Taliban militants blow up 16 shops selling music in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan —
Taliban militants blew up 16 shops selling music and DVDs in northwest Pakistan overnight, police said Thursday.
“An improvised explosive device planted in a market selling music and DVDs in Takhtbhai town blew up 16 shops overnight,” local police official Fazal Mabood said, blaming Taliban insurgents.
There were no casualties in the attack in the town, northwest of Peshawar, because the market was closed at the time of explosion, he added.
Islamist militants have bombed scores of entertainment shops across the country’s northwest in recent years, charging that music and films are contrary to the teachings of Islam.
In the Swat valley, the government last month signed a deal with a pro-Taliban cleric to enforce Islamic law after Islamist hardliners waged a nearly two-year insurgency to enforce their repressive interpretation of Islam.
In Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, militants fired at least 20 mortar rounds which landed in open spaces late Wednesday.
“Militants tried to hit a police station and other buildings but the rockets missed the targets and landed in open spaces on the outskirts of Peshawar,” a local police official, known only as Hakimullah, said.
Peshawar is close to Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal zones, which border Afghanistan and where government forces have been battling pro-Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants.
Wire reports
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24 Comments
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Wakarimasen
Whenever we gaijin gripe about the foibles and strangenesses of living in Japan, take a moment to think of just how much weirder (more ridiculous? primitive?) some societies and cultures are.
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wanderlust
Does anyone know what they do for entertainment or fun, or don't they bother?
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rollonarte
Unfortunately for people of Peshawar the Taliban are here simply emulating the founder of Pakistan's state religion.
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Nessie
Well the Koran doesn't ban music, so they must be militant copyright protectors.
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some14some
that's good, now these shops may sell other items, Japan is arranging donor nations meeting soon, so no credit crunch, move on.
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Bento
they decapitate infidels for fun...and dream about the virgins awaiting them in paradise..whom most of them are going to get the chance to meet sooner than they expected.
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rollonarte
You might want to google the source for
“On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will pour molten lead into the ears of whoever sits listening to a songstress.”
“Song makes hypocrisy grow in the heart as water does herbage.”
"There will be [at some future time] people from my Ummah who will seek to make lawful fornication, the wearing of silk, wine drinking and the use of musical instruments [ma'aazif]. Some people will stay at the side of the mountain and when their shepherd comes in the evening to ask them for his needs, they will say : 'Return to us tomorrow'. Then Allaah will destroy them during the night by causing the mountain to fall upon them, while He changes others into apes and swine. They will remain in such a state until the Day of Resurrection."
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sharky1
Cool...now we know how to find Osama...Set up music shops in Pakistan. They'll come knocking at your door!
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rollonarte
It is astounding how woefully ignorant people are about Mohammedism, even after 12,000 plus documented cases of terror done in Allah's name worldwide - on every continent - since Sept. 11, 2001 alone.
Islam is not a race.
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Nessie
Islam is not a race.
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Pukey2
I heard the last straw came when Morning Musume's latest song came blasting out of loudspeakers in one of the music shops.
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Sarge
Pukey - That rumor is false. The last straw came when they heard Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits.
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Sarge
"the Swat valley"
They need a SWAT team stationed there permanently.
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jonnyboy
we have nothing to fear from islam; they hate each other as least as much as they hate us
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Sarge
How is it the Taliban have any popular support whatsoever when they commit such insane acts?
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ca1ic0cat
This kind of "censorship" gives all Muslims a bad reputation. But to answer an earlier question, the taliban sociopaths even went so far as to ban flying kites in Afganistan. If flying kites is a sin I imagine the taliban to be about as humorless and miserable as a human can get.
The only reason people "support" the taliban is because they will kill you if you don't.
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adaydream
I gasped when I heard that Pakistan was making agreements with the Taliban. I just knerw that they'd play nice for a few days, then become jerks like that were in Afghanistan.
The United States had a real opportunity to make a difference with controling the Taliban when we first went into Afghanistan. But oh no, we went off to Iraq and allowed the Taliban to reqroup, spread out and become stronger then before.
The Taliban in control in Pakistan is a scary thought. Can you wrap your head around the Taliban having control of nukes? < :-)
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ca1ic0cat
You might have thought the US would have learned from the history of WWI and WWII that fighting a two front war is a loosing prospect. You are right that the US should have finished business in Afganistan before even thinking about Iraq. Now the fanatics have a hold in Pakistan and are in no way more moderate than they used to be.
I don't even want to think of those guys with access to nukes but it does seem possible. I wonder what the contingency plans are for that problem?
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Radicalpatriot
@Pukey: Actually, it's the other way around. Play "Love Machine" in one of those shops and that alone will win the War on Terror. Play the DVD? You'll have a revival! radicalpatriot.vox.com
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unscrejects
They were all selling Oasis CD's rerouted from the Free Beijing Concert.
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Altria
Apparently 3 Cat Stevens CDs got blown up in friendly fire.
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