Bombing Targets Pakistani Christians on Easter Sunday

Yesterday, March 28, 2016, a suicide bomber targeting Pakistani Christians in Lahore, Pakistan killed 70 and wounded another 341. 14 of those killed were identified as Christians.The bomber, identified as Muhammed Yusuf, detonated his explosives in a crowded park, where Christians were celebrating Easter Sunday.

Jamaat ul-Ahrar, a Pakistani Taliban splinter group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group broke away from the Pakistani Taliban in 2014, and it was reported the group swore allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), but this is not fully confirmed.

• In November 2014, a twin bombing targeting the peace committee volunteers in Chinari village killed at least 6.
• That same month Jamaat ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for a grenade attack that targeted a camp of the group Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) the attack injured 20 people including three parliamentarians. The attack was revenge for the arrest of several members of the Pakistani Taliban.
• Last year the group targeted two Roman Catholic churches in Lahore killing 14 and wounding another 70.

Since the blast, Pakistani security forces have arrested a number of terrorist suspects in separate raids in cities across Punjab province. Pakistan has launched several military operations against the Pakistani Taliban in the past, but their efforts to stifle terrorism will become increasingly difficult if more splinter groups make themselves known in the country.

The Easter attack is not the only mess Pakistan’s security forces are focused on at the moment. Since late February, Pakistani citizens have protested the killing of a former police officer who assassinated the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, in 2011. Mumtaz Qadri was serving as Taseer’s bodyguard when he turned on the governor and shot him 29 times in the back.

Taseer came under intense criticism for defending a Christian woman sentenced to death for breaking the country’s blasphemy law. Since his arrest in 2011, Qadri has been hailed as a hero by many in Pakistani’s Muslim majority. A mosque named after him has seen a dramatic rise in attendance.

Over the weekend it was estimated around 25,000 supporters of Qadri took to the streets in Islamabad protesting the assassin’s execution. The protest soon turned violent as protestors began throwing rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas.

The protestors are demanding the government release Islamic activists in detention. BBC reports that Pakistan arrests over 100 people a year for blasphemy, but the majority of those arrested are Christians. Pakistan has capital punishment for blasphemy, although typically those convicted remain in prison under de facto life sentences.

Since this weekend’s protests, demonstrators have staged a sit-in outside of Pakistan’s parliament building. However, Dawn, a Pakistani media source, has stated some protestors have set fire to cars and continue to demand the government impose Sharia law and list Qadri as a martyr.

The Pakistani government has urged media outlets to reduce the coverage of the protests, but there’s little reason to believe this will help quell the violence. For years Pakistan has suffered from religious violence, almost all of it directed against non-Muslims and Muslim minority sects.

The religious violence in Pakistan is likely to get worse, as many of the Islamist factions within Pakistan have threatened widespread protests over what they view as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s pro-Western stance, including the decision to officially recognized holidays celebrated by the country’s minority religions, the Hindu festival of Holi and the Christian holiday of Easter.

The Pakistani security forces face a growing challenge of keeping their country safe. Their multi-year war against the Pakistani Taliban does not seem to be coming to a close any time soon, and more Islamist groups seem to be forming every year. The government will also have to be prepared for potential security forces defection, as Qadri has illustrated, even those designated to protect may turn at any second.