On the morning of November 8 a suicide bomber ran into the training area of a Pakistani cantonment in the North West Province of Pakistan and blew himself up. The resultant blast killed 42 Pakistani soldiers and injured many others. The claimant of the blast is a Pakistani jehadi organisation who carried it out as an act of revenge for the bombing of a madrassa by Pak Gunships in Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) on the November 1.

Pakistan hierarchy is faced with a dilemma, whether to take on the extremists head on or capitulate. Unfortunately, Pakistan seems to have adopted the latter course. I base my deduction from the fact that the Pakistan government is trying to sign a series of agreements with the Taliban and other jehadi groups for a path of ‘live and let live’. On September 5, this year, Pakistan government signed an agreement with The Grand Jirgah (equivalent of Maha Panchayat ) of North Waziristan in the FATA, which surprisingly attracted little attention and less comment in India. The terms of the Agreement dictated the abandonment of Army garrisons in Waziristan and forbade the Army to launch any operations or monitor actions of the tribals (read jehadis) in the region. It also ordained the Pak Army to turn over all arms etc seized during operations, that Pak Army had carried out over the previous two years and lift ban on carrying of arms. Further, all jehadis captured during the conflict were to be released. The icing on the cake, however, was the clause that foreigners, a euphemism for Al Qaida, not engaged in hostile activity would be permitted to stay.

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