News
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Church attack aimed at destabilising state: HRCPStaff Report
LAHORE: Condemning the suicide bombings at a Peshawar church on Sunday as inhuman and an affront to the values to uphold which Pakistan was established, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) called upon the government to share with the people its strategy to overcome the ongoing militant-orchestrated attacks on citizens across the country.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Commission said: “HRCP is appalled by the brutal attack on churchgoers in Peshawar. We share the grief of the aggrieved families and condoles the loss of at least 80 precious lives and injuries to many more.
“The massacre of Christian citizens is an affront to the values that Jinnah’s Pakistan must stand for.” HRCP believes that with the killing of every citizen on account of her or his belief a part of the tolerant tradition in Pakistan dies too. “Unfortunately, it would be inaccurate to say that targeting a religious minority came as a surprise, because as long as the masterminds of countless previous killings and their blood thirsty progeny enjoy impunity.” The statement said whoever dispatched suicide bombers to the Peshawar church did not merely want to kill Christian citizens. The aim apparently was to destabilise the State. The attack sends an unmistakable message. The state of Pakistan cannot afford for its response to the attack to be any less unequivocal. The authorities, ordering a state of high alert, are simply not an adequate response. The prime minister finally, and correctly, branding those killing in the name of religious belief as enemies of Pakistan, rushing the interior minister to Peshawar and announcing a three-day national mourning are all laudable responses. It added that it should be explained how holding talks with the Taliban will address all other challenges that haunt Pakistan. For instance, how would such talks help rein in the multiple other actors engaged in a bloody movement by extremist militants at the domestic level, asked the HRCP body.
The Peshawar attack and indeed similar attacks in the past are symptomatic of a deeper malady. And that is where one of the most pressing concerns lies; that amid the extremist militants’ onslaught the new government is yet to share with the long-suffering people of Pakistan its vision and strategy for dealing with the problem of militancy in the name of religion.
“HRCP calls upon the government to explain its plan to confront this menace and take meaningful steps to reassure the non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan and show that the government has the will and ability to protect their [minorities] lives and religious freedoms,” it concluded.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk