Islamabad:
Pakistani military officials struggled unsuccessfully on Monday to explain how a small team of insurgents managed to scale the back wall of one of the country's premier naval air stations and destroy two American-provided surveillance planes. Before the fighting was over, the attackers had killed at least 10 Pakistani security officers in a gun battle that lasted for hours and raised new questions about the competence of the country's armed forces.
The attack on the Mehran naval air base, just off of one of the main boulevards in the southern port city of Karachi, stunned the country as it was still questioning how an American commando team entered Pakistani airspace unnoticed on the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden this month.
Pakistan's military, which was just initiating efforts to rebuild its credibility after that episode, and preparing for possible retaliatory raids by the Taliban or affiliates of Al Qaeda, insisted that its bases -- especially those containing nuclear weapons -- were highly secure. There is no evidence that any nuclear weapons were kept in the base's arsenal, though they are believed to be stored in large numbers about 15 miles away.
The criticism was focused on the chief of the Pakistani Navy. Journalists and retired service members repeatedly questioned the Naval chief, Adm. Nauman Bashir, for denying that there was a major security lapse.
By the government's preliminary accounts, which could not be independently confirmed, it appeared that about six commandos walked several kilometers behind the base, dressed in street clothes and black shirts, before breaching the base, according to Interior Minister Rehman Malik. Four attackers were killed -- one apparently blew himself up -- but two managed to escape, The Associated Press reported.
The urgent questioning on all of Pakistan's news channels was an indication of the shock that the attack on Karachi's naval base caused around the country, still reeling from the discovery of Bin Laden. The discussions raise further questions about the ability of Pakistan's military establishment to safeguard its vital assets and nuclear installations.
The Pakistani military has come under unusual criticism for allowing Bin Laden to live for five years in Abbottabad, a small city that is home to a top military academy, and the latest attack was seen as more proof of the parlous state of the armed forces.
"The repeated failure of the Pakistani security forces to pre-empt terrorist activity has demoralized not only the Pakistani soldiers, sailors and airmen, but has also severely dented the reputation of the three services in the eyes of the people they are expected to defend," 'wrote Javed Husain, a security analyst, on the Web site of Dawn, a daily newspaper. "Worse still, the servicemen and the people have begun to see the terrorists as 10 feet tall."
The attack will have serious repercussions not only for the military, but also for the security and unity of the country, Arif Nizami, editor of Pakistan Today, a daily based in Lahore, warned on a television talk show. The Pakistani Navy is a relatively weak flank and an easy target, he said.
Hamid Mir, the influential host of "Capital Talk" on Geo TV, who is normally a supporter of the military, criticized its handling of previous attacks by militants. The attack in Karachi was similar in scale and seriousness to the 2009 assault in which militants stormed the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, and could have been avoided if there had been a public inquiry into the earlier attack, Mr. Mir said.
He said he feared that an inquiry could be initiated against him or anyone else who raised this question. He has long advocated that Pakistan should not side with the United States, but he has also denounced the Taliban.
The army's leader, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has indicated recently in private meetings with senior editors and defense analysts that he wants to improve morale and dispel the impression of incompetence by redoubling efforts against terrorism.
Reflecting the Pakistan military's overriding concern about its nuclear weapons program, General Kayani repeatedly emphasized that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were safe from any attack or foreign intervention, according to an analyst who was present at one meeting.
The general added that Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, assured him during his visit to Pakistan last week that the United States was not interested in seizing Pakistan's nuclear weapons, countering a common perception here.
In an indication of the divide in Pakistani society, commentators differed in their reactions to the 16-hour battle that finally ended the siege at the base on Monday. Some urged political and military leaders to come together on a united counterterrorism policy to combat militancy, while others repeated familiar anti-American, anti-Indian theories, calling for a change in foreign policy.
The conflicting narratives were evident in a talk show on Dunya TV on Monday afternoon as the hosts repeated conspiracy theories while some of their guests spoke more plainly.
Much of the reaction to the attack on Karachi also revealed Pakistan's deep-seated insecurity and sense of vulnerability regarding its longtime rival, India.
"This is a security failure," Shehzad Chaudhry, a retired air vice marshal, said on the show. The need of the hour is to focus on the security forces and their capability, instead of on the question of who could be behind the Taliban who are attacking the Pakistani military, he said. "There is a need to develop national counterterrorism policy and bring our own house in order first."
On the same program, Talat Masood, a retired lieutenant general and defense analyst, said: "We should not go into self-denial. This insurgency is against you. They want to destabilize the state of Pakistan."
Yet many commentators remain reluctant to criticize the powerful military establishment and tend to fall back on repeating conspiracies that the world is out to destabilize Pakistan and seize its nuclear weapons.
"Pakistanis, on the whole, are unwilling to accept the idea that their own Muslim brothers based in the tribal areas are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Pakistanis since 9/11," Arif Rafiq, a political analyst in Washington, said in an interview.
"They refuse to believe that Pakistan's domestic terrorism threat is a Frankenstein created by the military originally to target Afghanistan and India," Mr. Rafiq said. "A majority of Pakistanis will continue to believe something to the effect of: 'This war is not ours. Our neighborhood went to hell when the Americans moved in. Once they leave, all will return to normal.' "