source: twitter X the Balochistan post
Beyond the Veil The Trend of Female Suicide Attacks
On August 26th, at the anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a 22-year-old student of the eighth semester of Turbat Law College “Sangat Mahal Baloch” hit a truck full of explosives on the main gate of the Bela headquarters. After this, the attackers of the Balochistan Liberation Army get a chance to enter the headquarter. On the same pattern, 44 attacks are carried out continuously for 20 hours at 40 different places in 13 districts of Balochistan.
The BLA calls this series of attacks Operation “Hirouf”. The BLA’s Majeed Brigade, headed by Bashir Zeb, claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to media reports, 78 security officials, including 35 civilians were martyred as a result of these attacks, while 130 security personnel were martyred according to the BLA social media account “Hakel”. Apart from human lives, 2 gas pipelines, 7 railway tracks, 2 bridges and 13 vehicles were destroyed.
related: Female suicide bomber kills three Chinese teachers and Pakistani at Karachi university | Reuters
Whether through ignorance or negligence, the terrorist attacks were turned into a conflict between Balochistan and Punjab. In terms of damage, these attacks can be called the most destructive operation in the history of Balochistan. BLA has released a list of 10 attackers, all of whom are between the ages of 20-25 and all are educated, some have degrees from universities and some are still students. Mahil, the female suicide attacker was also a student.
Mahil’s entire family is well-educated and has political background. No one has gone missing from his family to date. Then what are the factors that forced Mahil to take such an extreme step? Earlier, another female BLA suicide bomber Sherry Baloch blew herself up near China Language Center in Karachi University. Sherry received a B.Ed degree from Allama Iqbal Open University and an MSc in Zoology from Balochistan University.
At that time she was a government school teacher in Kalatak. Sherry’s husband was a dentist while she was a mother of two children. There was no one missing from Sherry’s family to see her actions through the mirror of revenge. However, she was involved with the Balochistan Students Organization Azad to some extent. Historically, on June 6, 2000, a female suicide bomber attacked Nawawaq’s office in Karachi, which was the first such attack in Pakistan.
In 2005, the security agency arrested women named Arafa and Saba who were receiving training for suicide attacks. In 2010, World Food Program personnel were attacked by a female in Bajaur while they were distributing food to the public. The female suicide bomber took 43 other lives with her. In 2010, an Uzbek couple carried out a suicide attack on a police station in DI Khan. In 2012, a woman committed a suicide attack on Jamaat-e-Islami’s former Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmed in Mohmand. In 2013, a woman committed a suicide attack on a university bus in Quetta, killing 25 people.
The South Asian Terrorism Portal has identified 6 female suicide bombers in Pakistan between 2002 and 2017. This tradition of suicide attacks by women, especially educated women, is alarming. Khurram Iqbal’s book “The Making of Pakistani Human Bombs” is an excellent and comprehensive literature to understand its basic science. It is not at all necessary that the suicide attack is done for revenge, but it is done by controlling and commanding the human mind. The role of religion is not too prominent, in history, women have been used most in terrorism by secular organizations.
A human becomes a machine, depending on what the programmer wants it to do, since women are naturally more emotional and impressionable, making them easy targets for terrorist organizations. On the one hand, they reach the target very easily and on the other, apart from getting media attention, they also get public sympathy. Their main aim is to tell the world that we have been severely oppressed and that our women have also been forced to commit suicide attacks. If we observe all these attacks, women have caused more loss of life and property than male suicide bombers.
In Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thousands of years of traditions of the veil and the sanctity of women prevent security personnel from searching them and female terrorists pass through the checkpost without being checked. On one side such suicide attacks cause more destruction, and on the other hand, Baloch and Pashtun traditions and culture, which have been going on for thousands of years, are also suffering irreparable damage. What is the solution to this problem?
If we think that all this can be done away with by force, it is simply a delusion, and for the last twenty years, this effort has failed. Practically, there is a need to address the numerous factors that can fuel violent extremism. Discrimination, inequitable distribution of resources, marginalization, poor governance and lack of state accountability are justified by terrorists and are setting our future generations on the path of destruction. Only the rule of law and respect for human rights can satisfy their minds. This war has now moved out of arms and into minds.
The most important thing to understand is that most suicide bombers have been or are students of social sciences. If terrorists are playing with our future by weaponizing beliefs and ideas, with the help of rival states, then we also have to treat these sick minds with other methods instead of force. The scope of education and employment should be extended to those areas which are their target.
First of all, the state has to come forward and take responsibility, then since most of the terrorists, especially women are coming out of the modern education system i.e. universities, then the teachers have to play their role. Rather, elements of nationalism dominate. I believe that the greatest need today is to teach peace in our educational institutions, I am saying this because 75% of the population of Balochistan alone consists of youth below 30 years.
Thirdly, our religious leaders have to play their role to convey the correct teachings of Islam to the children of this nation. Teachers and scholars will not be able to bring major changes without state patronage. We pray to Allah Almighty to protect our motherland from both external and internal enemies and make this country a cradle of peace.
Written by: Sajid Anwar Wardak
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