#Imran Khan assassination attempt latest

[mariacallous]

On Saturday, former U.S. President Donald Trump became the latest major political figure worldwide to face an assassination attempt, in an incident that experts say may reflect a broader global pattern of increasing threats and violence against politicians.

In recent years, for example, both Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan have survived being shot (Fico in May this year and Khan in November 2022), while then-Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner narrowly escaped a shooting attempt in 2022 when the gunman’s pistol jammed. South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in January, and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed in 2018. And assassinations claimed the lives of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (in 2022) and British politicians Jo Cox (in 2016) and David Amess (in 2021). 

“We seem to be seeing that assassinations are on the rise now,” said Jacob Ware, a terrorism expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and the co-author of God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America, although he noted that he was drawing on anecdotal evidence. 

“Politicians and political figures are finding themselves in the crosshairs, and the people are determining that the ballot box and elections are no longer the best way to exercise political grievances,” Ware said. 

The United States is no stranger to high-profile assassinations and attempts, both on the lives of sitting U.S. presidents and presidential candidates. Four former U.S. presidents—Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy—were killed during their presidential terms. A handful more survived failed attempts, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, the latter of whom had a hand grenade thrown at him while in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1968, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, was assassinated. 

In recent years, the number of threats issued against U.S. public officials has grown, according to a 2024 study conducted by the researchers at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center. The study, which examined federal charges over the past decade, found that threats have “steadily risen” over that time period, coinciding with a surge in political polarization across the country. 

“In the last six years, the number of individuals who have been arrested at the federal level for making threats has nearly doubled from the previous four years,” the study’s authors wrote, while the number of federal prosecutions for such threats is “on pace to hit new record highs” in 2023 and 2024. 

“The mistrust and distrust of government is so great that it leads to almost the dehumanization of political figures,” said Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and the other co-author of God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America. “That’s also contributed to this demonization of individuals that can, in the minds of certainly a minority of Americans, incite violence.”

Two recent examples are incidents involving former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who were the targets of failed abduction and assassination plots, respectively; in the Pelosi case, though the former speaker avoided the attack, her husband was brutally assaulted with a hammer. And in 2020, the FBI announced that it had arrested more than a dozen people in connection with a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and put her on trial for treason; nine people were ultimately convicted or pleaded guilty in the plot, and five were acquitted.

“It certainly feels like we’re in a different era. There’s a lack of civility that I think permeates our political discourse, and it’s frequently peppered with references to violence and extreme violence” said Colin P. Clarke, the director of research at the Soufan Group. That includes Trump himself, Clarke said, who “has been a big purveyor of this.”

That may not be a uniquely American phenomenon, either. While assassinations of high-profile leaders in the world’s most-developed nations may be relatively rare today, the outlook may be different for other government figures around the world.

One key example is Mexico, which recently reached a bleak new political milestone in holding its deadliest election season ever. During the country’s 2024 election cycle, 37 political candidates were assassinated, many of whom were vying for local office. In the country’s 2021 midterm election, 36 candidates were assassinated, according to Integralia, a security consultancy. 

Beyond the issue of assassinations, other violence against candidates was also more pervasive in Mexico this year. Integralia logged 828 nonlethal violent incidents during the 2024 election season, eclipsing the 389 attacks recorded in 2018 during the country’s previous presidential election. 

Pakistan has also experienced a rise in such threats in recent years. According to the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, whose data only goes as far as 2020, Pakistan experienced a marked uptick in assassinations and attempts against government officials from 2012 to 2016, peaking at 36 in 2013 and 2015. 

While variations in laws and data collection make it difficult for researchers to measure whether there’s been a broad global uptick in violence, these examples indicate that they’re hardly uncommon. Now, the attempted assassination of Trump may serve as an alarm bell for other officials around the world. On Sunday, John Woodcock, a member of the U.K. House of Lords and a former government advisor on political violence, said in an interview with the Guardian that the attempted assassination is “a vivid reminder of the vulnerability of all politicians” and warned of the possibility of similar attacks in the United Kingdom. 

“We have seen the growth in the UK of US-style politics of aggressive confrontation and intimidation which is unfortunately, exactly the toxic environment that could lead to another assassination attempt on a UK politician, of which we have already tragically seen a number in recent years,” he said. 

Ware, the Council on Foreign Relations expert, said that the attempted assassination of Trump, a former U.S. president, presents an “opportunity for Americans to come together and decide: ‘Is this really the kind of country that we want to build for the next generation?’”

[hardynwa]

Ex-Pakistani PM Imran Khan granted bail over terrorism charges

A Pakistani court has granted former Prime Minister Imran Khan a weeklong bail in two new cases in which he faces terrorism charges. The officials said the judgment was given to the embattled ousted premier and now popular opposition leader as a short-term pardon from arrest. According to ABC News, the 70-year-old Islamist politician has been enmeshed in a succession of legal cases including terrorism and graft since his removal from office in a no-confidence vote in Parliament last April. Khan’s deadlock with the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, has turned increasingly violent in recent days. In the latest terrorism cases, Khan is accused of provoking people to violence when he travelled to Islamabad last Saturday to face the charge in a graft case. Reports emerged that his supporters clashed with police outside the court and Khan never appeared before the judge. The corruption case was later postponed till later in March. A separate terrorism case against Khan pertains to a rally last year when he verbally threatened a female judge. Khan has denied all charges against him, saying he was being abused by Sharif’s government. After Tuesday’s ruling by a court in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, a close Khan associate repeated those claims. Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader in Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf party, said the terrorism charges were “politically motivated.” Since the latest violence on Saturday, police have arrested hundreds of Khan’s supporters for attacking police in Islamabad and also in Lahore, where his followers clashed for two days with officers earlier last week when police first attempted to arrest Khan. Also, after he was wounded last November in a shooting attack while leading a rally when a gunman sprayed his vehicle and entourage with bullets, Khan has also insisted there are plots to assassinate him. Read the full article

[newslobster]

Ex Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan To Address First Rally Since Being Shot

Ex Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan To Address First Rally Since Being Shot

Imran Khan will address supporters at his first public appearance since being shot. (File) Rawalpindi, Pakistan: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan will address thousands of supporters Saturday at his first public appearance since being shot earlier this month in an assassination attempt he blamed on his successor. The shooting was the latest twist in months of political turmoil that…

[newscraving]

Former Pakistan PM Khan to address first rally since being shot

Published by The CitizenIslamabad. Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan is expected on Saturday to address thousands of supporters at his first public appearance since being shot earlier this month in an assassination attempt he blamed on his successor. The shooting was the latest twist in months of political turmoil that began in April when Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence in parliament. Saturday’s rally is the climax of a so-called “long march” by Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to press the government to call a snap election before parliament’s term expires in October next year. “M...Read More Read the full article

[theechudar]

Former Pakistan PM Khan to Address First Rally Since Being Shot

Former Pakistan PM Khan to Address First Rally Since Being Shot

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan is expected on Saturday to address thousands of supporters at his first public appearance since being shot earlier this month in an assassination attempt he blamed on his successor. The shooting was the latest twist in months of political turmoil that began in April when Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence in parliament. Saturday’s rally is the…

[news99alert]

Imran Khan's latest allegation on the new PM of Pakistan

Imran Khan’s latest allegation on the new PM of Pakistan

Pakistan: Imran Khan has vowed to expose the Sharif family more. Islamabad: Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan has alleged that the Sharif family “paid a woman” – an oblique reference to his ex-wife Reham Khan – to write a book against him during the 2018 general elections, saying it A media report said on Saturday that there were attempts to assassinate his character and that something…

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/pakistans-dilemma-what-to-do-about-anti-india-militants/

Pakistan's dilemma: What to do about anti-India militants

Image copyright AFP/Getty

Image caption Maulana Masood Azhar founded JeM in 1999 – and is in “protective custody”

Standing guard at the gate of a madrassa on the outskirts of Islamabad was a stern-looking young man, armed with what appeared to be a powerful automatic rifle, and missing one eye.

Inside, one of those involved in running the religious school acknowledged it is “said to be run by Jaish-e-Mohammad” – the militant group which claimed responsibility for last month’s suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama district which killed some 40 troops and sparked a conflict between Pakistan and India.

But the cleric said the allegations were untrue and the madrassa was, in fact, just another ordinary Islamic school.

A small poster on the wall behind him, however, depicted an assortment of guns alongside a slogan evoking a famous battle from Islamic history. In the dusty street outside, a poster advertising a rally on behalf of the Kashmiri cause was emblazoned with the distinctive white and black flag of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

As part of a “crackdown” on militants in Pakistan, hundreds of seminaries and other buildings allegedly linked to groups, including JeM, have been taken over by the government in recent days.

The brother of JeM founder Masood Azhar has been taken into “preventative detention” alongside another relative and dozens of others. No-one from the security forces had contacted this madrassa in Islamabad however. Azhar himself is believed have been in protective custody in Pakistan since 2016 – though he has continued to release audio messages to supporters.

“It is our resolve that our soil will not be used to harm anyone else,” Pakistan’s Interior Minister Shehryar Khan Afridi told reporters earlier this week, stressing that the action was not due to any “external pressure” but had already been planned by the authorities.

But there have been other highly publicised crackdowns on such groups before too, often when Pakistan has been in the international spotlight, only for the mosques and religious schools to be handed back to their previous owners, and those detained to be later released due a “lack of evidence.”

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption The suicide attack in Pulwama was the single deadliest attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir since the insurgency began

As a result some are sceptical that this latest action really means the Pakistani state will put an end to the activities of India-focused militant groups, long believed to have enjoyed the support of the country’s intelligence services. Indian officials told the BBC they had “seen all of this before”.

Jaish-e-Mohammad was founded by Masood Azhar in 2000, shortly after he was released from prison in India following the hijacking of an Indian airline by fellow militants.

Azhar had been an influential militant figure in the 1990s with links to the conflicts in both Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Pakistani analyst Ahmed Rashid says in those early days JeM jihadists were “highly trained and highly motivated” fighters. And because they were not overtly linked to the Pakistani state, India had “no clear answer” on how to respond to their attacks. Pakistan retained an element of plausible deniability.

Another militant group focused on Kashmir, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is also believed to have enjoyed the patronage of the security services.

With the international community increasingly focused on the threats from jihadist groups after the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan banned both JeM and LeT. However, their leadership has never been convicted of any crime, and both organisations took on new names, with Lashkar-e-Taiba becoming Jamaat-ud-Dawa (though they claim they are separate.)

In 2007, the Pakistani state’s uneasy relationship with jihadist groups was finally shattered by a bloody standoff between militant supporters and the security forces in Islamabad.

After that, jihadists grouped themselves into either “anti” or “pro” Pakistan camps. The former targeted Pakistani security forces and civilians, killing thousands. The latter remained focused on fighting American forces in Afghanistan, and Indian forces in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and Jaish-e-Mohammad remained loyal to the Pakistani state, although many of their fighters, particularly from JeM, defected to anti-state groups.

One senior commander with the Pakistani Taliban, which has been fighting against the Pakistani army, told the BBC that many JeM members joined their “jihad” against the government. Although many later changed their minds, he said, there remain a number of former JeM militants within the organisation and other groups such as al-Qaeda.

Image copyright Planet Labs Inc./Handout via Reuters

Image caption Satellite images have raised questions over India’s claim to have demolished JeM training camps in Pakistan

Pakistan’s security forces have been remarkably successful in reducing the capabilities of anti-state militants. The number of those killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan dropped from close to 2,500 in 2013, to 595 in 2018 according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.

However, that leaves the question of what to do with the more loyal groups such as JeM and LeT/JuD, who are alleged to have continued to launch attacks on India.

JeM is believed to have carried out two major attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir in 2016, while Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed has been accused by Indian authorities of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai attacks – though he denies that.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionHafiz Saeed tells the BBC that Washington is unfairly targeting him

At the time it was alleged the Pakistani intelligence services were complicit, and although they denied that, legal action against those suspected of involvement has been suspiciously slow.

Viewpoint: Will Pakistan mend its ways on terror?

The cop who cheated death in Mumbai attacks

But now the activities of these militant groups seem to be an obstacle to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stated aim of improving the country’s relationship with India; and perhaps more crucially they have also contributed to Pakistan being placed on the Financial Action Task Force “grey list” for not doing enough to tackle the financing of militant organisations.

A “grey list” designation can make international businesses think twice before conducting business in a country, and Pakistan’s economy is in need of foreign investment.

Pakistani officials, however, have expressed concern that directly confronting JeM or JuD could provoke another spike in violence.

Last year, analysts and Pakistani military figures floated the idea of “mainstreaming” some of those linked to militant groups.

Shortly afterwards, ahead of the elections that Imran Khan won, supporters of JuD (and LeT) founder Saeed created a political party. Although they were unable to win a single seat, they may still prove easier to deal with than JeM.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionKashmiris from both sides told the BBC about their disrupted lives during shelling in the region

Over the years Saeed has managed to establish a large charity network of ambulances and basic healthcare facilities. Many of them are now being taken over by the government, but analyst Amir Rana from the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies says the authorities have “very little concerns about retaliation” from his supporters. JuD have signalled they will challenge the moves in court.

By contrast, Mr Rana told the BBC, officials are worried about the potential of violence from the more secretive JeM – the group responsible for the Kashmir attack. After JeM was banned in 2002, splinter elements of the group tried to assassinate the country’s then military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

At a recent closed meeting between the head of the Pakistani Army and a group of politicians, a source told the BBC that military leaders gave assurances that the militants would be tackled. However the military officials warned there were too many to completely eliminate by force alone, and instead suggested some be mainstreamed.

Early proposals by the government reportedly include establishing de-radicalisation centres for members of these groups, and finding them jobs, including somewhat bizarrely using them as a kind of “paramilitary” force.

A senior politician told the BBC that there was now an understanding in Pakistan that the use of “proxy” forces in Kashmir is counter productive, distracting from allegations of Indian “human rights abuses”. But, he added, the preference would be to engage with militants peacefully if possible.

The latest takeovers of madrassas and mosques linked to militants will give the Pakistani government some favourable headlines, but it’s what they do next that will count. Will there be actual prosecutions? Will the groups really be prevented from carrying out activities across the border? Are attempts at “mainstreaming” really aimed at weaning jihadists away from violence? Or are they simply a way to give them a veil of legitimacy?

I visited another madrassa, in another poor Islamabad suburb, that was taken over last year by the government from Hafiz Saeed’s charity, JuD.

The staff in charge there remains the same. They tell me the only change is that a local government official carries out regular inspections, and that they are now funded by the government rather than by donations.

The traditional shalwar kameez garment worn by the security guard at the madrassa is even still embroidered with the now officially banned group’s name: JuD.

Image caption The government took over the mosque but little has changed

[dragnews]

Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A candidate from a political party opposed to the Taliban was killed in a suicide bombing late Tuesday as he campaigned in northwestern Pakistan, just weeks before the country goes to the polls.

At least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded, several of them critically, police and hospital officials said. The death toll was expected to rise, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but immediate suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which has frequently attacked secularist politicians.

The attack raised concerns about the safety of candidates running in the July 25 general elections, and immediately cast a pall across Pakistan. It was the first such attack of this year’s campaign.

The candidate who was killed, Haroon Bilour, belonged to a prominent political family from Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Mr. Bilour, who was running for a provincial assembly seat, was at a campaign event late Tuesday night when the bomber detonated his explosives jacket, police officials said.

Mr. Bilour’s father, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, a prominent politician and a senior provincial minister, was killed in a suicide attack by the Taliban just months ahead of the last general elections, in 2013, not far from Tuesday’s explosion. Haroon Bilour’s son was wounded in the latest attack.

The Bilours belonged to the Awami National Party, whose opposition to the Taliban has made it a repeated target of the militants. Several of the A.N.P.’s leaders and at least 700 of its workers have been killed in the past decade.

The intensity of the attacks greatly affected the party’s ability to openly campaign and mobilize supporters in the last general elections and contributed to losses, party officials said. With the security situation significantly improved in the country in the last couple of years, however, members of the A.N.P. had hoped that they would be able to campaign in safety.

Haroon Bilour, the provincial information secretary of his political party, expressed such hopes in recent interviews with local news media. Mr. Bilour had survived at least two assassination attempts.

But late Tuesday, a suicide bomber managed to mingle with the supporters of Mr. Bilour as he arrived at a campaign event in Peshawar. “The suicide bomber was sitting and waiting for Haroon to arrive,” said Taj Muhammad Wazir, a local A.N.P. official.

The killing was widely condemned by Pakistan’s political leaders.

Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, condemned the attack and called for the state to provide proper security for the candidates.

“Yet another A.N.P. leader has sacrificed his life for the sake of peace and democracy,” Sardar Hussain Babak, the provincial general secretary of Awami National Party, said in a telephone interview. “We have a long list of martyrs, and we will continue to fight against the forces of extremism and militancy.”

Mr. Babak, who is also running for elections, said the party leadership was getting threats from the Taliban on an almost daily basis.

“But the federal and provincial governments have failed to provide us with security,” he said. “We had made our own security arrangements.”

Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan. Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reporting from Islamabad.

The post Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2N8deaL via Today News

[newestbalance]

Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A candidate from a political party opposed to the Taliban was killed in a suicide bombing late Tuesday as he campaigned in northwestern Pakistan, just weeks before the country goes to the polls.

At least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded, several of them critically, police and hospital officials said. The death toll was expected to rise, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but immediate suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which has frequently attacked secularist politicians.

The attack raised concerns about the safety of candidates running in the July 25 general elections, and immediately cast a pall across Pakistan. It was the first such attack of this year’s campaign.

The candidate who was killed, Haroon Bilour, belonged to a prominent political family from Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Mr. Bilour, who was running for a provincial assembly seat, was at a campaign event late Tuesday night when the bomber detonated his explosives jacket, police officials said.

Mr. Bilour’s father, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, a prominent politician and a senior provincial minister, was killed in a suicide attack by the Taliban just months ahead of the last general elections, in 2013, not far from Tuesday’s explosion. Haroon Bilour’s son was wounded in the latest attack.

The Bilours belonged to the Awami National Party, whose opposition to the Taliban has made it a repeated target of the militants. Several of the A.N.P.’s leaders and at least 700 of its workers have been killed in the past decade.

The intensity of the attacks greatly affected the party’s ability to openly campaign and mobilize supporters in the last general elections and contributed to losses, party officials said. With the security situation significantly improved in the country in the last couple of years, however, members of the A.N.P. had hoped that they would be able to campaign in safety.

Haroon Bilour, the provincial information secretary of his political party, expressed such hopes in recent interviews with local news media. Mr. Bilour had survived at least two assassination attempts.

But late Tuesday, a suicide bomber managed to mingle with the supporters of Mr. Bilour as he arrived at a campaign event in Peshawar. “The suicide bomber was sitting and waiting for Haroon to arrive,” said Taj Muhammad Wazir, a local A.N.P. official.

The killing was widely condemned by Pakistan’s political leaders.

Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, condemned the attack and called for the state to provide proper security for the candidates.

“Yet another A.N.P. leader has sacrificed his life for the sake of peace and democracy,” Sardar Hussain Babak, the provincial general secretary of Awami National Party, said in a telephone interview. “We have a long list of martyrs, and we will continue to fight against the forces of extremism and militancy.”

Mr. Babak, who is also running for elections, said the party leadership was getting threats from the Taliban on an almost daily basis.

“But the federal and provincial governments have failed to provide us with security,” he said. “We had made our own security arrangements.”

Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan. Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reporting from Islamabad.

The post Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2N8deaL via Everyday News

[cleopatrarps]

Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A candidate from a political party opposed to the Taliban was killed in a suicide bombing late Tuesday as he campaigned in northwestern Pakistan, just weeks before the country goes to the polls.

At least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded, several of them critically, police and hospital officials said. The death toll was expected to rise, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but immediate suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which has frequently attacked secularist politicians.

The attack raised concerns about the safety of candidates running in the July 25 general elections, and immediately cast a pall across Pakistan. It was the first such attack of this year’s campaign.

The candidate who was killed, Haroon Bilour, belonged to a prominent political family from Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Mr. Bilour, who was running for a provincial assembly seat, was at a campaign event late Tuesday night when the bomber detonated his explosives jacket, police officials said.

Mr. Bilour’s father, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, a prominent politician and a senior provincial minister, was killed in a suicide attack by the Taliban just months ahead of the last general elections, in 2013, not far from Tuesday’s explosion. Haroon Bilour’s son was wounded in the latest attack.

The Bilours belonged to the Awami National Party, whose opposition to the Taliban has made it a repeated target of the militants. Several of the A.N.P.’s leaders and at least 700 of its workers have been killed in the past decade.

The intensity of the attacks greatly affected the party’s ability to openly campaign and mobilize supporters in the last general elections and contributed to losses, party officials said. With the security situation significantly improved in the country in the last couple of years, however, members of the A.N.P. had hoped that they would be able to campaign in safety.

Haroon Bilour, the provincial information secretary of his political party, expressed such hopes in recent interviews with local news media. Mr. Bilour had survived at least two assassination attempts.

But late Tuesday, a suicide bomber managed to mingle with the supporters of Mr. Bilour as he arrived at a campaign event in Peshawar. “The suicide bomber was sitting and waiting for Haroon to arrive,” said Taj Muhammad Wazir, a local A.N.P. official.

The killing was widely condemned by Pakistan’s political leaders.

Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, condemned the attack and called for the state to provide proper security for the candidates.

“Yet another A.N.P. leader has sacrificed his life for the sake of peace and democracy,” Sardar Hussain Babak, the provincial general secretary of Awami National Party, said in a telephone interview. “We have a long list of martyrs, and we will continue to fight against the forces of extremism and militancy.”

Mr. Babak, who is also running for elections, said the party leadership was getting threats from the Taliban on an almost daily basis.

“But the federal and provincial governments have failed to provide us with security,” he said. “We had made our own security arrangements.”

Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan. Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reporting from Islamabad.

The post Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns appeared first on World The News.

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[mariacallous]

In a high-tension standoff last month, police arrived at the home of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore, Pakistan, to arrest him after he failed to show up to hearings for an ongoing corruption case. Khan blamed security concerns for his failure to appear—he survived an assassination attempt last November—and avoided arrest by vowing to come into court days later. But the police raid at his home sparked protests across the country as his passionate supporters took to the streets to defend their leader.

Khan was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 through a parliamentary no-confidence vote and has since rallied mass support and pushed for snap elections. He and other members and supporters of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), now stand accused of as many as 140 crimes, according to the party’s lawyer. (Court documents provided to Foreign Policy by PTI show 130 cases involving PTI leaders, party workers, and a welfare trust that Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency alleges PTI used for prohibited campaign funding.) The cases against Khan himself—34, according to the documents—range from contempt of court to terrorism. These charges are the latest chapter in an epic battle between the cricket star-turned-politician and Pakistan’s current government, which is backed by the country’s powerful military, as Khan once was.

As cases against Khan make their way through the courts, Pakistan’s judiciary finds itself in the difficult position of arbitrating heated political matters. What happens next could provide insight into how much judges are influenced by both the military establishment and Khan’s political messaging. On Tuesday, Pakistan’s top court ruled against a recent decision by Pakistan’s Election Commission to delay provincial elections in two provinces formerly controlled by PTI until October. The court found the previous decision unconstitutional and ordered that elections in the province of Punjab be held by May 14—marking a win for Khan and his party amid the legal challenges.

PTI dissolved the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier this year, hoping to put more pressure on the government to hold national elections at the same time. Pakistan currently must hold elections no later than Oct. 14; elections for the provincial and national assemblies have historically taken place within days of each other. Khan accuses Pakistan’s institutions of pursuing trumped-up cases against him and PTI to stifle their calls for timely elections. In a March interview, Khan told Foreign Policy that he does not believe the cases against him will go anywhere. “I have no fear of being convicted in any of them,” he said.

PTI’s ability to withstand pressure from the powerful military establishment signals subtle changes in Pakistan’s political environment in the years since Khan first came onto the scene. The Pakistani military has long had a heavy-handed role in politics. But experts say Khan’s ability to avoid arrest so far suggests that the military’s grip on politics may have loosened or that there is divided opinion about PTI within the country’s most powerful institutions. Amid this political confusion, Khan has strengthened his influence over a contingent of loyal followers who seem to believe the country’s future is in his hands.

All of this may reflect a broader political shift. Adil Najam, dean emeritus and a professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, said the old understanding of the military establishment’s role in politics may no longer explain the situation in Pakistan. “History has been that once the signal comes from up top on the mountain, things happen very fast,” Najam said, referring to signals from Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies about political appointments and removals. “Clearly, the old script is not working.”

If the judiciary does not fall in line with the government’s attempts to arrest Khan, the military establishment’s strategy of sidelining politicians through arrests and charges may not be as effective as it once was, Najam said. Khan’s anti-establishment platform may also have gained him some sympathizers in the courts, which would make his arrest more difficult. “Even if it works eventually, that would mean that the establishment had to apply far more pressure over a longer period of time,” Najam said.

Khan has accused the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)—the party of current Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif—of trying to keep the opposition leader from running in this year’s elections and of receiving backing from the military to crack down on PTI. During his first years as prime minister, Khan enjoyed the army’s support but later fell out of favor with military leadership, which he blames for his ouster. Other Pakistani leaders, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif—Shehbaz Sharif’s brother—have tussled with the establishment after losing military favor. Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding public office in 2018; like Khan, he blamed the then-army chief.

Inside Khan’s compound in Lahore in late March, former federal and provincial ministers gathered around plates of late-night food while supporters chanted outside the gates. PTI members complained that their houses had also been raided amid a police crackdown on the party’s leadership. Azhar Mashwani, a member of PTI’s social media team, went missing the next day. Numerous party leaders have also been detained in recent months, suggesting that Khan’s party is in a vulnerable position even without his arrest.

Khan said his own faith in the courts stems from his long track record. “Since I’m so well known in this country, they’re not going to pass a judgment that is completely under pressure from the establishment,” he said, amid back-to-back interviews in his home. But the politician’s confidence is tempered by suspicion of the current government, which Khan accuses of orchestrating last year’s assassination attempt, along with the country’s interior minister and a senior general. “If anything, my hope is with the courts, but I do not trust this government,” Khan added.

Khan’s belief in the power of his popular support to protect him in the courts comes alongside his longtime calls for improved rule of law in Pakistan, which would dictate that judges base their rulings not on public opinion but on the constitution and legislation alone. PTI’s political platform focuses on rule-of-law issues and anti-corruption measures, and Khan’s opponents in the current government have highlighted this seeming contradiction, criticizing Khan for failing to appear in court and evading arrest. “Thieves and dacoits [bandits] are afraid of arrest, but leaders are not,” PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz said during a political convention last month.

Pakistan’s government and military leaders are highly critical of PTI’s tactics and the lengths its supporters will go to protect Khan. In response to the attempt to arrest Khan in March, PTI followers threw bricks at police, and law enforcement tear gassed them in return. During previous protests, party supporters have blocked roads and set fires. “Imran Khan is a desperate man,” Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in a press conference last month. “This can spiral into something obviously ugly. The government has the power and the will to control any violence which is triggered by Imran Khan and his supporters.”

Still, legal experts say the number of charges registered against Khan and his party calls into question the legitimacy of the laws at play. Lawyer Saad Rasool said the current situation reflects a growing trend in Pakistan of certain charges, such as terrorism, being wielded as a political tool. Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws are notoriously broad, and terrorism cases are heard in separate courts with their own custody, detention, and bail procedures. “One of the greatest disservices that has happened in this country is that the efficacy of its laws has entirely dwindled,” Rasool said. “It [once] meant something when you said that the person has been charged with a terrorism offense. You didn’t want to pick up the guy’s call. You didn’t want to be anywhere near his relatives.”

In Khan’s case, Rasool said influence at different levels of Pakistan’s judiciary is likely to come from various political pressures or from individual beliefs rather than a unified push from the establishment. “The strong arm of the state will not be able to push the judiciary in any specific direction as forcefully as it did in the past,” Rasool said. “It is possible that other biases factor into their decisions.”

Pakistan’s Election Commission cited security concerns and financial problems for its decision to delay the provincial election, but neither reason fulfills the constitutional criteria for doing so, the Supreme Court ruled. Nawaz Sharif has called the Tuesday judgment about the provincial elections partisan; his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, accused the bench of facilitating Khan. Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, the government had accused the court of “bench fixing” and proposed a bill that would require cases the court takes up on their own—without being petitioned—to be judged by a three-person panel, headed by the chief justice. Critics cite this legislation as further evidence of the government’s attempts to delay elections.

How Khan fares in the cases against him in the coming weeks and months will test his conviction in the courts and his supposedly favorable position. If he avoids arrest before the general elections—currently scheduled for October—the Pakistani public will also get a chance to make their judgment known through the polls.

[party-hard-or-die]

Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A candidate from a political party opposed to the Taliban was killed in a suicide bombing late Tuesday as he campaigned in northwestern Pakistan, just weeks before the country goes to the polls.

At least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded, several of them critically, police and hospital officials said. The death toll was expected to rise, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but immediate suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which has frequently attacked secularist politicians.

The attack raised concerns about the safety of candidates running in the July 25 general elections, and immediately cast a pall across Pakistan. It was the first such attack of this year’s campaign.

The candidate who was killed, Haroon Bilour, belonged to a prominent political family from Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Mr. Bilour, who was running for a provincial assembly seat, was at a campaign event late Tuesday night when the bomber detonated his explosives jacket, police officials said.

Mr. Bilour’s father, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, a prominent politician and a senior provincial minister, was killed in a suicide attack by the Taliban just months ahead of the last general elections, in 2013, not far from Tuesday’s explosion. Haroon Bilour’s son was wounded in the latest attack.

The Bilours belonged to the Awami National Party, whose opposition to the Taliban has made it a repeated target of the militants. Several of the A.N.P.’s leaders and at least 700 of its workers have been killed in the past decade.

The intensity of the attacks greatly affected the party’s ability to openly campaign and mobilize supporters in the last general elections and contributed to losses, party officials said. With the security situation significantly improved in the country in the last couple of years, however, members of the A.N.P. had hoped that they would be able to campaign in safety.

Haroon Bilour, the provincial information secretary of his political party, expressed such hopes in recent interviews with local news media. Mr. Bilour had survived at least two assassination attempts.

But late Tuesday, a suicide bomber managed to mingle with the supporters of Mr. Bilour as he arrived at a campaign event in Peshawar. “The suicide bomber was sitting and waiting for Haroon to arrive,” said Taj Muhammad Wazir, a local A.N.P. official.

The killing was widely condemned by Pakistan’s political leaders.

Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, condemned the attack and called for the state to provide proper security for the candidates.

“Yet another A.N.P. leader has sacrificed his life for the sake of peace and democracy,” Sardar Hussain Babak, the provincial general secretary of Awami National Party, said in a telephone interview. “We have a long list of martyrs, and we will continue to fight against the forces of extremism and militancy.”

Mr. Babak, who is also running for elections, said the party leadership was getting threats from the Taliban on an almost daily basis.

“But the federal and provincial governments have failed to provide us with security,” he said. “We had made our own security arrangements.”

Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan. Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reporting from Islamabad.

The post Taliban Opponent in Pakistan Killed by Bomb as He Campaigns appeared first on World The News.

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[theechudar]

Footage of Firing: The Moment Before Shots Were Fired At Imran Khan Rally

Footage of Firing: The Moment Before Shots Were Fired At Imran Khan Rally

In the latest development to the Imran Khan attack, a video has surfaced that captures the footage of the assassin and a few moments before the shots were fired at Imran Khan. In the video, the attacker can also be seen trying to escape amidst the crowd after firing the shots. This was an attempt to assassin Imran Khan ⁦#imrankhan⁩ ⁦#firing⁩…