Adil Najam
Militant suicide bombers brought their mayhem and murder to Lahore today. The well-planned terrorist attack has left at least 26 people dead and some 70 injured.
According to Dawn:
A suicide bomber blew himself up among police outside the Lahore High Court building Thursday, killing at least 22 policemen and 4 civilians, and wounding over 70 others, minutes before a planned anti-government protest rally of the lawyers latest reports said.
“There were about 60 to 70 policemen on duty when a man rammed into our ranks and soon there was a huge explosion,” said police officer Syed Imtiaz Hussain who suffered wounds to his legs and groin. TV footage showed at least four mangled bodies on the ground close to a destroyed motorbike and a piece of smoking debris. The blast fired shrapnel as far as 100 meters away. It also shattered windows in the court house and set off volleys of tear gas shells carried by the police, witnesses said. Lahore’s chief of police operations Aftab Cheema said the bomber had run up to a barrier manned by police and blew himself up. He said 20 policemen and two civilians were killed. More than 70 others were wounded, including civilian passers-by, officials said. “It was a suicide attack,” Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal told Dawn News TV adding that 22 policemen died in the attack. He said police were “definitely” targeted.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene of the attack saw the severed head of a man with long hair and beard, possibly that of the suicide bomber. Police constable Jameel Ahmed said the attacker was a man aged about 25 who had arrived outside the court building on a motorbike. “He parked his bike and walked up to the police and blew himself up,” Ahmed said. Police bomb disposal experts estimated the bomb contained up to 14 kilograms of explosive. The police had been deployed in front of the court premises ahead of a weekly lawyers’ protest against the sacking of Supreme Court judges in November. The rally had been due to start about 15 minutes before the bomb went off. About 200 lawyers were inside the High Court at the time of the blast, and others were marching from a nearby district court.
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But Lahore, as they say, is Lahore. I guess it was. Lahore is always dearest to me not only because of my own roots in the city but also because it hosted me through my wonderful University days there. It is not that Lahore was unfamiliar to political violence and murder. Far from it. But it has not been in the cross-hair of these suicide murders like many other places were. Now it is.
I have gone through my own connections to all these place as a form of catharsis for myself, but much more than that because even if I sit far away from them today, I take each of these attacks personally. I can feel the hurt, and feel - quite literally - like screaming out in pain. These attacks are not just attacks on cities and people in cities that I am fond of. These are attacks on the principles that I stand for, the ideals that I wish for, and the aspirations that I hope for. These are attacks on me. On my Pakistan. On my Pakistaniat.
I fear that there are too many of us who have internalized the violence. This is “how things are.” We have made ourselves “get used to it.” We have depersonalized the pain. Someone else died; somewhere else. Sad, but life must go on. We have made ourselves numb to the destruction and in the process legitimized the violence of the terrorist with the argument is that somehow the violence was done to make a point.
But that is the point. Violence is never an argument. It is a verdict. There is nothing more pitiful than a society that “gets used to” violence. I fear that this is exactly what is happening to us.
I realize that I have gotten a little carried away in my emotions here. But, maybe, we should all get carried away in our emotions now and then. I know that the hurt and the pain I feel is not just my hurt and pain. It the hurt and pain of far too many Pakistanis. For many it is much much more than my own because they have to live the hurt and pain every day in the neighborhoods they live in.
Maybe we should all take this personally. Maybe we should all not just feel the outrage but express the outrage. And do so without the violence and without the mayhem that the terrorists express their own outrage in. We as a people have to learn somehow to express our hurt without feeling the need to hurt someone else.
Violence feeds not only on the anger of those who are violent, but also on the silence of those who are not. We must not remain silent in the face of systemic violence.
THANK YOU FOR THIS BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN PIECE.
YOU LITERALLY BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES, BETA.
MAY ALL PAKISTANIS THINK LIKE THIS. INSHALLAH.
Annkhain band kerne se billi chali nahi jati
When wana, waziristan, balouchistan was burning it was just parts of country but now its everyday event in big cities. May be not the most dangerous country but certainly one of the most dangerous country. Plus infra-structure and everyday supply of basics are running out…. But ‘Army inc’ is happy dandy.
Country is standing at the brinks of destruction. Similar attitude was adapted in ‘west’ pakistan while ‘east’ pakistan was burning !!
Did you hear that sound “Pakistan na khape” !!!!!
As Jalib said
Jis ne itne dukh diye
woh kub khushi se jaaye ga
Asaa uthao
ke firon isi se jaaye ga
I totally agree with the post. We keep ignoring this extremism and violence and we must take it personally every time and everywhere.
PESHAWAR/MINGORA: Rebel cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who was accused by President Pervez Musharraf of masterminding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, on Thursday said he was not involved in the murder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader.
“Benazir Bhutto’s killing was a part of power politics. We have nothing to do with her and her family members know the killers well,” said Sirajuddin, a spokesman for Maulana Fazlullah, who called The News from an undisclosed location.
President Musharraf blamed Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah for assassinating Benazir outside Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on December 27.Baitullah had already denied the charge against him but Fazlullah, who was declared dead by some media organisations on Wednesday in a military action in Manja area of Kabal Tehsil, appeared to clarify his position.
Fazlullah said they would continue their struggle under the command of Baitullah Mehsud till the enforcement of Sharia in the region. He said they had decided to go underground and launch guerrilla attacks on security forces. “The military is targeting innocent people and damaging mosques to punish our followers for supporting the Mujahideen,” he said.
Fazlullah claimed that a lot of suicide bombers were ready to launch attacks on targeted locations in the country. Meanwhile, security forces fighting the Fazlullah-led militants in Swat on Thursday suspended military action due to persistent heavy snowfall and rain in the valley. Security personnel, during a search operation in Fatehpur area of Khwazakhela, arrested 12 suspected militants and shifted them to an undisclosed location. Similarly, military officials said four suspected militants were apprehended on Ayub Bridge near Kanju.
The perfect example of the whole problem is copied above. Now the question is how can we stop ourselves from suffering from the above problem???
Is it right to kill people who want to spend their life according to shariah? No
Is it right for people who want to spend their life according to shariah to force others to do the same? No
So if both the parties reach some kind of agreement or truce the whole issue can be resolved, both the parties need to understand the sanctity and security of Pakistan is of foremost importance and we cannot in any any case compromise that.
If the cleric of Lal of Majsid didn’t like CD’s shops or massage parlour around his vicinity he has got no right to abduct people from there and at the same time Pak army has no right to kill in the name of fight against terrorism for 11 billion dollars. We don’t have to dig graves of our men to feed our other brothers, we need to make men who can prove to the whole world they are no lesser humans, and who can change Pakistan into first world and who will earn 11 billion based on their capabilities because they can be scientists, engineers, doctors sportsmen and what not.
Mushy to Resign if next govt seeks his impeachment
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008 1\11\story_11-1-2008_pg1_5
I am shocked at how Nawaz Sharif is responding to the crisis that the people of Pakistan facing. People are dying everyday, and he keeps trying to score political points - blaming Mush for all that is happening in Pakistan. NS was in fact was an integral part of the establishment that raised these religious fanatics in the 80’s and 90’s..practically in their laps.
Nawaz Sharif show some guts (like BB did). Condemn these murders. Show some courage. Announce a mass movement against these fanatics. Otherwise, history will judge you as a coward.
Reminds me of ambitious General Custer’s last battle and death
“As he lay dead, the women…pushed the point of a sewing awl into each of his ears, into his head. This was done to improve his hearing, as it seemed he had not heard what our chiefs in the South had said when he smoked the pipe with them. They told him then that if ever afterward he should break that peace promise and should fight the Cheyennes, the Everywhere Spirit surely would cause him to be killed….I often have wondered if, when I was riding among the dead where he was lying, my pony may have kicked dirt upon his body. “
Hello Adil,
Thanks for your reply. Although I know what you are trying to say and I was not trying to target you personally, I’ll stand by my statement about the fortress mentality.
The people are desperate to get the exploitative elites (in Lahore and everywhere else) out of the way, and they will do so through bloody French revolution tactics and by following the mullahs if necessary. The elites are busy trying to ignore this by making a lot of noise about different “issues”. But there is only one issue: life in Pakistan is not getting better for the great majority of its citizens, who are regarded as little better than work donkeys by their own countrymen in the posh DHS units. Reflecting this one issue is the fact that there are no political forces really representing the average people. So rage is at fever pitch and it has nowhere to go. Mullahs are there to take advantage of it.
I hope something can be done to make the inevitable change as little like violent revolution as possible. All you need is a legitimate government, centralized and progressive tax collection, energetic social reforms on all levels, land reform, unionization of workers, a military willing to give up its 60% share of the national budget, a ruling class willing to walk away from its most psychologically addictive perks, foreign powers who want to see Pakistan peaceful and prosperous, and….
Oh, forget the pipe dreams. Revolution it is, then. It worked for the Chinese, and only cost tens of millions of lives.