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Shehbaz Sharif is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan, in office from April 2022 to August 2023. He is the current president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N). Previously in his political career, he served as the Chief Minister of Punjab three times, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister of Punjab.
Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and of supporting their family during their absence from home.
On 8 May 2015, a Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter of the Pakistan Army Aviation Corps crashed in Naltar, in the Gilgit District of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, killing eight people. Among the victims were the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines to Pakistan, as well as the spouses of the Indonesian and Malaysian ambassadors to Pakistan, and three crew.
On 13 May 2015, eight gunmen attacked a bus travelling in Safoora Goth, Karachi, Sindh in Pakistan. The shooting left at least 46 people dead. All of the victims were of the Ismaili Shia Muslim minority, suggesting the attack was a targeted killing of sectarian nature.
A crawler crane collapsed over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, around 5:10 p.m. on 11 September 2015, killing 111 people and injuring 394 others. The city was preparing for the Hajj pilgrimage. The collapse has been cited as the deadliest crane collapse in history, with the previous most deadly incident being the collapse of a construction crane in New York City in 2008, killing seven people.
On 24 September 2015, a crowd crush resulted in the death of more than 2,000 individuals, many of whom were suffocated or crushed, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, making it the deadliest Hajj disaster in history. Estimates of the number of dead vary: the Associated Press reported 2,411 dead, while Agence France-Presse reported 2,236 killed. Based on the total of the individual national reports cited in the table below, at least 2,431 people died. The government of Saudi Arabia officially reported two days after the event that there had been 769 deaths and 934 injured. These figures remained official at the time of the next year's Hajj and were never updated. The largest number of victims were from Iran, followed by Mali and Nigeria.
The 2016 Uri attack was carried out on 18 September by four Jaish-e-Mohammed militants from Pakistan against an Indian Army brigade headquarters near the town of Uri in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir. 19 Indian soldiers were killed in the attack, and 19–30 others were injured. It was reported by the BBC as having been "the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir in two decades".
On 21 January 2017, a bomb was detonated at a vegetable market in Parachinar, in the Kurram Valley of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. At least 25 people were killed and 87 injured by the explosion. Parachinar is the administrative headquarters of the Kurram Agency near the Afghan border. The same area has previously seen several blasts in 2008, February 2012, September 2012, 2013 and in December 2015.
On 13 February 2017, a suicide bombing took place on the Mall Road in Lahore, Pakistan, where a group of chemists and pharmacists were holding a protest at Charing Cross in front of the Punjab provincial assembly. According to Punjab Police sources, 18 people were killed, including several police officials, and at least 87 were injured.
On 16 February 2017, a suicide bombing took place inside the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Sindh, Pakistan, where pilgrims were performing a Sufi ritual after the evening prayers. At least 90 people were killed and over 300 injured.
On 12 August 2017, a suicide bombing took place near a Pakistan army truck in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, leaving 15 people dead including 8 soldiers, while injuring 40 others. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for the attack.
On 13 July 2018, ahead of Pakistan's general election, two bombings took place at election rallies in Bannu and Mastung.
On the night of 18 April 2022, more than 140 mud houses were burnt in a fire in the Mehar Tehsil area of Dadu District, Pakistan. The fire killed nine people, including 8 children. A dozen other people were injured. The fire also killed more than 160 cattle and destroyed 120 homes. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif also ordered a full investigation into the cause of the fire after an initial report. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but an investigation is under way.
On 3 November 2022, Imran Khan, former prime minister of Pakistan and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party, was shot in an assassination attempt in Wazirabad, Punjab, during the 2022 Azadi March II against the Pakistan government. The gunman also injured a number of other PTI leaders and killed a supporter.
The Boksburg explosion took place on 24 December 2022, when a fuel tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exploded underneath a railway bridge in Boksburg, in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, with a death toll of 41 people as of 18 January 2023. Nearby infrastructure was damaged by the explosion.
The 2023 Kallar Kahar bus accident occurred on 19 February 2023, near Kallar Kahar, Pakistan. The accident took place when a bus carrying a wedding party from Islamabad to Lahore lost control and fell into a ravine, killing at least 14 people and injuring 64 others.
On 28 March 2023, a bus carrying Umrah pilgrims crashed into a bridge in Asir province, southwest of Saudi Arabia, resulting in the death of at least 20 pilgrims and 29 others being injured. The victims were en route to Mecca to perform Umrah during the first week of Ramadan. The accident was caused by a brake failure, which caused the bus to overturn and catch fire. The Saudi civil defense and Red Crescent Authority teams immediately responded to the scene of the accident and cordoned off the area. The injured and deceased were transported to nearby hospitals. The victims were reported to be of different nationalities.
On 27 May 2023, an avalanche occurred in the Shounter Top Pass, Astore District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The disaster killed at least 11 people and injured 13 more. A Gujjar family, a group of 25 individuals who were traveling with their cattle from Kashmir to Astore when they were struck by the avalanche, were the main victims of the disaster.
In June 2023, a devastating storm hit four districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan. The storm brought heavy rains and strong winds, resulting in the deaths of at least 27 people, including eight children. The districts affected were Lakki Marwat, Karak and Bannu. Among the victims were five siblings aged between two and eleven.
References
- ↑ "Makkah hotel fire kills 8 Pakistani Umrah pilgrims".
- ↑ "Eight Pakistani Umrah pilgrims die in Makkah hotel fire". 20 May 2023.
- ↑ "8 Pakistanis dead, 6 injured in hotel fire in Makkah". 20 May 2023.
- ↑ "8 Pakistanis died, 6 injured in fire incident in Makkah".
- ↑ "PM Sharif expresses sorrow over death of eight Pakistani pilgrims in Makkah hotel fire". 20 May 2023.
- ↑ "8 Pakistanis dead, 6 injured in hotel fire in Makkah". 20 May 2023.
