On 10 June 2014, unidentified gunmen attacked a security check-post outside Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. This incident occurred less than 48 hours after an all-night siege by Taliban gunmen at the same airport on 8 June 2014.
In this statement, Sameer Patil, associate national security fellow at Gateway House comments on this second attack in two days at or around Karachi airport, and analyses the prospects for peace talks between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Taliban.
Statement:
“As noted in a Gateway House statement on June 9, commenting on the attack at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the ongoing battle for supremacy between the two factions in the Pakistani Taliban will prove to be deadly for Pakistan’s security, and we can expect more attacks of this nature.
The June 10 terror attack in Karachi occurred only 48 hours after the last one, despite enhanced security measures taken by the Pakistani security forces. The successive attacks do not reflect well on the capacity of the security forces to prevent and contain such incidents and, more importantly, prevent militants from entering an area that was supposed to have been sanitised after yesterday’s attack.
The back-to-back attacks will pose difficulties for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been continually pushing for talks with the Pakistani Taliban, but finding it difficult to convince the political establishment and the Pakistani Army.”
For more information or interview requests, please contact Reetika Joshi at joshi.reetika@gatewayhouse.in.