Karachi Blasted Again

Re: # 9

Bina

``CNN is reporting that a Balochi nationalist group was targeting an oil company (probably PPL) in the PIDC building, so you tell me, Godot.

I don`t know which CNN you are talking about, but the following can be found on cnn.com...so you tell me, Bina...


Explosion shakes Karachi
At least 3 dead in blast outside U.S. restaurant
From Syed Mohsin Naqvi

CNN
Tuesday, November 15, 2005; Posted: 3:07 a.m. EST (08:07 GMT)

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police have been put on high alert.

``It seems to be the target was KFC, but yet we have to wait and see,`` said Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Pakistan`s information minister. He noted the 8:45 a.m. (10:45 p.m. ET Monday) blast also occurred in front of a Pakistani Industrial Development Corporation building.

Video from the scene showed about half a dozen cars on fire and the windows of buildings blown out.

Police had sealed off the area, local media reported.

In September, two nearly simultaneous explosions went off at other fast food restaurants -- another KFC and a McDonald`s in Karachi`s Defense district.

The first bomb detonated inside the KFC restaurant, followed about eight minutes later by a blast outside the McDonald`s on the city`s beach front. (Full story)

U.S. fast food outlets in Karachi have been targeted before. On May 30, a KFC restaurant was burned and six workers inside were killed during an outbreak of religious sectarian violence in the city.

Hundreds of people gathered at the site of the blast, near the Pearl Intercontinental Hotel that is popular with international tourists and businesspeople, The Associated Press reported.

Previous bombings in Pakistan have been linked to Islamic extremists opposed to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf`s close ties to the United States. Pakistan has been a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

Saw it on CNN this evening.

Anyway, you can read the news at the BBC Web site which is reporting both the KFC and the BLA theories.

However this wasn`t my point in the first place.

So can we give it a rest now?

Re: # 18

``this wasn`t my point in the first place.``

What was it?

``can we give it a rest now?``

Works for me.

Re: # 6
godot...
...does your friendship with farzana versey make you the official spokesman of chowk management...i never saw you poking your nose so blatantly in the past unless you think chowk editor and the management are nincompoops and need your help at each step...

When will the KFC subsidiaries learn to do chicken right?

I suspect the following:

1. Popey`s
2. Church`s - obviously Christian fundos.
3. Domestic kukaR tikka dhabas

godot -- initial reports, even of the death toll, are alwas sketchy -- also i think the tendency among expat pakistanis to believe wire service stories at face value -- i suppose they have no choice -- is not good -- the main reason for this is that in many cases the wire services reporters themselves get their information second hand from local reportsrs -- this is quite common -- in this particular case, first the death toll was three -- then two -- and then brought back to three again -- do not know what it will be by the time the paper goes into print because people were injured -- and im afraid your comment that some people are more concerned about details than loss of life seems a bit absurd -- for journalists detail is important as well -- you dont want to be telling your readers that oh three or maybe five people were killed in the blast -- kindly try and look at it from the point of view of the media here since i made that initial remark from that vantage point -- and that was what bina was backing

Omar,
I hope that you and your family are safe. Seriously, I get so upset when I hear of this meaningless violence in, what I have been told repeatedly, used to be one of the safest cities in South Asia. I think the citizens of Karachi have every right to demand better protection from the inept, incapable, and possibly guility federal administration. If the corrupt federales in Islamabad cannot protect Karachi, then they should allow Karachi to develop its own defensive capability and protect the lives, liberty, and property of every Karachiite. If these measures include controlled access into Karachi, visas for outsiders, and ad-hoc searches of vehicles, so be it.

after i saw this on chowk, i listened to BBC world-service bulletine and was surprised that there was no mention of this. why? they must have figured out that this is one of those chota-mota bums not worth mentioning. chowk-staff wanted to show balance since they posted dilli bum-blasts and then HP whined..no big deal, sub log ghar jao.