Tag: terrorist attack

  • New terrorist wave

    New terrorist wave

    A new wave of terrorism seems to be gripping the country in recent months, with the Lahore blast being the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted security forces, policemen, and civilians. From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Balochistan, from Sindh to the capital city to the heart of Punjab, there is a rise in such attacks across the country.
     
    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Dawn and Geo News that the Islamic State group’s Khorasan chapter (IS-K) is a different and bigger threat than even the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Coming from the police chief of a province that has been one of the worst victims of terrorism in the country, his statement should raise alarm bells for the state. Pakistan has given immense sacrifices in its war against terrorism – 70-80,000 people lost their lives at the hands of terrorist attacks. The APS attack is a tragedy that can never be erased from our memories. Our security forces and police officials have fought bravely against terrorist outfits and now for terrorism to make a comeback, it is even more important that the state should build a consensus on this issue and tackle the hydra of terrorism.
     
    A study conducted by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Study (PICSS) says that the rise in militant attacks in Pakistan coincided with the Afghan Taliban’s military offensive and their eventual takeover of Kabul. Many had been pointing out to the Pakistan government that a government that does not believe in the rule of law and does not abide by any international covenants cannot bring any stability in the region and will in fact lead to instability in the neighbouring countries when Pakistan was celebrating the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban.
     
    With the withdrawal of the US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, the fall of Kabul and the rise of the Afghan Taliban were inevitable. However, the support that they got from Pakistan has led to many problems, including the tensions between the US and Pakistan when it comes to diplomatic ties. But the most critical consequence of the new government in Afghanistan is the rise of militant outfits who are rearing their heads once again in neighbouring Pakistan.

    The rise of the Afghan Taliban has given new ideas and strength to militant outfits that had gone underground since the security forces defeated the TTP and crushed other terrorist outfits some years ago. We hope that the state will not let them wreak havoc with the country’s future again. Pakistan needs peace and stability, not chaos. 

  • Interior Minister questioned on rising terrorism, didn’t brief parliament for nine months

    Interior Minister questioned on rising terrorism, didn’t brief parliament for nine months

    The Opposition senators questioned the Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed over the recent terrorist attacks in Islamabad and Lahore in today’s Senate session.

    Earlier this week, in a gun attack, a police officer was killed in the capital and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility. Lahore was attacked on Thursday which claimed the lives of three civilians.

    Senator Raza Rabbani said that Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA) had claimed responsibility for one of the attacks while Rasheed said the TTP was behind it. The senator demanded that the minister be summoned to clear the confusion, reports Dawn.

    Several other senators including Pakistan Muslim-League’s (PML-N) sought a reply. One of them said that “he had not seen the interior minister in the House for any briefing during the last nine months.”

    Rasheed made a briefing and said that there are “special motives” behind the killing of the cop in Islamabad. However, about the Lahore tragedy, the minister stated that an investigation is underway. 

    Upon the Oppostion’s insistence of seeking an explanation from the government. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani told the minister to brief the upper house in this regard and the steps taken by the government on Monday (January 24).

    After the capital incident, the minister had warned of more terrorist-related attacks. Previously in the past month, two terrorists allegedly belonging to the banned outfit TTP were arrested in Karachi.

  • New Zealand: Multiple people injured in knife attack by an ISIS-inspired man

    New Zealand’s Prime Minister  Jacinda Ardern has said in an official statement that at least six people were hurt in a knife incident at a supermarket in Auckland, Al Jazeera has reported. The attacker was killed within 60 seconds after beginning the attack, she said. Ardern further added that the had been inspired by the ISIS group.

    “It was hateful, it was wrong. It was carried out by an individual, not a faith,” Ardern said. She described the attacker as a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011. “He alone carries the responsibility for these acts.”

    Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the man was acting alone and police were confident there was no further threat to the public, Reuters has reported.

    “We were doing absolutely everything possible to monitor him and indeed the fact that we were able to intervene so quickly, in roughly 60 seconds, shows just how closely we were watching him,” Coster said.

    Videos of panicked people in the shopping mall after the attack has gone viral on social media.

  • PML-N’s Azma Bokhari reveals Maryam Nawaz’s hotel room number during a terror threat

    A day after the Balochistan government requested the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to postpone its rally in Quetta due to terror threats, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)’s former member of the Punjab provincial assembly (MPA), Azma Bokhari posted a video on social media revealing Maryam Nawaz’s room number and suite name. While shaking the door handle of the room, next a sign which clearly states the name of the suite and the number, Azma says, “…yeh lock aur darwaza InshaAllah salamat rahe ga, agar kisi ko adventure karne ka shauq hai tou hum yahan hi hain” (this room is locked, and if anyone wants to have an adventure, we will be waiting right here).

    The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has issued a terror threat for Peshawar and Quetta, saying that banned militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is planning terrorist activities in the two cities. The statement reads that the TTP is aiming to target religious and political parties in possibly bomb attacks or suicide bombings.

    Azma Bokhari seems to be alluding to the recent arrest of Captain Safdar from his hotel room in Karachi, suggesting that the workers of the party are on high alert and will be there to counter any potential ‘middle of the night’ arrest in Quetta.

    The PML-N former MPA was previously involved in another ‘video war’ with members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, over the price of aata in her area.

    PDM lead by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s Maulana Fazalur Rehman, PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has done two successful jalsas, one in Gujranwala and another in Karachi but there is some speculation about cracks within the opposition.