3 blasts at Lahore’s culture centre jangle nerves

[Imran Khan]

3 blasts at Lahore’s culture centre jangle nerves

Staff Report

LAHORE: At least three people including a teenager were injured in a series of three explosions near the Alhamra Cultural Complex in Lahore late on Saturday, where the international World Performing Arts Festival was in progress.

Police believe at least one of the explosions might be of a timed device planted in the cafeteria in the basement of the adjacent Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture. The bomb went off at 10:02pm.

Rescuers said police and officials were trying to locate the bombing site when another explosion occurred less than 15 minutes later, injuring two workers.

Another 15 minutes later, a third explosion took place outside the Alhamra Cultural Complex gate, injuring a 13-year-old boy. The injury was minor and rescuers accompanied the boy to his Firdaus Market home.

Police investigators managed to find two explosion sites including one in the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture where they said a timed device was planted in the sanitation system.

Online said the crew of a private TV channel who were recording the festival were injured in the explosion, but the report could not be confirmed.

 

[EagleEyes]

I hope there weren't any casualties.

 

[Imran Khan]

Blasts aimed at creating panic’

ISLAMABAD:


The three explosions near the Alhamra Cultural Complex in Lahore on Saturday were aimed at creating panic, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said. He condemned the explosions in a brief conversation with a private television channel and said “anti-state elements” wanted to “attract public attention through such acts”. He said the government had ordered a probe and that he had asked the Punjab Police inspector general for a detailed report. app/daily times monitor

 

[Imran Khan]

Large crackers caused blasts, says CCPO

ISLAMABAD: Large crackers and not bombs were used to cause the three explosions near Alhamra Cultural Complex in Lahore on Wednesday, Capital City Police Officer Pervez Rathor said. Talking to a private TV channel by telephone, he said the explosions did not cause any casualties or property damage, adding some people had had minor injuries. He said the explosions were meant to create fear, but life in the city went on as usual. To a question, he said that no arrest had been made so far. Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations Wing) Chaudhry Shafiq Gujjar also told reporters the explosions were crackers meant to create panic. Superintendent of Police (Security) Muhammad Ali Naikokar told Daily Times police teams had been deployed to the area. Uniformed policemen and plainclothesman had earlier been deployed at the entry and exit of the Cultural Complex and around the venue. Policemen had also been stationed on the roof of a nearby building, he added. staff report/app

 

[Imran Khan]

Time for society to come together to defeat terrorists’
By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: This is the time for society to unite and break its silence, otherwise terrorists have left no stone unturned and have been successful in taking the nation hostage, renowned artist and art historian Dr Ajaz Anwar told Daily Times.

He said that respected public figures should unite and come forward before it is too late. “We will have to break the deafening silence and say it in a clear and loud voice that we will not be afraid of terror and the anti-culture elements and we will continue to enjoy the cultural legacy of our ancestors and tell the world that we are still part of the rich civilisation, which has been alive for thousands of years,” Anwar asserted, adding that the organisers should carry on with the remaining performances and the public should not be afraid of attending them.

He said that hardly two percent of the population condones what ‘these extremists’ are doing, and the rest are vehemently against their practices. He said if the majority was hindered from doing something out of fear, the terrorists would consider their motives accomplished.

Former human rights minister Ansar Burney said the bombings were a part of ‘dirty politics’ which aimed at dividing the provinces and
the federation.

He also stressed the need to stop the ongoing Talibanisation as extremists were committing acts that no civilised society would allow and go on to justify them in the name of Islam.

He said all political leaders and provinces would have to unite and they would have to constitute policies to oppose the growing factor of a state within a state.

Beaconhouse National University Mass Communication Department Chairman Dr Mehdi Hassan said that there was no short-term solution to the problem and the government would have to listen to the people and then design a concrete educational policy to teach the next generation about human values, rights of others, civilisation and tolerance.

“They do not want to normalise the situation and their aim is to isolate Pakistan as they isolated Afghanistan from the whole world but we would have to step forward and make it clear that we will not let the art and the artist die on this soil,” Hassan said.

He said the authorities should have protected the artists and given the foreign performers sense of security but they failed to achieve that target and now it would be very difficult to convince foreigners to perform at the festival in the future.

He also stressed the need to support the managers of the World Performing Arts Festival as they were facing a crisis due to the situation. Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) Executive Director Dr Nusrat Habib Rana said the blasts were aimed at creating fear and panic among the masses and it was attention-seeking behaviour from a minority which wanted to have their say through violence. She said that society would have to be united and send a clear message to these ‘extremists’ that we will not compromise on certain principles and they cannot hijack the whole nation through violence. She also stressed the need for the establishment of a system, which would not depend upon individual figures and would remain intact no matter what.

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[Imran Khan]

 

[IceCold]

LAHORE: Two huge blasts occurred near GOR-2 in Lahore on Wednesday injuring four persons.According to sources, four persons sustained injures when an explosive-laden car parked under a water tank in GOR-2 area exploded. The injured have been shifted to Services Hospital.Rescues teams and ambulances have reached the scene and rescue operation is underway at blasts scene. Police have cordoned off the area.

Geo TV Pakistan - Breaking News, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment, & Video News

 

[IceCold]

it seems India is finally showing its true colours. We need to investigate this probe as India is definitely behind it.

 

[Kharian_Beast]

CCTV cameras should be implemented at all major intersections and locations, no more lazy policing in known hot spots.

 

[dr.rehan]

INDIA IS BEHIND IT....
I can say it with same certainty like
they say it once anything happens in Iindia..

Now inn M.Co.... ka damag think karrne ke like 1-2 armed bargades bhejni cahje,
so we can "Teach them a lesson"...

 

[Moin91]

Car bomb kills woman, wounds five in Lahore
Updated : Wednesday December 24 , 2008 9:31:42 AM


LAHORE: Blast rocked GOR area in Shadman locality of Lahore on Wednesday morning killing a woman and wounding five persons were wounded, reports said.

According to reports a bomb device was planted in a vehicle near a water tank in the area, which went off with loud blast.

Police, bomb disposal experts and rescue and relief teams have reached to the area and the injured were transferred to hospitals.

A woman identified as Farzana was killed in the incident, while her husband was seriously wounded along with four others.

A power transformer was also exploded after the blast.

According to sources a Shahzor vehicle with bogus government number plate of LHO 2513, was used for the blast. The bomb was exploded in the government officers’ residential area of Lahore near the house of a doctor. The blast also damaged a wall of the house.

Police have cordoned off the area for investigations.

ARY OneWorld Leading News Portal of Pakistan (Urdu - English), Watch Live ARY News

 

[IceCold]

I think its now the job of the media to come infront and give a full coverage to this incident, create a pressure like situation on the GOP who's living in a state of denial to wake up and name the enemy instead of saying foreign hand is involved, fill in our case and present it to the intenational community and not just the USA and then wait and see what does the international community do and how really are they committed to WOT, when things come down to India.

 

[Kharian_Beast]

According to sources a Shahzor vehicle with bogus government number plate of LHO 2513, was used for the blast. The bomb was exploded in the government officers’ residential area of Lahore

Classic RAW operation, probably due to the influx of spies recently.

 

[ahmeddsid]

My Condolences

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Alright guys - while I understand the temptation to hurl allegations at the Indians as a tit for tat, can we get back to sensible posting now?

Do realize that we get a lot of visitors from outside India and Pakistan as well, especially the West. Heck, def.pk got put on CNN mistakenly as the Army's 'official website' at one point last year.

I believe we had Brian Cloughley the author and commentator on here a while back, looking for some material for his book.

The point is, as senior members and seasoned debaters, you have a responsibility to project Pakistan, Pakistanis and this forum in as good a light as possible.

By that I do not mean that you need to pull punches or hide or moderate your opinions, but that you need to express them with civility, and back them up with logic, facts and sources.

Debating and creating good arguments is an art (one that I am still a novice at myself), and you have to really apply yourself and often control your gut instinct to merely rubbish an opposing POV, without actually proving it to be rubbish, or at least severely undermining its credibility.

Thanks for listening, lecture over.