News Jang Group
Sunday, December 06, 2009
The attack on the Parade Lane mosque on December 4 is yet another reminder that the Taliban haven't been eliminated. Seventeen young lives were snuffed out in this cowardly act as innocent children standing in the last row bore the brunt of the heinous attack. Certain people will say, yet again, that Muslims can't perpetrate such acts, but the sad reality is that the attackers were all 'Muslims'. The indiscriminate killing spree that killed 40 innocent people who were offering prayers in a mosque clearly indicates that the target were army personnel and their families. The purpose of this attack was to scare the army and force it to abandon the ongoing Operation Rah-e-Nijat.
But these butchers should know that this act will only strengthen the resolve of the army to annihilate the Taliban. The Pakistani nation is firmly behind the brave armed forces. If the militants think they can weaken the resolve of the Pakistan army they are mistaken. The army has not only successfully targeted the militants but also it has risen in stature and reclaimed its glory, which was tainted during the Musharraf era, by standing up to these agents of death and destruction. Long live Pakistan, long live the Pakistan army.
Tehmina Afridi
Abbottabad
*****
The December 4 attack within a well-fortified residential area of Parade Lane is the most regrettable act and has resulted in the loss of not only some very fine gentlemen officers but has also taken lives of so many innocent children -- shame on the so-called 'Muslim' attackers. At the personal level I have lost a very loving friend, Bilal Omer Khan, who was a true specimen of a gentleman officer. Always honest, frank, truthful and honourable. I came to know him in 1980, while undergoing mid-level infantry officers' course. What a dashing and competent young officer Bilal Omer was. In for one of the major exercises he was to help my operation as the tank force commander. He was indeed the most cooperative and helping officer and did his utmost to make my test exercise a success. After the course he left for Saudi Arabia.
We next met as lieutenant-colonels in the Pakistan Military Academy. We were neighbours and there I found the real Bilal Omer, who was a committed Muslim, a leader who would lead from the front and was brutally truthful. As battalion commander of the Second Pakistan Battalion, he would carry six hundred cadets along with him due to his leadership and physical fitness. On our dinner nights he would dance so beautifully on classic military tunes. I am not aware of the circumstances of his shahadat but I am sure he must have challenged those cowards.
He was an excellent father and husband too. I remember him playing with his daughter Zara who was his favourite. I suppose she is a national tennis player now. I do not know how to share her grief. Bilal will always be remembered as a great soldier. My message for the terrorists is: we will fight you and win this war for our beloved Pakistan and men like Bilal Omer Khan.
Brig Asif Alvi
Karachi
*****
December 4 was another black day of our history. It shows that the extremist forces are bent on weakening the state of Pakistan. Unfortunately, our establishment created and patronised such extremists in the past for its own advantage. Now they are not only attacking civilians but also their own old masters. The extremists, their supporters and sympathisers should be stopped immediately.
Muhammad Amir Khan
Karachi
*****
With reference to the cowardly attack by the Taliban on a mosque in Rawalpindi on December 4, I wonder whether Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Syed Munawar Hasan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Qazi Hussain Ahmed will now publicly condemn the Taliban for their brutalities. I don't think they will as they have always confused the nation on the issue of militancy by blaming it on foreign forces.
Asif Pathan
Quetta
*****
There are stories swirling in the Pakistani press about Blackwater and the CIA doing evil deeds in Pakistan. On December 4 the Taliban lobbed grenades and fired into people in a mosque in Rawalpindi, killing 30 innocents. Tomorrow will be worse. If intelligence agencies and people like General Hamid Gul want to harbour these fanatics because they may be the future government in Afghanistan one day, let the CIA and Blackwater do the job for us.
I deplore and am deeply saddened by the killing of innocent people in drone attacks. But I know of no news agency which raises its voice unequivocally when the Taliban kill the innocents. So, with regard to stories about the evil of Blackwater and the CIA, I say, let them hunt the Taliban down and take them out, wherever they are, with drones and targeted assassinations. Maybe we can get our country back one day.
Meekal A Ahmed
Virginia, US
*****
I condemn the Rawalpindi mosque attack by the Taliban in the strongest words. This is a cowardly attack on unarmed civilians and military personnel, that too during the Friday prayers. The interior minister has confirmed that the Taliban were behind the attack. I am surprised that still some politicians, religious leaders and journalists try to defend the Taliban and rather blame foreign forces for the daily bloodbath, confusing the matter further. I want to remind people that these are the same terrorist groups that targeted minority sects' mosques in the 90s. It's high time we, as a nation, united and eradicated the evil Taliban.
Ijaz Tabassum
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*****
Once again the terrorists have struck. How will killing fellow Muslims in a mosque defeat America in Afghanistan? The massacre of Muslims in mosques proves that the Taliban do not have any sympathy for fellow Muslims. A boy blew himself up in Sector E-8 a day ago, killing two navy personnel, and now 40 people have been put to death by the Taliban in the name of Islam. Which faith allows killing innocent people in mosques?
Are the terrorists fighting their last battle after being nearly wiped out in FATA? It is time for the nation to rise to the occasion and show solidarity and unity and crush the terrorists. Our clergymen should come forward and make a clear statement that such treacherous acts have nothing to do with Islam.
Ifitkhar Shaheen Mirza
Islamabad
*****
The recent terrorist attack on the Parade Lane mosque in Rawalpindi following a series of bombings in other parts of the country has increased the sense of insecurity not only among civilians but also army personnel. I express my deep sorrow and grief over the martyrdom of 40 people and also pray for the early recovery of those who were injured in the grim incident. We, the civilians, are with the armed forces of Pakistan. We want to tell our enemy that we won't be cowed by such atrocities. Long live Pakistan.
Madeeha Rafi
Kharian
*****
This is with reference to the recent suicide attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi. It's one of the cruellest acts of terrorism. We are facing the worst kind of enemy that has no respect for mosques, women and children. They are not even human beings. These same beasts used to commit sectarian violence in the 90s, but the then governments did little to fight them. I request the entire nation to strongly back the army in its bid to eliminate the Taliban.
Dr Fareeha Khanum
Mardan