SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Friday’s attack was the first on a Bohra mosque in Karachi since an incident three years ago, two people lost their life in explosion. Attack on Bohra community’s mosque is not something surprising as most of the minorities in Pakistan are already under attack. Factions of the Pakistani Taliban, seeking to topple the government and establish strict Islamic rule in the nuclear-armed nation, have claimed attacks on minority Shi’ites in the past few weeks, but attacks on the Bohra community are rare. The attack on the Bohra community mosque is a stark reminder of the cost we have to pay for the struggle against extremism. The fact that a counter-attack was expected is no consolation to the grieving relatives of the victims, nor should it be presented as such. The state should be doing all it can to mitigate the fallout of their actions, especially since the militants have clearly displayed their mode of reprisal; attacks on minorities. In 2015 alone, a church and three imambargahs have been bombed, while the second half of the previous year saw attacks on Hindus, Ahmedis and Sikhs.
One might accept that Government lack resources to anticipate such attacks because Pakistan is a large country and number of worship places are huge and with little sources and poor manpower, every worshipping place cannot be protected but what Government can do is that it can vehemently launch a campaign to get rid of handful terrorists. But unfortunately the government has taken no special precautions such as the ones it took to secure schools after the APS attack. Much more so than this, the government’s failure to contain and pre-empt the fallout of such sectarian violence is a cause for serious concern; one that if not addressed, can lead to greater instability.
After Operation Zarb.e.Azb Government should have anticipated about reaction from Terrorists. After Zarb.e.Azb militants have targeted Imambargahs, Churches and mosques. Thus it seems that now militants lack capacity to attack hard targets but their focus is soft targets like places of worships. What government can do is that if it cannot provide security to all the worship places it can at least train people of different sects and minorities to protect their worship places.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
