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.

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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.

 


Pakistan PM directs inclusion of business sector input in budget preparation

Updated 9 sec ago
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Pakistan PM directs inclusion of business sector input in budget preparation

  • Shehbaz Sharif chaired a review meeting of the Export Facilitation Scheme to determine how to improve its effectiveness
  • The incumbent government will be presenting its second federal budget in June after assuming political power last year

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday instructed the government to include suggestions from the industrial and business sectors in the upcoming budget preparation while chairing a meeting to review the country’s exports, his office announced.
The move signals the government’s intent to adopt a more inclusive approach in shaping fiscal policy for the next financial year, as it faces pressure to revive economic growth, attract investment and address concerns from the private sector.
The incumbent government will be presenting its second federal budget in June after assuming power last year.
“Consultation with industries and business organizations should be included in the preparation of the upcoming budget and their suggestions should be incorporated into it,” the PM Office quoted Sharif as saying following the meeting on the Export Facilitation Scheme, a policy initiative by the Federal Board of Revenue simplifying the import of raw materials, machinery and input goods for exporters, with minimal duties and taxes.
“Increasing revenue from exports is a top priority of the government,” he added.
He highlighted the importance of consulting sector experts on the committee’s recommendations to improve the scheme, particularly regarding the import of raw materials and machinery for export industries.
Sharif directed authorities to present a level playing field for local industries, adding that the scheme was launched to reduce production costs and enhance Pakistan’s competitiveness in domestic exports.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers, an adviser to the PM, Pakistan’s tax authority chief and businessmen from the export industry.


Pakistan calls for global action over Israel’s killing of Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza

Updated 23 min 3 sec ago
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Pakistan calls for global action over Israel’s killing of Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza

  • Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan urges the world to put end to Israeli violations of international law
  • Israel deliberately killed 15 Palestinian emergency workers last month in a shooting incident captured on video

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan urged the international community on Thursday to take notice of Israel’s latest “barbarity” in the Gaza Strip while referring to the killing of 15 Palestinian emergency workers in a shooting incident captured on video.
The emergency workers were shot dead on March 23 and buried in shallow graves. Initially, the Israeli military claimed it opened fire after unmarked vehicles approached its soldiers in the dark, but later changed the statement after video footage emerged showing clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks with their lights on coming under fire.
The war in Gaza, which began in October 2023, has continued despite repeated international appeals for a ceasefire. The Palestinian death toll has reportedly surpassed 50,000, with women and children making up a significant portion of the casualties.
“Pakistan in the strongest possible terms condemns the continued aggression and atrocities committed by Israeli occupation forces in occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said during his weekly media briefing.
“In the latest incidents of brutality, Israel has mercilessly killed 15 Palestinian emergency and civil defense workers,” he continued. “Pakistan demand that the international community should take immediate notice of this barbarity and stop this blatant violation of international law and charter of the United Nations.”

 
Khan highlighted his country’s condemnation of the continued aggression by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel, has consistently supported the Palestinian demand for an independent state based on pre-1967 borders.
It has repeatedly raised concerns over the Gaza conflict at various global forums, including the UN Security Council, and has called for a ceasefire and accountability for Israel’s actions.


World Bank investment arm commits $300 million loan to Pakistan’s Reko Diq mining project

Updated 10 April 2025
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World Bank investment arm commits $300 million loan to Pakistan’s Reko Diq mining project

  • Located in Balochistan, Reko Diq is among the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold reserves
  • IFC says its involvement will mitigate project risks and support sustainable mining practices in Pakistan

KARACHI: The World Bank’s private investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will extend $300 million in debt financing for Pakistan’s Reko Diq copper and gold mining project, according to an IFC project disclosure published on Wednesday.
Reko Diq, located in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, is among the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold reserves. Once operational, it is expected to significantly boost Pakistan’s exports, generate substantial tax and royalty revenues and contribute to economic growth and job creation.
IFC said its involvement will mitigate project risks in the restive Balochistan region and support sustainable mining practices.
“The estimated total Project cost is $6.6bn, and it will be financed using a combination of debt and equity,” IFC announced while sharing a summary of its investment.
“IFC’s proposed investment consists of an A-loan of up to $300 million,” it added. “Other parallel lenders will provide the remaining debt financing.”
An A-loan is a direct loan provided by the IFC from its own funds, typically with long-term repayments. It is a form of debt financing, requiring the borrower to repay the loan with interest, unlike equity financing where the investor takes ownership stakes in the project.
The Reko Diq project is being supported by IFC’s technical and financial expertise. The institution will act as Environmental and Social (E&S) coordinator, ensuring adherence to its performance standards and helping implement best practices in sustainability.
IFC will also provide advisory support on mining operations, transport infrastructure and risk mitigation.
According to the investment summary document, the project will strengthen domestic supply chains and contribute to community development in Balochistan.
It is also expected to deepen domestic market integration by linking Balochistan to national and global markets and encouraging further investment in Pakistan’s mineral sector.
The IFC has actively engaged with Pakistan recently through several high-level visits and financial commitments. Earlier this year, its Managing Director Makhtar Diop visited the country in February and met with public and private sector stakeholders to expand IFC’s investment footprint and reaffirm its commitment to sustainable and inclusive growth.
Subsequently, the IFC announced plans to significantly increase its investment in Pakistan, with a target of up to $2 billion annually over the next decade, potentially amounting to $20 billion.
The initiative aligns with the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework, which envisions a combined investment of around $40 billion in Pakistan over ten years.

With input from Reuters
 


Pakistan PM departs for Belarus on two-day visit to boost bilateral cooperation

Updated 10 April 2025
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Pakistan PM departs for Belarus on two-day visit to boost bilateral cooperation

  • The two sides plan to sign several agreements during Sharif’s two-day visit, says Pakistan’s foreign office
  • Visit can also help Pakistan diversify trade partnerships since Belarus can be a gateway to Eurasian markets

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif left for a two-day visit to the Eastern European country of Belarus on Thursday, his office said, as the two sides prepare to sign several agreements to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

Pakistan was among the first countries to recognize Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and has maintained diplomatic relations with it since 1994.

However, bilateral trade has remained modest, with annual volumes ranging between $50 and $65 million, according to the Belarusian embassy in Islamabad.

Belarus mainly exports tractors, trucks, potash fertilizers, synthetic yarns and tires to Pakistan, while Pakistani exports include rice, textiles, leather goods and surgical instruments.

“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has departed for a two-day official visit to Belarus,” the PM Office said in a statement. “At the invitation of His Excellency President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to Belarus from April 10 to 11, 2025.”

According to another statement released by the foreign office earlier today, Sharif will hold talks with Lukashenko to review progress in areas of mutual interest.
“The two sides are expected to sign several agreements to further strengthen cooperation,” it added.
The prime minister’s visit follows a series of bilateral engagements in recent months. The Belarusian president visited Pakistan last November for his third official trip to the country, during which both sides signed a “Roadmap for Comprehensive Cooperation for 2025-2027” to expand economic ties and institutional linkages.
Fourteen other agreements and memorandums of understanding were also inked, covering cooperation in environmental protection, disaster management, halal trade and science and technology.
For Pakistan, closer ties with Belarus offer several strategic advantages that include diversifying trade partnerships beyond traditional markets, enhancing defense collaboration through access to Belarusian technology and tapping into regional connectivity opportunities, with Belarus serving as a potential gateway to Eurasian markets.
The partnership also complements Pakistan’s broader goals, such as the development of an export-oriented economy.


UAE to grant 100,000 Pakistanis five-year visas this year – Sindh governor’s office

Updated 10 April 2025
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UAE to grant 100,000 Pakistanis five-year visas this year – Sindh governor’s office

  • Official statement quotes the UAE envoy mentioning the number of these visas his country plans to issue
  • UAE consulate confirmed this week Pakistani citizens can apply for work, medical and other types of visas

KARACHI: The United Arab Emirates plans to issue five-year visas to 100,000 Pakistanis this year, according to an official statement released by authorities in Pakistan’s Sindh province on Wednesday, following a visit by Governor Kamran Khan Tessori to the UAE consulate in Karachi.
The governor’s office and UAE authorities in Pakistan said this week all visa-related issues between the two countries had been resolved, and Pakistani nationals could now apply for five-year visas to the Emirates.
The development came amid widespread reports in recent months of a decline in visa approvals for Pakistanis, allegedly due to violations of local laws and customs, as well as political sloganeering while abroad.
Tessori visited the UAE consulate in Karachi on the invitation of UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi following a meeting between the two officials in Karachi on Monday.
“The governor of Sindh, Kamran Khan Tessori, was warmly welcomed by the UAE ambassador and consul general during his visit to the UAE consulate,” the Governor House said in a statement.
“The governor toured the visa center at the consulate, where the ambassador briefed him on the facility,” it added. “Ambassador Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi said 100,000 Pakistanis would be granted five-year visas. The consul general added that applicants would be treated with great respect at the visa center and receive full cooperation.”
Earlier this week on Tuesday, the UAE consulate in Karachi issued a statement on the meeting between Tessori and Al-Zaabi.
“We love Pakistanis very much,” the statement quoted Consul General Bakheet Ateeq Al-Rumaithi as saying. “Every person can apply for a UAE visa … Pakistani citizens can also apply for a UAE visa for work, medical treatment and other needs.”
The UAE is home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates, making it the second-largest overseas Pakistani community globally and a major contributor to remittance inflows to Pakistan.
Policymakers in Pakistan also view the UAE as an ideal export market due to its proximity, which reduces transportation and freight costs and facilitates smoother trade.