Adil Najam
Once again our eyes swell up, our hearts miss a beat, our body shakes in shock and anger, and the banality of mayhem hits us in the gut, as the enemies of Pakistan continue on their killing spree. 23 Pakistanis are dead in Lahore in today’s dastardly attack already. More remain in critical conditions.
We have been here before: here and here and here and here and here here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and it seems everwhere. One cannot bear to count any more. One shudders to think. Just how many Pakistanis will be slaughtered by the beasts who do this before their hatred is satisfied?
According to Dawn:
LAHORE: Gunmen detonated a car bomb near police and intelligence agency offices on Lahore’s Fatima Jinnah road Wednesday, killing 23 people and wounding more than 100, officials said. At least four men with rifles stepped out from the car and opened fire on the intelligence agency building, then set off a massive blast when security guards returned fire, officials said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik suggested the attack could be retaliation for the government’s military offensive to rout Taliban militants from the northwestern Swat Valley. Wednesday’s attack was the third major strike in Lahore in recent months. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest bombing. Police said one suspect was detained.
… The explosion sheared the walls off buildings in a main business district. TV footage showed bleeding bystanders and emergency workers carrying the injured toward ambulances. ‘The moment the blast happened, everything went dark in front of my eyes,’ witness Muhammad Ali said. ‘The way the blast happened, then gunfire, it looked as if there was a battle going on.’ Sajjad Bhutta, a senior government official in Lahore, told reporters that a car carrying several gunmen pulled up in a street between offices of the emergency police and the Inter-Service Intelligence.
‘As some people came out from that vehicle and starting firing at the ISI office, the guards from inside that building returned fire,’ he said. As the firing continued, the car suddenly exploded, he said. The ISI and police buildings were both badly damaged. An AP reporter saw dozens of troops entering the ISI building to supervise the rescue work, while gunshots were heard from inside the building even one hour after the blast. Television footage showed officers dragging a black-shirted man from the scene.
Malik blamed the attack on militants that government forces are fighting in the Swat Valley and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near Afghanistan. ‘These terrorists were defeated in FATA and Swat and now they have come here,’ he told reporters.
How much of this is related to teh operation going on in FATA and Swat and how much is a continuation of what has been happening month after month and week after week is unclear, but what is very clear is that, as always, Pakistanis die, Pakistanis cry.
My sincere condolences the families of those who lost their lives and to the injured.
This is a horrible and sickening incident. It is such a blatant disregard for human life. NOTHING justifies killing innocent people. Absolutely nothing.
As the Taliban get increasingly cornered in Swat, they are expected to hit back in major cities in Pakistan. The situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. But Pakistan must not lose sight of its objective, which is to rid the country of this plague, this darkness that has afflicted the country.
These are the DESPERATE acts of a drowning RAT. Nothing will save these cowards. They are doomed. Oblivion is their fate. This is our sacrifice to take our country back not just from these animals but also from all the forces of corruption, discord and deception. Don’t let the agenda of the enemies of Pakistan succeed. Keep your head high. Stand your ground.
The momentum will build, don’t let it go to waste.
May God keep you safe. All of you.
…you have to ask why are they doing this? What makes them loose their own lives? …
Answer: Pure ignorance (read jahalat ).
I read the Quran and nowhere do I find that it is OK to kill innocent by-standers just because you are targeting those who have attacked you.
I wonder how will these people face the Prophet (PBUH) on the Day of Resurrection: his explicit instructions regarding conduct of war included such extreme measures whereby if a combatant raises his hands and drops his arms a Muslim cannot attack that particular enemy combatant. Compare that to what these people are doing: blatantly killing innocent women and children and those who have not attacked them. I think they do it purely out of frustration since they are utterly incapable of doing anything else. Oh what cowardice!
Just my 2 cents!
Dear All,
Being the victim of this tragic incident, i personally feel that at this time if very difficult to judge things about the truth and faslehood. We should first judge ourselves…are we doing the daily acts of lives according to said path…we take bribes..we laugh at the others’ innocence, we indulge ourselves in the greatest sins….Allah has given each of us a said time…and unfortunately..we are wasting it…..i am depressed but i am more hopeful too by stating that i will spend the rest of my life as a true Muslim…i will try my level best…yes, its a difficult… but at this little struggle can bring postive change in my life and so the others…
Do justice to yourselves…Standup against all odds…
May Allah bless you and your country Ameen.