A yearlong wave of suicide bombings has intensified in recent weeks, posing a stiff challenge to the victors of the Feb. 18 election as they prepare to form a government and begin a new era of civilian rule after eight years of military domination under President Pervez Musharraf.
In the past, Islamic militants generally targeted troops and military convoys in Pakistan's volatile northwest, where some 100,000 soldiers are deployed in support of the U.S.-led war against the Taliban, al-Qaida and other extremist groups.
But five of the 16 bomb attacks this year have been in the east — in Punjab, Pakistan's biggest and most prosperous province, including its main city of Lahore, which has been hit three times in two months.
Musharraf was not the problem. And why is this violence so shocking given past opinion polls that showed Pakistanis fairly favorable toward jihadis?
Yeah, it was fun to watch the jihadis stick it to the man as long as the blasts were just on TV. Now it happens to them and it isn't funny.
"We only ever saw images like this on TV," said police constable Abdul Ghafar, who came back to see the carnage as the cleanup began Wednesday.
As I've noted, Pakistan's efforts to cut deals with the fanatics are doomed to failure. Will this wave of violence finally trigger an Islamabad Awakening?
