Pak Govt.'s support to JuD and the like much to blame for spate of terror attacks

Washington, July 3 (ANI): Thursday's ghastly terror attack on Hazrat Data Gunj Bukhsh shrine in Lahore in which 42 people were killed and over 175 injured has raised various issues concerning the sudden increase in sectarian violence in the country, but the prominent concern is about the government's apparent support to terror organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and many other proscribed terror groups like it.

A day after the twin suicide attack in Lahore, hundreds of people took to streets protesting against government's inability to protect people, and raised concern about an increasingly sectarian cast to the country's violence.

Protestors underlined that the problem was with the government's hypocritical policies, as on the one hand it talks of cracking down on extremist organisations and on the other it provides them with both financial and strategic support.

"They pay the salaries of Jamat-ud-Dawa but fail to protect us," The Christian Science Monitor quoted Muhammad Saleem, a businessman who also took part in the protest, as saying.

"This is all the fault of the Deobandi extremists whom the government continues to support," Saleem added.

Demands of action against every terror organisation targeting various sects are also being raised.

"The government must crack down on all terror being committed against all sects," said Fazl-e-Kareem, a prominent Barelwi scholar, said.

However, some analysts believe that it would be a mistake to characterize the recent spate of attacks as sectarian, given the 'one-sided' nature of attacks.

"We don't see violent attacks coming from the other groups. They are coming from one community," says Rasul Baksh Rais, head of political science department at the Lahore University for Management Sciences.

"Punjabi militants are sectarian in origin, and when they find themselves unable to attack government or security targets, they will lash out at other sects," added Ashaar Rehman, editor of Lahore edition of Dawn. (ANI)