Not much. The last government, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was heavily criticized for it’s lack of action. Then, on May 11, 2013, Pakistan elected a new government to power, led by the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). However, The PML-N has been running the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province and the birthplace of the militant groups who have claimed to be behind the bulk of the attacks, since the latest transition from military rule to democracy in 2008. And the continued presence of both militant groups has prompted critics to accuse the party of being incompetent or complicit.
Despite their public statements promising to get to the bottom of the killings, government officials seem reluctant to move beyond references to vague “intelligence failures,” and say little about how to get around those.
The outcry and protest against the killings came to a head earlier this year when the country's most vulnerable Shiite minority, the Hazara population, staged a four-day, 24-hour sit-in, where they refused to bury the bodies of their loved ones. The refusal to bid farewell to those killed in the first attack was a powerful statement coming from an Islamic community as it goes against the Islamic injunction to bury the dead as soon as possible, so that those left behind can be at peace.
At first, many thought the sit-in successfully pushed the government into action. The federal government, led by the PPP at the time, dismissed the sitting provincial government of Balochistan – where the bulk of anti-Shiite attacks take place – for failing to maintain law and order. However, no real action was taken, said critics.
And when a second attack took place in February, it brought Hazaras to the streets again, this time demanding immediate action. This time, the Punjab's PML-N-led provincial government – which is now ruling Pakistan – carried out arrests of 152 militants from SSP and LeJ across Punjab. But by the end of March, 2013, the same government released the militants. The government explained that the they could not legally detain the prisoners for more than 90 days without putting them in front of the courts. Pakistani courts, on the other hand, have been notoriously incapable of seeing through successful prosecutions and punishments of militants behind the attacks – despite public statements sent out by both the SSP and the LeJ claiming responsibility.
Analysts say that the attack in March at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Karachi shows that the militants threaten more than just Quetta. But a call for a government-led country-wide crackdown seemed to fall on deaf ears. The current attack has Shiite groups, again, demanding action.
The lack of action has caused some analysts to accuse the government of incompetence, or complicity.
