NASA releases images of Pakistan's 'Earthquake Island'

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Amidst the destruction caused by the devastating earthquake in Pakistan that killed more than 500 people, a new island emerged from the depth of the sea. NASA has released images of the newly formed islet.

NASA has released before and after photos of a new terrestrial body that was born on September 24 during a quake that struck Pakistan.  Called Zalzala Jazeera, or a an earthquake island, the terrestrial formation can now be found 380 kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter in Paddi Zirr Bay near Swadar, Pakistan in the Arabian Sea. 

The first image of the island was taken  by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite on September 26, while the second snapshot shows the same bay on April 17 with water and no landmass around the coordinates that the new island now inhabits.

According to scientists, the depth of the water level around Zalzala Jazeera stands at about 15 to 20 meters, stretching 75 to 90 meters across. It lies approximately one mile from the shore. Scientists say the island is nothing more than just a pile of mud, sand and solid rock that was caused by the forces of highly pressurized gas.

The island is really just a big pile of mud from the seafloor that got pushed up. This area of the world seems to see so many of these features because the geology is correct for their formation. You need a shallow, buried layer of pressurized gas methane, carbon dioxide, or something else and fluids. When that layer becomes disturbed by seismic waves (like an earthquake), the gases and fluids become buoyant and rush to the surface, bringing the rock and mud with them, Bill Barnhart, a geologist at the US Geological Survey told NASA’s Earth Observatory.

The Earth Observatory says this is not the first island to have surfaced along the 700-kilometer-long coast over the past century.  Scientists predict that the new island will remain above surface for up to a year before sinking back into the Arabian sea.

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The island rose out of the water during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Balochistan, just 69 km north-northeast of Awaran -  the nearest Pakistani city - on 24 September 2013. Over 300,000 people were affected by the quake, which caused over 500 deaths, and some 21,000 houses were destroyed. http://newsupdats.blogspot.com/

Nawaz Sharif & Manmohan Singh Meeting: LOC Ceasefire Necessary

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At the much anticipated meeting betwee Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the United Nations, Sharif promised Manmohan Singh that he would look into the events of 26/11. Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon also said after the meeting that restoring the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) was a precondition to further peace talks. The two reportedly discussed, in a time period of a little over an hour, terrorism issues, Kashmir, as well as trade and commerce. “Manmohan Singh said during the meeting that one can choose their friends, but not their neighbours,” said Menon. “So Pakistan is our neighbour, and we will continue working towards a solution of our issues.”

Manmohan Singh told Sharif to improve the situation along the Line of Control (LoC). Sharif also invited Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, an invitation which was accepted, though the dates are yet to be determined. The meeting comes with the backdrop of India’s growing concern of increasing terror attacks in India. During the meeting, Manmohan Singh raised the issue of ceasefire violations and the terror issue with Sharif during the meeting. They also discussed trade and commerce, according to reports on NDTV. Sharif brought up the terrorism that Pakistan is bearing the brunt of, and promised action on 26/11, according to Shivshankar Menon, the Indian national security advisor (NSA), who held a press conference after the meeting. There was no discussion on a next meeting, said Menon, and he said that “how useful the talks were remains to be seen.” “We have two sovereign states dealing with each other,” said Menon. “We are neighbours, and as the prime minister said, you can choose your friends, not your neighbours, so we will deal with the situation…there is no question of India interfering in Pakistan’s internal affairs,” said Menon regarding the Balochistan issue. Sharif’s invitation was reported by NDTV. The news channel has also reported that they “discussed ways to normalise bilateral ties.” Manmohan Singh also reportedly raised the issue of terrorism on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and asked Islamabad to make more moves to curb cross-border terrorism. “There is actually no proof of export of terrorism from Indian soil, wish could say the same for the other way round,” said Menon during the press conference. Even before the talk between Sharif and Manmohan began, both sides had clearly laid out their positions. Sharif stuck to his previous stand, and did not come up with anything outside the box, harking back to self-determination in Kashmir with the aid of the United Nations. On Saturday, Manmohan had departed from his practice – and that of multiple predecessors of his – in the UN General Assembly, by making a reference to using an agreement similar to the Simla Agreement to resolve the Kashmir problem. “India is committed seriously to resolving all issues with Pakistan,” Manmohan told the UN General Assembly yesterday. “Including the Jammu and Kashmir issue through bilateral dialogue on the basis of the Simla Agreement.” The Simla Agreement, which was a verbal assurance given by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to Indira Gandhi in July 1972, implies conversion of the Line of Control (LoC) into a permanent border. The meeting also comes soon after reports that Sharif had made deregatory remarks comparing Manmohan to a ‘dehati aurat’ caused a political furor. The remarks, though they have now been withdrawn by the Pakistani journalist who first made them, have ignited a war of words between Modi and the Congress, with Modi attacking the prime minister for “marketing poverty” in the US. The Congress called out Modi’s attacks on Manmohan as “anti-national.”

19 Die as Govt. Employees Bus Bombed in Peshawar

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PESHAWAR: Nineteen Persons Were killed And 46 Others Sustained Injuries in an Explosion on a Bus Carrying Mostly Government Employees After Duty Hours from the Provincial Capital to Their Villages in the Charsadda District on Friday.

The explosion took place when the bus reached the Gulbela village on the Peshawar-Charsadda Road.A similar bomb attack on a bus in the same Gulbela village had killed 21 persons and wounded around 40 others on June 8, 2012. Both the attacks took place on Friday, the day on which more bombings occur than any other day of the week.

Around 70 passengers, mostly low-paid government employees, were on way from Peshawar to Charsadda when at around 12pm explosives planted in the rear of the bus went off. The bus was destroyed in the explosion, and 19 persons were killed and 46 injured.

“Most of the passengers boarded the bus from Peshawar Cantonment while some others were picked from the Bacha Khan Chowk, Charsadda Adda and Ring Road Chowk. When the bus reached Gulbela, something went off in the rear of the bus with a deafening sound,” said Wali, an eyewitness who was seated next to the driver. He said the driver lost control over the steering as many bodies and wounded people were seen falling down from the vehicle.

Other passengers rushed to help their friends and relatives. Villagers from the nearby areas rushed to help the injured and pulled out the dead from the damaged bus and from the roadside fields.

Experts of the bomb disposal unit (BDU) said around eight kilogrammes of explosives were planted in the rear portion of the bus and connected with a time device. They said ball bearings were added to the explosives to cause more casualties.

The chief of the BDU Shafqat Malik earlier told reporters that 12-15 kilograms of explosives were used in the explosion.The ambulances of Rescue 1122, Edhi and Al-Khidmat Foundation rushed to the site of the explosion to shift the wounded and bodies to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar and District Headquarters Hospital in Charsadda. Emergency was declared at the hospitals after the explosion.

Among those killed on Friday was a schoolteacher Haroon Rashid, who had been wounded in the previous bus attack on the Charsadda Road last year. Others killed in the blast included a hairdresser Ali and his close friend Mehrab.

Amir, who had done his graduation recently and had come to apply for the post of junior clerk, and the hairdresser of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat Imdad Ali were also among those killed. Some of the other dead were identified as Gulab Said, Mahmood, Riaz, Sher Zaman and Zahidullah.

Thee wounded were identified as Abdullah, Amjad Ali, Asia, Astam, Azeem Khan, Faisal Ameen, Fazlur Rahman, Fazle Wajid, Gulroz, Hazral Bilal, Hidayatullah, Ibrahim, Imdadullah, Jehangir, Kaleem, Lal Zada, Mahboob Ali, Naheed, Naila, Noor Rahman, Sikandar, Tariq, Umar Khan and Wali Mohammad.

The first information report (FIR) of the incident was lodged at the Daudzai Police Station against unknown terrorists.

Office-bearers of the union of the government employees at the Civil Secretariat demanded security for the buses and employees, who have twice been targeted. They said the poor government employees who come from their villages to Peshawar daily for work were inhumanely attacked and killed.

Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and Governor Shaukatullah condemned the bomb attack on the bus of employees of different government departments.

Senior provincial minister Sikandar Sherpao, Information Minister Shah Farman, ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain and some government officials visited the site of the blast and the hospital, where they consoled with the injured persons.Shah Farman argued that those opposed to peace talks between the government and militant groups were behind these bomb explosions. Sikander Sherpao told reporters that the elements opposed to negotiations between the government and militants were carrying out these attacks in Peshawar and the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Talking to the media, Mian Iftikhar Hussain criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government for supporting the talks with the militants although they were carrying out frequent attacks in Peshawar and other parts of the country. He was critical of the PTI head Imran Khan for suggesting opening of a Taliban office to facilitate talks with them and said it was impractical. He said the nation and security and law-enforcement agencies need to stay alert as terrorists would continue their attacks even after the offer of talks made to them by the government.

APP adds: President Mamnoon Hussain has strongly condemned the bomb blast in Peshawar that resulted into the loss of several lives. The president expressed deep sorrow and grief over the killings and said the perpetrators of such heinous crimes would not be spared.

He said the country was suffering at the hands of terrorists and extremists who were indiscriminately targeting the innocent civilians.Mamnoon Hussain said the country’s fight against militancy would continue undeterred.He expressed condolences with the bereaved families and prayed for the early recovery of those injured in the blast.The MQM chief, Altaf Hussain, also condemned the blast and expressed sympathy with the bereaved families.

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Nawaz Sharif Wants 'New Beginning' With India

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Nawaz Sharif wants 'new beginning' with India, says both countries can prosper together

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, said he looks forward to meeting with his Indian counterpart, Dr Manmohan Singh, to "make a new beginning" in the relationship between the two nations.

Mr Sharif is expected to meet Dr Singh on Sunday, on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN.

It will be their first meeting since Mr Sharif was re-elected in May - his third term as premier, but his first since he was ousted in a 1999 coup.

Mr Sharif also said Pakistan and India have wasted massive resources on an arms race.

"Pakistan and India can prosper together, and the entire region would benefit from our cooperation. We stand ready to re-engage with India in a substantive and purposeful dialogue," Mr Sharif told the General Assembly.

He also took aim at US drone strikes against Islamic militants on Pakistani soil, calling it a violation of the nation's territorial integrity and one that kills civilians and hurts efforts to combat extremism.

Mr Sharif had conciliatory words for Afghanistan, which accuses Pakistan of supporting Taliban rebels. "We have no favorites" in the neighboring country, Mr Sharif said. He said Pakistan had lost 40,000 lives to terrorism in the past 12 years and would use "all means at our disposal" to fight it.

Mr Sharif's ambitions to improve relations with India and Afghanistan are driven by the need to fight militancy at home and revive Pakistan's stricken economy. But an increase in violence in Kashmir threatens his peace efforts with India.

On Thursday, three terrorists killed 10 Indians in Jammu - an attack that the top elected official there said was aimed at derailing the meeting of Mr Sharif and Dr Singh in New York.

150 Dead in Balochistan Earthquake

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At least 150 people were killed and over 200 others injured as an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude jolted Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan Tuesday afternoon, officials and media reports said.

Media quoting a spokesperson of the Frontier Constabulary (FC), a paramilitary force, reported that Awaran district of the province was most affected by the earthquake where 150 people were killed, over 200 injured and hundreds of houses levelled to ground, according to Xinhua.

He said that several people were still trapped under debris of the collapsed houses and rescue teams along with army troops were carrying out the rescue operation.

According to another report, at least eight people were killed in the Dandan area of Kech district while five causalities were reported from Pasini, Turbat, Hub and Gwadar districts.

The injured people were being shifted to district hospital Awaran where several of them were in a critical condition. FC spokesperson said the troops had shifted 70 bodies and dozens of injured to the hospital in Awaran.

Following the request from the district administration, Pakistan army sent 300 troops including rescue personnel and doctors along with medicines, tents, foods and helicopters to the affected area.

The Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR), mouthpiece of Pakistan army, said they had setup a rescue base camp in the Khuzdar district of the province and had dispatched 300 troops to the affected areas and 700 more soldiers would join them Wednesday morning.

According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority, after the major earthquake that occurred at about 4:49 p.m., five aftershocks hit the country including the one of 5.9 magnitude.

Mr. Bazinjo said that emergency had been declared in five districts of the province including Awaran where majority of the houses were razed to ground.

He said that several army check posts and two buildings of paramilitary troops Levis were also levelled to ground which injured several troops.

The earthquake’s epicentre located in Awaran district, some 645 km away from the Balochistan’s capital Quetta.

Major Tremors and aftershocks that lasted for 20 to 40 minutes also jolted northern India. The earthquake created panic among the residents, however, no loss of life or property was reported.

Keywords: Balochistan earthquake, southern Pakistan, Awaran district, Frontier Constabulary, Paksitan Army, rescue operation

Christians Fear Attacks After Pakistan Church Bombs

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan  A devastating double suicide attack on a church in northwest Pakistan has triggered fears among the country's beleaguered Christian community that they will be targeted in a fresh wave of Islamist violence.  The blasts that tore through the congregation at All Saints church in Peshawar after the service on Sunday morning, killing 82 people, are believed to be the deadliest attack ever on Pakistan's small Christian community. The country has been wracked by years of Islamist violence and a rising tide of sectarian attacks among Muslims, but before now the biggest concern among Christians has usually been mob violence triggered by blasphemy allegations.  Shaloom Nazir, 14, was getting ready for Bible study at the 100-year-old church when the bombers struck just before noon.

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In an instant he lost his mother, father, sister, brother and uncle.
"I was going to sit down in the church for a Bible class when I heard the explosion, so I ran out," Shaloom Nazir told AFP, his voice choked with grief, his eyes fixed lifelessly on some distant point.  "There were about 300 people lying on the ground. I recognised my mother, I took her in my arms."  It was to no avail -- she later died of her injuries.  The walls of the courtyard were pockmarked with the ragged metal ball bearings that had been packed into the suicide bombers' explosive vests to cause maximum carnage.  Many Pakistani Christians are the descendants of low-caste ancestors who converted during the days of British rule, and most are poor, relegated to dirty, undesirable jobs.  They make up just two percent of Pakistan's 180 million population and have suffered attacks and riots in recent years over allegations of profaning the Koran or Prophet Mohammed.

Sectarian violence between majority Sunni Muslims and the Shiites, who make up about 20 percent of the population, has risen alarmingly in recent years, but Christians have largely escaped the bloodshed.  Sunday's carnage has raised fears that this might change.  "We have been treated like sinners. We have no lands, we have no factories, we have no business," said Saleem Haroon, who came to see two wounded cousins at Peshawar's main Lady Reading hospital.  "It is a new war. Before, the Shias were the target, but now we are the target. They want to create a new battle, a new battleground."  In a corner of a room at the hospital, the blood of some of the victims mingled on the tiled floor with rubbish and dirty water.  "We are just sweepers and still we have been treated like this. Look over there in the washroom," he said, gesturing angrily at the mess.  "If all the Christians die, who will clean it? All the sweepers died yesterday."

Danish Yunas, 35, a driver who was lucky to escape from the blast with just a leg wound, said Christians and Muslims had got on well in the past, but he feared those days were at an end.  "We had very good relations with the Muslims -- there was no tension before that blast, but we fear that this is the beginning of a wave of violence against the Christians," he told AFP.  The Bishop of Peshawar, Humphrey Peters, said he had asked the authorities to review security for Christians but to no avail.  "I am afraid that this is the beginning, it can spread to the rest of Pakistan. We are the soft target. The Christians are the soft target," he told AFP.  "We are the poorest of the poor in this particular region and then we are also marginalised."
A militant faction linked to the Pakistani Taliban claimed Sunday's attack, but the main spokesman for the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group denied responsibility.

The government has proposed talks with the Taliban and TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the church bombing was an attempt to sour the atmosphere. Speaking in London on Sunday Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the government was "unable to proceed further" with talks following the church attack.
Thousands of angry Christians protested around Pakistan on Monday to demand better protection from the authorities.

In the poor, grimy streets around All Saints church, they raged against the national government in Islamabad and in particular against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government led by former cricketer Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.  "We have been betrayed.... Yesterday, none of the government came here," said teacher Asif Nawab outside the church.

PTI came to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in elections in May on the promise of a "tsunami" of change.
But after losing most of her family in the attack, Shaloom's aunt Afia Zaheen was left to wonder if the change that had come was a new fear of attacks.

Suicide Attack on Pakistani Church in Peshawar Kills over 81

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A pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside a historic church in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing over 81 people in the deadliest-ever attack on the country’s Christian minority, officials said.

The bombing in Peshawar, which wounded another 120 people, underlines the threat posed by Islamic extremists as the government seeks a peace deal with domestic Taliban militants. It will likely intensify criticism from those who believe that negotiating peace with militants is a mistake.

The attack occurred as hundreds of worshippers were coming out of the church in the city’s Kohati Gate district after services to get a free meal of rice offered on the front lawn, said a top government administrator, Sahibzada Anees.

There were blasts and there was hell for all of us, said Nazir John, who was at the church with at least 400 other worshippers. When I got my senses back, I found nothing but smoke, dust, blood and screaming people. I saw severed body parts and blood all around.

Survivors wailed and hugged each other in the wake of the blasts. The white walls of the All Saints Church were pockmarked with holes likely caused by ball bearings or other metal objects contained in the bombs to cause maximum damage. Blood stained the floor and was splashed on the walls. Plates filled with rice were scattered across the ground.

The attack was carried out by a pair of suicide bombers, said police officer Shafqat Malik. Authorities found their body parts and were trying to determine their age, he said.

The blasts killed over 75 people and wounded another 120, said Arshad Javed, the top health official at the hospital in Peshawar where the victims were being treated. The dead included several women and children, said Sher Ali Khan, another doctor at the hospital.

The number of casualties from the blasts was so high that the hospital was running out of caskets for the dead and beds for the wounded, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, a former information minister of surrounding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province who was on the scene.

What have we done wrong to these people? asked one of the wounded, John Tariq, referring to the attackers. Why are we being killed?

Mr. Tariq’s father was killed by the blasts, he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall on one of the country’s many Islamic militant groups. Islamic militants have been blamed for previous attacks on the Muslim country’s Christian minority, as well as Muslim groups they consider heretics.

This is the deadliest attack against Christians in our country, said Irfan Jamil, the bishop of the eastern city of Lahore.

The bishop in Peshawar, Sarfarz Hemphray, announced a three-day mourning period and blamed the government and security agencies for failing to protect the country’s Christians.

If the government shows will, it can control this terrorism, said Hemphray. We have been asking authorities to enhance security, but they haven’t paid any heed.

Islamic militants have carried out dozens of attacks across the country since Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office in June, even though he has made clear that he believes a peace deal with the largest group, the Taliban, is the best way to tamp down violence in the country.

Pakistan’s major political parties endorsed Sharif’s call for negotiations earlier this month. But the Taliban have said the government must release militant prisoners and begin pulling troops out of the northwest tribal region that serves as their sanctuary before they will begin talks.

Mr. Sharif condemned the church attack in a statement sent to reporters, saying, the terrorists have no religion and targeting innocent people is against the teachings of Islam and all religions.

Such cruel acts of terrorism reflect the brutality and inhumane mindset of the terrorists, he said.

Keywords: Pakistan unrest, Khyber conflict, Pakistan church attack