Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 30: At least 39 people were killed and 123 others injured in a blast at the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers’ convention in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Peshawar on Sunday. At least 17 people are in critical condition.
The blast targeted the radical Islamic party, a government coalition partner led by an influential firebrand cleric, when more than 400 members and supporters had gathered in the Khar tensil of the Bajaur district, near the border of Afghanistan. “I can confirm that in the hospital we have 39 dead bodies, with 123 wounded that includes 17 patients in a serious condition,” Riaz Anwar, the health minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said.
Till Late evening, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack which is believed to be a suicidal act, but the local chapter of the ISIS group has recently carried out attacks against JUI-F.
Last year, IS said it was behind violent attacks against religious scholars affiliated with the party, which has a huge network of mosques and madrassas in the north and west of the country. The jihadist group accuses JUI-F of hypocrisy for being an Islamic group while supporting hostile governments and the military.
More than 400 party members and supporters had gathered under a canopy when the attack took place in the town of Khar. “As we awaited the arrival of the central leadership, a sudden and loud bang echoed through the venue,” said Sabeeh Ullah, a 24-year-old supporter who fractured his arm in the blast. “I found myself lying next to someone who had lost their limbs. The air was filled with the smell of human flesh,” he said.
Riaz Anwar said it was suspect to be a suicide attack. “It was a suicide attack, with the bomber detonating himself in close proximity to the stage,” the minister said. Provincial governor Haji Ghulam Ali confirmed the toll. Images from the blast site circulating on social media showed bodies strewn around the scene, and volunteers helping blood-soaked victims to ambulances.
Pakistan Army and other forces are helping with the operation and providing medical treatment to those injured. The injured people have been shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment and the law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area.
The hospitals across Bajaur and neighbouring areas have been put on high alert, KP caretaker Information Minister Firoz Shah Jamal said. He added that the critical patients are being moved to Peshawar and other hospitals via helicopters. Till now, at least five ambulances have reached the site.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed deep sorrow and regret over the blast and prayed for recovery of the injured party workers. Rehman asked the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and KPK’s government to start an inquiry into the incident and asked for the best treatment of the injured.
Pakistan’s national assembly is due to dissolve in the next few weeks ahead of elections expected in October or November, and political parties are already preparing to campaign.
The blast coincides with a visit by a senior delegation of Chinese officials, including Vice Premier He Lifeng, who are due to arrive in the capital later Sunday evening.
The party’s leader, cleric Fazlur Rehman started political life as a firebrand Islamist hardliner but has softened his public image over the years in a bid to forge alliances with secular parties on the left and right of the spectrum.
With the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of madrassa students, his party never musters enough support for power on its own but is usually a key player in any coalition.
Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in terrorist attacks since the Afghan Taliban surged back to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan’s home-grown Taliban group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has largely directed its campaign against security officials, including police officers.
In January, a suicide bomber linked to Pakistan’s Taliban blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the north-western city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 officers. The terrorist assaults have been focused in regions abutting Afghanistan, and Islamabad alleges some are being planned on Afghan soil — a charge Kabul denies.
Pakistan was once plagued by almost daily bombings, but a major military clearance operation in the former tribal areas starting in 2014 largely restored order. The seven remote districts that border Afghanistan, of which Bajaur is one, were later brought under the control of Pakistani authorities after the passage of legislation in 2018.
Analysts say terrorists in the former tribal areas have become emboldened since the return of the Afghan Taliban. Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attack in a statement, adding Kabul “shares its deepest condolences to the affected families.”