The stomach churns, the teeth gnash, the blood boils. Again and again and again, religion provides no peace, poisons the minds of children, turns brother against brother, causes slaughter on an individual and collective levels, and fans the fires of xenophobia that horrify those of us who haven’t had our empathy short-circuited by this primal anachronism.
QUETTA: At least 55 people lost their lives, while over 200 others were injured on Friday after a suicide bomber blew himself up amidst participants of a rally held to mark the Al-Quds Day in Quetta.
The deadly blast triggered chaos and panic in the provincial metropolis’s busy Mezan Chowk.
Calling from an undisclosed location, a spokesman of the banned Lashkaar-e-Janghvi, claimed responsibility for the attack and warned that the group would “carry out more attacks if Shias continue to take out processions and hold gatherings”.
According to eyewitnesses, a group of armed men started indiscriminate firing after the blast, injuring dozens of people.
The Imamia Students’ Organisation had organised the rally that started from Islam Imambargah, located on the Prince Road, soon after the Friday prayers to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. Hundreds of people joined the rally as it moved towards the centre of the city.
“Police tried to stop the rally near Mali Bagh and asked the participants not to proceed any further, owing to security concerns. However, nobody listened to us,” said City police Station House Officer (SHO) Muhammad Asif, adding that the participants did not follow the route that had been approved by the police. “We had earlier told them that no officers were deployed in Mezan Chowk and they should follow the given route. But they did not follow the instructions,” he said.
A number of young men, who were at the head of the procession, removed police barricades and continued to march forward. When the procession reached Mezan Chowk, the suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest.
As result of the huge blast, 25 people were killed instantly, and human limbs were scattered everywhere. A number of motorcycles parked nearby caught fire, sending up plumes of black smoke.
According to the Bomb Disposal Squad, 10 to 15 kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the blast.
Talking to reporters, Provincial Police Officer Malik Muhammad Iqbal claimed that the police had tried to warn the participants and their refusal to listen to the police caused the incidence.
Police later found the head of the suspected suicide bomber, who was said to be between 25 to 30 years of age.
An employee of a private TV channel was also among the dead, while eight other journalists also sustained injuries. All of them were covering the rally when the blast took place.
Attack condemned: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani both have strongly condemned the attack. In separate messages, both the leaders stressed that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes were the enemies of the country and would not be spared.
The Balochistan Shia Conference and the Tahaffuz Azadari Council have announced a 40-day mourning period.
In a statement, both groups have strongly criticised the government and the police for failing to protect the rally participants.
But of course, nobody dares even point a finger at that purveyor of dissonance, the wreaker of havoc, Islam.
Oh wait, somebody does, good old Tony Blair:
Mr Blair said radical Islamists believed that whatever was done in the name of their cause was justified - including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Mr Blair, who led Britain into war in Afghanistan and Iraq, denied that his own policies had fuelled radicalism.
Asked about the argument that Chechens, Kashmiris, Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghans were resisting foreign occupation, he said Western polices were designed to confront radical Islamists because they were "regressive, wicked and backward-looking".
Sadly though, he’s just another Neville Chamberlain, because of course (in his own words) people need to believe in something, and we as atheists are placed in the same context as terrorist extremists:
Blair stated that people of faith "face an aggressive secular attack from without" and "the threat of extremism from within," and went further in making an equivalency between nonbelievers and those who inflict harm and death in the name of their religion, saying:
These challenges are not for Muslims alone or Christians or Jews, Hindus or Buddhists for that matter. They are challenges for all people of faith. Those who scorn God and those who do violence in God’s name, both represent views of religion. But both offer no hope for faith in the twenty first century. The best hope for faith in the twenty first century is that we confront all of this together.
And even Obama is quoted as saying: “I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”
The problem, Mr. President, is that these deranged delusionists are doing just that, reinforcing these ‘negative stereotypes’.
I have, in my heart of hearts, hoped that reason will prevail, but as long as faitheists are given free passes for their nonsensical beliefs, the chances are growing slimmer and slimmer.
Religion is bullshit, and from here on in, I’m going to declaim that every time I see a T-shirt that says “Honk if you love jesus!” or a burqa. And if it comes to blows, well then, it’s America and I’m entitled to free speech, regardless of whether it honks someone off or not.
Till the next post, then.
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