Pakistan probes if suicide blast that killed 54 linked to Chinese chief’s go to

By India Today News Desk: Hundreds of mourners attended funerals on Monday after an enormous suicide bombing in Pakistan killed a minimum of 54 individuals at an election rally for a pro-Taliban cleric, carrying caskets draped in vibrant garments to burial websites within the hills.

Over 200 individuals have been injured within the suicide bombing that occurred on the venue of a political rally close to Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan on Sunday. The goal of the suicide assault in Khar city of Bajaur district was the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) social gathering.

Female family members and kids wailed and beat their chests because the lifeless have been taken for funerals, in response to an Associated Press report. Hundreds of males adopted the caskets to mosques and open areas for particular funeral prayers after which into the hills for burial.

As Pakistan mourns its lifeless, the large query stays unanswered — who was behind the assault, and what was the potential motive?

TALIBAN-IS RIVALRY ANGLE

The victims have been Pakistanis attending a political conference for the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) social gathering. JUI social gathering chief Fazlur Rehman is thought for his assist of the Pakistani Taliban — an in depth ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities.

No one has claimed accountability for the assault, however Pakistani police investigations have given authorities some results in imagine {that a} group known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (the IS regional affiliate based mostly in Afghanistan’s neighbouring province), could also be behind the assault.

The Afghan IS (Islamic State) is a rival of the Afghan Taliban, and will have been making an attempt to make a degree towards the Jamiat Ulema Islam Party’s pro-Taliban stances, however haven’t claimed credit score for the assault.

Spokespeople from each the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban have distanced themselves from the assault, condemning it as an unjustifiable crime, and an inhumane try and create division amongst Islamists.

Pakistani JUI social gathering leaders and their political rivals alike have all come ahead to sentence the assaults.

IS THERE A CHINA ANGLE?

Police have additionally been investigating one other angle — that the individuals behind the assault have been towards Chinese-Pakistani relations, in response to the Associated Press report.

Perhaps it isn’t so coincidental that the bombing occurred solely hours earlier than Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng arrived in Islamabad.

China has invested billions in Pakistan over the previous decade via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The Chinese Vice Premier’s journey was meant to have a good time a decade of allyship, and China’s latest assist that saved Pakistan from defaulting on sovereign funds.

However, not everybody in Pakistan sees Chinese-Pakistani relations as a trigger for celebration.

The northwestern area of Pakistan is thought for being hostile in direction of Chinese nationals.

Recently, militants within the area have been focusing on visiting Chinese nationals, making the Vice-Premier’s go to a possible motivation that authorities can’t rule out simply but.

The individuals really behind this assault and their true motivations have but to be found, however with 45 lifeless, the Pakistani authorities has promised to do all the pieces they will to seek out these accountable.