Plane carrying Pak Speaker, lawmakers turned back after explosives recovered near Kabul airport
Islamabad: A plane carrying Pakistan's Parliament Speaker and a delegation of lawmakers was not allowed to land in Kabul and was turned back due to security reasons after explosives, apparently years old, were found buried near the airport.
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser was heading a nine-member parliamentary delegation to Kabul for a three-day visit on the special invitation of Speaker of Afghan Wolesi Jirga Mir Rehman Rehmani.
A spokesperson for the speaker said that Qaiser along with the delegation had departed for Kabul from the Islamabad International Airport as per schedule but when their aircraft was still in the air, the delegation members were informed that Kabul airport had been closed due to some security reasons , the Dawn News reported.
The plane was about to descend when the control tower informed of the closure of the airport.
Riaz Arian, the commander of Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIR), told Afghanistan's Tolo News that Qaisar's flight was diverted because of the relocation of unexploded explosives from under a building near the airport.
An official from NATO's Resolute Support Mission said a digging crew uncovered explosives that appeared to have been buried "for quite some time" in the area, the news portal reported.
During construction at HKIA international airport, a digging crew uncovered unexploded ordnance that appears to have been buried for quite some time. The explosives were uncovered in an unoccupied area far from any active runway. Turkish military explosives experts conducted a controlled detonation to render the device safe. Flight operations resumed shortly thereafter, said the official.
Qaiser later received telephone calls from his Afghan counterpart as well as chairman of Afghanistan's Senate Fazal Hadi.
During their telephone conversation, the two Afghan leaders said the Pakistani plane was not allowed to land at Kabul airport due to security concerns. They expressed the hope that the Pakistani delegation would soon visit Afghanistan, the Dawn News reported.
Qaiser vowed to visit Afghanistan as soon as the security situation improved. He also remarked that Pakistan would continue to play its role for peace in Afghanistan.
It was to be the first official visit of the Speaker to Afghanistan on the special invitation of his Afghan counterpart.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Osman Hadi murder: Prime accused denies role, claims he was in Dubai
Dubai: The murder case of Bangladeshi student leader Sharif Osman Hadi has taken a new turn after the prime accused, Faisal Karim Masud, publicly denied any involvement in the killing, asserting that he was in Dubai at the time, contradicting earlier claims by Bangladesh police that he had fled to India.
In a video message that has gone viral on social media, the authenticity of which has not been independently verified, Masud rejected the allegations against him and described the case as a fabricated conspiracy. He claimed that a radical political group was responsible for the attack on Hadi and said he had been falsely implicated.
“I am Faisal Karim Masud. I want to state clearly that I am not involved in the murder of Hadi in any way. This case is completely false and based on a fabricated conspiracy,” Masud said in the video. He added that he was forced to leave Bangladesh and travel to Dubai due to the allegations, despite holding a valid five-year multiple-entry visa for the UAE.
Masud acknowledged that he had visited Hadi’s office shortly before the shooting but maintained that their relationship was purely professional. Describing himself as a businessman who owns an IT firm and a former employee of the Ministry of Finance, Masud said he had approached Hadi regarding a job opportunity. According to him, Hadi sought an advance payment of 500,000 taka for arranging the job and also requested donations for various programmes, which he said he provided.
The accused further alleged that his family members were being harassed and falsely implicated in the case. “They have no involvement whatsoever. This kind of inhumane treatment of my family is unjust and unacceptable, and I strongly protest against it,” he said.
Masud also accused Jamaat-linked elements of orchestrating Hadi’s killing, claiming the student leader was targeted by “Jamaati elements” and that he and his younger brother were deliberately framed. A photograph purportedly showing Masud’s UAE visa has also circulated widely online.
Earlier, Bangladesh police had stated that Masud and another accused, Alamgir Sheikh, fled the country after the killing and entered India through the Meghalaya border. Media reports in Bangladesh claimed the two crossed over via the Haluaghat border in Mymensingh district and were currently in India. India, however, has firmly denied any connection between the accused and its territory, calling the allegations a false narrative being pushed by extremist elements.
Sharif Osman Hadi, a key figure in Bangladesh’s student uprising last year, was shot in the head by masked gunmen in Dhaka on December 12 and succumbed to his injuries six days later at a hospital in Singapore. He had emerged as a prominent leader during the student-led protests that culminated in the end of Sheikh Hasina’s rule.
