Abdul Ghafoor Haideri
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri (; born ) is a Pakistani politician. He has served as the Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 12 March 2015 and has been the central General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam party since 1995., Re ...
N-25 National Highway
The N-25 or National Highway 25 ( ur, ) is an 850 km national highway in Pakistan which extends along from Karachi in Sindh province to Quetta in Balochistan province. It was previously known as the ''Regional Cooperation for Development ...
in
Mastung District
Mastung District ( bal, مستونگ; ur, ) is a district located in the northwest of Balochistan province, Pakistan. Prior to its creation as a separate district in 1991, Mastung was part of Kalat District.
Administration
The district cons ...
,
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, Pakistan. At least 28 people were killed; 40 others were injured, including the Senator. The
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
The bombing took place as the suicide bomber targeted Haideri's convoy on the
N-25 National Highway
The N-25 or National Highway 25 ( ur, ) is an 850 km national highway in Pakistan which extends along from Karachi in Sindh province to Quetta in Balochistan province. It was previously known as the ''Regional Cooperation for Development ...
. The bomber rammed the motorcycle he was riding into the vehicle carrying Haideri. The vehicle was severely damaged in the blast. The attack occurred shortly after Haideri left Jama Masjid Hammadia, after attending a graduation ceremony and offering
Friday prayers
In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...
. Haideri, who was sitting in the front seat, survived but received injuries on his arms, leg and ear. His driver and another aide in the same vehicle were killed. Many vehicles and motorcycles, including a police car, were destroyed in the explosion.
Ghazanfar Ali, District Police Officer, Mastung, suggested after an initial probe that "a suspected suicide bomber hit Maulana Haideri's car". The
Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan
The Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan ( ur, ), is the president-chair of the Senate of Pakistan.Raza Rabbani, said that it was a suicide attack that targeted Haideri. After the attack while talking to the media Haideri said, "I am alive, Allah has saved my life… broken pieces of the windscreen hit me. I am injured but safe."
Victims
Maulana Hafiz Qudratullah, ''Naib emir'' of JUI (F)'s
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
district chapter; Iftikhar Mughal, director staff of the Senate; Haideri's driver and Abdul Waheed, an Anti-Terrorism Force official, were among those killed in the bombing. Seven volunteers of the JUI-F who were escorting Haideri as guards, including Mohammad Adil, Mohammad Imran, Abdul Ghaffar, Zahoor Ahmed and Abdul Karim, were also among the victims. Several bodies could not be identified.
Dr Faisal Manan, a National journalist, was among the injured, as were a young girl and a child.
Initial response and investigation
Survivors of the blast, several of whom were covered in blood, began picking up body parts that were lying scattered on the road. Immediately after the blast, security forces rushed to the site along with rescue workers. A state of emergency was declared at hospitals in Mastung and
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
. The injured and the deceased were shifted to the District Hospital and the Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital in Mastung. At least 10 seriously injured were shifted to the Trauma Centre of Civil Hospital, Quetta. While, after initial treatment Haideri along with three other injured was moved to the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta.
After collecting evidence from the scene, an official of the
bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milita ...
squad confirmed that it was a suicide attack. He added that around ten kilogrammes of explosives were used for the explosion. Evidence found at the blast site included
ball bearings
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
and parts of the motorcycle. A search operation began after Levies personnel cordoned off the entire area.
Mamnoon Hussain
Mamnoon Hussain ( ur, ; 22 December 1941 – 14 July 2021) was a Pakistani politician and industrialist who served as the 12th president of Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. He was first appointed Governor of Sindh in June 1999 by President Rafiq ...
, condemned the attack and expressed the state's resolve to protect the public by completely eradicating
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
from the country. The
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Pa ...
,
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...
Nisar Ali Khan
Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan ( ur, ; born 31 July 1954) is a Pakistani politician who served as the Interior Minister from 2013 to 2017. He is currently an independent member-of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab - elected to represent PP-10 (Rawa ...
, also condemned the attack, with Rabbani saying "terrorists cannot deter henation's resolve against militancy through such coward attacks". The
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
and the Deputy speaker of National Assembly also condemned the attack. Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab
Sanaullah Zehri
Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri ( ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who had been the Chief Minister of Balochistan from 24 December 2015, to 9 December 2017. He belongs to Channal Zarakzai family and also the ''Sardar'' of the Zehri tribe and chief ...
, while condemning the attack, directed the IG police to submit a report on the attack within 24 hours.Nobel laureate
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second P ...
also condemned the attack. In a message, Malala wrote: "I strongly condemn Mastung blast, I and my family are praying for the speedy recovery of Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and others injured, prayers for the
martyrs
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
, terrorists want to weaken Pakistan through their heinous acts but Pakistanis stand united against terrorism and extremism."
Speaking to Geo News, JUI (F)'s ''Emir'' (chief)
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman
Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman ( ur, مولانا فضلُرحمٰن; born 19 June 1953) is a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist politician who is the president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F). He is also the president of the Pakistan Democratic Movement ...
condemned the attack on Haideri before adding that Friday's attack was not the first on the party. "Many of our dear companions have been martyred n this attack" he said further, adding that, "We have to continue to work for this country and the stability of Islam." Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed his condolences to the families of the martyrs terming the attack a very painful incident for the nation and particularly the JUI. He added that "such incidents will not stop us in our cause". The JUI-F chief also said such incidents occur "because we UI-Fstand with Pakistan, its law, and its Constitution".
Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party,
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari ( ur, بلاول بھٹو زرداری; born 21 September 1988) is a Pakistani politician who is serving as the 37th Minister of Foreign Affairs, in office since 27 April 2022. He became the chairman of Pakistan Peop ...
condemned the attack saying, "controlling the menace of terrorism was collective responsibility". Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,
Imran Khan
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
condemned the attack calling it "worst terrorism incident", and added that terrorist want to create unrest.
On 13 May, a strike was observed in Quetta to mourn the death of the victims of the blast. JUI-F's party workers and supporters also held a demonstration in Quetta in protest against the suicide attack.
The militant group
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; ur, ) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi Sunni supremacist, terrorist and jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan. The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and is an offshoot of anti-Shi ...
Al Alami's spokesman also condemned the suicide attack, adding that the two groups have now split due to "policy changes".
Local newspapers
The editorial of ''
The News International
''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...
'' noted that the attack "is a reminder that the internal challenges we face are even greater and cannot be blamed on other countries". An editorial in ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'' also mentioned that "the narrative will soon turn towards blaming the 'foreign hand' that feed terrorists in Pakistan, it must be remembered that many of our terrorist groups are entities that are very much based in Pakistan". The editorial in ''
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...
'' also echoed that "the country's civil and military leaderships will unite to condemn the attacks and bemoan them as an attempt to sabotage CPEC by outside forces. While there may be some truth to those allegations, the twin attacks in Mastung and Gwadar almost certainly have very local roots".
International
* : The Turkish Foreign Office condemned the terrorist attack, and expressed solidarity with the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...