The intensity of the blast can be gauged by the fact that the building's ceiling collapsed from the impact, trapping many underneath the debris. It was the second major sectarian attack to take place since the beginning of this year.
The earlier one, responsibility for which was claimed by a TTP faction, occurred in a Rawalpindi imambargah, killing seven people and injuring nearly 20. But the attack in Shikarpur is significant for several reasons.
It is the first large-scale sectarian attack in interior Sindh, the traditional home of Sufi Islam, underscoring the need to expand the war against extremism beyond the tribal areas to cities and smaller towns.
It is also damning evidence of how misgovernance compounded by state inertia can provide space for krazed killer elements to insidiously widen their influence. Over the past few years, critical, telling signs of the drift towards radicalisation and religious disharmony in Sindh have been ignored.
A number of Hindu temples have been desecrated and there is a rising crescendo alleging forced conversions of Hindu girls. Deobandi sectarian groups have become increasingly assertive in what is traditionally a Barelvi ethos.
Exploiting the wilful neglect of the education sector, madressahs have proliferated, enrolling droves of children from poor families and enabling them to absorb their divisive
...politicians call things
divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never
divisive,they're
principled...
ideologies. The vacuum of governance that exists in Sindh does not bode well for controlling the sectarian forces that have entrenched themselves there, and the Shikarpur bombing may mark the trajectory of a yet deadlier chapter in krazed killer violence in Pakistain.
A recent Human Rights Watch
... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge....
report has castigated the government for failing to protect religious freedoms and prevent violence against minorities.
There appears little hope of a change in this situation with the government seemingly unable to ride the crest of an unprecedented public consensus in favour of a robust response to counter the scourge of extremism. It was significant perhaps that when the attack took place, the prime minister was chairing yet another meeting on law and order, this time in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
.
What has been the substance of its response apart from repeatedly going into a huddle with trusted aides in the aftermath of the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
attack, and hanging some death row inmates in rapid succession? Where is the evidence of the National Action Plan being put into practice?
While religious groups have appropriated the Charlie Hebdo
...
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...issue to seize the initiative and demonstrate their street power, the state appears to be on the retreat, taking recourse to a timorous, fire-fighting approach that is far from what is needed at this desperately difficult hour.