Seven Muslims among Lahore terror victims

LAHORE: Sunday’s attacks on two churches in Lahore also resulted in the death of Muslims. According to a report, seven Muslims were among the dead.
Another report, however, said five Muslims were killed in Sunday’s terror attacks. They were identified as Nadeem, Rashid, Ramzan, Abdul Majeed and Sadiq. Meanwhile, two victims of the Youhanabad terror hits — Zahid Goga and Abishay — were laid to rest in Youhanabad on Monday.
A large number of members of the Christian community attended the funerals as moving scenes were witnessed on the occasion with people chanting slogans against the terrorists and fundamentalists. After the burial, people prayed for the victims and organised a candlelit vigil for them.The funeral of the remaining victims will take place today (Tuesday) under Rangers’ protection.The final prayers for police club.
Meanwhile, leaders of different religions strongly condemned the burning alive of two Muslims by Christian mob in the aftermath of suicide attacks on two churches, terming the act equally condemnable as the suicide attacks, and appealed to Christian mobs to exercise restraint and desist from taking law into their hands.
Addressing a press conference from the platform of Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) at Lahore Press Club on Monday, the leaders of minorities and Muslims warned that bomb attacks were a conspiracy aimed at kicking up religious riots in Pakistan, and the violence by Christian mobs was helping implement the very conspiracy. They appealed to all countrymen to forge unity among their ranks to frustrate enemy conspiracies.
PUC president Tahir Ashrafi said the kind of terrorism Pakistan was facing was a direct result of the foreign and interior policies adopted after 9-11 by the then government, and of brining the US war inside the country. He said the killings and violence would not stop unless those policies were not reversed.
He said the bomb blasts at places of worship were a foreign conspiracy aimed at turning Pakistan into Syria and Iraq. He said rulers were still sticking to the policy of owning the US war and now the National Action Plan was also directed to victimise seminaries and mosques instead of removing the root causes of terrorism.
Leader of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Sardar Sham Singh said it was deplorable that nobody was looking into the heart of the conspiracy and the real causes behind the suicide attacks, blindly blaming everything on TTP, whereas the fact is that terrorists were agents of US and India, operating from training centers in the Indian state of Rajasthan. He said terrorists had nothing to do with Taliban as the secret agencies of four countries including US, India, Israel and Russia were hatching a conspiracy to destabilise Pakistan.
He warned against giving Muslim-Christian riot colour to the burning of two men, and urged upon the countrymen to beware that enemies wanted Shia-Sunni or Muslim-Christian clashes in Pakistan. He said even if those burnt alive were terrorists, they should have been dealt with by the law and people had no right to kill them.
Father James Channan said Christians had been peaceful and stressed that terrorists had no religion as they indiscriminately target mosques, Churches, worship places and schools. He condemned the lynching of two Muslim youth by Christian mob, but said the act was a reaction since Christian youth were highly charged after blasts. When asked that if action should be taken against those mobsters who were clearly identified in the footage of the lynching, he said every criminal should be dealt with according to the law.
Father Emmanuel Khokhar said the two Muslims were lynched because there were allegations that they were among the terrorists and carrying weapons with which they had also fired upon the Christian mob. He, however, praised the students of local seminaries who generously donated blood for the victims of the blasts.
The press conference was also addressed by JUP leader Sardar Muhammad Khan Leghari, while other leaders present on the occasion included Hindu leader Manohar Chand, Father Mani, Father Nadeem Francis, Ms Shabnam Nagi, Maulana ZAhid Mehmood Qasmi, Maulana Khadim Hussain, Naubahar Shah, Hafiz Kazim Raza. The leaders announced that they would observe March 20 as the solidarity day to forge unity among Pakistanis and to condemn terror incidents.
Shahab Ansari adds: All Pakistan Christians Association of the USA (APCA) Chairman William Shahzad has condemned suicide bomb attacks on churches in Youhanabad, terming it a heinous crime against all innocent Pakistanis.
He appealed to the Christian community to remain peaceful and refrain from harming lives and properties of their fellow Pakistanis. Talking to The News from New York Monday, Shahzad said all the Pakistani Christians in America are shell-shocked over this brutal crime against innocent men, women and children at two churches during Sunday prayers in Youhanabad and strongly condemn it.
The chairman of APCA of USA said in this hour of great loss and a national tragedy, “we shall stand united to defeat enemies of Pakistan and the humanity.” He prayed for the departed souls and offered his sympathies to the families of the lost brothers and sisters in this heinous attack. He said every Pakistani in America was under a state of shock and grief over the martyrdom of 16 innocent people as a result of suicide bomber attack.
Shahzad maintained that the present situation which has arisen from agitation by the Christian community over brutal killings of innocent people, will not bring any good to the families of the martyred but will only benefit the terrorist. By killing innocent people, the enemies of Pakistan and its people want to disturb peace and disrupt process of progress in our beloved country.
APCA chairman urged Christians, as well the Muslim community not to allow anti-Pakistan and anti-peace forces to succeed by creating a conflict between them. He condemned the incidents of violence during the protest by the Christian community on the roads and causing harm to the properties of their innocent Pakistani brothers and sisters.
Shahzad is an American citizen of Pakistani origin who hails from Lahore and was quite disturbed over the tragedy which took 16 lives. He commented that the news of violent protests on Ferozpur Road near Youhanabad and other places in the city saddened him further, since dividing Pakistanis and disrupting peace in the country was major goal of anti-Pakistan forces. He said by taking law in their hands by causing harm to the public and private property, protestors would do no service to the aggrieved families and to the bleeding nation. He said Pakistan belongs to every Pakistani, regardless of any religious or political divide and we all should respect and protect each other’s lives and properties like one big family.