Adil Najam
A bomb blast at Luna Caprese – a top-end Islamabad restaurant, located in the very heart of the Federal Capital (near Super Market, Islamabad) frequented often by foreign diplomats and high-level government officials – extremist violence to Islamabad.
According to The News:
Two persons including Turk female citizen have died and over 15 others have injured in Islamabad blast on Saturday evening. One victim was identified as a Turk female citizen working in an NGO who was died in the Islamabad blast. Three US citizens and including two doctors and a Chinese citizen included among the citizens. The majority of injured is reportedly foreigners, the sources added.
The blast occurred in the backside of an Italian restaurant “ Luna Caprese†near Super market, the sources said. Over 15 injured including foreigners have been shifted to hospitals. The bomb blast at Luna Caprese restaurant in Islamabad this evening was not a suicide attack confirmed spokesman Interior Ministry, Brigadier (Retd.) Javed Iqbal Cheema. “It was not a suicide attack,†Cheema said adding “It is yet to be ascertained if the blast was caused by a remote controlled device.’
A BBC story adds:
… It is the first attack that has apparently targeted foreigners in Islamabad since 2002, analysts say. Two foreign diplomats, one from the US and one from the UK, were among the injured, their governments said. Those injured also include nationals from Japan, Canada and Turkey, officials say. Five are US nationals, according to police.
Witnesses said Saturday evening’s explosion occurred in a garden at the back of the restaurant, leaving a crater in the ground and blowing out the windows. Part of the back wall of the restaurant also collapsed. “It was deafening,” Tariq Mahmood, a waiter at the restaurant, told Reuters news agency. “We pulled out at least eight people from the wreckage. Most of them were foreigners,” he said.
… Luna Caprese is located in a busy shopping area, and is one of the few restaurants that serve alcohol in Islamabad. There have been concerns raised recently by security officials over the lack of protection of such venues, the BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan reports from Pakistan. Foreigners, especially those from Western countries, were advised last year to stay away from public places and popular restaurants, he says.
This is one more in a string of blasts, including a recent one in Lahore. Neither the timing nor the location of this blast is without significance. It comes on the eve of the first meeting of the new National Assembly (on Monday) and in targets a location that is not only in the very heart of the Capital but a location that is frequented by foreigners and by high-level officials.
Those sending these dastardly messages of death know exactly who they are sending the message to. They are sending a message to Gen. Musharraf’s government reminding them that they have lost control of the country, they are sending a message to the incoming political parties to let them know that they should tread with care on the issue of extremism, and they are sending a message to the rest of the world that Pakistan is a dangerous place and will remain so no matter what happened in the elections or what happens on Monday.
But the most venomous message is being sent to the citizens of Pakistan. Each of these blasts- from Peshawar to Quetta to Karachi to Lahore to Rawalpindi, Islamabad and everywhere else (here, here, here) – is one more way for the extremists to mock us and to shout out in our face that it is they and not us who control our destiny… That it is they and not we who speak for Pakistan to the world at large… That it is they and their sick minds and not we and our aspirations and hopes who will define the future of the country. That is what they want us and the world to believe.
Whatever else happens, the message of hatred and death must be defied. It is incumbent not only on governments – old or new – but on all of us to stand and speak out against their agenda. Niether they, nor their message, nor their tactics, nor their actions speak for for. Indeed, we all must speak out against them.
terrible! i was feeling pretty bad when lahore was blasted few days ago. being a karachiite, i had this illusion that its only a selected few areas which get the trouble. But beautiful Lahore? no way!
and this attack yesterday is another unusual attack for me, coz i cant remember any other attack on foreigners like this. maybe there have been but i cant recall at the moment.
i am thinking whether the bombers chose this restaurant due to its wine selling? if so, were the bombers one of those poor, frustrated angry conservative who have been told to hate all that is not his beloved belief, and its epitome being the blast?
if so, my enemy is not to be defeated by harm, but by love. coz we know killing these ppl r creating more bombers….
i dont know….im just polluting cyberspace..thats all….
Hello All,
Where is Tariq Azizuddin Pakistans ambassador to Afghanistan?
Does anybody know
I do not think that either Imran or Nawaz Sharif are justifying these attacks. It is wrong for people to say so just because they do not like these leaders.
What Imran and Nawaz and many many other Pakistanis ARE saying is that the government’s actions on behalf of USA in the Tribal Areas have created the conditions in which more of these attacks are happening. That is true, even Gen. Musharraf knows that.
I think it is shameful for people to use these tragic incidents to make political points for or against whoever they like or not like. I think the post is correct in pointing out that this violence is now all our problem and whatever our differences on other things, we have to unite to fight these enemies of human decency.
It is shameful that national leaders like Nawaz and Imran justify these terrorist attacks against our civilians by suggesting that these are revenge attacks for what we did in tribal areas.
First, nothing we did in tribal area justifies this spree of lunatic suicide attacks against our innocent people; we were trying to rid those areas off the arab and afghan terrorists who were being sheltered by the local leaders. Our govt has the right and responsibility to do root out such foreign and local terrorists. In hind sight I feel our govt did not do enough to cleanse the area.
Secondly, no person with a modicum of sanity would even attempt justify this barbaric killing. I am saddened that someone like Imran Khan would say something so despicable. I feel embarassed for him.
We must realize that Pakistan is fighting for its survival against islamic terrorism; the same form of terrorism we cheered for when it hit our so-called american, indian and jew foes in the past. Now this monster has turned upon us and unlike others who have a plan to defeat it, we have not even realized its presence and threat. We have knowingly let this cancer spread in our society. Our twisted and inhumanistic interpretation of Islam is at the core of this disaster.
As a person living in US, I can say that Islam is generally the most hated religion and muslims are the most despised and untrustworthy people with Pakistanis at the lowest possible level. In fact many Pakistanis today would be happy to pass as Indians.
Unless we modernize our interpretation of Islam, get rid of of fundamentalism-inspiring mullahs, promote tolerance of other nations and religions and work wholeheartedly to rebuild our image within and without, we will be relegated to even lower ranks in human civilization.
This time the m.o is diferent,no suicide bomber is involved.
American victims insisted on going to their embassy instead of directly going to the hospital.Could it be a message from our establishment? Mush is trying hard to hold on to power.
The US media is very quiet so far no coverage on network.
Or the terrorists are getting sophisticated.Just thinking out loud.
Hope transition to representative government takes place smoothly.
With apology to foreign national victims from a Pakistani