Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has described the Bajaur blast as the ‘biggest intelligence failure’. The religiopolitical party has intended to summon a local jirga in the wake of the explosion that killed over 50 people.

“There are 26 intelligence institutions. Where are they hiding?” he said in a video statement uploaded on his official Twitter account on Tuesday. “Such a big intelligence failure.”

The death toll of the massive explosion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district has risen to 55, with the religiopolitical party claiming that the provincial administration excused from providing security to their workers’ convention despite a request.

Fazl mentioned that at least two incidents occurred in the Khyber agency where many lives were lost. “The Pashtun belt is burning today, whether they are in Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said and expressed concerns over the wave of riots which has reached Sindh’s Karachi.

He spoke about the “operations” of the intelligence agencies and wondered if they were just left to arrest a “poor Moulvi to arrest him and harass them.”

Initial investigations have indicated that the outlawed Islamic State could be behind the suicide bombing at JUI-F’s workers’ convention.

The suicide attack was the latest in a rise in militancy in Pakistan which has increased after the end of a ceasefire agreed upon with the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban. But the Bajaur blast was different in one respect as multiple terrorist outfits immediately issued statements condemning the attack.

In view of the current situation, a meeting of the central council of JUI has been called. But before that, a jirga of tribal leaders has been suggested.

Fazl stressed that leaders and Pashtun leaders should sit and think about this region.

“Can you give me confidence that the state can protect my life or not or will only collect tax from me and not protect my life and wealth?” he said and added that the whole nation was looking towards the state institutions which are responsible for the security of the state.

“When will they solve our doubts, when will they heal our wounds, when will they create a system to protect our future and generations to come? All these things have to be considered at the national level, soon we will communicate with all sides and all schools of thought in this regard, we will also talk with political and religious officials.”

The JUI-F chief said that he would make contacts and speak to the “people responsible” and present such a situation in front of them.

“Crime must be eradicated. Using it for your own purposes is a very big crime,” he said, adding that the party was concerned over this.