Wall Street Journal - March 28, 2016 - Lahore Park Bombing Leaves Pakistan Reeling Pakistani Taliban said they targeted Christians at Easter; attack killed many Muslims, including children. LAHORE, Pakistan—Sakhawat Ali was standing next to a carousel at a park’s fairground, where his son was spinning around in one of the cars. Then a bomb went off next to it, killing at least 72 people, including 17 children, and wounding more than 300.
Some may write this off as just another act of extremists but mainstream Pakistan edges ever closer to what many would call extremist acts. Witness the widespread support for the assassin recently convicted of murdering the provincial governor. The governor's crime? Speaking out against a blasphemy law used largely against religious minorities, often for reasons that have nothing to do with religion but more to do with revenge, personal grudges or business disputes. Yet it was estimated that over 100,000 people demonstrated publicly to support the assassin!
These are people who believe it is justified to kill one's sister or daughter to preserve family honor. When the society at large allows these types of violent acts to garner widespread public support, why should they be shocked by mass bombings?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.