Fifteen militants were killed
and five hideouts were destroyed when fighter jets bombed militant
hideouts in Torsmat, Jabba Kellay, Akhunkot and Sama Bazaar
in Upper tehsil of Orakzai Agency in FATA. The dead
included five terrorists of ‘Commander’ Ziaur Rehman group of
TTP.
At least 12 militants were killed
and three hostages were rescued from their custody after an
encounter with SFs in the Alamgir Killay of the Karmina area
in Landikotal tehsil of Khyber Agency. Khasadar Force
sources said that a FC soldier was also killed and another injured
during the encounter. According to official sources, TTP Tariq
Afridi group ‘commander’ Qari Kamran was among the dead.
A girl, identified as Hajra
Bibi, was killed and three persons, two among them members of
an anti-TTP lashkar, were injured when a bomb planted
by suspected militants in a sewerage line in Tarano Kalli bazaar
of Bajaur Agency exploded.
Four security personnel were
killed and two others injured in a landmine explosion in Surali
area, some10 kilometres from Sui town of Dera Bugti District.
One person was killed and his
brother was injured when three Iranian border guards after allegedly
crossing the border shot at a car at Mazan Sar Mashkail area
in Washuk District.
At Least 10 people were injured
in a hand grenade attack in a shop on Joint Road in Quetta.
A local trader, identified as
Muhammad Akbar Mulazai, was abducted in Surab township of Kalat
District.
An unidentified decomposed body
of a young man was found packed in a gunny bag within the limits
of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
The year 2011 was one of the
deadliest years for the residents of Karachi. 1,354 people were
reportedly killed in terrorist attacks and target killing incidents
throughout the year. Target killing incidents escalated in the
third quarter of 2011 and some 602 people were targeted on political
or ethnic grounds. July and August remained the deadliest months
of 2011 as some 552 citizens were killed, including 301 in July
and 251 in August. Some 50 people were killed in September,
44 in October, 28 in November and 31 in December.
Pakistan is unmatched in terms
of the freedom it allows for the pursuit of jihad and
for the spread of Islam, said JuD chief Hafiz Saeed. Saeed said
that he did not believe in modern nationalism, but no other
“territory” in the world matched Pakistan and it was a great
blessing from Allah, adding that the non-Muslims were conspiring
against Pakistan both internally and externally.
JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur
Rehman said that the future relationship between Pakistan and
the US should be based on mutual respect and the country’s interests
should be kept supreme.
January 2
At least 20 militants were killed
in two separate operations by the Army on January 1-2 in Upper
tehsil of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
12 militants were killed and
nine others got injured when jet fighters pounded their hideouts
in Bilras, Bar Mella and Toor Semath area of Mamozai tehsil.
Sources said that hideouts were destroyed.
Three militants and a volunteer
of Qaumi lashkar were killed during a clash in Landikotal
tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Sindh University Director of
Student Affairs Professor Bashir Ahmed Chanur was killed in
an armed attack by unidentified assailants in the varsity’s
premises in Jamshoro District. One of the assailants got injured
when a security guard retaliated by firing.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a local leader of ANP, identified as Furqan Shaha,
in Hasrat Mohani Colony within Pak Colony Police precincts in
Karachi, triggering indiscriminate fire that left five people
injured.
Police found the body of an
unidentified man from a drain in Nasir Colony, Korangi within
the limits of Zaman Town Police Station.
At least four people, including
two security guards, Zafar and Younus, and two passersby were
injured when militants attacked a mobile company franchise near
Hyderi market within the remit of North Nazimabad Police Station.
Chief of ASWJ Aurangzaib Farooqui
and three others were booked in December 31, 2011 murder case
of Shia leader Askari Raza on Rashid Minhas Road in Karachi,
while SSP of the CID’s AEC Chaudhry Aslam also came under interrogation.
Two men were shot dead in Goht
Shadi Pert area, in the limits of Barija Levies Thana of Jhal
Magsi District.
The bullet-riddled body of a
missing trader identified as Wazir Khan Marri was found dumped
near Eastern Bypass, a suburb of Quetta.
At least five children were
injured in a land mine explosion in the Sui area of Dera Bugti
District.
Two security personnel, identified
as Hawaldar Hazrat Umer and Sepoy Shukat Ali, were injured in
a land mine explosion in Tuba Nukani area of Dera Bugti District.
At least four people including
a medical practitioner and his brother were abducted from Chatar
area of Naseerabad District on the night of December 31.
Iran shut its border with Pakistan
as Pakistan authorities took three Iranians in to custody over
alleged cross-border attack of January 1 that killed one Pakistani
citizen in Washuk District, quoting BBC Urdu report.
Unidentified militants blew
up an 8-inch diameter gas pipeline in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti
District.
A local JUI-F leader and former
Nazim Haji Mohammad Azeem Khan was killed and his driver
was seriously injured when unidentified assailants attacked
his pickup near Naverkhel on Begukhel road in Lakki Marwat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Intelligence agencies stepped
up security for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian
Iftikhar Hussain, after intercepted messages from militants
revealed they were planning a suicide attack.
All Jihadi groups, in consultation
with Islamic Emirate Afghanistan (shadow Taliban Government
in Afghanistan), have decided to set up a committee to set aside
differences in their ranks and step up support for war against
western forces in Afghanistan. The decision was taken at a meeting
of the Taliban Shura held at an unspecified place on January
2. A statement issued in the form of a pamphlet to the media
in Waziristan after the meeting said that “All Mujahideen —local
and foreigners —are informed that all jihadi forces, in consultation
with Islamic Emirate Afghanistan, have unanimously decided to
form a five-member commission. It will be known as Shura-i-Murakbah.”
Spokesman for the TTP Ehsanullah
Ehsan confirmed that the meeting had been held and the statement
dated December 31 was issued after approval by Taliban’s supreme
leader Mullah Omar. The sources said the committee had been
formed to resolve differences among various militant factions
regroup them and investigate killings on spying charges and
excesses, if any, committed by the Taliban against local people.
The sources said the high command
of TTP and Afghan Taliban had been trying for two months to
reach an agreement on uniting different factions. The first
meeting in this regard was held on November 27 in Azam Warsak
near Wana in South Waziristan Agency.
Talking to Dawn on phone
from an unspecified place, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah said the
Mujahideen groups had reposed their confidence in the leadership
of Mullah Muhammad Omar and recognised him as the leader of
Afghanistan. He said the TTP would send its fighters to Afghanistan
after March for waging jihad against “US-led infidel forces”.
The year 2011 witnessed a marked
decline in suicide attacks in the country, Conflict Monitoring
Centre (CMC) report said. CMC is a data collection NGO which
taps into Interior Ministry, Health Department and ISPR resources.
As a result, the number of deaths also decreased by 48% compared
to the previous year. The brunt of fatalities were faced by
civilians – out of 606 people killed in 2011, 358 were civilians
while the Army lost 33 of its soldiers, the Frontier Constabulary
lost 100 and the Police lost 54 personnel. A total of 23 of
the 41 attacks targeted civilians. As many as 51 suicide bombers
were used in the attacks – certain hits used more than one human
bomb. Only four of the recorded bomb attacks targeted the military.
NATO’s ISAF Coalition spokesman,
Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen, said that NATO wants to
get relations with Pakistan back on track “as quickly as possible”
to reopen its key supply route for foreign troops fighting in
Afghanistan. Pakistan closed its main trading route to Afghanistan
after the November 26, 2011 raid choking a major supply line
for the 130,000 US-led force.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
Chairman General Khalid Shameem Wynne said that Pakistan's "desire"
for peaceful settlement of issues must not be misconstrued as
its weakness as the country has the means to give a "befitting
response to any unprovoked attack of blatant aggression",
adding, "Pakistan is a peace-loving country. However, our
desire for peaceful settlement of issues must not be misconstrued
as our weakness."
January 3
Three persons including two
Levies personnel were killed and eight civilians were injured
when a powerful car bomb exploded in Landi Kotal Bazaar of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
One passenger was injured in
a roadside bomb blast at Pir Qayum village near Sadda Town in
Kurram Agency.
Militants blew up a Government
primary school for boys in Gurbaz Gagezai area of Safi tehsil
in Mohmand Agency. An unnamed spokesman for TTP Mohmand chapter
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two persons were killed and
19 others got injuries when a bomb planted in a motorbike at
Azam Tower on Arbab Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, went off.
Unidentified militants blew
up a tower of Sheikh Muhammadi transmission line near Rashakai,
disrupting power supply to Peshawar and adjoining areas.
Unidentified militants blew
up a pylon on Tarbela-Peshawar transmission line at Baba Ji
Kallay in Nowshera District.
An anti-terrorism court issued
non-bailable arrest warrants for 34 TNSM and Swat Taliban leaders
for non-compliance with the court order to appear in a case.
The case was registered against TNSM Chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad
and others for anti-state and anti-judiciary speeches at the
Grassy Ground in Mingora, Swat in 2009. Maulana Sufi Muhammad,
his three sons Hayatullah, Rizwanullah and Ziaullah and another
TNSM leader Mufti Safiullah appeared in the Swat Anti-Terrorism
Court headed by Syed Asim Imam in the case. However, 34 others
who had delivered anti-state and anti-judiciary speeches were
absent from the court.
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.
Unidentified militants blew
up an eight-inch-diameter gas pipeline in Loti Gas Field area
of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban
and Pakistani militants have held a series of meetings aimed
at containing what could soon be open warfare between the two
most powerful TTP leaders. Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the
TTP and his deputy, Wali-ur-Rehman, were at each other’s throats,
the sources said.
Taliban sources said Wali-ur-Rehman
had ordered his fighters to eliminate Hakimullah Mehsud because
of his increasing closeness to al Qaeda and its Arab contingent.
Wali-ur-Rehman also alleged that the TTP chief received money
from India to kill a former Pakistan spy agency official acting
as a mediator between the TTP, Afghan militants and the Pakistani
Government.
The Islamabad-based PIPS annual
report 2011 released shows the decrease in violence in 2011.
PIPS, a think tank monitoring security situation of the country,
suggested “crucial steps” should be taken to root out militancy
and terrorism despite reduction in violence in 2011.
The report noted that the trend
of an overall decrease in the number of violent incidents and
casualties in Pakistan that was witnessed in 2010 continued
in 2011.
According to the report, a total
of 2,985 violent incidents—including terrorist attacks, security
forces operations, ethno-political violence, inter-tribal clashes,
drone attacks, and cross-border attacks—were reported in Pakistan
in 2011.
January 4
SFs killed 10 militants and
injured five others during an operation in the Central Kurram
Agency in FATA.
At least six LI militants and
a volunteer of Zakhakhel lashkar were killed in renewed clashes
between LI and the Lashkar in Bazaar-Zakhakhel area of
Khyber Agency. Another Zakhakhel volunteer was injured in the
incident.
Militants bombed the house of
Haji Muhammad Saleem, a tribal leader from Sada area of Kurram
Agency injuring two of Saleem’s daughters, two other children
and his brother Malik Sardar.
The Abdullah Azam Brigade (AAB)
has threatened to target all public and private places and social
and religious gatherings in Khyber Agency in retaliation of
the military operation conducted in Karamna area in Landikotal
on January 1.
Five TTP militants were killed
and 13 others arrested in a clash with the Frontier FC troops
in Murgha Kibzai area of Zhob District of Balochistan. A FC
spokesman said SF received information about the presence of
TTP militants in Murgha Kibzai area and dispatched troops there.
Unknown armed assailants shot
dead DSP-Investigation, Mohammad Ibrahim, in Gilgit city of
Gilgit District.
A man, identified as Sikandar
Hayat, was found dead in a market at Jutial area in Gilgit.
A former ‘commander’ of a local
peace committee, Umar Gul, was killed allegedly by TTP militants
in Warki village of Tank District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the
night. TTP have killed at least seven peace committee heads
in the past two months.
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.
‘Secret talks’ between Pakistan’s
Security Agencies and the TTP who have reportedly splintered
down into many different groups entered a decisive phase. Now
both sides are hoping their negotiations will culminate in a
‘lasting’ agreement which will restore peace in the country’s
lawless tribal lands.
“These are crucial times…we
have to be extremely careful. A slight miscalculation can harm
us in a big way,” the official, requesting anonymity, added
in reference to changes in the regional war given the eventual
withdrawal of the US-led international forces by 2014.
Raqeebullah said TTP chief Hakimullah
Mehsud was not aware of these talks and he, along with a core
group following his hard-line positions on talks with the Government
was aware of these negotiations. “He [Hakimullah] is out. At
least people here think so,” Raqeebullah commented.
The US Ambassador-At-Large Daniel
Benjamin, who will head the newly-established Bureau of Counterterrorism
at the State Department said that it wants to strengthen Pakistan’s
civilian capacity to counter terrorism as the South Asian nation
suffered more at the hands of terrorist violence than any other
country.
Over 200 containers carrying
supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan started returning to
Karachi from the border town of Chaman in Qilla Abdullah District.
Official sources confirmed the return of NATO containers to
Karachi, and added that they were not allowed to enter Afghanistan
through Chaman border gate following the November 26, 2011 attack
on Salala border post that killed 26 soldiers.
Afghan Taliban's Commander Mullah
Mohammad Omar put pressure on militant groups in Afghanistan
and Pakistan to form a new grouping which pledged to stop targeting
Pakistani SFs and instead focus attention on US-led troops in
Afghanistan. It is reported that the Afghan Taliban and TTP
formed a joint five-member ‘shura’ or council, named Shura-e-Muraqba,
with other Pakistani militant outfits.
Prominent al Qaeda members also
asked the Pakistani Taliban, in a pair of rare meetings, held
on the request of the Afghan Taliban, to set aside their differences
and step up support for the battle against US-led forces in
Afghanistan, militant commanders said Monday.
January 5
TTP militants killed 15 Frontier
Constabulary (FC) personnel in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan
Agency in FATA to avenge, in the words of a TTP spokesman, the
death of one of their ‘commanders’ in another tribal area at
the hands of SFs. The bullet-ridden bodies thrown on a hill
in Mir Ali sub-district were spotted by tribesmen in the morning.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told local media in Miranshah,
“We have killed these personnel”. He said the killings were
in retaliation for the death of Qari Kamran, an important ‘commander’
of TTP, who was killed along with 12 others on January 1 by
SFs at Alamgir Killay in the Kermina area near Landikotal in
Khyber Agency. "This is revenge for the killing of our
comrades in Khyber by Pakistani forces. We will soon take revenge
for other operations too," Ehsan added.
The 15 personnel guarding the
boundary between the FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been taken
hostage on December 23, 2011 in a pre-dawn attack by TTP militants
on their post in Mullazai area of Tank District (KP).
TTP released 17 children, who
mistakenly crossed the border into Afghanistan from Bajaur Agency,
after three months of captivity.
A leader of the ANP and two
activists of the MQM were shot dead in Karachi.
The President of the ANP, Said
Ahmed Khan, was killed and one of his associates, Bashir Ahmed,
was wounded in an attack at his house in the Metroville area
of SITE, while one of the assailants was shot dead by a Police
Constable.
Two MQM activists, identified
as Habibullah and Maqsood alias Kala Guddu, were shot dead in
Orangi Town by two unidentified armed assailants.
An unidentified dead body of
a young man was dumped from a fast-moving car in Murad Memon
Goth in Malir area.
TTP Karachi Chapter ‘commander’
Abdul Qayum and his three accomplices were arrested in Karachi
along with a suicide jacket, a rocket, a BM missile, two Kalashnikovs
and bullets of different types.
The construction of 22 school
buildings to replace structures destroyed by militants in Swat
should be completed by the end of January, Shakeel Qadir Khan,
Managing Director, PDMA said.
One ASI, Ghulam Raza Bangash,
was shot dead by unidentified militants in Nawan Killi area
of Quetta. It is believed to be a sectarian attack.
In a separate incident, one
unidentified security personnel was killed and two others injured
in an accidental landmine explosion in Maro area of Dera Bugti
District.
Elsewhere in the District, unidentified
militants blew up the gas pipeline in Pir Koh area disrupting
the gas supply from well Numbers 12 and 21.
Unidentified militants abducted
a British official of the ICRC, identified as Doctor Khalil
Ahmed Dale, from Chaman Housing Society in Quetta.
Hundreds of militants who surrendered
in FATA areas are facing threats from active TTP militants who
are pressuring them to rejoin or face reprisals, officials and
former militants said. “At least 3,000 militants have laid down
arms and expressed repentance over their association with Taliban
in Bajaur Agency,” Haji Shafqat Gul, a member of the Bajaur
peace committee, told Central Asia Online.
January 6
At least six militants were
killed and 12 got injured after LI and its rival Zakhakhel tribal
force exchanged gunfire to gain control of a key base in Bazaar
Zakhakhel area of Landikotal in Khyber Agency of FATA.
The head of a peace committee,
identified as Malik Mohammad Ali Haleemzai, remained unhurt
in a blast targeting him in Sangar Khwar area of Mohmand Agency.
Militants bombed science laboratory
of Government High School in Miramshah of North Waziristan Agency
in FATA in the night.
A Police SI, identified as Zarnosh
Khan, and Bawar Khan, the father of a militant ‘commander’ Tariq
were killed when law-enforcement personnel raiding a house in
Jungary village of Dubai Adda area in Mardan District came under
attack of the hiding militants.
A Police sub inspector was killed
during clashes between Security Forces and militants in Bakhshali
area of Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while eight militants
were arrested.
Militants blow up a Government
girls’ school in Ibrahimzai area of Charsadda District by triggering
an IED.
A man, identified as Shaban,
was killed and his friend Abid Khan sustained injuries in a
landmine explosion in Jan Beri area of Dera Bugti District.
Carrying out raids in different
areas, Police arrested up to 50 suspects for questioning in
connection to the January 5, 2011 abduction of Khalil Ahmed
Dale, a British employee of ICRC from Quetta.
LEAs arrested 27 illegal Afghan
nationals under foreign Act from Mian Ghundi area in Quetta.
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif demanded
an immediate end to military operations in Balochistan and said
that an All Parties Conference will be convened soon in Islamabad
to discuss the situation in the province and to find ways of
resolving the crisis the seed of which had been sown by the
regime of Pervez Musharraf.
PPP MNA Afzal Nadeem Chan said
that the ISI and the MI were active in Balochistan while the
civilian Government had no say in the provincial affairs.
Supporters of the People’s Aman
Committee clashed with the Police on II Chundrigar Road in Karachi
during a protest rally that was making its way towards Bilawal
House to express their grievances.
Following the killings of political
workers on January 5, several parts of Karachi fell into intense
wave of tension suspending all commercial and social activities.
A Pakistani national, identified
as Irfan ul Haq (37) was sentenced to 50 months in prison for
conspiring to smuggle a member of the TTP outfit into the US.
Two other Pakistani nationals
Qasim Ali (32) and Zahid Yousaf (43) were sentenced respectively
to 40 months and 36 months in prison in the same incident. The
three were arrested in Miami in March 2011 after accepting payment
and procuring a fake Pakistani passport for the TTP member.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Gillies said that Haq and his co-conspirators
sought to smuggle men into the US and did not care if they came
here to “blow up” something as long as they got paid.
Another Pakistani national,
Nadeem Akhtar (46) who lives in Maryland outside Washington
was sentenced to 37 months in a US prison after pleading guilty
to conspiring to illegally transfer nuclear-related materials
to Pakistan from the US. Akhtar took direction from the owner
of a trading company in Karachi who had business relationships
with a Pakistani Government entity.
The State Bank of Pakistan directed
all exchange companies to follow the anti-money laundering and
countering the financing of terrorism regime by submitting suspicious
transactions manually or electronically directly to the Financial
Monitoring Unit.
A US Treasury delegation will
meet senior economic managers in Islamabad on January 9 to exchange
views on the problem of money-laundering and terrorists funding.
The National Assembly was told
that about five million illegal immigrants were residing in
different parts of the country due to local and regional disturbances.
In a written statement, the Ministry of Interior told the National
Assembly that out of the five million illegal immigrants, approximately
two million were Bangladeshis, 2.5 million were Afghans, and
0.5 million other nationals, including Africans, Iranians, Iraqis
and Myanmarese, who had been living in the country for more
than three decades.
Planning and Development Minister
Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor said that peace and order in the province
could not be guaranteed if blasphemy against the Holy Prophet
continued.
Malik Perveiz Rafique, a Member
of Punjab Assembly had demanded that the Government do more
to provide security to the minorities and their worship places.
Security agencies want the TTP
to abandon their strongholds of Orakzai and Khyber Agencies
of FATA for a possible truce but are not keen to wrench back
the control of other lawless tribal regions from the TTP.
January 7
The CID claimed to have killed
an alleged TTP Balochistan Chapter ‘chief’ Syed Yasin Shah alias
Asghar Baloch and arrested his accomplice, Syed Yar Shan, in
a brief encounter near Rasheed Minhas Road at Sharah-e-Faisal
Police limits of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Unidentified militants blew
up an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline in Ghot Jani Khan area under
Malagzad Police Station of Jaffarabad District in Balochistan.
Militants fired rockets at the
Tochi Scout camp in Miramshah town of North Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
The Defence of Pakistan Council
(DPC) warned of countrywide protests if the Government reopens
supply routes for allied forces stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The meeting was attended by
DPC Chairman and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sameeul Haq (JUI-S) chief
Maulana Samee-ul-Haq, Gen (r) Hameed Gul, JI chief Syed Munwar
Hassan, JuD chief Professor Saeed Ahmad, Pakistan Awami League
chief Sheikh Rasheed, Pakistan Muslim League-Zia-ul-Haq leader
Ijaz ul Haq, Abdul Rasheed Turabi, Jamiat Al-Hadith General
Secretary Abtisam Elahi, Ghulam Mustafa Jadoon and Hafiz Abdur
Rehman.
The members of the National
Assembly’s special all-party committee on law and order will
visit Quetta on January 10 to receive a briefing from senior
officials of the provincial administration and law-enforcement
agencies on the issue of sectarian killings in Balochistan.
January 8
A former activist of ST, identified
ad Abdul Aziz alias Bhayya (36), was shot dead by unidentified
armed assailants in an incident target killing at Tonga Stand
Street, Jutt Lines within the precincts of Brigade Police Station
Karachi.
According to the confessional
statement of a naval officer, Mohammad Israrul Haq, who was
sentenced to 15-year imprisonment on May 6, 2010, for planning
a series of attacks on important naval installations, the National
Defence University, and for taking hostages, the al Qaeda was
planning to hold hostage senior officers at the NDU and use
them to negotiate the release of detained militants, besides
attacking the Naval Headquarters and targeting other important
buildings of the navy.
In his statement, the accused
admitted to meeting al Qaeda members in Makeen area of South
Waziristan Agency and Angoor Adda, the border area of South
Waziristan Agency and Afghanistan’s Paktika province, where
they discussed the locations of important naval installations.
Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari questioned the failure of the judiciary to take action
against former President General Pervez Musharraf despite Benazir
Bhutto holding the ex-military ruler responsible if she is killed.
"He (Pervez Musharraf)
will be responsible; he is part of the FIR. Why is the judge
not taking actions against him?” said President Zardari, adding,
"I ask Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry what has happened
to case? The courts are not under me." Zardari said that
the FIA had submitted the challans with the court and asked
why four judges had been changed during the course of hearing.
A nearly two-month lull in American
drone strikes in Pakistan since November 17, has helped embolden
al Qaeda and several Pakistani militant factions to regroup,
increase attacks on Pakistani Security Forces and threaten intensified
strikes against allied forces in Afghanistan, the New York
Times reported citing US and Pakistani officials.
American intelligence agency
CIA has failed to eliminate more than four al Qaeda leaders
in its highly costly and controversial ‘assassination by drones’
campaign inside Pakistan during 2011, revealed an annual report
compiled by CMC on drone attacks.
American drones fired 242 AGM-114
Hellfire missiles during the year and destroyed 38 houses, 37
vehicles, one camp and a seminary. One such missile costs for
$68000 which means the CIA spent $16.456 million or Rs 1.5 billion
to kill 609 people.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister
for Information and Culture Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the US-Taliban
talks could not produce any result without the participation
of all stakeholders.
January 9
The dead bodies of 10 FCB paramilitary
troops were recovered from in Dabori town of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. One security official said 23 soldiers were attacked
late in the night on December 21 by nearly 100 heavily armed
militants. The TTP claimed responsibility for the killings.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan in a phone call to Reuters
said that his men were behind the December 21, 2011 attack.
Arshad Khan who was injured
in a blast targeting a local jirga on December 31 in
Khugakhel area of Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency, succumbed to
his injuries in a Peshawar hospital.
A passer-by, identified as Sohail,
was injured when a bomb planted on the roadside exploded at
Ali Masjid.
Elsewhere in Landi Kotal, unidentified
assailants abducted a transporter, Niamat Wali, at gunpoint
in front of his house from Kuktarhel area at around 9pm. Sources
said that Niamat Wali was allegedly involved in stealing goods
from NATO containers.
Unidentified militants blew
up a NATO oil supplying tanker at village Mian Khel on Shalman
Road. The Afghanistan-bound oil tanker was parked at Mian Khel
village when the militants detonated explosive material planted
on the tanker.
Four people, including a Police
Officer and a member of MQM Elders Committee, were shot dead
in Karachi in separate acts of violence. A shia man, identified
as Syed Qalb-e-Abbas Rizvi, who was also the member of MQM Elders
Committee succumbed to his injuries.
Police found an unidentified
bullet-riddled body of a youngster from old Truck Stand within
the precincts of Kalri Police Station.
A man, identified as Asif (32),
was shot dead two unknown militants near Pehalwan Goth within
the jurisdiction of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station while he
was on his way home.
ASI Anwar Sheikh (40) of the
Foreign Security Cell deployed at the American Consulate was
shot dead by unknown armed assailants at the consulate situated
within Jackson Police precincts.
Different departments of the
Sindh Police claimed to have arrested two target killers and
an extortionist in separate raid in Karachi. CPLC and Bahadurabad
Police in a joint raid claimed to have arrested an extortionist
Allah Ditta from Gizri area of Defence.
SP Mazhar Mashwani of the CID,
along with his team conducted a raid at Regal Chowk, Saddar
and arrested two target killers namely Fahim and Shakeel, besides
recovering their weapons.
Unknown motorcyclists shot dead
a Mehsud tribesman, Sher Mohammad, in Jafarabad Colony in the
limits of Dera Township Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The dead body of a man was found
near the Pehur High Level Canal in the jurisdiction of City
Police Station in Topi tehsil of Swabi District.
Hundreds of protesters closed
the Kohat-Hangu highway against the killing of a prominent member
of SSP. Sources said that Abdul Wahab, a cadre of SSP and Sunni
Supreme Council, was abducted from the station area of Hangu
on December 31, 2011.
Former Chairman of the Punjab
Bar Council’s Executive Committee, Advocate Chaudhry Nasrullah
Warraich, was shot dead by unidentified militants in Lahore
District.
The HRCP voiced concern at the
reports of a number of journalists facing threats in recent
weeks and asked the authorities to ensure that threats to journalists
end. A statement issued in Lahore District by HRCP said, “The
HRCP is alarmed at reports of threats received by journalists
on account of their work.
Further the report stated, “HRCP
wants to remind the authorities that for two years now Pakistan
has held the dubious distinction of being one of the deadliest
countries for journalists. HRCP reiterates that those making
threats and perpetrating violence against journalists are encouraged
by the fact that out of over 70 journalists killed in Pakistan
in the last decade, the perpetrators have been brought to justice
in only one case.”
A Melbourne-based Pakistani
student, Salman Ghumman (23), was deported on security grounds
after being questioned by Australian security intelligence officials
over his suspect phone calls to Pakistan.
CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
expressing concern over the worsening law and order situation
in Balochistan, observed that the number of missing persons
in the province was increasing day by day. He said that uncertainty
prevailed in the province as bullet-riddled bodies were found
every day.
January 10
A powerful bomb planted in a
pick-up van exploded at a petrol station in Jamrud bazaar in
Khyber Agency of FATA, killing 35 persons, four of them Khasadar
personnel, and injuring 78 others. Khyber Agency Administrator
Mutahir Zeb said it appeared that Zakhakhel tribe which had
formed a lashkar against TTP militants in the area was
the target. However, a TTP ‘spokesman’ who identified himself
as Mohammad told by phone from an unspecified location that
his organisation had not carried out the attack.
After a lull of about 55 days,
the US resumed its drone operation by killing four suspected
militants in the out skirts of Miranshah in the North Waziristan
Agency.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead Haji Kaleem, commander of Akkakhel peace committee for
Margatkhel area in Khyber Agency.
One child was killed another
two got injured when a mortar shell landed in a playground in
Spin Qabar area.
A tribesman was killed in crossfire
between militants and SFs in Mian Mandi Bazaar of Mohmand Agency.
An explosion at a market injured
seven persons and caused damage as many shops in Landi Kotal
of Khyber Agency.
In Akkakhel area, two women
received injuries when two mortar shells fell on the houses
of Khyber Khan and Ambel Khan.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government school in the remote Haji Nadir Shah Kallay
in Zakhakhel Bazaar area.
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).
A worker of the Muttahida Qaumi
Movement (MQM), identified as Ahmed (31), was shot dead by unidentified
armed assailants in an act of target killing while two others,
Nadir Bharam (25) and Imran (32), sustained injuries in the
same incident at Cantt Bazaar within Shah Faisal Colony in Karachi.
CID claimed to have arrested
an activist of a SNP, identified as Saifal Bugti alias Suriya
over the charge of committing terrorist activities in Sindh
from Quaid-e-Azam Park located in Gulshan-e-Hadeed area in Steel
Town of Karachi.
Rangers conducted a raid in
Hasrat Mohani Colony, Pak Colony area and arrested three suspects
besides recovering three pistols from their possession.
KP Chief Minister Ameer Haider
Khan Hoti said that students are future of the country and any
nation can’t compromise on its future.
KP Minister of Higher Education
Qazi Muhammad Asad said that out of USD 200 billion, only one
percent was allocated to the education sector per annum.
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Hina Rabbani Khar said that there was no proposal under consideration
to link transfer of civil nuclear technology with the resumption
of NATO supply.
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.
A Judicial Commission probing
the May 30, 2011 murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad submitted
its report to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with findings
as well as recommendations by the Pakistan Federal Union of
Journalists (PFUJ) for the journalist community and financial
assistance to Shahzad’s family.
The PCNS is likely to hand over
to the Government its report comprising recommendations on new
terms of engagement with the US and NATO and ISAF in the war
on terror and broad outlines of the country’s relations with
Afghanistan and India.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar, who represented the Foreign Office during the committee’s
deliberations, told reporters that the Government was seeking
the Parliament’s wisdom and would reframe its foreign policy
in accordance with the mandate given by the PCNS.
January 11
At least 14 of FC personnel,
including two junior commissioned officers, were killed in an
ambush in the Wakai area near Nawano check post in Turbat city
of Turbat District. BLF claimed responsibility for the attack.
At least 11 militants were killed
and six others got injured when jet fighters pounded their hideouts
in Jabba, Toor Semath, Akhunkot, and Mir Qalamkhel localities
in Mamozai tehsil in Orakzai Agency of FATA. Four hideouts
were destroyed.
Rafiq alias Akhlaq, head of
a militant group Jundul Khyber, was killed by the cadres of
AI in Bagh locality of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. The
sources said that Akhlaq had abducted an associate of the rival
Tariq Afridi group, a commander of TTP, and imprisoned him at
his Hujra in Narkhaw area of Maidan being controlled
by AI. The TTP asked the AI that one of its fighters had been
detained by Akhlaq and sought their help to get the captive
released.
Persons displaced from Bara
tehsil and currently sheltering in tents and rented houses have
complained of prolonged curfew and closure of Bara bazaar, educational
institutions and hospitals, and demanded an early end to ongoing
military offensive in their area to ease their misery.
A Hujra of former Union Nazim
Johar Mohammad (Advocate) was partially damaged in an explosion
in Dallokhel village of Lakki Marwat District.
Paris-based global media rights
group Reporters without Borders and Tribal Union of Journalists
jointly held six safety-training sessions for over 90 journalists
in Peshawar.
A grand Jirga of Utmankhel
Qaumi Movement demanded complete educational facilities for
girls at Utmankhel Tapa in Bajaur, Malakand and Mohmand agencies.
Police found an unidentified
body of a woman cut into six pieces at Shaheed-e-Millat Road
within the remit of Firozabad Police Station in Karachi.
A head constable, identified
as Sher Afzal Mehsud alias Dali (35), was shot dead by unidentified
armed assailants in Muzaffarabad Colony within the jurisdiction
of Quaidabad Police Station while was sitting in front of his
house.
A detained TTP Karachi chief,
who was arrested by the CID on January 5, 2012, confessed to
his involvement in the blast at the house of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Information Minister that had claimed the life of his son. Police
claimed to have arrested four militants, including TTP Karachi
chief Abdul Qayyum Mehsud, Muhammad Sharif, Habib Mehsud and
Usman.
Unidentified militants blew
up a primary school for girls at Shagai village in Razaar tehsil
of Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three houses were damaged in
Ali Abbas area when five mortar shells were fired at Hangu city
from an unspecified location.
The Army warned of “serious
ramifications” and “consequences” for the country over Prime
Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s allegations that the Army Chief
and the ISI Director General “unconstitutionally” submitted
their response in the memo scandal to the Supreme Court.
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked
Secretary Defence Khalid Naeem Lodhi and handed over the additional
charge of secretary defence to Nargis Sethi.
In a related development, the
Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani summoned an emergency
meeting of the corps commanders. Dawn quoted sources
as saying that the military high command had appointed Brigadier
Sarfaraz Ali commander of the 111 brigade. Brigadier Sarfaraz
Ali was named the new commander of the 111 Brigade, an infantry
formation that is part of the X Corps and has usually been called
out during past military takeovers to take over key buildings
and installations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, sources said.
US State Department said that
the conflict between the civil and military establishments in
Pakistan was the country’s internal matter and it would not
like to comment on it.
Pentagon said the US military
Chief General Martin Dempsey had telephoned General Ashfaq Pervez
Kayani but the United States neither sought nor received any
assurance from the Pakistani military that it would not stage
a coup.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
constituted a task force for early implementation of matters
regarding Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package. The Interior
Secretary will head the task force, while additional secretaries
of concerned ministries would be its members.
The Minister said that it was
decided that the concerned ministries would prepare their suggestions
to evolve a system for a more expeditious and result-oriented
mechanism for implementation of the AHBP. Rehman Malik said
that the Coast Guards and Frontier Constabulary would not establish
any check post on RCD or Bolan Highway.
US Consul General William Martin
announced USD 10 million in aid on for rehabilitation and provision
of educational and health facilities in the Duregi area of Lasbela
District. Martin announced the multi-million dollar aid package
on behalf of the US Government, while visiting a girl’s primary
school in Duregi.
The US Embassy in Pakistan said
that it gave money to Sunni Ittehad Council, a Pakistani Muslim
group that organized anti-Taliban rallies, but which later demonstrated
in support of an extremist who killed a leading liberal politician.
The SIC was formed in 2009 to
counter extremism. It groups politicians and clerics from Pakistan's
traditionalist Barelvi Muslim movement, often referred to as
theological moderates in the Pakistani context.
Two leading members of the council
denied receiving any American funds. "This propaganda is
being unleashed against us because we are strongly opposed to
Western democracy and American policies in the region and in
the world," said Sahibzada Fazal Karim, the head of the
council, adding, "We are against extremism, but we support
Qadri because he did a right thing".
The Chairman of the Parliamentary
Committee on National Security Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said
that the committee had proposed 35 consensus recommendations
to review relations with the US, NATO and the country’s foreign
policy.
January 12
At least 15 militants were killed
and several others got injured while 3 terrorist hideouts destroyed
in an air attack by SFs in different areas of Orakzai Agency
in FATA.
At least six militants were
killed and two others injured when a US drone fired two missiles
at two vehicles in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan Agency.
Five people, including four
children and a woman were killed when a mortar shell fell on
a house in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
A militant was killed and two
hideouts were destroyed during a search operation by SFs in
Akakhel area. Two soldiers were also injured during the crossfire.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead two rickshaw drivers in two separate incidents in
Karachi.
Police found an unidentified
body of a man near Naval Flats, Lyari within the limits of Kalri
Police Station.
A teenage girl, identified as
Zahra (17), was killed by a stray bullet in a slum area of Shahzad
Moor within the jurisdiction of Pirabad Police Station.
A former lieutenant commander
of Pakistan Navy, identified as Asghar Ali Dogar, now heading
the Security Department of a private hospital who was shot and
injured in Korangi area on the night of January 11 succumbed
to his injuries.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested a militant of LeJ, identified as Riyaz Ahmed
alias Riyaz Afghani alias Zahid Hussain Gilgiti from Hub River
Road in Karachi and recovered two hand grenades, one repeater
and two pistols from his possession.
During his interrogation, he
confessed that he had given money to Usman Choto for killing
of Shia leader in Karachi but Choto was arrested before committing
the crime.
At least seven LI militants
and three SF personnel were killed in an attack on a checkpost
in Sarbanda, a suburb of Peshawar, the provincial capital of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the late night. Thirteen Police and Frontier
Constabulary personnel were injured.
Seven people were injured when
unidentified militants blew up a CD shop by planting and triggering
off an IED at a sewage line near the Ali CD Centre on Nowshera
Road in Charsadda District.
The IDPs of Khyber Agency have
given a two-week deadline to the Government to meet their demands.
Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club in Peshawar,
the tribesmen led by PTI FATA Chapter leader Mohammad Iqbal
Afridi said that supply of food items to the IDPs had been suspended
for the past nine months and despite their repeated appeals
no attention had been paid to the issue so far.
The UNHCR asked the Afghan refugees
residing in four camps of Lower Dir District to prepare for
voluntarily repatriation to their home country by end of this
year. In this regard, an office of the UNHCR called Centre for
Voluntary Repatriation was inaugurated at Khiaima area of Timergara
in Lower Dir.
Speaking on the occasion, the
UNHCR provincial head praised Pakistan and Sudan for hosting
a large number of Afghan refugees for over 30 years. He said
that the refugees had to complete repatriation to their homeland
by December 2012.
The Supreme Court ordered the
Defence Secretary to verify claims made by military authorities
while branding a Swat resident a terrorist. A four-judge bench
headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had taken
up a petition of Abdul Ghaffar Khan seeking to reclaim his ancestral
farmland and gardens he had left behind while leaving as an
internally displaced person when the Operation Rah-e-Rast
was launched by SFs against militants in Swat.
SFs launched a search operation
in Buleda tehsil of Turbat District to arrest the militants
involved in the January 11, 2012 killing of 14 FC personnel
in an ambush.
MQM chief Altaf Hussain said
that he is ready to talk to the TTP for country’s security,
peace and stability. He said this while talking to the head
of FATA Grand Alliance Malik Khan Marjan over telephone.
The MQM chief said that the
tribal people living in different parts of the world were calling
MQM International Secretariat. They welcomed the demand for
the creation of the Qabailistan province.
Federal Minister for Information
and Broadcasting Firdaus Ashiq Awan said that according to the
report of commission investigating the murder of journalist
Saleem Shahzad, his killers could not be traced, but the Police
and Law Enforcement Agencies have been directed to continue
investigating the case.
Talking to media outside the
Parliament House, Awan said the report will be made public today
and would be uploaded on website of the Ministry of Information
by the afternoon of January 13.
The Commission blamed various
‘belligerents’ involved in the war on terror for his murder.
But it didn’t single out any person or organisation, which could
have killed him, leaving the room open for further probe. In
its set of recommendations, the most important was to rein in
the ISI and IB and make them accountable within their organisations
and to the parliamentary committees concerned.
January 13
A trooper was injured when unidentified
militants attacked FCB fort in Girni Sheikhan of Tank District.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said that the terrorist attacks against
them will boost the Police and SFs’ resolve to bring about peace
instead of affecting it.
Four people, including two members
of MQM, were shot dead in the recent wave of recent target killings
in Malir town of Karachi.
Another man, identified as Shahnawaz
Baloch, was killed when in Siddique Goth area near Gul Muhammad
football ground within Al-Falah Police limits.
A man, identified as Rashid
(28), was shot dead at his poultry shop in Jamia Millia, Malir
area.
A Shia man, identified as Syed
Mushtaq Hussain Zaidi, (50) was shot dead and another, Kamran,
was injured by unidentified militants near UP Morr within the
jurisdiction of New Karachi Police Station.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found in Yak Mach and Shakar Aab areas of Chagai District.
Unidentified militants hurled
a hand grenade at the residence of a Government employee, identified
as Saleem Khokar, in Killi Ibraimzai area on Brewery Road in
Quetta.
The ISPR, Quetta Cantonment,
strongly refuted reports about a military operation in Balochistan.
An ISPR spokesman said that news stories published or aired
by a section of media about a military operation in Balochistan
were totally baseless and a false propaganda against the Pakistan
Army.
The local TTP set ablaze over
a dozen computers, television sets, cellular phones and several
cassettes in the Wana bazaar of South Waziristan Agency in FATA.
The TTP led by Maulvi Nazeer said they had already banned using
television and computers for watching movies and music and carrying
cellular phones with cameras.
January 14
Four suicide bombers attacked
the DPO’s office in Dera Ismail Khan District, killing four
people. “Three suicide bombers detonated themselves and one
was shot dead by the army,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General
of Police Akbar Hoti said. The TTP claimed responsibility for
the attack.
Police found the body of man,
identified as Nasir Ali Baloch (25), from Shah Waliullah Road,
Lyari within the precincts of Kalri Police Station in Karachi.
Police found a dead body of
a man, identified as Rafiq (25), from a drain at Shafiq Mor
within the jurisdiction of FB Industrial Area Police Station.
A Khasadar official, identified
as Duny Dar, was injured in an IED explosion near Landikotal
railway station in Khyber Agency of FATA.
The local political administration
sent a notice to all Afghan nationals in the area, asking them
to leave within the next five days or face strict legal action.
Chattar SHO Gulam Haider Manjo
escaped a remote-controlled blast in Naseerabad District. Chattar
DSP Deedar Hussain Magsi said that unidentified militants had
planted explosives along the roadside to target the Police.
Three Iranian security personnel
booked for killing a Pakistani national, Saeed, and injuring
another, Ismail Gul Reki, in Mashkel tehsil of Washuk
District on December 31, 2011, were acquitted by the Sessions
Judge of Kharan after successful negotiations between the victims’
family and the accused.
Officials of the Anti-Extremism
Cell claimed to have foiled a terror plot to attack the main
Chehlum procession, and arrested a TTP ‘commander’, Mohammad
Daud, who was involved in a number of terrorist cases in Ittehad
Town in Karachi.
The Police also recovered 50
kilograms of explosives, four suicide jackets, one light machinegun,
a rocket launcher, two rockets, 10 hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs,
two TT pistols, 1,000 bullets, a 20-foot detonating cord, and
five detonators. He said the plan to target the shrine had been
made in Waziristan and that he had been given PKR 20,000 by
a TTP commander there to complete the job.
CID team raided a place along
the National Highway near Abbot Factory and arrested two alleged
TTP militants namely Azeem Ahmad Sheikh alias Anees and Zubair
Alam alias Munna.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that he was once again inviting militants for talks, but
they would have to lay down their arms and renounce violence
first.
Pakistan will start repaying
the USD 7.6 billion IMF loan in February 2012, with the first
tranche of USD 1.2 billion that has been allocated in the budget
2011-12.
The DCC rejected a US military
investigation into the deadly NATO air strikes on Pakistani
border posts of Mohammad Agency. A meeting of the committee,
chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, asked the military
command to share its rejoinder with the American side.
Chief of the rightwing JuD Hafiz
Mohammad Saeed expressed support for the contacts between the
US and Afghan Taliban and urged the Government to open a dialogue
with Pakistani militants.
January 15
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.
In a sectarian killing incident,
a security guard, identified as Musa Khan, was shot dead by
unidentified armed militants in Jam colony Imambargah in Quetta.
Four members of a family hailing
from Punjab province were abducted from Loralai area in Barkan
District by unidentified armed militants, who intercepted their
vehicle Chori Bridge while they were on their way to Quetta.
Four militants, involved in
attack on Riaz Shaheed Police Post in Sarbanda, the suburb of
Peshawar, in the night of January 12, were arrested during a
search operation in the area.
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 leader of TTP, Hakimullah
Mehsud, was believed to have been killed by a US drone strike
on January 12, Pakistan intelligence officials said. The officials
said they intercepted wireless radio chatter between TTP cadres
detailing how Hakimullah Mehsud was killed while travelling
in a convoy to a meeting in the North Waziristan Agency region
near the Afghan border.
The TTP said Hakimullah was
still alive, but their denial was far less assertive than one
issued in 2010 after media reports said he had been killed in
a drone strike.
The US urged Pakistan to “really
lead and conduct a dialogue that takes the Balochistan issue
forward”. “The US is deeply concerned about the ongoing violence
in Balochistan, especially targeted killings, disappearances
and other human rights abuses,” said State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland.
January 16
At least 10 militants were killed
in an armed clash with SFs in the Bahlol area of Kohlu District.
Official sources said that militants attacked personnel of the
FC in an area close to Chamalang when they were setting up a
check-post. The FC retaliated, killing 10 militants.
The dead body of a man, identified
as Wazir Khan Marri (35), was recovered from Liari tehsil
of Lasbela District.
Police found an unidentified
dead body dumped in a gunny bag in Chetkhan area of Panjgur
District.
The main pipeline supplying
gas to Sindh was blown up in the Gopang area of Pat Feeder in
Sui tehsil of Dera Bugti District. The spokesman of Baloch
Republican Army (BRA), Sarbaz Baloch calling media from an unspecified
location claimed responsibility for the blast.
Police found the dead body of
a teenager boy, identified as Shahzaib Baloch (17), from Mawatch
Goth within the jurisdiction of Mauripur Police Station in Karachi.
One Policeman, identified as
Ghulam Mohammad (27), hailing from Gilgit-Baltistan, was shot
dead in a sectarian attack in Alamgir Market near Bara Maidan
within the limits of North Nazimabad Police Station.
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.
Shahzain Bugti, a grandson of
slain Akbar clan chieftain and former Chief Minister of Balochistan,
Nawab Akbar Bugti, announced head money for former Army dictator
and President Pervez Musharraf. Akbar Bugti, along with his
comrades, was killed on his way from the Bugti Hills to Marri
Hills in a military operation in Kohlu District of Balochistan
on August 26, 2006. The operation was allegedly ordered by Musharraf.
Inspector General of Frontier
Corps Major General Nadir Zeb rejected having any type of contact
with TTP and said that SFs were determined to restore peace
in the tribal areas. Addressing the passing-out parade of the
16th batch of 155 new FC recruits at Landi Kotal
Army camp, he said that SFs would require more time to uproot
the menace of terrorism in FATA.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Barrister Masood Kausar said that law and order situation in
the province and FATA is far better than that of years ago.
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar
Hussain said the United States talks with the Afghan Taliban
won’t be result-oriented unless Pakistan and Afghanistan are
included in the quest for peace. He said for lasting peace in
the region the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan would require concerted
efforts to evolve a common peace strategy.
As many as 14,362 people, including
150 women, have “disappeared” in Balochistan since 2001 and
370 mutilated bodies have been found in different parts of the
province so far, Qadeer Baloch, Vice President of Voice for
Baloch Missing Persons said. Sitting in a camp in front of the
Karachi Press Club (KPC) in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh, since January 1, 2012 to protest against the “disappearances”
of Baloch people, Qadeer said about 250,000 people from Marri
and Dera Bugti areas had migrated to other provinces and even
to Afghanistan since their lives were in danger.
Speaking at a News Conference
on International Human Rights Day at the KPC, HRCP Chairperson
Zohra Yusuf had said the establishment saw the problem of Balochistan
as a “security issue” but it would not be fair to say it wanted
to get rid of Balochistan.
The Supreme Court rejected a
report filed by the Balochistan Chief Secretary on the security
situation in the province. The court said the report was “not
satisfactory” because no steps had been taken to improve the
security situation. A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, also directed the Balochistan
Advocate General to submit reports from the IB and CID on the
law and order situation in Balochistan in the last three months
on January 20.
January 17
Police found an unidentified
seven-day-old dead body of a young man from the Lyari Expressway
area within the limits of Shershah Police Station in Karachi.
Police said the victim appeared to be Baloch and had several
torture marks and had received a bullet in his head.
Police found another unidentified
dead body of a man bearing torture marks from Khayaban-e-Qasim
area within the limits of Darakhshan Police Station. A Police
Officer said that the victim appeared to be Punjabi.
A senior tribal reporter, Mukarram
Khan Atif, correspondent for Washington-based Pashto language
Deewa Radio and a reporter for a private TV channel, was shot
dead by two unidentified assailants in Shabqadar area of Charsadda
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
SFs foiled an attempt to smuggle
arms from Darra Adamkhel to Peshawar and arrested two carriers
at Spina Thana checkpost in Kohat. Official sources said that
the SFs stopped a Suzuki car (9040-Karachi) at Spina Thana and
upon search found 40 pistols and hundreds of cartridges in it.
A bullet-riddled body of a man,
identified as Munir Ahmed, was found near Sorap Dam area of
Panjgur District. Ahmad had been missing for the last six days.
Another dead body that was found
on January 16 from Chetkhan area of the same District was identified
as that of Muhammad Azeem Sasoli, a resident of Surab area of
Kalat District.
Unknown assailants again blew
up an 18 inch diameter high pressure gas pipeline in Pat Feeder
in Sui area of Dera Bugti District, suspending the gas supply
to Quetta and other Districts. BRA reportedly claimed responsibility
for the attack.
One person, Muhammad Dost, sustained
injury in a remote-controlled blast in Khyber Sadu Khel area
of Landikotal in Khyber Agency of FATA in the evening.
Annoyed with the silence of
the Government and others over the US drone intrusions, gun-toting
tribesmen took things in their hands and fired at the drones
that appeared over North Waziristan Agency.
A Pakistani ATC conducting the
trail of seven men charged with involvement in the November
26, 2008 Mumbai attacks (also known as 26/11) adjourned proceedings
till January 28, 2012 after the main accused, LeT commander
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, sought time to appoint a new lawyer.
In a call to her Pakistani counterpart
this month, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated
the Obama administration’s counter-terrorism “red line”. The
US reserved the right to attack anyone who it determined posed
a direct threat to US national security, anywhere in the world.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar responded in kind, telling
Mrs. Clinton that Pakistan’s red line was the violation of its
sovereignty.
January 18
At least three LI militants
were killed when they clashed with volunteers of Akkakhel peace
committee in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA. Three
slain LI militants were from Shalobar, Zakhakhel and Malikdinkhel
area.
Unknown armed militants shot
dead a youth, identified as Sardar Muhammad, at Killi Kashmirabad
area near Sariab Police Station in Quetta.
TTP claimed responsibility for
the killing of a senior tribal reporter, Mukarram Khan Atif,
correspondent for Washington-based Pashto language Deewa Radio
and a reporter for a private TV channel, in Shabqadar area of
Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on January 17. TTP's
spokesmen Ehsanullah Ehsan and Mukarram Khurasani told reporters
that the group killed Mukarram Khan Atif because he 'broadcast
anti-Taliban' reports and they said they will kill other American
radio journalists.
Intelligence agencies and SFs
denied the custody of Mohammad Hasnain, a missing official of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Communication and Works (C&W) Department.
Ghulam Nabi Khan, counsel for
the missing official, accused intelligence agencies and SFs
of taking away many people and said the number of missing persons
was the highest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
informed the Upper House that former President Pervez Musharraf
would be arrested upon his return to Pakistan in the September
2006 Akbar Bugti murder case.
He told the House that a complainant
was needed to make the Federal Government register a case against
Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution. The Interior
Minister asked the PML-N to come forward as it was affected
the most by the October 12, 1999, coup.
January 19
A Sub-Inspector, Asghar Ali
Tarar (50), was shot dead by unidentified armed militants while
he was sitting in his car in Orangi Town within the precincts
of Mominabad Police Station in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
The victim had played a pivotal
role in Karachi Operation during 1992-96. SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam
said that more than 300 Policemen involved in Karachi Operation
had been killed in the recent years, adding, that Tarar was
working against the militants of banned outfits besides performing
on and off tasks for the Special Branch (Orangi Town).
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a strangulated man from Zafar Town, within the
limits of Shah Latif Police Station. Police said the victim
appeared to be Pakhtoon.
One Maaz Farooqui, an activist
of the Islami Jama’at-e-Talaba (IJT), a student wing of the
Jama’at-e-Islami (JeI), who had been missing since December
18, 2011, returned home safely. Maaz was let go near Abdullah
College in North Nazimabad area.
The militant outfit MQM-H is
expected to come into a coalition with any political or religious
party in the next general election. Chairman MQM-H Afaq Ahmed
stated this while talking to journalists after a meeting with
former Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza.
Abdullah Khorasani, a militant
who acted as a senior operations organiser for al Qaeda was
targeted and killed in one of the two US drone strikes launched
on January 10 on a compound near the town of Miranshah in the
North Waziristan Agency of FATA, an unnamed US official said.
Six persons, among them a Police
official, were injured when a suspected suicide bomber blew
himself up to avoid arrest in Akora Khattak area of Nowshera
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An explosion occurred near the
building of the PPL in Sui area of Dera Bugti District causing
no damage. "Unknown men had planted explosive material
near the building of PPL and exploded it with remote control",
the Police said.
FC IG Ubaidullah Khan Khattak
said that incidents of abductions in Balochistan had increased
at an alarming rate and had become a source of generating funds
for militants.
Responding to a query about
the links between TTP and Baloch militants, he said there is
no link between the two. He said foreign elements were involved
in destabilizing Balochistan in order to advance their vested
interests using local people as tools.
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.
Peace talks between Government
and al Qaeda-linked TTP militants have made little progress,
a Senior Security Official told Reuters. The official said the
group, seen as the biggest security threat to the strategic
US ally, had flatly rejected a demand that it works through
tribal elders to reach a deal whereby fighters approach authorities
and lay down their arms.
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.
US President Barack Obama wants
the United States and Pakistan to continue to work together
for achieving their common goals of defeating terrorism and
building a stable and peaceful Pakistan, says the White House.
A brief statement, issued by the White House, said Obama conveyed
this message to Pakistan’s new Ambassador Sherry Rehman.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar warned Washington against pushing Islamabad to go after
terrorist groups or bringing them to the Afghan peace process.
“Now that the re-evaluation process is underway as we speak,
so till the time that that re-evaluation process is not completed,
we cannot start the reengagement,” Minister Khar said in an
interview with Reuters
Pakistan expects to reopen supply
routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan, halted after a NATO cross-border
air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 26, 2011,
but will impose tariffs, a senior security official under the
condition of anonymity said.
The Pentagon says the US is
paying six times more than before to send war supplies to troops
in Afghanistan through alternate routes since Pakistan’s punitive
decision in November, 2011 to close border crossings to NATO
convoys.
Peshawar High Court Chief Justice
Dost Mohammad Khan said that the cases of missing persons was
a major issue of fundamental rights and because of their efforts
around 700 such persons had been shifted to internment centres
so far.
January 20
Four militants, two each from
both sides, were killed when cadres of LI clashed with the TTP
militants in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead an official of Frontier Corps in Malikdinkhel area of Bara
tehsil.
Seven SF personnel were injured
when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Baz Garha area
of Bara.
Three volunteers of a tribal
peace committee were injured in a bomb blast in Tirah Valley.
Militants blew up a government
primary school for boys at Bacha Mayna in Landikotal near the
Torkham border at around 8:30pm.
Three people, including a MQM
activist, were killed in different acts of violence in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. Unidentified assailants, riding
a motorcycle, shot and injured Arif Baig (26) and Tahir (28),
near Qatar Hospital within the limits of Orangi Town Police
Station.
Police found dead body of a
man near Crown Cinema within the limits of Kalri Police Station.
Police found another dead body
of a man from Gulistan-e-Jauhar within the precincts of Shahrah-e-Faisal
Police Station.
Unidentified militants shot
dead an elder from Mohmand Agency of FATA at Bakhshi Pul area
on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew
up a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline near Pir Koh area in Dera
Bugti District of Balochistan.
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.
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 Government is establishing
two de-radicalisation centres to ensure psychological and economic
rehabilitation of those people of the FATA who renounce militancy.
These centres are being set up in Sikandaro area of Bajaur Agency
in FATA and Government Degree College in Tank town of Tank District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is adjacent to the militancy-infested
South Waziristan Agency.
The Government nominated focal
persons in three Districts of Kohat division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
for ensuring quick response to acts of terrorism and decided
to devise a strategy for the repatriation of illegal Afghan
refugees.
January 21
A little known Tehreek-e-Taliban
Islami Pakistan group militants shot dead two alleged kidnappers,
Israfeel and Ghulam Nabi, in Touda Chenna area of Kurram Agency
in FATA.
An Army official, Lieutenant
Atta Muhammad, was killed when a landmine planted by militants
on a dirt track exploded in Talai area of Kurram Agency.
Four Levies Force personnel
received injuries when their vehicle was targeted with a remote
controlled bomb near Mian Mandi Bazaar in Haleemzai tehsil
of Mohmand Agency. The spokesperson for TTP Mohmand Agency chapter
chief, Mukarram Khurassin, talked to local journalists by telephone
and claimed responsibility for the attack.
A security man, Bashirullah,
was injured when one of the vehicles taking paramilitary forces
from Alizai to the garrison town of Thall was hit by a bomb
near the Chappari check-post of Kurram Agency. Officials said
about 240 militants have been killed so far.
SFs arrested 35 persons in the
wake of January 20’s bombing of a school in Torkham of Landikotal.
TTP released a video showing
them killing 15 FC personnel who were abducted in a raid on
December 23 in FATA. 15 soldiers stood blindfolded, handcuffed
to each other on a barren hilltop as one of their bearded TTP
captors held an AK-47 rifle and spoke with fury about revenge.
TTP militants on January 5 killed 15 FC personnel in Mir Ali
area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Around 390 families from Khyber
Agency took refuge in Jalozai internally displaced persons camp
as an intensified crackdown on militants has triggered displacements
from Shalobar tribal area.
A large number of families left
Qamberabad, Surkas and other villages inhabited by Shalobar
tribe in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. People began leaving
their houses after hearing that the Government has decided to
extend IDP status to members of the Shalobar tribe in view of
intensified crackdown.
A firm run by the Pakistani
military will collect a fee of USD 1,000 for every container
truck passing through the country under new conditions for the
reopening of NATO supply routes, a media report said.
There is no proposal from the
FBR to impose a transit fee on ISAF and NATO containers but
the Government is considering a proposal to allow the NLC to
charge a fee for transportation charges and for providing No
Objection Certificates, revealed the sources privy to the development.
Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar
Ali Magsi, expressing concern over the worsening law and order
situation in the province, said that it was the responsibility
of the provincial Government to improve security to the satisfaction
of the people.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry warned that he would not tolerate any violation
of the orders of the apex court. “Any violation of the orders
of Supreme Court would be taken seriously and would entail strict
action.”
Addressing members of the bar
and bench after administering oath to the newly elected office
bearers of the Karachi Bar Association here on Saturday, the
Chief Justice especially referred to the target killing of lawyers
in Karachi and said this was “really very frustrating.”
The death of a senior al Qaeda
leader in a US drone strike in the out skirts of Miranshah in
the North Waziristan Agency of FATA on January 10, the first
strike in almost two months, signaled that the US-Pakistan intelligence
partnership is still in operation despite political tensions.
January 22
Two militants were killed in
a bomb blast in Zakakhel Banjwal area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
One ASI, identified as Habibullah,
was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Zarghoonabad
area of Quetta.
A main gas pipeline was blown
up in Mullguzar area of Jaffarabad District disrupting the gas
supply to several areas in Sindh. BRA claimed responsibility
for the attack.
SFs recovered and deactivated
an explosive device planted by unidentified militants outside
the Pakistan Petroleum Limited office in Sui area of Dera Bugti
District.
The FC paramilitary troops impounded
12 containers of the of the Afghan Transit Trade near the Chaman
border in Qilla Abdullah District carrying fuel for the NATO-led
forces stationed in Afghanistan.
The Police foiled a terror bid
by arresting a suspected terrorist and recovering weapons from
a house during a raid in Basyakhel area of Bannu District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three German nationals were
taken into custody for their alleged involvement in ‘suspicious
activities’ from a house located in University Town of Peshawar.
The suspects, who were interviewed after reports they were living
in the house on the Park Lane Street illegally, failed to produce
documents validating their stay in Pakistan.
A donors’ conference will be
held next month to raise the required USD 200 million funds
for quick rehabilitation of internally displaced persons of
FATA. A handout issued said that during a presentation on FATA
Disaster Management Authority, held at Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Governor Barrister Masood Kausar was told that so far 145,338
displaced families out of total 298,715 had been sent back to
their permanent dwellings.
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.”
January 23
At least five militants were
killed when US drone fired two missiles on a house and a vehicle
at Mohammad Khel and Degan village in Dattakhel area of North
Waziristan Agency in FATA. Intelligence officials said the dead
militants were from Turkmenistan, but their exact identities
were not immediately known.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a person, identified as Haji Noor Mohammad while was going
home after offering Maghrib (evening) prayers in Eesakkhe
village mosque in Lakki Marwat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants killed
one Sahibzada Daud Ahmad, near Kotka Parade in Naurang town.
At least one Policeman was killed
while another was injured when unidentified militants opened
fire on them in Par Hoti area of Mardan District.
Four Policemen were injured
in a roadside bomb blast targeting the Police in Ajab Bagh area
of Nowshera District.
The elders of Dallokhel area
in Lakki Marwat District and local leaders of JUI-F said that
they would continue to cooperate with LEAs and SFs for restoration
of durable peace in the area.
A FC team arrested four suspect
persons and recovered a large quantity of arms from Gulistan
area in Qila Abdullah District of Balochistan. Two-hundred grenades,
45 rockets, three rocket launchers, three submachine guns and
thousands of rounds were seized during the raid.
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.
Tehran closed Zero Point, the
trade gate between Pakistan and Iran, in the bordering town
of Taftan in Chagai District of Balochistan province.
Pakistan’s fledgling democratic
Government, under increasing pressure from the military, appeased
extremist groups, ignored army abuses, and failed to hold those
responsible for serious abuses accountable in 2011, said Human
Rights Watch in its World Report 2012. Targeted killings and
other attacks on civilians by the TTP and sectarian and ethnic
militant groups, as well as killings of journalists, were commonplace
during the year, it said.
The Rights group said security
deteriorated dramatically throughout the country as the result
of suicide bombings by the TTP and affiliated groups, which
targeted civilians and public spaces, including marketplaces
and religious processions.
Relations between Pakistan and
the US deteriorated markedly in 2011. Factors fuelling the diplomatic
crisis included the killing of two men by a CIA contractor at
a Lahore traffic junction the withholding of USD 800 million
in military aid to Pakistan Pakistan’s alleged support for militants
from the “Haqqani Network” the alleged harboring by Pakistan
of Osama bin Laden and his killing by the US and the November
26, 2011 Mohmand Agency strike by NATO that killed 24 Pakistani
troops.
The Senate passed a unanimous
resolution asking the Government to arrest former President
General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on his return from abroad and
try him for committing treason.
The Senate, through the resolution,
said that General Musharraf held the Constitution in abeyance
twice and brought the judiciary into disrepute. It said that
General Musharraf removed, ridiculed and arrested judges of
the superior judiciary.
A 24 pages document released
by ISPR, the military’s public affairs wing, revealed that a
direct intervention by Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani and warning of an enhanced response had finally
brought NATO’s air strikes on Volcano and Boldak posts in Mohmand
Agency of FATA on November 26 2011 to a halt.
General Kayani talked to ODRP
(Office of the Defense Representative Pakistan) Chief L.G. Keen
at the US Embassy and warned that if the fire did not stop immediately
he would order an enhanced level of response, beyond the one
which was already being given by the Pakistani military until
that time in the shape of small arms and mortar fire.
The document, which outlined
the first formal reaction to the attack by the GHQ, rejected
the US investigation report on the Salala incident which claimed
the lives of 24 Pakistani soldiers. “Pakistan does not agree
with several portions and findings of the investigation report
as these are factually not correct,” it said.
The US Defense Department said
that the November 26 NATO air strikes were not ‘unprovoked’,
rejecting a Pakistani report which said NATO and ISAF had attacked
its troops without provocation.
The Defense Secretary failed
to submit a report in the Supreme Court regarding the alleged
occupation of the property of a citizen in Swat District of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province by SFs. The court directed the District
Officer (revenue) to retrieve the occupied property and submit
a report on January 27, 2012. The court also maintained that
no authority would interfere in the process of retrieving the
occupied land.
Federal Law Minister Mir Maula
Bakhsh Chandio claimed that the political and other crises in
the country are man-made and artificial. Talking to reporters,
he recalled the misrule of military dictators, saying that pro-establishment
forces had never created any crisis to embarrass any military
dictator, nor did those Governments face artificial problems
“created for vested interests”.
Commenting on Balochistan, Chandio
said violence was not a solution to any problem. “The PPP leadership
apologized and wants to bring the Baloch people into the mainstream.
The Government is ready to hold talks and negotiations with
the Baloch leadership. However, violence from either side has
remained a hindrance in addressing their grievances,” he added.
January 24
Seven militants and two soldiers
were killed during a clash in Jogi area of the Central tehsil
in Kurram Agency of FATA. Two soldiers were also injured. According
to officials, the clash erupted when troops fired back on militants
who had attacked a check post in Jogi area, killing Salman Khan
and Assad Khan. Military and paramilitary troops launched operation
in the area about a month ago and reported to have killed over
250 militants.
A Khasadar, identified as Murtaza
Khan, was killed and two persons were injured when a bomb, buried
under the debris of a destroyed school, went off in Sheikhmal
Khel area of Landi Kotal tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Officials of the Education Department
said that number of schools destroyed in Khyber Agency had reached
57. Out of these schools 32 were targeted in Bara, 22 in Landi
Kotal and four in Jamrud, depriving 16,000 children of education
only in Bara tehsil.
A CD shop was destroyed completely
when explosive went off in a market in Dagai village of Landi
Kotal. Two other adjacent shops were also damaged. Nobody was
hurt in the incident.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead two cadres, identified as Muhammad Ali alias Mama, (33),
and Muhammad Nauman, (22), belonging to ASWJ, near Pan Mandi
Jodia Bazaar within the precincts of Risala Police Station in
Karachi. The Police claimed that it was a sectarian killing.
A bystander, identified as Ishaq,
was killed in Memon Society when unidentified assailants restored
to firing to protest target killings of the ASWJ activists.
Police found an unidentified
torture-marked dead body of a person from the Nigar Cinema area
of Lea Market within the jurisdiction of Kharadar Police Station.
An officer said that the victim appeared to be of Katchi descent.
A vehicle carrying workers of
PAEC partially damaged in a roadside blast on Lakki-Mianwali
Road near Chowkijand in Lakki Marwat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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.
LEAs neutralised a potential
terrorism bid by defusing an anti-tank landmine in Shambey area
near Gwadar Town in Gwadar District. Local Police said unidentified
militants had planted the landmine along the road to target
vehicles traveling by which was detected and defused by a team
of LEAs.
Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari's media adviser Farahnaz Ispahani alleged that she ran
away from the country over fears that the ISI might abduct her
to force her husband, former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani,
to sign a confession and implicate the President in the Memo
Gate scandal.
Lamb, a foreign correspondent
for The Sunday Times, who filed story on Pakistan from Washington,
is banned from entering Pakistan after being deported from the
country in 2001. She wrote that Haqqani's life was in danger
and his wife Ispahani had fled to Washington amid fears that
"ISI might kidnap her to force her husband to sign a confession
and implicate the President."
The Afghan Taliban shared with
Pakistan the ‘functional blueprint” of their formal talks with
US officials in the Gulf state of Qatar, an Afghan leader said.
It is possibly the first time that the Afghan Taliban has shared
details of what they will be discussing with US negotiators,
even though they haven’t divulged what had been previously discussed.
The USAID will continue its
support for economic and social development of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and FATA. This assurance was given by Andrew Sisson, the USAID’s
Mission Director in Pakistan, while speaking at a ceremony at
Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
HRCP expressed alarm at reports
that another person, identified as Abdul Saboor’s, who had been
detained for suspected involvement in the 2009 GHQ attack was
found dead in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
January 25
Twenty two militants and six
soldiers were killed during a clash when SFs captured a TTP
stronghold in the Jogi area of Central tehsil of Kurram
Agency in FATA. According to sources, the clash broke out when
security personnel launched a search operation in the Jogi area.
Officials said that around 50 TTP militants attacked troops
during a search operation in Jogi village.
Militants attacked a SFs’ checkpost
with rockets, small and heavy weapons in Haleemzai tehsil
of Mohmand Agency. However, no casualty was reported. The checkpost
manned by Levies personnel came under attack at 2:00am. TTP
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Barrister Masood Kausar has said that peace will be maintained
in Kurram Agency at all costs. He urged the tribesmen, relevant
authorities and parties to the peace agreement to watch the
situation for a quick response to any eventuality.
An Inspector of the FIA, Walayat
Hussain, Quetta television artiste Abid Hussain Nazish and Mohammad
Anwar Hussain, an accounts officer at the Balochistan Accountant
General’s Office, were shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in a sectarian attack in Quetta. Police said it appeared to
be a case of targeted sectarian killings because the victims
were Shia who belonged to the Hazara tribe.
A man was killed and another
sustained injuries in an incident of firing in Chattar area
of Naseerabad District. According to sources, the victim, identified
as Wali Muhammad, was on his way to work along with his friend
Ranjhan when unidentified assailants opened fire on them.
Police recovered a bullet-riddled
body dumped in the desert area of Hub town in Lasbela District.
Later, the deceased was identified as Muhammad Imran.
Senior journalists during a
conference held at the Quetta press club expressed that Balochistan
is the second most dangerous place after Afghanistan for journalists
as they are under serious threats to their lives.
A fresh wave of sectarian violence
in the city has claimed the lives of four persons, including
three lawyers. In the first incident, unidentified assailants
shot dead three members of the Shia Lawyers’ Forum on Maulana
Din Muhammad Wafai Road of Karachi.
A member of the Tableeghi Jamaat
was shot dead near Hashmi Masjid in of Orangi Town. DSP Tariq
Malik said the deceased, identified as Mehtab, was attacked
when he was on his way home from a mosque.
Overruling an office objection,
the Supreme Court accepted on January 25 a petition by a woman
whose three sons had been picked up by intelligence personnel
for their alleged role in the October 2009 attacks on the Army
GHQ and the ISI’s Hamza Camp in Rawalpindi. She alleged that
her sons and eight other people had been kept in illegal confinement
since May 29, 2010, and four of them, including Abdus Saboor,
died in mysterious circumstances.
January 26
Militants killed six soldiers,
including a non-commissioned officer, in an attack on a check
post of the FC at Kachhi canal area in Dera Bugti District.
BRA claimed responsibility for the attack and said its men had
taken away an FC man, along with weapons that included four
G-3 rifles, one light machine gun and other small weapons.
Iranian SFs killed eight traders
and injured others on Zaran hills, an area between Chabahar
District of Iran and Gwadar District of Balochistan. Six cattle
traders from the Pakistani side of Balochistan were returning
home after delivering cows to their customers in Iranian Balochistan
when they were chased and fired upon by Pasdaran (Revolutionary
Guards of Iran). All six died on the spot. Four other travellers
from Bahu Kalat and Dashtiyari sub-districts of Iran also came
under fire. Two of them were killed while as many injured in
the attack.
One soldier was killed and another
injured when a group of militants stormed a FCB checkpost near
Baran dam in FR Bannu. The attack killed FCB soldier Saleem
Afridi and injured another Owalyar Khan.
An unidentified person was shot
dead at Jinnah Road of Street No 1 within the limits of Shershah
Police Station in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
SHO Shahid Jabbar said the victim appeared to be Baloch speaking.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested three alleged target killers and recovered
weapons from their possession near the Capri Cinema within the
limits of Soldier Bazaar Police Station. The three target killers
had affiliation with a political party and were identified as,
Sher Alam Mehsud alias Langra, Shaheen Mehsud alias Salman,
and Gul Khan Afghani.
Pakistan Military Academy wall
was damaged in rocket attack in Abbottabad town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
DCO Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah said that no casualty took place.
After two months into Pakistan's
blockade of NATO supplies crossing into Afghanistan, thousands
of trucks are crowding the port in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh, where drivers, fed up with waiting, are starting to
desert.
"They had no more money
in the end so they left one helper with their vehicle for security
and care, and went back to their families," All Pakistan
Oil Tankers Association Vice Chairman Muhammad Saleh Afridi
said, adding, that more than a thousand trucks were stranded
in Karachi. There are about 5,000 containers and military vehicles,
according to a count provided by the authorities in early January
this year.
The US has termed as "untrue"
sentiments inside Pakistan that it was being sidelined by the
Barrack Obama Administration in peace talks with the Afghan
Taliban. "Absolutely untrue", State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said, when asked there was a feeling inside
Pakistan that they are being sidelined in these talks with Afghan
Taliban.
Despite the killings of Osama
bin Laden and radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, al Qaeda
remains a “real threat to the United States” US Defence Secretary
Leon Panetta said in a TV interview late on January 25.
Even if the militants do not
lay their weapons, they should accept the writ of the Government,
said ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan during a party address.
January 27
A security official was killed
and another injured when militants opened fire on them near
Uch gas field, a boarding area between Jaffarabad District and
Dera Bugti District of Balochistan. The deceased was identified
as Haider Zaman and the injured as Muhammad Sharif. The BRA
claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Police constable, identified
as Yousuf Ali (45), was shot dead near Kausar Medico, within
the precincts of Arambagh Police Station in Karachi while going
on his duty.
The Supreme Court directed the
ISI and the Military Intelligence to submit reports on senseless
and indiscriminate killings in Balochistan. The order was issued
by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez
during the hearing of a petition about the breakdown of law
and order in the province.
Under Article 9 of the Constitution
(security of person), it was the prime duty of the Provincial
as well as the Federal Governments to protect the life and property
of people, the order said, deploring the Law-Enforcement Agencies
seemed to be helpless.
A huge crowd comprising mostly
of youngsters with majority of them in a uniform dress code
from different seminaries across Sindh gathered at the first
major show of political prowess of the JUI-F at Bagh-e-Quaid
on M.A Jinnah Road in Karachi.
Holding black and white party
flags, the supporters had a variety of slogans but common thoughts
to share. “We don’t want any secular and liberal party to rule
Pakistan,” said Haseebullah, a second-year student of Dars-i-Nizami,
who accompanied his more than 500 seminary students from Korangi
town at the rally. “People have witnessed those who are allied
with the United States,” said Shiraz Khan, in his mid-20s, and
enrolled with a Clifton seminary.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Barrister Masood Kausar has appointed chairman and two members
of the FCR Tribunal. A notification issued by the law and order
Department of FATA Secretariat in Peshawar said that the Governor
had appointed Shah Wali Khan as chairman of the tribunal whereas
Advocate Pir Fida Mohammad and Akbar Khan had been appointed
its members.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed
a decline in the number of bomb blasts in 2011 compared to 2010,
a Peshawar City Police study said. Yet this is hardly a cause
to rejoice, as the death toll from the attacks was actually
higher than the previous year. According to a comparative study
by the capital city police, a total of 34 bomb blasts took place
in the province in 2011, killing 400 civilians and 134 police
officials, while 37 blasts were witnessed in 2010 which killed
411 civilians and 99 security personnel.
Former President General Pervez
Musharraf will definitely be arrested if he returns to the country,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said. “In fact, there had
been murder charges against him, and there had even been some
very grave charges against him, and the Supreme Court had already
given a verdict against him,” Gilani was quoted as saying at
the Global Economic Forum in Davos.
January 28
A former trustee of Aal-Aba
Imambargah, identified as Jaffar Mohsin Rizvi (60), was shot
dead in the Gulberg area of Karachi. SHO Raja Tariq said that
there was a possibility the incident was linked to the recent
wave of sectarian killings in Karachi.
An activist of the MQM, Muhammad
Aslam alias Achra, was killed while three other party workers,
Tahir, Azeem and Ali, sustained severe bullet wounds in a drive-by
shooting in Ram Swami Area within the jurisdiction of Garden
Police Station.
An unidentified young man was
shot dead near Mehmand Hotel, Lyari within the limits of Baghdadi
Police Station. The victim appeared to be Mianwali.
Police found an unidentified
10-day-old dead body of a man from a drain at Singer Chowrangi
within the limits of Awami Colony Police Station.
Tension gripped the city after
two assailants hurled a hand grenade at Green Hardware Shop
near Dak Khana Chowrangi in Liaquatabad area, leaving five persons
wounded.
A Policeman, identified as Jehangir,
was killed when heavily armed militants fired at him on Grid
Road, in Dera Ismail Khan District. One of the suspected militants
was killed in retaliation. The remaining militants, who had
reportedly hid in Qurtaba School, managed to flee.
A house was partially damaged
in an IED explosion in Meri Colony of Kohat District. No loss
of life was, however, reported.
Two soldiers were killed in
a roadside blast in the Jogi area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
Official sources said that a convoy of Security Forces was on
its way to its camp when a roadside bomb exploded, killing two
soldiers on the spot.
The six Pakistanis killed by
Iranian border guards on January 26, 2012 were alleged to be
“drug traffickers” who crossed over from Pakistan. The six were
shot dead after they allegedly crossed the border and opened
fire the report said quoting the Iranian Sistan-Balochistan
province border Police.
Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington
Sherry Rehman reached out to Pakistani-Americans to seek their
support towards better Pakistan-US relations, which she underscored,
must be based on "mutual respect, interests and shared
values”.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
acknowledged publicly for the first time that a Pakistani doctor
provided key information to the US in advance of the Navy SEAL’s
assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad on May 1,
2011. Panetta acknowledged that Dr Shakeel Afridi had in fact
been working for the US intelligence, collecting DNA to verify
the 9/11 mastermind’s presence.
January 29
Three tribal volunteers including
a ‘commander’ of a pro-government peace lashkar were
killed when unidentified armed militants attacked their check
post in Lop area of the Sui tehsil of Dera Bugti District.
A spokesman of BRA, Sarbaz Baloch, claimed responsibility for
the attack.
Two unidentified bullet-riddled
dead bodies of a woman and a man were found in Dera Bugti District.
A driver was killed and eight
passengers received injuries when SFs opened firing on a vehicle
when driver did not stop the vehicle for checking at a checkpoint
in Alam Goder area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of
FATA.
A soldier was killed and another
received fatal injuries in a landmine explosion in Kari Wam
area of Frontier Region Tank.
A roadside bomb blast killed
one security official in Jandola tehsil of South Waziristan
Agency.
A landmine blast killed Frontier
Corps trooper, Irfanullah, in Jawakai areas in the FR Kohat.
The SFs exchanged fire with militants, hiding in the mountains
along gun manufacturing Darra Adamkhel town, on the second day
of operation.
A volunteer of Aman lashkar
was also killed by terrorists in the same area.
Two security personnel were
injured in a mortar shell attack in the Jogi area of Kurram
Agency.
The tribesmen extended full
support to SFs during operation against militants in Mohmand
Agency, said Brigadier Aftab Ahmad. Addressing a jirga
at Ghalanai, he said that a quota will be specified for Mohmand
tribe to encourage youth of the area to join Army. He said that
a cadet college would be established in the area.
Two activists of ST, identified
as Sohail Ahmed and Saleem Qadri, were shot dead in an incident
of sectarian killing near their party’s office in Usmanabad
area within the precincts of Garden Police Station in Karachi.
Baldia Police found a dead body
of a man, identified as Saleem Akhter, from Saeedabad area.
One MQM-H cadre, identified
as Atif, was injured in an exchange of fire that took place
outside the residence of Chairman Afaq Ahmed at Landhi. MQM-H
Chairman Afaq Ahmed had called a workers meeting at his residence
when some armed assailants of a rival organisation opened indiscriminate
fire and also abducted 18 to 20 workers of the MQM-H.
A chief of the Dera Ismail Khan
chapter of Pakistan TTP, Imran Gandapur, of was shot dead during
an operation with Police on Grid Station Road in Dera Ismail
Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Imran Gandapur a former
Policeman, involved in the killing of Mian Iftikhar Hussain’s
son, Mian Arshad Iftikhar.
SFs arrested two militants,
identified as Umer Afridi alias Ameer Saib and Jalal Khan alias
Bahadar Khan of Khyber Agency, during a search operation in
Jalozai camp of Nowshera District.
Police beefed security and started
through checking of vehicles and pedestrians in the District,
especially in the hilly area of Ziarat Kaka Sahib. The Police
were trying to block entry of militants into Nowshera as SFs
had launched operation in FR Kohat, sources said.
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.
The Lahore, Jhelum, Chakwal and Motorway Police undertook the
search and found an injured and tortured Syed Feroze Hassan
abandoned near Sardi village.
The proscribed Sunni Tehreek,
known as a religious organisation, announced that it was converting
itself into a political party to be called Pakistan Sunni Tehreek
(PST). The announcement was made by the head of the Tehreek,
Maulana Sarwat Ejaz Quaderi, who was addressing the “Pakistan
Bachao Janisaran-e-Mustafa Conference”, held at Nishtar Park
in Soldier Bazaar of Karachi.
The Afghanistan and Pakistan
Governments are seeking peace talks with the Afghan Taliban
in Saudi Arabia separate from US-brokered talks with the militants
in Qatar, officials said.
But Afghan and Taliban officials
indicated in response to a BBC report about plans for talks
in Saudi Arabia that both Kabul and Islamabad were looking for
their own talks with the militants. Asked for his response to
the BBC report, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai
said, “Of course we support any steps towards the Afghan peace
process.”
Afghanistan Ambassador in Islamabad,
Omar Daudza said that Pakistan FM Hina Rabbani Khar will visit
Kabul and call on Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and will
also hold talks with her Afghanistan counterpart Doctor Zalmay
Rassoul to pave the way for the restoration of joint peace and
reconciliation efforts.
The relations between the two
neighbors were severely strained following the September 20,
2011 assassination of former Afghan President, and Chairman
of Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani.
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.
January 30
Three members of the MQM were
killed when unidentified armed assailants resorted to indiscriminate
firing in New Karachi area. The victims were identified as,
Nizamuddin alias Adil, Adnan and Irfan alias Shahrukh.
A Shia man, identified as Syed
Taseer Abbas Zaidi (24), was shot dead by unidentified assailants
in Ancholi area. The victim was a member of the Anjuman Tanzeem-e-Hussaini.
According to Samanabad Police officials, it was an incident
of sectarian killing.
At least three people were injured
when unidentified motorcyclists hurled a hand grenade at the
people sitting in a teashop at Bihar Colony in Lyari. The injured
were identified as Ajmal (30), Abdul Ghafoor (40) and Yousuf
(40).
Police arrested number of suspects
in a search operation in Qasba Colony, Bukhari Colony, Mujahid
Colony, Aligarh Colony areas of Orangi Town along with parallel
combing of Ranchor Line, Gulsha-e-Iqbal’s Quaid-e-Azam Colony,
and parts of Malir.
A ‘commander’ of AI, identified
as Haji Akhunzada, and three others, including his nephew and
son-in-law, were killed in a suicide attack in Pakha Ghulam
area, on the outskirts of Peshawar. Seven people were also injured,
of whom five were reported in critical condition. “The attacker
was between 20 and 25 years of age. He targeted Haji Akhunzada,
a commander of the AI,” SSP Tahir Ayub said. No group claimed
responsibility for the attack, but the Peshawar Police pointed
fingers at LI.
Unidentified militants shot
dead the leader of a tribal militia, identified as Malik Wazir
(70), at Bakhshi Pul area on Charsadda Road in Peshawar. Wazir
headed a peace body in Baizai area of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet expressed
confidence in the Federal Government over the Afghan refugees’
repatriation issue, asking it to involve the Provincial Government
in the future tripartite dialogue on the matter. The Provincial
Government had decided to ask centre to involve Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
during the course of the future tripartite dialogue for the
repatriation of Afghan refugees, Minister for Information Mian
Iftikhar Hussain said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet was
told that Kohat Central Jail and Lakki Marwat sub-jail had been
handed over to Pakistan Army for conversion into detention centers
where under-trail terrorists could be interrogated. Minister
for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that after proper
identification and classification of the detainees arrested
on terrorism charges and the under-trail prisoners would be
shifted to detention centers in Kohat and Lakki Marwat Districts.
Levies Force arrested six Bangladeshis
near the Taftan-Iran border in Chagai District. Tehsildar Ghulam
Mustafa said that the six foreigners apprehended wanted to illegally
cross into Iran.
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.
An Oslo court sentenced two
suspects to prison for planning to bomb the Danish Newspaper
that published drawings of the Prophet Mohammed in Norway’s
first-ever guilty verdict for “plotting to commit a terrorist
act”. According to Norway’s Intelligence Service, Police Security
Service (PST), Davud, a short, bearded man received training
in making and using explosives from al Qaeda members and sympathizers
in Pakistan’s region of Waziristan between November 2008 and
July 2010.
According to the prosecution,
the two men had in liaison with al Qaeda planned to use explosives
against the offices of the Danish Newspaper and to murder Kurt
Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the most controversial of
the 12 drawings of the Prophet published in September 2005.
The Supreme Court directed the
chiefs of the spy agencies to produce the remaining seven missing
prisoners in court on January 31 who were picked up by them
from outside Adiala Jail following their release on February
9, 2010.
The court expressing concern
over the mysterious death of four missing prisoners, sought
a reply, explaining the circumstances under which the four had
died and directed filing the charges against them and directed
the counsel for the Director Generals of the ISI, MI and Judge
Advocate General Branch, Raja Muhammad Irshad, to produce the
remaining prisoners of Adiala Jail on the next hearing.
The counsel requested the court
that some time is given to file a comprehensive reply on the
petition regarding death of four missing prisoners. He denied
that four prisoners died in the custody of agencies, however,
said the remaining missing prisoners were under the custody
of the Provincial Government.
US President Barack Obama officially
acknowledged and confirmed that the US drone aircraft have struck
Taliban and al Qaeda targets within Pakistan. When asked about
the use of drones by his administration in a chat with web users
on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said, “A lot of these strikes
have been in the FATA. For the most part, they’ve been very
precise precision strikes against al Qaeda and their affiliates,
and we’re very careful in terms of how it’s been applied.” “This
is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of
active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans,
hit American facilities, American bases, and so on,” he added.
Explaining that many strikes
were carried out “on Al-Qaeda operatives in places where the
capacities of that military in that country may not be able
to get them,” Obama confirmed that Pakistan’s lawless tribal
zone was a target.
The Government of Pakistan should
redouble efforts to find the killers of journalist Saleem Shahzad
following the failure of the judicial inquiry commission to
identify those responsible, the New York-based Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said. The Commission concluded in its January 10,
2012 report to the Government that the Police had failed to
question Pakistan’s military intelligence officials in its criminal
investigation.
The ISI, the HRW said, had a
long and well-documented history of abductions, torture, and
extrajudicial killings of critics of the military and others.
Those abducted are routinely beaten and threatened, their relatives
told not to worry or complain as release was imminent, and then
released with the threat of further abuse if the ordeal is made
public.
Shahzad, a reporter for the
Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online and for Adnkronos International
was killed on June 1, 2011 in the Mandi Bahauddin District of
Punjab province.
January 31
At least 35 militants and eight
soldiers were killed in a gun-battle after a newly-established
security checkpost was attacked in Jogi heights of Mamozai tehsil
in Kurram Agency of FATA. Over 100 terrorists attacked the post
in Jogi heights in the morning, damaging the post badly. 15
soldiers and scores of militants injured in the attack.
Six militants were killed in
a clash with security personnel, the third day of an operation
in the Frontier Region Kohat. The SFs intruded for the first
time into the Golono Tangi area in the semi-autonomous tribal
area while chasing militants and a clash took place between
the two sides.
Six FC personnel were killed
and 13 others injured when some unidentified assailants opened
fire on three FC check posts in the Killi Pir Ismail area of
Ziarat District. The assailants managed to escape.
One Balochistan MPA, identified
as Mir Bakhtiar Domki, his wife and daughter were shot dead
when unidentified armed assailants opened fire on their car
near a flyover in the Gizri area of Clifton Police Station in
Karachi.
A security guard and a lady
receptionist of a mobile franchise were shot dead and three
customers injured in an armed attack under North Nazimabad Police
Station in Karachi.
Doctor Ashfaq Ahmed Qazi was
shot dead in a sectarian attack near Malir railway crossing
within the precinct of Saudabad Police Station. According to
Police, it was an incident of sectarian killing and the victim
belonged to the Deobandi school of thought.
Naeem Abbas (25) was standing
in Mughal Hazara Goth when unidentified militants opened fire
on him, injuring him seriously. Gulistan Jauhar Police shifted
him to nearest private hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police said that the victim belonged to the Shia community and
had come from Gilgit-Baltistan to Karachi only two month ago.
A man, identified as Omar Rehman
(42), was shot dead in Bawani Challie within the limits of Site
A Police Station.
Muhammad Ahmed was shot dead
at Ramswami near BP Factory in the limits of Garden Police Station.
13 persons, including three
PESCO officials were abdcuted by unidenfied militants in Badhber
area on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sources said that the linemen of PESCO and
labourers were repairing a power pylon at Khushal Khwar area
when militants abdcuted them. An official said that a tower
had been blown up by militants in the area few days ago and
PESCO officials were repairing it to restore power supply but
militants did not let them do so.
SFs blew up the house of two
wanted militants, Haider and Usman, who refused to surrender
to the law enforcement agencies despite repeated warnings in
the Bara Bandai area of Kabal tehsil in Swat District.
Reacting to US President Barack
Obama’s admission of drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas,
elders from North Waziristan Agency of FATA announced a long
march from the tribal belt to the Parliament House in Islamabad
on February 25.
Pakistan reminded the United
States about the illegality of the drone war in tribal areas
and emphasised that Islamabad was very sensitive about violation
of sovereignty. “Drone attacks are unlawful, counter-productive
and hence unacceptable. We cannot condone violation of our sovereignty,”
Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said.
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.
A secret NATO report claims
to “fully expose” direct links between Pakistan’s ISI and the
Afghan Taliban, reported TheExpress Tribune quoting
January 31 report of the BBC. According to the BBC, the
leaked report notes “Pakistan manipulation of the Afghan Taliban
senior leadership continues unabatedly.”
The secret document reported
that the ISI is secretly helping Afghan Taliban, who assumes
their victory is inevitable once Western troops leave. The leaked
report “State of the Taliban”, seen by the BBC and The
Times, was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent
detainees and was given to NATO commanders in Afghanistan in
January 2012, the media reports said.
The Times quoted the
report as saying the Afghan Taliban’s “strength, motivation,
funding and tactical proficiency remains intact” despite setbacks
in 2011. “Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an
eventual return of the Afghan Taliban,” it said, adding, “Once
(NATO forces) International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
is no longer a factor, Afghan Taliban consider their victory
inevitable.”
The US Department of Defence
said it could not comment on the report but set out its fears
about Pakistan and its influence in Afghanistan. “We have not
seen the report, and therefore cannot offer comment on it specifically,”
Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
Pakistan has one united policy
towards the US, which has the support of all Government institutions,
said Ambassador Sherry Rehman emphasizing the need to dispel
the impression that Pakistani institutions are divided over
the country’s relationship with Washington.
The US Director of National
Intelligence, James R. Clapper said that continued pressure
from the US and its allies will likely reduce al Qaeda’s core
leadership in Pakistan to “largely symbolic importance” over
the next two to three years as the terrorist organisation fragments
into more regionally focused groups and homegrown extremists.
Balochistan Member of Provincial
Assembly, Mir Bakhtiar Domki, his wife and daughter were killed
when unidentified armed assailants opened fire on their car
near a flyover in the Gizri area of Clifton Police Station in
Karachi (Sindh).
February 1
At least 15 personnel of the
FC were killed and 12 others were injured when militants belonging
to the BLA attacked four FC check posts near Margat coalmines
in Mach area of Bolan District. A BLA spokesperson, who introduced
himself as Mirak Baloch, while talking to the local media, said
that his organisation had carried out the attack.
Another 10 FC soldiers who had
been wounded in attacks on their posts in the Killi Pir Ismail
area of Ziarat District on January 31, 2011, succumbed to their
injuries, taking the death toll to 16. Some FC personnel remain
missing. Spokesman for BLA, Merick Baloch claimed responsibility
for the attack and said that they had also abducted three FC
soldiers.
One person, identified as Wazir
Muhammad, was killed and eight others including four women were
injured in a hand grenade attack in Killi Dur Muhammad area
of Sibi District.
Unidentified militants blew
up a gas pipeline on Link Badini Road in the jurisdiction of
Satellite Town Police Station in Quetta. However, no casualties
were reported.
A Hindu trader, identified as
Vijay Kumar, was abducted from Bazaar area of Mastung District.
According to Police, Kumar was on his way home when a group
of armed assailants intercepted him and abducted him at gunpoint.
Army fighter jets pounded militant
hideouts in the Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA before
dawn, killing at least 20 TTP militants. “At least 20 Taliban
militants were killed in the bombing,” a military official in
Peshawar said. The hideouts belonged to TTP ‘commanders’ Mulla
Toofan and Maulvi Moinuddin, a security official said. Commander
Maulvi Moinuddin and six foreigners were among the dead, says
another report.
The beheaded body of a missing
bread baker, identified as Waris Khan, was found in Khowgakhel
area of Khyber Agency. Waris Khan was abdcuted by unidentified
militants on January 31 evening when he was returning home from
a nearby mosque after offering Maghrib prayers. A chit found
with his body said that he was uted on charges of spying against
TTP.
A jirga of Safi Masood
tribe in Mohmand Agency decided that tribesmen would not accept
any pressure to form peace committees. The jirga, attended by
about 300 tribesmen, was addressed by Haji Gul Nabi, Hussain
Ahmad, Saeed Khan, Malak Mohammad Jan, Jangrez Khan and others.
Three Policemen were killed
when their patrol vehicle was ambushed by unidentified militants
near Buland Khel Mod in Shahbaz Khel area of Lakki Marwat District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Militants threw hand grenades first and
then opened fire on Police mobile van which was on routine patrol.
A prominent member of Sunni
Supreme Council and secretary general of a welfare organisation,
Khalid, was killed by unidentified militants on the bypass road
in Hangu District.
Unidentified militant abdcuted
six elders of Bittani tribe from Omarkhel area of Tank District.
Sources said that the six elders were travelling in a car when
militants intercepted them at Omarkhel village and whisked them
away along with their vehicle. All the six elders including
Malak Payo Gul, Malak Multan, Seri Khan, Ghazanmir, Haji Sarwar
Khan and Khwaja Mir belong to Nematkhel clan of Bittani tribe.
A man, identified as Tahir Hussain
(25), was shot dead near People’s Football Ground, Mauripur
Road within the limits of Kalri Police Station in Karachi. The
victim hailed from Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A private security guard and
a suspected militant were wounded in a clash that took place
outside the Madinatul-Ilm-Imambargah in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area
in an attempt to foil a sectarian attack at the Imambargah.
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.
The JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad
Saeed has kept the guessing game on about his reported political
ambitions. At a press conference on January 31, 2011 in Karachi,
he parried questions on whether the JuD would declare itself
a political party and participate in elections.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that peace in Afghanistan was critical for the peace and
security in Pakistan, and said that it does not want any political
settlement in Afghanistan that would destabilise Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that Pakistan had no hidden agenda in Afghanistan
and would back a peace process with Afghan Taliban as long as
it was driven by Afghans and not other figures on the international
stage. Khar also dismissed a leaked US military report claiming
Pakistan supported Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, saying
it can be “disregarded”.
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. The cabinet decided to formally take
up the issue with the Provincial Government, ensuring that the
Difa-e-Pakistan Council should stay away from individuals like
Malik Ishaq in future.
The US said it has "long
standing concerns" over Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI)
links with the Afghan Taliban and wants Pakistan to "cut-off"
those ties, hours after a NATO report blew the lid off the ISI''s
"manipulation" of Afghan Taliban''s senior leadership.
Pentagon spokesperson Captain John Kirby told reporters during
an off-camera briefing that the facts laid bare by the damning
report were "not a new notion" and these concerns
have been raised earlier as well.
CIA Director David Petraeus
said that Pakistan is not putting enough pressure on the Afghan
Taliban to make them seek a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan.
“Obviously, there’s been insufficient pressure on the Haqqani
Network, on some of the other elements — again, the allies of
al Qaeda such as the Commander Nazir group, the Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan and then some others. And then needless to say,
the Afghan Taliban has not been pressured sufficiently in the
sanctuaries that it enjoys in Balochistan and in other areas
as well,” David Petraeus told the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence.
February 2
Three persons were killed when
unidentified militants opened fire on a car in the Mashkil area
of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead tribal elder and Khuzdar Traders Union former President
Muhammad Ramzan Zehri and injured his companion Ahmed Khan in
Kanak area of Khuzdar District.
Unidentified militants blew
up an 8-inch diameter gas pipeline in Pir Koh area of Dera Bugti
District. However, no loss of life was reported.
In a bid to draw attention to
the near blackout of Balochistan-related atrocities by the dominant
television networks of the country, all Urdu channels have been
shut down across the province for the past 24 hours.
One trooper was killed and another
four injured when militants stormed a check post in Daulat Khel
area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
SFs recovered a huge cache of
ammunition and an explosives-packed car, defused two bombs and
arrested eight suspects from the Khugakhel area in Landikotal.
KP Governor Syed Masood Kausar
said that a swift change is taking place in FATA as restoration
of peace has ushered in an era of development. Addressing the
inaugural ceremony of the newly constructed 110 kilometres Tank-Jandola-Makin
Road in South Waziristan Agency, he said that development activities
in FATA would pick momentum in the days to come and peace would
be maintained at all costs to facilitate an uninterrupted uplift
process across the tribal areas.
Two boys were injured after
one of them stepped on a landmine during a football match in
Akhorwal area of Darra Adamkhel town in the Kohat District of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police were put Peshawar on
high alert following a Special Branch report regarding a potential
suicide attack in the city. The tip-off came two days after
the Peshawar Police recovered improvised explosives attached
to a motorcycle near the border with Khyber Agency of FATA.
According to the report, TTP had grouped with other terror organisations
in the area and was planning attacks on Peshawar.
After the Sindh Government announced
a reward of PKR One million for the arrest of sectarian killing
suspects, the Anti-Extremism Cell of the CID claimed to have
arrested three suspected militants belonging to SSP for their
alleged involvement in killing 10 persons, including five lawyers
from Mauripur area.
The suspects were identified
as Mohammad Taufeeq Ansari, Salahuddin Israel and Maulana Mohammad
Arshad. During the investigation, the accused allegedly disclosed
that they had killed Kafeel, Shakeel and Badar Muneer in the
Arambagh Police limits on January 25, 2012.
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.
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.
The founder of LeT and JuD chief
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed appeared to lose his cool on a TV show
when Indian Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Mani Shankar
Aiyar questioned his contention that Indians did not accept
Pakistan, and said he should be arrested and brought before
court.
Responding to a question from
the host, the founder of LeT said, “Giving India MFN status
is not correct because there are already big problems that haven’t
been resolved. The dams being made by India will create a crisis
in Pakistan.”
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said Pakistan wanted the return of Afghan refugees to their
homeland with honour and called upon the international community
for assistance in this regard. Talking to UNHCR Antonio Guterres
at the PM’s House, the Prime Minister said it seemed that the
international community had forgotten Afghan refugees. The Prime
Minister said Pakistan would support any reconciliation process,
which was Afghan-led and Afghan-owned and added that its culmination
would not destabilise Pakistan.
Pakistan is willing to do whatever
the Afghanistan want to help facilitate an end to 10 years of
war with the Afghan Taliban, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar
said. Speaking a day after talks with President Hamid Karzai
in Kabul billed as a fence-mending visit designed to ease frosty
ties, Khar sought to refute perceptions that Islamabad was an
obstacle to peace.
Hina Rabbani Khar said that
Pakistan would be willing to push the Afghan militant groups
like the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban to make peace
if asked to do so by the Afghan Government, an action seen as
key to the reconciliation process.
The US State Department issued
a new travel warning for Pakistan, telling American citizens
that the reaction to the November 26 NATO raid on a border post
had created new threats for them in that country.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that there is nothing new in the new classified
report of NATO on Taliban, leaked portions of which says that
the Pakistan continues to have links with the extremist organisation.
"I think that there have already been comments that there's
nothing new in what has been released, but I'm not going to
go into it in any depth," Clinton told reporters at a joint
media availability with the visiting Singapore Foreign Minister
K Shanmugam.
February 3
Eighteen militants and seven
soldiers were killed and three others injured during a clash
that broke out when a group of 40 TTP militants attacked on
SFs checkpost in Shidano Dand area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan in a telephone call from an
unidentified place claimed responsibility for the raid, saying
12 Frontier Corps soldiers were killed and four others captured
by terrorists. “We carried out this attack to avenge the killing
of our commander Taj Gul in Khyber Agency,” Ehsan said, without
giving details when he was killed and his significance to the
outfit.
Three militants and a volunteer
of the tribal lashkar were killed in fresh fighting between
the LI and the Zakhakhel tribe in Sherkhel area in Tirah Valley
of Khyber Agency. The sources said that the Zakhakhel tribal
lashkar continued its advance towards Sherkhel and Zor Killay
amid tough resistance from the rival side.
LI militants attacked a security
checkpost in Malikdinkhel area, leaving one FC soldier dead
and four others injured. Sources said that two suspected militants
were killed during the SFs’ operation in the area soon after
the attack.
In Bazaar Zakhakhel area of
Landi Kotal, an explosion outside the house of a local elder
killed his son and injured two of his other family members.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. The Zakhakhel
tribe revolted against LI in April 2011 and after forcing the
LI activists to leave their area, they now have found their
own armed group, Tawheed ul Islam.
A LI militant was killed and
three others were wounded when LI cadres and its rival outfit
AI clashed in Akkakhel area.
A bridge in Shalobar area was
partially damaged when a time device planted to it exploded.
Forces have recently established a number of checkposts in Shalobar
area of Bara after nearly 3,000 families vacated their houses
and shifted to Jalozai camp in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The main mosque was blown up
in Motharey area of Tirah Valley. They said the area was populated
by the Ziauddin sub-branch of the Zakhakhel tribe and the explosion
was meant to hit the tribesmen by the rival LI.
Four persons were killed and
several others injured in a car bomb attack on the house of
a tribal elder in the Pishtakhara area of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Cantonment Circle Superintendent
of Police Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed said that about 40 kilograms of
explosives had been packed in the car and detonated with remote
control. Astana Gul, who was once associated with the Khyber
Agency (FATA)-based militant LI outfit headed by the Mangal
Bagh, joined its rival Ansar-ul-Islam and the blast appeared
to be aimed at punishing him and warning for others against
leaving Mangal Bagh’s outfit. LI claimed responsibility for
the blast.
Unidentified militants blew
up the Government Girls’ Primary School in Kotla Saeedan area
of Dera Ismail Khan District.
Police arrested 25 suspects
during a search operation in an Afghan refugees’ camp in Gandi
Chowk area of Lakki Marwat District. Police, on a tip-off about
presence of militants in the camp, cordoned off the area and
started a door-to-door search operation, after which the camp
was sealed.
Two Police constables, identified
as Nadeem Abbasi and Sajjad were shot dead by two assailants
on Manghopir Road in Karachi while they were on their way home.
Manghopir Police said that Abbasi was posted in the area on
intelligence duty, while Sajjad worked at the Gabol Town Police
Station.
A man, identified as Fareed
Khan, was shot dead in an incident of target killing at Gali-59
of the Urdu Bazaar Chowk on the Lyari Expressway.
A man was shot dead in front
of his house along the Super Market, Super Highway within the
precincts of Sohrab Goth Police Station. A Police official said
that the victim used to run a general store in the area and
had also very close link to some Police Officers.
A man, identified as Mujahid
Ali, was detained in case of blasphemy in Korangi Industrial
Area Police Station for using abusive language against Khulfa-e-Rashideen.
Three SSP suspects arrested
on February 2, 2012 were remanded in Police custody in 10 cases
pertaining to encounter with Police, possessing illicit weapons
and explosives.
The residence of a FIA Deputy
Director, Akbar Baloch, was attacked with an IED on Mano Jan
Road in Quetta. However, there were no casualties in the attack.
In the wake of deteriorating
security situation in Balochistan and the January 31, 2011 murder
of the granddaughter of Nawab Akbar Bugti, the National Assembly
Standing Committee on Defence summoned Intelligence Agencies
to brief it on February 29, 2012.
A shutter-down strike was observed
in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan for the second consecutive
day to condemn the January 31, 2011 killings. BNP-A General
Secretary Asad Baloch and PML-Q’s Nasreen Khethran staged a
walkout during proceedings of the Balochistan Assembly to protest
the killings. A complete shutter-down strike was observed in
Sibi, Turbat, Dera Allahyar, Naushki, Khuzdar, Mastung, Hub,
Washuk, Khuzdar and other parts of the province. The strike
was called by BRP and backed by the BNP, National Party and
other nationalist parties.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik stressed the need for improving law to control
activities of banned organisations. Malik told the National
Assembly that the delay in approval of an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism
Act was the main reason behind banned outfits’ holding rallies
across the country.
Malik apprised the Senate that
the January 31, 2011 murder was a conspiracy against the country.
Replying to various points of order, Malik said it was not an
ordinary incident and the conspirators would not be spared.
“Whenever we head towards positive development in Balochistan
such things start happening,” he said and added that it was
an attempt to disrupt peace in the province.
The BBC Urdu reported that the
banned jihadi groups have seen a revival after affiliates have
started opening local and foreign currency accounts to restart
their money-trains. BBC Urdu reported that it had managed to
obtain a list from Intelligence Agencies of jihadi groups, which
have been banned by Pakistan, have been opening new accounts
under pseudonyms to receive funds from local as well as foreign
sources.
Intelligence Agencies have expressed
their fear that following the reopening of their cash lines,
these extremist groups are once again gathering momentum. Interior
Ministry sources said that as per reports from Intelligence
Agencies, seven banned groups have been opening accounts in
different banks. The groups include JeM, Tehreek-e-Islami, Millat-e-Islamia
Pakistan, Ghazi Force, Hizbut Tahrir, Jama’at-ul-Furqan, and
Khairunissa International Trust (KIT).
CIA Director General David Petraeus
told a congressional committee that he believes Afghanistan
forces should not enter Pakistan to destroy the sanctuaries
that the Afghan Taliban leaders allegedly enjoyed in that country.
February 4
Two civilians were killed and
four others, including a TV cameraman, were injured as the SFs
opened fire on protesters in Sibi District. According to reports,
the incident took place when scores of people blocked the National
Highway near the bridge over River Nari in Sibi during the wheel-jam
strike called by BRP condemning the deaths of granddaughter
and great granddaughter of Nawab Akbar Bugti during which the
SFs opened fire on protesters who refused to open the highway
for traffic.
Two Police personnel were killed
and another injured in a landmine explosion in Nasirabad District,
Police said. The Police personnel, Sher Muhammad Umrani and
Hamid Ali Lehri, were on their way to Hussain Bakhsh checkpost
when the motorbike they were riding on hit a landmine. The two
died instantly while a passer-by identified as Muhammad Ali
sustained injuries.
AVCC claimed to have arrested
five suspected abductors and recovered three employees of Governor
House Sindh during a raid from a house in a forest area in Sakran
area of Lasbela District in Balochistan. The recovered abductees
were Ejaz Baig, Mohammad Naeem and Mohammad Waseem. They were
the residents of New Karachi and were kidnapped on November
12, 2011.
A law enforcement agency arrested
42 Afghan nationals who were trying to enter Iran illegally.
Law enforcers deployed on the Pak-Iran border gate in Taftan
town asked the potential illegal immigrants to produce traveling
documents, and were taken into custody after they failed to
do so.
BLA released the photographs
of three personnel of FC and claimed that its men seized the
security personnel on February 1 during clashes Margat coalmines
in Mach area of Bolan District which claimed the lives of 35
soldiers. Frontier Corps officials confirmed that three of their
personnel were abdcuted after the clash. Meerak Baloch, the
BLA spokesman, sent newspaper offices three photographs showing
handcuffed FC personnel along with their weapons, ammunition
and communication gadgets. He called the journalists and claimed
that the three personnel were captured after the BLA attack
on four FC checkposts. He claimed that 35 FC personnel were
killed and scores of others injured in the fighting. However,
the official sources claimed that 15 FC personnel were killed
and 12 others were injured.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead an eight-year-old boy in Peerokhel area of Landikotal in
Khyber Agency of FATA. The boy was carrying a patient along
with other family members to hospital when the assailants asked
them to stop their car. The driver did not stop the vehicle,
prompting the attackers to open fire. The boy was killed in
the attack.
SFs arrested 18 persons during
a search operation in Shinwari area of Landikotal. Landikotal
Tehsildar Abdul Nabi confirmed the arrests, although
the political administration did not take part in the operation.
The house of an alleged militant
was demolished in the Mabikhel area.
The SFs arrested nine suspects,
including four cadres of the TTP, including the ‘commander’,
Mullah Hakeem, during a raid carried out in Toori Bangash Colony
of Orangi Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
The ‘commander’ was arrested on a tip-off from TTP cadres. Hakeem
was involved in over 100 bomb attacks on schools in Swat of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Weapons and jihadi literature were recovered
from the suspects. The identities of the TTP suspects were not
revealed.
February 5
One security official was killed
while 12 others were injured when militants ambushed SFs in
the Shahedano Dhand area of Kurram Agency in FATA. The militants
detonated a bomb near a military vehicle and then opened fire
at the convoy. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
A railway track was blown up
in the Put Feeder area of Dera Murad Jamali city of Naseerabad
District.
Sindh Rangers in coordination
with the Police arrested 25 suspects during raids in various
localities of Karachi. The Rangers also recovered ammunition
and 16 weapons of various calibers. The spokesman of Sindh Rangers
said that these areas included Surjani, Gadap Town, Mosmaiat
Chowk, Gulshan Town and Zamzama-Clifton Town.
Kashmir Committee Chairman Maulana
Fazlur Rehman said that a briefing should be held for Kashmiri
leaders to apprise them of the pros and cons of Pakistan’s plan
to grant the MFN status to India. Talking to reporters outside
the Parliament House after a meeting with the Kashmiri leaders,
he said the committee would request the Government to direct
the commerce and foreign ministries to brief the Kashmiri leaders
on the issue in order to address their apprehensions about enhancing
trade relations with India.
The Parliamentary Kashmir Committee
reiterated that it would continue to support the people of Kashmir
in their struggle for their right to self-determination.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the issue of November 26, 2011 NATO attack was referred
to the PCNS, which comprised the chosen representatives and
had the backing of the people of Pakistan.
“Gone are the days, when the
foreign policy was made by individuals. Now, the policies would
be made by the chosen representatives and through the Parliament,”
Gilani added.
February 6
Security Forces pounded militant
hideouts with jet fighters, killing at least 15 and injuring
eight militants in Khadezai, Mamozai and Torsamant areas of
Upper Orakzai sub-division in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Militants fired seven rockets
which hit the hangers at a helipad near a paramilitary base
in Miramshah town of North Waziristan Agency.
A man, identified as Abdul Majeed,
(24), was killed in an act of target killing at Mushki Para
in Garam Chashma area of Manghopir in Karachi.
An unidentified man was shot
dead in Mawatch Goth area of Baldia within the precincts of
Saeedabad Police Station on February 5. The victim appeared
to be of Pashtun descent.
A truck driver, Ghulam Badshah
(45), was shot dead near Ali Town Truck Stand, Super Highway
within the jurisdiction of Sacchal Police Station.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead two people, identified as Fayyaz Ahmed and Kashmir Khan,
at a roadside barbershop in Naushki District.
Militants shot dead a man, identified
as Habibullah, in the Khuchlak bazaar on the outskirts of provincial
capital Quetta.
A security official, identified
as Haq Nawaz, was injured when he stepped on a landmine planted
by unidentified militants in Dera Bugti District.
Three gas pipelines were blown
up in the Loti field area of Dera Bugti District, disrupting
gas supply to the Loti purification plant.
A man was shot dead and 14 others
were injured as two rival sectarian groups clashed during Eid
Miladun Nabi (celebration of the birth anniversary of Prophet
Muhammad) in Mansehra town of Manshera District of KP. The deceased
was identified as Muhammad Naseem while, injured include a DSP
and three constables.
Seven persons were injured in
firing between two groups during an Eid Milad-un-Nabi procession
organised in Kalar Abadi area of Gujranwala District. The clashes
were preceded allegedly by provocative slogans raised by some
members of the procession organised by the Sunni Ittehad Council,
Sunni Tehreek, and Sunni Force.
According to a FIR registered
on the complaint of Rafiq Shabbir, a prayer leader at a mosque
run by Ahl-e-Hadith school, the slogan-chanting started when
the procession was passing the house of Markazi Jama’at Ahl-e
Hadith Gujranwala Amir Maulana Sadiq Attiq.
A man, dressed as a security
guard was detained by the Police and Law Enforcement Agencies
from central procession of Eid Milad-un-Nabi at Wah Cantt in
Islamabad. The central procession was carried out from Markazi
Jamia Masjid and led by religious scholar Pir Naqeeb-ur-Rehman
and others.
Thomas Durkin, an attorney for
Raja Lahrasib Khan, a Pakistani-born American taxi driver accused
of attempting to send money to al Qaeda, said that his client
will change his plea to guilty.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik demanded the Punjab Government to take to task
its officials who allegedly let two firebrand leaders of SSP
sneak into Islamabad on February 3, 2012 to make provocative
speeches.
According to the sources, the
ceremony had been a long tradition and the Margalla Police came
to know about the presence of the leaders only because it was
there to provide security. It was considered prudent not to
incite religious frenzy by arresting them
The Minister of State for Health
Sheikh Waqas Akram of PML-Q rubbished the Government’s anti-terrorism
efforts “a drama.” He said he knew that a Paighumber-e-Islam
Conference planned in Karachi was in fact meant to provide a
stage for religious militants to spread venom.
A report, compiled by the London-based
Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), said that the drone
attacks in FATA have repeatedly targeted rescuers who rush to
the scene of a strike, as well as mourners at subsequent funerals.
The BIJ report found that at least 50 civilians had been killed
in follow-up strikes after they rushed to help those hit by
a drone-fired missile.
But most other studies of drone
strikes have relied on sketchy and often contradictory news
reports from Pakistan. The bureau’s investigation, which began
last year with a study of civilian casualties, involved interviews
with villagers who said they saw strikes, wounded people and
relatives of those killed. The bureau counted 260 strikes by
Predator and Reaper drones since President Barack Obama took
office. It said between 282 and 535 civilians had been ‘credibly
reported’ killed in those attacks, including over 60 children.
The level of corruption in Police
departments is evident by studying the number of officers charged
for corruption in KP in 2011 which do not include the number
of complaints filed against the Police or cases which could
not be pursued. Talking to The Express Tribune, Deputy
Inspector General (DIG) Inquiry and Inspection Sultan Haneef
Orakzai stated that in 2011, 219 corruption cases were registered
against police officers which resulted in penalties for 105
officials.
The Supreme Court rejected a
report by the Inspector General of Sindh Police on the killing
of lawmaker Mir Bakhtiar Domki’s wife and daughter at Ghazi
Flyover in Karachi and ordered IGP to arrest the killers.
The Supreme Court, accepting
a plea of Attorney General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq, granted
more time to the ISI and MI to file their reports on the law
and order situation in Balochistan.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
described Kashmir as a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy,
but called for a need to resolve the dispute "through diplomacy
and dialogue" as his country "cannot afford wars in
the 21st century''.
"Four wars have already
been fought over the issue of Kashmir and the region remains
a flashpoint. However, in the 21st century, we cannot afford
any more wars," Gilani said. He also said that Pakistan
wants to resolve the matter through "dialogue, diplomacy,
prudent policy and national consensus".
February 7
Five persons, including activists
of the PPP, ANP, and a cadre of ASWJ, were killed in separate
incidents of target killings in various parts of Karachi.
PPP activists Daad Rehman and
Soomar were killed while six passers-by, including two women,
injured when two militants hurled a hand grenade at a PPP office
on Faqeer Muhammad Dura Khan Road in the Kalakot area of Lyari.
Investigators termed the attack on the PPP office part of targeted
violence.
An ANP leader, identified as
Gul Zaman, was shot dead by two assailants at Lasbela Chowk
in Jamshed Quarters while he was sitting in a hotel. He was
the President of his party’s office in Jamshed Quarters.
Afsaar Khan was shot dead by
unidentified armed assailants in the Peerabad Police limits.
Police said that the victim was a labourer and had no affiliation
with any group.
A local leader of the ASWJ,
identified as Qari Asghar, was shot dead in the Surjani Town
Police limits.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
45 suspects and recovered arms from their possession during
midnight search operation in different areas of Karachi.
A heavy contingent of Police
conducted search operation in Baldia, Saeedabad, Jackson, Liaquatabad,
MPR Colony, North Nazimabad, Abul Hassan Ispahani Road, Pehalwan
Goth and Rabia City.
Shahrah-e-Faisal Police officials
said that some unidentified armed men opened aerial firing in
front of Rabia City, where heavy contingents of Police rushed
and concocted search operation.
Pakistan Rangers Sindh in a
press release said that they, in coordination with Police, conducted
targeted operations and snap checking in different areas of
Karachi, including Memon Goth, Gadap, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Bin
Qasim Town and Sukhia Goth and arrested 11 suspects while six
weapons and large quantity of ammunition were seized.
SFs
carried out a search operation in various areas of Landikotal
town in Khyber Agency of FATA and arrested around nine suspects.
According to details, the SFs took the suspects into custody
during night raids in different areas, including Haji Khan Building,
Shinwari and Sultankhel.
Five persons, including a security
official, were injured in a bomb blast near a flourmill in Rabee
Bairon area in Notal Police Station jurisdiction of Naseerabad
District.
A security guard of a bank was
injured and 20 shops damaged in a bomb blast in front of a bank
in Liaquat Bazaar area of Quetta.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
launched a crackdown on unregistered seminaries in Peshawar
and arrested 100 madrassa students belonging to TTP and Afghan
Taliban in one such raid on Jamia Zuberia in Yakatut area, Police
said.
Mansehra Police booked 12 clerics
on charges of instigating people to create law and order during
Eid Miladun Nabi procession on February 6, 2012.
The elders of Mathra village
in Peshawar expressed grave concern over reports about a possible
operation against suspected persons in the area and warned that
the local people will strongly react if they are not taken into
confidence in this regard.
A group of men claiming to be
members of an ‘Intelligence Agency’ took into custody four armed
activists of the JuD detained by Rawalpindi Police.
A press release issued by the
JuD in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh stated that
the arrangements for Difa-e-Pakistan conference were in full
swing and central leaders of JuD have reached Karachi.
Lawmaker Ejaz Virk claimed that
two MPs entered the Parliament House in Islamabad carrying weapons,
prompting Interior Minister Rehman Malik to order a probe into
the matter.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik announced to set up a separate investigation elite
unit and prosecution wing in Islamabad Police for speedy probe
into cases and trial of criminals through collection of strong
evidences against them.
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the chief
of JuD, confessed for the first time about his meeting with
al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and said he studied under the
same scholar, named Sheikh bin Baz, who taught Bin Laden and
Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
The US briefed Pakistan on its
initial contacts with the Afghan Taliban in a move which signals
the easing of months-long tensions between the two allies.
The move signifies that, despite
apparent strains in their relationship, the two countries have
managed to cover considerable ground to narrow down their differences,
including the way forward for the Afghan endgame.
While talking to Sheikh Hamad
Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar at the Amiri Diwan (Emir’s
Office) in the State of Qatar, Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that Islamabad is in favor of a peaceful outcome of the
situation in Afghanistan, but any initiative on the neighboring
country must not affect our country.
A senior American Military Commander,
General James N. Mattis, the head of the Central Military Command,
is expected to travel to Pakistan in February 2012 in what Obama
administration officials say is the first step towards thawing
a strategic relationship that has in effect remained frozen
for more than two months.
The State Department is supporting
a proposal circulating in the administration for the US to issue
a formal apology for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers in
the air strike by American gunships. “
Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar
said that Pakistan should reopen its Afghan border crossings
to NATO supplies after negotiating a better deal with the coalition.
The Defense Minister said that the Government should negotiate
new “terms and conditions” with NATO, then reopen the border.
February 8
A US drone fired two missiles
at a house suspected of being a militant hideout in the village
of Tapi 15 kilometers east of in Miranshah in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA, killing 10 suspected militants in the morning.
Two Khasadar Force officials
were killed and another was injured in an IED explosion during
routine patrolling in the Alenger area of Safi tehsil
in Mohmand Agency.
SFs arrested five suspects during
a search operation in Khugakhel area of Landikotal in the night.
The number of Shalobar families
displaced from Khyber Agency due to military operation against
militants is expected to cross the 8,000 mark shortly putting
relief agencies under pressure. The relevant officials told
the media that the influx of Shalobar displaced families had
made the Jalozai camp’s administration to let the newly-registered
IDPs stay outside the premises if they wished.
JUI-I central leader Maulana
Abdul Ghani was shot dead in Nayabad area of Chaman of Qilla
Abdullah District.
At least four people, including
a child, were injured in a hand grenade attack on Zarghoon Road
area near the Saryab Bridge in Quetta.
Surab Deputy Director (Agriculture)
Abdul Sattar Reki was abducted along with his five family members
while he was traveling towards Khuzdar District from Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
The Army claimed to have made
major progress in Operation Azmari Ghero launched in November
2011 in Kurram Agency of FATA after clearing the snow-covered
Jogi Mountains and severing a vital supply route to militants
in North Waziristan Agency.
Tension remained prevalent in
Lyari area of Karachi as Police booked former Union Council
nazim Abdul Rauf Baloch and Faisal Baloch for attacking
PPP office and killing two of its activists in the Kalakot area
of Lyari on February 7.
The Special Investigation Unit
claimed to have arrested two suspects, identified as Arif Rahim
Sajid and Amir Rasheed, in a raid conducted near Safoora Chowrangi,
Gulistan-e-Jauhar areas.
All members of the Senate, irrespective
of their political affiliation, walked out of the House in Islamabad
in protest against the January 31, 2012 target killing of the
wife and daughter of a Balochistan Assembly Member, Mir Bakhtiar
Domki in Karachi the provincial capital of Sindh.
Authorities at a public sector
hospital in Peshawar are perturbed over the manner in which
missing persons are brought there by Intelligence Agencies in
critical condition and with slim chances of their survival,
an official at the hospital said.
The 11 prisoners were acquitted
by ATC in Rawalpindi District of Punjab in different cases of
terrorism. But they went missing mysteriously on May 28, 2010,
after the Lahore High Court ordered their release. Initially,
the Government continued to express ignorance about them, but
in December 2010 counsel for Intelligence Agencies admitted
that they were in their custody.
According to the latest Annual
Status of Education Report 2011, at least 85 per cent of children
in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are still enrolled in schools.
The authorities have decided
to constitute committees in 59 Union Councils of the Mansehra
District to monitor standard of education and implement court’s
verdict about fee concession to two siblings studying in the
same educational institution.
During a public meeting to observe
the 37th death anniversary of former Governor Hayat
Mohammad Khan in Charsadda District, Chairman of PPP-S Aftab
Ahmad Khan Sherpao said that he would launch a movement to restore
peace in the region.
HRW, keeping a watch on gross
human rights violations in Balochistan, asked the US to take
action against the crimes taking place in the province. The
crimes include extra-judicial killings, torture, illegal detention,
disappearances and forced displacement.
The Supreme Court sought a comprehensive
progress report on missing persons from the commission probing
the case. Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan ordered the Pakistan
Baitul Maal to submit a report regarding the compensation, which
would be paid to the heirs of the missing persons. During the
proceedings, Defense of Human Rights Chairperson Amina Masood
Janjua complained against the inquiry commission probing the
cases.
Senior military officials of
Pakistan, Afghanistan and coalition forces based in Afghanistan
held for discussing border security and coordination marked
the formal resumption of military contacts with the US and NATO
after months of estrangement in the aftermath of November 26,
2011 strikes on Pakistani border posts.
The DGMO, Major General Ishfaq
Nadeem Ahmed, represented Pakistan at the meeting, which was
technically the highest level of military interaction among
the three sides since the November 26, 2011 Salala incident
after which Pakistan had closed the crucial NATO supply route,
evicted US personnel from Shamsi airbase, and essentially put
the entire bilateral relationship on hold.
US President Barack Obama has
overwhelming support from American voters for his use of drone
strikes against terror suspects and his planned troop drawdown
in Afghanistan, a poll found conducted revealed. 83 per cent
of those asked in the Washington Post and ABC
News survey said they backed Obama’s use of unmanned drone aircraft
against suspected militants in the tribal belt of Pakistan.
February 9
A US drone fired two missiles
that hit a compound located in Miranshah, the main town in North
Waziristan Agency of FATA, killing four militants.
Pakistan al Qaeda Chief, Badr
Mansoor, one of the Americans’ main targets and wanted for attacks
that killed scores of people, was reportedly killed in this
drone attack. Badr Mansoor, who reputedly sent fighters to Afghanistan
and ran a training camp in North Waziristan Agency of FATA,
was killed, Pakistani officials and a member of his group told
AFP.
SFs recovered a cache of arms
and ammunition during a raid on a Government school in Landikotal
of Khyber Agency in FATA. Officials said that SFs raided a Government
high school and the adjacent living quarters of teachers after
they were informed by an arrested militant about presence of
arms there.
SFs launched a search operation
against suspected persons in Sultankhel area of Landikotal in
the evening.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a Punjabi settler, identified as Khuda Bakhsh, in Turbat
District. According to details, the victim was a resident of
Rahim Yar Khan District of Punjab.
JeI leader and former union
council nazim, Dr Matiullah Shah, was abdcuted from his farmhouse
in an ambulance from Mangal Bibi area on Rawalpindi road in
Kohat town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Mr Shah, who is a dental
surgeon, went to his farmhouse in Mangal Bibi area in his car
in the morning of February 8, but did not return home in the
evening.
ATC awarded life term to a man,
Rehmatullah, involved in several abduction cases in Kohat. ATC
judge Anwar Hussain awarded life imprisonment to Rehmatullah,
resident of Latambar in Karak District.
JeI moves to Peshawar High Court
to challenge legitimise unlimited powers for the military to
target suspected terrorists without any evidence. The petition
was submitted to the circuit bench (Darul Qaza) of the Peshawar
High Court by former Provincial Minister Shah Raz Khan who will
be represented by Barrister Ghulam Nabi.
A three judge panel of the US
Court of Appeals is set to hear an appeal on February 9 by Pakistani
neuroscientist Doctor Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyers, against her
September 2010 conviction on charges for attempting to kill
American intelligence officers in Afghanistan in 2008.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
is likely to seek Federal Government’s permission to go after
the Afghan nationals residing illegally in the province, an
unnamed official sources said. Data compiled by the Home and
Tribal Affairs Department revealed that around 400,000 Afghans
have been staying in the province without legal documents and
that the FIA and Police had not taken action against them under
Foreigners Act.
Local Police have begun random
checking of Khyber Agency’s IDPs and directed people to avoid
renting out houses without informing them. Some families residing
in the limits of Yakatoot Police Station informed that Police
had begun visiting houses of IDPs and they were worried about
their children and could not move freely.
PIHRO, during a demonstration
in front of Parliament House in Islamabad, expressed solidarity
with the heirs of the victims of the war on terror and demanded
the Government to compensate the affected families and provide
them free legal aid.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that war on drugs trafficking was a major missing element in
the war on terror. While commenting on the fight against militancy
said that defeat was not an option and that we (Pakistan) had
no other option except to fight and defeat this mind-set so
as to leave a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pakistan for our
coming generations.
The US drones hitting targets
on Pakistani territory is illegal, and reports of alleged involvement
of ISI with the Taliban are not even worthy of comment, Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said. “Attacks by US drones on Pakistani
territory are illegal and cannot be tolerated,” Khar said in
an interview to a Russian english news channel, RT.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman
Abdul Basit said that Pakistan will host a two-day summit on
counter-terrorism on February 16-17, 2012 involving leaders
of Afghanistan and Iran. Basit said that it will be attended
by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron
Munter while speaking with reporters at the Pakistan National
Council of the Arts in Islamabad, revealed that supply to NATO
in Afghanistan is continuing by using Pakistani air space. He
said that both Pakistan and US have to work together to improve
their relations and resolve the issues.
Accusing Pakistan of using brutal
force in Balochistan, US lawmakers expressed serious concern
over the human rights violations in the restive province. "Balochistan
deserves our attention because it is a turbulent land marked
by human rights violations committed by regimes that are hostile
to America's interests and values," said Congressman and
Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee Dana Rohrabacher.
US State Department distanced
itself from a congressional hearing on Balochistan and opposed
the idea of independent Balochistan, adding that the problems
of the province should be resolved through peaceful and political
means.
Senators from both sides of
the divide condemned the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
for discussing the Balochistan issue, and termed it as a direct
interference in Pakistan’s affairs.
The Foreign Office looked satisfied
with the US State Department’s clarification on the Congressional
hearing on Balochistan even as legislators protested on the
issue in the Senate.
The Afghan-Pakistan jihad is
attracting fewer foreign fighters following the death of Osama
bin Laden, the growing threat posed by US drones, and lack of
funds, Western security officials said.
In a report, entitled “Militant
Pipeline” describing the links between the northwestern Pakistani
frontier and the West, researcher Paul Cruickshank quoted one
Ustad Ahmad Faruq, a Pakistan-based al Qaeda spokesman who acknowledged
his network’s difficulties.
February 10
SFs killed 11 militants and
injured 19 others in a crackdown in the Mamozai area of Kurram
Agency in FATA.
Members of the thousands of
families belonging to four Khyber Agency tribes that earlier
missed registrations are likely to get the internally displaced
persons status, official sources said.
Two militants of SSP, Qari Jalal
Ahmed (25) and Irfan (35), were killed in Buffer Zone area of
Shadman Town, within the limits of Taimuria Police Station in
Karachi. Maulana Taj Hanfi, spokesman of ASWJ, formerly known
as SSP, said both victims were going their homes after attending
the meeting of ASWJ in Surjani area.
One ST cadre was shot dead in
Jutt Lines area within the limits of Brigade Police Station.
One person was killed and 11
others, including four policemen, were injured in a grenade
and gunfire attack on a Police van in Razaar tehsil of
Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attack took place
after the conclusion of a public gathering arranged by the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf.
One constable got injured in
grenade attack by militants during a search operation in Mando
Khel area of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the night.
JUI-F leader and MPA Mufti Kifayatullah
denied his involvement in a murder committed in Mansehra and
described it an attempt to drive him out of politics.
Speaking at a monthly crime
meeting Mansehra, District Police Officer Ijaz Ahmad Khan said
that a committee of Ulema would be formed soon to work for maintaining
sectarian harmony in the Mansehra District.
A man was killed and another
got injured in a bomb explosion in the Katan Bridge area of
Khuzdar District.
Two Police personnel were abducted
at gunpoint by unidentified militants from a check post in Goth
Naseebuallah area of Subatpur tehsil in Jaffarabad District.
FC claimed to have rescued three
abducted people, including a child from the captivity of an
outfit led by Barat Khan alias Barati in a joint operation in
Gulistan tehsil of Qilla Abdullah District.
Nine British-Asians of Pakistani
and Bangladeshi origin have been jailed in the UK over an al
Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange and to
organise a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. The men, who
were convicted last week, were described by the judge at the
Woolwich Crown Court as 'Islamic fundamentalists'.
The father of a terrorist faced
up to 40 years in prison after his conviction on charges that
he destroyed evidence and lied to investigators to cover up
his son’s plot to attack the New York City subways in 2009.
Mohammed Wali Zazi (55) remained free on bail after his conviction
in July 2011.
Lawyers for Dr Aafia Siddiqui,
serving an 86-year prison sentence for shooting at US soldiers
in Afghanistan, told an appeals court that she was so mentally
ill, she should have been barred from testifying at her own
trial.
Two Afghan officials said that
Pakistan had arrested two suspects from Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan, in connection with the September 20,
2011 assassination of former Afghan President and head of the
Government-appointed Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who
was trying to broker a peace deal with the Afghan Taliban.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik categorically refuted the February 9, 2012 claim
by US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, that Pakistani
airspace is being used to send in supplies to NATO forces stationed
in Afghanistan.
Dissatisfied with Rehman Malik’s
statement the opposition senators, including those from the
PML-N, JUI-F and JeI walked out from the House against the Government’s
decision of allowing NATO supplies through Pakistani airspace.
The Balochistan situation dominated
the National Assembly and the Senate as the lawmakers from the
province felt uneasy over the situation in their province amid
assurance from the Government that they would be given an in-house
briefing next week.
Rehman Malik said that PKR 14.59
billion were spent in 2011 on personnel of FC and Pakistan Coast
Guards deployed in insurgency-hit Balochistan. He said that
48,928 FC men and 2,057 PCG personnel have been deployed in
the province. Talking about the Balochistan Package, he said
that 85% of the package had been implemented.
BNP President Sardar Akhtar
Mengal applauded the February 9, 2012 US Congressional hearing
on the Balochistan issue and the Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee’s concerns regarding appalling human rights emergency
in Balochistan and endorsing Baloch people’s right to self-determination.
Taking strong exception to the
controversial US Congressional hearing on Balochistan, Pakistan’s
Ambassador to US Sherry Rehman termed it an ill-advised move
that would be detrimental to building trust between Pakistan
and the US.
Bitterly disappointed with Agencies
over the non-production of seven suspects who had been taken
into custody by Intelligence Agencies for their alleged involvement
in several cases of terrorism, the Supreme Court ordered the
ISI, MI, Judge Advocate General Branch and the Chief Secretary
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on February 10 to ensure presence of these
prisoners by February 13, 2012.
February 11
The Afghan Security Forces raided
a house in Badini area of Qila Saifullah District close to the
Afghan border, abducted two suspected Afghan Taliban militants,
identified as Abdullah and Muhammad Sarwar Shabozai, and later
shot them dead.
Two abducted Policemen, identified
as Karim Bakhsh and Lashkar Khan, were killed in Jaffarabad
District of Balochistan. BRA claimed responsibility for the
February 10, 2012 abduction of the two Policemen from the Sohbatpur
area of Jaffarabad District and said the two had been killed
and their bodies were thrown in the Shahpur area.
A man, identified as Mohammad
Zubair, was killed in a firing incident in Mastung District.
In another incident, two persons,
identified as Abdul Ghafoor and Mohammad Aslam, were injured
in firing incident in Turbat District.
A rocket fired from an unknown
location exploded on Karani Road in the Killi Geo area of Quetta.
However, no casualty was reported.
The dead body of an abdcuted
Khasadar Force official, Toor Gul Khan, was found in Khwezai
area of Mohmand Agency in FATA. TTP Mohmand Agency chapter spokesman
Mukarram Khurasani claimed responsibility for the killing of
the abdcuted official, saying other people in their custody
are relatives of khasadars.
One person was injured and a
vehicle was partially damaged when a roadside bomb exploded
at Khayest village in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency.
Unknown assailants shot at and
injured the local secretary of JUI-F, identified as Minhajuddin,
at Khomar area of Gilgit city in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Suspected TTP militants attacked
an oil and gas plant in Karak District. The militants used small
and heavy weapons in the attack in Gurgure area of Karak District.
The attack caused no damage to the vital installation of the
OGDC.
Police arrested four criminals,
including a militant of SSP, and recovered weapons from their
possession in Sir Syed Police Station area of Karachi.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
condemned attacks on Security Forces in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA and said they would abide by the peace agreement with
the Government.
The TTP called on fighters to
honour an agreement to not to attack the Pakistani military
in the most important sanctuary for the Taliban and al Qaeda
along the Afghan border.
A senior TTP commander claimed
of keeping two western aid workers abducted from Multan District
of Punjab on January 19, 2012, hostage near the Afghan border.
One of the two suspects, identified
as Zia-ur-Rehman, in the murder case of former Minorities Affairs
Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was arrested in Dubai with the help
of the Interpol. Zia-ur Rehman and another suspect Malik Abid,
both residents of Faisalabad District in Punjab were identified
as possible suspects by a pastor named Hafiz Nazar, who was
arrested by the Karachi Police in March 2011.
A Police official said, “to
treat them as prime suspects would be wrong. We have no evidence
to suggest that they were involved in the murder even though
they could have certain issues with him.” Both suspects belonged
to Faisalabad, the former minister’s native city.
The Army started court martial
proceedings against five officers, including Brigadier Ali Khan,
over their suspected ties to the banned outfit Hizbut Tahrir.
Brigadier Ali Khan and four other officers were detained in
May 2011 for suspected links to the outfit.
Anti-Terrorism Court was told
that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed December
27, 2007 because she supported the Lal Masjid operation. Magistrate
Taufiq Ahmed, who had recorded confessional statements of Rafaqat
Hussain, Husnain Gul and Aitzaz Shah on February 13, 2008, said
the accused told him that they wanted to kill only Bhutto and
because of the deaths of 23 other people in the attack, which
they regretted, they would accept any punishment awarded to
them.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister
Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said that the Provincial Government was
ready to talk with TTP for the sake of regional peace and future
of young generation, but it will only be possible if TTP laid
down arms and accepted Government writ. He offered clemency
for the blood of innocent people if the TTP abandoned their
anti-state acts and pledged to accept writ of the land.
February 12
Levies Force recovered a mutilated
dead body of a missing person, identified as Mir Khan Chah,
from Chagai District. Khan Chah was reportedly missing since
20 days.
A Hindu trader, identified as
Sham Lal, was abducted on February 12 from Veer area of Wadh
tehsil in Khuzdar District while he was on his way to
Karachi in Sindh.
LEA arrested 100 foreigners
in Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah District under the Foreign
Act. According to Levies Force, Afghan nationals including Uzbeks,
Tajiks, Hazaras and Afghans, were taken into custody in Chaman
while entering Pakistan from Afghanistan without ant travelling
documents.
Levies Force arrested two suspects
from Roghani area in Qilla Abdullah District and recovered a
truck from their possession.
Balochistan Government termed
reports about involvement of some Provincial Ministers in abduction
for ransom and smuggling baseless. In a statement a spokesman
for the Provincial Government denied a report published in some
newspapers and said: “The Provincial Government considers the
act of kidnapping for ransom a hateful and heinous crime.”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said US drone strikes targeting al Qaeda and Taliban militants
are counter-productive and his Government has not given permission
for such attacks. “First of all I want to inform you that we
did not allow or give permission to fly drones from Pakistan,”
Mr Gilani told Al Jazeera television.
Sources privy to investigations
revealed to The Express Tribune that the planners of
26/11 Mumbai attacks watched the terror unfold live at a rented
house in the North Nazimabad neighbourhood of Karachi. The planners
not only watched the terror unfold via cameras carried by the
attackers, they provided them live instructions to engage Indian
security personnel and inflict maximum damage, sources added.
The Federal Capital, Islamabad,
once again is under threats by militant outfits, well-placed
sources said. The Intelligence Agencies believe that the attacks
could be conducted from Margalla Hills in Islamabad and asked
for adopting stringent measures to counter such threats, sources
maintained.
Religious parties during a rally
held in a ground near the Quaid Mausoleum in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh, vowed to hold a sit-in outside Parliament
on February 20, 2012 in protest against restoration of NATO
supplies and warned to turn every square of the country into
Tahrir Square if attempts were made to push the country to US
subservience.
The rally was dominated by JuD,
JeI and ASWJ. Several speakers paid tribute to Afghan Taliban
leader Mullah Omar. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of JuD said the US
wanted to avenge its defeat in Afghanistan and was exploiting
the situation in Balochistan.
Ali Dayan Hassan, the Pakistan
Director for a US-based HRW organisation, said that the human
rights violations in Balochistan cannot be swept under the carpet
as an internal issue.
Slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin
Laden urged his younger children to go live peacefully in the
West and get a university education, his brother-in-law said
in an interview published. Zakaria al-Sadah, the brother of
bin Laden's Yemeni fifth wife Amal, told Britain's The Sunday
Times that the Saudi-born terrorist believed his children
"should not follow him down the road to jihad". ''He
told his own children and grandchildren, 'Go to Europe and America
and get a good education’,” al-Sadah said, adding, Bin Laden
told them, "You have to study, live in peace and don't
do what I am doing or what I have done.”
February 13
Two children, identified as
Liaquat Ali and Bashir Ahmed, were killed and 21 others, including
Dera Murad Jamali additional SHO, Rasool, were injured in a
remote-controlled bomb blast in Dera Murad Jamali area of Naseerabad
District. BRA claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two dead bodies, identified
as that of Bakhshal Bugti and Jan Muhammad Marri, were found
in Hub tehsil of Lasbela District.
Two Balochistan Constabulary
personnel, identified as Sub-Inspector Wahid Bhaksh and Constable
Baddaruddin, were shot dead when a group of militants armed
with automatic weapons encircled a check post and opened fire
on them in Chatter tehsil of Naseerabad District.
A man, identified as Zardad,
was found dead in Mand Bolo area of Turbat District.
The bullet-riddled dead body
of a missing BRP leader, Sangat Sana, was found in Murgap area
of Turbat District. Sangat Sana, a resident of Mastung District
was also a former Chairman of BSO-A.
Unidentified militants abducted
the son of a Hindu trader, identified as Jaish Kumar, from Zarghoon
Road area of Quetta.
Police found two unidentified
dead bodies disposed off in gunny bags from Qadri Graveyard,
near Khajji Ground within the limits of Rizvia Police Station
in Karachi.
Two militants of an unidentified
outfit were killed in a firing incident in Nazimabad area of
Karachi.
An activist of MQM, identified
as Imran (25), was shot dead while another youngster, identified
as Salman, was injured at Lea Market Chowk, within the precincts
of Kharadar Police Station.
Pakistan Rangers Sindh claimed
to have arrested 40 suspects besides recovering weapons from
their possession in different raids across Karachi.
The seven missing detainees
out of the 11 prisoners who went missing from outside Rawalpindi’s
Adilyala Jail in May 2010 were brought to the Supreme Court.
The prisoners were wanted for
different acts of terrorism. One thing was common among all.
They are suffering from a common ailment of skin with the entire
body covered with small blisters.
Religious seminaries in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa collected PKR 30.46 million from foreign countries/institutions
during the last five years, the Ministry of Interior said in
a report submitted to the National Assembly.
Replying to a question of MNA
Qudsia Arshad regarding foreign funding to religious seminaries,
the Home Department of Sindh added that as per report of the
Police special branch, some heads of institutions visited Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait and UAE to collect funds but detail of the funding
could not be collected.
The US State Department requested
the Congress to approve USD 2.4 billion in allocation for Pakistan
for the fiscal year 2013. The Pakistan support and expenditure
request is part of the overall budget request, the Barrack Obama
administration forwarded to Congress for the new fiscal year,
beginning October 1, 2012.
The COAS General Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani made it clear that only 18 percent of the budget was
being spent on the armed forces, and of this allocation, the
Army got only 8 to 9 percent.
Pakistan officially conveyed
to the US its serious concern with regard to the hearing held
by the US Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations
in relation to Balochistan.
The Afghan Taliban demanded
that Pakistan release details of how one of its former Ministers
died in a Pakistani jail in 2010. Mullah Obaidullah Akhund,
who was Defence Minister when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan
in the late 1990s, was captured in Balochistan in 2007, and
died of heart disease in March 2010, the Taliban said in a statement.
February 14
Seven labourers were shot dead
and two others injured when a group of militants opened fire
on them while they were engaged in the construction of Turbat-Bulieda
Road in Turbat District. BLF claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Unidentified militants shot
dead two people, identified as Muhammad Hussain and Shah Wali,
in Ali Khel area of Qila Saifullah District.
Two militants, belonging to
SSP were shot dead near Rickshaw Stand in Nazimabad area of
Shamim Shaheed Police check post in Karachi. They were identified
as Shabbir (35), and Ateeq (40). SHO Rao Ehsan said that the
victims were affiliated with SSP and were killed over sectarian
bias.
A butcher, identified as Saleem
Qureshi, was shot dead in an act of target killing at Bhimpura
within the limits of Risala Police Station.
AEC of the CID claimed to have
arrested two target killers, identified as Javed Kaka and Faisal,
from Risala area.
SFs conducted a search operation
in Samghakhi area of Khwezai tehsil in Mohmand Agency
of FATA and arrested seven suspected persons.
The political administration
imposed night curfew in Shalobar area of Bara tehsil in Khyber
Agency.
The Haleemzai tribesmen have
again formed an armed lashkar, after a break of three years,
to take action against militants in their area in Mohmand Agency.
The chief of Haleemzai Peace Committee, Malik Mohammad Ali,
said that armed volunteers would take positions on hilltops
to check movement of anti-state elements.
The Islamabad Police took Malik
Abid into custody for his alleged role in the March 2, 2011
killing of Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, and obtained
his physical remand from the ATC for seven days.
A Home Department Report said
that, “Target killings still continue in most parts of the country
and major reasons behind these are sectarian, demographic changes,
easy access to illicit weapons, mistrust among ethnic groups,
family enmities and business rivalries”.
In Balochistan, target killings
appear to have been adopted as the foremost instrument of terrorism
more recently. It makes a change of tactics. The terrorist incidents
seemed to have been carried out more for harassment than causing
casualties consequently, there were bomb blasts on unfrequented
roads/streets and rockets landing in open areas or wilderness
causing little casualties.
Pakistan lodged a strong protest
with Afghanistan and the NATO-led ISAF over the February 11,
2012 abduction and killing of two Pakistani tribesmen and demanded
an inquiry and punishment to those responsible for the incident.
Islamabad publicly admitted
that it had allowed NATO to use Pakistan’s airspace to fly supplies
into Afghanistan, despite a more than two-month blockade on
the border crossings.
The US Ambassador Cameron Munter
said that Pakistani politicians don't want Americans to go away
from their country. During his lecture at Harvard Kennedy School,
Munter said that the relationship between CIA and ISI were still
intact.
February 15
One person was killed and five
others injured in a bomb blast in Wazir Dhand area of Jamrud
tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Police found a dead body of
an activist of MQM, identified as Abdul Hafeez (35), from a
gunny bag abandoned in Altaf Nagar within the precincts of Manghopir
Police Station in Karachi.
One person identified as Ali
Muhammad alias Baba was tortured and shot dead in Lyari area.
According to Police sources, two people of the Kachhi community,
identified as Ali Muhammad alias Baba and Imran were abducted
from Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Road.
A member of Kachhi Rabita Committee
(KRC), Umer Katchti (48), was shot dead by unidentified militants
who also fired a rocket at Gul Muhammad Street.
Three persons were injured in
a grenade attack in Agra Taj area near Ibrahim Mosque.
There were reports of one more
rocket fired near Khayyam Bakery.
Khuzdar Police neutralised a
terror bid by recovering 20 kilogrammes of explosives near Jhalawan
Complex in Khuzdar District.
The US prosecutors in the Guantanamo
war crimes tribunals filed charges against a Pakistani who grew
up outside Baltimore, alleging he plotted with al Qaeda to attack
US targets and assassinate former President General Pervez Musharraf.
The AHRC while quoting the incident
of abduction and killing said “the policy of Intelligence Agencies
to kill and dump has been seen in the province and most of the
victims have been young students from the nationalist groups”.
As court martial proceedings
against Pakistan Army’s Brigadier Ali Khan are underway, for
suspected ties with banned group HuT, the BBC Urdu service reported
that it had acquired a copy of the official charge sheet against
the Senior Army Officer.
Former President General Pervez
Musharraf was aware of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad location
and the safe house where he was sheltered was built by ISI,
a former ISI chief General (retd) Ziauddin Khwaja said.
Khwaja, also known as Ziauddin
Butt, allegedly said that Bin Laden’s safe house in Abbottabad
“was made to order” by Brigadier Ijaz Shah, a former head of
the Intelligence Bureau.
However, Butt told Geo News
that he had been misquoted in the article but refused to give
details of what he had said which could have been misconstrued.
The Government and the people
of Swat will not let militants regroup in the valley, said Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti. He said this
while addressing a 150-member Swat representative jirga
during a meeting in Peshawar.
The Lahore High Court directed
the Government to begin negotiations with US and Afghanistan
Governments for the return of seven Pakistani detainees in Bagram.
Hearing a petition challenging the alleged abduction of the
seven Pakistanis, Justice Khalid Mehmood found there to be no
serious allegations against the detainees.
Rejecting a report presented
by the Balochistan Home Department on the rampant human rights
violations and law and order situation in the province, the
Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights urged the Government
to introduce laws that clip the wings of all-powerful security
agencies.
The Home Secretary Naseebullah
Bazai, quoting the report, said that the Government had arrested
31 people in connection with abductions for ransoms. “Law-enforcing
agencies often arrest the culprits but they are set free due
to lack of evidence,” he told the committee.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the Government would soon convene an All Parties Conference
(APC) to discuss and address issues of Balochistan, particularly
the law and order situation in the province.
The JUI-F condemned the Government’s
decision to partially reopen NATO supplies to Afghanistan through
the country before a debate on the issue in the Parliament.
February 16
Two US drone strikes killed
at least 21 militants near the Afghan border in Miranshah, the
main town of North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Eight militants and a security
man were killed and four personnel, among them a captain, suffered
injuries during a raid on a hotel at Rustam Bazaar in Wana,
the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency. A group of TTP
militants, comprised of both the Punjabi and Mehsud militants,
resisted the SFs in the hotel, triggering a gunbattle that continued
for hours.
SFs arrested 31 suspects and
imposed curfew in Gagra area of Landikotal in Khyber Agency.
Khyber Agency Political Agent
Motahir Zeb said that the Government was eager to clear the
areas of Khyber Agency of militants to restore peace and establish
writ of the Government so that people could lead a peaceful
life.
Three persons were killed and
nine other injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near
the office of the DCO in Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Eight persons including three
Policemen were injured when a man hurled a hand grenade at them
on Bara Road in suburbs of Peshawar.
Militants tried to target members
of a peace committee in Mashokhel area of Badhber with a bomb
but no one was injured in the blast.
An official of the Judge Advocate
General Branch of the Pakistan Army, Colonel Noor Ahmad, informed
the PHC that the youths de-radicalised at military rehabilitation
centres following the Swat operation were again joining militant
groups after their release.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a trader, identified as Hafiz Abdul Qader Gulamani, on
Jinnah Road near the Jilani Chowk area of Khuzdar District.
A low-intensity explosion occurred
at the Chakar Khan Stadium in Sibi District.
Unidentified militants attacked
a security check post in Toll Plaza area of Dera Murad Jamali
in Naseerabad District.
JUI-F Quetta Chapter Secretary
General Abdul Sadiq Norzai was abducted from Saryab Road in
Quetta.
FC neutralised a terror bid
in Balochistan and recovered 1400 kilogrammes of explosive material
that was being smuggled from Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District
to interior Balochistan.
Police and Law Enforcement Agencies
recovered 10 kilogrammes explosive material and two mortar shells
from a car on Saryab Road in Quetta.
Rangers and Police officials
arrested three alleged suspects and seized arms and ammunition
during a house-to-house search operation in Lyari area of Karachi.
Three suspects, allegedly involved
in the Lyari gang war, were remanded in Police custody for a
week.
Sindh Home Minister Manzoor
Wassan made a special mention of the killings in a meeting with
Senior Police Officials, and called for a reassessment of the
Government’s strategy for curbing target killings in the city.
SFs arrested a TTP Swat chapter
militant, identified as Hashmat Ullah, during an operation in
the limits of Sabzi Mandi Police Station in Islamabad.
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed
upon the need to resolve all issues and stressed mutual cooperation
to tackle the common challenges of terrorism and extremism.
The two sides also resolved to remove bottlenecks, if any, in
the way of the Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, and work
for stability and peace of both the countries.
President Zardari said Pakistan
had always desired a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan
as it was in Pakistan’s own national interest, and assured continued
support to every effort aimed at restoring peace and stability.
The Abbottabad Commission further
delays in releasing its report as it struggles to determine
how and with whose help al Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden had been
living in Abbottabad for years.
An international money-laundering
watchdog, FATF, added Pakistan along with Indonesia, Ghana,
Tanzania and Thailand to its blacklist of nations that fail
to meet international standards.
The US State Department strongly
urged Pakistan to prevent JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed from moving
freely in the country, freeze the assets of the groups associated
with him and stop allowing LeT from acquiring weapons.
The SFCHR urged the Parliament
and the judiciary to play their role to resolve the missing
person’s issue. The committee met with Senator Afrasiab Khatak
in chair. He wondered why law and order situation was not being
improved in the province while the provincial autonomy had been
given after the passage of 18th Amendment into the Constitution.
The ISPR assailed the US based
HRW which accused its personnel of acting like a state within
a state. On January 30, 2011 HRW condemned the impunity of Pakistani
intelligence services over the June 1, 2011 murder of journalist,
Saleem Shahzad, who was killed after writing about links between
al Qaeda and rogue elements in the military.
The Difa-e-Pakistan Council
during a public meeting in Attock District of Punjab strongly
opposed restoration of supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan
and vowed to resist what its leaders said the humiliating move
of the Government.
The US Defence Secretary Leon
Panetta said that al Qaeda is the primary enemy of US in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan region and that part of the Taliban who
support al Qaeda is also American target.
The chairman of US Senate Committee
on Armed Services, Senator Carl Levin, said that Pakistan’s
links to various terrorist groups and its role in the reconciliation
process gives it the power to influence outcomes in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan’s support to the Haqqani
Network is a major cause for US-Pakistan relations reaching
a low point where they’re going to remain until the Pakistan
military ends its ties to these extremists carrying out cross-border
attacks,” he said.
February 17
At least 26 Shias were reportedly
killed while 36 others injured, after a suicide bomber detonated
his explosives just near the targeted mosque in the Kurmi bazaar
of Parachinar, the main town of Kurram Agency in FATA. Fazal
Saeed Haqqani-led TTI – a breakaway faction of the TTP – has
claimed responsibility for the attack.
SFs took possession of a strategic
bunker on Sallo Sar (hill) in the Bara area of Khyber Agency
after a fierce clash in which 17 militants, two security personnel
and three militiamen died. The fighting erupted after troops
and militiamen launched a joint operation against the LI militants
in the Bara area.
Two activists of a religious
group, identified as Rizwan and Akber, were shot dead at Irshad
Autos in Sagheer Centre on Rashid Minhas Road in Karachi.
LEAs arrested Vice President
of People’s Amn Committee Israr Baloch and recovered weapons
from his possession.
Leaders of Kachchi Rabita Committee
demanded construction of Police check posts in Lyari area on
permanent basis to stop influx of gangsters and restore Government
writ in the area.
Unidentified militants hurled
a hand grenade at a house owned by one Abdul Wahab in Kattan
area of Khuzdar District.
A power pylon was partially
damaged after two bombs fitted to it exploded in Nazar Banda
area of Yar Hussain region of Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Islamabad Police conducted a
search operation in the vicinity of Margalla Hills and maintained
high alert in the city to ensure foolproof security. Search
operations were conducted at slum areas, inns, hotels, restaurants
and Afghan habitats.
Dubai Law Enforcement Agency
released Ziaur Rehman, an accused in former Minorities Affairs
Minister Shahbaz Bhatti murder case. Ziaur Rehman was arrested
there on the request of the Ministry of Interior, the sources
said, adding that he had proved his innocence before the Dubai
authorities.
Around a dozen relatives of
an abducted man identified as Syed Sabir Naqvi, staged a demonstration
at Neelum valley in Gilgit-Baltistan, calling upon Human Rights
Organisations and superior judiciary to take stock of Naqvi’s
abduction.
Demonstrators told reporters
that Naqvi (26) was a soldier in the army and left it some four
years ago and adopted tailoring as a profession.
Official documents said that
the Government over the past four years has issued about 50,000
prohibited-bore arms licenses. According to official documents,
the licenses have been issued since the PPP-led coalition came
into power in 2008 to applicants from all the provinces, allowing
them to carry sub-machineguns and AK-47s for their personal
security.
The PHC ruled that target killings
and street crimes were on the rise due to the Government’s issuance
of arms licenses on political grounds. It directed the Federal
Interior Secretary and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Secretary to
present a report about the licenses issued thus far.
Spokesperson for JuD Yahya Mujahid
said that the founder of LeJ Malik Ishaq was present on the
stage of the DPC rally in Multan District.
JuD called statements of the
US State Department, which called on Pakistan to put curbs on
the group in compliance with international sanctions, as disrespecting
the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan
pledged to strengthen cooperation to eradicate extremism, terrorism
and militancy from the region. President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan
President Hamid Karzai and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
put their heads together at the third trilateral summit to forge
regional cooperation in multifaceted areas.
Addressing a press conference
along with his Afghan and Iranian counterparts, Zardari vowed
to fight the external pressure on the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline,
saying that the “external forces can’t undermine bilateral relations”.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said it would be “preposterous” for Afghanistan to expect
Islamabad to deliver the Taliban’s leader to the negotiating
table, as talks between the two countries on the peace process
ended with little sign of progress.
A bill has been tabled in the
US House of Representatives calling upon Pakistan to “recognise
the right to self-determination for Balochistan”. Congressman
Dana Rohrabacher introduced a House Concurrent Resolution that
the Balochi nation has a historic right to self-determination.
HRW Pakistan Director Ali Dayan
Hassan, in his submitted remarks, had said that cases documented
by the HRW showed that Pakistan’s Security Forces and its Intelligence
Agencies were involved in the forced disappearance of ethnic
Baloch.
Foreign Office blasted the bill
tabled in House of Representatives by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
seeking right to self-determination for Balochistan.
A US congressman, Dana Rohrabacher,
introduced a bill in the House of Representatives asking the
US Government to bestow its highest civilian award on Doctor
Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who was crucial in the hunt
for Osama bin Laden.
February 18
Two SF personnel, identified
as Lutfullah and Muhammad Riaz were killed and nine others injured
in a remote-controlled blast in the Sangsilla area of Dera Bugti
District in Balochistan. The BRA claimed responsibility for
the attack.
A Police van was partially damaged
in another remote-controlled blast in Chatter area of Nasirabad
District in Balochistan.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted a jeweller, Abdul Qayyum, from his shop in Liaquat
Bazaar of Quetta.
SFs foiled an attempt to blow
up a gas pipeline with explosives and arrested three suspects
in Sui area of Dera Bugti District.
A volunteer of Zakhakhel Peace
Committee was killed and another received injuries in renewed
clashes with LI in Tirah valley.
The death toll of February 17
suicide attack that hit Kurmi Bazaar in Kurram Agency of FATA,
bordering Afghanistan, rose to 39.
A Policeman was killed and another
suffered injury when a vehicle of suspected militants hit them
near Pabbi in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police averted a terrorist attack
by recovering 25 kilogrammes of explosive material in a cave
at Khwar area of Lower Dir District.
Police arrested two Afghan militants
in an hour-long operation Said Shah Banda village in Thall tehsil
of Hangu District and recovered a suicide jacket and weapons
from their possession.
Police arrested ‘commander’
Bakht Ravan, an uncle of a high ranking TTP ‘commander’ Ibn-e-Amin,
in the Chaparyal area of Swat District.
Pakistan decided to launch an
operation against the militant outfit Jundullah in Balochistan.
Iran continued to hold Pakistan
responsible for covertly aiding Jundullah until the arrest of
the then group head, Abdolmalek Rigi, on February 23, 2010,
by Iranian authorities on a tip-off of Pakistan’s spy agency
when Rigi was flying from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani said he
was dismayed to learn about the bill on Balochistan in US House
for espousing “self determination”, since it constituted challenging
Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Republican
Dana Rohrabacher moved the bill in the House of Representatives
on February 17, 2012.
The PM clarified Pakistan’s
position on restoration of US and NATO supplies. “If we can
take extreme measures like stopping NATO supplies and declining
to attend a conference (in Bonn) on Afghanistan, we can take
any action and decision in the national interest,” he said.
The capital administration banned
the entry of three religious leaders in Islamabad for next four
days to avoid their presence in a sit-in by Difa-e- Pakistan
(Defence of Pakistan) Council at Aabpara in Islamabad.
The traders and the shopkeepers
of Aabpara have approached the city administration with the
request not to allow protests and rallies at Aabpara.
February 19
At least nine members of Zakakhel
lashkar were killed and four others injured when a bomb planted
by militants exploded at Stana checkpoint of Nari Baba area
in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
A mortar shell fired from an
unidentified location landed in the house of one Abdalkhel,
killing two children and injuring five others at Sheen Drand
area of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil.
Militants attacked a check-post,
killing a security man and injuring three others in the town
of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency, near the
Afghanistan border.
The death toll of February 17
suicide attack in Kurmi Bazaar of Parachinar in Kurram Agency
reached 43 as two more injured persons succumbed to their injuries.
A rickshaw driver, identified
as Abdul Malik, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
near the cattle market in Quetta.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a man, identified as Akram Zamrani, in Shaptan area of
Panjgur District.
Levies Force arrested 13 Afghan
nationals under Foreign Act from Chaman Town in Qilla Abdullah
District near the Pak-Afghan border.
Around 7,000 children were abducted
in 2011 and of the total, a large number belonged to Karachi,
a report published by the HRCSA highlighted, stating that kidnappings
noticeably increased in 2011.
The sources in CPLC said that
abduction for ransom has become an easiest way to get money
in Karachi. According to details, the trend of abduction for
ransom has risen frequently in the commercial hub of the country,
Karachi, where majority of people are paying ransom for release
of their dear ones.
In a period from 2002-2011,
a total of 879 cases of abduction were registered. In 2002,
as many as 25 people were kidnapped while in 2003, some 33 people
were abducted.
At least 11 accomplices of Doctor
Shakil Afridi, who was accused of helping the US track down
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Operation Geronimo on May
1, 2011, were suspended from their duties.
An architect regularly employed
by the ISI Agency worked on the compound in which Osama bin
Laden was sheltered for years in Abbottabad and also communicated
regularly with LeT from his hideout. The architect who worked
on the structure was regularly employed by the ISI, Washington
Post columnist David Ignatius said while quoted an intelligence
source.
A total of 231
bullet-riddled bodies were found by roadsides in Balochistan
in 2011, said a report, titled “Balochistan’s Maze of Violence”
compiled by the CRSS, launched in Islamabad.
February 20
Unidentified militants
opened fire on a general store on Kasi Road in Quetta, killing
the owner of the store, Muhammad Dawood, and another man, Rehmatullah
on the spot.
Two people were
shot dead while they were passing through the main bazaar Dera
Murad Jamali city of Naseerabad District.
Unidentified armed
assailants opened fire on one Abdul Qadir in Balochi street
area of Quetta, killing him on the spot.
A young shepherd
grazing his cattle in the area was killed in a landmine explosion
in Gerisni area of Kohlu District.
A man, identified
as Faizu, was killed and his mother sustained injuries when
they stepped on a landmine while going home in Mondrani Pat
area of Sui in Dera Bugti District.
Unidentified men
blew up a gas pipeline disrupting gas supply to Pir Koh gas
plant in Dera Bugti District.
Unidentified armed
militants abducted a businessman, identified as Javed Khan,
from Quetta-Chaman Highway in Quetta while he was travelling
on his vehicle.
The ATC in Turbat
District awarded death sentence to Sakin Ali, an accused in
the February 2011 murder case of Panjgur District SHO Siraj
Ahmed.
The BDS averted
a terror attack by defusing a powerful 15-kilogramme bomb on
GT Road at Doaba area of Hangu District.
Swat Police arrested
a suspected militant, Shaukat Ali, allegedly involved in several
terror acts from Khawazakhela village in Swat District.
A single-member
Peshawar High Court bench dismissed bail plea of a suspected
school bomber Mehraban Khan who is charged with blowing up Aziz
Khan Public School in the jurisdiction of Mathra Police Station
on the outskirts of Peshawar on September 21, 2010 by an explosive
device.
SFs arrested one
suspect under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier
Crimes Regulation and demolished residential and commercial
property belonging to TTI militant ‘commander’ Fazal Saeed Haqqani
and his relatives after he claimed responsibility for February
17, 2012 suicide attack that claimed 43 lives in Parachinar
town of Kurram Agency in FATA.
The Islamabad High
Court summoned a major of the ISI to appear in a missing persons’
case. Judge Noorul Haq Qureshi heard a petition seeking the
recovery of Doctor Abdul Qayyum and Doctor Abdul Wahid and put
ISI’s Major Tariq on notice and directed him to appear before
the court on March 14, 2012.
TTP and its aligned
terror outfits have embarked upon a campaign of high-profile
abductions which has armed the militant with millions of dollars
in ransom being used to galvanise a sophisticated network of
jihadi gangs whose reach spans the country, a report of Pakistan’s
security officials said.
The TTP say that
the kidnappings earn valuable funds and leverage to free imprisoned
fighters. Pakistani and foreign militant commanders, in Waziristan,
give the orders, but it is a combination of hired criminals
and “Punjabi Taliban” who snatch hostages.
Islamabad summoned
United States (US) Charge d’affaires Ambassador Richard Hoagland
and a ‘strong protest was lodged’ with him over a resolution
submitted to the US House of Representatives on Balochistan,
the Foreign Ministry said.
The Foreign Minister
Hina Rabbani Khar said that Balochistan was Pakistan’s internal
matter and the province’s elected representatives would act
to resolve its issues and not US congressmen.
Baloch nationalist
leader Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said that Balochistan
was being run by ISI for all practical purposes for the last
15 years with no civilian control over governance in the volatile
province. He rejected Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq
Pervez Kayani’s claim that Army was not involved in the disappearance
of people and murder of activists whose decomposed bodies are
found dumped at desolate places.
Speakers at a DPC
rally in Islamabad condemned US drone attacks, military operations
in tribal areas, tabling of a resolution on Balochistan in the
US House of Representatives and the ban on some religious parties.
Protesters poured
onto Islamabad’s streets, chanting “death to America” and demanding
‘holy war’. JeI Chief Syed Munawar Hassan criticised the armed
forces and said they had failed to contain the US aggression
inside Pakistan, but continued to launch operations against
their own people.
Britain’s Court
of Appeal accepted that the Government has been unable to comply
with an order to obtain the release of a Pakistani man Yunus
Rahmatullah from a US military prison in Afghanistan because
“the Americans are not going to play ball”.
In December 2011,
lawyers for Yunus Rahmatullah won a writ of habeas corpus from
the court to compel British officials to bring the prisoner
before the court. But the Government lawyers said the US has
refused to release the prisoner it has held for eight years,
and the Court of Appeal accepted that outcome.
February 21
Police found a
seven day old unidentified dead body of a man from Liaquatabad
area graveyard within the precincts of Super Market Police Station
in Karachi.
A man, identified
as Abdul Hafeez Khan (70), was shot dead by unidentified armed
assailants in Rasheedabad area of Baldia within the precincts
of Site B Police Station.
During a protest
against extortion the shopkeepers said that unidentified extortionists
were demanding extortion from them on daily basis, threatening
of dire consequences in case of non-payment. Recently, the extortionists
sent a extortion note of PKR 0.5 million to a florist, Laiq.
A trader, identified
as Zohaib Bora, was shot dead by unidentified armed militants
during an abduction bid on Mission Road area in Quetta.
Police claimed
to have arrested a suspect from Kandahari Bazaar area of Quetta.
A low intensity
bomb planted in a motorcycle that was parked in the Mathani
bazaar in Peshawar exploded.
Police officials
claim to have averted a terrorist attack by recovering a bomb
planted at the Baghdada Bridge in Mardan District.
SFs claimed to
have regained control of strategic Tor Chappar area of Darra
Adamkhel town in Kohat District during a lengthy operation,
launched against militants on January 27, 2012.
The Peshawar High
Court ordered the Police to register the FIRs of four missing
persons after Security Agencies and the Ministries of Defence
and Interior denied picking them up.
The tribal elders
from Kurram Agency in FATA during press conference at Peshawar
Press Club in Peshawar expressed concern over deteriorating
security situation in the tribal region and demanded of the
authorities to take proactive steps for maintenance of lasting
peace.
While referring
to the Joint Investigation Team report that was made public,
Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed former President Pervez
Musharraf and former TTP head Baitullah Mehsud for assassination
of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (December 27, 2007).
He said Baitullah
Mahsud, Ilyas Kashmiri, and al Qaeda leader Abu Ubaidullah Misri
were involved in the assassination plan and no less than 27
terrorist outfits had come together under the umbrella of TTP
to assassinate Benazir.
Reacting to the
Interior Minister’s briefing on Benazir Bhutto case, Pervez
Musharraf strongly denied his involvement in the assassination
of Pakistan PPP former chairperson Benazir Bhutto.
Rejecting Rehman
Malik’s charges of his students’ involvement in Benazir’s assassination,
chief cleric of the Darul Uloom Haqqania, Maulana Samiul Haq,
asked the Interior Minister to “prove them guilty.” “I have
asked the Government and security officials several times to
take concrete steps to prove the accused students guilty, instead
of leveling allegations against them,” said Haq.
Praising the tabling
of a resolution on Balochistan in US Congress, the BRP urged
the Baloch people to unite and continue their struggle for independence.
BRP central organising committee’s spokesman Sher Mohammad Bugti
said in a statement that introduction of the resolution demanding
an independent Balochistan was the result of continuing struggle
of the Baloch people against “their enemy”.
The US State Department
Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, “We encourage all parties
in Balochistan to work out their differences peacefully and
through a political process”.
Afghan officials
are holding talks with the TTP, the head of Kandahar Peace Council,
Ata Mohammad Ahmadi said in Kandahar province of Afghanistan.
At least 46 journalists
were killed across the globe in 2011 and Pakistan continues
to be the most deadly country for the second year in running,
New York based rights group Committee to Protect Journalists
said. Pakistan reported seven deaths followed by five each
in Iraq and Libya.
The National Assembly
Standing Committee on Human Rights requested the Government
to ensure that the students from war-affected areas get free
education in universities.
February 22
Two civilians,
identified as Sawab Khel and his nephew Arshad, were killed
in a bomb blast along a roadside near their house in Jansi area
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Two militants were
killed in exchange of fire when they came face to face with
SFs in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil.
One person was
injured when militants opened fire on a passenger vehicle in
Dwatoy area of Tirah valley, the area of the Kokikhel Tribe.
SFs demolished
houses of three suspected militants during a search operation
in Alingar area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency. SFs also recovered
four IED and two rocket shells during raids on suspected hideouts.
SFs defused an
explosive device in Alingar area.
Unidentified militants
opened indiscriminate fire on one Abdul Baqi in Mand Sohro area
of Kech District. The victim received multiple bullet wounds
and succumbed to his injuries.
Armed militants
abducted three people, identified as Sanaullah, Bahadur Khan
and Naib Khan, while they were travelling near Saranan area
of Pishin District.
Unidentified assailants
shot dead a supporter of the MQM, identified as Mohammad Ali
(28), and wounded another, Waqas Ali (26) in Jodia Bazaar within
the jurisdiction of Kharadar Police Station in Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh.
Judicial Commission,
constituted under the Supreme Court’s directives for monitoring
the target killings in Karachi, submitted its preliminary report
of the incidents that occurred in 2011 to the provincial Government.
Police arrested
two more suspects, Waheed Ahmed of Mandi Bahauddin District
and Mohammad Ijaz of Gujranwala District, from Rawalpindi District
for their alleged involvement in the November 12, 2011 Pir Chunbal
incident where four security officials and a civilian were killed.
An ATC in Rawalpindi
released Malik Abid, an accused in the murder of former Minorities
Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti. Police said when Malik Abid
was produced in the ATC, Bhatti’s cousin Tahir Naveed Chaudhry
told the judge that neither he had nominated the accused in
the case nor leveled any allegation of killing against him.
Sources close to
the investigation said investigators had identified two more
persons in connection with the murder case. They were identified
through the pamphlets found at the spot where the Minister was
shot dead.
Supporting the
US congressional bill on Balochistan, BRP’s self-exiled chief
Brahmdagh Bugti welcomed all foreign intervention in the province
whether it is by the US, NATO or India.
“Baloch women,
political leaders, activists, students, writers, poets, professors
and intellectuals are being subjected to enforced disappearances
and undergoing torture for years. Their mutilated bodies turn
up daily. Under such circumstances, we will welcome the support
of foreign countries,” he said.
JUI-F Chief Maulana
Fazlur Rahman said that the US should compel India to stop atrocities
in Indian administered Kashmir rather than taking up the Balochistan
issue.
“Why is America
silent over the killings of Kashmiris, even though Jammu &
Kashmir (J&K) is an internationally recognized disputed
territory,” he asked. “America is discussing Balochistan in
its parliamentary hearings, although, it is an integral part
of Pakistan,” he said, adding, “It is clearly interference in
the internal matters of Pakistan.”
Shortly before
the US ended a two-month pause in missile strikes on militants
in Pakistan last month, senior US officials telephoned their
Pakistani counterparts and told them Washington would be resuming
its covert drone program despite mounting objections in Islamabad.
Pakistan will give
its full support to any clear effort by the Afghan Government
to achieve a political settlement with the Taliban but does
not want to lead a peace process that would impose a solution,
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said during a speech at Chatham
House, an international relations think tank in London.
February 23
At least 17 TTP
militants were killed in an air strike in Khadizai, Samar bazar
and Bermela areas of Upper Orakzai Agency in FATA.
Two people were
killed and three others injured when militants fired four rockets
on three houses targets in Enjani Kali area from nearby mountains.
Hundreds of tribesmen
staged a protest demonstration at Miranshah in North Waziristan
Agency against the US drone attacks, saying innocent people
were being killed in these strikes.
At least 15 people,
including two children, were killed and 38 injured when in a
car bomb attack at bus stand on Peshawar-Kohat Road in Peshawar.
Police claimed
to have killed two militants in a shootout following an attack
on a Police van that was on routine patrol in the Dagglarra
area within the Mithri Police precinct in Peshawar.
Two unidentified
armed assailants opened fire at a tea stall on Chagla Street
in Kharadar area of Karachi killing an activist of the MQM and
injuring another person.
Police found an
unidentified dead body of a man bearing torture-marks from an
empty plot in Qaimkhani Colony, Baldia within the jurisdiction
of Mochko Police Station.
One Essa Khan (34)
received bullet injuries in an armed clash between two communities
hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Kashmir Colony, within the
limits of Mehmoodabad Police Station. Later he succumbed to
his injuries.
A bomb exploded
near the gate of Lakson Tobacco Company at Yar Hussain village.
Peshawar Corps
Commander Lieutenant General Khalid Rabbani appreciated the
tribal people for assisting armed forces against terrorists
and militants. “
Condemning the
Pakistani Government for accusing India of creating unrest in
Balochistan, JWP Provincial President Shahzain Bugti said it
was Pakistan’s intelligence agencies that were responsible for
killings and abductions in the province.
He said the Federal
Government can restore the trust of Balochis within 72 hours.
To achieve this, Bugti said General Pervez Musharraf should
be arrested in the Akbar Bugti murder case military operation
should be stopped and all forces should be withdrawn from Balochistan
controversial security posts should be abolished from Balochistan
the killing of innocent people should end.
Interior Minister
Rehman Malik announced withdrawal of cases against the Baloch
leaders currently residing abroad. “Following the Government’s
reconciliation policy, I announce that Baloch leaders, including
Brahmdagh Bugti and Hyrbyair Marri, return to Pakistan to take
part in the political and development process and I would personally
receive them,” he said.
Even as the Interior
Minister was extending the olive branch to Baloch nationalists,
reports began coming from Karachi of the arrest of the Vice-President
of the Voice of the Baloch Missing People, Qadeer Baloch. Qadeer
was picked up, detained for several hours and then released.
US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said that Pakistan was too important for
Washington to turn its back on, following ice-breaking talks
with her Pakistan counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.
February 24
Seven militants
and three soldiers were killed when militants attacked troops
deployed in Malikdinkhel area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
At least four Policemen
were killed and six others injured when three suicide bombers
blew themselves up in a Police Station on Circular Road in Peshawar.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah
Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack. He said that the
attack had been carried out by an affiliated group, the Abdullah
Azzam Brigade to avenge the death of one of its leaders, Badar
Mansoor, in a United States drone strike on February 9, 2012.
A militant was
injured while planting an explosive device in Shaheedabad area
on Ring Road under Chamkani Police Station.
A major part of
the Government primary school for boys was destroyed in a bomb
blast in Khat Killay area of Swabi District while bomb disposal
squad defused another homemade device at the site.
Police claimed
to foil a terror bid by recovering six hand grenades and a huge
quantity of other explosives during a raid from a house owned
by one Ikramullah Gandapur in Dera Ismail Khan District.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the latest terrorist
attacks in Peshawar were in reprisal for the US drone strikes
in FATA.
Unidentified militants
shot dead an activist of ANP identified as Khair Uddin Mehsud
(30) near his residence in Hassan Noman Colony within the jurisdiction
of Sohrab Goth Police Station in Karachi.
The CID of Sindh
Police claimed to have arrested five militants belonging to
SSP and recovered two hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs, three
TT pistols and several rounds from their possession during a
raid at Allahwala Town in Korangi Industrial Area of Karachi.
Unidentified militants
blew up a gas pipeline in the Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District,
disrupting gas supply to the purification plant.
Suspected militant
havens in Pakistan could jeopardise the US strategy in Afghanistan,
secret cables exchanged between the US Ambassador in Kabul and
his superiors in Washington revealed, a The Washington Post
report said.
The Supreme Court
repeated its earlier directive to the ISI and the Military Intelligence
to submit their reports on ‘senseless and indiscriminate’ killings
in Balochistan.
While addressing
the Balochistan issue is the top most priority of the Government
President Asif Ali Zardari said that he was ready to visit the
province to hold dialogue with Baloch leaders.
The Baloch nationalist
leaders rejected Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s February 23,
2012 announcement about withdrawal of cases against Brahmdagh
Bugti and Hairbyar Marri and said the Balochistan issue cannot
be resolved without recovery of missing persons and bringing
to justice the elements involved in dumping bullet-riddled bodies.
The HRCP, Balochistan
Chapter, expressed its strong resentment over deteriorating
law and order situation in the province and urged the Government
to pay serious attention for retaining peace.
Interior Minister
Rehman Malik said the FIA had been directed to write to Interpol
for issuance of a Red Warrant against General Pervez Musharraf.
Sindh High Court
issued a notice summoning Musharraf on April 7, 2012 in connection
with a case of political violence in Karachi that resulted in
the death of at least 50 people on May 12, 2007.
While talking to
reporters at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services
(PIPS), Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership Congressman
David Dreier said that Pakistan and US need to sit together
to resolve the issue of reopening NATO supply line to Afghanistan.
Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed to the Afghan Taliban leadership
and other Afghan groups, including Hizb-e-Islami, to participate
in an intra-Afghan process for national reconciliation and peace.
The Hizb-e-Islami
Afghanistan hailed Prime Minister Gilani’s appeal to Taliban
and other militant groups to join Afghan peace process. Hizb-e-Islami
Political Affairs Head Doctor Ghairat Baheer said that his organisation
had also proposed intra-Afghan dialogue “which is the only solution
to end the Afghan war”.
Pakistan's military
has agreed to the resumption of the United States' drone strikes
against terrorist groups operating on its soil, highly-placed
diplomatic sources said.
February 25
Separatists targeted
the railway track using low-intensity explosive devices in eight
Districts of Sindh, affecting the movement of trains for hours.
Irshad Baig, a spokesman for Pakistan Railways, said that at
least 13 small blasts were reported on the railway line in different
areas.
Law enforcement
agencies found a letter written by the SDLA from near the blast
site. The organisation says it aims to secure the rights of
Sindhis and calls for an autonomous status for Sindh.
Following the series
of blasts on railway tracks in Sindh, the CID of Sindh Police
formally inducted the name of Shafi Burfat, a chief of SDLA,
in its Red Book.
Political administration
arrested 21 members of Mangal tribe in Kurram Agency after rocket
attack on Piwar area.
Three gas pipelines
were blown up in the Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District, disrupting
gas supply to purification plant.
Four men who had
been missing for the past few months were released by their
captors and according to some sources, reached their home in
the night. Unconfirmed reports, however, put the number of freed
men at 10.
All the cases filed
against Baloch leaders have been quashed. According to notification
issued to Balochistan Government as well as province’s IGP and
Commissioner Quetta, cases lodged against Brahmdagh Bugti, Hairbyar
Marri, and Akhtar Mengal stand null & void.
JeI Secretary General
Liaquat Baloch blamed the political leadership and Army for
the Balochistan crisis, which he said has reached the point
of no return.
February 26
10 militants and
two SF personnel were killed in a clash between SFs and militants
in the Siplatoi area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA during
a search operation.
Six LI militants
were killed when helicopter gunships targeted their hideouts
in Nangrosa and Nari Baba areas in Landikotal town of Khyber
Agency.
Three children
and a woman were killed while two women received injuries when
a mortar shell fell on a house in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency.
Two SF personnel
were killed and another was injured in a roadside bomb blast
during a routine patrol on Jandula-Sararogha Road in South Waziristan
Agency.
Two SFs were killed
when militants fired rockets on a check post in Saro Kalli area.
A LI ‘commander’,
Khalid Zakhakhel, was shot dead by unidentified persons in Akkakhel
area of Khyber Agency.
Another LI ‘commander’
Meen Asghar was killed when a mortar shell hit a hideout of
militants in Speendand area of Tirah valley.
An activist of
ANP, identified as Ibrahim Hussain (32), was shot dead by two
unidentified assailants in Bukhari Colony within the precincts
of Orangi Town Police Station in Karachi.
Unknown assailants
targeted and killed a physically impaired man, identified as
Abdul Kareem (35), in Aligarh Colony of Orangi Town.
A bakery worker,
identified as Zubair, was also shot dead in an act of target
killing in Hussainabad area within the jurisdiction of Azizabad
Police Station.
Unidentified armed
militants shot dead a man, identified as Mirban, at his house
in Gomal bazaar of Tank District. Mirban’s wife Balgees and
son were injured.
Unidentified militants
attacked Ghouriwala Police Station in Bannu District with three
rockets followed by heavy gunfire.
Police foiled an
attempt to smuggle weapons from Darra Adamkhel town in Kohat
District to down country at the toll plaza near Kohat tunnel
and arrested four suspects.
Security Forces
demolished the Abbottabad compound of slain al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden.
Leaders of the
JeM delivered lectures at the University of Peshawar’s campus
though the varsity’s rules do not permit such gatherings. Maulana
Mufti Abdur Rehman and Maulana Hafizullah of the JeM visited
the university.
A Law Enforcement
Agency arrested 10 Afghan nationals under the Foreign Act in
Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah District.
The HRCP expressed
concern over the growing incidents of abduction for ransom in
Balochistan and called upon the Government to take action against
those responsible.
February 27
Seven people were
killed and 20 others wounded when a bomb planted in a motorcycle
exploded after senior ANP leadership left a public meeting in
Nowshera District.
Police found dead
body of a man, identified as Shafnan (25), from Nishtar Road,
Almari Street within the limits of Garden Police Station in
Karachi.
Saeedabad Police
claimed to have recovered a Russian made hand grenade from a
shrubbery situated in Dawood Goth area.
A Police Officer
and a constable were injured in an exchange of fire with armed
militants at Mengal Road area in Quetta.
Unidentified militants
blew up a pipeline in Pirkoh gas field in Dera Bugti District
disrupting the gas supply to a purification plant.
A resident of Nushki
District, identified as Mahazullah, who remained missing for
a month and a half, returned home.
Brigadier Ali Khan
who was arrested (taken into custody on May 6, 2011) for his
alleged links with HuT filed a petition through Colonel (retired)
Inamuraheem, pleading to the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Branch
that the court martial proceedings against him be declared illegal.
According to his
counsel, the petition said, “I have been retired from Pakistan
Army and they [army] have charged me with heinous crimes without
any proof.” Brigadier Ali has alleged that the military brass
is influencing his court martial proceedings.
The State Bank
of Pakistan informed Senate Committee on Finance that Pakistan
would amend its Anti-Terrorism Act and is working on a draft
legislation to ensure enforcement of ATA provisions in financial
services sector for conviction of persons found involved in
money-laundering.
The Governor informed
the committee that the ministries of Finance and Interior, Securities
and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the SBP and other stakeholders
were working on new legislation to put Pakistan back on Anti-Money
Laundering compliant countries list.
February 28
Armed militants
dressed in military uniforms killed at least 18 Shias, all men,
from Gilgit-Baltistan, on the Karakoram Highway in Kohistan
District while they were returning in a convoy from a pilgrimage
in Iran.
The Jundullah claimed
responsibility for the attack. “They were Shias and our Mujahideen
shot them dead,” said Ahmed Marwat, a purported ‘commander’.
Two unidentified
armed militants killed two people, including a Chinese woman,
identified as Jiang Hua (30) in Jahangirpura Bazaar of Peshawar.
Unidentified militants
blew up a Government primary school Mir Aftab Kohtay at Aman
Kote village in Swabi District.
A bomb exploded
in Suraizai village on the outskirts of Peshawar. However, no
loss of life was reported in both the incidents.
Peshawar Police
recovered a toy bomb, weighing 15 kilograms, placed in a bag
full of hashish near Tata Park in Hayatabad.
Unidentified assailants
shot dead one MQM activist, identified as Noor Hussain (26),
at Kunwari Colony in Manghopir Road within Pirabad Police limits
in Karachi.
One Ali Raza (32)
was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in a hair salon
situated at Qasba Colony within Pirabad Police precinct.
Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that militants maintain
a significant presence in several parts of Nowshera District
and warned that their protectors would not be spared any longer.
He said militants had maintained presence in several pockets
of the District, including Badrushee, Bahadur Baba, Akora Khattak
and Nowshera.
The ISI and the
MI explained before the Supreme Court that they treated court
orders with great sanctity, but could not shut their eyes to
rebellious acts of internal and external elements involved in
serious cases of terrorism.
A statement was
submitted on behalf of the agencies two days ahead of a scheduled
hearing by the Supreme Court on production of seven of 11 suspects
picked up by Intelligence Agencies for their alleged involvement
in the October 2009 attacks on the GHQ and the ISI’s Hamza Camp
in Rawalpindi District of Punjab.
More than 25 cases
of terrorist attacks in Islamabad have been pending in the ATCs
of Rawalpindi District in Punjab for over a year due to the
lackadaisical attitude of the capital territory administration.
The US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton and lawmakers expressed concern over
diversion of its aide money by Pakistan for other purposes,
even as the US has tried to build a firewall in this regard.
"Well, we certainly have constructed one," Clinton
told lawmakers.
Osama bin Laden
(OBL) was in routine contact with several senior figures from
the Pakistan’s military and its intelligence arm while hiding
in the country. The Telegraph reported that according to one
of the Wikileaks e-mails, the firm had been given access to
information papers collected from bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound
after US Special Forces attacked it on May 1, 2011, killing
the al Qaeda leader.
The e-mail, from
a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan’s
ISI knew of the safe house. “Mid to senior level ISI and Pakistan
military with one retired Pakistan Military General that had
knowledge of OBL arrangements and safe house,” the e-mail said.
February 29
One Abdul Waheed
Baloch, the brother of a BNP-M leader and his companion, Salman
Baloch, were shot dead on the Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo Stadium Road
in Khuzdar District. Abdul Waheed Baloch was younger brother
of Abdul Latif Baloch, a local leader of BNP-M.
Unidentified armed
assailants opened indiscriminate fire killing Maulvi Ali Mohammad
Mengal in Quetta.
A 22-year-old youth,
identified as Mohammad Bilal Bangulzai (22), was shot dead by
armed militants on Sabzal Road area in Quetta.
Armed militants
shot and injured one Mohammad Javed in Mastung District.
Two women and a
child were killed when a bomb ripped through their vehicle on
the outskirts of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
“
Eight persons,
including women and children, were injured when a mortar shell,
fired by a rival group, fell on the house of local militant
‘commander’ Salamat in Sturikhel area of the Agency.
The house and a
pick-up truck of militant ‘commander’ Shah Mehmud were badly
damaged. Sources in the area said that militants of LI and rival
Tawheedul Islam were targeting each other’s positions with mortars
and rockets when the house and vehicle were hit.
Five officials
of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor’s Development Programme were
abducted by unidentified armed militants in Pir Tangi area in
FR Tank.
US fighter jets
violated Pakistan airspace near the tribal area of Loda Mandi
in North Waziristan Agency.
Police said that
a man, identified as Naveed, was killed in a clash with Law
Enforcement Agencies in Gilgit District.
Federal Minister
for Interior Rehman Malik said that perpetrators of Kohistan
(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) killing were traced down and soon they
would be produced before the nation.
Unidentified militants
blew up the sub-campus of Abdul Wali Khan University at Palosa
area in Charsadda District.
Militants blew
up a Government primary school in Dalazak area of Shabqadar
tehsil.
Unidentified armed
militants abducted two members of paramedical staff of the Korean-based
hospital in Orangi Town, within the limits of Pakistan Bazaar
Police Station, in Karachi when they were on their way to work.
Justice (retired)
Javed Iqbal, while hearing the case of the missing persons at
the Pakistan Secretariat’s National Crisis Management Cell (provincial
office), informed that out of 10 missing persons, seven, including
Arshad, Amid, Sajid and others, were recovered from different
places.
After nearly nine
years of incarceration, the first high-value detainee at Guantanamo
Bay, Majid Khan (32), plead guilty to terrorism charges against
him, as part of a plea-bargain agreement.
Khan was reportedly
kept in a CIA secret prison from 2003 to 2006, before he was
transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006. While at the detention
facility, Khan reportedly tried to commit suicide twice, once
by “chewing on his veins.”
Pakistan rubbished
WikiLeaks disclosure that some of its intelligence and Army
officers were in touch with slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden
and knew his whereabouts before his killing in Abbottabad on
May 1-2, 2011.
Pakistan’s intelligence
official sources said that Osama bin Laden kept two copies of
the Bible where he wrote secret clues to future terror attacks
to be conducted across the globe. The two copies of the Bible
were found hidden at his house in Abbottabad District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said that Pakistan has no justification
for holding Doctor Shakil Afridi, who had a role in the CIA
operation to hunt down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May
1-2. 2011.
The Chairman of
Kandahar (Afghanistan) Peace Council Haji Ata Muhammad Ahmadi
said that just as political efforts to stabilise Afghanistan
gather pace, the Quetta Shura started to show signs of flexibility
towards dialogue.
Denying reports
of the Quetta Shura rejecting the report of it peace talks,
Ahmadi claimed that nobody was opposed to peace talks with them.
The FIA sent a
formal request to Director of Interpol, Pakistan, to issue Red
Warrants for former President and Army Chief General Pervez
Musharraf who is an accused and proclaimed offender in the Benazir
Bhutto assassination case.
Another petition
filed before Pakistan Supreme Court by Chairman of Al-Jihad
Trust, Habib Wahabul Khairi, asking it to shut the political
wing of ISI. The petitioner, Khairi, accused former Prime Minister
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of forming the ISI’s political cell for
his personal interests in 1975.
Air Marshal (Retired)
Asghar Khan had also filed a similar petition in 1996, appealing
the court to look into allegations that the ISI had provided
PKR 140 million to create the Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad to harm
Benazir Bhutto’s election campaign.
March 1
At least 20 militants
were killed and their five hideouts were destroyed by SFs in
different areas of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
Six tribesmen were
critically injured when six mortar shells fired by NATO forces
in Afghanistan landed in Zairai village of Dattakhel tehsil
in North Waziristan Agency.
Police found an
unidentified dead body of man in a gunny bag from a ground in
Hazrat Bilal Colony within Korangi Industrial area Police limits
in Karachi.
The bullet-riddled
dead body of a missing tribal elder, Takri Raheem Dad, was found
dumped in the Dasht area of Mastung District.
The Balochistan
Government asked the Federal Government to transfer the investigation
of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder to the FIA. Nawab Akbar Bugti
was killed on August 26, 2006.
At least five people
sustained injuries when a rocket fired from Khyber Agency in
FATA landed at Ibrahim Market in Hayatabad locality in Peshawar.
An unnamed faction
of TTP claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese woman
on February 28, 2012, saying it was in revenge for China’s killing
of Muslims in its troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang.
A report appearing
on BBC Urdu website said that Brigadier Ali Khan of Pakistan
Army, currently facing court-martial, planned to spread mutiny
against the Government and attack the GHQ in Rawalpindi with
support of HuT.
The witnesses further
claimed that he was also confided by these people that the GHQ
would be targeted with an F-16 jet to be flown from a nearby
airstrip. They had further planned to attack US bases inside
Pakistan and Black water’s locations.
Expressing dissatisfaction
with the report submitted by the ISI and the MI in Rawalpindi’s
Adiala jail missing prisoners’ case, Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry gave out a stern reprimand.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Government will adopt a holistic approach to counter extremism
by improving economic conditions, creating jobs and promoting
sports and culture, said Provincial Information Minister Mian
Iftikhar Hussain.
The provincial
Government announced that it would shortly undertake reconstruction
of completely destroyed schools and renovation of partially
damaged infrastructure in the militancy-hit southern Districts
of the Province.
March 2
23 people were
killed in a suicide attack targeting a mosque after Friday prayers
in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA. “The bomber detonated
himself near the gate of a mosque in Tirah Valley when people
were returning from the prayers, killing at least 23 people
and wounding more than 20 others” said the local administration
official Jamilur Rehman, adding the toll may rise. The mosque
is located in an area controlled by warlord Mangal Bagh, he
said, adding that most of the dead were from his LI.
23 LI militants
and 10 army personnel were killed in fresh clashes in Lakaro
Baba area of Tirah Valley. The LI militants attacked a check
post of SFs in the wee hours, shot dead 10 troops and injured
eight others, the sources said, adding that 23 LI fighters,
including a nephew of an LI ‘commander’, was killed in retaliation
by the SFs.
17 TTP militants,
including two key ‘commanders’ were killed and 13 injured, while
five of their hideouts were destroyed after jetfighters pounded
their hideouts in Akhun Kot, Bilrass and Chappar areas of Manozai
areas of Upper Orakzai Agency.
Two volunteers
from the Tawheed-ul-Islam were killed and two other people were
injured when their vehicle hit a roadside explosive device in
Dwa Toi area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Local political
administration arrested four elders of Bulandkhel tribe in Ismailzai
tehsil of Upper Orakzai Agency and sent them to jail under the
Collective Territorial Responsibility Act.
Three alleged militants
were killed in a clash with FC in Pir Sori area of Dera Bugti
District.
An unidentified
man was killed in Mangochi area of Khuzdar District.
A dead body, identified
as that of Ajab Khan, was recovered from Yaro area of Pishin
District.
Unidentified militants
opened fire on one Hidayatullah in Rekhni area of Barkhan District.
No further detail was reported.
Two bullet-riddled
dead bodies of security guards, identified as Saleem and Imran,
were found outside their office located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area
within the limits of Mobina Town Police Station in Karachi.
Anti-Violent Crime
Cell and CPLC claimed to have recovered Doctor Khalid Mehmood,
an abducted doctor, and arrested two alleged abductors in a
joint raid at Khuda Ki Basti in Surjani area.
Unidentified militants
shot dead an IB inspector, Bashir Khan (38), in a target killing
incident near Abasar Colony on Warsak Road in Peshawar.
Five people, including
three men of foreign origin and two Pakistani women, were taken
into custody at the office of an Afghan NGO in Attock District.
Business community
and people in Mardan District expressed concern over the wide
circulation of fake currency notes of different denominations,
which is causing financial loss to them.
In a year since
the assassination of Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti,
three suspects have been arrested and subsequently released
due to lack of evidence.
Foreign Minister
Hina Rabbani Khar said that it is time to get rid of ‘strategic
depth’ hangover. She hoped for a relationship with Afghanistan
based on trust and called for leaving behind the past associated
with interference in that country and support for Taliban.
March 3
Four militants
were killed and two others received injuries in clashes between
two rival groups in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Two more persons
succumbed to their injuries in March 2 suicide attack in Tirah,
in a private clinic in Mehraban Kallay taking the death toll
to 25.
Unidentified militants
set ablaze the house of Haji Khiyal Akbar, a local tribal elder
in Sipah area of Bara tehsil.
Bullet-riddled
bodies of three missing Frontier Corps personnel were found
near Machh town in Bolan District. The three FC personnel were
identified as Lance Naik Mohammad Yousuf, Lance Naik Tosiq and
Sepoy Rashid Ali.
A Policeman and
a five-year old girl were killed when a suicide bomber attacked
the motorcade of former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao
near Kangra village soon after he left the venue of a public
meeting in nearby Battagram village of Shabqadar tehsil in Charsadda
District.
Two separate hand
grenade attacks injured four including two suspected attackers
in Lyari area in Karachi.
March 4
Three persons were
killed in separate incidents of violence in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. Forty-year-old Rozi Khan was killed and his
friend Sakhi Jan injured in a firing incident near Indus Plaza
at a local hotel along the Super Highway within the jurisdiction
of Sohrab Goth Police Station.
Police found the
bullet riddle dead of young man, identified as 25-year-old Sameer,
resident of Ghousia Colony within the limits of Baghdadi Police
Station.
Police found dead
body of another young man near Coast Guard Quarters in Korangi
area within the limits of Zaman Town Police Station.
Docks Police arrested
seven accused and recovered arms and drugs from their possession
in different actions in the night in Machhar colony.
Chakiwara Police
arrested three suspects associated with banned outfit Aman committee
in Lyari area and recovered two Kalashnikovs, three TT pistols
and 300 bullets.
A suicide attack
injured five officers, including a DSP, and badly damaged the
vehicle when a teenage suicide bomber struck a Police patrol
at Commissionery Bazaar in Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
The driver of a
Police patrol vehicle was killed in an ambush by unidentified
militants at Landi Akhun Ahmad area of Peshawar in the evening.
The residence of
Shakeel Afridi, who is arrested over treason charges, has been
sealed due to law and order concerns.
Section 144 was
imposed as two persons, including a security official, were
injured in a shooting incident in Baseen area of Gilgit.
Punjab Rangers
and Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts recovered live rockets, light machine
guns and other arms from two separate points of Gilgit city
and arrested seven suspected persons.
A local leader
of the TTP, Abdul Zareen alias Shah Gee, was arrested from Bara
Koh, a suburb area of Islamabad, involved in attacks on Army
troops and Frontier Constabulary forces in Bajaur Agency of
FATA.
The TTP removed
its ‘deputy chief’ Faqir Muhammad from the key position. TTP,
however, permitted him to be part of the terrorist group as
an ordinary fighter. In an interview with a foreign media organisation,
TTP ‘spokesman’ Ahsanullah Ahsan said that a consultation meeting
of the TTP was held on March 2 under its Chief Hakeemullah Mehsud.
The meeting, which was also attended by nine other important
TTP ‘commanders’, took a number of decisions, including the
removal of Faqir Muhammad, the spokesman said.
Magistrate Ahmed
Mansoor Janjua said that Abdul Rasheed, the main accused behind
the October 8, 2007 suicide blast on Benazir Bhutto’s rally,
revealed to him that the attack was planned and orchestrated
by the then TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik said that only 48 persons were missing
from Balochistan and the figure of 6,000 such people was “highly”
exaggerated one. During his visit to the National Press Club,
he appealed to the media to avoid filing stories on Balochistan
that were based on propaganda.
Rehman Malik said
that Afghanistan had closed the training camps of Baloch separatists
in that country, adding that this was done at the intervention
of Afghan President Hamid Karzai who had admitted recently that
some of the troubles in Balochistan were originating from his
country.
Over 50 members
of the Hindu community across Balochistan have been abdcuted
in the last four years, compared to seven instances of abduction
during former President General Pervez Musharraf’s nine years,
said Basant Lal Gulshan, the human rights and minorities affairs
minister for Balochistan.
March 5
Four militants were killed when
rival outfits clashed with each other to get control over an
important bunker in Dwa Thoe area of Tirah valley in Khyber
Agency of FATA. Sources said that Tariq Afridi group of TTP
attacked a bunker of LI in Dwa Thoe area. Both the outfit traded
heavy fire, which resulted in killing of four militants.
An official of Mehsud Scouts
was killed during a search operation in Naway Kamar area on
Sheen Qamar Road in Bara tehsil when an explosive device
planted inside an empty house exploded.
Local residents found headless
body of Tor Mullah Zakhakhel, a tribesman, at a deserted place
in Akkakhel.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government primary school in Malik Jafar Khan area of Landi
Kotal. The blast damaged the building.
Kukikhel volunteers defused
an explosive device planted on a roadside in Serhai area. The
total number of destroyed schools in the entire Khyber Agency
has crossed 80, whereas in Landikotal this number is about 24.
Three militants were killed
as a Balochistan FC patrol team retaliated to their attack in
Hameedpur area in Naseerabad District.
Unidentified militants blew
up three 220-KV electricity towers in Mach area of Bolan District
suspending electricity to some areas.
FC arrested a suspect, identified
as Haji Lala Khan, recovering arms from his possession from
Satellite town area in Quetta.
According to official sources,
three FC check posts located on Chaman Road, Quetta-Karachi
Highway and Sibi Road were abolished to promote reconciliation
efforts in Balochistan.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab
Aslam Raisani ordered the heads of LEAs, including FC and Police,
to take steps to fight terrorism, kidnapping for ransom and
other heinous crimes in the province.
DCO of Gwadar, Abdul Rehman
Dashti, was killed by unknown armed assailants in Karachi in
the night. SSP District South Naeem Shaikh said that the DCO
was killed at the bungalow of Mir Imam Bezenjo, a political
personality from Turbat District of Balochistan and later his
body was placed in a car and it was abandoned at Khayaban-e-Tanzeem
not far from the bungalow.
A man, identified as Sarwar
(26), was shot dead by unidentified militants at Main Bazaar
situated near Nimco Shop within PIB Police precincts.
At least seven people, including
a bystander woman, were injured when unidentified assailants
opened fire on the crowd gathered at ANP welcome rally for its
newly-elected senator Shahi Syed near Malir area.
The terrorists’ bid to blow
up a tribe elder’s house in Hangu city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
was neutralised after occupants spotted a 15 kilograms improvised
explosive device on the premises and got it promptly defused
by the bomb disposal squad.
SFs recovered a cache of weapons
in a search operation in the Chiragali area of Upper Dir District.
The Supreme Court hearing a
plea for registration of a second FIR in the Benazir Bhutto
assassination case ordered that a summons be pasted on the wall
of former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s residence
in Islamabad.
He had also sought the initiation
of criminal proceedings against General Musharraf and others
for allegedly planning and executing the plot to assassinate
Ms Bhutto and named as respondents former Punjab Chief Minister
Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, former
law minister Babar Awan, then acting interior minister Lieutenant-General
(retd) Hamid Nawaz, former Director General of Intelligence
Bureau Syed Ijaz Hussain Shah, former interior secretary Syed
Kamal Shah and senior police officers of Rawalpindi.
Public and private schools,
offices and markets re-opened in Gilgit city of Gilgit District
after remaining closed for a week following the February 28,
2012 Kohistan killing of 18 Shias.
Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah
and the Chief Secretary visited Chilas, the headquarters of
Diamer District, and met with elders and public representatives.
It was agreed at the meeting that a jirga from the District
would make efforts for establishing durable peace in the region.
Later, a 100-member jirga comprising notables from across the
Diamer District was formed in Chilas.
A total of 333 cases have been
received by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances
over the past 14 months, stated a press release issued in Islamabad.
There were 138 cases of missing persons till January 1, 2011.
The commission received 333 cases during the period from January
1, 2011 to February 29, 2012. With these cases, the number of
missing persons has increased to 471, and a total of 175 cases
have been disposed of so far.
As a result of proceedings held
in Islamabad and Karachi, some missing persons were traced in
February this year. The commission plans to visit Quetta in
the second week of March.
HuT is a non-political organisation
and does not operate clandestinely, rather it works openly within
society in order to bring back the glorious era of Islam, the
organisation’s Counsel, Chaudhry Umar Hayat Sindhu said. Addressing
a press conference in Islamabad, he said that his organisation
had nothing to do with terrorism.
Sindhu further claimed that
Hizbut-Tahrir was working in 40 countries, including Pakistan,
Indonesia, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Germany, UK, Denmark,
Turkey and Jordan.
Militant leaders in Bajaur Agency
(FATA) have reacted strongly to the removal of their chief from
the post of deputy Amir of the TTP and threatened to
form their own group. Four top militants loyal to Maulvi Faqir
Mohammad called local reporters and said they rejected as one-sided
TTP’s decision to remove their leader from the deputy leader’s
post.
March 6
At least 17 militants, including
two al Qaeda ‘commanders’ and seven suicide bombers, were killed
in separate SFs actions in Upper Orakzai and Malakhel area of
Dabori in Orakzai Agency of FATA in the night. Two al Qaeda
‘commanders’, identified as Abdullah Mubarak and Ahmed, were
Arab nationals.
A security man, identified as
Khalid of Swat Scouts, was killed and two others received injuries
when an improvised explosive device went off in Baizai tehsil
of Mohmand Agency.
Unidentified militants abducted
three persons from a Hujra in Sultankhel area of Haleemzai
tehsil.
Seven unidentified militants
were killed while nine others were wounded during a clash with
SFs at the RD 238 Uch area of Naseerabad District.
A bullet-riddled dead body,
identified as that of Ahmed Ali, was found dumped in the Dasht
area of Mastung District.
An activist of the ANP, identified
as Bacha Zada (33), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
at Sir Shah Suleman Road near Hassan Square area in Essa Nagri
within the limits of Aziz Bhatti Police Station in Karachi.
Police Special Branch arrested
one Dinesh Chandar, an alleged Indian spy from Malir Khokhrapar
area. The Police also recovered an Indian identity card and
maps of villages and cities in Pakistan.
An alleged drug kingpin from
Turbat District of Balochistan, Mir Imam Bizenjo, has been identified
as the prime suspect in the March 5, 2012 murder of Gwadar Deputy
Commissioner Abdul Rehman Dashti. The murder took place at the
home of Imam Bizenjo.
An Anti-extortion Cell, headed
by DSP Wasif Qureshi, has been set up in Karachi on the demand
of STA.
Unidentified militants blew
up five houses in Dahri Likpani area in the Katlang Police Station
jurisdiction of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police
and locals said the militants had planted explosive material
outside the house of a retired employee of the Pakistan Air
Force, Ameer Rehman.
IHC granted bail to two alleged
militants, Mufti Imamuddin and Qari Mohammad Arshad, who were
arrested on charges of planning attacks on sensitive and important
buildings of the Federal Capital and arranging funds through
abductions for ransom.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said the security of the Federal Capital had been tightened
to foil any terrorism bid especially from the Margalla hills
in Islamabad.
He further said both internal
and external forces were involved in creating unrest in Balochistan.
Responding to a question, he clarified that red notices, not
red warrants of former President Pervez Musharraf have been
issued.
In compliance with the Supreme
Court orders during hearing of a plea for registration of a
second FIR in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, summons
was pasted on the front wall of the residence of former President
General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. Officials of the Rawalpindi
Police reached the model farm house number 1-C/B Park Road,
Chak Shahzad area in Islamabad, which is the property of General
Musharraf and pasted the summons.
Keeping in view the terrorist
attacks on Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Department decided
to upgrade the buildings of Police Stations as per requirements
in order to avert the sabotage acts and secure lives of the
people.
The ousted deputy chief of the
TTP, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad said to Reuters that he still favours
peace talks with the Pakistani Government. “Whenever I’ve held
talks with the Government of Pakistan, I’ve held them with the
permission and advice of the central leadership of the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan,” Maulvi Faqir Muhammad said from an undisclosed location.
The Balochistan High Court disposed
of 83 cases of missing persons, among 4000 cases during the
Judicial Year 2011. Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Qazi
Faez Isa revealed these figures during a full court reference
to mark the commencement of the new judicial year 2012 at Balochistan
High Court.
Al Qaeda’s main operational
commander and the chief of the HuJI, Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri,
who was reportedly killed on June 3, 2011 in a US drone attack
in South Waziristan Agency of FATA, was spotted in North Waziristan
Agency recently, referring to reliable sources.
Asserting that the US faced
tough threats from the American recruits of al Qaeda, Attorney
General Eric Holder said that the Government has "clear
authority" to kill its citizens abroad who present an imminent
threat of violent attack.
A media report stated that authorities
in Islamabad have allowed the family members of slain al Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden, including his widows and children, to
leave the country.
March 7
At least four persons, including
two women, were killed and two others injured when unidentified
armed assailants opened fire after entering a house in Shaheen
town area on University Road in Peshawar.
A boy was killed and three others
injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast on the Kohat-Peshawar
Road in Kohat District.
A CD market was blown up by
an IED planted by unidentified militants on Takkar Road at Takhtbhai
Bazaar in Mardan District.
The TTP released a fresh footage
of the abducted VC of University of Peshawar, Doctor Ajmal Khan.
In the video message, Doctor Khan is seen making an appeal for
his recovery.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the Government was ready
to accept the genuine demands of the TTP. The Minister said
the Government could not accept “unjust demands”, adding that
conceding at this point would encourage the abductors to ‘lift’
more people for ransom, bringing the Government under pressure.
Two alleged militants were arrested
from the basement of a mosque during an operation in Malgeen
area of Lachi tehsil in Kohat District.
Unidentified militants killed
three labourers and injured six others in a town close to the
Iranian border in Kech District.
An official of Balochistan Levies,
identified as Abdul Ghani, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
while he was sitting along with his friend at a roadside hotel
in Khuzdar District.
Unidentified militants blew
up a gas pipeline with explosives in the Pir Koh area of Dera
Bugti District destroying a portion of the gas pipeline resulting
in suspension of gas supply to a plant from well no 16.
One Nazimuddin Umrani, a relative
of Mir Sadiq Ali Umrani, President of the Balochistan Chapter
of PPP, was abducted by armed assailants from the Allahbad Tamboo
area of Naseerabad District.
Trader Ashok Kumar, who was
abducted on February 27, 2012 from Gandahwa area of the Jhal
Magsi District, returned home.
One activist of ANP, identified
as Rehan Mehsud (28), was shot dead in Machhar Colony within
the precincts of Sohrab Goth Police Station in Karachi.
An activist of the PPP, identified
as Lala Ayaz (38), was shot dead and a young boy Saleh Muhammad
(12) injured when unidentified armed assailants opened fire
on them near a hotel at Met Office in Karachi.
Police found a two-day old torture-marked
unidentified dead body from Azeem Pura, within the precincts
of Shah Faisal Police Station.
Unidentified militants abducted
three FATA SPDP officials and a Levies soldier from the Ghundi
Hassankhel area in the FR Lakki of FATA in the night.
At least three militants were
killed when rival outfits clashed in Tirah valley of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
A headless body of a student,
identified as Abdul Mateen, was found in Akkakhel area of Bara
tehsil. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the killing.
A jirga of Kukikhel tribe asked
all armed groups to vacate its area immediately, threatening
to take action against those, who provide shelter to militants
on its soil.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
revealed that Pakistan’s Security Agencies were a few days too
late – saying they were ‘very close’ to capturing the slain
al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
also claimed that at no stage was the Government aware of Osama
bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan. The Minister admitted the
failure of civil Intelligence Agencies in tracking down the
al Qaeda founder.
The HRCP urged the Government
to disclose the whereabouts of two Sindhi nationalist leaders
- Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Senior Vice Chairman Dr Mir
Alam Muree and Umer Teewano alias Raja Dahar, who were picked
up by plain clothed men belonging to LEAs from Gulshan-e-Sajad
area in the jurisdiction of Bhatai Nagar Police Station of Hyderabad
District in Sindh on March 5, 2012.
China is facing a network of
militants entrenched in neighbouring states, but authorities,
especially in Pakistan, are trying to stamp out violence and
protect China’s interests, the Governor of China’s Xinjiang
region said.
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
current Chairman Nur Bekri said that “we have certainly discovered
that East Turkestan activists and terrorists in our neighbouring
states have a thousand and one links”, while talking on the
sidelines of China’s annual meeting of Parliament, when asked
about a Pakistan connection with attacks in Xinjiang.
March 8
Police found a dead body of
an unidentified woman from bushes near Afghan Camp, within the
precincts of Gulshan-e-Maymar Police Station in Karachi.
Railway track was blown up in
Nushki District suspending the train service between Quetta
and the Iranian city of Zahedan.
250 Afghan citizens were arrested
for allegedly not having travel documents from check post in
Mian Ghundi area of Quetta.
The Sabzi Mandi Police arrested
60 suspects during a search operation in various localities
of Islamabad.
The TTP ‘commanders’ are locked
in talks, trying to heal a damaging rift that has inflamed tensions
over whether to pursue peace efforts with the Government, insiders’
sources said.
Pakistan possessed up to 110
nuclear weapons and spent a whopping USD 2.2 billion on its
atomic arsenal last year, claims a report by an international
NGO, ICAN.
Reacting to the report, Pakistan's
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said it was "highly
exaggerated and part of an insidious propaganda campaign."
The Government offer for talks
with Baloch nationalist leaders was heading nowhere as most
of them rejected it, saying they have no trust in the rulers.
“Nobody trusts the Government
anymore, whether it is Interior Minister Rehman Malik or anybody
else. Dictatorial policies of the past continue to dominate
the current scenario in Balochistan.” The Interior Ministry
has ordered the chief secretary of Balochistan to withdraw cases
against Brahmdagh, Harbyar Marri and Akhtar Mengal, but the
nationalists described the move as double standards of the Government.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan desired relations with the US on the basis
of mutual respect and interest without compromising its national
sovereignty.
Gilani termed the US an important
country and said Pakistan did not wish to spoil its relations
with it. Gilani said the Parliamentary Committee on National
Security had already prepared recommendations for new terms
of engagement and cooperation with the US, ISAF and NATO.
Authorities have brought charges
against former al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s three widows
for illegally entering and living in the country, Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik said.
In a new twist to the Osama
bin Laden saga, emails leaked from an intelligence analysis
firm Stratfor suggest that the body of the al Qaeda leader was
actually sent to the US for cremation and not buried at sea.
According to the emails, Osama was killed in a US raid on his
compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and was transported to the
US and cremated.
March 9
At least 18 militants, among
them six foreigners, were killed when US drones fired missiles
on a compound and a vehicle in two different areas of South
Waziristan Agency in FATA.
TTP militants ambushed a military
convoy, killing seven soldiers at Khar Qamar, 30 kilometres
west of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency.
Leader of the peace militia
of the Stori Khel Tribe in Orakzai Agency, Malik Waris Khan,
was attacked and killed by militants in Feroz Khail area of
Orakzai Agency. The spokesperson for the TTP Ehsanullah Ehsan
called reporters from an unknown location and claimed responsibility
for the attack on the peace lashkar leader.
Al Qaeda confirmed that one
of its commanders, Badr Mansoor, died on February 9 in an US
drone strike in a compound located in Miranshah.
A Police informer, identified
as Muzammil (35), and a pushcart juice vendor Muhammad Aslam
were shot dead at Faqeera Goth within the limits of Sohrab Goth
Police Station in Karachi.
A man was shot dead in Mujahidabad
area of Orangi Town. The incident occurred following the targeted
killing of a former cadre of a banned outfit in Meraj Nabi Colony
the same day.
An activist of an unnamed political
party was killed in New Karachi area.
Elsewhere in the District, a
civilian was killed near Pakistan Chowk locality.
A worker of a political party
succumbed to his injuries after being shot on March 8, 2012
in Surjani Town area.
A Police official succumbed
to his wounds after being injured during a clash with the outlaws
in New Karachi area.
A bomb hoax at the Karachi University
(KU) spread panic among the students, prompting an evacuation.
Crime Range West claimed to
have arrested a target killer, Rahim Mama alias Rahim Bux, from
Rashid Minhas Road. According to SP Khurram Waris, the raid
was conducted on tip-off, leading to the arrest of Rahim Bux.
At least 10 Government officials
were abducted and later released after the killing of two alleged
suspects in the Killi Misezai area of the Qilla Abdullah District.
According to sources, personnel of the FC and the Anti-Terrorism
Force launched a search operation in Maizai Addah area on a
tip off about the presence there of a gang involved in abduction
for ransom and other heinous crimes.
After the shootout, a large
number of local tribesmen blocked the portion of National Highway
linking Quetta and Afghanistan by putting barricades and boulders.
The Government appointed Lieutenant
General Zaheerul Islam as the new head of the ISI, quashing
rumours of another extension for Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja
Pasha. Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam will step into Pasha’s
boots as Director General of the Directorate of ISI after serving
as the commander of the V Corps, a key army administrative unit
that is based in Karachi.
The TTP threatened attacks against
the Government, Police and military officials if three of the
slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s widows were not released
from Pakistan’s custody, a spokesman for the militant outfit
said.
The New York Times reported
that Osama bin Laden was betrayed by one of his jealous wives
and his aides. It seems all was not well in Osama’s safe house
in Pakistan towards the end, the media report stated saying
there was “poisonous mistrust” between Osama’s three wives,
with one of them being accused of betraying him to US intelligence.
A new twist to the mystery of
how Osama got a shelter in a Pakistani cantonment town for over
six years, before he was killed by US SEALs came from a retired
Pakistani brigadier Shaukat Qadir, who carried out his own investigations,
the Times said.
The TTP spokesman Ehsanullah
Ehsan threatened to attack Shad Begum, recipient of the International
Women of Courage award. Shad Begum, who hails from Dir District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, received the International Women of Courage
Award on March 8 from First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton for her work on women rights and development.
The US State Department said
those that would threaten Shad Begum, are “out of step with
the aspirations of the Pakistani people.”
The Government of Pakistan has
discreetly banned the ASWJ, the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) Urdu report said. In what the BBC describes as a notification
issued by the Interior Ministry two weeks ago, the ASWJ was
suspected to have been involved in terrorism related activities
of the SSP, the defunct terror outfit.
The ASWJ chief Maulana Ahmed
Ludhianvi expressed his unfamiliarity with the ban. He, however,
made it a point that if such a ban exists, it would be challenged
in court.
The Sindh Police will be inducting
400 more women officers into the ranks to add to the 900 which
are already part of the force. Sindh IG Police Mushtaq Ahmed
Shah held a meeting at the Central Police Office to review capacity-building
measures for improving women policing.
A refresher course in criminal
law will focus mainly on the Protection of Women Act 2006, Criminal
Law (Amendment) Act 2010 on sexual harassment, Protection against
Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010, Prevention of
Anti-Women Practices (Amendment) Act 2011, Acid Control and
Acid Crime Prevention Acts of 2010, among others.
As the insurgency in Balochistan
gets into international limelight, several foreign Governments
have assured Pakistan of steps to curb activities of Baloch
separatists on their soil.
The spokesman said that taking
notice of those activities, the Foreign Ministry “made demarches
to the relevant Governments”. Many Baloch leaders and activists
have taken refuge in European countries from where they have
been actively promoting their cause.
The Upper House unanimously
passed ‘The National Commission for Human Rights Bill 2012’
with major amendments to the bill passed by the National Assembly
earlier, to provide for the establishment of NCHR for protection
and promotion of fundamental human rights in the country.
The commission will be authorised
to seek a report from the Federal Government on its own motion
or on receipt of a petition on violation of human rights.
The functions of the commission
do not include inquiring into the acts of intelligence agencies.
If a complaint is made to the commission alleging that an act
or practice of such an agency is in violation of human rights,
the commission shall refer the complaint to the competent authority.
Pakistan said it is not putting
the "core issue" of Kashmir on the backburner as it
works to normalise ties with India, and any final settlement
between the two sides would be linked to realising the "aspirations
of the Kashmiri people". "The Jammu and Kashmir dispute
is about the people of Kashmir and their inalienable right to
self-determination. Therefore, there is no question of freezing
this issue or putting this core dispute on the backburner,"
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said.
Basit remarked that the UN Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders had recently
urged the Indian Government to repeal the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.
Former MNA and PML-N leader
Marvi Memon called for representation of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan
in the Council of Common Interests so that the two regions could
properly plead and protect their stakes.
Accusing PPP of “crossing the
last limits of corruption”, she said: “The party which has grabbed
power in PoK through rigging should tell what it has done for
the amelioration of masses in the region?” She also underlined
the need for amendments in PoK’s Interim Constitution Act 1974
so as to empower the region’s Government.
Chief Justice of the Peshawar
High Court Dost Muhammad Khan said on March 9 that 2012 would
be the year of release of missing persons. “No one is above
the law and the Constitution,” he said in his speech as chief
guest at the general body meeting of the PHCBA.
The Difa-e-Pakistan Council
(DPC) held a rally in Peshawar, demanding the immediate release
of missing persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Ismail Darvesh of
JUI-F and Jamaatud Dawa leaders also addressed the rally.
March 10
Pakistani fighter jets bombed
several terrorists’ hideouts in the northwestern Orakzai Agency,
near the Afghanistan border, killing 33 terrorists and injuring
23, military officials said.
Four terrorist hideouts in the
Khadezai and Mamozai areas of tribal region were destroyed by
bombardment of jet fighters, killing at least 21 terrorists.
At least five terrorists were
killed by SFs after they attacked convoy of the SFs in Bara
tehsil of Khyber Agency, political authorities said.
Six members of a pro-Government
tribal militia were killed when they were ambushed by
militants in the Dera Bugti area of Balochistan, security officials
said. According to sources, volunteers of the militia were travelling
to Phelaogh from Sui when they were attacked by the armed militants
positioned on the hills.
Quetta Police busted eight outfits
involved in abduction for ransom and other heinous acts, said
DIG Police Operations Quetta Qazi Abdul Wahid.
March 11
At least 39 militants were killed
in clashes at various places during a SFs’ operation in Alam
Godhar Area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Five security personnel including
a high-ranking officer were killed when they stepped over a
land mine in Ghalanai area of Mohammad Agency. Seven others
were injured in the incident.
A security man was killed when
an improvised explosive device went off in Wali Kor area of
Baizai tehsil. Sources said that security personnel were
fetching water from a spring in Wali Kor area when one of them
stepped on the explosive device, planted along the track. A
spokesman for TTP Mohmand chapter talked to local journalists
by telephone from an undisclosed location and claimed responsibility
for the blast.
In Khyber Agency, two persons
including a security man were killed and two children received
injuries in different incidents in Bara tehsil.
The headless body of an abdcuted
official of FC was found in Alamgudar area of Bara. Sources
said that the deceased identified as Jameel Khattak was kidnapped
by militants after he got injured during a clash with them.
In Jamrud, unidentified persons
shot dead a tribesman near Shahkas locality. Sources said that
Amir Jan, a resident of Bara, along with another person was
coming to Jamrud on a motorcycle when he was intercepted by
two assailants, also riding a motorcycle.
Two children were injured when
a mortar shell fell on the house of Janas Khan in Akkakhel area
of Bara.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up at a funeral in the suburban Badbher area of Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 16 persons
and injuring 33 others. A Senior Police official said Advocate
Khushdil Khan, Deputy Speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly,
appeared to be the target of the attack. The blast took place
immediately after he had left the place. Darra Adamkhel chapter
of TTP claimed responsibility for attack. TTP spokesman Mohammad
Afridi said the politician was the target because he had set
up a militia to battle against the TTP. “These militias are
the front lines for the Pakistan army,” the spokesman added.
An activist of the ANP, identified
as Shaad Mohammed (25), was shot dead at Sarrafa Market in Pathan
Colony of Karachi. Police said that the deceased had been lobbying
against the drug mafia operating in the area and was continuously
receiving death threats.
The mutilated and bullet-riddled
dead body of a teenage boy, identified as Naeem, was found from
Chappa Gali in the Eidgah Police limits.
Another bullet-riddled dead
body of a boy, identified as Mohammed Fahim, was recovered from
Machlee Market in the Soldier Bazaar Police limits.
Police found body parts of a
woman from a garbage dump yard within the remits of Soldier
Bazaar Police Station.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a man in Kali Kabeer area of Quetta. The identity of victim
is yet to be ascertained.
A man, identified as Riaz, was
shot dead by unidentified armed militants in Tasub Bazar of
Panjgur District.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found in a complex of Jinnah Road in Quetta.
Another unidentified dead body
was recovered from hills of Pakhtoonabad area.
Unidentified militants blew
up a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline in the Pirkoh area of Dera
Bugti District.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that the alleged suspects for the February
28, 2012 target killing of 18 Shia bus passengers in Kohistan
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been traced through frequency
of their cell phones and five of them have already been arrested.
The Minister further said that
the incident should not be viewed as a terrorist action against
a particular sect. “Rather, the killings were carried out by
those who want to destabilise the state, the Government and
are active throughout our country.
It was reported that the administration
of Kohistan District has constituted a 70-member jirga of local
Ulema and elders, which would extend help to the LEAs in arresting
perpetrators of the February 28 killing.
After volatile Balochistan,
the situation in Gilgit-Baltistan has turned into a volcano
that could erupt at any time, exposing hundreds of locals to
violence, hatred and death.
The report further adds that
most of the time the major cities of Gilgit-Baltistan, especially,
Gilgit face imposition of curfew by the security forces to maintain
the law and order situation, whereas media is also unable to
report independently on the issue.
The Government banned three
religious/charity organisations working in the country. According
to a senior official of the Interior Ministry, with the latest
ban imposed on ASWJ, Al Harmain Foundation (AHF) and Rabita
Trust (RT), the number of outlawed organisations and groups
rose to 38. The three organisations were banned by the UN in
2009 under a resolution adopted by the Security Council.
The organisations previously
banned by the Government are: LeJ, SMP (SMP banned on August
14, 2001), JeM, LeT, SSP, TJP, TNSM, TeI (on January 14, 2002),
al Qaeda (on March 17, 2003), Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan, Khuddam-ul-Islam,
Islami Tehreek Pakistan (on November 15, 2003), JuA, JuF, HuT
(HuT on November 20, 2003), Khair-un-Naas International Trust
(on October 27, 2004), BLA (BLA on April 7, 2006), Islamic Students
Movement of Pakistan (on August 21, 2006), LI, AI, Haji Namdar
Group (on June 30, 2008), TTP (TTP on August 25, 2008), JuD,
Al-Akhtar Trust and Al-Rashid Trust (banned under the UNSC Resolution
1267 on December 10, 2008), Shia Talba Action Committee, Markaz-e-Sabeel
(Gilgit), Tanzeem Naujawan-i-Sunnat (Gilgit), People’s Aman
Committee (PAC), BRA, BLF, LeB, BLUF and BMDT (banned in 2011).
ST was put on a watch list on January 14, 2002.
ASWJ hit back at reports of
a Government ban saying it was slapped at the behest of the
US. “Attempts at banning ASWJ are on the directives of the US,”
Chairperson Maulana Ahmad Ali Ludhianvi told media. The Government
has not sealed any of ASWJ offices, thus far, Ludhianvi said,
adding, “We have learnt about the ban in a BBC Report. We haven’t
received any official intimation”.
A banker at the centre of a
scandal over the funneling of millions of rupees from ISI to
politicians in the 1990s has said that he personally delivered
cash to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif at his home. Former Mehran
Bank chief Yunus Habib did not specify how much he had paid
to Sharif, a two-time former premier.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the
US Sherry Rehman expressed serious concern over Congressman
Dana Rohrabacher’s resolution on Balochistan, in a letter addressed
to US House of Representatives speaker John Boehner.
March 12
SFs killed eight militants during
operations in different areas of Upper Orakzai Agency in FATA
and destroyed three hideouts.
Two people were killed and 20
others injured when a bomb ripped through a bus near Sadda town
in Kurram Agency. The bus was going from Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
to Parachinar in Kurram Agency, when it was hit by the remote-controlled
bomb planted on the road near Pir Qayyum village. Nine women
and four children were among the injured.
SFs defused two bombs planted
along the road in Mat Khuza area of lower Kurram Agency.
Political administration of
FR Lakki Marwat launched a crackdown on Bettanni tribesmen after
the expiry of deadline, set for safe recovery of four abducted
officials. Three officials of SPDP, identified as Jehanzeb,
Kachkol Khan and Awal Khan, residents of Mardan District, along
with a Levies soldier, Nasser Khan, were abducted from FR Lakki
in the night of March 7-8.
The death toll of March 11,
2012 Badhber (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) suicide bombing reached to
17 as another injured person, identified as Naveed, succumbed
to his injuries.
Police claimed to have foiled
a major terror bid by recovering a huge quantity of explosive
material from a vehicle parked near a Police check post in Peshawar.
The residents of Battagram District
threatened to launch a mass agitation drive if Government didn't
expel Afghan refugees from the District.
Darul Qaza Swat, the Circuit
Bench of Peshawar High Court in Mingora town of Swat District,
granted bail to six accused charged by Police in terrorism and
other crimes on surety bonds of PKR 500,000 and PKR 300,000.
The Interior Minister Rehman
Malik said that banned organisations would be delisted if they
"closed down their militant wings". "If the proscribed organisations
assure us that they have closed down their militant wings and
abandoned extremism, we would like to meet them in next few
days," Rehman Malik told the media, adding, "We have been contacted
by several banned organisations that want to sit and talk. If
they want to give up militancy we will talk to them as we are
revising the list of proscribed organisations".
Pakistan has faced heavy criticism
for not doing more to clampdown on the groups, many of which
are allowed to operate freely under new names, such as JuD,
an UN-blacklisted charity considered a front for the LeT.
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar
said that there has always been a political wing in the Directorate
of ISI and the Prime Minister and the President will be informed
about the agency's policies and requirements by newly-appointed
ISI Director General Zahirul Islam.
March 13
The US drones struck twice in
the regions along the border with Afghanistan in SWA of FATA,
killing 15 militants, including two senior 'commanders', security
and intelligence officials said.
Three persons were killed by
unidentified militants in Tirah Kukikhel near Spean Khwar in
Khyber Agency.
NWA APA Azmat Jamal and his
two associates were killed when unidentified militants ambushed
their vehicle in Mir Ali tehsil of NWA.
A militant was killed and office
of the LI was destroyed as the SFs launched search operation
in Sepah area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants destroyed
six video shops in the main bazaar of Miranshah, the headquarters
of North Waziristan Agency, while no human loss was reported.
The elders of Salarzai tribe
in Bajaur Agency assured local administration of continued support
to its peace endeavors and said they wanted complete elimination
of militants from the area.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead four Police constables and injured another two at a picket
in the jurisdiction of Sadar Police Station in Gujrat District.
Islamabad Police arrested a
suspect, identified as Sohail, from Saadat Colony within Golra
Police Station area and recovered three hand grenades and 370
rounds of a submachine gun from him.
An ASI Raja Moin (47) was shot
dead by two armed assailants while he was sitting in front of
his house in Ali Town near Super Highway within the limits of
Sachal Police Station in Karachi.
A Police constable (57), identified
as Ayub alias Chacha, was shot dead by unidentified armed
militants while he was going home after performing his duty
at Taimoria Police Station.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a shopkeeper, identified as Ghulam Gilani Hotak, at
Killi Ferozabad on Sabzal Road in Quetta.
LEAs arrested at least 345 Afghan
nationals under the Foreign Act from a passenger coach during
checking at a check post in Panjgur District.
The local tribesmen in Meezai
Adda area of Qilla Abdullah District, while referring to March
9, 2012, incident where SFs launched a search operation against
alleged abductors killing two suspects, accused the SFs and
opposing tribesmen of killing and detaining innocent people
during the operation.
An unknown caller allegedly
threatened to abduct and kill the daughter of 'Memogate scandal'
proponent Mansoor Ijaz in London.
Police arrested an Afghan 'hired
assassin' from a private medical centre at Dabgari Garden in
Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and
recovered a pistol from his possession.
Pakistani authorities have "documentary
evidence" of the distribution of millions of rupees among the
country's politicians in 1990 by a banker, Yunus Habib, who
acted at the behest of the security establishment, Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik said.
Former ISI chief Asad Durrani
told the Supreme Court that he distributed millions of rupees
among politicians on the instructions of then Army Chief General
Mirza Aslam Beg and late President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Yunus
Habib, the former head of Mehran Bank, testified in court that
he had arranged PKR 1.48 billion on the directions of Beg and
Khan.
The Difa-e-Pakistan Council
said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik has personally refuted
a BBC report that claimed the ASWJ has been declared a banned
outfit in Pakistan.
Sources in the Interior Ministry
on condition of anonymity confirmed the existence of a notification
for the ban on ASWJ for involvement in anti-state, terrorist
activities and sectarian violence.
ASWJ is reported to be working
towards a lift of the ban on SSP, the proscribed outfit that
the ASWJ claims to be a part of.
ASWJ, while making a pledge
to ensure that "Gilgit-Baltistan remains a Sunni province",
called for a protest against a change in curriculum which will
have the names of the Holy Prophet's companions removed from
textbooks. The reaction came after the arrangement of changing
the curriculum entered its final stage, as claimed by ASWJ.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik announced that the TTP had split into two groups.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the talks between US
and Afghan Taliban had led to a deep split within the TTP.
As reported earlier, the TTP
had removed Maulvi Faqir Muhammad from the post of 'deputy commander'
on March 4, 2012, over his differences with Chief Hakimullah
Mehsud.
March 14
Eight civilians and six suspected
militants, including an Afghan national, were killed during
operation in Sipah area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
At least six members of an anti-Taliban
militia were killed and three others injured in an IED blast
during a meeting of tribal elders at Kotkai village of Mamond
tehsil in Bajaur Agency. TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah
Ahsan said over phone that the elders were attacked because
they had formed a Government-backed anti-TTP force.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government high school at Mawaz Khan Kallay village in
Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
A minor girl was killed and
five people, including four personnel of FCB, were injured in
a rocket attack on a Police post at Janay Khwar in Mattani area
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A Government primary school
for girls was blown up by unidentified militants at Taru area
near Pabbi in Nowshera District.
An unidentified decomposed body
of a man was found from a deserted place in Sector 38-B of Surjani
Town in Karachi.
A man, identified as Saleh Mohammad,
was shot dead by NATO forces at Bibi Jan village on the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border in Chagai District. They also arrested four others and
took them across the border.
The BRP alleged that SFs have
launched a massive 'siege and search' operation in different
parts of Dera Bugti District during which several innocent people
had been killed and many had been arrested.
There have been no confirmations
by officials about any operation in Dera Bugti.
Former President and APML chief
General (Retired) Pervez Musharraf claimed that Nawab Akbar
Bugti, the founder of JWP, was not murdered, but had committed
suicide.
Pakistan is going to put 'tough
conditions' for reopening of NATO supply routes which it had
blocked in protest at the November 26, 2011, NATO raid on Pakistani
border posts in Mohmand Agency.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton reaffirmed Washington's commitment to remain engaged
with both Pakistan and Afghanistan even as the US works to end
the Afghan war.
A Pentagon spokesman said the
US looks forward to having a good partnership with Pakistan
moving forward. "That's what our focus is on. We believe it
is critical for the region and for the mission in Afghanistan,"
spokesperson, Navy Captain John Kirby, said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa senator and
the Senior Vice-President of the ANP Haji Muhammad Adeel, during
the fourth regional conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association, said that militancy in the country was still being
"supported by the Arabs", The ANP senator alleged that "Arabs
are still providing support to the militants" while Pakistan
faced 9/11 everyday.
March 15
SP-Rural Kalam Khan was killed
when a bomb ripped through his car at the Pishtakhara Chowk
in Peshawar.
Peshawar SSP Tahir Ayub said
that the blast that killed Superintendent of Police (SP) Abdul
Kalam Khan, was a suicide attack and the bomber's head had been
found at the place.
Police have been put on high
alert after an alleged letter from TTP threatened attacks on
co-educational schools and non-governmental organisations in
Mansehra District.
The Peshawar High Court said
that 30% of 'missing' persons are likely to remain with authorities,
whereas the rest will be identified and set free. "The matter
has seriously been considered," said the Peshawar High Court
Chief Justice while hearing the missing persons' cases.
The inquiry commission investigating
the US raid on the Abbottabad residence of Osama bin Laden revealed
that Russian-made weapons were found in the compound. The weapons
were found in a cupboard of Osama bin Laden. According to them,
only one casing of a used bullet was found.
One Jafaria Alliance leader,
Mohsin Rizvi, was attacked and injured while his son, Akmal,
was shot dead by unknown armed assailants near Patel Para area
of Karachi.
The MQM threatened to boycott
the forthcoming joint session of Parliament to protest the unabated
activities of extortionists in Karachi, urging the Government
to take appropriate measures to improve the situation in the
city.
The death toll of March 14,
2012 search operation reached 21 as seven more dead bodies of
civilians were found in Sipah area of Bara tehsil in
Khyber Agency of FATA.
Two suspected militants were
killed and four injured, while three of their hideouts were
destroyed when gunship helicopters targeted them in Ghaibi Neeka
area of Sipah in Tirah Valley.
Unidentified militants blew
up the building of Government Degree College for Boys in Jamrud
tehsil by detonating two bombs.
SFs arrested six suspected militants
during a search operation in Warr Mamond tehsil of Bajaur
Agency.
SFs arrested three suspected
militants during a search operation in Lara Banda, Bara Banda,
Niag Banda areas of Loe Mamond tehsil and seized a large
quantity of weapons, missiles and explosives.
Two abducted tribesmen, identified
as Zeeshan and Irshad, reached home in Haleemzai tehsil
of Mohmand Agency, They had been abducted along with two others
in Haleemzai on March 6, 2012.
As many as 21 cadres of HuT
were arrested by LEAs from a house in Islamabad. The raid was
conducted by a joint team of the city Police and Security Forces
on information that the outfit was holding a meeting against
'national interest'. The raiding team also seized some literature,
computers, laptops and CDs from the house.
A Swiss couple abducted from
Loralai District in Balochistan on July 1, 2011 year escaped
from the captivity of TTP in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Olivier David Och and Daniela Widmer were brought to Peshawar
by a military helicopter.
Aamir Malik, the son-in-law
of former Chairman of Joint Chiefs Of Staff Committee, General
Tariq Majeed, who was abducted from outside his Model Town residence
in August 2010, reached home after being released by the TTP
captors.
March 16
The bullet riddle body of a
former peace committee member was found in the fields near a
tube well in Sheikhabad village in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two Government schools for boys
were destroyed by explosive devices in Dhoda and Zer Janu villages,
which are 15 to 20 kilometres away from Lakki town, in Lakki
Marwat District.
A Government high school was
destroyed after two bombs went off in Kaddi village of Swabi
District.
Militants blew up a primary
school for boys in remote area of Kotangi Marchoongi in Kohat
District.
The American and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Government officials inaugurated a newly built primary school
in Torwarsak of the Buner District, displaying the shared commitment
of the United States and Pakistan to rebuild what militants
destroyed in the province and in the Tribal Areas.
A remote-controlled explosive
device hit a passenger bus in Parchar Khel area of Kurram Agency
in FATA, injuring 16 passengers and damaging the bus partially.
The retired Army officers from
FATA have demanded of the Government to stop the operation and
end the prolonged curfew in Bara area of Khyber Agency so that
the people could return to their homes.
Refuting the data collected
by a NGO, according to which only 10 per cent of South Waziristan
Agency's residents had suffered displacement, Senator Saleh
Shah said that people had been forced to flee from five of its
eight tehsils due to military operations.
Police rescued two hostages,
identified as Shahzad Alam and Abdul Hadi, from the custody
of their abductors from Sukkur District.
The PML-LM and the MQM agreed
to deweaponise Karachi before the general elections. Both the
parties evolved an agreement in a meeting between the Steering
Committee chairman of the PML-LM, Saleem Saifullah, and MQM
Chairman Afaq Ahmed.
ATC Rawalpindi gave custody
of arrested HuT activists to Police. Industrial Area Police
produced the activists of HuT, who were arrested in a raid on
March 15, 2012 from Islamabad, in the ATC to seek their physical
remand.
The Balochistan Government decided
to withdraw 28 cases registered in Dera Bugti District against
BRP chief Nawabzada Brahmdagh Bugti, reports Dawn. Provincial
Home Secretary Naseebullah Bazai directed Divisional Commissioners
and the Balochistan IGP to collect details of cases against
the leaders in their respective divisions.
Slain al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden had ordered his followers in Afghanistan and Pakistan
to attack the aircraft of US President Barack Obama. The report,
which cited documents seized at the Abbottabad compound where
Bin Laden was killed by US forces, said the al Qaeda leader
also sought to kill General David Petraeus, who then headed
international forces in Afghanistan.
"Biden is totally unprepared
for that post, which will lead the US into a crisis. As for
Petraeus, he is the man of the hour, and killing him would alter
the war's path in Afghanistan," said the documents.
Urging the Pakistanis to revolt
against the Government and the military, the al Qaeda Chief
Ayman al Zawahiri said that unless its demands were met, al
Qaeda would not release an elderly American development expert
who was abducted from Lahore District of Punjab province on
August 13, 2011.
March 17
23 suspected militants were
killed when Army planes targeted their positions in Dabori and
Mamozai areas of Orakzai Agency.
Eight terrorists were killed
and several others injured in aerial bombing in the areas of
Samaa Bazaar, Toor Semath, Kagu Qamar, Mamuzai, Jabba, and Balaras
of Orakzai Agency.
The volunteers of TuI, a Zakhakhel-based
group killed three suspects militants involved in bomb blasts
at Zakhakhel and Tirah areas of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Three women were killed in a
roadside bomb explosion, while two others sustained injuries
at Mundi Kas area in Bara tehsil.
The dead body of the nephew
of Akram Baloch, former leader of the PPP, identified as Naushad
alias Appu (25), was found near Crown Cinema within the
remits of the Kalri Police Station in Lyari area of Karachi.
At least two buses of Karachi
University (KU) were attacked by armed assailants injuring two
on-board students. Karachi University had announced on March
16, 2012 that the university would remain open and all academic
activities would continue despite MQM's call to observe a Black
Day and the business community's strike in the metropolis.
Two FC personnel, identified
as Naik Akhtar and Naeem Jan, were killed when armed militants
opened fire on them during their patrolling hours in Sangsilla
area of Dera Bugti District.
Two children were injured on
the outskirts of Kohlu town in Kohlu District when a landmine
exploded.
Two people, identified as Mastung
District Education Officer, Haji Abdul Fateh Shahwani, and his
driver, were abducted from Lindsay area of Bolan District while
coming to Quetta from Dera Murad Jamali town of Naseerabad District.
SFs arrested two Afghan militants,
identified as Abdul Bari and Abdul Mannan, from Muslim Bagh
area of Qilla Saifullah District.
Two watchmen of Government High
School for Boys were injured when militants blew up the building
the School in Babozai area of Katlang tehsil in Mardan
District.
A low-intensity roadside bomb
ripped through a suburban locality of Peshawar, Qadirabad.
A trader, Shaikh Allah Nawaz,
was abducted from his house in Pathankot area of Tank District
when over a dozen assailants wearing army uniforms stormed the
house and took him away along with his servant in his car.
The BDS neutralised a terrorism
bid by defusing 20 kilogrammes of explosives on a roadside in
Sarbanda area of Peshawar.
Militants' bid to blow up a
bridge at Darsamand area of Hangu District was thwarted by the
bomb disposal squad as they defused a 10 kilograms bomb attached
to it.
A court remanded family members
of slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, including his Yemeni
wife, in judicial custody for nine days. Osama's youngest wife
Amal Abdulfattah was with him in a compound in Abbottabad when
he was killed in a US Navy SEALs' operation on May 1-2, 2011.
The Laden family is residing
in an Islamabad house that has been declared a sub-jail. The
family members face trial on charges of illegal stay in Pakistan
under sections 13 and 14 of the Foreigners Act. A FIA Special
Investigation Unit's official said that 17 members of Osama
bin Laden's family were in custody of the agency.
One of the six abducted officials,
identified as Maqbool Ahmed, of the Balochistan Rural Support
Programme (BRSP) was killed at an unidentified location.
A middle school was blown up
by unidentified militants in Sarok Kallay area of Charsadda
District. Two rooms and a veranda of the school were destroyed
in the blast.
Unidentified militants blew
up a cellular phone shop in Amirabad village of Umarzai area.
A Government school was blown
up in the Lawangkhel village in Lakki Marwat District.
March 18
At least 26 terrorists were
killed in air strikes by fighter jets in the bordering areas
of Orakzai and Kurram Agencies in FATA.
14 bullet-riddled bodies were
found in Speen Qabar area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency,
a day after SFs left the area after an operation.
SFs resorted to indiscriminate
firing and shelling in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan
Agency, killing five civilians, one of them a child, after two
military convoys were attacked.
Two militants were killed and
one sustained injuries as the SFs repulsed an attack on the
security checkpoint in Badar area in Serwakai subdivision in
South Waziristan Agency.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead three persons, including the leader of Kachchi Rabita
Committee (KRC), Rasheed Kutchi (37), ASI Khalil, and security
guard Zubair (33), at Ghausia Road in Agra Taj Colony.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man bearing torture marks from bushes near Dolmen
City, Sea View Moor, in Clifton area within the limits of Boat
Basin Police Station.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that Police have arrested around 31 extortionists from
Karachi in the last two days.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead two people in Tajikabad area of Quetta. According
to Police, the victims, identified as Yaqoob Shah and his son
Muhammad Naveed, were standing in a shop when the armed assailants
opened fire on them.
Law Enforcement Agencies arrested
106 Afghan nationals under the Foreign Act from the Nokundi
area of Chagai District.
A local official of Saudi Embassy's
sub-office, identified as Doctor Hafiz Abdul Rasheed Azhar,
was killed at his residence in Islamabad. Azhar belonged to
Ahl-e-Hadith sect and was a religious scholar.
Police claimed to have arrested
two suspects, Wajid Baloch and Master Mohammad Nawaz Bhund,
for their alleged involvement in the January 15, 2012 bomb blast
in Khanpur on a Chehlum procession from Rahim Yar Khan District.
A Policeman of the Special Branch,
Ali Zar Khan, who was injured in the evening of March 17 when
two unidentified assailants opened fire on him at Yar Hussain
Bazaar of Peshawar, succumbed to his injuries.
Fearful of a yet another string
of terrorist attacks, the Mansehra administration advised owners
of CD shops and net cafes to change their line of business.
This comes after threats by a self-proclaimed offshoot of the
TTP, Hafsa Brigade, to bomb all internet cafes, CD shops, cable
TV operators, NGOs and educational institutions offering co-education
in the District if they are not shut down.
The HRCP voiced alarm over the
continued deterioration in the state of human rights across
the country, emphasising the institutions and authorities concerned
to urgently address the pressing issue of violations of human
rights.
March 19
At least eight persons were
killed and 15 others injured in clashes between SFs and militants
in Dattakhel area near Miranshah, the main town of NWA, in FATA.
Five TTP militants were killed
in bomb blast, carried out by the LI, in Doa Thoe area of Tirah
Valley area in Khyber Agency. Sources said the remote-controlled
bomb, placed on the back of a mule, was detonated when the quadruped
got close to a TTP bunker in Doa Thoe area. A spokesman for
the LI claimed responsibility for the blast and said the TTP
had been punished for spreading false reports about the death
of LI leader Mangal Bagh.
The KP IG Akbar Hoti claimed
that Mangal Bagh, the chief of LI, was killed in a military
operation in Kurram Agency.
Unidentified motorcycle borne
assailants shot dead one Zakir Ali, chief of Shia Peace Committee,
at Shahu Square in Mohallah Sangerh of Hangu District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
An alleged cadre of Swat chapter
of TTP, Fazal Hadi, stated to be a central character in the
flogging incident of a woman in Swat in 2009, was arrested in
the evening.
The students and teachers of
Islamia College Peshawar (Chartered University) staged a protest
demonstration in Peshawar against the Government for its failure
to recover Professor Ajmal Khan, the abducted vice-chancellor
of the university.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man, identified as Muhammad Hashim, on Qambarani
Road area in Quetta.
SFs claimed to have foiled a
terror bid, planned for March 23, 2012, by seizing a huge quantity
of explosive materials and arms in Quetta. According to official
sources, acting upon a tip-off, SFs had beefed up security at
the Buleli Check post and intercepted several vehicles.
The Sindh Government finally
decided to crack down on extortionists in Karachi. “An operation
against extortionists will begin in Karachi before dawn on March
20,” Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.
The AEC of the CID arrested
nine suspects belonging to the PAC and recovered arms from their
possession in a raid in Lyari area. SSP Mohammed Aslam Khan
of the AEC along with his force launched the crackdown and dismantled
the network of the extortion mafia in Kalakot of Baghdadi area.
Pakistan's support for Haqqani
Network has increased through both facilitating additional sanctuary
and providing strategic and operational guidance, revealed Institute
for the Study of War, a US think tank, in its report. The report
has asserted that the network represents a strategic threat
to the enduring stability of the Afghan State and US national
security interests in the region.
"US forces cannot curtail
or cease offensive operations in the areas South of Kabul in
Regional Command East in 2012. The United States and its Afghan
partners must dismantle the Haqqani Network's strongholds in
Khost, Paktika, and Paktia and contain the organisation's expansion
toward Kabul prior to a shift in mission.
The Investigative Agencies submitted
reports in the court of Senior Civil Judge Farrukh Arjumand
in Islamabad regarding slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s
existence in Pakistan. The report said that Bin Laden entered
Pakistan along with his family through Afghanistan and resided
in various areas of the country.
The local court deferred its
decision till March 26, 2012, on a petition by a brother of
the Yemeni wife of Osama seeking access to his sister. The prosecution
told the court that Osama’s family had illegally entered the
country from Afghanistan.
Officials said that after the
November 26, 2011, NATO air strike on Pakistan’s border posts
in the Salala area of Mohmand Agency in FATA, the US now plans
to offer a formal public apology to Islamabad.
“The apology may come from the
highest level and will be offered during or soon after the Joint
Session of Parliament, which is scheduled to open a debate on
March 20 on new terms of engagement (with the US),” an unnamed
senior leader in the PPP-led ruling coalition said.
March 20
Two Policemen, identified as
Hazrat Ali and Hassan, were killed and six others were injured
when a bomb planted in a rickshaw exploded on the Ring road
bridge in the Garhi Qamardin area of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the evening.
Two unidentified assailants
shot dead a lady health visitor in the limits of Gomal Police
Station in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The deceased
LHV was working with ICRC at Kot Hakeem basic health unit.
In a suspected ethnic attack,
a man, identified as Rehan, was killed while his friend Amin
sustained bullet injuries when unknown militants opened fire
at them after abducting them from a shrine situated within Super
Market Police remit in Karachi.
Armed assailants smashed windows
of Geo News satellite van and resorted to firing outside the
office at I. I. Chundrigar Road in Karachi. According to details,
unidentified assailants cut-off cable wires in different areas
and the technicians sent for repair were threatened.
Police booked leaders of the
PPP, the PAC, two brothers of Baba Ladla, a Police inspector,
and six other suspects for killing a KRC leader on March 18.
According to SHO Safdar Mashwani, none of the nominees were
arrested and the Police were looking for them.
SFs demolished the house of
Amir Faqir, a local ‘commander’ of LI and also arrested at least
50 suspected militants in the Shalobar area of Khyber Agency
in FATA.
Thousands of people are trapped
in the Bara tehsil because of the ongoing military operation.
All roads are blocked and there is no transport for people to
get out of the conflict zone. SFs recently launched the offensive
against the LI in Malikdinkhel, Sipah, Qambarkhel and Akakhel
areas.
Officials in the FDMA said that
9,233 families had so far reached the Jalozai relief camp in
Nowshera. The situation is very critical. Thousands of IDPs
immediately need tents, food and other goods, said an official
at the camp where around 16,000 displaced families from different
parts of Fata have been living for some time.
The Peshawar High Court directed
the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to conduct an inquiry against the
SHO of Hayatabad Police Station suspected of being involved
in extortion of money from detainees kept at illegal detention
facilities.
A bench comprising Chief Justice
Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth also ordered
the Police department to close down all the illegal detention
facilities within 10 days. It directed the NAB Director General
to conduct the inquiry and in the light of it file a reference
against the SHO within 30 days.
A Field General Court Martial
where HuT linked Brigadier Ali was being tried dropped one of
two charges against him. The dropped charges were that he had
planned to carry out an air raid on GHQ using F-16s.
The special joint sitting of
the two houses of parliament called for unconditional apology
from the US over Salala border post air strike and reduction
in the country’s footprints in Pakistan, as it started a debate
on redefining the terms of engagement with Washington in the
light of the recommendations of the PCNS.
Apart from recommendations to
review the relations with the US, the committee also touched
upon Pakistan’s sensitive defence pacts. Presenting guidelines
for revised terms of engagement with the US/NATO/ISAF and general
foreign policy, Rabbani said, “Parliament has three options,
it can either accept the recommendations, accept them with amendments
or totally reject them.”
The US said it supported calls
by Pakistan for mutual respect but held off a formal response
to a parliamentary demand for an apology over a deadly air raid.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters
that the US would not comment in-depth on the long-awaited Pakistani
report on US relations until it comes up for debate in parliament
next week.
A recently-released Home Department
Report revealed that the bodies found in the province are still
overwhelmingly those of the ethnic Baloch. According to the
official report of the Balochistan Home Department, 218 of the
308 bodies found in 2010 and 2011 were of the ethnic Baloch
people. The trend does not seem to be changing for the current
year as 16 of the 25 bodies recovered were also of ethnic Baloch
people, the report revealed.
The Government’s failure to
stabilise Balochistan led the Supreme Court to draft a solution
based on local tribal traditions. A three-member bench, headed
by CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, advised the Government to
convene a grand Baloch jirga to restore order in the
volatile province.
Abductions for ransom dominated
the agenda at the Balochistan Assembly proceedings with a provincial
lawmaker claiming that over a 1,000 people have been abducted
in the past four years in the province.
Providing data collected by
his party, Baloch said that as many as 1,047 people have been
abducted during the past four years and all were freed after
paying a huge sum of money as ransom to their kidnappers.
ANSF would have to be deployed
on Afghanistan-Pakistan border if the issue of safe havens in
Pakistan is not resolved, said US Commander of US and NATO forces
in Afghanistan General John Allen.
Responding to questions from
US Congressmen, General Allen said the presence of safe havens
in Pakistan continues to be a threat to the war against terrorism
campaign.
March 21
At least five militants were
killed and two SF personnel were reportedly injured during clashes
in an unspecified place of central part of Kurram Agency in
FATA.
The volunteers of TuI killed
three alleged LI militants, who were suspected to be involved
in bomb blasts in the area, at Bazaar Zakhakhel area of Landikotal
in Khyber Agency.
SFs arrested six suspected persons
from Khugakhel area of Landikotal.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead two Police personnel, identified as Nimatullah and
Liaquat, while they were on duty at a picket line on Smungli
Road in Jinnah Town area of Quetta.
Unidentified armed men shot
dead a man, identified as Muhammad Allam Satakzai, near the
Jabal-Noorul Quran Western Bypass area of Quetta.
Police averted a terror bid
by defusing a 12-kilogramme bomb in the Darandi Palosa area
of Hangu District.
Lyari area of Karachi remained
tense due to the ongoing operation launched by SFs against the
extortionists. Clashes between protesters and Police were reported
from a number of areas.
Police detained eight people
involved in violence and moved them to an unknown place for
interrogation. SP City Town Nasir Aftab accused the Lyari gangsters
of misguiding people, saying that Police and other forces demolished
several gambling dens and now they (gangsters) were worried
about their source of income.
The SIU of the Sindh Police
claimed to have arrested five extortionists during separate
raids in Surjani, Preedy and Garden areas.
Major Haroon Ashiq, a former
Pakistan Army commando who became a key al Qaeda operative and
an accused in several murder cases and abductions is all set
to walk free from his Rawalpindi prison cell after being acquitted
by Anti-Terrorism Court in a murder case, with witnesses withdrawing
their testimony in fear of reprisals.
Major Haroon has been acquitted
on charges of killing Doctor Abdul Saboor Malik on January 16,
2009 the administrator of the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore
after both the prosecution witnesses retracted their testimonies,
apparently under pressure.
French Police laid siege to
an apartment block where a self-declared al Qaeda militant who
boasted of having “brought France to its knees” with a wave
of deadly attacks was holed up. Prosecutors said suspect Mohamed
Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, had fought
off several Police assaults on his flat and bragged to negotiators
of having been trained by al Qaeda on the Afghanistan-Pakistan
border.
Molins said Merah had claimed
responsibility for three cold-blooded shootings over the previous
10 days in which three French paratroopers, three Jewish children
and a teacher were killed, shocking the nation.
“Mohamed Merah explained that
he belonged to al Qaeda. He explained he had been trained by
al Qaeda in the Pakistani-Afghanistan region in Waziristan,”
Molins told reporters in Toulouse, scene of two of the shootings.
According to a report published
in The Telegraph quoting a meeting of the former DG ISI
Ahmed Shuja Pasha with a Stratfor Researcher, DG Pasha was fearful
of a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan as that would mean dangerous
implications for Pakistan’s security.
In reference to Pakistan’s delay
in taking military action against militants holed up in tribal
areas bordering Afghanistan, Pasha said that there were pre-requisites
to any offensive in NWA.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the
US, Sherry Rehman said that decision on NATO supply routes would
be made in national interest of the country. Rehman said recommendations
by the Parliament would help restore confidence, adding, that
no compromise would be made on country’s sovereignty and national
integrity.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that the US and Pakistan shared interests in fighting
terrorism. Clinton declined to comment in-depth on the PCNS’s
recommendations but said that the US was committed to an “honest,
constructive, mutually beneficial relationship with Pakistan”.
The Princess of Thailand, Maha
Chakri Sirindhorn, during her visit to Islamia College University
in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said
that Thai Government was well aware of the sacrifices of people
of Pakistan in the war against terrorism and supported its principled
stance on the global issue.
March 22
Two persons, a soldier and his
son, were killed in a explosion when a bomb hidden inside a
radio exploded at a military base in Wana, the main town in
the South Waziristan Agency.
A blast occurred in Naseerabad
District tripping one of the two electricity lines of Daddu-Guddu
Circuit. The BDS in-charge Saleem Vistro said that they defused
two IEDs.
Police conducted raids in different
areas of Quetta and busted four outfits involved in target killings,
abductions for ransom and other violence related incidents.
Five IEDs went off damaging
Hub-Jamshoro Circuit of the NTDC near Liaquat University of
Medical and Health Science in Jamshoro District of Sindh.
Unidentified militants blew
up a gas pipeline in Matta area of Shabqadar tehsil in
Charsadda District.
The Supreme Court directed the
Balochistan IGP to submit a comprehensive report regarding “each
of the missing persons” in Balochistan. The ISI, MI and IB were
also directed through the AG of Pakistan to submit details of
all such persons “and the circumstances on the basis of which
such persons have disappeared and are not traced out so far”.
Provincial Ministers demanded
the Home Minister and LEAs to disclose the names of those ministers
allegedly involved in abductions in the province.
Wasey said that JUI-F had already
demanded Home Minister Mir Zafar Zehri to disclose the identity
of ministers involved in criminal activity. “They must be sacked
from the cabinet,” he said, adding that he had also demanded
the Chief Minister to immediately convene a high-level meeting
to review the law and order situation in Balochistan.
According to a report, there
has been a swift rise in the number of abduction for ransom
in Lahore District. One reason for the rise in the crime is
the failure of Law Enforcement Agencies to track down the abducted
people, which, in a way, encouraged criminals to snatch people.
Sources in the CPLC said that
a majority of the families declined to register cases and avoided
Police interference for the recovery of victims. They categorised
the kidnapping gangs in the city into two groups – those operating
from southern Punjab and affiliated with various terrorist outfits
and others formed because of poverty.
Human rights violations increased
manifold in 2011 according to a report released in Islamabad.
The report on ‘State of Human Rights in 2011’, launched by the
HRCP, spoke of a gloomy scenario vis-à-vis administration of
justice, law and order, jails and prisoners, freedom of movement,
expression and thought, rights of women, children and workers,
education and health as well as environment and status of refugees.
Proposals to set up a grand
peace militia to tackle consistent militant attacks on the outskirts
of Peshawar failed after locals expressed strong reservations.
Elders of 10 villages bordering the confluence of Khyber Agency,
Frontier Regions Peshawar and Kohat gathered at the Provincial
Assembly’s conference hall to convince the locals to form a
grand alliance against militants from various factions, who
recently stepped up their attacks.
“The Adezai lashkar and other
such militias in the area are creating a lot of problems. Instead
of fighting militancy, they were a threat themselves and harassing
people in the area,” he said on the condition of anonymity.
The dislocated people of Bara
tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA expressed concern over
prolonged military operation in their area and demanded IDPs
status and facilities for themselves.
March 23
At least 13 persons, including
eight LI militants, were killed and four others got injured
when a TTP suicide bomber blew himself up at Dars Jumat mosque
in Sandapal area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
TTP Khyber Agency chapter spokesman Muhammed Afridi claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead two militants of the Mulla Toofan group of TTP in Maidan
area of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency. Sources said that one
of the killed militant was a brother of Mulla Toofan, a TTP
‘commander’ in Orakzai Agency.
In a pre-dawn attack on a paramilitary
check post in Paswara area of Mugha Kot in Sheerani District
of Balochistan TTP militants killed at least four BFC personnel
and injured three others. They also abducted four others. A
senior official of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, said the incident took place in Shirani
District.
Four Afghan nationals were arrested
and a large quantity of explosives and ammunition were seized
in Khuchlak area of Quetta. The four Afghan nationals taken
into custody were identified as Abdullah, Amir Mohammad, Sher
Alam and Abdul Bari.
A soldier and three children
were wounded when a military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb
near Dan Pul (bridge) checkpost in Charsadda District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
A man identified as, Mohammad
Bilal (32), was shot dead while another Khan Dil Khan (30),
was injured by unidentified armed militants near Saba Avenue
in Clifton Town in Karachi.
Further, one among the five
residents of Khuhra town who were abducted by armed abductors
at the National Highway in Khairpur District.
A trader identified as Shaman
Memon, his three friends, identified as Abdul Qadir alias Papoo
Larik, Haji Sonaro and Shafqat Kalhoro, and the driver, was
abducted in Sukkur District.
Rangers were deployed in Lyari
area of Karachi as protests entered fourth day with routine
and commercial activities totally shut, protesters turning more
violent and hurling petrol bombs on Police vehicles, and the
area echoing with gun shots.
Police arrested five accused
and recovered arms from their custody during search operation
in Bukhari colony, Katti Pahari and Mohammadpur areas of Orangi
Town.
Seven MNAs belonging to the
FATA announced their decision to form a separate parliamentary
group and dissociate from the main group which had hitherto
been negotiating with the PPP-led Government FATA’s share in
the Federal Cabinet and allocation of resources to the legislators.
They said they would not allow
the Government to restore the supply of goods, equipment and
weapons to NATO forces in Afghanistan until a decision to stop
drone attacks was taken.
The US has apparently refused
to revisit its policy on drone strikes against al Qaeda and
Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas as recommended
by a Pakistani Parliamentary committee.
In view of proposed restoration
of NATO supply routes, the DPC staged a rally in Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while a grand Jirga
in North Waziristan Agency also warned against the route’s reopening.
Activists of ASWJ, JUI-S and JuD gathered at the Ashraf Road
after Friday prayer and chanted anti-US slogans.
Provincial Governor Nawab Zulfiqar
Ali Magsi said that Balochistan issue cannot be resolved without
involving all stakeholders, including the Government, the Army
and Intelligence Agencies, in dialogue with the estranged Baloch
nationalist leaders.
The provincial Chief Minister
Nawab Aslam Raisani ruled out that his Government had doubled
its efforts for holding negotiations with Baloch leaders following
the resolution tabled in the US Congress.
March 24
At least 12 militants and four
soldiers were killed in a clash between SFs and TTP during a
search operation in Shin Warsak area of South Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
10 militants and three soldiers
were killed after TTP militants stormed a check post in Khadizai
area of Orakzai Agency, a senior military officer said.
At least eight militants were
killed in Khyber Agency area in an explosion inside their hideout.
At least three devotees, including
a tribal leader, were killed and nine others, including women
and children, sustained injuries when their vehicle, owned by
local tribal leader Muhammad Nawaz, was attacked by a group
of unidentified militants in Tambo tehsil of Kohlu District.
A religious scholar, identified
as Qari Abdul Basit, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
on Kasi Road area of the Quetta.
Former President of Malir Bar
Association Salahuddin Jaffery (64), and his son, identified
as Ali Raza Jaffery (35), were shot dead in the fresh spate
of sectarian target killing within the jurisdiction of Malir
City Police Station in Karachi.
A Policeman was killed and two
others were injured when one of the vehicles of MQM-H chief
Afaq Ahmed came under an attack at Landhi, officials and party
sources said.
Police claimed to have arrested
eight suspects allegedly involved in cases of extortion in Karachi.
The arrested suspects included Rehman Qureshi alias Imran, Abid
alias Kallu, Ramiz alias Mullah Qureshi, Mohammad Faisal Qureshi,
Mohammad Amir alias Aapa, Shahbaz alias Shera, Shoaib and Saleem,
while their absconding accomplices were Bholo Qureshi, Taj Uddin,
Qadeer and Akbar.
Dozens of French Muslims are
training with the TTP in the north western region of Pakistan,
raising fears of future attacks following the shooting deaths
of seven people in southern France allegedly by a man who spent
time in the region, revealed Pakistani Intelligence Officials.
Approximately 85 Frenchmen have been training with the TTP in
the North Waziristan Agency of FATA for the past three years,
according to the intelligence officials, who spoke on condition
of anonymity.
The US military decided not
to take action against those service members involved in November
26, 2011 Salala check post attack, that killed 24 Pakistani
soldiers. According to a US newspaper, the US military has finalized
its second inquiry report in which it has held Pakistan army
personnel responsible for the incident.
The commander of United States
and NATO forces in Afghanistan said that he believes that resurgence
of Afghan Taliban and overthrow of the Afghan Government by
the militant outfit is not in the interest of Pakistan, noting
that Pakistani military is fighting them in tribal areas.
March 25
Four persons were killed and
two others sustained bullet injuries when unidentified armed
militants opened fire at them near Shero Jhangi area on Charsadda
Road in Peshawar.
One Policeman sustained injuries
when unidentified militants attacked a Police mobile van by
detonating an IED near Arbab checkpost in the outskirts of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The border police were recently
reinvigorated to stop entry of militants into the Chitral District
from Nuristan province of Afghanistan, said Chitral District
Coordination Officer Rahmatullah Wazir.
Unidentified armed militants
opened indiscriminate fire on the driver of a truck carrying
marbles in Surab area of Kalat District.
One man, identified as Dad Muhammad,
was killed and another injured in a firing incident on Sariab
Road in Shalkot Police Station area in Quetta.
The MPA asked the abductors
of the officials of BRSP on March 24 to give them more time
to negotiate their release. Speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani
asked Senior Minister Maulana Wasay to form a committee of legislators
to discuss with security officials the recovery of four employees
of the BRSP who were abducted on December 13, 2011.
Provincial Governor Nawab Zulfiqar
Ali Magsi on March 25 in his address at the concluding ceremony
of a three-day festival organised by the Pakistan Army and the
Provincial Government as part of the Pakistan Day celebrations
said Balochistan would always remain an integral part of Pakistan.
Police personnel and some assailants
exchanged fire near the venue of a Mushaira (recitation of poetry)
organised by the Defence/Clifton Residents Committee of MQM
in Karachi on March 25 in which one of the suspects was killed.
Security Forces arrested six
militants and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition
from their possession during a search operation in Kurt village
of Kurram Agency in FATA.
The TTP threatened to attack
lawmakers if they voted in support of resuming supplies for
NATO troops in Afghanistan. “Everybody knows we are against
restoration of NATO supplies and we will target each and every
members of parliament who will support the restoration,” TTP
spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP in a telephone call from
an undisclosed location.
Unknown armed militants shot
dead a retired employee of Nadra, identified as Khush Mohammad,
in Napura area of Gilgit District by opening indiscriminate
fire on him.
Unidentified masked assailants
attacked a Police party injuring two Police Constables, identified
as Syed Nazir and Fazal Ilahi, and took away with them a prisoner,
who was being taken to the DHQ in Gilgit city.
March 26
Two Hazara youth, identified
as Ejaz Hussain and Ali Asghar, were shot dead when unidentified
armed militants opened fire on them on Sabzal Road area in Quetta.
A local Police Official said the victims belonged to Hazara
community and it could be an incident of sectarian targeted
killing.
One person, identified as Noor
Mohammad, was shot dead and another Ghulam Mohammad was injured
when armed militants opened fire on them while they were working
in a field in Bakhtiarabad area of Sibi District.
Armed militants shot dead one
Shahnawaz in Barkhan District.
One official of the Frontier
Corps, identified as Baz Gul, was killed in a landmine explosion
during routine patrol in Bakher area of Dera Bugti District.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead a former DSP, Amanullah Khan, a resident of Karak District,
at Kanju Township of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in
the night.
Police claimed to have arrested
the prime accused, accompanied by his seven accomplices, from
different areas of Clifton, including Shah Rasool Colony, Neelam
Colony and Shireen Jinnah Colony of Karachi, for the March 25,
2012, armed attack on a Mushaira (poetry recital) organised
by the MQM.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government boys’ primary school, telephone exchange and
a Community Health Centre in Atta area of Khewazai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency of FATA.
The UNCHR suspended relief activities
at Jalozai camp after IDPs from Khyber Agency attacked its workers
and official vehicles. Witnesses said that situation went out
of control when about 5,000 IDPs thronged registration centre
in the camp and had been waiting for registration and relief
assistance.
A local court in Islamabad is
set to charge five members of Osama bin Laden’s family on April
2, 2012, with illegally entering and living in the country,
their defence lawyer said.
Pakistan’s Human Rights activist
Asma Jehangir during her visit to India raised the issue of
addressing the unrest in Balochistan while appealing Islamabad
to stop "hair-raising" atrocities in the troubled
province.
ISAF Commander General John
Allen while speaking at the think tank Brookings Institution
in Washington DC said that the relationships between the ISI,
the Haqqani Network and other groups go back a long time, but
he refused to comment further, saying he could not speculate
why the ISI is doing anything, and said that these relations
were unhelpful. He said they are trying to restore cross-border
relations with Pakistan.
CIA offered ISI Agency to give
advance notice of US future drone strikes against targets on
Pakistani territory, though Pakistani spy agency dismissed the
offer, demanding that the US hand over the intelligence, so
its forces or jets could pursue targets on their own.
The Government signed an agreement
with the World Bank for a USD 150 million loan as additional
financing for the social safety net project aimed at supporting
the expansion of and strengthening the performance of the BISP.
The project will assist the
Government in evolving the BISP from a basic cash transfers
system to a more integrated national safety net system which
promotes human development. The project will be implemented
in partnership with other stakeholders, including Provincial
Governments.
March 27
10 people were killed and 17
others injured while 46 vehicles were set ablaze after the killing
of two MQM workers in PIB Police precincts in Karachi. Educational
institutions, petrol pumps, major and minor markets and transport
facilities were completely suspended.
Sindh Home Minister Manzoor
Wasan confirmed the killing of 10 people and formed a committee
to probe into all incidents, including the murder of MQM workers.
CID Sindh conducted operation
against suspected elements in Lyari area and arrested two suspects
who were then transferred to undisclosed location. Raids were
conducted in Sangoleen area for Aziz Baloch, Zafar Baloch, Ahmed
Ali and Habib Jan of PAC.
Three persons sustained injuries
when explosive material, planted by unidentified militants,
went off near the residence of PPP-S leader Malik Nadeem on
Dilazak Road in Faisal Colony of Peshawar.
The UNHCR will resume registration
of IDPs and relief activities in Jalozai camp from March 28.
The UN agency’s spokesperson in Peshawar Taimur Ahmad said that
relief operation would begin in the camp with the coordination
of the PDMA.
The abductors holding five officials
of the BRSP extended their deadline for ransom till April 10,
2012. The earlier deadline was March 25, 2012. The issue was
taken up by the Balochistan Assembly on March 24, 2012 and legislators
had appealed to the abductors to extend the deadline by at least
a month so that negotiations for the release of the abducted
officials could be held properly.
A strike was observed in parts
of Balochistan against the accession of the province to Pakistan
on March 27, 1948. The strike that had been called by the BNF
completely paralysed business and trade activities in parts
of the province. The flow of traffic on National and RCD highways
was affected.
Three American lawmakers espousing
the cause of the people of Balochistan alleged that the Pakistani
Government is a "radical Islamist" one and is providing
weapons and resources to extremist groups. Seeking independence
of Balochistan, the three Congressmen led by Dana Rohrabacher
at a news conference held at the National Press Club in Washington
claimed that Pakistan is not a friend of the US, but an American
enemy. Rohrabacher said,
The seeds of terrorism were
sown by leaders of religious parties and former dictator General
Zia-ul Haq but now the Government of ANP was harvesting the
crop, said Provincial Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour during
a public gathering at Anzer Banda in Karak District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
In another context he alleged
that Shamsi airbase was handed over to the US during the Government
of MMA. “Now we have taken back the airbase from Americans,”
he claimed.
Yemen urged Pakistan to free
one of Osama bin Laden's injured widows, Amal Al-Sadeh, saying
the Yemen-born Amal and her four children were not guilty of
any crime. "The Pakistani authorities retracted from their
initial position to surrender Amal to the Yemeni government,"
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told Reuters.
March 28
At least five people were killed
after a worker of ANP Sindh Chapter, Zianul Abideen, was shot
dead and his two companions injured near Matric Board Office
in Nazimabad area of Karachi. The situation was also tense in
areas around Abul Hassan Ispahani Road and Essa Nagri where
rival ethnic groups clashed with each other, bringing life to
a standstill and forcing residents to stay indoors.
Amidst the intense wave of violence
that left all commercial activities halted, the LEAs detained
half a dozen suspects in raids at various parts of the metropolis.
Rangers conducted a raid in a residential complex located at
Abul Hassan Ispahani Road that led to the arrest of three suspects.
Two of them were identified as Raheel and Tariq Khan, having
criminal records. Similarly, a CID raided several areas of Lyari
and arrested the members of People’s Amn Committee, including
Zafar Baloch, Aziz Baloch, Ahmad Ali, Habib Jan Baloch and others.
Two people, identified as Jawad
Ahmed and Khadem Hussain, belonging to the Hazara community,
were injured while their three companions escaped unhurt when
the car they were riding was attacked by a group of armed militants
near Dasht area in Mastung District.
Two people, identified as Fahim
Zahir and Jasim, were wounded in an incident of firing in Turbat
District.
Two Policemen were wounded in
an explosion in Pishin District. According to official sources,
an explosive device planted by unidentified militants in a car
parked near Police Line and Agricultural Office went off.
Two Policemen, identified as
Abdul Malik and Naveed, were killed when unidentified assailants
opened fire at residence of Justice Jahangir Arshad, a newly-appointed
judge of the Shariat Court in Mumtazabad area of Multan District.
A gas pipeline was blown up
by unidentified militants with a low-intensity bomb near Ring
Road on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
The military officials have
asked people in the border areas of Upper Dir District to keep
a vigilant eye on suspected people as militants can launch attacks
from Afghanistan.
The District witnessed cross-border
attacks last summer that prompted authorities to deploy troops
along the border. In the first attack, carried out in the first
week of June 2010, 31 people, including 27 Police and Levies
officials were killed.
Maulana Fazlullah-led Swat Taliban,
flushed out from Swat in a major military operation in 2009
and believed to have regrouped in Kunar Province of Afghanistan,
had claimed responsibility for those attacks.
Islamabad Police released ASWJ
leader Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi after negotiations between the
leaders and the local Police administration.
A jirga, comprising elders of
Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA, failed to convince
Mangal Bagh, head of LI, to shun violence and surrender unconditionally.
Sources said that members of the jirga remained at an undisclosed
location in Tirah for almost three days and returned to Bara
empty handed owing to the rigid attitude of Mangal Bagh.
Pakistan has an "addiction"
of "playing around" with militant groups against India,
Michael Sheehan, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Special
Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict, said. "They have an
addiction to playing around with militia groups to achieve certain
interests, particularly vis-a-vis India. That gets them in all
kinds of trouble," Michael Sheehan told senators at a Congressional
hearing.
The information about Osama
bin Laden crossing over into Pakistan and staying in different
cities and towns before moving to Abbottabad came in the testimony
given by his widow Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, during interrogation
by a joint investigation team comprising civilian and military
officials.
She further said that she had
a desire to marry a mujaheed and Osama was available.
“So in this connection when she got a message of marriage with
Osama bin Laden, she came to Pakistan and landed at Karachi
airport on 17/07/2000,” the JIT report said.
The US and Pakistan resumed
their high-level military contacts for the first time since
cross-border NATO strike in Mohammad Agency of FATA that killed
24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26, 2011. The meeting between
Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the top
US commander in the region, General James Mattis, and the top
commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, took place in
Islamabad, a day after President Barack Obama met Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani in Seoul during a nuclear summit.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Masood Kausar hinted at introducing local bodies system in FATA,
expressing hope that the system would strengthen efforts towards
democracy to counter extremist narratives. “We are seriously
considering turning the municipal committees in tribal areas
into elected bodies, responsible for provision of civic amenities
to the local population,” he remarked after launching a report,
‘Mainstreaming FATA’, compiled by Shaheed Bhutto Foundation
and based on opinions of people from different walks of tribal
society.
March 29
At least five Hazaras were killed
and seven others injured when unidentified militants opened
fire on their car on Spiny Road in Quetta in a suspected sectarian
attack.
Two people, Mubarak Shah and
Nazir Hussain, were killed and six others injured when Police
fired during a protest organised by Hazaras against the killing.
Two officials of the United
Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, Hafizullah and Mohammad
Zahid, were killed and another was injured in an attack on their
vehicle in Mastung District.
At least five more people were
killed in the fresh wave of ethnic violence and at least four
vehicles were set ablaze in Karachi. A man, namely Fahadul Samar,
was shot dead in Aligarh Bazaar.
Police found two bodies, identified
as that of Zeeshan (26) and Jaleel (27), near Katti Pahari area.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on a hotel at Perfume Chowk, killing its waiter Sadaqat
Shah.
The body of an unidentified
person was found in Farooq Colony, Orangi Town.
The CPLC and AVCC claimed to
have recovered a captive, identified as Mohammad Naeem Mughal
(33), besides arresting his five abductors from their hideout
in Ghaghar Phatak area of Karachi on March 27.
The HRCP urged the Government
to release three office-bearers of the Jeay Sindh Taraqi Pasand
Party (JSTP) – Sachal Gopang, Qurban Gopang and Musa Sheikh
– who had been missing after they were allegedly stopped by
Rangers at Hala checkpoint in Hyderabad District on March 28,
2012.
A US drone launched a missile
attack on a militant compound in a market area of Miramshah,
the main town in North Waziristan Agency, in FATA, killing four
TTP militants and injuring two others.
Mullah Toofan, a TTP ‘commander’
of Orakzai chapter, asked the Tirah Valley (Khyber Agency)-based
AI militant outfit to surrender the killers of his brother or
face the consequences. A younger brother of Mullah Toofan and
his associate were shot by unidentified assailants in Salamdin
Pir area of Maidan in Tirah valley a week ago.
Two persons were arrested from
Kasur District for their alleged involvement in the March 17,
2012 murder of a religious scholar belonging to the Ahl-e-Hadith
sect and local official of Saudi Embassy’s sub-office.
Complete shutter down strike
was observed in main areas of Gilgit city after the call of
Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jama’at to protest against the arrest of SSP
Gilgit Chief Maulana Attaullah Saqib.
Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister
Mehdi Shah has asked the Home Department to immediately make
payment of death compensation to families of the victims of
February 29, 2012 Kohistan killing incident.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
sacked the surgeon, Doctor Shakeel Afridi, recruited by the
CIA to help find Osama bin Laden, officials said, amid calls
for him to face treason charges. Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who
is in custody, was fired on disciplinary grounds by the Government
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where bin Laden was killed during a clandestine
US raid.
The bid to release a Swiss woman
abdcuted in Yemen has suffered a blow after her abductors made
excessive demands, including for Osama bin Laden’s widows to
be freed, tribal chief Ali Abdullah Zibari said. Al Qaeda fighters
abducted the woman on March 14 from her home in the Red Sea
port city of Hodeida, where she had been teaching at a foreign
language institute.
March 30
At least 21 militants were killed
by the SFs in an retaliatory fire in the Khadizai area, around
75 kilometres southwest of Kalaya, which is the main town of
Orakzai Agency in FATA.
At least 10 more persons, including
one SSP and an ANP worker, were killed in the ongoing spate
of violence in Karachi.
Four people traveling in a car
on Banaras Bridge were shot and killed. The dead were identified
as Arif, Kamal, Wasim and his son, Hasan (12). Another person
was injured in the same incident.
A member of the ANP Sindh Council,
Hidayatullah Mehsud, was killed in the Manghopir area.
Another person was shot dead
in Frontier Colony in Site. One more person was killed in gunfire
in Bukhari Colony in Orangi.
One person was killed in a firing
incident in Defence Phase II. Another person was killed near
UP Mor.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead SSP Crime Branch Farooq Awan near Lasbela Chowk. His guard,
head constable Imran Baloch, received bullet wounds.
One man was injured in a firing
incident near Dhoraji.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls’ school in Ibrahimzai area of Charsadda
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Kohat City Police failed
to find any clue to Doctor Matiullah Shah, who was abducted
by unidentified persons in an ambulance from his farmhouse in
the limits of Saddar Police Station of Kohat in daytime on February
9.
Pakistani authorities were unable
to trace the reports of two commissions that investigated the
funding of politicians by the ISI in 1990, the Government's
law officer informed the Supreme Court on March 31.
The Bench also took up a recent
media report which had alleged that PKR 270 million were withdrawn
from the IB’s secret fund to change the Government in Punjab
province in 2009.
Banker Yunus Habib had testified
in court that he arranged PKR 1.48 billion for the military
and about PKR 400 million were distributed among politicians
linked to the army-backed Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJT) in a
bid to prevent the PPP from coming to power in the 1990 General
Election.
The senators pressed the Government
to link restoration of supply to NATO troops to the suspension
of drone attacks. During a joint parliamentary session to discuss
recommendations of the PCNS, they also urged the United States
to stop drone attacks and respect Pakistan’s sovereignty.
A senior US general telling
a congressional panel that the United States would have to rely
on India and the northern distribution network if Pakistan did
not reopen NATO supply lines to Afghanistan.
Slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin
Laden spent nine years on the run in Pakistan after the September
11, 2001 (also known as 9/11) attacks, and during that time
he moved between five safe houses and fathered four children,
at least two of whom were born in a Government hospital, his
youngest wife, Amal Ahmad Abdul Fateh (30), told Pakistani investigators.
Reacting to the revelations,
the US State maintained that they never found credible evidence
which points towards a Pakistan support network for Laden. On
being asked whether the Pakistan Government was consistently
lying to the US over bin Laden, State Department spokesperson
Mark Toner on March 30 responded “immediately after the Abbottabad
raid, we asked the Pakistani Government the question of whether
there was a larger network at play here or there was some kind
of network of support, I guess, for bin Laden when he was there.
We have not received any information that indicates that there
was such a network of support there.”
A new book, tilted, The Hunt
for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind,
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has claimed that it was not Osama bin
Laden who had come up with the 9/11 plot.
March 31
At least 14 militants were killed
when the Army helicopters targeted militant hideouts in Akhunkot
area of Upper Orakzai Agency in FATA.
April 1
Nine persons, including an ANP
activist and a women, were killed in the ongoing violence at
different places of Karachi.
In Gulshan-e-Iqbal, clashes
between the workers of the ANP and the Muttahida Organising
Committee of the MQM killed two persons.
A 25-year-old man, identified
as Murtaza was shot dead in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, while a woman
and a man who could not identified until this report was filed,
were shot dead in Saddar and Nazimabad areas.
Unidentified assailants shot
and injured a PPP member Syed Mansoor Rizvi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
In an encounter in Lyari, Police
claimed to have killed Saqib Khan alias Shaki, an alleged member
of a Lyari gangster group. The encounter ensued in the search
operation of police in Chakiwara area. An Assistant Sub-Inspector
(ASI) Waheed also sustained bullet injuries during the exchange
of fire. Police also claimed to have arrested Saqib’s aide Kashif
besides recovering a Kalashnikov and a TT pistol from his possession.
The car of Sindh Human Rights
Minister Nadia Gabol came under an attack while she was on a
visit to the affected areas. Fortunately, no injury or substantial
loss was reported to have occurred in the incident.
Two persons identified as Zakir
(26), and Fahim (27) were killed in the limits of Jamshed Quarters
Police Station. Police officials said both victims’ bodies were
recovered from a vacant plot near Central Prison, Jamshed Quarters.
In Orangi Town, unidentified
assailants, riding a motorcycle shot and killed Ameerullah (26)
while he was returning home after attending a wedding ceremony
in Saeedabad. He was a cab driver affiliated with the ANP and
a resident of Frontier Colony in Orangi Town.
The Federal and Sindh Governments
decided to give a free hand to Police and rangers to take indiscriminate
action against those who were disturbing law and order in Karachi.
The decision was made at a meeting between Sindh Chief Minister
Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
A key TTP ‘commander’, Nasir
Khan Zakakhel, was killed during a clash with SFs at an undisclosed
location of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Nasir Khan Zakakhel belonged
to Zakakhel tribe of the Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants blew
up a portion of an 18-inch gas pipeline in the Pir Koh area
of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
In a bid to impose their own
puritanical version of Islam, the TTP introduced “moral policing”
in parts of north-eastern Afghanistan, Afghan Police claimed.
Key leaders of the TTP – including its ‘commanders’ in Swat,
Bajaur Agency and Mohmand Agency Maulana Fazalullah, Maulvi
Faqir and Abdul Wali – and dozens of their loyalists had fled
military operations and sought sanctuary in the Afghan provinces
of Nuristan and Kunar.
April 2
Five SF personnel were killed
when a group of TTP militants from across the Afghanistan border
attacked a security post at Olai checkpoint in Mohmand Agency
of FATA. Four other SF personnel were injured and another one
was stated to be missing. At least eight militants died when
SFs retaliated and pushed the attackers back to Afghanistan,
officials said. A spokesman for the TTP, Mohmand chapter, Mukarram
Khurasani said only one of his colleagues was killed in the
gun battle and claimed that heavy losses had been inflicted
on SFs.
A man was killed and 13 others
were injured when a low intensity bomb exploded at a taxi stand
near the Sadda Bazaar in Kurram Agency.
As many as six persons lost
their lives and another 28 were injured during a daylong clash
between protesters and Police in Lyari area of Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh.
The Police claimed to have recovered
a Kalashnikov rifle and a pistol from the possession of alleged
gangster Saqib alias Sakhi, who was killed in a Police ‘encounter’
in Chakiwara area on April 1.
An explosive device went off
in a guest room at the residence of ANP leader Rasta Baaz Khan
in the Mamashkhel area of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The United States placed LeT
chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, along with his brother-in-law Hafiz
Abdul Rehman Makki, on the most-wanted terrorist list. The USD
10 million rewards brought Hafiz Saeed at par with Taliban founder
Mullah Omar, who the US holds responsible for 9/11.
A 50-year-old Pakistani-Canadian
was sentenced to 14 years in jail in US for providing material
support to the Sikh militant group Khalistan Commando Force,
blamed for carrying out assassinations and bombings in India.
In a statement, the FBI said
KCF comprises Sikh militants seeking a separate Sikh State in
Punjab and has been responsible for thousands of deaths in India
since it was founded in 1986.
The slain al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden’s three widows and two daughters were jailed for 45
days and fined PKR 10,000 each after finding them guilty of
illegally staying in the country. A FIA official said that the
family, including three widows, two daughters and nine children
had already served a month sentence in a sub-jail in Sector
G-6 of Islamabad.
The HRCP highlighted the difficulties
in verifying the cases of forced disappearance in Balochistan,
urging all concerned to play their role in documenting such
cases to ensure that no forced disappearance case escaped attention,
those in unlawful detention were freed and the illegal practice
brought to an end.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that his Government is in no hurry to reopen NATO supply
routes and a decision to that effect will be taken only after
evolving a consensus at the Parliamentary Committee on National
Security.
April 3
As many as 20 people lost their
lives and another 55 were injured in a fresh wave of sectarian
violence across Gilgit-Baltistan, which erupted after clashes
between ASWJ and Police in which five persons were killed in
Gilgit city. The district administration has imposed curfew
in the city.
Police officer Basharat Ali
said that the violence began when five people were killed in
Gilgit city in clashes between Police and protesting ASWJ cadres
and sympathizers. The outfit had called for a strike in Gilgit
to press the Government to release its leaders who were arrested
for their alleged involvement in a firing incident on a Shia
procession on March 28.
Reportedly, the outfit later
burnt tyres and forced shopkeepers to close down their shops.
Meanwhile, unidentified people hurled a grenade at the protesting
ASWJ cadres. Subsequently, mosques in Kashroot, hub of extremist
Sunnis, made announcements to retaliate against Shias in Diamer
and Kohistan Districts. At least 20 persons were killed in the
following violence. In one such incident, nine people were killed
when unidentified assailants opened fire on a bus on Karakoram
Highway (KKH) near Gonar Farm in Chilas.
The ISPR said that the city
administration had called army to control the law and order
situation.
Two persons, Akbar Ali and Ali
Raza, were shot dead by unidentified assailants in an incident
of sectarian violence on Mecongi Road of Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. The victims were residents of Alamdar
Road, an area dominated by the Hazara community. Relatives said
the duo belonged to Gilgit-Baltistan.
An employee of the WAPDA was
abducted by unidentified persons in Nasirabad District. Sources
said that lineman Zaffar Ali was on his way home when the armed
persons took him away at gunpoint.
The Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry said that the incessant recovery of mutilated bodies,
increasing incidents of abductions and targeted killings affirm
the notion that law enforcement agencies were either helpless
or too weak to take action against criminals.
A security official was killed
when a vehicle of the FC escorting a convoy of the Security
Forces hit by IED near Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency
FATA. Two SF personnel were also injured in the attack.
Police arrested four target
killers after an encounter and recovered weapons from SITE B
area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
HRCP said that the ethnic, sectarian
and politically-linked violence in Karachi has claimed at least
300 lives so far in 2012. Parts of the city have become battlegrounds
in the last week with authorities unable to prevent spiraling
violence blamed on activists from political parties representing
competing ethnic groups.
A petition was filed in the
Supreme Court requesting the court to eradicate irregularities
and illegalities in promotional matters of the Sindh Police.
The applicant, Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, filed the miscellaneous
petition, making the federation, Sindh Interior Secretary, Sindh
IGP and Provincial Chief Secretary respondents.
The US has hard evidence that
Pakistan-based JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was communicating with
slain al Qaeda Osama bin Laden through a courier which subsequently
led USA to put a USD 10-million bounty on Saeed’s head. The
evidence also points to Laden of having played a key role in
the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people and
injured more than 300.
The JuD officially condemned
the US bounty Saeed, terming it “another attack by the US Government
on Muslims and Islam”. JuD ‘spokesperson’ Yahya Mujahid said
the US had offered the bounty due to the DPC strong resolve
against the reopening of NATO supply routes through Pakistan,
drone strikes in the country’s tribal badlands and trade with
India.
The leaders of different religious
parties in Pakistan said the JuD chief is a hero of Pakistan
and allegations against him were in fact allegations against
the Muslim Ummah and the country. The leaders of JUI-F, ASWJ,
JUI-S, JI, Dawat Ahl-e-Hadees, Majlis Ahrar-e-Islam, International
Khatam-e-Nabuwat and Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadees criticised the US
move.
April 4
Seven people were killed and
three others injured when a passenger van was blown up in a
roadside bomb blast at Shah Kas area in Jamrud tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Five people, including an activist
of ANP, were killed in separate acts of target killing in Karachi,
the provincial metropolis of Sindh.
An activist of ANP, Omar Malook
(30), resident of Sector 36 in Taiser Town, was sitting in front
of his house when unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle
shot him dead and managed to escape.
A 26-year-old man, Sher Hakeem,
was standing near New Sabzi Mandi, Super Highway, within the
limits of Sohrab Goth Police Station when unidentified assailants
opened fire on him killing him on the spot.
Police found dead body of a
man packed in a gunny bag from Karimabad, within the jurisdiction
of Azizabad Police Station. The victim appeared to be 25-year-old
Balochi speaking.
An owner of PCO was shot dead
at his shop near Al Asif Square within the precincts of Sohrab
Goth Police Station. The victim hailed from Afghanistan.
A Shahbaz Rangers trooper, Irfan
(34), who was injured when unidentified men targeted him on
April 1 near Metrological office, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, succumbed
to his injuries.
Security situation remained
tense and volatile in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) despite curfew in
the wake of April 3 sectarian violence and target killings.
Despite the imposition of curfew, incidents of sporadic firings
were reported in some areas. In Skardu, a strike was observed
to protest against the Shia killings by terrorists in Chilas.
The Federal Minister of Interior
Minister Rehman Malik said the clashes in Gilgit-Baltistan are
not of a sectarian nature, rather hidden forces are involved
and were trying to disrupt peace in the areas.
The Abdul Rehman Makki, the
brother-in-law of LeT chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is a conduit
between LeT and Taliban. Government sources say that one of
the main reasons for the US announcing a reward of USD two million
for Makki is said to be his proximity to Taliban supreme commander
Mullah Omar and al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed mocked
the United States during a defiant media conference close to
the country's military headquarters in Rawalpindi, a day after
the US slapped a USD 10 million bounty on him.
Pakistan rejected the US bounty
on Saeed saying that the United States must provide “concrete
evidence” if it wanted Islamabad to act against Saeed. Foreign
Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Islamabad would rather be
presented with evidence about Hafiz Saeed than have a public
discussion on the matter.
The US said that it was looking
for evidence that could be used to put Hafiz Saeed behind bars.
State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said Washington
was working to assist Pakistan and provide the country with
the evidence to arrest Saeed and try him in a court of law.
The Chief Minister Aslam Raisani
said that the Federal Government and its bureaucracy were not
mindful of the seriousness of the Balochistan issue, allowing
foreign countries to interfere in the Province.
The CM said the Federal Government
was not providing funds for the departments devolved to his
province under the 18th Amendment. There was no provision in
the 18th Amendment or the NFC Award that the provinces would
bear all expenditures of the departments transferred to them,
he added.
April 5
A suicide bomber targeted a
senior Police Officer, Superintendent of Police (SP) Anwar Ahmed
Khan, said to be a leading name in the crackdown on militants,
killing four passers-by and injuring 17 others in the Malir
area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Commonly known
as Rao Anwar, SP Khan is among the few surviving officers who
had played an active role in the Karachi operation during the
1990s.
Earlier in a pre-dawn attack,
three Policemen were shot dead in PIB Colony. A car carrying
the Policemen was ambushed by unidentified militants who came
on six motorcycles and two cars.
Three FC soldiers were killed
and another two were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast
at Balingor near Mand in Turbat District of Balochistan.
Two men were killed after assailants
on motorcycles fired at a shop in Sariab area of Quetta.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead a man, identified as Munawar Ahmed, in Mastung town of
Mastung District.
The ongoing target and sectarian
killings claimed four more lives in different parts of Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
A young Shia man was shot dead
in Buffer Zone, near Nagan Chowrangi within the limits of Taimuria
Police Station. A Police official said that the victim hailed
from Gilgit and initially Police revealed that it was sectarian
killing.
Police found a bullet riddle
dead body of a man from Hub Dam Road area, near Sultanabad.
The man was later identified as 35-year-old Haji Wali Rehman,
a resident of Sultanabad, Sector 3.
A man was shot dead near Tyre
Market of Gharibabad, within the precincts of Sharifabad Police
Station. The identity of the victim was yet to be ascertained.
Police found body of a man from
seawater near Mai Kolachi Road within the limits of Jackson
Police Station. The identity of the victim was yet to be ascertained.
Two LI militants were killed
and another two were injured in a clash between the banned LI
and TI activists in Kalanga area of Akakhel in Tirah Valley
area of Khyber Agency in FATA. Two volunteers of the Zakhakhel-based
TI (peace militia) were injured.
In another incident at Bokhar
– Zakhakhel’s boundary with Nari Baba – a TI volunteer lost
his life and another three were injured. Mortar shells landed
at various locations in Bara.
Intelligence agencies arrested
several suspected persons and recovered a suicide jacket during
a raid at a house at Peshawar road under Tehalka Police Station
area of Peshawar.
The Supreme Court ordered the
Balochistan Police and Levies to investigate into dumping of
bullet-riddled bodies in various parts of the province and compensates
the aggrieved families. The Balochistan IGP was also ordered
to take action or arrest the provincial ministers involved in
kidnappings for ransom.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the case of JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is an "internal
issue" and any evidence against him should be provided
to Pakistan so that the courts can take action.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said that
the US bounty on Hafiz Saeed would send a “wrong signal” at
a time when the two countries were embarking upon new dimensions.
China has given rare details
of what it says are the links between militant groups in its
restive far western region of Xinjiang and neighbouring countries,
most likely close ally Pakistan, as it unveiled a list of six
wanted suspects. The Ministry of Public Security published the
names of the suspects, all apparently ethnic Uighurs, on its
website (www.mps.gov.cn) late on April 5, along with their photographs
and an outline of their alleged crimes.
Some Chinese officials have
blamed attacks on Muslim militants trained in Pakistan, though
the Foreign Ministry has refrained from public criticism of
the neighbour. Both Chinese and Pakistani officials have said
that the militants based in western China have ties to the TTP
and other militants in north-western Pakistani regions along
the Afghanistan border.
Half of the terrorism-related
stories published in the country’s key national newspapers originate
from the border region in Pakistan’s northwest, says a new study
released by a local media development organisation. “Almost
50 percent of terrorism stories come from FATA and KP,” says
the study, ‘How Pakistani Media Reports Terrorism Related Conflict?’
The study has been conducted by the Intermedia Pakistan, an
Islamabad-based media development organisation which focuses
on training, advocacy and research on media issues.
In terms of regional break up
of news coverage of terrorism-related events, the study says,
“FATA dominates the coverage of terrorism with 26 percent of
terrorism-related news emanating from the region, KP follows
with 23 percent, Balochistan gets 24 percent coverage, Sindh
19 percent, Punjab eight percent, Islamabad six percent while
Gilgit Baltistan two percent and AJK gets one percent of space
in newspapers.”
April 6
Six persons, including three
PPP and a PSF activist, were killed in the ongoing wave of target
and sectarian killings in Karachi, the provincial capital of
Sindh.
Tension engulfed several areas
of Orangi Town after four assailants, riding two motorbikes,
opened fire at a shop in Urdu Chowk of Orangi Town. Four PPP
workers, Farhan alias Guddu, Nafees Siddiqui alias Munno Bihari,
Umer Hayat and Rana Faraz – received bullet injuries and were
moved to hospital. Farhan, Nafees and Hayat succumbed to the
injuries later. The killings triggered violence in Orangi Town’s
sectors 10, 14 and 15, Bismillah Colony, Faqeer Colony, Urdu
Chowk and its surrounding areas. Police moved in a container
to block the way of protesters and also baton charged them,
injuring six party activists.
A seminary teacher, Naeem Sheikh
(55), was also shot dead in an act of “sectarian” killing in
Sector L-1 near the Maymarabad Mosque in Surjani Town.
A PSF worker, Saeed Hussain
Khan (29), was also shot dead outside his house at Scout Colony
under Mobina Town Police Station.
A cadre of SSP, Abdullah Bhumka
(55), was shot dead in Godhra Society. Abdullah Bhumka was on
his way home after offering Isha prayers when armed men shot
him in sector 11-G, New Karachi.
A Senior Police Officer who
had survived a suicide attack in the Malir area on April 5 accused
a fellow officer, and not terrorists, of having hatched the
conspiracy to kill him. However, the TTP claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found in Kanak area of Mastung District in Balochistan. According
to a Balochistan Levies official, some passersby spotted the
bodies dumped in a deserted location in Kanak.
Maulana Mohammad Qasim Sasoli,
a prayer leader belonging to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani
group), was shot dead on Saryab Road of Quetta.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government-run girl’s primary school with explosives in
the Lakrro area in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Terrorists in FATA have destroyed 92 Government schools, most
of them for girls, schools in Mohmand Agency during the past
three years.
Authorities launched a crackdown
on activists of sectarian outfits and arrested dozens of people
in the night of April 6 and early April 6 mornings. “Dozens
have been arrested and more are yet to be taken into custody,”
Police officials said. Sources said that raids were carried
out in various localities of the city, including Amphary, Basin,
Napura, Narote, Naikkoi, Kashrote, Nagarl and some other parts
of the area.
The Foreign Office (FO) rejected
Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna’s remarks that India
has provided adequate proof linking JuD chief Hafiz Saeed to
the Mumbai attacks.
A top Pakistani counter-terrorism
official said that Hafiz Saeed has been helping Pakistan de-radicalise
militants under efforts to stabilise the strategic US ally.
"Hafiz Saeed has agreed with the Punjab Government programme
of de-radicalisation and rehabilitation of former jihadis and
extended full cooperation," the counter-terrorism official
said under the condition of anonymity.
Gilgit-Baltistan Police IG Hussain
Asghar denied any foreign involvement in the recent strain of
violence in the region. The IG said that few job opportunities
and a high literacy rate among the resident youth was fueling
dissatisfaction and was feeding the rise in sectarianism.
The Supreme Court said there
was no difference between a human being and animals in Balochistan
where mutilated bodies were found on a daily basis. “I think
I should stay in Quetta for a month,” said Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, as a three-member SC bench resumed the hearing
of a case concerning the poor security and human rights situation
in Balochistan.
Around 20 million children in
Pakistan, including an estimated 7.3 million of primary school
age, are not in school, said a statement issued by UNICEF.
About the efforts of the fund
for promoting education for children across the country, the
statement said, “UNICEF is supporting the nationwide ‘Every
Child in School’ campaign, which encourages parents and communities
to ensure that all primary school-age children are enrolled
for the new school year.
The Chairman of the Hinglaj
Mata temple, Maharaj Ganga Ram Motiyani, was abducted from the
Lasbela District.
April 7
In yet another wave of target
killings, nine persons were killed while two bodies were found
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. 11 more persons
were also injured in the ongoing violence.
A Policeman, Rizwan Ahmed, was
killed and two more, Raza and Imran, were injured when a Police
picket in Sohrab Goth was attacked.
Within an hour, militants targeted
another hotel in Block H of North Nazimabad in which one person
was killed and three others were injured. Deputy Superintendent
of Police (DSP) Rasheed Khan said that all were affiliated with
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
A prayer leader, Arif Ejaz Khan,
was shot dead outside a mosque situated in Akbar Baloch Goth
in Steel Town in a drive-by shooting.
A taxi driver, Khursheed, was
killed and two others, Murtaza and Anwer, were also injured
in Shah Faisal Colony.
Fourteen-year-old Sohail, a
teenager died in an explosion in his own house near Manora.
In Meena Bazaar, a 40-year-old
pushcart vendor, Abdul Karim Ghanchi, was shot dead near his
house, said the PIB Colony Police. They claim that two motorcyclists
shot at him twice and escaped.
A rickshaw driver, Khurram alias
Shani (24) was killed in Landhi. He was a resident of Korangi.
Station House Officer (SHO) Mazhar Awam said that he was killed
near Landhi No.6.
Barkat Khan (23) was shot dead
in Baldia Town in a drive-by shooting. The Police said that
Khan lived in Baldia Town and was a scavenger.
The body of an alleged Lyari
gangster, Imran Baloch (26), was found near the District Collector
office in North Nazimabad, said the Taimuria Police. There were
reports that he was a PPP leader in Manghopir but SHO Kamal
Naseem said that he had a criminal record and was associated
with a gang in Lyari.
One Shahid (26) was found dead
in Korangi. SHO Nail Mohammad Jakhrani said that Shahid was
a resident of Shah Faisal Colony and used to work for a private
company. He added that Shahid was abducted and shot in the head.
He was from Punjab, had been married twice and might have been
killed over a family dispute.
A seminary student, Mohammad
Daud (17) was shot dead in Ghazi Town. DSP Rao Iqbal said that
Daud used to study at Madrassa Arabia Islamia and he was with
someone when he was killed.
Sarwar Bahadur, a leader of
the ASWJ, formerly known as banned SSP, was injured when armed
militants shot at him on Lasbela Road. Bahadur’s brother and
an ASWJ supporter were also injured.
Three persons, including a Police
official, were killed in separate incidents of firing in different
parts of Balochistan. Assistant Sub-Inspector Abdul Samad Jan
was shot dead in main Kalat bazaar in Kalat District.
Driver of a passenger bus, identified
as Rahim Bakhsh, was shot dead on Saryab Road in Quetta.
In Barkhan District, a security
man was killed and another sustained injuries when their checkpost
was attacked by a group of armed militants.
April 8
Army gunship helicopters pounded
militant positions in Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA
and killed 14 militants. Officials claimed that militant ‘commanders’
Lutfur Rehman, Hisbanur Rehman, Luqman Khan and Islamuddin were
killed in shelling on four militant hideouts.
Four personnel of Tochi Scouts
were injured in a roadside bomb blast on the Miranshah-Dattakhel
road near Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency.
One FC soldier, identified as
Nibat Khan, was killed when unidentified militants fired rockets
at a check post in Barkhan District. However, two militants
were killed when FC personnel returned fire, said Official sources.
A Police Sub-Inspector, identified
as Abdul Samad, died when armed assailants opened fire on him
in Kalat District.
One Mohammad Rahim was shot
dead in Surpul area of Quetta while he was sitting at his shop.
Two Levies Force personnel were
injured in Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah District after some
unidentified armed assailants opened fire on them.
Three more people were shot
dead and five others wounded by unidentified armed assailants
in Orangi Town, PIB Colony, Nazimabad and Lyari areas of Karachi.
One Shakeel (26) was shot dead
by unidentified armed assailants in PIB Colony.
A youngster was shot dead near
Inquiry Office within the jurisdiction of Nazimabad Police Station.
Three people, Naqeeb-ur-Rehman,
Sher Khan, and Aslam Uddin, were wounded when unidentified persons
sprayed them with bullets at Bihar Colony within Chakiwara Police
precincts in Lyari.
Two PPP workers, including General
Secretary for District West Siddique Akbar, wounded in separate
firing incidents in Orangi Town within Pirabad Police Station
limits.
Authorities claimed to have
arrested over four dozen suspects during various search operations
in different areas of Karachi. They, however, were unable to
arrest any of the culprits involved in incidents.
The US offered a lucrative monetary
favour to the coalition Government led by the PPP for the federal
budget 2012-13 in exchange for resumption of supply routes of
NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) should have no role
in the country's politics. "The ISI should have no role
in the country's politics," he said while interacting with
reporters at his residence. He was responding to a question
on whether the ISI's political wing had been closed.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
acknowledged that the case of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was an "issue"
between Pakistan and India but said Islamabad needs "substantial"
evidence against him to try him in a court of law.
Responding to a question about
groups like JuD fanning extremism in Pakistan, Gilani said:
"I have ordered action against all proscribed organisations".
He said there should be peace between India and Pakistan and
it was in the interest of both countries as well as the region.
Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam
Raisani accused some elements in policy-making machinery in
Islamabad of indirectly helping the elements trying to break
up Pakistan by not implementing announcements and promises made
by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani The Chief Minister said the Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan
package was not being implemented in letter and spirit.
Under constant pressure from
the US over the increasing use of IEDs by militants on both
sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border, Pakistani authorities have
worked out a strategy to counter the threat. Draft legislation
for the National Strategy to Counter-IED will be soon tabled
in parliament for approval. The proposed C-IED Act 2012 will
provide a legal framework for the strategy and deal with issues
like monitoring and controlling ingredients used in IED-making
and prosecution of criminals by introducing new amendments to
existing laws.
The national strategy, soon
to be made public, has been prepared by the National Counter-IED
Forum. It is headed by the interior secretary and includes chief
secretaries of all provinces, the National Counter Terrorism
Authority FG, DG Engineers Pak Army, DGs/ IGs of all Civil Armed
Forces, IG police of all provinces and representatives from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Inter-Services Intelligence.
One of the most fatal tactical weapons used by militants, IEDs
have caused 13,918 casualties – 47% of the total casualties
suffered during the past four years on Pakistan’s side of the
border. According to a policy paper available with The Express
Tribune, out of these causalities, Pakistan Army and law-enforcement
agencies in the FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have suffered 1,244
casualties with 221 people killed and 1,023 injured most of
them critically.
Members of the Hindu community
protested outside the Karachi Press Club alleging that the abduction
of Maharaj Ganga Ram Motiyani was a conspiracy. Maharaj Ganga
Ram Motiyani, the Chairman of the Hinglaj Mata temple, Maharaj
Ganga Ram Motiyani, was abducted from the Lasbela District on
April 6. Community leaders say the Chairman was abducted to
sabotage the pilgrimage which attracts devotees from various
parts of the world. Abduction-for-ransom is being ruled out
by the community as Maharaj Motiyani is not a rich man.
April 9
Six Shia persons belonging to
the Hazara community were killed and three others were injured
when armed militants opened fire at a cobblers shop on Prince
Road in Quetta. Quetta Police Deputy Inspector General Qazi
Wahid said that all the victims belonged to Hazara community
and it appeared to be a case of sectarian target killing.
Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani
sacked seven Police officials on duty for the killing of six
Hazara. According to Police sources, 17 suspects have also been
arrested in connection with killing.
The Levies Force found two unidentified
bullet-riddled dead bodies from the Surab area of Kalat District.
Two people, identified as Qasir
and Asif Javed, were shot dead while they were waiting for a
Karachi-bound bus in Mand area of Turbat District.
Four militants and two soldiers
were killed during a clash when a group of 20 militants attacked
a military checkpost in the Khapyanga area of Kurram Agency
in FATA.
At least 10 IDPs were injured
when policemen baton charged panicked IDPs to force them to
follow queue. The IDPs belonged to the Zakha Khel tribe of Khyber
Agency. This incident took place at a registration point in
Jalozai camp in the limits of Nowshera District (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
A PPP activist, Younis Pathan
(28), was shot dead, while another person identified as Zait
Khan (25), was injured on Abul Hasan Isphani Road in the precincts
of Mobina Town Police Station in Karachi in Karachi.
Another PPP activist, identified
as Syed Mukhtiar Shah (35), was shot dead in his school in Baldia
Town in the Saeedabad Police Station precincts.
A Policeman, identified as Raj
Mohammad (32), posted at the Kalri Police Station was shot dead
while he was checking Police deployment in the area on the Mauripur
Road.
Sir Syed Police claimed to have
arrested a target killer Qasim alias Paratha from the
slums of Bilal Colony, recovering a TT pistol and stolen motorcycle.
SHO Changaiz Khan said Qasim was involved in three murder cases,
including Rizwan murder case of 2010. Qasim is said to be associated
with a politico-religious party.
AIG Karachi Akhtar Hussain Gorchani
said, “Target killings have risen over the past few days in
Karachi, however, some of these cases were either of personal
disputes or involved individual gains”.
The Supreme Court refused to
give an opportunity of hearing to former President Pervez Musharraf
in a case regarding the registration of second FIR in the December
27, 2007 Benazir Bhutto murder case against him and 12 others
because he had already been declared as a proclaimed offender
by a lower court in 2011.
India, responding to Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani’s statement on Hafiz Saeed, said that ‘solid
evidence’ on the JuD chief and alleged 26/11 Mumbai terror attack
mastermind has already been given to Pakistan. Sources in the
Indian Government said that the evidence includes the statement
of Ajmal Kasab – the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks
– saying that “Saeed was present during the selection and training
of terrorists behind the 26/11 attack.”
April 10
Five people, including two activists
of the MQM and a member of the Pakhtoon Action Committee, were
shot dead in different parts of Karachi. One MQM activist, identified
as Muhammad Furqan (35), was shot dead by two unidentified armed
assailants near RCD Ground in Malir in the Saudabad Police limits,
while he was returning to his residence along with his wife.
However, the MQM-H also claimed that Furqan was their activist.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
another MQM activist, identified as Qamar Qureshi alias Kamran
(30), was found from Korangi area within Landhi Police jurisdiction.
A member of the Pakhtoon Action
Committee, Haji Muhammad Deen (75), was shot dead by two militants
outside his residence near Mehboob Manzil situated in North
Nazimabad within the Shahra-e-Noorjhan Police area.
One Akhlaq (40) was shot dead
by unidentified armed militants near Taiser Town in the Surjani
Town Police jurisdiction, while he was going to his house.
An ASI, Muhammad Aslam (40)
who received bullet wounds on April 1 in the Khokhrapar Police
limits, succumbed to his injuries. The Police claimed to have
arrested two target killers in this connection. Aslam had named
two suspects - Arshed and Akmal Raza – who were arrested on
April 10 along with two TT pistols. During interrogation, the
suspects confessed to being involved in a number of targeted
killing incidents as well as opening fire on ASI Alam.
The Sindh Government decided
to strengthen the border Police check posts along the provincial
border and entry and exit points with Balochistan to curb inter-provincial
movement of criminals. Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan told
the media that modern technology would be introduced at the
Police check posts. He said orders have been given for effective
check on the movement of criminals.
For the establishment of law
and order in Karachi, a presidential package worth PKR 2.5 billion
was approved by the Government for the city. The fund will be
provided in two phases.
At least 34 people abducted
from Hunza District on April 3, 2012 in the wake of violence
and bloodshed in Gilgit and Chilas were released on April 10
as a result of successful talks between the abductors and cleric
Aga Rahat-ul-Hussain. Member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative
Assembly Deedar Ali Shah said the 34 hostages had been released
unconditionally.
The curfew imposed eight days
ago remained in force, without any relaxation. Since the outbreak
of violence, Gilgit has remained cut off from the rest of the
country with no vehicle plying on the Karakoram Highway.
Police recovered three Marri
tribe missing persons following the orders of CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry
in Quetta. According to official sources, the Police claimed
to have recovered Gul Mir, Mir Jan and Amir Khan. Earlier, the
CJP had ordered the Balochistan IG and other officials concerned
to recover seven missing persons who were picked up from the
Sariab area on March 1, 2012.
The TTP claimed responsibility
for the abduction of four members of a pro-government militia
in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 25. The abducted
men have been identified as Gul Muhammad, Mukhtiar, Abdul Wahab
and Rehman. Speaking from an undisclosed location, the TTP
‘commander’ for North Waziristan Agency, Asmatullah Shaheen,
said that the four men were abducted from Umer bus terminal.
A jirga of Kukikhel tribe
resolved to desist from all types of terror activities and not
allow any banned group to operate on its soil in Tirah valley
of Khyber Agency. Presided over by Dr Zabita Khan Kukikhel and
held at Speena Khawra Markaz, the jirga unanimously decided
to impose a fine of PKR one million on those violating the jirga
decisions.
The Peshawar High Court directed
the local Police to close down three illegal detention centres,
which were run by a former SHO of Hayatabad Police Station in
his area. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan
and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk pointed out that a recent inquiry
conducted by the Police high-ups on the order of the high court
proved that SHO Rajab Ali had been running three illegal detention
centres in Hayatabad, Peshawar.
On the court order, a senior
investigation officer of National Accountability Bureau Col
(retired) Hussain Ali appeared and told the court that he had
constituted a team for probing the allegations against the SHO
of amassing wealth by indulging in illegal activities.
Peshawar High Court directed
the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Police Officer to conduct
an inquiry as to why police were extending illegal cooperation
and help to those agencies which were not authorised under the
law and constitution to pick up citizens.
Peshawar High Court directed
the quarters concerned to expedite the process of enlisting
the [low profile] category B and C militants after the bench
was requested to allow some time for the completion of the list.
Pakistan is going to deploy
specially trained C-IED forces at 820 border posts along the
Pak-Afghan border to counter the use of homemade landmines –
the weapon that causes the most troop and civilian casualties
on both sides of the border.
CAN and Ammonium Nitrate (AN)
are used to manufacture fertilisers but simultaneously function
as key ingredients in making homemade mines called IEDs. The
FC has trained their personnel in basic EOD to undertake search
and disposal operations, while specialised Police units have
been established to undertake EOD tasks which will be used not
only on border points but during raids on IED manufacturing
sites on its side of the border.
IEDs have caused over 13,918
(civilian and military) casualties, which is 47% of the total
casualties suffered by Pakistan over the past four years in
the FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone.
IEDs are the number one cause
of casualties for ISAF, newly trained NSF troops and civilians.
The US has devoted huge resources to defeating the IED threat
over the years but with little success. The US JIEDDO alone
has an annual budget of over USD three billion, and since 2006,
USD 20 billion have been spent on C-IED efforts.
The Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik urged parliament to adopt an amendment in anti-terror
law to remove loopholes for closing door to terrorist' bailout.
Addressing a joint parliamentary sitting on killings of people
from the Shia community, the Minister said parliament needed
to pass an amendment in the Pakistan Penal Code as currently
no law existed to bring terrorists to justice.
April 11
LI militants shot dead five
Zakhakhel tribe persons in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency
in FATA. They also slaughtered two of their former cadres. Among
those killed were a former LI ‘commander’, Hazrat Khan, and
his friend, Rehman. Sources said that the victims had recently
started supporting SFs to bring peace to the area.
Four people, including two activists
of the JSQM, were shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in Karachi. Two JSQM workers, identified as Ghulam Hussain (29)
and Waqas (25), were forcing the shopkeepers to pull down their
shutters in Khadda Market area of Lyari when another group from
the area resorted to firing, killing them on the spot and injuring
five others, including two seminary students Muhammad and Umar
Saeed.
A PPP activist Rashid Baig (25)
was shot dead near his residence in North Karachi within the
limits of Ajmer Nagri Police Station.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man stuffed in a gunny bag near Labour Square
within the limits of Site B Police Station. The identity of
the victim was yet to be ascertained. The victim appeared to
be of Baloch descent.
At least three girls were injured
when unknown militants resorted to firing while forcing shops’
closure in Kalakot Police precincts. SSP South Nasir Aftab said
it was not clear if they were targeted or caught in the line
of fire.
Two passengers, Noor Shah and
Muhammad Abdullah, were injured when two armed militants boarded
a minibus and started firing near Dua Hotel on Mauripur Road.
Following the gunfire, the militants set ablaze the bus as well
as a truck parked nearby.
In Bakhtawar Goth and Safoora
Chowrangi areas, unknown suspects set ablaze two minibuses.
Police and Frontier Constabulary
conducted a raid at Jokhio Para and detained five suspects for
being involved in riots at Khadda Market.
Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) in
collaboration with Police conducted targeted raids in different
areas, including Keamari Town, Hussain Hazara Goth, Hijrat Colony,
Baloch Para Jamshed Town and Nazimabad and detained 12 suspects
along with 18 weapons of different calibers.
The Police booked friends of
Lyari ‘chief’ Habib Jan Baloch besides PAC leadership in the
FIR of a Police constable Raj Mohammad’s murder that took place
in Lyari on April 9, 2012.
Four alleged militants were
killed and six others arrested by the FC after an exchange of
fire with them at Sangsilla area in Dera Bugti District. According
to official sources, a convoy of FC was passing from the area
when a group of armed militants opened fire on it.
The curfew imposed in Gilgit
City on April 3, 2012, continued for the ninth day. As reported
earlier, 24 people were killed in violence in Gilgit-Baltistan
region on April 3.
The people released by their
abductors on April 10 left Gilgit for their native areas. The
hostages belonged to Shangla in Hazara division and some areas
of Punjab. The hostages spoke about their ordeal to the reporters.
“I cannot believe that I am alive. The kidnappers were highly
trained people. They blindfolded us and took us to Sumaira valley
of Nagar subdivision and tortured us,” said one of them.
The Peshawar High Court summoned
the Federal Ministers and Secretaries of Defence, Interior and
Law in cases of missing persons, asking them to explain why
they had been defending illegal and unconstitutional acts of
the intelligence agencies.
The bench observed that in all
the habeas corpus petitions in the High Court allegations were
leveled against the ISI, MI, FIA and sector commanders of the
Intelligence Agencies. It added that it was often alleged that
these agencies picked persons from houses without search warrant,
detained them in illegal detention centres and tortured them.
The chief justice observed that keeping in view the provisions
of the constitution regarding fundamental rights, the Government,
particularly the Ministries of Defence and Interior, were not
supposed to defend illegal acts of these agencies.
The continuous spilling of blood
in sectarian killings in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan,
and GB is a result of failure to address religious intolerance
in society, the HRCP said.
It also said, “The people are
paying the price of indifference with their lives. Rather than
wasting time on addressing mere symptoms, the root cause of
the problem must be identified and addressed. Instead of living
in denial, we must now identify the policies that strengthen
extremism and promote faith-based hatred in society. These constitute
the single biggest threat to Pakistan.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain favoured resumption of NATO supply
but said there should be no permission to the arms and ammunitions’
movement to Afghanistan in NATO containers and that NATO supply
should be restored for food items only.
He urged the US to reconsider
its policies, especially regarding drone attacks, saying it’s
badly affecting the US image in the country and the world. The
Minister said that the drone technology should be shared with
Pakistan for better results against war of terror.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister
for Finance Humayun Khan praised the people of Malakand for
bravely fighting the ‘war of survival’ in the country. He said
the matchless sacrifices of the people would be written with
golden words in the history.
The US has not kept Pakistan
in the dark on its efforts to seek a negotiated settlement to
Afghanistan, said US Special Representative for Afghanistan
and Pakistan Marc Grossman. “I have many faults. But not keeping
the Government of Pakistan or the Government of Afghanistan
fully informed on what we were doing on the reconciliation side
is not one of them,” he told a gathering at the US Institute
of Peace in Washington. “
April 12
At least 15 militants were killed
when Army gunship helicopters heavily pounded terrorist’s positions
near the Afghan border in Joki Zaranna areas of Kurram Agency
in FATA.
Three people belonging to the
Hazara community were shot dead and another wounded in separate
incidents of target killings in the provincial capital Quetta.
In the first incident, unidentified militants opened fire on
a tea store on Shahrah-e-Iqbal area, killing a man on the spot
and injuring the owner of the store identified as Sakhi Dad.
Armed assailants attacked another
shop on Archer Road killing two people belonging to the Hazara
community, Nor Ali and Nor Ahmed on the spot. The Hazara Democratic
Party (HDP) announced to stage a sit-in outside the Governor’s
House and the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on April 13 to protest
the killings.
Balochistan Weightlifting Association
General Secretary Abdul Jabbar Khilji was shot dead while he
was on his way home in Shalidar area Quetta.
13 labourers of a construction
company were abducted from the Sui area of Dera Bugti District.
No group has claimed the responsibility for the kidnapping.
Police and witnesses said that
the families of the six abducted aid workers launched a public
campaign to raise ransom money demanded by their abductors.
On December 13, 2011 armed militants whisked away six people
working for the BRSP from Pishin District.
An alleged LI militant was decapitated
and his head displayed on a rooftop as a ‘warning’ in Sarbanda
on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. A day after Hazrat Khan, a former LI commander,
was killed along with six others by Mangal Bagh’s men in Bara
of Khyber Agency in FATA, Munsif Ali, believed to be an ardent
follower of Bagh’s LI, was killed in the village of Bajri.
The Supreme Court released three
‘missing’ Baloch men after the Balochistan AG and DIG-Operations
Wing Qazi Abdul Wahid produced them before the Court. The three
men, Mir Jan, Amir Khan and Gul Mir were whisked away from their
house some 40 days ago. They are all residents of Sariab Mills
in the New Sariab Police precincts in Quetta.
It was reported that another
missing person, identified as Mazar Khan, has not been recovered
so far. The court was told that a case has been registered against
SHO Noor Bukhsh and has been arrested. Khan was picked up by
some unidentified people in the presence of Bukhsh. The court
adjourned the hearing until April 30, 2012.
Estimated to have more nuclear
weapons than India, Pakistan is rapidly developing and expanding
its atomic arsenal, spending about USD 2.5 billion a year to
develop such weapons, a report 'Assuring Destruction Forever:
Nuclear Modernization around the World’ by Reaching Critical
Will of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
said. “Pakistan has been rapidly developing and expanding its
nuclear arsenal, increasing its capacity to produce plutonium,
and testing and deploying a diverse array of nuclear-capable
ballistic and cruise missiles” said the report.
Maulana Samiul Haq, Chairman
of the DPC, in reference to reopening of NATO supply routes
said that the DPC is standing firm against reopening the NATO
supply routes and added that Parliament’s decision to reopen
the routes will not be an easy decision to make.
Parliament approved new guidelines
for the troubled ties with the US, a decision that will likely
pave the way for the reopening of supply lines to NATO troops
in neighbouring Afghanistan that have been blocked since November
2012.
April 13
At least six people were killed
and 17 others injured in separate incidents of firing and rocket
attacks in Lyari area of Karachi. A man, identified as Hanif
(50), was killed when a rocket targeting the Police was fired
at his apartment block near Eidgah. The rocket attack was succeeded
by a spell of firing around the Lyari General Hospital, injuring
Abdullah, Abid, Arif, Babar and an unidentified victim.
Another round of shooting incident
at a bus stop killed one Taj Wali (25) and injured Ghulam Qadir
(28), who was hit in the leg.
One Hayat Gull (30) was killed
by a stray bullet on Miranaka Bridge.
A boy, identified as Zakir (8),
died and two other unidentified men were injured after being
hit by a stray bullet near the Aath Chowk.
Another man, Rustam (30), was
shot dead near the Dhobi Ghat area of Lyari.
A man, identified as Yasin,
died of gunshot wounds after he was hit by a stray bullet outside
his home in Bihar Colony around the evening.
Four children sustained bullet
injuries in separate incidents taking place near Hotel Lyari,
in Lea Market and opposite the Eidgah. The injured were identified
as Usman (10), Munir Hussain (10), Rehan (8) and Usman (15).
Later in the evening, two more
rockets were fired near the Hub Chowki bus stop in Moosa Lane.
“The rockets hit a row of shops that were already closed. No
casualties have been reported so far,” an Edhi volunteer said.
Three suspected Lyari gangsters,
allegedly belonging to the Uzair Baloch group, also known as
the PAC, were arrested during a raid by the AEC. The detainees
were allegedly involved in several cases of target killing as
well as abduction-for-ransom and other crimes.
Targeted killings in Quetta
continued as another member of the Hazara community, identified
as Mohammad Ali Hazara, was shot dead by unidentified armed
militants while he was sitting outside a shop on Abdul Sattar
Road after Friday prayers. The killing had taken place when
over 4,000 members of the Hazara community were protesting outside
the Governor House and Chief Minister Secretariat.
Eight labourers working for
a construction company were injured when militants hurled a
hand grenade on them while they were waiting for a bus in the
Shambay Ismail area in Gwadar District.
A United States national of
Pakistani origin, Jubair Ahmad (24), was sentenced to 12 years
in prison and five years of supervised release for providing
material support to the LeT. Jubair Ahmad, who lived in Woodbridge,
Virginia, received the sentence after being found guilty of
promoting and urging recruitment for the LeT, designated by
Washington as foreign terrorist organisation, the Justice Department
said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the Government’s green
signal for non-lethal supply to NATO forces in Afghanistan would
reduce terrorism and militancy in the country, especially Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
The Minister said his ANP had
suffered a lot in the war against terrorism and forced terrorists
to flee from their strongholds. “We have lost around 750 ANP
leaders, parliamentarians and workers to terrorism and militancy
over four years but didn’t yield to our enemy,” he said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector
General of Police Mohammad Akbar Khan Hoti assured the business
community of revival of CPLC in order to properly address the
issues being faced by people in the province. Speaking at a
meeting with members of business community at Sarhad Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, the IGP said that the revival of the
CPLC would help in resolution of people’s problems in a befitting
manner.
Pakistan will deport Osama bin
Laden’s three widows and two daughters to Saudi Arabia next
week after their jail sentence for illegal residency ends, their
lawyer Aamir Khalil said. The five were detained after a secret
US Special Forces raid killed the al Qaeda chief in Abbottabad
in May 2011.
More than 181,000 people have
fled fighting between Government troops and Taliban or al Qaeda-linked
militants in the Khyber Agency Areas of FATA, the UNHCR said.
The US said it seeks enduring
and well-defined relations with Pakistan after the latter’s
parliament backed new guidelines on ties, which ban the transport
of arms across its soil to Afghanistan. State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said the US had “seen that the Pakistani parliament
has approved” the 14-point framework for revised terms of engagement
with the US and NATO.
Unnamed US officials said the
White House has no intention to end CIA drone strikes against
militant targets on Pakistani soil, possibly setting the two
countries up for diplomatic tensions after Pakistan’s parliament
unanimously approved new guidelines for the country’s troubled
relationship with the United States.
The US is drastically reducing
the number of aid projects in Pakistan as part of reforms aimed
at improving the distribution of billions of dollars in funding,
the USAID head Rajiv Shah said. The total amount of civilian
aid will remain the same, but the US hopes the reorganization
will produce better, higher profile outcomes that can win hearts
and minds in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant,
said Rajiv Shah.
April 14
Unidentified assailants riding
motorcycles killed eight Shias, belonging to Hazara community,
in two incidents of sectarian attacks in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. In the first incident, the assailants
opened fire on a taxi, killing six people on Brewery Road in
Killi Ibrahim Zai area. Later, they shot and killed another
two Shias in a rickshaw in the same area. The deceased were
identified as, Abdullah, Juma Ali, Muhammad Ali, Syed Asghar
Shah and Eid Muhammad. The remaining bodies could not be identified
so far.
Unidentified assailants riding
a motorcycle opened fire on people, killing one civilian and
injuring another, on Sabzal Road. A man identified as Gul Muhammad
died on the spot and another man, identified as Muhammad Hasan,
was injured.
Unidentified assailants killed
a Police official in the Shalkot Police Station area.
An excise inspector, identified
as Khaista Mir, was killed when a remote-controlled explosive
device exploded outside his residence at Ghani Rehman Qila in
Daudzai area in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified miscreants killed
a young man, identified as, Rustam Ali, near Dhobi Ghat area
in Lyari area of Karachi.
Armed assailants on motorbikes
opened fire randomly near busy Chandni Chowk area in Soldier
Bazaar forcing traders to pull down their shutters. However,
in the process, their own aide, identified as Moosa (30), suffered
a bullet wound and later died in the hospital.
Some armed men on motorbikes
attempted to intercept a bus in the Old Golimar area. However
the bus driver did not do so and sped away. Then they fired
a cracker which caused minor injuries to two people.
A soldier of Levies Force, Zafar
Khan, was killed when militants attacked two checkposts in Haleemzai
and Khewazai areas of Mohmand Agency in FATA in the morning.
TTP Mohmand chapter ‘spokesman’ talked to local journalists
by telephone and claimed responsibility for the attacks.
April 15
At least four persons, including
two militants belonging to ST were killed in separate incidents
in Karachi. Two armed assailants fired bullets at two ST activists,
identified as Rashid (30) and Yahya (35), sitting near their
residences in Gulshan-e-Zahoor area within the jurisdiction
of Brigade Police Station. A Police Official said that they
found sixteen empty shells of 9 mm pistol from the crime scene.
Spokesman of ST Fahim Sheikh said both victims were active workers
of the ST.
A supporter of the MQM, identified
as Arsalan (24), was shot dead and three others wounded when
unidentified militants opened fired at the youngsters playing
cricket near Baitul Mukarram Mosque within the remit of Aziz
Bhatti Police Station. The injured were identified as Hazim
Iqbal, Asif and Junaid.
An unidentified man was shot
dead in Urdu Bazaar within the limits of Aram Bagh Police Station.
An MQM activist, Abdul Mateen,
was shot at and injured in Surjani Police remit.
A CID’s ASI Dilshad Hussain
was wounded in a firing incident near Shaheen Complex and Pervez
Rafiq in Orangi Town.
Two youngsters identified as
Talha Khan (18), and Mohammad Ali (20), received bullets injuries
near Teen Hatti area of Liaquatabad.
At least three alleged militants
of the PAC were arrested during a targeted operation in Khadda
Market within the remit of Baghdadi Police Station. They were
identified as Bilal, Rahim alias Rahim Dada and Naeem.
Unidentified armed militant
opened fire on two people in the Eastern bypass area of Quetta,
killing them on the spot. One of them was identified as Abdul
Ghani. However, the identity of another victim was unknown.
A dead body of one Abdul Latif
Jattak was found in Kararru tehsil area of Khuzdar District.
An unidentified dead body was
found in the Western Bypass area of Quetta.
LEAs arrested two suspects from
Bhosa Mandi area within the jurisdiction of Sariab Police Station
in Quetta and recovered two unlicensed pistols from their possession.
A trooper was killed when militants
attacked a checkpost at Dery Deki area in Ladha tehsil
of South Waziristan Agency. Sources said that the attack on
the post in Dery Deki area was repulsed. However, a TTP ‘commander’,
Shamim Mehsud, said four SF personnel were killed in the pre-dawn
attack.
Hundreds of TTP militants stormed
a prison in Bannu town in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and freed nearly 400 inmates, including one on death row for
trying to assassinate former President General Pervez Musharraf.
“Sources said the attack by around 200 militants was aimed at
rescuing Adnan Rashid, a TTP militant who was convicted of an
attack on Musharraf. TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said some 384 prisoners escaped
the prison, adding that there were “at least 20 dangerous prisoners
and some militants”, among the escapees.
Security Forces arrested a TTP
‘commander’, Gul Rahim, along with his accomplice from a hotel
during a brief encounter in Taxila town of Rawalpindi District
in Punjab. Authorities said Gul had escaped to Karachi after
the Army operation in Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and was now
going back home when captured in Taxila.
Curfew continued for the 13th
day in continuation in the violence-hit city of Gilgit. It was
imposed on April 3 after 24 people were killed in Gilgit Baltistan.
Parts of Gilgit have experienced food shortages following the
suspension of traffic on Karakoram Highway in the wake of recent
killings.
The nationalist parties of Gilgit-Baltistan
have demanded of the Government to ban mainstream political
and religious parties in GB to ensure long term peace and harmony.
In separate statements, the leaders accused some major political
and religious parties of creating disturbances due to vested
interests. GB United Movement (GBUM) Chairman Manzoor Parwana
said that security agencies were violating the fundamental rights
of the people of GB by imposing the curfew.
Pak Observer reports that Interior
Minister Rehman Malik said that the third hand is involved in
Chillas and Gilgit violence and the judicial commission will
be formed for investigations.
Police claimed to have traced
the man who had thrown a hand-grenade on protesting activists
of the ASWJ at Ittehad Chowk on April 3. "We have traced
the culprit who threw a hand-grenade on the protesters and conducted
raids to arrest him, but he has changed his hideout," SP,
Gilgit, Wasil Khan said, adding that the man was also wanted
in some other cases.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab
Aslam Raisani during a meeting in Quetta which reviewed the
law and order situation in the province decided to launch a
targeted operation against terrorists involved in sectarian
and other killings. The meeting decided that a free hand would
be given to the Police and other law-enforcement personnel to
deal sternly with the terrorists.
The Bugti tribe leader, Nawab
Aali Bugti blamed the national and international oil companies
are equally responsible for creating unrest in Balochistan besides
the Government, the intelligence agencies and the law enforcement
agencies. Mastan Bugti, a spokesperson for the Bugti chief,
said that besides the FC, oil companies continue to play a negative
role in Dera Bugti as they deprive the Baloch of their legitimate
political and economic rights.
Former President General Pervez
Musharraf said that as long as Pakistan Army was there, Balochistan
could not be separated from Pakistan. Addressing retired army
officers organisation ‘Pakistan First’ over the video link on
situation in Balochistan, the leader of All Pakistan Muslim
League and former Army Chief said Balochistan Liberation Army
is an organisation of militants supported by foreign elements
and targeting non locals in the province.
April 16
One person was killed and three
people sustained injuries when unidentified armed militants
opened fire at a bus stop on M.A. Jinnah Road in Karachi.
An unidentified man was shot
dead near Al Asif Square in Sohrab Goth area within the precincts
of Sohrab Goth Police Station. Police said that the victim appeared
to be Pashto-speaking.
Police found the dead bodies
of two youngsters, wrapped in a bed sheet and gunny bag near
Fazal Kareem Hospital, in Korangi area within the limits of
Korangi Industrial Area Police Station.
Another dead body of one Mohammad
Subhan (23) was found dead in his rickshaw parked at Mir Mohammad
Baloch Road within the limits of Baghdadi Police Station. A
police official suspected that the deceased was associated with
Jabbar Jhengu Group that is involved in extortion and other
crimes.
Police announced reward money
for the arrest of 24 gangsters of Lyari, including the bigwigs
of PAC. The names of five alleged members of the TTP have been
proposed for being placed in the list of most wanted terrorists
with reward money on them. The names of PAC leaders Uzair Baloch
and Zafar Baloch have been placed on top of the list with a
bounty of PKR 3 million each.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a tyre shop on Quivery Road in Quetta killing
one Hazara, identified as Salam Ali.
Four Shia Hazaras escaped an
attempt on their lives when militants on motorcycle opened fire
at their cab near the Benazir Shaheed overhead bridge while
they were travelling towards Quetta.
A spokesman for the LeJ, Ali
Sher Haidri, claimed responsibility for the series of attacks
on Hazaras in the past two weeks.
The Levies Force freed an abducted
man, identified as Attaullah Baranzai, after an operation in
Dalbandin area of Chagai District and arrested four alleged
captors. Baranzai was reportedly abducted- for-ransom from the
Mal area in the afternoon and taken to the Sufi Jan area of
Dalbandin.
The Chaman Levies Force arrested
14 Afghan nationals under the Foreign Act in Killi Luqman area
of Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District.
A student was killed and two
others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants threw
hand grenade at Iqra Public School in Charganokaly on Charsadda
Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The BDS neutralised a four-kilogramme
bomb at Balarzai village in the limits of Badhaber Police Station
in the outskirts of Peshawar.
Three more missing persons were
recovered in Quetta late in the night. People close to relatives
of Akhtar Lango, Doctor Naseer and Hafeez Rodini confirmed their
arrival. The men went missing from Killi Ismail area of Quetta
on April 1, 2012 and their whereabouts were unknown ever since.
VFBMP, an organisation striving for the recovery of missing
persons, also confirmed the recovery of three missing persons.
The Supreme Court sought a three
year report from relevant authorities regarding the number of
people gunned down in Balochistan. A three member bench of the
apex court, presided by Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar
Chaudhry, held a proceeding over the law and order situation
in the province.
Five militants denounced violence
and surrendered before administration in Bajaur Agency of FATA.
“They would remain in our custody for 24 hours, after which
they would be freed,” Political Agent Islamzeb Khan said.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
removed four senior officials and ordered a high-level inquiry
into the incident as more details emerged about the audacity
of the attacking militants and utter failure of police to respond.
Mohammad Azam Khan, Provincial
Secretary of Home and Tribal Affairs, put the number of escaped
prisoners at 384. According to last reports, 88 of them have
since returned, most of them voluntarily. A few others were
arrested in different areas. According to latest reports, of
the 384 escaped inmates, 145 were under-trial, 94 were charged
with murder and 30 in narcotics cases and 21 sentenced to death.
A militant ‘commander’ who helped
plan an assault on the Bannu central jail said his group had
inside information. “We had maps of the area and we had complete
maps and plans of the jail as well,” the ‘commander’, a senior
member of the TTP, told Reuters. “All I have to say is we have
people who support us in Bannu. It was with their support that
this operation was successful.”
A terrorist freed by TTP militants
was in touch with the outside world through a mobile phone,
Facebook and blogs. Over 380 other prisoners besides Adnan
Rashid, who was on death row for an attempt to assassinate former
military ruler Pervez Musharraf, escaped from the Central Jail
at Bannu.
US Ambassador Cameron Munter
has pledged USD 110 million in aid to Pakistan for the reopen
of NATO supplies. The DCC, the apex decision making body on
national security, is expected to meet next week to review the
policy guidelines recently passed by the parliament, an official
from the Prime Minister House said.
US Ambassador Cameron Munter
held an important meeting with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar. It added that Munter appreciated the parliamentary process
and hinted at addressing all outstanding issues once Islamabad
is “prepared to deal with Washington.”
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that she will continue to urge Pakistan to squeeze
the Haqqani network, as signs emerged it might be behind the
April 15 Kabul attack. Recalling that she pressed Pakistan to
“squeeze” the Haqqani network when she visited Islamabad in
October 2011, Clinton told reporters in Brasilia that she will
“continue to make that point, press it hard.”
The US CJCSC General Martin
Dempsey said that there was currently no indication that the
attacks had been planned in Pakistan. CJCSC made the revelation
while addressing a press conference at the Pentagon with the
Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta.
Defence Secretary Panetta said
Intelligence reports had suggested before a coordinated assault
on the Afghanistan capital began that the Haqqani network of
militants had been planning such high-profile attacks.
April 17
Three people were killed while
two others, identified as Nazer Muhammad and Bilal, sustained
injuries in a firing incident that occurred at a hotel located
in Pahar Ganj area of North Nazimabad in Karachi.
Two unidentified dead bodies
were recovered near Memon Complex located in North Nazimabad
area.
The Vice Principal of Jinnah
Polytechnic Institute, Imran Zaidi (55), was shot dead near
the Matric Board Office in Nazimabad area. SHO Sajid Javed suspected
it to be a sectarian killing. JAP leader Allama Abbas Kumaili
said that in 2012, around 22 Shia men, including lawyers were
killed.
A bus driver, identified Sher
Mohammad (36) alias Sheru, was shot dead and one Safdar was
injured near a wedding hall in Korangi.
One Ghulam Rasool (54) was shot
dead in Korangi sector 35.
One Raja Alauddin was shot dead,
while four others were injured when unidentified assailants
opened fire at them at a bus stop near Capri Cinema.
Two people received bullet wounds
in another incident near Asghar Ali Shah Stadium in North Nazimabad.
The Mobina Town Police claimed
to have arrested two alleged extortionists, identified as Inayat
and Imran. Another alleged extortionist, identified as Yasin
alias Raju, was arrested near Timber Market by the Napier Police.
The SIU of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested four alleged target killers in separate raids.
According to the Superintendent of Police (SP) Shahjahan, an
SIU team conducted raid near Crown Cinema, Mauripur Road and
arrested Abdul Hannan and his son Bilal Hussain alias Billa.
AIG, Karachi, Akhtar Gorchani
said that Police have detained 65 extortionists, including a
notorious gang, in the ongoing crackdown against the extortion
mafia of Karachi.
Unidentified militants blew
up Pakistan International Public School, a private school owned
by MPA and lawmaker of ANP, Sikandar Irfan, on Swabi-Jahangira
Road in Swabi District.
LEAs arrested over 100 suspects
in a joint operation in several areas of Quetta during the last
four days, Police said. The operation was conducted by the FC,
ATF and Police in several localities of the city, including
Sariab, Sabzal, Shalkot, Nawan Killi, Smuggli and Spiny Road.
South Asian News Agency reported
that two accused, identified as Muzammil Shah and Sher Khan,
involved in Chilas firing incident were handed over by a local
Jirga in Diamer District to Police which arrested them.
Chief Secretary Gilgit Baltistan
said that other three accused persons will soon be arrested.
Diamer Jirga has decided to assist Government in the arrest
of culprits involved in Chilas tragedy.
Curfew remained in Gilgit for
the 15th in continuation.
Authorities put the ASWJ ‘chief’
Qazi Nisar Ahmed under house arrest for two months. Further,
the home department announced cash rewards for those identifying
places where illegal weapons are hidden.
The two main Sunnis and Shias
mosques in Gilgit were sealed in an effort to stem sectarian
violence. “The two central mosques of Shia and Sunni sects have
been sealed for an indefinite period,” an unnamed senior administration
official said.
Addressing the Defence of Islam
conference in Mirpur District of PoK, JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad
Saeed said that there would be no peace in South Asia without
resolution of the longstanding Kashmir dispute.
Through a joint declaration
issued at the conclusion of the Kashmir Committee meeting in
Lahore, Pakistan reiterated the commitment to continue support
to Kashmiris just cause for the right to ‘self-determination’.
According to HRCP Balochistan
Chapter, as many as 34 members of the Hindu community, most
of whom are traders, have been abducted across different parts
of Balochistan so far since 2011.
The HRCP in Lahore District
of Punjab condemned an attack by a militant organisation on
a peaceful protest march by human rights activists and members
of minority communities against forced conversions.
The New York based CPJ
said in its newly updated Impunity Index released that deadly,
unpunished violence against the press rose sharply in Pakistan
and Mexico, continuing a dark, years-long trend in both nations.
The US would continue to urge
Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani Network, said State
Department Deputy spokesman Mark Toner. “We are trying to strengthen
the relationship with Pakistan, but will continue to make the
case for putting pressure and taking action against groups like
the Haqqani Network,” Toner said during a briefing in Washington.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
also expressed the need for a joint effort against the group.
Clinton said that when she visited Pakistan in October 2011,
she made it very clear that Pakistan had to “work with us to
squeeze the Haqqani Network. And I’m going to continue to make
that point, to press it hard”. Because of the threat the Haqqani
Network posed to the entire region, “we’re going to take it
very seriously”, she added.
Intelligence officials said
that the intelligence services had warned the Government three
months ago about a possible attack on a prison in Bannu in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa that was raided on April 15, 2012, freeing around
400 prisoners including militants.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
asked Federal Government to place names of 200 escaped prisoners
of Bannu jail in the Exit Control List. According to the sources,
the Provincial Government sent a list of 200 prisoners to the
Federal Government, asking the Government to place the prisoners'
name in ECL.
The Akkakhel peace lashkar claimed
to help reopen eight educational institutions and launch a successful
polio vaccination campaign after purging nearly 80 per cent
of its territory of militants and restoring the writ of the
Government.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Masood Kausar said that the Government was trying to turn FATA
into the regional trade corridor by developing communication
network of international standard.
The DCC gave a go-ahead for
starting negotiations with the US for resetting ties in the
light of parliamentary review. The negotiations are expected
to primarily revolve round resumption of NATO supplies, counter-terrorism
cooperation, greater transparency in US operations in Pakistan,
demand for civilian nuclear deal and expulsion of foreign operatives
from the country.
Prime Minister Gilani announcing
the key “policy parameters” for re-engagement with the US in
his opening remarks said, “Negotiation on new terms and conditions
for resumption of the Ground Lines of Communication (more commonly
referred to as NATO supply routes), joint counter-terrorism
cooperation, greater inter-agency coordination, transparency
in US diplomatic and intelligence footprint in Pakistan, strengthening
of border security and non-use of Pakistan’s territory for attacks
on other countries and expulsion of all foreign fighters from
Pakistan’s territory, are our fundamental policy parameters.”
Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant-General
Khalid Rabbani during a seminar on ‘War on terror and role of
Pakistan Army’ at University of Peshawar said that no Army in
the world could win war without the support of its countrymen
and ‘political ownership’ of the ongoing military operations
in militancy-hit areas of the country was necessary to achieve
long-lasting peace.
The Corps Commander said that
from 2008 to 2012, the Government’s writ had been re-established
in 91 per cent of FATA, while the situation in the remaining
areas was under control. He said around 3,300 Pakistan Army
personnel had lost lives in the line of duty in the war against
terrorism and more than 10,000 had been severely injured in
various operations. Army had conducted more than 300 major and
760 minor operations in militancy-hit areas over the last few
years, mostly in 2009-10.
April 18
At least eight people, including
two women, were shot dead in a renewed wave of violence in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
Two unidentified dead bodies
were found in North Nazimabad area. Police officials said that
the victims were killed after being abducted. Separately, a
25 year old man, identified as Sanober, was killed and Latif
was injured when unidentified armed assailants opened indiscriminate
fire at a hotel situated in North Nazimabad within Taimooria
Police precincts.
One Rehan (28) was shot dead
when unidentified militants opened fire at a sanitary shop situated
within the limits of Liaquatabad Police Station.
An unknown donkey-cart rider
was shot dead near Ghas Mandi on Siddique Wahab Road within
the limits of Garden Police Station.
A dead body, identified as that
of Aman Ullah Baloch (27), was found from Federal B Area. Police
officials said that he was killed after being abducted.
A waiter of New Quetta Abbasi
Hotel, identified as Rafi Ullah (14), was shot dead while three
others Hafeez, Niaz and Asif received bullet injuries in Block
16 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.
One Imam Bux (22) was shot dead
by unidentified armed militants near Medina Mosque Bakra Piri
area of Lyari.
A Judicial Commission report
identified the three suspects for the January 2, 2012, murder
of Professor (Retired) Bashir Ahmed Channar’s in Jamshoro District.
According to the report, the three suspects identified as Bachal
Narejo, Meenhal Rajjar and Hamza Ali Chandio belonged to the
Muslim Students Federation, the student wing of the PML-F.
The deceased professor’s sons
accused PML-F leaders, namely ministers Jam Madad Ali and Rafique
Bhanbhan, Adviser to the Chief Minister Imtiaz Shaikh and MNA
Jadim Mangrio, of threatening them.
SFs secured an important strategic
height ‘Tur Nazun’ from the terrorists in central Kurram Agency
of FATA during an operation, killing seven militants and injuring
12 others.
A schoolteacher, Mullah Ahmed,
was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Zamran area of Kech
District.
Levies Force sources said that
a check-post of the FC near Kolpur railway station in Quetta
came under rocket attack. Sources said that unidentified militants
perched in the nearby mountain fired two rockets that landed
near the railway station and exploded.
Four persons sustained minor
injuries when a van hit a landmine at Shahokhel Lakki Bazaar
on Raisan Road in Hangu District in the night.
The educationalists at a seminar
organised by Peace Education and Development (PEAD) Foundation
in Peshawar said that some contents of the religious studies’
textbooks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about Afghan fighting were overemphasized
in a way that could undermine peace and incite violence and
therefore, the Government should bring necessary reforms to
these books.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that Pakistan, Afghanistan
and the US are the major stakeholders in the region and they
can guarantee lasting peace in Afghanistan through collective
and sincere efforts.
According to an intelligence
agency’s report, TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud convened a meeting
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA to plan targeted attacks
in case of the expected resumption of NATO supplies.
The report adds that in case
of the resumption of NATO supplies, the militants will show
their anger through terrorist activities across the country,
including targeting high-profile personalities.
Another report revealed that
the Jundullah group also held a meeting to plan out attacks
across the country, particularly in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and
Lahore District of Punjab. It added that the group had established
an Army of 21 militants for the purpose.
Another report says that five
TTP militants have entered Punjab from the Darya Khan Bridge
in a double-cabin vehicle and are armed with huge quantities
of explosives, ammunition and different numbered license plates.
The NAHRC was told that more
than 650 Shias in Quetta (Balochistan) and 450 in Dera Ismail
Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) were targeted and killed recently.
Mohammad Amin Shahidi, Deputy General Secretary of Wahdatul
Muslimeen, a Shia organisation, informed the committee that
more than 650 Shias in Quetta and 450 in Dera Ismail Khan were
targeted and killed recently.
The NAHRC was also told that
some ‘hidden forces’ were responsible for the killings of Shias
in different parts of the country. The committee members agreed
that there was no sectarian clash between the Shias and the
Sunnis, observing that clerics of both sides agreed to restore
peace in Gilgit-Baltistan, Dera Ismail Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
and Quetta (Balochistan).
Joint Secretary of Ministry
of Interior Khushdil Khan Malik during the NSC meeting on Human
Rights held in Islamabad said that increasing incidents of target
killing, assassination and abduction-for-ransom across the country
are the result of complete failure of security agencies.
The mastermind of one of the
most serious terror threats since the September 11, 2001 attacks
(also known as 9/11), Najibullah Zazi (26), testified that al
Qaeda trainers taught him a “very simple” formula for making
suicide bombs in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Zazi, 26, was testifying for
a second day at the trial of Adis Medunjanin in Federal Court
in Brooklyn in US. Prosecutors allege that Medunjanin, Zazi
and another former high school classmate from Queens, Zarein
Ahmedzay, formed a terror cell that posed one of the most ominous
terror threats since 9/11.
The US Republican Senator John
McCain while addressing a gathering at Carnegie Institute on
"Future of Afghanistan" in Washington said that Pakistan
has no right to use Kashmir issue as an excuse for not taking
action against groups like Haqqani Network.
Pakistan has not been given
any deadline by the US to resume the NATO supply routes since
it was already “moving in the right direction”, said Thomas
Miller, the Minister Counsellor for Public Affairs of the US
Embassy.
He also added that billions
of dollars were being poured into development sector in Pakistan
to resolve the energy crisis. “USD 80 million was being provided
for the Gomal-Zam Dam,” he said about the project which envisions
providing 25,000 houses with electricity.
The LeT founder and JuD Chief
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed moved the Lahore High Court asking it to
stop Pakistani authorities from taking any "adverse action"
against him under pressure from the US and provide security
to him as his life was "not safe" and any "mishap"
could happen.
Saeed filed the petition along
with his brother-in-law Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki, for whom the
US has announced a USD 2 million bounty under its Rewards for
Justice Programme.
Pakistan is working on legal
formalities to deport the members of Osama bin Laden’s family
“as early as possible”, State Minister for Interior Imtiaz Safdar
Warraich said.
April 19
Clashes between tribesmen backed
by SFs’ helicopter gunships and militants left at least nine
persons dead and several others injured in Shawa tehsil
of NWA in FATA. It is the first time that a tribe has challenged
the might of the TTP in NWA, report said. Satar Qabalkhel, who
wields influence in Shawa tehsil, is a TTP deserter.
Seven militants were killed
and more than a dozen others injured in clashes with Security
Forces in Jogi area of Kurram Agency.
Three people, including a Senior
Assistant Editor of Dawn and an activist of MQM, were
killed and several others were injured in different parts of
Orangi Town in Karachi. Senior Assistant Editor and head of
a Dawn magazine Murtaza Razvi was murdered in an art
studio in Defence Housing Authority. His hands were tied and
there were torture marks on his body. He had apparently been
strangled to death.
An activist of MQM, Naeem Uddin
alias Munno (38) was shot dead and another, Aslam (60), injured
in Gulfam Abad within the limits of Orangi Town Police Station.
After the killing of MQM worker, several areas of Orangi Town
remained tense as heavy aerial firing started in Banaras, Metrovil,
Qasba Colony, Bukhari Colony, Qazzafi Chowk and its surrounding
areas.
In the same area, one Amin received
bullet injuries in a firing incident and later succumbed to
his injuries.
Three men received bullet injuries
after attack on ice cream shop at Qazzafi Chowk, Orangi Town,
where unidentified assailants opened fire and ran away.
Police and Rangers have to submit
a report in 24 hours on the killings in Karachi as the Chief
Justice of the Sindh High Court has taken suo motu notice of
the matter. Chief Justice Musheer Alam has asked the officials
to inform the court of what they have done against criminals,
terrorists and elements involved in the unabated killings in
the city, said an official of the SHC.
Three policemen were injured
when unidentified militants lobbed a hand grenade at the Police
van during routine patrolling near Mian Karim Baba shrine in
Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Haqqani network was responsible
for a series of attacks in Afghanistan a few days ago, the US
Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said. “There is no question
in our mind that the Haqqanis were responsible for these attacks,”
Ambassador Ryan Crocker said.
Dawn telecast an exclusive
footage of a high-profile prisoner, Adnan Rashid, who escaped
from Bannu Central Prison in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2012, talking
with the Taliban.
The video footage showed Rashid
talking in Pashtu with his hosts in these words, “Qari sahib,
how are you? How is your health? Are you feeling well?” A jubilant
Rashid looking all around from his car’s window replied, “Ahmadullah
(All praise to Allah) all is well.” Have you won your freedom
from the prison? Adnan nodding his head again replied “Ahmadullah
(All praise to Allah).”
Rashid was in contact with the
world outside the prison through his cellular phone, according
to sources. He was also in touch with several journalists and
used to send them messages through SMS. The former junior technician
of PAF, Rashid is a resident of Chota Lahore area of Swabi District
in KP. He is fluent in English, Pashto and Urdu. He used to
contribute to several social networking sites from the prison.
He had joined PAF in 1997. He was around 24 when he was arrested
in early 2004.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
while talking with former Prime Minister of PoK Barrister Sultan
Mehmood Chaudhry said that welfare of Kashmiris was the passion
of people of Pakistan. He said the democratic Government would
continue to extend its moral, diplomatic and political support
to the people of Kashmir.
NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen urged Pakistan to step up its efforts to fight
terrorism and to open the transit supply route to NATO forces
in Afghanistan. "And when it comes to our relationship
with Pakistan, my main point is to stress that we need a positive
engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and
stability not only in Afghanistan but in the region as such.
So we want a strong and positive cooperation and relationship
with Pakistan," he said at a press conference in Brussels
after a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers with non-NATO countries
contributing troops to ISAF.
The NATO chief said, "We
have two problems in our relationship with Pakistan. The first
is a very immediate challenge to see the transit routes through
Pakistan reopened. It is of course an essential element in our
operation in Afghanistan that we can cooperate with Pakistan
when it comes to transit. So we hope to see these transit routes
reopened as soon as possible.”
The US and Pakistan have begun
exploring various options for joint ownership of drone attacks
against militant targets in the tribal belt after the US flatly
refused to stop the predator strikes. “We are striving to have
genuine co-ownership of the drone operations,” an unnamed senior
Pakistani diplomat said.
April 20
At least 18 persons were killed
and 10 others injured in ethnic violence in Orangi Town area
of Karachi. Among those killed were 11 Pashtuns, four Urdu-speaking
people, and one Punjabi, Kutchi and Baloch person each. Leaders
of both the MQM and ANP denied that the victims were affiliated
with their parties. However, Daily Times reported the
death of at least three MQM activists.
Orangi Town seemed to be one
of the targets as nine people were reported to be killed in
violence between the Pashtuns and Mohajirs. Eight others were
shot dead in Ramaswamy, Sohrab Goth, Memon Goth, Jamshed Quarters,
Shara-e-Noor Jahan, Khokhrapar, Jauharabad, New Karachi and
Frere areas.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted Mukesh Kohli, the legal adviser of JWP leader Nawabzada
Shahzain Bugti from Ghousabad area of Satellite Town in Quetta.
Unidentified militants blew
up Said Ahmad Jan Kali Government girls’ school in Jamrud tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA. Militant outfit Abdullah Ezzam Brigade
took responsibility for the attack. Officials of the Education
Department said that with the recent incident, the number of
destroyed Government schools in Khyber Agency had reached 69.
District Police Officer Abdul
Rashid claimed that they had traced identity of the accused
involved in April 19’s grenade attack on special Police personnel
at Karnal Sher Kallay of Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
in which three Policemen were injured.
US President Barack Obama is
sending Chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee
Senator John Kerry to Islamabad on April 29, 2012 to meet the
country’s top civil and military leadership amidst efforts to
reset ties in light of the new foreign policy guidelines recently
approved by the Parliament.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
announced various initiatives for Balochistan to support the
education and employment generation sectors in the province.
Under the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package announced
by the Government of Pakistan, the Prime Minister approved creation
of 63 posts for the Postal Circle of Balochistan to facilitate
the expansion of postal network in Balochistan.
PTI Chief Imran Khan said Balochistan
problems cannot be resolved by military operations. Speaking
at a large public gathering at Ayub stadium in Quetta, he vowed
to find out political solution to maintain law and order situation
in the province.
The TTP said that they conducted
the Bannu jailbreak operation to free Adnan Rasheed, the alleged
mastermind of the assassination attempt on former President
General Pervez Musharraf. “Though there were some other high
profile prisoners in the jail, our prime target was Adnan Rasheed
and we are so happy to secure his release,” Ehsanullah Ehsan,
spokesman for the TTP said.
The TTP spokesman claimed that
only 150 militants were involved in the attack on the jail.
“Out of 150 people, only 50 took active part in the operation
while the remaining100 were wearing explosives-laden jackets
and were standing in different places outside the jail. We did
not face any resistance as we had already made all possible
arrangements for the jailbreak,” Ehsanullah said.
The World Bank allocated an
unprecedented amount of USD1.8 billion for Pakistan’s development
projects, mainly in energy sector, in 2012, Finance Minister
Doctor Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said after holding a meeting with
World Bank Vice President Isabel Guerrero.
April 21
Two Shia Hazaras, Baban Ali
and Hussain Ali, were killed on Brewery Road of Quetta in Balochistan
in a spate of sectarian killing. The deceased were the residents
of Hazara Town.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found at Killi Umerabad in Bostan area of Pishin District. The
bodies could not be identified so far.
The Balochistan Levies recovered
a body from near a hotel in Chaman area of Killa Saifullah District.
A security official was injured
in an IED exploded on Tank-Jandola Road near Khirgi village
in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. SFs cordoned off the
Khirigi area and started a search operation. Two IEDs were recovered
and neutralised. Another IED reportedly exploded in Shanikhel
village in the jurisdiction of Gomal Police Station. However,
no loss of life or property was reported.
An IED went off near Kor FC
Fort in Manzai, some seven kilometres from Jandola in South
Waziristan Agency of FATA. A water tanker of the Frontier Constabulary
was partially damaged in the explosion.
April 22
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on a car, which was going from Peshawar to Adezai village,
killing four persons, including two brothers, in the limits
of Mattani Police Station of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of KP.
A cab driver, Yousaf, was killed
by unidentified assailants in the limit of Badhber Police Station.
According to Police, Yousaf had bullet injuries on different
parts of his body.
A clinic was damaged when two
bombs went off in Salmankhel village in the limits of Badhber
Police Station. Police said militants had planted two bombs
outside the doors of the clinic of Dr Misal Khan.
Militants blew up a primary
school building in Peshawar. Police defused another 12-kilogramme
bomb planted in the vicinity of the site of the first incident.
Another bomb exploded in a middle
school for boys in Dera Ismail Khan. Two rooms of the building
were completely destroyed while police diffused the other bomb.
No casualties were reported.
143 prisoners who had escaped
the Bannu jail are back into the jail, KP Home Secretary Azam
Khan said. Khan said that out of 384 prisoners who had fled
the jail, 108 had voluntarily returned while 35 others had been
captured by law enforcement agencies.
The CM Ameer Haider Khan Hoti
has said that his Government had planned to set up 18 more new
degree colleges and 1,000 primary schools, including 700 for
girls, in the province next year. The CM said promotion of education
was his Government’s top priority for being the only way to
eliminate terrorism from the society.
At least four people were killed
in separate incidents of violence in the province. Two people
were killed in a landmine explosion in RD 109, a bordering area
between Sindh and Balochistan, while they were on their way
to Khandkhot tehsil in Kashmore District of Sindh.
Two people from the Bugti Amn
Force were killed and two other injured in a landmine explosion
while they were patrolling in Za Mardan village of Loti gas
field area in Dera Bugti District.
A man, identified as Sajjad
Ali, belonging to the Hazara community was shot at and injured
on McCongy Road in Quetta in a sectarian attack. “The victim
was a Shia Muslim and a resident of Marriabad on Alamdar Road,
a Hazara dominated neighbourhood,” sources said.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted two men, identified as Abdul Khaliq and Amir Bakhsh,
from Nal tehsil in Khuzdar District.
Officials of the FC claimed
to have arrested three suspected militants belonging to TTP
and LeJ during a rand on a small house near the Hazara graveyard
in the Brewery Road area of Quetta.
A cadre of the ST, identified
as Shamshad, was killed in Yaqoob Abad area of Orangi Town,
within the limits of Iqbal Market Police Station, in Karachi.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Tariq Malik said the victim
was an active cadre of ST and used to live in the same area.
SFs arrested an important ‘commander’
of the TTP, Maulana Abdul Jalil, during a search operation in
Sadda Bazar area of Kurram Agency in FATA. He belongs to Mullah
Toofan group.
April 23
Two militants suspected to be
sectarian target killers were killed and a Police Constable
was injured in an encounter in Akhtarabad area of Quetta.
The DIG said Police had seized
two pistols, hand-grenades, four 9mm rifles, a large number
of bullets, fake number-plates and four CNICs. He claimed the
suspects were target killers.
Police claimed to have arrested
over 50 suspects in the overnight targeted operations in various
parts of Karachi. At least two alleged target killers, arrested
from Orangi and Baldia Towns, were also among the detainees.
The Mominabad Police arrested
an alleged target killer, Imran. He was arrested while trying
to flee after wounding two men near Badar Chowk, Orangi Town.
A TT pistol was also recovered from his possession.
Another alleged target killer,
Fahimuddin alias Fahim Kala, was arrested from Baldia Town.
Saeedabad SHO Tariq Islam said that the arrested suspect during
initial investigation confessed to have killed PPP workers Zafer
and Majeed Bhola besides three ST workers during the recent
wave of target killings.
ANPs District South President
Abdul Bari Kakar accompanied by four of his companions Iqbal
Kakar, Sadiq Tareen, Maqbool Kakar and Saddaruddin Agha, was
arrested in a raid at the ANP Office located at Empress Market.
The Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet
approved setting up a new force to eliminate sectarian violence
from the region. The administration spokesperson and Education
Minister Doctor Ali Madad Sher said a joint force comprising
400 personnel taken from Police, Punjab Rangers, Gilgit-Baltistan
Scouts and Pakistan Army will maintain law and order.
A check post and patrolling
point would be set up after 10 kilometres distance on the Karakuram
Highway in the jurisdiction of Diamer District to avoid any
untoward incident on the road, informed the Minister.
The minister also said three
lists of anti-peace elements had been prepared and so far 20
out of the 30 most wanted people had been put behind the bars
while raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining.
The Government urged the media
to not to publish and give coverage to banned outfits particularly
the sectarian militant groups, according to a directive issued.
Pak Observer adds that Ali Madad
Sher said that mobile phone service would remain suspended in
Gilgit, Diamer and Hunzanagar till complete restoration of law
and order. However, the Cabinet has decided to restore mobile
phone service in Ghizr District.
The curfew in Gilgit continued
for the 21st day.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik revealed that activists belonging to political
parties of the PPP-led coalition Government of Sindh are to
be blamed for the menace of extortion in Karachi. Malik said
that activists of PPP, MQM, ANP and other parties were involved
in extortion in the metropolis.
The PPP and ANP rejected Rehman
Malik’s statement while the MQM refused to comment.
Secretary Information of the
ANP’s Sindh Chapter, Riaz Gul, also rejected Malik’s statement.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the era of wars has ended and Pakistan is prepared
to resolve all outstanding issues with India, including the
Kashmir dispute and terrorism, through talks.
JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
turned down a ‘request’ from the Government to limit his public
appearances and activities after the US announced a USD 10 million
‘bounty’ on him on April 2, 2012. Associates of Hafiz Saeed
told the media that Government agencies ‘advised’ him not to
participate in public rallies for the time being.
Senator Pervez Rasheed, the
spokesperson for the Punjab Government, said he was not aware
of any such request made by the Government.
April 24
Five people, including a political
activist, were killed in separate target killings incidents
that took place in Karachi. Unidentified armed assailants shot
dead two football players, identified as Shabbir and Azam, who
used to represent the Karachi Port Trust team, at Jehangir Road
No 2 within the jurisdiction of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
Police believed that the incident was a part of ethnic violence.
An activist of MQM’s Muttahida
Organising Committee, identified as Mohammad Omar Zaman (42),
was shot dead, while two minor boys injured in Orangi Town within
the limits of Pirabad Police Station. Two armed motorcyclists
shot Zaman seven times, killing him on the spot. While trying
to flee they restored to firing, injuring two passersby, Azhar
(10) and Aftab.
Two unidentified militants shot
dead one person, identified as Gulab Khan (22), and injured
another person, identified as Saifullah (24), at Arbaz Khan
Bus Stop near Shah Zob hotel within the precincts of PIB Police
Station. Both the victims were the son of Akbar Khan, the East
Zone General Secretary of PPP. PPP leader, Sohail Abidi confirmed
that the victims were PPP activist Akbar Khan’s sons. He said
that they hailed from Balochistan and the incident was a sequel
of PPP workers’ target killings.
Shamim Ahmed (42) was shot dead
by two unidentified armed assailants at Ilyas Goth within the
limits of Super Market Police Station. Police believes that
some Lyari gang to be involved in the incident, however, they
are investigating the case from all possible angles.
The CID team on a tip-off conducted
a raid near Pikik compound at Khamosh Colony within the limits
of Gulbahar Police Station and arrested three Lyari gangsters,
Shahid Pikik, Shehzad Pikik and Fakhar Alam with weapons. He
said the accused persons, who were the active members of notorious
Lyari gangster Baba Ladla group, and were nominated in 35 murder
cases and other heinous crimes including abduction-for- ransom,
extortion, police encounters and others. He said the team also
recovered four Kalashnikovs, two 9mm pistols, two TT pistols
and eight hand grenades from their possession.
The IG Sindh Police Mushtaq
Shah a press conference at Karachi Police Head Office claimed
to have arrested several suspects from different areas including
Lyari in Karachi and called for placing bounty on 34 most wanted
criminals.
At least three people, including
a Railway Police official, died and around 45 others received
injuries when a bomb exploded at the counter of Business Train
on Platform No 2 of the Lahore Railway Station in Lahore District.
The blast took place near the reservation office of Pakistan
Business Train. BDS officials said 8-10 kilogrammes of explosive
material was used in the blast.
The bomb disposal experts defused
an “Improvised Explosive Device” found in a bag on board Peshawar-bound
Awam Express at the Attock Railway Station.
An eight-year-old Afghan boy,
Israrullah, was killed and two shopkeepers injured after a hand
grenade hurled by suspected militants at a FCB checkpost in
Bara Qadeem area of Peshawar missed the target.
SFs repulsed an attack by the
militants from Afghan side of the border at Pakhtoonbro checkpost
in Chitral District. According to SFs sources the militants
launched the attack from Zero point side but the personnel of
NLI forced them to retreat. During the exchange of fire one
NLI trooper and an attacker were injured. The retreating militants
managed to take their injured companion with them.
SFs arrested 16 militants during
a joint operation in the Shahoo Khel area of Hangu District.
For the operation, which lasted several hours, Saiful Drara
area bordering Shahoo Khel area was sealed to stop militants
from fleeing.
Unidentified militants blew
up a gas pipeline near Pir Koh area in the Dera Bugti District.
A power pylon of 132KV transmission
line was blown up in Kohlu District. Sources said unidentified
militants had fixed an explosive device on the pylon, which
blew up disrupting power supply to Barkhan and Kohlu Districts.
The two militants killed in
an encounter near Hazara Town in Akhtarabad area of Quetta on
April 23, 2012 have been identified as Hafiz Naseer and Hafiz
Wazir Ali alias Ali Sher Haideri, the spokesperson of LeJ.
The Law enforcements agencies
recovered a cache of arms during raid on a house at Wazir Dhand
area of Khyber Agency in FATA. Two LMGs, eight Kalashnikovs,
hundreds of cartridges were recovered and a car was recovered.
According to officials, the
Government has paid financial compensation to the families of
2,894 people, who were killed in militancy, and 3,497 seriously
injured. Statistics compiled by the Civil Secretariat of FATA
show that 4,163 civilians have been killed and 5,346 seriously
wounded in militancy and collateral damage in seven agencies
and six FRs of FATA over the last five to six years.
Families of 3,118 violence victims,
including 1,849 seriously injured persons, have not been compensated
so far. Officials told Dawn on April 24 that the Civil
Secretariat of FATA had asked the Federal Government to release
funds for payment to the violence victims’ legal heirs and wounded
persons. However, a parliamentarian from the area insists there’s
no shortage of funds and that the militancy-affected families
from Kurram Agency will be compensated.
According to reports, militancy
claimed lives of 655 civilians in Bajaur Agency, 469 in Mohmand
Agency, 449 in Khyber Agency, 71 in SWA, 424 in NWA, 237 in
Orakzai Agency, three in FR Peshawar, 186 in FR Kohat, 62 in
FR Tank, seven in FR Lakki, one in FR Dera Ismail Khan and four
in FR Bannu. The number of seriously injured people is 934 in
Bajaur, 480 in Mohmand, 580 in Khyber, 704 in NWA, 60 in SWA
and 221 in Orakzai, while 64 civil servants and 187 personnel
of Levies and Khasadar forces lost their lives in militancy-related
incidents.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
approved the purchase and immediate installation of cellular
phone jammers, walk-through scanner gates and other Security
equipment at all prisons in the province to counter attacks
like the one that freed 384 inmates at the Bannu Central Jail
on April 15. The Government has issued a notification to all
relevant officials, said Qamar Ali, a provincial Home and Tribal
Affairs section officer.
Al Qaeda's slain leader Osama
Bin Laden had planned to follow up the September 11 (also known
as 9/11) attacks with shoe bombers to blow up American passenger
planes, which would have brought the American economy to its
knees, a British man, Saajid Badat (33), convicted on terrorism
charges testified in a trial Federal District Court in Brooklyn
(New York).
Badat was convicted in London
for his role in a 2001 plot to bring down an American Airlines
flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes.
While Badat's testimony was not directly related to New York
subway terror plot, it was used to corroborate facts about the
training in Qaida run camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a report
in The New York Times said.
April 25
Three TTP militants and as many
members of a peace committee were killed during a clash in Darra
Adamkhel area of Kohat District in KP. Sources said that two
other members of the peace lashkar, led by Momin Khan Afridi,
received injuries when they traded fire with Tariq Afridi group
of TTP. One of the militants was also injured in the clash,
sources added.
A comedian who poked fun at
the TTP's practice of apprehending thieves and meting out summary
punishment to them was abducted from Matani, a suburb of Peshawar,
while he was entertaining guests at a wedding. Around 20 militants
entered the guesthouse where he was performing and abducted
him by saying that they "needed an entertainer urgently".
"They told people not to panic and that Nisar is being
taken away only for a few days. They said he will not be harmed".
Police arrested two fleeing
prisoners of Bannu jail from a Karachi-bound passenger bus from
Serai Gambila of Lakki Marwat District.
The KP Police plan to hand control
of four provincial jails to the Army. “We have requested the
army to take over four central jails ... in Peshawar, Bannu,
Haripur and Dera Ismail Khan ... as we would easily be able
to take care of the remaining 18 jails,” KP Police Chief Akbar
Khan Hoti said.
Three people were killed and
another one injured in different acts of violence in Karachi.
A man, identified as Qasim Khan Mehsud, was killed and another,
Muhammad Khalid, wounded when unknown militants shot them at
Latif communication shop’ on Manghopir Road within the limits
of Pirabad Police Station.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found near the Love Lane Bridge within the limits
of the Pak Colony Police Station.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man from Korangi Sector 51-C within the limits
of Landhi Police Station.
Two LI militants were killed
while making an IED in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
The repatriation of IDPs from
Tank and Dera Ismail Khan to South Waziristan Agency began,
UNHCR said. “We have planned to repatriate 2,000 families (14,000
IDPs) to South Waziristan,” UNHCR spokesman Taimur Ahmed Shah
said.
Two bullet-riddled bodies of
BLA militants were found dumped in a desolate place near Kajori
area of Musakhel District.
The Lahore High Court was informed
that serious efforts were being made for the release of Pakistani
citizens detained at Bagram Airbase prison in Afghanistan. On
the request of Federal Government’s counsel, Justice Khalid
Mahmood of the LHC postponed for four weeks the hearing of a
petition seeking release of seven Pakistani citizens detained
at Bagram Theatre Internment Camp in Afghanistan.
A Balochistan-based militant
outfit, LeB claimed responsibility for the Lahore railway station
bomb blast on April 24.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
set a one-month deadline for illegal Afghan nationals to leave
the province or face legal action. District Coordination Officer
Siraj Ahmad Khan told a press conference that illegal Afghan
nationals should leave the province by May 25 otherwise they
would be treated according to the law of the land.
Pakistan, sheltering the largest
refugee population since early 1980s, Afghanistan and United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had signed a tripartite
agreement to legalise stay of registered Afghans till December
next. The Government has been issuing such deadlines to illegal
Afghans since 2001, but did not implement the same. However,
Police had launched a crackdown against Afghan prayer leaders
some time ago and deported many of them.
Earlier on April 24, Afghan
Deputy Refugees and Repatriation Minister Samad Hami said Afghanistan
and Pakistan soon plan to sign an agreement that would let refugees
stay in Pakistan until 2017, Afghanistan. The deal would protect
refugees from forcible deportation from Pakistan, he said.
April 26
Four persons, including a Head
Constable, were killed in separate acts of target killings in
Karachi. A senior PPP leader, Malik Muhammad Khan Niazi, was
shot dead when he gathered up people to hold protest against
the conviction of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a contempt
of court case at Aath Chowk near Noorani Hotel within the precincts
of Kalakot Police Station.
An activist of the ANP, identified
as Gul Shan Khan alias Rambo (30), was shot dead near Babar
Market within the limits of Landhi Police Station.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a young man from Darya Abad area of Lyari within
the remit of Kalri Police Station. Police said he appeared to
be of Baloch descent and had been abducted by unidentified militants
from an unknown place and abandoned his body after killing him.
In a separate incident of firing
between the Police and Lyari gangsters, a head constable was
killed and two others were injured within the precincts of Baghdadi
Police Station.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested four politically motivated target killers and
recovered weapons in a raid in Korangi Industrial Area.
Five people including Police
personnel were injured during a grand operation that began in
Karachi’s Lyari area where a heavy contingent of Police and
FCB personnel took action against criminal elements.
A would-be suicide bomber was
killed when a detonator he was carrying along with suicide vest
prematurely went off on Kirani Road near Hazara Town in Quetta.
The CIA shared intelligence
with Pakistan suggesting al Qaeda planned to carry out major
attacks inside Pakistan. The information was based on documents
seized by US Navy SEALs during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s
compound in Abbottabad. Some of the details of the intelligence
shared with Dawn revealed that before being killed in
the May 2 raid, Osama bin Laden, along with Ayman Al-Zawahiri,
who took over as al Qaeda chief in June 2011, and other senior
leaders of the terror outfit had planned to mount indiscriminate
attacks on Pakistani soil.
The US Embassy in Islamabad
banned its staff from restaurants and markets in the capital
for several days on either side of the anniversary of Osama
bin Laden’s death.
The Government says Osama bin
Laden’s three widows and his children have been deported to
Saudi Arabia. A statement said the family left to the “country
of their choice, Saudi Arabia”.
A special US envoy met Pakistani
Government and Army officers in Islamabad in an effort to get
the country to reopen American and NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.
Washington’s envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman
said during a joint conference with Foreign Secretary Jalil
Abbas Jilani that the US was ready for talks on re-opening the
supply lines and clearing outstanding payments to Pakistan to
meet the expenses of military operations in its tribal areas
to fight Taliban and al Qaeda.
Army, which has dominated the
country for much of its turbulent history, has less sway over
foreign policy, and a new power equation is emerging within
America's strategic ally, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hina Rabbani Khar.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said new dynamics were now taking hold in nuclear-armed
Pakistan, one of the most unstable countries in the world.
I want you to also understand that things have changed in Pakistan,
she told Reuters in an interview.
April 27
At least eight persons, including
two Security Force personnel, were killed in a gun battle between
Police and Lyari gangsters in Lyari area of Karachi. PPP leader
Nabeel Gabol narrowly escaped an attack near Mira Naka area.
The Sindh IG Mushtaq Shah said
that the Police was facing intense resistance as gangsters used
highly sophisticated weapons. He said, “We don’t have problems.
More contingents of security personnel will be there to combat
terrorists. Such retaliation by the gangsters proves their association
with outlawed terrorist organisations.”
SIU claimed to have arrested
five target killers in separate raids in different areas of
Karachi. SP Khurram Waris said that Police raided Akhtar Colony
phase one and arrested notorious gangsters namely Ibrahim alias
Qari and recovered a TT pistol.
In another raid at Jamila Market
in Kharadar, SIU team arrested Hyder, Zeeshan, Shehzad and Arshad.
The SP claimed that accused persons were involved in more than
50 killings in the city.
Four suspected militants were
killed and seven arrested by SF during a search operation in
Gaybun area near Turbat District. A local Levies official, Shamim
Ahmed, told the media that the FC had launched search operation
in the Gaybun area.
A Police constable, identified
as Abdul Samad, was injured when unidentified armed militants
hurled a hand grenade at the residence of DSP Khalid Zaman Marri
in Irrigation Colony of Dera Murad Jamali in Naseerabad District.
SFs seized a huge cache of arms
and ammunition during a search operation in Naushki and Chattar
areas. 11 submachine guns, three light machine guns, 14 rifles,
nine shotguns and 100 SMG rounds were recovered during the operation.
Additional Sessions Judge Zulfiqar
Naqvi issued non-bailable arrest warrants of JWP leader Shahzain
Bugti and his 26 accomplices. Bugti and his aides were arrested
by the FC in December 2010 at the Buleli check post for allegedly
smuggling weapons from Chaman town to Quetta.
A SHO and five other Police
officials were injured when their van was hit by a remote-controlled
bomb at Sharaopul in Pishkando area of Mardan District.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls’ school, Daman Matta, in Shabqadar tehsil
of Charsadda District.
The apex committee special meeting
chaired by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar in Peshawar
reviewed the overall law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and FATA besides progress on the ongoing reconstruction and
rehabilitation projects in militancy-hit areas.
Two HuT activists, Doctor Abdul
Qayyum and Doctor Abdul Wahid, allegedly picked up by the ISI
and MI during a crackdown on a banned outfit after the arrest
of Brigadier Ali Khan in August 2011 were released in Islamabad.
The court had sent their cases
to the “inquiry commission on enforced disappearance” and a
Joint Investigation Team was constituted for their recovery.
Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman directed
the JIT on April 16, 2012 to produce the missing activists in
the court on May 14, 2012.
The curfew imposed in Gilgit
on April 3 continued for the 25th day. Life has come to a halt
in the city which is now under the military’s control. There
is an acute shortage of food items and medicines. The telecom
system is also completely blocked.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said the Government is providing all possible support
for further improving law and order situation in Gilgit-Baltistan.
On April 25, GB Chief Minister
Mehdi Shah said that the perpetrators of the recent spate of
sectarian violence would be brought to justice. Shah said the
Police would arrest people against whom cases have been registered.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
said that there is “no silver bullet” to completely destroy
al Qaeda but argued that killing Osama bin Laden helped set
the network back.
Panetta said he was certain
that America was safer as a result of the bin Laden operation.
“When you combine that with the other operations that have taken
place, that have gone after al Qaeda leadership, I think it
really has weakened al Qaeda as an organization and certainly
it has prevented them from having the command-and-control capability
to be able to put together an attack similar to 9/11,” the Defense
Secretary pointed out.
Pakistan, US and Afghanistan
agreed to provide ‘safe passage’ to Afghan Taliban militants
willing to join reconciliation talks and set up a working group
to settle modalities for their unhindered movement.
The move, which comes in conjunction
with the three sides agreeing to coordinate their activities
at the UN for removing Taliban leaders from the Security Council
sanctions list, is the biggest step forward for promoting reconciliation
in Afghanistan since the core group was established a year ago
for the sole purpose of advancing the peace process.
The two steps are being seen
as a confidence-building move to put the reconciliation process,
which suffered a setback earlier with Taliban pulling out of
the Qatar process, back on track.
Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden
had planned to mount indiscriminate attacks on Pakistani soil
before his killing in a covert US raid in Abbottabad, the documents
seized by the Americans from the slain terrorist's compound
in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad in KP have suggested.
The information was "based
on documents seized by US Navy SEALs during the raid on Osama
bin Laden's compound" in Abbottabad in May 2011. Some details
of the intelligence "revealed that before being killed
in the May 1-2 raid, bin Laden, along with Ayman al Zawahiri
and other senior leaders of the terror outfit had planned to
mount indiscriminate attacks on Pakistani soil."
The World Bank’s Board of Directors
approved two projects totaling USD 550 million aimed at supporting
Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen education and natural gas sectors,
which are critical to Pakistan’s growth and development.
The Second Punjab Education
Sector Project of USD 350 million will support the Punjab Government’s
education sector reform programme which is designed to increase
child school participation and student achievement.
The USD 200 million Natural
Gas Efficiency Project aims at enhancing the supply of natural
gas by reducing physical and commercial losses in the pipeline
system. The challenges in the gas sector are also significant.
Major General Asim Bajwa was
appointed the new Director General of ISPR and spokesman for
the Pakistan Army. A military official confirmed that Chief
of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani named Bajwa as the
replacement for incumbent Director General of ISPR Major General
Athar Abbas, who retires in June 2012. Bajwa will take charge
as the new DG ISPR after Major General Abbas retires in June.
Major Bajwa is posted in Dera
Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as GOC and has earlier
supervised key military operations against militants in the
South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
April 28
An encounter between Police
and gangsters left 10 more persons dead, including a SHO and
a constable, in Lyari in Karachi city, as gangsters used rockets
and hand grenades against Police and the public. Civil Lines
SHO, Fawad Khan and Constable, Malik Tassawur was among those
who fell victim to the violence on the second consecutive day
of an operation against gangsters in Lyari.
A Police personal was killed
and three others, including SHO Malir City, were injured in
an encounter in Salar Goth near Akbar Hotel within the confines
of Malir City Police Station The injured Police personal was
identified as, SHO Malir City Ishaq Lashari, Constable Pervez
Iqbal, Khan Mohammad and armored personnel carrier driver Sabir.
Following the encounter, Police
succeeded in arresting two gangsters, Mohsin Baloch and Abid
Ali alias Kalu. Police recovered a Kalashnikov rifle from their
possessions, however, their six accomplices managed to flee.
Ongoing violence claimed life
of three persons identified as, Luqman Hameed, Shakeel, Akhtar
Baloch and Wahid Baloch, in different areas of Kalakot and Chakiwara.
A man identified as, Akhtar
(26), was also killed during the violence near Lyari General
Hospital in the limits of Chakiwara Police Station.
One Muhammad Azam (25) was killed
near Cheel Chowk in the limits of Kalakot Police Station.
Yasin, a vendor, was shot dead
in Nayabad in the confines of Kalri Police Station.
Police sources said that at
least a dozen rockets were fired in different areas of Lyari
on Saturday, adding that gangsters were also targeting noncombatants
in the surrounding areas to divert the attention of law enforcers.
The PoK Police thwarted the
attempt of more than one hundreds activists of NSF, a pro-independence
group, led by their president Anwar Baig, to stage a march towards
the LoC in Kotli District by taking many of them into “protective
custody,” witnesses and Police sources said.
The call to cross the dividing
line from Khuiratta sector, which faces Jammu Province in the
Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, was given by NSF on a day
[April 28] when “Karachi Agreement” was signed in 1949 by the
Kashmiri leaders to handover the administrative control of Gilgit-Baltistan
to the Government of Pakistan. NSF advocates complete freedom
of the disputed Himalayan region.
In 1990 the NSF had staged a
massive march towards the LoC in Chakothi sector in the south
of Muzaffarabad, choosing February 11, the death anniversary
of the JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat, for the crossing. Two of its
activists had died in firing by the troops right at the LoC.
In August 2007, the group attempted to cross a snowcapped route
in Neelum Valley that connects PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan and
had lost another two activists, due to harsh weather.
“No one was hurt as Police contingents
successfully overpowered the procession of at least 100 activists
of the NSF,” said Superintendent Police Ghulam Akber Chaudhry
while talking to The Express Tribune. According to organisers,
the activists had planned to enter into Indian Kashmir to apprise
the world of the irrelevancy of the LoC.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik announced lifting of curfew and restoration of
mobile service in Gilgit from April 28-night. Malik said several
persons were arrested following acts of violence in Gilgit.
He also added that Police force strength in Gilgit would be
increased to 10,000 from the present 5,000.
A statement issued from the
office of Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah stated that the Army
would withdraw only after peace was permanently restored in
the city.
Though the Government claimed
that cellular services have been resumed, residents of Gilgit
said that the service was not fully restored yet.
Curfew was imposed in Gilgit
on April 3, 2011, after violence killed 24 persons in GB on
that day.
The regional Government has
arrested nearly 20 out of 33 people involved in the recent wave
of sectarianism that left over 24 dead and scores of injured
in GB. Nearly all the accused nominated in the Chilas violence
have been arrested, while negotiations are underway for the
arrest of perpetrators nominated in clashes in Nagar valley,
said Deputy Superintendent of Police Ali Sher.
In an attempt to effect reconciliation
between the two warring sects, the GB Government is planning
to constitute a ‘Mosque Board’. Two central mosques, one each
of Shia and Sunni sects, were sealed earlier, and the regional
law minister, Wazir Shakeel, has confirmed that a Mosque Board
was being constituted to mediate between them.
Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah
spelled out measures to check the outbreak of sectarian violence
in the future. Shah told journalists in Islamabad that a 410-strong
force has been raised to patrol the strategic Karakoram Highway
(KKH).
He also said that his administration
would ban the clerics who are stoking sectarianism and fuelling
hatred in their Friday sermons. Chief Minister Shah added that
the two mosques would be reopened once a high-level committee
settled the matter between the two sects.
April 29
Ten persons, including five
militants, were killed and 14 others injured in a clash between
LI militants and volunteers of Akkakhel peace committee in Bara
tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
A US drone strike killed four
suspected militants in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan
Agency, near the Afghan border. The drone targeted an abandoned
girls’ high school building used by militants in Miranshah.
At least two persons were killed
and 20 others injured in a bomb explosion in Jamrud area of
Khyber Agency.
Lyari gangsters fired rockets
and hurled hand grenades on the third consecutive day of Police
operation in Lyari area of Karachi killing four persons, including
CID Police Constable Fayyaz Ahmed, and injuring 19 others.
Two persons, including a cadre
of JSQM, were killed in two separate incidents. Police found
a dead body of a man, identified as that of Tanveer Ahmed (32),
from a family park situated in Zamanabad within the precincts
of Landhi Police Station. The victim had been missing since
April 27, 2012. Also, an activist of the JSQM, identified as
Abdul Ghani (39), was shot dead in Haji Sukhia Goth within the
limits of Khokhrapar Police Station.
Two people, identified as Abdul
Whaid and Allah Baksh of the Mengal tribe, were shot dead by
unidentified militants while they were travelling in a van in
Dasht-e-Gohran area of Kalat District.
The bullet-riddled dead body
of a British employee of the ICRC, identified as Doctor Khalil
Ahmed Dale, was found dumped near the Killi Umar area on the
Airport Road in Quetta. Dale was a Yemen-born British national
who was abducted from Chaman Housing Society of the District
on January 5, 2012 by unidentified armed militants.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body was found in Pir Gaib area of Bolan District.
Unidentified armed militants
damaged the railway track in Saryab area of Quetta. Police said
that the militants used an IED to blow apart a two-foot long
part of rails passing through Faizabad area of the District.
A main pipeline supplying gas
to the Sui purification plant was blown up in Pir Koh area of
Dera Bugti District, suspending gas supply from three wells
to the purification plant.
Kashmir Liberation Conference
on April 29 decided to observe Milaap (Meeting) March at Neelam
Valley in Islamabad on June 10.
The Swat operation in-charge
Major General Ghulam Qamar said that more security posts have
been set up on Pak-Afghan border to stop infiltration of militants
from Afghanistan into Swat valley.
Blaming Pakistani media for
"misreporting" the issue, the American Ambassador
to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, said that the US Government did
not announce any bounty for JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
The ISI provided the US with
information that was helpful in learning more about the compound
where al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed, a US official
said.
The official's comment came
in response to a The Washington Post report that said
ISI believes it deserves credit for helping US intelligence
agencies to locate bin Laden's hideout. "The lead and the
information actually came from us," an unnamed senior official
with ISI said.
The US officials disputed the
ISI version. "The fact is, our knowledge of the number
didn't come from them telling us about it," the paper quoted
US officials as saying.
April 30
At least eight people, including
a Police Official, were killed and another 35 injured in the
ongoing Police operation against gangsters in Lyari area of
Karachi. In Sher Shah, armed assailants, fired at Shaheen Hotel,
injuring four people. Three of them died later.
Unidentified militants hurled
grenades at people in Agra Taj Colony area killing a man and
injuring eight others. In another incident, unidentified assailants
shot dead one Nasir (20) in Nayabad area. Similarly, another
man, identified as Asif, was killed in the PIB area.
A Police Official was killed
and 10 other people injured in rocket and hand grenade attacks
by militants at Cheel Chowk in Lyari area. Elsewhere in the
District, the dead body of an abducted man, identified as Kashif,
was found in Lyari. Also, assailants hurled grenades at a hotel
in Lee Market, injuring as many as eight people.
Lyari gangsters also set on
fire a PPP ward office in Kalakot and a Police check post in
Garden area. The Special Investigation Unit conducted raids
in Ilyas Goth and arrested nine members of Ahmed Ali Brohi gang
after an encounter. Three gangsters, Ashraf, Asif and Naeem
were injured. Police claimed to have recovered two Kalashnikov
assault rifles, a shotgun, a repeater, six pistols and two grenades
from them.
A man and woman were shot dead
while another injured near Paracha Chowk within the limits of
Sher Shah Police Station. Unidentified armed assailants entered
a house situated at Café Bilal Street at Paracha Chowk and opened
fire, killing a man and woman on the spot besides injuring another
man.
An activist of SSP, identified
as Farooq (40), was shot dead near Makka Hotel in New Karachi
area within the limits of Khwaja Ajmair Nagri Police Station.
Farooq was a seminary teacher. SHO Afzal said that the victim
was from Deobandi sect and may have been killed over sectarian
grounds.
The Chief of Police announced
that the fight to clear Lyari of criminals will take about three
days, acknowledging that the force had no idea how much resistance
it would face. On day four of the Police operation, Police morale
was low despite the IG’s assessment that the troubled neighbourhood
had been cleared about 60% of gangsters.
HRCP expressed concern over
the sufferings of the civilian population in Lyari, where Law
Enforcement Agencies’ operation against organised crime has
been going on for four days.
A Policeman was killed and another
received injury in a bomb blast in Ghari Suhbat Khan area on
the suburbs of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls’ school with explosives in Mian Dheri
area of Swabi District. As a result of the blast, the school
building was partially damaged.
A Police Official, identified
as Muhammad Ibrahim, was injured when unidentified armed militants
attacked a check post in Dalbandin area of Chagai District.
The Red Cross confirmed that
it had been in contact with the abductors of a British aid worker
Khalil Dale before he was killed in Pakistan and said his murder
would prompt a review of its operations in the country.
Police said that Kahlil had
been beheaded and a note on his body said he was killed after
his captors’ demands were not met. “It’s inappropriate to go
into the details of any contact we might have had with the abductors,”
Maguire told the BBC radio.
The SFs arrested 17 suspected
militants and recovered arms and explosives from their possession
during search a search operation in different areas of Mamond
and Khar tehsil of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Al Qaeda named Farman Ali Shinwari
(30) who belongs to Khugakhel sub-tribe of Shinwaris, and hails
from Landikotal subdivision of Khyber Agency in FATA, as its
head in Pakistan. A statement had been issued by the al Qaeda
leadership saying that Farman Ali Shinwari has been chosen as
the head in Pakistan.
The sources said the al Qaeda
commanders based in Pakistan was not involved in the decision,
but they only ratified it. Shinwari has five brothers who are
affiliated with the TTP and other militant outfits. His elder
brother Hazrat Nabi Shinwari, alias Tamanchy Mulla, was a theology
teacher in a Government-run school in Landikotal. He was leading
the TTP in Khyber Agency in 2005 and also used to send militants
to Kashmir and Afghanistan. He has remained the head of HuM
and is nowadays said to be leading his group of TTP militants
in Waziristan.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Chief
of al Qaeda, remains at large in Pakistan's tribal area, said
US Counter-Terrorism Official John Brennan on April 30 as Washington
vowed to hunt him down.
He further said, "They
have to go. Al Qaeda is an organisation that's dedicated to
murder and mayhem and we as well as other countries of the world
are determined to make sure that that happens."
Pakistan summoned a senior US
diplomat to the Foreign Ministry and lodged a formal protest
over the US drone attack on a house in Miranshah of North Waziristan
Agency, which had killed at least four persons.
US President Barack Obama’s
counterterrorism Chief John Brennan insisted that the drone
strikes against al Qaeda is fully legal under international
law.
Pentagon said that the US's
relationship with Pakistan is very tensed but the two countries
are working to resolve the issues. "It is a very tensed
time in our relationship (with Pakistan). All the more tensed
because of the event in late November. We are trying to work
out through this," the Pentagon spokesman, Captain John
Kirby said in a news conference.
May 1
At least two passers-by, identified
as Tanveer (14), a student, and Muhammad Khalid, a clerk at
University of Balochistan, were killed and 16 others, four of
them security personnel, were injured in a powerful remote-controlled
explosion near Irrigation Colony on Saryab Road area in Quetta.
TTP spokesman Sar Kalam Khan claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Bodies of two Baloch missing
persons, identified as Mohammad Murad Marri (35), from Kohlu
District, and Dil Murad from Sibi District, were found near
Patar Bridge in the Coastal Highway area of Uthal in Lasbela
District.
Three persons were killed due
to shelling of SFs in the Khan Mir Garhi area of Mamonzai in
Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Four militants surrendered to
the Army in the Charming area of Bajaur Agency. “The militants,
among them a commander ... handed over weapons to the authorities
and pledged to remain peaceful in future,” Political Agent Islamzeb
Khan said.
Political and social organisations
of Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency have taken strong exception
to unlawful detention of internally displaced families of Bara
by Peshawar Police for extortion and warned of a protest demonstration
in front of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Peshawar if
the practice is not stopped.
The gun battle between the Lyari
gangsters and the Police entered the fifth day killing two persons,
including a Police Constable, and injuring 12 others. A Police
source said the gun battle between the gangsters and Police
further intensified when Police commandos marched towards Gul
Muhammad Lane and Sukhi Lane to set up a Police check post.
The gangsters fired five rockets at Cheel Chowk, killing Police
Constable Muhammad Tufail. In Kalakot Police precincts, former
international boxer, Javed Jan, was killed by a stray bullet
in Gabool Park area.
The gangsters also hurled grenades
at a hotel in the Napier Police precincts, injuring 10 people.
An Airport Security Force official, Aziz Baloch, sustained bullet
injuries in the same area. Another man, Hassan Muhammad, was
also injured in Bihar Colony area. A Police source said the
gangsters had fired 18 rockets and lobbed several grenades at
the Police in various parts of Lyari.
The CID team, headed by SSP
Chaudhry Aslam, claimed to have taken control of a den owned
by Taj Muhammad Taju. The team also claimed to have recovered
BLA’s anti-state literature from the den. Sources said the BLA
was supporting the gangsters, adding that they were getting
weapons via Hub-Sakran border.
It was reported that the ongoing
Lyari operation is proving to be a financial burden for the
Sindh Government, with daily costs running into hundreds of
thousands of rupees. According to estimates, bullets worth PKR
5 million have been used, so far. For the operation, around
2,000 personnel have been deployed around Lee Market, Cheel
Chowk and other surrounding areas.
Police recovered arms and ammunition
and arrested two people in Gilgit. Deputy Inspector General
of Police Ali Sher said that Police on a tip-off raided a place
in Kargah Nullah and recovered several SMGs, rifles, shotguns,
pistols and live bullets.
Four Pakistani-Britons were
charged with taking inspiration from al Qaida magazine ‘Inspire’,
and plotting to use a toy car to attack a base of the Territorial
Army in Luton town of Britain. The plot was, however, foiled.
Zahid Iqbal (30) is accused of leading the terror network. He
was joined by Mohammed Sarfaraz Ahmed (24), Umar Arshad (23),
and Syed Farhan Hussain (21).
Ahmed is accused of acting as
a recruiter and making an "explorative visit" to Pakistan
where he may have undertaken terrorist activities. Hussain allegedly
specialised in the distribution of funds and provisions, while
Arshad allegedly provided practical guidance on activities abroad,
what to wear to fit in and lead the outdoor training.
Pakistani authorities proposed
the imposition of a levy of USD 1,000 on each truck and container
transporting supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan through
the country's territory. The Communication Ministry had proposed
the levy, National Highway Authority Chairman Mohammad Ali Gardezi
said.
A senior unnamed official of
the Communication Ministry claimed that during the past 10 years,
Pakistan's road infrastructure suffered damages estimated at
PKR 100 billion due to the heavy NATO trucks carrying goods
to Afghanistan. He said a report about claims for damages worth
USD 1.5 billion had been submitted to a standing committee of
the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament.
Pakistan continues to support
insurgent groups and provide terrorist safe havens so as to
have its influence inside the war-torn Afghanistan, the Pentagon
told the US Congress. The Pentagon said that Pakistan continues
to seek a stable, secure Afghanistan, an Afghan Government with
primacy for Pashtuns and limited Indian influence.
Pakistan's selective counter
insurgency operations, passive acceptance of insurgent safe
havens and its unwillingness to interdict materials such as
IEDs components undermine the security of Afghanistan, it said
in a congressionally mandated report.
A TTP spokesperson Asim Mehsud
said that “we will continue to carry out attacks such as the
one in Bannu,” while denying reports that escaped prisoners
were handed over under any truce with the Government. Asim denied
reports published in a Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) based Urdu
daily which stated that the TTP had decided to hand over the
escaped prisoners to the Government as their sole aim was to
release Adnan Rashid.
A former Obama Administration
official Michael Leiter who served as the head of the NCTC said
that the slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden wanted to see
President Barack Obama and General David Petraeus assassinated.
It was reported that the residents
of Bilal town in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad where
Osama Bin Laden was killed on May 1-2, 2011 have asked the Government
to build a 'statue of peace' or a beautiful monument at the
site of his compound to remind the world that there is no place
for such a terrorist mastermind.
SFs have been put on high alert
across Pakistan to counter any possible terrorist attacks ahead
of Osama’s death anniversary. Pakistani officials said they
fear attacks could mark the anniversary, saying that security
agencies had been ordered to be "extra vigilant" on
May 2 (today).
May 2
At least seven people were killed
and more than 40 wounded on the sixth day of the ongoing gun
battle between Police and gangsters in Lyari area of Karachi.
Police failed to make advance in the area.
One Sajjan Bibi was killed in
Kalakot area when a bullet hit her inside her home. Separately,
one Noor Zaib (7) was killed during a shootout in Usmanabad
area. Also, one Ismail Katchi was killed and seven other people
injured during a rocket attack by gangsters on Jumman Baloch
Road. Another violence victim, Amjad, who was wounded in Kalakot,
succumbed to his injures. Zafar Katchi was killed at Cheel
Chowk and an unidentified man was knocked to death by a Police’s
APC in Kalakot area. However, the Police declined the incident.
Elsewhere, Police claimed that they had killed a gangster in
Afshani Street.
Gangsters also attacked Police
Stations and the house of PPP MPA Rafiq Engineer in Shidi Lane.
They propelled rockets and hurled hand grenades in several other
areas, including Lee Market, Kharadar, Chakiwara, Nawa Lane
and Behtai Lane, wounding 40 people and damaging Police vehicles.
Police called in further contingents of force and more APCs
were deployed. A Police officer said that there was no history
of such kind of “prolonged and deadliest operation in which
law enforcement agencies have failed and looking for a way out”.
Two persons, including a cadre
of ST, were shot dead in two separate incidents of target killing
in Karachi. A cadre of ST, identified as Babar Qadri (27), was
shot dead in Jacob Lines area near Allah Wali Masjid, within
the limits of Brigade Police Station. ST spokesman claimed the
victim was his party worker and targeted only over his political
association. Separately, Police found an unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body from Malir River close to Saleh Muhammad Goth.
At least 13 persons were injured
when a series of bombs exploded outside at least half a dozen
branches of NBP in 12 Districts of Sindh early in the morning.
According to initial reports, bombs had targeted bank branches
and ATM installed in NBP in Hyderabad District, Nawabshah District,
Sukkur, Dadu, Larkana, Ghotki, and Badin Districts.
Hyderabad Police said that bombs
went off near NBP branches in Anaj Mandi, Fatima Jinnah Road,
Nasim Nagar, and Liaquatabad. In Nawabshah District, a bomb
exploded outside an NBP branch on Sakrand road. In Dadu District,
an under construction NBP branch was targeted near the Press
Club. Also, two branches of NBP in Larkana District located
on Bakrani Road and VIP Road were also attacked by low-intensity
bombs.
The Jaffer Express which was
en route to Karachi was attacked in a bomb blast in Mirpur Mathelo
town of Ghotki District.
Elsewhere in Gulistan-e-Jauhar
area of Karachi, unknown assailants hurled a cracker bomb near
the complaint office of Karachi Electric Supply Company in Block
15.
The nationalist parties of Sindh
mounted pressure on the Government to stop the ongoing Lyari
operation. They consider Lyari operation a one-sided action
against the criminals in Karachi and an attack on the already
oppressed Baloch population. Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah-led SUP
called for a province-wide protest on May 5, 2012. JSQM, STPP
and Awami Tehreek are scheduled to hold protest demonstrations
in Sindh on May 4, 2012.
An official of the FC was killed
while another sustained injuries as a remote-controlled bomb
exploded in Kalat District. Assistant Commissioner Noor Baksh
confirmed the casualty and number of injured. Sources said that
the blast targeted an FC convoy which was patrolling in the
area.
A bullet-riddled dead body,
identified as that of one Shah Zaman, was found in Mastung District.
“The body had multiple wounds,” sources said.
The nephew of Mir Fhaiq Ali
Khan Jamali, a former Provincial Minister, identified as Rohsan
Ali Jamali and his driver, identified as Munir Shah, were abducted
by a group of armed militants from Dhadar area of Bolan District
while he was on his way to Jaffarabad District.
The Supreme Court summoned Balochistan’s
top Government officials to explain progress, or lack thereof,
on the issue of ‘missing persons’ during the hearing of a case
on the volatile security situation in the province.
Hearing the case, Justice Chaudhry
censured the Federal Government and Security Agencies over their
lack of progress and the Provincial Government’s apparent helplessness.
The contractor, Shakeel Ahmad
Yusufzai, who took up the contract for the demolition of slain
al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad house, was getting
life threat. Shakeel Ahmad Yusufzai told AFP that the Taliban
had sent him threatening letters.
A BBC report said that contrary
to the perception that Osama bin Laden lived in seclusion for
nearly five years in Pakistan's Abbottabad, he travelled to
the restive Waziristan region to attend a dinner about a year
before he was killed.
Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed
Mukhtar said Government of Pakistan and armed forces played
a vital role in capturing former al Qaeda chief through a mobile
phone’s chip/SIM.
The Annual Report, Persecution
of Ahmadis in Pakistan, released by Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan
reported that the hate campaign against the Ahmadis reached
new heights in Pakistan and even innocent children are not spared
now.
The report urged the Government
to consider Ahmadiyya-specific laws and ensure that Ahmadis
in Pakistan were given equal rights as any other citizen. “Ahmadis
are facing legal, social, cultural and political discrimination
because of these laws which are against the very base of our
society where equal rights of individual are prime,” it added.
Al Qaeda was plotting to carry
out audacious terror attacks in Europe similar to 26/11 Mumbai
strikes, a "treasure trove" of documents embedded
inside a porn movie recovered from a terrorist returning from
Pakistan has revealed. The al Qaeda plots were found inside
encoded inside a movie stored in a digital disk, after Police
arrested Austrian Maqsood Lodin (22) in Berlin on May 16, 2011.
Claiming that the documents
uncovered are "pure gold", US intelligence sources
told CNN they were the most important haul of al Qaeda
materials in 2011, besides those found when US Navy SEALs raided
Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan.
The pact between the US and
Afghanistan could leave the door open for continued drone strikes
against militant targets in Pakistan after 2014, US Ambassador
Ryan Crocker indicated.
The Chairman of the PCNS Raza
Rabbani made it clear that the drone strikes, despite remarks
of some senior US officials, were a violation of Pakistan’s
sovereignty, and had to stop.
The Pakistan Government desire
to expand ties with India in diverse fields, especially trade,
while maintaining peace and promoting prosperity in the region,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
The KP cabinet was informed
by Police Department that 97 persons, including 25 Policemen
and a soldier of the Frontier Constabulary, were killed in 105
terror attacks during the first quarter of 2012 in KP. Of 331
people wounded in the quarter, 68 were police, Police officials
told the KP cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Ameer Haider
Hoti. Attacks damaged 14 Police vehicles, 4 Police Stations,
21 schools, 2 bridges, 4 electricity towers and 45 private vehicles,
Police told the cabinet.
A report released by UNESCO
ranks Pakistan as the second-most dangerous country for journalists
in 2010-2011. Mexico was the most dangerous, with 18 journalist
fatalities in that time frame. Two Pakistani journalists were
killed in 2006-2007, followed by six in 2008-2009 and 16 in
2010-2011, the report, “The Safety of Journalists and the Danger
of Impunity,” found. Forty-two journalists have been killed
in Pakistan since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect
Journalists.
May 3
Five persons, among them three
SF personnel, were killed in two back-to-back bomb explosions
in Chamarkand area, some 25 kilometres from Khar town, in Bajaur
Agency of FATA. Sources said that Anar Gul and his son Adeel
were killed when they stepped on a bomb planted by terrorists
in Chamarkand area. The second bomb went off after SF personnel
reached the incident site about half an hour later. Two FC personnel,
identified as Afsar Ali and Sobedar Riaz, and Hawaldar Ruhul
Amin of Levies Force were killed and another was injured in
the second explosion. SFs launched a search operation in the
area and detained 12 suspects.
At least five Policemen and
four criminals were killed in a gun battle between the Police
and gangsters on the seventh day of Lyari operation in Lyari
area of Karachi. The Lyari gangsters, including PAC, remained
on a standstill position and used automatic weapons, rockets
and grenade against the Police, killing five of them.
Police claimed to have killed
four cadres of PAC. The gangsters removed dead bodies of two
of the four killed - Junaid and Shehzad, Police said. Residents
of the area said both, Junaid and Shehzad, were not criminals.
They were residents of Baghdadi area and Shehzad was a contractor
while Junaid was a security guard at Bilawal House.
According to details, Police
set up temporary check post in Singo Lane and Afshani Gali.
Police tightened the grip in the area and blocked all major
roads leading to Lyari, including Cheel Chowk, Ghulam Abbas
Road, Dhobi Ghaat, Mira Naka, Maripur Road and Shershah Road.
Elders of various Baloch tribes
were trying to convince Uzair Baloch, Zafar Baloch and Baba
Ladla of PAC to evacuate the area or surrender. Sources privy
to the development said that elders of PAC gangsters were ready
to surrender, but were seeking the assurance of their dominated
areas. The PAC believed that the authorities would hand over
Lyari to their rival Arshad alias Pappu gang. Source said Police
had decided to hand over Lyari to the Pappu gang after the evacuation
of PAC operatives. Sources pointed out that gangsters having
affiliation with rival gangs were also among the Police in a
drive against PAC.
Uzair Baloch, the head of the
PAC and “Lyari’s most wanted” criminal, while talking to The
Express Tribune, said that he will not surrender to the
Police. But, he added, that he will surrender to the Rangers
“only on one condition, that they should investigate themselves”.
“We will welcome the Rangers… But we do not trust the Government,”
he added. “The people of Lyari can bow down if treated with
love, but they will never stoop under power.”
The Sindh Police IG Mushtaq
Shah said that the Police are hopeful of achieving their target
in Lyari by May 5, 2012. He said that the area where the operation
is being carried out is the main headquarter of the terrorists,
and the Police will try to clear out the area of criminal elements.
Later the Government gave 48
hours to ‘miscreants’ active in Lyari and elsewhere to surrender
their weapons and ordered paramilitary Rangers to take positions
along with Police to weed out criminals. Interior Minister Rehman
Malik asked people to give the Government one month to expose
the elements who were involved in terrorism and destroying Karachi’s
peace.
Two people, including former
Army man, were killed in separate acts of violence in different
parts of Karachi. Ex-Army man, identified as Saiful Mulk (40),
was shot dead and two others, Ismail and Special Branch Police
Constable Abdul Ghani, were injured in Rabbani Mohalla, Frontier
Colony within the limits of Pirabad Police Station.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man in Juma Goth within the precincts of Ibrahim
Hyderi Police Station. SHO Naik Mohammad Jakhrani said the victim
appeared to be Baloch speaking.
Two brothers, Azizullah and
Ali Akbar Khilji, were shot dead when armed assailants opened
fire on them in Asmatabad area of Quetta.
Unidentified militants abducted
three truck drivers from a roadside restaurant on the National
Highway in Dadhar area of Bolan District. The Quetta-based drivers
were identified as Khair Muhammad, Muhammad Aslam and Muhammad
Ishaq. All of them belonged to the Satakzai tribe.
The Balochistan Government announced
PKR 500,000 cash prize for those who would provide information
about the suicide attack on the residence of an official of
the Frontier Corps in Quetta on September 7, 2011.
A religious scholar and teacher
of Darul Uloom Haqqania, Maulana Naseeb, was found dead on Ring
Road in Nowshera town of same District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police said that Naseeb had been abducted by unidentified people
from Taru Jaba area of Nowshera District a few days ago. A statement
issued by the seminary following his disappearance had alleged
that secret agencies had picked up Maulana Naseeb when he was
on his way to Kohat for a protest.
Law enforcement agencies arrested
a key ‘commander’ of LI, Hussain alias Hamza, during a raid
on a compound in jurisdiction of West Cantonment Police Station
of Peshawar. Sources said the arrested militant was wanted by
security agencies for terrorist activities, including bomb blasts.
Police arrested a militant,
Qari Atiq, along with his friend during an operation in the
Odigram area of Swat District. Sources said that Qari Atiq was
wanted to the Police for making provocative speeches and burning
of TV sets and CDs.
The Supreme Court directed the
Balochistan IGP to produce all missing persons before the court
and submit a progress report. “People accuse FC or security
agencies of illegal arrests but police have to investigate these
cases,” CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked during a hearing
of missing persons’ cases at the court’s Quetta Registry.
The bench expressed strong resentment
when informed that Home Minister Zehri did not disclose the
names of ministers allegedly involved in kidnappings for ransom.
He criticised the Police and
Provincial Government, saying law enforcement agencies had failed
to produce a single missing person even after a lapse of three
days since the court passed its orders in this regard.
Chaudhry, however, said the
situation in Balochistan is not as bad as is being portrayed
outside the Province. He expressed this during a meeting with
the Supreme Court Bar Association’s Executive Committee, including
SCBA President Yasin Azad, who called on him at the Supreme
Court Quetta Registry.
A SCBA Executive Committee member
said that Balochistan needs a good administrator to resolve
its issues, as the incumbent provincial Government had failed
to resolve people’s problems.
There have been a number of
clashes reported as some Kashmiri militants in training camps
in PoK have wished to return to India. There are growing incidents
of clashes between militants wanting to return to Jammu and
Kashmir from training camps in PoK and those wanting to stay
on, intelligence sources say.
Indian Army sources say there
are about 2,500 militants in various training camps in PoK.
There are over 40 such camps on the other side of LoC.
The US released 17 documents
found during the May 1-2, 2011, raid at slain al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Province in Pakistan. The White House allowed the declassified
documents to be published online by the Combating Terrorism
Centre at the West Point military academy.
In letters from his last hideout,
Osama bin Laden fretted about dysfunction in his terrorist network
and crumbling trust from Muslims he wished to incite against
their governments and the West. “I plan to release a statement
that we are starting a new phase to correct (the mistakes) we
made,” bin Laden wrote in 2010.
Pakistan was working with the
US at various levels to resolve all outstanding issues, including
an alternative to drone attacks, Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam
Khan said.
The US State Department said
the United States and Pakistan were committed to working through
bilateral problems as doing so was in both countries’ national
interests. The State Department said the two countries had a
shared struggle against the menace of terrorism, which had claimed
lives of thousands of Pakistanis.
May 4
A suicide attack targeting SFs
killed at least 29 persons, including four Policemen, and injured
over 73 others at Khar Bazaar in Khar town of Bajaur Agency
in FATA. The target of the attack was Levies Force. According
to sources, Levies Force personnel were conducting routine checking
at Khar Bazaar when a suicide bomber blew himself that killed
eight persons initially. A senior official confirmed that it
was a suicide attack and four Policemen were killed in the blast.
An official from the area said that initial reports suggested
that the target of the bomber was Subedar Major Javed and Subedar
Fazl Rabi.
TTP claimed responsibility for
the attack in a statement emailed to The Express Tribune. TTP
spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan said that their targets were Levies
officials Subedar Major Javed Khan and Subedar Quarter Master
Fazl Rabi. Fazal Rabi, according to Ehsan, was honoured with
a ‘presidential award’ (Tamgha-e-Shujaat or medal of
bravery) for killing several TTP militants. “While (Subedar)
Major Javed was involved in the killing of Shaikh Marwan,” he
said. Shaikh Marwan was an Arab militant ‘commander’ who was
killed by Levies personnel before the 2008 military operation
in Bajaur Agency. The TTP ‘spokesperson’ Ehsanullah Ehsan further
said that the group knew all those involved in ‘activity’ against
the Taliban, and warned that such people “will be treated with
iron hands”.
The political administration
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency issued notices to Shalobar area
residents, asking them to vacate their houses and shift to safer
places within four days so that an effective search operation
against militants could be carried out.
Khyber Agency Political Agent
Mutahir Zeb asked the elders of Akkakhel tribe during a jirga
in Khyber House to return to Akkakhel areas where the Government
writ had been restored after a successful military operation
and formation of local peace committees. Mr Zeb claimed that
almost 80 per cent of Akkakhel area had been cleared of militants
and it was safe for the local people now living in Jalozai camp
to come back to their native areas.
Three people, including a Police
Officer and a political activist, were killed in separate incidents
of target killing in Karachi. Finance Secretary of PPP Culture
Wing, Rana Amir (35), was shot dead while a passerby, identified
as Tauseef (25), was injured in New Karachi area within the
limits of Bilal Colony Police Station.
A man, Sabir Hussain alias Babu
(32) was shot dead while he was sitting with his friends near
Chaghi Hotel, Qasba Colony within the limits of Pirabad Police
Station
A Police Officer, identified
as Syed Sabtain Naqvi, was shot dead near Mughal Kanta, Kunwari
Colony, within the jurisdiction of Pirabad Police Station.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government primary school with explosives under the Shabqadar
Police Station area in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police registered a case against
two serving Majors of FC, Major Nadeem and Major Tahir, on the
orders of the Supreme Court for abducting a man, identified
as Ali Hasan Mengal, from Wadh area of Khuzdar District on November
4, 2011. Ali Gohar Mengal, the son of the abductee, submitted
an application in the Apex Court accusing two officers of FC
of being involved in it and said that Police had not registered
a case.
Three missing persons of Quetta,
identified as Safar Khan, Mohammad Kareem and Doha Khan, reached
home late on the night of May 3. All three went missing on April
1, 2012 from the Marwar area of Quetta.
The Interior Minister Rehman
Malik said that issue of mutilated bodies of missing persons
would be resolved in a week as restoration of law and order
in the province was the Government’s top priority. He strongly
rejected the statements by Baloch nationalists that military
operation was on the go in Balochistan.
While hearing missing persons’
case CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry gave a two-week deadline to the Balochistan
Chief Secretary, the IGP and the FC DIG to produce the missing
persons before the court.
A Pakistan-born US teen pleaded
guilty to terror charges for offering assistance to a woman
who called herself “Jihad Jane” and supported a terror cell
bent on waging a jihad in Europe. The 18-year-old, Mohammad
Hassan Khalid, faces a 15-year prison sentence for a single
count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists
for his offer to raise money and recruit terrorists.
At least 11 persons aggrieved
by the 2007 military operation in Lal Masjid (Red Mosque)
registered murder and kidnapping charges against the then entire
state hierarchy with the City Police. A Senior Police Officer
confirmed that the Aabpara Police Station of Islamabad entered
their separate complaints in its Roznamcha.
Each of the 11 people wanted
a murder or kidnapping case registered against former President
General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, the then Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz, his cabinet members, including the then Interior
Minister Aftab Sherpao and religious minister Ejazul Haq, former
Federal Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah, the then area Corps
Commander, Director General Rangers, Senior Officers of the
City Police and Administration – and also any person these accused
name during their interrogation.
At least eight rockets were
fired in Cheel Chowk, Gabool Park and Afshani Gali areas of
Karachi, injuring two Policemen. Amidst the firing the Interior
Minister Rehman Malik announced that the ongoing Lyari operation
would be suspended for 48 hours. The move came on the heels
of the Sindh Government’s decision to offer surrender to the
criminals operating in the area. Police and Frontier Constabulary
were asked to withdraw from the areas where the clashes were
taking place. The Interior Minister, however, said Police would
remain in Lyari to prevent attacks by the gangsters. The CID
Police claimed to have destroyed a post of gangsters in Afshani
Street and recovered arms and ammunition.
The PAC Chairman Uzair Baloch
who had on May 3, 2012 agreed to surrender went back on his
offer, saying that the locals had asked him against doing so.
President Asif Zardari said
both force and political means would be used to curb law and
order situation in Lyari. The President said that the restoration
of complete law and order and the protection of lives and property
of the citizens in Karachi was the priority of the Government.
He said no compromise would be made in this regard. He directed
that action should be taken against all violators, regardless
of their affiliation, if any.
A shutter-down strike was observed
in major cities of Balochistan to condemn the ongoing security
operation in Lyari, a Baloch-dominated area of Karachi. The
strike call was given by the BRP and supported by BSO.
BNP workers also staged a protest
demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan and raised slogans against the Government
and Police for their “brutal policies against the Baloch”.
Up to nearly 300 VVIPs, including
the country’s Defence and Foreign Ministers, use tinted glasses
in their vehicles in clear violation of the Motor Vehicles Act,
which forbids its use on security and health grounds. The Ministry
of Interior, however, says it has allowed over 285 VVIPs to
use tinted glasses, according to official documents submitted
to the National Assembly.
May 5
At least 10 persons were killed
while one was injured when US drone attacked a house in Darr-e-Nishtar
area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA early in the morning.
Two suspects were arrested near
Khar during a search operation. Weapons, grenades, suicide jackets
and other explosive devices were seized, he added.
16 TTP militants, belonging
to different tribes, including Masoodzai, Ali Sher, Afridi and
Manttak (Orakzai), surrendered to the Government authorities
in Kurram Agency. The militants gave up their weapons before
the political administration in presence of the media in Parachinar,
the headquarters of the region.
At least seven people, including
a PPP activist’s son, were killed in a recent spate of target
killings in Karachi. Unidentified armed assailants opened fire
on a roadside chicken shop near Kati Pahari area, killing Muzamil
Khan (29) on the spot and injuring his nephew Imran Khan (23)
and a passerby, identified as Ghayas Rasheed (30).
One Rasheed, an employee of
a printing press, was killed while he was passing through the
area when a bullet pierced his head. Another passerby identified
as Farman succumbed to his injuries due to indiscriminate firing
near Aligarh Colony.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead one Saleem near Metro Cinema in Orangi Town No 1.
A private airline’s supervisor,
Javed Akhtar (58), was shot dead near Bahria graveyard in Dalmia
in Sharah-e-Faisal Police precincts.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man near Jama Cloth in the Aram Bagh Police precincts.
Police said the deceased had a bullet mark on his abdomen and
seemed a Baloch.
A teenage boy, identified as
Jawed Khan (19), was shot dead outside his house on the Super
Highway in the Sohrab Goth Police precincts.
Armed clash between two parties
in Lines Area left four people injured.
Police arrested two militants,
identified as Ilyas and Akbar Zeb, affiliated with the Maulana
Fazlullah faction of TTP, during a raid in Zarakhela area within
the jurisdiction of Shamozai Police Station in Swat District.
After the chaotic eight days
of gun battle between the Police and Lyari gangsters, life was
finally seen progressing toward normalcy. The residents of Lyari,
who remained huddled in their homes for over a week, finally
felt ease as markets, schools, colleges and hospitals began
opening. According to Police sources, the Sindh Police spent
PKR 0.4 million daily on midday and night meals of some 1,400
law enforcers. In totality, sources said that the Sindh Government
spent PKR 3.2 million only on meals during the weeklong operation.
Despite spending huge amount on the operation, the Sindh Police
provided a financial shock of PKR 15 million to the exchequer
as some 20 vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers and
police mobiles, were disfigured by the gangsters.
Rangers started snap checking
and patrolling in several parts of Lyari and rumours poured
in that they might start operation anytime. However, Brigadier
Waseem Ayub dispelled the impression as saying that no operation
had begun in Lyari and the personnel were deployed just for
the routine snap checking and patrolling.
BRP press release read that
the random abductions and extra-judicial killings of the Baloch
are on the rise in Balochistan. The presser also read on one
hand, Pakistani officials and the Supreme Court claimed that
they were making efforts to recover Baloch missing persons and
to stop the dumping of decomposed bodies, on the other hand,
Security Forces continued to abduct torture and extra-judicially
kill them.
The released further read, the
area always suffered from military offensives and the residents
are threatened by the forces to quit the area so that they could
pave the way for multi-national oil and gas companies. The only
aim of the so-called efforts of the judiciary and claims of
law enforcers about the recovery of the Baloch missing persons
is to hide ground realities from the world.
Drone strikes on targets inside
Pakistan will continue, said US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta,
rejecting Pakistan’s protest that the attacks were a violation
of its sovereignty. Panetta’s first rejection of Pakistan’s
stance on this issue came in an interview on with Judy Woodruff
of the Bloomberg Television who pointed out that last week a
senior White House official had acknowledged that the US was
conducting drone strikes inside Pakistan.
“But let me just say this. We
were attacked. The United States was attacked on 9/11. And we
know who attacked us, we know that al Qaeda was behind it, and
we are going to do everything we can, use whatever operations
we have to, in order to make sure that we protect this country
and make sure that that kind of attack never happens again,”
he added.
May 6
Nine soldiers were killed and
12 more injured when unidentified militants ambushed a military
convoy at Amin Check post, a security outpost on a hilltop outside
Miranshah, in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. “Militants hiding
there, opened fire at the soldiers with AK-47 assault rifles
and RPG,” an unnamed senior Pakistan Army official said on condition
of anonymity.
Eight militants were killed
in Mamozai and Khadizai areas of Orakzai Agency. Security Forces
attacked militant hideouts and killed eight militants, officials
said, adding that two lairs were destroyed.
Two persons were killed and
a woman injured when unidentified militants attacked the house
of a pro-government tribal elder, Malik Rehan, in Turbat area
of Central Kurram Agency.
Nine Shias, including four women,
sustained injuries when unidentified militants ambushed a passenger
van at Arawali Sakhi Ahmed Shah village in Lower Kurram Agency.
The sources said that the passenger van was heading to Peshawar
from Parachinar when the militants targeted it near Arawali
Sakhi Ahmed Shah village.
Unidentified militants blew
up a girls’ middle school in Kari Kot area, five kilometres
from Wana town of the South Waziristan Agency.
A primary school was blown up
in Halimzai area of Mohmand Agency. However no loss of life
was reported as the school was closed due to Sunday holiday.
The Khasadar Force recovered
a cache of arms and ammunition from Tirah area in Khyber Agency,
but the alleged smuggler managed to escape from the recover
site. Sources said that the administration was informed that
a pickup was using Ziarai route to smuggle a bulk of arms and
ammunition from the upper Tirah area.
The Khyber Agency political
administration has extended its deadline until May 8 to begin
a fresh offensive against extremists and miscreants in Shalobar
tribe of Bara. The militants have accelerated their attacks
on the SFs in Shalobar area during the last couple of weeks.
The military operation has been going in various parts of Bara
for the last three years, but the law and order situation could
not be controlled.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a Hazara man, identified as Muhammad Ali, in Dasht
area of Mastung District. A levies official said the man belonged
to the Hazara community and that it was a sectarian killing.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man, identified as Kuda Baksh, in Goth Haji Murad
area of Hub in Lasbela District.
A man was shot dead near Faizabad
area on Sariab Road area of Quetta.
Two persons, Auleer Wani and
Shanawaz, were injured in a landmine explosion at Mondrani near
Sui area of Dera Bugti District. According to Police, the victims
were on their way when their motorbike hit a roadside landmine
planted by unidentified militants.
Police foiled a terrorism bid
after they recovered 20 kilogrammes of explosive material from
a passenger train at the Chaman Railway Station in Qilla Abdullah
District.
Two truck drivers, identified
as Hazoor Bakhsh and Allah Rakha, were abducted from Bolan District.
Following the incident, a large number of truck drivers and
transporters blocked the National Highway and protested the
abduction of drivers.
Three truck drivers, who were
abducted from National Highway in Dadhar area of Bolan District
on May 3, 2012 reached home. The abductors freed the drivers
in Dera Allahyar area of Jaffarabad District.
Two persons, including an ASI,
were killed in separate acts of violence in different parts
of Karachi. An unidentified dead body of a man was found in
a gunny bag from Swat Colony within Mauripur Police limits.
ASI Aslam Qadri (45) was shot
dead in an act of target killing in Rajput Colony in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area within the jurisdiction of Mobina Town Police Station.
A Sub Inspector Azhar and a
Police Constable Zafar were wounded when unidentified armed
assailants opened fire on Police mobile near Micasa Apartment
within Aziz Bhatti Police precincts.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that no grand operation in Lyari was on cards.
He said that only a targeted operation would be conducted in
Lyari along with Police and Rangers. He said that Rangers and
Police had been deployed in Lyari to protect people from criminals
and gangsters, adding that Police did not lose the battle in
the area.
Asking political parties to
keep a distance from criminal groups in Lyari he said, “Contacts
of some political parties with criminals in Lyari will result
in lawlessness and such a move can be questioned according to
law of land.”
While dismissing speculations
about a “political solution” with the members of the PAC, the
Minister said that the PAC members “could not be called politicians”
and that there was no possibility of drawing them into negotiations.
Malik said that they should “surrender, prove their innocence
and then they will have every right to become politicians.”
Responding to a suggestion given
for handing over the criminals to the Punjab Police, the Interior
Minister said that if they thought such an action would save
them, they were mistaken. “The Punjab Police, too, have to work
according to the law,” he said, adding that the constitution
does not allow one to commit crime in one district and get prosecuted
for it in another. “
Intelligence agencies expressed
fears that the associates of Doctor Arshad Waheed, who was killed
in a drone attack in 2008, may have rejoined militant activities
after their release from custody.
The documents based on the reports
submitted to the Federal Review Board (a judicial body formed
by the Supreme Court to examine the detention cases of suspects)
by the ISI, MI and the Interior Ministry said that some suspects
who had been detained under the Security of Pakistan Act 1952
and were then released by the courts were no longer present
at their given addresses.
The documents said the Agencies
had information about their reunion with the terrorist groups.
Doctor Akmal Waheed, a cardiologist, and his brother Doctor
Arshad Waheed were accused of having links with al Qaeda, attacking
Karachi Corps Commander’s convoy in 2004 and financially aiding
and harboring activists of the Jundallah outfit. They were,
however, exonerated from charges in 2006. Doctor Arshad was
killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan in March 2008.
American Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
told Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that his country
is a failed state and no amount of US aid money will ever change
that.
In his letter, Rohrabacher condemned
a recent Police action that resulted in the death of four Baloch
men. "Pakistan's future will remain bleak and marred by
political violence as long as the Pakistani Government and military
continue to deny ethnic groups within Pakistan a right to self-determination,"
he wrote.
Washington cautioned Islamabad
of ‘multiple repercussions’, if the six-month-long blockade
of NATO supplies is not lifted. The implications include a halt
in US assistance for the country’s fragile economy and squeezing
the political space available to the ruling PPP by relying on
other political groups, according to officials familiar with
the development.
“A message has been conveyed
at the highest level that if the Government cannot take a decision
regarding NATO supplies, the US will rely on Nawaz Sharif,”
he disclosed.
May 7
The TTP killed 14 soldiers in
Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA
along the Afghan border. Militants beheaded all but one of them
and hung two of the heads from wooden poles in the centre of
the Zafar Town chowk.
Unidentified motorcyclists shot
dead an activist of Kukikhel Peace Committee, Bulbul Shah, in
Jamrud area of Khyber Agency.
SFs arrested man Irshad, a resident
of Karkanai, wanted in a number of sabotage acts. He had links
with militant group operating in Landi Kotal.
Hundreds of families began to
leave Shalobar area of Khyber Agency after receiving final directives
from the political administration. The authorities set a 48-hour
deadline to Shalobar tribe to leave the area where a military
operation against militant groups is on card.
A vehicle of the Uch Gas Field
escaped a remote-controlled blast in Nuzband Pul area of Sohbatpur
in Jaffarabad District.
A marble trader and an activist
of MQM, Unit 190, Zafar Iqbal (46), was shot dead and a passerby
Abdul Rehman (30) was injured when two unidentified armed assailants
fired at Iqbal's shop situated near Bara Board within the remit
of Pak Colony Police Station in Karachi. Police officials said
that apparently Lyari gangsters were involved in the incident.
Anti-Extremism Cell of the CID
claimed to have arrested three suspects allegedly affiliated
with the BLA from Sher Shah Locality. The arrestees were identified
as Abdul Ghaffar Bugti, Faisal Bugti and Shams Uddin Bugti.
SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam said that the BLA militants were arrested
on a tip-off after they arrived in the city from Balochistan
to deliver rockets and ammunition to the PAC. Nine rockets and
550 rounds were recovered from their possession.
During the initial course of
interrogation, the accused persons confessed to have delivered
six consignments of rockets, mini rockets, grenades, launchers,
guns and ammunition to the PAC or Lyari gangsters.
Police arrested three wanted
militants, Azam Khan, Mazeed Khan and Fareed Khan, during a
raid in Naryab area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
ATC during a proceeding that
was held at Central Jail Peshawar indicted chief of TNSM Sufi
Muhammad and 19 others accused, including two of his close aides,
charged by Khwazakhela Police Station for abducting Policemen
and challenging Government's writ in 1995. The court also framed
charges against 19 others accused, including key TNSM leaders
Maulana Khalid and Maulana Safiullah, in the same case and adjourned
hearing until May 15, 2012. The court indicted the accused after
their refusal to accept the allegations.
As the Federal Government reply
was not submitted, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat
Saeed postponed until May 21, 2012, a hearing of the petition
filed by JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his Deputy Hafiz
Abdur Rehman Makki, seeking Government's protection for US bounty
on their heads.
On behalf of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, a reply was submitted on April 25, 2012, stating
that the US Government had fixed head money on Hafiz Saeed and
Hafiz Makki, but it would neither be binding on Pakistani Government
nor applicable in Pakistan. The reply also stated that the Pakistani
Government takes action against its citizens only on solid proofs
and the US Government was told to provide convincing proofs
against Hafiz Saeed.
The SITE Intelligence Group,
which monitors militant messages, said that al Qaeda's media
arm as-Sahab posted the video of American hostage Warren Weinstein
on Jihadi forums. Weinstein was abducted on August 13, 2011,
from Model Town area of Lahore District in Punjab province after
armed militants tricked his guards and broke into his house.
In a video message posted on
militant websites in December 2011 al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri
said Weinstein would be released if the US stopped air strikes
in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. He also demanded
the release of all al Qaeda and Taliban suspects around the
world.
US State Department spokesperson
Mark Toner said that cooperation with Pakistan continues in
the Warren Weinstein case. The spokesperson said that co-operation
with Pakistani law enforcement continues on the matter.
The US House Armed Services
Committee chairman Republican Buck McKeon called for a bar on
preferential import of goods or services from Pakistan until
they re-open the NATO supply routes. In a release of his draft
bill of the National Defense Authorisation Act for fiscal year
2013, the US Republican Congressman also called for a bar on
support or reimbursement provided to Pakistan until the Secretary
of Defense provides a report on "the model for reimbursement,
including how claims are proposed and adjudicated new conditions
or caveats that the Government of Pakistan places on the use
of its supply routes and the new cost associated with transit
through supply routes in Pakistan."
May 8
39 persons were killed in two
days of clashes between SFs and militants in Miranshah area
of North Waziristan Agency of FATA. Officials said 12 SF personnel,
10 civilians, including women and children, and 17 militants
were killed. The officials said 72 persons were injured, adding
that casualty figure could go up because some persons were still
trapped under the debris of houses flattened by flying shells
from explosions in arms and ammunition stores hit by helicopter
gunships. Most of the militants were killed in an artillery
attack on a compound. They were militants of TTP comprising
both Punjabi and Mehsud fighters.
The bullet-riddled bodies of
two militants, Taj Mohammad and Haider, were found at Niazi
Market in Bara area of Khyber Agency. The unidentified assailants
had left a chit with the bodies, warning locals that anyone
found assisting or harboring activists of LI would meet the
same fate.
Two AI militants were killed
and four others injured when they clashed with the rival LI
in Toor Zangal area of Tirah valley. Sources said that clashes
took place between AI and LI in Toor Zangal area when both groups
tried to capture each other's positions.
SFs set on fire eight hideouts
of suspected terrorists during a search operation in Mulla Ghani
Baba, Pipal Banda, Fatah Maina and Izzat Lal Banda areas of
Mohmand Agency.
Normalcy is returning to Bajaur
Agency and political administration has lifted curfew and trade
centres, educational institutions and offices have been reopened.
The trade centres, bazaars and markets in Khar, Inayat Kallay
and other parts of the agency had been closed after May 4's
suicide attack in Bajaur.
Four persons were killed in
separate acts of target killing in different parts of Karachi.
A Shia man and an activist of MQM, identified as Mirza Sarfaraz
(38), was shot dead by two unidentified armed assailants near
Chamcha Hotel in Orangi Town within the limits of Orangi Town
Police Station while going to open his general store in the
area.
A man, identified as Naseebullah
(39), was shot dead near Iqra Medical Centre, Qasba Colony with
the limits of Pirabad Police Station.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man from Guru Mandir, within the jurisdiction
of Soldier Bazaar Police Station.
One Juma Khan (35), a cadre
of PAC was shot dead by four armed assailants in Hashim Baghicha,
within the precincts of Nabi Bux Police Station.
Unknown armed militants shot
at and injured CID SP Shahnawaz Khan in Satellite Town area
of Quetta while he was outside his house for a walk. He succumbed
to his injuries later.
A large number of vehicles and
motorbikes were destroyed when a bomb exploded near the office
of the Panjgur DC in Panjgur District. Sources said a bomb was
attached to a motorbike that was later parked in the parking
lot of the DC office.
According to VFBMP President
Nasrullah Baloch, two more missing persons, Shahnawaz and Sanaullah,
reached their homes in Nawa Killi area of Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. Earlier, five out of seven persons,
who were abducted from Marwar area of Mach Town in Bolan District
on April 11, 2012, had been recovered following the directive
of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhary.
JWP provincial chief Shahzain
Bugti while speaking to the media after appearing at a Session's
Court in Quetta for the hearing of an illegal arms possession
case claimed that the arms recovery case against him is forged
and he will not appeal against it. He further claimed that the
three Bugtis arrested from Karachi on May 7, 2012, who were
believed to be from BLA, had been picked up from Quetta on January
18, 2012.
Shahzain and his 26 security
guards were arrested by paramilitary FC on December 22, 2010,
at the Buleli check post in Quetta for allegedly smuggling weapons.
Police foiled a sabotage bid
in Hamza Town on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by defusing a roadside bomb.
Police foiled an attempt of
smuggling fake currency from tribal area and arrested the carrier
on Indus Highway in Kohat.
In pursuance of the Peshawar
High Court orders in various missing person cases, the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary has asked the civil administration
and Police in the province not to arrest and detain a person
and enter private lodgings without proper sanction of law.
The militants in NWA of FATA
distributed pamphlets pledging holy war to mark the first anniversary
of the killing of slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, albeit
a week late. Masked militants armed with assault rifles handed
out copies of the pamphlet from pick-up vehicles in Miranshah,
the main town of the NWA that has become known as a premier
al Qaeda and Taliban hub.
A Pakistan-based legal charity
has sought court injunctions for the PAF to shoot down the US
drones flying into the Pakistani airspace in a lawsuit. Foundation
for Fundamental Rights has filed two petitions before the Peshawar
High Court on behalf of victims of the drone strike carried
out on March 17, 2011.
ISI DG Lieutenant General Zaheerul
Islam and officials from other intelligence agencies briefed
the PCNS that Balochistan's law and order situation was worsening
and there was strong evidence of foreign elements' involvement
in it.
It particularly discussed the
issue of missing persons in Balochistan. The committee was informed
that 69 missing persons had been traced, adding that 23 of them
were found dead. Some other missing people could not be traced,
the PCNS was told.
FC Inspector General Major General
Nadir Zaib and the Balochistan Home Secretary also briefed the
committee. "Zaib told that all missing persons had gone to Afghanistan
and no one was in the FC's custody," said a participant of the
meeting.
Repeating assurances by other
top Army officers, the Peshawar corps commander Lieutenant General
Khalid Rabbani said the Pakistan Army would launch operations
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Pakistan is negotiating the
return of its nationals languishing in the jails of 34 countries
so that they could complete their sentences in their country,
the Federal Minister for Textiles Makhdoom Shahabuddin told
the Senate.
The US House Appropriations
subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations considered making
economic and or security assistance for Pakistan subject to
cooperating certification from Secretary of State. According
to the draft of the fiscal year 2013 State and Foreign Operations
Appropriations Bill, the House subcommittee has proposed that
no assistance under the Economic Support Fund, International
Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, Foreign Military Financing
Program and the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund be
released until the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton certifies
such to the committee.
The Government of Pakistan,
according to the draft bill, must co-operate with the US in
counterterrorism efforts against the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda,
Quetta Shura Taliban, LeT, JeM and other domestic and Foreign
Terrorist Organisations. Additionally, Pakistan must also end
support of such groups and "prevent them from basing and operating
in Pakistan for carrying out cross border attacks into neighbouring
countries." The draft bill adds that the US Secretary of State
must also certify that Pakistan is not supporting terrorist
activities against US or coalition forces in Afghanistan.
In another stipulation, the
certification requires that Pakistan's Military and Intelligence
Agencies are not "intervening extra-judicially into political
and judicial processes in Pakistan." The draft bill expected
to be addressed in the subcommittee's session on May 9, also
calls for Pakistan to dismantle the IED networks, prevent proliferation
of nuclear material, and give humanitarian organisations access
to detainees, IDPs and those affected by the conflict.
A press release on the subcommittee's
website says that the bill has slashed funding for the Global
War on terror by USD 3 billion to USD 8.2 billion, which has
reduced funding for programs in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Parliamentarians from FATA have
taken strong exception to a resolution adopted by the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Assembly asking for merger of FATA with the province.
Condemning the resolution, they said that only people of FATA
had the right to decide about future of FATA.
The commander of Pakistan's
forces along the frontier Lieutenant-General Khalid Rabbani
accused the US of seeking to make Pakistan a scapegoat for its
failure to beat the insurgency in Afghanistan.
The US efforts to talk peace
with Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan mean Washington can no longer
expect Pakistan to attack all the militant factions on its side
of the border, some of whom Islamabad is also reaching out to,
he argued. One powerful faction in North Waziristan Agency of
FATA in Pakistan is led by a commander called Hafiz Gul Bahadur,
who is believed to have signed a nonaggression pact with the
Government but still funnels fighters into Afghanistan.
May 9
At least 10 TTP militants were
killed and several others injured when Army helicopter gunships
heavily pounded suspected hideouts in Tirah Valley of Khyber
Agency in FATA near Afghan border.
Six militants were killed during
a clash between the LI and AI in Toorikhel area of Tirah Valley.
Clashes between the two groups take place frequently as Ansarul
Islam fights the LI to gain control of the area.
Tribal elders handed over to
the political authorities the heads of two soldiers who had
been killed during clashes with militants in North Waziristan
Agency. The tribal elders led by Maulvi Gul Ramazan held talks
with the militants at an unspecified place.
Four people, including a journalist
of a local newspaper, were killed in different areas of Karachi.
Police found two dead bodies, identified as that of Fawad Sheikh
(31) and a Chief reporter of a local Sindhi Newspaper Tariq
Kamal (35) from Lyari Naddi near Love Lane Bridge situated within
the limits of Pak Colony Police Station.
An activist of the PML-N, identified
as Malik Shahbaz, was shot dead in Junejo Town within the precincts
of Baloch Colony Police Station.
A dead body identified as that
of Mohammad (45) was found from Moosa Lane within the jurisdiction
of Baghdadi Police Station. They said that the victim was had
been missing since the evening of May 8, 2012.
A Police constable Mukhtiar
and another person Faisal were injured when two armed motorcyclists
opened fire at the Police personnel sitting at a hotel at Super
Highway within the jurisdiction of Sohrab Goth Police Station.
DSP Iftikhar Lodhi claimed that Sher Zaman Mehsud faction of
TTP was involved in the attack.
Elsewhere in the District, tension
engulfed Empress Market and its surrounding areas after an armed
attack on an activist of the ANP.
A Hindu beggar, identified as
Ram Chand, was sitting in Killi Faizabad area of Sariab in Quetta
when unidentified armed militants opened fire on him killing
him on the spot.
Police found a dead body, identified
as that of one Shahnawaz, in Killi Shanawaz area of Sariab.
Another missing person, Babul
Khan, reached his home in Bolan District. Police said Babul
Khan had been missing from Dhadar area of the District few months
ago.
The VBMP group alleged that
the three men, Abdul Ghaffar, Shamsuddin Bugti, and Saifal Bugti,
reportedly arrested from Lyari in Karachi and presented before
the media as terrorists belonging to BLA are the students of
Balochistan University who had been missing since January, 2012.
BRP press release stated that
the military operations continue full-fledged and offensives
in many parts of Balochistan have become a routine. In a most
common fashion, a large number of Pakistani troops, with their
armoured vehicles, lay siege to the area from where they want
to drive out the Baloch, bomb the area for hours, torch houses
and harass and torture women, children and aged people, loot
valuables and livestock and sometimes burn the livestock and
people alive, the press release read.
It also read that a Dera Bugti
video showed security forces poisoning lakes, wells and other
sources of water. The BRP press release read further that SFs
were also seen laying landmines all over the area, especially
fields and paths leading to lakes and wells. The latest offensive-
affected areas were Pashenee, Takrav, Kaleri, Seyahtank, Suri
and Karbur in Dera Bugti.
The press release read Pakistani
forces began major offensives against innocent Baloch. SFs laid
siege to the area and blocked entry and exit ways. According
to the press release, SFs were also using gunship helicopters
and heavy artillery.
The under-construction mausoleum
of famous poet and politician Ajmal Khan Khattak in Akora Khattak
area of Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was blown up
and another explosion an hour later injured 12 persons who had
gathered at the place. Khattak, a former president of the ANP,
died in February 2010. Police said it was widely believed that
the explosion was the handiwork of TTP who had earlier blown
up shrines and mosques.
The Gilgit Baltistan Government
has linked the opening of the mosques sealed in Gilgit in the
aftermath of sectarian violence, which erupted on April 3, 2012,
with the acceptance of the code of conduct that bars prayer
leaders from making hate speeches. The code of conduct, prepared
by a parliamentary peace committee, binds prayer leaders of
both central mosques not to malign each other's beliefs or to
use foul language against the rival sect's revered personalities.
The parliamentary committee
on May 7 handed over the code of conduct to the Masjid
Board that is represented by 20 members, 10 each from Shia and
Sunni sects, who will be responsible for ensuring that the code
is implemented. The Masjid Board is responsible for implementation
of the 15-point code of conduct which is binding on prayer leaders
in Gilgit.
Following sectarian violence
in early April, the Government sealed the doors of central mosques,
barring people from offering prayers there.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan is the part of solution, not problem on fighting
terrorism. According to Gilani, Pakistan was "part of the solution,
not part of the problem" when it came to the "global issue"
of fighting terrorism. He alleged that the US had fuelled the
problem by abandoning its ally Pakistan once the Soviets had
been driven from Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilani said that Pakistan and the United Kingdom were partners
in the fight against terrorism and extremism and his country
was committed to fighting the scourge till its elimination.
May 10
Three men were shot dead, allegedly
in ethnic and sectarian attacks, in separate areas of Karachi.
Two men, identified as Mohabbat Khan (24) and Samiullah alias
Sona, were shot dead in Korangi 6 within the limits of Awami
Colony Police Station.
A Shia man, Syed Zain Hassan
(24), was shot dead at Labour Square, Site within the jurisdiction
of Site B Police Station.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man, identified as Ghulam Muhayyuddin, in the Faizabad
area of Sariab in Quetta.
A Police official was killed
and three others were injured when a patrolling Police vehicle
was attacked with a remote controlled bomb on Qambrani Road
in Quetta.
Aman, identified as Haji Asad,
was injured in a remote-controlled blast in the Mand area of
Kech (Turbat) District.
A former member of a local peace
committee was shot dead and five others injured when unidentified
assailants ambushed their vehicle near Khwar in the Gomal Bazar
Police Station jurisdiction of Tank District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A cache of weapons voluntarily
handed over to SFs by the people of Upper Dir District in April
was displayed to the media in Khwazakhela.
The Marwat Qaumi Jirga of Lakki
Marwat District assured SFs of its continued support and cooperation
in restoration of peace and said it and locals and won't let
any person or group use their soil for militancy.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IG of
Prisons Khalid Abbas told the Peshawar High Court that they
would resist any undue pressure from intelligence agencies if
they were provided protection by the court.
Hearing several cases of missing
persons, the bench fixed May 16 for further hearing while observing
that the agencies should stop illegal activities till that date,
failing which the court would take drastic steps against them.
The US Congress proposed stopping
preferential trade with Pakistan and reducing aid to just 10
per cent of available funds unless Islamabad reopens NATO supply
routes. It also approved a proposal to stop all reimbursements
to the country if Pakistan continued to ignore US demands.
Earlier on May 9, a House appropriations
panel for foreign aid denied USD 800 million to Pakistan from
a special fund for training and equipping Pakistan's military
in counter-insurgency tactics.
The US House Appropriations
Subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations called for a complete
ban on economic or security assistance to Pakistan until the
Secretary Of State certifies that Pakistan is cooperating and
taking action against terrorist networks.
The ICRC suspended most of its
aid projects in Pakistan and recalled foreign staff to the capital,
following the brutal murder of a British worker Khalil Dale
on April 29, 2012.
"The recent attack against the
ICRC compels us to completely reassess the balance between the
humanitarian impact of our activities and the risks faced by
our staff," said Jacques de Maio, ICRC's operations head for
South Asia.
May 11
Four children - one girl and
three boys - were killed and two women got injured on May 11
when a mortar slammed into their pick-up truck in the Qamberabad
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA. The family was
hit while trying to escape the area to avoid a military operation,
sources added. More than 1,000 families have fled the area so
far. The political administration had given a three-day deadline
to the residents of Shalobar tribe to vacate the area. The residents
were directed to move to Peshawar or Jalozai Camp. A UNHCR spokesperson
told reporters that as many as 230,000 people have been shifted
to the Jalozai Camp.
Unidentified assailants killed
a tribal elder, Malik Dilawar, in Hashtnagri area of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
One man was killed and several
wounded when around five rockets landed in the Hayatabad area
of Peshawar.
Faqirabad Circle DSP Banaras
Khan survived a bomb attack near the Ring Road Bridge in Peshawar.
A bomb exploded near the Ring Road bridge moments after a Police
vehicle with DSP on it passed by it in the morning.
A Police Officer, identified
as SI Syed Jamal Shah, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
outside his residence in Killi Kamalo area on Sariab Road in
Quetta.
Personnel of the AEC of the
CID Sindh claimed to have arrested an arms supplier of the BLA,
identified as Rehmanullah, and recovered a huge cache of arms,
including two rocket launchers, 60 hand grenades, 60 locally-made
bombs, two .222 rifles, four mini-rockets, two LMGs, anti-aircraft
guns, and 625 rounds of other weapons from Mowach Goth area
of Karachi. SSP Mohammed Aslam Khan of the AEC said that after
interrogating three suspects having links with the BLA, the
Police came to know that militants from various outfits, including
the PAC and TTP, had been purchasing arms from them.
The held suspects told the Police
that their ring leader Rehmanullah had travelled from Balochistan
to Karachi (Sindh) via Feroze Coach on the night of May 10 to
deliver a huge cache of arms to the militant outfits. Consequently,
a team of AEC personnel in civvies was deployed at Mowach Goth
intercity bus terminal and as soon as the Feroze coach arrived,
they took positions and overpowered Rehmanullah. However, his
accomplice Subha Khan managed to escape.
A Code of Conduct was devised
to regulate the affairs of two main mosques in Gilgit city of
Gilgit-Baltistan. The Masjid boards of the two sealed central
mosques of ASWJ and Imamia Mosque have agreed on a code of conduct
for the top khateebs (preacher) and Imams (prayer leader), strictly
prohibiting use of the forums for spreading hatred.
The boards' members held several
rounds of meetings with the PC, after which they reached a consensus
over a code of conduct for the top prayer leaders. This code
of conduct would be presented in the assembly for approval so
it could be given legal cover.
The Senate was informed that
the number of 'missing persons' has surged in Punjab to 246
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 169 in the past 16 months. Federal
Minister for Interior Rehman Malik said that 467 people went
missing across the country till May 2, 2021 as compared to 138
in 2010.
According to the commission,
the number of cases reported from ICT was 24 and 12 are still
pending with it. The Senate was informed that 170 cases from
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 134 from Punjab were still pending, 93
cases were reported from Sindh and 71 of them were pending,
while 19 cases were reported in FATA and the PoK and 12 were
pending. The house was told that 91 cases were reported from
Balochistan and 56 were still pending with the commission.
The HRCPs Secretary General
I. A. Rehman told the media that the figure was unrealistic.
"The commission may have taken into account the cases which
have been reported to it because many cases go unreported in
the province, but still it is unbelievable that only 56 persons
are missing in Balochistan, he said.
Qadir Baloch, Vice President
of the VBMP, said the release of such misleading figures is
a conspiracy against the Baloch nation. "The authorities want
to hide truth," he added.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
stated that high-value targets of al Qaeda were nailed with
the cooperation of ISI Agency and CIA. In an interview to British
Television, PM Gilani said Pakistan wanted political solution
of Afghanistan.
The US Democrat and Republican
lawmakers urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to declare
the Pakistan-linked Haqqani Network a FTO for its "indiscriminate
attacks" on US interests. "It was clear that the Haqqani Network
continues to launch sensational and indiscriminate attacks against
US interests in Afghanistan and the group poses a continuing
threat to innocent men, women, and children in the region."
"However, Ambassador Ryan Crocker
said that there have been no such talks since late 2011, and
that President Karzai has opposed their continuation. "It is
clear that there is now no reason not to designate the Haqqani
Network as a FTO, and urge such action immediately." Crocker
blamed April 15, 2012 18-hour assault on Kabul - the biggest
to hit the Afghan capital in a decade - on the Haqqani Network,
saying the group's leaders planned the attack from North Waziristan
Agency of FATA in Pakistan.
May 12
Three people, including a worker
of the MQM Organising Committee, were killed in separate target
killing incidents in Karachi. The MQM activist identified as
Rao Gulsher (50) was shot dead in AB Sinia Line in the Brigade
Police precincts.
Police found the bullet-riddled
body of a close aide of Lyari gangster Wasiullah Lakho, identified
as Faisal alias Lamba, from the Abdullah College Street
near the Khadda Market in the Kalri Police precincts.
Police found the dead body of
a young man from Liaquatabad C-1 area graveyard in the Super
Market Police precincts. The body has not been identified so
far.
Police claimed to have arrested
a target killer, identified as Abdul Jabbar Baloch, in a raid
from the Bada Board area. A Kalashnikov assault rifle was recovered
from him.
Police claimed to have arrested
an alleged target killer from Shah Muhammad graveyard in North
Karachi. Police also seized a 30-bore pistol from Zafar alias
Kaki.
Unidentified armed men killed
a Police constable in Sariab area in Quetta. Police said that
the unidentified gunmen, riding a motorbike, opened fire on
the Constable, Abdul Qadir, injuring him seriously. The victim
succumbed later.
A Policeman was killed and 20
others, including six cops and a woman, were injured when two
vans carrying prisoners to Mardan were attacked outside Gulbahar
Police Station on GT Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Federal Ministry of Interior
banned two organizations, Anjuman Imamia Gilgit Baltistan and
Muslim Students Organization GB, reports Pak Observer. Both
organizations have been banned under Anti-Terrorism Act-1997
and moreover their accounts have also been frozen.
May 13
Four persons were killed and
three received injuries in clashes between rival militant groups
in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said that
the clashes erupted when the cadres of AI attacked Sanda Pal,
a stronghold of its rival LI. Both sides used heavy weapons
against each other. The daylong clashes left three members of
AI and one activist of LI dead. Three LI activists were injured
in the clashes, sources said.
A tribal leader, Sultan Bachazad,
was shot dead in the Mamonzai area of Kurram Agency. Sources
said that unidentified militants opened fire on the tribal leader
as he came out of his house.
A roadside bomb injured two
SF personnel near Thal Pikkat when a convoy of security officials
was passing on the Razmak-Miranshah Road in NWA.
Eight mortar shells fired from
Afghanistan reportedly landed into Pakistani territory in North
Waziristan Agency. The mortar shells were fired by the NATO
forces in Khost but landed at Ghulam Khan Border area adjacent
to NWA.
Four people, including prominent
Deobandi religious leader and scholar Maulana Aslam Sheikhupuri
and his driver were killed in separate incidents in Karachi.
Four unidentified armed assailants attacked Maulana Sheikhupuri's
car in a sectarian target killing near the Rangoonwala Hall
in Dhoraji area killing him and his driver.
Two dead bodies of Hazara men,
identified as Bahadur Khan (36) and Shay Shah Faisal, were found
in Bhutto Nagar area. SHO Mazhar Iqbal Awan said that the Police
found at least five empty shells of a TT pistol from the site,
adding the victims were shot on their face and neck. Both victims
belonged to the Hazara community and were labourers, but Police
said they had no political affiliation.
Two Policemen were shot dead
while two others sustained injuries when some unidentified armed
militants opened fire at Police cordon in Shera Kot area of
Lahore District.
A child, identified as Naveed
(10), was killed while other two Majeed (13) and Rabia (7) sustained
injuries when a hand grenade exploded accidentally at riverine
area of the River Sutlej near Mailsi in Vehari District.
Unidentified assailants killed
Maulana Syed Mohammad Mohsin Shah, a District leader of a peace
jirga lashkar at Jamia Haleemia seminary in Dara Pezo of Lakki
Marwat District. Shah was a former JUI-F District chief and
was attacked at dawn inside his seminary at Jamia Haleemia.
Eight people, including a 12-year-old
boy, were injured in a remote-controlled bomb near a Police
checkpost on Ring Road near the cattle market in Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A bomb blast partially damaged
a railway track in Sariab area of Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan in the night.
The criminal gangs of Lyari
continue to commit kidnapping-for-ransom, brutal killings, extortion
and other sorts of crime after their successful weeklong gun
battle with the Law Enforcement Agencies that left at least
40 people dead besides injuring hundred others.
The retaliation of gangsters
resulted in a defeat to the law enforcers besides compelling
them to retreat from the battleground where 40 people and six
of their personnel were killed. Such a defeat to the Police
and FCB boosted up the morale of criminals who rule the densely
populated areas of Lyari.
According to sources, the PPP
had reportedly given a complete go-ahead to a chief gangster
Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla against Arshad Pappu and
others groups. Residents confirmed that Ladla's operatives were
unable to dominate the entire Lyari. They said that Lyari Police
Stations were completely under the influence of gangsters for
the last 10 years and Police personnel have been fearfully performing
their duties after the operation.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that there is insufficient evidence to arrest Mumbai terror
attack (26/11) mastermind Hafiz Saeed. "If you arrest him (Hafiz
Saeed), that means he will be released by the courts. For the
courts you need more evidence," he said adding, "You know the
judiciary is completely independent in Pakistan."
He also believes that al Qaeda
chief Ayman al-Zawahiri is not in Pakistan. "Why should I think
he (Zawahiri) is in Pakistan?" he asked. "You have claimed that
somebody has said that he is in Pakistan: if there is any information,
please share with us," he was quoted as saying. "We don't think
so," he added.
The Taliban can be defeated
militarily in Afghanistan but the job is not done, senator Dianne
Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,
said, noting that the insurgents still control more than a third
of the populated areas of the country and have a "safe harbour"
in Pakistan.
Ahead of the NATO summit in
Chicago, Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF agreed on border control
mechanism while restoration of the NATO supply also came under
discussion during the 35th meeting of Tripartite Commission
at GHQ in Rawalpindi.
According to sources, both General
Karimi and General Allen were interested in restoration of the
NATO supply. But the Afghan and ISAF sides seemed to agree to
General Kayani that parliament had furnished its recommendations
and it is for the government to decide fate of the stalled supply
to NATO, sources added.
May 14
At least 20 militants and a
peace volunteer were killed and several others, including two
SFs, received injuries during clashes in different parts of
FATA. 12 militants were killed and several others injured when
SFs pounded their hideouts with artillery and helicopter gunships
in two different areas of Kurram Agency.
Eight LI militants were killed
and two soldiers were injured in a clash with SFs at Qamberabad
Chowk in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
A volunteer of the Khwezai Peace
Committee, identified as Samar Gul, was killed and nine others
were wounded when militants attacked their check post with rockets
and other heavy weapons in Khara Shah area of Khwezai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency.
Two civilians and two FC persons
were killed, while 58 others, including 11 FC personnel, two
children and a woman, were injured when a car bomb exploded
as a FC convoy passed by in the Almo Chowk area of Quetta. Sarbaz
Baloch, who introduced himself as a spokesman for the BRA, claimed
responsibility for the attack and said such attacks would continue
in future.
The Supreme Court said that
there existed evidence that the FC were involved in abducting
people in Balochistan. A three-member bench headed by Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and comprising Justice Jawwad
S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, hearing Balochistan
target killings’ case, told the FC IG that respect for the force
was waning gradually, as 95 percent of the people in Balochistan
had alleged that FC was involved in the picking up of civilians
in the province.
The IG, Major General Obaidullah
Khan Khattak, denied his force’s involvement in incidences of
forced disappearance, and in response to CCTV footage played
in the court that showed three missing persons being taken away
in FC vehicle, said someone impersonating as FC men had picked
up the three.
NA issued a notification on
the formation of a Special Committee on Missing Persons by the
NA Speaker Doctor Fehmida Mirza. The Committee has been mandated
to investigate the issue of missing persons.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar hinted at restoration of NATO supplies, suspended six months
ago after a US strike at Salala checkpost on November 26, 2011,
that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Addressing a press conference
at the Foreign Office she clearly said, “We want to move towards
positive zone.”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan’s relationship with 48 countries serving
in the NATO cannot be put on stake just because of the US. While
indicating a possible shift in the policy towards NATO supply
routes, Gilani said, “This is not a matter of one country, the
issue of NATO supply is linked with 48 countries.”
The US State Department said
that the US and Pakistan have made “considerable progress” in
talks aimed at reopening NATO supply routes into Afghanistan.
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani said that
Pakistan-China friendship was a factor of peace and stability
in the region and had contributed immensely to regional and
international harmony, stability and understanding.
May 15
Nine militants were killed when
SFs pounded their hideouts in Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency
in FATA.
The increasing strikes of anti-state
elements and militants on SFs have compelled the Federal Government
to launch a wide-ranging operation against foreign radical elements
and fugitives present in NWA. Sources privy to the measure being
taken confided to Daily Times that though the date and
time for the operation had not yet been finalised, all other
modalities and arrangements were in final stages.
At least seven people, including
three MQM workers and a MQM sympathizer, were shot dead in different
parts of Karachi. A former councilor of the MQM Haq Parast group,
identified as Anwar Alam aka Babu Bhai (38), was shot dead near
his home in PECHS Block 2, said a duty officer at the Ferozabad
Police Station. Following the incident, unidentified militants
fired into the air, forcing closure of shops on Tariq Road and
Bahadurabad and spreading tension in the areas of Khalid Bin
Waleed Road and Tipu Sultan Road.
Another MQM worker, Mohammad
Azhar Ali (33), was found shot dead in the Memon graveyard within
the remit of the Malir Cantt Police Station. Also, one Kamran
Ali (22) of MQM was found shot dead in Ganna Mandi area within
Sohrab Goth Police Station.
A Shia man, identified as Syed
Mehdi Raza (32), was killed in a targeted sectarian attack near
the Inquiry Office in Nazimabad area while he was going to offer
prayers at Jamia Imamia Imambargah. The Police said the victim
was an MQM sympathiser also.
Two unidentified dead bodies
were found in the Ilyas Goth area of Korangi. They looked like
Afghans, said SHO Naik Mohammad Jakhrani, adding that the victims
sustained two gunshot wounds to their heads.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found in the Bakra Piri area of Malir within the Malir
City Police Station. ASI said that the victim appeared to be
Siraiki.
The registrar, Ghulam Bashir,
of the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology and his
son, Farooq Ahmed, were wounded in a gun attack within the remit
of the New Town Police Station.
An alleged hit-man, Rana Mohammad
Tasawar, who killed 24 people, including PPP workers and three
Policemen in Orangi Town in 1994, was arrested in a raid carried
out in Saddar area by the SIU. SP Khurram Waris claimed that
the suspect had 100 murders to his name.
Two brothers belonging to Hazara
community, identified as Muhammad Tahir and Muhammad Qadir,
were shot dead in front of the regional passport office on Joint
Road in Quetta.
Five mortar shells in quick
succession hit the Hayatabad area of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the evening, leaving five
persons injured. Security officials said militants wanted to
target paramilitary forces’ headquarters in Phase 6, adding
that the shelling also aimed at “terrorising” civilians.
Three persons, including two
girls, were injured when a grenade attack targeted the house
of a local trader, Ehsanullah, in the New City Homes area of
Peshawar.
The Federal Ministry of Interior
cancelled licenses and NOCs for transportation of arms and ammunition
aboard trains. “All the NOCs and permissions issued for allowing
carriage of arms, weapons and ammunition through railway carriers
stand cancelled until further orders, and those found violating
this order will be dealt with according to the law,” Federal
Minister of Interior Rehman Malik wrote in a letter to provincial
Home Departments, the railways Inspector General and Pakistan
Railways divisional superintendents.
The TTP released the video of
April 15, 2011, Bannu jail attack. The video shows TTP chief
Hakimullah Mehsud briefing his team of warriors through a map
containing different routes leading towards Bannu jail.
The Defence Committee of the
Cabinet directed relevant Ministries and Departments to conclude
the ongoing negotiations for new terms and conditions on resumption
of NATO ground supplies. The committee, which met under the
chairmanship of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, also reiterated
Pakistan’s stance that only non-lethal cargo will be allowed
to transit the country.
The committee welcomed the unconditional
invitation by the NATO secretary general to President Asif Ali
Zardari to attend NATO summit in Chicago, and fully endorsed
the visit. It also discussed parliament’s call for expulsion
of foreign fighters, if found, on the Pakistani side of the
border.
The COAS General Ashfaq Pervaiz
Kayani summoned Corps Commanders Conference on May 16 to take
them into confidence over restoration of NATO supplies.
The Gilgit Baltistan cabinet
approved ‘Code of Conduct’ for mosques and gave legal status
to Masjid Boards, which were formed by the Parliamentary
Committee. Government spokesperson and Minister for Education
Ali Madad Sher said the code of conduct has been approved and
will be given a legal cover by presenting it in the Assembly
in the shape of a Masjid Boards Act and its implementation will
ensure harmony, tranquility and tolerance.
GB Government on May 14 decided
to constitute a judicial commission to probe April 2012 sectarian
bout which claimed at least 24 lives. Ali Madad Sher apprised
the participants of the meeting that the Government has arrested
21 outlaws wanted for sectarian bout and has issued orders to
arrest nine others. The Security Force formed in the wake of
sectarian violence has also started operation on Karakoram Highway,
he added.
May 16
At least eight persons were
killed in separate incidents of target killing in Karachi. Two
armed militants shot dead a former nazim of Union Council and
member of MQM, Khursheed Iqbal (45), near Millat Garden, Malir,
within the jurisdiction of the Saudabad Police Station. Tension
prevailed in various areas of Malir, including Jinnah Square,
Malir-15, Liaquat Market, Khokhrapar, Saudabad, Kala Board and
Rafah-e-Aam Society.
Another MQM activist, identified
as Zubair Siddiqui (40), was shot dead near Liaquat Market,
Malir in Saudabad Police limits.
One Hassnain Malik (35), associated
with the MQM, was shot dead in Durrani Goth area of Orangi Town
within the jurisdiction of the Pakistan Bazaar Police Station.
SHO Sabir Hussain said Zubair had recently joined the MQM after
quitting the PPP.
An unidentified man of Baloch
descent was shot dead at Mir Alam Road within the limits of
Baldia Police Station. According to witnesses, unidentified
militants pushed the man off one of their bikes before shooting
him four times.
One Sardar Hussain (42) was
shot dead near Metro Cinema, Banaras, within the limits of Pirabad
Police Station while he was standing at a bus stop.
Unidentified armed militants
killed a rickshaw puller on Burns Road in the limits of Aram
Bagh Police Station.
A cadre PAC, identified as Aslam
Niazi alias Commando (38), was shot dead at Niazi Chowk within
the jurisdiction of Kalri Police Station. SHO Safdar Mashwani
said that the victim was associated with a Lyari-based gang.
A man, identified as Wajahat
(35), was killed and eight others were injured when as unidentified
militants hurled a hand grenade at cafe, Allah Malik and New
Quetta Noorani, located near Dawood Chowrangi in the limits
of Shah Latif Police Station.
CID of the Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested a militant of LeJ, identified as Nawaz Khan
alias Shah Jee, and recovered five kilogrammes explosive material,
three detonators, seven metres, detonating wires and a TT pistol
and weapons from his possession during a raid at Sohrab Goth
Bus Stop, Super Highway. SSP Fayyaz Khan said during the interrogation,
he confessed that the recovered explosive was being shifted
to Karachi (Sindh) from Waziristan in (FATA) for attacks on
rival sect’s members.
The death toll of May 14, 2102,
blast at Almo Chowk in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan,
rose to five when a man succumbed to his injuries. The deceased
was identified as Mohammad Arif.
Four people were injured after
unidentified assailants entered a restaurant and opened fire
on people in Pishin District.
At least two Policemen and prisoners
were injured when a roadside bomb exploded while a Police van
was on its way to Goth Pir Sher from Dera Murad Jamali in Naseerabad
District. The BRA claimed responsibility for the attack.
Kalat Division Commissioner
Mir Ikhtiar Khan Bangulzai escaped unhurt in a gun attack on
Regional Cooperation for Development Highway near Mastung District
while he was on his way to Quetta from Khuzdar District.
Police arrested a person and
recovered explosive material from him in the limits of Rustam
Police Station in Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sources
said that Rustam Police during checking on Rustam-Machi Road
near Machi Bridge stopped a motorbike rider and recovered 188
dynamite sticks, 250 metres fuse and 150 detonators from a bag.
The arrested accused was identified as Ali Sher, resident of
Kalu Khan in Swabi District.
Several Western embassies in
Islamabad received letters containing suspicious powder and
threats to poison NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, Pakistan officials
sources said. Islamabad Police Chief Bani Amin said that embassies
had received small packets containing black powder, which had
been sent for laboratory analysis.
The French embassy, the Australian
and British High Commissions had received suspicious packages.
Security agencies issued terror
alert for Pakistan Rangers, who guard the Wagah check post -
a key trading post between India and Pakistan. The increased
deployment of the Pakistan Rangers came after an alert issued
by the security agencies saying the trading post could be targeted
by the TTP.
Militants in two southern Districts
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have warned NGOs to stop their activities
or face attacks. The militants sent letters to various NGOs
in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank. The NGOs reported the threats
to Police. Also, the militants directed well-to-do residents
of Lakki Marwat and Bannu to start paying monthly dues or face
attacks. Residents of Azakhel and Abakhel villages in Lakki
Marwat District have refused to pay and said they will fight
the militant groups.
An inquiry committee of the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has found Police, paramilitary
force, civil administration and intelligence agencies “collectively
responsible” for April 15’s Bannu jailbreak by the TTP, Provincial
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.
KP Governor Masud Kausar said
that about 90 percent of the seven tribal areas and Frontier
Regions are under Government control because of successful action
against the militants and activities to revive public life are
gearing up as a result. “I must say, apart from North Waziristan
Agency and some parts of South Waziristan Agency, the remaining
FATA is clear now and the government writ is being consolidated,”
Governor Masud Kausar said.
The University of Peshawar has
beefed up security after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masud
Kausar directed it to protect professors who received threatening
letters from the TTP. Mujeeb ur Rehman of the English Department
and Sarfraz Khan of the area studies centre received death threats
from the TTP on May 1 because of reports that controversial
writer Salman Rushdie’s novels would be included in college
curricula, campus police officer Abdus Salam Khalid said.
Reports indicate that Pakistan
is set to gain USD 365 million annually, under ‘an agreement’,
for the reopening of supply routes for NATO troops in Afghanistan,
a report of The Christian Science Monitor website revealed.
The US-led coalition is expected to pay Pakistan a fee of USD
1,500 to USD 1,800 for every truck carrying supplies through
the country. Officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity,
said that the bill is estimated to go up to USD one million
per day.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said in categorical terms that reopening NATO supplies
was in the interest of Pakistan. "The restoration of NATO
supplies will be strictly in accordance with the resolution
adopted by the Parliament," she said. She said Pakistan
would receive one billion dollars in CSF.
ISAF Commander in Afghanistan
General John Allen said that the ISAF mission was not affected
by the closure of NATO supplies.
The White House strongly opposed
recent congressional moves to impose restrictions on reimbursement
of CSF for Pakistan as well as requirements of certification.
Reacting to a series of proposals made by the House Armed Services
Committee in NDAA for the fiscal year 2013, the White House
budget office objected to several of the proposals.
JuD chief Hafiz Saeed sent legal
notices to two journalists for publishing news about his alleged
meeting with US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter. Saeed
served the notices on columnist Nazir Naji and reporter Amir
Mir and sought PKR 100 million in damages.
The Peshawar High Court informed
relatives of ‘missing’ persons that those detained in FATA will
be identified soon and their details will be submitted to the
court within one week. PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan
was informed by FATA Additional Chief Secretary Tashfain that
a list of all those detained in tribal areas will be prepared,
a copy of which will be given to the court.
Judge Advocate General Brigadier
Nobahar told the court that the number of missing persons has
sharply decreased and people were being shifted to internment
centres.
Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs
Department Muhammad Azam Khan informed the court that around
1,039 detained persons were so far released after they went
through the de-radicalisation process in different internment
centres.
May 17
Eight persons, including a MQM
activist and two cadres belonging to ST, were killed in separate
acts of target killings in Karachi. Three persons were shot
dead and several injured including a woman in an incident of
indiscriminate firing on a car in the Ancholi area of Karachi.
Police found a dead body of
a man, identified Shafiq (24), in a gunny bag from a garbage
drum in Lines Area within the limits of Brigade Police Station.
The victim was a worker of MQM unit 197.
A man, identified as Adnan Baloch
was shot dead in KBR Society within the limits of Taimuria Police
Station.
One Tahir (28) was shot dead
in Haryana Colony, Qaimkhani Chowk, and Orangi Town within the
limits of Mominabad Police Station while he was sitting near
a drug den at Qaimkhani Chowk.
A cadre of ST, identified as
Shahbaz alias Shahzee, was shot dead in PECHS Society within
the limits of Ferozabad Police Station while he was sitting
in front of his house.
Police found the body of a ST
activist, identified Armaghan Qadri (28), from Tariq Road within
the jurisdiction of Ferozabad Police Station.
Two Police constables, Ghulam
Murtaza and Sanaullah, belonging to Shia sect, were shot dead
and another two, ASI Muhammad Hussain and Constable Deen Muhammad,
were injured in a targeted sectarian attack in the Sardar Karez
area of Eastern Bypass in Quetta.
Another injured victim of May
14, 2012 blast at Almo Chowk in Quetta succumbed to injuries,
raising the death toll six. The deceased was identified as Bibi
Zakra.
Police foiled a terror bid by
recovering three kilogrammes of explosive material from a railway
track in Spezand area of Dasht area in Mastung District.
A businessman, identified as
Mohid Khan (30), was killed and another injured when a remote-controlled
bomb exploded in their spare parts shop near Scheme Chowk on
the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Suspected militants attacked
a checkpoint with a hand grenade in the limits of Hayatabad
Police Station, leaving two private guards injured.
A hand grenade was reportedly
lobbed at a Police checkpost in Bilitang area of Kohat District,
leaving two Policemen injured.
Police have arrested three escaped
prisoners, who were on the run following Bannu jailbreak incident
on April 15, from Muslimabad area of Kohat.
Unidentified militants blew
up the building of Government Degree College for Women in Jamrud
tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA with a remote-controlled
bomb.
Police claimed to have foiled
a terror attack by recovering 10 kilograms of explosives from
a vehicle in the Kahuta area of Rawalpindi in Punjab. Police
said that they also arrested two suspects inside the vehicle
and recovered two suicide bomb jackets from their possession.
PIA evacuated a flight bound
for Dubai because of a bomb threat. The Airbus was ready for
take-off at 11.00am from Lahore airport when the authorities
received an anonymous call claiming a bomb was on board, PIA
spokesman Sultan Hasan. Officials escorted all 157 passengers
and 10 crew off the plane to sweep for explosives. However,
the officials did not find anything suspicious.
The KP Government suspended
about 300 Government officials after receiving a report on the
April 15 Bannu jailbreak. Twenty-seven senior officials were
found negligent, suspended from their posts, and made OSDs,
KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said. Penalised
officials included NWA Political Agent Muhammad Yaha. Bannu
Commissioner Abdullah Khan Mehsud and IG of Prisons Arshad Majeed
Mohmand were placed on OSD status on April 16.
Pakistan and India beefed up
security at Wagah border after receiving a letter from the LeT
threatening to blow up the ICP at Attari in opposition to doing
Indo-Pak trade before resolving the Kashmir dispute.
A Punjab Rangers spokesman said
the force was as usual on a high alert at the Wagah border.
However, he added, he had no information if the LeT had issued
a letter that threatened to blow up the checkpost.
President Asif Ali Zardari announced
that he will attend the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, accepting
an invitation that was given after the country indicated it
plans to end its six-month blockade of supplies meant for coalition
troops in Afghanistan.
The White House said that the
US and Pakistan has decided to “reach a conclusion” to their
standoff over Pakistan’s blockade of a key supply route. But
National Security Adviser Tom Donilon says it’s unclear whether
a deal can be reached before this weekend’s NATO summit in Chicago.
But with an agreement still not finalized, Donilon says there
are no plans for President Barack Obama to meet separately at
the summit with Zardari.
Pakistani negotiators have proposed
a fee of about USD 5,000 for each NATO shipping container and
tanker that transits its territory by land into and out of Afghanistan,
a Washington Post report said. The newspaper said that
the amount is a key sticking point in discussions about the
terms of a deal that would allow the traffic to resume, according
to US and Pakistani officials.
Earlier, The Christian Science
Monitor website reported that US-led coalition is expected
to pay Pakistan a fee of USD 1,500 to USD 1,800 for every truck
carrying supplies through the country.
The Sindh Government has set
aside PKR 95.2 million (USD 1.1 million) for the heirs of the
476 victims of terrorism and targeted shootings in 2011 in Karachi.
Each legal heir will receive PKR 200,000 (USD 2,200), Rafiq
Engineer, a Provincial Minister, told Central Asia Online. Fifteen
heirs received compensation cheques from Chief Minister (CM)
Qaim Ali Shah during a ceremony at the CM House. Leaders of
the PPP, the MQM and the ANP attended the event.
HuT spokesperson Naveed Butt’s
wife demanded the release of Butt who was allegedly picked up
by spy agencies from Islamabad on May 11, 2012. Chief Justice
Iqbal Hameedur Rehman directed the Intelligence Agencies to
produce Butt on May 18, 2012.
American lawmakers of both Democratic
and Republican parties slammed the Obama administration's request
for USD 2.4 billion for Pakistan, calling it a "black hole"
where the US has "sunk" USD 24 billion over the last
decade. "Pakistan is like a black hole for American aid,"
Gary Ackerman, top Democrat on the house foreign affairs panel
on the Middle East and South Asia said.
Similarly Republican Dana Rohrabacher
blasted US support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who he
said was taking "marching orders" from Pakistan.
"We should cut Pakistan off of every cent because it has
been used for evil purposes, including killing American troops,"
he said.
India will take up the issue
of LeT founder and Chief of JuD Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind
of Mumbai 2008 (also known as 26/11) attacks with Pakistan during
the upcoming May 25, 2012 secretary level talks between the
two countries, said Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
May 18
At least five persons, including
an activist of the MQM, were killed in separate acts of target
killing in different parts of Karachi. An MQM activist, identified
as Imran (26), was shot dead near Usman Mosque, Shah Faisal
Colony while he was standing near the mosque. Tension engulfed
the surrounding areas and major shops and markets were closed.
A van driver, Ghulam Khan (26),
was shot dead near Lyari Expressway in the jurisdiction of Sher
Shah Police Station.
One Usman (19) was also shot
dead in Hassan Nauman Colony in the limits of Sohrab Goth Police
Station.
Police found an unidentified
bullet-riddled dead body in a gunny bag from near Sindhi Hotel
in the precincts of Liaquatabad Police Station.
Police found another unidentified
bullet-riddled dead body of a young man from Sector 16-B of
Shah Latif Town.
A volunteer of a peace committee
was killed, while two others received bullet injuries when militants
opened fire on them while they were on a routine patrol in Mamond
tehsil of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
A railway track was blown up
in Pirkaniabad area of Sariab in Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan. According to Police, unidentified militants
planted explosive material to the railway track, which exploded,
destroying one-and-half-foot long portion of the track.
The Police claimed to have arrested
an important militant ‘commander’ Maulvi Abdur Razaq, associated
with Swat chapter of TTP, during a raid in Kot area of Charbagh
tehsil in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was
wanted to the Police in the 2007 attack on Police checkpost
in Charbagh.
A Kohistan jirga banned poppy
and hemp cultivation in the District and asked NGOs to operate
there without violating local norms and values. The District
administration had called the jirga in Dassu area to win the
local elders’ support against the Maulvi Abdul Haleem decree
that female workers of NGOs will be married off to locals in
case of their entry to Kohistan.
Pakistan appears to be finally
gearing up for lifting the ban on NATO supplies for foreign
troops as US ‘diplomatic supplies’ were allowed to Afghanistan
through Torkham Border. In a clearest sign as yet, the authorities
opened a vital border crossing, albeit briefly, to allow at
least four containers of ‘office supplies’ for the US Embassy
in Kabul to cross into Afghanistan for the first time in six
months.
The US slapped sanctions on
two Haqqani Network and Afghan Taliban militants, Bakht Gul
and Abdul Baqi Bari, barring American citizens from any dealings
with them. Director of Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control, Adam Szubin said on May 17 that Bakht Gul, a
Haqqani Network communications official since 2009, has been
designated for acting for or on behalf of senior Haqqani Network
leader Badruddin Haqqani. Abdul Baqi Bari, an Afghan Taliban
financier, is being designated for providing financial support
for or financial services to the Taliban.
The Supreme Court issued notices
to the Ministry of Defence, ISI and MI on a petition challenging
a law that allows putting people accused of terrorism in internment
centres. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Khilji
Arif Hussain had taken up an application about the health condition
of seven Adilyala prisoners who had been recovered on earlier
directives of the court.
The court issued the notices
after it had been informed by an official of the internment
centre in Parachinar (Kurram Agency of FATA) that prisoners
Abdul Basit and Abdul Majid could not be released because they
were allegedly involved in anti-state activities and attacks
on the army.
The CID of the Punjab Police
issued a fresh edition of ‘Red Book’ containing the profiles
of 70 most wanted suspects involved in terrorist attacks and
sectarian killings and the details of rewards for informants.
The book also carries the names of the suspects who were involved
in terrorist attacks on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,
former President General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, mastermind
of suicide attack on Qasim Baila office of Inter-Services Intelligence
Multan and terrorist involved in the suicide attack on PAF base
Sargodha.
According to the book, prepared
by the Punjab counterterrorism department, of the 70 high profile
terror suspects, 28 belonged to different Sunni outfits and
20 to Shia organisations, while the rest had association with
various banned outfits including TTP. Abdul Hameed alias Wattoo
belonged to TTP and wanted in connection with terrorist attacks
on GPO Chowk and Naval War College, Lahore.
Among the desperately wanted
terrorists, Ikramullah belonged to TTP Baitullah Mehsood group
and was involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto. Matiur Rehman belonged to Amjad Farooqi group
and wanted by Police in connection with suicide attack on former
president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf. The attack was
carried out on December 25, 2003.
The NCMC of Federal Ministry
of Interior sent a letter to the Sindh Government, revealing
that the TTP Punjab chapter (also known as Punjabi Taliban)
were planning on attacking Karachi’s (Sindh) Central Jail and
other vital installations. The militants also planned on abducting
foreigners and other important personalities. The information
was given to the Crisis Management Cell by confidential sources.
According to the information
available, the Punjabi Taliban will pick up important people
and foreigners in the first phase of the attacks. Sources said
that the Punjabi Taliban was planning these attacks in order
to get arrested members released.
Two months after he was shot
dead by French Special Forces, a 23-year-old Algerian-origin
terrorist Mohamed Merah was found to have been plotting to attack
the Indian embassy in Paris on the direction of his Taliban
handlers in Pakistan. Quoting sources from the French Internal
Intelligence and the Special Forces, Le Monde reported that
Mohamed Merah's Taliban handlers in Pakistan had tasked him
to attack the Indian mission.
During the siege, the terrorist
had long chats with the Policemen surrounding his house, which
were recorded and are now part of the judicial dossier. Merah
told the Police that he had dropped the plan to attack the Indian
mission due to difficulty of the enterprise. He also said that
he had attended jihad camps in Pakistan and undergone al Qaeda
training.
The Chief Minister of Punjab
Shahbaz Sharif for the first time admitted that southern belt
of the province was a breeding ground for militants. The Provincial
Government had, up to now, been denying the presence of any
militant elements in southern Punjab.
He said Britain’s DFID and the
Punjab Government were working on a project for improving the
lot of the people by launching a skill development programme
for southern Punjab. Both the DFID and the Provincial Government,
he said, were contributing PKR two billion each for the project.
Britain’s Acting High Commissioner,
Mrs Alison Blake, said that targets had been set for increasing
trade between UK and Pakistan during the recent visit of Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. She expressed the hope that collaboration
would bring people of the two nations closer.
Human Rights organisation, Amnesty
International took notice of life threats to Sindh MPA, Saleem
Khursheed Khokhar for his vocal stance on the Rinkle Kumari
case, and his call for Hindu women and girls to be protected
from abduction and forced conversion to Islam.
The NGO also urged people to
demand that anyone who is responsible for threats to the MPA,
other abuse against minorities including forced conversion and
marriage, be brought to justice in trials that meet international
standards.
Khokhar had stated that he and
his colleague, MPA Pitanber Sewani, had received text messages
from an unknown number. The message read: “Only Muslims will
be allowed to live peacefully in this country. No one else will
be allowed to live here with dignity”.
Pakistan has been ranked second
in the list of most negatively rated countries in the world
by a global poll for BBC World Service, which surveyed 24,090
people around the world. Pakistan was rated "mostly negative"
by 51% of the respondents, getting placed just one spot above
the most negatively rated country – Iran, which was rated negative
by 55% of the total respondents.
According to the poll results,
Pakistan is the only country that rated its own influence as
negative. The survey results revealed that a negative view of
Pakistan was found mostly in Western countries. Around 75% Americans,
69% Canadians and 72% Australians said Pakistan's influence
in the world is mainly negative.
The HRW urged President Asif
Ali Zardari not to sign a bill creating a National Human Rights
Commission until it is revised to authorise investigations of
the Military and the Intelligence Agencies for human rights
violations. The National Human Rights Commission Act was passed
by the National Assembly on May 4, but requires presidential
assent to take effect.
The bill contains many positive
elements to promote and protect human rights in Pakistan, the
HRW said. The commission would be an independent body with members
appointed by a Parliamentary Committee.
However, the HRW expressed strong
concerns that the bill in its present form would prevent the
commission from addressing or investigating human rights violations
by members of the armed forces and intelligence agencies. In
instances of allegations against the armed forces, the commission
would only be mandated to seek a report from the Federal Government.
The UN humanitarian agencies
need USD 169 million to help the Internally Displaced Pakistanis
living in camps and elsewhere in Pakistan, a UN official said.
A UN spokesperson told reporters that as of May 15 the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees had registered some 232,390 people
displaced since January when Pakistan army’s security operations
began again.
May 19
Two dead bodies, stuffed in
sacks, were recovered within the precincts of Yar Hussain Police
Station in Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
missing journalist Razzaq Gul was found in a deserted area of
Singani Sar area, near Turbat city in Kech District. Razzaq
Gul, a correspondent for Express News, was abducted near
his house on May 18, 2012.
Balochistan Union of Journalists
staged a protest demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club
on May 20 to condemn the killing of journalist Razzaq Gull.
A bid to smuggle cartridges/bullets
from Afghanistan into Pakistan was foiled, by the Khasadar Force
at Torkham border crossing in FATA. 9,960 sniper gun cartridges
and 10,200 9mm gun bullets were recovered. Truck driver Malik
and conductor Kamal, both of whom who hailed from Nangarhar
Province of Afghanistan, were arrested and sent to Landikotal
jail for investigation, sources said.
Almost a year after key 26/11
suspect Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri was reported killed in a drone
strike, the UN has updated his status as "reported dead"
in a sanctions list of individuals and entities associated with
al Qaeda. The UN Security Council al-Qaida Sanctions committee
amended on May 10 the information related to Kashmiri in its
comprehensive 'al-Qaida Sanctions List'. The updated information
reads Kashmiri "reportedly deceased in Pakistan on June
11, 2011".
May 20
An ASI Sher Ahmed was shot dead
in a target killing incident in Civil Colony area of Khuzdar
District while he was on his way home.
Anti-Narcotics Force recovered
2,500 kilogrammes of opium and weapons from Washuk District.
An unidentified man was shot
dead near Eidgah Ground within the jurisdiction of Nazimabad
Police Station in Karachi. DSP Shahid Abbas said the victim
appeared to be Pakhtoon.
An unidentified man was wounded
when armed militants shot and injured him in Baldia Town.
Another young man, Aurangzeb
(32) was shot and injured in Nazimabad locality. Police officials
said that the man was associated with the MQM Unit 182.
A Police SI, identified as Shahnawaz,
was wounded when armed assailants opened fire on him in Binnoria
Mohalla in Orangi Town within the limits of Mominabad Police
Station.
A militant was killed and two
others were injured in an encounter with SFs in Salim Khan village
of Swabi District in KP. Police said that another militant was
arrested in the action. DPO Abdul Rashid said that the action
was initiated in Salim Khan village on a tip-off that militants
were present in a seminary, Jawaherul Quran that was run by
Maulana Mujtaba.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government school in Kalu Khan area near Azamabad Police
post in the Swabi District. Another bomb planted in the building
was defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad.
Moving beyond the vague and
clichéd 3-D (Development, Deterrence and Dialogue) strategy,
KP Government has come up with a plan which officials and cabinet
ministers say could well serve as the first comprehensive state
response to overcome militancy. The 24-page presentation “Continuing
Militancy, Challenge & Response”, unveiled at a cabinet
meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti envisages
a full state response in terms of governance, deliverance and
coordination to overcome the challenges from non-state actors.
President Asif Ali Zardari pressed
the US during a NATO meeting to help find a “permanent solution”
to US drone strikes that have fuelled tensions between the two
uneasy allies. “The President said that Pakistan wanted to find
a permanent solution to the drone issue as it not only violated
our sovereignty but also inflamed public sentiments,” President
Zardari’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement after
the Pakistani leader met with US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
The President Asif Ali Zardari
will reportedly demand USD one billion from NATO as compensation
for the war on terror and its dire consequences on the country’s
economy. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Zardari
would put forward the demand at the NATO summit in Chicago.
Pakistan Ambassador to the United
States, Sherry Rehman has said that Pakistan is looking at a
‘positive’ conversation about reopening of NATO supply routes
but it will be pre-mature to say when the trucks will resume
supply.
US Special Representative for
Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman said that some differences
exist with Pakistan and it would take time for the issues to
be resolved. The US envoy said that some difference remain between
the two countries, however the process of negotiations between
the two continue and efforts are being made for the resolution
of contentious issues.
The US-Pakistani talks on reopening
vital supply routes for NATO forces in Afghanistan have faltered
over Islamabad’s “unacceptable” demand to charge steep fee for
trucks crossing the border, a senior US official said. Pakistan
has also failed to present a coherent, consistent position in
the negotiations, said the official.
The US commander in Afghanistan,
General John Allen said he would not be disappointed if a long-sought
agreement with Pakistan on supply routes failed to materialise
by the end of the NATO summit in Chicago on May 21. General
John Allen told Reuters he was confident a deal would eventually
be struck but “whether it’s in days or weeks, I don’t know”.
May 21
At least four militants and
one volunteer of a peace committee were killed while several
others were injured in clashes with SFs in Bukarh area of Tirah
Valley in Khyber Agency of FATA. Sources said that an intense
gunfight erupted when cadres of LI attacked a bunker of Zakhakhel
Peace Committee in Bukarh area.
The tribal people from Khyber
Agency have supported the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s unanimous
resolution regarding FATA representation in the provincial assembly
and demanded its merger with settled areas.
Afghan SFs intruded into Pakistani
territory near Qila Saifullah District and opened fire on a
passenger bus, killing one Pakistani national, identified as
Rahem Dad, and injuring four others.
A dead body, identified as that
of Sheikh Niazi (22), was found from a gunny bag abandoned alongside
Shah Waliullah Road within the limits of Baghdadi Police Station
in Karachi. SHO Ali Raza said Niazi was abducted on the night
of May 20, 2012 from Niazi Chowk.
Hearing the May 22, 2011 PNS
Mehran Base attack in Karachi, a military court on May 21 court-martialled
three officers. According to details, an investigation team
had found Base Commander Commodore Raja Tahir, Commanding Officer
Israr, Air Base Security Officer Lieutenant Commander Absar
irresponsible and negligent of their duties.
Banks in KP and FATA sealed
22 accounts worth billions of rupees owned by depositors suspected
of links to militants and drug smugglers, officials said. Twelve
of the accounts were in the Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur agencies
of FATA.
The US pressed Pakistan to act
against the extremists groups, including al Qaeda and the Haqqani
Network, who threaten them as well as the region and sought
reopening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton called on Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari in Chicago on the sidelines of the crucial NATO Summit
focusing Afghanistan.
CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
once again expressed his strong resentment over the authorities’
failure to recover missing persons, and summoned the Defence
and Interior secretaries, as well as the principal secretaries
of the Prime Minister and the Balochistan Governor, on May 22
to explain the allegations leveled against SFs and other Government
institutions in the missing persons’ cases.
The Supreme Court Treasury Bench,
headed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while hearing
the cases pertaining to the deteriorating law and order in Balochistan,
targeted killings and kidnappings, expressed serious concern
on the lack of progress in the cases of missing persons, and
said the court would pass an order in this connection on May
22.
About 120 female health workers
who resigned after TTP death threats in 2009 have returned to
work in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. About 70 woman
health workers and 50 nurses were re-appointed last week, said
Dr. Ajmal Wazir, Assistant Executive District Officer for Health
in Swat.
Islamabad has ordered officials
to reach a deal with the US on reopening its border to NATO
supplies, President Asif Zardari told NATO leaders. Pakistani
officials have “decided to direct the relevant officials to
conclude negotiations for resumption of the ground lines of
communication”, Zardari said during a special summit focusing
on Afghanistan.
Zardari said a peaceful and
stable Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s national interest as he
told the gathering that Islamabad believed in partnerships based
on trust and respect. The President expressed Islamabad’s support
for peaceful transition in Kabul, but urged a long-term commitment
to ensure stability in Afghanistan.
NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen acknowledged that there could be no large drawdown
of troops from Afghanistan without Pakistan’s help as both sides
also expressed the desire to stay engaged with each other despite
differences.
May 22
A rally opposing creation of
Mohajir Province in Sindh, titled ‘Mohabbat-e-Sindh’
(Love of Sindh), organised by the Awami Tehreek (AT), a Sindh-based
nationalist party, was attacked by unidentified armed militants
at Napier Road in Karachi killing at least 13 people and injuring
35 others. The march started out as a peaceful one with a few
thousand men, women and children at Lyari’s Ath Chowk.
JSMM Secretary General Muzzaffar
Bhutto was found dead after he went missing on February 25,
2011, from Hyderabad District.
Rangers arrested 15 accused
including two target killers during action in various areas
of Karachi, including Musharraf Colony, Ranchore Line, Napier
Road and others.
At least four militants were
killed in a US drone strike on a militant compound in the Tabai
area near Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency,
in FATA.
SFs destroyed houses of four
alleged militants and recovered arms and ammunition during a
search operation in Chamarkand tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
Central Jail Mach Warden Shaukat
Ali Kethran was shot dead by unidentified armed militants in
Mach tehsil of Bolan District. The attackers managed
to flee after the attack.
LEAs arrested about 60 Afghan
nationals in Panjgur District. According to sources, the arrested
Afghan nationals wanted to cross into Iran via Pakistan.
Expressing dismay over non-appearance
of the secretaries of Defence and Interior and principal secretary
to the Prime Minister before it, the Supreme Court observed
that it appeared the Government, Police and Law Enforcement
Agencies had no interest in recovering the missing persons.
Unidentified people hurled a
hand-grenade on the outhouse of an ANP MNA, Pir Dilawar Shah,
in Kohat District of KP. MNA Pir Dilawar Shah remained safe.
His guards opened fire on the attackers and forced them to retreat.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government-run primary school for girls in the Barakhel
area of Mera Risalpur in Nowshera District. Police said the
two bombs destroyed three classrooms, the main gate and the
boundary wall. Militants have blown up 16 schools in Nowshera.
Police and SFs arrested 10 militants
in a joint search operation in different areas of the Mardan
District. The operation was conducted in Sawaldher, Chora, Jabbar,
Dubai Adda, Guli Bagh, Umarabad, Shakar Tangai, Bashkhali and
Surpul areas from 4am to 5:30pm. They said that a daylong curfew
was imposed in those areas.
KP Government is installing
radar to help protect citizens of Hayatabad against militant
mortar and rocket attacks and to guard the city of Peshawar,
Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour said. The Government will
use all possible resources to protect its citizens, he said.
The four divisional commissioners
of KP have started compiling a record of legal and illegal arms.
The KP Government May 16 ordered the commissioners to inspect
arms manufacturing units and assess weapons dealers in their
areas.
Police recovered a renowned
businessman and owner of Mr. Books at Super Market, Mohammad
Yousuf, from a hideout in Rawalpindi District in the wee hours
and arrested four captors, including a young woman, identified
as Gulnaz (30), involved in his abduction-for-ransom. Yousuf
was abducted on May 9, 2012 outside his store.
An arrest warrant issued against
former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by Anti-Terrorism
Court in connection with the Benazir Bhutto assassination case
will remain valid till its compliance said the FIA authorities
in Pakistan to the Interpol.
A leading global press freedom
watchdog, RWB expressed concern over growing attacks on journalists
in Pakistan with Abdul Razaq Gul becoming the fifth journalists
killed this year.
A Senate panel approved a foreign
aid budget for next year that cuts US assistance to Pakistan
and Egypt. By voice vote a Senate Appropriations subcommittee
approved the overall bill totaling USD 52.1 billion. That is
USD 2.6 billion less than what President Barack Obama requested
Pakistan has to be part of the
solution in Afghanistan, said US President Barack Obama after
his two brief meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari on the
sidelines of the NATO summit. NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen said his organisation invited Pakistan to the
two-day summit because it was seeking “positive engagement with
Pakistan”.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton emphasised the need to rebuild “a strong and mutually
beneficial” relationship with Pakistan, feelings reciprocated
by President Zardari in all encounters with US and NATO leaders
during his stay in Chicago.
Outlining the US strategy for
staying engaged with Pakistan, Mr Obama said: “It is in our
national interest to see a Pakistan that is democratic, that
is prosperous and that is stable.” He pointed out that the two
countries shared a common enemy in the extremists that were
“found not only in Afghanistan, but also within Pakistan”.
The Communication Ministry has
proposed charging NATO forces USD 1,000 per container to offset
the PKR 100 billion in damages caused to the road infrastructure
in the past 10 years, said Communications Secretary Anwar Ahmad
Khan.
The statement comes at a time
when Pakistan and United States are negotiating new conditions
for reopening the ground lines of communication (GLOC), the
official name for the NATO supply routes through Pakistan. US
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has declined to accept Pakistan’s
demand of USD 5,000 per container, inclusive of all charges.
After the meeting, Khan said
that the Ministry has recommended USD 1,000 exclusive of other
charges that the Government wants to receive for opening the
GLOC. “General Musharraf allowed the use of Pakistan’s territory
without getting legitimate benefits the mistake will now be
rectified,” said PAC Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan.
May 23
As many as 12 militants were
killed after gunship helicopters pounded several hideouts in
Mamozai, Sama Bazaar and Manzar Taap areas of the Orakzai Agency
in FATA. Security sources said over 92 percent of Orakzai had
been cleared of terrorists in the ongoing military operation.
They also said that as many as 507 terrorists have been killed
so far.
Three militants and a peace
volunteer were killed and one was injured in a clash in Tirah
valley in Khyber Agency. Sources said that Tariq Afridi group
of TTP ambushed a patrolling party of Kukikhel peace volunteers
in Dwa Thoe area, killing one of them and injuring another.
A woman and her 10-year-old
son were killed when a mortar shell hit a house in Khwezai tehsil
of Mohmand Agency.
Three armed motorcyclists shot
dead a shura member of the council of a banned militant group
Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar, Kohat Khan, in Qambarkhel
area of Bara in Khyber Agency.
Three persons including a minor
were injured when militants opened firing on a passenger coach
near Tore Chapper village In Kurram Agency. The coach was going
to Peshawar from Parachinar.
The death in the May 22 drone
attack in the Tabai area near Miramshah, the main town of North
Waziristan Agency increased to 10. Earlier, it was reported
that only four militants were killed.
At least five more people were
killed over a dozen others injured in the ongoing in Karachi
due to a strike call by Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palijo.
Most of Sindh province remained closed in protest against an
attack by unidentified militants on a rally of the AT on May
22, 2012 that killed around 13 people and left dozens injured,
as well as the killing of JSMM Secretary General Muzzafar Bhutto.
Over 30 suspects, most of them
political workers, were also arrested during overnight raids
in the city by Rangers and Police. Rangers said raids were conducted
in Ramswami, Ranchore Lane, Napier Road, Musharraf Colony, Bhorapir,
Garden and Lines Area, adding that a huge cache of weapons,
including two anti-aircraft guns, 22 Kalashnikovs, 11 repeaters
and around a thousand bullets, were also recovered.
Five suspects, including two
Lyari gangsters, were arrested in separate Police encounters
and a raid in different parts of Karachi. According to SSP West
Amir Farooqui, the Police on a tip-off conducted a raid at Metroville
area and arrested two alleged Lyari gangsters Umer and Afzal
and recovered two Police SMGs, two TT pistols and several rounds
from them.
The CID also claimed to have
arrested an alleged target killer Mujahid Khan alias Khano with
weapon within the limits of Jackson Police Station. SSP Fayyaz
Khan said the accused person during initial course of investigation
confessed to have killed Badshah Khan and Lal Jan Bibi in Sohrab
Goth Police remit.
Two more criminals were arrested
after a brief encounter at Rashid Minhas Road near Gulshan roundabout
within the limits of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station. SHO Shahzada
Saleem said the Police party during routine patrolling intercepted
a bike for snap checking.
The pillion riders opened indiscriminate
gunshots on police to break the security check. Reacting on
the said act, the Police also fired multiple shots on them that
led to the arrests of both militants, identified as Muhammad
Ali and Jan, and also recovered two TT pistols and a snatched
bike from them.
The HRCP said that the killing
of Sindhi nationalist leader Muzaffar Bhutto, one of the prominent
victims of forced disappearance in Sindh, and the brazen attack
on a peaceful political rally in Karachi, appeared to be the
latest manifestations of violent suppression of political debate,
and in the absence of effective measures, can plunge Sindh into
Balochistan-style mayhem.
One unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body was found in Zehri Qazt area in Dasht town of Mastung
District. According to Balochistan Levies official Abdul Kareem,
“The body had bullet wounds in the head.”
Another unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body was found in Sardar Karez area in the Shalkot Police
Station precincts in Quetta.
A Police SI Muhammad Ayub’s
bullet-riddled dead body was found near a river in Duraski area
of Awaran District. According to a local newspaper, spokesman
of BLF, who introduced himself as Bahsam Baloch, claimed the
responsibility for Ayub’s killing.
A woman and her child were injured
in an incident of firing in Satellite Town area of Quetta. Police
said that unknown armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire
at the house owned by one Asadullah in Satellite Town area.
Unidentified militants blew
up a portion of railway track in Naushki District.
Prisoners in the District jail
in Gilgit turned violent and set ablaze barracks following acquittal
of two under-trial prisoners charged in two high profile murder
cases.
The Pakistani surgeon, Doctor
Shakeel Afridi, recruited by the CIA to help find Osama bin
Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason, the officials
said. In addition to his jail sentence, he was fined PKR 320,000.
Key US senators demanded that
Pakistan pardon Afridi, warning that the decision could put
US assistance at risk.
State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland recalled that both US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta had earlier raised
concerns with Pakistan about the doctor’s case.
Amnesty International criticized
the US for its use of lethal force, particularly for the ‘unlawful’
killing of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine US commando raid
in Pakistan in May 2011.
Amnesty regretted President
Barack Obama's failure to shut down Guantanamo, noting that
at the end of 2011, nearly two years after his self-imposed
closure deadline, "171 men were still held at the base,
including four who had been convicted by military commission."
The CJP, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry, said constitution was being violated in Balochistan
and if the PM says he is not responsible for restoring law then
the constitution will take its way and emergency could be declared.
The Chief Justice ordered registration of a case against Balochistan
Home Minister Mir Nasirullah Zehri.
The Chief Justice told the Prime
Minister’s principal secretary if the PM does not want implementation
of the Supreme Court’s orders, other options, including emergency,
were available in the constitution.
The White House ruled out an
apology to Islamabad for November 26 incident in which 24 Pakistani
soldiers were killed in a NATO cross border fire and said it
is time that the two countries move ahead, two days after such
a demand was made PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto.
A US Senate panel voted cuts
in aid to Pakistan by 58 percent and threatened to withhold
even more cash if Islamabad does not reopen its supply routes
for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, reflecting American frustration
over a months-long standoff. The Senate panel voted to cut aid
to Pakistan in fiscal 2013 from the request by the administration
of President Barack Obama, said the panel’s chairman, Senator
Patrick Leahy.
May 24
Eight militants were killed
when a US drone attacked a militant hideout and a mosque in
the Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Six persons, including two political
activists, were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi.
Two PPP activists, identified as Ghulam Mustafa Khaskheli (28)
and Khan Afsar (45), were killed while two others, Liaquat and
Ajmal, were injured in an attack on a PPP office in Mawach Goth,
located within the limits of Saeedabad Police Station.
Two persons were killed in Ilyas
Goth, Liaquatabad C-1 area within the limits of Super Market
Police Station. SHO SM Raza informed that the casualties came
as a result of clash between two groups and the victim had been
associated with the Arshad Pappu group.
Unidentified armed militants
attacked a passenger bus at Teen Hatti area within the precincts
of Jamshed Quarters Police Station. According to bus conductor
Riaz, two men came running and boarded the bus.
One Nasrullah (22), alias Bihari,
the son of a PPP worker Moosa Khan was shot dead in Orangi Town
within the jurisdiction of Pakistan Bazaar Police Station.
A member of the Shia Hazara
community, identified as Amir Muhammad, was killed in Killi
Chakar area of Sariab Road in Quetta.
Another man, identified as Muhammad
Muslim, was shot dead by militants in Mand Balo area of Turbat
District.
A man, identified as Mehboob
Ali, was shot dead in the Goth Khusa Lal Bukhsh area of Dera
Allahyar in Jaffarabad District.
Balochistan Levies found a dead
body identified as that of Rhab Muhammad in the Shakari area
of Kalat Division.
One person was killed and four
injured when a remote-controlled bomb went off near the Ghulam
Banda bridge in Kohat town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The vehicle of JUI provincial
deputy chief, Maulana Yousuf Shah, was destroyed when an IED
went off at Akora Khattak area of Nowshera.
Adezai peace lashkar
leader Dilawar Khan announced the dissolution of Adezai peace
lashkar, citing non-cooperation from the Government as the reason
behind quitting the fight against militants. Khan, along with
members of the lashkar and Adezai tribal elders, announced the
decision during a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the
Chairman of PPP and the son of slain Pakistan leader Benazir
Bhutto said that ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf "murdered
my mother," as he vowed to play a bigger political role
in his homeland "in any way I can".
"Al Qaeda issued the instructions
to do it, the Taliban... carried out the actual attack, while
Pervez Musharraf purposely sabotaged my mother's security when
he knew there were going to be attacks, so she would be eliminated,
said Bhutto, adding, "He murdered my mother. I hold him
responsible for the murder of my mother."
The US voiced concern over extrajudicial
killings and religious intolerance in Pakistan, including in
the restive province of Balochistan. In an annual report on
human rights, the US State Department said that the “most serious
human rights’ problems” in Pakistan included extrajudicial killings,
torture and disappearances by both Security Forces and terrorists.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton denounced as “unjust and unwarranted” the treatment
with the Pakistani doctor, Shakeel Afridi, who was jailed on
May 23, 2012 for 33 years for helping the CIA in the hunt for
slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
A US Senate panel voted to cut
aid to Pakistan by a symbolic USD 33 million and USD one million
for each year of jail time handed to Doctor Shakeel Afridi convicted
of treason. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the
amendment to the USD 52 billion US foreign aid budget in a 30
to zero votes.
Islamabad said that the US should
respect the country’s law and courts sentencing Shakeel Afridi,
accused of helping the CIA in reaching al Qaeda chief Osama
bin Laden. FO spokesman Moazzam Ali Khan said the decision in
connection with Doctor Shakeel Afridi was Pakistan’s internal
matter and the US should respect Pakistan’s law.
The Foreign Office reiterated
its denunciation of drone attacks, but said that Pakistan’s
desire for normalisation of ties with the United States remained
unaffected. “Let me also add here that the US is an important
country and it is an important relationship for Pakistan and
there is a mutual desire to normalise this relationship,” FO
spokesman Moazzam Khan said at his weekly media briefing while
responding to a question about drone attacks and negotiations
on re-engagement.
The US has continued to pound
militant targets in tribal areas with hellfire missiles from
Predator drones, although the two countries are negotiating
a parliamentary demand for cessation of the strikes.
May 25
At least seven passengers on
a Swabi-bound bus were shot dead three others were wounded when
armed militants opened fire on the bus on National Highway at
Rinn Shakh, near Qazi Ahmed Taluka town in Shaheed Benazirabad
District (earlier known as Nawabshah District). DSP Sardar Khan
Chandio said the SDLA claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to witnesses, the
attackers had been raising slogans that they had taken revenge
for an attack on the Awami Tehreek rally in Karachi.
Three people, including an activist
each from the ANP and the MQM were killed here in separate incidents
of violence in Karachi. President of ANP’s UC-1 Ward, Abdul
Shakoor (38), was shot dead outside his house in Sector-8B of
Bilal Colony within Korangi Police Station.
An activist of the MQM, Mohammed
Ahmed (40), was shot dead by two unidentified armed militants
near a warehouse in Iqbal Market.
An unidentified tortured bullet-riddled
body of a man was found near Chiniot Hospital in Korangi.
At least six suspected Lyari
gangsters, belonging to PAC were arrested and a huge cache of
weapons including six hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs, five
pistols, 950 bullets and a significant quantity of narcotics
were also recovered from their possessions during a raid at
Mawach Goth.
TTP militants killed an abducted
employee of the BRSP, identified as Abdul Ghafoor, after they
were not paid ransom in Waziristan tribal area near Zhob District,
a senior official said. Six BRSP employees were abducted by
armed militants from Barshore area of Pishin District on December
13, 2011.
Anjuman-e-Tajiran Panjgur Committee
President Mir Akram Mengal was shot dead in Gharibabad area
of Panjgur District.
Militants fired two rockets
from the nearby mountains on a FC camp in Awaran District. However,
no loss of life or property was reported.
The District administration
ordered Police to crack down on Afghan nationals illegally living
in Peshawar, the provincial capital of KP at the expiry of the
one-month deadline for their voluntary return. District coordination
officer, Peshawar, Siraj Ahmad Khan issued the orders under
Section 188 and 14 Foreign Act, according to a statement issued
in Peshawar.
Section 144 has already been
imposed in the city banning the movement of unregistered Afghan
nationals. The KP Government had decided to expel Afghan refugees
without legal documents from the province and directed the relevant
authorities to begin the drive from Peshawar.
Intelligence Officials said
that keeping Doctor Shakeel Afridi in Peshawar’s (KP) central
prison is similar to keeping him in plain sight of the TTP who
is purportedly baying for his blood. TTP threatened that they
would kill Afridi to “avenge Sheikh Osama’s killing”.
Afridi, who helped the American
CIA hunt down al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, faces a grave
threat to his life while he is imprisoned in the Peshawar Central
Jail, according to an intelligence report submitted to authorities
in Islamabad.
The HRCP expressed its concern
over denial of due process rights to Doctor Shakeel Afridi and
demanded that irrespective of charges against him he must get
a fair trial.
The statement added that the
question of trying Afridi on charges of treason also remained
controversial. “His actions may well have been prompted by the
declared policy of the state to fight all forms of terrorism
in sincerity. Irrespective of the charge against him, there
was no reason for trying Afridi in a tribal court, when the
supposed offence had taken place in Abbottabad, nor for denying
him a public trial or legal assistance of his choice.”
The DPC staged protest demonstrations
and rallies in Karachi and parts of Sindh province against the
likely resumption of NATO supply routes, and resolved to strongly
oppose any such move by the Government.
A protest rally was also staged
in Lahore District of Punjab province where the founder of LeJ
and JuD addressed a crowd. Protest leaders also expressed their
grave concern on missing NATO containers in Pakistan.
May 26
A US drone attack killed at
least four militants in Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
Two persons were killed and
20 others, two women among them, injured in two rocket attacks
in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. Abdul Salam
(17), a labourer passing through Kandahari Bazaar on a bicycle,
and Gul Zaman, another passer-by, were killed and 16 others
injured when a rocket hit a shoe shop.
Another rocket fired from the
same direction exploded in Basti Panchayat, a predominantly
Christian neighbourhood, injuring four people.
A militant, allegedly involved
in the January 12, 2011 murder of Geo News journalist Wali Khan
Babar, was killed and a Policeman injured during an encounter
at Sea View area of Karachi.
In addition to the target killings,
a hand grenade was hurled attack near a hotel opposite the Karachi
Central Jail, injuring 11 people.
While addressing a news conference
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, the LeT founder
and Chief of JuD Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said that Pakistan is
a sovereign state and the DPC will not allow the country to
become an ‘Indian market’.
Earlier during a series of rallies
and protests organised by the DPC, Saeed had opposed the Pakistan
Government's plan to give MFN-status to India by 2013. Saeed
said the DPC had decided to postpone a proposed ‘long march’
against the reopening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan because
the leaders of the grouping had decided to launch the protest
at the appropriate time.
In the aftermath of the sentencing
of Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who was accused of assisting the CIA
in tracking down slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, another
twist emerged when the FATA Lawyers Forum refused to extend
any legal help to the former Government surgeon. Members of
Aman Tehreek and some FATA lawyers had earlier submitted an
application at the Peshawar Central Jail, seeking Afridi’s approval
for power of attorney.
May 27
US drone strike killed at least
seven militants in Sokhel area of Mir Ali in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
Six militants were killed and
two others injured in a gunfight with SFs in Gandi Tal area
of Orakzai Agency.
At least five people, including
an activist of MQM, were killed in separate acts of violence
in different parts of Karachi. Police found a dead body of an
activist of the MQM identified as Shahid (28), from Memon Society
Lyari near Kalri Police Station. SHO Kalri said the victim was
abducted from Lea Market area, Kharadar on May 26, 2102 when
he reached to meet his friend.
Police found two days old dead
body of a man, identified as that of Mohammad Bilal Mengal (30),
from Lyari Naddi, Raxer Lane within the limits of Pak Colony
Police Station.
A man, identified as Nasir (25),
was shot dead in Jehanabad within the jurisdiction of Pak Colony
Police Station.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Younis, was killed while 13 others were injured when armed assailants
hurled a hand grenade at an eatery, Yadgar Fish, within the
limits of Jamshed Quarter Police Station over the owner’s refusal
to pay extortion.
DSP Qaiser Ali dispelled the
involvement of extortionists in the attack as saying that there
were several unconfirmed reports that the grenade was hurled
with an aim to suppress the owner to pay extortion but nobody,
even the owner, complained in this regard.
A man, identified as Mohammad
Asif (20), was shot dead in an act of target killing in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area within the jurisdiction of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station.
Police arrested four top leaders
of the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party (STP), identified as Yamin
Mirani, Nadir Khoso, Hakeem Sethar and Amir Sheikh.
At least three people were killed
and nine others, including a Policeman, were injured in a remote-controlled
blast on Saryab Road in Quetta. SP Sikandar Tareen said explosives
were planted underneath a donkey cart, while the target was
a patrolling Police van.
The principal of Public School,
identified as Muzaffar Jamali, and his nephew Abdullah (8) were
killed and three others, including two girls and the driver
were injured when armed militants opened fire on their car in
Kharan District.
Jeiand Baloch, a spokesman for
the BLA, claimed responsibility for the attack. He said that
Jamali “worked for state agencies” and for that reason he was
eliminated.
At least 10 people were injured
when two blasts exploded at Mannan Chowk and Kasi Road in Quetta.
A soldier was killed and five
others, including a captain, were injured when a remote controlled
bomb went off in Risalpur area of Nowshera District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Two rockets were fired at the
Hayatabad town of Peshawar damaged a house. According to the
officials of Tatara Police Station the rockets were fired from
the adjacent Khyber Agency of FATA.
Police arrested a wanted militant
‘commander’, identified as Barkat Ali, who was allegedly involved
in blasting schools and carrying out other terror activities,
during a raid at a house located in Kala Kot area of Matta tehsil
in Swat District.
Swat Qaumi Jirga has urged all
stakeholders to take decisive action against militancy to ensure
sustainable peace in the valley and bring all culprits to justice.
The jirga, a forum of civil society groups was organised in
Mingora which was addressed by its president Mukhtiar Khan Yousufzai,
Sher Shah Khan, Haji Zahid Khan, Mohammad Ali Khan and others.
The conviction of Doctor Shakeel
Afridi by the Assistant Political Agent in Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency has given birth to several questions and also
exposed lacunas in the controversial judicial system in FATA.
While the tribal administration
is yet to release the order and complete details about the arrest
and conviction of Afridi, so far the only information provided
by the administration is that a council of elders was constituted
under section 11 of the FCR and in the light of the findings
of the council the APA convicted and sentenced the accused on
four counts.
A high-level meeting will review
security arrangements for Doctor Shakeel Afridi. Official sources
said on May 26 that the meeting would consider whether the jailed
CIA informant should remain in a Peshawar prison or shifted
somewhere else for security reasons.
Pakistan Government justifies
the USD 5,000 fee for shipping NATO containers to Afghanistan
as officials familiar with the US-Pakistan talks say Islamabad’s
demand is “neither irrational nor out of the blue”. As Pakistan
and the United States make some headway in bilateral talks,
Islamabad’s demand for USD 5,000 per container for transporting
goods to Afghanistan through its territory remains the biggest
stumbling block.
The US Defence Secretary Leon
Panetta has ruled out paying Pakistan this amount. The infrastructure
was used for eight years without paying any charges. In the
ninth year, the US started paying a nominal handling fee of
USD 220 per container to National Logistic Cell – the army’s
logistics arm, officials said. Terming Pakistan’s demand as
“extortion,” Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential
aspirant, had claimed that the US was paying USD 250 per container
to Pakistan.
The US-Pakistan relationship
is on the slide and a US Senate panel’s decision to fine Pakistan
for sentencing Dr Shakil Afridi has further compounded this
phase, says PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “But it is
time to turn a new corner to re-establish a working relationship
and political and military partnership that is the centerpiece
to a stable South and Central Asia,” Bilawal Zardari said in
a speech to a gathering of US and Pakistani officials, scholars,
journalists and think-tank experts.
Arguing strongly against what
he called the "carpet bombing" of Pakistan, Bilawal
Bhutto Zardari said US drone attacks were turning out to be
counter-productive due to the civilian toll they take. The leader-in-waiting
of Pakistan's ruling party called for an end to the US drone
attacks, which he said were a violation of his country's sovereignty
and international law.
Bilawal Bhutto said that his
country has asked Interpol to issue a "red warrant"
against former President General Parvez Musharraf in his mother's
assassination case. Pakistan has asked Interpol to issue a
"red warrant" for Musharraf's arrest, Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari told The Sunday Times.
May 28
At least 10 militants were killed
when SFs fighter jets pounded various suspected militant hideouts
in Mamozai, Jandarkhel and Samaa Bazaar areas of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. The bombardment left three suspected militant hideouts
completely destroyed.
Two separate US drone attacks
killed at least nine militants near Miranshah, the main town
of North Waziristan Agency. The first, in the early hours of
the morning, targeted a militant compound in Hassokhel town,
25 kilometres (16 miles) east of Miranshah, killing at least
five militants. The second attack targeted a militant vehicle
in Datta Khel town, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Miranshah,
killing four militants.
Air forces jets killed five
suspected militants in Tirah valley area of Khyber Agency.
Three Shias were killed and
another six injured when unidentified militants ambushed a Peshawar-bound
bus in Charkhel village of Parachinar in Kurram Agency.
Two soldiers were killed and
several injured in a TTP militants’ ambush in Kot Langarkhel
area of South Waziristan Agency.
Militants blew up a Government
boys’ primary school in Qayumabad Lakaro area of Safi tehsil
in Mohmand Agency. However, no loss of life was reported. Over
the last few months, 95 schools, dozens of health centres and
a few telephone exchanges have been targeted by militants in
Mohmand Agency. In Safi tehsil alone, more than 45 schools have
been blown up leaving more than 25,000 children without education.
At least three tortured bullet-riddled
bodies stuffed in a bag were found in the Ferozabad area of
Quetta. The bodies were identified as Mehran Khan Kiyazai, Mohammad
Khan and Mohammad Nabi Marri. Sources said that Mehran Khan
was missing since April 11, 2012. Mohammad Khan Marri and Mohammad
Nabi Marri, residents of Sariab, were brothers. Voice for Baloch
Missing Persons’ Chairman Nasrullah Baloch told Daily Times
that the deceased were on the missing persons’ list and were
abducted in April from Zarghoon Road. He said as many as 407
bullet-riddled bodies of Baloch missing persons had been found
so far.
Two dead bodies were recovered
from Pnhinain area of Dera Bugti District. A spokesman for the
BRP, Sher Mohammad Bugti, claimed that the bodies were dumped
in the area.
A dead body, identified as that
of Habibullah Nurzai, was found in the Pakhtoonabad area.
Another unidentified dead body
was recovered from Khuzdar District.
At least two Police officials,
identified as ASI Abdul Qayyum and constable Muhammad Asif (driver),
were killed and another two were injured in an ambush attack
on a Police van on Sariab Road in Quetta.
The headmaster of a middle school
and a part time journalist, Abdul Qadir Hajizai, was shot dead
while he was on his way to home in Basima area of Washuk District.
Hajizai worked for a private Balochi language TV channel.
At least three Policemen were
injured when unknown assailants opened fire on a police mobile
in Sariab Wali Jat area in Quetta.
Armed militants opened fire
on the house of the President of the Turbat Press Club, Irshad
Akhtar in Turbat District. However, Akhtar and his family remained
unhurt in the attack.
A portion of the main railway
track was blown up in Pirkaniabad area on Sariab Road in Quetta.
At least eight persons, including
a SP and his doctor friend, were killed and 14 others were injured
in separate incidents of violence in various areas of Karachi.
Sindh IG Mushtaq Shah reached the scene and declared the incident
an act of target killing. Talking to reporters, the IG said,
“We are trying to probe the motive behind the murders. It could
be a result of the deceased’s participation in the 1990s Karachi
Operation as he was then Gulberg Station House Officer.”
Two cadres of ASWJ, identified
as Mufti Zeeshan and Danish alias Bihari, were shot dead in
Zia Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
A youngster, identified as Adnan
Rafiq, was shot dead near Clifton underpass within the limits
of Clifton Police Station.
One person was killed by firing
in Jodia Bazar area within the jurisdiction of Kharadar Police
Station.
Police found the dead body of
a man identified as Saeed Gul alias Afghani (24) near Government
Degree College in Korangi, within the limits of Awami Colony
Police Station. Gul was abducted before being killed.
Another unidentified dead body
was found from Pehalwan Goth area.
The Law Enforcement Agencies
claimed to have arrested five suspects, including a militant
of TTP from different areas of Karachi.
The SIU of AEC claimed to have
arrested two extortionists, Israr Hussain and Mumtaz Ali, from
Kharadar area during a raid in Gao Gali, Jodia Bazaar, and recovered
two pistols from their possessions.
Police claimed to have repulsed
a militant attack on Mullazai Police Station in Tank District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to police, a group of 80 to
90 TTP militants holding heavy weapons attacked the Police Station.
Policemen fought against attackers for over one hour forcing
the latter to flee. Later, security personnel also showed up.
They jointly cordoned off the area and began search operation.
During the search, a roadside IED exploded after a police van
hit it. The explosion injured three Policemen Samiullah, Fayyaz,
and Bashir. TTP later accepted responsibility for the attack.
According to the TTP spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told reporters
from an undisclosed location that TTP would continue fighting
the Government until Shariah was enforced in the country.
Jam Mir Muhammad Yousuf, a former
Chief Minister of Balochistan, was granted bail before arrest
for half a million rupees in connection with the August 26,
2006 Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case.
The JWP Chief and the eldest
son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Talal Akbar Bugti said that Dera Bugti
was his native town and no law could stop him from going there.
Welcoming the hearings of the Supreme Court about missing persons
in Balochistan, he said Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry was hearing a case on monthly basis in Quetta regarding
law and order situation, but the court had not taken up the
murder of his father Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
A plan to shift Doctor Shakeel
Afridi from Central Jail Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Punjab
has been finalised and all the Law Enforcement Agencies have
been put on high alert to avert any untoward incident.
The family of Doctor Afridi
came out to defend him as his brother Jamil Afridi said the
charges against him were ‘a pack of lies’. “Our brother has
been made a scapegoat,” said Jamil Afridi, adding, “Everybody
knew where Osama was”. “He is not a spy. This allegation from
our Security Agencies is fabricated and baseless,” Jamil added.
Jamil said they are not allowed to meet him and they have not
been allowed to give him access to legal councils.
General Secretary of the Peace
Movement, a civil society group against militancy, Samiullah
Afridi said that Doctor Shakeel has done nothing illegal. The
actual reason behind the verdict could only be known once we
are provided with a copy, he said.
Pakistan and the US moved a
step ahead in the talks on resumption of NATO supplies as they
started discussion of technical details of the matter, sources
in the Foreign Ministry said. However, they clarified that the
progress did not mean conclusion of talks. The two sides agreed
on the broad framework of reopening of the supply lines, besides
discussing the Salala incident, drone attacks and other issues,
nevertheless, modalities were yet to be decided, the sources
said.
JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman
said that his party extended political and moral support to
the Afghan Taliban because they had launched a jihad against
the US forces in Afghanistan. He said the Taliban were justified
in launching a war against the foreign forces because their
objective is to liberate their homeland.
General Martin Dempsey, President
Obama's top military adviser, said that Senate lawmakers made
the right call by voting to trim aid to Pakistan. "Yeah,
I support their - I think that choices should result in consequences.
And I think, the Senate acted appropriately," General Martin
Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the
NBC news channel in an interview.
May 29
Fourteen militants were killed
in air forces’ jet planes-shelling in Mamozai area of the Orakzai
Agency in FATA. Three hideouts of the terrorists were completely
destroyed in the action.
SFs killed seven militants and
injured four others in air strikes conducted by the air forces’
jets in Dwa Toai area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Barrister Masood Kausar said that tribal people were some of
the most peaceful people of the world and were victims of aggression,
thus, there is dire need for establishing and propagating the
peaceful image of FATA residents worldwide. He was speaking
at a grand jirga that was attended by around 800 jirgamaars
(jirga decision makers), Maliks, clerics and elders from the
FATA.
The ongoing wave of killings
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, claimed three more
lives, including that of a MQM) activist.
A gunny bag containing the body
of an MQM activist was found on Northern Bypass near the Marwat
Coach terminal under the Mauripur Police Station. Jamil Mubarak
(34), resident of Masroor Colony, Mauripur, had been kidnapped
in front of his home by armed men riding two motorbikes.
A young man was found shot dead
on Northern Bypass within the remit of the Mauripur Police Station.
Officials said the body of Khalid Qadir (28), was spotted near
Quetta Hotel. The victim, a resident of Baloch Mohalla in Shershah,
had been missing since May 28, the Mauripur SHO said, adding
that he was a labourer.
A civilian employee of the Pakistan
Navy, Niaz Saeed (38), a resident of Jangal Goth in Sohrab Goth,
was shot dead near new Sabzimandi on the Superhighway. Sources
said that Niaz Saeed was on his way to work when he was intercepted
by three men riding two motorbikes near the wholesale vegetables
and fruit market and shot him dead.
A driver of an NGO was injured
after unidentified assailants opened fire on the vehicle near
the Kakaheer area in Khuzdar District of Balochistan. According
to Police, the Balochistan Rural Support Programme’s vehicle
was heading towards Khuzdar Town from Wadh.
Police claimed to have recovered
three kilogrammes of explosives in the Goth Maluk area of Naseerabad
District.
The Federal Government has finally
taken notice of the troubles in Balochistan and announced some
measures that could turn out to be revolutionary or simply symbolic.
The meeting on the province, which the Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani had announced in a television interview a day earlier,
was held and ended with the Government decision to give the
generally missing-in-action CM of Balochistan, Nawab Aslam Raisani,
the powers to deploy the FCB in the province. In addition, the
FCB was also relieved of its anti-smuggling duty in the border
areas of the province.
The decisions were taken at
a high-level meeting attended by the civil and military leadership
which Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had convened under Article
148 of the constitution. Under this article, the Federal Government
can play a role in protecting a province from external and internal
disturbances.
General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani
threw his weight behind the political solution of the troubled
province of Balochistan by assuring that the personnel of armed
forces and FCB would carry out their tasks within the ambit
of law. In a press briefing after the conference, Information
and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the hallmark
of the meeting was Gen Kayani’s complete support for resolving
the issues in Balochistan through political means, as military
solution is not a viable and durable one to tackle the situation
in the province.
Sindh Government approved proposed
funding for SSU in forthcoming annual budget 2012-13, which
will be spent on procurement of arms, ammunition, arms accessories,
vehicles and other equipments. The decision was taken at a meeting
presided over by Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the CM’s House.
Assistant Inspector General
of Police (SSU) Mushtaq Ahmad Memon in his detailed briefing
informed that SSU is responsible for security of VVIPs and VIPs,
and keeping in the increasing threats in current wave of terrorism,
lack of communication and coordination, initially untrained
/unscreened personnel were deployed for the VVIPs duty from
various units.
Dr Shakil Afridi who helped
the CIA track down Osama bin Laden was convicted on charges
of colluding with the banned LI and its chief, Mangal Bagh,
court documents reveal.
The five-page court document,
available with Dawn, reveals that Mr Afridi was arrested
for his “involvement in anti-state activities” on May 23, 2011,
following reports that he was in league with LI. The order said
intelligence reports had indicated that the accused had close
links with the defunct LI and “his love for Mangal Bagh, Amir
of Lashkar-i-Islam, and his association with him was an open
secret”.
KP Government has asked the
Federal Government to make immediate arrangement for shifting
Dr Shakil Afridi from the Peshawar Central Prison to some other
place. A senior government official said a large number of militants
in the Peshawar prison posed a serious threat to the life of
Dr Afridi.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police decided
to withdraw their guards detailed for the security of VIPs in
the province against the rules. The decision, which was made
during a high level meeting here in light of shortage of staff
and the delicate security situation, will come into effect forthwith.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang
Jiechi called upon the international community to realise sacrifices
rendered by Pakistan in the war on terror and the role it played
against terrorists and for peace in the region. Jiechi, who
arrived in Islamabad on a two-day visit to hold talks with Pakistani
civil and military leaderships on regional peace, security and
bilateral ties, was addressing a joint press conference along
with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
May 30
At least 10 persons including
Rangers SI were killed in separate incidents of violence and
sectarian killing in Karachi.
Two Shias, identified as Syed
Mehdi Raza (35) and Ahmer Raza (22), were killed in a sectarian
target killing in the Hariana Colony of Orangi Town. Police
detained over half a dozen suspects belonging to SSP.
Police found two dead bodies
identified as Farhan (25) and Abdul Rehman Baloch (26), from
Timber Market near Bhitt Shah within the limits of Napier Police
Station. A Police Official said two slips were found from victims’
pockets that read, “Jo Mohajir sobay ka ghaddar hai woo maut
ka haqdar hai”. (Whoever is an enemy of Mohajir is destined
to be killed).
An activist of the MQM, identified
as Imran Baig (24), was shot dead in Shah Faisal Colony. He
was associated with the MQM unit-109 and was a former activist
of the ST.
Police found an unidentified
body of a man that bore torture marks from Lyari Naddi near
Miranaka in the limits of Chakiwara Police Station.
A militant, identified as Mohammad
Arshad alias Taliban, shot dead three brothers, Mohammad Jamshed,
Mohammad Mushtaq and Mohammad Ishtiaq, in Badra area of Mansehra
District before being killed by the locals in the area. One
of the militant’s accomplices, Mohammad Naseer, and an unidentified
man also suffered injuries in the clash.
The Kohat Police arrested a
Bangladeshi national, identified as Mohammad Bin Ameen, during
routine search on the Indus Highway in Kohat District.
The Qaumi Amn Jirga called for
immediate ceasefire in the region to end the conflict that has
been besetting FATA and Afghanistan for over a quarter of century.
The peace jirga concluded in Peshawar with an eight-point declaration
that called for stopping all sorts of foreign interference and
instigation of violence in the region.
The declaration said that Afghan
land, a land of peace and dialogues, was witnessing bloodshed
and homicide and the whole area was converted into a dump of
explosives and ammunition. It said that Pashtuns, who were portrayed
as terrorists, were basically enlightened, tolerant and moderate
but they were exploited by the outsiders for their ulterior
motives. So they were killed as well as taunted, it added.
Addressing the jirga, Haji Din
Mohammad, who had helped slain al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden
to stay in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, expressed deep concern over
the plight of Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Two abductees were recovered
and three persons, including one abductee, one Policeman and
an abductor, were killed during an encounter in a joint raid
by AVCC and CPLC at Alamdar Chowk, Qasimabad area in Karachi.
He said the abductors opened
indiscriminate gunshots on Police that led killing of an ASI
Arshad of AVCC. In retaliation, the joint team killed an abductor.
A man belonging to Hazara community,
identified as Ali Muhammad, was shot dead near a roadside hotel
on Joint Road in Quetta in a sectarian attack.
The New Kuchlak Police claimed
to have arrested seven suspects, including three Afghans, and
seized a huge cache of explosives from two vehicles near Bostan
Phatak in Kuchlak town of Quetta while they were en route to
Quetta from Zhob.
The CCPO Mir Zubair Mehmood
said the suspects wanted to smuggle the explosives to Quetta.
The CCPO said that it had not been known to which terror outfit
the suspects belonged.
Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped
the US find slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was imprisoned
because of his close ties to the terrorist outfit LI and not
for his links to the CIA, said a Pakistani officials according
to a court document. The judgement document was made available
to the media on May 30.
The US said that it sought clarification
from Pakistan on the issue of Doctor Afridi's sentence. State
Department's spokesman Mark Toner said that US sought clarity
on the 'new reason' being given by Pakistan for sentencing Doctor
Afridi.
Mark Toner said "It seems
to contrast previous reports about his conviction and the basis
of it, so we're trying to get clarity," adding, "It's
unclear to me what else we could do for his case, but we certainly
take it very seriously, the secretary's (Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton) very clear in her remarks saying that there's
not any basis for holding Afridi."
The US sent a handful of military
trainers back into Pakistan in a sign the two nations may be
able to achieve some low-level cooperation against militants
despite a string of confrontations that have left Washington’s
relations with Islamabad in crisis.
“I wouldn’t call this a watershed
moment (but) it’s not insignificant that this is happening,”
the US official said on condition of anonymity. The picture
is less encouraging on cooperation between US and Pakistani
intelligence, which several American officials said remained
dire as Pakistan’s officials resist easing restrictions on issuing
visas to US intelligence personnel.
May 31
A Rangers’ SI Abdul Hameed Chanchar
was shot dead in front of his house in Madina Colony of Korangi.
Another man was shot dead at
Maripur Road.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire near an eye hospital located in the adjoining area
of Lee Market, killing one person and injuring the other.
One Asad Hussain (35) was shot
dead in an incident of target killing in Korangi area.
Another person sustained injuries
in a separate incident of firing in Korangi.
A woman, Mumtaz Begum w/o Saeed
Khan, who was injured in a bomb blast in Ghulam Banda area of
Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 24 succumbed to her injuries,
raising the death toll from the incident to two.
Unidentified militants blew
up a girls’ primary school in the Jalander village on the outskirts
of Mardan town. Police said that the unidentified militants
planted two bombs in Community Girls Primary School of Jalander
Village, by keeping the security guard as hostage. The blasts
destroyed the building completely.
A house was damaged when unidentified
militants hurled a grenade at it near Lond Khor Goro.
The Bannu District Police have
formed 24 squads of trained commandoes to counter jailbreaks
in the future. The squads have been deployed across Bannu city,
Bannu District Police Officer Waqar Ahmad said. Police are guarding
all entry and exit points to the city and are searching all
suspicious vehicles, he said.
Unidentified militants abducted
a trader, identified as Lal Chand, from Dera Allah Yar area
of Jaffarabad District while he was travelling from Sohbatpur
to Jacobabad.
Ilyas Shinwari, a wanted militant
‘commander’ and key financer of the Abdullah Aizam Brigade of
TTP, surrendered to political administration in Khyber Agency
of FATA. Shinwari was wanted in connection with attacks on SFs
and other terrorist activities, Assistant Political Agent, Landikotal,
Khalid Mumtaz Kundi said.
Three militants surrendered
in Bajaur Agency and pledged to help the agency administration
promote peace, an official said. "Three Taliban militants
... are under the custody of the political administration and
would be set free within three days," Bajaur Political
Agent Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah said.
Political Agent Syed Abdul Jabbar
Shah urged the UN agencies to continue their efforts for providing
basic needs of life to the people of militancy-affected areas
of the tribal region. Talking to a delegation of UN agencies,
he said that militants were eliminated from the region and writ
of the Government was restored as a result of a successful military
operation.
In a bid to curb targeted killings
and restore peace in Karachi, the Sindh Government has decided
to revise territorial limits of existing Police Stations and
to create Police sub-stations in sensitive neighbourhoods. Conferees
at meeting at Chief Minister House decided on the plan to open
Police sub-stations and to set up community policing and intelligence
units, according to a Government statement.
Cricketer Umar Gul’s house in
Peshawar was raided by a team of Army commandos and his brother
arrested on charges of harbouring a wanted militant. Gul’s brother,
Meraj, was arrested along with two other men on charges of providing
shelter to his uncle, Haji Daly, who is believed to be an active
member of banned outfit LI.
The LI said that it never had
ties to Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who is accused of treason for
helping the US CIA find slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,
even though Islamabad on May 30 changed its stand and said that
Doctor Afridi was jailed for aiding LI. “We have no link to
such a shameless man. If we see him we’ll chew him alive,” said
Abdul Rasheed, an LI commander, adding, “There is no truth to
this. We want to get him ourselves. If we get hold of him, we
are going to punish him according to the Sharia’ah, (Islamic
Law)”.
China has urged Pakistan to
take effective measures to stop the activities of ETIM militants
present in FATA, BBC Urdu report said. According to the report,
the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi currently visiting
Pakistan said that it was their belief that militants belonging
to the ETIM are influencing the Chinese province Xinjiang, which
has a Muslim majority population.
The pace of repatriation of
Afghan refugees has declined sharply over the past two years
mainly because of the uncertain security situation in their
country. According to officials, under an agreement signed in
2012 between Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Ministry of SAFRON and
UNHCR, about three million remaining refugees were to be repatriated
to Afghanistan by the end of December 2012, but a very small
number of them have since returned.
On May 30, the jirga
members met SAFRON Minister Shaukatullah Khan who assured them
that the Pakistan Government would take every possible step
to accelerate the pace of repatriation of Afghan refugees.
The jirga was informed that
at present more than one million of the three million Afghan
displaced persons were not registered with the authorities and
because of this they were facing a number of problems.
The US Congressman Dennis Kucinich
and ten other members of the US House of Representatives have
asked US President Barack Obama to explain the targeting criteria
for drone strikes and the legal justification for them, without
which, the drones are part of US’ undeclared wars. A letter,
circulated by Democrat Kucinich, expresses concern over the
use of drone technology against suspected militants by the CIA
and the JSOC.
June 1
Militants attacked troops near
the Nadir Mela area of Kurram Agency in FATA, leading to a shootout
that killed six militants and injured two soldiers, including
a captain. Five other militants were injured, Frontier Corps
spokesman Major Fazl said.
Eight militants were killed
and three were injured when gunship helicopters pounded militants’
positions in Mela Village of Orakzai Agency. Four militant bases
in Mela Village were destroyed in that action, Assistant Political
Agent Hamid Khan said.
Three persons were shot dead
and three others injured in a target killing incident in the
Ghani Goth area of Khuda Ki Basti in Surjani Town. Initial investigations
revealed that five assailants on two motorcycles opened fire
on the six people and fled. The dead were identified as Mehboob
Khan (35), Ghulam Qadir Baloch and an unidentified 28-year-old
person.
One MQM supporter, identified
as Shahnawaz alias Shani, was shot near Abal Chowk at the Kaagzi
Bazaar in Kharadar.
Another MQM supporter Waqas
alias Vicky was shot dead at Yousuf Plaza, near Anarkali Bazaar.
A man, identified as Ali Muhammad
(60), was killed outside a bakery in Khokhrapar. Investigators
said the victim was receiving threats from extortionists.
Former provincial Minister and
Kalat District JUI-F Chief Attaullah Langoh’s son Hafiz Imdadullah
was shot dead near on Spiny Road in Quetta. SP Malik Arshad
said that unidentified militants riding a motorcycle opened
fire on a car carrying Langoh’s son.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead Police constable Riaz Gul at Nawa-e-Killi area of Quetta
in an incident of target killing.
A militant was killed in retaliatory
firing incident with the Police in Chagai District. According
to details, a vehicle carrying seven persons illegally entered
in Chaghai. When SFs signaled to stop, the assailants opened
fire. SFs retaliated, killing one alleged militant and injuring
three others.
One Shahid was killed by unidentified
assailants in the Katlang Town of Mardan District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. Officials of the Katlang Police Station said Shahid
was killed by unidentified assailants when he was on his way
to home from work.
Three people were injured in
Hangu Bazaar after an improvised explosive device and mortar
shells placed in a handcart exploded. The blast partially damaged
two shops and a bank.
A police mobile van narrowly
escaped a militant attack near Rashakai inter-change in Nowshera.
DSP (Nowshera Circle) Riaz Khan said that militants had planted
explosives along Nowshera-Mardan Road and they exploded when
the van passed by.
Police recovered an abdcuted
businessman, Shahzad, from TTP terror camps in Ghuarazai area
of Lachi tehsil.
The grandson of Nawab Akbar
Bugti and the head of BRP Brahmdagh Bugti said the NATO supply
through Balochistan is not acceptable but if they (the Pakistani
Government) want to do so, the Baloch should be taken into confidence.
The Baloch leader said that
Pashtuns would not be part of “independent Balochistan” as the
territory would be consisted of the Baloch majority area. He
accused the Pakistan Army and ISI for using power and money
to divide Baloch leaders struggling for their “independence”.
The lawyers, representing Doctor
Shakeel Afridi jailed after helping the CIA find slain al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden, appealed against his conviction. Afridi
was on May 23, 2012 sentenced to 33 years in jail.
The appeal, filed by his brother
Jamil Afridi through lawyers, said the allegations were “false,
concocted and without foundation”. It said Afridi had “no association”
with LI and that the conviction should be dismissed because
he had no opportunity of defence or fair trial. The appeal said
Afridi was abducted by LI in 2008 and ordered to pay PKR 1 million.
Pakistan’s decision to allow
two US military officials to return to a liaison post is a “sign
of improving coordination between the United States and Pakistan”,
the American Forces Press Service said. The story, posted prominently
on the front page of the official Pentagon website, quotes spokesman
Navy Capt John Kirby as saying that the two officers returned
to Pakistan recently at the request of the Pakistani Government.
Earlier, Capt Kirby told a news
briefing at the Pentagon that there were no US military trainers
in Pakistan. “A couple of liaison officers, from the US Regional
Command East, Bagram, have returned to the area around Peshawar
to coordinate and continue to liaise with the 11th Corps headquarters
there at the Pakistani military.”
June 2
More than 30 militants were
killed in clashes with SFs in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency
in FATA. Source said that the SFs launched a massive crackdown
in Tirah Valley. Four hideouts and compounds of militants were
also destroyed.
At least four militants were
killed in a drone attack in Ghwa Khwa area near Wana in South
Waziristan Agency in the early morning. According to sources,
four missiles were fired by a drone at a car parked in a house
in Ghwa Khwa area.
Unidentified militants blew
up a high-power transmission tower in Jar area of Bajaur Agency.
After the incident the political authorities launched a search
operation and arrested 20 persons in this regard. No group claimed
responsibility for the destruction of the tower.
The SFs arrested a burqa-clad
suicide bomber in Landikotal area of Khyber Agency. Official
sources said that a bomber wearing burqa was stopped by SFs
when they got suspicious.
SFs conducted a search operation
in Juma Gul, Tormazdak, ShadiKhel and Abakhel areas of FR Tank.
In the operation SFs arrested a number of suspects and also
seized arms, ammunition and IED.
Armed militants killed one man
at Ahmed Shah Bukhari road in Kalri area of Lyari of Karachi.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead another unidentified man in Sohrab Goth area.
A woman was injured in firing
in Pahar Ganj area while two other men were wounded at Bin Qasim
roundabout and Qasba Colony respectively.
Rangers raided different areas
of Gulshan-e-Iqbal including Quaid-e-Azam Colony and other adjoining
areas after getting information about the presence of criminals
in the area.
Unidentified militants killed
two Balochistan Levies personnel, identified as Rasool Bukhsh
and Mohammad Umer Jan, in an attack on a check post in Rado
area of Jaho tehsil in Awaran District.
Unidentified militants killed
a person of the Hazara community, Muhammad Ali, and another
injured near a bus stop on Sariab Road in Quetta.
Around 121 insurgent training
camps were operating in Balochistan and 30 in Afghanistan, which
is contributing to unrest in the province, IG FC Major General
Ubaidullah Khan said. Addressing a press conference in Quetta,
Khan claimed that the camps are being operated by Harbiyar Marri,
Brahmdagh Bugti, Allah Nazar and Javed Mengal, and are running
concerted campaigns to defame state institutions. Brahmdagh
Bugti is the leader of BRP and Harbiyar Marri of BLA - both
are accused of fuelling insurgency in the violence plagued province.
Khan added that if the government tries its hard, these camps
can be eliminated.
June 3
The US drone attack killed 10
militants in the Birmal area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Sources said that the drone fired four missiles at a suspected
militant hideout in the Birmal area.
The LI militants killed two
men and a woman in Qambar Khel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber
Agency after accusing them of being involved in illicit affair.
A spokesman for the LI, Abu Rasheed Lashkari, told reporters
by phone that its activists had caught the three people “red
handed” in Qambar Khel area and they had been punished “in accordance
with the Shariat”.
An Afghan refugee, Ajmeer Khan
was killed when he stepped on a mine in Shahedano Dhand in Kurram
Agency.
The Akkakhel peace committee
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency has announced a general amnesty
for all militants affiliated with any outfit, if they surrender
unconditionally and gives an undertaking about good conduct
in future.
At least six persons, including
four Shias and a policeman, were killed and another Policeman
injured when a group of unidentified assailants attacked a welding
shop on Essa Khan Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of
Balochistan. Sources said unidentified assailants, riding a
motorcycle, opened fire on the shop, killing five people, including
a passer-by.
The assailants were escaping
after killing the five people when a Police patrolling team
spotted the assailants and opened fire at them. Two policemen
were injured in the ensuing shootout and one of them succumbed
to injuries. Sources said that two attackers were also injured
but they escaped in a rickshaw.
Police found three men shot
dead from different parts of Karachi, provincial metropolis
of Sindh, while a MQM activist was shot at and injured.
The bodies of two young men
were found from Sector 8-L within the jurisdiction of Orangi
Town Police Station. They were identified as 26-year-old Asad
Iqbal and 31-year-old Shahid. Police officials said both victims
lived in Orangi Town and unidentified men killed them after
kidnapping. They said both were shot in their heads and chests.
Another dead body of a man was
found near Lyari Express Way in Bandhani Colony within the limits
of Liaquatabad Police Station. Police officials said unidentified
men, after kidnapping, shot the man once in his head before
throwing his body into a deserted place.
An activist of MQM, identified
as Rashid, was shot and injured in a drive-by shooting in Malir.
Police officials said that the victim is associated with the
MQM Malir Unit-43. He was shot thrice while the motive behind
the incident has yet to be ascertained.
Another MQM activist Ali Patni
went missing from Kharadar locality.
Two TTP militants were killed
in a clash with Security Forces in Kawar Qala area in Tank District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The slain militants were identified as
Ihsanullah and Irfanullah.
Militants killed a man and abducted
two of his grandchildren after an attack on his home in Ghalo
Cheena in Doaba area in Hangu District. The sources said that
scores of militants stormed the house of one Asghar in Ghalo
Cheena and opened indiscriminate fire on the family members.
Police claimed to have foiled
a sabotage attempt and recovered huge cache of explosives and
arms in Shahi Bagh locality of Damghar area in Swat District.
Official sources said that personnel of Kanju, Kabal, and Shah
Dheri Police Stations seized explosives, hand grenades, cartridges,
wires and important documents during a search operation in Damghar
area. The arms and explosive were dumped on the bank of the
Swat River. The policemen spotted the arms during a joint patrolling
in the area.
A rocket shell was neutralised
by the BDS in a field near the Officers Colony here in the Bannu
Cantonment of Bannu District. The sources said that a rocket
shell was found in a field near the Officers Colony on the Bannu-Miranshah
Road. Acting on a tip-off, officials of the BDS reached the
spot and neutralised the shell.
The law-enforcement agencies
have undertaken stringent security measures in and around the
Peshawar Central Prison since shifting of alleged CIA informer
Dr Shakil Afridi to the jail. The provincial government had
made all necessary arrangements for the shifting of Dr Shakil
to a more secure prison in Punjab and a green signal by the
federal government to this effect was awaited.
Resentment is brewing up in
GB with the local representatives there calling on the US to
support the right of self- determination of the people of the
disputed region, saying that they are being oppressed by the
Pakistan Government.
Parwana called denial of the
right of self-determination and degradation of local national
and cultural identity as two main issues for the people of GB,
saying that with abundance of natural resources and enviable
geo-strategic location the region fulfils the criteria to sustain
as an independent country.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
directed the Balochistan Chief Secretary and Home Secretary
to take steps to improve law and order situation in the province.
Talking to a delegation of Hazara community at Governor’s House,
the Prime Minister said that a concerted strategy must be evolved
to ensure peace in Balochistan. He said any leniency on part
of law enforcers would not be tolerated.
Gilani said he had directed
the Balochistan Chief Secretary to identify 35,000 graduates
of Balochistan to be given jobs by the Government. “Fifteen
hundred jobs in Federal Levies Force have already been provided
to the people of Balochistan,” he said while talking to a PPP
Balochistan delegation led by its provincial president Mir Sadiq
Umrani. “1,500 more jobs will be created in the Federal Levies
Force in Balochistan this year,” Gilani said, adding that the
Government would further recruit 10,000 youth in different departments.
The United States has agreed
to reimburse USD 1.18 billion or almost 75 per cent of the claims
Pakistan has submitted for the expenses incurred in the fight
against militants along the Afghan border. The money comes from
the Coalition Support Fund, which is used for reimbursing Pakistan
and other US allies helping it in the war against terror.
June 4
US drone attack killed 15 militants
in Hisokhel, east of Miranshah, the headquarter of North Waziristan
Agency of FATA. Officials said two missiles slammed into a compound
in the village of Hisokhel before dawn. "Fifteen terrorists
were killed in a dawn strike on a compound. The bodies of those
killed were unable to be identified," a security official in
Miranshah said. He said there were unconfirmed reports that
foreigners were among the dead. In the debris, local people
found letterheads of TTP, wooden beds, blankets and mattresses.
Dawn reported that al Qaeda's 'second-in-command' Abu Yahya
al-Libi was the target of the US drone strike. US officials
confirmed to The New York Times that Libi had been the target
of the missile attack in North Waziristan, but could not say
whether he had survived. A senior Pakistani security source
in Peshawar, meanwhile, told The New York Times that it "looks
like he has been killed."
10 militants were killed in
aerial shelling in Dwa Thoe area of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.
Security officials said that fighter planes targeted hideouts
of Tariq Afridi group of TTP in Dwa Thoe area in the morning
that resulted in killing of 10 militants. The hideouts of Taliban
were also destroyed in the bombardment, they added.
Two militants affiliated with
LI were killed and three volunteers of Zakhakhel Peace Committee
sustained injuries in a clash in Bukarh area of Zakhakhel Bazaar.
Three local LI 'commanders'
surrendered to Akkakhel Peace Committee in Akkakhel area of
Bara tehsil. The committee had given an ultimatum on June 3
to all militants in Akkakhel area to lay down arms and surrender
before June 10.
Ten more persons were killed
while six others were injured in the ongoing spat of violence
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Police officials
claimed four MQM workers were among the dead while all the six
injured also belonged to the MQM.
Armed men on motorcycles continued
to target people in the Old City and its adjoining areas, for
which Police blamed Lyari gangsters or People's Amn Committee.
Armed men on at least a dozen motorcycles killed an MQM worker,
and wounded three others, in Pan Mandi area. Shortly, the same
armed men shot and injured two more MQM workers. Later, the
same men killed a rickshaw driver and injured a passenger inside
near Azeem Plaza in Dhobi Ghat area. The victims were associated
with the MQM unit-32. A 32-year-old man was killed while his
companion - both MQM workers - was wounded when the same culprits
targeted them in Kaghazai Bazaar in Kharadar. The culprits targeted
and killed a man at his shop in Bihar Colony. This victim was
also a member of the MQM.
An unidentified man was killed
and another wounded in a firing incident on Nishtar Road. DSP
Qaiser Ali Shah said both victims were on a motorcycle when
unidentified men targeted them. Condition of the injured was
stated to be critical.
The violence claimed four more
lives in different parts of the city, including Orangi Town,
Defence, Ferozabad, Sacchal and Sohrab Goth. A man was gunned
down near his house in Islamia Colony when he was sitting outside
a mosque. Police officials said the deceased hailed from Kurram
Agency.
Another man was killed when
at least two armed men on a motorcycle shot him in the head.
Police said the deceased was a watchman. Another watchman in
Memon Nagar Society was gunned down.
Police said an unidentified
man shot and killed the victim when he tried to stop him while
trying to enter the society. A driver was killed when armed
men attacked his car with gunshots near Jheel Park.
An unidentified man's body was
found from a nullah near Super Highway. An MQM worker was wounded
in an armed attack near Old Sabzi Mandi.
At least two people, belonging
to Punjab, were shot dead in a suspected ethnic killing in Mand
town of Balochistan. According to Balochistan Levies official
Amman Baloch the victims were coming from Iran and were on their
way from Mand to Karachi in a coach when unidentified armed
men riding a motorcycle intercepted the coach. They took the
two persons out of the coach and shot them dead.
A man was killed and another
seven, including three security personnel, were injured in a
remote-controlled blast in Bismillah Chowk in Panjgur District.
A peace volunteer, who was kidnapped
on May 19, was found slaughtered in Matani area on the outskirts
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sherbaz,
a member of Bazidkhel Qaumi Lashkar (community militia), was
abducted along with another friend on May 19 when he was on
way to his home in Ghaziabad locality of Matani.
Six persons, including three
US nationals, were detained at the Peshawar Motorway toll plaza
after Police discovered a large cache of illegal arms from their
vehicles. According to Police sources, the "suspicious cars"
were stopped for a routine check at the Peshawar Motorway toll
plaza when the weapons were discovered.
The Human Rights activist Asma
Jehangir said that the country's security establishment was
planning to get her killed using one of the many jihadi outfits
operating in the country.
Jehangir went public with her
fears after an "information-leak from a responsible and highly
credible source." Alarmed by this leak, leading members of Pakistan's
civil society said: "What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate
Asma Jehangir especially serious is, firstly, the environment
of target-killings, in which dissident persons' dead bodies
are being dumped all over, and, secondly, the fact that the
finger of accusation has been pointed at the extraordinarily
privileged state actors."
In a statement issued through
the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, they said this is not
a conspiracy against one individual alone but a plot against
Pakistan's future as a democratic state.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza
Gilani asserted that the Federal Government was currently negotiating
with the exiled Baloch leaders to help resolve the crisis in
the province and to ensure stability and prosperity in Balochistan.
Addressing an official gathering at the Command and Staff College,
Quetta, the Prime Minister maintained that nations thrived in
the presence of democratic institutions, before adding that
all the key state institutions should work within their respective
jurisdictions and domains for the good of the people.
The Supreme Court was informed
that a committee comprising senior officers of law enforcement
agencies was formed for issues confronting Balochistan, including
the matter of missing persons, mutilated bodies and abductions
for ransom. Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir told a
three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice
of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, that a joint meeting
was held to discuss the issues of the province.
The United States should apologies
for the NATO attack on Salala checkpost attack, which killed
24 soldiers, if it wants Pakistan to reopen key supply routes
into Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said in
an interview.
June 5
At least 20 TTP militants were
killed in retaliatory fire by SFs when a group of militants
attacked the Salala checkpost along the Af-Pak international
border in Mohammad Agency of FATA. The Salala checkpost, which
was attacked by NATO forces on November 26, 2011, severely straining
Pakistan-US relations.
At least six militants were
killed when Kukikhel peace lashkar clashed with Tariq Afridi
group of TTP in Dwa Thoe area of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.
TTP had earlier claimed to have captured some bunkers previously
occupied by Kukikhel volunteers in the same locality.
LI militants attacked a checkpost
of the local peace committee in Akkakhel area of Bara. At least
14 peace volunteers were injured in the attack. Two of them
were in critical condition, sources said.
Militants blew up a Government-run
boys' middle school in the Afzalabad area of Mera Risalpur in
Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The US said that al Qaeda number
two Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone attack at Hisokhel,
east of Miranshah, the headquarter of North Waziristan Agency
of FATA on June 4. "Our government has been able to confirm
al-Libi's death," said White House spokesman Jay Carney, ending
a prolonged US tussle with a man who once escaped from a US
jail in Afghanistan, and had defied previous attempts to kill
him.
News of the killing of Libi
followed reports detailing the scope of the US campaign against
global terrorism, including revelations that President Barack
Obama personally presides over a "kill list" of top suspects.
Al Libi, a hero in militant
circles for his 2005 escape from the US military prison in Bagram,
Afghanistan, was elevated to al-Qaeda's No. 2 spot when Ayman
al-Zawahri rose to replace the slain Osama bin Laden. Militants
and residents in the area told Pakistani agents that al-Libi
was in the house when it was hit, Pakistani intelligence officials
said.
Pakistan summoned U.S. Charge
d'affaires Richard Hoagland to the Foreign Ministry to convey
the Government's serious concern over repeated drone strikes.
Hoagland was told that drone strikes represent a "clear red
line for Pakistan'' as they are unlawful, against international
law and a violation of sovereignty.
The US State Department declined
to comment on the Pakistani Foreign Office's demand for a discontinuation
of drone strikes - terming it an "intelligence matter" - the
spokesperson hinted there was little chance that these operations
would cease and explained that drone operations were a part
of Washington's counter-terrorism strategy. "I can't talk specifically
about classified operations," said US State Department Deputy
Spokesperson Mark Toner during a briefing.
A Peshawar local judicial magistrate
granted bail to three Pakistani staffers of the US Consulate,
including two drivers and a security guard, charged with transportation
of unlicensed automatic weapons in two diplomatic vehicles.
He, however, linked their release with the furnishing of two
sureties of PKR 100,000 each.
The Government provided police
guards to different leaders of anti-TTP Adezai Qaumi Lashkar
except its chief and assured them of full legal support. Addressing
a joint press conference along with the leaders of different
peace bodies at Malik Saad Police Lines in Peshawar, SP Shafiullah
Khan urged the volunteers to continue activities against militants
in their respective localities.
The SP appreciated the role
of peace bodies against militants in the rural areas of Peshawar
and hoped that Police and volunteers would continue to coordinate
with each other for elimination of terrorism. He said that peace
bodies had been formed when Dr Suleman was CCPO to check movement
of anti-state and anti-social elements.
The Anti-terrorism court judge
Shahid Rafique conducting the trial of LeT 'commander' Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi and six other Pakistani suspects charged with
involvement in the Mumbai (Maharashtra) attacks of November
26, 2008 (26/11), was changed on June 6, 2012. No reason was
given for the judge's transfer.
Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah
argues that the recent spree of targeted killings in Karachi
is not politically motivated instead, he claims that it is a
turf war between criminal gangs who are out to occupy each others'
territory in show of might.
The DPC remarked that Pakistan
should not "commit the mistake" of handing Doctor Shakil Afridi
over to the US, and should give him "nothing less than a death
sentence".
June 6
Nine militants, including a
local TTP 'commander', were killed during the clash between
the volunteers of Kukikhel tribe in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency
in FATA. It is learnt that TTP 'commander' Nazir Afridi was
among the dead. He was a nephew of LI Chief Mangal Bagh and
brother-in-law of TTP 'commander' Tariq Afridi.
Two volunteers of Akkakhel peace
committee were shot dead by LI militants in the Abdullah Kor
area of Bara.
The SFs escorted the health
teams administered anti-polio vaccines to children in Sipah
area of Bara due to the threatening of militant outfit. Local
sources said that a Bara-based militant outfit had warned the
residents of the area against vaccinating their children. The
political administration also deployed its officials to help
the polio teams to reach those areas, which were inaccessible
for them during the previous vaccination campaigns.
Three persons, including an
activist of the MOC of MQM, were killed in separate areas of
Karachi. According to Police sources, a number of old city areas
remained tensed due to the overnight clash between two ethnic
groups, Baloch and Mohajirs over an abduction issue.
Armed militants shot dead an
activist of the MOC of MQM, identified as Raees Ahmed, at Dar-ul-Uloom
Road, Korangi within the precincts of Awami Colony Police Station.
Tension engulfed Korangi and Landhi in the aftermath.
One Waqar Ahmed alias Khurram
(30), was shot dead near his home situated in Federal B Area,
within the jurisdiction of Jauharabad Police Station.
A man's body, identified as
that of Mohammad Yaseen (26), was recovered from a gunny bag
abandoned near Bait-ul-Mukarram Mosque, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, within
Aziz Bhatti Police remit.
Pillion riders threw a hand
grenade near KMC Workshop, Nishtar Road within Eidgah Police
limits. Police officials said the grenade did not go off and
no casualty was caused.
The Sindh Rangers on the night
between June 6 and June 7 arrested scores of suspects during
multiple targeted operations in Karachi, including included
Chakiwarda, Jadgal Chowk, Dhobi Ghat, and Kashti Chowk, recovering
firearms and ammunition.
Rangers raided buildings in
Gadap and Mehmoodabad areas and arrested four suspects with
weapons and ammunition.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transport
Department is deploying security guards in the public bus terminal.
"We have completed interviews of 30 security guards who would
be deployed in the public bus stand next week to ensure that
no untoward incident takes place there," said Jamil Ahmed, a
transport department official.
In a bid to equip the Gilgit
Baltistan Police to maintain law and order in the mountainous
region, Gilgit Baltistan Chief Minister Mehdi Shah handed over
2,000 weapons and 200,000 rounds to the force.
The weapons handed over to the
Police included a total of 700 G3-rifles with 70,000 rounds,
300 7.62mm sub-machine guns with 30,000 rounds, and 1,000 9mm
MP5 sub-machine guns with 100,000 rounds were.
Afghan Intelligence accused
Pakistan of poisoning at least 65 schoolgirls in Takhar province
on June 2, 2012. At least 15 suspects have been detained over
mysterious illnesses. A teacher and three female students are
among those arrested and all 15 have confessed to being involved
in poisoning, National Directorate of Security spokesman Lutfullah
Mashal said.
The ISI dismissed the allegation
as absurd and senseless. "This is an attempt to strain ties
between the two countries. Pakistan wants peace and stability
in Afghanistan. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in our
interest," a Pakistani intelligence official said.
Terming drone attacks on Pakistani
soil as 'self defence', US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta made
it clear that the campaign will continue. "We have made it very
clear to Pakistani leaders that we will continue to defend ourselves,"
Panetta, who is wrapping up his nine-day tour of Asia, said
during an interaction at the IDSA in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that drone strikes were a violation of human rights because
innocent people, including children and women, get killed in
such attacks.
At least 740 people have been
slain in targeted killings between January 1 and May 31, the
HRCP said. Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the HRCP, said 107 political
activists were among the dead. In 2011, 1,715 people were killed
in violent incidents in the city. If the January-May pace holds,
this year's total will be higher, about 1,750. Zohra said people
were being killed with impunity while the government seemed
to have little control over the situation.
The US talks pertaining to reopening
NATO supplies and review of ties between the two countries slipped
into a deadlock over three important issues, including rate
for charging a truck crossing the supply into Afghanistan.
Four inter-related subjects
namely drone attacks, rate of charges of NATO supply, border's
coordination mechanism, apology by US over Salala incident were
discussed between the US and Pakistan.
US State Department Spokesman
Mark Toner said that though Pakistan has formally informed the
US that sentencing of Doctor Shakeel Afridi was not linked to
his help in tracing slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, there
seems to be no change in the view of Obama administration that
33 year imprisonment to the physician was not justified.
Differences cropped up between
office-bearers and members of FATA Lawyers Forum (FLF) after
its patron-in-chief Abdul Kareem Mehsud announced to suspend
the forum's cabinet, but the rival group insisted the suspension
was illegal as Abdul Kareem had no legal authority to do so.
Lashing out at the Punjab Government,
Adviser to the PM on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik while talking
to the media at the NADRA Headquarters in Islamabad asked the
PML-N to desist from patronising terrorist organisations like
LeJ, as they were only harming the country.
Commenting on Punjab Chief Minister
Shahbaz Sharif's protest against load shedding and his recent
visit to his camp office at Minar-e-Pakistan, Malik said, "You
cannot get anything by travelling in buses... Why haven't your
Police recovered the kidnapped son of the late Governor? Why
don't you tell the nation that you have failed?"
A new book 'Confront and Conceal'
by The New York Times journalist David Sanger reveals that US
used troop movement threat to spur Pakistan Army Chief Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani to act against Haqqani network, but he refused.
The US intends to keep between 10,000 to 15,000 counter-terrorism
troops in Afghanistan, much beyond its troops' drawdown in 2014,
which could cross over into Pakistan in case of crisis, a top
Barrack Obama aide had warned Pakistan Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani.
At least 15 people, including
five children, were killed and more than 48 got injured in a
remote-controlled bomb blast outside a madrassa, Jamia Islamia
Miftahul Uloom, near Bank Chowk on Sariab Link Road in Quetta.
Majority of the victims were students of the madrassa.
At least three people, including
two militants, were killed and another was injured in a firing
incident in Chaghai District. Unidentified assailants opened
fire on tribal elder Sardar Ali Mardan's son Raza Hasani in
the main bazaar of the District.
An unidentified dead body was
recovered from the mountains of Turbat District.
At least seven persons, including
a PPP activist and a cadre belonging to SSP were killed in separate
incidents of violence in different areas of Karachi. A trader,
identified as Abdul Hameed (45), was shot dead while Head Constable
Aslam Ameer was injured in an extortion armed attack in Latif
Cloth Market within the limits of Kharadar Police Station. The
All Karachi Trader Ittehad Chairman Ateeq Mir said that gangsters
were committing crimes frequently while the Law Enforcement
Agencies had failed to ensure traders' security.
One Adnan (26) was killed in
an act of sectarian killing at Ayesha Manzil in the limits of
Azizabad Police Station while he was going to Madni Mosque with
his friend Tahir. Police said the victim belonged to Tablighi
Jama'at and had no affiliation with any political party.
One Hanif (45) was shot dead
in Angara Goth within the precincts of Liaquatabad Police Station
while he was standing in front of his house.
Imam Badshah (50) was shot dead
in Kunwari Colony within Pirabad Police remits. Police said
victim was a member of his neighborhood's Inter-Religious Amn
Committee.
A man, identified as Abu Bashar
(43), was shot dead, while another injured near German School,
Orangi Town within the precincts of Pakistan Bazaar Police Station.
Police sources claimed that victim was a worker of the PPP.
Police found a dead body of
one Kamran (28) from Furniture Market within the jurisdiction
of Aram Bagh Police Station. Unidentified abductors reportedly
abducted him and then abandoned his body in the market.
A cadre SSP, Shoaib (45), was
shot dead while two passersby injured near Zeenat Square within
the limits of Sharifabad Police Station. He was standing near
a dairy shop when two armed assailants sprayed him with bullets
while also injuring two passersby, Shahab and Zeeshan. Spokesman
of ASWJ, formerly known as SSP, Maulana Taj Hanfi said that
victim was an active worker of ASWJ.
The Motorway Police during a
patrol recovered two Russian-made grenades from Lyari Expressway
in Hassan Square, Gauharabad within the limits of PIB Police
Station.
Four children received injuries
when an explosive device, planted by unidentified militants,
went off in Thang Khatta village of Bajaur Agency in FATA. Locals
said that the children of Thang Khatta village were playing
in a field when all of a sudden an explosive device, planted
there, went off and injured four children. The injured children
were identified as Bilal, Ayesha Bibi, Salma Bibi and Zahirullah.
Two persons including a child
were injured when mortar shells fell on several of houses in
Baz Garha area of Kamarkhel in Bara of Khyber Agency.
One person, Abdul Aziz, was
injured when a shell fell on his house in Kalanga locality of
Akkakhel. A portion of the house was also damaged. Likewise,
houses of Haji Munawar and Baz Mohammad were partially damaged
when hit by shells.
Khyber Agency tribesmen protested
killings in the bombing of Tirah Valley by jetfighters and urged
the Government to immediately halt military operation in the
agency and ensure return and rehabilitation of the internally
displaced persons.
The Aabpara Police (Islamabad)
during the last two days registered five separate cases over
the disappearance of people, including the mother of former
Lal Masjid [Red Mosque] cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz and a businessman,
during the operation, Police said. In all five complaints no
one had been nominated.
The cases were registered before
the June 8 deadline given by the Supreme Court to the Police
directing them on May 25, 2012 to entertain the complaints over
the disappearance of people during Operation Silence in 2007
and register cases, added Police.
Over the disappearance of Sahiba
Khatoon, the Police registered a case in response of a complaint
lodged by her son Maulana Abdul Aziz, who sated that his mother
was missing since July 10, 2007. The second case was registered
over the disappearance of Khalid Amin, in response of a complaint
lodged by his brother Sajjad Ahmed, who stated that his brother
was missing since July 7, 2007.Three other cases were registered
over the disappearance including that of Mumraiz Khan, in response
of a complaint lodged by his brother Munir Khan, a native of
Murree. Mumraiz was missing since July 8, 2007.
The UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Navi Pillay called for a UN investigation into
US drone strikes in Pakistan, questioning their legality and
saying they kill innocent civilians. UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Navi Pillay made the remarks at the end of a four-day
visit to Pakistan. "Drone attacks do raise serious questions
about compliance with international law," Pillay told a news
conference in Islamabad.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
said that Washington was reaching the limits of its patience
with Islamabad because of the safe havens the country offered
to insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan. It was some of the
strongest language used by a top US official to describe the
strained ties between the US and Pakistan.
Pakistan's ambassador to the
US Sherry Rehman, branded Leon Panetta's statement as "unhelpful".
In response to a media query about the remarks made by Leon
Panetta, Sherry said "This kind of public messaging from a senior
member of the US Administration is taken very seriously in Pakistan,
and reduces the space for narrowing our bilateral differences
at a critical time in the negotiations." "It adds an unhelpful
twist to the process and leaves little oxygen for those of us
seeking to break a stalemate," Sherry Rehman, said in a statement.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
implicitly defended Washington's use of drone strikes to kill
suspected terrorists. "We will always maintain our right to
use force against groups such as al Qaeda that have attacked
us and still threaten us with imminent attack," Clinton said
in Istanbul.
Niger's President Mahamadou
Issoufou warned that jihadi fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan
are training militant groups in northern Mali. "We have information
on the presence of Afghans and Pakistanis in northern Mali…They
are believed to be working as instructors," he told the France
24 News Channel.
Mali has plunged into chaos
since the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya in 2011
scattered mercenaries and weapons across the Sahel. The Tuareg
rebels fought alongside a previously unknown militant group
called Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), which is believed to
be backed by al Qaeda's North African branch. Al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been active for years in northern
Mali, where it has launched attacks against Government Army
positions, kidnapped foreigners and allegedly benefitted from
drug running.
"I think all these organisations
cooperate amongst themselves, whether the Shebab in Somalia,
Boko Haram in Nigeria, AQIM in Algeria and in the Sahel in general,
all the way to Afghanistan," he said. "Our concern is that the
Sahel not becomes a new Afghanistan."
Pakistan said that it will 'soon'
reopen the GLOCs for NATO containers to re-enter Afghanistan
and this could happen in a 'week's time', reports The News.
The US too admits that GLOCs will open 'soon' but has refrained
from giving a timeframe. When a senior Pakistani diplomat, monitoring
the deliberations, was approached, he said, "We will open GLOCs
soon. My hunch is in a week's time" that could be around June
14, 2012.
When a senior official of the
State Department was asked the same question, he said, "There
is a "package deal" being discussed at high levels, which includes
Coalition Support Fund (CSF), but the deal is not yet quite
concluded. We remain hopeful."
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani while
talking to the media after the inauguration of Gems and Jewellery
exhibition in Karachi (Sindh) said that the Government would
not succumb to any international pressure to open the NATO supply
line and Shamsi airbase.
June 8
At least 18 persons, including
13 cadres of a militant outfit, were killed in a fierce gun
battle with SFs in Chagai District. "The leader of the gang,
Mohammad Azam, was killed in the gunfight," Chagai Deputy Commissioner,
Doctor Tufail told the media, adding that the criminals killed
in the fierce gunfight were wanted in several heinous crimes.
"The gang has been active in
Chagai and other Districts of Balochistan for 20 years," Doctor
Tufail said, adding that it was wanted in a number of cases
of murder, looting, attacks on Government and security officials
and abduction-for-ransom.
At least 21 persons were killed
and over 40 others injured when a powerful bomb ripped through
a bus carrying Government employees in Gulbela area on the Charsadda
Road in the jurisdiction of Daudzai Police Station in Peshawar.
The body of a Khasadar (tribal
Police), identified as Ghulam Rasool, who was abducted few days
ago on an unspecified date, was found in Ingeer Khura area of
Hangu District. TTP claimed responsibility for the abducting
and killing of the Khasadar.
A tube-well owned by JUI-F lawmaker
and MPA Naseer Mohammad Khan Maidadkhel was partially damaged
in a bomb blast in Kherukhel Pakka area of Lakki Marwat District.
A Federal Judge James Zagel,
sentenced a Pakistan-born Chicago taxi driver Raja Lahrasib
Khan (58) to seven and a half years in prison for attempting
to send money to Ilyas Kashmiri a terrorist with alleged links
to al Qaeda and leader of HUJI, telling him that he had violated
a citizenship oath made to God promising never to do harm to
the US.
After Khan's arrest, authorities
accused him of taking steps to send cash to Kashmiri after Kashmiri
indicated he needed money for explosives. Khan believed Kashmiri
was getting orders from Osama bin Laden, prosecutors said. He
sent USD 950 in 2009 to an individual in Pakistan for delivery
to Kashmiri he also took USD 1,000 from an undercover agent,
allegedly believing that it would be used to buy weapons and
possibly other supplies.
Hundreds of families were forced
to flee when TTP launched a fresh offensive against Kukikhel
tribe in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said
that about 500 families, belonging to Maniya Khel and Sra Vela
localities of Tirah, reached Ghundi village of Jamrud tehsil
while around 300 more temporarily settled down in Ali Masjid
area.
A resident of Maniya Khel, Saifullah
told the media "Taliban came in a large number. They were heavily
armed". He added that Kukikhel volunteers could not offer any
resistance as they had exhausted all their ammunition and also
vacated most of their bunkers.
Another Kukikhel volunteer Noor
Zahir said that his tribe, which had earlier vowed to expel
Taliban from their soil at any cost, lost most of their areas
to Taliban fighters of Tariq Afridi group.
It was reported that the Totakhel
tribe demanded to the political administration of Mohmand Agency
to release its members, arrested under collective responsibility
clause of FCR two months ago. The political administration had
arrested 31 tribesmen under collective responsibility clause
of FCR on March 27, 2012 after militants blew up a health unit,
a school and a telephone exchange in Atta area of Khwezai tehsil.
The HM 'chief' Syed Salahuddin
vowed to turn the guns on Pakistan if it stopped backing jihadis
in J&K who, he claimed, were fighting "Pakistan's war". "We
are fighting Pakistan's war in Kashmir and if it withdraws its
support, the war would be fought inside Pakistan," said Salahuddin,
who also heads the MJC, a grouping of terrorist organisations
based in Pakistan.
He said he was "desperate and
agitated" with the new approach adopted by Pakistan in the peace
process with India. "Kashmir has been the key issue but now
it has become peripheral as all claims of supporting our struggle
politically, diplomatically and morally are nothing but lip
service," Salahuddin claimed. He said he believed that militancy
alone is the solution to the Kashmir issues.
"All those who were involved
in the so-called peace talks eventually admitted that India
is not serious and that it gained more and more time to implement
its own design for the region," he claimed.
The US Counterterrorism officials
reported that the death of al Qaeda's 'Deputy leader', Abu Yahya
al-Libi on June 4, 2012 is likely to accelerate a shift in power
from the group's dwindling leadership in Pakistan to its increasingly
autonomous franchises, particularly the branch in Yemen, whose
focus on attacking American interests is sure to continue.
For now, Ayman al-Zawahri, Qaeda's
nominal leader, still holds the broad influence that he has
consolidated since Osama bin Laden's death on May1-2, 2011.
But the hierarchical structure of global jihad may be loosening
a bit. Libi's death in a drone strike has torn at the connective
tissue between the group's embattled leadership in Pakistan
and its far-flung affiliates across the Middle East and Africa.
The US and Pakistan are working
on the language of a possible US apology to end their stalemate
and reopening of NATO's supply routes to Afghanistan by Pakistan.
Pakistan wants the US to apologies over a November 26, 2011
air raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the Salala military
post in Mohmand Agency of FATA.
A team of US experts has been
based in Islamabad for the past six weeks, trying to end the
dispute and reopen the supply routes. Another senior US official,
Assistant Secretary of Defence Peter Levoy, also joined the
team.
Government announced its provincial
budget with increased allocations for security-related expenses
by PKR 5.6 billion for financial year 2012-13 keeping in view
the precarious law and order situation in the region, reported
Dawn. Compared to the current fiscal year's allocation of PKR
23.2 billion the Government has earmarked PKR 28.8 billion for
security-related expenses in the provincial budget for fiscal
2012-13.
According to the budget document,
PKR 22 billion of PKR 28.8 billion would be provided from the
federal divisional pool, while rest of the amount would be made
available by the province. A sum of PKR 23.355 billion has been
earmarked for Police in the budget, of which PKR 19.226 billion
would be spent on salaries and PKR 4.129 billion on non-salary/operational
expenses of the Police force.
June 9
At least five more persons were
killed on the second day of gun fight between the SFs and militants
in Chagai District. The clashes erupted on June 8 after the
killing of a tribal elder's son. No trooper has been killed
in the clashes and the death toll has now reached to 23.
Armed militants killed four
Policemen on Sariab Road in Quetta. According to initial reports,
unknown gunmen attacked a patrolling Police party that killed
four security men on the spot while attackers fled from the
scene.
Police recovered a bullet-riddled
dead body of a man, identified as Meharullah, in the Sakuran
area of the industrial town Hub in Lasbela District.
At least four people were killed
and two others injured in intense exchange of fire between two
groups of drug peddlers at Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth area
of Karachi. According to the media, tensions were on a high
in the area due to the conflict between the two groups and early
in the morning the Square erupted with sounds of gunfire. One
of those killed was identified as Irshad Mehsud, while another
man was also believed to be part of the Mehsud clan. The other
two dead were believed to be Afghans.
The families of the suspects
revealed that the victims belonged to Waziristan's Mehsud tribe.
Three people were killed in
separate acts of violence in Karachi. A man, identified as Arshad
(32), was shot dead while his friend Bilal Nasir was injured
while they were sitting at a tyre shop near Ali Bhai Auditorium,
Nishtar Road within the limits of Soldier Bazaar Police Station.
ASI Tahir Ghazi said that victim's elder brother Moosa Baloch,
affiliated with PAC, was recently killed in the same manner.
Police found a bullet-riddled
body of one Naveed Khan (31) from Sarya Gali in Old Timber Market
within the remit of Napier Police Station.
Another dead body, identified
as that of Syed Raheel Shah (35), was recovered from Lyari Naddi
within the precincts of Shershah Police Station. SHO Malik Nawaz
said the victim was abducted, tortured and later killed.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested a TTP militant belonging to Sher Zaman faction,
identified as Jahangir Khan Akakhel, along with his weapon,
after a brief encounter near Nadir Hospital on Super Highway.
A Police Constable, identified
as Kashif Ali, was killed during a pre-dawn encounter with militants
in Kuthkani area of Maini village in Swabi District.
The Police claimed to have recovered
explosive material and other equipment used in homemade bombs
from a house in Abakhel village. "Two suspected militants arrested
in connection with a case of bomb explosion revealed during
their investigation that they had concealed explosives in their
home," said a police official.
Ongoing conflicts in different
areas of the country are not being properly reported in media
due to pressure and threats of different pressure groups and
there is a dire need to address this sensitive issue, noted
the participants of a roundtable discussion.
The ongoing situation in Balochistan,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA is very critical and conflict reporting
in these areas has become very difficult, as the reporters there
have to face threats and pressures from different sides including
military, militants, local administration and political groups.
Due to the sensitive natures
of the ongoing conflicts, more and more news editors are opting
not to publish even the reports based on real facts due to immense
pressure of stakeholders, mainly the law enforcing agencies
and militant outfits.
US President Barack Obama has
ordered a 'sharp increase' in drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal
areas in recent months, Bloomberg quoting two officials reported.
Pakistani national security
officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Bloomberg,
claimed that all CIA officers working on the drone program were
expelled and the drones were now being launched from bases in
Afghanistan.
Pakistan said it was following
a well-thought-out strategy to eradicate terrorism and would
follow its own timeline in this endeavour. Maintaining that
Pakistan was steadfast in its commitment to fighting terrorism,
the Foreign Office said the country was following a "well thought
out strategy to eradicate the menace of extremism and terrorism"
and would follow its own timeline.
Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington
Sherry Rehman said that "this kind of public messaging from
a senior member of the US administration is taken very seriously
in Pakistan, and reduces the space for narrowing our bilateral
differences at a critical time in the negotiations''.
Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal,
head of judicial commission formed for the recovery of missing
persons, held foreign intelligence agencies responsible for
the deteriorating situation of Balochistan, claiming that there
was concrete evidence against them.
About missing persons, Iqbal
said that the Chief Minister of Balochistan had sent a list
of 945 'missing' persons to the commission, and added that the
complete details of even 45 persons on the list had not been
made available. "We sent the list back to the ministry for correction
but it never came back," he pointed out.
He also said that "there is
a baseless propaganda about the actual figure of missing persons
in the country." He said that according to the commission, the
total number of missing persons stood at 460, including 18 from
Islamabad, 117 from Punjab, 174 from Sindh, 170 from Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and 57 from Balochistan while 12 each from Azad
Kashmir and FATA.
June 10
At least 10 people, including
one security official, were killed, and 10 others injured when
terrorists fired rockets at a security check post in South Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
At least one security official
was killed and another injured when a group of militants attacked
a check post in Wana, sub-division of South Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
A MQM activist was killed in
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Unidentified assailants
opened fire and killed, Sohail Hussain, a MQM activist, at Nishtar
Basti in PIB Colony near Old Subzi Mandi in Karachi. Soon, tension
engulfed Hassan Square, Old Sabzi Mandi, University Road, Nishtar
Basti, Jail Road and its surrounding areas. A heavy aerial firing
was opened in different areas in which six people were injured.
Angry people staged protests again killing and they set ablaze
a rickshaw and jeep near Nishtar Basti.
MQM Coordination Committee in
a statement said that the relentless killing of the MQM workers
in the city was the part of a vicious conspiracy to undermine
peace and tranquility. The statement further said that people
belonging to every sphere of life in Karachi were feeling a
sense of insecurity due to sharp increase in the activities
of criminal elements, incidents of firing, extortion, bloodshed
and kidnappings for ransom.
Unidentified militants blew
up three power pylons in Dasht area of Mastung District suspending
electricity supply to parts of the province. A spokesman for
the Quetta Electric Supply Company said 45 grid stations in
16 Districts were affected.
KP Information Minister Iftikhar
Hussain has said that the Punjab Government has refused to keep
Shakeel Afridi in Adiala Jail. Talking to the media, the information
minister said that the KP Government had requested the Federal
Government to shift the high-security-risk prisoner from the
Peshawar Central Jail to somewhere else.
A website that posts messages
from terrorist groups said that it would reveal a video message
from slain al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al Libi. "Soon, God willing:
a visual message from Abu Yahya al Libi," a notice posted on
a forum said, without elaborating on when the message was recorded.
Unidentified militants blew
up a government primary school for boys in Khat Kallay near
Sheik Maltoon Town in Mardan District. Police said 10 to 15
kilograms of explosives were used in the blast that destroyed
two classrooms of the school completely.
A Senior Official, District
Coordination Officer Siraj Ahmad Khan said that around one hundred
thousand illegal Afghan nationals have returned to their country
from Peshawar since the City District Government issued warning
to them on May 25, 2012.
A source said that International
Agencies, monitoring cross border movement of registered and
unregistered refugees between Pakistan and Afghanistan, did
not report significant rush of Afghans at Torkham.
Two websites linked to al Qaeda
announced that they will air a new video featuring the jihadist
network's deputy leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, whom Washington claimed
to have killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA on June 4, 2012.
June 11
Nine persons, including four
gangsters and one MQM activist, were killed in separate incidents
of violence in Karachi.
Four Haji Salamu gangsters,
including the leader Haji Salamu, his brother Shahzad alias
Charlie, nephew Kashif and an accomplice were shot dead and
two others were injured in Mauripur Road area when Lyari gangsters
and Haji Salamu gang exchanged fire. Police suggested that Haji
Salamu gangster were killed because Salamu's refused to join
PAC.
Police found three unidentified
dead bodies in gunny bags in Liaquatabad area and near Mauripur
Road area.
One MQM activist was killed
and six other people were injured when unidentified militants
opened fire at them in PIB Colony.
One unidentified man was killed
in the Golimar area.
At least six people were killed
and over two dozen people were injured when a remote-controlled
bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded near a bus in the Dringarh
area of Mastung District in a suspected sectarian attack.
Two people, including a commander
of Aman Lashkar, were killed in two separate remote-controlled
bomb blasts in the Mastak area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
TTP, Mehsud faction, in a pamphlet
distributed in South Waziristan Agency, gave a final warning
to residents to evacuate the area. According to the pamphlet
distributed by the militants in the Mehsud territory of South
Waziristan, it appealed to all residents of the Agency to vacate
the Agency owing to the war in FATA.
It added that no NGO or any
NGO contractors were allowed to operate in the area. Rather
it termed them as legitimate targets. Included in this list
were employees associated with educational activities, health,
and members of the Khasadar force.
The TTP took full control of
Kukikhel-dominated areas of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency as
more families left their homes and moved to Jamrud town of the
Agency. Sources said that besides fortifying their positions
in the newly-occupied localities, TTP had also torched houses
of some Kukikhel elders in Bagh and Sra Vela.
"The entire Tirah Valley, except
Bazaar Zakakhel, is now under effective control of three militant
groups, TTP (Tariq Afridi group), Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam
(LI) and Ansarul Islam (AI)," confirmed Bakhtiar Mohmand, Assistant
Political Agent of Jamrud.
The Pentagon said that the US
has withdrawn negotiators from Pakistan after talks failed to
produce an agreement on reopening vital NATO supply routes into
Afghanistan. "The decision was reached to bring the team home
for a short period of time," Pentagon spokesman George Little
said.
The No. 2 US commander in Afghanistan,
Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti said that the NATO supply,
closed by Pakistan, has not affected their operation as supply
is continuing through alternate routes.
In the backdrop of withdrawal
of negotiators the FO Spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan said Pakistan
and US will have to adopt a realistic approach to improve bilateral
relations. Talking to Pakistan Television, he said that Pakistan-US
relations are important and there is a desire on both sides
to build consensus on issues.
Pakistan Army Chief General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's office turned down a request for a meeting
by visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy,
reflecting the strains that have hit ties between the two countries
since 2011.
One unnamed Pakistani official
indicated the request was turned down because of allegations
by US officials that Pakistan was not doing enough to rein in
militants operating along the border with Afghanistan.
The Supreme Court hinted it
could summon Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
over the worsening law order situation in Balochistan, and could
ask him how the country should be run and what he can do in
this regard. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, remarked that the court could pass an order
under Article 190 to summon the Army Chief.
Balochistan Finance Minister
Mir Asim Kurd Gailu said, "About 150 missing persons have been
traced due to the efforts of the incumbent Government. Efforts
were afoot to bring the disgruntled Baloch leaders in the national
mainstream.
June 12
Three people, including the
brother of MQM's ex-MPA, were killed in separate acts of violence
in the metropolis. Two armed militants shot at two brothers
of Syed Shakir Ali, former MQM MPA. Both victims were traders
and armed assailants came to Shershah scrap market near Jehanabad
Police check-post and killed one brother, identified as Syed
Qarar Ali (60), and injured another brother Syed Zakir Ali (42).
A man, identified as Abdul Waheed
(25), was shot dead within the limits of Korangi Police Station
while he was going home.
The dead body of KRC activist,
identified as Moosa Sanghar, was found in a gunny bag near Kharadar
Jama'at Khana. Sanghar was abducted on the night of June 11,
2012.
At least two Policemen, identified
as Abdul Jabbar (40) and Naheedullah (38), were killed and five
others, including three civilians were injured in a suicide
attack targeting the convoy of Faheem-ur-Rehman, the head of
the anti-Taliban Bazidkhel Qaumi Lashkar at Bazidkhel Chowk
in Badhaber area of Peshawar. Both the Policemen killed in the
attack belonged to Bazidkhel village and were members of the
Special Force. According to bomb disposal unit, legs of the
bomber had been found and he appeared to be a teenager.
Unidentified militants destroyed
three shops and a tube-well in Merikhel area of Darra Adamkhel
town in Kohat District. Sources said that owner of one shop
Gul Hassan Afridi had been warned by militants to stop informing
SFs about their activities. However no loss of life was reported.
A doctor, identified as Doctor
Murli Lal who was abducted two months ago from Sohbatpur town
in Jaffarabad District reached his home in Dera Allahyar town
of the District.
A local cleric, Maulvi Ibrahim
Chishti, declared the polio campaign 'un-Islamic' and announced
at the local mosque that jihad should be carried out against
the visiting polio vaccination team in Muzaffargarh District.
As a result, the polio team
returned to Muzaffargarh city without carrying out immunisation,
and reported the matter to Muzaffargarh Health Executive District
Officer Doctor Aashiq Hussain.
Senior Minister Bashir Bilour
told the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly that the provincial Government
had discussed with the Federal Government the shifting of Doctor
Shakil Afridi, who allegedly helped CIA track down slain al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, to other jails from
the Central Prison Peshawar.
The Pakistani Government should
"bite the bullet" and re-open supply routes to NATO forces in
Afghanistan in order to ease tensions with the US, a senior
US Government official said. The US had said on June 11, 2012
that it was withdrawing its team of negotiators from Pakistan
without securing a long-sought deal on supply routes for the
war in neighbouring Afghanistan, publicly exposing a diplomatic
stalemate and deeply strained relations that appear at risk
of deteriorating further.
Sources in the Foreign Affairs
Ministry said that since negotiating teams of the US and Pakistan
have finished their work and the decision now lies with the
political leaderships of the two countries.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar urged a US Congressional delegation led by Representative
Todd Platts that the relationship between Pakistan and the US
is important and both sides simply cannot afford to ignore this
fact.
The US Congressional delegation
was briefed on the current status and challenges of Pakistan-US
relationship. Foreign Minister Khar also informed the US Congressmen
about the regional situation.
The Pakistan Body Count
reported that there is a steep decline in suicide attacks in
the past few years. According to the data collated by Pakistan
Body Count, an organisation that maintains a 'news-report based
database' of suicide and drone attacks carried out in the country,
the number of incidents as well as causalities, have witnessed
a steep decline compared to 2009 and 2010 - the peak years in
terms of causalities.
The incidents which failed to
reach even double digits in the five years spanning between
2002- 2006 suddenly spiked to 57 in 2007. The bombings claimed
over 800 lives in that year. They went unchecked for the next
two years and reached a peak in 2009 when 90 suicide bombings
claimed over thousand lives. Although the number of incidents
started declining in 2010 but the number of fatalities increased.
In 2011 there were 44 blasts killing 625 people- nearly half
of the 2009 figures. By March 2012, when the data was last updated,
there were only 16 such blasts which took 119 lives.
June 13
Four people, including a cadre
of PAC, were killed in separate acts of violence in different
areas of Karachi. Police found two unidentified bullet-riddled
dead bodies from a shrubbery in Sahib Dad Goth within the limits
of Memon Goth Police Station.
Police found another unidentified
dead body of a youngster from Kunwari Colony within the limits
of Manghopir Police Station.
A, a cadre of PAC identified
as Owais (25) was shot dead while another cadre, identified
as Naeem alias Lahoti, was injured near Cheel Chowk, Nawa Lane
within the precincts of Kalakot Police Station while they were
guarding the stronghold of the outfit.
Sindh Police claimed to have
arrested four suspects, including an extortionist, a target
killer and two street criminals in different raids carried out
in the city. Two suspects (street criminals), Farrukh alias
Doctor and Jehangir along with their pistols and a snatched
motorcycle, were arrested during snap checking in New Karachi
within the limits of Bilal Colony Police Station.
The Anti-Extortionist Cell arrested
an alleged extortionist-cum-target killer, identified as Salman
alias Qadir, in a raid conducted in Baldia Town. A TT pistol
and some narcotics were also recovered from the possession of
the accused.
A wanted militant Israr Gul
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was arrested in a raid conducted in Orangi
Town within the limits of Pirabad Police Station.
A US drone fired two missiles
on a car near Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency of FATA killing
four suspects inside the car. The car was going to Tapi village
near Esha check-post when it came under attack. Local people
retrieved the charred bodies, they said, adding that those killed
could not be identified.
Unidentified armed militants
killed a PML-N activist Afzal Khan in the Swat District.
Unidentified militants blew
up a primary boys' school in the Shah Pur area of Kohat District.
According to the Police, around 600 kilogrammes of explosives
were used in the attack.
A new video featuring al Qaeda's
number two Abu Yahya al-Libi, who the US says was killed on
June 4, 2012 in a drone strike in North Waziristan Agency of
FATA in Pakistan, has been posted online by SITE. Both the SITE
Monitoring Service and IntelCenter, which keep tabs on militants'
websites, said it was not clear when the video had been made.
SITE said the video production date only indicated it had been
produced by al Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab sometime after November
2011.
In the video, Libi denounces
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a "tyrant" and calls his
Government a "criminal regime", according to the SITE's translation.
He urges the Syrian people to continue fighting and calls on
fighters in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey "to rise to help their brothers
and to sacrifice themselves for them."
Around 17 of 20 countries surveyed
by Pew Global, more than half respondents disapproved of US
drone attacks targeting extremist leaders and groups in Pakistan,
Yemen and Somalia. But the unmanned aerial strikes are popular
in the US, according to the research. Sixty-two per cent of
Americans approve of the drone campaign, with Republicans taking
a clear lead. As many as seventy four per cent Republicans support
the drones. Sixty per cent independents and 58 per cent Democrats
also back the strikes.
Outside the US, India is the
only country where drone supporters outnumber those who oppose
it. Thirty-two per cent of Indians surveyed said they supported
the strikes. Twenty-one per cent said they were against it.
Others expressed no opinion. The highest support for drones
outside the US is in Britain where 44 per cent approve the strikes.
Pew also conducted a separate
survey of drone strikes in Pakistan which will be released later.
In predominantly Muslim nations, American anti-terrorism efforts
are still widely unpopular. Just 7 per cent of Pakistanis have
a positive view of President Obama, the same percentage that
voiced confidence in President George W. Bush during the final
year of his administration.
A senior US lawmaker Dianne
Feinstein who also chairs the SIC said that apologising to Pakistan
over the November 26, 2012 Salala incident would improve Washington's
relations with a key ally. "National Security of the US will
be better served with a positive relationship with Pakistan,"
Senator Dianne Feinstein said during a Senate hearing on budget
priorities for 2013.
Pakistan's Ambassador Sherry
Rehman said, "We appreciate Senator Feinstein for showing the
way forward in normalising ties in a relationship that is important
to both sides and critical for stabilising the region."
A senior Foreign Office official
admitted that the apology, and not tariff rates, is the main
hurdle for the resumption of NATO supplies to Afghanistan. Pakistan
is willing to drastically reduce the taxes and transit fees
it intends to impose on NATO supplies passing through the country
only if the US accepts full responsibility of the Salala air
raid and offers a public apology.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
said that the US should examine setting conditions for aid to
Pakistan but not cutting it off, as Islamabad's closure of supply
routes to the Afghan war cost American taxpayers millions of
dollars a month.
The PHC Chief Justice Dost Mohammad
Khan underlined the need for solid steps to ensure rule of law
and upholding of the Constitution for healthy development of
society.
June 14
At least nine suspected militants
were killed and four others were injured when military planes
attacked their positions in upper tehsil of Orakzai Agency in
FATA.
A US drone attack killed at
least three more militants by firing two missiles on a building
in the central market of Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency,
quoting Pakistani Officials.
SFs and a tribal lashkar repulsed
a TTP attack on a check post in Upper Dir District of KP from
Afghan Province of Kunar, killing six attackers and injuring
many, official sources said.
At least nine persons, including
a Police Officer, were killed and over a half dozen injured
in different acts of target killings in Karachi. A trader was
shot dead and two others were injured in Japan Plaza, near Tibet
Centre within the limits of Preedy Police Station when armed
militants riding a motorcycle opened fire injuring three people
Sohail (35), Aslam (40), and Asad Ali (40). Later, Sohail succumbed
to his injuries.
An elder brother of MQM sub-organisation
Muttahida Organising Committee sector in-charge, identified
as Shahid (40), was shot dead on Taj Masjid Road area in Lyari
within the jurisdiction of Kalri Police Station.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a tortured man from Shah Waliullah Road near Ghausia
Mobile Mall within the precincts of Baghdadi Police Station.
A Police official said the victim had several torture marks
on his body and appeared to be Kachchi speaking.
Another unidentified dead body
was found in a gunny bag from Khadda Market area of Lyari. Police
said that the victims was first abducted and tortured before
being killed.
In another area of Karachi,
unknown armed assailants killed a man at Khushaal Chowk in Machar
Colony while another person was injured at Jail Chowrangi.
One man Israr Khan (35) was
shot dead in Muhammadi Colony near Khoshhal Chowk within the
limits of Docks Police Station.
An unidentified teenage boy
was shot dead near Power House Chowrangi within the jurisdiction
of Bilal Colony Police Station.
A sanitary man, identified as
Sunny (25), was shot dead in Khori Garden, old city area, within
the limits of Kharadar Police Station.
A Police officer Rauf Baloch
(35) was shot dead at Ghulam Hussain Qaim Road, within the limits
of Garden Police Station.
MQM's former in-charge of Unit
32, Lyari sector, identified as Shabbir, and his son, Kamran,
were injured near Garden Headquarter within the precincts of
Nabi Bux Police Station.
One Doctor Amjad was shot and
injured at his clinic near Kati Pahari within the limits of
Shahrah Noor Jahan Police Station.
One Syed Abbas, and another
Jaffar, received bullet injuries near Lea Market, Hub bus stand
within the limits of Nippier Police Station.
Ehsan Khan, a vegetable supplier
and resident of Sawat near Guru Jaglote, was injured when unidentified
men opened fire on his van when he was returning to Gilgit after
delivering stocks to the markets in Hunza. Khan succumbed to
his injuries later. Police arrested seven people in connection
with the murder, which the Police believe to be sectarian-motivated.
Infuriated over the killing
of a vegetable supplier, the traders' union observed a shutter-down
strike. Most of the city presented a deserted look.
The National Assembly approved
five demands of grants worth PKR 11,377,526,000 for Kashmir
Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Division for the fiscal year 2012-13.
The demands of grants presented to the House by Finance Minister
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh included PKR 244,565,000 for the Federal
Government to meet expenditure in respect of Kashmir Affairs
and Gilgit Baltistan Division, PKR 800,091,000 in respect of
other expenditures of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Division.
Earlier, on June 11, the Gilgit
Baltistan Legislative Assembly enacted a law to curb sectarian
menace. The GBLA has become the first provincial legislature
to have enacted a law dealing with sectarianism. Titled "Code
of Conduct" (CoC), the bill was unanimously passed by the GBLA
after being tabled in the house by Law Minister Wazir Shakeel
on June 8.
Unidentified militants fired
two rockets in Quetta on the night which exploded in open places,
causing no casualties or damage to property. One rocket landed
at the Wapda grid station in Marriabad on the Alamdar Road area
and the other near Musa College in Gulistan Town. The United
Baloch Army claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Five unidentified armed militants
abducted a 16-year-old boy, identified as Mehmood Akhtar, from
Killi Bangulzai area of Quetta while he was travelling in his
car to an educational academy to attend his tuition class on
June 13.
Sindh Government banned the
entry of Maulana Masood-ur-Rehman, a leader of SSP in Sindh
province under Sindh Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance,
1960. The notification, issued in provincial capital Karachi
stated that Maulana Rehman will not enter, reside or remain
in the province of Sindh. The order will remain enforced for
60 days.
PPP MPA Syed Fasihuddin Shah
expressing the concern in Sindh Assembly session informed the
house that SSP Nawabshah Nisar Channa was missing for the last
few days and there were certain reports that the SSP has been
abducted by the militants.
Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid stalled a move to cut off US aid to the country. The amendment,
proposed by Republican Senator Rand Paul, would have stopped
US aid to Pakistan until the country released Doctor Shakeel
Afridi who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden.
British Foreign Minister William
Hague said that Britain supports democracy in Pakistan. Talking
to Geo News programme, 'Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Sath', William Hague
said his country is not with any political party rather it supports
democracy in Pakistan.
FM Hina Rabbani Khar during
a Ministerial Conference in Kabul accused Governments of doing
a "terrible job" at working together to tackle militancy in
Afghanistan as she called for a more unified approach. The conference
aimed at building greater regional cooperation on Afghanistan
and its future beyond the pullout of NATO forces in 2014.
FM Khar responded to US Defence
Secretary Leon Panetta's remarks on "losing patience" by saying
she was "glad we are not losing patience with anyone, despite
losing 24 soldiers".
She further said, "Pakistan
still wants an unconditional apology and the reassurance that
the Salala type of incident does not happen again."
In addition, during the same
conference Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for greater
international cooperation to stabilise his war-torn country
and defeat militants. Karzai said the help of neighbouring countries
and international powers was vital to economic growth and peace
in his impoverished country.
The FO spokesman Moazzam Khan
said that efforts were going on to repair relations between
Pakistan and the US that deteriorated after the November 26,
2011 Salala incident. Responding to queries during his weekly
briefing, he said that the issues the two countries were trying
to deal with were difficult ones, and one must understand that
particularly after the Salala incident this relationship really
went through a huge dip.
US Senator John McCain, while
criticizing Obama administration, said that it is unnecessarily
damaging US relations with Pakistan. In an interview to American
TV, Senator McCain said the Obama administration's encouragement
of India's active role in Afghanistan and criticizing Pakistan
could be disastrous.
Diplomatic sources reported
that international pressure was mounting on Washington and Islamabad
to end their stalemate on the issue of reopening NATO route.
Pakistan and the US are denying that there was international
pressure in this connection, nevertheless, they express their
desire to strike a deal at the earliest pertaining to opening
up what is being technically dubbed as Ground Lines of Communication
into Afghanistan that are causing tension between Islamabad
and Washington.
Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam
Ahmad Khan, dispelled the impression that there was any pressure
from UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and Danish Foreign Minister
Villy Sovndal, Being friendly countries of Pakistan and the
US, they do worry about the situation and have desired that
the two countries should come closer.
Recent revelations about clandestine
US drone campaigns against al Qaeda and other militants are
not part of two major leak investigations being conducted by
federal prosecutors, sources familiar with the inquiries said.
Most detailed information on the drone wars, which were initiated
by the George W. Bush administration but expanded by President
Barack Obama, is highly classified, officials said.
But Obama and top administration
officials, including White House counter-terrorism Chief John
Brennan, recently have been alluding more openly to drone operations
in public remarks, and detailed news coverage has been widespread.
The CIA did file a "crime report"
following publication by the Associated Press last month of
a report disclosing the foiling of a plot by Yemen-based al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack an airliner using a
newly designed underwear bomb, sources said.
Afghanistan is expected to use
the latest round of international talks on its future to raise
pressure on Pakistan over so-called militant safe havens ahead
of the departure of foreign troops. Representatives from 29
countries will gather in Kabul for the one-day conference, which
follows a meeting in Istanbul in November aimed at mapping out
the future of the war-torn country after NATO troops leave in
2014.
Afghan President Karzai says
peace depends on regional cooperation to smash sanctuaries for
militant networks waging violence in his country, and has voiced
hope that Pakistan can help in this process.
Pakistanis say that the Americans
and Afghans are trying to find a scapegoat in them for the deterioration
of the decade-old war in Afghanistan. But in Afghanistan and
the US, critics say Pakistan's resistance to cracking down on
militant sanctuaries has only fuelled attacks.
June 15
At least 11 more people were
shot dead and two others wounded in different parts of Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
In separate acts of target killings,
at least seven people were shot dead and two others were wounded
in different parts of the city.
At least four to six armed assailants
shot dead a man, Pir Dad, near his house in Baloch Para in the
PIB Colony Police Station jurisdiction. Following the incident,
fear gripped the area, where the routine and commercial activities
were partially suspended.
One Ayub Baloch, 27, was shot
dead and his relative Nadeem Baloch, 30, was injured when at
least two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on them near
Gilani Masjid at Ghulam Hussain Qasim Road. SHO Mutahir Hussain,
who was later suspended over a series of target killings within
his jurisdiction, said that both the victims hailed from Balochistan
and had arrived in the city to visit their relatives, adding
that the incident took place when they were parking their car.
The dead body of a young man
was found from Dhobi Ghat locality.
An employee of telephone exchange
who was injured on June 14 succumbed to his injuries.
Two people, including an activist
of a political party, were killed and four others injured in
Hyderabad. According to Police, a political worker was killed
and two others injured in a clash over hoisting flag at Hali
Road in Shafiq colony.
A quack was abducted and later
found in critical condition at Hatri bypass. He succumbed to
injuries later. Two other people were injured in different firing
incidents in Panyari and Sireghat areas.
Revered social worker Abdul
Sattar Edhi has been given round-the-clock protection, for the
first time in Karachi, against an alleged TTP threat, officials
said. "There is a threat to him by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,
which wants to kidnap him and use him to get their detained
militants released in exchange," an unnamed security official
said.
Nine militants were killed and
four injured after jetfighters attacked their hideouts in Kalaya
area of Upper Orakzai Agency in FATA. Jetfighters targeted militant
positions in Adokehl and Botakhel areas of Mamozai, a stronghold
of militants. Sources said three militant hideouts were also
destroyed.
In Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency,
two children were killed in after they touched a landmine, which
exploded in the house of Juma Khel in Sheen Kamar-Zaodin area.
Sources said the house was recently vacated by militants, who
had allegedly laid the landmine in the house.
Two children were injured when
a stray mortar shell fell on the house of Lal Zamir in Gud Malang
area of Akkakhel. Local sources said mortar shells were fired
by SFs against militants in the area.
Unidentified militants attacked
the Levies centre in Shah Kas area of Jamrud. Local officials
said miscreants fled after retaliatory fire by the Levies present
inside the centre.
SFs advanced towards Alijo and
Dogar areas without resistance. However, the development forced
a large number of Mamozai tribesmen into vacating their houses
and leaving for safer places.
Two people, identified as Zeshan
and Bilal, were killed and one was injured when unidentified
assailants on motorcycles opened fire on them in the Tail Godown
area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The country's top leadership
is contemplating reopening inland supply routes for international
forces stationed in Afghanistan after the US appears to be softening
its stance on offering an apology for November 26, 2011, attacks
on border posts.
The US drone strikes against
suspected militant hideouts in tribal areas will ultimately
fail to influence the outcome of an Afghan settlement, an American
expert stressed in a newspaper opinion piece. Michael Krepon,
who is Director South Asian Program at the Stimson Center, noted
in The Washington Post, "These strikes will ultimately fail
to influence the outcome of an Afghan settlement, but they have
already succeeded in making the United States more hated in
Pakistan than India."
June 16
A car bomb ripped through parking
area of Bazaar Zakhakhel in Landikotal town of FATA, killing
25 people and injuring more than 65, officials said. "The death
toll is 25," local administration chief Mutahir Zeb said. Zeb
said there were 18 bodies at the Landikotal hospital while seven
victims died while being taken for treatment in Peshawar. The
dead included three children aged nine, 10 and 12, he added.
A roadside bomb targeting a
Police van killed six Police officers and one civilian in Kohat
District of KP, Police said. "The bomb was planted in a drain.
It was detonated by a remote-controlled device. The target was
a police van," local Police chief Mubarak Zeb said.
Unidentified militants killed
an active member of Maidan Peace Committee, Anwar Khan, along
with his 13-year-old son in the Dir area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
in the night. He was killed in the Koro Bagh area.
Five people were killed in the
city in separate incidents of firing. In Nagori Goth along the
Super Highway, three people were found shot dead, Police said.
"The victims remain unidentified and it seems that they were
kidnapped before being shots dead," said SP Jan Muhammad Barhamani.
Earlier in Aram Bagh area, a
motorcycle mechanic was shot dead near his home. The victim,
Fahim Iqbal, recently returned from Balochistan where he had
gone to see relatives.
A young man was gunned down
near Timber Market. Officials identified the deceased as Aqeel
Ibrahim.
A mob attacked a Police Station
in Quetta, demanding a man detained for allegedly desecrating
the Quran be handed over, leaving at least two children dead
and 19 with gunshot wounds. Violence erupted after Police arrested
a "mentally retarded" man said to have burnt pages of the holy
book in Kuchlak, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of Quetta,
senior administration official Qambar Dashti told AFP.
June 17
10 people, including four MQM
activists and a Policeman, were killed in separate acts of violence
and target killing in , the provincial capital of Sindh.
Two MQM workers, Mukhtar Khan
and Amjad, were shot dead in Surjani Town and Orangi Town, respectively.
A watchman was shot dead near
Allah Rakha Park in the Kharadar police area.
A Police Constable was also
shot dead and his son injured in an attack within the limits
of Surjani Police Station.
Bullet-riddled dead bodies of
three people were found in Nagori Goth along the Super Highway.
Police found dead bodies of
two MQM activists from Nullah Stop in Lyari. The two were cousins
and had been missing since June 16 evening.
Police found a bullet-riddled
body of a man from Chandni Chowk in Saeedabad Police area.
Violence spread across different
parts of Gulistan-e-Johar with incidences of firing after a
political party worker, Liaquat Bangash, was allegedly tortured
and killed by Police and rangers who raided his house. Five
people, including two Policemen, were injured in firing incidents
in the area. Bangash was arrest a year back by CID. He had more
than 12 cases registered against him and had been released just
a few days ago. The leader belonging to the ANP was found dead
in the Rabia City complex in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, after what the
police claimed was a "stair fall".
Seven terrorists were killed
and several of their hideouts destroyed in bombing by aircraft
in NWA of FATA. Security sources said the terrorists were planning
attacks and the Security Forces called in the aircraft for assistance.
During the bombing, seven terrorists were killed and a number
of others injured. Several of their hideouts were also destroyed
in the attack.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a milkman in Fakir Muhammad Road area Quetta. The
victim was identified as Afsar Khan. Police said preliminary
investigation indicated that it was an incident of target killing.
The TTP in North Waziristan
has declared a ban on the polio vaccination programme in the
tribal agency as long as drone attacks continue in the region.
This ban was announced on June 16 through a press release which
claimed polio affected only few in comparison to drones which
killed large numbers indiscriminately.
According to local media, the
statement said: "After consultation with the Taliban Shura,
servant of Mujahideen in North Waziristan Agency Hafiz Gul Bahadur
has decided that there will be a ban on polio campaign as long
as drone strikes are not stopped."
June 18
At least 10 more people, including
four activists of MQM, were killed in separate incidents of
target killing, and one person was abducted in Karachi. Three
bullet-riddled dead bodies of MQM's activists were recovered
from an abandoned car at Mirza Adam Khan Road within the limits
of Chakiwara Police Station. The victims were identified as
Hassan Raza (35), Ijtiba Khan (40) and Atif Usmani (40).
Two people, including a woman,
were killed while over half-a-dozen others injured in a clash
that took place between two groups, ANP and Mudassir chief group,
at Pehalwan Goth, within the limits of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police
Station. The clash between the ANP and Mudassir Chief group
broke out a day after the killing of local ANP leader Liaquat
Bangash on May 17, 2012.
A member of MQM's MOC, identified
as Afsar Khan (45) was shot dead along with his companion Zubair
Khan (30) in Sherpao Colony, Quaidabad Police limits.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
of two cadres of a gang involved in robbery were found from
New Karachi within Bilal Colony Police remit. The victims were
identified as Ameer Barkat (40) and Ismail (22).
A local leader of Swat Qaumi
Ittehad for Mohammadi Mohalla in Frontier Colony identified
as Sher Ali (68) was shot dead outside his house within Pirabad
Police precincts. SHO Ashfaq Baloch said that Ali's brother,
belonging to an anti-Taliban Amn Lashkar, had earlier been killed
in Karachi.
Three people, identified as
Murtaza Khan, Jaffar Khan and Namdar Khan, were killed and two
others Mir Shah Gul and Noor Din, received injuries when mortar
shells hit a caravan of migrating tribesmen, (IDP) at Mandani
Kallay locality of Ali Sherzai area in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
The officials of LEAs arrested
two persons involved in June 16, 2012 car bomb blast in Landikotal
town of Khyber Agency that killed at least 25 people and injured
more than 65. The two accused were arrested after the identification
of engine and chassis number of the vehicle, which was used
in the explosion.
Abduction-for-ransom has become
a nightmare for residents of the volatile Kurram Agency, forcing
many of the tribal families to leave their native towns and
seek accommodation in Rawalpindi and Islamabad Districts of
Punjab province. After re-opening of Thall-Parachinar Road recently
- which remained blocked since 2009 as armed militants had occupied
this lone route to the restive area - the residents are now
faced with the menace of kidnapping-for -ransom by militants.
According to MNA Sajid Hussain
Turi, so far 50 people of Turi tribe were abducted by militants,
while over PKR 80 million had been paid by the victim families
in ransom for securing release of their relatives.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead famous Pashtu singer Ghazala Javed along with her
father in Peshawar. According to reports, Ghazala along with
her father was on her way home in Dabgari area when some unidentified
armed militants opened indiscriminate fire on her vehicle. As
a result, both father and daughter were killed on the spot.
A rocket exploded inside an
open space near Mingora Police Station in Swat District. However,
no loss of life or property was reported.
At least five students and one
professor were killed, while around 30 were injured when a powerful
blast occurred near an IT University located in Jinnah Town
of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan in the morning.
The bomb was planted inside a car parked nearby.
Members of the Balochistan Assembly
criticised the Federal and Provincial Intelligence Agencies
for their failure to identify elements behind acts of terrorism
in the province.
Chief of Army Staff General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during a meeting with tribal elders after
the inauguration of a cadet college at Spinkai said that Pakistan
Army would continue the rehabilitation and reconstruction work
for the uplift of the people of South Waziristan Agency in FATA,
after it had flushed out terrorists and maintained peace in
the area.
Mushahid Hussain Sayed while
talking to the DRF at Parliament House's cafeteria said that
NATO supply would be reopened this month, but the US has to
tender apology. He said that most of the matters had already
been settled with Washington.
Islamabad's Ambassador to Washington
Sherry Rehman said, "An appropriate apology for the Salala incident
of November 26, 2011 in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed
in a US air attack is needed".
The United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, in her opening statement
to the 20th session of the HRC, while referring to her recent
visit to Pakistan, said that she was impressed by "the energy
and capacity" available to strengthen human rights and democracy
in Pakistan and also expressed serious concern over the continuing
use of armed drones for targeted attacks, in particular because
it was unclear that all persons targeted were combatants or
directly participating in hostilities.
The Permanent Representative
of Pakistan Ambassador Zamir Akram reiterated the position of
the Government of Pakistan that drone strikes were contrary
to international law and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty,
and were counter-productive.
The prominent human rights organisation,
Amnesty International, in its statement, also said that the
drone attacks "disregard human rights law" and that "the carrying
out of killings….represents a fundamental challenge to the whole
international system for the protection of human rights."
June 19
At least four people were killed
in separate acts of violence in different parts of Karachi.
Police found a dead body of a man, identified as Shahid Memon
(35), packed in gunny bag near Coconut Ground, FB Area within
the limits of Jauharabad Police Station. A Police Official said
the victim was missing since the evening of June 18, 2012.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man also packed in gunny bag from Shah Faisal
embankment within in the precincts of Korangi Industrial area
Police Station. A Police officer said the victim appeared to
be Pashtun.
Police found an unidentified
dead body of a teenage boy from Star Ground within the limits
of Quaidabad Police Station. The victim appeared to be Pashtun.
A teenage boy, Saleem (19),
was shot dead in Future Colony, Landhi within the jurisdiction
of Sharafi Goth Police Station.
An activist of ST Anwar Siddiqui
was injured in an armed attack at Khudadad Colony within the
limits of Brigade Police Station.
All Pakistan Organisation of
Small Traders and Cottage Industries (APOST&CI) staged a protest
demo here against targeted killings, kidnappings-for-ransom
and harassment of traders by extortionists and demanded that
the city be handed over to Army for an even-handed operation
against the lawbreakers.
The Vice Principal Mir Nazir
Marri of a Government school, Killi Sheikhan High School, was
shot dead while he was on his way to the school on Arbab Karam
Road in Quetta. According to DIG Operations Qazi Wahid, Marri
was also a social activist and relative of Nawab Khair Bakhsh
Marri, the Marri tribe chief. No group claimed responsibility
for the killing.
A tribal elder, Malik Atta Khan,
was killed and his nephew, Fauji Khan, critically injured in
a bomb explosion in Nawagai tehsil near the Chaharmang area
of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Afghan authorities said 'regional
spy agencies' were behind the December 6, 2011, suicide attack
in Kabul targeting a Shia gathering that killed more than 80
people in a veiled reference to Pakistani intelligence.
He added that two militants
had been arrested in connection with the attack. The prosecutor
said one of those arrested came from Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan,
which borders Pakistan's militant-infested tribal belt, and
was paid PKR 10,000 to bring two suicide attackers to Kabul.
He said the two arrested militants had confessed over the plot.
Pakistan has been placed 13th
in the latest ranking of failed states compiled by Foreign Policy
magazine. Pakistan with 101.6 points, the magazine said, is
ranked 13th, a slight improvement from the previous two years.
In 2011, it was ranked 12th in the list of failed states, while
in 2010 and 2009 it was ranked 10th.
African countries Somalia, Congo,
Sudan, Chad and Zimbabwe top of the list, while Afghanistan
with 106 points is ranked at number six, followed by Haiti,
Yemen, Iraq and Central African Republic.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister
for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that terrorists are
facing internal differences so they will be unable to complete
their anti-state agenda.
TTP accepted responsibility
for the June 16, 2012 Kohat bomb blast that killed six Policemen
and one civilian.
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee, General Khalid Shameem Wynne, said regional stability
would remain a distant dream as long as the Kashmir issue remained
unresolved.
The Supreme Court disqualified
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in what was the culmination
of a two-and-a-half-year-long clash between judiciary and executive.
"Therefore, Syed Yousaf Raza
Gilani has become disqualified from being a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora
(Parliament) in terms of Article 63(1) (g) of the constitution
on and from the date and time of pronouncement of the judgement
of this court dated 26.04.2012 with all consequences, that is,
he has also ceased to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan with
effect from the said date and the office of the Prime Minister
shall be deemed to be vacant accordingly."
A UN investigator, Christof
Heyns, called on the US President Barak Obama administration
to justify its policy of assassinating rather than capturing
al Qaeda or Taliban suspects, increasingly with the use of unmanned
drone aircraft that also take civilian lives.
"While these attacks are directed
at individuals believed to be leaders or active members of al
Qaeda or Taliban, in the context of armed conflict (example
in Afghanistan), in other instances, civilians have allegedly
also perished in the attacks in regions where it is unclear
whether there was an armed conflict or not (example in Pakistan),"
he said.
Citing figures from the Pakistan
Human Rights Commission, he said US drone strikes killed at
least 957 people in Pakistan in 2010 alone. Thousands have been
killed in 300 drone strikes there since 2004, 20 percent of
whom are believed to be civilians.
Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas
Jilani said that there were positive signals from Washington
for apology over November 26, 2011, Salala check post incident.
The Foreign Secretary said, "One thing should be clear that
negotiations between the US and Pakistan are in positive zone
now." He added that some progress was made in the talks pertaining
to reopening of NATO route and Pakistan-US ties as most of the
issues were settled.
June 20
At least 13 TTP militants were
killed and several others injured when helicopter gunships bombed
their positions in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
More Kukikhel families moved
out of Toor Darra after TTP-Tariq Afridi faction took control
of the area. The families crossed over to Afghanistan and reached
Jamrud through the Torkham border after walking for three days
from Tirah via Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. All the routes
to Jamrud from Tirah are either under the control of TTP or
activists of the LI.
An activist of the TI was critically
injured when explosives stored in the home of his 'commander'
Mehmud in Bazaar Zakhakhel exploded.
Two persons were killed in separate
acts of violence in different parts of Karachi. A truck driver,
identified as Subhan (35), was shot dead in an act of target
killing in Shirin Jinnah Colony within the limits of Jackson
Police Station. Police officials said that the deceased hailed
from Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a bus conductor, identified as Anwar alias Pappu,
in Malir No 4 within the limits of Khokhrapar Police Station.
Two people belonging to a pro-government
peace force were injured in a landmine blast in the Mondrani
Pat area of Sui in Dera Bugti District. According to sources,
unidentified armed militants had attacked a camp of the peace
force with sophisticated weapons in the morning.
A Hindu trader, identified as
Ganga Ram Sharma, who was abducted on an unspecified date two
months ago, reached home in Uthal, Headquarters of the Lasbela
District. According to the Bela SHO, Attaullah, the Khuzdar
Assistant Commissioner had informed him that the trader had
been recovered from a local hotel in the Naal area of the Khuzdar
District.
The Supreme Court ordered Intelligence
Agencies and Police to recover and produce the missing persons
before the court in next hearing on July 9, 2012. The Supreme
Court also ordered the Federal Defence Secretary, the Balochistan
Chief Secretary, the Balochistan Home Secretary, the Balochistan
IG and the FC IG to take concrete measures for the recovery
of missing persons.
At least two Policemen, including
the Zaimdara Police SHO, Hazrat Hussain, and constable Salim
Khan were injured when a Police mobile van hit an IED along
the road in Sor Kamar area of Nagotal in Lower Dir District.
A French-al Qaeda leader, Naamen
Meziche, linked to the September 11, 2001 (also known as 9/11)
attacks was arrested near the Pakistan-Iran border. A Western
terror expert said Meziche was arrested in May in Quetta (Balochistan)
as he was travelling to the FATA.
The Federal Government asked
the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Syed Masood Kausar to try to
enter into dialogue with the TTP in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA to pave the way for vaccination of children.
A militant outfit headed by
Hafiz Gul Bahadar had announced ban on polio vaccination on
June 16, 2012, in reaction to the drone attacks. The letter
titled "Ban on polio campaign in North Waziristan" expressed
serious concern over reports regarding TTP's ban on polio campaign
in North Waziristan and asked the Governor to hold dialogue
with militant leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar to save children from
becoming handicapped.
The Ministry of Defence through
an affidavit submitted in the Peshawar High Court claimed that
neither the Federal Government nor the top brass of the Armed
Forces had inked any secret agreement with the US to allow drones
attacks in the tribal areas.
The DAG told the bench there
was no secret deal between the Federal Government and US and
this was the reason it had opposed the drone strikes, taken
up the matter with the US Government and passed resolution in
the National Assembly against these attacks.
To a query, he said the US started
the drone strikes during former president Pervez Musharraf's
rule and the court should summon him and ask about any verbal
or written deal on drone strikes with the US.
An official for the holding
facility where neuroscientist Doctor Aafia Siddiqui is serving
her prison sentence denied rumours of her death. Speaking to
the media, Doctor Maria Douglas, a spokesperson for Federal
Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where Doctor Siddiqui
is imprisoned, vehemently denied rumours and said that it was
absolutely false that Doctor Siddiqui had passed away, adding
that no medical emergency has arisen.
Doctor Siddiqui, a neuroscientist
by profession and a graduate of MIT, allegedly went missing
for five years before she was discovered in Afghanistan. The
prosecution says that she tried to fire on a US soldier during
her interrogation. She has also been accused of working for
al Qaeda. She was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 by
a New York court.
A statement issued by the Embassy
of Pakistan also confirmed that Doctor Siddiqui was alive and
quite well.
Two former top US officials
Stephen Hadley and John D Podesta said this policy of "stick"
should accompany "carrot" too, arguing that Washington can't
afford to do away with Islamabad at this point of time.
"Proposals for ramping up pressure
on Pakistan include increasing the drone strikes, conducting
US Special Forces operations in the country, cutting Islamabad
off from international financial resources, labelling Pakistan
a state sponsor of terror, and imposing sanctions," they wrote.
Hadley was the National Security
Advisor under the US President George W. Bush Podesta was the
White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, from
1998 until 2001.
President Asif Ali Zardari nominated
Makhdoom Shahabuddin as the next Prime Minister to fill the
office that felt vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified
Yousuf Raza Gilani. Shahabuddin will file his nomination papers
on June 21, 2012, while PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf will be
his covering candidate. Shahbuddin's nomination came after a
meeting of PPP leadership chaired by President Zardari.
June 21
At least 11 militants were killed
and three others received injuries when jetfighters pounded
their positions in Sharqi and Janata areas of South Waziristan
Agency in FATA.
An Army officer was killed and
seven other SF personnel were injured when militants attacked
them during a search operation in Sharqi area of Laddha. Sources
said that Captain Faseeh was killed and seven other SFs, including
another Captain, were injured in the militants' attack.
In Bajaur Agency, 17 militants
including some senior 'commanders' surrendered to SFs in Charmang
area of Nawagai tehsil. The surrendered militants took oath
on the holey Quran that they would live as peaceful citizens
in the future. "We will never participate in any anti-state
activity. We will not be part of any militant group working
against the country," they pledged.
At least eight people were killed
across Balochistan. In Dera Bugti District, Muhammad Irfan,
Hafeezullah and Ahmed of Bugti tribe were killed when their
motorcycle hit a landmine in Pat Feeder area, Levies sources
said.
Two people died in the bomb
explosion that took place at a Tablighi Markaz near Farooqia
mosque in Ghousabad near Quetta, the Provincial capital. One
person from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was killed on the spot and another
died later, while 15 people were injured.
Two personnel were killed and
another injured in an armed attack on a Levies Thana (Police
Station) in the remote Nag area of Washuk District.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead
a man in the Tump area of Kech District near Turbat. The victim
was identified as Mehboob.
Six persons, including a political
party activist and a Policeman, were killed in separate acts
of target killing and violence in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
An activist of the MQM Unit
66-C was shot dead in his apartment building in Gulistan-e-Jauhar,
within the limits of Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station. In the
aftermath, tension engulfed Jauhar Morr's vicinity and all major
shops and markets were closed. A Police official said that the
MQM worker apparently became a target-killing victim.
A constable of the CID, Mohammad
Khan, was shot dead in Kunwari Colony within the remit of Manghopir
Police Station. CID SSP Fayyaz Khan said Khan had been a part
of CID for six years and played a vital role in militancy cases.
24-year-old Syed Ali Shah, was
shot dead near Kala Maidan within the precincts of Orangi Police
Station. An officer said Shah was into spiritualism, adding,
that the reason for murder was yet to be ascertained.
Kamran Baloch, was shot dead
near Qatar Morr within the limits of Orangi Town Police Station.
Police found a torture-marked
body from a gunny bag spotted near Liaquatabad Bridge within
the jurisdiction of Sharifabad Police Station. A Police official
informed that he appeared to be of Baloch descent.
Police found a body from a roadside
of Qasba Colony Sector 2½, situated within the jurisdiction
of Pirabad Police Station. The victim, yet unknown, had received
a bullet in the head.
A bomb on a donkey cart killed
three people at a Sufi shrine in Peshawar, the Provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "Three people have died and 21 are wounded,"
Police official Asif Iqbal told AFP, adding, the dead included
a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl who had come with
their parents.
Suspected militants blew up
two high power transmission towers at Suraizai Mera area in
the limits of Badhber Police Station in Peshawar.
Making it clear that dual nationals
cannot be part of assemblies, the Supreme Court observed that
foreign nationals could not be allowed to have direct access
to country's nuclear programme and other state secrets. "If
dual nationals are allowed to enter assemblies, imported Prime
Ministers will come to power and rule over us," Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked.
He was heading a bench hearing
a case pertaining to lawmakers holding dual nationality. The
petitioner, Advocate Waheed Anjum, had accused as many as 14
lawmakers belonging to PPP, PML-N and MQM's of holding foreign
passports despite a clear bar in the Constitution on dual nationality
holders from becoming a lawmaker. The parliamentarians with
dual nationality, however, claimed that they were loyal to Pakistan.
US diplomats working in Pakistan
face increasing harassment amid a sharp deterioration in ties
in the wake of last year's killing of Osama bin Laden, a State
Department report said. Such harassment and obstruction is described
by US embassy staff as "deliberate, willful and systematic,"
according to the 76-page report by the department's watchdog,
the office of inspector general.
The US has said it was preferred
to keep the cooperative relationship with Pakistan, than to
totally cut it off. In a joint interview with Charlie Rose on
a show by the same name, both US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and former Secretary of State James Baker underscored
that despite differences on some important regional and international
issues, severing ties with Pakistan would not be in Washington's
interests.
In another context she said,
"When I first went to Pakistan as Secretary in 2009 that I found
it impossible to believe that somebody in their government didn't
know where he [Osama bin Laden] was, and I still believe that.
That he took up residence and built this huge compound in a
military garrison town." However, she conceded, "But to be fair,
we have no evidence. We have never been able to prove that anyone
at the upper levels knew that. I have no reason to believe that
the civilian government knew anything."
Clinton once again called on
Pakistan to immediately release Dr Shakil Afridi, who had helped
the CIA to trace Osama bin Laden, and stop treating him like
a "criminal". "They should release Dr (Shakil) Afridi," Clinton
said.
Pointing out that the militants
were harming the host as well, she said that Pakistan, despite
the talk of sovereignty, were losing it. "They are losing sovereignty,
large areas that are ungoverned they have a rash of terrible
attacks more than 30,000 people have been killed in the last
decades. They talk a lot about sovereignty, well the first job
of any sovereign nation is to protect your own people and secure
your own border and that is what they should be doing."
Clinton added that Pakistan
needs to recognise that "as the US withdraws from Afghanistan
it is in their interest to have a strong stable Afghan government
and that can only come from by being part of the solution at
that [negotiation] table to try to help with Afghanistan's economic,
political and security development rather than doing everything
possible to undermine it".
Former Secretary of State James
Baker said, "I think we need to maintain the relationship with
them because they are a nuclear power, and because we do not
want to see nuclear conflagration in the sub continent and see
any more proliferation than we have already seen."
A UN expert urged the United
States to demonstrate that its drone attacks are legal, warning
that the United Nations may be called on to investigate if Washington
fails to act.
Describing drones as "rather
like leaving a loaded gun around and waiting for someone to
fire it", Emerson said that the international community was
"extremely concerned about the use of targeted killings".
June 22
The TTP claimed on June 22 that
they had beheaded seven SF personnel, who were kidnapped on
June 21 after a clash with SFs near Laddah in South Waziristan
Agency of FATA. TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan called journalists
from an unspecified location and said the TTP had killed all
the seven SF personnel. The beheading claim was also made by
TTP's spokesman for SWA Asim Mehsud.
An IED exploded near a Levies
post, killing two Levies personnel and injuring two others at
Khra Shah, Khwazai tehsil in Baizai sub-division of Mohmand
Agency.
One security official was killed
and two others were injured when a SF's mobile patrol hit a
road side IED in Sararogha of SWA.
In Landi Kotal, a pro-government
peace group activist, identified as Ghazi Khan was killed in
Mastak area of Tirah Valley for planting an explosive device
in group's base.
Lakki Marwat Police arrested
Muhammad Tahir, brother of local TTP 'commander' Ashraf Ali.
Militants blew up a bridge on
a canal in Malikdinkhel area of Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency.
As many as 15 militants and
one SF official were killed and two SFs were injured, when terrorists
from Afghanistan attacked Karakar security checkpost (near Afghan
border) in the Barawal area of Upper Dir District.
Three Policemen were injured
when a Police foot patrol came under attack from a roadside
remote controlled bomb on the Shah Aalam Road within the jurisdiction
of Daudzai Police station on the outskirts of Peshawar.
Militants of LI destroyed a
road roller near Mashokhel Bridge and another power pylon located
in Gula Khan forest area, by firing rockets on it in limits
of the Badhber Police Station in Peshawar. However, their attempt
to kidnap a factory worker, identified as Ashraf was foiled
by the Police on Frontier Road.
Some shops and a workshop of
power transformers were burnt down on Ring Road Chowk in Peshawar
after fire broke out due to a bomb blast. No damage to human
life was reported.
Terrorists blew up a girls'
school in Ghulam Banda area of Kohat District. However no causality
was reported.
Three people, including two
seminary teachers and one MQM, worker were killed in different
parts of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. According
to Police, they were victims of targeted killings on sectarian
and political basis.
Two seminary teachers, identified
as Maulana Jamil Qasim (38) and Anwar Anjum (30), hailing from
PoK were killed on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road.
MQM worker, identified as Gulraiz
Jamal (20) was killed in Chaba Gali of Jodia Bazaar. Police
said the victim before joining the MQM, was associated with
militant outfit Sunni Tehrik.
A tortured body of a young man
was found by a side of Qayyumabad Road close to the Korangi
Industrial Area. The victim, in his mid-20s, had been trussed
up before being strangled to death, according to Police.
Two Levies personnel, identified
as Muhammad Naseer and Muhammad Yousaf were killed and another,
Nizamuddin, was injured when four armed motorcyclists attacked
a security checkpost in Naag area of Washiq District. The attackers
also took away official arms and wireless sets.
PPP candidate Raja Pervaiz Asharaf
has been elected as the 25th PM of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The newly elected PM and a new federal cabinet was sworn in
at the Presidency in Islamabad. Twenty seven new federal ministers
and 11 new ministers for state took oath most of them were part
of the previous cabinet as well.
Ashraf, a unanimously agreed
candidate of the PPP and its coalition partners, received 211
votes while PML-N'S candidate Sardar Mehtab Abbasi received
89 votes.
Soon after being named PM, Ashraf
vowed to hold free and fair elections and sought the opposition's
support for the carrying on with the democratic process. He
also promised to address the issues plaguing Balochistan and
promised "peaceful co-existence" with neighbours India and Afghanistan.
The United States welcomed the
election of a new PM. "We are pleased that the leadership issue
appears to have been settled," stated, State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland.
June 23
At least eight persons (Sindhis),
including a Policeman, were killed and another was injured in
an attack by unidentified militants in Mill area of Sariab Road
area of Quetta in Balochistan. According to Deputy Inspector
General (Investigation) Hamid Shakil, unidentified armed men
entered a laundry in old Sariab Mill and opened fire, killing
six people on the spot and injuring three others. The deceased
and injured were taken to Provincial Sandeman Hospital where
two of the injured succumbed to their injuries.
One civilian was also killed
in Faizabad area of Sariab Road. According to sources, the person,
identified as Khudae Nazar, was driving his car when unidentified
armed militants shot him dead.
In another incident of violence
in Balochistan, militants attacked a FC check post with rockets
in Mand area of Kech District. However, no loss of life was
reported.
Unidentified armed militants
injured a Hindu trader, Prem Chand, in Mastung, some 45 kilometres
southeast of Quetta.
A trader was also abducted in
Quetta. Police said unidentified armed militants intercepted
a local trader, Munir Ahmed, on Kansi Road at gunpoint and took
him away in a vehicle.
June 24
The Afghanistan-based Pakistan
militants attacked a military convoy in Upper Dir District of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in the killing of at least 21
persons, including 11 militants and 10 soldiers.
The Adviser to Prime Minister
on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik expressed his grievances to
Afghanistan over the Afghan militant attack on Pakistani security
personnel in Upper Dir area.
Five more people were found
dead in different parts of Karachi, while five others were injured
in separate incidents of firing.
A 42-year-old man, who was later
identified as Abdul Ghani Soomro, was found dead near Native
Jetty Bridge within the limits of Baghdadi Police Station. Police
officials said the victim's body was packed in a gunny bag.
He went missing since Saturday, he added.
The dead bodies of two more
persons were found within the jurisdiction of Manghopir Police
Station. The identities of the victims have yet to be ascertained.
Police officials said that the initial course of investigation
suggested that one victim was the Afghan origin, while another
belonged to Mehsud tribe. West Zone SSP Amir Farooqi said that
the victims were killed after abduction.
Another body of a young man
was found in a gunny bag from the Lyari River near Dhobi Ghat
within the remit of Pak Colony Police Station. Police officials
said that the victim was shot once in his head and later culprits
threw his body in Lyari River.
Police found a shot dead man
from Mufeed-e-Aam Ground Malir within the limits of Saudabad
Police Station.
A man, Aslam Bhatti, was shot
and injured in a firing incident in Baldia Town within the limits
of Saeedabad Police Station. Police officials said that the
incident took place over ongoing wave of target killings.
26-year-old Waseem, son of Raees
and Shahid, 32, son of Ameen, were injured in firing of unidentified
persons within the limits of Kharadar Police Station.
Another man, Tayyab, 24, son
of Mushtaq, was injured in a firing incident in Gulberg area.
At least four Policemen were
shot dead in an ambush at Bakra Mandi area of Eastern Bypass,
on outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. The slain
Policemen were identified as identified as Abdullah Mengal,
Shahjehan, Abdullah Pirkani and Mumtaz Sarpara. No group had
claimed responsibility of the attack until the report was filed.
At least 170 complaints of extortion
reported within a short span of six months have made the role
of LEAs dubious, as Karachites are presently suspecting them
for being pressurized by different political groups and remaining
innocuous against extortion mafias.
There is a massive increase
in the extortion cases after the failure of LEAs in Lyari operation.
According to official statistics made exclusively available
to this scribe, some 39 cases of extortion were reported in
January, 21 in February, 35 in March, 17 in April, 37 in May
while 23 cases have been reported in June so far. The report
said that extortion cases were reported from all zones, including
Old City, Central, East, Malir, South and West with the Old
City area remaining most affected in the last six months.
The US said that Pakistan Government
is "deliberately, willfully and systematically" harassing and
obstructing American diplomats in the country, marking a new
low in the already strained ties between the two nations.
The Department's internal watchdog
said the harassment of diplomats had heightened since the May,
2011 US raid on a compound in Pakistan that killed Osama bin
Laden and rose further after November 26 NATO air strike killed
24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Islamabad to block NATO supply
lines into Afghanistan.
June 25
Four more people, including
a senior SSP cadre, were killed in the continuing target killing
and violence in Karachi, the provincial metropolis of Sindh.
A senior cadre of SSP, Imran
alias Bata (29), was shot dead while he was standing at a bus
stop in Godhra Colony in New Karachi. He was shot multiple times.
Police officials said that his killing was a sequel of the current
sectarian violence.
Dead bodies of two PAC cadres
were found from Swat Colony and 24-ki-market of Baldia Town.
The victims were identified as Naveed Hanif (36) and Ghulam
Nabi (24). The victims, residents of Lyari, were abducted while
on their way to Winder of Balochistan. Police suspected that
deceased were killed by the Arshad Pappu group. One of their
companions was missing till filing of this report.
Another body of a youngster
was found from Ramaswami within the limits of Garden Police
Station. Police officials said that he was shot thrice and left
in a gunny bag.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
an alleged target killer, Furqan alias Tunta, associated with
PAC, during a raid conducted at a house situated in 500-Quarters,
Mauripur. He was associated with the Ustad Taju group of Lyari
gangster.
A terrorist was killed and another
received injuries in an encounter in Gula Bera area near Junglekhel
of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sources said that a Policeman
was also injured in the encounter. Police said that they were
tipped off by intelligence agencies about entry of two terrorists
from Hangu into Kohat. The slain militant was identified as
Sahibur Rehman, a resident of Hangu District while Shaukat,
a resident of South Waziristan Agency (FATA), was arrested in
injured condition. The injured Policeman was identified as Gul
Sher.
Police shut down an arms factory
in Industrial Estate on Kohat Road, saying it was involved in
weapon smuggling. They seized arms and ammunition and arrested
three suspects. Police acted on a tip the Haroon Enterprises
factory was involved in smuggling arms to Punjab, Rehmatullah,
a Bhanamari Police Station officer, said.
Professor Muhammad Hussain of
the BUITMS succumbed to his injures, taking the death toll of
Samungali Road suicide bomb blast of June 18 to six. As reported
earlier, five students of the BUITMS were killed and 70 others,
including Policemen, women and children, were injured in the
suicide bomb blast near FIA office at Samungli Road in Quetta.
SFs foiled a terror plan by
recovering a cache of explosives and communication equipment
during a routine check up on Zarghoon road in Quetta.
TTP militants on motorcycles
opened fire at the offices of local news channel Aaj TV in Karachi,
injuring two persons, including a security guard. The TTP claimed
responsibility for the shooting, and threatened attacks against
other television channels that did not feature the Taliban point
of view. “We had informed the management of Aaj TV to include
our view on issues, but the channel had become a mouthpiece
of the government,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the TTP
said. “Geo TV is going to be our next target if they do not
change their behaviour towards us. They have been using very
bad language against the Mujahideen.”
PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has ordered
for provision of security to all TV channels.
The TTP admitted for the first
time that they are using the Afghan soil as a springboard for
launching attacks on Pakistani SFs. The acknowledgment gives
credence to Islamabad’s claims that the TTP has found safe havens
in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. Pakistani
officials believe that the top TTP cadres – including Maulana
Fazlullah, Maulvi Faqir and Waliur Rehman – and hundreds of
their loyalists had fled a string of military offensives in
Swat, and Bajaur and Mohmand agencies since 2008 to seek shelter
in Afghanistan.
A hoped-for peace deal ending
the war in Afghanistan will likely remain out of reach unless
both the United States and Taliban put more clear and consistent
offers on the table, Mohammad Sadiq, Islamabad’s ambassador
in Kabul said. “We don’t think all these issues can be solved
by fighting. There must be a political process, but the parties
need to be serious about it,” Mohammad Sadiq, said during an
interview to Reuters.
June 26
At least eight militants were
killed during a crackdown in Mamuzai and Bootakhel areas of
Orakzai Agency in FATA.
A US drone strike targeting
a militant compound in the Shawal area, some 50 kilometres southwest
of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, killed
at least five militants. All those killed were fighters linked
with Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction of TTP.
SFs camp situated in Miranshah
was targeted with two missiles by militants. In retaliation,
the SFs destroyed several hideouts of the militants. No casualties
were reported in the attack.
At least four people including
a KESC official, MQM activist and MQM supporter were shot dead
in separate incidents of target killing in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
Syed Ali Imran Jaffrey (39),
KESC DGM, IBC North Nazimabad (Region-IV), was gunned down in
an act of target killing near Saifee College in North Nazimabad
within the jurisdiction of Hyderi Police post.
A driver Aman Baloch was killed
and a lineman Nasir was injured when unidentified motorcyclists
opened indiscriminate fire on the KESC truck (KP-8422) near
KESC office in Shamsi Society in Malir.
At least two armed motorcyclists
shot and killed an owner of the auto-parts shop inside his shop
in Jahangir Road under Jamshed Quarters Police Station. The
victim was identified as Siraj (55), resident of the same area.
In another act of target killing,
a puncture shop owner also the sympathiser of MQM, namely Aqeel
(32), was killed when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire
on him inside his shop situated in Surjani Police Station.
Three PPP activists sustained
bullet injuries in an armed attack near Chota Maidan within
the limits of Nazimabad Police Station. DSP Shahid Abbas said
that the unidentified armed motorcyclists came and opened fire
on a car (AEW-812).
A central leader of the ASWJ,
formerly known as SSP, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqui was escaped
in a murderous attack at Qayyumabad Bridge in Korangi area.
A senior TTP ‘commander’, Umar,
was killed during a Police encounter in Mashugagar area in the
outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Balochistan Levies recovered
a bullet-riddled body in the Dasht area of Mastung District
in Balochistan. The deceased was identified as Buland Khan,
a resident of Sariab area in Quetta. According to sources, Khan
went missing some five days ago.
The Frontier Constabulary and
Police announced the arrest of two persons allegedly involved
in a number of bombings in and around Quetta. Authorities claimed
that as per confessions, the men received orders and funds for
their activities from Nawab Brahmdagh Bugti by way of a BRA
‘commander’.
Uganda Police arrested five
Pakistanis suspected of terrorist links, two weeks before the
second anniversary of a bombing attack in Kampala for which
Somali rebel group al Shabaab claimed responsibility.
Presiding over his first cabinet
meeting, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf welcomed new cabinet
members to his team and said Balochistan was his priority and
he had invited all Baloch leaders, in and outside Pakistan,
to sit across the table and find an amicable solution to the
Balochistan issue.
Brigadier Ali Khan and four
other military officers, who were facing a trial on the charges
of planning a coup to establish a Caliphate, was court-martialled,
as the proceedings that ended concluded that they enjoyed ties
with militant outfit HuT. Brigadier Khan was arrested in May
2011, while four army majors were also arrested a day later
for their alleged links with HuT. He is also accused of attempted
mutiny.
The recent mass poisonings of
Afghan students were plotted in Miranshah of North Waziristan
Agency in Pakistan, the Afghan NDS said. The Haqqani Network
and IMU were involved in some, if not all, of the school poisonings,
NDS officials contend.
The US Ambassador to Pakistan
Cameron Munter said US regrets the Salala check post incident
and intends to expand ties with Pakistan in diverse fields.
Talking to a private TV news channel, Munter said US is serious
about expanding business and social sector ties with Pakistan.
The US urged Pakistan and Afghanistan
to respect each other’s sovereignty while fighting against terrorist.
The US pushed for greater cooperation between Afghanistan, Pakistan
and NATO forces while tackling with extremist militants, after
an attack by Afghan militants at a border checkpost in Pakistan’s
Dir area left several Pakistani soldiers dead.
June 27
At least seven persons were
killed and as many as 30 injured, when a remote-controlled bomb
went off at the Sibi Railway Station of Balochistan. The blast
took place soon after the Jaffar Express reached the railway
station and passengers rushed to a shop to buy some edibles.
The son of a tribal elder was
shot dead in Narmaag area of Chaghai District near Pak-Afghan
border. According to Chaghai Tehsildar Sahib Dad, unidentified
armed men had gunned down Sher Ahmed, son of tribal elder Sardar
Juma Khan Shaozai, in mountainous area of Narmaag.
The Balochistan Levies found
a bullet-riddled body in Kanak area of Mastung District. The
deceased has been identified as Asghar Ali Shah, a resident
of Bagh.
The bullet-riddled body of chief
of the anti-Taliban Bazidkhel Qaumi Lashkar (community militia),
Fahim-ur-Rehman, who escaped at least seven attempts on his
life since 2008, was found in his white Land Cruiser on the
Ring Road of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The bodies of his three close friends and associates, Altaf
Bacha, Haji Niaz Muhammad and Rahim Lala, were also found in
the vehicle. Both the TTP and LI have claimed responsibility
for the murder of Mr Rehman and his three associates. “We killed
Fahim and his comrades. They raised a militia against us and
wanted to defeat us,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesman for the
TTP, told journalists by phone. On their part, the LI said they
would soon release a video of the four slain men.
Police raided a house in Maidikhel
village of Lakki Marwat District and recovered illicit arms.
Shaheed Asmatullah Khan Police Station officials claimed that
they had recovered a hand grenade, two Kalakovs, two Kalashnikovs,
three pistols, three shotguns, a rifle and about 2400 bullets.
Three persons, including a woman,
were killed while two, including KBCA’s town Director, injured
in separate acts of violence in Karachi, the provincial metropolis
of Sindh.
A man was shot dead at Allah
Wali Chowrangi, New Karachi within the jurisdiction of New Karachi
Industrial area Police Station. Zohaib (25), son of Ikram was
a resident of Yousuf Goth, New Karachi.
Sanjeeda Begum (35), mother
of four children, was shot and killed in her house situated
in Korangi within the jurisdiction of Zaman Town Police Station.
A close aide-cum-relative of
Haider Abbasi Rizvi, MNA of MQM was shot and injured near his
house situated at Abul Hassan Ispahani Road.
KBCA’s Jamshed Town Director,
Safdar Magsi and his driver Abdul Sattar were shot and injured
in an armed ambush near Old Sabzi Mandi within the limits of
PIB Police Station.
A youngster’s body was found
from Baghdadi Police Lines, within the limits of Kalri Police
Station.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
a suspect allegedly involved in the targeted killings of at
least three people. The suspect was identified as Abdul Rehman.
His arrest was disclosed in a press conference held at the office
of South Zone SSP Asif Ejaz Sheikh. Police officials, however,
did not disclose his political affiliation.
LI militants abducted three
volunteers of Akkakhel Peace Committee at gunpoint from Sultankhel
area in Khyber Agency of FATA. The abducted volunteers, identified
as Naseem Khan, Mohammad Imran and Faraz, were on routine patrol
in the area when they were intercepted and taken away at gunpoint.
SFs arrested at least eight
suspected militants during a raid on a house in Alamgudar area.
Officials said that Rustam Khan, a local commander of LI, and
three of his brothers were also among the arrested persons.
Identity of the rest of the arrested men could not be established.
The Mamond tribe of Bajaur Agency
deployed hundreds of more volunteers in different areas along
the border to prevent possible cross-border attacks by militants.
The residents of the area said that extraordinary arrangements
by the elders of tribal laskhar and peace committees were made
in the border areas during the last two days.
Former Minister Shaikh Rashid
(61), known for his pro-LeT leanings, was detained at Houston
airport on arrival for his possible links with the LeT founder
and JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the mastermind of the Mumbai
attacks. Rashid, leader of the Awami Muslim League of Pakistan,
was detained soon after he arrived by an Emirates flight last
evening and was freed after five hours of interrogation. Sources
said Rashid was detained for his possible links with Saeed.
It is understood that he was scheduled to attend a fundraiser
and meetings with his supporters in the US. Rashid had served
as the Federal Minister for Railways from 2006 to 2008.
The TTP released a video showing
severed heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers, who they claimed to
have killed in a cross-border attack on a checkpost in Pakistan.
The beheading, claimed by the TTP, took place on June 24 when
TTP militants from Afghanistan infiltrated into the Upper Dir
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A senior security official in
Peshawar confirmed that a total of 17 soldiers were targeted
by the attackers who came from the eastern Afghan province of
Kunar. “Six troops were killed on the first day, then another
seven were slaughtered the next day,” the official said. “Four
were missing and now they have also been beheaded,” he said.
LeT founder and JuD ‘chief’
Hafiz Saeed has launched a drive in Punjab to collect donations
for militant’s active in Jammu and Kashmir. He visited Gujranwala
District and collected wheat from people at Al-Makka Centre.
Addressing a gathering in Gujranwala,
Saeed claimed the US had collapsed economically and no country
was willing to bail it out by extending financial support.
The CoAS General Ashfaq Pervaiz
Kayani asked NATO forces commander in Afghanistan General John
Allen to stop cross-border incursions from the neighbouring
country. The US commander in Afghanistan discussed border coordination
with the Army Chief.
Vice Admiral Mark Harnitchek,
director of the Defence Logistics Agency said, “On the ground,
it’s almost three times more expensive to come from the north
as it does from Pakistan. More expensive and slower”.
Advisor to the Prime Minister
on Interior Affairs A. Rehman Malik rejecting Indian Home Minister
P Chidambaram's assertion of "state support" to the
terrorists behind 26/11 massacre, said ISI was a target of propaganda
campaign. "We are proud of our ISI, which is defending
Pakistan," Malik said and stoutly defended the ISI as an
"elite agency".
A report of a PEW global survey
released said that about 74 per cent of Pakistanis consider
the US an enemy, up from 69 percent last year and 64 percent
three years ago. And the US President Barack Obama is held in
exceedingly low regard by Pakistanis. Over the past few years,
Pakistanis have become less willing to work with the US on efforts
to combat extremist groups.
June 28
At least 14 persons, including
two policemen and a woman, were killed and 30 others, including
women and children, sustained injuries in a suicide attack on
a bus of pilgrims coming from Iran, at Hazar Ganji area of Quetta.
LeJ claimed responsibility for the attack. The banned outfit’s
spokes person Abdu Bakar said the attack was carried out by
Ziaur Rahman Farooqi and was in revenge for attacks on a madrassa
and Tablighi centre.
A landmine blast injured five
FC personnel in Mach area of Bolan District. According to sources,
the blast targeted a checkpost set up by the FC men near the
Mach overhead bridge on the National Highway for checking of
vehicles.
A rocket attack in Qambrani
Road area of Quetta injured four persons. According to Sariab
SP Amanullah Kakar, the rocket hit a private bank’s cash van.
Resultantly, four security guards in the vehicle were injured.
Eight troops, including a captain,
were killed and three others injured in a remote-controlled
bomb blast near Alhaj Market in Bara town of Khyber Agency in
FATA. The deceased were identified as Captain Manan, Tariq,
Yousaf, Bahadur Shah, Ali Bacha, Nawaz Gul, Kamran Ali and Jan
Afzal. The injured included Nabi Rehman, Zar Khan Ali and Jamil
Hussain.
Two volunteers of the Zakhakhel
Amn Lashkar were killed in a roadside explosion in Sheenkamar
area of Bara. Riding a motorcycle, Taj Muhammad and Abdullah
were coming from Lakar Baba in Tirah valley to the eastern area
of Sheenkamar in Bara when their motorcycle was hit by a roadside
bomb. As result of the explosion, the two died on the spot.
SFs repulsed another major attack
on the Pakistani-Afghan border in the Sabir Kalley area of Upper
Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reportedly killed seven
militants. Militants based in Afghanistan attacked a military
outpost in the Sabir Kalley area, but the SFs pushed them back,
ISPR said.
A portion of Mian Neka shrine
was damaged when a remote controlled explosive device went off
in Suraizai area in the limits of Badhber Police Station in
Peshawar. However, no loss of human life was reported.
Police arrested a wanted militant
commander, Momin Khan alias Rohail Khan, from Shamozai area
of Swat District. He was wanted in connection with explosives
attack on Shamozai Police checkpost.
Pakistan told the UN Security
Council that it had acted with restraint to a recent cross-border
attack by Taliban that killed 17 Pakistani soldiers, but warned
against recurrence of such provocations from the Afghan side.
“Preventing recurrence of such incidents is absolutely imperative
- and safe havens in Afghanistan of such people must be dissuaded,”
Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan’s permanent representative
to the UN, said of the attack that took place on June 24 in
Upper Dir District.
At least 60 people belonging
to Hazara community living in Quetta have been killed in targeted
attacks, including suicide, remote controlled and timer device
bombings and firing, during the past six months.
The US Congressional leaders
banded together to push for designating the Haqqani network
a foreign terrorist organisation. The vote would make it unlawful
to provide material support or resources to the group. Republican
and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill joined hands to push
for the legislation backed by the chairmen of the House Intelligence,
Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees.
Pakistan Railway Police have
put security of all major railway stations in the country on
high alert. The steps have been taken in the wake of bomb blast
at Sibi train terminal in which seven persons were killed and
15 others injured. Inspector General of Railway Police Ibne
Hussain visited Rawalpindi and Islamabad and directed to beef
up the security of Rawalpindi, Chaklala and Margalla Railway
Stations.
Afghan Taliban rejected the
statement of Pakistani Ambassador in Kabul Muhammad Sadiq wherein
he had said that Taliban were allowed to go to Qatar for peace
talks, saying the peace talks were not started on directions
from Pakistan. Commenting on the Pakistani ambassador’s statement,
Taliban ‘spokesman’ Zabihullah Mujahid said, “We have said earlier
that Taliban representatives never proceeded to Qatar for Pakistan
told them to do so, as the ambassador in an interview with Reuters
had said.”
June 29
Eight bullet-riddled bodies
were found in different areas of Bara tehsil in Khyber
Agency of FATA. The sources said that five bodies were dumped
on roadside in Karigar Garhi adjacent to Al-Haj Market in Bara
tehsil where a day earlier a vehicle of SFs was targeted by
militants with an IED.
Three more bodies had also been
found in Qamberabad area of Bara tehsil.
Unidentified militants blew
up a girls’ school with explosive material in the Mata Shah
area of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency. No causality was reported
in the incident.
Five people were killed in separate
incidents of violence and targeted killings in Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh.
Body of an alleged member of
the Lyari gangster group was found in Mawatch Goth in the Maripur
Police Station area. The deceased was identified as Dur Mohammad
alias Durra (26), son of Nazar Mohammad.
Sajid Brohi (25), son of Saleem
Brohi was shot dead near his home in Jehanabad area in the limits
of Pak Colony Police Station. SHO Abdul Moid said that the deceased
used to work at the garments factory.
Another body was found from
Ramswami area in the jurisdiction of Garden Police Station.
The deceased was identified as Junaid (27), son of Habib. SHO
Athar Malik said that the unidentified culprits shot and killed
the victim after kidnapped him from his denting and painting
shop in Ramswami.
Another body of a young man
identified as Shehzad (24), son of Ghulam Hussain Chandio was
found from the bushes near Super Highway in Sohrab Goth Police
precincts.
A puncture shop owner, namely
Imran (24), son of Aslam was shot and killed when at least two
armed men riding a motorcycle targeted him at his shop situated
in Buffer Zone in Taimoria Police remits.
At least four militants were
killed in retaliatory firing of FC while three FC personnel
also sustained injuries when their check post in Dhand area
of Hangu District came under attack of the militants.
Police recovered explosive material
and arrested the accused in the area of Lundkhwar Police Station
in Mardan District. Sources revealed that Lundkhwar Police
arrested a man identified as Bakhat Bahadar and recovered one
kilogramme of explosive material and a 40-metre safety fuse.
One Hafiz Ghulam Haider, hailing
from Sheikh Wasil area in Mastung District, was shot dead by
unidentified assailants on a motorcycle at Sariab area of Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan.
A person, identified as Muhammad
Iqbal, was shot dead near Government Degree Collage in Sariab
Road area when unidentified armed assailants, riding a motorbike,
opened fire on him.
The bullet-riddled body of a
man wanted by Police was found from the Salehabad area of Khuzdar.
The deceased was identified as Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Gazgi.
Explosives planted in a shop
in Sui Town of Dera Bugti exploded, partially damaging the shop.
However, no loss of life was reported.
A shutter-down strike was observed
in the city against the suicide attack on a bus in Hazar Ganji
area of Quetta on June 28, as the death toll from the bombing
rose to 15.
The Islamabad Police conducted
a search operation in the vicinity of Margalla Hills to ensure
foolproof security in Islamabad. Teams of Margalla Police Station,
headed by SHO Muhammad Hussain Lassi, conducted the search operation
in villages Kalinger, Chontra and Gandhian and arrested 12 suspects.
The United States designated
two Afghanistan-Pakistan money changers as helping Taliban manage
and move funds, setting sanctions against both that aim to hinder
their business. The US Treasury said the two hawalas, or money
exchange businesses, the Haji Khairullah Haji Sattar Money Exchange
(HKHS) and the Roshan Money Exchange, “have been used by Taliban
to facilitate money transfers in support of Taliban’s narcotics
trade and terrorist operations.”
The Afghan Taliban denied that
they had obtained permission from Pakistan to send representatives
to Qatar to participate in initial talks that US officials had
hoped would lead to a peace deal in Afghanistan, adding that
they had acted independently.
Alarmed by increasing frequency
of cross-border attacks from Afghanistan-based TTP militants,
Pakistan’s military is believed to have decided to send reinforcements
to Swat after TTP Swat chapter chief Maulvi Fazlullah and his
loyalists threatened to recapture the valley they ruled for
two years before they were routed by the military in 2009.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister
for Information Iftikhar Hussain, once again urged the Federal
Government to shift detained Dr Shakeel Afridi to any other
province owing to security threats to his life in Peshawar Central
Jail.
Defence Minister Naveed Qamar
said that Pakistan’s stance regarding US apology over the Salala
incident would remain unchanged. He however clarified that negotiations
on Pakistan-US ties were proceeding in the right direction and
expressed hope for an early decision pertaining to restoration
of NATO supplies. When asked if NATO supply routes would be
reopened without a US apology, he again said that Pakistan would
not change its position on the issue.
The IGP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Muhammad Akbar Khan Hoti said that restive areas in the outskirts
of Peshawar has been cleared from outlaws and militants and
the writ of the Government has been established owing to the
supreme sacrifices of SFs and Police.
June 30
Five LI militants were killed
in an IED blast on their post on a mountain in Tirah Valley
of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said three LI men also sustained
injuries in the explosion in Khara Wala. However, other sources
said the blast occurred on militants’ post in Sher Saley area
of Zakhakhel.
Two persons were killed in separate
incidents of violence in different areas of Balochistan.
According to Police, unidentified
assailants barged into a shop of Noor Ahmed Qambarani in Satellite
Town area of Quetta and seriously wounded him after attacking
him with knife. He was later succumbed to his injuries.
Unidentified militants opened
fire and killed a person, Mir Khan, in Surab of Kalat District.
Unidentified militants attacked
Qabul Khan Village of Jaffarabad District with heavy weapons
and fired four rockets, which landed in isolated places. However,
no loss of life and damage to property was reported in the attack.
Unidentified armed assailants
wounded a man, identified as Shahnawaz, in Sonipur area of Dera
Allahyar District.
SFs defused a landmine laid
by militants near a camp of Amn Force in Sui area of Dera Bugti.
July 1
TTP ‘spokesman’ Mullah Mansoor
was among 34 militants killed in clashes with SFs since last
three days (June 29-July 1) along Pak-Afghan border in Upper
Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to a private TV
channel, Mansoor was among 34 terrorists killed in fighting
with SFs in Upper Dir two days back. Official sources have also
confirmed the death. Mansoor belonged to the Khaal area of Dir
and was ‘spokesman’ and important ‘commander’ of the TTP. Skirmishes
between SFs and militants have been going on for the last three
days on Pak-Afghan border in Lower Dir, wherein some 34 terrorists
have been killed.
A six-year-old girl Sadida was
killed and two other children were injured in two blasts in
the border area of Upper Dir.
Police repulsed militants' attack
on Sheikhan check post in Peshawar after a crossfire which lasted
for two hours and in which cops from nearby police stations
also joined in.
Unidentified militants blew
up the boys’ primary school in Dara village of Swabi District.
Police have arrested three militants
and 119 proclaimed absconders in a grand cleanup operation launched
in several parts of the Lakki Marwat District. “The operation
was launched on the instructions of Regional Police Officer
Bannu Nisar Ahmad Tanoli”, an official said.
At least eight militants were
killed in a US drone attack on a compound in the Kund Ghar area
of Shawal tehsil, 50 kilometres southwest of Miranshah, the
headquterer of North Waziristan Agency in FATA. The attack killed
cadres loyal to militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Sources
further add that some foreign militants belonging to the TIM
and militants of the Bahadur group were believed to have been
killed in the attack.
Three more people were killed
in the ongoing violence in different parts of Karachi, the provincial
metropolis of Sindh.
Two people were shot dead at
a bazaar on Link Road in Karimabad area within the jurisdiction
of the Azizabad Police Station. The victims were heading somewhere
on a motorcycle when unidentified armed assailants, riding a
motorcycle, opened fire on them.
The dead body of a man was recovered
from Jaama Cloth within the remits of the Aram Bagh Police Station.
Identity of the victim could not be ascertained.
A bomb planted at the railway
track in the Bin Qasim Police Station area, exploded. The railway
traffic was suspended for some time, though railway officials
said the track was not seriously damaged and it occurred in
an isolated place. Police said they found a paper chit there
pronouncing responsibility by the Sindh Liberation Army.
The CID arrested seven allegedly
politically affiliated target killers from different areas of
Karachi along with weapons. According to SSP CID Fayyaz Khan,
the arrested include Hassan Ali, Fahim, Salim, Abdul Rauf alias
‘Lamba’, Danish, Azadi Khan and Syed Salik Siraj. CID officials
also recovered a cache of weapons from the arrested, including
one Kalashnikov, six TT pistols and 320 cartridges along with
500 grams of heroin and three stolen cars.
SFs defused a landmine in Sadar
Din area of Pat Feeder in Dera Bugti District of Balochistan.
In the unending incidents of
bloodshed, 180 innocent people lost their lives during the month
of June and many were injured in Karachi, as target killers
have a free hand to strike at the place of their liking. A significant
number among them were first kidnapped, tortured and then their
body bags were thrown on roads.
Official sources said that the
sectarian violence in Balochistan has claimed more than 400
lives in more than 200 incidents of ethnic and sectarian violence
in the past four years. The decade-long insurgency recently
turned into a battleground for politically motivated attacks
on religious sects with banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi allegedly
targeting the Shia and Hazara communities throughout the embattled
province.
The Provincial Government has
decided to refer the investigation of “sensitive cases” to the
Crime Investigation Department and called for a review of the
regulations pertaining to the movement of pilgrims under the
Travel Agency Act, 1976.
Pakistan has secretly allowed
US-led NATO forces to use its airspace to transport lethal supplies
to Afghanistan while disregarding a resolution approved by Parliament
that set conditions for the movement of supplies. It was not
clear when permission was granted for transporting the lethal
supplies but the arrangement is believed to be a stop gap one
between Pakistan and the US till they finalise a deal on reopening
land routes to Afghanistan, official sources were quoted as
saying by The Express Tribune.
July 2
Four people, including an employee
of KESC and a sympathiser of MQM, were killed in separate acts
of violence in Karachi.
An employee of the KESC was
targeted inside the company's office located in Nazimabad No
1 within the precincts of Rizvia Police Station. A Police official
informed that Yaqoob Baloch (41), son of Taj Baloch, a resident
of Old Golimar was busy in his routine work when unidentified
assailants barged into the office and shot him dead.
A sympathiser of the MQM was
shot dead at MA Jinnah Road within the limits of Nabi Bux Police
Station. Police said that the victim, later identified as Imtiaz
(26), son of Saleem was a resident of Ranchore Lane.
A youngster was killed in PIB
Colony within the remit of PIB Colony Police Station.
A tortured body of an elderly
man was found from Sultanabad area within the jurisdiction of
Jackson Police Station. According to Police, the victim was
identified as Sultan Muhammad (60), son of Badshah, a resident
of the same area.
Police arrested two alleged
TTP militants and a gangster in separate raids conducted in
the city. A police official informed that two alleged militants
of the TTP, Faisal Mehsud and Khan Mohammad alias Sajid, were
apprehended from Orangi Town.
A man was shot dead by unidentified
assailants in the Faizabad area of Sariab in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan.
Police recovered a body near
Pero Bridge from Dera Murad Jamali tehsil of Naseerabad.
A Balochistan Levies officer
was killed and another injured in an incident of shooting at
the Jewa Intersection in Surab area of Kalat District.
Unidentified militants blew
up an eight-inch-diameter gas pipeline in the Pir Koh area of
Dera Bugti District.
ANA troops intruded into Muqbal
village, some 20 kilometres south of Parachinar, in Kurram Agency
of FATA and killed two tribesmen and injured another. Hours
before the incident, a security post of the ANA came under attack
near Anzer Kali in Danda Pattan area of Afghanistan's Paktia
province.
Afghan defence officials denied
the alleged incursion. "We are not aware of such an operation
by the Afghan National Army in that area," AFP quoted Daulat
Wazir, a spokesman for the Ministry Of Defence, as saying.
Afghanistan accused Pakistan's
Army of launching months of rocket attacks on its territory
and threatened to report Islamabad to the UN Security Council,
straining already troubled ties between the neighbours. Kabul
has regularly accused elements in Islamabad's Government and
Army of backing militants fighting the US-backed Kabul government,
charges denied by Pakistan.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government school in Darra area of Swabi District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, raising the total number of destroyed educational
institutions in the District to 17.
Proclaiming Balochistan was
top on his list of priorities, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
said bringing stability and prosperity in the Province would
be the top priority of his Government. Chairing his first meeting
on Balochistan crisis as Prime Minister, Raja said the self-styled
independence of federal agencies is being checked by ensuring
that they do not act independently in connection with law and
order.
Claiming that Pakistan was being
run to the ground, the country's former President General (Retired)
Pervez Musharraf has not ruled out a fresh military takeover
of the Pakistan. "The state is being run to the ground at the
moment, and people are again running to the military to save
the country," Musharraf told a gathering in Aspen in Colorado
in the US.
The Pentagon has asked Congress
to shift billions of dollars in the defense budget to pay for
added fuel costs to ferry supplies to Afghanistan after Pakistan
closed its border to NATO convoys, US officials said. In a letter
to congressional defence committees, the Pentagon requested
"reprogramming" USD 8.2 billion in funds previously approved
to finance more urgent priorities, officials said.
Fewer civilians have died in
US drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year than at any other
time in the last four years, a report Bureau of Investigative
Journalism said. Three to 24 civilians were reported killed
by American CIA drones in Pakistan from January to June, according
to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
US drones target Taliban and
al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt
on the Afghan border, where journalists and aid workers do not
have independent access. The programme is covert, but US officials
have defended the attacks as a vital weapon in the war on terror,
despite concerns from rights activists over civilian casualties.
Slamming Pakistan for refusing
to cut ties with the Haqqani network of militants, a leading
US newspaper The Daily has said the military of the ''crippled
and chaotic'' state continues to play a ''double game'' of accepting
aid from America while enabling the Afghan Taliban.
July 3
At least four women were killed
and four others injured, including women and children, in a
grenade attack at a home in Malik Din Khel area of Khyber Agency
in FATA.
A remote-controlled blast killed
a paramilitary officer and injured four other security personnel
in the Bara Kamangara area of Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
At least five persons including
two workers of the PPP and a Policeman were shot dead in a spate
of target killings in different parts of Karachi, the provincial
metropolis of Sindh.
An activist of the PPP and a
passerby were shot dead in an act of target killing in Sector
14-E area of Orangi Town within the limits of Pakistan Bazaar
Police Station.
Shortly after this incident,
another PPP worker namely Muhammad Saleem Awan Khan (35), was
shot dead when at least four armed men, on two motorcycles,
opened fire on his car near his home in Qaimkhani Colony in
Baldia Town within the jurisdiction of Mochko Police Station.
A Police constable identified
as Gulzar Alvi (47), was shot dead near his home in Petal Wali
Gali in Rizvia Police Station area.
A 65-year-old man identified
as Noor Habib was gunned down outside his factory where he was
working as a watchman in SITE area.
ANP District President, Khan
Gul Bhattani, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the
limits of Shaheed Murid Akbar Police Station in Tank District.
Pakistan agreed to reopen its
border to NATO supply convoys into Afghanistan after the US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington was
sorry for the loss of life in NATO arial attack on Salala border
check-post on November 26, 2011. The announcement, following
months of negotiations, will come as a relief to the United
States and its NATO allies which need the routes for a planned
withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan through 2014. During
a telephonic conversation, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar
"informed me that the ground supply lines into Afghanistan are
opening", Clinton said.
The DCC approved reopening NATO
supply route after it accepted a formal apology from the US.
The committee, which met with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
in the chair, decided "in line with parliamentary recommendations"
that no arms supply would be allowed through the route except
for materials and weapons of Afghan forces.
However, CoAS General Ashfaq
Pervaiz Kayani declared insufficient the "privately-rendered
soft apology" of ISAF commander General Allen over the Salala
incident.
TTP threatened to attack trucks
carrying supplies to US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan after
Islamabad and Washington reached a deal to re-open the lines.
NATO truckers welcomed Pakistan's
decision to reopen supply lines into Afghanistan but said they
feared militant's attack, demanding security guarantees before
the resumption.
The US will release about USD
1.1 billion to Pakistan's Army as part of a deal that will see
Islamabad lift a blockade on NATO supply convoys into Afghanistan,
a US official said.
After much deliberation after
the April 15 Bannu jailbreak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities
decided to build an underground jail to hold terrorism suspects
now incarcerated throughout the province.
Law Minister Farooq H Naek,
on the directives of the Prime Minister, has constituted a committee
to resolve the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan,
where hundreds of people have gone missing in past four years.
Chief Secretary Balochistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad will
head the committee which will give its detailed briefing to
Ministry of Law and Justice on July 6.
Earlier on July 2, Prime Minister
Raja Pervez Ashraf and Naek held a meeting to discuss the legal
matters to deal with the issue of missing persons. The Government
had decided to take up the issue of pick, kill and dump incidents
on an emergency basis with reports of over 203 bullet-riddled
dead bodies being found in various parts of Balochistan in 2011.
July 4
At least three persons, including
a local government assistant director, were shot dead in a sectarian
attack in Kuchlak, some 25 kilometres from the provincial capital
of Balochistan, Quetta. According to Police, Assistant Director
Muhammad Saeed, along with a local government superintendent,
was on his way from Pishin to Quetta when unidentified armed
men on a motorcycle opened fire on them.
A security official was killed
and another injured in a landmine blast in Mat Mondrani area
of Sui District.
At least 12 suspected militants
were rounded up by law enforcement agencies near Zhob, a town
bordering Waziristan Agency of FATA. According to sources, security
personnel raided a suspected hideout near Sambaza area of Zhob,
adjacent to Waziristan border, and rounded up 12 suspects allegedly
belonging to al Qaeda or TTP.
A man, Muhammad Sarwar (52),
son of Ghulam Hussain, was shot dead in Lines Area within the
limits of Brigade Police Station in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
Administrative officer of the
PAEC Karachi, Khan Muhammad Maher was abducted from Malir Cantonment
area.
The Anti-Extremist Cell of the
CID and Special Investigation Unit arrested seven suspects,
including target killers and Lyari gangsters, in separate raids.
The AEC claimed to have apprehended four men allegedly associated
with the Lyari gangster group of Baba Ladla.
A young woman working for women's
rights in tribal regions, Fareeda Kokikhel (26), Director of
Sewara, was killed in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
According to her family, three men who were hiding in bushes
opened fire on Fareeda when she came out of her home in Ghundi
in the morning to go to her office in Hayatabad area of Peshawar.
The chief security officer of
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Major (retd) Muaaz, was
injured as an explosive device went off near his house in Karim
Block area of Iqbal Town in Lahore in the night.
Elders of various tribal agencies
have expressed grave concern over the Government's decision
to open routes for supply to NATO forces in Afghanistan and
feared it will result in surge in terrorist acts in Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that the Government decided to reopen GLOCs into Afghanistan
in line with the parliamentary recommendations and there was
no secret deal behind this. She was talking to journalists on
the same day the Federal Cabinet formally approved its defence
committee's decision of restoring the ground supply routes of
NATO that had been suspended after November 26's Salala attack.
The Ministry of Interior has
asked Pakistan Rangers to arrange proper security for NATO/ISAF
supply containers moving into Afghanistan through Pakistani
territory. Sources said the Ministry had written a letter to
the Pakistan Rangers DG, asking the force to provide foolproof
security to ISAF/NATO containers.
The FBR has also issued instructions
to field formations to make preliminary arrangements for the
release of NATO/ISAF containers destined for Afghanistan.
The Balochistan government has
expressed its inability to provide security to NATO supply vehicles
because of shortage of law-enforcement personnel. "We are unable
to give full security to NATO supplies along 850km route from
Karachi to Chaman with the present available security manpower,"
Home Secretary Nasibullah Bazai said.
July 5
Eight persons, including a MQM-H
cadre, were killed in separate incidents of target killing in
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
A cadre of the MQM-H, Syed Farooq,
29, son of Syed Badshah, was shot dead at Landhi No 6 within
the precincts of Landhi Police Station.
A cable operator was shot dead
near Telephone Exchange in New Karachi within the limits of
New Karachi Police Station.
One Nasir (22), son of Afzal,
was killed within the limits of Garden Police Station.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire and left six persons in critical condition in Machhar Colony.
Haji Noor (58), Siraj Mian (30), Moin (32), and Sohail (31),
succumbed to their injuries, while the condition of Ilyas (27),
and Khalid (31), was stated as critical.
A man, Muhammad Alam (40), was
killed in North Karachi within the limits of Ajmair Nagri Police
Station.
Unidentified assailants riding
a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on a man, identified
as Siddiqullah, at Baloch Khan Chowk of Pakhtoonabad area of
Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
A man, identified as Abdul Malik
Abro, was killed in Faizabad area of Sariab Road of Quetta.
Unidentified assailants abdcuted
the manager of a motorcycle company, Hanif Afshani, and his
driver, from Hub town of Lasbela District.
Police arrested three alleged
target killers, involved in the killing of some Ulema, after
heavy exchange of fire in the Jinnah Town of Quetta. Three arrested
persons were identified as Jahangir Haider Shah, Nadeem Abbas
and Qaisar Abbas - belonged to Dera Ismail Khan and had come
over to Quetta on a mission to kill people.
Unidentified persons shot dead
a militant 'commander' along with his aide in Kalosha village
of South Waziristan Agency in FATA. Sources said that Wali Mohammad,
brother of TTP 'commander' Nek Mohammad, along with his aide
was asleep in the apple farm of his uncle when two armed persons
sneaked into the orchard and opened firing on them.
The Salarzai tribes of Bajaur
Agency have reiterated their resolve to step up the fight against
terrorists in Salarzai tehsil and to form more lashkars in towns
bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
has banned a website by the name www.alislam.org which was controlled
by the Ahmadiyya community. An official of the authority said
that the site had been blocked because Ahmadis were not allowed
to propagate their religious views under the constitution of
Pakistan.
Unidentified persons abducted
the owner of marble factory Abid Hussain near Shereen Koto of
Risalpur in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at gunpoint.
Terror incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and the FATA killed more than 459 people and injured about 875
in the first six months of 2012, according to the Edhi Welfare
Foundation, which provides emergency and healthcare services
to terrorism victims.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
said his Government will continue its "moral, political and
diplomatic support" to Kashmiris till the issue is resolved
in accordance with their aspirations and UN resolutions. Ashraf
made the remarks during a meeting with Chaudhry Abdul Majeed,
the "Prime Minister" of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, an official
statement said.
In his meeting with Indian Foreign
Minister, S.M. Krishna, in New Delhi, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary
Jalil Abbas Jilani said that the Pakistani judiciary made it
impossible to act against any terror group or an individual
like JuD 'chief' and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed without enough
evidence against them.
Pakistan rejected renewed Indian
charges that Pakistani "state actors" were involved in planning
and coordinating the 2008 Mumbai attacks. "I would very strongly
reject any insinuation of any involvement of any state agency
in acts of terrorism in India," Pakistani Foreign Secretary
Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters after talks with his Indian
counterpart Ranjan Mathai.
Prime Minister's Adviser on
Interior Affairs Rehman Malik said the Government has prepared
a strategy to curb the activities of extortionists during Ramazan
and a new anti-terrorism law for ensuring conviction of target
killers will be sent to the National Assembly after its adoption
by the Senate.
The first trucks supplying NATO
troops in Afghanistan crossed the border from Pakistan after
Islamabad ended a seven-month blockade. Three trucks loaded
with mineral water were cleared to enter Afghanistan from the
Chaman border post in Balochistan, Chaman District customs official
Abdul Razaq Imran said.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf defended
the decision to reopen the GLOCs, which allowed NATO supplies
through Pakistani territory, saying it was taken in the best
national interest and in the light of the recommendations of
Parliament. The PM expressed these views while talking to PML-Q
President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Deputy Prime Minister
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who called on him at the Prime Minister's
House.
Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam
Ahmad Khan said that the decision to reopen the NATO supply
lines was made in national interest and the US had clearly said
'sorry' to Pakistan for the Salala incident.
July 6
Twenty four persons were killed
and 10 others were injured in US drone strikes in the Gorwaik
village of Dattakhel area in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
There were reports that the death toll could rise as the drones
had fired eight missiles and caused widespread destruction in
the village.
At least two LI militants were
killed and three others injured when a remote-controlled bomb
exploded in the Akakhel area of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency.
Eighteen Punjabi-speaking persons,
who were travelling to Iran, were shot dead and two others injured
when BLT militants attacked their vehicles in the Basoli area
of Turbat District in Balochistan in the night. BLT Spokesman
Meeran Baloch has claimed the group carried out the killings
and said that identity cards of the victims were checked before
they were killed.
A religious scholar, Maulvi
Abdul Qasim, hailing from Sunni school of thought was shot dead
in Musa Colony in Sariab locality in Quetta in a suspected incident
of sectarian killing.
Police recovered a body from
Bado Nullah in Kharan and moved it to hospital for an autopsy
where the deceased was identified as Muhammad Yousaf.
Three persons, including a child,
were killed in separate incidents of target killing in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. A transporter was shot dead
at Teen Hatti within the precincts of PIB Police Station.
An aged man died mysteriously
in Block 4-A area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal within the precincts of
Mobina Town Police Station.
Dead body of a boy was recovered
from garbage drum near Falak Naz Arcade within the limits of
Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station.
Tension prevailed in Landhi
area when unidentified assailants attacked the participants
of funeral procession of MQM-H. A 29-year-old MQM-H cadre, Syed
Farooq, son of Syed Badshah, was gunned down on July 5 in an
act of target killing in Landhi area.
A Police SI was killed and three
constables were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near their
van on Takhtabad road in the limits of Daudzai Police Station
in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in
the evening.
The Police have rooted out camps
set up in Lahore by the DPC for a protest march against restoration
of NATO supplies to Afghanistan. A large contingent of Police
dismantled the two camps, one at the Regal Chowk on Mall Road
and the other at Faisal Chowk.
The adviser to PM on Interior
Affairs A. Rehman Malik said the DPC was free to exercise its
right to protest however, strict action would be taken if law
was violated. Talking to reporters, he said all Inspectors General
of Police had been directed to provide security to NATO containers
in their respective areas.
The DPC has also alleged that
the additional Police security provided to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed,
chief of the JuD, at his Jauhar Town residence has been withdrawn.
The British Police and secret
service MI5, in a joint operation, have arrested seven people
believed to be of the Pakistani origin on suspicion of terror
offences after firearms and other weapons were found in a car.
One man is from West Yorkshire and six from Birmingham, West
Midlands.
The CoAS General Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani said that the Pakistan Army units deployed on the border
areas near Afghanistan will not leave till all terrorists are
defeated and smooth transition of responsibility to civil administration
has taken place.
All containers passing through
Pakistan to supply NATO troops in Afghanistan are to be scanned
to ensure they do not contain lethal supplies. A number of trucks
have already crossed into Afghanistan, but the vast majorities
are still at Karachi, where they have languished for the past
seven months.
The Railways Minister Ghulam
Ahmed Bilour said Pakistan Railways would not provide any transportation
services to NATO as the organisation was not capable of meeting
even the local transportation needs. A press statement issued
said, "We are already short of locomotives to meet the local
freight requirements and cannot give transportation facility
to NATO."
The authorities in Peshawar
finalised a set of security measures to provide protection to
NATO supply vehicles and ward off any sabotage threat. A senior
security official said that there would be complete ban on parking
of vehicles - supplying goods for NATO forces in Afghanistan
- in the limits of provincial capital, while these vehicles
would be allowed to enter Peshawar District early in the day
and leave for Afghanistan before sunset.
The Pakistan High Commission
in London said it knew nothing about more than 30,000 Pakistanis
who had been refused permission to stay in Britain and whose
whereabouts were unknown to the British authorities. According
to official documents obtained by Daily Times, the chief immigration
inspector of the UK Border Agency disclosed for the first time
the existence of a backlog of more than 150,000 cases involving
people who had been refused permission to stay in Britain.
The Law Minister Farooq H Naek
said that the Government would ensure recovery of missing persons
by making all possible efforts and using all available resources.
He said this while chairing a meeting on the issue of people
missing from Balochistan.
The JWP chief Nawabzada Talal
Akbar Bugti said that the Balochistan former Chief Minister
and sitting Federal Minister Jam Yousuf was not only nominated
in Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti's murder case but was also responsible
for the forced disappearances of thousands of Baloch youth,
and alleged military operations in Balochistan, hence the Baloch
nation would never forgive him.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf said that
that law and order in GB and improvement of economy was on the
top of the Government's priorities, reports Pakistan Observer.
The PM assured the Governor and CM of GB that the Federal Government
would provide sufficient resources, expertise and requisite
manpower to overcome the challenges of sectarianism and economic
development.
Noting that the present Government
gave identity to GB he said that GB enjoyed complete autonomy,
which was manifest from the fact that it now had its own Governor,
elected CM, Legislative Assembly and other administrative institutions.
China has refuted a report that
it plans to open a consulate in GB. "What an absurd report!
China hasn't even opened a consulate in Lahore," the official
Global Times quoted an unnamed source as saying. "Opening
a consulate in a foreign country is the responsibility of the
foreign ministry. We have never heard of a regional official
having the right to 'officially inform' another country about
such a decision," the state-run paper quoted its source.
The Pentagon is preparing to
release about USD 1.1 billion withheld from Pakistan's military
after Islamabad agreed to reopen supply routes into Afghanistan.
The withheld dollars are part of the US Coalition Support Fund
to reimburse Pakistan for its support to US counter-insurgency
operations, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby said.
July 7
Nine people including an IB
officer and three militants of the banned SSP were killed on
July 7, in Karachi, provincial Capital of Sindh.
An IB official, identified as
Syed Qamar Raza was gunned down in FC Area within the precincts
of Sharifabad Police Station.
Three SSP militants, identified
as Saad, Hamza and Talha were shot dead in Surjani Town, sector
7-A within the limits of Surjani Police Station.
A man, identified as Ali Madad
fell prey to sectarian violence at Hussain Hazara Goth within
the precincts of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.
A man was killed at Korangi
100 Quarters within the jurisdiction of Zaman Town Police Station.
Police said Muhammad Amir was shot thrice by unidentified pillion
riders.
A man, identified as Muslim
Khan was killed at Dak Khana, Liaquatabad within the limits
of Liaquatabad Police Station.
A thirty-year-old woman identified
as Mumtaz Begum, was shot and killed near NIPA Chowrangi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
Militants attacked a convoy
of SFs, which was passing through Tiyarza tehsil of Serwakai
sub-division of South Waziristan Agency in FATA. Four security
personnel were killed in the attack while three others sustained
injuries.
Terrorists killed a pro-government
tribal chief, Malik Abdul Wazah Khan, in the area of Buggan
in Parachinar of Kurram Agency.
Police arrested two senior militants
of Swat chapter of TTP, identified as Iqbal alias Qari Basit,
a resident of Shangla District, and Ijazullah, a resident of
Torghar District, from Battagram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
July 8
At least 14 persons were killed
while seven others injured in a landmine blast in the Tooba
Achakzai area near the Pak-Afghan border in the border town
of Chaman in Balochistan.
At least six militants were
killed and four others arrested in an exchange of fire and a
raid in Mastung and Quetta. The FC also rescued a detained doctor
and recovered arms from the possession of the detainees.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead a shopkeeper in Quetta. The deceased was identified as
Muhammad Ramazan, a resident of Sindh.
An employee of the SSGC was
shot at and injured on Alamdar Road in Quetta. It was suspected
to be a case of sectarian violence.
Unidentified armed men shot
and injured one Muhammad Nabi in Mastung town.
A former SI of Wadh Police Station
was shot dead in Bolan Colony area of Khuzdar District. According
to the Police, the former Police official, identified as Muhammad
Rafeeq, was sitting outside his house when unidentified assailants
opened fire.
Five persons, including a MQM
activist and a PPP worker, were killed in separate acts of target
killing in the provincial metropolis of Sindh, Karachi.
The MQM activist, Abdul Nafees
(32), son of Muhammad Ali, was killed in Qasab Colony within
the limits of Pirabad Police Station.
A PPP worker, Saleem Jamil,
a resident of Shahbaz Nagar of Orangi Town, was shot dead within
the precincts of the Iqbal Market Police Station.
A man, identified as Fazal Muhammad
(37), son of Ata Muhammad, was shot dead at Al Asif Square under
Sohrab Goth Police Station.
One stray bullet claimed a minor's
life in Orangi Town within the jurisdiction of Pakistan Bazaar
Police Station.
A boy was killed while playing
outside his home in Lines Area within the jurisdiction of Brigade
Police Station.
Unidentified armed extortionists
targeted the house of a trader within the remits of Darakhshan
Police Station. Police officials said that unidentified persons,
riding on a motorbike, threw a hand grenade at the house of
Abdul Qadir, a resident of 39/1, and fled.
Two militants were killed and
eight others received injuries as SFs and Mamond Qaumi Lashkar
repulsed a cross-border attack in Kagga area of Bajaur Agency
in FATA. Officials said that a group of militants entered Pakistani
territory and attacked Kagga area of Mamond tehsil with heavy
weapons.
SFs defused a powerful bomb
in the Zirai Road area of Landikotal town of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified armed persons shot
dead an assistant Sub-Inspector of Police on Charsadda Road
in the limits of Khazana Police Station in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Despite tall claims of Government
and Police, there is no respite in the targeted killings in
Karachi, as according to the data of HRCP, targeted killings
and other crimes have claimed at least 1,257 lives in Karachi
during last six months.
According to HRCP report, a
total of 972 people were targeted killed, of them 135 gunned
down were political activists, 27 shot dead in sectarian killings,
84 in Lyari gang war, 160 abducted and killed, two burnt to
death, 42 killed by robbers, 87 killed due to enmity, 39 dead
bodies found, seven security guards killed on duty, four died
in prisons, eight in bomb blasts and 11 in Karo-Kari (honour
killing). Of total 972 targeted killings, the HRCP figure shows
that 366 people with no political affiliation were killed this
year in first six months while 250 killings were reported during
the corresponding period of the last year.
According to the statistics,
women killed during the same period include - 24 by relatives,
12 by unidentified culprits, 13 targeted killed, four were set
on fire, four each killed by robbers, burnt to death and Lyari
gang war, 12 on pretext of Karo-Kari and one each killed by
stray bullets, drug addiction and in bomb blasts. Of the total
99 killings related to law enforcement agencies, 48 killed in
police encounters, 44 policemen were gunned down in different
incidents, three killed in police custody, three soldiers/paramilitary
personnel and one person killed by soldier/paramilitary.
Of the 64 children killed in
different incidents, 11 killed by stray bullets, seven targeted
killings, seven falling into canal/drains, five abducted and
killed, six abducted, raped and killed, four Lyari gang war,
five by robbers, five on grounds of personal enmity, seven newborn
dumped, two killed after ransom payment, two on railway track
while one by soldier/paramilitary.
A workshop on 'Media and Civil
Society in Balochistan' was informed on July 8 that the media
in Balochistan was not free and journalists on professional
duty often faced harassment at the hands of influential elements
and different pressure groups active in the province.
Militants fighting Indian rule
in Kashmir and US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan are brazenly
raising funds and recruiting potential fighters in cities and
towns of Pakistan. Al-Badr, a breakaway faction of Hizbul Mujahideen,
organised a two-day 'Shuada Conference' in the Swan Adda area
of Rawalpindi to seek recruits and raise funds.
The DPC began a "long march"
to Islamabad to protest over the reopening of NATO supply routes
to Afghanistan. Thousands of people joined a convoy of buses,
trucks and cars, many carrying the black and white striped flags
of the DPC, on the 275-kilometre journey from Lahore to Islamabad.
"This is the beginning of our
struggle. We want the USA to not only leave Afghanistan, but
Pakistan also," the coalition's chairman, Samiul Haq, said at
a rally before the convoy set off. "This movement will continue
till the government severs all contacts with United States and
NATO," Haq said.
Expecting that the DPC long
march will culminate peacefully, the Federal Government has
put in place elaborate arrangements for the protesters' security
in the twin cities with banning entry into Islamabad of the
members of the banned organisations and others who are placed
on Schedule-IV of the ATA.
The United States pressed Pakistan
to pressure into talks the Haqqani network, which it blames
for attacks on US targets in Afghanistan. During their one-hour
meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to put pressure on the Haqqani network,
said a senior US official, who acknowledged that it was unclear
whether Pakistan would step up its counter-terrorism efforts.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton expressed the hope that US-Pakistani relations would
improve after Pakistan agreed to reopen NATO supply lines into
Afghanistan last week. She said she had also discussed stalled
Afghan reconciliation efforts with Khar.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and the
United States reiterated their call for Taliban to abandon violence
and enter a dialogue with the Afghanistan Government. "We reiterate
our call for the armed opposition to abandon violence and enter
a dialogue with the Afghan government. We call on all parties
to devote their energy to realising this vision, respond in
the same spirit, and commit to support an Afghan political process
that will result in lasting peace, security, stability, and
prosperity for Afghanistan and the region," said a joint statement
issued by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Afghan Foreign
Minister Zalmai Rassoul and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina
Rabbani Khar at the First Ministerial-level Core Group Trilateral
Meeting.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina
Rabbani Khar said that Pakistan was committed to providing fullest
cooperation to Afghanistan to help it steer through the transition
period and beyond. The Foreign Minister, in her statement at
the Tokyo conference on Afghanistan, said, "We have pledged
an amount of USD 300 million for the development and reconstruction
of Afghanistan." She said now that Afghanistan was to move from
transition into the transformation decade within the next two
years, it was indeed timely for the international community
to discuss sustainable development and self-reliance in Afghanistan.
July 9
Unidentified militants killed
eight security personnel at an Army camp near Wazirabad town
in Gujranwala District of Punjab, officials said, hours after
a protest march of the DPC passed through the area. The encampment
was attacked from a bridge over the river Chenab. Hours earlier,
thousands from the DPC coalition of right-wing groups crossed
the bridge on a "long march" from Lahore to Islamabad
to protest against the reopening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.
The TTP claimed responsibility
for the killings. The TTP spokesman said the Punjab chapter
of the outfit had carried out the attack. They would continue
such attacks in the future also, particularly in Punjab, he
added.
A former office bearer of ANP,
along with three other persons were killed in the separate incidents
of target killing in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Unidentified assailants on a
motorcycle opened fire at a car near the Asghar Shah Stadium
in North Nazimabad, killing ANP member Naseeb Khan. According
to ANP, Khan was also a member of the Pashtun Action Committee
(PAC).
The body of a 19-year-old, identified
as Inayatur Rehman, was found in a water tank of an under-construction
building in block 22 of Federal B Industrial Area.
Another body was found in the
Bhains Colony area, while a body bearing torture marks was discovered
in the SITE area.
A man, Muhammad Ibrahim, was
on his way in RD 238 area of Jaffarabad town in the same District
when he stepped on a landmine, killing him on the spot.
Unidentified militants opened
indiscriminate fire at Mastung bus stop and killed one Noor
Ahmed, before being escaped from the scene.
Police recovered two dead bodies,
one of them a woman, from a residence in Hub town in Lasbela
District. The male one was identified as Abdul Khaliq.
Police arrested two senior militants
of Swat chapter of TTP, identified as Iqbal alias Qari Basit,
a resident of Shangla District, and Ijazullah, a resident of
Torghar District, from Battagram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan is doubling the capacity
for NATO trucks at a key border crossing, officials said, to
speed up processing for an expected influx of supplies for troops
in Afghanistan. Customs officials at Torkham border crossing
said that work had begun to expand dedicated parking space for
NATO containers.
A bill has been submitted in
the Senate as part of efforts by Presidency to tame the ISI
through parliamentary oversight and to make it answerable to
Parliament and the Government. The 19-page draft bill was submitted
in the Senate or Upper House of Parliament by Farhatullah Babar,
the spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari, a few days ago
and may be taken up during a session beginning on July 9.
Supreme Court Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhary said that every third missing person
in Balochistan was picked up by the FC. He said the issue of
missing persons needed to be addressed to solve the problem
of Balochistan.
During the hearing, Balochistan
Advocate General Amanullah Kanrani informed the court that “four
out of 135 missing persons had been recovered”. The chief justice
remarked that recovery of only four missing persons indicated
that the provincial Government was not taking the issue seriously.
VFBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch
told the bench that a commission on missing persons, headed
by Justice (retd Javed Iqbal, had said in a statement that 30
missing persons had been recovered. The chief justice remarked
that they had been sitting there from morning until night but
could see no progress.
July 10
Five militants were killed in
clash with SFs in Otmela area of Kurram Agency in FATA. According
to a security official, the militants attacked a checkpost in
Otmela injuring one soldier. At least five militants were killed
in the retaliatory firing by the SFs.
A government middle school for
boys was also blown up in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency.
According to a political agent, the attack takes the number
of destroyed schools in the region to 96. Local residents said
that unidentified terrorists who are against literacy planted
explosives near the school. The explosion destroyed the school
building.
SFs averted a possible bid of
terrorism by defusing two bombs at Zera area in Khyber Agency.
Five more persons were killed
in separate incidents of target killing in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
At least two persons, father-son
duo, lost their lives when unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate
fire in the Keamari area.
Police recovered the body of
one person, Zohaib, from near Malir River.
A 19-year-old boy identified
as Mehrab was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Maripur
Truck Stand.
25-year old girl’s strangulated
body was found from her home in Safoora Goth. The girl was identified
as Tehmina.
A schoolteacher, identified
as Rasheed, was shot dead in the Shamsabad area of Mastung District
in Balochistan.
Two persons, identified as Mohammad
Shafique and Khair Jan, were killed when unidentified armed
men on a motorcycle opened fire in the Iskalku area of Kalat
District.
Levies Force recovered a bullet-riddled
body from Gidar Valley near the Surab area of Kalat District.
Another body was recovered near
the Customs House in the Khuzdar District. "On a tip-off,
a Police team reached an area near the Customs House and recovered
a dead body dumped by the road,” police said, adding that the
body had been shifted to hospital for identification.
Unidentified militants abducted
Jamia Salfiya principal, Habibullah, near the Airport Road area
in Quetta. According to Police, Habibullah was on his way to
the Jamia Salfiya when unidentified persons intercepted him
and took him away to some undisclosed location.
A shopkeeper, Nasrullah, was
abducted from his shop in the Khuzdar District. According to
Police, Nasrullah was at his shop when armed men took him away
to some undisclosed destination.
Another man was abducted by
unidentified armed men from the Gwadar District.
Police neutralised a 20-kilogramme
explosive device in Kalat District. According to officials,
acting on a tip-off, police and BDS personnel reached the site
and defused explosive materials, which had been placed in the
garden by unidentified men for sabotage.
Three persons including a female
were shot dead by unidentified assailants inside their home
at Tajpura Scheme area under Ghaziabad Police Station of Lahore
in Punjab. Police investigators said the victims, yet to be
identified, were asleep when some unknown gunmen barged into
the home and opened indiscriminate bullets on them.
The tehsildar of Mullagori
tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA escaped a bomb blast
near Juma Khan Kallay on Nasir Bagh Road in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew
up a primary school for girls at Mera Mashokhel under Badhber
Police Station in Peshawar.
Reacting to the reopening of
NATO supply routes, a hitherto unknown TTP faction said that
attacks on Army personnel in Gujranwala District of Punjab on
July 9 are legitimate. The group, Idara Pasban-i-Shariat, an
offshoot of the TTP, criticised the political and military leadership
for striking a deal with the US, saying the leadership had betrayed
the nation by resuming supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Two key US Senators have introduced
legislation in the US Senate asking for the Haqqani Network
to be designated as a FTO, saying it fits the criteria outlined
for the FTO. Senator Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence
Committee and vice chairman of the committee Senator Saxby Chambliss
issued a press release on July 10 saying they have asked, in
the bill, for the State Department to designate the Haqqani
Network as an FTO.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the
United States Sherry Rehman maintained that Islamabad continues
to deem unilateral drone attacks a violation of humanitarian
and international law. “It hasn’t Okayed any American drone
strikes on its territory in exchange for Washington’s apology
over the Salala attacks,” she said in an interview with CNN.
Annoyed by non-implementation
of the Supreme Court’s orders, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad
Chaudhry directed the Balochistan Home Department and law enforcement
agencies to recover and produce before the court all missing
persons in a week.
The court rejected a request
made by Raja Irshad, the counsel for the Frontier Corps Balochistan,
for an in camera briefing on missing persons and law and order.
“It is regrettable that law enforcement agencies are not obeying
the court’s orders to produce the persons who disappeared,”
the CJP said, adding that the court wanted to see recovery and
production of all missing persons.
The home secretary informed
the court that 101 people – 86 civilians and 15 Policemen –
had lost their lives in target killings in Quetta in June. Police
arrested three terrorists who confessed that they had killed
24 religious scholars in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.
Quetta Police Chief Mir Zubair said 56 terrorists had been killed.
July 11
An activist of the MQM and his
two-year-old son were killed in Orangi town in the vicinity
of Pakistan Bazar Police Station.
Two activists of the ANP were
killed at Nazimabad No 2 within the limits of Nazimabad Police
Station. After the incident heavy aerial firing was reported
in the vicinity.
A passerby was killed while
27 others injured when a roadside bomb struck the contract vehicle
of SUPARCO at the Mawach Goth. The bomb struck the vehicle carrying
40 SUPARCO employees in the precincts of Saeedabad Police Station.
The blast came as a second such attack on SUPARCO employees
after terrorists from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) targeted a SUPARCO
bus carrying Shiite employees to Friday prayers in 2003.
A Policeman was shot dead in
an encounter that took place in Gharibabad Goth within the precincts
of Malir City Police Station. According to Police, following
a tip off their team reached Gharibabad Goth to conduct a raid.
Two bodies, including that of
an Imambargah leader, were recovered in Mian Gundi area, an
outskirt of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The
bodies were identified as those of Satellite Town Imambargah
leader Mulana Nour Ali Nour and Syed Haseeb Abad Zaidi, a resident
of Sirki Road Quetta.
Kohat Police arrested 24 suspects
and seized arms and ammunition from their possession during
search operation in various parts of the Kohat District. Officials
said that the operation was conducted by elite force personnel
in the jurisdiction of Gumbat, Junglekhel, city and Lachi Police
Stations.
SFs raided a house in the Zainy
Khel area of Upper Orakzai Agency in FATA and arrested a TTP
Orakzai chapter militant, a security official said. The militant
was identified as Maseed Khan of the Feroz Khel Tribe.
The FATA law and order secretary
Shakeel Qadir while briefing the SAFRON said that there was
an urgent need to launch an operation against terrorists in
NWA as they were getting hold of the area and government was
losing its writ day by day.
The committee members were further
told that government succeeded in maintaining its writ in Bajaur
and Mohmand agencies and the terrorists were pushed back into
Afghanistan. He told the committee the terrorists were organising
attacks from across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
The committee was told of the instability in Bara and upper
regions, which was also affecting provincial capital Peshawar
as well.
The SAFRON committee members
headed by Senator Muhammad Saleh Shah expressed its deep concern
over the report of presence of over 20,000 terrorists in NWA
getting uninterrupted supply of weapons to create law and order
situation in the area.
The committee was told that
there were total 120,467 displaced people in Pakistan who need
permanent shelter facilities. About the presence of Afghan refugees
in Pakistan the committee was told that there were over three
million Afghan refugees in Pakistan out of which two million
were registered and one million were unregistered.
July 12
Militants shot dead nine trainee
jail staffs and wounded three others after storming a building
in Ichra complex in Lahore in Punjab where they were sleeping.
“The attackers were 10 in number, riding on three motorbikes
and a car. (They) entered Rasool Park Ichra from Ferozpur Road
and managed to escape toward Multan Road after the assault,”
eyewitnesses said. TTP claimed responsibility of attack on Ichra
complex in Lahore in which nine trainee jail staffs were killed
and two others injured.
At least six militants struck
a commercial bank branch under Kot Lakhpat Police Station area
in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, in broad daylight
and fled away after looting PKR two million. A police officer
believed that all the six persons were militants linked with
the TTP and the investigators are repeatedly examining the video
footage taken from the CCTV cameras.
Eleven militants were killed
in fighting with SFs after dozens of militants, who allegedly
crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan, attacked Katkot village
in the Mamond area of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
The Balochistan Levies found
the bodies of seven coal miners who were abducted on July 7,
in the Degari area, some 28 kilometres from the provincial capital
of Balochistan, Quetta. The miners were abducted in the Sorange
area, 25 kilometres from Quetta. The victims worked at a private
coal mining company, the United Minerals. BLA ‘spokesman’ Jihand
Baloch had claimed responsibility for the abduction of the miners.
Unidentified assailants riding
a motorcycle opened fire on a Hindu trader, identified as Ruash
Kumar, a resident of Dera Allah Yar area in Jaffarabad District,
at Qambrani Road area of Quetta, who died on the spot.
Unidentified armed men shot
dead a man in Killi Geo area of Kirani Road in Quetta. The man
was identified as Rehmat Ali, a resident of Hazara Town and
belonged to the Hazara community.
The Police recovered a bullet-riddled
body in Margzani area of Sibi District. According to the Police,
some persons spotted the body in Margzani Nullah area and informed
the Police.
Police claimed to have apprehended
39 suspects in connection with the bomb blast that hit the vehicle
of SUPARCO on July 11.
The dead bodies of 17 soldiers
and a civilian killed in a cross-border attack on June 24 were
shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan after militants in Kunar
Province (Afghanistan) struck a deal with a jirga from Upper
Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Advisor to the Prime Minister
on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik said that Haqqani network was
an Afghan entity and Pakistan had nothing to do with it.
No army personnel of any rank
hold any foreign nationality, said a spokesman of ISPR. As per
military rule, no one in service is allowed to have dual nationality.
If someone has dual nationality, he will have to surrender his
foreign nationality before joining the service, he added.
Pakistan said that it will sign
a MoU with US to formalize NATO supplies to Afghanistan in early
September. Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan told at a weekly
press briefing that Islamabad and Washington had completed the
technical discussions and were now engaged in the process of
internal analysis of the details relating to the MoU. He said
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would visit Washington early
September to discuss host of issues including signing of the
MoU on NATO supplies through Pakistan.
July 13
At least eight persons were
killed and 22 others injured in a bomb blast during a political
rally organised by the ANP in Kuchlak area of Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. The rally was in its first 15 minutes
when a cycle parked behind the stage exploded.
Four persons were killed across
Balochistan in various incidents. In the first incident, unidentified
assailants opened fire in Khuzdar Town and killed a man identified
as Naseer Baloch.
A woman was going home along
with her son in Subatpur area of Jaffarabad District when she
hit a landmine planted along a road. She died and her son Ali
Bakhsh was taken to Dera Allahyar hospital with serious injuries.
Unidentified assailants on a
motorcycle opened fire on one Haji Alam Khan in the Sariab area
of Quetta, killing him on the spot.
A man, Identified as Muhammad
Tahir, was shot dead in Bank colony area when he was going to
his hair-dressing shop. Muhammad Tahir belongs to Sargodha District
of Punjab.
One head constable Noor Ahmed
Baloch was killed by armed motorcyclists when he was on his
way home in Shalkot area of Sariab.
Badal Khan, a soft drink vendor,
was shot dead near Chaki Shahwani area of Sariab road.
Unidentified assailants killed
a man, identified as Qahir Khan, in Mashokhel area of Dukki
in Quetta. The cause of killing is yet to be ascertained.
At least eight persons were
injured when unidentified persons hurled a hand grenade at Picture
House Cinema in the jurisdiction of Khan Raziq Police Station
in the provincial capital Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar.
Unidentified militants blew
up part of a hotel near Kohat bus terminal. However, no damage
to human life was reported in the attack.
The Hayatabad Police recovered
a young businessman Saifullah of Jamrud Ghundi area in Khyber
Agency of FATA. According to details, Saifullah was kidnapped
along with his driver Inayat on June 29 from Industrial Estate
Hayatabad and was shifted to Jamrud Ghundi area. Later kidnappers
released the driver.
Two soldiers have been killed
and several others injured in clashes with militants in Baddar
Village of Ladha tehsil in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed that clashes were continuing
between the Security Forces and militants in Baddar Village,
during which two soldiers had been killed and several others
injured.
SFs and members of a local militia
forced the militants who sneaked into Mamond tehsil of
Bajaur Agency in FATA from across the border on July 12 to flee
back to Afghanistan. All the people who were taken hostage by
the militants were freed and the entire area was cleared by
early July 13-morning.
Six bombs were recovered near
the Borstal Jail in the Faisalabad city of Punjab. According
to Police, six handmade toy bombs packed in a shopping bag were
found on a roadside around 100 yards from the Borstal Jail.
Following the acts of terrorism
in provincial capitals of Lahore and Peshawar during the current
week, an intelligence agency forecast that Islamabad may be
the next target of terrorists in the days to come.
The intelligence agencies had
warned the law enforcement agencies on 2nd of July, 2012, that
activist of TTP were planning to target some personalities in
twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Following the warning, law enforcement
agencies have reportedly taken stringent security measures to
counter the plan of terrorism, the sources said. Sources from
Islamabad police confirmed receiving warning from intelligence
agencies and said that police were made highly alert to deal
with the terrorists.
Pakistan has effectively used
its nuclear power as a deterrent besides using the technology
for civilian purposes, Federal Defence Minister Syed Naveed
Qamar said. Addressing the concluding session of a two-day national
conference on the ‘Applications of Nuclear Science and Technology’,
organised by the SASSI, he said as long as an arms race is imposed
on Pakistan, national security would remain the country’s foremost
priority.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad
Chaudhry ordered a paramilitary commander to produce 30 people
in court, saying there was evidence troops were involved in
their disappearance. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
ordered Balochistan Frontier Corps commander Major General Obaidullah
Khattak to produce the missing before the court in the provincial
capital Quetta on July 24.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf offered
an olive branch to the disgruntled Baloch leaders to hold dialogue
with the Government for an amicable solution of the Balochistan
issue. Addressing the Provincial cabinet meeting at the Chief
Minister’s Secretariat, the PM said the use of force was not
the right way to handle any problem.
He further said that prevailing
law and order situation was the result of unwise and anti-Baloch
policies of dictators, bringing the province on the verge of
destruction. “Balochistan is on the priority list of the Government,”
he said, while reiterating the Government's pledge to remove
the decades-long grievances of the people of the largest province
of the country.
On law and order situation,
he said the Government was committed to resolving the Balochistan
issue and added that anti-peace elements would not succeed in
their nefarious designs and they would be dealt with an iron
hand.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf has directed
that capable senior officials of law enforcement agencies having
good reputation should be posted in Balochistan so that law
and order situation could be improved. “There should be integrated
team work between the Balochistan government, institutions and
law enforcement agencies to maintain law and order and restore
peace in the province,” said the premier.
Officials warned that the Taliban
ban on polio would put 240,000 children at risk in Waziristan
Agencies of FATA, if a vaccination campaign didn’t start by
the coming week. TTP and Hafiz Gul Bahadur group banned polio
vaccinations in the Waziristan to protest against US drone attacks.
"There is a possibility that we may have to skip the polio
campaign in North and South Waziristan because we are not getting
clearance from the army nor is the situation conducive,"
a government health official said.
July 14
14 persons, including Police
and Navy personnel and a MQM activist, were killed in the incidents
of target killing in the provincial metropolis of Sindh, Karachi.
A Policeman and a passer-by
Navy personnel were killed in an encounter at Hazara Chowk near
Natha Khan Goth within Shah Faisal Police limits. Sources said
that when a Police team reached the spot, unidentified assailants
opened indiscriminate fire injuring Ghulam Raza (45) and Shahbaz
(43) and a passer-by Navy official Kamran (23). They succumbed
to their injuries later.
A man was shot dead in Orangi
Town Sector 12-L within the jurisdiction of Orangi Town Police
Station. Police said that at least two armed motorcyclists shot
and killed Jamal Faisal (37) while he was on his way to work.
An activist of MQM identified
as Furqan Ahmed (24) was shot and killed at Safora Goth within
the limits of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.
A couple identified as Jumman
Shah (35) and his wife Nida (30) was killed in their house in
a slum situated within the precincts of Khokhrapar Police Station.
Two men identified as Lala (18)
and Mubarak Shah (38) were shot dead in Bukhari Colony situated
within the limits of Orangi Police Station.
A retired lieutenant identified
as Jamshed Khan (60) was killed by a stray bullet near Annu
Bhai Park within the jurisdiction of Nazimabad Police Station.
A man was shot dead at Jamshed
Road within the jurisdiction of Jamshed Quarter Police Station.
According to Police, Shehzad Memon (29) was shot seven times
by unidentified culprits.
Another man identified as Hazrat
Ali (37) was shot dead at Pathan Colony situated within the
limits of SITE-A Police Station.
A bullet-riddled body of a person,
identified as Abu Turab (25), was found from Malir River within
the limits of Memon Goth Police Station.
Another decomposed body of a
woman was found from Sikandar Goth situated at Super Highway
within the limits of Sacchal Police Station.
Levies Force recovered two bullet-riddled
bodies from Balochistan in two separate incidents. In the first
incident, the force recovered a body identified as Mureed Marri
lying in Ghazal Nullah area of Sibi District. Another body was
recovered in Marap area of Surab in Kalat District. The victim
was identified as Muhammad Alam, a resident of Surab.
A peace lashkar leader Abdul
Rasheed Khan was killed and his brother Adam Khan was injured
in an IED blast in Landikotal area of Khyber Agency. According
to sources, Abdul Rasheed had formed a lashkar in Kamarkhel
Takhtakai to clear the area of miscreants and militants.
July 15
At least five persons, including
two activists of the PPP, a worker of the PTI and a Rangers
official were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi.
Two men, identified as Usman Baloch and Akbar Baloch, were shot
dead at Pir Mehfooz Road, within the limits of Malir City Police
Station. One them was a PPP activist.
A PPP activist, identified as
Aamir Gabol (42), was shot dead in New Karachi within the precincts
of Bilal Colony Police Station.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body of a youngster was found abandoned near Victory Ground
Malir, within the limits of Malir City Police Station.
One Rangers official was killed
and four others critically injured in a blast near the Rangers
patrol vehicle at Dawood Chowrangi in Quaidabad area. An explosive
device was hidden among the plants on the roadside.
A stray mortar bomb smashed
through a house in a Sheikhan village, a suburb of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing three
children and their mother and injuring their father.
About a dozen militants attacked
a Police checkpost at Mian Kalay Jandol area of Lower Dir District.
The Police managed to repulse the four-pronged attack, carried
out in early morning hours, at the loss of one Policeman, Usman
Zada (22).
Unidentified militants blew
up Nashokhel Boys High School in Peshawar. However, no human
loss was reported. The boundary wall of the School damaged completely.
A leader of PML-N Ameenullah
Zehri was killed when unidentified armed assailants opened fire
on him in Zahri tehsil of Khuzdar District. Initially he sustained
injured but while on his way to the hospital he succumbed to
his injuries.
A tyre shop owner Jamil Ahmed,
from Rahim Yar Khan District of Punjab province was shot dead
in the main bazaar of Gwadar District in an anti-settler killing
incident.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a truck carrying marble from Chagai District
to Karachi (Sindh) in Mastung District, killing the driver Muhammad
Ashraf and damaging the truck and the cargo.
The LEA arrested two suspected
persons recovering arms from their possession in Nushki District.
Arms including Kalashnikovs, five magazines and pistols were
recovered from their possession.
Balochistan Government during
a high-level meeting decided to start operation against militants
and criminals involved in kidnapping-for-ransom, target killing
and other crimes. Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Khan
Raisani also decided to eliminate dens of violence breeders
and bring them to justice by utilising all available resources
as directed by the Supreme Court.
It was also decided that coordination
between the departments would be improved to promote confidence
building. The meeting observed that Police force would be boosted
and decided that latest training would be given to Police force
and latest weapons would be provided to Police on priority basis.
Authorities in Punjab have cleared
plans for a swoop on ‘eight training camps for Baloch insurgents’
located on the confluence of the Punjab-Balochistan border.
In a coordinated move, the Balochistan Government has also decided
to launch a crackdown against ‘criminals’ on its side of the
border. Arrangements have been finalised for an operation against
the secretly-run training facilities – locally known as Farari
camps – in Rajanpur District, according to a source.
Punjab Home Department sought
a detailed report of explosive material manufacturers in the
District after receiving intelligence reports expressing fear
that the material may land in the hands of the terrorists. Sources
said that the Home Department asked the CDGR and local Police
to conduct separate inspection of the outlets of explosive material
manufacturers and check their record of current and previous
years.
According to the rules, the
Federal Government issues licenses to explosive material manufacturers
after receiving verification reports from the assistant commissioners
of the respective areas. In an initial report prepared by the
local administration and police, there were four main stores
of explosive material in Rawalpindi District – Murree, Taxila,
Wah Cantonment and Gujar Khan.
July 16
Six people were killed in separate
violent incidents that took place in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. A former councilor, identified as Hanif (46),
was killed in his shop situated in Hussainabad within the precincts
of Azizabad Police Station.
A prayer leader, identified
as Afnan Baloch, was shot dead while he was sitting outside
Jamia Masjid Faizan in Sultanabad area within the precincts
of Manghopir Police Station.
A cable operator, Mubarak alias
Langra, was shot dead in Madina Colony within the limits of
Baldia Police Station.
One Mohsin was shot dead while
he was standing at Orangi bus stop within the jurisdiction of
Orangi Police Station.
A man was shot dead in Nayabad
Lyari, within the limits of Kalri Police Station.
Unidentified assailants boarded
a bus and shot dead a woman, identified as Sadia (28), in Bhains
Colony within the limits of Sukkhan Police Station.
An IED, weighing 12 kilograms,
was found abandoned at Super Highway near Sachchal Wing of the
Pakistan Rangers, Sindh within the precincts of Gadap City Police
Station.
Army and Police commandos foiled
an attack by burqa-clad TTP militants who planned to take over
a Police Station in Bannu city of KP. Four militants were killed.
Burqa-clad TTP militants stormed the Police Station used by
local intelligence personnel at Bannu and took several hostages,
before SFs stormed the building to end the siege. TTP spokesman
Ehsanullah Ehsan told reporters by telephone that the attackers
wore suicide vests and one of them blew himself up while the
other was killed in the gunbattle.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government primary school situated in the Sardheri area
of Charsadda District. The explosion damaged the external wall
of the school completely.
KP Chief Minister Amir Haider
Khan Hoti narrowly escaped a terrorist attack when Police seized
a truck laden with 200 kilogrammes of explosives and a cache
of arms on Taal Road near Hangu. Hoti was scheduled to pass
through the area for a rally in Hangu.
KP Minister for Information
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that Shakeel Afridi, who is linked
with Osama bin Laden's killing, should be transferred to a jail
in another province.
The frequent terrorist acts,
particularly the attack on Bannu Jail on April 15 and killing
of 10 personnel at Ichra complex of Lahore on July 12, have
led to the worst kind of fears and unrest amongst officers and
officials of the Prisons Department in KP.
A person identified as Nimatullah,
was shot dead in Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District.
A man, identified as Tufiqur
Rehman, from Indonesia, who was accompanied by a religious congregation,
was shot at and injured by unidentified armed assailants in
Sanjavi area of Ziarat District.
The Khasadar Force arrested
at least 13 suspected militants during a raid on a mosque-cum-seminary
in Sakhi Pul are of Jamrud in Khyber Agency of FATA.
The Government may not have
been willing to produce evidence of the existence of the ISI's
notorious political cell, but the Supreme Court still declared
that the cell, if it did, or does, exist, was illegal.
The decision was taken in a
petition dealing with the ISI's direct manipulation of the 1990
general elections - a petition commonly referred to as the Asghar
Khan petition. Despite repeated orders by the court during past
hearings in the case, the Attorney General failed to produce
the notification under which the political wing of the ISI was
allegedly established in May 1975.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui
of the IHC summoned the IGP of Punjab Police and directed him
to produce the missing activist of HuT by July 25, 2012. The
court warned the concerned Police Officials would be sent to
Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi if the missing person could not be
recovered by the said date.
Umer Hayat Sandhu, the petitioner's
counsel told the court that despite repeated directions of the
court the Law Enforcement Agencies had failed to recover Naveed.
According to the petition, Butt went missing on May 5. Sandhu
alleged in the court that Butt was detained by the officials
of spy agencies.
LeT founder and JuD chief Hafiz
Muhammad Saeed, who has a USD 10 million bounty on his head
and is an accused in Mumbai terror attack (also known as 26/11),
has made his informal entry in the political arena by moving
the Lahore High Court against the Pakistan's corruption-riddled
and profligate ruling elite through his first ever ''political-focused''
petition.
Sources claimed that JuD leadership
has made up its mind to get involved in political-oriented issues
step-by-step and the DPC forum was one part of the well-devised
strategic chain of political agenda.
JuD central leadership, activists
and sympathisers have been vigorously persuading Saeed to announce
his formal decision to participate in politics, sources said.
Although he has agreed to their suggestions, he is of the view
that people across the world will not easily accept his immediate
stepping into politics, they added.
Pakistan has offered the US
a new mechanism encompassing ''surveillance'' of targeted operations
against wanted militants as an alternative to drone strikes
in the tribal regions. The plan, as crafted by Islamabad, involves
both the identification of targets by the CIA in the tribal
areas and swapping of information with the Pakistani security
agencies.
Referring to the deteriorating
situation in Balochistan, the CM Nawab Aslam Raisani said that
the situation is not as bad as is portrayed by the media. "It
appears some lobby is trying to pave the way for some unconstitutional
step in Balochistan," said CM Raisani said in meeting. He blamed
the same lobby for spreading negativity about Balochistan through
print and electronic media.
The meeting also reviewed the
restoration of NATO supplies through Balochistan. The Home Secretary
told the participants that the Federal Government has not informed
the provincial government about the restoration of NATO supplies.
The chief of BNP-M Sardar Akhtar
Mengal said that Balochistan cannot be divided with emotional
slogans and spreading of hatred in the name of language and
nationality. Addressing a public meeting of his party from Singapore
via a video link, he said the politics of bias would neither
benefit the Baloch nor the Pakhtun of the province.
PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf met Custodian
of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in Jeddah
in Saudi Arabia and discussed issues of bilateral interests
and matters of regional importance. The PM briefed King Abdullah
about measures being taken by Pakistan for regional peace, especially
in ensuring a peaceful transition in Afghanistan after the withdrawal
of NATO forces.
July 17
At least seven persons, including
a criminal, an activist of MQM, ANP and JeI, were killed in
separate acts of target killing in Karachi. An activist of MQM,
identified as Aqeel (27), was shot dead in Qaimkhani Colony,
within the precincts of Baldia Police Station.
A local leader of ANP, identified
as Fazal (40), was shot dead in Sherpao Colony within the jurisdiction
of Quaidabad Police Station. He hailed form Mardan District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and was associated with cargo
business.
A local leader of JeI, Abdul
Rasheed (26), was killed in New Karachi within the limits of
Bilal Colony Police Station. Rasheed was also a member of JeI's
Public Aid Committee of New Karachi.
A man, identified as Saifullah
(33), was killed at Bhutto Morr within the jurisdiction of Manghopir
Police Station. The victim hailed from Punjab and was lately
a resident of Sultanabad.
An unidentified man was shot
dead at Gaddafi Chawk, Orangi Town within the limits of Orangi
Police Station.
Another unidentified man was
killed in Baldia Town within the precincts of Saeedabad Police
Station.
A criminal, Fareed Baloch alias
Shaka (25), was killed in Faqir Colony within the limits of
Orangi Town Police Station. The deceased was wanted by Police
in several cases of crime.
Armed militants shot at and
injured a UN WHO doctor working on the polio immunisation campaign,
as well as his driver near Sohrab Goth. The doctor, identified
as Constand-Dedo from Ghana, received bullet wounds and he and
his driver were shifted to a private hospital where their condition
was stated to be stable.
Police claimed to have arrested
a TTP militant, target killer and member of land mafia in separate
raids. Pak Colony Police arrested an alleged member of TTP,
identified as Inamullah.
Police also claimed to have
arrested an alleged member of notorious Baba Ladla group of
Lyari, identified as Shahid alias Churail. Law enforcers claimed
to have recovered a hand grenade, a TT pistol and five kilogram
hashish from his possession.
A tribal jirga of local Ulema
and civic leaders expressed hope that they would be able to
convince the TTP to permit oral polio vaccine to be given to
children.
The polio prevention campaign
suffered a double setback when a foreign doctor of the World
Health Organisation associated with the immunisation work and
his driver were injured in an attack in Karachi and a tribal
jirga planned in North Waziristan to prepare ground for launching
the campaign there could not be held because of a curfew in
force there and concerns about security of health workers.
At least five militants were
killed in a clash with SFs when they attacked a FC checkpost
in Dhand area of Thall tehsil of Hangu District in KP. According
to security sources, militants fired two missiles on a FC checkpost
located in Dhand area partially damaging it.
SFs foiled a terrorist plot
to blow up a power pylon near Gulbaz Dekhan village in Lakki
Marwat District. Unidentified militants planted about four kilogrammes
of explosives to bring down a 66kV transmission line near Gulbaz
Dekhan village, but Police responded in time and neutralised
the bomb.
The KP CM Ameer Haider Khan
Hoti distributed compensation cheques worth PKR three million
each among the heirs of personnel of KP Prison Department who
embraced martyrdom in Ichra (Lahore) incident, reports The Nation.
A ceremony was held in this connection at CM House.
At least two people were shot
dead and a Balochistan Levies Force official sustained injuries
when unidentified armed militants opened fire at a shop in Sibi
Road area of Mastung District. The deceased were identified
as Sayed Ghulam Hussain and Noor Muhammad and the injured as
Amanullah.
Unidentified armed assailants
riding a motorcycle opened fire and killed a man, identified
as Javed Iqbal, in the bazaar area of Turbat District.
A man, identified as Abdullah,
was shot dead in Killi Bangulzai area of Saryab Road in Quetta.
An abductor was killed and two
abductees were rescued in a joint operation of FC and a local
peace force in the Lehjo Segari area of Sui in Dera Bugti District.
According to sources, some unidentified armed militants had
abducted two people, identified as Zahoor Husain and Khuda Baksh,
in the Lehjo Segari area.
Unidentified armed militants
fired three rockets at a Levies station in Kalat District. No
loss of life was reported.
A volunteer of the polio campaign
and a student of the International Islamic University, identified
as Mohsin Ali, was attacked by one Nadir Khan, a resident of
Islamabad in Johda village within the limits of Golra Police
Station. The resident not only refused to have the vaccine for
his children but also broke the nose of a volunteer.
Hamaish Gul, a relative of Khan,
said he also did not believe in vaccination because he had learnt
that it came from abroad.
Multan Police held alleged terrorists
from militant outfit LeJ after launching special operation.
The police took into custody explosives and the requisite material
for making bombs.
He told the conference the arrested
were planning a large-scale terrorist activity in Multan but
were caught by the Police beforehand. He informed the media
personnel that the militants wanted to target Police Lines,
Multan and office of CPO Multan.
Capital Police arrested an alleged
terrorist from Industrial Zone area in Islamabad.
Following the brazen gun attack
on prison Policemen in Rasool Park, the Punjab Police launched
a massive crackdown against militants across the province and
over 100 suspects have been detained. Those detained belonged
to ASWJ, SSP, Tehreek-e-Jaffaria, LeJ, SMP, ITP, JuA and JuF.
ATC No 1 Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman
declared illegal the findings of a commission constituted for
recording in India the testimonies of four witnesses of the
2008 Mumbai attacks.
"The testimonies of these witnesses
were recorded in violation of the law of evidence and relevant
sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure and, therefore, cannot
be made part of the court record," the judge said in his order.
PM Raja Parvez Ashraf said that
the turbulence in Balochistan, though foreign abetted, is an
internal issue for the State and people of Pakistan to resolve.
He was addressing participants of the workshop on Balochistan
situation "Perception and Realities - the Way Forward" at the
National Defence University in Islamabad.
Once again reiterating the dialogue
offer to the estranged elements of Balochistan, PM Raja Pervaiz
Ashraf made it clear that the Government would not let a handful
of miscreants to make patriotic people of the province hostage.
The PM said the people of Pakistan would go an extra mile to
redress the grievances of the Baloch masses, adding that the
unrest in the province was an internal issue, which would be
amicably resolved by the Government and people, through 'collective
wisdom' and by united efforts.
The Army denied mounting any
operation in the restive Balochistan province. "There is no
military operation in any part of Balochistan and not a single
soldier is out of the barracks," Major General Ishfaq Ahmed
Nadeem, the DGMO said.
The US State Department said
that it remains committed to a "strong, mutually respectful"
relationship with Pakistan and that civil assistance programmes
had continued through the NATO supply closure.
"Civilian assistance to Pakistan
has been ongoing throughout the closure of the NATO supply lines
and has continued after their opening," the spokesperson continued.
While figures for the current fiscal year are not yet available,
since the passage of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman legislation in October
2009, the US government has disbursed USD 2.8 billion in civilian
assistance, including approximately USD 1 billion in emergency
humanitarian assistance, the Department said.
The US President Barack Obama
named veteran diplomat Richard Olson to be the next ambassador
to Pakistan. He also named James Cunningham as the new ambassador
to Kabul. The two men will need confirmation by the Senate.
Congress is stepping up the
pressure on the Obama administration to slap the terrorist label
on the Haqqani Network, a militant group responsible for plotting
and launching attacks from Pakistan against US-led forces in
Afghanistan.
A sense of deprivation and poverty
are responsible for extremism and radicalisation in the tribal
areas, The Express Tribune reported on July 18 quoting FATA
Research Centre (FRC) research report. There is need to address
their socio-economic problems and empower them economically
and politically by including them in legislation and consultation
process of policy making.
July 18
At least 12 Shiite Muslims were
killed when a roadside bomb hit their minibus at Spai village
in the Orakzai Agency of FATA. Spai is a predominantly Shiite
village.
A volunteer of Peace Committee,
Tayyeb Khan, was injured seriously when unidentified assailants
opened firing on him in Mamond area of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants fired
rockets at FC camp in Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur Agency.
An official said that unidentified militants fired two rockets
at the FC camp in Khar from unspecified location. However, the
rockets landed a few meters away from the camp.
A grand jirga of tribal elders,
tasked by the Government to persuade militant groups to allow
polio vaccination, informed the administration that the ban
on immunisation in Waziristan would continue till drone attacks
were stopped. A source privy to the meeting said that in plain
words the pro-Government jirga had endorsed the ban imposed
by a TTP group on polio campaign in North Waziristan Agency.
Eleven more persons, including
a Policeman and a former ST cadre, were killed in separate incidents
of target killing in the Provincial capital of Sindh, Karachi.
Mohammad Arsalan alias Khan
Bhai, a former ST cadre wanted by police in target killing cases
including the murder of Rangers personnel in Garden, was shot
dead at Gali 26-27 of D-Area of Khokhrapar.
A garment trader was attacked
at Gol Market area of Nazimabad. Sub-Divisional Police Officer
Shahid Abbas of the Nazimabad Division said two men on a motorcycle
shot 55-year-old Yawar Mehdi at the market in the morning. The
deceased suffered four bullet wounds on his upper torso.
The body of a young man was
found near the W-22 bus stand in Manghopir. Manghopir SHO, Chaudhry
Basheer Ahmed said the victim was brutally tortured and his
genitals cut off, which became the cause of his death. The police
were still trying to ascertain the victim's identity by the
time this report was filed.
Another body was found near
the railway track near the Malir River in Sharafi Goth. Sharafi
Goth SHO, Ijaz Khokhar said the body was shifted to the JPMC
and a message about the discovery aired on the police control
system.
A ST cadre was murdered at a
tyre puncture repair shop in Sector-11D area near Nullah Stop
of New Karachi. Sub-Divisional Police Officer Chaudhry Akhtar
of the New Karachi Division area said Tahir Qadri, the owner
of the shop, was busy working when two men on a motorcycle arrived
there and shot him.
A MQM activist, also the owner
of a sweet mart, was gunned down at his shop located at Mominabad
Market in Pakistan Bazaar in the evening. Two others were also
injured in the attack.
A Police constable was killed
and another injured at Marble Wali Road near Bismillah Hotel
in Pak Colony.
A rickshaw driver, also a PAC
supporter, was gunned down near Baloch Masjid area of Teen Hatti.
The duty officer at the Super Market police station, Younus
said Inayat Baloch was passing through a street in the evening
when two men on a motorcycle shot him.
A labourer was killed at Jehangir
Road area Niazi Mohallah. Saeedabad SHO Chaudhry Irshad said
50-year-old Fazalur Rehman was shot by two men on a motorcycle.
In another late night attack,
a supporter of KRC was targeted in D-1 Area of Khokhrapar. The
area's sub-divisional police officer, Imdad Solangi said Abdul
Qadir was present outside his house when two men on a motorcycle
gunned him down.
A man was killed and five others
injured in a late-night bomb attack on a Rangers' vehicle near
Star CNG Station in KBR Society of Buffer Zone. DIG Mohammed
Akram Naeem Baroka of the West Range said Rangers personnel
were on routine patrol in their van when some men lobbed a home-made
bomb at their vehicle.
Seven people were injured in
a low-intensity blast at a cement shop in Block-16 of Federal
B Area. The SDPO of the area, Saleem Akhtar Siddiqui said some
men lobbed a home-made bomb inside the shop.
At least six militants were
killed when SFs retaliated to a militants' attack on the Gambhir
and Arandu security checkposts in Chitral District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Police foiled a terrorist plot
of blowing up Government Boys Primary School Kotka Zafar Village
in Lakki Marwat District, by neutralising two 15 kilogrammes
bombs. A day earlier, the bomb disposal squad defused a bomb
meant to bring down a 66KV transmission line near Gulbaz Dekhan
village.
Unidentified militants opened
fire at two check-posts of SFs in Chamalang coalmine area of
Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. However, no loss
of life was reported. Police sources said that unidentified
militants had planted a bomb near picket number 9.
In Khuzdar, Police pre-empted
a terrorist activity by recovering and defusing a 10 kg bomb.
Three British Muslims - including
a convert who was featured in a documentary about radical Islam
and a former London Police support officer - have been charged
with travelling to Pakistan for terror training, Police said.
Scotland Yard said in a statement that Richard Dart (29), Imran
Mahmood (21), and Jahangir Alom (26), had travelled to Pakistan
between 2010 and 2012 "with the intention of committing acts
of terrorism or assisting another to commit such acts."
ATC once again issued arrest
warrants for seven high-profile accused, including former President
General Pervez Musharraf in the Bugti murder case. The presiding
judge Muhammad Nawaz Khan Barakzai resumed proceedings of the
case. During the hearing the investigating officer told the
court that former Governor Awais Ghani and Former Interior Minister
Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had been released against surety bonds
of PKR 0.5 million each.
Certain elements within the
FIA, Police, Rangers and the Information Ministry are trying
to push the Shia community to the wall, the spokesman for the
Jafaria Alliance said. Commenting on the report that Adviser
to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik had ordered the
FIA to probe the ban on a Shia website, Ali Ahmer said that
the adviser should order an investigation into the killing of
Shia community members in Karachi instead.
The US House of Representatives
urged the US State Department to designate the Pakistan-based
Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist group, pressing the Barrack
Obama administration to get tougher on an issue that already
has strained ties with Islamabad.
An American Senator Rand Paul
threatened to force a vote on ending US aid to Pakistan unless
Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped CIA trace Osama bin Laden,
is released from prison. Senator took to the Senate floor this
morning announcing his intention to force a Senate vote that,
if passed, would strip Pakistan of all US foreign aid until
Doctor Shakeel Afridi's recent 33-year prison sentence is overturned
and he is allowed to leave Pakistan.
July 19
At least 11 persons, including
two Policemen, JUI-F leader and a State Bank of Pakistan employee,
were killed in separate incidents of violence in Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh. Two Policemen, Munir and Abdul
Hafeez, were killed at Albela Chowk, Soldier Bazaar within the
limits of Soldier Bazaar Police Station during their routine
patrol.
A local leader of JUI-F, identified
as Maulana Abdul Rehman, was shot dead he while he was returning
home after offering Fajr prayer near Walika Hospital within
the precincts of SITE Police Station.
An Ahmadi leader and also an
employee of State Bank of Pakistan, Naeem Ahmed Gondal (52),
were shot dead at Metroville within the jurisdiction of SITE
Police Station. He was the President of the Orangi Town Jama'at.
An activist of JSQM was killed
in Khokhrapar No 3 within the jurisdiction of Khokhrapar Police
Station.
One person was killed and six
others were injured when planted explosives blew up in the Buffer
Zone area of North Karachi.
One Asif was shot dead in a
shoe market situated within the limits of Garden Police Station.
A woman was killed in Ayub Goth
within the limits of Sohrab Goth Police Station.
One unidentified man was shot
dead in Korangi area.
Another unidentified man was
shot dead in Landhi area.
Another man, identified as Naveed,
succumbed to his injuries after a firing incident in Petal Gali,
Nazimabad.
Earlier in the day, four people
were injured in a hand grenade attack while they were protesting
against extortion in the FB Area.
Two CID Police Officials, identified
as Ubaid Rizvi and Wahid Dino, and an informer were injured
in their bid to foil an attempt to flare up sectarian violence
at the advent of Ramazan.
A Police Station in the Orangi
Town area was attacked by a hand grenade. However, no one was
injured in the attack.
Al-Falah Police claimed to have
arrested two target killers affiliated with a political party,
identified as Asif alias Langra and Munawwar Hussain alias Ballu,
from Kahkashan Society area and recovered weapons from their
possession. The accused were affiliated with Punjabi Pakhtoon
Ittehad.
At least three unidentified
dead bodies, including that of a young girl, were found in different
parts of Peshawar. Two bodies were found in Gulay Baba Graveyard
in the limits of Tehkal Police Station while the body of the
girl, packed in sack, was recovered from Mohalla Ghori Khan
in Sarki Gate.
Two abductors were killed and
one arrested when Police recovered two abducted Policemen of
Peshawar in a raid in Spin Khak village of Nowshera District.
One Policeman was also injured during the raid.
Five persons, including a woman,
were injured in a bomb blast in the limits of Paripura Police
Station in Peshawar.
Suspected militants hurled two
hand grenades at a Police patrolling party in the limits of
Sarbanda Police Station. However, no casualty was reported.
Three bullet-riddled dead bodies
were found in different areas of Bajaur Agency in Federally
Administered Tribal Areas.
An unidentified dead body was
found in Faja area of Khar. No group has so far claimed responsibility
for the killings.
The house of a former official
of Khasadar Force, Misri Khan Qamarkhel, was destroyed completely
when a mortar shell fell on it in Nala Khwar area of Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency.
The MNA Hamidullah Jan Afridi
demanded the authorities to temporarily suspend military operation
in Bara tehsil during the holy month of Ramazan. In a statement
issued, he demanded of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Corps Commander
Peshawar and Inspector General of Frontier Corps to temporarily
suspend the ongoing military operation in different parts of
Bara and lift curfew during Ramazan.
Supporting the demand of MNA,
Al-Khidmat Welfare Organisation of Bara has also appealed to
Security Forces to reopen all roads and local markets for the
convenience of people during Ramazan.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a man, identified as Hazarat Muhammad, at Faqirabad
near Saryab area of Quetta. Police said that the victim was
present in his tailor shop when armed assailants on motorbike
came and opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.
Four British Pakistanis and
a well-known Muslim convert were charged with planning terrorist
attacks in London. Richard Dart (29) is one of the five people
- four men and a woman - arrested in London on July 5, 7 and
18, who were charged with terrorist offences by the Metropolitan
Police
A fourth man, Khalid Javed Baqa
(47), from Barking, East London, was charged with three counts
of possession of terrorism-related material. The material included
a CD containing 39 ways to support and participate in jihad
and three issues of an al Qaeda inspired magazine.
A fifth, Ruksana Begum (22),
from North London, has been charged with possession of a micro
memory card likely to be of use to a terrorist.
Paramilitary forces on July
19 urged improvement of security measures in the areas of Chakwal,
Attock and Rawalpindi Districts, which fall along the NATO supply
routes. Fearing militant attacks on NATO containers in these
areas, the spy agency of the Punjab Police urged law enforcers
to take extra measures to beef up security for the convoys.
The District heads of Rawalpindi,
Chakwal and Attock directed the concerned areas' superintendents
and station house officers to take necessary steps to ensure
the security of the containers and their drivers. According
to the report available, district heads have asked the Police
to be extra mindful of security on the Attock, Chakwal and Rawalpindi
passages, since there has been a history of attacks on these
locations.
The US House of Representatives
cut USD 650 million from its military aid to Pakistan amid warnings
that the move will send a wrong message to the Pakistani people.
Senior Republican lawmakers claimed that they were trying to
tamp down demands for still deeper reductions because of conservative
anger at Pakistan's policies.
Congressman Norman Dicks, the
ranking Democrat on the House appropriations Committee, agreed
and the House approved a USD 650 million cut, which reduces
the US funding to the Pakistani military by half. Congressional
staffers warn that Pakistan remains unpopular on Capitol Hill
and that Doctor Shakeel Afridi's trial could further imperil
US aid to the country.
The State Department Spokesman
Patrick Ventrell said that US continues counterterrorism cooperation
with Pakistan, but had no specific comment on a House of Representatives
measure proposing USD 650 million cut in aid for the country
in the next fiscal year.
Pakistani Ambassador to US,
Sherry Rehman, while commenting on the July 18 night vote in
the House, said "the issue is not so much about the cuts, or
the money, it's the message this sends to Pakistan". She pointed
out that "this bill has still not become policy".
Afghan efforts to negotiate
with the Afghan Taliban need Islamabad's help if they are to
be successful, the leaders of Afghanistan, Britain and Pakistan
emphasised, following three-way talks in Kabul. British Prime
Minister David Cameron and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met
Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for the first time,
as British and NATO combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan
in 18 months' time.
In a separate joint declaration
by Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two leaders "expressed the
hope that Pakistan's support to the Afghan peace process would
contribute to durable peace and stability in Afghanistan". Pakistan
and Afghanistan agreed to resume regular talks on Afghanistan's
peace process, with Pakistan's Prime Minister promising to help
arrange meetings between Afghan and Taliban representatives.
July 20
At least six people, including
a WHO doctor, were killed in the ongoing target killing and
violence in Karachi. A trader, identified as Muhammad Arif (28),
was shot dead in Banaras within the precincts of Orangi Town
Police Station.
One Liaquat Ali (50), was shot
dead in Korangi 51-C within the limits of Zaman Town Police
Station.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Jameel (28), was killed at Jamali Centre, Dalmia, within the
limits of Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
A dead body of an abducted man,
identified as Nadeem (28), was found from Azizabad within the
vicinity of Azizabad Police Station.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a man, identified as Gulfam (53), was found from Sarya Gali
within the vicinity of Nippier Police Station. Unidentified
assailants first abducted him and later killed him.
A doctor, identified as Ishaq
(45), associated with the polio prevention campaign of WHO was
shot dead in Junejo Town at Al-Asif Square. Maryum Younas, a
spokesperson for the WHO Pakistan, said Doctor Ishaq had a short-term
contract with the organisation.
13 kilogrammes planted bomb
was found near Safoora Chowrangi within the precincts of Sachchal
Police Station that failed to blow up. BDS official said that
the bomb was locally made and concealed in a cement block and
planted at roadside.
At least 11 suspects, including
alleged logistical supporter of TTP and Lyari gangster, were
arrested during various raids in the city. Official of the AEC
of the CID said that on a tip-off they arrested Naseeb Dad alias
Moosa during a raid in Sher Shah area, and recovered a TT pistol
from his possession.
An alleged Lyari gangster Mehboob
Ali was arrested during a raid at Hub River Road. AEC officials
said that the suspect, belonging to the Sajjad Khatri group
of Lyari gangsters, was involved in over half dozen cases of
target killings, extortion and kidnapping-for-ransom.
The AEC also claimed to have
arrested nine more suspects allegedly involved in street crime.
The arrests were made from Sher Shah and Mauripur localities
while the suspects included Sagheer Ahmed, Fahim, Anwar, Arif,
Almas, Aslam and Akhtar.
The security has been beefed
up in Karachi for the month of Ramazan to ensure that acts of
violence can be curbed during the holy month. According to details,
around 366 Police mobiles and 195 motorcycles will be on patrol,
while 280 check posts have been set up. Rangers will also assist
the Police in maintaining peace. Moreover, around 270 areas
have been declared sensitive.
A 16-year-old Sadiqa Bibi was
killed while her brother Najaf Ali and mother received injuries
in missile attack in Shalozan area of Parachinar in Kurram Agency
of FATA. The second missile hit another house injuring a paramedic
Bashir Hussain. Sources said unidentified militants from Nari
area fired missiles on densely populated Shalozan area.
One security official died in
a landmine blast in Ghaljo area of Orakzai Agency. Sources said
the security personnel were on a routine patrol in Ghaljo area
when one of them stepped on a landmine, which exploded and killed
him on the spot. The soldier was identified as Hawaldar Zar
Saeed Afridi.
Unidentified militants bombed
two primary schools in Saafi tehsil of Mohmand Agency. According
to media reports, the attack took the number of destroyed schools
in the region to 97.
More than 15,000 displaced families
returned to Sararogha and other parts of South Waziristan Agency
in the fifth phase of Army-assisted repatriation. The families
had left their homes because of military operations against
militants.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a Police official on Jail Road in Quetta. The victim
had been identified as Muhammad Din. Police said it could be
a target-killing incident.
Baloch leaders rejected the
Prime Minister's invitation for dialogue and said that the Baloch
issue can't be resolved until missing persons are recovered
and bringing to justice the elements involved in custodial killings
of 500 Baloch political workers. National Party Vice President
Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said before going for negotiations, Confidence
Building Measures must be taken.
A Government primary school
in the Naseerabad area of Matani in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of KP, was bombed. However, there were no casualties
reported.
The CCPP foiled trafficking
of huge cache of arms from Darra Adam Khel into Punjab and arrested
a smuggler. CCPO Peshawar Imtiaz Altaf was informed by secret
sources that an attempt was being made to smuggle huge cache
of arms from Darra Adam Khel into Punjab.
The KP BDU has received three
robots that can scan and defuse explosives planted by terrorists.
"The British High Commission in Pakistan has gifted the three
robots to the KP Police after our hectic efforts for almost
one year," BDU Assistant Inspector General Shafqat Malik said.
The KP Government will take
over possession of the Abbottabad compound -where al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden lived until his killing in May 2011 - if the
land goes unclaimed within the next 15 days. The legal requirements
for taking possession of the plot are already under process,
sources at the Revenue Department said.
A British Pakistani woman hairdresser,
charged for helping her husband in a bomb plot against the Jewish
community in Manchester, was jailed for eight years. Shaista
Khan (38), born in Pakistan, became a fanatic within weeks of
marrying car cleaner, a converted Muslim, Muhammad Khan (33).
The couple planned to build a DIY bomb using chapatti flour,
hairdressing chemicals and a set of Christmas tree lights to
launch a terror attack on the Jewish communities in Manchester.
The German Federal prosecutor's
office opened a probe into the 2010 death of a German national
in a drone strike in Pakistan's tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
He confirmed a report to be published on July 20 by Germany's
Tageszeitung Newspaper on the attack in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA on a purported hideout for foreign and homegrown militants
linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
In a statement the prosecutor's
office said the investigation launched on July 10 "aims to find
out if the use of drones which led to the death of the German
citizen is in line with international law". The man, identified
only as Buenyamin E., was killed on October 4, 2010, the office
said.
Pakistan provided Afghanistan
with key "intelligence information" on the hideouts of TTP in
Kunar province, demanding their complete elimination and effective
measures by ANA and NATO troops for the prevention of cross-border
militant attacks in Pakistani frontier regions of Dir, Bajaur
and Chitral.
German Islamists who found hardship,
danger and backwardness in the tribal regions rather than glorious
jihad are abandoning the cause, a Der Spiegel report said. More
than 200 would-be jihadists travelled from Germany to Waziristan
in recent years, seeking a "paradise on earth," Der Spiegel
reported.
Security analysts and social
activists are concerned about terrorist groups posing as charities
seeking to take advantage of zak'at donations as the holy month
of Ramadan begins, charitable fund-raising appeals are getting
under way across Pakistan.
The country head of the office
of UNHCR, Neil Wright, said on July 20 that the withdrawal of
NATO forces from Afghanistan will adversely affect the security
of the Afghan refugees returning to their country, thereby affecting
the voluntary repatriation process.
"The issue of Afghan refugees
living in camps and in some urban settlements has been taken
up with Afghan Government," he said, adding that the Afghan
Government was very serious and it was making efforts to coordinate
with the UNCHR for safe return of refugees to their homeland.
July 21
A suicide bomber detonated an
explosive laden vehicle near the house of a pro-Government militant
commander Maulvi Nabi, killing at least nine persons, including
four children, three of them being girls, and injuring 13 others,
in a war of attrition between two militant outfits in Speen
Tall area of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
TTP spokesman in North Waziristan
Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack. He told
reporters that Maulvi Nabi was targeted because he was supporting
the Government and was against the Taliban.
At least eight security personnel
were killed and three others were injured in an attack on the
Pakistan Coast Guards camp in Pishukan coastal settlement, some
40 kilometres from the port city of Gwadar in Gwadar District.
The Baloch Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified armed militants
blew up one-and-a half-foot portion of the railway track in
Sariab area of Quetta. However, no loss of life was reported.
At least seven people were killed
in separate incidents of violence in Karachi. Three people,
identified as Mirza Jan, Shah Faisal and Ghulam Rasool, were
killed in a firing incident of extortion at Al-Asif square in
Sohrab Goth area.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man in Landhi Town.
A senior doctor was shot dead
near Al-Asif square in Sohrab Goth.
In New Karachi Town, one man
was killed and another was wounded in a shooting incident.
Another man was killed Sherpao
Colony of in Landhi Town.
A CID DSP Israr Awan actively
involved in operations against militants and a constable were
shot at and injured in Patel Para area of Jamshed Quarters.
The CID officer suspected that banned outfits, including the
LeJ, could have been responsible for the attack on the DSP.
Karachi Police conducted raids
in different areas of the city and arrested 39 accused involved
in robbery, extortion and other crimes. According to sources,
District West Police conducted raids and arrested four extortionists
in Maripur area.
SSP (Central) Asim Qaimkhani
told that Police arrested 35 suspects including seven absconders
from different areas during operation. Stolen motorcycles, mobile
phones and drugs were also recovered from their possession.
Four people, including three
members of the same family, died and eight others suffered injuries
when an IED was detonated using a remote-controlled device near
a pick-up truck in Doog Darra area of Upper Dir District.
July 22
Fighter jets bombed suspected
militant hideouts in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency in FATA,
killing 15 militants and injuring eight others. According to
officials, six hideouts were destroyed.
At least five people were killed
in the ongoing wave of violence in different areas of Karachi.
A man, identified as Hussain (28), was shot dead at Baldia No
2 within the jurisdiction of SITE B Police Station.
Police found two dead bodies,
identified them as that of Abdul Aziz (38), and Idrees (25),
in gunny bags, abandoned near Sher Shah Bridge, Northern Bypass
within the precincts of Mauripur Police Station.
Amidst the ongoing wave of killing
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah claimed that "target
killings in the city have been minimised because of effective
steps taken by the Government". He claimed that the incident
in which four people were shot dead on July 21, 2012 in Sohrab
Goth was not an act of target killing but an armed clash between
two rival groups.
A senior Food Department official,
Abdul Qadir, was shot dead when he was on his way home in Basima
area of Washuk District.
A man, identified as Hameed
Badini, was shot dead in Killi Shekh Hasaani area of Mano Road
in Quetta.
At least two people were injured
in a land mine blast in RD 238 area in Sohbatpur tehsil of Jaffarabad
District.
Some unidentified militants
blew up a gas pipeline of 16-inch diameter in Killi Mubarakzai
area near Airport Road, resultantly, suspending the gas supply
in various areas of Quetta.
A surgeon of Bolan Medical Collage
(BMC), Doctor Din Muhammad Bangulzai, was abducted in Ganji
Dori area while he was on his way from Quetta of Mastung District.
Police arrested two militants
during a raid in Shah Hassankhel village of Lakki Marwat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Following a tip-off, a Police team, headed
by SHO Lakki Asad Ali, encircled a hideout in Shah Hassankhel
village and overpowered two militants identified as Umar Daraz
and Fazalur Rehman.
Police recovered a cache of
arms and ammunition being sold illegally at an arms shop in
Mansehra. Mohammad Ijaz, DSP Mansehra, said that a Police team
raided an arms shop in the city and recovered 100 guns and as
many pistols besides 25,000 rounds, which were being sold illegally.
The Chief of Bazidkhel Peace
Committee Malik Asif Khan alleged that two Police officials
were involved in the assassination of his brother Fahim Khan,
former chief of the peace body. Both of them had gone missing
after the assassination of Fahim Khan and his three colleagues,
whose dead bodies were found in a vehicle parked on Ring Road
in the limits of Paharipura Police Station on June 27. Mr Khan
said that they suspected that both the police officials were
involved in the assassination of his brother and his friends.
Afghanistan warned Pakistan
that any further cross-border shelling could significantly harm
relations. More than 300 heavy artillery shells and rockets
were fired from Pakistan into Dangam District of eastern Kunar
province on July 20, 2012 and July 21, 2012, killing at least
four people, provincial spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi said.
Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign
Minister Jawed Ludin summoned Pakistan's ambassador in Kabul
to discuss the latest barrage of periodic shelling across the
Durand Line, a Foreign Ministry statement said. "Any continuation
of such reported shelling against Afghan villages could have
a significant negative impact on bilateral relations," the statement
quoted Ludin as telling Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq.
Pakistan's military officials
rejected the Afghan official's allegation that Pakistani troops
fired 400 rockets across border in Afghanistan, terming it as
'misleading'. According to a military official in Islamabad,
Pakistan's troops pursue and target only those militants and
areas from where they are attacked or fired upon.
Hardly half a year after forming
an alliance on the intervention of Taliban chief Mullah Omar,
rival groups of the TTP are once again at each other's throats
following the killing of a top militant blamed on a pro-government
commander. Tension gripped South Waziristan Agency when Hakimullah
Mehsud-led TTP threatened to attack the Wana-based Maulvi Nazir
group to avenge last week's murder of Wali Muhammad Wazir.
For many Afghan leaders the
solution for Afghan endgame is simple as they believe that the
road to peace in Kabul is through Islamabad. According to two
influential Afghan political figures, one heading the main opposition
alliance ANF, Ahmed Zia Massoud, and the other representing
the Afghan High Peace Council Maulvi Qayamuddin Kashaf, Pakistan
still controls the Taliban.
A senior security official quashed
the impression that Islamabad holds any leverage on the Taliban.
"This is a misperception. We have our stated policy that we
will support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process,"
said the official insisting that the world must trust Pakistan.
July 23
A US drone attack killed at
least 12 suspected militants in Dray Nashtar village of Shawal
area in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
A group of militants attacked
a grid station and Security Forces’ check post located in Nallah
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. According to SFs,
a khasadar man was injured in the assault. However, the SFs
retaliation forced the attackers to flee in the darkness. The
SFs pounded the hideouts of militants with shelling.
SFs foiled an attempt of terrorism
and recovered weapons and explosive devices during search operation
in different areas of Mamound tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
Five persons, including an activist
of MQM, two Policemen, and a cadre of PAC, were shot dead in
different parts of Karachi. One MQM activist Abdul Waheed was
fired upon and seriously injured at Doli Khata in Nabi Bux Police
area. He later succumbed to his injuries.
An unidentified bullet riddled
dead body was found near a garbage dump on the Ahmed Shah Bukhari
Road within the Kalri Police remits.
Police Inspector Fazal Mehmood
was fired upon and seriously injured near Khidmat Hospital in
Orangi Town. He later succumbed to his injuries. SDPO Rustam
Nawaz termed the murder as target killing.
The bullet-riddled body of Constable
Faisal Razzaq stuffed in a gunny bag was found from main Dhobi
Ghath Garden Road.
A cadre of PAC, identified as
Qasim Baloch, was shot dead in target killing incident outside
his house in Jumma Shah area within Kalakot Police remits.
A motorcycle bomb exploded near
the Chinese consulate in Clifton Town area, leaving a Rangers
soldier and two other persons injured. The attack took place
in a high security area, Clifton Block 4, described by Police
as ‘red zone’, where a cluster of foreign missions are located.
Later, BDS defused a second
bomb planted in a motorcycle near the Chinese Consulate.
Police claimed to have arrested
several suspects in separate raids carried out in the District.
Sohrab Goth Police arrested Tariq Gul along with his companion,
during an operation carried out in Jannat Gul Town.
Mauripur Police claimed to have
arrested half-a-dozen suspects in targeted operations in 500-Quarters
and Ali Village. Official claimed to have recovered weapons
and narcotics from the suspects’ possession.
According to Police, unidentified
armed militants shot dead an unidentified person and fled in
Rodanjo area of Kalat District.
A woman, identified as Naureen,
resident of Shikarpur District of Sindh who was abducted by
unidentified militants and brought to Barkhan District on an
unspecified date managed to flee from the captivity and took
refuge with the FC.
Unidentified militants attacked
a Police post in Sheikhan area under Badhber Police Station
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. An
official said that militants opened firing on the post with
light and heavy weapons from different directions but Police
had also taken cover after receiving some tips from their informers.
Unidentified militants blew
up three CD shops at Bacha village in Swabi District. No loss
of life was reported. According to the Bomb Disposal Squad,
5 kilogrammes of explosives was used in the blasts.
The Mullah Fazlullah-led TTP
warned of attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, saying their
jihad is continuing. TTP spokesman Sirajuddin said the group
plans to attack Pakistan from its hideouts in Kunar and Nuristan
provinces, of Afghanistan. The TTP fled to those provinces after
Pakistani troops drove it out of Swat in 2009. The TTP will
attack Malakand Division if its people raise lashkars, he said.
The Pakistani Government imposed
a nationwide ban on collection of zakat and Fitrana donations
of food aid by banned outfits during Ramadan, Rehman Malik,
senior advisor to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on interior
affairs, said.
Senior Adviser to the PM on
Interior, Rehman Malik said that BLA is involved in creating
unrest and terrorist activities in Balochistan to destabilise
the country. He urged the Supreme Court to summon him in the
court and he will provide all evidences against BLA involvement.
Malik said that BLA was a biggest
enemy of the country and it was working against Pakistan, adding
that BLA killed its own persons who refused to do work against
the country. He said elements within the BLA were desecrating
the national flag and indulging in acts of treason by taking
money from abroad.
Senate Committee on Intelligence
chairperson Senator Dianne Feinstein says that that collateral
damage has been greatly reduced in the drone strikes. In a speech
at an event organised by the World Affairs Council at the National
Press Club, Senator Feinstein said that the committee’s staff
has made 28 visits to various centres as part of their oversight
of the drone program, and that the collateral damage from targeted
strikes was far less than what was reported in the press.
July 24
At least seven militants were
killed and several others injured when SFs pounded militants’
hideouts in Mamozai and Kotakhel areas of Orakzai Agency in
FATA. Several militants were injured and two of their hideouts
were destroyed.
Seven militants were killed
and many others received severe injuries when the fighter planes
hit their hideouts in Tirah Valley of Jamrud tehsil in
Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants attacked
NATO supplies near Tedi Bazaar in Jamrud, killing a truck driver
and injuring the conductor. Local administration official Bakhtiar
Khan said, "Two armed men riding on a motorbike opened
fire on a container carrying supplies for NATO troops across
the border and killed its driver".
One militant was killed in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan. Two unidentified armed
militants opened fire on the Deputy Director of Schools, Abrar
Hussain, belonging to the Shia Hazara community, injuring him
and his colleague on Shahwakshah Road, but despite having been
hit by three bullets, the officer retaliated and hit one of
them with his car, killing one militant on the spot.
The Supreme Court issued its
short order in the Balochistan law and order case and observed
that the constitution is not being enforced nor are court orders
being implemented in the province. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry remarked that there was a constitutional breakdown
in Balochistan. The Chief Justice criticised the role of law
enforcement agencies in Balochistan saying that they could not
solve one case.
At least seven children were
injured in a toy bomb blast in Darra Adam Khel, a small town
near Kohat city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to a local
political agent, the children were playing with the toy bomb,
which exploded resulting in injuries to seven of them. Police
confirmed that the house where the toy bomb exploded was that
of the cousin of a ‘commander’ of the TTP Tariq Group.
Two persons were injured when
a medium intensity bomb went off in the Horezai area of Badabher,
a suburb area of Peshawar. The blast occurred near a Government
primary school for girls in an open ground where local people
gather every day in a large numbers for Iftar.
PPP-S President Aftab Ahmed
Khan Sherpao narrowly escaped a terrorist attack when unidentified
persons hurled a hand grenade at his office in Hayatabad, leaving
one injured. According to Police sources, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
was the prime target of the attack.
Unidentified assailants hurled
a hand grenade at Haji Zahoor Hotel situated in Faqeer Colony,
in Karachi, leaving five men injured. An officer, quoting the
eyewitnesses, informed that the assailants appeared to be of
Baloch descent, adding that the incident might be linked to
an extortion demand.
Police released the sketches
of two persons whom they believe as prime suspect in July 23,
2012, blast outside the Chinese consulate. The Police have arrested
the owner and dealer of the motorcycle used in the blast. Sources
said that the initial probe has led the investigators to believe
that there are some similarities in Chinese Consulate blast
and other recent bomb attacks targeting the Rangers and the
SUPRCO bus.
Maulana Waliur Rehman, de-facto
chief of TTP warned Islamabad that if it launches operation
in NWA in FATA, it will face only failure. “As far as operations
in North Waziristan are concerned, the Government will face
only failure as they have been facing for the last 10 years
in different parts of the tribal regions”, Rehman said.
Maulana Waliur Rehman, known
in militant circles as ‘Moulvi Sahib’, was one of the founding
members of the TTP in South Waziristan Agency, when it emerged
in December 2007. Rehman was a former activist of JuI. Rehman,
officially a deputy in the TTP, is at present serving as de-facto
chief, as his leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is in deep hiding to
avoid US drone strikes.
The Government virtually dismantled
a panel of parliamentarians it formed in 2011 to initiate peace
talks with the home-grown TTP, diminishing prospects of institutionalised
dialogue with militants on a pattern being followed by Afghan
authorities.
National Assembly Speaker Doctor
Fehmida Mirza had constituted a parliamentary committee in October
2011 after the country’s top political and military leadership
decided to hold negotiations with militant groups at an all-party
security conference. “All parties’ conference recognises that
there has to be a new direction and policy with a focus on peace
and reconciliation. Giving peace a chance must be the guiding
central principle henceforth,” said one of the 12 points which
was backed by around 60 political parties, the Government and
the military’s top brass, at that time.
The PCNS expressed reservations
against the Government’s decision to reopen NATO supply routes
‘in haste’, without getting a US guarantees that drone attacks
would be halted. According to sources, one member of the PCNS
said, “The Government should not have shown such haste in agreeing
to reopen the routes without getting the drone attacks halted
and it is imperative that efforts are made afresh to stop them.”
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar briefed the committee on the situation following resumption
of NATO supply lines and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s
recent visit to Afghanistan. She said the Government was following
parliament’s guidelines for rebuilding the strained ties with
the US.
Afghanistan’s refusal to act
against militant sanctuaries in Kunar and Nuristan Provinces
has left the Pakistan Government frustrated. When Prime Minister
Raja Pervez Ashraf visited Kabul, one of his main objectives
was to get a firm commitment from his host, President Hamid
Karzai, that he would act against militants’ sanctuaries in
eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan from where terrorists
have launched 15 attacks against Pakistani border posts and
villages over the past year, killing 105 soldiers and civilians.
A member of Pakistani delegation
said the issue was ‘strongly’ raised by Prime Minister Ashraf.
But, the Prime Minister found President Karzai unwilling to
act unconditionally against militants’ hideouts on his territory.
Afghans, who have apparently stiffened their stance on militant
havens, did not even allow the Pakistanis to mention the matter
in the joint statement issued after the Ashraf–Karzai meeting.
Senior officials of the Karzai
administration have, during conversation with Pakistani officials,
been lately admitting the presence of Mullah Fazlullah and other
Pakistani militant commanders in the eastern provinces. The
militants had taken refuge in Afghan villages along the border
after fleeing military operations in Swat District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Bajaur Agency of FATA in Pakistan. It is believed
that some political considerations are stopping the Afghan government
from evicting the terrorists from the area.
Noting that the new ISI chief
Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam was coming to the US for his
first meeting with the CIA’s director, the head of the US Senate’s
intelligence panel, Senator Dianne Feinstein, stressed the need
for a better relationship between the US and Pakistan. Senator
Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Select Committee on Intelligence,
also offered her services to help improve this relationship.
“I think there is a new head
of the Pakistan intelligence unit. I think we have made very
clear to Pakistan what our concerns are,” said the US lawmaker,
giving the first official indication that the two sides have
consulted each other on some of the issues to be raised during
the ISI chief’s visit to Washington next week. ISI chief Lieutenant
General Zaheerul Islam is expected to meet CIA Director General
David Petraeus in Washington on August 2.
July 25
Two troopers were killed in
landmine blast and at least 13 militants were killed in helicopters’
shelling on militants’ hideout that followed the landmine blast
in Badami Kali and Gall villages of Dabori area in Orakzai Agency
of FATA.
Unidentified militants killed
a pro-Government tribal elder, Arbab Khan of Kamarkhel tribe,
on charges of spying in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Sources said that armed men abducted Arbab Khan in the night
of July 24 from his home. His bullet-riddled body was found
at a deserted place near his house on July 25.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead a high ranking TTP ‘commander’, Ashraf Marwat, at in the
Shaktoi area of South Waziristan Agency. Ashraf Marwat was linked
to an attack on a volleyball tournament at Shah Hassan Khel
village in Lakki Marwat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) on January 1, 2010
that killed almost 90 persons and injured another 60. Police
blamed Marwat for helping organise the deadly 2010 attack on
the Shah Hassan Khel village in which a truck packed with explosives
was detonated at a volleyball tournament.
20 to 30 Afghan National Army
personnel, intruding into the Kurram Agency, attacked Nawazish
checkpost in Dalasa area of Kurram Agency, leaving two SFs personnel
injured. According to Army officials, the attack by the Afghan
National Army was repulsed with heavy artillery fire by the
SFs, which forced the Afghan army personnel to retreat. The
official sources identified the two injured soldiers as Sohail
and Haider.
The Peshawar High Court directed
the FATA additional chief secretary and secretary security to
explain why in the presence of armed forces and other law-enforcement
agencies the writ of Government could not be established in
tribal areas. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad
Khan and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaiser expressed displeasure over
the state of affairs in FATA after it was informed that for
recovery of three kidnapped officials of Peshawar Electric Supply
Company the Government had been negotiating with kidnappers
for payment of ransom.
SFs seized 140 kilogrammes of
explosives and arrested one person in two separate raids in
Sui area of Dera Bugti District. Security Agencies in cooperation
with Aman Force and the Police conducted a raid in Muhammad
Colony and arrested a suspect identified as Noor Nabi recovering
80 kilogrammes of explosives from his possession. In another
raid in the same Colony area, 60 kilogrammes of explosives and
two rocket launchers were recovered. Sources claimed that the
explosive material was destined to be used in Sui for some big
explosion.
FC seized a huge cache of arms
and ammunition during a raid carried out in the Liji Carez area,
some seven kilometres west of Chagai District. Seized arms and
ammunition included anti aircraft guns, 15 hand grenades with
detonators, mortar bombs, IED, fuses and cartridge. No arrest
was made following recovery of ammunition.
The Karachi Police arrested
50 accused from different areas of the city. A Police statement
said that 16 pistols, one Kalashnikov, one rifle and five mobile
phones were recovered from the possession of those arrested.
The Supreme Court sought joint
statement from all respondents of the Balochistan target killing
case by July 26. A three-member bench, headed by CJP Iftikhar
Chaudhry, again ordered the Federal and Provincial Governments
and the FC to submit their replies with signature of high-ups
as it would decide the case in view of their statements. The
court also ordered the Balochistan Inspector General to furnish
detail of each case of missing persons.
SCBA President Yasin Azad bemoaned
before the Supreme Court that the situation in Balochistan had
reached a point of no return similar to that of 1971 situation
and, therefore, needed an urgent political solution. “Believe
me Balochistan is slipping away,” he told a three-judge bench
hearing a petition on the law and order situation and human
rights violations in the province.
The Federal Cabinet formed a
committee on Balochistan under the Minister for Defence which
will present its report on the law and order situation in the
province within seven days. The Minister for Information and
Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira briefing media persons that the
Cabinet discussed the law and order situation in Balochistan
in detail and the committee was set up.
In the past four years, the
militants have damaged or destroyed 203 schools in the Bajaur
and Mohmand Agencies of the FATA. The bombings of 106 Bajaur
and 97 Mohmand schools forced students to sit idle or to study
under trees or in male guesthouses offered to them by kind individuals.
Despite a deadly attack and
protests against the reopening of NATO supply routes the official
on July 25 said that the flow of trucks supplying NATO troops
in Afghanistan surged at a key Pakistan border crossing. Few
containers had trickled across the border since Islamabad reopened
the routes three weeks ago, but officials at Torkham in Khyber
Agency of FATA, said that more than 100 had crossed in the last
two days.
NATO’s military force in Afghanistan
condemned cross-border shelling from Pakistan, after Kabul warned
that it could significantly harm relations between the strife-torn
neighbours. NATO’S ISAF “condemns the indirect fire attacks
from across the Durand Line”, ISAF said in a statement.
Afghanistan’s warning came on
July 22, 2012 after officials said more than 300 heavy artillery
shells and rockets were fired from Pakistan into Afghanistan’s
eastern Kunar province over two days, killing at least four
people. However, Pakistan denied Afghanistan’s charge of cross-border
shelling, calling it “incorrect”. “Pakistani troops only respond
to and engage militants from where they are attacked/fired upon,”
said a senior military official in Islamabad.
Washington was now going to
focus more on working with Islamabad and Kabul to contain militant
activities along the porous Durand Line.“Well, we’re working
closely with both countries, obviously, to try to limit violence
along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said, “we are settling
back into a normal phase of cooperation with our Pakistani partners.
And border coordination, we believe, is improving.”
Recent investigation revealed
stated that Doctor Shakeel Afridi who had helped the American
CIA track down al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad
compound was not abducted by the LI as was claimed by him. Instead,
Doctor Afridi went along with LI extremists to treat their injured
comrades, according to a report of the JIT.
The JIT report claims that Doctor
Afridi frequently met with Khyber Agency-based extremist groups
after his appointment as in-charge of the Dogra Hospital in
2008. Doctor Afridi, who has been convicted of treason by the
tribal administration, had applied for American visa in 2008
as most of his relatives were settled in the US, the report
says. In July 2009, Doctor Afridi went to the US, where he
met with another Pakistani doctor who offered him help in seeking
asylum.
July 26
Eleven persons were killed and
23 others injured when an explosive-laden pick-up went off in
a market in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency in FATA. At least
20 shops, five houses and several vehicles were destroyed as
the bomb ripped through the busy market owned by former MNA
Shahabuddin Khan who is chief of the Salarzai Qaumi Laskhar.
SFs claimed to have killed eight
militants, including three commanders, and secured strategically
important positions in Bootakhel area of Mamozai in Orakzai
Agency. Official sources said that SFs also destroyed two hideouts
of militants. The killed militant commanders were identified
as Wahid Ilyas, Ihsanullah and Mohammad Din.
Two militants were killed and
three persons received injuries when rival militant outfits
exchanged fire in the in Maidan Bar Bagh area of Tirah valley
in Khyber Agency. Sources said that a local ‘commander’ Meerak
Sadiqkhel along with his colleague Naray Khan, both affiliated
with AI, intercepted two cadres of their rival outfit LI in
Maidan Bar Bagh area when they were on their way to a nearby
bunker. After exchange of hot words, both the groups opened
firing on each other that resulted in killing of Sadiqkhel and
his colleague on the spot. Their rivals, Gul Wazir and his nephew
Lal Wazir, and a passerby sustained injuries in the incident.
Four persons including two children
were injured when mortar shell hit a residential compound in
Spalga village of North Waziristan Agency. Earlier militants
fired two rockets at the base of paramilitary forces in Miramshah.
However, the rockets missed the target. Security forces retaliated
with heavy artillery and mortar firing. The residents of the
area said that a shell landed in a house in Spalga Village and
injured two children, a woman and a man.
Mamond tribal elders in Bajaur
Agency agreed to form a lashkar peace committee to prevent cross-border
attacks in the region. The jirga warned of strong action
against aggressors inside Afghanistan if attacks in the agency
continue. The jirga drew hundreds of tribal representatives
and senior administration officials, and was called after Afghan-based
militants attacked Mamond tehsil on July 12, killing 20 people
from both sides.
One militant ‘commander’ was
killed during an encounter in Mashugagar area on the outskirts
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The
slain commander was identified as Umer, a commander of TTP in
Khyber Agency.
The Levies Force arrested 22
Afghan nationals under Foreigners Act from a passenger bus in
Panjgur District. The arrested suspects were travelling without
documents and wanted to go to Iran through Pakistan. Later,
they were handed over to the FIA for further investigation.
The TTP threatened to attack
Myanmar to avenge crimes against the Muslim Rohingya, unless
the Government halts all relations with the Myanmar and closed
its Embassy. TTP Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan demanded the Government
to suspend all relations with Myanmar.
Recent clashes in western Myanmar
between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya have left
dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless. Decades of discrimination
have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the
UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.
Officials said that Pakistan
has temporarily stopped NATO supply trucks crossing its border
into Afghanistan over security concerns due to fears of terrorist
attacks. "Movement of NATO vehicles has been temporarily
suspended since July 25 to beef up security," a paramilitary
official said.
There will be no tax or duty
charged on containers carrying goods for NATO troops stationed
in Afghanistan, says a MoU between Pakistan and the US.
The MoU will be applicable after
it is signed by both countries and will be valid until 2015.
According to the MoU, only non-lethal cargo for NATO troops
would be allowed, however, arms for Afghan forces would not
be banned. The draft – prepared according to the United Nations
charter – will not allow transport of arms and ammunition for
NATO troops via Pakistan.
Expressing concern over the
role of the FC in Balochistan, the Supreme Court warned the
force to produce missing persons or face criminal action against
its personnel that have been nominated in the FIRs for their
alleged involvement in the abductions.
A three-judge bench of the apex
court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, observed
that FC officials are nominated in the FIRs regarding the missing
persons in Balochistan. During the hearing, Raja Muhammad Irshad,
counsel for FC, vehemently denied the force’s involvement in
the missing persons case and claimed the FC men were not nominated.
The chief justice asked the
FC to produce the missing persons, adding that if they fail,
the court would order for their arrest. He said they had reached
a stage where everything had been identified, but was now giving
opportunity to the Federal and Provincial Governments to act.
The CJP said Balochistan is
burning, but the executive was not showing interest in controlling
the situation. He said the provincial and national lawyers’
bodies were doing the job the government should do. Justice
Khawaja appreciated the bar’s efforts on the Balochistan issue.
The CJP said for the last three
days, they had been asking the authorities concerned to enforce
constitution in Balochistan but no one was ready to take responsibility.
On July 25, the court had sought
a duly signed joint statement from the Balochistan Chief Secretary,
Home Secretary and Police Chief, as well as the Frontier Corps
Inspector General over the prevailing law and order situation
in the province.
Congress ratcheted up the pressure
on the Obama administration to slap the terrorist label on the
Haqqani Network, the militant outfit responsible for plotting
and launching attacks from Pakistan against US-led forces in
Afghanistan. By voice vote, the Senate approved a bill that
would require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on
whether the Haqqani Network meets the criteria to be designated
a FTO and if not, to explain why.
The Government of Gilgit Baltistan
Province has suspended 48 Shia government officials to punish
them for a visit of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) Chief
Allama Nasir Abbas Jaffri, as reported, by abna.ir. Allama Aijaz
Behishti, chief of MWM Youth Affairs has said that the government
was trying to intimidate Shia officials but he warned the government
that Shias were aware of the government conspiracies.
July 27
Seven militants were killed
by SFs in Janduli and Bootakhel villages of Dabori area in Orakzai
Agency of FATA. Sources said SFs targeted four militant hideouts
with heavy artillery and killed seven militants. One sepoy Abdul
Malik was injured after a landmine exploded near a convoy of
SFs in Gall village of Dabori area. Sources said SFs cordoned
off the area after the explosion and began a search and clear
operation.
At least four LI militants were
killed and four others critically injured when a blast ripped
through an LI hideout in the Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency. “It was a planted explosive device that went
off about 11.00pm in the Akkakhel area,” Muhammad Nasir, Bara
Political Administrator said. The blast completely destroyed
the compound containing the hideout, Nasir added.
The death toll in Bajaur Agency’s
Salarzai tehsil car bomb blast increased to 15 as four more
injuries succumbed to their injuries.
Four persons were killed when
unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate firing on their
jeep in Takar area in the limits of Saro Shah Police Station
in Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police recovered two bodies
lying in fields of Lakhti Mosam Koroona area. Sub Inspector
Nasrullah Khan of Par Hoti Police Station said that they were
on routine patrol in the area when some residents informed him
on phone that two bodies were lying in fields of Lakhti Mosam
Koroona area.
A Government primary school
for girls was blown up by unidentified militants in Swabi District
on the night. Sources said that three militants planted three
IEDs at Government primary school for girls in Sodher area.
Police arrested four suspects
on charges of calling for jihad and collecting donations for
the banned Al-Rehman Trust in the Bicket Gunj Bazaar mosque
in Mardan during noon prayers. Police reacting to complaints
by residents found a 9mm pistol, PKR 35,925 (US $380) and Al-Rehman
Trust receipt books on the suspects.
Four persons, including an extortionist,
were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi. A man,
identified as Sheikh Kamran (34), was shot dead in Sector 7C-1,
Ajmair Nagri within the jurisdiction of Ajmair Nagri Police
Station.
A labourer identified as Syed
Irshad was shot dead in Qaimkhani Colony within Mochko Police
Station while he was heading towards the factory where he worked.
A suspected extortionist, Sheikh
Kamran Hussain, wanted by the Police in many criminal cases
was killed in North Karachi area.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found from Lyari Naddi within the precincts of Pak
Colony Police Station.
Two unidentified militants hurled
a hand grenade at Chase Departmental Store in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area near NIPA Chowrangi. However, no loss of life was reported.
A passer-by, identified as Shahbaz, escaped with minor injuries
and two vehicles were damaged. The Bomb Disposal Squad said
the grenade was made of “homemade explosive material”.
A protester, identified as Majid,
was allegedly shot and injured as the LEAs fired shots in the
air during a protest by the residents of Bara Board in Pak Colony
and Orangi Town against an operation by the LEAs in their area.
Police and Rangers conducted a raid in Bara Board and arrested
several suspects. Resultantly, at least three vehicles – one
owned by Ali Ahmed Shah, a PPP leader, were torched by the mob
protesting in Pak Colony.
At least four suspects were
taken into custody during several raids in different parts of
Karachi. SIU claimed to have arrested three suspects allegedly
involved in target killing and extortion cases. SIU chief SP
Khurram Waris said SIU police arrested two suspects, Syed Faiz
Zaidi alias Mullah and Imran Khan alias TPO from Mauripur area.
SP Waris further said that another
suspect, identified as Rana Zulfiqar, was arrested during a
raid at Parsi Mohalla in Mehmoodabad. He said that the suspect
was threatening a trader of Korangi industrial area for extortion.
A TT pistol was also recovered.
In Orangi Town, Shahzad alias
Shaida, a nephew of slain notorious gangster of Lyari Rehman
Dakait, among four suspects, namely Ateeq ur Rehman, Amir Ansari
and Imran were arrested during different raids in Faqir Colony.
A hand grenade, two Kalashnikov and four pistols were also recovered
from their possession.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead Muhammad Ali in Railway Society area of Quetta.
Armed militants dumped the body
of Sher Khan in Ziarat District.
Naseerabad Police on a tip-off
raided a house in Goth Nabi Bakhsh and recovered three women
from the house who were abducted from Nankana area of Sheikhupura
District of Punjab. The kidnapped women were identified as Kausar,
Iqara and Kiran.
Three traders belonging to the
Hindu community were abducted from a passenger bus near Jiwa
cross on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway in Kalat District
in the night. The abductees were identified as, Danish Kumar,
Sunil Kumar and Ratan Kumar.
An abducted man, Iftikhar Afzal
(36), who was abducted allegedly from Adiala Road in Rawalpindi
District by TTP militants for a PKR 200 million ransom on June
28, 2012, was still not recovered.
Despite a worldwide ban, the
JuD sent out messages on Twitter and Facebook asking Muslims
across the world to donate zakat and fitra during the holy month
of Ramazan. JuD, through its official Twitter account, not only
appealed for donations for itself but also for Falah-e-Insaniyat
Foundation, an organisation of JuD formed in the aftermath of
the UNSC sanctions.
JuD’s message on Twitter, which
had a link to Facebook as well, called people to donate zakat
in any form either by cash, by donating an ambulance or by sponsoring
medicines or meals for Sehr and Iftar. It remains unclear whether
the JuD is registered to collect funds within the country or
not.
Senator Rehman Malik was sworn
in as Federal Minister for Interior. President Asif Ali Zardari
administered the oath to Mr Malik, who earlier held the office
of adviser to Prime Minister on interior.
The US Congress assured Pakistan
that its move to designate the Haqqani Network a terrorist organisation
does not infringe upon the country’s sovereignty. The Haqqani
Network Terrorist Designation Act, however, seeks to assure
Pakistan that Congress does not want to further harm relations
with the country.
Doctor Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyer
Tina Foster said that they have written to the Embassy of Pakistan
to repatriate Doctor Siddiqui in exchange for Doctor Shakeel
Afridi. Doctor Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison
on charges of firing on a US soldier in Bagram base in Afghanistan.
US authorities accuse Dr Siddiqui of helping al Qaeda, notably
Majid Khan, a Guantanamo detainee who recently pleaded guilty
to all charges against him.
Tina Foster, Dr Siddiqui’s lawyer,
said that they had sent a letter to the Ambassador Sherry Rehman,
asking Pakistan to take action to repatriate Doctor Siddiqui.
However, said Foster, the Embassy of Pakistan has not sent her
any “substantive response” on the letter despite having acknowledged
receiving it.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the
US is calling for an end to CIA drone strikes ahead of an intelligence
summit in Washington between the two countries expected next
week. In a frank debate with White House war adviser Douglas
Lute, Ambassador Sherry Rehman said the drone attacks succeeded
in damaging al Qaeda but are now only serving to recruit new
militants. The two were speaking to an audience at the Aspen
Security Forum.
July 28
Unidentified militant opened
fire on a veterinary store at Quarry Road in Quetta and killed
a veterinary doctor identified as Dr Noor Ali, belonging to
the Hazara community. “It could be a case of sectarian targeted
killing,” Police sources said. However, no one had yet claimed
the responsibility of the killing.
A tribal leader was killed while
his associate injured in an incident of firing in Osta Muhammad
area in Jaffarabad District. The Police said that unidentified
militants opened fire on Mir Abdul Qadir Umrani and Akbar Shah,
killing Umrani and injuring Shah on Ali Abad Road. Qadir was
identified as the son of tribal leader and politician, Haji
Mithal Khan Umrani.
A rocket struck the Joint Road
area in Quetta. Police could not ascertain the location from
where the rocket was fired and also who or what was the target
of this attack. No casualties were reported.
One man and one woman were killed
in Gadap Town and Orangi Town respectively.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found in a gunny bag from the Aram Bagh area.
According to East Zone DIG Captain
(retired) Tahir Naveed, around 24 suspects were arrested during
Police operations in several areas of Karachi.
One person, identified as Shahzad
(28), son of Abdul Sattar was killed by unidentified militants
at Hazara Chowk under Mominabad Police Station in Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh.
A girl was injured when a mortar
shell, fired from across the border, hit a house in Sarkai Kandao
area of Bajaur Agency. “The mortar shell fired from Afghanistan
landed at the village and hit the house of Gulab Khan, partially
damaging it and injuring a girl,” officials said. Officials
said that militants living in Kunar Province of Afghanistan
were responsible for the attack.
Salarzai tribe assured the Bajaur
Agency administration of continued fight against militants.
The assurance was made by the tribe’s elders during a meeting
with local political agent Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah in Pashat
area of Salarzai region. Besides tribal elders, leaders of peace
committees, Salarzai peace lashkar members and administration
officials were also in attendance.
An ATC sent a Peshawar Central
Prison dentist Mohammad Iftikhar to prison over connivance with
two under trial militants for their escape on August 12, 2011.
Mohammad Iftikhar had referred the two TTP-Darra Adamkhel Chapter
militants Nadeem Abbas and Zakeem Shah to Khyber College of
Dentistry (KCD) on August 12, 2011. They escaped from the custody
after their accomplices fired gunshots at Police guards escorting
them to KCD. Three guards died, while the fourth, Ilyas Khan,
survived the attack. He was later on arrested on suspicion.
An official source said in an inquiry conducted by the provincial
Government that the dentist was found guilty of connivance with
militants.
July 29
One PPP activist, identified
as Safdar Baloch (40), was shot dead at the Bab-e-Iqbal building,
near Nagan Chowrangi in New Karachi area.
Unidentified extortionists shot
dead an iron ore trader in the Khairabad area of Manghopir while
he was heading towards a mosque near his house for Fajr. The
Police said the slain trader had been receiving threats from
a group of extortionists.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body of a man belonging to the Katchi community was found
in Arambagh area.
A TTP cadre, identified as Shumail
Khan, was shot dead near New Sabzi Mandi, Super Highway.
At least seven Uzbek militants
were killed in a US drone attack on a residential compound in
Khushali Turikhel area near Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA. According to local people six missiles hit the compound.
A vehicle parked in the courtyard was destroyed.
Political administration destroyed
the houses of four tribesmen in Kitkoot village for their alleged
links with militants living in Afghanistan. The residents of
the area said that administration with the help of Bajaur Levies
destroyed the houses of four tribesmen, who were blamed for
helping militants in an attack on the village two weeks ago.
Official sources said that the four tribesmen provided shelter
to militants in their houses.
Elsewhere in the Agency, Security
Forces and volunteers of local peace committee recovered huge
quantity of arms and ammunition during a search operation in
Kitkoot.
Unidentified armed militants
opened indiscriminate fire in Pood-gili Chowk, wounding two
people, identified as Jalaluddin and Muhibullah, The injured
succumbed to their injuries later.
Three armed militants entered
into a shop on Arbab Karam Khan Road along with weapons and
opened fire, killing an inmate Sadam Hussain Khilji on the spot.
A Police mobile van was on a
routine patrol on Jail Road when two armed assailants on a motorcycle
sprayed bullets on the vehicle and fled the scene. As a result,
one Policeman, identified as Muhammad Sadiq, died on the spot
while Muhammad Asif breathed his last in the hospital.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted a person, identified as Qurban Ali, from Hazargani
in the outskirts of Quetta and moved him to an undisclosed location.
Two persons were injured and
a CD shop was destroyed in a blast in Mansehra District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The bomb, planted at a CD shop, exploded when Mohammad
Adnan, the owner of the adjacent vegetable shop, pulled the
shutter of his shop up to open it. Resultantly, Adnan and a
passerby identified as Shahzad were injured in the blast while
the shop was destroyed. District Police Officer Sher Akbar said
that four IEDs were planted at the shop.
July 30
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a jeep and killed four persons in the limits
of Sahro Shah Police Station in Takht Bhai area of Mardan District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to details, Ali Khan, son of
slain Raza Khan, informed the Police that on July 2, 2012 unidentified
militants abducted his father, along with another relative,
Abid Hussain. The people who were killed had gone to Takht Bhai
to find them.
Five militants of the Tariq
Afridi group of TTP, including two key 'commanders', were killed
by an IED planted by the rival Momin Khan group near Khormatang
in Dara Adamkhel.
Police claimed to have arrested
two militants, identified as Mamraiz Khan and Naqeebullah, during
a raid in Chuharkhel village in the jurisdiction of Shaheed
Haibat Ali Khan Police Station in Lakki Marwat District.
Two persons, including a Policeman,
were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi. A man,
identified as Omar (31), was shot dead while another, identified
as Akbar (28), injured in Landhi 89 within the limits of Qauidabad
Police Station.
A Policeman, identified as Sikandar
(46), was killed in Metroville, SITE within the precincts of
SITE-A Police Station.
Police claimed to have arrested
at least 23 suspects in targeted operation and snap checking
in different parts of Karachi. Police claimed to have arrested
at least 12 suspects involved in target killing extortion and
other crimes, from Raxer line, Singo Lane, Daryaabad and Nayaabad
area of Lyari.
SSP East claimed to have arrested
at least four suspects and recovered weapons from their possession.
Mobina Town Police claimed to
have arrested at least four suspects involved in street crimes
and recovered weapons and looted valuables form their possession.
Khokhrapar Police arrest at
least two suspects and seized weapons form their possessions.
SIU arrested a target killer
Javed alias Bunda from Orangi involved in at least 50 killing
and recovered one KK and one TT pistol from his possession.
Levies force recovered a dead
body of a man, identified as that of Arshad, from the barren
area of Kanak in Mastung District of Balochistan.
The abducted senior surgeon
Doctor Din Muhammad Baloch, abducted on July 22, 2012, was released
by his abductors on RCD Road near Lake Pass in Mastung District.
Pakistani officials said that
a ban on NATO trucks at the main border crossing into Afghanistan
would last until the Government promised to safeguard security.
Officials closed the Torkham crossing to NATO traffic on July
24, 2012, just weeks after lifting a seven-month blockade on
NATO trucks going into Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, the Constitution
and other laws and policies restrict religious freedom and the
Government enforced these restrictions, said a US State Department
report released. "The Government demonstrated a trend towards
deterioration in respect for and protection of the right to
religious freedom," claims the report, adding that "some Government
practices limited freedom of religion, particularly for religious
minorities".
An ATC-I trying suspects in
the November 26, 2008 (26/11) Mumbai attacks case on July 28
put off hearing till August 4, after the prosecution witness
could not get his statement recorded. Special Judge ATC-I Chaudhry
Habibur Rehman deferred the hearing after lawyers representing
the arrested suspects argued the statement of FIA SI Mohammed
Shafique should not be recorded after the report prepared by
the judicial commission sent to India was rejected in the last
hearing.
Activists of progressive political
parties, trade unions, youth and student organisations staged
protest rallies in Islamabad and the Hunza valley of Gilgit
Baltistan (GB) against the incarceration of a youth leader and
his comrades in Gilgit jail and trade union leaders in Punjab
jails.
In Hunza in GB, over 1,000 people,
including 300 women, gathered at Nasirabad to vent their anger
at the highhandedness and brutalities of the security agencies
against Baba Jan, chief organiser of Progressive Youth Front
(PYF), activists Iftikhar Hussain and others in Gilgit Jail
who have been detained for about a year.
July 31
Two Rangers intelligence officials,
in plain clothes, were shot dead at Bacha Khan Chowk locality
of Banaras area within the precincts of Pirabad Police Station
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
An activist of MQM, Noor Mohammad
alias Bengali (35), son of Tayyab, was killed at Chand
Bibi Road in Bohra Pir area within the precincts of Eidgah Police
Station.
A constable of the Excise and
Taxation Department was shot dead at Guru Mandir Chowrangi within
the jurisdiction of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
Three persons were injured when
an unidentified man lobbed a hand grenade at a house in Panjgur
District.
The renowned Baloch poetess,
writer, thinker and a lecturer at the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's
University (SKB) Nusheen Qambrani was attacked by unidentified
armed militants at her residence in Quetta. Qambrani told the
media that for the last four days unidentified men, in a car
without a number plate, kept coming to her house.
A Police guard, Ghulam Mohyuddin,
at the residence of Balochistan Information Minister in Quetta,
was injured due to firing by unidentified assailants.
A boy was injured in a blast
in Dalbandin town of Chaghai District.
Unidentified militants, riding
on a motorbike, attacked Sariab Police Station of Quetta with
hand grenades. However, no casualties were reported in the attack.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government school with explosives in Badhber area of Peshawar
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. No casualty or injury was reported.
The Government signed with the
US a MoU governing supplies to and from American troops in Afghanistan.
The signing of the accord for 'Transit of cargo to and from
Afghanistan through Pakistan' paved the way for the release
of USD 1.18 billion in Coalition Support Fund reimbursements
held up for over two years. "This MoU is a demonstration of
increased transparency and openness between our Governments
in respect of Pakistan's sovereignty as requested by the Pakistani
parliament," US Charge d'affaires Richard Hoagland said after
signing the agreement with Defence Ministry's Additional Secretary
Rear Admiral Farrukh Ahmed.
Taliban 'commanders' have reportedly
said that the decision to close the NATO supply routes in November
2011 significantly reduced the flow of cash to militants in
Sothern and Eastern Afghanistan. "Earnings dropped down pretty
badly. Therefore the rebellion was not as strong as we had planned",
at Taliban commander said.
Punjab IGP Haji Habibur Rehman
that the terrorist incidents took place in Wazirabad and Lahore
reflected that we (Punjab Police) cannot control terrorism.
However, the IGP claimed to have controlled dacoity, murder
and attempt to murder incidents to a large extent.
The Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad
Chaudhry observed that the worsening law and order in Balochistan
could be restored in a week if the FC so desired. "It's my belief
that the situation can be cooled down and they (FC) can solve
the problem in seven days," said the Chief Justice who heads
a Supreme Court bench hearing a petition on the law and order
situation and human rights violations in the province. Otherwise,
he cautioned, the situation might get out of hand.
The FC chief assured the court
that each and every soldier and resources would be utilised
to improve the situation in Balochistan. But he regretted that
the FC was covering less than five per cent of the area in the
province with tied hands to respond to the incidents.
Pakistan remained a critical
partner on counter-terrorism efforts, actively engaging against
al Qaeda and the TTP, but its cooperation regarding other terrorist
groups, such as LeT, was mixed, noted the State Department's
counter-terrorism report for 2011.
Expressing great concern over
continued threat posed by LeT to stability in South Asia, the
US asked Pakistan to take more action against the terrorist
group responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. "We've
urged Pakistan to take more action against Lashkar-e-Toiba,"
Daniel Benjamin, coordinator for counterterrorism said in a
special briefing on the State Department's annual terrorism
report.
August 1
Seven militants and a security
man were killed in a clash at Kago Qamar Darra in Dabori area
of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Officials said that solider Shehzad
was killed and soldier Sabir received injuries in the attack.
Seven militants were killed and one of their vehicles was destroyed
in the clash.
Three Levies personnel were
injured in a blast inside a compound tehsil office of
the political administration in Sadda town of Kurram Agency.
Militants blew up two Government
primary schools in Haji Abdur Rahim Cheenari area and Khazeena
area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency. As a result, both
the schools were destroyed completely. About 99 educational
institutions including a Government degree college and three
high schools have been blown up by militants in Mohmand Agency
so far.
Levies Force defused a powerful
explosive device planted outside a mosque in Khar of Bajaur
Agency. Levies Force arrested three suspects in the area.
Five officers of Governor Development
Programme (GDP) who were kidnapped five months ago on February
29, 2012 from Manzai area of FR Tank, were released.
According to a handout issued
by the Punjab Police, a militant, identified as Abdul Ghaffar
Qaisarani alias Saifullah, reportedly the head of TTP,
South Punjab Chapter, was killed in an encounter with Police
and Law-Enforcement Agencies in Dera Ghazi Khan District.
Two bombs exploded at the fruit
market in Badami Bagh area of Lahore District, leaving at least
23 persons injured. Later, two wounded people succumbed to their
injuries.
The Punjab Police IG Haji Habibur
Rehman claimed that the blasts were in reaction to the arrest
of militants in Multan District earlier. According to Police
sources, they had arrested three terrorists a few days back
who had disclosed that they were planning to carry out an attack
in the city.
An educationist, Ghulam Syed,
who had led an armed lashkar against militants, was shot dead
by unidentified assailants when he was going to his school at
Lagharai Thal area in Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A public sector educational
institution for boys was blown up by unidentified militants
in Kadi area of Swabi District.
Police recovered a 10th class
student of Peshawar and an industrialist of Nowshera in separate
raids and arrested eight alleged kidnappers. In Peshawar, city
circle Superintendent Of Police Asif Iqbal told that the student,
Haseeb Ali, was kidnapped on June 19, 2012 from Qazi Town area
on Dalazak Road in the limits of Paharipura Police Station when
he was on way to home from local mosque after Isha prayer.
In Nowshera, Police recovered
the kidnapped owner of Kashmir Marble Industries, Abdul Hussain.
He said that five alleged kidnappers were also arrested during
the raid on a hideout. The industrialist, Abdul Hussain, who
was kidnapped on July 3, 2012 was kept at a hideout in Risalpur
area.
Bolan Medical College (BMC)
senior psychologist Doctor Ghulam Rasool Kakar was abducted
from Brewery Road Quetta by unidentified armed militants.
Two men were abducted by unidentified
armed militants in Wadh area of Khuzdar District.
The LEA recovered three locally
made hand grenades from the vicinity of a private hospital situated
at NIPA Chowrangi, within the precincts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police
Station in Karachi.
The US released USD 1.1 billion
to Pakistan from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) hours after
the two countries signed a MoU in Islamabad for regulating NATO
supplies to Afghanistan. The fund is used to reimburse Pakistan
for the cost of counter-insurgency operations along the Afghan
border. The MoU will be effective till December 31, 2015, and
could be extended for one year after consultations.
TTP Chief Hakimullah Mehsud
directed his fighters to step up attacks in Punjab province,
especially on intelligence organisations and military facilities
like the PAF base in Lahore District. The TTP chief has decided
to increase terrorist attacks in Punjab to "inflict maximum
damage", especially in the provincial capital of Lahore.
During a secret meeting held
at Asad Khel village in the lawless North Waziristan Agency
of FATA, Mehsud allocated PKR 25 million for attacks targeting
the PAF base in Lahore and offices of the ISI, Military Intelligence,
Intelligence Bureau and Counter-Terrorism Department. An intelligence
report states that the meeting in North Waziristan Agency was
attended by top TTP 'commanders', including leaders of the Qari
Yasin group, which is listed in the Police's "Red Book" as a
high-profile terrorist organisation.
A latest Congressional report
has said that there is a slowed in the pace of transfer and
deliveries of America's arms sales to Pakistan as Islamabad
since 2001 has received USD 7.9 billion worth of military equipment.
In its latest report, the independent Congressional Research
Service (CRS) informs US lawmakers that major US arms sales
and grants to Pakistan since 2001 have included items useful
for counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, along
with a number of big ticket platforms more suited to conventional
warfare.
August 2
Three people were killed in
separate acts of violence in Karachi. Two men, identified as
Muhammad Rasheed (23) and Shahnawaz (28), were shot dead in
Baldia Town No 2, within the precincts of SITE B Police Station.
An unidentified four-day-old
decomposed body of a eunuch was found from a drain in the vicinity
of Saba Cinema.
Rangers carried out targeted
operation in Kunwari Colony of Manghopir area, arresting more
than two dozen suspects.
IGP, Sindh, Fayyaz Ahmed Laghari
said that failure of Lyari operation was not due to 'faulty'
Police vehicles but because of the criminals fight with very
latest weapons.
TTP militants shot dead one
Nauman Afridi, brother of the head of a local peace committee,
Momin Khan Afridi, in Akhorwal area near Darra Adamkhel town
in Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. TTP claimed responsibility
for the killing and threatened to continue fighting against
the pro-government peace lashkar till withdrawal of SFs from
the area.
Police arrested five terrorists,
three of them in injured condition, after an encounter from
a house in Basiya Khel area near Bannu District, Police also
recovered a suicide jacket, hand grenade and arms from them.
Two persons, Niaz Beg, manager
of the NGO, and field worker Abdul Qayum, sustained injuries
when unidentified assailants hurled a hand grenade at the office
of a NGO situated on Charsadda-Mardan Road in Charsadda District.
Police arrested 20 accused involved
in different cases in Peshawar. A police spokesman said that
of the accused several proclaimed offenders had also been rounded
up. Police also recovered eight pistols (30 bore), two Kalashnikovs,
hundreds of cartridges and contraband items from their possession.
At least eight people were injured
in a bomb blast at a shop in Hub industrial town of Quetta.
One person was seriously injured
when a pickup van struck a landmine in Chatt Baglarr area of
Dera Bugti District.
Reporters without Borders
expressed concern over the fate of Ayub Tareen, a correspondent
for the BBC Urdu service in Quetta, who was forced to leave
the city by the BLF on July 21, 2012. "We take these threats
very seriously and urge the local authorities to improve the
safety of those who work in the media," the Paris-based press
freedom organisation said in a press freedom alert received
via email.
Several Quetta-based news organisations
received a statement from BLF spokesman Basham Baloch. The spokesman
said it was boycotting the BBC's Urdu service because of the
"partial attitude" of Tareen. "We inform high-ups of BBC to
take notice of their correspondent's partial behaviour." The
statement also read, "Otherwise, we would be forced to take
strict action."
More than 50 suspects and hardened
criminals were arrested during search operations across Lahore
District, while Police remained on high alert to prevent any
untoward situation during Friday prayers.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik told the Senate that external aggression and world
power game could not be ruled out in the Balochistan issue as
the situation there was similar to that of East Pakistan in
1971, as he held the BLA and LeJ responsible for all the major
terrorism and kidnapping activities in the province. Malik said
hostile elements were exploiting the indigenous issue of the
Balochistan and there was a planned external aggression linked
to regional security, adding that a roadmap had been prepared
to disintegrate Balochistan.
Mentioning a number of incidents
of terrorism, killings and kidnapping in the province, he said
299 IED explosions took place, 179 FC soldiers were killed and
502 incidents of abduction were reported in the area since 2010,
while 89 policemen and 872 civilians were killed and 1,177 people
injured. Malik said these figures were verifiable from provincial
Home Department and Intelligence Agencies.
He claimed that BLA was behind
all these incidents. The minister alleged that the BLA was a
killing machine and being controlled from Afghanistan, adding
that terrorists from Afghanistan side crossed border and committed
terror activities in Pakistan, while Maulvi Faqir Mohammad and
Fazlullah were also hiding in Afghanistan.
Malik stressed that the problem
of Balochistan was deprivation of the people of the area. "89
DMG posts and 50 PSP posts are lying vacant in the province,"
he added.
Pakistan and the US acknowledged
progress in ties between the two countries, in the wake of a
recent MoU signed regarding transportation of NATO supplies
to Afghanistan through Pakistan, and subsequently the US releasing
USD1.1 billion to the latter.
August 3
Four tortured and bullet-riddled
dead bodies were found from separate areas of Karachi. Two bullet-riddled
dead bodies, identified as that of Farhan (21), and Ali Haider,
(17), were found from Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road within the precincts
of Kalri Police Station.
One unidentified dead body of
a man, packed in gunny bag, was found from Lyari River near
Dhobi Ghat within the vicinity of Pak Colony Police Station.
Two-day-old unidentified dead
body of a man was found from Super Highway within the jurisdiction
of Sachal Police Station.
A man was wounded in a firing
incident near inquiry office area of Nazimabad, reported The
News.
Another man was injured a firing
incident in North Karachi.
LEAs claimed to have detained
at least 38 suspects during targeted raids in different areas
of the Karachi. A heavy contingent of LEAs personnel conducted
a targeted operation in Shanti Nagar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, where
they detained at least 17 suspects, including three operatives
of Lyari gang, and recovered two hand grenades and other weapons
from their possession. The arrested gangsters belong to Mullah
Sohail group.
In another targeted operation,
LEAs arrested at least 15 suspects from Kunwari Colony, Orangi
Town.
CID claimed to have arrested
six suspects during separate raids in Darakhshan and Gizri areas,
recovering six TT pistols from their possession.
Five cadres of militant outfit,
allegedly involved in attacking the Rangers mobile vans were
detained in targeted operation in Bin Qasim, Baldia Town and
Landhi areas.
Two people, identified as Qasim
Ali and Shujaat Ali, received serious injuries on when a home-made
bomb exploded in Mali Bhag area on McChongey Road in Quetta.
Unidentified militants set ablaze
at least three containers of a private company, en route to
Chaman town (Balochistan) from Karachi (Sindh), in Tera Meel
area of Dasht in Mastung District.
The FGCM awarded a sentence
of five-year rigorous imprisonment to Brigadier Ali Khan, and
four others, for having links with HuT, according to an ISPR
statement. Major Sohail Akbar was handed down three-year rigorous
imprisonment; Major Jawwad Baseer was sentenced to two-year
rigorous imprisonment, whereas Major Inayat Aziz and Major Iftikhar
were awarded one- and six-year rigorous imprisonments respectively.
In all, 9,291 internally displaced
families, comprising 42,504 individuals have resettled in their
native areas after restoration of peace in Sarokai and Ladha
areas of South Waziristan Agency in FATA, a FDMA official said.
Around 10,672 men, 11,133 women and 20,699 children make up
the 9,291 families who moved back to their native places.
The US seems willing to look
at options that do not involve drones, although it is not yet
ready to end the strikes, a senior official source said. The
official, who was briefing journalists on ISI Chief Lieutenant-General
Zaheer-ul Islam's meetings in Washington, said the Pakistani
delegation urged the Americans to stop the drone strikes at
every opportunity they got. Islam met with CIA Director David
Petraeus on August 2, 2012 and held "substantive, professional
and productive" talks, a senior US official said on condition
of anonymity.
Pakistan's top envoy Wajid Shamsul
Hasan, who was "scathing about what he sees as the US's weak
commitment towards democracy in Pakistan and Afghanistan", said
that some factions in the US still prefer to work with "just
one man" rather than a democratic government, and accused Washington
of "talking in miles" when it comes to democracy but of "moving
in inches". "They talk in miles in support of democracy, but
they move in inches.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
told the Upper House that 14 organisations are operating in
Balochistan and both friends and enemies of Pakistan were financing
and encouraging them for uprising. He unveiled evidence on links
among the Baloch dissidents and neighbouring countries such
as Afghanistan and India.
Senior politician and BNP leader
Sardar Akhtar Mengal rejected the claims of Interior Minister
Rehman Malik regarding unrest in Balochistan, saying the Secret
Agencies, establishment and Security Forces were responsible
for the deteriorating law and order situation in the province.
According to the recent study
of CTC, a Pentagon think tank, the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan,
which is a deadly source of terror attacks against Indian and
US interests, is also emerging as a significant economic player
in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, getting into new businesses
like rare earths mining, which are of interest to both India
and China, making them a more complicated foe. The study also
shows that the Haqqani Network is closely intertwined with the
state and security machinery in Pakistan.
The study by CTC said that the
Haqqani Network receives financial and logistic support from
the Pakistani military. The study also said the Afghan Taliban-linked
group have a massive network of "mafia"-style financing operation
that relies on extortion, kidnapping, smuggling and ties to
legitimate businesses.
August 4
Unidentified assailants killed
a prayer leader of Killi Bacha Jama Mosque, Abdul Hakeem, at
Killi Karak area of Mastung District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants fired
three rockets in Quetta. According to Police, first rocket landed
on Spiny Road, second on the Benazir Flyover and the third on
the roof of a hotel, adjacent to the Quetta Press Club. No casualties
were reported.
Two drivers of trucks, which
were loaded with scrap, were killed by unidentified assailants
in Angoor Adda area of SWA.
Pakistani Security Forces arrested
five TTP militants who were planning "terror attacks" in Multan
and other towns in the region. "The terrorists belonging to
Noor Gul faction of TTP were arrested on an intelligence tip-off,"
Multan City Police chief, Amir Zulfiqar said.
August 5
One LI 'commander' along with
four other militants were killed in a remote bomb attack in
Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
One LI militant and a Akkakhel
Peace Committee volunteer were killed in a clash in Milwat area
of Bara.
Five people, including two children
and a woman, were killed while ten others were injured in a
car explosion that occurred at a house located in Faizabad area
on Sariab Road in Quetta.
Two Karachi-bound NATO containers
were attacked and torched in Ornach area of Khuzdar District.
The containers were returning to Karachi (Sindh) from Chaman
town in Qilla Abdullah District after offloading NATO supplies
in Kandahar province of Afghanistan when unidentified militants
opened fire on them, forcing the drivers to abandon the vehicles
and flee.
Law enforcement personnel arrested
a suspect and also recovered 60 kilogrammes of explosive material
and a remote control that was to be used for detonating the
explosive device from a house in Dera Bugti District.
Two passengers were killed and
four others injured in a hand grenade attack on a passenger
bus near Meenawar in Gilgit.
An activist and Unit Committee
member of MQM Gulbahar Sector, identified as Iqbal Ghauri (53),
was shot dead in Nazimabad locality of Karachi.
The JIT, formed by the Sindh
Home Department, claimed to have arrested three TTP suspects
from Sohrab Goth area for their alleged involvement in the July
17, 2012 attack on the WHO officials engaged in polio vaccination
campaign.
AVCC claimed to have arrested
three suspects during a raid at their hideout in Nabi Bux area
of Old City, adding that the suspects were involved in the kidnapping
of a woman, namely Shumaila, who was also recovered during the
raid.
Jamshed Town Police also claimed
to have arrested two suspects who were later identified as Fayyaz
and Laiq after a brief encounter near Guru Mandir.
The recent trend of grenade
attacks of shops and markets that refuse extortion terrorised
local traders and businessmen, besides totally blackened the
chances of further investment in Karachi. APOSTCI Karachi Chapter
President Mehmood Hamid said in past the extortionists backed
by the ruling parties used to send bullets wrapped in extortion
demand chits to Karachi traders, but embolden by covet backing
from the corridors of power, now these mafia men are hurling
grenades on shops and markets that refuse or delay Bhatta.
Unidentified militants detonated
a remote-controlled bomb at Nasir Bagh area of Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, no casualty
has been reported.
Polio vaccinators failed to
reach 313,386 children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the recent three-day
immunisation campaign, according to a WHO monitoring report.
Residents of Neelum Valley in
PoK observed a shutdown against activities of militant outfits
in the area. Witnesses said a complete strike was observed with
residents announcing to launch a 'forceful agitation' against
alleged activities of some outlawed militant groups as talks
between locals and an official team failed to arrive at any
decision.
Accusations which could further
raise tensions over cross-border raids by terrorists, Interior
Minister Rehman Malik said that elements of the Afghan Government
are likely supporting TTP leader Fazlullah, who is fighting
to topple the Islamabad Government.
Afghan officials see Pakistan's
suggestion that Afghans are supporting cross-border attacks
as an attempt to distract attention from what they say is Pakistan's
long history of supporting Afghanistan's Taliban movement and
other insurgent factions. "These comments made by the Pakistani
interior minister are irresponsible and a baseless allegation,"
said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
Three years after launching
Operation Rah-e-Nijat military operation in Mehsud area
of South Waziristan Agency, the Government has de-notified only
one out of six subdivisions as conflict zone in the volatile
region since October 2009. "Only Sararogha subdivision has been
declared as 'cleared' and the IDPs from the area are allowed
to go back to their homes," said an unnamed official. He said
that the remaining five tehsils including Shawal, Serwakai,
Tiarza, Makeen and Laddha had not been cleared so far.
U.S and Pakistan have reached
an understanding on joint operations against the Haqqani Network
but no final decision has been taken yet. US and Pakistani diplomatic
sources in Washington indicated that the understanding for joint
operations against the Haqqani Network was reached at a meeting
between senior US and Pakistani military commanders in Islamabad
on August 2, 2102.
August 6
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
succeeded in mustering international support over the most ambitious
upcoming demonstration against unmanned predators conducting
airstrikes in Pakistan. Hundreds of workers from Reprieve,
a UK-based not-for-profit organisation working to raise awareness
about capital punishment and drone strikes, will take part in
PTI's long march on September 23, 2012.
Four persons, including two
gangsters and a Policeman, were killed in target killing incidents
in Karachi. At least two members of Lashari gang, identified
as Liaquat Lashari (34) and Ali Mohammad (51), were killed by
armed militants from PAC in a house situated in Jehanabad within
the precincts of Pak Colony Police Station.
An official of the Anti-Extremism
Cell (AEC), Crime Investigation Department (CID), Muhammad Siddiq
(30), was shot dead in Moosa Lane, Lyari within the limits of
Baghdadi Police Station.
An unidentified dead body was
found from North Nazimabad within the jurisdiction of Taimuria
police station.
During a meeting, jointly chaired
by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Interior Minister Rehman
Malik at Chief Minister's house, it was pointed out that TTP
was also involved in extorting money from the city's traders.
It was also pointed out that Law Enforcement Agencies had arrested
133 extortionists in recent crackdowns in the metropolis.
Three detained militants and
two soldiers were killed in a shootout at a detention centre
in R.A Bazaar near Corps Headquarters in Peshawar.
Militants terrorised shopkeepers
selling women's garments and cosmetics in Sangair Bazaar in
Hangu District and ordered them to remove curtains and blinds
from their shops or they would bomb them. The militants also
warned market traders not to allow women unaccompanied by men
into their shops, or the militants would act against the traders.
The KP Government directed the
Provincial Police Department to implement new defensive Standing
Operating Procedures (SOPs) approved by the KP cabinet on May
2, 2012, and meant to boost counter-terrorism efforts.
Unidentified armed persons shot
dead two pro-government elders, Malik Khan Mohammad and Malik
Islam Khan, in Shah Khani area of Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur
Agency.
A NATO container driver was
killed in firing incident by unidentified militants in Tedi
Bazaar area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Abdullah Azzam Brigade claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Abu Zarar, the spokesperson of the militant outfit, threatened
to target security personnel in the future if they continued
to provide security to the NATO supplies.
Six persons were injured as
mortar shells were fired at their house from unidentified location
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
The pro-government Maulvi Nazeer
group of TTP arrested several cadres of Ghulam Jan group after
a clash at Wana Bazaar in South Waziristan Agency.
The tribesmen of Mamond tehsil
in Bajaur Agency are backing the Army's efforts to purge
the Agency of militants and expressed a readiness to counter
attacks by militants who were attacking from across the border.
Four under-trial prisoners escaped
from a jail in Astore District (Gilgit Baltistan). DIG of Police
Ali Sher said that the four inmates fled through a hole they
made in the roof of their cell. The prisoners also wounded a
jail official.
The DIG also said the Police
have arrested another suspect in connection with a bomb attack
on a commuter van in Gilgit on August 5 that left one passenger
dead and four injured. The arrest has increased the total number
of people arrested in the case to 11.
The TTP threatened to kill PTI
leader, Imran Khan, if he holds a planned march to Waziristan
in September 2012 to protest US) drone attacks. Although the
TTP also oppose the strikes, spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said
they would attack Imran Khan because he calls himself a "liberal"
a term they associate with a lack of religious belief.
August 7
Four SF personnel of the Balochistan
Constabulary were killed and 12 others injured in a bomb attack
near the Sami area in Kech District.
FC personnel recovered huge
cache of arms, including three SMG rifles, two pistols and over
995 rounds, during a raid in Landi I area of Chaghai District
close to Iran border.
Unidentified militants attacked
a checkpost of FC in Dolwai area of Barkhan District. No loss
of life was reported.
Two unidentified tortured dead
bodies stuffed in gunny sacks were discovered from two separate
areas of Pak Colony in Karachi. According to Police, one dead
body was found from under a bridge, while the other from near
Lyari River.
Police claimed to have arrested
a Jabbar Jengo -Lyari gang criminal, identified as Sayyed Pathan,
who was allegedly wanted for organized crime ranging from armed
gang-wars to 40 targeted killings and also busted his den in
Mauripur area on Hawkesbay Road. Police also seized firearms
including a handgun, a pump-action shotgun, and a 7MM rifle
in the raid conducted.
Sindh Government banned pillion
riding on motorbikes under Section 144 in Karachi from August
8, 2012, to August 11, 2012, and carrying of weapons in public.
The ban is meant to maintain law and order during the processions
commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali (RA), the fourth Caliph
of Islam on August 10, 2012.
Malik Najeebullah Khan, a senior
member of Mamond Peace Committee, and his driver were injured
when a roadside remote controlled bomb, planted by unidentified
militants, exploded in the border area of Gardi Bagh in Mamond
tehsil in the morning.
NATO container was partially
damaged in a blast along Jamrud bypass road in Jamrud tehsil
of Khyber Agency. The driver and his assistant remained unhurt.
SFs recovered a cache of arms
and ammunition during a raid on a warehouse near the local grid
station in Bara. The members of local peace committee also assisted
SFs in the search operation.
Nepki Khel Peace Jirga
has decided to form new strategy for combating terrorism in
Swat District and expressed the resolve to stand side by side
with Pakistan Army for the maintenance of peace.
Pakistan's military brass would
make a final decision on the North Waziristan operation in the
next Corps Commanders Conference which is scheduled to be held
sometime in August 2012. According to the informed officials
at a Security Agency, two options are likely to be discussed
in the moot: the launch of a full-scale military offensive with
the logistical support of ISAF, or a curtailed crackdown in
the area through intelligence sharing between the two forces.
The Peshawar High Court put
on notice the DG ISI, Regional Director MI and Police officials
in the missing persons' cases to explain the whereabouts of
the detainees picked up by the spy agencies. The bench asked
the respondents to inform the court about the whereabouts of
the missing persons.
The Security Agencies declared
that the NATO containers parked near Chakri in Rawalpindi District
of Punjab were at a security risk. The sources said the containers
were parked near Chakri due to blockade of NATO supply to Afghanistan
after the November 26, 2011, US raid on Salala checkpost. The
large number of containers parked in the area, have provoked
the sentiments of locals as well as religious elements.
Civil Defence staff foiled a
terrorism bid by defusing a two-pound bomb planted on an oil
tanker in Layyah District. According to details, the tanker's
driver, Abdul Rehman, spotted the bomb on his vehicle.
The Army said that it was carrying
out targeted actions against militants in North Waziristan Agency,
but denied planning joint operations with the US. "Targeted
actions in Operation Tight Screw (OTS) by Pakistan Army against
militants in North Waziristan … being undertaken since the beginning
of this year," a senior military officer said.
JUP Senior Vice President Shah
Mohammad Owais Noorani Siddiqui while addressing press conference
along with Jama'at Ahle Sunnat Ulema from Quetta, Khuzdar, Mastung,
Kalat, at Karachi Press Club in Karachi alleged that US- CIA,
Indian-R&AW and Israeli-Mossad, were responsible for present
grave situation in Balochistan created under a planned conspiracy.
Pakistan's Goodwill Ambassador
for Eradication of Polio Aseefa Bhutto Zardari stated that TTP
would not be allowed to disrupt the anti-polio campaign. She
said, "We will not allow this to happen. We will have a polio-free
Pakistan." Aseefa said that her mother, Benazir Bhutto, had
started the campaign to eradicate polio from Pakistan.
August 8
Nine persons, including three
paramilitary soldiers and a major, were injured on in a remote-controlled
blast of an improvised explosive device near an under-construction
bridge near Board Bazaar of Peshawar.
An activist of PPP, identified
as Salman Baloch, and his companion Rizwan, were injured when
a hand grenade kept in a car they were travelling in exploded
in Gulberg area of Karach.
Police arrested to two suspects
and seized a large quantity of explosives, including 20 kilogrammes
of high explosives, eight small IEDs and some hand-grenades
in a raid on a house at Jinnah Town in Quetta. Police said.
Police said that the suspects arrested belonged to a militant
outfit involved in sectarian killings.
Wazir Muhammad Ali Khan, the
GB IGP said that to counter the growing threats of terrorism
in GB, intelligence sharing will be increased in the region.
"The role of intelligence agencies is very important and we
are trying to expand it in order to become aware of threats
beforehand," said Khan.
Pakistan may release a key Afghan
Taliban 'commander' to provide impetus to Afghanistan's ongoing
reconciliation efforts with the Taliban, a move signalling Islamabad's
latest approach to seek an end to the decade-long conflict in
its neighbouring country. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was
arrested in Karachi in February 2010, is ranked second in influence
to Taliban head honcho Mullah Omar. American officials believe
that in addition to overseeing the Taliban's military operations,
Mullah Baradar was the head of the so-called Quetta Shura.
The Federal Ministry of Interior
withheld more than 2,000 passports of citizens from FATA and
KP for possible terror links and other anti-state activities,
official sources said. About 700 KP passports and 1,300 from
FATA and the frontier regions were withheld.
The Lahore District Government
notified a ban on pillion riding on Ramazan 20-21, as a security
measure for Youm-i-Ali, when Shias will take out a procession
to mark the martyrdom of Hazart Ali (RA).
At least 3,898 people, including
1,705 civilians, 485 Security Forces personnel and 1,708 terrorists,
have lost their lives in terrorist violence in the country during
the first seven months of the year. The months of June and July
proved to be the most fatal for civilians and January for the
SFs.
Hearing a case about detention
of missing prisoners in internment centres, the Supreme Court
on August 8 urged the Federal and Provincial Governments to
extend the superior courts' jurisdiction to FATA. A three-member
bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard an application for recovery
of a missing person who was allegedly abducted by security agencies
after his release from the Adiala Jail in 2010.
The ISI agency has an annual
budget of USD 300-400 million and despite drastic reductions
in personnel "is now assumed (to have a) base strength of approximately
4,000 (people)", German scholar Hein Kiessling. Kiessling, who
represented the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation (Munich) in Pakistan
from 1989 to 2002, has written this in a collection of essays
in "Revisiting Contemporary South Asia". "The (real) ISI budget
is top secret, only a few people know the figure," he says.
The supply to US-led NATO forces
stationed in Afghanistan via Chaman border was restored after
a suspension of 18 days. About 20 NATO containers, which had
earlier been parked at the container terminal in Chaman for
18 days, crossed into Afghanistan from the Pakistani sides.
A Congressional Report of Congressional
Research Service (CRS) reported that primarily aimed at India,
Pakistan is making qualitative and quantitative improvements
to its nuclear arsenal and "could increase the number of circumstances
under which it would be willing to use nuclear weapons". "Pakistan
appears to be increasing its fissile production capability and
improving its delivery vehicles in order to hedge against possible
increases in India's nuclear arsenal.
August 9
Nine militants were killed and
13 others injured when Security Forces repulsed a cross-border
attack near Teripao Kandao in Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two security personnel died when a landmine exploded near the
border area.
A house and a private clinic
were damaged when a powerful improvised explosive device exploded
at Scheme Chowk in the limits of Badhber Police Station in Peshawar.
It was learnt that owner of the building had close association
with the leaders of Bazidkhel Qaumi Lashkar and he might have
been targeted by militants.
Another bomb planted at a motorbike
that was parked in the middle of Matani Bazaar was defused by
Police.
A key 'commander' of Swat chapter
of TTP and a close aide of Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah,
Ehsanullah Ehsan, was arrested during a raid by SFs from a house
near the Marhati area under Akora Khattak Police Station in
Nowshera District.
One soldier was killed and seven
others injured when militants attacked an Army convoy in the
Qandharo area of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
An official of Khasadar Force,
identified as Gul Amin, was killed when an improvised explosive
device went off in Sandokhel area of Safi tehsil.
Militants blew up a government-run
Primary School in Mattan Kor of Yakaghund area in Mohmand Agency,
increasing the number of schools destroyed in the area to 100.
However, no casualties were reported.
Quetta Police seized a huge
quantity of explosives and suicide jackets and arrested three
suspects foiling a bid of terror in a raid on the outskirts
Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The TTP urged the senior clerics
in a letter to issue a fatwa (religious edict) against democratic
system and SFs, and explain why the TTP had rebelled against
the state. A copy of the letter read, "Please go through this
letter and help the Muslims know the Taliban stance," read the
six-page letter in Urdu, sent by TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.
The letter appealed to the sentiments
of clerics by mentioning how the army was killing the "mujahideen"
who, it said, were fighting for enforcement of God's law in
Pakistan. The TTP letter also complained about the clerics who
were "silent" when the government was publicly acknowledging
being a "front-line ally of America and NATO".
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
chief Imran Khan showed resilience by saying that his party
will carry on with the scheduled protest March into Waziristan
despite death threats from TTP.
Meanwhile, the TTP said they
had not threatened to kill cricketer-turned-politician Imran
Khan if he holds a march to Waziristan, and blamed a Western
news agency for falsely reporting the threat. TTP 'spokesman'
Ehsanullah Ehsan said a militant shura will decide on a response
to the march planned by Khan's PTI party only a week before
it reaches the tribal areas.
The Supreme Court sought the
detention record of 11 prisoners scooped up by the Intelligence
Agencies from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after being acquitted
on charges of attacking the General Headquarters (GHQ) and Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI)'s Hamza Camp.
August 10
13 militants were killed and
eight others got injured when warplanes pounded in Bootakhel
and Toorsimath areas of Mamozai areas in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Four hideouts were destroyed in shelling which continued for
over an hour. Security personnel also recovered a cache of arms
and explosive during a search operation in Fwah Darra and Sangrha
areas.
A local tribesman, Malak, who
went missing a few days earlier, was found dead in a small canal
in Jamrud of Khyber Agency. Source said the deceased Malak,
was a resident of Shah Kas Jamrud and had gone missing few days
ago.
The tribal elders in Khar tehsil
of Bajaur Agency decided to form more peace committees and increase
volunteer patrols in local sensitive areas to counter militancy.
The Member National Assembly
from Bara and leader of FATA joint parliamentary group Hamidullah
Jan Afridi has demanded immediate lifting of curfew in Qambarkhel
area and opening of all important routes in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire at a NATO container en route to Chaman town in Qilla
Abdullah District from Karachi (Sindh), injuring the driver
of the container, identified as Abdul Rehman and his helper,
Muhammad Naeem and setting it on fire in the Dasht area of Mastung
District.
The US Embassy in Islamabad
10 issued a notice to its citizens in the country to be careful
during the August 14 Independence Day celebrations and Eid-ul
Fitr (August 19-20) as it senses potential attacks from militant
and sectarian groups present in the country.
Intelligence reports states
that the TTP may attack the Pakistan Air Force Base and other
security installations in Lahore before Eid to avenge the August
1, 2012 killing of its commander, Ghaffar Qaiserani, at Dera
Ghazi Khan.
The TTP described the Government
as "liberal and secular" and said they will not hold talks with
any political party, including the Awami National Party (ANP)
that rules the north western Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. TTP
spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that an offer of talks from
the ANP was misleading and that the militants considered the
incumbent rulers liberals and secular and thus "not sincere
to the cause of Islam".
August 11
Five more people were shot dead
in separate acts of violence in different parts of Karachi.
A teenager, identified as Bilal, was gunned down by two armed
pillion riders, outside his house at Orangi Town within the
jurisdiction of Pirabad Police Station.
Unidentified culprits shot dead
an abducted unidentified man at Kamil Gali within the limits
of Kharadar Police Station. Police officials said that the man
was killed after being kidnapped.
A man, identified as Anchar,
was shot dead at Wazir Goth within the limits of Sohrab Goth
Police Station.
Two unidentified men were killed
in separate acts of violence in Liaquatabad and New Karachi
areas.
Unidentified militants shot
dead two activists of Amn Lashkar in Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA. According to sources, an armed clash
occurred between militants and Amn Lashkar when the militants
attacked the Amn Lashkar's compound. A militant was also killed
during the clash.
A leader of ANP, Mir Bahadur
Khan, and his nephew, Nazakat Khan, were shot dead near Bara
Banda area of Nowshera District.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that Kabul is more important for Pakistan than Washington.
Hina ascertained fate of Pakistan was attached to Afghanistan
being a neighbour and Pakistan always seeks friendly and close
relations with its neighbouring polities.
The US President Barack Obama
signed into law a congressional bill requiring the administration
to declare the Haqqani Network a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.
President Obama signed the Haqqani Network Terrorist Designation
Act of 2012 into law.
August 12
Ten militants were killed and
four others injured when jet fighters bombed their hideouts
in Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA. However, one TTP
'spokesman' Hafiz Saeed said that warplanes had only bombed
empty houses and no one was killed.
A remote-controlled bomb attack
killed three soldiers in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan Agency.
Three soldiers suffered injuries
and their vehicle was damaged when a remote-controlled explosive
device planted along the main road in the Khwaja Kher area of
FR Bannu.
Five persons, including a Policeman
and an activist each of the MQM and ST, were killed in separate
incidents of target killing in Karachi. An MQM activist, identified
as Jhanzaib (27) was shot dead near Zia Uddin Hospital, North
Nazimabad within the jurisdiction of Hyderi Police Station.
Another man, identified as Hammad
(28), was shot dead at Pehelwan Goth within the limits of Shahrah-e-Faisal
Police Station.
A quack doctor's bullet-riddled
dead body, identified as that of Sajid Khan (30), was found
from a gunny bag abandoned in Ilyas Goth, within the remit of
Ibrahim Hyderi Police Station.
Two Police Inspectors, identified
as Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Munir Zad and brother Sher
Zad who was an ASI Crime Branch, were injured in a targeted
attack near their house situated in Landhi, within the limits
of Sharafi Goth. Later, Sher Zad succumbed to his injuries.
An ST worker, Muhammad Arif
(29), was shot dead at Power House Chowrangi, New Karachi within
the precincts of New Karachi Police Station.
Three passersby were injured
when a hand grenade was hurdled at Ali Hardware Shop situated
at UP Morr, North Karachi, over refusal to pay extortion in
the jurisdiction of Sir Syed Police Station.
Rangers and Police claimed to
have detained at least 50 suspects in targeted operations conducted
in the areas of Pak Colony, Jehanabad, Lashari Mohalla, Magsi
Mohalla and Baloch Mohalla.
Police recovered two bodies
from the Mera Kachuri area under Chamkani Police Station of
Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A member of village defence
committee in Maidan area of Lower Dir District, identified as
Khan Shehzada was killed when unidentified assailants opened
fire on him at Gumbat Banda area.
The driver of a security vehicle,
identified as Sajjad, was killed and a security official, identified
as Gul Rehman was injured when the vehicle hit a landmine laid
by unidentified militants in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District.
Three people were wounded in
a blast in the Rakhani area of Barkhan District.
At least two Pakistani nationals,
identified as Muhammad Safi and Ameen, were injured allegedly
by shelling and firing from Iranian SFs at the Pakistan-Iran
border in Washuk District.
Militants fired three rocket-propelled
grenades (RPGs) from nearby mountains in different areas of
Kalat District.
Two RPGs were shot at a military
encampment in Panjgur District. No casualties were reported.
Police arrested an owner of
a shop in Dalbandin area of Chagai District from where they
seized a toy bomb and hundreds of illegal mobile phone SIMs.
Afghan and NATO forces foiled
a series of suicide attacks on Kabul planned for when they captured
five militants allegedly linked to militant outfits in Pakistan.
The group was "finalising plans for an attack in the capital"
and a large cache of explosives, suicide vest parts, weapons
and ammunition were seized in the overnight operation, NATO's
ISAF said.
As a fresh confrontation appeared
imminent between PPP Government and the judiciary, former PM
Yousuf Raza Gilani warned that this time the ruling party will
not take any "unconstitutional" move by the Supreme Court against
his successor "lying down". Gilani, the vice-chairman of the
PPP, said that if PM Raja Pervez Ashraf is dismissed by the
apex court, the PPP would not accept the verdict.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
the Pakistani people and Parliament must be watchful against
"new forms of assaults" on the constitution, against the backdrop
of a standoff between the Government and the judiciary. Zardari
made the remarks in a message issued to mark Pakistan's Independence
Day (August 14).
August 13
Five people, including three
activists of the ANP were killed, while another activist sustained
severe injuries in an attack in the Frontier Colony No-1 of
the Peerabad Police jurisdiction in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. According to the details, armed men shot at
and injured ANP leader, Ameer Sardar, and three other party
activists while they were sitting outside a house. The victims
were identified as Bakht Nawaz, Rehmat Ali alias Toor Khan and
Zahid Khan. According to the information of the party, Ameer
Sardar and the three others died later. However, the hospital
claimed that Ameer Sardar was in a critical condition, but still
breathing.
Unidentified militants killed
a man named Waqas while he was outside his house near a rickshaw
stand in Lines area. Investigators termed the murder of Waqas
as a target killing and added that there were reports that he
supported a political party.
A tortured and bullet-riddled
unidentified dead body of man was retrieved from the main Garden
Road in the Officers Colony. According to the investigations
of the law enforcers, the victim was abducted from another area
and tortured before his body was thrown in the Nabi Bux Police
jurisdiction.
A trader identified as Hasnain
(40) and his son Qadir (11), suffered bullet injures in the
SITE-B Police remits. Police said that the attack was an attempted
target killing.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
were found in the coalmine area of Margat in Bolan District.
One body was identified as that of Doctor Haider Ali, who belongs
to Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Official sources said
that Doctor Ali, had been abducted 40 days back from the Margat
coalmine area. BLA through a letter found in Doctor Ali's pocket
claimed they had killed him because he had allegedly been working
for military intelligence.
At least 12 people were injured
when a bomb hidden under a cot exploded near a restaurant where
people had gathered to celebrate Pakistan's Independence Day
in Quetta. The explosive device, fitted with a timer, was placed
outside the restaurant in Quetta, local Police Chief Mir Zubair
Mehmood said.
An officer of Balochistan Levies,
identified as Zahoor Ahmed, sustained injuries in a blast in
Kohlu District. According to the Levies, explosive material
was attached with the Levies station in Kohlu, which exploded.
Unidentified militants fired
three rockets from an unidentified location in Kalat District.
The first rocket hit the wall of a house in Kalat the second
hit the PTCL Exchange Quarters wall and third crashed in a desolated
place.
Unidentified militants blew
up a railway track in Naushki District. Resultantly, a seven-foot
portion of the track was destroyed and the railway line was
disconnected with Zahidan in Iran.
A member of a Tablighi Jamaat
was killed and another injured when unidentified assailants
attacked them inside a mosque in the border area of Saro Wano
in Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Following threats from the TTP,
mobile cell-phone dealers fearing attacks from the militant
group in Landikotal Bazaar of Khyber Agency have shut down shops.
A pamphlet in Urdu distributed by the TTP in Landikotal Bazaar
said that the mobile dealers in the market were promoting vulgarity
by uploading obscene movies, songs and ringtones in cell phones,
which they said were un-Islamic.
An explosive device planted
outside the house of a displaced family went off in Kando Killay
near the Hangu bypass road in Hangu Town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, no casualty was reported.
Police foiled two separate attempts
of terrorism by getting three explosive devices defused in Nar
Raza Khan and Tajazai areas of the Lakki Marwat District. A
police official said people of Nar Raza Khan Village near Naurang
town informed Police about suspected material lying by a tube
well.
The Interior Ministry denied
newspaper reports that an Afghan delegation had held meetings
with Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in Pakistan two months ago.
Although the story published in Dawn's August 13, 2012, issue
stated that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had confirmed the
development, a spokesman for the ministry said no confirmation
was made by the Minister.
Donations to the TTP during
Ramadan have declined steeply compared to past years, Maulvi
Mullah Noor Khaliq, a prayer leader in a mosque with 500 men,
on University Road in Peshawar, contended. The public's doubt
that terrorists deserve charitable donations, he said.
Pakistan told the US military
officials that it plans to launch combat operations against
Taliban militants soon in a tribal area near the Afghan border
that also serves as a haven for leaders of the al Qaeda-affiliated
Haqqani Network, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said.
The US long has been frustrated
by Islamabad's refusal to target Afghan Taliban militants and
their allies using Pakistani territory to stage attacks against
US and coalition troops in Afghanistan. Panetta said he did
not know when the Pakistani operation would start, but he said
he understands it will be in the "near future," and that the
main target will be the Afghan Taliban, rather than the Haqqani
Network.
August 14
Around 20 militants and five
soldiers were killed in a clash in Ghaljo area of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. According to military officials, the skirmish took
place in the Ghaljo area of Orakzai as militants ambushed a
military patrol. Eighteen soldiers were wounded in the ambush,
the officials said.
A complete shutter down strike
was observed throughout the Baloch-dominated Districts of Balochistan
on the call of BNF to denounce the Independence Day celebrations
in the face of volatile situation in the province. The call
for strike was also supported by other major nationalist parties,
including the BRP and BNM, which termed August 14 "black day"
to protest what they regarded the oppressive state policy and
continued "kill-and-dump" policy of the Baloch youth.
A possible terrorism bid was
averted when a 20-kilogram remote-controlled bomb planted near
a shopping centre in Karachi's busy Hyderi market area was defused.
The Mauripur Police arrested
an alleged targeted killer who was involved in a number of target
killing cases. Acting on the tip-off, a Police team conducted
a raid and after a brief encounter arrested Abdul Hameed alias
CIA Wala. He is reported to be associated with Razzak Commando
group, besides having the backing of a political party. During
the initial interrogation, the suspect told the Police that
he had killed 25 people, including two PPP workers.
District East Police detained
a man from Saudabad, Malir for his involvement in at least a
dozen target killings. An official informed that the accused,
Zafar alias Ganja, belonged to the MQM-H and had been involved
in the killings of at least dozen workers of the rival political
party.
An anti-terrorism court in Sibi
District of Balochistan issued non-bailable arrest warrants
of all the nominated accused in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder
case. The court ordered for immediate arrest of all the accused
and also issued fresh non-bailable warrants of former Balochistan
Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yusuf, who was granted bail by the
Balochistan High Court up to September 3, and former Interior
Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, who was granted transit bail by
the Peshawar High Court. The hearing was adjourned till September
5.
August 15
Six dead bodies dumped in gunnysacks
were recovered from three separate places in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew
up the building of a Government school at Katbano village in
Mardan District. The structure and outer wall of the building
were damaged.
Unidentified militants tired
to blew up the power transmission line from Tarbela Dam to Peshawar
in Marghuz area in Swabi District.
Police recovered large quantity
of explosives from a car and arrested three people in Shabqadar
area of Charsadda District. The explosives included 683 dynamites
and 780 safety fuses.
At least two Police Officers
were killed and five others, including cashier of a bank, were
injured in an attack on van carrying cash in Bareet area of
Awaran District of Balochistan. Police said that cash over PKR
2.8 million remained safe and the assailants could not succeed
to take it away.
One man was killed and eight
others injured in a bomb blast on Joint Road near the railway
station of Quetta.
A man, identified as Ramzan,
was killed when unidentified assailants riding a motorbike opened
fire in Jam Colony in Hub.
Armed men sprayed a vehicle
with bullets in Mashkel, a bordering town near Iran. Resultantly,
one woman, identified as the wife of local resident Muhammad
Iqbal, was killed and another passenger sustained injuries.
A civilian was killed and five
Levies Force personnel sustained injuries when the militants
attacked Ghaiba Khwar checkpost in Halimzai tehsil in Mohmand
Agency of FATA. Official sources said that the soldiers repulsed
the attack.
A soldier was killed and three
others received injuries in a landmine blast in Sra Garahi area
of Kurram Agency. The four SF personnel were on routine patrol
in the area.
A passenger van was targeted
by a landmine, planted by suspected militants in Bagzai area.
Two passengers suffered injuries in the explosion.
SFs arrested 10 suspected militants
and recovered a cache of arms and explosives during a search
operation in Mamozai area in Orakzai Agency.
Eight employees of the Gomal
Zam Dam project were abducted from Murtaza Goth area of South
Waziristan Agency. Sources said the project workers were on
two pick-ups coming to Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from
the dam site in South Waziristan Agency.
Authorities have moved more
than two dozen notorious militants of the TTP from prisons in
Karachi and Hyderabad to far-flung institutions in Sindh Province
after security agencies alerted them to the TTP's plan to raid
prisons in an effort to free its members.
To forestall any jailbreaks,
authorities have shifted about 28 hardened TTP militants to
Larkana, Sukkur and Jacobabad, he said, adding they are holding
them in separate cells. The most notorious of the transferred
inmates are Akram Lahori, Waseem Baroodi, Ishtiaq Bajwa and
Ataullah, who were involved in several bombings and masterminded
terrorist attacks, Mahmood said.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have
agreed to send a joint military team to investigate a recent
surge in cross-border attacks that have soured relations between
the two neighbours, Kabul said. Afghanistan President Hamid
Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari took the decision
on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit
in Saudi Arabia on August 14, Karzai's office said.
The US Secretary of Defence
Leon Panetta acknowledged progress towards improvement in coordination
along the Afghan border, where militant sanctuaries "exist on
both sides". "We're also encouraged, frankly, that Pakistan
has now taken a more positive, visible step to advance our shared
objective of a secure and peaceful Afghanistan," Panetta said
at a Pentagon news conference.
Terming judiciary similar to
dictators, former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said sarcastically that
there was no need of elections as the judges want to govern
the country. He said, "We have fought against all dictators
and were always successful, but today the judiciary has become
a dictator." Gilani said that if the prime minister's decisions
were taken by the judges, then elections were a mere drama,
because it was the judiciary which would choose premiers.
Yousuf Raza Gilani advised Prime
Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf not to appear before the Supreme
Court in NRO implementation case. Gilani said the apex court
had not set right precedents in the past which is reflecting
through current crises in the country.
August 16
Militants forced passengers
to step out of three buses in the Lulusar area of Manshera District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and shot dead 25 of them in an apparent
sectarian attack. The officials said as many as 15 militants
wearing army uniforms checked the identification cards of the
passengers and then opened fire after learning they were Shias.
The TTP claimed responsibility of killing. In a message, TTP
Dara Adam Khel/ Khyber Agency chapter 'spokesman' Muhammad Afridi
said that the people killed were Shias who are involved in killing
Sunnis against the will of Islam. "We will target them in the
future," he said.
Nine terrorists and two security
officials were killed when SFs foiled their attack on Minhas
PAF base of Kamra in Attock District of Punjab. Earlier, it
was reported that seven militants and one official was killed.
One plane was damaged in the pre-dawn assault claimed by the
TTP. TTP 'spokesperson' Ehsanullah Ehsan has said that four
suicide bombers had carried out the attack to take revenge for
the killings of Baitullah Mehsud and Osama bin Laden. He claimed
that the attackers had succeeded in achieving their targets
and had given a "lethal blow".
PAF said nine attackers dressed
in military uniforms and armed with rocket propelled-grenades
and suicide vests targeted the base and adjacent Pakistan Aeronautical
Complex at 2am. The adjacent complex assembles Mirage and, with
Chinese help, JF-17 fighter jets.
The attack on the PAF base in
Kamra was the fourth such attack since 2007 bombing of a bus
near the entrance, followed by rocket attacks on the base in
2008, and a suicide bombing on a service road leading to the
base in 2009.
As many as three Shias were
shot dead on Arbab Karam Khan Road in the Sariab Police Station
area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. According
to Police, the three men belonging to Hazara community were
going somewhere in a rickshaw when unidentified assailants opened
fire on the vehicle near the Farooq Mill area of Arbab Karam
Khan Road.
Three persons, including a Policeman,
were injured while an ANP leader escaped unhurt in a bomb attack
near the Frontier Colony of Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
Basheer Jan, a local leader
of ANP, was travelling in his car when two men riding a motorcycle
threw a hand grenade at his vehicle near the Frontier Colony.
Basheer Jan escaped unhurt, however, his Police guard and two
others were injured in the incident.
One The Express Tribune report
said that Karachi, it seems, didn't turn out to be a safe retreat
for pro-government Pashtun leaders seeking to escape the vengeful
Taliban in Swat and tribal areas - refugee-militants have begun
targeting Awami National Party workers in the metropolis. The
most recent attack was on ANP Sindh central working committee
member Amir Sardar, who hailed from Thana, Malakand. Sardar
(55), who was associated with the ANP for over 30 years, was
shot dead, along with two other ANP Sindh activists, near his
home in SITE Town, Karachi, on August 13.
The Peshawar High Court sought
a detailed report from the Government regarding losses occurred
due to drone strikes in FATA and adjourned the case until August
19. A divisional bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad
Khan and Justice Rohul Amin Khan passed these orders on a writ
petition by FM Sabir, DPC and FFR against drone attacks in FATA
and the subsequent killing of "innocent" people.
A senior military commander,
Corps Commander Lieutenant General Khalid Rabbani, dismissed
as 'speculative' reports of an impending military operation
in the militants-infested North Waziristan and insisted that
no decision had been taken so far. "It doesn't seem so," responded
Corps Commander Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani when asked if a military
operation in North Waziristan tribal region was imminent. "No
such decision is in front of me," he said.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf said that
the Government was taking measures to include the Baloch leadership
in mainstream politics so that they could play their role in
nation building. Talking to Science and Technology Minister
Mir Changez Khan Jamali at Prime Minister's House, Raja said
that development of Balochistan was priority of the Government.
President Asif Ali Zardari urged
the world and particularly the heads of Muslim States and Governments
to join Pakistan in appealing to all the groups in Afghanistan
to join reconciliation and peace process. Addressing the fourth
extraordinary Islamic summit in Makkah, Zardari said that Pakistan
had been seriously affected by the unrest in Afghanistan, adding
that the fallout of the Mujahideen resistance to the former
Soviet Union was still haunting Pakistan.
President Asif Ali Zardari appealed
to Ulema all over the world to issue a solemn declaration (Fatwa)
against suicide attacks and forces that supported such attacks.
Addressing the fourth extraordinary summit of the Organisation
of Islamic Conference in Makkah, he said Muslim countries needed
to fight collectively against suicide bombings and the mindset
that promoted them.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry said that all the State institutions were bound to
give due respect to the constitutional norm of independence
of judiciary as envisaged in the very preamble of the constitution.
He said that despite several impediments, the courts in Pakistan
were fully aware of their constitutional responsibilities of
safeguarding democracy and the constitution.
August 17
Two persons lost their lives
and 18 others sustained injuries after a roadside bomb went
off when participants were on their way to Youm-e-Quds rally
near Safari Park on University Road in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. Deputy Inspector General (East) Shahid Hayat
said that the bombing occurred at around 3:15pm when a vehicle
JA-8210 carrying a large number of participants reached near
the park.
An activist of MQM was shot
dead while other sympathisers were injured near Siddique-e-Akbar
Mosque area of Nagan Chowrangi within the limits of New Karachi
Police Station. SHO Ashraf Gujjar said that the two armed motorcyclist
reached near Siddique-e-Akbar Mosque and opened targeted firing.
Another MQM activist Farhan
Gilani (30), son of Nisar Gilani, was gunned down in Sector
11 area of Orangi Town within the precincts of Pakistan Bazaar
Police Station.
A Police constable posted at
Pak Colony Police Station was killed in a firing incident at
Gulbahar area within the limits of Pak Colony Police Station.
A young man Abbas Raza, son
of Aqeel Raza, belonging to the Shia sect was gunned down in
a targeted killing incident in Petal Wali Gali within Gulbahar
Police remits.
A cable operator, identified
as 40-year-old Raheem Baloch, son of Abdul Kareem Baloch, was
also killed when he was standing near his home in Naval Colony
within the limits of Saeedabad Police Station.
In another act of target killing
in Saeedabad Police remits, a hairdresser was gunned down at
his barbershop in Yousuf Goth. He was identified as Shahzad
Baloch (3)0.
A bandit was shot dead during
encounter near Farooq Azam Mosque, while his accomplices were
arrested within Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan Police Station. The slain
bandit was identified as Chawani and his arrested accomplice
was identified as Habibullah.
Pieces of an MQM activist body
were found from different parts of Lyari. Police said that unidentified
assailants abdcuted him and after torturing him, cut his body
into pieces and threw them at different areas of Lyari.
The dead body of a man, identified
as Iqbal (50), son of Mohammad Khan, was also found from inside
his home in Nayabad within the limits of Kalri Police Station.
At least eight terrorists were
killed and four others injured in clashes with SFs in Mamuzai
area of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Two security officials also
sustained injuries in the attacks. According to details, the
clashes occurred when militants ambushed SFs during a routine
search in Mulbar area tehsil Mor City Zara of Mamuzai area.
Two blasts injured at least
13 civilians in Sadda city in the Kurram Agency. A bomb hidden
in a hand cart exploded at the main bazaar when local residents
were busy with Eid shopping after Friday prayers, said Muhammad
Arif, political administrator of Sadda.
Four bodies, including that
of a father and son, were found in Yakh Ghund area of Mohmand
Agency. According to political administration in Mohmand, the
deceased were identified as Jannat Khan, his son Zahir and two
relatives named Dedan and Ahsanullah.
One person, identified as Noor
Khan, was killed and two others sustained injuries when unidentified
assailants opened indiscriminate fire on a shop located in Irrigation
Colony area of Sariab Road in Quetta.
A man, Allah Bakhsh, was killed
in Surab area of Kalat District. Levies Force sources said the
deceased, Allah Bakhsh, was heading to Surab from Gidar on a
motorbike when unidentified assailants opened fire on him.
The Darra Adamkhel chapter of
the TTP announced setting of its new "Fidai" wing "Al-Mansooreen"
for carrying out suicide attacks all over the country. Mohammad,
the 'spokesman' of the TTP Darra Adamkhel, phoned reporters
in Kohat from an undisclosed place to announce that "Al-Mansooreen"
had already despatched its commandoes to different parts of
Pakistan for undertaking their mission.
The Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that four of the militants who attacked the
Minhas Airbase Kamra had been identified. Speaking to reporters,
he said the attack on the Kamra Airbase and other terrorist
attacks could be traced back to North Waziristan Agency, adding
that TTP were giving refuge to criminals from across the border.
Militant outfits have chalked
out a plan to hit Islamabad and Lahore simultaneously with the
collaboration of the Afghan NDS, sources in the Interior Ministry
said, quoting the report of an intelligence agency. "Attacks,
using explosive laden trucks, will be launched in Islamabad
and Lahore at the same time," sources said, adding that the
key leader of a terrorist outfit, Yaseen, was the mastermind
of these vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attacks.
The COAS General Ashfaq Parvaiz
Kayani ruled out any joint Pakistan-US operation against militants
in North Waziristan, saying such an operation would be unacceptable
to the people and armed forces of Pakistan. According to an
ISPR statement issued after a meeting between General Kayani
and US CENTCOM Commander General James N Mattis, the Army Chief
categorically dispelled the speculative reporting in the US
media regarding an understanding given to ISAF Commander General
John Allen about Pakistan Army's readiness to launch joint operations
in NWA.
Earlier on August 13, US Defence
Secretary Leon Panetta said that Pakistan had decided to launch
a military operation against the TTP in North Waziristan but
the campaign was not against the Haqqani network.
Preparations for a military
push against hard-line militants in North Waziristan became
more explicit as a top American general arrived in Islamabad
to hold talks with his counterpart. General James N Mattis,
Commander of United States' CENTCOM, arrived in Islamabad on
August 16-evening and was expected to meet Army Chief General
Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani.
August 18
A fresh wave of sectarian and
ethnic killings claimed 15 more lives in the provincial capital
of Sindh, Karachi. Twelve men from Deoband school of thought
and three MQM activists were among the dead.
Unidentified men barged into
Taqwa Mosque in Gulberg and shot injured two members Qari Asif
and Qari Shakirullah of the mosque committee who succumbed to
their injuries later.
Three more Deobandi were shot
dead in Sector 5C-4 of North Karachi. Police said Maulana Muhammad
Yahya, Faizan Ilyas and Mujahid Aleem were sitting outside their
house when gunmen, riding motorcycles, opened fire on them.
The deceased were associated with Masjid-o-Madrassa Yasinul
Quran.
Armed motorcyclists opened fire
at a teashop in Disco Mor of North Karachi, killing five Deobandi.
Police said the victims were identified as Hafiz Syed Sharjeel
Ali, Noor Rasheed, Zahoor Ahmed, Shaukat and Atif Ali.
Another Deobandi, identified
as Qari Ahsan, was also gunned down in Gulberg in the limits
of Samanabad Police Station.
Another man from the Deoband
school of thought was killed near Baitul Mukaram Mosque, in
the vicinity of Aziz Bhatti Police Station. Identity of the
deceased could not be ascertained until the filing of this report.
An MQM activist, identified
as Afzal, was gunned down in Orangi Town within. Police said
Afzal was riding a motorcycle when at least two armed men, who
were also on a motorcycle, shot him dead.
A city warden, affiliated with
the MQM, was also gunned down in Baldia Town. The deceased,
Saifuddin, was on his way home in Saddar when at least four
armed men shot him dead.
Another MQM activist, Afzal,
was shot dead by unidentified men in Mansoor Nagar, Orangi Town.
At least six militants were
killed in a drone attacks in Shuwedar village in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA. Sources said that the missiles were fired when
people were gathering for a religious festivity on Eid.
Six persons including five security
officials were killed in a suicide car bomb explosion at Qambrani
Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Two truck drivers were killed
in Nagar Valley of Hunza-Nagar District. One of the victims
was identified as Muhammad Ishaque from Mohmand Agency of FATA.
In Skardu District, armed men
ambushed one Maulana Bashir, injuring him seriously.
An official of the Gilgit District
was shot at and injured by unidentified men in Gilgit.
A partial strike was observed
in Skardu, Gilgit and other Districts of the GB as business
centers, offices and educational institutions remained closed
and people avoided going outside their homes due to tension
in some areas.
A dead body was recovered in
Budhrani area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. According to Police figures, this is the 12th dead
body recovered from Peshawar in the month of August itself.
August 19
Thirteen suspected militants
were killed and nine others injured in two US drone attacks
on Mana village in the Shawal tehsil of North Waziristan Agency
in FATA. "The vehicles caught fire after being hit by the drones.
At least six militants were
killed and five others injured in jet planes shelling by SFs
on suspected militant hideouts in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency.
According to details, SFs targeted the suspected hideouts in
Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency with jet planes. Sources said
that the militants killed in the SFs' action belonged to the
TTP.
A former PPP MPA, Rahim Bux
Jamali, was shot at and severely injured by unidentified assailants
in a local mosque where he was observing Aitkaaf in Nawabshah
town of Shaheed Benazir Abad District in Sindh.
An attempt to blow up the Jaffer
Express near Kolpur railway station in Bolan District of Balochistan
was successfully foiled, when the train after being held up
for some hours left for its destination.
The mastermind of the Kamra
Airbase attack has been arrested. The suspect is believed to
have provided financial and logistical support for the airbase
attack. Sources also mentioned that a person named Tajammul
was also arrested from Kunarh area who gave residence to the
attacker in his home. Shahbaz, another close ally and relative
of Tajammul, who also arrested, is also believed to be involved
in planning the attack.
The suicide bomber who exploded
himself during the Kamra airbase attack has been identified
as Faisal Shahzad, a resident of Taxila.
The Government suspended cell
phone services in at least four major cities in the wake of
intelligence reports that terrorists may attempt to target key
installations in sensitive areas. The decision was taken in
response to a request by Provincial Governments on the eve of
Eidul Fitr, according to a press statement released by Federal
Minister of Interior Rehman Malik.
August 19
Gilgit Baltistan Council Member
Amjad Hussain in an interview said that killings in Gilgit are
an attempt to create discord and to promote anti-government
sentiments among the people of the region. He added that the
frequent killings have reinforced the impression that the state
machinery has either failed to control such acts or terrorism
or is deliberately letting them happen.
August 20
The Government Higher Secondary
School for girls located in Dab Kot village, South Waziristan
Agency of FATA, was blown up when explosive materials planted
near the building detonated.
The TTP warned the military
that it had set up a "suicide bombers squad" to hit troops if
an offensive was launched in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
TTP 'spokesman' Ehsanullah Ehsan outlined details about the
regiments and units and the possible commander for the campaign,
said to be launched on August 26 for one month.
Police sources disclosed the
suspected involvement of one group in incidents of violence
in Karachi. A preliminary report of investigation into the killings
submitted to the IG Sindh Police said that a group comprising
of six armed persons on three motorcycles was involved in all
the incidents.
August 21
Five militants were killed and
two others injured when an US drone fired missiles at a vehicle
near Shnakhura village in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. Sources
said the area of the drone attacks is dominated by Hafiz Gul
Bahadur group.
Three people were killed in
two separate incidents of firing in Gilgit Baltistan. Gunmen
shot dead two traders, Abdul Haleem and Mirza, near Sekwar area
on the outskirts of Gilgit city.
In the second incident, unidentified
armed men opened fire on FCB personnel deputed outside the deputy
commissioner office at Khomar, killing a man, identified as
Manzoor, on the spot and seriously injuring another, identified
as Shujaat.
A young man was shot dead by
unidentified assailants in the Khawaja Ajmer Nagri area of Karachi.
The dead body of an unidentified
man was recovered from a gunny bag in Risala near Civil hospital.
Police found an unidentified
body from a garbage dump near Askari Park in the old Sabzi Mandi
area.
August 22
Authorities made repeated announcements
through loudspeakers asking people not to open shops and remain
indoors, leaving roads deserted. An undeclared curfew was imposed
in Gilgit.
As many as two passersby were
killed and 16 others, including five women and four children,
were critically injured when a remote-controlled bomb went off
near Musa Colony on Sariab Road in Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan.
Three persons, identified as
Mohammad Khan, Lal Moham and Abdul Qadir, were abducted from
Bolan District. The abducted persons belong to the Rasinai tribe.
Two traders, identified as Abdul
Zarif and Mohammad Zahir, were abducted at gunpoint from Pishin
District while they were on their way to Pishin from Quetta.
At least 10 persons, including
children and women, got injured in mortar shelling in Shalobar
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
A bomb exploded in women's shopping
store in Khugakhel area of Landikotal. However, no casualty
was reported in the blast.
Three militants, Farazullah,
Shaiq Ali and Bakht Jamal, laid down arms before political administration
and pledged to remain peaceful in the future in Bajaur Agency.
Police arrested a militant,
identified as Imtiaz, during a raid in Lakki Marwat city in
Lakki Marwat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A Police official
said that Imtiaz who had links with TTP belonged to Kachi Kamar
village of the District and was also a prayer leader in Darra
Adamkhel.
In a fresh disclosure, a new
book has claimed that Abbottabad house where al Qaeda 'chief'
lived was "carved out" from Pakistan Military Academy compound
and its Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani may have been
briefed beforehand on the 'kill Osama mission'. 'Leading
from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors
Who Decide for Him', has been penned by eminent American
journalist Richard Miniter.
The Book, further, claims that
an officer of the ISI helped the CIA track down Osama Bin Laden.
In addition, the book said that the US President Barack Obama
put off three times operations to kill Osama bin Laden before
finally going ahead with the mission at the insistence of Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton.
August 23
Three Policemen were killed when a mobile van of Police patrolling
the highway linking Hangu District with Orakzai
and Kurram Agencies of FATA was ambushed by unidentified militants
near Kotkai on Hangu-Thal Road in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A decomposed unidentified dead
body of a man was recovered from Dhoda Road near Indus Highway
in Kohat District.
Army soldiers killed five militants
attempting to infiltrate to Pakistan side of border at Maskini
Darra area of Lower Dir District. Sources said the militants
belonging to the Hafiz Kochwan group of TTP sneaked into the
villages of Ankal Sar and Maskini Darra from Afghanistan and
fired rockets on check-posts. SFs retaliated with heavy gunfire
and killed five militants.
Leaders of anti-Taliban Adezai
Qaumi Lashkar developed serious differences on the issue
of supporting the Government's initiative against militants
in the provincial capital Peshawar. One group of the lashkar
has withdrawn support to the Government insisting payment of
salary to the special Police force working with the peace body
has been suspended, while the other continues offering support
and cooperation to the Government against militants.
At least two people, identified
as Amanullah and Abdul Wahab, were injured in a firing incident
in the Jungle Bagh area of Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District
of Balochistan.
A man, identified as Abdul Wadood,
was abducted from Satellite Town area of Quetta, by unidentified
armed militants.
Pakistan Army rejected the claim
made by US journalist in his book that a Pakistani intelligence
official tipped off the US about the whereabouts of Osama bin
Laden, reported US magazine 'Foreign Policy'. Major General
Asim Saleem Bajwa, the recently appointed Director General of
Pakistan's ISPR said, "This is a fabricated story." "Any such
story will not have basis and is an attempt to malign Pakistan
and Pakistan Army", the magazine added.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that there was evidence of presence of TTP in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh and that action was being taken
against them. He asked TTP to surrender arms, saying that otherwise
the Government was determined to take the campaign against terrorism
to its logical conclusion.
Further, he said that there
would have been many acts of terrorism had cellular service
not been suspended in four cities on the occasion of Eid.
Pakistan's former Ambassador
to Washington, Hussain Haqqani, while addressing the Centre
for the National Interest, a Washington think tank said
that the US and Pakistan should stop pretending they are allies
and amicably "divorce". "If in 65 years, you haven't been able
to find sufficient common ground to live together, and you had
three separations and four reaffirmations of marriage, then
maybe the better way is to find friendship outside of the marital
bond," Husain Haqqani said.
Referring to unrealistic expectations
Haqqani further said it was just as unrealistic for Pakistanis
to think that the US would side with Pakistan by launching war
on India as it was for the US to think Pakistan would give up
its nuclear weapons or sever ties with extremists.
Pakistan summoned a senior US
diplomat to lodge a protest against recent drone strikes in
North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
PML-N has held Federal and Gilgit
Baltistan Governments responsible for killings of innocent people
and sectarian tension in GB on the eve of Eid (August
20, 2012). PML-N GB and Azad Kashmir Chief Coordinator Muhammad
Siddiqul Farooq said that had immediate remedial measures been
taken after the Lulusar incident of August 16, 2012, additional
losses and sectarian tension could have been avoided.
A confidential report claims
that the TTP is planning more terrorist activities in the country's
major cities - Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Bannu.
The decision was taken at a secret meeting presided by TTP 'commander'
Qari Shafiullah Moavia. According to the report, the TTP plans
on abducting serving and retired officers and American citizens
to collect finances, as well as to negotiate the release of
their accomplices in jails or in the custody of intelligence
agencies. Qari Moavia has assigned the task to Nauman Moavia.
August 24
Eighteen suspected militants
were killed and another six were injured when missiles fired
by US drones slammed into suspected militants' hideouts in Shawal
area of North Waziristan Agency of FATA. Three compounds reported
to be used as hideouts by the TTP were targeted in the area
adjacent to Afghanistan.
Eight militants were killed
and two of their hideouts destroyed after SFs shelling in Gawaki
area of Orakzai Agency.
Six militants and two Lashkar
men were killed and five civilians injured when at least 100
militants from across the Afghanistan border entered Batwar
village in Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency and started
firing on the posts set up by Salarzai Qaumi Lashkar.
Mullah Dadullah, chief of TTP
Bajaur Agency along with his 12 comrades has been killed in
drone strike by NATO forces in Kunar province of Afghanistan.
Eight people were killed in
different acts of target killing and violence in Karachi. Two
armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire at a butcher's shop
in Qasba Colony within the limits of Pirabad Police Station,
injuring the butcher, Sameer, Niaz, Gul Mira and Anum. Later,
Niaz succumbed to his injures.
A man, identified as Fazal (48),
was killed at Aligarh Bazaar, Orangi, within the vicinity of
Orangi Police Station.
A man, identified as Abdul Qayyum
(26), was killed at Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 2 within the limits
of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.
A man, identified as Noor (40),
was shot dead at Frontier Colony within the jurisdiction of
Pirabad Police Station.
One Raheem (28) was shot dead
near his house at Khuda Ki Basti within the premises of Surjani
Town Police Station.
One Noman (22), an injured in
the firing incident at Lyari succumbed to his injuries during
treatment in Civil Hospital Karachi.
Also, a dead body of a man,
identified as that of Siraj, was found packed in gunny bag from
KMC workshop within the limits of Eidgah Police Station.
An unidentified dead body of
a person was found from MA Jinnah Road within the limits of
Aram Bagh Police station. Official said the victim appeared
to be 21-year-old.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Ilyas (21), was severely injured after being struck by an IED
in Gul Imam area of Tank District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
One dead body, identified as
that of Samad Bilal, was found from Nigorsharif area of Gwadar
District in Balochistan. Levies Force sources said the victim
had been missing since some three days ago from the Pishokan
area.
Police found an unidentified
body from Dasht area of Mastung District.
Following the Chief Justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry's directives to the Home Secretary
and Inspector General of Balochistan Police, security arrangements
have been strengthened in the provincial capital Quetta.
Two more suicide bombers who
raided the highly-fortified Minhas Air Force Base at Kamra in
Attock District on August 16, 2012 were identified as Anas and
Taimur. According to details, Anas from Kasur District and Taimur
from Sialkot District were the two militants among nine attackers
who intruded the base. Faisal Shehzad, another bomber, who was
identified earlier, belonged to Taxila town of Rawalpindi District.
UN expressed grave concern over
the human rights violations in Pakistan, including increasing
number of missing persons, particularly in the province of Balochistan.
According to sources in the Interior Ministry, a seven-member
high-powered UN delegation would visit Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi,
Quetta and Peshawar from September 10-20, 2012 to get first-hand
information about the human rights violations in the country.
Pakistan said that it hopes
to cut a "mutually acceptable" deal with the US on its contentious
drone campaign in the tribal belt. The two countries are discussing
a slew of proposals to find a solution to the CIA-led campaign,
which has been a major irritant in their troubled diplomatic
relations. Foreign Office spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan rejected
India's allegations that Pakistan was using social media to
stoke communal tension in the North Easter state of Assam.
The MNA Malik Kamran Khan warned
that military operation in North Waziristan Agency would create
turmoil in the region and urged the Government to resolve issues
through dialogue. Speaking to a gathering of elders and Ulema
in Miranshah, the MNA assured them that he would oppose a military
action on every forum, including the National Assembly, and
would not allow the government to launch offensive in the area.
August 25
At least 28 militants and four
members of the Salarzai Qaumi Lashkar were killed and 10 militants
and four security personnel injured as the fighting continued
for the second day along the border area of Batwar in Bajaur
Agency of FATA. Also, at least 15 militants were arrested and
several hideouts and posts of the militants were destroyed during
the retaliatory attack.
Seven persons belonging to one
family were killed and eight others, including women and children,
were injured when two mortar shells hit a house in Qambarkhel
area of Bara region in Khyber Agency. A security official said
the militants had used the deadly mortar shells to target the
SFs but one or more such shells strayed and hit innocent civilians.
Three dead bodies were recovered
from the rubble, said a worker of the Al Khidmat Foundation.
SFs blamed militant outfits for the attack, saying they were
targeting civilians to punish them for supporting the military
in recent operations.
The body of a local tribesman,
identified as Naseeb Jan, was found in the fields of Bahi Kor
area of Ekkaghund tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
A security man was injured when
an Improvised Explosive Device exploded during a search operation
in Qandhari area of Safi teshil in Mohmand Agency.
Militants from Afghanistan ambushed
a SF check post in Olai border area of Baizai tehsil in
Mohmand Agency, which was retaliated by Pakistan Army. However
no casualties were reported.
Fearing an impending operation
against the Haqqani Network, residents of North Waziristan Agency
have started migrating to safer places. However, the political
administration has denied any chances of a military operation
and maintained that forces were deployed for border security.
At least 1,500 members of a local Taliban Shura, tribal Maliks
and clerics during a meeting at Islami Madressah Nezamia
in Edek village, near Miranshah, decided that tribal people
would avail the option to take refuge in Afghanistan if the
government launches a military operation in North Waziristan.
At least seven persons, including
a Shia Policeman, a Shia activist of MWM and two Lyari gangsters,
were killed in separate incidents of target killing and violence
in Karachi. A brother of MQM worker, identified as Shahzad Ali
(25), was killed at Nappier Road within the precincts of Nappier
Police Station.
A Shia man, identified as Syed
Faraz (25), affiliated with MWM was killed at Rizvia Society
within the limits of Rizvia Police Station. Police suspected
that he was killed over sectarian bias.
A man, identified as Farooq,
was shot dead over his refusal to pay extortion in Gulistan-e-Jauhar
within the jurisdiction Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station.
A Policeman belonging to the
Shia community, identified as Gohar Abbas (48), was shot dead
in Baldia Town within the jurisdiction of Balida Police Station.
A labourer, identified as Ayub
(35), was shot dead in Shireen Jinnah Colony within the jurisdiction
of Boat Basin Police Station.
Two gangsters were killed while
two others were injured in a clash that took place between two
gangs affiliated with Lyari in Gulbahar area.
A shopkeeper, identified as
Karamatullah, was shot dead by two masked militants in Basin
Khari area of Gilgit.
In another incident in the same
area, another man was injured in an armed attack on a Police
team.
Unidentified militants shot
dead one Faisal, the son of a tribal elder Malik Hussain in
an ambush in Mohallah Al-Shiravi in Hangu city of Hangu District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In Nowshera, an alleged 'commander'
of TTP, Mohammad Farooq Mehsud, was arrested during a joint
raid on a mosque in Kheshgi area of Nowshera District. Mehsud
had come to Kheshgi to meet Maulvi Abdul Qadeer, the prayer
leader of the mosque.
At least seven people were injured
in multiple grenade attacks in different areas of Quetta. Three
grenade explosions took place in Kali Barat area of Quetta.
Sources said that three houses situated in the same lane were
targeted in the attack. Three people including a woman were
injured in the attack. Separately, another explosion near Quetta's
Ayub stadium injured four people.
One Frontier Corps official
and three passersby were injured when a bomb exploded on the
railway tracks near Chaman Phattak of Quetta, suspending the
railway services in the area.
Unidentified armed militants
shot and injured a doctor, identified as Dotor Iqbal in Turbat
District.
Militants attacked a FC camp
with rockets in Mand Soro area of Kech District. However, no
casualties were reported.
Militants fired rockets at a
FC check post in Mir Hassan area of Naseerabad District. The
rocket missed its target.
Bomb Disposal Squad defused
explosive material in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District.
A CIA drone strike in North
Waziristan Agency of FATA on August 21, 2012 may have killed
the operational 'commander' of the Haqqani Network, Badruddin
Haqqani who is also believed to handle the network's vital business
interests and smuggling operations, Pakistani intelligence officials
and terrorist sources said.
The TTP confirmed the death
of Mullah Dadullah, the group's 'chief' for Bajaur Agency, in
night of August 24, 2012 US drone strike in eastern Afghanistan.
TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan confirmed the death and said,
"Mullah Dadullah's death will not dampen our morale and we will
avenge his killing." "Maulvi Abu Bakar has been appointed acting
chief of the Bajaur Chapter of TTP," he added.
The Afghan Taliban allegedly
attempted to abduct the brother and other relatives of jailed
Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped the CIA trace slain
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
While nearly 3,400 schools in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been destroyed due to militancy and
natural disasters in recent years, many school buildings are
yet to become functional decades after their construction. An
official in the Education Department, on condition of anonymity
said that there were more than 200 such buildings in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, but no one is willing to resolve the problem.
August 26
SFs killed at least 20 militants
and injured 10 others in a clash during a raid in Batwar area
of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency of FATA. Four security
officials and two members of National Lashkar also sustained
injuries.
At least four passengers in
a bus were shot dead and 10 others were injured when unidentified
armed militants opened indiscriminate fire on two buses in Bolan
District. In the first incident, armed men opened fire on a
bus travelling from Quetta to Sadiqabad. As a result of the
shooting, two people were killed, sources said. In the second
incident, which occurred near Balanari, gunmen opened fire on
a bus travelling from Quetta to Nawabshah District in Sindh,
which killed two people and injured 10 others.
Armed militants abducted three
drivers in two separate incidents from Dhadar area of Bolan
District. In the first incident, unidentified militants abducted
one Muhammad Ismail from National Highway and moved him to an
undisclosed location. In another incident, two drivers, Muhammad
Usman and Rehmatullah were abducted near Gandawa Nothal area.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted one Kareem Jan from Bedi area of Awaran District.
Bomb Disposal Squad defused
an explosive device weighing 5 kilograms on the National Highway
near Shahi Chowki area of Naseerabad District.
Levies arrested at least 18
Afghan nationals under Foreigners Act at Chaman border in Qilla
Abdullah District.
Three persons, including a Policeman,
a cadre of PAC, were shot dead in separate acts of violence
in Karachi. Unidentified armed assailants shot and injured six
persons, including two PAC cadres Shoaib Baloch and Nawaz Baloch
in Muhajir Camp, within the precincts of Baldia Police Station.
Later, Shoaib succumbed to his injuries. Tension prevailed in
Baldia Town after the killing and four people, including MQM's
former union council nazim, Arshad Qureshi, were injured in
Rangar Mohalla.
A Policeman, identified as Azhar
Iqbal (45), was shot dead at Memon Society, Khadda Market within
the limits of Bhagdadi Police Station while he was deployed
in Baghdadi Police Station on intelligence duty.
Unidentified armed militants
opened indiscriminate firing on a Police party deployed for
snap checking adjacent to Askari Park near Old Sabzi Mandi injuring
one Policeman Zulfiqar (37).
Rangers conducted a six-hour-long
operation in different areas of Lyari, including Mauripur, Naya
Abad, Aath Chowk, Sangoleen and Mawacha Goth, and arrested 54
suspects while recovering Kalashnikovs, 12-mm pistols, grenades,
5 kilogram explosive material, 27 kilogram hashish and 3,000
bottles of liquor.
Commissioner Karachi Roshan
Ali Sheikh has suggested imposing ban forthwith on importing,
manufacturing and selling various kinds of toy guns, as according
to him such artificial weapons are used in committing the crimes
in the city.
One militant, identified as
Shamroz Khan, was killed and two others were arrested by SFs
in Balagarhi area of Behrain tehsil in Swat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The arrested militants were identified
as Amanullah and Gul Zar.
Thousands of people have fled
North Waziristan Agency (FATA) in recent days, fearing a military
offensive against terrorists, locals and officials said. "Thousands
of people have so far left the area, they are fleeing their
homes due to the fear and rumours of a military operation,"
Saifur Rehman, a Government official in the main town of Miranshah,
said.
US officials refused to endorse
Afghanistan's claim that ISI have infiltrated their SFs and
were attacking American and NATO troops, dressed as Afghan soldiers.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement earlier this
week, insisting that "foreign spy agencies" had infiltrated
Afghan SFs and were now using their uniforms to attack US and
NATO troops.
Afghanistan's spy agency confirmed
that the operational commander of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani
Network responsible for attacks on Kabul had been killed in
a US drone strike in Pakistan on August 21, 2012. Also, Pakistan's
intelligence sources said that they are 90 percent certain that
the Taliban leader has been killed.
August 27
An operation to clear militants
from Batwar area of Bajaur Agency in FATA left 36 dead including
three soldiers and two members of a government supported peace
committee. SFs launched the operation to clear the Batwar area,
which lies in along the Af-Pak border, of militants who had
crossed over from the neighbouring Kunar province of Afghanistan.
Eight militants were killed
and two security personnel suffered injuries in a clash in Masozai
area of Kurram Agency.
Two LI militants were killed
in a remote controlled bomb blast in Zakhakhel Bazaar area of
Khyber Agency.
At least17 more people were
killed in the continuing violence in Karachi. Two people were
killed by firing in Karachi’s Lines area. The situation in the
area turned tense after the incident.
Two political party workers
were killed in Orangi town, after a firing incident. The killing
spread panic in the area and as a result shops and business
were shut down.
Two people were shot dead and
one other person was injured, when unidentified assailants opened
fire on them in Kharadar.
A political worker was shot
dead in a firing incident in sector 5-J New Karachi area. Another
political activist was shot dead near Baghdadi Masjid in Martin
Quarters.
One person was killed in Manzoor
colony, while another was killed near Garden Dhobi Ghath. One
person was killed near Korangi.
A political party worker succumbed
to his wounds on the operating table after being shot at in
Baldia Town.
An unidentified dead body of
a woman was found near Nazimabad. Another unidentified dead
body was found in Orangi Town area. Yet another tortured dead
body of one man was found in a gunny bag near Maripur Road Crown
Cinema. Further, another dead body of a man was found near Rehri
Goth.
A gangster was killed in Korangi
No. 2-1/2.
Zainul Abedin, op-ed Editor
of The News, one of Pakistan's leading English Dailies,
was beaten up by four men outside his home in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area for watching TV and listening to music. The assailants
who attacked the journalist are members of the proselytising
group – Tablighi Jama’at.
Five people were injured in
separate firing incidents in Quaidabad, Sher Shah and Baldia
Town. Firing in Lee Market injured two police officials, including
a crime branch officer.
A letter threatening to blow
up the City courts was sent by an unidentified person.
MQM chief Altaf Hussain expressed
his grief over the killing and said that sectarian elements
were targeting MQM members.
The SIU claimed to have arrested
at least five suspects, identified as Malik Imran, Adnan, Noman,
Imran and Amir, involved in target killing and extortion and
recovered a repeater and four pistols during separate raids
conducted in the city. Police said that the accused primarily
belonged to a robbery gang responsible for more than 35 dacoities.
North Nazimabad Police arrested
around a dozen suspects from Kausar Niazi Colony and also recovered
weapons from them.
Police claimed to have arrested
a suspected target killer, involved in six targeted killings,
from Liaqatabad area of Karachi.
Three men, identified as Habibullah,
Muhammad Ali and Mustafa, belonging to Hazara community were
shot dead and two others, including a two-year-old child passing
by, sustained critical injuries in a sectarian attack at Killi
Mubarak Chowk on Spiny Road in Quetta.
Local administration recovered
the dead body of a youth, identified as Muhammad Zakira, from
Gorpad area of Kalat District. The victim had gone missing from
Kalat area three days earlier.
BRA claimed responsibility for
the August 26, 2012 attack on passengers in Bolan District.
Calling reporters from an unspecified place, BRA’s spokesman
Sarbaz Baloch said “we carried out the attacks because the organisation’s
call for a wheel-jam and shutter down strike on the sixth death
anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti was ignored,” adding, “Despite
our appeal for wheel-jam strike coaches were carrying people
to Sindh and Punjab.
A Policeman and a private security
guard were killed when unidentified assailants opened fire on
a patrolling squad at Civil Colony on Kohat Road in Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Peshawar Police arrested 179
accused involved in different crimes and recovered arms and
ammunitions from their possession.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on a man in Amphari area of Gilgit city. Meanwhile, markets,
business centers and shops remained closed for the last nine
days.
Gilgit Police arrested 12 suspects
in connection with different shooting incidents in the town
that are believed to be reprisal attacks following the August
16 attack in which 25 Shias travelling from Rawalpindi (Punjab)
to Gilgit Baltistan were executed at Manshera in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Ruling out any possibility of
military operation in North Waziristan Agency, the political
administration has urged tribal people to stop vacating their
houses and migrating to other places. Political Agent Siraj
Ahmed Khan assured members of a tribal jirga at a meeting at
his office on August 27 that there was no chance of military
operation in Waziristan. The political agent termed reports
about possible military operation in the region mere rumours.
Thousands of people have fled
North Waziristan Agency (FATA) in recent days, fearing a military
offensive against terrorists. Panicked residents have hastily
left the area of North Waziristan despite officials repeatedly
insisting that Pakistan has no immediate plan to launch an offensive
in the volatile region. Rumours started after a spokesman for
the TTP told the media that it had received “an exclusive intelligence
report” about an offensive in North Waziristan Agency.
US officials refused to endorse
Afghanistan’s claim that ISI have infiltrated their SF and were
attacking American and NATO troops, dressed as Afghan soldiers.
Earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, issued a statement insisting
that “foreign spy agencies” had infiltrated Afghan SFs and were
now using their uniforms to attack US and NATO troops. Later,
an Afghan Presidential spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said that they
had conducted an investigation into the attacks and concluded
that “foreign spy agencies are growlingly fearful of the empowerment
of Afghan security agencies” and that’s why they were masterminding
those attacks.
August 28
At least 16 persons, including
political workers and gangsters, were killed in separate acts
of target killing and bomb blast in Karachi. Three alleged gangsters,
identified as Fida Baloch, Khalil Baloch and Imam Baloch, were
killed in encounter with Police in Malir City.
Two activists of PPP, identified
as Tariq Mehmood alias Kashif and Amjad alias
Gogi, were killed at Bismillah Chowk, Baldia within the precincts
of Saeedabad Police Station.
Two activists of ST, identified
as Muhammad Hussain and Sohail, succumbed to their injuries.
Both the victims were wounded in an attack on August 14, 2012
and August 16, 2012 respectively.
Two alleged gangsters, identified
as Faraz Ahmed (24), and Danish Shafiq (23), were killed in
Lines Area within the precincts of Brigade Police Station.
A PPP worker, Shakir, who was
shot and injured in a targeted attack in Bangla Bazaar in Orangi
Town on August 27, 2012, succumbed to his injuries.
A former unit in-charge of MQM,
identified as Mujahid Azam, was killed in Martin Quarters within
the jurisdiction of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
A local leader of ANP, Amanullah
(36), was shot dead in Orangi Town.
A man, identified as Ashraf
(50), was shot dead at sector 5-J New Karachi within the limits
of New Karachi Police Station.
A dead body, identified as that
of Imran Memon, was found from Ranchore Lane area, within the
jurisdiction of Risala Police Station.
Police claimed to have arrested
two alleged suspects in separate raids. In the first raid, CID
arrested an alleged TTP militant, identified as Islamuddin alias
Kala, from Machchar Colony and recovered a Kalashnikov, three
hand grenades and one pistol from his possession.
In another raid, Liaquatabad
Police arrested a target killer, Arif alias Bali, involved
in six murders and recovered a Kalashnikov and one 9 mm pistol.
Eleven TTP militants, three
SF personnel and a member of Salarzai Qaumi lashkar were
killed and several others injured as fighting intensified in
Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency in FATA. According to
a TTP ‘spokesman’, 15 security personnel were killed in the
fighting, but official sources rejected the claim.
Unidentified militants blew
up an under-construction Government girls’ higher second school
in Dagai area of Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. About
20 Government schools have so far been destroyed or damaged
by the militants in Swabi District.
Levies arrested at least 40
Afghan nationals under Foreigners Act from a check post near
Pak-Afghan border in Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah District.
Bahawalpur Police foiled a major
terror bid by arresting two suspected militants of TTP Waziristan
Chapter of Qari Imran Group from Bahawalwala area of Ahmadpur
Sharqia in Bahawalpur District. They were identified as Muhammad
Shabbir and Maulvi Muhammad Riaz.
The intelligence reports said
TTP plans to attack the Faisalabad Central Jail to free detained
comrades. Intelligence reports prepared for the Punjab Home
Department revealed that TTP (Tariq Afridi group) militants
were planning to abduct the jail superintendent and storm the
facility. About 300 militants are in Punjab’s nine central jails.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik again made it clear that criminals had been running
towards Gilgit Baltistan as they feared military operation in
Waziristan in FATA. The minister said that a targeted operation
would soon be launched against terrorists in Darel tehsil
of Diamer District.
Meanwhile, Minister for Information
and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said the recent trouble in
GB was not due to sectarian reasons, but it was terrorism aimed
at destabilizing the area.
Mailk said that Government has
received reports from intelligence agencies that the terrorists
have made their dens in Darel after military operations in the
neighbouring valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas.
He termed the recent violence a terrorism— not a sectarian act
of violence.
Meanwhile political leaders
of Diamer said that Darel is a land of peace loving inhabitants
and there is no way any terrorist hideouts may exist there.
“Any military or paramilitary operations would further complicate
things and the transitional efforts of peace building on the
part of youth will be marginalized. Peace cannot be harnessed
through use of force” Diamer notables maintained.
Rehman Malik urged Ulema to
play their due role in maintaining religious and sectarian harmony
and peace in the area. He said that some nefarious elements
were trying to fan sectarianism in GB against whom action was
being taken.
Police in Gilgit arrested six
persons suspected of involvement in sectarianism.
The NATO commander in Afghanistan
General John Allen said that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar
was hiding in Pakistan along with his commanders. “Omar lives
in Pakistan, as do many of his commanders. From that safe vantage
point, they’ve sent hundreds of young, impressionable, largely
spiritual and helpless youths to their deaths and detention
in Afghanistan. For this, they must forfeit their honour and
any claim to Islamic virtue,” General Allen said in an article.
August 29
Nine SF personnel and six militants
were killed while several others wounded in a clash between
SFs and militants in Baba Ziarat locality of Ghat Badr in South
Waziristan Agency of FATA. Sources said that fierce fighting
erupted when militants led by Sher Azam of Waliur Rehman group
of TTP attacked an advancing party of SFs in Baba Ziarat area.
Six militants were killed and
three SF personnel and two members of a peace committee were
injured in fighting in parts of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur
Agency.
TTP key ‘commander’ Tariq Afridi
was reportedly killed by his brother-in-law over a domestic
issue in Khyber Agency. Afridi belongs to the Akhorwal tribe
of Darra Adamkhel, a town in the Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, TTP denied the report. Mohammad, a ‘spokesman’ for
the TTP’s Tariq Afridi group, said over phone that the group
would try to release an audio cassette of Tariq Afridi or, if
possible, connect him to some TV channels via phone to prove
that he was alive.
The Levies force foiled a sabotage
bid and defused a powerful explosive device planted outside
the house of a journalist in Sadiqabad Town of Khar tehsil
in Bajaur Agency.
At least 14 persons, including
a Rangers official, were shot dead in separate incidents of
violence in Karachi. According to Police, unidentified armed
assailants shot dead a man on Mirza Adam Khan Road.
A Rangers official, identified
as Mohmmad Yunus, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
near Star gate, Shahrah-e-Faisal in the jurisdiction of Airport
Police Station in Karachi East.
Details about rest 12 killings
were not available in the report.
Three people were injured in
a firing incident by unidentified armed militants in Orangi
Town’s Faqir Colony.
Two people were killed and 10
others were injured in a bomb explosion on railway tracks in
Thul town of Jacobabad District of Sindh.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on one Mujeebur Rahman, killing him on the spot,
and wounding two passers-by in Kalat District.
Jamil Bugti, the eldest surviving
son of the slain Baloch chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti, said that
the establishment does not want a peaceful solution to the Balochistan
issue and it is still searching for a military solution. “The
only solution is a referendum under the supervision of the United
Nations,” he said.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed
a car in Amphary in Gilgit, leaving a 16-year-old girl and an
infant wounded. Police said that a cleric Qari Khan Mohammad
was going in his car along with his family members when he came
under attack.
GB IG of Police Usman Zakriya
ordered arrest of an ASI and three officials for providing opportunity
to the murderers of a Police Constable to flee. ASI Muhammad
Hassan and three soldiers, Aijaz Hassan, Muhammad Afzal and
Shujaat Ali, enabled the assassins of the Police Constable,
Shah Jamaluddin, to escape from the incident site.
Unidentified militants blew
up two under-construction Police posts on Islamabad-Peshawar
Motorway near Rashakai Interchange and Choli area of Nissata
in Nowshera District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Power supply to Mohmand Agency
(FATA) was suspended when unidentified terrorists blew up 132
KV electricity supply line tower at Samnat village in Shabqadar
area of Charsadda District.
Police thwarted a sabotage attempt
by defusing a remote controlled bomb, weighing 20 kilograms,
in Utmanzai Bazaar of Charsadda District.
Former Sindh Home Minister Manzoor
Wassan claimed that more than 150 Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
workers have been killed in targeted assaults in Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh, during fresh firing incidents.
The PPP leader expressed his concerns over the fresh wave of
violence in the city, saying “the Government is striving to
curb the violence and measures are afoot in this regard,” adding,
“There are various motives behind political violence in Karachi
in which PPP has lost its 150 workers.”
To block terrorists’ entry into
Pakistan and illegal immigration, authorities have installed
a Border Management System (BMS) at the Torkham Pakistani-Afghan
border crossing and 121 other Pakistani exit and entry points,
according to the Government statement.
August 30
SFs killed 18 TTP militants,
including two TTP Swat Chapter ‘commanders’, identifieid as
Khatir and Turbai, in Bajaur Agency of FATA.
The tribal elders urged the
Government to negotiate a truce with TTP, fighting against SFs
in the border areas of Bajaur Agency, and provide food and shelter
to the people affected by the clashes.
Pakistan has decided to launch
a full-scale military operation against militants in North Waziristan
Agency the next week. The Pakistan Army is already engaged in
an operation in Bajaur Agency to root out terrorist bases.
Four persons, including a Policeman,
were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi. A man,
identified as Shamim (40), was killed at Dhobi Gath within the
limits of Pak colony Police Station.
Another man, identified as Ahsan
(22), was shot dead near Jubilee Cinema area within the jurisdiction
of Nabi Bux Police Station.
A Policeman, identified as Phool
Zaib, was shot dead at MPR Colony within the precincts of Mithadar
Police Station.
A dead body of a man, identified
as that of Ikram Baloch (22) packed in a gunny bag, was recovered
from Crown Cinema area, Mauripur Road within the vicinity of
Kalri Police Station.
The Sindh Assembly building
was evacuated in the wake of bomb threat. The Assembly’s premises
were evacuated and the area surrounded by the Police and Rangers
personnel.
Three people, including a Session
Judge, identified as Zulfiqar Naqvi, his guard and driver were
shot dead by unidentified armed militants in a sectarian attack
on Munir Mengal Road in Quetta while he was going to his office.
A member of the Matani Peace
Committee, identified as Ahmad Gul, was shot dead at Matani
Bazaar on the suburbs of Peshawar.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
asked all Afghan nationals to return home before losing their
refugee right at the end of December 2012. “Afghan nationals
possessing Proof of Registration Cards (PoRs) are directed that
they should wind up all their activities, including businesses,
till December 31, 2012 and start preparations for returning
to Afghanistan. No Afghan refugee will be allowed to stay in
Pakistan after the deadline,” the provincial Home and Tribal
Affairs Department said.
The Sabzi Mandi Police of the
Federal Capital (Islamabad) arrested 42 suspects during search
operation in its various localities, including various houses,
under-construction buildings, inns and slum areas.
Police arrested two terrorists,
identified as Bahadar Shah and Muhammad Sultan, near Dhok Mastian
Village in Chakwal District and recovered a suicide jacket,
a hand grenade, 15 detonators, fuse pins and remote control
from their possession.
Malik Ishaq, leader of LeJ,
which is said to have links to al Qaeda, was arrested in Lahore
District for inciting sectarian hatred and masterminding an
attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009. He was arrested
after his return from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, Police spokeswoman
Nabila Ghazanfar said.
The US Treasury Department designated
eight leaders of the LeT as terrorists and placed sanctions
on them, holding them accountable for the Mumbai attacks in
2008, and attacks on coalition and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.
According to a press release, the leaders who face sanctions
include Sajid Mir, Abdullah Mujahid, Ahmed Yaqub, Hafiz Khalid
Walid, Qari Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, Amir Hamza, Abdullah Muntazir
and Talha Saeed.
The JuD said that it had no
link with the LeT. The JuD’s statement came hours after the
US announced that it was freezing the assets the JuD or its
eight leaders may have in the US and prohibiting the US citizens
and officials from engaging in any business with these individuals.
Senior JuD leader Amir Hamza described the US decision as an
attempt to defame the JuD leadership.
HRCP on the occasion of International
Day of the Disappeared said that during the tenure of the present
Government, as many as 450 mutilated dead bodies have been recovered
and over 1300 persons went missing in different areas of Balochistan
Federal Government should take remedial steps to resolve the
issue. Chairperson HRCP Zohra Yusuf said that there is war like
situation in Balochistan. Hazara Community is being killed by
LeJ and now JuD has also started opening offices in Balochistan.
A report quoting a fact finding
mission of the HRCP on Balochistan stated that Talibanisation
is growing in several areas of Balochistan and SFs might be
patronising militants, turning Quetta into a haven for militants.
The report observed that religious fanaticism was not being
exported to the province from outside, rather it was being bred
within Balochistan.
Voice for Baloch Missing Persons
Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said that bullet-riddled bodies of
missing persons were being recovered and Baloch youths were
being abducted by state functionaries despite the Supreme Court
taking action against forced disappearances and extra-judicial
killings in Balochistan.
Hate content in textbooks used
in the Punjab has increased from ‘45 lines in 2009 to 122 in
2012’ a content analysis report titled Education or Promotion
of Hatred published by the National Commission for Justice
and Peace (NCJP) said on August 30 at a conference, Biases
in Textbooks and Education Policy.
Speaking at the launch Doctor
Mehdi Hasan, the School of Media and Communication Dean at the
Beacon House National University, said seminaries, where less
than 4 per cent of the Pakistani children studied in Pakistan,
did not pose a greater threat than schools, where hate material
was being taught to students as young as to be in class 1.
Reiterating its “do more” mantra,
the US said it is looking to work with Pakistan for action against
Haqqani Network. Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the US State
Department, said that there was a need for the US and Pakistan
to act together against the threat posed by Haqqani Network.
The US and Pakistan are not
planning a joint military operation in tribal areas as Islamabad
will not allow foreign troops on its soil said officials familiar
with talks between the two countries on this issue. In a recent
meeting with American journalists in Washington, a group of
Pakistani officials explained that the media was causing “much
confusion” by using the term joint operation.
August 31
At least 14 militants, among
them a key ‘commander’, were killed and seven others injured
in gun battles with SFs at Gul Kadda in Mamozai area of Upper
Orakzai Agency in FATA.
A prominent leader of Ferozkhel
tribe, Malak Zarin, was shot dead when he was returning home
after offering Friday prayers in Upper Orakzai Agency.
At least 12 people were killed
and another 12 injured in a car bomb attack near a mosque in
Matni Bazaar of Peshawar. The political tehsildar of
North Waziristan Agency Hashim Gul, his son Sajeel, brother
Zahir Shah, and a cousin, identified as Ajab Gul, were killed
in the car bomb blast.
The TTP released a video showing
the severed heads of 12 soldiers, as security officials said
15 troops had gone missing following fighting with militants
in Batwar area of Bajaur Agency in FATA. TTP spokesman Sirajuddin
sent a video showing a militant ‘commander’ posing with 12 heads
arranged on the ground, which he claimed were of the soldiers
they had killed.
Three people, including a woman,
were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi.
A man, identified as Zain-ul-Abideen
(45), was shot dead at Babar Kanta, Shershah within the limits
of SITE B Police Station.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a woman, identified as that of Ainee (31), was found from Baldia
No 8 within the limits of Saeedabad Police Station.
One tortured dead body of one
Mehmood (18), was recovered from the vicinity of Hamdard University
within the jurisdiction of Manghopir Police Station. A Police
official informed that unidentified assailants had kidnapped
the victim before killing him.
LEAs claimed to have arrested
at least seven suspects in targeted raids carried out in Brohi
Para and Sheikh Mohalla of Baldia Town and recovered ammunition
from their possession.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire and killed one Hafiz Farooq in Chatkan area of Panjgur
District.
Explosives planted in a dustbin
outside the District Health Office (DHO) in Ziarat District
exploded. No loss of life was reported in the blast.
The office of the IB was attacked
with a hand grenade in Panjgur town of Panjgur District. BRA
claimed responsibility for the attack. BRA spokesman Sarbaz
Baloch calling from an unidentified place said that a man was
killed and two others were injured in the attack.
Foiling a possible mega terrorist
bid, Police arrested three alleged Afghan militants with loads
of explosives, including detonators, remote controls, bomber’s
vests, nuts, bolts, shrapnel, hand grenades and other bomb-making
paraphernalia, from deep in the woods near a graveyard from
Wah Cantt in Rawalpindi District.
The ISI Chief Lieutenant General
Zaheerul Islam denied reports that Doctor Shakeel Afridi could
be handed to the US in swap deal. According to the report, the
ISI General, who had held talks with his CIA counterpart earlier
in August, told reporters that the US should consider the chapter
of Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped the US locate al Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, as closed.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that she will meet next week’s deadline to report
to Congress on whether the Haqqani Network should be designated
as a terrorist organization. She said she would present the
report on the Haqqani Network by September 9, 2012 as called
for by lawmakers.
September 1
Six suspected militants were
killed in a US drone strike on a vehicle and a house in Dattakhel
area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Two civilians, identified as
Liaquat and Yaar Gul, were killed and five others when several
mortar shells fired from Afghanistan landed in a village in
Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur Agency.
Two key TTP militant ‘commanders’,
identified as Shahid Omar and Huzaifa, were killed in clashes
with SFs in Batwar area of Salarzai tehsil of the Agency.
SFs arrested four suspected
militants and recovered 46 mortar shells along with other arms
and explosives from Zakhakhel area of Landikotal in Khyber Agency.
At least nine Hazara Shias were
killed in separate incidents of sectarian attack in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan. In the first incident,
unidentified armed militants ambushed a vehicle carrying five
passengers and killed all of them near Sabzi Mandi in Hazar
Ganji area of the District.
In another sectarian attack
in the same area two Shias were shot dead by unidentified militants.
Later in the city, the residents protested against the target
killings and two more persons died and ten others injured in
those violent protests.
Two Shia men were killed and
10 others were injured while protesting against the killing
of Shias in Quetta.
The Hazara leader Sardar Saadat
Hazara demanded to impose Governor Rule in the backdrop of deteriorating
law and order situation in the province.
Six persons, including a trainee
Policeman, were killed in separate incidents of target killing
in Karachi. One, Fahad (22), was shot dead and another Shafi
was injured in a shooting incident in Burns Road area.
Separately, one Younus (30),
was shot dead near Native Jetty Bridge.
In another incident, a man was
also targeted in Machchar Colony by unknown armed assailants.
He succumbed to the bullet wounds.
Also, armed militants killed
a man in Baldia Town.
In addition, an unidentified
dead body of a man was found from Sohrab Goth Bridge.
Further, militants killed a
Policeman, identified as Mohammad Shafiq (30), in Qasba Colony
while he was standing outside his house.
A new school Atlas published
by the Government of Pakistan's Punjab province has shown Pakistan
occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the Gilgit Baltistan region as Indian
territories. Over 15,000 copies of the atlas had been delivered
to school libraries so far.
Fresh evidence has emerged that
top Mumbai 2008 terror attack (also known as 26/11) suspect
Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi continues to be provided security by the
LeT though he is in the maximum-security at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi
District of Punjab province. In a statement announcing sanctions
against eight key Lashkar operatives, the US Treasury Department
said Sajid Mir, the terrorist group’s commander for transcontinental
operations, had been made “responsible for Lakhvi’s security
as of 2010.”
The dead body of Osama bin Laden
was identified by a young girl who was in the room where he
was killed after his wives refused to name the elusive al Qaeda
chief, a new book by an ex-US Navy Seal has claimed. Matt Bissonnette,
36, in his tell-all account of the operation titled 'No Easy
Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama
bin Laden', has described the moment his team discovered
the terrorist leader was dead.
September 2
At least nine militants, among
them key TTP ‘commanders’, were killed and several others in
clashes with the SFs and volunteers of a local peace committee
in Batwar area of Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency in
FATA.
At least seven militants were
killed while 13 were injured during an operation launched by
the SFs in South Waziristan Agency.
Two people were severely injured
when an explosive device, planted beneath a tree, exploded in
Bazaar-Zakhakhel area of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants attacked
a patrolling party of the local peace committee in Sheen Qamar
area of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil, injuring a volunteer,
identified as Abdul Hayat.
A garments and grocery store
in Peerokhel area of Landikotal was partially damaged when an
explosive device planted near the shop along the road exploded.
Unidentified militants abducted
five tribesmen from central Kurram Agency.
Unidentified masked militants
abducted two residents of Bakarabad, identified as Haroon and
Nouman, in Janrud tehsil of Khyber Agency.
In addition, four remote controlled
roadside bombs were defused in Miranshah area of North Waziristan
Agency.
Mohmand Agency Political Agent
Adil Siddique urged the heads of peace committees and common
tribesmen to fulfil their collective responsibility and check
movement of militants in their respective areas. Addressing
two separate tribal jirgas (councils) of Safi and Ambar
Utamnkhel tribes in Lakaro and Had Kor areas, he said that strict
action would be taken against the elders of an area if any militant
activity happened there.
At least four people, including
a member of the KRC, were killed in separate acts of violence
in Karachi. KRC member, identified as Younis Katchi (20), was
killed by unidentified armed assailants by near Native Jetty
Bridge, within the precincts of Jackson Police Station. Police
suspected that some Lyari gangsters were behind the killing.
The owner of a milk shop, identified
as Qasim (35), was shot dead in the Usmanabad area, within the
vicinity of Garden Police Station.
Police found a dead body of
a young man, identified as Akhtar (32), from the Siddiq Wahab
Road area, within the limits of Garden Police Station.
A handcuffed 14-days-old decomposed
unidentified dead body of a man was recovered from Lyari Naddi
within the jurisdiction of Pak Colony Police Station.
AEC conducted a raid in Jackson
area and arrested four suspects including Iqbal, Amir, Sabir
and Younis, and also recovered two hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs
and six pistols from their possession. Officials said that the
suspects belonged to a gang and were involved in over 30 cases
of target killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.
Sir Syed Police claimed to have
arrested two suspects, identified as Ramzan and Yaqoob,
allegedly involved in extortion and also recovered two pistols
from their possession.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a man on Killi Sardar Bangulzai Road near Sariab area
in Quetta.
A shopkeeper, identified as
Ali Muhammad, was shot dead by unidentified armed militants
in Khuzdar District.
A water tanker driver, identified
as Syed Hussain Abbas, was injured in a firing incident at Kirani
Road in Quetta.
BDS defused explosive devices
in Kolhu area of Dera Bugti District.
A Police Constable, identified
as Ikram Hussain (22), was killed and four others, identified
as Nizamud Din, Sajad Ahmad, Mohammad Ali Shah and Samiullah,
driver of the van, sustained injuries when their vehicle came
under attack at Bazarak Khwar near Afghan refugees’ camp in
Lower Dir District.
A CD shop was blown up in Muslimabad
in the limits of Par Hoti Police Station in Mardan District.
An explosives-laden device with
inscription “first gift from TTP” was discovered from a farm
house in the outskirt of Westridge Police Station in Rawalpindi
District. A bomb disposal expert said “It was attached to the
main iron gate of the farm house owned by Haji Sahib Khan, a
businessman who hails from Mohmand Agency.
Sabzi Mandi and Sihala Police
arrested 70 suspects during search operations in various localities
that fell in their jurisdictions, including sector H11/3, Sihala,
Khutta Road, Humak and other slum areas, a Police spokesman
said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that militants through various sources were repeatedly
threatening the Federal Government of terror activities in big
cities across the country, especially in the provincial capitals.
September 3
At least four persons, including
two Americans, were reportedly killed and 19 others injured
in when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle
in the University Town area of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials said the target of the bombing
was apparently a vehicle in use by US nationals.
The US embassy in Islamabad
released the following statement through State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland: "We can confirm that a vehicle belonging to
the US Consulate in Peshawar was hit in an apparent terrorist
attack. Two US personnel and two Pakistani staff of the Consulate
were injured and are receiving medical treatment. No US Consulate
personnel were killed..."
US said that FBI is leading
the probe of the suicide blast on the vehicle of US consulate
in University Road area of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
After the suicide attack, residents
have asked the Government to move NGO offices from their area.
According to End Violence against Women/Girls Alliance Programme
Coordinator Qamar Naseem, several local and international NGOS,
including seven UN organisations currently work in University
Town. However, the civic body failed to take any action even
past the deadline.
Authorities sealed its Lower
Dir border with Afghanistan and taken solid and effective steps
to check infiltration of militants from Afghan side, the District
Coordination Officer (DCO) Mahmud Aslam Wazir said. Checkposts
have been increased, additional Security Forces deployed and
alerted to deal with any incursions of the militants, the DCO
added.
Unidentified armed assailants
opened fire in Chandni Chowk area of Khuzdar District, killing
two people, identified as Muhammad Ashraf and Muhammad Riaz.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a stationery shop killing a man, identified as
Hafiz Sanaullah, on the spot in Khuzdar District.
Unidentified armed militants
attacked two oil tankers supplying fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan
and torched them in Dhadar area of Bolan District, injuring
the driver of the container.
Two people were killed in separate
acts of violence in Karachi. An unidentified man was shot dead
near Oxford School, Landhi 36-B within the limits of Landhi
Police Station.
An unidentified dead body was
recovered from drain situated in Bin Qasim within the limits
of Bin Qasim Police Station.
The Karachi Police during last
three days arrested some 113 accused besides recovering arms,
drugs and stolen articles from their possession. Police recovered
78 pistols, two rifles, one mouser, five repeaters, one small
machine gun, a shogun, three hand grenades, snatched cell phones
and cash from the arrested accused.
Two security men were injured
when the military vehicle was targeted with an improvised explosive
device planted on the under-construction Bannu-Ghulam Khan road
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. Army's Frontier Works Organisation
is building the highway to connect the Indus Highway with the
Ghulam Khan, a town along the border with Afghanistan.
Few mortar shells were also
fired by unidentified persons which landed near Machus village.
After the incident, the political administration imposed the
curfew for an indefinite period.
SFs foiled a terror plot in
Ghariza area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency by recovering
a vehicle loaded with explosives. Approximately, 40 kilogrammes
of explosive material was found in the vehicle.
A jirga of tribal elders
in Mamond tehsil has raised a 500-strong militia to safeguard
their area against cross-border raids by militants. Any tribesman
found sheltering or harbouring militants will be expelled from
the region and his house would be burnt down, the jirga decided.
The Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar reiterated that Pakistan, in its core national interest
is irrevocably committed in achieving stability in Afghanistan
through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process.
Speaking at the "Changing Global Environment: Pakistan's Perspective,"
hosted by the German council on foreign relations in Berlin,
Khar said that Afghans themselves need to define the contours
of the reconciliation process.
Strongly condemning the beheading
of 12 soldiers by Taliban, the HRCP has warned all institutions,
especially political parties, of the catastrophic consequences
of their failure to resist militancy, a statement issued said.
The commission said, "The barbaric beheading of 12 Pakistani
soldiers and killing of others, by the Taliban adds a new grisly
chapter to the long list of outrages committed by extremists.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry questioned the Balochistan Government's decision
to give Police powers to FC in Quetta, asking why the FC had
been delegated policing powers when various allegations already
existed against it. Hearing the petition filed by the Balochistan
High Court Bar Association, the Chief Justice said smuggled
cars were being used across Balochistan and people were openly
carrying and displaying arms.
The Supreme Court asked IG of
Balochistan Tariq Omar Khitab to submit a list of people who
lost their lives in targeted attacks in the province during
the last six months. Khitab maintained the Police were short-staffed
with at least 58 posts lying vacant in the province.
September 4
Seven militants were killed
in Batwar Khas, Chachagi, Kambeli, Tendo Dag and Kumbat areas
of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency of FATA, near the
Afghan border, as SFs kept up their attempts to drive out the
fighters from their hideouts. Two volunteers of an anti-militant
tribal group called Lashkar suffered injuries, according to
locals.
Two security men and a civilian
were killed when their vehicle was attacked on Miramshah-Dattakhel
Road near Kharh Qamar area in North Waziristan Agency. According
to sources, Subedar Bismillah Khan of Khasadar Force, his son
Saddam Khan and guard Sirajuddin were bringing salaries of khasadars
in their vehicle when masked men attacked them.
At least two people, identified
as Zamin Khan and Zakir Khan, were shot dead and another injured
when unidentified armed assailants in Frontier Colony of Banaras
area in Karachi.
HRCP in its latest report, "Killings
in Karachi - January to August 2012", revealed that of the
1,725 people killed in Karachi during the first eight months
of the year, 1,345 were victims of targeted killings and 227
of the targeted killing victims were political activists.
A Levies official and a militant
were killed, while one Levies person was injured in retaliatory
firing incident in Mand area of Turbat District.
An unidentified boy (12) was
injured in a land mine explosion in Turbat District.
Security Forces also foiled
a terror act by defusing a land mine planted in Barkhan District.
Police killed a militant, identified
as Suleman Shaukat, in an encounter in Doaba area of Hangu District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Federal Government during
a meeting chaired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik asked the
Punjab Government to crack down on LeJ without further delay,
as most cases of sectarian violence had been claimed by the
organisation. The meeting was of the view that analysis of available
intelligence suggested that there was a strong nexus between
the LeJ and one of the factions of the TTP. It was also observed
that the TTP was fuelling sectarian strife in and around Quetta
for financial gains.
The meeting also observed that
two former Harkat-ul-Ansar terrorists were supervising and handling
the killings of innocent Shias in the country, adding that one
of its members, Asmat Muawia, was operating from upper and central
Punjab.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry
warned authorities that a group of TTP militants plan to carry
out attacks on targets in Islamabad and Rawalpindi Districts,
including the prison where LeT militants charged with involvement
in the Mumbai attacks of 2008 are being held. A secret report
circulated by the NCMC said Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi is likely
to be the "main target" of the militants who intend to "free
their accomplices in a prison break".
The Government decided to bring
in a new law that would arm security and intelligence agencies
with modern techniques of surveillance and collecting evidence
to ensure that no culprit escaped punishment for lack of proof.
Law Minister Farooq Naek said that the Fair Trial Act of 2012
would be among three to four other laws.
The Minister said Act was being
promulgated to ensure that no culprit, particularly those involved
in acts of terrorism, managed to win release from the courts
because of lack of evidence or through intimidation of witnesses
and even judges. The law would also prevent security and Intelligence
Agencies from using arbitrary powers and to provide for permissible
and fair uses in accordance with the law and under proper executive
and judicial oversight keeping in view Article 10-A of the Constitution.
He further said that the Government
had introduced a Bill to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act in the
Senate some two years ago, but the house committee on interior,
headed by a JUI-F Senator, did nothing.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister,
Hina Rabbani Khar while speaking at a lunch hosted by Germany's
Korber Foundation in Berlin said that Pakistan is the worst
victim of the Afghan conflict, sacrificing up to 40,000 lives
and suffering economic losses worth more than USD 1 billion.
PTI chairman Imran Khan announced
that he would lead a 'peace march' from Islamabad to South Waziristan
on October 6, 2012 to express solidarity with the people of
the tribal area and to protest against US drone attacks.
Last month, national and international
media carried an Associated Press interview with a spokesman
for TTP, Ehsanullah Ehsan, who threatened that the Taliban would
kill Imran Khan if he ventured into their stronghold in South
Waziristan. The following day the TTP spokesman denied having
threatened to kill the PTI chief. Khan had declared that
his party would go ahead with its plan despite the threat.
September 5
Five persons, including an ASI,
were killed in different incidents of violence in Karachi. According
to Police, ASI Ghafoor Abbasi and a shopkeeper were killed when
unidentified armed militants opened fire in Khawaja Ajmer Nagri
area of North Karachi.
A man who got injured in a firing
incident in Nazimabad succumbed to his injuries.
Two tortured bullet riddled
dead bodies were found from Qayyumabad and Ittehad Town.
Two people were injured in two
separate firing incidents in New Karachi and Lyari area.
Two people were injured in an
explosion in Manghopir area.
Two people, identified as Ramzan
and Mushtaq, were shot dead when unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a shop in Pasni area of Gwadar District.
A dentist, identified as Niamatullah,
belonging to Hazara-Shia community was killed when unidentified
armed militants opened indiscriminate fire on Shaukat Clinic
on Kinrani Road in Quetta. No group has claimed responsibility
for the killing.
Unidentified militants opened
fire on a man, identified as Abdul Ghaffar, at Umar Farooq Chowk
area of Khuzdar Town in Khuzdar District, killing him on the
spot and injuring a passerby, identified as Fazal.
The Quetta Police recovered
an unidentified dead body from the Double Road area of the city.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up outside Jandol Police Station in Lower Dir District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa after officers opened fire on him, adding that there
were no other casualties. "A man was coming towards the police
station, when police shouted to stop him he began running and
blew himself up when police started firing," Senior Police Official
Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said.
The Army has asked two powerful
tribes of Upper Dir District to extend support to SF in thwarting
the nefarious designs of militants and foreign agencies for
maintaining peace in the District. Addressing a jirga
of Sultankhel and Paindakhel tribes in Wari, second major town
in Upper Dir, Colonel Kamran Khan and other Army officials said
that foreign agencies were fuelling terrorism in the area. They
were recruiting Pakistanis for the purpose, they said.
Four activists of TI, a pro-Government
militia, were injured when an improvised explosive device went
off near a bunker in Zakhakhel Bazaar area in Khyber Agency
of FATA. Officials said that the explosive device was planted
near the bunker of 'Commander' Abdul Qadir, who along with his
three guards was injured critically in the blast.
Three children playing cricket
in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency were injured when an
improvised explosive device exploded. The target was obviously
children, because the IED was planted in a playground, Upper
Mohmand Agency Assistant Political Agent Rasool Khan said. No
group has claimed responsibility.
Unidentified militants blew
off a Government Primary School in Kongat Johar area of Safi
tehsil. Agency Education Officer Said Muhammad said that so
far 101 Government schools had been destroyed in Mohmand Agency,
depriving 7,000 children of education.
An under-construction building
in Ghundi area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency was
partially damaged when explosive material planted inside it
went off. Officials said that the building belonged to a former
official of Khasadar Force.
Two suspects operating a network
for the TTP in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for
generating funds via extortion and kidnapping were arrested
by a joint investigation team of Security Forces and Capital
Police. On the light of the information given by the suspects,
efforts are in progress to arrest the leader of the network
operating from UK.
Following 'serious' security
threats from the homegrown TTP, the Army and Punjab Police have
deployed heavy forces at one of Pakistan's largest nuclear facilities
in Dera Ghazi Khan District. "DG Khan houses one of the largest
nuclear facilities in the country, and has faced the first-ever
serious security threat from the TTP," said a high ranking military
officer.
The leaders of different political
parties have formed an alliance under the banner of FATA Qabail
Ittehad to pressurise the Government for stopping military
operations in parts of FATA, warning that in case their miseries
are not ended they will collectively decide to migrate to Afghanistan.
Mohammad Iqbal Afridi that launch of an operation in North Waziristan
would be a blunder on part of the Government.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry said the recovery of missing persons remained
the top priority for the Supreme Court, adding that the Security
Forces had failed to restore peace and order in Balochistan.
Frontier Corps Inspector General Obaidullah Khattak acknowledged
that the performance of law enforcement agencies in recovering
missing persons was unsatisfactory.
The Senate was told that "the
adventurism" of the armed forces must be stopped and they be
put on the right path to help improve the law and order situation
in Quetta, Karachi and FATA.
There was no immediate Government
response to the opposition criticism while one speaker from
the ruling PPP called for a religious dialogue and appealed
to religious scholars to unite against sectarianism.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and the
US started talks on modalities of providing 'safe passage' to
the Afghan Taliban willing to join reconciliation talks. At
the inaugural session the three sides reiterated their commitment
to peace and vowed to remain engaged on the issue of safe passage.
The decision to set up a group
on safe passage for the Afghan Taliban for peace talks was one
of the two initiatives on which Pakistan, Afghanistan and the
US had agreed at the their trilateral meeting in Islamabad in
April 2012. The other was to set up another group in New York
to work on delisting reconcilable Taliban from the UN sanctions
list.
The US said that a book by a
US Navy SEAL who participated in the Abbottabad raid contains
sensitive classified material but it will not harm America's
relations with Pakistan. "Sensitive and classified information
is contained in the book," chief Pentagon spokesman George Little
said.
The US is keeping up pressure
on the Haqqani Network, State Department Deputy Spokesman Patrick
Ventrell said, just days ahead of a congressional deadline on
whether to designate it a terrorist group. "We've been pretty
clear for a long time… that the US policy is to put pressure
on the Haqqani Network," Patrick told journalists.
The Government vaccinated children
in inaccessible areas of Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency
in FATA for the first time during the last four years with the
help of Ansarul Islam (AI).
September 6
Three persons, including a minor
girl, were killed when a mortar shell fell on the house of one
Kaptan Khan, a resident of Kandawo village in Sipah area of
Khyber Agency in FATA. Shah Nawaz, Gul Nawaz and a minor daughter
of Ahmad Gul were killed on the spot in the incident.
Dead bodies of three persons
were found in Badi Sia area of Mamond tehsil in Bajaur
Agency.
Bullet-riddled bodies of two
Peshawar-based men, identified as Muhammad Dawood and Liaquat,
were found at a deserted place in Millagori area of Jamrud tehsil
in Khyber Agency.
The menace of militancy and
terrorism can be uprooted from the tribal areas by extending
the network of development activities and mega-uplift projects
in underdeveloped areas, FATA Development Authority Chief Executive
Shah Sahib said.
Five people, including an Ahmadi
and a former income tax commissioner, were shot dead in separate
incidents of violence in different parts of Karachi. Unidentified
armed assailants opened fire on former income tax commissioner,
Mumtaz Sheikh (68) near his house in Defence, Phase IV within
the precincts of Gizri Police Station.
A Government schoolteacher belonging
to the Ahmadi community, identified as Abdul Ghaffar (35), was
shot dead in Gulistan Colony within the limits of Chakiwara
Police Station.
A 25-year-old one Umair Haider
(25) was killed and two of his friends, Najam Ahmed (25) and
Khizar Hayat (26), were injured near board office Chowrangi
within the limits of North Nazimabad Police Station.
A man identified as Iqbal Shah
(38), was shot dead in an act of target killing near his home
in Sultanabad locality.
An activist of MQM, Irfan Ahmed
(28), who was injured within Napier Police Station remit on
September 5, 2012, succumbed to his injuries at Civil Hospital.
Police recovered dead bodies
of three suicide bombers from a building in Ali Khel area near
the border of Bhakkar District about 30 kilometres away from
a nuclear plant in Garot, Khushab District. DPO Saifullah Khan
Khattak said that the militants were planning to attack the
nuclear plant.
According to details, the terrorists
were killed when three suicide jackets, each carrying 0.5 kilogramme
of explosives, exploded as they were planning to leave their
temporary residence. Police have identified two of the terrorists
as Mawia Tariq and Omar Irfan, both belonging to Mandi Bahauddin
District.
Police claimed to have foiled
a terror bid by killing a militant and recovered 105 kilogrammes
of explosive material in Bara Sheikhan area of Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Major General Ghulam Qamar,
the operation commander in Swat said that Pakistan Army repulsed
17 major attacks of militants from across Afghan border since
February 2012, saying 260 attackers were killed while 40 security
personnel lost lives in these attacks. The commander said that
since February 2012, 105 fire exchanges occurred.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief
Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has again offered to hold talks
with militants if they lay down their arms. Hoti made the offer
at a public meeting. "But we are ready to fight to the end with
those who consider our policy of reconciliation a weakness,"
he said.
Pakistan should "urgently act"
to protect Shias from rising sectarian attacks by the rival
Sunni sect that have killed hundreds this year, the HRW said.
At least 320 Shias have been killed in targeted attacks this
year across Pakistan, including more than 100 in Balochistan,
the HRW said in a statement.
The rights watchdog said terrorist
groups such as the "ostensibly banned" LeJ had operated with
"widespread impunity" across Pakistan while law enforcement
officials looked the other way. Adams said the arrest last month
of LeJ member Malik Ishaq, who has been accused of killing some
70 people, was "an important test for Pakistan's criminal justice
system".
President Asif Ali Zardari while
speaking at a function held in connection with the Defence Day
of Pakistan at Joint Staff Headquarters said that militants
have threatened Pakistan's national integrity and extremists
want to impose their political agenda on people through bullet
but "we cannot allow this... We will fight them to the finish".
September 7
At least six people were shot
dead in separate acts of violence in Karachi. Two handcuffed
unidentified bullet-riddled dead bodies were recovered from
Raxer Lane Bridge within the limits of Pak Colony Police Station.
Separately, one Abdul Rehman
(34) was killed in Karimabad within the jurisdiction of Azizabad
Police Station.
A cable operator was shot dead
while he was busy collecting payment of cable at Shah Faisal
Mohalla, Orangi within the limits of Orangi Town Police Station.
A man, identified as Anwar Khan
(25), was shot dead near Khyber Chowk, Ittehad Town within the
precincts of Mochko Police Station.
A dead body of a man, identified
as Shabbir (32), packed in gunny bag was found from Gauharabad
Bridge within the precincts of Liaquatabad Police Station. Police
said that unidentified militants had abducted him before throwing
his body.
Sindh Rangers foiled a terrorist
activity and arrested four suspects during a snap checking at
Kot Sabzal area. They recovered 50 kilogram of high grade explosive
and 1,900 detonators from a Karachi-bound coach.
Rangers carried out targeted
operation in a gambling den in Khadda market area of Lyari,
arresting seven suspects and recovering weapons from their possession
late.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls' primary school in Shewa area of Swabi
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The blast partially damaged
the school building, but no causality or injury was reported.
SP-Investigation, Jamil Kakar,
was shot dead near his residence in the Kili Gul Muhammad area
of Quetta. His guard sustained injuries in the incident.
Two containers from Karachi
(Sindh) heading towards Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District
carrying military hardware and goods for ISAF and NATO forces
stationed in Afghanistan were attacked by unidentified militants
in Dasht area of Mastung District. No casualty was reported
in the attack.
Levies Force arrested 200 Afghan
nationals under Foreigners Act in Dalbandin area of the Chagai
District while they were trying to cross into Iran illegally
and without travelling documents.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government Girls' Primary School in Khazeena area of Safi
tehsil in Mohmand Agency of FATA. No loss of life was
reported.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that it is designating the Pakistan-based Haqqani
Network, accused of high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, as
a terrorist organisation. Clinton said in a statement that she
had told the US Congress that she would brand the Haqqani Network
as a FTO, subjecting the group and its members to additional
sanctions, including an asset freeze. Clinton signed the report
to Congress in Brunei stating that the Network met the criteria
to be designated as a FTO, the State Department said. A US official
said the formal designation would be made in the coming days.
The Afghan Government said it
would fully support a US decision to blacklist the Haqqani Network
as a terrorist group. "It will be a big move in destroying terrorists
and their supporters, because the Haqqani Network is the most
dangerous terrorist group," Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman
Sediq Sediqqi said.
Senior Pakistani security official
said that decision by the US to blacklist the Haqqani Network
as terrorists will negatively impact future relations with Pakistan.
"Frankly speaking, any decision by the US to declare the Haqqani
Network a terror group will not be a good sign for future Pakistan-US
relations," the official said, speaking under anonymity.
Senior 'commanders' of the Haqqani
Network said that the US decision to designate the Network as
a terrorist organisation shows it is not sincere about peace
efforts in Afghanistan. The move will also bring hardship for
US Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who is being held by the militants,
the 'commanders' said over telephone from an undisclosed location.
Political administration of
Bajaur Agency in FATA started registration of people displaced
due to fighting between SFs and militants in Salarzai tehsil
near Afghan border. "Four registration points have been established
in different areas to find out exact number of the affected
persons," Bajaur Agency political agent Abdul Jabbar Shah said.
An Islamabad court ordered the
release on bail of Rimsha, a Christian girl accused of burning
a Koranic primer. Muhammad Azam Khan, additional session's judge
in Islamabad, accepted the girl's bail plea against two sureties
of PKR. 500,000 each. He ordered Police to protect her as her
life has been threatened.
September 8
Six people were killed in separate
acts of target killing in Karachi, the Provincial capital of
Sindh.
A man, Shafiq (45) was shot
dead by two armed pillion riders near KDA Chowrangi within the
precincts of North Nazimabad Police Station.
Another man, identified as Niaz
Baloch, associated with transport business was shot dead at
Nanakwara within the limits of Risala Police Station.
A man, identified as Farhan
Siddique, was killed and two others were injured in Karimabad
within the jurisdiction of Gulberg Police Station.
A man was shot dead near Danish
Clinic at Qasba colony within the limits of Pirabad Police Station.
A bullet riddled and tortured
body of a man, identified as Seeral Ali, packed in gunny bag
was found from Kashmir Road within the jurisdiction of Pak Colony
Police Station. According to an official, Seerat was kidnapped
on August 6, 2012.
The body of a man was found
from Northern bypass within the limits of Manghopir Police Station.
Police said Ramzan Baloch, 40, was found dead from Northern
Bypass.
September 9
The SFs claimed to have recovered
19 bodies of militants during a search operation in areas along
the border in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
All the militants active in the area had been pushed back into
Afghanistan. A huge quantity of weapons and explosives was also
found.
Registration of the tribesmen
displaced because of the law and order situation in the border
areas of Salarzai continued for the second day. According to
local officials, over 2,000 affected families have been registered
and the process is continuing.
An important 'commander' of
the TTP, Aftab Khan Mehsud, has been reportedly killed eight
days back during clashes with SFs in the Zarmelan village of
South Waziristan Agency.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government primary school for girls in Khail Maat Shah
Village of Storikhel area in Orakzai Agency. Militants have
destroyed 93 schools for boys and girls in the troubled tribal
region so far.
Unidentified armed assailants
killed the Secretary General of Gujrat Chapter of PML-Q, Chaudhary
Muhammad Tofail and his driver in Jalalpur Jattan town of Gujrat
District.
A hoax bomb call briefly disrupted
services at the Lahore Airport after India's External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna's special plane took off.
A Karachi-bound flight was delayed
for a couple of hours after authorities received information
from an unidentified person that a bomb had been planted in
the plane. "After a thorough search, the alert turned out to
be a hoax," the spokesman said.
A high-level meeting under the
Chairmanship of Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik reviewed
the security situation in the country. Progress on the recovery
of missing persons was also analysed in the light of steps taken
by the Government to that end.
A man, identified as Mumtaz,
while coming from Iran on his vehicle, was killed by unidentified
armed militants in Turbat District.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man, identified as Ahmad Nawaz, in Duki area of
Loralai District.
SFs pushed TTP militants who
came from Afghanistan back across the border after more than
two weeks of fighting in a mountainous tribal region. The Government
says over 100 people were killed in the offensive. The violence
in the Bajaur Agency highlighted the growing problem of TTP
militants using sanctuaries in Afghanistan to attack Pakistan.
Pakistan has called on Afghan
and NATO forces to do more to stop militants from crossing into
the country. Kabul and the international coalition have acknowledged
the problem, but also want Pakistan to do more to stop militants
holed up on its territory from launching attacks into Afghanistan.
Police arrested two suspects,
involved in more than 100 killings, in an encounter conducted
near Edhi graveyard, Mauripur in Karachi and also recovered
hand grenades from them.
Pakistan has agreed to provide
safe passage to the Afghan Taliban leaders willing to participate
in reconciliation talks with the Afghan Government, US and diplomatic
sources reported. The US official said the United States and
Pakistan had formed a working group to facilitate safe passage
to Afghan Taliban leaders willing to visit Kabul for talks with
Afghan officials.
Up to 43 organisations, trusts
and groups have been outlawed so far by the Government for alleged
involvement in terrorist activities, according to figures released
by the Interior Minister. Of the 14 organisations that were
banned in 2012, most were based in Gilgit Baltistan and Balochistan.
The Government should curtail
the role of Military and Intelligence Agencies and call off
the military operation if it wants a political solution to the
festering Balochistan imbroglio, said speakers at a National
Conference organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA)
and moderated by its President Yasin Azad in Quetta. They also
demanded that the spiral of violence must stop and all missing
persons recovered.
A five member delegation of
the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
(WGEID) headed by Olivier de Frouville arrived in Pakistan on
September 9 to launch a 10-day official mission on enforced
disappearances and hold meetings with the Federal and Provincial
Government authorities, representatives of civil society, military
leadership, intelligence agencies and family members of the
missing persons to collect information about enforced disappearances
in the country. Enforced disappearances in Pakistan had reached
unprecedented levels, the WGEID's annual report on Pakistan
said while voicing concern over abductions of civilians in Balochistan
and other parts of the country.
September 10
At least 15 Shia persons killed
and 40 others injured in a suicide attack in a crowded Hamid
Market in Kashmir Chowk area of Parachinar town, the headquterer
of Kurram Agency, in FATA. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Two personnel of Frontier Constabulary
were injured critically when an IED planted along the roadside
in Naw Gazee Baba area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency
was detonated through a remote control.
A security official was injured
when militants attacked a patrolling party of SFs in Qamberabad
near Bara Bazaar.
At five persons, including a
Policeman and two activists of MQM, were killed in separate
incidents of target killing in Karachi. Two men were shot dead
by unidentified armed assailants while they were standing near
ZMC office in Orangi Town No 5 within the limits of Orangi Town
Police Station.
An ex-Unit in-charge of MQM,
Kaleem Ullah Kaleem (50), was shot dead in Chishti Nagar, Orangi
Town within the precincts of Orangi Town Police Station.
Another activist of MQM Unit
116, identified as Muhammad Ali, was killed in Baldia Town No
3 within the limits of Baldia Police Station.
An ASI, identified as Ejaz (30),
shot and injured in a targeted attack on September 8, 2012 near
Hassan Square, New Town Police limits, succumbed to his injuries
in local hospital.
At least four bullet-riddled
dead bodies were found in the Mohammad Toway area of Kalat District
in Balochistan. The sources said that hands and legs of the
deceased were tied up and they were also blind folded, and that
the victims included a Balochistan Constabulary Official.
Levies forces arrested 39 Afghan
nationals under Foreigners' Act from a passenger coach at a
check-post in Dalabandin area of Chagai District.
At least 13 workers of a factory,
including two women workers, were injured in a remote-controlled
bomb attack on a bus in the industrial town of Hub in Quetta.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on two persons at Bargo, some 20 kilometers west of Gilgit
city. Police said an accounts officer of the Red Crescent, Naeem,
and a student of ninth class, Shakir, were attacked.
IGP Usman Zakaria, briefing
the members of the GB Legislative Assembly during an in-camera
session, said that his force was divided along sectarian lines
and much was needed to arrest the sensitive situation. The Police
chief told the legislators that the Police had sectarian, tribal
and ethnic biases, but hoped that extensive trainings would
improve affairs
Rawalpindi ATC Judge Chaudhry
Habibur Rehman acquitted the chief cleric of Lal Masjid, Maulana
Abdul Aziz, and 19 others in the July 3, 2007 murder case a
Rangers official named Mubarik Hussain. Defence counsel Qari
Wajihullah told that the court verdict proved that Police had
made a false case against his clients.
Lahore's Additional District
and Sessions Judge granted bail to LeJ co-founder Malik Ishaq
on the submission of a surety bond worth PKR 500,000. Ishaq
is not expected to be released soon as the bail has not been
submitted, and he is also currently accused in other cases.
The bail plea of Ishaq said that the Article 295-A of the Pakistan
Penal Code does not apply in this case and it was a malafide
action on part of the Police to register the case.
The Christian girl accused of
committing blasphemy, according to officials, was shifted to
an undisclosed place from the Police Lines Headquarters in Islamabad
where she had been staying since her release from the Adiala
Jail on September 7, 2012.
A UN delegation arrived in Islamabad
for a 10-day mission to collect information on unsolved disappearances.
The delegation represents the UN WGEID and will study steps
taken by the Pakistani Government to stop forced disappearances
and solve other issues related to the victims.
A junior Federal Minister was
furious in the National Assembly over the visit to Pakistan
of the UN team to collect data about the so-called missing persons.
The BSO-A, in a letter to the
UN, requested its WGEID to directly speak to the people of Balochistan
and families of the Baloch missing persons. "This situation
has left us with no hope at all whilst there are hundreds of
Baloch youths and activists who are at risk of abduction by
the authorities. Therefore, we request that the UN WGEID to
speak to the people of Balochistan and more importantly to the
families of missing persons."
The Khatm-e-Nabuwat Conference,
Tajdar Khatam-e-Nabuwat organised by Fidayane Khatam-e-Nabuwat
at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, ended in Lahore District with speakers
calling for various measures against the members of the Ahmadi
community. The participants of the conference also stated that
Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of former Punjab
Governor Salman Taseer, has not committed any offence by killing
him and should be released.
In an undated frame grab from
video posted on a militant-leaning Web site, and provided by
the SITE Intelligence Group, shows Abu Yahya al-Libi whose death
was confirmed by al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri in a video
posted. In the video al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri described
his late lieutenant Abu Yahya al-Libi as a "lion of jihad and
knowledge". Al-Zawahri also urged Libyans to attack Americans
to avenge the late militant's death, saying his "blood is calling,
urging and inciting you to fight and kill the Crusaders."
The Afghan Taliban denied a
report that some of their leading members were ready to negotiate
a comprehensive peace deal involving a long-term US military
presence in Afghanistan. A report to be published by the Royal
United Services Institute (RUSI) said some leading Afghan Taliban
were determined to make a decisive break with al Qaeda as part
of a settlement and were open to negotiation about allowing
education for girls. But a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban
denied that any interviews had taken place. "The report is a
lie and is baseless," Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters from an
undisclosed location. "We have never wanted the Americans to
stay in Afghanistan and this has always been our position."
Earlier, a study by RUSI said
that the Taliban is prepared to completely disown al Qaeda and
allow the US to retain several military bases in Afghanistan
and agree to a ceasefire deal to end its 11 year conflict with
NATO.
Doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped
the CIA nail Osama bin Laden, told a US television channel,
Fox News, that the ISI considered America Pakistan's "worst
enemy". "I tried to argue that America was Pakistan's biggest
supporter - billions and billions of dollars in aid, social
and military assistance - but all they said was, 'These are
our worst enemies. You helped our enemies'." Afridi accused
the ISI of funding militants. "It is now indisputable that militancy
in Pakistan is supported by the ISI … Pakistan's fight against
militancy is bogus. It's just to extract money from America,"
he said.
He also described "a regime
of perpetual torture and interrogation for large numbers of
detainees", some of whom include white western male converts
to Islam caught while travelling to Afghanistan to fight NATO
troops or to join militant camps in FATA.
September 11
A man was injured when militants
attacked a FC camp in the Chitkan area of Panjgur District in
Balochistan. The FC personnel at the camp repulsed the attack,
compelling the attackers to flee. No loss of life was reported
at the camp. However, a man identified as Aftab was seriously
injured when a stray bullet hit him.
Unidentified militants blew
up four pylons of 132 KV electricity transmission line near
Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex in Kala Dher area of Charsadda
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants set on
fire a bridge in Pariat village some 45 kilometres from Chitral,
cutting off access for hundreds of people as their land route
was disconnected from the rest of the District.
A house was partially damaged
when an IED exploded at Pandu area in the limits of Chamkani
Police Station in Peshawar. No casualty was reported.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government-run primary school in the Badbher area in Peshawar.
The blast flattened two rooms, but no loss of life was reported.
Militants blew up Government
Primary School Haji Malik Nadir in the Parata Qilla area of
Haleemzai tehsil in Mohmand Agency of FATA increasing
the total number of schools destroyed in the agency to 103.
A teacher of a girls' school
went missing when she was coming to Mohmand Agency from Attock
District of Punjab. Officials said that the teacher, Robina
Tabassum, went missing near Shabqadar area when she was on her
way to the school.
Security officials of PAF arrested
a suspected person near PAF Mushaf Airbase in Sargodha town
of the same District in Punjab. Police sources said that the
suspect, Sohail Bhatti, had been handed over to cantonment Police.
During investigation, he confessed to being trained by a militant
organisation.
Pakistan released LeJ's chief
Malik Ishaq after a court granted him bail, following his arrest
on suspicion of inciting sectarian hatred. Ishaq was detained
over a speech he made at a religious school on August 19 in
the wake of a rise in sectarian violence between majority Sunni
and minority Shias. "The court has accepted his bail application
and later he was freed from jail," Ishaq's attorney Arif Mehmood
Rana said.
Federal Minister of Interior
Minister Rehman Malik directed IGPs of all provinces to beef
up security and take special care of Chinese officials working
in Pakistan on various development projects. Malik was chairing
a meeting to review steps taken for the security of Chinese
nationals working in Pakistan.
The TTP released a video, which
shows the eight employees of the Gomal Zam Dam project, who
were abducted in the South Waziristan Agency of FATA on August
15, 2012 pleading to authorities for their safe release. "We
appeal to the Government of Pakistan and WAPDA to fulfil the
demands of TTP and arrange for our safe release as soon as possible,"
one of the men was shown as saying.
President Asif Ali Zardari and
CoAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said that the decision to
launch a military operation in North Waziristan will be made
by the Army and the Government of Pakistan and not on any external
pressure. Briefing the President, the Army Chief said that the
area has been cleared of militants.
A key US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher,
chairman of House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight
and Investigations, said that Pakistan is not a friend of the
US and also alleged that it is a "partner" of terrorist who
murdered fellow Americans."The continued incarceration of Doctor
Shakeel Afridi by the Pakistani Government should reaffirm to
all Americans that Pakistan is not our friend but instead is
the partner of terrorists who murder our fellow Americans,"
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said.
The US will provide up to USD
70 million to support reconstruction of the Peshawar-Torkham
Highway, which is used by NATO to supply its troops in Afghanistan.
According to a press statement by the US Consulate General in
Peshawar, USAID Mission Director Jock Conly said, "Reconstruction
of the highway will not only boost trade between these countries
but also improve their economies by serving as the trade gateway
to the Central Asian states," Conly said.
The law and order record of
Pakistan is not the best in the world, with Al Jazeera
recently terming Karachi having the worst crime figures for
a metropolitan city. Journalist Ross Kemp
explores the violent side of the City of Lights as part of his
Extreme World series. The documentary shows Karachi, the economic
hub of Pakistan and a city of 18 million people gripped by criminals,
extortionists, kidnappers and murderers. He shows that political
parties, which dominate the city, are allegedly in league with
criminals in the city.
September 12
Two persons, including the driver
of a truck and his son were shot and injured by unidentified
assailants in Sikandarabad area near Gilgit town of Gilgit District.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, President of the transporters
union, Gul Muhammad, said that driver Humayun and his son Faizan,
residents of Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were attacked
by masked militants.
Five persons were killed in
separate incidents of violence and target killing in Karachi.
In the first incident, armed riders shot and killed three people
near Ghazi Foundation School in Block-A area under North Nazimabad
Police Station.
A man, Jan Bahadur (36), was
shot dead in Bhutta Village in Keamari area within the limits
of Jackson Police Station.
A stray bullet killed a man,
identified as Yousuf Masih (40), in Essa Nagri within the jurisdiction
of PIB Police Station while he was sleeping in his house.
One person was killed and three
others were injured in a remote controlled bomb blast in the
Sariab area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The sources suspected the attack was targeted at a convoy of
SF which had passed the area minutes before the blast.
Police recovered a dead body
of a youth, identified as that of Jamil Hussain, from paddy
fields in the limits of Mathra Police Station in the suburbs
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Peshawar High Court asked
the Federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governments to ensure immediate
end to the dumping of human bodies in gunnysacks in Peshawar
and adjoining Districts and said it would act against them in
line with the Constitution if they failed to do so. It later
adjourned hearing to September 27, 2012.
Unidentified militants bombed
a Government-run primary school in the Akkakhel area of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
President Asif Ali Zardari reiterated
the commitment of the Government to continue focusing on FATA
and to take all possible measures for the socio-economic development
of the people of the Tribal Areas.
The acting President of BNP,
Doctor Jehanzeb Jamaldini, accused the chief of the commission
on missing persons, Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal, of misinforming
a UN working group about the issue. Addressing a press conference
in Quetta, Dr Jamaldini claimed that about 14,000 people of
Balochistan were missing but Justice (retd) Iqbal had provided
wrong information to the UN group.
The VBMP Chairman Nasarullah
Baloch condemned Javaid Iqbal's statement on missing persons
during his meeting with a UN mission on enforced disappearances,
saying the statement was partial and advocacy of intelligence
agencies.
The US said Pakistanis have
been victims of terrorism, as the State Department underscored
the importance of support for the country in combating terrorists.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland spoke about US
strong counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan, which over
the last decade has suffered grievously from retaliatory terrorist
bombings. Al Qaeda released a new video in which a 71-year-old
American aid worker Warren Weinstein abducted August 13, 2011
from the city of Lahore (Punjab) asked Israel's Prime Minister
for help in meeting al Qaeda's demands so that he could be freed.
Several leading politicians,
including PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif,
are on the potential hit-list of the TTP, according to an intelligence
report circulated among law enforcement agencies. Also appearing
on the list are PPP leader Fakhar Imam and the head of the Shia
Ulema Council Pakistan Allama Sajid Naqvi. The report, citing
plans of TTP Punjab's 'commander' Matiur Rehman and his associates,
also spoke of terror plots being hatched by the group in Punjab.
Around 600,000 children in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa have missed one or more years of education due to
militancy, according to a report, 'The State of Pakistan's Children-2011'.
The report, which was launched during a special function organised
by Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child at
the Peshawar Press Club, said a total of 710 schools had been
destroyed or damaged by militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According
to the report, almost 25 million children are currently out
of school in the country and of them, seven million had yet
to receive any form of primary schooling.
September 13
As many as 10 labourers were
killed and another four sustained injuries in the Dasht area
of Mastung District of Balochistan after unidentified assailants
opened fire on them. The BULA claimed responsibility for the
killings.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a tribal elder, Mir Saeed Ahmed Qalandarani, and his
five guards at Tutak area of Khuzdar District.
Unidentified militants attacked
the Balochistan FC camp with rockets in Buleda area of Kech
District. However, no loss of life or damage to property was
reported.
At least two NATO containers
were attacked and set on fire by unidentified miscreants in
Dasht Area of Mastung District. No casualty was reported.
Five members of a pro-Government
armed group died when they drove over an improvised explosive
device in Zawodin-Bhukkar village in the Tirah Valley of Khyber
Agency in FATA. Local administrator Khalid Mumtaz Khundi said
the victims were members of TI, a pro-Government group fighting
LI militants in the Zakhakhel Bazaar area.
Four civilians were killed and
two others injured when a mortar fired by militants struck a
house in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. LI militants
have been targeting the homes of Akkakhel tribesmen since area
residents formed a peace committee almost a year ago, Political
Tehsildar Ghulam Farooq said.
Three handwritten Urdu pamphlets
on TTP letterheads pasted in Mattani market of Peshawar by militants
are warning people not to join peace militias or they will become
the target of militant attacks. The letter also said that if
anyone had complaints, they should call the TTP directly on
a number that was listed in the poster.
The GBLA approved a resolution
demanding complete provincial status for the Gilgit Baltistan
region. The resolution will also have to be approved by the
GB Council, headed by the sitting Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that an act of terror could not be excluded
as one of the possible reasons of the fire incident in Karachi
that killed hundreds of people, adding that an enquiry is underway
to ascertain its causes.
The UJC, an amalgam of militant
outfits active in Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, opposed
Pakistan's 'growing bonhomie' with India. "Any dialogue between
India and Pakistan will not succeed if Kashmir dispute is sidelined,"
warned PoK based UJC General Secretary Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehmaan
in an emailed statement to Hindustan Times.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina
Rabaani Khar in an interview said, "On the issue of Kashmir,
we have to see if our efforts and our strategy in the past have
produced desired results. Now the question is, the attitude
and formulation we adopted over past 60 years, if we continue
sticking to them, will they give us a resolution even after
next 65 years? The answer to that is a resounding no."
September 14
Eight persons were shot dead
in separate incidents of target killing in different areas of
Karachi. One Huzaifa (22) was shot dead and two others, Kashif
(25) and Aamir (20), were injured by unidentified armed militants
near KMC Workshop, Ramswami.
One Muhammad Farooq (42) was
shot dead by unidentified assailants in Kharadar area.
In another incident, one man,
Fazal-ul-Haq (30) succumbed to his injuries while another Sher
Alam, was injured in a firing incident Meran Naka area of Lyari.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Ali (27), was shot dead and another, Nawaz, wounded when unidentified
assailants opened fire at them near Labour Court, Malir.
One Khurram (28) was shot dead
in Pir Illahi Bux Colony. In addition, a teenager, Muhammad
Lateef (18), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in Liaquatabad area. One Abdul Hafeez (29) was shot dead by
unidentified armed militants in Nazimabad area.
A member of PAC, identified
as Rajesh (30), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
on Shah Waliullah Road in Baghdadi area. In the aftermath, panic
engulfed the area as armed men resorted to heavy firing.
Three people, including a JeI
leader, were injured in a roadside blast near central mosque
in Khialimat village of Utmankhel area in Orakzai Agency of
FATA.
Religious scholar Maulana Lal
Mohammad narrowly escaped a pre-dawn explosion outside his house
in Shakai area of South Waziristan Agency. Sources said IED
exploded at the main gate of the house of Mohammad, a close
aide of JUI-F MNA Maulana Abdul Malik.
Unidentified militants exploded
an improvised explosive device targeting the vehicle of Baizai
peace committee in Chanda area of Haleemzai tehsil in Mohmand
Agency.
SFs also defused an IED in Nasapai
area of Haleemzai tehsil.
A roadside bomb exploded in
Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency, moments after NATO containers
crossed the place. No loss of life was reported.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls' high school in Lond Khor area near Shah
Dhund in Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. No loss of life
was reported.
Unidentified militants blew
up a CD shop of one Noordad Khan in Fazal Wahad Market of Dagai
village in Razaar tehsil of Swabi District.
President of the JWP Nawabzada
Talal Akbar Bugti during a press conference in Quetta urged
members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
to meet all the stakeholders for getting information about missing
persons. "We will welcome if UN delegation meets JWP leaders
and other people to get a clear picture about the Balochistan
situation," Nawabzada said.
Pakistan needs strategic space
and sympathy, not calls to 'do more', Ambassador Sherry Rehman
told a Congressional Caucus in Washington during a discussion
on the subject "Pakistan and the United States: The Road
Ahead". She assured the lawmakers that Pakistan was with
the US "for a long haul".
September 15
A blast that took place outside
a scrap shop left a 10-year-old boy dead and 10 others injured
at Bara Board in Nazimabad under Pak Colony Police Station in
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
The owner of a general store,
identified as Mohammad Ahmed Siddiqui, was shot dead and his
brother Shams injured while they were returning home near Alliance
Arcade in Block-15 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar. The Police investigators
said Ahmed was receiving death threats from a group of extortionists.
In another incident, a man,
identified as Mohammad Asif, was shot dead on Jehangir Road.
A would-be suicide bomber was
killed in Dhodda area under Dedang Police Station of Kohat District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while preparing a suicide jacket.
A driver sustained severe injuries
when an unidentified motorcyclist opened indiscriminate firing
on a NATO container, carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan,
near Jamrud in Khyber Agency of FATA.
September 16
Sixteen persons were killed
and 13 others injured when a remote-controlled bomb ripped through
a passenger van in the Inzaro Kandao area of Lower Dir District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Eight militants were killed
when SFs pounded their positions in Khadezai area of Orakzai
Agency in FATA. Sources said that three hideouts of militants
were also destroyed in the artillery shelling.
The PPP-SB supporter, Shafi
Mohammad (45), was shot dead by two unidentified armed assailants
near Nishan-e-Haider Chowk in Pakistan Bazaar.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body of a man was found near Moosa Lane.
Another unidentified dead body
was found near Filmistan Cinema in Gulbahar.
A man, identified as Sher Muhammad
Marri, was killed in a landmine blast in Grasni area of Kohlu
District in Balochistan while he was passing by the area.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a man, Muhammad Akram, in Awaran District.
11-member Senate Standing Committee
on Human Rights headed by Senator Afrasiab Khattak of ANP will
arrive in Quetta on September 26, 2012 to review the law and
order situation in Balochistan with focus on the recent incidents
of sectarian killings. The committee members will hold meetings
in the office of the Chief Secretary to know "the reasons for
not stopping the genocide of Hazara community in Balochistan,"
says the meeting agenda.
Unidentified militants blew
up a jewellery shop of Abdul Akbar at Niazi Market in Bara tehsil.
The shop was closed for the last six months.
Also in Bara, militants blew
up the house of Dr Najib, a resident of Mandi Kas in Sipah area.
The house was empty at the time of explosion as the family had
moved out of Bara when a military operation was launched in
the area in November 2011.
September 17
A leader of JeI and former Liaquatabad
Town Nazim, identified as Doctor Pervaiz Mehmood, was shot dead
along with his associate, Saleemullah, near KDA Chowrangi in
North Nazimabad area of Karachi.
Two unidentified dead bodies
stuffed in gunny bags were found from the Garden area.
Another unidentified tortured
and bullet-riddled dead body was found from the remits of the
Nabi Buksh Police Station.
Doctor Shahzad Iqbal (45) while
heading towards his clinic, S.N Medical Centre, in Mustafa
Colony was shot dead by two unidentified militants near Rehmat
Chowk. Police Investigators termed the murder a sectarian killing.
One Farhan (32), a junior manager
of a cellular company’s franchise and resident of Fort Sultan
Apartments in Shah Faisal Colony, was shot dead in the Shah
Faisal Colony Police limits. Police Investigators said Farhan
was a supporter of the MQM.
Three people were injured in
a blast near MQM sector office in Hunaid City within Sharea
Faisal Police limits. No activist of the MQM was injured in
the attack.
Police found an unidentified
dead body stuffed in a bag in the Essa Nagri area of Quetta
in Balochistan.
Police recovered another unidentified
dead body from the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta.
The driver of a trailer, supplying
goods to NATO forces in Afghanistan, was killed and his assistant
received critical injuries when their vehicle was targeted by
an explosive device on Peshawar-Torkham road near Shahgai Fort
in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
A Government school was damaged
in an explosion in Babuzai village of Katlang area in Mardan
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. No loss of human life
was reported.
Swabi District authorities have
decided to provide arms to the watchmen of Government schools
to protect educational institutions in the District from attacks
of militants. Sources said that District Administration and
Education Department chalked out jointly a comprehensive strategy
for protection of educational institutions.
The Security alert level at
Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad was raised
to ‘red alert’ due to intelligence reports received by the Federal
Government that TTP would attempt to abduct major political
figures, VIPs, or prominent religious leaders of Shia or Sunni
sects at the airport.
Pakistan has quietly conveyed
to the US to not make any public statement on its planned operation
against militants in the restive North Waziristan Agency bordering
Afghanistan. The advice stems from the fact that any remarks
by American officials may complicate the Pakistani authorities’
plan to create the ‘necessary environment’ for the Waziristan
offensive, a senior Government official said under the condition
of anonymity.
VBMP Chairman Nasruallah Baloch
while addressing a press conference at a token hunger strike
camp set up by relatives of missing persons outside the Quetta
Press Club said he had submitted a letter in the Supreme Court
Quetta Registry and lodged a complaint with IHRO that his life
was in danger and that secret agencies should be held responsible
if anything happened to him. He said, “The Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Aman
(TNA) has threatened me that they will kill me and other members
of my organisation. My organisation is not a political front”.
The JWP took a swipe at the
UN as a self-seeking organisation from whom not much could be
expected on the issue of alleged rights abuses in Balochistan,
its President Talal Bugti said.
Unlike the JWP, the BNP appears
more upbeat on the UN officials’ visit. “We urge the UN and
other international human rights organisations to play their
due role in ending the violation of human rights in Balochistan,
otherwise a worse human tragedy could take place,” said the
party’s Information Secretary Agha Hassan Baloch.
A delegation of the Hazara Qaumi
Jirga informed the UN working group about the sectarian
targeted killings of the Hazara community, saying that the Government
was not playing its role to prevent such incidents.
September 18
Nine persons, including a JeI
activist, were killed in Karachi. An activist of JeI, Abdul
Wahab, was killed when Police allegedly opened fire on a protest
rally of JeI called in protest against the target killing and
assassination of its leader and former town Nazim Doctor Pervez
Mahmood in North Nazimabad on September 17, 2012. The MQM-H
supported the rally.
Deputy Director Education Department
Moeen Ahmed was killed in firing incident in the area of Pak
Colony.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Hanif (50), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailant near
Meena Bazaar within the jurisdiction of PIB Police Station.
A man was killed by unidentified
armed militants near Hasan Square.
Unidentified armed assailants
opened fire on a car near Nagan Chowrangi Flyover, killing one
man while injuring another.
Two unidentified dead bodies
were found from the vicinity of Ansari Bridge, Super Highway
within the jurisdiction of Memon Goth Police Station.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was recovered from Raxer Bridge area within the limits
of Pak Colony Police Station.
Another unidentified dead body
of a man of around 35-year age was found in the area of Golimar.
Six people were injured when
a hand grenade was hurled at MQM office in the Baldia Town area.
The assailants opened fire in the area after hurling the hand
grenade creating panic among the residents.
At least seven people belonging
to the Dawoodi Bohra community, including a three-month-old
baby Shabbir, a 12-year-old girl Umema and a woman, were killed
and 22 others injured in twin bomb blasts on a road between
two apartment buildings — Qasr-e-Kutbuddin and Burhani Bagh
— in Block C of North Nazimabad, commonly called Bohra Compound.
Three Shia Mulim pilgrims were
killed and a dozen wounded in a roadside bomb attack on a passenger
bus carrying in Mastung District. Six security personnel who
were assigned to provide security to the bus also received injuries.
A man died and another sustained
bullet wounds when Police opened fire at a mob protesting registration
of a case against Liaqat, an activist of opposition PML-N in
Bhimbher District in PoK. The PML-N worker had been booked allegedly
by ruling PPP activist Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, Police and witnesses
said.
At least two Police officials
were injured when an IED exploded in Maidan area of Lower Dir
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Security officials recovered
a cache of arms and ammunition during a search operation in
different areas of Swat, Torghar and Shangla District
Militants blew up the house
of a transporter, Siffatullah, accusing him of supplying goods
to coalition forces in Afghanistan, in Landi Kotal area of Khyber
Agency in FATA. Another house Siffatullah was having built was
bombed a year ago. Siffatullah has denied involvement in supplying
NATO forces.
Three militants, Muhammad Jamal,
Pervaiz Shah and Rasool Khan, surrendered before Political Administration
in Bajaur Agency. They will remain in custody for three days
before being freed, Political Agent Syed Abdul Jabbar said.
An ATC in Rawalpindi District
acquitted all the three accused persons in two high-profile
terrorist attack cases of the Federal Capital due to poor investigation
and lack of evidence.
Riaz Fatiana, the chairman of
the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights,
informed a UN mission that incidents of enforced disappearances
had declined sharply since the issue became the focus of the
judiciary, parliament and media. Talking to the media after
his meeting with the two-member UN WGEID, Fatiana said there
had been no mechanism available with the judiciary and parliament
to trace the missing persons, except for depending on law-enforcement
and intelligence agencies. When these agencies said they had
no missing person in their custody then not much could be done,
he added.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik briefed members of the UN working group on missing
persons. While talking to media after the meeting, the Minister
said that he had informed the group that if they thought there
was no law in Pakistan, it was a wrong perception. He said he
had also cleared misperceptions about involvement of intelligence
agencies in the issue.
September 19
The Pakistan Army said it killed
29 TTP fighters in the final stage of an operation in Batwar
valley of Bajaur Agency in FATA. According to senior security
official based in Khar, the main town of Bajaur, around 400
militants had crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan on August
23, 2012 and attacked villages.
SFs claimed to have found 18
bodies of militants during a search operation in Salarzai tehsil
of Bajaur Agency along the border with Afghanistan. Officials
told journalists that volunteers of the Salarzai Qaumi Lashkar
and SFs had found the bodies during the search operation in
the region.
The Khasadar Force thwarted
an attack on a container, supplying goods to NATO forces in
Afghanistan, in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency. Officials
said that a group of masked militants opened firing on the container
near Takhta Beg checkpost. However, the khasadars, posted
at the checkpoint, reached the place and forced the assailants
to flee.
The political administration
of Orakzai Agency has asked four NGOs including partners of
USAID and UNICEF to stop working in the troubled area forthwith.
They said that the administration through a letter, issued on
September 9, 2012 directed four NGOs to stop their activities
in the area till obtaining formal permission from Corps Headquarters
in Peshawar.
At least 12 persons, including
two Policemen and one MQM activist, were killed in the unabated
target killing spree in Karachi. The Unit In-charge of MOC Ghulam
Sarwar (35), and his friend, Abdul Ghani, 32, were shot dead
by unidentified armed assailants in an act of target killing
in Gharibabad area of Malir.
One Wazeer Khan (50) was shot
dead in the firing incident that took place in Pipri Goth within
the limits Bin Qasim Town.
Another person, Bahadur Hussain
(30), was shot dead and three others were injured by unidentified
armed militants in North Nazimabad.
Muhammad Irfan (27) was killed
by unidentified armed militants in Usmanabad area.
One Salman (40) was shot dead
by unidentified culprits near Millat Garden, Malir.
An unidentified person was shot
dead in Orangi Town.
Police constable, Sarwar Shah
(45), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Agra
Taj, Lyari.
Another Policeman, Asghar Ahmed
(35), was shot dead by unidentified militants in Naval Colony,
Baldia Town.
An unidentified tortured dead
body of a man was found from Malir within the jurisdiction of
Saudabad Police Station.
An unidentified body of a man
(28) was found near Pak Mosque, Ranchore Line within the jurisdiction
of Nabi Bux Police Station.
Another dead body a man, identified
as that of Abdul Wahab (35) was found from the vicinity of Northern
Bypass situated within the jurisdiction of Mauripur Police Station.
A senior Police Official Involvement
while drawing similarities with the explosives used in past
attacks said that the involvement of sectarian outfits can’t
be ruled out in September 18, 2012 blasts in Hyderi market targeting
the Dawoodi Bohra community in Karachi. CID SP-Investigation
Mazhar Mashwani. “So there is a possibility that LeJ might be
involved.”
A powerful car bomb targeting
a vehicle of the PAF near Scheme Chowk on Kohat Road in Peshawar
killed 10 people and wounded 34 others, including women and
children. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
At least six persons including
an industrialist Ijaz Rafiq and two employees of a cellular
phone company Akbar Khan and his driver Nadeem Siddiqui were
abducted by suspected militants at gunpoint from main Peshawar-Kohat
Road in Matani area of Peshawar.
The other abductees include,
District Revenue Officer of Bannu District, Sajid Nawaz, his
gunman and driver, at gunpoint. However, the revenue officer
managed to flee while his driver and gunman were abducted. DSP
Fazl Maula said that five of the militants were injured in exchange
of fire. Later another official said that during a search operation
about 15 suspected persons of the area were arrested.
SFs seized arms and ammunition
from mountains and agricultural farms during search operations
in Shangla and Torghar Districts. Pakistan Army spokesman Colonel
Shahid said that the arms and ammunition was recovered during
search operations conducted by military.
Police official said that 10
militants belonging to Shah Hasankhel village in Lakki Marwat
District surrendered to Police in the presence of DPO Idrees
Khan and SDPO Bashar Khan. Seven of the surrendered militants
were wanted by Police in Shah Hasankhel suicide blast that killed
over 100 villagers in January 2010.
Two beheaded bodies were found
in Basima area of Washuk District. The victims were identified
as Aziz Sumalani and Muhammad Khan Sumalani, hailing from Naal
area of Khuzdar District. They had gone missing a few days earlier.
At least five people were injured
in a hand grenade attack on a house in Kasi Road area in Quetta.
The assailants managed to escape from the scene.
Security officials arrested
15 Afghans under Foreigners Act on Garang checkpost in Chaman
town of Qilla Abdullah District.
US sanctions against the Pakistan-based
Haqqani Network of militants have come into force following
the Obama administration’s decision to designate the group a
“FTO”. The move freezes any assets that the group or its members
have in US jurisdictions. It also bans Americans from doing
business with them.
Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti,
chief of his own faction of the JWP, alleged that SFs and Intelligence
Agencies are distributing weapons among some elements in Sui
area of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan and feared that this
would aggravate the situation in the area.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
during a high level meeting in Islamabad warned that terrorists
could target rallies on Yaum-e-Ishq-e-Rasool on September
20, 2012, directing the LEAs to step up security.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar told the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee at
Capitol Hill in Washington that the notion that Pakistan being
a part of the problem vis a vis Afghanistan is wrong,
and needs to be corrected.
The former chief of ISI Lieutenant
General Ehsanul Haq said that the US has “unrealistic expectations”
with Pakistan to bring Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar to
peace talks. During a brief interview in Washington, Haq said
that while Pakistan fully supports Afghan peace talks, it “can’t
deliver anybody” to the negotiating table, the report stated.
A PHC bench directed the Federal
Government not to allow Afghan refugees to stay in the country
beyond December 31, 2012.
Malik Ishaq, founder of LeJ
has been given the position of Vice President of ASWJ. A statement
issued by the ASWJ, read that differences had erupted between
the Chairperson Ahmed Ali Ludhianvi and Malik Ishaq on organisational
matters within the ASWJ.
September 20
A Policeman, identified as Raza
Khan (45), was shot dead in Korangi within the precincts of
Korangi Industrial Area Police Station in Karachi.
Unidentified militants blew
up a gas pipeline of 18-inch diameter supplying natural gas
to a power plant in Och in Chhattar area of Jaffarabad District
in Balochistan.
SF personnel carried out search
operation against militants in Ghalanai, Mia Gan and adjoining
areas of Mohmand Agency in FATA. However, no arrests were made.
Afghanistan called on Pakistan
to halt cross-border shelling, warning the UNSC that the attacks
could jeopardise already tense relations between the two countries.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul said hat attacks
from Pakistan into his country were “a matter of deep and serious
concern” and had caused “unprecedented anger and frustration
among Afghans.”
A delegation of the UN WGEID
warned of the danger of Intelligence Agencies acquiring new
powers to interrogate arrest and detain people to the detriment
of the law-enforcement agencies. The group urged Islamabad to
take action to tackle the apparent impunity enjoyed by intelligence
and law enforcement agencies in “enforced disappearance” cases.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf said that
he hoped that the international community would give Pakistan
greater recognition and support for its contribution to the
war on terrorism. Raja said terrorism is a “menace” to regional
and global peace and security, stressing that it is the collective
responsibility of all nations to fight against it.
The US said that although al
Qaeda core in Pakistan has become a shadow of its former self,
but other active terrorist groups continue to pose a direct
threat to the interests of Washington and its allies. "Pakistani
and Afghan militant groups -- TTP, the Haqqani Network, and
LeT- continue to pose a direct threat to US interests and our
allies in the region, where these groups probably will remain
focused," said Matthew G Olsen, Director of the NCC.
Afghanistan called on Pakistan
to halt cross-border shelling, warning the UNSC that the attacks
could jeopardise already tense relations between the two countries.
Afghanistan accused Pakistan of staging repeated shelling barrages
across the border into Kunar province.
Pakistan in turn said that groups
of TTP sheltering in Afghanistan have infiltrated the border
to resume attacks on its SF. UN special representative in Afghanistan
Jan Kubis said, “The reports of uprisings against the Taliban
in various parts of the country are a new development requiring
greater analysis.”
Taking note of the “reports
about disconcerting” security and humanitarian situation in
Afghanistan, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Abdullah
Hussain Haroon told the UNSC that it was exercising “considerable
restraint” in the wake of attacks on Pakistani check posts from
across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
September 21
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government middle school for boys with an explosive device
in Saro Killay area of Shabqadar tehsil in Charsadda
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police foiled a terrorist bid
by recovering a bomb which was placed in a cooking oil container
in the Bhana Marri Police Station area of Peshawar.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief
Secretary Ghulam Dastagir has asked the Kalash and Muslim communities
of Bumburate valley in Chitral District to remain vigilant to
thwart attempts of Afghan militants to intrude into the valley.
The chief secretary said that deployment of Security Forces
along the border had been reinforced, but the two communities
of the valley should not be ignorant to the border situation.
The COAS General Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani said that continued support of the public and development
in the FATA was as important as military operations against
the militants in the region. He emphasised upon the importance
of sustaining successes achieved in recent years against terrorism,
until the menace was completely subdued.
As protests against the anti-Islam
film rocked the country, PM Raja Pervez Ashraf demanded of world
bodies to draft a law that bans hate speech which ignites the
emotions of tens of millions of Muslims across the world, Ashraf
demanded of the UN and other international organisations to
devise a law that bans hate speech.
Pakistan and the US are repairing
ties which had plunged to an all-time low, Pakistani Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said, despite violent anti-American
protests disturbing her country. “The last 18 months were very,
very difficult,” Khar said at the start of talks with US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, adding the nations were doing “better
than we could have expected to do in rebuilding the trust.”
September 22
At least six people, including
a former lawmaker belonging to Ahmadi community, were killed
in unabated wave of violence. In the first incident, the former
legislator, Malik Atta (60), was shot dead in Mehmoodabad within
the precincts of Baloch Colony Police Station.
An activist of the MQM, identified
as Shahid (30), was killed in Dhobi Ghaat in the precincts of
the Garden Police.
A Shia, identified as Ali Hassan
(26), was shot dead in Chishti Nagar within the vicinity of
Orangi Town Police.
A man, identified as Mirza,
was shot dead in Landhi within the precincts of Shah Latif Police.
Two dead bodies, identified
as that of Naseer Mengal (35), and Muhammad Jameel (30) packed
in gunny bags were found from Bagh-e- Halar in the precincts
of Garden Police. Police also said unidentified militants killed
the men after kidnapping them.
A US drone strike killed at
least four militants targeting a moving vehicle in Datta Khel
area of North Waziristan Agency of FATA. The drone fired two
missiles, officials added.
Two pedestrians were killed
in a roadside bomb blast along the main road near Khar Kallay
in Kurram Agency.
Security Forces defused another
explosive device near a village in Kurram Agency.
Political administration arrested
several suspects under the collective responsibility clause
of Frontier Crimes Regulation after the incident.
Pakistan’s Federal Minister
for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour announced a bounty of USD100,
000 on the maker of the American film “Innocence of Muslims”
disrespecting the Holy Prophet. The Minister also called on
members of the Taliban and al Qaeda for their support, saying
that if members of the banned militant organisations kill the
maker of the blasphemous movie, they will also be rewarded.
The US Senate rejected a move
to cut American assistance for Pakistan and other countries
as lawmakers opposed Senator Rand Paul’s campaign on the issue.
Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, forced a vote on his amendment
to cut US aid to Pakistan, Libya and Egypt, but the Senate overwhelmingly
defeated the measure it by a vote of 81-10.
September 23
Two personnel of the FC were
killed in a remote controlled bomb blast in Nushki District
of Balochistan.
A man was killed by unidentified
militants in Dhadhar area of Bolan District.
FC arrested 15 suspects during
a search operation in the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta. Two
SMGs, five pistols, three motorbikes, one mobile phone and two
bottles of liquor were seized during the operation.
Two key ‘commanders’ of TTP,
Matiullah alias Commander Moosa alias Commander
Foji and his brother Latifullah alias Naqeebullah alias
Rehan Pahari, were killed in an encounter with Police and LEAs
in Azakhel area of Nowshera District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a member of Mahsud tribe of South Waziristan Agency, Fateh
Sher, in Sheikh Uttar village of Tank District.
Quaidabad Police killed two
alleged abductors in an encounter and recovered an abductee,
identified as Mohabbat Khan (30), from Sherpao Colony, Landhi
in Karachi.
The Government distanced itself
from a USD100, 000 bounty offered by Railways Minister Ghulam
Ahmed Bilour on September 22, 2012 for the death of the maker
of the anti-Islam film that has sparked protests across the
Muslim world. A spokesman for PM Raja Pervez Ashraf rejected
Bilour’s comments. “This is not Government policy. We completely
dissociate (ourselves) from this,” the spokesman added.
US also condemned Bilour’s statement.
The State Department official added, “But that is no justification
for violence and it is important for responsible leaders to
stand up and speak out against violence.” Therefore we find
Minister Bilour’s announcement is inflammatory and inappropriate,”
the official said in a statement.
The Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar stressed that her country’s military plays as much of a
role in its affairs as the Pentagon in the US does. Khar also
said that Pakistan does not want any strategic depth in Afghanistan.
“It is not ambition, but anxiety which drives our interest in
Afghanistan,” Khar added.
The US and Pakistan are planning
a joint effort to draw the Taliban toward peace talks in Afghanistan,
an initiative that could help reconcile some militants and give
Pakistan a say in the political future of its neighbour. A joint
commission, ‘action group’, would help vet candidates for political
rehabilitation, with a goal of helping Afghanistan frame a workable
peace deal after US and foreign forces leave the country.
September 24
At least eight suspected militants
were killed when a US drone fired missiles on a house near Khaisura
road in Mir Ali sub-division of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
An unnamed security official said that some foreigners had been
killed in the attack.
A security man was killed and
another sustained injuries while they were returning to their
barracks after escorting a convoy, supplying goods to NATO forces
in Afghanistan, in a bomb blast in Teddi Bazaar area of Jamrud
tehsil in Khyber Agency.
A parliamentary committee urged
the Government to release the funds amounting to PKR 860 million
announced by the Government for the rehabilitation of the displaced
people of Kurram Agency.
A Karachi Port Trust official,
identified as Khalid Hashmi (63), was shot dead near Johar Morr
within the precincts of Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station in Karachi.
A man, identified as Shoaib
Raza, was shot dead while his two brothers, Mohsin Raza (30),
and Hassan Raza (27), were injured in Jaffar Tayyar Society
within the precincts of Malir City Police Station.
Police found a bullet-riddled
dead body of a Bugti tribesman, identified as Arsalan Bugti,
from Mian Ghundi area within the jurisdiction of New Sariab
Police Station in Quetta.
At least five persons, including
three policemen, were injured when a remote-controlled bomb
ripped through a police van near Rashakai motorway interchange
in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The BDS defused a bomb in Badhber
area of Peshawar, averting a terror bid near a Police checkpost.
A ‘commander’ of TTP, Qari Mohammad
Younus, surrendered to SFs in Darra Adamkhel. Official sources
said Younus was a close aide of Tariq Afridi, chief of TTP Khyber
Agency Chapter.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Barrister Massoud Kausar ordered the extension of eight more
laws to the FATA after the introduction of the Political Parties
Act to FATA under Article 247 of the Constitution. The initiative
will help bring FATA into the mainstream and ensure tribesmen’s
rights, a Governor’s House statement said.
The Supreme Court clubbed a
set of identical petitions challenging the promulgation of Action
in Aid of Civil Power Regulations-2011 and Section 2(1d) of
the Army Act-1952, ordering its office to issue notices to the
respondents, including Intelligence Agencies namely the Inter-Service
Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI).
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton called on President Asif Ali Zardari and held in-depth
conversation on the way forward in Pakistan-US relations. They
also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and how Pakistan
and the US could cooperate in help bring peace and stability
in the country.
President Zardari told Secretary
Clinton that peace and stability in Pakistan was tied to peace
and stability in Afghanistan. “No country has paid a higher
price for the conflict in Afghanistan than Pakistan,” the President
said.
September 25
At least 10 persons, including
two activists of the MQM, were killed in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. Two MQM activists, identified as Muhammad
Riaz (43) and Muhammad Yaqoob (25), were shot dead in an act
of target killing in the precincts of Surjani Police Station.
An elderly man, identified as
Muhammad Raza (60), and his two sons, Kumail Raza and Abbas
Raza, were shot dead near Pan Mandi in the Risala Police precincts.
A man, identified as Amir (34),
was killed in Korangi in the precincts of Korangi Police Station.
Police officials said the victim was abducted shortly after
he left home for his workplace.
A barber named Shafiq, was shot
dead and another two shopkeepers, Aslam and Sajjad, were injured
when unidentified assailants opened fire on them near Bakra
Hotel in the limits of Kharadar Police Station.
An elderly man, identified as
Siddiq (55), was shot dead near his house at Akber Shah Goth
in the Zaman Town Police precincts.
An unidentified man was killed
at Ranchore Lane in the precincts of Garden Police Station.
The Pak Colony Police found
an unidentified dead body of a man from Lyari River.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested six suspects, allegedly involved in various
incidents of violence, during a raid at Pehlwan Goth area and
seized two hand grenades, five pistols and a Kalashnikov from
their possession. The suspects belonged to a political party
but their affiliations were not disclosed.
At least eight militants were
killed during clashes with SFs in Barlas area of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. One soldier was injured in the clashes and heavy weapons
were recovered during a search operation following the attack.
Six labourers of FWO were abducted
from Inzar Cheena area of Shakai in Wana town of South Waziristan
Agency.
Official sources claimed that
two key al Qaeda operatives, including an operational ‘commander’,
identified as Abu Kasha al-Iraqi and Saleh al-Turki, were among
eight militants killed in September 24, 2012, US drone strike
in North Waziristan Agency.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire and injured a man, identified as Abdul Rahim Bangulzai,
in Mastung District. The injured succumbed to his injuries later.
Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on two Afghan transit trade containers in Ganjadoori
area in Quetta. No loss of life was reported.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted two members of the Hindu community, identified as Suno
Kumar and Rao Kumar, from Bagh area of Bolan District.
The FC personnel arrested suspects
and seized arms, including eight pistols, unregistered vehicles
and other contraband goods during a house-to-house raid conducted
in Killi Mubarak village on the outskirts of Quetta.
Rawalpindi Police arrested two
more suspects for their involvement in August 16, 2012, attack
on Kamra Airbase and shifted them to an undisclosed place for
interrogation. According to sources, Police arrested two suspects
stated to be close relatives of one Faisal Shahzad who was killed
in the attack on the airbase.
To enhance its nuclear capability,
Pakistan is developing non-strategic nuclear weapons, and thus
joining the ranks of countries like the US and Russia, an American
think-tank said. Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information
Project, and Robert S Norris, Senior Fellow for Nuclear Policy,
in their report, wrote that the new weapon, the Nasr,
is a 60-kilometre ballistic missile launched from a mobile twin-canister
launcher.
President Asif Ali Zardari declared
in the UN that his country had suffered enough in its fight
against extremist terror and should not be asked to do more.
“No country and no people have suffered more in the epic struggle
against terrorism than Pakistan,” he insisted. Please do not
insult the memory of our dead, and the pain of our living. Do
not ask of my people what no one has ever asked of any other
peoples,” he said, adding, And please, stop this refrain to
‘do more’.” “
The US campaign of drone strikes
in Pakistan’s north western tribal belt is terrorising civilians
24 hours a day and breeding bitter anti-American sentiment,
researchers from Stanford Law School and the New York
University School of Law said in a report titled “Living
under Drones” commissioned by United Kingdom-based charity
Reprieve. The report also urged Washington to rethink
its drone strategy, arguing it was counterproductive and undermined
international law.
September 26
At least 12 more persons, including
two MQM activists and a Policeman, were shot dead in target
killing incidents in Karachi. A worker of MQM Unit 189, identified
as Zafar Ahmed (29), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in Gulbahar area near Golimar.
An activist of MQM Karachi Muzafati
Organising Committee, Meher Ali (28), was shot dead in Bilal
Colony, Korangi.
Police Constable Muhammad Mithal
was shot dead by unidentified militants near Gulshan-e-Maymar,
Sohrab Goth.
One Khalid Punjabi (32) was
targeted by unidentified armed assailants near Fawara Chowk
within the jurisdiction of Garden Police Station.
One Naeem Ahmed (30), was shot
dead near Faqeer Colony, Orangi Town.
Another man, identified as Babar
Shahzad (30), was shot dead by unidentified armed militants
on Mirza Adam Khan Road, Lyari.
An unidentified man was shot
dead by unidentified militants in SITE Industrial area.
One Nadir Hussain (30), was
shot dead in Gulberg No 17.
One Jameel (35) was targeted
by unidentified militants in Dalmia.
An unidentified woman was shot
dead by unidentified armed assailants in Landhi No 2.
A tortured dead body, identified
as that of one Faizan (28) was found from Pak Colony area.
Another unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body was found from the vicinity of Metro Cinema, Banaras.
An IED targeting a convoy of
the FC left at least two soldiers dead and 14 wounded in North
Waziristan Agency of FATA while it was on its way to Sheva from
Spinwam, said an ISPR official.
Dozens of suspected militants
were arrested up by SFs during search operations in Bagan, Mandori
and other areas of Lower Kurram Agency. The terrorists affiliated
with ‘commander’ Fazal Saeed Haqqani are active in the areas.
A total of 721 families from
Mehsud tribe returned to their homes in various parts of South
Waziristan Agency from Tank District and Dera Ismail Khan District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 9th three-day phase of Government-sponsored
rehabilitation process for IDPs.
A grand tribal jirga
organised by the JUI-Mehsud, South Waziristan Circle rejected
the idea of merging FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa outright and
demanded changes to a few arbitrary sections of FCR for better
security situation in the tribal region.
A bomb hoax created panic among
employees of various offices situated near Kalma Chowk in Multan
District.
TTP said they have removed Railways
Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour from their “hit list” after he
offered USD100, 000 for the killing of the filmmaker who produced
the anti-Islam movie. “We have totally forgiven him and removed
his name from our hit list,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan
told the media.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain while speaking as chief guest
at a dialogue titled “Challenges for Democracy in Upcoming
General Elections” at Peshawar Press Club in Peshawar said
that the Government could take decision concerning delay in
General Election in the country in case operation is started
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. However, he said that the
decision whether to launch operation in North Waziristan or
not was yet to be taken.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police conceded
that they had violated rules while signing agreements with foreign
donors for procurement of weapons and equipment between 2008
and 2011.
The LeT founder and JuD Chief
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed accused US President Barack Obama of starting
a religious war against Muslims over his handling of the anti-Islam
video. “Obama’s statements have caused a religious war,” Saeed
said.
About once a month, the CIA
sends a fax to a General at Pakistan’s Intelligence Service
outlining broad areas where the US intends to conduct strikes
with drone aircraft said US officials. The US Government concludes
it has tacit consent to conduct strikes within the borders of
a sovereign nation, according to officials familiar with the
programme.
PTI Chairman, Imran Khan accused
the Government of hypocrisy, saying on one hand it condemns
drone attacks and on the other it is working in collusion with
the US.
Amid increasing report of persecution
of religious minorities and violation of their human rights,
MERI called to put Pakistan on genocide watch list.
The leadership of Pakistan,
Afghanistan and UK reaffirmed their commitment to continue to
work for the goals of regional peace, stability and development
and for the elimination of the scourge of terrorism from the
region.
President Zardari, while highlighting
the importance of durable peace and stability in Afghanistan,
underscored the need for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace
process in Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan supports an intra-Afghan
dialogue.
Cross-border firing and infiltration
dominated interactions between Pakistani and Afghan officials
during the sidelines of the session. They said that Afghan officials
were of the view that serious resent were found in Afghanistan
over the shelling that affect the ongoing close ties between
the two countries. However, Pakistani side clarified that it’s
shelling targets only the areas from where rockets are fired
into Pakistani border areas or from where attacks against Pakistani
posts are harboured.
Washington’s former Envoy to
Islamabad Cameron Munter while speaking at Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace called for a broader approach to
fostering long-term US-Pakistan relationship, with an emphasis
on expanded people-to-people contacts.
September 27
At least 11persons, including
two activists of the MQM, one PML-Q leader, and a cadre of ASWJ,
were killed in different parts of Karachi. An activist
of MQM Union Council-3, Muhammad Moeen (25), was shot dead by
two armed assailants outside his shop near the Taji Wala Chowk
in the Qazi Bazaar of the Kharadar Police limits.
Another activist of the MQM,
Muhammad Akram (31), was killed in the Orangi Town area within
the Iqbal Market Police jurisdiction.
A local leader of PML-Q, Mian
Zulfiqar (40), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in a target killing incident.
In an incident of sectarian
violence one Qasim Raza (35) was shot dead near Ayesha Manzil
by armed militants wielding automatic weapons.
In another sectarian killing,
the caretaker of the Wali Hassan Imambargah, Shabeer
Hussain (40), was shot dead just outside the Imambargah
in North Karachi within the Bilal Colony Police jurisdiction.
One Siddique (50) was shot dead
in the Buffer Zone of Sir Syed Town Police limits.
One ASWJ cadre, Maulana Kaleemullah,
was shot dead unidentified assailants in the Tipu Sultan area
while he was on his way home.
Two unidentified bullet-riddled
dead bodies were found in the Malir River situated in the Sualeh
Muhammad Goth in the Shah Lateef Town Police limits.
A bullet riddled dead body of
one Abdul Raheem (30) was found stuffed in a gunny bag in the
Yousuf Goth of Baldia Town.
Another dead body of Ghulam
Asghar Wagan (45) was found in an empty plot situated in Defence
Phase VI in the Darakshan Police jurisdiction. The victim was
a Grade-19 officer in the local Government and was kidnapped
before being dumped.
Five militants and a security
official belonging to the 33 Baloch Regiment were killed when
TTP attacked a security checkpost in the Kadakard area of Upper
Dir District of KP
Unidentified armed assailants
opened fire on one Haji Ahmed Nawaz and Malak Ghulam Shabir
at Kala Gorh area within the jurisdiction of Paharpur Police
Station in Dera Ismail Khan District killing them on the spot.
People of Torghar District refused
to deposit their arms with Police, saying that Chief Minister
Ameer Haider Khan Hoti had announced at the time of announcing
change of tribal status of Kala Dhaka into a settled District
that local traditions and culture would not be disturbed.
A Shia man, identified as Ghulam
Shaki, was shot dead by unidentified armed militants at a shop
in Langove Plaza in Double Road area of Quetta. He worked for
Geological Survey of Pakistan.
Another Shia man, identified
as Gulab Shah, was shot dead at a photocopy shop in Goal Masjid
area of Satellite Town in Quetta.
Two empty containers of NATO
being transported back to Karachi (Sindh) from Chaman Town in
Qilla Abdullah District (Balochistan) were set on fire in Wadh
area of Khuzdar District injuring the driver of the truck identified
as Shafiqur Rehman.
Two security officials, identified
as Naik Muntazir and Constable Khayal Nabi, were injured when
militants ambushed their convoy in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
After having remained silent
during three years of self-imposed exile, President of the BNP
and Balochistan’s former Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal
spoke in the Supreme Court and described enforced disappearances
as the real cause of the current unrest in Balochistan.
Sardar Mengal presented a six-point
charter and said it was imperative for the Government to take
practical steps to implement the measures to create an appropriate
atmosphere for Baloch reconciliation process and initiate a
meaningful process of conflict resolution.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar at a US think-tank in New York said that Pakistan did not
disagree with the use of drones to kill militants but could
not approve its illegal method. “What the drones are trying
to achieve, we may not disagree. We do not disagree. If they’re
going for terrorists — we do not disagree,” she said. “But we
have to find ways which are lawful, which are legal.” The use
of unilateral strikes on Pakistani territory, she said, was
illegal. “It is illegal and it is unlawful.”
A planned meeting between US
and Pakistani military chiefs was postponed this week due to
a wave of violent anti-American protests, the top-ranking US
officer, General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff said.
September 28
Six people were killed in separate
incidents of violence in Karachi. A man, identified as Asif
(30), was shot dead when unidentified armed militants opened
fire on him near Jilani Mosque, Garden.
One Sohail Bhaig (35) was shot
dead in the Petal Gali, Golimar.
One Arslan was shot dead in
Ghas Mandi area.
Unidentified armed militants
killed a shopkeeper, identified as Mirza Sohail Baig, in Gulbahar
area.
A bullet-riddled dead body,
identified as that of Muhammad Arif, with limbs tied up was
found from Bilal Colony within the jurisdiction of Korangi Police
Station.
Another unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body of a man was found from Bhains Colony.
Two persons were also injured
when unidentified armed assailants opened fire at Maripur Road.
Rangers carried out targeted
operation in various areas of Shah Faisal Colony and Lyari,
arresting 18 suspects. At least 10 suspects were arrested during
the operation in the areas of Shah Faisal colony including Sadaat
Colony and Natha Khan Goth.
Another 10 suspects were arrested
in Lyari areas including Aath Chowk. According to the sources,
weapons were also recovered from the possession of the accused
and all the detained suspects were taken to undisclosed location.
Lamenting the deteriorating
law and order situation in Karachi, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry while addressing a three-day conference titled ‘Combating
Terrorism through Law’ said that the country’s main commercial
and trade centre of the country had turned into a hub for terrorist
activities.
A BDS official, Hukam Khan (50),
was killed while trying to defuse a device in Sheikhan village
under Badhaber Police Station in Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At least five people sustained
injuries in a firing incident in Hana area of Quetta.
At least four residents of Sardar
Qaymo Kabzai, including a tribal leader, Sardar Saleem Kabzai,
were wounded in an armed attack allegedly carried out by TTP
in Zhob District.
LEA personnel arrested 40 Afghan
nationals from a passenger bus during checking at a checkpost
under Foreigners Act in Dalbandin area of the Chagai District.
Levies The detained men were trying to cross into Iran illegally
without any travelling documents.
ASWJ and JUI-F staged separate
protest demonstrations in Karachi, the provincial capital of
Sindh against the anti-Islam film. JUI-F Karachi held the protest
day against blasphemous film and Police brutality on protesters.
On the appeal of JUI-F, protesters
carrying placards and banners chanted slogans and torched flags
of the US outside various mosques to express their hatred and
anger against makers of the sacrilegious film. Prayer leaders
urged the Muslim world to be separate from the UNO if it fails
to devise international laws against blasphemy.
After offering a bounty of USD
100, 000 for the killing of US film maker of an anti-Islam film,
Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour during a public meeting
at the Mahabat Khan Mosque in Peshawar announced to put a bounty
on the heads of the future blasphemers too.
Slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin
Laden was blind in one eye after an accident during his youth
and was a one-time member of the Muslim Brotherhood, claimed
Ayman al Zawahiri in a new video tribute to the terror mastermind,
titled 'Days With The Imam'.
During a public hearing organised
by the Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production
of the Senate or upper house of parliament, former FIA chief
Tariq Pervez Khosa had said that sleuths had uncovered two LeT
training camps in Thatta and Karachi, the capital of Sindh Province
that were used by militants involved in 26/11.
September 29
At least 14 militants were killed
and several others injured during an operation by SFs in different
areas of the Orakzai Agency in FATA.
Two top Police officials, identified
as Pir Maqsood, Deputy Jail Superintendent and Abdul Razzak,
Assistant Jail Superintendent, were shot dead in an act of target
killing near NIPA Chowrangi under Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Paramilitary Rangers arrested
31 suspected persons in connection with several armed robberies
and extortion.
Unidentified militants shot
dead Abdul Haq, the general secretary of Khuzdar Press Club,
in Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
Two Policemen sustained injuries
in a remote-controlled bomb blast targeting a Police van of
Saddar Police Station in Shadikhel area of Kohat District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The alleged interview of the
American TV channel Fox News with Doctor Shakeel Afridi
on September 11, 2102, in the Peshawar Central Prison has put
both the convicted agency surgeon and his relatives in trouble
as the prison authorities have barred him from meeting his relations
and lawyers.
Five prosecution witnesses testified
before a Pakistani anti-terrorism judge, Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman
about the training of the terrorists who carried out November
26, 2008 assault, official sources said. The sources said most
of the testimony of the five witnesses had focused on the terrorist
training camps that were attended by the attackers.
September 30
Five persons, including a supporter
of ASWJ, were killed in separate incidents of violence in Karachi.
A man, identified as Nomi, was shot dead and another, Kashif,
injured at a tea stall in Yousuf Goth area within Surjani Town
Police Station.
A supporter of ASWJ who was
barber by profession, identified as Sultan, was shot dead at
his shop near Anda Morr in New Karachi. “The murder appears
to be sectarian in nature as Sultan was an ASWJ supporter,”
a Police investigator said.
Two unidentified dead bodies
were found near Basheer Chowk, New Karachi.
Another unidentified dead body
was found from Gulzar-e-Hijri Road in Metroville.
Demanding formation of international
laws against blasphemy and active role of Organisation of Islamic
Countries ASWJ took out a rally against sacrilegious film from
Lasbela to Gurumandir.
LEA claimed to have arrested
20 suspects during targeted operations at Patel Para, Ghas Mandi
and Sharafi Goth localities.
On a tip-off about target killers,
LEAs conducted an operation in 100-Quarters and adjoining areas
in Baldia Town, where they arrested at least a dozen suspects
and recovered weapons from their possession.
Police officials claimed to
have arrested a target killer identified as Raees from Surjani
area. They said that the suspect was affiliated with a political
party; however, his political affiliation was not yet disclosed.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead PML-N provincial leader, Qadir Zehri, along with his
two bodyguards in Hub on Sakran Road in Quetta.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead one Muhammad Murad at Turbat Bazaar in Turbat District.
Police acting on a tip-off recovered
an unidentified dead body packed in gunny bag in Turbat District.
Three militants, among them
a ‘commander’, were killed and nine others injured when militants
of LI clashed with the militants of pro-Government outfit TI
in the Zakhakhel bazaar area of Khyber Agency in FATA. Nine
TI men were also injured.
The six FWO workers, who had
been abducted from the Inzar Cheena area of Shakai tehsil
in South Waziristan Agency on September 24, 2012 were released
by abductors without any conditions.
A Policeman, ASI Ameenur Rehman,
was killed, and constable Ziauddin was injured when unidentified
militants attacked a Police mobile in Wari area of Upper Dir
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rejecting the allegations leveled
by BNP chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal against the Government, Interior
Minister Rehman Malik said no army operation was being conducted
in the province. He reiterated that foreign elements were involved
in the unrest in the province and that he had sufficient evidence
that could be presented before the BNP chief.
One of BNP party members argued
that only a change in the mindset of the establishment will
bring about any meaningful difference in the situation. Former
Senator Sanaullah Baloch said the establishment had the key
to resolution of all the problems faced by the province.
The PTI Chairman Imran Khan
while addressing a press conference in Islamabad claimed that
Pakistan was spending PKR 90 billion per month in the war on
terror.
September 30
During a press conference, the
PTI chief had claimed that the Mehsud, Burki and Bhittani tribes
of Waziristan had assured him of providing security to participants
of the rally.
October 1
At least seven militants were
killed as troops retaliated after a landmine blast killed a
security officer in the Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
Sources said one security officer was killed and two others
were injured by the roadside blast in the Mamozai area.
At least four militants were
killed when a US drone fired four missiles targeting a vehicle
in Khwaidadkhel area of Mir Ali tehsil in North Waziristan
Agency.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government Primary School Kamal Khel in Qandaro of Safi
tehsil in Mohmand Agency, increasing the number of destroyed
schools in the agency so far to 104.
Six persons, including two activists
of MQM, were shot dead in separate acts of violence in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. A former unit in-charge of
MQM, identified as Akhter Hussain Shah (40), was shot dead at
Hangorabad in Lyari within the precincts of Kalri Police Station.
Another MQM activist, identified
as Hamid (33), was shot dead at Meernaka within the limits of
Shershah Police Station.
A man, identified as Ashraf
Khan (47), was killed and another, Sher Khan (43), was injured
in an extortion clash between two political parties near Rabia
City Apartment in Gulistan-e-Jauhar within the vicinity of Shahrah-e-Faisal.
A man, identified as Najeeb
Ullah (45), was killed and another, Hijrat Gul (42), injured
in Baldia Town within the limits of Baldia Police Station.
Another man, identified as Abdul
Jalil, (43), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
at Chotta Gabol Goth near Super Highway within the jurisdiction
of Sohrab Goth Police Station.
A man, identified as Sabir (55),
was killed in Liaquatabad area within the jurisdiction of Liaquatabad
Police Station.
Unidentified assailants hurled
two grenades hand grenade at a crush plant situated in Manghopir
area of Karachi. However, no casualties were reported in the
attack.
Unidentified assailants hurled
a hand grenade on a cement shop in Bhains Colony area partially
damaging the shop. No casualties were reported.
AEC of CID claimed to have arrested
three alleged arms smugglers, Islam, Swabi and Gulzar, and recovered
a huge cache of weapons, including one LMG, 30 hand grenades,
five Kalashnikovs, 12 repeaters, five TT pistols and several
rounds from a passenger bus near Lucky Pahari at Hub River road
in the jurisdiction of Mauripur Police Station.
Two Pakistanis, identified as
Noor Muhammad and Abdul Ghafoor, were killed in an alleged incident
of firing by NATO forces near Pak-Afghan border in Chaghai District
of Balochistan.
During a DPC rally in Peshawar
a former Pakistani legislator and General Secretary of JUI-S,
Ikramullah Shahid announced a USD 200,000 bounty for the maker
of the anti-Islam film released in the US. “We will award USD
200,000 to anyone who kills the filmmaker,” he said.
October 2
Four people were killed in various
incidents of violence in Karachi. An unidentified man was killed
in an incident of firing in Quaidabad area.
Two unidentified dead bodies
of political activists were found in Napier area.
Another dead body of a political
supporter was found in Lasbela area. All three bodies bore marks
of torture.
Karachi East Range Police arrested
25 suspects in raids from different parts of the city and recovered
weapons, including 8 pistols, 2 revolvers and drugs in huge
quantity from them.
CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested two TTP militants in two separate raids. CID’s
SSP Fayyaz Khan said that on a tip-off, CID officials conducted
raids at Federal Capital Area and Mauripur, arresting two alleged
TTP militants Sadiq Mehsud and Shah Alam Mehsud and recovered
three pistols, a hand grenade and a cab from their possession.
SIU of Police claimed to have
arrested an alleged target killer, identified as Farhan alias
Funter from Shershah area and recovered arms, including TT pistol
and five rounds from his possession.
Rangers while conducting an
operation, arrested an alleged extortionist near Sea View locality
in Defense area and recovered heavy arms and ammunition from
a spot, identified by the arrested suspect in Old Golimar area
of the city.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a member of AIP and tribal leader Karm Khan Marri
while he was travelling on Khuzdar Road in Khuzdar District.
Gawalmandi Police defused a
time device planted on the gate of a school on Gordat Singh
Road in Quetta.
A firing squad of the LI killed
one of its former ‘commanders’, Ghuncha Gul Zakhakhel, in Spin
Drand area of Sipah in Khyber Agency of FATA after keeping him
in their custody for almost 18 months.
A suspected militant was killed
while trying to plant a bomb in an oil tin in Badhaber graveyard
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three Policemen were injured
when suspected militants attacked their vehicle in Mattani area.
Unidentified militants fired
on a Police van near Bakkakhel Police Station of Bannu District.
However, no casualties were reported.
Police foiled a sabotage bid
by defusing a five-kilogram bomb at Shaikhan area on the outskirts
of Peshawar.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
has reconstructed 30 health facilities in Swat District damaged
in militancy.
The South Waziristan Agency’s
political administration rejected a request by the chairman
of PTI, Imran Khan, to hold a rally in the Kotkai area near
the Jandola.
TTP offer security for Imran
Khan's South Waziristan rally. In a meeting of the TTP, the
outfit set aside its earlier plans to send suicide bombers to
assassinate PTI chief Imran Khan, during his visit to South
Waziristan for a “peace march”. A TTP spokesperson said, “We
are ready to provide them security if they need. We endorse
Imran Khan’s plea that drone strikes are against our sovereignty.
The anti-drone rallies should have been taken out by the religious
leaders long ago but Imran had taken the lead and we would not
harm him or his followers.”
The leaders of PTI belonging
to tribal areas have demanded of the Government to end military
operations in FATA and take concrete steps to stop drone attacks.
They alleged that rulers were least bothered to minimise miseries
of tribal people.
The Supreme Court-appointed
two members Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances,
headed by Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal disclosed that 80 more
cases of disappearance had been reported to it during the past
three months. The announcement contrasts sharply with a claim
by Government officials made last month during their meetings
with a UN mission on enforced disappearances that the number
of such incidents had dropped sharply over recent months.
Gretchen Peters, of the US Military
Academy at West Point's CTC, who has since 2005 spent considerable
time studying the link between organised crime and insurgencies
in Afghanistan and Pakistan told US Congress of the nexus between
the criminal enterprise Dawood Ibrahim company, the Haqqani
Network and the Inter-Services Intelligence in Pakistan.
FO Spokesperson Moazzam Khan
while speaking on PTV said that stable Afghanistan was in common
interest of Pakistan and Russia, as both the countries want
peace and stability in the region.
Separately, the US and Pakistan
are trying to get their relationship back on track, said the
US State Department while commenting on recent meetings between
leaders of the two countries. The Department’s Spokesperson
Victoria Nuland told a briefing in Washington that the US was
also helping Pakistan and Afghanistan in resolving their border
disputes.
October 3
Three tortured bullet-riddled
dead bodies of MQM activists were found from various parts of
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Two dead bodies were
identified as that of Farhan Shah and Abid Awan, were found
near a gutter that passes through the Old Haji Camp area in
Napier.
The body of Sheikh Arif Ahmed
(42) was found in Jamshed Quarters on main Nishtar Road. Ahmed
was an active member at MQM’s Liaquatabad Sector office. Investigations
revealed that Ahmed was abducted from outside his residence
in Iliyas Goth on October 2, 2012.
Two persons, including a woman,
were killed in an incident of firing by unidentified armed militants
in a tailor’s shop located at Arif Street on Sariab Road in
Quetta.
Three security men were injured
in a blast near Gora Parai checkpost in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand
Agency in FATA.
SFs conducted a search operation
in Khanzadgan Musakhel area of Baizai tehsil and arrested
six suspect persons.
Unidentified militants blew
up the building of Government high school in Adamzai village
of Akora Khattak area in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Akora Khattak Police raided
the house of Qari Ahmad Ali, considered to be affiliated with
TTP and recovered weapons from it.
The CTD informed the Punjab
Government that some families who left the militancy-hit FATA
and took up residence in Rawalpindi District of Punjab have
received extortion threats, allegedly from the TTP.
The chief of PTI Imran Khan
announced that he will lead a procession to be attended besides
PTI supporters by journalists and human rights activists to
the tribal region on October 6, 2012 to highlight the plight
of people bearing the brunt of military action, militancy and
US drone attacks.
The administration of FATA expressed
concern over Imran Khan’s plan to hold a rally in South Waziristan,
describing the law and order situation in the region ‘unfavorable’.
“Imran Khan should postpone his rally as the circumstances are
not conducive for the time being,” FATA Additional Chief Secretary
Doctor Tashkain said.
However, the PTI is firm on
its plan to hold the rally. “Imran Khan’s visit will not create
trouble for anyone. We don’t see the situation unfavorable anywhere
in the tribal region,” PTI leader Pervez Khan Khattak said.
The FATA chapter of PTI has
accused the Government of creating hurdles for it in holding
a peace march. “Any step aimed at hindering the peace march
of the party towards Waziristan will have dire consequences,”
Nazar Nawaz, the organiser of PTI for tribal areas, told a press
conference in Peshawar.
Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez
Kayani said that any solution to Balochistan crisis should be
within the confines of the Constitution. “Army fully supports
any political process as long as it is within the Constitution…”
the COAS said.
President Asif Ali Zardari and
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf decided to re-establish lines
of communications with disgruntled Baloch leaders, in an effort
to stabilise the situation in restive Balochistan province.
The Defence Ministry in its
reply submitted to the Supreme Court maintained its stated stance
that there was no political cell in the ISI. This was stated
before a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry which has been hearing the 1996 petition filed
by Asghar Khan.
Salman Akram Raja, counsel for
Asghar Khan, alleged that ISI had disbursed money for political
purpose and that the ISI officials had breached their oaths.
During the talks between Pakistani
and Afghan Generals on cross-border shelling and militants’
attack on Pakistani security posts along the border, the Pakistan
Army said that it only fires after its villages and border posts
come under attack from across the border, the ISPR said.
The Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif said that collateral damage caused by drone attacks is
very high as many innocent people are killed in such attacks.
A letter calling for an end
to drone strikes in Pakistan, signed by Noam Chomsky, Naomi
Wolf, Oliver Stone and other 3,000 American civilians, was delivered
to the US Embassy in Islamabad. The statement said that the
letter called upon US authorities to end its campaign of drone
strikes in Pakistan and to bring the drone policy in compliance
with US and international law.
A group of middle-aged American
women are considering staging a hunger strike outside the US
Embassy in Islamabad as part of a campaign against CIA drone
attacks in the country. Thirty-five activists from Code Pink,
a US anti-war group, have gathered in the capital this week
as they prepare for an unprecedented march and political rally
in South Waziristan.
October 4
Five persons, including a suspect,
a Policeman and an Imabargah trustee, were killed in
separate acts of violence in Karachi. The bullet-riddled dead
body of a trustee of the Imambargah Bara Imam, identified
as Qamar Allah Ditta (43), was found from his car on Nashter
Road within the precincts of Garden Police Station.
A doctor working at a local
psychological and drug rehabilitation hospital, identified as
Qadeer Hussain (50), was shot dead at Nazimabad No. 2 within
the limits of Nazimabad Police Station.
Another man, Niaz Mehsud (27),
was killed at Sultanabad area within the limits of Manghopir
Police Station.
A Policeman, identified as Asim
Sohail (40), was shot dead in Frontier Colony within the jurisdiction
of Mominabad Police Station.
An accused, identified as Hanif,
was killed and two others arrested after exchange of fire between
militants and Rangers in Lyari.
LEAs claimed to have arrested
5 suspects, including Saqib Boxer, a notorious criminal of Lyari
gang war, during targeted raids in various parts of Lyari, including
Bhagdadi, Nayaabad, Liaquat Colony and other neighbouring areas.
The SIU claimed to have arrested
at least five alleged target killers from Maripur area and seized
four TT pistols and several rounds from their possession.
Two people, identified as Imran
Bhatti and Shiraz, were killed when unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a mechanic’s shop on Zarghoon Road in Quetta.
A man, identified as Sikandar
Ali, was shot dead and two others, including a Finance Department
employee Mushtaq Hussain and Saqib, sustained injuries after
they came under armed attack in the Khuchlak area of Quetta.
A man, identified as Ghulam
Mustafa Marri, was shot dead on Jinnah Road in Khuzdar District.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on a barber’s shop in Quetta and injured a man identified
as Muhammad Arif.
A doctor hailing from Sibi District,
identified as Muhammad Ali, was shot at and injured in the Killi
Umar Gohar area of Mastung District.
An anti-tank mine was defused
in Spikan area of Mand in Kech (Turbat) District.
Unidentified militants killed
a FC official and a child in separate incidents in Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Three unidentified
militants on motorbikes shot dead FC official Ali Rehman in
the Ghani Kalay area.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire in the suburban area of Badhaber, killing one child.
The Peshawar High Court directed
the Defence and Interior Ministries to produce lists of all
detention facilities operated and maintained by intelligence
Agencies, including ISI, MI and intelligence wing of FC, in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab
Aslam Raisani while talking to Dutch Ambassador Hugo Gajus Scheltema
in Islamabad said that no operation is being conducted in the
province, dismissing such claims as sheer propaganda.
PTI chief Imran Khan declared
that he would go ahead with his planned peace march to South
Waziristan despite security fears and Government’s refusal to
give permission.
The political administration
of South Waziristan Agency and PTI are heading for a showdown
as the former insists that the situation in the tribal area
is not ripe for a big gathering while the latter seems adamant
to go ahead with its planned peace march.
South Waziristan PTI organiser
Dost Mohammad Mehsud said that the peace march would proceed
to Kotkai according to the scheduled programme. “We have reports
that the political administration will not let the marchers
to reach Waziristan or Jandola. But we will hold protest meeting
on the place where the administration disallow us further journey,”
he said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the provincial Government
would not ban political activities, including the scheduled
PTI march. “The KPK Government believes in political activities
and will not stop PTI workers from taking out rally,” he said,
adding that the provincial Governor had explained the prevailing
situation and possible threats for the rally.
The NASC on Human Rights in
its meeting in Karachi recommended deweaponisation of Karachi,
with equal focus on early passage of MQM sponsored bill on deweaponisation
campaign in the country.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov during a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart
Hina Rabbani Khar made it clear that Moscow supports Islamabad’s
opposition of drone strikes inside its territory and its stance
on peace process in Afghanistan. Lavrov opposed drone strikes
in Pakistan and said violation of sovereignty and territorial
integrity of any state was unacceptable.
October 5
Six militants and one soldier
were killed in exchange of fire when militants from Afghanistan
side attacked a border security post in Gursal area in Mohmand
Agency of FATA. However, TTP central ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah
Ehsan phoned media persons from unknown location and claimed
that 17 security personnel were killed and as many injured in
the attack.
Three persons, including an
activist of MQM and an active cadre of ST, were shot dead in
separate incidents of violence in Karachi. A bullet-riddled
dead body of an MQM activist, identified Ameen Ahmed (30), was
found from Moosa Lane, Lyari within the precincts of Baghdadi
Police Station. SHO Sanaullah said unidentified culprits kidnapped
the victim on October 4, 2012 and later threw his body in an
abandoned place.
Another man, identified as Atif
(37), was shot dead over refusal to pay extortion money in his
shop at Golimar roundabout within the jurisdiction of Rizvia
Police Station.
A cadre of ST as well as Dawat-e-Islami,
identified as Fida Ali (23), was shot dead in Landhi within
the limits of Landhi Police Station.
An employee of the Buildings
and Roads Department, Abdul Karim, was shot dead by unidentified
militant while he was going to office in Khuzdar District of
Balochistan.
One Abdul Baqi Rind was shot
dead by unidentified assailants in Karak area of Mastung District.
Two empty NATO containers en
route to Karachi (Sindh) from Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah
District (Balochistan), after unloading goods in Afghanistan
were set ablaze by unidentified armed militants on the RCD Highway
in Mastung District.
Two TTP suicide bombers were
killed in Sarkadna of Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
when bombs they were carrying exploded prematurely outside the
house of rival TTP ‘commander’ Maulana Nabi Hanfi at Sarakdna.
A man identifying himself as
Abu Siyaf, ‘spokesperson’ for the Nabi Hanfi-led militant group,
claimed that their men opened fire on the bomber as he entered
the building and his suicide vest went off.
On the contrary, talking to
reporters from an undisclosed location by phone, the TTP ‘spokesman’
Ehsanullah Ehsan responsibility for the attack stressed that
the bomber first killed 15 men of the Nabi Hanfi group in the
building before blowing himself up.
A power pylon was partially
damaged in two blasts at Mian Qalla area of Shabqadar tehsil
in Charsadda District.
In an attempt to foil a bid
to commit massive killings as militants were planning to carry
out major terrorist activities in Karachi, including invasion
in Central Jail to get their accomplices released, and attacking
their self-acclaimed rival Shia community people the AEC of
CID claimed to have arrested seven militants belonging to LeJ,
including the outfit’s Karachi Chapter Chief Mehmood Babar,
from Mauripur area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh
and recovered a heavy cache of weapons from their possession.
The TTP declined to provide
security to a PTI peace march to Kotkai town of South Waziristan
Agency and declared that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was a westernised
and secular man.
The TTP spokesman said Pakistani
politicians were of two types—those who are in power like the
PPP, MQM and ANP, were openly hostile to Islam and Mujahideen
and the other category was of those who were not yet in power,
like the PML-N and PTI, but they also were secular and slaves
of the West. “Although we consider Imran Khan a secular and
liberal person as he proudly claims. So being an ideological
Islamic organisation the TTP does not need any sympathy from
him,” said the spokesman.
Mujahideen Jaishul Khilafa (MJK),
an offshoot of the TTP distributed a pamphlet in Tank District
near Waziristan which warned participants of the PTI “peace
march” to stay away and that they themselves would be responsible
for any loss of “life or money” caused during the rally.
The political agent of South
Waziristan said that PTI ‘Peace March’ to the agency’s Kotkai
area will not be allowed due to security threats. The political
agent said that the rally led by Imran Khan’s party was dubbed
a peace march and hopefully there will be no resistance from
the PTI’s side regarding the decision.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
conveyed Pakistan’s concerns to senior American officials on
drone strikes in the FATA. “We have a common enemy and we must
have a common strategy to fight this enemy… Pakistan is committed
with the international community in this fight… and we will
hit them hard,” Malik said after a meeting with US Special envoy
Marc Grossman.
A special cabinet committee
headed by Defence Minister Syed Naveed Qamar is in negotiations
with BNP leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal and other Baloch leaders,
said Parliamentary Secretary Khurram Jahangir Wattoo during
a session of the National Assembly.
October 6
Five members of a peace militia
were killed and seven others injured in militants attack in
Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Unidentified militants blew
up a NATO container with an IED explosion in Jamrud Bazaar in
Kyber Agency.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a man and injured a woman on Sariab Road of Quetta
in Balochistan.
A man, identified as Omar, was
killed in a landmine blast in Dera Bugti District.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead one Doctor Hameed in Mastung District.
Unidentified armed militants
in the Lak Pass area of Quetta, attacked and torched a NATO
container carrying goods for the ISAF in Afghanistan, and injured
the driver and his assistant.
One Mohammad Saeed, the owner
of Shah Flour Mills located on Wah-Bhattar Road at Wah Cantonment
in Islamabad, which was allegedly attacked with a hand grenade
by militants, had received a telephone call from unidentified
militants demanding a large sum of money a few days back. In
the attack injuring an employee of the Mill Mohammad Ramzan
(21) was injured.
October 7
At least 15 people, including
two MQM activists, were killed in separate incidents of violence
in Karachi. Two workers of MQM, as Nihal, and Boorul Huda, were
shot dead in Chisti Nagar in the limits of Iqbal Market Police
Station.
A man, identified as Rafique
Baloch (25), was killed while another, Burhan (30), injured
in a firing incident in Ilyas Goth in the limits of Super Market
Police Station.
A man, identified as Munir Ahmad,
was shot dead by unidentified armed militants in Paposh Nagar,
in the limits of Paposh Nagar Police Station.
A man, identified as Tabarruk
Ali, was killed in Sherpao Colony in the limits of Quaidabad
Police Station.
Another man, identified as Nazeer
Hussain, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Kunwari
Colony in the limits of Pirabad Police Station.
One Kabir alias Babar
was shot dead in Qasba Colony in the limits of Pirabad Police
Station.
A man, identified as Jamal,
was shot dead in Sector 1-D, Orangi Town in the limits of Orangi
Town Police Station.
A man, identified as Munawar
(42), was shot dead in Haji Mureed Goth in the limits of Gulbahar
Police Station.
A man, identified as Rahim Zaib
(24), was shot dead in Orangi Town in the limits of Orangi Town
Police Station.
Two unidentified dead bodies,
bearing marks of torture, were also found on Jamshaid Road near
Madni Heights in the jurisdiction of Jamshaid Quarter Police
Station.
Police also found two unidentified
dead bodies from Mewashah graveyard in the limits of Pak Colony
Police Station.
Kalakot Police found an unidentified
dead body bearing torture marks from Lea Market.
Seven people, including six
activists of PPP and a reporter of Dharti TV Channel
Mushtaque Khand were killed and 10 people, including three reporters
and Administrator of Khairpur Taluka Municipal Administration
(KTMA), injured when armed militants opened fire at a public
meeting on in Sadoro Janwari village of Khairpur District in
Sindh.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead two persons, identified as Nazeer Qadir and Abdul
Haroon, and injured another, Muhammad Yousuf, on Sultan Ibrahim
Khan Road in Khuzdar District.
A Shia man, identified as Muhammad
Yaseen, was sprayed with bullets by unidentified militants in
Musa Colony in Quetta. “The deceased belonged to the Shia community,”
Police said.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted a Hindu trader, identified as Ramesh Kumar and looted
a Gandakha (Jaffarabad District)-bound passenger wagon coming
from Jacobabad District of Sindh, on National Highway near Mirpur
area of Bolan District.
Two Army personnel were injured
and two vehicles partially damaged when a remote controlled
bomb went off on the main road near Risalpur in Nowshera District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew
up gas supply line in Hassanzai area of Charsadda District,
disrupting gas supply to a number of villages.
The US urged its nationals in
the capital to avoid going to its parts because of possible
terror attacks. The message posted on the US Embassy website
identified “key Government installations in the downtown area
of the city known as the Red Zone” and a number of local hotels.
Police and paramilitary troops
in the Federal Capital beefed up the security apparatus and
sounded caution amid reports of terror attacks. The steps were
taken to halt possible attempts by suspected militants to cause
disruptions in the Red Zone and Diplomatic Enclave after continuous
demonstrations against an anti-Islam film.
The participants of a jirga
in Khar of Bajaur Agency of FATA demanded of the Government
to end military operation in FATA as use of force was no solution
to the issue of insurgency.
A motorcade of anti-drone rally
led by PTI chief Imran Khan was stopped by the authorities from
entering South Waziristan and the participants, who had earlier
in the day bypassed or removed all roadblocks, turned back and
gathered in Tank town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an adjacent town
to South Waziristan border.
Addressing the gathering, Khan
threatened to launch a march on Islamabad if US drone attacks
on the tribal areas did not stop. “I am not scared for my life
and can go on to Kotkai (in South Waziristan, the planned destination
of the march), but I care for the security of the people and
party workers,” he said. “We would even go to America to get
the drone attacks stopped,” he said.
The administration stopped the
‘march’ when it had reached Manzai in the Tank Frontier Region
after an overnight stay in Dera Ismail Khan. Personnel of LEAs
had been deployed along the road to block the entry of the PTI
workers into South Waziristan.
The Government had announced
that foreigners would not be allowed to enter the area. Imran
Khan said the drone strikes were against Islam, the sovereignty
and Constitution of the country and the international humanitarian
law because the US missiles were killing innocent people.
The KPK Minister for Information
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the Government didn’t create
any hurdle in the way of Imran Khan’s march in the settled areas
of KPK.
If we are given drones, we will
use them responsibly as we used the F-16s,” said Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik. Pakistan appeared to be changing its
position on the strikes.
The Information and Broadcasting
Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the Government had a clear
stance against the drone attacks and considered them illegal
and counter-productive.
JWP Chief Talal Akbar Bugti
announced forming a grand political alliance for General Elections.
Talking to reporters after a meeting with nuclear scientist
Doctor Abdul Qadeer Khan, Bugti expressed his concerns that
he would not be allowed to succeed in his political endeavours.
The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami
Party (PkMAP) while speaking at a public meeting in Quetta demanded
the Government to either give equal share to the Pakhtun in
all sectors or restore the chief Commissionerate system in Balochistan.
The HRCP after the conclusion
of its Council meeting expressed alarm at growing intolerance
and abuse of belief, continued incidents of enforced disappearance
and illegal detention of citizens in Balochistan and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, proliferation of sectarian violence and a general
breakdown in law and order in the country and called these overwhelming
challenges to the citizens’ right to life and freedom to practise
their religious belief.
October 8
Five persons, including a Shia
man and a cadre of ASWJ, was killed in separate acts of violence
in Karachi. A Shia man, identified as Qamber Naqvi (30), associated
with MWM was shot dead in a sectarian attack at an inquiry office
in Nazimabad within the precincts of Rizvia Police Station.
A man, identified as Zahid (30),
was killed at Bengali Morr area within the jurisdiction of Gulshan-e-Maymar
Police Station while he was on his way to home after closure
of his shop in the same area.
A Bengali man, identified as
Anwar Hussain (41), was shot dead at Bawani Chali, SITE within
the limits of SITE-A Police Station.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found from Furniture Market within Aram Bagh Police
remits. Police officials said that the victim’s hands and legs
were tied with a rope and was shot multiple times after being
abducted.
A cadre of ASWJ died during
treatment at the Aga Khan Hospital. Police officials said that
the victim was injured in a targeted attack at his shop in Orangi
Town on October 5, 2012.
Two Police constables, Sharafat
and Fakhar Zaman, were killed on the spot in a firing attack
on Sabzi mandi checkpost on Dera-Bannu Road within the jurisdiction
of Mandan Police Station in Bannu District. No group has claimed
responsibility for the attack.
A teenage boy, identified as
Jalaluddin, was killed and around 15 people, including four
Policemen, were injured in a bomb blast targeting a Police check
post on Double Road in Quetta. UBA spokesman Mazar Baloch claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a senior medical officer, Doctor Dawood Aziz Jan,
of Civil Hospital Khuzdar near Civil Colony of Khuzdar District
while he was on his way to the hospital.
The Capital Police started collecting
information about all employees working in key Government installations
in the high-security Red Zone, including the Parliament Lodges;
sources in the Police Department told the media. The sources
said an intelligence report shared with the Interior Ministry
had warned that militants were planning to target the Government
installations and hotels located in the zone.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister
Ameer Haider Khan Hoti while inaugurating the Islamic Banking
Branch of Bank of Khyber in Islamabad said his Government would
support PTI Chairman Imran Khan if he held dialogue with the
leaders of banned militant outfits for peace.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry while hearing a petition of the Balochistan High Court
Bar Association on the law and order situation and human rights
violations in the restive province at the Quetta registry of
Supreme Court observed that the Government should take the Balochistan
issue seriously and come up with a workable solution to the
crisis.
The leader of JWP Talal Bugti
during a press conference at the National Press Club in Islamabad
demanded the Government to get rid of FC. “The fate of FC should
be similar to that of ‘Federal Security Force’ created by Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto and was finished off by General Zia-ul Haq,” he said
adding the Police should be responsible for controlling law
and order in city areas. Besides being involved in smuggling
of goods, vehicles and drugs,” Talal Bugti said, “they are carrying
out extrajudicial killings of political workers in the province.”
He, however, said that the FC personnel were not doing all such
activities alone rather they had the support of Federal and
Provincial political leadership.
The Government introduced two
important bills in the National Assembly regarding accountability
and fair trial and to regulate the powers of Law Enforcement
and Intelligence Agencies. The Investigation for Fair Trial
Bill is aimed at preventing the arbitrary use and abuse of interception
powers, particularly by the Intelligence Agencies, and force
them to abide by the law.
October 9
Six militants of LI and their
‘commander’ Khan Mohammad were killed when a bomb exploded in
a bunker they had occupied after a clash with their rival outfit
TI in Sipah area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Bullet-riddled bodies of seven
TI militants were found in a drain in Sipah area. There were
marks of torture on the bodies. The TI militants had been abducted
from Zakhakhel Bazaar area.
A US drone strike targeting
a militant compound killed five militants in Hurmuz area, east
of Miranshah, the Headquarter of North Waziristan Agency, near
the Afghan border.
Three persons sustained injuries
when unidentified militants ambushed a vehicle at Parao area
in Kurram Agency.
Two children were killed and
one was seriously injured in a hand grenade blast in College
Town area of Kohat in the same District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two unidentified dead bodies
were recovered from roadside at Gul Bela area in the jurisdiction
of Dawoodzai Police in the outskirts of Peshawar.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government-run school in the Malka Dher area of Charsadda
District.
A Government primary school
was blown up by unidentified militants at Usmanabad area of
Akora Khattak in Nowshera District.
Unidentified militants destroyed
two CD shops with explosives at Pabbi Station Chowk in Nowshera.
No casualty was reported.
The bannedASWJ announced
to contest the next general elections in Mansehra, District.
“Like other parts of the country, we’ll field candidates on
two National Assembly and six Provincial Assembly seats hoping
for the best,” local ASW General Secretary Qari Shamsur Rehman
said.
A tortured dead body, identified
as that of Ali Akbar, was found in a coalmine Machh area of
Bolan District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants opened
fired at a Hindu man, identified as Jagdesh Lal, while he was
sitting outside his home in Babu Mohala of Chaman town in Qilla
Abdullah District.
Unidentified militants set ablaze
Quetta-bound private container carrying cooking oil from Karachi
(Sindh) on National Highway near Dashte Badoo area of Kalat
District. No loss of life was reported.
Law Enforcement personnel arrested
three suspects and recovered 15 kilograms of explosive materials
from their possession at Qamaruddin area in Zhob District.
The TTP shot award winning children’s
rights activist Malala Yousufzai in the head on her school bus
in Mingora, the headquarter of Swat District, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
to avenge her campaigns for the right to education in the militants’
former stronghold of Swat. Police said two other girls were
also injured in the attack on Malala’s school bus. TTP said
that they will target her again if she survives because she
was a “secular-minded lady”.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister
for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that Malala Yousufzai
was attacked for her dynamic role towards promoting peace and
obtainment of education and that it is high time a crackdown
on TTP be launched in North Waziristan and other parts of Pakistan.
Unidentified assailants attacked
the residences of three PPP lawmakers – Sindh Minister for Local
Governments Agha Siraj Durrani, Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro
and MPA Imdad Pitafi in Sindh.
Unidentified militants hurled
explosives at the residence of Ayaz Soomro in Shaikh Zaid Colony.
However, it did not detonate.
An IED was hurled at MPA Imdad
Pitafi’s house in Hyderabad District. No casualties were reported.
He believed the attack was not carried out by Sindhi nationalist
parties.
Police claimed to have recovered
a suspicious bag outside the residence of PPP MPA Mir Haji Hayat
Talpur in Mirpurkhas District.
An additional sessions’ judge
Naveed Iqbal of Rawalpindi District summoned DG ISI and MI,
over a petition seeking registration of criminal cases against
them. The petition was filed in regard to a mysterious death
of a prisoner which occurred while he was in custody of military
authorities.
Days after leading hundreds
of peace activists to the door steps of drone afflicted South
Waziristan Agency, PTI chief Imran Khan said that shooting down
drones attacking Pakistani areas would be an option of last
resort and that the key to peace in FATA lay with its armed
tribal residents.
October 10
At least seven persons, including
an activist of PPP, and a Policeman, were killed in separate
acts of violence in Karachi. A worker of PPP, identified as
Saleem (26), was shot dead at North Nazimabad within the precincts
of Taimuria Police Station.
A man was killed while four
others were injured within the limits of Napier Police Station.
A man, identified as Rafiq (26),
was killed while another, Shah Kalam (40), injured at Abdul
Hassan Isphani Road within Sacchal Police Station limits.
One Wasif (30) was shot dead
at Sher Shah within the limits of Sher Shah Police Station.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man, identified as Ashiq Ali (30), in Lyari within
the limits of Kalakot Police Station.
A Policeman, identified as Murshid
(26), was shot dead at Qalandria Chowk within the limits of
Shara-e-Noor Jahan Police Station.
A dead body of an abducted man,
identified as that of Walid (35), was found from Hawkes Bay
Road within the jurisdiction of Mauripur Police Station.
Two children were injured when
a mortar shell hit a home in the Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Police arrested 11 Afghan nationals
under Foreign Act at Joint Road area in Quetta.
The KP Information Minister
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the incidence of mental illness
will not improve without the elimination of terrorism. “With
the eradication of terrorism and extremism, mental health could
be improved,” he said.
The Federal Ministry of Interior
has cautioned of possible terrorist attacks in Gilgit Baltistan
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In a letter sent by the Ministry’s NCMC,
the Department urged both the Governments to be vigilant, citing
that terrorists are being trained in Waziristan Agency and may
carry out attacks anytime.
The Department also informed
that the terrorists who killed 18 passengers, mostly Shias,
in the Kohistan area of neighboring KP on February 28, 2012,
were also trained in Waziristan, adding that the terrorists
were “probably being supported by foreign agencies”.
The ministry also stressed the
need to arrest the gangs involved in target killings in Gilgit
Baltistan and ensure peace in the region.
Gilgit Baltistan DIG Police
Ali Sher said that highways leading to GB are being monitored
and public transport between Rawalpindi and GB is being escorted
by SFs.
The KP Government announced
PKR 10 million in reward for anyone who identifies the terrorists
who attacked 14-year-old Malala Yusufzai, Provincial Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.
The National Assembly unanimously
adopted a resolution against the terrorists and saluted the
services and courage of Malala. “This House salutes the great
services of Malala Yousufzai.
Law Enforcement Agencies interrogating
three suspects arrested in connection with the abduction of
UCP Chairman Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi revealed that they
belonged to the Waziristan Agency of FATA. The incident occurred
in the night of October 4, 2012 near Faizabad Chowk while he
was returning to Lahore from a function at the German Embassy
in Islamabad. The accused said that they introduced themselves
to Ashrafi as Police Officials and asked him to go with them
for interrogation over some issue.
The Police of the twin cities,
Rawalpindi-Islamabad, sought the Interior Ministry’s help to
be allowed to go to Afghanistan to arrest Roohullah, a high-profile
fugitive wanted for the murder of former Attorney-General and
retired Judge of PHC Justice Sardar Khan. Sources revealed that
after escaping from the DHQ in Rawalpindi on July 29, 2012 Roohullah
has been spotted in Afghanistan where he is allegedly being
sheltered by Mangal Bagh’s militia.
Afghan security officials expelled
over 30 ‘Pakistani clerics’ from mosques in southern Kandahar
Province over ‘provocative speeches’ to encourage people for
an ‘uprising against the Government’ said an Afghan official.
Hamdullah Nazak, Governor of Dand District in Kandahar, said
that Pakistani clerics had come from Muslim Bagh area of Balochistan
and had no valid documents.
The Supreme Court during a hearing
on the law and order situation in Balochistan, headed by Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said the Government had
done nothing for its improvement.
TTP had issued a statement,
using Islamic Sharia’h to defend the attack. TTP had said that
although they do not believe in attacking women, “who so ever
leads a campaign against Islam and Sharia’h is ordered to be
killed by Sharia’h.”
October 11
At least 18 militants, mostly
Afghans, were killed in a US drone attack at a militant compound
in the Baland Khel area of Orakzai Agency in the FATA near the
border with Afghanistan. The building belonged to Maulvi Shakirullah,
a ‘commander’ in the forces of Hafiz Gul Bahadur group.
Militants attacked passenger
van in Hasan Zai Bazaar in Orakzai Agency with a remote-controlled
IED, killing eight anti-Taliban Mushti tribesmen and injuring
22 others.
A pro-government tribal elder,
Malik Masher Khan, and his two bodyguards, Zarin Khan and Zer
Jan, were shot dead and his nephew was injured when unidentified
militants sprayed bullets on their vehicle at Derga Mandai village
in Miramshah of North Waziristan Agency.
Two volunteers of a local peace
lashkar were killed and three others injured in a bomb
blast at a checkpost in the Zakhakhel area of Khyber Agency.
As many as 11 persons were killed
and 21 others sustained critical injuries in a bomb blast on
Nishtar Road in Sibi town of the same District in Balochistan.
Three SF personnel were killed
and five others sustained injuries in a landmine blast in Borbaj
area of Dera Bugti District.
Six persons, including a Policeman
and a freelance lawyer, were killed in separate acts of targeted
killing in Karachi. A Policeman, identified as Shahjahan (45),
was shot dead near his house at Kanwari colony within the precincts
of Pirabad Police Station in Manghopir.
Two men, identified as Abdul
Rauf (41), and Umair (23), were shot dead outside their house
at Block S within the precincts of Shahra-e-Noor Jahan Police
Station in North Nazimabad.
A man, identified as Abdul Qayum
(40), was shot dead at New Muzaffarabad colony within the jurisdiction
of Quaidabad Police Station.
Another man, identified as Faizan
(23), was killed at Jinnah Bridge within the jurisdiction of
Baghdadi Police Station.
A man, identified as Syed Ejaz
Haider Rizvi (30), was shot dead at UP Morr within the limits
of New Karachi Police Station. The victim was a schoolteacher
in Al-Murtaza School.
Barawal peace militia chief,
Malik Gul Zada, was shot dead by TTP militants Sabar check-point
on Pak-Afghan border in Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
TTP Malakand chapter ‘spokesperson’ Sirajuddin claimed responsibility
for the killing.
Suspected militants abducted
a retired military intelligence officer Brigadier (retired)
Tahir Masood, a few hundred metres away from his house in the
Defence Housing Authority residential colony, after shooting
dead his driver who resisted the attempt.
At least 50 Islamic scholars
belonging to ‘Sunni Ittehad Council’ declared TTP’s attack on
Pakistani children’s rights activist Malala Yousufzai as un-Islamic.
The scholars issued a combined ‘fatwa’ in Lahore which
said that the TTP’s interpretation of Islam was incorrect and
was deviant from the actual interpretation of the Sharia’h.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry said the judiciary would be content when law
and order was restored in the country and the killers of innocent
people were arrested and cases were registered against them.
He, however, said nobody was safe here.
The IG of FC Major-General Obaidullah
Khan informed the Supreme Court of Pakistan that only 12 per
cent of the 50,000 FC personnel are natives of Balochistan.
The Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that the motive
of conducting the hearings was to restore peace in the province
and to recover missing persons.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Masood Kausar said that Government has controlled the situation
by accepting the challenge to hit hard terrorists but the menace
of terrorism can’t be uprooted so easily.
Terming the ongoing war in Afghanistan
a ‘jihad’, PTI chief Imran Khan parried a question whether
the war in Pakistan’s tribal belt could be labeled as terrorism.
Imran added that there was a need to investigate the motivations
of various Taliban factions operating in the country, adding
that the decision to carry out a military operation in Waziristan
in 2004 and the Lal Masjid episode were ‘the main reasons’ behind
the violence across the country.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik informed the media that the two persons who shot
Malala Yousufzai have been identified.
hfaq Parvez Kayani condemned
the attack as a "heinous act of terrorism" and warned
that it hadArmy Chief General As exposed the "extremist
mindset" confronting the country.
Terming attack on Malala Yusufzai
and her schoolmates as a cowardly act, the Swat Peace Jirga
said that a protest campaign would be launched against what
it called increase in incidents of target killing in the valley.
Authorities freed 32 former
militants arrested during the counter-insurgency Operation Rah-e-Nijat
in 2009 in South Waziristan Agency of FATA. The former militants
shunned militancy after rehabilitation and skill training at
the army-run Skill Development and Rehabilitation Centre in
Tank.
October 12
Six militants and two SF personnel
were killed during a clash in Asma Manza area of Laddah tehsil
in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Three Shia students, including
a girl who was identified as Nabila, were injured when the vehicle
carrying them from Kohat to Parachinar came under attack near
Durrani area in Kurram Agency.
A mosque was destroyed in Roudh
Mandi area of Haleemzai tehsil in Mohmand Agency after
explosives planted on the premises exploded. No damage to human
life was reported. SFs later arrested four tribesmen under FCR.
Militants blew up the abandoned
house of a peace activist, Haji Shah Mohammad, in Spin Qabar
area of Bara tehsil.
At least four unidentified dead
bodies bagged in gunnysacks were found from two different areas
of Karachi. Two bodies were found lying near Custom House, while
the other two were picked up from Lyari’s Musa Lane area.
Rangers conducted surgical raids
in different areas, including Orangi Town, Baldia Town, Mehmoodabad,
Landhi and Korangi.
Law-enforcers in the Old City
area KMC Workshop arrested seven suspects involved in violent
crimes.
In another targeted operation
in Liaquatabad’s Ilyas Town area, Rangers arrested three alleged
suspects.
A Policeman was shot dead outside
a mosque during Friday prayer in Bakhshi Pul area on Charsadda
Road of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At least 21 people, all of them
women and children, were injured in a hand grenade attack during
an engagement ceremony in Domail area of Bannu District.
Based on intelligence information,
SFs recovered 16 remote-controlled bombs, 78 kilogrammes of
explosives, 42 metres of safety fuses and six rolls of batteries
in a search operation in the Maidan area in Lower Dir District.
The SFs also blew up the house
of a TTP ‘commander’, Ishaq, in the Gulli Bagh area. Ishaq was
involved in cross-border terrorism and resides in Afghanistan.
Police in Swat have arrested
four key suspects including a woman in connection with the attack
on Malala Yusufzai. Police also claim that the mastermind of
the attack, Attaullah, has been identified.
Karachi Police registered a
case against a Christian boy Ryan Stanten (17), for allegedly
sending blasphemous text messages.
Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti,
the cleric who accused Rimsha Masih of committing blasphemy
and was arrested for allegedly framing evidence was released
a day after he was granted bail by a court on October 11, 2012
after a surety and a bond of PKR 200,000 was submitted at the
court in Islamabad.
PM Raja Parvez Ashraf said a
handful of terrorist elements would not be allowed to dictate
their agenda and enforce their narrative in the country. Addressing
the National Conference on Child Rights in Islamabad, he strongly
condemned the attack on Malala Yousufzai and her two fellow
students.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that the Government was seriously considering conducting
an operation in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA after Taliban’s
attack on Malala Yusufzai. Malik said intelligence reports and
the residents of North Waziristan state that the Agency is a
hub of terrorists.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that Malala Yusufzai would not be sent abroad
for treatment, adding that he was satisfied with her treatment
by Pakistani doctors. The Interior Minister said that Malala’s
attackers had been identified and would be brought to justice.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry while hearing the Balochistan law and order case in
the Supreme Court Quetta Registry said that the protection of
the life and property of the masses is the responsibility of
the Government, however, Balochistan Government has failed to
establish peace in the province, and therefore, Federal Government
should ensure security of the masses.
The Lower House of Parliament
unanimously adopted an opposition-led resolution for setting
up an all-parties commission on Balochistan to bring back the
estranged exiled leadership of the province into the mainstream.
A division bench of the IHC
resumed hearing two petitions filed by authorities to seek permission
to obtain voice samples of seven suspects charged with involvement
in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and to declare LeT militant Ajmal
Kasab a proclaimed offender or fugitive.
Around 200 people, who were
protesting against power outages in Old Haji Camp in Karachi,
pushed open the gates of the St Francis Church. After
breaking in, they reportedly desecrated the holy books and damaged
St Mary’s statues in the church.
October 13
A car-bomb suicide attack killed
18 civilians and injured 40 others in Darra Adam Khel town
of Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The bomber targeted
headquarters of pro-Government peace body opposing Taliban-linked
militancy.
Police took into custody three
brothers from a house in Bara Ghara area during a search operation,
on suspicion of involvement in Malala’s assassination attempt,
in Akbarpura, Nowshera District. Police are claiming to have
recovered arms and documents from the suspects and that they
had links with TTP.
Two guards of Malala's school,
a driver and an accountant have also been arrested up as part
of the investigation. According to sources, some of the arrested
people have a direct involvement in the attack.
Two bomb blasts took place at
Nag Shah Chowk of Multan City in Multan District of Punjab,
creating panic among people. However, no loss of life and property
was reported.
FC and Kharan Rifles in a joint
operation arrested 102 foreigners from Naukandi area of Chagai
District. Sources said the detainees are being interrogated.
Incensed by the attack on teenage
child activist Malala Yusufzai, a local jirga, Nepkikhel Aman
Jirga, has declared war on TTP until the elimination of militancy
from the Swat valley.
A special ATC sentenced two
accused, identified as Umair Ali and Shahid, for five years
in prison after they were convicted on charges of extortion.
The accused were arrested at a time when they came to collect
extortion amount from an industrialist in Korangi.
The State Department’s spokesperson
Victorai Nuland said, “We’ve seen in the past in Pakistan that
when the TTP commit truly heinous and outrageous acts like this,
it galvanises popular opinion against them.”
The trial of seven suspects,
including LeT operational commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, involved
in 2008 Mumbai attack case has been adjourned till November
3, 2012 as Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman, the judge of the
Pakistani court hearing the case has been admitted to hospital,
special public prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said.
The Supreme Court restrained
media outlets from covering terrorism related incidents in such
a manner which would glorify the terrorists.
The Army put the ball in the
political leadership’s court on the question of whether or not
to launch an operation in NWA. “It is going to be a political
decision,” ISPR chief Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said.
October 14
Five SF personnel, including
SP Rural Khurshid Khan, were killed while 10 Police and FC men
were injured when TTP militants attacked two check posts of
Mattani Police Station on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Five militants and a soldier
of Frontier Constabulary were killed in Shaikhan village under
Badhaber Police Station in Peshawar.
Investigations started against
six SF personnel in the wake of recovery of a satellite phone
from Doctor Shakeel Afridi who is detained in Central Jail Peshawar
and used the phone to give interviews to foreign newspapers
and to make calls within and outside Pakistan.
At least six militants were
killed and one soldier sustained injuries in a clash in the
Barlas area of Mamozai in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
A security man and a militant
were killed in an exchange of fire in Akkakhel of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency.
A jirga of Haleemzai
tribe in Mohammad Agency has unanimously decided to extend full
support to the Government and the SFs to eliminate militants
from the area.
Three persons, including an
activist each of the APML and a cadre of ST, were shot dead
in different parts of Karachi. A worker of APML, identified
as Arsalaan (32), was killed and his friend Waqas was injured
near Erum Bakery within Super Market Police remit in Liaquatabad.
One Ameer Shah (45), the owner
of Abbas Hotel and his labourer Usman were shot dead at Abbas
Hotel situated in Ittehad Town within Mochko Police limits in
Baldia.
A cadre of ST, identified as
Mohammad Saleem (30), was shot dead and two others Safdar (20)
and Imra (3) were injured in Landhi.
The LEA personnel claimed to
have arrested at least six suspects affiliated with PAC in a
targeted raid in Machhar Colony, Keamari area and also recovered
hand grenades and weapons from their possession.
CID claimed to have arrested
a target killer, identified as Faheem, belonging to a religious
party in a raid in Allah Wali Chowrangi on Tariq Road, and recovered
weapon from his possession.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead two brothers belonging to Shia community, Mohammad
Ismail and Ishaq Islmail, and injured three others in a sectarian
attack on Sattar Road in Quetta.
A bomb was recovered from the
site where former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was scheduled
to address a gathering of PPP workers in the Nanag Shah area
of Multan City in Multan District.
The Sihala, Shahzad Town and
Golra Police arrested 106 suspects during a search operation
in various localities, including slums, a Police spokesman said.
Police and SFs arrested 25 suspects
from different parts of Swat District, including Mingora, Sangota
and Keel areas, for their involvement in the attack on Malala
Yusufzai and two other girls.
Angered by the coverage of its
attempt to assassinate Malala Yousufzai, the TTP has drawn up
plans to target Pakistani and international media organisations
across the country. TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud has issued
“special directions” to his subordinates in different cities
of Pakistan to target media groups.
A day after the military threw
the ball in politicians’ court for a military operation in the
North Waziristan tribal region, MQM chief Altaf Hussain gave
the “go-ahead” for the offensive.
Women activists belonging to
ST dressed in traditional burqas gathered outside national
press club to protest in favour of Malala and condemn the TTP.
The leaders of the DPC, an alliance
of mainly religious organisations expressed complete support
for the ongoing armed struggle in Indian occupied Kashmir and
criticised Pakistani rulers for supporting the US. DPC Chairman
Maulana Samiul Haq also spoke about the attack on Malala Yusufzai
and its repercussions for the country.
October 15
Four cadres of ASWJ were shot
dead within the precincts of Mobina Town Police Station near
Siddique-e-Akbar mosque in Karachi. The victims were identified
as Umer (30), Qari Abdul Shakoor (28), Imran (23) and Asadullah
(29).
A doctor, Jameel (33), was shot
dead outside his clinic under the jurisdiction of Pakistan Bazaar
Police Station in Orangi Town.
A Police constable, Jamil (45),
posted at the West Zone security was killed near his home within
the jurisdiction of Mochko Police Station in Gulshan-e-Ghazi.
Another cadre of ASWJ, identified
as Abdul Hannan (29), was shot dead at his shop within the limits
of Gulberg Police Station in Gulbahar area.
A cadre of ST, identified as
Usman Qadri alias Lara, was shot dead at his party office
under the jurisdiction of Bilal Colony Police Station in New
Karachi area.
A gangster, Sattar Brohi, was
killed in a Police operation in Dalmia area.
A guard of Balochistan Food
Minister Asfandyar Khan Kakar and two militants were killed
in an exchange of fire at the residence of the Minister in the
Chaman Housing Scheme of Quetta in Balochistan.
Two people, identified as Ghulam
Rasool and Kamisa, were shot dead and another, Ali Jan Langov,
sustained injuries in the Usta Muhammad area of Jaffarabad District.
Unidentified armed militants
opened indiscriminate fire on one Allah Yar in Dera Murad Jamali
city of Naseerabad District.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted two people, identified as Muhammad Saleem and Saleh,
at gunpoint from the Bagh area of Bolan District.
A 13-year-old boy, Usman, was
seriously injured when explosive device went off in Hilalkhel
area of Charming in Bajaur Agency of FATA.
A community health centre was
partially damaged in a blast in Bar Taras area of Salarzai tehsil.
SFs arrested 13 suspected militants
during a search operation in Bakarabad locality of Jamrud tehsil
in Khyber Agency.
At least 25 labourers have been
abducted from Mandan Gate area of the Bannu District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The Police said armed men tempted the labourers
by offering them one thousand rupees per day wages before taking
them away to North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Taxila Police averted a potential
terrorist attack, when they intercepted a car full of explosives
on Taxila-Haripur Road in Taxila town of Rawalpindi District
in Punjab.
Police sources revealed that
the threatening call that a Pathan family of the city received
from extortionists last week has been traced to Kotlung, a place
near Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan's Interior Minister
Rehman Malik announced USD1 million bounty on the leader of
TTP who claimed responsibility for the attack on teenage rights
activist Malala Yusufzai and has alleged that the plan was hatched
in Afghanistan. “This conspiracy assassination plan was made
across the border in Afghanistan.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
also said that Pakistani media organisations and some leading
television anchors were provided security following threat that
they would be targeted by TTP for their coverage of the attempted
assassination of Malala.
During a train march against
drone attacks and anti-Islam film from Karachi in Sindh to Lahore
Railway Station in Punjab clerics of the SIC condemned terrorist
attack on Malala Yusufzai and appealed to the Government and
armed forces for a crackdown against the Taliban and other militant
groups.
LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial
directed JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed to submit until November
1, 2012 copies of the contracts, if any, pertaining to the drone
attacks between Pakistan and the US.
The Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said no plan was under consideration regarding
military offensive in North Waziristan, and Malala Yusufzai
has nothing to do with the operation. “For the time being there
is no plan for military operation in North Waziristan. But if
needed, the decision would be taken by political and military
leadership of the country in harmony,” he said.
The Government is finding it
difficult to repair roads badly damaged by heavy traffic carrying
NATO goods to Afghanistan over the years because the work will
cost over PKR 100 billion. Replying to a supplementary question
in the National Assembly, Communications Minister Doctor Arbab
Alamgir Khan said the Government was already having serious
financial constraints and NATO was also not forthcoming with
its promised aid to refurbish roads it had been using for its
supplies.
With the Supreme Court still
looking for solid evidence of an ISI-backed political cell in
the President House, yet another obstacle appeared before the
apex court in the Asghar Khan case. A representative of Secretary
to the President House Asif Hayat told the court that no record
of such a political cell’s existence could be found during the
tenure of former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
Supreme Court, during the hearing
of Asghar Khan’s petition on alleged distribution of INR 140
million among politicians by the ISI to manipulate the general
elections of 1990, observed that the armed forces’ officers
were under oath not to take part in politics.
October 16
Four members of the Hazara community
were shot dead in a sectarian attack in the Kabari Market scrap
market of Quetta in Balochistan.
Two labourers were killed in
a firing incident in Turbat District.
Unidentified armed militants
killed a polio vaccinator in Killi Jeo area of Quetta, highlighting
resistance to the country’s immunisation campaign.
Police recovered a bullet-riddled
dead body of a person from Sardar Karez area of Quetta.
A man was killed and the driver
of a tanker was injured when unidentified militants attacked
it on the National Highway in Quetta.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted the senior ophthalmologist and head of Lyton Rehmatullah
Benevolence Trust (LRBT) eye hospital Doctor Saeed Ahmed from
Sariab Raod in Quetta.
The AVCC in collaboration with
CPLC on claimed to have killed three alleged abductors and recovered
a businessman, identified as Malik Zainul Abdeen (76), from
their custody after an encounter with a heavy exchange of crossfire
at a house in Javed Bahria Housing Society in Maripur area of
Karachi. Two Policemen Maroof and Jamshed were also wounded.
Karachi Police in their ongoing
drive against gangsters arrested 33 suspected accused in four
encounters.
The SFs arrested Orakzai Agency
TTP ‘commander’ and ‘amir’ Qari Saeed along with his accomplice
from Banda Nabi Village in Pabbi tehsil of Nowshera District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Saeed was allegedly in town to plan an
attack in Nowshera that would coincide with marking the second
anniversary of the slaying of KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar
Hussain’s son, Mian Rashid Hussain.
The Federal Ministry of Interior,
acting on information provided in intelligence reports, has
declared high alert across the country. The information revealed
that around 15 terrorists, led by an Afghan national, have entered
Pakistan with the intent to attack POF, security check posts,
Government schools, colleges and sensitive installations.
The TTP defended the attack
on Malala Yusufzai, rejecting that she was an innocent girl
and labeling her as a spy of the US.
People claiming to be relatives
of Malala tried to enter the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham
where she is being treated, an official said.
The PML-N opposed the Government’s
move to get approval of Parliament for a military offensive
against terrorists in North Waziristan Agency. The Government
was prepared to table the resolution in the assembly but refrained
to get it approved from the Lower House after the PML-N did
not support it on the pretext that the Government had not implemented
previous resolutions passed by Parliament.
October 17
A Shia man, identified as Ali
Raza, was shot dead near Imambargah in Qasba Colony of
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
An employee of KMC, identified
as Shafqat Nasir, was shot dead in Shadman Town.
Unidentified militants opened
fire on two Policemen, resultantly killing one, identified as
Mehram Ali, and injuring another in Federal B Industrial Area.
An unidentified dead body was
found from University Road near Nishtar Basti.
Another unidentified dead body
was found from Nagan Chowrangi.
Three ANP workers were shot
dead in Par Hoti area of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Locals said unidentified armed militants opened fire on one
Omar, his brother Farman and two associates, including Bilal
Khattak, resultantly killing three of them and critically injuring
Khattak.
Police repulsed a militant attack
on their checkpost in Mashogagar area on the outskirts of Peshawar.
An official of Badbher Police Station said several militants
armed with rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs attacked the post
but they had to flee after police opened fire on them.
Unidentified armed militants
abducted an employee of FATA Health Department, Usman Kundi,
also a cousin of National Assembly Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim
Kundi from the Shah Alam area of Tank District.
Two guards stationed at Malala
Yusufzai’s school were released after being taken into custody
for interrogation in Swat District. Two other officials at the
school are still in custody for interrogation.
A man and two women of the same
family were injured when a rocket fired from Afghanistan fell
on a house in Khadar Khel village of Spinwam tehsil in
sub-division Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
A girl, identified as Hisha
Bibi (14), suffered injuries in a rocket attack from across
the border on Mina, Sapary and Bandagi villages of Mamond tehsil
in Bajaur Agency.
Elders of the Mamond tribe have
expressed concern over the rocket attack, warning that tribesmen
will have to retaliate if cross-border attacks continue.
Unidentified militants blew
up an electricity tower in Mach area of Bolan District, suspending
power supply in Gaishtri and adjoining areas.
The CID of Karachi Police disclosed
that they arrested the ameer of the Sindh Chapter of
LeJ Hafiz Qasim Rasheed from Patel Para area of Karachi. Rasheed,
carrying head money of PKR 500,000, was involved in the targeted
killings of doctors, lawyers and politicians.
The US Treasury said that it
had frozen the assets of three Pakistan-based individuals, Maulvi
Adam Khan Achekzai, Aamir Ali Chaudhry and Qari Ayyub Bashir,
suspected of backing the Taliban and other terrorist organisations
in Pakistan and Afghanistan, including one man linked to a failed
attack in New York. Treasury said it froze all US assets and
prohibited any US individuals from doing business with.
US Department of Defense section
on IEDs agreed to develop a framework of cooperation with Pakistan
to counter the crude, yet deadly bombs.
The Presidency told the Supreme
Court that there is no political cell operating currently in
the President House. The rejoinder was submitted by the President
Asif Ali Zardari’s Secretary Asif Hayat.
The Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry said that by supporting the IJI, the President had
gone against the presidential oath, according to which a president
cannot discriminate between political parties or groups.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that the Senate should form two committees comprising representatives
of all political parties to hold talks with estranged Baloch
leaders Harbayar Khan and Barhamdagh Bugti.
October 18
At least eight militants were
killed and seven others injured when SF backed by fighter planes
bombed suspected militants’ positions in different parts of
Bara in Khyber Agency in Khyber Agency in FATA.
Two mutilated dead bodies, identified
as that of Bahadur Khan and Rashid, were found in Bela tehsil
of Lasbela District.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a man, identified as Ahmed Ali, near Irrigation Colony
on Sariab Road in Quetta.
Unidentified militants killed
a FCB trooper, identified as Abdul Malik, in Qasba Colony of
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
A man was killed in a firing
incident in Surjani Town.
Manghopir Police claimed to
have arrested a gangster, identified as Aashiq alias
Bholo, allegedly involved in the murder of 14 people in the
city.
Police recovered and defused
50 kilogrammes of explosive material from the Musafar Baba graveyard
at Khawajawas Police Station in Charsadda District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
The severed heads of a senior
police officer and a soldier of FCB were found in Gulshanabad
area of Matani on the suburbs of Peshawar. The militants had
slaughtered SP Khurshid Khan and another FC man identified as
Mohammad Diyar on the night of October 14, 2012 during an attack
on Ghaziabad Police post in the limits of Matani Police Station.
The Punjab Province Police after
a meeting to review law and order situation on decided to set
up mobile pickets, intensify armed patrolling and continue search
operations permanently to curb crime in Lahore District, quoting
the provincial Police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar.
Police sources informed that
the capital city is all set to create another Administrative
Zone — Tarnol Zone — under the supervision of SP in the wake
of the prevailing situation, to counter migration from the Tribal
Areas. Currently, the capital city is divided into four Zones
— City, Saddar, Rural and Industrial Area.
LHC directed the Federal Government
to block all blasphemous material on Google and YouTube. Justice
Ijazul Ahsan was conducting proceedings on a petition filed
by JeI leaders seeking a ban on blasphemous material on the
Internet.
The LHC issued notice to the
Federal Government to reply within three weeks on a petition
filed by JuD Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for directions to the
Federal Government to move the ICJ against the makers of an
anti-Islam movie.
Leaders of APNA, an alliance
of nationalist and progressive individuals in the Azad Kashmir,
along with several other groups, organizations and political
parties condemned the “fiery and irresponsible speeches” of
DPC at Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir. They accused
members of the DPC of “flaring the flames of war" in the
region in the name of securing "freedom" for Jammu
and Kashmir.
Foreign Office spokesperson
Moazzam Ali Khan said that it was unfortunate that the attack
on Malala Yusufzai was being used to justify the launch of a
military operation in North Waziristan Agency. When asked whether
Pakistan would discuss the possible military operation in North
Waziristan with US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan
Marc Grossman during his visit, the spokesperson did not rule
out the notion.
According to the US monitoring
service SITE, a Belgian-Tunisian al Qaeda recruiter,
Moez Garsalloui, who allegedly mentored an extremist who shot
dead seven people in France on March 19, 2012, is believed to
have been killed in Pakistan. SITE said that a post on an extremist
web forum on October 15, 2012, announced the death of Garsalloui,
who had claimed responsibility for one of the attacks carried
out by Mohamed Merah in the southern French city of Toulouse
in March.
The Government has failed to
move resolution on military operation in NWA of FATA. The resolution,
which clearly advocates a Swat-like military operation wherever
and whenever needed, could not be tabled in the National Assembly
owing to a strong opposition put up by the PML-N against the
very idea of a military operation in NWA.
Leader of Opposition and PML-N
stalwart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan asked the Government to approach
the US administration or the Afghan Government to arrest the
mastermind of the attack on Malala Yusufzai, instead of planning
a military operation in NWA.
October 19
At least nine persons, including
one Ahmadi, three cadres of ASWJ and two of MQM-H were shot
dead in Karachi. Three cadres of ASWJ and students of the Darul
Khair Madrassa in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, identified as Qari
Mujahid, Qari Azizur Rehman and Abdul Rauf, were shot dead in
a suspected sectarian attack on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, near
the SUI Head Office.
Two cadres belonging to MQM-H,
Ahmed Ali and Furqan, were shot dead in Korangi.
Two men, one identified as Shahzad
(32), and the other who remains unidentified, were killed in
Baldia.
In a sectarian attack, a man
belonging to the Ahmadiyya community, identified as Saad, was
killed and his father, Farooq, brother, Hamad, and uncle, Nusrat
were injured while they were returning home in a car from their
worship place in Ghaus Nagar, Baldia Town.
A supporter of the ANP, identified
as Wali Khan (28), was shot dead in Gulzar Colony, Korangi.
The Philadelphia Pentecostal
Church of Pakistan was attacked in Essa Nagri locality on
October 18 within a period of 10 days as armed assailants barged
into its premises during a blackout, vandalised it and fled
with alms offerings.
At least three personnel of
FC were killed and ten others, including five security men and
a woman, were wounded in a remote-controlled blast at the Badini
intersection area in Quetta of Balochistan.
One security official was killed
and five others injured when unidentified armed militants ambushed
a checkpost of a Law Enforcement Agency in Dasht Goran area
of Sui in Dera Bugti District.
Two militants and a trooper
were killed and two passers-by were injured in an exchange of
fire at a checkpost in Civil Colony of Miranshah, Headquarter
of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
The political administration
recovered at least 25 abducted labourers from the North Waziristan
Agency who were abducted on October 15, 2012 from Mandan Gate
area of the Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Sector Commander (North)
of Army Brigadier Haider Ali announced at Scouts Fort in Khar
the lifting of curfew in Bajaur Agency around four years after
its imposition, saying the move had been made after the restoration
of peace and establishment of the Government’s writ across Bajaur
Agency.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a Senior Lawyer and Shia activist Shakir Ali Rizvi
near the Jain Mandir area in Lahore District while he was heading
to the Lahore High Court with a colleague.
A Government-run primary school
for girls was blown up in two bomb blasts in the Kalay Marhati
area of Nowshera District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An operation against the militants
is likely in the suburb areas of Matani and Badabher in Peshawar
following the recovery of the heads of the slain SP Rural and
a constable of the FCB.
MQM Chief Altaf Hussain while
speaking over phone from London said that peace talks cannot
be held with those who were killing Policemen and security personnel
and attacking mosques and Imambargah. Lashing out at
those who were in favour of holding talks with militants, he
said: How can we talk about peace with those who beheaded personnel
and officers of the Army, Police and FC?”
The Pakistani Government needs
to take urgent steps to safeguard terror targets, including
schools, teachers, students and rights activists, HRW said.
“Parts of Pakistan are among the most dangerous places in the
world to go to school today,” Ali Dayan Hasan said in the group’s
press release.
The CTD of Punjab Police sent
a report to the Provincial Home Department citing more than
175 incidents in which Government ban on the use of loudspeakers
in mosques had been ignored in Rawalpindi District since July
2012. The CTD in its report said 35 cases of violation were
noticed in the month of July, 34 were reported in August, 68
in September and 40 cases were reported in October.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that the Government accorded priority to Balochistan and was
undertaking every effort for the socio-economic development
of the province. Talking to a delegation of the Quetta Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) at the Presidency, President
Zardari said that the Government was aware of the challenges
in Balochistan, especially the law and order situation, and
was striving to address those issues by boosting trade and facilitating
the business community.
Two senior officials revealed
that TTP’s Attaullah, the alleged attacker of Malala Yusufzai
was captured during a 2009 military offensive against the militant
group but was released after three months. Attaullah is on the
run and may have fled to Afghanistan, they said.
October 20
Two people, including an activist
of MQM MOC, were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi.
An activist of MQM’s MOC, identified as Muhammad Aqeel (30),
was shot dead near his house the precincts of Awami Colony Police
Station at Korangi.
A handcuffed unidentified tortured
dead body of a youth was found from within the jurisdiction
of Ferozabad Police Station in PECHS area.
SFs shot dead two militants
in retaliatory attack after militants attacked a security checkpost
near Machas Camp in Miranshah, headquarter of North Waziristan
Agency in FATA. SFs started shelling targeting militant hideouts
in Machas Camp area, injuring three children and two women.
A student, identified as Zabihullah,
and a woman suffered wounds when another shell hit their houses.
Police found an unidentified
dead body Jangle Bagh area in the precincts of Sariab Police
Station in Quetta.
FC claimed to have defused an
anti-tank mine and 25 kilogram explosives planted in the Chat
Barzain area of Pheela Bagh along a road in Dera Bugti District.
Three people, including owner
of the CD shop, Bashir Khan, was injured when a blast occurred
at Scheme Chowk in the limits of Badbher Police Station in Peshawar.
Two bombs planted by suspected
militants along Bara-Shaikhan Road in Peshawar exploded.
Families of eight local labourers
who were allegedly abducted by LI militants led by Mangal Bagh
in Badh Pir area of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for ransom
over eight months back, setting deadline till Eid-ul-Azha,
demanded their early recovery at a demonstration in Muzaffargarh
District of Punjab.
US Special Envoy for Afghanistan
and Pakistan Marc Grossman said that it was up to Pakistan to
take any decision on military operation in North Waziristan
Agency. “On (the) particular question of North Waziristan (offensive)
or any other question, that is the decision for the Government
of Pakistan and solely for the Government of Pakistan”.
Grossman also held talks with
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar that focused on a “wide range
of issues of mutual interest particularly Pakistan-US relations
and the regional situation”, according to an official statement.
The CIA is urging the White
House to approve significant expansion of its fleet of armed
drones that the Agency uses to target suspected militant targets.
The report said the move would extend the spy service’s decade-long
transformation into a Paramilitary Force.
October 21
At least eight militants were
killed and six others injured during an operation by SFs in
Mamoonzai and Khadezai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
Three persons, including an
activist of MQM and a cadre of ASWJ, were killed in separate
acts of violence in Karachi. In the first incident, an activist
of MQM, identified as Muhammad Faheem (22), was shot dead at
Masjid-e-Talha gate within the precincts of Bilala Colony Police
Station in New Karachi area.
A cadre of ASWJ, identified
as Kamaluddin 29, was killed within the jurisdiction of Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Police Station near Rab Medical Centre, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Kamal
belonged to the Bengali community.
A dead of a man, identified
as that of Amir Khan (23), was found within the limits of Awami
Colony Police Station in Korangi graveyard.
LEAs claimed to have arrested
at least nine suspected men in separate targeted raids and recovered
weapons, hand grenades, ammunition and uniforms of LEAs from
their possession.
Three people, including two
children, were injured when unidentified armed militants opened
fire at a house in Sarikoran area of Panjgur District.
The owner of a travel agency,
Haji Mohammad Ali, was injured seriously and his driver, Abdur
Rehman, was killed when unidentified militantson motorcycle
attacked his car in Haleemzai area of Shabqadar tehsil
in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police recovered six rocket
shells in Sari Kallay area. Police called Bomb Disposal Squad
to safely defuse the shells.
Pakistan is reported to have
sought extradition of Maulvi Fazlullah who led the TTP occupation
of Swat and fled to Afghanistan after a military operation in
the valley. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar made the demand
during a meeting with US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan
Marc Grossman. Khar urged the US envoy to put pressure on Afghanistan
to hand over Fazlullah to Pakistan.
A deal between Pakistan and
the US regarding a new bilateral commission to lure Afghan Taliban
to the negotiating table was finalised during US special envoy
to Pakistan Marc Grossman’s visit to Islamabad. Details of the
proposed commission were not immediately available, although
sources disclose that the two countries will identify groups
for reconciliation and facilitate smooth transition of power
following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that the opposition was not in a mood for negotiations to forge
a common stance on key national issues, including a military
operation in North Waziristan. “In the present situation, it
appears that it is futile to talk about consensus with the opposition
parties,” he said. The president asserted that the war against
terrorism would be fought with national accord. “There is need
to have consensus through the policy of reconciliation to achieve
the desired results in the war against terror and ensure peace
and security.
BRP Central Secretary Doctor
Bashir Azeem said that his Party Chief Nawabzada Brahamdagh
Bugti had already made it clear that they would never accept
any invitation from the Government for dialogue on the Balochistan
issue. “I can tell you on behalf of Brahamdagh Bugti, Commander
of the BLF Doctor Allah Nazar and Harbiyar Marri, that talking
to the Government is out of the question … President Asif Ali
Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf or any other official
are not in a position to take any decision on the crisis,” said
Azeem.
Leader of the Opposition in
National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that his party
will approach Supreme Court if needed. Wound up in one of the
country’s most high-profile scandals, the PML-N made its intentions
clear – it will not go down without a fight.
Earlier, on October 19, 2012,
the Supreme Court in response to a petition filed in 1996 by
former Air Force Chief Asghar Khan against the distribution
of funds by the ISI among politicians to prevent the PPP victory
in the 1990 polls, ordered the Government to take legal action
against former Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg and former
ISI Chief Asad Durrani for distributing millions of rupees among
politicians to rig the 1990 general polls.
The Supreme Court directed the
FIA to initiate a probe over the distribution of cash handouts
among politicians to influence the election results. The PML-N
raised serious reservations about the Agency’s credibility and
demanded that an independent commission be set up to investigate
the case.
PPP sought that Supreme Court
should not only identify more recipients of funds from ISI but
also slap fine on them. Legal experts are of the opinion that
coming days may witness intensification in political polarisation.
They criticised the judgment which, according to them, had pitted
the two major political parties against each other, instead
of addressing the real issue of military’s repeated interferences
in politics.
US Special Representative for
Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman told a private television
channel in Kabul that Washington recognised the Durand Line
as the international border between the two countries. The same
day, Afghanistan's Ministry for Foreign Affairs issued a statement,
saying the Kabul Government "rejects and considers irrelevant
any statement by anyone about the legal status of this line".
October 22
A Constable, identified as Syed
Riaz Hussain was shot dead, while ASI Mumtaz and another Policeman
was injured when TTP militants opened fire at the law enforcers
who were conducting snap checking in Kanwari Colony of Manghopir
area in Karachi.
A Shia sport reporter of Janbaz
Newspaper, identified as Ali Raza, was shot dead within
Baghdadi Police remits at Khadda Market in Lyari.
One Malik Kashif, supporter
of a political party, was shot dead near Aslam Chowk in the
Mominabad area.
Malik Kashif (28), the younger
brother of DSP Malik Qasim, was shot dead at Wajid Shaheed Chowk
in Orangi Town.
A bullet-riddled and tortured
dead body of an unidentified man was found near Mujahid Park,.
Constable Khan Wali and a watchman,
Haq Nawaz, were injured when armed assailants attacked Policemen
deputed at a farm house in the Gulshan-e-Maymar area. In retaliation
other Policemen at the scene shot back and injured one of the
assailants.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested two suspects, Ashiq alias Kashi and Muhammad
Amir alias Bandar, on a tip-off from Surjani Town and
recovered three hand grenades, three pistols and a Kalashnikov
from their possession. Ashiq and his accomplice were implicated
in over 100 cases of bank robberies, kidnapping-for-ransom,
killings, dacoities and other heinous crimes in Karachi and
Punjab.
Eight persons were injured,
including two Police personnel, in a remote-controlled bomb
blast attached to a bicycle in a Shewa area under Kalu Khan
Police Station of the Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A bomb planted on a motorbike
exploded soon after the motorcade of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Amir Haidar Khan Hoti passed from the Mall Road in the Swabi
District.
A blast in a plaza on Frontier
Road in Badabher area, a suburb of Peshawar, injured three FCB
personnel.
Another schoolgirl from Swat,
Hina Khan, who was a pioneer in raising voice against TTP atrocities
in the Malakand Valley, is now claiming to be on the TTPs hit
list. "I had left Swat with my family because the militants
had threatened girls' education there but now I feel I would
not be able to go to school in Islamabad after these renewed
threats," she said.
In a retaliatory attack, the
SFs fired shells using light artillery and heavy machineguns
in civilian dominated villages, killing at least three civilians,
identified as Khwaja Mohammad, his son Jan Mohammad and one
Ghaffar Khan, and injuring 25 others, including women and children
in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency in
FATA.
SFs recovered a cache of ammunition
from a house in Bacha Maina area at the Torkham border in Khyber
Agency. Upon search some 21,000 rounds of M-16 automatic rifle
were recovered from specially designed cavities at the house.
The authorities lifted curfew
in the North Waziristan Agency after three days. The political
agent Siraj Ahmed Khan announced lifting curfew that was imposed
on October 19 after attack on stadium checkpost and killing
of an FC man.
The tribal people displaced
from Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency owing to attacks
from across the Afghan border have started returning to their
native villages as administration has declared the area free
of militants. However, they complain that they are facing plethora
of problems as UNHCR has not awarded them the status of internally
displaced persons.
Two militants, associated with
TTP, were arrested from a local hotel in an operation by SFs
in Islamabad.
At least seven passengers were
abducted near Deputy Commissioner's Office in main Dhadar city
area of Bolan District in Balochistan. According to District
Police Officer Ghulam Dastager Tareen a passenger van, which
was on its way from Quetta to Sibi, was intercepted by unidentified
armed militants.
Pakistan rejected accusations
made by Indian Home Minister S K Shinde that it was helping
terrorists infiltrate into India. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson
said the claims are baseless and unfounded.
US President Barack Obama, in
some of his most blunt remarks to date, said on that Osama bin
Laden would have escaped if America had sought Pakistan's permission
ahead of the raid on the al Qaeda leader's compound.
October 23
Two brothers, Muhammad Ikram
and Muhammad Umer, were shot dead within the limits of Soldier
bazaar Police Station in Soldier Bazaar in Karachi while they
were sitting near their PCO booth.
Armed assailants opened fire
on a gathering of people sitting at the corner of a street,
killing two men within the jurisdiction of Napier Police Station
in old Haji Camp area.
Two people injured on October
22, 2012 in North Nazimabad area succumbed to their injuries.
According to Taimuria Police, unidentified militants opened
fire on a medical store injuring one Zohaib (26), Tehseen (35),
and the owner of the medical store Shakeel (35). Later, Zohaib
and Tehseen succumbed to their injuries and Shakeel remains
injured.
An injured Policeman, identified
as Husnain (27), succumbed to his injuries. Husnain was shot
and injured by unidentified militants in Risala Police Station
remits on October 9, 2012.
CCPO Iqbal Muhammad claimed
that the distribution of extortion slips has decreased across
the city. However, the head of the traders association, Atique
Mir said there was no need for slips as extortionist would directly
approach traders.
Two persons, including a suspected
militant, were shot dead while another passer-by was injured
during a search operation in Gud Malang and Misri chowk localities
of Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
An IED installed on a road was
defused in the Sheikhan area of Bara tehsil.
A militant 'commander' Abid
Khan, succumbed to his injuries in a private clinic after he
received bullet injuries during a shootout with SFs in Akkakhel
area of Bara tehsil.
Levies personnel and volunteers
of Haleemzai Peace Committee demolished the houses of five suspected
militants in Roadh Mandi area in Mohmand Agency. Earlier, a
jirga of Haleemzai tribe decided to demolish the houses of the
suspected militants, who were allegedly involved in a bomb blast
in the area.
Commandant Khyber Rifles Col
Fayaz handed over 35 Kukikhel and three Zakhakhel tribesmen,
arrested during Ghundi operation, to a delegation of tribal
elders. The commandant also returned 24 light weapons, seized
during the operation, to the tribal elders.
At least two people, identified
as Muhammad Qasim and Eid Mohammad, were shot dead in Civil
Colony locality of main Khuzdar city in Khuzdar District of
Balochistan. Both were said to be employees of the District
Administration.
The journalists of Khuzdar District
have refused to work and locked the Khuzdar Press Club.
A trader, identified as Khalid
Musa, was shot dead at his shop by unidentified militants in
Turbat city of Turbat District.
A man, identified as Irfan,
died when armed militants opened fire at a bus stand near Panjgur
bazaar in Panjgur District.
A container carrying supplies
for NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan was attacked by unidentified
armed militants in Kalat District.
At least four FCB soldiers were
injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast at Faqirabad Chowk
in Badhber area of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Sihala Police conducted
a search operation in its jurisdiction, including slum areas
of Khanna, Sihala Town and Sihala Bazar in Islamabad, and arrested
35 suspects.
The Sindh Government, Police
and Rangers have to answer to the Supreme Court for their annual
performance in respect to Karachi violence of 2011 summers.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to take the case that stems from
suo motu proceedings started by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry after he read the horrifying newspaper reports on August
22, 2011. This was when the city went through one of its bloodiest
summers.
An independent five-member Judicial
Commission set up by the Supreme Court to probe the Abbottabad
raid after spending the past year and a half questioning military
officers has found that the Government and security establishment
did not know about the al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's presence
in the country. No one else in the town knew that the world's
most wanted man had taken up residence in Abbottabad, a senior
Pakistani official privy to the report said.
The Supreme Court rejected the
Sindh Government's report pertaining to implementation of its
verdict in the Karachi unrest case given in 2011. The Sindh
Government informed a five-member larger bench of the Supreme
Court that it wanted to bring strict laws against illegal weapons
but the move could not be materialised due to reservations of
collation partners, Sindh Advocate General Abdul Fattah Malik
presented the report on implementation of the court's order
in the Karachi unrest case, underway at the Karachi Registry
of the court, but the larger bench expressed distrust over it.
Showing distrust in national
institutions to investigate the Asghar Khan case, the PML-N
suggested that the UN or any other international institution
probe the matter, which would prove the party's innocence. The
PML-N, which came under pressure following the decision of the
Supreme Court in the Asghar Khan case, expressed doubts over
the FIA - tasked with investigating the case - and called for
an independent commission to do the job.
The Defence Secretary Lieutenant-General
(retired) Asif Yasin Malik while briefing the Senate Standing
Committee on Defence and Defence Production said that the political
cell of the ISI was disbanded five years ago and categorically
denied any cell operating since.
The Election Commission will
not act against the politicians accused of having received funds
from ISI prior to the 1990 General Election. "We do not have
any constitutional room to disqualify them," said CEC Justice
(retired) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim.
Prosecutor Brian Altman told
the jury that three British men, Irfan Naseer (31), Irfan Khalid
(27) and Ashik Ali (27), planned to detonate rucksacks packed
with explosives in a major suicide assault which could have
been more devastating than coordinated attacks that killed more
than 50 people in London on July 7, 2005. The trio were among
several arrested by Counter-Terrorism Police in the city of
Birmingham in central England.
Altman described the accused
as jihadists and extremists who were influenced by a man affiliated
with the militant group al Qaeda. Altman said two of them of
travelled to Pakistan, where they learned how to make poison
and bombs and use weapons as part of their training. He told
the court that they had prepared martyrdom videos in anticipation
of their suicide campaign. The trial continues.
An audit report presented at
a PAC meeting revealed that pro-Government Bugti tribesmen were
paid PKR 89 million from Baitulmaal funds when former President
General (retired) Pervez Musharraf launched a military offensive
against Nawab Akbar Bugti.
October 24
A US drone fired two missiles
at a suspected militant compound in Miranshah, the headquarter
of North Waziristan Agency in FATA killing three people. One
security official in Peshawar said the target was a militant
compound and those killed were insurgents. "It was a militant
compound being used to store arms and ammunition," he said,
requesting anonymity. However, according to CNN, a woman was
also among the killed, while three children were injured in
the drone attack. A Government Official said that militants
lived in the compound but so did civilians.
Two civilians succumbed to their
injuries in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency as they could not be
provided timely medical treatment owing to precarious security
situation in the area. Local sources said that one Mohammad,
a labourer, was critically injured along with three other colleagues
when a mortar shell fell on a factory in Alamgudar area of Sipah
on the night of October 23, 2012.
A mortar fired from an unspecified
location at a silk factory killed one person in Khyber Agency.
A militant was killed while
planting a roadside bomb in Akakhel area of Khyber Agency.
Suspected militants blew up
two Government primary schools in Wazir Kallay and Khwajawas
Kor areas of Haleemzai tehsil of Mohmand Agency. SFs arrested
three local tribesmen with the help of sniffer dogs after the
blasts in the area. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility
for the blasts.
SFs demolished two hideouts
and a house of a militant along with four shops in Charsiyano
Chowk area of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency and claimed
to have arrested 1,600 local residents during the last two days
and most of them were shifted to Fort Salop for questioning.
A Policeman who was a wireless
operator of the Kalri Police Station was found dead near Lea
Market in Karachi. Police officials said unidentified armed
militants had abducted him on the night of October 23, 2012
and later threw his body away. Police officials claimed that
he was killed by Lyari gangsters.
Manghopir Police found an unidentified
dead body of a man from Manghopir Road.
Another man, identified as Amir,
was shot dead in an unspecified location. Police claimed to
have arrested a suspect while further investigation was underway.
An unidentified man was shot
dead near Cheel Chowk.
Unidentified armed militants
shot dead a person, identified as Azam, outside his residence
in Orangi Town.
An unidentified tortured dead
body was found near Tibet centre on M.A Jinnah Road.
A cadre of ASWJ, identified
as Waheed, who was injured in a targeted attack along with his
brother Isamil on October 23, 2012 near Landikotal Chowrangi
succumbed to his injuries.
Two cadres of the ASWJ, Shafiq
and Zubair, were shot at and injured in a targeted attack at
Bandhani Colony.
An activist of the BNP-Awami,
identified as Riaz Ahmed, was killed in Faqirabad area of Khuzdar
District.
At least three Policemen, including
an ASI, were injured when armed militants ambushed a Police
mobile within the limits of Shalkot Police Station in fruit
market area of Hazar Ganji in Quetta.
Suspected militants blew up
a Government middle school in New Nehar Jahangira area in Swabi
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Militants attacked Bacha Khan
Markaz, the headquarters of the ANP, on the Pajaggi Road in
Peshawar with an Improvised Explosive Device. However, no casualty
was reported in the blast.
The five-member bench of Supreme
Court headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and comprising Justice
Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Amir Hani Muslim, Justice Gulzar
Ahmed and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said that no-go areas
still exist in Karachi on political and ethnic bases, adding
that if any person entered his opponents' area, his body was
recovered in a gunny bag.
Families of registered Afghan
refugees who were voluntarily returning from Pakistan to Afghanistan
during the remaining time of 2012 were offered an "enhanced
return package" by the UN.
Former military ruler General
(retired) Pervez Musharraf was on October 24 served a notice
for allowing drone attacks in the Tribal Areas, as a senior
Government Official in North Waziristan submitted "sealed" details
of losses caused in the strikes during 2008 to 2012.
Pervez Musharraf, who is a "proclaimed
offender" in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and against
whom a red warrant has also been issued to Interpol for arrest,
announced that he will contest the upcoming General Elections
from Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
US State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland in an attempt to specify official US position
on the Durand Line and rejecting the Afghan Government's protest
over an earlier US statement on Pakistan-Afghan border said
that the Durand Line is the internationally recognised boundary
between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A week after the Supreme Court
ordered the Government to probe the accused in the Asghar Khan
Case, former Army Chief General Alsam Beg said that he has been
dealt with injustice and that the list of beneficiaries provided
by former ISI chief Lieutenant General Assad Durrani was fake.
General Aslam Beg alleged that the court had only looked at
one side of the story and its efforts to seek further evidence
had been largely blocked.
COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
said that new military requirements have increased the importance
of collaboration between the Pakistan Army and the Air Force.
Kayani said that the joint exercises of Pakistan Army and Air
Force have a crucial role in the current security situation.
He continued saying that the Armed Forces are enjoying a higher
level of relationship that did not exist in the past.
October 25
Nine militants were killed and
five hideouts were destroyed when the Army gunship helicopters
bombed hideouts of militants in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
A child was killed and three
others were injured when a mortar shell, fired from an unknown
location, landed on a house in Sanzal Khel area of Bara tehsil.
FCB official was injured when
militants attacked a joint patrol team of the FC and Police
near the border of Akkakhel.
SFs killed a suspected militant
in Bagan area of Kurram Agency. Sources said that a suspected
motorbike rider was signalled to stop at Bagan security check-post.
At least five cadres of ASWJ
were shot dead in a sectarian attack at 'Gulzar-e-Habib' restaurant
in FB area of Karachi. The killings appeared to be linked to
the ongoing sectarian violence, a senior Police Officer said.
An activist of MQM, identified
as Mirza Kamran (30), was shot dead within precincts of Jauharabad
Police Station at Block-6, FB Area.
A man, identified as Iqbal Memon
(40), was shot dead within the limits of Orangi Town Police
Station at Aligarh Colony.
An unidentified dead body of
a man, packed in a gunny bag, was found from Moosa Lane within
the jurisdiction of Bhagdadi Police Station. Police said the
victim belonged to Katchi community.
SIU of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested two alleged militants, identified as Akram
Ullah alias Naveed and Murad, of TTP while they were taking
extortion from the marble factories in Manghopir area and recovered
weapons, hand grenades and stolen vehicle from their possession.
The accused had recently given extortion slips of PKR 5 million
to the marble factory owners.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a person, identified as Nawaz, in Tump area of Turbat District
in Balochistan.
Siraj Ahmed, the son of Khuzdar
Press Club President Nadeem Gurgnari was shot dead while another
son, Manzoor Ahmed, sustained serious injuries in a firing incident
at Eidgah area in Khuzdar District. No group had claimed responsibility
for the killing.
A girl was killed and three
others, including two children were injured when the roof collapsed
due to a blast beside their house in Hangu District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Two Policemen were injured when
over a dozen militants stormed a security post in the jurisdiction
of Badaber Police Station in Aziz Market in Peshawar.
Pakistan jumped into a war of
words between Afghanistan and the US over the legitimacy of
Durand Line as an international border saying it was a "settled
issue". "As far as the official response of the government of
Pakistan is concerned, the Durand Line is a closed and settled
issue. We regard it as the recognised international border,
and the international community also recognises it so."
Foreign Office Spokesman Moazzam
Khan said that Pakistan has shared a dossier on Taliban 'commander'
Mullah Fazlullah alleged involvement in the attack on Malala
Yusufzai and two other girls, with Afghanistan and ISAF.
To a question regarding Kabul's
protest over the statement of US Special Envoy Grossman saying
Durand Line was an international border, the spokesman clarified
that the Durand Line was a closed and settled issue.
To a question on Mullah Omar's
statement in which he appealed neighbouring governments to release
Afghan Taliban prisoners, he said that the issue of Afghan prisoners
is under consideration. "This is one of the issues that Pakistan
and Afghan governments are trying to address."
Malala's father Ziauddin Yusufzai
vowed that she would return home after finishing medical treatment
abroad, despite new recurring threats to her life.
October 26
At least nine militants were
killed and several others injured in the ongoing operation in
Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
An owner of an electronics shop,
identified as Rasool Khan (35), was shot dead in an alleged
extortion incident at Qureshi Market in Chisti Nagar area under
Iqbal Market Police Station in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh. Police said that Khan had been receiving death threats
from an extortionist group.
A tailor, identified as Altaf
Baig, was shot dead within Zaman Town Police remits in Korangi.
Police suspect it to be an extortion incident.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body of a man was recovered from within Manghopir Police
limits in main Northern Bypass.
Militant hurled a hand grenade
in Old City area outside the wooden storehouse at Timber Market.
SHO Aslam Gujjar said that it seemed that it was the warning
by extortionists to the storehouse owner, who was threatened
to pay the extortion money.
Unidentified militants shot
dead two members of an anti-TTP peace committee in Charbagh
area of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Residents said
both victims were members of local peace committee and they
blamed the TTP for the killing.
A worker in Gadoon Amazai Industrial
Estate, identified as Saeed Murad Shah, was killed by unidentified
assailants when he was on his way home after performing his
duty at night.
The watchman of a school was
injured when militants blew up a Government Girls High School
in Katti Garhi area of Katlang in Mardan District. Several rooms
of the school were also destroyed in the blast.
A neurosurgeon Doctor Abdul
Aziz was abducted by unidentified militants along with his car
from within the jurisdiction of Kalu Khan Police Station in
Adina village of Abbottabad District.
Extraordinary security arrangements
were made in Peshawar and surrounding areas following reports
that militants have planned to carry out attacks on the occasion
of Eid-ul-Azha.
Manzoor Ahmed, the injured son
of Khuzdar Press Club (KPC) President Nadeem Gurgnari succumbed
to his injuries in Khuzdar District of Balochistan. According
to details, Manzoor along with his brother Siraj Ahmed were
shot at Eidgah area of Khuzdar District on October 25, 2012.
Siraj Ahmed died on the spot.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information
Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain while speaking at a press conference
in Peshawar said that Government would provide full security
to Malala Yusufzai and her family when they come back from UK.
The minister left the decision to return to Pakistan or live
abroad to Malala's family. He said the government would not
force the family to come back.
October 27
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik invited TTP to serve the country after surrender
their weapons said that everyone must have same opinion on security
and foreign affairs.
Despite being on the Interior
Ministry's watch list for being banned by the UN, JuD is all
geared to launch a rigorous hide collection campaign this Eid,
especially in Lahore District. The JuD is not only appealing
for hides, but also soliciting cash donations in lieu of sacrificial
animals.
The Lahore District Government
rejected the organisation's application for a NOC to collect
hides. DCO, Tariq Zaman said that neither the JuD nor its charity
arm Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation has been granted NOCs.
The Punjab Government abets
terror by allowing pro-militant seminaries to operate unhindered,
alleged KP Governor Barrister Masood Kausar.
October 28
Four persons were killed and
23 others injured in a bomb blast outside the shrine of Sunni
Muslim saint Kaka Sahib in Nowshehra town of same District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
One person was killed and eight
others were injured when unidentified militants hurled a grenade
at the house of a Police officer in Dera Ismail Khan town of
the same District.
Two unidentified people were
shot dead in two different areas of Baldia and North Nazimabad.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that illegal mobile SIMs had become a dangerous
weapon.
Rehman Malik further said that
no acts of terror during Eidul Azha on October 27, 2012 were
a success on the part of the Government.
Keeping in view the Supreme
Court's judgment that held that the Balochistan Government had
failed in its fundamental responsibility of protecting the basic
rights of the people, an in-house change to replace the Chief
Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani with another PPP leader in the
province is being discussed as one option, while the second
option is to place the province under Governor's rule, said
a highly placed official requesting anonymity.
Another MQM supporter who also
owned a cell phone shop, identified as Fawad Ahmed Siddiqi (35),
was shot dead outside his house in Shadman Town of Karachi.
The dead body of ANP President
of the PSF at the National College, identified as Riaz Badshah,
was found shot dead near the Lyari Expressway.
Shahid Hussain, the owner of
a hotel, who was injured around a week ago in Mehran Colony,
succumbed to his injuries. Police said Hussain was receiving
threats from a group of extortionists.
One Abdul Ghaffar Mehsud, a
suspect died of a gunshot wound in Peerabad.
October 29
Ten militants were
killed when helicopter gunships targeted their hideouts in Nala
Malikdinkhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of
FATA.
Three soldiers
were killed when militants attacked their convoy in Nala area.
No official details were available about the assault. The militants,
however, claimed to be in possession of the soldiers' bodies.
Three persons were
injured when a mortar shell landed in a house in Mandi Khas
area. The house belongs to Sial Khan alias Sailak. Troops
demolished houses of three militant LI 'commanders' Rakhman
Shah, Ayub and Gulabat Khan in Shalobar area.
Eight militants
were killed and a security official was injured in a clash in
Mamozai area in Orakzai Agency.
The bullet-riddled
body of a security official was found in the Sheikhan area.
Troops took the body to the Kalaya, the Orakzai Agency headquarters.
Unidentified militants
abducted four tribesmen in Sheikhan area, identified as Feroz,
Shah Hasan, Dilawar and Ahmad.
Three militants,
identified as Khukam Khan, Farooq Shah and Ghulam Ali, surrendered
before Political Agent Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah at Khar in Bajaur
Agency. Most Taliban members joined under coercion and now are
quitting to help bring peace to the area, Syed Abdul Jabbar
Shah said. The local peace jirga, he said, played a significant
part in persuading the militants to become peaceful citizens.
Tribal elders in
Ghallanai, the headquarters of Mohmand Agency, decided to revive
a jirga system in the area against anti-state elements. In an
address to tribal elders, Mohmand Rifles Commandant Colonel
Mushtaq Hussain said that the role of jirgas had been
minimised after the insurgency in 2007. Colonel Hussain urged
the tribal elders to refrain from paying extortion money to
militants.
Unidentified assailants
shot dead MQM supporter Jehanzeb near a MOC in Lassi Para area
of Model Colony in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
A bullet bullet-riddled
dead body of another MQM supporter, identified as Arsalan, was
found from the Baghdadi Police Remits. SHO Haji Sanaullah said
the victim was abducted on October 28 from Baldia Town.
Unidentified militants
shot dead an owner of a cell phone repair shop, identified as
Mohammed Kamran (27) in Baldia Town.
In a sectarian
attack, a man, identified as Mehmood Abbas, was killed and his
friend Ejaz was injured in Gulbahar area.
Two suspected militants,
identified as Muzafar and his nephew Hasmatullah, were killed
and four others, including two Levies and ATF personnel were
injured in a shootout operation at Killi Malezai area in Pishin
District of Balochistan.
A prayer leader
of Kalat civil hospital mosque, identified as Qari Ziaullah,
was shot dead in Kalat Town of Kalat District.
Two persons, identified
as Noor Ahmed and Muhammad Yousuf, sustained injuries when unidentified
militants intercepted them in Killi Noor Muhammad near Brewery
Road in Quetta and opened fire.
Levies sources
said that seven persons who were abducted from Dhadar area of
Kachhi District on October 23, 2012 returned home.
Islamabad on October
29 agreed in principle to allow a team of Indian investigators
to access the evidence collected against arrested LeT 'commander'
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others being tried in Mumbai 2008
terror attack case there. The investigators, however, would
not be allowed to question the suspects in line with the agreement
between the two countries.
Expressing grave
concerns on the soaring incidents of kidnappings-for-ransom
and demands for extortion, MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, while talking
to the MQM office-bearers, workers and volunteers at the main
camp set up for collecting hides of the sacrificial animals
under the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation, asked the establishment
to find out the elements within its ranks who were harbouring
criminals involved in these heinous offences. He urged the business
community to pluck up courage and tell the public about the
criminal elements involved in abductions and sending extortion
slips and the people who support them.
A statement released
by MQM said that Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik
held a meeting with the Party Chief Altaf Hussain in London
and discussed the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi
in detail, including the restlessness developing in the business
community of Karachi due to increasing menace of extortion and
abduction-for-ransom.
Commandant Mohmand
Rifles Colonel Mushtaq Hussain while addressing a jirga
at the headquarters of Mohmand Rifles in Ghalanai area of the
Agency said that the terrorists hiding in Afghanistan were carrying
out attacks inside Pakistan with the backing of Afghan authorities
to disturb peace in the area. Colonel Mushtaq said that terrorists
were present across the border. He said that terrorists were
backed by Afghan Government to attack check posts in Mohmand
Agency to destabilise the area.
Al Qaeda has formed
an all-female 'Burkha Brigade' whose cadres are being
trained to infiltrate and hit military bases and official buildings
in the Western nations as they are less likely to attract suspicion
than men. The women are thought to have been recruited from
the war-torn Russian republic of Chechnya by an al Qaeda-linked
group, with bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
October 30
A local leader
of ANP, identified as Mian Jan (62), was shot dead within the
limits of Pirabad Police Station in Frontier Colony, Orangi
Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. A Police Official
said that TTP militants had threatened him to quit ANP.
A dead body of
a man, identified as that of Rizwan, was found packed in a gunny
bag was within the limits of Kalri Police Station near Crown
Cinema. Police said the victim was kidnapped on October 29,
2012 when he was on his way to home.
An unidentified
dead of a man was found dead in within the limits of Orangi
Town Police Station. Police officials said that unidentified
militants has abducted him and then shot him dead and dumped
his body at an abandoned place.
A bullet-riddled
dead body of a Policeman, identified as Shuja Hussain Shah,
was found near the CHK within the precincts of Eidgah Police
Station. A Police Officer said suspected the involvement of
Lyari gangsters.
The alleged mastermind
behind the firing at a PPP rally organised by Lawmaker Syeda
Nafeesa Shah in Khairpur District was killed in crossfire with
the Police. According to official sources, the aide of the accused,
Azizullah, attacked the Bagarji Police Station the previous
night and freed him after taking hostage the Policemen present
there. However, after the escape, Police and the assailants
engaged in crossfire, resulting in Azizullah's death.
The AEC of CID
claimed to have arrested four TTP militants during a raid in
the Sultanabad area near Manghopir Road and recovered four TT
pistols and two hand grenades from their possession.
The AEC arrested
three weapon smugglers and seized guns, ammunitions and drugs
in their possession. The AEC officials found caches of weapons
and drugs from the bus, including 30 hand grenades, five Kalashnikovs,
12 repeaters, five pistols, a light machine gun, 160 kilogrammes
of hashish and hundreds of bullets.
At least three
persons, including two children, were killed when a mortar shell
hit a house in the area of Sipah area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
At least 26 suspects
were arrested as the search operation continues in the Sipah,
Malikdinkhel and Shalobar areas of Khyber Agency. A military
operation was launched in the area on October 23 in Bara tehsil
after frequent clashes.
A PHC bench sought
explanation from the ISI Director General and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Home Secretary on the killing of a missing person allegedly
in the custody of the LEA's. The two were asked by acting Chief
Justice Miftauddin Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth to let
the bench know under what law, Zahoorullah Khan was picked up
and under what circumstances, he was killed. The hearing was
later adjourned until November 28.
The bench directed
the SHO of Takhtbhai Police Station in Mardan District to complete
investigation into the killing of a missing person without delay.
Mohammad Ayub had filed a petition with the bench saying his
son Mohammad Riaz went missing on June 1, 2011, from Takhtbhai
area and later on June 27, 2012, his body was found in Haripur.
Foreign Minister
Hina Rabbani Khar termed the drone attacks counter-productive,
unlawful, against international law, and violation of sovereignty.
In her opening statement at the 14th Session of the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) at the UNHRC in Geneva, the Foreign Minister
said Pakistan strongly supports the promotion and application
of universally recognised human rights. The country's resolve
and commitment to combat terrorism remained unwavering, she
added.
Reporters
Without Borders expressed alarm over rising threats to the lives
and safety of journalists working in Pakistan, ahead of the
United Nations' Universal Periodic Review of Pakistan, the organisation
said. The organisation had recommended a series of measures
designed to protect journalists in Pakistan in April. "The number
of journalists killed continues to increase, and most of the
investigations opened into these murders remain inconclusive,
contributing to an intolerable level of impunity." Since January
2011, eight journalists have been killed in Pakistan.
The Chief of JuD
and founder of LeT Hafiz Muhammad Saeed who is blamed for the
2008 Mumbai attacks, and is under a USD 10 million US bounty
offered humanitarian aid to the US as it battles with Hurricane
Sandy. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said, "Jama'at-ud-Dawa is ready
to send its volunteers, doctors, food, medicines and other relief
items on humanitarian grounds if the US Government allows us."
October 31
The TTP went on
a shooting rampage and killed four persons, including three
ANP activists, including the party's Sherpao Colony ward President,
outside the Al-Naseer PCO under Quaidabad Police Station in
Karachi. Investigators suspected that the TTP was behind the
attack as the ANP leadership had been receiving death threats
from the militant outfit.
An ASI Mohammad
Rafiq (35), son of Atta Mohammad, was shot dead near Al-Haider
Sindh Balochistan Hotel under Memon Goth Police Station. The
ASI was posted at the investigation wing of the same Police
Station.
An official of
AEC of the CID, identified as Saeed Mansoori (45), was killed
in Block 15 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar area under Shahrah-e-Faisal
Police Station.
One Shabbir (54),
son of Saifuddin belonging to Bohra community was shot dead
in Nazimabad area of North Karachi.
An eight-year-old
boy was shot dead and three injured in Islamia Colony of Peerabad
area, in a drive-by shooting. Peerabad SDPO Rustam Nawaz said
two assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire at the public,
injuring the minor boy, Ubaid, and three others.
A security official,
identified as Abdul Ghaffar, was killed while another official
Umar Aziz was critically injured when their security convoy
was hit by a landmine in Bhalwal Basti of Chamalang in Loralai
District of Balochistan.
Unidentified militants
shot dead a person, identified as Muhammad Ali Qambrani, in
the Pirangabad area of Mastung District.
A large number
of students, their parents and other people protested against
the administration of Farooqi Girls High School in Ravi Road
area of Lahore District in Punjab province, for "distributing
a blasphemous essay sheet among students". The protesters later
set the school gate and set its building and principal's car
on fire. People in the area have been demanding Police action
against the teacher accused of blasphemy for the last couple
of days. Police reached the site and resorted to aerial firing
to disperse the mob. A citizen was injured during the protest.
The authorities
arrested head of a pro-government peace committee, Essa Khan,
in Khyber Agency of FATA for his alleged involvement in abduction
cases. Officials said that Essa Khan, the head of peace committee,
abducted a resident of Bajaur Agency some time ago and kept
him in habeas corpus.
Curfew remained
imposed in most parts of Malikdinkhel, Sipah and Shalobar areas
in Bara tehsil of the Khyber Agency as SFs continued search
and cordon operation there for the fourth consecutive day. Officials
said that about 250 tribesmen from Sipah tribe were arrested
during the operation from different areas.
The Khyber Rifles
Commandant Colonel Fayyaz Khan has asked the Kukikhel elders
to cooperate with the SFs so that all the outlaws could be eliminated
from the Jamrud tehsil. Speaking at a grand Kukikhel
elders' jirga in Jamrud FC Fort, he said he would not let anyone
push Jamrud into the hands of troublemakers.
The role of British
intelligence agencies in dealing with terrorism cases was the
focus of an in-camera briefing given by a UK expert to the members
of PCNS in Islamabad. Lord Alexander Charles Carlile, a practising
barrister and former independent reviewer of British anti-terrorism
laws, informed the committee that British intelligence agencies'
role was to provide information to LEAs, according to a participant
of the meeting. The British lawyer said that on the basis of
Intelligence, Police and Forensic experts went out to collect
hard evidence which led to trial of the suspects involved.
The US rejected
an offer of help for Americans hit by super-storm Sandy from
the JuD, the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Acting
State Department spokesman Mark Toner recalled that Saeed is
wanted for the 2008 attacks which killed 166 people, including
six Americans. "We have great respect obviously for the Islamic
tradition of social assistance to those who are in need, no
matter where they might be," Toner said. But "this particular
offer strikes us as very hollow."
Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik said that the fiancée of a key suspect
involved in shooting Malala Yusufzai, Ataullah Khan, has been
arrested along with others. According to the report, Khan had
crossed over from Afghanistan in to Pakistan, before making
his way to Swat.
The Supreme Court
ordered the Sindh Police Chief and other authorities to submit
a report on infiltration of over 7,000 TTP militants in Karachi
and release of 150 convicts on parole. At the outset of the
hearing, the court asked Advocate General Fatah Malik to produce
a report on land survey in the city. The Provincial Chief Law
Officer stated that the survey could not be conducted, because
a suit was still pending disposal in this regard.
Hearing the Balochistan
target killing case, the Supreme Court raised serious questions
on the legal status of the Provincial Government and sought
explanation from the Federal Government as under what constitutional
authority the Balochistan Government is discharging its functions
after October 12.
The Attorney General
of Pakistan strongly disagreed with the Supreme Court, saying
the court had transgressed its limits while passing the interim
order and stopping the functioning of the Government. It is
to be noted that the court in an interim order on October 12
held, "Unfortunately in the instant case - Balochistan law and
order - the Federal Government except deploying FC troops, has
also failed to protect province of Balochistan from internal
disturbances."
The LHC Chief Justice
Umar Ata Bandial sought reply from the Federal Ministry of Interior
on a petition of JuD Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed through which
he has challenged the restrictions imposed by the Federal Government
on the group's activities, including collection of hides of
sacrificial animals during Eidul Azha. The Chief Justice directed
the Ministry to file its reply by November 29. Petitioner's
counsel, AK Dogar, submitted that the JuD is an institution
of the same nature as Edhi Welfare Foundation with the only
difference that it had set up 142 schools for boys and girls
across the country.
November 1
At least 10 militants
were killed and six injured as gunship helicopters and jet fighters
pounded militant hideouts in Sairi village of Tirah Valley under
Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
SFs also blew up
the house of a militant 'commander' known as Javed belonging
to the outlawed LI in the Nala Kajori area of Bara.
A mortar shell
hit a house in Malikdinkhel area of Bara, injuring eight members
of a family. It was unclear whether the shell was fired by militants
or SFs.
The Barang tribe
assured the administration of Bajaur Agency that it would not
allow cultivation of poppy crop in its area. The decision to
impose ban on cultivation of poppy was taken at a jirga that
was attended by a large number of tribal people and officials
of local administration including Political Agent Syed Abdul
Jabbar Shah. "Strict action will be taken against those, who
cultivate poppy anywhere in the agency," he added.
A bullet-riddled
dead body of an MQM activist, identified as Kashif (35), was
found from the Eidgah Police Station in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. Police Officer of Eidgah, Pervaz Iqbal, confirmed
that the victim was an activist of the MQM and also the brother
of ASWJ militants Javed Kala.
Another man, identified
as Qamar Hussain (30), was killed by unidentified militants
at Eidgah near Aurangzeb Colony
A bullet-riddled
dead body of one Rashid (27) was found packed in a gunny bag
within the limits of Preedy Police Station between the Tibet
Centre and Radio Pakistan.
An unidentified
dead body of man appearing to be in his mid-twenties was found
near the Gulbai area of Shershah.
Another bullet-riddled
dead body a man was recovered from Quaidabad Police jurisdiction
at Sherpao Colony in Landhi.
An unidentified
dead body of a man with a cracked skull was found within the
Nabi Bakhsh Police jurisdiction near Ram Swami.
Another terrorism
bid was foiled as an IED weighing four kilogram with 3.5 kilogram
explosive material and ball bearings, connected with two batteries
was found from Zehra Nagar near Safoora Goth, which was diffused
by the BDS. A Police official on anonymity said that the area
was heavily populated with Shiite community.
Unidentified assailants
killed a girl and injured a member of a local peace committee,
Fazl Ghani, in Sair Thelegram locality on the outskirts of Malam
Jabba area of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The girl
was identified as Samreen and she had come from Karachi to spend
few days with her relatives in Swat.
Three women and
a child of the same family were injured when the women stepped
on a landmine in Bekhar area of the Dera Bugti District.
Elsewhere in the
same District, three Levies personnel were injured when their
vehicle hit a landmine in Thelapar area.
A man was injured
when he stepped on a landmine in Shahmas Sar area of the District.
On the direction
of the Supreme Court, the Capital Police arrested opposition
leader in the Balochistan Assembly Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind
from the court premises for allegedly kidnapping a man and failing
to appear before the court, on June 28, 2011. The Quetta ATC
had awarded life imprisonment to MPA and former Federal Minister
Rind, his son Sardar Khan Rind and four other people for allegedly
kidnapping a man and failing to appear before the court.
During the hearing,
Akram Sheikh, counsel for Rind argued that the case against
his client was wrong as he was sentenced in absentia. He prayed
that the lawmaker should be kept in Sindh or Balochistan House.
However, the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhury ordered
to put him in Islamabad Secretariat Police Station. He said
they could not discriminate, as law is equal for everyone. The
court, however, fixed November 5, 2012 to hear his appeal.
The Toba Tek Singh
District Administration banned the entry of 29 ulema, including
former SSP leader Malik Muhammad Ishaq and Allama Sajid Hussain
Naqvi in the District.
Expressing displeasure
at the worsening law and order situation in Karachi, President
Asif Ali Zardari while chairing a meeting at the Chief Minister
House directed the LEAs to conduct raids on the dens of criminal
elements. The President also took notice of proliferation of
the arms and weapons in the metropolis and observed that the
arms licences should be Smart Card-based to ensure that no fictitious
licences were issued.
Taking note of
the use of mobile phones by the militants and criminals, Zardari
also asked the Government to work out a plan to ensure that
no SIMs are available at the retail shops and the outlets of
mobile companies, rather they are posted to the Computerized
National Identity Card addresses of the applicants.
The President advised
the Provincial Law Minister to work on enacting suitable legislation,
in consultation with all stakeholders, for the protection of
the witnesses. He observed that one of the reasons hindering
effective prosecution was that witnesses backed out due to fear
and insecurity.
A five-member bench
of Supreme Court in its Karachi registry comprising Justice
Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Amir
Hani Muslim and Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that Pakistan Rangers
were deployed in Karachi 18 years ago to maintain law and order
but the situation was becoming critical by the day, adding the
force should be sent back to safeguard borders and the funds
being spent on Rangers should be spent on the Sindh Police instead
so they could yield better results.
A report was produced
before the bench that stated "there were a total of 2,381 important
cases, including murder, and out of them only 661 suspects had
been arrested while more than 3,500 remained at large". A report
about the accused released on parole was presented in the court
during the course of the hearing. As per the report, Prisons
IG Zafar Bokhari said 226 persons had been released on parole.
Justice Khilji
Arif remarked that the budget for the Rangers should be used
to double the salary of the Police. According to the target
killing report during the last 13 months, 2,381 murder cases
were registered and 761 arrests were made.
Chief Minister
Nawab Aslam Raisani shrugged off any sort of adverse situation
on the cards. Addressing a press conference, Raisani said the
Provincial Government had the full support of allied parties
and he would present his position on the case before the Supreme
Court.
While expressing
deep concern over the ongoing violence in Balochistan, the US
in a statement on Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Pakistan
that is also read by US representative in Geneva alleged that
Security Forces continue to be involved in "kill-and-dump" operations
that target numerous civil society actors, including Baloch
activists and their family members, as well as journalists,
activists, and student leaders. It gave recommendation to halt
operations aimed at silencing dissent in Balochistan and suggested
providing adequate resources to NHRC and appointing independent,
credible commissioners.
Netherlands announced
a contribution of USD 2.5 million to support the three years
'Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Programme' in Balochistan.
The Dutch Government and the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime signed an agreement to this effect. The funding will
go to the country programme of the UNODC which would work with
the LEA to improve their internal management, strengthen institutional
capacity of Police training, enhance crime scene investigation
skills and increase awareness about human trafficking.
November 2
At least 18 people,
including seven women and four children, were killed and five
others injured as unidentified assailants fired indiscriminately
at a local passenger van parked outside a petrol pump in the
Jhalawan Complex area of the Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
Two people were
wounded in a landmine blast when one the two stepped on it in
Pelough area of Dera Bugti District.
Unidentified militants
intercepted and abducted a Levies Force official, identified
as Liaquat Raja, near Machh Bazaar in Bolan District. However,
no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping so far.
An activist of
MQM, identified as Saeed (50) alias Mada, was shot dead within
the precincts of Malir City Police Station in Jafar Tayyar Society
of Karachi (Sindh).
A man, identified
as Jameel (35), was killed within the vicinity of Khwaja Ajmair
Nagri Police Station in North Karachi.
A man, identified
as Shahid (28), was shot dead within the precincts of Gulbahar
Police Station at Golimar Chowrangi.
One Aslam was shot
dead within the jurisdiction of Saeedabad Police Station in
Baldia Town.
In addition, a
cadre of PAC, identified as Faisal alias Langra was killed within
the limits of Jamshed Quarter Police Station at Patal Para.
Police said that he was a notorious gangster of Magsi group
and was involved in 16 cases of murders.
A bullet-riddled
dead body of a man, identified as Shahid (28), was found within
the vicinity of Kalakot Police Station from Dhobi Gath. He was
abducted on October 28, 2012. Police said that initial investigation
revealed that Lyari gangsters were behind the murder.
An unidentified
dead body of a man packed in a gunny bag was recovered from
the limits of Pak Colony Police Station in Lyari Naddi.
Three dead bodies
were recovered from separate places in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency in FATA. The number of bodies recovered from Bara in
a month has reached 30. All the bodies were said to be that
of civilians.
Two traders were
also abducted from Jamrud town of Khyber Agency.
Marvi Sirmad, a
journalist and a human rights activist, escaped attempt on her
life in Islamabad. In her complaint to Secretariat Police she
said that an unidentified assailant fired shots at her car while
she was going home.
Police foiled a
possible terror attack by defusing a three kilogram powerful
explosive device packed in a canister planted at Chowk Yadgar
in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. An
official of Kotwali Police Station said that terrorists had
planted a bomb with the wall of a dispensary within the premises
of Ghanta Ghar.
A medium-intensity
remote-controlled bomb planted inside Mian Umar Chamkani's shrine
in Peshawar was defused by the BDS. Devotees gather in large
numbers every Friday.
Police claimed
to have arrested 52 accused during raids in different parts
of Peshawar and recovered four Kalashnikovs, two rifles, 21
pistols and 52 kilograms of hashish from their possession .
SFs arrested several
suspected terrorists during a search operation after assailants
attacked Fazal Ghani, a peace committee member in Swat District.
Seven Afghan citizens,
including an Afghan National Army official, were arrested during
a raid by SFs on a house located in the Afghan Refugee Camp-I,
a kilometre east of Timergara Bazar in Lower Dir District.
Security is on
high alert in Peshawar in the backdrop of SFs' operation against
militants in Khyber Agency and due to Friday prayers. According
to Police, SFs are battling against the militants in the adjoining
tribal belt of Peshawar due to which additional Police check
posts have been set up in the suburban areas of Matani and Badaber
while additional troops have also been deployed.
The TTP claimed
responsibility for the recent target killings of peace committee
members in Swat District. According to a local media person,
TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for
the target killings and said that the attacks were proof of
TTP allies still existing in Swat.
A local peace committee
member, Ibrar, said that the people of Swat were not in favour
of the militants and did not want to see them returning. "Peace
committees have been formed to keep an eye on the absconded
militants' return and to timely inform the SFs if they find
any such elements in their area. That is why, the peace committee
members are targeted by them [Taliban] but we want to tell them
clearly that such actions would not discourage us and we will
continue with our mission," he said.
The TTP decided
to `deal' with the MQM and rid the people of Karachi of its
`suppression'. TTP 'spokesman' Ehsanullah Ehsan called reporters
and read out a statement, saying the Taliban had decided to
rid the people of Karachi of the suppression of MQM. He said
the Taliban had started consultations to work out a strategy
for the coming General Election. "Taliban would announce the
policy after the official announcement of the General Election,"
he said.
MQM remained unfazed
with TTP's threat and in response MQM leadership reiterated
that "it wants an educated and Quaid-e-Azam's Pakistan where
everyone enjoys the right to live all in freedom". Faisal Ali
Subzwari, the MQM's Deputy Parliamentary leader in the Sindh
Assembly, said the MQM had come to know about the TTP's threat
only through the media and had nothing much to comment on it.
MQM Chief Altaf
Hussain directed the party to hold a countrywide referendum
against the Taliban. The Coordination Committee will decide
the final date of the polling. The MQM's media centre said that
the party was going to ask a simple question to Pakistanis on
the ballot paper, "Do you want a Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam or
a Pakistan of Taliban?"
The Supreme Court's
hearing provided the Federal Government an opportunity to hit
back after two weeks of silence on the Supreme Court's October
12, 2012 interim order on the situation in Balochistan. Referring
to the Court's severe criticism of the Balochistan Government's
lack of governance, the Federal Government made it clear that
it found the order flawed and that only the President had the
right to intervene in affairs of provinces. The interim order
had said the Provincial Government's failure had undermined
its constitutional authority.
The Government's
allegations achieved little and the bench comprising Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja said
the interim order remained intact.
Federal Minister
for Interior Rehman Malik also turned up in the court in defence
of the Provincial Government. When the Minister tried to say
that Balochistan was in grip of an insurgency, he was immediately
contradicted. "It's not insurgency, but lack of good governance,"
the Chief Justice observed. "Kidnappings have become a hot trade
in the province," the Chief Justice added.
The same bench
in a different case ordered the authorities concerned to freeze
a fund of PKR 24 billion allocated for 739 non-development projects
under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in Balochistan.
The Washington
Post said that the US administration should seek open agreements
with host countries before conducting drone strikes inside their
territories. In a lead editorial, the Newspaper's editorial
board sought more political accountability for the unmanned
strikes, more checks and balances and more collaboration with
allies. The Post also suggested that drone strikes should be
carried out by military forces rather than by the CIA and as
with other military activities, they should be publicly disclosed
and subject to Congressional review.
November 3
Six people, including
Fateh Khan, the commander of Aman Lashkar, an anti-Taliban
group, and his two guards were killed, and five others were
injured in a suicide attack in Daggar area of Buner District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The TTP claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying it had targeted Fateh Khan for leading an armed
resistance against the group.
The Sheikh Panju
shrine located in a graveyard on Phandu Chowk in Peshawar was
blown up. No casualties were reported in the incident.
Two men belonging
to the Dawoodi Bohra community, identified as Shabbir and his
cousin Murtaza, were shot dead and another brother Hatim was
injured in an incident of target killings near former Rahat
cinema in Hyderabad city of Hyderabad District in Sindh. Murtaza
was a snack seller and ran his business within the jurisdiction
of Cantonment Police Station at main Saddar Bazaar, near Askari
Bank.
A man, identified
as Zafar Hussain (24), was shot dead within the precincts of
Pakistan Bazaar Police Station in Bihar Colony, Orangi Town
in Karachi.
A Pakistan International
Airline (PIA) employee, identified as Amin Lashari, was shot
dead within the jurisdiction of Saudabad Police Station at Liaquat
Market, Malir.
Unidentified assailants
shot dead a man, identified as Mushtaq, in Balnagor Dasht area
of Turbat District of Balochistan. Police said that the victim
was a resident of Sindh and was running a cold drink shop, adding
that the incident could be a case of target killing.
Unidentified militants
fired three missiles apparently to target a military camp in
Razmak subdivision of SWA of FATA but the projectiles landed
near a residential area outside the Army camp and didn't cause
any human loss. The sources said the missiles were fired from
the nearby mountains in the adjoining South Waziristan Agency.
Unidentified militants
blew up CDs shops in Miranshah bazaar of North Waziristan Agency.
The shops were meant for selling CDs of Naat as music centres,
had long been closed in the area.
A Government primary
school for boys was blown up by unidentified militants at Malik
Meera Jan Khazina in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency.
A five-member bench
of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and
comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Sarmad Jalal
Osmani, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Gulzar Ahmed ordered
to immediately arrest all criminals who had been released on
parole while there cases were in courts and they were awaiting
trial.
The bench said
in its written order that a report submitted by the Sindh Government
had disclosed the matter of release on parole of under-trial
prisoners. It said these prisoners awaiting trial yet released
on parole should be arrested immediately and presented in relevant
trial courts.
The court also
ordered the Sindh Government to take immediate action against
all armed groups in Karachi, including the TTP and take serious
notice of their presence in the city. In an earlier hearing
in the same case, Justice Jamali had said there were reports
of around 6,000 and 7,000 TTP having entered the city.
The Interior Minister
Rehman Malik said that the Government would move in accordance
with the interim order of the Supreme Court on the law and order
situation in Karachi and take action against TTP in the city.
He said Karachi was turning into a stronghold of the Taliban
and some measures against them had already been initiated.
Punjab Police officials decided
to deploy 118,308-member Police force across the province during
Muharram-ul-Haram to maintain peace and law. Soldiers and Rangers
will remain on call to cope with any emergency, officials said.
November 4
An ANP activist,
identified as Fazal-e-Rabbi (32), was found shot dead in Mario
Goth within the precincts of Gulshan-e-Maymar Police Station
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. He abducted on
November 3, 2012.
The dead body of
a man was found inside his house in North Nazimabad. The victim
was identified as Bakht Nazeer (28), son of Gul Nazeer. Police
also found a TT pistol near his body.
The bullet riddled
dead bodies of two men were found near Eidgah ground within
limits of Soldier Bazaar Police Station. An official said that
unidentified persons first abducted the victims and then killed
them.
A man was found
strangulated to death in sector 6-F area of Mehran Town. Three
migrant labourers hailing from Punjab were shot dead at a bus
stand in Mund bazaar in Turbat town of the same District in
Balochistan.
A man, identified
as Naseeb Raza, was shot dead on Zarghoon Road in Quetta.
One person, identified
as Abdul Karim, was injured when unidentified assailants opened
fire at A-one City within the limits of Brewery Police Station.
Eight persons,
including five police officers and three civilians, were injured
when a bomb exploded near a Police check post in Jala Bela area
of Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
SFs raided the
Afghan refugee camp No 1 in Dir District and arrested an alleged
member of Afghan National Army and six other refugees, including
an official of Afghan National Army.
Bomb disposal unit
neutralised an IED on the Miranshah-Dattakhel Road in FATA.
More than a 100
tribal elders from four major tribes in Mohmand Agency signed
an agreement to support the Government's initiatives for peace.
A grand jirga held in at Sangar Gandhab, five kilometres away
from Ghallanai, the headquarters of the Agency, at the hujra
of Malik Muhammad Ali Halemzai, vowed to protect Government
installations and support the SFs for the restoration of peace.
The Chief of Sindh
Police, IG Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari directed the Karachi Police
to prepare a comprehensive contingency plan in consultation
with LEAs including intelligence organisations for the month
of Muharram-ul-haram. In an official statement issued in Karachi,
the Sindh Police Chief has called for incorporating the suggestions
of the Ulema belonging to different schools of thought in the
security plan for Muharram. There are total 260 imambargahs
in the metropolis.
The Khyber Agency
has recorded the highest number of subversive acts during 2012
as compared to other parts of FATA. The data compiled by offices
of Political Administration in FATA shows that total 96 bomb
blasts, suicide and rocket attacks have occurred in Khyber Agency
between January and October of 2012.
The volatile agency
has also topped the list of abduction-for-ransom incidents among
all tribal units as it recorded 40 cases in which people were
picked up and taken there before making demands for money from
the relatives of the abducted persons. Main militant groups
like LI, TI, AI, Haji Namdar group and Abdullah Azzam Brigade
have been operating in the area, according to sources.
According to FATA
Disaster Management Authority's report, around 71,000 displaced
families, who left their native homes in the wake of lawlessness,
had been registered with it. Officials blamed deaths and civilian
casualties in Khyber Agency on artillery shelling and rocket
attacks.
The trouble started
in Khyber Agency in 2003 when supporters of two rival sectarian
groups led by Mufti Shakir and Pir Saifur Rehman respectively
clashed in Bara. Mufti and Pir were expelled from the area in
2004. However, the sectarian clashes resulted in emergence of
Mangal Bagh group.
President Asif
Ali Zardari while addressing the inaugural ceremony of three-day
sixth conference of the Association of SAARC urged regional
countries to join hands to fight the menace of extremism and
terrorism, saying no country had suffered from it as much as
Pakistan. "We have lost more than 40,000 innocent lives in addition
to PKR 80 billion in economic terms," he said.
MQM announced to
hold a public referendum on November 8, 2012 to have a consensus
that the people of Pakistan want a secular Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam
or the rule of TTP in the country. MQM Deputy Convener Farooq
Sattar said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had realised
the presence of TTP in Karachi and stated that serious notice
should be taken about their presence and had called for action
against Taliban in Karachi.
He recalled that
MQM chief Altaf Hussain had warned about the Talibanisation
of the metropolis, as well as the country, but unfortunately
political and religious parties, some intellectuals, anchor
persons and journalists refuted his view point and ridiculed
him instead of taking his apprehensions seriously.
The PPP leader
Nabeel Gabol said that without a 1992-like operation clean-up
in Karachi, the upcoming elections would be the bloodiest of
our history, Gabol said that his city was under complete control
of criminal gangs, which were collecting and earning around
PKR 100 million daily through bhatta, dacoity, theft.
Gabol said that
these criminal gangs were in fact militant wings of three leading
political parties but had gone out of control of these political
parties ruling KarachiGabol said that out the total PKR 100
million, PKR 10 million were collected by the People's Amn Committee
(PAC) from Lyari and other parts of the city. He said that Police
had become a part of these criminal gangs and received their
share from the looted money.
As the Supreme
Court has directed the Sindh Government to tackle a growing
influx of TTP in Karachi to bring peace back, the security agencies
have informed the Federal Ministry of Interior about the presence
of at least 25 al Qaeda and TTP-linked militant outfits which
have infiltrated the port city and turned it into a battlefield
between the LEAs and the miscreants.
The 25 key al Qaeda
and TTP-linked militant outfits which have literally taken hostage
the port city of Karachi include five factions of the LeJ -
LeJ-Al Alami, Qari Zafar group, Qari Shakeel group, Akram Lahori
group and Farooq Bengali group. Then there are three factions
of TTP, which are active in Karachi - Commander Waliur Rehman
group (from South Waziristan), Badr Mansoor group (from North
Waziristan) and Mullah Fazlullah group (from Swat). The remaining
Jihadi-cum sectarian groups in Karachi include SSP, SMP, ST,
DeI, HuM, HM-Al Alami, JeM, JuF, HuJI, TNSM, Jundallah, TILM,
LeI, Mehdi Militia, Hezbollah, Kharooj, Tawheed Brigade (TB),
Al Mukhtar Group, Punjabi Mujahideen.
Most of these groups
in Karachi, which has a large Pashtun populace, generate funds
by indulging in kidnappings for ransom, bank robberies, street
crimes and extortion. Another revenue source for them is the
heroine trade, with the drug being exported to foreign countries
via Karachi.
November 5
Five militants were killed and
two other militants injured during a clash with SFs in the Dro
Adda and Charsiyano Chowk areas of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA. The incident also injured two soldiers.
Three members of Wazir tribe
were killed when their vehicle was attacked by unidentified
assailants near Epi area of Mir Ali tehsil in North Waziristan
Agency.
A driver of Frontier Works Organisation
was killed and two of his colleagues were injured when their
vehicle was attacked by assailants on Miranshah-Mir Ali Road.
The deceased was identified as Akram Khan.
Two Levies Force personnel sustained
injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the
office of Assistant Political Agent in Yakaghund area of Mohmand
Agency.
Khyber Agency Political Agent
Mutahir Zeb told a jirga of Bar Qambarkhel elders that no parallel
administration would be tolerated in Bara anymore. Sources said
that tribal elders requested the political agent to extend the
deadline, set for launching a military operation in the area.
The political agent told the tribal elders that he would forward
their request to the authorities but didn’t make any promise
about extension in the deadline.
A senior ANP leader and vice-president
of Charsadda District, Sabiullah Khan was shot dead by unidentified
assailants at Darabo village in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two bullets-riddled dead bodies
were found along Kohat-Bannu Road in Surdag area under Latambar
Police Station of Karak District. Sources said that Police also
found an identity card with the bodies that identified a deceased
as Hashamuddin, a resident of Salaray area in South Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
Three Urdu pamphlets found distributed
in parts of Mansehra District, criticise the TTP and exhort
the Government to launch a military operation in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA. One of the pamphlets, titled “Bachao Pakistan
Tehreek” (Save Pakistan Movement) cites the Holy Koran and
says the Holy Prophet declares suicide bombing "un-Islamic."
The second pamphlet praises the Pakistani Army for its previous
operations in Swat and the tribal areas.
JUI-Fazl chief Fazlur Rehman
addressing a rally in Peshawar cast doubt on the TTP shooting
of child activist Malala Yusufzai, saying he did not believe
she was hit in the head. The pro-Taliban cleric Fazlur dismissed
the medical assessment.
An activist of MQM, identified
as Rasheed (32), was shot dead and his accomplice, Sabir (29),
sustained injuries in an armed attack within the jurisdiction
of Orangi Town Police Station in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
Another activist of MQM, Khalid
(40), was shot dead outside his house within the jurisdiction
of Garden Police Station in Usmanabad area. He worked in a garment
factory.
A man, identified as Irfan Ahmed
(23), was killed within the jurisdiction of Gulbahar Police
Station at Rizvia Chowrangi, Nazimabad. Police said that Irfan
used to work in a factory in SITE area.
SIU of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested at least 11 suspects involved in street crimes
and recovered a heavy cache of weapons, including 11 TT pistols
and four motorcycles from their possession.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Saleem, was killed and two others, Muhammad Arif and Aminullah,
sustained injuries in a hand grenade attack on a jeweller’s
shop at Girls School Road in Nushki District of Balochistan.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The UNSC ordered global sanctions
against the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan and its suicide attack
mastermind Qari Zakir. A press release issued by the US State
Department said that Qari Zakir also held the post of ‘operational
commander’ in Kabul, Takhar, Kunduz, and Baghlan provinces of
Afghanistan. “Zakir is responsible for the Haqqani Network’s
training program, which includes instruction in small arms,
heavy weapons, and basic IED construction.” The UN designation
said that the group was linked to al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan and a string of militant groups in Pakistan including
TTP, LeJ and JeM.
To devise a national strategy
to protect journalists and formulate policies for freedom of
expression in the country, a declaration on “safety of journalists”
was signed at a hotel in Islamabad by different stakeholders,
including members of the UN bodies. The declaration calls for
“collective and coordinated” action by all stakeholders to stop
the killing and harassment of journalists and end impunity for
killers. An implementation strategy, which is under preparation,
will be made part of a “One-UN Operational Plan II”. It will
run from 2013 to 2017.
A US appeals court upheld the
conviction and 86-year prison sentence of Doctor Aafia Siddiqui
(40) for shooting at FBI agents and soldiers after her arrest
in Afghanistan. The second US Circuit Court of Appeals in New
York said a lower court judge had not erred in allowing Siddiqui
to testify in her own defence at trial and in allowing certain
evidence against her. Siddiqui, whose conviction was widely
criticized in Pakistan, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge
Richard Berman in September 2010.
The Supreme Court-appointed
two-member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances,
headed by Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal issued a report according
to which total number of missing persons across Pakistan has
reached 896, and 15 missing persons were traced during October
2012.
A senior ANP leader revealed
that ANP is being threatened by the TTP, and its activists –
especially those from the Mehsud Tribe – are being told to either
pay large amounts of money or quit the party otherwise they
would have to face dire consequences. He revealed that party
workers and the business community were called to the Sohrab
Goth area, where they were told not to take the threat lightly.
While admitting that Sohrab Goth (Karachi, Sindh) was still
a high risk area for the ANP, he said “we cannot surrender to
the TTP as Sohrab Goth is one of our strongholds.”
While addressing a press conference
MQM Rabita Committee Deputy Convener Doctor Farooq Sattar urged
all political parties to set aside differences and device a
national agenda to flush out Talibanisation from the country.
He said Pakistan was facing a number of problems which were
linked to the Taliban. “Pakistan is having both internal and
external threats and terrorists are targeting innocent people,
children and destroying schools and other installations. But
there is still confusion prevailed in the masses about the Talibanisation
and Jinnah’s vision Pakistan.
The Supreme Court granted interim
bail to Opposition Leader in the Balochistan Assembly Sardar
Yar Muhammad Rind in a kidnapping case. There are six other
cases against the accused besides allegedly kidnapping a man
and failing to appear before the Quetta ATC that had awarded
life-imprisonment to Rind, his son Sardar Khan Rind and four
other people on June 28, 2011.
The COAS General Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani warned in a veiled challenge to the Supreme Court, that
any efforts to undermine the military and "draw a wedge"
between it and its citizens would not be tolerated. Supreme
Court Chief Justice Mian Iftikhar Chaudhary ruled in October
that the military must stop interfering in politics, a rare
challenge to Army's powerful generals. "Any effort which
wittingly or unwittingly draws a wedge between the people and
Armed Forces of Pakistan undermines the larger national interest,"
said General Kayani.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad
Chaudhary while speaking to a delegation of the 97th
National Management Course, National School of Public Policy
and National Management College Lahore at the Supreme Court
building emphasised that missiles and tanks never guaranteed
stability and security of a country nor were considered manifestation
of a ‘hard power’.
November 6
At least three more people,
belonging to Bohra community, were killed and three others sustained
injuries when unidentified militants opened fire at a shop on
Risala Road in Hyderabad District of Sindh.
Two men belonging to Shiite
community, identified as Allama Agha Aftab Jaffery (42) and
Mirza Shahid Ali were shot dead in a sectarian attack near Parking
Plaza, Sadder within the precincts of Brigade Police Station
in Karachi. Allama Jaffery was the Deputy Secretary General
of MWM as well as the Chief of the Palestine Foundation of Pakistan.
He was also the leader of JAP.
Two participants of Allama Jaffery’s
funeral procession, identified as Ali Hassan and Qasim Ali,
were killed and five others, including two Rangers personnel,
Muhammad Majnu and Ghulam Rasool, were wounded in firing by
Rangers in Liaquatabad Town.
Two men, Faizullah and Imran,
were killed while another, Farman, was injured when unidentified
assailants opened fire at People’s Stadium Lyari within the
limits of Kalri Police Station.
A man, identified as Zafar (20),
was shot dead in Liaquat Market within the jurisdiction of Saudabad
Police Station.
Another man, identified as Imran
Shah (30), was shot dead near Labour Square, Landhi within the
jurisdiction of Quaidabad Police Station.
A cadre of ST, identified as
Syed Mumtaz (40), was shot dead in a targeted attack at his
cosmetic shop at Al-Madina market near Bahadurabad Chowrangi
within the limits of New Town Police Station.
Three unidentified dead bodies
packed in gunny bags were found from Kareemabad Bridge within
the limits of Gulberg Police Station.
A major terror attack was averted
as BDS defused an IED weighing six kilogrammes was found near
Quaid’s mausoleum situated along New M.A Jinnah Road within
the vicinity of Brigade Police Station.
The MQM extended the date of
its ‘Public Referendum’ from November 8 to November 14,
2012 in view of the International Defence Exhibition,
being held in Karachi. DG Rangers, Sindh, Major General Rizwan
Akhter contacted Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad and requested
to reconsider the date of the referendum because of the current
situation and the defence exhibition.
In an incident of target killing
three people belonging to Shia Hazara community were killed
and two others injured when unidentified militants opened fire
at a yellow cab on Spiny Road area in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan.
Unidentified militants abducted
three persons on gunpoint from Bagh area of Kachhi in Bolan
District.
The militants of Mullah Nabi
Hanfi group stormed the house of Gul Marjan in the Sarakdan
area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and killed a relative
of Marjan, identified as Abdul Ghafoor, and injured five others,
including a woman and children. The group allegedly attacked
Marjan’s house for supporting TTP affiliated Mullah Toofan faction.
Unidentified persons detonated
explosives weighing around two kilogrammes near a gas pipeline
in Jabba Suhail area of Yakatut in Peshawar. However, no damage
to the pipeline or human life was reported.
Yakatut Police recovered 30
hand grenades, four mortar shells, two artillery shells, 53
fuses and 53 empty cases of gun during a raid on a scrape warehouse
near Hazarkhwani area along Ring Road.
Police arrested two tribesmen,
resident of Bara in Khyber Agency of FATA, during a raid on
a bomb factory at Wadpagga, a village near Peshawar, for allegedly
making bombs and supplying them to militants. 65 kilogrammes
of explosive material, 100 kilogrammes of artillery shells and
200 kilogrammes of other shells and material used in bomb making
were recovered from their possession.
At least 10 retailers were arrested
and more than 737 SIMs were seized in a Police crackdown in
Rawalpindi District of Punjab. The Punjab Home Department on
October 24, 2012 ordered action against illegal sale of SIMs,
saying they could be used in terror activities.
Expressing concern over the
prolonged military operation and curfew in their area, the IDPs
of Bara in Khyber Agency of FATA have decided to meet leaders
of different political parties to devise a plan for resolving
the issue through negotiations. Addressing a press conference
in Peshawar, Tehreek-e-Mutasireen Bara chairman Suhbat Khan
Afridi said that IDPs were unable to live in camps and with
relatives any longer. He appealed to the Government to end operation
and lift curfew in the area. Afridi said that Government should
take effective steps for winding up the operation, restoration
of peace and revival of business activities by announcing a
comprehensive financial package for the IDPs.
The KP Government released PKR
50 million (USD 519,000) to compensate victims of terrorism-related
incidents in the Province, a Home and Tribal Affairs Department
statement said. The amount will be distributed among the victims
of bomb blasts or their families and has been placed at the
disposal of the Peshawar Division Commissioner for timely disbursement
after completing legal procedures, the statement added.
The PHC allowed more time to
the local Police for tracing the culprits involved in dumping
of dead bodies stuffed in gunnysacks in different areas with
the direction to locate detention centres illegally maintained
by the secret agencies within the city and its surroundings.
DIG of Police (investigation), Idrees Khan informed the bench
that the family members of only 26 of the deceased persons had
in their statements suspected involvement of secret agencies
in the disappearance and killing of their relatives.
The bench disposed a writ petition
regarding posting of platoons of Frontier Constabulary outside
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the Federal Government declared that
it would fulfil the need of the Provincial Government by withdrawing
some platoons in other areas and raising 126 new platoons (each
having 43 personnel) under the Malakand Package and Prime Minister’s
directives.
Pakistan is already cracking
down on the Haqqani network and does not need to impose extra
measures following the group's addition to the UN's blacklist,
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said. "The three
elements of the ban -- arms embargo, asset freeze and travel
ban -- are all already in place in Pakistan," the Information
Minister said. "Which banned militant can openly travel
in Pakistan? We have also checked on financing and other transfers.
There is no problem," Kaira added.
During the opening day of the
new session of the Senate both the ANP and the MQM agreed that
TTP have penetrated Karachi (Sindh) but the ANP said they can’t
be blamed for all the evils while the MQM insisted they should
be. ANP Senator Shahi Syed said that people belonging to all
political parties and sects were being killed in Karachi. “The
name of Taliban is being used by the hired killers. Extortion
is being collected in the name of Taliban,” the ANP senator
said. He expressed fears that the Pakhtun could be targeted
in the city in the name of operation against Taliban.
Parliament and not the apex
court is the supreme institution of the country since it represents
the will of the people, said the Federal Information Minister
Qamar Zaman Kaira. “There is no doubt that the Supreme Court
is the apex court in the country, but when we talk about supreme
institution, Parliament is the supreme institution as per the
Constitution,” Qamar Zaman said.
Referring to Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhury and Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s
earlier statements Information Minister Kaira said that there
was nothing in the statements of both “against each other”.
General Kayani had said that for the wrongs of individuals whole
institutions should not be maligned. Analysts believe Gen Kayani
was referring to the Asghar Khan case where the apex court ruled
that two former generals had funded politicians to manipulate
the results of 1990 elections.
November 7
Three Shia men, identified as
Faraz Haider, Qasim Ali and Waseem Ali were killed in a sectarian
attack in Liaqutabad area of Karachi in Sindh. Later, arson
attacks paralysed the routine life in many parts of the city
as four more vehicles and a pushcart were set ablaze North Nazimabad
area.
A man belonging to Shiite community,
identified as Shaban Ali (40), was shot dead at Haroonabad,
Baldia area within the precincts of SITE B Police Station.
In another act of sectarian
violence, one Sajjad Hussain Rizvi was killed while Jawwad Hussain
Rizvi received injuries when unidentified militants opened fire
on them at KDA Chowrangi, North Nazimabad within the vicinity
of North Nazimabad Police Station.
A doctor, identified as Muhammad
Irshad (36), was killed inside his clinic at Orangi Town within
the limits of Orangi Police station.
A member of the BAC, identified
as Abul Hassan (30), was killed and two others, Pir Jan and
Qasim, were wounded in a targeted attack in Sector 51-B within
Surjani Police remit.
Two alleged gangsters, identified
as Asif Baloch and Talib Baloch, were shot dead in a targeted
attack in Sammu Goth within Memon Goth Police Remit. Station
House Officer (SHO) Rao Khalid said that the victims belonged
to Lyari gangster group.
Two dead bodies of activists
belonging to PPP, identified as that of Raza (23) and Jehangir
(24), were found from Nishan-e-Haider Chowk in Orangi Town within
the jurisdiction of Pakistan Bazaar Police Station.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
MQM, identified as that of Sohail Kareem (30) activist was recovered
from Altaf Nagar within Manghopir Police Station.
Another unidentified dead body
of a man was found near Crown Cinema within the limits of Kalri
Police Station.
The Police arrested three suspected
persons and recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition,
including 19 Sub Machine Guns, 21 different types of rifles,
two TT pistols, two 9 MM rifles, one hand grenade, a rocket
and over one thousand bullets from their possession.
DIG of Police East, Shahid Hayat,
in a press briefing, said that the illegal arms were seized
after the law enforcers caught a bus that was smuggling the
items. The Police had received a tip that arms were being smuggled
from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to the city to be used during the Ashura
procession in Muharram and the upcoming elections. The bus driver,
Muhammad Fayyaz, and cleaner Dost Muhammad were taken into custody.
Based on the information provided by the suspects, the Police
also arrested a clearing and forwarding agent named Shamsher
Khan.
SIU arrested two extortionists
after a brief encounter that took place in the Saeedabad Police
jurisdiction and claimed to have recovered two TT pistols from
their possession. They both confessed that they masterminded
extortion cases and collected the money for the TTP.
Six persons, including SP, Investigation,
Hilal Haider and four other Policemen, were killed in a suicide
attack in Qissa Khawani Bazaar of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a tribal elder, identified as Malik Asim Khan from Mohmand
Agency of FATA at the Zargarabad area of Peshawar.
An official of South Waziristan
political administration went missing in Tank District. Family
sources said that Alla Bagh, the stenographer of South Waziristan
political agent, had not returned home in Gul Imam Village.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Four militants, two each of
Afghan Taliban and TTP militants were killed when outfits clashed
in Andar District of Ghazni Province.
A security official, identified
as Khial Bacha, was killed and 14 persons, including three security
personnel and two children, received injuries in an IED explosion
at Ajab Khan Chowk in Sadda Bazaar of Kurram Agency in FATA.
A woman was killed and a man
received injuries when NATO forces fired 17 mortar shells from
Paktia Province of Afghanistan at Wacha Bibi area of Dattakhel
tehsil North Waziristan Agency.
In another incident of mortar
shelling, the NATO forces fired two mortar shells from Khost
Province of Afghanistan that landed in Ghulam Khan Town of North
Waziristan Agency. However, no casualty was reported in the
incident.
Militants blew up a Government
primary school in Tora Garai area of Pandilai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency. No casualties were reported.
Elsewhere in the Agency, unidentified
militants blew up another Government primary school in Shah
Baig Yaseen Kore area of Haleemzai tehsil. About 111
educational institutions have been destroyed by suspected militants
in Mohmand Agency.
SFs arrested two suspected militants,
identified as Haji Wajid Khan and Niaz Amin during a search
operation and demolished three hideouts, Pakka Tarrha, Hakim
Shah and Spin Dhand, of a militant outfit, Amr-bil-Maroof-Wa-Nahi-Anil-Munkir,
in Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
An indefinite curfew was also imposed in the area, compelling
the residents to remain inside their homes.
The supply of fuel to NATO troops
through the Torkham border post, which lies in the Khyber Agency
of FATA after one year when two oil tankers crossed into Afghanistan
amid tight security. The fuel supply remained suspended despite
resumption of overall supplies in July 2012 after the US apologised
to the Government over the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers
in a NATO air strike on the Salala checkpost in Mohmand Agency
on November 26, 2011.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor
Masood Kausar said no timeframe could be fixed for withdrawal
of combat troops from FATA to peacetime position. “I can’t say
anything about the timeframe to withdraw SFs from the fighting
positions to peacetime positions as long as peace is not achieved
in Afghanistan,” he told reporters at the conclusion of his
two-day visit to Kurram Agency. “I cannot give any date for
the pull out of troops as well as return of the internally displaced
persons to Fata,” he said.
While referring to Pakistan’s
important role for peace in Afghanistan, US Ambassador to Pakistan
Richard G Olson said, Pakistan and US have strong relations
despite the ups and downs over the years. In an informal chat
with the participants at the residence of the Deputy Chief of
Mission for the US presidential election results watch, the
newly inducted ambassador said Pakistan’s role in Afghan peace
process was vital and the country had rendered sacrifices more
than any other country during its efforts against war on terrorism.
The US officials have confirmed
that notorious Mullah Fazlullah, a commander of TTP, is hiding
in Afghanistan. Fazlullah was reportedly behind the attack on
teenage child rights activist Malala Yusufzai. Citing unnamed
US officials, the Washington Post report stated that
the TTP leader has escaped retribution by hiding in a section
of eastern Afghanistan where the US forces are present but focused
on other targets. “Finding Fazlullah is not a priority because
he is not affiliated with al Qaeda or with insurgents targeting
US and Afghan interests”, the officials said as per the report.
November 8
At least three Rangers personnel
were killed and 14 others injured in a suicide attack outside
the Sachal Rangers Headquarters in North Nazimabad Block B area
of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Mullah Fazlullah
faction of TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. The spokesman
for TTP-Maullah Fazlullah faction Sirajuddin Ahmad, speaking
over telephone, said the attack was “revenge for the arrest,
torture and killing of our people” by SF in the region.
Two men belonging to Shiite
sect were shot dead at Orangi Town within the precincts of Pirabad
Police Station.
A man, identified as Badsha
(37), was shot dead at Rasheedabad, Baldia Town within the limits
of SITE B Police Station.
One Wajiullah was shot dead
in Khairabad within the jurisdiction of Manghopir Police Station.
Another man, identified as Tahir
(43), was shot dead in Khuda Ki Basti within the limits of Surjani
Police Station.
A Policeman, identified as Muhammad
Nazeer (49), was shot dead near Al-Asif Square within the limits
of Sohrab Goth Police Station.
Police arrested two alleged
extortionist, identified as Mazhar and Faizan, from Defence
area while they were going to receive extortion money and recovered
two TT pistols, a letter demanding extortion money and a bullet
from their possession. The accused had to receive PKR 0.5 million
from a businessman in Defence. In the letter, the accused pretended
as the TTP militants.
A man, identified as Daud Khan,
was shot dead by unidentified militants on Munir Mengal Road
in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead one Habibullah near Sabzi Mandi in Kharan town of Kharan
District.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
announced that November 10, 2012, will be celebrated as Malala
day world over. Secretary General said that Malala is an inspiration
for girls’ education the world over.
Submitting a review petition
against the Supreme Court’s October 12, 2012 order in the Balochistan
target killing case, the Federal Government stated, it appears
that while passing the impugned order, the court was persuaded
and inclined to revive the essence, letter and spirit of the
17th Amendment regarding the controversial powers of Article
58(2)(b), once available to the President of Pakistan.
In the review petition, the
Federal Government pointed out it is not the function of the
superior courts of the country to gauge performance of a political
Government, and the judges of the superior courts by virtue
of their oath are under a constitutional obligation not to enter
into political questions even if such questions involve questions
of law.
As the Federal Government is
yet to make final decision about the future of 1.6 million registered
Afghans living in the country, the UNHCR said that under the
international law, the UN will recognise them all as refugees
beyond December 31, 2012. “The Pakistani Government must decide
what status it offers to 1.6 million Afghan refugees from January
1, 2013 onward, but under the international law, the UN will
recognise them as refugees,” UNHCR country head Neill Wright
said.
The PHC had ordered not to extend
stay of registered refugees, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
had asked both documented Afghans to make preparations for returning
to their country before the expiry of the cards. Undocumented
Afghans had already been ordered to leave province as soon as
possible. The minister said the government would respect the
court’s verdict about Afghan refugees but had also to follow
international commitments.
In its detailed verdict in the
Asghar Khan case issued, the Supreme Court held that unlawful
orders by superior military officers or their failure to prevent
unlawful actions by their subordinates were culpable. Although
the judgment dwelt at length on the role of the President, it
did not specifically point finger at President Asif Ali Zardari.
It rejected a perception that the President could have issued
an order to then Army Chief General Aslam Beg or ISI Director
General Lieutenant-General (retired) Asad Durrani to dole out
funds among politicians to prevent the PPP from winning the
elections in 1990.
The President, the verdict said,
did not have any operational authority with respect to the armed
forces even after the Eight Amendment. Similarly, the President
has no authority to create an election cell or to manage in
any manner or by giving directions to the armed forces or to
civilians to make efforts to achieve desired results. “If any
such illegal order is transmitted, the same is not worthy to
be obeyed.”
The US Ambassador to Pakistan,
Richard Olson said on November 8 that the decision to conduct
an operation in NWA was Pakistan’s internal matter. During the
interview, Olson said if the US received actionable evidence,
action would be taken against Maulana Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
“We share the concern of the government of Pakistan. The country
has made more sacrifices in the war against extremism that any
other country,” Olson said.
The Government has devised a
strategy to stop drone strikes, as they were counterproductive
in combating terrorism, Defence Minister Naveed Qamar informed
the Upper House of National Assembly. The Senate also took up
the unfinished agenda on law and order in various parts of the
country. In a written reply to a question raised by Senator
Hafiz Hamidullah, Qamar said that the Government could not give
the exact time frame about the termination of the strikes as
they were being made without the consent of the Government.
“Government of Pakistan and leadership of armed forces have
repeatedly raised the drone issue and need for their immediate
cessation with the US and its military authorities,” Qamar said,
adding that the Government had said that continuation of these
strikes in Pakistan led to negative public opinion, being unacceptable
to the people.
Foreign Office spokesperson
Moazzam Ali Khan, speaking to reporters in his weekly briefing
said, Pakistan hoped that the Afghanistan Government, as well
as the ISAF, will take action against TTP ‘commander’ Mullah
Fazlullah, who is currently hiding in Afghanistan. “We have
shared dossiers on Fazlullah both with the Afghan government
as well as ISAF. We are intensively engaging both sides to take
care of this issue. There are some responses and we are closely
working on that,” he added, confirming that Pakistan had requested
authorities in Afghanistan to take action against the militant.
QWP Chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan
Sherpao during a press conference blamed the ruling parties
for the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi and
that both ANP and MQM, along with PPP were exploiting people
for their ulterior motives by using the name of Taliban and
hiding their weaknesses and mysterious activities. He said
that ultimate sufferers would be Pakhtuns if an operation was
launched in Karachi or in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas.
He said that law and order problem was created for political
motives and it should be resolved on political basis.
November 9
Six militants and one soldier
were killed while 13 militants and one soldier was injured during
a clash at the Toi Khula fort area in Wana, headquarters of
South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
An organisation, ‘Mujahideen-e-Waziristan’
distributed pamphlets in Wana, warning Wazir tribes against
joining the Levies force. The pamphlets said the Levies force
is being trained with the help of US forces “which is not acceptable”.
In the first incident, a man,
identified as Anwar Hussain (40), was shot dead in Kehkashan
Society within the limits of Sachal Police Station in Karachi.
Police sources said that the deceased had a criminal record.
A man, identified as Niaz Khan
(32), was shot dead in Machhar Colony within the precincts of
Docks Police Station.
A watchman, identified as Shah
Nazir (32), was killed near Rabbani Mosque in New Muzafarabad
Colony within the limits of Quaidabad Police Station.
Several activists, protesting
against the killings of Shias organised by political party Pasban,
clashed with the Police at Numaish Chowrangi. The rally had
planned to reach the Governor House to present a resolution,
but was stopped at Numaish Chowrangi. The Police refused to
let the rally move forward stating that the Governor House lies
in the red zone where protests are not allowed.
A Hazara Shia, identified as
Ghulam Raza, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in a sectarian targeted killing on Arbab Karam Khan Road in
Quetta. No group had claimed responsibility for the killing.
At least 12 persons, including
a MNA, Mir Ahmadan Bugti and his son Shaukat Khan, were injured
in a remote-controlled bomb blast near a mosque in Dera Bugti
District. BRA claimed responsibility for the attack.
Three Police constables were
injured when unidentified militants opened fire at a Police
van in the limits of Badaber Police Station of Peshawar.
Police foiled a terrorist attempt
and neutralised a bomb planted near the bridge of the Kabul
River on Nowshehra-Mardan Road in Nowshehra. Officials said
the bomb weighing five kilogrammes was planted in a ghee canister
around 150 feet away from the toll Plaza of Mardan-Nowshera
Bridge on the Kabul River.
The LEAs in Punjab have been
put on ‘high alert’ following intelligence reports that terrorists
may strike during the Muharram days. It looks a serious threat
as the Home Department of Punjab has directed Regional Police
Chiefs to book the suspect terrorists on their watch lists under
Anti-Terrorism Act, if they are not found at their listed home
addresses. Police sources said the intelligence was that TTP
and al Qaeda might be planning to target luxury hotels where
foreigners have been staying or visiting and to release “poison
into water tanks”. And there is always the possibility that
they try to kidnap serving or retired government officers and
target sensitive installations.
During a public meeting in Nowshera
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PPP Provincial President Anwar
Saifullah Khan said that the military operation against militants
in tribal areas would be the last option for the Government.
“We will have to create harmony and peace in the region as Pakhtuns
are one nation whether they live in Afghanistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
or tribal areas. We can resolve our problems through dialogue,”
he said.
While addressing the oath administering
ceremony of FATA Lawyers Forum at the Governor’s House in Peshawar,
the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar said that sustained
efforts for the promotion and strengthening of the ongoing process
of reforms in FATA were needed for better outcome and it is
encouraging that the response of the people of the area is highly
positive in this respect.
The DCO Zakir Hussain Syed of
Kohat called upon a jirga of Shia and Sunni sects to
try to ensure peace and tranquility during Muharram. He said
peace was necessary during Muharram because the events during
the month had a huge impact on the relationship between both
the Shia and Sunni sects over the next year up to Orakzai and
Kurram Agencies of the Kohat Division.
The Kohat and Hangu Districts
have been declared as most sensitive. The Hangu District has
already been given under the control of Army to maintain peace
during Muharram. In both the Districts, section 144 would be
applied strictly and no Afghan refugee would be allowed to enter
the city until the first ten days of Muharram.
While talking to media at the
inaugural session of Civic Centre in Gwadar District of Balochistan,
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said that there is no clash
between State institutions and each one was working within its
own parameters. He said that all the State institutions were
working with the sole objective of serving the nation and building
a strong Pakistan.
During a TV show aired on Geo
News, the former ISI Chief, Asad Durrani while speaking
in reference to the Asghar Khan case in which the Supreme Court
had ruled that the 1990 elections were rigged and action should
be taken against him and the then COAS General (Retired) Aslam
Beg for bankrolling politicians against PPP said that PKR 140
million were collected for politicians, out of which PKR 70
million were distributed while the rest went into the ISI’s
fund.
November 10
At least six students from the
Deoband school of thought were killed and 14 others were injured
while they were sitting in a tea shop in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area of Karachi in Sindh.
A cadre belonging to ASWJ was
shot dead in North Nazimabad. According to Police, Irfan was
on his way when two armed bikers shot him and escaped, killing
him on the spot.
Two men, including the owner
of a weekly magazine, were shot dead in North Nazimabad.
A man was killed in Shadman
when armed men on a motorbike shot at him and escaped while
he was on his way back home.
An unidentified man was also
shot dead in Malir. Police said unidentified men fired at a
passerby as a result of which he died on the spot.
An unidentified motorist was
killed in Sohrab Goth.
A PPP worker was shot dead near
his house in Korangi. Two unidentified men fired at Akhtar Hussain,
active worker of PS-129, and escaped. He received multiple bullet
wounds and died instantly.
Four bullet-riddled bodies were
found from Rexer Line. Police said the men belonged to Lyari
and had been abducted on November 9 after an argument with rival
group members.
A son of a slain intelligence
officer, Omair Abbas, was shot dead and two others injured in
the FC area.
Also, a head constable was shot
dead in Shirin Jinnah Colony.
Three people from the Hazara
community were killed and one injured in an incident of target
killing while they were on their way home from Mezan Chowk in
Quetta.
A man was killed while he was
sitting in a shop on Zarghoon Road.
The MQM postponed its unofficial
nationwide “referendum” asking people whether they want their
country to follow the ideology of the Taliban or the vision
of the Quaid-e-Azam. The MQM wanted the referendum to highlight
people’s sentiments against the Taliban, but has now postponed
it in the wake of Muharram. However, the party did not provide
a future date for the poll.
Intelligence officials informed
an ATC that suspects in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks
case got training at various centres of the LeT, including navigational
training in Karachi. In their statements recorded before ATC
Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman, five inspectors of the CID, who
are prosecution witnesses in the case, informed the court about
the training details and capabilities of suspects Zakiur Rehman
Lakhvi (the alleged mastermind), Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal,
Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas
Anjum.
They said the suspects, who
allegedly participated in the attacks, were trained at the LeT
training camps at Yousaf Goth in Karachi (Sindh), Buttle in
Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mirpur Sakro in Thatta
District of Sindh and Muzaffarabad District of ‘Azad Jammu and
Kashmir’.
India’s Home Minister Sushil
Kumar Shinde said that he had asked his Pakistani counterpart
Rehman Malik to provide New Delhi with the voice samples of
Mumbai terror suspects. “We are hopeful we will get the samples.
They (Pakistan) will consult their legal department and may
come to us with something. We will also consult our legal department,”
he said.
November 11
Three Shias were shot dead and
another was injured by unidentified armed assailants near Islam
Chowk in Orangi Town in Karachi, the capital of Sindh.
A Shia person was shot dead
by unidentified armed assailants within the Soldier Bazaar Police
Station.
Another Shia person, identified
as Mukhtiar Zaidi, was shot dead in Jamshed Quarters Police
Station.
A prayer leader, identified
as Haroon, was killed inside a mosque at Sultanabad in Manghopir
area. Police said that a man from the Mehsud tribe entered Jama
Masjid Taqwa and later shot dead the prayer leader of the mosque.
A man was shot dead outside
his house at Khyber Chowk in Baldia.
A shopkeeper was killed in Banaras
area.
Another unidentified person
was shot dead in Sohrab Goth.
A man was injured during the
violence on November 10 in FC Area succumbed to his injuries
in hospital.
At least four Pakistani civilians,
including two children, were killed when Afghan National Army
troops fired three 122mm mortar shells from K.K. Top at a vehicle
carrying a group of civilians in north of Niz Narai area of
South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Two militants and a Policeman
were killed, during an encounter at Abshar Chowk in the limits
of Patakhel Police Station in Bannu District. Police claimed
to have recovered four Kalashnikovs, four hand grenade, two
pistols, two mobiles, weapons and rounds from the possession
of terrorists.
ANP MNA Khurshid Begum along
with her husband Saeed Shah escaped an attack when unidentified
militants opened fire on their car on the Peshawar-Kohat Road.
Earlier, on May 16, 2012, the couple was attacked in which Saeed
Shah had sustained injuries while Khurshid Begum escaped unhurt.
A person identified as Amjad
Khan, the son of tribal elder Hamad Jan, was killed and two
others, were injured when a bomb blast occurred outside his
house in Dattakhel tehsil of North Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
SFs defused two bombs, planted
along the main road near Amin checkpost in Miranshah.
A man, identified as Manzoor
Ahmed, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants near Gol
Masjid area in Satellite Town of Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan.
A prayer leader was injured
by unidentified militants in Kuchlak area of Quetta.
The Hazara Democratic Party
staged a protest demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club
against the targeted killings of members of their community
and demanded immediate arrest of the militants.
November 12
Sectarian and politically motivated
killings claimed eleven more lives in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. A member of the clergy affiliated with ASWJ
was killed at Disco Bakery, within the precincts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Police Station.
Two persons were shot dead in
Memon Goth.
Another activist of the ASWJ,
identified as Muhammad Irfan, was shot dead in Sector 5B-1 of
North Karachi within the limits of Khawja Ajmair Nagri Police
Station.
An activist of the MQM, identified
as Shamshad (30), was shot dead at Bangla Bazaar within the
jurisdiction of Pakistan Bazaar Police Station.
A doctor was shot dead by unidentified
assailants who barged in his private clinic at Village Road,
Lyari, within the precincts of Kalakot Police Station.
An elderly man was killed in
Sultanabad as he was waiting to welcome his relatives returning
home after performing Hajj.
A suspect, Bacha Khan, was killed
during a raid by LEAs.
Another man was shot dead in
Shahbaz Nagar in the vicinity of Iqbal Market Police Station.
An elderly man was shot dead
in Yusuf Goth, Balida, within the limits of Saeedabad Police
Station.
A passerby, who was injured
in crossfire between two rival groups on November 11 in Sohrab
Goth succumbed to his injuries.
Three persons belonging to the
Hazara community were killed, while two others sustained injuries
in Machh Bazaar of Bolan District in Balochistan.
Police recovered a bullet-riddled
dead body, identified as that of Rodin, from the Turbat area
of Kech District.
An unidentified person was killed
when mortar shells landed on two residences in Sheikhan area
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
A member of Dawezai Peace Committee,
identified as Adam Khan, was killed in a roadside explosion
in Pandiali tehsil of Mohmand Agency. TTP spokesman
Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the blast.
Four children were injured when
a shell landed on a house in Zawa area in Akka Khel area.
An unidentified head constable
was abducted from his residence in Sadiqabad of Hangu District
of Khyber Pakhtunhwa.
SFs arrested four suspects under
collective responsibility clause of FCR and defused an explosive
device, planted on the main Peshawar-Bajaur Road.
Peshawar Police has suffered
the most in terms of losing senior officers in militant attacks
during the last six years making posting in the city the most
dangerous job for Policemen. Not a single Police Officer of
the rank of DIG has been killed in any part of the country except
Peshawar.
November 13
Two people, identified as Mohammed
Basheer and Gul Ahmed, were shot dead at the Aligarh Bazaar
in Orangi Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh SHO
Zulqarnain said that Basheer was the owner of the Sajid Tea
House, while Gul Ahmed was a vegetable vendor who parked his
pushcart in front of the tea stall.
One Shahid was shot dead while
selling sweets at a stall in front of his house in Korangi.
Investigators said this was also a target killing and added
that the victim supported a political party.
In another incident of target
killing, unidentified militants shot dead one Ali Haider outside
his house in Peerabad
One Adil Khursheed was shot
dead near the Qalanderia Hotel in Peerabad. The militants used
9mm pistols in the offence and investigators termed it to be
targeted attack.
An activist of the MQM, Javed
Iqbal, who was injured in an attack on November 12, 2012 near
the Edhi Mortuary Home, succumbed to his injuries.
An Intelligence Officer in the
Excise Police Department, identified as Jamal Raza (35), was
shot dead in a targeted attack while he was on duty near the
Mujahid Colony Ground of Orangi Town in the Mominabad Police
limits.
Two Policemen, Head Constable
Mukhtiar and Constable Altaf, were injured when a Police kiosk
along the Super Highway near Al-Asif Square was attacked with
a homemade bomb.
Two unidentified assailants
opened fire and injured two constables, Nazeer and Asif, near
Rasheedabad Chowk in Khawaja Ajmer Nagri. Both were stationed
at the Manghopir Police Station.
Manghopir Police found at least
nine locally made hand grenades from an empty plot during a
raid in Kanwari Colony area.
The Rangers conducted raids
in nine areas of Karachi, including Bilal Colony, Shamsi Society,
Model Colony, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Awami Colony, Liaquatabad, Punjabi
Club and Post and Telegraph Colony and arrested 23 suspects,
including a target killer, Shamimur Rehman, who belonged to
an extremist outfit. The Rangers also seized a large cache of
arms and ammunition, including 16 weapons of different calibres.
At least two persons, identified
as Sanaullah and Muhammad Rafiq, were killed and 10 others,
including three FC personnel, were injured in a bomb explosion
at Almo Chowk on the Airport Road in Quetta.
At least three soldiers, identified
as hawaldar Zahid, sepoy Aqeel and sepoy Mir Baz, were
injured in a roadside blast in Khurma Tung area of Akkakhel
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Two women and three children
were injured when a mortar shell fell on the house of Sarteeb
Khan in Khawangi area of Akkakhel.
A person, identified as Ziarat
Khan, was killed and another was injured in a blast at a scrap
shop at Thana in Malakand District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Five Districts, Peshawar, Kohat,
Hangu, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have
been declared the most sensitive during Muharram.
In lieu with Afghan High Peace
Council Chief Salahuddin Rabbani’s three-day visit to Pakistan
to re-start the peace process, Islamabad agreed to release several
Taliban leaders detained in the country’s jails. However, the
development hasn’t been made public by either side. It was unclear
if the detainees, who are said to be numbering close to 10,
have been set free or would be released at the conclusion of
Rabbani’s visit. The group, according to a source, does not
include Mullah Baradar — Taliban’s second in command — who was
captured by Pakistani SFs in Karachi in 2010. A Pakistani official,
who had been briefed on the talks said that “significant progress
has already been made”.
During the meeting President
Asif Ali Zardari stressed the need for Afghanistan and Pakistan
to focus on curbing the financing of terrorism, noting that
there exists a clear nexus between the large-scale heroin trade
and terrorism. The President said terrorism was a common threat
for Afghanistan and Pakistan and urged for working together
on both sides for eliminating this scourge and to ensure peace
and stability in the region.
The Haqqani Network, seen as
the most lethal insurgent faction in Afghanistan, would take
part in peace talks with the US but only under the direction
of their Afghan Taliban leaders, a top faction ‘commander’ said
on the condition of anonymity. “However, if the central shura,
headed by Taliban supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, decided
to hold talks with the US, we would welcome it,” the unnamed
‘commander’ told Reuters over telephone from an undisclosed
location.
November 14
At least eight persons, including
a Deobandi and a Shia man, were killed in the unabated wave
of target killings in the provincial capital Karachi. In one
incident, a prayer leader who was a supporter of ASWJ, identified
as Imran (25), was shot dead at Nishtar Road within the precincts
of Jamshed Quarter Police Station.
A Deobandi seminary teacher,
identified as Maulana Samiullah (33), was shot dead in a sectarian
attack while he was going somewhere after offering Asr
prayer at Dhorajee Colony within the precincts of Bahadurabad
Police Station.
In another incident of sectarian
killing, a man affiliated with Tablighi Jama’at, identified
as Aslam (28), was killed while he was returning home after
work in Korangi area within the limits of Korangi Police Station.
A Shia teenage boy, Shaujat
Ali Naqvi (18), was shot dead near the Toori Bangash Police
kiosk at Raja Taveer Colony in Orangi Town in a suspected a
sectarian attack.
An ex-activist of MQM, identified
as Sudheer (30), was shot dead near his house in New Karachi
within the jurisdiction of Bilal Colony Police Station.
A man, identified as Kashif
(25), was shot dead while returning home after closing his shop
in Basheer Chowk area within the precincts of New Karachi Industrial
Area Police Station.
One Ghulam Shabbir (32), was
shot dead in Metroville area within the remit of Manghopir Police
Station.
An unidentified man was shot
dead in Korangi area within the limits of Korangi Police Station.
IG Sind, Fayaz Laghari speaking
at Garden Headquarters said that during the last couple of days
Police and Rangers have conducted successful raids in 68 areas
and arrested 10 cadres of banned outfits. He was hopeful that
the situation will remain under control during Muharam.
Two abductors were arrested
and a victim was recovered during a raid carried out by the
Anti-Violent Crime Cell with the assistance of the Citizens-Police
Liaison Committee (CPLC) in Shah Faisal Colony. CPLC chief Ahmed
Chinoy said one Nabeel-ul-Hasan (21) was abducted from Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area on November 5, 2012 when he was going to pick up his sister
from school.
The Sukkur Police recovered
an abducted person, identified as Abdul Fatah Qazi, and arrested
three alleged abductors, identified as Nadeem Khoso, Nawaz Khoso
and Rustam Shar, after an encounter within the jurisdiction
of Site and Qadirpur Police Stations in Sukkur District. The
Police also recovered two AK-47 assault rifles, two TT pistols
and more than 100 bullets from their possession.
At least five militants were
killed and six were injured during a search operation by SFs
in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Two men and a woman, identified
as Mohammad Wali, Wahdat and wife of Ahmedzai, were injured
in landmine blast in Spina Shaga area of Kurram Agency.
Two persons, identified as Mohammad
and Wali Khan, were injured in a landmine blast near the Afghan
border in Pewar Tangi area of Kurram.
A local Anti-Terrorism Court
convicted a man Mehraban Shah, a resident of Peshawar’s Palosai
area of blowing up an Aziz Khan Public School on Warsak Road
in Mathra area and sentenced him to 14 years rigorous imprisonment.
A person, identified as Haq
Nawab, the son of the spokesman of BRP Sher Mohammad Bugti,
was killed in an armed clash with SFs in the Nushki District
of Balochistan.
A person, identified as Muhammad
Imran, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants at Major
Chowk in Mastung District.
An unidentified dead person
was found in a gunny bag in Zarghoonabad area of Nawa Killi
of Quetta.
Afghan border authorities temporarily
banned the entry of passenger vehicles into Afghanistan, along
the border at Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District to check
cross border movements. Amir Hussain, a Pakistani official,
said that there is no truth in the allegations levelled by Afghan
border officials.
Addressing a news conference
at the Police Club in Lahore Police IG of Punjab Police Haji
Habibur Rehman claimed that five TTP militants allegedly involved
in terrorist activities in Punjab province were arrested in
a joint operation by the CIA Police Multan and Makhdoom Rasheed
Police. They had planned to carry out terrorism activities during
the month of Muharram.
A head teacher, Asim Farooqi
(77) of Farooqi Girls’ High School, caught in a blasphemy row
over a piece of homework allegedly containing derogatory references
to Prophet Muhammad was released after the LHC granted him bail
against a PKR 200,000 surety, his lawyer Jawad Ashraf said.
A teacher, identified as Arfa
Iftikhar, was forced into hiding after a furious mob stormed
the school in Lahore over a piece of homework she had set on
fire. Police are still hunting for her.
The Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) banned the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service
from immediate effect. It must be noted that after this notification,
mobile phone subscribers will not be able to change the networks.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry had directed PTA to take action
against the sale of illegal SIMs.
Deputy Commander of the ISAF
Lieutenant General Nick Carter met with Chief of the General
Staff Pakistan Army General Waheed Arshad in the latest of a
series of engagements aimed to bolster the military-to-military
relationship between and ISAF and Pakistan, as well as collaboration
to bring peace and security to the Afghan-Pakistan region, a
press release from the ISPR said.
Carter and Arshad discussed
their mutually shared goals to promote stability in the region,
including pressuring militant groups and strengthening cross
border cooperation along the Pak-Afghan Border.
In a joint press statement released,
Pakistan, in a bid to support peace and reconciliation process
in Afghanistan and answering requests of the Afghan Government,
HPC, agreed to release a number of high profile Taliban detainees.
The joint statement had broadly said, “In support of peace and
reconciliation process and in response to the requests of the
Afghan Government and HPC, a number of Taliban detainees are
being released”.
November 15
At least seven persons, including
two Policemen, were killed in separate incidents of violence
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Three persons,
identified as Javaid, Pathan, Ashfaq and Nizamuddin were killed
by unidentified armed assailants in Sabzi Mandi within the limits
of PIB Colony Police Station.
Two dead bodies of Policemen,
identified as Mohammad Kamran and Asghar Ali, were found within
Sohrab Goth Police Station at Wilayat Shah Shrine.
A woman, identified as Zulaikha,
was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Sector 14/C
Baldia Town.
An unidentified dead person
was found from Block-H, North Naizmabad.
A person, identified as Abdul
Ahad, a Model High School science teacher, was shot dead by
unidentified armed assailant in Chitkan area of Panjgur District
of Balochistan.
A person identified as Ahmadullah
was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Sara Ghardgi area,
outskirts of Quetta.
A dead body, identified as that
of one Akbar, was found in Uthal area of Lasbela District.
Two Hazara Shias, identified
as Zakir and Ibrahim, were injured when militants opened fire
on them at Western Bypass near Mengalabad area in Quetta.
A soldier was killed and two
others were injured when a mortar shell hit a checkpost at Qambarabad
area in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. The dead
and injured belonged to Mehsud Scouts, Police said.
A Government primary school
for boys was blown up in an IED attack in Nandor village of
Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Elsewhere in the District, a
cellular phone shop was blown up in Imakhel village. However,
no casualty was reported
Security Agencies arrested four
suspected terrorists and recovered 15 suicide jackets, 800 kilograms
of explosives, 21 hand grenades, five MP rifles, two Kalashnikov
rifles, 15 remote-controlled devices and a huge quantity of
bullets during a raid in Wazirabad city of Gujranwala District
of Punjab.
The Afghan Government welcomed
Pakistan’s agreement to release several Taliban prisoners. “We
welcome this move as a positive step toward Afghanistan’s peace
process,” Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said. However,
the Taliban official dismissed the deal as “just a symbolic
gesture to show the world that something happened in this meeting”.
The officials from both countries
said that Pakistan will consider freeing former Afghan Taliban
second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, if current releases
of lower level members help to advance peace efforts.
November 16
Two FC personnel were killed
in an explosion near the FC headquarters in Zhob District of
Balochistan. According to details, the FC personnel had arrested
two suspects from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on the night
of November 15, 2012 and were taking them to the headquarters
for interrogation when the blast occurred. The explosives were
reportedly inside the belongings of the suspects. However, there
was no information on the suspects being killed or injured.
A Hazara Shia, identified as
Jalil, was killed in a sectarian attack on Kirani road in Quetta.
A Hazara Shia was injured in
a target attack in Hazargangi area of Quetta while he was going
home from the vegetable market.
The Government banned pillion
riding in the provincial capital for two months. According to
reports, a ban has also been imposed on using vehicles with
tinted glasses and carrying firearms. The announcement came
as the city witnessed a day of ban on motorcycle riding and
suspension of cellular services.
A Pakistan Army soldier, identified
as Abdul Qayyum Baloch (26) was shot dead and two others, identified
as Shahzaib Baloch(19) and Mohammad Asif Baloch (20), were injured
when some unidentified assailants opened fire on them at a roadside
restaurant near the Fountain intersection within the remit of
the Garden Police Station in the provincial capital Karachi.
A person, identified as Shahzado
Mahesar (25), who went missing on November 15, 2012, was found
dead in New Anaj Mandi in Larkana District.
An activist of the MQM, identified
as Qadir Khan (35), was injured by unidentified assailants at
Islamia Colony in Karachi. It was reported that he was formerly
the spokesperson of the ANP Sindh Chapter.
Four persons, identified as
Naimatullah, Waseem Memon, Hassan Shaikh and Shams Shujrah were
abducted from Pano Aqil Taluka of Sukkur District.
Khairpur SSP Irfan Mukhtiar
Bhutto said that 34 areas of the District had been declared
as sensitive during the month of Muharram. He said that more
than 1,000 commandos had been deployed outside mosques and seminaries
across the district and close-circuit cameras had been installed
at some sensitive spots in the city in order to monitor the
proceedings of the majalis and processions.
100 CCTV cameras are going to
be installed in more than 25 locations from Teen Hatti Chowk
to Kharadar for monitoring Muharram processions. Sources said
that the Home Department of Sindh issued these directives to
Police and funds worth PKR 50 million were issued for purchase
and installation of these cameras.
A special meeting of the Sindh
Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah decided to scrutinise
arms licences and have them computerised, while PKR10 million
had been given for the protection of witnesses. All arms licences
would be scrutinised and computerised after Ashura,” announced
the Information Minister Sharjeel Memon.
The Sindh Advocate General Abdul
Fatah Malik told the Sindh High Court (SHC) that 99% of motorcycles
that are running in the metropolis are unregistered. The court
was hearing a petition filed against the ban on motorcycles
in Karachi. Malik told SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam that the
ban on motorbikes was put in place to prevent any possible terror
bid on the first day of Muharram.
A Police ASI, identified as
Mohammad Riaz, was killed and four other persons, including
constable Rizwan Mustafa, were injured during an exchange of
fire with two armed militants during patrolling at G-9 Markaz
in Islamabad (Punjab). According to details, the ASI
and the Constable while patrolling spotted a black Toyota Corolla
with two persons sitting inside. As the ASI tried to arrest
the suspects in the car, one of them shot him. In retaliation,
the constable also opened fire. During the exchange of fire,
the constable along with three passersby sustained bullet injuries.
One of the suspects caught was
later handed over to the Police and identified as Iftikhar Hussain,
a native of Parachinar in Kurram Agency of FATA. Interior Minister
Rehman Malik said that the suspects were terrorists and assisted
the militants in carrying out terror attacks. Besides, they
also provided financial assistance to militants, he added.
The Punjab Police claimed to
have foiled a large-scale terror bid during Muharramul Haram,
arresting two militants of Hakimullah Mehsud group of TTP, identified
as Shafiq and his son Abdul Rehman, from Gujrat District of
Punjab. IG of Police Punjab Haji Habibur Rehman said that a
huge quantity of arms, ammunition and explosive material. “The
group has gathered arms, ammunition and explosive material in
Gujrat, to carry out massive terrorist attacks in the area and
other parts of Punjab during Muharram,” the IG Police said.
A soldier was injured when militants
opened fire on a FCB checkpost in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency of FATA.
SFs defused two of the three
IEDs planted along the Frontier Road near Aziz Market in Bara.
An official of rural Police said two of the bombs were successfully
defused, while one of the IED was detonated by the suspected
militants with remote control.
Police of Dera Ismail Khan and
Tank Districts decided to ban pillion riding during Muharram
as part of security plan. They also announced to restrict the
entry of Sunni and Shia ulema to the Districts on Muharram
9 and 10.
Pakistani authorities released
Anwarul Haq Mujahid, a Taliban leader and the eldest son of
late Afghan resistance leader Maulvi Yunus Khalis, following
negotiations with an Afghan peace delegation on November 15,
2012, said his family. Pakistani security officials on November
14 said authorities released at least seven Afghan Taliban leaders.
It is not clear if Mujahid was among that group. But he is the
first Taliban prisoner recently released by the Pakistani authorities
to be identified by name.
Taliban sources said that the
Taliban are supporting dialogue among various Afghan groups
for peace and stability in Afghanistan. Amid efforts to convince
Taliban for peace talks in Afghanistan, a Taliban Shura member
on condition of anonymity told that every Afghan-to-Afghan effort
is respected. “Kabul regime’s existence depends on presence
of foreign troops. Once the foreign troops withdraw, the regime
would automatically collapse,” they said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid was approached to ask about the policy of Taliban after
the visit of HPC Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani to Pakistan, his
demand of releasing detainees in Pakistan, and Islamabad’s positive
response in support of the reconciliation. He did not reply
to the question directly but sent a statement saying the Afghans
who were in Pakistani jails had never harmed Pakistan or Pakistanis
and their release was their right.
DC Aamir Ali Ahmed imposed Section
144 in the Federal Capital with the beginning of Muharramul
Haram. According to sources in the District Administration,
with the imposition of Section 144 in the city, wall chalking,
display of arms and unnecessary use of loudspeaker have been
banned, while delivering provoking speeches and distribution
of hateful literature would not be allowed in the premises of
the Federal Capital.
Issuing a circular, the PEMRA
urged electronic media to observe the sanctity of Muharram and
warned against promoting sectarianism and hatred.
Punjab Police recommended a
ban on entry of as many as 929 clerics into the province to
avoid sectarian tension during Muharram, whereas 439 other religious
scholars have been barred from making public speeches.
Sources in the Home Department
revealed that traders, industrialists, businessmen and other
wealthy people in major cities of Rawalpindi and Lahore Districts
are worried about the alarming increase in activities of extortion
by terror groups. A Home Department report sent to all the Divisional
and City Police chiefs in the province also identified the terror
groups and their modus operandi to extort money from wealthy
people, especially those who had migrated to the urban centres
of the Punjab from the tribal areas.
The report painted the situation
in Rawalpindi grimmer, as about 100 people in the garrison city
were forced to pay extortion varying from PKR 2 million to PKR
7 million to the terror groups in the recent past. Supporters
of Taliban or the extortion mafia groups lived in Sadiqabad
and Pirwadhai areas of Rawalpindi District. Another group identified
in the report as “Tiger” was also reported to have been involved
in extorting money. The Tiger group consisted of 50 to 60 gangsters
with criminal history, said the report.
During the session of Lower
House of Parliament the Interior Minister Rahman Malik deplored
no practical work had been done by Parliament to make stringent
and effective anti-terror laws. Various measures and laws proposed
to deal with the menace have never been taken care of, Malik
complained, and said that Law Enforcing Agencies apprehend terrorists,
but they are later released because of loopholes in the laws
to deal with such criminal elements.
“If the ban was imposed on motorcycle
riding and mobile in Karachi and Quetta, it was in accordance
with constitution to prevent any untoward incident,” Malik said
in defence of his decision. He said there were very solid intelligence
reports that motorcycles could be used for detonating bombs
on the first day of Muharram and substantiated his claim by
saying that 438 bombs were denoted during the current year through
motorcycles in various parts of the country.
In a letter sent to the Gilgit
Baltistan Government the NCMC of Federal Ministry of Interior
stated that TTP has dispatched 28 terrorists to Waziristan to
get training and procure arms and ammunition to carry out the
attacks during the Muharram processions. Deputy IG of Police
Ali Sher said he is aware of the possibility of terrorist attacks
and assured that all necessary security measures have been taken
to maintain peace in Gilgit Baltistan.
PTI chief Imran Khan, addressing
a rally at Mirpur District in ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ of PoK
said that a resolution of Kashmir dispute would be his party’s
top agenda.
November 17
Two rockets fired from unknown
destination landed and exploded in open area near Killi Khali
on the outskirts of Quetta. No loss of life was reported. During
preliminary investigation, the Police said that the rockets
were fired from mountains of Akhtarabad, an area lying on Eastern
Bypass of Quetta.
The AEC of the CID on arrested
an alleged target killer, identified as Asghar Ali alias
Asghar Wali, involved in the killings of several people, including
MQM workers, after a raid in the Shershah area of Karachi. SSP
Mohammad Aslam Khan said that acting on a tip-off, a Police
team of the AEC raided the Shershah area and after a brief encounter
arrested Asghar Ali, while his two associates managed to flee
under the cover of fire. During the initial interrogation, Ali
confessed that he was trained in Panjgur District of Balochistan,
at the hideout of a banned outfit.
Rangers launched a targeted
operation in Liaquatabad on the information that criminals were
present in the area and arrested two suspects. The suspects
were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
The TNFJ while issuing a code
of conduct for Muharram at a press conference organised at the
Karachi Press Club demanded the deployment of the army in the
city to prevent terrorist attacks during Muharram.
Four suicide bombers are ready
to carry out attacks at Muharram processions in Karachi, an
arrested TTP militant, Akhtar Mehsud, told intelligence officials
during interrogation. During interrogation, the suspect warned
of attacks during the first 10 days of Muharram, claiming that
four suicide bombers are already present in Karachi. Rickshaws
and motorcycles are expected to be used to launch attacks, especially
between Muharram 8 and Muharram 10.
Akhtar Mehsud, was arrested
in a raid in Kunwari Colony of Manghopir on November 14, 2012.
A few accomplices of the suspect were also arrested later. Mehsud
was allegedly involved in attacks on SF in the tribal areas.
CID Functional Crime Unit head
Raja Umar Khitab said that members of banned organisations are
involved in incidents of bank robberies and other crimes in
Karachi, more than the Taliban. SSP Khitab said there was no
proof of Taliban’s presence in the Old City area or Lyari; however,
reports have been received regarding the presence of LeJ.
On the issue of rising extortion
cases, the SSP explained that summoning information regarding
extortionists’ hideouts takes up to one week and till that time,
the suspects have already shifted to another place. Members
of banned organisations team up with Lyari gang war suspects
and distribute chits among businessmen and traders.
Security has been put on high
alert and additional Police personnel have been deployed at
all main entry and exit points of the Federal Capital. Islamabad
Police IG General Bani Amin Khan said that Police’s first and
foremost priority was to provide foolproof security to imambargahs
and mosques during Muharram.
Personnel at Police checkpoints
have been directed to search each and every vehicle, including
those of Government officials, law enforcers, armed forces,
Ministers and MNA.
November 18
At least two Soldiers were killed
and seven others were injuries in an IED blast on military convoy
on the Mir Ali Bypass Road in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan disowned their involvement in
an IED blast. “We have learnt that someone claiming to be Ahmadullah
Marwat and spokesman for Jundullah has claimed responsibility
for the attack on army vehicle in Mir Ali.
Three persons, identified as
Jehanzeb, Shenay and Saifur Rehman were killed in a roadside
bomb blast in Shinkamar area of Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency.
Two Paramilitary Personnel identified
as Sobidar Jan Afzal and Hanif Khan were abducted by unidentified
militants in Shah Kas area of Jamrud tehsil of Khyber
Agency
At least three persons, identified
as Azhar Ali, Irfan Lai and Anwer, were killed and 12 others
were injured when a five-kilogramme IED planted on a motorbike,
exploded near an Imambargah Mustafa in Abbas Town, within
the Mobina Town Police Station in Karachi.
Karachi Additional IG, Iqbal
Mehmood, warned of more possible terrorist activities in the
city while law enforcement agencies had already been put on
high alert to avoid any untoward incident. Sindh Health Minster
Doctor Sagheer declared emergency in all hospitals.
One person was shot dead in
Hub Chowki, while another was killed in the Manghopir area in
Karachi.
Police arrested target killer
identified as Asghar Ali from Sher Shah and seized a TT pistol
and a hand grenade. Nineteen other suspects were arrested from
different parts of the city.
At least two persons, identified
as security guard, Naik Mohammad and another person, whose name
couldn’t be known, were injured in a mortar shell attack in
Peshawar. The official said that a mortar shell fired from an
unknown location landed inside the office of a foreign organisation
in University Town.
The militants attacked the Riaz
Shaheed Checkpost in Sarband in Peshawar. It was learnt the
militants fled after the cops manning the checkpoint returned
the fire. No casualty was reported.
A Journalist, identified as
Rehmatullah Abid,was killed by unidentified armed assailants
in Panjgur District of Balochistan.
Unidentified militants opened
indiscriminate fire on a camp of a road construction company
in Kalat Town of Kalat District. There was no loss of life but
the machinery was gutted.
At least 15 suspected militants,
including foreigners, and impounded 25 motorbikes during special
checking in its jurisdictionin Sabzi Mandi Police Station in
Islamabad. IG Bani Amin said the operation was part of the security
arrangements made for ensuring peaceful environment during Muharram.
The LeT charity front JuD, having
established its presence on Twitter and Facebook
has sought help from computer programmers to develop games and
mobile phone applications that it intends to launch next year.
The first hint about the JUD's plans came in the form of tweets
from JuD official, the group's Twitter account.
JuD Official said that the games would highlight the group's
"charitable" work. Abdul Rehman from JUD's information
technology and social media department said that the group plans
to make "educational, informative and philanthropic kind
of games that will infuse positive thoughts such as helping
others in need, emergency situations, Islamic ethics and learning
of the Holy Quran and Sunnah".
November 19
At least four persons were killed
and several others were injured when gunship attacked militant
hideouts in Mir Ali area of the North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
A child was killed and two others,
including a woman and a child, were injured when militants fired
a mortar shell from Ganjgil Top in Afghanistan in a house in
Hilal Khel village in Bajaur Agency.
At least four party workers
of JeI were injured while former Chief of the party Qazi Hussian
Ahmad escaped a suicide attack carried out by a woman suicide
bomber in Haleemzai area of Mohmand Agency. Meanwhile, Ahmad
termed the attack on his convoy as an act of ‘American agent’.
Unidentified militants entered
a refugee camp and shot dead at least two people in Killi Umer
area of Chagai District in Balochistan.
Unidentified armed assailants
opened fire on a private bus and shot dead its cleaner near
Karachi Bus Stop on Sariab Road in Quetta.
A private company’s gas tanker
was on its way from Iran to Quetta when unidentified militants
opened fire on it killing a man and injuring two others near
RCD Highway in Nushki District.
A dead body, identified as that
of Niaz Ahmed, was found in Murgab area in Turbat District.
“The body received bullets in the head and chest, which caused
the death,” hospital sources said.
More than 70 doctors were arrested
during a protest by PMA Balochistan against non-recovery of
Doctor Saeed Khan of LRBT who was abducted on October 16, 2012
from Sariab Road of Quetta.
A man, identified as Syed Adnan
(32), was shot dead while he was on his way to home by unidentified
assailants at Khuda Ki Basti within the limits of Surjani Police
Station in the provincial capital Karachi.
The Additional Chief Secretary,
Sindh Home Department, Wasim Ahmad, and AIGP Karachi Iqbal Mehmood,
after the November 18, 2012 attack near Imambargah in Abbas
Town, filed a petition in the SHC seeking review of an order
issued by the court suspending a ban on motorbike riding in
Karachi during Ashura that was announced by the Interior Ministry.
“The threats of terrorist activities were received that they
may use motorcycle during Ashura to carry out any criminal activity”,
said the petition.
To ensure sectarian harmony
and law and order in the garrison city, 28 scholars from different
schools of thought have been barred from speaking at any religious
or social event for 60 days. According to sources, the entry
of 28 other religious scholars to Rawalpindi District has also
been banned. These steps have been taken on intelligence reports
that some extremist organisations were re-organising to disturb
peace across the country.
The Directives of the Federal
Interior Ministry, banned the sale of all private cell phone
company’s (SIMs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The decision was taken
in view of the use of illegal SIMs in terrorist activities in
the province.
During a seminar titled, ‘International
Journalist Day’ organised at the NPC in Islamabad on November
19 it was said that almost 91 journalists have been murdered
since 2000 due to which Pakistan has become the third most dangerous
country for journalists after Somalia and Syria. On an average,
one journalist gets killed in the line of duty every 30 days.
November 20
A TI militant was killed and
another was injured in a blast in Bokhar area of Landikotal
tehsil in Bazaar Zakhakhel of Khyber Agency in FATA.
The driver of a NATO container
was shot dead and his helper was injured when unidentified militants
opened indiscriminate fire on the container on by-pass road
in Jamrud tehsil, sub-division of Khyber Agency.
A pro-government tribal elder
and former member of a Peace Committee, identified as Muhammad
Farooq Gandapur, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in the Rori area of Kulachi tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested four suspects,
including two suicide bombers aged 25 and 30 years, entering
Peshawar from neighbouring Khyber Agency in FATA for subversive
activities.
The dead body of senior lawyer,
Chaudhry Manzoor Akhtar, who was abducted on November 14, 2012,
was recovered from a canal in Sumundari city of Faisalabad District
of Punjab.
An unidentified dead body was
found in the Gandakha area of Jaffarabad District in Balochistan.
SFs defused bomb in the Dera
Bugti District. An official of SFs said that unidentified militants
had planted about three kilograms explosive along the roadside
in the District.
At least 10 rockets were fired
at the FC headquarters in Mawind area of Kohlu District. However,
none of the rockets hit the target.
A senior member of new British-based
Islamist group, Sharia’h4Pakistan, Abu Baraa said, “There will
be a fatwa issued regarding Malala Yusufzai taking into
account the full story of her injury including her public statements
in support of the occupying US Army in the region and mocking
of key symbols of Islam such as hijab and jihad”.
Anjem Choudary, a prominent radical cleric in Britain, said
the fatwa could be issued on November 30, 2012 at Lal Masjid,
where a 2007 army raid crushed a Taliban-style movement controlling
the compound.
After reviewing the ongoing
military operation on both sides of the Durand Line, Islamabad,
ISAF and Afghanistan signed the Tripartite Border Coordination
Mechanism after Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani held meetings
with top commanders of ISAF and Afghan Army in Kabul. A senior
official of the Foreign Ministry said the agreement was important
in the wake of cross-border firing and militant infiltration
from the Afghan side that lead to misunderstandings.
Confirming the meeting and visit
of COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, ISPR stated that the 36th
Meeting of Tripartite Commission (TPC) was held at Afghan Defence
Ministry. “The meeting was significant due to the fact that
a document for ‘Tripartite Border Coordination Mechanism’ was
also signed to improve border coordination,” an ISPR spokesman
said.
The participants also discussed
transition of responsibility from ISAF to ANSF as per the ISAF
drawdown plan in 2014 and measures to gradually enhance Pak-Afghan
bilateral border coordination arrangements until and beyond
2014.
On November 20 Lower House adopted
a resolution moved by the MQM for deweaponisation of the country;
however, it exposed the clear faultlines between the political
parties on this critical issue with the ANP, PML-N and JUI-F
voting against it. The resolution said security of the people
and peace in the country was under constant threat due to widespread
use of arms in the country.
The Supreme Court regretted
that there had been no visible change in the law and order situation
in Balochistan since the court’s October 12, 2012 interim order
which questioned the constitutional authority of the Provincial
Government. “Apparently there is not much difference from the
situation prevailing on October 12,” observed a three-judge
bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice
Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.
The bench hearing a petition
of the BHC Bar Association on the breakdown of law and order
and human rights violations in the province asked the Government
of Nawab Aslam Raisani to recover the missing persons, including
those kidnapped for ransom, to show at least a minimum performance.
The court order had said the Balochistan Government had lost
its constitutional authority to govern the province because
of violation of fundamental rights.
The PMA demanded the immediate
resignation of Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani,
expressing deep concerns on the plight of the doctors. PMA President
Professor S Tipu Sultan, along with a delegation of doctors
from the PMA, addressed a press conference at the PMA House
and expressed their anguish over the hundreds of doctors who
were brutally attacked by Security Forces as they staged peaceful
demonstrations for the recovery of their colleague, Doctor Saeed
Khan.
A Police report prepared in
compliance of the apex court’s directives in a suo moto case
on the target killings in Karachi revealed that Taliban-linked
militants have recently stepped up their activities in 15 “identified”
areas of the city. “There are certain indications of their involvement
with the hardcore Taliban in the tribal areas, be it in the
form of fundraising for them or training with those jihadists,”
it was stated in the report.
Regarding illegal immigrants,
the Police stated that the identification of illegal immigrants
and legal action against them was an “ongoing process”. “It
was decided at the meeting that the Provincial Government would
send a reference to the Centre, asking it to fulfill its responsibility
on the issue of illegal immigrants or devolve powers to the
Provincial Government for this purpose,” Special Branch Karachi
DIG Dost Ali Baloch said.
A part of the report dealt with
the issue of convicted prisoners and 35 Under Trial Prisoners
(UTPs), who were involved in many heinous crimes from 2003 to
2005, being released on parole. It was stated that the AIGP
Karachi had been assigned the task of arresting all 35 UTPs
released on parole and producing them before the trial courts
concerned.
Following the November 18 2012,
attack on the Imambargah at Abbas Town in Karachi, security
was put on high alert and additional Police personnel were deployed
at all main entry and exit points of the Federal Capital in
view of Muharram and the ongoing D-8 summit.
November 21
At least 20 mourners, including
two minors, were killed and more than 30, including three Police
personnel and five children, were wounded in a suicide blast
at a mourning procession taken out from the Imambargah Qasar-e-Shabbir
in Dhok Syedan area on Misrial Road in Rawalpindi District of
Punjab. A hand grenade was also found lying near the procession,
the sources said. Only six Police personnel were deployed at
the Imambargah to protect the mourning procession, the participants
claimed.
The ATC acquitted an accused,
Shahzad, in the 2008 GPO Chowk (Lahore) suicide attack case
after Police failed to produce any concrete evidence against
him. Shahzad, along with two others, Abdul Hameed and Imran
Khalil, was accused of abatement, planning of the attack and
helping the suicide bomber.
As many as five people, including
three soldiers and a woman, were killed and over 20 seriously
injured in a bomb blast on a Pakistan Army vehicle outside City
Hall close to Fauji Foundation School in a high security zone
of Shahbaz Town in Quetta. According to DIG Hamid Shakeel, the
bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked on Smungli Road at Shahbaz
Town to target an Army vehicle escorting a school van. The BRA
claimed responsibility for the attack which it said was against
security personnel.
The ATC of Sibi District awarded
death penalty to four accused persons in a case involving killing
of 12 bus passengers.
The court handed down 25-year
rigorous imprisonment to Imam of a mosque for assisting the
killers.
Three Policemen, SHO Apail Khan
and two constables Misbahuddin and Shahbaz, were killed and
three Frontier Constabulary personnel, identified as Syed Mohammad,
Shehram and Mohammad Rehman, were injured when two unidentified
militants attacked a Police party going to Janikhel Police Station
in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. No group claimed responsibility
for the attack.
A Police constable, identified
as Jehan Zeb, was killed and four others, including SHO Kalimullah,
were injured in an IED blast in Kankahar Kandao area of Shangla
District while they were coming to the District Headquarters,
Alpuri, from Martoom Police Station.
Police foiled a terrorist attempt
and seized large quantities of explosives, including 4560 sticks
of dynamite as well as 9750 detonators that were being transported
from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA in a pickup truck
on Ring Road in Peshawar. The driver of the vehicle was arrested.
At least three persons, including
a suicide bomber, were killed and 11 others were injured in
two bomb blasts near the Haider-e-Karrar Imambargah in Orangi
Town area within Peerabad Police Station of Karachi. In the
first explosion which was a suicide blast, two persons were
killed and four others were injured. In the second explosion,
seven persons were injured.
IGP Sindh Fayyaz Leghari claimed
that the Sindh Police has arrested around 165 target killers
in 2012 and extracted vital information from them.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
while speaking at a Washington think tank Centre for a New
American Security, said despite challenges in the bilateral
relationship, the US and Pakistan share an interest in defeating
terrorists and that Washington would pursue defence cooperation
with Islamabad on that common basis. Panetta noted that in Afghanistan
and Pakistan, prolonged military and intelligence operations
have significantly weakened al Qaeda but saw the need to maintain
pressure on the group.
“Despite challenges in the bilateral
relationship between the United States and Pakistan, one area
in which our national interests continue to align is defeating
the terrorists on Pakistan soil that threaten both of us,” Panetta
said, adding, “We remain committed to pursuing defence cooperation
based on these shared interests.” The Secretary acknowledged
the fact that al Qaeda-linked militants eye north-eastern Afghan
areas of Kunar and Nuristan as a viable haven. “All of this
sends a very simple and a very powerful message to al Qaeda,
to the Taliban, and to the violent extremist groups who want
to regain a safe haven in Afghanistan: we are not going anywhere.
The LeT, accused of masterminding
the Mumbai 2008 terror attack, called Muhammad Ajmal Amin Iman
alias Kasab a "hero and a source of inspiration" for
other fighters. “He will inspire other fighters to carry out
more attacks," said LeT commander.
The TTP, too, condemned Kasab's
death. "There is no doubt that this is very shocking news
and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil,"
Ehsanullah Ehsan, TTP spokesman, was quoted as saying by news
agencies. The extremist outfits showered praises on the Kasab,
elevating him to the rank of a “new icon”. To them, Kasab had
gone thousands of miles away on a "holy mission".
November 22
At least two Police constables,
identified as Rehman Wali and Shamsur Rehman, were killed after
militants attacked a Police and Paramilitary force at the Speen
Qabar checkpost of Badhaber area in Peshawar, provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two bombs were defused near
Gulbahar-Nishtarabad flyover in Gulbahar area of Peshawar.
Tribal elders at a jirga
in Peshawar said that innocent tribe people were being killed
under a conspiracy and their rights violated. The Jirga members
said tribesmen were being killed in US drone strikes and the
businesses in the tribal area had been destroyed.
An Officer of the Elite Police
Force from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, identified as Shakeel (32) was
shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Noorani Mohallah
situated at Frontier Colony in Karachi.
Two IEDs were defused by Police
near Imambargahs in Orangi Town and Baldia Town.
Two schoolchildren, identified
as Inayatullah and Himat Khan, were injured in a mortar shell
attack fired from an unknown location at Shaheen Public School
in Sheen Drang area of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency
in FATA.
In the same Agency, two member
of Peace militia were injured when an IED targeted a patrolling
party at Qambarabad market in Akakhel area.
A car was damaged in a roadside
bomb explosion in Sadukhel area of Landikotal tehsil of Khyber
Agency. However, no casualty was reported. The bomb had been
planted on the Pak-Afghan Highway in Sadukhel area to target
vehicles carrying NATO consignments for US-led NATO forces.
The FC recovered Mir Asif Sanjrani,
the father of the Prime Minister’s special assistant, Sadiq
Sanjrani, in an operation against his captors in Chagai District.
Mir Sanjrani had been abducted on November 16, 2012 from Nokundi
area of the District. The captors had demanded PKR 30 million
for his release. “No ransom was paid to the kidnappers,” Police
said.
TTP threatened to avenge the
execution of Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 convict Muhammad
Ajmal Amin Iman alias Kasab. “We will take revenge of Kasab’s
martyrdom,” said TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, adding, “We
strongly demand that his body be returned to Pakistan. If the
body is not handed over to the family our reaction will be more
severe”.
TTP claimed responsibility for
the November 21, 2012 bomb explosions targeting Shias in Rawalpindi
District of Punjab and Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
November 23
The execution of LeT terrorist
Muhammad Ajmal Amin Iman alias Kasab on November 21,
2012 in India made headlines in Pakistan with two leading English
language dailies demanding that the masterminds of the carnage
be brought to justice to root out terrorism in the region. "We
must show the world that as a country, we are genuinely-committed
to fighting terrorism," and called for speedy trial of
the Mumbai 2008 accused in Pakistan.
Kasab's execution "revived
the memory of a senseless but well-planned act of mass murder"
and questioned how its planning went unnoticed in Pakistan.
It noted that Islamabad has distanced itself from "the
work of a few fanatic killers".
The HRCP condemned the killing
of about 25 innocent citizens on the grounds of their belief
and called for serious efforts to subdue the monster of sectarianism.
HRCP statement read, “No words are strong enough to condemn
the November 21, 2012 killing spree in which around 25 innocent
Pakistanis were slaughtered while performing belief-related
rituals. Quite obviously the targeting of the Shia citizens
has reached a new high this year and many quarters apprehend
more bloodshed on Ashura. The virus of sectarianism that has
been eating into the vitals of the Pakistan society can be exorcised
neither by politicians’ hackneyed rhetoric nor by the antics
of ineffective Law Enforcement Agencies.
November 23
Two unidentified people were
shot dead in Baghdadi area of Karachi, provincial capital of
Sindh.
One Fahim Ahmed (35) was shot
dead at the Blue Star Medical Store in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area
within Aziz Bhatti Police Station. Police investigators said
that Ahmed was a supporter of a religious group and the murder
could be a target killing case.
Two unidentified assailants
shot dead a truck driver, identified as Abdul Malik (38), in
Junjal Goth along the Super Highway within the limits of Sohrab
Goth Police Station.
At least four suspects were
arrested in Ancholi area of the District. According to reports
locals captured two suspects near a procession and handed over
to Police. In another arrest, Scouts arrested two suspects and
handed over to Rangers.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim
Ali Shah said that the provincial authorities do not need to
call army in Karachi so far; however, the army will remain in
standby position. “We have kept a vigilant eye on the situation,
we don’t want to call the army in the city”, he said.
Snap checking in all big cities
has been started to avoid any untoward incident. IGP Sindh Fayyaz
Leghari said that the BDS had inspected the routes of processions,
while searching through sniff dogs was also carried out.
A prayer leader of a local mosque,
identified as Maulana Muhammad Hussain, was shot dead in a targeted
attack in Khwazakhela area of Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up near a Shia gathering worship place in Lakki Marwat town
of the same District injuring two Policemen.
Three persons, identified as
Police Constable Salam, Abdul Wahab and Ashiq, were injured
in a remote-controlled blast that targeted a vehicle of the
ATS in Swabi District.
A shrine was blown up by militants
in the Takhtbhai area of Mardan District. However, no casualties
were reported.
Unidentified militants entered
a house in Killi Sardar on Qambarani Road in Quetta and opened
indiscriminate fire, killing a man, identified as Nazeer Ahmed.
A man, identified as Saman Ali,
was shot dead in Goth Mirza Khan area of Dera Murad Jamali in
Naseerabad District.
BDS defused at least 200 kilogrammes
of explosives and recovered around 20 IEDs, rocket-propelled-grenade
launchers, landmines, and detonators from a suspected vehicle
in Gulistan area of Quetta. According to a FC spokesperson,
security personnel had intercepted the vehicle coming from Qilla
Abdullah District carrying this explosive cargo in Gulistan
area.
Two peace militia Chiefs, identified
as Waris Khan and Yarman, were killed when an IED exploded in
Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
The Government on November 23
decided to suspend mobile and wireless phone services in major
cities across the country in a bid to thwart terrorists’ plans
and ensure a peaceful Ashura. Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said information gathered by Intelligence Agencies and other
sources of the Interior Ministry revealed that terrorists were
planning more attacks in the coming days, particularly in Karachi,
Quetta and Islamabad.
The Interior Minister said along
with suspension of cell phone service, wireless telephone network
services will also be suspended. He said motorcycles were used
in around 90 percent of terrorist incidents during the last
two years, and added that the terrorists have introduced a new
trend of carrying out blasts through mobile phones and motorcycles.
A Government primary school
for girls was destroyed when a bomb planted near the building
exploded in the Tirahwaal area of Kamal Khel on the outskirts
of Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
November 24
Eight persons were killed and
30 others were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast near
a Muharram procession in the Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan commented from an
undisclosed location, “We carried out the attack against the
Shia community”.
Five persons were killed and
one person injured when unidentified militants opened fire on
a motorcar near Molaghori area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency
of FATA.
The Police have arrested 15
Afghan nationals from Joint Road area in PS Civil Line of Quetta.
Sources said that these Afghan nationals were living illegally
in the area.
November 25
A person, identified as Noor
Mohammad (28), was killed and three others were injured in an
attack by armed assailants, outside an Imambargah in Kolab Jeeal
town of Khairpur District of Sindh.
November 25
A person, identified as Noor
Mohammad (28), was killed and three others were injured in an
attack by armed assailants, outside an Imambargah in Kolab Jeeal
town of Khairpur District of Sindh.
November 26
At least two persons, identified
as Qaisir Shah and Younus Khan, were killed and another was
injured in a landmine explosion in Shuran area of Bolan District
of Balochistan.
A person, identified as Muhammad
Ali, was killed in a landmine explosion in Kurdan area of Dera
Bugti District.
Iranian Border Forces have fired
mortar shells which landed and exploded near a border area in
Chagai District. “Twelve to 15 mortar shells exploded between
the border pillar No 12 and 15 between November 25 and 26, 2012,”
said, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussian Durrani. However,
no casualty was reported.
Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhary, while hearing Riko Diq case, remarked that
Provincial Government of Balochistan had taken no action in
implementing the verdict of Supreme Court on the Balochistan
law and order situation and was not fulfilling its responsibilities.
A supporter of the MQM, identified
as Haider Abbas (28), was shot dead by two unidentified armed
assailants near Nayyab Bakery under Rizvia Police Station in
Nazimabad area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Three target killers arrested
by the CID, Karachi, have confessed to the killing 29 persons
of Rangers, police, SSP, Aman Committee and MQM-Haqiqi. All
three arrested target killers belonged to a political party.
They admitted that they joined the party to take shelter for
their sectarian killings.
The CID arrested the suspected
militant, identified as Attaullah, after a shootout in Manghopir
area of Karachi and seized an explosives-laden car. One of his
accomplices, identified as Gul Mand, was killed in the encounter.
Three Policemen received minor
injuries after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle at Sarband
area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
SFs released 97 militants who
have learnt various skills at the Army-run rehabilitation centre
in Mashal area of Swat District. The rehabilitated militants,
who had committed minor offences in Swat, studied trades including
electronics, carpentry and tailoring. The SFs have trained and
released more than 1,100 persons arrested on minor charges in
Swat in the past two years.
Police recovered 13 US-made
missiles from the Jalozai IDP camp, which had been buried in
the camp during Russia invasion of Afghanistan. Official sources
said a local detected a missile while digging earth in the camp.
Later, the bomb disposal squad started digging the same spot
and unearthed 12 more missiles. The missiles were safely defused.
Senior journalist and anchor
Hamid Mir escaped an assassination bid when Police defused a
bomb planted under his car in Islamabad. Mir, who hosts the
Capital Talk evening show on Geo TV and writes
a column for Jang, was criticised by the TTP last month
in the wake of the shooting of teenage activist Malala Yusufzai.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the device
was found stuck under the front passenger seat of his car.
Police IG Haji Habib-ur-Rehman
said that Punjab Police foiled possible terror attempts during
Muharram processions and Majalis, by arresting
35 suspected militants. "We have foiled possible terror
attempts by arresting 35 terror suspects from different districts,
including three from Lahore, two from Gujrat, four from Faisalabad,
nine from Layyah, six from Sargodha, one from Vehari and 10
from Multan," he said, adding that the suspects were from
Bajaur and Khyber Agencies in FATA and were allegedly planning
to attack Muharram processions.
LI asked residents of Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA to dissociate themselves from pro-Government
peace committees and threatened attacks against those ignoring
the warning. The LI men distributed threatening leaflets among
people and pasted posters. “All the so-called peace activists
are on our target list and they will be attacked in due course
of time,” the pamphlet warned, saying people of Bara should
voluntarily sever contacts with peace committees. The pamphlets
were distributed at a time when the local administration has
announced reinstatement of 600 Khasadars who had resigned after
they received similar warnings a week after the start of a military
operation in the area in September 2009.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik said that the Government was ready to give a general
amnesty for all proscribed organisations, including TTP, if
they renounced terrorism. “If proscribed organisations agree
to cooperate with the government and give up terrorism, they
will be removed from the list of banned organisations,” the
Interior Minister said at a press conference in Islamabad.
The Minister discussed in detail
performance of law-enforcement agencies personnel in providing
security to Aashura processions and gatherings. He invited all
banned organisations, including the TTP, for talks and said
it was time for Hakeemullah Mehsud, whether he was physically
fit or suffering from any disability, to apologise to the nation
and stop playing into the hands of anti-Pakistan forces. “Hakeemullah
don’t hide in one bunker or another. Today, I announce a general
amnesty for you if you stop killing innocent people. The enemies
you are working for will kill you too, one day,” the Minister
said. He claimed the Government knew the forces which were using
the TTP to fulfill their designs.
However, the TTP ruled out any
possibility of peace negotiations with Pakistan Government,
a spokesman for the group said and vowed to continue fighting
until the ouster of the country’s ‘secular rulers’.
The Sindh Government presented
a new arms licence policy in the Supreme Court during the hearing
of the Karachi violence case. According to the new policy, licences
will not be issued to those under 25 years of age. Additional
Chief Secretary of Sindh Interior Department Waseem Ahmad informed
the court that licences will be issued by the Department or
Deputy Commissioner only.
Political violence rose by as
much as 37 per cent during the second quarter of 2012 (April-June),
as compared with the January-March quarter, with as many as
709 incidents of violence reported across the country, according
to Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report. According
to the report, Sindh reported the most incidents (280) with
Balochistan (172), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (121), Punjab (68), FATA
(61), Gilgit-Baltistan (4) and ICT (3). Target killing incidents
numbered 440 in all regions except for ICT – the most (248;
56%) taking place in Sindh followed by Balochistan (24%), KP
(12%), Punjab (4%), FATA (3%) and Gilgit-Baltistan (1%).
The number of victims affiliated
with different political parties’ surged198 per cent (131 as
compared with 44 in the previous quarter). 59 per cent got killed,
40 per cent injured and one percent kidnapped. Sindh was the
most vulnerable province in this regard, accounting for 74 per
cent incidents. The MQM was the most affected political party
with 49 victims – 36 killed and 13 injured.
November 27
SFs killed four militants, identified
as Mohammad Asim and Shah Faisal, during a clash at Zawa area
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
At least two activists of the
People’s Youth Wing of the ruling PPP, identified as Barkat
and Danish, were found dead in Ghazi Goth of Manghopir Police
Station. Both had been abducted on November 26, 2012, said Police.
A labourer, identified as Irfan
Baloch (32), was killed by unidentified armed assailants in
the Jama Cloth Market.
At least 20 suspects, including
an alleged LeJ militant, identified as Anees-ur-Rehman, possibly
involved in the Rangers complex attack (November 8, 2012), and
four suspected target killers were arrested by the law enforcers
in raids in Karachi.
Police recovered an unidentified
decomposed bullet riddled body of a young man from a dried-up
nullah near Ahmadkhel village under Badaber Police Station
in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government Girls Middle School in the Chapri area of Hangu
District.
Militants blew up a checkpost
of Khasadar force in Cheegalar area of FR Lakki Marwat. However,
no casualties were reported.
An ATC in Peshawar handed over
a 13-year-old alleged would-be suicide bomber, Liaqat, to the
Probation and Reclamation Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for
his rehabilitation. Judge Mohammad Ibrahim directed authorities
to rehabilitate Liaqat, whom Police arrested from Sarband area
of Peshawar on November 20, 2012.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister
for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that terrorists
are planning to get elected their candidates in the forthcoming
general elections in the country to impose their agenda on the
people. He said that terrorists wanted to occupy seats in the
Parliament by backing some candidates in the next general elections.
The minister said that in the past terrorists used to term casting
of votes un-Islamic but then they realised that they couldn’t
impose their agenda on people without the power of ballot. Therefore,
they were campaigning in their areas of influence to get vote
for the candidates backed by them, he said.
The US Ambassador to Pakistan,
Richard Olson said that the US Government supported Pakistan’s
peace talks with the Afghan Taliban and the release of some
Afghan Taliban prisoners. He expressed concern over the security
situation in North Waziristan Agency of FATA and affirmed that
the US considers the operation against the TTP in North Waziristan
to be an internal matter for Pakistan. Both Pakistan and the
US acknowledge extremism to be a common problem which should
be addressed properly, added Olson.
TTP claimed responsibility for
planting a bomb under the car of Hamid Mir, a television anchor,
and warned him of a second assassination bid. “Life and death
is in the hands of Allah. Allah saved his life but we will make
a similar attempt again,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said
over the telephone from an unknown location.
An official said that the US
special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, is
stepping down. “After almost two years in the position, and
with Secretary Clinton’s agreement, he will return to private
life,” Grossman’s spokeswoman Laura Lucas said. Grossman will
step down next month and Ambassador David Pearce, currently
Principal Deputy Special Representative, will serve as the acting
special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
November 28
A trustee of a Jamia Imamia
Imambargah from Shiite community, identified as Hassan
Mohsin (70), was shot dead by two unidentified armed assailants
in Nazimabad area within the precincts of Gulbahar Police Station
in Karachi.
A shop owner, identified as
Junaid, was killed and two others, identified as Nasir and Mehboob
were injured in Qasba Colony within the jurisdiction of Orangi
Town Police Station.
A man, identified as Faraz (25),
was killed and another was injured at Hassan Square within the
limits of Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
A man, identified as Irfan (32),
was killed on MA Jinnah Road within the jurisdiction of Aram
Bagh Police Station.
A labourer, identified as Younus
(28) was shot dead at Metroville Site area within the jurisdiction
of Site Police Station.
A man, identified as Riaz Niazi
(40), was killed at Maripure area within the limits of Kalri
Police Station.
Four militants were killed when
a clash erupted between Security Forces (SFs) and militants
in Akkakhel area of Bara sub-division in Khyber Agency of FATA.
While two were identified as Shah Faisal, and Muhammad Asim,
the identity of the other two militants could not be confirmed.
TTP released a one-minute-and-fifty-second-long
video clip of abducted staffers of the FDA in which the abductees
are shown imploring the Government and the FDA for their early
release. The FDA employees were abducted on December 10, 2011.
The TTP has threatened to kill all the captives if its demands
are not met until December 6, 2012.
The TTP has released three videos
of the captives during the last 10 days. In the previous video,
the abducted employees of Gomal Zam Dam were seen begging to
the Government and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)
to accept the their demands before December 3, 2012.
A Hazara Shia, identified as
Hussain Ali Hazara, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
on Circular Road in Quetta. No group claimed responsibility
of the incident.
A man, identified as Nadeem
Jan, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Barkhan
District.
Doctor Saeed Khan, ophthalmologist
and LRBT Quetta Medical Superintendent, returned home after
being in captivity of abductors for 42 days. Doctor Khan was
abducted on October 16, 2012. Quetta CCPO Mir Zubair Mehmood
told the media that ransom had been paid for the recovery of
the doctor. However, Doctor Khan said that he did not know if
ransom was paid for his release or who has paid it.
Lawyers boycotted the court
of District headquarters, Quetta, in response to a call of the
BBA to protest armed attack on an advocate in Khuzdar District
on November 27, 2012. The BBA spokesman called upon the government
and police to arrest those involved in the attack.
The Balochistan Government in
Apex Committee meeting reiterated its offer of jobs and rehabilitation
to insurgents if they bid farewell to arms.
Police arrested a suspect, identified
as Yahya, from Naurang town in Lakki Marwat District while he
was taking three boys, identified as Shah Hussain, Rehan and
Mukhtiar Ahmad, to North Waziristan Agency of FATA allegedly
for training as suicide bombers. An official said that Police
had learnt during interrogation that Yahya belonged to a terrorist
group, which consisted of some Mehsud tribesmen settled in Karachi.
The official said members of the group kidnapped boys before
shifting them to North Waziristan Agency for training as suicide
bombers.
Two suspected cadres of HuT
were arrested by an official of the Intelligence Agency from
Chandani Chowk area of Rawalpindi District while pasting posters
and hanging banners, inscribed with slogans against the Government.
The Federal Cabinet approved
a bill to set up ‘National Anti-Counter Terrorism Authority
(NACTA) for better efforts to defeat the menace of terrorism
in the country. Federal Information Minister and Broadcasting
Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told the media at a briefing that
the body was needed for policy making and coordination between
various stakeholders to fight the mindset of terror. “The unique
feature of this authority would be to carryout research coupled
with the consultation between various institutions to fight
against the evil of terrorism,” Kaira pointed out.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
told the LHC that the main focus of US drone attacks was on
targeting terrorists in FATA; however, these strikes were in
violation of country’s sovereignty. In a written reply submitted
in connection with a petition filed by JuD Chief Hafiz Muhammad
Saeed against US drones attacks on Pakistani soil to Chief Justice
Umar Ata Bandial, the Ministry said the Pakistan Government
had been consistent in registering its strong protest with the
US on collateral damage and violation of sovereignty. In his
petition the JuD chief had submitted that the Federal Government
be directed to make public information about all matters of
public importance, especially the secret ‘deals’ with US in
implementation of article 19-A of the Constitution which entitles
every citizen of Pakistan to have access to all information.
The Ministry further stated
that the US started to opt for drone attacks in tribal areas
of Pakistan essentially from 2008 onwards. However, the frequency
of the attacks increased in 2009 as 37 strikes were made in
that year and 115 in 2010 when the US administration decided
to dismantle safe havens of terrorists on the border areas,
it said and added that so far more than 200 drone strikes had
taken place. The Ministry also clarified that it had neither
any record nor was privy to any agreement with the US Government
for carrying out drone attacks. It said the Pakistan Government
would continue to underscore with the US side about the futility
of these attacks that were enhancing anti-Americanism and affecting
the bilateral relations.
The Ministry requested the court
to dismiss the petition filed by JuD being not maintainable.
It said the petitioner approached the LHC under article 199
of the Constitution which allowed only an aggrieved person to
file a petition. The PIL fell within the purview of Article
184(3) of the Constitution which was the jurisdiction of Supreme
Court.
Pakistan and the US have restored
full military and intelligence ties after relations hit a low
point last year, and Islamabad will take further steps to support
a nascent Afghan peace process, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said. “There was a fairly difficult patch and I think we’ve
moved away from that into a positive trajectory,” Khar said,
adding, “We are coming closer to developing what could be common
positions. We wish to see a responsible transition in Afghanistan.”
Further, she said the Afghan
and Pakistan Governments were discussing ways to strengthen
military cooperation. Currently, relations are strained. Afghanistan
still suspects elements in Pakistan of supporting the Taliban,
despite denials from Islamabad.
In addition to improving ties
with Afghanistan, Khar said Pakistan also wanted to pursue closer
ties with arch-rival India. “The Pakistani leadership has shown
a great willingness to move forward, sometimes at the cost of
losing some political capital, because sometimes improving ties
with India might not be the most popular thing to do,” said
Khar.
November 29
Seven militants were killed
and 15 others, including Mullah Nazir, who is considered a pro-Government
local TTP ‘chief’, sustained injuries when a suicide bomber
riding a motorbike blew himself up near the vehicle of the militant
commander in Rustam Adda in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Sources said that in the attack, apparently targeting Mullah
Nazir, his two key ‘commanders’ were killed besides five others
on the spot. Mullah Nazir had also signed a peace accord with
the Government in 2007.
Four suspected militants were
killed when a US drone fired three missiles at a house in the
Sheen Warsak area of Wana town in South Waziristan Agnecy. Other
sources said that a vehicle was targeted in the drone strike.
Two militants were killed in
a clash with SFs in Khurmatang area of Bara tehsil in
Khyber Agency.
At least eight persons were
killed in separate incidents of firing in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. A man and his wife — both doctors — were killed
when armed assailants opened fire at their clinic in Abulhasan
Ispahani Road.
Three MQM-Haqiqi cadres and
a taxi driver were shot to death on the National Highway near
Mansehra Colony.
One person was killed when unidentified
assailants opened fire on him on the Hub River Road in Baldia
Town area.
Another man was shot dead in
the Abidabad area.
The Police claimed arresting
15 suspects, including two suspects involved in bank robbery.
According to Police sources, the suspects looted a private bank
on Karachi’s University Road and managed to flee with PKR 36
million. The Police also recovered weapons from the arrested
individuals.
Suspected militants fired three
rockets on the Bannu city in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The sources said two rockets were fired from an undisclosed
location landed in the River Kurram while another fell near
the house of Ishfaq Taj, who is serving as registrar at the
circuit bench of the PHC in Bannu.
Unidentified militants fired
two rockets at the Nashpa Oil and Gas Dehydration Plant of Karak.
The Police sources said one of the rockets landed near the plant
but caused no damage. The sources said the dehydration plant
was the target of attackers.
The LEAs and the SFs in a joint
raid picked up a suspected person from the Jalozai Camp in Nowshera
District on charges of having contacts with LI.
Unidentified militants hurled
a hand grenade that exploded on Sirki Road in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. Police sources said that the hand grenade
could not hit the target and exploded on the road. No loss of
life was reported.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf said that
the Federal Government has prioritised the ongoing development
projects initiated in Balochistan to speed up the pace of socio-economic
development and improve the standard of living of the people.
The Ministry of Finance has been specially directed to facilitate
releases of all necessary funds in this regard, he added. The
PM said that directions have already been given for the expeditious
completion of the Kachi Canal project within this year.
Militants have targeted 37 shrines
of saints in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the past five years.
Explosions at shrines also killed 10 persons, including three
children, and injured 30 others. Militants have targeted shrines
of Pir Baba, Mian Mohammad Omar Baba, Madai Baba, Kaka Sahib,
and Akhun Panjo Baba. They have also attacked the tombs of revered
poets Rehman Baba, Khushal Khan Khattak, Ajmal Khattak and Amir
Hamza Khan Shinwari. The Government, with help from the people,
has rebuilt most of the militant-damaged shrines.
November 30
At least seven persons, including
four Shia men, were killed in separate incidents of violence
in the Karachi. A Shia man, identified as Nazar Abbas (45),
was killed and his daughter was injured by unidentified armed
assailants near Jail Chowrangi within the precincts of Ferozabad
Police Station.
Two Shia persons, a father,
identified as Ghulam Qadir (63), and his son, identified as
Ghulam Abbas (32), were shot dead in Yousuf Goth, Baldia Town,
within the limits of Saeedabad Police Station.
A Shia person, identified as
Riaz Hussain (48) was killed and another identified as Mehdi
Shah (40) was injured near an Imambargah in Green Town.
A person, identified as Sohail
(32) was shot dead at Mawach Goth of Baldia Town.
A decomposed body of an unidentified
woman was found from bushes in Block 19, Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
CID official was killed in targeted
attack at Hazara Chowk in Frontier Colony.
Personnel of Sindh Rangers,
in a pre-dawn operation, arrested over 50 suspects, including
five wanted suspects and recovered heavy weapons from their
possession in the Manghopir area.
Two brothers, Rehmat Khan and
Rahimdad Khan, were killed in a roadside explosion on Mamad
Gat Road in Kuz Chamarkand area in Safi tehsil of Mohmand
Agency in FATA.
Five Levies personnel were injured
in a roadside blast on the main Peshawar-Torkham Highway in
Zakhakhel area under Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency.
A local leader of JUI-F, Ubaidur
Rehman, was shot dead outside his house in Gilgit District of
Gilgit Baltistan. The SP said the murder appeared to be an incident
of terrorism, adding that exact motive of the attack could be
determined only after the investigation which had been started.
At least two children, identified
as Mohammad Hussain (10) and Sanaullah, were injured when a
toy bomb exploded on Shah Wakshah Road in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan.
Makran Scouts of FC arrested
42 Afghan and six Pakistani citizens from Gwadar Zero-Point
for allegedly trying to enter Iran illegally.
Policemen remained unhurt though
their van was hit by a roadside bomb on Inqilab Road in the
suburbs of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The van was damaged, but the Policemen remained unhurt,” said
an official of Badaber Police Station. An official of bomb disposal
unit said that the IED weighing about three kilogrammes was
packed in a canister and planted at a water pipeline on a roadside
which went off as the police van reached the spot.
Two kilogram explosive device
planted by unknown miscreants in front of Behram Shopping Centre
at Jehangira Road of Nowshera was defused. Police said watchman
of the plaza informed the Police after finding suspicious object
lying in a plastic box in front of the market. The Police cordoned
off the area and called personnel of bomb disposal unit to neutralise
the explosive device.
KP President of the All Pakistan
Oil Tanker Association Nasir Khan was abducted by unidentified
persons outside his house in Pabbi. Shakeel, a Police Official,
said that unidentified persons knocked on Nasir’s house door
disguised as guests. Nasir’s son Ali opened the gate and let
them in, who told him that were there to meet his father.
The PHC dismissed a Provincial
Government petition for the transfer of the trial of a terrorism
case against TNSM ‘chief’ Maulana Sufi Mohammad to Peshawar
from Lower Dir. The Government had sought the case’s transfer
citing Sufi Mohammad’s poor health and the delicate security
situation as reasons. The case in which Maulana Sufi is facing
trial before an ATC in Dir was registered on February 12, 2009,
under sections 7 and 11-F3 of Anti-Terrorism Act.
The Senate Standing Committee
on Human Rights presented draft legislation on missing persons
and decided to circulate it among stakeholders after which a
concerted law will be presented in the Upper House of parliament.
The committee decided to send the draft legislation on missing
persons to ministries of defence, interior and human rights
to get their views. After the views of the stakeholders have
been received, the committee would hold a public hearing for
further suggestions.
Balochistan Chief Secretary
Babar Yaqoob, informed a parliamentary panel that no military
operation was being carried out in the province as not single
personnel of Army is deputed anywhere in Balochistan. Some members
of the panel pointed out that the situation in the province
had become so dangerous that it resembled that of the pre-independence
Bangladesh. Giving an overview of trouble in the province, the
Chief Secretary told the committee that five districts of Balochistan
are of utmost concern for the administration. “Dera Bugti, Khuzdar,
Awaran, Panjgur and Turbat are the most troubled areas with
regards to the law and order situation, whereas Quetta is facing
another kind of violence that is sectarian,” Yaqoob pointed
out. Senator Hasil Bazenjo said that people of the province
have been sandwiched between insurgents and security forces,
and cited the example of Khuzdar District, which has been giving
a deserted look for the last few months.
Pakistan agreed to release another
batch of Afghan Taliban prisoners in a bid to facilitate peace
talks between insurgents and the Afghanistan Government, according
to a joint Foreign Ministry statement. The announcement came
after talks in Islamabad between visiting Afghan Foreign Minister
Zalmai Rassoul and his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.
The number of prisoners to be released was not specified but
is not thought to include the Afghan Taliban’s former deputy
leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was captured in 2010.
PM Raja Pervez Ashraf said that
Pakistan believes that a peaceful, prosperous and stable Afghanistan
is in Pakistan’s national interest. He was talking to Doctor
Zalmai Rassoul, the Afghan Foreign Minister, who called on PM
Raja Pervez Ashraf at the PM’s House and discussed with him
matters of mutual interest. Referring to the recent visit of
Salahuddin Rabbani, chairman High Peace Council to Islamabad,
the PM termed it as successful. The PM said that both Afghanistan
and Pakistan have a common challenge in terrorism and drug menace.
Therefore, both the countries need to work closely to confront
these challenges, he added.
Punjab Government has stated
that terrorists have started planting IED in cement blocks which
may be used to target the Police and Army personnel.
December 1
The CIA Police arrested three
militants of the TTP near Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore District
and thwarted their plans of targeting Shia processions. The
arrestees are identified as Arshid Ali, Umer Zaib and Amjad.
The team recovered seven kilogram of explosive material, four
hand grenades, a rifle, INR 150,000 in cash and bullets from
their possession.
December 2
At least two persons were killed
and two others, including a Security Official were injured in
a landmine blast in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency in
FATA.
In the same agency two suicide
bombers were killed when their suicide vest exploded near a
checkpost in Pindyali tehsil.
Militants blew up the house
of an official of Khasadar Force from Sepah area in Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency with explosives and also abducted several relatives
of many force’s officials. However, no loss of life was reported
in the house attack.
Relatives of eight abducted
employees of Gomal Zam Dam project on the Gomal River in the
South Waziristan Agency demanded that the government help them
release their loved ones. They said the TTP was demanding a
huge ransom for the release of their relatives. Government should
pay the ransom to the TTP, they added.
An activist of the Muttahida
Qaumi Movement (MQM), identified ad Mohammad Adnan (25), was
shot dead in Garden area of Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
An unidentified dead body of
a man was found on a garbage dump near the boundary wall of
a Girls’ school in Landhi area within the remit of the Awami
Colony Police Station.
Unidentified militants shot
dead a man, identified as Doctor Shamsuddin, in Jaffarabad District
of Balochistan.
Three people, including a Policeman,
sustained injuries in an explosion in Babu Market outside NADRA
office in Kalat District.
Two rockets were fired from
surrounding mountains at the camp of a private firm, exploring
oil and gas reserves in Barkahn District. The Law Enforcement
Agencies cordoned off the area for tracing the terrorists.
Pakistani authorities seized
nearly 14 tonne of potassium chlorate, a key ingredient in bomb-making,
from a bus in Quetta. The haul was made when officials acting
on a tip-off stopped a bus just outside Quetta loaded with the
volatile substance hidden under cartons of food, an official
with the Government Paramilitary Force said.
The Police raided and recovered
4,000 kilograms of explosives from a bus near Akhtarabad in
Quetta. The Police foiling a terror attack arrested five persons
on the spot.
At least five persons, including
a Police Constable, went missing from Kata Kanri area of Kohat
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police had foiled a terrorism
bid by defusing a “powerful” bomb planted in a motorcycle on
Grand Trunk Road on the outskirts of Peshawar.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will meet in
Brussels on December 4, 2012 on the sidelines of a NATO meeting
as the US and Pakistan rebuild their ties on a firmer footing,
said the State Department. Asked if Pakistan was seeking more
funds, the Department’s spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at
a briefing the two countries had a number of economic projects
in Pakistan and the meetings in Washington had reviewed those
to ensure that they were targeted properly and on track.
December 3
At least nine persons, including
four activists of the MQM and a Policeman, were killed in separate
incidents of target killing in Karachi. A District Graveyard
Officer, identified as Muhammad Aleem (42) and his nephew, an
activist of MQM, identified as Jaseem (26), were killed by unidentified
assailants within the precincts of Iqbal Market Police Station
in Orangi Town.
A senior teacher of the Jamia
Arabia Ahsanul Uloom seminary, Maulana Mohammad Ismail, was
shot dead by unidentified assailants on Abul Hassan Ispahani
Road in Karachi. As news of the assassination spread, angry
students of the seminary took to the streets, holding sticks
and shouting slogans in protest.
A Policeman was shot dead by
two unidentified pillion riders in Bilal Colony within the jurisdiction
of Korangi Industrial Area Police Station.
Dead bodies of two MQM activists,
identified as Mehmood (26) and Tayyab (25), were found in a
gunny bag near Al-Asif Police checkpost within the jurisdiction
of Sachal Police Station.
A man, identified as Usman (32),
was shot dead near Habib Chorangi within the remits of SITE-A
Police Station.
A Special Branch Police Officer,
identified as Murad Khan (40) was shot dead in the Frontier
Colony within the limits of Peerabad Police Station in Madin
Basti.
LEA has arrested several key
suspected leaders of the TTP in a crackdown on militants in
and around the Manghopir area in Karachi. Rangers detained more
than 70 people, 10 of whom are suspected of being linked with
TTP. The team also seized a car loaded with more than 100kg
of explosives, two suicide jackets with about 8kg of explosives
and three water coolers filled with explosives weighing more
than 5kg.
While condemning the attack
on the seminary teacher JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman refuted
that there was ‘Taliban’ movement in Pakistan, and said that
the students of religious seminaries were more respectable than
Interior Minister Rehman Malik. He also said that the people
from religious seminaries were being targeted through a planned
conspiracy and Karachi is being “bathed in blood” in every way.
The remote-controlled bomb targeted
a Police patrol, killing two officers and injuring two others
in Shahabkhel village on the Badhaber suburb of Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The bomb destroyed
the police van and killed two policemen,” Imran Shahid, a Senior
Police Official said. Zarshed Khan, a bomb disposal expert,
said two kilogrammes of explosives were used in the device and
that two policemen were also wounded.
The investigators have fixed
responsibility regarding illegal use of mobile phones by Dr
Shakil Afridi on two security guards of the Peshawar Central
Prison. Official sources said that finally two security guards
of Dr Shakil Afridi were found guilty after investigation by
an intelligence agency and the police. However, both the prison
cops Khalil and Asif Mughal, hailing from Dera Ismail Khan,
are under suspension as the authorities have yet to decide their
fate. The remaining four guards were restored on their duties
in other places of the prison after being found innocent in
the case. The sources close to the investigation process said
the convicted Dr Shakil Afridi had used his SIM card for making
about 13 calls from his place of detention. He is reported to
have made about 58 national and international calls. The Pakistan’s
premier intelligence agency unearthed the telephone calls’ case
after the American TV channel, Fox News claimed that its correspondent
had conducted more than 40-minute interview of Dr Shakil Afridi
from the prison.
At least 15 to 20 masked militants,
some of them equipped with arms, attacked the graveyard of Ahmadi
community in Model Town area of Lahore and shattered the tombstones
of more than 120 graves. Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan is
under attack for last several years in Pakistan. Police said
that these masked militants belonged to the TTP.
HRCP condemned the destruction
of over 100 tombstones at a graveyard for Ahmadis and demanded
the arrest and prosecution of those responsible. “This is an
unmistakable act of intimidation and escalation in the campaign
of hate and violence against the Ahmadi community that has repeatedly
been targeted across Pakistan because of its beliefs. Last night’s
attack is shocking because it did not occur in a remote village
but in the heart of the country’s second largest city. The trauma
such an incident has caused to an increasingly persecuted community
should not be very difficult to imagine.”
Families of Baloch missing persons,
while speaking about the Supreme Court hearing on missing persons’
case, said that Baloch families are losing hope in SC as it
has failed to curb human rights violations, target killings
and abducting of political activists in the Balochistan on December
4. They said that the “kill and dump” policy of the forces and
secret agencies continues in the province and forced disappearances
and target killings of political activists have intensified.
They told that in less than a year more than 100 persons have
been abducted and 60 mutilated bodies of the disappeared people
were dumped on busy streets and known places, and in some cases
chits were put in the pockets of the victims who were tortured
beyond recognition, which helped identify them.
Voice for Baloch Missing Persons
Chairman Qadeer Baloch said that it was astonishing for him
that not even a havaldar (constable) of the FC or Security Forces
was suspended, let alone a brigadier or a colonel. “We would
have appreciated if any action was taken against perpetrators
by the court,” he said, adding, “The Supreme Court is well aware
of ‘death squads’ of Frontier Corps in the province but has
still kept silent.”
He said even though the Supreme
Court in its interim order of October 12, 2012, on Balochistan
issue had clearly said there was enough evidence of government
agencies’ involvement in unconstitutional activities in Balochistan,
but the court has failed to take any practical action against
them. Qadeer Baloch said that the extra-judicial killings and
abductions of Baloch youth have intensified because of impracticality
of the Supreme Court.
LeT founder and JuD Chief Hafiz
Mohammad Saeed criticized Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar
for promising to take action against him if India provides evidence,
saying the Pakistan Government had been unable to resolve outstanding
issues like the Kashmir issue. Saeed, named by India as the
mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks (also known as 26/11),
claimed that evidence against him provided by India had been
"dismissed" by Pakistani courts.
In the four years since the
attacks in Mumbai, India "has been unable to provide any
evidence against me in connection with the case. The documents
provided by India as evidence could not stand in court and were
dismissed by Lahore High Court as propaganda. A similar case
was also made by the Supreme Court," Saeed told the Urdu
newspaper Ummat.
Pakistan asked Afghanistan to
take steps to create conducive conditions for voluntary and
dignified return of Afghan refugees to their country. This was
discussed during a meeting between President Hamid Karzai and
SAFRON Eng. Shaukatullah, who called on him. The Minister requested
President Karzai to appeal Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan
to return to their country and play their role in its reconstruction
and rebuilding. The Afghan president thanked the people and
Government of Pakistan for hosting and assisting million of
Afghan refugees for more than three decades. The two sides emphasised
the need for further promoting bilateral cooperation in the
areas of mutual benefits, said a press release issued from Kabul.
The SAFRON minister is on a three-day official visit to Afghanistan.
He visited the sites where the returnees from Pakistan are residing.
He visited the Kuchi Abad Township in Kabul and held a meeting
with the elders of the returnees and listened to their problems.
The COAS General Ashfaq Pervez
Kayani reiterated Pakistan’s support to an Afghan-owned and
Afghan-led reconciliation process in Afghanistan. He made these
remarks while commenting on the reconciliation process in Afghanistan
during his address to a joint meeting of political and Security
Council and the European Union Military Committee in Brussels.
Ambassadors and delegations, comprising defence and military
officials of 27 EU nations, participated in the interactive
event, said an ISPR spokesman. The discussion encompassed situation
in Afghanistan and its effects on regional peace and security.
General Kayani highlighted Pakistan’s perspective on these issues
with particular reference to the nation’s contribution and sacrifices
in the war on terror.
NATO expressed readiness for
political dialogue and cooperation with Pakistan and stressed
the importance of its ties with the country in the fight against
“terrorism” as the military alliance prepares the way for its
2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan. “Most urgently, we need to
remain united to defeat terrorism,” NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen
told visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
“At NATO we understand well that Pakistan has paid a high price
in these efforts. The alliance stands together with you to combat
this scourge,” Rasmussen said in a statement. It is “clear that
the pursuit of peace and security in your region is in the interest
of the broader international community. That includes peace
in Afghanistan, where Pakistan has a particular role to play,”
he said.
December 4
At least four persons, including
two MQM activists and a ST cadre, were killed in separate acts
of violence in Karachi.
A person, identified as Rehan
Khan (32), an owner of a printing press also affiliated with
MQM, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants at KMC Market
within the limits of Gulbahar Police Station in Nazimabad.
Another activist of MQM, identified
as Muhammad Siddiq (40) was killed at Gurumandir roundabout
within the jurisdiction of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
A cadre of PST, Zahid Qadri
(33) was shot dead near his house at Usmania Colony within the
limits of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
A person, Gul Ahmed (30) was
stabbed to death by unidentified militants at Afghani Camp,
Superhighway within the limits of Sohrab Goth Police Station.
The Sindh High Court issued
notices to Secretary Interior Ministry, Sindh Home Secretary,
Director General Rangers, Inspector General of Police Sindh,
and other law-Enforcers in identical petitions seeking whereabouts
of missing persons.
SFs foiled a terrorist plan
of a suicide attack on an Imambargah, by arresting two LeJ militants
near the Karachi Academy in Azizabad. According to Police sources,
Azizabad Police resorted to counter-firing when suspects in
a highroof van refused to stop at a security check-point and
opened fire on officials near the Karachi Academy in Azizabad.
Subsequently, two suspects, Hanif and Chiragh Deen, were arrested
with two riffles and a bomb-detonator. However, three others
Qari Ghulam, Riaz and Qari Ghulam Akbar managed to escape from
the site. Police said the arrested militants belong to the banned
LeJ and were trained in Afghanistan’s Qandahar area.
Unidentified militants killed
a driver, Muhammad Khalid and injured two others, Qari and Muhammad
Faisal in Kanchogi area of Muslim Bagh tehsil in Quilla
Saifullah District.
A man, Ashfaq was killed and
his brother was injured on Airport Road near Askari Park in
Quetta. The victims belonged to the Shia Hazara community.
A person, Muhammad Asif, the
brother of Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd Gailo was shot injured
by unidentified armed assailants in Panjgur town of same District.
A soldier was killed in cross-border
firing from Afghanistan at Sheikh Baba check post in the border
area of Mohmand Agency in FATA. Reports said troops from Afghanistan
resorted to unprovoked firing at Sheikh Baba check post, which
left a troop dead. The cross-border firing stopped after retaliation
by Pakistani troops, officials said. Security officials said
it could not be confirmed if the attack was launched by Afghan
National Army or the Afghan Taliban.
LI militants blew up the houses
of two peace lashkar members, Qadir Khan and Jahangir,
in Shalobar area of Bara in Khyber Agency. Sources said dozens
of LI militants planted explosives inside the houses of the
two Shalobar lashkar members and detonated them, administrative
official Muhammad Khalid said. "Successive explosions,
which were heard far and wide, destroyed most parts of the houses
of Qadir Khan and Jahangir, who had vacated their houses some
time ago for fear of militant attack," Khalid added. LI
recently had warned all peace committee members to break ties
with Government-sponsored peace bodies.
A local leader of JUI-F, Maulana
Hafiz Mir Wali Khan, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
in Nowshehra town of the same District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police said that Maulana Hafiz Mir Wali Khan was a teacher at
Government high school Koterpan and also the administrator of
a seminary, Tajdeedul Quran. He was going to the seminary after
performing duty at school when the motorcyclists stopped him
and opened firing on him.
10 persons, including five Policemen,
sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden
vehicle into an abandoned house near the building of Haved Police
Station in Bannu District. The sources said the Policemen guarding
the Police Station opened fire on the vehicle. The suicide bomber,
the sources said, panicked and drove his vehicle into the abandoned
house situated near the building of the Police Station in Haved
village. The boundary wall of the Police Station, building of
the Veterinary Hospital and some houses in the surrounding area
were damaged in the blast. Five cops including Station House
Officer Gul Nawaz Khan, driver Aurangzeb, Elite Force officials
Liaqat Ali and Aurangzeb, Frontier Constabulary personnel Aizazullah
and five civilians identified as Abdul Baqi, Ziaullah, Mirjana
Bibi, Jehan Noor Bibi and a minor, whose identity could not
be confirmed, sustained injuries. The officials of BDS said
about 600 kilos explosives had been used in the explosion. Talking
to reporters by phone from an undisclosed location, the TTP
‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the
attack. “The TTP would continue attacks on the police as they
are the main hurdle in our way,” he stressed.
Unidentified militants blew
up two power pylons in Khairabd area of Nowshehra. Police said
that four remote controlled bombs were planted at the pylons.
Three of the bombs exploded that destroyed two power pylons,
they added. The fourth unexploded bomb was defused by BDS.
Four power pylons were blown
up near Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex in Kala Dher in Charsadda
District while BDS defused another five-kilogram explosive device
in the area. The bomb disposal squad officials said that one
kilogram explosive device was planted at each of the four pylons.
Police reached the area soon after the blasts and recovered
another five-kilogram remote controlled bomb, planted to target
law enforcers. The BDS later defused the bomb safely.
Militants blew up a boys’ primary
school at the Tog Sarai School in Hangu town of same District.
Homemade bombs damaged two rooms but killed nobody at the Tog
Sarai School, which educates more than 350 students, District
Police Officer Dr. Mian Saeed said. Militants have destroyed
11 schools so far in the District, said District Education Officer
Hassan Badshah.
A senior advocate, Masood Abid
Naqvi was shot at by some unidentified armed assailants on Farid
Kot Road in Mozang Police Station in Lahore, the provincial
capital of Punjab.
TTP faction leader Mullah Nazir
of the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe has ordered all Mehsud tribesmen,
including loyalists to the rival TTP led by Hakimullah Mehsud,
to leave Wana of South Waziristan in FATA by December 5. Those
who fail to leave, and any locals aiding them, will face action,
he said. Officials reported that some Mehsud militants have
already started vacating. Nazir was injured in a suicide bombing
November 29 in Wana that killed at least eight others. The TTP
is one rival faction that is suspected of being behind the attack.
The TTP, though, said it had
nothing to do with the attack, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan
said. He said the TTP and Mullah Nazir faction are ideologically
on the same page. Shahid Ali Khan, the assistant political agent
for South Waziristan, said officials will be taking care of
the law-and-order situation and will protect the civilians in
any emergency situation. He also said a peace jirga (tribal
council) will be called upon to negotiate between the warring
militant factions.
Nazir’s warning went out on
mosque loudspeakers after a grand jirga of the Nazir group,
a 120-member peace committee formed in 2007 and representing
the Ahmedzai Wazir clan and the elders of all nine Ahmedzai
tribes and their sub-tribes. The jirga convened at the site
of the bombing, Rustam Bazaar, December 1 to discuss the situation.
The group warned all internally displaced Mehsud tribesmen who
had taken refuge from fighting in the Mehsud area between Security
Forces and militants to vacate their houses in the Ahmedzai
Wazir area.
The Supreme Court has formed
a commission, headed by Federal Shariat Court Justice Shahzado
Sheikh, for fixing the responsibility of Lal Masjid 2007 incident
and asked to submit recommendations within 45 days. The legal
experts believe that the SC move to probe the Lal Masjid assault,
may also irk Pakistan Army, which conducted the operation in
2007. A three member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief
Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhary, has asked the commission
to probe the reasons of Lal Masjid incident, how many people
including men, women and from law enforcement agencies were
killed. It also said that whether the state had paid the compensation
to the heirs of killed people, whether the dead bodies were
identified and handed over to their heirs, whether the action
has been taken against the people who are responsible for the
tragedy, whether the people who are responsible for the tragedy
could be marked with the available evidences and facts.
During the hearing, Islamabad
Police officer Tahir Alam submitted a report pertaining to the
operation in the court. He said that 103 people were killed
in the operation, in which 11 law enforcement agencies, four
innocents and 88 terrorists were murdered. To which, the CJP
questioned that how Capital Police could declare the 88 deceased
as terrorists as it was a one-sided version and no one had proved
them terrorists. He said that it should be open in the public
that who was the responsible of this incident and if the state
could not handle that small issue than what would be the benefit
of it.
The number of terrorist attacks
each year has more than quadrupled in the decade since September
11, 2001, a study released by Global Terrorism Index – published
by the US – and Australia-based Institute for Economics and
Peace think tank said, with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan the
most affected. The number of annual deaths in attacks, however,
peaked in 2007 – the height of the Iraq conflict – and has been
falling ever since. The survey reported 7,473 fatalities in
2011, 25 percent down on 2007. That figure included dead suicide
bombers and other attackers. Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India
and Yemen were the five countries most affected by terrorism
in descending order, it said, based on a measure giving weightings
to number of attacks, fatalities and injuries and level of property
damage. The Global Terrorism Index ranked countries based on
data from the Global Terrorism Database run by a consortium
based at the University of Maryland, a commonly used reference
by security researchers. The US military interventions pursued
as part of the West’s anti-al Qaeda “war on terror”, the researchers
suggested, may have simply made matters worse – while whether
they made the US homeland safer was impossible to prove.
“After 9/11, terrorist activity
fell back to pre-2000 levels until after the Iraq invasion,
and has since escalated dramatically,” Steve Killelea, founder
and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace,
told Reuters in an e-mail interview. “Iraq accounts for about
a third of all terrorist deaths over the last decade, and Iraq,
Pakistan and Afghanistan account for over 50 percent of fatalities.”
The study says terrorism incidents numbered 982 in 2002, causing
3,823 deaths, rising to 4,564 terrorist incidents globally in
2011, resulting in 7,473 deaths. The researchers used the University
of Maryland definition of “terrorism”: “the threatened or actual
use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain
a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear,
coercion, or intimidation”.
Despite concrete evidence gathered
against those involved in terrorist acts, conviction rates in
KP hover at a measly 4%. Accrued evidence include camera footage
and confiscated suicide vests which could count as ‘ample proof’
in court, KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said
at the Officer’s Mess following the 153rd cabinet meeting of
the KP Government on December 4. Home Secretary Muhammad Azam
Khan told the cabinet that the 4% conviction rate of terrorists
was surprisingly low. Hussain said a large number of those arrested
have been 13 or 14-year-old boys who benefit from being classified
as minors under the law. He proposed not treating the minors
involved in terrorist activities under the same law. He reiterated
that the concerned departments were reviewing the situation
to ascertain why terrorists were “escaping” due punishment.
KP Police IG told the cabinet
that although there has been an increase in terrorist acts this
year, their effectiveness ratio has dwindled as compared to
incidents since 2009. “However, incidents targeting police and
politicians have increased overall,” said Hussain. The IG also
said that due to increased planning and a more effective strategy
in 2012, the number of police deaths at the hands of terrorists
has decreased by 49% and civilian killings by 47%. The ratio
of suicide attacks has decreased by 37%, while the ratio of
foiling suicide attacks by law enforcement agencies improved
by 29%, he added. In total, 73 police personnel have been killed
and 218 civilians (108 in Peshawar) died of terrorist acts from
January 1 this year till November 31.
The Federal Ministry of Interior,
Rehman Malik requested court to grant permission to publish
the investigation report of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s
assassination. The Government says it has already completed
investigation process and filed the challan in the court. “The
prior permission of the court is required to make the report
public,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. He said the killers
of Benazir Bhutto would not be spared and brought to justice.
Malik said the investigation document is “very important” as
people wanted to know about those who were behind the assassination.
He said as part of the probe, former President General (retd)
Pervez Musharraf was written a letter but he hired a lawyer
and termed the case “political”.“We had written back that this
case is not a political [case],” he added.
Balochistan CM Aslam Raisani,
seeming quite annoyed over criticisms of failure to curb worsening
law and order situation of the province, offered his office
to anybody who could improve law and order situation during
the session of Balochistan Assembly. The CM made this offer
during a debate on a resolution, which demanded of the Federal
Government to evolve a comprehensive strategy in collaboration
with the Provincial Government for restoration of peace in the
province and ensure assistance of federal institutions to provincial
institutions. The CM expressed his displeasures over some remarks
of Jaffar Khan Mandokhel and said, “I challenge Sheikh Jafar
Khan Mandokhel or anybody else that if he could improve law
and order within three months I would leave chief ministers–ship
and go home.” He said that if law and order is worse in the
province and people were being abducted for ransom then it was
the issue of entire country since such incidents were happening
throughout the country.
He further said that the Chief
Justice of Pakistan should also focus that the law and order
situation of Balochistan was worsening not due to Provincial
Government rather owing to policies of the Federal Government
and foreign interference. He was also of the view that Balochistan
had become a battle ground for two ideological rivals Saudi
Arabia and Iran who carry out revengeful acts against each other
“There is interference of United State of America and India
in the province and we cannot blame Afghanistan”.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik demanded Afghanistan to arrest and hand over TTP
leader Maulvi Fazlullah who, he said, is based in Kunar province.
Addressing a press conference, Malik said the militants are
launching attacks on Pakistani villages and security posts along
the Pak-Afghan border in Bajaur, Dir and Chitral areas from
inside Afghanistan. The Interior Minister said the Afghanistan
Government should cooperate in sealing the Pak-Afghan border
as it is necessary to control terrorism. Commenting on war against
terrorism, Malik said the militants have been defeated and they
are on the run now, adding that around forty thousand Pakistani
nationals have sacrificed their lives for the cause. Vowing
to continue the Government’s efforts against terrorism, he said
that all those young man, who have been engaged by the militants,
would be given employment opportunities if they end their links
with them.
December 5
At least six militants were
killed and eight others sustained bullet injuries when LI militants
attacked pro-government Lashkar TI post in Bukar area
of Zakhakhel in Khyber Agency of FATA. The sources said that
dozens of LI militants attacked the Satani bunker with heavy
and automatic weapons post situated on the Bukar hills top.
The gun battle was continued for hours long in which both sides
used heavy and automatic weapons. TI volunteers repulsed the
attack and killed six LI militants. Eight TI volunteers also
sustained injuries.
Three soldiers were killed and
20 others sustained injuries in a suicide blast near the Ziari
Noor Camp on the Angoor Adda Road in South Waziristan Agency.
The sources said that two suicide bombers detonated their explosive-laden
vehicle after they were stopped for checking by the soldiers
at the checkpoint, some 100 metres away from Ziari Noor Camp
on Angoor Adda Road. Three soldiers were killed and 20 others
sustained injuries in the blast, the sources said, adding that
16 soldiers were injured when some of the residential quarters
collapsed due to the intensity of the blast.
A man was killed when he stepped
over a landmine planted by unknown persons in Chamarkand in
Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency. The sources said that
Sheikh Khalifa was coming to Mamogat from Chamarkand when the
incident happened.
A Government school for boys
in Yakaghund tehsil of Mohmand Agency was destroyed in a bomb
blast. No causalities were reported in the incident. Some 113
schools in Mohmand Agency have been destroyed by suspected militants,
thus depriving more than 20,000 pupils of their right to basic
education. Only six school buildings have been rebuilt so far.
JUI-F expressed concern over
closure of roads to different villages in Khyber Agency due
to military operation and demanded of the Government to stop
the operation and ensure supply of food, medicines and other
necessary items to the residents. Speaking at a press conference
at Peshawar Press Club, JUI-F’s Khyber Agency Naib Amir Haji
Shamsuddin said that patients had been dying due to restriction
on movement of people. Referring to problems being faced by
residents of Tirah valley due to prolonged curfews, he said
that they had been forced to keep their movement to their localities
and they were not allowed to keep contact with rest of the country.
The Mehsud elders have requested
the political administration to extend the deadline set for
expulsion of the tribe from South Waziristan Agency. Scores
of Mehsud elders submitted a written application with political
agent of South Waziristan Agency through the assistant political
agent, seeking extension in the December 5 deadline, which expired
on Wednesday. In the application the tribal elders said that
thousands of Mehsuds were residing in South Waziristan and their
expulsion in such a short span of time was not possible. They
said that sufficient time should be given to them to leave the
area.
At least three militants, identified
as Hakim Shahsawar, Rasool Bukhsh and Maula Bukhsh, were killed
in an exchange of fire with FC in the Gebon area of Turbat District.
Two militants were arrested in the incident.
Two persons, identified as Muhammad
Iqbal and Abdul Khaliq, were killed when their vehicle rolled
on a landmine in Kohlu District.
Two persons, including a Policeman,
were shot injured in firing incident in Quetta.
FC recovered five kilogrammes
of explosives, a sub-machine gun, four magazines, 91 rounds
and a remote-controlled device from Piropoll area in Dera Murad
Jamali District. Two perpetrators escaped from the scene and
two others were arrested.
A prayer leader, identified
as Peshimam Ahsanullah (38) was shot dead by three armed assailants
inside a mosque in Sector 5-C within the remit of the Bilal
Colony Police Station of New Karachi. One of the assailants,
identified as Mohammad Kashif alias Bilal, was caught by area
people when trying to flee told Police. He worked for the TTP
and killed the Peshimam because the latter was an ‘informer’.
The suspect told Police that he had undergone 21-day militant
training at a camp in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and was getting PKR 15,000 a month.
The Karachi Police recovered
65 mobile vans. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sindh,
Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari instructed that such vehicles be equipped
with the surveillance cameras at the earliest so that these
could be used for monitoring those areas in the city which are
not covered by the Command and Control Centre.
Police arrested 61 accused,
including 15 proclaimed offenders, during raids in the provincial
metropolis of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar. A Police spokesman
said that Police had arrested the accused during night raids
and also recovered 23 pistols, two rifles and contraband from
their possession.
Police arrested two militants
in Matta area in Swat District. Police said that two militants
identified as Naimat Ali and Gul Nazim had been arrested on
a checkpoint in Matta. The arrested militants were wanted to
the Police in terrorism-related incidents in Swat District.
An anti-terrorism court convicted
the mastermind of two suicide attacks in Dera Ismail Khan on
different counts and sentenced him to 339 years rigorous imprisonment
with a fine of PKR 150,000. The court presided over by Mr Khwaja
Wajihuddin pronounced that the prosecution proved the cases
against 28-year-old Ahmad Nawaz alias Dhallu, a resident of
Dera Ismail Khan. The court also declared five of the absconding
accused, Qari Abdul Zahir alias Qari Zafar, Fazalur Rehman,
Mohammad Iqbal, Qari Asif and Imran alias Khitab, proclaimed
offenders and issued their perpetual arrest warrants.
Hearing the Balochistan target
killing case, the Supreme Court said that the Provincial Government
is ruling at its own risk. A three-judge SC bench, headed by
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, said the Government
is responsible for providing security to people but Federal
and Provincial Governments have failed to do so. “Those who
are responsible will be held accountable according to law and
constitution,” the court ruled.
Stressing on a collective effort
for peace in Karachi, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President
Nawaz Sharif said that the political parties with militant wings
are involved in unrest of the city and are also part of the
Government.
Answering different queries
regarding daily bases target killing in Karachi, Nawaz Sharif
said that the Supreme Court in its verdict had named the parties
having militant wings but these parties are sitting in the coalition
Government so how the situation of Karachi could improve under
these conditions.
December 6
Two MQM activists were shot
dead in the remit of the Napier Police Station in Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh. Police said that the two men were
passing through the Old Haji Camp on Syed Mehmood Shah Road
on a motorbike when they were targeted in a drive-by shooting.
The victims were identified as Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Owais,
MQM activists of the party’s Lyari sector.
A Police Constable was shot
dead on Gachero link road in Karachi in the night of December
5. Police said one Nisar Ahmed Bughio and his son were going
in a car to their native Phull Bhugio village. When they reached
Gachero link road, near the Moro bypass, four gunmen tried to
stop their car and opened fire on it. On hearing the gunshot,
constables Ghulam Mohammad Korie, resident of Moro, and Yaqeen
Ali Mangenhar posted on the bypass rushed to the spot. In the
ensuing encounter, Constable Ghulam Muhammad and Nisar Ahmed
Bhugio were wounded. Ghulam Mohammad died later.
One person, identified as 24-year-old
Bilal Madni, was shot dead under a bridge in Nazimabad in Karachi.
A dead body, stuffed in a gunny
bag, was found on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road in Karachi. The victim
had been shot in the head, the officials said, adding that the
body also bore torture marks.
21 suspects, including a target
killer, were arrested following an encounter by the Sohrab Goth
Police in Karachi. The officials also recovered three repeaters,
six TT pistols, 12 kilograms of chars, two rickshaws and six
motorcycles from their possession. After receiving information
about the whereabouts of the target killer involved in more
than 50 murder cases a Police team raided his hideout in Indus
Society on Super Highway. On seeing the Police, the suspects
opened fire, which was replayed by the Police, leading to an
encounter. After an hour-long shootout, the Police arrested
the target killer, Ahmed Zia, in an injured condition, while
his 10 accomplices managed to flee. During the search operation,
the police held another 20 suspects.
A cache of arms, ammunition
and explosives were seized during a routine checking of vehicles
at the entry point of Ghotki District. The seized cache included
six suicide jackets, 39 launchers, a rocket, three Kalashnikov
rifles, 62 hand-grenades, detonators, a pistol and three rolls
of wire. The cache was recovered from a truck coming from Waziristan
Agency in FATA and was destined to Karachi.
Four suspected militants were
killed when a US drone fired two missiles at a house in Mir
Ali tehsil of North Waziristan Agency in FATA. Local
people said missiles hit the house of one Shaheedullah in the
Mubarak Shahi village at around 5am, killing four suspects.
The house was destroyed. A security official in Miranshah confirmed
the air strike and casualties. The identities of the militants
remain unclear, but the area is dominated by militant ‘commander’
Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
The Shalober Amn Committee
volunteers clashed with the militants in Qamberabad area of
Bara. The peace body claimed to have killed two militants in
the clash but this could not be verified from militant and independent
sources.
Soon after the FC vacated two
check posts in Akakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber
Agency, the militants came to the area and blew up an overhead
tank at one of the abandoned check posts. Similarly, the militants
plundered the gates and furniture from the Government Middle
School for Boys in Gandaw area of Sepah in the same tehsil,
where also the FC had vacated one check post. The FC abandoned
these check posts and returned to its nearby bases. An unnamed
security official confirmed the vacation of the posts by the
FC and said it was just relocation and adjustment of the posts.
He added that relocation was not an unusual step by the force
and was done as part of the overall security plan.
Security Forces defused an explosive
device along with two mortar shells, planted along the roadside
in Sheikhwal area of Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency. Officials
said that the explosives were planted along the road to target
security forces and NATO vehicles.
The security officials closed
the crossing at Torkham border, two hours ahead of its scheduled
time, and arrested at least 30 suspects during checking. Twenty
of the arrested men were later released after initial investigations.
Officials said that the border was closed at around 5pm after
they received a high alert order from the high-ups. In routine,
the border is closed at 7pm.
One of the persons injured in
the suicide blast at a mourning procession taken out from the
Imambargah (Shia place of commemoration) Qasar-e-Shabbir in
Dhok Syedan area on Misrial Road in Rawalpindi District in the
night of November 21, succumbed to his injuries raising the
death toll to 21. As reported earlier, at least 20 mourners,
including two minors, were killed and more than 30, including
three Police personnel and five children, were wounded in the
blast.
The Margalla and Shalimar Police
Stations arrested a total of 24 suspects during search operations
in their respective areas, the Police spokesman said. The search
operation was conducted in various places, including slums,
Afghan habitats, under-construction buildings, houses and hotels.
Police thwarted a major terrorism
bid as it confiscated a truck loaded with explosives in a raid
at a godown at Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
in the night. The Police on a tip-off raided a warehouse in
the Chamkani area of Peshawar. During the raid, 31,000-metre
prima card, 150 bags of chemicals, wireless receivers and sets,
remotes and batteries were recovered.
The security officials closed
the crossing at Torkham border, two hours ahead of its scheduled
time, and arrested at least 30 suspects during checking. Twenty
of the arrested men were later released after initial investigations.
Officials said that the border was closed at around 5pm after
they received a high alert order from the high-ups. In routine,
the border is closed at 7pm.
A complete shutter-down strike
was observed in various Baloch dominated Districts of Balochistan
against the killing of three alleged militants by FC in the
Gebon area of Turbat District. The Baloch National Front an
alliance of several nationalist parties, had given the strike
call to condemn the killing.
The FC personnel claimed that
during a raid at a house in the Gebon area, some 20 kilometers
away from Turbat city, they had killed three alleged militants
and arrested two others following an exchange of fire. Sources,
however, said that relatives of the three deceased, Hakim Shahsawar,
Rasool Bukhsh and Maula Bukhsh, insisted that they were unarmed
and were asleep when they were targeted.
As reported earlier, at least
three militants, identified as Hakim Shahsawar, Rasool Bukhsh
and Maula Bukhsh, were killed in an exchange of fire with FC
in the Gebon area of Turbat District.
The Lahore High Court adjourned
the hearing of a petition filed LeT and JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad
Saeed seeking Government assistance in his defence in a US court
hearing a lawsuit moved by relatives of Americans killed in
the November 26, 2008 (26/11) Mumbai attacks. The court adjourned
the hearing because amicus curie (friend of the court) Advocate
Ahmar Bilal Sufi was out of the country and unable to attend.
The hearing will resume on December 31. At the last hearing,
the court had sought a reply to the petition from the Ministry
of Defence.
Saeed in his petition has said
that the Government had announced on December 31, 2010, shortly
after the lawsuit was filed in the US, that it would defend
then ISI chief Lieutenant General Pasha in court. Saeed said
that under Article 25 of the Constitution, all citizens were
equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of
the law, so the Government should also defend him in the US
court.
The plaintiffs in the US court
have filed nine claims, seeking a total of USD 675,000 (PKR
65.27 million), against Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Azam Cheema
and Sajid Majid, of the LeT, as well as former ISI chiefs Lieutenant
General Nadeem Taj and Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha
and alleged ISI members Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali. They
are alleged to have provided material support to the Mumbai
attackers.
The TTP is preparing for a leadership
change which could see more moderate deputy leader of the group,
Waliur Rehman, likely to succeed Hakimullah Mehsud, whose extreme
violence has alienated enough of his fighters to significantly
weaken him, military sources told Reuters. An unnamed senior
Pakistan Army official based in the South Waziristan Agency
of FATA, the group’s stronghold, said that Mehsud, who led the
TTP for the last three years, has lost operational control of
the movement and the trust of his fighters. “Rehman is fast
emerging as a consensus candidate to formally replace Hakimullah.
Now we may see the brutal commander replaced by a more pragmatic
one for whom reconciliation with the Pakistani government has
become a priority.” The change of leadership could mean less
violence against the state but more attacks against US-led forces
in Afghanistan.
December 7
Seven persons killed and at
least four injured as the wave of violence and killings continued
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Sporadic firing
by unknown miscreants took lives of two persons in Machar Colony
and Orangi Town’s Sabri Chowk areas. A man, identified as Jahanzeb,
was killed in Gulshan-i-Maymar’s Jhanjhar Goth. Another man
was gunned shot dead in Manghopir.
Three bodies were recovered
from a rickshaw in Garden’s area. Police reports said that the
rickshaw was stolen from Nabi Bhaksh locality a day ago and
the deceased were kidnapped before being shot dead. However,
all three men were yet to be identified.
At least four people were injured
in Clifton, Korangi and Kati Pahari areas.
A Police official, SI Manzoor
Hussain, was killed in Pishin and three people suffered bullet
injuries near Sub-jail of Pishin town of same District in Balochistan.
Gunmen riding a motorcycle attacked Sub-Inspector Manzoor Hussain
near Sub-jail Pishin. He received several bullets and died while
being taken to hospital. “It could be an incident of targeted
killing on sectarian grounds as the deceased belonged to Shia
community,” a Police official said. The slain official is a
native of Kabirwala in Punjab. Last month, Sub-Inspector Mujahid
Hussain was gunned down in Pishin.
Tree persons, Mohammad Islam,
Mohammad Hussain and Sajjad, were injured when armed men on
a motorbike opened fire on them in Panjgur town of same District.
Five persons were injured when
an explosion occurred at Jan Mohammad Road in Quetta. The exact
nature of the blast could not be ascertained as yet.
Two FC personnel, Havildar Adil
Hussain and Sepoy Niaz Ali, were abducted by unidentified militants
in an attack on their checkpoint in Ghulam Khan Tehsil
of North Waziristan Agency in FATA. An official of the FC said
that around 9am more than a dozen militants came into Pakistani
territory from Khost province of Afghanistan and attacked a
SFs check post in Bangi Dar, 12 kilometres north of Miranshah,
the headquarters of the agency.” “Both personnel were taken
by militants across the border,” the official added. So far
no one has claimed responsibility for the abduction and security
forces have cordoned off the area and started a search operation.
LI militants forced their way
into a Government school and stole its educational equipment
and furniture in the Gandaw area of Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency.
The militants did not damage the building. The school, like
others in the Sipah area, has been closed because of the militancy
for three years. Sipah is the home area of LI ‘chief’ Mangal
Bagh.
Only six of 112 schools destroyed
by militants during past three years in Mohmand Agency have
been rebuilt so far. “About 2,000 students, including girls,
have been deprived of education owing to destruction of schools
only in Safi tehsil of the agency,” education officials said.
Assistant political agent, Ghallanai, Jamshed Khan, told Dawn
that now the tribesmen had agreed that owners of schools in
tribal region would be responsible for protection of their buildings.
He said that from now on the owner would rebuild the school
if it was targeted by militants.
Tribesmen loyal to militant
‘commander’ Mullah Nazir have extended by 10 days the December
5 deadline for Mehsud tribesmen to leave Wana of South Waziristan
Agency. The extension follows a jirga meeting of the
tribal elders of the Ahmedzai tribe and Mullah Nazir’s group.
The jirga headed by the ‘commander’ of Mullah Nazir group for
the Shakai area, Tahsil Khan, informed the participants that
the extension of the deadline was only limited to the Shakai
area. A tribal leader who attended the jirga said that most
of the Mehsud tribesmen have already left the area. “The fresh
deadline is for the few people living in the far-flung mountainous
areas of Shakai who have to walk from there,” he said.
Police and the Bomb Disposable
Squad foiling an attempt of terrorist attack, defused a seven-kilogramme
bomb planted near Oskai checkpost in Lower Dir area of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The Police officials said that remote control bomb
was prepared locally, as the explosive material was packed in
a bucket, concealed in a sack and planted near the checkpost.
The Police taking action on a tip off reached on the spot along
with bomb disposable squad and defused it successfully.
Police recovered 6,000kg of
chemicals being used in making explosives as well as illegal
wireless devices during a raid on a warehouse in Chamkani area
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of KP. Police raided the
godown while acting on a tip and found the explosives in a truck,
Deputy Superintendent of Police Waqar Ahmad said. The officers
also recovered a wireless base set, 52 receivers, prima cord
(wire) and safety fuses in the truck, he said. Police arrested
the owner of the warehouse, but the individual running the warehouse
escaped.
The TTP has set up a page on
Facebook to recruit enthusiasts to write for a quarterly magazine
and to edit video, spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan confirmed. The
Umar Media TTP page, which has more than 270 likes, appears
to have been created in September and have just a handful of
messages written in English. “Umar Media is proud to announce
online jobs opportunities (sic),” says the first post on the
networking website, written on October 25. “Job description
(sic) is video editing, translations, sharing, uploading, downloading
and collection of required data,” it says, giving an email address
and asking readers to “plz spread it. This Facebook account
may be deleted.” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan confirmed to
AFP by telephone that the faction was “temporarily” using the
page “to fulfil its requirements” before launching its own website.
US-based organisation SITE Intelligence Group says the TTP uses
Facebook as “a recruitment centre”. “Through its official media
arm, Umar Media, the TTP has taken to Facebook to recruit contributors
for their media work and the group’s forthcoming publication
‘Ayah-E-Khilafat’ (Sign of the Caliphate),” it said in a statement.
December 8
Unidentified gunman killed two
activists of MQM in different parts of the city. In the first
incident, an activist of MQM, Muhammad Abid (40), was killed
near Gol market situated in Paposh Nagar under Nazimabad Police
Station.
Another worker affiliated with
MQM, was shot dead in Jahangirabad area under Rizvi Police Station.
A woman belonged to Bohra community,
identified as Munira Banu, was killed in Sadder area under Sadder
Police Station.
December 9
A US drone attack killed four
militants, including a senior al Qaeda ‘commander’ Muhammad
Ahmed Almansoor, in Tappi village in the North Waziristan Agency
of FATA. The drone fired missiles at a house with Almansoor
inside, destroying two rooms and a car. Four drones were seen
flying over the area during the attack, residents and Government
officials said. Military intelligence official sources said
that it’s the second al Qaeda leader to be killed in strikes
by the unmanned aircraft in three days. A similar attack on
December 6 in North Waziristan killed another senior al Qaeda
commander, Abu Zaid, who replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi as one of
the militant group’s most powerful figures, intelligence sources
said.
The body of one of the two abducted
soldiers of the FC was found on the Miranshah-Ghulam Khan Road.
The two soldiers, Havaldar Adil Hussain and Sepoy Niaz Ali,
were abducted by unidentified militants in an attack on their
checkpoint in Ghulam Khan Tehsil of North Waziristan
Agency on December 7. The body of Havaldar Adil Hussain was
found on the Miranshah-Ghulam Khan Road.
A security man was killed and
his colleague received injuries when they tried to defuse a
bomb in Sheen Qamar area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency, reports
Dawn. Officials said that soldier Hashim Khan and his colleague
Zafar Ali spotted a bomb along the road during routine patrol
in Sheen Qamar area. They were trying to detach the wires of
the bomb when it went off, killing Hashim Khan on the spot and
injuring Zafar Ali.
A veterinary centre was blown
up by unidentified militants in Dawezai Haji Kor area of Pandiali
tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
At least five persons were killed
in separate incidents in Karachi. Former union council Nazim,
Intisar Alvi (40), was shot dead in a targeted attack in Petal
Wali Gali of Gulbahar in Jahangirabad.
The body of a young man was
found from bushes within the limits of Malir Cantonment Police
Station. Police believe that the victim was abducted and later
shot dead.
A person, identified as Mairaj
Qureshi (30), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in New Karachi area.
A senior member of Qureshi community,
identified as Mairaj Qureshi (45) was targeted in the New Karachi
Police limits.
A Police Constable Saqib Zuberi,
was killed by unidentified armed assailants in Aziz Bhatti area.
Rangers Sindh carried out a
targeted operation in Bilal Colony area of Korangi, arresting
15 suspects, including three wanted criminals. A spokesman for
the paramilitary force said that the Rangers had also arrested
two dozen suspects, including a target killer and an arms supplier,
from Surjani and Ghas Mandi areas. The spokesman added that
a SMG, an MP-5 rifle and 19 other fire arms with satellite phone
and telescope were recovered from the possession of suspects
during the operation.
Unidentified assailants shot
dead five persons and injured three others near Shaikh Yousaf
Chowk in Dera Ismail Khan town of same District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the local Police, armed assailants attacked a vehicle
near Shaikh Yousaf Chowk while it was on its way to Dera Ismail
Khan from Bannu Road, killing five and injuring three in the
post-dawn attack.
The office of an international
NGO, Marie Stopes Society (MMS), was damaged in a blast in Swabi
town of same District. The office is located a few yards away
from the offices of District Coordination Officer and District
Police Officer on Swabi-Topi Road. Officials said that the explosive
material weighing at least five kilogram was packed in a canister
and left outside the main gate of MSS office. The explosive
material went off at around 5:20am and damaged the main gate
and boundary wall of the office, they added.
The Principal of Al Salfia Residential
College, identified as Habibullah Mujahid, who had been missing
on July 26 2012, on Airport Road of Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan, returned home.
The photographs of LeT training
camps in Sindh and motorboats used by the 10 terrorists who
attacked Mumbai are among evidence presented to an anti-terrorism
court on December 8 conducting the trial of seven Pakistanis
charged with involvement in the 2008 strikes. Officials of the
FIA presented the evidence to anti-terrorism court Judge Chaudhary
Habib-ur-Rehman during a hearing conducted behind closed doors
in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. The motorboats and other items,
currently in the custody of the FIA custody, were recovered
in January 2009. The articles presented by the FIA officials
were made part of the judicial record after an initial examination
by the judge.
The FIA officials told the court
that the terrorists involved in the attacks trained in the Arabian
Sea on boats named Al-Hussaini, Al-Atta and Al-fouz. They also
trained in LeT camps in Mirpur Sakro area of Thatta District
in Sindh and Yousaf Goth and Landhi areas of Karachi, the officials
said. These training camps covered an area ranging between 25
acres and 48 acres, the officials said. One of the seven suspects
currently on trial, Hammad Amin Sadiq, had confessed that the
10 attackers had been kept in the training camps before being
sent to Mumbai, the officials said. Sadiq acted as a facilitator
for the attackers while they were in Sindh, the officials said.
Among the seven Pakistani suspects is also Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi,
the LeT's ‘operations commander’.
Special Prosecutor Chaudhary
Zulifqar Ali had told PTI that the FIA officials recorded their
statements and provided details of 350 articles found in the
LeT training camps, including life jackets and a "pink
foam" or pink colored packaging material. The "pink
foam" has emerged as a crucial piece of evidence in investigations
of the Mumbai attacks on both sides of the border. Indian investigators
found samples of the material at three sites where attackers
planted bombs in Mumbai in November 2008.
The Governments of Pakistan,
Afghanistan and the UNHCR have reaffirmed their commitment that
voluntary and dignified repatriation is the best solution to
end protracted Afghan refugee situation in Pakistan, during
the 22nd Tripartite Commission meeting. The participants of
the Tripartite Commission meeting supported and emphasised the
proposal to enhance assistance for voluntarily returns from
$150 to $200. Afghan Minister, Dr Anwary said, “The Government
of Afghanistan supports the dignified and voluntary repatriation
of Afghan refugees, and recognises the need to increase efforts
to facilitate voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from
Pakistan.” UNHCR’s representative, Neill Wright said, “Efforts
should be made to ensure that the Afghan refugee issue is not
politicized,” There are 1.66 million registered Afghans currently
living in Pakistan. This year, nearly 83,000 Afghan refugees
have returned to Afghanistan under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary
return programme from Pakistan and Iran.
Hundreds of people, including
local residents, ulema and students of religious seminaries,
staged a protest demonstration at the 9th Avenue Chowk Islamabad,
demanding registration of an FIR against Dr Iftikhar Khan, a
writer, under Blasphemy law. Dr Khan has been accused by his
nephew, Shaikh Usman, a resident of Rawalpindi, of writing objectionable
comments in his book on Islam. Earlier, accompanied by local
residents and clerics, Usman made repeated visits of sector
1-9 Police Station asking the police to lodge an FIR against
Dr Khan. But the Police said they would not register a case
without investigating the allegation. However, they said the
writing of Dr Khan could be interpreted as blasphemous.
December 10
Nine persons - three Policemen,
a soldier, two civilians and three suicide bombers - were killed
while five others, including a SHO, sustained injuries in a
suicide attack targeting the Kakki Police Station in Bannu Districts
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The sources said three suicide bombers
tried to enter the Police Station, 17 kilometers away from the
Bannu city. When the guard at the entrance resisted, one of
them blew himself up while another bomber went to hide in the
nearby mosque and the third one was killed by the Policemen.
Hearing the blast, armed civilians in the area reached the spot
to assist the Police. The bomber, who was hiding in the mosque,
attacked the civilians with a hand-grenade and then opened fire,
killing three Policemen, two civilians and a soldier. In the
retaliatory fire, the Police killed the bomber inside the mosque.
Those killed included Police constables Imranullah, Bashir Khan
and Ziauddin, Pakistan Army soldier Naeemullah Khan and civilians
Hayatullah and Balqiaz Khan. The injured included SHO of the
Police Station, Abdul Hameed Marwat, Police constables Aqib,
Naeemullah and Said Rehman and civilian Noor Ali Khan.
Talking to reporters by phone
from an undisclosed location, TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan
claimed responsibility for the attack on the Kakki Police Station.
“We wanted to avenge the recent killing of late TTP ‘chief’
Baitullah Mehsud’s nephew Ibrahim Mehsud by the Police.” Ibrahim
Mehsud was killed in Bannu.
Eight persons were injured in
a remote-controlled blast close to the venue of ANP’s political
meeting in Peshawar where party chief Asfandfyar Wali Khan and
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti were present.
The blast took place in a parking area, more than a kilometer
from the venue where the meeting took place despite the terrorist
attack, according to an ANP spokesman. The Bomb Disposal Squad
officials said the bomb was placed by the roadside and injured
eight people who were walking towards the venue. The TTP ‘spokesman’,
Ehsanullah Ehsan, made telephone calls to media offices in Peshawar
to make the claim, saying the attack was “just the beginning.”
At least 10 persons, including
two Rangers personnel, a Bomb Disposal Squad Official and a
Policeman, were killed in separate acts of violence. Two Rangers
personnel, identified as Hatim and Enayat were killed while
two traffic constables and a passerby were injured by two unidentified
armed assailants at a temporary checkpost situated at Super
Highway in the precincts of Sachal Police Station.
A BDS official, identified as
Syed Ali Abbas (35) was killed by two unidentified armed assailants
in Khajji Ground in the precincts of Rizvia Police Station.
A Policeman, Saqib Zubairi,
was shot dead near Baitul Mukaram Mosque situated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
in Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
A person, identified as Nadeem
(40) was shot dead at Usmania Colony in Jamsheed Quarters Police
Station.
A man, Zahid (32) was shot dead
and his friend Humayun was injured in Garden area in Garden
Police Station. Victims were activist of the PPP.
A man, Hajan (35), a MQM activist
was killed in Quaidabad area within the precincts of Shah Latif
Police Station. Victim was activist of the PPP.
A man, Samiullah (22) was shot
dead in Karimabad area in the limits of Sharrefabad Police Station.
Body of a young man was found
from Sarmast Bazaar in the precincts of Shershah Police Station.
A person, identified as Sami
Shahzad Masi (34), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in Sharifabad.
A suspected terrorist recorded
his confessional statement before the court of a judicial magistrate
in the Orangi Town twin blasts case. At least two people were
killed and over a dozen others were injured in the explosions
at an hour-long interval outside an Imambargah in Orangi Town
on November 21, 2012.
Rangers personnel detained 24
suspects, including 17 belonging to a Political Party, and seized
26 pistols, five MP-5 rifles, two 8MM rifles, two repeaters,
one 222 rifle, 952 bullets, an IED, a snatched car and other
stuff in Mehmoodabad and Pak Colony areas.
One person, Noor Jamal, was
killed and three others, Ehsanullah, Noor Jana, and Gohar Zaman,
were injured when unidentified assailants opened fire on a vehicle
at Kaka Waka area of Parachinar, the headquarter of Kurram Agency,
in FATA. Tribal leader Bakht Jamal, who was travelling in the
vehicle, narrowly escaped. The attackers fled after his guards
retaliated. The political administration in a crackdown after
the incident arrested over 30 people under the Collective Territorial
Responsibility Act.
A man, identified as Imdadullah,
was killed and two others, a prayer leader Maulana Rashid Ahmed
Sherodi and Zainul Abidin, were injured in a remote-controlled
blast in Kechibaig area of Sariab in Quetta, the Provincial
capital of Balochistan.
The Chief Justice of Balochistan
High Court, Justice Qazi Faez Esa, said that the Judiciary had
been determined to protect human rights enshrined in the Constitution.
He said that since the Judiciary had taken up the issue of missing
persons, the number of cases pertaining to missing persons had
reduced with the recovery of 75 people. “No institution has
authority to cross its constitutional limits. However, protection
of human rights is the responsibility of the judiciary.”
Facebook over the weekend deleted
the TTP’s recruiting page. The TTP had been using the social
media outlet to seek contributors for a new quarterly magazine.
Facebook’s reason for deleting the page was not reported.
To promote girls’ education
in Pakistan and other countries with the support of the international
community, Pakistan and UNESCO, established The Malala Fund
for Girls’ Education.
December 11
At least five persons, including
an activist of MQM, were killed in separate acts of targeted
violence in Karachi. Two persons, Nadeem (42) and Aslam Qiamkhani
(40) were killed by unidentified armed assailants in near Allah
Wala Chowk within the jurisdiction of Bilal Colony Police Station.
Police said that victims were affiliated with a local weekly
newspaper.
An activist of MQM, identified
as Nadeem Abbasi (38), belonged to Shia community, was killed
by unidentified armed assailants in Jamshed Quarters area within
the precincts of Jamshed Quarters Police Station.
A man, Zaheer was shot dead
and Hashim was shot injured in Orangi Town within the limits
of Iqbal Market Police Station.
A a man belonging to Hindu community,
identified as Aakash (23) was shot dead in Hasan Owlia village
within the limits of Pak Colony Police Station.
Rangers were detained more than
half a dozen suspects and recovered arms and ammunition during
the operation cordoned off some localities in Sohrab Goth. Rangers
conducted a door-to-door search operation following the killing
of its two personnel in an armed attack on December 10, 2012.
A Police Constable, Altaf who
had sustained injury in a firing incident on December 5, 2012,
died at the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta. The victim
belonged to the Hazara community.
A doctor was abducted from Link
Badini Road in the Sariab area of Quetta.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls’ primary school in the Aka Khel area of
Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA. The total number
of the destroyed Government schools in Khyber Agency has gone
beyond 80.
Unidentified militants blew
up a mobile tower of Telenor company in the Kassai area of Mian
Mandi in Mohmand Agency, disconnecting hundreds of customers
from the network, Assistant Political Agent Jamshed Khan said.
Nobody was killed, he added.
The CIA arrested two terrorists
and seized suicide jackets and explosive material on Canal Road
of Lahore.
The KP Government is taking
measures to increase terrorism-related convictions. "We
have prepared a draft bill aiming to safeguard police, prosecutors
and judges involved in terrorism cases," Secretary of Home
and Tribal Affairs Azam Khan said. "The draft has been
dispatched to the federal government to strengthen the Anti-Terrorism
Court." "Presently, the conviction rate in anti-terrorism
court is only 4%, which is surprisingly low," he said.
"We are taking a number of measures, including strengthening
(our) Forensic Science Laboratory to constitute solid and science-based
cases against the terrorists and convict them in courts,"
he said. The new initiative also aims to remove the fear factor
from the minds of judges, prosecutors and police involved in
dealing with terrorists, Khan said: "We have also drafted
steps to protect witnesses against terrorists," he said.
Under the current system, the Taliban walk free from the court
because of lack of solid evidence against them, he said, adding
that the new law will improve the conviction rate in terrorism-related
cases. As many as 914 terrorism-related cases were filed in
the Swat courts during the last five years. Judges convicted
the suspects in only nine of those cases, media reported.
PML-N President Nawaz Sharif
said that repeated martial laws in the country had increased
the sense of deprivation among the Baloch while the present
Government did nothing to redress their grievances. He was
talking to leaders of BNP, including its Vice President Jehanzeb
Jamal Deeni, Joint Secretary Jehanzeb Baloch and Rauf Mengal,
who called on the PML-N chief in Raiwind. The PML-N chief and
BNP leaders exchanged views on national and political situation,
especially with reference to Balochistan.
Nawaz said that a solution to
the problems of Balochistan and arrest of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s
murderers was essential for removing the sense of deprivation
among the Baloch. It is national responsibility that complaints
of the people of Balochistan are addressed, he said, adding
that the present Government, instead of resolving their problems,
had aggravated them.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
said Pakistan is making all out efforts for peace and stability
in Afghanistan, because “we are neighbours and our generations
will have to live together”. Talking to an 18-member Afghan
Parliamentary delegation in Islamabad, Premier Raja said exchange
of delegations between the two countries would enhance mutual
trust, understanding and help in better relations. Referring
to the recent visit of High Peace Council Chairman Salahuddin
Rabbani and Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, he expressed
pleasures that the relations are on the right direction.
A member of the Afghan delegation
welcomed the proposal of Pakistan to convene ulema conference.
He suggested that interactions of academia, media and other
sections of the society should also be encouraged for better
understanding between the two countries. The PM assured the
Afghan delegation that he will look into the complaint regarding
delay in clearance of Afghan goods at Karachi seaport and welcomed
the proposal for interaction of all sections of the society
of the two countries. The premier expressed the hope that the
delegation will have useful discussions during its present visit
to Pakistan.
The Peshawar High Court directed
the principal staff officer at the General Headquarters to form
a board for looking into the suspected custodial killing of
a missing person and observed that if any official of the armed
forces or intelligence agencies was found involved in it, he
should be tried by court martial. A bench comprising Chief Justice
Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth took exception
to the killing of Anar Gul, who had gone missing in May 2011,
and observed that his death appeared to be the custodial killing.
It also directed the Provincial Home Secretary, the PPO and
the DIG (investigation) to constitute a committee to probe the
incident and submit comprehensive report as to who was responsible
for whisking him away and killing him. The bench directed the
principal staff officer at GHQ to form an inquiry board under
the Army Act to find in whose custody Anar Gul was and under
what law he was held.
December 12
At least 15 persons, including
political workers and a Police Inspector were killed in separate
act of violence. At least two persons included a local leader
of PML-N, Sadiq Shah and a Policeman, Zahid, were killed and
eight others were injured when a three-kilogramme IED, planted
near a makeshift restaurant in Muzafarabad Colony Landhi, exploded
within the precincts of Quaidabad Police Station in Karachi.
Police officials suspected the involvement of terrorist outfits,
including TTP and an extortion mafia behind the incident. Also,
two blasts were reported within a couple of hours in Mianwali
Colony, Manghopir area.
Pakistan Custom’s Sub-Inspector,
identified as Syed Bahawal Shah (50) and his nephew, Bakar Shah
(25), were shot dead in Quaidabad Police Station.
A Policeman, Mukhtiar (44),
was killed at Ittehad Town in Baldia Town police Station.
A worker of MQM, Abid (35),
was shot dead in Kharadar.
Zubair, member of Bengali Action
Committee (BAC) was killed in Zia Colony.
Munir Shah was gunned down on
Tariq Road. An MQM supporter was killed inside his shop at Mithadar.
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Abdul Ghaffar was killed in Rasheedabad.
Tasleem was shot dead at Gulbahar near Patel Gali. A body packed
in a gunny bag was found from Orangi Town. A man was stabbed
to death in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Another man was killed at Saiful
Goth. One man was shot dead in Ayub Goth.
Superintendent of Taluka Hospital
Mirokhan, Dr Abdul Wahab Wadho, and his driver, Musarrat Abro,
were abducted on the Indus Highway near Thariri Hashim village,
within the remit of the Wagan Police Station of Larkana District
in Sindh.
Three persons were killed and
seven other were injured in sectarian clash in the Konodas area
of Gilgit-Baltistan. Students of Karakoram University belonging
to different sects clashed over a religious function at the
University. Protesters also ran into the law enforcement agencies
and the law enforcement agencies attempted to stop and quell
them with tear-gasses. The Karakoram University was closed immediately
for indefinite days. Section 144 of Penal Code of Pakistan
was imposed whereby any unlawful assembly and pylon riding is
banned.
A volunteer of peace committee
was killed when unidentified assailants attacked him with a
hand grenade at Mazari Cheena of Baizai tehsil in Mohmand
Agency of FATA. According to political authorities, the volunteer
of the peace committee whose name could not be ascertained immediately
was on his way home when the miscreants attacked him with a
hand grenade at Mazari Cheena, killing him on the spot.
The body of a peace committee
volunteer was found at Takhta Beg checkpost in Khyber Agency.
The volunteer was killed by unidentified assailants somewhere
else and dumped his body near the checkpost.
A soldier working with the FWO
on the Bannu-Ghulam Khan Highway was killed and three labourers
were injured when unidentified militants opened fire on them
in Mir Ali of North Waziristan Agency.
Militants blew up a tube-well
in Haider Kor area of Haleemzai tehsil in Mohmand Agency, cutting
off the water supply to local tribesmen and the local population
of the area. The bombing destroyed the water facility, Assistant
Political Agent Jamshed Khan confirmed.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls' primary school at the Nazir Shah Kaley
area of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. The school
sustained severe damage, but authorities reported no casualties.
At least, two teenage brothers,
identified as, Tauqeer Abbas (16) and Zaheer Abbas (14), were
injured when a bomb exploded at Dhoke Inayat in Pindigheb town.
Dera Ismail Khan Health EDO
Dr Ashiq Saleem went missing along with his driver and paramedical
official Ataullah in area between Kohat and Darra Adamkhel in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Dr Ashiq Saleem went missing as he was on
his way back home from Peshawar. According to Police, the EDO
contacted his family at 9pm on December 11 and said that he
was passing through Darra Adamkhel. Later, the contact with
him discontinued with no report if he was abducted as the phone
numbers of Dr. Ashiq and his two associates are closed.
Police neutralised a rocket
found in a graveyard in Chakarkot village in Kohat District.
The sources said the Police were tipped off that a rocket was
dumped by unidentified person in the graveyard. The police and
personnel of the bomb disposal unit took the RPG-7 rocket into
possession.
Mir Bakhtiar Domki, Member of
Balochistan Assembly, was attacked near the Bolan area of same
District, in which he remained safe. Some of Domki’s guards
were injured in the incident. In February, Domki’s wife and
daughter were shot dead in Karachi by armed motorcyclists.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
urged the Afghanistan Government to refrain from unfounded accusations
against Pakistan. Terming as “baseless” the allegations leveled
by Afghanistan regarding Pakistan’s involvement in the attack
on the head of National Directorate of Security, the Prime Minister
said the Afghan Government should provide solid proofs about
the incident. In his opening remarks at the Cabinet’s weekly
meeting, Raja said Pakistan is a peaceful country and gives
value to its relations with neighbouring states in particular.
He said the world and the neighbouring
countries must realise that Pakistan considers terrorism and
extremism as major challenges. “Instead of blame game, we should
join hands to defeat the nefarious designs of terrorists,” he
said and assured that the Pakistan Government would fight extremists
at all fronts.
Richard G. Olson, US Ambassador
to Pakistan, said in an interview with the BBC that talks with
Haqqani Group could also be initiated. He also expressed the
strong possibility that US latest reconciliation policy could
be applied to all extremist groups, and as such Haqqani Group
also stood a chance to benefit. However, regarding the Pakistani
chapter of Haqqani Group, he said that taking any further action
against the ‘most bothersome’ Haqqani network was the responsibility
of Pakistan’s Government. “We understand that Pakistan faces
challenges similar to America in fight against terrorism, besides
the challenge of terrorism tackling which was the foremost duty
of Government and masses of Pakistan, added Olson.
A jirga of Mehsud elders
said that the Mehsud can’t spend life as IDPs anymore. The
jirga said “Enough is enough. Mehsuds can no more spend life
as IDPs out of their own territory. The security forces should
clear the tribal areas forthwith as they can’t live in camps
any longer”. The political agent and other Government functionaries
were also in attendance.
There are clear indications
to suggest that the MQM abandoned its much trumpeted plan of
holding a countrywide referendum to determine whose Pakistan
the people wanted, Quaid-e-Azam’s or Taliban’s, following a
threat by TTP to target MQM in Karachi, the provincial capitall
of Sindh. The referendum idea was floated by Altaf Hussain in
a telephonic speech from London on October 14, 2012 following
the failed assassination attempt on Malala Yusufzai by a TTP
shooter.
The MQM chief had asked the
people of Pakistan to decide whether they wanted to live in
a Pakistan being run by the Taliban or the one that was envisioned
by the Quaid-i-Azam. The MQM subsequently announced on October
18 that it would hold a national referendum after Eidul Azha.
A few days later, calling the
threat of religious extremism the biggest challenge faced by
Pakistan, MQM’s deputy convener Farooq Sattar announced that
the party has finally decided to hold the nationwide referendum
on November 8.
Reacting sharply to the MQM’s
formal announcement to hold the referendum, the TTP ‘spokesman’
Ehsanullah Ehsan announced on November 3 that the Taliban had
decided to target the MQM activists in Karachi.
Peace talks between the Taliban
and Afghanistan authorities should be held in Kabul and not
on foreign soil, Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar said. She
also told France’s Le Monde daily that Islamabad did not wish
to control the Afghan peace process.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prisons Department
announced the termination of 11 jail wardens for "gross
misconduct" after declaring them responsible for a Bannu
jailbreak on April 15. On April 15, more than 200 militants
stormed the prison, freeing 384 inmates, including Adnan Rashid,
who allegedly masterminded an attempt to kill then-President
General Pervez Musharraf in 2003. The disciplinary action, under
Rule 14 of the Efficiency and Discipline Rules 2011, came after
a hearing and assessment of employees’ responses to the show-cause
notices served to them.
December 13
At least four persons, including
two Police men killed in separate incidents in Karachi. A Police
Constable, identified as Shamim Ahmed (45), was killed close
to the Malir District Courts within the remit of the Malir City
Police Station. The other Police Constable, Mohammad Kaleem
was shot dead near Baitul Maymar mosque in Kunwari Colony. With
these two killings, the total number of Policemen killed in
targeted attacks on Policemen in Karachi in 2012 rose to 109.
Young man, Syed Sheraz Abbas
Rizvi (35) was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants on
Sir Shah Suleman Road near Bakra Peeri in Liaquatabad.
One of the two victims of December
11, 2012, sectarian attack, Hashmat Ali who was under treatment
at a private hospital, passed away. Police said that Zaheer
Hussain and Hashmat Ali were injured in an attack outside Salman
Farsi mosque in Toori Bangash Colony of Orangi Town. While Mr
Hussain had died on the spot, Mr Ali was rushed to the hospital
where he was admitted.
The Intelligence Agencies have
urged the senior officials of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation
to be alert and restrict their movements or to go on leaves
to save them from ongoing target killing spate.
A person, identified as Naib
Qasid Shabbir Hussain, was killed on Jinnah Road, Quetta. Separately,
a tailor, Gul Sherin was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
on Sarki Road, Quetta.
A person, identified as Dr Lakhvi
Chand, a Hindu spiritual leader was shot dead by unidentified
armed assailants in Mastung market of same District. Dr Chand
was abducted a few months back after which Hindus had started
leaving the area. Later, he was released by the abductors.
Two persons, Ali Khan and Muhammad
Taj were shot injured in Qandhari Bazaar of Quetta.
SF was foiled a terrorism bid
in the area of Mach in Quetta and recovered a huge cache of
weapons and explosive material.
An anti-terrorist court awarded
life imprisonment and fine of three hundred thousand rupees
each to two terrorists, Hussain and Muhammad Hashim in a bomb
explosion case. According to the prosecution, a case was registered
against the two on October 22, 2011, for blowing up a NATO oil
tanker in Bakhtiarabad, Domki.
SFs arrested 15 militants in
a three-day search operation in the Ublan and Bezot areas of
Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The SFs also recovered
heavy arms and ammunition during the raid.
The Journalists from Pakistan
and Afghanistan resolved at the conclusion of a three-day conference
to refrain from glorifying violence and militant acts, and instead
to promote efforts for peace, economic development and prosperity
in both countries. About 50 reporters from Pakistan and Afghanistan
attended the December 10-12 conference, Building Bonds for Peace,
which the Centre for Free Media (CFM) organised. "We need
to work hand in hand to strengthen bonds of peace and fulfill
our obligations as journalists by speaking and telling the truth
despite all odds," Babrak Miankhel, head of the Afghan
journalists’ delegation.
December 14
The dead bodies of Farooq (25)
and his friend Zohaib, the MQM activists, were found near KPT
Quarters situated near the ICI Bridge in the Docks Police Station
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
At least six persons were injured
in a blast near the Sariab Grid Station in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan.
LeJ claimed responsibility for
the killing of Hindu doctor in Mastung on December 13.
The Police arrested a man after
recovering a cache of arms and ammunition from his vehicle near
Matiyal Chowk on Kohat-Pindi Road in the Attock District. The
Police intercepted the Rawalpindi-bound coach coming from Kohat
which was being driven by Sanaullah Khan Afridi of Kohat.
Pakistan has sent a second letter
to Interpol asking it to arrest former President Pervez Musharraf,
who had been declared a fugitive by an anti- terrorism court
for failing to cooperate with investigators probing the 2007
assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The Federal Investigation Agency,
which is probing the assassination, attached arrest warrants
for Musharraf and some pieces of evidence to the letter, which
was sent to Interpol on December 14.
There are 600 terrorism cases
pending in the Sindh courts, it was pointed out at a meeting
chaired by the Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah. The
participants of the meeting were informed that overall there
were 1,438 pending criminal cases.
Shah said the Provincial Government
would provide 200 drivers trained at Benazir Youth Training
Centres to the Police Force. The IGP Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari informed
that 186 vehicles had been deployed for patrolling in the city,
100 new vehicles were engaged with surveillance cameras and
1,300 policemen inducted into the force after a passing-out
parade. “We are awaiting better results now,” he added.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are
pursuing a new peace initiative that would permit some Taliban
leaders to be removed from a UN list of terrorists, a senior
Afghan official said. Azizullah Din Mohammad, a senior member
of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, said that the draft plan
would allow the Taliban to join the Afghan Government or take
part in national, parliamentary or provincial elections. But
before doing so, they must sever any ties to al Qaeda, renounce
violence, and respect the Afghan Constitution.
Some US officials, while talking
to Dawn, rejected the suggestion that the plan would reduce
America’s role in the Afghan peace process. They said Washington
would support any plan that brought peace to Afghanistan and
had always encouraged direct talks between Islamabad and Kabul.
December 15
The PAF base inside the Bacha
Khan International Airport of Peshawar (provincial capital of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) was attacked by militants, with a simultaneous
rocket barrage, resulting in the killing of seven people, including
five militants, and injuries to 40 others. Spokesman for the
TTP, Ehsanullah Ehsan, accepted responsibility of the attack,
saying that the target was the Air Force base. He further said
all 10 militants who attacked the base were suicide bombers.
Five of them had managed to get inside the base.
Five rockets were fired at the
airport. Two of them landed inside the premises, which also
house the Army aviation and Air Force base used against militants
in the adjoining tribal areas.
A teenage girl, who suffered
serious injuries in the bomb blast in Makan Bagh area of Mingora
town in Swat District on December 4, died at a hospital in Peshawar.
Sixteen-year-old Savera was a victim among the six injured in
the blast at her house. The unidentified assailants had planned
to plant the bomb at the house of Kainat, one of the two friends
of Malala Yusufzai, but had mistakenly placed it near another
house in the neighbourhood.
Five persons, including three
Policemen, were killed in separate incidents of violence in
Karachi, Provincial capital of Sindh.
Dead body of a CID official,
identified as Khurram was found in a gunny bag form Lyari Naddi
within the precincts of Garden Police Station.
Bullet-riddled body of another
CID official, Muhammad Sohail was recovered from SPARCO Road
within the vicinity of Mauripur Police Station.
An un-named official of the
CID investigation said that both the victims were close friends
and had performed their duties in CID investigation since 2009.
He added that both the victims were kidnapped from Hub River
Road in the city. It is pertinent to mention here that since
the inception of AEC, over two dozen personnel have been killed
in the city.
A man, identified as Anwar was
killed in Kali Pahari area within the limits of Orangi Town
Police Station.
Two Policemen, Mohsin and Rizwan
of Orangi Town Police Station were attacked by some unidentified
culprits, who opened fire on them near Banaras Bridge within
the limits of Pirabad Police Station. Resultantly, Mohsin died
and Rizwan was injured.
An unidentified dead body, stuffed
in a gunny bag, was found form Kashti Chawk, Lyari within the
limits of Nippier Police Station.
December 16
Security Forces killed five
more militants – said to be Uzbeks – in a fierce encounter in
Pawaki village, just one kilometer from the PAF airbase in Peshawar
(provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), clearing the area
off miscreants after the December 15 night’s attack on the Bacha
Khan International Airport and PAF base. All together 10 militants,
two civilians and two SFs were killed in the two days operation.
The airport was cleared 16 hours after the assault. Officials
said that 10 militants armed with suicide jackets, two explosive-laden
vehicles, hand-grenades, rocket launchers and automatic weapons
stormed the airbase at around 8:15pm and tried to enter the
airport building on Saturday night.
The TTP had claimed responsibility
for the attack, saying it had sent 10 attackers to accomplish
the mission. The TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan called different
media organisations to announce that their target was the PAF
installations at the airbase.
Militants blew up two CD shops
with explosives and damaged adjacent shops in Saddar and main
bazaar of Nowshera but no loss of life was reported. The two
CD shops were destroyed and several adjacent shops were partially
damaged in the explosions. Shop owners said that they had been
repeatedly receiving threats from militants to “look for alternative
source of livelihood” or face “dire consequences”.
Unidentified militants blew
up the building of PTCL exchange in Lachi town of Kohat District.
Police said that militants planted explosives at the boundary
wall of the telephone exchange building and blew it up. The
blast damaged the boundary wall and the building. Nobody was
injured in the explosion.
At least three persons were
killed and one was injured in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh. A shopkeeper, identified as Mohammad Irfan (45) was
killed and his brother, Mohammad Imran (42) was injured by unidentified
armed assailants in North Nazimabad, within the remits of Taimuria
Police Station.
A person was shot dead in New
Karachi area in percipients of the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Police
Station.
A dead person, identified as
Munsif Ali (40), was found from Sector U of Gulshan-i-Maymar,
in the limits of Maymar Police Station.
At least four persons, identified
as Adeel Abbasi, Nasir Ahmed Abbasi, Mohammad Arif and Mohammad
Ashiq, were injured in a hand grenade attack at a hotel near
Jinnah Road, Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
LEA have failed to control the
proportional increase in various sorts of target killing in
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, that claimed over
2,400 lives in 2012. A record killing of LEA personnel has also
been reported 2012 in which personnel of Rangers, Police, special
cells have been targeted in different areas. The areas where
most incidents of LEA personnel’s killing took place included
Gadap Town, District West and a part of the District South,
where criminal elements and militants outfits are getting strength
day by day.
Despite claiming arrest of target
killers, paid killers, extortionists, gangsters, members of
banned outfit TTP every day by Police and other Security Officials,
the crime rate and target killing has been increasing in the
port city. SF were unable to combat Lyari gangsters and have
failed to take action against sectarian and militants groups
in Gadap Town, Manghopir, Sultanabad and other Pashtun dominated
areas.
The alarming incidents of snatching,
robbery, and other street crimes have witnessed a sharp rise.
The attacks on the LEA, shrines, Imambargahs, public places,
Police Stations, railway tracks, trading areas, business community
centers and other incidents are the matter of great concern.
A large number of traders, businessmen and notables of the city
were killed over non-payment of ransom; some of them were released
after payment of extortion demanded by organised criminal gangs.
The AEC of the Karachi Police's
CID arrested four suspected militants, including a leader of
Lashkar-e-Islami Mohammadi (LIM), a little-known militant outfit,
in a raid in the Shershah area. The arrested suspects, who are
accused of involvement in the 2002 slaying of nine Christian
charity workers and two Ahmadi doctors, were trained in Waziristan,
said SSP Chaudhary Aslam adding that the suspected leader and
his supporters founded LIM. Nine employees of the Christian
charity Idara Aman-o-Insaf were killed in a militant attack
on their office in Karachi September 25, 2002. The AEC team
also has recovered several weapons and ammunition from the suspects,
Aslam added.
SFs, with the help of the local
peace committee, arrested five militant suspects and recovered
many weapons and explosives in a search operation in Salarzai
and Mamond tehsils of Bajaur Agency.
December 17
At least 19 persons, among them
women and children, were killed and 71 others injured when a
powerful car bomb ripped through the Jamrud bazaar in Khyber
Agency of FATA.
Seven persons, including an
employee of the WHO and two Shia persons were killed in different
parts of the Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
The Balochistan Government’s
public relations Director and two Policemen were shot dead near
Shahrah-i-Iqbal area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan
in the morning. Mirza Khadim Hussain Noori (56) was going to
his office when unidentified militants riding motorcycle opened
fire at his car near Shahrah-i-Iqbal. The official, who was
driving the car himself, died on the spot. When attackers tried
to flee the place, Policemen gave a chase. But the assailants
opened fire on them, killing Assistant Sub-Inspector Sangeen
Khan and Constable Rajab Khan. Another constable was injured.
The LeJ claimed responsibility for the killings.
At least three soldiers were
killed and three others sustained injuries in clashes between
SFs and militants in Lakki Marwat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dozens of militants with guns and rockets stormed a security
checkpost in Lakki Marwat.
SFs neutralised a massive terror
bid and recovered arms and ammunition from Maidan tehsil
of Lower Dir District. Operations Commander Colonel Zulfiqar
said that on the basis of an intelligence report, SFs conducted
raid in Maidan and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition,
rockets, three suicide jackets and several mines.
Police foiled a terrorist attack
designed to blow up Shama cinema near Bacha Khan Chowk of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and neutralised
a two-kilogramme bomb there. Police informed BDU staff following
information about presence of suspicious stuff placed close
to Shama Cinema on Pajaggi Road.
In a bid to show full support
to the reconciliation process, Pakistan and Afghanistan have
reached a deal for the release of senior Afghan Taliban leaders,
including their former ‘deputy chief’ Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,
Afghan official sources said. The agreement was not made public
until now, but according to the sources Afghan Foreign Minister
Dr Zalmai Rassoul and Pakistani side discussed in details the
pros and cons of releasing the Afghan Taliban leaders and agreed
that all the leaders, including Baradar who was a former Taliban
military chief and was arrested in Karachi in 2010, would be
released at the right time.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain ruled out the need
for a military operation against terrorists in Peshawar after
attack on the Pakistan Air Force base inside Bacha Khan International
Airport on December 15-16, saying the security situation in
the district is under control.
Basic humanitarian services
for more than 771,000 displaced people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and FATA are facing discontinuation by the end of the year due
to a USD 78 million funding shortfall among humanitarian partners,
UN Office for the OCHA said in a report.
The report said at the end of
2012, thousands of families in conflict-affected districts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and, flood-affected areas of Balochistan,
Sindh and Punjab remained in need of humanitarian assistance.
It said while donors made generous contributions of over USD
290 million to Humanitarian Operational Plans for both complex
emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and flood-affected
areas during the year, the humanitarian community still needed
another USD 160 million to continue assisting people.
The report said medical aid
at 225 primary health care facilities in camps and host communities
would cease beyond December, raising the risk of disease outbreaks.
“Some 15,000 malnourished children and 15,000 pregnant and lactating
women will no longer receive specialist assistance when nutrition
activities stop at the end of the year. Further, reproductive
health care services to 2,800 women and new-born will be discontinued.”
According to the report, agriculture
and livestock support to 70,000 IDPs in camps, off-camp and
to returnees in need of critical livestock and agricultural
livelihood support may stop beyond December and this could result
in increased food insecurity and erosion of coping capacities.
It said the education of more than 43,902 children in camps
and 59,948 in host communities would stop when funding ran out
by the end of December and that a gap in schooling for these
children might result in the permanent termination of the children’s
education.
The Pentagon quietly notified
Congress this month that it would reimburse Pakistan nearly
USD 688 million for the cost of stationing 140,000 troops on
the border with Afghanistan, an effort to normalise support
for the Pakistani military after nearly two years of crises
and mutual retaliation. According to the report, the US also
provides about USD two billion in annual security assistance,
roughly half of which goes to reimburse Pakistan for conducting
military operations to fight terrorism.
The USD 688 million payment
- the first since this summer, covering food, ammunition and
other expenses from June through November 2011 - has caused
barely a ripple of protest since it was sent to Capitol Hill
on December 7. The absence of a reaction, American and Pakistani
officials say, underscores how relations between the two countries
have been gradually thawing since Pakistan reopened the NATO
supply routes in July after an apology from the Obama administration
for an errant NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers
in November 26, 2011.
December 18
At least six persons, including
four women polio workers, were killed in separate incidents
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Four female workers
of the anti-polio campaign, identified as, Nasima, Kaneez, Fehmida
and Madiha, were shot dead and two others were injured by unidentified
armed assailants in UC-7 Orangi Town, UC-2 Baldia Town and UC-1
Landhi respectively. Following the attacks on the vaccination
workers, the WHO’s anti-polio campaign has been stopped in the
Karachi.
A Policeman was shot dead in
Orangi Town.
An unidentified dead person,
stuffed in a gunny bag was found in a Korangi locality within
the remit of the Zaman Town Police Station.
Karachi Police arrested 59 accused
on December 18-19. A Police Officials said that those arrested
included 37 absconders. Four mobile phones were recovered from
the possession of the accused, the Police added.
The locals found two bullet-riddled
bodies from a deserted house in Nala area of Bara tehsil in
Khyber Agency of FATA. The sources said the bodies of Mullah
Jan and Jamroz were dumped in a house vacated by its owner Pir
Muhammad a few months back. The Government had asked the local
population to leave the area ahead of the operation. The sources
said that Mullah Jan and Jamroz of Malikdinkhel tribe had been
missing for the last one month.
The death toll in Jamrud bazaar
bomb blast of December 17 raised to 21 as two more people succumbed
to their injuries. Around 66 injured are currently receiving
medical care, while the condition of seven people is stated
to be critical.
Unidentified assailants on motorbike
opened fired on two sisters working on polio vaccination, killing
one, in the Tirayee Payanin area, a suburb of Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
18 persons, among them seven
security personnel, were injured when two masked men on a motorcycle
hurled grenades at them near the PAF Academy at Risalpur in
Nowshehra District. Official sources said a large number of
job-seekers were waiting at Gate No 3 of the academy for interview
when the attack took place. The injured security men were identified
as Akbar, Parvez, Amjad, Mir Hassan, Atif, Aurangzeb and Abdullah.
Other victims came from Karak, Rawalpindi, Attock and Mardan
Districts.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
has submitted the “categorised lists” of missing persons in
the Peshawar High Court as per the court’s direction, according
to Home Secretary Azam Khan. “The list has been submitted as
per the court’s directive,” he said after the hearing at the
Peshawar High Court where applications about missing persons
are being heard. The Home Secretary informed a division bench,
comprising of Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Waqar
Ahmad Seth, that heads of security agencies, police and other
law enforcing agencies held a meeting on December 14 in the
office of KP Chief Secretary in which the lists were prepared.
According to the fresh report of missing persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and tribal agencies, security agencies so far released 45 missing
persons after declaring them as “white” as no proofs and evidence
of their involvement in terrorist activities were found.
About 261 detainees were named
hardcore militants and declared as “black” in the lists and
were shifted to internment centers, including 56 detainees to
Lakki Marwat Internment Centre, 54 to Fizagat Internment Centre
and 80 to Patham Internment Center in Swat District. Secretary
Home Azam Khan told the court that about 71 detainees were shifted
to various internment centres in tribal areas, including Ghalanai
in Mohmand Agency, Fort Salop in Khyber Agency and Parachinar
in Orakzai Agency. It was stated in the lists that 88 militants
would be de-radicalised and they would be transferred to rehabilitation
centres, run under the Pakistan Army in Swat District.
He submitted in the court that
the security agencies would also shift more than 200 hardcore
militants to Kohat Internment Centre by January 15, as the internment
centre in Kohat district prison was under-construction and would
be ready for shifting the militants in separate blocks on the
above mentioned date.
The bench fixed January 22,
2013, for next hearing of the missing persons cases. The bench
took up 153 cases of missing persons.
Around 700 victims of target
killings in Karachi have been verified in 2012 so far for the
purpose of providing compensation to their legal heirs, says
Justice (retd) Zahid Qurban Alvi, head of the compensation commission
for the victims of target killings. Some political parties
or groups and individuals had provided more names of victims
whose verification would be finalised by December 31, 2012 and
subsequently a summary would be moved to provide compensation
to the heirs of the deceased, added Zahid Qurban Alvi. According
to Justice Alvi, the majority of the victims belonged to three
ruling parties.
The PPP, MQM, ANP, MQM-H, ST,
Katchi Rabita Committee and Jaffria Alliance provided the lists
of the deceased belonging to their parties. However, the JI
did not provide a list of its workers. Of the 700 victims, 170
belonged to the PPP, 150 to the MQM, 100 to the Jafria Alliance,
97 to the ANP, 31 to the Katchi Rabita Committee, 28 to the
ST, four to the MQM-H, while six people lost their lives in
a Haidery bomb blast, which Alvi described as an individual
case.
“Since the issue of targeted
killings has now become a matter of concern for everyone, the
commission is also trying to ascertain the causes of the killings
from the political parties concerned as well as from other sources
in order to suggest ways to possibly stop it,” said Justice
Alvi. He further said that the heirs of some of the victims
who were killed in the year 2011 did not get the cheque and
most of them belonged to the ANP. He said the ANP informed the
commission that the families of the slain people had migrated
to their native places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that it (the
party) was facing difficulties to locate them. Justice Alvi
said that last year 476 persons were identified and verified
as victims of target killings.
Justice Alvi, who is also chairman
of the Sindh Zakat Council, said that they had decided to provide
free education to two children of each victim of target killing
from Zakat funds. Similarly, he added, they held successful
talks with Bait-ul-Maal, which had promised to provide PKR 300,000
to 400,000 to each injured or disabled person, while the Provincial
Government provided only PKR 50,000 to each injured person.
December 19
Six persons, including two suspected
militants and an activist of MQM, were shot dead in different
areas of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Two suspected militants were
killed and more than two dozen were taken into custody during
a raid in Sohrab Goth and other surrounding areas against the
militants involved in the attack on polio vaccination team.
Police also recovered huge cache of weapons and stolen vehicles
during operation. According to details, at least 300 personnel
of Karachi Police and Rapid Response Force were trying to get
inside the areas considerably dominated by Karachi chapter of
TTP when militants offered resistance near Decent Heights Apartment
and Malik Agha Hotel. During exchange of fire, two unidentified
militants were shot dead during the raid continued for one hour
only.
Witnesses said that Police team
entered inside of different areas of Sohrab Goth including Asma
Apartments, Qayyumabad, Sona Gali and Junejo Colony. As Police
reached Supermarket area, unidentified militants resorted firing
to avoid arrest where during encounter two militants sustained
bullet wounds and rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors
pronounced them as dead. Police claimed to arrest at least 25
suspect militants. Residents of the area when contacted said
that militants had had left the areas before the arrival of
police, therefore police concluded the operation within an hour.
Police claimed to have recovered 5 TT pistols, two shotguns,
five cars and four motorbikes.
A man affiliated with MQM was
shot dead near Hyder Chowk area within the remits of Orangi
Town Police Station in Orangi Town. Police said that the victim
identified as Alamgir (30) alias Guddu, son of Ahmed Jan, was
going back to home when unidentified assailants riding a motorbike
waylaid him and opened fire. Resultantly, he sustained multiple
bullet injuries and died on the spot.
An ASWJ cadre was shot dead
and his nephew wounded at petrol station bridge within the jurisdiction
of Nazimabad Police Station. Police said that the victims Asif
(35), son of Abdul Sami and his nephew Mateen (19), son of Abdul
Wasi were going to a workplace on a motorbike while unidentified
assailants also riding a bike intercepted them and opened indiscriminate
fire and fled.
A worker of garments factory
was gunned down near Fawara Chowk within the limits of Garden
Police Station. Police said that the victim identified as Mohammad
Shahid (32), son of Raza Khan was working at a factory when
unidentified armed men barged into the factory and opened targeted
fire. As a result, Khan died on the spot.
A man was shot dead within the
precincts of Manghopir Police Station. Police said that the
victim identified as Zafer Imam, was shot to death by unidentified
assailant.
The Khairpur Police claimed
to have arrested three alleged terrorists and recovered weapons
from their possession. Addressing a press conference, DIG, Sukkur,
Dr Ameer Shaikh, flanked by SSP, Khairpur, Irfan Mukhtiar Bhutto,
said that the police had arrested alleged terrorists who belonged
to Waziristan from the Gambat National Highway. Police said
Zeeshan Masood, child Hilal and Farooq were arrested and two
Kalashnikovs, 26 explosive shells, 11 jackets, 400 bullets,
16 rockets and other ammunition recovered from their possession.
The terrorists were planning to smuggle these weapons to Karachi.
Three more health workers, vaccinating
children against polio, were shot dead in two separate incidents
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing the total killed this week to
eight. While one killing happened just outside the city of Peshawar
and two others in the town of Charsadda. Two men and a woman
have been killed. The volunteers were taking part in a three-day
Government-led drive, supported by the World Health Organisation
and UNICEF, to vaccinate tens of millions of children at risk
from polio in Pakistan.
Militants blew up two CD shops
in Sardheri Bazaar in Charsadda town of same District. No loss
of life was reported in the incident.
Militants freed Dera Ismail
Khan Health Executive District Officer Dr. Ashiq Salim, along
with his driver and a medical technician. The men were abducted
December 12 near Bannu while coming back from Peshawar. Under
Government pressure, militants freed all the three captives.
The authorities paid no ransom, instead raiding the militants'
suspected hideouts, leading to the release of Ashiq, his driver
Javed Khan, and the District General Secretary of the paramedical
association, Attaullah. Police found the three in the Frontier
Region Bannu area and took them home.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial
Government informed the Peshawar High Court that it has transferred
about 260 suspected militants to internment centres and that
86 others would undergo four months of de-radicalisation starting
in January, 2013. Most of the suspects were arrested in Swat
District and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in 2009.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice
Waqar Ahmad Seth, heard from the Provincial Home Secretary,
Azam Khan that it has complied with a Peshawar High Court order
to move detained suspects to internment centres or to release
them if evidence is lacking. The authorities released 45, Khan
said. Authorities transferred suspects to centres in Lakki Marwat
and in Fizza Ghut and the Pak-Austrian Institute of Tourism
and Hotel Management, both in Swat, Khan said. After workers
finish building the Kohat internment centre by January 15, authorities
will move another 200 suspected hard-core militants there, he
said. The FC has moved about 71 suspects to five internment
centres, FC spokesman Major Farrukh said.
Unidentified militants abducted
a Hindu trader, Roop Chand, from Arif Street near the Sariab
area of the provincial capital, Quetta. Police sources said
that Roop Chand was on way home from his shop when four armed
men took him away to unidentified destination on gunpoint. Police
have registered a case and started efforts for his recovery.
Two dead girls were found at
the railway track in the Faizabad area of Sariab in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The WHO and UNICEF suspended
polio operations in Pakistan and called back their field workers
due to security threats after the killing of two more people
associated with the anti-polio drive in Charsadda District and
simultaneous attacks on polio teams in Peshawar and Nowshera.
Senior WHO officials felt the remaining polio workers would
have remained safe had the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government accepted
their recommendation to suspend the ongoing three-day anti-polio
campaign in the province. The WHO had recommended to the KP
Government to postpone the anti-polio drive due to the deteriorating
security situation and growing threats to the vaccinators. On
WHO’s recommendation, the Government cancelled the vaccination
campaign in Sindh and in Quetta, Pishin and Qilla Abdullah Districts
in Balochistan, but the KP Government turned down its proposal
and decided to continue the campaign. It also made commitment
to ensure security of the polio teams.
TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan
called over phone and once again distanced his organisation
from the attacks on polio teams. The previous day also he had
denied the involvement of the TTP in the attacks on the anti-polio
workers.
A three-member Indian delegation
is arriving to set terms of reference for the visit of a Pakistan
Judicial Commission to India in connection with 26/11 Mumbai
terror attack probe. The team led by Joint Secretary in the
Ministry of Home Affairs Dharmendra Sharma will interact with
Pakistani officials for four days and look into the purpose
of the visit of the Commission, which wants to cross examine
four Mumbai- based witnesses of 26/11 cases. Islamabad has been
insisting that the Pakistani panel's India visit is key to early
completion of the 26/11 trial in Rawalpindi as the court had
refused to accept the findings of the Commission's earlier visit
as it did not get the chance to cross examine the four witnesses.
New Delhi has agreed to Islamabad's request but put two conditions
- it sought an assurance from Pakistan that this would be the
final visit by the panel and New Delhi wanted Pakistani law
officers to certify its admissibility in Pakistani courts. The
visiting Indian delegation will also set modalities for the
Pakistani panel's Mumbai visit.
Banned militant outfits in Punjab
have contacts with Uzbek militants who charge USD 40,000 for
carrying out terrorist attacks in Pakistan, Federal Minister
Sheikh Waqas Akram told the National Assembly. During December
18’s session, Federal Minister Sheikh Waqas Akram told the assembly
that the Uzbek militants were in contact with the banned outfits
in Punjab, adding that the members of these banned organisations
could be seen wearing shirts of the IMU. “These (Uzbek) militants
demand a payment of USD 40,000 to perform terrorist attacks
on Pakistani soil,” he told the assembly. Akram, who belongs
to ruling coalition partner the PML-Q, said Interior Minister
Rehman Malik should stop “spinning tales” and take definitive
action against these banned militant outfits.
The United States asked Pakistan
to dismantle LeT, the outfit responsible for several terrorist
attacks inside India including 26/11 and attack on the Parliament.
"We continue to strongly condemn the 2008 terrorist attacks
in Mumbai. We also continue to urge the Government of Pakistan
to dismantle Lashkar-e-Toiba and to support regional and global
efforts to combat terrorism," State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said. So far the United States has been urging
Pakistan to take action against LeT and its leaders. This is
for the first time probably that the US has urged Pakistan to
dismantle LeT.
The strong US statement came
a day after the State Department told the Department of Justice
that the two former chiefs of ISI - Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem
Taj - have immunity in 26/11 case filed in a New York court.
"It is important to note that this submission is based
on one specific case and should not be viewed as a US Government
determination on the merits of the Plaintiffs' claims,"
Nuland said, when asked about the determination made in this
regard by the State Department and the Department of Justice
affidavit filed before a New York court.
More journalists were killed
doing their job in 2012 than in any year since monitoring started
17 years ago, with Syria and Somalia seeing a particularly heavy
toll, Reporters without Borders report said. Pakistan Ranked
third in the list with 10 killings. Eighty-eight journalists
were killed, a third more than last year, as Security Forces
in various conflict zones cracked down on a new crop of citizen
journalists attempting to document their activities, the Paris-based
rights group said. “The high number of journalists killed in
2012 is mainly due to the conflict in Syria, the chaos in Somalia
and to violence by the Taliban in Pakistan,” Christophe Deloire,
the head of RSF, said in a statement.
The US State Department has
informed a New York court that ISI and two of its former Directors
General “enjoy immunity” and cannot be tried in the Mumbai terror
attacks case. “Upon consideration of this matter, and after
a full review of the pleadings, the Department of State has
determined that defendants Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem Taj
are immune from suit in this case,” said an official letter
sent to the US Department of Justice. The State Department also
pointed out that its determination was “not subject to judicial
review”.
India, however, rejected the
determination, saying that the US affidavit was “a matter of
deep and abiding concern” and contradicted Washington’s public
commitment to bringing “those responsible for the Mumbai terror
attacks to justice”. Six Americans were among the 166 killed
in the November 26, 2008, terrorist attacks in the Indian city
and later their relatives filed a case in a New York court,
listing two former ISI chiefs among the accused. LeT leaders,
Mohammed Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rahman, Sajid Mir and Azam Cheema
are on the same list. The complainants claimed that since the
ISI was involved in the planning and execution of the attack,
Mr Pasha and Mr Taj should be asked to appear before the court.
December 20
A local journalist and two other
persons were shot dead when a group of armed assailants intercepted
a bus coming from Quetta on its way to Punjab and opened fire
on the passengers and abducted six passengers on Quetta-Sukkur
highway in the Machh area of Bolan District.
Hearing the Balochistan target
killing case, the SC questioned as to why the Provincial Government
is not finding a political solution to the Balochistan issue,
adding that fundamental rights of providing protection to citizens
are not being enforced. The court, expressing concern over the
killing of Shias in Balochistan, asked why the Provincial Government
had been failed to arrest any culprit, involved in the killing
of Shias.
At least three persons, including
an activist of PPP, a Shia community member and an ASWJ cadre
were shot dead, while five people were injured in hand grenade
attack in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
An activist of PPP, identified
as AIjaz (40) alias Malook, was shot dead by unidentified armed
assailants near Bangla Bazar in Orangi Town of Pakistan Bazar
Police.
A cadre of the ASWJ, Muhammad
Rehan (40), was died near Zain-ul-Abideen Hospital in Rizvia
Society. SHO of Rizvia Society, Rashid said that police recovered
six shells of a 9mm pistol from the crime scene.
The dead body of Ashiq Abbas
(45), a Shia community member was found near Thanvi Masjid in
Lines Area of Brigade Police Station.
Syed Alam Khan, Muhammad Javed,
Masood, Nazeer and Maroof were injuried when unidentified miscreants,
riding five motorcycles, threw a hand grenade on Dua Hotel near
Mauripur Road in Kalri Police Station. SHO claimed that the
PAC activists lobbed the grenade on the hotel after its owner
refused to pay them extortion money.
Personnel of the SIU arrested
two men, Naqeebullah and Namiatullah, allegedly involved in
a number of extortion cases in the Peerabad Police Station.
The officials also recovered two TT pistols from their possession.
Jackson Police arrested two
alleged accused, Ameen and Shahid, involved in killing of two
Policemen and recovered one Kalashnikov and one TT pistol from
their possession.
East and West zones of Police
arrested at least 49 accused, including absconders, proclaimed
offender, during last 24 hours and recovered heavy cache of
weapons from their possession.
The People’s Health Movement
Sindh secretariat held a protest demonstration to support the
humanitarian cause, outside at the Karachi Press Club to condemn
the brutal killing of anti-polio vaccination campaign workers
in Pakistan.
An anti-polio worker succumbed
to his injuries at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar to
raise the death toll of anti-polio workers to four in the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The 22-year-old anti-polio vaccinator Hilal Khan
was shot in the head on December 19 in Peshawar by two unidentified
teenaged assailants. The Government has suspended the polio
campaign and announced three-day mourning over the killing of
the anti-polio workers. KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar
Hussain termed all the attacks on polio teams as acts of the
‘terrorists’ who were trying to tarnish Pakistan’s image. The
KP Government has announced PKR 300,000 compensation for each
polio worker killed during the recent campaign PKR 80,000 for
every seriously injured person and Rs50,000 for those suffering
minor injuries.
A woman was killed when a mortar
shell fired from an unidentified location hit a house in Shinkamar
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA. The sources
said that the mortar shell fell on the house of one Neel Akbar
in Shinkamar area populated by Zawdin, a sub-branch of Zakhakhel
Afridi, in which a woman was critically injured. The injured
woman died on way to the hospital, the sources added. Zakhakhel
tribe is running an armed Lashkar named as Tauheedul
Islam against its rival Lashkar-e-Islam for the last two years.
The Police claimed to have arrested
an accused allegedly involved in the firing incident that scared
and forced female members of a polio team at Shah Faisal Colony
of Multan city of same District. Police said that the rifle
had been recovered. Police added that raids were being conducted
to arrest the accused’s accomplice.
The APUC issued a fatwa
declaring the killing of anti-polio workers by terrorists as
un-Islamic. The decree is supported by Darul Ifta, Darul Uloom
Karachi, Jamai-e-Neemia Lahore, Jama-e-Ashrafia Lahore, Darul-Ifta
wal Irshad Karachi, and Jama-e-Muntazir Lahore. The authority
of APUC says that accused of murder can only be punished by
the state no one has the authority to take the law into one’s
hand. It is un-Islamic and hence illegal to kill people brutally
in streets or markets.
Following intense parleys between
treasury and opposition, the National Assembly passed the “Fair
Trial Bill 2012”, which is devised to give the Government more
powers to fight terrorism. There were some objections by the
opposition over giving state security apparatus more powers
to fight the menace of terrorism in the country. Although the
Government agreed to incorporate most the of amendments proposed
by the opposition PML-N, and its ally MQM, however, there were
a few that were rejected by the treasury side on the back of
its numerical strength in the House, whose proceedings spanned
over four hours as it took up clause-by-clause reading of the
bill and amendments introduced in it.
The bill is perceived to be
breach of privacy of an individual in the shape of intercepting
private communications on phones, SMS and emails. The opposition,
however, claimed that it tried to protect the fundamental rights
of citizens through the amendments it proposed. Leader of the
opposition Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan yet termed the bill “not
ideal one” to fight terrorism, and emphasised that it must be
implemented. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who remained
in the House for a large part of the proceedings, called the
passage of the bill a big achievement in efforts to combat terrorism
and vowed to not let terrorism disgrace the country.
A key part of the bill is that
the number of agencies who can request warrants of surveillance
or interception has been reduced to six. The treasury side did
not submit to whole of the amendment of PML-N which wanted the
applicants to be restricted only to police, Intelligence Bureau
and Inter-Services Intelligence. Under the agreement, government
withdrew FIA from the applicants, however it succeeded in getting
included the intelligence agencies of the three armed services
along with ISI, IB and police.
The House also rejected with
a majority vote PML-N amendment in schedule 1 of the bill which
deals with offences to be dealt though this bill. PML-N wanted
that only offences under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 should fall
in the purview of this bill. The government, on the other hand,
stuck to offences that fall in the domain of Private Military
Organisations Abolition and Prohibition Act 1974, Prevention
of Anti-National Activities Act 1974, Anti-Terrorism Act, Pakistan
Nuclear Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2001 and National Command
Authority Act 2010.
At least 293 people were killed
and 937 injured in bombings, suicide attacks, rocket barrages
and other militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the
first 11 months of 2012, compared to 718 deaths and 1,378 injuries
during the same period in 2011, a Police documents report said.
Those killed this year include 67 policemen, seven FC troops,
one soldier and 218 civilians. In 2011, 131 policemen, 143 FC
troops, 45 army soldiers and 399 civilians were killed during
the corresponding period, according to the documents. The number
of terrorist attacks grew slightly, 361 compared to 338 last
year.
Underscoring the need to engage
Kashmiris in dialogue process, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina
Rabbani Khar said that her country was willing to settle the
Kashmir-Issue peacefully through negotiations, reports Kashmir
Times. “Kashmir is the core issue for Pakistan and there is
no question to compromise on our stand,” she told the visiting
Hurriyat Conference (M) delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
who met her on dinner at foreign office in Islamabad. During
the more than one and a half hour meeting, the Hurriyat delegation
discussed the prevailing situation in Kashmir with the Foreign
Minister Khar, and stressed upon her that both the countries
should take Kashmiris on board while negotiating on the issue.
“We are not only the part of the dispute but also the sufferers.
Without the participation of Kashmiris, no solution should be
expected,” the delegation told Khar.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
Pakistan firmly believes in a meaningful, sustained and result-oriented
process of engagement with India that could lead to a permanent
solution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with aspirations
of its people. He was talking to the delegation of All Parties
Hurriyat Conference, at the Bilawal House in Karachi. Spokesperson
to the President, Senator Farhatullah Babar, said the President
remarked that finding an amicable and just solution to all outstanding
issues, including Kashmir dispute, was important for Pakistan
and India to ensure lasting peace, stability and development
in the region.
December 21
At least 11 persons, including
six Pakistanis and five Afghan nationals were killed in Pothan
area near Pakistan-Iran border in Gwadar District while trying
to illegally cross into neighbouring Iran in three vehicles.
Two dead bodies of abducted
passengers were found by SFs from a mountainous area in Bolan
District. According to details, three persons, identified as
Jamshed, Atta and Siddiqui were killed when unidentified miscreants
opened fire at a Bolan-Quetta passenger bus near Mach area on
December 20, 2012. The attackers also abducted two passengers
along with them whose bodies were recovered.
Dead bodies of two young women
were found from a rail track in the Sariab area of Faizabad
in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
A tortured body was recovered
from Brewery Road area of Quetta.
At least four suspected militants
were killed in a US drone strike in the Hisukhel area of Mir
Ali in North Waziristan Agency. The drones fired two missiles,
destroying a house and killing four militants inside, said the
sources on condition of anonymity.
The pro-Uzbek TTP ‘commander’
Maulvi Abbas was among three killed in a bomb blast in Wana
bazaar of South Waziristan Agency. Sources said that a bomb
at the office of ‘commander’ Maulvi Abbas’s brother in the vegetable
market went off, killing Abbas and two others, including his
son. Four people sustained injuries in the blast. Maulvi Abbas
was recently allowed to resettle in Ahmedzai Wazir areas after
he was expelled in a popular uprising led by moderate TTP ‘commander’
Maulvi Nazir, in spring 2007. “He (Abbas) was the apparent target
of the blast,” said a Government official in Wana, headquarters
of South Waziristan. Maulvi Abbas, who had close links with
the IMU, was a close confidant of senior TTP ‘commander’ Nek
Muhammad, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2004. Muhammad
and Abbas had come under sharp criticism in the past for harbouring
Uzbek, Tajik and other Central Asian militants. Abbas and his
fighters left South Waziristan after Maulvi Nazir became commander
of militants in the region and launched a campaign against them
for harbouring the “foreigner”. Nazir opposes Uzbek fighters
and has had awkward relations with TTP, which is dominated by
members of the rival Mehsud tribe.
At least four persons, including
an ANP activist, were killed in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh. An ANP activist, identified as Ramzan Kakar was shot
dead in Saddar area of Bohri Bazaar. Police said that during
the evening rush hour, assailants riding a motorbike emerged
at a teashop near Peshawari Ice Cream in Bohri Bazaar where
ANP leader was sitting with his associates. The assailants fired
shots at Mr Kakar and tried to escape.However, the ANP leader’s
associates returned fire and bullets hit one of the assailants
who was shot dead. Two passers-by were injured in the firing.
A man, identified as Muhammad
Hanif (22), was shot dead in Baldia Town.
An office-bearer of a local
market association, Abdul Razzaq (55) was shot dead in Orangi
Town.
Nabeel Rehman (18), resident
of Martin Quarters, who had gone missing on December 9, 2012,
was found shot dead near the Aga Khan Jamaat Khana in Garden
area.
BDS personnel defused an IED
planted in cement block containing over 10 kilogrammes of explosive
material outside a closed restaurant near Cheel Chowk within
the precincts of Kalakot Police Station.
The AEC of the CID claimed to
have arrested three men allegedly affiliated with banned TTP
and three grenades, two Kalashnikovs and a TT pistol were recovered
from their possession.
An anti-terrorism court indicted
a suspected militant in shrine and Seaview bomb blast cases.
Mohammad Dawood alias Waleed
alias Ishaq, said to be associated with the banned TTP, has
been charged with masterminding the bombings on the shrine of
Abdullah Shah Ghazi in October 2010 and near Seaview in November
2011.
Awami National Party leader
and former town nazim Mohammad Ilyas was injured after
being shot at by unidentified motorcyclists at a local market
in Nowshera town of same District in KP. Police said two men
riding a motorcycle opened fire on the ANP leader when he was
returning home from a local market.
A doctor, Dr Yaseen, was abducted
from Ring Road in limits of Paharipura Police Station in Peshawar,
the provincial capital of KP. A Police source said Dr Yaseen
of Muslim City had come to a restaurant for dinner, but he disappeared
somewhere near the Ring Road while on way to his residence in
Pabbi town of Nowshera District. It was learnt that he had a
dental clinic in Pabbi.
Unidentified militants blew
up a Government girls’ school in Sro Killay area of Shabqadar
tehsil in Charsadda District. Further, Police foiled a bid to
blow up another girls’ school in Dosehra village.
December 22
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister
Bashir Ahmed Bilour and at least eight other persons were killed
and 17 injured in a suicide bomb explosion in Qissa Khawani
Bazaar area of Peshawar. The dead also included SHO of Kabali
Police Station, Sattar Khan, and the late minister’s personal
secretary Noor Muhammad. Police said around 100 people had gathered
at the place when the bomber detonated his suicide vest. The
TTP claimed responsibility for the attack on Bashir Ahmed Bilour
whose outspokenness had made him a lot of enemies among the
militants. TTP’s ‘spokesman’ for Dara Adamkhel and Khyber Agency,
Mohammad Afridi, said over phone that the suicide bomber belonging
to his group. He said the TTP had set up a new ‘revenge wing’
that had carried out the attack. Afridi warned that leaders
of the ANP and the MQM were the prime targets of his group.
December 23
At least seven persons, including
a Policeman and a MQM activist, were killed in separate incidents
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh on December 23.
An activist of MQM, identified as Muhammad Amir (25) was shot
dead near Shoe Market in Garden area within the precincts of
Garden Police Station.
A Policeman, Muhammad Aslam
was shot dead near Napier Road within the limits of Napier Police
Station.
A Shia trader, identified as
Azmat Ali, was killed inside the area of Shah Faisal Colony
within the limits of Shah Faisal colony Police Station.
A man, identified as Shakeel,
was killed while other, Ghulam Mustafa, was injured in an armed
attack near Jehangir Road within the jurisdiction of Jamshed
quarter Police Station.
A dead body, identified as Mukhtiar,
was found near Raxer Bridge within the limits of Pak Colony
Police Station.
A man was shot dead at Hawksbay
Road within the limits of Mauripur Police Station.
A man was killed at Korangi
Road within the limits of Korangi Police Station.
At least nine aspiring candidates,
applying for the posts of Constable and ASI in Sindh Police
Department met a terrible fate when they were injured in a hand
grenade attack at Khawaja Ajmernagri Police headquarters that
evidently targeted the Law Enforcement Personnel.
At least two persons were shot
dead by unidentified assailants in Khan Shaheed Street area
in Pashtunabad of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
A Policeman was shot dead and
one person was shot injured when some unidentified persons opened
fire on him in Kutchlak in the outskirt of Quetta.
At least three persons, including
a militant ‘commander’, Ahmad Khan, were killed in a firing
incident in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said
that a member of Tirah-based militant outfit Ansarul Islam opened
firing on its local ‘commander’ after an exchange of hot words
with him. Other cadres of the outfit, present on the occasion,
overpowered the attacker identified as Said Umar and killed
him immediately. Later, the members of Ansarul Islam also killed
the father of Said Umar in Khatu Cheena area.
Three soldiers were injured
in a roadside blast on Miranshah Road in Khwajdarkhel village
in the limits of the Bakkakhel Police Station in FR Bannu.
An oil-tanker was destroyed
and another caught fire when unidentified militants fired a
rocket shell at the Nashpa Oil Plant in Karak District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.
Unidentified militants blew
up a boys’ school in Sarukhel village in Doaba area of Hangu
District. Police said that it was the 4th school blown up in
Doaba during the last two months.
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon
and US Ambassador Richard Olson have condemned the suicide bombing
in Peshawar on December 22, 2012 that killed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
senior minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour and eight other persons.
“The secretary general reiterates the strong support of the
United Nations for the efforts of the Government and people
of Pakistan to combat the scourge of terrorism,” said a statement
issued by Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson. In a statement, Olson
also praised Bilour as a courageous man.
December 24
Sectarian and targeted violence
claimed twelve more lives in separate acts of violence in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. Three Shia traders were killed
within a couple of minutes in Nazimabad No 2. An official said
that two pillion riders fired at a shop, injuring two men, 50-year-old
Hasnain Hussain and his younger brother, 45-year-old Qamar Hussain.
The assailants then fired at a shop in another street and killed
a man before escaping.
Unidentified assailants fired
in Rizvia, Golimar, Gulbahar, Incholi and other Shia-dominated
areas. Armed men forced shopkeepers to shut down their businesses.
Miscreants pelted stones on passing vehicles, hampering flow
of traffic for hours.
A Sunni prayer leader was gunned
down outside a mosque in North Karachi in sectarian killing.
The deceased was on his way to a mosque when two armed riders
fired at him.
An MBBS student of a private
university was shot dead at Northern Bypass. An official said
that the victim, 28-year-old Zohaib, was shot in the head and
hand, and died instantly.
An elderly man was killed and
a policeman injured in an armed attack in Ayub Goth. The two
were hit when armed motorcyclists fired at a teashop.
A passerby was shot at 2 Mint
Chowrangi North Karachi within the jurisdiction of Bilal Colony
Police Station. He was also targeted by motorcyclists and died
on the spot.
A scrap dealer, Khalid Pervez,
was shot dead in Gulshan-e-Sikandarabad, while a security guard
was gunned down during a robbery at Kyabane-e-Rahat.
One motorist was shot dead near
Garden Police headquarters.
Bodies of two young men were
discovered from bushes in China Wada.
Two Army personnel were killed
and two others injured as their convoy was attacked in a targeted
bomb explosion on Sakran Road in Kalat town of same District
in Balochistan. The military convoy was returning from Mushkai
Forte when it was attacked. The area was cordoned off and a
search operation was initiated following the incident.
Two Police personnel were killed
and as many sustained injuries in a gun attack on their picket
in Eastern Bypass area under the precincts of New Sariab Police
Station in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Unidentified militants attacked
a checkpost in Panjgur town of same District. However, no casualties
were reported. Miscreants fled after attacking the checkpost.
December 25
At least 20 persons, including
four Policemen, were killed in separate incidents in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
Information Secretary of the
ASWJ, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi, survived an armed attack at
Moti Mahal of Gulshan-e-Iqbal area in which his driver, a private
security guard and four Policemen were killed.
Two men were killed while another
was injured in an armed attack near Sadder Parking Plaza.
Two cadre of ASWJ were killed
by unidentified armed assailants in Orangi Town.
A son of a DSP, an activist
of the MQM was killed in the Defence Housing Authority of Chishti
Nagar.
A Shia man, identified as Shahid
Hussain (28) was killed in his vegetable stall in Raees Amrohi
Colony in Orangi Town.
A man was killed while other
injured in an armed attack in Azeempura, Shah Faisal Colony.
A man, Mazhar Zahir (26) was killed at Radio Pakistan.
Dead body of a man was found
from a garbage dump within the jurisdiction of Nabi Baksh Police
Station. Police said that unidentified assailants had abducted
the victim and dumped his body after killing him.
A man was killed at Shaheen
Hotel. He was also abducted and tortured before being killed,
said Police.
A man was shot dead in New Karachi
area, while a tortured body of a man was recovered from the
Timber Market. Eidgah Police found a dead body. Similarly, the
body of a man who had been shot dead was found near Aero Club
in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
A cadre of the ASWJ was injured
in firing by the Law Enforcers in Gulshan-e-Hadeed.
Two militants were killed and
four persons, including two security men, received injuries
in separate incidents in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Sources said that a militant
was killed and another injured in a firing incident in Loe Shalman
area of Landi Kotal. Militants holed up in Ranay Parchaw, a
border village of Afghanistan across the Kabul River near Torkham,
wanted to hire some boats to cross the river into Pakistan.
The boat owners refused to lend them boats as SFs had imposed
a ban on ferry service owing to movements of militants, they
said. The refusal by the boat owners infuriated the militants,
who started firing at them from across the border. In retaliatory
firing by the boat owners from Shalman Khula village, one militant
was killed and another received injuries. The SFs, stationed
at a nearby hilltop, also reached the spot and took positions
along the riverside to stop militants from crossing over into
Pakistan.
An Ansarul Islam militant killed
his colleague Farooq Khan and injured another in Maidan area
of Tirah valley. Sources said that the cadres of the outfit
were posted at a bunker situated on a hilltop near the border
of Orakzai Agency. Reason behind the firing incident could not
be immediately known. The killer managed to escape after the
incident.
Three children were injured
when an explosive device placed near the resident of a tribesman,
Gohar, went off in the Shahkas area of Jamrud tehsil.
A SFs’ convoy was targeted with
a remote-controlled bomb, planted by militants, on the roadside
in Sepah area of Bara. Two FC troops, identified as Nauman Ahmad
and Shaman Gul, were injured. A tank was also destroyed in the
explosion.
Unidentified militants blew
up the house of a known tribal businessman and former parliamentarian,
Haji Muhammad Shah, in Sepah area in Bara. The sources said
that around a dozen militants placed explosives close to the
house of Muhammad Shah and triggered the explosions with a remote
control device. The sources added the militants also took away
material including the gates, bricks, furniture and iron rods
from the house.
Amid deteriorating law and order
situation, the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan in PoK, decided
to launch a targeted operation to collect illegal weapons from
key locations of the capital. The de-weaponization operation
is aimed to eradicate sectarianism. The decision to deal the
issue immediately was taken in recent meetings held in GB’s
Force Commander Office, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister
G-B Syed Mehdi Shah. According to a police officer, intelligence
reports reveal that huge catches of sophisticated weapons have
been smuggled to Gilgit, through different entry points of the
area, particularly during summers when borders remain opened.
The officer further said that the authorities “know where the
ammunitions are, and how to reach them.”
President of the National Party,
Dr. Malik Baloch said that the Federal and Balochistan Governments
have failed miserably in resolving the longstanding Balochistan
problem, speaking at a press conference at the end of a two-day
executive committee meeting of his party in Quetta. He said
the country, particularly Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
Karachi, were confronted with violence and innocent people were
being killed there but the Government’s inaction had made the
situation worse. The NP president asserted that approximately
500 mutilated bodies had been dumped while hundreds of Baloch
youths were missing. Besides, a large number of people had moved
to other areas of the country due to military operation in Kohlu
and Dera Bugti Districts.
December 26
At least two persons, including
a Security man and a teenage girl were killed and four others,
including two children were injured in separate incidents in
Khyber Agency of FATA.
A trooper of Mehsud Scouts was
killed when militants attacked a check post in Sial Khan Kallay
of Akkakhel area in Bara tehsil.
A teenage girl was killed when
SFs raided a house in Ghundi Abdalkhel area in Jamrud. Local
sources said that forces raided the house of Tila Baz to arrest
him for his alleged contacts with the militants. A teenage daughter
of Tila Baz was killed in gunfight between the inmates of the
house and SFs, they added.
Two women and two children were
injured when a mortar shell hit a house in Sipah area of Bara
tehsil.
The house of a Khasadar, identified
as Sarfaraz was badly damaged when four mortar shells fell on
it in Malikdinkhel area. No one was present in the house when
the incident took place.
Militants blew up the vacant
house of a former Parliamentarian in Sipah area of Bara tehsil.
A Police Constable, identified
as Amjed Ali (30), was shot dead by two unidentified armed assailants
near Rexer Lane in Pak Colony Police Station of Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh.
Five persons were injured in
an IED blast outside Gul Agha Mosque in Jannat Gul Town, behind
Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth.
One FC official was killed and
two others were injured during a search operation against militants
in the Awaran District. According to the BNM, this was “a planned,
full-fledged operation in which houses of residents were set
on fire.”
A press release issued by the
FC said that terrorists associated with the banned BLF attacked
an FC convoy near Mahi village on December 24, 2012 and “martyred
two FC personnel in the assault.” After this, the Frontier Corps
obtained permission from the Provincial Government and took
action by launching an operation in the area surrounding Mashkay.
Consequently, many terrorists were killed and two of their camps
were destroyed.
BNM Central Chairman Khalil
Baloch shared a different view. While speaking to the media,
he said that the operation carried out in Awaran was a large
scale one and even made use of helicopters. “Security forces
set the houses of people, and relatives of Baloch revolutionary
leader, Dr. Allah Nazir, on fire,” he said.
Baloch appealed to human rights
organizations to actively take a stance to halt the alleged
“genocide” in the Province.
Officials in Balochistan also
confirmed that action was taken in some areas of Awaran by LEA,
but did not provide any details about losses or damages.
Suspected militants blew up
a Government primary school for boys at Mushtarzai village on
the outskirts of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, the
blast caused no loss of life.
Another blast took place on
Canal Road near Pawaka village in the limits of Pishtakhara
Police Station. The blast did not cause any loss to people.
Police claimed to have recovered
four suicide jackets, 59 hand grenades and 541 Kalashnikovs
during the 2012 in Peshawar. A Police spokesman said that 5,383
dynamites, 223,329 detonators, 136 rockets, 141 fuses, 329 Explosive
Devices and over 0.6million rounds, 6,444 pistols, 102 Kalakovs,
230 rifles and 1,096 shotguns were recovered in the 2012. He
said that 1,439 proclaimed offenders were arrested during raids.
Unidentified militants blew
up a gas pipeline in the Sui area of Dera Bugti District.
TTP has made a conditional ceasefire
offer to the Pakistan Government which envisages an end to Pakistan’s
participation in the Afghan war and the reshaping of the Constitution
and foreign policy according to the Quran and Sunnah. The offer
was made to this correspondent in a letter sent by Punjab TTP
Amir Asmatullah Muawiya and was endorsed by the spokesman of
the TTP Ehsanullah Ehsan in a telephonic call from an unknown
place. The letter says TTP was dragged into a war with Pakistan
from the Afghanistan and Kashmir fronts and the Government and
the army were responsible for this. The war with the TTP was
started by the army and they are only defending themselves which
is their religious right, the TTP letter said.
“Instead of taking out guns
against Muslims (Ahle Islam), the Pakistan Army should prepare
to take revenge for the 1971 war (with India). This will also
add the potential of Kashmiri mujahideen to our forces,” the
TTP said.
The TTP letter revealed that
it was not targeting the Jama’at-e-Islam and JUI of Maulana
Fazlur Rehman but these parties should also revise their positions
and statements.
It said the TTP had taken a
quiet approach towards the PML-N and Tehreek-e-Insaf but the
ANP had sold itself for the glitter of American dollars. The
MQM, the letter claimed, had also adopted a similar position.
“If the ANP changes its policies
and apologies for its past mistakes, the TTP is prepared to
forgive them,” the TTP statement said. The TTP letter said Pakistan
was its country and “we love its streets and even plains and
deserts but we cannot sacrifice our faith for this love.”
The TTP letter said any fresh
operation in North Waziristan would be a failure as America
with its 42 allies has not been able to achieve any success.
“If we are attacked even those who are now away from the fighting
will take up arms and many more fronts will open,” the TTP said.
The TTP said now the Government of Pakistan should decide what
it wanted to do.
December 27
More than 400 TTP militants
stormed security checkpoints in FR Peshawar in FATA late in
the night, killing two Levies personnel and abducting 22 others.
The militants destroyed two checkposts and also took away weapons,
a double cabin pick-up, besides setting a vehicle ablaze. Assistant
Political Agent FR Peshawar Naveed Akbar confirmed the abduction
of 22 Levies men by the TTP, who also killed two personnel and
injured another. “We had deployed 30 Levies personnel at two
checkpoints in the Hassankhel and Janakor areas of FR Peshawar
and 22 of them went missing after the Taliban attack on Wednesday
night,” the APA added. ‘Spokesman’ for the Darra Adamkhel chapter
of TTP, Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the attacks on
the checkpoints and the kidnapping of the Levies soldiers. However,
he claimed the kidnapping of 33 Levies personnel, adding that
arms and ammunition were also snatched. TTP ‘central spokesman’
Ehsanullah Ehsan also claimed responsibility for the attack
and the kidnapping of the security personnel.
Three bullet-riddled bodies
of militants were found in Kakary Bagh area in Kurram Agency.
Local people suspected that the deceased, who belonged to Bagan
village, had links with Tehreek-e-Taliban Islami Pakistan, a
splinter group of TTP. The deceased were identified as Jamil,
Arif and Nabil. The residents of the area said that it was fifth
incident of its kind in the area during the last one week.
A woman was killed and two others
were injured when mortar shells fell on two different houses
in Bara in Khyber Agency. Local sources said that the wife of
Mohammad Ashraf was killed when his house was hit by a mortar
shell in Yousuf Talab area of Bara. Two more women were injured
in Dro Adda area of Akkakhel in a similar incident.
Two personnel of an intelligence
agency, identified as Naib Subedar Mohammad Ishaq and Abdul
Rehman, were shot dead near Barrach market in Satellite Town
of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The personnel
were on their way on a motorbike when unidentified assailants,
also riding a motorcycle, opened fire on them near Barrach market.
The victims had received bullet injuries in their heads.
Two Levies Force personnel,
identified as Zaheer Ahmed and Abdul Samad, were injured when
unidentified assailants opened fire at their vehicle on Wali
Khan Road in Mastung town of same District. According to Levies
sources, the assailants opened fire at a Levies’ vehicle which
was patrolling on Wali Khan Road, and managed to escape from
the scene.
A man, Sadiq Ali, was shot at
by unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle on Toghi Road of
Quetta. Police said it was a sectarian attack and it was probing
further.
Seven persons were injured,
two among them critically, when an explosive device went off
in Omarzai area in Charsadda District. Local sources said that
the explosive device was planted along a road leading to Hajiabad
locality in Omarzai area. Two real brothers were among the injured.
The injured were identified as Anwar Shah, Sajjad Ali and his
brother Nowsher Ali, Aizaz, Fazl Rabi, Syed Mudassar Shah and
Mohammad.
A gas pipeline was blown up
in Sardaryab area, resulting in suspension of gas supply to
a number of areas in Charsadda District.
A TTP targeted killer, Abid
alias Chhotu, escaped from the Peerabad Police Station jail
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. According to media
reports Abid asked a constable if he could use the restroom.
As the constable let him out of the lock-up, Abid pushed him
aside and fled. Abid was arrested after a December 13 encounter
in Kanwari Colony. Police reportedly recovered five hand grenades,
a Kalashnikov and explosives from his possession. Deputy Inspector
General of Police Asif Ijaz Shaikh confirmed the escape and
said that Abid was involved in more than 25 murders, including
14 Police constables.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
welcomed the TTP offer for conditional talks but said it would
not deter it from its principled stand against terrorism and
violence. “We welcome the TTP’s offer of truce and consider
this a positive development,” Information Minister Mian Iftikhar
Hussain said. “Let the TTP come to the table and present its
conditions. It is for the state to decide what conditions are
acceptable and what are unacceptable,” he said. Mian Iftikhar
said his party had been attacked because of its principled stand.
“Our role is very clear. We
have a principled stand against terrorism and violence. Those
who are willing to renounce violence are welcome to sit down
with us and negotiate,” the Minister added.
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said TTP leader Ismatullah Muavia, through his
offer of a conditional truce, had tried to dictate to the Government
which is totally unacceptable. Talking to media persons at Sukkur
airport, Rehman Malik said if the TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud
offered peace talks, the Government would consider his offer.
“Muavia is a by-product of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Lal Masjid.
I had challenged Hakimullah Mehsud that if he acknowledges Ehsanullah
Ehsan as his spokesman then as to why he himself does not come
to open,” he held. “I dismiss every claim of Ehsanullah Ehsan
unless Hakimullah Mehsud authenticates his claim of being his
representative,” he declared.
Federal Ministers Qamar Zaman
Kaira, Khurshid Shah and Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said that the Government
was prepared to hold talks with the TTP in accordance with the
law and Constitution. Minister for Information and Broadcasting
Qamar Zaman Kaira and Minister for Religious Affairs Khurshid
Shah talking to media persons said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has
challenged the terrorists and extremist elements like his mother
and given them a clear message that the PPP will continue its
fight against that mindset.
The US drone strikes against
Islamist militants decreased in the tribal regions of Pakistan
for the second year in a row but intensified in Yemen, figures
compiled by a Washington think tank New America Foundation
said. In Pakistan, 46 strikes were carried out in 2012, compared
to 72 in 2011 and 122 in 2010, the New America Foundation
said, based on its compilation of reports in international media.
The vast majority of the strikes in Pakistan hit in and around
the North Waziristan Agency’s headquterer, Miranshah. These
strikes, with Reaper or Predator drones, killed between 189
and 308 militants and at least seven civilians. But Yemen saw
an equally drastic increase in the clandestine attacks, with
strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militants
rising from 18 in 2011 to 53 in 2012. This "drone war"
is officially classified, and the US does not provide any information
on the strikes.
December 28
Seven militants were killed
and three others injured when missiles fired by drones hit a
militant compound at Gurbaz town in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA. Sources said that six drones fired two missiles each
into the house in Shawal area, 65 kilometers to the west of
Miranshah near the border with Afghanistan. The dead and the
injured are believed to be local militants. Officials said the
death toll could increase.
At least three persons, including
a Policeman, were shot dead and another was injured by unidentified
armed assailants in Garmkan area on the outskirts of Panjgur
town of same District. The Policeman was identified as Constable
Abdul Qadir and the two other persons were vegetable sellers
Gul Mohammad and Mohammad Abbas.
The driver of a container carrying
supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan was seriously injured
when armed assailants attacked him at Quetta-Chaman national
highway in Dhadar town of Bolan District.
One person was injured in a
hand grenade attack outside the office of the Mohajir Organisation
Committee in the Khwaja Ajmer Nagri Police Station in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
Pakistan received USD 688 million
under the CSF, as reimbursement for the expenses of supporting
over 150,000 coalition forces deployed on Pak-Afghan border.
Minister of State for Finance and Senator Saleem H Mandviwala
confirmed the release of funds, along with spokespersons of
the State Bank of Pakistan and the foreign office. “After the
Pentagon’s notification to the US Congress, it was quite obvious
that the US would soon release the CSF amount to reimburse Pakistan’s
expenses incurred during the war on terror… on Friday the amount
has been received by our side,” a source in the foreign office
said.
In August 2012, Pakistan had
received USD 1.12 billion from the US under the fund. Sixty
per cent of the fund is apportioned to the Pakistan Army while
the remaining amount is used to meet the fiscal deficit of the
economy. According to an official source, Pakistan was under
immense pressure as a result of its balance of payments schedule,
and that the USD 688 million would help relieve the balance
of payments position.
The chief of TTP Hakimullah
Mehsud said that his militia is willing to negotiate with the
Government but not disarm, a message delivered in a 40-minute
video given to Reuters said. “We believe in dialogue
but it should not be frivolous,” Hakimullah Mehsud said. “Asking
us to lay down arms is a joke.” In the video, Mehsud sits cradling
a rifle next to his deputy, Waliur Rehman. Military officials
say there has been a split between the two men but Mehsud said
that was propaganda. “Waliur Rehman is sitting with me here
and we will be together until death,” said Mehsud, pointing
at his companion. “We are against the democratic system because
it is un-Islamic,” Mehsud said. “Our war isn’t against any party.
It is against the non-Islamic system and anyone who supports
it.” Mehsud said in his interview that although he was open
to dialogue, the Pakistani Government was to blame for the violence
because it broke previous, unspecified deals. “In the past,
it is the Pakistani government that broke peace agreements,”
he said. “A slave of the US can’t make independent agreements
it breaks agreements according to US dictat.” Mehsud said that
the TTP would follow the lead of the Afghan Taliban when it
came to forming policy after most NATO troops withdraw from
Afghanistan in 2014. “We are Afghan Taliban and Afghan Taliban
are us,” he said. “We are with them and al Qaeda. We are even
willing to get our heads cut off for al Qaeda.”
Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said that cellular phone service was suspended
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, due to terrorism
threat and security concerns. The Government shut wireless service
in the city of nearly 18 million people, for seven hours. Mobile
companies say that they suspended the service on the instructions
of the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. The
Federal Minister of Interior also claims that 90 percent of
the bombs planted by militants have been detonated using cell
phones.
The Defence Secretary Lieutenant
General, Asif Yaseen Malik, said that the US is using the spy
agencies of other countries against Pakistan. He said that Pakistan
had complete information about the CIA agents working in the
country. Pakistan has been informed by the US regarding presence
of the CIA agents, he added.
Nevertheless, he said no objection
could be raised if the civilian Government takes action against
them. The secretary clarified that there is no political cell
in the ISI. To a question on operation in the North Waziristan
Agency of FATA, Malik said that Pakistan has the capacity to
launch an operation in the area but doing so without sealing
the Afghanistan border is not fruitful.
December 29
The TTP militants executed 22
Levies personnel, three days after they were abducted during
synchronised attacks on three security checkpoints in the Frontier
Region Peshawar of FATA. 400 heavily-armed militants stormed
the checkpoints in Koi Hassan Khel, Zakhi Sar Musa Darra and
Jani Khwar areas of FR Peshawar late December 26-night, killing
two Levies Force personnel and abducting 22 others. The bodies
of 21 Levies personnel were found dumped in a nullah near Koi
Hassan Khel area Saturday night. “Yes, 21 of them were found
dead and one seriously wounded,” Naveed Akbar Khan, the assistant
political agent, said. The 22nd injured personnel succumbed
to his injuries on December 30. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan
claimed responsibility for the attacks. “We killed all the kidnapped
men after a council of senior clerics gave a verdict for their
execution. We didn’t make any demand for their release because
we don’t spare any prisoners who are caught during fighting,”
he said.
A soldier was killed when the
militants fired on security checkpost with a sniper gun in Kohi
area of Khyber Agency. Following the attack, SFs shelled the
suspected positions of the militants and asked the dwellers
of Nala and Kohi to leave the area. The sources said one Muhammad
Askar was shot and injured by SFs for violating the curfew in
Nala area when he was shifting his family to a safe place.
Two soldiers were killed and
two others injured in a roadside bomb explosion in Gherlamai
area of North Waziristan Agency, reports Dawn. Helicopter gunships
fired at residential compounds after the bomb attack and, according
to local people, a house caught fire and several others were
damaged.
Four persons including a cadre
of ST were shot dead in different areas of Karachi. According
to details, a ST cadre, identified as Muhammad Akber, was gunned
down at his shop situated in Baber Market, Landhi area falling
within the precincts of Landhi Police Station.
A man, identified as Kashan,
was gunned down near Sector 5 of Orangi Town within the limits
of Orangi Town Police Station. According to Police, Kashan was
going somewhere on his motorcycle when two armed pillion riders
intercepted him and sprayed him with bullets and fled.
A man was killed in Sher Shah
area within the limits of Sher Shah Police Station. According
to Police, the victim, Haji Noor Muhammad, was going to work
and when he reached near Shar Shah Kanta, armed bandits waylaid
him for mugging. Upon showing resistance, bandits shot him dead,
looted all his valuables and escaped.
A shot dead body of a man was
found from Officers colony within the limits of Nabi Bux Police
Station. According to sources, unidentified armed culprits shot
multiple bullets and threw his body near bungalow no D-41 of
the Officers colony and escaped.
At least six persons, including
a woman and a child, were killed and 50 others were injured
in a mysterious blast in an intercity bus near Cantonment Station
of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Investigations to find out the
nature of the explosion taken place in an inter-city bus are
still inconclusive as Police and other Agencies do not have
a clear answer regarding what caused the massive blast. Although
the Police refrained from calling the incident ‘an act of terrorism’,
they were also unable to find credible signs to declare the
blast an accident.
“Still there is no consensus
over the nature of the blast that took place in the bus. The
material collected from the crime scene will be send for a forensic
examination and it will be clear once the report is issued,”
said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South, Shahid Hayat. “We
are going to register an FIR under the Explosive Substance Act
since people have been killed. However, if results come otherwise,
the FIR can be cancelled later,” the DIG said.
December 30
Three women were killed and
six children sustained injuries when mortar shells struck three
houses in Sepah area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
The sources said that two shells landed at the houses of Alfat
Khan and his nephew Bagh Wali in the Yousaf Talab area in Bara
in which their wives were killed and two children were critically
injured.
A woman was killed and four
children sustained injuries after a mortar shell hit the house
of one Asadullah in Gandaw area.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found in Malikdinkhel area. The sources said the bodies of Ijaz
and Najibullah were found in Kohi area of Bara tehsil inhabited
by Malikdinkhel Afridi tribe. However, the bodies could not
be shifted due to curfew and search operation by SFs in the
area.
SFs demolished four houses of
suspected militants in Malikdinkhel and Sepah areas during search
operation.
A car bomb exploded near a convoy
of buses taking Shia pilgrims to Iran, killing 20 persons and
injuring 25, on the RCD Highway in the Dringer area in Mastung
District of Balochistan. Police said that the blast occurred
as the three buses were overtaking a car, site of many sectarian
attacks, near the Iranian border. Balochistan Home Secretary,
Akbar Durrani said that remote-controlled explosive was used
to target the buses. Talking to the media, he denied reports
that a suicide bomber attacked the buses. Jaish-e-ul-Islam claimed
the responsibility for the Mastung bombing. A Jaish-e-ul-Islam
spokesperson, Ghazi Haq Nawaz, said that the attack on pilgrim
buses by the “Mujahideen” was in response to an attack on Sunni
clerics in Quetta and Karachi. Nawaz asked the Mastung Administration
not to help Shias “otherwise it would be their next target”.
He also warned CD shop owners in Quetta to destroy all those
CDs which contain blasphemous material.
New York-based Human Rights
Watch has noted more than 320 Shias killed year 2012 in Pakistan
and said attacks were on the rise .It said the Government’s
failure to catch or prosecute attackers suggested it was “indifferent”
to the killings. Pakistan has banned several militant groups
that openly call for attacks on Shias. Rights groups alleged
that some groups have ties to Pakistani Security Agencies. Balochistan
is also rife with militancy and home to a regional insurgency
which began in 2004.
Law Enforcers arrested over
24 of suspects in separate targeted raids in different parts
of the Karachi. Law Enforcers in Raja Tavneer Colony in Orangi
Town arrested over a dozen of suspects besides recovering a
large cache of ammunitions from their possession.
Law Enforcers conducted a targeted
raid in Daryaabad area, arrested an alleged member of outlawed
Lyari gang war and recovered SMG, M16 and a large quantity of
mixed weaponry from his possession.
Law Enforcers carried out a
raid in Ittehad town, Baldia area and detained at least a dozen
of suspects affiliated with an outlawed organisation and recovered
weapons from their possession.
The Hassanabdal Police failed
to trace a notorious abductor, who allegedly “escaped” from
Hassanabdal Police Station of Attock District in Punjab, on
October 16, 2012. The abductor allegedly had links with TTP
and was a native of Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The abductor was arrested by
Hassanabdal Police in connection with abducting and murder of
a 21-year-old, who was abducted for ransom, on September 29,
2012, from the village of Pind Mehri, in the limits of the Hassanabdal
Police Station. The ransom being demanded was Rs25 million.
A Police team led by SP investigations arrested the four-member
gang, on October 16, 2012 through mobile phone data.
During interrogation, the gang
disclosed that they had killed the boy and thrown his body in
a well, near Pind Mehri village, as his relatives had failed
to arrange the ransom money.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly
lost four of its members, including a senior minister, to terrorism
during these four and a half years – the highest for a house
of elected representatives in Pakistan in this ANP Government’s
tenure. Lawmakers expressed their disappointment over this trend
during the assembly’s final session on December 30 just days
after the assassination of Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour
in a suicide attack on December 22. Bilour was the senior most
member of the incumbent assembly and was one who had survived
two earlier attempts as well. On November 11, 2008, Bilour was
targeted by a suicide bomber at the gate of Qayyum Stadium Sports
Complex. Another attempt was made on March 11, 2009 but he emerged
unscathed both times.
Alamzeb Khan, an ANP lawmaker
from Peshawar, was the first victim of militancy. He was killed
in a bomb attack on February 10, 2009, in the Dalazak Road area
of Peshawar. Another ANP lawmaker, Dr Shamsher Ali Khan from
Swat, was also killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives
strapped to his body in Khan’s hujra on December 1, 2009. Legislator
Mohammad Ali Khan was seriously injured in March. His struggled
with his injuries persisted and he succumbed to them by November.
In addition to the loss of four
members, MPAs have had to contend with a running threat. The
most recent person to survive a suicide attack was Qaumi Watan
Party chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao who was targeted by a bomber
during a march in Kangra area of Shabqadar tehsil of his native
Charsadda district earlier in March. The former interior minister
and his son Sikandar Sherpao, who is a member of the assembly,
had a narrow escape. Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel
was injured when his convoy was attacked in the semi-tribal
Darra Adamkhel, south of the provincial capital. Nisar suffered
bullet wounds and three of his guards were killed on June 11,
2009.
According to a report of the
South Asia Media Commission (SAMC), in 2012, Pakistan remains
in the lead with the killing of 13 journalists while South Asia
mourns the murder of 25 media persons so far. The report of
the SAMC, 13 journalists lost their lives in Pakistan followed
by five in India, three in Bangladesh and two each in Nepal
and Afghanistan in 2012. Last year, 17 journalists were killed
in South Asia out of which 12 were Pakistanis. Pakistan had
also been the most dangerous country for journalists in 2010
and 2011, according to the reports of international media monitoring
organisations.
December 31
The bullet-riddled bodies of
nine TTP militants were found dumped on the side of the road
in Peer Kaley village in North Waziristan Agency in Federally
Administered Tribal Areas FATA. “Unidentified people threw away
these nine bodies. No one knows who killed them,” a security
official based in Miranshah said. But Ehsanullah Ehsan, TTP
spokesman said that all nine were TTP cadres and accused SFs
of killing them. “We are proud of their martyrdom, soon we will
take revenge for this killing,” he told from an undisclosed
location.
Eight militants were killed
as a clash erupted following an attack by SFs on a militant
hideout in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. Acting on prior
information about the presence of an important militant ‘commander’
and a dozen other militants, the SFs targeted the location and
killed eight of them. Army fighter jets pounded the militant
hideouts in the Tirah Valley.
A man was killed when militants
blew up a Government primary school for girls in Bakarabad locality
of Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency. Sources said that
unidentified militants planted explosive material in the building
of the school and detonated it with a remote control device
at around midnight. The explosion damaged a major portion of
the school building. A young man identified as Akhtar Munir,
who was asleep inside the building, was killed in the explosion,
sources added. Officials of the education department said that
after the fresh incident, the total number of schools destroyed
in Khyber Agency during the last over three years reached 61.
Nine persons were injured critically
when a mortar shell hit a moving passenger pick-up in Kalanga
area of Akkakhel in Bara tehsil.
At least five persons, including
a MQM activist, were killed and two others were injured in separate
incidents in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. A person,
identified as Salahuddin (16), a MQM activist, was shot dead
by unidentified armed assailants near the People’s Chowrangi
in the Water Pump area.
A person, Javed Hassan Naqvi
(40), was killed by unidentified armed assailants near the Qureshi
Market in Orangi Town.
One Mushtaq (40) was shot dead
and Nawaz was injured when their milk van was ambushed by unidentified
motorcyclists near the Punjab Colony in the Gizri Police Station.
One Niaz (40) was shot dead,
while Gulzar was injured in the Gallaher area of the Rizvia
Society Police Station. According to the Police, Gulzar was
the owner of the shop, while Niaz was a customer.
The dead body of a person, identified
as Bilal (16), was found in the Pak Colony Police Jurisdiction.
SP, Orangi Nasir Aftab told that unidentified people abducted
the victim before killing him and dumping the body.
Pakistan released another four
Afghan Taliban prisoners, including former Justice Minister
Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, as part of a process designed to kick-start
peace efforts, a Government official said. “Four Taliban prisoners
have been released. They include former Taliban justice minister
Nooruddin Turabi and ex-governor of Helmand province, Abdul
Bari,” the Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity.
Two sources close to the Afghan
Taliban in northwestern Pakistan confirmed that four prisoners
had been released but said they did not include Mullah Abdul
Ghani Baradar. Baradar was captured in 2010 and Pakistani officials
have said in the past that no decision has been taken for his
release. Turabi is said to be suffering from poor health. According
to the UN website, he was appointed a Taliban military commander
in Afghanistan in mid-2009 and was a deputy to Taliban ‘supreme
leader’ Mullah Omar. Pakistan in November released at least
nine Afghan Talibans, officials added. At follow-up talks between
Afghanistan and Pakistan, Islamabad agreed to release more Taliban
prisoners to facilitate efforts to end the 11-year conflict
between the Taliban and the Afghan Government.
According to Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen
(MWM) report, as many as 502 Shias, including their leaders,
were shot dead in targeted attacks in 2012 in Pakistan. It said
the year 2012 remained another dangerous year for Shias living
in Pakistan. “These 502 deaths have brought miseries. Several
modest women were made widows and several children lost their
fathers,” it concluded.
The report stated that Balochistan
Province ranked first with 156 casualties as far as killings
of Shiites is concerned. 145 were shot dead in Sindh followed
by 55 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 81 in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
56 in FATA – 44 in Parachinar (Kurram Agency) and 12 in Orakzai
Agency.
As per details, 136 were killed
in Karachi alone, 119 in Quetta, 55 in Gilgit, 44 in Parachinar,
25 in Rawalpindi, 21 in Khanpur, 16 in Dera Ismail Khan, 12
in Orakzai Agency, 29 in Mastung, seven each in Lahore and Mach,
six in Sargodha, four in Peshawar, three each in Hangu and Larkana,
two each in Faisalabad, Khairpur and Nawabshah, one each in
Ali Pur, Chaman, Dadu, Hub, Noshera, Shahdad Kot and Sialkot.
Terrorists shot dead 42 Shiites
in January, 37 in February, 36 in March, 34 in April, 24 in
May, 30 in June, 35 in July, 42 in August, 51 in September,
28 in October, 80 in November and 63 in December 2012.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik said that the Government was ready to hold talks
with TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud if he renounced violence,.
“The TTP has given no response regarding renouncing violence.
When a reply is received all stakeholders will be consulted
and the nation’s emotions will be taken into consideration before
implementing any policy regarding the TTP”. Malik said action
would be taken if the TTP continued on its path of violence.
In a video message, Hakimullah Mehsud had said that the TTP
were ready to negotiate with the Government but unwilling to
surrender arms.
ANP ‘chief’ Asfandyar Wali Khan
said that the Government should hold talks with the TTP following
which if the terrorism problem was not resolved, other avenues
should be explored. Asfandyar said the centre of terrorism was
FATA which was under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.
He added that the ANP could only play a role in the dialogue
process with the TTP when they are given the authority. According
to the ANP chief, change can only come through the ballot box
and those who were advocating a change by other means had a
different agenda.
Source:Compiled from news reports and are provisional.