despite the fact that political turmoil in Pakistan has also become inextricably linked with violent extremism and terrorism.

Predictably, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has come out strongly against the Swat incident but only focused on the loss of life of the policeman and the injured. He made no mention that they died escorting diplomats. That is how the media has reported his comment. President Asif Zardari too has condemned the terrorists. But he too, like Sharif, has only focused on the death of the security person. Obviously, there has been a decision taken at the highest level in Pakistan to downplay the presence of the diplomats in the convoy being escorted by the police vehicle.

Interestingly, the incident has also enabled politics to be played by the Federal Government against the KP government which belongs to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party. The KP governor told the media “The provincial government is not sincere in establishing peace and their behaviour is encouraging terrorists”. This comment, once again, demonstrates that the struggle between Imran Khan, who continues to be in prison, and the establishment and the political forces it has sponsored who hold political office today will be a fight to the finish. This is because even when foreign diplomats were involved the KP governor could not resist taking a swing at the PTI provincial government.

Will this close call make any difference to Pakistan’s approach to terrorism? The answer has to be in the negative. That is also clear from the way it has responded to it.

The writer is a former Indian diplomat who served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan and Myanmar, and as secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.