Srinagar, Feb. 9 -- When I read about the suicide blast in Islamabad, it did not come as a surprise. That reaction itself demands an explanation. Why should an attack of this nature, in a country's capital, feel predictable? Because blasts, bullets, and terrorism are not aberrations in Pakistan. They are recurring features of its political and security history, present in different forms since the country's inception. Violence has moved from the fringes to the mainstream, from conflict zones to urban centres, and now into the heart of the capital. Two aspects of this attack require immediate attention. First, the location. Islamabad has largely been projected as insulated from the violence that afflicts Pakistan's peripheries. An attack h...