Pakistan Timeline - Year 2004

January 3	Six terrorists affiliated to the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are arrested in Lahore in connection with the December 25, 2003, assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi.
January 6	India and Pakistan agree to commence the process of composite dialogue from February 2004 to resolve all outstanding bilateral issues, including Kashmir. The Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, at separate press conferences in Islamabad, read out to the media a joint press statement on the talks between Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf.
January 9	Four soldiers are killed during a rocket attack on a Pakistan Army camp in the South Waziristan Agency, several hours after a military operation in the area in which three houses of tribesmen were demolished for allegedly harbouring "foreign terrorists."
January 10	The cabinet approves amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and increases the minimum and maximum punishment for financiers of terrorism, besides making it a non-bailable offence.
January 11	A local intelligence official, Muhammad Naeem, is arrested in Islamabad for allegedly tipping off the two suicide bombers who tried to crash their explosive laden vehicles into President Musharraf’s convoy at Rawalpindi on December 25, 2003.
January 15	At least 14 persons are injured and a dozen vehicles damaged in two explosions within a period of fifteen minutes along the parking area of the Karachi's Holy Trinity Church.
January 17	Addressing a joint session of parliament, President Musharraf calls for a Jihad against extremism that he said was one of four "dangerous allegations" facing the country, and urged parliamentarians to prove themselves worthy of shouldering important responsibilities. The other such allegations cited by him were militants operations in Afghanistan, cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and nuclear weapons proliferation.
January 21	President Musharraf rules out any unilateral shift in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy, saying both New Delhi and Islamabad would have to show flexibility to resolve the issue for peace in South Asia.
February 4	The founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, makes a mercy petition to President General Pervez Musharraf after admitting that he proliferated nuclear technology.
February 5	President Pervez Musharraf accepts the mercy petition of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, consequent to the latter’s admittance of nuclear technology proliferation.
February 15	In a suspected terrorist incident, a Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader from the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (JuI) party is shot dead by unidentified assailants at Sahiwal in Multan.
February 18	India and Pakistan reach an agreement on a framework for talks on bilateral issues including Kashmir, terrorism and nuclear weapons. Indian Foreign Secretary Shashank and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Ahmad Khokhar, according to a joint statement, endorse the agreement worked out at the Joint Secretary-Director General level dialogue held in Islamabad on February 16 and 17.
February 18	Suspected Islamist radicals opposed to female education attempt to blow up a girl’s school in the remote town of Chilas in the Gilgit area of Northern Areas.
February 20	Unidentified persons are reported to have set ablaze another school in the Diamer district of Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, raising the number of damaged schools to nine.
February 21	Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the Muzaffarabad-based chief of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami (HuJI), is released after a one-month detention for suspected links with suicide terrorists who targeted President Pervez Musharraf’s motorcade in Rawalpindi on December 25, 2003.
February 24	At least 20 Al Qaeda suspects, including some foreign nationals, are arrested during raids in South Waziristan Agency bordering Afghanistan.
February 28	A suicide bomber is killed and four worshippers sustain injuries in an attack on an mosque in the Satellite Town area of Rawalpindi.
March 2	At least 47 persons are killed and more than 150 wounded when a procession of the Shia sect is attacked by rival Sunni extremists at Liaquat Bazaar in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan.
March 5	Senator Lt General (retd.) Javed Ashraf Qazi says in Islamabad that the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was involved in the December 2003 assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf. "We must not be afraid of admitting that Jaish was involved in the deaths of thousands of innocent Kashmiris, bombing the Indian Parliament, Daniel Pearl’s murder and attempts on President Musharraf’s life," said Senator Qazi, who is also a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General.
March 6	A member of the Sindh Assembly affiliated to the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Abdullah Murad Baloch, is shot dead along with his driver by unidentified assailants in the Al-Falah Society area of Karachi.
March 8	Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali says in Islamabad that no Al Qaeda network existed in Pakistan, but sometimes its operatives entered Pakistan through the porous border with Afghanistan.
March 15	President Musharraf says in Peshawar that a Libyan national was involved in the two attempts on his life during December 2003. Police prevent a huge car-bomb from exploding outside the US Consulate in Karachi two days before US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Pakistan.
March 16	At least sixteen soldiers and 24 terrorists are killed and 22 troops sustain injuries during an operation against Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects in the South Waziristan tribal agency bordering Afghanistan.
March 18	The MMA regime in North West Frontier Province asks Federal Government to immediately stop the military operation in South Waziristan.
March 19	Lahore Police arrests former Member of National Assembly, Amanullah Sial, who had been declared a proclaimed offender in the Maulana Azam Tariq murder case. The US State Department says that $300 million Foreign Military Financing assistance requested for next year will strengthen Pakistan’s ability to fight terrorism. A fact sheet of the Department indicates that other security assistance to Pakistan would help strengthen its law enforcement and counter-narcotics capacities.
March 21	According to a half yearly review report of the Asian Development Bank released in Islamabad, Pakistan receives almost $100 million per month, on account of logistics support, it provides to the US troops in the war against terrorism.
March 22	At least 13 soldiers are killed and 22 others wounded as terrorists ambush a Pakistan Army convoy near the town of Wana in South Waziristan.
March 23	At least four soldiers are killed and four others sustain injuries during a rocket attack at Kurram Agency in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Four persons, including three police personnel, are killed and a soldier is wounded in an explosion near the Barani Bridge at Bannu in NWFP.
March 24	The United States lifts sanctions imposed after the 1999 coup that brought Gen. Pervez Musharraf to power, saying the action would ease democratic transition in Pakistan and contribute to the war on terrorism. The lifting of restrictions on Pakistan "would facilitate the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan" and "is important to the United States efforts to respond to, deter or prevent acts of international terrorism," President George W Bush said in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
March 25	Arabic television Al Jazeera airs a purported new tape by senior Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri in which he called on Pakistanis to overthrow "traitor" President Pervez Musharraf’s regime. "I call on Muslims in Pakistan to get rid of their government which is working for Americans," said the voice on the tape.
March 26	Lahore High Court orders the release of Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, chief of Tehreek-e-Jaferia Pakistan (TJP, now known as Millat Jaferia Pakistan), who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder of Sunni leader and chief of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) Maulana Azam Tariq.
March 28	Three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists are arrested for their alleged involvement in the December 25, 2003, suicide attack on President Pervez Musharraf.
March 29	Pakistan military announces that the Al Qaeda intelligence chief, Abdullah, was killed during recent military operations in the Wana area of South Waziristan. A court in Karachi sentences an Islamist terrorist to death for killing two police personnel guarding the US Consulate in Karachi on February 28, 2003.
March 30	The Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Shaukat Sultan denies in Islamabad that Abdullah, killed during the military operation in South Waziristan, was the Al Qaeda intelligence chief. Police in London arrest eight Muslims believed to be of Pakistani origin along with a cache of explosives for suspected terrorist links.
March 31	An Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad delivers death sentences to three convicts and life imprisonment to another four for a terrorist attack on a missionary school in Murree on August 5, 2002. Six persons were killed and four others wounded in the attack on a Christian missionary school in Jhika Gali, Murree.
April 3	Chief of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), Afaq Ahmed, is arrested from the Defence area in Karachi.
April 4	Five police personnel are killed and another sustains injuries in an attack by unidentified terrorists on the Gulistan-e-Jauhar police station in Karachi.
April 6	Four Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Altaf Hussain (MQM-A) activists are shot dead by unidentified assailants at Raza Square in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi.
April 10	A civilian is killed and seven others are wounded during a bomb explosion near the Defense Housing Authority Golf Club in Karachi.
April 12	Karachi Police arrests six Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-alami (HuMA) terrorists from a house in the Manzoor Colony area when they were allegedly planning terrorist attacks.
April 14	Three Zalikhel sub-tribes form a 1500-man force in Wana, South Waziristan, to help authorities fight the Al Qaeda remnants and their supporters.
April 15	A 21-year-old Pakistani student in Australia is charged, after being arrested from Sydney, with receiving training from the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
April 16	Two terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, including a suspect in the abduction cum murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, are arrested in Lahore.
April 18	US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, says in Kabul that the Al Qaeda, Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami elements were still in Pakistan and blamed them for cross-border terrorist activities.
April 22	Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistani-born man, is charged with planning a terrorist attack in Australia. Lohdi was allegedly planning an attack on a major infrastructure facility and had used a shelf company to price chemicals that could be used to make a bomb.
April 24	Five tribesmen accused of sheltering Al Qaeda terrorists surrender to the Pakistan army at a Jirga (tribal council) at a Madrassa (seminary) in Shakai, 20 kilometers north of Wana, in South Waziristan.
April 29	A teenaged boy is reportedly killed and 12 people sustain injuries during a bomb blast at Naikupura Bazaar near Pul Aik in Sialkot.
May 1	The South Waziristan political administration releases 78 tribesmen arrested last month during operations against Al Qaeda terrorists and their local sympathisers in the tribal areas.
May 3	Three Chinese engineers working on a sea-port project are killed and eleven persons, including nine Chinese nationals, sustain injuries in a car bomb attack near Gwadar, about 500 kilometers west of Karachi, near the border with Iran.
May 5	A tribal Jirga (council) at Lowara in the North Waziristan Agency near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border asks the Pakistan Army and paramilitary forces to withdraw from the area as the tribesmen would defend the country’s western frontiers against the US-led coalition forces.
May 7	At least 15 Shia worshippers and a suspected suicide bomber are killed and over 200 persons sustain injuries when a powerful bomb exploded at Hyderi Mosque, situated within the premises of the seminary Sindh Madrasa-tul-Islam, in the Mithadar area of Karachi.
May 10	Tribesmen in South Waziristan Agency announce the formation of an armed force to neutralise foreign terrorists and their local protectors following the failure of talks between the Government and the representatives of the tribesmen.
May 11	In a video posted on an Islamist militant website showing the beheading of an American civilian in Iraq, an Al Qaeda-affiliated group said it is "ready to take on Pakistani soldiers on the borders with Afghanistan", according to reports in The Associated Press.
May 12	The Government of Pakistan has "no connections" with terrorist organisations operating in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir "none today, whatsoever", claims Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael G Kozak while testifying before the House Sub Committee on Human Rights and Wellness.
May 13	Pakistan expresses confidence that the peace process with India would continue despite the defeat of the incumbent Government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee in the recently concluded elections.
May 15	President Pervez Musharraf calls for a review of "controversial" Islamic laws that human rights groups say are discriminatory against women and minorities.
May 19	Security agencies in Peshawar arrest five Al Qaeda suspects, including two Arab nationals, two ethnic Uzbeks and an Afghan, who had allegedly escaped during the Pakistan Army operation in the South Waziristan tribal area.
May 21	Macedonia has apologised over its security forces’ killings of six Pakistanis two years ago, after they were falsely accused of involvement in alleged terrorist plots to attack the US Embassy, said the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.
May 22	Pakistan is re-admitted into the Commonwealth, four-and-a-half years after its membership was suspended consequent to the October 1999-coup that brought General Pervez Musharraf to power.
May 23	In an interview to the Lahore-based Daily Times, Yahya Mujahid, a spokesperson of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), claims that it has no international network and ‘ambitions’ against the West. He was responding to allegations in the Western media that LeT was part of the Al Qaeda network that planned terrorist attacks in the United States, Europe and Australia.
May 24	At least 14 security force personnel and a civilian are wounded during a bomb explosion in the outskirts of Quetta.
May 25	One person is killed and three others sustain injuries when a parcel bomb explodes near gate No 17 of the Karachi Port Trust.
May 26	Two persons are killed and at least 33 others, mostly police and media personnel, are wounded when two car bombs explode in succession near the Pakistan-American Cultural Centre (PACC) and the residence of the US Consul-General in Karachi.
May 28	Some terrorists from the Chinese province of Xinjiang are hiding in Lahore and Rawalpindi, Chinese Deputy Director of Public Security, Ma Mingyue, states in Urumqi.
May 30	The pro-Taliban Sunni cleric and chief of Binoria mosque in Karachi, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, is killed and his son, nephew and driver are wounded, when armed men ambushed their vehicle in front of the mosque.
May 31	At least 24 worshippers are killed and 34 others sustain injuries when a high-intensity bomb explodes during the evening prayers at a Shia mosque situated on the MA Jinnah Road in Karachi.
June 1	The Northern Areas administration decides to close all Government schools in the Gilgit and Skardu districts for an indefinite period amidst strikes initiated by the Shia community over the controversial syllabi in educational institutions.
June 3	A suspected Uzbek operative of the Al Qaeda and a soldier of Shawal Scouts are killed in a suspected suicide attack, while two soldiers sustain injuries at a check-post in the North Waziristan agency, close to the Afghanistan border. One person is killed and several others sustain injuries when Shia protestors clashed with troops in the Gilgit city during a curfew that was imposed in the city’s municipal limits.
June 6	Three persons are killed in the Gilgit city of Northern Areas when troops opened fire on a vehicle violating a round-the-clock curfew imposed on June 3 due to sectarian unrest amid agitation by the Shia community demanding changes to Islamic textbooks. Two persons are killed and two others sustain injuries during a landmine explosion in the Kohlu distinct of Baluchistan province.
June 7	The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is reported to have limited its operations, while other foreign non-governmental organisations closed their offices in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, despite assurances from the Home Department regarding provision of security to them.
June 8	Protesting against the launching of military operations against tribesmen in Wana, South Waziristan, 11 parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) announce withdrawal of support to the Federal Government.
June 9	At least 25 persons, including 17 troops, are killed and eleven persons sustain injuries during a gun-battle with terrorists in the Tiyarza area of South Waziristan.
June 10	At least 11 persons, including seven Army personnel and three police personnel, are killed and 12 others sustain injuries when a group of seven to eight unidentified terrorists ambush the convoy of Corps Commander, Karachi, Lt. Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hyat, near the Clifton Bridge in Karachi. Tribal leader Nek Muhammad, who is wanted by the Government for sheltering Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists, reportedly threatens to spread his fighting to other cities of Pakistan.
June 11	Thirty-five terrorists and 15 soldiers are killed during continuing military operations in South Waziristan.
June 12	The Hindu reports that Lashkar-e-Toiba has set up a full-blown unit in Pakistan for suicide squad operations against Western forces in Iraq. Up to 2,000 men, mainly between the ages of 18 and 25, are believed to have signed up for the armed operations in Iraq.
June 13	Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat announces that security forces have arrested a nephew of a top Al Qaeda operative and several other foreigners blamed for a series of attacks including the June 10-assassination attempt on the Karachi Corps Commander.
June 14	At least three paramilitary personnel are killed and three more sustain injuries when a bomb blew up their vehicle in North Waziristan near the Afghan border.
June 15	Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali says in Islamabad that no law against the Holy Qur’aan and the Sunnah could be enacted in the country. Muhamad Syaifudin, an Indonesian student charged with involvement in terrorist activity, claims in Jakarta that he met Osama bin Laden in Karachi before the September 11 attacks.
June 16	At least six persons, including three soldiers, are killed and an unspecified number of them sustain injuries during an encounter after suspected terrorists attacked a paramilitary checkpoint in the Ladah area of South Waziristan. US President George W Bush designates Pakistan as a ‘major non-NATO ally’.
June 17	At least 330 people were killed in 82 terrorist attacks across Pakistan in the past 18 months, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat discloses in Islamabad. Nek Muhammad, tribal militant leader, is killed along with five other tribesmen during a missile attack on his hideout near Wana in South Waziristan on June 17-night.
June 19	Terminal of the Sui airport in the Dera Bugti district of Baluchistan province is destroyed after a bomb explosion. However, no loss of life was reported.
June 23	Seven police personnel are wounded when unidentified terrorists targeted the Saddar Police Station with at least two rockets and eight hand grenades.
June 24	The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior was informed that personnel of law enforcement agencies were involved in most of the terrorist incidents that occurred in Karachi since 9/11.
June 25	Eight children and a woman are wounded and three houses partially damaged when unidentified assailants fired three missiles at the Bannu cantonment in North West Frontier Province.
June 26	Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigns as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
June 27	At least two police personnel and three tribesmen are killed during an encounter at Maiwand in the Baluchistan province.
June 30	Police in the capital Islamabad arrest three Iraqis during a raid on a house at Mullaha Rajagan on suspected terrorism-related charges.
July 1	An Anti Terrorism Court in Karachi indicts nine activists of the proscribed Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-alami (HuMA) for their involvement in the Macedonian consulate bomb blast case.
July 2	President Pervez Musharraf reportedly orders a crackdown on almost 30 terrorist groups in Karachi after a report on various dimensions of terrorism in the city was presented to him. Seven Frontier Constabulary personnel are wounded during a landmine blast at Dera Murad Jamali in the Sui area of Baluchistan province.
July 5	A security threat forces the British High Commission to close down temporarily and the US Embassy to postpone its Independence Day reception in Islamabad.
July 6	The Federal Government and the Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) agree to co-operate on the issue of registration of foreigners in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and on steps to combat sectarianism and terrorism.
July 10	Inspector Raja Saqlain, Station House Officer at the Westridge Police Station, known for having detected several sectarian attacks, is shot dead along with his driver, by armed men riding a motorcycle in Rawalpindi.
July 12	Ten civilians, including a woman and two children, are killed during clashes between foreign terrorists and security forces’ in South Waziristan.
July 13	Two children are killed during a mortar attack by suspected Al Qaeda-linked terrorists on a military check-post near Wana in South Waziristan.
July 14	The US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, says in New Delhi that the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan still exists and stressed that infiltration, which continues, should end. A civilian and a soldier are killed while two soldiers sustain injuries during a gun-battle between the troops and terrorists near Shakai in South Waziristan.
July 16	At least 24 Al Qaeda-trained terrorists are still hiding in Karachi, says a top police official, Tariq Jamil. Three tribesmen are killed and six others sustain injuries in an exchange of fire between army personnel and terrorists in South Waziristan.
July 18	The chief of MMA in Baluchistan province and Member of National Assembly, Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, survives an attempt on his life at Chena Baratkhel in the Qilla Saifullah district.
July 19	Three terrorists are killed and six others sustain injuries during an encounter with the troops near Mantoi valley in South Waziristan.
July 20	Security force personnel are reported to have killed at least ten foreign terrorists while targeting two hideouts with artillery and gunship helicopters at Shakai in South Waziristan.
July 23	President Pervez Musharraf and the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, hold a 90-minute meeting at the Army House in Rawalpindi and stressed the need for resolving all bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.
July 24	An employee of a local Madrassa (seminary) is killed and seven people, including four teachers, are injured during a bomb attack in the Gulshan-e-Maimar area of Karachi.
July 25	Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, says in Islamabad that the outfit would declare a cease-fire if the Indian Government withdraws its troops from Jammu and Kashmir and begin tripartite negotiations on the Kashmir issue.
July 26	Two army personnel are killed and three troops sustain injuries in a rocket attack on a security forces caravan in the coastal area of Turbat.
July 28	A terrorist group holding two Pakistani contractors hostage in Iraq says that it had killed the men, but freed their Iraqi driver, according to the Al-Jazeera television station. The group, identified as ‘Islamic Army in Iraq’, had claimed in a video on July 26 that it had abducted Raja Azad and Sajad Naeem and had ‘sentenced them to death’ because their country was discussing sending troops to Iraq.
July 29	Pakistan says it has arrested a senior Al Qaeda terrorist wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people. Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat identified the man as Ahmed Khalfan Ghailini and said he was a Tanzanian national carrying a head money of $25 million.
July 30	Seven persons, including the attacker, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on the car of Finance Minister and Prime Minister-designate, Shaukat Aziz, at village Jaffar in Fateh Jang.
July 31	One soldier is killed and six others sustain injuries when an army convoy hit a remote-controlled explosive device at Pash Ziarat near Shawain in North Waziristan.
August 1	Five soldiers and a civilian are killed when three unidentified terrorists attacked their vehicle at Khuzdar in the Baluchistan province. Government announces a cash reward of Rupees 10 million for providing information on the terrorists involved in the assassination attempt on Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.
August 2	Baluchistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousaf escapes unhurt when his cavalcade was attacked by unidentified terrorists near Surab, about 180 kilometers south west of Quetta. A constable and one of the attackers were reportedly killed and three persons sustained injuries during the incident.
August 5	At least 11 persons are killed and 12 others sustain injuries in an exchange of fire between troops and terrorists in different parts of South Waziristan. Separately, an unconfirmed report said that terrorists ambushed an Army convoy at Khomrang, close to the Shakai valley in South Waziristan, killing at least eight soldiers.
August 6	Six tribesmen are killed and two others sustain injuries when several houses were hit by mortar shells fired by the security forces in pursuit of terrorists at Shakai in South Waziristan.
August 7	Two persons are killed and three others wounded during a bomb blast in the Defence Phase-II area of Karachi. Maulana Abdul Jabbar, chief of the proscribed Khudam-ul-Furqan (a breakaway faction of the Jaish-e-Mohammed), has reportedly been released by security agencies after a long detention for the suicide attack on President Pervez Musharraf.
August 8	At least 10 people, including a three-year-old boy, are killed and 50 others sustain injuries in two bomb explosions near the Binoria mosque and seminary in Karachi. A senior Al Qaeda operative, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, leader of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami, is reported arrested in Dubai and handed over to Islamabad. Qari was linked to two assassination attempts on President Musharraf and has been described by one source as "an operational head of al-Qaeda in Pakistan."
August 9	A driver is killed and 17 personnel of the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps are wounded when a bus en route to Wana in South Waziristan was hit by an improvised explosive device.
August 10	Two Iraqi nationals are arrested from a mosque in the Shakargarh area of Gujranwala while collecting charity for Iraqi and Afghan militants. They were identified as Abdulsalam and Sulaman, who introduced themselves as preachers from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
August 11	Pakistan and India exchanged lists of wanted fugitives they say are hiding in each other’s countries at the end of two-day talks on terrorism and drug trafficking in Islamabad.
August 14	A soldier is killed and five persons, including four women, were injured in clashes between security forces and terrorists in the South Waziristan tribal agency.
August 16	Five paramilitary troops are killed and 12 others sustain injuries in two attacks near the Sui gas fields of Balochistan province. Six persons, including two police personnel, were wounded when three bomb blasts damaged the main railway line at Nawabshah and Tando Adam railway stations.
August 18	A leader of the Islamist alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Qari Noor Muhammad, who was arrested few days ago on suspicion of links with the Al Qaeda, is reported to have died in custody at Kotwali Police Station in Faisalabad.
August 19	Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat denies a TV channel report that a man said to be a driver of Osama bin Laden had been arrested during a raid conducted at a mosque in Islamabad on August 17.
August 20	An Uzbek terrorist and a member of the Zalikhel sub-tribe are killed during clashes between terrorists and troops in the Santoi and Mantoi mountains of South Waziristan.
August 22	President Pervez Musharraf has reportedly disclosed that a Libyan Al Qaeda suspect masterminded the two assassination attempts on him during December 2003. He is "the mastermind behind the two plots," Gen. Musharraf said this in an interview to the Time magazine, to be published on Aug 30.
August 23	Security forces are reported to have killed four Uzbek terrorists during an encounter in the Miranshah area of North Waziristan.
August 24	Four Uzbek nationals were arrested for alleged terrorist links during a raid in South Waziristan, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat said in Islamabad.
August 26	Two soldiers are reported to have died and five others sustain injuries during a bomb blast in the Lawarki area of South Waziristan. Sajjad Nasser, a Pakistani national accused of attending a terrorist training camp, is deported from the United States to Pakistan.
August 29	Two soldiers of the Frontier Corps are killed and eight others sustain injuries when terrorists fired three missiles on a camp of the troops at Wana in South Waziristan.
August 31	Four people, including three intelligence officers, are killed and 15 others sustained injuries during a bomb explosion at a sweet shop in Qalat, 140km south of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.
September 1	The security agencies are reported to have arrested two foreigners, including a man believed to be a senior Al Qaeda operative, during a raid in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. A former Taliban ‘commander’, Maulvi Noor Muhammad, is shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Peshawar.
September 4	The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan, Shyam Saran and Riaz Khokhar, agreed to recommend to their Foreign Ministers, who meet over the next two days, that the composite dialogue process be continued.
September 5	Two soldiers and a tribesman are killed and two persons sustained injuries during a landmine explosion at Jag Zawar in South Waziristan.
September 6	India and Pakistan decide to continue the cease-fire along the Line of Control (LoC) which came into force on November 25, 2003. This was reportedly decided during the two-day talks between External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and his visiting Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, in New Delhi. India rejects a Pakistani proposal for appointing "higher level representatives" to discuss the Jammu and Kashmir issue exclusively, saying it was unnecessary as an appropriate mechanism to sort out all issues, including the Kashmir issue, already existed.
September 7	An Al Qaeda-linked Saudi terrorist, identified as Abdullah, is arrested near Peshawar. He was allegedly hiding in a house at Shakas village in the Jamrud district, about 25 kilometers west of Peshawar.
September 8	Curfew is imposed after the killing of eight civilians and wounding of 18 others in an explosion followed by security forces’ firing in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.
September 9	At least 50 terrorists, including some Chechens, Uzbeks and Arabs, are reported to have been killed and 120 others were wounded during an aerial raid on their training camp at Bad Awaz Garang in the Kaikhel area of South Waziristan. Two persons are killed and another sustained injuries during a bomb explosion at a state-run space centre in Somyani, 650 kilometers south of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.
September 10	Seven soldiers and six suspected terrorists are killed during clashes in the Kanigoram and Karwan Manza areas of South Waziristan. In a suspected sectarian attack, unidentified gunmen kill Atiqul Hasan Naqvi, a retired professor of the Balochistan University, in Quetta.
September 11	Two people are killed and two others sustain injuries during a landmine explosion near the Sui Frontier Constabulary picket in the jurisdiction of Kashmore police station of Balochistan province.
September 12	At least 13 people, including five soldiers, are killed in fierce clashes between security forces and terrorists in an area inhabited largely by the Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan. Unidentified assailants are reported to have shot dead Maulana Ibrahim Salfi, a central leader of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Lahore.
September 13	At least eight civilians are killed after army helicopters targeted suspected terrorist hideouts in the Makeen area of South Waziristan. The Cambodian police have arrested four men believed to be of Pakistani origin over the weekend in connection with terrorist activities, a Government spokesman confirmed on September 13.
September 14	At least eight people are killed when security forces clashed with suspected Al Qaeda terrorists in the Makin area of South Waziristan. A soldier and two suspected terrorists were reportedly killed during a rocket attack on a Rangers picket at Rojhan Mazari in Kashmore near the Sindh-Balochistan-Punjab border.
September 15	Eight soldiers and four terrorists are killed during clashes between security forces and terrorists in the Laddha area of South Waziristan.
September 19	An Algerian national, identified as Ibrahim alias Ali, is arrested along with a Pakistani from the Spina Warai village near Peshawar for their suspected links to a terrorist network.
September 21	During an interview in New York, President Pervez Musharraf states that Pakistan would not hand over Dr A.Q. Khan, who is alleged to have sold nuclear secrets illegally, for questioning by American investigators. Unidentified attackers kill three members of a Shia family and wounded another at village Ratta Kalachi in Dera Ismail Khan.
September 24	At least 20 dead bodies were recovered from the jungles of Karwan Manza in South Waziristan after fierce clashes between security forces and terrorists on September 23 and 24. After an hour-long meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in New York, India and Pakistan said that they had agreed to strive "to restore normalcy and cooperation" in the spirit of the January 6, 2004-statement signed by the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with Gen. Musharraf in Islamabad.
September 25	At least three police personnel and a suspected Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorist are killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a senior Pakistani police officer in Quetta.
September 26	Amjad Farooqi, a top Al Qaeda terrorist allegedly involved in an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf and indicted in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, is killed and seven persons, including two women and three children, were arrested by the police in Nawabshah, Sindh province.
September 27	Terrorists attack a military convoy in South Waziristan with three remote-controlled explosive devices, killing five soldiers and injuring 10 others.
September 28	Four soldiers are killed and five others sustain injuries during a remote-controlled landmine explosion in the Shakai area of South Waziristan.
October 1	At least 31 people are killed and 75 others sustain injuries in a suspected suicide bombing at a Shia mosque at Sialkot in the Punjab province during the Friday prayers. A landmine explosion kills four schoolchildren, aged between nine and 13, and wounded another in the Sarwakai area of South Waziristan.
October 4	Four terrorists are killed and nine security force personnel sustain injuries during an encounter in South Waziristan.
October 5	Two soldiers are killed and seven others sustain injuries in a remote-controlled improvised explosive device explosion near Jandola on the Tank-Wana road.
October 6	Two police personnel were killed and a civilian injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen on a security post outside a Shia mosque in Karachi.
October 7	At least 40 people are killed and more than 100 injured in twin explosions in the city of Multan, in a large gathering assembled to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Sunni leader and Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) chief Maulana Azim Tariq.
October 9	Two Sunni clerics, Mufti Mohammad Jamil, a close aide of the late Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, and Maulana Nazeer Ahmed Taunsvi were shot dead on Jehangir Road in Karachi by unidentified armed men.
October 10	Five people killed and six others injured as a suicide bomber blows himself up at a Shia mosque in the Mochi Gate area of Lahore.
October 12	Four persons are killed and 35 others injured in a grenade attack at a wedding ceremony at the home of an Afghan refugee in the Mardan district of North West Frontier Province.
October 13	President Pervez Musharraf, during a meeting with Indian journalists in Islamabad says that India and Pakistan can resolve the Kashmir dispute in ‘one day’ provided the two sides give up their ‘maximalist course’.
October 14	One of the two Chinese hostages and five abductors were killed in a rescue operation launched by the Pakistan Army commandos near Chakmalay village in the South Waziristan province.
October 15	President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz urge the Muslim clerics to consider issuing a decree against suicide attacks on mosques and imambargahs, at a meeting with at Rawalpindi.
October 18	National Assembly amends the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997.
October 19	Three soldiers are killed and five others sustain injuries as suspected terrorists ambush a military convoy in South Waziristan’s Spinkai Raghzai town. Corps Commander of Peshawar Lt Gen Safdar Hussain states that the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps have lost 171 troops during the military operations in South Waziristan while 246 terrorists including more than 100 foreign terrorists were also killed.
October 20	Four civilians and a militant are killed in clashes in the Spinkai Raghzai area in South Waziristan.
October 22	Two soldiers and three civilians were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in different parts of the South Waziristan.
October 23	Ten militants were killed in an hour-long clash with the troops near Lalizai village, north-east of Wana. Pakistan formally proposes holding foreign secretary talks with India on December 21 and 22 in Islamabad to discuss the core issue of Kashmir as well as issues relating to peace and security.
October 25	Addressing a gathering of editors and senior journalists in Islamabad, President General Pervez Musharraf proposes a new formula for the solution of the Kashmir problem, by dividing the region into seven regions.
October 26	17 tribesmen of the Mahsud jirga are killed and many injured in a rocket attack near Jandola in the South Waziristan agency.
October 27	Three people are killed and two others injured as paramilitary troops open fire on a van at a checkpoint near Azam Warsak in the Wana region.
October 28	Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri states that Pakistan wanted a change in the status quo in Kashmir but would not undertake any 'unilateral flexibility' on the issue.
October 30	A Pakistan Army soldier was killed and two others sustain injuries in a clash with militants in the Karwan Manza mountainous area in South Waziristan.
October 31	The Pakistan bureau of Al Jazeera television receives the latest videotape of Osama bin Laden, in which he warns the United States of more attacks like those on September 11, 2001.
November 1	The Spanish newspaper El Pais reports that the ten Pakistanis arrested in Barcelona in mid-September this year were believed to have funded Al Qaeda operatives by transferring money to Pakistan from Spain. The Senate, adopted "The President to Hold Another Office Bill, 2004", specifically applicable to President Pervez Musharraf, allowing him to hold the office of the chief of the Army staff till 2007.
November 3	Four people, including a woman, injured in car bomb explosion behind the Chief Minister's House on the Pir Masoom Shah street in Quetta.
November 4	Eight soldiers are killed and six others injured when their vehicle hit a landmine planted by militants near Kanigoram in South Waziristan.
November 8	Foreign office spokesman Masood Khan said at his weekly press briefing in Islamabad that that no solution based on the Line of Control (LoC) would be acceptable to Pakistan, adding there was no pre-conceived formula for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
November 9	Pakistan Army starts another operation against militants in South Waziristan, killing six of them. Three soldiers are also killed in the operation. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao says that the influx of foreign militants into Wana region is continuing from neighbouring countries, making it difficult for Pakistani security forces to combat terrorism.
November 10	Spanish police sources state they had arrested two Pakistanis in Barcelona for alleged membership of an Islamic terrorist group, which they said they had broken up in a September raid.
November 11	Five most wanted tribal militants sign an agreement with the government, pledging to live peacefully and not to harbour foreign militants in South Waziristan.
November 12	At least three Army personnel were killed and 22 injured while six militants were killed and one injured in an army operation into a militant stronghold near the Afghan border in South Waziristan.
November 16	A bomb explosion in a cinema house kills two people and injures 32 others in Mingora, the main town in the hill resort district of Swat, about 75 miles north-east of Peshawar. Asim Ghafoor alias Qasim Sukkurwala, affiliated to the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) shot dead in an exchange of fire with police personnel in Saeedabad area of Karachi. A web statement purportedly from Al Qaeda ‘chief’ Osama Bin Laden calls on the Pakistani Muslims to fight, saying their country and neighbouring Afghanistan faced an American invasion.
November 17	Osama Nazir, one of the alleged masterminds of attempts on the lives of President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, arrested from the Madressah Fatehul Quran Al Arabia, adjacent to the Jamia Masjid Zikriya, in Civil Lines area of Faisalabad.
November 18	In an interview with Agence France Presse (AFP), President Gen Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan is not encouraged by the signals coming from India over its efforts to solve the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan Army recovers 3,600 kilogrammes of explosives, hundreds of 82mm mortar rounds, 75mm rifle rounds, 18 107mm rockets and 40,000 rounds of different calibres from Kanigarram in the South Waziristan Agency.
November 22	An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman stated that troops have killed 20 militants in raids on a seminary and a camp in South Waziristan as part of ongoing operations against Al Qaeda-linked fighters.
November 23	Two foreign militants, belonging to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan arrested in cooperation with a tribal peace committee in South Waziristan’s Makeen area.
November 26	Corps Commander Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain while speaking at a jirga of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe at the Governor House in Peshawar announced the withdrawal of troops and removal of check posts from all parts of the Wana subdivision of the South Waziristan tribal region.
November 27	An ISPR handout clarifies that there was no pullout of troops from the South Waziristan region, and that operation would continue in the Mehsud tribe's area where some of the wanted men were still at large and had not yet surrendered.
November 28	Former Prime Minister of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan stressed for an interim solution of the Kashmir issue, saying a permanent resolution of the problem was impossible and unlikely to be accepted by the parties concerned.
November 29	Police arrests an alleged Chechen terrorist who had attacked police and other people with a hand-grenade after failing to rob a money-changer in the Qandahri bazaar.
November 30	Acting President Mohammedmian Soomro signs the 'President to Hold Another Office Bill-2004' that allows President Pervez Musharraf to retain the office of the Chief of Army Staff beyond December 2004. At least 10 police personnel are wounded when terrorists hurled two hand grenades at police teams during a crackdown launched by law-enforcement agencies against the accomplices of an arrested Chechen terrorist in Killi Paind Khan.
December 1	The Balochistan Government imposes a ban on all kinds of political and religious processions in the province for three months with immediate effect. According to an official notification issued in Quetta, the ban would be effective from November 28 to February 28, 2005.
December 3	Pakistan and India end a two-day meeting on reviving the Khokhrapar-Munnabao rail link and agreed to take necessary steps for an early resumption of the train service. The Railways officials of the two countries discussed the modalities of reviving the rail-link that was suspended after the 1965 war.
December 6	At a breakfast meeting with editors of leading British dailies in London, President Pervez Musharraf stated that bilateralism had a last chance for finding a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue. "I am giving bilateralism a final chance. Let it not fail," the President noted.
December 7	Pakistan rejects India’s latest offer of use of entry permits along with passports by the passengers and insisting on state subject certificate as travel document for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus link.
December 8	The military operation in South Waziristan would soon come to an end as negotiations for a political settlement are going on with the tribesmen along with army operation in Mahsud area, said Major General Shaukat Sultan, Director-General, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in Peshawar.
December 10	Eleven persons, including two army personnel, are killed and 26 others sustained injuries when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded at Quetta in the Baluchistan province.
December 13	The Multan Police is reported to have arrested five cadres of the outlawed Sunni group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Multan District Police Officer, Sikander Hayat, said they had obtained some valuable information from the arrested about the outfit’s network in Karachi, Lahore and other cities.
December 15	Two tribesmen are killed and four others sustain injuries during an ambush near Solay Khan Saraey in South Waziristan.
December 16	President Pervez Musharraf says that the Government will neutralise all anti-Pakistan movements, especially in Balochistan. "We are gathering information through intelligence and other sources that who is doing what in the area and I warn them because when the government starts action against them, they will be crushed," Gen. Musharraf stated while addressing a group of journalists at Turbat during his two-day visit to the province.
December 17	According to Dawn, military sources have indicated that during the first week of October 2004, Rupees 60 million was distributed through the Al Qaeda network to its three key operatives in the Waziristan area. One of the recipients was fugitive tribal militant leader, Abdullah Mehsud, said sources. The Government announces a Rupees five million reward for the capture of Waziristan-based tribal militant Abdullah Mehsud.
December 18	Two tribesmen were reported to have died while seven others and five Rangers personnel were wounded when Bugti tribesmen attacked a Rangers post in the border area near Rojhan in Multan.
December 20	Lahore Police arrests at least six associates of the Libyan Al Qaeda operative, Abu Al-Faraj, who carries a Rupees 250 million bounty on his head for his suspected involvement in the two assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
December 23	The Government rejects an offer to surrender from the South Waziristan-based tribal militant leader, Abdullah Mahsud.
December 24	A military court has reportedly convicted two soldiers, sentencing one to death and the other to life imprisonment, for their involvement in an assassination attempt during December 2003 on President Pervez Musharraf. They were accused in the first of two bombings targeting Gen. Musharraf’s motorcade in Rawalpindi on December 14, 2003, said spokesperson Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan. Unidentified people attack two vehicles carrying paramilitary forces in Turbat, Balochistan province, killing at least four personnel and injuring five more.
December 25	Suspected Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) terrorists shot dead two persons and set ablaze five vehicles at the Aga Khan Foundation office in Chitral district, North West Frontier Province.
December 29	A lawyer and an activist of a banned religious party are shot dead in suspected sectarian attacks at Dera Ismail Khan in the North West Frontier Province. A tribal politician with close links to Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, is shot dead by suspected Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Wana, South Waziristan.
December 30	Two children were reportedly killed and four others sustained injuries when a hand-grenade they were playing with exploded at Sheikhi village near Cherat in the North West Frontier Province. President Pervez Musharraf states that he would retain the office of the army chief till 2007 because any change at this stage could prove 'dangerous' for Pakistan. South Waziristan chief administrator, Asmatullah Gandapur, is wounded during a roadside bomb explosion near the Tank area.