Sindh Timeline - Year 2018

January 1

The report compiled by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) shows that terrorists carried out 23 suicide attacks in different parts of the country in 2017, whereas 2016 and 2015 had witnessed 17 and 18 such incidents, respectively.

1,387 people, including 585 civilians, 555 militants and 247 Security Forces (SFs) personnel, were killed and 1,965 people, including 1,580 civilians, were injured in militancy-related incidents, including militant attacks and SFs actions. Militants carried out at least 420 attacks in which 912 people, including 584 civilians, 225 SFs personnel and 103 militants, were killed and 1,877 injured. SFs conducted 522 operations in which left 475 people, including 452 militants and 22 SFs personnel, dead and 88 people injured. SFs also arrested 1,760 suspected militants during 2017.

The year 2017 saw the highest number of militant attacks in Balochistan where 183 militant attacks took place in which 308 people, including 208 civilians and 84 SFs personnel, were killed and 572 people suffered injuries. The province remained target of a variety of militant groups, including sub-nationalist militants, sectarian and international militant groups. Overall 43pc of the total militant attacks in the country were recorded in Balochistan and 10 out of 23 suicide attacks (43pc) took place in the province. SFs conducted 134 operations against militants in Balochistan in which 112 militants were killed and 657 arrested.

102 militant attacks were recorded in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in which 339 people, including 206 civilians, 65 SFs and 68 militants, were killed and 858 people, including 629 civilians, suffered injuries. As many as 58 security operations were reported from FATA in which 84 militants and five SFs were killed. SFs also arrested at least 79 suspects from FATA.

SFs conducted at least four actions in Azad Kashmir in which 12 suspected militants were arrested. Fourteen suspected militants were arrested from Gilgit-Baltistan region in two Sfs actions while four suspects were arrested in three actions in Islamabad.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) witnessed significant improvement in security situation as all indicators saw negative trends. There was 40pc decline in the number of militant attacks and 47pc decline in the number of deaths in the province. A total of 75 militant attacks were recorded in KP in which 92 people, including 43 civilians, 34 SFs personnel and 15 militants, were killed while 175 people, including 136 civilians, were injured. KP saw the second highest number of suicide attacks during the year as at least six suicide attacks were reported from the province. In 2016, five suicide attacks took place in the province. SFs conducted at least 103 actions against militants in which 543 suspects were arrested and 41 killed during 2017.

Sindh saw a 40pc decrease in militant attacks, but with 84pc increase in the number of deaths during 2017. Militants carried out 40 attacks in the province killing 112 people, including 92 civilians and 17 SFs personnel. Another 303 people were injured in these attacks. The province saw one suicide attack during 2017. SFs conducted at least 98 actions against militants in which 110 suspects were killed and 153 arrested.

Punjab witnessed seven per cent increase in militant attacks, but there was 37pc decline in deaths. During the year, 15 militant attacks took place in the province in which 59 people, including 34 civilians and 24 SFs personnel, were killed and 208 people, all of them civilians, suffered injuries. The province also witnessed three suicide bombings one more than 2016. SFs conducted 119 operations against militants in the province in which 105 militants were killed and 298 arrested.

Two militant attacks were reported from Azad Jammu and Kashmir in which one civilian died and five were injured. Three violent militant activities of low intensity were reported from Islamabad in which one person lost his life. No violent militant activity was reported from Gilgit-Baltistan region.

January 2

LEAs including Sindh Rangers' Anti-Terrorist Wing and the CTD acting on prior intelligence killed three TTP militants in Kaimkhani Colony area of Baldia Town in Karachi. An unspecified number of militants managed to escape the encounter while two Rangers and one CTD Personnel received bullet injuries. Two suicide jackets, two IEDs, a 9MM pistol, and two SMGs were recovered from the militant hideout.

January 3

Karachi Police released a year-end report detailing its performance for the year 2017. The report detailed that 184 criminals and 7,373 militants were killed in 480 encounters in Karachi in 2017.

A two member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that that the sit-in staged by the TLYRA was an "attack on Muslims by Muslims". AG Ashtar Ausuf told the Court that nine people in Punjab and three in Sindh were killed during the protests while 194 Police Officers were injured. AG confirmed that an estimated damage of PKR 139.5 million was incurred. The Court also questioned the employment status of TLYRA chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who was heading the protest.

January 5

Sixteen TTP militants of the Ustad Aslam faction were arrested in a joint operation by CTD of Sindh Police and Sindh Rangers in Sohrab Goth and Mominabad areas of Karachi. Firing took place during the Sohrab Goth raid.  The militants were identified as Rafiullah Arif alias Qari, Abdul Majid alias Mufti, Mohammad Younis Arif Ans alias Yousuf Saleem, Mohammad Razaq, Shams Alhuda alias Maulvi, Umar Khaliq alias Hussain, Mohammad Junaid alias Abdul Manan, Junaid Ahmed, Khan Bahadur, Abdul Gaffar alias Abu Huraira, Mohammad Zainul Abideen alias Siddiqui Arif Saifullah, Saifullah, Mohammad Asif, Sanaullah, Abdulaziz and Umar Ali. Arms and ammunition including hand grenades and explosives were also recovered.

CTD recovered ten ‘block bombs’ and several suicide vests near Guru Mandir neighbourhood of Karachi.

January 6

TTP and its associated outfits remain the most potent threat followed by nationalist insurgent groups despite a 16 per cent decline in militant attacks in 2017, said a security report issued by PIPS. The report mentioned that IS footprint was increasing in Balochistan, FATA and Northern Sindh, and were carrying out deadly attacks. The report said that militant, nationalist and violent sectarian groups carried out, in all, 370 terrorist attacks in 64 districts of Pakistan during the year 2017, including 24 suicide and gun-and-suicide coordinated attacks, killing 815 people, besides injuring 1,736. These attacks posted a 16 per cent decrease from the total in 2016; and the number of people killed also dropped by 10 per cent.

Of these attacks, as many as 213, or 58 per cent, were perpetrated by TTP , its splinter groups, mainly JuA and other militant groups with similar objectives such as local Taliban groups, killing 186 people. Nationalist insurgent groups, mostly in Balochistan and a few in Sindh, carried out 138 attacks, or 37 per cent of the total, killing 140 people. As many as 19 terrorist attacks were sectarian, which killed 71 people and inflicted injuries on 97 others, according to the report. It also noted that compared to 2016, a significant surge of 131 per cent was witnessed during 2017 in cross-border attacks from Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan, India and Iran. A total of 171 cross-border attacks claimed 188 lives and injured 348 others.

SFs and LEA killed a total of 524 militants in 2017, as against 809 in 2016, in 75 military operations as well as 68 armed clashes and encounters with the militants reported from across the four provinces and FATA. According to the report, some new challenges raised their heads, including emergence of self-radicalised individuals and small terrorist cells, growing incidence of religious extremism including on educational campuses, and, most importantly, increasing footprints of IS in parts of the country and convergence of its fighters in Afghanistan near Pakistani border. In 2017, IS and its local affiliates claimed 6 major attacks, killing 153 people.

January 8

Pentagon Spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said that US had conveyed “specific and concrete steps” Pakistan must take for resumption of aid. “Taliban and Haqqani leadership and attack planners should no longer be able to find safe haven or conduct operations from Pakistani soil” he said. Pentagon Officials are watching to see if Pakistan is going to retaliate against the US by cutting supply lines to US troops from its port at Karachi into Afghanistan. Manning said that so far there were no signs that Pakistan was preparing to take that course of action. He stressed that the suspension of funding was not permanent “at this time” and that the money was not being diverted elsewhere.

January 9

Sindh Rangers Karachi Division powers conferred under the provision of clause (i) of sub-section-3 of section -4 of ATA, 1997 due to expire on January 10, 2018, have been extended by Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah. Extended period of 90 days commences from January 1, 2018 to April 10, 2018.

January 12

Police Constable identified as Shakir posted in the anti-street crime squad was killed in a targeted attack by TTP militants on his way to report for duty at Gulberg Police Station near North Nazimabad area of Karachi.

January 13

Four TTP militants were killed by the Police in an encounter after receiving prior intelligence near Shah Latif Town in Karachi. According to SSP Malik Rao Anwar the militants were involved in target killings and militancy related incidents.

MQM-L Convener Professor Hassan Zafar Arif was found dead in Ilyas Goth area of Karachi. He had earlier gone missing on the same day and there were conflicting reports on whether there were torture marks on his body or not.

Three militants were killed in an attempted suicide attack on SSP Malir Rao Anwar when his convoy comes under attack in Malir Cantt area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. SSP Anwar remained unhurt in the attack, Police said, adding that a suicide attacker blew himself up near the convoy while two other attackers were killed in retaliatory fire by Policemen. The convoy came under attack by militants when SSP Anwar was heading towards his home in Malir Cantt. At least four Policemen travelling in the convoy sustained bullet wounds. SSP Rao Anwar survived an attack earlier on May 1, 2015 during which assailants hurled grenades and opened fire on his convoy while he was returning home from the residence of slain DSP Fateh Muhammad Sangi.

As many as 444 suspects were killed in 192 police encounters led by Rao Anwar after his appointment as the SSP in the Malir District of the Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, reveals the inquiry report submitted by the Sindh Police in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The report detailing 745 encounters involving former SSP Malir Rao Anwar, after his appointment seven years back, was submitted by the Police after Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo notice of the alleged extra judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsood on January 13. According to the inquiry report, Rao Anwar led 192 police encounters in which 444 people were killed. Whereas, there were 553 cases that did not involve any killings. The report stated that Rao Anwar took some 891 suspects into custody during the last seven years as SPP of the Malir District. The first ten months of 2012 saw the most number of encounters, the report said. Two Police encounters took place in Jan 2018 that led to killing of eight people.

A civilian, identified as Bachayo Bheel, was killed in a low intensity blast caused by a hand grenade placed in garbage near the Mehran shopping centre in the Qasimabad town of Hyderabad. Another passerby Rajab Ali was injured in the incident. According to Hyderabad SSP Peer Muhammad Shah, "It seems that due to our ongoing search operation some miscreant threw the grenade in the garbage." The deceased was rummaging through the garbage when the grenade exploded.

A Chinese national, Chen Zhu (46), who was a top official at a shipping firm, was shot dead by unknown armed assailants in a 'targeted' attack at Zamzama Park in Clifton in Karachi the provincial capital of Sindh.

Five SRA militants with three bombs and approximately 15 kilograms of explosives were arrested by LEAs acting on prior intelligence near the Hatari Bypass in Hyderabad District in Sindh. The five-member group was led by the self-proclaimed 'chief' of SRA was reportedly getting funding from India to sabotage CPEC and target Security Personnel in Sindh.

An AQIS militant identified as Ahsan Mehsud alias Roshan with links to the convicts of the Safoora Goth carnage in May 2015 was arrested by Police from Mominabad area in Karachi the provincial capital in Sindh Province. Explosive material was recovered in his custody.

Five militants and one Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) personnel were killed in an exchange of fire in Zikri Para area of Lyari area in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. As per details, Rangers were on a routine patrol in Zikri Para when unidentified militants attacked the security personnel with hand grenades and automatic weapons in night. As result one Rangers personnel Fawad was killed and four others sustained injuries, while five suspected militants were also gunned down in retaliation. Efforts were being made to determine the identity of dead militants. Automatic weapons and hand grenades, including four Kalashnikovs were recovered from the slain militants.

A man was shot dead and two others - including an infant - were injured in a suspected sectarian attack in Sachal area of Malir Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. They were come under attack by unidentified armed assailants in the afternoon when their vehicle reached the main road opposite Memon Medical Institute near Safoora Chowrangi. The attackers shot at the victims indiscriminately before fleeing the crime scene. The deceased was 70 and a resident of New Rizvia Society. The other two passengers were his 28-year-old nephew and two-and-a-half-year-old grandson. Malir town SSP Adeel Hussain Chandio said It appears to be a targeted killing linked with sectarianism.

The CTD arrested four LeJ militants over the allegations of terror financing through bank robberies, kidnapping for ransom and extortion from unspecified areas of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. The arrested militants were identified as Zakir alias Qari, Affan, Muzamil and Abdul Hafeez alias Haji, according to AIG of CTD, Dr Sanaullah Abbasi. CTD SSP Junaid Ahmed Shaikh said that during the initial probe, the arrested militants revealed that they had been generating funds for terrorism in Karachi since 2014. SSP Shaikh added that the arrested suspects were affiliated with the Naeem Bukhari-led LeJ group. The suspects had confessed to the generation of around PKR 150 million, which was subsequently handed over to militants for carrying out acts of terrorism.

The Sindh Government dismissed from service a former SSP of Karachi Central Prison and six other officials after an inquiry committee found evidence of their involvement in the escape of two high-profile LeJ militants last year. Sheikh Mumtaz alias Firaun and Mohammad Ahmed alias Munna, two LeJ militants, who were arrested by the CTD in 2013 for their alleged involvement in the killing of over 60 people, had escaped from the Central Jail on June 13, 2017. A team of investigators led by DIG Prisons (retired Captain) Pervez Ahmed Chandio conducted a detailed investigation into their escape and concluded that over a dozen jail officials "abetted and facilitated" the jailbreak. "The accused Senior Superintendent of Prison Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh and his accused subordinates behaved carelessly, negligently and dishonestly throughout their tenure in maintaining discipline and order at the Central Prison Karachi," according to the findings of DIG Prisons.

A high-level Sindh Police meeting reviewed the list of members of banned organisations across the province and recommended to the Home Department to put several persons on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 so that their activities could be monitored ahead of the holy month of Ramadan. The meeting was held at an office of the CTD with Additional IGP Dr Sanaullah Abbasi in the chair. It was attended by DIG of three zones of Karachi and other senior officers. The Fourth Schedule is a list of "proscribed" individuals who are suspected of terrorism or those who are affiliated with organisations suspected to be involved in terrorism or sectarianism. CTD recommends monitoring members of organisations banned by UN. "We have recommended 15 persons from South, 10 from East and 12 from West Districts of Karachi to be kept under surveillance under Section 11EE of the ATA," said Dr Sanaullah Abbasi.

The CTD has prepared a list of 19 arrested militants of banned outfits who were allegedly involved in acts of terrorism in Karachi and other parts of Sindh and Balochistan. The CTD has also compiled data of phone calls made from abroad, especially from South Africa and Afghanistan, in over 100 cases of extortion reported in Karachi from 2013 to date. The CTD has conveyed this information to NACTA and Federal Government to take up the issue with foreign countries.

The Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) arrested at least five suspects, including target killers, during raids across Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. According to a Rangers spokesperson, two suspects were arrested during targeted raids conducted on a tip off in Khawaja Ajmer Nagri. They were identified as Nazim Ahmed and Arif alias Tunda. The spokesperson said the suspects were involved in several targeted killings and robberies. Three more suspects were arrested by Rangers during targeted raids conducted in the Awami Colony and Gulshan-e-lqbal areas. They were identified as Shakeel Mughal, Mobin and Yasin Panwar alias Kabari. The Rangers recovered arms, ammunition and drugs from their possession.

May 15

Karachi West Zone DIG Amir Farooqi said that five Police officials have reportedly been found involved in extorting money from businessmen in the Provincial metropolis of Sindh. Of these, three Policemen namely Liaquatabad SHO Rao Shabbir, Pak Colony's Constable Rana Saleem and Surjani's Constable Farzand Ali have been suspended pending an inquiry into their conduct. Sharing details of the case, DIG West said that Super Market Police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti Terrorism Act on the complaint of Syed Tabish Ejaz, an owner of a rent-a-car business.

The CTD claimed to have arrested an 'important commander' of the TTP, Rehmat Ali Shah, from the City Railway Colony area of Saddar Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. CTD SSP (Investigation) Junaid Ahmed Shaikh said Rehmat Ali Shah was allegedly involved in attacks on Security Forces and generating funds for terror. During an initial probe, the arrested TTP suspect 'confessed' to his involvement in several acts of terrorism. The suspect with 10 to 15 other TTP militants attacked a Police post with a bomb in the Buner District of KP in 2009. He with 40 to 50 TTP militants attacked and captured an FC camp in Buner District in the same year, which remained under their control for one month before it was vacated after the army operation there. Rehmat was also involved in killing one person in Buner over suspicion of being an 'informer'. Besides, he had been generating funds for the banned outfits of TTP and LeJ in Karachi since 2009.

One Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) personnel was killed and two others suffered injuries during a shootout with suspected MQM-Haqiqi militants in Zaman Town area of Korangi in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. According to a statement issued by Pakistan Rangers, the shootout occurred when suspected militants opened fire on the security officials during a targeted operation conducted in Zaman Town area. During the exchange of fire with suspected militants, three Rangers officials suffered bullet wounds and were rushed to a military hospital, however, one official succumbed to his injuries. The dead soldier has been identified as Havaldar Ilyas, while sepoys Ibrahim and Ameer are being treated for injuries. The Rangers spokesperson said that the targeted operation was carried out to arrest a suspect named Shafiq alias Kala associated with MQM- Haqiqi.

Police recovered a cache of arms form a car in Defence Khayaban-e-Tanzeem area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. According to Police, a patrolling Police team stopped a suspected car in Defence Khayaban-e-Tanzeem, during checking Police seized a huge cache of weapons including 11 Kalashnikovs, seven repeaters, 10 9-MM TT pistols, four 30-bore pistols, and a large number of bullets from the hidden compartments of the car.

The CTD claimed to have arrested three suspects with links to banned outfits, two of whom were said to be "highly educated" from Sultanabad and Jubilee areas of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. The three arrested persons were identified as Shahsawar, Mujeeb Rehman and Khalid Pervez. One of the detained men had remained a faculty member at a public university in Dera Ismail Khan while another had graduated from a 'prestigious' institute in Karachi. The third suspect is a religious scholar who provides online courses of the Holy Quran, revealed CTD SSP Junaid Ahmed Shaikh. The university teacher had been allegedly involved in deadly attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan, Security Forces in Pakistan and sectarian violence in the past, the senior officer added.