Another suicide attack in Pakistan
What is the state machinery doing?
The latest suicide bomb attack in a mosque in Jamrud nearly 25 kilometers from Peshawar is the thirtieth of its kind since January 2011. And the figure of dead and injured is a grim reminder that extremism and violence in the name of religion is getting the better of the state machinery in Pakistan.
Reportedly, in the last eight months in Pakistan nearly 500 have been killed and double that number injured, and all of them by suicide bomb attacks. The Jamrud attack cost the lives of 55 and injured 108 tribesmen.
This time the suicide bomber has again chosen a mosque where people were gathered for Friday prayers. But of late not only soft targets but well protected ones like police headquarters and training academy and in one instance, the house of the DIG police in Quetta, have come under attack. And all these presumably have been done for the "cause of religion."
We in Bangladesh express our commiserations and condolences for the killings, and state our strongest contempt for those that defile religion by their dastardly acts, which go against the very teachings of Islam. And we feel that this is where Pakistan most of all has failed to expose the duplicity of the so-called Islamist, who in their utterly convoluted concept of Islam have destroyed its image. And in this regard there is much for the civil society in Pakistan to garner the efforts of its people against the miniscule minority that has sought the path of violence for its political goals.
In Pakistan we have a classic case for the South Asian nations -- Bangladesh in particular where the extremists may have gone into a suspended animation mode temporarily, but can nonetheless strike at anytime -- to address the phenomenon in a comprehensive manner. And that is possible by tackling the underlying factors like funding, weapon supplies and organisational support for the extremists.
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