A Taliban splinter group, named Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, has claimed responsibility for an Easter Sunday terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan’s second most populous city, which took the lives of at least 72 people, many of whom were children.
Along with the dead, approximately 300 people were injured, some seriously, with many expecting the death toll to increase in the days following the incident. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cancelled a trip to the United Kingdom after hearing of the terrorist attack.
The perpetrators declared they had targeted Christians as they were celebrating the Easter Sunday holy day, a day in which Jesus, according to Biblical scripture, supposedly rose from the dead after being crucified on the preceding Thursday and then ascended to heaven some forty days later. The target is dubious though, as the bombing took place in a public park that is not exclusively a Christian one. The terrorist group warned they would unleash further attacks, after police arrested thousands in the days following the violence.
According to the National Minority Alliance, only three percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people are of Christian faith, totalling approximately 5.4 million. Attacks on Christians by Muslims in Pakistan are not uncommon by any means. In 2013, 15 people were killed in blasts on a Roman Catholic Church in Lahore; 75 people were killed in a 2013 attack on the All Saints Church in Peshawar; and 100 houses were burned during March 2013 in Lahore after a Christian was alleged to have made blasphemous remarks.
The Guardian Newspaper spoke to local resident Kiran Tanveer, who said: “There was a deafening noise. I immediately thought it must be a blast. I went outside to see. I saw injured people being taken and everyone running in all directions. It was a complete chaos.”
NBC News spoke to Rehmat Masih, who has lived in Islamabad [Pakistan’s capital] for four decades, who said: "I think being Christian in Pakistan is a crime. If we speak out, our corpses will be on the road."