India stops Sikh pilgrims from boarding Pak train

LAHORE: After some unforeseen technicalities, around 1,000 Sikh pilgrims arrived on Sunday at the Wagah border via bus from India.

In anticipation of Indian Sikhs intending to perform their pilgrimage at Punjab’s historic Gurdwaras, the Pakistani government had dispatched a special train to Attari in India to transport Sikhs to the Wagah Railway Station.

But India refused sending the Sikh pilgrims on that train citing ‘security concerns’ and fear of bomb blasts.Talking to ‘The News’, Foreign Office (FO) officials in Islamabad said the Indian government had taken the decision due to fear of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Some media reports in Pakistan suggested that the move was made in advance and the pilgrims had been advised by the Indian authorities to cross the Wagah-Attari border by foot.

Representatives of Sikh pilgrims said they had come to Pakistan to practice their religious rituals at Gurdwaras, especially Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hassan Abdal, 40 km from Rawalpindi.

They said both the Indian and Pakistan governments could not be blamed for the inconvenience they faced travelling to Lahore. They expressed their gratitude for the warm reception by a Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) officials in Pakistan. They referred to the concerns of the Indian government as a ‘misunderstanding’ and said Sikhs in Pakistan enjoyed equality in all affairs of the state.

23 pilgrims killed in Taftan terrorist attack

 

QUETTA: As many as 23 Shia pilgrims were killed and many injured in bomb explosions and firing incidents in Taftan tehsil, some 932 kilometers from Quetta, on Sunday night.
“The attackers barged into the Al-Murtaza hotel and Hashmi hotel located in Taftan minutes after the pilgrims arrived at the hotels. Independent sources from Taftan said that the attackers hurled hand grenades and opened indiscriminate fire with modern weapons killing 23 people on the spot.

Confirming the incident, officials of the levies, a sort of tribal police, told The News that as the pilgrims, who were on their way from Iran to Quetta reached Taftan — a Pakistani town located at the Pak-Iran border — they were housed in the hotels. As they entered the hotels, some armed men who were chasing them attacked them with hand grenades and opened fire.

The reports said that the firing was so sudden and intense that the victims could not resist and over 30 people sustained bullets injuries. Of them, 23 people breathed their last on the spot and many others sustained injuries, some of them serious.

Officials of the levies force said that soon after the incident, a heavy contingents of the levies force and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The officials of the levies added that an exchange of firing took place between the levies and the unknown gunmen. Later, the armed men fled from the scene leaving behind the deceased in a pool of blood.

Some reports said there was a suicide attack at the Hashmi hotel during the firing incident. However, there was no official confirmation till our going to the press.Meanwhile, Shia leader Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi in a statement strongly condemned the attack while the Majlise Wahdate Muslimeen (MWM) censured the government for failing to provide security to the Zaireen.

19 dead in Iraq as pilgrims, family targeted: officials

SAMARRA: Militants have attacked a bus carrying pilgrims north of Baghdad, killing 11 people, while a family of eight was shot dead south of the capital, Iraqi officials said Sunday.

The bloodshed late Saturday comes during vote counting from the April 30 general election, the first since US troops withdrew in late 2011, and amid a protracted surge in nationwide unrest.

While officials are quick to blame external factors for the violence, analysts and diplomats say widespread anger among minority is also a key cause.

In the deadliest attack, a bombing and shooting targeting the bus of pilgrims killed 11 people and wounded 21, police and a doctor said.

The pilgrims were returning from Samarra north of the capital, when a roadside bomb blast on the outskirts of the town of Balad was followed by gunmen opening fire on the bus.

Also on Saturday evening, police found the bodies of eight family members shot dead inside their home in southeast of Baghdad.

It was unclear why the family had been targeted or who killed them. (AFP)

 

Saudi companies’ food mandatory for Pakistani pilgrims

ISLAMABAD: The Saudi Arabian government has made for Pakistani pilgrims mandatory to buy food from Saudi companies, Geo News reported.

Sources in the Ministry of Religious Affairs told Geo News that food will be provided to Pakistani pilgrims at Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah for six days in return of advance payment.

Meanwhile, the sources said, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf, in a letter to Saudi officials, stated that Pakistani pilgrims should not be forced to buy food from particular companies as they take meal of different taste.

He demanded of the Saudi government to lift this ban on Pakistani pilgrims as buying of food from these companies would further increase financial burden on them.

The sources added that Sardar Yousuf had also held a meeting with Saudi Ambassador to resolve the issue.