Peshawar Atrocity: Lessons to learn

Ishtiaq Ahmed

By now many of us must have learned about the suicide bombing of the Mosque in Peshawar during the Friday prayers, killing 56 and injuring 194, in an act of extreme barbarity.

It is reported that the suicide bomber was stopped by the police at the Mosque in Peshawar’s bustling Qissa Khwani bazaar, but he forced his way into the Mosque’s main hall on the way killing one security guard on the spot and injuring others.

This type of senseless barbarity has plagued Pakistan for decades, destroying its internal peace and security. Mosques which should be the sanctuaries of safety, peace, learning and reflections, sadly, have become an easy target for the religious bigots and terrorists.

In the recent years, we have witnessed hate motivated attacks on Mosques congregations around the world in Britain, Holland, France, America, to mention a few examples from a long list of hatred motivated, but the attacks of this scale and type have been more pronounced with a sense of defying regularity in Pakistan, a country which prides itself being founded as a safe haven for Muslims.

However, the motivation, personal or collective, internal and external, must be strong enough for the perpetrator of this heinous atrocity to inflict terror of this magnitude on the innocent worshipers whilst at the same time taking his own life.

Whatever, the underlying reasons for the heinous attack, it must be condemned for what it is: a callus barbaric act of murder of innocent Muslims, gathered for Jummah congregational prayer. There must be not any degree of remorse for the perpetrator (or the perpetrators in the wings), motivated by hatred, insistent on fuelling sectarianism and disunity in the land by any means necessary for their evil designs.

The government must show leadership and resolve to get to the bottom of this atrocity and take firm and decisive action. There is no space for political meandering as too much of this in the past has led us to this juncture.

Inevitably, there will be those who will be quick to blame outside agencies for sponsoring and masterminding the extremist attack. That may be the case as we can’t entirely rule out that eventuality but, at the same time, we can’t totally overlook the very possibility of this being a sectarian motivated incident.

To date, neither governments of any shade or political leaning have taken decisive steps required to prevent the growing fervor of sectarianism that have plagued our nation. In fact the political fraternity, from time to time, has been guilty of conveniently exploiting the religious rivalries to their end. The public in most cases unaware of the subtle subtleties of various competing aqeedas get drawn into a particular frame of mind thus acting out their intense prejudices believing that they are serving the cause of Islam.

The present government should lead the way by declaring the coming Friday a national day of prayer and reflection by observing a minutes silence in prayer for the victims of the Peshawar atrocity, calling upon the  religious communities of all shades to stand in unity with the victims this heinous unprovoked atrocity and their families.