GUNMEN ATTACK SHI’ITE PILGRIMS IN PAKISTAN

AT LEAST 26 KILLED IN ATTACK ON 
SHIITE PILGRIM BUS IN PAKISTAN

(AP) - Suspected Sunni extremists have opened fire on Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims travelling by bus through southwest Pakistan on their way to Iran, killing 26 people.  Sunni militants with ideological and operational links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have carried out scores of bombings and shootings against Shi’ites in recent years, but this attack was especially bloody.  At least eight attackers in a pick-up truck blocked the path of the bus as it travelled through Baluchistan province on Tuesday and forced the passengers off, said Khushhal Khan, the driver of the vehicle.  The passengers tried to run away, but the gunmen opened fire, killing 26 people and wounding six others, he said.  The attackers then drove off, leaving the dying and wounded where they lay.

It was nearly an hour before rescue teams arrived, he said. There were around 40 people on the bus.  Local television footage showed rescue workers loading the dead and wounded into ambulances to take them to the main southwestern town of Quetta, about 55km to the north.  Iran and neighbouring Iraq are home to many important Shi’ite shrines.   Vehicles carrying Shi’ite pilgrims are usually provided with protection as they travel through Mastung, but authorities weren’t notified about this bus, said authorities.  Most Sunnis and Shi’ites live together peacefully in Pakistan, though tensions have existed for decades, but in recent years Sunni attacks on Shi’ites have been far more common.

At least 26 Shiite pilgrims have been killed after gunmen opened fire on their bus as it was traveling through western Balochistan province in Pakistan.  This attack, which was the deadliest targeting Shiites after a suicide bomb attack on a Shiite rally in Quetta in September 2010 killed at least 57 people.  Sectarian violence has been energised by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which are also Sunni and share the belief that Shi’ites are infidels, and it is permissible to kill them.  It is crucial to avoid sectarian dogmas and opinions and violence towards others.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

There are Eighteen Obstacles in the way of this exquisite consummation of bhava which belongs to Vraja.  ... The Sixth Obstacle has the forms of cruelty and violence. This is the demon Aghasura. It is possible for love to suffer gradual decay by the absence of kindness for all animate beings. This must be so in as much as kindness can never be a different principle from love for Krishna. There is no substantive difference between love for Krishna and kindness to individual souls. ... The Eleventh Obstacle has the form of intra-communal discord.  It is comparable to the wild forest-fire. The disposition bred by narrow sectarianism rendering its victim unable to recognize as Vaishnava one who does to assume the external marks of the theistic community, multiples the obstacles on the path of attainment of the bone fide Guru and the actual companionship of the true devotees.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj:
“Sri Krishna : The Supreme Godhead”
“Chapter 3: The Highest Worship of Sri Krishna”
Bhakti Vigyan Nityananda Book Trust
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission - http://www.purimaharaj.com/