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At least 53 dead after explosion in Lahore's Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park (Pakistan)

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Soriku

Junior Member
i would say that they were satanically influenced

isis and other militant groups

they'll get theirs in the afterlife

and no, there wont be 1,000 virgin women waiting for them.

deluded lunatics

That implies that you can't entirely blame these cunts. No, that couldn't be farther from the truth.
 

noshten

Member
This is the exact place where the attack occurred as per the reports.

CekwWT6WsAAhvuj.jpg


You can imagine how packed it can be. Just devastating.

Pathetic, barbaric, repulsive and cowardly

RIP
 

Zapages

Member
Seems like the target was Christians though (independently of whether only Christians died). So maybe next a time wait a bit before posting this.

The list of folks who have been injured and have killed are predominantly been Muslim (list is being shared on the ticker on the bottom of Geo News. So no, I was correct here. They aka who ever did this only choose Easter because it would get the most folks out in park and cause the most dead. Disgusting! :(

Also the guy who did this supposedly was about 28 years old and taught at a mosque/maddrassa according to Geo News.
 
The list of folks who have been injured and have killed are predominantly been Muslim (list is being shared on the ticker on the bottom of Geo News. So no, I was correct here. They aka who ever did this only choose Easter because it would get the most folks out in park and cause the most dead. Disgusting! :(

That doesn't really prove anything, though. They could've really just decided to find a Christian family and count the rest as collateral damage. Based on their statement it would seem that the point was attacking Christians on a Christian holy day. Obviously they care little for other Muslims as well, but the fact that a lot of Muslims died doesn't mean the primary intent was to terrorize Christians.
 

Zapages

Member
That doesn't really prove anything, though. They could've really just decided to find a Christian family and count the rest as collateral damage. Based on their statement it would seem that the point was attacking Christians on a Christian holy day. Obviously they care little for other Muslims as well, but the fact that a lot of Muslims died doesn't mean the primary intent was to terrorize Christians.
All I am saying is that they were targeting everyone. It does not matter if it is Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Sikh, or etc.

Easter was a good day to do something so despicable as they knew folks would be out in that area. The western media likes to see it as a Christian thing because the story is easy for the normal westerner to swallow for Pakistan. Ie. Pakistan is not safe and intolerant to Christians. Yet from watching the news there and looking how things are... Its not about being Christian, but more about giving message to the Prime Minister for what he is doing with the Qadri case. Also Pakistan Military is doing a huge offensive in the Northern Area.

Also there is huge Molvi/Muslim Priest march in Islamabad against the Prime Minister for what he doing with Qadri case...
 
The list of folks who have been injured and have killed are predominantly been Muslim (list is being shared on the ticker on the bottom of Geo News. So no, I was correct here. They aka who ever did this only choose Easter because it would get the most folks out in park and cause the most dead. Disgusting! :(

Also the guy who did this supposedly was about 28 years old and taught at a mosque/maddrassa according to Geo News.

Seems like the target was Christians though (independently of whether only Christians died).
Unless the spokesman for Taliban was taking credit for someone's attack, you were wrong, end of story.
 

Azih

Member
Seems like the target was Christians though (independently of whether only Christians died).
Unless the spokesman for Taliban was taking credit for someone's attack, you were wrong, end of story.
Guessing at motivation is not a great thing to be doing at the best of times but you are ignoring their statement threatening the (Muslim) PM and their pride in attacking the largest city in Punjab which is the PM's home province and historically the safest and most stable place in the country.

I'm from Pakistan and my people are targets #1 of these pieces of shit.
 
Just saw this on BBC news. Terrible. The Taliban quite clearly stated they targeted Christians so not sure why people are denying it.
 

Breads

Banned
I think it is disgusting that people are trying to use acts of terrorism to further their inane narrative and agenda.
 

Blablurn

Member
Fuck this shit

What is wrong with people

What is wrong with THOSE people. Goddamnit. I'm not super religious but one can only hope that those assholes will rot in hell for the rest of whatever is coming to then.

RIP :(
 

dabig2

Member
Let's look at what the spokesperson of these assholes said again:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/suicide-bomber-kills-dozens-mostly-women-kids-pakistan-park-n546231

The group's spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, called NBC News from an undisclosed location while using an Afghan cell number and said it carried out the attack.

"Members of the Christian community who were celebrating Easter today were our prime target," the spokesman said.

Asked whether women and children were their target, the Taliban spokesman said they were not on their list.

"We didn't want to kill women and children. Our targets were male members of the Christian community," Ehsan said. He said this was the first of series of ‎attacks the group had planned this year in different parts of the country.

So you say you were only targeting Christian males, but you pull this shit off in a public park where most of the victims ended up being women and children. I wonder how many Christian males even ended up dying in this attack.
 

emag

Member
Let's look at what the spokesperson of these assholes said again:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/suicide-bomber-kills-dozens-mostly-women-kids-pakistan-park-n546231



So you say you were only targeting Christian males, but you pull this shit off in a public park where most of the victims ended up being women and children. I wonder how many Christian males even ended up dying in this attack.

What do you expect them to say? Say you're targeting the majority population and incite the public against you or say it's because of a minority population (and any women, children, or majority victims were collateral damage) and redirect at least some anger to be against that minority?
 

dabig2

Member
What do you expect them to say? Say you're targeting the majority population and incite the public against you or say it's because of a minority population and redirect at least some anger to be against that minority?

My post was rhetorical. Of course I'd expect them to say that bullshit. It's what a lot of terrorists do. But this particular statement is highly more bullshit than the usual considering this was done in a children's park and most of the victims ended up being women and children.

It's not like they even have some sort of good guy terrorist image to keep up. They've been at this thing since 2001 and were notably behind the Peshawar school attack which killed over 100 children.
 

Mohonky

Member
What do you expect them to say? Say you're targeting the majority population and incite the public against you or say it's because of a minority population (and any women, children, or majority victims were collateral damage) and redirect at least some anger to be against that minority?

Well words are one thing; but bombs are pretty indiscriminate and a local park isnt exactly going to be an all adult male affair. They dont really give a shit who they get, so long as they get someone.
 
Guessing at motivation is not a great thing to be doing at the best of times but you are ignoring their statement threatening the (Muslim) PM and their pride in attacking the largest city in Punjab which is the PM's home province and historically the safest and most stable place in the country.

They are obviously anti-government as well but for other reasons. Basically they see them as an opponent interfering with their terrorists acts as well as for being too "soft" on things they see as blasphemous. It all circles back to them hating non-Muslims.
Sure, there's also a power play involved. Considering their extremely low regard for fellow Muslim's lives they might stress targeting Christians in an attempt to stay on the good side with certain demographics of the general public.


I'm just glad the government/military hit them harder recently, though I'm not convinced it would be like that w/o the terrorists attacking also state officials and most of all that unbelievable Peshawar massacre in an army-run school (over 130 kids murdered WTF).
If the country stands together against the fundamentalists there's at least hope it would get more progressive over time (considering Pakistan actually does enforce stuff like the death penalty on blasphemy etc...).
 

Yamauchi

Banned
These terrorists are animals with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for innocent blood, as they have proved time and again in Pakistan. If they're not just covering up for their screw-up, that they would target Christian women and children on Easter is a surprise to no one. They need to be destroyed using whatever means necessary, both militarily and ideologically.
 

Azih

Member
It all circles back to them hating non-Muslims.

I'm from a Shia Muslim family and we get blown up all the damn time. Here's the thing, their understanding of what a 'nonmuslim' is is as fluid as they need it to be to justify an attack up to and including anybody who doesn't agree with the attack.

Here's the other thing. The people who order and carry out the attack are not the same as the people who talk to the media about it. These pieces of shit organizations have spinners just like everyone else. 'we didn't want to target women and children' is so obviously a lie.
 

Jag

Member
Pakistan actually does enforce stuff like the death penalty on blasphemy etc...).

How insanely primitive and barbaric. I guess you reap what you sow.

Why It Feels Like a 'Crime' to Be Christian in Pakistan

Most of the city's Christians can be found living in ramshackle houses constructed over open sewers in ghettos hidden from sight behind whitewashed walls. Authorities supply no power or gas to the slums, which are essentially cities within cities and in some cases are nestled between Islamabad's most plush neighborhoods.

Maybe the government should try treating its minorities with some respect as well.
 

faridmon

Member
Everyday its a tragedy. When Will it all end.
Really some horrific stuff. Condolences to all/

Its a shitty world we live in.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
Oh my god. I'm just seeing this now. 69 people. Good god. And the proud statement by those savages. Infuriating. My heart is with you Pakistan. My ancestral land is also experiencing some turmoil but I know that things will get better. They were better before and they will be better again. RIP to the victims and I am sorry for anyone who lost someone they care for.

Why was there no security present if the savages said that they would do this ahead of time?
I'm an atheist. But I like to think I'm wrong and there's a special place in hell for religious extremists.
In Islam, there is not a hotter fire than the fires that await these munafiq (hypocrites). I'm sure it has crossed most of their minds.
 

RibMan

Member
Horrific. My heart goes out to all affected by this. The pictures from the blast are just horrifying.

This will never end, we better get used to it.

No.

The absolute last thing we should do is throw our hands in the air and say "Well, that's just the way it is". A lot of this is fueled by misguided beliefs. According to the latest information, this act was targeted towards Christians. Education is the best and most proven way to fix a broken way of thinking. We (and by we I'm talking about multiple nations) need to heavily invest in ways to improve the understanding of religion, religious text, and it's role in our lives. Books, pamphlets, apps, hats, seminars, the back of juice boxes, formal classes, flyers, videos, text on t-shirts, radio shows, everything. We need to make misinterpretation and radicalization of religious text extremely difficult.

It's not impossible. We're not talking about teaching a drove of donkeys the difference(s) between the gospels. We're talking about humans. The second we forget that it's humans -- and not animals or robots -- who are carrying out these attacks, is the second we forget that it was humans who wrote the texts that are being improperly digested and used as fuel for terrorism. If you can be raised to believe that 1+1 = 11 then you can be taught to understand that 1+1 = 2.

Will we successfully eradicate all terrorism and radicalism? No. We will never get the number down to zero. There will always be that one guy in class who just doesn't care about anyone or anything. The key is to work on getting the number to a point where it's just that one guy. If we stop trying then that one guy will talk to another guy and now we have two guys who don't care.
 
ISIS are shitty but there are so many others terror groups in North Africa and the Middle-East... The world will never catch a break, huh?

RIP
 

Azzanadra

Member
Surprised these thread is only four pages compared to that one on Brussels. Both are tragic instances, but I guess a place like Pakistan is more "expected" to have these type of incidents. This does remind me of a thought I had a while back... that while there is a lot of contempt for Muslims because of terrorist attacks, aren't the primary victims of terrors attacks around the world primarily Muslims as well? I guess the age-old adage is true, "the west only cares about itself".

Anyways, rest in peace to the victims.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Surprised these thread is only four pages compared to that one on Brussels. Both are tragic instances, but I guess a place like Pakistan is more "expected" to have these type of incidents. This does remind me of a thought I had a while back... that while there is a lot of contempt for Muslims because of terrorist attacks, aren't the primary victims of terrors attacks around the world primarily Muslims as well? I guess the age-old adage is true, "the west only cares about itself".

There's some truth to that. But at the same time, we are becoming desensitized to all this. It's becoming more and more common.

Brussels attack thread is at 58 pages after almost a week.

Paris attack thread in November was at over 200 pages in almost a week.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I wonder if there are Pakistani and/or Middle-Eastern-centric forums out there where they have 100-pages threads about this attack and 2-pages threads about the Brussels attack? :p

It's not wrong to say that "the West cares only about itself" exactly, but at the same time, it's expected that people discuss more heavily things that hit "closer to home", so to speak. It's not necessarily about having an agenda.
 

Mohonky

Member
Surprised these thread is only four pages compared to that one on Brussels. Both are tragic instances, but I guess a place like Pakistan is more "expected" to have these type of incidents. This does remind me of a thought I had a while back... that while there is a lot of contempt for Muslims because of terrorist attacks, aren't the primary victims of terrors attacks around the world primarily Muslims as well? I guess the age-old adage is true, "the west only cares about itself".

Anyways, rest in peace to the victims.

Not really, you're talking about a country that has routinely allowed terrorist organisations and key members of terrorist groups to hide and function there, its just not that surprising. Sunni Muslim group targets non-Sunni muslims in terrorist attack surprises no one.

Pakistan also refuses to accept some Muslim groups as even being Muslim because it doesnt fit their particular sect and non-Muslims are not permitted to be involved in Governance or Law.

They basically couldnt give a shit, its just a bunch of 'Christians'

If a Christian terrorist cell blew up a Sunni gathering, watch hiw fast they'd respond.
 

Azih

Member
It's not wrong to say that "the West cares only about itself" exactly, but at the same time, it's expected that people discuss more heavily things that hit "closer to home", so to speak. It's not necessarily about having an agenda.
Some people of course have an agenda on this very thread where the fact that the majority of victims are Muslim is being hand waved away as not being important in favor of the bad Muslims kill minority Christians angle. Those are the headlines in a lot of the media as well.

Muslims get killed and still get demonized. The Muslims Are Villains narrative is deep and pervasive.

It's what allows unscrupulous politicians in the West to take advantage of the fear of Muslims created by the storylines to push policies of outright discrimination further giving legitimacy to the Islam=BAD idea. It's a vicious downward cycle.

Basically this attack especially in the context of the forgotten Peshawar school massacre should have helped to identify and isolate the actual terrorist criminals. But no. It's become just more 'Muslims are' 'Islam is' toxic background radiation and Muslim victims keep getting lumped together with the terrorists killing them and, insanely, proclaimed guilty by association.

Another subtle thing about the 'closer to home' business is that it tells Pakistanis in the West that they're not considered to be really a part of the society yeah? But that's another topic.
 

Jag

Member
Muslims get killed and still get demonized. The Muslims Are Villains narrative is deep and pervasive.

I don't agree. Muslims are both the victims and perpetrators. Therefore any discussion of Muslims has to make a distinction between them.

However anyone who believes that violence is justified to protect their religion is guilty of aiding and supporting the terrorist philosophy. This includes governments, schools and religious institutions.

Violence, even state sanctioned, in defense of religion for any reason has to stop.

It is never justified and anyone who supports it needs to be shunned by the world.
 

Azih

Member
I don't agree.
What are you disagreeing with? In an attack where the majority of deaths were Muslim the headlines on CNN focus on Christian deaths.

It's not hard to conclude that there is less value on Muslim lives and Muslim victims of terrorism don't fit an established media narrative.

After all Christian deaths hit closer to home.
 

Lamel

Banned
Not really, you're talking about a country that has routinely allowed terrorist organisations and key members of terrorist groups to hide and function there, its just not that surprising. Sunni Muslim group targets non-Sunni muslims in terrorist attack surprises no one.

Pakistan also refuses to accept some Muslim groups as even being Muslim because it doesnt fit their particular sect and non-Muslims are not permitted to be involved in Governance or Law.

They basically couldnt give a shit, its just a bunch of 'Christians'

If a Christian terrorist cell blew up a Sunni gathering, watch hiw fast they'd respond.

The country has been responding to terrorists with major military operations for years now.
 

Jag

Member
What are you disagreeing with? In an attack where the majority of deaths were Muslim the headlines on CNN focus on Christian deaths.

It's not hard to conclude that there is less value on Muslim lives and Muslim victims of terrorism don't fit an established media narrative.

After all Christian deaths hit closer to home.

I'm disagreeing with this statement as well. All of it. The Christian deaths are newsworthy because they are a minority that is already discriminated against and kept in poverty. Being targeted for terror just further compounds their misery. It doesn't minimize the Muslim deaths, it just shows how much worse things are for minority Christians.
 

Azih

Member
I'm disagreeing with this statement as well. All of it. The Christian deaths are newsworthy because they are a minority that is already discriminated against and kept in poverty.
Then how is it that Shia deaths don't get the same attention? Same issues apply to the Shia minority in the country.

I don't want to have inadvertently started a Grief Olympics here. My point is simply that Muslim victims of terrorism get less attention than they should and there are problems that come with that.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
Then how is it that Shia deaths don't get the same attention? Same issues apply to the Shia minority in the country.

I don't want to have inadvertently started a Grief Olympics here. My point is simply that Muslim victims of terrorism get less attention than they should and there are problems that come with that.

I agree. While I don't think that it is a conscious bias, it is a bias, a very common one.
 

Jag

Member
Then how is it that Shia deaths don't get the same attention? Same issues apply to the Shia minority in the country.

Shias are still Muslim. Christians aren't. It's not remotely the same to most people who don't realize that there is a significant split between the two sects.
 

Azih

Member
Shias are still Muslim. Christians aren't. It's not remotely the same to most people who don't realize that there is a significant split between the two sects.
The difference isn't that Christians are a minority as you claimed then. The difference is that people in the West have more empathy for people they think are more like them and Muslims... All Muslims... Are on the wrong side of that divide. Further Muslim victims of terrorism doesn't fit a very set media narrative of Muslims as terrorists preying on non Muslims.

Belgians aren't minorities in Belgium and they get more sympathy from the West than Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park.

Christians in Pakistan are minorities and they get more sympathy from the West than Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park.


The common thread isn't minority status but that Christians and and Belgians are 'closer to home' than Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park. And that Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park don't fit a very set narrative of 'Muslims' as the perpetrators of villainous terrorism.

And that narrative entrenches the terrorists into the fabric of 'Islam' when the way to defeat them is to isolate them as much as possible.
 

Jag

Member
The difference isn't that Christians are a minority as you claimed then. The difference is that people in the West have more empathy for people they think are more like them and Muslims... All Muslims... Are on the wrong side of that divide. Further Muslim victims of terrorism doesn't fit a very set media narrative of Muslims as terrorists preying on non Muslims.

Belgians aren't minorities in Belgium and they get more sympathy from the West than Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park.

Christians in Pakistan are minorities and they get more sympathy from the West than Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park.


The common thread isn't minority status but that Christians and and Belgians are 'closer to home' than Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park. And that Shias and the Muslim women and children in the park don't fit a very set narrative of 'Muslims' as the perpetrators of villainous terrorism.

And that narrative entrenches the terrorists into the fabric of 'Islam' when the way to defeat them is to isolate them as much as possible.

I get what you are saying and I think we'll have to agree to disagree. But I do think people have become desensitized to bombings of Muslim areas because they have become commonplace. Like mass shootings in the US. Or daily terror bombings in Iraq that killed scores of innocent people and the West barely covered it.
 

Azih

Member
I get what you are saying and I think we'll have to agree to disagree. But I do think people have become desensitized to bombings of Muslim areas because they have become commonplace. Like mass shootings in the US. Or daily terror bombings in Iraq that killed scores of innocent people and the West barely covered it.

I don't know Jag. There's a new article on the New York times titled The Playgrounds of Pakistan. Give it a read and then give the comments a read. Now I know you never read the comments but this is the NYT. And in the context of Americans on board with patrols of Muslim neighborhoods... It all points in one direction.
 
I get what you are saying and I think we'll have to agree to disagree. But I do think people have become desensitized to bombings of Muslim areas because they have become commonplace. Like mass shootings in the US. Or daily terror bombings in Iraq that killed scores of innocent people and the West barely covered it.
Let's be honest here, even when it first started in Muslim areas there wasn't such an outcry. There never was any desensitization because it never affected them or could impact them.

Even when mass shootings in the US occur...well you know what type stands out often.
 

Jag

Member
I don't know Jag. There's a new article on the New York times titled The Playgrounds of Pakistan. Give it a read and then give the comments a read. Now I know you never read the comments but this is the NYT. And in the context of Americans on board with patrols of Muslim neighborhoods... It all points in one direction.

The Playgrounds of Pakistan

You are correct about not reading comments because most people only comment to spew hatred. However, I see alot of blame in the comments placed on the Pakistan government, just as the children murdered at Sandy Hook is the fault of the US government for failing to regulate guns.

Are we less human than everyone else? Possibly not but we definitely cannot expect the world to cry for us when the monster to created to harm everyone else gives us a whacking. Articles like this one do not help Pakistani society it eerily sounds like the ones you read in vernacular Urdu dailies in Lahore. WE need to look at our mistakes, our wrongs, and take the small but difficult step towards saying sorry to our minorities, India, Afghanistan and everyone else that has suffered from the perverted policies of our army.

I don't see victim blaming. I see blame placed on a government of complicity. I honestly don't know much about Pakistan, but this will most definitely make me read much more about what is going on there.
 

Azih

Member
I don't see victim blaming. I see blame placed on a government of complicity.
The Park bombing and the Peshawar school massacre were the fault of terrorists and no one else. Just like 9/11 wasn't the fault of Americans or the Brussels attacks weren't the fault of Belgium.

Deflecting from the fact that terrorists overwhelmingly kill Muslims helps no one.


Yet that is what happens when Muslims die.

Edit: There is nothing in my posts that has anything to do with the problems of Pakistan. I am Pakistani. I am very aware of what the problems are and when they began. None of that has anything to do with how the western media reacts to Muslim victims of terrorism.
 
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