Who Shares Blame for Islamabad Marriott Bombing?

According to media reports, suicide bombers killed more than 53 people (including the Czech ambassador) and injured more than 260 in an attack on the 290-bedroom Marriott hotel in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad at 8pm on Saturday night. Overwhelming majority of the victims were Pakistanis and Muslims celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. Witnesses believe a truck carrying 600kg of explosives could have totally destroyed the hotel if it had been able to ram past the security barrier. It was followed by at least another explosion. The bombs blew a 30-foot crater in the road in front of the hotel, which is popular with foreigners, diplomats and businessmen, and ignited gas cylinders in the kitchens. According to witnesses, security staff at the front of the hotel, where the blast was strongest had "simply been vaporised".

Mr. Sadruddin Hashwani, the hotel owner, says at least 700 people were in the hotel at the time of the attack, many enjoying iftar, the traditional meal at the end of the day-long Ramadan fast. The blasts caused the ceiling collapse in a banquet room where up to 300 people were eating, but another 300 eating under a marquee to the rear survived. The hotel has been attacked twice in the past and an attempted suicide bombing was foiled by a security guard in 2007. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan in over a decade.

As usual, most Pakistanis find it hard to accept that the perpetrators of such a heinous act in Ramadan could be Muslim or Pakistani. It seems the whole nation is in a state of denial. The following music video titled "Yeh Hum Nahin" (It's not us) captures the common refrain heard in Pakistan:



The fact that the bombers were able to penetrate such a secure fortress inside Islamabad, and carry out the most deadly Marriott bombing just before an undisclosed Pakistani leadership dinner, shows that there are insiders involved. It’s an unfortunate fact that many Pakistanis (a significant minority) see this as jihad rather than the cold blooded mass murder of innocent people, while others sympathize with the perpetrators' cause or at least rationalize such dastardly acts by blaming America or the Pakistani military or someone other than the jihadis who carry out these murderous rampages. Just watch the apologists and the conspiracy theorists engaged in blame-America or blame-military or blame-anyone-but-us talk on Pakistani TV channels and you’ll see what I am talking about. To stop this senseless Muslim-on-Muslim and Pakistani-on-Pakistani violence, the people of Pakistan have to first acknowledge the reality of what is going on in their midst and purge violent jihadi elements. According to anecdotal evidence and some published polls, the support for war on terror is at a low point in Pakistan, in spite of the continuing killing of innocent Pakistanis. This is the sad reality of the denial and insensitivity within Pakistan. It has to change for sanity to prevail for saving innocent lives being lost on a daily basis. The tide of Pakistani public opinion must turn against the homegrown, violent, jihadi terrorists soon to stop the recurrence of more deadly bombings like the Islamabad Marriott's.