Massive blast in Islamabad

Probably toughest time for Pak since Bangla war in '71.

SG wrote:Probably toughest time for Pak since Bangla war in '71.

You're forgetting the Great Biryani Famine of '73 . . .

PlanetPakistan wrote:

skully wrote:Nasty video.

Poor barstewards milling around the truck. They will be lucky to find any atoms of those poor sods.

There would have been at least twice as many deaths had it NOT been for their bravery!

Aye PP. It must have been massive bravery (I'd rather not think it was huge stoopidity).

It was a large truck. They must've suspected that it was a bomb-carrying truck when it tried to ram through the security gates. And yet they continued to hang around the vehicle.

skully wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:

skully wrote:Nasty video.

Poor barstewards milling around the truck. They will be lucky to find any atoms of those poor sods.

There would have been at least twice as many deaths had it NOT been for their bravery!

Aye PP. It must have been massive bravery (I'd rather not think it was huge stoopidity).

It was a large truck. They must've suspected that it was a bomb-carrying truck when it tried to ram through the security gates. And yet they continued to hang around the vehicle.

What the fark were they thinking?

Josh Carney wrote:They can stop the NWFP operatoins but how they they stop the Crazed Talibanis taking over Peshawar and moving further eastwards. Those guys have said that they can take over Karachi if they wanted. The underlying problem is extremely grave and complicated.

At the end of the day the problems can't be solved via bombs and guns!

In the past they have tried to have the peace agreements but America has physically intervened and made sure that the agreements failed. I remember Rice saying something along the lines of "Pakistan shouldn't talk with them, they should just bomb them"

Even as i write this post i am simultaneously reading a story of another American intervention.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080922/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan


....so yes there is a very very severe problem and i see Pakistan trapped from all 4 corners.

and let me say one more thing here if America is NOT careful then one day these people will reach Washington.

tac wrote:What the fark were they thinking?

I was trying to fathom that myself, tac.

I didn't watch PP's clip but I'm assuming it's the same one I saw on TV last night, which cut off just before the major blast. The driver had killed himself with a grenade - fully laden truck trying to smash down gates = truck bomb in my books, and yet they milled around. It would have been massively brave (or massively mad) to stay there and fight the fire that broke out in the truck.

skully wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:

skully wrote:Nasty video.

Poor barstewards milling around the truck. They will be lucky to find any atoms of those poor sods.

There would have been at least twice as many deaths had it NOT been for their bravery!

Aye PP. It must have been massive bravery (I'd rather not think it was huge stoopidity).

It was a large truck. They must've suspected that it was a bomb-carrying truck when it tried to ram through the security gates. And yet they continued to hang around the vehicle.

Imagine if they had allowed the truck to enter all the way in...

They were even given a 3-4 minute warning but the guards stayed put and tried to control the fire!

skully wrote:

tac wrote:What the fark were they thinking?

I was trying to fathom that myself, tac.

I didn't watch PP's clip but I'm assuming it's the same one I saw on TV last night, which cut off just before the major blast. The driver had killed himself with a grenade - fully laden truck trying to smash down gates = truck bomb in my books, and yet they milled around. It would have been massively brave (or massively mad) to stay there and fight the fire that broke out in the truck.

Absolute stupidity . . . what the fark did they think was in the truck? Cheap Chinese-made joggers?

True PP. They did a great job to stop the truck getting any further. But the driver had killed himself and yet they stayed to attend the fire, watch, talk about the cricket, talk about what a balmy night it was???

Amazing stuff.

PlanetPakistan wrote:

Josh Carney wrote:They can stop the NWFP operatoins but how they they stop the Crazed Talibanis taking over Peshawar and moving further eastwards. Those guys have said that they can take over Karachi if they wanted. The underlying problem is extremely grave and complicated.

At the end of the day the problems can't be solved via bombs and guns!

In the past they have tried to have the peace agreements but America has physically intervened and made sure that the agreements failed. I remember Rice saying something along the lines of "Pakistan shouldn't talk with them, they should just bomb them"

Even as i write this post i am simultaneously reading a story of another American intervention.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080922/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan


....so yes there is a very very severe problem and i see Pakistan trapped from all 4 corners.

and let me say one more thing here if America is NOT careful then one day these people will reach Washington.

Faisal I know you are hurting since you love your Country.
The following are my thoughts and I put forward them sincerely.

For Pakistan to stay and prosper as a single entity it needs to revisit the purpose of its formation. It was formed on the basis of religious insecurities and what that meant was that it was always going to be hijacked by various groups wanting to take control in the name of religion. It is exactly this which has also caused most of the tension with India.
Time to move away from this paradigm. The Religious banner has not united the various factions, be it the Shias or Sunnis or the Feudal tribes.
Pakistan should take the bold step to become secular and truly democratic with the use of well established humane democratic principles. It will take time and a lot of heart ache given the deep religioius affiliations. But to me that is the only solution that is sustainable.

Josh,

You are talking about long term solutions which i partially agree with but at this moment there is a need for some short term and stopgap solution! We have ask and answer questions like How the hell can such a peaceful city like Islamabad turn in to a war zone in less than 8 years? ...


In the 90s when we use to have problems in Northern Pakistan(Swat in particular) but things use to sorted out in a matter of days .

PlanetPakistan wrote:

Zat wrote:One of the TV services in Aus this morning was saying the Marriott was the hotel booked for the Aussie team during the Champions trophy. Anyone able to confirm this?

...incorrect because NONE of the matches were suppose to be played in Rawalpindi or Islamabad but yes in hindsight its good that the CT was canceled.

Cheers PP, thanks for clarifying. Sad news about your country, mate. And it doesn't seem likely to improve in the near future either.

Zat wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:

Zat wrote:One of the TV services in Aus this morning was saying the Marriott was the hotel booked for the Aussie team during the Champions trophy. Anyone able to confirm this?

...incorrect because NONE of the matches were suppose to be played in Rawalpindi or Islamabad but yes in hindsight its good that the CT was canceled.

Cheers PP, thanks for clarifying. Sad news about your country, mate. And it doesn't seem likely to improve in the near future either.

thanks Zat!
yeah unfortunately things are looking quite bleak.

Pak is still not cornered in all the 4 corners, PP. Like I pointed out earlier, India has never and will never willingly attack first. The way ahead lies in complete reversal of the India foreign policy based on confrontation and working together, re-conciling and accepting that any form of militancy should not be encouraged anywhere.

Also stopping military operations in NWFP, Swat, Waziristan etc. will not help. The Taliban, Kashmir and other such militants have over the decades been allowed free movement, networking and influence all over Pakistan and there is no way that kind of power can be kept at bay. You drive them out of places like Afghan and Kashmir and they would have sought that power elsewhere where they had a base and that place now is Pakistan. The previous Pak rulers should have seen tha coming. Peace for short term will only lead to their complete takeover of Pakistan to create a new radical society. The path will be made that much easier. Like I pointed out earlier, Pak is not trapped by it's neighbours but by their own policies and militant mechanism. The only way out is to dismantle the factory of Jihad unilaterally and completely without differentiating between the different currents of Jihad and without choosing one over another. Sooner or later assistance and re-concliation with India willi be a necessity. Terrorists never understand peace in the end. Blood and war is what they live for. Chaos and mayhem is what they thrive on.

Either way, Pak has a full scale war on it's head and no amount of peace treaties will hold back the blood that flow. The fight now is double fold, both within and across the border. Pak needs to make a choice where it can focus on fightinghe enemy within. India will co-operate if Pak takes the initiative.

Lets see where this leads to. But unless Pak completely eradicates the support structure that helps creation of radicals, the eventual dis-integration is inevitable.

Pakistan if it tries, and I hope it does, can erdicate the support structure, unfortunately the eradication of creation of radicals can only happen on the first Tuesday in Novemember, and that ain't gonna happen.

I would hope that India and Pakistan would one day realise that the only difference between partition and today are the extra numbers of unnecessary dead.

I would hope that India and Pak

I don't think India has anything to do with Pak's current situation.

Not this immediate situation (I hope), just thought I'd throw it in as a hail mary.

Some places are just jinxed and doomed. Marriot under fire again - Literally...




9 injured in Islamabad's Marriott hotel fire


At least nine people were injured in a major fire that erupted on Thursday in the luxury Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital, five
months after it was targeted by a devastating suicide car bomb attack.

The fire engulfed several floors of the hotel and plumes of thick smoke billowed out of the building, which was being renovated and repaired.

Witnesses said most of the injured persons were labourers engaged for the reconstruction of the hotel. Some persons fell unconscious due to the smoke and at least one person sustained burn injuries.

Several fire tenders rushed to the hotel to help bring the fire under control. Ambulances ferried the injured to nearby hospitals.

People living near the hotel in the heart of Islamabad said they had heard a small blast and some members of the Marriott's management said a gas boiler had exploded, sparking the fire.

Police and the hotel's management ruled out sabotage. Several foreigners staying in the hotel were evacuated by the staff.

Ow - presumably this time around no-one stopped to put out the fire at once... Sometimes it's pretty hard to assess how to best act when confronted by an emergency.