Another bomb blast

On Friday, May 24, a bomb blast inside a mosque in Pashtunabad locality of Quetta left four people dead and 27 others wounded. The prayer leader also died. The blast occurred before Friday prayers. It was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED). Earlier in May, several policemen had been martyred in a bomb blast outside a mosque in the city before Friday prayers. The policemen were deputed there to provide security to people. In this incident too, an IED, rigged to a motorcycle, was used. Experience shows that Friday congregation in mosques is one of the soft targets for terrorists. Over the years, many bomb blasts have occurred on Friday in and around mosques in the country. Considering this sad reality, one fails to understand why fool-proof security is not provided around mosques in vulnerable areas, especially on Friday.

The DIG Quetta said on May 24 that out of the 618 mosques in the city, security has been provided at 100. Besides, around 1,500 policemen have been posted across the city to provide security to people. Lately, Quetta and other places in Balochistan are regularly coming under terrorist attack. Recently, three major terrorist attacks have taken place in Balochistan. In the attack in Hazarganji locality of Quetta, 20 people, mostly Shia Hazaras, were killed. Later in the same week, terrorists shot dead 14 bus passengers in Ormara. The bus passengers were forced out of the bus at gunpoint after they were identified by their computerised national identity cards. A few days later, armed terrorists attacked a luxury hotel in Gwadar. Three terrorists were killed after an operation that lasted 12 hours. Terrorists killed three employees of the hotel and a security guard. A navy personnel was also martyred. The frequent acts of terror in Balochistan show that the terrorists’ aim is to harm the Gwadar port, an important component of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and thereby derail the corridor. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2019.

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