BOMBING AT FUNERALS KILLS MANY IN PAKISTAN

PAKISTANI TALIBAN VOW TO ATTACK  
THEIR ENEMIES' WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) - The Pakistani Taliban declared Friday they will target the weddings and funerals of anyone involved in pro-government activity against them.  The threat came as the Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursday’s suicide blast targeting a funeral procession for a member of an anti-Taliban militia.  “Anyone who supports the U.S. and Pakistani military will face the same fate,” Taliban spokesman Siraj-ud Din said.  “We will target funeral processions and wedding ceremonies of those who support the U.S.”  Din said Friday that the deceased and his attendants were enemies of Taliban because of their pro-government activity.

Police say a suicide bomber blew himself up standing in a funeral procession in the north-western Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.  Saleem Murrawat, the police chief of the province’s Lower Dir district, told CNN that the explosion killed 40 people and injured 67 others.  Funerals of tribal leaders in the north-west have been targeted by militants before, and there have been many attacks on anti-Taliban tribal forces.  On Tuesday, gunmen opened fire on a school bus on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar, killing four children and the driver.  The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying the children were from a local tribe that has been fighting insurgents in the region.

A suicide bomber struck the funeral ceremony of a tribal elder who belonged to an anti-Taliban militia in north-western Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, police officials said.  This blast is the latest in a recent string of militant strikes against anti-Taliban forces and leaders.  The Pakistani Taliban militants have vowed that new blasts will take place when their enemies' weddings and funeral prayers are in progress.  People must not fight for revenge or respond with the same violence, because desire for vengeance only lead to the destruction of the worlds.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Svetashvatara Upanishad (5.12) explains that the living being, the jiva soul, acquires many gross physical and subtle bodies due to the actions he performs, as is motivated by the material qualities to which he obtains. These bodies that are acquired continue to be a source of illusion as long as he is ignorant of his real identity. ... A person will reincarnate into various forms of bodies that are most suitable for the living entity’s consciousness, desires, and for what he deserves. So the living being inevitably continues in this cycle of birth and death and the consequences for his various good or bad activities as long as he is materially motivated. ... What creates good or bad karma is also the nature of the intent behind the action. If one uses things selfishly or out of anger, greed, hate, revenge, etc., then the nature of the act is of darkness.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Karma: What Is It?”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/Karma_what_is_%20it.htm
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/