India - Pakistan Crisis: Re: Gunmen Kill 9 in the mosque

» JenL_2 - Re: Gunmen Kill 9 in the mosque

In response to message posted by sillyme101:

Sil - you said....

I hope Musharif can control these zealots and does not blame the Indian "hidden hand" and move on to cover it up with PR.

This from 2/27 The Times of India:

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Musharraf cites radicals for Pak mosque attack

REUTERS [ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2002 5:24:38 AM ]

President Pervez Musharraf blamed opponents of his war on terrorism for an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Rawalpindi on Tuesday that killed 10 people and wounded 15.

Musharraf was swift to condemn the attack in the mainly Sunni Muslim country and blamed extremist groups for the second killing of Shi'ites in less than a week.

Doctors at Rawalpindi's Holy Family Hospital, just outside the Pakistan capital of Islamabad, said they were overwhelmed by the number of dead and wounded from the Shah-i-Najf mosque.

"We have 10 dead and at least 15 wounded," a police spokesman said. At least eight of the wounded were in critical condition, according to one doctor.

Police said three gunmen had opened fire on worshippers during evening prayers. One witness said there were up to 40 worshippers in the mosque at the time.

"It was a sudden firing and many of us immediately lay on the floor," one of the wounded, Anjum Abbass, told Reuters.

Shabbir Zaki, caretaker of the mosque, said two gunmen wearing shirts and baggy trousers entered the mosque hall and started hurling abuse at worshippers as they prayed.

"Suddenly they opened fire," Zaki said. "As soon as the shooting started, the worshippers, who were up to 40, lay on the ground to save themselves.

"There were screams and groaning of wounded all over," the caretaker said. "There were pools of blood all over the hall...it was a horrible scene."

Crackdown on extremism vowed

Musharraf reiterated his government would remain firm in its resolve to stamp out extremism.

"Groups opposed to the government's policy of fighting against terrorism are out to distract it from pursuing its (policy) vigorously," he said in a statement released by the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

Rawalpindi's Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Fareed Nawaz, also condemned the attack.

"This is terrorism, not sectarianism," Nawaz said. "They used automatic weapons, which we believe were Kalashnikovs."

Shi'ite political leaders added their voices denouncing the attack as a blow to Pakistan, not to relations between the two wings of Islam.

"This is not a Shi'ite and Sunni fight. It's a conspiracy against Shi'ite and Sunni. And through this plan they are trying to provoke both sides," said Syed Razi Rizvi, head of the Shi'ite group Tehrike-e-Jafria Pakistan.

Hamid Ali Mousvi, another Shi'ite political leader, agreed.

"Anyone who tries to create a fight between the two groups is not a friend of Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, is not a friend of Islam and Pakistan -- he is our biggest enemy."

The attack underscores the problems Musharraf faces in reining in militant groups in a country of 140 million where Shi'ites account for about 15 percent of the population.

In 2001, sectarian violence killed 400 people, mainly in attacks on places of worship.

But Musharraf also faces the wrath of Islamic groups opposing his support of the United States in its war against terror in Afghanistan and elsewhere. That rage was highlighted on Tuesday by shots fired at a U.S. military plane as it came in to land at a Pakistani airfield.

The aircraft was not hit and there was no damage or casualties at the airfield, used as a U.S. logistics base for the war in Afghanistan and site of previous Islamic militant protests against Americans.

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Sil - I don't understand the conflict between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. Can you explain it a little? TIA.....Jen

-- posted by JenL_2