This month of July has been the bloodiest for Pakistan in the six-year-old so-called war against terrorism. So far, almost 15 attacks, including 12 suicide blasts, have taken at least 200 lives. The victims have been mostly army and para-military security forces and government officials.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the Bannu, Peshawar, and Dera Ismail Khan districts as well as the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Officials blame the violence on Pakistani Taliban fighters with links to Afghan militants.

Javed Iqbal Cheema, the spokesman for the Home Ministry, said the violence would not deter the government from pursuing its campaign against terrorism. "These are very cowardly acts, aimed to harm the integrity and security of the country," he said.

He added that the government was "determined to overcome this threat with the help and co-operation of the entire nation." He explained that the law enforcement agencies were "on high alert to protect the lives of citizens" and "necessary measures" had been taken in co-ordination with the provincial governments.

Weapons

The militants reportedly use weapons mainly procured from illegal markets in the border regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. But weapons left behind by the Afghan troops and police officers in ambushes are also used, as well as improvised explosive devices.

The attacks and the bloody armed siege of Islamabad's radical Red Mosque earlier this month have alarmed people at large to the acceleration in the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and have exacerbated fears of more strikes elsewhere in the country.

Dr Farzana Bari, a professor at the Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam University, said strikes could affect anybody. She said that there was a "sense of insecurity" because the strikes were no longer confined to a few pockets and the fact of living in Islamabad was not enough to make people feel secure as "everybody was vulnerable."

US pressure

The fears are accompanied by renewed pressure from the United States. Based on intelligence analysis, the US State and Defence Departments have urged Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to crackdown on al-Qaeda safe havens within Pakistani border territories.

But Mushahid Hussein, the Secretary General of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, said the pressure was misguided: "This 'do more' mantra from the United States doesn't help because people here are saying you're doing too much and Washington is saying you're doing too little."

He added that if the situation was really as some people in Washington thought, "then Iraq and Afghanistan should have been resolved by now -- through "shock and awe," through the use of force." He said instead that "a lot of dexterity , deftness and a certain long-term strategy, including political, military and socio-economic development" was necessary.

Most Pakistani observers agree that General Musharraf’s close relationship with the United States has irritated a large proportion of the country’s population, and that further intensifying the anti-terror campaign might risk advantaging only the militants.