Pakistan - Nanga Parbat - Taliban murders

[ScaredSilly]

Happened at the Nanga Parbat base camp:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/23/pakistan-gunmen-climbers_n_3484986.html

[glassgowkiss]

This is fucked.

 

[glassgowkiss]

victims

more info

[glassgowkiss]

Among dead are know climbers Peter Sperka and Igor Svergun.

http://www.petersperka.sk/en/index-en.html

RIP

[Pete_H]

Horrible.

[genepires]

"Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out the attack at Nanga Parbat to avenge the death of their deputy leader in a U.S. drone strike last month."

 

Not that an attach such as this is warranted in any way, but thier logic is messed up even from a war point of view. USA kills their leader and they shoot up a bunch of non americans?

(no way did they know that the Hong Luchin guy was american)

Dumb-ass.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2013 by genepires

[glassgowkiss]

These killings were religiously motivated, so the logic is sound.

 

[ivan]

a true objective hazard for climbing in that there part of the world, no? thankfully there are fewer zealots such as these in the andes and in the alaska range, for them that want their big, big mountains, minus the crazy.

[ivan]

These killings were religiously motivated, so the logic is sound.

i doubt that religion was the key motivator - more like simple, murderous anger - "you killed somebody we love, so now we want to kill somebody"

[Alan Trick]

These killings weren't motivated by religion. It's quite simple actually. The US kill a Taliban leader, the Taliban have to respond. The Taliban doesn't have the capability to kill any US military, so they resort to the closest thing they can find.

[ScaredSilly]

Actually, the killings were very much premeditated and not religious based per say. While the Taliban wanted to avenge the death of one of their own via a drone strike they are trying to pull in a region that for the most part has not been affected by the violence in Pakistan.

 

The Gigit/Baltoro area depends very much on tourism. By killing tourists the Taliban hope that that the leaders will decry the drone attacks - thus indirectly supporting the Taliban. However, it can also go the other way in that the region will close ranks and hunt down the Taliban for causing them a problem.

 

 

 

[JDCH]

Actually, the killings were very much premeditated. While the Taliban wanted to avenge the death of one of their own via a drone strike they are trying to pull in a region that for the most part has not been affected by the violence in Pakistan.

 

The Gigit/Baltoro area depends very much on tourism. By killing tourists the Taliban hope that that the leaders will decry the drone attacks - thus indirectly supporting the Taliban. However, it can also go the other way in that the region will close ranks and hunt down the Taliban for causing them a problem.

 

 

 

Lets hope the latter is true.

[glassgowkiss]

Let's start with some facts. First of all, this is not the first time Taliban attacked in that area. There are at least 3 attacks in the past 3 years, most famous one was on a cricket team from Sri Lanka in 2009. There were several instances of sectarian violence, mostly going unreported by the press in the US. Killed people were infidel, killed Pakistani was Shias, and this was the sole reason he was killed.

[ScaredSilly]

The Sri Lankans were attacked in Lahore which quite a bit south of the Nanga Parbat region. Islamabad is closer. So I am not sure I would say "that area."

[catbirdseat]

Killing people from China is a rather bad move. The Pak government is trying to encourage Chinese investment at the moment.

 

[BootsandPants]

This is going to absolutely crush the already strained tourist industry in the Hunza and Gilgit areas. Very sad about the people who have died, and also very sad news for all of the people in the region who depend on the tourist income to feed and take care of their families.

[aforslund]

It's never good to hear about something like this. But, I don't think it has stopped me from wanting to go back to Pakistan. If given the opportunity I would be climbing there in a heartbeat.

 

Good Luck

[glassgowkiss]

well, you might want to re-think it twice. Wielicki just canceled winter expedition to Nanga Parbat.

[glassgowkiss]

Here is a first hand account:

in Polish

So first of all, Northern Pakistan is no longer a safe place. The group announced they are targeting all the foreigners. The killings were reprisal for killings of Bin Laden. At the moment Pakistani army is doing very little to capture the group or secure tourist.

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Here is a first hand account:

in Polish

Google translation to English

[glassgowkiss]

From Steve Swenson

[DPS]

Thanks for the link. The post was very informative and well written, putting the recent attacks into the larger histo-politcal context.

[glassgowkiss]

First hand account