It is with great displeasure and sorrow to report that even in the holy month of Ramadan secterian violence is still evident. The twin bomb attack went off in Parachinar, which is located in North-West Pakistan,near the Afghan border. The region is a predominantely Shia populated area and has been privvy to previous vicious acts of terrorist activity.
The late night attack in a popular neighbourhood market is said to have injured 167 people varying between minor to life-threatening ones. It happened post Iftaari time when Muslims often break their long arduous fasts. Local officials stated 57 people had tragically died as a result of these heinous atrocities.
Government official, Javed Ali, who’s a senior spokesman, said “The first bomb went off on a motorcycle, with the second one being detonated about 400 yards away”. That is said to have occurred between three to four minutes later. A local man Said Hussain is said to have witnessed one young man shouting “God is great” just as the bomb was about to explode. Upon an initial assessment hospital official ShabirHussain said almost all of the dead were Shia.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for these cowardly acts but many are pointing the finger at extreme Salafi elements operating in the area. These attacks on the minority Shia populous in Pakistan are all too frequent. The Shia minority have often voiced their angst against the government who have failed to crack down on extremists sufficiently, giving them carte blanche to operate unhindered. Some even accuse the Pakistan government of cooperating with local terrorist cells, though this has been hard to prove.
These extremists operate within the Al-Qaeda framework declaring the Shia as infidels. They have been marked as open targets and subjected to brutal operationsbe it in the form of car bombs, targeted assassinations or mob-styled lynching’s. The LashkarJhangvi is the main protagonist of the Al-Qaeda ideology with links to the Taliban and the ISI intelligent services. Despite openly targeting Shia Muslims, they have often gone after key Sunni officials in the government and prominent figures in religious communities across the country to help stoke tensions between both Sunni and Shia.
Operating with impunity, the Pakistan government has been slow to crack down upon them. Only at the behest of the American administration have they gone after them reluctantly because of the links the countries secret services have with the LashkarJhangvi. Carrying out their wet-work, the ISI has been known to supply the terrorist group with funding and weaponry.
Hamid Ali, a prominent Shia figurehead passionately bemoaned the lack of protection for his people saying “We demand protection. We request action be taken against those who kill our people”. The problem is these calls for justice will often fall upon deaf ears.
So sad it is to hear of such fatal news in what is considered a peaceful month, which should unify all Muslims. Yet these merciless acts of violence act as vehicles for perpetual motion of hate that help drive a wedge between both Sunni and Shia in a country that is already poverty stricken and rife with health issues such as malnutrition. Hopefully the murderers will be caught and justice served.
By Haider Ali
