Gilgit-Baltistan part of J&K, Pakistan in illegal occupation: British Parliament

LONDON: A motion was passed in the British Parliament condemning Islamabad's announcement+ declaring Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth frontier , saying the region is a legal and constitutional part of Jammu & Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947.
The motion which was tabled on March 23 and sponsored by Conservative Party leader Bob Blackman, stated that Pakistan, by making such an announcement, is implying its attempt to annex the already disputed area.
"Gilgit-Baltistan is a legal and constitutional part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India, which is illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947, and where people are denied their fundamental rights including the right of freedom of expression," the motion read.
It was further noted that the attempts to change the demography of the region was in violation of State Subject Ordinance and the 'forced and illegal construction' of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor+ (CPEC) further aggravated and interfered with the disputed territory .
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign affairs ministry has said that Beijing was ready to work with Islamabad to take forward the CPEC to benefit the people of both countries.The economic corridor is a $51.5 billion project that aims to connect Kashgar, in China's western province of Xinjiang, with the port of Gwadar+ in the Pakistani province of Balochistan.

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Pak. team denied access to airbase

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday that no permission was granted to the Pakistani joint investigation team to visit the Pathankot airbase, which was attacked by terrorists in January.

Answering a question at a press conference at the DefExpo 2016, he said the Ministry had denied the team permission to go anywhere in the airbase. The site where the attack took place had been handed over to the National Investigation Agency, and “it was up to them [the NIA] to decide who should be allowed and who should not.”'

“The Defence Ministry has issued instructions that the spot where the crime had taken place should be barricaded and no visual allowed. The area has already been separated from the airbase, and is non-functional. Therefore, whether the joint investigation team will be taken to the crime scene or not is to be answered by the NIA. As far as our Ministry is concerned, we have issued directions that the crime scene be barricaded and visually obstructed and external entry given to the NIA alone. If I do not permit them this freedom to investigate, any failure of the investigation will be blamed on us,” he said.

Mr. Parrikar said the Pakistani team was denied permission to land at the airbase, to use defence vehicles and speak to defence personnel. “Now what the NIA shares with the investigation team and where it takes it is their decision,” he said.

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‘Pakistan policy to liberate Kashmir with jihadis has backfired’

Pakistan’s involvement with jihadi groups at the highest level aimed at “liberation” of Jammu and Kashmir has backfired, ex-diplomat Husain Haqqani said on Tuesday following the deadly terror attack in Lahore.

And even as its decades-old policy has backfired, the Pakistani establishment is reluctant to declare an all-out war against terrorist groups, Mr. Haqqani, the country’s former envoy to the U.S., told PBS in an interview.

“Pakistan’s involvement with jihadi groups initially was primarily as a strategic investment, which was supposed to bring them benefits through influence in Afghanistan and the liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from India. That has backfired,” said Mr. Haqqani.

“Now even though it has backfired, Pakistan has been very selective in going after these jihadi groups. That is the reason why the jihadis pick specific targets like Shias, Ahmadis or Christians, to improve their recruitment, playing on various kinds of polarisation, and taking advantage of that to advance in society further,” he said.

“The real problem lies in that attitude of the government of trying to protect the parties in Punjab, while going after the terrorists in other parts of the country, but not in the Punjab. That’s what has come back to bite them,” he said.

Mr. Haqqani said the fact of the matter is that the Pakistani military and civilian leadership easily gets distracted by delusions of fighting India and its influence in Afghanistan and allowing certain jihadi groups to pursue those objectives, not realising that they can end up having offshoots, just like the Pakistani Taliban emerged out of the Afghan Taliban.

“The Pakistani component of the Afghan Taliban ended up becoming a separate group. And now Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has broken away from the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan has to make a decision to go after all terrorist groups, as well as the mindset that breeds these terrorists. And Pakistan has not been able to make that decision,” he observed.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for Sunday’s grisly suicide attack in Lahore that killed 72 people.

Mr. Haqqani said the Pakistani establishment is not taking action against India-centric terrorist groups.

“The state has not taken the measures that are necessary to isolate them all. So, there are groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed which attack India. They are spared. Once they are spared, it’s very possible that some of their members will actually join splinter groups which will attack Pakistan,” he argued.

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Suicide blast in Lahore park kills 72 people

A blast killed over 72 people outside a public park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday, rescue officials said, striking at the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political heartland of Punjab.

The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, just outside the exit gate and a few feet away from children's swings. A large number of people including Christians were present in the Gulshan—e—Iqbal Park in Iqbal Town area here when the blast occurred yesterday, leaving many in a pool of blood.

“The toll has risen to 72. The rescue operation is continuing,” a rescue official of the Punjab Province government told Express News.

Eyewitnesses said they saw body parts strewn across the parking lot once the dust had settled.

The park was particularly busy on Sunday evening due to the Easter holiday weekend.

Pakistan police say a suicide bomber was behind the blast. Those killed included women and children. Over 300 people were also injured in the attack and many of them were in a critical condition.

Most of the injured were women and children, Jam Sajjad Hussain, a rescue service spokesman, told Reuters. He added that more than 30 injured had been taken to various hospitals in the city.

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Taliban faction carried out Lahore park attack

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Taliban faction, has claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack in Lahore on Sunday that killed at least 65 people, saying its target was the country’s small Christian minority.

“The target was Christians,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the faction. “We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won’t be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks.”

The attack was essentially a strike at the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s political base of Punjab. The province has traditionally been more peaceful than other parts of Pakistan though the Prime Minister’s opponents have accused him of tolerating militancy in return for peace in his province, a charge he strongly denies.

The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, a few feet from children’s swings.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 190 million people, is plagued by Taliban insurgency, criminal gangs and sectarian violence. Punjab is its biggest and wealthiest province.

Eyewitnesses said they saw body parts strewn across the parking lot after the blast. “When the blast occurred, the flames were so high, they reached above the trees and I saw bodies flying in the air,” said Hasan Imran, 30, a resident who came to the park for a walk.

Salman Rafique, a health adviser to the Punjab provincial government, put the death toll at a minimum 60. “There are more than 280 injured people,” he said. “Many are in operation theatres, being treated and we fear that the death toll may climb considerably.”

Mustansar Feroz, police superintendent for the area in which the park is located, said most of the injured and dead were women and children.

Media footage showed children and women standing in pools of blood outside the park, crying and screaming, and rescue officials, policemen and bystanders carrying injured people to ambulances and private cars.

Dozens of women and children were seen being wheeled into hospitals, covered in blood. Many of the injured were transported to hospitals on taxis and auto-rickshaws due to a shortage of ambulances. Hundreds of citizens arrived outside hospitals to donate blood.

Local television channels reported that many of the dead bodies were being kept in hospital wards as morgues were overcrowded.

“We were just here to have a nice evening and enjoy the weather,” Nasreen Bibi said at the Services Hospital, crying as she waited for doctors to update her on the condition of her two-year-old injured daughter.

“May God shower his wrath upon these attackers. What kind of people target little children in a park?”

Parks closed
Soon after the attack, the Punjab government ordered all public parks to be closed and announced three days of mourning. The main shopping areas were shut down and many of the city’s main roads were deserted.

Last year, a bomb killed a popular Pakistani provincial Minister and at least eight others when it destroyed the Minister’s home in Punjab.

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Pope to visit Pakistan

Pope Francis is set to visit Pakistan this year on his first-ever trip to the Islamic nation, officials said on Thursday.

The invitation by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Head of Catholic Church was extended by Ports and Shipping Minister Kamran Michael — the only Christian minister in the current government — and Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Yusuf during a meeting in Vatican last month.

Officials said that Pope accepted the invitation extended on behalf of Sharif. “It is true that Pope has accepted the invitation and the dates of the trip will be finalised by mutual consultation,” an official of religious ministry said.

He said the Pope will meet Prime Minister Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain.

He will also hold extensive interactions with the minority Christian community of the country, majority of them Catholic, besides visiting a Church.

Christians of Pakistan are pushing to declare Shahbaz Bhatti, killed in 2011 for demanding reform in the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, as a saint and they expect some positive gesture by the Pope during the visit.

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Shuja Pasha admitted ISI’s role in Mumbai attack: ex-CIA chief

Soon after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack the then chief of Pakistan’s ISI conceded that some of the powerful spy agency’s retired members were engaged in training those involved in the heinous crime but refused to take action, a former CIA chief has said in a new book.

In his latest book ‘Playing to the Edge’, Michael Hayden, the former CIA Director, expressed his deep frustration of the “duplicity” of the Pakistani leadership when it came to taking action against terrorist groups in particular al-Qaeda, Taliban, LeT and the Haqqani network.

Arguing that the Pakistan Army is built to fight against India and not terrorists, the top leadership in the country, in particularly those from its military in the past one decade, have repeatedly expressed its inability to take on the terrorist groups in the tribal regions as desired by the U.S., he wrote.

Referring to the Mumbai terrorist attack, Mr. Hayden, who was the CIA chief till 2009, said it was very clear that there seemed to be so many Pakistani fingerprints on the atrocity.

“I began routinely harassing my counterpart in Pakistan, now Ahmed Shuja Pasha [the former director general of Military Operations, the Pakistan army’s top operational post], on the phone, urging him to get to the bottom of the attack and to discuss it frankly with us,” he wrote.

“We had no doubt that the attack was the work of LeT, and there was mounting evidence that preparation for and direction of the attack took place from within Pakistan, where LeT enjoyed the protection and support of ISI,” Mr. Hayden said.

Pasha, who had come to ISI only a few weeks earlier and had no previous intelligence experience, came to the U.S. on Christmas Day and spent most of the next afternoon in his office.

“He worked carefully from notes. His investigation had revealed that some former ISI members were involved with Lashkar-e-Taiba [no surprise there]. Pasha admitted that these unspecified [and still uncaptured] retirees may have engaged in some broad training of the attackers, but he was characteristically vague about any detailed direction the attackers had gotten during the attack via cell phone from Pakistan,” Mr. Hayden wrote in the book.

“I took to passing sufficiently sanitised intelligence to Pasha on what we believed was going on in order to try to goad him into action. If he knew that we knew...perhaps we could get some movement. We didn’t have a whole lot of success,” Mr. Hayden wrote.

Narrating an incident when the then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf refused to fill up gas in the airplane that flew him to Islamabad, where he had gone to press him to take action against terrorists, Mr. Hayden wrote: “One more bit of evidence that these guys really were the ally from hell“.

The crew had forgotten their government credit card— you can’t make this stuff up— and the Pakistanis wouldn’t budge, he wrote.

Mr. Musharraf refused to take action, despite some crucial evidence being provided to him

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U.S. seeks Congressional nod for financing F-16 sale to Pakistan

After notifying Congress of its intention to sell eight F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan, the Obama administration has quickly moved for Congressional approval for financing the deal under the country’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) scheme. U.S. administration proposes to pay the bulk of the $699 million cost of the deal while Pakistan is required to pay $200 million.

The administration’s request to Congress is for the first tranche of money, though the exact amount sought was not immediately known. While the notification itself does not need a positive approval from Congress, spending by the administration requires legislative approval, which is not going to come easily.

“While it is my intention at this time to clear the sale of eight F-16 aircraft to Pakistan, I do not plan to support the expenditure of the very limited FMF account to finance this deal, now or in the future,” Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, had said in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last week.

Bipartisan resistance
Sources familiar with the developments pointed out that given the resistance being bipartisan — this is not one of the Republicans versus Democrats stalemates that routinely block Obama’s moves — the administration will find it tough to win a vote for financing the deal. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturers of F-16s, continues to lobby hard for the deal with the argument that it will create jobs in America.

“But the argument that American taxpayer cannot finance a deal for arming Pakistan has turned out to be lethal and has taken the administration by surprise,” a source said.

Meanwhile, an official of the U.S. State Department reiterated its commitment to sell F-16s to Pakistan. “We support the proposed sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan to assist Pakistan’s counter terrorism and counterinsurgency operations. Pakistan’s current F-16s have proven critical to the success of these operations to date… These operations reduce the ability of militants to use Pakistani territory as a safe haven for terrorism and a base of support for the insurgency in Afghanistan. These operations are in the national interests of Pakistan, the United States, NATO, and in the interest of the region more broadly,” the official said.

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Remove annulment clause in Hindu Marriage Bill: Pakistan Hindu Council

A leading Hindu group in Pakistan has demanded the government to remove a controversial clause in the draft Hindu Marriage Bill that calls for annulment of marriage if any of the spouses converts their religion, saying it can trigger forced conversions of minority community women.

Ramesh Vankwani, patron in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council, said the Hindu community in Pakistan was concerned about the clause.

“The objectionable clause 12(iii) of the Hindu marriage bill can be used for forced conversions of Hindu girls and women. It states that a marriage could be terminated if either spouse converts to another religion,” he said.

The clause 12(iii) says a marriage will be annulled if any of the spouses converts to another religion.

“Already we have brought up the issue of forced conversion of Hindu women and girls particularly in rural areas of Sindh with the government and this clause can lead to its misuse,” said Mr. Vankwani, also a lawmaker of the ruling PML—N party.

There were many instances when Hindu girls were abducted and later presented before court with certificates confirming their conversion and marriage to a Muslim man, he said.

The minority Hindu community in Pakistan has for years demanded a Hindu Marriage Bill but now a controversial clause has been added to the landmark bill, the lawmaker said adding that there is no concept of divorce in the Hindu religion.

The National Assembly committee on law and justice last week approved the draft law, paving the way for registering marriages in the minuscule religious minority following decades of delay and inaction.

Seeking to put an end to the controversy, chairperson of standing committee on law and justice Senator Nasreen Jalil said she has called a meeting of the committee this week to discuss the concerns expressed by the Hindu community.

Ms. Jalil said the Senate committee would discuss the matter and if consensus was formed it will recommend the deletion of the clause to the National Assembly.

The draft bill has already been passed by the National Assembly standing committee on law and justice and needs to be approved by the Senate to become a law.

Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, had vehemently opposed any move to delete the controversial clause when the National Assembly standing committee met on February 8 and approved the draft bill.

The committee had adopted the bill unanimously after making two amendments to fix the minimum age of marriage for male and female at 18 and making the law applicable to the whole country, instead of just the federal territory.

Mr. Vankwani had been pushing for approving the bill but members of other parliamentary parties who claim to be more liberal have persisted with their objections.

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Pakistan arrests 97 al-Qaeda and other militants; foils planned jailbreak

Pakistan has arrested 97 al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants, including three commanders, in the southern port city of Karachi, and foiled a planned attack that would have broken Daniel Pearl's killer out of jail, the military said.

The LeJ's Naeem Bokhari and Sabir Khan, as well as Farooq Bhatti, deputy chief of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), were captured by Pakistani forces in recent raids, Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa told a press conference on Friday.

The 97 men had been involved in multiple major attacks on Pakistani air bases, a major airport and police installations, Lt. Gen. Bajwa said.

Several of those arrested, including Bokhari, were in the advanced stages of planning a jailbreak attempt on the Hyderabad Central Jail, Lt. Gen. Bajwa said.

Khalid Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and killed the Wall Street Journal's Daniel Pearl in 2002, is being held at that jail and was to be released during the raid, he said.

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Pakistan behind rise of international jihadi forces: NYT

Pakistan’s powerful intelligence service has long acted as the “manager” of international jihadi forces and it may have been involved in the rise of the ISIS, a leading U.S. daily on Sunday said, in a stinging commentary on Pakistan’s “intervention” in a number of foreign conflicts.

Underlining that experts have found “a lot of evidence” that Pakistan facilitated the Taliban offensive, an op-ed in the New York Times said, “This behaviour is not just an issue for Afghanistan. Pakistan is intervening in a number of foreign conflicts.”

“Its intelligence service has long acted as the manager of international mujahedeen forces, many of them Sunni extremists, and there is even speculation that it may have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State.”

It said that though Pakistan denies harbouring the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and points out that it, too, is a victim of terrorism, “many analysts have detailed how the military has nurtured Islamist militant groups as an instrument to suppress nationalist movements, in particular among the Pashtun minority, at home and abroad.”

“Pakistan regards Afghanistan as its backyard. Determined not to let its archrival, India, gain influence there, and to ensure that Afghanistan remains in the Sunni Islamist camp, Pakistan has used the Taliban selectively, promoting those who further its agenda and cracking down on those who don’t. The same goes for Al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters,” wrote Carlotta Gall, the North Africa correspondent for NYT.

It said there are reports that Pakistan had a role in the rise of the Islamic State.

”....it might come as a surprise that the region’s triumvirate of violent jihad is living openly in Pakistan,” Ms. Gall said as she listed out top terrorist leaders living openly in Pakistan.

“First, there’s Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, and second in command of the Taliban. He moves freely around Pakistan, and has even visited the Pakistani intelligence headquarters of the Afghan campaign in Rawalpindi,” she said.

Then there is the new leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who has openly assembled meetings of his military and leadership council near the Pakistani town of Quetta, the author said.

“Finally, Al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, enjoys sanctuary in Pakistan — one recent report placed him in the southwestern corner of Baluchistan. He has been working to establish training camps in southern Afghanistan,” Ms. Gall wrote.

The daily alleged that the madrasas in Pakistan, “a longtime instrument of Pakistani intelligence, has been training people from the ethnic minorities of northern Afghanistan alongside its standard clientele of Pashtuns”.

“The aim is still to win control of northern Afghanistan through these young graduates. From there they have their eyes on Central Asia and western China. Pakistani clerics are educating and radicalising Chinese Uighurs as well, along with Central Asians from the former Soviet republics,” Ms. Gall said.

Pakistan, she alleged, was “cooperating with Qatar, and perhaps others, to move international Sunni jihadists (including 300 Pakistanis) from Pakistan’s tribal areas, where they were no longer needed, to new battlefields in Syria”.

“It is just another reminder of Pakistan’s central involvement in creating and managing violent jihadist groups,” she quoted an unnamed Pakistani politician as saying.

“No one has held Pakistan to account for this behaviour. Why would Pakistan give it up now?” Ms. Gall said.

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Panic grips Pak Hindus after Karachi temple is desecrated

Three pistol-waving bearded men stormed a 60-year-old temple in Pakistan’s largest city and desecrated the idol of a Hindu deity, leading to fear among the minority community here, a media report said on Tuesday.

The incident happened on January 21 when the three men clad in salwar and kameez stormed the temple waving pistols and ordered everyone inside the premises to step out.

The panic and scuffle that followed resulted in desecration of one of the three beautifully-decorated idols at the temple near the Karachi Zoological Gardens, Dawn reported.

People are afraid now: priest

“The people are afraid of coming here for puja now after the attack,” said Maharaj Hira Lal.

Other than the Maharaj and his family, the caretakers of this temple, nobody else was present when the scuffle broke.

“We don’t know who those men were. We have never seen them before,” the Maharaj said. “We are very saddened by the incident. It has really terrorised the neighbourhood,” he said.

3 idols of deities

The temple has three idols of deities Shitala Mata, Santoshi Mata and Bhavani Mata.

Maharaj said the temple was built as a place for worship by his grandfather soon after he moved to Pakistan from India some 60 years ago.

“He was childless but adopted a 14-year-old boy, Mohan, who he brought up as his son. The young boy was soon married to a suitable Hindu girl, Champa Bai, who lived nearby in Soldier Bazaar. And I am Mohan and Champa’s son,” he said.

‘Sterile women able to conceive’

“The private temple soon became known when several women considered unable to give birth to children came to perform puja here following which they were able to conceive.

“Then some eight years ago, during regular puja here, devotees witnessed another miracle when Kali Mata’s footprints made from red holy powder abir suddenly appeared beside the mantel,” the Maharaj said.

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We will soon complete Pathankot probe: Sharif

“Pakistan will soon complete its investigation into the Pathankot terror attack which had a negative impact on talks with India,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday.

Talks with India were “going in the right direction” after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he said but regretted that the attack disturbed the negotiation process.

Mr. Sharif vowed that Pakistan would go to any length to uncover the alleged use of its soil in the January 2 attack on the air base in Pathankot by suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists.

It is our responsibility

“It is our responsibility to uncover if our soil was used in the attack. We will do this and the ongoing investigations will soon be completed,” Mr. Sharif told reporters here.

The terrorists were being defeated and in desperation, they were carrying out isolated acts to make their presence felt, he said, adding that the remaining ones would also be eliminated.

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Pakistan court refuses voice samples of 26/11 suspects

In a fresh setback to the Mumbai attack trial, a Pakistani court has dismissed the government’s petition seeking voice samples of 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects in the case.

The prosecution had filed an application in the Islamabad High Court seeking voice samples of the suspects to compare it with the communication intercepted by Indian intelligence and then present it before the anti-terrorism court (ATC) as evidence against the seven suspects in the Mumbai attack case. The Islamabad High Court on Monday dismissed the petition.

Ditto in 2011 and 2015

In 2011 and 2015, the issue of obtaining voice samples of Lakhvi had been dismissed by the trial court on the grounds that “no such law exists that allows obtaining of voice sample of an accused.”

The prosecution’s petition said the Indian intelligence agencies had intercepted communication between the suspects and the terrorists in connection with the Mumbai attack in 2008. In the recorded intercepts, the suspects are heard instructing the terrorists.

The prosecution lawyers had argued that the samples were essential for concluding the investigation of this high-profile case.

Petition on Kasab rejected

The trial court had also rejected another petition of the prosecution requesting the court to declare Ajmal Kasab and Faheem Ansari absconders in order to meet legal formalities.

The prosecution had told the court that unless it declared the two men absconders, the trial against them would remain “inconclusive” as both have been cited as accused in the Mumbai attack case by Indian authorities and that they were also wanted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that was probing the 26/11 case.

Assurance during Sushma’s visit

During External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit here last month, Pakistan had assured India of “steps being taken to expedite the early conclusion” of the Mumbai attack trial, something that India has been pressing for long.

Pakistani authorities arrested seven Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) members involved in the planning of the attacks including the terrorist group’s operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack.

Six accused — Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum — have been in Adiala Jail for more than six years in connection with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008, that left 166 people killed.

Trial under way

Lakhvi (56) secured bail in December 2014, and was subsequently released from Adiala Jail on April 10, 2015, after the Lahore High Court set aside the government’s order to detain him under a public security act.

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Live: Gunmen storm Pakistan university; 21 dead

A group of militants stormed a university in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, police said, with firing inside the campus still going on and two explosions heard.

Media reported that three gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.

Pakistan, which has suffered from years of militant violence, has killed and arrested hundreds of suspected militants under a major crackdown launched after a massacre of 134 school children in December 2014 in the northwest.

Latest updates:

2.45 pm:

2:20 pm: Strongly condemn the terror attack at Bacha Khan University in Pakistan. Condolences to families of the deceased. Prayers with the injured, tweets Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

1.54 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoles the killing of students in terrorist attack at a university in Pakistan.

1.52 pm: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility for the attack. The banned outfit is also responsible for the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar in 2014. - PTI

1.50 pm: Quoting a Rescue 1122 official said, Dawn said the boys section of the hostel has been affected and the victims have mostly been hit by bullets.

1.45 pm: The families of students have lined up outside the school. Up to 20 ambulances have entered the university to rescue the injured - Dawn

1.40 pm: Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the terror attack and directed security agencies to clear the University of terrorists at the earliest.

Sharif expressed sorrow and grief on the loss of precious lives in the terror attack and said those who attacked innocent students and citizens have no religion. “The government is committed to eliminate them,” he said.

1.30 pm: Pakistan's Tehrik-e-Insaf Party leader and provincial lawmaker Shaukat Yousafzai said that 25 people, including a professor, were killed and around 50 others injured in the terrorist attack on the University this morning - PTI

1.15 pm: University premises secured - Dawn

1.05 pm: Dawn.com confirms the death of 21 persons in the firing.

12.55 pm: Four terrorists killed so far and all buildings and rooftop taken over by Army. Around 90 percent of the area has been cleared, according to a rescue official. — Dawn

12.50 pm: 20 feared dead in attack on Bacha Khan university in northwest Pakistan: Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa lawmaker Shaukat Yusafzai - PTI

12.40 pm: Reuters reports that at least eight have been killed in the firing. Firing inside the campus still going on and two explosions heard.

12.35 pm: Vice Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the Bacha Khan University teaches over 3,000 students and hosted an additional 600 visitors on Wednesday for a poetry recital.

12.30 pm: Television footage showed soldiers entering the campus as ambulances lined up outside the main gate and anxious parents consoled each other.

12.20 pm: It is unclear how many gunmen are involved. The Pakistani military's media wing said the army had cordoned off the university with the militants inside and were carrying out air surveillance.

12.15 pm: The militants, using the cover of thick, wintry fog, scaled the walls of the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, before entering buildings and opening fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels, police said.

"All students have been evacuated from the hostels, but militants are still hiding in different parts of the university and some students and staff are stuck inside," Wazir said.

12.10 pm: Television channels quoted rescue officials as saying that a chemistry professor had been killed and 50 people wounded in the attack.

12.00 pm: 70 per cent of students had been rescued, according to Mr. Wazir.

11.55 am: Three security guards, one university lecturer and one student were critically wounded but there were no confirmed deaths, Wazir said.

11.50 am: Two of the gunmen were killed by security forces after the army moved into the university, Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir told Reuters, but other attackers were believed to be at large on the second and third floors of the campus buildings.

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FIR against owners of Raj Kapoor’s former haveli in Peshawar

Pakistani authorities have lodged a First Information Report (Pakistani authorities have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the new owners of legendary Bollywood actor-director Raj Kapoor’s historic family haveli here for demolishing the building which is a national heritage site.

The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums on Sunday lodged the FIR at Khan Raziq police station against the owners of the nearly century-old haveli situated at Dhaki Munawar Shah of the walled city.

Commercial plaza in lieu of first storey

New owners of the existing building had pulled down its first storey for construction of a commercial plaza on it. The doors and window panes on the second and third floors were also removed last week.

On Saturday, the Archives department obtained stay from a local court to save the demolition of the historic ‘haveli.’

Violation of Antiquities Act

Also, Peshawar Museum in-charge Nawazuddin filed a case against homeowners Israr, Ali Qadir and Hassan Qadir for violating the Khyber-Pakhtunwa Antiquities Act 1997 under which buildings more than 70 years old cannot be changed without the consent of the government as well as the Archaeology Department.

Declared heritage buildings

The K-P government has declared the houses of Peshawar-born Bollywood actors Kapoor and Dilip Kumar as heritage to protect and preserve them.

Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor, father of Kapoor’s father Prithviraj Kapoor, had constructed this house in 1920, where the “Mera Naam Joker” star and his siblings were born. The Kapoor family later shifted to India after Partition.

No cogent step to preserve it

During the previous Awami National Party government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the house was declared National heritage but no cogent step was taken to preserve it.

Meanwhile, a process claiming to secure the building was under way and officials said the owners committed a crime by violating the antiquity law, the paper said.

The provincial administration had earlier tried to buy the house from the owners to convert it into a museum but the plan could not come through.

Rishi Kapoor tweets thanks

Raj Kapoor’s actor son Rishi Kapoor took to twitter to thank people of Pakistan resisting the demolition but said since the property belonged to the country, they don’t have a say in it.) against the new owners of legendary Bollywood actor-director Raj Kapoor’s historic family haveli here for demolishing the building which is a national heritage site.

The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums on Sunday lodged the FIR at Khan Raziq police station against the owners of the nearly century-old haveli situated at Dhaki Munawar Shah of the walled city.

Commercial plaza in lieu of first storey

New owners of the existing building had pulled down its first storey for construction of a commercial plaza on it. The doors and window panes on the second and third floors were also removed last week.

On Saturday, the Archives department obtained stay from a local court to save the demolition of the historic ‘haveli.’

Violation of Antiquities Act

Also, Peshawar Museum in-charge Nawazuddin filed a case against homeowners Israr, Ali Qadir and Hassan Qadir for violating the Khyber-Pakhtunwa Antiquities Act 1997 under which buildings more than 70 years old cannot be changed without the consent of the government as well as the Archaeology Department.

Declared heritage buildings

The K-P government has declared the houses of Peshawar-born Bollywood actors Kapoor and Dilip Kumar as heritage to protect and preserve them.

Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor, father of Kapoor’s father Prithviraj Kapoor, had constructed this house in 1920, where the “Mera Naam Joker” star and his siblings were born. The Kapoor family later shifted to India after Partition.

No cogent step to preserve it

During the previous Awami National Party government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the house was declared National heritage but no cogent step was taken to preserve it.

Meanwhile, a process claiming to secure the building was under way and officials said the owners committed a crime by violating the antiquity law, the paper said.

The provincial administration had earlier tried to buy the house from the owners to convert it into a museum but the plan could not come through.

Rishi Kapoor tweets thanks

Raj Kapoor’s actor son Rishi Kapoor took to twitter to thank people of Pakistan resisting the demolition but said since the property belonged to the country, they don’t have a say in it.

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Handlers were close to the border: NIA

The Pathankot terrorists walked 1.5 kilometres after abandoning the SUV belonging to police officer Salwinder Singh before they entered the Indian Air Force base by scaling a wall, not far from the main gate, shows a re-enactment of the sequence of events by the National Investigation Agency.

A senior government official told The Hindu that when the terrorists crossed over to India through a riverine stretch, they were probably dressed in civvies and must have changed into Army fatigues. Teams of NIA have been dispatched to all the border villages near the airbase to recover the clothes and any related evidence.

The NIA also suspects that when the terrorists crossed over to India through the riverine stretch in the Bamiyal sector, they were in touch with their handlers through a Chinese-made wireless set. Since the frequency of these sets is generally only along the line of sight, the NIA believes the handlers must have positioned themselves somewhere close to the border.

“They [the terrorists] took internal roads of the villages to approach the Pathankot airbase. They abandoned the police officer’s vehicle and went on foot for 1.5 km with heavy arms and ammunition,” said the official.

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Afghan peace talks: Pakistan warns against preconditions

Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States held talks on Monday to resurrect a stalled Afghan peace process and end nearly 15 years of bloodshed, even as fighting with Taliban insurgents intensifies.

Senior officials from the four countries are meeting in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to launch a process they hope will lead to negotiations with Taliban insurgents, who are fighting to re-impose their strict brand of Islamist rule and are not expected at Monday’s talks.

The Pakistani Prime Minister’s foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, opened the meeting, saying the primary goal should be to convince the Taliban to come to the table and consider giving up violence. “It is therefore important that preconditions are not attached to the start of the negotiation process. This, we argue, will be counterproductive,” he said.

“The threat of use of military action against irreconcilables cannot precede the offer of talks to all the groups.”

Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry were joined by Richard Olson, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and General Anthony Rock, the top U.S. defence representative in Pakistan, as well as China's special envoy on Afghanistan affairs, Deng Xijun.

Renewed peace efforts come amid spiralling violence in Afghanistan, with last year one of the bloodiest on record following the withdrawal of most foreign troops at the end of 2014.

In recent months the Taliban have won territory in the southern province of Helmand, briefly captured the northern city of Kunduz and launched a series of suicide bombs in the capital, underlining how hard Afghan government forces are finding it fighting on their own.

Peace efforts last year stalled after the Taliban announced that their founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for two years, throwing the militant group into disarray as rival factions fought for supremacy.

Taliban undecided

The Taliban, who were ousted in 2001, remain split on whether to take part in talks. Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour's faction has shown signs of warming to the idea of eventually joining peace talks, and other groups are considering negotiating, senior members of the movement said last week.

But a splinter group headed by Mullah Mohammad Rasool Akhund, which rejects Mansour’s authority, has dismissed any talks where a mediating role is played by Pakistan, which observers say holds significant sway among Taliban commanders holed up near its border with Afghanistan, or the United States or China.

“We have a very clear-cut stance about peace talks: all the foreign occupying forces would need to be withdrawn,” Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, Rasool’s deputy, told Reuters on Monday. “The issue is between the Afghans and only the Afghans can resolve it. We would not allow any third force to mediate between us.”

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Washington likely venue for the next Modi-Sharif meet

As India and Pakistan enhance their engagement over the next weeks, after the abrupt turnaround in relations, the U.S capital will likely be the venue for the next meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif.

President Barack Obama has invited both prime ministers for the Nuclear Security Summit on March 31 and April 1, 2016. Though no formal announcements have been made, it is almost certain that both Mr. Modi and Mr. Sharif will be attending it. Mr. Obama sees “nuclear terrorism.. the most immediate and extreme threat to global security,” according to a White House statement on the summit. Nuclear security remains a lingering concern for the U.S. policy for South Asia particularly. The summit will be the first occasion in 2016 that will bring Indian and Pakistan PMs together. Official level talks between the countries are scheduled to start in mid-January, 2016.

Meanwhile, U.S scholars who welcome Mr. Modi’s latest initiative believe the onus is now on Pakistan, particularly its military, to ensure that relations remain on track. "Prime Minister Modi's unexpected visit to Lahore is a welcome development. Let us hope it leads to an improvement in trust between Delhi and Islamabad. But, that will only occur in a meaningful way if the Pakistani military also opens itself to better relations with India,” said R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

“This is clearly a big win for Modi and for creative Indian diplomacy. The onus is of course on Pakistani leaders to ensure that terrorists do not disrupt the positive momentum, so Indian and Pakistani officials can continue with their plans to revive a comprehensive dialogue. I hope this thaw will permit India and Pakistan and Afghanistan to work successfully together on stabilizing the region--but again, much depends on Pakistan meeting its obligations as a state to prevent terror attacks,” said Alyssa Ayres senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and former deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia.

Scholars also believe the thaw in India-Pakistan relations will help improve the situation in South Asia. "Any improvement in relations between India and Pakistan will always be welcomed by the United States. Washington has always sought peace in the subcontinent and attempted to encourage Delhi and Islamabad to talk and resolve issues through talks and negotiations. The U.S. has always believed that as the larger country in South Asia, India should be more magnanimous towards its neighbors. Washington also believes that boosting the civilian government in Pakistan will help India. Finally, with an eye on Afghanistan, the United States would prefer good relations between India and Pakistan, so that Pakistan, especially its military, can be convinced to help the United States and allies in Afghanistan,” said Aparna Pande, Director, Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at Hudson Institute.

“In the interest of the U.S and all friends of India”

“What we must hope for is that India and Pakistan find a way to reduce the possibility of conflict and to try to achieve a more normal and productive relationship. That is certainly in the interest of the U.S. and all friends of India,” said Prof. Burns. “Longstanding U.S. policy has been to wish both countries the best in their efforts to resolve their differences bilaterally. But the next steps in fulfilling resumption of a comprehensive dialogue really do depend on ensuring the process is not sabotaged by a terror attack,” said Ms. Ayres.

Ms. Pande expects U.S.-India defence and economic ties to grow stronger and nothing dramatic in U.S. relations with Pakistan. “With respect to Pakistan I see a continuation of the current policy with nothing dramatic happening till the next administration comes in. Afghanistan is critical as U.S. troops are still there and thus there will be a continuation in attempt to find a negotiated solution: so talks with Taliban will continue, Pakistan will be encouraged to help, China will be asked to put pressure on Pakistan to ensure talks continue but I do not see the talks going anywhere.”

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Pakistan test-fires n-capable Shaheen-III

Pakistan on Friday successfully test-fired the medium-range Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile which can carry nuclear warheads within a range of 2,750 km, the military said.

The test flight of the missile was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system, according to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

It added that the missile is capable of delivering nuclear and conventional warheads in a range of 2,750 km.

The impact point of the missile test was in the Arabian Sea, validating all desired parameters, the statement said.

The test was witnessed by senior officers from Strategic Plans Division, Strategic Forces, Scientists and Engineers of Strategic Organisations.

‘Significant milestone’

Director General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General Mazhar Jamil, said the country had achieved a “significant milestone” in complementing the deterrence capability.

He said Pakistan desired peaceful co-existence in the region for which nuclear deterrence would further strengthen strategic stability in South Asia.

Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated the military scientists and engineers on the successful missile test.

Test-fired earlier versions

Pakistan had test-fired the Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II missiles last year.

Shaheen-I is also capable of carrying nuclear as well as conventional warheads and has a range of 900 km while the Shaheen-II missile can also carry nuclear and conventional warheads up to a range of 1,500 km.

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