KARACHI: At least 62 people, including women and children, were killed and over 100 wounded, some of them critically, in a massive explosion at the shrine of Shah Noorani in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, some 200 kilometres north of Karachi on Saturday evening, police and Balochistan government officials. “Devotees were busy in Dhamaal, (a ritual dance) in the courtyard of Shah Noorani shrine around sunset when a huge explosion killed and injured dozens of…
Posts published in “Day: November 14, 2016”
Balochistan government spokesman Anwarul Kakar said Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri was personally monitoring the situation. He added that the casualties were being ferried to hospitals in the nearby industrial town of Hub and the port city of Karachi, where a state of emergency has been declared. Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said the suicide bombing could be a reprisal for the killing of a senior commander of a banned…
The writer is a legal adviser for the International Commission of Jurists. ACCORDING to the ISPR, 121 out of 130 (93pc) people convicted by military courts ‘admitted’ to their involvement in terrorism. In the absence of adequate safeguards and independent review mechanisms in military proceedings, this high ‘confession’ rate raises serious questions about their voluntariness, and even concerns about torture and other ill treatment. One fundamental principle of a fair trial is the right against…
ISLAMABAD – President Mamnoon Hussain yesterday promulgated Companies Ordinance, 2016, that would empower Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to ensure adequate measures against fraud, money laundering and terror financing. “In order to ensure adequate measures against fraud, money laundering and terror financing, the Companies Ordinance, 2016, empowers the SECP to investigate and also conduct a joint investigation. Furthermore, provisions requiring officers of a company to take adequate measures to curb such violations have…
The Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) on Saturday dismissed three ministers after they failed to provide satisfactory report backs on the spending of development budgets. The ministers are Minister of Public Works Mahmood Baligh; Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled Nasreen Oryakhil, and Salahuddin Rabbani, the minister of foreign affairs. Parliament announced last week that it would summon ministers from Saturday over their failure to spend their development budgets. A joint parliamentary…
Mohammad Masoom Hashimi Safi, head of Kunduz security department, said Saturday that security officials who were fired last year by President Ashraf Ghani are behind the Kunduz crisis. Safi added that last year, when Ghani visited Kunduz, he fired or changed the duty station of more than 200 security officials, heads of checkpoints and security forces over negligence in doing their duties. But a number of these security forces and security officials retained their original…
An explosion took place in Kabul city earlier this evening with the security officials saying the blast has not incurred any casualties to the security forces or city residents. An official in the Ministry of Interior confirmed the blast took place in the vicinity of the 5th police district of the city. The official further added that the blast has likely targeted the vehicle of a government official but no one was hurt in the…
In reaction to the Taliban attack at Bagram Airbase outside Kabul early Saturday, the Pentagon said that such attacks will not change the United States’ commitment to Afghanistan. In a statement released by the United States Defense Ministry, ?Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, said that the Pentagon will continue its mission in Afghanistan and added that the United States is commited to helping ensure security and a better future in Afghanistan and that they will…
Reports have emerged regarding the possible picks in Donald Trump’s administration less than a week after he was elected as the new US President. A list of the possible picks for the cabinet and other key posts has been handed over to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, which include a host of corporate consultants and lobbyists in addition to independent experts. According to The New York Times, the former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and…
The Taliban militants group in Afghanistan is being supported by Iran as the country aims to counter the growth of ISIS terrorist group reach in the country, the former Afghan intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil has said. In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Afghanistan service, Nabil said the group is receiving financial and equipment support from Iran, particularly in the western parts of the country. Nabil further added that Russia’s interest towards Afghanistan has also grown…
The writer is the former permanent secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs The American media has a penchant for describing diplomatic relationships as if they are sporting events where a win for one side is necessarily a loss for the other. Some commentators have said Donald Trump’s victory benefits China. The American journal Foreign Policy for example carried an article the day after the election headlined “China Just Won the US Election”. It argued…