'Gen Arshad said the militants were firing on security forces from the mosque's minarets, armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and petrol bombs, and had booby trapped several areas. By mid-afternoon 76 children and women had escaped the mosque, some fleeing under burkas, according to officials.'
a) Why shouldn't women and children be 'fleeing', while the students and army are creating a bloodbath between them?
b) In a mosque, is it that surprising that 'some' women are 'under' burkas?
This appears to be a deliberate reference to the media scare stories about criminals and terrorists using burkas as disguises; it has no purpose in this story, other than to subtly remind the reader of racist scare stories which they have been fed in the past. The use of the term 'fleeing under' is also highly pejorative.
In the local press, we had stories about women who wear burkas sharing bus passes. This caused a major outbreak of tutting, when it in fact causes about as much economic damage as me saying 'Fallowfield' and then getting off in Withington.
Stagecoach are the real criminals, if you ask me.
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