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.
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Mali's coup leader dismisses president and prime minister
Bamako (Mali), May 25: Mali's former coup leader Assimi Goita took control of the country again Tuesday after firing the president and prime minister of the transitional government following their announcement of a cabinet reshuffle without his permission.
While Goita pledged to go ahead with holding new elections in 2022 as promised, his display of force casts doubt on whether the vote will go ahead without significant interference by the junta that overthrew the last democratically elected president.
The move also raised concerns that the new political unrest could further destabilize efforts to control the West African country's long-running Islamic insurgency. The United Nations now spends some USD 1.2 billion annually on a peacekeeping mission in Mali.
The military's announcement on the state broadcaster came a day after President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were arrested by soldiers and brought to the military headquarters in Kati, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) outside the capital. Both men remained in detention Tuesday.
Their arrests prompted an outcry by the international community, which put out a strongly worded statement warning Mali's military leaders that their actions could undermine global support for the transitional government.
The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS was sending a delegation to Bamako on Tuesday afternoon as the political crisis escalated.
Goita has served as Mali's vice president since the transitional government was formed last September in the wake of his coup d'etat despite initial calls from the international community for an entirely civilian-led transition.
In announcing the removal of the president and prime minister of the transitional government, the military also said that it would be relieving others from their duties including everyone implicated in the situation.
Still, the military insisted: The transition is following its normal course and elections will be held as anticipated in 2022.
Following international pressure last year the junta had promised to organize that vote by next February, 18 months after the coup d'etat shook the country.
The overthrow of democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita came amid mounting military casualties in the fight against Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
The extremists first took control of major towns in northern Mali after the 2012 coup. Only a 2013 military intervention led by the former colonial power France pushed extremists out of those towns. France and a U.N. force have continued to battle the extremist rebels, who operate in rural areas and regularly attack roads and cities.
