ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir visited Peshawar today, Tuesday, and reviewed the status of investigations into a suicide bombing on a political rally on Sunday, calling on the government in neighbour Afghanistan not to allow its soil to be used for "transnational terrorism."
Around 400 members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) party — a key government coalition partner — were meeting Sunday when a bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives and ball bearings. Around 54 people, almost half of them children, were killed.
"During the visit, the Prime Minister was briefed on the overall security situation in the province with focus on the Khar Suicide Blast, status of investigations under process and counter terrorism efforts being undertaken to dismantle the terrorists’ network by disrupting the linkages between planners, executioners, and abettors," the PM office said in a statement.
Sharif "noted with concern" the involvement of the Afghan citizens in the suicide blasts and the "liberty of action available to the elements hostile to Pakistan in planning and executing such cowardly attacks."
"Interim Afghan government should undertake concrete measures towards denying its soil to be used for transnational terrorism”, the PM added.
Along with Army Chief Munir, Sharif also visited wounded people under treatment at Peshawar's Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and inquired about their health.
Sunday’s attack occurred in the town of Khar, 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Afghan border, in an area where militancy has been rising since the Afghan Taliban — who are allied with but distinct from the indigenous Pakistani Taliban — took control of Kabul in 2021.
The blast has raised fears Pakistan could be in for a bloody election period following months of political chaos prompted by the ousting of Imran Khan as prime minister in April last year.
Parliament is likely to be dissolved after it completes its term in the next two weeks, with national elections to be held by mid-November.
