PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN // Pakistan authorities faced a furious backlash yesterday over security and medical failures after a suicide bomber killed 99 people at a volleyball match in one of the country's worst attacks.
Police rounded up dozens of suspects and authorities opened an investigation into poor medical care as doctors in the remote north-west struggled to treat the casualties, many of them lying on the hospital floor.
The suicide bomber rammed a car bomb into a crowd of men, women and children watching the tournament in Shah Hasan Khan village, a pro-government area in the district of Lakki Marwat, reducing a sporting event to carnage on Friday.
Police said the death toll had risen to 99, with 87 wounded being treated in three different hospitals, making it the third deadliest attack in a nearly three-year extremist campaign in the country.
"There was only one doctor on duty while there are 10 doctors working in that hospital," said Syed Zahir Ali Shah, the North West Frontier Province's health minister, conceding that limited health care had "caused more human losses".
"After the blast, several hours passed, but the other doctors didn't come," he said. "I don't know why they were missing. We have opened an inquiry and a committee has been constituted."
There were scenes of chaos yesterday at the hospital in the town of Lakki Marwat.
"Even now the injured are undergoing treatment on the hospital floor. Some have brought their own beds," Doctor Usman Ali said by telephone.
"My daughter died because of the poor facilities in the hospital. There was no bed, no medicine and not even the X-ray machine was not working," Riaz Khatok, a shopkeeper, said from the hospital. "There was nowhere else in Lakki Marwat to take the wounded. Most of the dead died because of bleeding."
The local peace committee that organised the tournament and heads a local anti-Taliban militia, blamed the government for failing to prevent the attack.
"The security personnel at the check post didn't search the vehicle and the militants managed to hit us," said Sher Ali Khan, one committee member. " They can target us again. The government should provide security for us."
Suspicion has fallen on Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its allies in North Waziristan, where US drone attacks have increasingly targeted al Qa'eda fighters and the Haqqani network, which is known for attacks in Afghanistan.
For two months, Pakistani troops have pressed an offensive trying to wipe out TTP hideouts in South Waziristan, sparking multiple revenge attacks.
Suicide and bomb attacks blamed on the Taliban and militants linked to al Qa'eda have killed more than 2,880 people in Pakistan since July 2007, increasingly targeting civilians as well as government security installations.
Under huge US pressure to clamp down on militants destabilising the border with Afghanistan, Pakistan has launched a wave of offensives in its tribal belt.
Emir Haider Khan Hoti, the chief minister of the North West Frontier Province, said recent military operations had put militants on the defensive and they were lashing out.
"They are running and they are targeting citizens," Mr Hoti told reporters after visiting victims of the bombing being treated at a hospital in the provincial capital of Peshawar. "Militants and militancy is a cancer, and our struggle against it will continue until it vanishes completely," he said.
* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting by the Associated Press
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The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
