THE first thing Sadaffe Abid did when she heard Wednesday’s massive bomb rattling the windows in her office four miles away was, like most residents of Lahore, to telephone to check on family and friends. However, what she did next was more surprising.

“I told them we should come out on to the streets to protest against these militants,” she said. “This bomb was meant to turn public opinion against the army operation to clear the Taliban from Swat, and we shouldn’t give in.”

The stylishly dressed Abid, 35, is chief executive of a foundation providing microfinance for rural women, and says until recently she never thought the Taliban were anything to do with her.

Yet twice in the past two months she and many of her friends have gathered for rallies in the Mall in central Lahore, holding placards declaring “No to terrorism”, after spreading the word through Facebook and text messages.

Outraged by a video showing the Taliban flogging a young girl in Swat, in North West Frontier Province, they were shocked to see part of the country ceded to extremists. When, even in cosmopolitan Lahore, warnings were sent to colleges for girls to cover their heads and not to wear jeans, they began a letter-writing campaign to tell the government and army chief not to give in to militants.

Among the letter-writers was Abid’s brother Farhan Rao, who left his job at Islamabad’s Marriott hotel last year only weeks before it was bombed and now runs his own business. “None of us ever got involved in politics before, but we feel the whole future of our country is at stake,” he said.

After years of turning a collective blind eye to the Taliban, while intelligence agencies groomed militants to fight proxy wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir, Pakistanis seem determined to take on the extremists. Almost the entire nation has rallied behind a military operation that has seen more than 2m people flee the mountainous region of Swat.

A series of bomb attacks last week seemed to strengthen public resolve. On Thursday, when the Taliban commander Hak-imullah Mehsud warned that residents should evacuate the cities of Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Multan or face further attacks, most stayed put.

Some kept children home from school, shops stayed closed and public places and hotels were largely deserted, but the mood was one of defiance. “It’s our war,” said one of the country’s biggest textile manufacturers. “We’re the ones who have to live here.”

Inspired by the lawyers’ movement, which had the country’s chief justice restored last March after an unprecedented two-year campaign, citizens’ groups in Peshawar are planning a march against terrorism. “We can no longer just stand by,” said Maryam Bibi, one of the organisers, who runs a women’s group in Waziristan, near the troubled Afghan border.

Such moves may be small but represent a shift of attitude in a country which has often blamed its problems on outsiders, usually Indians, rather than recognise its own failings.

“It’s a huge change,” said Pakistan’s leading human rights activist, Asma Jahangir. “For a long time it felt like we were the only ones raising voices against these militants while the rest of country remained silent and we were labelled anti-Pakistan. I just hope it’s not too late.”

Last week the Taliban showed they can hit anywhere, with two bombs in Peshawar and one in Lahore. On Friday a man wearing a suicide vest was arrested entering Islamabad, the capital.

In Lahore the area around the police headquarters was still sealed off yesterday after the powerful car bomb that killed at least 24 and injured 200 on Wednesday. That section of Mall Road was heavily guarded but gunmen shot at police before driving in and detonating the bomb.

That blast was the third big attack in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, in three months. In March a raid on the police training centre led to an eight-hour siege in which 18 died, just weeks after gunmen attacked Sri Lanka’s visiting cricket team, killing six police guards and a bus driver.

“Lahore is now the real prize for militants,” said an intelligence official.

As chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif is charged with holding off the insurgents and protecting its 82m people. Staff say he works from 7am to midnight. He looks exhausted.

“There’s no doubt that one of their aims is to penetrate into Punjab as well as to stop the operation in Swat,” he said. “But I think finally the whole nation is behind the concept of not allowing the insurgency to cripple our society.”

In his view Pakistan is paying the price for years of oppression of its poor and needs a social revolution. Pointing out that the Taliban won public support in Swat by demanding an Islamic justice system, he said: “To think in a society thirsting for justice that people will look away from such a movement is fooling ourselves.”

Sharif, a member of the main opposition party run by his elder brother Nawaz, added: “If we don’t all work together, then we are doomed and, God forbid, this country will fall apart.”

His own efforts in Punjab have focused on improving intelligence-gathering and ensuring police, who have borne the brunt of attacks, are better equipped and paid. A believer in zero tolerance, he has proscribed all local militant organisations and kept their leaders under house arrest.

“We’re doing everything we can to stop their activities,” he said. “But just as it did not come overnight, it will not go overnight.”

Almost all suicide bombers who have been identified or arrested in Punjab have been aged between 14 and 22, so much of his focus is on youth. “Education is a key factor to curb this militancy,” he added.

Many here see Nawaz Sharif, 59, as the best hope for the future. On Friday the former prime minister was hosting his weekly Meet the People day at his farm, just outside Lahore, providing a free lunch to 3,000 supporters.

Known as the Lion of Punjab, Sharif is by far the most popular politician in Pakistan since the assassination of the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Intensive lobbying by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, has persuaded Washington to overcome America’s reluctance to deal with him, based on concern that he is too close to the religious parties.

Last week a Supreme Court ban on Sharif taking office was reversed, leading to speculation that he might use his strong public support to force a mid-term election.

Inside his white colonnaded mansion, where deer, black buck and peacocks roam the lawns outside, and two stuffed lions guard his drawing room filled with crystal and gold, Sharif insists Pakistan must set about righting its decades of inequality.

“These insurgents might have been created by dictatorship, but it’s democracy which must now deliver,” he said. “If we don’t do anything we’re at very great risk. Today they are in Swat and Malakand, tomorrow they are in the rest of the country.”

This week he has called a party meeting where it is expected that one of his MPs will agree to step down, allowing him to contest a seat, and take his place in parliament as leader of the opposition.

Sharif insists he has no intention of trying to bring down the government. “I firmly believe the issues are so grave that no single party can deal with this alone. We all have to deal with them together,” he said.

Army fillip

Yesterday Pakistani forces recaptured Mingora, the largest city in the Swat valley, which had been under Taliban control for a month.

“It’s very good that Mingora city has come under the full control of the security forces,” said Major-General Athar Abbas, an army spokesman.

He added that 1,217 militants had died since fighting began in late April; 81 soldiers had been killed and 250 wounded.

Most of the 300,000 residents fled after the Islamic fundamentalists seized control. Local authorities hope that many will be able to return home soon but the army warned that it may take a fortnight to restore electricity and other amenities.

Security forces were placed on alert for suicide bomb attacks after the Taliban vowed retaliation for the operation in Swat.

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