*Image courtesy of AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini.
Maintaining that the pages of a Koran had been destroyed, these murderers went to work by gas bombing homes and shooting innocents. Reportedly, eight were killed in the fires--four of them women and at least one a child--and two others shot. Locals insist that the number of casualties is actually in the dozens. And they also vehemently deny that any Koran was destroyed or otherwise defiled by the three boys at the root of this story, though no one is arguing that local clerics callously demanded their deaths.
Is it any wonder that so many doubt that Islam is truly a religion of peace or even reason when such bloodshed is not wholeheartedly condemned? Surely, the vast majority of Muslims do not condone such extreme violence, hatred, and murder, but their characteristic silence does little to convince Western minds of their commitment to genuine peace and tolerance--inside or outside of Pakistan.
But as mentioned before in these pages, Pakistan is virtually finished as a civilized country capable of supplying anything of value to the world. Clearly, citizens there will have to make tremendous sacrifices if they wish give their children a nation free of oppression and terror. And they must also willingly decide to defend their own minority groups if they wish the West to believe that they are serious about the victory of moderate religious influence over extremism.
IN OTHER NEWS: The furor over President Obama's list of dissenters grows as details of his healthcare reform plan continue to unfold. And at least one legal expert has posited that such a list is likely illegal according to the Privacy Act of 1974, while the ACLU has registered its own dismay at this shameless browbeating of Americans.
A brief and basic synopsis of how citizen's information can be handled legally by the government according to the Privacy Act of 1974 can be found here.
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