Huff post: The horrific suicide bombing at a park in Lahore on Sunday that killed over 70 people, mostly women and children, is one of many assaults by religious hardliners in Pakistan who are striving to remain politically relevant and in the media limelight.
Attacks on soft targets like parks on holidays or schools (the Dec. 16, 2014 attack at the school in Peshawar that killed over 140 children, for example) are the most desperate, sensationalist optics of a multi-pronged strategy with a savvy media component. The aim: to grab political power and impose a harsh version of Islam on a country founded in the name of the religion.
It is no coincidence that the Lahore attack took place on Easter Sunday and targeted Christians. Attacks on other religious communities such as Shiites or Ahmadis — and there have been many — just don’t grab world headlines in the same way.
The tragedy overshadowed a “religious” — in quotes because their real agenda is political — gathering in Islamabad to observe Mumtaz Qadri’s chehlum, a prayer for departed souls held 40 days after death. Sunday marked 27 days, not 40, since Qadri’s execution. The timing and venue, Pakistan’s Parliament, indicate a political motivation.
Categories: Pakistan, Politics, Sectarianism, The Muslim Times