Category: Pakistan

Suicide Bombing at Mosque in Pakistan Kills 34, Targeted Police

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—A suicide bombing at a crowded mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar killed at least 34 people on Monday, the latest attack targeting police in this northwestern city where Islamist extremists remain active. Hospital officials said at least 150 people were wounded, with many of them in critical condition. Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif called the blast…


Bus Crash in Southern Pakistan Kills at Least 41

More than 40 people were killed after a bus fell into a ravine and caught fire in the southern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Sunday, officials said. Forty-one bodies had been recovered from the wreckage, some burned beyond recognition, district police officer Israr Umrani told Reuters. The bus carrying around 48 people crashed on the…


Pakistan’s Rupee Falls to Record Low as Government Seeks Release of IMF Loan

Pakistan’s currency plunged to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar on Thursday after the government lifted its exchange cap in a move to revive a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The rupee closed at 255.4 against the dollar on Thursday, down from the 230.89 rupees the previous day, according to the…


Pakistan Says Power Restored After 2nd Major Breakdown in Months

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s energy minister on Tuesday blamed the worst power outage in months on a lack of investment in the network, saying the aid-dependant nation had “learned lessons” from the breakdown that left millions of people without electricity. Like much of the national infrastructure, the power network desperately needs an upgrade, but funding has been patchy…


Energy Saving Measure in Pakistan Goes Wrong, Leaving Millions Without Power

Large swaths of Pakistan were left without electricity on Monday, as efforts were still ongoing to restore power in the debt-laden country. The incident was the second in three months in the country of 220 million people, with the energy minister giving as cause this time a power-saving measure that went wrong. In order to…


Blast Claimed by Separatist Group Derails Train in Southwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan—At least fifteen people were injured when a bomb blast derailed a passenger train in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Friday, a provincial government official said. The attack—which was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, a regional separatist group—derailed eight carriages including the locomotive, Deputy Commissioner Bolan Agha Samiullah told Reuters. He…


Cut the Gordian Knot of Pakistani Support for the Taliban; Support Afghan Resistance

Commentary A major road to weakening the Taliban goes through Islamabad and its notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Anti-Taliban strategy can’t work without dealing with the ISI. One such possibility could be to offer to recognize Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal as a fact in exchange for suspending support for the Taliban; however, that would upset India. Taliban…


UN Chief ‘Deeply Frustrated’ People Aren’t Buying Into Climate Panic

The Secretary General of the United Nations said that he was  ‘deeply frustrated’ that wealthy nations are not really into fighting global warming. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a major reform of the international financial system, so that more advanced nations could send their wealth to poorer countries, to combat their vulnerability to climate…


Pakistan Frees 524 Afghan Illegal Immigrants From Karachi Jail

KARACHI, Pakistan—Afghan authorities said on Saturday that 524 Afghan illegal immigrants have been released from a jail in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi. Pakistani police in multiple raids last month detained at least 1,200 Afghan nationals who entered Karachi without valid travel documents. A video shared by the embassy on Twitter showed women…


Pakistan Says It Has Provided List of Nuclear Facilities to India Under Annual Practice

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan said it had handed a list of its nuclear installations and facilities to the Indian mission in Islamabad on Sunday under a decades-old agreement between the two nuclear-armed rivals. The neighbours have fought three wars and have had a number of military skirmishes in recent years. Last year an Indian missile accidentally landed in…