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Beef eaters can go to Pakistan says Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

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Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

New Delhi: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday justified ban on cow slaughter and asked all those who want to eat beef to go to Pakistan.

“It is not about loss or profit… it is an issue of faith and belief. It is a sensitive issue for the Hindus,” Naqvi said at ‘Manthan’ conclave organised by TV channel Aaj Tak.

“Those who are dying without eating beef, can go to Pakistan or Arab countries or any other part of world where it is available,” he said.

“Even Muslims are against it…” he contended.

Naqvi was countered by AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi who asked whether the central government would impose blanket ban on beef across India, especially in states like Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala where a large number of people eat this kind of meat.

On the issue of backwardness among Muslims, Naqvi said the Narendra Modi government was taking steps to eradicate poverty among the minorities.

“It is a fact that Muslims have remained away from development. Various social security schemes started by our government would help Muslims in a big way,” he added.

(IANS)

US releases trove of Bin Laden letters

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More than 100 documents taken from late al-Qaeda chief shed new light on his mindset before he was killed by US troops.

Osama bin Laden

by Al Jazeera

The US has published a trove of declassified documents that shed new light on the mindset of Osama bin Laden, the late al-Qaeda leader, before he was killed by US Navy Seals in 2011.

Hunkered down in his Pakistani compound, Bin Laden pleaded with his followers to stay focused on attacking the United States instead of being dragged into Muslim infighting.

“The focus should be on killing and fighting the American people and their representatives,” Bin Laden wrote in one of the documents revealed on Wednesday.

The letter was among thousands of files found by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011 when they descended on Bin Laden’s hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad and shot him dead.

US intelligence agencies have now declassified more than 100 of these documents taken from Bin Laden’s archive, after politicians ordered the move and critics accused the CIA of withholding material.

The AFP news agency was given exclusive access to the documents ahead of their release.

CIA translations

Jeff Anchukaitis, spokesman for the US Director of National Intelligence’s office, said the release of “a sizeable tranche of documents recovered during the raid” was in keeping with US President Barack Obama’s call for “increased transparency”.

It was also in accordance with a law obliging the spy agencies to review all the Bin Laden materials for possible release, he said.

The documents are Central Intelligence Agency translations of the originals in English, and AFP had no way to independently verify the materials or the accuracy of the translation.

The release came shortly after US journalist Seymour Hersh alleged that Washington’s official account of the hunt for Bin Laden and the raid that led to his death was a lie.

But CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said the declassification had been long planned and had not been intended as a response to Hersh’s report.

From the strategic and theological discussions to the mundane details of domestic funding and security measures, the documents show Bin Laden once again attacking the West in a spectacular fashion.

Mindful of drone strikes taking out senior leaders, Bin Laden frequently referred to security headaches and advised against communicating by email.

He scolded his followers for gathering in large groups and fretted about a microscopic bug being inserted in his wife’s clothes.

He laid out plans to groom a new cadre of leaders willing to risk the dangers of joining al-Qaeda, and his associates discussed arrangements for smuggling Bin Laden’s favourite son and likely heir, Hamza, to Pakistan.

Citing domestic US public opposition to the Vietnam War, Bin Laden argued that the only way to alter US foreign policy was to “start striking America to force it to abandon these rulers and leave the Muslims alone”.

But the documents also highlight deep divisions among his followers over how to wage their campaigns.

Bin Laden warned that conflict with regimes in the Middle East would distract the extremists from hitting hard at what as far as he was concerned was the real enemy – America.

“We should stop operations against the army and the police in all regions, especially Yemen,” he wrote.

The correspondence reflected Bin Laden’s “worry that disunity within the global jihadist movement could spell its demise,” said a senior US intelligence analyst.

The letters also show Bin Laden was stunned by the Arab uprisings that erupted across the region from 2010 and urged his deputies to seize the moment of “revolution” and rally Muslim youth.

ISIL and Bin Laden

Al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq, which would later morph into the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group – and which now increasingly overshadows al-Qaeda – also came up in the documents.

Bin Laden and his then deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, received a scathing rebuke in a letter from some Iraqi supporters, who demanded they denounce the bloodletting in Iraq.

The Jihad and Reform Front warned Bin Laden that God would hold him to account “for blessing the work done by the al-Qaeda in Iraq organisation without disavowing the scandals that are committed in your name”.

“If you still can, then this is your last chance to remedy the jihad breakdown that is about to take place in Iraq, that is mostly caused by your followers,” said the letter dated May 22, 2007.

Bin Laden wrote of the need for large-scale terror operations, even though some of his deputies were finding it difficult to organise massive attacks as they tried to avert drones overhead and US eavesdropping.

One document recently declassified in a terrorism trial in New York but not released on Wednesday quotes Abu Musab al-Suri, an al-Qaeda veteran, who advocated going after smaller targets of opportunity as a more realistic approach, intelligence officials said.

“Bin Laden at the time of his death remained focused on large-scale operations while other al-Qaeda leaders believed smaller operations, or inciting lone terrorist attacks, could succeed at bleeding the West economically,” the intelligence analyst said.

Bin Laden failed to win the argument. After his death, al-Qaeda’s leadership called for lone-wolf attacks, and Suri’s idea of “individual jihad” won out.

ISIL, which was officially excommunicated from al-Qaeda, now controls vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and its online propaganda has been blamed for inspiring attacks from Paris to the Dallas suburbs.

Pakistan army 'caught India by throat' during Kargil war, says Pervez Musharraf

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pervez-musharraf

Karachi: Recalling the Kargil conflict, Pakistan’s former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf on Sunday said the Pakistani army “caught India by throat” and that India will never forget the war.

“There was a second line force, too, which caught India by throat and that was later given the status of army,” Musharraf said, addressing a ceremony of his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

Musharraf, who masterminded the 1999 Kargil conflict and ruled over Pakistan for nine years, said India will always “remember the battle of Kargil”, the Geo News reported.

“We entered Kargil from four points of which India was not aware,” the former President said, In May 1999, India and Pakistan, in their most serious military engagement since 1971, clashed in Kargil area of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir after militants backed by Pakistani troops occupied the mountain peaks of Kargil.

Speaking on the occasion, the former army chief also announced that his political party will take part in upcoming local bodies election in the country.

(IANS)

Saudi to purchase Pakistani nuclear weapons

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The Saudi-Pakistan talks come amid the P5+1 negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. (AFP/File)

The Saudi-Pakistan talks come amid the P5+1 negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. (AFP/File)

Saudi Arabia has reportedly held talks with Pakistan for the purchase of nuclear weapons amid the ongoing nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran, according to a US senior official who spoke with The Sunday Times.

Tensions in the region have escalated in light of the framework agreement the United States and the other world powers have made with the Islamic Republic, with Saudi Arabia increasingly concerned with the repercussions of a deal that may see the easing of sanctions leaving Iran more legroom to continue developing weapons of mass destruction.

The strain in relations was evident when Saudi Arabia’s King Salman skipped a major summit in Washington this week, along with the leaders of three other Gulf nations.

“For the Saudis the moment has come,” The Sunday Times quoted a former US defense official as saying.

“There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward.”

Saudi Arabia is skeptical that any final, comprehensive deal with Iran will curb its nuclear ambitions, with the West’s engagement  having actually “opened the door to nuclear proliferation,” a military source told The Sunday Times

The agreement allows Iran to keep 5,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at Natanz, and another 1,000 centrifuges at its underground enrichment facility in Fordow.

According to one senior British official who also spoke with The Sunday Times, military leadership from all Western countries “assume the Saudis have made the decision to go nuclear.”

“The fear is that other Middle Eastern powers — Turkey and Egypt — may feel compelled to do the same and we will see a new, even more dangerous, arms race.”

Count all lives taken by Drone war, not just western ones: Human rights groups to US

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Human rights organizations including Reprieve and Center for Constitutional Rights write open letter to President Barack Obama

Pakistani journalist and anti-drone campaigner Kareem Khan holds a photograph of his brother and teenage son, both killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2009. (Image courtesy of Reprieve)

Pakistani journalist and anti-drone campaigner Kareem Khan holds a photograph of his brother and teenage son, both killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2009. (Image courtesy of Reprieve)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

All victims of U.S. drone strikes and assassination attempts deserve to be acknowledged by the government that carried out their killing—not just citizens of western nations—human rights organizations charged (pdf) in an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama released on Wednesday.

In late April, the Obama administration publicly apologized for the drone killings of two civilians, U.S. citizen Warren Weinstein and Italian citizen Giovanni Lo Porto, in a U.S. strike that occurred in Pakistan in January 2015. For the first time in the drone war, the president pledged to pay compensation to the victims’ families.

But the president has repeatedly refused to acknowledge, let alone pay reparations for, the vast majority of people killed in over a decade of covert drone wars, the most of whom hail from Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, and Afghanistan.

“We write to urge your administration to adopt the same approach to all other U.S. counterterrorism strikes in which civilians have been injured or killed—regardless of their nationalities,” reads the letter, which was signed by humanitarian and advocacy groups, including Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Reprieve.

“To that end, your administration should establish a systematic and transparent mechanism for post-strike investigations, which are made public, and provide appropriate redress to civilian victims,” the missive continues.

But the statement goes beyond calling for transparency and redress: “In addition to investigating individual strikes, acknowledging responsibility, and providing appropriate redress for civilian harm, we urge your administration to take essential steps to: publicly disclose standards and criteria governing ‘targeted killings’; ensure that U.S. lethal force operations abroad comply with international human rights and humanitarian law; and enable meaningful congressional oversight and judicial review.”

Many from heavily impacted areas and countries have called for an immediate end to the U.S. drone war altogether. “These drones attack us, and the whole world is silent,” declared Kareem Khan, a Pakistani journalist and anti-drone campaigner whose brother and teenage son were killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2009, addressing a 2011 anti-drone conference in Islamabad.

Wednesday’s letter includes examples of ten U.S. drone strikes that have left family and loved ones seeking redress, accountability, and simply, acknowledgement.

One such case is from October 24, 2012 in Pakistan: “A strike allegedly killed Mamana Bibi, a woman aged about 65 who was gathering vegetables in her family’s large, mostly vacant fields in Ghundi Kala, a village in North Waziristan.”

But the human toll goes far beyond these ten examples.

According to estimates from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, one of the few outfits publicly tracking such deaths, up to 1,273 people in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan have been killed in CIA drone attacks and other covert operations since 2002.

43 killed in attack on bus carrying Ismailis in Karachi

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A Pakistani security official displays cartridges he collected from the scene of an attack on a bus, in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Gunmen killed dozens of people on Wednesday aboard a bus in southern Pakistan bound for a Shiite community center, in the latest attack targeting the religious minority, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A Pakistani security official displays cartridges he collected from the scene of an attack on a bus, in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Gunmen killed dozens of people on Wednesday aboard a bus in southern Pakistan bound for a Shiite community center, in the latest attack targeting the religious minority, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

by Imtiaz Ali, Dawn

Karachi: At least 43 people were killed and 13 others wounded on Wednesday when armed men opened fire inside a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Chowk in Karachi.

Sindh Police Inspector General Ghulam Haider Jamali said that 60 people were on board the bus when six gunmen entered and executed 43 passengers.

He added that the armed men used 9mm pistols in the massacre. The attackers managed to flee after the attack.

Hospital sources have so far confirmed that the dead include 25 men and 16 women. Police officials said that there were no children among the casualties.

All victims were shot from a close-range.

Rana M Razzaq, a security coordinator at the Memon Medical Center, told Dawn that, “One young girl hid and survived. Three or four others who were brought to the hospital have survived…the rest are all dead.”

Jundullah claims attack

Ahmed Marwat, a spokesman for Jundullah which is a splinter group of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), talking to Reuters claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Al Qaeda affiliated group that started off from South Waziristan has targetted Shia minorities and foreign tourists in the past as well. In November last year, the group had pledged support to Islamic State (IS).

In the past, the proscribed group has claimed several attacks including a blast near the Wagah border in November 2014 and the July 2013 attack on the compound of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Sukkur. It has also claimed the several attacks on polio workers across the country.

Attackers entered bus and fired

A survivor of the attack recorded her statement before the police and said that the attackers entered the bus from the rear portion a few minutes after its departure.

She added that the occupants of the bus thought that robbers had embarked on the vehicle.

The assailants subdued the driver and separated (two) children from the others, the victims said and added that, “They told the passengers to keep their head low. One of the attackers situated in the rear side of the bus then ordered his associates to ‘shoot every one’ after which they indiscriminately targeted all passengers of the bus.”

All attackers were speaking fluent Urdu according to the survivor.

Secretary Al Azhar Garden said that the bus leaves daily at 9am and has been operating for the past 10 years. Today it was attacked around 9:30 am, he said.

A rescue official quoted a victim as saying that the attackers were dressed in police uniforms.

Investigation Officer Tariq Jadoon told Dawn that some blue caps, which are used by security guards, have also been recovered from the crime scene along with 9mm casings.

A plain-clothes police official holds up evidence collected from the scene of an attack by gunmen on a bus carrying Ismailis in Karachi on May 13, 2015.— AFP

Investigation Officer Tariq Jadoon told Dawn that some blue caps, which are used by security guards, have also been recovered from the crime scene along with 9mm casings.

A senior police official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media, told Dawn that the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.

“The gunmen stopped the bus and first fired at it from outside,” a policeman told AFP. “Then they entered inside the bus and open fire indiscriminately. After that they checked to see if anyone was left uninjured.”

“The bus had a capacity of 52 passengers but it was overloaded and dozens of people were boarding it. Most of them were from (the) Ismaili community,” he added.

Ismaili community attacked: police

Pakistan has seen a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, particularly against Shias — of which the Ismaili community is a sub-sect — who make up around 20 per cent of the country’s predominantly Muslim population.

“The dead and injured have been shifted to the private Memon Medical Center nearby,” an official of the Ismaili National Council, a group which represents the community said.

The bus belongs to the Al-Azhar Garden Colony, which is an Ismaili community housing project in Karachi. It was on its regular route headed towards Federal B Area of Karachi.

CM Sindh, CCPO take notice

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah strongly condemned the firing incident and condoled with the victims.

He ordered immediate suspension of the area’s Station House Officer (SHO) and District Superintendent of Police (DSP).

“The SHO, DSP have been suspended, we will find out whether the bus had security, whether they had asked for it or not,” the provincial chief minister said. “If there is a security lapse, it will be investigated.”

He announced a compensation of Rs500,000 for the heirs of those killed in the massacre and a Rs200,000 compensation for those wounded in the attack.

Shah also announced that the government will bear all expenses incurred for the treatment of the victims.

Taking notice of the firing incident, Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali directed Additional IG Ghulam Qadir Thebo to immediately submit a preliminary report in this regard, according to a press release.

He also directed security forces to facilitate emergency rescue services in shifting of injured to hospitals for treatment. He ordered the early arrest of criminals involved.

Condemnations pour in

Condemnations poured in soon after today’s deadly attack on the bus. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the incident. He sought a report into the incident and extended condolences over the loss of lives.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also strongly condemned the attack, according to a statement. Bilawal sympathised with the victims and urged for stern action against the terrorists.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan also strongly condemned the attack and expressed grief over the murder of citizens.

He added that this incident raises questions over the provincial government’s performance pertaining to peace in the province. The government must provide complete medical facilities to the injured and take strict action against those responsible for this attack, he said.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain expressed deep grief and sorrow over the attack. He said this attack is the worst form of terrorism and those behind the attack are savages. Others also took to Twitter to express their grief and condemn the brutal attack.

A community under threat

The Ismailis in Pakistan are a peaceful, progressive and largely apolitical community predominantly working in the health and education sectors.

Read: Pakistani Taliban threaten Kalash tribe, Ismailis in Chitral

In the past there has been anti-Ismaili violence in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, mostly in the form of communal flare-ups.

In 2013, a bomb attack at Karachi’s Aisha Manzil killed four and injured 42 others. The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks.

Today’s massacre was the worst anti-Shia attack since January 30, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in the southern Shikarpur district, killing 61.

Anti-Shia attacks have been increasing in recent years in Karachi and also in Quetta, the northwestern area of Parachinar and the far northeastern town of Gilgit.

Around 1,000 Shias have been killed in the past two years in Pakistan, with many of the attacks claimed by the hardline Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) who view them as heretics.

Ismailis are known for their progressive Islamic views. Their spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan is a globally renowned philanthropist and business magnate.

— Mateen Haider contributed to the reporting of this story

Seymour Hersh: Obama's entire account Of bin Laden's Death is one big lie

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Osama bin Laden

An expose published on Sunday alleges that President Obama deceived Americans with his narrative of the 2011 assassination of Osama bin Laden.

Author Seymour M. Hersh accuses Obama of rushing to take credit for the al Qaeda leader’s death.

This decision, Hersh argues in the London Review of Books, forced the military and intelligence communities to scramble and then corroborate the president’s version of events.

“High-level lying nonetheless remains the modus operandi of U.S. policy, along with secret prisons, drone attacks, Special Forces night raids, bypassing the chain of command, and cutting out those who might say no,” Hersh wrote of the Obama administration’s counterterrorism policies.

Hersh based his report on a single, anonymous source. This individual, he said, is a “retired senior intelligence official who was knowledgeable about the initial intelligence about bin Laden’s presence in Abottabad.”

Hersh’s source alleged that the Pakistani government had an active role in approving and implementing the raid on bin Laden’s compound.

In addition, the source said that the Obama administration originally agreed to announce bin Laden had been killed in a drone strike rather than shot during an active Special Forces mission.

“Obama’s speech was put together in a rush,” Hersh wrote of Obama’s announcement of Operation Neptune Spear to Americans.

“This series of self-serving and inaccurate statements would create chaos in the weeks following,” he added.

“This was not the fog of war,” Hersh quoted his anonymous source as saying.

“The fact that there was an agreement with the Pakistanis and no contingency analysis of what was to be disclosed if something went wrong – that wasn’t even discussed,” the source added.

“And once it went wrong, they had to make up a new cover story on the fly,” the source said of Obama’s advisers’ response to his speech on the raid, Hersh wrote.

Hersh’s report also accuses the Obama administration of embellishing the details of the raid itself and presenting al Qaeda as a bigger threat than it actually was before bin Laden’s death.

The White House did not comment on Hersh’s claims.

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 328 runs in 2nd Test

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Pakistan cricketers pose for a group photograph with the tournament trophy following the presentation ceremony after the fourth day of the second cricket Test match between Bangladesh and Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on May 9, 2015. AFP PHOTO/ Munir uz ZAMAN

Pakistan cricketers pose for a group photograph with the tournament trophy following the presentation ceremony after the fourth day of the second cricket Test match between Bangladesh and Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on May 9, 2015. AFP PHOTO/ Munir uz ZAMAN

Dhaka: Leg-spinner Yasir Shah claimed a match haul of seven wickets as dominant Pakistan crushed Bangladesh by 328 runs in the second and final Test in Dhaka on Saturday to clinch the series 1-0.

The hosts, who resumed their second innings at 63-1 chasing an improbable target of 550, were shot out for 221 in the post-lunch session of the fourth day at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

Shah, who took three for 58 in the first innings, once again baffled the Bangladesh batsmen with his leg-spin and googly on the wearing pitch to grab four for 73 in the second knock.

Mominul Haque played a lone hand for the hosts with 68, joining West Indies great Vivian Richards and the Indian duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir as the only batsmen to score 50 runs or more in 11 consecutive Tests.

Shuvagata Hom hit 39, sharing a ninth-wicket stand of 44 with Mohammad Shahid, to steer Bangladesh past the 200-run mark after they were reduced to 143-7 soon after lunch.

The match ended at the fall of the ninth wicket as Shahadat Hossain was unable to bat after suffering a serious knee injury on the first day.

The win helped Pakistan end an otherwise dismal month-long tour on a positive note after being routed 3-0 in the one-day series and losing to Bangladesh for the first time in a Twenty20 International.

It was Bangladesh’s ninth loss to Pakistan in 10 Tests, the only consolation coming through a draw in the first Test of the short series in Khulna last week.

“This was a much-needed win for us … The team showed great character after what happened in the earlier games,” Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said.

“The key was the way Younis Khan and Azhar Ali batted in the first innings to put up a 250-run stand. There was also more bounce in this wicket than in Khulna which our bowlers enjoyed.

“But Bangladesh must be congratulated (for) the way they played on this tour. The draw in the first Test was like a victory for them. I wish them well for the future.”

‘Nothing went right for us’

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said he was very disappointed at the defeat after losing a frontline bowler in Shahadat on the first morning.

“Nothing went right for us from the first day,” he said. “I don’t think we executed our plans well and that is why we lost the game.”

Rahim said his team would however take a lot of positives into next month’s one-off Test at home against India which will be followed by three One-Day Internationals.

“Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes had a good series and Mominul scores well consistently. But the bowlers need to be aggressive to keep us in the game for five days.

“They must realise that to compete and win Test matches, 20 wickets need to be taken. We will look to do that against India.”

Pakistan turned the screws on the hosts with four quick wickets in the morning session to leave the rivals tottering at 126 for five.

Seamer Imran Khan, a late replacement for the injured Rahat Ali, dealt two major blows when he removed the in-form Tamim and Mohammad Mahmudullah in the space of nine runs.

Tamim, who slammed a double-century in the first Test, was caught behind by wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed for 42 as he slashed at a short delivery from Imran.

Mahmudullah made two when he edged Imran to second slip where Younis Khan picked up the catch on second attempt as Bangladesh slipped from 86-1 to 95-3.

Off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez struck in his first over when Shakib Al Hasan (13) stepped out to loft a flighted ball and gave Wahab Riaz an easy catch at mid-off.

Brief scores: Pakistan 557/8 decl and 195-6 decl; Bangladesh 203 and 221.

(Agencies)

Pakistan push for win in Dhaka Test

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Pakistan cricketer Yasir Shah celebrates with his teammates after the dismissal of the Bangladesh cricketer Imrul Kayes during thee third day of the second test in Dhaka. AFP

Pakistan cricketer Yasir Shah celebrates with his teammates after the dismissal of the Bangladesh cricketer Imrul Kayes during thee third day of the second test in Dhaka. AFP

Dhaka: Pakistan set Bangladesh an improbable victory target of 550 runs and claimed the wicket of opener Imrul Kayes to inch closer to a series-clinching win in the second and final Test on Friday.

The visitors, who have failed to win a single match on their tour, skittled out the hosts for 203 in the first innings on the third morning but refused to enforce follow-on.

Pakistan decided to bat instead and declared their second innings on 195 for six for an overall lead of 549 runs.

In reply, Bangladesh reached 63 for one in their second innings at stumps, still 487 runs behind the target with Tamim Iqbal (32) and Mominul Haque (15) at the crease.

Resuming on 107 for five, Bangladesh lost two quick wickets to fast bowler Wahab Riaz (3-73), leaving Shakib Al Hasan (89 not out) stranded at one end.

Left-handed Shakib, who hit 14 boundaries and two sixes, ran out of partners in the end with injured paceman Shahadat Hossain absent hurt.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah claimed 3-58 for Pakistan.

Bangladesh managed to take three quick wickets in Pakistan’s second innings, with paceman Mohammad Shahid taking out the openers in his first spell.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq blasted 82 off 72 balls to help his team accumulate quick runs and added 58 for the fourth wicket with Younus Khan (39).

Pakistan declared after Misbah holed out in the deep off part-time spinner Mahmudullah.

Bangladesh needed Tamim and Imrul to replicate their 312-run second innings opening stand that helped the hosts draw the last Test at Khulna but that was not to be.

Yasir bowled left-hander Imrul (16) to break the 48-run opening stand with a delivery that turned in sharply to hit the stumps.

(Agencies)

Pakistan: Norway, Philippines envoys killed in helicopter crash, army claims no terror attack

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This file photo shows Polish ambassador Andrezej Ananicz (C) with his wife (L) and Ambassador of Norway Leif Larsen (R). — Dawn/File

This file photo shows Polish ambassador Andrezej Ananicz (C) with his wife (L) and Ambassador of Norway Leif Larsen (R). — Dawn/File

by Mateen Haider & Imtiaz Taj, Dawn

Gilgit: Ambassador of Philippines Domingo D Lucenario Jr, Ambassador of Norway Leif Larsen and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors were among seven people killed in a helicopter crash in Naltar Valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region on Friday.

Two pilots and a crew member were among those killed when the Pakistan Army helicopter crash-landed on a school in Naltar Valley, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Asim Bajwa said. Media reports identified the two pilots as Major Altamash and Major Faisal.

Injuries were also reported from the incident in which Dutch ambassador Marcel de Vink and Polish ambassador Andrzej Ananicz were injured.

Bajwa said that six Pakistanis and 11 foreigners were on board the MI-17 helicopter.

The convoy comprised of three MI-17 helicopters, one carrying foreign diplomats, one carrying the prime minister and his staff and a third one with senior military officials, Bajwa said.

AFP quoted a statement by the Prime Minister Office as saying that Premier Nawaz Sharif was on a plane, not helicopter, en route to the Gilgit area at the time of the incident, but turned back to Islamabad after news of the crash broke.

A top regional administration official told AFP that the premier was due to inaugurate a chair-lift project at a ski resort in Naltar Valley.

The crashed helicopter was carrying a delegation of ambassadors to inspect projects on a three-day trip to Gilgit-Baltistan, where the foreign envoys were set to meet with the prime minister.

What caused the crash

Speaking to DawnNews after the incident, DG ISPR said the helicopter crashed due to a technical fault and ruled out the possibility of any terrorist or subversive activity.

He, however, said that as per procedure, a board of inquiry has been constituted to investigate the cause of the crash.

Moreover, the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that the incident was the result of an attack it carried out however this could not be independently verified.

Transporting bodies, injured

Shortly after the incident, the injured were taken to the emergency ward of the Combined Military Hospital in Gilgit, hospital officials said.

Moreover, arrangements were being made by the Pakistan Air Force to bring the bodies of the ambassadors and the wives of two other envoys to Islamabad.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office in Islamabad has informed the respective governments about the tragic incident.

According to a list of passengers obtained by AFP, the ambassadors of Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Romania, Norway, South Africa, the Philippines and Poland were scheduled to fly on the helicopter.

A passenger in one of the helicopters told AFP that the air convoy was supposed to have included four helicopters but the number was later reduced to three.

“It was a diplomatic trip with members of 37 countries in total,” said the passenger who requested anonymity, adding that the school had caught fire after the crash but no children were in class at the time.

“The school, built by Pakistan Air Force for the children of the area, was closed as part of a security plan for the prime minister’s visit,” he said.

PM declares one day of mourning

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has extended heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of the two ambassadors and the spouses of two other envoys who died in today’s incident and has declared one day mourning in relation to the incident.

He also expressed concern over the conditions of the injured diplomats and prayed for their speedy recovery. He directed concerned authorities to provide the injured diplomats with the best medical treatment.

The premier also directed authorities to dispatch planes and helicopters to evacuate the injured diplomats and transport the bodies to Islamabad.

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