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PC — Peshawar’s liberal and modern face

* The hotel is a bridge between the NWFP and the rest of the world

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: The Pearl Continental Hotel was a symbol of the modern and liberal Peshawar and not merely a place to stay and dine, aggrieved residents said in response to Tuesday’s suicide attack.

“That white building was the true face of the people of Peshawar and the Frontier [province],” said a Grade-19 civil bureaucrat looking through the window of his office at the five-star hotel compound across Khyber Road.

A lawyer was looking at the hotel from the second floor of the lower courts building. “I am glad the symbol of the Pashtuns’ liberal and modern face still stands.”

After the attack on Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel last year, the Pearl Continental management reinforced security arrangements, bringing in modern security equipment.

“I found myself very safe and secure when I was in the PC,” said a businessman. “I really wonder how the terrorists were able to cross the security barriers to inflict so much destruction.”

The windy, stormy weather on Wednesday added to the gloom and uncertainty. There was very little traffic on the roads and a very few buyers were seen in the various commercial centres of the city.

The targeting of PC comes as no surprise. This hotel was a bridge between the NWFP and the rest of the world, housing all the visiting dignitaries and officials who visited Peshawar despite the worsening security situation. That has been stopped at least for the next few months until the hotel is rebuilt. There is no other place in the city as secure.

Worst hit by the bombing are the people displaced by the fight against the Taliban in Swat, Lower Dir and Buner, as the staff of international humanitarian organisations might not come to Peshawar for at least the next three months.

“I think the internally displaced persons will pay the price for this bombing because international relief organisations will now hesitate to come to Peshawar,” officials said.

The bombing has left a psychological scar on Peshawar residents who do not rule out more such attacks amid intelligence reports of more terrorism in the coming days and weeks.

But the claim of responsibility for the bombing by a little-known group underlines the loss of moral courage by the real planners and executers, who have not come forward to accept the responsibility for inflicting the huge loss on Peshawar.

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