Security forces on Wednesday vowed to \u201crelentlessly pursue\u201d the culprits of the attack on a school bus in Balochistan\u2019s Khuzdar, leaving three children among five dead and several others injured.<\/p>\n
A statement by the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, issued after PM Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s one-day visit to Quetta following the incident, said, \u201cPakistan\u2019s security forces and law enforcement agencies will relentlessly pursue all those involved in this barbaric act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe architects, abettors, and enablers of this crime will be held accountable and brought to justice and the truth about India\u2019s cunning role, a real perpetrator of terrorism but feigns as a victim, stands exposed before the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement detailed the incident, claiming the act was carried out by \u201cstate-sponsored proxies of India (Fitna al Hindustan)\u201d and added that \u201cdastardly terrorist incidents\u201d were being orchestrated through proxies in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, \u201cdeliberately targeting civilians in a futile attempt to destabilise Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir also visited Quetta to meet the victims of the attack along with the prime minister, the statement added.<\/p>\n
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti and the Quetta Corps commander briefed the visitors about the incident, which led to the \u201cmartyrdom of three innocent children and two soldiers\u201d, as well as 53 others injured, including 39 children, eight of whom were in critical condition, the statement added.<\/p>\n
The visitors expressed grief over the loss of lives, condemning the \u201cshameful and despicable act\u201d.<\/p>\n
The statement said that the terrorist groups were \u201cnot only being exploited by India as instruments of state policy but also stand as a stain on the honour and values of the Baloch and Pashtun people, who have long rejected violence and extremism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia\u2019s reliance on such morally indefensible tactics, particularly the deliberate targeting of children, demands urgent attention from the international community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of terrorism as a tool of foreign policy must be unequivocally condemned and confronted.\u201d<\/p>\n
It further quoted PM Shehbaz as saying that the entire nation stood resolute behind its armed forces and law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
The statement added that the premier and COAS highlighted that \u201cit\u2019s now time, that the nation displays a very strong resolve similar to the one shown recently against the aggression by India, to bring the fight against foreign-sponsored terrorism to its logical and decisive end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a statement saying, \u201cIn yet another cowardly and ghastly attack planned and orchestrated by terrorist state of India and executed by its proxies in Balochistan, innocent school-going children\u2019s bus was targeted today in Khuzdar.\u201d<\/p>\n
It further said that \u201cafter having miserably failed in the battlefield, through these most heinous and cowardly such like acts, Indian proxies have been unleashed to spread terror and unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said that \u201cIndian terror proxies are being employed as a state tool by India to foment terrorism in Pakistan against soft targets such as innocent children and civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n
It noted that India had \u201cfailed\u201d in Pakistan\u2019s Operation Bunyanum Marsoos during the recent conflict, and its [proxies] were \u201cbeing hunted [down] by military and law enforcement agencies\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cUse of terrorism as a state policy by [the] Indian political government is abhorrent and reflective of their low morality and disregard of [sic] basic human norms,\u201d the ISPR said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanners, abettors and executors of this cowardly Indian-sponsored attack will be hunted down and brought to justice and [the] heinous face of India will be exposed in front of the entire world,\u201d the military vowed.<\/p>\n
Pakistan Armed Forces, with the support of the brave Pakistani nation, stand \u201cunited to uproot Indian-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan in all its manifestations\u201d, the ISPR said.<\/p>\n
Deputy Commissioner Yasir Iqbal Dashti told Dawn.com that the blast occurred when the school bus was near the Khuzdar Zero Point.<\/p>\n
The bodies and the injured were taken to the Khuzdar Combined Military Hospital, from where the seriously injured would be referred to medical facilities in Quetta and Karachi, the DC said.<\/p>\n
Police, the Frontier Corps (FC) and other law enforcement agencies personnel reached the site of the incident to collect evidence for an investigation.<\/p>\n
While a probe was underway, the DC said preliminary findings indicated that the attack was a suicide blast.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the ISPR said 12 terrorists of \u201cIndian proxy\u201d outfits were killed by security forces in separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.<\/p>\n
Last month, ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry accused India of activating its \u201cassets\u201d to inte\u00adnsify terrorist attacks in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
He had detailed the arrest of a Pakistani terror suspect allegedly trained by India as \u201cirr\u00ade\u00adfutable evidence\u201d of state-sponsored terrorism directed by Ind\u00adian military personnel.<\/p>\n
Condemnations
\nPM Shehbaz earlier condemned the attack as a cowardly act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attack on innocent children in a school bus by terrorists working under Indian patronage is clear proof of their hostility towards education in Balochistan,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Expressing deep sorrow over the death of the children, he said that the terrorists have \u201ccrossed all limits of barbarity\u201d, vowing to bring them to their end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sympathies of the entire nation, including mine, are with the families of these innocent children, who were victims of the brutality of terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
He directed the security forces to bring the perpetrators to justice and showed support for the armed forces\u2019 resolve to eradicate terrorism from the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Security forces on Wednesday vowed to \u201crelentlessly pursue\u201d the culprits of the attack on a school bus in Balochistan\u2019s Khuzdar, leaving three children among five dead and several others injured. A statement by the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, issued after PM Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s one-day visit to Quetta following the incident, said, \u201cPakistan\u2019s security forces and law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9363,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9361\/revisions\/9363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}