Third attack in Lahore – terror regime continues unabated

It was the third attack in three months in or near Lahore, the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. The bomb left a crater eight feet deep and a vista of flattened concrete and destruction. Dozens of vehicles were crumpled like paper and broken glass filled the street. The dark pink brick building of the Rescue 15 ambulance service collapsed and emergency workers dug through the debris to try to find survivors.

Lahore’s schools hiring private security consultants

Government’s security guidelines not enough?

By Afnan Khan writing for the Daily Times, Pakistan

LAHORE: In the wake of reported terrorist threats for schools providing Western educational facilities, the city’s elite educational institutions are hiring private security consultants to provide foolproof security to students and faculty.

The schools have decided not to rely solely on the security instructions issued by the government.

Taliban spotted in Lahore??

I was wondering if this news item sent to me by Google’s numerous and fascinating services was true. If yes, very scary for us Lahoris. Raza Rumi

Lahore: The Swat Taliban continues to tighten its grip over new areas of Lahore after Shangla and Buner.

According to the sources, Taliban were seen walking towards Lahore railway station.

Earlier, Taliban commander Jawed declared that couples seen in city parks would be killed on the spot. He also called for closuer of English medium schools in the city.

Taliban commander Muslim Khan said, ‘We would go and operate everywhere people call us.’

These Taliban walking on the roads of the city have ‘Taliban Of North Waziristan’ written on themselves.

Security was beefed up in city parks and schools following the warning from the trouble makers.

Lahori civil society speaks

Zinda dilaan-e-Lahore say no to Talibanisation, reports Raza Rumi

Never before have we citizens been traumatised with an uncertain future and the knocks of destruction at our door as is the case in the year 2009. The celebrated twenty first century has, if nothing else, blown the contradictions of Pakistani society and state right into our faces. One hundred and eighty million people cannot be spectators to the imperial great games and a callous state that gropes in the dark trying to locate the ‘enemy’ outside, instead of looking into its own crevices and cracks.

Not that Lahore has been a haven of peace in recent years – the inequities, the crime levels have been on the rise. However, March 2009 witnessed two

Lahore is burning

Raza Rumi

[reportedly] 27 dead and dozens injured – no respite for us.

Once again, in less than a month Lahore has been ravaged by terrorists. Who said that Pakistan was a hub of terrorism – we are now the greatest victim of terror and militancy. The residents of Lahore are scared and the vibrant city seems to be enveloped in a mist of uncertainty and fear.

The Mumbai and later Lahore 3/3 model seems to be in vogue now. Extremely well trained commandos, with sophisticated weapons  and not afraid of death are let loose on the society. The media is hysterical as well and following the Indian media’s cue[s] is now a participant and embedded in the so-called operation.

Another sensational article on Lahore

I am posting this piece not because it has anything new to offer but as yet another specimen of exaggerated reporting on Pakistan. Comments are welcome. Raza Rumi

With each act of terrorism, cultural life in Pakistan suffers another deadly blow.

By Shahan Mufti – GlobalPost

Published: March 23, 2009 06:57 ET

LAHORE — Pakistan’s second city, widely considered to be the country’s cultural capital, is undergoing gradual but unsettling change.

For hundreds if not thousands of years a bastion of social and cultural life for not only the region but the world, the city has become a soft target for those who disagree with the Pakistani government and its policies, or with society at large.

Laid-back Lahore faces a frightening future

A chilling Guardian report

There are old pistols and bulls’ heads on the walls, live country and western music, waiters dressed as cowboys. The Gun Smoke restaurant could be anywhere in the world – but this is the exclusive Gulberg district in Lahore.

The whisky bottles are filled with tea. In the Islamic republic of Pakistan, there are only “mocktails” to wash the burgers down. Hassan “Jimmy” Khan is singing Johnny Cash. A 22-year-old economics student with a hippy beard and floppy hair, he has always lived in Lahore: “I love it, I wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

Here, amid the drinkers and diners in jeans and shirts, last week’s terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team, even though it took place less than a mile away, is forgotten.

3 blasts at Lahore’s culture centre jangle nerves

LAHORE: At least three people including a teenager were injured in a series of three explosions near the Alhamra Cultural Complex in Lahore late on Saturday, where the international World Performing Arts Festival was in progress.

Police believe at least one of the explosions might

Lahore remembers October 18th tragedy

Civil society activists light candles at Faisal Chowk in memory of people who lost their lives in blasts at the welcome rally of Benazir Bhutto on October 18, 2007 in Karsaz, Karachi. President Zardari paid tributes to those killed and said it was due to their sacrifices that democracy had been restored in the country..

Courtesy Daily Times

Five injured in three Lahore blasts

Posted by Raza Rumi

Having lived two days in Lahore as a ‘resident’, the three low intensity blasts are a rude reminder that there is a war all over the country..It does not matter whose war it is; what matters is that it is real and not a fantasy and that it continues to harm ordinary, unarmed citizens who perhaps have no hand in formulating policies in Pakistan.

The fodder of terrorism – home grown and external – are innocent victims, children and more often than not, the poor..

What can be done, is the issue. And, the answers to this ostensibly simple question are in short supply.

However, Lahoris have defied terror plots and the city is abuzz with activity this morning. There is fear but also a will to fight back and not let these incidents achieve what they intend to achieve: terrorize the civilians…

The NEWS reports:

LAHORE: Three low-intensity bomb explosions in three juice shops on the Shalimar Road, Garhi Shahu, injured five people, including two children, on Tuesday night here.