The terrorist attack that tore through a fruit market near Pir Wadhai on Wednesday morning killed at least 24 innocents going about their daily lives. Hundreds were injured in the blast. TTP was quick to condemn the attack, terming the killing of innocents as haram. However, such statements by Taliban terrorists can be understood as only a cynical ploy to hoodwink the masses when those same Taliban terrorists have confessed to the same crime of bombing markets and killing innocents themselves. This time, responsibility for the blast was claimed by a group of Baloch militants, and was condemned widely. Today, the Interior Ministry has rejected this claim, terming it as ‘ridiculous‘. Meanwhile, another attack has taken place in KP where gunmen attacked NATO container trucks killing a driver. Will this be condemned as strongly as the Islamabad bombing? Too often whether or not an attack is condemned depends on the justification behind the attack. Balcoh separatists are condemned, but those killing truck drivers are excused. Hafiz Saeed condemns terrorism inside Pakistan, but supports terrorism outside Pakistan.

We need to stop picking and choosing which terrorism is condemned and which is excused. There is not such thing as ‘good terrorism’ and ‘bad terrorism’. All terrorism is unjustified and should be condemned equally.