The devastating suicide blast at Peshawar’s Pearl Continental, like that at the Marriott in Islamabad in September, was intended to sever some of Pakistan’s links with the outside world. It will probably succeed, in part, despite protestations to the contrary.
It may well prompt the United Nations and international aid agencies to pull back from the North West Frontier Province to the capital Islamabad, 90 miles east. That will undermine efforts to help to cope with the several million refugees fleeing fighting between Pakistan’s government and the Taleban, the country’s most acute crisis. In turn, in subtle ways, that will hinder the intelligence gathering crucial to other countries’ efforts to steer Pakistan through its long turmoil.
The best that can be hoped - but it is realistic - is that Pakistanis, already turning against the Taleban for the violence and upheaval they have brought, will even more vigorously resist their intrusion, and support the Army and government.
Shopkeepers and public figures in Peshawar condemned the Taleban and called on the Government to defeat terrorism - while recognising that the Army’s westward drive may trigger yet more attacks.
The five-star Pearl Continental, usually known by its nickname “PC”, has been an obvious target since the bombing of the Marriott, owned by the same tycoon. Set back from the dusty, teeming heart of Peshawar, in the most fortified district, it had what foreign officials laconically call “good standoff” - meaning barricades several hundred yards from the hotel doors.
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But it was a gleaming symbol of the international presence in Pakistan - a favourite of UN officials, and key workers for the biggest relief agencies, although some British officials, since the Marriott bombing, had quietly chosen to abandon it, and drive back to Islamabad at night.
At least sixteen people died in the blast, including three foreigners, two of them UN employees, and more than 60 were wounded. The two-cab lorry forced its way past the security barrier, at least three gunmen shooting at the guards, before the vehicle rammed into the building and its 500kg cargo detonated. The blast, seen across the city, ripped open the four-story hotel, leaving a crater six feet deep and 15 wide.
Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary-General, condemned the bombing “in the strongest possible terms,” a spokesman said. “The UN has lost two colleagues, Mr Aleksandar Vorkapic of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Ms Perseveranda So of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), and four injured,” the UN Information Center in Islamabad said.
Fikret Akcura, the United Nations Resident Co-ordinator in Pakistan, added: “We are determined to continue our humanitarian support to over two million Pakistani citizens who have been affected by the ongoing displacement crises.”
But it seems inevitable that there will be an impact on relief work. Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman who confirmed that about two dozen UN personnel were at the Pearl when the bomb went off, said: “We have been working to ensure our staff can operate in secure conditions, but we have a lot of work to do there.”
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Talat Masood, a retired general turned security analyst, and other officials, suggested that the attack was the work of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taleban in Pakistan, and suspected architect of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
The Taleban have held a bombing campaign in the main cities for several months, since the Government and Army began trying to drive them out of the heart of the North West Frontier Province.
The Government now has the pretext to overturn the deal of early this year, which provoked international uproar, in which it allowed the Taleban to impose Sharia in return for stopping violence.
Sadruddin Hashwani, the owner of the Pearl, pledged to reopen the hotel within two months. “Despite the losses, I will make it operational in two months just as I reopened the Marriott in three months,” he said.
But even if the Marriott returned to business as usual, confidence in Pakistan did not. Peshawar, gateway to the lawless west, is not central to political or commercial life in the same way. Yet it has become a crucial listening post, as well as a base for resisting the Taleban. For all the growing public anger against the Taleban, the demonstration of their success in hitting the best guarded targets will shake confidence in the Government’s ability to prevail.