'Terrorists have fallen below lowest values of humanity': Mufti Usmani condemns Bajaur attack

Renowned scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani on Thursday strictly condemned the terrorists for the ghastly suicide attack on the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) convention in Bajaur that killed nearly 60, saying that the militants were below all the values of humanity.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide bombing that rocked the Khar area in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bajaur district, a former tribal area bordering Afghanistan, on Sunday, killing 40 people on the spot.

Several people who were badly injured in the attack lost the battle of their life during treatment during the last couple of days.

Lamenting the rise in the death toll, Mufti Usmani said that the details of the Bajaur suicide attack are gruesome as the number of casualties is continuously rising.

"[...] most of the [victims] are scholars and a large number of children, which shows that terrorists have fallen below the humanitarian values," the grand mufti wrote on Twitter.

Mufti Usmani requested imams of the mosques to pray for the high ranks of martyrs and eradication of terrorism from the country in Friday sermons.

Journalist and researcher Zia Ur Rehman said that Sunday's suicide bombing was the first major attack in Bajaur, claimed by the Daesh operating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

The militant organisation has previously led several major attacks in other parts of the country, killing hundreds, dating back to 2016, according to Rehman. It also included January 2022 suicide attack on a mosque in Peshawar in which 64 people lost their lives.

Pakistan has seen a steep rise in terrorist activities including several suicide bombings and gun attacks mostly targetting police and law enforcement agencies in the northwestern provinces, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and damage to properties.

At least 77 civilians and 37 security forces personnel lost their lives in terror attacks in July alone, marking a 15% rise in militant activities as per the latest data released by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

The resurgence of militancy has been witnessed, particularly since the return of Taliban rule in neighbouring Afghanistan and the end of the ceasefire between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad.

Meanwhile, cross-border militancy continues despite Islamabad's multiple reminders to Afghanistan for not living up to its commitment to ensuring that its soil is not used for terrorism in Pakistan.