Musharraf escapes assassination attempt

Islamabad, Apr 3: Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf, facing treason trial, had a narrow escape when a powerful bomb went off on a road near his farmhouse on the outskirts of the city shortly after his convoy had passed.

The explosion took place on VVIP Road between Faizabad and Rawal Dam Chowk one hour after 70-year-old Musharraf's convoy passed through the same route at about 3 am to shift him to his farmhouse from Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi.

The intensity of the blast caused about a foot deep hole in the ground at the site of the incident.

The police claimed that the attack was aimed to target the former president, media reports here said.

The police said the bomb disposal squad was called in at the blast site — three kilometers from Musharraf's sprawling Chak Shehzad farmhouse.

The bomb was reportedly planted in a drainage pipe adjacent to the footpath.

Since Musharraf is under threat from terror groups, heavy security has been given to him and all his routes are thoroughly checked before he gets out.

Reports said one person, who was in a car passing through the area, was injured in the blast.

The former military dictator was admitted to the AFIC on January 2 when he complained of heart problems on his way to a special court set up for his high treason trial for abrogating the constitution and detaining judges in 2007.

Musharraf was indicted on Monday by a special court hearing the high treason case against him.

The military has ruled Pakistan for about half of its 66-year history and no ruler or top military commander has ever faced criminal prosecution before Musharraf.

Since Musharraf returned to Pakistan from self-exile in March last year, he has faced prosecution in four major cases, including for his alleged involvement in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006.

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Cut all ties with Israel and impose arms, trade embargo; history will record our action: Iran to Muslim countries

News Network

May 5,2024

Iran has urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with the Israeli regime as means of pressuring Tel Aviv to end its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Saturday, addressing the 15th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia’s capital Banjul.

“Beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation,” he said.

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargo [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, causing forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and enabling the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm.

Amir-Abdollahian said Gaza’s developments proved that elimination of the Palestinian resistance “was nothing but an illusion.”

“Because the Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The foreign minister asserted that realization of sustainable peace and security in the region was only possible through cessation of the regime’s occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland, and manifestation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

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