Category: 1. Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan: A suicide bombing ripped through a political rally in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan on Tuesday night, killing at least 15 people and injuring 32, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest yet most impoverished province, has been grappling for decades with a separatist insurgency that has escalated in recent years. Militants frequently target security forces, officials and non-local residents they accuse of exploiting the province’s resources. The province is also of strategic importance for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, with China investing heavily in ports, roads and energy projects.

Police said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber who detonated about 10 kilograms of explosives as supporters and senior leaders of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) left a stadium after a rally to mark the fourth death anniversary of party founder Attaullah Mengal.

“The suicide attack occurred at 9:40 p.m. outside the Shahwani Stadium when people were coming out,” Hamza Shafqaat, Additional Chief Secretary Home, said during a news conference wherein he confirmed the latest toll.

“A total of 112 policemen were deployed to protect the venue of Balochistan National Party Mengal’s rally,” he continued. “The body of the suicide bomber was recovered from the crime scene. His age was less than 30, but his ethnicity is yet to be confirmed as investigations continue.”

Shafqaat added the provincial government had already imposed Section 144 in the province following the high-level threat alert until September 15.

“Despite the threat alert, the government allowed BNP-Mengal to hold a public rally and issued a no-objection certificate with 17 to 18 clauses, including maintaining time restrictions,” he continued.

Shafqaat said law enforcement agencies had shared 22 threat alerts with the Balochistan administration related to processions marking the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which will be observed on Saturday.

“We are on high alert,” he added.

BNP-M, an ethnic Baloch nationalist party that campaigns for greater provincial autonomy and control over natural resources, is headed by former parliamentarian Sardar Akhtar Mengal and remains a key political force in Balochistan’s majority-Baloch districts.

Mengal said the explosion struck shortly after he escorted political allies out of the rally.

“After the rally, I was escorting our guests, including the opposition leader, Mehmood Khan Achakzai. As we left and moved a little ahead, the blast occurred,” Mengal told Arab News.

Mengal declared a three-day mourning period and a “black day” across Balochistan.

“The government didn’t inform us of any threat alert before the rally,” he said. “Further actions will be announced after discussions with our aligned political parties.”

Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos.

“We looked back and saw flames rising up … several people were injured and some had already been martyred. We immediately picked up people and left for Civil Hospital,” Bilal Ahmed told Arab News.

Party member Agha Hassan Baloch said he and other leaders were just steps away when the bomber struck.

“We were approximately 15 to 20 feet away from the site of the explosion … it happened next to our party’s central leader Nawab Niyaz Zehri’s car, which was a suicide blast,” he said.

Provincial health officials said eight of the injured were in critical condition and had been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital.

“Teams are working around the clock to treat the wounded,” Dr. Waseem Baig, spokesperson for the provincial health department, said.

KABUL: Afghanistan has airdropped commando units into quake-hit zones to rescue survivors trapped under rubble, as the United Nations cautioned that food assistance for victims could soon be exhausted without immediate international support. 

Dozens of commando forces were being airdropped at sites where helicopters cannot land, to help carry the injured to safer ground, in what aid groups said was a race against time to rescue those still stuck under rubble.

Time was also running out for those who survived the two devastating quakes in the remote eastern region of the impoverished country, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday.

John Aylieff, the head of WFP in Afghanistan, told Reuters that the agency only has enough funding and stocks for the next four weeks.

“Four weeks is just not enough even to meet the basic, essential needs of the population struck by the earthquake, let alone put the victims on a path back to rebuilding their lives,” Aylieff said.

WFP funding for Afghanistan this year is just under $300 million, according to UN financial data, down from $1.7 billion in 2022, the first full year the country was ruled by the Taliban.

Resources for rescue and relief work are tight in the nation of 42 million people hit by war, poverty and shrinking aid. It has received limited global help after the disaster.

The first earthquake of magnitude-6, one of Afghanistan’s deadliest in recent years, unleashed widespread damage and destruction when it struck the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar around midnight on Sunday at a shallow depth of 10km.

A second quake of magnitude-5.5 on Tuesday evening caused panic and interrupted rescue efforts as it sent rocks sliding down mountains and cut off roads to villages in remote areas.

The toll stands at 1,457 deaths, 3,394 injuries and more than 6,700 destroyed homes, the Taliban administration said. The UN has said the toll could rise, with people still trapped under rubble.

Authorities have set up a camp to coordinate supplies and emergency aid, while two centres were overseeing transfer of the injured, burial of the dead and the rescue of survivors, Ehsanullah Ehsan, the head of disaster management in Kunar, said in a text message.

“What we really need is air support, helicopters. Tragically WFP had a helicopter … until a few months ago when funding cuts put an end to that,” Aylieff said.

Afghanistan has been badly hit by US President Donald Trump’s funding cuts to foreign aid, while donor frustration over the Taliban’s restrictive policies towards women and curbs on aid workers have worsened its isolation.

Entire households wiped out

In some villages in Kunar province, entire households were wiped out. Survivors sifted through rubble looking for families, carried bodies on woven stretchers and dug graves with pickaxes.

In Lulam village, one of the hardest-hit, Darbar, a 63-year-old woman who goes by one name, said she and her family had been waiting for aid for three days since the earthquake destroyed their house.

“No one even hears our voices,” she said, perched on a traditional wood-and-rope bed, adding that she had been injured on the chest. “Now we are just sitting with hope in God. We have no house, nothing to eat.”

On the nearby mountain road, trucks carrying sacks of flour or men with shovels could be seen on their way to villages even worse hit.

Ruhila Mateen from Aseel, a humanitarian tech platform that has teams on the ground, said conditions were worsening by the hour for survivors, with women and children especially vulnerable.

Flimsy or poorly-built homes made of dry masonry, stone and timber gave little protection from the quakes, in ground left unstable by days of heavy rain, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The agency, which is pulling together the global disaster effort, called for emergency shelter, food assistance and sanitation facilities, along with drinking water, critical medical supplies and other items.

An official of international group Doctors without Borders (MSF), which distributed trauma kits at two hospitals in the affected areas, also called for more humanitarian assistance.

Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

Pakistan on Wednesday dispatched 105 tonnes of humanitarian aid for quake-struck Afghanistan, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

The earthquake killed a total of 1,469 people and injured more than 3,700, according to a new toll from Taliban authorities, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country, according to AFP.

The vast majority of the casualties — more than 1,450 — were in Kunar province, with a dozen dead and hundreds hurt in nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.

“Following my telephone call with Foreign Minister [Amir] Muttaqi, the government of Pakistan today dispatched 105 tonnes of humanitarian relief assistance to Afghanistan,” a statement from FM Dar said.

The consignment includes “essential food items, medicines, tents, blankets, and bubble mats”, aimed at supporting those affected by the recent earthquakes in the country, the statement added.

“We extend our deepest condolences and prayers for the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” FM Dar said.

Pakistan stands in solidarity with the brotherly people of Afghanistan in this difficult time, he added.

The relief supplies are being sent to Afghanistan via the Torkham border via five trucks with 40-foot containers. The departure ceremony of the supplies was held at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warehouse in Islamabad, PTV News reported.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Kheal Das Kohistani, along with officials from the NDMA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This was the third major earthquake since the Taliban took power in 2021, but there are even fewer resources for the cash-strapped government’s response after the United States slashed assistance to the country when President Donald Trump took office in January.

Even before the earthquake, the United Nations estimated it had obtained less than a third of the funding required for operations countrywide.

Days after quake, Afghan survivors still await aid

Rescue teams struggled to reach survivors as night approached days after the powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as access to remote areas remained obstructed.

Fearful of the near-constant aftershocks rattling the area, people huddled in the open air while others struggled to unearth those trapped under the heaps of flattened buildings.

Access remained difficult, as aftershocks caused rockfall, stymying access to already isolated villages and keeping families huddled outdoors for fear of the remains of damaged homes collapsing on them.

“Everyone is afraid and there are many aftershocks,” Awrangzeeb Noori, 35, told AFP from the village of Dara-i-Nur in Nangarhar province. “We spend all day and night in the field without shelter.”

The non-governmental group Save the Children said one of its aid teams “had to walk for 20 kilometres to reach villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the help of community members”.

The World Food Programme (WFP) shared images of teams hiking up slopes carrying boxes of food aid on their shoulders.

The Taliban government deputy spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat, told AFP that areas that had taken days to reach had been finally accessed.

“We cannot determine the date for finishing the operation in all areas as the area is very mountainous and it is very difficult to reach every area.”

More than 12,000 people have been directly affected by the earthquake, according to ActionAid, noting women and girls were particularly vulnerable in emergencies as they face steep restrictions under the Taliban authorities.

Residents of Jalalabad, the nearest city to the quake epicentre, donated money and goods such as blankets to be delivered to those impacted by the quake.

“I am a simple labourer and I came here to help the earthquake victims because I felt very sad for them,” said resident Mohammad Rahman.

“If I could do more, I would help even more, but I helped with what I had.”

Afghanistan airdrops commandos to rescue quake survivors

Afghanistan also airdropped commandos to pull survivors from the rubble in areas ravaged by earthquakes, as a UN agency warned that food aid for victims would run out soon without urgent funding.

Dozens of commando forces were being airdropped at sites where helicopters cannot land, to help carry the injured to safer ground, in what aid groups said was a race against time to rescue those still stuck under rubble.

Time was also running out for those who survived the two devastating quakes in the remote eastern region of the impoverished country, the WFP warned today.

John Aylieff, the head of WFP in Afghanistan, told Reuters that the agency only has enough funding and stocks for the next four weeks.

“Four weeks is just not enough even to meet the basic, essential needs of the population struck by the earthquake, let alone put the victims on a path back to rebuilding their lives,” Aylieff said.

WFP funding for Afghanistan this year is just under $300 million, according to UN financial data, down from $1.7 billion in 2022, the first full year the country was ruled by the Taliban.

Resources for rescue and relief work are tight in the nation of 42 million people hit by war, poverty and shrinking aid. It has received limited global help after the disaster.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced its decision to legalize virtual assets and introduce a central bank-backed digital currency.

In a briefing to the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, Deputy Governor Dr. Inayat Hussain revealed that the advisory declaring cryptocurrency illegal will be withdrawn, paving the way for a regulated framework for digital assets.

Dr. Inayat Hussain stated that work is underway to develop a digital currency, which will be issued solely by the State Bank of Pakistan. The digital rupee will enable the purchase of virtual assets, providing a legal and regulated avenue for such transactions.

Senator Afnanullah Khan revealed that Pakistanis have already invested around $21 billion in cryptocurrencies, underscoring the need for regulation.

The proposed Virtual Asset Bill 2025 will apply nationwide, according to the Ministry of Law and Justice consultant. The bill includes provisions for establishing a Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, which will oversee licensing, regulations, and monitoring of virtual assets. Barrister Syed Shehroze explained that virtual assets will be transferable and usable across the country, but cannot be used for purchasing goods, services, or investments outside the ecosystem.

The bill introduces safeguards to protect customers and ensure secure investments. The central bank is collaborating with vendors to develop the digital currency, which will be issued to offices established in Pakistan for virtual asset transactions. A legal framework for cryptocurrency will also be developed, with regulatory advisories issued once finalized.

Dr. Inayat Hussain further stated that a framework will be created for the sale of virtual assets abroad, ensuring compliance with international standards. The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority will be established under Section 6 of the proposed ordinance, with its board comprising key officials, including the Governor of the State Bank, Secretaries of Finance, Law, and IT, as well as the Chairpersons of the FBR, SECP, and Digital Pakistan. The DG FIA will also be part of the board.

The Senate Finance Committee proposed including a Member of the National Assembly and a Senator on the authority’s board. It also recommended that the Chairman of the authority should have at least five years of experience, with a maximum age limit of 55 years. The bill incorporates measures aligned with FATF, anti-money laundering (AML), and counter-terror financing (CTF) standards.

The committee proposed an exemption from the age limit for the Chairman of the Crypto Authority if they are serving a second term. Senator Afnan Ullah suggested imposing a percentage-based fee on service providers and exchanges, while questioning the rationale behind limiting transactions to $10,000. “There should be no threshold limit,” said Senator Mohsin Aziz.

Senator Afnan Ullah raised concerns about data privacy, emphasizing that service providers should be held accountable for protecting user data. He also called for measures to prevent the misuse and leakage of sensitive information, stating, “Those with access to trends and data could make significant profits.”

To ensure transparency, board members will be prohibited from sharing policy-level information or engaging in trading based on insider knowledge. They will also be restricted from benefiting through family members.

According to Barrister Syed Shahroze, virtual assets will be transferable and usable nationwide, but cannot be used for direct payments, services, or goods outside the regulated ecosystem. They will also not be valid for general investment or payment settlements. Safeguards for investor protection and anti-money laundering compliance, aligned with FATF standards, have been built into the draft law.

The authority will initially be funded by the Government of Pakistan, with future revenue generated through licensing fees, penalties, and other charges. The Ministry of Law and Justice consultant emphasized that the authority will operate independently, ensuring a secure and regulated environment for virtual assets.

The Senate Finance Committee welcomed the initiative but deferred further discussions until the next meeting to finalize the details of the Virtual Asset Bill 2025.