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Pakistan Election Day Bombing
Kills Dozens
JULY 23, 2018
The New York Times
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN,
SALMAN MASOOD
and RUSSELL GOLDMAN
LAHORE, Pakistan — At least 31 people were killed on Wednesday in
a suicide bombing outside a polling station in Quetta, Pakistan, hospital
officials said, raising the death toll in what has already been one of the
bloodiest elections in the country’s history.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in the southwestern
province of Baluchistan, where an attack earlier this month killed more than 150
people, including a provincial assembly candidate.
The vote on Wednesday, in which a new prime minister will be elected, is only
the second time in Pakistan’s 70-year history that power will be transferred
from one civilian government to another.
Party officials said turnout was surprisingly strong across Lahore, one of
Pakistan’s biggest cities. Many of the people who streamed out of the heavily
guarded polling stations said they had voted for Imran Khan, the celebrity
cricket player who has presented himself as an alternative to the family
political dynasties that have dominated Pakistan for decades.
With early results being counted across the country, Mr. Khan’s party was
surging ahead. His party, Movement for Justice, appeared to have taken 107 seats
to the next party, which had 68 seats.
Mr. Khan’s supporters said he was less corrupt than other candidates and that he
would work to alleviate poverty and bolster Pakistan’s image on the world stage.
But they also praised his embrace of pious Islam.
“I voted for him because I voted for the prophet,” said Ghulam Sarwar Fardee, a
retired revenue officer. “Khan stands behind the blasphemy laws, and there’s
nothing more important than God.”
Mr. Khan’s face was everywhere — on banners, lampposts and torn flags flying
from rickshaws. His supporters seemed the most enthused and confident as they
awaited the initial results, expected to be announced Wednesday evening.
More Pakistani women than ever were registered to vote in this election. But in
one village near Peshawar, in the north, tribal elders were blocking hundreds of
women from voting and representatives from the major political parties were
trying to negotiate a way for the women to cast ballots.
The election could have been an occasion for Pakistanis to celebrate their
democracy. Instead, the campaign has been marred by a series of attacks on
candidates and campaign rallies, suppression of the news media, accusations of
manipulation by the military and a rise in extreme Islamist candidates.
What Is at Stake in the Election?
The election comes at a critical moment for a country of 200 million people and
for a region stressed by war. Pakistan is a nuclear state, an antipathetic but
important American ally, and one of the largest Muslim-majority countries in the
world.
Pakistan’s politics have always been messy: The country has routinely toggled
between elected governments and military dictatorships, and a prime minister has
never completed his or her entire five-year term. But this year’s campaign has
been particularly fraught, given the military’s efforts to push the former
governing party out of the running.
Despite that manipulation, the election on Wednesday will serve as a kind of
referendum on some of the most crucial issues facing the country. Should
Pakistan orient its economy toward the West or toward China? Is its democracy
robust enough to include extremist candidates who support militancy, or should
they be limited? Can the military and the courts be trusted as impartial and
objective institutions?
Wedged between Afghanistan, where an American-led war has stretched on for 17
years, and its historical rival India, Pakistan is always at risk of a
conflagration. It has served both as a crucial base for American forces fighting
in Afghanistan and as a powerful obstacle to those same troops, secretly
offering aid and safe harbor to militant groups, including the Taliban and Al
Qaeda.
An Economic Crisis
But Pakistan’s problems are not just about regional security — they are also
about its ability to provide opportunity for its own people, including a growing
class of young and educated Pakistanis. Despite its size and potential, the
country’s economy has lagged, and it faces persistent problems with corruption
and environmental stress.
As tensions with the United States and other Western countries have intensified
— particularly over accusations that Pakistan is not doing enough to curb the
Afghan Taliban and other militant groups — Pakistan has increasingly turned to
China for aid and support. But that pivot has come with its own problems,
including concern over the quickly increasing amount of debt Pakistan is racking
up with China.
Who Is Running?
There are 122 parties fielding candidates in the election. They all promise
jobs, social welfare and housing plans. But the overarching theme of the
election has become the confrontation between the military and the governing
party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or P.M.L.-N. The party accuses the
military of intimidating some of its leading figures into defecting to other
blocs, and of unfairly supporting Mr. Khan.
Imran Khan
Mr. Khan, 65, is a former international cricket star who has promised an
alternative to the corruption and the entrenched political dynasties voters
associate with the other leading parties. His rivals attribute his surge in the
polls to a back-room deal struck with the military, which they claim has worked
to undermine the election. Mr. Khan has denied that accusation, chalking up the
accusations of meddling to sour grapes.
Mr. Khan, whose success on the cricket pitch made him a household name, has held
a seat in the National Assembly for five years but has never run a government. A
large number of independent candidates are expected to join his party, the
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or P.T.I., if it wins.
Shehbaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif, a three-time prime minister, was ousted last year by the country’s
Supreme Court. He was convicted of corruption and is now in prison after
returning from London this month to be arrested. Mr. Sharif says those court
decisions were made under pressure from the military, which opposed his attempts
as prime minister to reassert control over the country’s defense and foreign
policy.
But his family remains politically powerful. His younger brother, Shehbaz
Sharif, 66, is the current president of the P.M.L.-N. and hopes to lead the
country. Until recently, he was the chief minister of Punjab, the most populous
and prosperous of the country’s four provinces and the party’s biggest source of
support.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 29, is the scion of one of Pakistan’s most illustrious
and star-crossed dynasties. He is the son and grandson of two former prime
ministers, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated, and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who
was executed. His father, former President Asif Ali Zardari, is considered to
wield the real power in the left-leaning Pakistan Peoples Party.
The younger Mr. Zardari is not expected to win, but he could potentially play
kingmaker if neither Mr. Khan nor Mr. Sharif receives enough votes to form a
government.
Will Extremists Affect the Outcome?
Pakistan was recently added to the Financial Action Task Force’s “gray list” of
state sponsors of terrorism, increasing pressure on the country to crack down on
extremist groups. At nearly the same time, however, the country’s electoral
commission was paving the way for more candidates with extremist ties to run for
office.
Among the parties seeking seats on Wednesday are Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, the
reconstituted version of a party that officials had previously banned, and
Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan, which backs the country’s contentious blasphemy laws.
Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Lahore, Pakistan; Salman Masood
from Islamabad, Pakistan; and Russell Goldman from Hong Kong.
A version of this article appears in print on July 25, 2018, on Page A5 of the
New York edition with the headline: Crucial Election for a Nuclear Power. Order
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Death Toll
in Pakistan Suicide Bombing
Rises to 128
July 14, 2018
The New York Times
By Salman Masood
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The death toll in a suicide bombing that
targeted an election campaign event in southwestern Pakistan rose to 128 on
Saturday, the deadliest terror attack in the country this year.
The attack, which took place on Friday in the restive province of Baluchistan,
has renewed concerns that violence could disrupt national elections scheduled
for July 25.
Pakistan is preparing for its second democratic transition after military rule,
but a number of terrorist attacks targeting candidates and a growing sense of
political unrest and turmoil threaten to undermine the credibility of the
election.
Four such assaults have struck in the past week alone, with two candidates among
those killed.
The federal government announced a day of mourning after the latest blast, with
national flags at half-staff in all government buildings in Baluchistan, where
two days of mourning were decreed. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility
for the attack on Friday.
In the assault, Nawabzada Mir Siraj Khan Raisani, 55, a candidate for the
provincial assembly, had just arrived at a campaign gathering in a town in the
district of Mastung when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives.
Mr. Raisani, who was among those killed, was a candidate of the Baluchistan
Awami Party, a newly formed group that is seen as being backed by the Pakistani
military.
The explosion ripped through the meeting and left a trail of devastation and
destruction. The victims were ferried to the provincial capital, Quetta, because
the health facilities in Mastung were unable to cope with the number of the
wounded and the extent of their injuries.
Agha Umar Bangluzai, the interim home minister of Baluchistan, said 128 had been
killed and at least 180 others wounded in the attack. Local news media, however,
said the death toll was at least 131 and expected to rise.
Mr. Bangluzai said political parties had been told to inform the local
authorities three days before holding any election events, but that had not
happened on this occasion. “We have put a restriction on any political
gatherings for two days in Baluchistan,” he added.
Lashkari Raisani, the elder brother of the candidate who was killed, blamed the
military for not doing enough to curb the violence. “The state should stop its
double game,” he said. “It should go after all militant groups. We have blood
everywhere.”
Mastung has a history of deadly sectarian and militant violence. Mr. Raisani
escaped a bombing in the district in 2011, when an explosion ripped through a
prize ceremony after a soccer match. He was unhurt, but his teenage son and 24
other people were killed.
Last year, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, a senior politician, escaped an assassination
attempt in Mastung when his convoy was targeted in an explosion. Mr. Haideri
survived with injuries, but at least 25 other people were killed in the attack
that was also claimed by the Islamic State. In the past, extremist Sunni groups
in the district have targeted Shiite pilgrims making their way to Iran.
Officials in Pakistan deny that the Islamic State has an established presence in
the country. They say that members of banned local militant groups, especially
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, operate on behalf of the Islamic State in places like
Baluchistan.
But Muhammad Amir Rana, a security analyst who is the director of Pak Institute
for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, said the Islamic State had
been active in the region and had targeted government and security forces.
“It is an intelligence failure, but the attack was expected,” Mr. Rana said.
“Last year, at least four big terror attacks in Baluchistan were claimed by the
Islamic State.”
Mastung has a complex profile, he added. Several nonviolent sectarian groups are
also active in the district, and it has a significant number of radical
religious schools.
Mr. Rana said that despite the increased attacks, he did not see an immediate
threat to the elections.
“The violence is currently limited to regions where the militants have been
active and concentrated for a long time,” he said. “Unless militant attacks move
to the urban areas, especially big cities in Punjab Province, I don’t think the
elections would be affected.”
Several candidates, however, have complained that their ability to campaign has
been affected because of the recent attacks. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the leader
of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was not allowed to address an election event in
northwestern Pakistan by the authorities, party officials said on Saturday.
Shah Meer Baloch contributed reporting from Karachi, Pakistan.
A version of this article appears in print on July 15, 2018, on Page A12 of the
New York edition with the headline: Deaths in Suicide Attack In Pakistan Climb
to 128.
Death Toll in Pakistan Suicide Bombing Rises to 128,
July 14, 2018,
NYT,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/
world/asia/pakistan-suicide-bombing-election.html
French Police Officer
Wounded in Hostage Standoff Dies
March 23, 2018
The New York Times
By Aurelien Breeden
PARIS — A French police officer who was badly wounded on Friday after taking the
place of a gunman’s hostage has died from his injuries, Interior Minister Gérard
Collomb said on Saturday.
“France will never forget his heroism, his bravery, his sacrifice,” Mr. Collomb
said of the police officer, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, on Twitter.
Le lieutenant-colonel Arnaud Beltrame nous a quittés.
Mort pour la patrie.
Jamais la France n’oubliera son héroïsme, sa bravoure, son sacrifice.
Le coeur lourd, j’adresse le soutien du pays tout entier à sa famille, ses
proches et ses compagnons de la @Gendarmerie de l’Aude.
pic.twitter.com/I1h8eO7f9a
— Gérard Collomb (@gerardcollomb) March 24, 2018
The death of Colonel Beltrame, 44, brought the toll from Friday’s outburst of
violence to five, including the gunman, who the authorities said had hijacked a
car, shot at police officers and taken hostages in a supermarket in southwestern
France.
The gunman, identified as Radouane Lakdim, 25, who witnesses said claimed to be
acting on behalf of the Islamic State, was later killed by police officers who
stormed the market. Colonel Beltrame, who the authorities said had voluntarily
exchanged himself for a hostage, was wounded in the exchange of fire.
The attack rattled nerves in a country that has been hit hard by terrorism in
recent years, and it underscored the threat posed by individuals inspired by
terrorist propaganda but who act outside of any structured networks, making it
difficult for intelligence services to monitor them.
“The level of the terrorist threat on our territory has not waned,” said
François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, who handles terrorism investigations
nationwide. “It is the result of radicalized individuals who are on our national
territory.”
Whether or not Mr. Lakdim, the attacker, had any direct contact with the Islamic
State remained unclear. He was born in Morocco but lived in Carcassonne, about
60 miles southeast of Toulouse, and was known to the police as a petty criminal
and drug dealer. He had previous convictions for illegally carrying a firearm
and possessing drugs.
Mr. Molins said that Mr. Lakdim had been flagged by French intelligence services
in 2014 “because of his radicalization and of his ties to the Salafist
movement,” and that he had been under surveillance in 2016 and 2017.
But Mr. Molins said the surveillance had not uncovered “any precursory sign that
could have foretold a terrorist act.” He denied reports that Mr. Lakdim had
tried to travel to Syria.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, describing the
assailant as a “soldier of the Islamic State” and the attack as a response to
its call to target “coalition countries,” meaning countries that have fought
against the group.
The wording suggested that the attacker was inspired by the Islamic State,
rather than directed by it. The group has made clear that no direct link is
needed to carry out attacks in its name, although some of the deadliest assaults
in Europe have been perpetrated by sympathizers guided by Islamic State
operatives online.
Mr. Molins said that Mr. Lakdim first hijacked a car in Carcassonne on Friday
morning, killing the passenger and wounding the driver. He then targeted a group
of police officers returning to their barracks after a jog, shooting at them and
wounding one.
Finally, Mr. Lakdim drove to the market, the Super U in nearby Trèbes, where he
killed two more people and took several hostages. Colonel Beltrame voluntarily
traded places with one, according to the authorities. He left his phone on a
table with an open line, enabling the police outside to listen in, according to
Mr. Collomb, the interior minister.
After more gunshots were heard, the police stormed the store and killed Mr.
Lakdim. Colonel Beltrame was “seriously wounded” in the exchange of gunfire, Mr.
Collomb said Friday.
Mr. Macron, speaking from the Interior Ministry in Paris on Friday after
returning from a European Union summit meeting in Brussels, said Colonel
Beltrame had “saved lives” and honored his profession and his country.
About 50 people were in the market in Trèbes at the time of the attack, Mr.
Molins said, although he could not specify how many were taken hostage. The
gunman shouted “God is great” in Arabic as he entered, witnesses said.
“Saying that he was ready to die for Syria, he called for the liberation of his
brothers, before shooting at a client and a store employee, who both died on the
spot,” said Mr. Molins, speaking at a news conference in Carcassonne.
Several French news reports said that Mr. Lakdim had demanded the release of
Salah Abdeslam — the only surviving member of the Islamic State group that
killed 130 people in and around Paris in a series of coordinated attacks in
November 2015 — from detention in France.
Mr. Collomb did not directly confirm those reports, saying only that he had
called for the “liberation of prisoners” and that it was unclear how he had
chosen his targets on Friday.
Christian Guibbert, a retired police officer, told reporters that he was
shopping in the market with his wife and his sister-in-law when he heard
gunshots and saw a “very agitated” man with a handgun and a knife, yelling and
shooting into the ceiling.
“He was yelling threats at people, ‘Everybody on the ground,’” Mr. Guibbert
said.
He said he hid his wife, his sister-in-law and other customers in a meat locker
and then called the police. “That’s when he saw me and ran after me,” Mr.
Guibbert said, describing how he escaped through an emergency exit.
France continues to be on high alert after deadly terrorist attacks struck the
country in 2015 and 2016, mainly in Paris and Nice. Although there have not been
any large attacks since the one in Nice in July 2016, there have been several
smaller-scale assaults by lone individuals, and the French authorities regularly
announce that new plots have been thwarted.
One of the first major cases of homegrown terrorism in France occurred in 2012,
in the area around Toulouse, where Mohammed Merah killed three French soldiers
and four others, including three children, at a Jewish school. He had traveled
to Afghanistan and Pakistan to seek training as a fighter.
The deadly attack in Trèbes is the first since Mr. Macron’s government lifted
the state of emergency that had been in place since the November 2015 attacks
and Parliament passed a counterterrorism law that made permanent some of the
emergency measures.
France also recently unveiled plans to toughen its stance on combating extremism
in prisons and schools.
Follow Aurelien Breeden on Twitter: @aurelienbrd.
Reporting was contributed by Anne-Sophie Bolon from London; Rukmini Callimachi
from New York; and Elian Peltier, Tanguy Garrel-Jaffrelot, Alissa J. Rubin and
Adam Nossiter from Paris.
A version of this article appears in print on March 24, 2018,
on Page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: French Hostage Standoff
Ends With Four Dead.
French Police Officer Wounded in Hostage Standoff Dies,
NYT,
March 23, 2018,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/world/europe/france-trebes-attack.html
‘It’s a Massacre’:
Blast in Kabul
Deepens Toll of a Long War
JAN. 27, 2018
The New York Times
By MUJIB MASHAL
and JAWAD SUKHANYAR
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban drove an ambulance packed with
explosives into a crowded Kabul street on Saturday, setting off an enormous
blast that killed at least 95 people and injured 158 others, adding to the grim
toll in what has been one of the most violent stretches of the long war, Afghan
officials said.
The attack came days after a 15-hour siege by militants at the Intercontinental
Hotel in Kabul that left 22 dead, including 14 foreigners.
On Saturday, hospitals overflowed with the wounded, and forensic workers at the
morgue struggled to identify the dead.
The casualties were another reminder of how badly Afghanistan is bleeding. Over
the past year, about 10,000 of the country’s security forces have been killed
and more than 16,000 others wounded, according to a senior Afghan government
official. The Taliban losses are believed to be about the same.
And about 10 civilians were killed every day on average over the first nine
months of 2017, data from the United Nations suggests.
The surge in violence across the country, particularly deadly attacks that have
shut down large parts of Afghan cities, comes as the government is in disarray.
President Ashraf Ghani has struggled to build consensus and has recently found
himself in a protracted showdown with a regional strongman, a dispute that has
taken up much of the administration’s energy. The strongman, Atta Muhammad Noor,
a powerful governor, was fired by the president but has refused to leave his
post, raising fears that escalating political tensions could further undermine
the country’s fragile security.
The recent carnage is also tied, analysts said, to President Trump’s decision
last month to increase pressure on Pakistan, long seen as supporting the Taliban
as a proxy force in Afghanistan. Mr. Trump made a gamble to try to tilt the war
in Afghanistan toward a resolution, holding back security aid to Pakistan for
what he called the country’s “lies and deceit.”
At the time of the announcement, many Afghan officials feared an immediate
escalation in violence in retaliation and wondered whether their shaky
government could absorb the blows.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump issued a statement denouncing the attack. “I condemn the
despicable car bombing attack in Kabul today that has left scores of innocent
civilians dead and hundreds injured,” he said. “The Taliban’s cruelty will not
prevail. The United States is committed to a secure Afghanistan that is free
from terrorists who would target Americans, our allies, and anyone who does not
share their wicked ideology.”
In last weekend’s attack, Taliban militants barged into the highly guarded
Intercontinental Hotel, battling security forces in an hourslong siege. At least
14 of their victims were foreign citizens, including Americans, and nine were
pilots and flight crew members from Ukraine and Venezuela who worked for a
private Afghan airline, Kam Air.
At the time of Saturday’s attack, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the commander of the
United States Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region,
was in Kabul. He met with Mr. Ghani, and officials aware of the discussion said
Pakistan was much of the focus.
Anger at the Afghan government for its dysfunction and ineffectiveness in the
face of violence was palpable on the streets.
At the site of the explosion, an old man, his clothes stained with blood, sat on
the ground and wailed. He cursed the two leaders of the Afghan government —
President Ghani and his coalition partner, Abdullah Abdullah — for the security
lapses. He said his son was dead.
“May God punish you, may Allah punish you both,” the old man repeated. “There is
nothing left for me anymore — come kill me and my family, too.”
Saturday’s explosion occurred on a guarded street that leads to an old Interior
Ministry building and several embassies. Many ministry departments still have
offices there, and visitors line up every day for routine business.
“I saw a flame that blinded my eyes, then I went unconscious,” said Nazeer
Ahmad, 45, who suffered a head wound. “When I opened my eyes, I saw bodies lying
on the ground.”
“It’s a massacre,” said Dejan Panic, the coordinator in Afghanistan for the
Italian aid group Emergency, which runs a nearby trauma center. At least 131
people were brought to the group’s Kabul hospital.
Baseer Mujahid, a spokesman for the Kabul police, said the bomber drove past the
first checkpoint, at the entrance to the street. The police had allowed it to
pass because it was an ambulance, and one of the city’s main hospitals was just
beyond the checkpoint.
“Police stopped the vehicle at the second checkpoint,” Mr. Mujahid said. “Then
he tried to drive in from the wrong lane. Again, the police tried to stop him.
But he detonated the explosive-laden vehicle.”
At Malalai maternity hospital, near the carnage, health workers said the
explosion had briefly interrupted their work, and jolted patients out of their
beds. Then, the staff continued to bring new life into a violent world.
“It has become normal in Afghanistan,” a midwife said. “Every day, we hear these
kind of sounds.”
Others at the hospital were deeply affected. Abdul Khaliq, who anxiously waited
in the hospital yard, said his sister-in-law had given birth through cesarean
section just days ago.
“During the suicide attack, she was at the hospital and now she is shocked. She
doesn’t want to breast-feed her baby,” Mr. Khaliq said. “Her doctor is trying to
convince her that everything is O.K., but she cries and says nothing.”
Tadamichi Yamamoto, the chief of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan,
condemned the attack as “nothing short of an atrocity” and called for the
perpetrators to be brought to justice.
“I am particularly disturbed by credible reports that the attackers used a
vehicle painted to look like an ambulance, including bearing the distinctive
medical emblem, in clear violation of international humanitarian law,” Mr.
Yamamoto said
Later in the day, family members lined up outside the morgue at the Kabul
forensic medical department, trying to identify their loved ones. The staff
could not draw a list of the victims because most were unidentifiable, or did
not carry any documentation.
After the remains were cleaned, the staff lined them up in the yard outside and
allowed family members to walk around and identify them. Once remains were
identified, the morgue staff would write the name on the forehead, or on the
chest if the head was missing.
For some, though, the search continued.
“My cousin was a police officer; he was the person who stopped the ambulance
laden with explosives,” said Attaul Haq, 36, who waited outside the morgue. “He
was 28, he had a son and a daughter.”
Fatima Faizi, Fahim Abed and Charles O’Malley
contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on January 28, 2018, on Page A1 of
the New York edition with the headline:
Blast in Kabul Deepens Toll Of Long War.
‘It’s a Massacre’: Blast in Kabul Deepens Toll of a Long War,
NYT,
Jan. 27, 2018,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/
world/asia/afghanistan-kabul-attack.html
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