Pakistan's disastrous week
Pakistan is reeling from a week of tragedy, reports Iffat Idris from Islamabad
It has been a week of mourning in Pakistan, with one national tragedy following rapidly on the heels of another, both of which brought back painful memories of the 1980s.
The first incident occurred last Thursday, when a Fokker-27 plane crashed in a remote area of countryside near Kohat in the north-west of Pakistan. Sixteen people were on board the plane; the passengers included Air Force Chief Mushak Ali Mir, his wife and two other senior air force commanders. All passengers and crew were killed.
As the search for bodies got underway, an investigation was launched into the cause of the crash. Although still in progress, it is almost certain that the crash was caused by bad weather conditions. Pakistan had been engulfed by rain for several days before the disaster and flying in the northern areas -- never easy in winter -- had become even more difficult.
Air Force Chief Mushak Ali Mir was travelling from Chaklala airforce base to Kohat to inspect an airbase there. It was a routine mission. Nonetheless, news of the crash did initially cause fears that it may have been a result of sabotage and not an accident. All airbases in the country were put on a state of high alert.
In 1988 a plane carrying then President Zia-ul-Haq, most of the army's top brass and the United States ambassador to Pakistan was blown up in mid-air. Pakistan has never fully recovered from that trauma. One consequence of that disaster, which prevented Thursday's tragedy from being even worse, is that senior military officers no longer travel together. Vice Air Force Chief Syed Qaiser Hussain was not on the flight, and he has since been appointed acting Air Force chief.
Mushaf Ali Mir, a former F-16 pilot, was widely respected as a true professional and moderniser. President Musharraf led the nation in mourning at Friday's funeral prayers at Chaklala. "This is a very sad day for me. I have lost a very good friend. The death of Mushaf Ali Mir is a great loss for the country," he said. Friday was declared a national day of mourning, and flags continue to fly at half mast. After the prayers at Chaklala, the bodies of the victims were removed to their respective native villages for burial.
Pakistan was still reeling from the shock of that air crash when more tragedy struck. On Saturday evening three men on motorbikes pulled up in front of the Montazirul Mehdi Imambargah in Karachi. Several people were gathered at a tea stall outside the mosque watching the Pakistan-England cricket match on TV. Two of the men opened fire on the tea shop and those entering the mosque for maghrib prayers. They killed seven people, and injured many more, and two more victims died later in hospital. The men fled the scene before local residents had time to register what happened.
The motive for the killings was almost certainly sectarian. For several years now Pakistan has been wracked by sporadic shootings at mosques. Most of the victims, including those killed on Saturday, belong to the minority Shi'a community who have been targeted by extremist Sunni groups such as Azam Tariq's Sipah-e-Sahaba.
Since coming to power, the Musharraf government has launched a campaign to curb sectarian groups operating inside Pakistan. This campaign was intensified after 9/11, and also in response to US pressure on Islamabad to end its support for Kashmiri separatist groups. In the past, Pakistani governments turned a blind eye to sectarian killings because many of the perpetrators had links with separatist groups operating in Indian Kashmir. The anti-extremist campaign had appeared to be paying off and for several months there had been no major sectarian killings in Pakistan -- though Christians have been targeted. These latest killings have shattered this picture.
Just as sectarian killings are not new in Pakistan, Karachi is also no stranger to violence. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the city was wracked by bitter ethnic violence between muhajjirs (migrants from India), native Sindhis and other ethnic communities. Hundreds were killed in a bloody and vicious campaign led mostly by the Muhajjir Qaumi Movement (MQM). Last year the Karachi Sheraton was the site of a suicide bombing in which 11 French engineers were killed.
Some observers have linked this latest sectarian killing to the recent murder of Khalid Ben Waleed, an MQM leader. According to Sind Home Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, Mr Waleed had been playing a significant role in improving relations between sectarian groups. Sardar Ahmed attributed both his murder and the Imambargah shootings to people "seeking to destabilise the democratic government". Exiled MQM leader Altaf Qureshi also condemned the killings as an attempt to incite hatred and sabotage the peace of the city.
Security has been tightened in the neighbourhood around the Imambargah, with police and rangers patrolling the streets. Residents are gripped by fear and shops in the area remained closed the day after the attack. The problem, as most people are well aware, is that guarding against random attacks like this one is virtually impossible. To add to their worries the Shi'a month of mourning, Muharram, is just around the corner. In the past few years some of the worst Shi'a massacres have occurred in this month.
To top off the disastrous week, the national cricket team was crushed by England. In response to England's 246-8, Pakistan were all bowled out for 134 runs. For a country as passionate about cricket as Pakistan -- where life grinds to a halt when a big match is on -- that was a truly painful blow.
