Just heard that a powerful explosion ripped through a Shia mosque killing 15 people and injuring dozens in Sialkot today.
The explosion took place during the friday prayers.
May Allah have mercy on the deceased and give speedy recovery to those injured.
Yet again we have thugs and murderers committing murder in the name of religion.
Shame on these animals.
Pakistan mosque bomb ‘kills 19’](BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bomb carnage at Pakistan mosque)
At least 19 people have been killed and dozens injured in a bomb blast at a mosque in the eastern Pakistani city of Sialkot, police say.
Hundreds of worshippers of the Muslim Shia minority were packed into the mosque attending Friday prayers.
Police said they believed the attack may have been a suicide bombing.
Sectarian violence is a major concern in Pakistan, where clashes between the Shia and Sunni groups have caused a high number of casualties.
Mob rampage
Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the AP agency: “This is the work of enemies of Pakistan and enemies of Islam and we condemn it.”
PAKISTAN’S SECTARIAN DIVIDE
Shias revere Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed
Pakistan is 20% Shia, 70% Sunni
Violence between Sunni and Shia factions began from early 1980s
Over 150 people have died in the past year alone
Around 4,000 people have been killed in total
Most violence takes place in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab
Shia-Sunni schism
Police said initial inquiries indicated the blast at the Mistri Abdullah Imambargah mosque was caused by a device concealed inside a bag or briefcase.
The BBC’s Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says the blast took place in the centre of the prayer hall, causing chaos.
Police said the bomb left a two-foot deep crater with the dead and wounded strewn across the floor.
The police chief of Sialkot, Nisar Ahmed, told AP: “Dozens of people have been taken to hospital in critical condition and I think the casualties and death toll will rise.”
Police said a mob went on the rampage after the explosion, throwing stones at officers and attacking property.
Our correspondent says police tried to push back the crowd to allow the wounded to be taken to hospital.
The blast comes just days after security was stepped up in major Pakistani cities in fear of reprisals for the killing by Pakistani security forces of leading al-Qaeda suspect Amjad Farooqi.
But our correspondent says it is too early to say who carried out the attack. He says Sialkot is not a known centre for sectarian violence.
At least 20 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a Shia mosque in Karachi in May.
That attack followed the killing of a leading Sunni cleric.
oh my God...
thats so sad :(
on 15th shabaan...during friday prayers... :(
inna lillahe wa inna ilaihae rajayoon...
:(
whoever did this...i hope Allah swt puts some sense into their minds... :(
inna lillahe wa inna ilaihae rajayoon... :(
just the other day i was reading some post by a guppy who said shia mosques are not getting bombed now and i was surprised myself..wow three months and no attacks?? amazing..khair woh hairat angaiz khushi chund din ki hi thi..afsos
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sheraz CT: *
just the other day i was reading some post by a guppy who said shia mosques are not getting bombed now and i was surprised myself..wow three months and no attacks?? amazing..khair woh hairat angaiz khushi chund din ki hi thi..afsos
[/QUOTE]
That guppy was me. Never before have I been so saddened by being proved wrong :(
May Allah SWT grant those murdered in this cowardly attack forgiveness for their sins and grant them access into paradise. May He ease the suffering and pain of their mothers, father, brothers, sisters, spouses, children, friends and other families. May He bring a terrible punishment on the perpetrators of this foul and vile act.
To Allah we belong and to Allah we shall return.
look at the images of the injured on geo tv..how will these ppl live without their legs, hands..what a painful live they will have to live..iss say to yeh marr hi jaatay to behter hota
btw they are reporting 25 people dead so far
Oh you who were butchered
in the name of Wahabism
Your children left behind
who would grow up hating the Sunnis
Your mothers would cry
for the lost sons
The sons who went to say Friday prayers
and bombed by a MAToo terrorist
Oh you who lost your legs
in the name of Tali-bobo hate
You will walk around crippled
just because a Mullah became Shaitan
We mourn with you
We make a promise with you
your blood will not go waste
We'll hunt your killers
in Sialkot and in Karachi
We'll find those MAToos
even when they hide in Shakai.
Bohat Afsosnak. Allah raham karay or aisa karnay walooN par apni lana'at bhayjay.
:S
i really do not think that sunnis killed those shias for the sake of sunni'ism or that sunni leader who was killed was killed by shias for the sake of shia'ism
it is the enemies of our country who incite this kind of violence in the country bc they know that political instability is the only thing that is pulling us down...if we dont have political instability, if pakistan has political peace, then hum sab se aagay nikal jaayen ge and obviously our enemies dont want that
secondly, the govt, realistically speaking, cannot really put an end to terrorism...even america cant put an end to terrorism in america despite all the resources they have...then how can our govt? if there are ppl who want to create mischief, they prolly will succeed b/c to be honest being a third world country our state machinery is jus not capable of combatting such elements in totality...
anyways...
may Allah swt put an end to such incidents...
Irem, when was a last time Sunnis were blown up while praying in a mosque?
Some people are in total denial mode all the time.
Most of the vistims of terrorism by Muslims are fellow Muslims. Yet people here find it convenient to blame "foreign agents" or anti-nationals for such attacks.
Anyway, my heart goes out to the victims and their families. I pray for their solace.
Another sad day. Allah tamam afrad ko jannat naseeb karey aur Lawahiqeen ko sabe-e-jameel dai. Aameen!
I still say this has nothing to do with Shia-Sunni issue. God knows who is this 3rd party who dont want to See Pakistan progressing and muslims living in unity. Khuda ke Lanat ho un per!
Just when we thought this ugly chapter was closing, idiots open it again by butchering yet more innocent ppl.
Madhanee- just because sunnis have not been recently kileld in a mosque does not make this some sunni conspiracy, some sunni idiots yes.
talwar- elements do not need to be foriegn always to be anti-national. we have our own set of morons who want to destabilize and terrorize the country, foriegn hands may be involved, and it does not mean India, it can mean arab extremists who just want to partner with pakistani crazies and create havoc.
Fraudz…that’s what I was saying – but Irem was somehow blaming “foreign” forces – like Bolivia or Barkina Fasoooo. If these countries indeed were responsible for these senseless butchering, my question is how can they even tell Shias from Sunnis apart? I can’t, and I live in Pakistan. And I wasn’t blaming Sunnis for this. Just a couple of misguided moronic organizations that will not even spare little kdis, let alone religious minorities.
Sectarian Strife in Pakistan - What to do?
I propose that anyone who can be proven to have publically either called shias or sunnis to be kaffirs, or called for their deaths, should be imprisoned for 5 years.
And since if they are allowed to associate in prison, it would probably only reinforce their views, they should be sentenced to 5 years of solitary confinement!!!!
Animals....
The death toll has now risen to 30 and expected to rise even further as a number of victims are critically injured. How can anyone justify such killings? It is really sad that we have such idiots living amongst us.
Ehsan Bhaijan, I don’t believe that anyone – in Pakistan or outside – would justify what happened – or even try to (even when people come up with theories, they are not justifying what happened). What happens is that misguided brainwashed idiots are being used by keepers of the faith who just want destruction and murder and instability to keep their influence and power. It is just a few and hopefully it will not be long before they are all taken care of.
I hate Mushy with a passion, but I sincerely hope that he spares no effort to bring the morons responsible for this to justice and he doesn’t sleep for a second until that happens.
Fraudz,
Sectarian groups, Jihadi groups created for Kashmir by Pakistani agencies, militancy are all interlinked.
You cannot destroy one without taking on the other. Here’s the editorial from the latest Friday Times paper.
**Hype and reality **
Najam Sethi’s E d i t o r i a l
Before 9/11 General Pervez Musharraf was perceived internationally as a “pariah” leader of a “rogue” state. But last week in America he was on an unprecedented high as Western leaders called him a “true friend” and heaped accolades on him. Everywhere, he billed himself as a reformer, a moderate and enlightened leader of the Islamic world. The hype reached a crescendo when India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, claimed to open a “historic new chapter” in relations with Pakistan based on the “sincerity and boldness of General Musharraf”. The icing on the cake was the killing in Nawabshah of Amjad Faruqi, the “most wanted” Al-Qaeda terrorist in Pakistan. Clearly, it’s time to separate the hype from reality.
General Musharraf admits that Amjad Faruqi was responsible for attempts on his life. He was the chief operative of Abu Feraj, the top Al-Qaeda Libyan hiding in Waziristan. So we can rejoice in his elimination. But hold on. **Wasn’t Faruqi flushed out of the house of a leader of the Jaish-i-Mohammad, a jihadi outfit? Didn’t he begin his career by joining Harkatul Ansar, the jihadi militia that emerged after a merger of Harkat Jihad-e-Islami with other Deobandi militias? Wasn’t his uncle Hanif already a member of Harkat-e-Jihad Islami which also became the leading militia under the Taliban? Didn’t he go to Afghanistan in 1986 for training as a jihadi? Didn’t he join the sectarian Sipah Sahaba and later the sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi? Didn’t he go repeatedly to Afghanistan to widen his links with Al Qaeda? Wasn’t he involved in the attack on the American consulate in Karachi and in the attack on Islamabad’s Protestant Church two years ago? Indeed, wasn’t Faruqi also one of the jihadi hijackers of the Indian airliner whose passengers were held hostage until jihadis like Omer Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar were freed from Indian jails in 2000? Didn’t Omer Sheikh, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Amjad Faruqi jointly plan the kidnapping of the American journalist Danny Pearl in 2002 who had nothing to do with Kashmir or India? Didn’t Faruqi behead Pearl? **
The point here is not to establish why Faruqi and the others were such wanted men. The point is to trace their natural transition from sectarian and/or state-sponsored anti-India jihadis to anti-American Al-Qaeda operatives who are all out to get General Musharraf. They all struck roots in the state-sponsored jihad in Kashmir and later naturally branched off into the Al-Qaeda orbit.
But there’s more to it. Faisal Saleh Hayat, the former interior minister, has publicly accused activists of the Jamaat-i-Islami, a component of the Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA), of sheltering wanted Al-Qaeda terrorists. Some professional doctors are also mixed up with these parties of the MMA and Al-Qaeda. This implies an unholy alliance or link between the anti-India jihadis, the anti-American Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the anti-Musharraf MMA. In their eyes, the war against the “infidel Hindus” is part of the war against the “infidel Westerners” and their “American stooge” Pervez Musharraf and his “puppet” Shaukat Aziz.
General Musharraf’s reaction to all this is: “I cannot pack up the jihad until the Kashmir issue is resolved”. But if the Kashmir issue hasn’t been resolved by jihad in the last fifteen years despite tens of thousands of deaths, how much longer will we have to wait for General Musharraf to find a solution to Kashmir so that he can “pack up” the unholy rectangle of jihad, Al-Qaeda, Taliban and MMA – political Islam which is out to get him and Pakistan?
General Musharraf has had problems in coming to terms with reality. There is confusion in his mind about the role of political Islam in nation building and national security. At Agra in 2001 he set up Kashmir-related preconditions for a dialogue. Then, faced with the prospect of war in January 2002, he promised not to export jihad. By January 2004, he had abandoned the core issue approach and opened a composite unconditional dialogue with India. Some months ago he unilaterally shrugged away the UN resolutions. However, two months ago he inexplicably insisted on a “timeframe” for a solution on Kashmir. But last week in New York, he was crowing about a “historic breakthrough” with India without a word about timetables or simultaneity of conflict resolution. Meanwhile, there is no word on the fate of the jihad or the MMA.
His ambivalence towards the MMA is astounding. He nurtured the mullahs at the expense of the PPP. Then shook hands with them over the LFO and gave them a seat in the NSC, plus governments in two provinces. But this is the same MMA that is viciously opposed to his American friends, that is aiding and abetting the anti-American Taliban, that provides succour to the jihadis, that refuses to sit in the NSC with him, that wants him to quit the army, that harbours the terrorists. As if that wasn’t enough, he has now conceded a role to the MMA in resolving the “terrorist” issue in Wana.
If this isn’t confusion worst confounded, it can only be rank opportunism. Sooner or later, Musharraf will have to clear the cobwebs of his mind. That is when, we hope, reality will get the better of hype and we shall finally see the way forward.
The fact is that the sectarian violence in Pakistan is not fundamentally a foreign driven thing, but a side-effect of a continued set of policies by Pakistani governments since the late 1970s.
Until Musharraf and co realize that they cannot pick and choose their crackdown on terrorism, such monsters will continue to thrive in Pakistan.
Well, at least Sethi got headline of the week. Such a shame.