A group of militants stormed a university in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding dozens as the Army hunted for any gunmen still holed up on the campus, officials said.

A security official said the death toll could rise to as high as 40 as the Army cleared out student hostels and classrooms.

“Our four suicide attackers carried out the attack on Bacha Khan University today,” Umar Mansoor, a commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) militant group told AFP by phone from an undisclosed location.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University.

According to ‘AFP’, the operation has ended and the death toll in Pakistan university attack stands at 21 as of now. Meanwhile, Army continues to search block by block of the university.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan will visit Charsadda today.

Reports say that Pakistani Army has confirmed that snipers have killed two more terrorists. Four terrorists killed so far.

Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir says 70 percent of students have been rescued.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Paksitan claims responsibility for Bacha Khan University terror attack.

Pakistan Nawaz Sharif condemns the terror attack and said the sacrifice of the deceased will not go in vain. “We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland. The countless sacrifices made by our countrymen will not go in vain,” a statement issued on behalf of the Pakistan PM said.

Pakistan police say they have killed two of the militants who stormed the university.

Pakistan media reports that 60-70 students were shot in the head by terrorists.

Speaking to Reuters, Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir said the Army and police had moved into the university and a gunfight with the attackers was under way. He said it was unclear how many gunmen were involved.

One professor is reported to be killed in the attack.

Pakistan media reports that 50 have been injured in the terror attack and have been shifted to Charsadda District HQ hospital

Media reported that three gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.

The Bacha Khan University in Charsadda is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city of Peshawar.

Reports say that firing was still going on inside the campus where students, teachers and administration staff are present.

Television images showed female students clutching hands as they fled the university, with traffic blocked on the roads of Charsadda as security forces rushed towards the campus.

According to some reports two explosions were heard inside the university.

Geo TV reports that five injured have been taken out from the university.

It further said that over 3000 students were present inside the university when the attack happened.

Security officials have cordoned off the area and students are being evacuated from classes.

Peshawar was the location of Pakistan`s deadliest ever extremist attack, when Taliban gunmen stormed an army-run school in December last year and slaughtered more than 150 people, most of them children, in an hours-long siege.

 

Over 2,500 Sikh pilgrims from India have arrived in Lahore to participate in religious rituals to mark the 547th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

From Lahore the pilgrims left for Hasan Abdal town in Attock district to visit the temple of Panja Sahib under strict security arrangements, Dawn online reported.

“We respect Pakistan, in general, and Punjab, in particular, as it is the soil of our gurus (spiritual leaders),” group leader Rumeet Singh said at Wagah railway station.

“Our top spiritual leader Guru Nanak Dev Ji has given a message about humanity, peace and love,” he added.

The pilgrims thanked Pakistani government for the arrangements during their 10-day tour to the country.

“It reflects pilgrims’ satisfaction on Pakistan’s arrangements,” Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Siddiqul Farooq said while receiving the pilgrims at Wagah station.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants to have good relations with India, Farooq added.

Rumeet Singh said he was grateful to the Pakistan high commissioner to India and the Indian high commissioner to Pakistan for ensuring the arrival of Sikhs.

“On Thursday, the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi had issued visas to 3,000 pilgrims. Of them over 2,500 arrived in the country,” he said.

The pilgrims will stay in Hasan Abdal till November 22 and will depart for Nankana Sahib on the same day.

On November 24, they will proceed for Farooqabad (Sacha Soda) and will return back to Nankana Sahib on November 25.

On November 26 and 27, they will stay in Lahore at the temple of Dera Nawab Sahib. On Nov 28, the pilgrims will visit Darbar Sahib temple in Narowal and will return back to India on November 29.

Pakistan desires durable peace in Afghanistan and instability in the region is not in the interest of the country, Pakistan prime minister’s advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Tuesday.

While addressing a meeting prior to the Heart of Asia conference here, Aziz said Pakistan will continue to support all endeavours aimed at strengthening peace and security in Afghanistan.

Aziz said the Heart of Asia conference is an effective platform for promoting regional economic cooperation and connectivity, with Afghanistan at its centre.

It provides an opportunity for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, and a secure and prosperous region as a whole.

Aziz said that as the process matures, “our focus should be on strengthening engagements and collaboration to effectively combat challenges in the field of security and promoting regional economic collaboration”.

Afghanistan deputy foreign minister Hikmat Khalil Karzai called for a united and collective approach to counter the menace of terrorism and violent extremism.

He said the conference was taking place at a critical juncture when the region was confronted by many challenges, including terrorism.

He also said that his country attaches importance to having strong relations with all the regional countries for promotion of economic relations and meeting the challenges.

Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US began deliberations here on Wednesday on the resumption of the stalled Afghan peace process.

The deliberations, on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process conference, saw Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani leading their respective country’s delegations while Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken led the US delegation at the meeting, the Daily Pakistan Urdu newspaper reported.

The trilateral meeting was being held in the aftermath of a brief dialogue between the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan in which they took up several issues of mutual interest, including the resumption of talks with the Afghan Taliban.

Ghani is on a daylong visit to Pakistan for the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process conference which aims to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and strengthen regional economic cooperation and connectivity. Nawaz and Ghani jointly inaugurated the process in Islamabad.

The trip follows a trilateral meeting between Sharif, Ghani and British Prime Minister David Cameron in Paris where the three agreed on cooperation-based regional relationship.

Ghani had, however, maintained that Kabul will not compromise its sovereignty and independence at any cost.

Relations between the two neighbours received a hit after Ghani blamed Pakistan of supporting the Afghan Taliban for carrying out suicide blasts in Kabul.

His statement was followed by Islamabad’s accusation that an attack on Pakistan Air Force’s Badaber airbase was planned and controlled from Afghanistan.

The governments of both the countries were communicating through ‘backdoor channels’ to get bilateral ties back on track.

The Heart of Asia conference was a platform to repair the stalled relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Indian External Affairs Minister also arrived in Islamabad to attend the conference which was established in 2011 at the initiative of Afghanistan and Turkey.

Sushma will later on Wednesday hold bilateral meetings with Sharif.

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Member of Pakistan’s parliament and former cricketer Imran Khan called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday.

“At his request, Pakistan MP & Chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf Party Imran Khan called on PM @narendramodi today,” external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a picture of the two.

Swarup said Modi and Khan welcomed the recent thawing in relations between India and Pakistan and expressed the hope that these would lead to cooperative ties between the two countries.

During External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Pakistan earlier this week for the Heart of Asia Conference on peace and stability in Afghanistan, the New Delhi and Islamabad decided to start a comprehensive bilateral dialogue covering the entire gamut of issues.

“Mr Imran Khan invited PM @narendramodi to visit Pakistan,” Swarup said in another tweet.

Modi is scheduled to visit Pakistan next year to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit meeting.

 

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