Pakistan buries victims of Karachi bus attack
15 May 2015 6:15 AM IST
Amid tight security, Pakistan's Shia Ismaili Muslims on Thursday buried the bus attack victims who were killed by ISIS militants in the volatile Karachi city, the first assault by the dreaded terror outfit in the region.
Hundreds of people attended the funeral prayers of the 43 victims who were laid to rest at the Sakhi Hasan graveyard of the city, police said.
Moving scenes were witnessed as relatives of the victims were overwhelmed with grief. A large number of representatives of political parties also attended the funeral prayers. The funeral of one victim took place last evening.
Pakistan on Thursday observed as national day <g data-gr-id="41">mourning</g> to express solidarity with the minority Ismaili community and the national flag is flying at half-mast.
Kalashnikov-wielding ISIS militants donning police uniforms on Wednesday killed 45 people, shooting them in the head, the latest in a series of cold-blooded sectarian violence targetting the minority Shia community.
A blood-stained pamphlet of <g data-gr-id="40">terrorist</g> group Islamic State was recovered from the scene. Later, the group claimed responsibility for the grisly attack.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem report suggested that about 16 victims were killed with a single bullet in the head. Some victims had <g data-gr-id="48">mark</g> of violence on the faces. Sharp edge weapons were also used in the attack.
Police <g data-gr-id="35">has</g> launched <g data-gr-id="37">investigation</g> and Sindh Information Minister Sharjeek Memon said that key leads were found about the attackers.
Soon after the attack Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rushed to Karachi where he held a high-level meeting and reportedly expressed his displeasure at police for failing to curb violence in the city.
Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif cancelled his planned three-day visit to Sri Lanka and rushed to Karachi to be briefed his military commanders over the attack. Ismaili community is a branch of Shia Muslims and they are known for their progressive Islamic views.
This was the worst attack targeting the members of the minority community after a suicide bomber in January blew himself up in a Shia mosque in Shikarpur in the Sindh province killing 61 worshippers and bystanders.
Pak SC accepts petition of Salman Taseer killer
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday accepted a plea by the killer of Punjab governor, challenging his death sentence given by an anti-terrorism court and upheld by Islamabad High Court in the controversial blasphemy case.
Governor Salman Taseer, an outspoken critic of predominantly Muslim Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, was killed by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri in January 2011.
Qadri, viewed as a hero by many who believe Taseer committed blasphemy by questioning the laws, was convicted of shooting Taseer dead in Islamabad for alleged blasphemy.He was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court and his appeal against the capital punishment was rejected by the Islamabad High Court. He filed an appeal in the apex court and urged it to overturn the lower court's verdict.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa after initial hearing accepted his petition.
Qadri's counsel Mian Naseer said that a trial court ruled Rs 100,000 fine and a double death penalty for his client. He contended that this was a blasphemy case, adding that Taseer had labeled the blasphemy law 'a black law'.
Justice Khosa asked how can terming the law as such can be blasphemous. He added that there is a difference between committing blasphemy and terming the blasphemy law as wrong.
After the initial arguments, the apex formally adopted the case for a hearing in October.
On March 9, the Islamabad High Court had rejected Qadri's appeal against his death sentence under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) but accepted his application to <g data-gr-id="88">void</g> the Anti-Terrorism Act's Section 7.
Pak court accepts plea seeking ban on Sharif's foreign travel
A Pakistani court on Thursday accepted a plea seeking to put Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's name in the travel ban list so as to prevent him from leaving the country as a disqualification plea against him is yet to be heard.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) accepted for hearing the petition by Imran Ali calling for Sharif's name to be added to the Exit Control List (ECL).
Ali contended that Sharif's name should be added to the ECL so that he does not leave the country as the court was yet to hear the 1991 disqualification plea against him. A five-member larger bench of the court headed by Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan would hear the plea tomorrow.
In 1991, Ali filed a plea in the LHC seeking disqualification of Sharif, who the premier then, on
grounds that he does not comply with Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. On May 6, the LHC took up the 24-year-old plea and constituted a larger bench to hear the case.
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