ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate and former federal minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed escaped a gun attack on Monday night in his hometown of Attock, some 90 kilometers from Islamabad.
Ahmed, a candidate for National Assembly constituency NA-55 along with his son Sheikh Salman Sarwar, a PML-N candidate for a provincial assembly seat, was returning home after addressing a public rally in a nearby village when an unknown attacker fired on their vehicle.
“At night when we were passing through a deserted area, someone fired on our vehicle and bullets hit the back door but luckily we remained unhurt,” Ahmed told Arab News.
The gunman fled the scene in the dark.
Ahmed served as a federal minister for parliamentary affairs in the outgoing government and is a known loyalist of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Meanwhile, a leading human rights watchdog urged Pakistan’s interim government to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of political candidates and party activists who are at risk of attack from the Taliban and other militant groups.
With only a week left till the general elections, attacks on political party candidates have killed more than 170 people and injured hundreds since July 10 alone.
“The Taliban and other militants have killed and injured hundreds of people in their quest to disrupt Pakistan’s elections,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement on Monday.
The watchdog said: “The upcoming elections could be severely compromised unless the government and security forces take immediate measures to ensure that all parties can campaign freely, without fear.”
HRW urged that the Taliban and other militant groups should cease attacks on people campaigning for office and their supporters.
Pakistani authorities need to credibly investigate such attacks and appropriately bring those responsible to justice, added the statement.
On July 13, in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Pakistan’s history, at least 149 people were killed during an election rally held by Nawabzada Siraj Raisani of the Balochistan Awami Party in Mastung, Balochistan. Raisani was killed in the attack.
On July 10, Haroon Bilour, a senior leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), was killed along with at least 20 others in a suicide bombing targeting his election meeting in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. Bilour’s father, Bashir Bilour, also an ANP leader, was killed in a suicide bomb attack by the same group in 2012.
On July 13, four people were killed and at least 32 injured when the convoy of Akram Khan Durrani, a senior political leader of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, was targeted in a remote-controlled blast in Bannu district of KP. Fortunately, Durrani survived the attack.
“On July 10, Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority said that six political leaders and two parties may be targeted by militants in the ongoing election campaign. The individuals named are Imran Khan, Asfandyar Wali, Ameer Haider Hoti, Aftab Sherpao, Akram Khan Durrani, and Talha Saeed. In addition, leaders from the Pakistan People’s Party and PML-N were also deemed at risk of attack,” HRW said.
“After decades of military rule, Pakistan has embarked on its third democratic transition, and the authorities should do their utmost to ensure security for all,” Adams said.
“Violence that prevents all Pakistanis from participating freely, in safety, risks setting back the country’s democratic progress.”
PML-N candidate for National Assembly escapes gun attack
PML-N candidate for National Assembly escapes gun attack
- Human Rights Watch urged Pakistan’s interim government to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of political leaders and activists who are at the risk of attack from the Taliban and other militant groups
- Since July 10, attacks on political candidates have killed more than 170 people and injured hundreds
Austria says stabbing attack suspect swore allegiance to Daesh
- Daesh calling for lone wolf attacks in America and Europe following a New Year attack in New Orleans, according to SITE Intelligence.
- Daesh has not claimed responsibility for the attack so far
VILLACH: The Syrian asylum-seeker suspected of carrying out a deadly stabbing rampage in the Austrian town of Villach had sworn allegiance to Daesh and was radicalized online, authorities said on Sunday.
A 14-year-old boy was killed in Saturday afternoon’s attack in the center of Villach and five other people were wounded, three of whom are in intensive care, police said.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a press conference in Villach that the 23-year-old Syrian man, who was arrested seven minutes after the first call to the police, had been rapidly radicalized on the internet and that the Daesh flag had been found in his apartment.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Police said the man, who is being charged with murder and attempted murder, had recorded himself swearing an oath of allegiance to Daesh.
• More harm would have been done had it not been for another Syrian, a food delivery driver, who saw the attacker and drove into him with his vehicle to stop him, authorities said.
Karner, a conservative, told reporters there was sadness and sympathy for the victims, then added: “But in these moments there’s also understandably often anger and rage. Anger at an attacker who randomly stabbed innocent people here in this town.”
Police said the man, who is being charged with murder and attempted murder, had recorded himself swearing an oath of allegiance to Daesh.
More harm would have been done had it not been for another Syrian, a food delivery driver, who saw the attacker and drove into him with his vehicle to stop him, authorities said.
Daesh has not claimed responsibility for the attack so far. However, the media section of Daesh’s Afghan branch, Daesh-K, recently circulated a post by Daesh calling for lone wolf attacks in America and Europe following a New Year attack in New Orleans, according to SITE Intelligence.
The bloodshed in Villach followed the thwarting of a plot in August to carry out a suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna by a teenager who had also sworn loyalty to Daesh.
Wife of detained Ugandan politician ‘worried’ over hunger strike
- Besigye was abducted in Kenya in November, and has been facing the death penalty on treason charges in a court martial
ADDIS ABABA: The wife of detained Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye said on Sunday she was “very worried” about his health, nearly a week after the ex-presidential candidate began a hunger strike.
Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of the country’s President Yoweri Museveni — in power for nearly 40 years — whom he has unsuccessfully challenged in four elections.
On trial for “threatening national security,” Besigye went on hunger strike on Feb. 10 to protest his detention, with his lawyer describing him as “critically ill.”
“He’s not been eating, he’s only drinking water,” his wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, said on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Kizza Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of the country’s President Yoweri Museveni, whom he has unsuccessfully challenged in four elections.
• On trial for ‘threatening national security,’ Besigye went on hunger strike on Feb. 10 to protest his detention.
“He says it’s his only act of protest at the illegal detention that he’s being put through.”
When Besigye was last seen in public, during a court appearance on Friday, “he looked very frail and dehydrated,” she said.
She added that she was “very worried about his condition now.”
Besigye was abducted in Kenya in November, and has been facing the death penalty on treason charges in a court martial.
Museveni rejected last month’s Supreme Court ruling that civilians should not be tried in military courts.
Byanyima has previously labelled the trial a “sham.”
“I am in a fight for justice,” she said. “If this happens to him, that he continues to be held illegally, that some trumped-up process is used to convict him, this is not just about him, it’s about the fate of democracy and the rights of Ugandans,” she said.
The UN and several rights organizations have voiced their concern about the suppression of the political opposition in Uganda in the run-up to the 2026 presidential elections.
Rights group Amnesty International branded Besigye’s case a “travesty of justice.”
US-Russia talks should not rewrite Europe’s security: Finland
- The new US administration has warned its NATO allies that Washington will no longer be primarily focused on the continent’s security and may have to shift forces elsewhere to focus on China
MUNICH: Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Sunday said that talks between the US and Russia over the Ukraine war must not rewrite European security and allow Moscow to establish “spheres of interest.”
Washington blindsided Kyiv and its European backers this week by launching talks on ending Moscow’s three-year invasion in a call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The new US administration has also warned its NATO allies that Washington will no longer be primarily focused on the continent’s security and may have to shift forces elsewhere to focus on China.
The Kremlin has pushed for the negotiations to discuss not just Ukraine but also broader European security.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Washington blindsided Kyiv and its European backers this week by launching talks on ending Moscow’s three-year invasion in a call with Putin.
• The new US administration has warned its NATO allies that Washington will no longer be primarily focused on the continent’s security and may have to shift forces elsewhere to focus on China.
That has sparked fears among Washington’s allies that Putin could return to demands he floated prior to the 2022 invasion aimed at limiting NATO’s forces in eastern Europe and US involvement on the continent.
One issue talks “should not discuss is new European security arrangements,” Stubb, whose country shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, told the Munich Security Conference.
“There’s no way we should open the door for this Russian fantasy of a new, indivisible security order, where it can do spheres of interest.”
The stance from the new US administration has sown further concerns in Europe as Trump demands NATO countries spend more on their own defense.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth this week warned that Washington will no longer be primarily focused on the continent’s security and may have to shift forces elsewhere to focus on China.
Stubb insisted that Ukraine’s push to join NATO and the EU should be “non-negotiable,” even after Washington appeared to rule out Kyiv joining the military alliance as part of a peace deal.
Stubb laid out a vision for how negotiations could work — saying that the West should hit Russia with tough sanctions ahead of talks to pile on the pressure.
He said European countries should help support any eventual ceasefire, with the US acting as a “backstop.”
Osaka meets Saudi Arabian culture ahead of the 2025 Expo
- Similar cultural showcases are scheduled for several cities across Japan in the coming weeks
TOKYO: To promote the country, its culture and heritage, as well as its pavilion at the Osaka Expo, which opens in April, Saudi Arabia is staging events around the country to give people a taste of life and culture in the Kingdom.
On Saturday and Sunday, Saudi Arabia put on a cultural experience showcasing its heritage in Osaka’s busy Namba district. The event used interactive experiences to help give the local people a taste of the nation’s rich traditions.
Visitors were able to experience Saudi Arabian hospitality and sample traditional food and drink.
The event also highlighted the country’s artistic heritage with displays of intricate handmade items that demonstrated the craftsmanship behind Saudi Arabia’s traditional arts.
A special Immersive VR Experience took guests virtually to the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, allowing them to explore cultural landmarks in a unique way.
In addition, guests were able to try on traditional Saudi attire, while live performances of regional music created a unique Arabian atmosphere.
One attendee described the event as “an unexpected but delightful experience,” adding that the culture felt “warm and welcoming.”
Similar cultural showcases are scheduled for several cities across Japan in the coming weeks. With the Osaka-Kansai Expo approaching, Saudi Arabia is building anticipation for its pavilion, where a similar diverse program of performances, exhibits and cultural showcases will be on display.
Over 40 people killed in Mali gold mine collapse
- The deceased, mostly women, had climbed down into open-pit areas left by industrial miners to look for scraps of gold when the earth collapsed
- Artisanal mining is a common activity across much of West Africa and has become more lucrative in recent years due to rising prices of metals
BAMAKO: Forty-three people, mostly women, were killed after an artisanal gold mine collapsed in western Mali on Saturday, the head of an industry union said.
The accident took place near the town of Kenieba in Mali’s gold-rich Kayes region, Taoule Camara, secretary general of the national union of gold counters and refineries (UCROM), told Reuters.
The women had climbed down into open-pit areas left by industrial miners to look for scraps of gold when the earth collapsed around them, he said.
A mines ministry spokesperson confirmed the accident had taken place between the towns of Kenieba and Dabia, but declined to give further details as ministry teams at the scene had not yet shared their report.
Artisanal mining is a common activity across much of West Africa and has become more lucrative in recent years due to growing demand for metals and rising prices.
Deadly accidents are frequent as the artisanal miners often use unregulated methods.
Thirteen artisanal miners, including women and three children, were killed in southwest Mali in late January, after a tunnel in which they were digging for gold flooded.
