Center for a New American Security

I just got back to Pakistan after a two month stay back in London that was initially only supposed to last two weeks.

I've been catching up on the stack of newspapers that greeted me on my return. Not to mention the dust, cockroaches and dodgy plumbing. With me is Ms. Londonstani, also known as Ms Henley-on-Thames, who is whipping things into shape with fearsome efficiency.

Any hopes Londonstani had that Pakistan would be trouble-free while Ms Henley-on-Thames made a slightly nervous visit didn’t last long… about 7 hours to be exact.

The day Ms HT arrived at Islamabad International Airport, two grenade attacks on schools in Quetta wounded 17 people. Considering that the attack took a relatively minor toll, it seemed a military officer’s statement (as reported by the local press) that Taliban resistance was dying down reflected a bottoming out of Taliban violent capabilities in general.

A few people have been wondering about what Pakistanis make of the recent attacks that have taken place all around the north of the country. Londonstani has been travelling around the region for the past couple of weeks, and unsurprisingly the most recent violence, mainly aimed at civilians, has been a hot topic of conversation. People's opinions are sometimes bewildering, insightful, thought provoking and/or frustrating but they are by no means monolithic. And since it's rare to hear the views of the average Pakistani citizen in daily news reports..

Newspapers reported today that the F8 incident reported with much ensuing panic yesterday was a hoax. However, it wasn't long before the small sense of relief was overshadowed by new episodes of death and destruction.

This post follows on from the earlier information about the attacks today in Islamabad:

Three attacks in three days in the Pakistani capital as the Waziristan operation goes on.

Three attacks in three days in the Pakistani capital as the Waziristan operation goes on.

The latest is still happening about 2km from where Londonstani is now. Television news is saying an attacker wearing a suicide belt and carrying an AK47 started shooting near the city's courts in the F8 sector. The area is one of Islamabad's upper income districts. Details are confused but it seems the gunman is still on the loose. Police are evacuating the area, saying that he planted an explosive device before fleeing.

So a suicide bomber today killed "several top commanders in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards" and the Iranians blamed the US and the UK. So far, so predictable. But away from the grandstanding, it was a slightly different story.

One of the Pakistani news channels just reported that the Iranian foreign minister called in the Pakistani ambassador to complain that his country's territory was being used as a launch pad by terrorists to attack Iran.

Londonstani woke up this morning to find out Lahore had turned into a war zone.

Pakistani news channels are reporting that there has been an explosion in Swat, killing over 30 people. The explostion occured in an that is supposed to have been cleared by the army. Here is the BBC story.

To anyone keeping count, this is the fourth major attack by militants in a week.