The Marriott Bombing: ‘Pakistan’s 9/11’?

Once upon a time it was Called Holiday Inn and it has remained my favourite eating spot for long. I held a number of seminars in the Hall where the Thai cafe now was. Then I also installed the non chemical water treatment sytems on their air conditioning system. Recently, a new cafereria Dum Pukht had opened with traditional Mughal Food. Yesterday, after the evening Mass I debated whether to go there or not. Finally I decided to stay at home and the kids left for Islamabad.

My family had barely turned the corner at 5 minutes distance when the blast took place. Thank God they were outside the range.

The spot of the explosion is so familiar. I always stopped there for a moment to pat two Labradors (golden) called Dodo and Lucy. They were sniffers and always recognised me and my daughter. Very playful indeed!

I also remember the big moustached security guard who used to hold their leash. An ex-soldier, and a veteran of 1971 and an ex-prisoner of war.

God knows how many more that I knew are no more. The tall concierge dressed in red, the Valet drivers, page boys and the scanning machine staff.

I remember that young girl at the entrance next to the Chinese Restaurant Dynasty. She must have been right next to where the big crater is now. She always had that typical greeting smile across her face. I am sure she died with it.

The gentleman waiving with a small child from the fourth floor has turned out to be the ambassodor of Czech Republic. He burnt to death.

Rescue services for high rise bulidings were inadequate. No helicopters came on the roof top. Though the rescue services and Edhi were on the dot, they lacked the expertise to handle a disaster of such propotions.

The explosion has the tell tale signatures of the FIA building in Lahore and is most likely to be the work of a home grown organisation. This organisation is now known for double crossing

Beena,
We have actually read all this before and I don't see the point of this article at all unless you intend to say based on some TV anchor's evidence that they want to be part of Pakistan.

This is funny. Aren't the Taliban their kin? Don't these people from Bajour know who the Taliban are? Why these people never cooperated with the authorities before?

They are displaced now but I seriously doubt that they want to be part of Pakistan. They would rather live the way they have lived for centuries. As soon as things settle down they will go back and start supporting the same taliban.

So help them but please don't buy in and sell this right wing stories from the Pakistani media that is trying to blame their plight on Pakistan and is not even ready to call taliban criminals.

The friends of fundamentalists are trying to sell us fantasy. Find out what the truth is and then write about it. You are a recognized columnists/ public Intellectual and you don't need to write half baked articles.

Can we finally wake up now?

gwynne dyer is an interesting writer, whom i read quite a bit......he is an expert on military affairs:

"The senior officers who now command the US armed forces should know that this is not just wrong but hugely counter-productive. They were all taught in staff college that the best way to counter terrorism is by police work, intelligence gathering, and defensive security measures. Using military force just plays into the terrorists' hands. Indeed, it's the reaction that the terrorists are usually hoping for.

As part of their military education, American generals have even read the various memoirs, manuals and manifestos in which leading practitioners of "urban guerilla warfare" and international terrorism laid down their strategies -- and they almost always wanted to get the other side's army involved in the fight against them. Senior US officers know that, and yet with a few brave exceptions who resigned, they have swallowed their professional pride and gone along with the Bush administration's unthinking belligerence." (GD)

...i think people are hugely underestimating al-qaeda and taliban etc.......these guys are not simply a bunch of ideological nutcases who are out to indoctrinate hamidm......

they are seasoned guirella warriors and terrorists, who are working through a well-organized plan.....which seems to be working......i.e. get as many armies involved in this war as possible.....resulting in as many civilian casualities as possible....and then utilize that mayhem and the opposition to the govts. of the population, to achieve certain political and military goals......

the only hope now is that obama will get elected and (setting aside his rhetoric on afghanistan) will have a much better world-view than bush (and mccain and republicans) and will be able to unwind the mistakes made by bush......

i think the recent economic crises has taken the wind, totally, out of bush....it has done, what the defeat in iraq was unable to do......

Pakistan let in the Taliban and AlQaida by not reinforcing their control over the border areas as the terrorists were chased out. The Taliban and AlQaida are naturally violent organizations. Now the primary targets of terrorists are clamping down on them, such as the US and UK. This cuts off the 'food supply' for their agression. When you let a wild animal in your house and the food supply runs out then the animal looks to the home owner as food.
I think this fight is beyond Pakistans capacity to handle as it is being hit on all sides and the military is not trained or willing to take on a terroist group as lethal as the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ignorant barbarian Pakistani Taliban.A dog doesn't bark in Islamabad without prior authorization from the ISI.
The death of so many people is immensely tragic.I beg to urge Pakistan's new rulers to make a sharp break with the past and join those who are fighting against terrorism. The current phase of terrorism is the result of the process of Islamization begun by Zia-ul Hua (president 1977-1988) and, significantly, continued by all his successors. May all of the victims of this senseless act rest in peace. And I would also like to offer my condolences to the families and friends of the victims.Taliban fanatics are ignorant,they even can't write their names,Pakistani society should get up raise voice aginst these stne age mentality Taliban and Govt should crush them with heavy arm.
Mwaqar

You are either withus or against us? oh the irony!!! LOL!

"They wanted to be a part of Pakistan and to be treated like Pakistanis with enforceable rights"

Ofcourse its all a very sad situation all round. Poor people with no guns living in refugee camps are the ones who are pro-Pakistan. Unfortunately at this point their voices do not count as much as the opposition's.

I agree with HP, generally these poor refugees stories are told to demonise the Pak govt and deflect blame from the taliban.

Beena

I agree with HP view, more importantly people like u need to be objective in your presentation.

Beena,
Oh all the blame comes now....? I have no symapthy for Taliban or any other religious fanatic but why are we so naive????? I mean these Talibans and terrorists and pashtoons and what not were our mujahideen and still are to some degree in the Indian Part of Kashmir. Why does it really matter to undermine them now? Is it because we turned our backs on them and now they have to kick our ass??
This is why I hate people like Zia-ul-haq who brought these people and also the system of government which totally undermines humanity. The most unfortunate thing about the country's situation is that these terrorist can do anything they want at this stage of the game. It is only a matter of time before they are running Pakistan. There is only one way to save Pakistan from all of this. All the people of Pakistan have to rise up and rally against these criminals and despies their acts with a louder voice and action if necessary. Don't let them preach you in mosques, don't let them tead you in prayers and most importantly don't let them tell you that you are not good muslims because that is the trick they use on dumb, senseless young minds.
Marginilization of the Taliban is going to be a difficult task given that the Pakistani government has rarely done any good for the North West Frontier and the inhibitants of that area. Well, lets see what happens. I can sit here and preach but i am sure that won't do any good....Actions are more important than words at this time.

Naeem

One must acknowledge the fact that they (insert your fav title here - taliban, terrorists, CIA, ISI, RAW, Qaeda) can strike at will anywhere they want, and there is no stopping them. One of the reasons the so called Pakistani government cannot stop them is that it lacks legitimacy. The GOP is playing a schizophrenic policy by working against the people of Pakistan in order to receive their salaries from their American masters and at the same tiome claiming that somehow they are Awami democratic government. This is horseshit.

The common sense suggests that:

1. This so called government was "elected" by a staged and manupualted election by a vicious and shameless dictator to lengthen his rule of terror. It is completely another thing that things did not workout this way.

2. Each and everyone of the so called "elected official" was given amnesty by the same dictator from charges of corruption and even murder. No fair court of law in the world would exhonorate in this way. These people are known criminals and most have them played pawns in the deadly games that dictator used to play.

3. Napak fouj is a criminal outfit, which earns its living by torturing, killing, and selling kidnapped Pakistani citizens to countries who torture their POWs and shun every international law. The constitutional entity of Pakistan Armed Forces ceased to exist on October 10, 1998 when the trampled the constitution of Pakistan. Since then it is nothing more than an illegitimate criminal entity and sellouts.

4. Country does not have a functional judiciary. The so called judiciary that exists is only there to safeguard the interest of a corrupt, prowestern, criminal elite. No judge would dare go out in public because of their criminality and their work against the people of Pakistan. Judiciary has failed miserably to safeguard the citizenship rights of a Pakistani.

5. This criminality and illigetimacy of ruling elite has created a power vacuum in the country, which different forces are trying to fill vying to bring this chaos and criminality into order.

PAKISTAN still can survive:

1. Judiciary must be re-instated to the postion of Nov 9, 2007.

2. Constitution of 1973 must be established.

3. An independent election commission must be formed.

4. Elections must be held.

5. The issue of Pakistan's involvement in America's genocidal wars must be debated.

6. Government must adopt a policy based on the Constitional guarantees of 1973 to its citizens.

7. Fouji dogs must be put back into the kennels and given the rabbies shots.

Or the other option is....well you know.

Wrong!!

They do not have the miraculous ability that you ascribe to them.

They are just puny, malicious, hate filled scums of the ghettoes.

After 9/11 these scum bags have not been able to do anything in US.

They only took soft targets like India and Europe.

Now they are going to first clean up their munafiqoon fellows.

All these wetern educated are on the hit list. Remember, the first casuality of Islamists are these English speaking munafiqoons.

The ball is in the court of these munafiqoons- either they destroy these scum bags first or they get destroyed.......

9 Posted by Naeemonline on September

whole last week (may be month) the pure pakistani army was firing on Indian posts to give cover to militants... As usual Pakistan governmenet is the most hypocrite government anywhere in the world. It will try to improve relations with India and internallo the only goal it can set fot itself is to destablize India or create trouble in India. Whether it is through terrorism, or fake currency or whatever, they do it with perfect sincerity. Despite being a small nation with hardly any trouble from other countries they beat USA hands down in their zeal to lie....

In near future you can not change goals of pakistanis and Islamicts in general..., doesn't matter what they say..

What people hetre on chowk do not understand is that if they are capable of ignoring the reason while they understand it, most commoners (those for Sharia, Taliban , Islamic rule plus those who need Kashmir to be separated from India badly) in pakistan can not even understand the reason and so do not know that they are being stupid..

Re: # 10

urstruly,


.... it seems your #1 condition has almost been met (the droopy eyed one should be signing up soon - he is holding out for a better contract) .... are you now willing to accept the results of the election or are you going to hold out until jamaat-i-islami and dr israr win the election ?

ISLAMABAD: Two out of the three remaining sacked judges of the Supreme Court (SC) have agreed to take a fresh oath and will be sworn in this week, sources said on Sunday.

The sources said Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmad and Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Ahmad have agreed to take a fresh oath while Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday has declined to do so, saying that he was no longer interested in the judicial service.

Re: # 13

Ch. Iftekhar is just a man; what really count is the ideal that he upholds. If God forbid he accepts the position back, that will be severe blow to the Pakistani nation but the ideal of a free judiciary and elimination of ghulamzadas and haramzadas will live and nature's operation clean up, which is in progress now, will accelerate.

"A military-only option is clearly not the answer: there must be a political roadmap."
What can be the political roadmap in an atmosphere of extreme violence and distrust. Last time when they tried to make any deals with some groups under Musharraf it lead to nowhere - Pakistan was blamed for being soft - and bigots kept killing any elders which were sympathetic to Pakistan Government. Hell, there is no solution ...
What are the deeper designs? Is there any party which will stand for the real interests of Pakistani people? Is there any viable program with any of these parties?
It is all so hopeless, despicable ...?

Beena et al,

First, please calm down.

Ijaz bhai, your post is very humane, and I too remember most of the sights and sounds you talked about...and you put the human faces to the tragedy. All those poor people working there...

Second, there is no us vs. them.

We need to include the fundoos in the conversation and not exclude them. So there is no us vs them.

THIRD, Pakistan is here to stay. It's not going anywhere. There are setbacks...but we need to re-evaluate who we let govern and how. The fundoos cannot do this without...funds. The funds and training are no doubt from military institutions.

If Japan can survive two nuclear bombs, we can certainly survive a truck bomb.

There are miscreants that are saying "Islam khatray main hay" "Pakistan is unraveling".

Baloney.

Pakistan is. And will be.

But it is time for us, the awam, to shoulder the responsibility for deciding our own futures. Thus far, we have an uber corrupt guy as president, an ISI chief as the COAS, and uber corrupt politicians are the opposition.

Collectively, there is no-one to blame, but ourselves.




with much respect,
thinking storm