Policy stubbornness

Karachi is Pakistan's biggest city, a metropolis with a population of over 15 million people. Its Jinnah Airport is the country's busiest domestic and international airport, used daily by around 44,000 passengers. Yet, on Sunday, June 8, a couple of hours before midnight, Taliban militants managed to storm the airport's Terminal One, besieging it until Monday morning.

At least 28 people died - including 11 airport security guards, four workers from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and 10 of the gunmen - in the all-night battle between the extremists and Pakistan's security forces.

No one in the country had ever any doubts about the Pakistani Taliban's ability to launch a full-blown assault. Indeed, the Islamists had attacked military bases and installations all over the country in the past. But almost no one ever expected them to try to take control of the heavily guarded Karachi airport. "What were our 'ubiquitous' intelligence agencies doing? They were actually busy getting critical news channels and Facebook pages banned while negotiating with and appeasing the Taliban?" a Pakistani Twitter user criticized.

Fresh attacks

The Taliban launched fresh attacks on Tuesday, June 10, as its militants infiltrated the Airport Security Force (ASF) training camp close to the Jinnah airport. Pakistani media claims the number of gunmen could be between four and seven. They reportedly fled as security forces reached the camp. Flight operations resumed after being temporarily suspended, say officials.

From the beginning, there were doubts about the chances of success of the peace negotiations between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The talks eventually stalled over a month ago as the Taliban did not cease attacks, and in retaliation, the army launched a ground and air offensive last month in the northwestern Waziristan area.

The Taliban have been waging an insurgency in the Islamic republic for around a decade and want to impose a stricter Islamic law in Pakistan and also in neighboring Afghanistan. The Islamists claimed responsibility for Sunday's airport assault and said it was a response to the Pakistani military's air strikes in their strongholds near the Afghan border.

"The main goal of this attack was to hurt the government, by hijacking planes and destroying state installations," Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in a statement a few hours after the attack. "This was just an example of what we are capable of and there is more to come. The government should be ready for even worse attacks."

Abdul Sattar, a political analysts in Islamabad, is of the view that the Islamic warriors have sent a "clear message to the world that they are alive and active and can strike at will" despite the Pakistani authorities' claims that the Taliban have been weakened and fragmented.

Taliban's superiority

Karachi-based journalist and documentary filmmaker, Sabin Agha, said the airport attack was proof of Taliban's "superiority, their discipline, their planning," adding the militants "are always a step ahead" of security agencies.

"I mean how could a handful of terrorists keep Pakistan cut off from the rest of the world for over 13 hours?" Agha added.

Agha, like many other liberal Pakistanis, believes the Sunday assault was the last straw in a protracted armed conflict, and that there should be a decisive military action against the Taliban.

"They (the Taliban) were clearly agitated with the lack of progress in the talks, and when the army struck in Waziristan, they probably got very frustrated," Agha told DW. "I don't think they should be engaged in dialogue at all after such a brazen attack on Pakistan's sovereignty."

Saleem Asmi, former editor of Pakistan's most influential English-language newspaper, Dawn, told DW the airport attack was aimed at influencing public opinion to demand a resumption of the peace talks.

How long will it continue?

The conflict has severely affected Pakistan's economy. "Enough of the hide and seek between the government and the Taliban," Tahir Ahmed, a Karachi-based businessman, told DW. ''Our businesses have been ruined."

Despite the economic repercussions, there are people who fear that Islamabad will not go after the Taliban.

"The Pakistani Taliban could have been routed out militarily or through police actions," Snehal Shingavi, a South Asia expert at the University of Texas, USA, told DW. "Everything indicates that they are not that sophisticated or large. But the Pakistani Army has used them as part of their strategic game in Afghanistan, and will probably continue to do so."

Analysts like Sattar say it is unlikely that the Pakistani security establishment will learn a lesson from the airport assault and change its policies vis-a-vis the Islamic extremists. "Pakistani military generals have long-term aims in the region. If they didn't do anything after attacks on their naval bases, they won't do anything now."