Islamabad, Jul 13 (IANS): The lack of coordination among security forces has given extremises more opportunities, a Pakistani daily said Friday, a day after nine police personnel were gunned down while they were asleep in a house in Lahore.
An editorial in the Daily Times said the continuous attacks by terrorists expose our security agencies, which have failed to act befittingly in the present extraordinary circumstances.
On Thursday, 10 people riding three motorcycles and a car came to a Lahore house, attacked the security personnel, killed nine and wounded several of them, and escaped.
"We have had a spate of such incidents recently...," said the editorial.
It said intelligence and law enforcement agencies are tasked with providing security to the people and are "obliged to act in extraordinary fashion when the security of the country and its people are in danger, as is the case today with Pakistan".
"Unfortunately we have been in this pit for many years. If even now we have not understood the severity of the situation, what would make us wake up?" it wondered.
Stating that the Lahore incident is a clear case of a security lapse, it said the house rented to lodge personnel who had come for training to Lahore on the request of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government after the Bannu jailbreak had not been provided even basic security.
Taliban militants struck at the Bannu jail April 15 and freed 384 prisoners. At least 20 high profile prisoners, including one who was involved in an attack on former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, were among those who escaped.
"It is about time that our security and law enforcement agencies begin working in close coordination.
"The Bannu jailbreak, the biggest in Pakistan's history, became possible because all the forces deployed for its security were on a different page on managing security crises. Terrorists have been using these loopholes to their advantage," it said.
The daily observed that lack of coordination among the federal and provincial security forces has added to the opportunities of the extremists.
"Nothing short of a coordinated and holistic approach is required from the intelligence and law enforcement agencies if we ever want to get rid of the menace of terrorism that has eaten into the social, cultural and economic fibre of our society," it said.