A suicide bomb attack has killed at least 128 people at an election rally in Pakistan on Friday.

The attack occured amid growing tensions over ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s return ahead of the July 25th vote. The bombing was the most deadly attack in Pakistan in over three years and is the third incident of election-related violence this week.

It came as Pakistan’s caretaker government launched a crackdown on political gatherings. Mr Sharif, who was ousted by the Supreme Court last year and convicted in absentia of corruption a week ago, arrived in the country to rally his party ahead of the general elections.

Baluchistan home minister Agha Omer Bangulzai said the death toll in the attack stood at 128 people, with more than 150 wounded.

Senior police official Qaim Lashari had earlier said that more than 1,000 people were in attendance at the rally in the town of Mastung in the violence-plagued province of Baluchistan.

Islamist militants linked to the Taliban, al Qaeda and Islamic State have been operating in the province, which borders Iran as well as Afghanistan. It also has an indigenous ethnic Baluch insurgency fighting the central government.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, said the group’s Amaq news agency. The group provided no further detail or evidence for its claim.

Among those killed in Friday’s attack was Baluchistan provincial assembly candidate Siraj Raisani, whose brother Nawab Aslam Raisani had served as the provincial chief minister from 2008 to 2013.

“My brother Siraj Raisani has been martyred,” said Haji Lashkari Raisani, another brother who is also contesting a national assembly seat from Baluchistan.

Earlier in the day, a bomb blast killed four people in the northern town of Bannu when it struck the campaign convoy of Akram Khan Durrani, an ally of Sharif’s party from the religious Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal party (MMA).

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a rally by an anti-Taliban political party in the northern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killing 20 people including Haroon Bilour who was hoping to win a provincial assembly seat in July.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Bilour was part of the predominantly secular, ethnic Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party, which has long competed with Islamist parties for votes in Pakistan’s volatile Pashtun lands, along the border with Afghanistan.

His father, senior ANP leader Bashir Bilour, was killed in a suicide bombing in late 2012, in the run-up to Pakistan’s last election. – Reuters</s>Share:

Pakistan, Iran, China and Russia have agreed for integrated efforts for rooting out Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from Afghanistan for ensuring regional peace and to eliminate the terrorism from the region.

The defence sources revealed that the recent meeting of intelligence heads of Pakistan, Russia, Iran and China was held in China in which mutual cooperation against the menace of terrorism between all four important regional players was discussed.

The meeting also took special review of prevailing situation in Afghanistan. It also discussed the matters regarding the threats due to presence of terrorists groups hailed from Middle East in the region and it was clarified that the cooperation of four countries is against ISIS and all other terrorists group and not against any country .

The sources further informed that the increasing activities of ISIS in Afghanistan led the way to call the meeting in which the ways and means to prevent the arrival of ISIS terrorists to Afghanistan from Iraq and Syria was also came under discussion . In this regard, it is agreed that all the four countries would share the intelligence information.

The representative from Russia, Sargai Narshan informed the meeting that according to the information of Russian intelligence agency, around 10,000 terrorist of ISIS are functioning actively in the nine provinces of Afghanistan, whereas the stance of Afghan administration is that the number of ISIS terrorists is not more than 2000 in their country.

In the meeting Iran also showed its reservation on the escalating influence of ISIS. All the members have agreed that the safe heavens of terrorists exist there, where the Afghan government doesn't have its writ.

The meeting was informed that the ISIS in Afghanistan call themselves Khurasan Branch, which is involved in the planning of continued suicide attacks especially in Pakistan so that all the four participants of the meeting have agreed to take measures against ISIS.</s>A suicide bomb attack has killed at least 128 people at an election rally in Pakistan on Friday.

The attack occured amid growing tensions over ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s return ahead of the July 25th vote. The bombing was the most deadly attack in Pakistan in over three years and is the third incident of election-related violence this week.

It came as Pakistan’s caretaker government launched a crackdown on political gatherings. Mr Sharif, who was ousted by the Supreme Court last year and convicted in absentia of corruption a week ago, arrived in the country to rally his party ahead of the general elections.

Baluchistan home minister Agha Omer Bangulzai said the death toll in the attack stood at 128 people, with more than 150 wounded.

Senior police official Qaim Lashari had earlier said that more than 1,000 people were in attendance at the rally in the town of Mastung in the violence-plagued province of Baluchistan.

Islamist militants linked to the Taliban, al Qaeda and Islamic State have been operating in the province, which borders Iran as well as Afghanistan. It also has an indigenous ethnic Baluch insurgency fighting the central government.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, said the group’s Amaq news agency. The group provided no further detail or evidence for its claim.

Among those killed in Friday’s attack was Baluchistan provincial assembly candidate Siraj Raisani, whose brother Nawab Aslam Raisani had served as the provincial chief minister from 2008 to 2013.

“My brother Siraj Raisani has been martyred,” said Haji Lashkari Raisani, another brother who is also contesting a national assembly seat from Baluchistan.

Earlier in the day, a bomb blast killed four people in the northern town of Bannu when it struck the campaign convoy of Akram Khan Durrani, an ally of Sharif’s party from the religious Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal party (MMA).

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a rally by an anti-Taliban political party in the northern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killing 20 people including Haroon Bilour who was hoping to win a provincial assembly seat in July.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Bilour was part of the predominantly secular, ethnic Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party, which has long competed with Islamist parties for votes in Pakistan’s volatile Pashtun lands, along the border with Afghanistan.

His father, senior ANP leader Bashir Bilour, was killed in a suicide bombing in late 2012, in the run-up to Pakistan’s last election. – Reuters</s>Alwaght- Iran, Russia, China, and Pakistan have reportedly reached an agreement to join efforts against ISIS terrorist group in Afghanistan.

Senior intelligence officials from the countries have agreed over integrated efforts for rooting out the outfit from Afghanistan during a meeting in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, English-language Pakistani daily The Nation reported on Friday, citing defense sources. Sergei Ivanov, the chief of the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, had also told Russia’s TASS news agency about the meeting on Tuesday.

The quartet also agreed on confronting “all other terrorists groups” in the Central Asian country, the daily said.

The drive, it wrote, was aimed at “ensuring regional peace and to eliminate terrorism from the region.”

The meeting also discussed ways to stop the arrival of Daesh Takfiri terrorists from Iraq and Syria in Afghanistan.

The participants further agreed to share intelligence towards fighting terror.

The Russian side cited the Russian intelligence agency as saying that around 10,000 Daesh terrorists were functioning actively in nine provinces in Afghanistan.

The Iranian side cited concerns regarding Daesh’s growing influence in Afghanistan, according to The Nation.

The group’s Afghanistan branch, known as Daesh-Khurasan, was ”involved in planning continued suicide attacks especially in Pakistan,” the meeting was told.

Most recently, the group claimed responsibility for an explosion that killed at least 128 people targeting an election rally in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan on Friday.

Daesh began its campaign of bloodshed and destruction in Iraq and Syria in 2014. It seized large swathes of land in lightning strikes, prompting the countries to invite the assistance of their allies, including the Islamic Republic.

Iran has been lending military advisory assistance to the Iraqi and Syrian armies in the face of the terrorists.

The group was defeated in the countries towards the end of last year. It’s remnants, however, have been still staging sporadic attacks there.

The group maintains a presence in Afghanistan, most notably in the eastern province of Nangarhar.</s>NEW DELHI: As Russia , China and Pakistan work towards building a new axis in Afghanistan to accommodate Taliban as a tool against the Islamic Sate terror group, it could have unforeseen consequences for the Russia-India relationship.On Tuesday, China, Pakistan and Russia met in Moscow to discuss Afghanistan's "deteriorating" security situation, despite strong protests from the Afghan government. The three countries relented towards the end of the day's discussions and said that they would expand the group to include Afghanistan the next time. There is already a move to induct Iran into this group.Nandan Unnikrishnan, Russia analyst at Observer Research Foundation, said, "In the present context of limited communication between India and Russia, Russia's actions could lead to a drift in relations." India only recently reaffirmed its ties with Russia by announcing almost $10 billion in defence purchases from Moscow.The statement issued at the end of the meeting said, "The Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China as the UN Security Council permanent members confirmed their flexible approach to delisting Afghan individuals from the UN sanctions lists as their contribution to the efforts aimed at launching peaceful dialogue between Kabul and Taliban."This could, if Russia and China press ahead, and if the US does not block, result in the removal of some top Taliban leaders from the UNSC sanctions list. Afghanistan, incidentally, has asked for the new Taliban chief to be included in the list.Conspicuous by its absence at the meet was India, which continues to hold Taliban as the biggest threat in Afghanistan. Besides India, the Afghan government and the US both agree to this.The Afghan government is currently going through its own political crisis, with the two key leaders of the unity government, President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah, at loggerheads. The US, which has 9,800 troops in a counter-terrorism role is unsure of how it will utilise its presence in Afghanistan under a Trump administration.India is holding on to the "red lines" for integration of Taliban into the Afghan government but that seems to be getting diluted by the new axis, which is less Afghan-led and more Pakistan-led, putting Pakistan once again in the driver's seat on Afghanistan's future.Iran, which has been doing its own outreach to Taliban, is equally apprehensive of the fallout of IS cadres relocating to Afghanistan as they get driven out of Syria and Iraq.This is essentially a return to the good-Taliban, bad-Taliban argument, as everybody wants to do a peace settlement in Afghanistan. India will remain out of this move yet again. Russia is looking for two things -an opening to Pakistan and a lever against IS that Moscow believes could be at its doorstep, given Russians form the largest group of IS fighters.The last time Russia was on India's side. But this time, Russia says its more worried about the IS than about losing India's friendship.</s>Alwaght- On Tuesday and Wednesday, Saudi Arabia hosted a conference on peace in Afghanistan attended by the international Muslim scholars. Reportedly, some 100 senior scholars from variously countries participated in the meeting, held in Jeddah and Mecca.

Afghan High Peace Council has commented on the meeting saying that the participants from Afghanistan did not represent Kabul, but were invited due to their influence and prominence.

The gathering has drawn some criticism and its success is facing serious questions.

Despite the fact that Riyadh has said that it is hosting a conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to “discuss ways of contributing to the efforts of achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan”, reports suggest that a considerable part of the expenses are paid and the arrangements are made by the Afghan government.

Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, the head of the peace council, has confirmed the reports of the Afghan government’s hand in the arrangement of the meeting and paying for it.

The conference, however, saw very important figures absent, casting doubt on the credibility of the meeting.

It was meant to discuss peace between the Kabul government and Taliban. But it appears to have digressed from its main path. Reacting to its organization, the Taliban published a statement calling it ceremonial and a show staged by the Americans to distract the public from the main issue which is the occupation of Afghanistan by the US-led coalition.

Neither Iran nor Pakistan, two crucial neighbors of the war-ravaged nation, made a significant representation at the summit. Only a scholar from Pakistan, Qibla Ayaz, a hardly renowned figure, attended the gathering. The absence of the Taliban, as a key party to any potential peace, as well as Iran and Pakistan, questions the validity and success of the conference.

An important issue is the surprise visit of the American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Kabul a day before the meeting.

Pompeo visited the Afghan capital on Monday, met with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, and told him of the US readiness to join the peace process between the Afghan sides. Pompeo’s trip to Afghanistan was the first since he was appointed as US secretary of state late in April. The analysts hold that Pompeo’s meeting with the Afghan leader a day before an Afghanistan delegation traveled to Saudi Arabia signals Washington’s support to Riyadh’s initiatives on the conflict in Afghanistan.

On the other side, the Secretary of State’s trip gives credibility to the Taliban claims that the US is linked to the meeting and which suggest the Americans have coordinated it not the OIC. Riyadh hand in the peace process appears to be problematic. After all, the Saudis are US allies and having in mind that Washington’s strategy is a long-term military presence in Afghanistan, the Saudis are not expected to contribute to peace in a way that will raise questions about the legitimacy of the US-led presence in the war-torn country. In fact, what makes the conference subject to doubt is its arrangement by Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh is top on the list of the parties promoting extremism and backing terrorism in Afghanistan. Saudi-funded Madrasas, or religious schools, to propagate fundamentalism and nurture terrorist militias in the country.

Saudi Arabia is not new to support of armed rebel groups in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden, the late leader of a-Qaeda terrorist group, referred to this support in part of his writings. He said that Saudi Arabia picked him as its representative to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

“I camped on the Pakistan border and received fighters from Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim states,” he wrote.

Since the late 1970s, Riyadh embarked on a strategy of backing the takfiri ideology and spreading it as a foreign policy path to gain weight in the region. The policy gives the Arab kingdom a broadly-recognized title: the Salafi terrorism’s godfather.

Even after toppling the Taliban government by the US-led invasion in 2001 and formation of a new Afghanistan government, the Saudis preserved their role in the Central Asian country via boosting ideological groups with affiliation to Wahhabism through founding education centers. An example is the Nangarhar Islamic University. Reports suggest that the oil-wealthy Arab monarchy has spent at least $500 million on the university’s construction and operation.

In the new period, Saudi Arabia has updated its proxies in Afghanistan and is helping the ISIS terrorist group, which has been defeated in its bastions Syria and Iraq and is moving to Afghanistan as its new safe haven. A 2014 email to Saudi Arabia by the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reveals how she warned the Saudi rulers that how their support for ISIS and other extremist factions in Afghanistan will fuel a regional rivalry.

With this track record of the Saudis’ backing for the rebel factions in Afghanistan, optimism about success, and even seriousness, of the two-day peace conference is highly pointless, many experts agree.

The Saudi-hosted Afghanistan peace summit is not the first meeting on the conflict-hit country hosted by a foreign party. Before that, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, and very recently China hosted similar peace conferences. But Taliban sent no representatives to the multi-party talks. As a result, none of them turned out as a success contributing to lasting calm there.

Other than Taliban absence, the non-Afghan nature of the foreign meetings is another factor hampering their coming to fruition. Taliban’s argument is that foreign-hosted conferences are subject to foreign meddling. The group’s view of these meetings is spoiled by a mounting distrust. This reality highlights a basic need: The peace negotiations should be returned to inside Afghanistan and allowed to be purely intra-Afghan.</s>Intelligence chiefs of Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan gathered in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss measures against the threat of aggregation of the Islamic State militants in Afghanistan, Russian news agency TASS has reported.

The official confirmation of the meeting came from Sergei Ivanov, chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s press bureau. The Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, represented Russia.

“The discussions focused on the dangers arising from a build-up of the Islamic State on the Afghan territory,” Ivanov said.

“The conference reached understanding of the importance of coordinated steps to prevent the trickling of IS terrorists from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan from where they would pose risks for neighboring countries,” he said.

READ | Indian intelligence infiltrated Islamic State ring to track, arrest Afghan suicide bomber sent to hit Delhi

Sources in Delhi told The Indian Express that India has bilateral engagements with all the relevant agencies in Russia, China and Iran, especially on intelligence-sharing and counter-terrorism.

While New Delhi and Islamabad have not had bilateral engagement with each other on counter-terrorism cooperation, sources said they have cooperated under the rubric of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the past six months.

In January-February this year, New Delhi hosted a SCO meeting of counter-terrorism specialists, and Islamabad sent a top four-member team of counter-terrorism and intelligence specialists to attend the meeting.

Interestingly, all four countries which met in Islamabad on Tuesday are members of SCO, but sources said the meeting was not under the rubric of SCO.

Counter-terrorism meetings under SCO are organised under the aegis of Regional Anti-terrorism Structure (RATS), which is based in Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App</s>Indians and Afghans went ballistic with joy and Pakistan fretted and fumed after President Trump spelt out his “path forward in Afghanistan and South Asia”. Trump minced no words about Pakistan-sponsored terrorism saying: “Today, 20 US designated foreign terrorist organisations are active in Pakistan and Afghanistan— the highest concentration in the world. For its part Pakistan often gives safe havens to agents of chaos, violence and terror”. He added: “We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organisations (like) the Taliban”. He signalled a number of changes in US—Afghanistan policies , warning that it was time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to ”civilization, order and to peace”.It is clear that the heat is going to be turned on Pakistan by the Americans. The US Congress is proposing to enact a legislation to progressively reduce/cut off economic and military aid and supplies to Pakistan. America’s allies, notably UK, Germany, and Japan will supplement the American effort.The US will also be enhancing its military presence in Afghanistan. The proposed US Congressional Legislation requires the administration to deny economic and military assistance to Pakistan, if it does not mend its ways.Trump has indicated that while it “may be possible” to have a political settlement with ”elements in the Taliban”, this can take place only after it ends violence.Secretary of State Tillerson has stated: “This entire effort is intended to put pressure to have the Taliban understand that you will not win a battlefield victory and we may not win one, but neither will you”.He added: “At some point in time, we have to come to the negotiating table and find a way to bring this to an end”. Tillerson also made it clear that the US could revoke the status of “Major Non-NATO ally” that Pakistan enjoys, clearing the way for stringent restrictions on arms supplies and economic assistance. It is now evident that the US intends to link arms and economic assistance to Pakistan ending support for terrorism in Afghanistan, through the Taliban and Haqqani network. It is also possible that US drone strike on the Pakistan -based, ISI supported Taliban and its leadership will be stepped up.How will Pakistan react to these new US policies? Rawalpindi will protest loudly at US policies. The message will be quietly sent to the US that if it turns the squeeze too much, Pakistan will be forced to deny use of its soil to American military supplies and aid to Afghanistan. The aim will be to force the US to cool off on sanctions, by holding out promises of Taliban good behaviour, in the event of the US agreeing to continue economic and military assistance. This is something, which India and Afghanistan should ensure does not happen. There will substantial pressure on the US to agree to an early resumption of “unconditional dialogue” with the Taliban. This should, however, remain conditional on a verifiable end to Pakistan support for cross-border terrorism. China has already made noises of support for Pakistan.Beijing has made it clear that it will back Pakistan on its position regarding a role for the Taliban, which equates the Taliban and the Afghan government.Trump has made it clear that India remains a “strategic partner” not just in South Asia, but across the entire “Indo-Pacific” region. The old hyphenation between India and Pakistan has been eroded, but India has to be careful on this score. We also need to bear in mind that Russia, Iran and China have close contacts with the Taliban. Economic cooperation and military training for Afghanistan has to be quickly stepped up.(He is India’s former envoy to Pakistan)</s>NEW DELHI: The US President elect Donald Trump must look deep into his country's policy towards Afghanistan and deeply reassess it policy towards Pakistan and simultaneously align with Russia, India, Iran and China to stabilise the war torn nation, recommended former Afghan President Hamid Karzai "Trump after getting into office must look deep into what went wrong into American policies in Afghanistan few years after Taliban was rooted out. ISI exploited the situation and revived Taliban movement. Afghans were disenchanted and circumstances failed us," noted Karzai in a conversation format dialogue with MoS M J Akbar at the third and concluding session of the Raisina Dialogue here on Thursday organised by MEA and Observer Research Foundation.Karzai was responding to the Akbar on what led to revival of Taliban and country and organisation behind that. The former President did not hide his frustration on how USA failed him during his Presidency despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval for US role in Afghanistan during 2008-10.The former President was also quick to add that situation will not improve unless Washington influences Pakistan.When asked about Russian role in the region Karzai hoped that the President-elect of USA can work with Putin to improve situation in the region. "Russia that fears US intentions in the region is not good for the region...US has to show genuineness in fighting terror." He was however quick to add that Trump has good friendship with Putin which could be helpful. Karzai also supported Russia's legitimate concerns over Daesh and claimed that Daesh is active in Afghanistan.</s>BRUSSELS (Pajhwok): President Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday unlike the past now there was a ‘real’ and ‘constructive’ dialogue on bringing peace to Afghanistan --- an effort based on mutual trust.

“Afghanistan is a subject of consensus, it is not a subject of dissent,” Ghani told the NATO Engages event co-hosted by the Atlantic Council here.

On Wednesday, NATO allies agreed to provide financial support to the alliance mission in Afghanistan through 2024. Additionally, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Thursday 12 that the United Kingdom would be sending 440 more non-combat personnel to Afghanistan in support of the mission.

NATO currently has nearly 16,000 troops in Afghanistan, 14,000 of which are Americans. Ghani is convinced that even as the Trump administration reviews the cost of drawing down US troops in other parts of the world , the US president will not abandon Afghanistan.

“[Trump] has a style and you need to be able to make your case succinctly,” said Ghani. “And I’m proud to say that we have made our case succinctly.”

Further, Ghani added, “this strategy on Afghanistan has been thoroughly prepared.” The Afghan leader addressed skepticism about his positive take on the situation in Afghanistan.

The Afghan president contended that as NATO troops had been drawn down, Afghan security forces had stepped into prevent a security vacuum from being left behind.

“Journalists look for events, I look for patterns. People who look for events have always gotten the situation wrong,” said Ghani. “A sense of perspective is really important to see where we began and where we are going,” he added.

Citing the progress Afghanistan has made on his watch, Ghani said his country today is deeply engaged with Central Asia, a region with which it is setting historic trade records.

He contended that Afghanistan is not alone in facing security challenges. “There is uncertainty about global security—Belgium, Germany, France, UK. It is no longer [just] Afghanistan,” he said, adding that “the phenomena of transnational terrorism… is a network phenomenon.”

Ghani continues to hold firm to the belief that a political solution with the Taliban is vital in order to bring peace to his country. The Taliban, however, have rebuffed his overtures demanding instead to sit down with the United States.

“Unless we find a political solution with the Taliban, the platform—the set of activities, networks, relationships—the Taliban provide enable these other groups to function. So it’s extremely important that we find a political solution,” Ghani said.

“The threat of Daesh is another order of threat than the one that al Qaeda was,” said Ghani. “Our misfortune is that [Daesh] look at us as territory, ecology, a set of opportunities.”

In its statement, NATO called on Pakistan , Iran, and Russia to “contribute to regional stability by fully supporting an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.”

Atlantic Council President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Kempe asked Ghani about Afghanistan’s relationships with its neighbors as it tries to build peace.

“In the region a consensus is emerging,” Ghani said, noting that India and China have agreed to cooperate on the question of Afghanistan, and Afghanistan has made some progress with Pakistan.

“On paper, we have had very significant movement with Pakistan,” the Afghan leader said, while expressing the hope that this will translate into action. “Our relation with Pakistan has to become three dimensional, it has been unidimensional. Everything has been shadowed by their relationship with the Taliban.”

Despite these challenges, Ghani remains optimistic. “The finishing line is going to be full of hurdles, but the direction has been set,” he said.

Asked about the role of women in the peace process, Ghani noted that they were part of the High Peace Council . “Afghan society has a consensus on making peace, it does not have a consensus on the price to be paid for peace,” he said.

He addressed concerns that women were being left out of the peace process and said “women are always on top of the agenda.”
Pakistan, Iran, China, and Russia agree on joint efforts against the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, in an effort to ensure peace and eliminate terrorism from the region.