On a Sunday morning

The morning of Sunday, March 15 did not turn out to be a peaceful one of worship for those who had gathered in the predominantly Christian Youhanabad locality in Lahore to pray as per routine that morning. While at prayer, they were struck by two bombers who burst into churches located 500 metres apart and detonated their devices, resulting in at least 15 deaths and injuries to over 70 people. Guards at both churches died attempting to prevent the killers from entering. Enraged protesters also burnt to death two suspects following the incident and briefly took hostage three policemen who had been watching cricket on television rather than guarding the churches. The bitter truth is that no amount of security can ever be enough to stop bombers from striking at the many churches, imambargahs and mosques scattered through our country. Nevertheless, any security lapse needs to be examined. The extent of the anguish caused to the Christian community in the country was demonstrated on the streets of Lahore following the incident as the metro-bus service was pelted and attempts made to burn it while there was refusal to talk to government ministers who turned up at the spot. Minority groups in the country are clearly angered and outraged over the failure of the state to give them the protections that should, indeed must, be put in place to prevent further disarray in our blighted society.
The responsibility for the attack has been immediately claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. The statement from the group simply highlights the extent of the hatred running through society and the deep wounds it is inflicting. Protests against the attack have also been staged in other cities including Karachi and Rawalpindi. The Pope joined the condemnations in Vatican. Missionary schools across the country will stay closed tomorrow. But what will this do to bring about the kind of changes we urgently require to rescue our country? We

have after all witnessed attack after attack over the past decades. After each one, condemnations are made by top members of government. But in the end, they mean nothing at all when we know that another assault on minority groups lies just around the corner. We have created within our country a house of horrors in which one group after the other is targeted and hunted down. Altering this reality is clearly not a simple task. But this should be no excuse for failing to attempt it. Violent groups such as the one which has carried out the latest killings must be dealt with as swiftly as possible. We have allowed the stain of hatred to spread across society for far too long. It has now become extremely difficult to wash it out and prevent it from damaging every fibre as it becomes more and more deeply imbedded. The damage this causes is visible before us, leading to even more acts of violence like we saw when an angry mob burnt to death two suspects. We did not act after the killings in the Peshawar church attack in 2013; we did not act after other similar incidents and that is the reason we face a new massacre and a new tragedy in the very heart of one of our major cities.