Karachi: A Pakistani Senate panel Saturday sought a report from the interior ministry on the action taken against terrorists and banned outfits involved in the killing of Hazara Shias, a day after an ISIS suicide blast targeting the minority community killed 21 people in restive Balochistan. A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior took serious notice of the two deadly terror attacks in Balochistan province on Friday.
In the first attack, an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself in the Hazarganj fruits and vegetable market in provincial capital Quetta killing 21 people and injuring 60 others, mostly Hazaras. Those killed included 10 members of the Hazara Shia community, two children and security personnel. In the second attack in the evening in Chaman city, two civilians were killed and 10 others injured when militants planted an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a motorcycle parked on Mall Road. The blast occurred when a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle carrying troops was passing through.
The ISIS on Saturday released a photograph of the suicide attacker along with his name and said the attack targeted Shia Muslims, according to the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activities. “The Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISKP) claimed killing and wounding 70 Hazara Shias and Pakistani soldiers in a suicide bombing in Quetta,” it said. The Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied presence of the ISIS in the country, but the Middle Eastern terror group has claimed a number of attacks in the past.
No evidence of Pakistan dismantling terror facilities: Haqqani
Washington: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent statement promising an end of support to terror groups does not reflect a change of policy and is motivated by the fear of getting blacklisted by the global terror-financing watchdog FATF, the country’s former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani has said. Amidst intense global pressure to rein in terror outfits, Khan last month said his government will not allow Pakistan’s land to be used for any kind of terror activities and promised actions against militant groups operating from the country’s soil.
Haqqani, Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the US, told a Washington audience on Friday that so far, there is no evidence that the Khan government or the military is dismantling Pakistan’s terrorist support infrastructure. “There is little change in Pakistan’s attitude towards militancy, particularly the one directed against Afghanistan and India,” he said in his address to the third ‘India Ideas Conference’ organised by India Initiative of the prestigious Georgetown University.
Haqqani pointed out that Pakistan has failed to initiate any action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group or its leader Masood Azhar after the Pulwama terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. “Islamabad’s close ties with Beijing were invoked to ensure that Azhar’s designation as a terrorist by the United Nations was blocked by China at Pakistan’s behest,” he said.
