Punjabi Taliban (Sipah-e-Sahaba) slaughter Pakhtun Shias in Kohat refugee camp. Burqa clad suicide bombers kill at least 40 people
After yesterday’s brutal attack on Shias in a hospital in Quetta, terrorists of Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba have struck Shias once again, this time in a refugee camp in Kohat, killing more than 40 persons.
Two suicide bombings at a refugee camp in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Saturday (17 April 2010) killed at least 41 people and injured 64, police said.
The attacks in the Kacha Pakka area of Kohat district appeared to be aimed at the Shiite Muslims among the thousands who have fled the fighting in the tribal district of Orazkzai.
One bomber detonated his explosives among people queuing up for daily government issue rations, provincial police spokesman Fazal Naeem said.
Seven minutes later, as rescue work got underway, a second suicide bomber struck, he said.
‘Forty-one people have been killed and 64 injured, including 10 seriously,’ Naeem said. ‘We have recovered the severed heads of both attackers.’
Mubashir Khan, an official at the state-run hospital in Kohat also confirmed that 41 died in the twin blasts. He put the number of wounded to 60.
The police spokesman said the victims, most of them Shiite Muslims, were displaced by the fighting between Taliban militants and the army in Orakzai district.
‘It is clearly a sectarian attack since it was directed mainly against the Shiites,’ Naeem said. Two vests used in the attacks contained between eight to 10 kilometres of explosives each, he said.
Hours after the attack, Salman Haider, a purported spokesman of the banned and staunchly anti-Shiite group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi al- Aalimi claimed responsibility for the attack.
‘Our targets in the attack were the Shiites,’ Haider said. ‘We have retaliated for the murder of two Shiite women who had recently converted to Sunni Islam,’ he told reporters over the phone. ‘Shiite people killed these women.’
Pakistan has a long history of sectarian violence between extremist groups from majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslim groups. (LUBP Editor’s note: Wrong. Majority of Sunnis are peaceful citizens like majority of Shias. It is extremist Deobanids belonging to Sipah-e-Sahaba and Taliban who hold intolerant and violent sectarian ideology towards Shia Muslims.)
The rivalry has intensified since the spread of influence of the Sunni-dominated Taliban influence in the border areas near Afghanistan.
Orakzai has been at the centre of sectarian violence, with militants led by Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud regularly targeting Shiites.
According to the United Nations, 210,000 people have abandoned their homes since the military offensive began in late 2009. They include some 50,000 refugees who fled when the military launched a ground offensive last month.
On Friday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a hospital in Quetta, the capital of south-western Balochistan province. Eleven people, most of them Shias, including a senior police officer, died in that attack. A member of the national parliament from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party was one of the 28 injured. The bomber struck when a large number of Shias had gathered at the hospital to protest against the killing of a Shia banker, who was shot by unidentified gunmen.
Last year, in a similar attack on Pakhtun Shias, a suicide car bombing at a crowded market in the Kuccha Pakka area on September 18, 2009 had killed 40 people and injured 60 others.
Burqa-clad bombers follow the tradition of their leader, Mullah Abdul Aziz of Islamabad’s Lal Majsid
Two burqa-clad suicide bombers struck a food distribution camp for people displaced by anti-militancy operations in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 38 people and injuring about 65 others.
Both suicide bombers were clad in burqas, Geo News reported. The head and legs of the bombers and pieces of the burqas worn by them were found by investigators, the channel said.
Lashkar-e-Jhangi (an off shoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba, also known as the Punjabi Taliban) claims responsibility
The bombers struck minutes apart in the camp, a registration centre for people fleeing Taliban violence and army operations close to the Afghan border.
“The toll in the two suicide attacks is 41 dead and more than 60 wounded,” DIG Kohat Abdullah Khan told Geo News.
Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Alami called Geo News correspondent and claimed the responsibility of the attack.
Body parts of the bombers were recovered and most of the victims were members of the Mani Khel and Baramad Khel tribes who had gathered for registration after fleeing fighting in their home district of Orakzai, sources said.
The first bomber detonated his explosives while displaced people gathered to register and receive relief items. A few minutes later the second bomber blew himself up in the middle of the gathering crowd.
Death-toll reaches 45.
At least 45 people were killed and 70 injured in twin bomb blasts at a camp for displaced people in the city of Kohat, northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, local police reported. The camp was inhabited by numerous Pakistani refugees who fled from a military operation in border areas. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant organization took responsibility for the blasts.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/04/17/6555863.html
Note by Ali Abbas Inayatullah from facebook:
Pakistan’s “civil society” elites who marched in a faux movement with Taliban apologists, sympathizers and apologists and strenghtened the supporters of these Islamofacist murderers remain largely silent on the continual massacre of Pakistani Shia muslims. Most of them are still in Taliban apologist mode and portray them as “anti-imperialists” who provide succour to the conspiracy-theory laden and reactionary mindsets of these elites. Similarly, their equally deluded counterparts in North America and Europe continue to portray the Burqa as an essential human right. They are both oblivious to the suffering of the countless Shias who have lost thousands of their near and dear ones to these Islamofacist Salafi murderers. Instead, they view these lovers of Yazid and Mullah Omar as the new Vietcongs, the neo Sadanistas who should be given extra previleges for wearing the burqa, hiding their identity like cowards and quite literally, getting away with murder!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=225188925487#!/note.php?note_id=411675716773
Other comments at AAI’s facebook thread:
Mahmood Abu Maryam May these murderers burn in hellfire!
7 hours ago · Report
Ali K. Chishti KSA-Iran Wars in Pakistan and the Establishment became part of it. Sad.
6 hours ago · Report
Ali Abbas Inayatullah Ali, the KSA-Iran war theory is another diversion thrown up by our media to deflect attention from the real culprits as it provides a convinient escapegoat for our conscience. For starters, the various Wahabi Jihadi militias have the backing of the establishment. Secondly, how does this “theory” explain the killings of Ahmadis, Christains, Sikhs and Brehlvi Sunnis by the same militias. How does this explain the killing of PPP, ANP, BNP and MQM activists by the same Wahabi militias? Is the killings and lynching of Christains in Pakistan due to an Irish-KSA War! Is the killing of Sikhs by the Taliban (affiliated to the LeJ who have brazenly taken credit for this latest atrocities) part of the Khalistan-KSA proxy war! You get my drift….
I am afraid that these simplistic half-baked theories are just another way of escaping reality in Pakistan. When 4 people get killed due to the instigation of chauvinist establishment parties, the entire media is engulfed with the same mindless debate drivels. Meanwhile, there is a genocide of Pukhtun Shias and the media gives it a cursory glance. There is no Suo Moto actions here.
As for Iran, they have role and its not a good one. Since 2002, the Iranian proxies (who have rarely been able to get any votes as the 15-20% population of Pakistan that is Shia mostly votes for nationalist and secular parties like PPP and MQM) are in a political coalition with Wahabi Islamist groups like Jamaat Islami, whose subsidiaries and affiliates are the Shia killing militias like LeJ, SSP, JM and Taliban. After every attack on the Shias, the Iranian Islamist proxy sellouts peddle the same conspiracy theories about Christains and Jews and conviniently deflect criticism from the real backers of the Taliban. KSA and Iran are in an Islamist coalition here in Pakistan and Shias are getting massacred as a result, as are the Christains, Ahmedis, Sikhs and other religious, sectarian and ethnic minorities.
5 hours ago · Report
Mahmood Abu Maryam There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan, and the mix there also includes the Shia, the Sufi/Barelvi Sunni’s and the Deobandi/Wahhabi’s. When was the last time there were suicide attacks on the Shia anywhere in India?
4 hours ago · Report
Ali K. Chishti In my next-book after the current one which is being launched in June, I am working on the same lines. I had pasted a cheque used by Iranian Secret Service to fund Shia Militants too to carry out attacks in Quetta – which was presented to Iranian Foreign Minister by our Foreign Minister, Abdus Sattar – and there’s more to it ofcourse. There’s more to it. Iran is a country we can-not trust – thats for sure – look at the way they are trying to create religious divides in Syria/ Jordan/ Lebnon and more which is obviously a problem – in Iraq , Iran has sponsored terrorists like Sadr who had killed in the name of sects.
Obviously organizations like, SSP and other’s were promoted by establishment and Saudi Money. Azam Tariq was killed by, whom? Remember, Azam Tariq was allowed to contest elections from Jail in 2002 too.
I have sympathies for Shias as in Karachi I have family members who were Shia’s targeted specifically. The Wahabization of Pakistan should be stopped without a doubt!
I personally think these Shia/Sunni/Sect’s should be not be a problem and we should raise beyond it – I mean who seriously cares? in the rightest minds? about sects but obviously, there’s a serious issue. KSA has historically donated money to
4 hours ago · Report
Ali K. Chishti and I forgot the massacre which is going on in Parachinar – it’s gross although there’s another element in it besides just sectarian but nevertheless.
BTW, more Sunni’s are killed by these butchers called Talibans then anyone else – although, I hate to label the dead on sectarian basis. Humans – be it Jew, Christians, Muslims, Hindus etc – all murders should be condemned.
Thank you Sipah Sahaba / Punjabi Taliban:
UN condemns attack on IDP camp in Kohat
Sunday, 18 Apr, 2010
Pakistani army soldier and police officers stand at the site of suicide bombing in Kacha Puka area near Kohat.—AP
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations on Saturday strongly condemned twin suicide bombings against Pakistan’s internally displaced people in Kohat.
In a statement, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan Martin Mogwanja voiced his condemnation and said that attack hits Pakistan’s most vulnerable people who have already suffered because of the ongoing fighting in the tribal areas.
The UN said it was temporarily suspending work helping displaced people in Kohat and neighboring Hangu as a result of the attack.
The attack took place on Saturday at the Sherkot registration point in Kohat when two suicide bombers dressed in burqas struck a crowd of displaced people collecting aid handouts, killing atleast 41 people.
At least 210,000 people have been displaced from the tribal districts of Orakzai and Kurram, most of whom have registered in Kohat and Hangu towns.—DawnNews/AP
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/12-un+condemns+attack+on+idp+camp+in+kohat–bi-03
Targeting IDPs?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The two explosions at a camp in Kohat that claimed 40 lives are hard to explain. Were militants targeting those who had fled the war zone in Orakzai Agency? Were the blasts accidental? Or is there more that we do not yet know? What is beyond doubt is that the twin explosions have created a further sense of terror among people already traumatised by all that they have suffered. They are also a reminder that militancy, in all the various forms it has acquired in our country, lives on and still has the capacity to devastate lives. Those behind such blasts have clearly not been vanquished. Indeed the two latest attacks suggest they may now be after targets of a slightly different nature. The IDPs who have been hit had no protection of any kind. They were helpless and hapless, already the victims of a long conflict that has gone on far too long and claimed far too many lives. The men, women and children living in tents lacked any form of protection. Attacking them in this manner then seems to be a particularly dastardly act – one that only the worst cowards and their ilk can be capable of.
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234832
@Abdul Nishapuri
Further comments from Ali Abbas Inayatullah’s facebook thread:
Ali Arqam Durrani U both have Valid points which do not contradict in a broader sense. These militant elements are product of our security establishment and their vested interests in the region. When they started utilizing the religious elements for the cause, they got support from JI and Deobandi elements but not from the mojrity sect of Sunni Barelvis and Shiaas. As we can see JUP had support in Karachi etc. and JUP had a role in Before PNA and post PNA religious movements but they never have a militant wing. Shiaas as Ali Abbas stated have always supported Secular forces like PPP and MQM.
The problem came when the militants elements have penetrated through their mother organizations, It starte as IJT have brought arms to Universities and Mullahs and their disciples have brought it to the mosques and Madressas.
The first ones have started capturing the campuses and the second ones have started it with mosques. Mosques from the other sects were captured by force. (Continued)
12 hours ago · Report
Ali Arqam Durrani @Ali Abbas Inayatullah
These elements have a long history of working relationship with each other…
When progressive leftists in revolutions of Afghanistan and Iran faced betrayal and
Pak-SA-Iran nexus have served together under the same planners in Afghanistan. There was no such conflict. Together the religio political elements raised against the Ahmedis and paved way to the amendment…
Where the conflict come from…?
When the militants elements trained in Afghan war returned, the Zia era has done their work of broadening religious frictions, the militant elements added violance to the conflicts…Especially in the land of Punjab, the motherland and the most fertile territory for major religious sectarian outfits, these religious frictions were exploited for vested political interests. The political families and Gaddi Nasheens who have influence there on the common man were challenged through these outfits. These sectarian kingpin were killed to bring them support from the peoples…
The fierce war erupted extended to other parts of the country and mosques and Imam Bargahs were targeted…
Here Comes the Taliban rule….the exclusive hardcore Pakistani Deobandi affiliants. Welcomed and supported with recruits by the Madressahs.
Allies from the past came in collusion, Taliban and Iran have grown conflicts fueled by the Punjabi recruits and Salafist Alqaeda trainers. Here Newspapers like Zarb E Momin have started posting pics of the Iranian Arms, (possibly supplied during the War with russian backed Afghan forces) with “Khomeni Rahber Tags” on it, widely propagated and brought it to the minds that Iran is in a conflict with Taliban.
Here professionals, Corporate figures and Doctors were killed for their Shiates sounding surnames.(continued)
11 hours ago via Facebook Mobile · Report
Ali K. Chishti BTW, It’s absolutely wrong about using term’s like Punjabi Taliban’s versus Shia Pashtuns? I mean then what would you say about Pashtuns who are killing Pashtun’s in Parachinar?
Basically, you Sir is an and I am using a strong lingo – you huge behind secularism but in reality you youself is a sectarian extremists and nothing more.
3 hours ago · Report
Ali Abbas Inayatullah @Ali Chishti: Actually, no one is refuting the fact that the Taliban are killing not just Shias but other groups as well. Actually, you are contradicting your own earlier assertion when you termed the butchering of Shias by State sponsored Jihadis as
“KSA-Iran Wars in Pakistan and the Establishment became part of it. Sad.”
so make up your mind, what is it?
My comments are absolutely clear on this, in that, the Taliban related groups have not only killed Shias but other groups that include a spectrum of nearly all Pakistanis who don’t agree with their sick views!
Also, the terminology used by Abdul Nishapuri, Punjabi Taliban, is based on the context that Taliban apologists like Imran Khan often term them as “Pushtun nationalists” which is completely at odds with the reality that Pushtoon nationalists like the ANP and the Pushtun Shias in Parachinar have suffered the most at the hands of the transnational Taliban, who also have thousands of recruits from Punjab based Jihadi groups. These are facts and one is free to be an Ostrich and deny them; its a common affliction amongst our bourgeoise “intelligensia”. Its clear that you have neither understood the article or the following comments and that anyone who is highlighting the brutal massacre of Shia muslims is a “sectarian extremist”. Disappointing…
about an hour ago · Report
Ali Abbas Inayatullah “I had pasted a cheque used by Iranian Secret Service to fund Shia Militants too to carry out attacks in Quetta – which was presented to Iranian Foreign Minister by our Foreign Minister, Abdus Sattar” . Are you serious when you consider this as evidence. Intelligence agencies using cheques to fund their groups ! Lol
I think the mullah regime in Iran has played a horrible role but the one thing they have not done is provide any proper support to Shia militias. One Shia militia, Sipah Mohammed, had briefly emerged in Thokar Niaz Beg, in the mid 1990’s. They killed some prominent Sipah Sahaba leaders and activists. However, the State crushed them and by 1997, their main leaders, Yazdani was killed and Raza Naqvi, had fled to Iran. As per some analysis, Iran had actually used its Islamist proxy, the TJP, to sellout the Sipah Mohammed, which was funded locally and included Sunnis as well as Shias.
about an hour ago · Report
Ali Abbas Inayatullah @Ali Arqam, much of what you say is very relevant. However, even before Khomeini returned to Iran, the Shias were being targetted in Pakistan and Ali Basti was attacked in 1977 with the advent of Zia. It was Zia who infused sectarianism within the public polity and your point of the takeover of Sunni mosques by Wahabis and their support from the State is very relevant and seldom analyzed. There is some vicious propaganda against Shias, just as there is against Christains, Jews, Sufis, Ahmadis and Hindus, in these Wahabi mosques; there is plenty of hate literature that is published to create a situation where the public is either indifferent or actually supports the murder of Shias in Pakistan.
However, I have a problem when this is referred to as a “sectarian war”. That implies a symmetry which is clearly not there and it also deflect attention from the core issue, the core cause why Shias and other religious and ethnic minorities are being killed in Pakistan and that is the State support for Jihadi groups and its reliance on them for fulfilling external and interal policy goals.
about an hour ago · Report
Abdul Nishapuri Minorities (ethnic and religious) are usually stereotyped (by the dominant group in a country) as proxies of other nations.
The VHP terms Muslim activists in India as Pakistanis, Saddam Hussain used to call Iraqi Shias as Iranians, BNP terms British Muslims as foreigners (Pakistanis, Arabs etc).
It is therefore understandable that Sipah-e-Sahaba (and their apologists) consider Shias of Pakistan as Iranian proxies.
Is it really very hard to see that religious minorities in Pakistan (Shias in particular, but also Ahmadis, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus etc) remain constantly subject to terrorist activities of the Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba and their affiliate jihadi and sectarian organisations?
How is our response to such acts of terror in Pakistan different from, for example, VHP in India or BNP in the UK?
A thought provoking comment from All Things Pakistan:
Sidhas:
You need to come out and identify who is behind it. I have said many a times that the problem lies with Wahabhi religion and its unbridled influence on muslim elites and masses. Not all Wahabhis are inhumane but there is a very obvious and evident streak within this group that has established itself in Pakistan and alligned itself with Deobandis and Islamic Fundamentalist.
We need serious research on this topic. The loss of religious authority among Sunni Muslims. The division between Barelvi and Deobandis. Alliance and mutation of Deobandis because of Wahabhis and evident rift between pakistani deobandis and indian deobandis.
Until you identify who is behind these senseless attacks nothing will happen.
http://pakistaniat.com/2010/04/17/kohat-idp-blast/comment-page-2/#comments
These burqa clad beasts are the followers of cursed Mullah Abdul Aziz of the Lal Masjid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QMUlQm1GyA&feature=related
Editorial: Tragedy in Kohat
Kohat was struck with tragedy on Saturday as two suicide bombers attacked an IDP camp as a group of internally displaced persons (IDP) were waiting to get themselves registered and receive aid handouts. More than 40 people were killed, including a journalist, and dozens more injured. After the first suicide attack, a large crowd gathered at the site of the blast and within minutes the second blast took place. The bombers were clad in burqas. At least 210,000 people have been displaced from the tribal districts of Orakzai and Kurram. Most of them have registered in Kohat and Hangu. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s Al-Aalmi group, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombings. Being a sectarian organisation, Al-Aalmi has cited the presence of Shias at the IDP camp as the reason for the attack. After the sectarian attack in Quetta on Friday and a day after in Kohat, it seems as if the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and its offshoots are hell bent on spreading sectarian terror all over the country. Why the government has not taken any action against these sectarian outfits is beyond comprehension. Pakistan already has a lot on its hands what with the Taliban and other terrorist outfits. The resurgence of sectarian terrorism, which flourished under the Zia regime, is something to worry about. The failure to quell sectarianism is a failure of political will.
The government has to take strict measures against terror groups to save the country from going up in flames. The government’s inconsistency in cracking down on militant outfits, especially the banned organisations, shows that there is a lack of requisite political will in curbing extremism. The extremists’ hate literature and cassettes are easily available across the country and obviously violate the law of the land, but seldom invite sanctions. The government has to reconsider its policy and stop treating these militant outfits with kid gloves, and launch a heavy crackdown born of a well thought out strategy. The ease with which the terrorists have recently operated exposes the inefficiency of the security agencies. Now that such attacks have targeted not only the security forces and government officials but citizens as well in the length and breadth of the country, this has certainly thrown up a bigger challenge to the security agencies. No doubt ensuring complete security against suicide attacks is difficult because of the nature of these attacks and the level of determination of a suicide bomber, but pre-emptive measures have to be taken.
Recent terrorist attacks have shown that large gatherings are at risk and present an easy target. To attack an IDP camp is atrocious but to expect any kind of sensitivity from the terrorists is unthinkable. They are out to create panic and kill whosoever they can. Precautionary measures have to be taken by the public as well. When one blast occurs, instead of rushing to the site of the blast, the public must wait for some time before going there as there is a great danger of another blast to inflict more damage. The media has to exercise caution as well. Journalists reporting in conflict areas should be trained properly and should report from a distance when an attack takes place. Media organisations should provide life insurance for their employees who are working in sensitive areas. Having said that, the security agencies and the government must take stringent measures against all militant outfits. It is time to act.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\19\story_19-4-2010_pg3_1
Article by Adil Najam: (It is interesting to note how Mr Najam takes extra care not to mention the sectarian dimension of this act of terror and its ownership by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi /Sipah-e-Sahaba.)
How Inhuman Can a Fanatic Be? Burqa-clad Bomber Murders 40+ in IDP Camp
Just how inhuman can the murderous zeal of fanatics be?
Here are the essential facts: Two suicide killers, hiding behind burqas, murdered more than 40 people, and injured another 60+, in two explosions minutes apart, at an IDP (internally displaced peoples) refugee camp at Katcha Pakka near Kohat, as they gathered to register for relief goods and as food was being distributed to them.
Yes, you read it right.
They murdered people who have already been made homeless. They killed people gathered to collect food and relief goods. They killed deliberately. They murdered on purpose. This was not an accident or bad planning. They had planned to kill. They had wanted to murder. They planned to kill women and children and innocent civilians.
That is exactly what they wanted to do. That is exactly what they did.
This is neither unique as an incident nor unique in its brutality and inhumanity.
Yesterday, it was a hospital – yes, hospital – that was attacked in Quetta where Muslims were mourning the death of a murdered Shia leader.
The butchers were butchering. Deliberately. Purposefully. Inhumanly.
The blood boils, eyes swell up and humanity cries whenever an innocent soul is killed. No matter why. No matter by whom. No matter how. But when the murder is so callous, so planned, so deliberate, so inhuman, the heart skips a beat, the mind is baffled, and something dies within each one of us. There is nothing more left to say.
What can one say that has not been said before. One seethes in ones anger. One sends out a silent prayer. One wipes off the tears. And one stares into the darkness. Trying desperately, trying senselessly, trying uselessly, to understand why anyone could do such a thing. How anyone could do such a thing.
One stares into the darkness. Knowing full well that no darkness known to man could be darker than the darkness that breeds this murder.
http://pakistaniat.com/2010/04/17/kohat-idp-blast/
@Akhtar
Akhtar, you are very correct. Most of the analysis misses out on the most important aspects.
@Sarah Khan
Sarah,
A very pertainent observation. Civil society just cannot bring itself to acknowledge that as recently as April 2009, they were marching hand in hand with these monsters, for a dubious cause and against an elected govt.
Violence whether done on any rationale including religious ethnicity is unjustifiable. The need after whatever Pakistan has faced in the last decade is to promote inter-religious harmony and tolerance among the people. We must acknowledge and entertain people with other faiths.
The blast at IDP camp is claimed by a sectarian outfit who has now aligned with the Taliban, the target were the homeless people who belonged to the Shia sect, the Taliban who claim to represent Islam are killing Muslims on sectarian ground and one can anticipate a counter attack Shia hardliners thus the ultimate plan seems to create a sectarian divide in a nation where all sects have lived in harmony. We need to track down the perpetrators and eliminate all such elements that kill civilians in the name of Islam.
The killing of sick patients in a hospital reflects the amount of respect these militants have for human life, yet even after all such heinous acts we can find someone who wants to sit down and chit-chat with the Taliban! These elements cannot be graced with an audience and any such attempt is likely to fail for any who is doubtful should see the fallout of Sawat peace accord or the talks with Lal-Masjid clerics
Helping the Orakzai IDPs
By Farhat Taj
May 02, 2010
The writer is currently writing a book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban ([email protected])
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Two suicide bombings at a registration centre for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kacha Pakha area of Kohat killed 41 people on April 17. The IDPs were standing in a queue at the centre when the first suicide bomber blew himself up.
A second suicide bomber struck minutes later when people rushed to the spot to help the injured. Reportedly, a militant organisation, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Alami, claimed responsibility for the attacks and it seems the motive for the attack was sectarian in nature. Most IDPs at this particular camp happen to be from the Manikhel and Bar Mohammadkhel tribes which are Shia and from Orakzai.
Furthermore, Kacha Pakha, a largely Shia area in Kohat, was hit by a terrorist attack for the second time in recent months. In September 2009 a suicide bombing killed 33 people and the same group claimed responsibility for the attack. An IDP, Rafil Hussain, who was injured in the latest attack, had lost his brother in the attack last year. The Shia tribes of Orakzai are being targeted because they are fully supporting the ongoing army operation against the Taliban.
As proof of this, one can see banners in support of the Pakistan Army in the areas of the agency dominated by these two tribes. Meanwhile, residents of Kacha Pakha and the nearby villages continue to receive threats from the Taliban. Schools, banks and post offices have received threatening letters and at least one has been closed down as has the registration centre since the attacks. Moreover, the United Nations has suspended humanitarian work for IDPs in Kohat and in neighbouring Hangu.
This has made matters even worse for the IDPs who are in any case living a miserable existence, fearful of another attack by the Taliban. The IDPs have said that the government and the UN should immediately resume the registration process so that they can get the required aid and relief. They have also requested the army chief for financial aid for those affected by the blast because so far none has been forthcoming. This is ironic given that they have staunchly supported the army action against the Taliban.
Some IDPs have also asked for assistance from funds set aside for the Fata Development Programme for Livelihood Development. In the case of a suicide attack in a nearby village of Lakki Marwat, those affected had been given assistance from these funds and the IDPs of Orakzai in Kohat want similar treatment. The government and the military need to provide security to the IDPs as many are feeling that they were targeted because they have spoken out against the Taliban.
Local support is essential for military operations against the Taliban but unfortunately whenever such support is forthcoming those who are behind it are ruthlessly targeted and hunted down by the militants. This happened initially in Swat as well until the force of public opinion compelled the military to launch an operation to oust the Taliban from the valley. Let’s hope that things do not come to this in the case of Orakzai or other parts of Fata.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/10246/helping-the-orakzai-idps/
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