Shadbagh police on Monday seized two homemade bombs from Tajpura Road Lahore and handed them over to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS).

Shadbagh police Supervisory Police Officer Shahid Mehmood said that the police had spotted two bombs on the road. He said that all shops were closed and traffic was diverted to other roads to avert any untoward situation and officials of the BDS were called in.
And that the BDS officials had defused one active bomb on the spot and declared the other one inactive. He said that the bombs weighed between 1.5 kg and 2 kg.

Bombs out in the open? On a road? Dear God! Where is this country headed? Will we ever find a way out of this deep crisis?

God help Pakistan!

Source: Daily Times

The after-effects of 11th March blasts will linger in these young minds … :|

Image Courtesy: Daily Express & Daily Times

Today’s blasts in Lahore are just the latest deadly attacks in Pakistan. At about 9.30am, the whole city was literally shaken by the sound of two explosions. They were so intense that people reported hearing them and feeling the windows shake as far as five kilometres away. At least 25 people are dead and another 150 or so have been injured.

Whether you blame it on the post-9/11 world, Pakistan’s internal political instability or its rulers’ decades-old policy of supporting the agenda of foreign powers at the expense of Pakistanis, things have gone from bad to worse over the past two years. The bombers have spread from tribal areas in the north-west and Baluchistan to target major cities, mainly in the form of suicide attacks on government and army targets.

One of the targets was the headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Temple Road, near major businesses and government offices. The first suicide bomber cleared the way for his associate by bringing the entrance gate down, while the second blew up his car inside the complex.

The second blast, unlike earlier incidents, happened in the upmarket residential area of Model Town, in front of the offices of an advertising agency. While the first attack could be attributed to the sensitive nature of the agency, the Model Town attack had no understandable motive - apart from the fact that it took place just round the corner from Bilawal House, home of the late ex-PM Benazir Bhutto and her party’s Lahore headquarters.

Lahore is Pakistan’s cultural capital, and during he bloody months of last year it remained largely peaceful compared to Karachi. But 2008 brought a deadly attack on city policemen guarding the Lahore High Court during a lawyers’ rally in January, followed by an attack on the prestigious Navy War College earlier this month.

Read more at The Guardian Blog

Every effect has a cause behind it and for the horrific act of terrorism involving two suicide attacks at the Pakistan Navy War College on the Mall road yesterday must have an equally horrendous one behind it.

‘Scene of the blast’ - Image: BBC News

The sad event resulted in death of almost 8 people in all (including two bombers) while injuring around 20.

We as a nation and our upcoming government as the newly elected representative of the people should now seriously try to understand what is making such events a regular occuring in our country.

Poverty, illiteracy, unplanned families, brainwashing by extremists, deprivation from the basic necessities of life; all are too clear to surprise us if we don’t know the causes behind a young teenager’s motivation to blow himself up in protest, revenge or in the name of God!

We dearly need to address these issues first before blaming ‘external’ forces, the religious extremist mullahs or simply the West’s war on terror for everytime a poor 19 year old dies and kills many with himself.

Courts are empty, boycott from today.

A bomb scare at Beaconhouse Defence. Correction; a possible explosion averted as the bomb was actually found IN the office block of the school.

A lot of people will blame it all on one government, or even worse, one man. Some would, in a bid to sound more believable, blame perhaps two or more governments, or men. None of that truly matters. What we are going to do about it is what matters. We do not know the problem even, so that is as far away from the solution as possible.

It is said that a burqa-clad person (possibly a woman) delivered a letter to the guard to give to the school principal. The letter said that the principal’s office is set to explode. They evacuated and the bomb squad actually diffused the bomb.

My source for the above is a friend whose sister is enrolled in the school. All we could say was ” “, i.e. nothing. Who is to blame? What’s the use of that; what do we do now? How do we come out of this mess that is all around us?

Pray & play hard friends, pray and play hard.

Yesterday was not a, the now-unusual, no bad news day as we felt the tremors of a blast in Rawalpindi, hundreds of miles away while a bomb threat made everyone panic in our very own city as well.

Someone called the administration of Government APWA College for Women at 11:00 am claiming that a bomb has been planted in the college premises, after which, the college buildings were immediately evacuated of panicky students. Bomb disposal squad, the police and Rescue 1122 arrived at the scene only to clear the place after proper search and screening had been carried out.

Although the reported incident was a hoax, there are further intelligence reports of alleged terrorists entering different cities of Punjab including Lahore and Rawalpindi near Islamabad, where a deadly blast killed at least 11 innocent people.

You are requested to be cautious of suspicious people, unattended luggage and/or a threat in your neighbourhood. In case of emergencies just dial 15 for police and 1122 for ambulance services.

Shaadi (wedding) season in Lahore is in full swing these days for which winter months of November, December, January and February are considered as ideal. And in traditional Pakistani weddings, aatish-baazi (fireworks display) is an essential component for Baraats (groom’s arrival at the bride’s home). Crackers and Shurlees are fired as an expression of celebration and happiness for the two families tying the knot while children can’t resist playing with crackers, and bang-pranks of every kind.

Fireworks depict merry moments, however, if played with carelessness, can turn celebration into tragedy. Many a times we hear about things going wrong when some mischief related to fireworks causes fire and results in loss of property, in some cases, even precious lives.

Everyone is advised to practice caution and play it safe with fireworks. Keep children away from firing crackers alone, without an adult’s supervision and store the material in a safe and proper way. Just zooming through DT’s website and I found these useful tips to keep one safe from fire hazards:

* Plan your firework display in advance to make it safe and enjoyable

* Keep fireworks in a closed box and use them one at a time

* Read the instructions on each firework carefully

* Keep flames, including cigarettes, away from fireworks except when ready to set them off

* Light the firework at arm’s length with a taper and stand well back

* Never go back to a firework once it has been lit, even if it doesn’t go off

* Don’t put fireworks in your pockets and never throw them

* Point all rocket fireworks well away from spectators

* Never use paraffin or petrol on a bonfire

* Make sure that the fire is out and surroundings are made safe before leaving

In Pakistan, and specifically in Lahore, most of the fireworks are either imported or smuggled in from India and China while many in this business operate without adopting any safety measures threatening safety of the people at the facility as well as to those using these.

Government, on and off takes a tough stand against illegal manufacturers of unsafe fireworks related products just like today the City District Government of Lahore is cracking down on such elements through-out the city.

If you have such illegal businesses operating in your neighbourhood, report them immediately to the police or to the City District Government officials.

Live and let live safely!

Anyone who thinks recovering from loss of precious electronic data in a USB drive is easy must be a Tech-Muggle freak.

Fine, you were tempted; ok, you got the opportunity of checking everything personal and classified in my bag; yeah yeah, it was my fault as I forgot it at a place that ‘honest’ men/women like you frequent. But that did not mean, you actually ‘had’ to ’steal’ a small, little gadget worth no more than a thousand rupees!

Now I will have to live with the loss; that of everything crammed into my late Kingston U3 1GB USB Memory Stick. Alas, I have to suffer from frustration and distrust any or all stranger zombies of your kind with everything that is near and dear to me.

And you will not live in peace unless somebody does the same to you what you have done to me. Yeah!

In Memory of my lost (read: stolen) USB Disk

It happened to me last week as I forgot my bag for a night at a centre for educational excellence and had to suffer from the consequences.

What was the last precious thing/gadget that you lost in a crime of this sort??

Highly tense situation has gripped Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province, where a suicide bomb blast killed at least 5 people and injured another 20 outside an Imam Bargah this evening. Among the injured are again a couple of policemen on duty.

Rangers, Army and Police have been deployed in large contingents at Imam Bargahs all across Lahore to avoid any untoward incident in the city after crowds started protesting in Peshawar’s streets.

Muharram is one of Islam’s holiest months and is a sensitive time to spark sectarian violence between the two major sects of the religion. But this time, target of the dark forces is just not a single sect as we have seen too much bloodshed all through 2007 and the new year has not been any calmer.

We seriously pray that calm and peace prevails in the rest of the country over this weekend (Ashura) and throughout the election days.

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!