People from different walks of life gathered at the site near GPO Chowk on the Mall where ‘the blast’ killed at least 20 policemen last week. Words of remembrance were noted down while candles of hope were lit as evening chill started to take charge.

Everyone paid tribute to the brave policemen, and colleagues presented a Guard of Honor in their memory.

Let’s wish better times are not too far away…

Indeed! Fear not bombs is a terrorist’s worst weapon. It serves as a pressure tool on policy makers to accept their demands.When you live with fear, it changes everything: your way of looking at things, ability of think and decide, positive attitude and what worst than having no peace of mind. Fear is the ‘mind killer’. “An emotion of alarm and agitation caused by the expectation or realization of danger; Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.”

On Monday Jan. 14th a false bomb threat was reported at a five-storey building of ABN-Amro near defense Morr which created much panic. Staffers of the bank evacuated the building following the bomb news while people working in the building adjacent to the bank also came out from their offices after hearing the news of a bomb in the bank. One of the employees informed Rescue 15 and police officials, Bomb Disposal Squad, Rescue 1122 and Edhi ambulances got to the scene. The Bomb Disposal Squad swept the building and said there was no bomb. During this time, a large number of people gathered outside the building and all were seen in a state of panic.Read more…

Although it was a false bomb threat but as they say that the fear of death is worse than death itself! There is some evidence that extreme anxiety, in the form of panic and terror, can be fatal. Eighty-five present of the people who die from snakebite don’t have enough venom in their bloodstream to account for their deaths. Then who’s the culprit? Researchers suggest that it is the terror felt by a person who receives a potentially fatal snakebite that may cause heart failure.” It is startling to note that the cause of victim’s death is not the snake’s venom, but the fear and shock in the victim’s minds. The fear itself!

Now here’s something from “The New York Times” about Living in Fear and Paying a High Cost in Heart Risk

Can you guys name the place????

Update 1:00 AM

11 reported dead with almost 60 injured being treated in different hospitals

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Looks like there is no end to this now; 6 people including two children have died in a bomb blast near Quaidabad in Karachi while more than 20 injured have been shifted to different hospitals of the city.

Commercial centres in the vicinity were immediately closed in fear of street violence while emergency has been implemented at all medical centres and hospitals around the city.

Similarly, other major cities including Lahore and Islamabad have been put on red-alert.

Can there be a bigger tragedy than facing an enemy which has no face or definite origin of existence that is threatening innocent lives all around us.

May God bless the souls of the deceased. Amen!

Sad indeed!

A sight well-seen by everyone who has ever been a regular traveller on the roads of Lahore.

A family of five rides a bike on the Mall.

Fine, we experienced a series of gruesome events resulting in innocent killings and enormous damage to the tender fabric of our society.

Still, we stand together; strong and united enough to challenge anyone who wants to scare us or spread chaos in our society that sir! your every act will make us stronger and hatred will replace fear in our hearts until you meet a well-deserving death of a painful and merciless nature and we all will see an end to your dirty ideology.

A new dawn will rise from ashes of the fire
that burnt everything but courage so dire

Remembered will be those who lay in peace
while protecting us from the strike of these

Killers will be damned and will boil in blood
of innocents who drowned in the flood

Let’s all pray and in unity hold hands
to shed no more tear and
to say ‘It’s Enough!’

With elections just around the corner the blast outside Lahore High Court killing at least 25,most of them policemen spread chaos, confusion and instability throughout the country. According to a report, the general elections due on Feb. 18th could either dampen tensions and set the country on a path towards stabilization, or exacerbate a long-running political crisis.

We need democracy and having pseudo-free elections is the very meaning of democracy. But does the phrase “true democracy” have any meaning in Pakistan? What do they actually mean when they talk about Free & Fair elections? Or maybe ‘free & fair’ and ‘elections’ are two different things. President Pervez Musharraf promised us free and fair elections and i sincerely hope his promise is not a hollow one. But according to Geo PPP presented pre-poll rigging evidence to Pakistan Election Commission ( PEC) on Wednesday Jan. 9th, 2008.

The story goes like this: PAKISTAN Peoples Party Punjab president Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited provincial Election Commissioner Ayaz Muhammad Baig on Wednesday to register the partyís concerns regarding February 18 polls.

The PPP leader presented him a proof paper on alleged pre-poll rigging by administration and PML-Q. PPP Punjab secretary general Ghulam Abbas and other members accompanied Shah Mehmood…
Read on

So,when terms like “Free & Fair elections” or “pseudo-free elections” are mislabeled, is there any hope?

Senior police officials, family, friends and colleagues of the 20 policemen who died in a suicide bomb attack this morning, attended the namaz-e-janazah (burial prayers) for the deceased at Lahore’s Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines.

May the souls of the departed rest in peace. Amen!

At least 30 of the 70 injured are said to be in critical condition.
We wish them speedy recovery and pray for their lives.

For the elements who have wrecked so many lives; they will never meet a favorable end and that’s for sure…

It was the most grieving news for the people of this city; a suicide bomb attack; killing none but on-duty policemen and innocent civilians; at least 22 of them while injured more than 70.

Tragedy struck when a heavy police presence was guarding surroundings of the Lahore High Court building on Mall Road for an anti-government Lawyers’ Protest Rally scheduled to be held in the court premises this afternoon.

Just ten minutes before the black-coated men could reach the General Post Office building, right next to the courthouse; a young man arrived at the scene on a motorbike, approached the guards and blew himself up. The result, as all saw in shock, was a mind-wreaking scene of blood and dead bodies scattered on the road.

Twenty-two people, 20 of them policemen, a tonga and a rickshaw driver as well as two passengers included.

Eye-witnesses claim to have heard the blast from at least a kilometer away and that it shook office blocks, shops, GPO and the Lahore High Court building in the vicinity.

City’s emergency service, Rescue 1122, claims to have picked up 22 dead bodies while at least 70 of the critically injured have been shifted to the Mayo, Services and Ganga Ram Hospitals.

It seems like after similar incidents of terrorism in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karachi last year, Lahore could not have avoided such an imminent threat.

It was truly a very sad day after such a horrific occurrence right in the heart of city’s commercial district.

We request our readers to please pray for these brave men, who either died or are lying injured and helpless on hospital beds, and sacrificed themselves while protecting us from the terror these inhuman creeds of fanatics pose to our lives.

We salute and pray for martyrs who became victims of this horrendous act of terrorism.

We salute our Heroes; the Policemen!

Its again them :(

:’( IT happened today at GPO, Lahore. 22 Dead (maybe 25), 70 seriously injured, most of them are policemen.