May 28, 2010 – Another dawn on Lahore brought one of the bloodiest massacres of innocent human life in the city’s recent history. As came time for Friday prayers, terrorists stormed two worship places of the minority Ahmadi community at Garhi Shahu and Model Town areas while opening fire indiscriminately at the gathered people. The result was all too sad – 82 innocent lives, including children, lost to terrorism!

Around seven militants showed highly coordinated planning as they opened indiscriminate and heavy gunfire using grenades, AK-47s while culminating the siege with suicide bombings.

Outside one of the places under attack - Source: BBC News

As we cannot afford to lose hope, we can only pray for those who lost their lives this Friday and our condolences go to the relatives of innocent victims of May 28.

So far, responsibility of the horrendous attacks has been put on the Punjab-based factions of TTP while the Federal Government has claimed that they had intelligence reports on a possible attack on the Ahmadi community well in advance. The planning, coordination and the ever expanding civilian targets of these attacks raise alarming concerns for every Lahori and Pakistani in general. While there seems hardly any place safe from the terrorists, it is also a sad truth that some targets are too vulnerable to be ignored. Ironically, many of them fall out of the category for security installations, government institutions and senior officials.

Security forces trying to counter the siege - Image Source: Dawn News

Although, the security forces, specifically the Lahore Police, should be appreciated for ending the siege within four hours, however, the need for effective intelligence is desperately there in order to preempt the terrorists’ attempts. We need efforts like this instance where police caught 1,500 KG of explosives which were going to be used for all too obvious reasons.

Let’s hope for a tomorrow where every Pakistani will have a right to peacefully co-exist with people belonging to any caste, creed or religious affiliations. And be clear that Friday’s attacks were undertaken by the same who have killed innocent men, women and children all across the country, regardless of their sect. They are terrorists; deserve no leniency in front of the law and will soon face their pitiful end.

Guys n Gals,

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azface

As I digest the endless stream of bad press about my country of birth, I feel utterly powerless to do anything but to pick up my pen (or laptop) to vent some anger and hopefully stir some thought.
I do wonder what it will take for the common man/woman to rise up against the establishment – much like the Red Shirts in Thailand. It seems the vicious cycle of ignorance, religous dogma and fear of the unknown has dulled our minds and seriously weakened our resolve.
Our so called “foe” India with all it’s social and religious ills still managed to produce leaders who had the vision to invest in Education and infrastrusture that has started to pay dividents back to the entire nation. About the same time the likes of Nehru were sowing the seeds of change back in the 70s, our ‘capable’ generals led by ZuH were plotting to destroy the future of the next two generations.
I sometimes wish somebody had the foresight and guts to offer ZuH a few crates of exploding mangoes a decade or so earlier – perhaps Pakistan and the rest of the world might have been a little different.
So when we all sit in our darkened homes across the country for up to 20 hours a day, we should really thank our ‘great’ generals and mostly uncle ZuH for filling our lives with darkness.