I was in classroom when we heard the loud bangs of those firings. We got curious and started making speculations about what really was happening and one of my friends even passed on a joke as we carried on. But I was sensing that something is really wrong and something terrible has happened. After just five minutes I received an SMS from a friend and learned about the attack.

Everyone including our instructor got scared and he was kind enough to let us go. My University is just near the place of attack, Liberty Chowk. We could already see the traffic jam and a panic situation on the road outside my university. Rumors kept on coming from allover that there was a huge casualty in this attack, few said that Sri Lankans were also amongst them.

I immediately ran to the Internet lab hoping to watch the live TV streams about what had really happened. I was shocked to see the bloody fight between terrorists and the Police as SAMAA TV were airing the footage of the attack. I got relieved to know that Sri Lankans are safe, but at the same time, I was sad to hear about the casualties of the local Policemen.

For more details about my personal accounts, please go to my blog.

AlJazeeraEnglish uploaded the following video at YouTube including footage of the attack:

Naeem Sidhu breaks the news with the following words:

On Tuesday morning, our revered Cricketing friends from Sri Lanka were attacked in Lahore, leaving the whole nation embarrassed, shocked and with our heads shaken in disbelief. With the approval of the Colombo Government, SL team decided to tour Pakistan despite security fears and they courageously defied the advice by other Cricketing nations. India was more vocal against the tour by SL team. Due to our security lapse, Tuesday shooting has helped in vindication of their stance and has resulted in  closing doors of International Cricket in Pakistan for many years to come – the worst set back to game in its history.

Yasir Imran tries to wake up the current government with these words:

Pakistani Housewife blog expresses frustration:

What has happened to the world we live in? Is there an end to this madness? The situation in the world in general and in Pakistan in particular is getting worse everyday. These are the streets we walk in, the roads we drive on with our kids but nothing seems to be the same. I think these terror attacks kill a few people but terrorize the minds of hundreds and thousands of us. They make us numb, takes away the desire to live and the hope for a happy future is missing from our lives, in these terrible times.

Teeth Maestro says:

It is now certain that this tragic event marks the end of Cricket in Pakistan for sometime, the blame game with India is already nearing a frenzy, analysts like Kamran Khan on Geo and Hamid Gul have pointed fingers towards India already. One must note that the attack looks erringly too similar to the Mumbai attack but logically one must understand that this could very well be a cover up to instigate a war of words between India and Pakistan. Our politicians, intelligence agencies and media were blood thirsty looking for an excuse to kick back at India for the Mumbai assault and todays events in Lahore might serve them with an opportunity.

Kamran Abbasi at cricinfo summarizes:

The least of the consequences of this disaster is that those who have advocated the continuation of international cricket in Pakistan - including me - have been proved wrong. No international team will now visit Pakistan, and the Pakistan Cricket Board should voluntarily arrange all future tours at neutral venues for the next year, may be longer. This the darkest day in the history of Pakistan cricket and it occurred in a pleasant suburb of Lahore, a once great city of gardens and tranquility,

Ayesha writes in her post “Peshawar Bleeds”:

How many more blasts and how many more deaths this historic city would see?

Koocha Risaldar, Kissa Khawni is the congested and populated area. The blast took place at such time when most people were out shopping as Eid is also round the corner. Although the blast occurred close to Imam Bargah but in my view that wasn’t the target.

The situation got worse when the electricity of that area failed and a huge fire spread out due to an explosion in an adjacent gas pipeline. Nearby Warehouses and shops were also engulfed in fire. Sources have been suspecting that this blast could be a reaction to the recent Mumbai terror attacks and the usual blame games are on in the media and news channels from Pakistan that the Indian Intelligence RAW could be behind this. The Chief Minister of NWFP has also mentioned that a foreign hand could be involved behind this attack.

Video courtesy YouTube user Kabirrind

Pakistani bloggers were slow to react to this news probably due to the weekend, Hajj and Eid ul Adha holidays. But some were seen active on Twitter in disseminating the news. For the latest updates on the tragedy you can follow the Twitter updates here or at my own Twitter Channel here. You can also find a roundup of media reports at my own blog Guppu.com.

Initially this was planned to be an informal meeting for the twenty odd Lahore based bloggers. The only source of information on this meet up was an event posted at Facebook by Badar Khushnood (Country Consultant, Google). Quite unexpectedly more people showed interest and the number of probable attendees kept on increasing. The event organizers could succeed in collaborating with CIO Pakistan and RedBull, and the event turned into a mega bloggers meet where bloggers from across the country could participate.

Here's what Rabia Garib (editor CIO Pakistan) wrote about this phenomenon:

What started off as a really small 20 person event at LUMS has grown into something more than 100 attendees overnight… literally!

I also attended there as a blogger and am happy to cover this event for Global Voices. In my opinion the event was more like a seminar to encourage the beginners. Badar Khushnood explained the importance of blogging in today's world.

The key points discussed in the Meetup were:

• Blogging can earn you a decent living
• How blogging enables freedom of speech and expression
• Passion is important
• Tools for professional blogging were also discussed.
• Some success stories were also featured.

You can find the details of the event here at my blog or at the official coverage page at CIO Pakistan website.

All photos by Farhan Janjua

Dr. Awab Alvi at Teeth Maestro says:

What has also sadly transpired within the following day is that the ‘official’ blame game circus is in full swing, contrary to my initial message where I expressed my relief that Pakistan was not being blamed since Deccan Mujahideen were taking the blame, but much to my dismay the good news [?] was short lived and very soon the Indian government was livid at the Pakistani intelligence agencies for having masterminded this attack, in all honesty it might even had been the ISI [ironically we cant trust them either] but whosoever created the mess, Indian or Pakistanis it must be condemned at all costs.

M Junaid Khan at Pro-Pakistan publishes a newsletter that was being distributed publicly:

Even when the shootings were going on in hotels, Indian media and army were blaming ‘Pakistan' for the attacks. The game is clear and sinister. The Indian Intelligence have diverted the global attention towards another issue where they would blame Pakistan for this slaughter and use Barack Obama’s doctrine of attacks on Pakistan to encircle Pakistan from both sides. It is such a shame that Pakistani media is not highlighting this issue and is only repeating what Indians want the world to see and believe.

tperacha at Lahore Metblogs writes his reservations:

Times of India is already reporting that Pakistani militants have been captured and that this whole incident could not have happened without support from across the border. Now I am sure that similar to 2001 Indian Parliament Attack, NADRA issued ID cards will be found in possession of all these terrorists and then it requires not much wit to figure it out! The western media are also jumping on the bandwagon and trying their best to portray this as another al-qaeda attack.

Maybe we should also borrow a page from our neighbor’s book and God forbid, next time when we have a terrorist attack in Pakistan, simply blame it on RAW and get on with our lives. In fact a lot of analysts believe that foreign elements have played part in the recent attacks in Pakistan, but unlike the Indian government, our government doesn’t have the balls to blame any external element.

Adil Najam at Pakistaniat shows his solidarity with Indians in these words:

I, too, am a Mumbaikar today.

I wish I could reach out and for just one moment hold the hands of the woman in this AP photograph. Maybe shed some tears on her shoulder. But I do not know what I would say to her. I do not think she would want me to say much. The expression on her face matches the feeling I have at the pit of my stomach and in the depth of my heart. I think - I hope - that she would understand how I feel. I can only imagine what she is going through.

Rana at The Pakistani Spectator tries to unfold the facts in his opinion:

1. They came on speed boats from Pakistan. WOW :). Indian coastguards intercept fisherman that cross the maritime borders into Indian waters everyday. Thousands rot in Indian jails and here we have guys with sophisticated weapons entering India and their coast gaurds were fast asleep…….hmmmm fishy.

2. Mumbai police intercepted calls made to/from Pakistan….what idiot would do that?? maybe the Mumbai police. Hey there is my number…come get me. 

3. They had the “footprints” of the ISI…..did the ISI leave behind its footprints….hmmm

Jokes apart…so who were behind the attacks?

Where all these rumors were flying around, the Indian mainstream media has nonetheless been irresponsible with the blame game. At my blog Guppu.com I have posted a video of a sensationalist reporting by the Indian media speculating about accents of the terrorists. 

On a request of the Prime Minister of India a representative of ISI is to visit India for sharing of intelligence. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has promised his country's full support in the investigation. But still fingers are being pointed out towards Pakistan and the blame game continues. A portion of Pakistani media is playing along with the game inciting rumors.

Deadpan Thoughts condemns the attack with these words:

I would like to condemn what has occurred in Mumbai in the strongest possible terms and urge everyone to put aside their differences and stand together in the face of this atrocity. We really cannot let these terrorists play havoc with our lives any longer and separate us on the basis of religion caste or creed. This is a global problem and will only be solved if we come together and stand tall against these animals.

Pro-Pakistan shows his sympathy and urges Indian government to carry out proper investigations:

The recent conditions in Mumbai can be pretty well understood by the normal people in Pakistan. Its almost obvious how we can relate to the Indians at the moment. Although this might later transform into a blame game between the two nations but at the end of the day its the people who continue to be victimized. It is extremely tragic for the people of India and as a neighboring country we not only sympathize with the people but also support those putting a brave front in the current circumstances. It is really important that during this time we continue to hope for peace and strive against those who continue to spread havoc on both sides of the border.

At my blog Guppu.com, I also condemned the attacks and concluded:

These attacks have proved one thing, that terrorism is not a monopoly of Pakistan. There are terrorists in other countries also, so the scenario is getting like an international war against terrorism.

But, whatever were the causes, we condemn this type of attacks. There is no room for such attacks in any religion. And just like other Pakistani bloggers, I too stand united with Indians against terrorists. We demand that Indian government should arrange proper inquiries and investigations.

This post is part of the Global Voices coverage on the terror attacks in Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008.

With the victory of Barack Obama, the US president elect, many Pakistanis believe that Americans have taken their revenge by exercising their democratic power. Before the elections the blogosphere was divided on Obama's views about Pakistan. He once suggested that if he is elected he will unilaterally attack inside the Pakistani territory to hunt down the terrorists. Although some stood by Obama, many Pakistanis had reservations about him because of this. The other candidate John McCain was not popular among Pakistanis, so many decided not to support either of them at this stage.

But Obama was able to regain some Pakistani support when he cleared the confusion regarding his statement on Pakistan in a debate with McCain:

Video uploaded to YouTube by Townhalldebate08

Another reason for Pakistanis supporting Obama is that the people believe that he is the person who understands Muslims better than John McCain. And of course, the hope is there that Obama can play a positive role in building bridges between Muslims and the West.

Let us have a look at the recent posts of Pakistani blogosphere on this issue.

Teeth Maestro Explains the reasons why he is supporting Barak Obama:

The conclusion I have achieved is most definitely debatable, I choose to look beyond mere words and see a possible solution for the mess in Pakistan. For me Obama represents a fresh change in the White House, it is my understanding that they both propose ‘approximately’ the same line of action for Pakistan. Obama wishes to quickly clean up the terrorism threat in Pakistan, while McCain proposes a slow but extensively drawn out plan of action, which I feel actually means a long term American presence in Pakistan. If they are both generally coming with the same mindset then I feel I would carefully put my eggs into Obama’s basket.

Temporal at Teeth Maestro writes about Obama's victory:

Will the US ever be the same again?

Since life is all about flux, we continuously change, therefore any questions of change can be rhetorical in nature.

Yes, caution is advised and one must never underestimate the shenanigans of the neconzix, but the looming victory of Barack Hussein Obama (according to these pundits and this study of polls by Nat Silver) to come (on) November 4, 2008 will be a global watershed event.

R. MAK at Lahore MetBlogs tries to compare US and Pakistan Election scenarios:

Where else an immigrant family can rise to such riches… A true personification of “American Dream”. As I watched the speech, I was trying to find similarities and differences between Pakistan and America.

The way Obama interacted with the crowd reminded me of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Only one leader in known history of Pakistan had such a charisma… Also I do see some sparks of such charisma in Lawyers Movement. 

Adil Najam at Pakistaniat shares his concerns:

Without losing sight of the fact that Americans will, and should, elect the President they think is best for America, not for Pakistan - and not withstanding my own expressed view that Pakistani-Americans will also be voting this time on their own domestic policy concerns and not on Pakistan’s foreign policy preferences - one does wonder how a new administration in Washington (now that there is already a new administration in Islamabad) might impact Pakistan.

M. Junaid Khan at Pro-Pakistan hopes:

With an Democrat sitting in White House, I am sure less focus will be placed on wars and more focus will be on the economic betterment of America and its allies.

Lets hope the 44th American President proves himself a good choice for the large number of Muslims in America as well as outside who voted for him. 

I personally appreciate the power of democracy in America and I would like to end with the following words of Obama:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

“You are even more gorgeous in life. . .”

“Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you”

When a photographer asked to shake hands for the second time, Zardari responded candidly:

“If he is insisting, I might hug. .”

Pakistani blogosphere has responded to this critically; some joked about it while others were furious at him. Let us have a look:

Altaf Khan at The Pakistani Spectator writes:

Just after showing his intense mourning (with ashen face) of the assassination of his late wife Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari met the beauty Queen of Alaska and the Republican runner for the Vice President, and twice admired her stunning looks. Sexy and dazzling Palin was ecstatic, though now as she is being painted as a Barbie doll for the foreign presidents by the Democrats, there is another row to haggle upon for the political analysts. […]

Shakir Lakhani at Chowrangi mentions that the president's behavior was against Islamic principles:

I wonder how the president of an Islamic Republic can even think of hugging a woman who is not closely related to him. But Mr. Zardari even said (that) he would hug her if his aide insisted (the aide had merely asked him to shake hands with her). […]

Dr. Awab Alvi at Teeth Maestro notices:

It seems to have been the perfectly scripted conversation as temporal had predicted well before the actual Sarah Palin and Asif Zardari meetup. There maybe some fanatics in Pakistan who may even cringe at seeing him shaking hands with a women, but whatever the objection and whether we like it or not it has become a routine in western interactions and I might even suggest that such flirtatious comments might even be the norm but I dare to say, at least not on camera. It is quite possible that Sarah Palin considered these as a complement, but if you were to observe the video footage of the exchange she does feel a little uneasy.

Adnan Siddiqi was not courteous to Zardari in his words:

We must thank Zardari as he represented (the) Pakistani nation, especially Pakistani men in front of (the) Americans. Yesterday when Zardari met Sarah Palin then he could not control his emotions and showed all his teeth (not sure they are genuine since I heard they were pulled out when he was in jail) and expressed love in a typical (..) style which is common among Pakistani men. […]

During the whole meeting Zardari was not found mourning about BiBi like he is used to mourn in every press conference in Pakistan.

On my own blog I depicted the meeting and the flirtatious life of President Zardari in a humorous video. Here is the video of an original news report [ur].

Image of a Google Doodle from Flickr , by egg™: Used under a creative commons license

Bloggers are having different views and opinions regarding reasons and suggestions. The voice was first raised by Bites85 at ProPakistani, later supported by many bloggers. Let's see what Pakistani bloggers are saying:

Sohaib Athar at ReallyVirtual writes:

I personally think that Google not showing any Doodles for Islamic events has something to do with their “Do No Evil” policy Seriously though, while Google can not be forced to cater to each segment of their customer base, especially since doodling is the secondary responsibility of the guy who creates them, but given that

• Google has doodles for other religious holidays
• Muslims form a huge chunk of their customer base - much larger than, say, Pakistanis, or people who like Escher
• Google has doodles for birthdays and other days that only a tiny portion of the world celebrates
• Google is a PUBLIC company (which does matter)

… by not having a doodle for a single Islamic event/holiday so far, the message they are sending out, to many Muslims, says something like ‘We are the biggest website around and are a global company, but we don’t really care about the Muslim culture and won’t even consider it to be worth a doodle’ - really bad marketing.

On the other hand, some bloggers are bit polite and expressing their views that it might be the reason that Google doesn't want to get into any cartoon controversy.

Here is what Teeth Maestro has to say:

What has been seriously missing in its endless inventory of hundreds of Google Doodles is any logo commemorating a Muslim celebration, be it Eid or any other Islamic celebration, that said I am sure there maybe a little hesitancy on making a graphic image of an Islamic event and not fall into a potential cartoon controversy, but I assure you there are way to ensure that these innocent efforts dont back fire.
[..]
Pakistan has been on the Google map for sometime but we have yet to be honored with an Independence day Google graphic on Google.com.pk, our neighbor India has instead been on the receiving end of quite a few celebratory doodles gifts from Diwali to an 15th August doodle on Google.co.in website. But we here in Pakistan sit doodling our fingers in jittery anticipation.

I urge Google to seriously consider our humble request it wont hurt if they surprised Muslims or Pakistani with a customized doodle.

Google services have won the hearts of many Pakistani and Muslim internet users. Many prefer Google's services over its competitors. Therefore, it doesn't go with the Google's image to be biased to any community. So I hope Google will listen to us and will place an Eid Doodle this time :)

Pakistani Blogosphere also expressed various opinions, some associated the attacks to the Taliban, militants, and Indian involvement while others called it a result of American policies.

Dr. Hassan Asfahani at The Pakistani Spectator blames the officials. He states:

If this attack has been carried out by the Taliban, then how it is possible that they got the car without any scanning all the way through FATA to Islamabad? That is not possible.

That means that the terrorists have the inside help and network fully active in Islamabad and it’s adjoining areas. Just last month a gory attack was carried out in Wah Cantt, a suburb of Islamabad, where more than 200 people died. Last year, an attack was carried out the plane of Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi, and all those people had insider help.

People are also associating this attack with the Delhi Blasts, concluding that RAW could be involved in it. Dr. Awab Alvi at Teeth Maestro analyzes:

It is my analysis that the Indian spy agency RAW is the most likely to have a hand in this blast more in retaliation to the recent blasts in India. To make a killing blow on the eve of President Zardari speech to the joint session is a brilliant ploy to over shadow Zardari’s new making comments.

What can we do !!! Simply sitting at home, writing emails and sending SMS’s will achieve nothing and the terrorists will run our country to the ground. If you believe in Pakistan we need to join hands and say STOP TO TERRORISM, mind you this STOP means a full out right condemnation against Talibans, against the American raids on Pakistan and our local armed uprising.

Here's what Adnan Siddiqi has to say:

The question is, what have we been doing? What I see we always became victim of propaganda which at times turned true too but then we usually ignored to figure out whether the things which are told to us are actually true or not.

In last two decades when every bad incident happened, we were told that Ghair Mulki Hath is involved. Usually that ghair mulki hath (external hand) was India. I say if India is really involved then why don’t we have balls to say it clearly while our all governments say that they had proof too? When people asked it was said that it’s due to national interest.

We Cite declares it as a symptom of state of war:

“War has come to Pakistan’s door step a long time ago. It is most unfortunate that even till yesterday, many of us denied this fact. Not any more. Not when War has pushed in to our house and is now in our living rooms, in our bedrooms, in our backyards, every where around us.

Pakistan is under attack!”

Almost every Pakistani blog has written much about this terror attempt, I wish I could quote all of them. For ages, people have been blaming Pakistan to be the responsible of terrorism. In fact we are the one who have suffered the most out of this terrorism, We've been targeted and at the end, these are innocent Pakistanis who die unnatural and horrible death.

Brig (r) Junaid Zaman writes at The Pakistani Spectator:

The blood thirst of US forces hasn’t appeased yet and they are asking for “MORE”, and in their madness they have inaugurated their attack on the Pakistani soil. They have started from the Angor Adda, Waziristan, and they would not stop there. Scores of American soldiers came in four CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, blasted their way into several houses and gunned down men they found there. All who died were civilians busy in preparing the Sehri, the start of the next fast. The causalities included women, children and men. When the other people reached there, they found all of them dead outside their homes with scores of bullets in their heads.

People from all fields including bloggers have condemned these attacks in strong words. Farhan at Guppu calls the attacks shameful, cowardly and a threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty and dignity.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi condemned this incident in strong words stating that they reserve the right to attack in response. The Jamat Islami Party leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed also condemned it with strong words saying that the government should not only reserve the right to attack in response, but that they should do it as it is necessity. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) leader, Imran Khan blamed the government saying that US forces attacked with the consent of government officials who are carrying forward President Musharraf’s policies.

People seem disappointed by the government’s actions.

NEA at Buzzvines expresses his anger with the Pakistani government with these words: “How can someone attack Pakistan, when the attackers first rent Pakistan's army for selling and killing its few countrymen and then plan and jointly conduct the weeks-long war of terror in Pakistan. What a shame both for the army and the defence minister!!!!”

While Fahad at Chowrangi expresses his feelings with these words: “Allegedly Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the United States Ambassador Anne W. Patterson in the Foreign Office here to lodge a protest over Angoor Adda incident. Now it’s not really clear as Pakistani authorities lashed at the Patterson or Anne dear spewed venom at the Pakistani authorities for not giving enough blood to spill in Angoor Adda.”

Many bloggers have protested those attacks by displaying a badge that says “We Protest Against US attacks on Pakistan”.