News and Views

Suicide bomber strikes Pakistani mosque during Friday prayers, killing 48 and wounding 85 | AP

Published

August 19, 2011

Amir

As I was sat trying to come to terms with the ongoing violence in my city of Karachi, the news of another blast in the tribal areas of Pakistan hit the wires. Pakistan, a frontline state in the Global War of Terror, has lost almost 35000 citizens to bomb blasts and other events of violence in the last ten years. According to the latest economic survey released by the Government of Pakistan, the economic toll of this war has been almost $68 billion. Unfortunately for the major chunk of Pakistan’s population who lives under the poverty line, most of this cost is borne by the national coffers and not by the United States which has only offered $9 billion as compensation.

Au contraire, the United States has brought further misery to the people of these areas through continued drone attacks. In an attempt to kill a few handful, almost 2000 have been killed and countless injured by these drone attacks. The success of these operations in eliminating terrorists remains doubtful.

What is sickening is that masajid continue to be targeted and worshippers at Friday congregations made the victim in a fight that is not theirs. Even the month of Ramadan is not enough to make this slaughter of innocents stop. There is nothing brave and heroic or Islamic about walking into a congregation gathered for the worship of Allah (SWT) and bringing terror and misery into the lives of people. May Allah (SWT) guide the people behind such attacks and protect the citizens of Pakistan from such tragedies. Aameen.

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Originally posted at

http://www.globaltvbc.com/world/suicide+bomber+strikes+pakistani+mosque+during+friday+prayers+killing+48+and+wounding+85/6442466708/story.html

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber struck worshippers during prayers Friday at a mosque close to the Afghan border, killing 48 people in an attack one official said may have been aimed at anti-Taliban elders praying during the holy month of Ramadan.

Militants have frequently attacked tribesmen who have dared speak up — or raise arms — against them in the border region, where al-Qaida and the Pakistan Taliban have long held sway. Rifts between insurgent factions have also led to mass casualty attacks there.

Pakistan has lost more than 35,000 people in militant violence since 2007, with mosques, markets and hotels all targeted. But the attack was especially shocking because it came not only on Islam’s holiest day of the week, but also its holiest month, when observant Muslims fast during the daytime and spend extra time in prayer and communal activities.

“Whoever did it in the holy month of Ramadan cannot be a Muslim,” said Saleem Khan, who said that in the aftermath of the blast people ran over him to escape the scene. “It is the cruelest thing any Muslim would do,” he said from his hospital bed in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, where he was being treated for his injuries.

The mosque is in Ghundi, a village in the Khyber tribal region, a part of Pakistan’s tribal belt off limits to foreigners and considered too dangerous for non-local Pakistanis to visit. Much of the non-lethal supplies heading to U.S. forces in Afghanistan pass through it.

As it has in other areas of the border during the last three years, the Pakistani army has carried out several operations against militants in Khyber, but with limited success. It has funded and supported the creation of tribal militias in some areas, which have also struggled against the brutality of the Taliban.

More than 300 people were at the mosque, local administrator Iqbal Khan said.

“All the evidence we have gathered confirms that it is a suicide attack,” said Fazal Khan, another local official.

The blast killed 48 people, according to Khalid Mumtaz, a local government official. At least 85 were wounded, Khan said.

TV footage showed prayer caps, shoes and green prayer mats scattered across a blood-splattered floor, while ceiling fans were twisted and walls blackened. Men comforted a young boy who wept as he held his hand to his heart.

A top provincial official said several elders of the Maddo Khel tribe who were in the mosque could have been the targets. He said the tribe had been campaigning against the militants in the area, with the backing of the government. He did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack was the deadliest since twin bombings in mid-June killed around 40 people in Peshawar. That attack was believed to be part of a series of bombings staged by militants in retaliation for the U.S. killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in May.

The Pakistani Taliban and their affiliates are seeking to topple Pakistan’s pro-Western government and install a hardline Islamist regime. Their anti-American rhetoric, combined with fact that successive Pakistan regimes have been corrupt and unable to provide basic services to the country, means they have some support in the country.

The United States is supporting Pakistan’s fight against the militants because of their deep links to al-Qaida, whose leaders are believed to be based in the tribal regions. But the relationship between the two countries is deeply troubled, chiefly over allegations that Islamabad is supporting insurgent factions fighting in Afghanistan.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the bombing.

“The slaughter of worshippers as they gathered at a mosque for Ramadan’s Friday prayers underscores the brutality of those who would target civilians during a time of celebration and reflection for Muslims throughout the world,” she said in a statement.

Since 2008, America has routinely fired missiles at militant targets in the northwest — a tactic that has increasingly angered Pakistan’s army and civilian leaders as well its people.

The most recent attack took place earlier Friday in South Waziristan, where two missiles hit a house, killing four suspected militants, said two Pakistani intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

South Waziristan is a lawless stretch of rugged territory that was largely under the control of the Pakistani Taliban until October 2009, when the country’s army launched an operation against the insurgents. However, militant activity is still reported in the region.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify the information from the region because access is heavily restricted.

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Islamabad.

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Amir

Muslim American born in Brooklyn, NY with Guyanese parents currently living in Virginia working full-time as a web developer.

11 Comments

Hena Zuberi

August 20, 2011 at 3:49 AM

When will it end? So many lives -I lost my uncle and nephew in a bomb blast at Jum’ah in Rawalpindi almost two years ago. He was a 15 year old Hafidh and would wake his grandfather, my uncle. for tahhajud. They were praying in their neighborhood masjid. There were funerals in every home in that neighborhood that day. May Allah SWT accept them and these brothers as Shuhadah.

Reply
Omar

August 20, 2011 at 4:05 AM

What is the motivation of these insane maniacs? Do they just hate the Pakistani government and by extension all of society? Please somebody explain it to me, what are they trying to do?

I know we all cringe at nonMuslim accusations and say Islam is against terrorism, but when garbage like this happens regularly, you really can’t blame them. We have a disease called extremism with kharjite tendencies that we must root out.

Reply
Umm Sulaim

August 20, 2011 at 8:10 AM

May Allah pardon us all. The deaths of innocent Muslims caught up in this war is baffling.

Muslims need to realize we do not solve problems by fighting each other nor do we achieve eternal success by acting as proxies. It is a two-edged sword; a lose-lose for us all.

We are one,
Umm Sulaim

Reply
Greg Abdul

August 21, 2011 at 7:45 AM

as salaam alaikum

We are all so stuck on tribe and nationalism. Even us Muslims. A Pakistani (Muslim?) just killed almost 50 Muslims during Ramadan during Juma’ah (religious services for Muslims’s sabbath). The 50 killed were not evil Christian American missionaries and let;s be honest, we know they were not killed by Christian missionaries. You know, we Muslims are supposed to regard Muslim life and property as sacred. Yet look at all the Muslim on Muslim killing. And the thing that gets me upset is how the rest of us Muslims sit and say NOTHING, unless we are can speak in a way to bash the US, who is only in the tribal region on a drone program because no Muslim government in the region has the will or ability to police their own. If Afghanistan, or more importantly Pakistan, steps up and actually brings the rule of law to its own people, the US will rush out of there like they are on fire. The US is spending billions it doesn’t have to bring order to a place where the locals should be doing it. Muslims who can’t control the terrorists inside their borders are the real issue. Don’t complain that the Western Media shows nuts who shout Allahu Akbar, wear thobes, long beards and kufis. That’s their job. And don’t be made at the US Military for conducting operations in the Pakistani bad lands post 9/11. That’s their job. The day Muslims police the nuts who kill girls for going to school and disfiguring women to settle blood feuds, the West will be out of the Muslims’ business. Colonization and nation building are expensive and no one can afford it anymore. Nobody wants to occupy Muslim lands. When Muslims get their act together and fight the extremists in deed …and much more importantly in word and thinking and stand up and declare that killing innocents is on the level of blasphemy, then you will see the Christians out of Muslims lands. This is not a religious occupation and usurpation. This is Christians being forced into fighting the worse Muslims (some would say fake Muslims), they are forced to fight the bad people in the Muslim community that Muslims refuse to fight. And if we want to end the Christian activity in Afghanistan, Pakistan and even Palestine, then we have to regain the high road and rein in the bad people who claim to be Muslim, instead of complaining about the US and Europe doing it for us.

Reply
Bilal Khan

August 21, 2011 at 11:57 AM

Pakistan = Failed state

Reply
- Abu Tauba
  
  August 21, 2011 at 4:09 PM
  
  It would be great if you can contribute more to the discussion. When one is looking for negatives, that is all he sees.
  
  Reply
Abdur

August 21, 2011 at 6:02 PM

This was obviously done by the US government. Its funny how Muslims have NEVER killed each other in suicide attacks yet all of a sudden when the Americans invade our lands these attacks start happening happen overnight. Also its funny how these attacks only happen in places where there is American presence.

There is no benefit for a Muslim to kill another Muslim. However there is a benefit for the US government to kill Muslims then falsely blame other Muslims fir these crimes so that it will cause division in our community.

Wake up Muslims and use your common sense. Blackwater and the CIA are committing these false flag operations.

Reply
Meena

August 21, 2011 at 6:13 PM

sA :( this is my mom’s hometown and my favorite city of Pakistan. may Allah bring a swift end to the violence that terrorizes the people of Pakistan. ameen.

Reply
Greg Abdul

August 21, 2011 at 7:47 PM

We are all so stuck on tribe and nationalism. Even us Muslims. A Pakistani (Muslim?) just killed almost 50 Muslims during Ramadan during Juma’ah (religious services for Muslims’s sabbath). The 50 killed were not evil Christian American missionaries and let’s be honest, we know they were not killed by Christian missionaries. You know, we Muslims are supposed to regard Muslim life and property as sacred. Yet look at all the Muslim-on-Muslim killing. And the thing that gets me upset is how the rest of us Muslims sit and say NOTHING, unless we can speak in a way to bash the US, who is only in the tribal region on a drone program because no Muslim government in the region has the will or ability to police their own. If Afghanistan, or more importantly Pakistan, steps up and actually brings the rule of law to its own people, the US will rush out of there like they are on fire. The US is spending billions it doesn’t have to bring order to a place where the locals should be doing it. Muslims who can’t control the terrorists inside their borders are the real issue. Don’t complain that the Western Media shows nuts who shout Allahu Akbar, wear thobes, long beards and kufis. That’s their job. And don’t be made at the US Military for conducting operations in the Pakistani bad lands post 9/11. That’s their job. The day Muslims police the nuts who kill girls for going to school and disfiguring women to settle blood feuds, the West will be out of the Muslims’ business. Colonization and nation building are expensive and no one can afford it anymore. Nobody wants to occupy Muslim lands. When Muslims get their act together and fight the extremists in deed …and much more importantly… in word and thinking and stand up and declare that killing innocents is on the level of blasphemy, then you will see the Christians out of Muslims lands. This is not a religious occupation and usurpation. This is Christians being forced into fighting the worse Muslims (some would say fake Muslims), they are forced to fight the bad people in the Muslim community that Muslims refuse to fight or even condemn. And if we want to end the Christian West activity in Afghanistan, Pakistan and even Palestine, then we have to regain the high road and rein in the bad people who claim to be Muslim, instead of complaining about the US and Europe doing it for us.

Reply
Greg Abdul

August 21, 2011 at 8:22 PM

as salaam alaikum to the Muslims,

I am tired and I am not going to be mr. nice and take this nonsense anymore. I want us to be brothers and sisters in Islam. But my first allegiance is to Islam. My first allegiance is to Allah and His messenger. If you want to take Shahada and then do stupid things that embarrass the religion or you want to shut up when Muslims do crimes and then invent crimes that non-Muslims do, I will NOT stand with you in the name of Muslim unity. I do not and will not stand with terrorists. I don’t care what their religion is. I will not be silent and only open my mouth to criticize non-Muslims. Islam is encouraging the good and forbidding the evil…no matter who is doing the evil! If a Christian helps me to spread and practice Islam, he is someone I am loving even though he is headed for the fire. If a Muslim embarrasses the deen of Allah as sent to our beloved Prophet Muhammad, that person I will fight against, Insha Allah, and I could care less about what he claims to believe. Allah will judge him. Either you are with my Prophet or you are not. Pakistanis are killing each other. They were doing it and using Afghanistan as a proxy after the Soviets were driven out by the Americans. There is no question about this. Uthman Ibn Affan was killed by Muslims, and refused to defend himself. Ali was killed by Muslims. Muslims have continued to killed each other since back then. Today is not something new. The only question is will the rest of us step and treat the taking of innocent life (innocent Muslim life!) the same we obsess over blasphemy and the way we obsess about if a woman’s hair is showing. I am not saying the commands of Allah do not matter, quite the opposite. I am a person who makes many mistakes, but instead of spending my energy pretending to be perfect and looking down my nose, I spend my time trying to learn and follow Quran.

An Nisa, says in ayah 93
“But whoever kills a believer intentionally – his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.

If you openly decided not to obey Allah’s instructions in the Quran, that is KUFR. Allah commands us not to unjustly murder each other. It was NOT Christians. Some fool who is going to burn so so much decided to blow up a masjid while people were praying. I won’t blame Christians to avoid my responsibilities as a Muslim. I love Islam more than I love ignorant people who claim to follow Islam but have NO humility and are arrogant to the point of taking innocent life. Public Enemy used to say, “It’s weak to speak and blame somebody else….when you destroy yourself.”

Peace and blessings be upon the messenger of Allah….
Fee Amanallah

Reply
- ZAI
  
  August 22, 2011 at 12:37 AM
  
  Preach brother! Preach!
  
  I agree with you wholeheartedly.
  It’s high time many Muslims stopped promoting their own nationalisms and interests behind the screen of Islam. We often and correctly criticize non-Muslims in the West, India or Israel for non-critical support of their governments actions, but we Muslims very often do the VERY same thing. Further we defend those sentiments by employing guilt to promote a phoney psuedo-“unity” or lambast non-Muslims as if Non-Muslims are ALWAYS in the wrong and Muslims are always in the right. Please spare me.
  
  Pakistan has NO ONE to blame but itself for it’s current condition.
  It has been Pakistans government, military and ISI’s POLICY to nurture these murdering freaks as proxies in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Now these same freaks are biting the hand that fed them because they cannot be controlled once they’re out of the box.
  
  Time for Pakistanis to take a good long and hard look at their government and military’s “activities” and decide if it’s worth it. Fine to be apathetic or supportive when it was Afghans and Indians dying…but now it’s burning Pakistan itself…
  
  Long past time for Muslims to admit and realize we have various cancers in our midst and tackle them. Furthermore, long past due is the realization that we cannot divide the world into black and white opposing sides. Good and bad everywhere and the bad must be called out and not supported out of spite. We should be holding to the Quran and sunnah…not just hoping for an American military defeat at ANY cost. Just because America, Israel, India or whomever acts unethically, immorally or whatever doesn’t give us the right to act the same…and until we accept the morality or the Quran as not subject to expedient desires we can look forward to keep being humiliated by God for our own nationalisms and “interests”…
  
  Reply