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War on Terror
A week after investigations into attack on Pakistan Air Force base in Badaber, security agencies claim that attack was planned on Afghan soil. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that security agencies were quite clear that the mastermind of Badaber terrorist attack was operating from Afghanistan. According to the minister five out of 14 terrorists were from Pakistan while the rest were foreign citizens. Chaudhry Nisar also said that Pakistan had decided to share all evidences with Afghanistan about the terrorists involved in the attack and expressed hope that Afghanistan will do more to prevent terrorism.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asim Salim Bajwa had also reiterated that the attack was planned and controlled from Afghanistan. He told media that 13 terrorists came in a vehicle and got off near two different gates of the camp and fired rockets and hurled hand grenades.
Meanwhile Afghanistan stronlgy rejected Pakistan claim of Afghanistan’s involvement in the attack. A statement by the presidency said that the military operation by Pakistan in Waziristan has impacted Afghanistan and Pakistan and that the government of Afghanistan has conducted massive efforts to fight terrorism.
Pak-India on Kashmir
Pakistan is set to raise the issue of Indian involvement in terrorist activities on its soil during the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, to be held on 30th September. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with his delegation including advisors and cabinet members has already arrived in New York. Meanwhile Pakistan media reports that a meeting has been planned between Prime Minister Sharif and the Kashmiri leadrers in New York before his address to the UNGA which will feature a strong statement on Kashmir and a warning not to include India in an expanded UN Security Council. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary while talking to the media in New York confirmed that Prime Minister would highlight three points in his address. He would project Pakistan’s efforts for promotion of regional and global peace and brief the global community about situation on the Line of Control and Working Boundary as well as the Kashmir issue.
Earlier senior army officers of the two countries held a flag meeting in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir after repeated ceasefire violations and addressed issues regarding ongoing ceasefire violations, targeting of civilians and sniping action on the LoC. Both sides also agreed to exercise restraint and work to defuse the situation on Line of Control (LoC).
Mina Stampede
As over 3 million Muslims from around the world are gathered in Saudi Arabia to perform annual Hajj pilgrimage, a deadly incident took lives of around 800 pilgrims and injured over 1, 000 others. Pilgrims were killed in a stampede outside the holy city of Makkah as Saudi authorities termed it the worst disaster to strike the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 25 years.
The incident took place in Mina, a few kilometres east of Makkah, when two large groups of pilgrims collided at a crossroads on their way to performing the stoning the devil ritual at Jamarat. A Saudi minister blamed the pilgrims themselves, saying they had not followed the rules laid out by authorities. According to the minister if the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided. Meanwhile Saudi Authorities have vowed a rapid and transparent investigation.
This disaster was the worst to befall the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel near Makkah. This is the second such incident this month in Saudi Arabia that claimed lives of pilgrims. Earlier, two weeks before Hajj pilgrimage, a crane installed in Grand Mosque in Makkah for restoration work fell on pilgrims resulting in killing of over a hundred pilgrims.
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