Adil Najam
A series of explosions and blasts have been reported in Karachi in and around various military installations, including the Mehran Naval Aviation base. Multiple explosions were reported from the PAF area near Shahrah-e-Faisal in Karachi. Flames from within the Air Force compound have been shown on television and reportedly some of the attackers are still inside the military compound where fighting continues.
Details remain sketchy and continue to evolve by the minute. Meanwhile, some are already calling this a “Mumbai-like” operation with choreographed multiple points of attack and mention is being made of possibly hostages being taken within a particular part of the compound.
According to Dawn:
Several explosions have been heard near the PAF Museum on Dalmia Road in Karachi. The force of the blasts have shattered the windows of surrounding buildings, reports said. Heavy gunfire was also reported after the explosion. An eyewitness said that the blasts took place near the gate of Faisal Base.
A large fire and a thick cloud of smoke has also been reported. Police have sealed the area. “We are trying to check the cause of the blast. I cannot say,” said a senior police official. Another police official said gunfire was also reported from inside the base, Reuters reported. “Several blasts were heard inside, the firing is still continuing,” Aslam Khan, a senior police officer at site told AFP.
According to The News:
Four people were killed in an armed attack Sunday by terrorists on PNS Mehran, a heavily guarded base of Pakistan Navy, located along Sharea Faisal, according to a foreign news agency. TV images showed flames rising in the air from PNS Mehran where terrorists blew up a US made P-3C Orion plane of Pakistan Navy.
Five injured in the incident were shifted to a local hospital. Additional personnel of security forces were also seen moving inside PNS Mehran. Electricity of the entire area has also been shut down. Earlier, four blasts were reported from the area near PAF base Faisal.
Ambulances and fire tenders were seen rushing toward the base following the powerful blasts that were heard across a wide radius. Gunshots fired from sophisticated weapons were also heard following the blasts. It is pertinent to mention here that in the previous weeks three buses of Pakistan Navy had been attacked by terrorists in the metropolitan city of Karachi.
@shez , what nonsense you are talking? India is the main target of pak Taliban and knowing this fact who should fund them,its our fault that we supported them and funded them, there is an old proverb “Who seeds wind, shall harvest storm”
Indian PM did not waste the opportunity to let the world know that Pakistani nuclear assets are not safe(hence, pls take care of them). I am sure Indian PM were so willing to shoot a statement that he did not even wait for a day. Pressure is building up, the dots are being connected to either attack on Pakistani nukes or take care of them but as Mr.Gul said and I do agree that a desperate Pakistan is more harmful than peaceful Pakistan and if someone tried to grab them then Pakistan would throw few “Danays”[nukes] to the country(ies) who have been disturbing Pakistan or being used by US to destabilize Pakistan. So make no mistake, nukes will be first resort rather than last(Unless and until entire Army is sold out to USA)
@Umer Farooq: One of the motive behind such attacks is to create FURTHER NEGATIVE image about Pakistan Armed forces. The things got started when Pakistan Army started killing own people in Tribal Areas and it continues. There should be no doubt that a war on large scale is gonna started in Pakistan and that war would filter our all those cronies who are either in illusion that USA would save us or believe they would run away.
Pakistan is soon gonna get cleaned from all filth like PPP and others who are still considering US their ally but one should not forget what happened during GUUCI Revolution, Liberals’ Mama US did carpet bombing in cities. At that time liberal phatto were running here and there and they were trying to take shelter behind “Islamists” of that time. Same time is gonna come here soon but this time these phatto would not find any hide at all. The phatto sitting outside would keep singing the song of “Alqaeda is coming” and then would not get a chance to throw up their filth further and would not be able to come back. Pakistan is gonna face further tough days but then we would getrid of all those who think they were born to fulfill others agenda and continue to do anything which could serve Pakistan’s enemies.
If the armed forces cannot defend themselves, how can they claim to defend us “bloody civilians”?
I am yet to understand the fact that why India is obsessed with pakistan and pakistan is obsessed with India….
The past is behind us and the future is a big question mark. Well, No comments here as, being an Indian, if I say anything, it will not be taken in the right perspective but I will give everybody a scenario to imagine/visualise/play:-
Imagine India of 1946 in 2011 but indepent, without partition and imagine the status/share of that country in todays world… We would have been a mammooth unbeatable country with a lion’s share of every aspect/ domain of this world…..
As the saying goes ‘united we stand, divided we fall’.
Its been long (64 yrs) that we have been falling and others are taking advantage of us……
I would say, ‘its time to think out of the box’.
Thats all. Give peace a chance and let the peace/sanity prevail….