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MASTUNG, Pakistan – Pakistan was shocked Saturday after a suicide blast killed 128 people, shaking confidence in security just as the dramatic arrest of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif ratcheted political tensions higher ahead of nationwide polls.
Sharif's highly -increased return from London and subsequent arrest for corruption was overshadowed as carnage in Mastung, in the southwestern province of Balochistan, unfolded late Friday.
Newspapers branded the blast – one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history – a "mbadacre", Dawn, "do the job they are meant to do – the preventing attacks."
One week ago, Sharif was sentenced in prison to ten years in prison on corruption charges. He was transferred to the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to Islamabad, after landing in Lahore on Friday. Media reports said he was being held in
Sharif has claimed he is the victim of a military conspiracy, and there are widespread allegations from the media, politicians and badysts that the powerful security establishment is meddling in the polls.
Mobile signals were blocked and police deployed in the eastern city of Lahore where Sharif's supporters were gathered as he landed.
Soon after, the scale of destruction in Mastung – hundreds of kilometers to the southwest, where Daesh suicide bomber had detonated at a crowded political rally – began to emerge.
"It has never been more true than Pakistan's security establishment in the United States. on Saturday.
Hospitals in the area have been placed under "emergency" management after being overwhelmed in the aftermath of the attack, with around 150 also wounded in the blast – many still in critical condition. ] "I could hear voices screaming. I'm trying to get up and going to the gate. They were trampled over dead bodies, "survivor Rustam Raisani told AFP from his hospital bed.
" Balochistan home minister, Agha Umar Bungalzai "We have imposed emergency [management] in the hospitals and canceled the vacations of the doctors and paramedics AFP
The provincial home secretary Haider Shako added extra security forces to "sensitive areas" and warned politicians to remain "vigilant".
A caretaker government has been installed ahead of the July 25 election , and prime minister Nasirul Mulk declared Sunday would be a day of mourning.
'Sidetracked'
The attack was by far the deadliest of a series of blasts at various localities.
Security Analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai "The Security of the World"
Aim "they have been sidetracked", he added to the military, and "criticized for taking sides and focusing on politics."
He predicted the bloodshed would continue "until the election and even after".
Violence has dropped the country's deadliest-ever militant attack, an badault on a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in 2014 that left more than 150 people dead, mostly children.
But badysts have long warned that Pakistan is not getting to the root causes of extremism, and that militants retain the ability to carry out spectacular attacks like the blast in Mastung.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party televised comments on Saturday.
Lahore resident Shahzad Anwar told AFP on Saturday that such an attack was the result of the "failure of security institutions" "
" It's wrong. It should not happen. The security institutions should work on this, "he said.
Sharif's return is set to increase political tensions as his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is seeking a challenge from the party of the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan at the polls
Sharif has been banned from holding political office, but has been criticized for supporting his party by Shahbaz, who is leading the fight against the vote. military has already warned of a security threat in the run-up to the vote, and said it will deploy more than 370,000 soldiers on polling day.
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