BLAST
52 KILLED,102 INJURED AT PAKISTAN SHRINE
പാകിസ്താനിലെ സൂഫി പള്ളിയില്
സ്ഫോടനം; 52 പേര് കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടു
At least 52 people were killed and 102
were injured on Saturday evening in a bombing at the shrine of Shah Norani in
Khuzdar district of Balochistan, DawnNews reported."52 people have died
and dozens injured in the incident," confirmed Balochistan Home Minister
Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti.Bugti also hinted towards foreign involvement in the
attack. It was not confirmed whether the bombing was a suicide attack or a
remote detonation.The explosion took place at the spot where the dhamaal (Sufi
ritual) was being performed, within the premises of the shrine.“Every day,
around sunset, there is a dhamaal here, and there are large numbers of people
who come for this,” said Nawaz Ali, the shrine's custodian.
At the time of the blast, there were at
least 500 people gathered at the spot to view the performance, said Abdul Hakim
Lasi, a senior Edhi official in Khuzdar district.The militant Islamic State
(IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack, reported Reuters.Security forces
reached the spot of the incident and established a cordon around it. Emergency
services faced difficulty in reaching the site of the bombing due to its remote
location and poor communication infrastructure.
The shrine is also located in hilly
terrain, which further added to the difficulties faced by emergency services.Electricity
services were disrupted following the explosion, hampering rescue efforts
further. Electric power to the shrine was supplied with generators, DawnNews
reported.A control room was also established in Quetta to coordinate rescue
efforts.On orders from the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, army
troops and medical teams were dispatched to the Shah Noorani shrine to provide
medical and rescue services to the injured, said a tweet from the
Inter-Services Public relations.Army medical teams treated the wounded at the
location.Further reinforcements and additional 45 army ambulances were also
dispatched to the scene of the bombing, with additional support from Sindh
Rangers.
The army's media wing added that
helicopter evacuation of the wounded will be attempted, as no airstrip was
present nearby to land larger aircraft.Two army helicopters were sent from
Quetta to evacuate the injured.Two platoons of the Frontier Corps reached the
shrine with medical and rescue equipment, and were one of the first teams to
initiate rescue operations.No major hospital is located near the shrine,
reportedly the injured were being shifted in private vehicles.
An emergency was also declared in
hospitals of Khuzdar and Karachi. The only hospital in the district is Civil
Hospital Khuzdar, which was not equipped to handle the scope of the emergency.On
instructions of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, around 50 ambulances were
dispatched from Karachi to the Shah Noorani shrine. He also condemned the
attack and expressed grief over the lives lost.The injured began to arrive in
Karachi hospitals hours after the bombing took place.
"At least 12 bodies have been
brought to the hospital,” a medico-legal officer, Abdul Ghaffar Shaikh told
Dawn.The medico-legal officer said that around 20 to 26 injured were brought
for treatment to the hospital. The hospital administration also issued a list
of the casualties.“People who are critically injured in the blast will be
transported to Karachi," said the home minister of the province soon after
the bombing.President of National Party Mir Hasil Bizenjo earlier said the
death toll can increase if the federal or Sindh government do not provide
helicopters for evacuating the injured."There are no helicopters available
with the provincial government to evacuate the injured," confirmed Anwar
Kakar, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government.While answering a question
regarding security measures in Balochistan, the home minister had said, “If
there is security lapse on the part of the state, those responsible will be
held accountable."
President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the bombing in separate statements.Following
the attack on the Shah Noorani shrine, security was tightened across major Sufi
shrines in the country.The shrine is frequented by a large number of devotees
on Friday, and is visited by people from across the country. Iranian nationals
also frequent the shrine. It is approximately 150 kilometres from Karachi.
In October, heavily-armed militants
wearing suicide vests stormed a police academy in Quetta, killing at least 61
people and wounding at least 117.Three gunmen burst into the sprawling academy,
targeting sleeping quarters home to some 700 recruits, and sent terrified young
men aged between 15 and 25 fleeing.Communication intercepts showed the attack
was carried out by Al-Alimi faction of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) militant
group.In August, a suicide bomber targeted the emergency services ward at
Quetta’s Civil Hospital killing at least 70 people and leaving scores injured,
majority of those killed were lawyers.Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter
group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), had claimed responsibility for the bombing which
occurred at the gates of the building housing the emergency ward.
Balochistan has been experiencing
incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. More than 1,400
incidents targeting the minority Shia and Hazara community have taken place in
the province during the past 15 years.The largest province of the country by
area, is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al
Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province
shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran
പാകിസ്താനിലെ ബലൂചിസ്താനില് സൂഫി പള്ളിയിലുണ്ടായ സ്ഫോടനത്തില് 52 പേര് കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടു. 100ല് അധികം പേര്ക്ക് പരിക്കേറ്റു. ആക്രമണത്തിന്റെ ഉത്തരവാദിത്തം ഐഎസ് ഏറ്റെടുത്തു. മരിച്ചവരില് കൂടുതല് പേരും സ്ത്രീകളും കുട്ടികളുമാണെന്നാണ് വിവരം.
ബലൂചിസ്ഥാനിലെ ഖഉദ്സറിലെ ഷാ നൂറാനി പള്ളിയിലാണ് സ്ഫോടനം ഉണ്ടായത്. വിശ്വാസികള് പള്ളിയില് ഒരു ആഘോഷപരിപാടിയില് പങ്കെടുത്തു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കെയാണ് ആക്രമണം ഉണ്ടായത്. 52 പേര് കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടതായും 105 പേര്ക്ക് പരുക്കേറ്റതായും ബലൂചിസ്താന് ആഭ്യന്തര മന്ത്രി സര്ഫറാസ് ബുഗ്തി അറിയിച്ചു. ബലൂചിസ്താന് തലസ്ഥാനമായ ക്വെറ്റയില് നിന്ന് 750 കിലോമീറ്റര് അകലെയാണ് സ്ഫോടനം ഉണ്ടായ പള്ളി. സംഭവസമയത്ത് 600ഓളം വിശ്വാസികളാണ് പള്ളിയിലുണ്ടായിരുന്നത്.
സ്ഫോടനം നടന്ന സ്ഥലം ഉള്പ്രദേശത്താണ്. ഇതു രക്ഷാപ്രവര്ത്തനം ദുഷ്കരമായിരിക്കിയതായി ബുഗ്തി മാധ്യമങ്ങളോട് പറഞ്ഞു. ചികിത്സാ സൗകര്യങ്ങളില്ലാത്തതിനാല് പരിക്കേറ്റവരെ കറാച്ചിയിലേക്ക് മാറ്റിയിരിക്കുകയാണ്. ഐഎസിന്റെ അംഗീകൃത വാര്ത്താ ഏജന്സിയായ അമാഖിലൂടെയാണ് ആക്രമണത്തിന്റെ ഉത്തരവാദിത്തം ഐഎസ് ഏറ്റെടുത്തത്. എന്നാല്, ഐഎസ് തന്നെയാണോ ആക്രമണം നടത്തിയതെന്ന് സ്ഥിരീകരിക്കാനായിട്ടില്ലെന്നു ആഭ്യന്തരമന്ത്രി ബുഗ്തി അറിയിച്ചു.പള്ളിയില് നിത്യേന സൂര്യാസ്തമയത്തിനു മുന്നോടിയായി ഒരു നൃത്തപരിപാടി സംഘടിപ്പിക്കാറുണ്ട്. ഇതിനിടയിലാണ് സ്ഫോടനം ഉണ്ടായത്. നൃത്തത്തില് പങ്കെടുക്കാനെത്തിയവരാണ് ആക്രമണത്തിന് ഇരയായത്.ഷിയാസുന്നി വിഭാഗത്തില് മുസ്ലിംകളും പരിപാടിയില് പങ്കെടുക്കുന്നതിനും പള്ളി സന്ദര്ശിക്കുന്നതിനും ഇവിടെ എത്താറുണ്ട്. എന്നാല്, ഐഎസ്, താലിബാന് പോലുള്ള തീവ്രവാദ സംഘടനകള് ഈ നൃത്തം അനിസ്ലാമികമാണെന്നാണ് പറയുന്നത്.
Prof. John Kurakar
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