UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

Sickening. 6 shot dead by a mob of protesters and 2 beheaded. And we had domestic stalwarts in Pakistan lamenting that Pakistan’s protests of the ‘issue’ were timid.

I hope our resident UN guy is in a safe location. This is the reaction of a UN writer.

2

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

It's a sad incident and I see your point now regarding Ansar Abbasi and his inciting attitude.

3

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

i wish CM would log on once in a while just so we'll know he's safe.....:(

the killers were ordinary citizens, RIP to the UN staff member that were killed

4

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

CM should be safe, he's posted to the other end of the country.

It's being reported that the crowd was incited by the imam preaching at the Blue Mosque in mazar-i-Sharif that gives the city its name. I'm now starting to be sympathetic to the way in which in most Arab countries, the imams are appointed by the government and the khudbahs they give are written by the government. It avoids instances like this that lead to people uninvolved in provocations being killed.

5

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

Rest in peace..disgusting event..

CM hope you are safe and sound

6

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

Awful awful awful and Terry Jones will believe he's been proven right.

7

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

buncha ignorant thugs...murderers.
can we just expel people from the faith..I mean our mullah types declare ppl non-muslim all the time, maybe we turn the table and boot out all these tribal thugs

8

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

Maddy if you speak to CM let him know we are asking about him just read riots have spread

9

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

Sad. :frowning:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/02/afghanistan-un-workers-killed-quran-burning_n_844050.html

UN Envoy Details How Employees Were Killed During Quran Burning Protest In Afghanistan

DEB RIECHMANN 04/ 2/11 07:34 PM ET

United Nations , Afghanistan , Afghanistan Quran Burning , Koran , Koran Burning , Quran Burning , Quran Burning Church , Un Workers Killed In Afghanistan , World News

KABUL, Afghanistan — Fearing for their lives, the U.N. workers dashed into a dark bunker hoping to escape the mob of Afghan protesters angry over the burning of a Quran by a Florida church.

Hope wasn’t enough for three of them. They were hunted down and brutally slain – their bodies found later in three different parts of the compound in northern Afghanistan.

“They were killed when they were running out of the bunker,” said Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, who recounted their harrowing deaths to reporters on Saturday evening. “One was pulled out alive because he pretended to be a Muslim.”

De Mistura spoke in a somber tone as he described how three U.N. staff members and four Nepalese guards were killed Friday when the protesters stormed their compound in the normally peaceful city of Mazar-i-Sharif. He placed direct blame on those who burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in Gainesville, Florida, last month, stoking anti-foreign sentiment that already was on the rise after nearly a decade of war in Afghanistan.

“The demonstration was meant to protest against the insane and totally despicable gesture by one person who burned the holy Quran,” he said.

He also said the U.N. building would not have been attacked if there had been an adequate cordon of Afghan police separating the demonstrators and the compound.

A formal inquiry is under way, but de Mistura said initial reports indicate that seven to 15 insurgents infiltrated a group of as many as 3,000 demonstrators who overran the U.N. compound, which was protected by Afghan policemen and six U.N.-hired Nepalese guards. The crowd overpowered the guards – who are instructed not to shoot into crowds of civilians, even if they are threatening – and the police were not able to stop them, he said.

Four of the Nepalese guards were killed; some were shot in the yard of the compound. Three Afghan U.N. workers survived by melding into the surging crowd, he said. Four Afghan protesters also were killed in the riot.

Protesters had set fire to cars and an electric generator in the U.N. compound so the bunker was dark. It was the only safe place for the four foreign U.N. workers on the compound, including the Russian chief of mission. But the door of the bunker was made to withstand a bomb attack, not the sheer force of a crowd of people trying to get inside.

When the killers forced themselves inside they saw Pavel Ershov, the mission chief who is fluent in Dari, one of two languages spoken in Afghanistan. They beat him, but stopped after he convinced them, in Dari, that he was a Muslim, de Mistura said.

“He spoke the language and tried to draw their attention on himself,” the envoy said. “For a moment, he hoped that they would think there was nobody else there.”

But using a light, the attackers found the three other foreigners, then pulled them out and killed them one after the other. Two died of bullet wounds. The third was killed with a knife to the throat.

They were identified by officials in their home countries as: Joakim Dungel, a 33-year-old Swede who worked on human rights; Lt. Col. Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot from Norway who was an adviser; and Filaret Motco, a 43-year-old Romanian who worked in the political section of the U.N.

De Mistura spoke to reporters in Kabul after flying back from Mazar-i-Sharif. He was at the airport in Kabul when the victims’ bodies were flown to the capital Saturday evening. In talking with top officials in Mazar-i-Sharif, he said he was convinced that the killers were insurgents, not demonstrators.

Protesters confiscated AK-47s from security officers at the scene, but all except one of the U.N. workers were killed with handguns, he said.

Moreover, the mission chief and some of the U.N. Afghan staff workers said the killers spoke in a dialect not common to Mazar-i-Sharif. De Mistura said authorities told him that several of the people arrested were from other parts of Afghanistan, including Kapisa province in the east and Kandahar in the south. Both provinces are hundreds of miles (kilometers) from Mazar-i-Sharif.

De Mistura said he was concerned that the deaths of the foreigners would give people, especially in the West, a reason to argue against continued involvement in the nearly decade-long Afghan war. He said the U.N. would not pull out of Afghanistan, but that he was temporarily redeploying 11 U.N. workers from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul because they can no longer work in the office, which was destroyed and looted.

President Hamid Karzai publicly condemned the March 20 Quran burning, leading some to blame him for triggering the protests. De Mistura, however, blamed the person who torched the holy book.

The pastor, the Rev. Terry Jones, had threatened to destroy a copy of Islam’s holy book last year but initially backed down. On Friday he said Islam and its followers, not his church’s burning of the Quran, were responsible for the killings.

“Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of offending culture, religion or traditions,” de Mistura said. “Those who entered our building were actually furiously angry about the issue about the Quran. There was nothing political there.”

But he said that with uprisings in the Middle East, and waning foreign support for the war, Karzai’s government needed to pay more attention to the security of foreign civilians working in Afghanistan.

“I’m profoundly sad and I’m also shocked by what I saw, but we continue our work,” de Mistura said. “We are not going to be deterred.”

10

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

why didn't they just burn a bible or something or an effigy of some christian figure why kill human beings that had nothing to do with the one bigoted priest that doesn't speak for all americans or christians

11

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

^^
Well, mostly the members of educated and tolerant society can think of such acts.. burning Religious books, Demolishing historical religious sites and making fun of respectable religious figures... the ignorant of war-torn country won't have wit of they that level nor does they have collective wisdom to think about a cold-blooded response.... so what they did is what they do....

This man who had passed the judgment to punish Quran to be burned??? what was his motive behind it??? what did he achieved from it... he was suppose to be one of the educated and civilized person??? I am sure if he get chance he'll be no different to the Imam of Mazar-e-Sharif who called the protest!!! how come both are different???

This attack would have never happened if Quran was not burned by the extremist elements of America, who are now a days popping like bamboos....every other day they come with something that hurts millions of muslims around the globe??? yet the same have a law stating that no one can talk about Jews stuff....

I see no hope of peace and harmony between the worlds fanatics are every where.... the act of killing these UN staff would have not happened had that idiot in US not burned the Quran....

12

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

^ there is no law in america that you can't talk about jew stuff? Why are you wasting your life going down the taliban route?

13

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

^^ Great to see that you understood half line of my post, keep it up, days will come when you'll be able to do better

14

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

UN/ West in General, and America in particular is responsible for this killing, why they failed to stop that loser from the punishable act which just increased hate among religions? if they could not stop it from happening, why they failed to punish him once it had happened?

I say they should be more specific in killing next time, they should pick and choose, kill only the armed personnel no matter if they belong to the the occupying force of UN, there is no difference anyways.

15

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

The World failed again. On both ends.

"When Books will burn, people will burn"

Heinrich Heine

On which base Terry Jones burned the Qur'an. Honestly, the world doesn't need this kind of people. The UN Staff was save until he decided to burn the Book. Everyone knew what the outcome would be look like, but no one had the idea to stop this psycho. All was protected by "Freedom of Speech". No we come here and damn people who took "revenge"? Poor peformance. What happened to the UN Staff is not excusable. No question, but why not grab the root before the outcome turns into a bloodshed?

Terry Jones doesn't know what great reward is waiting for him here on earth and in the heavens.

Hands are tied. Let evil happen, the good people are busy being silent.

16

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

While the pastor is a publicity seeking asshole lets remember that we arent automatons. We dont have to react to the injustice of one random person by brutally killing a completely unconnected set of people elsewhere.

Do you understand that UN is not a part of occupying forces? That UN, including Pakistani personnel, are strictly there for development and reconstruction? Or do you think that providing health and human services is something people should be killed for? The 'armed personnel' were guards, who refused to shoot at protestors (who were unarmed) as they took the weapons from the guards, shot and killed them, then went inside and shot more people.

4 of those killed were Nepali, the remaining from different Scandinavian and European countries. But I suppose you could justify the latter group based on the Prophet Mohammad cartoons (Romania is close enough to Denmark) and Nepalese are usually Hindu anyway.

17

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

Ravage: read my post again, try to find "only the armed personnel"

also if somebody thinks UN is not part of the occupying force, is living in a fools paradise. UN was and IS part of occupying forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and now part of attacking forces in Libya. UN is nothing more than a tool, a licensing authority who issues the licenses to kill muslims worldwide on the behest of amreeekaaa

and yeah, as for nipali or scandinavian or whatever, they very well know they are serving as a Guard in a War Zone. again the responsibility is on USA/NATO, why they did not punish that man before the protests got bloody? and why they are still not pursuing it to ensure that nothing like this happens again???

18

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

So they should have killed the 4 nepali guards in your opinion? UN's armed personnel only provide security to UN employees, so basically are you just against security guards in general?

[quote]

also if somebody thinks UN is not part of the occupying force, is living in a fools paradise. UN was and IS part of occupying forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and now part of attacking forces in Libya. UN is nothing more than a tool, a licensing authority who issues the licenses to kill muslims worldwide on the behest of amreeekaaa

[/quote]

Can you provide any specifics of what forces UN has in Afghanistan? US/Nato comprise ISAF, which is what I understand the occupation forces to be. What forces come under UN in Afghanistan?

[quote]

and yeah, as for nipali or scandinavian or whatever, they very well know they are serving as a Guard in a War Zone. again the responsibility is on USA/NATO, why they did not punish that man before the protests got bloody? and why they are still not pursuing it to ensure that nothing like this happens again???
[/QUOTE]

Firstly NATO cant punish anyone in America. Secondly what would they punish that man for, it isnt illegal to burn books. Thirdly, why dont you just google what people do to the Quran and other holy books all the time. Do you propose to kill unrelated strangers performing development work or those providing security for them every time you see something like that? And finally, once again, there is NOTHING that Nepal could do to prosecute Pastor Terry.

19

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

^ ravage: you are one twisted mind who likes to twist other's posts. where in the world i said "They should have killed nipali gards?" or where the hell i said i'm against security guards???

firstly you totally ignored the part where is said that USA/NATO/West is responsible for this killing, because the allowed that man to burn our holly book, and because they failed to take care of the issue once it had happened. and even if its not illegal by law, even a school kid knows that burning a religious book of someone is not a good idea, let aside burning a religious book of people where you are present as occupying force and where general public is so much against you that they are always ready to kill your army anytime anywhere they are able to. They should have taken sufficient actions, if it was not in the law, they could have immediately taken steps to make it a law that nothing like this happens again, they could have openly and clearly warned that guy or at least sue him for harming the war effort in Afghanistan, where his action will result in more blood, they should have thought about their own army personnel's blood if not somebody else, but no.

and one more thing, a security guard is a "security guard" he is given arms for a reason. he's not a candy man. if he thinks something wrong is happening and he needs to use arm, he should. or if he thinks he cannot handle the situation he should have quit. also have you ever heared of "Gehoon k sath sath ghun bhee pista hay"??? that is what has just happened. and again, America is responsible for it.

and i dont think i need to "explain" where UN has any force in Afghanistan. the whole world knows by now what UN does, only protects USA/NATO interests and only harm Muslim interests everywhere, American Army is UN force, actually its the other way around, i must say UN is american force.

20

Re: UN staff killed in Afghanistan over Quran burning issue

I’ll lead you through the process, tell me at what point the misrepresentation starts:

Aceones: I say they should be more specific in killing next time, they should pick and choose, kill only the armed personnel no matter if they belong to the the occupying force of UN, there is no difference anyways.
Aceones: Ravage: read my post again, try to find “only the armed personnel” … and yeah, as for nipali or scandinavian or whatever, they very well know they are serving as a Guard in a War Zone.

So that eliminates the europeans that were killed, and since the guards were armed, and did belong to the UN, you feel they should have been killed. Please tell me what the misrepresentation is.

First off, when the Pastor threatened to do it publicly last time, most of the authorities got involved, including Obama etc, and persuaded him not to do it. This time it was done without much publicity, people only were aware of it when the burning video got put on youtube. There are some neo-con senators who wish to enact laws like you say, but I dont see it passing as there will be opposition on free speech rights.

What do you think four or five security guards can do against a mob of hundreds? Once again this isnt some UN armed base.

So you’re fine with Muslims killing ‘armed personnel’ from the UN in Afghanistan as a response to these killings.. who given the role of the UN can only be providing security duties. What about Muslims outside Afghanistan? Dont they have a duty to avenge the Quran too? Dont you think Pakistanies should do something instead of letting their Afghan brothers handle all the slights to honour? You are in Dubai right? So many Americans! There might even be a base or two. Why dont you go and kill some soldiers?

Haha. Nice try. You made a specific claim that UN is an occupying force in Afghanistan. Back that up. Tell me one base the UN has in Afghanistan, that has occupying forces stationed in it. Tell me one country that has its forces inside Afghanistan for the purposes of occupation/peace keeping etc, wearing the UN uniform, under the command structure of the UN.