The killing of the Pakistan army’s top medical officer this week was another reminder of the price being paid by the military in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Lieutenant-General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig was the most senior army officer killed by militants to date.

 From my own experience of covering the armies of Pakistan and India, the loss of such a high-ranking officer would be a huge blow to morale, all the more so given the years of training and experience it takes to make someone of the rank of Lieutenant-General.  So it’s curious there has been surprisingly little public comment about it on the blogosphere.

The Daily Times asks in an editorial why a man known to be a pious Muslim was killed by a teenage suicide bomber who authorities presume was sent by Islamist militants. ”General Mushtaq Baig was in many ways an exemplary officer. Brilliant in academics and outstanding in his military career as a professional, he was also a meticulously honest man. His goodness sprang from his faith in Islam. He said his prayers five times a day regularly, read his Quran and had learned it by heart,” it says. “Why was such a man killed by someone who seeks to enforce Islamic sharia in Pakistan and has vowed revenge for the destruction of Lal Masjid in 2007?”

Was he just the latest victim of a militant backlash against the Pakistan military after army commandos stormed Islamabad’s Lal Masjid last July? Or is there a more complicated explanation?

In a thought-provoking article in the Asia Times Online, Syed Saleem Shahzad sees the killing as part of an upsurge in violence designed to dissuade the Pakistan army from cooperating with NATO to stop a spring offensive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. ”Asia Times Online investigations show that the Taliban’s three-pronged plan for their spring offensive comprises cutting off NATO’s supply lines running from Pakistan to Afghanistan, recruiting fresh volunteers and, most importantly, the creation of a strategic corridor running from Pakistan all the way to the capital Kabul,” he writes.

So what do you think? Was the Lieutenant-General’s death the result of a tragic but random combination of circumstances? Or was it part of a much bigger game plan?