Saturday April 18, 2015 turned to be another unfortunate day for poor Afghans that claimed lives of scores of people. The heinous suicide blast jolted Jalalabad city killings 40 precious lives and injuring over 100 others. According to reliable sources the blast was suicide that took place in front of a branch of Kabul bank in Mukhaberat square. It was the same branch that was stormed by suicide bombers in 2011 leaving at least 42 killed and dozens of others wounded. According to credible media sources the tragic incident took place when a suicide bomber detonated his suicide vest in a line of people queuing for salaries near the New Kabul Bank branch in Jalalabad city, at 08:00 AM. Subsequent to blast, Jalalabad Regional Hospital is put on alert to treat the victims. People have been rushing to the hospital to donate blood to the victims. Doctors have expressed concern over the health condition of dozens of people brought to them in wounded condition.
The President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, Parliament and NATO have condemned the attack in the strongest terms. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and termed it as inhumane and un-Islamic whilst conveying the deepest condolences to the families of victims. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned the suicide attack. "The continuing use of suicide attacks in densely populated areas, that are certain to kill and maim large numbers of Afghan civilians, may amount to a war crime," said Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA. "Those responsible for this horrendous crime must be held accountable," he said. On behalf of the United Nations in Afghanistan, the Special Representative expresses his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery for the injured.
Following the attack the agencies were eager to hear who claims the responsibility of the incident. Nonetheless, Taliban rejected having had launched the attack was a bit of great of surprise, indicating both the trend proponents of militancy and terrorism changed with the course of time. Nonetheless, Shahidullah Shahid introducing himself as the spokesman for ISIS in the region has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message to media. The claims depicts ISIS’s irreversibly growing influence in Afghanistan if not constrained could force government surrender to their demands. Going through the strategy ISIS operates, it seems as if they have done already lot strengthening their footholds in some crucial areas of Afghanistan. Earlier, dozens of Hazara passengers were abducted on their way to Kabul some of whom are reportedly beheaded by militants of ISIS.
The successful terror plots undertaken by terrorists, strengthens the authenticity of several reports compiled by humanitarian organizations, showing a marked concerns over declining security conditions. A report released earlier confirms the great sum of lives claimed by year’s long war on terror in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. The report titled Body Count: Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the ‘War on Terror” was released by the Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, along with Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for Global Survival. The study concluded that around 1.3 million people were killed, both directly and indirectly, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as a result of US-led wars in the region in more than a decade.
The data gathered consisted were from individual studies and data published by United Nations organizations, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. It added that one million people were killed in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan as a result of the war and 80,000 people in Pakistan. According to the report the figure “is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware of and propagated by the media and major NGOs. Following the 9/11 attacks this is the highest figure which is concerning for all of human rights organizations.
It is the responsibility of a government within a state to ensure peace and security of its citizens. However, the governments that suffer from administrative incapacities fail to guarantee security. And in such states the weaker strata of the society tend to suffer the most. Women, ethnic and religious minorities and the common people as a whole undergo anguish as a result. Afghanistan is also one of the countries where the government has not been able to provide enough security to its people and the common people face different sorts of problems every day.
Man suffers, not only when the part of the world in which he is residing is hit by natural calamities like earthquakes, famines, floods, diseases, etc., but occasionally also at the hands of men driven mad by political, economic or social power. In both types of situations response from the rest of humanity is spontaneous. In the former case, it takes the form of efforts to bring relief to the stricken. But whenever man has been made to suffer at the hands of other men, the conscience of humanity has been outraged, and the cry has gone round for some sort of guarantees to afford protection to him against the tyranny of his fellow human beings, so that he can be assured of at least his rights to life, liberty and security. To constrain such evil programmed individuals the government must maintain law and order. The NUG is held responsible to make concrete measures to tighten security matters and rescue precious lives.