Sectarian Attacks Hit Two Pakistani Mosques

[pampango]

Source: New York Times

Gunmen attacked two mosques belonging to a minority sect during Friday Prayers in Lahore, seizing worshipers and repelling police officers as they tried to rescue the hostages, witnesses said. At least 42 people were killed at one of the mosques, located near the central railway station, said a civil defense officer, Mazhar Ahmed. More than a dozen other worshipers were killed at the second mosque in Model Town, an upscale neighborhood, police officials said. Hospital officials reported scores of injured.

More than three hours after the attacks began, the police took control of the mosque near the rail station and found dozens of dead bodies strewn across the floor, Mr. Ahmed said. Geo TV, a leading news channel in Pakistan, reported that members of the Punjab branch of the Pakistan Taliban were claiming responsibility for the attack. Lahore is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province.

The attacks within minutes of each other at the mosques a few miles apart were clearly aimed at the Ahmedi community, which considers itself as Muslim but which is severely discriminated against under Pakistani law.

As shooting subsided at one of the mosques, Ahmedi men formed a human chain outside the gate, apparently in an effort to block unwelcome outsiders. The attacks were apparently orchestrated by Islamic extremists who had issued harsh threats against the Ahmedi sect for the past two years, said I. A. Rehman, the executive director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. “These extremists are not tolerating any other community, including Ahmedis, and it seems the government has failed to control them,” Mr. Rehman said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/world/asia/29pstan.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. Yes, Pakistan is thrilled that, thanks to the USA Combat troops forcing the ...

tribal Taliban from Afghanistan to their NUCLEAR ARMED country, they too are becoming "a failed state."

Terrorism has INCREASED worldwide as a result of these two occupations. Creating much more hostility in both the Middle East and making Americans less safe both at home and abroad. These policies are making the people who HATE US more emboldened.

Bravo! USA's Military Industrial Complex is delighted that they have PUNKED us all! :crazy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjE2wMWMJwI&feature=player_embedded

[pampango]

2. Attacks on Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan are not a recent phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Ahmadiyya

Pakistan

With 4 million Ahmadis in Pakistan, persecution of Ahmadis has been particularly severe and systematic in Pakistan, which is the only state to have officially declared the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Here they are prohibited by law from self-identifying as Muslims, and their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments.

As a result, persecution and hate-related incidents are constantly reported from different parts of the country, and Ahmadis have been the target of many attacks led by various religious groups. Madrasahs of all sects of Islam in Pakistan prescribe reading materials for their students specifically targeted at refuting Ahmadiyya beliefs.

In a recent survey in Pakistan, pupils in private schools of Pakistan expressed their opinions on religious tolerance in the country. The figures assembled in the study reflect that even in the educated classes of Pakistan, Ahmadis are considered to be the least deserving minority in terms of equal opportunities and civil rights. In the same study, the teachers in these elite schools showed an even lower amount of tolerance towards Ahmadis than their pupils.

In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted in Pakistan, killing scores of Ahmadi Muslims and destroying their properties. There were severe agitations against the Ahmadis in which street protests were held, political rallies were carried out, and inflammatory articles were published. These agitations led to 2,000 Ahmadi deaths. Consequently, martial law was established and the Pakistan's Federal Cabinet was dismissed by Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad.

In 1974 a violent campaign, mainly led by the Jamaat-e-Islami, was started against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan on the pretext of a clash which took place between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis at the railway station of Rabwah. This campaign resulted in several Ahmadi casualties and destruction of Ahmadiyya property, including the descretation of mosques and graves.

As a result of pressure from this agitation, legislation and constitutional changes were enacted to criminalise the religious practises of Ahmadis by preventing them from claiming to be Muslim or from "behaving" as Muslims. Pakistan's parliament adopted a law declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims; the country's constitution was amended to define a Muslim “as a person who believes in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad”.

On 26 April 1984, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, issued the anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance XX, which effectively prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs. The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent "anti-Islamic activities," forbids Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim or to "pose as Muslims." This means that they are not allowed to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques. Ahmadis in Pakistan are also barred by law from worshipping in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms, performing the Muslim call to prayer, using the traditional Islamic greeting in public, publicly quoting from the Qur'an, preaching in public, seeking converts, or producing, publishing, and disseminating their religious materials. These acts are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. Ordinance XX and the 1974 amendment to the constitution effectively gave the state the exclusive right to determine the meaning of the term "Muslim" within Pakistan.

Many Ahmadis were arrested within days of the promulgation of this ordinance, and it gave way for widespread sanctioned as well as non-sanctioned persecution.

The Shab Qadar incident was a public stoning of two members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the town of Shab Qadar, in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan in 1995.

[cosmicone]

3. Pakistan has been a failed state for a long time

The Afghan war has nothing to do with it. Reagan's money and assistance to ISI to form terrorist networks has destroyed Pakistan by focusing on terrorism as official state policy and it is now reaping what it sowed.