By Khushal Khan

ISLAMABAD - The call to Friday prayers had just faded. Inside a Shia mosque in Pakistan’s capital, worshippers bowed in devotion. A few kilometers away, at the presidential palace, a different kind of ceremony was underway: the signing of historic accords between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

At 1:32 PM, a suicide bomber tore through the mosque, killing 31 and injuring 169 in one of Islamabad’s deadliest attacks in recent memory. The blast sent shockwaves across the city, both physical and political, coming precisely as Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev sat down with Pakistani leaders.

“The terrorist handlers apparently planned the attack to disrupt the Uzbek President’s visit, to instill fear and sabotage this strategic moment,” political analyst Abdul Saboor told The South Asia Times. “But they failed. The visit continued, and the deals were signed.”

In the halls of Aiwan-e-Sadr, the news was met not with cancellation but with steely resolve. By day’s end, Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had signed 28 bilateral agreements covering defense, trade, energy, and transport.

The visit capped a week of intense Central Asian diplomacy. Just days earlier, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had departed Islamabad after signing 37 agreements. In total, Pakistan secured 64 pacts with Central Asia in a single week, signaling a strategic pivot northward.

“Pakistan is building economic corridors to Central Asia, and India clearly does not want to see Islamabad emerge as a regional economic power,” Saboor said. “Attacks like this can be expected from India and its ally, the Afghan Taliban.”

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed the bomber had traveled to Afghanistan multiple times and received training there.

He linked the attack to proxies backed by India and the Afghan Taliban. “Those who martyred worshippers in the mosque are enemies of both religion and the nation,” Asif said on X. “God willing, the state will respond to this oppression with full force.”

Government sources described a continuing threat from “various Khwarij groups in Afghanistan under Taliban patronage,” emphasizing that each terrorist incident in Pakistan involves cross-border networks. The Friday attack was thus framed not as random sectarian violence but as a proxy strike targeting Pakistan’s foreign policy.

Security experts note that attacks timed with high-profile diplomatic visits aim to project chaos and undermine confidence in the host state. “These attacks are a theater of cruelty,” Saboor said. “Their goal is to paint the government as incapable of providing security and scare away partners. But President Mirziyoyev’s meetings went ahead uninterrupted, showing Pakistan’s resilience.”

The last major strike in Islamabad, in November 2025, killed 12 outside a judicial complex.