Taliban Attack Islamabad University, kill 6, wound 37

Two suicide bombers attacked the campus of the Islamic International University in Islamabad on Tuesday (with one of them tageting the women students), killing 6 persons and wounding 37. The attacks had two contexts. They were meant as revenge for the Pakistani government campaign against the Taliban in Waziristan. But they also were patriarchal protests against higher education for women and assertions of extreme Puritanism.

The three women known to have bee killed by the bombing strike as as every bit martyrs to the cause of educated women standing up to authoritarian religious regimes as Neda Agha Soltan, who was killed in Tehran this summer.

CNN has video:

Aljazeera English has raw video from the scene in Islamabad:

The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Pakistani press on the Taliban’s campaign for puritanism:

Pakistan: Public, Clerics Join Hands Against Cable Network in Balakot
Unattributed report: “Demand To Stop Cable Network Over Spreading Immorality”
Shamal
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Document Type: OSC Translated Text

Haripur — Strong voice of religious scholars from Balakot has shaken the religious scholars of Haripur from their deep slumber.

Public pressure has also been increased in Haripur after the religious scholars acted against the cable network saying that it spreads immorality and obscenity.

Strong protest of people led by religious scholars against cable network also forced the religious scholars of Haripur to stand up against the spread of obscenity through cable network.

Cable network has been blocked after the protest of religious scholars in Balakot.

That is the reason that people of Haripur stressed that their religious scholars lead the public for rising up against the cable network.

(Description of Source: Abbottabad Shamal Online in Urdu  The North, a conservative daily focusing mostly on issues related to Hazara, Mansehra Region of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Its chief editor and publisher is Niaz Pasha Jadoon.
It is also published in Swat and Karachi.
Claims it has the “highest” readership in NFP; URL: http://www.dailyshamal.com)

End/ (Not Continued)