Pakistani Media's Anger As Government Never Seems To Learn

Suicid attack that occurred on Sunday in Pendjab capital's amusement park exemplifies what an unmitigated disaster the counter-terrorism government's policy has been, according to the Pakistani press.

In the wake of Sunday March 27 suicide attack, on Easter, in the entrance of Lahore Gulshan-e-Iqbal 's amusement park, anger prevails in the Pakistani press.

The suicide bombing at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore is reminiscent in many ways of the Army Public School attack in Peshawar.

First, there is the shocking fact that this attack seemingly meant to target as many children as possible, with the police saying that the suicide bomber detonated himself near the entrance to a children’s playground.

Then there is the massive death toll, with more than 60 people confirmed dead till last reports – a number that will surely rise since more than three hundred others are believed to have been injured. As victims were shifted to a number of public hospitals, and calls for blood donations were made, the tragedy began to sink in.

If the APS attack finally spurred the government into action and led to Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the Lahore bombing shows that military action alone will not be enough to tackle a crisis that needs an overhaul of society. Over the last year, we have also been constantly fed the narrative that Pakistan is safer.

But the grim reality is that we are not. The National Action Plan is failing. The authorities had been claiming there was a reduction in attacks since the military operation was launched, but even forgetting destructive attacks like the one at the Bacha Khan University, this month has been a particularly violent month with large-scale attacks taking place in Charsadda and Peshawar.

As grievous as this incident is, the nation has seen countless others like this, and one would hope that we would treat them as lessons learnt and counter for failures made in the past. But sadly, the government never learns.