Editorial
Carnage in Lahore
Unending sectarian violence weakens Pakistan
Anew suicide attack in Pakistan further demonstrates the increasing vulnerability of the country at the hands of religious extremists. This time, the victims have been worshippers at a well-known shrine in Pakistan's cultural capital of Lahore. As many as 42 worshippers have died as a result of the blasts at the Data Ganj Bakhsh shrine, with the macabre possibility that there could be fresh new casualties coming up from among those severely wounded in the explosions. This is not the first time that Lahore has been the target of a militant attack. In May this year, an assault on an Ahmadiyya mosque led to the death of 82 worshippers. All over Pakistan, in these past three years, no fewer than 3,400 people have been killed in such attacks, with the security forces proving powerless to prevent such violence.
It is no coincidence that in recent months, places of re-ligious worship in Pakistan have generally been targeted during Friday prayers, to a point where people in Pakistan and outside it apprehend such violence every time the day comes around. The rather curious bit here is that the Pakistani authorities, especially their intelligence agencies, have had little clue as to the planning and execution of such violent acts. It appears that the Pakistani Taliban and groups like it have built a network the government has been unable to penetrate. The increasing ferocity with which such militant bodies have been operating, through expanding their areas of activity, have pushed Pakistan into a situation that only worsens its already precarious condition. It is obvious that the war in Afghanistan has had its spillover effect for Pakistan, with the Taliban now freely working in such regions as the tribal areas. Besides, a fundamental reason behind this expansion in violence has been the extremist perception of the American role in Pakistan, a notion the Islamabad authorities have not quite been able to dispel.
That said, in recent times the fanatics have been propagating the idea that Sufism and its many manifestations, which are a part of the religious history of South Asia, go against the basic tenets of the Islamic faith. A few years ago they blew up a shrine in the NorthWest Frontier Province. They have threatened to do the same at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sindh. And now they have committed a new misdeed in Lahore.
All of which puts Pakistan in a quandary. The state has been weakened considerably. As for the government, it has not shown itself to be any better.
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