It makes you want to shake them...

This article comes from Pakistan's DAWN.com today...

Pakistanis blame US after shrine attack in Lahore
Friday, 02 Jul, 2010

LAHORE: Pakistanis lashed out Friday at the US, blaming its alliance with their government and its presence in Afghanistan for spurring two suicide bombers to kill 41 people at the country's most important shrine.

The reactions showed the challenge facing Washington and the Pakistani government when it comes to rallying public support against the extremism that has scarred the South Asian nation, even after an audacious attack.

On Friday, few Pakistanis interviewed saw militants at the root of the problem.

''America is killing Muslims in Afghanistan and in our tribal areas (with missile strikes), and militants are attacking Pakistan to express anger against the government for supporting America,'' said Zahid Umar, 25, who frequently visits the shrine.

Pakistanis are suffering because of American policies and aggression in the region, said Mohammed Asif, 34, who runs an auto workshop in Lahore. He and others said the attacks would end if the US would pull out of Afghanistan.

Washington ''is encouraging Indians and Jews to carry out attacks'' in Pakistan, said Arifa Moen, 32, a teacher in the central city of Multan.

Pakistani officials condemned the bombings, using language they have frequently used to try to convince the population that the fight against militancy is not one they can ignore.

''Those who still pretend that we are not a nation at war are complicit in these deaths,'' said Farahnaz Ispahani, a spokeswoman for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

The US Embassy issued a statement Friday condemning the attack and saying it ''demonstrates the terrorists' blatant disregard for the lives of the Pakistani people and the future of this country.''

The targeted shrine is that of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri, who lived hundreds of years ago and traveled throughout the region spreading a message of peace and love. He eventually settled in the Lahore area, and his shrine is the most revered and most popular of Sufi shrines in the nation.

Some recent attacks in Punjab have been blamed on the ''Punjabi Taliban.'' The group is a relatively new network of al-Qaida-linked militants who have split off from other local insurgent groups but also has ties to the Pakistani Taliban, which has its bases in the northwest tribal regions.

The suicide bombings have fueled anger against Pakistan's weak police forces, who appear helpless to stop the killings. In the hours after Thursday's bombings, demonstrators gathered outside the shrine to protest the security lapse, only to be dispersed after police fired into the air and threw rocks at them.

Senior Lahore government official Khusro Pervez said recent intelligence alerts about possible attacks lacked details.

''The intelligence agencies alerted us that terrorists could target prominent places, shrines and mosques in Lahore. They mentioned names of major places as a possible target, but no specific information was available to us,'' he said.

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So many of these people still don't understand that their major enemy is not the Americans/NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan. It's not even the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements who continue to slaughter them with total abandon and impunity. It's their own willful obstinacy and ignorance. Their pig-headed refusal to see the world for what it is...

Sounds like natural selection to me...