The Canvas

As the presidential primaries happen in the USA, the future of Pakistan in the coming years hangs in the loom.

In a recent news report run by CNN.com, the threat of suicide bombers, Taleban and the Al Qaeda working it’s way inside Pakistan has been made thoroughly clear. From high profile cases such as the Lal Masjid Operation, to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and an attempt on her in Karachi, prior to that, all happened with-in a span of one year. Little is left to doubt the intent of the sinister hand behind these heinous acts.

Suicide bombings like the attack that killed Bhutto and more than 20 of her supporters, including Asif, have intensified in recent months in Pakistan.

Nineteen suicide attacks — including a failed attack on Bhutto’s life in October — have killed close to 400 people and wounded nearly 1,000 others in the last three months, according to government officials.

Pro-Taliban militants with ties to al Qaeda are carrying out the attacks, according to analysts and government officials.

CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen says the number of suicide bombings in Pakistan has “reached unprecedented levels in the past year.” Previously, Bergen says, such attacks were rare.

“The reason for this rise is because al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have morphed together ideologically and tactically, and both see themselves at war with the Pakistani state,” Bergen says. “Many of the suicide attacks have been aimed at Pakistani politicians, officials and soldiers.” (Atia Abawi / CNN)

Obama, Clinton, McCain, you name it. All top presidential candidates have more or less stated that they will bring a ‘change’ to the ‘War on Terror,’ and their first change will be with the policy of free-hand afforded to Pakistan. While it makes me sick to believe Pakistan is being used as a campaign tool by all camps, the fact that terrorism itself has grown inside Pakistan should be an alarm to all Pakistanis to do something about it.

A few facts that are undeniable, are the decreasing number of Musharraf supporters, inside and out of Pakistan. Many think he has out-done himself by meddling in a lot of affairs he shouldn’t have in the first place. No matter what he does, he will remain to be remembered as a ‘man in a uniform.’ The recent events in Pakistan has lent him to play himself into the hands of his critics and cynics alike.

While in the bigger picture, the world waits and sees how the investigation into the murder of Benazir turns out, a lot of people are more worried about the growing threat of terrorism and suicide bombers running amok in Pakistan. And honestly, I am too. But I really don’t think landing troops on Pakistani soil would fix anything.

If anything, the foreign military help on the issue will not only aggravate the issue, it will create a vexation for the Pakistani state and military which is high amongst the loosely attached tribals of the FATA region. Militarily, this might be a small battle, but it could get really messy. And if anything, regardless of the fact that these Taleban and Al Qaeda are blowing themselves apart, all their are doing is creating a booby-trap for foreign troops to come and play ball on their home-turf; a stadium where they haven’t been all that successful in these parts of the world – and neither has Pakistan military been too successful either.