hoo say Liao Church Bombing bIG time

[democracy my butt]

http://tribune.com.pk/story/853878/black-day-seventy-injured-six-in-critical-condition-at-lgh/


Black day: Seventy injured, six in critical condition at LGH
By Rameez KhanPublished: March 16, 2015
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Members of the Christian Community gather at the site after twin deadly bomb blasts at the Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church during Sunday mass in Youhanabad area of Lahore. PHOTO: PPI
LAHORE:*The congregations of St John’s Catholic Church and Christ Church and relatives of the injured rushed to the Lahore General Hospital soon after two suicide blasts rocked the churches mid-mass in Youhanabad on Sunday.
The hospital presented heart-wrenching scenes as family and friends prayed for the recovery of their loved ones. Fifteen people were killed and more than 70 people were injured in the attacks. Doctors said the condition of six of them was critical.
The Lahore General Hospital MS said the bodies of the victims had been sent to the Jinnah Hospital morgue. He said 35 of those injured had been admitted to the hospital by Sunday evening and those whose condition was satisfactory had been discharged. He said six, including one taken to Mayo Hospital’s burn unit, were in critical condition.
Scores of young men from Youhanabad crowded the Lahore General Hospital and set up their own security cordons. They pushed the policemen inside the hospital.
Mansoor Gill, 90, one of the patients, said, “I saw the whole thing. The bomber blew himself up while trying to enter Christ Church… We had heard the blast at the Catholic Church five minutes earlier, only we thought that a transformer had blown up.”
Gill said he saw a man trying to force his way through the main gate. “Then everything went dark.”** Yousaf Rehmat, another member of the congregation at Christ Church, had arrived at the hospital to enquire about his cousins and friends who were injured in the incident. He narrated a similar tale but Gill’s and Rehmat’s description of the attacker was different.
Irfan Ashiq, one of the injured, said he was at the Catholic Church when he heard a deafening blast. He said dozens of them had been injured but the church administration forbade them from exiting the church building, fearing another attack. “Soon we heard ambulance sirens,” he said.
Patras Masih, who had been at the Christ Church, had suffered multiple injuries due to ball bearings used in the suicide attack. He said he had been sitting towards the end of the congregation when the attack had occurred.
The patients said there was very little police security at the churches. Scores of young men shouted slogans against the government and the police in front of the hospital. When Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique and Senator Kamran Michael arrived at the hospital, they shouted slogans against them.
CCPO Amin Wains visited at the hospital in plain clothes and did not stay for more than 10 minutes. SP Imtiaz Sarwar, however,thanked the crowd for cooperating with them. To a question about how the police was pushed into a corner, Sarwar said that the incident had shocked the community. “A little aggression in such circumstances is only normal.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2015.

 

[democracy my butt]

http://www.dawn.com/news/1169747/attack-on-churches


Attack on churches
EDITORIAL —*UPDATED 2 minutes ago

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The state’s halting response to the terrorism threat is leading to dangerous ruptures in society.—AP/File
THE suicide attacks against two churches in Lahore yesterday could have been just another gruesome incident in the long list of horrors that has been inflicted on this country in recent years.

The reaction by sections of the Christian community in Lahore and other cities of the country — with protesters taking to the streets and some turning to violence that resulted in two deaths — though suggests that the state’s halting response to the terrorism threat is leading to dangerous ruptures in society.

Know more: 15 killed in Taliban attack on Lahore churches

When non-Muslim and sectarian communities take to the streets in protest and turn to mob violence, it surely reflects the acute stress and intolerable strain that they are under. While all mob violence is deplorable, perhaps the lesson for the state here is that endless violence and horrors visited on a population lead to fear taking over and ugliness manifesting itself.

*The state and the security establishment in particular will likely point to the fact that the group which has claimed responsibility, the Jamaatul Ahrar, is under renewed pressure both inside Pakistan and in Afghanistan, at the urging of the state here.

The next phase of Operation Khyber-I does appear to place the militant group in the military’s crosshairs and the announcement of a re-merger between the TTP and the Jamaatul Ahrar over the weekend suggests that the groups are under significant pressure.

As in the past, when hard security targets become more difficult to attack and a militant group is in the throes of being significantly diminished, strikes on soft targets such as places of worship or markets have spikes.

Perhaps, then, that is what the latest attack in Lahore indicates: a desperate effort by the militants to try and stoke a societal backlash and in doing so put pressure on the state to curb its anti-militant operations.

*Even if that were the case, however, there are still some serious questions to be asked. Why, for example, has the production of suicide bombers reached the level where they can be dispatched seemingly to any part of the country on any given day by any one of several militant groups?

Given the young age of many of the bombers used in recent attacks, they have clearly not been indoctrinated in the distant past. So, how, why and where is this almost industrial-scale indoctrination programme continuing without the state being able to find and dismantle it?

Beyond that there is the question of the failure to deal with the more complicated, and even vexing, aspects of the National Action Plan.

Even the military appears to acknowledge that a militarised strategy cannot end militancy and terrorism, but there seems to be no real effort to try and think beyond military operations in Fata and counterterrorism operations in the cities. Will — can — that change?

Published in Dawn March 16th , 2015

 

[democracy my butt]

http://m.smh.com.au/world/pakistani...d-during-prayer-services-20150315-1lzunu.html


Pakistani Christians riot after two churches bombed during prayer services
March 16, 2015 - 7:39AM

Pakistani Christians in Karachi chant slogans during a demonstration to condemn the suicide bombing attack on two churches in Lahore. Photo: Fareed Khan
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By ARIF ALI
Fourteen people were killed and more than 70 injured when two Taliban suicide bombers attacked churches in Pakistan's Lahore on Sunday, sparking mob violence in which two other suspected militants died.

The bombings occurred during prayers at two churches located about 500 metres apart in the city's Youhanabad neighbourhood, which is home to more than 100,000 Christians, officials said.

Up to 4000 then took to the streets of the eastern city, many armed with clubs, smashing vehicles and attacking a city bus station in a rare show of anger by the beleaguered minority.

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Dr Mohammad Saeed Sohbin, medical superintendent of the General Hospital, told AFP: "We have received 14 dead bodies and 70 injured," adding that the figure did not include the suspected militants who were lynched or the bombers.

Zahid Pervez, the top health official in Lahore, confirmed the death toll and told reporters 78 people were wounded in the two attacks, which left blood and shoes scattered across the blast sites.

Witness Jacob David, 55, said people jumped out of a church window to save their lives.

"These were huge blasts, one after another. Everyone started running here and there. Some people jumped outside after breaking the window," he said.

Police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar said two policemen guarding the churches were among those killed in the attacks, while two people were beaten to death by protesters who took to the streets after the blasts.

"Policemen on duty at both the entrances tried to stop them, but the bombers blew themselves up," she said.

"The angry mob protesting after the blast beat to death two people whom they suspected of being associates of the attackers."

An AFP photographer saw the bodies of the two suspected militants on fire after the beatings. It was not clear whether they were still alive at the time.

The Pakistani Taliban's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction described the blasts as suicide attacks and vowed to continue a campaign for the enforcement of Sharia Islamic law, in a statement emailed to the media.


Christians, who make up about 2 per cent of Pakistan's population of 180 million, have been targeted by attacks and riots in recent years, often over allegations of profanity regarding the Koran or the prophet Muhammad.

Sunday's attacks were the worst on the community since a devastating double suicide-bombing in the north-western city of Peshawar in September 2013 killed 82 people.

That came months after more than 3000 Muslim protesters torched about 100 houses as they rampaged through Joseph Colony, another Christian neighbourhood of Lahore, following blasphemy allegations against a Christian man.

Pope Francis on Sunday condemned the attacks and accused the world of "seeking to hide" the persecution of Christians.

"It's with pain, much pain, that I was told of the terrorist attacks against two Christian churches in Lahore in Pakistan, which have caused numerous deaths and injuries," the Pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer in Rome.

The thousands of Christian protesters who clashed with police on Sunday attacked their cars with stones and sticks, as women wept and beat their heads and chests.

The protesters, some wearing crosses round their necks, later turned on the city's bus rapid transit system - a signature project of the ruling PML-N party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Sharif in a statement condemned the church bombings and "directed provincial governments to ensure the security of [the] public and their properties".

Zaeem Qadri, a spokesman for the provincial government, said efforts were being made to stop the rioting but "emotions are very high because their churches have been attacked".

Christians also took to the streets in other cities, including Pakistan's largest, Karachi, where about 200 protesters blocked a main road and burnt tyres. There were also demonstrations in Peshawar, Multan and Quetta.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged action on the attacks and groups "preaching hate", saying the bloc stood with Pakistan in its anti-terrorism fight and with religious minorities.

"Freedom of religion or belief is a central tenet of democratic societies," she said in a statement.

Sunday's attack was the first by the Taliban since three of their major factions said on Thursday they had reunited.

Pakistan's military has stepped up its fight against militants since Taliban gunmen massacred more than 150 people, mostly children, at a Peshawar school in December.

A moratorium on executions in terror cases was lifted and military courts set up. Later, the death penalty was reinstated for all capital cases.

AFP

 

[democracy my butt]

The Christian killed at present of their god who failed to save them. They are going crazy.