Pakistan
Car bombing in Islamabad kills 2 suspects and policeman
A powerful car bomb detonated near a residential area in Islamabad on Friday, killing two suspected militants and an officer, police said, raising fears that militants have a presence in one of the country’s safest cities.
At least three police officers and seven passersby were wounded in the bombing.
Friday’s bombing in Pakistan’s capital city happened 15 kilometers ( about 9 miles) from the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home of the military and government spy agencies.
Police said in a statement that the blast happened when police officers spotted the car and ordered the driver to halt for routine checking. Instead of stopping, its driver detonated explosives hidden inside. A female passenger in the car also was killed, Suhail Zafar Chattha, a senior police officer in Islamabad told reporters at the scene.
TV footage showed a burning car as police officers cordoned off the area.
Residents said they saw policemen on motorcycles chasing a car and ordering a man inside the vehicle to come out.
Chattha, the city’s deputy police chief confirmed that account, saying the suspect blew up the explosive-laden vehicle after being surrounded by police officers.
Read: Bombing at Indonesian police station kills officer, hurts 7
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the bombing and thanked the police.
“Police officers stopped the terrorists by sacrificing their blood and the nation salutes its brave men,” Sharif said in a statement.
No one claimed responsibility for the bombing. Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces since November, when they unilaterally ended a monthslong cease-fire with Pakistan’s government.
The violence comes days after several Pakistani Taliban detainees overpowered their guards at a counterterrorism center in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday after snatching police weapons and taking three officers hostage.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s special forces raided the detention center, triggering an intense shootout in which the military later said 25 detainees linked to the Pakistani Taliban were killed in Bannu, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and part of a former tribal region.
Three troops and at least three hostages were killed in that incident.
Read: Turkey makes more arrests in connection with deadly bombing
The government has since stepped up security across the country, based on intelligence reports that the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, had dispatched fighters to carry out attacks at public places and police stations.
Pakistani Taliban are separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan last year as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout after 20 years of war. Since then, top TTP leaders and fighters have been hiding in neighboring Afghanistan, though the militants still have relatively free reign in patches of the province.
Ramiz sacked and Sethi reappointed chair of Pakistan cricket
Ramiz Raja has been removed as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board by the government and Najam Sethi reappointed.
Sethi heads a new 14-member management committee including former Pakistan captains Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir. The government has given them 120 days to restore department teams in the domestic setup and form a new board of governors.
The government also repealed the PCB constitution and restored it to the 2014 position, aiming to bring back department teams. The current constitution, formed in 2019, did not recognize department teams.
Read more: Australia crushes South Africa inside 2 days in 1st test
“The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja is no more,” Sethi tweeted late Wednesday. "The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. The Management Committee will work tirelessly to revive first class cricket. Thousands of cricketers will be employed again. The famine in cricket will come to an end."
The move followed the Pakistan test team's first 3-0 whitewash at home on Tuesday, inflicted by England.
New Zealand arrived on Thursday for two tests and three one-day internationals, starting with the first test on Monday in Karachi.
Sethi said the home squad for the New Zealand series was announced by the previous board and they won't change it. "I wish the team is not announced and we could have approached from a different angle, but now it's not the right time,” he said.
Sethi served as chairman from 2013-18. During his tenure, international teams gradually returned to Pakistan after the Sri Lanka bus was attacked in 2009. Sethi also started the Pakistan Super League which attracted foreign cricketers.
He was replaced by Ehsan Mani after cricket great Imran Khan became the country’s prime minister. Mani abolished department teams and squeezed domestic cricket into six provincial teams at the behest of Khan.
Read more: Dhaka Test: Umesh, Ashwin run rampant, leave Bangladesh floundering
However, prominent players and former board members urged the government to bring back department teams.
Mani didn't accept an extension after his three-year tenure ended last year and Khan brought in Ramiz as the new chairman. Ramiz continued as the head despite Khan’s government ending this year and Shahbaz Sharif becoming prime minister.
It is a normal practice in Pakistan that the prime minister, who is also the PCB patron, appoint the head of the board though direct nominations.
“My primary duty is to restore the spirit of the 2014 constitution,” Sethi said at PCB headquarters in Lahore on Thursday.
“The most important thing for us is to change the domestic cricket structure . . . bring back departments and all the regions as there’s been a famine for the last four years.
“Tell me how many cricketers have come through domestic cricket? It looks like only PSL is supplying players. PSL is a very big international brand, and we will take the domestic cricket to that level, too, so that we can get good players from it.”
During Ramiz’s tenure, Pakistan reached the T20 World Cup final this year and the semifinals last year, and qualified for the final of the T20 Asia Cup.
However, Pakistan didn’t fare well in test matches at home. Flat, grassless pitches were the focal point and Pakistan lost an unprecedented four home tests in a row in series losses to Australia and England this year.
The pitches prepared for both series were severely criticized and rated unworthy by the International Cricket Council.
Pakistani Taliban overpower guards, seize police center
Several Pakistani Taliban detainees have managed to overpower their guards at a counter-terrorism center in northwestern Pakistan, snatching police weapons and taking control of the facility, officials said Monday.
The militants at the detention center in Bannu, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and part of a former tribal region, also took police and others inside the compound hostage, according to Mohammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for the provincial government.
Officials say at least 30 Taliban fighters are involved in the takeover and that there could be as many as 10 hostages being held.
The brazen action reflected the Pakistani government’s inability to exercise control at all times over the remote region along the border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but also allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in the neighboring country last year, as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from Afghanistan.
Few other details have emerged about the incident, which started late on Sunday — apparently while police were interrogating the Taliban detainees, according to Saif.
By Monday morning, Pakistan had dispatched military troops and special police forces to the area as security official were trying to negotiate with the hostage-takers. Saif said the place was surrounded and that an operation was underway. He did not elaborate.
Read: Taliban official: 27 people lashed in public in Afghanistan
Authorities were still in talks with the hostage-takers, enlisting the help of several relatives of the Taliban insurgents, security officials told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
The officials said some soldiers were also among the hostages. There were concerns that the military could storm the facility if negotiations fail. In a video message circulating on social media, the hostage-takers threatened to kill the officers if their safe passage was not quickly arranged by the government.
Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban — also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP — confirmed the incident. He said some of the hostage-takers were members of the Pakistani Taliban who had been detained for years. Khurasani said the TTP fighters were demanding safe passage to North or South Waziristan.
Those areas were a Taliban stronghold until a wave of military offensives over the past years declared the region cleared of insurgents. Since then, TTP’s top leaders and fighters have been hiding in neighboring Afghanistan though the militants still have relatively free reign in patches of the province.
Earlier, in a video message, the hostage-takers had demanded they be airlifted to Afghanistan but Khurasani said that demand had been made by mistake, since their fighters were not aware — due to their prolonged detention — that TTP now “enjoys control in some” parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghan border.
Read: Taliban captured, bound and shot to death 27 men in Afghan province: Report
The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces since last month, when they unilaterally ended a monthslong cease-fire with the Pakistani government. The violence has strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who had brokered the cease-fire in May.
The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in the country, the release of their members who are in government custody and a reduction of Pakistani military presence in the country’s former tribal regions.
Rivers, lifeline of Bangladesh, played a crucial role behind victory over Pakistan in 1971: Study
The country’s rivers had played a vital role in defending and guiding the trajectory of Bangladesh's 1971 War of Liberation to victory as a larger number of operations run by the freedom fighters were on the rivers.
In 1971, rivers played one of the critical strategic roles, resisting the free and frequent movement of the enemies – Pakistani occupation forces. Most importantly, rivers acted as front-line soldiers by encountering enemies in the first place in the War of Liberation.
During the War of Liberation, Bangladesh was strategically divided into 11 sectors to defeat the Pakistani army. As Bangladesh is a riverine country, rivers formed most sector boundaries.
Some 87 percent (precisely 86.89pc) of the total boundary of the 11 sectors was demarcated by the rivers, according to a study conducted over the role of rivers in the War of Liberation by a non-government organisation --River and Delta Research Centre (RDRC).
Read more: Bangladesh's Liberation War deeply moving for us: Kennedy Jr
Mainly, rivers such as Padma, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Jamuna, Surma, Madhumati, and Muhuri played a key role in the formation of the sectors.
The highest 100 percent boundary of Sector-1 was demarcated by rivers, while lowest 76.32 percent of Sector-7 was drawn by rivers.
Based on the study findings, the RDRC prepared several maps that help understand the geographical aspects, especially rivers and water bodies of Bangladesh in 1971 and how they influenced Bangladesh’s birth.
The Sector-10, which covered the entire waterways of Bangladesh including coastal areas, rivers and seaports was formed on May 13, 1971, before the other sectors formed on 12-15 June, 1971.
Read more: Brave Women Freedom Fighters of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War
According to government official data, naval commandos of sector-10 had undertaken 78 operations along with Jackpot and Hot Pants. In addition, the RDRC in its study found more than 300 guerrilla operations carried out on rivers.
In these operations, rivers served as a natural defence, and tactical advantage support mechanism that holds an unassailable position on the enemy side of the river.
In this manner, rivers led to the success in the Liberation War. Big and small rivers, monsoon and rains, have isolated, slowed the enemy forces from their occupation, led to national strength and often to war success, cumulating to national independence.
“We found 1270 rivers and streams existed during 1971 in Bangladesh. Every channel and stream played a role of direct defence, as well as served as a tactical advantage support mechanism that holds an unassailable position,” said RDRC chairman Mohammad Azaz.
Read More: 1971 and the Elderly
He said the eastern units of Pakistani troops were supported and supplied the logistics and ammunition through river networks from the beginning of the war in March 1971. In the beginning, the guerilla operations were mainly on land, he added.
As the operations increased, Pakistani troops used rivers and waterways as the safest network. Ships and supply chain networks were active and transported across all the major river ports in the country. This situation was functional up to mid-August, he said.
“We found that the naval operations and other operations on rivers gained attention globally, and Pakistani forces started losing their confidence and started losing the war from August to December 1971.The guerrilla operations had also lowered the morale of the Pakistani army,” said Azaz.
During the 1971 War of Liberation, rivers and waterbodies played a vital role in facilitating communication within and outside the country and helped demolish the Pakistani Military. The influence of Pakistani occupation forces started declining sharply due to naval operations particularly after August 16, 1971, which led to the victory and birth of Bangladesh as a new country in the world’s map.
Read More: 1971 loss a ‘military failure’, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal says after ex army chief called it ‘political failure’
Martyred Intellectuals Day on Wednesday
The nation is set to observe the Martyred Intellectuals Day on Wednesday to commemorate the intellectuals killed systematically by Pakistan occupation forces and their local collaborators at the fag-end of the Liberation War in 1971.
On this day in 1971, the country’s renowned academicians, doctors, engineers, journalists, artists, teachers and other eminent personalities were dragged out of their homes, blindfolded and taken to unknown places and then brutally tortured and murdered.
Their bodies were later dumped at Rayerbazar, Mirpur and some other killing fields in the capital.
Sensing an imminent defeat, the Pakistani forces and their local collaborators like Al-Badr, Al-Shams and Razakar committed the cold-blooded mass murders aiming to annihilate the country's intelligentsia and cripple emerging Bangladesh intellectually.
Read more: Bangladesh observing Martyred Intellectuals Day
Among the martyred intellectuals are Prof Munier Chowdhury, Dr Alim Chowdhury, Prof Muniruzzaman, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Prof GC Dev, JC Guha Thakurta, Prof Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, journalists Khandaker Abu Taleb, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (Ladu Bhai), ANM Golam Mustafa, Syed Nazmul Haq and Selina Parvin.
The government has chalked out elaborate programmes to commemorate the December 14 tragedy.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on this occasion.
President Hamid in a message said, “I call upon all to play an effective role from their respective position to build ‘Sonar Bangla’ imbued with the sacrifice of the Martyred Intellectuals and spirit of the Liberation War.”
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message urged all irrespective of party affiliation to get united against the killers of 1971, war criminal Jamaat, fundamentalists and perform their duties from their respective positions to continue the development spree of the country by resisting all conspiracies of anti-democratic forces.
Read more: Nation set to observe Martyred Intellectuals Day Tuesday
Bangladesh Television and private television channels will broadcast special programmes highlighting the significance of the day.
Afghan forces shell border town, killing 6: Pakistani army
Deadly shelling from Afghan forces killed 6 people in a border town on Sunday, Pakistan's military said, as relations continue to sour between the neighboring countries.
The violence hitting Chaman in southwestern Pakistan follows a series of deadly incidents and attacks that have skyrocketed tensions with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. Chaman is the main border crossing for trade between the countries.
Read more: Taliban official: 27 people lashed in public in Afghanistan
The Pakistani army's media wing said the fire wounded 17 people and blamed the casualties on the “unprovoked and indiscriminate fire” of heavy weapons by Afghan forces on civilians.
In Afghanistan, a spokesman for Kandahar’s governor, Ataullah Zaid, appeared to link the clashes between Pakistani and Taliban forces with the construction of new checkpoints on the Afghan side of the border. He said one Taliban fighter was killed and 10 were wounded. Three civilians were also injured, he added.
Pakistan's army said troops responded to Afghan fire, but its media wing didn't give further details. It said Pakistan has approached authorities in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to highlight the severity of the border incident.
A doctor with a government-run hospital in Chaman, Akhtar Mohammad, told The Associated Press that live rounds injured 27 people who were brought into hospital for treatment. Of these, six died and seven were in a critical condition.
Read more: Roadside bomb kills 6 people in north Afghanistan: Taliban
A resident on Pakistan's side of the border, Wali Mohammad took his wounded cousin to the hospital in Chaman. He said there were a number of explosions followed by rapid gunfire.
“We were in the street like any other day off when suddenly a big explosion was heard and debris hit many people, including one of my cousins,” said Mohammad.
A deadly shooting in November shuttered the border at Chaman for eight days, causing heavy commercial losses and leaving thousands of people stranded on both sides.
Later in the month, Pakistan's embassy in Kabul came under gunfire. Pakistani officials called the incident an attack on its envoy there and blamed Taliban officials for the security breach. Islamabad also has said Afghanistan's rulers are sheltering militants who carry out deadly attacks on its soil.
1971 loss a ‘military failure’, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal says after ex army chief called it ‘political failure’
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said the breakup of the country that led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 was a “military failure”.
The "debacle had created many challenges" for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he added.
Read more: Work together to keep 1971 legacy alive: Indian envoy at 'Maitri Alumni Reunion'
Bilawal, also PPP chairman, made the comments on Wednesday at the Nishtar Park rally, organised to mark the 55th Foundation Day of his party, days after former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called the "East Pakistan loss a political failure."
"When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took over the government, the people were broken and had lost all hope," he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
"But he rebuilt the nation, restored the confidence of the people and finally brought our 90,000 troops back home who had been made prisoners of war due to 'military failure.' Those 90,000 soldiers were reunited with their families. And that all was made possible due to politics of hope... of unity... and inclusion," Bilawal added.
Read more: Imran Khan accuses Pak army of recreating 1971-like situation
Days before his retirement, General Qamar rejected that 92,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
Qamar said: "I want to correct the record. The fall of East Pakistan was not a military but a political failure. The number of fighting soldiers was not 92,000, it was rather only 34,000, the rest were from various government departments."
India’s BSF says 5,500 CCTV cameras to be installed along borders with Bangladesh, Pakistan
Chief of India’s Border Security Force (BSF), Pankaj Kumar Singh, has said that they will install 5,500 CCTV cameras along the borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“The central government has sanctioned Rs 30 crore for this procurement,” he said on Wednesday while addressing the annual press conference in Delhi, reports the Hindustan Times.
Read more: BSF hands over body of Bangladeshi farmer after 15 days through Feni border
The fund has been sanctioned for surveillance cameras, drones and other monitoring gadgets, the BSF chief said.
“We have got around 5,500 CCTV surveillance cameras and some other gadgets and the Union home ministry has sanctioned a Rs 30-crore fund for this procurement,” Singh said. Soon, he said, the CCTV cameras will be installed in the front areas – at the borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Read more: BGB, BSF agree to cut border killings
While terming the use of drones from across the border as a “major challenge”, for which they do not have a fool proof solution yet, Singh said that BSF has developed “low-cost” technology solutions for monitoring infiltration, drone activity and other crimes at the Indian border.
“We have tried to enhance the surveillance in border areas in a big way. This entails use of surveillance cameras and drones on the western and eastern theatres (Pakistan and Bangladesh fronts respectively),” the BSF chief was quoted. India and Bangladesh share 4,096km land border.
England arrives for 1st test series in Pakistan since 2005
England's cricket team arrived in Islamabad early Sunday to play its first test series in Pakistan since 2005.
Led by Ben Stokes, England will kick off the tour in Rawalpindi -- an adjacent city to Islamabad -- which hosts the first test from next Thursday. The second test will be played at Multan from Dec. 9-13 before England round off the tour with the final test at Karachi from Dec. 17-21.
England had played a seven-match T20 series in Pakistan prior to the T20 World Cup in Australia where it went on to beat Pakistan in the final.
England was due to tour Pakistan last year before the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates but abandoned the tour due to security concerns after New Zealand had aborted its tour to Pakistan just minutes before the toss in the first ODI at Rawalpindi.
There were some concerns over England’s test tour to Pakistan after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was wounded in Wazirabad, a district in eastern Punjab province, during his protest against the sitting government.
“It’s been a long time since England have played test cricket in Pakistan,” Stokes had said in Abu Dhabi last Friday where the team trained for a week before flying out to Pakistan.
Read more: England to play 3 Test matches in Pakistan in December
“With what happened with Imran Khan recently, there was a little bit of concern, but we have Reg Dickason, who has been the security man for many years with England, and we left it in his capable hands.”
Last Monday Khan had met with the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja and British High Commissioner in Lahore and assured the officials that his protest against the government will not disturb England cricket team’s tour to Pakistan.
Pakistan had hosted England twice in a test series at UAE over the last 17 years with foreign teams reluctant to travel to Pakistan after the Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked in Lahore in 2009.
However, since 2015 Pakistan has started regaining the confidence of foreign countries that it could organize international games at home and have hosted almost all the major cricketing nations, including South Africa and Australia.
The three-test series will be part of World Test Championship where Pakistan is sitting in fifth place while England is seventh. Pakistan needs to win the three-test series to keep its hopes alive for next year’s final.
Read more: England crush Pakistan in T20 decider to win series 4-3
Pakistan will be without its key fast bowler Shaheen Afridi, who has been ruled out of the series due to knee injury. The home team has also dropped middle-order batter Fawad Alam and ace leg-spinner Yasir Shah due to poor form.
Uncapped fast bowlers Haris Rauf and Mohammad Ali have been called up to the squad along with mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed, who is expected to make his debut during the series.
England also has injury concerns ahead of the first test with fast bowler Mark Wood in doubt due to a hip injury. Stuart Broad has been given paternity leave from the tour as England will be banking on its experienced fast bowler James Anderson to trouble Pakistan batters.
England has included 18-year-old Leicestershire allrounder Rehan Ahmed in the squad after originally drafting him as a net bowler for the tour.
Squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Harry Brook, Joe Root, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Ben Foakes, Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, James Anderson, Jamie Overton, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Rehan Ahmed.
Pakistan's ex-PM Khan says his party to quit all assemblies
Pakistan's former premier Imran Khan said Saturday his party was quitting the country's regional and national assemblies, as he made his first public appearance since being wounded in a gun attack earlier this month.
Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April. He is now in the opposition and has been demanding early elections, claiming his ouster was illegal and orchestrated by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, with the U.S. government’s help. Sharif and Washington have dismissed the allegations and the current government says the next polls will be held as scheduled in 2023.
Khan launched a protest march late last month from the eastern city of Lahore toward Islamabad as part of his campaign for early polls, but stepped down from personally leading the convoy after he was wounded by a gunman who opened fire at his vehicle. One of Khan’s supporters was killed and 13 were wounded in the attack. The gunman was arrested.
On Saturday night, in Rawalpindi city near Islamabad, Khan rejoined the protest march.
He told tens of thousands of his cheering supporters that his Tehreek-e-Insaf party was leaving all regional and national assemblies and getting out of this "corrupt system.”
His party resigned from the national assembly en masse in April ahead of a vote to elect a new prime minister, although most of the resignations have yet to be accepted. Khan's stronghold is in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and leaving the Punjab assembly would hand power to his rivals.
The politician spoke for more than an hour, including references to the Sufi mystic Rumi, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the seventh-century Shiite leader Imam Hussain.
Toward the end of his speech, he did a U-turn on his demand for snap elections, saying his party would win the polls scheduled for nine months' time. He also said he would no longer march on the capital.
Read more: Pakistan’s politics of FIR registrations
“They (government) cannot deal with a march in Islamabad, they can call as many police as they want, but they cannot stop the hundreds of thousands from entering Islamabad,” said Khan. "We could have created a situation like Sri Lanka. I have decided against marching on Islamabad because I don’t want there to be anarchy in the country. I don't want to cause any harm to this country."
After months of protests over an economic crisis that has led to shortages of essentials such as food and medicine, thousands of Sri Lankans stormed the president’s residence in July, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.
Khan said he will meet his chief ministers and parliamentary party and announce the timing of the exit.
The rally came days after the appointment of a new army chief, Asim Munir, who ran the country's spy agency during Khan's term in office but was fired without an explanation from the then-premier.
Munir replaces Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who Khan has also accused of playing a role in his ouster. Bajwa denies the allegation.
Read more: Imran Khan far better actor than Shahrukh and Salman, says Pakistani politician
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari described Khan's Saturday night rally as a “facesaving flopshow.”
He said in a tweet: “Unable to pull revolution crowds, failed at undermining appointments of new chiefs, frustrated, resorts to resignation drama.”