By Gulzar Ahmed Khan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A day after 48 worshippers were killed by a suicide bomber at a mosque, many Pakistanis felt shocked at an attack during one of Islam’s holiest festivals.
Others seemed weary and resigned to militant violence.
The attack at Charsadda in North West Frontier Province during the Eid festival comes weeks before a national election.
For many, it appeared to be another despairing notch up in the violence that has surged since a military assault in July on the Red Mosque, a militant stronghold in Islamabad.
More than 800 people have been killed in the ensuing violence, about half of them in the suicide bombings.
“We are feeling so insecure in our own country,” said Qadir Khan, a tailor sipping tea with a friend at a roadside cafe in Peshawar, the capital of the frontier province, where the streets were mostly empty on the second day of Eid.
Security officials said they have arrested a suspect and were looking for a second accomplice, but police had few leads, adding to fears of future attacks.
The bomber, sitting in a middle row among the worshippers, blew himself up at the mosque where around 1,200 people were offering Eid prayers. Among those inside was Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, a political ally of President Pervez Musharraf. Sherpao survived.
“There is so much uncertainity now that whenever I go out, I’m not sure if I’ll ever return home safe and sound,” said Khan.
It is righ now the middle of Eid, when many Pakistanis enjoy family get-togethers.
Rather like Christmas holidays, it is when many families enjoy reunions and long meals rather than dwelling on disaster.
Dozen of private channels yesterday hardly mentioned the attack, broadcasting dramas and soap operas. Political talk shows focused on the upcoming elections rather than the attack.
It was only in Charsadda that daily life was disrupted as hundreds of people turned out to offer prayers at victims’ graves.
“It is regrettable but life goes on,” said Mohammad Azhar, a retired government official, buying bread from a bakery in a congested neighbourhood in southern Karachi city.
“We have so many suicide bombings in recent months that people have become a kind of indifferent to such incidents.”
But for some Pakistanis, the attack on Eid meant it was not just “another” attack.
“It was really shocking to hear that it was carried out during Eid. This has never happened before,” said Noor Elahi, a cleric standing by a mosque in the eastern city of Lahore.
“According to Islam, whoever kills anyone in a mosque is not a Muslim. All clerics should come forward to discourage suicide bombing and they should issue decrees against this kind of terrorism.”
Musharraf, who only a week ago said the government had “broken the back” of militancy, condemned the attack, saying he would remain undeterred by such incidents and would continue to fight terrorism and extremism.
Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, cited growing militancy as a main reason behind his imposition of emergency rule on November 3. He lifted the emergency on December 15.
“No Muslim could even think of carrying out attacks on mosques, and not on Eid-ul-Adha. It is so distressing and deplorable,” said Akhtar Ali, a driver in Karachi.
“If they were to target the minister, why did they have to attack a mosque or carry out suicide bombings in public places?”–Reuters