Pakistan Stuck In Tragedy In The Midst Of Independence Day Celebrations

In the midst of their Independence Day celebrations, Pakistan is dealing with the repercussions of another deadly attack, which is believed to have been carried out by ISIS. On Saturday, bomb explosions occurred in the city of Quetta, in Balochistan, that killed at least 15 people and injured 32 others.

As reported by Al Jazeera, “the attack targeted a military truck and some kind of incendiary explosive was used that further caused a fire in vehicles parked in that area.” Pakistan’s military, in a statement, confirmed that there were seven civilians among the 15 killed.

The explosions were planned to disrupt the 70th Independence Day celebration as it took place near a stadium where events were being planned since Friday. Following the explosions, President Mamnoon Hussain issued a statement condemning the attack, which clearly specified that “Our resolve won’t succumb to any challenge.”

Meanwhile, according to Sunday Express, “Middle East-based Islamic State, which has a branch of loosely affiliated fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan, claimed the attack shortly afterwards, saying a motorcycle suicide bomber had killed 17 soldiers.”

Furthermore, the city of Balochistan is alarmed and the Home Minister, Sarfraz Bugti, has informed the media that “a comprehensive rescue mission has been initiated, where the workers were busy extinguishing the blaze.” He also added that a state of emergency has been imposed in the city in order to provide proper treatment to those who are injured. As a result of the incident, the holidays of all the doctors in the city were suspended and patients were being transferred to the hospitals immediately.

In the past, Pakistan’s civilians and military personals have dealt with worst attacks that have not made them lose confidence. Nonetheless, this latest attack is a major setback for the entire country and brought about a significant drop in people’s high-spiritedness with regards to celebrating 70 years of independence, but there is no looking back. Currently, the government is doing the best they can to calm down the situation and provide assistance to as many people as possible, thus demonstrated that they are strong in their resolve. As such, it is evident that the country will make it through the horrors of this deadly attack, but with this attack, the message sent to Pakistan is clear: something needs to be done about the growing terrorism in the country or the worst is yet to come.

For instance, the country is occupied by, not only ISIS, but also terrorist factions from its neighbouring country of Afghanistan. Together these terrorist groups can cause a lot of damage to the people of Pakistan, thus, it is high time that the government takes some action to curb the spread of terrorism.

Akanksha Khullar

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