Twin Blasts in Rawalpindi leaves 27 dead, 70 injured

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1658620,00.html

Ahsan Ahsan, the owner of a CNG fueling station that lies across the street from the site of the first explosion, says he arrived at work just a half hour after a suicide bomber stepped onto a government bus ferrying Pakistan defense department employees to work. The force of the bomb was enough to sever electrical lines, disrupt phone services and shatter the mirrored plate-glass doors of Ahsan's office. His driveway was littered with "pieces of bodies," he says, but fortunately the explosion and subsequent fire did not ignite the wall of gas canisters he stores on the premises. "It was very dangerous. Thanks be to God that the bus was far enough away."

At that time of the morning the bus, which follows a regular route every day, was only partially filled. Approximately a dozen defense department employees were already on board and another dozen were waiting to get on. It was then that the suicide bomber struck, according to military spokesman Major General Wahid Prashad. The bomber pushed his way onto the bus, detonating himself and blowing the roof off the vehicle.

i dont know much about pakistani electoral parties but is it fair to assume as i do in post 138 that if free and fair elections are held an alliance between nawaz sharif's PML and the MMA + other independent/religious parties could form a majority?

personally i would love it if a noble sayyid became head of state of pakistan whether he was pakistani or not.

btw i think most pakistanis --i.e. the silent religious majority---would not mind having an arab head of state if he was pious and pro-islamic and especially if he was a Sayyid since of all Muslim peoples, with the possible exception of Moroccans, we are the most devoted to the Prophet and his blessed Household. This goes for both Sunni and Shias.

Most chowkies will not agree since most of us belong to the richest 5-10% of pakis who do NOT share the islamic outlook of the remaining 90%. chowk gives a skewed picture of pakistan. the truth is mention islam and most pakis will become emotional and ready to give their lives!

#132,#135

I too must put in my do-paise on Reza Aslans book. I liked it a lot as well, specially the part where he deals with pre-islamic monotheistic thought in Arabia. I have heard people complain though that his treatment of the Shia-Sunni schism is shia biased.

His treatment of Islam in India is not so detailed though. I pointed out some factual inaccuracies in his section on India (He thought that the "Bengal Army" in 1857 was predominantly Bengali!) and he was nice enough to reply.

if NS comes into power again he will make an alliance with the MMA and the Barelvi majority (who mostly are pro-NS due to being his coreligionists) and the quid-pro-quo they will extract for their support will be the implementation of Shariat in reality and not just in name. NS may even get himself elected Amir al Mu'mineen.

..if BB comes into power and tries to crush the islamic movement under increasing US pressure I think their could well be a public uprising against her--supported tacitly by the army which is also increasingly islamicised--and she could fall to an islamic coup.

I only found out about the blasts in Pakistan from this thread! Let me say straight away that any loss of innocent life is sad whoever is the victim.

Now here are my two paisas worth of comments on other points made in this thread:

1. To brothers echoboom, urstruly, zeemax and others--it is not befitting for a Muslim to call others names (I know I have done it myself...) and it detracts from the otherwise
powerful messages you bring. If some sick person insults the Beloved Prophet--as hamidm does routinely--s/he will face the wrath of Allah in the Next World. Such a person is surely accursed by Allah and we don't need to call him or her 'kanjar' or 'dalla' or anything else like that. We should pray that Allah opens his heart to the truth of Islam instead. Remember, our Prophet came to perfect character and that was the hallmark of all the great Muslims we idolise from the Sahaba, Taba'een, Taba Taba'een, Salaf as-Saliheen, the awliya Allah al Kamileen and the Sufiya e Karaam and Aaima e Ahle Bayt o Deen...

2. Islam does not allow vigilantism and that is accepted by all schools of thought.

3. If it is true that 1000 innocent children died of white phosphorus in the lal masjid operation then I am ashamed of my previous support of it and take my words back.

4. As for the blasts today I think that any of the CIA, RAW or al-Qaeda terrorists or their allies could have done it although I personally think that it was probably the CIA who ordered it and who paid some mercenaries to carry it out since it is not in USA strategic interestst to have a Pakistan which is Islamic or independent in the real sense o f the word. i.e. not a US lackey-state.

5. Following on this implies that only a true Islamic government would be able to be truly independent as all the other possible leaders are all part of the corrupt, westoxified, feudal-army-elite who kowtow to the USA.

6. The pakistani awaam is now generally anti-US and anti-anyone who is seen as a US lackey and will support those who take an anti-US stance.

7. Pakistan is an increasingly Islamic consciouss society--after seeing for 60 years the failures of the various isms. People are now turning to Islam for an answer.
They--the majority of pakistanis--would support an islamic government.
8. Whether people like abu sufwaan like it or not, though most pakistanis ARE religioous and want Shariah the VAST majority of Pakistanis belong to the Hanafi-Barelvi school and are Sufi-orientated. This means that the Islamist parties--which are almost all of the Wahabi-Deobandi persuasion are not trusted. The Shia too do not trust these major islamist parties. (Though their ARE Barelvis in the MMA they are a minority--the only major figure was the late Mawlana Noorani rahmatullah alayhi). However the increased success and political influence of the Wahabis has also had the positive effect of politicising the Barelvi-Sufi majority.

9. Once this latent moderate Muslim majority too can be harnessed to support an islamic party which represents their interests then an islamic revolution in pakistan will become inevitable...

10. So IF either a moderate Deobandi leader who is respected by Sunni and Deos alike or a Barelvi leader who is also respected by Deos can emerge on the political scene I think that people will put aside their minor differences and such a person could play the same role Khomeini played in Iran.
Actually amongst practising Muslims in the diaspora one is seeing such a rapproachment between moderate Deobandis and Ahle Sunnah Barelvis. The other person who could get all religious persuasions behind him would be someone who was from the Ahle Bayt and involved in politics.


11. In short I think whatever happens in the next few months mushy will go one way or another and I think pakistan is going towards some sort of islamic rule either via some democratic process or via a revolution a la Iran.

And who made up that rule, the moochers, who would have nothing to hold onto were there no extremes? LOL

(zee and hamidm are a great duo. They bring out the best in each other).

Reza Aslan should write those books in Islamic countries. I love the way all these 'great interpreters' arise in safe places.

lol...the first rule is thou shall not answer extremism with extremism...and zee is already a memeber since he coined the name...i will get aunty hamidm to join too ! viva le revolution!

BTW do you think maybe zee and hamidm both act up around each other? do you think that maybe without provocation they could both find a place under the same large tent?

Reza aslan is not only an attractive chic geek with perfect teeth and cute dimples he wrote a great book too...i sent him an i love you letter ...he was sweet enough to write back ...such impeccable manners ...i bet you he wears deo too.

kaal :( pakistanis can be hindus too ...i merely said the MQM is not made of them. MQM was undispiutably created by the army (all roads lead to Mecca).

#117 Posted by bulleya on September 4, 2007 12:53:04 pm


....for some reason, various pakistanis get overly excited and want to support the usa in all its wars.


holy mother mary on a 3 week old croissant...

capt clueless!!..is this the same captain clueless who, wearing a t-shirt with a paki flag, was practically waving his pom-poms while cheering on the US invasion of afghanistan...is this the same capt clueless who told us he wanted to quit his "IT" job and join the invasion?

maybe someone can find capt clueless' posts right after 9/11 to see how enthusiastic he was about joining the US invasion..he was chomping at the bit to lead the US armed forces into afghanistan..

"without the extremes there can be no middle ......"

That is so right. To be in the middle is to be nowhere. It is to mooch off other people's hard work and courage.

Now, someone is going to eat my head off. :)

Re: # 128

clifton,

.... good for you! .... most of my friends and family are right there with you - smack dab in the middle ..... unfortunately i cannot accept your offer as somone has to hold on to the extreme position to counterbalance zeemax's looney brigades ....... you see, without the extremes there can be no middle ......

besides, i have a reputation to live up to ..... you won't believe this, but just the other day while i was giving my daughter a copy of reza aslan's "there is no god, but god", mrs hamidm started yelling at me for corrupting young minds and turning them against her favourite god ...... "wait a minute!", i said ... "this book is for al-lah and not against him .... look, the title is a translation of the kalima" ...... needless to say, she didn't believe me and suspects i had another book hidden under the cover ....... if i started giving away free korans nobody would want them ........ maybe i should ...

tahmad saab, it is not about wishful thinking...Paki awaam is clearly pissed off at the army...we can argue it should be mad at dictator only..hating dictator would not be a big deal as dictator can be replaced. awaam is seeing army as running away from the core issues it was believed to guard and instead becoming proxy for the americans to fight the Talibans. as much as you and many other chowkies consider taliban evil, majority of Pakistanis have a different view about them. anyone fighting against taliban, tribals and AQ is considered by them enemy of Islam and the country.
even a small percentage of pakistanis hating the army is a new phenonmenon. I don't know what it means in teh short run or long run...but it is certainly not a laughing matter.

cliffs, gosh, did I write that?!! I don't think any pakistani would wish that fate even on his or her worst enemy, let alone a fellow pakistani! LOL

Seriously, I probably messed up somewhere. I meant that mohajirs might be realtively more likely to be accused of being RAW agents than are Pakistanis of other ethnicities.

That's my guess. If it is wrong, I am most ready to change my opinion.

#124, very simple, Bombings in Pakistani cities is tied to the US war on terror, who rules in Pakistan is tied to the US war on terror, who has the motive in all this: the US elite, who pushes the buttons that cause the Mullah to rattle and shake: the US elite; will India try to butt into US affairs....end of story

BTW, Long live the Masadi, HP friendship for social justice!

hamid sahab ...my my what grim choices stand before me. I reject both existing camps since i have unshakable belief in both God and also deodrant ...infact I am starting my own camp. Its called liberal fundamentalist ( name courtesy zeemax ;))...you are welcome to eschew your past sins and join - we hand out a welcome package with the manifesto...it contains toothpaste, deo, razors, toilet paper and many other party favourites. All yours for the price of one genuine Allah o Akbar. If you can find a better deal in the faith circuit then we'll gladly refund you your foreskin.

kaal ...where did you get the idea that MQM were accused of being hindu's???? asides from on TFT';s "nuggets from the urdu press" noone has ever heard that before.