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Earthquake Jolts Pakistan
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake jolted major cities of Pakistan on Monday afternoon, killing more than 300 and injuring thousands more due to building collapses, landslides and stampedes. The earthquake struck the country at 2:09pm on Monday. The quake was 196km deep and centred 82km southeast of a remote area of Afghanistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range. The jolts were also felt in Afghanistan and several cities of India.
Rescue and relief operation of Pakistan Army and civilian authorities were started immediately in the areas affected. Thousands of houses were razed to ground while thousands of people in the quake-hit areas spent the night outdoors in near-freezing temperatures reluctant to go back inside for fear of aftershocks.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA suffered the most due to earthquake where most of the causalities were reported besides heavy damages to houses and other buildings. The tremors not only led to the destruction of built structures or landslides but also caused two glaciers in Karakorum Range to smash into pieces. The deadly earthquake in 2005 that claimed thousands of lives was at a depth of 26 km, while Monday’s earthquake was at a depth of 196 km.
War Against Terrorism
At least seven Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed on Tuesday in firing from the Afghan side of the border in South Waziristan Agency. According to ISPR, the terrorists opened heavy fire from across the Pak- Afghan border. The troops are being deployed along the border with neighbouring agencies to block any movement of terrorists in and out of the region.
Meanwhile Afghanistan urged Pakistan to take action against Afghan Taliban and control militants movement in and out of the region. Afghanistan issued this statement following Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s remarks that Pakistan could not bring Taliban to the negotiating table “and be asked to kill them at the same time”. Afghan Deputy presidential spokesperson Sayed Zafar Hashemi in a statement asked Pakistan to deal with the Taliban in line with the same interpretation that they have set against terrorist activities on their own soil.
Meanwhile Italian police has handed over a man suspected of involvement in the December 2014 Army Public School (APS) massacre to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Ghani is reportedly wanted for his involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan including APS attack in which at least 150 people were killed, over 140 of them being children.
Pak-India Tension
Tension between India and Pakistan, the arch rival neighboring countries, is increasing following threats and aggression shown by Indian government and religious extremist party Shiv Sena. Several incidents of hatred and hostility since the past few weeks have further deteriorated the peace efforts. Following unprovoked ceasefire violations by India several times in last week of October at Working Boundary, Pakistan summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by South Asia & SAARC Director General Dr Muhammad Faisal to register protest. As a result of unprovoked firing by the Indian Border Security Forces three civilians were killed while 23 others got injured. It was stressed upon India respect the 2003 Ceasefire Arrangement for restoration of peace and tranquillity at the LoC and the Working Boundary.
Meanwhile as a goodwill gesture from Pakistan, the deaf-mute Indian girl Geeta, who was accidentally stranded in Pakistan for more than a decade, was sent to New Delhi to be reunited with her family. Geeta had been living at Edhi Home for over a decade where she was taken care of. Government of Pakistan and Edhi Foundation decided to send the girl back home after her family in India was found. Indian Prime Minister Modi thanked Pakistan for taking care of the girl and sending her back safely after locating her family. The gesture was widely appreciated by the leaders and media of India and Pakistan.
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