The Taliban released pictures of the gunmen who killed 148 children and teachers in Peshawar and injured 121 more. The Taliban is proud of them, apparently.
The Pakistani Taliban released the pictures as they issued a statement claiming the attack was justified because the Pakistani army had long been killing innocent children and families of their fighters.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani also vowed more attacks as he warned civilians to detach themselves from all military institutions.
In photos released by the group, between six and seven men carrying guns can be seen pictured in front of a white banner.
Brave heroes.
#Braveheroes
I wish the newspapers would refuse to publish the pictures. It’s what the taliban want.
Like most fanatics they want to have it both ways. They claim to be the real version of their ideology, yet use tools that should be forbidden by that ideology. In this case it’s photos, which I would have thought ultra orthodox Muslims like they claim to be would eschew.
I wish it were instead “Men with gnus” 🙁
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2012-10/24/131925727_11n.jpg
That’s not “men with guns,” that’s men without brains. Men without brains before a wall of graffiti.
@peterh #4
I totally share your anger for what these men have done and you are probably just trying to insult them, but they didn’t do what they did because they lack brains. They may be both intelligent and educated.
The real reasons are probably a mix of: power, religion, the general deficiencies of human brains, regional history, worldwide bad foreign policy, money, and a pile of other stuff I can’t think of right now. I only point this out because insulting them for their intelligence takes the focus away from their responsibility for their actions and from the things we actually have a shot at changing.
And whatever the banner behind them says, calling it graffiti is an insult with a lot of splash damage against people who aren’t murdering assholes.
It’s easy to discern what the Arabic writing is, it’s the shahada or testimony of belief in Allah as the one god and Muhammad as his messenger (one of the five pillars of Islam). As white lettering on a green field, it appears on the flag of Saudi Arabia; but on the other hand as white lettering on black, it was brandished by the murderous hostage taker in Sydney earlier this week. Basically like symbols of other religions, you could say it means what particular believers want it to mean.
Golgafrinchan Captain says, #5
I agree with the first part. Shouldn’t write off such things to stupidity alone. It’s far more complex than that.
This part depends on who is saying it and in what context. I don’t know peterh’s background, but if it’s an ex-Muslim or someone living in a Muslim society saying it, it’s perfectly fine. It’s like someone in the United States can make fun of the Virgin Mary or say things like “Jebus” or mock the 10 commandments without punching down on anyone. Depends on the system one is under.
There are only a few times in my life that I have ever wished to be a drone pilot. This is one of them.
The children murdered most certainly did not deserve their fate. However Pakistan in general is little deserving of our sympathy. They’ve been stoking the fires of Islam in an effort to harm India, citing ‘occupied’ Kashmir as the reason for doing so. Of course, Pakistan will hear nothing about allowing Baluchistan greater autonomy. Pakistan has supported the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups for years. The monsters who committed the Mumbai Massacres, monsters who eviscerated a pregnant Jewish women and who killed scores of children and innocent civilians ( 100s actually) , are out on bail. Even Bhutto, an India hater if ever they was one, was killed by a group she herself had had a role in creating.
I feel great sympathy for the students and teachers killed, but I feel little sympathy for Pakistan itself.
“Pakistan itself”? What does that even mean?
The government is fucked up, no question. Much of the population is warped by Islamist thinking. But “Pakistan itself” is an irrelevant abstraction in this context.
Thanks for ID’ing the shahada on the banner.
Islam’s appalingly low intellectual standards certainly contribute to the outrages. Mere recitation of the shahada ‘makes’ one a muslism. There have been executions for apostacy based on the victim having been heard to hum along with a muezzin.
1. Shahada
2. Prayer
3. Ramadan Fast
4. Alms-giving (which can be tithing to the Taliban)
5. Pilgrimage
Not a lot of moral or intellectual engagement there. Easily imposed by force, which is why so many claim Jihad as the sixth pillar.
@Saad #7
You’re right. As someone who can’t read Arabic, I assumed that peterh was in the same boat and was insulting the written language itself, and not the content. If I saw a photo of murderous Christians standing in front of a God is Love banner, graffiti might be an appropriate label. If it was just about the writing, however, I’d add that this was the same language used by the people these assholes murdered.
@Decker #9 + Ophelia #10
As a non-American, this is a mental shortcut I have to work hard to avoid. When I see something horrible done by certain factions in the US, my reflex is to say “the US” just did something horrible. But I know that many of the people fighting hardest to correct these behaviours are American and the shortcut just serves to “other” the whole country in my head. And, as a Canadian, there’s a lot of shitty stuff done by our current government (and Justin Bieber) that I hope people try not to associate me with.