Tattoo of a Terrorist

(VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED)

At the bottom is a photograph (taken and released by Reuters) of the body of one of the terrorists involved in the failed terrorist attack on Peshawar Airbase in Pakistan on 15 December 2012, credit for which was immediately claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) (notably before the photo was released). He was killed by Pakistani security forces in a firefight after being encircled during a search operation on 16 December 2012 in the vicinity of the Peshawar Airbase.

Religious Muslims (which the TTP claims to be) consider tattoos and the artistic depiction of the human and animal form to be un-Islamic. Yet this terrorist not only has tattoos, but tattoos depicting a satanic skull with multiple horns and a hand with long fingernails. The skull, let alone a satanic one, is a very un-Islamic art form and not one in vogue in predominantly Muslim countries like Pakistan. It goes without saying that tattoos are rare in Pakistan even among liberal Westernized Pakistanis, let alone religious ones. This begs the question: does this back, covered with satanic symbols, belong to an ideologically-driven religious Muslim fighting a Jihad?

A few years ago, a similar photograph was released by Pakistani authorities (now widely available on the Internet and too explicit to be reproduced on this blog) showing the naked body of a dead terrorist who was killed while fighting the Pakistan Army in Swat Valley. He had long hair and a long beard that made him look like a religious Muslim (or someone belonging Pakistan's tribal areas) but was, strangely, uncircumcised (circumcision is a mandatory religious obligation for all Muslim males before they reach puberty). A DNA test carried on his body by Pakistani intelligence revealed that he was a Gurkha, who are Hindus from the mid-western, eastern Nepal and the Gorkhaland region of India. Both the Indian and British armies enlist Gurkhas in elite fighting units in their respective armies.

Viewers may draw their own conclusions as to who these terrorists actually are; what their real objectives are; who their handlers are; and which ultimate beneficiaries/controllers are directing these terrorist attacks on Pakistan's high value defence assets through them. For those unaware, Peshawar Airbase houses two fighter squadrons of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), including the first operationalized squadron of the PAF's JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighters, which, apparently, were the targets of the terrorists (see also this article).

Photo credit: Khuram Parvez/Reuters