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Month/Date
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Incidents
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January 23
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Unidentified assailants shot dead
a writer whose work was viewed as being critical of Osama
bin Laden and
the Taliban in
Afghanistan. The Afghan writer, Fazal Wahab, who was reportedly
engaged in a debate with certain pro-Taliban Ulema (religious
scholars), was living as a refugee in Swat, North West Frontier
Province (NWFP). Police said three or four gunmen attacked a shop
when Wahab was present there. The assailants opened fire indiscriminately,
killing him and the owner of the shop on the spot, while a shop
assistant died while being moved to a hospital. Prominent Ulema
of the Deoband and Wahabi schools of thought reportedly issued
Fatis (religious edicts) against him, declaring his work
as un-Islamic, after he wrote two books challenging the role of
mullahs (clerics), Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
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January 30
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21 arrested cadres of the proscribed
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM)
are released following NWFP Chief Minister
Akram Khan Durrani’s expression of displeasure at their detention.
They were released at Dera Ismail Khan city, 200 miles south of
NWFP capital Peshawar. The NWFP Chief Secretary Shakil Durrani,
on behalf of the Chief Minister, ordered the immediate release
of the terrorists, who had been arrested on January 28 by the
Dera police.
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April 3
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Fearing a backlash from Islamist
extremists hiding in Afghanistan due to the ongoing US war on
Iraq, the Federal government reportedly asked the Governments
of the NWFP and Balochistan to take all necessary steps for blocking
the entry of extremists from Afghanistan. The Provincial Governments
have also been asked to upgrade the security of multi-nationals
and vital installations
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April 16
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Pamphlets urging Afghan refugees
to wage Jehad against US forces and their "hireling" government
in Afghanistan were reportedly circulated at camps in NWFP. Entitled
"Declaration by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" (IEA) the
leaflets, written in Pushto, were distributed at refugee camps
in the NWFP. "Ulema, tribal leaders and Mujahideen of IEA call
upon you to wage jihad against the hireling government in your
motherland. It is your duty to rise...and direct your swords against
the infidels and their puppets," said the leaflets.
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April 22
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Authorities in NWFP seized 125
Russian-made rockets allegedly being smuggled from Afghanistan
for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. "Some 125 Russian-made rockets
are recovered from a truck loaded with animal fodder," said Zahirul
Islam, an official in the North Waziristan tribal region where
the cache was seized. He added that one person was arrested in
connection with the seizure.
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June 2
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The NWFP Provincial Assembly (PA)
passed the Shariat Bill that would make the province the first
in Pakistan to be run according to the teachings of the Holy Quraan.
The six-party Islamist fundamentalist alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
(MMA), leads the government in NWFP. The bill was adopted unanimously
after the opposition parties withdrew amendments they had proposed
earlier. The Shariat Bill, introduced in the PA last week, proposes
to make Islamic law the supreme law in NWFP courts and to Islamise
education, the economy and judiciary. Chief Minister Akram Durrani
while thanking the opposition parties for lending support to the
bill said, "We will now mould all laws under the purview of the
provincial government in accordance with the Islamic teachings."
The MMA-led provincial government has already banned men from
training or watching women athletes, ordered civil servants to
regularly offer Namaz (prayers) five-times a day, and also
decided to establish a department for promoting virtues and suppressing
vice in the region.
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July 1
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The NWFP Government said it would
protest to the Federal Government over the arrests of al Qaeda
suspects in the province and their hand-over to the US. "Suspected
al-Qaeda members should first be tried in the local courts according
to the law of the land," NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani told
reporters at the provincial assembly.
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July 13
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The German Government has decided
to suspend all financial assistance to the NWFP due to changes
in the province after the adoption of the Sharia Bill by the Frontier
Assembly. The NWFP Provincial Assembly (PA) on June 2, 2003, passed
the Sharia Bill that would make the province the first in Pakistan
to be run according to the teachings of the Holy Quraan. The report
said that a decision to suspend aid was taken after the NWFP Government
imposed restrictions on a shelter home being constructed by the
German Government for homeless women in the province. German Non-Governmental
Organisation (NGO) GTZ and Pakistan-based Aurat Foundation had
launched the Rupees 10 million Mera Ghar project for destitute
women in Peshawar. However, the NGO reportedly developed differences
with the MMA Government and suspended all contact with the provincial
government in June 2003.
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August 1
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NWFP Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed
Iftikhar Hussain Shah banned the carrying of firearms in Miranshah,
Mirali and Razmak main bazaars and reportedly ordered the security
agencies to ensure an immediate enforcement of the order. While
indicating that the ban was necessary to improve law and order
in the region, he appealed to the tribesmen to cooperate with
the administration in this regard.
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August 3
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One person is killed and another
injured in a bomb explosion in the Dera Ismail Khan district,
reportedly hours before the arrival of NWFP Chief Minister Akram
Khan Durrani. The explosion occurred near the central office of
the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam where Durrani was scheduled to hold a
meeting.
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August 4
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Governor of the NWFP Syed Iftikhar
Hussain Shah said that an operation against carrying of arms would
commence from August 5, in the Mirali, Miranshah and Razmak markets.
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September 3
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The Sindh Government has banned
the entry of 67 NWFP clerics for the next 90 days. An official
notification said that the ban is imposed because the entry of
these leaders could adversely affect the law and order in the
province. NWFP Jamaat-e-Islami deputy chief Hakeem Abdul Waheed
is among the 67 clerics. Commenting on the ban, Waheed said "My
speeches have never inflamed sectarianism. I have never been banned
from any part of the country."
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September 4
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The NWFP Assembly condemned a
yet to be officially confirmed Pakistani operation to hunt for
Osama bin Laden in Bannu. The legislators said "the proposed and
expected" unified operation should not be allowed because it would
harm Pakistan’s integrity. They also reportedly asked the Federal
Government to stop the intended operation.
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September 21
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38 persons are killed and 110
injured in 48 bomb blasts in Pakistan during the last eight months.
An unnamed law enforcement officer said official figures indicated
that there were 25 bomb blasts in the NWFP, ten in Sindh, six
in Baluchistan, three in Punjab and four in the Northern Areas
and Pakistan occupied Kashmir from January 1 to August 30, 2003.
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