The European Union (EU) on Monday (31 July) condemned “an attempt to weaken democracy and instill terror”, after a suicide bombing on Sunday killed at least 54 people in Pakistan, according to a new report. police record. “We condemn this heinous act of violence,” said European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.
The attack targeted the conservative religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami-Fazal (JUI-F), whose more than 400 members and supporters were gathered in the town of Khar, near the Afghan border. This region has seen an increase in attacks since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. The Pakistani government must be dissolved in two weeks and general elections are scheduled for mid-November.
This attack has not been claimed but the Pakistani Taliban, which operates in the region, have denied being at the origin, claiming not to attack the security forces. The local branch of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which has so far made no statements about the attack, has previously targeted JUI-F rallies and leaders.
First funeral Monday
On Monday, bloodstained shoes and prayer caps still littered the floor, along with steel bolts and ball bearings from the jacket worn by the bomber. Pieces of human flesh remained visible, 30 meters from where the suicide bomber detonated his device. Thousands of people attended the first funeral on Monday, including those of two cousins, aged 16 and 17.
This attack raises fears of a bloody electoral period in Pakistan, which has been experiencing a serious political crisis since the ousting of Prime Minister Imran Khan in April 2022. JUI-F leader Fazlur Rehman, a former hardline Islamist advocating the application of Sharia law, has in recent years attempted to be more moderate by forging alliances with secular rivals. In the past, he facilitated talks between the government and the Pakistani Taliban of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a separate group from the Afghan Taliban but driven by the same Islamist ideology.
Last year, IS claimed responsibility for violent attacks on religious scholars affiliated with the party, which has an extensive network of mosques and Koranic schools in the north and west of the country. ISIS accuses JUI-F of hypocrisy for supporting successive governments and the military.
Regions bordering Afghanistan mainly affected
Despite its ability to mobilize tens of thousands of religious students, the JUI-F has never mustered enough support to lead alone, but is a key ally in forming any coalition. “It is important to ask why the activists of a religiously-leaning political party could have been subjected to such bestial violence,” the daily Dawn noted in an editorial on Monday. “Regardless of the ultra-conservative worldview of the JUI-F, the party chose to contest the elections and act within the parameters set by the Pakistani Constitution.”
Attacks in Pakistan have increased since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and the end of the ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani government, at the end of November. In January, a man, believed to be linked to the TTP, detonated the bomb he was carrying in a mosque inside a police base in Peshawar (north-east), killing more than 80 policemen.
The attacks mainly affect the regions bordering Afghanistan. Islamabad believes that some are planned from Afghan soil, which Kabul denies. Analysts say militants in the former tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have grown bolder since the return of the Afghan Taliban. Bajaur is one of seven isolated districts bordering Afghanistan. The region has been a hotspot in the global war on terrorism. Pakistan once experienced near-daily bomb attacks, but a major military operation launched in 2014 has largely restored order.
