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PM announces national day of mourning on Sunday
The federal government has declared Sunday as a day of national mourning over recent terrorist attacks in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
"In view of tragic incidents of terrorist attacks at Peshawar on July 10 and in Mastung and Bannu on July 13, 2018, the federal government has announced to observe one day official mourning throughout the country" on Sunday, said an official announcement from the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday.
It said that the national flag will fly at half mast on Sunday to mourn the deaths of nearly 150 people in the recent terrorist attacks ahead of the general elections.
The PM Office also directed the Ministry of Interior to formally issue a notification for declaration of Sunday as the day of mourning.
Election violence
The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) had on July 9 named six politicians, including Pakistan Taehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Awami National Party (ANP) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chiefs, who are under threat of terrorist attacks.
On July 10, ANP candidate from PK-78 Peshawar, Haroon Bilour, and 19 others were killed in an attack targeting the party's election meeting.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had also claimed responsibility of the killing of his father Bashir Bilour in 2012, claimed responsibility of the attack.
On July 13, the convoy of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) candidate from NA-35 Bannu came under attack. While former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, who had also been named in Nacta list, remained safe in the attack, four of his supporters lost their lives.
Later in the afternoon, a powerful bomb blast targeted a meeting of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate from PB-35 Mastung, Nawabzada Siraj Raisani. Raisani, and at least 127 others, were killed in the attack, while over 200 were injured.
The Mastung attack was the deadliest terror attack in the country since the attack on Army Public School Peshawar in 2014 stunned the nation.
Other attacks on Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and PTI election campaigns in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have injured several others since the beginning of this month.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned a briefing from Nacta over the worsening security situation, which is scheduled for later today.
Meanwhile political parties have demanded better security to ensure they can freely conduct their election campaigns.
Apprised of the threat to his own campaign, the PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced suspending political activities across the country in solidarity with the victims of recent terror attacks.
"120 people are dead in Balochistan; each one of them have families. What would they think when they see me chanting slogans in rallies. I could never do that," Bilawal told a presser in Peshawar.
The federal government has declared Sunday as a day of national mourning over recent terrorist attacks in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
"In view of tragic incidents of terrorist attacks at Peshawar on July 10 and in Mastung and Bannu on July 13, 2018, the federal government has announced to observe one day official mourning throughout the country" on Sunday, said an official announcement from the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday.
It said that the national flag will fly at half mast on Sunday to mourn the deaths of nearly 150 people in the recent terrorist attacks ahead of the general elections.
The PM Office also directed the Ministry of Interior to formally issue a notification for declaration of Sunday as the day of mourning.
Election violence
The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) had on July 9 named six politicians, including Pakistan Taehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Awami National Party (ANP) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chiefs, who are under threat of terrorist attacks.
On July 10, ANP candidate from PK-78 Peshawar, Haroon Bilour, and 19 others were killed in an attack targeting the party's election meeting.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had also claimed responsibility of the killing of his father Bashir Bilour in 2012, claimed responsibility of the attack.
On July 13, the convoy of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) candidate from NA-35 Bannu came under attack. While former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, who had also been named in Nacta list, remained safe in the attack, four of his supporters lost their lives.
Later in the afternoon, a powerful bomb blast targeted a meeting of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate from PB-35 Mastung, Nawabzada Siraj Raisani. Raisani, and at least 127 others, were killed in the attack, while over 200 were injured.
The Mastung attack was the deadliest terror attack in the country since the attack on Army Public School Peshawar in 2014 stunned the nation.
Other attacks on Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and PTI election campaigns in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have injured several others since the beginning of this month.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned a briefing from Nacta over the worsening security situation, which is scheduled for later today.
Meanwhile political parties have demanded better security to ensure they can freely conduct their election campaigns.
Apprised of the threat to his own campaign, the PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced suspending political activities across the country in solidarity with the victims of recent terror attacks.
"120 people are dead in Balochistan; each one of them have families. What would they think when they see me chanting slogans in rallies. I could never do that," Bilawal told a presser in Peshawar.
