Swat blasts: CTD inital report blames short circuit as no evidence of terror attack

The death toll in the two explosions at Swat’s Counter Terrorism Department station ammunition depot rose from 12 to 16 overnight by Tuesday, with the police suspecting it was related to an ammunition accident.

“No evidence of an attack from outside has been found,” the police claimed in the preliminary investigation report prepared after the blast rocked CTD police station in Swat's Kabal a day earlier.

The police confirmed that at least 16 people were martyred and more than 40 people were injured due to the explosion and are currently under treatment.

“There is a high possibility that the blast was caused by a short circuit as fire erupted in the armoury [a place where weapons are kept],” the police report stated.

CTD DIG Khalid Sohail, while speaking to media persons, said that ammunition caught fire due to negligence. He revealed that the incident took place in the old office of the CTD.

He also ruled out the possibility that the explosions were suicide attacks or other acts of terrorism.

"There was a store where we had a huge quantity of weapons, and until now we believe that there might have been some blast in it due to some carelessness," he said.

Sohail said the shock waves caused "the complete collapse of the building".

Meanwhile, the work of removing the debris is underway as nearby buildings, including mosques, houses, school walls and roofs also collapsed due to the explosion.

Among the martyrs, four were civilians while 12 were policemen. The hospital administration said that 10 out of the 40 people injured are in critical condition.

Sources within the police said that a two-member committee had been formed to investigate the munitions blasts at the CTD police station. The body includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Secretary Abid Majeed and the Special Branch deputy inspector general.

Sources said that the committee has been directed to submit a report by completing the probe as soon as possible.

Following the blast, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Inspector General Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said: "A series of two to three bomb explosions occurred. He added that "the majority of the victims" were policemen.

Footage from the site showed a body being stretchered from the rubble as a smattering of small fires blazed in the darkness.

On Twitter, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif initially described Monday’s blasts as a "suicide attack".

"Our police has been the first line of defence against terrorism," he tweeted.

Late at night, he tweeted an update saying "The nature of the blast is being investigated".

PPP postpones April 25 protest against piecemeal polls

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has called off its April 25 protest to press its demand for nationwide elections on a single day.

The PPP on Sunday announced to stage protests across Sindh on April 25 for elections in the country on a single day.

PPP president for Sindh, Nisar Khuhro while calling off the PPP protest, said that the PPP observing restraint to postpone its protests.

He urged to heed the demand of the people, if not a new date for the protest will be announced.

“Separate elections in provinces will wreak havoc with the political system of Pakistan,” he opined. “The separate elections will also bring question mark over the transparency of elections,” Khuhro said.

“General elections on single day across the country after completion of five years’ term of assemblies, will strengthen the political system,” he added.

Nisar Khuhro had emphasized that conducting separate elections is equivalent to dividing the country into two parts, and as per the Election Act’s Section 69, the elections should be held on the same day in all assemblies.

He also stated that the decision to hold elections is the Election Commission’s prerogative, and any court decision should be reviewed in full. “If necessary to restore Punjab and KPK assemblies, these assemblies should be restored”,he said.

He said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should decide the election date as the ECP has authority to conduct election. He urged the court to review its decision on polls by forming a full court.

Countries evacuate citizens amidst raging battle in Sudan

Foreign countries have rushed to evacuate their nationals from Sudan as deadly fighting raged into a second week between forces loyal to two rival generals.

According to international media reports, evacuation flights were continuing early Monday, with hundreds of people flown out overnight on military aircraft.

Foreigners also fled the capital Khartoum in a long United Nations convoy, while millions of frightened residents hunkered down inside their homes, many running low on water and food.

Across the city of five million, army and paramilitary troops have fought ferocious street battles since April 15, leaving behind charred tanks, gutted buildings and looted shops.

More than 420 people have been killed and thousands wounded, according to UN figures, amid fears of wider turmoil and a humanitarian disaster in one of the world's poorest nations.

US special forces launched a rescue mission Sunday for around 100 embassy staff and their relatives, swooping in with Chinook helicopters to fly them to a military base in Djibouti.

US forces "will remain deployed in Djibouti to protect United States personnel and others until the security situation no longer requires their presence", President Joe Biden said Sunday in a letter to the Speaker of the House.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said UK forces had also rescued diplomats and their families while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country had temporarily suspended its evacuation operation.

"Our diplomats are safe – they have been extracted and are working from outside the country," Trudeau tweeted.

Germany and France meanwhile said they had also begun evacuating their nationals and those from other countries.

Two French planes carrying around 200 people of multiple nationalities landed in Djibouti.

Nearly 1,000 Turkish citizens set out for home from two points in the capital Khartoum and another point from Wad Madani city, according to Turkish media.

The German army said it had evacuated 101 people on the first of three military aircraft sent to Sudan.

The first Airbus A400M "landed safely in Jordan" at around midnight local time (2100 GMT Sunday), the Bundeswehr said on Twitter. Another plane with 113 people was on its way to Jordan, it said.

Italy evacuated about 300 people in total, according to their foreign ministries.

Ireland said it was also dispatching an emergency team to assist with evacuating its citizens and their dependants.

Egypt, Sudan's large neighbour to the north, said it had evacuated 436 nationals by land.

427 Pakistanis reach Port Sudan safely for repatriation: FO

Around 427 Pakistanis have reached Port Sudan safely and are being lodged before arrangements for their onward journey are coordinated, according to Foreign Office.

The spokesperson, in a statement, said that the Foreign Office continued to follow the developments in Sudan and was working with Pakistan’s Missions in the region to provide relief to Pakistanis there.

A couple of days ago, Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan held a follow-up virtual meeting with Pakistan’s Missions in Sudan and neighboring countries to discuss modalities for the safe evacuation of Pakistanis from Sudan.

Representatives from the PIA and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and other relevant agencies also joined.

All conditions for staff-level agreement with IMF met: Ishaq Dar

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has claimed that all the conditions for signing a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund have been fulfilled by Pakistan.

Ishaq Dar has stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has confirmed provision of two billion US dollars to Pakistan. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has confirmed financing of one billion US dollars to Pakistan.

Finance Minister has said that all preconditions for an Staff Level Agreement (SLA) between Pakistan and the IMF have now been implemented.

He hoped that the IMF will soon sign the staff level agreement with Pakistan and get approval from its executive board.

Finance minister had earlier held a virtual meeting with Martin Raiser, South Asia Vice President of the World Bank.

The meeting was part of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings 2023 held in Washington, said a Finance Ministry news release.

The minister informed the WB vice president about the completion of World Bank-supported reforms, especially those supported under the Resilient Institutions Strengthening Programme-II (RISE), under which major reforms like harmonization of GST had been completed.

He thanked the World Bank team for supporting Pakistan on flood rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Speaking on the occasion, Martin Raiser appreciated Pakistan’s efforts on ensuring expeditious processing of all flood related projects.

He thanked the Pakistani side on completing reforms under the RISE programme which would contribute to ensure macroeconomic stability in the country.

Govt using negotiations to delay polls: Imran Khan

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has not yet approached the PTI for negotiations, adding that he fears the government might use the pretense of dialogues to delay elections.

During an interview with a private news channel on Sunday, Imran Khan said that PML-N is running away from the elections by using delaying tactics and trying to somehow postpone the election on May 14, but ‘We will not go beyond May 14’.

He also stressed that caretaker governments in both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) — the provinces where Khan’s party was in power before he decided to dissolve its two assemblies on January 14 and 18, respectively — are illegal after the lapse of their stipulated term.

"The caretaker government's tenure is over already, it has become illegal,” the deposed premier said. He demanded the caretaker government be abolished and a new "neutral" interim setup be instated.

He added that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has given May 14 as the date for Punjab polls and his party won’t let the government go beyond that.

“If they think they [incumbent government] will pressurise the Supreme Court, we will not let it happen. They will scandalise the top court to run away from elections,” he said.

In response to the PTI's call for elections in the two provinces, the government has, time and again, insisted on conducting elections — to the national and provincial assemblies — together in October.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — had fixed May 14 as the new date for the election to the Punjab Assembly, as it quashed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to extend the polls date from April 10 to Oct 8.

While security has been cited as a major concern for the government to refuse holding the polls, the lack of funds for carrying out the task has also been communicated as the main reason for their insistence on delay.

The PTI chief shared the suggestion while refusing to back down from his demand for the snap polls. “There may be no money even in October. The situation may worsen. We cannot go beyond May 14.”

The former prime minister went on to say that inflation irked the public, and the government is running away from its reaction by postponing the elections.

“They are scared of elections,” he said censuring the Shehbaz-led administration.

Khan insisted that the ECP is working in connivance with the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — an alliance of 13 political parties.

“Maryam Nawaz is receiving protocol. The election commission is with them,” he said, directing his criticism towards the electoral body and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice-president.

Commenting on the matter of talks with the ruling alliance in Islamabad, Khan said he had given the mandate of negotiations to his party’s Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and not to Asad Qaisar — the former speaker of the National Assembly.

“There has been no discussion on negotiations with Shah Mahmood Qureshi so far,” he clarified as there were reports that some major political parties had reached out to the PTI.

Earlier this week, the CJP Bandial said that the apex court could make some room and change the date of elections if all the political parties evolve a consensus to hold talks. The court had earlier also stressed on political parties to sit together to resolve the issues.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, too, expressed his support for the proposal and called on his allies as well as all other political parties to come together and try to end the ongoing crises.

PPP senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira also confirmed that the ruling alliance made a contact with the PTI. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Siraj Ul Haq has also been actively trying to build a bridge between the PTI and the coalition parties in the government.

 

China lodges complaint over S Korean president’s Taiwan comments

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has lodged a complaint with South Korea’s ambassador to Beijing over “erroneous” remarks by the South Korean president about Taiwan, China’s foreign ministry says.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s remarks were “totally unacceptable”, Sun told the ambassador, and he also expressed “strong dissatisfaction”, according to a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Sunday.

The diplomatic dispute between Beijing and Seoul stems from a recent interview, during which Yoon said increased tension around Taiwan was due to attempts to change the status quo by force and that he opposed attempts to do so.

The South Korean leader also said the dispute between China and Taiwan was now a global issue.

“The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan, but like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue,” he told.

China strongly rejected any comparison between the issue of Taiwan and North Korea, officials said.

“The South Korean leader made no mention of the One China principle but equated the Taiwan issue with the Korean Peninsula issue,” Sun said, according to the foreign ministry.

“Both North and South Korea are sovereign states that have joined the United Nations,” its statement said. “It is a well-known fact that the Korean Peninsula issue and the Taiwan issue are completely different in nature and in latitude and longitude and are not comparable at all.”