Peshawar mosque attack confronts Pakistan with tough security choice

Plain-clothed policemen gather over the rubble of a damaged mosque following January's 30 suicide blast inside the police headquarters in Peshawar on February 1, 2023. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
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Updated 17 February 2023
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Peshawar mosque attack confronts Pakistan with tough security choice

  • Government under pressure to launch all-out offensive against militant groups amid economic, political turmoil
  • January’s suicide bombing at the police mosque in Peshawar was the deadliest terrorist attack in several years

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s perfect storm of crisis — economic turbulence, plunging currency, political polarization and Islamist militancy — has been compounded by last month’s suicide bombing at a mosque in a highly fortified police compound in Peshawar.

The attack — Pakistan’s deadliest in several years — harked back to a period more than 10 years ago when Peshawar, a city near the former tribal areas that borders Afghanistan, was scarred by militant violence and a military counteroffensive.

Authorities in Peshawar believe the Jan. 30 attack was in retaliation for the police force’s role on the front line of Pakistan’s battle with a resurgent insurgency since the Taliban returned to power across the border in Afghanistan.




Family members of a mosque blast victim weep during a protest against the militancy and the suicide blast inside a police headquarters in Peshawar on February 1, 2023. (Photo courtesy: AFP)

The suicide bombing was the latest in a string of attacks targeted at security personnel across the country since the militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, called off its cease-fire deal with the Pakistan government in November.

Visiting Peshawar soon after the attack, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said “all resources” would be mobilized to flush out the militants. “This is no less than an attack on Pakistan ...  I have no doubt terrorism is our foremost national security challenge,” he said in a tweet.

If Sharif’s government decides to match words with resolute action, it would not be lacking in support judging by the public outrage fanned by the high death toll.

“Pakistan needs to come out of the confusion, end appeasement of the militants through peace talks, and go all out against them to achieve permanent peace,” Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani security analyst, told Arab News.

Until Pakistan “separates itself from its romance with violent extremism,” the militants will continue to believe they can seize power, he said.

“We have to crush the militants’ ideological infrastructure and supply chain to break their backbone,” Zaidi said, adding that the government needed to formulate a “decisive strategy” to flush out the terrorists.

The Peshawar attack happened at a time when Pakistan is facing a slew of daunting challenges, with domestic political tensions soaring over a worsening cost-of-living crisis in the run-up to general elections due by October.




This handout picture taken on January 30, 2023 and released by Pakistan's Police Department shows Pakistan's security officials gather to attend funeral prayers for police officers who were killed in a mosque blast inside the police headquarters in Peshawar. (Photo courtesy: AFP)

Analysts say political disunity and ideological confusion have provided space for militants to regroup and target the state.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the TTP has distanced itself from the Peshawar bombing, claiming it does not target mosques. Police are investigating whether the attack was the handiwork of an on-off TTP affiliate, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

Although separate, the Pakistani Taliban, established in 2007, is allied with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 when US and NATO forces concluded their 20-year occupation of the country.

Several militant groups, including the TTP, began operating in Pakistan’s former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, shortly after the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan in response to the Taliban’s refusal to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

During that time, the militants unleashed a wave of terror in FATA, killing soldiers, murdering outspoken politicians and celebrities, and eliminating perceived opponents. Compounding the crisis, they outlawed women’s education in the area, destroying about 200 girls’ schools.

It was in 2012 in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Pakistani Taliban militant. She miraculously survived the attack, going on to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy of girls’ education.

FASTFACT

 

Allied with Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan emerged in 2007, killing tens of thousands of civilians and security personnel.

Crushed in a military crackdown after 2014, TTP has regrouped since the Taliban came to power across the border in August 2021.

For the Jan. 30 Peshawar blast, Pakistani police have blamed Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a more radical group occasionally affiliated to the TTP, which has denied involvement.

Large-scale counterinsurgency operations began in 2014, killing most militant commanders and fighters and driving the rest into Afghanistan. The areas constituting FATA, established at the time of partition from India in 1947, were amalgamated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.

However, after the Taliban returned to power in Kabul and the US ended counterterrorism operations in the border region, Pakistani militants began to regroup in the former tribal districts. Since then, a rash of deadly attacks have left Pakistanis in little doubt that their country faces a renewed insurgency.

Ismail Khan, a Pakistani journalist and security analyst, believes the Sharif government urgently needs to devise “a holistic and long-term strategy in the conference to deal with the problem at hand.”

At the same time, he told Arab News, “the government should also directly engage with the Afghan government to put an end to the cross-border movement of the terrorists, besides formulating and implementing a robust counterterrorism strategy.”

In January alone, the militants killed 124 security personnel and injured 247 in 26 separate attacks, the majority of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, according to data shared by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

The breakdown of the data shows that of these 26 attacks, seven took place in Balochistan, in which six people were killed and 17 were injured; one in Sindh with no casualties; two in Punjab, killing two; and 16 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 116 and injuring 230.

According to the think tank, attacks rose by 50 percent in Pakistan, mostly along the western provinces bordering Afghanistan, during the first year of Taliban rule in Kabul.

In recent months, Islamabad has accused Kabul of failing to secure its borders and allowing militants inside Afghanistan to plan attacks against Pakistan.

Peace negotiations between the TTP and Pakistan, mediated by the Afghan Taliban, fell through in November, shattering a shaky cease-fire. During the talks, the militants had their numbers boosted by the release of about 100 low-level fighters from Pakistani jails.

Major General Ejaz Awan (retired), a prominent security analyst and former Pakistani ambassador to Brunei, believes a military response is the only solution to the terror threat.

“They are not willing to acknowledge Pakistan’s constitution, law, and writ of the state, therefore there is only one option left now and that is to wage a full-fledged war against them,” Awan told Arab News.

Awan, who held several rounds of unsuccessful peace talks with the militants in the early 2000s, wants the Pakistani government to launch an intelligence-based operation in the country’s tribal districts and other areas to eradicate the militants, their facilitators and supporters.

“These militants are equipped with the latest gadgets like night vision goggles left by the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan after their withdrawal, so Pakistan should also take it up with the Afghan authorities,” he said. 

According to investigators who spoke to the AFP news agency, the suspect appeared on CCTV arriving at the compound gates on a motorcycle before walking through a security checkpoint and asking officers where the Police Lines Mosque was located.

Moazzam Jah Ansari, the head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province police force, said the bomber used 10-12 kg of explosive material, brought to the site in advance of the attack in bits and pieces.

Authorities have been hard put to come up with an explanation for the suicide bomber’s success in gaining access to the mosque dressed in police uniform.

They are investigating how such a major breach could have occurred in one of the most secure areas of the city, which houses the intelligence and counterterrorism bureaus, amid concerns that people inside the police compound may have enabled the attack.

Hundreds of police were attending afternoon prayers inside what should have been a tightly controlled police headquarters when the blast erupted, causing a wall to collapse and crush scores of officers.

On Feb. 2, police officials revised the death toll down from 101 to 83 officers and one civilian, after saying there was confusion in registering bodies. Many survivors remain in hospital in a critical condition.

Expressing solidarity with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “stressed the Kingdom’s firm position that rejects targeting places of worship and terrorizing and shedding the blood of innocent people,” according to a Saudi Press Agency report.

The ministry “also affirmed that the Kingdom stands by the brotherly Islamic Republic of Pakistan against all forms of violence, extremism, and terrorism, regardless of its motives or justifications.”

The attack also drew strong condemnations from the Muslim World League and the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, among other international organizations.

“It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship,” Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said through a spokesperson. “Freedom of religion or belief, including the ability to worship in peace and security, is a universal human right.”

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan prime minister who is a fierce critic of the current government, said: “It is imperative we improve our intelligence gathering and properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism.”

Prime Minister Sharif has appealed for national unity in the wake of the Peshawar attack. “We should unite and tackle this,” he said on Feb. 3 during his visit to the city.

But given the array of challenges facing Pakistan, his government’s attention is likely to continue to be divided across multiple fronts.

 


Naval chief says Pakistan’s economic future ‘inextricably linked’ to maritime security

Updated 25 November 2024
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Naval chief says Pakistan’s economic future ‘inextricably linked’ to maritime security

  • Admiral Naveed Ashraf says challenges in Indian Ocean Region requires greater vigilance
  • He says Pakistan’s socio-economic prosperity can be assured by harnessing blue economy 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf on Monday emphasized the importance of maritime security for the country’s economic future, calling for robust measures to address “unprecedented challenges” in the Indian Ocean Region.
In a message issued to mark the Seventh Maritime Security Workshop, scheduled to run from November 26 to December 5 at the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore, Ashraf highlighted the need to harness the country’s maritime potential while ensuring a secure environment for trade and economic growth.
He noted the Indian Ocean Region faced significant challenges, including geopolitical competition, nuclearization and transnational threats, compounded by rapid technological advancements.
“The country’s economic future is inextricably linked to the sea, which serves as mankind’s last reservoir for sustenance,” he said. “Securing our maritime domain is not merely a national priority but a necessity, requiring cooperation, innovation and vigilance.”
Ashraf stressed the potential of Pakistan’s maritime resources to drive socio-economic prosperity through the exploitation of the blue economy, enabled by a secure maritime environment.
His comments come at a time when Pakistan has made a strategic offer to landlocked Central Asian economies for access to its ports, allowing them to conduct trade via sea routes.
The initiative underscores Pakistan’s ambition to position itself as a critical hub for regional economic activity.
“Our rich maritime resources offer great potential for economic prosperity,” the naval chief maintained.
“Let us work toward a secure and stable maritime environment that benefits not only our nation but the global community at large,” he added.


Policeman killed in clashes with Imran Khan supporters leading protest march to Islamabad 

Updated 25 November 2024
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Policeman killed in clashes with Imran Khan supporters leading protest march to Islamabad 

  • Punjab information minister says 70 people wounded in violence by Khan’s supporters, party says scores of its followers also hurt
  • Protest ‘long march’ has coincided with visit of Belarus president, with government accusing PTI of trying to sabotage economic recovery

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari said on Monday one police constable had been killed and five were critically injured in violence by supporters of jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is leading a protest march to the federal capital of Islamabad. 

Thousands of rallygoers reached the edges of Islamabad on Monday, after protest caravans set out from various parts of the country a day earlier to call for the release of political prisoners, including Khan, among other demands.

The protesters set out despite the government refusing to grant the PTI permission to enter Islamabad for a sit-in. Last week, the district administration also imposed a two-month ban on public gatherings in the capital, citing security challenges and inconvenience to the public. Earlier this year, parliament also passed a new law to regulate public assembly in Islamabad, which laid out, among other rules, that any party or group wanting to hold a protest would need permission from the administration and could only assemble at a designated venue and during set timings.

Authorities have closed all schools in Islamabad and the adjacent garrison city of Rawalpindi, while the Internet and WhatsApp messaging services have also slowed as the protest march continues. All routes connecting Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been completely shut for the last two days, as are highways and roads from other cities leading to the federal capital. 

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, Bukhari said one policeman had been killed in clashes with PTI supporters. 

“FC [Frointier Corps] soldier Samiullah sustained a gunshot wound to the leg in Sargodha. In Kati Pahari on the Attock Motorway, [police] Constable Wajid was shot in the neck and arm and is in critical condition,” the minister said, only giving the first names of officers. 

“In Wah Cantt [in Rawalpindi district], the injured include Sub-Inspector Farooq and Sub-Inspector Zohaib, while Constable Mubashir has lost his life. Five people remain in critical condition.”

She added that 70 people had been wounded in clashes with the protesters just outside Islamabad, while there were reports of several other clashes elsewhere in the province.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said those responsible for the killing of the policeman would be brought to justice. 

Khan’s party said scores of its workers were also hurt.

“TILL MY LAST BREATH”

The PTI march started on Sunday but could not reach Islamabad as shipping containers placed by the government on key points on major highways slowed the pace of the caravans. The PTI says its final destination is D-Chowk, a high-security area in the capital’s Red Zone that houses key government buildings and is a popular site for protests. Heavy contingents of police and other security forces have been stationed across Islamabad and at entry and exit points. 

The largest PTI protest caravan began its journey from Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province where Khan’s party is in power. It is being led by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Khan’s wife Bushra Khan, who was released on bail in October after nearly nine months in detention. 

Khan has been in jail since August last year and faces a slew of charges he says are politically motivated. 

On Monday evening, the PTI said in a text to reporters that the rally had “broken through one of the biggest barrages of containers and is at the gate of Islamabad.”

“Until Khan does not return to us, we will not end this march,” Bushra said to supporters from atop the protest caravan as the PTI edged closer to Islamabad. “I will stand there till my last breath, you people have to stand by me. I will keep standing even if nobody does because this does not concern just my husband but the country and its leader.”

 

 

Islamabad police confirmed over 400 arrests related to the protest in the past few days, saying the detainees were being held in different police stations. The PTI said over 3,500 of its leaders and supporters had been arrested in connection to the protests.

PTI leader Shaukat Yousafzai, who is part of the caravan, told Arab News over the phone the march would carry on until it reached D-Chowk. 

“We will only return from D-Chowk when Imran Khan and other innocent party workers are released from Pakistani prisons,” he said. 

The PTI also said key leaders Gohar Khan and Ali Mohammad Khan had been allowed to meet the PTI flounder at Adiala jail, but no details were shared about the focus or outcome of the discussions. 

The PTI’s march has coincided with a visit to Islamabad by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and a 68-member delegation to discuss investment deals. The government has accused the PTI of trying to sabotage the foreign visit in a bid to destabilize its economic recovery efforts. 

Yousafzai rejected this criticism, saying his party had called the protest well before the Belarusian delegation’s arrival was announced. 

“We have not blocked the roads,” he added. “The government has blocked the roads, creating a situation like this. The government should have held talks with the PTI instead of blocking the roads.”

KP government spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif also said the PTI planned to hold a “protracted protest.”

“We are advancing according to our plan and are not in a hurry,” he said. “The government should prepare food supplies for the police for several days because we won’t stop until our demands are met.”

A report prepared by Pakistan’s ministry of finance and released on Sunday estimated economic losses of Rs190 billion ($684 million) per day due to political protests.


Wheel-jam strike paralyzes Balochistan highways amid protest over kidnapped schoolboy

Updated 30 min 18 sec ago
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Wheel-jam strike paralyzes Balochistan highways amid protest over kidnapped schoolboy

  • 11-year-old Muhammad Musawir Khan was kidnapped by armed men in Quetta on Nov. 15
  • Government says law enforcement agencies are working for the kidnapped boy’s recovery

QUETTA: A wheel-jam strike paralyzed highways in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Monday as protests over the kidnapping of an 11-year-old schoolboy entered their 11th consecutive day in Quetta.
Muhammad Musawir Khan, a third-grade student, was kidnapped from a school van by unknown armed men while on his way to school on November 15.
The family has not received any ransom call from the kidnappers in all these days since his abduction. They have also categorically said they will not pay a single penny to the kidnappers.
“Today, all national highways connecting Balochistan with the rest of the country are closed against the kidnapping of my son,” Raz Muhammad, the boy’s father, told Arab News. “We will continue our protest until he safely returns home.”
Muhammad urged Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Asim Munir to consider Khan as their own child and play a role in his recovery.
Other family members echoed the sentiment, saying it was the state’s responsibility to ensure the boy’s recovery and improve the general environment of insecurity.
“We have been sitting here for the last 11 days to seek protection for all children like Muhammad Musawir Khan from these kidnappers,” Hajji Malang, the boy’s uncle, told Arab News. “Whoever kidnapped our child, we will not bargain with them for his release.”

Demonstrators are protesting over the kidnapping of an 11-year-old schoolboy in Quetta, Pakistan, on November 25, 2024. (AN photo)

The kidnapped boy belongs to a prominent tribal family involved in the gold trading business in Balochistan for decades. According to the family, he was abducted from Patel Bagh, a busy neighborhood in Quetta.
Political and religious parties, traders, transporters, lawyers and civil society members have all been visiting the protest camp to express solidarity with the family and demand the immediate and safe recovery of the boy.
Speaking to the media outside the provincial assembly, Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti said he thought of the kidnapped child like his own son.
“We are utilizing our full capacity and the government is making serious efforts to ensure his safe recovery,” he said.
Commissioner of Quetta Division Hamza Shafqaat shared the same update while speaking to Arab News.
“The government, along with all law enforcement agencies, is working diligently for the recovery of Muhammad Musawir Khan,” he said.
“We have shared our report on the progress in the recovery of the kidnapped boy to with the Balochistan High Court, chief minister and the provincial assembly, and they have all expressed satisfaction that the investigation is heading in the right direction,” he added.
However, Shafqaat declined to divulge details of the ongoing investigation.
Malik Muhammad Sadiq Kakar, senior member of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, said that highways in Balochistan’s Quetta, Mastung, Khuzdar, Killa Abdullah, Chaman, Zhob, Killa Saifullah and Loralai districts were closed to protest the kidnapping of the child.
“We are sitting with the family of the kidnapped boy to express solidarity because we want peace in Balochistan,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, which shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran, has been the site of a low-level insurgency by separatist militants for over two decades.
Other extremist factions, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Daesh’s Khorasan chapter, also have a presence in the region and frequently attack security forces and civilians.
Last week, Pakistan approved a “comprehensive military operation” in the province, targeting ethnic Baloch separatist groups attacking security forces and Chinese nationals working on the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).


COMSTECH, Pakistani conglomerate announce internship program for OIC member countries

Updated 25 November 2024
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COMSTECH, Pakistani conglomerate announce internship program for OIC member countries

  • International program hosted by Gourmet Industries, the largest food processing complex in Pakistan
  • Selected candidates will receive accommodation, meals, and return economy-class air ticket to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), in collaboration with Pakistan’s Gourmet Industries, has announced the COMSTECH-Gourmet Industrial Internship Program for its first batch in January 2025, state news agency APP reported on Monday.

Hosted by Gourmet Industries, the largest food processing complex in Pakistan, the program offers 10 internships lasting four weeks. Selected candidates will receive accommodation, meals, and return economy-class air ticket to participate in the program, which aims to promote innovation, research, and skill development across various industrial sectors, offering participants practical training and exposure to advanced technologies and industrial processes.

The program will focus on key areas in food industry operations including bakery, dairy, and beverages, plant utilities, recycling through innovative RPET methodologies, shrink-wrap production, sugar mill logistics, and media training in journalism and broadcasting. Participants will gain hands-on experience in supply chain management, production processes, and sustainability practices also.

“The internship is open to applicants from OIC member countries holding a BS/BSc or MS/MSc in relevant fields and under the age of 40,” the report said. 

“The objective of the COMSTECH-Gourmet Industrial Internship Program is to foster innovation and research and development (R&D) across diverse industrial sectors, including food processing, engineering, plant operations, recycling, and so forth.”

The program will provide interns hands-on experience and exposure to cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, thereby enhancing their practical skills and theoretical knowledge.

“By engaging in real-world projects, interns will contribute to the advancement of industrial processes and the development of sustainable solutions, ultimately driving technological innovation and improving operational efficiencies in the fields of human nutrition and value addition,” APP added. 

“This initiative underscores COMSTECH’s mission to empower youth in OIC nations and advance technological development for socio-economic progress.”

Applicants have to complete an application form and upload requested documents (CV, Research Proposal, etc.) at: (https://form.jotform.com/243101366016444) till Nov, 30. Applicants can contact [email protected] for further information.


Pakistan approves $625 million for infrastructure projects in Balochistan, Sindh, KP provinces

Updated 25 November 2024
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Pakistan approves $625 million for infrastructure projects in Balochistan, Sindh, KP provinces

  • Projects will improve connectivity in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh
  • Six of the approved projects are for the remote southwestern Balochistan region 

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of Pakistan’s National Economic Council has approved ten infrastructure projects costing Rs172.7 billion ($625.54), Radio Pakistan reported on Monday, with a majority of the schemes approved for the remote Balochistan province. 

The ECNEC met in Islamabad on Monday with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in the chair.

“The projects pertain to the infrastructure sector for improving connectivity in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. Six of the approved projects are in Balochistan,” Radio Pakistan said. 

“World Bank funded project for developing solid waste infrastructure for Karachi costing 29.2 billion rupees was also approved.”

Balochistan, which comprises 44 percent of Pakistan’s total land mass, is its most backward by almost all economic and social indicators.

Rich in land and mineral wealth, most parts of the Balochistan province often lack even the rudiments of modern life. Home to Reko Diq, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits, and the site of major Chinese investment projects, the province lacks employment opportunities and basic facilities like Internet, health and education. 

Balochistan also has the lowest density of roads among the four provinces of Pakistan. Poor connectivity and access continue to be a major problem, which particularly affect the poor, who live mostly in the rural areas.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, annual rainfall and temperature patterns have significantly increased and the lack of resilient infrastructure has escalated the impact of disasters on people and livelihoods. Flooding events since 2010 have substantially damaged the road network, hampering connectivity and escalating transportation costs.

Home to over 55 million people, Sindh is Pakistan’s second largest province and generates a third of national GDP. However, economic development is skewed in favor of the provincial capital Karachi, the country’s largest city and responsible for three-quarters of overall trade activity. Rural areas are poorly connected to the regional centers, and the road conditions of about half of the 2,830 km of provincial highways are substandard due to damage from heavy truck traffic and seasonal flooding.