ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A blast ripped through a Shiite protest, the second such attack in three days, in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 40 people and wounding 80, police and rescue officials said.
It was not immediately clear whether the bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber or a remote-controlled device, and there were no claims of responsibility.
Militants are intensifying their violent attacks to pressure a government that has been struggling to cope with devastating monsoon-driven floods, described as the worst in the country’s history.
The attack was aimed at a procession of Shiite Muslims who were part of nationwide marches to mark “Al Quds Day,” an annual protest to express solidarity with Palestinians and to condemn Israel.
It came just two days after three suicide bombers struck a Shiite procession in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 31 people and setting off violent demonstrations by infuriated survivors.
On Friday, the demonstrators were passing through a commercial neighborhood of Quetta when the blast occurred.
The Pakistani news network GEO broadcast a video that showed people falling to the ground and scrambling for cover immediately after the explosion. A few people were shown firing into the smoke-filled air. The explosion led to further protests as grieving mourners went on rampage, clashing with the police and setting fire to vehicles and motorcycles parked nearby.
The wounded were immediately ferried to Combined Military Hospital, Quetta District Hospital and Civil Hospital for treatment.
“The deliberate targeting of innocent Pakistanis and worshipers during the holy month of Ramadan, and while the country is recovering from the terrible monsoon flooding, makes these acts particularly vicious,” the United States Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement. “Moreover, attacks on minority communities are attack on the foundation of democracy itself.”
United Nations officials on Friday put the number of people affected by the flooding at 18.7 million. Maurizio Giuliano, a United Nations spokesman in Islamabad, said that flooding in the southern Sindh Province was not yet over.
Some clues:
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Excerpts from a book: Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror By Hassan Abbas published by An East Gate Book. M.E. Sharpe Armonk, New York, London England. “The Khomeini revolution in Iran already bolstered the confidence of the Shias, and they were not about to take Sunni dictates in religious matters lying down. Hard-liners among Sunni, for their part, felt that such dictation was their right, and those on the extreme right of the Sunni spectrum simply cut the Gordian knot by taking a position that, correct or not, Pakistan had a Sunni majority and as such it should be declared a Sunni Muslim state in which Shia should be treated as a minority. Since achievement of this holy goal would likely to take some time, some of them decided that the interregnum ought not to be wasted. Thus in 1985 they formed Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba (ASS) – an organization piously dedicated to ridding the country of the nettlesome presence of the Shias by eliminating them physically. Later, when they realized what the organization’s acronym meant in English, they changed the name to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).”
“The zealous emissaries of the Iranian Revolutionary Regime started financing their organization Tehreek-e-Nifza-e-Fiqah-e-Jafaria (TNFJ – Movement for the Implementation of Jafaria Religious Law) and providing scholarships for Pakistani student to study in Iranian religious seminaries. For the Zia regime though, the problematic issue was Shia activism leading to a strong reaction to his attempts to impose Hanafi Islam (a branch of Sunni sect). For this he winked to the hard-liners among the Sunni religious groups in order to establish a front to squeeze the Shias. It was in this context that Jhangvi was selected by the intelligence community to do the needful. It is also believed that the JUI recommendation played the decisive part in this choice. The adherents of the Deobandi School were worried about Shia activism for religious reasons anyhow. State patronage came as an additional incentive. Consequently, in a well-designed effort, Shia assertiveness was projected as their disloyalty to Pakistan and its Islamic Ideology.” “In a few months, Saudi funds started pouring in, making the project feasible. For Saudi Arabia, the Iranian revolution was quite scary, for its ideals conflicted with that of a Wahabi monarchy. More so, with an approximately 10% Shia population, Saudi Arabia was concerned about the expansion of Shia activism in any Muslim country. Hence, it was more than willing to curb such trends in Pakistan by making a financial investment to bolster its Wahabi Agenda. According to Vali Raza Nasr, a leading expert on the sectarian groups of Pakistan, the flow of these funds was primarily routed through the Pakistan Military and the ISI. It is not known whether American support for this scheme was readily available, but the Zia regime knew well that the United States would be glad to acquiesce, given the rising US – Iran hostility. However, some analyst believe that CIA funds were involved in the venture.”
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Killings of Shias under Musharraf [then Brigadier]: “QUOTE”
In 1988, there was a violent uprising of the Shias in Gilgit, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Musharraf, who was given the task of dealing with the revolt by Zia-ul-Haq. Musharraf had a large number of Sunni Pashtun tribesmen from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) led by Osama bin Laden brought into Gilgit. They carried out a massacre of the Shias in the NA as well as the adjoining NWFP areas. It is believed by many in Pakistan that the crash of the aircraft in which Zia was travelling from Bahawalpur in August 1988 resulting in his death was caused by a Shia airman from Gilgit sympathetic to the TJP in retaliation for this massacre. To keep the Shias of Gilgit under control, Musharraf encouraged the the SSP, which had come into existence in the Punjab in the early 1980s at the instance of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to extend its activities amongst the Sunni population of Gilgit and to politically organise them against the the TJP. Since then, there have frequently been clashes between the TJP and the SSP followers in Gilgit, the latest outbreak of such violent incidents having taken place in June, 2001, before Musharraf’s visit to India for the summit talks with Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister. REFERENCE: Musharraf�s Ban: An Analysis Author: B.Raman Publication: South Asia Analysis Group Date: January 18, 2002 URL: http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper395.html
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Killings of Shias under Musharraf [then Brigadier]:
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Gen. Musharraf started a policy of bringing in Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside and settling them down in Gilgit and Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shias to a minority in their traditional land and this is continuing till today. The “Friday Times” of October 15-21, 1992, quoted Mr. Muhammad Yahya Shah, a local Shia leader, as saying: ” We were ruled by the Whites during the British days. We are now being ruled by the Browns from the plains. The rapid settling-in of Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside, particularly the trading classes, has created a sense of acute insecurity among the local Shias.” Zia became the first victim of the carnage unleashed by Gen. Musharraf on the Shias of Gilgit. Though the Pakistani authorities have not released the report of the committee, which enquired into the crash of Zia’s plane in August,1988, it is widely believed in Pakistan that a Shia airman from Gilgit, wanting to take revenge for the May,1988, carnage, was responsible for the crash. REFERENCE: Biography of General Pervez Musharraf: His Past and Present http://www.angelfire.com/al4/terror/musharraf.htm
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RIGHT UNDER THE NOSE OF GENERAL MUSHARRAF AND GEORGE W BUSH!!!
In interviews, however, American intelligence officials and high-ranking military officers said that Pakistanis were indeed flown to safety, in a series of nighttime airlifts that were approved by the Bush Administration. The Americans also said that what was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of control, and, as an unintended consequence, an unknown number of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters managed to join in the exodus. “Dirt got through the screen,” a senior intelligence official told me. Last week, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld did not respond to a request for comment. Musharraf won American support for the airlift by warning that the humiliation of losing hundreds—and perhaps thousands—of Pakistani Army men and intelligence operatives would jeopardize his political survival. “Clearly, there is a great willingness to help Musharraf,” an American intelligence official told me. A C.I.A. analyst said that it was his understanding that the decision to permit the airlift was made by the White House and was indeed driven by a desire to protect the Pakistani leader. The airlift “made sense at the time,” the C.I.A. analyst said. “Many of the people they spirited away were the Taliban leadership”—who Pakistan hoped could play a role in a postwar Afghan government. According to this person, “Musharraf wanted to have these people to put another card on the table” in future political negotiations. “We were supposed to have access to them,” he said, but “it didn’t happen,” and the rescued Taliban remain unavailable to American intelligence. According to a former high-level American defense official, the airlift was approved because of representations by the Pakistanis that “there were guys— intelligence agents and underground guys—who needed to get out.” REFERENCE: The Getaway Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift. by Seymour M. Hersh January 28, 2002 http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/01/28/020128fa_FACT
Musharraf allowed SSP and other Lashkars during his government 1999 – 2007
Real Face of General Musharraf:
And while the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stand officially disbanded, their most militant son and leader, Maulana Azam Tariq, an accused in several cases of sectarian killing, contested elections from jail – albeit as an independent candidate – won his seat, and was released on bail shortly thereafter. Musharraf rewrote election rules to disqualify former Prime Ministers Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, and threatened to toss them in jail if they returned from abroad, which badly undermined both Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League and Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Musharraf has plainly given the religious groups more free rein in the campaign than he has allowed the two big parties that were his main rivals. In Jhang city, in Punjab province, Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of an outlawed extremist group called Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to numerous sectarian killings, is being allowed to run as an independent despite election laws that disqualify any candidate who has criminal charges pending, or even those who did not earn a college degree. “It makes no sense that Benazir can’t run in the election,” says one Islamabad-based diplomat, “and this nasty guy can.” References: And this takes me back to Pervez Musharraf’s first visit to the US after his coup. At a meeting with a group of journalists among whom I was present, my dear and much lamented friend Tahir Mirza, then the Dawn correspondent, asked Musharraf why he was not acting against Lashkar-e Tayba and Jaish-e Muhammad. Musharraf went red in the face and shot back, “They are not doing anything in Pakistan. They are doing jihad outside.” Pakistani neocons and UN sanctions Khalid Hasan This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm. http://www.khalidhasan.net/2008/12/28/pakistani-neocons-and-un-sanctions/ For The ‘General’ Good By Sairah Irshad Khan Monthly Newsline January 2003 http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsJan2003/cover1jan2003.htm – General’s Election By TIM MCGIRK / KHANA-KHEL Monday, Oct. 07, 2002 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,361788,00.html
I had read the detailed news reports on the assassination of a Police Officer Ashraf Marth [brother in law of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain] in 1998/99 as to how he unearthed the SSP and their killers and within few days Ashraf Marth was martyred and guess what Ashraf had confiscated no limit American Credit Cards from SSP Killers. – Reference: Punjab’s worst year of sectarian violence DAWN / NEWS International, Karachi 01 January 1998 Thursday 02 Ramazan 1418
http://www.karachipage.com/news/jan98/010198.txt
On February 20, several assailants stormed into the Iranian Cultural Centre at Multan, killing seven people, including an Iranian diplomat. The then Multan SSP, Ashraf Marth, after several days of hectic efforts managed to trace the killers. Police sources claim that due to Ashraf Marth’s efforts police were able to understand the network of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi resulting in the arrest of some of the most wanted militants. Ashraf Marth was transferred to Gujranwala, his home town. He was gunned down near his official residence on May 6. A senior police officer says the investigations conducted by the late SSP and reports compiled by him were still helping police in tracking down sectarian POs.
A clue on these Shia Killings in Pakistan:
“QUOTE”
Rigi said in the taped confession that he had been approached by US agents in Quetta, Pakistan in 2008 and that they had promised to provide his group with arms as well as an operation base in Afghanistan near the Iranian border. Iran hangs Sunni militant ‘spy’ Maryam Sinaiee, Foreign Correspondent Last Updated: June 20. 2010 11:57PM UAE / June 20. 2010 7:57PM GMT http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20100621%2FFOREIGN%2F706209891%2F1042
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I know you must’ve watched the movie I was referring to the text. That tinkering in Iran was allowed by Musharraf and Lawlessness in Baluchistan is not just Baloch Insurgency. Pakistan holds Iran border guards http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8326517.stm
Rigi’s arrest a godsend for Pakistan By Baqir Sajjad Syed
Wednesday, 24 Feb, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/12-rigis-arrest-a-godsend-for-pakistan-420–bi-01 Pakistan helped Iran nab Jundallah chief Wednesday, 24 Feb, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-pakistan-helped-iran-nab-jundallah-chief-ss-07
A clue on these Shia Killings in Pakistan:
Here is an eye opener: Nobody asks as to how Rigi move to and fro across the border so conveniently???
Jundullah and Abdulmalik Rigi was the Creation of US CIA and during Musharraf’s Tenure, read the rest as to how both were being used to destabilize Iran to create Iran-Pak Tension to create hurdle in Iran-Pak-India Gas Pipeline The Iran Plans by Seymour M. Hersh The Iran Plans http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/06/iran-plans-by-seymour-m-hersh.html The Coming Wars by Seymour M. Hersh – What the Pentagon can now do in secret.
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/06/coming-wars-by-seymour-m-hersh.html Latest: Target Iran: Scott Ritter, Seymour M. Hersh & Amy Goodman http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/06/target-iran-scott-ritter-seymour-m.html Do watch the video of Former UN Weapon Inspector Scott Ritter above with Seymour Hersh. Iran gets its most wanted terrorist, Abdulmalik Rigi http://criticalppp.com/archives/6290
We shia of pakistan are daily butchered by taliban,sipa e sahaba and agencies where is ppp govt and wat they are doing if asif ali zardari can not stop this killing then wat ppp is doing in govt and wat benefit ppp is getting its time to understand for ppp and other parties and stake holders stop these killing before no one has time and pakistan destroy
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