The writer is Project Director of Peace and Development Unit at the Planning Commission. A military operation is underway. The militants are living through their last hour, we are told. And yet, the mind wonders why they would target Christians? A minority, already persecuted, doesn’t have much to do with any operation against the TTP. The militant group’s various factions are quick to accept responsibility but nobody questions these claims, with no serious investigations undertaken,…
Posts published in “Day: March 21, 2015”
The writer is an editor at the The Friday Times. Currently, The dual suicide attacks on Lahore’s Christian churches last Sunday were a continuation of evidently unstoppable violence against the country’s minorities. A gruesome lynching and burning of two Muslim men by a charged mob followed the attack. Christian protestors, sidelined and neglected by the state, attacked Metro Bus stations, blocked major roads and also impeded VIP movements. They were baton-charged and after two days…
The attack on the Bohra community mosque is a stark reminder of the cost we have to pay for the struggle against extremism. The fact that a counter-attack was expected is no consolation to the grieving relatives of the victims, nor should it be presented as such. The state should be doing all it can to mitigate the fallout of their actions, especially since the militants have clearly displayed their mode of reprisal; attacks on…
The sectarian harmony that our country once knew is no more. We know this already, with terrorist attacks targeting Christians, Shias and other minority groups across the country. More and more groups are moving into the crosshair of the extremist elements who carry out such killings. The previously low-key Bohra community of Karachi, which has mainly restricted itself to business and trade activity, has in recent years come under threat. The latest attack on the…
KARACHI: At least two people were killed and five others injured when a bomb attached to a parked motorcycle went off outside a mosque of the Bohra community in Aram Bagh area on Friday. The explosion took place when people were coming out of Saleh mosque, near Haqqani Chowk, after offering Friday prayer at about 1.55pm. Two people were killed and five injured, said Karachi-South DIG Barrister Abdul Khalique Shaikh. The powerful blast was heard…
DAWN.COM KARACHI: A suicide blast targeting a Rangers mobile near Qalandria Chowk in North Nazimabad killed two paramilitary officials and injured another on Friday evening, while they were on regular patrolling duty. According to initial reports by DawnNews, three Rangers personnel were injured in the blast. But two officials succumbed to their injuries on the way to the hospital. The deceased officials have been identified as Qasim and Yaar Mohammad. SP Gulberg confirmed that a…
GUJRANWALA: A leader of the Shia community and a member of the district peace committee was gunned down by four assailants here on Friday. Reports said Syed Mazahir Ali Bukhari along with his nephew, Haider Ali Shah, was returning to his house after attending a majlis at a Kalarabadi imambargah. As their vehicle reached near Hafizabad Road, the unidentified assailants opened fire, killing Mazahir Bukhari instantly while his nephew luckily remained unhurt. The people from…
By Shezad Baloch in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2015. QUETTA: Armed men ambushed the convoy of a top administration official in a remote area of Kharan district on Friday. Deputy Commissioner Abdul Razzaq Dilwary remained unhurt in the attack that left two Levies men and one attacker dead and four critically injured. According to a Levies official, Dilwary led a Levies contingent for a raid on a hideout of criminals in the Racheel area.…
BARA: An official of the paramilitary forces was killed and 10 others sustained injuries in a remote controlled bomb blast in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, official sources said on Friday. The sources said that the incident took place after suspected militants opened fire on a convoy of security forces heading towards the mountainous sanctuaries of militants. The forces entered a house after firing wherein the already planted explosives went off, sources informed. Eleven…
Karachi; Police suspect the involvement of the nexus between the Taliban, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the Jundullah and other terrorist outfits, which is already responsible for several sectarian attacks, in the bomb attack on a Bohra community mosque in Arambagh on Friday in which two worshippers were killed and 11 others injured. Officials say that these banned outfits have also been involved in earlier attacks on the Bohra and Ismaili communities. On March 4, a Bohra community…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2015. GILGIT: The caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan has announced legislative assembly elections will be held on June 8, CM Secretariat’s spokesperson Sajjadul Haq told The Express Tribune on Friday. “The decision was taken after consulting the chief election commissioner,” Haq said. “The onus lies on the election commission to announce an election schedule and hold free and fair polls in the region.” The spokesperson added the…