At least 53 people were killed and 56 injured when a loud explosion occurred on Monday in Quetta's Civil Hospital. The explosion occurred when Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Kasi's body was being brought to the emergency department. He was gunned down at Mano Jan Road earlier today. Former Balochistan Bar President Baz Muhammad Kakar was injured in the attack. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital. Police said that unknown men opened fire after the blast. Panic tore through the hospital after the incident. The blast occurred near the emergency department of the hospital. Most of the injured are lawyers and journalists who had arrived at the hospital when they heard news of the attack on the two senior lawyers, eye witnesses said. An Aaj News cameraman was killed in the attack while a Dawn News cameraman was severely injured in the attack. Security forces have cordoned off the area. Mobile phone jammer have been installed in the surrounding areas of Civil Hospital. Emergency has been declared at hospitals in Quetta. No group has claimed responsibility of the attack. The provincial capital has been at the receiving end of several such acts of terror. In May this year two people were killed and five injured when an explosion occurred at the main entrance of Baluchistan University. Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri claimed that the attack was carried out by Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He added that it was a suicide attack. Zehri said that the terrorists were attacking soft targets. "Even in times of war no one attacks a hospital," he said, adding that they will root out terrorists. The chief minister could not provide a death toll for the attack, but said that over 40 have been injured. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the loss of precious life and ordered the provincial government to arrest the culprits. "No one will be allowed to disrupt the peace of the province," the prime minister said. He added that security forces had laid down their lives to establish peace in the province. He instructed the provincial government to give the best medical treatment to the injured. The Supreme Court Bar Association announced a week-long mourning over the attack. Lawyers in the Lahore High Court announced a protest demonstration today condemning the attack.
KODERMA/BHILWARA/SYDAPURAM, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the depths of India's illegal mica mines, where children as young as five work alongside adults, lurks a dark, hidden secret - the cover-up of child deaths with seven killed in the past two months, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation revealed.
Here are some of the key findings of a three-month long investigation in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh into child labour involved in producing mica, the mineral that puts the sparkle into make-up and car paint:
* Investigations by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found children working in and around mica mines in northern Jharkhand, southern Bihar and in Rajasthan
* At least seven children reported killed in the past two months alone in mines
* Mine operators and victims' families are covering up these deaths, not reporting them but accepting payments for fear of ending the illegal mining that brings much needed income to poor areas, according to campaigners and victims' families
* Farmer Vasdev Rai Pratap's teenage Madan was killed in a mica mine in June but he has not reported his son's death and is awaiting a promised a $1,500 payment from the mine operator
* Workers at Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi's child protection group Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) say the teenager's death is the tip of the iceberg, estimating less than 10 percent of mica mine deaths are reported to the police
* BBA documented over 20 mica-related deaths in June, including Madan and two other teenagers - double the monthly average
* BBA uncovered four deaths in July
* Government officials admit child labour is a problem in some mines but have no reports of children dying in mica mines
* Indian government officials say mica mining is a matter for state governments and out of their hands
* Leading Indian colour and effect pigment maker Sudarshan said experts estimate about 70 percent of mica production in India is from illegal mining in forests and abandoned mines
* Figures from India's Bureau of Mines show the country produced 19,000 tonnes of mica in 2013/14 but the same data shows exports were 128,000 tonnes with the biggest buyers China, Japan and the United States
* Dutch campaign group SOMO says up to 20,000 children are involved in mica mining in Jharkhand and Bihar
* By Indian law children aged under 18 cannot work in mines
* "I know it's dangerous but that's the only work there is," says Basanti, collecting mica in Jharkhand's Giridih area as her 10-year-old son Sandeep descends 3 metres (10 ft) down a make-shift shaft to pound on the wall with a pick-axe.
* Dhanraj Sharma, a commissioner in Rajasthan's Labour Ministry, said he was not aware of child workers in the mines: "They may be playing there, they may be doing some small things for the parents. That doesn't mean they are working."