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rs 40.00 | Vol Xiii no 213 i 44 pages i islamabad edition
Suicide bombing at PeShawar moSque leaveS 59 martyred, 170 wounded g
27 POlice Officials eMbrace MartyrdOM in deadly blast PESHAWAR
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Staff RepoRt
POwerful explosion at a mosque in the secured Police lines neighbourhood of Peshawar has killed at least 59 worshippers martyred and wounded 170 people, according to police and rescue officials. the explosion occurred during afternoon prayers at approximately 1:40p.m. and police and army personnel were reportedly present inside the mosque at the time, according to police. sahibzada noor ul amin, imam of the mosque, was also martyred in the blast, police said. “it’s an emergency situation,” Muhammad asim Khan, a spokesman for the lady reading hospital in Peshawar, said. Many worshippers were still trapped inside, police said, and heavy machinery and fire brigades were combing the ruins for survivors in a frantic rescue operation. Officers said the blast emanated from the second row of worshippers, with bomb disposal teams probing the suicide attack. a member of the outlawed ttP claimed responsibility while separately, another member of Jamat-ul-ahrar (Jua) also claimed the attack. the sources said that at least 27 police officials were martyred in the blast. funeral prayers were offered late Monday evening for the martyred police officials attended by high-ranking officials at Police lines. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of Police (igP) and other top security officials attended the funeral prayers.
security sources said that a suicide bomber present in first row of the Police lines Mosque in Peshawar blew himself as soon as the prayers started. following the bombing, the provincial health department declared an emergency in district Peshawar and asked all medical personnel to remain on duty. law enforcement agencies cordoned off the attack site and have started an initial investigation. the gt road near bala hisar was also closed to traffic. it was learnt that more than 250 people were present in the mosque to offer ‘Zohar’ prayers when the blast took place. as a result of explosion, the front portion of the mosque caved in killing several and leaving dozens others injured. rescue teams rushed the scene soon after getting the information and started rescue activities. Most of the bodies and injured were shifted to lady reading hospital Peshawar. Part of the mosque roof and wall had collapsed and bloodied survivors limped from the wreckage, as dead bodies were ferried away in ambulances. the police said it was a suicide attack as the suicide bomber who was standing in the first line of the faithful blew himself up. further investigation is underway on the cctv footage of Police line gate and family quarters, it added. the roof collapsed because the explosion damaged the pillars of the mosque, according to the initial investigation. a high-level committee has also been set up to probe any security lapse, read the report. new security guidelines following the deadly blast at Pe-
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PM chairs high-level security Meeting; cOas alsO attends huddle
shawar Police line, security guidelines have also been changed for civil secretariat. department of administrative affairs Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has issued a declaration regarding the new guidelines. vehicles entering civil secretariat will go through a thorough security check which include inspection of car’s bonnet and trunk. Meanwhile, in islamabad, roads leading to the red Zone neighbourhood housing government and diplomatic buildings have been closed. last March, a suspected islamic state bomber attacked a shi’ite mosque in Peshawar killing 64 in Pakistan’s deadliest terror attack since 2018. afghanistan-based tehreek-i-taliban Pakistan (ttP) are also active there. since the taliban surged back to power in afghanistan in 2021, islam-
abad has accused them of failing to secure their mountainous border, allowing fighters to flit back and forth to stage attacks and escape capture. Over the first 12 months of taliban rule in afghanistan, Pakistan witnessed a 50 percent surge in militant attacks, focused in the western border provinces, according to the Pak institute for Peace studies (PiPs). detectives said the March 2022 bomber in Peshawar was an afghanistan exile who had returned home to train for the attack. Peshawar was also the site of a 2014 massacre by the ttP, who raided a school for children of army personnel and killed nearly 150 people, most of them pupils. the lady reading hospital (lrh) spokesman has said the martyred
brought to the hospital included inspector doran shah, Zohaib nawaz [resident of dir lower], Maqsood ahmed, rashida bibi, rafiq of lakki Marwat, constable naseem shah, liaqat of charsadda, driver amjad, shehryar, liaqat of lakki Marwat, Mohammad ali of Mian gujar, sahibzada, Zahir shah, tilawat shah, waseem shah, gul ashraf, hayatullah Khattak, Zubair, abdul hameed, usman, Khalid Khan of charsadda, rafiq Khan, inspector irfan Khan, fc personel shahab of charsadda, abdul wadud, fc personnel ahmad Khan, liaqatullah shah of lakki Marwat, atif Mujeeb, rizwanullah of charcadda and hazrat umer. the identity of two bodies was not yet ascertained, the spokesman added. Condemnations pour in: President dr arif alvi and Prime Minister shehbaz sharif strongly denounced the suicide attack inside a mosque at police lines in Peshawar. shehbaz sharif said the cowardly terror attacks could not weaken the resolve of the nation against terrorism, and the miscreants and their facilitators involved in attacks on innocent citizens would be punished for their heinous crimes. he was speaking during his visit to Peshawar after the deadly blast at the mosque of Malik saad shaheed Police lines during Zuhr prayers. chief of army staff syed asim Munir received the prime minister on his arrival. he was accompanied by Minister for defence Khawaja Muhammad asif, interior Minister rana sanaullah Khan, and Minister for information and broadcasting Marriyum aurangzeb. On the occasion, the corps commander Peshawar briefed the prime minister about the motives behind the terror attacks.
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Crucial talks with imF to start today as pakistan inches towards reforms g
rupee depreciates further, petroleum prices increase and additional taxes in the offing ISLAMABAD
t
Shahzad paRacha
he ‘crucial’ talks between Pakistan and the international Monetary fund (iMf) will start from tuesday, as the iMf team under the supervision of mission chief to Pakistan nathan Porter has reached islamabad. a senior official of the Ministry of finance said that the iMf team has reached islamabad and meetings between both sides will start tomorrow morning. both sides will officially start negotiations in order to complete the ninth review of the extended fund facility (eff) program.
the technical discussions will start from tuesday and it will continue till friday. a source inside the Ministry of finance said that during the technical negotiations, both sides will exchange information. he further added that the policy level talks between both sides start from next Monday. the Pakistani finance minister, secretary finance, chairman fbr and governor state bank of Pakistan will participate in these meetings. he said that reforms are inevitable as the government cannot give subsidies on gas and electricity to rich people. he added that the burden of reforms would affect ever y segment
of society but the lower and middle income group will be more affected the most. the iMf has decided to send its mission to Pakistan only after the government agreed to implement tough conditions and the government has no other option but to implement these conditions, he added. in line with the iMf conditions, the Pakistani rupee continued its free fall against the dollar from where it left off on friday. the interbank exchange rate of the state bank, went up to 269.6 increasing by another 2.6%. the open market exchange rate was offered as high as rs. 275/usd. during the last week, the rupee has come from 230
to 270, in the interbank exchange. the new taxes would have to be imgovernment also passed on the im- posed but the quantum would be pact of the depreciation of rupee, decided during the talks. he said that there will be equal onto the consumers in the form of a raise in the petroleum price. On sun- pressure on the iMf, because it would day, the prices of petrol and diesel be surprising for everyone if a country were increased by rs. 35 each, taking defaults while being a part of the them to their highest ever level in the fund’s program. history of Pakistan. the senior official inside IN TODAY S ISSUE the finance Ministry also said that the gap between expenditure and revenue Some readers have complained has been increasing day that they are not getting the by day and the governmagazine with their newspaper ment does not have the copy. Please call or WhatsApp us choice, but to increase power and gas tariff as well at the following number to as to impose more taxes. register a complaint. answering a question about the possibility of a Contact: 0307-7338168 mini budget, he said that
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