BrassTacks

Terrorism is crime committed against innocent people, civilians and soft targets for political, religious, linguistic, ethnic or ideological reasons. Terrorism could be done by individuals, small terrorist cells, and huge organizations or even sponsored by States. In Pakistan, we have all these types of terrorism. From local terrorists to terrorism sponsored by India and other regional countries and intelligence agencies.

Thousands of people and top business managers have died in the country due to internal sectarian killings. Almost every fortnight a major bomb blast or terrorism act takes place due to Indian sponsorship. Union Texas lost their four employees in Karachi in target killings. From car bombs to parcel bombs to suicide bombers, all have caused severe damage in the country recently. Egyptian embassy was blown in Islamabad by a suicide car bomber. Rockets have been fired upon foreign diplomatic missions in Islamabad, Parcel bombs have also been sent via TCS, killing people. Bomb threats on phone are most routine, from real threats to practical jokes, disturbing business and terrorizing staff.

Karachi has been most badly affected by linguistic and ethnic terrorism. Political organizations have been sponsoring terrorist wings, hijacking airplanes and assassinating political and national targets of importance. Regional countries even from Middle East have been fighting their proxy wars in Pakistan due to easy access to arms and militants here.

Religious extremists have been involved in their own religious wars against the country, against other States and even against each other. Pakistan is the most fertile ground for terrorism due to most complex mix of regional and local factors.

Afghanistan is a land locked country, making Pakistan transit and exit route of the massive drug trade in the region. The independent tribal areas also produce drugs and run gun and weapon manufacturing factories, which cater for the needs of criminals and bandits all over the country. Afghan transit trade and smuggling is a multi billion rupees a year business and so is car lifting in the country. In Karachi alone, the approximate figure is of a 3 billion rupees a year car lifting industry. There are over 2 million aliens in Karachi alone, making the city a hub of international human trafficking. Land and timber Mafia runs parallel to drugs and gun running and operates all over the country in multi-billion land and timber scams. Kidnapping for ransom is a thriving industry in upper Sindh and tribal areas of NWFP and Baluchistan. All these organized crime networks involve big money, high stakes and ruthless criminals, ready to harm the interests of any individual, organization or government which come in the way or try to block their illegal and criminal trades.

Social crimes, accidents and violence are present in every society with varying degrees and modern businesses are most confronted by them in every day affairs. From accidents, Fire and natural disasters to medical emergencies to in-house violence by disgruntled employees, many a crisis may not be crimes at all but can seriously damage the working capacity of the organization. Some are social crimes, like burglaries, robberies, kidnappings and thefts that are mostly committed by individuals or smaller gangs for petty reasons, but can cause incalculable loss to the company. In the modern corporate environment data and information security has also attained unique importance, which has the capacity to destroy the corporate business if leaked or mishandled. Political instability and regional disturbances can also seriously affect the security of the individuals and assets in a turbulent political environment, especially for foreign and multinational firms.

As discussed, threat is a dynamic entity. It builds and recedes and new threats are formed due to changing security scenario in the country, region and even in the world. The events of September 11 in America, radically changed the security scene in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. Similarly, threats and their intensity would vary for corporate, business, industrial or domestic environment. A cash dealing business on the main street would be more prone to armed robberies and thefts than an apartment in a secure residential block but fire could be a mutual threat for both. This study of identifying the various threats or threat analysis is vital to designing the security parameters for an effective security system to be put in place. A weak or poor threat assessment can cost dearly later. Threat assessment is done by a professional security consultant, who not just identifies the various levels of threats but also suggests pro-active and reactive security procedures to counter those threats.

The threats can be classified as internal threats and external threats. Examples of both types are given above. Both types of threats should be taken seriously and if mishandled have the capacity to do serious damage. Since, threats can keep on changing, threats analysis is a continuous process for which an effective system of fore-warning and intelligence is vitally important, which forms part of the pro-active security procedures.