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Pakistan
Report:2011
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Date
Incidents
January - 2 
A total of 2,043 people, mostly civilians, were killed in US drone attacks during the last five years, while 929 causalities were reported only in 2010 in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), The News reported on January 3 quoting Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) research report. The yearly r
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A total of 2,043 people, mostly civilians, were killed in US drone attacks during the last five years, while 929 causalities were reported only in 2010 in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), The News reported on January 3 quoting Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) research report. The yearly report of CMC released on January 1 reveals some eye-popping details about the CIA's notorious drone hit campaign in north-western parts of Pakistan. It terms the CIA's drone hits as 'assassination campaign turning out to be revenge campaign' and shows that 2010 was the deadliest year ever of causalities resulted in drone-hits in Pakistan. According to the report, the number of drone attacks in 2010 was far greater than those of collective number of hits in last five years. In 2010, 134 drone attacks till December 30 were reported, killing 929 people as compared to 96 drone hits killing 1,114 people from 2004 to 2009. December 17 was the deadliest day of 2010 when three drone attacks killed 54 people in Khyber Agency. Last year's 93 days witnessed drone attacks, which means approximately every 4th day of the year saw a drone attack. As many as 115 of total 134 drone attacks were carried out in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) while South Waziristan Agency (SWA) saw nine drone attacks. Khyber Agency that was previously untouched by drones was hit twice in December killing 62 people, the document reports.
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January - 12 
Pakistan has indefinitely postponed a full-scale military offensive against the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) because of the freezing winter there that normally lasts over six months, The Express Tribune quoting an unnamed source repor
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Pakistan has indefinitely postponed a full-scale military offensive against the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) because of the freezing winter there that normally lasts over six months, The Express Tribune quoting an unnamed source reported on January 12. In the meantime, US drones will continue to target Taliban sanctuaries in NWA and elsewhere in the tribal belt as this is the only available option to weaken the militants. The Pakistan Government has been facing tremendous pressure from the US to move troops into NWA to target the Haqqani Network, which attacks American and allied forces across the border in Afghanistan.
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January - 12 
Pakistan was the deadliest of the 30 countries examined, accounting for 16 deaths, in 2010, Daily Times quoting the International News Safety Institute (INSI) reported on January 12. 97 journalists died worldwide in 2010 as a result of their work, an average of almost two a week, the INSI said. The
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Pakistan was the deadliest of the 30 countries examined, accounting for 16 deaths, in 2010, Daily Times quoting the International News Safety Institute (INSI) reported on January 12. 97 journalists died worldwide in 2010 as a result of their work, an average of almost two a week, the INSI said. The global number was down from 133 deaths in 2009. Pakistan accounted for 16 deaths, followed by Mexico and Honduras with 10 deaths each.
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January - 14 
Pakistan’s fight against terrorist leads to record an increase in cases of Polio from 89 in the previous year to 138, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures, Daily Times reported on January 14. That made it the nation with the highest incidence of polio in the world. Most cases were in
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Pakistan’s fight against terrorist leads to record an increase in cases of Polio from 89 in the previous year to 138, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures, Daily Times reported on January 14. That made it the nation with the highest incidence of polio in the world. Most cases were in the northwest close to the Afghanistan border, where battles between the US-supported Pakistani Army and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) make many areas too dangerous to visit. The Army bans travel to parts of the region, citing the security situation, and territory under terrorist control is highly dangerous for outsiders, even Pakistani aid workers. In 2009, one Pakistan Taliban commander declared the vaccine un-Islamic, echoing a few conservative clerics in other Muslim countries. But others have not publicly stated any objections. In Afghanistan, the Taliban cooperate with health workers administering the vaccine, in part because doing so adds to the movement’s legitimacy.
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January - 17 
A group of 12 Canadians are reported undergoing militant training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency (NWA) in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in plots to carry out terror attacks back home, reports Times of India on January 18. The converted Canadians reached the Da
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A group of 12 Canadians are reported undergoing militant training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency (NWA) in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in plots to carry out terror attacks back home, reports Times of India on January 18. The converted Canadians reached the Darpakhel area in FATA after joining radical Egyptian group Jihad al-Islami. Arab intelligence agencies warned that foreign recruits are being trained to carry out terror attacks in European mainland triggering a continent-wide alert. "The Canadians went to Afghanistan in February 2010; there were 12 of them. After nine months, al-Qaeda's leaders decided to send them to North Waziristan and they reached Darpakhel in November last year," Arif Wazir, a local militant of Darpakhel, was quoted as saying in the report. A 30 year-old man Abu Shahid, sporting golden beard, is leading the Canadian group, the report said, adding that those who could not be independently verified include, Jeam Paull (local name Sadiq Ullah), Leman Langlois (Sana Ullah), James Richard (Abdur Rehman), Otto Paul (Abu Usman), Thomas (Abdullah) and Paul Gall (Hafiz Ullah).
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January - 19 
Pakistani investigators on January 19 claimed that over 50,000 containers meant for United States (US) and NATO forces in Afghanistan were pilfered within Pakistan with the alleged collusion of authorities from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and National Logistics Cell (NLC), states Indian Express.
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Pakistani investigators on January 19 claimed that over 50,000 containers meant for United States (US) and NATO forces in Afghanistan were pilfered within Pakistan with the alleged collusion of authorities from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and National Logistics Cell (NLC), states Indian Express. The FBR and NLC are required to keep accurate entry and exit records but had failed to do so, the report said; adding, "a trans-national racket involving different Governments" was involved in the scam.
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January - 20 
A new report on American journalist Daniel Pearl's killing presents fresh evidence that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed executed the reporter in Pakistan nine years ago and four men imprisoned for the crime were convicted on the basis of perjured testimony, Times of India reported on January 2
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A new report on American journalist Daniel Pearl's killing presents fresh evidence that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed executed the reporter in Pakistan nine years ago and four men imprisoned for the crime were convicted on the basis of perjured testimony, Times of India reported on January 20. It was reported earlier that Mohammed, an al Qaeda operative, confessed beheading Daniel Pearl, who was abducted from Karachi on January 23, 2002 while investigating connections between Pakistani extremists and Richard Reid, who tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his shoe on a transatlantic flight in 2001. The new report, "The truth left behind: Inside the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl", says American security and intelligence officials have used vascular technology, or "vein matching", to show that the hand of an unseen man who killed Pearl on video is that of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
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January - 20 
It was reported that the Sindh police have arrested 89 target killers involved in 254 murders and other criminal cases in Karachi in January.
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It was reported that the Sindh police have arrested 89 target killers involved in 254 murders and other criminal cases in Karachi in January.
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January - 20 
With over 10,000 persons killed in violent incidents across the country in 2010, Pakistan was the most volatile country in the region, pushing war-ravaged Afghanistan which was the most lethal country since the beginning of the US-led global war on terror in 2001 to second position in this regard, T
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With over 10,000 persons killed in violent incidents across the country in 2010, Pakistan was the most volatile country in the region, pushing war-ravaged Afghanistan which was the most lethal country since the beginning of the US-led global war on terror in 2001 to second position in this regard, The Hindu quoting Pakistan Security Report of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) reported on January 20.
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February - 2 
Al Qaeda is attempting to procure nuclear material and recruit rogue scientists in order to build a radioactive “dirty bomb”, reports Daily Times on February 2 quoting leaked documents published in Telegraph. The cables, released by the WikiLeaks website, showed that security chiefs informed NATO in
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Al Qaeda is attempting to procure nuclear material and recruit rogue scientists in order to build a radioactive “dirty bomb”, reports Daily Times on February 2 quoting leaked documents published in Telegraph. The cables, released by the WikiLeaks website, showed that security chiefs informed NATO in January 2009 that al Qaeda was planning a programme of “dirty radioactive Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)”. The documents also revealed that al Qaeda papers found in 2007 convinced security officials that “greater advances” had been made in bio-terrorism. Also laid bare in the diplomatic cables are the attempts made to smuggle volatile materials as rogue organisations seek to get their hands on weapons-grade fuel. A freight train on the Kazakhstan-Russia border was found to be carrying weapons-grade material while a “small-time” dealer in Lisbon tried to sell radioactive plates stolen from Chernobyl in Ukraine.
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February - 7 
The controversy over the killing of two Pakistanis by a United States (US) consulate employee Raymond Davies on January 27 in Lahore District of a Punjab province took a new turn with a media report stating that the dead men were believed to be "intelligence operatives". The two ISI officials killed
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The controversy over the killing of two Pakistanis by a United States (US) consulate employee Raymond Davies on January 27 in Lahore District of a Punjab province took a new turn with a media report stating that the dead men were believed to be "intelligence operatives". The two ISI officials killed "belonged to the security establishment" and "found the activities of the American official detrimental to Pakistan’s national security", an unnamed security official said, adding, “The Government's tough stance on the issue was also a reaction to the attempts by certain elements in Washington to implicate the ISI, in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks"
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February - 10 
Former President Pervez Musharraf was aware that the Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was plotting to kill former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but he did not pass on the information to the authorities concerned, reported Times of India quoting the report of a team probing the 2007 assassination. The
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Former President Pervez Musharraf was aware that the Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was plotting to kill former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but he did not pass on the information to the authorities concerned, reported Times of India quoting the report of a team probing the 2007 assassination. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) found that Musharraf knew that then TTP ‘chief’ Baitullah Mehsud was plotting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, but withheld the information. The challan submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Rawalpindi's Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) contained 12 charges against Musharraf. His name was added to the list of accused in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case following a statement of former Rawalpindi City Police Officer Saud Aziz, who claimed that Musharraf had given the order to change Benazir's security in-charge and the murder scene was immediately washed on Musharraf's orders. FIA, in its challan, said, "Based on motive, circumstantial evidence and statements, it is prima facie established that Musharraf is equally responsible for facilitation and abetment of assassinating Benazir Bhutto through his Government's unjustified failure in providing her the requisite security protection her status deserved as twice Prime Minister."
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February - 15 
At least 44 journalists were killed worldwide because of their jobs during 2010, with Pakistan the deadliest country to work in, The Express Tribune quoting Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on February 15. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) listed 44 journalists either murdere
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At least 44 journalists were killed worldwide because of their jobs during 2010, with Pakistan the deadliest country to work in, The Express Tribune quoting Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on February 15. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) listed 44 journalists either murdered or killed while covering dangerous situations. Another 31 deaths took place in circumstances that may have been connected to work. Leading the death toll was Pakistan with eight slain, followed by Iraq with five, Honduras, Mexico and Indonesia with three each, and Somalia with two. The total number of reporters killed was much lower than in 2009, when the record figure of 72 worldwide was skewed by a one-off massacre in the Philippines.
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February - 21 
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Raymond Davis, the alleged killer of two Pakistanis in Lahore, had close links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Express Tribune quoting The New York Times reported on February 21. The New York Times report said that Davis “was part of a covert, C
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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Raymond Davis, the alleged killer of two Pakistanis in Lahore, had close links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Express Tribune quoting The New York Times reported on February 21. The New York Times report said that Davis “was part of a covert, CIA-led team of operatives conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country, according to American Government officials.” This contradicts the United States (US) claim that Davis was a member of the ‘technical and administrative staff’ of its diplomatic mission in Pakistan. Davis was arrested on January 27 after allegedly shooting dead two young motorcyclists at a crowded bus stop in the Lahore District of Punjab. A senior official in the Punjab Police claimed, “His (Davis) close ties with the TTP were revealed during the investigations”. “Davis was instrumental in recruiting young people from Punjab for the Taliban to fuel the bloody insurgency.” Call records of the cell phones recovered from Davis have established his links with 33 Pakistanis, including 27 militants from the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) sectarian outfit.
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February - 21 
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drones killed at least 581 terrorists in Pakistan in 2010, but only two were noteworthy enough to appear on a US list of most-wanted terrorists, Daily Times quoting The Washington Post reported February 21. The Washington Post reported that the CIA carried out a
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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drones killed at least 581 terrorists in Pakistan in 2010, but only two were noteworthy enough to appear on a US list of most-wanted terrorists, Daily Times quoting The Washington Post reported February 21. The Washington Post reported that the CIA carried out a record 118 drone strikes over the last year, costing more than USD one million apiece. The CIA is increasingly killing “mere foot soldiers”, a senior Pakistani official said, adding that the issue has come up in discussions in Washington involving President Asif Ali Zardari. A Washington think-tank, New America Foundation, reported that US drone strikes soared from 33 in 2008 to 118 in 2010. The increase cost US taxpayers USD 118 million and managed to kill 581 militants. The New America Foundation, however, concluded that 12 “militant leaders” were killed by drone strikes in 2010, compared with 10 in 2008. “Even so, the data suggest that the ratio of senior terrorism suspects being killed is declining at a substantial rate” while the number of strikes multiplied, The Washington Post observed. Even by the Foundation’s more generous estimates, the newspaper noted, the CIA’s drone campaign, covertly authorised by Islamabad, hit foot-soldier types 94 per cent of the time. Meanwhile, former President Pervez Musharraf had cut a secret deal with the US in 2006, allowing clandestine CIA operations in his country. This was done to make the Americans believe that Islamabad was not secretly helping the Taliban insurgents. Under the agreement, the CIA was allowed to acquire the services of private security firms, including Blackwater (Xe Worldwide) and DynCorp to conduct surveillance on the Taliban and al Qaeda. Quoting New York Times, Express Tribune states that even before his arrest, Davis’s CIA affiliation was known to Pakistani authorities. It added that his visa, presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late 2009, describes his job as a “regional affairs officer,” a common job description for officials working with the agency. “Davis’s job was to trail links of the Taliban and al Qaeda in different parts of Pakistan. But, instead, investigators found that he had developed close links with the TTP,” added a source. The pressure on the Pakistan Government to release Davis has been steadily intensifying. There have been a flurry of private phone calls to Pakistan from Leon E Panetta, the CIA director, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all intended to persuade the Pakistanis to release the secret operative.
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February - 22 
Afghan Taliban's mid-level field ‘commanders’ are reluctant to return to some battle zones in Afghanistan despite pressure from their top leaders based in Pakistan, states Indian Express quoting a media report on February 22. Many Taliban ‘commanders’ had withdrawn to Pakistan after their defeats in
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Afghan Taliban's mid-level field ‘commanders’ are reluctant to return to some battle zones in Afghanistan despite pressure from their top leaders based in Pakistan, states Indian Express quoting a media report on February 22. Many Taliban ‘commanders’ had withdrawn to Pakistan after their defeats in Kandahar and Helmand, where American troop presence had increased by thousands, New York Times reported. The Afghan Taliban leadership based in Pakistan wanted them to go back and fight but many of the Taliban fighters were not keen on returning, it claimed. "I have talked to some commanders and they are reluctant to fight," an unnamed 45-year-old Taliban ‘commander’, who has been with the Taliban since its founding in 1994, was quoted as saying, adding, "Definitely there is disagreement between the field commanders and the leaders over their demands to go and fight."
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February - 22 
Afghanistan's Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, still has a "very powerful" effect on his followers, who are ready to fight on his orders, reports Times of India on February 22. Omar recently exhorted his men
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Afghanistan's Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, still has a "very powerful" effect on his followers, who are ready to fight on his orders, reports Times of India on February 22. Omar recently exhorted his men in an audio tape to keep fighting, a Taliban ‘commander’ said. "His words have a very powerful effect on us," the Taliban ‘commander’ was quoted as saying by the New York Times. "We obey his orders, every Talib (student of a religious seminary) does, and we believe in him," the ‘commander’added.
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March - 1 
Pakistan, with one of the world’s largest out-of-school population, about 7.3 million, spends over seven times as much on arms as on primary schools, reveals a report of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on March 1, stated Dawn. The discrepancy between primary educati
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Pakistan, with one of the world’s largest out-of-school population, about 7.3 million, spends over seven times as much on arms as on primary schools, reveals a report of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on March 1, stated Dawn. The discrepancy between primary education and military expenditure is so large that just one-fifth of Pakistan’s military spending would be sufficient to finance the universal primary education, asserted the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2011.
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March - 6 
Dawn reported on March 6 that the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is trying to redefine its terms of engagement with the Central Investigation Agency (CIA), before any settlement over immunity for Raymond Davis, the jailed United States (US) operative. The Lahore High Court will res
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Dawn reported on March 6 that the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is trying to redefine its terms of engagement with the Central Investigation Agency (CIA), before any settlement over immunity for Raymond Davis, the jailed United States (US) operative. The Lahore High Court will resume its proceedings on March 14 for deciding the issue of immunity for Davis, where the Government is expected to testify on his diplomatic status. But, sources suggest, the hearing will be preceded by a lot of give and take between the two sides and negotiations to that effect were already under way.
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March - 6 
Express Tribune on March 6 reported that the Government has only been able to implement 15 of the 61 proposals contained in a reforms package aimed at redressing Baloch grievances regarding the affairs of their province. A 38-page progress report on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan (beginning of the
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Express Tribune on March 6 reported that the Government has only been able to implement 15 of the 61 proposals contained in a reforms package aimed at redressing Baloch grievances regarding the affairs of their province. A 38-page progress report on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan (beginning of the rights of Balochistan) package states that the Government has not acted on most of the proposals. Officials said that the Provincial and Federal Governments were constrained by a lack of funds, but would do their best to implement the proposals by the end of 2013. Parliament had approved the package unanimously on November 23, 2009, and the committee responsible for the package, and its implementation, was chaired by Senator Raza Rabbani.
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March - 8 
the Pakistan Army for the first time gave the official version of US drone attacks in the FATA and said that most of those killed were hardcore al Qaeda, Afghan Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and a fairly large number of them were of foreign origin. General Officer Commanding
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the Pakistan Army for the first time gave the official version of US drone attacks in the FATA and said that most of those killed were hardcore al Qaeda, Afghan Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and a fairly large number of them were of foreign origin. General Officer Commanding 7th Division Major General Ghayoor Mehmood said in a briefing that “Myths and rumours about US predator strikes and the casualty figures are many, but it’s a reality that many of those being killed in these strikes are hardcore elements, a sizeable number of them foreigners. “Yes there are a few civilian casualties in such precision strikes, but a majority of those eliminated are terrorists, including foreign terrorist elements.” The Army’s 7th Division’s official paper on the attacks till March 7 said that between 2007 and 2011 about 164 predator strikes had been carried out and over 964 terrorists had been killed. Of those killed, 793 were locals and 171 foreigners, including Arabs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Chechens, Filipinos and Moroccans. In 2007, one missile strike left one militant dead while the year 2010 was the deadliest when the attacks had left more than 423 terrorists dead. In 2008, 23 drone strikes killed 152 militants, 12 of them were foreigners or affiliated with al Qaeda. In 2009, around 20 predator strikes were carried out, killing 179 militants, including 20 foreigners, and in the following year 423 militants, including 133 foreigners, were killed in 103 strikes. In attacks till March 7, 2011, 39 militants, including five foreigners, were killed. Further, Major General Ghayoor, who is in-charge of troops in North Waziristan Agency, admitted that the drone attacks had negative fallout, scaring the local population and causing their migration to other places. In addition, Major General Ghayoor said that “Well we have over 820 checkposts along the border to stop militant movement and there is strict vigilance, but unfrequented routes are an exception for which alternate means, including intelligence-sharing between coalition troops and the Army, are in place.”
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April - 3 
A Daily Times report said that target killing spree claimed the lives of 160 persons in Karachi in March 2011. The target killings started on the strike day announced by ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) against the dismissal of a high up on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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A Daily Times report said that target killing spree claimed the lives of 160 persons in Karachi in March 2011. The target killings started on the strike day announced by ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) against the dismissal of a high up on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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April - 3 
The voluntary repatriation of internally displaced families from the conflict-hit Bajaur and Mohmand Agency will start from April 11, reports Dawn. The FATA Disaster Management Authority said that the programme of voluntary return would continue till May 20. However, officials said that none of the
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The voluntary repatriation of internally displaced families from the conflict-hit Bajaur and Mohmand Agency will start from April 11, reports Dawn. The FATA Disaster Management Authority said that the programme of voluntary return would continue till May 20. However, officials said that none of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) would be forced to leave the camps, set up for them in Jalozai and Risalpur. Presently around 15,000 IDP families have been residing in these camps. The plan of voluntary repatriation is also applicable to around 65,000 displaced families living off-camps. “The return of these IDPs will be in accordance with international standards, which does not allow forced return,” said Allah Dad Khan, in-charge of Jalozai camp, situated around 10 kilometres off the G.T. Road from Pabbi town. Further, the Director General of FATA Disaster Management Authority, Arshad Khan, also said that they had finalised arrangements so that all Bajaur and Mohmand IDPs, who left their homes as a result of operation against militants in their respective areas, could go back with honour and respect. According to FATA Disaster Management Authority, the number of displaced families from Bajaur Agency are 50,000 whereas the displaced families from Mohmand Agency are over 30, 800. The IDPs living off-camps include 37,000 families from Bajaur and around 29,000 families from Mohmand. Mr Allah Dad said that Jalozai camp, the largest of all, housed over 13,000 displaced families from Bajaur and over 1,500 families from Mohmand Agency. The same camp also provides shelter to over 4,000 families belonging to Bara, Khyber Agency, but so far that area had not been cleared by the SFs and no returning plan has been announced for them.
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April - 4 
Al Qaeda and its affiliated militant outfits based in tribal belts of Pakistan are grooming alternative leaders and splitting into small cells to confuse counter-terror agencies and to survive in the face of sudden fatalities, The Express Tribune quoting intelligence officials in Islamabad and assoc
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Al Qaeda and its affiliated militant outfits based in tribal belts of Pakistan are grooming alternative leaders and splitting into small cells to confuse counter-terror agencies and to survive in the face of sudden fatalities, The Express Tribune quoting intelligence officials in Islamabad and associates of the outfit in South and North Waziristan Agencies reported on April 5. The outfits, including the Haqqani network, have been following this pattern for some time and "unusual changes" are expected in months to come. The Afghan Taliban led by Maulana Sirajuddin Haqqani and his father Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani, supposedly the strongest of al-Qaida’s partners, might be promoting a new leader to undertake the outfit's operational and organisational activities, the report added.
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April - 18 
A resolution adopted unanimously by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on April 18 demanded immediate halt to United States (US) drone attacks in FATA, reports Dawn. The resolution also demanded of the US Government to provide drone technology to Pakistan so as precise action could be taken against mil
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A resolution adopted unanimously by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on April 18 demanded immediate halt to United States (US) drone attacks in FATA, reports Dawn. The resolution also demanded of the US Government to provide drone technology to Pakistan so as precise action could be taken against militants. The drone attacks were counterproductive and also spread hatred against America, it added.
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April - 25 
Another blow to already tense relations between the United Sates and Pakistan was dealt on April 25 when leaked official documents of Guantánamo cables showed that the US administration had placed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on a list of terrorist outfits, reports Dawn. In the documents, l
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Another blow to already tense relations between the United Sates and Pakistan was dealt on April 25 when leaked official documents of Guantánamo cables showed that the US administration had placed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on a list of terrorist outfits, reports Dawn. In the documents, leaked by the whistle-blowing WikiLeaks website, US officials rank the ISI alongside groups like Hezbollah, al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the brainchild of al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman Al-Zawahiri, is also on the list of 70 terrorist entities. In a so-called threat indicator matrix used to determine which of the inmates at Guantánamo Bay can be released, a detainee’s link to the ISI is seen as confirming his association with terrorism. The 17-page threat matrix is the first official US documents to have emerged that ranks the ISI among terrorist groups.
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April - 26 
At least one Guantánamo Bay detainee discovered to be involved in a plot to attack the US Consulate in Peshawar and believed to have carried out a string of bombings in Pakistan in 2002, was also on the payroll for British and Canadian intelligence services, according to secret files on detainees at
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At least one Guantánamo Bay detainee discovered to be involved in a plot to attack the US Consulate in Peshawar and believed to have carried out a string of bombings in Pakistan in 2002, was also on the payroll for British and Canadian intelligence services, according to secret files on detainees at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, The express Tribune quoting WikiLeaks reported on April 27. Algerian detainee Adil Hadi al Jazairi bin Hamili, linked with the Algerian Armed Islamic Group and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, confessed that he had worked for the Taliban’s foreign ministry and intelligence services as well. Hamili was captured in a raid in Peshawar in 2003. According to Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau, Hamili was an Algerian terrorist, hired assassin, kidnapper, and member of Osama bin Laden’s “umbrella organisation.” However, the Central Intelligence Agency found that not only was Hamili a source for the British and Canadian intelligence services who had withheld information from the two, but he was also running a terrorist cell. According to US assessment, Hamili was actually Abu Adil, who Khalid Shaikh Mohammad had confessed to meeting in early 2002. Mohammad had given PKR 300,000 to support Abu Adil’s cell in Punjab and an assassination plot against the then President General Pervez Musharraf. According to Mohammad, Abu Adil was responsible for attacks on two churches in Islamabad and Sialkot, and possibly involved in the May 2002 attack on Karachi’s Sheraton Hotel in which 11 French engineers and three Pakistanis were killed. Hamili was recruited by foreign intelligence “because of his connections to members of various al Qaeda linked terrorist groups that operated in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” Hamili was not the only spy in custody. Iraqi detainee Bisher al-Rawi also said he had links with MI5 and was providing information to the agency on Abu Qatada, the ‘spiritual leader of the Armed Islamic Group’. The document states that the intelligence service owned up to this. “When visiting Guantánamo Bay, a member of an allied intelligence service admitted a relationship with the detainee.”
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April - 26 
Osama bin Laden escaped US and British forces, closing in on his cave-haven hacked into the mountainside, with the help of a Pakistani warlord who provided guides to take him to safety in north-eastern Afghanistan, Indian Express reported on April 27. The al Qaeda supremo’s successful flight from To
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Osama bin Laden escaped US and British forces, closing in on his cave-haven hacked into the mountainside, with the help of a Pakistani warlord who provided guides to take him to safety in north-eastern Afghanistan, Indian Express reported on April 27. The al Qaeda supremo’s successful flight from Tora Bora mountains in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan has been seen as an early lapse by the international military. New details about the escape emerged from interrogation reports of the Guantánamo Bay detainees and one account claims that local Pakistani militant ‘commander’ Maulvi Noor Mohammad aided Osama’s escape. The Guardian said that in documents obtained by it, Mohammad provided 40-50 fighters to escort a trapped Osama and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri to safety following intervention of al Qaeda ‘commander’ known as Abu Torab in mid-December 2001. Previously, it was said that Osama escaped south from Tora Bora into Pakistan. However, in two accounts from Guantánamo Bay detainees, Osama and Zawahiri headed north to a safe house of an Afghan sympathiser called Awal Malim Gul near Jalalabad. The duo rested there before travelling further on horse back into the remote province of Kunar, where they were to remain for 10 months.
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April - 27 
On April 27, quoting United States (US) military documents posted by WikiLeaks, Times of India reported that the mastermind of 9/11 attacks Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was warned by a senior al Qaeda military commander to not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002 and that he
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On April 27, quoting United States (US) military documents posted by WikiLeaks, Times of India reported that the mastermind of 9/11 attacks Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was warned by a senior al Qaeda military commander to not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002 and that he should be “returned back to one of the previous groups who held him” or "freed". However, Shaikh Mohammed during his interrogation told the US interrogators at Guantánamo Bay that he cut off Pearl's head anyway.
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April - 28 
Quoting from the secret files of WikiLeaks, Dawn on April 29 (today) reported that Abdul Rabbani Abu Rahman aka Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani admitted to United States (US) investigators that he had been directly working for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks, and that o
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Quoting from the secret files of WikiLeaks, Dawn on April 29 (today) reported that Abdul Rabbani Abu Rahman aka Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani admitted to United States (US) investigators that he had been directly working for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks, and that one of the sons of Osama bin Laden, Saaed Bin Laden, had been living in Karachi with his wife and son in 2002. According to revealed files, Rabbani had been in detention at the Guantánamo Bay camp since September 19, 2004, two years after his arrest in Karachi. Rabbani, according to the report, admitted that he was an al Qaeda facilitator from early 2002 to September 2002. During this period he managed a number of safe houses in Karachi and had direct link to many senior al Qaeda cadres, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. These safe houses provided logistical support to most of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, the investigation report said. He was directly involved with terrorist plans and operations. Rabbani further said that Osama’s son, Saaed Bin Laden, lived in Karachi with his wife and son, from January 2002 through at least June 2002. Umar Sheikh provided a safe haven for Saaed in Karachi. While Saaed was there, he would occasionally come with Sheikh to one of the detainee’s safe houses at house number D-255, Block 13 D, Gulshan-i-Iqbal area of Karachi.
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May - 4 
The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) owned the mansion in the town of Abbottabad in Kahyber Pakhtunkhwa where Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces, a Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail, has reported, according to Times of India. The report claimed that Pakistan is hushing up the issue of the ownership of
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The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) owned the mansion in the town of Abbottabad in Kahyber Pakhtunkhwa where Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces, a Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail, has reported, according to Times of India. The report claimed that Pakistan is hushing up the issue of the ownership of the compound. The Globe and Mail quoted a Pakistani Police officer familiar with bin Laden's compound to say the house was used by HM. "The place belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen," the Police officer said, adding, "But the authorities have asked us not to share any information about the exact ownership."
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May - 5 
United States (US) troops were led to al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden by his own deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, because of internal power struggle between the two, reports Daily Times, quoting from al Watan, Saudi paper on May 5. It reported that the top two al Qaeda men had differences and that a cour
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United States (US) troops were led to al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden by his own deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, because of internal power struggle between the two, reports Daily Times, quoting from al Watan, Saudi paper on May 5. It reported that the top two al Qaeda men had differences and that a courier who led US forces to Bin Laden was working for Zawahiri. The courier was a Pakistan national and not a Kuwaiti as the US suspected. The man knew he was being followed by the US military but disguised the fact. “The Egyptian faction of al Qaeda is de facto running the organisation now and since he was taken ill in 2004 they have been trying to take full control,” according to sources. It said Zawahiri’s faction had persuaded Osama bin Laden to leave Tribal Areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border and take shelter instead in Abbottabad District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With the return of an Egyptian figure in al Qaeda, Saif al Adel, the Egyptian faction hatched a plan to dispose of Osama bin Laden.
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May - 6 
Quoting the media reports, rediff.com reported on May 6 that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Ahmed Shuja Pasha may step down in the wake of widespread criticism of the Pakistani establishment over United States (US) Special Forces killing Osama bin Laden near a key military facil
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Quoting the media reports, rediff.com reported on May 6 that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Ahmed Shuja Pasha may step down in the wake of widespread criticism of the Pakistani establishment over United States (US) Special Forces killing Osama bin Laden near a key military facility in the garrison city of Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pasha may quit as the Pakistan Government "looks for a fall guy for the bin Laden debacle," unnamed senior officials were quoted. The senior officials said "they recognise that an important head has to roll and soon" to allay domestic and international anger over bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, located close to the federal capital of Islamabad, adding, “The most likely candidate to be the fall guy is General Ahmed Shuja Pasha. It is nearly a done deal".
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May - 7 
Investigators engaged in piecing together the life of Osama bin Laden since his dramatic escape from Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains have discovered the al Qaeda ‘chief’ had been living in Pakistan’s urban centres longer than they had thought, Dawn reported on May 7. Before moving to his sprawling
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Investigators engaged in piecing together the life of Osama bin Laden since his dramatic escape from Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains have discovered the al Qaeda ‘chief’ had been living in Pakistan’s urban centres longer than they had thought, Dawn reported on May 7. Before moving to his sprawling compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad, towards the end of 2005, Osama bin Laden had lived with his family in Chak Shah Mohammad Khan, a village in the nearby District of Haripur, for nearly two and a half years. Chak Shah Mohammad, situated on the highway to Abbottabad, is two kilometres to the southeast of Haripur town.
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May - 7 
The Chef of Army Staff (CoAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani does not support President Asif Ali Zardari's "no-first-use" nuclear policy, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, reports Times of India on May 7. "Although he has remained silent on the subject, Kayani does not support Z
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The Chef of Army Staff (CoAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani does not support President Asif Ali Zardari's "no-first-use" nuclear policy, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, reports Times of India on May 7. "Although he has remained silent on the subject, Kayani does not support Zardari's statement last year to the Indian press that Pakistan would adopt a 'no first use' policy on nuclear weapons. “Despite increasing financial constraints, we believe that the military is proceeding with an expansion of both its growing strategic weapons and missile programs," the cables sent by the then US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson prior to Kayani's Washington visit between February 20-27, 2009, said.
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May - 9 
Pakistan struck a clandestine deal in 2001 that allowed the United States (US) to carry out a unilateral raid on its territory similar to May 1-2 raid that killed the al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Guardian reported on May 9, according to Tribune. The agreement was finalised between then milit
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Pakistan struck a clandestine deal in 2001 that allowed the United States (US) to carry out a unilateral raid on its territory similar to May 1-2 raid that killed the al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Guardian reported on May 9, according to Tribune. The agreement was finalised between then military ruler Pervez Musharraf and US President George W. Bush after Osama bin Laden eluded capture in Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains, the newspaper said, citing serving and retired Pakistani and US officials. Under the terms of the agreement, Pakistan would allow US troops to conduct a raid inside Pakistan in search of Bin Laden, his second in command Ayman al Zawahiri, and the group’s third-ranking official. Both sides also agreed that Islamabad would vociferously protest the incursion afterwards in keeping with public sensitivities. The newspaper quoted a former senior US official as saying that “there was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him.” “The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn’t stop us,” the official told the Guardian. A senior Pakistani official said it had been struck under Musharraf and renewed by the army during the “transition to democracy” – a six-month period from February 2008 when Musharraf was still president but a civilian government had been elected. The former US official said the Pakistani protests of the past week were the “public face” of the deal, adding, “We knew they would deny this stuff.”
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May - 9 
US intelligence sleuths reportedly found one of the accused in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known 26/11) using a cell phone from prison in Pakistan, reports Indian Express. However, the Pakistani authorities did not act even when provided the information by the US, a media re
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US intelligence sleuths reportedly found one of the accused in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known 26/11) using a cell phone from prison in Pakistan, reports Indian Express. However, the Pakistani authorities did not act even when provided the information by the US, a media report said on May 9. "The Pakistanis try to get out of facing tough questions by anti-American statements in Pakistani media," The News quoted an unnamed US official as saying in its report. "Only recently, we gave them intelligence based on electronic means that one Mumbai incident accused was still using a cell phone from prison but nothing has happened. How can we trust them in such environment?" the official asked. The official was speaking about reasons why US authorities were not trusting Pakistan completely. The report said while willing to avoid placing excessive open pressure on a weak civilian government and often issuing statements that reassured Pakistan, Americans have repeatedly said they felt betrayed. "Soon after the Mumbai attacks, President George W. Bush issued a statement which said that the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) was not involved in the Mumbai attacks. This was mainly due to the personal efforts of Pakistan's Ambassador to US, Husain Haqqani, who met with senior Bush administration officials to request that statement. "In return, Pakistan assured full cooperation in investigating the Mumbai incident. Americans say that Pakistan never stuck to its side of the bargain and serious action had not been taken against Mumbai incident accused until now," the daily said.
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May - 10 
One of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)'s most important leaders who was indicted by the United Sates (US) Treasury Department for the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, Arif Qasmani, is trying to acquire biological weapons and anthrax through his al-Qaida links, Times of India reported on May 11. The interrogat
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One of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)'s most important leaders who was indicted by the United Sates (US) Treasury Department for the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, Arif Qasmani, is trying to acquire biological weapons and anthrax through his al-Qaida links, Times of India reported on May 11. The interrogation report of a Pakistani businessman and Guantánamo Bay detainee, Saifullah Paracha, has revealed that LeT was in touch with a US-based "al-Qaida anthrax operative'' as it tried to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Qasmani is among the four persons whose assets had been frozen by the US for their alleged involvement in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts. The US notification, in fact, had said that Qasmani also facilitated the Samjhauta blast in 2007. Paracha, a businessman from Sargodha, revealed to the US authorities in 2008 that LeT's Qasmani might have been discussing ways to acquire biological weapons and anthrax with a US based pharmacist, Nazmut Tariq, identified also as an al-Qaida operative.
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May - 11 
Pakistan commando-turned dreaded global terrorist Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who is linked to multiple terror plots under the terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam (HuJI) including a series of planned "Mumbai style" attacks in key European cities, could succeed Osama bin Laden as the chief of al Q
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Pakistan commando-turned dreaded global terrorist Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who is linked to multiple terror plots under the terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam (HuJI) including a series of planned "Mumbai style" attacks in key European cities, could succeed Osama bin Laden as the chief of al Qaeda, reports Times of India on May 12. It was reported that Ilyas Kashmiri, who was at one point a member of the Pakistan military, serving as a commando in a Special Services Group (SSG) that was once tasked with training Afghan Mujahideen (holy warrior) to fight the Soviets is on the most wanted list of the United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may succeed bin Laden as Ayman al-Zawahiri the presumed successor, is deeply unpopular in some circles and his elevation is by no means guaranteed. In April this year, the US has announced a bounty of $5 million on the head of Ilyas Kashmiri.
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May - 12 
Indian Express quoting ABC News on May 12 reported that one of Osama bin Laden's sons went missing in the midst of the US Navy SEALs' raid on al Qaeda Chief’s Abbottabad hideout on May 2. This fact came to limelight by the three wives of Osama bin Laden who are in the Pakistani custody. The women sa
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Indian Express quoting ABC News on May 12 reported that one of Osama bin Laden's sons went missing in the midst of the US Navy SEALs' raid on al Qaeda Chief’s Abbottabad hideout on May 2. This fact came to limelight by the three wives of Osama bin Laden who are in the Pakistani custody. The women said that one of bin Laden's sons has not been seen since the May 2 raid, unnamed Pakistani officials were quoted by ABC News as saying. The son was not identified, but Pakistani investigators agreed that it appeared that someone was missing from the compound, the report added. Later, however, one US official said there was no evidence that anyone was missing from the Abbottabad compound. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, also told CNN that in a recent briefing with the CIA, there was no mention of a missing son. US officials said one of bin Laden's sons, Khalid, was killed in the raid. It is not known if another son, Hamza, was in the compound at the time of the raid, though his mother is reportedly among the wives of bin Laden who are in custody. The US has previously denied the SEALs took anyone from the compound other than bin Laden's body.
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May - 12 
The real breakthrough that led to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden came from a mysterious Central Investigation Agency (CIA) detainee, Hassan Ghul, reports The News quoting from May 12 special report based on interviews with two dozen current and former senior Intelligence, White House and State Depa
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The real breakthrough that led to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden came from a mysterious Central Investigation Agency (CIA) detainee, Hassan Ghul, reports The News quoting from May 12 special report based on interviews with two dozen current and former senior Intelligence, White House and State Department officials. According to the report, it was Ghul who after years of tantalizing hints from other detainees finally provided the information that prompted the CIA to focus intensely on finding Abu Ahmed al Kuwaiti, pseudonym for the courier who would lead them to bin Laden.
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May - 17 
Al Qaeda has chosen a former Egyptian Special Forces officer as its leader in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death on May 2, Times of India reported on May 18. Saif al-Adel, a top al-Qaeda strategist and senior military leader, has been tapped as caretaker ‘chief’ of the group, CNN reported, citing f
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Al Qaeda has chosen a former Egyptian Special Forces officer as its leader in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death on May 2, Times of India reported on May 18. Saif al-Adel, a top al-Qaeda strategist and senior military leader, has been tapped as caretaker ‘chief’ of the group, CNN reported, citing former Libyan militant Noman Benotman, who has renounced al Qaeda’s ideology. The decision to choose Adel, also known as Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi, came as militants grew increasingly restive over the lack of a formal successor to bin Laden, Benotman told CNN. Bin Laden's long-time deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, another Egyptian, is considered to be his presumed successor. Benotman said the appointment of Adel on a temporary basis may be a way for the group to gauge reaction to having someone outside the Muslim holy region of the Arabian Peninsula at the helm.
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May - 17 
The judicial tribunal on the May 17, 2011 Kharotabad incident of Quetta found Colonel Faisal Shahzad of Frontier Corps (FC), former Quetta Police chief Daud Junejo and other FC and Police personnel guilty of killing five foreigners and recommended legal action against them. The report said that FC a
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The judicial tribunal on the May 17, 2011 Kharotabad incident of Quetta found Colonel Faisal Shahzad of Frontier Corps (FC), former Quetta Police chief Daud Junejo and other FC and Police personnel guilty of killing five foreigners and recommended legal action against them. The report said that FC and Police exceeded their powers in taking action against the four Russian and one Tajik national. The tribunal, however, said that the foreigners were well-trained terrorists and had entered Pakistan illegally. Videos presented before the tribunal confirmed that the foreigners had received terrorism training. But, the report said the five foreigners were unarmed, had no suicide jackets and had no plan to attack Police and FC when they were killed. They could have been arrested, the report said.
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May - 18 
Pakistan has been submitting exaggerated and inaccurate bills for the billions of dollars US pays to fight militants along the Afghanistan border and the Pentagon has been rejecting 40 per cent of its claims, Indian Express quoting a Wall Street Journal report said on May 18. “The billing spat has e
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Pakistan has been submitting exaggerated and inaccurate bills for the billions of dollars US pays to fight militants along the Afghanistan border and the Pentagon has been rejecting 40 per cent of its claims, Indian Express quoting a Wall Street Journal report said on May 18. “The billing spat has exacerbated tensions between the countries, which reached a nadir after the US raided the compound of Osama bin Laden without informing Pakistani authorities,” a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report said. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon. The WSJ said the records detail USD 3.2 billion in expense claims submitted to the US for operations from January 2009 through June 2010. “According to the documents and interviews with officials, Pakistan has routinely submitted requests that were unsubstantiated, or were deemed by the US to be exaggerated or of little or no use in the war on terror underscoring what officials and experts see as a deep undercurrent of mistrust between the supposed allies,” the WSJ said. In another case, the US paid millions to refurbish four helicopters to help Pakistan’s army transport troops into battle against Taliban and other militants. But the Pakistanis ended up diverting three of those aircraft to peacekeeping duties in Sudan operations for which Islamabad receives compensation from the United Nations, US officials said. A senior Pakistani official termed it as “detrimental to bilateral trust”, The Daily added.
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May - 18 
The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is trying to convince the Haqqani network to join Afghan peace talks, Indian Express quoting a Wall Street Journal report said on May 18. Officials and tribal elders with ties to the group said that the ISI wants the group to join Afghan peace talks, suggesting
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The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is trying to convince the Haqqani network to join Afghan peace talks, Indian Express quoting a Wall Street Journal report said on May 18. Officials and tribal elders with ties to the group said that the ISI wants the group to join Afghan peace talks, suggesting that Pakistan was unlikely to heed the US warning that it must act soon, the Journal added. US want Pakistan to crackdown on the militant group, which has carried out several attacks in Afghanistan. A tribal elder from North Waziristan, who has contacts with Haqqani's inner circle, said the network has been alarmed by the persistent CIA drone strikes and the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. "They may want to talk," the elder was quoted as saying in the report. In an indication that the Haqqanis were worried, their compounds in North Waziristan's capital Miran Shah was emptied out in the days following the raid and killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the elder added.
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May - 19 
In another meeting with US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen over March 3-4, 2008, Kayani was asked for his help “in approving a third Restricted Operating Zone for US aircraft over the FATA.” The request, detailed in a cable sent from the US Embassy Islamabad on March 24, clearly i
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In another meeting with US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen over March 3-4, 2008, Kayani was asked for his help “in approving a third Restricted Operating Zone for US aircraft over the FATA.” The request, detailed in a cable sent from the US Embassy Islamabad on March 24, clearly indicates that two ‘corridors’ for US drones had already been approved earlier.
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May - 19 
One of the secret internal American Government cables, accessed by Dawn through WikiLeaks, provide confirmation that the United States (US) military drone strikes programme within Pakistan had more than just tacit acceptance of the country’s top military brass, despite public posturing to the contra
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One of the secret internal American Government cables, accessed by Dawn through WikiLeaks, provide confirmation that the United States (US) military drone strikes programme within Pakistan had more than just tacit acceptance of the country’s top military brass, despite public posturing to the contrary, reported Dawn on May 20. In fact, as long ago as January 2008, the country’s military was requesting the US for greater drone back-up for its own military operations. Previously exposed diplomatic cables have already shown that Pakistan’s civilian leaders are strongly supportive, in private, of the drone strikes on alleged militant targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even as they condemn them for general consumption. In a meeting on January 22, 2008 with US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Admiral William J. Fallon, Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani requested the Americans to provide “continuous Predator coverage of the conflict area” in South Waziristan where the army was conducting operations against militants. The request is detailed in a ‘Secret’ cable sent by then US Ambassador Anne Patterson on February 11, 2008. Pakistan’s military has consistently denied any involvement in the covert programme run mainly by the Central Investigation Agency (CIA). The American account of Gen Kayani’s request for “Predator coverage” does not make clear if mere air surveillance were being requested or missile-armed drones were being sought.
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May - 20 
Confidential American diplomatic cables obtained by Dawn on May 20 reveal new details about the activities of US forces on the ground in Pakistan, an issue that has gained heightened sensitivity in the aftermath of the Raymond Davis incident in Lahore and the American raid on Osama bin Laden’s compo
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Confidential American diplomatic cables obtained by Dawn on May 20 reveal new details about the activities of US forces on the ground in Pakistan, an issue that has gained heightened sensitivity in the aftermath of the Raymond Davis incident in Lahore and the American raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. The reports reveal that US special operations forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence gathering by the summer of 2009 and deployed with them on joint operations in Pakistani territory by September that year. “We have created Intelligence Fusion cells with embedded US Special Forces with both SSG and Frontier Corps (Bala Hisar, Peshawar) with the Rover equipment ready to deploy,” reported then US Ambassador Anne Patterson to the State Department in May 2009. “Through these embeds, we are assisting the Pakistanis collect and coordinate existing intelligence assets.” At the time she noted that the US had “not been given Pakistani military permission to accompany the Pakistani forces on deployments as yet.” By September, plans for the joint intelligence activities had been expanded to include army headquarters. “Pakistan has begun to accept intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support from the US military for COIN operations,” Ms Patterson wrote. “In addition … intelligence fusion centers” had been established “at the headquarters of Frontier Corps and the 11th Corps and we expect at additional sites, including GHQ and the 12th Corps in Balochistan.” In April 2009, the cell at Bala Hisar assisted with the Pakistan military operation then taking place in Lower Dir. “US Special Operations Command Force are assisting the FC at the Intelligence Fusion Cell at FC Headquarters with imagery, target packages, and operational planning,” a cable written that month reveals.
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May - 20 
One of the seven suspects, Jamil Ahmed, arrested by Pakistan authorities for the alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks (also known as 26/11) was detained on the basis of information provided by Saudi Arabia, according to a secret United States (US) cable released by WikiLeaks, reports India
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One of the seven suspects, Jamil Ahmed, arrested by Pakistan authorities for the alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks (also known as 26/11) was detained on the basis of information provided by Saudi Arabia, according to a secret United States (US) cable released by WikiLeaks, reports Indian Express on May 20. The cable dated August 7, 2009 sent by then Charge d'Affaires Gerald Feierstein said Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Jamil Ahmed after the Saudi Arabian Government "passed information they had from an Interpol lead". Ahmed "allegedly sent money from Saudi Arabia to another arrested suspect, Shahid Jamil Riaz, just prior to the attacks", revealed the cable. "Ahmed was arrested from his home in Battgram District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province," the cable said. Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is among the seven persons currently on trial for allegedly planning, financing and facilitating the 26/11 attacks.
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May - 20 
Quoting from a United States (US) cable dated April 8, 2008, accessed through the WikiLeaks, The Hindu on May 20 reported that the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi told US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher that India-Pakistan relations could not be held hostage to the is
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Quoting from a United States (US) cable dated April 8, 2008, accessed through the WikiLeaks, The Hindu on May 20 reported that the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi told US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher that India-Pakistan relations could not be held hostage to the issue of Kashmir alone. The Pakistan military and successive political establishments have consistently argued that Kashmir is the core issue between India and Pakistan, and that without a resolution of the dispute there can be no meaningful progress in ties. Yet, after a few months in office, Qureshi too was calling Kashmir a ‘core issue.' Qureshi said there was a large constituency on both sides of the border that believed in moving forward, but they were not particularly vocal. In his assessment, the answer to improved relations lay in more confidence-building measures, people-to-people contacts and increased trade. The cable said: “But within the coalition, there are two important players on the extremism issue. One is Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asfundyar Wali Khan, who is liberal and ‘thinks like us' but is a Pashtun who looks at things differently. “The other is Nawaz Sharif, who sounds more aggressive and belligerent than the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), especially on the issue of the then President Pervez Musharraf's future.
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May - 22 
Charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage “holy war”, Dawn reported on May 22 quoting WikiLeaks. A US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at USD 100 million a year was
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Charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage “holy war”, Dawn reported on May 22 quoting WikiLeaks. A US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at USD 100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to an extremist recruitment network in Punjab. Asked to respond to the report, Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said: “Saudi Arabia issued a statement from day one that we are not going to comment on any WikiLeaks reports because Saudi Arabia is not responsible for these reports and we are not sure about their authenticity.” The November 2008 dispatch by Bryan Hunt, the then principal officer at the US consulate in Lahore, was based on discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during trips to Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. The network in Punjab reportedly exploited worsening poverty to indoctrinate children and ultimately send them to training camps, said the cable. Saudi Arabia is seen as funding some of Pakistan’s hardline religious seminaries, or madrassas, which churn out young men eager for “holy war”, posing a threat to the stability of the region. “At these madrassas, children are denied contact with the outside world and taught sectarian extremism, hatred for non-Muslims, and anti-Western/anti-Pakistan government philosophy,” said the cable.
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May - 22 
In a meeting with an American diplomat in July 2009, Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Afrasiyab Khattak claimed that the Haqqani network, a militant group the US holds responsible for multiple attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan was being protected by the Pakistan military, Dawn report
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In a meeting with an American diplomat in July 2009, Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Afrasiyab Khattak claimed that the Haqqani network, a militant group the US holds responsible for multiple attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan was being protected by the Pakistan military, Dawn reported on May 22 quoting American diplomatic cables, exposed by WikiLeaks. “Khattak described the Pakistani military as treating the Haqqanis ‘separately’ … from other militants,” reported Lynne Tracy, the Principal Officer at the US Consulate in Peshawar. “The Haqqani family, [Khattak] observed, has already moved out of North Waziristan. “Part of the family, he said, is living in a rented house on the Kohat Road on the southern side of Peshawar. The other half is living in a house owned by the Haqqani family in the Rawalpindi cantonment.”
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May - 22 
Pakistan Army on May 22 denied a report that US Special Forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence- gathering missions in the northwest of the country, reports Dawn. The Dawn on May 21 said that it had obtained secret dispatches from WikiLeaks that revealed that US Special Forces we
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Pakistan Army on May 22 denied a report that US Special Forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence- gathering missions in the northwest of the country, reports Dawn. The Dawn on May 21 said that it had obtained secret dispatches from WikiLeaks that revealed that US Special Forces were deployed with Pakistani troops in joint operations in Pakistan by September of 2009. A spokesman from the Pakistani military’s media relations department categorically denied the presence of American troops in North and South Waziristan. “No US troops are involved in any military operations in FATA,” said the spokesman.
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May - 26 
Pakistan has agreed to permit the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to send in a forensic team to search Osama bin Laden’s compound, the Washington Post reported on May 26, citing US officials. The CIA team will arrive at the compound in Abbottabad within days to thoroughly search the residence wher
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Pakistan has agreed to permit the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to send in a forensic team to search Osama bin Laden’s compound, the Washington Post reported on May 26, citing US officials. The CIA team will arrive at the compound in Abbottabad within days to thoroughly search the residence where US Navy commandos killed bin Laden on May 2 in a unilateral raid that angered Islamabad, the report said. “The assault team was there for only 40 minutes,” an unnamed US official told Washington Post. “The aim is to return to the site - to do another, more thorough, look.” The CIA plans to use infrared cameras and other devices capable of identifying materials possibly embedded behind walls, inside safes or underground, the Washington Post reported.
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May - 27 
The chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman, once considered close to radical militants groups but now hunted by them, has been asked by the authorities to cut down his public appearances for his own safety, Times of India reports quoting The Express Tribune. Maulana Fazlur
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The chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman, once considered close to radical militants groups but now hunted by them, has been asked by the authorities to cut down his public appearances for his own safety, Times of India reports quoting The Express Tribune. Maulana Fazlur has been warned by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) of an imminent threat to his life. Rehman has recently escaped two back-to-back attempts on his life in his home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Based on credible intelligence reports, the NACTA has conveyed to Rehman that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al Qaeda might target him.
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May - 29 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detectives disregarded multiple warnings that the Pakistani-American David Headley was working with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) — two of which came from his own wives, The Hindu reported on May 30. The FBI, intelligence sources said, instead chose to believe Headl
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Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detectives disregarded multiple warnings that the Pakistani-American David Headley was working with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) — two of which came from his own wives, The Hindu reported on May 30. The FBI, intelligence sources said, instead chose to believe Headley's claims that he had only made contact with the jihadist (Holy warrior) group to further his work as a counter-narcotics informant. FBI officials, the sources said, were long aware of Headley's links with jihadists in Pakistan's north-west, and even interviewed him for information in the weeks after 9/11. But they believed Headley was working for the United States' Drug Enforcement Agency, which he developed a relationship with, after being arrested in 1988 for smuggling heroin from Pakistan. In 1997 Headley was arrested by the DEA again, and this time secured his freedom by becoming a key informant. In a 1998 letter, prosecutors said he “helped the DEA infiltrate the very close-knit Pakistani narcotics dealing community in New York.”
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May - 29 
Taliban leader Mullah Baradar is believed to have informed US whereabouts of al Qaeda ‘Chief’ Osama Bin Laden, The News quoting a UK paper claimed on May 29. According to the report, in return the US promised to pullout troops from Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan once Osama had been killed or cap
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Taliban leader Mullah Baradar is believed to have informed US whereabouts of al Qaeda ‘Chief’ Osama Bin Laden, The News quoting a UK paper claimed on May 29. According to the report, in return the US promised to pullout troops from Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan once Osama had been killed or captured. Until now it has been believed that Osama Bin Laden was caught when the US intercepted a phone call made by his courier Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. But new reports suggest it was actually Baradar who told the US where he was hiding. Baradar was arrested in a joint Pak-US operation last year in Karachi and was interrogated in prison before being released in October 2010.
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May - 31 
Pakistan is home to a large number of militant outfits and can be broadly divided into five groups, one of which specifically targets India and Kashmir that gets the maximum support from the establishment, reported Indian Express, quoting a United States (US) Congressional report on May31. India and
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Pakistan is home to a large number of militant outfits and can be broadly divided into five groups, one of which specifically targets India and Kashmir that gets the maximum support from the establishment, reported Indian Express, quoting a United States (US) Congressional report on May31. India and Kashmir-oriented militants, especially the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Harakat ul-Mujahideen (HuM), are based in both the Punjab province and in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The report said that the Islamist militant groups operating in and from Pakistan territory are of five broad types, namely, globally oriented militants, Afghanistan-oriented militants, India- and Kashmir-oriented militants, sectarian militants, and domestically oriented militants. Globally oriented militants are al Qaeda and its Uzbek affiliates primarily operate out of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the megacity of Karachi, claimed the report. The Afghanistan-oriented militants, included the 'Quetta shura' of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, believed to operate from the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta, as well as Karachi, added the report.
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June - 1 
The United States should delay much of its multibillion-dollar package to Pakistan pending economic reforms as the aid has led to official inaction and public resentment, Daily Times reported on June 1 quoting Centre for Global Development study. The report by the Centre for Global Development, a pr
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The United States should delay much of its multibillion-dollar package to Pakistan pending economic reforms as the aid has led to official inaction and public resentment, Daily Times reported on June 1 quoting Centre for Global Development study. The report by the Centre for Global Development, a private Washington think-tank, comes as more US lawmakers question aid to Pakistan after US forces discovered and killed Osama bin Laden. The United States in 2009 authorised a $7.5 billion package named after Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar and Representative Howard Berman, who hoped to fight anti-Americanism in Pakistan by switching the US focus from backing the military to building the economy and civilian institutions. But the study, the result of research that began well before the bin Laden raid, said the aid drive had paradoxically soured public perceptions of the United States as it raised false hopes for better times. And with Pakistani leaders now assuming a steady flow of cash from Washington, “it makes sense for them to push for that money rather than to work with their political rivals to move on key reforms”, it said. “For these reasons, we recommend that much of the $7.5 billion Kerry-Lugar-Berman aid package not be disbursed immediately,” it said.
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June - 4 
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), an "extremely capable" terror group with a sophisticated regional network continues to plan its operations from within Pakistan, a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said on June 4, warning that militant safe havens inside that country pose greatest threat to Ame
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Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), an "extremely capable" terror group with a sophisticated regional network continues to plan its operations from within Pakistan, a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said on June 4, warning that militant safe havens inside that country pose greatest threat to American national security, reports Indian Express. "Despite international condemnation for its November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, LeT continues to plan regional operations from within Pakistan. LeT is an extremely capable terrorist organisation with a sophisticated regional network," the Government Accountability Office said in its 51-page report. In the report titled 'Combating Terrorism: US Government Should Improve Its Reporting on Terrorist Safe Havens', the GAO said al Qaeda and other groups such as the Haqqani network used the FATA to launch attacks in Afghanistan, plan operations worldwide, train, recruit and disseminate propaganda. "It (LeT) continues to view American interests as legitimate targets. While the Government of Pakistan has banned LeT, it needs to take further action against this group and its front organisations, which find safe haven within Pakistan," it added.
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June - 5 
Pakistan Intelligence Agencies on June 5 uncovered a plot to assassinate President Asif Ali Zardari and arrested several suspects, Times of India reported. The Agencies conducted raids over the past few weeks in Islamabad and Punjab and arrested up to 42 suspects. It was reported that the plotters
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Pakistan Intelligence Agencies on June 5 uncovered a plot to assassinate President Asif Ali Zardari and arrested several suspects, Times of India reported. The Agencies conducted raids over the past few weeks in Islamabad and Punjab and arrested up to 42 suspects. It was reported that the plotters had planned to target President Zardari while he visited the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where his father Hakim Ali Zardari was being treated till his recent death. Security officials said that the President faces serious threat to his life from the Taliban and other militant outfits.
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June - 6 
Pakistani Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) have been put on alert in the Federal capital Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to prevent possible suicide attacks to avenge the killing of Ilyas Kashmiri, reports Indian Express. The National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) of the Interior Ministry a
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Pakistani Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) have been put on alert in the Federal capital Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to prevent possible suicide attacks to avenge the killing of Ilyas Kashmiri, reports Indian Express. The National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) of the Interior Ministry after receiving an intelligence report on possible attacks reported that the terrorists are plans to launch motorcycle-riding suicide bombers against targets. The LEAs were informed that five to nine Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operatives have been sent to Islamabad and Rawalpindi to strike targets. Reportedly, a TTP operative named Ihsan alias Chhota Ustad has prepared sketches of the Artillery Centre and Pakistan Ordnance Factory at Sanjwal, as well as routes used by factory workers, for an attack by a sleeper TTP cell at Tarnol near Islamabad. The TTP Wali Mohammad group, led by Waliur Rehman, the deputy commander of the TTP based in North Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), handles the cell in Tarnol, and is alleged to be behind a string of abductions for ransom and a recent attack on the Artillery Centre in Attock District of Punjab.
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June - 7 
According to a new report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on June 7, Pakistan is in danger of "losing control of part of its nuclear arsenal" to terrorists,
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According to a new report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on June 7, Pakistan is in danger of "losing control of part of its nuclear arsenal" to terrorists,
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June - 7 
It has been revealed that a photograph purporting to show Kashmiri after his death — which was posted along with a statement from HuJI on the Shamukh al-Islam jihadist Internet forum — was actually a picture of Abu Dera Ismail Khan, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant killed during the November 26, 2
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It has been revealed that a photograph purporting to show Kashmiri after his death — which was posted along with a statement from HuJI on the Shamukh al-Islam jihadist Internet forum — was actually a picture of Abu Dera Ismail Khan, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant killed during the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known as 26/11). Kashmiri, 46, has a thick beard and lost an eye while fighting in the Afghan jihad. The photo released by the HuJI shows a man who also appears to be missing an eye but is clean-shaven. Arif Rafiq, editor of The Pakistan Policy Blog, pointed out that the Urdu statement issued on June 4 about Kashmiri’s reported death had misspelt the HuJI’s name twice.
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June - 8 
A new academic study from Princeton, Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania in the US revealed that poverty in Pakistan does not lead to terrorism, The Express Tribune reported on June 9. The study is based on surveys carried out by four academics that conducted extensive field research in Pa
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A new academic study from Princeton, Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania in the US revealed that poverty in Pakistan does not lead to terrorism, The Express Tribune reported on June 9. The study is based on surveys carried out by four academics that conducted extensive field research in Pakistan by interviewing 6,000 people of varying income groups and geography. The report states that Pakistanis, in general, do not like militant groups such as the al Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Afghan Taliban. It also maintains that poor Pakistanis dislike militant outfits more than the middle classes. The study suggests people who hate militants the most are the urban poor because they’re the ones who are affected by terror attacks the most.
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June - 11 
The US intelligence officials have twice handed Islamabad tips about insurgent bomb-making factories, only to find them abandoned before Pakistani troops arrived, Dawn quoting The Washington Post reported on June 11. The vacated factories have led US officials to question whether the information had
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The US intelligence officials have twice handed Islamabad tips about insurgent bomb-making factories, only to find them abandoned before Pakistani troops arrived, Dawn quoting The Washington Post reported on June 11. The vacated factories have led US officials to question whether the information had been mistakenly leaked in recent weeks or whether the insurgents had been directly warned by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), according to the report. Relations between the two long-time allies have been seriously strained since US killed al Qaeda ‘leader’ Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 1. The Washington Post said Pakistani officials were given surveillance video in mid-May that located two bomb-making plants in the remote tribal areas of North and South Waziristan. But by the time Pakistani troops arrived on June 4, the sites had been vacated. A senior Pakistani military official said the United States had shared information about weapons storage facilities as well, but these had also been found empty.
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June - 19 
According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2010-11, Pakistan’s economy has suffered direct and indirect losses of upto USD 67.93 billion due its role as a frontline State in operations against terrorists, miscreants and militants since 2001, reports Dawn. The war on terror has spread especially since 200
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According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2010-11, Pakistan’s economy has suffered direct and indirect losses of upto USD 67.93 billion due its role as a frontline State in operations against terrorists, miscreants and militants since 2001, reports Dawn. The war on terror has spread especially since 2006, like a contagion into settled areas of the country that has so far taken lives of over 35,000 citizens and 3,500 security personnel. “Pakistan has never witnessed such devastating social and economic upheavals in its industry and even after dismemberment of the country by direct war”, the Survey said. “Pakistan’s investment-to-GDP ratio has declined from 22.5 per cent in 2006-07 to 13.4 per cent in 2010-11 with serious consequences for job creating ability of the economy”, it added. According to the survey the committee, at the start of the war, the cost of it to the country was estimated at USD 2.669 billion in fiscal year 2001-02. “The economy was subjected to enormous direct and indirect costs which continued to rise from USD 2.669 billion in 2001-02 to USD 13.6 billion by 2009-10, projected to rise to USD 17.8 billion in the current financial year (2010-11) and moving forward, the direct and indirect costs to the economy are most likely to rise further, the Survey observed.
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June - 20 
About 80 per cent residents of South and North Waziristan Agencies have been affected mentally while 60 per cent people of Peshawar are nearing to become psychological patients if the problems related to terrorism are not addressed immediately,” Dawn quoting a survey conducted by an NGO, Horizon rep
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About 80 per cent residents of South and North Waziristan Agencies have been affected mentally while 60 per cent people of Peshawar are nearing to become psychological patients if the problems related to terrorism are not addressed immediately,” Dawn quoting a survey conducted by an NGO, Horizon reported on June 20. Conducted under the supervision of noted psychologist Dr Khalid Mufti, the survey said that seven to nine per cent children became victims of phobia owing to consistent telecast of terrorism related scenes by TV channels. It would be very difficult to save future of youth if the existing situation remained unchanged, said Dr Mufti. He urged TV channels to avoid telecasting footage of terrorism related incidents to improve mental health of people and children exposed to phobia and other disorders.
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June - 20 
Pakistan hosts the highest number of refugees, 1.9 million, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on June 20 (today), reports Daily Times. Iran and Syria follow Pakistan with 1.1 million and 1 million refugees, respectively, UNHCR said.
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Pakistan hosts the highest number of refugees, 1.9 million, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on June 20 (today), reports Daily Times. Iran and Syria follow Pakistan with 1.1 million and 1 million refugees, respectively, UNHCR said.
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June - 21 
Pakistan ranked number 12 on a list of the “most failed states”, according to an annual report published in the Foreign Policy magazine on June 21, reports The Express Tribune. The report titled “The Failed States Index 2011” compiles a list of countries in terms of vulnerability. From refugee flo
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Pakistan ranked number 12 on a list of the “most failed states”, according to an annual report published in the Foreign Policy magazine on June 21, reports The Express Tribune. The report titled “The Failed States Index 2011” compiles a list of countries in terms of vulnerability. From refugee flows to poverty, public services to security threats, the list takes together a country’s performance on this battery of indicators to reflect its stability. In both 2009 and 2010, Pakistan took the number 10 spot on this index, whereas in 2008 it was ranked number nine. Amongst Pakistan’s neighbouring states, Afghanistan ranks 7 while Iran ranks 35. Foreign Policy magazine states that these countries are on ‘alert’. Bangladesh ranks 25, and Sri Lanka is 29 on this list. China ranks 72, whereas India ranks 76 on the list. These countries are considered to be in the ‘moderate’ zone for vulnerability. The 2011 report states that Pakistan has long been dubbed the “world’s most dangerous country” in Washington policy circles. The report states that tick off any checklist of US national security concerns, and Pakistan has them all: nuclear weapons, terrorist and insurgent groups galore, and rampant anti-American sentiment. Add to all this, a volatile political system, and it’s no wonder that Pakistan preoccupies so many Western security analysts. The report adds that Pakistan is not just dangerous for the West – it’s often a danger to its own people. It also states that the cultivation of militant groups by the Pakistani military and intelligence services – which the report states is a counterweight to India and a source of “strategic depth” in Afghanistan – has turned Pakistan into a “cockpit of terrorist violence”.
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June - 21 
Islamabad Police got orders June 21 to stop immediately any unauthorised construction or expansion of seminaries in the territory, reported Dawn. As the first step in the campaign, the Islamabad Administration and Police jointly conducted a survey that found 305 seminaries of different schools of th
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Islamabad Police got orders June 21 to stop immediately any unauthorised construction or expansion of seminaries in the territory, reported Dawn. As the first step in the campaign, the Islamabad Administration and Police jointly conducted a survey that found 305 seminaries of different schools of thought exist in the city’s rural and urban areas, with 800 teachers and 29,000 students on their rolls. But only 131 of them were rated “legal” as they were registered with the Auqaf Department. Deobandi School runs 199 seminaries, Barelvis 89, Ahle Hadith 10 and Asna Ashari seven. Most of them have been built on encroached land and without seeking approval of their designs by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) or the Islamabad Administration. However the administration flinches from taking action against the seminaries, legal or illegal, as it arouses raw, violent emotions.
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June - 22 
Most Pakistanis see India as a bigger threat than the Taliban and the al Qaeda and disapprove of the US military operation that killed Osama bin Laden, Times of India quoting Pew Research Centre poll reported on June 22. When asked which is the biggest threat to their country, India, the Taliban, or
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Most Pakistanis see India as a bigger threat than the Taliban and the al Qaeda and disapprove of the US military operation that killed Osama bin Laden, Times of India quoting Pew Research Centre poll reported on June 22. When asked which is the biggest threat to their country, India, the Taliban, or al Qaeda, a majority of Pakistanis (57%) say India, the poll noted. Although Osama bin Laden has not been well-liked in recent years, a majority of Pakistanis describe his death as a bad thing. Only 14% say it is a good thing, poll released on June 21 by the Pew Research Centre added.
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June - 22 
Pew Research Center survey finds that just 37 percent support using Army to fight terrorists, 16 percent lower than two years ago, reports Daily Times. Domestic support for the Pakistani military’s campaign against terrorist groups has waned in recent years, showing deep-rooted opposition among the
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Pew Research Center survey finds that just 37 percent support using Army to fight terrorists, 16 percent lower than two years ago, reports Daily Times. Domestic support for the Pakistani military’s campaign against terrorist groups has waned in recent years, showing deep-rooted opposition among the Pakistani public to the United States. The survey of 3,221 Pakistanis found that just 37 percent of them supported using the army to fight terrorists, which was 16 percent lower than two years ago, according to Pew Research Center survey.
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June - 23 
A cell phone found in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1, 2011 contained contacts to a militant outfit with ties to Inters Services Intelligence (ISI), reports The News quoting The New York Times on June 23. The cell phone belonged to Osama’s courier who was also killed in the
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A cell phone found in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1, 2011 contained contacts to a militant outfit with ties to Inters Services Intelligence (ISI), reports The News quoting The New York Times on June 23. The cell phone belonged to Osama’s courier who was also killed in the May 1 raid. The discovery indicated that bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), as part of his support network inside Pakistan. The Newspaper quoted analysts familiar with HuM saying it had deep roots in the area around Abbottabad and its leaders have strong ties with both al Qaeda and ISI.
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June - 23 
On June 23 reported that one Raja Sabri Khan, from Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, was developing his own drone technology in his research facility called Integrated Dynamics. The company's chief executive is developing the technology despite security challenges arising from the current po
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On June 23 reported that one Raja Sabri Khan, from Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, was developing his own drone technology in his research facility called Integrated Dynamics. The company's chief executive is developing the technology despite security challenges arising from the current political climate and the public anger over the United States (US) use of the unmanned aircrafts.
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June - 27 
Adding to the United States (US) State Department report, Trafficking in Persons published on June 27 it is revealed that militant outfits in Pakistan use children to act as spies, fight and carry out suicide bombings, reported Indian Express. “Non-state militant groups abduct children or coerce par
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Adding to the United States (US) State Department report, Trafficking in Persons published on June 27 it is revealed that militant outfits in Pakistan use children to act as spies, fight and carry out suicide bombings, reported Indian Express. “Non-state militant groups abduct children or coerce parents with fraudulent promises into giving away children as young as 12 to spy, fight, or die as suicide bombers in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” the report revealed. It said that militants often sexually and physically abuse the children and use psychological coercion to convince them the acts they commit are justified. The report said news organisations, NGOs, and international organisations reported that the 2010 floods contributed to increased trafficking in Pakistan. The report also highlighted the sex trafficking problem in Pakistan. It said the largest human trafficking problem is concentrated in Sindh and Punjab District. Incidentally, on June 20, security officials took into custody a nine-year-old girl, Sohana Javed, who was abducted and forced to wear a suicide vest by the militants to attack a Police checkpoint in Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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June - 27 
The United States (US) State Department’s report on human trafficking, released on June 27, reveals that the militants in Pakistan use children to carry out their dirty work, reported Dawn. The report places Pakistan in tier 2: Countries which do not fully comply with the minimum standards for deal
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The United States (US) State Department’s report on human trafficking, released on June 27, reveals that the militants in Pakistan use children to carry out their dirty work, reported Dawn. The report places Pakistan in tier 2: Countries which do not fully comply with the minimum standards for dealing this menace but are making significant efforts. The number of countries failing to comply with international standards to prevent human trafficking almost doubled to 23. Pakistan is not among them.
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June - 28 
An investigation report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on June 28 revealed that the Ilyas Kashmiri outfit, 313 Brigade, a unit of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) had planned the assassination of the Former Minorities’ Affairs Minister, Shazad Bhatti on March 3, 2011, reports Express Tribune.
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An investigation report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on June 28 revealed that the Ilyas Kashmiri outfit, 313 Brigade, a unit of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) had planned the assassination of the Former Minorities’ Affairs Minister, Shazad Bhatti on March 3, 2011, reports Express Tribune. The outfit had planned to kill Bhatti with the help of Asmatullah Muawiya, the self-proclaimed leader of the Punjab Chapter of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “[The plan] was executed by elements of Tehreek-e-Islami (TeI) coupled with the disgruntled lot of ‘Ghazi Force’ stationed at Islamabad,” the JIT report stated. The JIT report continued to reveal that a man calling himself Shabbir Haidri informed MPA Chaudhry Tahir Naveed by telephone about the plan to kill Bhatti. Terrorists Umarul-Bashar and Ameer Muawiya of Faisalabad District in Punjab and Abu Saeed and Tahirul-Hassan of Islamabad had executed the plan, the report claimed. They abided by the directions of terrorist Khilji of Ameer-e-Taliban, it added. The JIT findings revealed that the actual name of Umarul-Bashar is Abid Malik and he lived in Nai Abadi in Faisalabad District. Abu Saeed’s actual name is Qari Ziaur-Rehman, also from Faisalabad District. According to the findings of the report, both terrorists fled to Dubai, from Karachi via Sri Lanka. The JIT also discovered that the actual name of Shabbir Haidri is Nazar Muhammad, a resident of Narowal District, and had been temporarily residing in Akhtar Colony in Karachi. Haidri was apprehended from Karachi and brought to Islamabad on April 24 for interrogation, which is still in progress.
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June - 29 
Human rights violations in Balochistan are getting worse as militants and Security Forces target civilians, while authorities seem unwilling to rein in lawlessness, according to a report released on June 29 by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). The HRCP said in its report that lawlessne
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Human rights violations in Balochistan are getting worse as militants and Security Forces target civilians, while authorities seem unwilling to rein in lawlessness, according to a report released on June 29 by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). The HRCP said in its report that lawlessness in the province had proliferated at an alarming rate with a growing number of targeted killings, kidnappings, enforced disappearances and attacks on religious minorities. Zohra Yusuf, HRCP chairwoman, said at least 140 mutilated bodies of people gone missing had been found in the past year. “A very dangerous trend has emerged that those who disappeared were now found dead on roadsides. The bodies have torture marks,” she said in Islamabad.
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July - 1 
On July 1 new details emerged of how two Western hostages in Afghanistan were freed in exchange for a hefty ransom paid in Pakistan and the release of two brothers who were abducted on December 30, 2009 by Qari Baryal Taliban faction in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province, reports Daily Times. According t
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On July 1 new details emerged of how two Western hostages in Afghanistan were freed in exchange for a hefty ransom paid in Pakistan and the release of two brothers who were abducted on December 30, 2009 by Qari Baryal Taliban faction in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province, reports Daily Times. According to expert and Taliban sources, French journalists Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier were released in a brokered deal. Though the French Government denied paying any ransom, but Western experts say cash for hostages is routine policy in Europe and interpret the public remarks merely as an attempt to discourage future hostage taking. The Afghan Taliban announced that there was a prisoner exchange for reporter Ghesquiere and cameraman Taponier, but sources close to the case say it was only about the money. “A ransom was paid, an enormous amount of millions of dollars. The money was handed over in Pakistan,” a Taliban member close to central command said on the condition of anonymity, adding, “The money was handed over in the Karkhano smugglers market on the border area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.” In addition, at least two ‘commanders’ in the Qari Baryal faction, identified as brothers Noor Ullah and Abdullah Haq, were released in exchange. However one of these sources said 15 other Taliban militants from different areas were also released in exchange for the two journalists.
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July - 2 
The US military is expanding its Central Asian supply routes to the war in Afghanistan, fearing that the routes going through Pakistan could be endangered by deteriorating US-Pakistani relations, Daily Times reported on July 2 quoting a Washington Post report. Citing unnamed Pentagon officials, Wash
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The US military is expanding its Central Asian supply routes to the war in Afghanistan, fearing that the routes going through Pakistan could be endangered by deteriorating US-Pakistani relations, Daily Times reported on July 2 quoting a Washington Post report. Citing unnamed Pentagon officials, Washington Post said that in 2009, the United States moved 90 percent of its military surface cargo through the port of Karachi and then through mountain passes into Afghanistan. Now almost 40 percent of surface cargo arrives in Afghanistan from the north, along a patchwork of Central Asian rail and road routes that the Pentagon calls the Northern Distribution Network, the report said. The military is pushing to raise the northern network’s share to as much as 75 percent by the end of this year, the paper said. In addition, the US Government is negotiating expanded agreements with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries that would allow for delivery of additional supplies to the Afghan war zone, The Washington Post said.
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July - 4 
United States (US) officials believe Pakistan’s spy agency was behind the June 1, 2011 killing of Pakistani journalist, Saleem Shahzad, who reported that militants had infiltrated the military, reports Daily Times, quoting the July 4 New York Times report. The report quoted two senior officials as s
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United States (US) officials believe Pakistan’s spy agency was behind the June 1, 2011 killing of Pakistani journalist, Saleem Shahzad, who reported that militants had infiltrated the military, reports Daily Times, quoting the July 4 New York Times report. The report quoted two senior officials as saying that intelligence showed that senior members of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) ordered the killing of Saleem Shahzad, to muzzle criticism. One of the US officials quoted by the New York Times described the actions of the ISI as “barbaric and unacceptable.” It quoted another senior official as saying: “Every indication is that this was a deliberate, targeted killing that was most likely meant to send shock waves through Pakistan’s journalist community and civil society.” The ISI has denied as “baseless” allegations that it was involved in the murder of Shahzad.
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July - 5 
Chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud has been in isolation for more than a year and is rapidly losing control over the terror group he once led with absolute command and authority, The Express Tribune quoting his associates and intelligence officials reported on July 5. In
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Chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud has been in isolation for more than a year and is rapidly losing control over the terror group he once led with absolute command and authority, The Express Tribune quoting his associates and intelligence officials reported on July 5. Insiders of the TTP outfit and intelligence officials in Islamabad told The Express Tribune that Hakimullah might soon be faced with more rebels from within the TTP after last week’s defection by one of his top commanders. Fazal Saeed Haqqani, who was appointed by Hakimullah for the strategic Kurram Agency, announced to separate his group of more than 1,000 fighters from the main outfit in what appeared to be the first serious fracture for the TTP. The defection took place within days after unknown attackers killed a spokesperson for the TTP’s Fidayeen-e-Islam group – the suicide bombing squad. The killing of Shakirullah Shakir, a key figure of the TTP, in Mirali town of North Waziristan has raised questions over how influential Hakimullah still is in the region.
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July - 5 
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Report stated, “June was the most dangerous month in Karachi.” At least 32 people died in just three days as a result of the brawl between the ANP and the MQM, said HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf, adding, “The problem lies with law and order and the fact that
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Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Report stated, “June was the most dangerous month in Karachi.” At least 32 people died in just three days as a result of the brawl between the ANP and the MQM, said HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf, adding, “The problem lies with law and order and the fact that public opinion often overpowers court decisions. Of the 1,138 people who died this year, 490 were targeted. The MQM sustained the highest casualties: 77 activists. The ANP comes in at a distant second with 29 dead and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lost 26 men. The reports further states, among those targeted and killed, 250 were not affiliated with political parties, 184 were political activists and 19 were members of religious parties. Fifty-six of the killings were based on ethnicity.
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July - 12 
Pakistan informed the Security Council on July 12 that it was taking action to stop any use of children by extremist groups to promote their “nihilistic” agendas, while taking strong exception to an “unwarranted” reference in a United Nations (UN) report to the situation in the country, reported Dai
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Pakistan informed the Security Council on July 12 that it was taking action to stop any use of children by extremist groups to promote their “nihilistic” agendas, while taking strong exception to an “unwarranted” reference in a United Nations (UN) report to the situation in the country, reported Daily Times. Speaking in a debate on ‘Children and Armed Conflict’, Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said Pakistan took pride in being actively involved in the protection and promotion of children’s rights at all levels. He sharply criticised Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Report that lists several terrorist attacks by armed groups in Pakistan using children to carry out suicide missions as also some cases of sectarian violence, saying it went beyond the assigned mandate to cover only armed conflicts. The position taken by Pakistan on the report, which is written for the Secretary-General by his special representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, was supported by a number of countries, including Russia. The Pakistan’s envoy said the report contained “unwarranted” and “misleading” information about Pakistan to the effect that, among other things, it gave undeserved respectability to terrorists and criminals, which was terribly unfortunate.
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July - 12 
US intelligence had launched a fake vaccination drive in the Abbottabad town, where it believed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding, in an effort to gather DNA from members of his family, Guardian reported on July 12, according to Times of India. CIA officials recruited a senior local doctor
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US intelligence had launched a fake vaccination drive in the Abbottabad town, where it believed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding, in an effort to gather DNA from members of his family, Guardian reported on July 12, according to Times of India. CIA officials recruited a senior local doctor to organise the campaign after it tracked down Osama bin Laden’s courier and located the compound in which he resided. Before launching the operation against bin Laden, US officials wanted to test DNA samples from people living at the compound with a sample that they had from his sister. Doctor Shakil Afridi, who has since been arrested by Inter-Services Intelligence, launched the programme in Abbottabad's poorest area to make it appear more credible. The project then moved swiftly to the Bilal Town suburb, where bin Laden was residing. "The whole thing was totally irregular," a Pakistani official told the newspaper, adding, "Bilal Town is a well-to-do area. Why would you choose that place to give free vaccines?" A nurse managed to gain access to the compound, but, Pakistani sources claim, she failed to obtain any DNA samples.
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July - 13 
Al Qaeda is plotting a jihad (holy war) on the internet against Britain and the West, and has launched teams to target key computer systems, reported Times of India quoting Security officials from Britain in The Sun on July 13. Terrorists have even tried to invade Facebook in their "campaign of ele
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Al Qaeda is plotting a jihad (holy war) on the internet against Britain and the West, and has launched teams to target key computer systems, reported Times of India quoting Security officials from Britain in The Sun on July 13. Terrorists have even tried to invade Facebook in their "campaign of electronic warfare". The Google Earth and Street View applications are being used by the terrorists to plan out atrocities, it said. Security officials in Britain say cyber terrorism will become an ever growing threat. A 123-page counter-terror report said a special unit - called the Tariq-bin-Ziyad Brigade (TZB) for Electronic Jihad attacked computers last year. "Since the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, al Qaeda has called not only for acts of lone or individual terrorism but also for cyber jihad," the report said. Experts now say there are thousands of terrorist-related websites, and a "few dozen are highly influential" and frequented by terrorists. "Use of social network sites and video sharing is now commonplace. There have been a number of attempts by terrorist and extremist groups to invade Facebook," it said.
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July - 16 
Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the al Qaeda ‘commander’ who was believed to have been killed on June 3 in a US drone attack in Pakistan, is alive, a Dawn report said on July 16. Kashmiri is still active in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Dawn said on its website quoting unnamed sources. Med
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Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the al Qaeda ‘commander’ who was believed to have been killed on June 3 in a US drone attack in Pakistan, is alive, a Dawn report said on July 16. Kashmiri is still active in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Dawn said on its website quoting unnamed sources. Media reports had earlier said that Kashmiri was killed in a US drone attack in the Ghwakhwa area of South Waziristan Agency. The US, however, had not confirmed his death.
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July - 18 
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials knew about a meeting between al Qaeda ‘leader’ Ayman al-Zawahiri and slain Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ‘head’ Baitullah Mehsud in 2008 but then "lost" track of the terror mastermind, Times of India reported on July 19 quoting a media report. The m
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The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials knew about a meeting between al Qaeda ‘leader’ Ayman al-Zawahiri and slain Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ‘head’ Baitullah Mehsud in 2008 but then "lost" track of the terror mastermind, Times of India reported on July 19 quoting a media report. The meeting, which reportedly took place during the first half of 2008, might have been a precursor to the CIA's drone attacks against Mehsud, which ultimately killed him in August 2009. Officials looking after domestic counter-terrorism efforts said ISI had informed CIA about the interaction between the two terrorist leaders. It was not precisely known whether the meeting took place in South Waziristan Agency, which was completely controlled by the TTP in 2008, or somewhere in Afghanistan.
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July - 24 
According to Indian Express, months before the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, it had forced a Pakistani Consulate official in New York, who spied on Pakistanis living in the US in a systematic Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) campaign, to
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According to Indian Express, months before the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, it had forced a Pakistani Consulate official in New York, who spied on Pakistanis living in the US in a systematic Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) campaign, to leave the country. Mohammed Tasleem, a clandestine operative of the ISI, had been posing as an FBI agent to extract information from Pakistanis living in the US and was issuing threats to keep them from speaking openly about Pakistan's Government. His activities were part of what Government officials in Washington, along with a range of Pakistani journalists and scholars; say is a systematic ISI campaign to keep tabs on the Pakistani Diaspora inside America. Tasleem collected information in a variety of ways, and that on at least one occasion he passed himself off as an FBI agent to get information from one Pakistani living in the US, an unnamed American official said. The FBI brought Tasleem's activities to Leon Panetta, then the director of the CIA, and in April 2010, Panetta had a tense conversation with ISI chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha. Within days, Tasleem was spirited out of America – a quiet resolution typical of the spy games among the world's powers.
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July - 25 
A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that United States (US) taxpayer money has been indirectly funnelled to the Afghan Taliban under a $2.16 billion transportation contract that the US has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses, reported Daily Times quoting an American newspape
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A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that United States (US) taxpayer money has been indirectly funnelled to the Afghan Taliban under a $2.16 billion transportation contract that the US has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses, reported Daily Times quoting an American newspaper The Washington Post on July 25. Citing an unreleased investigation, The Washington Post said the findings provide seemingly definitive evidence that corruption puts US transportation money into Taliban hands. Intelligence officials traced $3.3 million, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander’s account, which was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash.
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July - 28 
Indian Express on July 28 reported that America's counterterrorism officials believe that al Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. “United States (US) counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden on May1 and the toll of seven years of Central Intelligence Ag
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Indian Express on July 28 reported that America's counterterrorism officials believe that al Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. “United States (US) counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden on May1 and the toll of seven years of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone strikes have pushed al Qaeda to the brink of collapse,” said US officials. US officials said that even its demise would not end the terrorist threat, which is increasingly driven by radicalised individuals as well as aggressive affiliates. Officials said that al Qaeda's offshoot in Yemen is now seen as a greater counter terrorism challenge than the organisation's traditional base. Officials also pointed to the cumulative effect of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. “Missiles fired by the unmanned aircraft have killed at least 1,200 militants since 2004, including 224 this year, according to figures compiled by the New America Foundation (NAF). Many of the strikes have been aimed at al Qaeda allies also accused of attacking American targets; those allies include the Haqqani Network and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” the sources said.
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July - 29 
The Pakistan Government should immediately end widespread disappearances of suspected militants and activists by the military, Intelligence Agencies, and the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Balochistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on July 29 (today), reports Daily Times. Severa
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The Pakistan Government should immediately end widespread disappearances of suspected militants and activists by the military, Intelligence Agencies, and the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Balochistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on July 29 (today), reports Daily Times. Several of those “disappeared” were among the dozens of people extra-judicially executed in recent months in the resource-rich and violence-wracked province. The report states that there is increasing evidence to suggest that many of the “disappeared” have been extra-judicially executed while in Government custody. Human Rights Watch has recently reported on the killing of at least 150 people across Balochistan since January in acts widely referred to as “kill and dump” operations for which Pakistani Security Forces may be responsible.
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August - 1 
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) completed a fact-finding mission in Karachi (July 29-31) to ascertain the causes of the current wave of violence in the metropolis in which heavy losses of life and property have been caused. According to the statement, the HRCP mission
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The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) completed a fact-finding mission in Karachi (July 29-31) to ascertain the causes of the current wave of violence in the metropolis in which heavy losses of life and property have been caused. According to the statement, the HRCP mission discovered that the complaints against Law-Enforcement Agencies ranged from dereliction of duty, abandonment of post, long delays in responding to distress calls to downright collusion with criminals. Unless these shortcomings were removed, the people of Karachi could have little hope of peace and security.
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August - 2 
Lauding the Indian leadership's willingness to engage Pakistan despite its failure to bring perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice, The New York Times on August 2 said that the Pakistani Army's use of militants to counter Indian influence in Kashmir is "self-destructive." In the editori
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Lauding the Indian leadership's willingness to engage Pakistan despite its failure to bring perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice, The New York Times on August 2 said that the Pakistani Army's use of militants to counter Indian influence in Kashmir is "self-destructive." In the editorial titled 'India and Pakistan, Talking: Even modest progress is to be celebrated and urged forward,' The New York Times said that homegrown extremism and not India is the real threat to Pakistan's survival. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India deserves huge credit for staying engaged despite Pakistan's failure to prosecute those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai attack. And he deserves credit for not shooting first and asking questions later after the recent attacks. We wish we could say the same of Pakistan's leaders," the editorial said. "Before there can be a true reconciliation, and stability in the region, Pakistan's Army must realise that using militants to try to counter Indian influence in Kashmir and Afghanistan is self-destructive -- and that homegrown extremism, not India, is the real threat to Pakistan's survival." Describing the relationship between the two neighbours as "combustible", the editorial said "it is progress just to get the two sides in a room," in a reference to the recently concluded talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries. "Last week's meeting was better. Their foreign ministers announced modest, but very welcome, agreements concerning ...Kashmir."
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August - 3 
Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik on August 3 informed the National Assembly that the Security Forces (SFs) arrested 3,143 alleged terrorists in the country and recovered 4,240 weapons from them during the last three years, reported Dawn. The data presented by the Minister showed that 67 per ce
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Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik on August 3 informed the National Assembly that the Security Forces (SFs) arrested 3,143 alleged terrorists in the country and recovered 4,240 weapons from them during the last three years, reported Dawn. The data presented by the Minister showed that 67 per cent of the arrests had been made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa whereas 84 per cent of the weapons had been seized from Balochistan. Giving province-wise details, Malik said the SFs arrested 2,103 alleged terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 343 in Balochistan, 231 in Punjab, 145 in Sindh, 130 in Islamabad, 106 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 80 in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and five in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Similarly, the data showed that during the last three years the SFs seized 3,554 weapons from Balochistan, 431 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 150 from Sindh, 55 from Punjab, 27 from Gilgit-Baltistan, 15 from Islamabad and eight from PoK. The Minister informed the house that only PNR 500,000 had been recovered from the arrested terrorists.
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August - 4 
According to a report by global analysts Maplecroft, Pakistan is the second most at risk from terrorist attack, Dawn reported on August 5. Somalia is most at risk from terrorist attack, followed by Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan and the new nation of South Sudan. The consultancy’s latest Terrorism R
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According to a report by global analysts Maplecroft, Pakistan is the second most at risk from terrorist attack, Dawn reported on August 5. Somalia is most at risk from terrorist attack, followed by Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan and the new nation of South Sudan. The consultancy’s latest Terrorism Risk Index also assesses threats to be rising in Yemen, Iran, Uganda, Libya, Egypt and Nigeria. A Maplecroft statement said increased dangers seen in Yemen and Uganda were caused by al Qaeda-associated violence, those in Iran stemmed from attacks by rebel group Jundullah and those in Egypt and Libya originated in terrorist and criminal attempts to exploit Arab Spring political unrest.
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August - 5 
Ethnic and politically linked violence in Pakistan’s financial capital, Karachi, has killed 800 people so far this year, the country’s independent Human Rights organisation said on August 5, reported Daily Times. “About 800 people have been the victims of violent shootings in the last seven months,”
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Ethnic and politically linked violence in Pakistan’s financial capital, Karachi, has killed 800 people so far this year, the country’s independent Human Rights organisation said on August 5, reported Daily Times. “About 800 people have been the victims of violent shootings in the last seven months,” Zohra Yousaf, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said. The HRCP previously said 490 people were killed in the first six months of the year and in a latest report it states that another 300 people died in July. Much of the violence has been blamed on tensions between supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP). HCRP says the violence in Karachi is the deadliest since 1995, when more than 900 killings were reported in the first half of the year.
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August - 10 
A family rivalry over property was behind the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was shot dead on March 2, 2011, and the killing was not religiously motivated, a media report said on August 10 (today), reports Indian Express. Bhatti's murder in Islamabad was due to a prop
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A family rivalry over property was behind the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was shot dead on March 2, 2011, and the killing was not religiously motivated, a media report said on August 10 (today), reports Indian Express. Bhatti's murder in Islamabad was due to a property dispute between relatives and Police investigators have concluded the killing was not religiously motivated in their latest report despite the fact that the Punjab Chapter of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the assassination. However, Bhatti's murderers have fled Pakistan and are currently believed to be in Dubai or Kuala Lumpur, according to an investigator.
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August - 10 
A Pakistani intelligence officer, who wished to secure American citizenship for his family, gave details of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts to the US, in a deal worth USD 25 million, Indian Express quoting Daily Mail reported on August 11. The Pakistani officer also informed the US officials that Saud
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A Pakistani intelligence officer, who wished to secure American citizenship for his family, gave details of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts to the US, in a deal worth USD 25 million, Indian Express quoting Daily Mail reported on August 11. The Pakistani officer also informed the US officials that Saudis were paying off Pakistan and ISI to keep bin Laden hidden in the Abbottabad compound. The paper said this account disputes widely published reports that a courier working for Osama bin Laden was the catalyst for the famous Navy SEAL Team mission in Abbottabad on May 1. The deal, the Daily Mail said, included the roughly USD 25 million reward offered by the US State Department for information leading to the capture dead or alive of the al Qaeda leader. However, The US State Department said it would not comment on the report.
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August - 11 
America’s covert drone war on al Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has killed up to 168 children in Pakistan over the last seven years, reported Dawn quoting an independent study released on August 11. The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism said its research showed there ha
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America’s covert drone war on al Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has killed up to 168 children in Pakistan over the last seven years, reported Dawn quoting an independent study released on August 11. The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism said its research showed there had been many more Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attacks on alleged militant targets, leading to far more deaths than previously reported. It said 291 CIA drone strikes had taken place in Pakistan since 2004, and that under President Barack Obama there had been 236 strikes — one in every four days.
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August - 11 
Pakistani Law Enforcement Agencies arrested 3,143 terrorists over the past three years, with a majority of the arrests being made in the restive northern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, reported The Times of India on August 12 (today). A total of 4,240 weapons were seized from the arrested terrorists,
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Pakistani Law Enforcement Agencies arrested 3,143 terrorists over the past three years, with a majority of the arrests being made in the restive northern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, reported The Times of India on August 12 (today). A total of 4,240 weapons were seized from the arrested terrorists, including rocket launchers, missiles, suicide jackets, bombs, grenades, mines and anti-aircraft guns. Of the total arrests, 2,101 terrorists were detained in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 231 in Punjab, 145 in Sindh, 343 in Balochistan, 130 in Islamabad, 106 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 80 in the tribal belt and five in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
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August - 13 
China has not joined India's stand on terror camps inside Pakistan when it blamed it for a recent militant attack in restive Xinjiang, reported Indian Express on August 13 (today), quoting an article published in China Daily that also confirmed the recent visit of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) A
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China has not joined India's stand on terror camps inside Pakistan when it blamed it for a recent militant attack in restive Xinjiang, reported Indian Express on August 13 (today), quoting an article published in China Daily that also confirmed the recent visit of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Agency Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha to discuss the issue of Uighur extremists undergoing training in Pakistan. Pakistan Foreign Ministry "promised full cooperation to China to weed out terrorist from Pakistan", the article published in the China Daily said.
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August - 14 
The White House has started putting conditions for billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan based on progress on a secret scorecard of US objectives to combat militancy, The Express Tribune quoting The Wall Street Journal reported on August 15. The report said that the United States is asking Pakistan
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The White House has started putting conditions for billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan based on progress on a secret scorecard of US objectives to combat militancy, The Express Tribune quoting The Wall Street Journal reported on August 15. The report said that the United States is asking Pakistan to take specific steps to ease bilateral tensions. The report quotes a senior military official calling the unusual new approach “a hard-knuckled reflection of where we are right now” in relations. US officials say a sharp breakdown in counter-terrorism cooperation following the Abbottabad raid that killed al Qaeda ‘chief’ Osama bin Laden and the arrest of a CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore have led to aid conditioning. The new approach represents an effort to salvage as much counter-terrorism cooperation to deliver a deathblow to al Qaeda’s remaining leadership in Pakistan.
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August - 15 
A Pakistani newspaper on August 15 accused India of covertly helping Baloch nationalists and urged the Government to carry out a diplomatic campaign against New Delhi, according to Times of India. "Not content with misusing its consulates in Afghanistan against Pakistan, India is bankrolling Baloch
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A Pakistani newspaper on August 15 accused India of covertly helping Baloch nationalists and urged the Government to carry out a diplomatic campaign against New Delhi, according to Times of India. "Not content with misusing its consulates in Afghanistan against Pakistan, India is bankrolling Baloch nationalists abroad, keeping alive a movement which needs government action to stop it from spreading," The Nation said in an editorial. It added that Baloch nationalists had shifted to London, operating there out of a flat where a prominent Baloch leader lived in self-imposed exile. "This group is not only bringing out anti-Pakistan literature in the troubled province but is also in contact with US and Indian diplomats. Members of the group travel to the US, India and Oman using a travel agent of Indian-origin, who is paid by the Indian high commission, according to a report appearing on Sunday in the Nawa-i-Waqt," it added. The daily said that India and the US "are alert to any way they can destabilize Pakistan, but they are only exploiting opportunities that we have created by our mistakes". It called on the Pakistan government to launch a vigorous diplomatic campaign from London, "focusing on the undiplomatic activities of India in the UK, aimed against a friendly country which is helping the UK directly in its part of the war on terror," the newspaper added.
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August - 16 
Despite the US declaring a cut in funding to Pakistan, it continues to fund Pakistan military, reports Times of India. US President Barack Obama administration has asked for an additional USD 1.5 billion in Coalition Support Funds (CSF) for the 2012 financial year. According to US sources, Congress
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Despite the US declaring a cut in funding to Pakistan, it continues to fund Pakistan military, reports Times of India. US President Barack Obama administration has asked for an additional USD 1.5 billion in Coalition Support Funds (CSF) for the 2012 financial year. According to US sources, Congress appropriated USD 1.6 billion for FY2011 and the Obama administration requested USD 1.75 billion for FY2012, in additional CSF for all its coalition partners. Pakistan has in the past received over 75 per cent of these additional funds which are technically meant for all of US' allies. In July, the US suspended USD 440 million from Pakistan's counter-insurgency fund after Pakistan expelled a large number of US military trainers. This amount was deducted from USD 800 million planned payout for counter-insurgency. According to fresh figures, the US has been reducing security-related aid to Pakistan from USD 2.7 billion in 2010 to USD 1.3 billion in 2011, though it's projected to go up to USD 1.6 billion in 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports that the US will be weighing further assistance to Pakistan against four benchmarks or "baskets". "The four baskets are: Pakistani cooperation in exploiting the bin Laden compound; Pakistani cooperation with the war in Afghanistan; Pakistani cooperation with the US in conducting joint counter-terrorism operations; and cooperation in improving the overall tone in bilateral relations. Officials said the details of those baskets were classified," the report said. Meanwhile, the United States has made it clear it will not lift the hold on its USD 800 million military aid to Pakistan, reiterating that Islamabad needs to takes steps in the war against terrorism, reports Daily Times. “While our civilian assistance continues unchanged, on the security side, on the military side, we have had to make some changes based on cooperation. We need to have the appropriate military personnel in. If all the training assistance is going forward, we have to have the trainers there,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters. US had put on hold military aid to Pakistan worth USD 800 million following Islamabad’s request for a “significant cutback” of American military trainers on its soil. US aid to Pakistan, including economic and security-related assistance, totalled nearly USD 4.5 billion in fiscal 2010 while the security aid accounted for more than USD 2.7 billion.
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August - 16 
The trend of violence against Punjabis and other non-Baloch people in Balochistan has forced many of them to flee the region, reported Indian Express on August 16 (today), quoting a Pakistani media report. The disturbing trend of ethnic and sectarian violence in Balochistan also shows that the separ
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The trend of violence against Punjabis and other non-Baloch people in Balochistan has forced many of them to flee the region, reported Indian Express on August 16 (today), quoting a Pakistani media report. The disturbing trend of ethnic and sectarian violence in Balochistan also shows that the separatists and criminal outfits are also taking advantage of the unrest to mint money. Although the State media and private television channels have mostly ignored the serious situation in Balochistan where separatists have even threatened schools from having the national anthem sung in their assemblies reports say the province is in a crisis situation. While the Government has been focusing on violence in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi, the trend of violence against "Punjabis" and other non-Baloch people in the province has forced many of them to flee the province.
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August - 18 
The United States State Department annual report on August 18 said that al Qaeda in Pakistan has become weaker but remains capable of conducting transnational terror attacks, assisted by allied militant groups. In its annual report on global terrorism, the State Department pointed to increased resou
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The United States State Department annual report on August 18 said that al Qaeda in Pakistan has become weaker but remains capable of conducting transnational terror attacks, assisted by allied militant groups. In its annual report on global terrorism, the State Department pointed to increased resource-sharing between al Qaeda and Pakistan and Afghanistan-based militants, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Haqqani Network. The report covers 2010, before the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. It reports more than 11,500 terrorist attacks in 72 countries during 2010, resulting in more than 13,200 deaths. The number of attacks rose by almost 5 per cent from 2009, but deaths declined for a third consecutive year, dropping by 12 per cent from 2009.
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August - 18 
A report published from the US observed that India experienced a lesser number of deaths due to terrorist attacks in 2010, but still remained one of the most terrorism-afflicted nations in the world, according to PTI. The report, which is the annual State Department Country Report on Terrorism for 2
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A report published from the US observed that India experienced a lesser number of deaths due to terrorist attacks in 2010, but still remained one of the most terrorism-afflicted nations in the world, according to PTI. The report, which is the annual State Department Country Report on Terrorism for 2010, however, added that the loss of nearly 1,900 lives (civilian, security forces, and terrorists) still made India one of the world's most terrorism-afflicted countries.
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August - 24 
Amid reports that militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has resumed full-scale public activity, intelligence agencies have said that other militant groups have also begun recruiting young men from Punjab to fight, particularly in Kashmir, reports The Express Tribune. These recruitments, agencies sa
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Amid reports that militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has resumed full-scale public activity, intelligence agencies have said that other militant groups have also begun recruiting young men from Punjab to fight, particularly in Kashmir, reports The Express Tribune. These recruitments, agencies say, have begun following visits from Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC) leader Syed Salahuddin who also heads Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM). According to the agency’s report, these activities have been observed since the last week of July in many cities in central Punjab. Both Salahuddin and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed have been delivering speeches at public gatherings and Iftar parties.
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August - 24 
Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General (IG) Major General Ubaidullah Khan on August 24 categorically rejected the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report regarding the enforced disappearances in Balochistan and said it was an attempt to encourage terrorists and at the same time discourage law enf
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Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General (IG) Major General Ubaidullah Khan on August 24 categorically rejected the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report regarding the enforced disappearances in Balochistan and said it was an attempt to encourage terrorists and at the same time discourage law enforcement agencies. Khan said that that HRW report was partial, portraying one side of the picture. He regretted that there were a lot of loopholes in the Law of Evidence that in fact benefited the culprits. Apart from that, he pointed out, that the militant organisations like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) or the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) had been recognising the services of all those, whose decomposed bodies were found with them. In addition, he claimed that the law and order situation had improved in majority of the areas of the province, particularly in the restive area of Kohlu. The IG said that 80 incidents of attacks on gas installations had been reported in February 2010 only, while in June the attacks had come down to just eight. He said that around 900 civilians had been killed, while over 200 personnel of Security Forces (SFs) were martyred in terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in the province in the past years. The HRW in its recent report accused SFs, including the intelligence agencies, of their involvement in the enforced disappearances and killings of Balochis before throwing their dead bodies in the streets and deserted places.
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August - 24 
During the last two years, Islamabad Police arrested around 135 terrorists and more than dozen would be suicide bombers, reports Daily Times. Islamabad Police emerged very successful in stamping out the terrorism activities and traced almost all the culprits involved in various terror incidents in t
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During the last two years, Islamabad Police arrested around 135 terrorists and more than dozen would be suicide bombers, reports Daily Times. Islamabad Police emerged very successful in stamping out the terrorism activities and traced almost all the culprits involved in various terror incidents in the Federal capital. More than 41 officials sacrificed their lives in the line of duty and several got injuries. Unremitting ingenuous efforts bore fruit and more than 135 terrorists have been arrested by Islamabad Police since March 2009. Islamabad Police overall headed by dynamic person IGP Bani Amin developed proactive strategies and programs to counter daily threats of terrorism, to protect all people in Islamabad.
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August - 24 
Punjab Home Department said that militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has also become active, particularly after the release of the group’s founder Malik Ishaq in July. A circular has been sent to the Punjab Inspector General of Police, Lahore Police Chief, all regional Police officers and Distri
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Punjab Home Department said that militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has also become active, particularly after the release of the group’s founder Malik Ishaq in July. A circular has been sent to the Punjab Inspector General of Police, Lahore Police Chief, all regional Police officers and District Police officers. According to the report, some terrorists who have been released from Punjab’s prisons in the last six months have also regrouped. These 51 alleged high-profile terrorists, says the report, have been conducting meetings with their previous accomplices and are collaborating with the outfits that they used to belong to.
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August - 30 
Afghan-trained militants and returnees from the prisons from Afghanistan have surfaced in Punjab and are indulging in terrorist activities, Pakistani intelligence reports said on August 30, reports Indian Express. According to a report by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab, 2,487 militant
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Afghan-trained militants and returnees from the prisons from Afghanistan have surfaced in Punjab and are indulging in terrorist activities, Pakistani intelligence reports said on August 30, reports Indian Express. According to a report by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab, 2,487 militants trained in Afghanistan and 566 returnees from Afghan prisons have been identified. The Punjab Home Department has directed the Inspector General of the Punjab Police, as well as all Senior Police Officials in the province, to immediately launch a crackdown against the Afghan-returned militants across the province. The Punjab CTD has also placed the names of 2,120 suspected activists of sectarian or militant outfits on a watch list called the 'fourth schedule'.
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September - 9 
Pakistan suffered the most in the US-declared "war on terror" after the 9/11 attacks, facing almost 300 deadly suicide bombings and the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Times of India quoting a Jang report said on September 9. "It's close to ten years now since 9/11. In the dec
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Pakistan suffered the most in the US-declared "war on terror" after the 9/11 attacks, facing almost 300 deadly suicide bombings and the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Times of India quoting a Jang report said on September 9. "It's close to ten years now since 9/11. In the decade of the USA's 'War on Terror', Pakistan has suffered the most, facing at least 290 suicide bombings which have led to the death of 4,700 people, left thousands more injured and caused immense losses," said Jang.
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September - 10 
A Washington Post report said that missile attacks by the US drones in Pakistan have tripled in 2008 after ‘frustrated’ US and Pakistani officials decided to change tactics in the war on terror. Pakistani officials have reported 11 such strikes in FATA this year, the report said, compared with three
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A Washington Post report said that missile attacks by the US drones in Pakistan have tripled in 2008 after ‘frustrated’ US and Pakistani officials decided to change tactics in the war on terror. Pakistani officials have reported 11 such strikes in FATA this year, the report said, compared with three in 2007.
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September - 13 
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided protection to slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden for a period of time, Indian Express reported on September 14 quoting a report of The New Yorker magazine. Former Afghanistan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told the magazine’ writer Dexter Filkins, that
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Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided protection to slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden for a period of time, Indian Express reported on September 14 quoting a report of The New Yorker magazine. Former Afghanistan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told the magazine’ writer Dexter Filkins, that an ISI operative Syed Akbar Sabir had escorted Osama from the Pakistani region of Chitral to Peshawar, passing through Kunar Province, in Afghanistan, along the way. “We believed that he was part of the ISI operation to care for Osama,” Saleh, who directed the Afghan intelligence service from 2004 to 2010, said. He said the ISI operative had been arrested by Afghan intelligence in 2005. The article talks about another ISI agent Fida Muhammad, who too had been arrested by Afghan intelligence agents. Muhammad said his most memorable job came in December, 2001, when he was part of a large ISI operation intended to help jihadi fighters escape from Tora Bora — the mountainous region where Osama was trapped for several weeks, until he mysteriously slipped away.
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September - 13 
Times of India quoting the report of The New Yorker magazine said that the order to kill Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad came from the Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani's staff, on the suspicion that Indian intelligence tried to recruit him. When Shahzad attended a conference in New Delhi la
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Times of India quoting the report of The New Yorker magazine said that the order to kill Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad came from the Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani's staff, on the suspicion that Indian intelligence tried to recruit him. When Shahzad attended a conference in New Delhi last year, "officers from an Indian intelligence agency offered to put him on a retainer", The New Yorker reported, quoting Roger van Zwanenberg, the publisher of Pluto Press, London, which published Shahzad's book on terrorism recently. ISI officials become convinced that Shahzad was working for a foreign intelligence agency. This could have elevated him in the eyes of the military from a troublesome reporter who deserved a beating to a foreign agent who needed to be killed," the article said. The initial order was to harm him but it was changed at the last moment to kill him, the magazine said. "Reliable intelligence indicates that the order to kill Shahzad came from a senior officer on General Kayani's staff. The officer made it clear that he was speaking on behalf of Kayani himself," the article added.
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September - 24 
Poverty and fear of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have forced most girls in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into joining seminaries, says a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report on September 24, reports Dawn. The report compiled by HRCP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter for the y
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Poverty and fear of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have forced most girls in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into joining seminaries, says a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report on September 24, reports Dawn. The report compiled by HRCP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter for the year 2009-10 and seen by Dawn discussed the status of women rights and problems in the restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan. It said corporal punishment was common in seminaries for girls without let or hindrance. The report said insecurity was the major concern of FATA women from religious minorities. It warned that religious extremism might increase as the TTP had banned formal education for girls in the tribal areas. According to the report, militancy has led to closure of primary, community and Maktab schools in FATA. It said the disaster management body and directorate of education Fata put the number of educational institutions blown up in tribal areas by the TTP at 440 but the Government had the record of only 330 of them. It added that rehabilitation or reconstruction of the damaged educational institutions had yet to be begun due to lack of access to the conflict-hit areas they were located in. The report said not a single girl got admission to 9th class in Bajaur, FR Kohat and FR Lakki Marwat during 2009-10 due to TTP threats, while degrees colleges of Bajaur, FR Lakki Marwat and FR Peshawar reported no admission by girls during the said period on the same grounds. Some 120,000 female students in FATA were forced to quit schools due to TTP threats, report added. Declaring health facilities for women the second most militancy-affected sector in tribal areas, the HRCP report said almost 80 hospitals were hit by the TTP militancy and military operations against them. “Gynaecologists and nurses have refused to serve in health facilities. There are 13 sanctioned posts of gynaecologists for tribal areas but 10 are lying vacant. “Also, female health staff is reluctant to perform duty in the restive region due to growing militancy.”
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September - 27 
The US on September 27 rejected reports of disagreement among US officials in Pentagon over Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, Daily Times reports. A Pentagon spokesman said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta endorsed the view of Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told senat
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The US on September 27 rejected reports of disagreement among US officials in Pentagon over Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, Daily Times reports. A Pentagon spokesman said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta endorsed the view of Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told senators last week that Haqqani militants targeting NATO forces were a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s main intelligence agency. “The secretary and the chairman both agree that there are unacceptable links between elements of the Pakistani Government and the Haqqanis,” press secretary George Little told reporters. Little said there was a “consensus view” in the Pentagon about the links between Pakistan and the Haqqani network, which operates out of sanctuaries in Pakistan. “Everyone here understands there’s a link between elements of the Pakistani government and the Haqqanis,” he said. “At the analytic level, there’s no disagreement,” he added. The Pakistani elements backing the Haqqani network “include the ISI [Inter Services intelligence]” spy agency, he said.
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October - 3 
Pakistan is a major source of makeshift bombs being used by terrorists in Afghanistan, a media report of The USA Today said on October 3, reports Indian Express. According to Navy Captain Douglas Borrebach, Deputy Director at Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization, “More than 80 per cent of the I
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Pakistan is a major source of makeshift bombs being used by terrorists in Afghanistan, a media report of The USA Today said on October 3, reports Indian Express. According to Navy Captain Douglas Borrebach, Deputy Director at Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization, “More than 80 per cent of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are homemade explosives using calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer produced in Pakistan,” adding, "The border is a sieve. You can do your checkpoints, but that's not going to help stem the supply." "From June 2011 through August 2011, United States (US) troops detected or were hit by 5,088 IEDs, the most for any three-month period since the war began in 2001," the report said.
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October - 14 
An influential United States (US) think-tank urged the Obama administration on October 14 to freeze its aid to Pakistan until the country took actions against perpetrators of the September 13, 2011, US Embassy attack in Kabul and helped shut down the Haqqani Network, Dawn reported. The Heritage Foun
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An influential United States (US) think-tank urged the Obama administration on October 14 to freeze its aid to Pakistan until the country took actions against perpetrators of the September 13, 2011, US Embassy attack in Kabul and helped shut down the Haqqani Network, Dawn reported. The Heritage Foundation, often used by former US President George W. Bush to announce foreign policy decisions, also asked the administration to back Congress on conditioning all US aid to Pakistan on certain counter-terrorism benchmarks. But the report warned that while this would be “a welcome tactic, it may be insufficient”. The foundation demanded that the Obama administration designate the Haqqani network a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). The report also proposed establishing a Congressional Commission to oversee US relations with Pakistan. “Congress should investigate Pakistan’s role in fomenting the insurgency in Afghanistan and the extent to which its actions were preventing the US and NATO from achieving their security objectives in the region,” the report added. The foundation also advised the Obama administration to step up drone attacks inside Pakistan. It pointed out that increased tempo in drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas had severely downgraded the al Qaeda leadership and disrupted its ability to attack the US. “Washington should pursue the same kind of aggressive drone campaign against the Haqqani Network,” the report demanded.
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October - 14 
Daily Times reports that the attack on a compound in South Waziristan Agency on October 14 that claimed the lives of at least three suspected militants was the 300th drone attack carried out by the US in the Pakistan’s tribal region, according to a report by an independent London-based group of inve
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Daily Times reports that the attack on a compound in South Waziristan Agency on October 14 that claimed the lives of at least three suspected militants was the 300th drone attack carried out by the US in the Pakistan’s tribal region, according to a report by an independent London-based group of investigative journalists. The report released on October 15 by Bureau of Investigative Journalism has mentioned varying figures about the casualties in the attacks as it says that at least 2,318 people and a maximum of 2,912 people, the majority of them alleged militants, have been killed in these attacks. Between 386 and 775 civilians, including 173 children, were killed in the 300 drone attacks since June 17, 2004. The report says between 1,141 and 1,225 persons were injured. Of the 300 drone strikes since June 17, 2004, it says, 248 occurred during President Barack Obama’s first three years, rising to a frequency of almost one strike every four days.
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October - 16 
According to official statistics Karachi tops in murders and other kinds of crimes in Sindh. A report compiled by Sindh Police Department, containing comparative figures of the crimes committed from January 01, 2011 to September 15, 2011 and the corresponding period last year, says the murder cases
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According to official statistics Karachi tops in murders and other kinds of crimes in Sindh. A report compiled by Sindh Police Department, containing comparative figures of the crimes committed from January 01, 2011 to September 15, 2011 and the corresponding period last year, says the murder cases registered an increase of 328, robberies 16 and abduction 75 in the province. However, in Karachi, the murder cases surged by 382, robberies by 186 and vehicle theft by 329. report In Karachi 1,043 people were murdered in eight and half a month of 2010 while 1,425 in same period this year showing increase of 382. The murder cases declined by 13 in Hyderabad region as 339 people were killed this year and 352 last year. In Mirpurkhas 116 persons were murdered last year and 118 this year. In Sukkur region 423 killings took place last year and 437 this year showing increase of 14 while there was decrease of 57 murder cases in Larkana region as 449 people were killed last year and 392 this year. Overall, 2,711 persons killed in eight and half a month this year against 2,383 last year across the province.
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October - 16 
American and Afghan soldiers near the border with Pakistan have faced a sharply increased volume of rocket fire from Pakistani territory in the past six months, putting them at greater risk even as worries over the disintegrating relationship between the United States (US) and Pakistan constrain how
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American and Afghan soldiers near the border with Pakistan have faced a sharply increased volume of rocket fire from Pakistani territory in the past six months, putting them at greater risk even as worries over the disintegrating relationship between the United States (US) and Pakistan constrain how they can strike back, reported Indian Express on October 17. Ground-to-ground rockets fired within Pakistan have landed on or near US military outposts in one Afghan border province at least 55 times since May, 2011. Since Operation Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, the escalation in cross-border barrages has fuelled frustration among officers and anger among soldiers at front-line positions who suspect, but cannot prove, a Pakistani Government role. The Government’s relations with the US frayed further after senior US officials publicly accused Pakistan of harbouring and helping guerrillas and terrorists. Many US officers painstakingly tried not to blame Pakistan directly. But other officers rejected Pakistan’s official position, and said elements of the Pakistani military or intelligence service were most likely involved. “The level of command and control, and the level of sophistication of the Indirect Fire (IDF), is showing that there is some type of expertise being employed,” said one US officer, on the condition of anonymity.
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October - 17 
Afghan Taliban and their Pakistani sympathisers have turned the Kharotabad area in the south western outskirts of Quetta into a safe heaven and a veritable “vacation spot”, a media report revealed on October 17, Indian Express reported. Every four months Taliban militants return from the warfront in
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Afghan Taliban and their Pakistani sympathisers have turned the Kharotabad area in the south western outskirts of Quetta into a safe heaven and a veritable “vacation spot”, a media report revealed on October 17, Indian Express reported. Every four months Taliban militants return from the warfront in Afghanistan to rejuvenate in dozens of rented residential accommodations in Kharotabad neighbourhood, Express Tribune reported. The Pakistan Government has been constantly denying reports of presence of Afghan Taliban in Quetta. However, the media report claimed that the presence of Taliban was becoming a major concern for people living in the adjoining areas who fear that United States (US) may carry out missile strikes. Madrassas in Kharotabad are providing free accommodation to militants, who move freely, knowing that Kharotabad is a safe haven, the report said. The area and madrassas are proving to be a big recruitment centres for the Taliban with six to eight new fighters being inducted for jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan every month.
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October - 23 
Pakistan has told the United States that it is ready to facilitate its talks with the Afghan Taliban, but cannot become a guarantor to the negotiating process, The News quoting a report said on October 23. The report quoted a senior security official as saying that the Afghan Taliban would themselve
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Pakistan has told the United States that it is ready to facilitate its talks with the Afghan Taliban, but cannot become a guarantor to the negotiating process, The News quoting a report said on October 23. The report quoted a senior security official as saying that the Afghan Taliban would themselves determine the propriety or otherwise of sitting at the negotiating table with the United States. "Contact with the Haqqani network is there, but they are not in our pocket," was the message put across during a crucial meeting between the two sides on October 21. "Pakistan must not be blamed in case of failure of attempts (by U.S.) for reconciliation with the Taliban as it does not spoon- feed them," the official remarked.
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October - 26 
Quoting from Express Tribune, The Times of India on October 27 reported that hundreds of people, including Hindus, staying in flood relief camps run by Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a front organization of the Jama’at-ud-Dawa (JuD) in Sindh province are being "peppered liberally" with Islamic
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Quoting from Express Tribune, The Times of India on October 27 reported that hundreds of people, including Hindus, staying in flood relief camps run by Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a front organization of the Jama’at-ud-Dawa (JuD) in Sindh province are being "peppered liberally" with Islamic teachings. The 2,000 victims rescued by the organisation are provided meals twice a day "peppered liberally with religious teachings". "They remind us again and again to offer namaz (prayer)," said a man at a relief camp in Badin District, adding, families have been given copies of the Quran. Another refugee mimicked, "Namaz parho, Quran parho, safai karo! (Say your prayers, read the Quran and clean up)."
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October - 31 
After accusing Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting the Haqqani Network, the Obama administration is now relying on the spy agency to help it organise and begin "reconciliation talks" aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, reported Indian Express quoting a media report on Octo
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After accusing Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting the Haqqani Network, the Obama administration is now relying on the spy agency to help it organise and begin "reconciliation talks" aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, reported Indian Express quoting a media report on October 31. "The revamped approach, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called 'Fight, Talk, Build' combines continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani Network and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) with an insistence that Pakistan's ISI get them to the negotiating table," The New York Times reported. “The US is in the position of having to rely heavily on the ISI to help broker a deal with the same group of militants that leaders in Washington say the spy agency is financing and supporting," added the report.
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November - 4 
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) was behind the Mumbai attacks (November 26, 2008, also known as 26/11) as well as the July 7, 2008 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, reported Indian Express quoting a November 4 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report. In a new two-part series titled 'Se
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Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) was behind the Mumbai attacks (November 26, 2008, also known as 26/11) as well as the July 7, 2008 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, reported Indian Express quoting a November 4 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report. In a new two-part series titled 'Secret Pakistan', Bruce Riedel, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who served as advisor to United States (US) President Barack Obama, said he had informed the then President-elect about 26/11: "Everything pointed back to Pakistan. It was a defining moment.” "I told the President Pakistan was double-dealing us and that the Pakistanis had been double-dealing the US and its allies for years and years, and they were probably going to continue to do so," he said. Riedel pointed out that "this (the attacks) had the signature of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) all over it, from the very moment the attacks began. And once you link it back to LeT, you link it back to the Pakistani Intelligence service, the ISI." The second part of the programme, revealed the "CIA later received intelligence that said the ISI were directly involved in training the Mumbai gunmen". About the car-laden explosives that went off at the Indian Embassy in Kabul, Mike Waltz, who worked in the US Vice President's office while George Bush was the President, said: "Through information and a series of events (not to mention preceding intelligence intercepts) it became pretty clear the Pakistanis were behind the Jalaluddin Haqqani Network, which was behind the bombing."
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November - 4 
The Barrack Obama administration is pledging robust assistance to Pakistan despite demands on US finances and a sometimes rocky relationship with Islamabad, Dawn quoting a status report on Afghanistan and Pakistan reported on November 4. The State Department report outlines US goals in the region mo
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The Barrack Obama administration is pledging robust assistance to Pakistan despite demands on US finances and a sometimes rocky relationship with Islamabad, Dawn quoting a status report on Afghanistan and Pakistan reported on November 4. The State Department report outlines US goals in the region more than a decade after the September, 11 terror attacks triggered the war against al Qaeda and the progress after billions of dollars have been spent and American lives lost. It also outlines the steps forward, looking ahead to the withdrawal of US combat forces by the end of 2014. The report was delivered to Congress. The Associated Press obtained a copy.
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November - 7 
Intelligence Agencies compiled a report on the activities of another suspect, identified as Abid, alias Kalia, who is currently active in southern Punjab in recruitment and preparations for a terrorist campaign in Lahore. According to the report, Abid is preparing an explosives-laden vehicle to be u
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Intelligence Agencies compiled a report on the activities of another suspect, identified as Abid, alias Kalia, who is currently active in southern Punjab in recruitment and preparations for a terrorist campaign in Lahore. According to the report, Abid is preparing an explosives-laden vehicle to be used in carrying out attacks in the provincial capital. His targets are likely to include the Police Training Centre, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) complex, as well as Army and Rangers installations in the city.
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November - 9 
Schools in Pakistan are using textbooks that preach intolerance towards non-Muslim religious minorities, reported Express Tribune quoting a report published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on November 9. The report has been co-written by the Sustainable De
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Schools in Pakistan are using textbooks that preach intolerance towards non-Muslim religious minorities, reported Express Tribune quoting a report published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on November 9. The report has been co-written by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad. The report also states that most teachers view non-Muslims as “enemies of Islam”. “Teaching discrimination increases the likelihood that violent religious extremism in Pakistan will continue to grow, weakening religious freedom, national and regional stability, and global security,” Leonard Leo, the chairman of the USCIRF said, adding, “This study, the first-ever study of its kind, documents how Pakistan’s public schools and privately-run madrasas are not teaching tolerance but are exacerbating religious differences.” The commission reviewed more than 100 textbooks from grades 1-10 from Pakistan’s four provinces. Researchers in February 2011 visited 37 public schools, interviewing 277 students and teachers, and 19 madrasas, where they interviewed 226 students and teachers. The report found systematic negative portrayals of minorities, especially Hindus and, to a lesser extent, Christians.
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November - 17 
The investigators on November 17 said that the suicide attack of November 16, 2011 at the Karachi sea front that killed two Policemen and five militants was targeting the nearby shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi, reports Dawn. The investigators found religious literature at the incident site. “Th
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The investigators on November 17 said that the suicide attack of November 16, 2011 at the Karachi sea front that killed two Policemen and five militants was targeting the nearby shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi, reports Dawn. The investigators found religious literature at the incident site. “The religious literature says that the washing of shrines is a sacrilege and it is only done at the Holy Kaaba,” said an investigator. According to details, the militants were preparing at the sea front to attack the Urs (ceremony of saints) ceremony which was to take place at 11:00pm, but they were taken by surprise, when the two Policemen arrived there, and blew themselves up. An examination carried out by Superintendent of Police (SP) Raja Umar Khattab indicated that the hair found at the place was that of a woman. It is being presumed that the woman was wearing a suicide vest which exploded. The plan appeared to be that the woman would blow herself up in the women’s section of the shrine and the man in the men’s section, the investigators said.
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November - 28 
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on November 28 unearthed a mega fraud pertaining to the import of 1,000 automatic weapons through mis-declaration and it is feared that millions of sophisticated weapons may already have been imported during the preceding years, reports The News. A top official of
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The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on November 28 unearthed a mega fraud pertaining to the import of 1,000 automatic weapons through mis-declaration and it is feared that millions of sophisticated weapons may already have been imported during the preceding years, reports The News. A top official of the FBR under the condition of anonymity told to The News that they apprehended two consignments, one coming from Ukraine and another from Turkey, through which automatic machine guns named as “Stichken” and “Zaxina”, which had otherwise been declared as pistols. The Ukrainian consignment consisted of 650 machine guns, while 350 machine guns were being imported through Turkey. “We have sought report from Inspection General of Arms GHQ, before registering of FIRs against the alleged culprits,” said the official and added that the FBR had ordered to launch audit of all such consignments coming in during the last three years to determine facts.
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December - 1 
An independent think tank on November 30, called for substantial mid-course changes to the Kerry-Lugar bill, which forms the bedrock of civilian assistance to Pakistan, “to fulfill its goals for both the US and Pakistan.” “Writing Pakistan out of the American foreign policy script is simply not an o
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An independent think tank on November 30, called for substantial mid-course changes to the Kerry-Lugar bill, which forms the bedrock of civilian assistance to Pakistan, “to fulfill its goals for both the US and Pakistan.” “Writing Pakistan out of the American foreign policy script is simply not an option,” said Jane Harman, President of the Wilson Center, in a report released on December 1. The report concludes that a robust program of US civilian assistance to Pakistan serves important American interests. It urges Congress not to confuse security aid to the Pakistani military with economic assistance designed to shore up civilian Government.
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December - 2 
NATO commanders are planning a substantial offensive in eastern Afghanistan aimed at militant outfits based in Pakistan, involving an escalation of aerial attacks on militant sanctuaries, and have not ruled out cross-border raids with ground troops, reported Dawn quoting a report from The Guardian o
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NATO commanders are planning a substantial offensive in eastern Afghanistan aimed at militant outfits based in Pakistan, involving an escalation of aerial attacks on militant sanctuaries, and have not ruled out cross-border raids with ground troops, reported Dawn quoting a report from The Guardian on December 2. The aim of offensive over next two years is to reduce threat represented by Pakistan-based groups loyal to insurgent leaders like Haqqani Network, Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur. While drawing down forces in Helmand and Kandahar, the United States (US) will step up its presence in Eastern Provinces bordering Pakistan, bringing long-festering issue of insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan tribal areas to a head. Message being given to Pakistan military is that if it cannot or will not eliminate insurgent havens, US forces will attempt job themselves, report said.
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December - 5 
Despite tall claims of authorities about improvement in law and order situation in Mohmand Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), only a single school out of the total 83 educational institutions, destroyed during the last three years, has been rebuilt so far, reports Dawn. “About 20,
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Despite tall claims of authorities about improvement in law and order situation in Mohmand Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), only a single school out of the total 83 educational institutions, destroyed during the last three years, has been rebuilt so far, reports Dawn. “About 20,000 students, both girls and boys, have been deprived of getting education owing to destruction of schools in the tribal region,” officials of Education Department said. “Work has been initiated to reconstruct some of the blown up schools. But the pace of work is very slow. No one can say when these schools will be made functional again,” officials said.
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December - 6 
The US military is working around a Pakistani Government border blockade by shipping small amounts of some supplies for the Afghan war through other countries, US defense officials said on December 6, according to Daily Times. The rerouted supplies, like all that go through Pakistan, are non-lethal
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The US military is working around a Pakistani Government border blockade by shipping small amounts of some supplies for the Afghan war through other countries, US defense officials said on December 6, according to Daily Times. The rerouted supplies, like all that go through Pakistan, are non-lethal items. The supplies for US troops in Afghanistan are items that would have been sent through Pakistan if the border hadn’t been closed in protest over the US bombing on November 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Captain John Kirby said, “The border closing has had no appreciable impact on military operations in Afghanistan and that senior American commanders believe they are well supplied for now.” Kirby said, “The top US commander in Kabul, Marine General John Allen, is comfortable that he’s got what he needs right now.” About 30 percent of the non-lethal supplies for US and coalition troops in Afghanistan normally come via two routes from Pakistan - the Torkham border crossing in the northwest Khyber tribal area and at the Chaman gateway in the southwestern Balochistan province, near the city of Quetta. Much of what is supplied is fuel. About 40 percent of non-lethal supplies travel on a northern route that enters Afghanistan by rail through Uzbekistan, and about 30 percent are shipped by air.
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December - 7 
Pak Institute for Peace Studies has claimed that deaths from all attacks by militants fell nearly 20 percent, Daily Times reported. Nearly 1,700 people were killed in “terrorist” or “insurgent” attacks through November, according to the institute, excluding those in Balochistan that were mostly carr
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Pak Institute for Peace Studies has claimed that deaths from all attacks by militants fell nearly 20 percent, Daily Times reported. Nearly 1,700 people were killed in “terrorist” or “insurgent” attacks through November, according to the institute, excluding those in Balochistan that were mostly carried out by nationalists, not militants. The number of persons killed during the same period in 2010 were around 2,100. The number of people killed in suicide attacks in Pakistan in the first 11 months of 2011 dropped almost 40 percent compared to the same period in 2010, according to the data. The data said that while more than 670 people were killed in suicide attacks in 2011, the number of persons killed in such incident in the same period in 2010 were around 1,060, respectively.
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December - 8 
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) launched Observatory Annual Report 2011 on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders on December 8, reports Daily Times. HRCP Chairperson Zohra Yusaf, HRCP Director IA Rehman and Salima Hashmi were present on the occasion. According to the report, in the
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The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) launched Observatory Annual Report 2011 on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders on December 8, reports Daily Times. HRCP Chairperson Zohra Yusaf, HRCP Director IA Rehman and Salima Hashmi were present on the occasion. According to the report, in the year 2010-2011, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances remained rampant, particularly in Balochistan, creating an extremely high-risk environment for human rights defenders. Judicial process in front of both the Supreme Court and high courts was still unnecessarily lengthy, contributing to a feeling of impunity. A high number of cases of enforced disappearances remained unresolved. The report said that in an attempt to address the situation, the Government set up a three-member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED), headed by a former Supreme Court judge, in March 2010.
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December - 12 
The members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights have been informed during an in-camera briefing by high-ranking officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government and the Intelligence Agencies on December 12 that about 1,100 people have been killed and hundreds of houses burnt
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The members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights have been informed during an in-camera briefing by high-ranking officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government and the Intelligence Agencies on December 12 that about 1,100 people have been killed and hundreds of houses burnt in Parachinar area of Kurram Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the past five years and that the operation against “non-local militants” is under way, reported Dawn. The committee headed by Riaz Fatyana of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) had called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Peshawar Corps Commander General Khalid Rabbani, sector commander of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Defense Secretary and officials of the Federal and Provincial Departments to brief the members on the alleged human rights violations taking place in the Parachinar area due to the closure of various roads by militants.
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December - 19 
A new Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) report on December 19 said that “American strategy is focused on Central Asia in part as a response to the challenges of transiting supplies through Pakistan for the Afghan war,” reports Express Tribune. According to report, the United States (US) has
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A new Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) report on December 19 said that “American strategy is focused on Central Asia in part as a response to the challenges of transiting supplies through Pakistan for the Afghan war,” reports Express Tribune. According to report, the United States (US) has increasingly relied on the Northern Distribution Network to send non-military supplies to Afghanistan since 2009. “Close to 75 per cent of ground sustainment cargo is now shipped via the NDN.” The NDN, according to report, is made up of three land routes. “One stretching from the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, through Baku, Azerbaijan, across the Caspian Sea, and into Central Asia; one from the Latvian port of Riga through Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan; and a final route that originates in Latvia and travels through Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and passes into Afghanistan via Tajikistan.” Only 29 per cent of cargo goes through Pakistan, whereas 40 per cent goes through the NDN, and the rest is shipped by air. However, the committee report says that the NDN is not an ideal replacement for current supply routes in Pakistan. The NDN only allows goods to be sent to Afghanistan and not back, and also only allows for the transit of non-lethal supplies. “Sensitive and high-technology equipment is transported by airlift.”
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December - 19 
According to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report, Pakistan’s military officials on December 19 blamed an Afghan commander for the November 26 NATO strike on Salala check post in Mohmand Agency, reports Dawn. The BBC reported that the accused Afghan National Army (ANA) commander conspired
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According to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report, Pakistan’s military officials on December 19 blamed an Afghan commander for the November 26 NATO strike on Salala check post in Mohmand Agency, reports Dawn. The BBC reported that the accused Afghan National Army (ANA) commander conspired on the instructions of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security to dismantle Pakistan’s ties with US and NATO. According to the published report, Pakistani military officials were probing the incident on their own and also handed few details of the investigative report to their NATO counterparts across the border on Monday. Pakistani officials demanded action against the accused Afghan National Army commander by NATO officials in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s investigative report did not indicate involvement of any American officials in the attack. According to the report Afghani troops, without any prior notice, were patrolling an area at Pak-Afghan border which required 72 hours prior notice to Pakistani forces. The troops deployed at Salala check post opened fire on Afghan patrol team considering them militants and subsequently NATO air defence helicopters, came to Afghan team’s rescue, attacked the Pakistani post. According to Pakistan officials, Afghans knew exact location of the post hence calling NATO for help was a pre-planned scheme. However the ISPR rebuffed the BBC report calling it inaccurate.
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December - 19 
The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign report on December 19 named Pakistan and Mexico, the most dangerous countries to work, reports Daily Times. At least 106 journalists were killed in 2011, among them 20 who reported on the Arab spring uprisings, a campaign group said on Monday. More than 100 oth
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The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign report on December 19 named Pakistan and Mexico, the most dangerous countries to work, reports Daily Times. At least 106 journalists were killed in 2011, among them 20 who reported on the Arab spring uprisings, a campaign group said on Monday. More than 100 others were attacked, intimidated, arrested and wounded in countries including Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, the Press Emblem Campaign said. The PEC said 12 journalists died in Mexico, while Pakistan came second with 11 journalists killed, the majority of whom died on the border with Afghanistan, followed by Iraq, Libya and the Philippines.
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December - 20 
Pakistan remained the deadliest country for journalists for the second year in a row, while coverage of political unrest around the world was "unusually dangerous," a New York press advocacy group The Committee to Protect Journalists said on December 20, reports Dawn. The Committee to Protect Journa
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Pakistan remained the deadliest country for journalists for the second year in a row, while coverage of political unrest around the world was "unusually dangerous," a New York press advocacy group The Committee to Protect Journalists said on December 20, reports Dawn. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in its year-end report that 43 journalists died around the world in 2011. Seven journalists were killed in Pakistan, where 29 journalists have been killed in the past five years.
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December - 24 
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on December 24 expressed dissatisfaction over the slow disposal of cases in anti-terrorism courts (ATC), delay in submission of charge sheets and frequent adjournments being sought and granted to prosecuting and defence counsel in trial co
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Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on December 24 expressed dissatisfaction over the slow disposal of cases in anti-terrorism courts (ATC), delay in submission of charge sheets and frequent adjournments being sought and granted to prosecuting and defence counsel in trial courts, reports Dawn. According to a press release, the chief justice was presiding over a high-level meeting to monitor the performance of ATCs and the role of investigation and prosecution agencies at the Karachi Registry of the apex court. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said the Supreme Court set up a mechanism for monitoring the performance of the ATC for the quick disposal of the cases and such mechanism was meant to remove handicaps and irritants in the way of expeditious disposal of the cases. The CJ said the menace of terrorism and the situation in Karachi came up for consideration in the five-member SC bench that issued categorical directions to the provincial police and the director-general of Rangers for apprehending culprits and timely investigation in the cases and their effective prosecution so that those found guilty were sent behind the bar. Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mushir Alam and the in-charge judge of the ATCs presented the facts and figures in respect of ATCs. According to the report, 1,124 cases were pending before 11 ATCs in the province out of which some 323 cases are pending in Karachi alone. It said that the meeting was told that since 1998 some 30 convicts under the Anti Terrorism Act and four convicts under the ordinary laws were awaiting execution and on account of such unusual delay in execution, the deterrent effect of the law is missing. Sindh Inspector General (IG) Mushtaq Shah produced a record of the past five months from July24 till date submitting that total 240 cases were registered and 291 accused persons under the anti-terrorism law and 130 cases were charge-sheeted in the courts.
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December - 25 
The United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has suspended drone missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan due to tensions with that country, Daily Times quoting The Los Angeles Times reported on December 25. Citing unnamed current and former US officials, The Lo
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The United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has suspended drone missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan due to tensions with that country, Daily Times quoting The Los Angeles Times reported on December 25. Citing unnamed current and former US officials, The Los Angeles Times said on December 23 the undeclared halt in CIA attacks is aimed at reversing a sharp erosion of trust between the two countries. The pause in the missile strikes comes amid an intensifying debate in the administration of President Barack Obama over the future of the CIA’s covert drone war in Pakistan, the paper said. The CIA has killed dozens of al Qaeda operatives and hundreds of low-ranking fighters there since the first Predator strike in 2004, but the programme has infuriated many Pakistanis, the report noted.
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December - 26 
British officials believed that senior leaders of al Qaeda in Pakistan had been killed in an intense campaign of drone strikes and others are moving to North Africa, Dawn quoting The Guardian reported on December 26. According to a report published in The Guardian, the officials are confident that a
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British officials believed that senior leaders of al Qaeda in Pakistan had been killed in an intense campaign of drone strikes and others are moving to North Africa, Dawn quoting The Guardian reported on December 26. According to a report published in The Guardian, the officials are confident that a “last push” in 2012 is likely to destroy the group’s remaining senior leadership in the country. The report claimed that the militants are now moving to North Africa, including Libya, to open new fronts, raising fears that the region could become a new battle field.
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December - 26 
The United States (US) military briefed Pakistan's Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani on its investigation into NATO air strikes on Mohammad check post on November 26, reports The News. A report by military investigators was delivered to General Ashfaq Kayani on December 25 by a US officer based in Is
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The United States (US) military briefed Pakistan's Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani on its investigation into NATO air strikes on Mohammad check post on November 26, reports The News. A report by military investigators was delivered to General Ashfaq Kayani on December 25 by a US officer based in Islamabad, who explained the findings to the General, Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby told reporters. The full report from the joint US-NATO investigative team was not released publicly until on December 26 to allow time for the Pakistani leadership to read the findings first, Kirby said. "We wanted General Kayani to be able to see the entire thing," he said. The approach represented "an appropriate professional courtesy" to Kayani, he added.
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December - 26 
US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) in its investigation has revealed that it took 45 minutes for a NATO operations center in Afghanistan to notify a senior allied commander about attack on Pakistani check-posts in Mohmand Agency, reported The News quoting a report published in The New York Time
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US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) in its investigation has revealed that it took 45 minutes for a NATO operations center in Afghanistan to notify a senior allied commander about attack on Pakistani check-posts in Mohmand Agency, reported The News quoting a report published in The New York Times (NYT). NYT report stated that once alerted, the commander immediately halted American attacks on two Pakistani posts. But by then, military communications between the two sides had sorted out a chain of errors and the shooting had already stopped. An unclassified version of the 30-page report, released by the military’s Central Command, also revealed for the first time that an American AC-130 gunship flew two miles into Pakistani territory to return fire on troops that had attacked a joint American-Afghan ground patrol just across the border in Afghanistan. The NYT report further stated that American officials said the first allied mistake was that NATO had not informed Pakistan about the patrol, so the Pakistani soldiers would not have known to expect allied forces nearby.
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December - 27 
According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Report on the Federal and Provincial budgets of 2011 the division of resources between Defense and the Social Sector in Pakistan is tilted towards the former, preventing improvements in the welfare of the people, reported Express Tribune. The r
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According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Report on the Federal and Provincial budgets of 2011 the division of resources between Defense and the Social Sector in Pakistan is tilted towards the former, preventing improvements in the welfare of the people, reported Express Tribune. The report titled ‘Budgeting for Rights’ states that the actual difference between the Defense and the Social Sector spending is greater than that reported in the budgets. It said while the defense budget of the country was PKR 495.2 billion, up to PKR 582 billion was being spent on the sector. In comparison, it said, PKR 440.3 billion was being spent on the social sector (24 per cent less than defense spending). HRCP director IA Rehman said at PKR 495.2 billion, the defense budget did not include the expenses incurred on the rehabilitation of people displaced in the military operations in the tribal areas. The Report mentioned that there had been no improvement in the disparity in health sector spending between rural and urban areas, the latter getting the majority of the funds. It said the health sector was worse off than the education sector. The Report also stated that the PKR 7, 000 per month minimum wage was not enough. Rehman said that only 15 to 20 per cent of workers in the country were receiving a wage equal to or more than the minimum wage. It said there were no mechanisms in place to ensure that Government subsidies, particularly those given on food commodities and fuel, were reaching the target population groups. The Report said that the budget mentioned that housing would be provided to up to 250,000 people in the country this year. The HRCP Report further said funds allocated for disaster management were not enough keeping in view the experience of the current and the previous years. It mentioned that Sindh had allocated PKR 0.28 billion for the current year, even though its expenditure in 2010 had been PKR 10.4 billion.
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December - 27 
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government said that the province is no more up on the ladder of areas around the world with a `chronic crisis` of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Government, according to officials, has informed UN relief agencies that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has around 102,000 displaced
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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government said that the province is no more up on the ladder of areas around the world with a `chronic crisis` of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Government, according to officials, has informed UN relief agencies that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has around 102,000 displaced families (470,000 persons), clarifying that the figure of IDPs in their use for planning purposes is outdated. “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sitting, somewhere, on the top of the list of places with chronic IDP crisis is no more the case, as things have improved much in the recent past,” said Shakeel Qadir Khan, Director General Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that “we are likely to be somewhere in the middle of it (list).” The PDMA, according to its chief, carried out a survey in September and October this year after realising that the figure of 1.1 million IDPs used by international organisations for planning purposes was not a true representation of situation on ground. International community had described the IDP crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as chronic in 2009 after a mass displacement from Malakand division due to insecurity and military operation against Swat’s Taliban. Later, displacements from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, including Bajaur, Kurram, Mohmand, Khyber and South Waziristan agencies because of militancy raised the IDP number to 4.4 million.
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December - 29 
According to the report, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) has a considerable presence in Khairpur District. In 2009, SSP leader Allama Sher Hyderi was killed in the District. SSP leader Malik Ishaq is accused of killing 70 people in over 40 cases.
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According to the report, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) has a considerable presence in Khairpur District. In 2009, SSP leader Allama Sher Hyderi was killed in the District. SSP leader Malik Ishaq is accused of killing 70 people in over 40 cases.
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December - 30 
On December 30, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its year-ending report on minorities and the state of human rights in Pakistan stated that the year 2011 had seen the country lose key political figures to religious extremism and this has set an alarming trend for the years ahead, report
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On December 30, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its year-ending report on minorities and the state of human rights in Pakistan stated that the year 2011 had seen the country lose key political figures to religious extremism and this has set an alarming trend for the years ahead, reports The News. This year was unlike any other that we have seen, said HRCP Chairperson Zohra Yusuf. The nation witnessed the assassination of a sitting Governor, Salman Taseer, who belonged to the ruling party, and the Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhati, both in the name of religion. At the same time, former Information Minister Sherry Rehman was threatened with her life after she proposed amendments to the blasphemy law. Though the amendments were sensible and proposed to help the vulnerable in the country, Zohra said “it was appalling to see the Prime Minister withdrawing them and stating on national television that the party had nothing to do with it.” The report further stated the issues of law and discrimination against the minority communities and also the issue of forced conversions of Hindu girls in Sindh province. The Ahmadi community was the target of religious extremism. Religious hatred is not something that has emerged suddenly, said Akhtar Baloch, a senior member of the HRCP. The clause in the Constitution that says “a non-Muslim cannot be the head of the state” is where the discrimination begins, said Rolan D’ Souza, a Human Rights Activist . D’ Souza pointed out that though the Shia Hazaras in Balochistan are not a part of a minority, they are still being persecuted and 380 have been killed in ten years.
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Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Zone :
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State :
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District :
--All--
Date From :
The Valid date is required
Date To:
The Valid date is required