35 people killed in suicide blast at political party's meeting in Pak's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
Peshawar, Jul 30: At least 35 people were killed and over 200 others injured on Sunday when a suicide bomber triggered a powerful blast at a hardline Islamic political party's meeting in a restive tribal district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
The explosion took place at 4 pm at the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers' convention in Khar, the capital of Bajaur tribal district.
At least 35 people were killed and over 200 injured in the blast, police and emergency sources said.
Television footage showed panic-stricken people gathering at the site following the blast as ambulances arrived to move the injured to hospitals. Over 500 people were attending the convention when the blast occurred.
DIG police Malakand Range Nasir Mehmud Satti said the initial investigation revealed it was a suicide blast. However, evidence is being collected to determine the nature of the blast.
The area was sealed and a search operation has been initiated, he said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the province's caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan to investigate the incident.
He also urged the party workers to reach the hospital and donate blood.
"JUI workers should remain peaceful and federal and provincial governments should provide the best treatment to the injured," said Fazl.
Chief Minister Khan condemned the blast and sought a report from the district administration.
Police said that the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital.
The condition of the majority of the injured people was stated to be critical.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Faizi told the Dawn newspaper that five ambulances had reached the site.
JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah said he was supposed to attend the convention today but could not because of some personal commitments.
"I strongly condemn the blast and want to give a message to the people behind it that this is not jihad but terrorism," the JUI-F leader said, adding that it was an attack on humanity and Bajaur.
He demanded that the blast should be probed, recalling that this was not the first that the JUI-F had been targeted.
"This has happened before...our workers have been targeted. We raised our voice over this in the Parliament but no action was taken."
Hamdullah also extended his condolences to grieving families and urged the provincial government to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.
Caretaker Information minister of the province Jamal Feroze Shah said an emergency was declared in hospitals of Peshawar and dir district.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terrorist attacks following the Afghan Taliban's return to power in August 2021 and called upon the interim rulers to take decisive actions against terrorists including the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) responsible for cross-border attacks.
In November last year, the TTP called off an indefinite ceasefire agreed with the federal government and ordered its militants to carry out attacks on Pakistan's security forces.
On January 30, a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring more than 200 others.
In February, heavily-armed TTP militants stormed the Karachi Police chief's office in Pakistan's most populous city, sparking gunfire that killed three rebels and four others, including two police constables.
The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007.
The outfit, which is believed to be close to Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
The TTP has also orchestrated the heinous Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014, in which over 130 students were killed.
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Environment ministry endorses names of 10-member expert committee set up to define Aravalli hills
New Delhi (PTI): The Union Environment Ministry has told the Supreme Court that it has no objection with the Central Empowered Committee's proposed 10-member high-powered expert committee which has been tasked to come up with a uniform definition for the Aravalli hills and ranges.
In an affidavit filed before the top court, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has endorsed the names suggested for the high-powered expert committee comprising in-service and retired bureaucrats associated with the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Survey of India, along with academicians.
"The MoEFCC respectfully submits that it has no objection if this court as the aforesaid suggested names for the constitution of the proposed High Powered Committee. It is further submitted that the Ministry does not have any additional names to propose at this stage for inclusion in the said committee," the affidavit said.
The committee is proposed to be headed by Kanchan Devi, the current director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education.
The MoEF, in its affidavit, said the aspects relating to the Aravalli Hills and Ranges require a comprehensive and analytical examination, including stakeholder consultation, by a group of domain experts in the relevant fields.
The CEC in its report to the apex court said Devi, a 1991 Indian Forest Service officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has over three decades of experience in forestry education and research, wildlife and forest policy, and institutional leadership.
The other members include Subhash Ashutosh, former director general of FSI,
former GSI director Rajendra Kumar Sharma, climate and energy policy expert Tejal Kanitkar, senior academician and life sciences researcher Jaya Parkash Yadav, senior geographer and scholar Tejbir Singh Rana, former additional surveyor general of India SV Singh, former Gujarat principal chief conservator of forests CN Pandey, and former Nagaland PCCF Dharmendra Prakash.
The CEC also recommended names of RN Mishra, a noted author and Vijay Dhasmana, an ecological restoration practitioner and conservationist.
On February 26, the top court had asked the environment ministry and other stakeholders to suggest names of domain experts for the panel which would define the Aravalli hills and ranges, and observed that only lawful mining would be allowed in the region.
The top court, on December 29, took note of the outcry over the new definition of the Aravallis and kept in abeyance its November 20 directions that accepted a uniform definition of these hills and ranges. It had also stalled all mining activities.
It remarked that there was a need to resolve "critical ambiguities", including whether the criteria of 100-metre elevation and the 500-metre gap between hills would strip a significant portion of the range of environmental protection.
