Muslims can't commit suicide-bombings in mosques: Claim right-wing politicians !

Jamrud Mosque attack: read the message!

A mosque housing nearly 300 people who were saying their Friday prayers was attacked by a suicide-bomber, killing 70 and crippling 125. The reaction of the political agent of Khyber was that “the attackers could not be Muslims because Muslims would never attack a mosque and that a Muslim would never spill the blood of a Muslim, especially when he was saying his namaz”. This statement flies against the worldwide evidence of Muslims at sectarian and national war with and against each other in many different places and at different times in history. Most regrettably, the conclusion thereafter drawn by some TV anchors was that a “foreign” non-Muslim power had staged the attack to destabilise Pakistan. Of course, one can only read “India” into this allegation, which is not very original.

The political agent said something else of interest without making the necessary connections himself, possibly for reasons of simplicity of mind or just fear. He said the attack came because the mosque was next to the checkpost of Baghiari and that among the people killed were many “khasadars”, or local levies, standing guard at the checkpost, a number of whom had been killed in the attack while praying. Later, a government official, who was less opaque about what had happened, clearly accused the Taliban of having done the job in retaliation against a recent operation by the khasadars and other security personnel targeting a militant group in Khyber that owed allegiance to Baitullah Mehsud, the self-proclaimed leader of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan.

When Pakistanis say that “Muslims can’t do this or that” in or out of Pakistan, they are being hypocritical. There are all sorts of Muslims, moderates and extremists, Sufis and Wahabis, and so on. The fact also is that some sorts of Muslims have been killing other sorts of Muslims from Algeria to Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan for the past two decades. They dynamite sacred mausoleums, they blow up mosques and routinely kill other Muslims in the act of praying. What is happening in Pakistan today is serious violence against the state of Pakistan by local warlords who are affiliated with the Taliban who in turn are linked up with Al Qaeda. We may have weak resolve to take on the enemy but there is no validity in the assertion that we don’t know who is killing us. (Daily Times, 29 March 2009)

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A young Pakistani would-be suicide bomber.
This boy was caught at a security check-post in NWFP's city Nowshera.

Pakistani paramedics give treatment to injured suicide blast victims at a hospital in Peshawar on March 27, 2009. A suicide bomber attacked a packed mosque in northwest Pakistan at prayer time, killing 48 people and wounding dozens more.

Source: Daily Express 28th March

One can find following statements in the attached news report of Daily Express

*Shareef Brothers said “No Muslim or Pakistani can play Holi with innocent Muslims’ blood in a mosque”.
* Leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain and Munawwar Hassan said “those who blew up mosques and religious seminaries can never be Muslims and hidden hand of Pakistan’s enemies must be involved in this incident”.
* Moulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and a federal minister Azam Khan Swati “blamed American CIA for this suicide bombing”.
* Imran Khan said that “No Muslim can commit such a heinous crime”.
* Tahir-ul-Qadri claimed “Terrorists are enemies of humanity and they have no religion”

After every suicide bombing we hear and read such statements of our right-wing politicians and mullahs.

While our own indigenous terrorist organizations such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have claimed responsibilities of several suicide bombings, it is really shameful on part of our politicians and mullahs that they instead of condemning those who have been actually claiming responsibilities of suicide bombings and running training camps for the training of terrorists and suicide bombers, they always point fingers towards “some hidden hand”, “agents of RAW or CIA”, “enemies of Islam and Pakistan” and “ Christian crusaders and Jews”.

Why don’t our right-wing politicians and mullahs simply condemn Talibans and their associate terrorists and sectarian organizations who have been claiming responsibilities of suicide bombings???

Why don’t our right-wing politicians, mullahs and even so-called civil society activists mobilize masses and organize rallies and public meetings for the condemnation of crimes against humanity by Taliban terrorists and their associates terrorists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi?
Shame on our right-wing politicians and mullahs ! (Socrates)

Following is a relevant Letter to the Editor Dawn dated: 29th March, 09

Terrorists have no religion

By ALI IRTIZA RIZVI

‘People-sans-religion’ have yet again struck. So far 70 people are feared dead in the Khyber Agency suicide attack. I am sad, but what makes me sadder as well as pessimistic is that a majority of Pakistanis are yet again bent upon avoiding the main point: instead, they are justifying the act and blaming the ‘enemies of Pakistan and Islam’ for the act. The immediate statements that are repeated in the media after such heinous acts speak of ‘an unknown suicide bomber’, the ‘enemies of Pakistan’, the ‘enemies of Islam’, ‘such people cannot be Pakistanis’, ‘such people cannot be Muslims’, so on and so forth to be behind the crime. Many political analysts after much deliberation and contemplation tend to reach the same, and oft-repeated, conclusion that India, Israel and covertly America are on a crusade against Pakistan. The people of Pakistan have nothing to do with terrorism, they say. Not a single Pakistani has been identified as a terrorist. Pakistan has itself been a victim of terrorism. This to me is nothing but rubbish. The painful realisation is that when the self-proclaimed divine soldiers bomb a mosque or kill innocent civilians, they are given a clean sheet. The aforementioned vague statements are issued in order to create ambiguity or to cover up the identity of the terrorists. But when the same people force the government to bow down to their demands for the implementation of their version of the Shariah, it is celebrated as the victory of Islam. However, when military action is initiated against such elements, the pro-Taliban media, especially anchor persons and so-called analysts, and the religious parties create an uproar and an environment of uncertainty for the masses who succumb to the propaganda. If these suicide attacks are seen in the light of a foreign hand that is determined to make Pakistan unstable, that foreign power is probably using these religious fanatics to fulfill its malicious designs, which plausibly make these religious fanatics (Taliban, Al Qaeda, or the many Lashkars and Hizbs) Indian allies, and foes of Pakistan. Why is it that when the government of Pakistan carries out military action against these elements that are allegedly Indian agents in Pakistan, considering the action to be in the best interest of Pakistan and guaranteeing Pakistan’s survival, there is an uproar from the religious and some political parties and media personnel against it? Should we assume that the religious parties in Pakistan, and their allies and friends, from the politicians to mullahs and the military to the media, are all Indian agents or at least the enemies of Pakistan? Why do such conspiracy theories fascinate us? There is always a need to put the record straight. The simple chronology of events in this regard is that under the US cover, taking advantage of its involvement during the Soviet invasion, Pakistan bred these terrorists and used them on either side of the border. This continued even in the post-9/11 period, and the same flawed ideology and strategy are being applied even today. It needs to be admitted that this is a problem created by Pakistan itself, supported by its ideological allies, and the pawns used in this game have been Muslims. The suicide bombers and their cohorts are also Muslims, and mostly Pakistanis. We should admit our mistakes. Though this may not solve the problem, the problem should be identified at least.