Forty-eight dead, 150 injured in Karachi's Shia area bomb attack

[Voxx]

@KRAIT

i don't think PPP control army of Pakistan , i think Pakistan have three president today "Zaradari" , "Kayani" , and "Talibani" and some where they all need each other/help each other . that's why this is happening.

 

[Amaa'n]

No i am not clueless..
i have lived through three martial laws and many more democrazy's and know the difference by experience not by some English news paper...
Musharraf could have confronted them...but do you think the politicians and the people of Pakistan had supported him in case of a war with America or sanctions?
I dont know how good is your memory...but do you remember the street talk in those days?
People were saying "why should we become a wall between USA and Afghanistan" and not living USA a thorough fare via Pakistan to Fight their war in Afghanistan was equivalent to Pakistan fighting America to keep them away from Afghanistan..
Mushy did the right thing by giving them thorough fare,and in his era all was fine..
Its after him that all went wrong...

Sorry to say but I am only 23 years old, and I have only witnessed just one martial law. and even at that time I was just 10years old.
When post 9/11 and afghan war, yes i do remember what was done. their were protests on the streets against musharaf, against america, and I remember some pathans in my class talking about how their relatives went to fight the war in afghanistan. What I remember is how mushi dealt with lal masjid, how he had stick up in the JUI-F mullahs, and how he used to through bones to these dogs.......

however we are not in past are we? we need to look at present, that is why I asked you what we should do Tactically and not Strategically. As of now COAS is at Chaklala garrison, PM is in house, President is doing his ****.
I agree that we have critisize army for their misadventures in the past and this is the reason they are they are keep their distance, but now is the time they atleast move a limb, atleast say something rather

 

[illusion8]

There is no doubt in my mind that this incident does bring in frustration, however Indians have no right to criticize the Pakistan Army in a domestic affair that just concerns Pakistani's. When a tragedy occurs in India, I refrain from commenting because obviously you guys would most probably believe that we are point scoring. Maybe you are different, however the vast majority don't fall into that category.

I avoid commenting on terror related threads because even an RIP from an Indian is construed as mocking by some, my only 2 comments on this thread were news articles besides the one's to you, neither do I have a single post in the Quetta bombings or much in others - I guess Indians see the tragedies as a repeat to what had happened in India for two decades (leaving out the sectarian part) and many are young posters and point scoring is in built - but it would be wrong to paint everybody with the same brush because I have found plenty of sane Pakistani's on this forum too besides the warring kind same goes for Indians. As for the army being cognizant - those statements were from Pakistani posters and would have been corroborated by Indian's here because of India's stand that the army maintains these organizations as assets.

I presume that my explanation may not cut it but then that's how I see it.

To solve this problem is simple KSA is behind this because its funding Salafi groups hence we need to destroy there command structure...Jhang is the place to go..even though it is being supported by political elements.

That is all too obvious.

 

[Huda]

The victims are mostly those who worked in shops there .... It is also told by an eye witness that sunni and shia both are affected by the blast .....

 

[notsuperstitious]

I guess Indians see the tragedies as a repeat to what had happened in India for two decades (leaving out the sectarian part)

Agreed, fully. I do not think anyone on earth knows what we went through when the whole terrorism thing was non existent on world radar and ''plausible deniability'' made people so smug.

But I don't think the point scoring comes from that history. Infact go to any threads on attacks in India and you will find the point scoring many times more on those threads.

 

[KS]

I avoid commenting on terror related threads because even an RIP from an Indian is construed as mocking by some,.

Plus one doesnt want to say something that one does not mean 100%, because no matter what our idealogies are, it is impossible to think of bomb blasts in Pakistan without one's own mind going back to the terror filled days in India in the 90s and thinking this of karma.

 

[junaid1]

Blast was in shia majority area but %40 of sunni's were also residents of those buildings .Wrong title

 

[illusion8]

But I don't think the point scoring comes from that history. Infact go to any threads on attacks in India and you will find the point scoring many times more on those threads.

Both sides have their share of nincompoops for that...

Agreed, fully. I do not think anyone on earth knows what we went through when the whole terrorism thing was non existent on world radar and ''plausible deniability'' made people so smug.

I was referring to the rationality in posting of mature posters like you, Ares, Krait, captainplanet and others - we surely see a repeat of those same incidents and the torment that Indians went through.

 

[alibaz]

Blast was in shia majority area but %40 of sunni's were also residents of those buildings .Wrong title

You are right, somehow this media is using all its force to make it sectarian issue whereas mixed population has lost their lives. It's very clear that some one wants to create a perception by design and they are not loyal to any sect and this nation.

 

[Tangent]

.Poor Shias. Don't they get support from Iran..?
.

 

[niaz]

when sunnis and shias are getting killed alike, its not appropriate for shias to scream shia genocide, it is defaming pakistan, their own country, where are shias to sympathise us sunnis when we get bombed by drones we dont claim sunni genocide by shia zardari making secret deals with americans on drone attacks? or killed from other terrorists, many sunni ulemas have died, and no body is being sympathetic to terrorism

but these were not present during musharraf era who had kept the security tight and then only sunnis were getting killed and not shias

the point is shia have the least right to claim shia genocide when their own president and chief minister are failing to protect the city of karachi and balochistan and northern areas and these guys are making politics out of those dead bodies

karachi sees tens of deaths every day and shia or suni doesnt come into the question, terrorists are looking for easy targets whether shia or sunni and this time shias are a target

let zardari the shia guy or qaim ali shah resign for they were unable to protect their shia brothers? i dont seem it occuring too

Main question here is that does anyone have the right to kill so many people who have not committed any other crime except belonging to one sect or another.

When I was growing up in a chak (as they call villages in Sargodha) whenever two parties came to blows; quite common in village disputes; elders came together and attempted to defuse the situation (muk muka in Punjabi) and whenever anyone needed assistance; nearly all the villagers helped out even if the person was a Masihie (Christian) or a Musally (low born Muslim or a kammi). Primarily because these people, regardless of their religion or social status were human beings and fellow villagers and well-being of every person was of concern to all the inhabitants of the chak.

January 14, 2013 saw 100 Shia Hazaras killed in Quetta. Then a bomb in early February killed 24 Hazaras in a mosque. Subsequently, another 84 Hazaras died in Quetta on Feb 17, 2013. A Shia Heart Specialist Ali Haider and his son was target killed in Lahore on Feb 19, 2013. Naval Commander Azim Haider was shot at the KPT gate a couple of days and today succumbed to injuries and about 60 killed in attack of Shia colony. You must have seen posters distributed by LEJ who claim that all Shias should be killed and accept targeting Shias with impunity. Despite all this you insist that Shias have no right to claim ‘Genocide’ because Zardari & Sindh chief minister is a Shia! Pray tell me under what logic you are denying this right to the Shia? If you don’t call it genocide then what would you call this mass murder? The fact that about 250 of your country man are dead without any reason does not matter to you at all? May be you don’t think that Shia have a right to live in Pakistan?

I am old and thus have old ideas. I am partial to Sufi Islam where love of Allah and compassion towards other humans (being Allah’s creatures) is of great importance. However, Pakistan society has changed much in the last 50 years. Couple months ago I was in Karachi to attend funeral of a close relation. I was lamenting about a dozen people killed in Karachi every day without anyone giving two hoots about it. One of my cousins just shrugged saying ‘it is ANP & MQM fighting for the control of Karachi’ as if a dozen or so lives lost every day counts for nothing. It may be only Pathan & Mohajir infighting but the people killed are Pakistanis and every Pakistani should try to do whatever he can to stop the bloodshed.

What is the difference between animals and us, if we causally ignore about 250 deaths of Pakistani nationals in a month with frivolous comments? Regret to state that this kind of attitude, especially among the educated classes shows extent of degradation of Pakistani society.

No doubt it the responsibility of the State to protect her nationals. Nevertheless, it also responsibility of the society to deny any help or protection, directly or indirectly to the perpetrators of such crimes. The killers were not Jinns, they were men and thus needed some local support to enable them to carry the nefarious deed and then disappear.

I humbly request my compatriots to understand that human life is sacred. Only the State has the right to take a human life and only after all the legal process has been exhausted. Any extra judicial killing; regardless of the faith of the President, Chief Minister or COAS; or even a single life being lost due to negligence or bigotry is the most deplorable crime and should be strongly condemned thru pen, voice or deed. Your comments imply that you don’t give a fig; I am hoping you would change this mind-set after reading my arguments.

 

[TalibanSwatter]

DAWN

IN the wake of the attacks against the Hazaras in Quetta, accusations have been levelled by a section of civil society, media and human rights organisations that the armed forces and its intelligence agencies have some links with proscribed militant outfits like the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ).

There is also a widespread general perception that our security establishment calls the shots on internal security issues, especially those pertaining to Balochistan and Fata.

This criticism against a publicly respected institution of the armed forces resulted in an emphatic denial by none other than the chief of the ISPR, the military’s media wing, at a specially arranged media briefing last month.

At the same time the secretive and powerful ISI formally told the Supreme Court that it had conveyed prior information about the transfer of large-scale chemicals from Lahore for preparation of explosives in Quetta to be soon used against the Hazaras.

It conceded that formal counterterrorism operations were not part of the ISI’s mandate, implying that the Frontier Corps (FC) and the police had failed to prevent the carnage even after being given clear information.

A military spokesman stated clearly that “the armed forces were not in contact with any militant organisation, including the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi”. This realisation is welcome, especially after a change in the military doctrine recently when the army chief unequivocally declared on Independence Day in 2012 that the Pakistani state was pitted against an internal enemy in the form of militant organisations that were planning to unravel the country through terrorism and religious extremism.

The very public and categorical denial by the army command should also result in the institution’s own soul-searching and internal accountability about the patronage of certain militant organisations by the military and the intelligence agencies, especially during the Zia and Musharraf eras.

The present army command knows and understands that security-handling and political engineering by the Military Intelligence (MI) in Balochistan led to the woes of that unfortunate province that continues to bleed due to the unresolved issue of the missing persons, the Baloch insurgency, targeted killings of Punjabi settlers and sectarian terrorism, especially against the Hazara Shias.

While ruling out any collaboration at any level, the army spokesman stated that there was “no reason to think about the army’s involvement” with the LJ. He vociferously added that “there is no way the army can afford this. If such a thing comes to notice it will be sorted out”.

The record shows and all Hazaras know that there was not a single incident of sectarian terrorism in Quetta or the entire province in 2007 because high-profile LJ terrorists like Usman Kurd and Dawood Badini had been apprehended and incarcerated in a high-security, anti-terrorism police force-guarded prison in the
military cantonment in Quetta.

Will the army command and intelligence agencies honestly probe the circumstances under which the LJ desperados escaped from a secure facility in January 2008? Is it not a fact that the LJ Balochistan regrouped under these fugitives and since then has unleashed a reign of terror, not only in Quetta but all over the country?

In my view, the armed forces now have a responsibility to come up to the expectations of the victim Shia community of Quetta and leave no stone unturned to re-arrest the LJ fugitives.

No army operation is required for this challenging task. All it requires is for the Crime Investigation Department, the Special Branch, Intelligence Bureau, and the ISI to pool their resources, share information and help the police, FC and the armed forces for a targeted raid in an area which is outside the jurisdiction of the police.

It is now time to address the civil-military disconnect to resolve the issue of internal security fault lines and stop blaming each other. Sectarian violence is now the biggest threat to our national cohesion and peace.

The timing is also crucial because the next national elections are around the corner.

An inept and corrupt government failed to muster the political will to tackle the security challenges facing Balochistan during the last five years.

A truly representative new political leadership elected as a result of fair and transparent elections will hopefully be chastened by the previous misrule and try to deliver peace and progress to the hapless citizens of a province crying for the healing touch of reforms.

Meanwhile, our security establishment led by the armed forces and intelligence agencies, who have been part of the problem, has to become a very active part of the solution to combat sectarian terrorism, resolve the issue of missing persons, guard our vast frontiers, and actively support the police, Levies, and civil armed forces such as the FC and Coast Guard.

It must do so not only to protect our vital national assets in Balochistan but become part and parcel of good governance and service delivery for citizens of the hinterland of our nation.

 

[Safriz]

The victims are mostly those who worked in shops there .... It is also told by an eye witness that sunni and shia both are affected by the blast .....

Exactly.
Nearby is sohrab goth and that humongous apartment block called al asif square????
All Afghan hazara uzbeks and tajiks living there and most are shia.
The imam bara is across the isphahani road and far from blast area.

 

[Mian H Amin.]

Brig sir, we have full details of the incident now. around 50 dead and 150 injured. 200 flats destroyed.

 

[Huda]

Blast was in shia majority area but %40 of sunni's were also residents of those buildings .Wrong title

Not only residents but there are many shop of sunnis i was watching the interview of an eye witness he told to media man that there is one Afghan's Tandor and they were sunnis even the shia man said that many of our sunnis brothers also died in this blast.