Pakistan Occupied kashmir: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2005

At least 11 people were killed, including six members of a family who were burnt alive, and 14 were injured during sectarian clashes on January 8 at Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) where a curfew was imposed and troops deployed to restore law and order. According to Daily Times, the clashes occurred after unidentified people shot at the vehicle of Agha Ziauddin, Shia community leader and priest of the main Gilgit mosque. Two of his bodyguards and one of the assailants were killed instantly. Sources said Ziauddin was also shot and was in serious condition. The Shias later reportedly set ablaze several Government and private buildings and torched the home of Forest Officer, Taighun Nabi, burning him and five people present in his house to death. In another attack, local Health Department chief, Dr Sher Wali, was shot by a mob. A male passer-by was also hit and later died. Read less...

According to an AFP report, troops patrolled the streets of Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on January 9 even as three more persons were killed bringing the death toll in the sectarian violence to 14. "Gilgit is under curfew and armed soldiers are patrolling the streets," a local administration official told AFP. Rioting occurred after some gunmen opened fire on prominent Shia leader Agha Ziauddin, wounding him and killing two of his bodyguards. Read less...

A prominent Shia scholar, Syed Agha Ziauddin Rizvi, who was wounded during the sectarian clashes on January 8 at Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Rawalpindi on January 13. As reported earlier, at least 15 people had died in those clashes. Over a dozen shops and four Government offices were set ablaze in the violence which subsided after the imposition of curfew on January 9. Read less...

Reacting to the news of his death, officials in Skardu said protesters burnt down a seminary and destroyed a Pakistan International Airlines office and some other shops. As a precautionary measure, authorities have imposed curfew in Skardu, 120km from Gilgit, and troops have commenced patrolling, according to Dawn. A press note issued by the administration said that curfew had been extended to the adjoining areas of Gilgit, including Danyore, Hainzai. Read less...

In Gilgit, Agha Ziauddin was laid to rest on the premises of the main Shia mosque. According to The News, Police shot dead a man for breaking curfew in Skardu but the incident was not linked to any unrest, local officials said. Read less...

The Daily Times has reported that members of the defunct Imamia Students Organisation (ISO) attacked the Lahore Press Club on January 14 and wounded nine journalists. The ISO was protesting against the assassination of Shia leader, Agha Ziauddin Rizvi, at Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). On the same day, more than 15 people, including seven police officials, were injured when activists of the Pakistan Islami Tehreek threw stones at police personnel who tried to stop them from going to the Parliament House in Islamabad. Read less...

According to Dawn, even as curfew was relaxed on January 20 at Gilgit and Skardu towns in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Police have arrested 70 people for their alleged involvement in the sectarian violence on January 8 in which at least 15 persons died. "We have arrested 70 people so far during raids for their suspected involvement in the riots in Gilgit and the destruction in Skardu," local police chief, Sakiullah Tareen, told AFP. Read less...

The Interior Ministry on January 20 declared twenty cities sensitive with respect to law and order and issued special security guidelines for the occasion of the muslim festival of Eidul Azha. Declaring Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Sibi, Gwadar, Mianwali, Hyderabad, Larkana, Multan, Faisalabad, Jhang, Mardan, Gilgit, DI Khan, Kohat, Sheikhupura and Gujrat sensitive, the Interior Ministry issued a circular to the home secretaries of the four provinces. The circular contained special security arrangements in the respective areas for the occasion of Eid and warned that extremists and terrorists of banned groups and organisations could disrupt law and order. Read less...

A team of Special Investigation Group (SIG) personnel has reportedly identified the killer of Shia leader Syed Agha Ziauddin Rizvi in Gilgit as Mukhtiar Ahmad, an activist of the proscribed Sunni outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). An unnamed official told Dawn that the assailant, who was also killed, belonged to the village of Zareef Korona in the outskirts of Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province. Ziauddin was attacked on January 8 during sectarian clashes at Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and later died on January 13. During the attack, his two bodyguards and an attacker were also killed. The incident also led to violence resulting in the death of at least 15 people. Read less...