Adil Najam
There was a bomb blast in Islamabad today as a car blew up in the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel. The details are still coming in but the indications at this point are that it is a suicide bombing. According to the news flash in The News:
Islamabad police has declared the blast, which occurred in the backyard car parking of a five star hotel located in the highly sensitive area here, a dastardly suicide bombing, resulting in the death of two persons. SP Islamabad, Sikandar Hayat told that the blast occurred due to suicide bombing killing two persons and injuring five, who were shifted to the polyclinic here. Following the bombing here, security high alert has been declared in Karachi and Peshawar also. Observers told that it was the gravest nature of security breach in the highly sensitive security zone of the capital city, as the President House, Pakistan Secretariat and some other key-buildings were located nearby. Eyewitnesses told Geo that the security guard intercepted the suicide bomber trying to bang into the hotel, when he detonated the bomb and blasted himself.
According to the CNN report:
The blast at around 2:37 p.m. (0935 GMT) was just hours before a Indian High Commission function to celebrate Republic Day was due to be held at the hotel. Police cordoned off the area and sirens wailed through the downtown district, where many government buildings including parliament and the office of the president are located…
“He was on foot. The blast occurred when he tried to enter the hotel,” Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed, Islamabad police chief, said. A Reuters journalist saw blood and flesh scattered over the tarmac close to a side entrance, where the hotel’s night club and laundry services are located. A motorist, who declined to give his name, described hearing and feeling the explosion as he drove by.
He told Reuters: “As I was driving, I heard a huge blast at my back. The windscreen of my car shattered. When I turned round, I saw flesh scattered on the road.” The bomber’s remains were being examined by forensic experts. “The bomber appears to be in twenties. His face is not recognisable. His skull and lower body parts have been found,” retired Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, head of the Interior Ministry’s Crisis Management Cell, told Reuters.
Musharraf condemned the attack and vowed to continue fighting terrorism. “President Musharraf reiterated Pakistan’s unwavering commitment in the fight against extremism and terrorism and said that all out efforts be made to unmask and bring to book the perpetrators of this crime,” the official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.
The Marriott is one of Islamabad’s main hotels, and is frequented by foreign diplomats and businessmen. The U.S. embassy barred staff from visiting the hotel after a small blast in the lobby in October, 2004…. Otherwise bomb attacks have been rare inside the capital in recent years. Security is tight and easier to enforce in the small, orderly purpose-built capital than it is in Pakistan’s larger crowded, sprawling cities.
Only last night - as I was looking at these pictures (all from Dawn) of hieghtened security because of Ashura and the banning of supposed ‘ulema’ because they might incite sectariat hatered - I was thinking how living under a cloud of constant insecurity and uncertainity has to take a toll on people’s psyche.
Even if we get ‘used’ to this insecurity, we do not really ever get ‘used’ to it. We merely take on a mask of either indiference, or cynicism, or fatalism, etc. about the state we live in. In no case is is a comfortable existence, and in every case it takes a toll on the very fabric of society, how it sees itself, and how it goes about its daily business.
Sometimes one reads of yet another such news and the resolve begins to waver. We have to find a way to live together in peace. There has to be a better way of expressing and resolving our differences? Will the violence end? How?
Folks, the winds that are blowing are not good ones. First Islamabad and now Peshawar. The Peshawar one especially traggic because of its possible sectarian nature. There is NO EXCUSE for any of these and each is shameful and cowardly and something that all of us Pakistanis should be ashamed of. There are no simple explanations for these things, but nor do simple excuses suffice.
Here are excerpts of a report in The News:
My sympathies with the victims of these two blasts. These are blowbacks from years of tolerance and even active promotion of terrorist groups by the army and the state. Even now, there is little chance of effectively controlling these groups, unless the army brass are convinced that it is in their interests to make a clean break with the past policies of promoting these groups covertly or even overtly in some cases. Also, they must realize that all these groups are interlinked. They cannot effectively hunt the Al Qaeda or sectarian terror groups, while promoting or tolerating the Taliban or terror groups operating in Kashmir.
Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds is no longer an option.
I am afraid that such extreme factions cannot be simply controlled via policies. The policies such as education & development must prevail but focus on common people (man on the street) - But the extreme leadership, groups & entities must be terminated via hard power quickly. Doing it ‘quickly’ is important.
President Musharraf simply cannot afford to continue playing a balancing act with extreme Mulla factions. They are no more a strategic strength but turning into a major threat.
I am surprised is their even an argument that do we see Pakistan as the rising power with peace & prosperity for all or we want to accept Talibanization? Are we confused or impotent? The government, army & above all the society needs to come down hard on such groups. And when action is taken the people must support it or risk their own livelihood as we see in the mentioned events.
Secondly about this specific incident in Islamabad, technology must play an important roll, the guards should have been alerted when the terrorist came within 200 yards of the detectors. And ALL borders needs to be secured.
Now please view this video of our “home”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdaiMA6JkxU
And now the recent suicide bombing is Peshawar … where will it end …!
further to my last post here are a couple of newslinks that shed more details on the operation of pakistani sectarian groups:
EDITORIAL: Dangerous phase of sectarianism
According to our security agencies, three incidents of terrorism in Karachi in 2006 � the blast at the US Consulate, the Nishtar Park massacre and the murder of Allama Hasan Turabi � were all carried out by the sectarian militia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and were planned in South Waziristan under the tutelage of Al Qaeda. The new combination is Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Wana and Al Qaeda. One can also say that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is the blanket term now used for all manner of jihad in which all the Deobandi-Ahle Hadith militants have made common cause.
ATC acquits LJ men of sectarian killing charge
By our correspondent
KARACHI: The Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi on Wednesday acquitted three activists of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi of sectarian killing charge, as the prosecution could not prove its case.
Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, Mohammad Azam and Attaullah were tried for killing Agha Abbas on May 25, 2002, in the limits of Rizvia police station. “The court has acquitted the defendants of killing charge as prosecution failed to prove case against them,� defence counsel MR Syed said.
blast in peshawar that has killed 10 innocent people so far.
if history is anything to go by, these acts are likely to be the work of extremist sunni groups although foreign hand cannot be ruled out. i cannot understand why there is so little outcry in pak against extremist groups. these sectarian groups have zero support within the society but their capacity to cause damage is infinite. no amount of policing can prevent suicide bombing. and amazingly now that the government is acting against these groups, its actions are criticised by press, judiciary, politicians etc. pakistanis have to realise that people behind these blasts are sub-human cretins who cannot be reasoned with. the only way to deal with them is through force.
another important factor to consider is that that very tiny minority of pakistanis who support extremist sectarian groups claim their “human rights” are being violated because of government actions. best example of this is the ex-isi officer who is behind the missing person campaign and who has recently been arrested. this man openly supports taliban and arabs fighting americans in afghanistan. both these groups have links with sunni pakistani sectarian groups. pakistanis who are supporting them are directly supporting groups that want to kill shias in pak and will continue to do so in the future.
i also feel that press and judiciary are to be blamed as well for apathy and growth of extremism. i have not seen any article in the pakistani press which tries to trace the people behind the blast. judiciary is responsible because judges keep releasing pretty much any terrorist bought to court. as for politicians, what can you say about them? “secular” ppp has asked for and indeen gotten the support of sunni tehrik in the upcoming karachi by-election. and from mma, we will see a statement blaming u.s. for the blast.
as far as the government is concerned, i hope it shows these sub human creatures no mercy. people who are not willing to act like humans dont deserve to be treated as such.
There has been another blast in Peshawer. I don’t know what purpose these serve except spread needless bloodshed and mayhem.I sincerely hope this is the last one.
Muslims live in India too, they don’t blow them self. State and religion should be separated, army must ends its role in politics. Change in foreign policy, Saudi money for sunnies and Iranian funds for sheites must stop. Pakistan and our citizens first then rest. Major portion of the budget should be spent on poverty alleviation and fighting crime not in buying obsolete military arsenals. We don’t lack talent only balls to speak out against injustice committed by influential and so called religious people. Why should we fight OSMAMA or AMERICAS war. Can’t we be like Turkey, Malaysia or UAE. Friendship with India should be made top most priority. No matter what, we are more closer to India then another country in the world. We have people with families living on the other side of the border. Relations with India will definitely boost our economy if only we leave our stubbornness aside. May be things are more complicated then I know. But this is just how one Pakistani(me) sees it.