The Landhi Shootout: Birth of the Bank Robber Terrorist

The recent shoot out in Landhi which resulted in the arrest and infamy of Qasim Toori highlights the changing nature of terrorist activities in Pakistan.

The police had initially identified these guys as bank robbers and not as terrorists which is the reason why they were caught off guard by the sophistication of the weaponry. The news that these guys have resorted to robberies and kidnapping is both troubling and encouraging.

It reflects the success of International law enforcement agencies in stopping the flow of money into terrorist accounts from their usual sources (ISI and rich Arab sympathizers).

The troubling aspect of this event is that the lack of state sponsored funding isn’t stopping them. The new Islamic Militant has become self reliant and learnt to independently fund his activities. And Karachi is the biggest and most lucrative preying ground for the Bank Robber / Burglar / Kidnapper terrorist. (There has got to come a time when people stop screwing up life in this city?)

This also means that Islamic Militancy may now be an entirely local affair and all of us need to come to terms with that.

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A lot has been written about decentralized terrorist organizations that operate as individual cells. The Quaidabad shootout gave us a perfect example of a terrorist cell. A group of people, men women and sadly children, brought together by a shared philosophy lived in the same house as a large family (very reminiscent of a doomsday cult); they were evidently self reliant and probably chose their own targets. How do you stop them?