PAKISTANI and Afghan insurgents picked the same day — Sunday, April 15 — for a spectacular show of their strength.

They struck simultaneously at among the most protected facilities of their respective countries.

Here the focus is not on the number of casualties or damage caused by the militants’ attacks or fight with the security forces, but the response of institutions responsible for dealing with the insurgents.

In Afghanistan, insurgents selected multiple sites for launching attacks sending a strong message to their opponents of their presence and capacity to plan and carry out what international forces call their spring offensive.

Their counterparts in Pakistan selected a highly guarded prison at Bannu ostensibly to secure the release of a colleague condemned to death. Both succeeded; the Afghan militants in launching — in a spectacular manner — the new offensives and the Pakistani ones in releasing a high-profile terrorist colleague along with a very large number of other inmates. The response of the state institutions, however, underscores the difference.

In Kabul, no doubt there was loss of life among the security forces. But the situation also provided them with ample opportunity to establish themselves as professionals capable of handling insurgents’ attacks with minimum collateral damage. Appreciation was also accorded to the Afghan National Army’s swift response that boosted the morale of the Afghans who now appear to have more confidence in their forces’ ability to tackle the insurgents.

The Afghan president termed the incident a failure of the intelligence agencies but nevertheless expressed confidence in his security forces, saying the successful operation against the insurgents established that the Afghans were capable of running their country without international forces.

In Pakistan, the militants’ jailbreak turned out to be a scene from a sensational Punjabi or Pushto movie wherein the hero, trampling on all security barricades, breaks open the gates of the jail freeing friends and inmates.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban militants, whose back the military claims to have broken, succeeded in freeing their colleagues and reaching hideouts in North Waziristan safely.

Infested with militancy and lying close to the main theatre of war, the region is supposed to be under the close watch of security forces. There are scores of security checkpoints being manned by different forces to screen almost everybody. No vehicle is allowed to pass without being searched.

Keeping in view the number of check posts on the road to Miramshah, few appear to believe the story scripted by the government. From Bannu township, where the jail is located, the first check-post is the Cantonment police station which thoroughly screens each vehicle entering the cantonment. Crossing this post, one has to undergo another thorough search at another checkpoint at Officer Colony.

A barrier is erected at the flour mills site followed by another on the main bridge on the same road. A short distance and one reaches another checkpoint near the Tablighi Mosque.

Once cleared at this point, vehicles are once again supposed to be rechecked at another check-post manned by the military and paramilitary. Passengers have to disembark here and their identity cards are checked before they are allowed to proceed further.

After undergoing a humiliating body search by the military, the same vehicles and passengers have to be ready to be searched yet again by paramilitary forces near the custom checkpoint hardly a kilometre away from the military post. There is another check-post manned by the Bakakhel police for checking the identity cards of passengers and the vehicles’ papers as this is the point from where, police believe, stolen vehicles are taken to the tribal area.

The Bakakhel police check-post is not the last on the route as again Pakistan army jawans are waiting hardly 500m away to recheck the papers and cards. Once vehicles and passengers are cleared by the army, the paramilitary and Khasdar forces again check the men and vehicles at Deri Ghunderi before allowing them to enter Mirali bazaar.

Treated as hostile territory, particularly by the military, there are stories in abundance of the security forces’ highhandedness vis-à-vis the tribal folk. Tribesmen, who otherwise have a respectable reputation in their villages, are often publicly humiliated. Commuters have often complained of the humiliation they have to endure, particularly when searched at these checkpoints where security personnel often resort to verbal abuse and slapping or kicking people for even minor provocations.

The question is: how did the militants manage to evade the vigilant military and paramilitary manning these check-posts, and conduct a daring raid on Bannu jail causing so many prisoners to escape and succeed in reaching North Waziristan without any apparent difficulty. How can it be possible that the militants broke the security cordon and passed through these checkpoints without the connivance of the government or the security forces?

Who should one believe? Contrary to government accounts, the locals say there was no jailbreak at all. Keeping in view the high level of security presence in the area, one is almost tempted to believe the locals. Those who entered the jail soon after the incident too have a different story to tell. The accounts of a Khyber News correspondent, who claimed to be the first to enter the jail and interact with inmates serving long terms and assigned jail duties, belie government claims.

Did the attackers entering the jail and firing at the locks form part of a drama staged by the jail staff? Interestingly, of all the jail records only one register has been burned by the militants — the one carrying photos and the record of convicted terrorist Adnan Rasheed. The rest is speculation.

The writer is director of Islamabad based Khyber television.

hasan.khyber@gmail.com