Gunmen Massacre 45 in a Gory Bus Attack in Karachi, Pakistan

At least 45 people have been reported dead and 13 injured in a gun attack on a bus carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims in Karachi, Pakistan, the local police has told the media. 

The police say that six gunmen in police robes stopped the bus and open fired at the passengers.

The Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif has condemned the incident and ordered a high-level probe in the gory incident. 

A fractious group of PakistaniTaliban ‘Jundullah’ and the Islamic State (IS) have both taken the responsibility of the attack.

It is worth noting that this is the second deadliest militant attack in Pakistan this year after 62 Shia Muslims were killed in a suicide bombing in January.

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China's President Xi Jinping Is Expected To Be the Chief Guest Of Pakistan's Annual Military Parade

The President of China Xi Jinping is expected to be the chief guest at the annual military parade, an event that Pakistan is going to hold after a long gap of seven years. The event will be carried out on the national day of the country on 23 March.

The venue for the event has not been finalized yet but it is expected to be held somewhere near Islamabad.  

The list of attendees will comprise of the heads of the three branches of the armed forces and several high-profile government officials. 

The announcement about Pakistan's resuming the parade that was last held in 2008 when General Musharraf was the President, came a few days after the US President Obama's visit to India; Obama was the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade on 26 January.   

President Obama's visit was seen as a emergence of a new alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, a move to counter China's spreading influence in the region. China was irked. India's external affairs minister Shushma Swaraj's China visit this week is deemed to be move to address the grievance of the neighboring country. The news of PM Modi's visit to China is expected to better the mutual relations of two big powers of the region.   

Many analysts in Pakistan are not seeing President Xi Jinping's breaching the protocol to meet Shushma Swaraj on Monday in positive light. However, President Xi has expressed his faith in Indo-China relationship. "I have full confidence in India-China relations and I believe that new progress will be achieved in growing this bilateral relationship in this New Year." 

India's relationship, after President Xi's visit in September last year, with China seems to be on the right track.

Pakistan considers China its all-weather friend. China provides Pakistan with economics, military, political and diplomatic, and technological help; a diplomatic move to keep India in check.

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Assassin Of Former Punjab CM Beant Singh Nabbed In Thailand

The Thai police is claiming to have nabbed Gurmeet Singh, one of the convicts of the assassination of former Punjab CM and fifteen others. He was arrested by the Thai police on an intelligence info shared by the Punjab police regarding Singh's hideouts.

The self-styled Sikh militant commander Gurmeet Singh, also known as Jagtar Singh Tara, fled a high security prison in the year 2004 in Chandigarh. He was later slapped with a life sentence in 2007 by the court.

He is one of the six militants convicted for the bomb blast outside the government headquarters in Punjab. They planted the bomb in CM Beant Singh's car that was shattered to pieces right after the blast killing the CM and 12 others on the spot, while the 3 injured succumbed to the injuries sustained.

The militants are said to have fled the jail by digging a 100 feet long tunnel by their bare hands. After getting out of the jail, they entered Pakistan and with the help of ISI and on a Pakistani passport, Gurmeet changed his base to Thailand.

The militants are said to have fled the jail by digging a 100 feet long tunnel by their bare hands. After getting out of the jail, they entered Pakistan and with the help of ISI and on a Pakistani passport, Gurmeet changed his base to Thailand.  

   

Gurmeet Singh, 37, faces extradition to India.

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Four Pakistani Rangers Killed In Retaliatory Action Of BSF At The Border In J&K

Four Pakistani rangers were killed in a strong retaliatory action of BSF after a jawan of the force was killed in heavy firing from the other side along the International border in J&K's Samba district.

The BSF's retaliatory action came after the home ministry told the armed to force to give a befitting reply to any unprovoked offensive.The BSF's counter offensive forced the Pakintani rangers to wave white flags.

Today's firing from Pakistan, which injured one jawan is the second violation of ceasefire along the international border in 24 hours.

"We have retaliated effectively to the Pakistani firing, in which four Pakistani rangers have been killed (opposite to Regal post) along the IB in Samba sector this evening," Rakesh Sharma, BSF IG of Jammu Frontier told the media. 

He further said that as the Pak rangers suffered casualties, they waved white flags requesting the Indian forces to stop firing so that they can pick the dead bodies up.

"Honoring their request we stopped the firing and allowed them to come to the border line and lift the bodies," he said adding, "firing along the border line has now stopped".

In the morning the rangers targeted a BSF patrol party by starting firing unannounced. This offensive killed one Indian jawan and one other was injured. The deceased has been identified as Constable Sri Ram Gowria, the IG informed.

Earlier the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked the BSF to give a befitting reply when the paramilitary force's Director General DK Pathak briefed him about the ongoing situation in J&K frontier.

"The Home Minister asked the DG, BSF to provide a suitable and appropriate reply for any such unprovoked firing," an official statement was released today in Delhi.

Earlier today, the defense minister Manohar Parrikar has told the armed forces to provide the enemy with a reply with "double the force," and they should not hold back.

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Islamabad High Court Dismisses The Detention Of 26/11 Master Mind Lakhvi

Islamabad High Court Dismisses The Detention Of 26/11 Master Mind Lakhvi

Justice Noor ul Haq Qureshi of Islamabad High Court in pakistan has dismissed the notification for the detention of 26/11 accused and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The court has issued an interim order to release Lakhvi.

The court has said that that Pakistan government's order for the detention can't be deemed legal as Lakhvi had been granted bail by the anti-terror court and anti-terror court's decision can't be reversed by civil court. 

Indian Ministry of External Affairs has said that it will take the issue to Pakistan.

Lakhvi is one of the Pakistani nationals who are accused of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, which rendered 166 people dead and left several injured. A number of foreign nationals were also amongst the victims.

An Islamabad anti-terror court granted him bail on 18 December citing lack of evidence. But before he could be released from jail, the government of Pakistan, under serious pressure from Indian government, detained him for 3 months under Maintenance of Public Order act.

The bail granted to Lakhvi drew severe criticism from all quarters of the world especially from India. PM Modi called it "traumatizing for every Indian."

Lakhvi and six other Pakistani nationals - Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum - have been charged with plotting and executing the gory attack on the financial capital of India. The trial is underway since 2009.

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Mumbai Terror Master Mind, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Will Have To Remain In Jail

26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has again been detained today after an anti-terrorism court granted him bail yesterday. The man has been kept behind the bars under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) act, a leading Pakistan newspaper has said.

The decision comes after the Pakistan government decided to appeal against the bail in a higher court. 

"We are going to challenge the bail order of Lakhvi. We will go to Islamabad High Court on Monday to file the application" government prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told Reuters.

This decision of the Pakistan government comes after the bail incident caused a huge uproar in India. And the India's Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged the Pakistan govt. to get the bail cancelled.

India's foreign ministry's spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said, "Despite repeated assurances that have been received, we have seen both the prosecution of the seven accused in the Anti-Terror Court in Islamabad, as also the investigation by the authorities into the larger conspiracy surrounding the Mumbai attack case, proceeding at a glacial pace."

"We have, therefore, forthwith communicated to Pakistan through diplomatic channels our strong concerns on this matter and the sentiments across the spectrum of Indian society that that this will make a mockery of Pakistan's commitment to fight terror groups without hesitation and without making distinctions," Akbaruddin further said.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is among the seven Pakistani nationals accused plotting the terror attack that rendered 166 people dead and several injured.

Zakiur Rehman would not be able to leave the prison until the higher court upholds the bail as a justifiable thing.

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Taliban Gunmen Storm Into Army-run School In Peshawar: 500 Students Held Hostage; At Least 12 Dead, 40 Injured

Six gunmen of the banned terror outfit Tahreek-E-Taliban have stormed into an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan. At least 500 school students and several teachers are said to have been held hostage. 

Clad in army fatigues, the terrorists started firing bullets indiscriminately and set vehicles ablaze before getting into the school premises.  A reliable police source has confirmed that the school has been cordoned off and rescue operations have been started.

Many of the students could manage to flee the seized school through the back door. One of such children said, "First we didn't know what has happened. But late an army officer told us to escape through back gate."

"After half an hour of the attack, the army came and sealed the school," a teacher told the reporters outside the school. "We were in the examination hall when the attack took place," he said. "Now the army men are clearing the classes one by one."

Taliban has taken responsibility of the incident. "Our suicide bombers have entered the school, they have instructions not to harm the children, but to target the army personnel," taliban spokesman Muhammad Umar Khorasani said.

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