- UNSC expresses condolences to families of the victims and govt.
- Council stresses importance of holding accountable those responsible.
- Authorities vow to bring Indian-backed terrorists in attack to justice.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has strongly condemned the recent terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan, describing the act as “heinous and cowardly”.
A powerful explosion near Zero Point in Khuzdar targeted a school bus, martyring five, including three students, on the spot and injuring dozens of others, drawing condemnations from across the country as well as the international community on Wednesday.
In a statement released on Thursday, the UNSC expressed its “deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and the people of Pakistan”, while also extending wishes for “a speedy and full recovery” to the injured.
The Council reaffirmed that terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, remains “one of the most serious threats to international peace and security”. Members of the Council stressed the importance of holding accountable “the perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors” of such acts and called on all States to cooperate with Pakistan “in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions”.
The statement went on to reiterate the UNSC’s firm position that “any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”
As the investigation into the Khuzdar attack continues, Pakistan’s authorities have vowed to bring those responsible to justice.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir expressed the resolve that time has come for Pakistan to show unwavering national resolve, similar to that demonstrated against Indian aggression, to eliminate foreign-sponsored terrorism and bring the fight to a decisive conclusion.
“Pakistan’s security forces and law enforcement agencies will relentlessly pursue all those involved in this barbaric act,” the prime minister was quoted as saying in the official statement during his day-long visit to Quetta to review the law-and-order situation following the terror attack.
The government has said that Indian-backed militants carried out the attack, coming almost two weeks after the two sides settled a ceasefire to end their most serious conflict in decades.
