By: Jon Boone
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/
A grenade attack on a crowded Pakistani cinema has killed 12 and wounded more than 20, despite hopes that a nascent government peace initiative might quell violence in the country.
Unknown attackers lobbed three grenades into the crowded auditorium of the Shama cinema in Peshawar, a city in Pakistan‘s strife-torn north-west that has suffered the brunt of militant violence in the country.
No group claimed responsibility but the cinema has attracted the anger of Islamists in the past. Despite being in the heart of Pakistan’s conservative tribal belt, the Shama is notorious for its popular back room screenings where men gather to smoke drugs and watch hardcore pornography.
The Shama, which is also linked to a leading anti-Taliban political family, has been attacked before and was burned to the ground in 2012.
But Tuesday was the first time customers had been killed, causing shock just days after negotiating teams representing the Pakistani Taliban and the government began exploratory talks.
With talks at an early stage, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has not yet formally responded to government demands for a ceasefire, nor has there been an official declaration of the movement’s demands. However, Maulana Sami ul-Haq, the leader of a group representing the TTP in negotiations, said that both sides had recommended a ceasefire as a confidence building measure. The cleric is one of three high-profile extremists acting as mediators for the TTP, a banned terrorist group.
He was speaking after members of his team travelled to the TTP’s sanctuaries in North Waziristan over the weekend. On Tuesday he held discussions with a team of negotiators appointed by the prime minister.
Imran Khan, the politician whose party controls the provincial government in Peshawar, condemned the “atrocious” cinema attack and suggested it was a deliberate act to sabotage the embryonic peace effort.
Violence is likely to continue even with a ceasefire in place – the TTP is a loose coalition of militant groups that first came together under a common leadership in 2007.
On Monday, a Taliban splinter group calling itself Ahrar-ul-Hind announced its formation in response to the TTP’s decision to talk to government intermediaries and what it described as unacceptable compromises.
“In the past we carried out militant activities in collaboration with Taliban and other militant organisations, now we will do it on our own,” the group said. “We will not abide by any ceasefire reached between the TTP and government.”
In an interview published by Newsweek Pakistan on Tuesday, the TTP’s spokesman Shahidullah Shahid insisted other groups would go along with whatever it decided.
He said: “There are not so many groups. The biggest is the Tehreek-e-Taliban. Other groups waging jihad in Pakistan will respect our decisions and follow our accords.”