Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘pakistan’

By now, most everyone knows about the terrorist bombing on the Samjhauta Express train between India and Pakistan, which killed at least 66 people:

Two bombs exploded aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan, sparking a fire that killed at least 66 passengers on Monday, an apparent attempt to sabotage a peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

One person was detained in connection with the midnight blasts on the train about 80 km north of New Delhi, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was quoted as saying.

The Samjhauta Express runs between Dehli and Attari in India and Wagah and Lahore in Pakistan twice a week, and is nicknamed the “Friendship Train” or the “Peace Train”, due to its route between the two rival countries. The symbolism of literally trying to derail peace must have been too tempting for the terrorists to resist.

Meanwhile, neither India nor Pakistan appears prepared to take the bait:

There was no finger-pointing by India and Pakistan, as there has been so often in the past after violent attacks.

The prime ministers of the two countries called each other and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the attack would not be allowed to undermine the two countries’ peace efforts.

Progress? Or numbness to terrorism in a part of the world that has seen far too much of it already? It’s hard to say. But more people are dead for no reason today. That’s all anyone can state for certain. The rest? Who knows?

That’s what the U.N. is saying about the earthquake in Pakistan:

The United Nations said yesterday the earthquake in Pakistan was a worse disaster than last year’s tsunami, as its secretary general, Kofi Annan, warned of a second “massive wave of deaths” if international aid were not dramatically scaled up. “This is a huge, huge disaster … perhaps the biggest ever that we have seen. It is a race against time to save the lives of these people,” Mr Annan said in New York.

Unfortunately, due to donor fatigue from the Tsunami and from Hurricane Katrina, the dollars aren’t pouring in at the rate they’re needed.

It’s easy for us to be cynical. I’m the first to admit it. Because of my line of work, often my first reaction to an emergency isn’t “how awful” but “looks like we’re going into emergency mode at work and not sleeping for a week”. Not very compassionate, true, but part of the job.

Still, it’s hard for anyone to look at the numbers and not react. Last week, when we sent out the emergency mailings for our clients, we were using the number of 40,000 as the death toll. Today it’s up to 79,000. And it could still go higher. The numbers are absolutely staggering.

Please, if you have the means, make a donation to the aid effort. It doesn’t take much and it can really help.

Of course, the big story is the earthquake in Pakistan that has claimed a staggering 30,000 lives so far. All the aid organizations are accepting donations, as they do their best to rush aid to the survivors.

Iraqis vote on their constitution tomorrow, as they struggle to implement democracy despite increasing attacks and sabotage.

And, with rookie Yann Danis in nets for the first time, the Habs shut out Carolina on Wednesday. Next, they’ll take on the Leafs at home… and I’ll be happily cheering them on from the reds!

Have a good weekend, everyone.

44 people are dead after a suicide attack on a mosque in Pakistan:

A suicide attack on a packed Shi’ite mosque in southwestern Pakistan during Friday prayers killed at least 44 people and wounded 65 others, the country’s leading private emergency service said.

Describing what was the worst such attack in Pakistan in recent years, witnesses at the main Shi’ite mosque in the center of the city of Quetta reported seeing gunmen firing on worshippers before at least one suicide bomber blew himself up.

[ . . . ]

No group claimed responsibility for the raid, but officials said it appeared to be linked to rivalry between minority Shi’ites and majority Sunni Muslims, which has often exploded into violence in the past.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it was too early to say who was to blame.

Which Jewish imperialism will be blamed for this terror attack?

Pakistan claims to have captured a top Al-Quaeda leader:

Pakistan said it had arrested the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, on Saturday in what officials declared was a major coup in the global war on terror.

“We have finally apprehended Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, told Reuters.

“It was the work of Pakistani intelligence agencies… It is a big achievement. He is the kingpin of al Qaeda.”

Still doesn’t answer the question of where Osama Bin Laden is.

There was a bus bombing in Pakistan today, where at least 2 people were killed and more than a dozen injured.

How long until they start blaming the Jews and the Zionists for this one, do you figure?