Peshawar: City on the frontline

By Haroon Rashid
BBC Urdu

Friday's blast targeted the army cantonment area of the city

The Pakistani city of Peshawar is on the receiving end of violence and militant intimidation once again.

Even as militants spread their attacks outside the traditional theatre of war in the north-west, Peshawar is not forgotten.

On Thursday a lone blast in Peshawar after a day of gun battles in Lahore highlighted the fact the city is a perpetual target.

"I came back yesterday from work early because of rumours that after Lahore, suicide bombers would again turn towards Peshawar. And this is what happened actually later that afternoon. People are scared," Subhani Wadud told me from Peshawar.

On Friday, 11 people were killed as another bomb ripped through a police building in a part of the city close to the army cantonment.

Just one week earlier 49 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the busy Khyber Bazaar.

A renewed spate of attacks has shaken the more than two million residents of this city.

But this has been Peshawar's reality for the last three decades.

Peshawar has long been a place that has hovered on the edge of war. Many local residents blame its proximity to the lingering war in Afghanistan and Pakistan's lawless tribal region for its violent troubles.

Peshawar's western border touches the tribal region of Khyber while the Afghan border is only one hour's drive away.

Only last year, the militants on the outskirts of the city appeared to grow so strong that people started talking about its imminent fall.

History of violence

It all began with Soviet troops entering neighbouring Afghanistan in 1979.

They [the militants] have to show their anger, no matter who is killed Peshawar resident

Afghan refugees came pouring into the city in their millions from across the historic Khyber Pass. The city witnessed another influx in 2001 after the US destroyed the Taliban in Afghanistan.

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan started supporting the "mujahideen" against the Soviets.

In return, many believe the Soviets started paying back in the same vein with daily bomb blasts in Peshawar.

Scores of its residents lost their lives for a war they had nothing to do with. I still remember the blast in Peshawar's cantonment area in front of a busy shop in 1993 that killed over 60 people.

The city is well protected, with an extensive police and military presence.

Refugees from tribal areas and Afghanistan have always come to Peshawar

This reassures its local residents. Many believe a militant takeover is no real possibility - but militants have proved time and again that they can target the city at their will.

The heavy presence of local security forces lead some to think this is why the militants have sent bombers to Peshawar's busy markets.

"They have to show their anger, no matter who is killed," says a local resident.

But it is also becoming clear that in their increasingly desperate struggle against the Pakistani state, militants once again regard ordinary citizens as "legitimate targets".

Recent major attacks in Peshawar have made it evident that the war is no longer just between security forces and the militants.

Common citizens are directly involved now. Ever since attacks began following interventions in Pakistan's tribal areas in 2002, militants have taken care not to target civilians in fear of losing popular support.

Cornered animals

There has been popular support for militants because of the anti-American feeling endemic in this part of the world.

But the more militants feel hemmed in by the Pakistani military presence around South Waziristan, where the Taliban has strongholds, the more they fight back like cornered animals.

OTHER RECENT MILITANT ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN 15 October - About 40 die in a series of gun and bomb attacks 12 October - Security convoy attacked in Swat valley, 41 die 10 October - Militants attack Rawalpindi army HQ - 20 killed 9 Oct - At least 50 die in Peshawar suicide blast 5 Oct - Five killed in suicide bomb at UN Islamabad offices 26 Sept - 16 die in suicide car bombs in Peshawar and Bannu

Everybody is now a target, whether it is the UN or the common man.

This last week has proved to be an important turning point for the government - and an extremely dangerous one for its citizens.

It brings back the memories of that time in the late 1980s and early 1990s when there were attacks and blasts in roads and markets across the city.

This was at the height of the Afghan resistance against the Soviet invasion.

The government is now more open about these matters and recognises the sacrifices that Peshawar has made in this and previous wars.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rahman Malik said in the aftermath of last week's blast that the sacrifices made by this region are beyond estimation.

But no-one can answer the question - When will it finally end?

Some people are also forced to ask the question whether the failure in preventing such attacks could help in building public support for an operation in Waziristan.

Such attacks will definitely put pressure on the government to eradicate the militants from this region, once and for all.