And there I was, just about to shut down my laptop after deciding that I’d surfed enough for the day, when my sister rushed to inform me of some “bloody incident all over the news”. Benazir Bhutto had returned to Karachi today after 8 years of self imposed exile. Scores of her “supporters” (some genuine others allegedly bought by bribes from various parts of the country, from Khyber Pass to Hyderabad) had gathered in Karachi to “welcome” her.
And after it had all gone so smoothly for the better part of the entire day (very little mismanagement to speak of, no violence at all and just a traditional, snail paced procession making its headway from the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport to the Quaid’s mausoleum) it seemed the peaceful atmosphere got struck by some one’s buri nazar. At about 12:45 AM in the morning Karachi time, two blasts in quick succession went off below the Karsaz Bridge on main Shahrah-e-Faisal. At the time of my writing (about 15 minutes to 5) over 100 people have been confirmed killed, and over 500 injured.
These are staggering numbers, and some analyst have already moved to describe the incident as “the worst terrorist attack”‘ in the country’s history. And even though I have been live blogging the tragic developments as I saw them unfold on my television screen over at the Karachi Metroblog, but this still hasn’t seem to sink in completely.
I’m far from what one can describe as a People’s Party supporter, no political party in this country inspires any confidence in me, but the people of this country do (despite their sometimes questionable choices). And it hurts and distresses me that scores of them had to once again sacrifice their lives or be seriously hurt amongst the political games of the powers to be.
I really don’t know who is responsible for these blasts – Taliban leaders in the troubled region of Waziristan had issued an official “threat” directly aimed at Bhutto before her arrival, and conspiracy theorists speculating on this being a ploy by the PPP to gain mass public sympathy and divert attention away from allegations of corruption against Bhutto (many of which were controversially withdrawn by the government in the infamous National Reconciliation Ordinance) will be aplenty too – but what I do now, and with certainty, is that scores of people, including media professionals and law-enforcement officials, who died or have got seriously hurt today (and may perhaps tragically remain forever handicapped after their injuries), did not by any stretch of imagination, do anything to deserve this fate.
They were blameless, innocent members of the civil society. And my heart goes out for them today. May the souls of those whose precious lives were sacrificied rest in peace, may the Almighty give patience and courage to their grieved family and friends, and may all those who are injured recover smoothly and speedily. It is also just as necessary today to remember those responsible for these hideous acts in our prayers: may God truly bless them with guidance and save us from their terrible wrath in these coming times. And may God make thess coming times one of peace and security. I’m off to catch some much needed sleep now.
Early Reaction From The Blogosphere:
- “My City Burns” deplores Dr. Awab at the Karachi Metroblog
- “Why? Who? What now?” wonders Owais Mughal at Pakistaniat
- The “joy of Eid” turned into “ghastliness and mourning” regrets Kashif Aziz at Chowrangi
- Unaiza Nasim remembers the poetry of Faiz:
is daur-e-bejunoon ki kahani koi likho
jismon ko barf Khoon ko paanii koi likhokoi kaho key haath qalam kis tarah hue
kyun ruk gai qalam kii ravaani koi likhokyon ahal-e-shauq sar-va-garebaan hain dosto
kyon khoon-ba-dil hai ahad-e-javaani koi likhokyon surmaa-dar-guluu hai har ek taayar-e-suKhan
kyon gulisitaan qafas kaa hai sona koi likhohaan taazaa saanehon kaa kare kaun intazaar
haan dil kii vaaradaat puraani koi likho
- At Stranger’s Words ‘mohsenali’ notes amongst other things
the “mistakes” made by thehow the Pakistani media ignored several basic journalistic ethics in their reporting of the incident
- “Benazir was made aware of serious threats against her return. Was she wise to ignore them?” asks temporal at Desicritics
- “If militants were indeed behind the Karachi bombing, they are unlikely to have won any support for their cause in Pakistan” notes Jason Bruke at the Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog
- Ali Terazi writes on “Pakistan’s 9/11” at The Huffington Post
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its high time that we are allowing these self appointed jihadis to make our lives their ticket to heaven(fools heaven). we all know that 90% of madrasas teaches secterian and other kind of hatred against the normal people.
Pakistan’s forign policy might be new(post 9/11) but their violence is old. Their teachings tell em violence n hatred, and if any sane soul revolt agaisnt their madeup form of ISLAM, that peson is not only a KAFIR, MURTID but his death can also be the ticket to their heaven (doggys hell)
Zainub please I think you have mistook my words when you noted “At Stranger’s Words ‘mohsenali’ notes amongst other things the “mistakes” made by the Pakistani media in the reporting of the incident ”
I was not saying its ‘mistake’ to relay the news of the incdent. I am saying it makes iit more impacting. The only mistake of media I noted was that first the media person on the Aaj Tv was not good enough to handle the situation, ask right questions, etc…
And the second thing was Geo did not gave name of Tv channel from which the Camera Man was. This is a wrong attitude I think when one is telling name of the deceased perosn then one should mention the organization it worked with.
Thirdly I was of view that before even naming the camera man they should have first contacted the family of the person. Its very hard to get news about your beloved through news channel.
Hi then mohensali, thanks for your comment. That’s exactly what I meant to point out too, in fact I agree with you, and I’ve said it elsewhere as well; the Pakistani broadcast media in the excitement of bring breaking news as it happens and transferring as much information as possible, do forget to keep track of several of such basic journalistic ethics. Perhaps I didn’t phrase my self correctly. I’ll rephrase.
Thanks Zainub, yes, I think I also misread your scentence.
Sad events impacts more than one thinks they would, I think it made me too judgmental.
Well, it doesn’t actually reflects my point of view about the incident itself but tried to coverup different news broke in last few days.
Benazir denies involvement of Talibans, govt insists
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