begin quote from:
LAHORE
— Shock and grief enveloped Pakistan on Monday as the official death
toll from a suicide attack in Lahore a day earlier rose to 69, with 341
people wounded. The local news media put the number of people killed at
71. …
LAHORE, Pakistan — Shock and grief enveloped Pakistan on Monday as the official death toll from a suicide attack in Lahore a day earlier rose to 69, with 341 people wounded.
The local news media put the number of people killed at 71.
Police
investigators said a suicide bomber had detonated explosives in a vest
during the evening rush hour on Sunday at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of
the largest public parks in this eastern city.
Jamaat-e-Ahrar,
a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for
the attack, saying that it had targeted Christians. Pakistani officials
were skeptical about the claim, as most of those killed and wounded were
Muslims. But because Sunday was Easter, a large number of Christian
families had come to the park.
Graphic
Years of Terror in Pakistan
The suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, on Sunday is
only one of dozens of attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians in
Pakistan in recent years, with the Taliban or its splinter groups
claiming responsibility for many.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
arrived in Lahore on Monday morning and visited Jinnah Hospital to show
solidarity with the victims. He said he was deeply grieved and vowed to
bring the culprits to justice.
Later, he met with senior government officials and pledged to eliminate terrorism.
“Our
resolve as a nation and as a government is getting stronger, and the
cowardly enemy is trying for soft targets,” Mr. Sharif said during the
meeting. “Our goal is not only to eliminate terror infrastructure but
also the extremist mind-set, which is a threat to our way of life.”
Mr. Sharif was planning to address the nation Monday evening, his press office said.
The
military’s chief spokesman, Lt. Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, said Monday that
intelligence raids had been carried out in three cities in Punjab
Province, of which Lahore is the capital, after the bomb attack, and a
“number of terrorists and facilitators were arrested.” However, he gave
no further details about the identities of those arrested or whether
they were connected to Sunday’s bombing.
According
to hospital sources, 252 people had been admitted to hospitals in the
city by 10 a.m. on Monday, while 89 had been discharged. Of the wounded,
26 were in critical condition, officials said.
Parking lot
where bomb
went off
Lahore
Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Park
University
of the Punjab
Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park
500 feet
4 miles
An
initial police report said that four young men had been approached by a
police officer near the entrance to the park on Sunday evening. Three
of them managed to escape, but the fourth ran through the gate and
detonated his explosives. At least 10 kilograms of explosives was used
in the bombing, the police said.
Lahore,
widely considered the cultural and political capital of Pakistan,
appeared in mourning on Monday. Most of the commercial centers and
shopping areas were closed, and security forces were on high alert
throughout the city. A three-day Spring festival at Race Course Park in
Lahore was cancelled because of security fears.
The
police cordoned off the blast site for forensic investigation. On
Monday afternoon, shoes and shreds of clothing were strewn about in the
parking lot of the park.
At city hospitals, chaos and anxiety prevailed as relatives kept pouring in to visit the wounded victims.
Rashida
Bibi, 50, who was being treated for head injuries, said she and 32
members of her extended family had come to Lahore from Sahiwal, another
city in Punjab, to enjoy Sunday. “We were at the swings. Suddenly there
was a blast and I fell down. Children and women started screaming and
soon rescue workers arrived. I cannot describe the terrible scenes,” Ms.
Bibi said.
Meanwhile, at least 2,000 protesters continued a sit-in outside the Parliament in the national capital, Islamabad.
The
protesters had rampaged through the city on Sunday after holding a
rally in neighboring Rawalpindi to express support for Malik Mumtaz
Hussain Qadri, a former police guard who was executed on Feb. 29 for the
2011 killing of a governor, Salmaan Taseer. Mr. Taseer had called for
changes in the country’s blasphemy laws, saying they were being used to
persecute religious minorities.
To
hard-line Islamists and religious parties, any change to the blasphemy
laws is unacceptable, and they have campaigned violently against such
proposals, portraying Mr. Qadri as a hero
Aftermath of Pakistan Bombing
Dozens of people, including children,
were killed and at least 300 were wounded in an apparent suicide blast
in a park in Lahore, Pakistan.
By REUTERS and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date March 27, 2016.
Photo by Rahat Dar/European Pressphoto Agency.
Watch in Times Video »
On
Monday, the protesters presented their demands to the government. They
included declaring Mr. Qadri an official martyr, imposition of Sharia
law in Pakistan and immediate execution of all those convicted of
blasphemy.
District
officials in Islamabad and leaders of the protesters were in
negotiationson Monday afternoon to end the sit-in. However, political
analysts said they expected a protracted standoff, as the government was
unlikely to accede to the demands.
Troops
had been deployed in Islamabad to secure the Parliament and other
important buildings, including the headquarters of the Supreme Court and
a large complex of apartment blocks for Parliament members.
Mobile phone service in some parts of the capital was suspended by the authorities.
The
attack in Lahore, which is also Mr. Sahrif’s political stronghold, has
drawn new attention to the government’s efforts to stem terror in the
country and has renewed calls for action against militant groups in
Punjab.
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Previously,
Mr. Sharif and his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister
of Punjab, had resisted calls for an army operation in the province.
Senior
police officials had also refused to consider military action, saying
that the provincial police are capable of handling the militants.
Critics
have faulted the government’s handling of protests in the wake of Mr.
Qadri’s execution. Omar R. Quraishi, a senior journalist based in the
port city of Karachi, said the government’s policy of letting pro-Qadri
supporters vent their fury seemed to have backfired.
“Calling
in the army to re-establish peace in Islamabad is a sign of the
government’s inability to govern effectively,” Mr. Quraishi said.
Follow Salman Masood on Twitter @salmanmasood.
Daniyal Hassan reported from Lahore, Pakistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.
Daniyal Hassan reported from Lahore, Pakistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.
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