MEMBERS of Pakistan’s security establishment who are charged with keeping order in Punjab, the country’s biggest province, have in recent weeks trumpeted their successes against religious militancy and extremism. Entire groups had been “eliminated”, senior police officers assured journalists recently. That claim was sorely tested by an atrocity in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, on March 27th.
A suicide-bomber blew himself up at a small amusement park where families had been enjoying a pleasant springtime evening. At least 72 people were killed, most of them women and children, and more than 200 injured. It was probably no coincidence that many of the victims were from Pakistan’s tiny Christian minority, who had gone out to celebrate with their families after attending Easter Sunday church services. A breakaway faction, Jamaat ul-Ahrar, of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility. “We have entered Lahore,” it crowed.
Massacres of civilians are sadly common in Pakistan, but not in Punjab. Lahore, the hometown of the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is normally peaceable. Many from Pakistan’s...Continue reading
from Asia http://ift.tt/1URfFQ1
EmoticonEmoticon