Pakistan round-up: Chinese team arrives to probe bus blast, & more

Islamabad Police on Sunday arrested a taxi driver suspected of being involved in the kidnapping and assault on an Afghan envoy’s daughter, officials said.

Silsila Alikhil (26), daughter of the Afghan ambassador to Islamabad Najib Alikhil, was abducted on July 16 while on her way home in the Pakistani capital. She was in the custody of unknown individuals for nearly five hours, during which she was subjected to torture.

Suspicion fell on drivers of three rented vehicles whose services she had availed.

She was returning home in the afternoon in a taxi after visiting a bakery in Islamabad's Blue Area when the driver picked up another man, who verbally abused and assaulted her. She was later dropped in an unconscious condition by the taxi driver on a roadside, according to reports.

A 15-member Chinese team has joined the probe led by Pakistan authorities into the bus explosion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On Wednesday, an explosion on a bus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Upper Kohistan district killed 13 people, including nine Chinese engineers.

The bus was carrying staff to an under-construction power project.

Pakistani authorities initially gave conflicting reasons for the blast- once calling it a planned attack, and then terming it an accidental blast.

The Chinese company implementing the project said it has decided to suspend the work for now.

A three-day conference on peace in Afghanistan, which was to be hosted by Pakistan, has been postponed till Eid al-Adha.

The conference was originally scheduled from July 17 to 19 in Islamabad and was to be attended by a number of high-ranking Afghan leaders. Taliban leaders were not invited.

The cancellation was announced as Pakistan rejected the remarks made by Afghanistan Vice President Amrullah Saleh that the Pakistan Air Force was providing air support to Taliban militants in the border areas of Chaman and Spin Boldak.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that the government could seek Pakistan Army's help to ensure compliance to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Sultan said it was necessary to ensure compliance and the government would make efforts for that through two ways: mass appeal to the nation to follow restrictions such as mask-wearing and avoiding crowds and administrative actions to increase compliance.

Only vaccinated people will be allowed to visit tourist resorts during the upcoming Eid holidays, he added.

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf has warned that the negative fallout of the civil war in Afghanistan may result in the Taliban fighters slipping into Pakistan as refugees.

He was pessimistic about the prospects of peace in Afghanistan. “The situation is bad and out of Pakistan’s control.”

Meanwhile, foreign minister Qureshi said Pakistan was seeking a political settlement and pressing for a power-sharing deal to prevent a civil war in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Senate on Monday passed The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2021.

The bill states that any public servant involved in torture would face up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 2 million.

If a public servant, whose duty it is to prevent torture, either intentionally or negligently fails to prevent it, he/she will face up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1m, it adds.