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.

First Pakistani metro train to run in Lahore

 

SHANGHAI: The first metro train in the history of the country will run in Lahore. The historic 27-kilometre-long elevated mass transit project will cost $1.6 billion and is aimed at facilitating the commuters through the city.
Pakistan and China on Thursday signed the framework agreement on the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project.Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif signed the pact from Pakistan’s side at a ceremony, which was also witnessed by President Mamnoon Hussain and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chairman of the Chinese National Development Reforms Commission signed the pact.

Speaking on the occasion, Shahbaz said that the metro train would be a unique project and a milestone in Pakistan’s history. He further said that the metro train project would facilitate the commuters.

The train route will start from Ali Town to Thokar Niaz Baig, from Multan Road to Scheme Mor, Chowburji, MAO College, Mall Road, Lakshmi Chowk and Railway Station, from Garhi Shahu Bridge to GT Road and UET and from Pakistan Mint to Dera Gojran.

He said the project would begin by the end of this year and Chinese authorities would invest, design, construct and monitor the project.

Chinese train station knife attack leaves 6 injured: police

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BEIJING: Six people were wounded in a knife attack at a train station in China on Tuesday, police said, the latest in a string of violent episodes at public transport hubs.

Police shot one of the attackers at the train station in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, the city´s public security bureau said in a statement on its microblog, adding all six injured had been hospitalised.

Passenger train derails in India; at least 10 dead

NEW DELHI: A passenger train derailed in western India on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 57 others.

The engine and four coaches jumped the tracks near Roha station, 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Mumbai, said police officer Ankush Shinde.

The rescuers used gas cutters to open the derailed coaches to reach those trapped inside. Big cranes were deployed to remove these coaches from the rail track, Shinde said.

Two of the derailed coaches tilted on one side, said railway spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena.

Shinde said that 57 injured passengers, some of them in serious condition, were taken to a hospital.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Train movement in the area was suspended as the derailed coaches and the rescue operation blocked an adjacent track as well.

Railway accidents are common in India, which has one of the world´s largest train networks and serves 20 million passengers a day. Most accidents are blamed on poor maintenance and human error. (AP)

17 killed as train bombed at Sibi Railway Station

 

QUETTA: Seventeen passengers were killed and about 50 wounded on Tuesday when militants bombed a Rawalpindi-bound train parked at the Sibi Railway Station 120 km southeast of Quetta, hospital sources and officials said.
The blast came a day after the security forces said they had killed 30 separatist militants in one of the biggest clashes in months in the Balochistan province. The United Baloch Army claimed responsibility, saying the bombing was in retaliation to the security forces’ raids.

The bomb went off in the Jaffar Express in a carriage reserved for men. The explosion occurred when the passengers were disembarking. Eight members of a family were among the dead.

Two carriages quickly became engulfed in an inferno as the passengers, some of whom were on fire, screamed and struggled to escape, senior police official Mohammad Nazar, who was at the scene, said.

“We have recovered 12 bodies from the train. They have been burnt to charcoal,” he said, adding one of the injured had died after being taken to a military hospital in the town.Sher Khan Bazai, a senior administration official, confirmed the incident. “24 patients are in a critical condition; they will beshifted to Quetta as soon as they are stable enough to travel,” he said, adding that the injured included six women and four children.

According to police sources, explosive material was placed inside the train that exploded at the railway station after 10 minutes of the arrival of Jaffar Express.A bogie carrying at least 80 passengers was completely damaged when it caught fire after the explosion. Bomb Disposal Squad reached the scene while security was put on high alert.

Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said at least 12 people had died in the blast and added that involvement of a woman was suspected in the incident.He said there was no arrangement at the railway station to search female passengers.

Talking to Pakistan Television, he said foreign elements were involved in the blast to create terror in the province. He said investigation was underway to identify if the blast was remote-controlled or of other type.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said 20 injured persons had been shifted to Civil Hospital Sibi. Rescue teams reached the site and shifted the injured to hospitals for treatment. The victims included women and children.

Emergency was declared at the Sibi Civil Hospital and at the burns ward of Bolan Medical Complex, Quetta where some seriously burnt people were shifted.According to reports, no surgeon was present at the facility which was also facing shortage of medicines and other resources.

Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast resulting into loss of precious human lives.In a condolence message, the prime minister sympathised with the bereaved families and prayed for the departed. He directed the authorities concerned to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.

In his condolence message, President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the blast and sympathized with the bereaved families.The president, who is on a two-day visit to Quetta, directed the authorities concerned to ensure provision of best medical assistance to the injured.

 

Two killed as train attacked in Bolan

QUETTA: Two passengers of the Akbar Bugti Express were killed and 10 others were injured when unidentified armed men attacked the train in the Bolan district of Balochistan on Monday.

The Quetta-bound train, which was on its way from Lahore, was attacked in the Panir area of Bolan, some 95 kms from the provincial capital, by unidentified armed men with automatic weapons.

The attackers also fired two rockets which hit the bogies of the train, said officials of the Pakistan Railways. Reports suggested that the assailants had taken up positions in the Panir area near the Mach Tehsil, when they attacked the train at around 3:45pm. The attackers fired two rockets and used other modern weapons.

The Frontier Corps (FC) and Railways Police personnel retaliated. However, the attack was so sudden and intense that 12 passengers of the train sustained multiple injuries.

Railways officials told The News that two passengers, Muhammad Ali, a resident of Mach, and Muhammad Nadeem, who belongs to Bahawalpur, sustained multiple injuries when rockets hit the train and breathed their last on the spot.

The 10 injured were shifted to hospital in Mach for treatment where the condition of some of them is stated to be precarious. The officials said that on being informed, an additional force of FC and police reached the spot and cordoned off the area to trace out the attackers. Later, the train reached Quetta. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Agencies add: Unknown armed men also gunned down the driver of a container on the National Highway near the New Bus stop area in Naseerabad. The Afghanistan bound container from Karachi was on its way when two armed men on a motorbike opened fire on it. The container driver, Zar Bodin, died on the spot.Meanwhile, a boy was killed in an incident of firing in the Nawan Killi area by unknown persons. The deceased was identified as Manzoor.