Pakistan’s media blacks out the killing of 18 Shia Muslims in Kurram Agency
Pakistani hospital staff attend a man injured by a bomb blast, at a local hospital in Pakistani tribal of area of Jamrud, Friday, July 16, 2010. Source: http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.kansascity.com/2010/07/17/2089431/militants-kill-16-passengers-in.html
By Omar Khattab
On 17 July a convoy of Shias left Peshawar for their hometown Parachinar. On the way near Charkhel, they were attacked by the Taliban. The Taliban used rockets and automatic weapons killing 18 including women and children Scores were injured, some seriously.
Pakistan’s newspapers and dozens of channels only referred to “militants’ attack on a convoy”. After a coupe of hours the news disappeared from the channels, and the following day (18 July) the newspapers only briefly mentioned the attack. The honorable exception was Daily Times which gave the following headline: “Militants kill 18 Shias in Kurram convoy attack.”
Parachinar has been facing a blockade by the Taliban for the past decade, but no newspaper or TV channel has carried out an investigation into why the Shias of Parachinar have been reduced to live like scavengers. The Shias of Pakistan are Pakistani nationals, but in order to buy basic provisions or to travel in-land or abroad, they have to go to Afghanistan because they cannot travel from Parachinar as the Taliban have been occupying all the strategic points which connect Parachinar to the rest of Pakistan.
All this why, the Pakistan Army which is supposed to defend not just the borders of Pakistan, but also the internal and ideological frontiers, has not acted to save and safeguard it own citizens. This is because flushed with Saudi petrodollars the Army officers have abdicated their professional, legal, and constitutional duties and are busy enriching themselves and their families. Media too has been flooded by Saudi money. You just look at the lifestyle of a pro-Saudi and Pro-Taliban (one and the same thing), and you will be surprised to how rich they are. The likes of Ansar Abbasi, Javed Chaudhry, Irfan Siddiqqi, and Hamid Mir) live like mafia dons. What good can be expected from them?
At the cost of their professional integrity, the Pakistani media has sold out to Wahabism. Let the Islamic Republic of Pakistan be cleansed of the Shias, Ahmedis, Christians, and Brelvis.
Related news items:
Kansas City: Militants kill 16 passengers in northwest Pakistan
BBC: Militants kill 16 in Pakistan convoy ambush
AFP: Gunmen kill 16 Shiite Muslims in Pakistan
Fear belies Pakistan boasts of borderlands (Reuters)
9 July 2010, 12:09 PM SADDA – The road from Parachinar to Thal in Pakistan’s tribal borderlands, just a few kilometres from Afghanistan, used to be sliced by warring Sunni and Shia militias and then blocked by various Taliban groups.
Today, the Pakistan army says, it is open and free. Pink flowers bloom on roadsides where homemade bombs were once planted. Field hands work the rich rice fields and the market — surrounding a square once used by the Taliban for executions — is bustling. All appears well in Kurram agency.
At least that’s how the army wants journalists to see it.
Khaleej Times
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/July/international_July310.xml§ion=international