Explosion in Karachi

[pak-marine]

i heard from a friend that the namaz e janaza went ahead peacefully, and there is no further voilence.

 

[seekers]

KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik appealed for calm on Tuesday in Karachi, where shop owners surveyed gutted premises a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and triggered a city-centre riot.

The bombing of a Shia procession in Karachi underscored multiple security challenges facing Pakistan.

“I appeal to the people of Karachi to remain peaceful. This is the economic hub of Pakistan,” Rehman Malik told reporters after attending the funeral of a paramilitary soldier who authorities said pounced on the suicide bomber.

“Anybody trying to destabilise Karachi is actually destabilising Pakistan,” Malik said.

Malik had also ordered a thorough inquiry into the incident.

Speaking after the funeral prayers at the Polo Ground, the minister said experts were analysing the CCTV footage of the blast.

He said the face of the suicide bomber can clearly be seen in the video and authorities were doing their level best to identify the man.

Malik said people who set fire to shops, markets and vehicles after the blast were among the terrorists. He pointed out that arsonists had equipment on hand to set fire to buildings moments after the blast took place.

The minister also urged political leaders to overcome their differences and unite in order to save Pakistan. He also asked the citizens of Karachi to remain calm and cooperate with law enforcement agencies. — DawnNews/Reuters

 

[owais.usmani]

 

[pak-marine]

ragedy.-Photo by Faysal Mujeeb/WhiteStar Media Gallery
Dousing the flames Dousing the flames A deadly blast in the middle of the Muharram procession on M.A. Jinnah road has caused chaos and mayhem. Unbearable scenes of death and blood are everywhere. Dawn.com attempts to describe what people present at the scene tried to reconstruct. If you were there and know of any one injured or dead, help us find their families. Write to us at Dawn.com Forum Blog Archive Terrorists target Shia procession in Karachi



“I was only 50 feet away from the site of the blast which took place just after Jama Cloth market,” said a completely shaken 45-year-old Muzaffar Hussain. “God saved me somehow. I saw many bodies strewn all over the place immediately after the explosion.”



Hussain, whose clothes were dripping with blood, explained to his own horror that the stains were from the blood of other people around him which went flying all over the place. “If I hadn’t sat on the footpath just a moment before the explosion took place, I don’t think I would have been here telling you this story.”



Actor Sajid Hasan was coming out of the smoke billowed site. “My whole family comprising my three brothers, sister and nephews were with me when the blast took place. I still can’t find my elder brother and some of my other family members,” he said sounding desperate. “I myself have been hit by shrapnel,” he informed as he lifted his shirt; he was wounded, but hardly realized. “My nephew has been badly hurt and I hope someone has managed to shift him to the hospital.”



Describing the scene moments before the blast took place, Sajid said: “The procession was moving ahead smoothly. We passed by a camp set up by a Memon merchant and I stopped to have a word with an old man sitting at the roadside. When the blast took place, I felt something sharp hit me. I instinctively fell on the ground immediately. When I got up, I saw the old man lying dead in front of me.”



“There was a complete pandemonium and chaos thereafter. A dark cloud of smoke had engulfed the place and the first thing that came to my mind was to find out where was my family.” Sajid added that he heard sounds of gunfire and screams almost immediately after the blast.



It was reported later that his brother and sister-in-law both had expired in the tragedy.




Taveer Faruqi, 50, says he was sitting inside a camp just 50 yards from the place where the blast took place. “It happened all of a sudden. For the first few minutes I couldn’t make sense of what had happened. My ear drums had been shattered. All I could see then was smoke and fire.”



Despite the blast, the Muharram procession continued to carry on towards its destination. Meters away from the explosion, a number of vehicles had been set ablaze. Cars belonging to the police were also among these. A paramedic at the scene reported that his ambulance had been attacked. “I had made around eight rounds of picking up the dead and injured from the site to take them to the nearby civil hospital, when suddenly we came across a mob in a narrow street.” The paramedic requesting anonymity said that after much pleading they were allowed to leave.



Near the site of the blast, the Lunda market, was blazing. People gathered nearby said it’s been around half an hour since the fire had been raging but no fire brigades arrived. Families living in apartments near the market were standing helplessly in their balconies. Elderly men standing outside feared the fire might engulf their homes.



Inside the Civil hospital, another chaos was unfolding. Around 17 dead bodies were kept in a room where crowds had pushed themselves inside and started beating their chests in mourning. More than 40 injured were brought to the hospital, most of whom were later shifted to better facilities at Liaquat National and Aga Khan by their families.



Policeman Abrar was among the injured. he too had suffered a shrapnel wound on his back. “We had formed a line right in front of the procession. Everything was going well. We had cleared the area an hour before. When we reached the Light House, an explosion took place somewhere in the middle. Even though I was way ahead, I was hit by a shrapnel and fell down.”



A 12-year-old boy Izmatullah, who told his father’s name with difficulty, was writhing in pain at a ward in Civil. Son of Mohammad Sarwar, he lives in Macchar Colony and had come to witness the Muharram procession along with a friend. With blood still not dry on his wounds on the head, neck and leg, he screamed now and then “I want to be with my mother.” A nurse pierced a drip into his tiny arm.



A woman outside the ward was wailing for her son, Yawar Abbas, 12, who she said had gone missing immediately after the blast.



Aamir, 18, was being operated upon at the hospital for a gunshot wound in the stomach. His brother told me that Aamir was hit in the firing that took place after the blast. Mehbood, another 18 year old, had his leg crushed in the stampede, which ensued after the blast. Such was the reported aftermath.



Safdar Shah, introduced himself as one of the organisers, among the volunteers leading the Muharram procession in Karachi. His was the most harrowing account. “I saw a human heart fall in front of me when the blast took place,” said Safdar crying inconsolably.



“I had promised the families of participants that nothing would happen to their loved ones. I assured them that I would be the first one to die if anything happened, but here I am, still alive,” he said.



“People have been blown to bits. Even animals aren’t killed the way people, including women and children, die here.”


Tags: karachi,suicide,muharram,ashura,terror

 

[Solomon2]

Malik said people who set fire to shops, markets and vehicles after the blast were among the terrorists. He pointed out that arsonists had equipment on hand to set fire to buildings moments after the blast took place.The minister also urged political leaders to overcome their differences and unite in order to save Pakistan -

He didn't blame Indians!

 

[pak-marine]

He didn't blame Indians!

i dont see that ! do u ?

 

[Solomon2]

Prominent scholars on the occasion called on the people to remain united and not allow what they called a handful of trouble-makers to divide their ranks. The scholars said there was an American and Jewish conspiracy to trigger a confrontation between Shia and Sunni Muslims and both communities must stand united.

If an "American and Jewish conspiracy" could exercise enough power to manipulate street mobs, wouldn't it also be openly and aggressively represented in Pakistani politics? What does this assertion say about "prominent scholars"?

We are back in Agnostic Muslim territory, as when he asserted that blaming India without proof or evidence was OK because he didn't see any advantage in blaming Pakistanis. I guess it's a commonly held mode of thinking among Pakistani leaders.

The thing is that refusing to recognize your enemies for what they are may allow you peace for a day, but in the long run simply gives them leave to grow and prosper at your personal expense while attacking your sanity by warping the ego. If a thousand such afflicted people get together you have mass delusion and anything can happen. Is that what we've seen in Karachi?

 

[waraich66]

what is ur dawah??

Dawah is mother of all good deeds , it is amar bil marouf nahi munkir, it is the system which clean society from all evils and protect society from terrorism ,aggression ,natural disasters it is such a beautiful thing that every Prophet's objective of life is dawah, inviting people towards Allah so that they could get benfit from mercy and blessings of Allah in this world and new world starting after the end of this universe which is eternal.

 

[pak-marine]

If an "American and Jewish conspiracy" could exercise enough power to manipulate street mobs, wouldn't it also be openly and aggressively represented in Pakistani politics? What does this assertion say about "prominent scholars"?

lets wait until we hear a name who this or these scholars are ,if media bothers naming them.

We are back in Agnostic Muslim territory, as when he asserted that blaming India without proof or evidence was OK because he didn't see any advantage in blaming Pakistanis. I guess it's a commonly held mode of thinking among Pakistani leaders.

India is no saint , Pak and India both have blamed each other when ever the law enforcements are either clueless or they are used to twist the facts foriegnors are often blamed by both sides.

The thing is that refusing to recognize your enemies for what they are may allow you peace for a day, but in the long run simply gives them leave to grow and prosper at your personal expense while attacking your sanity by warping the ego. If a thousand such afflicted people get together you have mass delusion and anything can happen. Is that what we've seen in Karachi?

we are all hoping that the nation and our leaders stop acting like ostriches and wake up to the reality.

 

[Patriot]

and not to mention the holier then thou country USA invaded Iraq by blaming it on wrong reasons ie WMd while there were none.So back off solomon2.

 

[Solomon2]

USA invaded Iraq by blaming it on wrong reasons ie WMd while there were none

The U.S. Congress cited many reasons to invade Iraq: noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, interference with weapons inspectors, alleged weapons of mass destruction, programs to develop such weapons, "brutal repression of its civilian population", Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people", the alleged 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush, firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War, the presence of al-Qaeda, Saddam's threat to the entire Gulf, and the fact that it was the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement, and more. link.

Only the WMD stuff was incorrect. It does not appear to have been a delusion or deliberate lie - not to the people in the Bush Administration who made the decisions, anyway.

 

[Patriot]

It was a deliberate lie to create support for war in within America and you know that very well.Colin Powell was not convinced but G W Bush still told him to go to UN and show the fake proof so that they gain support from American citizens.Well the main reason was WMD's..the other reasons you gave above are just tiny part of it.All US Media was going crazy over Iraqi WMD's.

 

[Barrett]

The U.S. Congress cited many reasons to invade Iraq: noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire,

What conditions are you talking about, you with your younger brother Israel are the biggest violators of Geneva conventions.

interference with weapons inspectors

What kind of interference are you talking about?

alleged weapons of mass destruction,

Alleged.

programs to develop such weapons,

And what did you find?

"brutal repression of its civilian population"

That's none of your business, if you really want to serve humanity go to Palestine.

Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people"

The last time I checked you had the biggest arsenal of such weapons and the only country to have used them on civilians.

the alleged 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush

Alleged.

firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War

They had every right to protect their air space

the presence of al-Qaeda

Didn't you attack Afghanistan for the same reason?

Saddam's threat to the entire Gulf

You are a threat to the entire humanity.

and the fact that it was the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement, and more.

Isn't democratic replacement the right of the people who inhabit that country ?

Only the WMD stuff was incorrect. It does not appear to have been a delusion or deliberate lie.

If it wasn't a deliberate lie that what was it ?


now I think you should stop trolling and take your childish rants somewhere else, this is not the thread.

 

[Solomon2]

Patriot: we're getting too OT. VM sent.

 

[Solomon2]

Barrett, is anything you just wrote helping you or your family? I guess you feel powerless about what happened to your relatives right now. Is it the really the right thing to do to vent your anger upon those innocent of either planning or executing the deed? Haven't you just handed the terrorists another win by doing so?