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Suicide is an act that, in one form or another, is seen in every society. Over time, it has taken on new forms, and we can now see several distinct types:
Individual suicide, carried out due to personal problems or mental pressure.
Collective suicide, when a group of people agree to end their lives together.
Suicide attacks, where the goal is not only to take one’s own life, but also to target others.
Let’s focus on suicide attacks. Looking at the psychology of suicide bombers, most of Muslims firmly believe that this world is temporary, the real life is in jannah, and there they will be rewarded. For men, the reward is said to be hoors. Islamic scholars and imams, especially mullahs, paint vivid pictures of “jannah” (جنّت), paradise, from their pulpits that captivate listeners. For example, mullahs such as Maulana Tariq Jamil repeatedly describe the physical features of the hoors (the virgins of jannah). Virginal, beautiful, and pure, the hoors are of fair complexion, with large eyes, big breasts and physical attractiveness. They are tall, with well-formed bodies. They have perpetual virginity and eternal youth.
The male believers will have “special relations” with them in paradise. Young Muslim men hear these descriptions, get emotionally and physically excited, and the path toward becoming a suicide bomber doesn’t seem so difficult anymore. Such Islamic speeches act like a drug: pleasant in the moment but dangerous in the long run, because they create a craving for a fantasy world where the supposed shortcut to wine and women is nothing but a suicide attack.
In Islam, strict restrictions are placed on sexual relations, while at the same time, the imaginary hoors are described in great detail. This contradiction breeds sexual frustration, pushing Muslim people toward anxiety and restlessness. Then, when stories of jannah are narrated, they feel like a breath of fresh air to the mind, creating fertile ground for jihadist indoctrination.
In one interview, a failed Muslim female bomber was asked: since men are promised hoors, what reward is promised to women? She replied that women would receive an equal number of men, something that was absurd, as nothing of the kind is stated in authoritative Islamic sources.
There is also a difference between suicide bombers in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Taliban often provide financial support to the bomber’s family. In Afghanistan, however, children are sometimes forced into suicide attacks. One Muslim boy, only seven or eight years old, said in an interview that the Taliban promised him money if he carried out an attack. He innocently asked: “But when I die, what will I do with that money in the grave?”
If we look at the root causes, the main motive behind suicide attacks has often been the pursuit of Islamic or nationalist supremacy, or the creation of a separate state. In many places, Islamic teaching emphasizes hostility toward other faiths. For example, the Quran says: “O you who believe! Do not take Jews and Christians as your friends and protectors. They are friends of one another. Whoever among you takes them as friends will indeed become one of them.” (5:51)
Some major suicide attacks in history stand out:
In 1945, Japanese “Kamikaze” pilots crashed their planes into enemy ships during World War II. These pilots were, of course, non-Muslims. Most suicide attacks, however, believe that they are gaining a place in jannah.
In 1971, Pakistani pilot Rashid Minhas sacrificed his plane to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
On September 11, 2001, hijacked planes were used as weapons against the World Trade Center in the U.S.
On September 22, 2013, two Taliban suicide bombers attacked All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 127 people and injuring more than 250. A twin suicide bombing, carried out by militants linked to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed the lives of at least 127 people and left over 250 injured, shattering a sanctuary that had stood as a symbol of interfaith harmony since 1883.
These examples show that while suicide attacks have been carried out for different motives, but many of them share the same goals of spreading the fear of Islam and inflicting harm on non-Muslims.
In today’s world, the suicide attack has become one of the most effective tools of Islamic terrorism. The aim is not just to kill, but to instill fear in ordinary people, so that they feel unsafe even in their own communities.
It is important to understand that violence does not emerge suddenly. It develops over years of mental conditioning into toxic Islam ideologies, accompanied by social pressures. Some people are naturally cold and detached, others antisocial. When such individuals are fed a narrative filled with hatred, they become easy targets for jihad groups. They are stripped of feelings such as guilt or remorse, and can be turned into killers without hesitation.
Pakistan continues to be among the most religiously hostile countries in the world. Religious minorities, including Christians, are often targeted by jihadist groups, because they are perceived as foreigners.
Blasphemy laws, forced conversions, forced marriage and social discrimination are only a few of the issues faced by the Christian population of Pakistan.
A Calculated Atrocity
Within this context, the 2013 attack on All Saints Church in Peshawar stands as a tragic reminder. Two suicide bombers claimed Christian innocent lives and shattered the sense of safety within the Christians, leaving behind a climate of fear and grief.
On the morning of September 23, 2013, while I was in prison arrested under false charges by the FIA of Pakistan, who sought to silence my Christian ministry, I read in the newspaper about a devastating suicide bombing. The news broke my heart.
My friends and I were overwhelmed with pain and sorrow. That very day, we made the firm decision to expose Islam and its role in spreading violence and hatred.
Christians living in Peshawar, Pakistan are continuing to heal in the wake of the September bombing of All Saints Church. Many are still healing from the physical, mental and emotional scars left by the bombing.
The assault occurred just after Sunday Service, as approximately 600 Christian worshippers gathered on the church’s front lawn for a meal.
Two suicide bombers, each carrying 6 kilograms of explosives in their jackets, approached the church in Peshawar’s Kohati Gate area, a sensitive locality home to multiple churches.
The first bomber detonated his device at the gate, killing one security guard and wounding another, while the second breached the church compound, exploding the explosives in his jacket among the church congregation.
The blasts were devastating, leaving holes in the church’s walls, shattering windows of nearby buildings, and scattering body parts across the church lawn. The clock on the church wall stopped at 11:43 a.m., frozen at the moment of the carnage.
According to dishonest government reports, the attack killed at least 81 people, though the Diocese of Peshawar reported up to 127 confirmed deaths.
Among the fatalities were 34 women, 7 children, and 40 men, as stated by that time Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Additionally, 131 people were wounded, with 37 children among them, many in critical condition. The victims included choir members, Sunday school children, and entire families who had come to worship and share.
“Even after tragedies like this, every Pakistani government hides the facts about the lives of Christians.”
The targeting of such a diverse group men, women, and children underscored the indiscriminate brutality of the attackers.
The Perpetrators and Their Motives
The Islamic group Jundallah, linked to the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack, declaring that Christians and other non-Muslims were “enemies of Islam.”
They justified the massacre as retaliation for U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions, asserting that their targeting of Pakistani Christians would “cause pain” to the United States, conflating local Christians with Western nations in a perverse ideological leap.
The TTP, however, denied involvement, claiming their affiliate was Jundul Hafsa, not Jundallah, highlighting the murky web of jihadist factions operating in Pakistan.
Regardless of the group’s precise identity, the attack was a deliberate assault on a vulnerable minority, exploiting their faith as a pretext for violence.
A Pattern of Persecution
The All Saints Church bombing was not an isolated incident, but part of a broader pattern of violence against Pakistan’s Christian minority, who constituted just 1-2% of the country’s population of 180 million in 2013.
In March 2013, hundreds of Christians in Lahore’s Joseph Colony were attacked over false blasphemy allegations, their homes burned by a mob.
On March 15, 2015, two suicide bombings by the Taliban splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar targeted St. John’s Catholic Church and Christ Church in Youhanabad, Lahore, Pakistan, during Sunday services, killing at least 15 people, including 7 Christian men, 3 Christian women, and 2 children, and wounding over 70 others, most of whom were Christians.
On March 27, 2016, another suicide bombing by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar again targeted Christians. These Christians were celebrating Easter at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore, Pakistan. The attack killed at least 75 people, including 29 children, 7 women, and 34 men, and wounded over 340 others, with the majority of victims being women and children.
On December 17, 2017, two suicide bombers from the Islamic State attacked Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan, during a Sunday service, killing at least nine people, including four women and one child, and wounding over 50 others, with at least five women and two children among the injured.
The government of Pakistan has consistently failed to protect its Christian minority, as evidenced by the 2013 All Saints Church bombing and subsequent attacks such as the 2015 Youhanabad church bombings, the 2016 Lahore Easter bombing, and the 2017 Quetta church attack, which collectively killed over 180 Christians, including women and children, and wounded hundreds more.
Despite Pakistan’s constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, the state’s inability or unwillingness to curb jihadist groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, and the Islamic State, coupled with inadequate security at vulnerable sites including churches, reflects a systemic neglect of minority safety.
The use of blasphemy laws, forced conversions, rape and social discrimination further exacerbate the plight of Christians, who face relentless persecution in a nation ranked among the most religiously hostile.
The government’s tepid response, marked by insufficient investigations, failure to dismantle jihad networks, and lack of accountability for security lapses underscores a profound failure to uphold its duty to protect all citizens, leaving Christians to bear the enduring physical, mental, and emotional scars of unchecked violence.
Islam will likely remain the greatest threat to Pakistani Christians for the next hundred years or more. This is because most Pakistani Muslims are kept educationally and intellectually deprived, as the Islamic education system is largely controlled by jihadists who use it to brainwash children and pass this poison on to future generations. As a result, attacks on Christians in Pakistan will continue.