About 200 children lost their family members in SL Easter bombings

Agencies

May 8, 2019

Colombo, May 8: About 200 children in Sri Lanka have lost their family members, some of them sole breadwinners, in the massive Easter Sunday bombings, according to a leading charity organisation.

Some of the families have lost their source of income and might not have sufficient savings to resume their normal life, Colombo-based Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) said.

Nine suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on the Easter Sunday, killing more than 250 people.

ISIS claimed the attacks, but the government blamed local terror group National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) for the bombings. The victims included over 40 foreigners, 10 of whom were Indians.

The livelihood of 75 families have been disrupted due to the injuries sustained to their family members.

More than 500 people were injured in the incident, Colombo Gazette quoted the SLRCS as saying.

"Some of them will not be able to go to work due to injuries, and some lost their physical ability to work," the report said.

The SLRCS said that there is a need to provide Psychological First Aid (PFA) to the people who were directly affected by the incident especially the survivors, witnesses and those families who have lost their family members.

"They may struggle with or face new challenges following the event. By providing PFA, the SLRCS aims to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events and foster short and long-term adaptive functioning and coping," it said.

Inter-ethnic anxiety has also risen in the affected districts as well as in the country, the society said.

There are a lot of uncertainties, tension and panic among people, due to ongoing threats of another round of explosions, ongoing security checking across country, suspicion about terrorists and state of emergency being issued, it said.

The country's top leadership on Tuesday said that authorities have arrested or killed all the militants responsible for the deadly Easter blasts, but warned that the country still faces the threat of ISIS terror attacks.

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Pak jail authorities say Imran Khan is alive and healthy after ‘murder’ rumours spark panic

News Network

November 27,2025

Authorities at Pakistan’s high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Wednesday dismissed speculation about the condition of imprisoned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, rejecting rumours that he had been moved out of the facility or was in danger. Officials said Khan was in “good health” and described the viral death claims as “baseless.”

“There is no truth to reports about his transfer from Adiala Jail,” the Rawalpindi prison administration said in a statement, according to Geo News. “He is fully healthy and receiving complete medical attention.”

Amid swirling rumours on social media, Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), urged the federal government to issue an official clarification and demanded that authorities allow his family to meet him immediately, Dawn reported.

The frenzy began after Khan’s three sisters called for an impartial probe into what they described as a “brutal” police assault on them and other PTI supporters outside Adiala Jail last week. Soon after, several social media handles circulated unverified claims alleging that Khan had been “killed” inside the prison.

The rumours intensified when a handle named “Afghanistan Times” claimed that “credible sources” had confirmed Khan’s “murder” and that his body had been moved out of the jail — allegations that have not been verified by any credible agency.

Imran Khan, PTI’s patron-in-chief, has been lodged in the Rawalpindi prison since August 2023 in multiple cases. For over a month, an undeclared restriction has prevented family members and senior PTI leaders from meeting him. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reportedly been denied access despite making seven attempts.

In a letter to Punjab Police Chief Usman Anwar, Khan’s sisters — Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan, and Dr. Uzma Khan — said they were “peacefully protesting” outside the jail when police allegedly launched an unprovoked assault after streetlights were switched off.

“At 71, I was seized by my hair, thrown to the ground and dragged across the road,” Noreen Niazi said, alleging that other women present were also slapped and manhandled.

Adiala Jail officials reiterated that speculation over Imran Khan’s health was unfounded and insisted that his well-being was being ensured, Geo News reported.

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