Punjab Timeline- 2012

Month/Date

Incidents

January 3

Two alleged suicide bombers blew themselves up near Gorali locality of Gujrat town in Gujrat District of Punjab. According to Police, two alleged suicide bombers, identified as Ramzan Ali and Muhabbat Khan of Bhimber in PoK, wearing suicide jackets were heading towards their target on a motorcycle when they heard the sound of siren of the Rescue 1122 ambulance. Thinking that police were chasing them, they blew themselves up near Gorali.

January 4

A man, identified as Mohammad Waqas, received serious injuries in an indiscriminate firing by unknown armed assailants in Gawalmandi area of Lahore.

Thousands people gathered at Data Darbar in Lahore in support of the former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's assassin Malik Mumtaz Qadri, and called for his release. Supporters of various religious parties that form the Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Rasalat Mahaz (TNSM) staged protests at the Lahore Press Club, Minar-e-Pakistan and other places before gathering at the Darbar.

One speaker, Allama Muhammad Tahir Tabassum, suggested that the Government auction off the gun with which Qadri shot the Governor, "like an auction of the bats or hockey sticks of famous athletes".

A resolution was adopted at the end of the rally asking President Asif Zardari to declare clemency for Mumtaz Qadri and punishment for Asia Bibi, the Christian woman jailed for blasphemy whose release Taseer had campaigned for.

Former Chairman of the Punjab Bar Council's Executive Committee, Advocate Chaudhry Nasrullah Warraich, was shot dead by unidentified militants in Lahore District. Police said some unidentified militants visited Nasrullah Warraich's house, and enquired about his son Mansoor. Nasrullah responded, and as he turned back, the accused opened fire and fled.

A bomb hoax at Atif Aslam concert held at the Al Hamra Cultural Complex in Lahore led to a stampede that killed three girls and injured five others. The deceased girls were identified as Maheen Naseem (17), Sara Nawaz (22) and Nimra (16). There were reportedly between 6000 and 7000 girls at the concert.

Al Qaeda continues to preach jihad in Pakistan through an Urdu monthly magazine, Hiteen. The 200-page magazine, Hiteen, is delivered by post to not only the Deobandi but also to Ahl-e-Hadith and Barelvis to convert them to al Qaeda's point of view. Hiteen, the battlefield where Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi defeated the Crusaders, was started in June 2011, a month after Osama Bin Laden's killing.

An editorial in the magazine says that it is not true that the mission of the 'mujahedeen' has been damaged with Bin Laden's death. The mujahedeen are still fighting with their full strength. It advises readers not to pay attention to the 'false reports about mujahedeen from the hypocritical media' and to continue the struggle.

At least 18 people, belonging to the Shia sect, were killed while 30 others were wounded when a bomb exploded near a procession marking Arbain or the chehlum (40th day) of Hazrat Imam Hussain's martyrdom in Khanpur city of Rahim Yar Khan District.

An Afghan girl (9), identified as Haleem, carrying 50 bullets and an Afghan man, identified as Gul Mohammad (25) were arrested by Security Force deployed at the main procession of Hazrat Imam Hussain's Chehlum in Kashmiri Bazaar in Lahore District.

When Police contacted on the address in Chakwal, they could not trace the family of the girl. Afterwards, the Police arrested the girl's uncle from Dhoke Hassu in Rawalpindi District.

The death toll of January 15, 2012 bomb attack on a chehlum (40th day of Imam Hussain's martyrdom) procession at Darbar-e-Hussain Imambargah in Khanpur city of Rahim Yar Khan District rose to 21, while another bomb weighing two kilogrammes was found in the same area.

The private security personnel claimed to have arrested one suspect. They said that they found the man with two remote controls in his pocket.

Two Europeans, identified as Giovanni and Bernd, working with the Welthungerhilfe, a German International Non-Governmental Organisation for food rehabilitation, were abducted from Western Fort Colony of Qasim Bela area in Multan District while returning from Kot Addu tehsil of Muzaffargarh District.

Police claimed to have arrested 14 suspects for their alleged involvement in the March 3, 2009 attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team and other terrorism-related activities in Lahore District during the year 2011.

The JuD said that the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan will attend its Difa-e-Pakistan (Defence of Pakistan) rally to be held in Multan District of Punjab Province on January 29, 2012. JuD leaders said the Difa-e-Pakistan gathering would also be attended by JeI chief Munawar Hassan and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and leaders of other religious and political parties.

The movement was launched shortly after a cross-border November 26, 2011, NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. During rallies and meetings organised as part of the movement, leaders of the JuD and other extremist groups have mainly targeted the US and India.

Police registered a case against 15 persons for their alleged involvement in the January 15 bomb blast at a chehlum procession of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) in Khanpur. The Chief of LeJ, Malik Muhammad Ishaq, Shafiq Dahar, Ghulam Muhammad, Muhammad Yaqoob, Muhammad Usman and 10 unidentified people have been nominated in the FIR, which was registered under the Anti-terrorism Act.

A Pakistani judicial review board ended the house arrest of Malik Ishaq who was detained in 2011 after his group was blamed for a string of attacks on the minority Shia community. The three-member review board headed by Lahore high court justice Nasir Saeed set aside the Punjab Government's plea that Ishaq's detention should be extended for maintaining law and order in the province.

The leaders of the Pakistan Defense Council, comprising of 44 politico-religious parties of the country gathered at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi in a rally against what they called the anti-Pakistan forces.

"The current standoff between state institutions is the result of a sin that we committed 10 years ago by allowing our territory to be used against Afghan Muslims, and until we repent for that grave mistake, we will never be able to overcome these issues," Saeed said, adding, "This is America's war and we only want to fight Pakistan's war."

Kot Addu Police claimed to have arrested four suspected persons in connection with the abduction of two European aid workers from Western Fort Colony of Qasim Bela area in Multan District on January 19, 2012. Punjab Police IG Javed Iqbal said the aid workers, were being held for ransom.

The Rawalpindi Police claimed to have arrested two suspected militants, identified as Usman Liaquat alias Shah Gee and Saqib Ali Shah alias Hamza, during a raid of a hideout of an alleged militant in the Wah Cantt area and seized two Kalashnikov rifles and eight magazines, 200 rounds and four hand grenades from them.

Police accused militants for the abduction of a German aid worker and his Italian colleague at gunpoint on January 19 from Multan District, and a Kenyan aid worker abducted on January 22, from Khairpur District of Sindh."

An industrialist abducted along with his driver from Alipur Road near Kachi Kothi in Nawab Town in Lahore District on January 28, 2012 was recovered by Police from Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, known as the Lillah interchange. One of the four abductors, belonging to LI in Khyber Agency of FATA, was arrested during search operation. According to Police sources, Hassan who owned the Nazir Paper Mills had been abducted for ransom and an attempt was made to take him to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

During a public meeting at Multan Sports Ground in Multan District the leaders of the Pakistan Defense Council warned the Government against reopening of the NATO supply routes, threatening strikes and sit-ins if the rulers compromised on the issue.

Thousands of traders and activists from religious parties gathered near the Holy Family Hospital at Satellite Town in Rawalpindi District on January 29 to call on the Government to stop 'unconstitutional' activities of the Ahmadiyya community. The protest, arranged by Traders' Associations, was attended by activists of JuD, JeI and the ASWJ. Members of the SSP were also in attendance.

Paramilitary troops and City Police combed the Margalla Hills in Islamabad after two suspects in custody spoke of militants hiding there to strike the city. Security sources said the suspects' words were taken seriously as they were arrested in the widespread hunt for the militants who fired rocket on the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on January 27, 2012.

A militant outfit has plans to carry out a rocket attack on the Pakistan capital, similar to the one at Abbottabad on January 27, 2012, said Islamabad Police Chief Bin Yamin Khan. Yamin Khan said that comprehensive security measures had been put in place to counter such an assault.

A senior professor, Shaharyar, of King Edward Medical University in Lahore District received threats after he asked a student not to wear the ''hijab'' (headscarf) in his classes. Shaharyar, the head of the Oncology Department had asked a girl attending a fourth-year MBBS class not to wear the hijab. "It''s better if you wear the Hijab outside the classroom," Shaharyar had said while delivering a lecture a few days ago. Following his remarks, students affiliated to the Islami Jama'at Tulba (IJT), the student wing of the JeI boycotted Shaharyar's classes and protested against him.

A couple of Ministers from Southern Punjab during the Cabinet Meeting on February 1 raised the issue of former leader of LeJ, Malik Ishaq's free movement in Punjab and said that it appeared that Ishaq got patronage from the Provincial Government. Malik Ishaq had attended a rally organised by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council in Multan District on January 30, 2011.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the permission for the rallies held in Lahore and Multan by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council recently had been granted by the DCOs concerned. Since the DCOs fell under the administrative control of the Chief Minister, the Federal Government at best could seek an explanation from the Punjab Government, he added.

The Muzaffargarh District administration issued a notice to the District Police banning entry of LeJ leader Malik Ishaq into the Muzaffargarh District for three months after he was released from Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore District on January 21, 2011. Ishaq, accused in 44 cases involving 70 killings, has been acquitted in 34 cases and granted bail in another 10. He was released after a Lahore High Court review board denied an extension to his detention under Maintenance of Public Order Law.

Special Branch official said that the decision was taken anticipating that Ishaq's entry to the District may cause disruption of peace and sectarian tensions. He said DPO Rao Munir Zia had sent a letter on January 31 to DCO Tahir Khursheed suggesting the ban. Both departments, he said, agreed on the proposal and the DCO issued the orders under Section-5 of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960.