08/14/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10067

TERRORIST ATTACKS IN SOUTH ASIA

Recently in South Asia, two fatal attacks on religious communities revealed once more the ugly and cowardly face of terrorism.

The first incident occurred in Pakistan on August 5^th. A small band of masked men set their rifle sights on children as they shot their way through the gates of a Christian missionary school. The second took place a day later in Indian Kashmir, when Hindu pilgrims were set upon as they slept.

The first attack occurred at the Murree Christian School, thirty-five miles northeast of Islamabad. Due to the quick thinking of school authorities and the bravery of Pakistani security guards, none of the one hundred and fifty children in the school was injured. Six Pakistanis were killed, including two security guards, a cook and a carpenter. The unknown attackers escaped.

The assault on the school lasted fifteen minutes. Children between the ages of six and eighteen hid under desks while gunmen combed the complex and tried to enter locked doors. After they were driven off, a note was found at the scene expressing "resentment against world powers."

The second incident happened in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region claimed by India and Pakistan. The attack occurred at dawn in the Indian administered part, along a trail leading to one of the most sacred Hindu shrines. Pilgrims were sleeping in tents when assailants opened fire, killing nine and wounding more than twenty-seven.

No group has claimed responsibility in either raid, but authorities in Pakistan and India suspect both are the work of Islamic extremist organizations that want to end Indian rule in all parts of Kashmir, and eradicate Western influence in Pakistan. Whatever their motive, as President George W. Bush has said, "no national aspiration, no remembered wrong can ever justify the deliberate murder of the innocent."