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Pakistan Timeline - 2011
Date
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Incidents
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January 01
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Three US missile strikes hours
apart killed 18 persons in a terrorist stronghold near the Afghanistan
border in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. A total of 118 such
strikes, carried out by unmanned aircraft, were launched in 2010
in the Tribal areas, killing up to 2,100 people, most of them
terrorists, according to the Washington-based policy think-tank
New America Foundation.
At least 11 suspected militants
were killed in two US drone attacks in North Waziristan Agency.
One of the drone attacks fired four missiles at a house and vehicle
in Mir Ali tehsil.
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January 02
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Two militants were
killed in an encounter after a roadside bomb went off near a Police
mobile van at Samar Bagh Police Station in Timergara town in Lower
Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A SI of BC was shot dead by unidentified
assailants in his home in Zarghoon Road area of Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan.
A Khasadar Force personnel, Raees
Khan, was injured during search operation against militants in
Ziarai Mountain of Landikotal in Khyber Agency of FATA.
The Police arrested eight suspected
high-profile terrorists, along with their leader Tanvir Abbas,
involved in series of target killings, from different parts of
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
A suspect associated
with the TTP and said to have connection to the November 11 bombing
of the CID offices in Civil Lines area of Karachi was arrested
by Security officials in Rahimyar Khan District of Punjab while
he was returning from Karachi.
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January 03 |
One person was killed
and another injured when SFs opened fire on a suspected car in
Sheratala area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA. The driver,
who received bullet injuries, and another person in the car were
arrested.
TTP chopped off a hand of a tribesman,
Abdul Khaliq, after a Sharia (Islamic Law) court found him "guilty"
of committing a theft in Qureshan Chowk in Mamozai area of Orakzai
Agency.
TTP attacked a NATO oil tanker
with a remote control bomb near Ali Masjid area in Landikotal
tehsil of Khyber Agency, destroying it completely. However, no
loss of life was reported.
A senior MQM 'leader' Adil Jaffri
was shot dead in Nazimabad area of Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh, by unidentified assailants.
Seven suspected SMP militants,
identified as Tanveer Abbas Rizvi alias Kashif, Abrar Husain Rizvi,
Syed Pervaiz Zaidi, Rifat Raza alias Jehangir, Hasnain Abbas alias
Faisal, Syed Sikandar Rizvi and Syed Ali Mehdi, were remanded
in Police custody till January 6 in two murder cases.
Police seized a vehicle laden
with explosives and arrested two suspected militants, Mohammad
Safdar and Azhar Mehmood, on Thatta Khalil Road near Taxila in
Punjab.
Former CPO Saud Aziz and former
Rawal Town SP Khurram Shehzad charged in former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto murder case filed a bail plea on the grounds of
lack of evidence to prove their involvement in the murder in an
ATC.
JWP leader Shahzain Bugti and
his 26 co-accused, who were arrested on December 22, 2010 by the
FC at the Buleli checkpost in Quetta, Balochistan with a cache
of arms and ammunition, were remanded to judicial custody by a
judicial magistrate.
An anti-terrorism court judge
started the trial of TNSM
'chief' Maulana Sufi Muhammad amid tight security in the Central
Prison of Peshawar, the Provincial Capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The CoAS General Ashfaq Kayani
said strong, stable and thriving Balochistan remained an utmost
dream of the Army as it could help make Pakistan prosperous.
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 FATA,
the 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.
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January 04 |
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer
was assassinated by one of his guards, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, in
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
Malik Mumtaz Qadri and nine other
personnel of the Elite Force were arrested from the scene of the
crime and shifted to the Kohsar Police Station.
More than 500 religious scholars
belonging to the Barelvi school of thought paid rich tributes
to the assassin of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, Malik Mumtaz
Qadri, and urged 'Muslims across the country' to boycott the funeral
ceremony.
A bomb blast in a school bus,
injured at least five children in Turbat of Balochistan. The bus
was taking more than 30 children of FC personnel to a school in
Turbat.
TTP militants attacked a convoy
carrying food items, medicines and other goods to Parachinar at
Denari near Sadda town in Kurram Agency of FATA and torched seven
vehicles.
A group of militants attacked
a checkpoint in the Bhai Corr area of Mohmand Agency along the
Afghanistan border, triggering a brief encounter and prompting
SFs to arrest 39 militants.
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January 05 |
Three persons were killed when
their vehicle hit a roadside IEDs near Badragai village in Shakai
tehsil of South Waziristan Agency in FATA in the afternoon.
TTP militants chopped off the
hand of a man, Abdul Khaliq (31), convicted of theft in a self-appointed
Sharia court in Orakzai Agency. The TTP court found Abdul
Khaliq guilty of stealing from a shop on December 23.
SFs bombed suspected positions
of militants and arrested 23 tribesmen following an attack on
a convoy taking medicines, foodstuff and other goods to Parachinar
in Khuram Agency on January 4.
Two bullet-riddled bodies of leaders
of the BSO-A were recovered in a deserted place near Pasni Road
in Turbat city, around 800 kilometres away from Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. The victims were identified as Qambar
Chakar, deputy Organiser of BSO-A Shal zone, and Ilyas Baloch,
a student of the University of Balochistan.
Police arrested eight suspects
involved in target killings in different parts of Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh. Speaking to the media, Karachi CCPO
Fayyaz Leghari said that the suspects had been arrested near belonged
to a banned outfit and had so far confessed to killing 12 persons.
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's
assassin Mumtaz Qadri was remanded in Police custody for one day
by the area magistrate.
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January 06 |
Six militants, including three
'commanders', were killed in a clash with the Qaumi Lashkar
in Saifaldar town, near the Afghanistan border, of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. Three militants were injured in the clash.
A caravan of 500 IDPs families
reached their native town Chagmalie from Tank and Dera Ismail
Khan Districts in the second phase of repatriation plan, under
tight security arrangements by the Government.
The Mardan District ANP Information
Secretary Jehar Khan Hoti was killed in an ambush in Mardan District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A minor child received injures
in a bomb blast occurred in Hassan Garhi ground on the outskirts
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the
morning.
A bomb blast on the gas supply
line in the Sariab area of Quetta suspended gas supply to many
parts of city. The gas supply to the Habibullah power plant and
some areas on the outskirts of Quetta city was suspended.
Judicial magistrates at the Karachi
city courts remanded seven suspected militants in Police custody
in nine murder cases and extended their remand in 11 other cases
till January 11.
TTP claimed responsibility for
the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer saying that
the "man who killed him was from among us".
ATC Judge Malik Akram Awan rejected
a Police plea for a 12 day physical remand of Punjab Governor
Salmaan Taseer's killer Mumtaz Qadri and settled for only a five-day
physical remand with the direction to have his medical checkup.
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January 07 |
A US drone fired four missiles
at a vehicle in Datta Khel town of North Waziristan Agency in
FATA, killing six suspected militants.
Unidentified militants set on
fire two empty NATO oil tankers at Landikotal bypass in Khyber
Agency while they were on the way back to Peshawar after delivering
NATO fuel at Bagram airbase of Afghanistan.
SFs arrested 46 militants from
the Durrani area of Lower Kurram Agency. Nine hideouts were destroyed
and 1,800 bags of fertilizers (used for making explosives) were
recovered from their possession.
Three persons, travelling in a
car, were shot dead by unidentified assailants on Mastung Road
near Sheikh Zaid Hospital of Quetta, the provincial capital of
Balochistan.
At least four persons, including
two Police personnel, sustained injuries when a low-intensity
bomb exploded in CD market, known as Doozakh Market in Umerzai
Bazaar (Market place), in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
in the evening.
A militant outfit, named, Mawviya
group, is planning to launch a suicide attack in the Sheikhupura
District prison where blasphemy convict Asia Bibi is under detention.
Lieutenant-General retd Abdul
Qadir Baloch of PML-N warned the Government in the National Assembly
that its indifference towards Balochistan would augur well neither
for the province nor for the country's integrity.
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January 8 |
A senior leader of MQM, Syed Yawar
Abbas (32), son of Syed Ali Sardar was shot dead by unidentified
militants in Pir Elahi Bux Colony of Karachi.
Four FC personnel were injured
in a roadside landmine blast and mortar attack in Qandharo area
of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency of FATA.
One FC trooper was injured when
militants fired a mortar shell at the FC camp in Mahmadghat tehsil
of Mohmand Agency.
The headless bodies of two local
tribesmen were found at a deserted place in Zakhakhel Bazaar area
of Khyber Agency. They were identified as Mian Khel son of Gula
Khan and Shala Baz Torkhel.
A watchman, identified as Gul
Habib, was injured when militants blew up the basic health unit
in Khan Banda of Mian Issa area of Charsadda District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested six persons, including
two cadres of a banned sectarian outfit, during a raid at the
residence of one Mahboob Bareech in the Satellite Township of
Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
A special committee of the PAC
in a meeting informed that terrorist hideouts in the FATA were
insignificant in number because terrorists were constantly on
the run due to the war on terror by the Government of KP.
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January 9 |
Two gas wells were blown up in
Dera Bugti District of Balochistan. Sources said that explosive
devices had been planted in well numbers 19 and 83 which were
detonated by unidentified militants.
A trailer carrying supplies for
NATO forces in Kandahar was set ablaze near Khuzdar. Sources said
that unidenfied assailants on a motorcycle intercepted a Chaman-bound
trailer and set it on fire.
A Policeman attached to PM Yousaf
Raza Gilani's Security detail was detained along with an official
of the country's electronic media in connection with Punjab Governor
Salman Taseer's assassination on January 4.
Sunni Tehreek activists gathered
at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Road and staged a protest at Liaquat
Bagh area of Rawalpindi in Punjab demanding release of Malik Mumtaz
Hussain Qadri.
The Tehreek-e-Namoos-e-Risalat
and the All-Religious Parties Alliance held a massive rally from
Numaish Chowrangi to Tibat centre in Karachi (Sindh), demanding
the Government not to touch the country's blasphemy law and to
abolish the committee set up to review the law and withdraw the
proposed blasphemy bill from the National Assembly.
Saudi Arabia issued global arrest
warrants for 47 suspected al Qaeda militants believed to be hiding
in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, or Iraq who it said had tried
to build cells inside the top oil exporter.
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January 10 |
Five militants, including a local
'commander', were killed when two rival militant outfits clashed
in Zangi area of Kurram Agency in FATA. Sources said that the
killed militants belonged to Al Badr outfit.
Unidentified militants blew up
two girls' primary schools in Merikhel and Mathakhel areas of
Landikotal in Khyber Agency. The total number of destroyed or
damaged schools in Khyber Agency has crossed 30.
Three persons, including two minor
girls, were injured in a bomb blast under the Pishtakhara Police
Station of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants set ablaze
a container, carrying goods for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan,
in Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
The investigation into the NATO
containers scam has confirmed the smuggling of liquor and arms
in the containers supposed to carry goods for the forces based
in Afghanistan.
Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who killed
the Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer on January 4, in his official
confessional statement accepted that he killed the Governor over
his statement regarding the country's blasphemy law and said that
he had acted alone.
Police is tracking Qari Hanif
and Ishtaque Shah of Attock District in Punjab after the confessional
statement of Malik Mumtaz Qadri.
Anti-Terrorist Court Judge Malik
Akram Awan awarded 14-day judicial remand of Qadri and sent him
to Adiala Jail of Rawalpindi in Punjab.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said it
was the collective obligation of the media to make efforts against
extremism and not highlight the ideology and activities of extremists.
The National Assembly Standing
Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) expressed dissatisfaction
over the pace of implementation on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan
(beginning of the rights of Balochistan) package with the observation
that a lot of work had been done on paper and nothing on the ground.
The NA body was further informed
that out of 61 proposals of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package,
15 had been fully implemented, 12 were in the process of being
implemented while 34 proposals were in the middle stages of implementation.
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January 11 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
three labourers of Punjabi origin and injured two others in Panjgur
District of Balochistan.
A head constable, Mohammad Khan,
was killed when unidentified assailants attack a Police checkpoint
in Dera Allahyar town in Jaffarabad District in the night.
Three NGO workers were abducted
along with their vehicle by unidentified assailants in Tambo tehsil
of Naseerabad District.
A gas pipeline was blown up in
Loti area of Dera Bugti District, suspending gas supply to a gas
purification pant.
A tribal elder along with his
driver and security man were shot dead by unidentified militants
in Gulshan Abad area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A girl was killed when a shell
landed in the residential area after militants attacked a checkpost
in Mohmand Agency. Further, SFs neutralised a landmine, planted
by militants in Ghaiba Khwar near Mian Mandi bazaar in Haleemzai
tehsil.
Six pro-government tribal elders
were injured in a roadside explosion in Katkot area of Loe Mamond
tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
Punjab Home Minister Rana Sanaullah
on January 11 said that al Qaeda suspect Qari Saifullah Akhtar
was not a terrorist.
ISPR Director General Major General
Athar Abbas said that Afghanistan-based militants are behind instability
in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies of FATA.
Acknowledging that Pakistan has
been the biggest victim of terrorism, the US Assistant Secretary
of State Philip J Crowley reaffirmed its resolve to assist Islamabad
in addressing the challenge of violent extremism comprehensively.
Pakistan has indefinitely postponed
a full-scale military offensive against the Haqqani Network in
NWA of FATA because of the freezing winter there that normally
lasts over six months, an unnamed source said.
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January 12 |
At least 20 persons were killed
and another 16 injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden
car into Miryan Police Station in the Bannu town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two women were killed and seven
others were injured, including four other women and three children,
in two roadside bomb blasts in the suburbs of Peshawar.
Unidentified militants blew up
a 132 KV grid station in Matani, a suburban area of Peshawar,
causing suspension of power supply to 12 feeders in parts of Peshawar
District and Frontier Region.
Seven militants were killed and
10 other militants injured when SFs heavily pounded terrorist
hideouts near the Afghanistan border in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Five militants were killed when
a US drone targeted a suspected militant compound at Haider Khel
village in Mir Ali tehsil of NWA.
Two SF personnel, identified as
Abdul Shakoor and Izhar, were killed and another, Jumma Khan,
was injured in a roadside landmine blast near Sarokai area on
Wana-Jandola Road in SWA.
A soldier, identified as Naik
Zamin Khan, was killed when militants fired mortar shells at Bhai
Dag FC camp in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand Agency.
16 militants, six would-be suicide
bomber children among them, surrendered to SFs in Ferozkhel area
of Khyber Agency.
Political administration and FC
officials held a grand tribal jirga for peace at Landikotal
Jirga Hall of Khyber Agency. Prominent maliks and elders
from Zakha Khel, Koki Khel, Shinwari, Shelmani and Malagori tribes
participated.
The Special Investigation Unit
of the Sindh Police arrested three former students of Karachi
University involved in attacking the ISO with a bomb on December
28, 2010.
The Punjab Police recalled four
Policemen, holding extreme religious views, from their active
duty and asked them to report to their respective District headquarters.
Pakistan was the deadliest of
the 30 countries examined, accounting for 16 deaths, in 2010,
the International News Safety Institute (INSI). 97 journalists
died worldwide in 2010 as a result of their work, an average of
almost two a week, the INSI said.
The US Vice President Joe Biden
made it clear that the US patience was running out with Pakistan's
indecision on military action against militants' hideouts in NWA.
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January 13 |
Mortar shells fired from across
Afghanistan border killed eight persons, including five men and
three women, in Tity Mada Khel village in the North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
A Police official, Syed Marjan,
was killed and four others were injured in a bomb blast near Qambarkhel
checkpost in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants ambushed
a Police mobile van with a remote control bomb, killing four Policemen
and injuring five others in Sardikhel town in Bannu District of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The 'chief' of a peace committee
of Mohmand Agency, Malik (head) Mohammad Salam Khan (60), was
killed and another elder received bullet injuries in an attack
outside a mosque in Tablighee Markaz area of Peshawar.
A Shia man, identified as Anwar
Raza, was killed in an incident of sectarian target killing at
Moosa Lane of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Wali Khan Babar, a reporter of
a private news channel, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
in the Super Market Police Station area of Liaquatabad in Karachi.
An administrative Judge of the
Sindh High Court handed over three accused in Karachi University
blast on December 28, 2010, on a seven-day remand (till January
20) to Special Investigation Unit.
A Frontier Constabulary official
was killed and three others sustained splinter injuries in a landmine
blast near the gas fields of Loti in Bugti tribal territory of
Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
An Anti-Narcotics Force official
was shot dead in Panjgur Bazaar of Panjgur District in Balochistan.
A gas pipeline was blown up by
unidentified militants in the Sim Shakh (Outfall Drain) area near
Dera Allah Yar in Jaffarabad District in Balochistan, disrupting
gas supply to the provincial capital Quetta and other parts of
Balochistan.
The Elite Police guard, Mumtaz
Qadri, who confessed to the killing of Punjab Governor Salman
Taseer on January 4, had previously been assigned to the President
and Prime Minister 18 times over the last three years and to two
foreign delegations.
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January 14 |
SFs killed 11 militants, including
foreigners, and injured many others in Chinarak area near Afghanistan
border in Kurram Agency of FATA.
FC personnel killed three militants
and injured four others in retaliatory firing when a group of
unidentified militants attacked the FC camp in Bhaidaq of Mohammad
Agency with rockets and mortar shells.
A Government-run boys' school
was blown up in Baizai tehsil along Afghanistan border
in Mohmand Agency. With the latest incident, the number of destroyed/torched
schools in Mohmand Agency has reached 74.
TTP militants armed with rockets
and rifles attacked the house of a woman Police constable, Shamshad
Begum (50), early in the morning, killing her and five of her
relatives in Tootkas town of the Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Shamshad Begum had been receiving death threats from TTP for sometime,
a senior official Khalid Khan said.
A would-be suicide bomber was
shot dead in Kohat after SFs opened fire at him near a passport
office.
Unidentified militants launched
an armed attack on NATO's fuel supply tankers and opened fire
on them, setting ablaze at least 20 tankers near Dear Murad Jamali
in Nasirabad District of Balochistan.
A gas pipeline and a gas well
were blown up in the Bugti tribal territory of Dera Bugti District
in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants planted
explosive material on well number 16 in the Uch Gas Field located
60 kilometres east of Dera Murad Jamali which caused complete
destruction of the well.
The three abducted workers of
an international NGO were rescued after a large-scale search operation
carried out by Balochistan Levies Force in Naseerabad District,
which shares border with Sindh, Commissioner Muhammad Aslam Jamali
said. The NGO workers were abducted from Tambo tehsil of Naseerabad
District on January 10.
An appellate bench of the Sindh
High Court set aside the conviction of three LeJ cadres, identified
as Mufti Shahid Haneef, Haider Ali and Mohammad Talha, in a murder
case of Ishrat Hussain in Block D of North Nazimabad town of Karachi
in Sindh on July 8, 2001.
An Anti Terrorism Court, ending
the judicial remand of arrested Police officers Saud Aziz and
Khurram Shahzad, handed them over to Federal Investigation Agency
in eight day physical remand.
All major operations have successfully
been completed in FATA and momentous success has been achieved,
Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik,
said.
Pakistan's fight against terrorist
leads to record an increase in cases of Polio from 89 in the previous
year to 138, according to WHO figures. 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 TTP make many areas
too dangerous to visit.
A would-be suicide bomber was
shot dead in Kohat after Security Forces (SFs) opened fire at
him near a passport office.
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January 15 |
Six militants were killed when
a vehicle carrying militants hit a landmine in the Mamozai area
of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
SFs shot dead four militants in
a retaliatory firing when a group of militants attacked a security
checkpost in the Toda Khora area of Orakzai Agency. Two militants
were also arrested.
Three persons, including a senior
government official and a woman, were killed in two separate firing
incidents in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Unidentified assailants riding
a motorcycle entered the Sahiban Community Health Centre near
Baloch Colony of Quetta and opened indiscriminate firing, which
claimed the lives of Fehmida, a health worker, and watchman Saeed
Ahmed.
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January 16 |
A roadside explosion injured five
paramilitary personnel of Shawal Rifles in Razmak area of NWA
in FATA.
Unidentified militants blew up
a basic health unit by detonating an explosive device planted
to it in Adezai area of Mohammad Agency.
TTP warned tribesmen of NWA against
joining the Army, Frontier Corps or Levies Force. A pamphlet distributed
in Miranshah on behalf of the Shura-i-Mujahideen (council
of holy fighters) said the Government had been recruiting locals
in the army, Frontier Corps and Levies Force to use them against
the TTP.
Unidentified militants set ablaze
two NATO oil tankers near Sorab area of Kalat District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants blew up
a gas pipeline by using dynamite in the Loti gas field in Dera
Bugti District.
Militants fired two rockets at
the Uch power plant in Dera Murad Jamali in Nasirabad District
in the night.
At least 10 persons were killed
and several others injured in an explosion in a passenger bus
at Hangu road in Kohat town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The passenger
bus was en route to Kohat from Hangu when the explosion took place.
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January 17
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The bullet-riddled dead bodies
of three political activists were found from Ormara, a coastal
township, in Gadwar and Khuzdar Districts in Balochistan.
The Balochistan High Court granted
bail to Shahzain Bugti, provincial President of the JWP and 26
of his associates in a case of recovery of large cache of arms
and ammunition from his motorcade at Buleli checkpost, on the
outskirts of Quetta on December 22.
The death toll in the bomb explosion
inside a minibus at Jawarza in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
reached to 18.
An anti-terrorism court of Peshawar
framed charges against TNSM ‘chief’ Maulana Sufi Muhammad in various
cases and fixed January 31 for recording evidences against him.
An oil tanker carrying fuel for
NATO troops in Afghanistan destroyed completely after a bomb planted
in the vehicle exploded at a terminal near the Torkham border
crossing in the Khyber Agency of FATA.
The JuD organised rally in Lahore
in Punjab and invited clerics to speak during the demonstration
spewed hate speech upon targeted minorities, incited people to
violence with impunity and roused people to adopt the ‘way of
jihad’.
A group of 12 Canadians are reported
undergoing militant training at an al Qaeda camp in NWA in FATA
in plots to carry out terror attacks back home.
The MQM submitted a draft bill
‘Deweaponisation of Pakistan Bill of 2011’ in the National Assembly
Secretariat seeking to rid the country of weapons, in Sindh
MQM’s parliamentary leader in
the National Assembly Farooq Sattar said that his party would
also introduce the bill in the Senate and contact other parties
to secure endorsement for it.
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January 18
|
At least seven suspected militants
were killed when the US drone fired two missiles at a compound
in Daska village, about 40 kilometres from Miranshah, in Dattakhel
tehsil of NWA in FATA. Three persons were injured in the
attack.
Three soldiers were killed and
three others injured when militants attacked a camp of SFs in
Razmak town of NWA in FATA.
SFs repulsed an attack by unidentified
militants on a check post near the Bara grid station in the evening
in Bara town of Khyber Agency in FATA.
SFs arrested a high ranking militant
‘commander’ of LI, identified as Mobeen Khan, along with three
other associates from Ziyarhai area of Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency
in FATA.
The TTP killed four members of
an alleged ‘dacoit group’ in Sarkadana area of Hangu District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Four persons were killed in two
separate incidents of bomb and landmine explosions in the Mand
area of Kech District and Chamalang area of Loralai District respectively
in Balochistan. The BLA spokesman, Sarbaz Baloch claimed the responsibility
for the Chamalang attack.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
dead body was recovered in Mastung District in Balochistan.
Three militants were arrested
and a cache of explosive material was recovered in Usta Muhammad
area of Nasirabad District in Balochistan.
Three pre-dawn bomb blasts occurring
one after another destroyed two girls’ schools and partially damaged
a mosque in Chilas town of Diamer District in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistani paramilitary troops
detained over 500 suspected persons for questioning in the wake
of a surge in ethnic and political violence in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh, witnessed a fresh bout of target killings last week
in which some 31 persons were killed. Much of the violence has
been blamed on rivalry between the Urdu speakers backed MQM and
the Pashtuns supported by ANP.
Britain moved to ban the TTP as
a terrorist outfit, making it illegal to belong to or raise funds
for the organisation in Britain.
The ‘chief’ of the Afghan Taliban
Mullah Mohammed Omar was treated for a heart attack in Pakistan
with the help of ISI.
Pakistan strongly denied such
charges, and its Washington ambassador Husain Haqqani said the
Eclipse report "had no basis whatsoever."
President Asif Ali Zardari had
a secret meeting with a group of senior TTP militants in a "secret
prison" in Pakistan in April 2010 during which he expressed
the Pakistan Government's "support for their mission".
Anti-Terrorist Court, adjourned
the hearing of bail applications filed by former CPO, Saud Aziz
and former Rawal Town SP Khurram Shehzad, until January 26.
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January 19
|
The bullet riddled dead bodies
of three abducted oil tanker drivers were recovered on Torkham
Bypass Road in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Militants abducted five tribesmen
from Alisherzai area of Khuram Agency in FATA.
Two personnel of Levies Force
went missing in lower tehsil of Kurram Agency in FATA.
A bomb planted in a horse cart
exploded near a school in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing
two persons and injuring 11 others.
The son of a senior activist of
the MQM, an ally of ruling Pakistan People’s Party, was killed
when unidentified assailants shot dead in the PIB Colony area
under PIB Police Station in Karachi in Sindh.
SIU of the Sindh Police arrested
an alleged militant, Tariq Jadoon of the Tehreek-e-Punjabi Mujahideen
(TPM), from Mehmoodabad area of Karachi in Sindh.
CID of Sindh Police arrested Chaman
Gulzar, an alleged cadre of the TTP from Kharadar, a neighbourhood
of Saddar Town in Karachi in Sindh, hiding in Karachi’s Sohrab
Goth, a suburb of Gadap Town.
A Police Constable, identified
as Muhibullah, was shot dead and another sustained bullet injures
in Nawa Killi area under Zarghoon Abad Police Station in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The Bomb Disposal Squad neutralised
three mortar shells in the Qazi Talab area of Hangu District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested a suspect and
recovered huge quantity of dynamite sticks and fuse wires from
his possession in Swabi town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistani investigators claimed
that over 50,000 containers meant for 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).
Supreme Court directed the chairman
of the FBR to take action against those involved in siphoning
off billions of rupees in taxes in connivance with customs officials
by hijacking containers transporting goods to NATO forces.
|
January 20
|
Five FC personnel, one foreign
oil and gas exploration company’s driver and a security guard
were killed in an attack by unidentified militants in a bid to
abduct two engineers of the foreign company in Kohat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A boy, Shah Zeb (6), who was one
of the five schoolchildren, injured in a bomb blast outside Shah
Faisal Public School in Nauthia area of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa succumbed to injuries.
An anti-terrorism court handed
over four sons of Sufi Muhammad, ‘chief’ of the TNSM, to Police
on a five-day physical remand.
Three persons were killed when
a tractor trolley struck against a landmine in Gram village of
Kurram Agency in FATA.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
an official of Levies Force, identified as Ali Nabi, outside his
home in Zawoon Kallay in Orakzai Agency in FATA.
Two persons, including a doctor,
were shot dead in incidents of target killing in different parts
of Karachi in Sindh on January 20.
An 18-inch high-pressure gas pipeline
of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) was blown up near Hajano village
in the Tangwani area of Kashmore District in Sindh.
Security agencies arrested three
target killers involved in the killings of ANP workers from Superhighway
in the limits of Gadap Town Police station in Sindh.
It was reported that the Sindh
police have arrested 89 target killers involved in 254 murders
and other criminal cases in Karachi in Sindh in January.
The US blacklisted Qari Hussain,
a top ranking leader in the TTP command structure and responsible
for training the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents in
Afghanistan on December 30, 2009 as well as for several suicide
attacks in Pakistan.
The Taliban and the ISI denied
the report claiming that Mullah Omar had suffered a heart attack
and was undergone treatment in Karachi with the help of ISI.
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.
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.
|
January 21
|
Four militants were killed in
a retaliatory firing by SFs when a group of militants attacked
a security checkpost in Miranshah, headquarters of NWA of FATA.
Suspected militants shot dead
two persons of Bangash tribe in Tooda Cheena area of Kurram Agency
in FATA.
A bullet-riddled body of militant
‘commander’ Qari Abdullah was recovered from Tirah in Khyber Agency
in FATA.
Several militants were feared
dead as gunship helicopters pounded militant hideouts in Dwaizai
area of Pindyali tehsil in FATA.
A pro-government tribal elder,
Malik Khaista Gul and his driver were injured when unidentified
militants ambushed their car near Shal Kor in Yakka Ghund of Mohammad
Agency in FATA.
Two SFs personnel were injured
in a roadside explosion in Shawa Farsh area of Safi tehsil
in Mohmand Agency in FATA.
The SFs conducted a search operation
in Akora Khattak area of NWA and arrested six militants, including
two important ‘commanders’ belonging to Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Hundreds of tribesmen rallied
to demand an end to US drone attacks, which they said were killing
innocent people in the Tribal Areas in FATA
Two activists of the MQM were
shot dead in an incident of target killing in Joria Bazaar on
Mohammad Shah street in Karachi in Sindh.
Two persons were injured when
unidentified militants set ablaze NATO containers in two separate
incidents in Mastung and Kalat District of Balochistan.
Unidentified militants set ablaze
another NATO container in Kalat District of Balochistan in which
two persons got injuries.
NATO forces in Afghanistan started
using a new type of surveillance aircraft along the Balochistan
border.
A British court approved the extradition
of a terror suspect wanted in the US over an alleged al Qaeda
plot to detonate explosives aboard the New York City subway system
in September 2009.
A Pakistani court dismissed a
petition seeking annulment of the case against Punjab Governor
Salman Taseer's assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri.
A militant, identified as Abdul
Wahab alias Omar, arrested in the terror attack on the Sri Lankan
cricket team in 2009 in Lahore in Punjab confessed that the outfit
LeJ had planned to take the visiting players hostage and bargain
for the release of some of its detained members.
The World Bank approved a $250
million loan to assist Pakistan’s recovery efforts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and FATA.
Pakistan’s determined anti-terror
effort has helped reduce effectiveness of core al Qaeda group
operating along Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the US State Department
acknowledged even as it voiced concern over the emerging threat
from the terrorist outfits from the Arabian Peninsula.
Seeking an image
makeover, the Pakistan Government decided to stop referring to
the country as a "frontline state in the war against terrorism"
as it does not want to be perceived as the epicentre of the menace.
|
January 22
|
Two levies personnel and a civilian
were killed while one soldier and six civilians were wounded in
an explosion in Lower Orakzai Agency in FATA.
|
January 23
|
A series of US drone strikes in
North Waziristan Agency in FATA killed at least 13 terrorists,
as tribesmen took to the streets to protest against the aerial
campaign
At least three people were killed
and four others injured in an ambush on the vehicle of former
Nazim, Pir Ameer Faisal, in Hangu town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two people were killed in a land
mine blast in Loti gas field area of Dera Bugti District of Balochistan.
Five people were injured in an
explosion in Rakhni area of Barkhan District in Balochistan.
Unidentified assailants blew up
a section of a railway track near Nautal area of Nasirabad District
in Balochistan. Unidentified assailants planted an explosive device
on the track, which damaged a section of the track, suspending
rail link with other parts of the country.
Former ISI official, Sultan Amir
Tarar aka Colonel Imam, was killed on January 23 in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA for non-payment of a ransom worth Rs 4.5 million.
|
January 24
|
A young boy was killed and two
of his sisters sustained injuries when a mortar shell landed in
their house in Chora area of Landikotal town in FATA.
Militants destroyed a girls' school
in Landikotal town of FATA.
A 24-inch diameter gas pipeline
was blown up by unidentified terrorists near the gas purification
plant at Sui sub-District in Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
A large quantity of arms and ammunitions
were seized from a Karachi bound truck on the National Highway
in Sindh.
Anti-Terrorism Court in Punjab
will formally indict Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer
of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, on February 1 after Kohsar
Police submitted their investigation report to the court.
Mystery shrouded the death of
Sultan Amir Tarar alias Colonel Imam, a former ISI official, amid
conflicting reports about the cause in FATA.
|
January 25
|
A suicide bomber struck at the
Ghora Chowk in the Urdu Bazaar area of Lahore, the Provincial
Capital of Punjab, killing at least 10 people, including a woman
and three Policemen, and injured at least 85 others.
Three Policemen were killed and
several others injured in a bomb attack in Karachi, the Provincial
Capital of Sindh.
Two workers of a local NGO, including
a woman, were shot dead in Ghanja Dori area of Mastung District
in Balochistan.
US President Barack Obama adhering
to his plan to begin drawdown of some American troops from Afghanistan
in 2011 said on January 25 that al Qaeda havens along Pakistan-Afghanistan
border are shrinking and fewer Afghans live under the Taliban
control, after yearlong anti-terrorist operations.
|
January 26
|
At least 18 suspected militants
were killed and 22 others were injured when gunship helicopters
and fighter jets bombed militant hideouts in different parts of
Mohmand Agency in FATA. At least three people, including a woman,
were killed in Shamsha area of Safi tehsil in FATA.
Militants blew up Musa Neeka Public
School in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
A security guard of ANP leader
Senator Zahid Khan was killed and his brother injured when some
people attacked the leader's hujra (guest house) in Odigram
area of Lower Dir District in KP.
Unidentified militants blew up
a bridge on the National Highway between Sui sub-District of Dera
Bugti District and Jaffarabad District in Balochistan.
The TTP claimed responsibility
for bomb explosions that occurred in Karachi (Sindh) and Lahore
(Punjab) on January 25 and said the blasts were aimed at killing
SFs because they serve the US interests.
|
January 27
|
At least 11 terrorists, including
one suicide bomber, were killed in separate incidents in the Tribal
Areas bordering Afghanistan. In one incident, Pakistani troops
and helicopter gunships killed 10 terrorists in a raid on their
hideouts in Mohmand Agency in FATA.
In Mohmand Agency of FATA, six
people, including three women and two children, were killed in
Swezai area of Pandyali tehsil when stray shells hit their
houses.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up in Khar in Bajaur Agency (FATA) when he was challenged by law
enforcement personnel. However, no other casualty was reported.
A Levis personnel, Mohammad Jan,
was killed by a mortar shell in Sagi Bala area of Safi tehsil
in Mohmand Agency in FATA. Two security personnel were injured
in a roadside landmine explosion in Qayumabad area of Safi tehsil
in FATA.
Two people were killed and eight
others injured in a landmine blast at the Rharatshrim area of
Musakel locality in Loralai District in Balochistan.
An activist of the MQM-H was shot
dead in Jutt Line within the limits of Brigade Police station
in Karachi in Sindh.
The house of former Adezai Qaumi
Lashkar chief, Noor Malik, who died on January 25, and an Armoured
Personnel Carrier (APC), was damaged in a rocket attack by suspected
militants in the outskirts of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An al Qaeda leader, Ustadh Ahmad
Farooq, in Pakistan said the terror network is losing territory
and fighters amid a US drone strike campaign.
Spanish Police on January 27 arrested
a Pakistani national, Malik Imtanan Sarwar, suspected to be linked
to a cell that forges passports for al Qaeda-linked outfits.
|
January 28
|
SFs bombed terrorist hideouts
in a tribal region near the Afghan border on January 28, killing
28 terrorists. It was reported that 30 terrorists were wounded
in the operation while eight houses belonging to militants were
caught fire.
Five terrorists, including a 'commander',
were killed by SFs in different areas of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
In Sagai Upper, a shell hit a hideout and as a result local militant
'commander' identified as Kakim and two other militants were killed
on the incident site. Stray shells also destroyed several houses
in Gurbaz area killing two other militants, identified as Haji
Qasim and Deldar Khan.
In Bajaur Agency, the SFs arrested
at least 58 suspects during a search operation in different areas
of Nawagai tehsil in FATA.
At least four people including
two women were killed and 19 others wounded in twin truck bombings
that targeted a key Kohat tunnel in Kohat town in Kohat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. An explosive-laden truck entered the tunnel
and blew up, damaging another truck behind it, wounding five people.
An oil tanker packed with explosives
hit a joint paramilitary Frontier Corps and army checkpoint outside
the tunnel in Darra Adam Khel area of Kohat District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The checkpoint was empty but four civilians, including
two women who were travelling in a passenger van behind the tanker,
were killed and 14 others wounded in the attack.
Two gas pipelines and two oil
tankers were blown up in Balochistan. Unidentified militants attacked
the gas pipelines in the Loti and Bograh colony areas of Sui sub-District
in Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants set ablaze
two oil tankers, carrying fuel for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan,
in the Pinjra Pul area in Dhaddar town of Bolan District in Balochistan.
|
January 29
|
SFs, in an air strike, killed
nine militants belonging to the TTP in Safi tehsil of Mohmand
Agency in FATA.
The SFs arrested six suspected
militants from a camp in Nahqi area of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Two civilians were killed and
six were injured as SFs convoy was ambushed by militants in Khyber
Agency's Bara tehsil in FATA.
Six civilians and four troopers
were injured when a car bomb targeting the SP exploded on Alamdar
Road in Quetta of Balochistan by LeJ.
The link between Uch and other
areas of Dera Bugti District was cut off after assailants blew
up a bridge in Balochistan.
|
January 30
|
At least 26 terrorists were killed
in separate incidents during an action of SFs in Pandiali, Safi,
Banizai and Ambar tehsils of Mohmand and Orakzai Agency
of FATA. 16 terrorists were killed and several others were wounded
while their four hideouts were dismantled in Mohmand Agecny. SFs
killed ten TTP terrorists in Orakzai Agency.
20 TTP militants and six Turi
Bangash tribesmen were killed and two TTP militants were injured
when militants attacked a village in Kurram Agency in FATA after
a grand jirga (tribal assembly) headed by lawmakers had
announced a truce between Turi Bangash tribes and TTP.
A person was arrested while planting
a landmine in Jhanda Masood area of Safi tehsil in FATA.
Two children died when one of the victims stepped on a landmine.
Militants attacked six vehicles
taking supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan and set five of
them on fire in two different areas of Balochistan.
The building of a health centre
run by an NGO in the border town of Chaman was blown up in a bomb
blast in Balochistan.
Ten militants were arrested on
January 30 in connection with a bombing incident that occurred
on January 29 near the residence of a senior Police officer, Shaban
Ali in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Militants blew up a tower of a
cellular company in Shni Kallay area of Darra Adamkhel town in
Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Militants also blew up the house
of Malik Rafiq, a tribal elder in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
|
January 31
|
Around 21 terrorists were killed
when the SFs launched operations in different areas of Mohmand
Agency in FATA. This search operation occurred on the pretext
of an earlier attack by the militants on the SFs checkpost. At
least two SFs were injured as unidentified terrorists fired six
rockets on the Aranda Police checkpost in Shabqadar area of Mohmand
Agency.
Six people, including a DSP, Rasheed
Khan, were killed with his two guards along with 19 others injured
in a suicide attack on Kohat road in Kohat District in KP. TTP
spokesman Azam Tariq claimed responsibility for the suicide attack
.
A Police van was targeted by a
remote-controlled bomb in the jurisdiction of Peshtakhara Police
Station near Peshawar (KP) leaving one Policeman dead and three
others injured.
A Policeman posted at the residence
of a senior Police officer on security duty was shot dead in Liaquatabad
town of Karachi in Sindh.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
a Balochistan Levies Police Station in Kohlu District. An explosive
device had been planted at the Jewani Levies Police Station in
Maiwand tehsil of the Kohlu District in Balochistan, which
was detonated by a remote controlled device.
|
February 1
|
Two people were killed, including
a driver and a helper, when unidentified terrorists opened fire
on an oil tanker, which was carrying oil for NATO forces stationed
in Afghanistan, in Kari Dori area of Dasht tehsil in Kharan
District in Balochistan.
A FC trooper was shot dead and
five others, including a woman, were injured in a gun battle between
assailants and FC forces in a small village of Turbat in Kech
District in Balochistan. The two assailants were arrested after
an exchange of fire and were taken into custody by Police. FC
personnel seized seven pistols, two repeaters and more than 100
bullets during the arrest.
An activist of the MQM was shot
dead in Ram Swami within the limits of Garden Police Station in
Karachi.
A 21-year-old Junaid Qureshi,
an active worker of MQM Unit 27, was sitting with his friends
at Ratoji Compound at Ram Swami, Garden area in Karachi, when
two unidentified armed assailants opened fire on him, killing
him on the spot.
Two schools were partially damaged
in two blasts in Peshawar (KP). The first incident took place
at the Adezai area in Matani region, where a blast damaged a room
in a girls' primary school. The second blast also occurred at
a girls' school located in the Mariamzai area.
ATC sent the two Police officers
arrested in former PM Benazir Bhutto assassination case to Adiyala
jail after the FIA did not seek their further custody.
ATC deferred the indictment of
Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab Governor Salman
Taseer, after his lawyer asked for the statements of five other
members of Elite Force providing security to the Punjab Governor
on January 4. Special Judge ATC-II was to formally charge Qadri
with the murder of Governor Taseer but put off indictment till
February 4.
|
February 2
|
18 militants and three SFs were
killed as fierce fighting continued in Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Clashes started after the militants attacked Anargi security post
with heavy weapons, killing three SF personnel and injuring four
others. 18 militants were killed and several others were wounded
after SFs opened fire in retaliation. The Mohmand chapter of the
TTP spokesman Sajjad Mohmand said over phone that only seven militants
were killed and three were injured. He claimed killing 17 SFs
and injuring four in the clash.
Captain Jehan Zeb of 22-Punjab
Regiment was killed and three soldiers were injured in a landmine
explosion in Dwezai area of Pandyali tehsil in Mohmand
Agency, FATA.
One Pakistani soldier was killed
and seven others were injured in an exchange of fire with Afghan
troops in Tangarhi area near the border in North Waziristan Agency.
A clash erupted after a barrage of mortar shells fired from the
Afghan side hit the Bangi Dar post, near Ghulam Khan town (FATA),
jointly manned by the army and FC.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead a driver and wounded a conductor of a NATO supply oil tanker
in a Landikotal bazaar in Khyber Agency in FATA while coming back
from Afghanistan.
At least 10 people, including
a woman and four children, were killed and 26 others, including
a woman and five children, were wounded in a car bomb blast in
a crowded market of Badhaber area of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
BLA militants shot dead a SHO
and four other Policemen in a major roadblock on the National
Highway close to Aab-e-Gum area near Mach in Bolan District of
Balochistan.
Unidentified armed assailants
blew up a gas pipeline in Sohbatpur area of Jafarabad District
in Balochistan. Unidentified militants attached explosives with
the pipeline and detonated it with remote control.
A power transmission line tower
was slightly damaged in an attack in Kili Qambrani area of Quetta
in Balochistan.
The bomber of the July 7, 2005
suicide bombings on London's transport system received advice
from a mystery figure in Pakistan just days before the attacks,
reveals an inquest heard.
Al Qaeda is attempting to procure
nuclear material and recruit rogue scientists in order to build
a radioactive "dirty bomb", reveal Wikileaks documents.
|
February 3
|
Three TTP militants and a soldier
were killed during a shootout in Kalya tehsil in Orakzai
Agency in FATA.
Gunship helicopters heavily pounded
terrorists' positions near Afghan border in Kurram Agency killing
10 terrorists.
The gunship helicopters targeted
terrorists' hideouts at Alisherzai area in Orakzai Agency, injuring
eight terrorists and destroying three of their hideouts.
Terrorists detonated an IED planted
at a Government primary school in Saidan Kalay in FATA.
Three persons were killed and
27 others were injured in a bomb explosion outside the Baba Haider
Sayeen shrine in Lahore in Punjab Province.
Levies official recovered three
bullet-riddled dead bodies in the Ferozabad area of Khuzdar District
in Balochistan.
A container carrying military
hardware for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan was going to
Chaman from Karachi, when unidentified assailants opened fire
on it at Maizai Ada area in Chaman town killing the driver on
the spot while the cleaner sustained bullet injuries. Unidentified
armed militants set ablaze a NATO container on the RCD Highway
near Pir Umer area of Khuzdar District.
A case was registered against
four commanders, Tariq, Baba Khan, Siar Khan and Arif, of Darra
Adamkhel chapter of TTP, suspected to be involved in February
2 car bomb blast in Peshawar. Lashkar-e-Islam LI and TTP joined
hands against the LEA, building up pressure on Government to halt
military operations in the tribal regions.
Police arrested a suspected militant
after exchange of fire here in Passani village of Peshawar in
KP. The official said that a Kalashnikov and 22 bullets had been
recovered from the militant.
Under pressure from the PPP leadership,
former Minister Sherry Rehman decided not to pursue with the draft
legislation. Rehman has been advised by the Government to leave
the country in view of threats to her life from the militants
for drafting a Bill to amend the blasphemy law.
|
February 4
|
Two employees of the OGDC were
killed and three others were injured in an armed attack at Sohbatpur
in Jafarabad District of Balochistan.
Unidentified armed assailants
blew up a gas pipeline in Pirkoh gas field in Dera Bugti District
in Balochistan.
A Police official was gunned down
and his companion was injured when unidentified armed men attacked
a Police checkpost near Jafarabad Bypass in Jafarabad District
of Balochistan.
Unidentified attackers opened
fire at a vehicle carrying five people, who were returning home
in Mian Ghundi area of Quetta from Hazarganji in Balochistan.
Three of the passengers died on the spot while two sustained serious
injuries.
Vice President of Shia Ulema Council,
Sindh, Allama Altaf Hussain Al-Hussaini, who was injured in firing
by unidentified armed militants on February 3 near Hyderabad-Kotri
Bridge in Hyderabad (Sindh) succumbed to his injuries.
Three persons were killed in separate
incidents of target killing in Karachi, provincial Capital of
Sindh. A man was shot dead in Bijli Nagar near Marhaba Medical
Store, Orangi Town in Karachi within the limits of Mominabad Police
station.
A man was killed in a target-killing
incident in Khameeso Goth jurisdiction of New Karachi Industrial
Area police station.
Another man was murdered in a
target killing incident in Farid Colony, Orangi Town in the remits
of Mominabad police station in Karachi.
Police found a body of a young
man bearing torture marks and bullet wounds from Noor Mohammad
Goth in the limits of Manghopir police station in Karachi. The
victim was identified as Richard Mark.
Officials of a sensitive agency
took into custody a suspect, Muhammad Qaiser, from Shafiqabad
area in Lahore for his connections with a banned outfit involved
in some terror activities in the province of Punjab.
The FIA decided to submit a challan
against two Police officers, former CPO Saud Aziz and former SP
Khurram Shahzad, of the Rawalpindi Police in former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto murder case, after receiving detailed records of
Bhutto's mobile phones that were functioning at the time of her
assassination in Liaquat Bagh city of Rawalpindi on December 27,
2007.
|
February 5
|
Three persons were killed and
two others were injured when a bomb planted in a car exploded
in the Barqambarkhel area of Khyber Agency FATA.
Militants shot dead four men for
alleged spying and dumped their bodies outside Karak town of North
Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Militants ambushed a car of the
family of a Federal Government official, Zeenat Shah, on Kohat-Hangu
highway and injured three persons in KP.
Lower Dir Police raided a house
in Chakdara refugee camp in KP and arrested five suspected Afghan
militants.
Hangu Police arrested a militant
affiliated with banned TTP following a raid on kiosks run by them
in Wutch bazaar in Hangu District of KP.
JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
warned India to 'quit' Jammu and Kashmir or be prepared for a
"war" even as the extremist outfits organised protests at several
places in Pakistan to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day.
|
February 6
|
A Law Enforcement Agency official
was killed in a landmine blast in the Pir Koh area of Dera Bugti
District of Balochistan.
A Hindu man, identified as Rajesh
Kumar, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Quetta, Balochistan.
Around 13 people, including two
children, were injured in an explosion in Serath Chowk, a busy
area of the industrial town of Hub in Balochistan.
An official vehicle of the Uch
Gas Field escaped a remote controlled blast in the Jarwar Bridge
area in Sohbatpur tehsil of the Jafarabad District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants blew up
the house of a tribal elder, identified as Zahir Shah, of Orakzai
Agency in Hangu District (KP) with Improvised Explosive Device.
|
February 7
|
Militants fired rockets and bullets
at a Police patrol van in Balyamina village of Peshawar in KP,
killing two officers and injuring six others. TTP claimed the
responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified militants blew up
10 shops in a CD market at Cahto Chowk area of Mardan District
in KP.
Police recovered and defused explosive
material weighing five kilograms outside the gate of an Imambargah
in Bekat Ganj Bazaar in Mardan District of KP.
The bomb disposal squad defused
a 122mm rocket which was lying in a children's park in Kohat District
of KP.
A bomb attack hit the outer wall
of the Eidgah police station in Karachi, injuring two people,
including a woman. It was followed by another attack at the Shah
Lateef police station in Bin Qasim town of Karachi in Sindh.
The FIA in Punjab named former
President Pervez Musharraf as an accused in an interim criminal
charge sheet in Benazir Bhutto assassination case of December
27, 2007.
ATC Judge Nisar Ahmed rejected
the bail plea of former CPO Saud Aziz and former SP Khurram Shehzad
in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.
TTP welcomed a peace agreement
between Shia and Sunni groups in Kurram Agency of FATA and pledged
to abide by it.
Tehreek Tahaffuz Namoos-e-Risalat
(TTNR), an alliance of religious groups formed to oppose the repeal
or amendment of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law, announced
that it will launch a protest in Lahore on February 14 to save
the country from "secular" forces.
The controversy over the killing
of two Pakistanis by a US consulate employee Raymond Davies on
January 27 in Lahore District of Punjab province took a new turn
with a media report stating that the dead men were believed to
be "intelligence operatives".
|
February 8
|
An IED exploded, targeting a nearby
Police mobile Post in Peshawar (KP) injuring four people.
16 militants were killed as jet
fighters bombed their hideouts in different areas of Orakzai Agency
in FATA.
Two Policemen were killed and
two others were injured when suspected terrorists detonated remote
controlled explosives hidden under a bridge targeting a Police
patrol at Kala Dag under Mathra Police Station in Peshawar KP.
Two SFs were killed and four others
injured in a bomb explosion near Janikhel village in Utmanzai
tehsil of Bannu District in KP.
At least 13 vehicles, including
four NATO tankers carrying fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan,
were gutted in a blaze following a blast in Peshawar in KP.
A full bench of the Supreme Court
acquitted Asghar Ali who was awarded life sentence on two accounts
by ATC on the charge of his involvement in Ichra bomb blast in
Lahore on September 22, 2005.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
two gas pipelines in Naseerabad District in Balochistan. In one
incident, militants blew up the main gas supply pipeline of the
SSGC going from Shikarpur District in Sindh to Quetta in Balochistan
injuring a watchman.
Elsewhere in the District, unidentified
terrorists blew up another gas pipeline of 12-inch diameter.
Unidentified terrorists also blew
up a power pylon of 220KV near Dera Allah Yar in Jaffarabad District
of Balochistan.
|
February 9
|
At least three low intensity explosions
have been reported in different areas near Government buildings
in Gujranwala District of Punjab. Two explosions took place outside
CIA Centre Building while the third explosion occurred near SP
Office.
A blast near a cattle market killed
one person and injured several others in the Charsadda District
of KP.
Two brothers were shot dead and
two others sustained bullet injuries when unidentified assailants
opened fire on them in Shahbaz Town in Quetta, Balochistan. A
spokesman of the Baloch Nationalist Liberation Army, Mazarin Baloch,
claimed responsibility for the killings.
The Supreme Court directed all
the respondents, including spy and law enforcement agencies, to
file para-wise comments on a petition against the rising incidents
of targeted killing and abduction in Balochistan.
SFs arrested three would-be women
suicide bombers along with five other people after a raid on a
house in Khar tehsil area of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Rival Sunni and Shia communities
in Kurram Agency have agreed to end a four-year conflict that
claimed hundreds of lives.
Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza
has directed Sindh IGP Salahuddin Babar Khattak to devise a comprehensive
strategy for safeguarding the lives of citizens besides ensuing
foolproof security at important Government and semi-Government
offices, buildings, consulates and Police offices.
The US military issued its first
new statement of strategy in seven years, moving beyond a focus
on the war in Afghanistan to address the rise of China and other
strategic challenges.
|
February 10
|
A suicide blast at an Army recruitment
centre in Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed 31, injuring
42 others.
Two young brothers were killed
in an explosion in Sarkhali Panda area of Battagram District in
KP.
Police claimed to have foiled
a terror bid and seized explosives and a cache of weapons from
a house in Lakki Marwat District of KP.
Police arrested five militants,
Irfan, Nazar Gul, Asghar, Gul Marjan and Shaukat Ullah, and recovered
illegal weapons and contrabands from their possession in KP.
Three persons, including two khasadars,
were killed by militants in NWA in FATA on charges of spying.
In Bajaur Agency, SFs warned militants
to lay down arms within 15 days or face military operation that
would be launched against militants if they failed to lay down
arms and surrender to SFs by February 25.
A girls' college, Government Degree
College for Women, in Merazai area of Orakzai Agency was blown
up destroying six rooms and a computer lab.
Political authorities claimed
to have averted a terrorist bid by arresting a burqa (veil)
clad terrorist from the political compound in Frontier Region
Tank in FATA.
An activist of the PPP, Nadeem,
was killed while another injured near Jauhar Morr within the limits
of Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station in Karachi.
Elsewhere in the District, a man
was shot at and injured near Gulshan-e-Iqbal in the limits of
Sachal Police Station. He succumbed to his injuries later.
Two bullet-riddled bodies of missing
Baloch persons were found from the Herrnok area in Turbat District.
Four persons were injured in a
landmine blast in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
Elsewhere in the District, three
SFs were injured in an attack when the militants blew up their
vehicle with a remote controlled bomb in Pirkoh area.
Some unidentified militants fired
shots and rockets at Quetta Express near Notal area of Naseerabad
District in Balochistan, injuring its driver and a fireman.
Unidentified militants blew up
two gas pipelines in Dera Bugti District of Balochistan. The BRA
claimed responsibilities of blowing up the pipelines.
Terrorists blew up two high-pressure
gas pipelines in Shori area of Naseerabad District in Balochistan.
Former President Pervez Musharraf
was aware that the TTP was plotting to kill former PM Benazir
Bhutto, but he did not pass on the information to the authorities
concerned.
Pakistan-based LeT is increasing
its operational role, a US official warned saying Washington is
now "focused" on the militant outfit behind the November 26, 208
Mumbai terrorist attacks.
|
February 11
|
The Army killed 11 terrorists
in Swat District in KP.
Five bullet-ridden dead bodies
were recovered from Salim Khan area of Mardan District in KP.
In Charsadda District, six alleged
militants were arrested and a huge cache of arms was seized. The
Police also arrested 17 other people of the area for alleged links
with the arrested militants.
A Levies trooper and a suspected
militant were killed in exchange of fire at Dabo Dheri checkpost
in Prang Ghar tehsil in Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Malak Sab Khan, head of Ambar
peace committee, of Ambar tehsil in Mohmand Agency and
three volunteers sustained injuries when their vehicle hit a landmine
near Ghaljo Darra as they were returning after attending a jirga
of the peace committee.
The SFs during search operation
destroyed houses of five militants in Ghaljo Dara and Lowi Shah
area of Ambar subdivision in Mohmand Agency.
Two people, identified as Allahdad
and Abdullah, were killed in a bomb explosion in Qila Saifullah
District. The victims were passing through the Shamalzai village,
close to the Pakistan Afghanistan border.
Some armed assailants attacked
two trailers carrying NATO supplies to Afghanistan near Wadh area
of Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
A former activist of the PPP,
Liaquat, was killed, while another injured when two armed assailants
opened indiscriminate firing on him in Muslimabad area within
the limits of Pirabad Police Station in Karachi.
In the first incident, three people
were injured when two low intensity explosive devices went off,
damaging a railway track near Omar Colony in Karachi, Sindh.
In other incidents, two blasts
damaged railway tracks near Hyderabad District while two additional
blasts on tracks were reported from Nawabshah District and another
two in Mehrabpur city in Naushahro Feroze District in Sindh.
Police pre-empted terror attacks
on military and civilian installations and arrested eight militants
of a banned outfit, who had planned to attack Army ammunition,
a helicopter and the Parco refinery in Mahmood Kot town in Multan
District of Punjab.
Pakistan based LeT was using charity
services in the garb of extremism and gained support from Islamabad,
US official said.
|
February 12
|
10 terrorists, including a suicide
bomber were killed in Swat District. Five terrorists were killed
in a clash with SFs in an area between Swat and Dir Districts
of KP.
Four terrorists were killed in
Madayan area in Swat, during a clash with SFs.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up in Gumbat area of Batkhela in Malakand region, injuring three
soldiers.
Another would be bomber along
with four other suspected terrorists were arrested during the
search operation in Batkhela tehsil of Malakand District in KP.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
three gas pipelines in two separate incidents in Pirkoh and Sui
area of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan, disrupting gas supply
from wells to purification plant in the Sui gas field.
|
February 13
|
At least eight militants were
killed and five others sustained injuries in a clash with SFs
in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
A bullet-riddled body of a person,
identified as Abdul Jabbar, was found from Sabzal road in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan.
A herdsman and his 24 cattle suffered
injuries when a landmine exploded in Merhgarh area of Bolan District
in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants planted
an explosive device near an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline on Chattar
Road in Dera Murad Jamali area in Naseerabad District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants blew up
a gas pipeline with explosive material in Dera Allah Yar area
of Jafarabad District in Balochistan.
A railway track near the Sitharja
Railway Station in Khairpur District of Sindh was damaged in a
low-intensity bomb blast
Unidentified militants blew up
an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline supply leading to Hyderabad District
near a water filtration plant on Jamshoro road in Jamshoro District
in Sindh.
A remote-controlled bomb exploded
at the Khichi Canal, a development site at Arabi Tela, 20 kilometres
from Rojhan city in Rajanpur District of Punjab.
The TTP demanded that the Government
execute Raymond Davis, suspected to be an undercover spy agent,
who shot dead two persons on January 27, suspected to be Inter
ISI agents or hand him over to them.
|
February 13
|
SFs killed seven militants during
a search operation in the Zarakhela area of Barikot in Swat District
of KP.
Unidentified assailants killed
one Khasadar, Afzal Afridi, in Landi Kotal Bazaar
of Khyber Agency in FATA.
|
February 14
|
Four bullet-riddled dead bodies
of unidentified persons were found at a deserted place near Shanawa
Hindukash area on Sabirabad-Shakardarra Road in Karak District
of KP.
The PHC granted bail to five suspected
terrorists charged in attacking Mingora and Khwaza Khela Police
Stations in Swat District after the state lawyers failed to produce
solid evidence against them.
Unidentified assailants on a motorbike
opened fire at Dada Shah Muhammad security check post in Barkhan
District of Balochistan, killing one trooper and injuring another.
One more trooper was killed while
another injured when they stepped on a landmine planted in the
Tuba Notkani area of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
The dead body of BNP activist,
Saeed Ahmed, was found near a seasonal river known as Kohshak
Nadi in Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
Police recovered another bullet-riddled
dead body of a person, identified as Harzi Khan, from RCD Highway
near Zero Point area of Uthal in Balochistan.
Three cadres of Muqami Tehrik-e-Taliban
received injuries when their vehicle was targeted with a roadside
explosive device at Sarki Qamar in Qambarkhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Abdul Qayum, a worker of an NGO,
received injuries when he was fired at by unidentified assailants
in Alamgudar area of Bara in FATA.
The TTP set ablaze the house of
a 'commander' of LI in Akakhel area of Khyber Agency.
|
February 15
|
Militants publicly shot dead two
persons, among them an Afghan national, in New Adda area of Dattakhel
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Mohmand Agency official, Amjad
Ali Khan, said SFs have cleared terrorists from 90 percent of
targeted Tribal Areas near the Afghan border in Mohmand Agency
during a three-week offensive.
A man, identified as, Arshad Mehmood,
was shot dead in Turbat District on Balochistan.
The Shalkot DSP, Sikandar Tarin,
escaped a remote-controlled blast on Mastung Road in new Saryab
area, on outskirt of Quetta in Balochistan.
A driver was injured in firing
on a vehicle carrying officials of Balochistan Rural Support Programme
in Zahri area of Khuzdar District.
An electricity tower was blown
up while 15 kilogrammes explosives attached with another tower
were neutralised in the Ghaffar Goth area of Naseerabad District
in Balochistan.
Police neutralised an attempt
to attack a procession of Eid Milad-un Nabi and arrested
two militants, seizing a large quantity of explosives.
Two bomb blasts damaged parts
of railway tracks between Oderolal and Palejani railway stations
in Hyderabad District of Sindh, suspending movement of trains
for several hours.
A bomb hoax created panic at the
CPO within the limits of Mithadar Police Station in Karachi (Sindh).
The intelligence agencies sleuths
raided a private hospital in North Nazimabad town of Karachi and
arrested a suspected TTP 'commander', Sarzameen Khan, who was
under treatment for bullet injuries over there.
The TTP warned the Government
that it would punish any move to release the US consulate employee,
Raymond Davis, accused of murdering two Pakistanis.
Marc Grossman will be the US new
special envoy on Af-Pak.
At least 44 journalists were killed
worldwide because of their jobs during 2010, with Pakistan the
deadliest country to work.
A former ISI official, Sultan
Ameer Tarar alias Colonel Imam, who was reported to have
been killed by militants who abducted him on March 26, 2010, is
alive and in the custody of TTP in NWA FATA.
The US President Barack Obama
administration has proposed to Congress a total of USD 3.1 billion
in the 2012 budget for US economic and security assistance and
diplomatic operations in Pakistan, according to a senior American
official.
As part of the long-term economic
and security assistance, Obama is seeking USD1.9 billion in the
year 2012.
|
February 16
|
Unidentified militants attacked
Spin Qabar Police check-post at Badh Bair in Peshawar District
of KP.
Unidentified militants destroyed
a girls` primary school in Bazid Khel area of Qasim Khel in Kohat
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by planting time bombs at its boundary
wall.
Unidentified militants blew up
a gas pipeline in Naseerabad District, supplying natural gas to
nine Districts of Balochistan.
CIA Director Leon Panetta said
to US lawmakers that his country has a very complicated relationship
with Pakistan and both the countries often have conflicting view
point on different issues.
The United States Counter-terrorism
Centre Director Michael Leiter on February 16 said that the Pakistani
militant group, LeT, has the ability to strike in Europe or America.
|
February 17
|
Ten militants were killed during
clashes in different parts of Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Militants blew up three power
pylons in Razghar Mela, disrupting electricity to seven villages
of Sheikhan tribe in FATA's Orakzai Agency.
A man was killed and two others
were injured in a landmine explosion in Marho area of Dera Bugti
District in Balochistan.
One civilian was killed when a
car loaded with explosives blew off near Police Lines in Bannu
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Militants attacked Sra Mela Army
checkpost in Bazid Khel with mortars and gun fire, which was retaliated
by the Security Forces.
TTP Militants blew off up the
only telephone exchange in Darra Adam Khel tribal area of Kohat
District in KP.
Police arrested a militant 'commander'
Wahid Jalal along with 22 other suspected persons during an operation
in so-called `no go area` near Lachi town in Kohat District.
Twin explosion damaged railway
tracks passing through Shah Latif Town of Karachi in Sindh.
LEA found two suspicious packages
containing 30-kilogrammes of explosives from Marir Chowk near
a military depot in Rawalpindi and also arrested a terror suspect.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said it is imperative that the Raymond Davis' issue must not be
allowed to make bilateral relations between the US and Pakistan
hostage, and emphasised the need for positive messaging from both
the sides to help build trust and confidence between them.
Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi said that Raymond Davis, accused of killing two Pakistanis,
does not have full diplomatic immunity.
|
February 18
|
Two activists of the BSO-Azad
were shot dead and more than two dozen were arrested after an
alleged exchange of fire between the group members and SFs in
Tutak area of Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
FC personnel arrested 17 suspects
and seized illegal weapons from them during a search operation
in different areas of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan.
A trooper was killed and three
others were injured when militants attacked a Security checkpost
in Mohmand Agency of FATA.
Hyderabad DPO Munir Ahmed Sheikh
claimed that Police arrested a cadre of the outfit involved in
recent series of bomb blasts in Sindh.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Presidency, along
with COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to discuss issues related
to war against terrorism.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said that Pakistan risks major instability at home and a hampered
war effort in next-door Afghanistan if it does not implement reforms
and stop fomenting anti-American sentiment.
|
February 19
|
Two Security personnel were killed
in a landmine explosion in Gerisni area of the Kohlu District
in Balochistan.
Police foiled a terror bid by
defusing two bombs attached with a bridge in Khuchlak, on the
outskirts of Quetta in Balochistan.
Militants attacked a Security
checkpoint in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand Agency near the
Pakistan-Afghan border. 20 militants were killed and 25 others
injured in the clash that lasted three hours.
The TTTP claimed that it shot
dead a retired Pakistani spy who once mentored its Afghan brethren
and sided with the US against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
|
February 20
|
SFs attacked a hideout of militants,
killing 11 militants and injuring six others, near Dabori area
in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
A US drone attack killed at least
five militants in Kaza Panga village, 15 kilometres west of Wana,
the main town of SWA in FATA.
Two tribesmen were killed by militants
in NWA on a charge of spying for the US.
The dead body of former ISI official
Sultan Amir Tarar alias Colonel Imam was found from a roadside
in Mir Ali of North Waziristan in FATA.
Pakistan on February 20 asserted
that it was a responsible nuclear weapon state with "impeccable
credentials and custodial controls of its strategic assets" after
National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon voiced concerns at
the Security of nuclear material and weapons in the neighbourhood.
Two khasadars
were killed and as many received injuries in an attack by unidentified
assailants in Wana town of South Waziristan Agency in FATA in
the night.
|
February 21
|
Ten suspected militants
were killed and another four injured when a US drone attacked
a suspected militant hideout in Miranshah, the headquarters of
North Waziristan Agency, in FATA in the night.
The SFs arrested
three local militant ‘commanders’ during a search operation in
Kausar area of Khar tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
SFs demolished four
hideouts of militants in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency. SFs and
volunteers of a local peace committee launched a joint search
operation in Jhanda Masood locality of Safi tehsil and demolished
four houses suspected to be used by militants.
An Iraqi al Qaeda
operative was believed to be one of the seven militants killed
by a US missile strike on a house in the village of Kaza Panga
in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan Agency on February
20, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The officials said
the person, identified as Abu Zaid al-Iraqi, handled the terrorist
group’s finances in Pakistan.
A truck driver was
killed while another person got injuries in a bomb blast that
took place in a roadside hotel in Hazar Ganji area on the outskirt
of Quetta. The banned outfit BLA claimed the responsibility for
the blast and vowed to continue such attacks in the future.
A civilian was killed
and two others sustained injuries in Wadh area of Khuzdar District
when unidentified militants opened fire on a container carrying
military hardware for NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan.
The Peshawar High
Court granted bail to a suspected terrorist charged with blowing
up a CD shop some two years back in Charsadda District.
The CIA agent Raymond
Davis, the alleged killer of two Pakistanis in Lahore, had close
links with the TTP. 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."
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.
"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 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.
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.
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.
Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani urged the intellectuals, religious scholars, academia
and students to join hands in defeating the retrogressive forces
and to preserve Pakistan’s identity and national ethos. Addressing
the 58th Founder’s Day of the Sadiq Public School, Gilani said
"The retrogressive forces are adamant to impose their myopic
and narrow-minded agenda," the prime minister said and pointed
that terrorism and extremism constituted a daunting challenge
to the state and society.
The CoAS General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said that the Army was not conducting any
operation in Balochistan. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating
the Kassa Hills Marble Project, about 25 kilometres from Loralai
town, he said Army troops were not deployed in the interior of
the province, except one battalion in Sui and the personnel were
restricted to the cantonment.
General Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani said there were 23,322 Baloch students in schools run by
the Army and FC and a large number of students from Balochistan
were also in reputed educational institutions across the country.
Over 4,000 youths from the province have joined the Army and another
5,000 will be inducted this year.
The JuD, the frontal
organisation of LeT, in a protest from Chauburji to Qurtaba Chowk
in Lahore demanded that American official Raymond Davis, arrested
for gunning down two men in Lahore on January 27, be executed
and blamed the US for bomb blasts across the country that have
resulted in "large-scale killings".
|
February 22
|
At least six persons,
including two women and two children, were killed and another
10 injured when militants fired rocket at an Army checkpoint in
the Tora Ghundi area of the Hangu District at around 5pm (PST).
Police shot dead
a suspected militant involved in the bomb blast targeting a school
van on Pejagi Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, on January 12.
At least four persons
were injured when a low intensity device exploded in the Shafi
Market area in the limits of the Peshawar Cantonment at around
12:00pm.
Police arrested
two close relatives of the TTP ‘commander’ Hafizullah in connection
with the attack on ANP Senator Zahid Khan’s Hujra on January
25 from Balambat Police Station area of Timergara town of Lower
Dir District.
Two suspected persons
were arrested and arms were recovered from their possession during
search at Zalampul point near Bajaur-Dir border in Bajaur Agency.
Five SF personnel
were injured in a remote-controlled blast in the port city of
Gwadar in Balochistan.
Sindh Police arrested
two militants, including a close aide of slain TTP ‘chief’ Baitullah
Mehsud and a cadre of LeJ, in separate raids at different areas
of Karachi.
In Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Town, Police arrested one Sajid, who was stated to be a member
of the banned outfit LeJ, and an aide of LeJ leader Qasim Ganjja,
in the precincts of Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
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.
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. Many Taliban ‘commanders’ had withdrawn to Pakistan
after their defeats in Kandahar and Helmand, where American troop
presence had increased by thousands.
The American media
began authoritatively referring to Raymond Davis as an operative
of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a section of the press
in Pakistan reported he had close links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan TTP.
The US administration
while commenting on media reports that the man was actually the
head of a CIA operation in Pakistan said that Raymond Davis` activities
in Pakistan do not affect his diplomatic immunity. US Assistant
Secretary of State for Public Affairs P. J. Crowley said, "We
will not comment on his particular activity in Pakistan other
than to say he’s a member of the administrative and technical
staff of the embassy and has diplomatic immunity."
The CIA lost a chance
in 2010 to kill Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of an anti-American
terrorist network that is closely linked to al Qaeda and the Afghan
Taliban, when it chose not to fire a missile at him from a predator
drone because women and children were nearby.
A Pakistani official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity, said allowing high-value
targets to escape reflected a decision by the US since August
2010 to use greater caution in the drone strikes. A strike had
destroyed a militant hideout in North Waziristan, killing 13 members
of the Afghan Taliban but also four women and three children who
were living among them, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.
A joint team of
three militant outfits are believed to be planning to target the
Provinces’ Chief Ministers and Iranian diplomatic missions in
the country, claims a letter issued by the National Crisis Management
Cell in light of intelligence reports. Small factions of Jundullah,
HuJI and the LeJ have joined hands to carry out terrorist attacks.
The cell’s communiqué
said that these groups are led by Hafiz Laiqullah (Jundullah),
Hafiz Khursheed Bahadur (HuJI) and Abdullah alias Sher Alam Muavia
(LeJ).
|
February 23
|
At least 10 militants
were killed and several others were injured as SFs targeted militant
hideouts in Kurram Agency FATA.
Two mutilated dead
bodies of Baloch political activist, identified as Mehboob Wadela
of the BNM and Rehman Arif of the BRP, were recovered near coastal
town Ormara of Gwadar District.
Unidentified militants
blew up the main 18-inch diameter gas pipeline near Sohbatpur
tehsil of Jaffarabad District, disrupting gas supply to
Uch Power Plant from Uch gas field.
The top level US
and Pakistani military commanders held talks in Muscat to coordinate
better the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda on Afghanistan
border. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, and the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani,
met in Muscat, the capital of Oman at a key juncture in US efforts
to turn the tide on the nine-year war in Afghanistan.
Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik informed the National Assembly (NA) that
a new strategy was being evolved to tackle the issue of terrorism
in a more effective manner. Under the new mechanism, which would
be introduced within a few days, there would be a proper check
on foreign scholarships offered to students here, visits of Pakistani
artists to other countries and particulars of representatives
of foreign companies and non-governmental organisations operating
in Pakistan, he said while speaking on floor of the House.
|
February 24
|
At least six persons
were killed when the US drone missiles hit a house and a car in
a village in Dilkhel Degan area of the North Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
At least 32 militants
laid down arms and surrendered to the SFs in Mamond tehsil
of Bajaur Agency. Maj Kamran, in charge of military operation
in Warr Mamond, said that the militants surrendered unconditionally.
He said that they also included four local ‘commanders’.
Five SF personnel
were killed and another two injured in a militant attack on a
check post in Landi Kotal area of Khyber Agency.
Four bogies of the
Economic Cooperation Organisation’s (ECO) freight train were damaged
and a 4-feet portion of the railway track was blown up in an explosion
near Dalbandin in Chagai District. The blast damaged four sections
of the train and blew up four-feet-long section of the track.
However, no loss of life is reported in the blast.
Unidentified militants
set ablaze two NATO oil tankers in Dhaddar area of Bolan District.
However, no casualty was reported in the attack.
The Special Investigation
Unit (SIU) of Sindh Police arrested a suspected TTP militant,
identified as Rahim Zada alias Sher Muhammad, son of Abdul Wakeel,
from Feature Colony in Landhi area of Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
A TTP ‘commander’,
Maulana Abdul Khaliq Haqqani, warned the PPP against freeing CIA
agent Raymond Davis who is facing double murder charge for killing
two Pakistani nationals in Lahore. "Raymond is killer of
Pakistanis and tribal people.
|
February 25
|
Four persons were
killed when unidentified militants blew up at least 15 tankers
carrying fuel for NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan at Ring
Road of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two militant ‘commanders’,
identified as Abdul Kabeer and Gul Anwar, were killed during a
search operation by the SFs in Kabal tehsil of Swat District.
Unidentified militants
blew the building of Government primary school for girls in the
Mian Essa village near Shabqadar in Charsadda District.
A SF official, identified
as Zahid Ali, died and another received splinter injuries in a
landmine explosion in Pir Koh area of Dera Bugti District.
A FC convoy escaped
a bomb attack in Mir Hassan area of Jaffarabad District. Sources
said that unidentified militants placed the bomb on the road near
the Nawaz check-post and it went off after FC vehicles had passed
through. The jammers had helped the convoy escape, the sources
added.
The Supreme Court
directed Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP), Maulvi Anwarul Haq,
to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister Yousaf Raja Gilani regarding
the rising incidents of targeted killings and kidnappings in Balochistan
and inform it within three days about the policy statement of
the premier and steps being taken by the Government to improve
the security situation.
PML-N parliamentarian
Lieutenant General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch alleged that the
security agencies are behind the abduction and killing of political
workers and national activists in Balochistan. Abdul Qadir Baloch,
who served as the Army's corps commander in Quetta and was also
Governor of Balochistan, made the allegation while speaking in
Parliament.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani
reiterated the Government’s resolve to continue pursuing a policy
of three-Ds (dialogue, development, deterrence), assuring talks
with those TTP militants who are ready to surrender their arms
to local political agents.
|
February 26
|
Unidentified militants
attacked three parking lots in Garhi Qamardin on the Peshawar
Ring Road of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where oil tankers carrying fuel
for NATO forces were stationed, killing at least four persons
and injuring 17 others before blowing up around 15 such vehicles
in the early morning.
Unidentified militants
on motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire on a senior politician
of PPP, Mir Nawaz Khan, near Rax Cinema in Gilgit. Mir Nawaz was
also a senior advocate of Gilgit-Baltistan and known as an advocate
of peace and was widely respected for his balanced and unbiased
personality.
|
February 27
|
Unidentified militants
blew up as many as five Government school buildings, including
two primaries, one middle and one high school, in Darra Adam Khel.
No causalities were reported in these attacks.
The dead body of
abducted tribal elder, Haji Abdul Wadud Afridi, chairman of Khyber
Agency’s Zakat (compulsory religious donation) committee, was
found dumped at a deserted place in Landi Kotal town of Khyber
Agency of FATA. Haji Abdul Wadud, who was the former Amir
of Jamaat-i-Islami (Khyber Agency), had been abducted on February
19. Sources said that Habib Khan was associated with the militant
outfit, LI, in the past.
Unidentified militants
blew up a railway track in Mangoli area of Dera Murad Jamali town
in Nasirabad District. However, no casualty was reported in the
blast. Train service was suspended between Sibi and Dera Allah
Yar after the blast.
Unidentified militants
set ablaze two NATO containers, carrying goods for NATO forces
stationed in Afghanistan, in Mangochar area of Kalat District.
District and Sessions
Judge Jan Muhammad Gauhar and Civil Judge Muhammad Ali Kakar and
a driver, Peer Shah, were suspected to have been abducted in Bakhtiarabad
area of Quetta.
|
February 28
|
An activist of the MQM, identified
as Arsalan, was killed by unidentified assailants in Ramzan Kanta
area situated at Ghass Mandi under Ran chore lane within the limits
of Eidgah Police Station in Karachi.
A five-foot part of main Sui gas
supply pipeline was blown up near the village of Muhammad Bux
Malik near Thull in Jacobabad District.
A tanker carrying fuel for the
NATO forces in Afghanistan set ablaze when it was attacked by
unidentified militants near interchange link road in Wah cantonment
area of Rawalpindi District.
The FIA arrested 28 illegal African
nationals from Mecca Colony in Gulberg area of Lahore. The arrested
persons failed to provide legal proof of their stay in Pakistan.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani alleged
that there was solid evidence that foreign elements and powers
were involved in aggravating the situation in Balochistan. Delivering
policy statement in the National Assembly on the law and order
situation in Balochistan, the PM said, "We have started the
process (of compensation for Baloch people) and coming generations
will complete it."
He also said that target killing
of settlers in Balochistan could not be overlooked, as it had
further aggravated law and order situation. He said solid proofs
had been found that organisations like BLA were involved in target
killings.
Acknowledging that a sense of
deprivation prevails in Balochistan, the PM said that the Government
had presented the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan (beginning of the
rights of Balochistan) package to address these concerns. Gilani
also said the Federal Government had recruited 6,000 Baloch youth
in police and allocated PKR 5.15 billion in this regard and PKR
3.4 billion had been spent till December 2010. He said that 10,000
to 15,000 youth from Balochistan would be trained under the National
Internship Programme besides giving them relaxation in education
and age.
|
March 1
|
The TTP militants shot dead four
local tribesmen alleged of spying for the US. The bullet-riddled
bodies were dumped on a roadside in Miranshah, the main town of
North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
A roadside landmine planted by
militants in Ghalingar area of Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency
went off, killing two tribesmen and injuring another.
One Jaffar Khan was killed when
he stepped on a landmine planted by suspected militants in Mansor
Kor area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
In Shalobar area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency, a woman was killed when SFs opened indiscriminate
firing after an attack on their convoy on Machani check post.
Militants beheaded Aqal Mohammad
for his involvement in January 2011 drone attacks in Tirah valley.
The locals found the head of Aqal Mohammad in Qambarkhel area
while his torso was dumped at Nari Baba area.
Four troopers of Khasadar Force
were abducted from Ali Masjid area of tehsil in Khyber Agency.
The four tribal Policemen, identified as, Samad Khan, Khewa Khan,
Khan Sher and Ibad Gul, were reported "missing" after
an attack on Machani check post.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
announced PKR 1 billion in the current budget and PKR 700 million
in the next year’s budget for rehabilitation of around 32 thousand
residents of the Kurram Agency who left their homes due to sectarian
riots and militancy.
At least four persons were injured
and 10 houses damaged when militants fired rockets and mortar
shells at Adezai, a suburban village of provincial capital Peshawar.
Four persons received injuries when shells and rockets landed
in their houses.
TTP attacked Lond Khor Girls’
college in Sher Garh locality of Mardan District killing one girl
student and wounding 20 other students and one bystander.
Mohammad Akbar, an activist of
Imamia Jirga, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants at
Jahangir Pura Road in Peshawar.
One person, identified as Kamran
Khan, was killed in the agriculture fields at Nasirpur in the
limits of Chamkani Police Station.
The Public Accounts Committee
(PAC) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly expressed dissatisfaction
over the official reply of Police department in connection with
an inquiry regarding purchase of arms and ammunitions worth PKR
44.690 million.
A coordinator, Naeem Sabir, of
the HRCP, in Balochistan was shot dead by unidentified assailants
at the Chakar Khan Road in Khuzdar District.
A militant carrying explosive
died as the bomb exploded accidentally within the limits of Shah
Latif Police Station in Karachi.
A joint team of Police and Intelligence
agencies neutralised a terrorist outfit comprising cadres of the
TTP and some Afghan nationals, seizing 16 kilograms of explosives,
a rocket launcher and pistols in Lahore. A raid conducted led
to the arrest of nine militants, Mohammad Zaka Kabli, Gul Shan,
Humit Jan, Ustand Zinda, Ziaullah, Raheem Jan, Murad Afghani,
Gul Zammen and Ubaid from Bajaur and Afghanistan.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that the Law Enforcement Agencies arrested a high-profile
terrorist who wanted to hit Islamabad by rockets from the Margalla
Hills in Islamabad.
An ATC acquitted Hammad Raza Naqvi
saying that the prosecution failed to prove the case of his involvement
in the killing of outlawed SSP leader Maulana Azam Tariq in October
2003.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended
the sentence of nine terrorists and granted them bail, setting
aside their earlier conviction for possessing heavy quantity of
explosives’ material. Saddar Barooni Police arrested the militants
in January 2009 from Dhoke Lakhan near the Dhamial Army Aviation
Base and recovered 100 kg of explosive material, including 20
sacks of potassium chloride and detonators.
The Government launched a countrywide
crackdown on the Afghan refugees residing illegally in the country
after the deadline they were given to submit their data to the
office of Afghan refugees expired on February 28.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton urged Congress not to cut US aid to Pakistan as lawmakers
raised concerns about continued incarceration of a CIA contractor,
Raymond Davis in Lahore, Punjab.
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 UNESCO.
|
March 2
|
Federal Minister for Minorities
Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated in the limits of the
Industrial Area Police Station in Islamabad in Punjab. It was
reported that the Federal Police’s squad was missing at the time
of the incident. Unidentified militants opened fire on Bhatti
and managed to escape. However, pamphlets from the Punjab Chapter
of TTP were found from the place of the incident that stated "anyone
who criticises the blasphemy law has no right to live".
The BBC reported that it received
a four month old video recording of murdered Shahbaz Bhatti in
which the politician said he had been threatened by religious
extremists but was not afraid to die. In the message, Bhatti says
he has received threats from the Taliban and al Qaeda, but will
not stop "speaking for the oppressed and marginalised Christians
and other minorities".
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that PPP Government will not be deterred by extremists and militants
and continue the fight against them till final victory.
Police arrested five suspected
militants linked with a banned sectarian outfit and involved in
several bomb blasts and murders, recovering illegal arms including
suicide jackets from their possession in Uch Sharif Police Station
area of Bahawalpur District.
The Lahore High Court asked the
counsel for the Federation to get written comments from the chief
of ISI on a petition seeking release of 11 persons detained from
FATA after their acquittal in terrorism case of attacking military
personnel and installations in 2007.
An employee of the WAPDA was shot
dead and another injured in an incident of firing in the Panjgur
District.
An encounter took place between
personnel of LEA and armed assailants in Qabula area of Jaffarabad
District after SFs launched a search operation in different parts
of Jaffarabad District to recover the abducted judges and lawyers.
The banned BMDT claimed responsibility
for the March 1 killing of human rights activist Naeem Sabir in
Khuzdar District. A BMDT spokesman, Mir Jang Baloch, calling from
an unspecified location, said that his organisation had carried
out the attack and vowed to continue such attacks in the future
threatening the Baloch people against participating in the activities
of the BSO, BRP, BNP and BNM.
The LEA launched a massive search
operation in Tambo tehsil of Naseerabad District for the
recovery of two judges who were abducted on February 27.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that the Government should take practical
steps instead of issuing policy statements regarding abduction
and targeted killings in Balochistan. The court summoned the Balochistan
Chief Secretary on March 8 and ordered the ISI and MI to furnish
their reports through the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) over
the situation in the province.
An activist of Dawat-e-Islami
(DI), identified as Abdul Razak, was in the incident of target
killing in Taiser Town within the limits of Surjani Police Station
in Karachi.
Police recovered a hand grenade
from Paracha Graveyard located in the Shershah area in the precincts
of Shershah Police Station in Karachi.
Britain announced it was doubling
its development aid for Pakistan over the next four years to £446
million a year by 2015, but tied the increase to Islamabad’s progress
on the reform agenda.
Pak-Afghan border remains an "epicentre"
of global terrorism, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Mike Mullen said. "The downside consequences of a nuclear-capable
Pakistan that whose government collapses and is then in the hands
of violent extremists or theocratic individuals is a huge, huge
danger, globally and certainly for us," Admiral Mike Mullen said.
|
March 3
|
At least nine persons were killed
and 31 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle
near a police patrol in a densely populated area of Hangu District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three persons sustained minor
injuries when suspected militants blew up a tanker, supplying
oil to NATO forces in Afghanistan, near Karkhano Market in the
limits of Hayatabad Police Station in Peshawar. The injured were
identified as Mohammad Qasim, Shamsuddin and Shamsur Rehman.
A Lashkar fighting the TTP in
the Adezai outskirts of Peshawar has threatened it would stop
its fight if the Government does not issue the militia ration
and ammunition within one week. Dilawar Khan, chief of the Adezai
Qaumi Lashkar, told a press conference that the Government had
"an ambiguous policy" about the TTP in Adezai and accused
local legislators of supporting the TTP.
Six officials of the Khasadar
Force were killed and three others injured when their vehicle
was ambushed by militants in Aalam Godar area of Bara tehsil in
Khyber Agency of FATA. The six personnel killed in the assault
were identified as Islam Gul Malik Deen Khel, Mirab Jan Aka Khel,
Noor Wali Zaka Khel, Noor Janan Qamar Khel, Abdul Wahid Aka Khel
and Shakoor Satoori Khel.
A Policeman, identified as Saleem
Khan, and his friend were shot dead in Orangi Town area of Karachi.
An activist of MQM-H was shot
dead in an incident of target killing near Jauhar-e-More in the
precincts of Sharah-e-Faisal Police Station in Karachi.
Islamabad Police arrested 18 suspected
persons after taking them into custody in the case of Federal
Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti’s March 2 assassination.
|
March 4
|
At least 10 persons were killed
and 40 others injured in a powerful bomb blast at a mosque located
in the premises of Akhwand Panju Baba’s shrine in Akbarpura near
Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to a senior
police official, Muhammad Quraish Khan, a timed device weighing
2.5 kilogrammes was used in the attack.
Two militants, including a local
‘commander’, were killed while 13 of their accomplices were arrested
by the SFs in Kamal Khel area in Balitang of Kohat District. The
slain militants were identified as Samiullah of Shadi Khal, a
local ‘commander’ and Mujtaba, resident of Mian Khel, both belonging
to the Darra Adam Khel chapter of TTP.
Senior Minister of Provincial
Assembly Bashir Ahmed Bilour said that IDPs coming to the Peshawar,
mainly from Mohmand, Khyber and Orakzai Agencies are creating
serious problems for the law enforcement agencies.
A Police head constable, identified
as Ghulam Nabi Arain of Site Police Station, was shot dead in
an incident of targeted killing near a factory in the SITE area
of Karachi. It was reported that the constable was on duty at
Site for a strike called by Sunni Tehreek (ST).
A SSP cadre, Syed Muzafar Alam
Nomani, was shot dead in Burmy Colony within the limits of Landhi
Police Station in Karachi.
A person, identified as Mohammad
Imran, who had been accused in a blasphemy case and released on
February 13, 2010, was shot dead on the outskirts of Rawalpindi
Two local tribesmen, identified
as Jaleel Pirkani and Ali Jan Sumalani, were abducted at gunpoint
from Mangochar town of Kalat District.
Unidentified militants blew up
Government schools for Boys with IEDs at the Shalobar in Khyber
Agency. However, no loss of life was reported in the blast.
|
March 5
|
SFs killed six militants during
an operation near Afghanistan border in Kurram Agency of FATA.
According to sources, the SFs pounded militants’ hideouts with
artillery in central Kurram. Two hideouts were also destroyed
in the shelling.
Unidentified militants attacked
a check-post of volunteers in Manzari Chena area of Bezai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency in the night. Eight volunteers were injured
and taken to hospital where one succumbed to his injuries. Sources
said that two other volunteers were also missing.
The SSP ‘leader’ Maulana Muhammad
Ahmed Madni, who is also the brother of slain party chief Maulana
Azam Tariq, was shot dead along with his son Abu Bakar in an incident
of targeted killing in the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Police Station
area of Karachi.
At least five persons, including
two Policemen and children, were injured after a Police check-post
was blown up in the Shaikhan Chowk area under the Badabher Police
Station of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The injured policemen were identified as Fazal Rahim and Raj Wali.
Two children and a shopkeeper also sustained injuries.
Unidentified militants blew up
two Government schools with IEDs in Kohat and Swabi Districts.
However, no loss of life was reported in the blasts.
|
March 6
|
Ten militants were killed and
another eight injured when the helicopter gunships attacked militant
hideouts in Chinarak and Spairkat areas of Kurram Agency along
the Orakzai Agency border in Federally FATA. Eight hideouts were
destroyed.
One of the four khasadars (tribal
police force) personnel abducted on March 1, was found dead near
Ali Masjid in Landi Kotal town of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants abducted
two children, Akbar Hussain and Jalil Hussain, belonging to the
Turi tribe from Makhizai area of Kurram Agency.
The Khyber Agency Political Agent
Shafeerullah Khan said that a full-fledged military operation
would be launched in Bara areas very soon in order to purge the
area of militants and anti-social elements.
Five militants were killed and
a security official was injured during an encounter when suspected
militants were trying to sneak into Swat District from Dir District.
Three of the slain militants were identified as Fazal Hussain
of Kotta, Sher Ali of Aboha and Mohammad Zeb of Charbagh.
A bomb explosion damaged a house
killing at one militant and injuring three others in Ibrahim Haideri
area of Korangi town in Karachi. The Police claimed that the militant
belonged to an unspecified nationalist party and was preparing
bombs to damage railway tracks in the city. "Activists of
the Jay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) were running this office
or ‘bomb factory’ in a rented house," CID SP Mazhar Mashwani
said, adding, "We have also found the portraits of JSMM’s
‘Chief’ Shafi Burfat and other literature from the house."
A SSP cadre, Zeeshan, was killed
and his friend Mansoor sustained injuries in an incident of target
killing in Orangi Town within the limits of Iqbal Market Police
Station in Karachi.
Provincial Minister of the MQM
Zubair Ahmad Khan escaped an attack in Lateefabad town of Hyderabad
District.
The Directorate of ISI is trying
to redefine its terms of engagement with the CIA, before any settlement
over immunity for Raymond Davis, the jailed US operative.
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
package states that the Government has not acted on most of the
proposals.
|
March 7
|
Nine persons, including five MQM
workers, were killed in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
A former activist of MQM Hassan Asif was shot dead near Lal Flats
of Gulistan-e-Jauhar area within the limits of Sharah-e-Faisal
Police Station in Karachi.
Roedad Kahn, the son of a former
senator from FATA, was shot dead in Gulshan-i-Iqbal area of Karachi.
A District-sessions judge Jan
Mohammad and a civil judge Mohammad Ali Kakar of Sibi, who were
abducted from Usta Muhammad tehsil (revenue unit) in Dera Allah
Yar area of Jaffarabad District on February 27, were recovered
from Naseerabad District.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial
Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that 98 per
cent terrorists, arrested after hectic efforts and sacrifices
of law enforcement agencies, are released by the judiciary owing
to lack of evidence. He appealed to the courts to award capital
punishment to all arrested terrorists as they became more dangerous
for society after release.
|
March 8
|
A car bomb explosion at a gas
station in Faisalabad District killed at least 32 persons and
injured 125 others. The attack took place close to the office
of ISI but the building remained undamaged. It was reported that
explosives were planted in a car parked at the gas station.
TTP claimed responsibility for
attack. TTP spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, said target of the blast
was an office of the ISI. Ahsan said the blast was revenge for
the killing of a militant by SFs in Faisalabad in 2010.
Iqbal Town Police arrested some
suspected militants in Sherakot area of Lahore District in connection
with the Faisalabad blast.
LEA arrested three persons of
a family, one of them a cleric of the University of Agriculture
Faisalabad (UAF) in Faisalabad District, in connection with the
car explosion at a CNG station.
Ten militants were killed in two
US drone attacks in North and South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
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 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.
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."
Three bullet-riddled bodies of
missing persons were found in different parts of Balochistan.
The body of Deen Muhammad Marri was found from Liari area in Uthal
city of Lasbela District. Another man, identified as, Yasir Nasir,
a member of BSO-Azad Turbat Chapter, abducted on October 29, 210
was found dead in Murgap area of Turbat city in Turbat District
and the dead body of Nuroze Khan was found from Jiwan area of
Kalat town in Kalat District.
Nilofar Abadan, the wife of a
former provincial minister Faridoon Abadan was abducted by unidentified
militants in the Quivery road area of Quetta. Faridoon Abadan
had been abducted over 10 years ago and remains missing till date.
Violence erupted in Orangi Town
of Karachi after three people were shot dead. Violence erupted
after the killing of central member of Pakhtoon Students Federation
(PSF) Imran Afridi in Qasba Colony within the limits of Pirabad
Police Station.
|
March 9
|
A suicide bomber killed 43 persons
and injured another 52 others in an attack on a funeral prayer
for the wife of a volunteer of Qaumi Lashkar in Adezai village
on the outskirt of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government-run primary school at Darwazgai village, on the suburbs
of Peshawar. Sources said that three explosives were planted in
the three-room building of the school which went off at about
2am.
Unidentified militants also blew
up a Government-run school for boys in the eighth strike during
a week in Kohiwal area of Darra Adamkhel town in Kohat District
in the morning.
Eight suspected militants were
arrested during a joint raid by SFs in Mayar Jandol area of Lower
Dir District. Officials said that SFs raided Afghan refugees`
camp in Mayar after getting information about the presence of
militants there and arrested eight suspected militants.
Six persons, including two women,
were killed and 19 others were injured in a landmine explosion
near the Pathar Nala in Dera Bugti District.
Five employees of the Oil and
Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) were injured when their
vehicle was attacked with a remote controlled device in Peshbogi
area of Sui in Dera Bugti District. However, no outfit claimed
responsibility for the attack.
A worker of the MQM, Mushtaq Ahmed,
was shot dead along with four other persons in an incident of
target killing in Orangi Town in Karachi.
An MQM sympathiser Mohammad Ali,
and his brother Sajid, were sitting in Qasba Colony when two armed
assailants shot and injured them. Later, Muhammad Ali succumbed
to his injuries.
Sindh Police arrested four alleged
members of the TTP. Anti-Extremist Cell and Counter Terrorism
Unit of the Sindh Police’s CID disclosed the arrests of four alleged
members of TTP and claimed to have recovered one suicide jacket,
explosives, hand grenades, one smoke bomb, one detonator, 10-meter
detonator wire, three Kalashnikovs, three TT pistols, five kilogram
hashish and weapons from their possession during an encounter
in Metrovil area of Orangi Town in Karachi. However, TTP Karachi
Chapter chief Qari Zaman, LeJ member Qari Abid Mehsud, Tayab Mehsud
and Shuja Mehsud, managed to escape.
250 clerics from around 18 countries
have declared suicide attacks as haram (forbidden). They issued
the declaration on the occasion of the three-day-long Seerat-ul-Nabi
(Peace Be upon Him) conference in Lahore, which was also attended
by several Pakistani clerics belonging to different schools of
thought.
|
March 10
|
At least four persons, including
a FC official, Niamatullah, and an employee of the OGDCL, Javed
Iqbal, were killed in a remote controlled explosion followed by
intense firing near Dera Murad Jamali in the Jaffarabad District.
18 persons also sustain injuries. The BRA claimed responsibility
for the attack and vowed to continue such attacks in the future
as well.
Seven persons, including two Police
personnel and a child, were injured in a remote controlled bomb
blast planted in a motorcycle in Dera Bugti District.
A man, identified as Talha, was
killed in Karachi. According to reports seven vehicles have also
been set on fire in different parts of the city, including the
limits of Brigade, Taimuria, Shanti Nagar, Gulistan-e-Jauhar,
Burns’ Road and areas including Shipowner College, Saoora Chowk,
Abdullah College and College Road.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a Police constable, Dil Nawaz, in the limits of New Town Police
Stations in Karachi and managed to escape from the scene.
The former nazim of Sulemankhel
union council, Dr Misal Khan, was injured and his driver killed
when militants ambushed their vehicle on Tela Band Road in Badhber
of Peshawar District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The leader of anti-Taliban militia,
Dilawar Khan, threatened to stop cooperating with authorities
after a deadly suicide bombing on his men, a warning that highlights
the risks Pakistan is taking by using private armies with questionable
loyalties in its struggle against insurgents.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government school for girls in Landi Kotal tehsil of
Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said that militants have so far
destroyed about 31 Government schools in Khyber Agency during
the last one year.
Jama’at Ulema Pakistan-Noorani
announced its support for the militants fighting against the US
led NATO forces in Afghanistan, reports Dawn. JUP-N Secretary
General Qari Zawwar Bahadur said his party stood with the "Mujahideen"
resisting US invasion of Afghanistan.
Pakistan sought Britain's cooperation
in arresting former President Pervez Musharraf with its High Commissioner
in London forwarding the warrant issued by a court to the British
Home Office.
|
March 11
|
At least 16 persons were killed
in three separate US drone strikes in two different locations
in the NWA of FATA. The first drone fired two missiles targeting
a suspected militant vehicle in Khaisur town, about 30 kilometres
north of Miranshah, the main town in the NWA.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government girls’ primary school in Ali Masjid area of Jamrud
tehsil in Khyber Agency. According to a source, at least
34 Government-run schools have been destroyed in the Khyber Agency.
Militants destroyed three bridges,
a girls’ school in Jamrud and an under-construction room of the
technical college in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency during
the last 24 hours.
A Barelvi seminary preacher of
Jammat Ahle Sunnat, Syed Mahmood Hussain, was killed in an incident
of target killing at Korangi in the limits of Zaman Town Police
Station in Karachi.
A bomb prematurely exploded inside
Shahabkhel mosque in Peshawar shortly before Friday prayers caused
no loss of life. Sources said the bomb detonated 90 minutes before
the usually 150-strong congregation was due to gather at the mosque
in Badabher village in the suburbs of Peshawar city.
The Kohat Commissioner Khalid
Khan Umerzai distributed 72 compensation cheques amounting to
PKR 10.4 million among the heirs of those who were killed in various
terrorist acts in Kohat region.
LEA apprehended a burqa (veil)
clad terror suspect near Qasim Market, in the area of Westridge
in Rawalpindi. It was reported that traffic Police Muhammad Tauqeer
while discharging his duty suspected a burqa-clad woman and tried
to stop her. But the woman hurriedly fled leaving her burqa behind
which revealed that it was a man.
|
March 12
|
Eight militants were killed and
three soldiers suffered injuries during an encounter in upper
tehsil of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Sources said that militants
attacked a checkpost in Ghelju area and injured three soldiers.
Four NTDC officials were seriously
injured in a landmine blast in Chethar area of Naseerabad District.
Two NATO oil tankers were torched
by unidentified militants in the Karta area of Mach town in Bolan
District. The driver of one of the oil tankers, identified as
Ehsanullah Khan, a resident of Peshawar, sustained bullet injures.
The militants managed to escape from the scene successfully.
Unidentified militants blew up
a pipeline supplying natural gas to the gas purification plant
in Pir Koh area of Dera Bugti District.
A CD shop was blown up in the
Badabher Police Station area of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The blast completely damaged the shop,
but no loss of life was reported.
Unidentified militants attacked
and injured five young cricket fans with hand grenades as they
were watching the exciting India-South Africa World Cup match
in the privacy of a room in Badhber suburbs of Peshawar in the
night.
|
March 13
|
11 passengers were killed and
another six injured when unidentified militants intercepted a
passenger coach in Mamo Khwar area of Hangu District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The Peshawar-bound coach was coming from Parachinar.
Nine of the people killed were Shias, which appears to be a sectarian
attack.
Four militants were killed during
an encounter with SFs in the border area of Dir and Swat Districts
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
SFs neutralised two hideouts of
TTP in Ublan Darra area of Kohat.
Nine persons, including two activists
of the MQM and one worker of ANP, were killed in the ongoing wave
of violence and target killing in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
A US drone strike targeting a
militant vehicle and a compound on March 13 killed six militants
and injured five others in mountainous Spalga village, 15 kilometres
northeast of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
Three members of khasadar personnel
Asil Badshah family were injured when a rocket fired from unspecified
location hit his house in Jammu area of Frontier Region Kohat.
Unidentified militants blew up
a 12-inch diameter pipeline in the Rabih Canal area of Naseerabad
District in Balochistan. According to a levies official, unidentified
militants had strapped explosives to the pipeline supplying natural
gas to Quetta from Shikarpur.
Pakistan declined an Indian request
to allow an inquiry commission to interrogate LeT ‘commander’
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects charged with involvement
in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. "
A SFs official was
killed and his colleague and a child were injured in a rocket
attack on a security base in Razmak Town in the night. Officials
said that eight rockets were fired at the main base from an unspecified
place.
|
March 14
|
Eight more persons
were killed in different parts of Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh, taking the death toll in four days to 36. The target
killing claimed eight more lives, including those of the MQM and
the ANP, in different parts of Karachi. An activist of the ANP
was shot dead at Munawar Chowrangi, Gulistan-e-Jauhar within the
limits of Sarah-e-Faisal Police Station.
Five militants were
killed when a US drone fired missiles on a car at Tapai village
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. This was the third missile
attack during the past 24 hours in the area, raising the death
toll to 15.
Two officials of
the FC were injured in a remote-controlled IED attack on an FC
vehicle near Changai area of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants
blew up a Government primary school for boys at Rehmatullah village
in Changai area of Landikotal. The total number of schools destroyed
in Landikotal has reached 13.
Agha Mahmood Ahmedzai,
a local leader of the BNP-M, was killed when unidentified assailants
on a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire on him in Kalat District.
Unidentified armed
militants torched two NATO containers carrying military hardware
for ISAF and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan in Surab area
of Kalat District.
The Major General
(retired) Director General of the Counter-Intelligence Wing of
ISI Nusrat Naeem may be interrogated by the Federal Investigation
Agency’s joint investigation team (JIT).
Anti Terrorism Court
No 3 awarded death sentence to Umer Adeel who was arrested from
Baraf Khana Chowk in Lahore District for planning a suicide attack
on vehicle of an Intelligence Agency in September 2007. Police
recovered two hand grenades from his possession.
|
March 15
|
Ten militants were
shot dead by SFs in retaliatory attack at San Pakka Kandau area
of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Two SFs personnel were also sustain
injuries.
SFs killed six more
militants in retaliation action after militants attacked a security
checkpost in Torgar area of Tal tehsil.
Six more persons,
including two activists of the People’s Amn (Peace) Committee
(PAC), two workers of the MQM and one man of PPP, were killed
in the ongoing wave of target killings in Karachi. An MQM activist,
Lal Muhammad was installing a flag on an electric pole along with
other party men in Korangi when more than half dozen armed assailants
opened fire on them, killing him on the spot and injuring two
other party activists.
Police found the
bullet-riddled body of an MQM activist youth, identified as Azhar,
from 100 Quarters, Korangi in the limits of Zaman Town Police
Station.
More than a dozen
armed assailants entered Fariya Street, Kharadar and opened indiscriminate
fire, killing two activists of PAC on the spot and injuring four
others.
Another activist,
Imran, of PAC was shot dead in Khadda Market. He was sitting with
his friend near his house when two unidentified armed militants
shot him dead.
A younger brother
of Vice President PPP District Central was shot dead near Goal
Market in the limits of Nazimabad Police Station.
SHO Mazhar Shah
and ASI Mukhtayar Khan, of Par Hoti Police Station and four militants
were killed during an encounter at Iranabad area on Fatima Road
in Mardan District.
A militant, identified
as Rab Nawaz Khan, was killed and three others were arrested in
a search operation by SFs in the Adezai area of Peshawar. Official
sources said that the Rab Nawaz Khan was facilitator of the suicide
bomber, who had blown himself up on March 9 during a funeral in
the Adezai village, leaving 43 people killed and over 50 injured.
Police foiled a
bid to smuggle a cache of arms and ammunition to down country
from tribal area and arrested two arms dealers in Kohat. 10810
cartridges, 12 pistols, one shotgun and one Kalashnikov were recovered
fro the car.
|
March 16
|
Ten militants were
killed and one security man was injured in a clash in Ghaljo area
of Upper Orakzai Agency in FATA. A security convoy coming from
Bori in Sukkur District of Sindh province to Ghaljo was attacked
by militants.
A United States
(US) drone fired missiles at a militant hideout at Amboor Shega
area in Dattakhel tehsil in North Waziristan Agency, killing
six militants.
Three schoolchildren
were injured when a mortar shell exploded near Parvera area in
Zorbandar area of the Bajaur Agency.
Three NATO helicopters
violated Pakistan’s airspace and flew over Angoor Adda, a border
town in South Waziristan Agency.
The driver of a
NATO tanker was killed and the cleaner sustained bullet injuries
when four NATO oil tankers were set on fire by unidentified militants
on the National Highway in Ganji Dohri area of Mastung District.
Shamim Qureshi,
a cadre of the MQM-H was shot dead at Karimabad Bridge in the
limits of Gulberg Police Station in Karachi. It was reported that
the victim belonged to Bhola Qureshi faction, and also had links
with Lyari gangsters.
Two containers,
carrying fuel supply for NATO and allied forces in Afghanistan,
were attacked and set ablaze after unidentified militants opened
fire at them in Peshawar.
SFs claimed to have
arrested eight TTP suspected militants during an operation in
the Kohat District. The suspects were arrested for their alleged
role in blowing up two telephone exchanges, three educational
institutions and a basic health unit a fortnight ago in Darra
Adamkhel.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Government banned the entry of Afghanistan bound oil tankers carrying
oil for the NATO troops.
US authorities charged
Ferid Ahmed Imam, a fugitive Canadian with training terrorists
linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan ahead of an attempt to mount an
attack on New York.
|
March 17
|
A US drone missile
strike killed at least 41 persons in the Datta Khel of North Waziristan
Agency in FATA. The death toll was one of the highest in a drone
missile strike. An official said the drone attacked a vehicle
in the area that was passing by a house where local tribesmen
were holding a meeting, killing them.
The TTP killed an
alleged spy and threw his body in Shni Kalay area of Frontier
Region Kohat. The deceased was later identified as, Hamid Khan
Afridi, a resident of Pirwalkhel village located in Akhorwal area.
Tariq Afridi faction of TTP claimed responsibility.
Unidentified militants
blew up a Government girls’ primary school in the Alam Khani area
of Sheikhmal Khel in Landikotal. The total number of Government
schools destroyed in Landi Kotal has reached 14 whereas the figure
in the entire Khyber Agency has crossed 40.
Three FC personnel,
two Policemen and one militant were killed, while 12 others injured
in attacks in different areas of Balochistan. An FC vehicle was
patrolling the area along the Rabi canal in Naseerabad District
when a bomb exploded near it killing two FC personnel Kaleemullah
and Ghulam Sarwar and injuring seven others.
Another FC trooper
was killed and another injured when a bomb placed in a car in
Badani Cross area exploded.
A head constable
was killed and two other Policemen were injured when unidentified
militants opened fire on a check-post in Daulatpur area of Jaffarabad
District. One militant was also killed during the encounter.
Three Anti-Narcotics
Force personnel were injured when a bomb exploded near a bus-stop
in Turbat District while the ANF vehicle was passing through the
area.
A bullet-riddled
body of Syed Mohammad Shah, a head constable was found in a nullah
in the Spani road area.
A remote-controlled
bomb planted on the railway track near the Dingra station was
detonated when Bolan Mail was passing, damaging its engine and
injuring three railway employees.
A SI Mohammad Iqbal
and his son were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Orangi
Town of Karachi.
A Sunni Tehreek
activist, Farooq Qadri was shot dead in a target killing incident
at Gosht Market in Bhimpura area under Risala Police Station in
Karachi.
A former bodyguard
of MQM-H leader Amir Khan was shot dead on Suparco road in the
jurisdiction of Mobina Town Police Station. The victim was also
an activist of MQM-H.
Unidentified militants
attacked at a truck terminal located near Karkhano Market in Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and torched two
containers carrying goods for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Suspected militants
attacked a Police checkpost at Achini Bala area in the outskirts
of the Peshawar. However, the attack was successfully repulsed.
A militant, identified
as Hafiz Usman Ghani, suspected of detonating a car bomb near
the security agency office in Faisalabad District on March 8 was
arrested.
|
March 18
|
Four persons were
killed and two MQM workers injured in different incidents of on
going target killing in different areas of Karachi.
Three persons, including
two brothers, were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Jinnah
Town area of Quetta in the night. The deceased were identified
as Mobin, Abdul Matin and Didar Ali. Mobin and Abdul Matin were
brothers.
Four SFs personnel
were injured when their convoy was targeted with a remote-controlled
bomb in the Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Reacting to the
deadly drone attack on a traditional jirga (tribal council) on
March 17 in the Datta Khel of North Waziristan Agency in FATA
that killed 41 civilians, the tribal elders announced waging jihad
against the US and its allies. Speaking during a hurriedly called
press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, head of the North
Waziristan’s Peace Committee Malik Jalal Sarhadi Wazir described
the March 17’s drone attack as a barbaric and inhuman act against
innocent people.
TTP threatened to
avenge the death of innocent people in the drone strikes. A statement
issued by TTP ‘spokesman’ Ihsanullah Ihsan said the attack was
a ‘blind retaliatory’ operation launched by the US government
in revenge for imprisonment of Raymond Davis in Lahore.
The US led NATO
commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus said ON March
18 that it was ‘hugely important’ that Pakistani Army take action
against terrorists in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. General
David Petraeus credited Islamabad with battling terrorists elsewhere
but said the campaign needed to move to North Waziristan, where
members of the al Qaeda and Haqqani networks are based.
|
March 19
|
Power supply to
15 Districts of Balochistan has been disrupted, as unidentified
militants blew up two electricity towers of 220-KV and 132- KV
in Mach area of Bolan District. A QESCO spokesman Shafqat Ali
said that the unidentified militants had planted an explosive
device with the 132-KV and 220 KV double circuit electricity towers
of high transmission lines which detonated, suspending the power
supply to 15 Districts of Balochistan.
Unidentified militants
blew up a bridge in Shindand area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency
of FATA.
|
March 20
|
At least 15 persons,
including three activists of MQM and two of Pakhtunkhwa Milli
Awami Party (PMAP), were killed in the ongoing wave of target
killing in Karachi.
Two Police constables
were killed by three unidentified militants at a Tape Road picket
near Data Durbar area of Lahore District.
Eight tribesmen
were injured when a passenger van came under an ambush on the
Kurram Agency Highway in Kotki area of the Hangu town in the Hangu
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A portion of the
railway track was damaged when a bomb went off at Wattar area
in the limit of Nowshera Kalan Police Station in Nowshera District.
A militant commander
of the Swat chapter of the TTP, Noorani Gul, was handed down a
consecutive prison term of 120 years by the Anti-Terrorism Court
(ATC) of Malakand Division in its first-ever verdict. The militant
is also liable to pay a fine of PKR two million. Gul was accused
of publicly slaughtering Mohammad Iqbal, a class-IV public servant
working in the Matta Police Station on July 17, 2009.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur
faction of TTP protested against the drone attacks in North Waziristan
Agency in FATA and said that if drone attacks were not brought
to an end, he would end the peace deal with the Government.
|
March 21
|
Eleven persons were killed and
two others sustained bullet injuries when unidentified militants
opened fire on them at a camp set up by the Frontier Works Organization
(FWO) in Paleri area some 20 kilometres from Gwadar city in Gwadar
District. BLF claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Five militants were shot dead
by SFs when they tried to escape from their custody in Matta area
of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They were identified as
Aizaz Rehman, Zarawer Khan, Islam Din alias Osama, Attaullah and
Inamullah. They belonged to Matta area near Mingora.
Two would be suicide bombers,
riding a motorcycle, were killed when explosives strapped to their
bodies went off in Gur Wali area of Dera Ismail Khan District.
Militants shot dead four alleged
US spies, an Afghan national among them, in the NWA of FATA. One
body was found along a road in Dattakhel, two in Dosali and the
body of the Afghan national was recovered from a place in Mir
Ali. The sources said that the four men were abducted from different
areas of the NWA about two weeks ago. Since January, 17 alleged
spies have been killed.
A trooper was injured when he
stepped on a landmine in Chinari area of Safi tehsil in
Mohammad Agency.
Three persons, including political
adviser of the ANP’s minister, an activist of MQM and the younger
brother of another MQM activist, were killed in the ongoing spate
of target killing in Karachi. Advocate Haji Hanif Khan, who served
as ANP Zone West’s General Secretary as well as the adviser to
ANP’s Labour Minister Ameer Nawab, was shot dead near Agha Building
within the limits of SITE-A Police Station.
An activist of MQM, Sajjad Butt,
was shot dead at Madina Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal in the jurisdiction
of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station when two unidentified assailants
opened fire on him killing him on the spot.
One Raza, a brother of MQM activist
was shot dead while another injured in Qasba Colony within the
limits of Pirabad Police Station while he was standing outside
his house with a friend when unidentified armed assailants opened
indiscriminate fire, killing Raza and injuring his friend.
Three persons including a Sub-Inspector
and a militant were injured in a bomb blast occurred near Rail
Bazaar Police Post in Gujranwala District.
Police arrested a group of suspected
militants from Jalil town and recovered a cache of explosive material
along with some gadgets and weapons from their hideout which included,
14 bags, each containing 20 kilogrammes explosive material, a
time-device, electronic gadgets used to detonate explosives, gunpowder,
four hand grenades, a Kalashnikov, three pistols, extremist literature
and fake beards.
The parliamentary delegation on
Kashmir led by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman
will soon visit Belgium, Germany and Poland to lobby for support
on the Kashmir issue. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved
visits to the three countries by a six-member delegation "to win
their support on the Kashmir issue," said a statement issued by
Prime Minister Office.
|
March 22
|
The bullet-riddled body of Hameed
Shaheen, a former chairman the BSO, was recovered at Sardar Karez
area within the jurisdiction of Shalkot Police Station in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan. Hameed Shaheen was abducted
allegedly by Security Forces from the outskirts of Quetta on March
19 when he was travelling to Karachi. Police said that local people
spotted a dead body at Sardar Karez area and informed Police.
Six SFs personnel were injured
and their vehicle was destroyed when their convoy hit a roadside
bomb in Alam Godar area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency
of FATA. Sources said that the SFs convoy was on its way to Alam
Godar for a search operation in the morning.
|
March 23
|
Three rocket attacks in Quetta
left four persons, including a traffic Police inspector dead and
18 others injured.
Two mutilated and decomposed dead
bodies were found in the limits of the Vindar Police Station in
Lasbela District. The dead were identified as Arif Noor, a Gwadar
Development Authority (GDA) official, and Nawaz Mari, a resident
of Vindar.
Three persons, identified as,
Mahboob, Usman and Akbar, belonging to the Jhelum District of
Punjab province, were injured in a hand grenade attack on a shop
in Hazarganji area of Quetta.
Unidentified militants attacked
and torched three trailers in an area near Sibi District carrying
supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Rawalpindi-bound Quetta Express
was partially damaged in a bomb explosion near Mangoli area of
Naseerabad District, suspending train service on the railway track
between Sibi and Jacobabad.
A powerful explosive device, planted
by suspected militants in the middle of a link road in Matani
area of Peshawar exploded and killed Miskin Khan, the owner of
an animal cart and his two animals.
12 Police men, sustained injuries
when their mobile van was targeted by remote-controlled bomb in
Darsamand area of Doaba in Hangu District.
Two power pylons were blown up
in Gulo Khan Village of Badhber in Peshawar.
Unidentified militants blew up
a power pylon and damaged a telephone exchange in Jamrud tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Officials said that they neutralised
another powerful explosive device in Jamrud tehsil.
Malir Cantonment in Malir town
of Karachi escaped a rocket attack and damaged a mosque named
Jamia Masjid Mustafa near Kala Pul. One rocket hit the wall of
a mosque in the limits of Saudabad Police Station, while other
hit a crop field in Malir area.
|
March 24
|
At least eight persons, including
a Policeman, were killed and 25 others injured when a suicide
bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of
the Doaba Police Station in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A TTP spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, claimed the responsibility
for the attack over telephone from an undisclosed location.
Four unidentified dead bodies
were found in the fields of Gul Bela area within the premises
of Daud Zai Police Station in the suburbs of Peshawar.
Eight militants were killed when
SFs pounded suspected locations with artillery shelling in Ghiljo
tehsil of Orakzai Agency in FATA. The injured SFs personnel
were identified as Rehman Khattak and Mohammad Rehman Bhettani.
A power pylon of a high transmission
line was blown up near the Sibi District. Unidentified militants
planted explosive materials with a power pylon of 132 Sibi-Harnai
transmission lines that went off with an explosion destroying
the tower.
A terrorist plotting to target
the ongoing cricket World Cup has been arrested, Federal Minister
of Interior Rehman Malik claimed. He said there was a "serious
attempt" at carrying out a terrorist attack during the ongoing
cricket tournament and that a terrorist was arrested. Rehman Malik,
who did not identify the nationality or the affiliation of the
alleged terrorist, made the revelation at a joint briefing with
Interpol chief Ronald Noble in Islamabad, saying that the International
Police Organisation had helped to uncover the plot. New Delhi
had been informed of the plot, the Pakistan interior minister
said, as he also claimed that the Taliban had spread its tentacles
to India.
|
March 25
|
At least 13 passengers were killed
and eight injured, while around 33 were abducted by suspected
militants in an attack on a convoy of passenger vehicles in the
Kurram Agency of FATA. Sources said that the victims were Turi
tribesmen who belonged to the Shia sect. The convoy had entered
Kurram Agency after crossing the Chapari check-post via Thall
tehsil in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sajid Hussain Turi, the Member
of National Assembly from Kurram Agency, has said that the attack
on the minibus proved that the agreement signed by the two warring
tribes on February 5 is a useless document. The attack on passengers
by terrorists was a failure of security agencies and a serious
breach of the Amman Jirga (peace deal) that the Sunni and Shia
tribes had signed, he added.
Unidentified militants killed
one Sajjad Ali (16) on charges of spying and his bullet riddle
dead body was recovered from Spin Qabar area of Bara tehsil of
Khyber Agency.
Militants blew up two more girls
schools in Landi Kotal and Bara tehsils and demolished with explosives
another bridge at Akakhel.
The continuing wave of target
killing claimed the lives of five persons including two MQM-H
carders, two MQM activists among the 12 others. In one incident,
Muhammad Sabih, nephew of an MQM-H chief, was going somewhere
on his motorbike when two assailants opened fire at him killing
him on the spot. In a separate incident, an MQM-H activist, identified
as Anwar, was gunned down in Landhi area in the precincts of the
Landhi Police Station in Karachi.
Dead body of an MQM activist,
Furqan, was found in a gunny bag near Ice Depot, Bhimpura, in
the limits of the Nippier Police Station.
A former nazim (convenor) of the
MQM’s Haq Parast group was gunned down near Pan Mandi in the limits
of the Risala Police Station.
A Shia man, identified as, Ali
Hussain, was shot dead on Nishtar Road in the limits of the Soldier
Bazaar Police Station.
Two personnel of Levies Force
were killed and two others injured when a roadside bomb ripped
through their vehicle near the Toor Afghan refugee camp in Dir
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The slain personnel were identified
as Hawaldar Mutabar and driver Hamid Khan. Sepoys Rashidul Haq
and Muhammad Inamullah were injured.
Four Policemen were injured in
a rocket attack by militants near Darwazgai area of Matani on
the outskirts of Peshawar. Four Policemen injured in the attack
were identified as Akhtar Nawaz of Badbher, Zahidullah of Sufaid
Dheri and Attaur Rehman and Mohammad Asif of Matni.
Unidentified militants blew up
a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District.
A rocket was fired from an unknown
location which hit a house in the Satellite Town area of Quetta.
No casualty was reported.
A Hindu religious leader Maharaj
Lakshmi Chand Garji and his companion Venod Kumar were released
without paying any ransom money to the abductors near Surab area
of Kalat District. Maharaj had been kidnapped, along with his
four companions, on December 21, 2010, near Surab. The abductors
released three people within hours after abduction while continued
to detain Maharaj and Venod Kumar.
Federal minister for Interior
Rehman Malik disclosed that the Government has arrested the militants
who plotted the conspiracy to murder PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto
on December 27, 2007 and those who executed it.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood
Kasuri said that Pakistan had limited options after the September
1, 2001 debacle and took a decision to join the coalition against
terrorism to avoid an international isolation. Addressing Rotary
Peace and Goodwill Conference, Kasuri said terrorist attacks in
the US and its aftermaths in terms of American policies directly
impacted South Asia.
|
March 26
|
Eight dead bodies, including that
of a student leader, were recovered from various areas of Balochistan.
According to official sources, six bodies were thrown near the
Sui area of Dera Bugti District. A BRSO organiser Kohdil Bugti
and his father Ali Baksh were among the dead, BRP spokesman Sher
Mohamad Bugti, said. Two of the victims were identified as Shah
Baksh Bugti and Rahmdil Bugti, while identity of the remaining
two bodies could not be ascertained. The BRP spokesman accused
security forces of the killing. "The victims were kidnapped
some few months ago and had been killed during illegal detention
at the hands of security forces," he said.
Another body was found from the
mountainous area of Turbat. The victim was identified as Mohammad
Saleem, a Karachi resident, who was listed missing a few weeks
ago. Another body presumed to be that of a 22 –23-year-old-man
was recovered near the Killi Almas area of Quetta.
Two Government schools were blown
up in separate blasts in the suburban areas of provincial metropolis
Peshawar. An official of Matani Police Station said that militants
carried out five explosions at Government Boys Middle School Sharikera
and as many in Government Boys Primary School Adezai at about
1.30am.
The volunteers of Adezai Qaumi
Lashkar escaped a bomb blast in the Matani area. The residents
said that a bomb, planted in the middle of Matani-Adezai Road
to target volunteers of lashkar, exploded at midnight without
causing any loss of life.
The Government will pay compensation
to the families of 39 people who died in a US drone strike in
North Waziristan Agency of FATA. Civilians and Police were among
those killed when missiles hit a compound in Datta Khel, 40 kilometres
west of Miranshah on March 17. Tribal administration official
Asghar Khan said a compensation package was ready for the victims’
families.
|
March 27
|
Four persons, including a woman,
were killed and several others sustained injuries when unidentified
militants fired a rocket at a vehicle in Shahidano village near
Kurram Agency of FATA.
Three decomposed and mutilated
dead bodies, including that of a zonal organiser of the Baloch
Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-A), were recovered from different
parts of Balochistan. According to official sources, body of a
missing student, Fareed Baloch, a zonal organiser of the BSO-A,
was found near a river in Ferozabad area of Khuzdar District.
Another body was recovered from
Saryab area of Quetta. However, identity of the victim could not
be ascertained.
The Balochistan Levies recovered
a bullet-riddled body from Awaran District. The victim was identified
as Saleh Muhammad.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline near Sui in Dera Bugti District.
An ANP activist, identified as
Gul Zameen, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in
Karachi.
The SFs arrested an Afghanistan
militant in a raid on a house in Mamoo Banda area of Hangu District
and recovered dozens of local and foreign cellular phone SIMs
from his possession.
Maldives Police released Iqbal
Mohamed suspected of plotting an attack on the Cricket World Cup
taking place in South Asia. Iqbal was arrested on March 10 as
he arrived at Male International Airport from Pakistan following
a tip-off from the international Police organisation, Interpol.
Federal Minister for Minister Rehman Malik and Interpol chief
Ronald Noble announced the arrest last week, with Malik saying
a "serious attempt" at an attack had been foiled.
The elements within the TTP, based
in North Waziristan Agency of FATA, have established a separate
vigilance cell to hunt down persons suspected of providing vital
intelligence to guide the United States in its drone campaign.
Known as Lashkar-e-Khorasan (LeKh), the group’s only purpose is
to identify, capture and execute persons allegedly working for
what is described as a web of local spies created by the CIA.
The LeKh draws it strength from both the Haqqani network and the
Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, two militias that control the regions
along the Afghanistan border.
Former President Pervez Musharraf
during an interview with Time magazine admitted that Pakistan
is a "very dangerous" country. "It is very dangerous,
yes, I will have to admit," Pervez Musharraf adds. Being
asked, which is more of a threat to Pakistan, extremism or India
he said that "At the moment, its extremism and terrorism.
But you can't compare. Let's not think this is a permanent situation".
"The orientation of 90 per cent of Indian troops is against
Pakistan.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton during an interview with ABC News said that US regrets
civilian death in drone attack. America had "a very difficult
relationship" with Pakistan and relations were far from ideal,
adding that "It’s a very challenging relationship because
there have been some problems". "We are very appreciative
of getting our diplomat out of Pakistan and that took cooperation
by the government of Pakistan", she added further.
|
March 28
|
At least 14 paramilitary
troops, among them two senior officers, were killed in a militant
ambush on their convoy in the Akakhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA. The slain officers were identified as
Lieutenant Colonel Sheraz, Captain Islam. The troopers belong
to the paramilitary Mehsud Scouts and Khyber Rifles. According
to reports, the paramilitary troops arrested about 170 tribesmen
for their suspected links with the militants in an operation in
the Sipah Yousaf Talab area of Bara in the afternoon. An official
source said that many of the arrested tribesmen had links with
the TTP.
Unidentified militants
blew up a primary school for girls and a high school for boys
in Jawaki area of FR Kohat. Sources said that several time devices
were planted in the classrooms and boundary walls of both the
schools.
Political administration
officials neutralised a sabotage attempt by defusing explosive
device planted by suspected militants at a Government-run school
in Gang area of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
An activist of Dawat-e-Islami,
identified as Asghar Ali Attari, was gunned down in Mawach Goth
within the limits of Mauripur Police Station in Karachi.
One Jamsheda Bibi
and her three children, identified as Shafa Imran, Umar Saeed
and Amar Aila, were injured when militants attacked Ara Khel village
of Kohat District on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with rockets. Officials
said that the rockets were fired from Darra Adamkhel side.
Police arrested
a seminary student for his alleged involvement in the bomb blast
of Hashtnagri area of Peshawar, which left 18 persons injured
on March 25.
The driver of a
container, carrying military hardware for NATO forces stationed
in Afghanistan, suffered bullet injuries when unidentified assailants
attacked the container near Kalat District.
Unidentified assailants
abducted a doctor, Mumtaz Hyderi, near the Golimar intersection
on Brewery Road in Quetta.
|
March 29
|
A bomb planted by
suspected militants went off outside the Khyber Homoeopathic College
in Sharifabad area of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police claimed it
has arrested six more alleged terrorists belonging to TTP, over
the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, the
provincial capital of Punjab. Lahore Police reported that the
arrested terrorists belonged to the TTP, adding that one of them,
identified as Amanullah alias Asadullah, had masterminded the
assault on the Sri Lankan cricketers in March 2009. The other
terrorists were identified as Ubaidullah alias Zubair, Mohsin
Rasheed, Muhammad Javed Anwar alias Chaudhry, Qari Muhammad Ashfaq
and Umaidur Rehman Qamar alias Zubair.
A top Indonesian
terror suspect, Umar Patek, involved in October 2002 Bali bomb
attack was arrested in Pakistan. However, there was no detailed
report about the place of his arrest. Patek, a suspected member
of the al Qaeda linked militant outfit Jemaah Islamiyah, is believed
to have served as the outfit’s ‘deputy field commander’ in the
nightclub bombings that left 202 people dead.
About 90 per cent
of Orakzai Agency has been cleared of militants and the internally
displaced people should now quickly return to the safe areas,
said Orakzai Political Agent Riaz Khan Masud said.
|
March 30
|
13 persons, including
a Policeman, were killed and more that 20 others were injured
in an incident of suicide attack in Swabi town, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to security sources, the suicide bomber, riding a motorbike,
blew himself up near a Police checkpost on Ambar Interchange on
Islamabad-Peshawar motorway, which was close to a camp set up
by the JUI-F for a public meeting.
|
March 31
|
A suicide bomber
struck a convoy carrying JUI-F Chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, near
the DCO office on Nowshera Road in Charsadda District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, killing 12 persons and injuring 42 others, reports
Daily Times.
Five persons, including
a man and his son, were killed in a remote controlled explosion
near Tump area of Turbat District in Balochistan. As result of
the explosion, Rahm Dil and his son, Bahar, and three of his security
guards died on the spot while their pickup was completely destroyed.
Three persons were
killed in a landmine explosion in the Duki area of Loralai District.
According to official sources, a private vehicle, carrying three
persons, was going to Chamalang from Duki when their car hit a
landmine placed on the roadside.
Unidentified militants
opened fire on a tanker carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan,
killing its driver and setting the vehicle ablaze near the Wadh
town in Khuzdar District.
A man was injured
when four rockets were fired on Khuzdar University of Engineering
and Technology in Khuzdar town. According to the Police sources,
four rockets were fired on Khuzdar University from an unknown
location by unidentified militants.
SFs killed eight
militants and injured several others during a search operation
in Kurram Agency of FATA. A cache of arms and ammunitions were
recovered during search operations in the area.
During a visit to
India in 2007, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had hinted at
offering his services as a mediator between the US and Taliban,
diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks revealed. The cables published
by the Indian daily The Hindu say that US Assistant Political
Counsellor Atul Keshap reported on May 3, 2007, that officials
had met on April 27, 2007 Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind (JUiH) leader Mahmood
Madani and Pandit N. K. Sharma, who claimed close ties with the
Gandhi family, after Maulana Fazl visited New Delhi from April
22 to 26.
|
April 1
|
Nine militants were
killed when Security Forces launched a counter-offensive after
the militants attacked a checkpost in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. Three SFs personnel, identified as Sajid, Mirza Tabassum
and Azeem Khan, were injured during the offensive.
Unidentified militants
beheaded three watchmen at a NATO trucks’ terminal near Landi
Kotal railway station in the Khyber Agency. The slain watchmen,
Hijran Ullah, Hafiz Ullah and Amaldar Shinwari, belonged to the
local Shinwari tribe.
The under construction
portion of Samendar Kot high school was blown up in Dandy Darpakhel
area of North Waziristan Agency.
A tube-well was
blown up in Doog village in the South Waziristan Agency.
A suicide bomber
killed a child and injured 10 other persons after he was identified
and shot at in Darra Adam Khel town of Kohat District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. Sources said that a would-be suicide bomber was identified
as he tried to enter the crowded market in Darra Adam Khel. Tribesmen
tried to over power him but he blew himself up when he was shot
at, killing a 12-year-old boy and injuring 10 people, a senior
administrative official said.
Unidentified militants
blew up two electricity pylons in Bazid Khel area adjacent to
the frontier region of the District. Officials said that due to
the destruction of 132KV power pylons, electricity was suspended
to Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan.
A bullet-riddled
body of a Baloch missing person was recovered in Barech town on
Saryab Road of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The deceased was identified as Rehmatullah Bangulzai.
Four bogies of the
Peshawar-bound Quetta Express derailed after a bomb explosion
on the railway track near Dera Allahyar in Jaffarabad District
of Balochistan.
|
April 2
|
Four militants were
killed while another 12 injured in the factional clash between
Mangal Bagh-led LI volunteers and their opposition force, led
by commander Toti Khan, in the far-flung areas of Zakha Khel Bazaar
in Landikotal tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA. So far,
four militants have reportedly been killed, including an LI ‘commander’
identified as Toti Khan, while, 12 others from both sides were
injured, local sources of Zakha Khel confirmed. Many prisoners,
who were kept for extortion money, fled from the private jails
of the LI when the two sides fought each other, a source in Malik
Deen Khel tribe in Kata Koshata informed.
11 soldiers were
injured when a convoy of SFs was ambushed with a remote-controlled
device in the Akakhel area of Khyber Agency.
At least two persons
were killed and three others were injured in a remote-controlled
bomb explosion in Kushak area of Kohlu District in Balochistan.
Two persons were
injured when unidentified assailants opened fire at a NATO container
in Wadh area of Khuzdar District.
One person injured
in the bid to explode the car of Badhber Qaumi Lashkar
(community militia) leader in Sulemankhel area on the outskirts
of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Source
said that vice-president of the Badhber Qaumi Lashkar, Mukamil
Shah, who is also a leader of Awami National Party, just passed
through the area when the blast occurred. He escaped unhurt, he
source added. Another motorcar, passing through the area, was
damaged in the blast, he said. The driver identified as Akbar
Khan received injuries.
Police arrested
two suspected militants and recovered a truck packed with explosive
materials in the jurisdiction of the Chamkani Police Station.
The recovered explosives include 2,250 safety fuses and 10,000
detonators. The arrested persons were identified as Dawood of
Kamar Bara and Khursheed of Kachori.
|
April 3
|
At least 41 persons
were killed and more than 100 injured when two suicide bombers
blew themselves up outside the shrine of Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan,
popularly known as Sakhi Sarwar, in Dera Ghazi Khan District of
Punjab. TTP claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings. "Our
men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation
for Government operations against our people in the northwest,"
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said.
Two accomplices
of suicide bombers were arrested. The detainees included a suspected
suicide bomber identified as Fida Hussain, a 15 year-old Afghan
refugee from FATA.
Ten TTP militants,
including five top ranking ‘commanders’, were killed during an
encounter SFs in Tor Chapar village of Darra Adamkhel in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The slain ‘commanders’ were identified as Qari Ikramullah,
‘second in command’ of TTP Amir for Darra Adamkhel and Khyber
Agency Sarfraz Ayubi, Qari Mubeen, Qari Javed and Abdul Manan.
SFs killed seven
LI militants through gunship helicopter shelling in the Tirah
Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
The factional clash
between Mangal Bagh-led LI volunteers and their opposition force,
led by commander Toti Khan turns a new turn when the Ansarul Islam
joined the Zakha Khel tribe’s militants in Mira Kholey.
Earlier on April
2, it was reported that four militants, including LI opposition
force ‘commander’ identified as Toti Khan, were killed. Toti Khan
belongs to Zakha Khel tribe. Ansarul Islam militants attacked
a secret jail of Lashkar-e-Islam and rescued 20 persons who had
been abducted by LI from Peshawar and Khyber Agency for ransom.
Clashes between
the two militants groups were reported in other parts of the Khyber
Agency as well. The clashes between the Zakhakhel tribe and the
LI begun after the LI killed Maulana Muhammad Hashim, a tribe
member. The tribe is demanding that LI hand over those militants
who were responsible for the abduction and subsequent killing
of Maulana Hashim.
The voluntary repatriation
of internally displaced families from the conflict-hit Bajaur
and Mohmand Agency will start from April 11. The FATA Disaster
Management Authority said that the programme of voluntary return
would continue till May 20. However, officials said that none
of the 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.
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.
Three dead bodies
of BRP leaders were found in Pash-Bogi area, 30 kilometres off
Dera Bugti District. The dead bodies were identified as Khatiran
Bugti, Ghulam Qadir and Pir Jan.
Chairman of the
Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP) said that as many as
121 bullet-riddled bodies have been recovered from different parts
of Balochistan in the past eight months.
Two persons, including
an activist of the ANP and the younger brother of Sunni Tehreek
activist were killed in Karachi. Police found body of ANP local
leader Nasarullah Niazi in a gunny bag from Bihar Colony, Lyari,
within the limits of Chakiwara Police Station.
The CID claimed
to have arrested a Lashkar-e-Balochistan (LeB) militant Abdul
Qadir Kalmati alias Raketi while he was planting explosives at
the Garden Police Headquarters in Karachi. A raid at a place near
the Kathore Mor led the Police to the goldmine of weapons, where
they found 107 dynamite sticks, four electronic detonators, an
anti-tank mine, a BM rocket and 10 remote-control switches.
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 PPP against the dismissal
of a high up on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
|
April 4
|
A teenage suicide bomber killed
an anti-TTP lashkar leader, Muhammad Akbar (55), and seven
other persons near a bus terminal in the Jandol town of Lower
Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two workers of the ASWJ, formerly
known as SSP, were shot dead near Liaquatabad underpass in the
limits of the Liaquatabad Police Station of Karachi. The slain
activists were identified Abu Hashim (28) and Zubair.
Dushmankhel tribe chief, Sardar
Amanuddin Mehsood, was killed in Wana, the head quarter of South
Waziristan Agency, in FATA. According to sources, unidentified
militants had abducted him two months ago and his body was found
near the Shewkai Narai area of Wana.
The death toll in April 3 Sakhi
Sarwar shrine blasts rose to 49 when eight of the injured died
at the Dera Ghazi Khan District Head Quarter Hospital in Punjab.
Intelligence agencies arrested
three persons, identified as Mati Jan Afghan, Abdullah and Ustad
Fasehullah, in connection with the Dera Ghazi Khan Sakhi Sarwar
twin suicide blasts from Chakri Interchange in Rawalpindi. All
three of them suspected to be linked with TTP.
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.
Another al Qaeda-affiliated outfit
based in the same region and led by veteran militant leader Ilyas
Kashmiri too is in the process of creating several small cells
to cause confusion and for the division of labour. The HuJI was
converted to al Qaeda’s 313 Brigade and then renamed as Lashkar-e-Zil.
|
April 5
|
Three ‘commanders’ of LI were
killed in fighting with Zakhakhel lashkar in Tirah valley
of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said that the lashkar killed
Khan Zakhakhel, the suspected head of the LI execution squad,
along with his family after torching his house on the second day
of fighting. The sources claimed that Khan Zakhakhel carried out
executions on the orders of Mangal Bagh.
Two militants belonging to TTP
were killed when TTP and Ansarul Islam exchanged heavy fire in
Peer Mela Zakha Khel area in Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. Three
other TTP militants were also arrested by the Ansarul Islam.
A TTP ‘commander’, Noor Mohammad
Khwaidadkhel, and his bodyguard, Fazl Mahmood, were killed and
two civilians injured when unidentified assailants opened fire
at a weekly festival in Baggun village of Kurram Agency.
Two government schools and a basic
health unit were blown up in different areas of Haleemzai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency.
A farmer, Dilawar Khan, was killed
when a rocket fired by militants at a military checkpost exploded
in a field in Akhorwal area of Darra Adam Khel in Kohat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The bomb disposal squad neutralised
a mortar recovered near Gulu Bera on a roadside in Junglekhel
town.
A NATO container driver, identified
as Abdul Hameed, was injured when unidentified assailants opened
fire on the container in Wadh area of Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
A new White House Report warned
that Pakistan still has no clear path to triumph over insurgents,
and said Afghanistan’s Taliban was turning more and more to soft
civilian targets. The semi-annual White House Report to Congress
is designed to judge progress or otherwise towards key objectives
of the war in Afghanistan and operations against al Qaeda in Pakistan,
now nearly a decade old.
|
April 6
|
Four children were killed and
three others injured when an explosive device planted near a pond
in Jerma village of Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa went
off.
Three children and a woman were
killed and another woman was injured when a shell hit the house
of one Toor Mulla in Selai area of Bezai tehsil in Mohmand
Agency of FATA.
Four Frontier Corps (FC) personnel
were injured in a remote-controlled explosion in Mashky area of
Awaran District. According to details, an FC convoy was heading
towards Khuzdar from Mashky when it hit an IED near Nokjo.
Unidentified assailants hurled
a hand grenade at a house in Goth Faiz Muhammad, in the limits
of the Mir Hassan Levies Police Station in Chattar tehsil
of Dera Murad Jamali.
Two NATO oil tankers were set
on fire by unidentified terrorists near the Qamabari Bridge in
Dhaddar of Bolan District.
Police arrested a TTP militant,
involved in several bomb blasts in Islamabad and Azad Kashmir,
from outskirts of Islamabad. Police sources said that Faisal Shabbir
Abbasi belonged to the Hakimullah Mehsud’s faction of the TTP.
The use of terror groups such
as LeT by Inter Services Intelligence came in for a lambasting
at the House of Representatives during a hearing on foreign policy
priorities and needs amidst economic challenges in South Asia.
In a well-attended hearing at the Rayburn Building on Capitol
Hill, members of the Congress pressed top Obama administration
officials on the core question of why, after USD 20 billion had
been pumped into Pakistan over the last decade and over a billion
dollars had been supplied under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, anti-American
sentiment in Pakistan was still so strong.
The Barack Obama administration
is offering USD five million for information leading to the Ilyas
Kashmiri, described as ‘chief ‘of al Qaeda's shadow army, Lashkar-e-Zil.
A statement encouraged anyone with information about Kashmiri’s
location to contact a US embassy or consulate, an American military
commander or the US government’s "Rewards for Justice"
office. The State Department said that Ilyas Kashmiri earlier
lead the HuJI.
Expressing apprehension that the
United States is being "taken for suckers" and "looked at as patsies"
by Pakistan, two American lawmakers called for strengthening ties
with India even as a White House report gave a harshly critical
assessment of Islamabad's effort to defeat extremism. "After 10
years of hearing the same sales pitch I tend to doubt it. I doubt
that our money is buying anything that's deep or durable," New
York Congressman Gary Ackerman said at a hearing.
His California colleague Dana
Rohrabacher went even further back to frame the situation in a
historical context. "I've been hearing that for 50 years. And
I will tell you, a realistic relationship, rather than basing
the relationship on wishful thinking, is what will bring about
peace in that part of the world. What we've had is wishful thinking
and what I call irrational optimism," he said at a hearing called
to assess U.S foreign policy priorities in South Asia.
|
April 7
|
Fifty militants and four SFs personnel
were killed in bombings and clashes in different areas of Mohmand
Agency of FATA. During the second phase of Operation Brekhna
(lightning) in militant-infested areas along the Afghanistan border,
SFs backed by warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery pounded
militant hideouts in Suran Darra, Mosakhel, Bahadar Kalley, Matai,
Shinwari and Ghalingar areas of Bezai and Safi tehsils (revenue
unit).
At least six militants were killed
when SFs pounded their hideouts with artillery shelling in Darra
Adamkhel town of Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
One person was killed while 19
others were injured in a low intensity blast outside the country’s
largest video CDs market ‘Rainbow Centre’ in Saddar Town of Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
A suicide attack at the house
of DIG Investigations, Wazir Nasir Khan, in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan killed two persons, including the bomber
and a Police Constable. Sources said that the attacker entered
the Residential colony of Police officers early in the morning
at around 8am, in an explosive laden car which he rammed into
the house of DIG Investigations.
A man, identified as Meskin Awan
(50), was killed in a hand grenade attack near Chaman rail crossing
on Jaffar Khan Jamali Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of
Balochistan.
Four persons were injured when
unidentified assailants opened fire on a NATO oil tanker in the
Rabi Canal area of Dera Murad Jamali in Nasirabad District.
Pakistan rejected the highly critical
US White House report of its efforts to defeat Taliban and al
Qaeda fighters, saying it would not be held accountable for US-led
failures in Afghanistan. "I would like to categorically state
that we do not share the assessment of the US," Foreign Ministry’s
spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told reporters at a weekly briefing
in response to a question on the White House document.
|
April 8
|
Two tribesmen and an Afghan national
were killed on charges of spying for United States in two separate
places in North Waziristan Agency of FATA. Sources said that the
dead body of Aziz, an Afghan national, was found near Nowrek village
in Mir Ali tehsil and those of two local tribesmen, Inayatullah
and Shah Wali, were spotted in Pir Kali area near Miramshah.
A person, identified as Abdul
Hameed, was killed and 15 others, including nine FC personnel,
were injured in a remote controlled blast in Chitkan Bazaar area
of Panjgur District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants blew up
a power pylon of 220KV transmission line in Lehri area of Sibi
District. Bomb Disposal Squad recovered 20 kilogrammes of explosive
materials from another power pylon in the same area.
A person suspected to have links
with Afghan Taliban was arrested along with explosives during
search of the Quetta-bound Chaman passenger train at the Chaman
railway station.
The SHO Shoba Police Station Abdul
Satar and his security guard Husnain were injured in a powerful
bomb explosion at Rehman Colony in Shoba Bazaar area of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Crime Investigation Department
of Sindh Police arrested two suspected militants belonging to
the Qari Shakeel group of TTP from Sohrab Goth of Karachi, the
provincial capital of Sindh. The arrested militants were identified
as Shahid alias Goli and Mohammad Sharif alias Malang.
Umar Fidayee (14), the teenage
suicide bomber who was arrested as an accomplice to suicide attackers
of the shrine of Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan, popularly known as Sakhi
Sarwar, in Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab on April 3, confessed
that up to 400 suicide bombers are being trained in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
|
April 9
|
SFs killed seven militants in
Matta area of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to
sources, militants were trying to force their way into the Matta
area, when SFs opened fire in retaliation, killed seven militants.
A police official, identified
as Head Constable Javed Iqbal, and another man, Jan Mohammad,
were shot dead in Musa Colony of Sariab Road area in Quetta of
Balochistan in the night.
Two more decomposed bodies of
missing persons were recovered in Tasp area of Panjgur District
in Balochistan. Sources said that both the victims had been shot
in the head multiple times.
One Army official died in a clash
with militants in Saafi area of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
30 suspected militants were arrested
and five land mines were also neutralised by the SFs in Saafi
area.
Three suspected militants were
arrested by SFs from the Civil Lines Police Station of Lahore
in Punjab. Explosives and other items were recovered from their
possession.
A total of 3,169 people have been
killed and 6,540 others injured in 2,488 terrorist attacks in
Pakistan and PoK during the past three years, Interior Minister
Rehman Malik said in a written reply to a question in the Senate
or upper house of Parliament. Rehman Malik said that 1,579 people
were killed in 2008-09 while another 1,590 lost their lives in
2009-10. There were 1,157 acts of terrorism during 2008-09 and
1,331 incidents of terror during 2009-10. The rest of the incidents
occurred 2011 year. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bore the brunt
of suicide attacks, which killed 1,524 people in the region. Punjab
recorded 605 deaths, Sindh 134, Islamabad 125 and Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir 11.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that regional cooperation and trans-national linkages are essential
for effectively fighting terrorism and South Asian countries have
a collective responsibility to frame strategies to rid the region
of militancy. President Asif Ali Zardari made the remarks during
a meeting with visiting SAARC Secretary General Fathimath Dhiyana
Saeed.
|
April 10
|
Four LI militants including a
‘commander’ were killed during the clash with the members of Zakhakhel
lashkar in Bazaar Zakhakhel area in Tirah Valley of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
Two SFs personnel were killed
and seven others injured when militants ambushed the convoy in
Baizai tehsil of Mohmand Agency. Officials said that SFs
were engaged in a search operation in Suran Darra area of Baizai
when they came under attack.
Behram Khan, the main accused
of plotting twin suicide attacks on Syed Sakhi Sarwar’s shrine
near Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab on April 3, was arrested
from Gharigaal area of Mamond District in Bajaur Agency along
with five other associates.
Atleast hundred families have
migrated from Bazaar Zakhakhel area in Tirah Valley of Khyber
Agency to safer places due to fresh clashes between Zakhakhel
tribe and LI. Amid the intense gunbattle between Zakhakhel lashkar
and Mangal Bagh-led LI, locals have started migrating to safer
places in Landikotal, Jamrud and Peshawar via Ali Masjid route.
Mehboobul Haq-led Ansarul Islam is also backing the Zakhakhel
lashkar in Maidan, Sanda Pal and other areas in Tirah Valley.
Unidentified militants blew up
a natural gas supply pipeline in Loti of Dera Bugti District.
Terrorists based in Pakistan do
not want the country to normalise its relations with India, says
Pakistani Ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani. In a seminar at the
Harvard University, Ambassador Haqqani also described the Sub-continent’s
partition as "the worst divorce" in history and urged
both India and Pakistan to work together to reduce tensions.
|
April 11 |
MQM-H Vice-Chairman Akhtar Hussain
and three others, including a passerby woman, were gunned down
while at least three others were injured in an incident of target
killing within the limits of Ferozabad Police Station in Karachi.
The incident occurred at Tariq Road traffic signal when MQM-H
(Afaq group) VC and other party's workers were returning from
the Central Jail after visiting Afaq Ahmed.
Three militants and a Policeman
were killed and another official sustained injuries in a clash
at Jamrud Road of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
CCPO Liaquat Ali said that a police party led by ASI Sajid Iqbal
Khan was on a routine patrol when militants ambushed their vehicle
near Hayatabad Industrial Estate at about 2am.
Police neutralised a bomb planted
outside the residence of Jamaat-i-Islami provincial General Secretary
Shabir Ahmed Khan in Afghan Colony under Faqirabad Police Station
of Peshawar.
Three people, including a religious
cleric, were killed and 13 others, including a woman and children,
were injured in a landmine explosion in Kanrakai area of Kurram
Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants blew up
two power transmission towers in Qayum Abad and Bayankhel areas
of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
Army jet fighters and helicopter
gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts in Baizai and Safi
tehsils. The artillery also targeted militant positions in Mattani
and Suran Darra. However, no casualty was reported.
Three FC personnel, including
a Major, were injured when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive
device planted along with Khysar Bridge in Naushki District of
Balochistan. A passer-by, identified as Ghulam Yasin, was also
injured in the blast. A spokesman for the Baloch Republican Army
claimed responsibility for the blast.
A trooper was injured when a landmine
exploded in Neligh area of Dera Bugti District.
A 26 inch diameter pipeline, supplying
gas to Guddu power station from Sui, blew up near Guddu in Kashmore
District of Sindh.
A Pakistan-born computer engineer,
Farooque Ahmed (35), sentenced to 23 years in prison by a US court
after he pleaded guilty to charges that he tried to assist suspected
members of al Qaeda in planning bombings at Metro rail stations
in the Washington area.
The JuD 'chief' Hafiz Mohammad
Saeed made a rare public appearance in Islamabad to lead the funeral
prayers for Kashmiri leader Maulvi Showkat Ahmed Shah, killed
in Srinagar, and used the occasion to rubbish the India-Pakistan
cricket diplomacy while vowing for a "jihad" in Jammu and Kashmir.
The US is committed to improving
its relationship with Pakistan, despite tensions over the shooting
deaths of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor, said US Ambassador
to Pakistan Cameron Munter. Speaking at a seminar titled "Pakistan-US:
A Way Forward", jointly organised by the Institute of Strategic
Studies Islamabad and the US embassy, Munter spoke of a "renewal"
in Pakistan-US relations and noted America's many humanitarian
programmes in the country.
|
April 12 |
Eight militants were killed and
12 others injured when jet fighters, helicopter gunships and artillery
pounded their hideouts in Mattani, Suran Darra, Wali Dad Kor,
Ghanam Shah and Sheikh Baba villages in Baizai and Safi tehsils
of Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants blew off
Bacha Khan Education Foundation middle school at Khuga Khel in
Shinwari area of Landikotal in Khyber Agency in the night. However,
no human loss has been reported in the blast.
Militants who were driven out
by the 'spring cleaning operation' of FC in the FR of Peshawar
in February 2010 are returning to their old strongholds. "Militants
fleeing the ongoing operation in Tor Sapari area of FR Kohat have
moved back to Maroofkhel, Tauda Cheena, Pakhi Parizi and Aka Khel
areas bordering the Peshawar District, FR Peshawar and Khyber
Agency," said the sources.
Three MQM activists and one ANP
supporter were shot dead in two different incidents of target
killings in Karachi. Police officials said unidentified assailants
on a motorcycle appeared in Mehmoodabad Gate and opened fire on
three MQM workers when they were collecting data for the ongoing
census, resultantly all three died shortly after the firing. The
victims were identified as Syed Asif Ali (44), Muhammad Naeem
(42), and Muneer Ahmed (56).
A supporter of ANP was killed
and another was injured in a firing incident in Gulistan-e-Jauhar
area. The deceased was identified as Shamsul Haq and injured as
Ali.
Two civilians, identified as Imran
and Nazir, were injured when militants fired about a dozen rockets
at Thall Fort in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A high ranking US General, Admiral
Robert Willard, Head of the US military's Pacific Command, expressed
concern to Congress about the expanding reach of the LeT, warning
it was no longer solely focused on India or even South Asia. LeT,
one of the largest and best-funded extremist militant outfits
in the region is blamed for the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai,
which killed 166 people in India's commercial capital.
|
April 13 |
Only a day after a four-hour meeting
between the heads of ISI and the CIA of the United States held
to reset strained ties between the two agencies, missiles fired
by US drones killed seven suspected militants and injured four
others near Angoor Adda in SWA of FATA.
Pakistan lodged a protest with
the United States over the Angoor Adda drone attack, describing
the continued drone raids as a 'core irritant' in counter-terrorism
cooperation. "Pakistan strongly condemns the drone attack at Angoor
Adda today.
The timing of the latest attack
is also being seen as meaningful because it took place at a time
when ISI Chief General Shuja Pasha was on his way home from Washington
after talks with his counterpart, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta.
General Pasha had called for limiting the scope of drone attacks
to North Waziristan as a precondition for reviving the stalled
counter-terrorism cooperation.
A Washington Post report quoting
US defence officials have claimed that there is no plan to suspend
or restrict the CIA's drone campaign in Pakistan, and that the
agency has not been asked to pull any of its employees out of
Pakistan.
Seven more people, including four
MQM workers and one ANP activist, were killed in separate incidents
of target killings that continued to plague Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. Unidentified assailants shot dead three MQM
workers and injured another person at an estate agency near Mohajir
Chowk in Orangi Town. The dead were identified as Habib (33),
Waqas (24), and Zaheer (44) while injured was identified as Irfan.
A MQM activist, Shahbaz Rafiq
(45) and an ANP worker, Hazratullah, were shot dead in Sohrab
Goth.
A passerby was killed when unidentified
assailants attacked the ANP ward office with heavy gunshots.
A driver, Barkatullah (45), was
shot dead near Saba Cinema in New Karachi. Police said the victim
was a Pakhtoon speaking.
Five officials of BDS received
injuries while defusing a 500 kilograms explosive device near
Sardaryab area of Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested four TTP 'commanders'
during a raid in Maskini Darra of Lower Dir District. The four
TTP 'commanders' were identified as Nimatullah, Umar Bacha, Saifur
Rahman and Abu Bakar.
Unidentified militants blew up
a natural gas supply pipeline in the Loti gas field in Dera Bugti
District of Balochistan.
Pakistani authorities refuted
the Chilean Police's claim of having arrested the brother of JeM
'chief' Maulana Masood Azhar, accused of coordinating the hijacking
of an Indian Airlines plane on December 24, 1999, saying the Chilean
authorities had nabbed someone else.
JuD said that it will give new
talks with India a chance but had little faith they will succeed
and believe it is only a matter of time before they will have
to fight again. For now, many of them are engaged in peaceful
pursuits such as small businesses, teaching or social welfare,
and they face severe Pakistani restrictions on crossing LoC separating
Azad Kashmir (PoK) and Indian held Kashmir.
|
April 14 |
At least 18 militants were killed
and another 25 injured in clashes with SFs in Baizai and Safi
tehsils of Mohamad Agency in FATA. Two soldiers were killed
and 10 others injured in the clashes.
Six persons, including two activists
each of the MQM and the ANP, were killed ongoing wave of target
killings in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
The Sindh Law and Parliamentary
Minister Mohammad Ayaz Soomro has condemned the act of terrorism
in Karachi and described it a conspiracy hatched by anti-democratic
and criminal elements against the present Government.
Religious leader Maulana Abdul
Kabir Qadri Qambrani and a student of his seminary, Dur Khan,
were killed and his son and another student were injured in an
attack in the Sariab Road area of Quetta.
Unidentified militants blew up
Khobai Educational Academy, a private high school, in Khobai area
of Shabqadar tehsil in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two suspected militants from France
have been arrested in Pakistan after meeting a man accused of
having ties to al Qaeda, officials said. The French men, who have
not been identified publicly, were arrested at a bus stop in Lahore
(Punjab) in January 25 after going there from the airport with
a man identified as Tahir Shehzad, a Pakistani intelligence official
said. Information from Shehzad led authorities to Umar Patek,
an Indonesian al Qaeda-linked suspect detained on January 25,
the official said.
COAS, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani,
appreciated the support extended by tribal elders in the war against
terrorism, an ISPR press release reported. Addressing the tribal
elders during his visit to Ghulam Khan in NWA and Peshawar, he
acknowledged their sacrifices in war against terrorism.
A total of 957 civilians were
killed in American drone attacks in the country 2010, the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan said in its annual report. Report
said that terrorist attacks in Pakistan left 2,542 people dead
and 5,062 others injured in 2010. "Target killings" in the country's
port city of Karachi saw the death of 237 political activists
while in the southwestern province of Balochistan, at least 118
people were killed, the report said.
Pakistan would back a plan to
allow the Taliban to open a political office in Turkey to help
with talks to end the war in Afghanistan, a Pakistani official
said during a visit by President Asif Ali Zardari to Ankara. "We
have no reservations for such an office to be opened," the official
said, on condition of anonymity. "We are not against it. As long
as there's ownership from the Afghanistan people and the Afghanistan
Government we will not oppose it," the official added.
|
April 15 |
Two SFs personnel and a militant
were killed during a clash when a group of militants attacked
a security post in Khapyanga area of Kurram Agency in FATA. The
deceased SFs personnel were identified as Wasim Khan and Hakeem
Khan.
A Government-run primary school
was partially damaged when an explosive device planted by unidentified
militants went off in Sholwai area of Malakand District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Supply of natural gas to the purification
plant was suspended on April 15 after unidentified militants blew
up a pipeline in Loti gas field area of Dera Bugti District.
Iran is building a concrete fence
all along its 700-kilometres long border with Pakistan to stop
cross-border movements of terrorists, Iran's Defence Minister
Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said. The three feet thick and
10 feet high fence, built with concrete and fortified by steel
rods, will span the impenetrable mountainous terrain in south
eastern Iran, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said.
The European Parliament rebuked
Pakistan for the slow progress in the fight against militancy
in the country and directed the European Commission to appropriate
financial aid to Islamabad based on its sincere efforts to eradicate
terrorist groups. The European Union Parliament issued two declarations
reprimanding Pakistan about the dangers posed by the Taliban and
calling for urgent measures for the security of the European Union
(EU).
Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza
Gilani, while strongly condemning drone attacks on April 14, said
that they were counter-productive in law enforcement operations
against terrorists. Talking to Haji Muneer Ahmad Orakzai, a MNA
from FATA, Gilani said that the issue was being raised at all
forums to convey Pakistan's concerns to NATO forces.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton voiced understanding for talks with the Taliban as she
mourned late diplomat Richard Holbrooke, an avid proponent of
reconciliation in Afghanistan. At a memorial service, Clinton
credited Holbrooke with setting the troubled US relationships
with Pakistan and Afghanistan on the right track as special envoy
to the countries.
The CIA has no plans to suspend
"operations" in Pakistan against terror suspects despite objections
from leaders in Islamabad, a US official said on condition of
anonymity. "Pakistan has criticised missile strikes by US drone
aircraft in its tribal belt, but CIA Director Leon Panetta has
told intelligence officials that he has a duty to prevent attacks
on the United States," official said.
The News quoting an unnamed
US official reported that the CIA has established its own spy
network in Pakistan. According to the US official, the CIA established
its spy network in Pakistan's tribal areas during the last two
years.
A top Washington think tank, Institute
for Science and International Security (ISIS), has argued that
recent examples of nuclear industry goods being smuggled from
the United States to Pakistan highlight the need for closer monitoring
and raise questions about how an ostensible "ally" of the U.S.
could be involved in this illicit trade. Speaking to The Hindu
David Albright, President and founder of the ISIS said the "U.S.
Government and the nuclear industry need to be working closer
together" if such smuggling rings were to be detected.
|
April 16 |
Targeted killings claimed eight
more lives, including that of activists of the MQM, ANP, MQM-H
and a police officer, in different parts of the provincial capital
of Sindh, Karachi.
Three TTP militants and a trooper
were killed during an encounter in Tangi Badinzai area of Laddah
tehsil in SWA of FATA in the night. The militants attacked
a checkpoint in Tangi Badinzai area, killing a member of security
forces and injuring two others.
The bullet-riddled body of an
assistant sub-inspector (ASI), identified as Muhammad Hamid Baloch,
was found in Bhawani area on the RCD Highway in Lasbela District
of Balochistan. No group has claimed the responsibility for the
killing so far.
Unidentified militants blew up
a gas pipeline in Pir Koh area of Dear Bugti District, forcing
the suspension of supply to a gas purification plant.
Unidentified assailants set ablaze
a tanker, carrying fuel supplies for NATO troops stationed in
Afghanistan, on the National Highway in the limits of the Sadar
Levies Station of Dera Murad Jamali town.
Federal minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that drone attacks cannot be stopped we are trying
to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels.
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed
on the formation of a joint commission to carry forward the reconciliation
process, following the withdrawal of foreign troops from the insurgency-torn
country. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai, who held exhaustive talks here at the
Presidential Palace in Kabul, described the parleys as "historic",
saying that "the two countries stand together as they have shared
destinies."
|
April 17 |
Three persons, including two Policemen,
were shot dead in incidents of target killing in separate parts
of the provincial capital of Sindh, Karachi. A Sub-Inspector (SI),
Zulfiqar Qaimkhani (40), was shot dead in New Karachi Police Lane
within the limits of New Karachi Police Station.
A Head Constable of Sukkhun Police
Station, Ali Bux (35), was shot dead on National Highway in the
limits of Shah Latif Police Station. Ali Bux was the resident
of Hassan Panhwar Goth of Bin Qasim Town.
Police found a bullet-riddled
dead body of an unidentified person from sector 11-A, in front
of Nadeem Avenue under Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Police Station in
North Karachi.
A Government primary school for
boys was blown up by unidentified militants in Speen Kani Khurd
street near the shrine of Sufi saint Kaka Sahib in the limits
of Nowshera Kalan Police Station of Nowshera District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
At least 600 IDPs families of
SWA will return home during the third phase of the repatriation
programme starting on April 30. These people belong to Berwand
and Maula Khan Serai areas of SWA. Some 900 families comprising
6,133 individuals returned to their homes in the first two phases
of the repatriation plan.
Hundreds of cadres of Hizbut Tehrir,
a banned outfit, successfully held a rally outside Liaquat Bagh
in Rawalpindi. The activists called for replacing the present
Government system in the country with caliphate (an Islamic political
system). They raised slogans like "Say no to democracy", "We welcome
Khilafah", "Kufar nahi Islam chahiey" (We want Islam, not secularism).
The United States will fail if
Pakistan does not succeed in its war against terrorism, Prime
Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said during an interview to Russian
State-run news agency Novosti. Terming terrorism an international
issue and highlighting Pakistan's status as a front-line state,
Prime Minister Gilani said that US "has now realised that Pakistan
is not part of the problem, but it can play an important role
in efforts to solve this problem".
The Khyber Agency-based militant
outfit AI claimed that Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) 'chief' Mangal Bagh
has fled across the border into Afghanistan. The claim was made
at a news conference in the Peshawar Cantonment, just a stone's
throw from the offices of the Khyber Agency political administration.
AI 'senior commander' Haji Akhunzada Kamarkhel and 'spokesperson'
Qari Mehboob Khan told reporters that Mangal Bagh and his associates
have fled to Afghanistan in the face of growing public opposition,
which resulted from the constant vigilantism and repression of
LI. "Bagh has taken shelter with Amin Shah Shinwari, a local drug
baron in the Nazyan Shinwari area of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan,"
they added.
The suicide attacks are haram
and totally against the teachings of Islam, and the suicide bombers
are the enemies of Islam and Pakistan, speakers at a meeting organised
by Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in Islamabad said. Addressing 'Istehkaam-e-Pakistan
Sunni Conference' at Minar-e-Pakistan, SIC Chairman Sahibzada
Haji Muhammad Fazal Karim condemned the terrorist attacks in the
country, especially at mosques and shrines of Sufis, and called
for open trial of terror suspects.
|
April 18 |
At least four persons, two security
guards and two labourers, were killed in separate incidents in
Chamalang area of Loralai District and Barkhan Districts of Balochistan.
In the first incident, an explosion took place when two personnel
of the Marri SFs deputed near Chamalang coalfield stepped on a
landmine placed on a non-metal road in Surgari area. Both the
security guards received critical splinter wounds and died on
the spot.
Unidentified militants opened
fire at a camp set up by a construction company in Dada Shah Mehmood
area of Barkhan District, resulting in the death of two workers,
identified as Muhammad Bakhsh and Sajjad Ahmed, and injuring two
others.
Two persons were killed in incidents
of target killings in different parts of Karachi. A MQM activist,
identified as Mirza Imran Baig was shot dead in Rizwan Society,
Gulshan-e-Iqbal area in the jurisdiction of Sacchal Police Station
in Karachi.
In another incident, an activist
of the PPP, identified as Asghar was shot dead while another,
Ahmed Ali was injured in Orangi Town within the limits of Pakistan
Bazar Police Station.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on the house of MQM's joint in-charge Central Information
Committee (CIC) Saif Abbas in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area within the
limits of Gulberg Police Station. However, no casualties were
reported.
Sindh Police claimed to have arrested
five alleged target killers involved in the recent spate of target
killings through separate encounters and the Police recovered
one Kalashnikov and three 9mm pistols from their possessions.
According to CID Police, four target killers were arrested after
a brief encounter within the remits of Eidgah Police Station.
The arrested were identified as Owais Baloch, Zahid, Liaquat and
Shah Jahan.
New Karachi town Police claimed
to have arrested a target killer, one Waqas, who belonged to the
MQM-H in the limits of Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Police Station and
recovered 30 bore pistols from his possession. Waqas confessed
during initial course of interrogation that he targeted three
MQM activists in Mehmoodabad and three others at Mominabad area
after the killing of his party leader Akhter Hussain.
Two militants were killed and
one SF sustained injuries during clashes in Koz Chamarkand area
of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants shot dead
a tribesman, identified as Imdad Hussain, in Hewas village of
Kurram Agency.
SFs arrested a commander, identified
as Abdul Akbar, of TTP Chapter of Orakzai Agency belonging to
Hakeemullah Mehsud group along with his accomplice from a clinic
in Frontier Region Kohat.
An ATC sentenced to death one
Maqsood alias Soodi who killed two Christian brothers accused
of blasphemy on July 7, 2010.
Police arrested a militant, identified
as Behram who allegedly masterminded suicide attacks on the shrine
of Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab on April
3. Behram confessed to the investigators that Ayub, a resident
of Bajaur Agency in FATA planned to kill those worshipping graves.
A resolution adopted unanimously
by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly demanded immediate halt to
US drone attacks in FATA. 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.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani urged the
US to end its drone strikes in Pakistan and said that Washington
should share intelligence better to allow the country to wage
its own war on terror. While speaking in the National Assembly,
Gilani said that the issue of drone strikes was discussed in detail
during his meeting with US House Speaker John Boehner and that
he appraised Boehner about the growing unrest among the public
due to the US unmanned aerial strikes.
Pakistan's Finance Minister dismissed
the report that his country is a major recipient of tens of billions
of dollars in US aid and termed it as "a myth". Shaikh said in
Washington that the US had not delivered what it promised under
the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Law aid package, which is meant to provide
USD 7.5 billion in civilian aid over five years. The law passed
in 2009, authorized USD 1.5 billion a year. "There is a perception
that there is a lot of money going to Pakistan," Shaikh said,
adding, "It is largely a myth that Pakistan is a beneficiary of
tens of billions of dollars. The truth is that in the Kerry-Lugar-Berman
arrangement this year we have not even received $300 million".
The CoAS General Ashfaq Pervez
Kayani said that troops deputed in Balochistan would return to
their barracks soon and no operation would be carried out in the
province without a permission of the Provincial Government. The
CoAS claimed that not even a single Army unit was conducting any
operation in Balochistan, adding that only two battalions were
present in Sui area of the province. Balochistan chief minister
was responsible for maintaining law and order in the province,
remarked Kayani, adding that the troops would be pulled out and
then responsibility would be taken over by the Balochistan FC.
|
April 19 |
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a doctor, identified as Mumtaz Haider, who was abducted on March
28 was found in Killi Kamalo area on Saryab Road in Quetta, the
Provincial capital of Balochistan.
Suspected militants targeted the
offices of two NGO, Tehrik and Mehak with a car bomb, injuring
three people, including a Security Guard, on Al-Gilani Street
in Quetta. According to Police reports it was a remote-controlled
bomb that targeted the offices of two NGOs, which operate with
local and foreign help to promote education and creating health
awareness in Balochistan.
Two persons on a motorcycle were
injured in a landmine blast that took place in Jani Berri area
of Sui tehsil in Dera Bugti District.
A cadre of the MQM-H, identified
as Amir Ahmed, was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Jewellers
Market in Korangi within the limits of Awami Colony Police Station
in Karachi, the Provincial capital of Sindh. According to the
Sindh Home Ministry, 500 murders have taken place during 2011,
while 114 lives have been lost due to target killing. Meanwhile,
police claimed to have arrested five persons involved in target
killings.
The roofs of three rooms of the
Civil Lines Police Station in Faisalabad District of Punjab collapsed
when the explosive material seized from a militant named Usman
exploded accidentally, injuring a constable.
Police claimed to have foiled
a potential terrorist attack in Faisalabad after arresting two
alleged terrorists, Asmatullah of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and Rehman of Dera Ghazi Khan District in Punjab, and seized 24
kilogrammes of explosive from their possession.
Fighter jets and helicopter gunships
bombed suspected militant hideouts in different areas, including
Suran Darra, Walidad Mena and Seem Ghakhi of Mohmand Agency in
FATA. However, no casualty was reported.
SFs neutralised four landmines
and recovered seven boxes of Kalashnikovs cartridges, 600 cartridges
of various calibres during search in Sheshmahal area of Pandyali
tehsil.
At least 80 militants, wanted
in various cases, surrendered before SFs in Safi tehsil.
A jirga of Masud Safi and
Dawaizi tribes in Mohmand Agency assured full cooperation to the
SFs and political administration and unanimously decided to impose
PKR two million fines and set ablaze the house of tribesman providing
shelter to militants in the area.
The interlocutors and guarantors
of Kurram peace deal will meet in Islamabad to chalk out a strategy
for recovery of 35 passengers, who were abducted from Thall-Parachinar
Road in March 26, 2011. They will discuss ways to salvage the
peace agreement that collapsed only after month it was put into
effect.
Lawmakers and tribal elders of
Kurram Agency unanimously decided in Islamabad to take up the
issue of 35 passengers abducted from Thall-Parachinar Road on
March 26, 2011, with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor besides pressing
the SFs for ensuring safety on the route.
US and Pakistani leaders agree
they cannot afford to let security ties unravel, the Chairman
of the US Joint Chiefs of Army Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said,
even as he acknowledged persistent strains, including alleged
Pakistani links to terrorists staging attacks in Afghanistan.
"We're working our way through the relationships that the ISI
has with the Haqqani network and the strain that that creates,"
Mullen said, even as he cited battlefield gains reducing the group's
mobility.
|
April 20 |
Nine militants and one SF personnel
were killed during a clash and shelling in different areas of
Mohmand Agency in FATA. In the first incident, the militants attacked
security personnel when they were advancing in Suran Darra area,
killing one SF and injuring five others. Later, the SFs retaliated,
with helicopter gunships and jet fighters targeting militant positions
in Suran Dara, Walidad Top and Matai areas, killing nine militants
and destroying several hideouts.
The TTP killed a truck driver
and his helper in Baizai town of Mohmand Agency for supplying
livestock to East Afghanistan province of Nangarhar.
Masked militants slit the throat
of a tribesman, identified as Malang Meerak, for assisting SFs
in Sheen Drang area of Bara tehsil (revenue unit) in Khyber
Agency.
A spokesman of militant outfit
LI contradicted the news about fleeing of their leader Mangal
Bagh to Afghanistan. Talking from an undisclosed place the LI
spokesman said that Mangal Bagh was still in Tirah valley leading
his volunteers against Zakhakhel lashkar and Ansarul Islam.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
a commercial market belonging to a Naib Subedar of the Levies
Force in Ferozkhel area of Lower Orakzai Agency causing a loss
of PKR eight million.
Elsewhere in the Khyber Agency,
SFs arrested five suspected LI militants, identified as Sher Rehman,
Mohammad Rehman, Gulmir Khan, Yaqub Khan and Qabil Shah, from
Landikotal Bazaar.
Four persons, including three
Shia men and a Policeman, were killed in incidents of target killings
in different parts of Karachi in Sindh. Three persons, including
son-in-law of Allama Hassan Turabi, were shot dead in the jurisdiction
of Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
A Policeman was shot dead in Jalbani
Goth in the limits of Malir City Police Station. Police Constable
Mohammad Ayub, 40, hailed from Chakwal in Punjab.
Special Investigation Unit (SIU)
claimed to have arrested a target killer, Tahir alias Rizvi, from
Orangi Town along with a TT pistol from his possession. The officer
informed that Tahir was involved in three murders committed in
the Manghopir area as well as recky and pointation of targets.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
an unidentified person was found in Choko area of Awaran District.
A professor, identified as Abdul
Hameed Mengal, of Engineering University in Khuzdar District was
abducted by unidentified assailants.
A man, Mohammad Ayub, was abducted
when he was on his way to his home.
TTP blew up a private FM radio
station in Umer Abad area of Parang Police Station in Charsadda
District by planting explosives around the building. However,
no loss of life was reported in the incident.
Militants blew up a Government
high school in Bosti Khel village of Darra Adamkhel town with
explosives. No loss of life was caused in the explosion.
Police arrested three assailants,
identified as Aamir, Shafi and Shabbir, suspected of target killings
in Karachi from Laskian area in Sargodha District.
Police arrested three Afghanistan
nationals, Liaquat, Badshah and Habib Noor, for illegal stay in
Fateh Jang area of Attock District under Foreign Act.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC)
indicted 21 persons, including Maulana Abdul Aziz, his wife Umme
Hassan, his daughter Tayyaba and other seminary students in a
case of the murder of a ranger's official on July 3, 2007 Red
Mosque operation. The accused pleaded not guilty and the Court
adjourned the hearing till May 3.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, in an interview with a private
TV channel in Islamabad on April 20 that Pakistan's external intelligence
agency, ISI, still has ties to militants fighting in Afghanistan,
during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on fence-mending
in the wake of diplomatic tensions. "The ISI has a long-standing
relationship with the Haqqani network. That doesn't mean everyone
in the ISI, but it's there", Admiral Mullen said.
Pakistan's perceived foot-dragging
in tackling strongholds in North Waziristan Agency in FATA belonging
to the Haqqani network and its continuing relationship with it
was 'the most difficult part' of the US-Pakistani relationship,
Mullen said in a separate interview. "Haqqani is supporting, funding,
training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition
partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make
sure that doesn't happen. So that's at the core - it's not the
only thing - but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult
part of the relationship," Mullen said.
An unnamed senior Pakistani intelligence
official told Reuters, "... If he means we're providing them with
protection, with help, that's not correct." Claiming that Pakistan
had attacked Haqqani's positions and raided his mosques in the
past, he added, "Right now, we are not attacking him because we
are fully engaged against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)."
The US will not abandon its drone
programme in Pakistan but how it goes forward is a matter for
the US, Pakistani intelligence and military officials to determine,
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a US
official said. "The programme is something that we have said we
go ahead on. The question is how. And that process is going to
be something that is going to be one of the main tasks that our
intel and our military guys have," the official said.
A Pakistani schoolboy, who failed
in his suicide bomb bid as his partner launched an attack at a
Pakistani shrine April 3, has spoken of the terror mission and
how he was brainwashed by the Taliban. "All I was thinking was
that I had to detonate myself near as many people as possible.
When I decided it was the right time, it was a moment of happiness
for me," the BBC quoted 14-year-old Umar Fidai, as saying.
|
April 21 |
At least 18 people were killed
and 41 sustained injuries in a powerful blast that ripped through
Rami Club building near Ghaas Mandi area of Lyari locality in
Karachi, the Provincial Capital of Sindh.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead three leaders of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mehaz (JSMM) party
at Bakhorri Mori area in Sanghar District. The dead were identified
as Sirai Qurban Khuhawar, Rooplo Cholyani and Noorullah Tunio.
JSMM Central Leader Hafeez Hakro alleged that the personnel of
Law Enforcement Agencies were involved in both the incidents of
killings, as the LEA accused JSMM of recent attacks on railways
lines.
A PPP activist, identified as
Noman Baig, was killed near his house in Rizwan Society, Gulshan-e-Iqbal
within the limits of Sachal Police Station in Karachi by unknown
armed assailants.
A bomb blast on the railway tracks
between Shahdadpur and Lundo railway station damaged one feet
piece of track suspending the traffic in the area.
The bodies of eight abducted passengers
who were abducted on March 26 were found in Shahidano Dhand area
of lower Kurram Agency FATA, were handed to elders of Turi tribes.
TTP in Baizai District of Mohmand
Agency killed a truck driver and his helper for supplying cattle
to Afghanistan. It was reported that around 20 terrorists armed
with automatic weapons opened fire on three trucks soon after
they entered the Baizai District dropping supplies across the
border in east Afghanistan.
Around 23 terrorists, including
some senior commanders of Mamoond tehsil of Bajaur Agency,
voluntarily surrendered to the SFs.
Top 'commander' of TTP Waliur
Rehman praised Mehsud tribe for not siding with the Government
against Taliban in the South Waziristan Agency. "We congratulate
the Mehsud tribe for rendering great sacrifices," Rehman said,
adding, "Fellow tribesmen would always demonstrate such character
in future.
It was reported that the Army
claimed to have cleared the Suran sector in Mohmand Agency of
militants and initiated the consolidation phase II of 'Operation
Brekhna' launched to clear Suran sector adjoining Afghanistan
border.
Militants beheaded a sympathiser,
Niaz Badshah, of Adezai Qaumi Lashkar, which had been fighting
against the TTP since 2008, and threw his body on the main Matani-Adezai
Road in Peshawar.
Police claimed to have recovered
huge cache of arms and ammunitions from two vehicles and arrested
two drivers in the limits of Chamkani Police Station. The drivers
of both the vehicles Sartaj Khan and Fahim were arrested on the
spot for transporting the arms and ammunitions to Punjab.
A landmine blast in the Rabi Canal
area within the precincts of Sadar Levies Police Station of Naseerabad
District killed a 12 year old boy, identified as Mahwar.
A shopkeeper was shot dead by
unidentified armed assailants in the Bus Stop area of Panjgur
District.
Unidentified assailants killed
a property dealer, identified as Arshid Kurd, in Balochi Street
area of Quetta.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
a 4-inch diameter gas pipeline near Eastern Bypass, causing suspension
of the gas supply to Rind Garh locality.
Two NATO oil tankers transporting
fuel for NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan came under fire
by unidentified gunmen on the National Highway in Dhaddar area
of Bolan District. However, no casualty was reported in the incident.
Two fishermen, Gulam Nabi and
Muhammad Ali, were injured in a landmine explosion within the
limits of Doda Tiba Police Station in Jaffarabad District.
Pakistan's Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani
in response to the top US military officer's accusation of April
20 that Pakistan's main intelligence agency maintains ties with
terrorists rejected as 'negative propaganda' the suggestion that
it was not doing enough to combat al Qaeda and TTP.
The US will provide Pakistan with
85 small 'Raven' drone aircraft, a US military official said on
the condition of anonymity.
US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of
Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani that the US linked the halting of the drone campaign
in the tribal belt on the condition that the Pakistan military
will launch a full-scale operation against the influential Afghan
terrorist outfit, the Haqqani network, based in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
|
April 22 |
At least 16 SFs personnel were
killed when militants attacked a security checkpost in Maskini
area of Lower Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to
security officials, 11 personnel of Dir Scouts, three of police
force and two of Dir Levies were killed in the pre-dawn attack
by a group of 500 militants from Kunar across the Durand Line
on a hilltop post in Kharkai area of Maskini. Some 20 militants
were also killed in the clash, security officials added. Officials
said three local Policemen were missing after the incident.
An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar
acquitted two persons charged in a bombing case that took place
near Bara Qadeem checkpost in Peshawar which had left five persons
dead and 20 others injured in 2010.
The Peshawar High Court dismissed
bail petition of a suspected militant charged in a case of an
ambush on the SFs on July 16, 2009, at Peuchar area in Swat which
had resulted in killing of eight soldiers.
At least 25 persons were killed
when US drone attack a compound owned by a tribesman, Gul Sharif
Wazir, in Yazz Khula village of Spinwam area in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA. Earlier The News reported that seven people were
killed. Out of 25 persons, 18 were militants and seven were civilians.
According to local people, four children and three women were
among those killed.
TTP militants abducted a pro-government
tribal elder Malak Sher Khan alias Sheray from his house in Gakizai
area of Lakkaro tehsil in Mohammad Agency. Later, his body
was found in the area. The TTP Mohmand chapter 'spokesman' Sajjad
Mohmand told reporters that they had killed him for having close
links with political authorities. He said the man was going to
head a tribal lashkar against TTP.
In another incident in the same
area, a six-year-old girl was killed when a landmine planted by
unidentified militants in front of her house exploded.
At least 63 militants laid down
arms and surrendered to the Security Forces at a jirga
at Dwaizai in Mohammad Agency. Sixty-two of them belonged to Dwaizai,
Pandyali tehsil and one to Sagai area of Safi tehsil.
Bullet-riddled body of Muhammad
Tariq was found from Suparco Road of Mawach Goth in the limits
of Maripur Police Station in Karachi.
A former cadre of SSP, identified
as Mohammed Nadeem, was shot dead in Sharea Faisal near Star Gate.
The death toll of the bomb blast
that occurred on April 21 in Ghass Mandi rose to 19.
Unidentified assailants hurled
a hand grenade at the house of a businessman in the limits of
Defence Police Station on Tariq Road market. However, no causality
occurred in the attack.
Two separate attacks, one near
the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta and another in the sub-tehsil
Baghbana of Khuzdar District, killed two NATO drivers, identified
as Khayal Muhammad and Sahib Dad, carrying supply for forces stationed
in Afghanistan.
At least three persons, identified
as Punhal, Abdul Majeed and Ismail, were injured in a landmine
blast within the limits of Doda Khan Police Station in Jaffarabad
District.
Pakistan and the United States
voiced confidence in taking their strategic partnership forward
even as Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir urged a review of the
drone attacks strategy in pursuit of militants who may be hiding
on Pakistani side of the Afghanistan border. In a joint media
appearance with the US Special Representative for Pakistan and
Afghanistan, Ambassador Marc Grossman, the top Pakistani career
diplomat described talks in the steering group as 'cordial, constructive
and engaging,' during which the two sides reaffirmed their commitment
to an enduring partnership.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik categorically stated that the ISI was not involved in the
Mumbai terror attack and maintained that Islamabad had no issues
with New Delhi helping Afghanistan in its development provided
there was no presence of the Indian Army on that side of the Durand
Line.
The ISI 'chief' Lieutenant General
Ahmed Shuja Pasha has made it to the list of Time magazine's 100
most influential people in the world along with dignitaries like
United States President Barrack Obama and his Secretary Of State
Hillary Clinton.
|
April 23 |
SFs killed six militants and neutralised
two hideouts in Khadezai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Officials
said that a curfew was imposed in the area to carry out a search
operation, adding that during the operation an encounter took
place between the SFs and militants.
A suicide bomber struck the vehicle
of an anti-Taliban militia leader killing him and four others
in Salarzai area, 65 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Khar,
the main town of Bajaur Agency. "A suicide bomber blew himself
up before the vehicle of Malik Manasib Khan killing him and four
others including a paramilitary soldier and wounding five others,"
Police official Javed Khan said. Malik Manasib Khan was the chief
of Salarzai tribe, which had raised a village force and expelled
TTP militants from their area. He was on a patrol along with paramilitary
officials when the suicide bomber struck.
A person was killed while another
sustained injuries in a landmine explosion in Dera Murad Jamali
of Nasirabad District in Balochistan.
An eight-year-old child was killed
and another person was injured when a remote-controlled bomb went
off in the guesthouse of a former head of a peace committee in
Shahoowam area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Anti-drone rally organised by
Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) activists halted
NATO supply shipments to Afghanistan on April 23 after thousands
of protesters rallied on the main road to the border to demand
Washington stop firing missiles against militants sheltering inside
the country. Police officer Khurshid Khan said supplies had been
stopped until April 25 mornings because of the protest. The demonstration
was held by the political party of Imran Khan, a former captain
of Pakistan's cricket team. He has called for peace talks with
the TTP and has long opposed the drone strikes in the border region.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that Pakistani investigators had collected enough evidence
against the masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks (November
26, 2008, also known as 26/11) and that he was confident that
the courts would convict them.
The Army had broken the back of
militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban and the nation will soon
prevail over this menace, the CoAS General Ashfaq Kayani said
in a speech that followed criticism from the United States that
it wasn't doing enough to fight militancy. "In war against terrorism,
our officers and soldiers have made great sacrifices and have
achieved tremendous success," he said in a speech to army cadets
at Kakul military academy, north of Islamabad.
|
April 24 |
Two children were killed in two
landmine explosions in Hamzani area of Jaffarabad District in
Balochistan.
A dead body of a Policeman, identified
as Naseer Ahmed Ronjho, who was abducted from Hub a few days ago,
was found in a garden behind the office of the Lasbela District
Police chief in Uthal.
The body of a local trader, identified
as Jauhar Ali, who was abducted by unidentified assailants near
his hometown Khungi in Dir town of Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
was found dead in Alizai area of Arang in Bajaur Agency in FATA.
A woman was killed when a stray
shell hit a house in the Kamalkhel village of Kandahari area of
Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency.
Gunship helicopters continued
to shell suspected positions in the Sheikh Baba area of Safi tehsil.
However, no casualties were reported.
Five accused on suspicion of involvement
in the abduction and killing of a tribal elder, Sher Mohammad,
were arrested. Mohammad was reported to be abducted on April 22.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron
Munter said that Pakistan's legitimate security demands must be
taken into account on the question of Afghanistan. Legitimate
demands of Pakistan on the Afghan question must be given due consideration,
he said, adding, "US has great respect for Pakistan and wants
to see it as a sovereign and stable state".
Former Pakistan Atomic Energy
Commission (PAEC) head Samar Mubarak Mand said that Pakistan has
the capability to shoot down CIA-operated drones. Mand said, "Pakistan
had F-16 fighter jets, which were capable of shooting down any
kind of drone predators," adding, "It was a strategic issue, therefore
the final decision in this regard rested with the Government.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said, "We have to stand united against anti-state elements and
it will be our greatest success that the nation should unite against
terrorism and extremism," adding, "that no country could win a
war without the support of people. The Government would not rest
until and unless terrorism is eliminated, and all possible steps
would be taken to give quality education to the citizens".
Army Major General Athar Abbas
said that "There is no evidence that the LeT has global aspirations
or was involved in the 2009 attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul,"
adding, "The LeT is a banned group that is being contained, and
there is also no evidence with Pakistani authorities linking the
LeT to militant groups operating in Pakistan's tribal areas. At
the same time, Abbas said, "militant commander Ilyas Kashmiri,
described by Indian and US officials as a key suspect in the Mumbai
terror attacks, had played an "instrumental" role in planning
an attack on the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi
in October 2009.
|
April 25 |
At least 15 passengers, including
eight women, five children and two men, were burnt to death and
several others injured in the night when unidentified militants
set a Quetta-bound bus on fire at Pirak area of Sibi District
in Balochistan.
Five more bullet-riddled dead
bodies of Baloch missing persons were found in Kech and Khuzdar
areas of Balochistan. According to the Turbat Police, two bodies
were found in Banartok Chatri area of Pasni Road, some eight kilometres
away from Turbat City. They were identified as Zarif Baloch, resident
of Kalatuk area of Kech, and Shameem Baloch, resident of Malikabad
area of Tump. Zarif was travelling in a passenger coach from Karachi
to Turbat when a group of armed men intercepted the coach and
offloaded him near Nalyet area of Turbat on April 20.
Three bodies of activists of BRP
were found in Sorgaz Zeddi area of Khuzdar District. Their identities
were ascertained from the slips found from their pockets. The
victims were identified as Muhammad Ayub Muhammad Hasni, a barber,
who was whisked away some nine days ago from Khuzdar city, while
two others were identified as Muhammad Hafeez and Ghulam Murtaza.
Militants released a trader, Haji
Asghar Hussain Turi, also a former agency councillor, after receiving
PKR 5.4 million as ransom in Kurram Agency of FATA. The abducted
trader, Haji Asghar Hussain Turi, had been kidnapped along with
35 other passengers when militants attacked a convoy at Beggan
area of Kurram Agency on March 26. Three passengers had also been
killed and two others injured in the attack. The bodies of seven
hostages were found in Shaheedan Dhand area near Afghan border.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik assured the National Assembly that law-enforcement personnel
would be deployed within two days to secure the Thall-Parachinar
road in Kurram Agency and help the besieged people of the area.
NATO supplying to Afghanistan
was resumed after protesters against US drone strikes lifted a
blockade. "Peshawar ring road has been cleared and re-opened for
vehicular traffic," said a senior local administration official,
adding that trucks will only be able to use the route from morning
because of security reasons.
A suspect, identified as Mustafa
Rehman Orakzai, belonging to Al Mukhtar faction of TTP, was arrested
for his alleged involvement in the April 21 Karachi's Rami Club
bombing in which 18 people were killed and 41 injured, from a
hideout near the Nadiria hospital, off Superhighway, in Karachi.
Four more Pakistani conspirators
have been charged by US prosecutors with carrying out the 2008
Mumbai terror attacks on behalf of LeT. In a second superseding
indictment filed by the federal prosecutors before a court in
Chicago, the four were identified as Sajid Mir, Mazhar Iqbal,
Abu Qahafa and one by the name of 'Major Iqbal'. Besides, the
indictment mentioned an unnamed individual "Lashkar Member D."
All are residents of Pakistan.
The JuD 'chief' Hafiz Muhammad
Saeed, mastermind of the 26/11 attacks, claimed India cannot prove
his organisation's link to the 2008 terror strike and accused
the Pakistan Government of succumbing to pressure from India and
the US.
Another blow to already tense
relations between the United Sates and Pakistan was dealt when
leaked official documents of Guantánamo cables showed that the
US administration had placed the ISI on a list of terrorist outfits.
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.
|
April 26 |
Twin bomb blasts targeting two
Pakistan Navy buses, carrying officials to work, in Karachi killed
four persons, including one civilian female doctor and injured
56 others. According to sources, the first blast hit a naval staff
carrier bus with 50 personnel onboard in Defence area, killing
two people, Sub-Lieutenant Iqbal and Doctor Shazia, and injuries
37 others. The second navy vehicle carrying 35 officials was hit
by a timed bomb concealed inside a garbage drum placed by the
side of a road in Baldia Town near Northern Bypass, killing two
others, identified as Umar Farooq and a civilian employee Muhammad
Sharif, and injuring nineteen others. Later, TTP claimed the responsibility
for the blasts, and vowed more attacks on SFs. "SFs will be targeted
in the future as well, because they are killing their own people
in Waziristan and elsewhere on the behest of the United States,"
Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said.
One BC personnel, identified as
Faiz Muhammad, was killed and three others sustained injuries
in a landmine blast while they were on their routine patrol in
Chatter area of Dera Murad Jamali city of Naseerabad District.
Unidentified militants blew up
an eight-inch diameter gas pipeline near Loti Gas Field area of
Dera Bugti District, damaging the pipeline and disrupting supply
to the gas purification plant in Sui area.
FC and other Law Enforcement Agencies
recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, which included several
light machine guns, sub machine guns, 7.62mm and 7mm rifles, night
vision goggles, scanners, radio sets and bullet proof jackets
in Pat Feedar area of Jaffarabad District.
Militants blew up a Government-run
primary school for girls in Adezai area on the suburbs of provincial
metropolis Peshawar.
A tower of 1100 KV transmission
line, supplying electricity from Tarbela Dam, was partially damaged
when two bombs, planted by unidentified militants, went off in
Swabi District.
Security Forces arrested four
TTP, identified as Mohammad Zahir, Umair Khalil, Zia and Zakir,
from Tarnol area of Islamabad. Sources said that they had a plan
to target Islamabad's Red Zone and sensitive installations in
Rawalpindi. They are cadres of Qari Zia group of the TTP, Bajaur
chapter. The maps of Islamabad's Red Zone and sensitive installations
and buildings located in Rawalpindi were recovered from their
possession.
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. 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.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that attempts to defame the ISI internationally have
always failed. "The ISI is never been involved in politics. It
has served the country and nation tremendously," said Malik while
briefing media at the Chief Minister's Secretariat after twin
blasts in Navy buses in Karachi.
Algerian involved in Pakistan
attacks was double agent, reveals WikiLeaks 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, WikiLeaks reported.
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."
|
April 27 |
Four persons, including two activists
of the PPP and one each of the ANP and the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz
(JSQM) were killed in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Two PPP workers, identified as Iqbal and Hussain Abid, were shot
dead while two activists of the People's Students Federation (PSF)
were injured in firing by unidentified armed assailants near Safari
Park, within the jurisdiction of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station.
One Mohammad Haris, an activist
of JSQM was gunned down in Port Qasim Industrial Area within the
limits of Sukkhun Police Station.
An ANP activist Asif was shot
dead in the limits of Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station.
Sindh Police and its CID arrested
five alleged target killers. According to sources, a CID Police
team raided a house in Mauripur and arrested one target killer,
Bakht Chandio and recovered a TT pistol and ammunition from his
possession.
The dead bodies of three LI militants
were found in various areas in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency
in FATA. The body of Mohammad Ayub alias Boda, a local
'commander' of LI, was found in Sepah area of Bara.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a FC soldier, Islam Zada, in front of his house in Angor Korona
of Shabqadar in Charsadda District.
Militants hurled hand grenade
at the house of Qayum Khan, the headmaster of high school Shabqadar.
The house was partially damaged in the attack.
Omar Hayat, an abducted lineman
of TESCO, reached his home after he was released by his abductors.
Six linemen of TESCO were abducted on January 8, 2011 by unidentified
militants from Alamgudar area of Bara. One of them, Jan Mohammad,
was released in the first week of February while Sabir Mohammad
was freed one week ago. Aftab Hussain, Fateh Mohammad and Niaz
Ali were freed on April 24 and Omar Hayat was released on April
27.
A passenger train was attacked
and two eight-inch diameter gas pipelines were blown up in two
explosions in Jacobabad District and Dera Bugti District. Unidentified
assailants had planted an explosive device on the railway tracks
near a bordering area between Jaffarabad District and Jacobabad
District, and detonated the device by a remote control when the
Karachi bound Bolan Mail from Quetta passed by the area. The blast
damaged 20-feet-long section of the railway track, derailing the
engine and four bogies of the train. However, no casualties were
reported.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
two gas pipelines in the Loti area of Dera Bugti District, resulting
in disruption of the gas supply to the Sui plant. The BRA claimed
responsibility for both the attacks.
Police arrested six persons, including
three from Railway Police, after seizing a truck loaded with arms
and ammunitions, being carried from Peshawar, at a picket near
Grassy Lane on Rawal Road in Rawalpindi District.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
rejected the claims that the ISI had ventured into any project
without the Government's knowledge, and that the country's intelligence
agencies were subservient to the Government and were not involved
in any act that was against national interests.
Quoting US military documents
posted by WikiLeaks said 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".
|
April 28 |
At least 33 militants, two pro-Government
tribesmen and one trooper were killed in separate incidents in
Kurram, Orakzai and Mohmand Agencies of FATA. Helicopter gunships
pounded three militant hideouts in Mirandy, Sangraba and Chinarak
areas of Kurram Agency, killing 25 militants and two tribal volunteers
while injuring several others.
Eight militants were killed when
SFs pounded suspected militant hideouts with heavy artillery in
Khadizai and Mamozai areas of Orakzai Agency. Three hideouts were
destroyed. SFs recovered a cache of weapons and dismantled several
landmines in Ghaljo, Kandi Kalli and Takhshak villages.
A trooper was killed and five
were injured when a landmine hit a security patrol in Ghalingar
area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
A rural health centre was blown
up by unidentified militants in Dhand Kodakhel area of the Mohmand
Agency.
The Zakhakhel lashkar captured
the main mountain tops from the LI militants in their fresh offensive
in Khare Mela, Khar Ghot, Maidanak and Mangal Bagh Kandaoe, an
official of Khasadar Force said.
At least five persons were killed
and eight others injured after a bomb hit a Pakistan Navy bus
in the Karsaz area of Karachi. According to sources, a bomb planted
on a roadside exploded when a Pakistan Navy bus was passing by,
killing five persons including a pedestrian, a female doctor and
one naval officer.
Five persons were killed in separate
incidents of target killing in different parts of Karachi in Sindh.
Two brothers, Kamran and Khalid, who were also cadres of SSP,
were shot dead by unidentified assailants at Manzoor Colony within
the limits of Baloch Colony Police Station while they were sitting
at their furniture showroom.
An activist of Kachhi Rabita Council,
identified as Zubair, was abducted and later shot dead near Rehmania
Mosque within the limits of Surjani Police Station.
Two persons who appeared to be
Afghanis were shot dead in the jurisdiction of Surjani Police
Station.
TTP claimed responsibility for
the attack on the Navy personnel that killed five persons, including
two civilians and three officers, and injured eight others.
Dead bodies of two persons, killed
by militants on charges of spying, were found near Masha Mansoor
area in the limits of Shaheed Haibat Ali Khan Police Station of
Darra Pezu town of Lakki Marwat District. One of the slain persons
was identified as Hikmatullah, a resident of Burghu Adamzai, while
the other victim is yet to be identified.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
two Policemen and took away their official rifles at Nasir Bagh
Road of Peshawar in the night. Hayat Mir and Masood Khan, the
policemen, were patrolling the road near Police Colony when unidentified
assailants on motorcycle attacked and open fire on them, killing
them on the spot. The assailants managed to escape along with
the rifles of slain Policemen.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
of missing Balochi persons, identified as Siddiq Edio, a HRCP
activist, and member of BSO-A, Yousaf Nazar Baloch, were found
at the Jaki area along coastal highway, some 60 kilometres from
the Ormara Town of Gwadar District.
The secret files of WikiLeaks
reported that Abdul Rabbani Abu Rahman aka Abdul Rahim Ghulam
Rabbani admitted to 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.
|
April 29 |
Three persons, including a former
MPA of MQM Shaikh Liaquat Qureshi, were killed in separate incidents
in different parts of Karachi in Sindh. Qureshi was going home
in his car when unidentified assailants, shot him dead at Maskan
Chowrangi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
A Pesh Imam of Dua Mosque was
shot dead near his house in Garden East by two unidentified assailants.
A body of a youth who appeared
to be a Balochi was found from Mewa Shah Graveyard in the limits
of Pak Colony Police Station. The identity of the victim is yet
to be ascertained.
The death toll of April 27 attack
on Pakistan Navy increased to six, when one of the injured officers,
Ashraf, succumbed to his injuries.
The Rangers claimed to have detained
11 suspects and recovered illegal weapons from their possession
in Baldia Town.
Two Policemen and two militants
were killed in an exchange of fire between the two parties in
Chattar area of Naseerabad District. Official sources said a Police
mobile van was on routine patrol when four unidentified militants
opened fire at it near Piro Bridge in Chattar area, resulting
in the death of ASI Wazir Ali Abro and Constable Rab Nawaz and
injury of a constable, Rustam Khan. In retaliation, the Police
killed two militants, who were later identified as Haro and Nabi
Dad.
A person, identified as Khawand
Bux, received injuries in a landmine blast in Sangsilla area of
Dera Bugti District.
Unidentified militants blew up
a gas pipeline of eight-inch diameter in Sui area disrupting the
gas supply to the Sui Purification Plant.
Three Policemen sustained injuries
when suspected militants attacked a checkpost at Milli Khel area
in the outskirts of the Peshawar city late in the night.
Unidentified militants torched
NATO fuel tanker near Kharkhano Market in Peshawar.
Western powers must be firm with
Pakistan about its need to crack down on extremists, but there
is no alternative to continuing to work with Islamabad, British
MP David Miliband said. Miliband voiced alarm at the influence
inside Pakistani society of LeT.
The US Ambassador Cameron Munter
said that Pakistan and United States will continue to cooperate
in the war against their common enemy in an effort to ensure peace
in the region. Talking to media personnel after meeting a jirga
headed by former senator Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai in Quetta, Cameron
Munter said that cooperation between the two countries was vital
for peace and stability in the region.
Repeating US concerns about the
safe havens of the Taliban beyond the reach of NATO troops in
Pakistan, a Pentagon report said that "to consolidate progress
in security in recent months, Pakistan needed to make more headway
in eliminating the sanctuaries". In a twice-annual report to the
US Congress, the Pentagon said that "a surge of foreign troops
into Afghanistan has dealt a blow to the Taliban insurgency but
total violence has risen since last fall".
A Pentagon report states the repeated
US concerns about the safe havens of the Taliban which are beyond
the reach of NATO troops in Pakistan. The Pentagon said, "To consolidate
progress in security in recent months, Pakistan needed to make
more headway in eliminating the sanctuaries", adding, "A surge
of foreign troops into Afghanistan has dealt a blow to the Taliban
but total violence has risen since last fall.
General David H. Petraeus who
served as commander in two wars launched by the US after the September
11, 2001, attacks will take command of a third war in Pakistan
if confirmed as the next director of the CIA, reported Washington
Post.
The files of every Pakistani detainee
held at Guantánamo Bay were released by WikiLeaks on April 27
which reveal the linkages between political and religious leaders
calling on Pakistanis to join the 'jihad' in Afghanistan.
Qazi and Fazl were cited as holding
"organised public rallies for the purpose of soliciting supporters
and volunteers to participate in the jihad against the US and
Northern Alliance". While most detainees appeared to have been
recruited by the HuJI, LeT and JeM, others had gone to Afghanistan
to look for work and were recruited by the Taliban as cooks and
drivers.
|
April 30 |
At least three militants were
killed during an encounter with SFs after attacking a checkpost
in Tora Chinna area of Darra Adamkhel town in Kohat District of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The checkpost in Tora Chinna area, which links
Darra Adamkhel to Orakzai Agency, came under attack around 2 am
in the night of April 29.
A suspected suicide bomber was
arrested in Arakhel area of Kohat. According to official sources,
the suspected 17-year-old suicide bomber was arrested as a result
of a joint operation launched by Frontier Corps and peace committee
of Jawakai area of Kohat. Initial investigations revealed name
of the suspected suicide bomber as Noor Muhammad, a resident of
Tappi Kohat.
|
May 01 |
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
was killed in a US operation. US President Barack Obama confirmed
that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US Army operation conducted
in Abbottabad District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "Tonight, I can
report to the American people and to the world that the US has
conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader
of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder
of thousands of innocent men, women and children," said President
Obama.
At least 25 militants and a trooper
were killed and several were injured in Baizai tehsil of
Mohmand Agency in FATA when SFs destroyed their hideouts by gunship
helicopters. According to sources, SFs targeted terrorist hideouts
in the rural areas of Baizai tehsil near the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border including Soran Dara, Sheikh Baba and Walidad Kor, destroying
many hideouts.
Four Policemen were killed and
11 containers transporting supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan
were completely destroyed when unidentified militants fired rockets
on NATO containers and the Police checkpost on Rawalpindi-Talagang
Road near Dhalya Chowk in Pindi Gheb town of Attock District in
Punjab. Four personnel, including sub-inspector Ramazan, Constable
Muhammad Munir, Constable Asif Mehmood and wireless operator Zafar
were killed in the rocket attack.
Drone attacks are counter-productive
and have an adverse impact on the military and the political strategy
against terrorism, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said. Talking
in PTV's live programme "Prime Minister Online", Gilani said that
drone technology should be transferred to Pakistan and the US
should reconsider its position on use of drones. As a civilised
and responsible country, Pakistan is using all the diplomatic
channels to put across its viewpoint and there is realisation
that drone attacks were creating a negative impact, he added.
|
May 02 |
Four persons, including a woman
and three children, were killed and five others, including two
Policemen, were injured when a bomb exploded near a mosque in
the Umerzai Police Station area of Charsadda District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Four persons were reported to
be killed along with Osama bin Laden in a compound known as Waziristan
Haveli in Abbottabad District. The killed were identified as Osama's
son and three bodyguards. Later, Bin Laden's two wives, one of
them of Yemeni origin, and a total of nine children, including
his 11 year old daughter, were also recovered from the compound.
The women and children are now in the custody of Pakistan's security
agencies.
A trooper, identified as Abdul
Ghafoor, was killed and three others were abducted when militants
attacked Paitasun checkpost in the south of Chitral city near
the Afghanistan border in the Chitral District.
Six people, including a senior
leader of MQM, Farooq Baig, were killed in Babar Market near Landhi
within the remits of Awami Colony Police Station in Karachi.
Liaquatabad Police claimed to
have detained 31 suspected assailants allegedly involved in riots
and violence within Liaquatabad town.
Unidentified militants blew up
two eight-inch diameter gas pipelines near Pir Koh area of Dera
Bugti District disrupting gas supply to the gas purification plant.
Hundreds took to the streets in
Quetta, the capital of Balochistan to pay homage to Osama bin
Laden, chanting death to America and setting fire to a US flag,
witnesses and organisers said. The participants belonging to a
religious party in Quetta were led by Federal Lawmaker Maulavi
Asmatullah.
The TTP confirmed the killing
of Osama Bin Laden and issued a threat that TTP will take its
revenge. TTP's spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan in an audio message,
said, "Pakistan will be the prime target followed by US", adding,
"The US had been on a man-hunt for Osama and now Pakistani rulers
are on our hit-list. We had also killed Benazir Bhutto in a suicide
attack."
Pakistan's former President General
Pervez Musharraf said on May 2 that the news of Osama bin Laden's
death was a "positive step", although he criticised the US for
launching the raid within his country's borders.
The US killing of Osama bin Laden
shows that the Taliban cannot defeat the US in Afghanistan and
that it should abandon its ties to al Qaeda, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said.
The killing of Osama bin Laden
by US forces was not a joint operation with Pakistan, President
Asif Ali Zardari said in a column in Washington Post. Zardari,
also dismissed any notion that Pakistan was failing to take action
against militants on its territory.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik while reacting to a statement of the SCBA President Asma
Jahangir informed the Supreme Court that there wasn't any plan
to try those terrorists apprehended by law enforcement agencies
in military courts.
During May 2's hearing, Jahangir
appeared before the court on behalf of the HRCP and stated that
according to her information, a plan to amend the Anti-Terrorist
Act to try terrorists in military courts was being considered.
She asserted that such a recommendation had been given by three
retired judges.
|
May 03 |
Seven LI militants were killed
and two others injured in an aerial firing by the SFs in the remote
Bazaar Zakha Khel area near Khar Ghot in Landikotal town of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
Two blasts hit two NATO oil tankers
in separate incidents in Khyber Agency. An oil tanker, carrying
fuel for the US led NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, was
blown up near Ali Masjid in a bomb blast. In the second incident,
a bomb blast hit a NATO oil tanker at Torkham town.
A general store was also destroyed
due to a powerful bomb blast near Charwazgai checkpost in Landikotal
town of Khyber Agency.
A MNA Sajid Hussain Turi belonging
to Parachinar, the capital of Kurram Agency, demanded the Government
to launch a military operation against the TTP in Kurram Agency
for killing hundreds of innocent people and to restore the Thal-Parachinar
road, which links the region to the rest of the country.
A cadre of MQM-H Amir Khan Group,
identified as Hyder alias Lamba, was killed and a passerby injured
in firing by undefined armed assailants near Sindhi Hotel in the
precincts of Liaquatabad Police Station in Karachi.
MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed was accused
in the murder of Farooq Baig, a senior worker of MQM, who was
killed near Landhi within the remits of Awami Colony Police Station.
The LEAs issued sketches of three
more suspects of the Birch Club blast that occurred in Ghas Mandi
in Karachi on April 21.
Funeral procession by JuD and
funeral prayers by Naveed Qamar were offered for al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden at University Road. Later, JuD workers chanted
slogans against the US and vocalised jihadist poems.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government high school in the Pabbi area of Nowshera District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The intensity of the blast was so strong
that three classrooms have been completely turned into debris.
Militants blew up a Government
high school for boys in Azakhel Payan of Peshawar. However, no
casualties were reported in both these incidents.
Twenty five foreign militants,
including Pakistanis, were killed and wounded by Afghan SFs after
they crossed the border from Pakistan. Jamaluddin Badr, Governor
of north-eastern Nuristan province, said the 25 foreign militants
which included Arabs, Chechens and Pakistanis were killed and
wounded overnight.
Pakistani soldiers arrested a
peasant, Shamrez Khan, in Abbottabad District near the compound
where al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid.
Australia warned of the very high
threat of terrorist attacks against Western targets in Pakistan
following the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 1 in Abbottabad
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, although security warning levels
at home remain unchanged.
British Prime Minister David Cameron
said that Islamabad has plenty of questions to answer over Osama
bin Laden. "There will be lots of questions about what sort of
support system Bin Laden had in Pakistan, and we need those questions
answered," added Cameron.
France's Foreign Minister Alain
Juppe said he was not convinced Osama Bin Laden could go undetected
in Pakistan until his death and would ask Pakistan's Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani to explain. "I find it a little difficult to
imagine that the presence of someone like bin Laden in a relatively
small town could go completely unnoticed," Juppe said.
Indian Government sources said
that a vast majority of Pakistan's military leadership is unhappy
about the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden and fears that
America will conduct similar raids in the future to target the
country's nuclear arsenal.
As per the directions given by
Punjab Police Inspector General Javed Iqbal, security stood high
alert across the province so as to avoid any incident of violence
in the wake of the operation in Abbottabad on May 2.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that the accusations on Pakistan extending safe havens to extremists
were "baseless" and insisted the country's long-term help was
crucial to the US triumph in gunning down Osama bin Laden. "Some
in the US press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in
its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous
and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing,"
said Zardari, adding, "Such baseless speculation may make exciting
cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact."
Criticising the US over the operation
that killed Osama bin Laden near its capital on May 1, saying
'unauthorised unilateral' action could threaten international
peace. The Foreign Ministry denied that Pakistan had any prior
knowledge of the operation and said there was no question of US
helicopters taking off from Pakistani bases, despite strenuously
pointing out past intelligence cooperation.
CIA Director Leon Panetta said
that officials ruled out informing Islamabad about a planned raid
against Osama bin Laden's compound, as they feared their Pakistani
counterparts might alert the al Qaeda chief. "It was decided that
any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission:
They might alert the targets", said Panetta, adding, that the
options presented to US President Barack Obama included bombing
the compound with B-2 bombers or firing a "direct shot" with cruise
missiles.
Panetta alleged Pakistan, saying
that it was either incompetent or involved when one look at the
country's role in Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. Panetta told
lawmakers "either they were involved or incompetent. Neither place
is a good place to be."
White House Press Secretary Jay
Carney said that the relationship of the US with Pakistan was
complicated but important one, adding, that several critical intelligence
provided by Pakistan to the US over a period of time helped them
reach Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan has no interest in protecting
any terrorist who may be hiding in the country, Ambassador to
the US, Hussain Haqqani, said. "What I find incredulous is the
notion that somehow, just because there is a private support network
in Pakistan, the state, the Government and the military of Pakistan
should be blamed," he said.
Osama Bin Laden lived for the
past five to six years in the compound deep inside Pakistan, where
al Qaeda leader was killed by US forces, President Barack Obama's
counterterrorism chief John Brennan said. "Well I think the latest
information is that he was in this compound for the past five
or six years and he had virtually no interaction with others outside
that compound.
Meanwhile, it was reported that
the bullet-riddled Pakistani villa that hid Osama bin Laden from
the world was put under police control. Bin Laden's hideout had
been kept under tight army control after the raid by US Special
Forces on May 1 in Abbottabad District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
|
May 04 |
Ten militants were killed and
as many others injured in a clash between the Hafiz Daulat and
Nabi groups in Kurrat area in Kurram Agency in FATA. Both groups
used light and heavy weaponry and fired mortar shells at each
other's positions.
A soldier was killed and four
others were injured when TTP ambushed SFs convoy in Serwakai area
of South Waziristan Agency. Sources said that SFs were returning
to their base camp after conducting a raid and search operation
in the area when they came under attack.
Unidentified assailants killed
a local person hours after abducting him from Bara Bazaar of Bara
tehsil. Sources said that assailants abducted three persons, including
two hailing from Punjab.
Also in Bara, a 10-year-old girl
Nazia was killed when a mortar shell fired by SFs fell on the
house of Qismat Khan in Zangal Kallay of Malakdin Khel area.
Unidentified armed assailants
opened fire on a truck in the Mohsinzai area of Kurram Agency,
injuring the driver, identified as Noori. A number of militants
have shifted to Kurram Agency due to the military operation in
Orakzai Agency and are allegedly engaged in hostilities against
the local population and SFs.
Three rockets were fired at Wana
scouts camp in intervening night of May 3-4. No loss of life or
property was reported. Sources said that soon after the rocket
attack security SFs pounded suspected locations in Doag, Korezai,
Peer Bagh and Musa Qilla areas with light and heavy weapons.
An activist of the MQM, identified
as Arif, was killed near Noor Decoration House within the limits
of Surjani Police Station in Karachi.
A bullet-riddled body of an unidentified
Balochi man was found from Lyari River in Old Golimar in the limits
of Pak Colony Police Station.
A senior leader of the BNP was
shot and critically wounded by unidentified assailants in Quetta.
However, no outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan authorities arrested
Gul Madah, the contractor who built the three-storey mansion in
2005 in Abbottabad District where Osama bin Laden was residing.
Gul hailed from Battagram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had
been living near Abbottabad for some years.
The doctor Qazi Mahmoodul Haq,
who sold the piece of the land where Osama Bin Laden's final hideout
was built, said that the buyer, a Pakistani who apparently sheltered
the al Qaeda chief, was a "modest, humble" man who did not seem
to be a terrorist.
An unnamed ISI official told reporters
that the compound had been raided in 2003 during a search for
the al Qaeda operative. Since then, the compound had not been
on the ISI's radar, the official said.
Lawmaker Mufti Kifayatullah of
JUI-F during the proceedings of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly termed
Osama bin Laden as a 'hero' of Muslims and a great jihadi leader,
who sacrificed his life for the glory of Islam prompting a cabinet
member of ANP Bashir Ahmad Bilour to call him a symbol of terror.
Groups of Pakistani lawyers held
protests over the killing of Laden, denouncing America and saying
prayers for their 'hero'. Around 70 lawyers staged a rally in
Abbottabad District, condemning the US operation in their city.
In Peshawar, where Bin Laden once
lived during the fight to evict Soviet troops Afghanistan, about
200 lawyers offered special prayers for the al Qaeda 'hero' at
the courts.
Pakistan's ambassador to the US
Husain Haqqani said that he and his embassy were receiving threatening
phone calls and emails ever since Osama bin Laden was killed.
Haqqani said such threats show how his country's contribution
to fighting terrorism was being ignored while only failures are
being highlighted.
The HM owned the mansion in the
town of Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where Osama bin Laden
was killed by US forces, a Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail,
has reported. The report claimed that Pakistan is hushing up the
issue of the ownership of the compound.
Charging that elements in the
ISI have "dual loyalty", US lawmaker Peter King alleged that the
Pakistan intelligence outfits spend more time in chasing CIA agents
inside Pakistan rather the terrorists operating inside the country.
Washington worked to establish
whether Pakistan had sheltered the al Qaeda leader, which Islamabad
vehemently denies. South Florida Congressman Allen West said Government
of Pakistan may have aided and abetted Osama bin Laden's lengthy
hideout from US forces. Unless the United States gets a clear
explanation of what Pakistani officials knew about bin Laden's
whereabouts, "all aid from American taxpayers to this nation needs
to cease," West wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that Pakistan is fighting the war against terrorism
and Osama Bin Laden's death is part of the war. Malik said that
the Foreign Office of Pakistan has presented a detailed statement
about the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
defended country's 'failure' to spot that Osama bin Laden had
been hiding out in a luxury compound near Islamabad, saying that
fighting terrorism was the whole world's responsibility.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir
said that Pakistan alerted the US to its suspicions about a compound
where Osama Bin Laden was found hiding as far back as 2009. Bashir
also hit out at "disquieting" comments by CIA Director Leon Panetta
that US officials had ruled out informing Islamabad in advance
about US raid on the Pakistani compound, which led to the al Qaeda
chief's death.
The White House said that US President
Barack Obama reserves the right to act again against top terror
suspects inside Pakistan, following the raid which killed Osama
bin Laden. Obama's spokesman Jay Carney said, "President Obama
made very clear during the campaign that that was his view, and
by the actions he has taken as President, feels that it was the
right approach and continues to feel that way".
The US troops were prepared to
capture Osama bin Laden alive, but his resistance and use of a
woman as shield, forced them to kill the al Qaeda leader, said
John Brennan, the National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism
and Homeland.
India's most wanted terrorist
Dawood Ibrahim, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai terror attacks,
has emerged as the world's second most wanted man, next only to
a Mexican drug lord, after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden, a report published in The Guardian said.
|
May 05 |
A member of the Ahle Sunnat Wal
Jamaat (ASWJ), Haji Masood-ur-Rehman, was killed and two other
members were injured when unidentified assailants fired at them
at Khando Goth area of North Nazimabad in Karachi.
A cadre of Sunni Tehreek (ST),
identified as Salamuddin alias Shahzad Lahoti, was killed in Narainpura
area within the precincts of Eidgah Police Station. Later, Rangers
claimed that they arrested one Mahmood and recovered a TT pistol
from his possession.
Atta-ur-Rehman, an imam (cleric)
and a member of the Jama'at Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), was shot dead
near Mubarak Masjid within the jurisdiction of Mochko Police Station.
Police found a dead body of a
youth, identified as Abdul Wahab, belonging to People's Student
Federation (PSF), from an abandoned plot in Altaf Nagar within
the precincts of Manghopir Police Station. It was reported that
Wahab was abducted three days ago.
Police shot dead two would-be
suicide bombers during an encounter at Draban checkpost in Dera
Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "They were travelling
in an explosive-laden Suzuki pick-up.
Police neutralised a six-kilogram
bomb packed in canister along Ring Road in the limits of Pishtakhara
Police Station in Peshawar.
One militant was killed and two
others were injured when SFs shelled suspected locations in Baizai
tehsil of Mohmand Agency in FATA. Sources said that SFs
pounded militant positions in Baizai area near Afghan border.
A militant, identified as Mukamal Shah, was killed while his two
accomplices were injured in the action.
A shepherd, identified as Naseer
(15), was injured when a landmine exploded in Ashrafabad locality
of Khwazai tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
Pakistan warned the United States
of "disastrous consequences" if it carries out any more raids
against terrorists like the one that killed Osama bin Laden, and
hit back at international allegations it may have been harbouring
the al Qaeda 'chief'.
Salman Bashir said the US action,
which led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, was a covert operation
and Pakistan armed forces were not consulted. He said that Admiral
Mike Mullen had telephoned COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at
about 3am and informed him about the operation.
Pakistan more than ever needs
support in its efforts to combat terrorism and bolster democracy
following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the
European Union said. While the US operation on Pakistani soil
"has raised questions" on the role of the country's Army and intelligence
services, "there can be no doubt that we will have to rely on
Pakistan's full cooperation as a partner," said Michael Mann,
spokesman for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy High Representative
Catherine Ashton.
China reaffirmed its support for
efforts by its ally Pakistan to combat terrorism after the killing
of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US forces, and urged the
world to help Islamabad. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu
stopped short of directly criticising the daring raid by US Special
Forces on Pakistani soil that ended with Osama bin Laden's death,
but said national sovereignty "should be respected" at all times.
The United States relationship
with Pakistan is not always easy but has been productive for both
sides, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, after the killing
of Osama bin Laden raised questions about the alliance. Clinton
acknowledged that Washington's relationship with Islamabad was
awkward at times, but said it was still important.
No US assistance can be provided
to Pakistan unless the Obama administration certifies to Congress
that Pakistan did not have any information about Osama bin Laden's
whereabouts, says a bill introduced in the House of Representatives.
The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
but a growing number of both Republican and Democratic lawmakers
are urging their colleagues not to take decisions that may hurt
US interests.
Congresswoman Kay Granger asked
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately stop American
aid program for flood victims in Pakistan, where al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces on May 1.
NATO's Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen urged Pakistan to make progress in the battle against
terrorism and said the US commando operation that killed Osama
bin Laden was justified. "We have encouraged the Pakistani authorities
to reinforce the fight against terrorists and extremists, in particular
in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region," Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab
Aslam Raisani said that no operation is being conducted in the
province and there are no troops or tanks present in the province.
"No military operation is being carried out in Balochistan," he
said while talking to media persons in the Chief Minister's House.
The COAS General Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani ordered an investigation into the intelligence failure
in detecting the presence of al Qaeda 'chief' Osama bin Laden
in his Abbottabad hideout and for determining how the US carried
out the operation 'Geronimo' without the Pakistan military getting
wind of it.
In a bid to convey his unease
over the operation and that inaction over the raid should not
be taken as his tacit endorsement, the Army chief announced a
reduction in the number of US military personnel in Pakistan.
COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
said that any action similar to the Abbottabad operation, violating
the country's sovereignty, will warrant a review of the level
of military and intelligence cooperation with the United States,
and demanded it to reduce the strength of its troops in the country
to the "minimum essential" levels.
The United Sates Senator Carl
Levin said that 'high levels' of the Pakistani Government knew
where Osama bin Laden was hiding, must know where Mullah Omar
is too. The Senate Armed Services Committee, Levin said, has already
started a preliminary investigation into Pakistan's involvement
and, depending on the results of that investigation, will decide
whether to hold public hearings to investigate further.
Pakistani Ambassador to US, Hussain
Haqqani, promised a thorough probe into allegations some of which
were reported in the US media, claiming that active or retired
Pakistani officials helped Osama bin Laden hide in Abbottabad.
JI urged its followers to hold
mass rallies on May 6 to demand their Government to withdraw its
support of the US war on militancy. JI said the US had violated
the sovereignty of its key ally by sending its own forces into
Abbottabad to kill the al Qaeda leader.
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, Saudi newspaper al
Watan reports. 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.
A US official said that the material
seized from Osama bin Laden's compound showed al Qaeda network
had planned strikes on US trains on the 10th anniversary
of the September 11 attacks. As of February 2010, al Qaeda "was
allegedly contemplating conducting an operation against trains
at an unspecified location in the US on the 10th anniversary
of September 11, 2001," the US Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) said.
Al Qaeda 'chief' Osama bin Laden,
who was shot dead in his hideout by special US forces in Pakistan,
was a mass killer of Muslims and not a martyr as a few people
are trying to portray, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
A legislation was introduced in
the US House of Representatives which if passed would cut aid
to Pakistan unless the state department can certify that Islamabad
was not harbouring al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. "For all these
years, we believed that Osama bin Laden was on the run, living
in a cave but, apparently, Satan's Pawn has been living for years
in a million-dollar compound just yards away from a Pakistani
military base, but Pakistan claims no knowledge of Osama bin Laden's
whereabouts.
US refrained from drawing a parallel
between 9/11 and the dastardly Mumbai attacks, also known as 26/11,
and appeared to be unwilling to support any similar "hot pursuit"
Indian effort as done by the US Special Forces in Pakistan to
kill al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
|
May 06 |
The US drones fired missiles into
a compound in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA,
killing at least 17 militants. Four US drones took part in the
attack which came just four days after US commandos shot dead
top al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad.
Unidentified militants today fired
rockets on a group of Shia Muslims in Quetta, killing at least
eight and injuring 15 others. It was reported that three rockets
were fired from nearby hills, towards the city of Hazara where
the Shiites were in a neighbourhood park.
Three people were killed and 21
others were injured in a blast at a gambling den in Jhatpat Market,
Chakiwara No-2 in Lyari town of Karachi.
An activist of the MQM-H, identified
as Amir Abbas, was shot dead near Gelanabad Kausar town, within
the limits of Khokhrapar Police Station.
One Qasim, an activist of Kachi
Rabita Council (KRC) killed near the al Makran Hotel, Art Chowk,
in the limits of Kalakot Police Station.
An unidentified rickshaw driver
who appeared to be an ethnic Hazara was shot dead near Jauhar
Mor in Gulistan Jauhar Police precincts.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that keeping in view the longstanding relations, the United
States should not have violated Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial
integrity. Reacting to the military operation conducted deep inside
the country's territory by a US team of Navy Seals, the Prime
Minister said that the issue of violation of its sovereignty was
a matter of concern for Pakistan.
The al Qaeda confirmed the death
of its leader Osama Bin Laden on May 6 and swore revenge for his
killing by elite US commandos the SITE monitoring group reported.
"We in the al Qaeda organisation pledge to God and ask his help,
support and steadfastness to continue on the path of jihad, the
path walked upon by our leaders, and on top of them, Osama," SITE
quoted a statement by the organisation as saying.
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.
The 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. "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.
Afghan intelligence believed Osama
bin Laden was in hiding in an area close to Abbottabad District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa four years ago, but no action was taken
after the claim was furiously rejected by former president Pervez
Musharraf, Afghanistan's former Intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh
said.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates
said that the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "could
be a game-changer" that would have a significant impact on the
war in Afghanistan. Gates said, "US forces would probably be able
to tell within six months whether bin Laden's death has had an
effect on the war," adding, "I think that there is a possibility
that it could be a game-changer."
Quoting the media reports, rediff.com
reported that the ISI chief General Ahmed Shuja Pasha may step
down in the wake of widespread criticism of the Pakistani establishment
over US Special Forces killing Osama bin Laden near a key military
facility in the garrison city of Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
|
May 07 |
Police arrested a militant, identified
as Mohammad Afzal, in Machikhel area of the Lakki Marwat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The TTP challenged the claim by
the United States about the killing of al Qaeda 'chief' Osama
bin Laden and demanded presentation of circumstantial evidence
in the shape of a video to remove doubts. In a message delivered
through telephone to journalists from an unknown location, TTP's
'deputy spokesman' Ehsanullah Ehsan alleged that Osama bin Laden
was killed somewhere else and the US staged a drama to put pressure
on Pakistan and other Muslim countries and to defame Islam. The
TTP spokesman refused to accept the US version of Osama's killing
and burial at the sea of such an important man and asked for release
of video showing his killing.
|
May 08 |
Two FC personnel were killed in
an explosion in Asman Manza area of South Waziristan Agency (SWA)
in FATA in the morning. Sources said that the FC personnel were
going from Kaniguram to Laddah when they were hit by an explosive
device. The deceased were identified as Shan and Mashan.
Intelligence sources in Dera Ismail
Khan and Wana, headquarters of South SWA, said that a member of
the 13-man committee of the Hakeemullah Mehsud led TTP was killed
in an attack by the rival Qari Zainuddin faction. Sources said
that the slain, Mufti Noor Wali, was an important 'commander'
of the Hakeemullah group.
An activist of MQM-H, identified
as Rashid Ansari, was abducted and then killed in Korangi area
within the jurisdiction of Awami Colony Police Station in Karachi
District of Sindh.
Three persons sustain injuries
when a bomb exploded outside the house of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agriculture
Minister Arbab Ayub Jan in Peshawar. Sources said the explosion
took place just after visitors to Minister House had left by car.
Three of the guests were injured.
At least two persons were injured
in a rocket attack in Awaran District. It was reported that unknown
armed militants fired a rocket from a hilly area, which landed
at a nearby agriculture field, injuring two farmers.
Czech Police arrested a Pakistani
national wanted on an international warrant for murder and terrorism.
Osama bin Laden had a "support
network" in Pakistan but it is not clear if the Pakistani Government
was involved, US President Barack Obama said in his first public
comments. "We think that there had to be some sort of support
network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan," Obama told the CBS
show "60 Minutes," according to excerpts of an interview released.
White House National Security
Adviser Tom Donilon told during NBC's "Meet the Press" show that
Ayman al Zawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon long considered al Qaeda's
number two, "is not anywhere near the leader that Osama bin Laden
was". "Our assessment is that he is not anywhere near the leader
that Osama bin Laden was". "They, as an organisation, will have
to work themselves through some sort of succession," Donilon said.
Killing bin Laden, he added, was "a real blow".
US military commander in Afghanistan
General David Petraeus said that the killing of Osama bin Laden
may weaken al Qaeda's influence on the Afghan Taliban. Even so,
General David Petraeus warned that Afghanistan is still a potential
refuge for international terror groups, and al Qaeda is just one
of those.
Pakistan said if it knew Osama
bin Laden was hiding in the country, it would have acted against
the al Qaeda leader. "If any member of the Pakistani Government,
the Pakistani military or the Pakistani intelligence service knew
where Osama bin Laden was, we would have taken action," Islamabad's
Ambassador in Washington, Hussain Haqqani said, adding, "Osama
bin Laden's presence in Pakistan was not to Pakistan's advantage".
Pakistan should let US authorities
question Osama bin Laden's three captured wives, National Security
Adviser Tom Donilon said. He said the Pakistanis need to provide
us with intelligence from the compound that they gathered, including
access to Osama bin Laden's three wives whom they have in custody.
A senior US intelligence official
said that computer material gathered by the US forces after the
raid revealed that Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad home was a command-and-control
centre for al Qaeda. "This is the largest cache of intelligence
derived from the scene of any single terrorist," said Donilon.
|
May 09 |
Militants killed a tribesman,
identified as Shamsur Rehman, from Orakzai Agency in FATA on charges
of spying in Khwasi Banda area of Kohat District. Waris Khan,
victim's brother, alleged Bilal and Behram for the killing of
Shamsur Rehman and said that his family had been receiving threats
from TTP for quite long.
Differences which cropped up among
the leaders of Adezai Qaumi Lashkar over the deployment of law-enforcers
in their area, raised fears that the TTP may exploit the situation.
According to official sources Dilawar Khan, who heads lashkar
and his deputy Fazal Malik were not ready to accept each other's
leadership any longer.
The elders of Khyber Agency in
FATA expressed grave concern over military operations and killing
of innocent people in drone attacks. They demanded immediate end
to military operations in the tribal areas. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
leader Iqbal Afridi said that after killing of al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden there was no logic in continuing drone attacks.
Two unidentified bullet-riddled
bodies were found near Khuchlak, around 20 kilometres away from
the provincial capital Quetta.
A member of the MQM Aamir Razaq
was shot dead in Mehmoodabad area in the limits of the Baloch
Colony Police Station in Karachi District of Sindh.
A senior member of the ANP, Faiz
Ahmad Kakar, was abducted by unidentified militants from the Labour
Square Road at Gulshan-e-Maymar in the limits of Gadap Town.
US President Barack Obama said
that he thought that "there had to be some sort of support network
for [Osama] bin Laden inside of Pakistan". He said, "We don't
know whether there might have been some people inside of government,
people outside of government, and that's something that we have
to investigate, and more importantly, the Pakistani government
has to investigate." He added that there were not only individual
terrorists in Pakistan but "also a climate inside of Pakistan
that sometimes is deeply anti-American. And it makes it more difficult
for us to be able to operate there effectively."
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.
However, the Pakistani authorities did not act even when provided
the information by the US, a media report said. "The Pakistanis
try to get out of facing tough questions by anti-American statements
in Pakistani media," an unnamed US official as saying in its report.
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 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.
Pakistan struck a clandestine
deal in 2001 that allowed the 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 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.
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.
US officials have released the
names of three widows of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden which
were arrested from Abbottabad compound. According to American
television, the three widows who were living with Osama Bin Laden
have been identified as Umm-e-Hamza, Umm-e-Khalid and Amal al
Saada. Umm-e-Hamza and Umm-e- Khalid hailed from Saudi while Amal
al Saada is Yemeni national. Fourth widow of Osama lived in Syria.
US official said that Pakistan agreed to give access to the US
for quizzing Osama's widows.
Rejecting Pakistan Prime Minister
Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani's criticism of the unilateral action through
which Osama bin Laden was killed on May 1-2, the US asserted that
it would not apologise to the Pakistan Government for the incident.
"We do not apologise for the action," White House Press Secretary
Jay Carney told reporters.
Asked whether the Obama Administration
had confidence in the leadership of Pakistan, Carney said it thought
it important that the Pakistanis did a full investigation. "We
are, obviously, doing a full investigation and examining some
of the substantial material that our operators collected in bin
Laden's compound for evidence of the support network that must
have existed to allow Osama bin Laden to continue to live in Abbottabad
for so long," he said.
CIA has no intention of bringing
home its chief operative in Pakistan despite an apparent attempt
by the Pakistani media to unmask his identity, US officials said.
While the Pakistani media reports apparently were inaccurate,
US officials said they believe the leak was a calculated attempt
to divert attention from American demands for explanations of
how Osama bin Laden could have hidden for years near Pakistan's
principal military academy in Abbottabad.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilani asserted in Parliament "the war against terrorism is our
own national priority'' and described the ISI as a "national asset''
which has full support of the Government. "Indeed, the ISI is
a national asset and has the full support of the government. We
are proud of its considerable accomplishments," he added. The
premier also mentioned that some 40 key al Qaeda operatives, including
Faraj al-Libbi and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, were arrested by the
ISI, and stressed, "No other country in the world and no other
security agency has done so much to interdict al Qaeda than our
spy agency and armed forces."
About Osama bin Laden's presence
in Abbottabad, Gilani's explanation was that asymmetrical warfare
had happened to be the tool in vogue against superior conventional
forces.
In a related statement, the Inter
Services Public Relations said Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani had requested Gilani to "consider convening'' a joint session
of Parliament for briefing on the security issues related to the
"Abbottabad incident''.
Western Governments must work
with Pakistan to increase the fight against militants on its border
with Afghanistan, NATO's secretary general said. Anders Fogh Rasmussen
said he saw "no alternative" to cooperating with Pakistan in the
war against terrorism. Though he expressed appreciation for the
efforts so far by Pakistan's military to fight militants in its
border region with Afghanistan he said, "But I think more could
be done." "
The Government is set to announce
a defence budget for the upcoming fiscal year that will be just
over a quarter of its targeted tax revenues, though a careful
analysis of the allocations suggests that the numbers understate
the full costs of military spending. The 'stated' defence budget
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 is likely to be PKR 495
billion, an increase of PKR 53 billion or 12 per cent over the
previous year's 'stated' budget, a rate of increase that is nominally
below inflation. This, however, masks actual defence expenditures
in several ways, including transferring military pensions to civilian
expenses and counting 'security' operations separately.
|
May 10 |
A bomb attack targeting a court
in Nowshera District killed four persons, including two Police
constables, and injured four others including two Policemen. "It
was a bomb blast. Two police constables, including a policewoman,
were killed," Nowshera Police Chief, Qureish Khan, had said.
The SFs killed three militants,
including a would-be suicide bomber, during an operation in Mula
Banda area of Munda tehsil in Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sources said the militants were planting an IED when Security
Forces reached spot.
Nasrullah Afridi, a tribal journalist
from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA, was killed in
a car bomb blast in Khyber Super Market of cantonment area in
Peshawar.
Three suspected Arab militants
were killed when a US drone attacked a vehicle near Angoor Adda
in South Waziristan Agency of FATA. Sources said the drone fired
two missiles at a pick-up, going from Bagher to Sra Qala, near
Angoor Adda. Official sources said the three Arabs were killed
on the spot.
A watchman, identified as Risalat,
was wounded in a hand grenade attack targeting a plot owned by
the Peoples Amn (Peace) Committee chief Uzair Baloch located near
Art Chowk in Lyari town in Karachi.
The packing carton of the Global
Positioning System (GPS) used by the terrorists in the Mumbai
terror attack (26/11) was found in a house in Karachi which was
believed to have been used as a control room for orchestrating
the strike. India will share with Pakistan all information related
to the GPS device, used by the 26/11 attackers to navigate in
Indian waters on fishing trawler ''Kuber'', to help authorities
in that country establish the role of Pakistani terrorists.
Unidentified armed militants blew
up a gas supply pipeline in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District.
Six ministers, belonging to the
PPP, accused their coalition partner in the Government, the JUI-F,
of supporting the Taliban and promoting terrorism. Minister for
Communications and PPP's Deputy Parliamentary Leader Mir Sadiq
Umrani said the JUI-F was spreading terrorism and setting up and
running seminaries with Government funds.
Acting IG of Balochistan Police
Ghalib Bandesha denied the presence of the militant organization
Quetta Shura, composed of top leadership of the Afghan Taliban
in Balochistan. Bandesha was responding to recent media reports
which stated that the US and Pakistani intelligence agencies are
on a hunt for Osama bin Laden's ally Mullah Omar in Quetta after
the successful raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad.
The TTP threatened Chief Justice
of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry of "dire consequences"
if he does not accept the appeal of their activists convicted
of attacking former President General Pervez Musharraf. The TTP
militants were sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court in
the attack case on former President General Pervez Musharraf.
The sources in the Federally Ministry of Interior said TTP 'spokesperson'
Shakirullah Shakir Mehsud threatened the Chief Justice that if
he does not accept appeals of their nine activists he would suffer
"dire consequences."
Al Qaeda again called on Muslims
to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden and said Americans will
"pay the price" for President Barack Obama's decision to kill
him, the SITE Intelligence monitoring service said. Al Fajr Media
Centre, which SITE calls the exclusive online distributor of al
Qaeda propaganda, said the assassination was a "big mistake" and
a "serious sin," and that Obama had brought disaster on the American
people.
The statement, made available
by the US-based SITE, opened with a lengthy eulogy of bin Laden,
killed by US commandos in Pakistan. It said that "despite the
stress and the affliction, he continued to smile, certain of the
victory of Allah and convinced of His support. He did not retreat
nor flatter instead, he incited to jihad and martyrdom and sought
that with his person and his money."
Britain asked Pakistan to "dismantle"
all terror groups operating on its soil and posing a threat to
it as well as to the region and beyond. Foreign Secretary William
Hague noted that Pakistan has suffered more casualties from terrorism
than any country since September 11, but nonetheless called upon
the beleaguered country to do all it can to "dismantle all militant
and terrorist groups operating on, and from, its soil", adding,
"We continue to urge Pakistan to do all it can to dismantle all
militant and terrorist groups operating on, and from, its soil".
One of LeT's most important leaders
who was indicted by the 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. 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.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said that it had yet to receive a formal request from the US to
question three widows of Osama bin Laden while US said that it
expects Pakistan will "soon" let it in this regard. Pakistan Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said, "The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs has not received a formal request from the US." She also
said that no extradition requests had been received from the countries
of origin of bin Laden's wives - Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
US investigators want to question
his three wives as they seek to roll up his global militant network.
"Pakistanis now appear willing to grant access. Hopefully, they'll
carry through on the signals they're sending," said a US official
familiar with the matter in Washington. Bin Laden's Yemeni wife
has told Pakistani investigators that they lived in the compound
where her spouse was killed in the garrison town of Abbottabad
for five years.
|
May 11 |
Five mutilated and decomposed
bodies of Baloch missing persons, including the bodies of a former
leader of the BSO-Azad and the BNM were found from Panjgur area
of Khuzdar District, and from Quetta.
Unidentified militants torched
two NATO containers that were returning to Karachi from Afghanistan
after offloading supplies for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan
near Mastung District.
An ASI and a constable were shot
dead in an attack by armed militants in the Sultanabad area of
Karachi. It was reported that ASI Manzoor Ahmed was patrolling
in the area on a motorcycle along with Police constable Saleem
Khan when two assailants fired at them killing Ahmed on the spot
and injuring the constable. Later, constable Khan succumbed to
his injuries.
Two unidentified militants hurled
hand grenades at the Saud Arabian Consulate situated within the
jurisdiction of Gizri Police Station in Karachi. However, no casualty
or material damage was reported in the incident.
TTP fired several rockets at Arakhel
residential area in Frontier Region of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.
Police foiled a sabotage bid by
neutralising a five-kilogram heavy bomb, planted on G.T. Road
in Nowshera District. According to Police, unidentified militants
planted a remote controlled bomb on the road to target school
buses. However, the bomb was timely and safely defused by Police.
SFs arrested a would-be suicide
bomber, who was entering Darra Adamkhel from Khyber Agency, at
Spina Thana checkpost. Officials said that 12-year-old Shehzad,
a resident of Donga Qambarkhel village of Khyber Agency, was coming
to Darra Adamkhel from a mountain situated behind the checkpost.
He confessed that he was trained for suicide bombing by TTP, official
added.
Three border Policemen, who were
abducted by Afghan Taliban during an attack on a Paitasun checkpost
in border village Arsoon in Chitral District on the night of May
3, were set free by their abductors. A soldier, Abdul Ghafoor,
had lost his lies in the night of May 3 when Afghan Taliban attacked
Paitasun checkpost. Three other personnel of border police identified
as Mohammad Hassan, Ghaziuddin and Muhibur Rahman were abducted
along with their arms and taken to Nuristan province of Afghanistan.
District Coordination Officer Rahmatullah Wazir said that he had
sent a jirga to Nuristan province of Afghanistan to seek
safe release of the abducted Policemen.
Bomb disposal squad neutralised
an explosive device planted at a house in Ustarzai village in
Orakzai Agency of FATA. Police said that unidentified militants
had planted an improvised explosive device, filled with liquid
and attached to non-electric fuse and cartridges of 12 bore.
The Intelligence Officers recovered
a handwritten journal containing his "operational ideas," during
the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Agents studying
the notebook for information on future al Qaeda plots said that
it is "just one of many things" found. It doesn't entail where
he's been or what he's done."
The United States is expanding
sanctions against leaders of the Haqqani network that operates
in Afghanistan and Pakistan, blacklisting Badruddin Haqqani, a
son of the group's founder, who is believed responsible for abduction
and organising high-profile attacks. US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton designated the commander as a terrorist and banned Americans
from doing business with him.
Congressman Mike Rogers said that
the Haqqani network may have had some "logistical role" behind
bombings incidents in India. "We believe that they may have some
logistical role in helping in the bombings in India," Congressman
Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence, said in response to a question at the Council
on Foreign Relations (CFR), a Washington-based eminent think tank.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani exhorted
political leadership from across the party line to stand united
and give a collective strategy on national policy on security
to face the serious challenges facing the country. "I request
you to stand united and give us a strategy on our national policy
on security," said the PM in his address to the Senate, adding,
"We shall not allow our territory to be used for terrorism." "Our
political leaders may have their differences. But, across the
world, they stand united on the issue of national foreign policy,"
said Gilani as he asked the senators not to give anyone a chance
to destabilise the country.
The SC asked Balochistan Chief
Secretary to appear in the court on May 12 and respond to queries
over the worsening law and order situation in the province. SC,
while expressing dissatisfaction over recent incidents of target
killings, kidnappings for ransom and other incidents of lawlessness,
remarked that the Provincial Government was bound to protect lives
and properties of people under Article 9 of the constitution.
Former President General Pervez
Musharraf warned in an interview that the United States would
be 'a loser' if it alienated Pakistan in the war against al Qaeda
and militants. General Musharraf, speaking about the US raid in
Pakistan which eliminated Osama bin Laden, also told ABC News
there was no deal between his Government and Washington almost
a decade ago allowing US forces to conduct a unilateral raid in
Pakistani territory, as reported by the British newspaper "Never!
And this is the assertion being cast by the Guardian and I rejected
that. I condemn such an insinuation," General Musharraf said.
"There was no such deal."
General Musharraf said that it
is possible that rogue members of ISI and the military knew of
Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad. "As a policy, the Army
and the ISI are fighting terrorism and extremism, al Qaeda and
the Taliban.
The ISI hired US attorneys to
pleaded immunity for their clients in the 26/11 Mumbai terror
attack case by questioning jurisdiction of US courts in the matter
and arguing that the US government has designated Pakistan "a
critical friend and ally," effectively giving it political and
diplomatic cover.
The Ministry of Defence sought
an increase in the PKR 495 billion defence budget proposed by
the Ministry of Finance to PKR 524 billion, or 18.4 per cent more
than the budget for the outgoing fiscal year. After a briefing
by the Ministry of Defence on 2012's defence and security requirements,
the chairperson of the National Assembly Standing Committee on
Finance Fauzia Wahab said the proposed defence budget of PKR 495
billion might be increased keeping rising needs in mind. Wahab
said the defence budget can be increased up to three per cent
of the total size of the economy, while the proposed budget is
2.5 per cent of GDP.
A US lawmaker initiated legislation
to stop American aid to Pakistan for its fostering of terrorism.
California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced a bill to stop
aid to a country whose leadership, he said, ''concealed, protected
and enabled'' Osama bin Laden for many years.
Obama administration dismissed
demands of a group of lawmakers that US should stop aid to Pakistan
in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden. "They are
legitimate concerns. But we believe that our counter-terrorism
cooperation and our assistance to Pakistan is in the long-term
national security interests of the US, as well as in the long-term
interests of building a stronger, more prosperous and more democratic
Pakistan," State department spokesman Mark Toner said.
A group of US Senators introduced
a legislation that would keep the Guantánamo Bay open. This legislation
came in response to Barack Obama Administration's intention to
close down the detention camp. The group, comprising five Senators,
said US needs a safe place to keep terrorists, as they believe
that the death of Osama bin Laden and the materials seized would
result in arrests of more terrorists.
Pakistan Government paid British
Parliamentarian George Galloway 135,000 pounds from a secret fund
for promoting its case on the Kashmir issue. The issue came to
light when the PAC of the National Assembly or Lower House of
Parliament examined an audit report. The amount was paid to him
from the "Pakistan projection fund" by the Pakistan High Commission
in London but it was never credited to the Government account.
Pakistan commando-turned dreaded
global terrorist Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who is linked to multiple
terror plots under the terrorist outfit HuJI including a series
of planned "Mumbai style" attacks in key European cities, could
succeed Osama bin Laden as the chief of al Qaeda. It was reported
that Ilyas Kashmiri, who was at one point a member of the Pakistan
military, serving as a commando in a SSG that was once tasked
with training Afghan Mujahideen to fight the Soviets is
on the most wanted list of the US 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.
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.
|
May 12 |
A US drone fired two missiles
into a vehicle in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan Agency in
FATA, killing at least eight suspected militants. However, the
identities of those killed have not been confirmed.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested four alleged militants of TTP Bader Mansoor group,
affiliated with Punjab Taliban, including a student of University
of Karachi and recovered 25 kilogram of explosives, two suicide
jackets, three Kalashnikovs, six grenades, three pistols, a LMG
rifle and various sorts of detonators and electronic devices from
their possession in a raid in the limits of Pirabad Police Station
in Karachi. The arrested were identified as, Habibullah, Habib-ur-Rehman,
Babar Iqbal alias Bubbly and their mastermind Maaz alias Irfan.
Pakistan decided to launch an
inter-agency process to define the extent of counter-terrorism
cooperation with the US amid tensions over the raid that killed
Osama bin Laden. The Cabinet's Defence Committee chaired by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani comprehensively reviewed the post-Osama
bin Laden situation and decided to institute an inter-agency process
to clearly define the parameters of Pakistan's cooperation with
the US in counter-terrorism in accordance with national interests
and the aspirations of the people.
The private journal and other
documents recovered from Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad
revealed that he intended to target Americans through trains and
planes. "If possible, strike on significant dates, such as US
Independence Day on July 4 and the upcoming 10th anniversary of
the attacks of September 11, 2001 (also known as 9/11)", reads
one of the recovered documents.
The real breakthrough that led
to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden came from a mysterious CIA
detainee, Hassan Ghul, special report based on interviews with
two dozen current and former senior Intelligence, White House
and State Department officials said.
The US commando raid that killed
Osama bin Laden was "not an assassination", US Attorney General
Eric Holder said after the al Qaeda leader's sons denounced the
operation on May 11. Holder said that the raid on bin Laden's
hideout in Pakistan on May 1 was a "kill or capture mission" and
that his surrender would have been accepted if offered, but that
the safety of US Navy commandos was paramount.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,
in an interview with Time Magazine, revealed that cooperation
between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the ISI, had broken
down. Gilani said that, continuing to work with the United States
could imperil his Government, unless Washington takes drastic
steps to restore trust and win over 180 million Pakistanis. Gilani
warned that his Government was accountable to an electorate increasingly
hostile to the US.
|
May 13 |
90 people, including 73 paramilitary
forces and 17 civilians, were killed when twin suicide bombers
attacked Pakistan paramilitary personnel as they were about to
leave from a FC training centre in the Shabqadar tehsil
in Charsadda District. "The explosions detonated as newly trained
cadets were getting into buses and coaches for a 10-day leave
after their course, and they were wearing civilian clothes. The
first bomb was a suicide attack. We are investigating the nature
of the second bomb," Charsadda District Police Chief Nisar Khan
Marwat said. TTP claimed their first major strike in revenge for
Osama bin Laden's death, adds Dawn. "This was the first revenge
for Osama's martyrdom. Wait for bigger attacks in Pakistan and
Afghanistan," TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone
from an undisclosed location.
Three militants were killed when
a US drone fired two missiles into a vehicle in the Kharkamar
area, 40 kilometres west of Miranshah, in the North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
Eight tankers carrying oil for
NATO forces in Afghanistan were destroyed after a blast ripped
through a parking lot at Torkham along the Afghan border in Khyber
Agency. Local people said that a magnet bomb fitted with one of
the tankers exploded with a bang. A group identifying itself as
Abdullah Ezam Brigade claimed responsibility for the blast.
A suspected suicide bomber was
killed and two others were injured when a bomb exploded in a house
in Dotani village of Loralai District in Balochistan. The deceased
was identified as Mohammad Sadiq. The injured included Nizamuddin
and Sher Afzal, a 14-year old boy. According to sources, two people,
identified as Nizamuddin and Mohammad Sadiq, visited the house
of Fateh Mohammad and said they wanted to talk to him. Fateh Mohammad
took them to a room where an explosion took place after a few
minutes.
Two blasts rocked Saifur Market
in the densely polluted area of Yar Hussain in Swabi District
the night. However, no casualty was reported because the market
was closed at the time of blasts. Officials said that target of
militants were five CD shops in the market.
ISI Director General Lieutenant
General Ahmed Shuja Pasha surrendered himself before Parliament
for accountability after conceding intelligence failure of the
country's premier secret agency in the Abbottabad operation in
which al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special
Forces on May 2.
In a rare show of parliament's
supremacy over the country's military and intelligence institutions,
the ISI head also offered to resign if parliament so decides,
and pleaded forgiveness from the nation for the "intelligence
lapse" in Abbottabad. He told the House that the United States
had used stealth technology on its helicopters that could not
be detected. "It was due to the technological superiority that
they managed to get in undetected," Federal Minister for Information
and Broadcasting Firdaus Ashiq Awan quoted the ISI chief as saying.
|
May 14 |
At least six persons were killed
and 10 others were injured when a bomb concealed inside a bus
exploded near Kharian town in Gujrat District of Punjab. According
to Police Deputy Superintendent Mian Sultan, a passenger bus was
heading to Kharian from Kotlan when a bomb went off near a police
station at Chak Kamala.
Five militants were killed and
several injured in a clash during the ongoing Army operation Brekhna
(Thunder) in Suran Dara area of Mohmand Agency in FATA. The TTP
'spokesman' also admitted that three militants were killed in
the exchange of fire with SFs. He claimed that several SFs personnel
were also killed and injured. SFs claimed more gains in violence-plagued
Baizai and Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency.
Five SFs personnel and two civilians
were injured when a landmine exploded in Bankhel area of Safi
tehsil in Mohmand Agency. Sources said that soldiers were patrolling
the area when explosive device planted on a dirt track in Bankhel
area near Afghanistan border went off. Five soldiers, a girl and
a driver received injuries, sources added.
Militants fired seven rockets
at the residence of chief of Haleemzai Peace Committee, Haji Mohammad
Ali, in Haleemzai tehsil in the night. The committee head
remained unhurt.
Bomb Disposal Squad neutralised
an eight-kilogram IED in Yakaghund area of Mohmand Agency.
Unidentified militants blew off
Haji Mawez Kaley Government Boys' Primary School in Bakarabad
area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency in the night. However,
no loss of life was reported in the incident. The attack brings
to 3, the total number of schools destroyed in Jamrud while the
tally stands at 40 in the whole of Khyber Agency.
Two bombs exploded along the G.T.
Road at Tarnab Farm in the limits of Chamkani Police Station of
Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. An official said that both the
blasts occurred simultaneously with a gap of 10 minutes at about
10.30am. However, people in the area remained unhurt, police said.
The Death toll in the twin suicide
attacks on FC training centre in the Shabqadar tehsil in
Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 13 increased to
90.
A rail track near Jacobabad Railway
Station in Jacobabad District of Sindh was damaged in a low-intensity
bomb blast. After the explosion, train service was suspended.
According to Railway officials there were no causalities in the
incident.
Two imams (prayer leaders)
of Pakistani origin and a relative were arrested in Florida of
US for their alleged links to the TTP. FBI agents arrested Hafiz
Mohammed Sher Ali Khan and his son Izhar Khan in South Florida.
They will appear before a federal court in South Florida on May
16. The US FBI, which arrested them, is also looking for three
other people who are believed to be in Pakistan. Another of Hafiz
Khan's sons, Irfan Khan, was arrested in Los Angeles and will
appear in court there. Also charged are three Pakistani residents:
Ali Rehman, Alam Zeb and Amina Khan. Ms Amina is Hafiz Khan's
daughter, and Alam Zeb is her son. The four-count indictment alleges
that the three defendants arrested in the US planned to provide
'material support' to a conspiracy to kill, injure and kidnap
people abroad. They also allegedly provided support to the TTP.
Hafiz Khan is the imam at Flagler Mosque in Miami. Izhar Khan
is an imam at the Jamaat Al Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate of Florida.
NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen urged Pakistan to stand united with its Western
allies to tackle the Taliban, who were behind a double suicide
bombing in the country. "It is with shock and sadness that I learned
the death of some 80 paramilitary cadets killed in a terrorist
attack,".
|
May 15 |
TTP militants killed two persons
after accusing them of spying for the United States in the Nawi
Adda and Boya areas of the Datta Khel areas in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
Balochistan Finance Minister Mir
Asim Kurd escaped an attack in Dashat area of Mastung District.
An officer of Balochistan Constabulary
Force escaped a bomb attack while he was passing through Maingundi
area on the Quetta-Mastung road in a convoy. However, no casualties
were reported.
An office of the National Database
and Registration Authority and an electricity pylon was damaged
when a bomb blast occurred on Airport Road in Quetta.
Two militants were arrested in
Dhadar area for their alleged involvement in attacks on tankers
carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan. It was reported that
the Levies Force personnel signalled six militants to stop on
the road linking Sibi to Bakhtiarabad but they opened fire.
Two prisoners, Alauddin and Kashif,
who are associated with the LeJ outfit, escaped from civil hospital's
jail ward in Karachi. It was reported that the suspects were being
treated for the last one month under the court Police's custody.
Two unidentified men came to the ward to help the prisoners escape.
According to details, Alauddin was arrested by the Orangi Town
Police on June 3, 2010, while trying to escape after robbing a
private bank. Kashif was also arrested in 2010, by the Azizabad
Police and was allegedly affiliated with the LeJ. It was reported
that both the militants also have ties with TTP and collect funds
for militant outfits in the tribal areas.
One of the militants involved
in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team on March 3, 2009,
arrested in Taunsa Sharif city of Dera Ghazi Khan District of
Punjab. Sources said that Police arrested Adnan Khosa for a bank
robbery that took place on May 14 in Taunsa Sharif. Upon interrogation,
Khosa confessed that he and his father, Qari Irshad, had been
involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
Khosa and his father had fled the country after the attack, according
to sources, and had only recently returned from Dubai. Soon after
the attack, police had arrested a man named Zubair from Hotel
Makhan, on the Indus Highway near Shah Saddar Din, another town
in Dera Ghazi Khan. Zubair had mentioned an accomplice by the
name of Adnan Khosa during his interrogation.
The ISI chief Lieutenant General
Ahmed Shuja Pasha warned India that any Abbottabad-like attack
by it would invite a fitting response from Pakistan as targets
inside the country "had already been identified" and "rehearsal"
carried out. Pasha's warning came as he addressed the in-camera
joint session of the Senate and National Assembly held behind
closed doors.
ISI stopped sharing intelligence
with the CIA following the unilateral US operation to kill Osama
bin Laden, The Sunday Telegraph reported. ISI agents, who
had earlier been credited with helping spot targets for drone
strikes and give data to the CIA, have now started to withhold
crucial operational details about militants. The US said it had
not shared information about the daring raid with Pakistan. The
media report said the ISI has now broken off relations with the
CIA. "They are furious. They handed over telephone intercepts
in 2009 that were crucial in leading to bin Laden's courier -
the key breakthrough in the hunt," a source was quoted as saying.
|
May 16
|
At least 12 militants were killed
and another four injured in twin US drone attack in Mir Ali Town,
some 40 kilometres east of Miranshah, in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA.
Two children were killed and another
injured when one of them stepped on a landmine, planted by unidentified
militants, in the empty house of Shah Nawaz in Wali Kor area of
Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
A member of anti-Taliban peace
committee was shot dead by militants in Jawaki village of Frontier
Region Kohat. Militants claimed that they killed Ghani who had
attended a jirga the other day.
Three persons, including a woman,
were injured when militants attacked Shalowzan and Khaiwas villages
with heavy weapons in Kurram Agency.
A Government-run school was blown
up in Mamond area of Bajaur Agency. Locals said unidentified militants
planted IED at Government primary school for boys in Gari Yagal
area. The number of destroyed schools in Bajaur Agency has reached
to 106.
A Quetta-bound car coming from
Noshki in Dashat area of Mastung District was fired upon by unidentified
militants, killing three people and injuring another. The dead
were identified as Abdul Khaliq, Zahoor Ahmed and Abdul Rehman,
all from Sasoli community.
Unidentified militants attacked
an auto workshop at Sakran road in Hub town of Lasbela District
with a hand-grenade, killing a man and injuring three others.
Unidentified militants blew up
a pipeline in Pir Koh gas field area of Dera Bugti District, disrupting
supply to the purification plant.
The Supreme Court admonished Balochistan
Chief Secretary Ahmed Bux Lehri over the worsening law and order
situation in Balochistan. CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked
that it was the duty of the Government to provide protection to
its citizens in accordance with the constitution. Justice Chaudhry
noted that although the army, Frontier Constabulary, Levies and
other law enforcement agencies had been working under the command
of Lehri, the security situation in Balochistan remained unchanged.
The report presented by the secretary stated that 251 people had
been killed in targeted killings and 155 in sectarian violence
in the last three years in Balochistan. The court directed the
secretary to prepare a comprehensive report detailing security
situation in Balochistan in the last three years, 2008 to 2011.
A Saudi diplomat was shot dead
by unidentified militants on his way to the Saudi Consulate in
Khayaban-e-Shahbaz area within the limits of the Darakhshan Police
Station in Karachi. The TTP claimed the responsibility for the
killing, and warned US against attacking its close ally al Qaeda.
An activist of MQM, identified
as Danish, was shot dead near Crown Garden within the remits of
Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.
One Nizamuddin, an activist of
MQM-H was shot dead at Paracha Chowk area of Muhammadi Colony.
LEA arrested two alleged terrorists,
identified as Qari Mustafa and Commander Ameen, in connection
with the suicide attacks on the Chehlum procession of Hazrat Ali
(A.S) near Karbala Gammy Shah in Lahore on September 2, 2010.
The arrests yielded explosives, suicide jackets and sophisticated
weapons.
Authorities in Pakistan interrogated
Alam Zeb wanted in the US on charges of financing and supporting
the al Qaeda linked TTP. Zeb is the grandson of the imam
of a Florida mosque who was arrested in the US along with his
two sons on May 14 on the same charges of creating a network that
moved funds from the US to TTP.
Barrister Iqbal Jaffree moved
a petition in the LHC calling for the expulsion of the US Ambassador
Cameron Munter from the country, ban on transit facilities to
the US until it apologises over the Abbottabad operation, and
finally to take the matter to the ICJ.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said that
it was the need of the hour that the United States and Pakistan
should rebuild the trust and confidence between their governments
and institutions. PM said Pakistan desired due recognition and
support of the international community, particularly that of the
US, at this stage rather than negative messaging and uncalled-for
criticism, emanating from there.
Britain and Pakistan need to work
closely to further enhance their partnership in diverse areas,
mainly in trade, investment and education with a view to eliminate
terrorism from Pakistan and promote peace and security of the
region and the world, President Asif Ali Zardari said. President
Asif Ali Zardari said this while talking to a British delegation
led by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs Alistair Burt, which called on him at the
Presidency.
PoK Chief Election Commissioner
Justice Khawaja Mohammad Saeed fixed June 26 as the polling day
for the General Election to 41 direct seats of PoK Legislative
Assembly. According to the polls’ schedule, nomination papers
will be filed by May 26.
|
May 17
|
15 militants and two SF personnel
were killed during a clash when a group of 100 militants attacked
a security checkpost in the Sangu Mera area north of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sources said that
the militants from the adjacent Bara area of Khyber Agency in
FATA attacked the check post located 10 kilometres north of Peshawar
in the morning. The slain SFs personnel were identified as elite
force constable, Zahid, and FC Zahiq Shah. Five other SF personnel
also sustained injuries.
SFs arrested a tribal shopkeeper
from Shinwari Plaza in main bazaar of Kohat for his alleged links
with TTP.
SFs shot dead five suspected al
Qaeda linked militants who had tried to carry out a suicide bombing
in south western city of Quetta. They were killed in gunfight
near a paramilitary check post in Quetta. It was reported that
the would-be bombers included three women and were believed to
be foreigners. "From the appearance of the attackers, it
looked they were either Uzbek or Chechens," a senior security
official said, adding, "They had hand grenades and bombs
strapped to their bodies." If the attack had been carried
out, it would have been the second targeting Pakistan's military
since al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid
on May 1. A Police official said at least one of the attackers
blew himself up before being shot. No SFs were killed, the officials
added.
Bullet-riddled dead bodies of
four SFs personnel were found in Degari intersection of Dasht
tehsil area in Mastung District. The victims were identified
as Muhammad Salim, Muhammad Nadeem, residents of Quetta, Major
Riaz and Hawaldar Muhammad Yasin, of Multan District in Punjab.
The dead bodies of two tribesmen,
killed on charges of spying for the US, were found in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA. The body of Sakhi Jan was found on Miramshah-Madakhel
Road and another body of one Gul Zaman found in Derga Mandai area.
Pieces of paper found on the bodies said the deceased were killed
because they spied for the US.
Two soldiers, identified as Basharat
and Ajmal, were killed and another received injuries in a landmine
explosion in Dabori area of upper tehsil in Orakzai Agency.
Two NATO helicopters violated
Pakistan’s airspace at Admi Kot post in North Waziristan Agency.
The troops stationed at the post fired at the intruding helicopters
and, as a result of exchange of fire, two of Pakistan Army soldiers
received injuries.
Two NATO oil tankers were set
ablaze near Khor village on Talagang-Attock Road in Attock District.
Police arrested three alleged
TTP militants for launching attacks on NATO tankers. The three
alleged militants were identified as Ali Imran, Shujaur Rahman
and Hafiz Aizazur Rahman.
A senior al Qaeda Yemeni operative,
Muhammad Ali Qasim Yaqub alias Abu Sohaib Al Makki, was arrested
by security agencies in Karachi. An ISPR report stated that the
arrest of Al Makki is a major development in unravelling the al
Qaeda network operating in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.
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. 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.
The ISI is trying to convince
the Haqqani network to join Afghan peace talks. 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.
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,. “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.
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 Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik said that the country’s security agencies had caught
the terrorists involved in attacks on the Marriot hotel, GHQ and
Parade Lane Mosque red handed, but due to lacuna in the Anti-Terrorism
Act, the culprits got released.
Former Prime Minister and leader
of N Nawaz Sharif urged Pakistan to stop treating India as 'biggest
enemy'. He called for reappraisal of ties with its neighbour to
move forward and progress, saying Islamabad must stop treating
New Delhi as its "biggest enemy".
|
May 18
|
At least seven Shia people, including
a passerby girl, were killed and six others sustained bullet injuries
in an attack near Killi Kamalo area of Quetta. Police termed the
incident as sectarian killing and have started investigating it.
Meanwhile, LeJ claimed responsibility for the attack and a spokesman
of the outfit, Ali Sher Hadri, threatened to carry out such attacks
in the future as well against the Shia community.
BLA claimed responsibility for
May 17 attack on SF personnel in Mastung District that killed
four SFs.
Unidentified militants blew up
the building of a Government-run primary school in Gul Bacha Korona
under Saro Police Station in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With the latest incident, the
number of blown up/torched schools reached 13 in Shabqadar tehsil
alone.
Police arrested three suspected
terrorists from Jamia Hafsa al-banat madrassa in the Tatlay
Aali Police precincts of Gujranwala District. The arrested terror
suspects include the madrassa’s Nazim, Qari Iftikhar Ahmed and
two others, Qari Bilal Ahmed and Qari Muhammad Akram.
The TTP vowed to fight with “new
zeal” in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death to complete the al
Qaeda chief’s mission of waging holy war against the West, the
‘deputy commander’ of TTP Waliur Rehman told the Associated
Press. Rehman said that terrorists would continue to stage
attacks in the coming days. Rehman spoke to the AP along the border
between North and South Waziristan. “After the martyrdom of Sheikh
Osama, the Mujahideen will continue jihad to complete his
mission with a new zeal,” Rehman said, referring to his fighters.
“We have the same target, programme and mission,” he added. “Our
enemies are NATO, Jews and Christians.” Rehman also questioned
details that have emerged about the US raid that killed bin Laden.
|
May 19
|
One person identified as Shamsul
Qamar, was killed and seven others, including two Policemen, sustained
injuries in a roadside explosion at Jehangira Chowk in Nowshera
District. It was reported that a remote controlled bomb was planted
by unidentified militants along the road near Jehangira Chowk.
A security guard identified as
Saeedullah was injured in a mysterious blast at Jalozai IDP camp.
Lawyers, judges and litigants
vacated Nowshera courts after a bomb hoax.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
a gas pipeline near Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District.
Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar
Ali Magsi said that he has no idea whether the Quetta Shura, a
group comprising Afghan Taliban leadership, including top leader
Mullah Omar, is in Balochistan, but if it was present then no
one could stop the US from carrying out attacks against it.
Asked about the killing of five
alleged Chechen terrorists in Kharotabad area, the Governor said
it was the provincial Government’s responsibility to investigate
the incident and determine if the foreigners were suicide bombers
or not and whether they were carrying weapons and explosive materials.
One of the secret internal American
Government cables, accessed by Dawn through WikiLeaks, provide
confirmation that the 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.
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.
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.
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.
In a recording made shortly before
his death, Osama bin Laden praised the mass protests that have
toppled and shaken long-time rulers across the Arab world. Laden’s
message, released on militant websites addressed to the Muslim
nation, represents an attempt by him to remain relevant following
sweeping changes in which al Qaeda and other militant outfits
have played almost no role.
Announcing election manifesto,
MQM said it will contest all 41 seats of Legislative Assembly
of PoK in the General Elections of June 26, 2011. National Press
Club, MQM Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar said MQM will continue
struggle for the genuine rights of Kashmiris, adding, “MQM wants
to resolve the Kashmir dispute as per aspirations of Kashmiris.
They should be part of every talk over Kashmir between Pakistan
and India.”
Army Commander Lieutenant General
Asif Yaseen Malik hinted at launching a military operation to
clear the restive Kurram Agency in FATA of militants and make
Thall-Parachinar Road safer for travelling.
The tribal elders said that Government
should replace paramilitary forces with the army in the area.
“The government should deploy regular army on the main road,”
they added. They alleged that FC had lost the confidence of people
as the force failed to provide security to local population.
|
May 20
|
16 persons, including 8 members
of a family, were killed when NATO oil tankers were set ablaze
in two separate incidents at Landikotal and Torkham areas of Khyber
Agency in FATA. The sources said in the first incident at 10:30
p.m. the militants torched a NATO oil tanker in Khugakhel area
on the Landikotal bypass.
Six persons were killed when missiles
fired by a US drone hit their car near Esha Check post in the
North Waziristan Agency. Sources said that two missiles were
fired at the vehicle going from Miramshah to Spalga village.
SFs targeted militant positions
in Khadezai area of Orakzai Agency with artillery fire, killing
six suspected militants. Two hideouts were destroyed.
Five TTP militants were killed
when a double-cabin vehicle on its way to Sadda in Kurram Agency
from Mamozai, went off near the border area of Ghunza in Orakzai
Agency. The dead were identified as Rasool Jan, Idrees Jamal,
Haider Zaman, Bilal and Akbar Zaman Afridi, the driver.
Two FC personnel were killed and
another two injured in a bomb blast in Mand town of Turbat District.
According to sources a bicycle rigged with an explosive device
had been parked on a roadside.
One passerby was killed and 11
other injured in a car bomb blast on a US consulate vehicle on
Abdarra Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
at about 8 am. Two consulate personnel in the bullet-proof Land
Cruiser also suffered minor injuries. According to Police, the
vehicle carrying US personnel was going to the consulate office
in the cantonment from the American Club in the posh University
Town. US embassy spokesman in Islamabad, Alberto Rodriguez, said
in a statement that the vehicle had been hit by an improvised
explosive device. The vehicle was damaged, but no US personnel
were seriously injured. The TTP, in telephone calls to AFP, claimed
responsibility, threatening further attacks against Western targets
and indicating that the blast was to avenge the May 2 killing
of Osama bin Laden by US Navy SEALs. “Our first enemy is Pakistan,
then the United States and after that other NATO countries,” said
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.
Police arrested a would-be suicide
bomber and two of his handlers belonging to TTP who were planning
terror attacks in the financial hub Karachi.
Confidential American diplomatic
cables obtained by Dawn 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.
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.
Quoting from a US cable dated
April 8, 2008, accessed through the WikiLeaks, 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.
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.
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 US cable released by WikiLeaks, reported.
|
May 22
|
Ten SF personnel and four TTP
militants were killed while nine SF personnel were injured in
an attack by TTP on the Pakistan Naval Station (PNS) Mehran within
Faisal naval airbase Karachi that started in the night of May
22. The gun battle is still continuing. Two US made surveillance
aircraft were also damaged in the attack. Claiming the responsibility
for the attack TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said, "We had
already warned after Osama's martyrdom that we will carry out
even bigger attacks". “The operation still continues. It
is not over yet," said one security official. The cordon
around the attackers was being tightened and the operation was
likely to be completed soon, he added.
The Pakistan Intelligence had
warned the Police and other Security agencies that terrorist outfits,
including TTP, were planning to carry out such attacks on army,
navy and air force installations. The Federal Interior Ministry
had issued an alert, warning Police and other LEA to beef up security
across the country.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik while condemning the assault in PNS Mehran said that al
Qaeda and Taliban are enemies of Pakistan. “The attack was not
on Pakistan navy but on Pakistan,” Malik said.
Eight militants were killed when
helicopter gunships pounded their positions in Khadezai and Saigel
Darra areas of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Sources said that four
militant hideouts were also destroyed in the shelling. Militants
have established hideouts in the upper tehsil, which is still
not in the control of SFs.
A joint unit in-charge of MQM,
identified as Iftikhar, was shot dead near Model Park in Nazimabad
within the jurisdiction of Nazimabad Police Station in Karachi.
Federal Police arrested one Ashraf
Jonu, a militant of TTP accused of attacking NATO oil containers
and seized four kilogram explosive material and two hand grenades
from his possession. The initial investigation revealed that Jonu
trained in preparing explosive circuit somewhere in Afghanistan
and also had contacts with a Taliban leader Ameer Abdul Salam
and visited Helmand in Afghanistan in 2007. He also remained in
contact with Taliban Commander Maulvi Khalil in Afghanistan and
allegedly owned up to attacking the NATO oil tankers near Mastung,
Mach and Chaman along with his accomplices who hailed from Lahore,
Quetta, Miranshah, Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman
Malik said that the US had a mole right inside Osama bin Laden's
Abbottabad hideout and this was how the al Qaeda chief was tracked
down. Top US officials said after the raid that they were only
partially certain of Osama's presence inside the $1 million mansion,
but Malik says only definitive information could have led them
right to the room where bin Laden was killed.
US President Barack Obama said
that he would approve an Abbottabad-like operation which killed
Osama bin Laden if another militant leader was found in Pakistan.
Speaking to the BBC on the eve of his visit to Britain, Obama
said that he was mindful of Pakistani sovereignty but said the
US could not allow "active plans to come to fruition without
us taking some action". Asked what he would do if one of
al Qaeda's top leaders, or the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was
tracked down to a location in Pakistan or another sovereign territory,
he said the US would take unilateral action if required. He said,
"Our job is to secure the United States. We are very respectful
of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who
is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people.
We can't allow those kinds of active plans to come to fruition
without us taking some action."
Barack Obama said that Pakistan's
obsession with India that makes it look at its neighbour as an
“existential threat” is a mistake and it would do well to shed
this contest mentality. Obama said both he and British Prime Minister
David Cameron understood that Pakistan had been “very obsessed”
with India. US wants Pakistan to realise that the biggest threat
to it does not come from outside but is “homegrown”. He said,
“They see that (India) as their existential threat. I think that’s
a mistake. I think that peace between India and Pakistan would
serve Pakistan very well.”
In a meeting with an American
diplomat in July 2009, 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, American diplomatic
cables, exposed by WikiLeaks reports. “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.
Pakistan Army denied a report
that US Special Forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for
intelligence- gathering missions in the northwest of the country.
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.
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”. 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.
The ISI chief Lieutenant General
Ahmed Shuja Pasha on May 22 warned the US that Pakistan will be
"forced to respond" if it does not stop drone strikes
in the country's tribal belt. The ISI chief took a firm stance
with the US on drone strikes, as saying "We will be forced
to respond if you do not come up with a strategy that stops the
drone strikes”. Pasha also described a recent incursion by NATO
helicopters into Pakistani airspace as a "shock" for
defence cooperation between the US and Pakistan.
There are elements within the
ISI and the Pakistani Army who provided support to Osama bin Laden,
said American lawmaker and Chairman of the House Select Committee
on Intelligence Mike Rogers. Rogers, who has access to classified
US information on bin Laden case, however, said there is no evidence
so far which indicates that the top leadership of either of these
two Pakistan organisations were aware of the presence of bin Laden
in Abbottabad. "But I believe, and I think many believe that
there were elements within those organisations that may have provided
them safety and at least logistical support to some degree,"
Rogers said.
Dawood Ibrahim, who tops the list
of most wanted Indian fugitives who escaped from Mumbai in 1984
lives in a 20,000 sq ft bungalow on Clifton Road area in Karachi
and is guarded by Pakistani Rangers and monitored by the ISI of
Pakistan.
|
May 23 |
Eight militants and a soldier
were killed during a clash in Suran Darra area of Mohmand Agency
of FATA. Three personnel of SFs were also injured in the clash.
Seven militants were killed when
a US drone strike destroyed a vehicle on the outskirts of Mir
Ali, around 30 kilometres east of Miranshah, in North Waziristan
Agency.
Three LI militants were killed
while six volunteers of the Zakha Khel tribe sustained bullets
injuries during a clash between Mangal Bagh led LI and Zakha Khel
volunteers in Zakha Khel area of Khyber Agency.
A volunteer of Sultan Peace Committee,
identified as Sher Afzal, was injured in a landmine explosion
in Utmankhel area of Baizai tehsil.
A truck driver and two labourers
were abducted by TTP militants in Bahai Dag area of Khwezai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found from Morgab area in Turbat District. One of the victims
was identified as Khalid Hanif, who was picked up along with his
younger brother Ghulam Dastagir and nephew Mahzo by personnel
of the Frontier Corps from their house in Nasrabad area in Turbat
District. "Dastagir and Mahzo are still missing", said a family
member.
The other victim, Ahmed was picked
up from his house in Gowargo area of Mand, and killed by SFs during
his illegal detention, claimed his family.
A cleric and Imam of Eidgah Mosque
Maulana Abdul Jalil Mohammad Hasani was killed in Toghi road area.
Five security personnel have been
abducted from Sherani area of Zhob District while they were going
to Islamabad from Quetta.
The death toll in the attack by
the TTP militants on the Pakistan Naval Station (PNS) Mehran within
Faisal naval airbase in Karachi rose to 14.
The fatalities included 10 SFs
and four militants. Two militants are suspected to have run away.
However, earlier it was reported that five militants and five
SF s were killed. The militants also destroyed two US-built P-3C
Orion aircraft.
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman
Bashir rejected the reports of "security breach" at the Pakistan
Navy's airbase that was attacked by TTP, saying the attack on
the airbase could not be termed "security lapse". "Terrorists
wanted to cause damage to the assets of the navy. And it was clear
that they targeted naval forces," said Noman Bashir.
Contrary to Bashir's statement,
Pakistan defence and political analysts termed the attack on the
Mehran naval air base as a "big security lapse". Security Experts
said that "insiders" were facilitating the militants in their
deadly agenda and asked the Government and military to wake up
to this. The daring attack by the armed militants, who used rockets,
grenades and heavy ammunition, has raised serious doubt over the
military's ability to protect its key installations.
"It is not possible for these
terrorists to have so much creditable information about the presence
of the aircrafts on the base without inside help. The fact that
these militants have managed to hold off the SFs for 16 hours
shows they came well drilled and prepared for the operation,"
Nasim Zehra, a political and current affairs expert said.
A motorist received minor injuries
as a low intensity bomb planted beneath the Rashakai Bridge on
Motorway (M-1) went off in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
MQM-H chief Amir Khan was released
from the Central Prison in Karachi. Khan was sentenced life imprisonment
by the Additional District and Session Judge in the murder case
of Farooque Qureshi, a worker of the MQM.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said that
regional peace cannot be guaranteed until the resolution of Kashmir
issue, urging the world's peace loving nations to come forward
to resolve the issue that has jeopardised the peace efforts in
the region.
David Coleman Headley, one of
the main conspirator of 2008 Mumbai attacks, testified that Pakistani
militant groups that got assistance from the ISI. The trial of
businessman Tahawwur Rana is being closely watched worldwide,
for what testimony might reveal about suspected links between
the Pakistani militant group blamed in the rampage on India's
city Mumbai in 2008 and Pakistan's main intelligence agency, which
has been under increased scrutiny since Osama bin Laden was killed
by US forces on May 2 outside Islamabad.
The Afghan Taliban on May 23 was
quick to deny reports of their leader Mullah Omar being killed
while being shifted by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
officials from Quetta to North Waziristan, reports The Hindu.
A similar denial came from the
TTP and was later quoted by Interior Minister Rehman Malik when
asked if the Mullah Omar had been killed. This is not the first
time the one-eyed militant has been reported dead. News about
Omar being killed was aired by an Afghan television channel on
the basis of an observation made by the spokesman of Afghanistan's
National Directorate of Security, Lutfullah Mashal. Stating that
"our sources and senior Taliban members confirm that they can't
contact him", Mr. Mashal hoped that Omar was dead but could not
confirm it.
Hamid Gul appeared across Pakistan's
television networks denying this, adding he was at his home in
Rawalpindi. "Was I killed too," was his counter. He said the Afghans
may have put out this story to facilitate U.S. troop withdrawal
and help President Barack Obama's return-to-White-House campaign.
Pakistan is under tremendous pressure
and threat from extremist elements in the country which is reflected
in the series of terrorist attacks including the latest one on
the nation's naval facilities, US State Department spokesman Mark
Toner said.
NATO will protect its troops and
Afghans from militants based across the border in Pakistan, the
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, reiterating
pledges by the US to target insurgents there who have escalated
attacks since Osama bin Laden's death. "We will take all necessary
measures to protect the Afghan people and our own troops," he
said of the NATO-led ISAF, whose war against the Taliban in Afghanistan
has dragged on for 10 years.
|
May 24 |
Two dead bodies, identified as
that of Abid Saleem and Mehrab Baloch, were found from Morgab
area of Turbat District.
Another dead body, found in Majdalo
area in Gowargo tehsil of Panjgur District was identified as that
of Abdul Hameed Baloch who was picked up from a passenger coach
on December 13, 2010, while he was heading to Panjgur from Quetta.
An activist of ANP, identified
as Asghar Khan, was shot dead near Ghousia Chowrangi area within
the limits of Landhi Police Station.
A militant 'commander', Fareed
Marwat, was killed and three tribesmen were injured during clashes
in Balishkhel and Khar Kallay areas of Kurram Agency in FATA.
TTP militants, coming from Darra
Adamkhel, set ablaze 15 houses in Jammu area in Frontier Region
Kohat. The residents of the area had raised an armed lashkar
against TTP.
Deadlock was reported in the talks
with militants for safe release of 31 abducted passengers. Sources
said that TTP demanded PKR 60 million as ransom for release of
31 Turi tribesmen, who were abducted by them on March 26.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
asserted that terrorists by creating uncertainty and chaos wanted
to de-stabilise the country but they would never succeed in their
indiscriminate aims. Talking to media upon his arrival at Pakistan
Navy's airbase PNS Mehran in Karachi, which was attacked by a
group of TTP militants, the Prime Minister said that the terrorist
attack on the naval facility was a point to ponder over for the
entire nation.
|
May 25 |
Nine persons were killed and over
39 got injured when militants drove a car packed with explosives
into a CID Police Station at University Road in Peshawar. Senior
Police Official Muhammad Ijaz said, "It was a huge blast which
completely destroyed the three-storey building," he said, noting
that there were usually 10 to 15 people present at that time in
the Police Station.
Four persons were killed and 18
others received injuries in the Balishkhel area of Upper Kurram
Agency of FATA ahead of ceasefire agreement between the warring
tribes of Shia and Sunni sects. To bring an end to clashes in
different areas of the Agency, the elders of Turi and Bangash
tribes during a meeting with the political authorities and FC
officials in Parachinar agreed to take urgent steps for a truce
and restoration of lasting peace in the volatile tribal region.
The elders of six tribes of Ahle Sunnat had already declared a
unilateral ceasefire in Sadda tehsil on May 24.
A bullet-riddled body, identified
as that of Jamal Khan, was found from Gazgi area in Khuzdar District.
A Balochistan Levies trooper,
identified as Muhammad Akram, was shot dead in Mastung District
while he was on his way to levies station from Mastung city.
Pakistani-American David Coleman
Headley who scouted targets for the attacks in Mumbai on November
26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) testified about conversations he
had with a Chicago based Pakistan born businessman Tahawwur Rana
accused of helping the attackers and providing support to LeT
and a retired Pakistan military officer Abdur Rehman, known as
'Pasha'. Headley said that ISI directorate and elements in Pakistan's
military coordinated with Lashkar and other Pakistan militants.
Headley told the US District Court jury about secretly recorded
telephone conversations he had with Rana and Pasha.
Pakistan suspended a top commander,
Commodore Raja Tahir, after the attack on Mehran naval base in
Karachi by TTP militants, which killed 10 navy personnel and destroyed
two spy planes in Karachi on May 22. Sources said investigators
believe a senior militant leader, Ilyas Kashmiri, had organized
the plan as he was the mastermind of the deadly TTP attack on
the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009.
The Defence Committee of the Cabinet
(DCC) that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister's House resolved to crush terrorists
with full might and vigour. The meeting was attended by Federal
Ministers, JCSC Chairman, Services Chiefs and ISI Director General.
The DCC reviewed the security situation arising out of terrorist
attacks and issues relating to regional security and stability.
The chief of naval staff and secretaries of defence, interior
and foreign affairs briefed the DCC on the terrorist attack on
PNS Mehran, internal security and regional situation.
After in-depth discussions, it
was decided that, coordinated efforts will be made to prevent
and pre-empt acts of terrorism. It was decided that security,
defence and law enforcement agencies would be authorised to use
all means necessary to eliminate militants.
The US Defence Secretary Robert
Gates defended the US assistance for Pakistan as he underscored
the importance of continued engagement with the key regional country
amid strains in the bilateral relationship. "I do not think that
the money that we have spent in Pakistan has been a waste. The
reality is that Pakistan now has 140,000 troops on the border.
Their actions in Swat and in South Waziristan have been helpful
to us," he said.
The US military said that it plans
to scale back the number of American troops in Pakistan after
Islamabad made a formal request, amid tensions over a US raid
against Osama bin Laden. There are more than 200 US military personnel
in Pakistan serving mostly as trainers as part of a long-running
effort to counter al Qaeda and religious extremists. But the uneasy
relationship between Pakistan and the United States has come under
severe strain following a unilateral raid by US commandos that
killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in the Abbottabad.
|
May 26 |
A suicide bomber blew up a car
laden with explosives at a checkpoint close to the Hangu Police
Station and Hangu DPO Office in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the evening,
killing 32 persons and injuring 60 others. A double-cabin pickup
packed with explosives was detonated at a barrier outside the
Hangu Police Station on Hangu-Thall Road, creating a 10-foot long
and foot-deep crater, said a Senior Police Official.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan
claims the responsibility for the attack. "We accept responsibility
for this attack. Soon you will see bigger attacks. Revenge for
Osama can't be satisfied just with small attacks," he added.
Four persons were killed and five
others injured during a clash between a lashkar of Zaka
Khel tribesmen and LI in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Sources said that number of casualties might increase as the fierce
gunbattle, which started when tribesmen tried to take control
of the LI's trenches at Narray Baba, still continued between the
two rivals.
TTP fired a mortar shell at a
military checkpoint near Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency
but there were no casualties.
Unidentified militants blew up
a pipeline supplying natural gas to a purification plant in Pir
Koh area of Dera Bugti District. The explosion also resulted in
suspension of gas supply from well numbers 15 and 17 to a gas
purification plant in Pir Koh area.
Former Pakistan president Pervez
Musharraf accused India of supplying anti-aircraft missiles, rocket
launchers and mortars to insurgents in Balochistan. Cornered during
a BBC TV interview over alleged Pakistani complicity in Osama
bin Laden's hiding at Abbottabad, Musharraf brazenly charged India
with fomenting trouble in Balochistan to wriggle out of a difficult
position.
The Indian high commission in
London rubbished Musharraf's allegations, saying they were "totally
baseless".
The US assistant secretary of
state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake rubbished the Pakistan's
claim of Indian involvement in Balochistan, adding that the separatist
movement in Balochistan is fuelled by the country's domestic policies
and not India.
The Hizbul Mujahideen 'supreme
commander' Syed Salahuddin said that Pakistan still supports militants
in Kashmir despite its internal security problems. The Hizbul
commander added that till the Kashmir issue is unresolved, Pakistan
can never consider itself safe.
TTP vowed to continue attacks
against Pakistan, even if the US leaves Afghanistan, till the
implementation of the Islamic system in the country. Talking to
the BBC, the spokesperson for the TTP in Mohmand Agency Sajjad
Mohmand, warned of strikes on high-value targets at an even larger
scale to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan
told Wall Street Journal that they have no plans to attack nuclear
arsenal. A larger assault by the TTP on Mehran naval base in Karachi
renewed fears that Pakistan's sizable nuclear arsenal could be
vulnerable.
America's "excuse" to pressure
Pakistan's Government into fighting the TTP, who he portrayed
as the country's true protectors. "Pakistan is the only Muslim
nuclear power state," Ehsan said in a telephonic interview, adding
that the TTP had no intention of changing that fact.
Working with Pakistan is a strategic
necessity for the United States, even as Washington presses Islamabad
to act more decisively on counter-terrorism, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said. Pakistan had been a good partner in international
efforts to fight terrorism, she said, despite anger in the US
over the discovery that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been
living there for years before US commandos killed him in a May
2 raid.
Pakistan has agreed to permit
the CIA to send in a forensic team to search Osama bin Laden's
compound, the Washington Post reported, 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.
|
May 27 |
At least 23 militants were killed
when the Army fighter jets pounded militants' hideouts in Orakzai
and Kurram Agencies of FATA. Air strikes were carried out in Mamozai,
Akhonkot and Bilras areas in upper tehsil of Orakzai Agency.
The death toll in the car bomb
explosion in Hangu of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rose to 39 as seven more
bodies were recovered from the debris of the destroyed buildings.
The number of the injured has reached 56.
Security agencies arrested six
militants from Sindh and Punjab Districts in connection with May
22 terrorist attack on PNS Mehran airbase in Karachi. Five of
the suspects were arrested from Shah Faisal and Model colonies
of Karachi and the sixth identified as Qari Qaiser was arrested
from a seminary in Chak 363-GB on Sattiana Road in Faisalabad
District of Punjab province.
The United States gave Islamabad
a list of terrorist leaders against whom it wants joint operation
against. The list includes Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al Zawahiri,
along with Siraj Haqqani of the Haqqani network, Ilyas Kashmiri,
the head of the HuJI and suspected al Qaida leader, and Atiya
Abdel Rahman, al Qaida operations chief, the US TV reported, citing
unnamed officials from both Governments.
The chief of 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. Maulana Fazlur has
been warned by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA)
of an imminent threat to his life.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that the US was more committed to Pakistan after
the Osama bin laden crisis, but asked Islamabad to take decisive
steps to defeat al Qaeda. The top US diplomat affirmed that America
had no evidence that anyone in Pakistan at the highest level knew
where bin Laden was and she would return to Washington "ever more
committed" to the relationship.
Hillary Clinton said there was
no evidence of the country's military and intelligence officials
knew that Osama bin Laden was hiding in a heavily-fortified compound
near the Abbottabad military academy.
Pakistan's sovereignty is the
top priority of the elected Government and the allies must respect
its mandate, said Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting
Dr Firdaus Ashiq Awan while briefing reporters on the federal
cabinet's meeting.
Osama bin Laden and his top aides
had discussed making a deal with Pakistan in which al Qaeda would
refrain from attacking the country in exchange for protection
inside the country, an unnamed US officials. Documents seized
from the slain al Qaeda 'chief's Abbottabad hideout include messages
between Osama bin Laden and his top operations chief over the
past year which provide the first suggestion that bin Laden considered
Pakistan's Government amenable to a bargain.
|
May 28 |
Eight persons were killed and
11 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted pro-government
tribal elders at a market in Salarzai village of Bajaur Agency
in FATA. The TTP 'spokesman', Ahsanullah Ahsan, claimed responsibility,
saying the elders were targeted because they were helping the
Security Forces.
Matta tehsil ANP President
Muzaffar Ali Khan along with a Policeman and a guest were killed
when unidentified militants attacked his Hujra at Matta
tehsil in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with hand
grenades and automatic weapons.
Unidentified militants blew up
a telephone exchange in Mandan area in Bannu District.
President Asif Ali Zardari's Chief
Security Officer Bilal Shaikh was attacked by unidentified assailants
in Karachi. Shaikh was on his way from Firdous Colony to Khamosh
Colony when unidentified assailants opened fire.
The US Secretary Of State Hillary
Clinton has not given clean chit to Pakistan's ISI over Osama
bin Laden's presence in the country, her spokesman Mark Toner
said. "I don't think she (Clinton) gave them (ISI) a free chit,"
state department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily
news conference when asked if Clinton has given a clean chit to
ISI with regard to its links to terrorists.
Top Pakistani Army officials are
concerned that their ranks have been penetrated by infiltrators
aiding terrorists in a campaign against the state. The top Pakistani
military commander, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was shaken by
the discovery of al Qaeda 'leader' Osama bin Laden close to a
Pakistani military academy, said The Washington Post.
|
May 29 |
Two Shia Policemen were killed
and three other people, including a woman and a Sub-Inspector
of the CID were injured in a sectarian attack on Spiny Road in
Quetta. Meanwhile, Ali Sher Haideri, spokesman of LeJ claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified militants blew up
a gas pipeline in Sui area of Dera Bugti District.
An IED planted by terrorists on
the outer wall of a house in Sheikh Maltoon area in Mardan District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa went off, partially damaging the residence.
However, no casualty was reported.
Anti-Extremism Cell of the CID
claimed to have arrested four ST activists in connection with
target killing incidents across Karachi and recovered a triple
two riffle and two TT pistols from their possession.
One Muntazir Imam, an alleged
target killer arrested from Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, confessed during
interrogation that he was involved in the murder of SSP leader
Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem and his son Mawia on March 11, 2010 at Nazimabad,
and 11 others. Imam also admitted that he was involved in the
murder of LeJ cadre Omar Dhobi at Aram Bagh. During interrogation
Imam revealed that the four other militants arrested were involved
in the murder of MQM activists.
TTP 'commander' and alleged mastermind
of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination plot of
December 27, 2007, Baitullah Mehsud, has been placed on top of
the list of most wanted terrorists and criminals given by the
US despite official claim that he was killed in a US missile attack
in Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas in
2009. However, four other militants of TTP, Abdullah Saddam, and
Abdul Rehman of Akora Khattak city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Faiz
Mohammad and Ikramullah of Waziristan in FATA are also wanted
by the Police in connection with the assassination of Benazir
Bhutto.
Pakistan has decided to launch
an air and ground military offensive in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA. The United States has long demanded that Pakistan launch
an offensive in the region to hunt down the Haqqani network, one
of the deadliest Afghan militant factions fighting American troops
in Afghanistan.
FBI detectives disregarded multiple
warnings that the Pakistani-American David Headley was working
with the LeT - two of which came from his own wives. The FBI,
intelligence sources said, instead chose to believe Headley's
claims that he had only made contact with the jihadist 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."
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani had attended the funeral of Mumbai attacks accused
David Headley's father in 2010. This was disclosed by 50-year-old
Headley at a Chicago court during the trial of co-accused Tahawwur
Rana (50) in the 26/11 attacks case.
PM's office on May 29 rubbished
the claim. "The Prime Minister never attended Saleem Gilani's
funeral and had only visited Danyal Gilani's (Headley's half-brother)
house to condole the death," a spokesman for Gilani's office said.
Taliban leader Mullah Baradar
is believed to have informed US whereabouts of al Qaeda 'Chief'
Osama Bin Laden. According to the UK newspaper report, in return
the US promised to pullout troops from Taliban strongholds in
Afghanistan once Osama had been killed or captured.
|
May 30 |
Three Punjabi settlers were shot
dead and another sustained bullet injuries when unidentified armed
assailants opened fire on them in Tasp area of Panjgur District.
A girl was killed and 10 others
got injured in bomb blast at a local hotel in Miranshah of North
Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Humanitarian agencies active in
northwest tribal areas have been quietly told to prepare for up
to 365,000 displaced people in advance of a military offensive
against North Waziristan Agency, a senior official with an international
humanitarian agency said.
Local people recovered the dead
body of a TTP militant from Akhorwal area in Darra Adamkhel in
Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Nine suspected terrorists were
arrested during search operations in Darra Adamkhel and Hangu
District of in connection with bomb blasts. Later, gunship helicopters
targeted the hideouts of militants in Jammu area of FR Kohat and
Bazidkhel town.
A militant 'commander' surrendered
to Police in Lakki Marwat Police Station of Lakki Marwat District.
An official said that 'commander' Azizullah of Dhoda village was
wanted in several cases.
Law Enforcement Agencies arrested
five suspects from a building opposite to the office of the Sui
Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) situated on Guru Mangat
Road in Lahore District of Punjab province. The arrestees included
a former SSG commando of Pakistan Navy, identified as Kamran Ahmed,
and his brother, for allegedly providing maps of PNS Mehran naval
airbase to the attackers. Sources report that Ahmed was in regular
contact with another suspect involved in the attack, namely Qari
Qaiser, who was arrested on May 27 from Sattiana area of Faisalabad
District.
Dawn quoting the senior
officials of Pakistan Navy reported that terrorists had entered
the PNS Mehran base after breaching PAF's security parameters
on the southern side, about 800 metres from the naval airbase.
One of the officials said that the fact that terrorists did not
attack the PAF facilities and rushed towards the PNS base gave
credence to the view that they had predetermined targets and were
facilitated from within.
The Federal Government refused
to defend JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in a US court which summoned
him, the ISI chief and some other Pakistan officials on a lawsuit
filed by relatives of Americans killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks
(also known as 26/11).
American national Rabbi Gavriel
Noach Holtzberg and Rivka had been killed in 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The couple's son, Moshe, and others had filed nine claims against
Hafiz Saeed being the patron of the banned outfit LeT, Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi, Azam Cheema, Sajid Majid as well as the ISI, its
former Director General Nadeem Taj and ISI chief Lieutenant General
Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
ATC declared former President
General Pervez Musharraf a "proclaimed offender" in the December
2007 Benazir Bhutto assassination case. The court had issued an
arrest warrant of Musharraf in February 2011 after FIA investigators
declared him an "absconder". The investigators had told the court
that Musharraf had not been cooperating in the probe of the assassination
case.
The US Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman
Admiral Mike Mullen said that the Pakistani Government would launch
a major offensive on militants in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Describing the US-Pakistan relationship
as vital, Admiral Mike Mullen said that he came away from May
27 meeting with Pakistani leaders convinced of their commitment
to work with the US on security, intelligence and development.
|
May 31 |
Pakistani warplanes attacked TTP
militants in Mirkalam Khel and Akhon Kot areas of the north western
Orakzai Agency in FATA killing 18 terrorists. It is suspected
that TTP commander, Tariq, who leads militants in Darra Adam Khel
area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, could also be among the dead.
At least four oil tankers were
completely destroyed in a blast in one of the vehicles at the
Torkham border while carrying fuel for the NATO forces in Afghanistan.
It was reported that the armed
forces will carry out a limited operation in North Waziristan
Agency primarily targeting al Qaeda, TTP and foreign militants,
as against the widely held belief that the focus will be exclusively
on the Haqqani Network. Military commanders ruled out the possibility
of a full scale operation like the one launched in South Waziristan
and said it was 'unfeasible' because of difference in ground realities.
South Waziristan, they said, was a "no-go area" when they launched
a major military offensive in October 2009 to flush out terrorists.
"But the northern part has a massive presence of military and
there are peace pacts with tribes that cannot be ignored."
A senior officer said, "The operation
will be very selective and intelligence led." The major target,
it is said, will be the TTP militants who took refuge in North
Waziristan after having been dislodged from south. "It will indeed
be a big achievement if we succeed in neutralising some of the
suicide bomber training centres," added another officer.
One member of the JUI-F, Maulana
Salimullah, who was also the District Ameer of Karak, was
killed in Latambar area of Karak District by unidentified militants.
The body of missing journalist
Saleem Shahzad, who worked as bureau chief for the Hong Kong based
Asia Times, an online publication, and the Italian News Agency
Adnkronos (AKI), was found from Mandi Bahauddin District. In the
initial reports after his abduction Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged
that Shahzad had been picked up by the ISI and that the ISI had
threatened him last year as well when he had reported on the release
of Mullah Baradar, an aide to Mullah Omar, who had been captured
by Pakistan earlier.
Further investigations revealed
that Ali Dayan, a Pakistan researcher for HRW, also made public
an e-mail that Shahzad had sent then with the instructions to
make it public in case something happened to him. The email provided
Shahzad's account of a meeting he held with two ISI officials
on October 17, 2010. After he disappeared on May 29, there were
allegations that he had been abducted by the ISI because of his
recent story on the PNS Mehran base attack of May 22. Shahzad
had reported that the attack took place after the Navy identified
and interrogated a few of its lower-level officers for their ties
with al Qaeda.
At least 10 passengers sustained
minor injuries when five bogeys of the Peshawar bound Khushal
Khan Express derailed after a low intensity bomb explosion damaged
the track near Tangwani Railway Station in Kashmore District.
The Anti-Extremist Cell of Sindh
Police claimed to have arrested four alleged militants of LeJ
after an alleged encounter on Hub River Road in Karachi. The arrested
included Munawar Alam, Mohammad Shahid, Khawaja Talat and Mohammad
Ali for their involvement in sectarian killings, kidnapping for
ransom and robberies in the city. The Police also recovered two
kalashnikovs, one 222 rifle, one TT pistol and a Suzuki Khyber
(Q-2814) from their possession. Interrogations reveal that the
accused also confessed to the killing of four persons, namely,
Barkat Ali, a Shia man in Sharah-e-Noor Jahan Mumtaz Qadri, Pesh
Imam belonging to Barelvi school of thought in Godhra Camp, New
Karachi and two cadres of Sunni Tehreek, Izzat Gul and Adnan Sheikh
in New Karachi Industrial Area.
The CID claimed to have arrested
an absconding militant Ghulam Rasool Khoso from Chamra Chowrangi
along with a TT pistol accused involvement in two murder cases.
Three bankers were abducted from
Bin Qasim area of Karachi while they were returning from a club.
A young industrialist was abducted
by armed assailants near Gulshan-i-Ghazi within the remit of the
Mochko Police Station when he was driving to his workplace.
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, a United States (US)
Congressional report said. India and Kashmir-oriented militants,
especially the LeT, JeM, and HuM, are based in both the Punjab
province and in 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 FATA and the mega city 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.
The leadership of Pakistan's ISI
was not involved in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks (also known
as 26/11), self-confessed plotter David Coleman Headley testified.
Further investigations revealed
that he was trained by the ISI in safe houses near the airport
and on the streets of Lahore in Punjab province. Headley disclosed
that he had attended over 50 training sessions. He added that
he had been introduced to Major Iqbal by a serving army officer,
Major Ali, who he met in the military cantonment in Landikotal
town of Khyber Agency in the FATA, adding that he knew where the
safe house in Lahore was.
Headley testified before a US
court that al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri had a plan to kill the
CEO of Lockheed Martin in frustration over drone attacks along
the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and had sent men for surveillance.
A diplomatic cable sent under
the name of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton states that
despite public disavowals, "some officials of Pakistan's ISI Directorate
continue to maintain ties with a wide array of extremist organizations,"
in particular the Taliban and the LeT.
The cable also focussed on the
check of illegal finance flows into Pakistan and Afghanistan from
some Gulf countries, which was also marked to American Embassies
in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
While the US cleared billions
of dollars worth arms sales to Pakistan for the war against terror,
including advanced F 16 fighters, it refused the sale of a crucial
advanced missile technology due to concerns that it could be used
to target India the latest released WikiLeaks cables reported.
|
June 1 |
Seven SF personnel were killed
when Taliban militants from Afghanistan's Kunar province attacked
and overran Shaltalo security checkpost jointly manned by FC and
Dir Levies in Berawal area of Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
near the Pak-Afghan border.
A person suffered injuries when
a rocket fired by unidentified militants, from an undisclosed
location, hit a tree near Sarbanda Bus Stop in Peshawar.
Unidentified militants blew up
three empty houses of IDPs in Frontier Region of Kohat. Officials
said that militants, who were targeting members of a tribal lashkar
and their houses in Jammu area in FR Kohat, came to the village
and planted explosives at three houses.
A power pylon of 500KV transmission
line, from Tarbela Dam to Sheikh Mohammadi grid station of Peshawar,
was blown up by unidentified militants in Nazar area of Swabi
District.
Unidentified militants blew up
a community model primary school for girls in Achini area of Peshawar.
Militants targeted FC fort in
Shna Warai area in Hangu District with rockets. However, rockets
landed in open fields. SFs repulsed the attack and retaliated
with firing from heavy machineguns.
The members of Akakhel Peace Committee
shot dead two captives of LI to avenge killing of one of their
volunteers in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
SFs recovered a huge quantity
of oil, allegedly stolen from the tankers supplying fuel to NATO
forces in Afghanistan, from the warehouse of Umar Gul in Landi
Kotal.
Professor Ghulam Hussain Saba
Dashtiari of Balochistan University was shot dead in Sariab area
of Quetta. Meanwhile, Saifullah, the spokesman for the AI outfit
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Six people were injured in a remote-controlled
bomb explosion at Baarboze area of Dera Bugti District.
The Government is not fond of
military action and wants to have an exit strategy, Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani said. The Government, he said, was not taking
dictation from anybody, "but it will take action when its writ
is challenged [in North Waziristan]". "We will decide if there
is any need for [an operation in North Waziristan.] We will not
meddle unnecessarily," the premier said.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said the Government was ready to hold dialogue with militants
on condition that these elements surrendered themselves to the
political agents of their areas.
Lieutenant General Asif Yasin
Malik ruled out an imminent offensive in North Waziristan, contradicting
a newspaper report that Pakistan had agreed to assault North Waziristan
following pressure from the United States. Speaking at a news
conference in Mohmand Agency, Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik, commander
of the 11th Corps based in Peshawar, said there was no change
in his forces' posture in the last weeks.
The Government has decided not
to carry out an army operation in North Waziristan, the Senate's
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was told in its June 1's
meeting.
The courier who led US intelligence
to Osama bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan hailed from the Swat
Valley, unnamed Pakistani officials said. The officials identified
the courier as Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed. He and his brother Abrar were
shot dead in the US Navy SEAL raid on May 2 that also killed bin
Laden and two other people.
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,
Centre for Global Development study reported. 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.
According to a book written by
slain Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad the 26/11 Mumbai
attacks was scripted by ISI officers and approved before its execution
by al Qaeda 'commanders'. The book titled 'Inside Al-Qaeda and
the Taliban beyond bin Laden and 9/11' describes the Mumbai plan
as one pushed through by Ilyas Kashmiri, a key al Qaeda ally with
wide links with the Pakistan defence establishment. Shahzad says
in the book that the plan was authored by the ISI officers and
embraced and executed by LeT.
ISI issued a rare media statement
to deny it was behind the abduction and killing of Saleem Shahzad.
The ISI also threatened legal action against media outlets that
were speculating that the spy agency was somehow linked to the
slaying of the journalist.
Pakistan's leading human rights
activist and lawyer Asma Jahangir has described Pakistan Army
generals as political duffers who are out to ruin the country
by promoting terrorism.
|
June 2 |
At least 27 SFs personnel were
killed as Afghan Taliban attack Shaltalo security post in the
Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghanistan
border. 45 militants were also killed in the clash that followed.
Three civilians were also killed during the clash. Deputy Inspector
General of Police (Malakand Division) Qazi Jameel said that the
militants wearing uniforms of the Afghan National Army, NATO troops
and Pakistan Army stormed the post in Shaltalo and opened fire
with heavy weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The post and
a school building used by security personnel were destroyed. Official
sources said 250 to 300 militants had taken part in the attack.
The militants had crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan's Kunar
region.
Two bullet-riddled bodies, identified
as those of Muhammad Tariq Baloch from Turbat District and Abdul
Hameed Marri from Winder city in Lasbela District, were found
near coastal highway in the Lasbela District.
A leader of the National Party,
Nasim Jangian was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Turbat
District.
Unidentified armed militants abducted
two brick traders, identified as Haji Faiz Muhammad and Haji Muhammad
Mandukhail from Dasht area some14 km from Quetta.
A Shia activist of the MQM, identified
as Sadaqat Hussain, was shot dead in a sectarian attack in Orangi
Town of Karachi.
The CID of Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested a suspected TTP militant, Khan Afsar Mohmand
alias Jawad, from Manghopir area of Karachi. He is involved in
numerous target killings, kidnapping for ransom and extortion
cases. A TT pistol and ammunition was allegedly seized from him
and a hit list containing the names of senior leaders of Political
parties and Police officers was also found on him. Afsar is believed
to have joined the TTP in Mohmand Agency of FATA where he conducted
militant operations against the Armed Forces. He is said to be
closely linked with TTP's Qari Shakeel group based in the northern
areas and is charged of killing seven people in 2010 and one person
named Farooq Ahmed in January 2011.
A high alert was sounded at the
Pakistan Air Force's Chaklala airbase and Benazir Bhutto International
Airport in Rawalpindi on May 31 after an intelligence agency warned
of possible terrorist attacks.
Pakistan Government will "think
whether there is any need" for a military operation in North Waziristan
and not take dictation from anyone on launching a campaign against
militants in North Waziristan whenever its writ is challenged,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
Responding to a question, Gilani
said US drone attacks are unacceptable as they are "against Pakistan's
sovereignty, public opinion and the spirit of resolutions passed
by Parliament". These attacks are counter-productive as they affect
Pakistan's strategy to separate tribesmen from militants.
The AIG of BDS, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Shafqat Malik, said that provincial BDS officials had diffused
317 IEDs in the current year and foiled 25 per cent of terror
acts in the province. Briefing media persons in Peshawar, AIG
Malik said that 25 per cent of terror attempts were foiled in
the provincial capital by diffusing bombs, suicide jackets, fuses
and other explosive material.
The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said that Pakistan needed space to
sort out internal problems and that it would be dangerous for
the United States to abandon the troubled war partner. Mullen
said that Pakistan has been going through "a great deal of introspection"
in the month since US forces killed Osama bin Laden.
Admiral Mike Mullen said that
the US was not ruling out the possibility of reconciliation with
some Haqqani Network militants, while stating that Pakistani and
American militaries could undertake joint operations against the
militants.
Pakistan is going to reduce sharply
the number of US military trainers allowed in the country, Admiral
Mike Mullen, outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.
Admiral Mike Mullen declined to offer figures on Pakistani plans
to cut the military mission but said the number of US trainers
was "not going to zero." "There clearly is an ongoing contraction
of that support and it is tied to the difficult time we are going
through," Mullen told defence reporters in Washington.
Pakistan said that there should
not be "baseless speculation" from any quarters regarding the
testimony of David Headley in the US trial of terror suspect Tahawwur
Rana, charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Headley's
case involves a trial in the US and Pakistan has not been given
access to him, Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua told
a weekly news briefing.
|
June 3 |
Top al Qaeda leader and 'head'
of HuJI, Ilyas Kashmiri, was killed in a US drone strike in Wana
Bazaar area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA at 11:15 pm along
with another eight militants. A hand-written brief statement in
Urdu-language from a 'spokesman' of the HuJI, Abu Hamzullah Kasher,
distributed in Wana Bazaar on June 4 afternoon, confirmed that
Kashmiri was killed. "Harkatul Jihad al-Islami's 313 Brigade confirms
that in Friday's drone attack at 11:15pm our 'commander-in-chief',
Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, was martyred," the spokesman, Abu Hamzullah
Kasher said in the statement. "We have received reports of his
death. But we are waiting for conclusive evidence to confirm that
Kashmiri has been killed with nine other terrorists," an unnamed
security official told Daily Times. "What is confirmed is that
he (Kashmiri) was seen two days back at the site of the attack,"
the officials said. "Testimonies of the injured will clear the
situation when they speak out," he added.
Ilyas Kashmiri is believed to
having planned the deadly attack on Navy's airbase PNS Mehran
in Karachi on May 22. "We will certainly give the US a revengeful
reply," added the HuJI spokesman Abu Hamzullah Kasher.
Four persons, including three
SFs officials, were injured in a hand grenade attack on a check
post in Ghundi area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Six persons, including two SF
personnel, were killed and 11 persons, including two Policemen
were injured in a clash between armed assailants and law enforcers
in Sachal area of Karachi. One of the killed SF personnel was
identified as Mumtaz Ahmad, while the two injured Policemen were
identified as Nawaz and Khadim Hussain.
Hundreds of militants besieged
Nusrat Darra area in the Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
on the Afghan border, shortly after troops claimed to have regained
control after a combat operation that killed 75 persons.
The TTP claimed responsibility
for the cross-border attack on the Shaltalo security post. Ehsanullah
Ahsan, 'spokesman' for the TTP, told Reuters by telephone from
an undisclosed location that "Up to 40 to 50 of our fighters took
part in the operation. None of our fighters were killed." 'Deputy
leader' TTP Fakir Mohammed said the group with close ties to al
Qaeda had changed strategy and would now focus on large-scale
attacks only on State targets like the one in Dir.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government primary school in Darsamand area in Hangu District.
Two persons, facing charges of
blowing up a Levies Force Fort at Chakdara and a Police Station
in Lower Dir on May 8, 2009, were granted bail by the Peshawar
High Court due to lack of evidence.
People were not allowed to go
near the monumental structure of Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore because
of security reasons. Minar-e-Pakistan Project Director Shafique
Raza said people had been barred from going near the Minar-e-Pakistan
because militants have threatened to target the monument and consequently
the management decided to close it to visitors.
The Federal Government has raised
the defence budget by 11.36 percent by allocating PKR 495 billion
for the country's three Armed Forces in the upcoming financial
year 2011-12 against the upward revised budget of PKR 444.495
billion in the outgoing fiscal year ending June 30. The Government
had been requested by the armed forces to make an allocation of
PKR 582 billion. But, the Ministry of Defence had proposed to
the Finance Ministry an allocation of PKR 524 billion for the
three armed forces - Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan
Navy.
The Government will spend PKR
56 billion on internal security of the country during 2011-12
as the intensity of terrorist attacks, especially after the killing
of al Qaeda 'chief' Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, has made the
job of the departments concerned more challenging. The projected
allocation includes PKR 5.8 billion for various projects under
the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
Al Qaeda has released a two-part
100-minute video apparently produced after the death of Osama
bin Laden that calls for individual acts of jihad (Holy war) on
"enemy soil," a US-based monitoring service SITE said. Among the
several speakers are Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's long-time number
two to bin Laden, and American-born Adam Gadahn, who says that
Muslims living in the West are "perfectly placed to play an important
and decisive part in the jihad against the Zionists and Crusaders."
State Department official Shari
Villarosa said that al Qaeda still has the capacity to stage international
attacks from Pakistan despite US forces' killing of the terrorist
network's 'leader' Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan-based militant group
blamed for the assault on Mumbai could also pose a threat to the
United States, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
said. Napolitano, who visited India, last week for talks on anti-terrorism,
renewed her assertion that LeT, was in the same league as al Qaeda
in US eyes.
|
June 4 |
At least 20 people were injured
after unidentified militants threw hand grenades at a hotel in
Karachi on Thakkar road. According to some media reports, the
hotel also doubles as a gambling den.
Unidentified militants blew up
a boys' school at Shalobar area in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency, taking the total number of destroyed schools to 42 in
the last two years. However, no casualties were reported in the
incident.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
has demanded to the Afghanistan President to stop Afghani Taliban
from attacking Upper Dir District while criticising the NATO for
ignoring terrorists' cross over from Afghanistan.
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, warning that militant safe havens inside
that country pose greatest threat to American national security.
|
June 5 |
The SFs killed 26 Afghan Taliban
militants in the fourth day of fighting close to the Afghanistan
border, in the Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police
officer Bahadur Khan said the militants crossed over into Upper
Dir from Afghanistan's Kunar province and opened fire on troops.
In the retaliatory firing 26 of the militants were killed, he
said, adding troops suffered no casualties.
19 persons were killed and 45
others were injured when a suicide bomber attacked an Army-run
bakery on the Mall Road in Nowshera Cantonment area of Nowshera
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at around 8.45 pm in the night.
The condition of 12 of the injured persons was said to be serious.
According to an unnamed Police official, those killed in the attack
included the wife of an Army major, his son and a daughter. According
to bomb disposal squad personnel, the suicide bomber appeared
to be a teenager. His head had been found in the debris of the
bakery. Seven to eight kilograms of explosives had been used in
the bombing. The attack was claimed by the TTP. "It was a remote
control bomb which was planted by our men," TTP spokesman Ehsanullah
Ehsan said in a phone call from an undisclosed location.
Six persons were killed and another
11 injured when a bomb ripped through a passenger vehicle parked
at a bus terminal near a market in Matani, about 20 kilometres
(12 miles) south of Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militant shot dead
a FC official in Junglekhel area of Kohat District. According
to Police, FC official, Noman, posted at Hangu was on leave and
was going to a market when unidentified militant opened fire at
him, killing him on the spot.
Unidentified militant set ablaze
a NATO container at Kombripul of Kachi area in Haripur District.
However, the driver and cleaner remained unhurt.
Two rockets were fired on the
FC and Khasadar Force checkposts by unidentified militants in
Zayarai area of Landikotal tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Militants blew up the house of
former agency councillor Haji Khiyal Zaman on suspicion of patronising
a local peace committee in Akkakhel area of Khyber Agency.
LI pasted leaflets in different
parts of Malakdin Khel locality in Bara subdivision of Khyber
Agency, warning residents not to allow their women to travel alone
or without a close male family member. "Husbands would be penalised
heavily if they allow their wives to travel alone in any public
transport vehicle," the pamphlet warned. It threatened local residents,
especially youth, to desist from shaving and uploading musical
ring tones in their cellular phones. "The violators will be heavily
fined," it warned further.
The South Punjab chapter of TTP
threatens the CD businessmen of Imperial Market in Raza Bazaar
in Rawalpindi to shut down movie and CD shops or face the consequences.
The letter, written in Urdu on plain white paper, was addressed
to the president of Imperial Market, Sheikh Idrees, and claimed
to be written by the leader of TTP-South Punjab.
Pakistan Intelligence Agencies
uncovered a plot to assassinate President Asif Ali Zardari and
arrested several suspects. The Agencies conducted raids over the
past few weeks in Islamabad and Punjab and arrested up to 42 suspects.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that the Government is ready for political dialogue with
the estranged leaders of Balochistan in the larger national interest.
Speaking during a briefing at Quetta on security situation in
Balochistan, the Prime Minister appreciated efforts of the Balochistan
Government to improve law and order situation in the province.
Gilani said progress on the issue
of missing persons is quite satisfactory, however, more efforts
should be made for finding the remaining 38 persons. The Prime
Minister further said that out of a total of 144 missing persons,
41 returned to their homes while false cases against 38 were withdrawn,
while many other persons have been located.
The Federal Interior Minister
Rehman Malik said in the meeting that the Government has hard
evidence of involvement of foreign agencies in Balochistan.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that he was "98 percent sure" senior al Qaeda operative Ilyas
Kashmiri was killed in a US drone strike near the Afghanistan
border.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
described David Coleman Headley as a convict who has "no credibility
and cannot be trusted". In an effort to discredit Headley's testimony
that detailed the alleged links of ISI officials to the Mumbai
2008 (also known as 26/11) attacks, Malik questioned whether Headley
could corroborate his claims about Pakistan's spy agency.
There is no evidence of Taliban
presence in the provincial capital Quetta and the propaganda in
this regard is baseless, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.
The US drone strike that killed
top al Qaeda leader and 'head' of HuJI, Ilyas Kashmiri in Laman
village, 20 km from Wana, in South Waziristan Agency also eliminated
top TTP 'commander' Amir Hamza. Hamza, a resident of Wana, was
commander of the Mullah Nazir faction of the TTP. Mullah Nazir
has an agreement with the Government and many Punjabi Taliban
fighters are believed to be living in Wana and surrounding areas
that are controlled by his group.
A Washington Post report
said that Pakistan helped the United States locate Ilyas Kashmiri.
Washington Post reported that Ilyas Kashmiri was on a list
of terrorist leaders the United States gave to Pakistan in May.
The New York Times reported that Kashmiri's death "could go some
way to alleviating the strained relations" between Pakistan and
the US, particularly after the covert raid on Osama bin Laden's
compound in Abbottabad on May 2.
|
June 6
|
Eighteen militants were killed in
three US drone strikes in South Waziristan Agency of FATA. Earlier,
Dawn reported that only seven militants were killed. The
first strike killed seven terrorists in the early hours in Shalam
Raghzai, 10 kilometres northwest of Wana, the Agency’s main town.
The second one struck a compound in Wacha Dana, 12 kilometres northwest
of Wana, killing eight terrorists. The third hit eight hours later
in the Dray Nishtar area, which lies on the border with North Waziristan
at 10:45am local time, around 30 kilometres from the site of the
other two raids.
TTP threatened to attack American
targets abroad to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden. Omar Khalid
Khorasani, the top TTP ‘commander’ in Mohmand Agency said that the
recent attacks in Pakistan were only the start of bloody reprisals
after Osama bin Laden’s death.
Ahmedzai Wazir tribes won local
TTP ‘commanders’ support during a Jirga to keep the 2007 ‘peace
deal’ going in South Waziristan after a US drone strike killed dreaded
terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri on June 3, Ahmedzai Wazir tribe
elders said. “
Two men, including an activist of
MQM, identified as Mateen and Sanaullah, were shot dead, while two
others, Salahuddin and Sajid were injured by unidentified assailants
near Noor Hotel within the remits of PIB Police Station.
Unidentified militants hurled a
hand grenade at Lyari Peace Committee Chief Aziz Baloch in Ghas
Mandi area injuring 10 people, including associates of Baloch.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
an official of Military Intelligence and injured two others in Bannu
square in Thall tehsil of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Official sources said that Subedar Naseem Jan and lance Naik Abdullah
of Military Intelligence were on their routine duty on a motorcycle
when unidentified assailants opened fire.
A special anti-terrorism court in
Peshawar has formally indicted Sufi Mohammad, ‘chief’ of TNSM. Special
court judge Aasim Imam delivered his verdict in two cases and indicted
Sufi Mohammad. The hearing was held in a special court set up in
the Peshawar Jail. Hearing of two other cases has been adjourned
until June 27 due to absence of the authorities concerned.
People of various tribal regions
have refused to form anti-Taliban lashkars and demanded release
of the 175 members of a jirga allegedly imprisoned in Mohmand
Agency about a month ago. Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar
Press Club, the students of different tribal regions, led by FATA
Students Federation vice-president Shafeeq Ahmad Safi, Barhanuddin
and Gul Sattar Mengal, rejected the Government’s move to force the
tribal people to form anti-Taliban peace bodies.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
extended his unqualified support to the process of reconciliation
in Balochistan, encouraging Baloch militants to come to terms with
the Government to return peace in the province.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik confirmed
the death of al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri, the mastermind of PNS
Mehran in Karachi, in US drone strike on June 3.
Pakistani Law Enforcement Agencies
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. The 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
TTP operatives have been sent to Islamabad and Rawalpindi to strike
targets.
Ilyas Kashmiri was in the process
of forming a new terror outfit called the "Lashkar-e-Osama"
(LO) for carrying out reprisal attacks to avenge the killing of
Osama bin Laden. Kashmiri convened a special meeting attended by
TTP commanders Asmatullah Maavia, Amjad Farooqui and Badar Mansoor
in the Data Khel area of North Waziristan Agency a week ago to constitute
the special squad.
|
June 7
|
Five militants and one trooper,
Nahid Gul, were killed when militants from Afghanistan attacked
a check post in Patala area of lower Kurram Agency in FATA near
the Pakistan Afghanistan border. Also, another trooper, identified
as Azeem Khan was abducted during the attack.
Eight NATO oil tankers were destroyed
in an explosion near Torkham Border in Khyber Agency before crossing
into neighbouring Afghanistan. However, no loss of life was reported
in the incident.
At least one person was killed when
a bomb exploded in Hazar Gunji area near Shalkot Police Station
in Quetta.
Pakistan rejected calls by the US
to prosecute Intelligence officers and top LeT commanders indicted
by a Federal Court for their role in the November 2008 Mumbai attack
(also known as 26/11). In meetings conducted in May 2011 with the
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Pakistani officials said that
action against the LeT could spark off a war within Pakistan.
Al Qaeda and outfits linked to it
remain the world's biggest Security threat despite the killing of
Osama bin Laden, the head of Interpol said. The Interpol claimed
that airlines and other forms of public transport are most at risk,
with terrorists using fraudulent passports to travel undetected.
The tribesmen of Jawaki area in
Frontier Region of Kohat demanded the authorities to launch operation
against militants and their harbourers in Tor Chappar locality of
Darra Adamkhel town, lying between Peshawar and Kohat District,
to stop rocket attacks on their homes.
According to a new report published
by the SIPRI, Pakistan is in danger of "losing control of part
of its nuclear arsenal" to terrorists.
An ATC granted bail to two suspects
of attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3, 2009.
The two suspects, Ashfaq and Mohsin, petitioned that they had no
role in the attack and the charge sheet submitted by the Police
also did not establish their involvement in the incident.
Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana
was involved in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also
known as 26/11) and he and his friend Pakistani-American David Coleman
Headley were part of the same team that carried out the 26/11 assault,
a US federal attorney told a Chicago court.
Pointing at the ISI's direct involvement
in providing arms to militants in Jammu and Kashmir, Tahawwur Rana,
the Pakistani-Canadian accused in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist
attacks (also known as 26/11), has told FBI that ISI gives weapons
to terrorists when they are about to enter the Indian territory.
In the interrogation video played for the first time during his
trial, Rana knowing well that his statements could be used against
him during the trial told FBI investigators that Pakistani-American
David Coleman Headley had told him ISI provided weapons to “freedom
fighters” in Jammu and Kashmir.
US State Department spokesman Mark
Toner told reporters in Washington that he had “no confirmation”
of HuJI’s death when he was asked about Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani’s remarks.
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 LeT militant
killed during the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also
known as 26/11).
|
June 8
|
US missile strikes hit a militant
training facility and a suspected vehicle in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA, killing 24 militants. At least 20 terrorists were killed
when US drone aircraft fired four missiles at a fortress-like terrorist
training camp in Zawai Narai area of Shawal tehsil.
Five militants and two SF personnel
were killed when militants laid an ambush on the patrol party with
automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades in the Shaheedan
Dhand area of Kurram Agency.
Maulvi Nazir faction of TTP vows
to escalate anti-US fight in Afghanistan in response to intensified
drone missile strikes on its territory. Maulvi Younus, one of Nazir’s
senior ‘commanders’ said that “Because the United States is launching
these strikes we will send more fighters to Afghanistan and step
up our operations against US forces”.
Pakistan's paramilitary troopers
shot dead a youth at point blank range in Karachi. The victim, identified
as Sarfraz Shah, was pleading for mercy after being surrounded by
five troopers of the Pakistan Rangers at Benazir Bhutto Park in
Boat Basin area of Karachi.
An ANP activist, Javed alias Toti,
was shot dead at the Wednesday Bazaar of Qasba Colony in Pirabad
Police precincts.
One Khadim Hussain, an activist
of PPP was killed when armed men opened fire on him near Teen Talwar
area on Clifton Road within the jurisdiction of Frere Police Station.
Army sent home two-thirds of the
US military personnel who were training its forces in counterinsurgency
skills along the porous border with Afghanistan. An unnamed senior
Army official said that 90 of an estimated 135 US trainers have
left the country, the latest setback in the deeply troubled relationship
between the United States and Pakistan’s Army following the May
2 US raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin laden.
Leon Panetta, Director of the CIA,
said that Islamabad must do more to go after militants within its
borders who are plotting and directing attacks against troops in
Afghanistan.
The US anti-terror cooperation with
Pakistan is in American long-term security interest and the cooperative
efforts between the two countries have yielded results, the US State
Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The family of killed al Qaeda leader
Ilyas Kashmiri wanted to know about the proofs of his death. His
elder brother said, “We haven’t seen his body or any part of his
body and unless we get some evidence we can’t accept he’s dead.
We want solid proof. So far we have no official confirmation of
his death. Even intelligence officials have been coming, asking
if we’ve received any information. If he has been killed in jihad
we’d appreciate it because it would be martyrdom.”
Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, an adviser
to the Prime Minister after his visit to a jail in Haripur District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province came up with the observation that
jails have become breeding grounds for extremists because outfits
like the TTP and the SSP have taken their “ideological campaign”
to prisoners.
David Coleman Headley mapped out
the hierarchy of LeT and provided valuable information on terrorist
leaders inside Pakistan, the US Federal Attorney Vicky Peters told
a court in Chicago. This information, given by Headley in the first
two weeks after his arrest in October 2009, was passed on to other
Governments, Vicky Peters said during closing arguments in the trial
of Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the Mumbai attacks
Slain Pakistani journalist Syed
Saleem Shahzad in his recently released book, 'Inside al Qaeda and
Taliban - Beyond bin Laden and 9/11', wanted to be translated into
all Indian languages to familiarize Indians with the direct threat
they faced from al Qaida. Just before he went missing in May, he
had contacted members of the Indian strategic community seeking
help in identifying publishers who could help him in this exercise.
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 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.
|
June 9
|
At least 150 militants armed with
rockets attacked a security checkpost in Marubi village near Makeen
Town in North Waziristan Agency of FATA, killing eight soldiers.
Twelve militants were also killed in retaliatory firing by SFs.
An explosive device planted in the
driving seat of a NATO oil tanker went off in Changai area in Landikotal
town of Khyber Agency in FATA. During the last one month some 40
oil tankers have been destroyed in blasts in this area.
An activist and a sympathiser of
ANP were shot dead near Fancy Tower, Gulshan-e-Iqbal in the remits
of Sachal Police Station.
Police found two unidentified bodies
of youth from Niazi Chowk, Lyari within the limits of Kalri Police
Station.
Two men, identified as Abdul Wahid
and Asif, were shot dead near KMC hospital in the jurisdiction of
Manghopir Police Station by four armed assailants.
One Imran Masih was shot dead at
his house in Christian Colony, Landhi in the precincts of Zaman
Town Police Station by unidentified assailants.
CID claimed to have arrested one
Chaudhry Mohammad Riaz alias Raju from Saddar area for supplying
heavy explosives and ammunition to the terrorist outfits, including
the BLA.
Pakistan authorities arrested five
Paramilitary troopers for shooting dead a youth, Sarfraz Shah, on
June 8 at point blank range in a public park in Karachi. Pakistani
Security Forces are often accused of using excessive force and abusing
ordinary citizens.
At least four persons were killed
and three others were injured when a roadside bomb ripped through
a passenger van carrying members of a peace lashkar in a
bus stand in Darawar area of Matani near Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two levies personnel, identified
as Sher Ahmed and Muhammad Murad, were killed and another Saeed
Mohammad sustained injuries in an explosion in Matohra area of Mastung
District.
Two persons, Mangla and Iqbal Khan,
were injured in a landmine blast in Jani Bairi area of Sui in Dera
Bugti District.
Pamphlets branding members of the
minority Ahmadiyya community as "wajib-ul-qatl" (fit to
be killed) and inciting people to attack them are being openly circulated
in Faisalabad District of Punjab. The pamphlets list the names of
several Ahmadiyya industrialists, doctors and businesses. The pamphlets
were issued by the All Pakistan Students Khatm-e-Nubuwat Federation
and are being circulated at main shopping plazas and important commercial
centres in Punjab.
Cooperating with Pakistan in the
fight against terrorism is essential to maintain pressure on al
Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death, CIA chief Leon Panetta said.
“Continuing cooperation with Pakistan is critical to keep a tremendous
amount of pressure on al Qaeda’s leadership and the networks that
provide it support and safe havens at a time when it is most vulnerable,”
Panetta said, warning Pakistan to do more to step up in the fight
against terrorism.
Panetta added that the US has an
extremely ‘frustrating’ and ‘complicated’ relationship with Pakistan
and it can’t succeed in Afghanistan without succeeding in Pakistan.
Blaming “a strategic shift of US
policy towards India” for an “acute deficit of trust” between Pakistan
and US, former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf suggested
open and frank talks to restore the trust immediately. “The abandonment
of Pakistan after 1989, with a strategic tilt of the US towards
India and military sanctions against Pakistan, cost US-Pakistan
relations very dearly,” Musharraf wrote in an article for CNN, suggesting
in the mind of Pakistanis the US “used” Pakistan and then “abandoned
it.”
|
June 10
|
Two persons, including a Policeman,
were killed near a tool plaza of Dera Murad Jamali town in Naseerabad
District. According to sources, a Policeman and two watchmen were
deputed near a gas pipeline in Uch Gas Field when some unidentified
militants abducted them. Later, the Policeman identified as Karim
Bux and the watchman identified as Murad Ali were found shot dead
in a nearby area while another watchman, Yasin, was listed as abducted.
One Abdul Hameed, the driver of
a NATO oil tanker was killed and his helper received bullet injuries
when unidentified armed militants attacked the oil tanker in the
Yaro area of Pishin District, while it was on its way to Karachi
from Afghanistan.
A man, identified as Ghulam Ali,
was injured in a landmine explosion in Patmandrani area of Dera
Bugti District.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline in Pir Koh area, suspending gas
supply to the purification plant.
A TTP ‘commander’, Masta Mir, was
arrested during a Police encounter in an area near Dhal Bhazadi
of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Automatic weaponry was recovered
from his possession.
An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar
convicted a TTP Swat chapter cadre, Jamaluddin alias Ghouri, for
carrying an improvised explosive devise and sentenced him to 14
years rigorous imprisonment. The accused was arrested by Pishtakhara
police in the outskirts of Peshawar on July 5, 2010.
Pakistan and the US resolved to
ensure that al Qaeda is "dismantled, disrupted and defeated",
though Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani wants a distinction to
be made between the Taliban and al Qaeda. US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and Gilani expressed determination that al Qaeda
had to be dismantled, disrupted and defeated, for which both countries
should work together.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
repeated his call for Pakistan to help end a 10-year Taliban insurgency.
“The brotherly role of Pakistan ... together with us in defeating
extremism and terrorism and working with us to bring stability in
both countries would go a long way,” Karzai told reporters after
meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.
The US reduced the number of its
military personnel in Pakistan following the request of Pakistani
Government, a US Defence official said. Chief of the Office of the
Defence Representative-Pakistan Vice Admiral Michael Lefever said,
“We recently received a written request from the Government of Pakistan
to reduce the number of US military personnel here, and we have
nearly completed that reduction,” he said.
The US intelligence officials have
twice handed Islamabad tips about insurgent bomb-making factories,
only to find them abandoned before Pakistani troops arrived. 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.
|
June 11
|
At least 39 persons were killed
and 88 others injured in twin bomb blasts in the Khyber Super Market
in Peshawar. The bombing took place near a building which houses
several newspaper offices as well as apartments and across the street
from the offices of the top political agent to Khyber, and only
about 100 yards from Army housing units. A small blast preceded
a big one which Police suspect to have been carried out by a suicide
bomber, said senior Police official Banaras Khan. So far, no one
has claimed responsibility.
About 100 TTP militants abducted
18 coalminers from Akhorwal area in Darra Adamkhel town of Kohat
District. Official sources said that the Tariq Afridi faction of
TTP entered into Akhorwal area in the night from Tora Chinna area,
which connects Darra Adamkhel with Khyber Agency of FATA.
Five militants were killed and nine
others were injured when jet fighters pounded their hideouts in
different areas of Baizai tehsil along Afghanistan border
in Mohmand Agency of FATA. Sources said that jet fighters targeted
militant positions in Shokrhai, Walidad, Miana and Mettai localities
in Baizai tehsil.
A sub-engineer of works and services
department, Abul Khair, was abducted by unidentified militants on
way to his office in agency headquarters Ghalanai.
Unidentified assailants killed a
Security Force accounts officer in Turbat of Balochistan.
|
June 12
|
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Chief
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the Pakistan Army will face deadly
suicide attacks if it undertakes operations in North Waziristan.
"If Pakistani forces enter North Waziristan, they will face
deadly suicide attacks," Maulana Fazlur told reporters in an
interaction.
The military is planning to enlist
pro-Government tribal elders in a fresh campaign it has devised
to flush out al Qaeda militants and its affiliates from North Waziristan,
unnamed army officials said. The move is aimed at deflecting growing
US pressure for a full-scale offensive against the Haqqani Network.
Under the plan, local tribesmen have been urged to form lashkars,
to take out ‘hard-core al Qaeda elements and their affiliates’.
Unidentified militants abducted
two persons, identified as Haji Wali Muhammad and Sultan, at gunpoint
in Dhadar area of Bolan District.
TTP denied responsibility for twin
bomb blasts. “We did not carry out this attack in Peshawar. It is
an attempt by foreign secret agencies who are doing it to malign
us,” TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan said.
At least six people were injured
when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in the Bara Kahu
area of Islamabad went off.
Anti-Extremist Cell of Sindh Police
arrested two alleged militants, Abdul Razzak alias Omer and Rashid
Iqbal alias Basit, belonging to the Punjab Chapter of TTP and recovered
20 kilogrammes of explosives, two hand grenades, two TT pistols,
20 feet detonating wire, 200 bullets from Frontier Colony in Karachi.
Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism
Act was included in the case against Rangers personnel involved
in extrajudicial killing of a young man on June 8 at Sarfaraz Shah
in the Benazir Bhutto Park in Karachi on the orders of the Supreme
Court of Pakistan.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
said that the Indian presence in his country cannot be in any way
used against Pakistan, which should be happy that Afghanistan is
being "tremendously" helped by another neighbour. "The
Indian presence in Afghanistan... cannot be in any manner used against
Pakistan," Karzai said in an interview to state-run PTV. India,
being an old friend of Afghanistan, was helping it "tremendously
and providing financial assistance," he said.
President Hamid Karzai’s top officials
said after the visit to Islamabad that Pakistan is more willing
than before to play a role in Afghanistan’s tentative peace process
with the Taliban and has agreed to target the hideouts of Taliban
fighters and other insurgents who attack Afghanistan and refuse
to take part in faltering peace talks.
|
June 13
|
Unidentified armed militants targeted
and killed Shafiq Ahmed Qureshi affiliated with the All Pakistan
Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO).
Armed assailants opened fire in
some areas of Orangi town killing one MQM worker Akbar affiliated
with the MQM sub-organisation Muttahida Organising Committee (MOC)
within the jurisdiction of Pirabad Police Station. The violence
escalated, killing four more people and injuring several others.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead Zia Alam Advocate, lawyer of Ajmal Pahari in North Nazimabad
within the jurisdiction of Sir Syed Police Station.
Police found the body of Asmatullah
Kakar, an ANP activist from Malir Market situated within the remits
of Malir City Police Station.
Police found a bullet-riddled body
of a youth from Nayaabad Khadda Market within the jurisdiction of
Baghdadi Police Station. The identity of the victim is yet to be
ascertained.
Three Punjab Regiment personnel
were killed and four others sustained injuries when a remote-controlled
bomb planted by suspected militants hit their vehicle in the Ghundai
Sra area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA.
A Levies Force official was killed
and four civilians were injured when their vehicle hit a landmine
in Ibrahimzai area of Orakzai Agency. The Levies personnel, identified
as Ansar Ali, was going to Kalaya.
At least seven tankers carrying
fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan were burnt to ashes when a bomb
planted in one of the vehicles exploded at a terminal in Torkham
border area in Khyber Agency.
A Hindu trader identified as Dewan
Chand was killed when unidentified armed militants opened fire at
him, killing him on the spot in Mastung District.
A man, identified as Abdul Qadir,
was shot dead by unidentified militants in Gandawa area of Jhal
Magsi District.
A man was killed and another sustained
splinter wounds in an explosion near Regional National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) office in Shara-e-Gulistan area of Quetta.
Two persons, including the suicide
bomber, were killed and six persons were injured in a suicide attack
at a bank located in sector I-8 of Markaz area in Islamabad.
It was reported that terrorists
have chalked out a plan regarding an attack on the prominent members
of the Ahmadi community in the country, starting from Faisalabad
District.
President Asif Ali Zardari reiterated
the country’s resolve to cooperate with international forces in
combating terrorism and militancy which were common enemies of the
world. He declared that the fight against terror will continue till
the complete elimination of vicious elements and forces involved
in killing of innocent people in Pakistan and everywhere in the
world.
The judge of the anti-terrorism
court conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects charged with
involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks has been changed for the
fourth time, with the current incumbent being transferred to another
court in Punjab province. Rana Nisar Ahmed, who had been hearing
the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case since he was appointed judge of Rawalpindi's
Anti-Terrorist Court no III in November 2010, was transferred on
June 11.
|
June 14
|
In the ongoing spate of target killing
seven more people died on June 14 bringing the death toll to 17
in two days following the killing of two MQM members in Orangi town.
An unidentified man was shot dead
in Orangi Town, while two others - Wajid Shoaib and Adnan Khan -
succumbed to bullet injuries in a firing incident at Qasba Colony.
Four unidentified armed militants
opened indiscriminate fire on the people sitting at a scrap shop
at Qasba Colony in the limits of Pirabad Police Station killing
one Nazar and injuring four others.
A sympathiser of MQM, identified
as Junaid, was killed and two others Muhammad Amir and Shahida Begun
were injured in Pirabad Police remits.
A labourer, identified as Mukhtiar,
was shot dead and another identified as Naveed, was injured near
UBL Sports Complex within the limits of Yousuf Plaza Police Station.
Unidentified armed assailants opened
fire at the Ladies Park near Old Sabzi Mandi, resultantly killing
one Salman and injuring Naseem.
Three persons, including two women,
were injured in firing by unidentified armed assailants near Shahzad
Cinema.
Police foiled the plan to blow up
a railway track in Mangoli area of Dera Murad Jamali city in Naseerabad
District. The Police recovered 40 kilogrammes of explosives and
foiled the attack.
Pakistan’s top military spy agency
arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to
the CIA in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death
of Osama bin Laden on May 1.
The fate of the CIA informants arrested
in Pakistan is unclear, but American officials said that the CIA
Director, Leon E. Panetta, raised the issue when he travelled to
Islamabad last week to meet with Pakistani military and intelligence
officers.
The Federal Capital has a total
of 153 madrasas but all of them are ‘unauthorised’ and have
been built without approval of the Government, said CDA Director
General Sarwar Sindu. The official said each mosque in the city
had a madrasa despite the fact that there was no provision for building
a seminary in any mosque.
It seems impossible for the Government
to take any action against such mosques and seminaries under the
prevailing circumstances when TTP, which is allegedly backed by
some religious elements in Islamabad, is carrying out terror activities
in the country.
The House Appropriations Committee
approved a defence spending bill that imposes limits on US aid to
Pakistan and creates a special bipartisan group to review the US
role in Afghanistan. The panel gave the go-ahead to the bill on
a voice vote on June 16. The legislation would provide USD 530 billion
for the Defence Department and USD119 billion for the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
US said that aid given to Pakistan
is in the interest for the National Security of both the countries,
for building the democratic institutions and infrastructure and
to strengthen economy, said US State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
Akram Khan Durrani, Leader of Opposition
in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, said that the UN is about to
recognise the Afghan Taliban as a political force. Opening the budget
debate in the assembly, he said the UN would soon remove the Afghan
Taliban from its list of terrorist organisations and it had already
opened doors for negotiations with the group.
|
June 15
|
Three US drone attacks killed 18
suspected militants in South and North Waziristan Agencies of FATA.
Drone missiles targeted a vehicle and a compound near Wana, the
main town in South Waziristan Agency, killing 10 persons. The victims
were believed to be allied with Maulvi Nazir, a prominent militant
commander in the area.
Four missiles hit a vehicle carrying
suspected militants from Razmak road to Tappi area, some 10 kilometres
east of Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency.
Ten more people were killed in separate
incidents as violence on ‘ethnic and political grounds’ continued
in the Capital city of Sindh, Karachi. The death toll mounted to
27 during the last three days. Orangi Town remained the worst-hit
part of the metropolis where most of the causalities occurred.
The bullet-riddled body of a student
activist of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation, who
had gone missing from the Liaquat National Hospital after an armed
attack, was found near Essa Nagri under the Lyari Expressway.
Armed motorcyclists targeted two
activists of the MQM in the New Karachi area. Police said that 35-year-old
Haroon Shaukat died on the spot after sustaining a bullet wound
in the head while 45-year-old Farooq Hanif sustained two bullet
wounds in the shoulder and chest and was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed
Hospital for treatment.
Assailants shot dead a Police constable,
42-year-old Muhammad Arif, near Aziz Millat School in Sector 5F-2
in Orangi Town No 13 when he was riding home after completing his
duty hours.
The dead body of a middle-aged man
was found in a storm-water drain near the Bacha Khan flyover in
Banaras within the remit of the Paposh Nagar Police post.
Assailants shot dead 28-year-old
Tahir Karim and wounded his 26-year-old friend, Akhtar Khan, when
they were travelling in a rickshaw near Shah Faisal Muhallah within
the remit of the Orangi Town Police Station.
Assailants shot dead a young man
in Qasba Colony within the remit of the Pirabad Police Station.
Police said the victim was in his mid-20s and could not be identified.
Assailants shot dead another man,
Shahid Hussain Zaidi who was the administrator of an Imambargah,
near Mohammadpur Police post.
Later in the evening, a man was
killed and three others wounded when assailants opened indiscriminate
fire at a roadside tea stall near Shafiq Morr.
A police mobile of the SITE-A police
station came under an armed attack near Qasba Colony that left a
Police constable, Javed Shah, wounded, said an official at the Pirabad
police station.
Two NATO oil tankers carrying fuel
for the NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan were set on fire and
a driver injured while on their way from Karachi to Kandahar by
unidentified militants near Qamabari bridge area of Dhadar in Bolan
District.
Islamabad Police arrested 24 suspected
militants during search operation in Shahzad Town, Industrial Area,
Bhara Kau, Tarnol, Sihala and Sect areas of Islamabad and also recovered
15 liquor bottles, one pistol and 1.20kg hashish from their possession.
Sabzi Mandi Police arrested two
accused Rahat Gul and Muhammad Nadeem and recovered one pistol and
1.20kilogramgram hashish from their possession.
The US assistance for Pakistan is
in the interests of both countries and Washington remains committed
to working with Islamabad on counterterrorism efforts, the State
Department said.
Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker
of the US House of Representatives and Republican Presidential aspirant
for the 2012 presidential elections, said on June 15 that a large
element in the ISI have become pro-Taliban and pro-al Qaeda.
Amir Aziz, an army major allegedly
picked up by Intelligence Agencies in connection with the Osama
Bin Laden raid was not, as reported by the international press,
a CIA informant, alleged an official privy to the situation. The
major was a doctor in the Army’s medical corps and lived just a
couple of hundred yards from the compound where Bin Laden was picked
up.
Pakistan’s Security Agencies have
rounded up several people who are believed to be working for the
CIA in a move that indicates serious tensions between Islamabad
and Washington. The official, who requested not to be named, said
that the drive against the ‘CIA spies’ was accelerated following
the death of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a top-secret US commando
operation on May 1.
Fazle-ur-Rahman Khalil, the head
of anti-India militant outfit HM, lives on the outskirts of Islamabad
in the suburb of Golra Sharif, a senior Government official said
on the condition of anonymity.
|
June 16
|
More than 300 militants crossed
the border from Kunar province of Afghanistan to Khar area of Bajaur
Agency in FATA at around 4:00am, resulting in hours of clashes that
left 15 persons dead. The dead included nine militants, three lashkar
volunteers, a soldier and two women, sources said.
A blast in a NATO oil tanker destroyed
a trailer and a car in Landikotal town of Khyber Agency. An explosive
device fitted to the tanker carrying more than forty thousand litres
of fuel to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, was detonated on Landikotal
Bazaar bypass.
In the ongoing violence in Karachi,
death of seven more persons, taking the death toll to 34. It was
reported that that armed assailants took positions in various buildings
in Orangi town area and fired bullets resultantly leading to fire
in a garbage warehouse located near the Fire Brigade Office where
one Zahir Shah, an activist of the ANP, sustained injuries and later
became the victim of crossfire and died. Also, two fire fighters,
Muhammad Hussain and Ali Manzil, sustained bullet wounds.
Salman alias Dada Baloch, an operative
of Ghaffar Zikri gang affiliated with Raja Pathan was shot dead
on Shah Abdul Latif Bhattai Road within the limits of Baghdadi Police
Station.
Kalri Police found the bullet riddled
body of a man identified as Imran Azam near Niazi Chowk in Bagh-e-Lyari
area.
Former PPP activist Pervaiz Fateh
was shot dead in North Nazimabad within the limits of Shahrah-e-Noor
Jahan.
One Jamaluddin was shot dead at
MPR Colony, Orangi Town.
An unidentified bullet-riddled body
of a man was found near the Government Boys School, Kala Board within
Saudabad Police limits.
A man was shot dead near Kashti
Chowk within the limits of Napier Police Station.
The Pakistan Sports Board Deputy
Director General and a former Olympian Syed Abrar Hussain Shah was
shot dead near Nawab Nauroz Khan Stadium in Quetta.
Unidentified terrorists blew up
a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline in Pir Koh area of Dera Bugti District,
suspending gas supply to the gas purification plant in Sui. No group
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two NATO oil tankers carrying fuel
for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan were on their way from
Karachi to Kandahar when armed militants set them on fire near Nautal
area of Dera Murad Jamali in Naseerabad District.
Ayman al-Zawahri took over the command
of al Qaeda after the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US led operation
on May 1, a website Ansar al-Mujahideen affiliated with al Qaeda
said. Zawahri vowed to press ahead with al Qaeda’s campaign against
the US and its allies.
TTP agreed to back Zawahri as al
Qaeda’s new leader and vowed to carry out attacks against Western
targets. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan described Zawahri as a ‘capable
person’ and said the former Egyptian doctor would inspire the group
to take on the West.
Pakistan indicated that terrorism
was not part of the agenda for the Foreign Secretary-level engagement
with India that was expected to take place this month (June). This
was the categorical response of Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina
Janjua to a specific question on whether the fresh evidence provided
by India on the Mumbai 2008 terror attacks would be discussed at
the Foreign Secretary talks.
US expressed apprehension that the
nuclear weapons and technology of Pakistan might fall into the hands
of terrorists and thus stressed on having the lines of communications
open with Islamabad. "It's a country with an awful lot of
terrorists on that border," Admiral Mike Mullen Chairman of
the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a joint Pentagon
news conference with the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates.
|
June 17
|
SFs backed by artillery killed 12
militants during a search operation in the Mamond area of the Bajaur
Agency in FATA. Government official Tariq Khan said the operation
was launched after fresh intelligence reports on terrorists coming
from Afghanistan to the area to target tribal militiamen and troops
stationed there.
Four militants were killed and five
others were injured when jet fighters bombed suspected hideouts
near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Baizai tehsil
of Mohmand Agency.
Three women were killed and two
children sustained injuries when a mortar shell fired by a militant
group hit their house in Tirah in Orakzai Agency.
Suspected militants abducted and
later slit the throat of a telephone lineman, identified as Gul
Zamin, in the Bara area of Khyber Agency.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry lodged
a complaint with the American Embassy about a NATO aircraft incursion
around 2.5 km inside Pakistani territory. Officials in Mohmand Agency
in FATA said the incursion occurred on June 17 and a few bombs were
dropped but no casualties were reported.
Kunar (Afghanistan) Provincial Police
Chief General Ewaz Muhammad said that four children were killed
in Sirkanay area by a rocket fired from Pakistan. He added more
than 100 rockets were fired from Pakistan’s side of the border into
Afghanistan territory over the last few days. General Aminullah
Amarkhil, an Afghanistan border Police official said that the rockets
come from an area where the Pakistani Army is fighting insurgents.
He, however, did not name the area.
The driver of a NATO oil tanker
carrying fuel for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan was going
to Kandahar (Afghanistan) from Karachi (Sindh) was killed when unidentified
militants opened fire on the tanker in Akhtarabad area of Quetta.
Unidentified militants blew up two
gas pipelines of 16-inch and 8-inch diameter each near Pir Koh area
of Dera Bugti District, disrupting gas supply to the purification
plant.
Quetta Police arrested five Afghan
nationals who crossed into Pakistan from Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah
District at Balaili check post without possessing legal travelling
documents.
Police killed at least four militants,
who attacked Riaz Shaheed checkpost in the limits of Sarbanda Police
Station of Peshawar. An official said that a group of militants
fired three rockets at Riaz Shaheed police post but they could not
hit the target.
Unidentified militants fired upon
a passenger van coming from Rawalpindi District of Punjab Province
in the Kacha Pakha area in Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
killing a Policeman and wounding three persons who were travelling
in it.
The Army said it had acted on US
intelligence about bomb factories in Waziristan in FATA and neutralised
two of them, but denied US media reports that the information was
leaked to militants.
ISPR strongly refuted reports in
the media quoting unnamed US sources that element in Pakistan security
forces tipped off terrorists helping them to escape the purported
IED factories in Waziristan.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) West
Zone Karachi, Sultan Khwaja, said that an investigation team had
completed a probe into Sarfaraz Shah “fake encounter” on June 8
and demanded for the arrest of all the accused persons to jail custody
till June 18.
The ISI and Sindh Rangers submitted
comments at the Sindh High Court (SHC) about the abduction of Azib
Ahmed Qudwai, a student of Hamdard University who was abducted on
April 2, 2011. According to sources, Lieutenant Colonel Mirza Waseem
Baig on behalf of ISI submitted comments and said, “Qudwai has neither
been arrested nor has been kept in the custody of ISI.”
The UN Security Council split the
international sanctions regime for the Taliban and al Qaeda to encourage
the Taliban to join reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan. The
council unanimously passed two resolutions which set up one new
blacklist of individuals and organizations accused of links to al
Qaeda and a second for those linked to the Taliban militia.
The US vowed to hunt down and kill
new al Qaeda “emir” (chief) Ayman al- Zawahri like it did in the
case of Osama bin Laden, reports Indian Express.
A top US Senator Diannne Feinstein
said that Ayman al-Zawahri, is likely hiding in Pakistan and can
be arrested by ISI if it "really wants" to do so.
Al Qaeda suspects Pakistan may have
been involved in the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May
1 and fears that the Pakistanis may assist future operations as
well, said US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
When asked if the US strategy in
Afghanistan could succeed without Pakistan Gates said, “I would
say that our strategy is succeeding and Pakistan is playing a contributory
role to that,” adding, “It is important to remember that they have
140,000 troops on that border that, at a minimum, are stirring things
up.”
|
June 18
|
A group of militants attacked a
Security checkpost in Ladha town in South Waziristan Agency of FATA,
triggering a gunfight, which killed one soldier and four militants.
Three persons, including two children,
were killed and 17 others, including five FC personnel, sustained
injuries in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Bismillah Chowk in
Panjgur in Balochistan. Lashkar-e-Balochistan claimed responsibility
for the attack.
A Pakistani journalist, Waqar Kiani,
working for local and international media houses, was allegedly
beaten up by the Police in Islamabad, after he broke his silence
about the July 2008 ordeal when he was apparently abducted and tortured
by Intelligence Agencies.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that Pakistan is a sovereign state and the CIA is neither
conducting any operation inside the country nor will it be allowed
to do so.
The Chief of Army staff General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani told a visiting European delegation that “Pakistan
wants a stable Afghanistan but not at the cost of Pakistan,” suggesting
that Islamabad wants to remain relevant in any peace initiative
and is unlikely to accept a solution that would undermine its strategic
interests.
|
June 19
|
At least 50 terrorists attacked
a paramilitary checkpoint in Walidad area of Mohmand Agency in FATA
near the Afghan border, triggering a clash that killed four soldiers
and up to 25 terrorists. Warplanes pounded a terrorist stronghold
in the Mohmand Agency on the Afghan border in an operation that
left 25 terrorists dead, the military said.
The body of a MQM activist, identified
as Feroz Iqbal, who was abducted on June 18 was found from Kikri
Ground within the remits of Kharadar Police Station in a gunny bag.
Another body of a MQM member, identified
as Shahid Bali, was found from Ghas Mandi area.
Three young men were found dead
from Old Haji Camp area within the jurisdiction of Kalakot Police
Station.
The body of a man was found from
Khajji Ground within the jurisdiction of Rizvia Police Station.
Another body of a man packed in
a gunny bag was found from Bacha Khan Chowk within the jurisdiction
of Pirabad Police Station.
A man, Mohammad Hussain was shot
dead near Nullah Stop within New Karachi Industrial Area Police
limits.
One Rafiq belonging to Kachhi community
was shot dead in Agra Taj Colony within the jurisdiction of Kalri
Police Station.
Three-day old body of an unidentified
man who was shot dead was found from the sea within the limits of
Jackson Police Station.
Unidentified militants blew up an
electric tower of Tarbela-Peshawar transmission line of 500KV at
tower 265 in Taru Jabba area of Nowshera District, which plunged
Peshawar and its adjoining areas into darkness.
Unidentified armed militants killed
the driver of a NATO oil tanker carrying fuel for the NATO forces
from Karachi (Sindh) to Kandahar in Afghanistan near Mian Ghundi
area in the suburb of Quetta.
A senior Police official and a constable
were injured in a remote control bomb attack on the Shaheed Shaukat
Ali Police check post in Dera Murad Jamali town of Naseerabad District.
Pakistan announced the setting up
of a new commission to ascertain ''full facts'' about Osama bin
Laden’s presence in the country and probe the unilateral US raid
of May 1 that killed the al Qaeda chief, as a panel constituted
previously courted controversy even before it could begin its work.
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. 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.
According to US officials and information
retrieved from Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, al Qaeda in
Pakistan has turned to abduction for ransom to offset dwindling
cash reserves.
Ambassador to US Husain Haqqani
said that the capture of newly named head of al Qaeda leader Ayman
al-Zawahri is a top priority of Pakistan and US intelligence. He
said that Pakistan and US are working together to capture Ayman
al-Zawahri, adding that joint operation would be conducted on the
information in this regard.
|
June 20
|
12 militants, nine of them from
the Haqqani network, were killed when US drones hit a compound
in Khardand area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
Dozens of terrorists attacked
the homes of two tribal elders, killing six persons in Ziarat
Masood village of Mohmand Agency.
Three peace committee members
were killed and five others got injured in a remote-controlled
explosion near the Hujra of a member of the local peace
committee in Mathani, a suburban locality of Peshawar.
Police said that terrorists abducted
a nine-year-old girl, Sohana Jawed, on her way to school and forced
her to wear a suicide bomb vest. The Police quoting the rescued
girl said that she managed to escape her captors as they directed
her to attack a paramilitary checkpoint in Timergarah town of
Lower Dir District.
A man, identified as Naeem, was
killed and eight others sustained injuries in a car bomb blast
on Saryab Road near Degree College in Quetta.
Pakistan hosts the highest number
of refugees, 1.9 million, the UNHCR said. Iran and Syria follow
Pakistan with 1.1 million and 1 million refugees, respectively,
UNHCR said.
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,” a survey conducted by an NGO, Horizon reported.
Pakistan cautioned the US that
its peace talks with the Taliban might not make headway without
clarity on ‘reconcilable’ and without taking Islamabad and Kabul
on board about dialogue with the Afghan insurgency leadership.
Pakistani officials sounded critical
over lack of clarity about who the US considered as reconcilable.
“On one hand they are talking to Mullah Omar’s aide, but on the
other the Taliban leader is on the list of the five men that they
want to be taken out,” an official, asking not to be named, said,
adding that Pakistan would also like to hear if there could be
any space in the political dialogue for the Haqqani network, whose
operational commander Sirajuddin Haqqani is also on the list of
five most wanted terrorists.
|
June 21
|
Unidentified militants blew up
a primary school in Hangu city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Militants tried to destroy a Police
mobile van with a remote controlled improvised explosive device
on Hangu-Balyamina Road in Hangu. However, the van escaped the
blast.
Syed Naqi Hussain Shah (57), the
in-charge of Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust (LRBT), a free
eye hospital, was abducted by unidentified militants from his
office at Akora Khattak in Nowshera District.
Pakistan Army arrested Brigadier
Ali Khan over alleged links to an extremist outfit Hizbul Tahrir.
Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas stressed that Khan was
not linked to the TTP, which is seen as much more of a threat
by the West than Hizbul Tahrir.
A military official, who declined
to be identified, ruled out the possibility of the Brigadier’s
involvement in any plot. “He just had contacts with the outfit.
But he was not involved in any type of conspiracy,” added the
unnamed official.
His wife rejected the allegations
against him as “rubbish”, adding, “It’s a fashion here that whosoever
offers prayers and practices religion is dubbed as Taliban and
militant.”
Retired General and Defence Analyst
Talat Masood said that Hizbul Tahrir tends to attract supporters
among the young and the educated elite. Some fear it may have
been making inroads into the army. “What we see is that it is
trying to infiltrate the military and wanting to bring some sort
of a change through the military and that could be dangerous,”
added Talat.
The Jinnah Terminal of the Quaid-e-Azam
International Airport in Karachi was reportedly closed after a
suspicious bag was spotted on the main gate of the international
arrival. However, Police, Rangers and bomb disposal squad declared
it a hoax after inspection.
Hundreds of Islamic scholars in
North Waziristan Agency of FATA declared suicide bombings unlawful
and asked all foreign militants hiding in the area to stop such
attacks. About 300 religious scholars unanimously agreed on the
move to declare suicide attacks as “haram” or forbidden by Islam
and condemned all forms of terrorist activities in North Waziristan
Agency.
Islamabad Police got orders to
stop immediately any unauthorised construction or expansion of
seminaries in the territory. 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.
Senior Police officers say this
time the Government is determined to counter illegal activities
in the name of religion, they hastily clarify that the motive
behind their latest move is “to regulate the seminaries properly
to prevent their misuse, intentionally or unintentionally”.
CDA official said each mosque
in the city had a seminary despite the fact that there was no
provision for building a madrassa in any mosque.
Osama bin Laden was involved in
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination on December
27, 2007 and the perpetrators of her murder have been identified,
Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed.
JuD, the frontal organisation
of LeT warned India against “striking” Pakistan and asked it to
hand over those involved in the Samjhauta Express train bombing
of February 18, 2007. The 10-point declaration was adopted at
the “Defence of Islam and Pakistan's Stability” conference organised
by JuD at the Jamia-al-Dirasat Islamia seminary in Karachi.
The declaration also warned India
against “striking” Pakistan and asked it to hand over those involved
in the 2007 Samjhauta Express train bombing February 18, 2007,
in which 68 people were killed, mostly Pakistanis.
PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif said
that the Government and intelligence agencies are responsible
for ruining the country. He added that no compromise would be
made on Pakistan’s sovereignty.
President of Pakistan and PPP
Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari alleged that PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif
wanted to bring Army and the Government face to face.
Pakistan ranked number 12 on a
list of the “most failed states”, according to an annual report
published in the Foreign Policy magazine. 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.
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.
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”.
|
June 22
|
Six militants were killed in a
clash with SFs in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency in FATA on the
morning. Sources said that the clash ensued when a group of militants
attacked a security post in Dabori area with heavy weapons. A
trooper was injured in the attack.
Two Khasadar personnel, identified
as Naib Subedar Hiran Shah Afridi and his companion Yar Wazir,
were killed in a bomb blast at a Police checkpoint in the town
of Jamrud in Khyber Agency.
A pedestrian, identified as Maqbool
Shah, was injured in another blast on the main road near TD Bazaar
in Jamrud.
Police killed five suspected militants
during an encounter in Sarbanda area in the suburbs of Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Addressing a press
conference at Malik Saad Khan Police Lines, the acting Superintendent
of Cantonment Circle, Imtiaz Shah, said that about 60 suspected
militants attacked the Manzoor Shaheed Police check post after
midnight, but police successfully repulsed the attack.
Two persons were killed and five
others received injuries when unidentified persons opened firing
on a passenger vehicle in Mohammad Khwaja area of Hangu District.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead two brothers, identified as Nasarullah and Habibullah, belonging
ANP in Korangi No 1 within the jurisdiction of Awami Colony Police
Station.
A person, identified as Ejaz Ali,
was killed in North Karachi within the limits of Sir Syed Police
Station.
Police found a body of an unidentified
man near Shahzad Morr in Qasba Colony within the jurisdiction
of Pirabad Police Station.
Three Shia people were killed
and nine others got injured when four armed militants fired at
a bus carrying Shia pilgrims to Iran in Akhtarabad area of Quetta.
Pakistan Army said that it had
questioned four Majors over links to Hizbul Tahrir outfit. Reportedly,
their questioning followed the arrest of Brigadier Ali Khan on
June 21, who was serving in military Headquarters in the garrison
town of Rawalpindi.
The Hizbul Tahrir continues to
freely distribute its propaganda material and promote its events
at mosques just yards away from the Police Headquarters in Lahore
and Islamabad. Hizbul Tahrir’s objective is to overthrow the current
Pakistan Government and establish a worldwide caliphate that encompasses
all Muslim majority countries.
David Headley's "valuable
information" on the LeT’s hierarchy is of interest not only
to America but also to other countries, said US prosecutors.
Assistant US Attorney Victoria
Peters said that Headley "mapped out the hierarchy of LeT,
in which Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai 2008
attacks (also known as 26/11) was revealed to be the leader of
the military wing of LeT", adding, “Headley also gave the
FBI a list of 34 targets that he believes are still on the radar
for Pakistan terrorist organizations.”
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, Pew
Research Centre poll reported. 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.
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.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that the future of Pakistan is closely linked to the resolution
of the Kashmir dispute and assured complete political and diplomatic
support to the Kashmiris till their complete freedom. Addressing
a public gathering in Bagh town of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The US President Barack Obama
vowed the US will "insist" Pakistan to fulfil its promises
to counter militant sanctuaries on its soil. "We will work
with the Pakistani Government to root out the cancer of violent
extremism, and we will insist that it keep its commitments,"
Obama said in a televised speech on troop withdrawal plans for
the war in Afghanistan. Obama's comments underscored festering
tensions between Washington and Islamabad in the wake of a unilateral
US raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in his hideout
in Abbottabad on May 1.
|
June 23
|
Three persons were killed and
four others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants hurled
a hand grenade at Juma Khan’s drug den in Pirangabad area of
Mastung District.
Two persons, including one driver
Altaf Shah and one cleaner Adil Shah of a NATO oil tanker, were
shot dead by unidentified militants while carrying fuel for the
NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan in Dhaddar area of Bolan
District.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a Baloch Student Organisation-Azad (BSO-A) leader Shafi Baloch
was found near Mach area. Shafi was abducted on June 18, 2011
from the Lakpass area of Mastung District.
Mir Rustam Marri, a social activist
and a former BNP District President, was shot dead in Dera Allah
Yar city of Jaffarabad District. Rafiq Khoso, a leader of BRP,
said that it was a political murder and blamed the Government
for extra-judicial killing of Baloch nationalist leader.
At least five persons were killed
and three others injured as fighting between volunteers of Zakhakhel
Qaumi Lashkar and LI intensified in Tora Vela of Tirah
valley in Khyber Agency of FATA.
A khasadar, identified
as Ajab Khan, was killed by unidentified militants in Jawaki area
of Frontier Region Kohat.
A 132KV power pylon was blown
up by unidentified militants disrupting power supply to Parachinar
and parts of Upper Kurram Agency.
Former President General Pervez
Musharraf’s ADC Major (Retired) Tanveer Ali was found dead in
mysterious circumstances in his suite in the limits of the Shalimar
Police Station in Islamabad.
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 ISI. The cell phone
belonged to Osama’s courier who was also killed in the May 1 raid.
One Raja Sabri Khan, from Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh, was developing his own drone
technology in his research facility called Integrated Dynamics.
While announcing his plan to withdraw
33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next summer, US President Barack
Obama issued a stern warning to Pakistan, saying he will never
tolerate terrorist safe havens inside the country. “Of course,
our efforts must also address terrorist safe havens in Pakistan,”
said Barack Obama in his June 23 evening policy speech, which
outlined his policies for the Pak-Afghan region.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told Congress that Pakistan must be a part of the Afghan
peace process while announcing that senior Afghani, Pakistani
and American officials would meet next week for further talks
on this issue.
Stressing the need for a political
solution to the Afghan conflict through a regional diplomatic
effort, Senator John Kerry said the US should listen to both Pakistanis
and Afghans to protect American interests. Opening a hearing on
US goals and progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said by announcing withdrawal
of 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by September 2012, President
Obama has kept his commitment.
US General David Petraeus has
stated that service of Pakistan should be acknowledged in war
against terror. In his statement before US Senate Committee for
Intelligence, Petraeus stated that thousands of Army personnel,
Police and civilian Pakistani have rendered sacrifice of their
lives in the war against terror.
The Chief of Army Staff General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said that Army would be withdrawn from the
FATA when tribal people were able to take up their responsibilities.
Addressing two separate jirgas of Ahmedzai Wazir and Mehsud
tribes in Wana and Chegmalai areas of South Waziristan Agency,
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said the Army had played an important
role in eradicating militancy and restoring peace in the region.
|
June 24
|
At least 10 militants were killed
when the fighter jets of Pakistani Air Force bombarded suspected
militant hideouts in Kurram Agency of FATA along the Pak-Afghan
border.
Sindh Police foiled a terror attack
by recovering a 40 kilogram bomb from Doctors’ Colony of the JPMC
where Shia community performed Friday prayers.
The CID claimed to have arrested
four alleged terrorists belonging to different religious outfits
and recovered explosives from their possession during separate
raids in different parts of Karachi. The Anti-Extremist Cell (AEC)
of the CID arrested two Jandullah militants, identified as Mohammad
Saleem alias Rizwan alias Jihadi alias Taliban and Rizwan Ali
and one Commander of Swat Chapter of TTP identified as Nazeer
Ahmed alias Waqas in Mauripur and SITE areas. Liaquatabad Town
Police claimed to have arrested an accused allegedly belonging
to JeM.
The accused Jandullah militant,
Saleem, during the initial course of interrogation confessed that
he is associated with Fasihur Rehman group of Jandullah and is
an in-charge of the terror activities in the city. He confessed
to being involved in various Muharram bomb blasts in the city,
including Ashura bomb blast near Light House in December 2009
and other sectarian blasts.
Police claimed to have recovered
two suicide jackets, 25 kilogrammes of explosives, one LMG, ten
detonators, 30 feet of detonating wire, T&T blocks, three
rifles, four repeaters, 300 rounds of sub-machine gun and four
Police uniforms.
Unidentified militants blew up
an 8-inch diameter gas pipeline near Loti gas field area in Dera
Bugti District.
Explosives and hand grenades were
recovered from Islamabad’s fruit and vegetable market. The recovery
of explosives and hand grenades was made from a car parked in
the market.
A former commando of the Pakistan
Navy Kamran Ahmed Malik and his brother Zaman Malik, who were
arrested on May 27 for interrogation from Lahore District of
Punjab province in connection with the May 22 Pakistan Naval
Station (PNS) Mehran attack in Karachi, have been released after
being declared innocent.
Pakistan and India while wrapping
up Foreign Secretary level talks in Islamabad, agreed to continue
discussions on Jammu and Kashmir in a purposeful and forward looking
manner with the view to finding a peaceful solution by narrowing
divergences and building convergences.
President Asif Ali Zardari denied
that Pakistan is turning a blind eye to terrorists, and vowed
that it will hunt down and eliminate terrorists. In an interview
published in Strait Times, President Zardari said Pakistan was
determined to wiping out extremism.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan-India Foreign Secretary level talks were a
step towards resolution of all outstanding issues between the
two countries. Talking to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Hina Rabbani Khar and Azam Jammu Kashmir (Pakistan occupied Kashmir)
President Raja Zulqarnain Khan at the Prime Minister House in
Islamabad, the Prime Minister said that talks were manifestation
of the resolve of the Government to have a peaceful co-existence
in the region.
Pakistan Army condemned the June
23 report of The New York Times which stated that a cell
phone found in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden contained
contacts of a militant outfit, HuM that had ties with the Pakistan’s
Intelligence Agency.
|
June 25
|
At least 15 militants were killed
in the faction clash between the supporters of two TTP ‘commanders’
near the Afghan border in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Ten Policemen were killed and
another five sustain injuries when two suicide bombers, one of
them burqa-clad, blew themselves up inside a Police Station in
Kolachi Town of Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
TTP claimed the responsibility for the attack, saying it was partly
in revenge for the US raid that killed al Qaeda ‘chief’ Osama
bin Laden. TTP ‘spokesman’ Ahsanullah Ahsan confirmed that the
group sent two attackers, one of them a woman.
A vehicle of UNHCR was attacked
by militants in Mastung, some 40 kilometres from Quetta. However,
no one was injured.
Four bullet-riddled dead bodies
were found from Shahnawaz Chowk of Pak Colony in Khi area of Karachi.
The identity of the victims could not be ascertained.
A bomb partially exploded outside
the gate of ICRC office located at Tipu Sultan Road within the
limits of Bahadurabad Police Station in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
Two bombs weighing eight kilogrammes
each were found near the wall of a local madrassa in Awan chowk
in Gujranwala town of Punjab. BDS later neutralised the bombs.
|
June 26
|
Six people, including three Police
officials and three under-trial prisoners, were injured in a blast
at Qazzafi Police picket in Multan District. According to sources,
explosives were planted in a motorcycle, which had been parked
along the wall of the picket.
Unidentified militants tried to
blow up the main gas supply line on Charsadda-Mansehra Road in
Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
TTP claimed that they had used
husband wife duo to attack the Kolachi Police Station in Dera
Ismail Khan District on June 25. TTP spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan
said that “This shows how much we hate Pakistani security institutions’’.
Ahsan claimed it was the first time the militant group had used
a woman suicide bomber. However, Pakistani officials said a woman
suicide bomber wearing a burqa attacked a World Food Programme
food distribution centre at Khar in Bajaur Agency of FATA on December
25, 2010, killing 45 people. The TTP claimed responsibility for
that attack in city of Khar but never said it was by a woman bomber.
Still, that was believed to be the first attack by a woman.
Law Enforcement Agencies arrested
six Afghan Taliban militants from Shern Jogezai area of Qila Saifullah
District. A large amount of weapons and explosive material had
also been recovered from their possession.
At least 250 families have moved
out of central Kurram Agency of FATA after the start of an operation
by the Security Forces against militants. According to a private
TV channel, a camp has been set up at New Durrani village with
a capacity to accommodate 1,500 families.
The PPP won a majority of seats
in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) elections.
Those who were declared successful included former AJK Prime Ministers
Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, Farooq Haider, Sardar Yaqoob
and Sardar Attique. Senior politicians like Chaudhry Abdul Majeed,
Sardar Qamaruz Zaman, Siyab Khalid, Chaudhry Ismail and Tariq
Farooq also won their seats.
According to the unofficial results
announced late on June 26, elections were postponed in three constituencies
after the death of three people in the violence. Elections were
held on 37 seats of the AJK Legislative Assembly and according
to the last unconfirmed reports, Pakistan People’s Party was ahead
of other contestants with 19 seats, PML-N bagged seven, Muslim
Conference four while two independent candidates were also declared
successful.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
claimed that Pakistan fired 470 rockets into Afghanistan over
the past three weeks, killing 36 people, including 12 children.
The attacks came in areas of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces from
where NATO forces have been withdrawn, Afghan border officials
said.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khomeini, accused the US of supporting terrorism, pointing
to American drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan that allegedly
have killed scores of civilians. Ayatollah Ali Khomeini said a
country whose military forces were responsible for such deaths
couldn’t lecture the world about fighting terror.
|
June 27
|
At least 27 militants were killed
in two drone strikes in South Waziristan Agency of FATA. So far
this year (2011), drones have carried out around 40 strikes on terrorist
hideouts in the mountainous tribal belt, killing over 300 militants
out of which 88 terrorists were killed in June.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead one Shakirullah Shakir, a TTP ‘commander’ who was affiliated
with TTP wing of suicide bombers Fidayeen-e-Islam and helped train
and deploy the suicide bombers in Miranshah town of North Waziristan
Agency.
Militants destroyed a school in
Qambarkhel area of Khyber Agency.
SFs foiled an attack on a convoy
of local people coming from Peshawar towards Parachinar in Kurram
Agency and arrested a militant from the Agency’s Bigan area.
Curfew was lifted in Qambarkhel
area after local elders agreed to dismantle all private jails, run
by local militant outfits, and hand over wanted militants to SFs
till June 30.
Volunteers of Zakhakhel tribal lashkar
have taken control of one of LI strongholds in Baz Garha area in
Tirah valley of Khyber Agency.
SFs established new checkpoints
at Jarhobi locality of Bazaar-Zakhakhel area after clearing the
area of militants after six years.
Two persons, including a woman,
were killed in Akhorwal area of Darra Adamkhel when a mortar shell
hit a house. According to sources, SFs received information that
militants were hiding in Pirwal Khel village of Akhorwal.
One Kashif Wakeel, a cadre of ASWJ,
formerly known as SSP, was shot dead at Do Minute Chowrangi in the
remits of Bilal Colony Police Station in Karachi.
A hand grenade attack left one person
dead and 19 others injured in Lyari within the remits of Chakiwara
Police Station.
The Deputy Attorney General of Gilgit-Baltistan,
Shahid Ajmal Rao, was found dead at his residence in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Unidentified militants attacked
a NATO container carrying fuel for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan
while it was on its way to Kandahar from Karachi (Sindh) in Dasht
area of Mastung District and critically injured the driver of the
container, identified as Mustafa Shah.
Unidentified militants set a NATO
oil tanker on fire in Lack Pass area of Mastung District.
TTP threatened to carry out a series
of attacks against American, British and French targets to avenge
the death of Osama bin Laden. “Soon you will see attacks against
America and NATO countries, and our first priorities in Europe will
be France and Britain,” deputy TTP leader Wali-ur-Rehman said in
a videotape aired on Al Arabiya. “We selected 10 targets to avenge
the death of bin Laden,” adding, the first revenge operation was
the siege of a Pakistan naval base, PNS Mehran, in Karachi on May
23.
A senior TTP warlord Fazal Saeed
Haqqani quit the outfit, saying he had broken with the militia and
would form his own anti-American group TTI along the Afghan border.
Saeed Haqqani, who was the Taliban leader in Kurram Agency near
the Afghan border said that he left to protest against what he said
was the outfit’s “brutal” attacks on civilians. Saeed Haqqani will
now fight the TTP, and would continue to attack US troops in Afghanistan,
said his spokesman, Hafiz Saeed.
The US State Department’s report
on human trafficking, released, reveals that the militants in Pakistan
use children to carry out their dirty work. 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.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said in a statement delivered with the report. “But if we act on
the laws that have been passed and the commitments that have been
made, it is solvable.” As many as 27 million men, women, and children
are “living in a state of modern slavery,” she said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
reassured the United States that Pakistan remained committed to
peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, but appeared little supportive
of Washington’s direct contacts with Taliban, bypassing Islamabad.
The US delayed the release of funds
meant to fight militancy amid reports that it has threatened to
cut off Pakistan’s civil and military aid. Pakistan was expecting
$500 million (PNR 43 billion) in the last tranche of the CSF, which
was set up by the US Congress after the 9/11 attacks to reimburse
allies for costs in supporting the US led war on militancy.
US has threatened to cut off civil
and military aid after Pakistan launched a crackdown against the
“CIA network” and appears reluctant to go after one of the deadliest
Afghan insurgent groups in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
The CPR Bill, 2011, is against terrorists,
and not against the tribal people, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood
Kausar. “It is meant to protect the basic rights of the people of
FATA and the PATA, safeguard their honour and dignity, uphold the
supremacy of internationally recognised human rights and bring the
terrorists to justice,” Kausar said, adding, The new law will deal
with cases linked to the wave of terrorism caused by al Qaeda and
the TTP, which has immensely affected the country for the last several
years.
|
June 28
|
A former union council Naib Nazim,
Shaukat Hayat, was shot dead and two others were injured in an attack
by unidentified militants within the limits of Paharipura Police
Station in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A mortar fired from an unidentified
location fell on the house of Muhammad Ullah Khan at Saro Kalay
area of Upper Dir District, killing his son and injuring three including
a woman.
Intelligence officials arrested
former LeI spokesperson Misri Khan, now a dissident, from Shami
Road in Peshawar along with two other persons. Sources said that
Misri Khan, aged between 45 and 50, belonged to the Shalobar clan
of the Afridi tribe and had served as LI spokesperson for around
three years.
A senior TTP ‘commander’, Shakir,
who helped train and deploy suicide bombers was shot dead by unidentified
assailants at the Qutab Khel area on Bannu- Miranshah road near
Miranshah, the headquarter of North Waziristan Agency, in Federally
Administered Tribal Agency at around 4:00 pm.
Two NATO oil tankers carrying logistics
for the NATO forces in Afghanistan were set ablaze by unidentified
militants near Mach area of Bolan District.
Pakistan ordered Britain to withdraw
some of its military training teams from the country. The demand
is likely related to fallout from the covert US raid that killed
Osama bin Laden on May 1. “The UK has been asked to withdraw some
of its training support teams on a temporary basis by the Pakistani
Government in response to security concerns,” British High Commission
spokesman in Islamabad, George Sheriff said. Following the al Qaeda
chief’s death, Pakistan sent home at least 120 US military trainers.
The withdrawal was first reported
by the British Newspaper the Guardian on June 25 in conjunction
with the UK based Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The Newspaper
said Pakistan expelled at least 18 British military advisers, deployed
as part of a PNR 15 million pound ($23.9 million) programme to train
the paramilitary FC.
An investigation report of the Joint
Investigation Team revealed that the Ilyas Kashmiri outfit, 313
Brigade, a unit of HuJI had planned the assassination of the Former
Minorities’ Affairs Minister, Shazad Bhatti on March 3, 2011. The
outfit had planned to kill Bhatti with the help of Asmatullah Muawiya,
the self-proclaimed leader of the Punjab Chapter of TTP.
“[The plan] was executed by elements
of Tehreek-e-Islami 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.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik Pakistan said that slain al Qaeda ‘commander’ Ilyas Kashmiri
''may also have been part'' of the Mumbai attacks but India’s claim
that he may have been supported by Pakistan is misplaced.
Pakistan cannot afford to match
the induction of modern weaponry by India, which possibly has a
greater capacity to sustain a war, Pakistani Defence Minister Chaudhary
Ahmad Mukhtar said.
Brigadier Ali Khan is likely to
be released soon after spending more than a month and a half in
detention for suspected links with an extremist outfit HuT, officials
said. The brigadier and four unnamed majors are in custody for questioning
for their suspected ties with HuT, which calls for creating a pan-Islamic
caliphate system by ousting, the pro-American Government in the
country.
The military spokesperson Major
General Athar Abbas also confirmed that Brigadier Ali and four other
detained majors have yet to be formally charge-sheeted.
Osama bin Laden was out of touch
with the younger generation of al Qaeda commanders, and they often
didn’t follow his advice during the years he was in hiding in Abbottabad,
US and Pakistani officials said. According to the American Newspaper,
Contradicting the assertions of some American officials that bin
Laden was running a "command and control" centre from
the walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, officials say that
bin Laden clearly wasn’t in control of al Qaeda, though he was trying
to remain involved or at least influential.
A Senior US military officer said
that Pakistani leaders show no sign of cracking down the Haqqani
militants operating from sanctuaries near the Afghan border, despite
repeated US requests. The US has long demanded Pakistan go after
the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Agency of FATA that has
staged attacks on NATO-led forces in Afghanistan. But top officers
indicated they did not expect any improvement in Islamabad’s cooperation
and that Pakistan lacked the will and the resources to move against
Haqqani militants.
Two US Generals, including Mc Raven,
said that the Pakistanis know that Mullah Omar is in Pakistan and
are ignoring US requests to find him, reports Dawn.
British Foreign Secretary William
Hague said that Pakistan had a major role to play in Afghanistan
for peace and that his country recognised the sacrifices lay down
by Pakistan in the fight against terror. Hague said he was encouraged
by his discussion with the Pakistani leadership on a range of issues
common to both the countries.
Pakistan called for the “blame game”
to stop as the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan met to discuss
security in the region amid a Taliban insurgency and heightened
tensions over cross border shelling. President Hamid Karzai has
condemned the firing of 470 rockets from Pakistan into Afghanistan
over the past three weeks. Islamabad says only that “a few accidental
rounds” may have crossed the border when it pursued militants who
had attacked its security forces. “
Adding to the US State Department
report, Trafficking in Persons published it is revealed that militant
outfits in Pakistan use children to act as spies, fight and carry
out suicide bombings. “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.
|
June 29
|
Two persons identified as Masood
Janjua and Faisal Faraz, who were abducted on July 30, 2005, were
reportedly killed by al Qaeda on an unspecified location. However,
Amna Masood Janjua, wife of Masood Janjua, rejected the spy agencies’
report that her husband had been killed and contended that her husband
and Faraz were alive and in the custody of spy agencies in Rawalpindi.
The Security Forces neutralised
three bombs planted by militants on the roadside of the NHA Colony
near the Army camp office in Darra Adamkhel town of Kohat District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
FC troops arrested 108 Afghanistan
nationals travelling by two buses to Karachi (Sindh) from Quetta.
Islamabad Police arrested two militants
belonging to TTP and recovered suicide jackets from their possession.
The terrorists identified as Mohib Ullah and Munawar hailed from
Mohmand Agency of FATA.
An ATC indicted six Rangers personnel
and a civilian named Afsar in the June 8 Sarfaraz Shah murder case
in Karachi. However, the accused plead not guilty.
A TTP commander threatened to carry
out attacks on nine more key installations in Pakistan similar to
the May 22 strike on Mehran Naval Base in Karachi to avenge the
death of Osama bin Laden. "The revenge game has already been
started from Pakistan. The attack on Mehran Naval Base in Karachi
was the first in the line of 10 that Taliban has planned to avenge
the death of bin Laden," Wali-ur Rehman, head of TTP in South
Waziristan Agency of FATA told Al-Arabiya in an interview.
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband
asked the Saudi Arabian Government to ban Ahmadiyyas (Qadianis)
from visiting Mecca and Medina to perform Haj (pilgrimage) and Umrah
(mini-Haj). Ahmadiyyas have been declared non-Muslims in countries
like Pakistan and face persecution.
Senior naval officials admitted
before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence that
the terrorists, who had attacked Pakistan Navy’s airbase PNS Mehran
in Karachi on May 22, had support from inside. During the meeting,
which was held under the chairmanship of Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho,
opposition members expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of inquiry
into the attack.
Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed
Mukhtar said that Pakistan has told the United States to leave “drone”
airbase in Shamsi of Balochistan. “We have told them (the US officials)
to leave the Shamsi airbase,” said the Minister while talking to
journalists at his office. He said the trust between the US and
Pakistan had reduced to a great extent after the May 2 incident.
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 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.
The FIA is still waiting for revenue
officials to submit details of movable and immovable assets of former
President General Pervez Musharraf, who has been declared proclaimed
offender by an ATC in former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s December
27, 2007 murder case, despite court orders to confiscate his property.
The ATC had given the FIA until June 25 to comply with its orders
and seize the former President’s property.
JuD and JeI leaders on June 26 urged
the masses to wage war against America and India if either country
violates Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty like in the Abbottabad
operation of May 1 that killed Osama bin Laden. Addressing separate
protest rallies on June 26, JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Mall
Road and JeI chief Syed Munawar Hasan on Multan Road said they were
ready to fight the US and India for the protection of Pakistan.
|
June 30
|
Troops backed by jets and helicopter
gunships killed as many as 40 militants in Baizai region under Mohmand
Agency of FATA bordering Afghanistan. Brigadier Aftab Ahmad said
that his forces had destroyed 17 militant hideouts in Baizai region
under his command.
Three more security checkposts have
been set up in Loy Shelman and Sheen Pokh areas of Khyber Agency
along River Kabul’s bank near the Pakistan-Afghan border. Sheen
Pokh is a remote area of Landikotal bordering Afghanistan to the
east and west and Mohmand Agency to the north, which is around 40
kilometres from Landikotal Bazaar in the north.
At least nine people, including
a woman, were killed while 13 others sustained injuries in various
incidents of firing in Karachi on June 30.
A clash between two religious groups,
Sunni Tehreek and ASWJ, formerly known as SSP, claimed three lives,
including one woman, and injured 12 others in Godhra area of New
Karachi, reported Dawn.
Unidentified militants shot dead
two more men and injured one other near Sindhi Hotel in New Karachi.
A Government servant was also shot
dead by unidentified militants in Nazimabad area. Elsewhere in the
District, a man was killed in Shah Faisal area. Another man was
killed by armed assailants in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. Meanwhile,
a dead body was found in Malir area.
A dead body of a man, identified
as Muhammad Ismail Mirwani, was found in Surab area of Kalat District.
The judicial tribunal on the May
17, 2011 Kharotabad incident of Quetta found Colonel Faisal Shahzad
of 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.
Unidentified militants blew up a
primary school building with explosives at the Sharkeerah area in
Mattani, a suburban locality of the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar. However, no casualty was reported in the
incident.
Seven suspected terrorists charged
with possessing explosive, attacking the Danish Embassy and abetting
the killing of Army Surgeon General Mushtaq Baig were released from
Adiala Central Jail in Rawalpindi. The suspects had been acquitted
by the trial court on May 29 due to lack of evidence but on the
directive of the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, the Capital Police
detained them. However, they challenged their detention in the Islamabad
High Court which set aside the detention orders on June 28.
A Lahore High Court sought a “fresh
and comprehensive” response from the Foreign Ministry to a petition
by JuD chief and LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed asking it to direct
the Government to defend him in a US lawsuit filed by relatives
of victims of the 26/11.
Justice Bandial adjourned the case
till September 20. The Federal Government informed the High Court
in a reply submitted by Deputy Attorney General Naseem Kashmiri
that it could not defend Saeed, a prime accused in the 26/11 attacks,
in the US lawsuit.
The United States rejected demands
from Pakistani officials to abandon Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan,
used by the CIA to conduct drone strikes in Waziristan.
The US President Barrack Obama’s
adviser John Brennan said that US determined to pursue the “utter
destruction” of al Qaeda, while refocusing its counter-terrorism
strategy to combat the threat of home-grown terror. The new strategy,
developed after US commandos killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in
Pakistan, is a “pragmatic, not ideological” approach to counterterrorism
that “formalises” the administration’s approach since January 2009,
said John Brennan.
The United States continues to pay
for historical mistakes with Pakistan, such as the decision to walk
away from the region after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
in 1989 and imposing sanctions on Pakistan in response to its nuclear
ambitions, outgoing US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said.
|
July 01
|
SSP and Sunni Tehreek cadres exchanged
fire over the control of a hospital located near Muslim Stop in
Godhra area of New Karachi locality killing seven cadres and injuring
seven others.
One more cadre was killed as JuD
and Sunni Tehreek cadres clashed to get control of Jamia Masjid
Ummul Qura mosque, which belongs to Jama’at Ahl-e-Hadith, in Landhi
area within the limits of the Landhi Police Station in Karachi.
The dead body of a missing Baloch
person, identified as Mir Ghaffar Lango, was found near Lakbado
area of Gadani in Quetta. According to reports, Lango had been abducted
on January 12, 2010 and his family has been protesting in Quetta,
Islamabad and Karachi putting the blame on security agencies for
his killing.
A man was killed in a landmine explosion
in Yaro area of Dera Bugti District.
A Swiss couple, coming from Dera
Ghazi Khan District in Punjab towards Quetta, was abducted from
Killi Nigah area in Loralai District.
The dead bodies of two persons,
seemed to be dumped after their killing by suspected militants somewhere
else, were found in the suburbs of Peshawar, the provincial capital
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While the dead body found in limits of Matani
Police Station was identified as that of Waheed Murad of Darwazgai
village, the other body that was found in Badhber Police Station
was identified as that of Major (his name) of Akakhel area.
A person, identified as Shah Zeb
Khan, was killed during firing when unidentified militants abducted
a local leader of PPP-S, Malik Naseer Khan, along with his relative,
Shah Jehan, from Ahmadi Shama village in Kurram Agency of FATA.
TTP had been trying to lure back
senior ‘commander’, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, because he controls strategic
routes into Afghanistan and Pakistan and can block off terrorists’
escape paths, his supporters said. TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud has
sought help from Haqqani for a truce with Saeed, who quit the group
to protest against what he called “brutal” attacks on civilians,
militant sources said.
A barrage of 40 rockets fired into
eastern Afghanistan from Pakistan led the top border Police Commander
for the region, Aminullah Amarkhil, to resign over the Government’s
response to weeks of attacks. General Amarkhil said he was not
able to return fire and could not stand by as people were killed
by the shells.
Gul Agha Sherzai, the Governor of
Eastern Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan sent a letter to the Pakistani
consulate in Jalalabad asking for an immediate halt to the attacks,
and warned that the attacks could damage ties.
Afghan District Governor Wali Shah
said that Taliban rebels fighting US troops and the Kabul Government
live and operate in safety from Pakistan.
Two Pakistani-Muslim clerics, Hafiz
Muhammad Sher Ali Khan and his son Izhar Khan, accused of providing
financial support to a TTP are seeking release on bail in a Miami
Federal Court in South Florida in US.
In an attempt to glorify the slain
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Punjab University in Lahore held
a contest in which poems, essays and posters with images of the
burning World Trade Centre towers were presented.
HuT, a global Islamist party, said
that Pakistanis should take to the streets to call for Islamic rule
and join a campaign to end subservience to Washington that was advancing
“from Indonesia to Tunisia”. The party, which claims it is non-violent
but is accused by some analysts of seeking a coup in Islamabad,
added that “powerful factions” in Pakistan society including the
military should also take part, but violence had no place in its
work.
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.
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.
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.
The CIA suspended its long-standing
use of an air base in Pakistan as a launch site for drones targeting
militants of al Qaeda and other militant groups three months ago.
In a report published in Washington Post, Pakistan in recent days
has publicly declared that it "ended" all US flights from
the base in the wake of the secret US commando raid that killed
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 1.
President Asif Ali Zardari and British
Prime Minister David Cameron agreed at their meeting that both the
countries would continue to fight militancy and promote peace in
the region.
|
July 2
|
Three children and a woman were
injured when an explosive material filled in a torch went off in
the hands of children in a house in Shahidano Banda on bypass road
in Hangu District. The inured persons were identified as Ms Lal
Jana and the children, including Zeeshan Ali, Fanoos Ali and Nazia
Jana.
Afghanistan Army fired 10 mortar
shells that landed 800 metres inside South Waziristan Agency in
FATA. “No loss of life or damage to property was, however, reported,”
said Security sources. “Afghan National Army fired 10mortar shells
on civilians in Angoor Adda area (last Pakistani town on border
with Afghanistan) between 1030 hours to 1300 hours at Saturday night,”
sources spoke on the condition of anonymity. Pakistan lodged “protest”
with the Afghanistan Government through military and other channels.
Despite challenges in the relationship,
the US and Pakistani working groups continue to meet regularly under
the strategic dialogue but no dates have been set for plenary session
of the dialogue, the US State Department said.
|
July 3
|
Two unidentified assailants shot
dead a worker of the Sindh Nationalist Party (SNP), identified as
Khadim, in Bhittaiabad area of Karachi, the provincial capital of
Sindh.
An Imam, identified as Gul Khan,
was killed outside his mosque in Ayub Goth area.
A youth, identified as Fazlur Rehman,
was shot dead by unidentified militants in Qasba Colony.
The body of an unidentified person
was found near Ghas Mandi within the remits of Napier Police Station.
Two men, Saifullah and Salman, were
shot dead by unidentified armed assailants at a mobile shop in North
Nazimabad.
People belonging to the Shia community
and associated with the Hyderabad Chapter of the Jafaria Alliance
Pakistan (JAP), held a demonstration outside the Karachi press club
against a Sunni militant outfit SSP for creating unrest in Kotri
area of Dadu District and Hyderabad District.
Tanzeem Asatiza Pakistan (TAP) leader
Abu Amir Azmi expressed concern over the safety of teacher of Karachi,
Ajmal Waheed Khan, and his brother Osama Waheed Khan who were first
released from Adiyala prison in Rawalpindi District of Punjab Province
and later ‘abducted’ by security agencies from there on the same
day, June 30, 2011.
Three Policemen were killed and
one injured when terrorists attacked a Police checkpost at Karora
on Chakasar Road in Shangla District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The
slain Policemen were identified as ASI Aurangzeb, Constables Javed
and Fazal Wakeel. Constable Khan Bahadar sustained injuries.
A military offensive has been launched
against militants in central tehsil (revenue unit) of Kurram Agency
as a result of which families started fleeing the conflict zone.
According to official estimates, over 4,000 families are likely
to flee their homes because of the military operation. An unnamed
senior official in Peshawar confirmed that a ‘full-fledged operation’
had been launched in the valley.
An unnamed senior Government official
said that the militants, who abducted two Swiss tourists from Killi
Nigah area in Loralai District of Balochistan on July 1, had taken
them to a neighbouring South Waziristan. Officials in the neighbouring
South Waziristan tribal area have been asked to keep an eye out
for “suspicious elements,” said Balochistan Home Secretary Zafarullah
Baloch.
A TTP leader, Zia-ur-Rahman, was
arrested in Islamabad. However, there is uncertainty over the exact
identity of the TTP leader. Conflicting reports in Pakistan's local
media suggested the arrested leader is in-charge of the intelligence
network of TTP.
Afghanistan’s Intelligence Agency
said that a senior commander from the TTP sold a suicide bomber
named Sher Hassan to Afghanistan’s Haqqani Network, to carry out
an attack on a local commander in Eastern Afghanistan. The National
Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s Intelligence Agency,
said the bomber was a Pakistani national and was detained by NDS
agents in Jaji Maidan District of eastern Paktia province before
he could carry out his mission. Hassan confessed that he was bought
by the Haqqani Network to target “Azizullah”, a commander whose
affiliation and rank were not given by the NDS. Hassan then spent
a month after his sale training with the Haqqani Network. The detained
suicide bomber added that a commander under TTP leader Hakimullah
Mehsud sells suicide bombers at PNR 6,000,000 to PNR 8,000,000 ($70,000
to $93,000), to the Haqqani Network for suicide missions.
US Senator John McCain said the
role of ties between Afghanistan insurgents and ISI needed to be
acknowledged. "We have to deal with Pakistan on a basis of
realism, that there are connections between the ISI and the Haqqani
network and the Taliban," McCain said in a news conference.
Fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said they he were
concerned about Pakistani ties with insurgents.
Osama bin Laden "had some sort
of support mechanism" while operating out of Pakistan for six
years but there is no evidence so far which indicates that the top
leadership in the country knew about it, said US National Security
Advisor Tom Donilon.
He said he had not seen evidence
that Pakistani "leadership elements" had knowledge of
bin Laden's presence in Pakistan. "I've not seen any evidence
that the Pakistani leadership elements, neither in the army, military,
the intelligence or the political leadership, had foreknowledge
of Osama bin Laden's operating in Abbottabad, Pakistan," he
added. "
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, a Washington Post report said. 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.
US National Security Adviser Tom
Donilon said that the Barrack Obama administration will continue
its intense and relentless campaign to debilitate and defeat al
Qaeda in South Asia and elsewhere. Tom Donilon said, “Pakistan remains
a “very important counter terrorism partner” for the United States
and Washington is holding negotiations with Islamabad to sort out
issues stemming from the May 2 Abbottabad operation.”
|
July 4
|
Four persons including three militants
and one paramilitary soldier were killed when dozens of Taliban
from Afghanistan launched a pre-dawn attack on a security post in
the Kitkot area of the Mamoond tehsil (revenue unit) in Bajaur
Agency of FATA. One paramilitary soldier and four militants also
sustain injuries.
Four children were injured when
a mortar shell fired from Afghanistan side landed in a house situated
in Birmal tehsil of North Waziristan Agency.
The driver and a guard of the chairman
of Haleemzai Peace Committee, Mohammad Ali Haleemzai, were injured
when his vehicle was targeted with a remote controlled bomb in Sangar
Ghaiba Khawar area of Mohmand Agency. However, Mohammad Ali Haleemzai
remained unhurt in the attack.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir
and Afghanistan Ambassador Mohammad Umer Daudzai condemned the loss
of life and destruction of property by militants on either side
and stressed on effective measures to curb their activities.
A jirga (tribal council)
of all mainstream political parties demanded that Government should
hold negotiations with the non-state actors instead of conducting
military operations in the FATA.
Police recovered two dead bodies
one of them identified as Shakeel Qureshi, from a graveyard situated
within the remits of Baldia Police Station in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
An activist of MQM, Rafiq Uddin,
was shot dead at Golimar Chowrangi within the limits of Nazimabad
Police Station.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies,
including one of an activist of the BNF, Zubair Baloch and another
Hafiz Baloch, were found from Surab area in Kech District. According
to Police reports, the victims had been abducted a few months ago.
Voice for Baloch Missing Persons Chairman, Nasrullah Baloch said
that as many as 164 dead bodies of Baloch political opponents had
been found during the past 10 months. He accused the SFs and Intelligence
Agencies of killing the political activists.
Unidentified militants shot dead
one Syed Mohammed Notezai at Faisal Colony in Dalbandin town of
the provincial capital Quetta.
Another man, identified as Khalid
Haji Hatim was abducted by SFs from a check post in Nalant area
in Coastal Highway of Kech District.
Portion of the 8-inch diameter pipeline
supplying gas to the purification plant in Pir Koh area of Dera
Bugti District was blown up, suspending the supply to the purification
plant.
An alleged dacoit, Shahbaz, was
killed and a Police constable, Attaur Rehman, sustain injuries when
suspected militants threw a hand grenade inside a Police post at
Gulabad near Gulberg in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants opened fire
on two Policemen in Zargaran Street in Gulberg in the evening of
same day. An official said that constables Khan Gul and Adnan received
critical injuries and former succumbed to his wounds.
Unidentified militants hurled a
hand grenade at the guest house of a faith healer, Bacha Saheb,
at Daura Road, which caused injuries to two of his guests.
Heavy machinery for road construction
was blown up in Afghan area of Shangla when three roadside bomb
explosions hit the machinery. However, no loss of life was reported
in the incident.
The volunteers of a tribal laskhar
regained control of the Gahreeb Khel Mountain, situated between
Darra Adamkhel and Kohat District, after a fierce battle with militants.
Official sources said that a large number of militants attacked
Jawaki village of Frontier Region of Kohat from the Ghareeb Khel
Mountain.
A former unnamed militant commander
said that Pakistani generals have not given up the policy of nurturing
terrorists. "That system was still functioning," he told
the New York Times referring to the Pakistan military's training
and protection of terrorists, adding, "The Government is not
interested in eliminating them permanently".
He also revealed that Pakistan has
12,000 to 14,000 fully trained Kashmiri fighters, scattered throughout
various camps in Pakistan, and is "holding them in reserve
to use if needed in a war against India", adding, “Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) continues to support even terrorist groups that
have turned against the Government because the military still wants
to keep them as tools for use against India.”
Chief of the 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, his associates and intelligence officials reported.
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 resource-starved FATA Disaster
Management Authority (FDMA) sought assistance from UN agencies for
people displaced by the Army operation launched on July 3 against
militants in Kurram Agency of FATA. An FDMA official said that the
authority had requested the World Health Organisation and United
Nations Children’s Fund to provide emergency medical kits and other
facilities for displaced families, but so far it had received no
response.
According to sources, SFs did not
face any resistance and cleared three areas, Manato, Domeki and
Gawaki, of militants. The operation is named Koh-i-Sofaid
(White Mountain) after the famous mountain range Spin Ghar.
|
July 5
|
At least 26 people were killed in
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, in separate incidents
during last 24 hours.
Five dead bodies of unidentified
persons were recovered from a bus in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of
Karachi in the morning.
Unidentified assailants opened fire
at a passenger bus at Khadda market killing three people and injuring
six others.
A person was killed in a clash between
two groups in Shershah Scrape market while six others were injured.
Two beheaded bodies were found from
Baldia and Korangi areas.
One bullet-riddled dead body was
recovered from Khadda market.
10 people were shot dead and nearly
24 others were wounded in firing in Orangi town. Firing broke out
shortly after assailants opened fire at the ANP Rahim Khan Swati
in Qasba Colony, critically injuring him. Orangi SP Khurram Waris
said that six people were killed and about 10 were injured. He claimed
to have arrested two suspects each from the ANP and the MQM and
said more arrests were under way. “It’s nothing. There is nothing
to worry about,” he said when he was asked about the situation.
“It’s just an [ethno-linguistic] scuffle and the people who died
are also [from the two ethno-linguistic groups]. A few are affiliated
with political parties,” he added. However, ANP Sindh spokesperson
Qadir Khan demanded the Government to take action against the assailants
attacking Pashto-speaking people. He said that according to initial
reports, four ANP activists have been killed and at least six were
injured. He said that more killings were expected and the details
were being gathered. “They are picking our men off one by one,”
he said. Meanwhile, according to a statement, MQM chief Altaf Hussain
said that the citizens of Karachi were being punished as the MQM
had left the Government and joined the ranks of the opposition in
Sindh.
A man identified as Javed was killed
in Qasba Colony within the limits of the Pirabad Police. Later,
an attack on a bus in the same area left one Gul Khan and an unidentified
man dead and two others injured.
A unidentified man was shot dead
and two others were injured in Hina Bakery at Qalandria Chowk in
Orangi Town. Also, Zulfiqar Pirzada, a private television channel
reporter was also shot and injured.
In Hassan Square, at least three
people were injured when unidentified men resorted to intense firing.
Karachi Police Chief Saud Mirza
said that pillion riding would be banned as the killings are in
part perpetrated in drive-by shootings.
Dozens of armed militants took up
positions at the hilltops in the surrounding areas of Orangi Town
and began shooting at everyone in sight. “There are fewer target
killings here [Orangi] and more indiscriminate firing that leaves
innocent people dead,” said an unnamed resident.
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 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.
Six suspected militants were killed
and two others injured when a US drone fired missiles at a guesthouse
in Hormuz village of Mir Ali tehsil in NWA of FATA in the
night.
Three Army soldiers were killed
and 14 others injured in a roadside bomb explosion near Miranshah,
the headquarters of NWA. Sources said an Army convoy was going from
Miranshah to Dattakhel when a vehicle hit an improvised explosive
device near a private hospital.
A pro-Government tribal elder and
member of Mamond Peace Committee, Malik Gul Rehman, was killed in
a remote controlled blast outside his house in Gat Agra area of
Mamond tehsil in Bajaur Agency.
A school and a telephone exchange
were destroyed in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
In Landi Kotal town of Khyber Agency,
a bomb explosion caused damage to the outer wall of a recently established
check post at Charwazgai.
TTP Bajaur Agency chapter ‘chief’
Maulana Faqir Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack on
a security post in the Kitkot area of the Mamoond tehsil. Three
militants and one paramilitary soldier were killed in that attack.
Delivering a speech through his illegal FM radio at night, he said
that TTP had also attacked a check post in the Bajaur Agency on
June 16.
At least 28,000 people have fled
a tribal region where the military is conducting Operation Koh-e-Sofaid
to evict terrorists along the Afghan border. Thousands of families
escaped Kurram Agency in a mass exodus after the offensive was launched
on July 4, with the Army saying that artillery and fighter jets
had swung into action to drive out terrorists. About 4,000 families,
with an average seven members each, had already left, said Government
official Sahibzada Anis.
Government has not accepted a request
by United Nations about sending its mission to Kurram Agency to
assess situation and begin humanitarian services in the wake of
military operation in the tribal region. Sources added that the
request by UN had not been accepted by the Government owing to security
reasons. The World Health Organisation had already dispatched an
emergency medical kit to FATA Health Directorate. The kit is enough
for treatment of 6,000 persons for one month. “We have also requested
WHO to send one more emergency medical kit so that it can be supplied
to New Durrani Camp in Kurram,” officials at FATA Health Directorate
said.
At least five FC personnel were
killed and six injured when their vehicle hit an IED in Tumpt Gozani
area of Mand tehsil in Turbat District near the Iranian border.
The BLF claimed responsibility for the attack.
A telephone exchange was blown up
in Gulshanabad area of Matani on suburbs of provincial capital of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar. “The blast occurred after midnight
and destroyed the exchange completely,” said Jehanzeb Khan, a supervisor
of the exchange.
Canada designated the TTP as a terrorist
organisation. Putting the TTP on the terrorism blacklist is “an
essential part of our efforts to combat terrorism and keep our communities
safe,” said Vic Toews, Canada’s minister of public safety.
The United States plans to keep
using Shamsi base in Balochistan for non-lethal drone flights against
militants near the Afghanistan border despite demands from some
Pakistani officials that Washington vacate the base, an unnamed
US official said.
ISI asked the CIA to sign a written
contract ruling out future attacks inside Pakistani territory. The
Scotsman quoting an unnamed senior security official said
that the ISI wanted a formal agreement on paper - ruling out future
attacks on Pakistani soil, for example - in order to restart the
relationship.
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. The report quoted two senior officials as saying that
intelligence showed that senior members of ISI ordered the killing
of Saleem Shahzad, to muzzle criticism.
Pakistan dismissed the “new classified
intelligence” showing a direct hand of the ISI in the murder of
journalist Saleem Shahzad as an international conspiracy to malign
the country's SFs.
The commission (Abbottabad Commission)
assigned to probe the May 1 Abbottabad incursion by US Navy SEALS
that killed Osama bin Laden, directed the Interior Ministry and
the ISI to ensure that Bin Laden’s family does not leave the country
without its permission.
Federal Minister for Interior Rehman
Malik said IEDs were a “lethal weapon” that needed to be snatched
from terrorists to ensure peace in Pakistan and at the same time
in the region.
Rehman Malik pointed out that around
11,024 people died and 25,291 were injured in incidents involving
IEDs, while 1,972 buildings, 79 bridges, 360 electric poles and
231 railway tracks were also destroyed by IEDs in various areas
of Pakistan.
According to figures provided by
the ISI, the number of IED attacks on Pakistani troops and security
forces soared from 413 in 2007 to 1,015 in 2010, an increase of
145 percent. The number of attacks from improvised explosive devices
in Pakistan has grown by more than 145 percent in the last four
years, as expertise in the crude bombs has flowed from terrorists
in Iraq to Afghanistan and eventually to Pakistan, an unnamed intelligence
official said.
Afghanistan’s SFs will not respond
with military force to weeks of cross-border shelling from Pakistan,
said Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, as the Afghan Parliament
called on him to sever ties with Islamabad over the issue. Some
300 people also protested against the shelling in Asadabad, the
capital of eastern Kunar province, demanding an end to the shelling
and calling for revenge.
|
July 6
|
Up to 600 terrorists from Afghanistan
attacked two Pakistani villages, Nusrat Dara and Kharo in Upper
Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, targeting soldiers and pro-Government
tribal militia. “According to reports from the two villages, between
550-600 terrorists launched the attack at around 5 in the morning
and the fighting continued for several hours,” Police official Abdul
Sattar said. Two schools and a mosque were destroyed Nusrat Dara,
while a school was destroyed in the adjoining village of Saro Kili.
Pakistani Security Forces killed three terrorists and arrested three
others, said Ghulam Muhammad, a Government Official in Upper Dir.
In addition, two members of a militia fighting the terrorists were
killed and two others wounded, Ghulam added. Another official said
four pro-Government tribesmen who fought along with troops were
wounded in the attack.
In retaliation to the attack by
the Afghan militants, the TTP crossed over from Pakistan and attacked
Police posts in the Kamdesh District of Nuristan Province in eastern
Afghanistan killing 33 Policemen and five civilians.
US President Barack Obama reviewed
the situation in the Pak-Afghan region with his revamped war cabinet.
The White House confirmed that President Obama discussed his plans
for a gradual transition of responsibilities from US to Afghan authorities
with three key members of his new war team.
40 militants have been killed since
Security Forces launched the Operation Koh-i-Sufaid in central Kurram
Agency in FATA. Brigadier Basharat said that several areas had been
cleared of militants and forces were consolidating their positions.
He identified some of the cleared areas as Manato, Dombeki, Gwaki
and Sungroba and said that forces continued to advance.
According to reports, hundreds of
families displaced by the fighting have migrated to the adjacent
Hangu district. Officials said that over 4,000 families had been
displaced by the conflict. About 500 of such families enrolled themselves
at the New Durrani Camp in Lower Kurram.
At least 13 more people were killed
on July 6 for the second consecutive day of violence in Karachi.
11 activists of ANP were killed and 15 injured in Orangi town. Elsewhere
in the District, two members of the MQM-A were killed.
Unidentified armed militants opened
fire on NATO tanker carrying oil for NATO forces from Karachi (Sindh)
to Kandahar in Afghanistan near Dost Wah on the Shikarpur-Jacobabad
Road in the Sultankot Police precincts in Shikarpur District, injuring
the driver and the cleaner.
Sachal Police seized 85 Russian
made hand grenades near Al-Asif Police check-post in the Khi area
of Karachi. According to details, an unknown caller informed Police
that scores of bombs were present inside drums near a flood victims’
camp in Gulshan-e-Maymar within the limits of Sachal Police Station.
The dead body of a former President
of BSO-A, Hanif Baloch, was found near Chakli area of Pasni tehsil
in Gwadar District. Hanif Baloch was abducted from the industrial
town of Hub on July 5.
Two bullet-riddled daed bodies,
identified as that of Azam Mehrab and Rahim, were recovered from
Juzak in the outskirts of Turbat District.
Police found a dead body of one
Qadir Ahmed from Khanak area of Khuzdar District.
Unidentified militants blew up a
16-inch diameter gas pipeline near the Pir Koh area of the Dera
Bugti District.
SFs clashed with TTP militants in
Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency of FATA killing one militant
and injuring seven persons, including four troopers and three civilians.
According to sources, clashes erupted after the SFs started demolishing
a private hospital in Miranshah used by the TTP and other militants,
one day after a nearby bomb attack killed three troops and wounded
another 15.
Russia identified underworld don
Dawood Ibrahim, LeT, HuJI and LeJ as financiers of terrorism through
money laundering. The list also recognises JuD as a cover used by
LeT. The list, published by the Russian Government daily Rossiiskaya
Gazeta, said the purpose of publishing it was to help banks and
general public while they are entering into normal financial and
other deals, because the money launderers often use the normal channels
in their activities like sale and purchase of a house.
Terrorists are showing renewed interest
in using a bomb surgically implanted inside a passenger’s body to
blow up a commercial flight, though there is no indication an attack
is imminent, an unnamed US security official said.
Such a threat is likely to come
from overseas rather than domestically, but precautions were being
taken on both sides, the official said. The possibility of a suicide
bomber attacking with explosives implanted in the person’s body
has long been a concern for authorities – and a difficult threat
to detect.
|
July 7
|
36 more people were killed as violence
continued for the third consecutive day in Karachi. The death toll
has now reached to 75. Apart from firing incidents in other areas
of Karachi, the epicentre of intense firing and grenade attacks
by unidentified militants remains the hills around Orangi Town.
Areas like Banaras, Qasba, Pirabad, Baldia, Saeedabad, Gulistan-e-Johar,
North Karachi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Sarjani, Old Subzi Mandi and others
are facing a war-like situation.
At least 10 commuters lost their
lives near Banaras Bridge when unidentified assailants riding bikes
fired shells at a minibus. In a similar incident, three people were
killed and eight others, including women and children, wounded when
a passenger coach was targeted by unidentified gunmen in the limits
of the SITE Police Station.
In Pirabad area, three people, identified
as Akhter, Azam, Shahzad, and two unknown persons, were killed in
shooting by unidentified assailants. A six-year-old girl, Laiba,
was also killed in the same area.
Three people were killed in Mominabad
area.
An MQM activist, Tanveer Hussain,
was shot dead in Qasba Colony. In another incident in the same area,
one Zohaib was killed while five others received bullets injuries.
An ANP member, identified as Imtiaz
Afridi, and Shahrukh Pasha, were shot dead in Baldia Town. In the
same town, firing on a bus killed one Ihsan and injured three others.
Two more people were killed in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
area, while another was killed in Kalakot.
A person, identified as Bakhtawar
and unidentified man were killed in Orangi Town.
One Muhammad Anwar was shot dead
near his house in Raja Tanvir Colony.
A person, identified as Alamgir
was shot dead by unidentified assailants. One Yaqoob Pathan sustained
burn injuries and later died when some arsonists set ablaze his
residence near a Police check post. Further, bullet-riddled dead
body of one Zahid Baloch was recovered from Memon Goth.
Unidentified militants fired rockets
and hurled hand grenades into residential areas of Gujarat, Turk
Muhallah, and KS Mujahid Road of Baldia town injuring four people,
including a woman and a child. The Police conducted raids in these
areas and held five suspects and recovered weapons and motorcycle
from the miscreants.
Political administration came up
with an announcement that 1,000 personnel of the FC had been deployed,
but the authorities denied planning any ‘major operation’ in the
strife-torn areas.
On the special directives of President
Asif Ali Zardari Sindh Government gave shoot-at-sight orders to
the Police and Rangers for normalising the city’s deteriorating
situation and increasing terrorist activities.
Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary
Affairs Maula Bux Chandio said the people of Sindh need to understand
that a PPP-MQM alliance is important for stability in the province
and that the troubles in Karachi are often aimed at derailing democracy.
At least four persons were killed
during clashes between LI and volunteers of Zakhakhel tribal lashkar
in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Windscreens of several vehicles
were smashed when a powerful bomb, planted along roadside, exploded
near Ali Masjid area. However, nobody was injured in the blast.
SFs pounded the hideouts of militants
when they fired rockets at Jawaki area of FR Kohat to punish the
tribesmen for forming armed lashkar against them. Militants fired
three rockets from Gharib Paya Mountains at the residential area
in Jawaki adjacent to the Chappar area of Darra Adamkhel to target
the local residents. However, there were no reports of casualties
or damage.
Two senior Afghan Taliban ‘commanders’
were killed during clashes with SFs in Upper Dir District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The two ‘commanders’, who were identified as Abu Musa
and Omar Tariq, were killed during clashes when more than 100 militants
from Afghanistan attacked the village of Kharaa in Nusrat Darra
area of Upper Dir.
The commander of US forces in Afghanistan
has confirmed that Afghan insurgents were crossing into Pakistan
to attack Pakistani troops and civilians.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani
telephoned Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai to tell him that
the Pakistan Army was exercising utmost restraint despite repeated
cross border incursions by the 'militants' raids from the Afghan
side into Pakistan”.
A man, identified as Ali Hussain,
was killed and another identified as Wali Dad, sustained injures
in a landmine explosion near the Paila area in Dera Bugti District.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen said that Pakistan’s Government may
have sanctioned the May 31, 2011 killing of Pakistani journalist
Saleem Shahzad.
One of Pakistan’s most notorious
TTP radio voices, Maulvi Faqir Muhammed, is back on the air after
the Army raided his stronghold in 2010 and drove him across the
border into Afghanistan. Terrorists and their supporters in Pakistan
have long used illegal FM radio stations to spread their message
and incite violence against the Government. Muhammed was one of
the most prominent militant radio personalities before the Army
invaded his enclave in 2010 in the Bajaur Agency (FATA), about 200
kilometres northwest of Islamabad. Many of the terrorists in Bajaur,
including Muhammed, simply slipped across the border into the Kunar
province, an area of Afghanistan where the US has largely withdrawn
its troops.
Pakistan said it would give India
the voice samples of the “criminals” accused in the Mumbai terror
attacks of November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) within 24 hours
after a court gives a go-ahead.
|
July 8
|
At least 35 more people were killed
and several others wounded when unidentified assailants attacked
passenger buses and went on shooting sprees in several neighbourhoods
in Karachi on July 8 – the fourth day of continuing ethnic violence.
With this the death toll has increased to 110.
Seven persons were killed in four
separate incidents in Saeedabad area of the District. In one of
the incidents, Ayub Masih, Bismillah Khan and an unidentified man
were shot dead. Also, assailants opened fire on four vehicles, killing
two people, Dost Muhammad and Daniyal, and injuring two others.
12-year-old Shahabad was shot dead in another incident. In the same
area, one Ahsan Rashid was killed.
Four persons, three of whom were
identified as Hussain, Ghanchi and Maojee, were killed, when the
assailants opened indiscriminate firing in Bhimpura area.
Also, firing near Mubarak Mosque
killed 19-year-old Usman and wounded three others. A man, Yousuf
Jinnah, was killed outside his house, in the same area. Two more
persons were killed in two separate incidents in Qasba Colony area.
The victims were identified as Sakhiur Rehman and Ghaniur Rehman.
In another firing incident, Abdul Jabbar and Mir Afridi were killed
in Ghousia Colony. One Abid alias Baba and Ghulam Sarwar were shot
dead by unidentified assassins in Model Colony and Bilal Colony,
respectively. Further, one Saifullah was shot dead in Pirabad area,
while one Akbar was shot dead in Qasba area. In Orangi Town, one
Arshad Khan was shot dead, while firing near a bakery in Iqbal Market
killed one Iqbal and wounded his uncle Qadar. A passer-by, Rafiullah,
was killed due to the firing in the limits of Sharah-e-Noor Jahan
Police. In North Nazimabad, one Arif Ibrahim, was shot dead. In
the limits of Kharadar Police, Noor Muhammad got killed. A watchman,
identified as Abdul Qayyum, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
near Bombay Bazaar. Near Miani Market, Fazlur Rehman, was shot dead.
In Nazimabad, 7-year-old Salman
Siddique was shot dead. A Jamaat-e-Islami activist, Ayub Ali, was
shot dead in Lines Area. One passenger was killed and five others
wounded when unidentified men fired indiscriminately at a passenger
bus near Hassan Square.
Also, two mutilated bodies were
found in Baldia Town. Another mutilated dead body was recovered
from Old Golimar area. Similarly, a dead body was recovered near
Lea Market.
In Aligarh Bazaar, unidentified
arsonists set ablaze a two-storey building while three shops were
also set ablaze. Seven more shops and over a dozen vehicles were
set on fire in various localities of the city. As per reports, four
rockets were fired in Saeedabad and Baldia areas. Also, unidentified
assailants ridding motorbikes lobbed hand grenades at a building
in Bhimpura area.
Law enforcement agencies cordoned
off and entered Kati Pahari area in a bid to quell terrorists after
intelligence reports revealed that the TTP were present there.
Officials sources said that 42 militants
and eight soldiers were killed in the four days of air and ground
offensive during Operation Koh-e-Sofaid in Jawaki, Mantao and Sarkat
areas of central Kurram Agency in FATA.
One person was killed and another
injured when Security Forces opened fire on a motorcycle at Easha
checkpost, about 10 kilometres east of Miramshah in North Waziristan
Agency.
A NATO container truck was partially
damaged when a time device went off near Torkham border check point
in Khyber Agency. However, no casualties were reported in the explosion.
TTP leadership in North Waziristan
Agency denied their hand in July 5 bomb attack on a SFs convoy in
Miranshah, adding that the US agents, not the TTP militants, had
attacked the military personnel to achieve their own objectives.
The TTP Shura met at an undisclosed location.
Unidentified militants blew up an
8-inch diameter gas pipeline in the Loti area of Dera Bugti District.
42 Afghan nationals were arrested
for having no valid travel documents when stopped and checked by
the Border Security Force in the outskirts of Quetta.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik said that intelligence reports have identified presence of
the TTP in Kati Pahari and other areas of Karachi. “Intelligence
agencies have identified presence of the Taliban in Karachi and
the Government is working on it,” Malik said. He added that in order
to bring the security situation under control, a new strategy had
been evolved under which some “grey” areas of Karachi would be handed
over to the Rangers and some to Police.
He further said that at least 80
people had been killed in the violence since July 5 while the number
of injured was over 100. He said that some 173 suspects had been
arrested while two alleged assailants had been shot dead. He also
claimed that Security Forces had gained control of two terrorist
check posts at Kati Pahari.
Malik presented details of the raids
taking place in various areas, adding that the Baldia Town and Katti
Pahari areas were the worst hit by violence. Malik disclosed that
89 suspects have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in
the target killings. Out of those arrested, 12 suspects are Urdu-speaking,
19 are Pathan and three are Baloch.
New York Times called upon
the US Government to use its influence to hasten departure of Lieutenant
General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the chief of Pakistan’s ISI Agency.
The NYT Editorial on Saleem Shahzad’s
killing said, “Now the Obama Administration has evidence implicating
the ISI in this brutal killing.” US officials say new intelligence
indicates that senior ISI officials ordered the attack on Journalist
Saleem Shahzad on May 31, 2011 to silence him.
The country’s civil leadership directed
the Sindh Government to revive the Commissionerate system in Karachi
on urgent basis. It was decided that the Provincial Government,
while pursuing the policy of reconciliation with all political forces,
would urgently revive the Commissionerate system in the city.
According to the presidential spokesperson,
Farhatullah Babar, the decisions about Karachi were taken in the
light of the briefing given by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah.
The meeting also decided that judges would be appointed to the vacant
posts of anti-terror courts and prosecution branch would be beefed
up to provide an effective legal framework for dealing with the
criminals and lawless elements.
|
July 9
|
At least seven militants were killed
when the SFs pounded their hideouts during the ongoing Operation
Koh-e-Sofaid in Kurram Agency of FATA. The SFs also cleared 10 hideouts.
Three LI militant were killed when
a tribal lashkar attacked their positions in Tirah valley of Khyber
Agency. Local sources said LI lost two of its strategic hilltops
in Bhukar and Nari Baba areas when Zakhakhel tribal lashkar launched
fresh attacks on its positions.
At least five persons were killed
and 11 others were injured when militants fired on the two vehicles
in Jawakai tribal area, some 50 kilometers east of Peshawar, in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three persons more killed on the
fifth day of the on-going violence in Karachi, taking the death
roll to 113. Two bullet-riddled bodies were recovered from Pirabad
Police limits. A worker of MQM was shot dead in PIB colony. The
Old Sabzi Mandi area and Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 4 were also tense
as gunfights continued, in which nine people, including women and
children, were injured.
SFs took partial control of the
troubled areas of Orangi Town, Qasba Colony and Kati Pahari. Heavy
contingents of SFs entered Qasba Colony and Kati Pahari. They did
not face any resistance. Police and Rangers claimed arrest of at
least 100 miscreants and recovery of weapons from them. The details
about the alleged terrorists booked by SFs were not disclosed.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
driver and set ablaze a container carrying military hardware for
NATO forces in Dasht area of Mastung District in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants blew up a
16-inch diameter gas pipeline near Pir Koh area of the Dera Bugti
District.
HuJI warned the Foreign Office to
stop Pakistan’s high commission in New Delhi from sharing details
and information about the group with the Indian Government, Police
sources said. HuJI threatened that it would carry out attacks on
the Foreign Office, Foreign Secretary, the high commission in Delhi
and High Commissioner Shahid Malik if its demand was not met.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
said that he believed Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s new ‘chief’,
was now living in the tribal areas of Pakistan. But Leon Panetta
also conceded that the most potent threat of future terrorist attacks
in the United States came from an al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen, not
Pakistan.
The Barrack Obama administration
will hold back about $800 million in aid to the Pakistani military
because Washington is unhappy with Pakistan’s expulsion of US military
trainers and its campaign against militants. The New York Times,
citing three US senior officials, said the United States was suspending
or canceling USD 800 million in aid and equipment —more than a third
of the USD two billion it gives Pakistan for security assistance.
About USD 300 million in US funding is to reimburse Pakistan for
deploying more than 100,000 troops along the Afghan border to combat
Taliban and other militant forces.
Reports in the New York Times criticising
the Pakistan Army and ISI is a “direct attack” on Pakistan’s security,
the ISPR DG Major General Athar Abbas said. Major General Athar
Abbas repeatedly criticised the New York Times’ reporting
and said it was part of a calculated plan by “unnamed officials”
to “weaken the state”. “This is a direct attack on our security
organisation and intelligence agencies,” he told Reuters in a rare
on-the-record in-person interview.
Military officials from Pakistan
and Afghanistan agreed to hold more high-level talks to defuse a
row over a series of attacks across their porous border, the Afghanistan
Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. Officials
from both militaries and from the United States met in Peshawar
to discuss a spike in tensions on the lawless border that has allegedly
killed dozens of villagers in recent weeks.
|
July 10
|
At least 11 militants were killed
by Pakistan Army near Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Upper Dir District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to reports, SFs have established
complete control over Soni Darra, Nusrat Darra and Kafira Chinna
areas in Upper Dir. Meanwhile, people living near the border areas
continued shifting to safer areas. DCO Upper Dir Ghulam Muhammad
has said that the situation in Upper Dir is under control and people
are not immigrating.
Locals have started moving to safer
places from different border areas of Upper Dir due to the ongoing
operation by SFs against the Afghan militants, who attacked these
areas. Locals have confirmed that dozens of families have already
shifted from the areas.
21 kilograms of explosive material
was found near the Pabbi area from a suspected motorcyclist coming
from Darra Adam Khel.
Three persons, belonging to Shia
community, were shot dead while coming from Qambrani Road in Quetta.
The victims were identified as Ashiq Hussain, Amjad Ali and Abdul
Qayyum. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing. However,
it is believed that it was an incident of sectarian killing.
Three armed assailants intercepted
a passenger wagon bound for Quetta from Mongechar and killed three
persons in Khad Kucha area of Mastung District.
Three people were killed by a rocket
attack on oil tankers in the Rakhni area of the Barkhan District.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a man, identified as Talat, near Paposh Nagar graveyard in Karachi.
Two unidentified bodies, one of
a youth and another of a woman, were found bearing torture marks.
Body of an unidentified woman was
found near Super Highway within the jurisdiction of Sachal Police
Station.
The body of a young man was found
from Firdous Colony within the jurisdiction of Gulbahar Police Station.
In Aligarh Colony of Orangi town,
a clash between two ethnic groups led to intense firing however,
no casualties were reported.
A hand grenade was found from Agra
Taj mosque road within the jurisdiction of Kalri Police Station.
The Sindh Government issued notification
of restoration of all the five districts of Karachi divisionorted.
According to the notification issued from Chief Minister House,
stated that according to the Sindh Revenue Ordinance, Karachi division
included District South, Malir, Central, East and West District.
Hyderabad has been given a status of division and has been divided
into five Districts. These Districts included District Hyderabad,
Badin, Thatta, Jamshoro and District Dadu.
Mirpurkhas Division has been divided
into four Districts that included District Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar,
Umerkot and District Sanghar. Districts of Sukkur Division included
Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushero Feroz and District Benazirabad.
Larkana Division included District Larkana, Qambar/Shahdadkot, Shikarpur,
Jacobabad and District Kashmore. Every division has been divided
into its old district-format – as at the time of commissionerate
system in place before Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001.
Two Policemen were killed and seven
other people, including four Policemen, were wounded in a remote-controlled
bomb explosion on the outskirts of Peshawar.
|
July 11
|
Two persons, identified as Fazal
Amin and Jahangir Khan, were killed by unidentified militants
in Shakas and Ghundi localities of Khyber Agency.
One Umar Khan was killed and two
others injured, when unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade
at his house in Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara tehsil.
Two other tribesmen identified
as Shaukat Khan and Maidan Khan received bullet injuries when
their car was ambushed by armed assailants in Speen Qabar locality
of Bara.
A NATO container was partially
damaged when a magnet bomb exploded on the main Peshawar-Torkham
Highway in Jamrud tehsil.
At least 10 people were killed
and many others were injured in different areas of Karachi, as
unrest stemming from lawlessness continued unabated. Three people
were shot dead and many injured in a gunfight between the residents
of Lyari, belonging to the Kachi community and the Lyari gangsters.
Also, two women, identified as Zubaida and Be Rukh Khan, succumbed
to their injuries in a hospital in Karachi. Another man was shot
dead near Mari Pur Road Grid Station in the limits of Kalri Police
Station. In addition, a man was shot dead near Khadda Market.
A bullet-riddled dead body identified
as Abdul Sattar was found near the KMC. Another dead body, bearing
marks of torture, was found from Khajoor Bazaar in Kharadar area.
Another person, identified as
Muhammad Hassan, was found dead within the limits of Pak Colony
Police Station.
At least seven people, including
a child, two women and two Policemen, were killed and 25 others
wounded in a suicide attack targeting a political rally of the
PML-Q at a bazaar in Battagram District. The suicide bomber,
who was in his twenties, and was apparently targeting the PML-Q’s
public meeting, blew himself up after asked by Police to stop
for search at a security checkpoint.
Police raided the Hujra (guesthouse)
of Fazal Amin in Tela Bund area in Peshawar and arrested two persons,
Mamoor and Shah Zaman, along with two hand grenades, one rocket
launcher, two Kalashnikovs and dozens of rounds.
A driver and his helper were killed
when unidentified militants opened fire at a NATO container coming
from Afghanistan to Karachi in Sindh in the Eastern Bypass in
Quetta.
A Police constable, identified
as Eid Mohammad, was shot dead and another, identified as Shahnawaz,
sustained injures while patrolling on a motorbike near Bazaar
in Mastung District.
Malik Ishaq, alleged operational
head of LeJ, was released from Kotlakhpat Jail in Lahore District
after 14 years of detention. Ishaq had been in prison since 1997
and had 44 cases ranging from murder to terrorism lodged against
him. The court had acquitted him in 34 cases while granted him
bail in the rest. Head of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jama'at (ASWJ),
earlier known as SSP, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, along
with other members greeted Ishaq upon his release. Ishaq said
that he would continue to fight for the country. Ishaq was accused
of masterminding the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team on
March 3, 2009 while in prison.
Casualties from violence across
Pakistan since the US killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden
on May 1-2 have soared, with many more maimed and injured people
going to humanitarian clinics, the ICRC said.
The killing of al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden will force the al Qaeda terror network to back
away from his grandiose plans for more 9/11-style attacks in favour
of more frequent, smaller strikes on easier targets, former US
spy Chief Michael Hayden forecast.
The deployment of remotely controlled
drone aircraft to monitor suspected al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan
and, unofficially, in Pakistan was “an absolute war-winner,” he
added.
The Pakistan military said that
it was capable of fighting without US assistance. “The Army in
the past as well as at present, has conducted successful military
operations using its own resources without any external support
whatsoever,” ISPR Director General, Major General Athar Abbas,
said.
Soon after the ISPR director general’s
statement, the US administration, while defending its decision
to suspend USD 800 million of military aid to Pakistan, said its
“uneasy ally” needed to make a greater effort in the fight against
terrorists. “When it comes to our military assistance, we’re not
prepared to continue providing that at the pace that we were providing
it unless and until we see certain steps taken,” State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding, the US was particularly
“looking to improve our cooperation in counter-terrorism, in counterinsurgency”.
|
July 12
|
31 militants were killed and 15
others injured when US drones fired multiple missiles in the border
area of Barmal in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
At least 17 militants were killed
as a US drone strike fired four missiles targeting a compound
and a vehicle in the Gorwaik area of Datta Khel town in North
Waziristan Agency.
Four LI militants were killed
and four volunteers of the Zakhakhel tribal lashkar were
injured during the clashes between LI militants and the Zakhakhel
tribesmen in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency.
Two mortar shells fired from across
the border in Afghanistan slammed into Pakistani village of Gabri,
60 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of Khar, the main town of Bajaur
Agency, killing at least two women and injuring 12 other persons.
Two persons were abducted by the
militants from Bara Bazaar of Khyber Agency.
The Government authorities have
registered 85,000 persons who fled Army operation in Kurram Agency.
“We have registered until today at least 9,023 families - around
85,000 people,” Senior Government Official Sahibzada Anis said.
Three people, including a supporter
of MQM, were killed as the gun battle between Kachhi Rabita Committee
(KRC) and Lyari gangster group continued in Lyari in Karachi.
The dead body of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supporter, identified
as Majid, who was abducted and subsequently killed, was found
from Kalakot area. One Munir, was shot dead in Agra Taj Colony
within Kalri Police precincts. Similarly, one Afghan, identified
as Wazeer, was shot dead in Bihar Colony in the jurisdiction of
Chakiwara Police Station. A heavy contingent of law enforcers,
including Police commandos, was unable to enter violence-hit areas,
the report added.
One Aqeel, an informer of Police,
was shot dead at Qazzafi Chowk within the remits of Orangi Town
Police.
A man identified as Mukhtiar,
was stabbed to death in a mill area Korangi within the limits
of Korangi Industrial Area Police Station.
CID claimed to have arrested seven
alleged accused involved in incidents of violence in Karachi,
including a militant of Swat Chapter of TTP, Ali Imran alias Imran
Shah. The Police also claimed to have recovered four Kalashnikov,
two shotguns, one 7mm rifle, and eight kilogrammes hashish.
Bolan Express, a Quetta-bound
passenger train coming from Karachi (Sindh), was attacked with
a remote-controlled bomb in Lal Shah area of Dera Murad Jamali
city in Naseerabad District. The bomb explosion derailed five
bogies and injured the driver, Hakim Ali.
Pakistan’s Minister for Works
and Services Zulfiqar Mirza threatened to kill a Geo News
reporter, Shoaib Burney, while disallowing his news crew from
covering his tour of the M A Jinnah Road Light House area in Karachi.
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. 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.
MQM Chief Altaf Hussain said the
Government was plotting against the Armed Forces, the ISI and
institutions responsible for the National Security in collusion
with the US.
Representatives of the Ahmadi
community and Human Rights Activists slammed the Government over
religiously motivated killing of an Ahmadi advocate, Malik Mabroor
Ahmad, while demanding immediate action against the extremists
involved.
“I call upon the Government to
dispense swift justice against the perpetrators of this crime,”
Saleem said, adding, “Malik Mabroor Ahmad had survived another
bid on his life in 2008 but no action was taken by the local authorities
to protect him from the extremists.”
Rights Activist and Director of
Centre for Human Rights Education (CHRE), Samson Salamat, strongly
condemned the brutal killing of Malik Mabroor Ahmed in Nawabshah
and said that another killing in the name of religion is the failure
of the state machinery and has raised the threat for the persecuted
religious minorities in the country.
Pakistan could pull back troops
fighting militants near the Afghan border if the United States
cuts off aid, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said in an interview
to Reuters.
Mukhtar later told Reuters Pakistan
wanted the money spent on the maintenance of the Army in the tribal
areas. “This is what we are demanding,” he said. “It is our own
money.”
China pledged its support for
Pakistan. “Pakistan is an important country in South Asia. The
stability and development of Pakistan is closely connected with
the peace and stability of South Asia,” China’s Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
Top Army commanders reiterated
the resolve to fighting the menace of terrorism in national interest
using “our own resources”. The reaffirmation of the decision came
during the 140th Corps Commanders’ Conference at the General Headquarters.
The Army could do without US assistance by depending on its own
resources.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
reiterated his offer of dialogue to exiled Baloch nationalist
leaders and said that negotiations are the only way to resolve
issues. “We are ready to hold talks with Baloch leaders living
abroad to resolve all issues of Balochistan,” he said.
The JuD ‘spokesman’ Muhammad Yahya
Mujahid said that “the first condition to bring peace in Pakistan
is prosperity”.
|
July 13
|
Four persons, including a woman,
were killed in Karachi. Lawlessness continued to prevail in Lyari
town as militants abducted people and later brought them to some
busy street before shooting them dead. Two persons, identified
as Sohail Ahmed Baloch and Saeed Baloch, were abducted on July
12 and were later brought to the Napier Road near Sufi Hotel in
Lea Market and were shot at. Sohail Ahmed Baloch died on the spot
whereas Saeed Baloch managed to flee with two bullets in his legs.
Also, a woman, identified as Afshan, was killed by a stray bullet
in her house located in Garden East within the jurisdiction of
Garden Police Station.
Unidentified terrorists destroyed
three more Government primary schools in Bara tehsil of
Khyber Agency in FATA. Yara Jan village Government Primary School,
Ghulam Sher Government Primary School and Zar Mar Jan village
Government Primary School were blown up with explosives in the
night. The total number of destroyed schools in the whole of Khyber
Agency has reached 46.
Unidentified militants blew up
a bridge in Sheen Dand area of Bara.
More than 1,500 terrorists surrendered
to political administration during military operation in Mohmand
Agency, officials claimed. Official sources said that the arrested
terrorists were being dealt in accordance with Frontier Crimes
Regulation. During a visit to Wali Dad Top on the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was informed
by the officials that SFs destroyed seven explosive device manufacturing
factories in the region.
General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani paid
tributes to the officers and jawans, who laid down their lives
fighting militants in Mohmand Agency. General Kayani also met
Mishrans (notables) of Mohmand Agency and thanked them
for their wholehearted support to the military operations. He
emphasised the need for the tribes to take full responsibility
and effective control for ensuring sustainable peace in their
area. He directed the military and civil authorities to extend
all possible support to the returning IDPs.
An ISPR statement said that during
the Mohmand operations, 69 officers and soldiers were killed and
231 were injured (including 41 critical injuries).
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that the Government and people of Pakistan are deeply concerned
about recent statements made by some American officials pertaining
to reduction in aid to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan should be included in the Afghan-led reconciliation
process and the future strategy for Afghanistan should be decided
with its consultation. Pakistan supported reconciliation in Afghanistan
and the process should be led and owned by that country.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said
that Pakistan Government should immediately act to end the epidemic
of killings of suspected Baloch militants and opposition activists
by the military, Intelligence Agencies, and the paramilitary FC
in the south western province of Balochistan. Across Balochistan,
since January 2011, at least 150 people have been abducted and
killed and their bodies abandoned – acts widely referred to as
“kill and dump” operations, in which Pakistani SFs engaged in
counterinsurgency operations may be responsible.
Armed militant outfits in Balochistan
are responsible for killing many civilians and destroying private
property. In the past several years, they have increasingly targeted
non-Baloch civilians and their businesses, Police Stations, and
major gas installations and infrastructure.
Pakistan informed the Security
Council 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 UN
report to the situation in the country.
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 Federal Cabinet decided to
constitute a judicial commission under the supervision of a Supreme
Court judge to probe the August 26, 2006 murder of Baloch Nationalist
leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. The commission, however, was promptly
rejected by Bugti’s eldest son Nawabzada Jamil Bugti who said
he had no expectations from the incumbent Government.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that foreign forces and hostile Security Agencies are involved
in creating a law and order situation in Balochistan. The Interior
Minister claimed that the situation in Balochistan vis-à-vis terrorism
was “comparably better than in other provinces.” Over the past
three years, 134 Punjabi-speaking people have been killed while
another 45 have been killed in sectarian violence, Malik said.
Al Qaeda is plotting a jihad
on the internet against Britain and the West, and has launched
teams to target key computer systems, Security officials from
Britain said. 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.
|
July 14
|
At least 18 persons were killed
in Karachi. In one of the incidents, five people fell prey to
violence in areas of Jinnahabad, Gulistan-e-Johar, Lea Market,
Lyari and Surjani Town. A Sindh Rangers Official was killed due
to firing in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. A Policeman, identified as
Aftab, died after receiving multiple bullets near Jamia Milia.
An unidentified man was killed in Chowrangi area. Earlier it was
reported that10 people were killed. The recent fighting was sparked
by PPP Minister Zulfiqar Mirza’s on July 13 criticism of the chief
of the MQM, Altaf Hussian.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
who initially pointed figures at the TTP for raging violence in
Karachi, has now blamed "wives and girlfriends" for
70 per cent of the killings in the city. Malik told reporters
during an interaction in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan,
that more people had been killed by those who wanted to get rid
of their wives, girlfriends and boyfriends than those responsible
for "target killings" in Karachi.
Two SF personnel were killed and
three others injured in a bomb explosion in Zengara area of South
Waziristan Agency in FATA. The troops were patrolling the area
when their vehicle hit the bomb planted on the road.
Unidentified militants shot dead
a person, identified as Mohammad Ishaq, on charges of theft and
stealing in Shalobar area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants targeted
the office of NATO fuel supplier with a car bomb near Torkham
border. Officials said that the explosion outside the office of
Al-Haj group caused injuries to three passers-by and partial damage
to four vehicles parked near the site of explosion. Nobody has
so far claimed responsibility for the blast but sources said that
Al-Haaj group had been receiving threats from militants since
long for supplying fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
United Nations agencies have started
relief activities for the internally displaced families in Kurram
Agency.
At least four persons were killed
and nine others injured in a blast in Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah
District. The cause of the blast has yet to be determined.
Unidentified militants blew up
an 8-inch diameter gas pipeline in Dera Bugti District.
The ISPR DG Major General Athar
Abbas said that there are terrorist safe havens inside Afghanistan.
In an interview with a British media group, he said terrorists
from Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had found Kunar and Nuristan in
Afghanistan to be safe havens and from there they launched cross-border
attacks inside Pakistan. General Abbas said militants and their
leaders – Fazalullah, Faqir Muhammad, Abdul Wali and Hakimullah
– had hideouts in these areas, adding that when NATO was pulling
out its troops from the areas, Pakistan had conveyed its well-founded
concerns.
Commenting on a video showing
the killing of 27 troops in a Dir village on June 1, the ISPR
chief said the incident was being investigated to trace the culprits.
Philippines is assessing whether
to seek custody of a top Asian terrorist suspect, who hid for
years in its volatile south and allegedly plotted deadly attacks
with Filipino militants before he was arrested in Pakistan on
January 25, 2011.
Pakistan has taken steps to relinquish
custody of Patek, whose real name is Anis Alawi Jaffar and his
Filipino wife after capturing them on January 25 in Abbottabad.
Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said authorities were trying
to assess if Patek’s presence could strengthen terrorism-related
criminal cases lodged against him in Philippine’s courts before
deciding whether to seek his custody.
Slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin
Laden was aware of the plot in which al Qaeda militants bombed
London transport facilities on July 7, 2005 (also known as 7/7),
but it was the last successful operation he played a role in,
US Government experts concluded.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that any threat to nukes will be thwarted with full force.
The National Command Authority (NCA) underlined that the Government
and the people of Pakistan stood solidly behind the country’s
nuclear and missile programmes, which would be pursued to maintain
effective, reliable and credible deterrence capability, and all
attempts to undermine this capability would be thwarted with full
force.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker
Faisal Karim Kundi stressed for regular interaction between the
political leadership and the people of Pakistan and India to build
the bridges of understanding and friendship between the two nations.
He also called for the resolution of longstanding issues between
the two countries through dialogue.
|
July 15
|
At least 15 militants and eight
SFs personnel and were killed during clashes in Chamalang area
of Kohlu District in Balochistan. 12 SFs personnel were injured
in the clashes while two ‘commanders’ were reported to be among
the dead militants. A FC spokesman said that the BLA militants
had carried out the attack.
Unidentified militants blew up
a 6-inch diameter gas pipeline in Bugti Colony of Sui area in
Dera Bugti District. As a result of the explosion, gas supply
from well number 69 to the plant was suspended.
Balochistan National Party – Mengal
(BNP-M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal said that the Government is
neither strong enough nor serious to resolve the Balochistan issue.
Speaking at a public meeting at the Shahwani stadium in Quetta
by telephone from Dubai said that announcement of packages, formation
of jirgas and committees were aimed at deceiving the Baloch
people.
Dozens of militants ransacked
at least 11 Government schools in Shalobar area of Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA and took with them furniture, doors and
other articles. The collective looting of 11 schools happened
within 24 hours of the destruction of four government schools
in Akkakhel area of Bara.
A Government school for boys was
blown up by unidentified militants in Marghuz area of Swabi District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
SFs arrested two suicide bombers,
including mastermind Mullah Basir, from Spin Khak area of Nowshera
District. According to details, the law enforcement agencies,
acting on a tip off, raided the Spin Khak area and apprehended
two suicide bombers, Arshad Afridi and Mullah Basir, who was the
administrator of Madrassa Faizul Islam in the Spin Khak area of
Nowshera. Mullah Basir has been accused of training suicide bombers
and was involved in carrying out terrorist activities in the province.
The UN Security Council committee
overseeing sanctions removed 14 Taliban leaders from an international
blacklist in order to encourage peaceful reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig, who heads the Security Council
for the month of July, said the decision “sends a strong signal:
the Security Council and the international community support the
efforts of the Afghan government to engage reconciled Taliban
in a political dialogue in order to achieve peace and security
in Afghanistan.”
|
July 16
|
Unidentified militants ambushed
a bus carrying Sunni Muslims and killed all 10 passengers near
Parachinar town of Kurram Agency in FATA.
Unidenfied militants opened fire
on a NATO oil tanker in the Jamrud town of Khyber Agency, killing
the driver and injuring his helper.
Eight people, including a senior
member of PPP, were shot dead in a fresh wave of target killings
in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. Senior PPP activist
and President Pakistan International Airline CBA labour union
and his friend were shot dead in a target killing incident at
Munawar Chowrangi within the jurisdiction of Gulistan-e-Jauhar
Police Station. Syed Ahmer Ali Shah alias Amir Shah (42), son
of Safdar Ali, was going with his friend Mairaj Khalid Jagirani,
son of Ghulam Sarwar, in a car No ATB-661 when unidentified armed
motorcyclists intercepted them and sprayed bullets, injuring them.
A man was shot dead near Metrological
Department, Gulshan-e-Iqbal within the jurisdiction of Mubina
Town Police Station. A 38-year-old man, Gul Mohammad Khan, was
sitting at Subhan Allah hotel when unidentified armed men shot
him and fled.
Two bodies of teenagers were recovered
from Old Haji Camp within the precincts of Nappier Police Station.
Police received information that two bodies packed in gunny bags
were lying near Timber Market, Old Haji Camp. On reaching the
spot, they recovered two bodies from the bags. The victims were
identified as 18-year-old Tabraiz and 19-year-old Feroz, both
residents of Metroville Site.
In another incident, a young man
was shot dead at Islam Chowk, Orangi Town within the limits of
Pakistan Bazaar Police Station.
Police found the body of man from
Marwari area within the limits of Pak Colony Police Station. The
identity of victim is yet to be ascertained. The decomposed body
was recovered from Lyari River.
A man was shot dead in Bhains
Colony near Chokandi Morr within the jurisdiction of Sukkhun Police
Station. The 30-year-old victim, Mohammad Nadeem, was sitting
outside a cattle farm when unidentified motorcyclists sprayed
bullets on him. He was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical
Centre for treatment where he succumbed to the injuries.
Police recovered four dead bodies
of Baloch missing persons, including a member of BSO-Azad, in
Quetta. Police, on a tip-off, found three corpses dumped in separate
sacks in Jabal-e-Noor area in the outskirts of the provincial
capital. They were identified as Maqsood Qalandarani s/o Sher
Mohammad, Ghulam Murtaza s/o Haleem and Nasir Badini.
Police recovered another dead
body from an area near Qambrani Road in Quetta.
An official of the FC, identified
as Karim Bakhsh, was injured in a remote control explosion on
a FC check post in Mir Hasan area in Dera Murad Jamali.
Unidentified assailants threw
a hand grenade into a house in Khuzdar. However, no casualties
were reported in the grenade attack.
Two persons were killed and 15
injured when militants blew up a NATO supply oil tanker in a market
in Peshawar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The remote-controlled device
was planted under the tanker,” said Ijaz Khan, a senior police
officer. The blaze also destroyed up to 100 shops. “Two people
were killed and 15 other were wounded, terrorists were involved
in this attack,” he added.
|
July 17
|
Three people, including one Police
Constable, identified as Sajid Khan Afridi, were shot dead in
Sector 8 of Baldia Town within the jurisdiction of Saeedabad Police
Station. The other two victims were identified as Zahid Baloch
and Jahanzeb. PPP Karachi Division President Najmi Alam claimed
that all three victims were affiliated with the party.
One Wali Mohammad Arain, a local
leader of Punjabi Pakhtoon Ittehad (PPI), was killed in Kehkashan
Society in Al-Falah Police limits.
An activist of ANP was shot dead
near Ayesha Manzil in Federal B area within the jurisdiction of
Gulberg Police Station.
A driver was shot killed when
unidentified assailants opened fire at a trawler in Sarjani area.
In addition, one Ayaz was shot dead in Sector 5-K of New Karachi
within the limits of Bilal Colony Police limits.
A dead body of a man was found
from Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik,
hinting at the involvement of foreign hands in fomenting unrest
in Karachi, said Israeli-made weapons were being used by militants
in the city.
The LI militants killed a volunteer
of local peace committee by tying his body to a vehicle and dragging
it in Mann Talab area of Akkakhel in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Fazal Hadi, ‘commander’ and bodyguard
of LI ‘chief’ Mangal Bagh, was killed by the Zakhakhel lashkar
in Nari Baba area of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.
Unidentified assailants attacked
a convoy of trucks, abducted 10 persons and set ablaze six vehicles
near Charkhel village on Thall-Parachinar Road in Kurram Agency.
Sources said that the convoy was going from Parachinar to the
south. Officials said the incident might have been a reaction
to an attack on a passenger van near Parachinar on July 16 in
which 10 persons, including women and children, were killed and
three others injured.
Militants blew up a Government
high school in Atari village of Qambarkhel in Khyber Agency.
Security Forces destroyed three
hideouts of militants in Baz Garha area of Bara. Local sources
said that a number of suspected militants managed to break the
security cordon and escaped to other localities.
Pamphlets describing former ‘vice-chief’
of TTP Maulvi Faqir Mohammad as agent of anti-Pakistan forces
were distributed among peace committees of Bajaur and Mohmand
Agencies. The pamphlets in Urdu and Pashto on separate papers
carry the title “public notice” and read: “Maulvi Faqir Mohammad
is a notorious and immoral bargainer of conscience by character.
He is enemy of humanity and playing in hands of those powers who
want to destroy our motherland. The number one in these anti-Pakistan
forces is RAW of India.”
Unidentified militants shot dead
an Afghan refugee, identified as Spen Khan, in an Afghan refugee
camp set up in the Muslim Bagh tehsil of Qila Saifullah
District.
Armed militants of BLA abducted
five men, who were heading to work at Sorange coal mine, located
around 40 kilometres east of Quetta. Basham Baloch, a spokesman
of BLA, claimed responsibility for the abduction. He said the
men were abducted to force the Government to stop mining.
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. 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.
|
July 18
|
Eight militants and a trooper
were killed in an encounter in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency in
FATA.
Khasadar Sameed Khan and cook
Noor Badshah received injuries when unidentified assailants attacked
the living quarters of Khasadar Force with hand grenades in Landi
Kotal Bazaar of Khyber Agency.
Nine truckers, who were abducted
from Thall-Parachinar Road in Lower Kurram Agency on July 17,
were released by their abductors, officials said.
SFs neutralised a time device
planted at a roadside in Akkakhel area.
SFs arrested three suspect militants
during routine patrolling in Sur Ghar area of Bara tehsil.
Three people, including an activist
of PPP, were killed in separate incidents of target killing in
Karachi. Two, including a legal adviser of defunct SSP, were assassinated
in Gulbahar within the remits of Gulbahar Police Station. Abdul
Hafeez (55), son of Abdul Waheed and Sajid alias Mulla (32), son
of Arif were standing in the street when unidentified pillion
riders approached and opened fire. Resultantly, both sustained
multiple bullet injuries and died on the spot.
An activist of PPP, identified
as Imdad Baloch (25), was killed while another injured near Bheempura
within the precincts of Nappier Police Station.
One Police official was killed
while another was injured when unidentified assailants opened
fire on a Police mobile in Marghuz area of Swabi town in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. According to details, SHO Zaida Police Station, Malook
Shah Khan, ASI Javed Khan and other Police officials were on routine
patrolling when unidentified assailants opened fire on the Police
mobile, killing Police official Mirwali Khan on the spot while
injuring driver Asif Shah. The SHO and ASI escaped unhurt.
The SFs foiled a plan of militants
to attack Kohat and recovered huge quantity of weapons from a
house and a mosque during a clandestine operation.
At least eight employees of the
American Refugee Committee, a NGO, were abducted in Surkab area
of Pishin District in the night. “All the Pakistani employees
of a US-based aid organisation, ARC, returning from an Afghan
refugee camp in Pishin, have gone missing,” officials added.
Police neutralised an explosive
device weighing seven kilogrammes placed in the Turbat Bazaar
of Turbat District.
The Taliban released a video showing
the execution of 16 Pakistani Policemen, captured during a raid
in June from Pakistan’s Upper Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province. The video shows the Policemen lined up on a hillside,
their hands tied behind their backs, standing in front of armed
Taliban fighters wearing scarves to hide their faces. One of the
fighters accused the men of executing six children.
A US Senate House panel unveiled
a bill that would impose limits on US aid to Pakistan. The House
Foreign Affairs Committee will consider the legislation by Republican
chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on July 20. She released an initial
draft on July 18. Among the limitations, the bill would require
the Secretary of State to certify Pakistan’s cooperation in battling
terrorism before Islamabad could receive civilian and security
assistance from the US.
The ISI officials knew about a
meeting between al Qaeda ‘leader’ Ayman al-Zawahiri and slain
TTP ‘head’ Baitullah Mehsud in 2008 but then "lost"
track of the terror mastermind, a media report said. 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.
|
July 19
|
11 militants and a soldier were
killed during an encounter between SFs and militants in Ormegai
area of Kurram Agency in FATA. One officer, three soldiers and
six militants were also injured during the encounter.
Five persons were killed and two
others injured in an explosion in Pir Khel village of Shakai area
near Wana, the main town of SWA. Sources said that a pick-up truck
carrying seven persons, including a son of TTP ‘commander’ Tehsil
Khan, was hit by an improvised explosive device in Pir Khel village.
Tehsil Khan is a close associate of TTP ‘commander’ Maulvi Nazir.
Four were killed and two others
were injured when the mortar bombs fired across the Afghanistan
border slammed in to a paramilitary Frontier Corps checkpost in
the Angoor Adda area of SWA.
Militants killed two hostages,
including a student, in Charkhel area of lower Kurram Agency.
They were abducted on July 17 after an attack on a convoy of trucks
coming from Parachinar to Thall. The militants burnt the body
of the student identified as Syed Ijlal Hussain while the other
hostage, Zakir Hussain, was shot dead. Militants had burnt six
trucks and abducted 12 persons including drivers during the attack.
They set free 10 drivers after interrogation and kept the two
deceased in their custody.
The activists of a local peace
committee killed the relative of a local militant ‘commander’
on charges of spying in Akkakhel area of Khyber Agency.
Nine youngsters were injured when
militants fired six mortar shells at the local helipad in Landi
Kotal town of Khyber Agency.
A tribesman identified as Noor
Hussain suffered injuries in a landmine blast in Sharemkhel area
in Upper Kurram.
The ongoing violence in Karachi
claimed eight more lives, including activist of MQM and a Police
official.
A Policeman, 26-year-old Ali Mazhar,
a gunman of Bilal Sheikh, who is the Security Officer of President
of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, was targeted while going home.
Police found shot dead body of
a young man from Azeempura graveyard Malir in the limits of Al
Falah Police Station.
Police found a bullet-riddled
gunny bag body from Art Chowk Lyari area in the remits of Kalakot
Police Station.
In another incident in Kharadar
area near Habib Honey Street, Police found a dead body of a young
man.
Police found a bullet-riddled
body of a youth from Mohajir Camp Baldia in the remits of Baldia
Police Station. Police said the victim appeared to be Baloch speaking.
A pan shop owner, Ghulam Fareed
Kalhoro (40), was shot dead in Korangi Bilal Colony in the jurisdiction
of Korangi Industrial Area Police Station.
A young man was shot dead while
another was found injured near Lal Mosque Firdaus Colony in the
precincts of Gulbahar Police Station.
A minor boy, 9-year-old Badar,
was killed due to a stray bullet when he was standing outside
his home in Muslim Abad Malir Kala Board in the remits of Malir
City Police Station.
Unidentified militants killed
an official of FC, Taj Alam Khattak, in Peshawar District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Two US citizens have been charged
with illegally lobbying the United States for the Pakistan Government
and ISI over the Kashmir, US authorities said. FBI agents arrested
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai (62), in Virginia on charges that he failed
to register as an agent of a foreign Government. Zaheer Ahmad
(63) was also charged but is believed to be in Pakistan. Both
are naturalized US citizens. Pakistan has spent at least USD four
million since the mid-1990s lobbying the US Congress and the White
House through Fai and the Kashmiri American Council, also known
as the Kashmir Center, where Fai served as Executive Director,
according to an FBI affidavit filed in US court.
The Pakistan Embassy in Washington
issued a statement denying any Government knowledge of such an
arrangement. "Mr Fai is not a Pakistani citizen and the government
and embassy of Pakistan have no knowledge of the case involving
him," the statement said.
Promising to lean "hard"
on Pakistan terror, the US asked it not to give "safe havens
and free pass" to terrorists. This reaffirmation was made
by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the end of the second
annual Indo-US Strategic Dialogue during which she discussed with
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna terrorism, nuclear cooperation,
situation in Afghanistan and a host of other key issues.
The United Kingdom termed Pakistan’s
role as “most important” in ensuring peace in Afghanistan after
the withdrawal of the US and NATO forces. Addressing a joint press
conference at the Lancaster House, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza
Gilani and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for
a solution for peace in Afghanistan, generated from within, with
the combined support of the United States, United Kingdom and
Pakistan.
The killer, of Afghanistan President
Hamid Karzai’s close ally Jan Mohammad Khan, had received telephone
calls before and after the deadly shooting from Pakistan, the
Afghanistan Interior Minister Besmullah Mohammadi told parliament.
|
July 20
|
The pro-Government tribesmen killed
six militants during clashes in Neka Ziarat area of central Kurram
Agency.
A caravan of 532 families belonging
to different areas of South Waziristan Agency left for their hometowns.
Two militants were killed and
a Policeman was injured when militants attacked a Police post
in Matani area of Peshawar.
Unknown assailants shot dead one
advocate, Adil Ahmed, in front of his chamber in Ali Plaza on
Charsadda-Mardan road in Charsadda District.
Militants blew up a Government
school in Shaikhan village in the limits of Badbher Police Station
of Peshawar. The source said that three remote controlled explosives
were planted at the school that damaged its building.
Police recovered a rocket, three
hand grenades, a wireless set and hundreds of cartridges of Kalashnikov
from Badhber in Peshawar.
A former Union Council nazim and
the leader of PML-N, Saleem Jadoon, was shot dead by armed militants
near his office on Patel Road in Quetta.
An Afghan security commander was
killed in firing in Saranan area in Pishin District. According
to some sources, TTP had claimed responsibility for the killing
of the Afghan security official.
A man, identified as Ajmal, was
shot dead while another identified as Rehmat was injured at Bhutto
Nagar in Landhi within the remits of Landhi Police Station in
Karachi.
An activist of MQM, Zafar Iqbal,
received bullet injuries in Quaidabad while sitting at a polling
camp.
An al Qaeda affiliate said that
it plans to roll out a Disney-like animated cartoon aimed at recruiting
children to the terror network.
News of the animated film was
announced by a group called Abu al-Laith al-Yemen on the Arabic-language
al-Shamouk jihadist website, reported the London-based Quilliam
Foundation. Quilliam, which was formed by former jihadists and
now aims to stamp out extremism, said it appears the group is
affiliated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Afghan Taliban’s spokesman
Zabihullah Mujahid said that their mobile phones, email accounts
and a website had been hacked to send out false messages to the
media claiming the movement’s supreme leader, Mullah Omar, had
died on May 23.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that Washington expected Islamabad to press Afghan
Taliban insurgents to join the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Clinton said, “Pakistan must prevent its territory being used
for attacks that destabilise Afghanistan or India, and deny al
Qaeda the space to regroup and plan new violence,” adding, “We
all need to be on the same page for this to work”.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan believed in a policy of non-interference in
Afghanistan’s internal affairs and that peace there was vital
for the stability of the entire region.
A House panel pushed ahead on
a bill to block US assistance to Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen
and the Palestinian Authority unless the Obama Administration
reassures Congress that they are cooperating in the war on terrorism.
Overall, the bill would cut USD 6.4 billion from Obama’s request
of USD 51 billion for the State Department and foreign operations
in the next budget.
Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the intent was
to put Pakistan “on notice that it is no longer business as usual
and that they will be held to account if they continue to refuse
to cooperate with our efforts to eliminate the nuclear black market,
destroy the remaining elements of Osama Bin Laden’s network and
vigorously pursue our counterterrorism objectives.”
Another mass attack by the LeT
militants will derail Indo-Pak talks and can lead to India striking
back against Pakistan, a noted American counter-terrorism expert
warned.
|
July 21
|
Four persons, including two OGDCL
officials and two FC personnel, were killed and three others sustained
injuries in a remote-controlled bomb blast near Dera Allah Yar
Bypass in Jaffarabad District.
BRA claimed responsibility for
the attack and vowed to continue such attacks in future also.
Four militants were killed in
a US drone strike that fired two missiles in a house in Khushali
Toori Khel area of Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan Agency.
Four mortar shells fired from
across the border in Afghanistan hit a house in Banda-Gai village
in Mamoond tehsil, 60 kilometres northwest of Khar, main
town of Bajaur Agency in FATA, killing two persons and injuring
six children.
Two employees of Frontier Works
Organisation, Hazrat Ali and Hayat Ahmed, were injured in a suicide
attack in Kotki area of South Waziristan Agency.
A NATO oil tanker was partially
destroyed as an explosive device attached to its rear portion
by unidentified militants, exploded near agriculture office in
Landikotal town of Khyber Agency.
Jandakhel peace lashkar
and Security Forces in a joint action demolished a hideout of
the LI in Chora area of Malik Dinkhel.
A Government middle school in
Akkakhel and a primary school for girls in Shalobar were completely
destroyed when huge quantity of explosives, planted by militants
in the buildings, exploded at midnight. With the destruction of
the two schools, the number of destroyed educational institutions,
according to official figures, has risen to 56 in Khyber Agency
since the start of military operation in September 2009.
Assistant Political Agent Rehan
Khattak distributed cheques worth PKR 11,200,000 among the victims
of terrorism in Bara. The recipients included relatives of 27
killed and 26 injured persons.
One person was killed and another
injured in separate incidents of violence in Karachi. Police found
a bullet-riddled dead body of a youth, identified as Babar Khan,
from an empty plot in Korangi within the precincts of Zaman Town
Police Station.
A Policeman, identified as Ali
Mohammad, was injured at Qazzafi Chowk Orangi Town within the
jurisdiction of Orangi Town Police Station when unidentified assailants
fired at him while performing his duties at the security zone.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik claimed that 154 alleged target killers were arrested in
Karachi, and out of them, nine with political affiliation were
bailed out due to insufficient evidence.
A would-be suicide bomber was
shot dead when he allegedly tried to attack the head of the Adezai
Peace Lashkar, Dilawar Khan, at Bazeed Khel in Badabher
area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A US court remanded Kashmiri propagandist
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, accused of lobbying for Pakistan, to FBI
custody till next week. A prosecution lawyer appeared in the court
and requested more time to study this “complicated case”. The
lawyer said the defence also needed more time to prepare their
case.
“Brylcreem” and “30 plus” were
some of the codes used for monetary transactions between ISI and
Fai. In the affidavit submitted by the FBI, investigators said
in a conversation Fai's Pakistani handler Javed Azeed Khan had
asked him if he had received all the goods. In reply, Fai told
him everything had been received except “Brylcreem, 75 milligram”.
FBI investigators suspect that was a code for transferring the
USD 75,000 demanded by Fai from his ISI handlers for spreading
propaganda in the US through his Kashmiri American Council.
Pakistan accused United States
of a campaign of slander against Islamabad over the arrest of
a US citizen accused of running an ‘illegal front group’ for Pakistan
on the Kashmir dispute. The statement voiced concern over what
it called ‘slander campaign against Pakistan.’
The ISI sponsors terrorism in
Kashmir and it oversees terrorist groups there, the FBI said in
the first ever open acknowledgment by a US agency that Islamabad
is a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism'.
Pakistan nurtured extremist groups
to fight "proxy irregular" war against India, while
its military benefited from presenting New Delhi as a threat,
a top Pentagon official told US lawmakers. "Pakistan has
viewed India itself and Indian (or any other nation's) domination
of Afghanistan as an existential threat, and has taken steps it
believes are necessary to counter this threat, including developing
nuclear weapons and nurturing extremist groups to fight proxy
irregular warfare," Admiral James A Winnefeld, the next Vice
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding, "That
the Pakistani military benefits from presenting India as a threat,
and that there are many in the military who sympathise with the
extremist views of these groups, only reinforces this tendency.
A US Congress panel rejected a
proposal to cut off all aid to Pakistan due to concerns over the
Pakistan’s relationship with terrorists. The House Foreign Affairs
Committee rejected the measure, with five lawmakers voting yes
and 39 voting no.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher,
a Republican from California, had offered the amendment to a spending
bill for the fiscal year starting in October that would have barred
any US funds to provide assistance to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan considered its relations with the United States
as “extremely important” and stressed that victories in the fight
against terrorism must be credited to Pakistan.
|
July 22
|
13 persons more were killed in
the ongoing target killing in Karachi when the MQM- Haqiqi, attempted
to stage a comeback in strongholds of the MQM. City Police Chief
Saud Mirza said the violence was sparked when “some men of a group
entered Khokhrapar area of Malir and targeted their opponents”.
Seven militants were killed and
as many volunteers of tribal lashkar injured in a clash between
militants and tribal lashkar in Neka Ziarat area of Kurram Agency
in FATA. The death toll reached 15 during the last five days,
as the military operation continued in different areas of central
Kurram for the last three weeks.
Six militants were killed while
two militants and a soldier sustained injuries during an encounter
in Sheraki area of Orakzai Agency. Sources said that the militants
attacked a SFs outpost in the area and in SFs retaliated by killing
six militants and injuring two others. One soldier identified
as Omar also sustained injuries.
Unidentified militants attacked
the compound of renowned Pashto poet Amir Hamza Shinwari in a
bid to destroy the complex located in Landikotal of Khyber Agency.
Two houses were partially damaged
when militants fired two mortars from mountains of Darra Adamkhel
at the residential area of Jammu in the Frontier Region of Kohat.
Senior Army and FATA officials
claimed that the reports about the death of Tariq Afridi, the
TTP ‘Amir’ of Darra Adamkhel, were correct and he had died
when Army jets pounded Eidgah area in Orakzai Agency on the evening
of May 31, 2011.
A senior leader of the BNP, Jumma
Khan Raisani, and three others were shot dead in Gizigi area of
Khuzdar District of Balochistan. According to Police, Jumma Raisani
was on his way back home after offering Friday prayers when unidentified
assailants opened fire on his vehicle. As a result, Jumma and
his three guards Muhammad Ishaq, Muhammad Zareef and Muhammad
Bakhsh died on the spot. Baloch-Musala Defa Army has claimed the
responsibility for the killings.
Police arrested a teenaged terror
suspect from Ganjmandi area of Rawalpindi and recovered an SSG
commando’s uniform, two pistols and PKR 39,000 from his possession.
Shahrukh Khan (14), son of Abdul Latif, a resident of Fauji colony,
Pirwadhai, was arrested by the Ganjmandi Police during patrolling
from Boring Road.
Two Police men have been assigned
security duties at the residence of Malik Ishaq, the LeJ ‘chief’,
who was recently released from a Lahore prison. Rahim Yar Khan
District Police Officer Sohail Tajik said that the guards were
deployed at the Mohallah Islam Nagar house of the LeJ ‘chief’
in view of the threat posed by a large number of people visiting
him everyday He said more officials would be deployed to the place
if the need arose.
The US-Pakistan relationship is
complicated and important but walking away from the ties with
the key regional country is not an option, President Barack Obama’s
National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said. Tom Donilon also acknowledged
in an appearance in Charlie Rose Show that maintaining ties with
Pakistan and working with it serves American national security
interests.
|
July 23
|
An anti-militant lashkar killed
13 militants during clashes in Parachinar of Kurram Agency in
FATA.
A trooper was injured when an
IED exploded in Chinari area of Safi tehsil in Mohammad
Agency. Sources said that SFs personnel were on routine patrolling
when the IED planted along a roadside went off.
SFs arrested six suspected militants
and neutralised two hideouts and recovered arms during an operation
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. Security officials said that
two hideouts of LI were neutralised and at least six suspected
militants were arrested during the daylong operation.
A big mortar shell landed in the
Hujra of Haji Abdul Shakoor Afridi in Sultankhel area of
Khyber Zakhakhel in Khyber Agency in the night, badly injuring
his two young sons, Adil Nawaz and Gul Nawaz.
Five labourers of Punjabi ethnicity
were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Kisankuri area of
Naushki town in Naushki District in suspected incident of ethnic
killing. Sources said that the labourers were taking their mid-day
meal at a construction site for a mosque in Kisankuri, about 15
kilometres from Naushki city, when assailants on motorbikes opened
fire on them, killing all five on the spot. The deceased were
identified as Mohammad Ashfaq, a resident of Ranajpur, Ghulam
Hussain, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan, Munir Hussain, Mohammad
Zahid and Habibullah of Rajanpur.
Two persons were killed and two
others injured when a bomb planted alongside a railway track on
the outskirts of Quetta went off.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a teacher, identified as master Saleem, was found in Guna area
of Turbat District. According to the Turbat Police, victim received
two bullets in his head and chest which had resulted in his instant
death. He was whisked away along with his friend from the same
locality of Turbat some ten days ago, sources added.
Eight more persons, including
an advocate, were killed in separate acts of violence in various
parts of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. An advocate
of Sindh High Court, Advocate Mukhtiar Abbas Bukhari, was shot
dead near Bohrapir Sheesha Market within the limits of Eidgah
Police Station.
A tea hotel owner was shot dead
in New Karachi near Bismillah Mosque in the limits of New Karachi
Police Station. The incident took place at New Quresh Akakhel
Hotel, where 40-year-old Abdul Bari was sitting at a cash counter,
when unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate firing at him.
Clash between two groups in Juna
Market claimed the life of a teenager. During clashes, a stray
bullet hit a 13-year-old Bilal on his head.
A young man, Khalid Mehboob (25),
was shot dead in Hijrat Colony at Ahmed Raza Khan Road within
the remits of Civil Line Police Station.
A 30-year-old Tahir was shot dead
in Urdu Nagar near Mono Technical College in the limits of Malir
City Police Station.
Three persons were shot dead by
unidentified assailants near Iram Shopping Centre within the limits
Taimoria Police Station. The victims were identified as Awais,
Raheel and Salahuddin. Sources said the victims were the activists
of MQM, but police have denied their affiliation with any political
party.
A minor girl was killed and two
others were injured when a mortar shell fell in a residential
area of Jawaki area of Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According
to reports, unidentified militants fired eight mortar shells on
a village, which resulted in the death of eight-year-old Noorina,
daughter of Abdul Sattar, on the spot while Parwara Bibi, daughter
of Ghulam Saddiq, and Taj Bibi, daughter of Noor Baz Khan sustained
critical injuries.
A senior cadre of TTP’s ‘intelligence
group’ was arrested by security agencies in an operation carried
out in the Dhok Kashmirian village, the suburbs of the federal
capital, Islamabad. One of his associates was also arrested. The
security agencies spotted the senior TTP cadre, QZR, through mobile
tracking system. He came to Islamabad with a wedding party comprising
the natives of Parachinar and Kurram Agency who stayed at the
village. Sources said that QZR was one of the main members of
TTP’s ‘intelligence group’ which was setting up a network in the
capital and adjoining cities. He had direct links with the ‘commanders’
of TTP and another group operating under it, Sources added.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik emphasised coordinated and concerted efforts to combat terrorism
and money laundering from the SAARC region. Rehman Malik expressed
these views while addressing the fourth SAARC Interior Ministers’
conference being held in Thimpu from July 21-23. Rehman Malik,
who was chairing the conference, suggested that there is need
for constitution of a SAARC-pol on the pattern of Interpol.
|
July 24
|
Eleven militants were killed and
six others were injured during an encounter between militants
and SFs in the Ali Sherzai area of Kurram Agency in FATA. The
SFs also destroyed several militant hideouts.
At least nine militants were killed
and eight others sustained injuries in clashes between the LI
and AI in Sandapal area in Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.
A trooper was killed as SFs foiled
an attempt by a suicide bomber to attack a military checkpost
outside the Chag Malai post seven kilometres (four miles) east
of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan Agency.
An Afghanistan national, identified
as Gul Khan, was killed by unidenfied militants on charges of
spying for the US in Qutab Khel of North Waziristan Agency. A
piece of paper found with the body said the man was killed because
he spied for the US.
Seven SF personnel were injured
when a bomb exploded on a road in Qutab Khel village.
Three soldiers were injured when
militants attacked the convoy of the SFs while it was patrolling
the Speen Qabar area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. Local
residents said a woman was injured when a mortar shell hit her
house in Speen Qabar.
A Government primary school for
girls was blown up by the militants in Gudmalang area of Bara
tehsil in Khyber Agency. Official sources said that the militants
have destroyed 58 government-run schools in Khyber Agency over
the last two years.
Four rockets fired from Afghanistan
landed in Mamond area of Bajaur Agency. Residents said that the
rockets were fired from Kunar province of Afghanistan, but did
not cause any damage.
20 people were killed and over
20 wounded when unidentified militants went on shooting spree
in several neighbourhoods of Karachi, the provincial capital of
Sindh.
Three people, namely Ikhlas, Kala
Khan and Khalid, were shot dead in Gulberg area. Separately, in
Lyari area, two MQM workers, Ali Akbar and Mohammad Hussain, were
killed while one Raees was wounded. Another MQM worker, Irfan
Ismael, was killed while one Abdul Rasheed was wounded in a firing
incident in Quaidabad area.
Three people, Zafar, Iqbal Furqan
and Iqbal, were shot dead and one Afnan was injured by unidentified
assailants near Disco Mor. Separately, a worker, Noorul Islam,
of the ASWJ was shot dead and one Nazeer wounded in an attack
inside Siddiq-e-Akbar Masjid in Sarjani area.
In Nabi Bux area, one Iqbal was
shot dead while in Ghas Mandi area one Khalid Baloch was killed.
In another firing incident in Liaquatabad area, an unidentified
man was shot dead while four others received bullet wounds.
A passerby was killed during a
clash between two rival groups in Quaid-e-Azam Colony. Two people,
Saleem Shah and Mohammad Pervez, died while over half a dozen
were injured in Malir area.
Later it was reported that an
MQM activist, Badar Afzal, who was injured in a firing incident
on July 22, succumbed to his injuries.
In Daud Goth area, residence of
a PPP leader and MNA Sher Mohammad Baloch was attacked by unidentified
militants.
Four dead bodies were recovered
from different parts of the city.
Law enforcers claimed to have
arrested over half a dozen suspects during search operations in
Baldia Town.
Two suspected militants were killed
in a clash with SFs near Sanjavi area of Loralai District. SFs
arrested a third militant who was injured in the shootout and
seized arms and ammunition. The clash ensued when the militants
who were coming from Zhob District fired on the SF personnel.
A minor girl, identified as Bakht
Bibi, was killed and one Tareen Ahmed was injured in a landmine
explosion in Killi King area of Kohlu District.
An explosive device planted in
the house of Haji Ajmal Khan Bugti, a former MPA at Dera Allah
Yar in Jaffarabad District destroyed the building completely.
A low intensity explosive device
went off during a fashion show at a hotel in Faisalabad District.
Members of IJT, the student wing of the JeI, are suspected to
have been involved in the attack. The organisers of the show said
they had received threats from hardliners and had informed Police
about the matter. It was reported that before the show, some activists
of IJT and JeI organised a protest at Chenab Club Chowk and demanded
that the local administration stop the show.
Months before the 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 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.
|
July 25
|
At least 27 TTP militants and
four tribesmen of Peace lashkar were killed in gunfight
in Masozai area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
A 15-year-old shepherd, identified
as Muhibullah, was killed in a landmine explosion in Safi tehsil
of Mohmand Agency.
Three militants were injured in
exchange of fire with Levies Force in Prang Dara of Haleemzai
tehsil in Mohmand Agency. A child was also injured in the clash.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government school for girls and a primary school for boys in
Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Six more people, including activists
of the SPYO and MQM, were killed in the ongoing violence in Karachi.
An MQM activist, identified as
Fayyaz Hussain, was shot dead in Ramaswami area. Tension simmered
in surrounding areas of Old City after the killing of MQM worker.
An SPYO activist, identified as
Liaquat, was shot dead at his pharmacy in Korangi area.
One Mohammad Nawaz, hailing from
Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was shot dead in
the limits of the Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan Police Station.
A man identified as Akram, was
killed while three others were wounded when unidentified assailants
opened fire on them in Landhi area.
A sack packed unidentified dead
body was recovered from Usmanabad area. In addition, gunny bag
body was recovered from Malir’s Jummah Goth area.
Law enforcers rounded up over
150 people and recovered weapons from them.
Provincial President of JeI Ibrahim
blamed MQM and ANP for bloodshed in Karachi, saying both the parties
are fighting for personal interests.
Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan
chaired a meeting of the leaders of the PPP, MQM and ANP. A statement
said that the leaders of all three parties agreed to undertake
concerted efforts for the maintenance of peace in the metropolis
and stressed that action be initiated without any distinction
between the elements involved in acts of violence and lawlessness.
The US military chief warned that
US-Pakistan military-to-military ties were at a ‘very difficult’
crossroads, allowing that a path to progress on that front was
not yet clear. President Barack Obama’s administration recently
suspended about a third of its $2.7 billion annual defence aid
to Pakistan in the wake of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden
near the country’s main military academy.
Director General Military Operations
Major General Ashfaq Nadeem said to the Abbottabad Commission
that the US had not informed Pakistan security organisations about
the May 1 operation in which al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was
killed. He, however, said that Pakistan and the US had a close
liaison and coordination in the war on terror.
A new legislation will be enacted
for the trial of terrorists presently being detained by the Armed
Forces in tribal areas. Under the regulation, punishments as severe
as hanging to death, life imprisonment, 10 year imprisonment could
be awarded depending on the nature of the crime while special
detention facilities will be established for the terrorists. The
law titled ‘Action In Aid of Civil Power Regulation 2011’ was
being introduced for taking action against the terrorists being
detained in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and other
tribal areas.
The law will come into force in
retrospect from February 2008 which will be applicable in tribal
areas being administered by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A board comprising
of two civilians and military officials will deal with cases relating
to human rights violation. Anyone spreading hate material in FATA
will also be considered a criminal who could be handed over to
any Intelligence Agency.
A year-long military-led investigation
has concluded that 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, The
Washington Post reported. Citing an unreleased investigation,
The Washington Post said the findings provide seemingly
definitive evidence that corruption puts US transportation money
into Taliban hands.
Interim steps have been taken
to improve oversight and accountability of companies and individuals
involved in the shipment of more than 70 per cent of all US military
food, fuel, weapons and construction material within Afghanistan,
said an official.
Islamabad’s Intelligence Agencies
had warned that the HuT was planning an Egypt style uprising in
Pakistan by seeking support from ‘like-minded’ elements within
the Armed Forces. In a correspondence among the Punjab Police,
the Directorate of ISI, and the Government in April 2011, made
available to The Express Tribune, there was a clear warning
of the outfit attempting a ‘deep infiltration’ of the military
and academia.
According to the document, HuT
was working on a plan to seek an uprising in Pakistan similar
to ones in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year. “They wanted an
Arab spring in Pakistan,” said an official familiar with the letter.
HuT had regularly been distributing pamphlets and leaflets in
middle and upper-middle class residential areas of large cities.
Muhammad Ikhtiyar, the Commissioner
of Loralai District of Balochistan province said that the two
Swiss nationals, David Olivier and Widmar Daniela, who were abducted
on July 1, 2011 from Killi Nigah area of the District, were still
alive.
The JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
on July 25 vowed to enter India through Jammu and Kashmir. Saeed,
the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks (also known as 26/11),
said: "From the door of Kashmir we will launch Gazwah-e-Hind
(battle for Hindustan)".
Saeed also criticised the US CIA,
claiming it had set up offices across Pakistan. "The CIA
had established offices in every city of Pakistan from where they
send reports to the US," he said. On July 22 Saeed visited
Bahawalpur District and Multan District of Punjab province to
address public meetings and meet JuD activists.
|
July 26
|
At least 12 more people were killed
and several others were injured in different areas of Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh.
In Orangi Town in Kali Pahari,
unidentified militants opened fire on Noman, a member of MQM,
injuring him critically. He later succumbed to his injuries. After
the incident, armed assailants resorted to heavy aerial firing
on Kali Pahari, Gulfamabad, Aligarh Colony, Bukhari Colony, Muslimabad
and other surrounding areas. During exchange of firing, a fruit
vendor, Darwaish, was shot dead.
An activist of Sunni Tehreek (ST),
identified as Ahmed Raza, was shot dead in New Karachi.
Two men were shot dead in Gulistan
Jauhar near Rabia City in the precincts of Sharah Faisal Police
Station.
Unidentified assailants opened
fire on Bilal Hussain and Ghulam Mujtaba, injuring them. The duo
died later.
A security guard of a steel factory
was shot dead. Also, one Azizur Rehman was shot dead. A militant,
identified as Shiraz, was shot dead in Godhra Sector of New Karachi
Industrial Area Police Station limits. In another incident, a
man was shot dead while one Ashraf, a member of PPP, was injured
in the remits of Eidgah Police Station.
Police found a dead body of one
Malik Yaqoob in a gunny bag from Faqeer Colony in Orangi Town
near Rehmania Mosque in the jurisdiction of Mominabad Police Station.
A trooper was killed and two others
were injured when a remote controlled bomb planted by suspected
militants along Wana-Angor Adda Road in Sholan area of South Waziristan
Agency in FATA went off. The security personnel were clearing
the road from mines for movement of convoys.
Eight mortar and rocket shells,
fired from Afghanistan side, landed in Angor Adda area. One of
the shells hit a bunker of Security Forces and injured a soldier
identified as Atif.
A public call office, owned by
Habib Karekhel, was blown up in Angor Adda at midnight. However,
no casualty was reported.
The Army has successfully completed
Operation Tri Star launched at Janata Valley in South Waziristan
Agency on July 13 with the objective of flushing out terrorists
from the area. According to an ISPR press release, the operation
has been successfully completed and Security Forces have gained
full control of Janata Valley, inflicting heavy casualties on
terrorists and capturing a large cache of arms and ammunition.
Republicans in the House of Representatives
on July 26 presented a foreign aid bill that restricts US taxpayer
dollars to Pakistan if it should refuse to cooperate in the US
effort against terrorist threats. The legislation released would
ban giving federal money to international groups that perform
abortions or provide abortion information, an effort to reverse
Obama administration policy. The overall bill totals USD 47.2
billion and is USD 3.6 billion less than President Barack Obama
requested.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron
Munter said his country has been providing help and assistance
to Pakistan to make it strong with improved provision of basic
needs of life to the people living in different parts of the country.
Munter said, “It is our effort to improve education system in
Pakistan, especially in under developed areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa...”
“More than 700 schools in FATA and Malakand District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa have been repaired and equipped with books, furniture
and other basic needs with training to the teachers.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron
Munter said his country has been providing help and assistance
to Pakistan to make it strong with improved provision of basic
needs of life to the people living in different parts of the country.
Munter said, “It is our effort to improve education system in
Pakistan, especially in under developed areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa...”
“More than 700 schools in FATA and Malakand District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa have been repaired and equipped with books, furniture
and other basic needs with training to the teachers. The project
started three years ago and continued despite many hardships,
especially the security issue in the areas where military started
its operation against the extremists,” he added.
|
July 27
|
The ongoing killing spree claimed
at least 11 more lives in different parts of Karachi. Two activists,
Ahmad Baloch and Tariq Baloch, belonging to the Peoples Aman Committee
(PAC) were shot dead in Press Quarter Gate near Makrani Mosque.
Two unidentified men were killed
in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
Two unidentified dead bodies were
found in gunny bags near Medina Mosque, Nazimabad.
An advocate of Sindh High Court,
identified as Junaid, was shot dead outside his house in FB Area.
A man, identified as Khameeso,
was shot dead near SPARCO road near MET department in the remits
of Mobina Town Police Station.
A teenage boy was shot dead near
Bagh-e-Hilal in the jurisdiction of Garden Police Station.
A man was shot dead near Rukhsana
Clinic Shah Faisal No 2 by unidentified militants.
Police found a dead body of a
man from Nullah near Habib Bank Chowrangi in the precincts of
Site A Police Station.
Police detained a dozen people
from Shah Faisal Colony. IG Sindh Wajid Ali Durrani said at least
90 suspects are arrested in connection with target killings in
Karachi.
Two volunteers of a tribal lashkar
and a trooper were killed as the ongoing military operation Brekhna
in Mohmand Agency of FATA entered its third phase. SFs launched
operation in Manzari Chena, Athamkhel and Zorh Kallay areas of
Baizai tehsil along the Afghan border to start third phase
of the ongoing military operation Brekhna.
A bomb explosion destroyed a NATO
supply oil tanker on Landikotal bypass in Khyber Agency. A powerful
explosive device attached to the tanker totally destroyed vehicle.
However, no casualty has been reported.
At least 100,000 persons have
fled their homes in Kurram Agency due to the ongoing Army operation
Koh-e-Sufaid. “We have so far registered at least 9,944 families
– up to 100,000 people,” said Sahibzada Anis, the District coordination
officer for Peshawar.
At least five people were wounded
when unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade near Shaheed
Benazir Bhutto Park on Manghopir Road within the precincts of
Pak Colony Police Station in Karachi, the provincial capital of
Sindh. The victims were identified as Lal Mohammad, Nazar Mohammad,
Ramiz, Naseer, and Imran.
A federal judge in Miami denied
bail to a young Muslim cleric, Izhar Khan (24), arrested in May
on charges of financing and supporting the TTP. The judge cited
flight risk and a potential threat to community safety in rejecting
bail for Izhar Khan, who has been charged along with his father
and brother with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
The provincial Government sought
more time from the Balochistan High Court to contact the centre
for former President General Pervez Musharraf’s extradition and
others accused of being involved in the August 26, 2006 murder
of former Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Arrest warrants were issued against
former DCO Dera Bugti, Samad Lasi in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder
case.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton opposed aid restrictions on Pakistan and said that she
will urge President Barack Obama to veto a bill which seeks to
restrict US assistance to countries like Pakistan. In a letter
to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she described the bill
the panel passed last week as ‘restrictive’ and said she would
urge President Barack Obama to veto it if it reached his desk.
Pakistan is likely to deport the
main suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings to Indonesia, an unnamed
anti-terrorism official said. Umar Patek (41) had been on the
run nearly a decade when he was arrested in January in Abbottabad.
Patek is the ‘deputy commander’ of al Qaeda’s Southeast Asian
affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah. Indonesia’s anti-terrorism agency
head Ansyaad Mbai said, on July 25, negotiations are under way
with Pakistan to deport Umar Patek to his home country.
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.
|
July 28
|
Nine militants were killed and
six volunteers of a tribal lashkar were injured in a clash in
Masozai area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
A trailer carrying a US army vehicle
was set on fire by unidentified militants in a parking lot at
the Torkham border in Landikotal town of Khyber Agency.
Tension prevailed in different
areas of Karachi as four more people were killed and 12 others
injured in separate incidents of violence, while a private TV
channel van was set on fire in Kati Pahari area.
A rickshaw driver, identified
as Mohammad Arif Khan, was shot dead near Mehfooz Biryani House.
Following the killing of the rickshaw driver, tension engulfed
several areas of Orangi Town, Qasba Colony, Bukhari Colony, Kati
Pahari and surrounding localities, where armed assailants opened
aerial fire.
A young man, Asad, was shot dead
at a hotel in industrial area within the remits of Gabol Town
Police Station.
One person was killed and three
others were injured near Shafiq Morr. Unidentified armed militants
opened fire on a bus near Shafiq Morr, injuring four people. The
injured were identified as Abdul Sattar, Asif Anwar, Umair Saeed
and Saleem Mukhtiar. Later, Sattar succumbed to his injuries.
Police found an unidentified dead
body of a Baloch man near Gutter Baghicha in the precincts of
Pak Colony Police Station.
In Qasba Colony near Metro Cinema,
around six armed militants attacked a bus, injuring five passengers,
including Mustafa, Mohammad Nasir, Farhan and Shabbir.
An activist of ANP was injured
in firing by unidentified assailants near Al-Asif Square.
Two Policemen Sub-Inspector Zaheer
Ahmed and constable Dilawar Khan received bullet injuries when
unidentified armed militants attacked them.
A member of a political party
identified as Rao Musharraf, received bullet injuries in Kati
Pahari area.
A team of a TV channel and a Police
party was attacked by unidentified armed assailants in Kati Pahari
area. However, the Police party and the TV channel team managed
to flee, while militants set the van on fire.
A prayer leader of Jamia Albadar
mosque, identified as Abdul Karim Mengal, was shot dead by unidentified
militants in Pishin area of Quetta.
Unidentified militants blew up
a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline in Goth Noor Khan area of Dera
Allah Yar city of Jaffarabad District.
An oil tanker carrying fuel for
NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan was on its way from Karachi
in Sindh to Kandahar in Afghanistan when unknown armed militants
opened fire on it near Takri Post area of Mach District.
One doctor Abdul Qayyum, a member
of HuT was abducted by the personnel of an Intelligence Agency
on the Club Road in Rahim Yar Khan District. Later, the Police
refused to register the case. A senior Police officer said since
“agencies” had taken Qayyum away, they could not register a case.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman
Malik reiterated that "nine non-state actors" facing
trial in a Rawalpindi court for their involvement in the Mumbai
terror attack case (November 26, 2008, also known as 26/11), would
be convicted.
|
July 29
|
LeJ militants killed at least
seven people, including four Shias, waiting to travel to Mashhad
in Iran, at Taftan bus terminal on Saryab Road. Claiming responsibility
for the attack LeJ said it was done to avenge July 28 death of
cleric Karim Mengal in Quetta. Reports state that it was a sectarian
attack.
Two people, including one of the
nephews of Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, were
killed while 39 others, among them eight officials of the Anti-Terrorism
Force (ATF) and four Policemen, were wounded in a hand grenade
attack in a football stadium in Mastung District.
A Quetta-bound passenger train,
Bolan Mail, was on its way to Quetta from Karachi in Sindh when
it came under attack near Marri Farm Tentaged village area in
Dera Allah Yar town of Jaffarabad District. The bomb explosion
derailed the locomotive and four carriages. However, no one was
hurt in the attack. BRA claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Such attacks will continue in future,” the spokesperson of BRA
said over the telephone.
Eleven people fell prey to separate
acts of violence in Karachi. Two advocates, identified as Mohammad
Saleem and Faheem Riaz, were shot dead near FTC Bridge on Sharah-e-Faisal
within the limits of Brigade Police Station.
Three people were shot dead when
unidentified armed militants attacked two teashops located near
Sindhi hotel within the precincts of New Karachi Industrial Area
Police Station. The victims were identified as Saeed, Ikhlaq,
and Subhan.
A Sunni Tehreek (ST) activist,
identified as Zahid Qadri, was shot dead at Rozi Goth within the
remit of Surjani Police Station.
A local businessman, Anwar, was
shot dead while his female housemaid, Fatima, injured when armed
assailants attacked a car near Nagan Chowrangi within Sir Syed
Police limits.
In Frere Police limits, Faheem-ul-Haq
alias Moon, was shot dead near Punjab Colony.
One Imran was found dead from
Khajji ground within Rizvia Police remit.
Two unidentified torture-marked,
bullet-riddled dead bodies of young men were found from Kalakot
and Orangi Town.
LEA detained and released nearly
70 suspects in an overnight search operation in various parts
of Karachi.
Islamabad Police arrested four
militants suspected of plotting terrorist activities in Islamabad.
Police confiscated suicide vests, hand grenades and pistols from
their possession.
The UN Security Council put the
TTP on its international anti-terrorism sanctions list in a move
highlighting the growing threat from the outfit. The adding of
the TTP to the sanctions list also comes as the Security Council
eases pressure on the Afghan Taliban in a bid to encourage it
to join peace moves in Afghanistan.
The TTP said they were holding
Swiss couple, Olivier David Och (31), and Daniela Widmar (28)
abducted on July 1 while on holiday in the province of Balochistan.
TTP ‘deputy chief’ Waliur Rehman did not provide proof that the
outfit had the pair but said they were in good health and demanded
they be exchanged for Pakistani scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, jailed
in the US.
Former US Director of National
Intelligence Dennis Blair said that the US should stop its drone
campaign in Pakistan, and reconsider the USD 80 billion a year
it spends to fight terrorism. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum,
Blair said the CIA’s unmanned aircraft operation aimed at al Qaeda
is backfiring by damaging the US-Pakistan relationship.
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, HRW said in a report
released. Several of those “disappeared” were among the dozens
of people extra-judicially executed in recent months in the resource-rich
and violence-wracked province.
|
July 30
|
At least 16 persons more were
killed in the ongoing violence and target killings in the provincial
capital of Sindh, Karachi. Latest fatalities include activists
of MQM, Sunni Tehreek (ST), and a Policeman.
Unidentified militants opened
fire on people at a bus stop on Spiny road in Quetta killing 11
people and injuring several others.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found from Liari area of Uthal city of Lasbela District. The identities
of the bodies were established through pieces of paper recovered
from each body, identifying them as Sahrbat, son of Ahmed Khan
Marri and Zaman, son of Bangal Marri, both residents of Vindar,
a town in Lasbela. Sources at the hospital confirmed that the
victims had been tortured and then shot to death.
Pakistan asked the United States
to stop the CIA-run unmanned air strikes into its tribal areas,
diplomatic sources reported. According to diplomatic sources,
ISI chief Lieutenant-General Shuja Pasha told acting CIA Director
Michael J. Morell that the raids had become a major source of
embarrassment for the Pakistani Government as it was blamed for
failing to stop a foreign power from killing its own citizens.
Before this, Pakistan had publicly protested the strikes but had
never officially asked the United States to discontinue them,
although Pakistani leaders often complained that drones were killing
too many innocent civilians. The Pakistanis say that since June
18, 2004, when the CIA began the drone strikes, the unmanned aircraft
had killed more than 2,500 people, mostly civilians. The CIA has
conducted almost 250 strikes since 2004. The strikes have jumped
from fewer than 50 in the Bush administration, to more than 200
strikes since President Barack Obama took office.
The White House described the
US relationship with Pakistan as “essential” to fighting terrorism,
noting that Washington works hard on the ties, which are ‘complicated
and difficult’ at time. “Without addressing specific methods,
I would simply say that we believe our relationship with Pakistan
is essential to fighting terrorism and terrorists, fighting al
Qaeda,” US President Barrack Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney said
when asked about the call by former US intelligence chief Admiral
(retd) Dennis Blair for an immediate halt to drone attacks against
terrorists on the Pakistani soil. “We also make no apologies for
the need to go after terrorists, members of al Qaeda, wherever
they are. And that is certainly true about the mission to eliminate
Osama bin Laden,” Carney replied.
|
July 31
|
At least 15 more persons, five
in Sarjani Town alone, were killed in Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh in an ongoing spate of target killing. There
was an intense exchange of fire between two ethnic groups, reportedly
supported by their patron political parties.
Five people were killed in a clash
between Pashtun and Saraiki people in Sarjani town.
Armed assailants abducted and
killed a man, Bacha Khan, and his nephew, Sajjad Khan. Later,
armed assailants shot dead another Pakhtun, identified as Tahir
Khan. All three belonged to ANP.
One person identified as Zurmai
Jan was killed in Orangi Town and dead bodies of two young men
were found from Orangi’s Pakistan Bazaar Police remits.
Tension gripped parts of Sarjani,
including Khuda Ki Basti and Taiser Town, as armed outfits resorted
to intense firing and suspended routine and commercial activities.
During the clash, two more people, who are yet to be identified,
were shot dead, while at least dozen of persons, including Faizan,
Allah Noor, Jamil, Abdul Jabbar, Buxullah and Naqeeb were wounded.
Two dead bodies of young men were
found from Urdu Bazaar in Aram Bagh Police remits and Sher Shah
Police remits.
One Munnawar Baloch, who was injured
in an incident of firing on July 24 in Sher Shah area succumbed
to his injuries.
Four persons, including Sagheer,
Khairullah, Shah Wali, Naseebullah and Owais were injured during
intense firing in Bukhari Colony, while over 14 others were injured
when armed miscreants beat passengers traveling in a bus with
sticks in Pirabad area after getting them off the bus.
CID and Anti Extremist Cell (AEC)
claimed to have arrested four militants of TTP, one of LeJ and
two Lyari gangsters during separate raids in the city. Four TTP
militants Abdul Rehman, Nazrab Khan, Azhar Mahmood and Ahmed Khan
were arrested from Sohrab Goth along with one Kalashnikov, one
repeater, two hand grenades and three TT pistols during a raid
on a tip-off in Sohrab Goth.
In another raid, an alleged member
of LeJ, Wasim Channa, was arrested from Jamshed Quarters and one
Kalashnikov was recovered from his possession.
At least 12 militants were killed
in the ongoing Army operation Brekhna (lightning) in Mohammad
Agency of FATA. The Army has taken over the control of more than
90 per cent of areas bordering Afghanistan in Mohmand Agency as
the Army’s operation entered a decisive phase, APA of Upper Mohmand
Maqsood Khan said on July 31.
A man, identified as Naeem, was
killed and nine others were injured in a hand grenade attack in
a hotel on main RCD Highway in Hub area of Quetta. “Unidentified
assailants came on a motorcycle and lobbed a hand grenade on the
people who were taking their lunch at a roadside restaurant,”
a senior Police official Muhammad Amin Khosa said. BLA claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified militants shot dead
a pro-Government tribal elder, Malik Arsala Khan, in the main
bazaar in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police sources
said that militants killed Malik Arsala Khan as he was trying
to lure back tribesmen who had fled the area because of fighting
between militants and the Army.
Four people received burnt injuries
as some unidentified militants set NATO tankers on fire while
they were on their way from Karachi in Sindh to Peshawar in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa at National Highway near Kurram Abad area of Khairpur
District.
Police arrested three terrorists
in two different operations and recovered two suicide jackets
along with several detonators in Lahore District. According to
Intelligence sources, Police arrested two terrorists, Muhammad
Aqeel and Khuda Bakhsh, from Kot-Abdul Maalik. The alleged terrorists
belonged to the Ilyas Kashmiri outfit, HuJI and were planning
to target important personalities during the month of Ramazan.
The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said that Haqqani network’s safe
havens in Pakistan still posed a risk to the decade-old war effort.
“The overall goal has been to make it much more difficult for
the Haqqani network to penetrate directly in what has previously
been called sort of this ‘jet stream’ between Pakistan, right
through Khost (province) into Kabul,” Mullen told a news conference
in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. “And it is more difficult
(now).”
China said that Islamic extremists
were behind an attack on the eve of Ramazan (Islamic fasting month)
in Kashgar city of Xinjiang on August 4, 2008 that left 16 persons
dead. The attack in Kashgar city was the latest violence to shake
the region where Muslim Uighurs have long resented the presence
of Han Chinese and religious and political controls imposed by
Beijing. An initial Police investigation found that the leaders
of the group behind the attack had learned about explosives and
firearms in Pakistan at a camp of the separatist “East Turkestan
Islamic Movement,” a Kashgar Government statement said.
|
August 1
|
Forty people, including activists
of the MQM and the PPP, were killed and several others were injured
in various parts of Karachi. At least 16 people, including a PPP
workers and a Policeman, were killed in separate incidents.
Three people, Habibur Rehman,
Imran Hussain, and Naeem Niaz, were shot dead in parts of Sarjani
Town, Yousuf Goth, Taiser Town and Khuda Ki Basti while seven
people, including two Policemen, were injured during an armed
clash between two groups.
Two dead bodies were recovered
from areas of Pak Colony and Old Golimar. One of the victims was
identified as Ashfaq Ahmed, an activist of MQM worker.
Two unidentified dead bodies stuffed
in gunny bags were found from a park situated in Nazimabad.
Two men were shot dead in Sheesha
Market within the precincts of Eid Gah Police Station. The victims
were identified as Abdul Qadir and Bilal.
One Zar Lal, and his young son
Niaz Khan were shot dead in Sharah-e-Noor Jahan in North Nazimabad.
A PPP< worker Munawar Hussain
was killed in Mobina Town. One Hayatullah was killed and Shahid
was injured in an armed attack in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. A Policeman
posted to special branch of the Bomb Disposal Squad, Tariq Dad,
was killed in Landhi’s Sharafi Goth area. Also, an estate agent,
Shah Kareem, was killed while Rab Nawaz and his son Shahnawaz
were wounded in an attack at a loading truck in New Karachi.
Three people, one Abdul Hakeem,
Asif Muhammad and an unidentified man were killed in SITE< and
Aziz Bhatti area.
One Farhan was shot dead in Safora
Chowrangi in the precincts of Sacchal Police Station while a man
named Rahim Dad was shot dead within the limits of Maripur Police
Station. Another man, identified as Afsar, was shot dead in Korangi
in the limits of Awami Colony Police Station.
Two people, including an MQM worker
Kamran Hanif, were abducted and killed in separate incidents in
Orangi Town. Later, a firing victim, Saiful Islam, succumbed to
his injuries.
90 vehicles — trucks, passenger
coaches and 80 motorbike were torched in different strife-hit
localities.
The 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.
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.
Four militants were killed when
a US drone fired two missiles on a vehicle in Azam Warsak, 15
kilometres west of Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan
Agency, in FATA.
Unidentified assailants killed
three persons in Munda area near the Afghan border in Kurram Agency.
Sources said that unidentified assailants attacked a tractor trolley
of Turi tribesmen in Munda area and killed three woodcutters.
There has been no truce or ceasefire
between the Zakha Khel tribe and LI. The tribal elders Haji Meedak,
Ghulam Shah, Ziarat Syed and Fateh Muhammad said in a statement
that the Zakha Khel tribe had not inked any truce or ceasefire
with the LI in their region and vowed to purge the Zakha Khel
region of all terrorists to establish peace.
At least two persons were killed
while another was injured in a bomb blast that took place in Sariab
area Quetta.
A driver of a NATO oil tanker,
identified as Sher Gul, was killed by unidentified militants in
Dasht area of Mastung District while the tanker was on its way
from Karachi in Sindh to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Chief of the Army Staff General
Ashfaq Pervez Kayani advised the Baloch militants to hold talks
with the political leaders, preferably with the Provincial Government,
for settling the political and other issues. Kayani categorically
denied the involvement of Pakistan Army and its Intelligence Agencies
in killing and dumping of mutilated bodies, which are being recovered
from different parts of Balochistan.
A prayer leader was shot dead
and two others were injured in separate incidents in Dera Ismail
Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Maulvi Mohammad Ismail was offering
Maghrib prayer in the limits of Band Korai Police Station when
unidentified assailants opened fire on him.
A woman was killed and her son
received injuries when a rocket, fired by militants, hit a house
in Atariwal village of Darra Adamkhel. Officials said that militants
fired six rockets from Aka Khel area of Khyber Agency (FATA) at
Zarghun Khel village.
Unidentified assailants shot at
two persons, Haroon Qasuria and Mujib Gandapur.
SFs and members of a peace committee
destroyed the houses of two alleged militants in Pirwal Khel area
of Darra Adamkhel. The SFs and peace committee said that the two
militants belonging to Tariq Afridi faction of TTP were involved
in attacking passengers and convoys. Both the alleged militants,
Subhanullah and Qari Zakir, were wanted by Government in various
cases of terrorism.
Militants from Afghanistan side
once again attacked positions of local lashkar in border
areas of Upper Dir District. However, residents of Saro Kallay
said that the attack was repulsed successfully. According to the
residents of Nusrat Darra and Shahteez, militants have entrenched
in a forest along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and are looking
for opportunity to launch attacks against the people of these
villages.
SFs recovered 22 rounds of rocket,
three Kalashnikovs and two other rifles from a house in Acaar
and Jabar area during a search operation.
|
August 2
|
The LEAs have been given a go-ahead
to launch a search operation in 100 localities of Karachi as 13
more people fell prey to target killings, including two activists
of the PPP. The death toll rose to 68 in the last three days of
violence.
Two PPP< activists, identified
as Waqar and Naeem, were shot dead and Adnan, Waqas and Faisal
were injured when armed militants attacked their car in Gulshan-e-Iqbal
in Aziz Bhatti Police limits.
Police found two dead bodies stuffed
in gunny bags from Northern Bypass near Sui Southern Gas Office
and another two dead bodies from Islam Nagar. In another incident,
Police found an unidentified dead body from the trunk of a car
in Old Golimar within the limits of Rizvia Police Station.
Five more bodies were found from
different parts of the city including two from Sarjani Town, two
from Orangi Town and one from Rizvia.
Another man, identified as Farhan
Baloch, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting near Safoora Chowrangi
in Sacchal Police remits.
A meeting held under Sindh Chief
Minister Qaim Ali Shah decided to deal with terrorists and anti-social
elements with iron hand and Rangers and Police will promptly and
indiscriminately act against these elements.
A US< drone strike targeting a
vehicle near Qutab Khel village, five kilometres east of Miranshah,
the main town in North Waziristan Agency of FATA killed four militants.
Two soldiers were killed and another
sustains injury when a group of TTP militants attack a roadside
military post near Ladha town in South Waziristan Agency.
Two soldiers were killed in a
roadside IED blast in Tengar area of Laddha. Officials said that
soldiers were patrolling Tengar area when an IED hit their vehicle.
Three persons were injured when
unidentified militants fired at NATO containers near Government
Degree College on Landi Kotal-Torkham Bypass in Landi Kotal town
of Khyber Agency.
LEAs arrested about 50 suspects
during a search operation in Killi Kamalo and Killi Qambrani areas
of Saryab in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
US special regional envoy Marc
Grossman called for Pakistan to support reconciliation efforts
in Afghanistan as foreign forces were prepared to withdraw after
10 years of war. Addressing a joint press conference with Foreign
Secretary Salman Bashir and Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan
Jawed Ludin following the fourth meeting of the Trilateral Core
Group, the US envoy Marc Grossman said ups and downs in bilateral
relations were a normal matter in diplomacy and added that Pakistan
and the United States had shared interests to act jointly.
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
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.
"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."
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik informed the National Assembly that the SFs arrested 3,143
alleged terrorists in the country and recovered 4,240 weapons
from them during the last three years. 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 FATA and five
in 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.
|
August 3
|
At least six more people were
killed, including activists of MQM, in separate incidents of violence
and target killings in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
The killings occurred while the Rangers detained nearly 50 suspects
during a search operation in Orangi Town.
A dead body of MQM worker, Abid
Baig, was found from Ghazinagar Usmanabad in Garden Police precincts.
MQM and ANP expressed their desire
for the deployment of Army personnel in Karachi to restore peace.
In a telephonic address, MQM Chief Altaf Hussain asserted that
Army should be deployed in Karachi and a stern action should be
taken against those destroying peace in Sindh and Karachi. Hussain
made an appeal to the top leadership of PPP to stop supporting
the Lyari gang and other criminal and land mafia.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that no operation would be conducted in Karachi, but Rangers
would take only targeted action on intelligence information. “Peace
in Karachi is a must not only for innocent citizens but also for
national economy,” Malik said. “Action will focus on those involved
in targeted killings and terrorists. This fight will continue
till normalcy is restored in the cosmopolitan city,” he stated.
Six militants were killed and
12 others were injured in SFs action during the ongoing Koh-i-Sufaid
operation in different areas of central Kurram Agency in FATA.
According to sources, SFs using gunship helicopters destroyed
four militant hideouts and one of their vehicles.
One person, identified as Lal
Faqir, was killed and two others received injuries when militants
fired 25 mortar shells from the border of Orakzai Agency in FATA
landed in Darra Adamkhel town of Kohat District.
Three bombs exploded one after
the other as the suspected militants targeted the main 500 KV
transmission line from Tarbela Dam to Sheikh Mohammadi grid station
in Peshawar, at Khudrai Wand of Kalabat region in the jurisdiction
of Topi Police Station in Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
in the night.
A NATO oil tanker was set on fire
by unidentified assailants in Tera Mill of Dasht in Mastung District
while it was on its way from Karachi in Sindh to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Three officers of the Pakistan
Navy will be brought before a military court on for their alleged
negligence during the May 22 PNS Mehran attack in Karachi. Former
PNS Mehran base commander Commodore Raja Tahir and two of his
subordinates – one captain and one commander – are to face trial
before a court martial.
Authorities in Pakistan's Punjab
province barred 23 banned organizations, including the LeT and
JeM, from collecting donations for their activities. The Punjab
Government warned that those found providing donations or aid
to the banned organizations will be charged under the Anti-Terrorism
Act. However, the Government did not include the Falah-e-Insaniyat,
a front for the JuD, in the list of groups barred from collecting
donations.
The organizations included in
the list are LeT, JeM, LeJ, SMP, SSP, TJP, Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan
(MIP), Khuddam-ul-Isla , Islami Tehreek-e-Pakistan (ITP), Hizbut
Tahrir (HT) and Jama’at-ul-Ansar (JA). The move coincided with
the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan, when extremist
and militant outfits launch special drives to collect funds.
|
August 4
|
Five militants and a passer-by
were killed when the cadres of LI and AI clashed in a bazaar
in Mehraban Kali area of Kukikhel in Khyber Agency of FATA. The
sources said that five militants from both sides and a passer-by
were killed on the spot as result of cross firing.
One man, identified as Zaheeruddin,
was killed by a bullet fired from unknown location in Airport
area in Quetta.
Law Enforcement personnel arrested
a suspected person, identified as Ghulam Rasool, from Killi Baro
of Sariab area and recovered a Kalashnikov from his possession.
A Policeman, identified as Younus
Rafiq, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Misri
Khan Village in Old Golimar area within the precincts of Pak Colony
Police Station in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that anti-terrorist wing of the FIA has been shifted to Karachi
to conduct proper interrogation of arrested suspects and maintain
a complete record with the support of evidences.
Professor Naeem Khalid, chairman
of Department of Physics at ICU of Peshawar, has sought Police
protection after receiving threats TTP militants.
Two suspects were arrested from
a brick kiln in Tatral village of Chakwal District after a shootout
with the Police.
Islamabad High Court directed
the MI Director General Major-General Naushad Ahmed Kayani to
appear before the court on August 10 along with four missing HuT
activists. According to petitions, Imran Yusufzai and Hayyan Dawar
Khan were abducted on July 11, Osama Hanif on July 21, Dr Abdul
Qayyum on July 27 and Abdul Wajid on July 30.
Deputy Attorney General Tariq
Mehmood Jahangiri told the court that the MI had denied abducting
the HuT activists while ISI requested more time for submitting
reply. However, Umer Hayat Sindhu, counsel for the petitioners,
alleged that the missing activists have been detained by the MI
in General Headquarters.
The Pakistan Navy is keeping its
main battleships away from Karachi, and has moved them to another
port in Ormara of Balochistan, as security threats continue, sources
in the navy said. The Navy sent its warships away from its main
base in Karachi as a “precautionary measure” after a 16-hour siege
of its main naval airbase, PNS Mehran on May 22.
Three officers of the Pakistan
Navy are being brought before a military court for their alleged
negligence during the attack on a naval airbase in Karachi. Former
PNS Mehran base commander Commodore Raja Tahir and two of his
subordinates – one captain and one commander – are to face trial
before a court martial.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that a plot to target Ministers and key figures with
perfume bombs has been foiled. “Terrorists had devised a perfume
bottle like bombs as gifts to target ministers and key political
figures in the month of Ramazan,” said Rehman Malik in his report.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab
Muhammad Aslam Raisani denied the media reports about the existence
of Quetta Shura or presence of Mullah Omar or Ayman Al Zawahiri
in Balochistan. Talking to the US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron
Munter at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Quetta, he said
that Pakistan’s role was inevitable in maintenance of peace and
stability in the region.
According to a report by global
analysts Maplecroft, Pakistan is the second most at risk from
terrorist attack. Somalia is most at risk from terrorist attack,
followed by Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan and the new nation
of South Sudan.
|
August 5
|
A group of militants shot dead
a member of Adezai Qaumi Lashkar, Dawar Khan, after dragging him
out of Adezai village mosque in Peshawar during Taraveeh
prayer (prayer offered during the holy month of Ramazan).
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government primary school in Aka Khel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency in the night. However, due to the timing of the
incident, no loss of life has been reported.
Border officials arrested a suspected
Indian citizen who crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan without
legal documents. Sources said the man entered Pakistan from Bab-i-Dosti
border entrance and wanted to go to Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah
District of Balochistan Province. The man belongs to Amritsar
District of the state of Punjab in India and is suspected to be
an Indian spy who had entered Pakistan for espionage.
A US federal judge denied bail
to the son of a Florida imam arrested on charges of financing
and supporting TTP. US prosecutors have charged Irfan Khan (37),
along with his father and brother, who is also an imam at another
Florida mosque, with conspiring to provide material support to
terrorists. The three Pakistani-born US citizens were arrested
in May 14 and are among six persons indicted on the charges that
they conspired to transfer about USD 50,000 and provide other
support for the TTP, which the US Government considers a terrorist
organisation. In a ruling late August 5, Judge Adalberto Jordan
denied bail for Khan, saying he represented a flight risk. The
judge had already rejected bail requests by the other two men.
Jordan said the evidence against Khan was “substantial” but not
as strong as that against his father, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali
Khan (76), who was an imam at the Miami Mosque at the time of
his arrest. All three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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.
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 MQM and the 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.
The ISPR Director General Major
General Athar Abbas said that Pakistan Army have been and would
continue operations against ETIM. China has always been appreciative
of Pakistan’s efforts in the war against terror, he said in reply
to a question by a foreign news correspondent.
|
August 6
|
Nine people, including a chief
manager of a private bank and an activist of MQM, were killed
in different parts of the Karachi. Fifty-five-year-old Muntazir
Ali Mehdi Rizvi was shot dead at City Railway Station’s parking
area near II Chundrigar Road. The victim was a trustee of Sharikatul
Hussain Imambargah situated at Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Police initially
revealed that it was a sectarian target killing.
A MQM activist, Syed Aqil Hussain
Zaidi (27), was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Hyderi
Chowk within the jurisdiction of Malir City Police Station. Police
said the victim was a MQM activist and also belonged to Shia sect.
Police found body of an unidentified
person packed in a gunny bag near KDA Chowrangi within the limits
of North Nazimabad Police Station.
Police also found body of an unidentified
man from Lyari River within the limits of Pak Colony Police Station.
Police said the victim appeared to be Balochi-speaking.
A man, Muslim Ahmed (27), was
shot dead near Bakra Piri, within Malir City Police precincts.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a man of a bus while six others were injured in a clash between
two armed groups in Orangi Town. The victim was identified as
Sabz Ali. Police officials said that the clash between two groups
began shortly after unidentified persons shot and injured two
Pashto-speaking people Yasir and Yasin in Qasba Morr. Later, Yasir
succumbed to his injuries at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
A twelve-year-old boy Adnan was
killed when unidentified assailants opened fire on a bus in Frontier
Colony.
A young man was shot dead near
Shahzad Cinema, Qasba Morr, within the precincts of Pirabad Police
Station. The identity of the victim was yet to be ascertained.
Unidentified assailants also opened
fire on a mobile van of Pirabad Police Station. However, no causality
was reported.
One person was killed when a suicide
bomber detonated the explosives at Danish Kol bazaar in Pandyali
area in Mohmand Agency of FATA. SFs stopped the suspected person
at Pandyali area when he detonated the explosives on his body
and killed a passer by. His accomplices managed to flee from the
scene.
A bomb blast destroyed at least
16 tankers, carrying fuel for NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan,
parked at a terminal on the outskirts of Peshawar.
The head of Aman lashkar
survived an attempt on his life when unidentified terrorists fired
two rockets that landed near his house at Adezai in Mattani area
of Peshawar. However, no lose of life has been reported in the
incident.
|
August 7
|
The SHO of New Saryab Police Station,
a constable and driver were shot dead in Killi Shahnawaz area
of Saryab in Quetta. According to the Police, SHO Manzoor Tareen
was returning home from Police Station for Iftari in a Police
van when unidentified assailants on a motorcycle opened fire at
him in Killi Shahnawaz. The constable was identified as Usman
and the driver as Altaf.
Two persons of Punjabi ethnicity
were shot dead in a suspected incident of ethnic killing in Bullo
Road area of Mand, a township bordering Iran, Kech District. One
of the victims was identified as Zahir Iqbal, a resident of Mandi
Bahauddin.
The bullet-riddled bodies of two
tribesmen, identified as Umar Khan and Jamal Khan, were recovered
from Shalobar area in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Three SFs personnel were injured
in a bomb attack at Satrapall area in Ladha tehsil in South Waziristan
Agency.
The personnel of FC in a crackdown
against outlaws destroyed the houses of three wanted terrorists
and arrested 23 suspects under the FCR in the Malikhel area of
Kurram Agency. According to the political administration, the
crackdown was launched on a tip-off about the presence of terrorists
in the area.
|
August 8
|
Tension engulfed several areas
of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, as violence erupted.
Two men affiliated with the MQM were shot dead in a drive-by shooting
on Abul Hassan Isphani Road in the Mobina Town Police precincts.
Two bystanders, one identified
as Salman and the other still unidentified, were killed while
nearly half a dozen others were wounded during cross-firing between
MQM and ANP in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.
The body of an unidentified man
was found from near the Lyari Lake in the Sher Shah Police precincts.
During the strike call by Jeay
Sindh Tehreek (JST) and Awami Tehreek (AT), assailants took to
the street on the night and resorted to heavy aerial fire and
threatened the shopkeepers to keep the shops shut. Incidents of
arson and violence were reported, especially in Mauripur and Gulistan-e-Jauhar
where the assailants set ablaze three passenger vehicles.
A 16-year-old Amir, received bullets
in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, when unknown armed militants opened aerial
fire to force the shopkeepers to shut their business.
Nasir was hit by multiple bullets
in Mehmoodabad area in the same violence episode, leaving the
inhabitants of Sindhi dominated areas in hysteria.
Hafiz Saeed, founder of the militant
outfit LeT, who now heads the Islamic charity JuD, told a gathering
of religious scholars in Karachi that the CIA is behind the recent
violence in Karachi that has taken hundreds of lives.
Six militants were killed and
four others injured when SFs targeted their hideouts in upper
tehsil of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Officials said that
several hideouts were destroyed in the operation. One vehicle
was also destroyed in the shelling.
10 soldiers were injured when
a remote controlled bomb was detonated as a military vehicle passed
through the Sararogha village area in South Waziristan Agency.
One soldier suffered injuries
in a landmine explosion in Meshti Mela area of Orakzai Agency.
Officials said that soldiers were heading towards Dabori area
when one of them stepped on a landmine.
An official Javed Ullah said that
SFs have killed more than 200 militants over the past month in
Kurram Agency during the operation Koh-e-Sufaid.
Four people, including to two
Bugti tribesmen, were killed in a gun battle between two groups
in the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta, the provincial capital of
Balochistan. The victims were identified as Haji Nehal Khan Bugti
and his son Sadullah Bugti, Abdul Hameed Jatoi and Abid Khan Gajani.
A passenger van was intercepted
near Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District and 15 people belonging
to the Suleman tribe were abducted by armed militants.
Police launched a search operation
in Killi Bangulzai, Killi Shanawaz and Killi Qambrani areas of
Quetta in response to the August 7 killing of the three Police
personnel including SHO Manzoor Tareen and arrested 159 suspects.
The Sayedna Khalid-bin-Waleed group (SKW) claimed responsibility
for the August 7 attack. Its spokesman, Umer Abdullah said that
Manzoor Tareen was killed for raiding houses and providing security
to NATO oil tankers. He said that anybody involved in these activities
would die like the SHO.
Police arrested an alleged terrorist
from Dera Ghazi Khan District while checking people aboard a passenger
bus. The bus was en-route to Karachi in Sindh from North Waziristan
Agency in FATA when it was stopped in Dera Ghazi Khan. The Police
found a passenger, identified as Imran, in possession of three
hand grenades. During initial inquiry, Imran revealed that he
had planned a large-scale terrorist activity in Rajanpur District.
US cautioned its citizens from
travelling to Pakistan, noting that the presence of al Qaeda,
Taliban elements, and indigenous militant sectarian groups pose
a potential threat to Americans throughout the country. Terrorists
and their sympathisers regularly attack civilians, Government,
and foreign targets, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Observing that the Pakistan Government
has heightened security measures, particularly in major cities,
the report said threat reporting indicates terrorist groups continue
to seek opportunities to attack locations where US citizens and
Westerners are known to congregate.
Security Agencies are trying to
dismantle a ‘multi-faceted’ communication network of HuT but there
has been little headway so far, a senior military official said
after some mid-ranked army officers were detained for alleged
links with the organisation. The revelation came three months
after Brigadier Ali Khan, a serving army officer, and some other
unnamed personnel were detained for their alleged links with the
HuT, an organisation that seeks to establish a caliphate in Pakistan
by overthrowing the democratic Government.
The official said that the organisation’s
presence outside Pakistan was a key factor hindering the country’s
spy agencies’ attempts to break links of HuT activists among themselves
and with other people.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that no arms licences, except issued by NADRA, would
be valid after August 31 while all the arms licences issued by
the Ministry of Interior would stand cancelled with effect from
September 1.
He said the criminals carrying
illegal arms would be tried Anti-Terrorism Act and Arms Ordinance
1969 while a special cell, headed by DIG of Police, was being
set up to deal with “extortion mafia”.
JuD ‘chief’ Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
may face detention again after British diplomats met senior Pakistani
officials to convince them to crack down on the organisation,
a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, The Express Tribune
quoting an unnamed diplomat reported. Diplomats from the British
missions in Islamabad and New Delhi had “successful rounds of
talks with Pakistani leaders in the last week of July”,
|
August 9
|
Five TTP militants were killed
and two others received injuries in a roadside explosion in Mamozai
area of Orakzai Agency. According to sources a vehicle, carrying
TTP militants from Arghunjo village to Jabba in Mamozai, a stronghold
of militants, was hit by a landmine planted by unidentified militants
in Adokhel area. The killed militants were identified as ‘commander’
Bakhtullah, ‘commander’ Mirdad Khan, Kazim Khan, Ghulam Sarwar
and Hafiz Mirwais. The injured were identified as Isa Khan and
Noor Din.
At least five people, including
activists of the MQM and PPP, were shot dead in separate acts
of target killing and violence in different parts of Karachi.
An MQM activist, Azeem, was shot
dead near Jhanda Chowk in Liaquatabad area within the jurisdiction
of the Super Market Police Station.
A PPP activist, Mehboob Baloch,
was shot dead in Rangar Muhalla in the jurisdiction of Saeedabad
Police Station.
Police found the dead body of
one Abdul Razzak at Old Haji Camp in the remits of Nippier Police
Station.
Police discovered the dead body
of one Aman Ullah in his house in Delhi Colony in the jurisdiction
of Frere Police Station. According to sources, unidentified assailants
reached his house and opened fire on him, killing him instantly.
One Abdul Waheed, a caretaker
of Taj Baba Shrine was shot dead in Shadman Town in the jurisdiction
of Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan Police Station.
Over 110 persons were detained
by the personnel of LEAs in search operation in different areas
of the city that started from late in the night of August 8 to
August 9. The search operation was conducted in Gulistan-e-Jauhar
(Rabia City and Faraz Apartment), Malir, Landhi 89, Surjani Town,
Ayub Goth, Laasi Goth and other areas.
A senior leader of the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Safdar Lala, who had recently joined the
party, was killed in Peshawar. According to reports Lala was abducted
by unidentified militants on July 28, 2011 from Jatyal area of
Attock District in Punjab province who demanded PNR 500 million
as ransom for his release.
A tribesman, identified as Bazi
Gul alias Akbar Khan Sorae, living as an IDP was shot dead by
unidentified militants in Miangan colony near Indus Highway in
Manshera District.
A decomposed body of an unidentified
man was found near Taji Kalay in the limits of Faqirabad Police
Station in Peshawar.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
Amir Khan Marri who was abducted from Lasbela District was found
in the industrial town of Hub in Quetta.
Two FC personnel were injured
in a remote-controlled blast in Turbat District. “The Frontier
Crops vehicle was going to the FC Camp when they came under attack,”
Turbat Station House Officer Imam Bakhsh said, adding that the
explosive device was planted on the roadside on the main road
near the Post Office.
An unidentified dead body was
found from Sabzi Mandi area of Islamabad in Punjab.
At least five persons including
General Secretary of PPP District South Zafar Baloch along with
his companions were injured in a hand grenade attack in Chakiwara
area of Lyari town in Karachi. A child and a man also sustained
injuries in the attack.
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. 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 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.
|
August 10
|
A US drone strike killed at least
25 suspected Haqqani Network militants near Miranshah in North
Waziristan Agency of FATA. Initial reports said five militants
were killed in the attack but officials said the toll had gone
up to 25 after more bodies were found from the rubble of the house.
Nine persons, including five militants,
were killed in clashes between local tribesmen and militants in
the Shawal area of South Waziristan Agency. Pro-government tribesmen
reportedly attacked a militant hideout in the Shawal area and
managed to kill five militants. Four tribesmen were also killed
in the encounter.
Five more people, including one
each of MQM and PPP activists were killed in ongoing wave of target
killings in Karachi.
Four Police officials were killed
and 14 others were injured when Police encountered assailants
involved in violence in Karachi. It was reported that some 1,256
suspects were arrested over the past one-month under the directives
of Inspector General of Police Sindh, Wajid Ali Durrani. According
to the statement, some 309 police encounters took place in which
565 suspects were arrested red handed. Huge cache of weapons was
also seized from their possessions. Police claimed to have seized
one LMG, 126 Kalashnikov, 111 rifles, 436 shotguns, 96 hand grenades
and eight rocket launchers from the possession of accused.
Five labourers were injured when
armed assailants hurled a hand grenade at a rice godown in Mawach
Goth area within the jurisdiction of Mauripur Police Station.
Police officials said that two armed assailants riding a motorcycle
hurled a hand grenade at the godown that injured Arshad Niazi,
Hazoor Bakhsh, Mukhtiar, Abdul Ghaffar and Shabbir.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
of construction workers were found in Dashti Bazaar area of Turbat
District. The victims were identified as Ghulam Yasin and Abdul
Razzaq.
Two Police constables, identified
as Sher Ali and Murad Ali were shot dead and another Shahid Nadeem
sustained serious bullet injuries in firing incident on Smungali
Road of the provincial capital Quetta.
A schoolteacher identified as
Abdul Karim was shot dead by unidentified armed militants in Kechi
Baig area of Saryab Road in Quetta. .
FC personnel escaped a remote
controlled bomb explosion in Thaleemi Chowk area in Turbat District.
According to the Police, a remote control device was planted on
a roadside. When FC’s vehicle passed through the area, the device
exploded. However, no casualties were reported.
Police arrested three suspects
who shot injured two persons in Zhob District. The Police recovered
two hand grenade and arms from their possession.
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, a Daily Mail report said. 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 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.
Pakistan is preparing to extradite
the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings to Indonesia,
months after his arrest from Abbottabad. “We have to eventually
hand over (Umar) Patek to the Indonesians and practically speaking,
it can happen any time. But it is up to the Indonesians to intimate
to us when they will take him back,” an unnamed security official
said.
|
August 11
|
Five persons, including three
women and two children, were killed and one minor was injured
as a result of a landmine explosion in the house of peace lashkar
Commander Shah Jee, in Zaka Khel village in Tirah Valley of Khyber
Agency in FATA.
Unidentified assailants killed
two tribesmen in Chapperi village of Kurram Agency and managed
to escape. Names of the killed tribesmen could not be ascertained.
Security Forces demolished houses
of two militants, Ayub and Kamal Khan. Both the militants are
wanted in abduction for ransom and other criminal cases.
At least seven persons, including
a child, were killed while 17 others sustained injuries in a suicide
attack near Police van in Lahori Gate area under Gulbahar Police
Station in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A would-be suicide bomber and
two of his handlers were killed and a militant ‘commander’ was
injured during a clash with Adezai Qaumi lashkar and Police
in a suburban area of Peshawar in the morning.
A businessman received injuries
when a man hurled a hand grenade at Al-Mansoor garments shop in
the Cantonment area of Kohat.
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government primary school for girls in Wale Road union council
of Mera Akora Khattak of the Nowshera District at 9:50pm. The
building of the school was destroyed completely.
Police found a bullet riddled
body of one Muhammad Sohail Khan near Buraq petrol pump on Super
Highway, within the limits of Sacchal Police Station in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. Muhammad was abducted on the
night of August 10, 2011.
Pakistan extradited an alleged
mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings to Indonesia after his arrest
in the town where Osama bin Laden was killed. Indonesia’s Counter-Terrorism
Agency Chief Ansyaad Mbai confirmed that Umar Patek had arrived
under tight security after an overnight flight from Pakistan,
and ahead of an expected trial on terrorism-related charges.
America’s covert drone war on
al Qaeda and the TTP has killed up to 168 children in Pakistan
over the last seven years, an independent study said. The London-based
Bureau of Investigative Journalism said its research showed there
had been many more 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.
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. 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 PoK.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador
to Washington, accused the US of alienating Pakistanis by coming
into the country in a military fashion “with guns blazing” to
conduct the unilateral raid that killed Osama bin Laden in his
Abbottabad hideout on May 1.
US State Department said that
US would continue counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan.
State Department's Spokesman Victoria Nuland said that both the
countries would cooperate with each other on counter-terrorism.
|
August 12
|
Fresh violence gripped Karachi
after the strike call off by Sindh Nationalist Parties, killing
at least five people and injuring five others. According to the
Police, unidentified armed assailants shot dead two unidentified
people in Nazimabad area. In the same area, some unidentified
militants hurled a hand grenade near a hotel, injuring five people.
Two dead bodies were found in
Pak Colony area.
Vehicles were set ablaze. One
unidentified man was burnt to death when a vehicle was set on
fire in Kimari area.
Police claimed that two alleged
suspects involved in the burning of vehicles were arrested.
Unidentified militants shot dead
three Policemen and drove off with two prisoners who had been
taken to a hospital for dental treatment in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidenfied assailants killed a
member of tribal lashkar, Malik Jan Afridi, of Bara tehsil of
Khyber Agency in FATA at Hangu-Parachinar road in Hangu.
Nine suspected militants were
apprehended during a joint search operation launched by SFs in
two areas of Frontier Region of Kohat, but a militant commander
involved in several attacks on the peace militia managed to flee.
The TTP claimed that the suicide
bomber who attacked the SFs at Lahori Gate on Circular Road in
Peshawar on August 10 was female fedayeen.
An army man was killed and three
others were injured when five rockets fired from nearby mountains
landed in Quetta Cantonment in the Nawan Killi area of Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan. Mirak Baloch, the spokesman
for the BLA, claimed responsibility for the attack.
ATC awarded death sentence to
one Para-military personnel, Shahid Zafar, on charges of murder
of a civilian, Sarfraz Shah, on June 8, 2011 at Shaheed Benazir
Bhutto Park Boat Basin in Karachi. The court also imposed fine
on Shahid Zafar of PNR 200, 000, while the remaining accused will
pay PNR 100, 000 to the victim’s family”.
The seven accused, including six
Pakistan Rangers’ personnel were identified as, SI Bahaur Rehman,
Lance Naik Liaquat Ali, Manthar, Muhammad Tariq, Muhammad Afzal
Khan and Shahid Zafar and a civilian Muhammad Afsar Khan.
Pakistan amended the 1901-vintage
Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and extending the Political
Parties Ordinance (PPO) 2002 to the FATA. The two orders were
signed by President Asif Ali Zardari with the promise that this
would help mainstream the tribals living east of the Durand Line
that separates Afghanistan from Pakistan
China has not joined India’s stand
on terror camps inside Pakistan when it blamed it for a recent
militant attack in restive Xinjiang. An article published in China
Daily that also confirmed the recent visit of ISI Agency Chief
Ahmed Shuja Pasha to discuss the issue of Uighur extremists undergoing
training in Pakistan.
US officials strongly rejected
allegations of an independent study that a covert drone war in
Pakistan has killed large numbers of civilians, saying the numbers
are “way off the mark”. US officials slammed the London-based
Bureau of Investigative Journalism report’s finding that there
had been many more CIA attacks on alleged militant targets and
far more civilian deaths than previously reported.
|
August 13
|
Six militants were killed and
five others injured during a search operation conducted by SFs
in Sholaam area of Sarokai tehsil in South Waziristan Agency
(SWA) of FATA.
Twelve mortar shells were fired
from Afghanistan into Birmal tehsil of SWA.
Following the strike call given
by nationalist parties of the Sindh against the restoration of
Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, several nationalists supported
areas of the city remained tense where eight persons were killed
and near a dozen injured while four vehicles and a motorcycle
were torched in different parts of Karachi.
The incidents of violence and
arson were set off since August 12-night in many parts of the
Karachi where armed groups piled up the intensity of vandalism
to huddle masses at homes.
All major markets and business
centres of Karachi, which remained closed till noon because of
highly aggravated violent episodes started since August 12-night,
were opened in second half of August 13. The public transport
remained thin in many areas, including Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Steel
Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Sacchal, Baldia Town, Ittehad Town, Safoora
Goth, Malir and Ghaghar Phattak.
An American aid expert, identified
as Warren Weinstein, was abducted after unidentified assailants
stormed through the backdoor of his house in Model Town area of
Lahore and overpowered his guards. The US embassy said Warren
Weinstein worked for a private company. Warren Weinstein was abducted
just two days before he was due to return to the United States
after more than four years of his stay in Pakistan. Police said
Weinstein had lived in Lahore since 2006, and was associated with
JE Austin Associates working in the Tribal Areas.
Police arrested two persons from
Thanda Pani in Nilor of Lahore for their allegedly involvement
in a suicide attack on Bari Imam Shrine and assassination of Agha
Ziauddin on May 27, 2005. Hafiz Abdul Maroof (27) and Mohammad
Nadeem Gilgiti (31) are active members of banned outfits SSP and
LeJ.
A bomb hoax in the FIA building
on Temple Road prevented Additional Director General Zafar Ahmed
Qureshi from attending his `first day` in office after getting
reinstated.
Unidentified assailants abducted
a Para Medical Association (PMA) official, Finance Secretary Khuda
Bakhsh Lehri, from Kalat of Balochistan.
Police and Frontier Corps (FC)
raided the houses of Nawabzada Jamil Bugti, eldest son of Nawab
Bugti, and Humayun Marri in Bugti Bolak, a suburb of Quetta, claiming
to have recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition. The Police,
backed by FC, carried out the raid early in the morning at the
residence of Jamil Bugti and the adjoining house of Humayun Marri.
|
August 14
|
A blast at a hotel on the National
Highway close to Dera Allah Yar town in Jaffarabad District of
Balochistan killed 15 persons and injured 23 others. A bomb that
was attached to a timer ripped through a two-story hotel, reducing
the building to rubble, said Jaffarabad District Police Officer
Javed Gharsheen. A little-known organisation, Baloch Liberation
Tiger (BLT), claimed the responsibility for the blast. A BLT spokesman,
who introduced himself as Miran Baloch, phoned local office of
a news agency and said it was a remote-controlled blast and members
of his organisation had planted the bomb inside the hotel. He
said his organisation will target those people who participate
in the celebrations of Independence Day of Pakistan.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
two labourers in Sakran area, some 10 kilometres off Hub town,
of Lasbela District.
A senior journalist and member
of the Khuzdar Press Club, Munir Ahmed Shakir, was shot dead by
unidentified assailants on the Hospital Road in Khuzdar town of
Khuzdar District.
Two children were injured in an
explosion at a bus-terminal in Mastung town. Unidentified assailants
placed an explosive material at bus-terminal which exploded, Police
said, adding that as a result two children were injured.
Three paramilitary soldiers were
killed and 25 others injured in a rocket attack on their camp
in Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency. Four rockets
hit the camp in Miramshah, where troops were preparing for Independence
Day assembly.
A soldier was killed when a landmine
planted by terrorists exploded while six terrorists were killed
in a retaliatory attack in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Over a dozen rockets fired from
across the border in Afghanistan hit a populated area in Mamond
town of Bajaur Agency, injuring five persons. Two children were
among the injured. Sources said the attackers belonged to Kunar
province of Afghanistan.
An Afghanistan-bound NATO oil
container was gutted when it caught fire due to an explosion at
Pak-Afghan border at Torkham cross point in Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants destroyed
two more bridges and an office of agriculture department in Akkakhel
area of Bara tehsil. The destruction of bridges has badly
affected smooth flow of traffic in Akkakhel as militants have
so far destroyed at least 15 link bridges in the area.
Unidentified militants abducted
a car dealer, Haji Noshad, from his residence near Tedi Bazaar
in Jamrud.
At least six persons, including
an activist each of the AWSJ, formerly known as SSP, and Kachi
Rabita Council (KRC), were killed in different parts of Karachi.
At least six persons were injured,
three of them critically, in an explosion on Nowshera road in
Charsadda town of Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Government
sources said the bomb was home-made and was planted on an electricity
pole.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that Kashmir was Pakistan's "jugular vein", even
as he vowed to resolve all issues with India through dialogue
so that both countries can get rid of the blights of poverty,
illiteracy and backwardness.
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,
a The Wall Street Journal report said.
|
August 15
|
Eight people died in separate
incidents of violence which occurred in different parts of Karachi.
Tension prevailed in parts of Orangi town where intense firing
was reported between two groups at Kati Pahari area. A 12 year
old boy, identified as Naseeb, was killed whereas another man,
identified as Naseem, was wounded in the crossfire.
A young man was killed by a stray
bullet in Ammar Yasir Society within the remits of Malir City
Police Station.
One Agha Sehar Mehdi was killed
with a stray bullet while he was sleeping on the roof of his house.
A barber, identified as Asif,
was shot dead in his shop near Fazal Kareem Oil Depot, Orangi
town within the precincts of Iqbal Market Police Station. Police
said that the victim belonged to Shia sect adding that he may
have been killed in sectarian violence.
Police found two dead bodies of,
one Liaquat Khan and another Zubair near UBL Sports Complex, FB
Area within the precincts of Jauharabad Police Station. Both the
victims were abducted on August 14.
Two injured passengers of the
bus, which was torched during the nationalists’ strike on August
12, succumbed to their injuries here at the Civil Hospital Karachi
(CHK). According to Police one of the victims was identified as
Salman, and another remained unidentified.
Five oil-tankers, a container
and a car were burnt when a time-bomb fixed to an oil-tanker carrying
fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan exploded at the Taru Jaba
oil terminal of Landikotal Bypass in Khyber Agency.
Two dead bodies were recovered
from Zarrgau area in the outskirts of Quetta. The dead were identified
as Abdul Hameed, and Athar Gul. According to Police officials,
both of them were killed by the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF).
However, no group has claimed responsibility for the killings
so far.
Unidentified armed militants attacked
a Police check post on Pat Feeder Canal and injured a Police constable,
identified as Muhammad Rafiq, in Dera Murad Jamali town of Naseerabad
District.
The power shortfall in Balochistan
reached 1000 megawatts after unidentified armed militants blew
up two power pylons of the 220KV Uch-Sibi double circuit transmission
line in Sibi District.
Seven preachers, members of Tableeghi
Jamaat, were injured in an improvised explosive device explosion
near a car sale centre opposite Tableeghi Markaz in Charsadda
town of Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Four persons including three children
sustained injuries when a bomb exploded at a tent of a displaced
family at Jalozai camp in Nowshera District.
A bomb exploded at the entrance
to the Karnal Sher Khan Girls Degree College in Swabi District,
causing damage to the building.
At least six tankers, loaded with
oil for NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan, were burnt at Mianwali-Multan
road in Muzaffargarh District.
The trend of violence against
Punjabis and other non-Baloch people in Balochistan has forced
many of them to flee the region, a Pakistani media report said.
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. 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.
A Pakistani newspaper accused
India of covertly helping Baloch nationalists and urged the Government
to carry out a diplomatic campaign against New Delhi. "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.
|
August 16
|
At least 12 militants were killed
in two bomb blasts in the remote Tirah valley of Khyber Agency
in FATA. Official sources in Jamrud area said that the blasts
in Tharkho Kas and Tora Dara hit two vehicles carrying militants
belonging to Tariq group of Darra Adamkhel affiliated to TTP.
Four militants, suspected to be
of Haqqani Network, were killed when a drone strike fired two
missiles, hitting a compound and a vehicle parked outside it in
Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
An unidentified man was shot dead
near Daak Khana stop in Qasba Colony within the limits of Pirabad
Police Station of Karachi.
Police found dead bodies of six
people stuffed in gunny bags, from different parts of Karachi.
Three bodies were found in PECHS (Pakistan Employees Cooperative
Housing Society) area while one each from the Soldier Bazar, Saddar
and Gulbahar areas.
An aide of Baitullah Mehsud, identified
as Fazal Hussain, was arrested along with weapon and live ammunition
in the Jackson Police precincts in Karachi.
A Police officer and four other
people were killed in different incidents of firing in Quetta
and Mastung Districts. One ASI Abdul Majeed was shot dead by
unidentified militants in the Ghousabad area of Quetta.
A man, identified as Zahoor Ahmed,
was shot dead on the Arbab Ghulam Ali road.
Elsewhere in the District, a Government
employee, Karim Bakhsh, was killed in the Sariab road area.
One Abdul Nabi was killed when
some unidentified assailants opened fire on a van in Mastung District.
SFs defused explosives found planted
on a railway track in Dera Murad Jamali town of Naseerabad District.
The dead body of an abducted man,
identified as Mohammad Amir, acquitted by the Lahore High Court
in four terrorism related cases including Explosive Substance
Act in April 2010 was given to his family in Rawalpindi.
Unknown militants opened fire
on a Police check post at Hundak Hayaserai area in Timergara town
of Lower Dir District. However, no casualty was reported.
The Barrack Obama administration
designated Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a key ‘commander’ in south Eastern
Afghanistan as a terrorist, freezing any assets he has in the
United States and barring Americans from doing business with him.
The US said it has made good progress
in its mission in Afghanistan to "disrupt, dismantle and
defeat" al Qaeda and its efforts in the country have left
Taliban weakened significantly.
"The mission is that we have
to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and make sure that it
never again finds a safe haven in Afghanistan from which to launch
attacks to this country," Panetta said at the National Defense
University, adding, “We have weakened Taliban significantly, and
we''re continuing to work on that".
Panetta later added that the US
has no choice but to keep up its alliance with Pakistan despite
concerns over Islamabad’s ties to terrorists. He said that relations
with Pakistan were difficult because ‘elements of the Government’
had links with the Haqqani Network, which is staging attacks on
US-led troops in Afghanistan, and LeT, blamed for orchestrating
attacks in India.
Despite the US declaring a cut
in funding to Pakistan, it continues to fund Pakistan military.
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.
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 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.
US State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said that Pakistan stood with international community
in war against terror. Victoria Nuland said cooperation between
US and Pakistan in fight against terror was in the interest of
both the countries.
Former Balochistan Chief Minister
Mir Humayun Marri said that the SFs, backed by the Police, had
planted arms and ammunition at his farmhouse as a part of bigger
plot to kill him.
The ISI and MI told Islamabad
High Court (HC) that they were not holding Mohammad Waheed, an
abducted activist of HuT. Commander Mohammad Hussain Shahbaz,
representing Ministry of Defence and ISI, and Major Tahir Mehmood
of MI appeared before the single bench of Islamabad HC hearing
the petition of Naveed Mukhtar for recovery of his brother Waheed.
|
August 17
|
Former MNA Ahmed Karimdad, alias
Waja Karimdad, of the PPP was killed in Karachi in a fresh wave
of target killing between ‘criminal gangs’ operating in Lyari.
Violence spiked in the area after the killing of Ahmed Karimdad.
Sixteen bodies were found in different
parts of Karachi while one man was shot dead in the Baldia Town.
Four bodies were recovered from the Shershah area, three each
from Baldia Town, Kakri Ground and the Garden area. Two bodies
were found in Maripur while one from the Mangoper area.
Five young residents of Lyari
were found shot dead in different parts of Karachi while five
other people were killed in armed attacks.
Elsewhere in the District, three
other people were also killed in the firing incident.
One body recovered from the Baldia
Town was of a fire extinguisher Liaquat Azhar who was abducted
by unknown assailants.
An 11 year old boy and a girl
were killed in the incidents of firing.
At least 10 militants were killed
as two IEDs exploded in Tarkhokas area of Bara tehsil of
the Khyber Agency in FATA.
A senior member of the peace committee,
Malik Afsar Khan, was shot dead along with his son by unidentified
militants in Chamarkand tehsil of Bajaur Agency.
A Policeman, identified as Arz
Khan, was injured in a firing incident in the Cattle Farm area
of Jaffarabad District. According to Police, unidentified armed
militants opened fire at a Police check post, situated in Cattle
Farm, injuring a Policeman.
Unidentified armed militants set
ablaze a NATO container in Mian Ghundi area of Quetta, while it
was returning from Kandahar in Afghanistan to Karachi in Sindh.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
The miners, who had been abducted
from Akhorwal area of Darra Adamkhel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were
released by their abductors after 67 days. The release was made
possible through a deal reached between the local ‘commander’
of TTP and mine owners.
The leaders of at least 10 militant
outfits – al Qaeda, TTP and other groups operating under the umbrella
of TTP, top the list of the most wanted in Islamabad. These militants
are wanted for terrorism activities such as suicide attacks and
kidnapping for ransom. A list of five of them is given below:
Momin Khan established the Momin
Khan group to support TTP though intelligence reports claim that
he has been operating since 9/11. He is wanted for terrorism activities.
There are unconfirmed reports of his death in an attack at Kala
Dhaka area of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Asmatullah Moavia, is credited
with establishing the TTP in Punjab, he is said to have remained
a member of SSP in the past. He also took part in the jihad
in Afghanistan and developed close contacts with al Qaeda and
TTP which prompted him to establish the Punjab chapter of TTP
and is presently operating from Miranshah in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
Qari Saifullah has close links
with TTP and al Qaeda and members of his outfit are believed to
have been trained by the Afghan Taliban while they have in turn
hosted foreign militants, including Afghan Taliban. It is believed
that he is involved in the smuggling of weapons and explosives.
Tariq Afridi, the head of one
of the major groups associated with TTP, is based in Darra Adamkhel
area near Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mullah Rahim and Mullah Faaeez
set up the Ghazi Force in Orakzai Agency of FATA and vowed to
avenge the attack on Lal Masjid and the killing of Ghazi Abdul
Rasheed.
The IDPs from Kurram Agency were
directed to start packing as the return journey to their homes
will start from August 25, as SFs have cleared their militancy-hit
villages of militants. FATA Disaster Management Authority Director
General Arshad Khan said that IDPs repatriation programme to central
Kurram would start from August 25 as SFs have declared seven villages
free of militants.
The fate of over 21,000 displaced
families, who had migrated to safer places from their hometowns
owing to sectarian clashes in upper and lower Kurram, is still
uncertain. The Government is yet to take any concrete measures
regarding their repatriation. They were still living miserable
life in rented houses or staying with their relatives.
The Government is considering
starting a national de-radicalisation programme to combat rising
fundamentalism and extremism in the country. A statement issued
after a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet in Islamabad
said, “It was decided in the committee that special attention
shall be given to a de-radicalisation programme to motivate youth
to engage and isolate them from militancy and terrorism and bring
them back to peaceful living.”
Federal minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that the Government decided to reactivate a 20-year
law and offer amnesty to those who voluntarily surrender illegal
arms in a phased campaign to “de-weaponise” the country.
He said the Provinces had agreed
that the NADRA should be asked to computerise arms licences and
a drive in that direction had already been launched at the Federal
level. The first-ever de-weaponisation campaign was launched in
the country by the Government of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf
in June 2001.
Claiming that Army does not run
Pakistan's foreign policy, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar
said the Army's intentions towards India have been "overrated"
and there is a need to break away from this perception.
As much as 50 per cent of the
estimated USD one billion in US assistance was given directly
to the Government of Pakistan in 2010, Deputy Director for the
Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs of the USAID David
McCloud said during an exclusive interview with The Express
Tribune.
|
August 18
|
Politically motivated ethnic violence
claimed at least 27 more lives in the ongoing violence in Karachi.
In Baldia Town, the assailants
dumped three dead bodies in gunny bags near Saabri Mosque. One
of the victims was identified as Liaquat Azhar Farooqi, an employee
of Lyari fire station. The other one was identified as Azeemullah,
while the third victim is yet to be identified.
In the remits of Baghdadi Police
Station, three more dead bodies were found from near Kukri Ground.
The victims were identified as Rao Hanif, Zubair and Junaid.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
were found in Baldia Town. They were identified as Abdul Waheed
and Zubair.
Two gunny bags of dead bodies
were found in the limits of Kalri, Mirza Adam Khan Road Agra Taj
Colony. Hands and legs of the victims were tied, while their bodies
bore marks of torture.
Two dead bodies were found in
the limits of Soldier Bazaar Police Station. One of the victims
was identified as Noman.
Two more dead bodies, identified
as Zeeshan and Shazaib, were found from City Railway Station.
In Saeedabad, a man, identified
as Yasir, was found shot dead. Another bullet-riddled dead body,
identified as Mohammad Ejaz, was found in Site B Police limits
from a place near Ghani Chowrangi. The bullet-riddled body of
one Nabi Bux was found in Manghopir area of Northern Bypass. In
the same area, at Chand Bibi Road, the dead body of a youth was
found in a gunny bag.
In Rizvia Police Station limits,
near Lasbela bridge, one dead body bearing marks of torture was
found. Also, a rickshaw driver, identified as Abdul Rasheed, was
found dead within the remits of Sharah Noor Jahan Police Station.
A cadre of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-
Haqiqi (MQM-H), Qasim, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants
in Sherpao Colony in the precincts of Quaidabad Police Station.
Ghulam Shabbir was shot dead in
Hussain Hazara Goth in the limits of Gulistan Jauhar Police Station.
Elsewhere in the District, one Younus was shot dead in New Karachi
while he was sitting outside his house.
Unidentified armed militants took
hostage a van carrying 13 workers of a private company from Chakiwara
Road in the limits of Kalri Police Station. Later, they released
12 passengers but kept one Yousuf in captivity.
Four more people were killed in
firing and torture incidents, The News reported. A man was shot
dead in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area while two people injured in PIB and
Sheerin Jinnah colony succumbed to their injuries.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a youth was found in gunny bag near Kharadar Jamatkhana area.
According to Police, a written message was also found from the
gunny bags with bodies inscribed with slogans of 'Peace or war
or more bodies'.
ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed
said that the flawed policies of the Government were responsible
for continuation of target killings in Karachi. “There is urgent
need to devise a sincere policy and make efforts to save Karachi
from the fire of lawlessness.
CCPO Karachi Saud Mirza said that
more than 100 accused have been arrested and that killers would
be brought to justice. Mirza said there is no political pressure
on Police and the Police is carrying out its actions without any
discrimination.
Four bullet-riddled dead bodies
were found in Ganji Dohri area in Mastung District. The victims
were identified as Tariq, Mehmood, Hamid Nasir and Abdul Latif,
belonging to the Bangulzai tribe.
Hamid Nasir and Abdul Latif were
abducted on August 8, 2011 and their bodies were found from Kush
Cut area. Mehmood and Tariq were abducted on August 16, 2011,
and their dead bodies were found in Ganji Dohri area. Sources
said that Tariq was the worker of the BSO-Azad. Meanwhile, Voice
for Baloch Missing Persons Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said that
more than 190 bullet-riddled dead bodies were found during the
last 11 months.
Three people belonging to Pakistan’s
Punjab province were killed in Splinji area of Mastung District.
According to the Balochistan Levies, the people were travelling
by a pickup from Sargodha to Quetta when some unidentified armed
militants intercepted the van near Splinji area on and shot them
dead.
Prayer leader and son of former
Provincial Minister of JUI-F Hafiz Hussain Ahmed Sharudi was shot
dead on Abdul Sattar Road in Quetta, while he was on his way to
the Al Habib mosque.
BNP-M leader Abdul Nabi Mengal,
who was allegedly abducted on Aug 11, 2011 from Hub town of Lasbela
District was killed. BNP-M Information Secretary Agha Hassan
Baloch claimed that the Intelligence Agency officials had abducted
Abdul Nabi Mengal, along with Din Mohammad and Abdul Ghafoor Mengal.
The bullet-riddled body of a TTP
‘commander’, Ali Akbar alias Skarwata, was found in fields in
Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Two children were killed and eight
persons received injuries when a stray mortar shell hit a house.
The injured included children and women. Security Forces demolished
a hideout of LI in the same locality.
TTP beheaded a LI supporter, belonging
to Qambarkhel tribe, in Tirah valley. Sources said that TTP put
on fire at least five houses of their opponents in Kukikhel dominated
areas of Mehraban Kallay and Zarmanza.
A bomb blast by a time device
partially damaged a NATO container and also caused minor injuries
to the cleaner of the vehicle in Jamrud.
An armed clash between the activists
of Sunni Tehreek (ST) and SSP claimed two lives, while four others
were injured in Godhra within the limits of New Karachi Industrial
Area.
Suspected militants abducted a
doctor, Dr Javed Ali Shah, along with his driver, Gul Sahib, at
gunpoint in Lachi town of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The leader of anti-Taliban Adezai
Qaumi Lashkar, Dilawar Khan, have alleged that Provincial
Government has stopped supporting their volunteers and left them
at the mercy of militants. “Militants will get strengthen in the
suburban areas of provincial metropolis Peshawar as Government
has intentionally stopped supporting our volunteers,” Dilawar
Khan told a press conference.
Punjab Police released the sketch
of a suspected 25 year militant accused of being involved in the
abduction of an American national, Warren Weinstein on August
13, 2011.
The US Congressman Dennis J Kucinich
strongly criticised drone strikes by the US against militants
in Pakistan and elsewhere, terming these as “summary executions”
and “extra-judicial killings”. Kucinich, the Representative from
Ohio’s 10th District, who is known for voicing his concerns over
America’s war policies, says challenging the legality of drone
strikes in Pakistan and bringing to light their “indiscriminate
nature” is vital.
The United States State Department
annual report 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 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, ping by 12 per cent from 2009.
|
August 19
|
At least 56 persons were killed
and 123 injured in a suicide attack during the Friday prayer at
Jamia Masjid Madina in Ghundai area of Jamrud area of Khyber Agency
in FATA. Locals said that a young boy aged 15-16 years had entered
the mosque through a window and exploded himself in the main hall
during prayers.
Four militants were killed when
a US drone fired two missiles hitting a house in the Shin Warsak
area of South Waziristan Agency.
Three SF personnel were killed
and three others, including a tribesman, injured when their vehicle
ran over a landmine in a border area in Kurram Agency.
23 more people, including four
Policemen, were killed in the ongoing spate of targeted killings
on ethnic ground in Karachi.
Unidentified armed militants opened
fire at Elite Force Police commando bus in Korangi killing four
Police commandos and injuring 30 others, including DSP Quaidabad
Badar Shah.
Four bullet-riddled dead bodies
stuffed in gunny bags were found at Bakra Piri area in the precincts
of Pak Colony Police Station.
An armed clash between two groups
in Chakra Goth Korangi area killed two MQM activists, and injured
six others. While one of the dead was identified as Mohammad Hassan,
the other remained unidentified.
Two more people, Mobin Ahmed Ali
and Azhar Baloch, were killed in PIB Colony Police Station. In
another incident, two people, Anwar Ali and Sheharyar, were killed
at Shireen Jinnah Colony in Jackson Police limits. Two men, identified
as Amjad and Hashim, were shot dead near Eidgah Ground Nazimabad
in the Shamim Shaheed check post precinct.
An activist of PPP, identified
as Sharif Gabol, was killed in a shooting at Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
Another PPP activist, identified as Rasool Bukhsh, was shot dead
at Orangi Town near Qatar Hospital. One Sindhi person, identified
as Hosh Muhammad, was shot dead in the same area.
One unidentified dead body was
recovered from Maripur Road. A strangled body of a youth was found
near Kharadar Hospital in the limits of Baghdadi Police Station.
Police also found an unidentified dead body of a young man near
Sakhi Hasan graveyard.
A cadre of Sunni Tehreek (ST),
identified as Bilal Qadri alias Sabir, was killed while his two
brothers Kaleem and Ejaz sustained bullet wounds in an armed attack
in the limits of New Karachi Industrial Area Police.
Two more bullet-riddled dead bodies
of Baloch missing persons, including an activist of the BNM, were
found on the Coastal Highway near Chakli area in the costal township
of Pansi in Gwadar District. The victims were identified as BNM
activist Sajid Baloch and Khalid Baloch.
At least five NATO oil tankers
were set ablaze by unidentified armed militants in Tera Mill area
of Dasht tehsil in Mastung District while on their way
for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.
Unidentified militants blew up
an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline near Malgzar area in Jaffarabad
District, disrupting the gas supply to nearby townships and interior
Sindh.
|
August 20
|
Eight more people were killed
in the current wave of ethnic violence on August 20 as the law
enforcement agencies had failed to control the situation. At least
54 people were killed in the south zone alone in the current wave
of violence, which began after five bodies reached Lyari on August
17.
An air force employee, Zafar Ali
Nazeer (36) was shot dead. He was a resident of Nawabshah and
was visiting his sister’s house in Faisal Base.
Gunmen intercepted a route Z bus
near Daba Chock and shot dead its driver, 30-year-old Sakhi Dad.
In the limits of Jauharabad Police
Station, armed men shot dead 30-year-old Gull Alam, a resident
of Block 10. He was on his way to home when armed men shot him
six times and fled.
Mochko Police found a body form
the bus stop.
Another unidentified body was
found from Qalandrani Chock.
An injured of Chakra Goth ethnic
violence, Rizwan son of Ibrahim, succumbed to his injures in a
hospital. The deceased was wounded in the night of August 19.
Gunmen intercepted a bus near
Bakra Piri and disembarked Nadeem Haroon and shot him dead.
An officer of water and sewerages
board was shot dead in Gulshan-e-Hadeed within the precincts of
Steel Town police station. Khalid was going on his car when unidentified
armed men sprayed bullets on him, killing him on the spot.
In Orangi Town, an ambulance was
attacked, resultantly, two men Mehboob and Fazal received bullet
injuries.
At least two Pakistani soldiers
and five terrorists died in a shootout in Akakhel village in the
Khyber Agency of FATA. The shootout started when paramilitary
troops were carrying out a search operation, a day after the suicide
bombing in the area.
TTP claimed responsibility of
Jamrud suicide attack. At least 56 persons were killed and 123
injured in the suicide attack during the Friday prayer at Jamia
Masjid Madina in Ghundai area of Jamrud area of Khyber Agency
on August 19. More action will be taken against the members of
Kukikhel tribe if they continue to resist to the TTP in Tirah
Valley, a senior journalist quoted TTP’s Tariq group spokesman,
Talha, as saying.
Four persons were injured in a
roadside landmine blast in Kohlu in Balochistan. According to
sources, unidentified persons had planted the landmine on a roadside.
The victims were identified as Fazil Khan, Nubat Khan, Farooq
and Ghulam Rasool.
|
August 21
|
Three SF personnel and five militants
were killed during clashes after militants attack on two checkpoints
Laddah and Pash Ziarat area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Six LI militants were killed in
renewed clashes with rival outfits TTP in Dwa Thoe and Mehraban
Kali areas of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency. Sources said the
Tariq Afridi group of TTP clashed with supporters of LI in Dwa
Thoe and Mehraban Kali areas.
Two tribesmen and a militant were
killed in a clash after an improvised explosive device ripped
through a military vehicle in Chashma area near Miramshah in North
Waziristan Agency. The blast left seven SF personnel injured.
The vehicle was part of a convoy going from Miramshah to Bannu
(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). The slain militant was identified as Muhammad
Hanif, a senior ‘commander’ of Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, an associate
of the Haqqani network.
A Government primary school was
blown up in the Akakhel area of Bara tehsil (revenue unit) in
Khyber Agency.
A Government primary school was
blown up in Toorkhel area of Baizai tehsil in Mohmand Agency on
August 20. So far, at least 80 schools have been blown up by militants
in Mohmand Agency, depriving around 25,000 students of education.
The ongoing violence in Karachi
claimed 11 more lives. Six people were reported to be killed in
Orangi Town area within the Orangi Police Precincts. Two dead
bodies, identified as Zeeshan Sattar and Faisal Qadeer, were found
dumped in a cemetery in MPR Colony Graveyard of Orangi Town. A
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activist, identified as Shoaib,
was shot dead while another was injured. In the same area, Police
found an unidentified dead body of a young man from a gunny bag.
One Adil was also shot dead. Also, a cobbler identified as Gauhar
Zaman was shot dead near Qatar Moor.
An unidentified dead body stuffed
in a gunny bag was found in the remits of Pak Colony Police Station.
In the same area, a rickshaw driver was shot dead near Bismillah
Hotel. Another unidentified dead body was found from Teen Hattie
Bridge in Super Market Police remits.
A three-day-old beheaded body
was found from Macchar Colony within the jurisdiction of Docks
Police Station.
Armed clash claimed the life of
a passerby in Bilal Colony within the remits of Korangi Industrial
Area Police Station.
Prime Minister (PM) Yousuf Raza
Gilani said that military operation was not a solution to the
Karachi problem as he had strong belief in the abilities of the
Law Enforcement Agencies. He said that a military operation could
only control the situation for a short period of time, adding
that the Rangers and the Frontier Constabulary and the Police
were playing their vital role in maintaining law and order in
the city.
The dead bodies of two missing
persons, identified as Asif Baloch and Abubakar Baloch, were found
near the Sohrab area of Kech District. Asif Baloch was the nephew
of the slain BNF leader Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and was abducted
on May 28, 2011, from Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
Abubakar Baloch was abducted from Gwadar District on August 3,
2011.
One Police constable, Bashir Ahmed,
was killed and another, Tanveer Ahmed, injured when unidenfied
assailants opened indiscriminate fire on their motorcycle on Mills
Chowki area near the new bus stand in Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister
for Education, Sardar Hussain Babak, was injured in an ambush
on his convoy in Changlai area of Buner District. The vehicle,
in which Babak was travelling, turned turtle after the attack
and the minister and his two security guards were injured.
Three alleged militants were arrested
from Gagai area of Torghar District by SF personnel. Sources
said that SFs personnel raided a house in Gagai area and arrested
three brothers — Mukaram Shah, Hikmat Shah and Afzal Shah. The
arrested brothers were wanted by law enforcement agencies in several
subversive acts in Shangla and Swat Districts, sources claimed.
The father of the alleged militants, Dornunu Shah, who was also
wanted for subversive activities in Hazara and Shangla, was still
at large.
|
August 22
|
12 people were killed in the ongoing
wave of violence in Karachi in Sindh.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel
Memon decided to launch a ‘surgical operation’ immediately without
discrimination in all areas which have become combat zones because
of target killings, extortion, land grab and politicised wars.
Asked if the army’s help would be required for the operation,
he said.
Three militants and four tribesmen
from a same family were killed and three others injured when a
US drone targeted a house and a vehicle in Mirkhunkhel area near
Mir Ali in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Two tribesmen were killed when
their house was hit by a stray mortar shell in Akakhel area of
Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
In the same area, two bullet-riddled
dead bodies of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants were found in a
deserted place.
A journalist was injured when
unidentified assailants attacked the team of a private TV channel,
AVT Khyber News, near Nishar Hall on Jail Road in Peshawar, the
provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew up
an electricity tower under Akora Khattak Police Station in Nowshera.
Unidentified militants opened
fire on 19 NATO oil tankers near the Dasht area of Mastung District.
Around 40 NATO oil tankers were parked near a fuel station close
to a Police check post on the National Highway, when a group of
armed militants on motorbikes opened indiscriminate fire on the
tankers. However, no casualties were reported.
JuD has been holding gatherings
at pre-dawn prayers in Lahore District of Punjab during the month
of Ramzan to collect donations despite Government orders of August
2, 2011 barring it from such activities. The JuD has been organising
speeches by its chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed at various places and
advertising them through posters, pamphlets and mass text messages.
HuT, another group banned from
collecting donations during Ramzan, too has put up banners on
the Mall road in Lahore.
|
August 23
|
10 LI militants were killed when
landmines planted in a bunker by militants of Tariq Afridi group
of TTP exploded in the Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Suspected militants killed an
Afghan refugee in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan Agency on
suspicion of being a spy for the United States.
Kukikhel elders recovered four
miners who were abducted by TTP militants on June 11 from Darra
Adamkhel. A local elder said that coalminers Fazal, son of Mohammad
Hanif Rahimullah, son of Abdul Hamid Bakhtzada, son of Mohammad
Zahir and Qaimooz Khan, son of Abdul Alam all residents of Shangla
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were recovered when the TTP vacated
their bases in the Kukikhel area a few days ago.
At least seven persons were killed
in the ongoing spate of target killings. Two unidentified bullet-riddled
dead bodies were found in the limits of Pak Colony Police Station.
Another dead body of an Urdu speaking man was found from Dhobi
Ghat. Also, a dead body of a 25-year-old man was recovered from
Jahanabad area. One more bullet-riddled dead body of a Pasto speaking
man, stuffed in a gunny bag, was found at Qasba Colony in Pirabad
Police remits.
One Faisal was shot dead in at
Gharibabad in the jurisdiction of Malir City Police Station. A
milk vendor, identified as Bahadur Ali, was shot dead at Quaidabad
area near Murghi Khana Chowk in the precincts of Shah Latif Police
Station.
Senior Superintendent of Police
(SSP, Central) Asim Qaimkhani and SSP (South) Naeem Sheikh claimed
to have arrested four militants belonging to Akram Baloch group
of gangsters operating in Layari from North Nazimabad area.
Baldia Police also claimed to
have arrested a target killer, Ejaz Chutto, at New Sultan Road.
Chutto admitted to have murdered three PPP workers, including
Ali Nawaz Baloch.
Police recovered a dead body in
Jamali Bypass area of Dera Allah Yar city in Jaffarabad District.
The identity of the body was established from a slip which was
found in the pocket. The body was identified as that of Bahgia
Khan Bugti.
Police recovered a cache of arms
and ammunition and arrested two alleged smugglers at Ring Road
in limits of Bala Mani Police Station in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A spokesman said Police at the
PAF canal check point recovered 25 Kalashnikovs, 37 pistols of
various bore, and 8,000 cartridges from a Datsun pick-up (D-1156).
The alleged smugglers identified themselves as Abdur Rehman and
Khan Noor of Bara area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Police arrested three suspects
in the Warren Weinstein abduction case, a Police official on the
condition of anonymity said. However, a spokeswoman for the US
Embassy in Islamabad said she was not aware of any arrests.
IGP, Islamabad, Bin Yamin said
that TTP was involved in the assassination of Minorities Affairs
Minister Shahbaz Bhatti on March 2, 2011.
While the core committee of PPP
decided not to call in the Army, Rangers were deployed to carry
out ‘surgical operation’ in Karachi to control law and order situation.
Rangers started the operation and arrested 18 suspects.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim
Ali Shah and Interior Minister Rehman Malik warned militant outfits,
including LeJ and SSP, to end their all activities otherwise action
would be taken against them under the Anti-Terrorism Act. “Offices
of banned organisations will be sealed,” it was declared.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that any cut in the US assistance would not only impact Pakistan’s
existing economic conditions but would also send a negative signal
to the public about commitment of the US Government towards the
people of Pakistan when they are suffering heavily in economic
terms due to unparalleled toll of war against terror.
|
August 24
|
At least three people were killed
and three others sustained injuries in an incident of firing in
Kangri area of Musakhel District. The victims were identified
as Sajad Khosa, Nadeem Khosa and Saeed Khosa and belonged to the
Dera Ghazi Khan District in Punjab Province.
Two people were shot dead and
four others injured when unknown armed militants opened fire on
a bakery in Quetta.
A 16-year-old boy from Punjab
Province, identified as Zeeshan, was shot dead near his house
in Nusrat Bhutto Colony within the limits of Shahrah Noor Jahan
Police Station in Karachi.
Federal Cabinet was informed that
nine areas in Karachi had been identified where action would be
taken against the target killers. Information and Broadcasting
Minister Firdaus Ashiq Awan said that since the law and order
was a provincial matter, the Federal Government could not unilaterally
call out the Army in Karachi, adding, that the Sindh Government
wanted to utilise the services of Rangers, Police and other civil
Law Enforcement Agencies to restore peace in Karachi.
Militants attacked several check
posts in Karir, Dwajangi, Qayumabad and Hashim Kor areas of Safi
tehsil in Mohmand Agency of FATA.
Militants blew up a Government
Girls Higher secondary school in Sawaldher area of Mardan District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew up
a private school under Kalu Khan Police Station in Swabi District
in the night.
During the last two years, Islamabad
Police arrested around 135 terrorists and more than dozen would
be suicide bombers. 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.
Amid reports that militant outfit
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.
Another report forwarded by Punjab
Home Department said that militant outfit LeJ has also become
active, particularly after the release of the group’s founder
Malik Ishaq in July.
Balochistan FC IG Major General
Ubaidullah Khan 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.
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 SFs were martyred
in terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in the province in the past
years.
CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
constituted a five-member bench for hearing a suo motu case regarding
worsening law and order situation in Karachi from August 26. The
court directed the Chief Secretary and Sindh Inspector General
of Police to submit detailed report on target killings, which
have been taking place in Karachi for the last several months.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that there is no rift between Islamabad and Beijing
over fighting militants, and cast doubt on the reports about a
Pakistan link to the Kashgar (China) attack.
|
August 25
|
11 militants were killed and four
others sustained injuries after the SFs shelled their hideouts
in Barlas and Akhun Kot in Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
However, the TTP Orakzai Agency chapter ‘spokesman’ Hafiz Saeed
rejected the SFs’ claim and argued that it was aimed at misguiding
the public.
Two LI militants were killed in
clashes with the TTP in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency. The sources
said that the groups were firing mortar shells on the positions
of each other in Mehraban Killay and Dwatoy when a shell fell
on the bunker of the LI, leaving two of its militants dead. The
two militant groups have been fighting against each other in Kukikhel
area in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency for the last two weeks in
which more than two dozens from both sides have been killed.
FC personnel raided the house
of Sher Amin Afridi and Sher Afzal Afridi in Jamrud tehsil and
arrested them. The sources said that the duo was affiliated with
the Tariq Afridi group of the TTP.
At least 12 persons, including
some Army and Air Force personnel, were killed and 17 injured
when a powerful explosion hit a hotel in Risalpur cantonment area
of Nowshera in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested two TTP ‘commanders’,
identified as Abdullah, son of Sherzada and Alam Sher son of Sher
Afzal, during an operation in Behar under Khwazakhela Police Station
area in Swat District.
A man was killed and 13 people
were injured, when a bomb placed by unidentified militants at
the Seerat chowk went off in the industrial town of Hub in Quetta.
A bullet-riddled dead body of
a Baloch missing person, identified as Rahim Buleidaai, was found
at Gockdan area near Mirani Dam of Turbat city in Turbat District.
Rahim Buleidai was abducted by armed militants from Turbat on
August 14, 2011.
The Supreme Court received a letter
written by Summandar Khan and Oman Khan containing a threat that
its building would be blown up on August 26 or 27. The letter
dated August 25, 2011 was found from parking area of the SC by
a cameraman of a private TV channel near the Digital Satellite
News Gathering vans in Islamabad.
The Sindh Government equipped
Rangers with special powers to meet the challenge of terrorists,
target killers and extortionists and eliminate ‘no-go-areas’ from
Karachi. It was decided that Rangers be given Police powers to
carry out search without warrant and take action against criminals
and elements having intentions to carry out terrorist acts.
|
August 26
|
A suicide bomber was shot dead
by the peace lashkar in the Kabal area of Swat while his
accomplice managed to escape as they were trying to enter a mosque
following Friday prayers. Saifullah Khan, head of the Nepkikhel
Qaumi lashkar, claimed the bomber was shot down after being sighted
by the lashkar.
One person, accused of August
25 bomb blast in Risalpur, a town in Nowshera, has been arrested
while another was killed during an encounter with the Police in
the Badarshi area of Risalpur.
Three people were killed and eight
others injured when unidentified assailants opened fire on two
buses in different parts of Balochistan. Two passengers died and
six others, including two women and two children, suffered injuries
in the attack on a bus in Dera Allahyar town of Jaffarabad District.
Two people were killed in separate
incidents in different parts of the city. Police found body of
a man near Denso Hall within the limits of Kharadar Police Station.
Police said the victim hailed from Punjab and had no affiliation
with any political or religious party.
Tension prevailed in Hussain Hazara
Goth due to a clash between two ethnic groups that left a young
man dead while an office of the ANP was also set on fire during
the clash. On duty officer Siddique Abbasi said that the clash
took place between Pakhtoon and Hazara community people.
Sindh Police claimed to have detained
40 more suspects during August 25-night search operation. The
sources further said that the Sindh Police claimed to have taken
some 40 more suspects into custody during search operation in
Bilal Colony, Chakra Goth, Pak Colony, Nishtar Road, Raxer Bridge,
Old Golimar, Jehanabad, Saleh Muhammad Goth and Ghattar Baghicha,
and recovered weapons and drugs from their possession. According
to Police sources, Sindh Police, which launched ‘surgical search
operation’ on August 23 with the assistance of Rangers, have so
far detained over 100 suspects from different troubled areas of
the metropolis.
Shahbaz Taseer, a son of the slain
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, was abducted by armed abductors
from Lahore. The abductors intercepted Shahbaz when he was about
to reach his office in Gulberg.
Police commandos raided a house
in Sector G-6/1 in Islamabad on August 26 and arrested five terrorists.
Inspector General of Police Bani Amin Khan said a suspect was
picked up from Anwar Hotel in Aabpara at around 3am. His interrogation
led to the terrorists’ hideout which was in the use of Sardar
Ali Khan Khattak, a Naib Qasid (deputy messenger) in the
Ministry of Finance who has been on two-year leave.
Lahore Police claimed to have
rescued US development expert, Warren Weinstein (70), who was
abducted on August 13 from Lahore. Lahore Police Chief Malik Ahmed
Raza says authorities rescued Warren Weinstein during an early
morning operation in Khushab city.
The FBI has secretly arrested
a Pakistani juvenile, Mohammed K. (15), from Maryland for allegedly
participating in a terrorism plot with an American woman, Colleen
LaRose aka Jihad Jane, relatives of the juvenile said. Family
members said Mohammed was lured by an adult and was too young
to understand the consequences.
Mohammed K. (15), of Ellicott
City, a Maryland suburb near Washington, allegedly conspired with
Colleen LaRose aka Jihad Jane, of Pennsylvania to solicit money
and recruits for a jihad, the prosecution claimed. He is
now 17.
CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
heading a five-member bench, observed that for the last one month
situation in Karachi had been out of control and there was a complete
breakdown of the Government’s machinery
The Inspector General of Police
(Karachi) was directed to proceed against the target killers across
the board, irrespective of their party affiliations, and also
provide detail of Police Stations and the crimes that take place
in their jurisdiction and the manner people were being killed
there.
During the course of proceedings,
Sindh government submitted a detailed report on the incidents
of target killings, which have been taking place in Karachi for
the last more than one month. According to the report, 300 people
were murdered in incidents of target killings, as 232 cases were
registered. The report stated that 117 target killers had been
arrested and the challans of 179 accused were submitted in the
court. Sindh Attorney General contended that judiciary could not
resolve the issue of Karachi, as one target killer, who was involved
in 100 cases of murder, had been acquitted by the court.
|
August 27
|
25 soldiers and 20 were killed
when some 200 to 300 “terrorists” based in Afghanistan attacked
seven paramilitary FC checkposts in Chitral District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa early in the morning. The military said both Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) and Afghan Taliban were involved. “At least 25
security forces personnel embraced shahadat in the attack,” the
statement said, adding that the attack was launched “from across
the border”. About 20 of the militants were believed to have been
killed. The border posts were overrun by militants, but reinforcements
have now been sent, it said. The Pakistani military said that
those believed to have co-ordinated the raid – including a radical
cleric from the Swat valley, Maulana Fazlullah, and a TTP ‘commander’
from Bajaur, Faqir Muhammad - had previously fled into Afghanistan
in the face of Pakistani military offensives.
Unidentified militants killed
a former Army officer, Colonel (retd) Shakil Khan, in Kohat of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Shakil Khan was abducted by militants when
he was returning to his home in the Defence area after offering
morning prayers. Shakil’s body was later found abandoned in a
car.
A Policeman was killed while two
others were injured in an exchange of fire with suspected militants
who were trying to enter the Defence area of the Kohat.
Al Qaeda’s new second-in-command,
Atiyah abd al-Rahman, was killed in Pakistan, US officials said.
Rahman, a Libyan national, rose to the number two spot when Ayman
al-Zawahri took the reins of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was
killed. Officials did not say how Rahman was killed, but said
it happened in Waziristan where intelligence officials believe
members of al Qaeda are hiding out. “
Two NATO oil tankers were set
on fire by unidentified armed persons in Mithri area of Bolan
District in Balochistan.
The CID of Sindh Police arrested
three Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants in the Korangi industrial
area of Karachi. A statement issued by the CID said that Tariq,
Danish and Shah were captured during a raid conducted in a congested
area near Vita Chowrangi. The CID team seized five kilograms of
explosive material, six mortar rounds, 15 detonators, nine devices,
two electric wire sets, three TT pistols, several bullets and
a snatched car.
|
August 28
|
Three people were killed in the
on going spat of violence in different parts of Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh.
The bullet-riddled body of a youth,
abducted earlier, was found near Urdu Bazaar in the precincts
of Preedy Police Station. Police said the deceased was later identified
as Muhammad Ali (28), a resident of Old Golimar’s Ali Muhammad
Village.
The bullet-riddled body of a person
with torture marks was found from Baldia No 2 under Site B Police
Station. Police said that the identity of the victim was yet to
be ascertained.
A man was shot dead in Hassan
Colony of Liaquatabad within the limit of Gulbahar Police Station.
Yar Mohammad Khan (35), a resident of Hassan Colony, Gulbahar,
was going home when unidentified armed men shot him dead.
Rangers unearthed two torture
cells, detained 133 suspects and recovered a cache of weapons
in an operation conducted in different areas of Lyari Town. Rangers
seized two torture cells located in Liaquat Colony and recovered
instruments being used for torture, including chairs, chains,
knives, ropes and weapons.
Supreme Court will resume the
hearing of the suo motu case on the target killings in Karachi
from August 29. Special security arrangements have been made and
roads leading to the Supreme Court building have been blocked
for security reasons.
Three persons were killed and
19 others were injured in firing and rocket attacks on a passenger
train in Mach area of Kachhi District in BalochistanBLA, claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Two trucks laden with explosives
and headed towards Harnai in Sibi District of Balochistan, were
recovered by Border Military Police after the drivers failed to
produce a licence to transport the material.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
three youths and injured six others in a suspected sectarian killing
at a billiard club in Darya Khan Town of Bhakkar District in Punjab.
The death toll from the cross-border
attack on checkposts in Arandu tehsil (revenue unit) of Chitral
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa climbed to 52, as six more bodies of Chitral
scouts were recovered. Earlier it was reported that 25 soldiers
and 20 militants were killed on August 27 when some 200 to 300
TTP and Afghan Taliban militants attacked seven paramilitary FC
checkposts in Chitral.
SFs neutralised a terror plot
that were supposed to be carried out on Eidul Fitr by recovering
a suicide jacket and a large quantity of explosives during a search
operation in Mangaltan and its suburbs in Char Bagh tehsil of
Swat District. SFs arrested two militants including one key ‘commander’.
Sources said the operation is still underway to capture another
militant commander who is also hiding in the area.
A low-intensity bomb, planted
in a hotel at Torkham in Khyber Agency of FATA, went off causing
partial damage to the hotel building.
The National Database and Registration
Authority (NADRA) will start receiving applications from August
29 for the computerisation and revalidation of arms licences issued
by the Federal Ministry of Interior. Arrangements have been completed
in this regard as 158 District-level registration centres across
the country will initiate the process, which is aimed at ensuring
transparency and authenticity of arms licences.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan assisted the United States in the past and
would continue to do so in the future, but the Government would
not compromise on the national interests.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that the Government has proved that it is possible
to conduct targeted operations in Karachi without any discrimination.
Pakistani security officials expressed
doubt over reports from the United States that it had killed the
al Qaeda second-in-command near the Afghan border. A senior US
official said on August 27 that Atiyah abd al-Rahman had been
killed in the northwest tribal area of Waziristan on August 22,
without divulging the circumstances of his death.
A US senator, Robert Casey, visiting
Islamabad said he was pressing Pakistan to reduce the flow of
an explosives material used in roadside bombs that wound and kill
hundreds of US soldiers in Afghanistan. Senator Robert Casey said
in a press conference that his talks with civilian and military
leaders as well as senators focused on having Pakistan implement
its strategy to cut shipments of ammonium nitrate or fertiliser.
|
August 29
|
The Balochistan Levies Force recovered
a bullet-riddled body from the Zehri are of Khuzdar District.
Three alleged would-be suicide
bombers were arrested by SFs during a search operation in Malangai
area of Mamond tehsil in Bajaur Agency. Suicide jackets
and other material were recovered during the raid.
SFs neutralised a bomb placed
near the parking lot of a Bazaar Zakha Khel in Landikotal.
Unidentified militants blew up
a girls’ school at Sher Din Banda under Zaida Police Station in
Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The building of the school was
partially destroyed. However, no casualties were reported in the
incident.
A blast took place at a market
in Link Road area of Swabi District and destroyed five shops.
However, no casualty was reported in the incident as the explosive
device was planted at the backside of the market.
The Army arrested two suicide
bombers and recovered a cache of explosive material kept in hiding
for use in terror activities from in Qila Iqbal Garh of Dera Ismail
Khan District. 200 mortar shells, 100 rocket launchers, 400 anti-aircraft
guns and other weapons were recovered.
Militants targeted bunkers of
volunteers of a tribal lashkar in Khwezai area along the
Afghanistan border with heavy and light weapons.
SFs also arrested a suspected
person during a raid on a house in Michni area of Yakaghund tehsil.
Karachi Police neutralised a bid
of terrorism by defusing a powerful bomb near Amn Park in the
limits of Baghdadi Police Station in Lyari town area of Karachi.
Police and SFs arrested two persons
allegedly involved in aborted plots of terrorism in the Chirah
village under Nilor Police Station of Islamabad. Sources said
that the duo were brothers of Sardar Ali Khan, a Naib Qasid in
the Finance Ministry, who allegedly provided accommodation to
terrorists affiliated with TTP to carry out a suicide attack at
a worship place on Jumatul Wida. Police detained Lashkari Khan
Khattak, the father of Sardar Ali Khan, who during interrogation
led the police to the hideout of his two other sons.
The Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction
over a report presented by IG of Sindh Police Wajid Durrani on
the Karachi situation and directed the Government to expose those
behind the spate of violence. The report is neither comprehensive
nor has been prepared with serious concentration as the facts
are missing in the report, observed a five-member bench of the
Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice
Ghulam Rabbani.
The Government believes that the
long-term solution to the Karachi problem lies in political dialogue,
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said. Addressing the stone-laying
ceremony of the Supreme Court Bar Association Complex, he said,
|
August 30
|
Two suspected militants were killed
in a bomb blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area under Mobina Town Police
Station in Karachi. According details, two unidentified men were
on their way somewhere when their motorcycle skidded off the road
and the explosive devise they were carrying exploded. As a result,
both the men were killed on the spot and their bodies perished
due to high intensity of the blast. Inspector Abid Farooq of the
Bomb Disposal Squad said that the device carried some four kilogrammes
of high explosive material.
The dead body of a young man found
from Khajji ground of Nazimabad under Rizvia Police Station. The
identity of the victim is yet to be ascertained. He received two
bullets and with his hands and legs tied with ropes.
Police found a three-day old body
near Kallo Chowk Korangi in the limits of Zaman Town Police Station.
The identity of victim is yet to be ascertained.
Law enforcement agencies, including
FC, conducted a raid in Khawja Ajmair Nagri, New Karachi, Sagheer
Centre, FB Area, Block 16 areas and detained some 20 suspects
and recovered a cache of weapons from their possession during
search operation.
President Asif Ali Zardari assured
Islamabad's full cooperation to combat Uyghur militants trained
in Pakistan and blamed by China for series of attacks in the restive
Xinjiang province and offered its territory and ports to boost
bilateral trade and linkages with Central Asia. Asif Ali Zardari,
who is currently visiting Urumqi, the capital of China's troubled
northwest Xinjiang province as part of a three-day visit to the
country, the seventh official tour in the last three years, underlined
Pakistan's commitment to root out terrorism and extremism during
talks with top officials.
Afghan-trained militants and returnees
from the prisons from Afghanistan have surfaced in Punjab and
are indulging in terrorist activities, Pakistani intelligence
reports said. 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.
Amnesty International slammed
the Pakistan Government for its failure to resolve hundreds of
cases of alleged disappearance in the country. "The Pakistan
government has made little progress in resolving hundreds of cases
of alleged disappearance, while new incidents are being reported
around the country," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's
Asia-Pacific Director.
|
August 31
|
A suicide car bomb blast killed
at least 11 Shia persons and injured 22 others celebrating Eidul
Fitr in Quetta. The bomber was apparently targeting a Shiite mosque
but could not get close enough because the road was blocked, said
Quetta Police Chief Ahsan Mahboob.
The CID arrested a suspected TTP
militant, Akhtar Ayub alias Khan, during a raid in SITE area of
Karachi. CID Anti-Extremist cell chief, SSP Chaudhry Alsam Khan
said that Akhtar Ayub was linked to the Fazlullah group of the
TTP and earlier masterminded suicide bombings. 25 kilogrammes
of explosive materials, along with detonators and other materials
used in bombs were recovered from the arrested militant.
A US State Department report published
last week said that Pakistan was incapable of prosecuting terror
suspects, since three in four defendants are acquitted. According
to a report in The Telegraph, the US State Department’s
2010 report criticized its frontline ally in the war on terror
saying it had had failed to outlaw militant Islamic terror groups,
since they escaped bans by changing names.
The report further said that Islamabad
had not closed loopholes which allowed terrorist groups and criminals
to launder money (hawala), also mentioning former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto’s unresolved case as an example of how the investigative
methods had to improve to collect better evidence, since the post
assassination footage clearly showed that the crime scene in Rawalpindi
was hosed down before evidence collection.
Mumbai terror attack accused Hafiz
Saeed, run JuD has created an offshoot Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation
to circumvent the ban on collection of donations in Pakistan and
are collecting aid with Police doing nothing to stop them. Moreover,
Saeed and his son Hafiz Talha Saeed have also been making speeches
and collecting donations at mosques in various parts of Lahore
all during Ramazan.
|
September 1
|
Seven passengers were killed in
lower Kurram Agency of FATA when unidentified assailants opened
fire on their vehicle. According to sources, the passenger vehicle
was travelling from the Alizai area to Parachinar when the assailants
opened fire, killing four people on the spot and severely wounding
four others. Six out of the seven persons who lost their lives
in the incident belonged to the same family.
Five civilians were killed and
35 others, including 10 Police officials, were injured in a suicide
car bombing in the Lakki Marwat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The explosion happened after officers signalled a suspect vehicle
to stop at a checkpost in the Lakki Marwat District, local Police
Chief Gul Wali Khan said. The driver ignored the instruction so
Police opened fire and the suicide bomber detonated his device,
he added. About 40 shops and 10 houses were damaged in the blast.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that the situation in Karachi has made a marked improvement
from before and that there has been no reported target killing
during Eid. Rehman Malik said this on the second day of Eid during
a surprise visit to Empress Market in Karachi.
|
September 2
|
At least seven persons, including
a Navy officer and an activist of PPP, were killed in separate
acts of target killing and violence in different parts of Karachi
over three days of Eidul Fitr.
A lieutenant commander, Nasir
(35) and his friend Iqbal (40) were shot dead at sector 11-B within
the limits of Sir Syed Police Station in North Karachi. Nasir
and Iqbal were going home from Noor Islam Mosque when two unidentified
assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on them, killing Nasir
on the spot, while Iqbal received critical injuries. Iqbal succumbed
to his injuries later in Hospital. Police recovered empty shells
of a 9mm pistol from the spot.
An activist of PPP, Rashid (36),
son of Basheer, was shot dead in his shop in sector 9-A in the
limits of Orangi Town Police Station in Orangi Town.
A man was shot dead, while his
brother was injured near Rado Apartment in the jurisdiction of
Gulistan Jauhar Police Station. The victim, 30-year-old Arbab
Mirza, son of Tahir Mirza, was the resident of Rado Apartments
block 14 Gulistan Jauhar.
Police recovered a dead body of
a young man, bearing torture marks, from Maripur Road near Railway
Crossing in the precincts of Docks Police Station. The identity
of the victim is yet to be ascertained and he appears to be Baloch.
A man was shot dead near Mira
Naka under Sher Shah Police Station.
A teenager girl, Areesha (17),
daughter of Abdul Rasheed, who received bullet injuries in Chakiwara
on Chand Raat, succumbed to her injuries.
LEAs have detained 123 more suspects
and recovered arms and drugs from their possession during search
operation in different parts of Karachi, including Kharadar, Gulistan-e-Jauhar,
Surjani, Malir and Gulistan-e-Jauhar. According to a handout issued
from Rangers head office, the law enforcers recover one 7mm rifle,
one 12-bore repeater, one 12-bore rifle, four TT pistols, 161
vine bottles and one motorcycle from the possession of 18 suspects
who were arrested from Surjani, Khuda Ki Basti, Ghas Mandi and
Khokhrapar areas.
A bank building and several shops
were damaged when an explosive device planted in a canister went
off in the Omarzai bazaar of Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Suspected TTP militants in Afghanistan
abducted as many as 40 Pakistani boys after they inadvertently
strayed across the border. The boys, from the town of Mamoond
in Bajaur Agency of FATA, were trekking when they ended up in
Afghanistan on August 31.
A man of Pakistani origin has
been arrested and charged in the US with supporting LeT, FBI officials
said. Zubair Ahmad (24), of Woodbridge, Virginia, allegedly received
religious training from the terrorist group as a teenager in Pakistan
and later attended one of its training camps. Zubair came to the
United States in 2007 with his family. He’s been under investigation
for two years, ever since the US Federal Bureau of Investigation
got a tip that he might be connected to the group, the officials
said. An affidavit submitted in a Virginia court claims that in
September 2010, Zubair produced and uploaded a propaganda video
to YouTube on behalf of LeT, after communications with a person
named “Talha”. In a subsequent conversation with another person,
Zubair identified Talha as Talha Saeed, the son of LeT ‘chief’
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. Talha and Zubair allegedly communicated
about the images, music and audio that Zubair was to use to make
the video.
Corps Commander Lieutenant General
Asif Yasin Malik said that large chunk of the Mohmand Agency in
FATA has been cleared of terrorists after the successful military
operation ‘Brekhna’ there and writ of the Government has
finally been restored in the region. Briefing journalists at Mamodgut
in Mohmand Agency, Malik said that Army had reclaimed 80 to 85
percent area of Mohmand Agency following successful military operation
‘Brekhna’ in which 72 soldiers, including three officers, embraced
martyrdom and around 150 were injured. He said that IDPs belonging
to Mohmand Agency had returned to their areas and were living
safely.
|
September 3
|
Two persons, including a woman,
were shot dead in separate incidents in Shah Nurani area of Khuzdar
District of Balochistan. Wadh Assistant Commissioner Mir Nasir
Merwani said that a woman was shot dead and her body was thrown
in Shah Nurani area. The victims belonged to interior Sindh.
A man was shot dead on Saryab
Road. According to details, unidentified armed men opened fire
on Maula Bakhsh, killing him instantly.
Political authorities arrested
22 tribesmen in connection with attacks on passenger buses in
Kurram Agency of FATA. At least seven passengers were killed in
an ambush on a passenger bus in Kurram Agency in the night of
September 1.
The CID of Sindh Police arrested
an alleged terrorist belonging to Hezbollah, involved in bank
robberies, street crimes, encounters and snatching of motorbikes
and other heinous crimes in a raid at PECHS area near UBL Bank
along Tariq Road in Karachi. The arrested man was identified as
Abid Hussain Bangash, a member of Hezbollah. The Police recovered
a Kalashnikov, two hand grenades and cash from his possession.
The TTP said that they were holding
30 Pakistani boys who were abducted September 1 after being lured
across the border into Afghanistan. TTP ‘Spokesman’ Ehsanullah
Ahsan said that the boys were abducted because they belong to
a tribe that opposed TTP. He said that TTP would decide the boys’
fate and set conditions for a possible release.
The law enforcement agencies arrested
six suspects, including officials of Afghanistan National Army,
during a raid on a camp of Afghan refugees in Chakdara town in
Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The arrested men included
Abdul Ghaffar and Khan Mohammad, who are said to be officials
of Afghanistan National Army.
The volunteers of various peace
bodies in Peshawar and tribal and semi-tribal regions of FATA
decided to extend cooperation to each other in their fight against
TTP. Sources said that a meeting of the heads of various peace
bodies was held at Bazid Khel of Peshawar wherein different issues
were discussed. The meeting was also attended by Haji Gul Meran
of Madali Chowk, Lal Pur Gul and Javed of Dura Adda of Akakhel
and Bazid Khel Qaumi Lashkar chief Fahimur Rehman.
A joint force of the FIA, the
Coast Guards and the Frontier Constabulary will be established
on the Sindh-Balochistan border to check movement of terrorists
and smuggling of arms into Karachi. This was decided in a meeting
chaired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The minister said that
the purpose of the post would be to monitor and control the movement
of terrorists and check inter-provincial gunrunning and curb smuggling
of fuel from Iran via Balochistan.
ISPR DG Major General Athar Abbas
said that just like all other people, Pakistan Army felt concerned
about poor law and order situation in Karachi. In an interview
to a foreign news agency, he said that Army was seriously concerned
over the death of innocent citizens in Karachi.
|
September 4
|
At least four people, a woman
among them, were killed and two others injured during a clash
between Deoband and Barelvi sects in Godhra area of New Karachi
area of Karachi.
A MQM activist, Rehan (30) was
shot dead in Lines Area within the limits of Brigade Police Station.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a man and threw his body near Chotta Graveyard under Pirabad Police
Station.
35-years-old Abdul Kareem shot
dead within the precincts of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.
Abdul Kareem was sitting near his home in Hussain Hazara Goth
when unidentified assailants shot him dead and fled.
Rangers and Police arrested over
a dozen suspects, including four alleged target killers, during
search operation in Bakra Piri in Lyari and Pak Colony’s Jehanabad
and their surrounding areas in Karachi.
SFs continued besieging Baish
Banar Mountain in Manglawar tehsil of Swat District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and reportedly killed two terrorists. Two SF
personnel were also sustained injuries.
Expressing full confidence in
the LEAs operating against lawbreakers in Karachi, Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani promised unbiased and across the board action
against those found involved in anti-state activities.
Tribal elders from Bajaur Agency
of FATA are holding talks with TTP militants in Afghanistan for
the release of scores of boys abducted during an outing along
the Pak-Afghan border on September 1, ISPR DG Major General Athar
Abbas said.
The chief of Pakistan TTP, Hakimullah
Mehsud, claimed that his fighters have the upper hand in Swat
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Mohmand Agency of FATA, regions
that are close to the Afghan border. He urged Muslims to support
the group, according to a video monitored by the SITE Intel Group,
which tracks militant websites
In October 2009, the Army was
ready to launch an operation in Waziristan but President Asif
Ali Zardari opposed the move on political grounds, a US diplomatic
cable released by WikiLeaks reveals. The cable deals with a meeting
the then US ambassador in Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, had with
Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad on October
6, 2009.
Two militants were killed when
a bomb exploded prematurely in Kalosha area of SWA in FATA in
the night. Sources said that two militants were planting an explosive
device on the road leading to the house of TTP 'commander' Sharif
Wazir in Kalosha area when it went off, killing them on the spot.
Sharif Wazir was a confidant of TTP 'commanders' Mullah Nazir
and Nek Mohammad. He had played a prominent role in eviction of
Uzbek militants from South Waziristan Agency in 2008. Sources
said that militants were planting the bomb to target Sharif Wazir.
|
September 5
|
Four persons, including an activist
of the ANP, were killed in separate acts of target killings as
the gruesome trend of gunny bag-stuffed bodies re-emerged in the
provincial capital Karachi.
The LEAs have detained over 100
suspects, including several political workers during an overnight
search operation in Karachi. According to Police sources, the
Godhra search operation, which was triggered after an armed clash
between Deoband and Barelvi sects in Godhra area of New Karachi
area on September 4.
An application has been filed
at the Secretariat Police Station for the registration of FIR
against Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik for allegedly
being involved in the release of terrorists in Karachi, following
Mirza’s allegations. The application was filed by Advocate Tariq
Asad in which it was stated that Malik had released at least 25
target killers.
The dead bodies of two brothers,
who had gone missing mysteriously, were found in Humrang Beebak
area. Sources said that the two brothers had fallen victim to
terrorism.
A girl was injured when suspected
militants fired rockets and missiles at border areas of Mamond
tehsil in Bajaur Agency. Sources said that militants targeted
Manro Jangle and Speray localities with rockets and missiles.
Six rockets and five missiles were fired by the militants. SFs
and tribal lashkar retaliated and forced the militants to flee.
Explosives damaged a house in
the border area of Angoor Adda in SWA. Locals said that the explosive
went off inside the house of Nazar Jan, a member of Ahmedzai Wazir
tribe. The house was partially damaged in the explosion. No loss
of life was reported.
A security official and a militant
were killed in clashes between the SFs and terrorists in Beesh
Banard area of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Swat Media
Centre informed that the encounter took place when SFs chased
the terrorists during a search operation.
Police arrested a wanted terrorist,
‘commander’ Payee Mohammad during a search operation in Kanju
area. The Police had received a tip-off that a terrorist ‘commander’,
Payee Mohammad, was present in the house of his relatives at Shaheed
Baba.
A senior al Qaeda leader, Younis
al-Mauritani, believed to have been responsible for planning attacks
on the US, Europe and Australia was arrested on an unspecified
date in Quetta of Balochistan. Younis al-Mauritani was picked
up in the suburbs of Quetta along with two other high-ranking
operatives of al Qaeda, said ISPR. Cooperation between the CIA
and ISI led to the arrests by the paramilitary, ISPR said.
FIA is to inquire about total
number of arms licenses (prohibited bore, non prohibited bore)
issued by Ministry of Interior over a period of 10 years, starting
from year 2000. This was decided at a high-level meeting chaired
by Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik at the Ministry of
Interior.
Senator Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani,
former President of PPP, Balochistan, made a startling disclosure
in Quetta that a prominent militant leader had approached him
agreeing to end his militancy and join the mainstream politics
within the framework of one Pakistan.
|
September 6
|
The TTP set conditions for freeing
27 abducted youths it has been holding hostage for about a week
and demanded that the Government should release children and women
languishing in various prisons, stop instigating tribesmen for
forming anti-TTP lashkars and disband such lashkars and
‘peace committees’ in Bajaur Agency of FATA.
In an attempt to mount pressure
on the Government to release Osama bin Laden’s family from custody,
the TTP allegedly plans to abduct high-ranking civil and armed
officials from all over the country, says Interior Ministry sources.
According to official sources, the Interior Ministry has advised
all Government departments and officials of law enforcement agencies
to stay vigilant
CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
ordered the Sindh Government to appoint the ATCs judges within
two days. A larger bench of the Supreme Court, comprising CJP
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice
Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam
Rabbani, was hearing the suo motu case regarding the target killings
and violence in Karachi. Justice Jamali raised a question why
the judges had still not been appointed despite the recommendation
made by the Sindh High Court chief justice.
The Abbottabad Commission has
imposed a ban on travelling abroad for all persons relating to
slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s raid in Abbottabad, including
Dr Shakeel Afridi, till further orders. No such person should
be allowed to leave the country without clearance from the commission,
it was officially announced.
The United States will likely
seek access to question a senior member of al Qaeda arrested in
Pakistan, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, as he cheered
US-Pakistani cooperation in capturing him.
|
September 7
|
At least 26 people were killed
and over 60 injured in two suicide attacks targeting the residence
of the DIG of FC Brigadier Farrukh Shehzad in Quetta. Earlier,
it was reported that 15 persons were killed in the twin suicide
car bomb blast. The attacks targeted and wounded DIG of Frontier
Corps Brigadier Farrukh Shehzad whose force was involved in the
arrest of Younis al Mauritani and two other al Qaeda operatives
in Quetta in an operation announced on September 5. A woman, her
three children and at least 11 troops from the FC and BC were
among the dead, Police officer Hamid Shakil said. The TTP claimed
responsibility for the twin attacks. “Our fidayeen (suicide bombers)
have carried out this attack. It is revenge for the arrests of
our brothers in Quetta,” TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan told
Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. “If they make
more arrests then the reaction will be much more forceful,” he
warned.
Sindh Police arrested six persons,
including a target killer, in separate raids at various parts
of Karachi, the provincial metropolis of Sindh.
Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Hussain
Wasan said that the LEAs have arrested 1,249 persons and recovered
188 weapons from their possession since the commencement of surgical
operation. He further said the Police had so far arrested 782
criminals and recovered 179 weapons while Rangers nabbed 467 suspects,
out of which 19 were handed to the police. Of these, 42 were suspected
target killers, he added.
Sindh Law Department posted six
judges in provincial ATCs against vacancies on the directives
of SC. The SC on September 6 ordered the Sindh Government to appoint
judges in the anti-terrorism courts within two days so that cases
of extortion and other heinous crimes in Karachi could be tried
under the anti-terrorism act.
Sindh Rangers DG Major General
Ejaz Chaudhry informed the SC that law and order situation in
Karachi is worse than Waziristan. Speaking during the hearing
of target killings and violence in Karachi at the SC’s Karachi
Registry, he said that militant groups of political and ethnic
parties were involved in violence in the city.
US officials imposed financial
sanctions on three al Qaeda leaders based in Pakistan, including
Libya-born propaganda chief, Abu Yahya al-Libi. The two others
named by the US Treasury Department were Younis al-Mauritani,
who was arrested in Quetta on September 5, and Mustafa Hajji Muhammad
Khan, who was identified by Treasury as a logistical supporter
of al Qaeda.
|
September 8
|
Two militants were injured when
SFs opened fire on a suspected vehicle in Bagun area of Kurram
Agency in FATA. Sources said that SFs were providing escort to
300 passengers going from Parachinar in Khurram to Peshawar in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when armed persons travelling in a suspected
car approached the convoy from the opposite direction. Sources
said that the attackers belonged to the Mullah Toofan faction
of TTP led by ‘commander’ Mohammad Ayub.
Officials of Chamkani Police Station
in Peshawar recovered 25 kilogrammes of explosives and other materials
being smuggled from Muzaffarabad in PoK. Two persons identified
as Gul Muhammad, a resident of Nasir Bagh, Peshawar and Bacha
Khan, a resident of Charsadda were also taken into custody, CCPO
Imtiaz Altaf said.
LEAs detained some 330 suspects,
including 14 political workers, two target killers, two extortionists
and former nazim of Baldia town, Kamran Akhtar, during
search operation at different parts of the provincial metropolis
Karachi. The sources said the law enforcers also recovered weapons,
including 28 kalashnikovs, 18 pistols, 40 TT pistols, nine snatched
bikes and some 3,000 rounds from their possession. Sources said
over 2,000 Rangers personnel along with Policemen and sniffer
dogs participated in the operation at different parts of the city,
including Al-Rahim Apartment, Pehalwan Goth, Yousuf Plaza, FB
Area, Baldia Town, Saeedabad, Rangar Mohalla, Banaras, Sohrab
Goth and New Karachi.
The inhabitants of Baldia staged
a protest demonstration against the search operation outside the
camp of Sachal Rangers 60 Wing in Baldia Town. The sources said
the Rangers had arrested two target killers, Kamran Lamba and
Imran, belonging to a religious party from sector 5 A in New Karachi
and recovered two Kalashnikovs, two 9-mm pistol and 300 rounds
from them.
CJP Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry remark that “all the political parties have formed armed
groups and the current situation is very critical”. The Supreme
Court was hearing the suo motu case regarding the target killings
and violence in Karachi.
Terming Pakistan's ISI as the
biggest danger to the Afghanistan Government, US Senator Mark
Kirk said that ISI was responsible for the death of several Americans
inside war-ravaged Afghanistan. "Pakistan has become the
main threat to Afghanistan. Pakistan's intelligence service is
the biggest danger to the Afghan government. It is also a tremendous
threat to the lives of American troops," Senator Mark Kirk
said in his speech after his third two-week Afghan assignment
as Naval Reserve Intelligence Commander.
The NATO-led ISAF in Afghanistan
is resisting Islamabad’s pressure for a big push against terrorists
in eastern Afghan provinces, where most of TTP have set up sanctuaries
and have launched multiple attacks from there on Pakistan’s border
check posts.
ISAF Commander General John Allen,
who was on his first visit to Pakistan on September 7 after taking
over the coalition command in Afghanistan, had to listen to protests
by Pakistani generals upset over the ease with which TTP who,
after fleeing military operations in the country, launched attacks
in Dir and Chitral from their sanctuaries in Kunar and Nuristan.
Pakistan wanted to wind down militancy
in Jammu and Kashmir in 2006, but failed due to a stiff 10-day
protest by militant leaders, according to a US embassy cable from
Islamabad released by Wikileaks. “The Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) had summoned the leaders of the Kashmiri militancy for a
March 8, 2006, meeting in which the Government of Pakistan thanked
the militants for their struggle, but then told them to lay down
their arms and give the bilateral peace process a chance,” says
the cable.
Although the details varied, most
accounts agreed on the basic message: time had come for the militants
to stop violence to allow space for President Pervez Musharraf
and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to move forward with peace initiatives.
The cable also stated that JKLF
secretary general Mohammed Rafiq Dar said the confusion in the
UJC – a conglomerate of leaders of militant groups active in Kashmir
– created an opening for Malik to advocate a ceasefire. For instance,
Dar said Malik held several conversations with HM leader and UJC
chairman Syed Salahuddin, who said he joined the protest in response
to Pakistan’s orders out of comradeship.
In 2006, Musharraf had proposed
a four-point formula, envisaging self-rule in a Jammu and Kashmir
demarcated into provinces.
|
September 9
|
Fierce clashes between two factions
of the TTP rattled the Talo Kanj, Badsha Kot and Shabak areas
of Kurram Agency in FATA. The fighting involved militants loyal
to TTP chief Hakeemullah and TTP Kurram chapter Chief Fazal Seed.
The latter had parted ways with the TTP and formed his own group,
TTIP, on June 27.
A Pakistan-born former Taliban
terrorist, Munir Farooqi (54), was given four life sentences after
he was found guilty of trying to recruit undercover officers for
jihad and fight British soldiers in Afghanistan. Munir Farooqi,
a Pakistani-born British citizen was at the centre of a plot to
radicalise and persuade young men to “fight, kill and die” in
a jihad in Afghanistan.
Federal Minister for Ministry
of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Shaukatullah Khan said
that more FC and Levies personnel will be deployed along the Pak-Afghan
border to check infiltration of militants from Afghanistan. Talking
to a delegation of Tribal Union of Journalists during his visit
to Bajaur Agency, the Federal Minister said the Government of
Pakistan had lodged a strong protest with Afghanistan authorities
against militant attacks in Chitral, Dir and Bajaur regions from
Kunar and Nuristan provinces.
He said 2,000 more youth would
be recruited in Levies force from FATA, adding that efforts were
being made to impart advanced training to the personnel. The Federal
Government had decided to set up levies training centres in all
the seven agencies’ headquarters. He said levies personnel would
also be sent to Islamabad for special training.
The CJP said that a report, produced
by the ISI in the court, could not be made public. A larger bench
of the Supreme Court, comprising CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice
Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, was hearing the suo
motu case regarding the target killings and violence in Karachi.
Alluding to the Supreme Court’s
criticism of inherent weaknesses in Police investigations, the
Sindh Police Chief IGP Wajid Ali Durrani confessed on September
9 that an incomplete FIR had led to exoneration of alleged attackers.
IGP Wajid Ali Durrani said “Thirty per cent of the police force
sympathises with them [criminals],” he claimed.
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 a Jang report said.
"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.
The United States believes Pakistan
is vital to stabilising the South Asian region and continues to
work with Islamabad, despite differences on issues related to
counterterrorism, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said.
|
September 10
|
Five persons were shot dead in
separate incidents of violence in different parts Karachi in Sindh.
A bullet-riddled dead body, stuffed
in a gunny bag, was found in the limits of Baghdadi Police Station.
The victim was identified as Nazar alias Jummah. Police said that
the deceased was kidnapped, tortured and then murdered.
A 25-year-old man was gunned down
in a drive-by shooting in the jurisdiction of SITE-A Police Station.
The victim was identified as Usman.
Yet another man was killed and
his friend got injured when unidentified armed riders opened indiscriminate
firing on them at Lasi Parah in Model Colony remits. The deceased
was identified as Mukhtayar Marfaani.
13-year-old boy, a son of unit
in charge of MQM Korangi sector, was shot dead in the limits of
Korangi Police Station.
A girl, identified as Shumaila,
received a stray bullet and died on the spot when she was enjoying
heavy shower on the rooftop of her house at Nazimabad.
CID and Anti-Extremist Cell claimed
to have arrested 11 suspects, including five alleged target killers,
during separate raids in different parts of the city.
Police and Rangers took 40 persons
into custody and recovered huge cache of weapons from their possession.
Decomposed dead body of a BSO-Azad
activist, Kaleemullah (19), with 14 bullet injuries was found
at Naushki Road near Kushak area of Mastung District in Balochistan.
Kaleemullah was an activist of BSO-Azad Mastung Zone, and nephew
of Mohammad Aslam Baloch, a National Party leader. Sources said
that he was abducted from Satellite Town on August 25.
Three soldiers were injured in
a roadside bomb blast in Chegmalai area of South Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
An Inspector of IB Wali Khan was
allegedly abducted by unidentified persons from the KDA town area
of Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Official sources said
that Inspector Wali Khan, who is posted in Hangu, did not reach
home in the KDA town. The inspector belongs to Karak District.
Police arrested four militants
in Buner District. Police said that another accomplice of the
militants managed to escape. One of the arrested militant was
identified as Yaqoob, a resident of Elai village in Buner District.
Police said that Yaqoob and his two accomplices were trying to
enter Buner District from Malakand when police at Kingar Galai
post arrested them. Police arrested two of them while their third
accomplice escaped. Police also recovered three hand grenades,
magazines of Kalashnikovs and detonators from their possession.
SFs also arrested two suspected
militants from the premises of high school in Gerarai.
Pakistan has sealed off all borders
with Afghanistan in order curb the massive influx of Afghans into
Pakistan, said Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik. Addressing
a news conference at the CM Secretariat in Quetta, the Minister
said that the Government had imposed a complete ban on the movement
of Afghan refugees and other foreign nationals by restricting
their movement to the locality where they resided.
When asked if key operatives of
al Qaeda and Taliban were in Quetta, he said that after the death
of Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda has declared Pakistan to be its enemy.
TTP leaders, according to him, have moved from remote tribal areas
to Quetta after their defeat by the Pakistan Army.
|
September 11
|
At least four militants were killed
when a US drone fired two missiles, hitting a vehicle and a house
in the Hisokhel village of North Waziristan Agency FATA. A nearby
house was also damaged in the missile strike. The identities of
the militants killed in the attack were not immediately clear,
he said.
A child was killed and three others
sustained injuries when three mortar shells landed in a residential
area of Kandokhel, sub section of Khugakhel in Landikotal tehsil
of Khyber Agency.
Search operation by LEAs was in
full swing as around 300 more suspects were taken into custody
in various parts of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
According to Police sources, over 2,000 Rangers personnel along
with Policemen and sniffer-dogs conducted search operation in
different parts of the city, including Lyari, Nayaabad, Daryabad,
Agra Taj colony, Bihar colony, Baldia Town, Saeedabad, New Karachi,
Iqbal Plaza near Radio Pakistan, Jackson, Gul Bahar and Rangar
Mohalla. Some 200 suspects were detained along with huge cache
of heavy weapons.
LEAs detained some 100 persons
from Iqbal Plaza and nearby buildings located along MA Jinnah
Road while several suspects were apprehended from Baldia, Sherpao
Colony, Shah Faisal Colony, Keamari, Nazimabad and other areas.
Sunni Tehreek (ST) headquarters in Risala area and MQM-H office
at Sherpao Colony were also passed through search exercise. LEAs
also sealed the house of People’s Amn Committee chief Uzair Baloch
during the operation.
Karachi Police press release said
that have arrested 12,020 accused from January 1 to September
08, 2011, during actions against criminal elements, while 26 Police
Officers and Constables embraced martyrdom and 65 others injured
during encounters. 12,020 accused including 5,239 dacoits, 6,427
absconders and 354 wanted accused. Police recovered 4,194 illegal
weapons, including 38 SMGs, LMGs; 11 shotguns, 54 rifles, 82 repeaters,
3,648 pistols, 210 revolvers, four carbines, 22 mousers, four
RPGs and 20 hand grenades from their possession.
|
September 12
|
Unidentified masked assailants
killed a tribesman and injured three others in Marai area of Kohat
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested a terrorist from
Swat who had been wanted for important sabotage activities since
a long time. According to details, Police, on tip off by an informant,
conducted a raid in the Koza Bandi area, from where the terrorist,
Muhammad Rahim alias Baba Commando was arrested. Rahim was also
running a radio station since 2007, which was a source of invoking
awareness about the spread of terrorism in the country.
Troops were deployed along the
border in Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Chitral to check incursions
of militants from Afghanistan.
Unidentified militants attacked
a FC checkpost with a hand grenade in Turbat. According to sources,
unidentified militants riding a motorcycle hurled a hand grenade
at an FC checkpost and managed to escape. However, no casualty
was reported in the attack.
National Party leader and former
District nazim (mayor) Khair Jan Baloch escaped unhurt in a firing
incident in Awaran. According to sources, Baloch was going with
his family to Jaho from Awaran when unidentified assailants opened
fire on his car. However, no casualty was reported in the attack.
At least 17 suspects, including
political workers, were detained by the law enforcement agencies
(LEAs) in targeted search operations at different parts of Karachi.
Some five suspects namely Janan
Khan, Zar Malook, Naveed, Babar and Ismail were detained from
Rasheedabad in the limits of Pirabad Police Station. LEAs also
recovered one Kalashnikov, four TT pistols, several rounds and
narcotics from their possession.
LEAs after a brief encounter at
Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Sector 5A-1 arrested Hubul Bengali who is
said to be the worker of a religious political party. His other
accomplice namely Arshad K-2 escaped under the cover of heavy
gunshots. Police official said the accused was involved in the
murders of three workers of SSP during a recent clash.
Seven more suspects along with
heavy weapons were detained from Pioneer Apartments at Abul Hassan
Ispahani Road during a search operation.
AIG of Sindh Police Saud Mirza
claimed to have scaled down the target killings to three percent
through the ongoing search operations in Karachi, which started
from August 23. Mirza at a press conference said that Sindh Police
had conducted raids at 2,000 places where some 1,478 persons,
including 48 target killers and 21 extortionists were detained
and a huge cache of weapons was seized.
AIG Saud Mirza said that Police
and Rangers in joint search operation recovered huge cache of
illegal weapons, including 36 Kalashnikovs, 476 pistols, 19 rifles,
18 repeaters and 259 grenades. Moreover, he said that 17 target
killers and 78 absconded criminals were arrested in joint raids
of Sindh Police and CID at Mochko, Pak Colony and New Karachi
and 290 different types of weapons, including 253 grenades were
recovered. He further said that the Sindh Police have so far arrested
140 target killers, who are allegedly involved in the killing
of 245 persons. Mirza said 16 challans of 13 target killers who
were arrested from June 18 to August 17 and 52 challan of 48 target
killers involved in the killing of 45 persons, were established.
|
September 13
|
TTP militants attacked a school
van in Matani, a suburb of Peshawar, killing four children and
the driver. At least 12 boys, two girls and two female teachers
were injured in the attack. TTP claimed the responsibility of
the attack.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found in a canal near Paharkhel Thall village on the outskirts
of Lakki city in Lakki Marwat District. The deceased were identified
as Sadullah and Rizwanullah.
ANP District President, Sher Muhammad
Khan, was killed and four others were injured in a remote-controlled
bomb blast at Bandai village of Maidan tehsil in Lower
Dir District.
Two tribal elders and a prayer
leader were killed in Akkakhel area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Sources said that militants abducted two tribal elders and a prayer
leader on September 11 from near their houses in Akkakhel area.
Two suspected militants were killed
when a mortar shell exploded accidentally in a bunker in Zambakhel
Bazaar area.
A pro-government tribal elder
was killed and his three relatives were injured when militants
attacked his house in Mamond area of Bajaur Agency. According
to officials and local residents, militants attacked the house
of Mlaka Gul Noor in Landi Shah area of Damadola with heavy weapons.
Malak Gul Noor had supported Government against militants in the
region.
A soldier was killed and two others
were injured in a bomb blast in Laddha area of In South Waziristan
Agency.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that ‘criminals’ arrested in Karachi during the current
operation belonged to all political parties, reports Dawn. The
Government has evidences (audio and video tapes) against them
which will be made public if permitted by the Supreme Court.
ISI provided protection to slain
al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden for a period of time, a report
of The New Yorker magazine said. 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.
A 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.
|
September 14
|
Militants shot dead three ISI
officials in the Janikhel area of Frontier Region Bannu in the
FATA. Another officer sustained injuries. Officials said that
the ISI personnel were going to the tribal area when two militant
riding a motorbike intercepted their pick-up truck near Sardikhel
and opened fire. The attackers managed to escape after the attack.
Militants beheaded a local tribesman
in the Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on charges of spying. Sources
said that militants abducted Rahim Shah, a resident of Dray-Plar
area of Bara Qambarkhel, and later left his beheaded body in the
nearby mountains. A letter left with the body alleged that the
deceased was involved in spying on militants and desecration of
worship places.
The Manzarkhel branch of Akkakhel
tribe has extended its full support to the local peace committee
in its campaign against militants. The decision was made at a
jirga of tribal elders where scores of local armed volunteers
joined the peace committee and also established a number of checkpoints
to monitor the movements of militants. The jirga also constituted
13 groups, each comprising 10 armed volunteers, to patrol the
Akkakhel-Matani Road. The groups were directed to operate under
the command of Haji Gul Miran, the head of Akkakhel Peace Committee.
The political administration distributed
cheques of PKR 300,000 each to the heirs of slain local tribal
members who lost their lives in a suicide attack at the Torkham
border on August 27, 2009, where more than twenty Khasadar personnel
were killed, and in a NATO oil tanker blast in Khuga Khel in Landikotal,
when 15 were killed. A total of 32 families were compensated
out of 36. The compensation ceremony was held at Tehsil office
in Landikotal. The Landikotal Assistant Political Agent Iqbal
Khattak distributed the cheques among the heirs.
The LEAs arrested over 100 suspects,
including three target killers, two robbers and two extortionists,
in separate raids in Karachi. Six of the 100 suspects are said
to Afghans. The LEAs recovered 100 weapons of different types.
DSP Sohrab Goth Iftikhar Lodhi
disclosed that a target killer, Kashif Raza Abidi, was arrested
from Gulshan-e-Maymar. DSP Lodhi said that the accused confessed
to have murdered two MQM activists.
On the other hand, CID Police
arrested a target killer, Rafiq Rangar, from Haryana Colony along
with a Kalashnikov. The accused is involved in the murders of
two Pakistan People’s Party activists Aamir Baloch and Waseem
Baloch.
CID separately arrested a target
killer Rehan, accused in several heinous crimes, including firing
at police van, robberies and kidnapping from Hyderi area. Five
persons Muhammad Riyaz, Shoaib, Asad, Rafiq and Nazeer Hussain
were arrested in the limits of Frere Police Station. Police claimed
to have recovered several gold biscuits from the accused Shoaib
and Asad, who were involved in Glass Tower robbery.
SP Saddar town Naeem Sheikh said
that the Police arrested Shahid, an arms dealer, and recovered
two Kalashnikovs, eight repeaters, four triple-2 rifles, 45 pistols,
thousands of bullets and 45 license punching tools from his possession.
New Karachi Industrial Area Police
arrested three persons Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Danish and Rasheed
and recovered three TT pistols and several rounds from their possession.
The FBI and Department of Justice
said that three Pakistani citizens, arrested in Miami, have pleaded
guilty to providing material support to the TTP. In a statement
issued by the FBI, the three accused, named Irfanul Haq, Qasim
Ali and Zahid Yousuf, pleaded guilty before a US district judge
in Washington to the count of “conspiracy to provide material
support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.” The three
were accused of trying to smuggle a “purported TTP member” into
the US. In March 2011, the three were arrested in Miami on the
count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
warned Pakistan the United States would “do everything we can”
to defend US forces from Pakistan-based militants staging attacks
in Afghanistan. “Time and again we’ve urged the Pakistanis to
exercise their influence over these kinds of attacks from the
Haqqanis. And we have made very little progress in that area,”
Panetta told reporters flying with him to San Francisco.
The Federal Government decided
not to give Police powers to Rangers in Karachi on a permanent
basis and to retain the prevailing arrangement under which the
paramilitary force enjoys special powers of search and arrest
for three months.
The CJP, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
said that the Supreme Court will extend its full support to the
Government to control law and order situation in Karachi so that
lives and properties of innocent citizens could be protected.
The CJP also expressed serious
concern over a statement issued by Sindh IGP Wajid Durrani in
which the IGP had said, “Approximately 30 to 40 percent police
personnel are the supporters of terrorists.” The CJP said this
won’t help in controlling law and order situation. Chaudhry said
it was responsibility of the Government and law-enforcement agencies
to provide protection to people.
|
September 15
|
A suicide bomber blew himself
up during funeral prayers Jandol town of Lower Dir District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 31 persons and injuring 63 others.
The attacker struck as mourners were preparing for prayers being
held in open ground near cornfields in Jandol town, 100 kilometres
from Swat Valley. There was no immediate claim of responsibility
for suicide attackThe funeral was for Bakhat Khan, who was a member
of a local “militia that is opposed to TTP rule in the region.
SFs killed four militants after
militants attacked their convoy with a remote-controlled explosive
device that left two soldiers dead in Gandao area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
An unidentified militant was killed
when explosive material he was trying to plant inside a school
in Speen Qabar area of Bara exploded. However, other militants
later destroyed the school. An adjoining private health clinic
was also damaged due to the explosion.
At least three houses were partially
damaged when mortar shells fired by the SFs at the suspected militant
positions hit the houses of Azmat Shah and Maulana Abdul Qayyum
in Gandao area.
The SFs neutralised an explosive
device planted on a roadside near Charwazgai security checkpost
in Landi Kotal.
As many as 60 suspects, including
political workers, were detained by the LEAs during targeted search
operations in different parts of Karachi.
CID Sindh Police claimed to have
arrested a target killer Mairaj alias Qasai and recovered one
Kalashnikov from his possession.
Clifton Police claimed to have
arrested four target killers Asif Ali, Mubarak, Adnan and Zeeshan
from Upper Gizri area and recovered two 7mm rifles, one repeater
and six TT pistol from their possession.
LEAs also conducted a raid at
Old Golimar and Pak Colony areas and arrested four target killers
Sohail, Ali, Pervez and Alam recovering huge cache of weapons
from their possession. Police sources said that they were involved
in target killings and riots.
Saudabad Police conducted a raid
at Malir railway crossing area and arrested a target killer Zafar
alias Andha and recovered one Kalashnikov from his possession.
Police said Andha belongs to a political party. LEAs also conducted
raids at Landhi No 1 and Tipu Sultan Allah Wali Colony but as
per sources, no one could be arrested from these areas.
Al Qaeda’s chief of operations
in Pakistan Abu Hafs al-Shahri has been killed, a senior US official
said on condition of anonymity. The death of Abu Hafs in Waziristan
follows the killing of al Qaeda’s number two Atiyah abd al-Rahman
in August.
Al-Qaeda's new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri
is still hiding in Pakistan, Pentagon spokesman George Little
said. "We have no information to indicate that he is anywhere
else than in Pakistan," Pentagon spokesman George Little
said.
Pakistan's border region remains
the most dangerous place in the world and Federally Administered
Tribal Areas remains epicentre of the world's worst of global
jihad, said Michael Vickers, the Under Secretary of Defense for
Intelligence said.
|
September 16
|
Seven militants were killed and
two others injured during a clash between two militant groups,
separately led by Quwat Khan and Mullah Toofan, in Gawaki area
of Kurram Agency in FATA.
SFs conducted an operation in
Chora village of Jamrud of Khyber Agency and destroyed a militant
hideout in the area. SFs also recovered an ammunition depot and
triggered an explosion to destroy it. However, one soldier was
killed and two others were injured in the explosion.
A 12-year-old girl was injured
when a mortar shell fired by SFs from Fort Salop fell on a house
in Bara tehsil.
Three women were injured when
a mortar shell fell on another house in Sipah area.
The death toll in September 15
suicide bombing in Samar Bagh area of Jandol town in Lower Dir
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rose to 45, DCO Mahmood Aslam Wazir
said.
The residents of the Neelum Valley
in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) staged protests against renewed
militant activity in the area due to fears that the presence of
militants could jeopardise a nearly eight-year-old ceasefire with
India. Local residents said militants from the Pakistani heartland
are flocking to Neelum Valley and crossing into Jammu and Kashmir
to launch attacks there. The residents feared that retaliatory
fire from the Indian side might threaten life in Neelum Valley
and a ceasefire that was put in place in 2003.
Pakistan and Afghanistan discussed
ways and means to take effective and concrete measures against
extremism and terrorism to ensure peace and security in the region.
“Terrorism is a common enemy and both the countries had agreed
to take joint and effective measures to curb it and fight the
militancy for the safety and security of people of both the countries,”
said Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Deputy Foreign Minister
of Afghanistan Jaweed Lodin while addressing a joint press conference
after the completion of the second meeting of the Joint Peace
Commission held at the Foreign Office.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that Pakistan had already contributed enormously in fight
against terrorism and extremism and it was now the United States’
turn to “do more”. “Now it’s the time that they [United States]
should do more,” the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister said
that Pakistan had sacrificed much in battling the menace of terrorism
during the last decade and that Islamabad should not be pressurised
to do more.
|
September 17
|
Five FC personnel were injured
when an IED planted on Charbagh road on the west of Landikotal
Bazaar in Khyber Agency of FATA was detonated.
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri confessed
in the Anti-Terrorism Court, that he had killed Punjab Governor
Salman Taseer in Islamabad for his `blasphemous` statements. Qadri
contended that Salman Taseer had committed blasphemy under the
references of Quran and Islamic Jurisprudence and, every person
who committed such act or supported a blasphemer or doubted that
the punishment of blasphemer was unjustified or practically tried
to abolish sentence for commission of blasphemy, was liable to
death.
|
September 18
|
At least 15 persons were killed
when TTP militants attacked a checkpost manned by pro-Government
tribesman and SFs in Akakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber
Agency of FATA. Armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, the
militants killed four Pashtun tribesmen and Frontier Constabulary
solider. Members of a tribal militia and SFs retaliated, killing
10 militants. Two vehicles of the lashkar were also destroyed
in the attack.
Three persons were killed when
unidentified assailants opened fire on a passenger bus in the
Haider Khan area of Kurram Agency. According to sources, the three
men were travelling from Parachinar to Alizai when the assailants
opened fire on their vehicle. Moreover, it was reported that all
three of them were members of the Toori tribe belonging to Shia
sect.
Soldiers battled TTP militants
in an attempt to seize precious debris from a suspected US drone
that crashed at Jangara village in the South Waziristan Agency
near the Afghanistan border. TTP claimed that they shot down the
unmanned aircraft, which crashed in the night of September 17
near Jangara village. However, a security official in Peshawar
said that the American drone crashed in Zangara village, apparently
because of some technical faults.
At least 10 militants were killed
in a clash with troops after an under-construction security post
near the Afghanistan border at Kharkai Kandao in Lower Dir District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came under attack. Regional ISPR chief Lieutenant-Colonel
Arif told reporters that 10 militants had been killed and one
soldier injured in the clash at Kharkai Kandao where security
personnel were setting up an outpost on a hill.
Militants set ablaze a government
primary school in Kachi Nisar village in Arsoon area along the
Afghan border in Chitral. The Chitral District Coordination Officer
Rahmatullah Wazir said the militants fled towards Afghanistan
after torching the school building. It was the first attack on
a Government school in Chitral.
Police arrested two men for their
alleged involvement in terrorism from Matta area of Swat District.
SHO of Mata Police Station, Bakht Khan, arrested the two accused,
identified as Nooruddin Khan and Numan, residents of Ashari village.
As many as 52 suspects, including
a target killer, were arrested in surgical operation in different
areas of Karachi. The major operation was conducted at P&T
Colony from where several suspects were apprehended. The colony
was located in Gizri where heavy contingents of Rangers and Police,
including women personnel, cordoned off the area. They recovered
licensed and unlicensed weapons from the area. The operation was
also conducted at Zia Colony, Korangi and some areas of Mauripur
where Rangers and police recovered weapons and booked several
suspects.
LEAs also conducted a raid in
Orangi Town, Sector 10 and detained two persons. Sources said
they had come from other areas and recently settled in Orangi
Town.
LEAs have so far detained over
500 suspects during the surgical operation and raids in several
areas of metropolis since August 24, 2011.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Mike Mullen has restated his strong desire to see the Pakistani
military take action against Haqqani network and their safe havens
in North Waziristan, Mullen’s spokesman Captain John Kirby said.
The top US and Pakistani military leaders met in Spain to discuss
ways to shore up strained ties after a US raid that killed al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a spike in violence in Afghanistan,
he said.
Cameron Munter, the US Ambassador
in Islamabad, said in remarks broadcast that there is evidence
linking the Haqqani insurgent network to the Pakistani government,
a charge that could raise tensions in an already strained anti-terror
alliance between Washington and Islamabad. The US and NATO blame
the Haqqani network for many of the attacks in Afghanistan, including
this week’s strike on the US Embassy. US officials say they are
looking for evidence that directly links elements of Pakistan’s
ISI to the assault on the US Embassy and coalition headquarters
in Kabul on September 13, a sign of just how rancorous relations
have become between the two allies in the fight against al Qaeda
and the Taliban.
The Haqqani network, one of the
most feared militant groups in Afghanistan, would take part in
peace talks with the Kabul Government and the United States only
if the Taliban did, Haqqani network Chief Sirajuddin Haqqani told
Reuters.
The Sirajuddin Haqqani rejected
several peace gestures from the United States and President Hamid
Karzai’s Government in the past because they were an attempt to
“create divisions” between militant groups, he said. Any further
efforts to do so would fail, added Sirajuddin, son of Jalaluddin
Haqqani.
HRCP Balochistan chapter expressed
its serious concern over the increasing number of decomposed bodies
of missing persons being recovered from different parts of Balochistan.
HRCP Quetta chapter Chairman Tahir Hussain and Advocate Zahoor
Shahwani, while addressing a news conference, said that situation
was going from bad to worse in the province, as security personnel
themselves were not secure from attacks.
Pakistan's sacked National Security
Adviser Mahmood Durrani claimed he had "written authority
and had conferred with the ISI chief before admitting to the media
that 26/11 Mumbai terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab was a Pakistani,
a US cable revealed by WikiLeaks reported.
|
September 19
|
At least eight people were killed
and 30 others injured in a suicide car bomb attack targeting SSP
CID Chaudhry Aslam in the Darakhshan area of Karachi. The blast
occurred outside the house of SSP Chaudhry Aslam. DIG South Commander
Shaukat confirmed that six guards, a woman and a child were killed.
He said a double-cabin vehicle had been used in the attack. Aslam,
who survived the attack, told reporters that he had received threats
from militant groups, including the al Qaeda-linked TTP.
TTP claimed responsibility for
the suicide car attack on the residence of Chaudhry Aslam, saying
Aslam had arrested and killed many of its fighters.
At least five persons were killed
and 33 injured when a powerful bomb exploded in the busy commercial
area of Nishtarabad Chowk along the GT Road in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified persons blew up an
oil tanker, supplying fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan, on GT
Road near Shaidu area of Nowshera District. However, no loss of
life was reported in the incident.
A driver was killed and his cleaner
received injuries when militants attacked NATO containers on Torkham
bypass road near Degree College in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Unidentified militants shot dead
a tribal elder of pro-government peace committee, Malik Aziz Khan,
at Mamond tehsil of Bajaur Agency. Malik Aziz Khan was on his
way to mosque for prayer.
A bullet-riddled body of a missing
person, identified as Abdul Ghafoor Rodini, was found in Zero
Point area of Khuzdar District. Abdul Ghafoor Mengal went missing
on August 11 from Industrial town of Hub. “Ghafoor was abducted
along with two other people, including BNP activist Abdul Nabi
Mengal,” an official said, adding that the body of Nabi Mengal
was found on August 18 near Hub town.
Three oil tankers were gutted
in firing by unidentified militants on Quetta-Taftan National
Highway under Sadar Levies Thana in Mastung District.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton pressed Pakistan in 3-1/2 hours of talks on September
18 to attack the Haqqani network militant group, an unnamed senior
US official said.
Intelligence agencies are learnt
to have identified as many as two dozen extremist militant and
sectarian outfits operating in Karachi who may face a crackdown
once the hunt for politically-backed target killers is over, an
unnamed senior official of the Federal Minister of Interior said.
According to a report compiled
by intelligence agencies, as many as 19 groups — five of them
run by Shias — were active in Karachi and their associates were
involved in bomb explosions and murders. Among the groups active
in Karachi, the biggest is LeJ, an anti-Shia sectarian outfit
involved in mass murder and improvised attacks on minority groups,
including Ahmadis. It has a strong known al Qaeda link. SSP, HuJI,
TTP, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al Alami, HuM, JeM, Jundallah, Tehreek
Islami Lashkar-e-Muhammadi, Sunni Tehreek and Lashkar-e-Islami
are the other Sunni groups active in Karachi. Among Shia militant
outfits are: SMP, Imamia Student Organisation (ISO), Tehreek-e-Jafaria
Pakistan, Mehdi Militia and Hezbollah.
|
September 20
|
The LeJ militants shot dead 29
Shia pilgrims travelling to Taftan, a town that shares border
with Iran, in two consecutive attacks in Ganjidori area of Mastung
District and Quetta city of Balochistan. Militants ordered pilgrims
off their bus, lined them up and opened indiscriminate fire on
them in Ganjidori area. An hour after the first attack, unidentified
gunmen killed another three Shias on the outskirts of Quetta whom
Police said were relatives of victims of the first incident en
route to collect their bodies. Claiming for the attack, LeJ spokesperson,
who introduced himself as Ali Sher Haideri, said his outfit will
continue to target people from Shia community.
SFs killed 29 militants during
a search operation in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency in FATA. The
operation was carried out after an attack on a checkpost in Arhang
village of Dabori by militants in which one Policeman, identified
as Hidayatullah Jan, was killed and nine SFs were injured. Officials
said the militants had launched a two-pronged attack on the post
early in the morning.
16 militants, including Afghan
and TTP Punjab chapter, were arrested during a search operation
in Wacha Khur area of South Waziristan Agency.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a militant, identified as Jamshed, in Garhi Sarmai area of Darra
Adamkhel in Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials blamed
the local peace lashkar (tribal militia) for the murder of Jamshed,
who had left Tariq Afridi group of TTP sometime back.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
over 80 suspects, including two extortionists and two target killers,
in the surgical operation conducted in various parts of Karachi,
the provincial metropolis of Sindh.
A two-member bench of the Supreme
Court, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Sarmad
Jalal Osmani, expressed dissatisfaction over the reports submitted
by the Karachi Police in compliance with an interim order in a
suo motu case on the law and order situation in Karachi.
|
September 21
|
The beheaded bodies of three tribesmen,
abducted by militants a month ago, were found in Sam Ghakay area
of Khwezai tehsil in Mohmand Agency of FATA. Sources said
that Mian Hazrat, Nazeem, and Habib had been abducted by militants
about a month ago from Palosai area of Khwezai tehsil.
25 militants, including three
‘commanders’, laid down arms and surrendered to Security Forces
during a tribal jirga in Salarzai tehsil Bajaur Agency.
A Balochistan Constabulary official
was shot dead by unidentified militants in Chaman Pattak area
of the provincial capital, Quetta. According to Police, Constable
Muzafar Hussain Shah, while on routine duty outside the anti-corruption
office in Jogezai Street near Chaman Pattak, was shot dead by
unidentified militants on a motorcycle.
A top Pakistani military commander,
Major General Javed Iqbal, was shot in the thigh when his helicopter
came under fire near the mountainous village of Nusrat Darra in
the Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Accusing ISI of using the Haqqani
network to carry out a “proxy war”, US warned Islamabad to cut
ties with the terror group and help eliminate its leaders or it
will act unilaterally. The US administration has indicated that
the US will act unilaterally if Pakistan does not comply, The
Washington Post reported.
A US Senate committee voted to
make economic and security aid to Pakistan conditional on its
cooperation in fighting militants. The Senate committee did not
specify any amount for economic aid to Pakistan for fiscal 2012,
leaving it up to the Obama administration to set the level and
notify Congress or provide nothing at all. If the administration
wants to provide zero, that'd be OK with us, said Republican Senator
Mark Kirk, one of the more vocal critics of Pakistan on the panel.
Washington has allocated about
USD 20 billion for Pakistan over the last decade. In fiscal 2010,
Congress approved USD 1.7 billion for economic aid for Pakistan,
and USD 2.7 billion in security aid, the Congressional Research
Service says.
The US accused the ISI of using
the Haqqani network to wage a ‘proxy war’, hardening its criticism
of Islamabad’s ties with Taliban-allied factions fighting NATO
and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that in a discussion with Pakistan’s
Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that lasted about four
hours, he had pressed Pakistan to break its links with the group.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik claimed that the Haqqani Network is not in Pakistan. “I
assured Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert
Mueller that the Haqqanis are not on the Pakistani side, but if
there was any intelligence, which was provided by the US, we would
definitely take suitable action,” Rehman Malik said.
|
September 22
|
A powerful roadside bomb targeting
an anti-TTP militia ripped through a pick-up vehicle in Chamarkand
village of Bajaur Agency in FATA, killing at least five persons
and inuring another eight. Three of those who died are members
of an anti-TTP militia and one is a 10-year-old boy. The fifth
one is the driver.
Two persons, including an official
of the Khasadar Force, were killed and another was injured in
an armed attack on NATO tankers, carrying fuel for NATO and ISAF
forces in Afghanistan, at Sheikhwal area of Landikotal in Khyber
Agency.
Unidentified militants ambushed
and injured a senior tribal journalist and former Khyber Agency
Tribal Union of Journalists president Khalil Khan Afridi in Landikotal
town.
A suicide bomber was killed along
with two facilitators and two terrorists were arrested after an
hour-long search-and-cordon operation by the Army in Malukabad
area of Mingora town in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At least two children were killed
and nine others injured in a toy bomb blast in Khipro, a suburban
and desert area of the Sanghar District in Sindh.
Sindh Police claimed to have arrested
nine persons, including a target killer, during raids at different
areas of the metropolis Karachi.
Mauripur Police claimed to have
arrested two extortionists from Mauripur Greeks. According to
Police, they conducted a raid at Mauripur Greeks and arrested
Kamran and Farman, recovering TT pistols from their possession.
They said that the accused belonged to an extortionist group and
demanded PKR 0.2 million from Abdul Qayyum, an accountant of Keamari
town office.
Police also conducted a raid at
Liaquatabad No 4 and arrested Kashif alias Darzi, recovering three
Kalashnikovs, two repeaters and two hand grenades from his possession.
Khawaja Ajmair Nagri and Garden
Police arrested five criminals and recovered five TT pistols and
several rounds from their possessions.
The Punjab Government placed Malik
Ishaq under temporary house detention because of his attempts
to stoke Sunni-Shia conflict since his release from prison on
July 14. The Punjab Government ordered that Ishaq remain at home
for 10 days, said Sohail Chattha, the Police chief in Rahim Yar
Khan District from where Ishaq belongs.
The US CJCS Admiral Mike Mullen
accused Pakistan of “exporting” violent extremism to Afghanistan
by backing militants that attack American and NATO troops. He
said ISI was actively supporting Haqqani network militants blamed
for an assault on the US embassy in Kabul on September 13. “The
Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s
Inter-Services Intelligence agency,” Mullen told the US Senate
Armed Services Committee.
Reuters
quoted two unnamed US officials as saying that the ISI specifically
directed, or urged, the Haqqani network to carry out the September
13 attack on the US embassy and a NATO headquarters in Kabul.
US Democratic Senator Richard
Blumenthal said that Pakistani officials had knowledge of illicit
money transfers to Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, following
up serious charges by the US ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter
to the effect that ''there is evidence linking the Haqqani Network
to the Pakistan government".
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik rejected the US allegations that Islamabad had ties with
the Haqqani network, saying if they have some kind of proof they
must come forward. Pakistan would not tolerate any incursion on
its territory by US forces targeting terrorist groups, the interior
minister said, calling for Washington to provide the intelligence
that Islamabad needs to take them out itself.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that the US risks losing an ally if it continues to
publicly criticise Islamabad’s performance in the war against
militancy. “You will lose an ally,” Hina Rabbani Khar told a Pakistan-based
television network in New York.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
made it clear that it will not allow safe havens for terrorists
in Pakistan which are used to launch attacks on American forces,
as Washington mulled options to force Islamabad to confront the
issue.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar told the United Nations that steps had been taken to augment
the safety and security of the country’s nuclear installations
and materials in order to provide energy in a safe and responsible
manner.
|
September 23
|
Two missiles fired by a US drone
killed six persons in Khushali Turikhel village in Mir Ali tehsil,
about 40 kilometres from Miramshah, headquarter of NWA in FATA.
Three others were injured.
Four LI militants were killed
in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency after a time device fitted in
their vehicle went off.
NWA Political Moharrar
(in-charge), Muhammad Alam who was abducted from Miranshah Bazaar
on September 19, was killed and his body was found from Anzar
Kalay area.
Three people from the Hazara community
were killed and three others, including a child, sustained injuries
when a passenger van was attacked by unidentified assailants on
Sibi Road in Sayrab area of the provincial capital of Balochistan,
Quetta.
A vehicle of FC survived a bomb
blast unscathed in the Mian Gundi localities of Saryab area. According
to FC spokesman Murtaza Baig, the remote control device was planted
on the roadside, which went off when the FC vehicle passed by.
TTP militants shot dead a Police
Sub-Inspector when he was on the way to Naguman Police post after
recording his statement in a local court at Bakhshi Pul on Charsadda
Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A Police constable was shot dead
at a bus stop in Dera Ismail Khan. Police said two personnel of
Eagle Squad were on duty on Tank road near a bus stop when they
signalled a suspected motorcyclist to stop for checking, but instead
he opened fire on them, injuring one of the constables, Rashid
Irfan.
A suspected militant, Hashim Khan,
was arrested while another managed to escape after Dadiwala Police
exchanged fire with them in Wanda Gulapa village of Lakki Marwat
District. A Kalashnikov, two magazines and 25 bullets were recovered
from the arrested suspect.
The LEAs claimed to have detained
around 40 suspects, including six target killers, from different
parts of provincial metropolis of Sindh, Karachi and recovered
huge quantity of weapons from their possession during the surgical
operation.
The LEAs put LeJ’s leader Ghulam
Rasool Shah under house arrest in his home town Bahawalnagar in
the same District of Punjab. Shah is considered a close aide of
LeJ leader Malik Ishaq as well as co-accused in some cases of
terrorism registered against Ishaq.
Reacting to recent outbursts by
top US officials against Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza
Gilani said that the United States should avoid sending ‘wrong
messages’ which would affect the bilateral ties between the two
counties.
The Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq
Pervez Kayani said that the US accusations about ISI running a
proxy war and supporting the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network are
“very unfortunate and not based on facts”.
General Ashfaq Kayani has not
only rejected his allegations of using the Haqqani network for
waging a proxy war in Afghanistan but also pointed out that several
countries were engaged with the militant group.
The White House urged Pakistan
to break any links it has with the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani
militant network and to take action to shut down their safe havens
along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier. White House spokesman
Jay Carney said the Haqqani network was responsible for the September
13 attack on the US Embassy in Kabul and other assaults in Afghanistan
that have killed American troops.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
asked the Sindh Government to take an across-the-board action
against criminals, target killers and extortionists and bring
them to justice.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of
the Haqqani network, during a conversation with Reuters said that
the United States will suffer more losses (in North Waziristan)
than they suffered in Afghanistan.
|
September 24
|
At least 15 militants were killed
in a gunfight with the SFs near Kharkai hills, in the Lower Dir
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A key ‘commander’ of the TTP,
identified as Jamal Din alias Jannat Gul alias Qari Abdul Basit,
was killed in an exchange of fire with the Police in Tarkhel in
Akora Khattak in Nowshera District.
SFs killed 14 militants and neutralised
two of their hideouts during operations in Orakzai and Khyber
Agencies in FATA. According to sources, SFs bombed the suspected
hideouts of militants in Dabori, Alikhel, Mamozai and Mullakhel
areas of Orakzai agency with jet planes. During the operation
at least 10 militants were killed while two hideouts were also
neutralised.
In Tirah valley of Khyber Agency,
SFs pounded suspected hideouts of terrorists with heavy artillery
fire, killing at least four militants. The areas targeted by the
SFs were considered to be strongholds of terrorists.
The Pakistan Rangers recovered
a cache of arms buried in an open plot in Surjani Town of Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. Five AK-47 assault rifles, five
shotguns, three light machineguns, over a dozen pistols, around
3,000 bullets and some 50 hand-grenades were recovered during
the raid.
The CID of Police in Karachi arrested
a TTP ‘commander’, identified as Masood al Rehman Mehsud, in Gulshan-e-Iqbal,
along with a suicide jacket and a Kalashnikov in his possession.
The accused Rehman Mehsud is a native of Sararogha region in South
Waziristan, where he was made the TTP ‘commander’.
A 12-year-old Afghan boy was caught
red-handed while planting a bomb inside an Imambargah Nichari
by people in the Alamdar Road area in Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
said that confusion prevailed within the US establishment on the
way forward in Afghanistan. Rejecting the assertions of complicity
with the Haqqanis or of proxy war, the Prime Minister said that
it would only benefit the enemies of peace.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that Pakistan itself has the capability to launch an
offensive against terrorists. The Interior Minister said that
Pakistan will not tolerate any foreign intervention on its soil.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that the United States must not make someone a scapegoat
if its goals are not achieved. There are red lines and rules of
engagement with America, which should not be broken, she told
a private TV channel in New York. The Foreign Minister warned
the United States against sending ground troops to fight an Afghan
militant group blamed for attacks in Afghanistan.
Khar also made a strong plea for
resolving the two “oldest unresolved disputes on the UN agenda
“Kashmir and Palestine to enable the struggling peoples of those
lands exercise their right to self-determination.” “We are meeting
here at a time when the Palestinian aspirations for a national
homeland appear to be entering a decisive phase,” she said.
COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
discussed military relations with top US military commander General
James Mattis and demanded a joint investigation into cross-border
attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan, a private TV channel reported.
Poverty and fear of the TTP have
forced most girls in the FATA into joining seminaries, says a
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report. 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.
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.
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.
|
September 25
|
At least two militants were killed
when SFs repulsed an attack on an Army convoy at Malikdin area
of Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in. Three vehicles of the
SFs were also damaged, but no loss of life was reported.
A boy was killed when a stray
mortar shell hit the house of Khawas Khan in Malak Dinkhel area
of Bara. The shell hit the house of Khawas Khan killing his grandson
on the spot.
Two persons suffered minor injuries
as a time device fitted with a NATO container exploded in Torkham
border checking point.
The LEAs continued the surgical
operation in various localities of Karachi, including Lyari, held
150 suspects, recovered huge cache of weapons and found two torture
cells.
In a raid in Lyari, they cordoned
off Gul Muhammad Lane, Nayabad, Slaughter Yard, Singo Lane, Shah
Baig Lane, Chakiwara, Kalakot and other areas. Sources said the
law enforcers also held Zafar Baloch leader of Aman Committee
but released him within couple of hours. However, Rangers did
not confirm his arrest.
Rangers also picked up over 130
suspects but released many of them except 17 alleged terrorists
including Rashid Rekha, Mullah Nisar, Saeed, Rashid alias Tension,
Asif and Hanif. The sources also confirmed that Rangers recovered
three dungeons where people were brought for tortures and killing.
The two were recovered from Gul Muhammad Lane and one from Nayabad
while Rangers was yet to confirm the recovery of dungeons.
The LEAs also seized cameras installed
in various locations and mobile jamming devices. Rangers claimed
to have recovered a huge cache of weapons, including licensed
weapons. The illegal weapons recovered were rocket launchers,
SMGs, hand grenades, kalashnikovs and other sophisticated weapons.
Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) of
Islamabad Police foiled an attempt to smuggle a cache of weapons
and recovered six mini machine guns, 14 kalashnikovs, four 12
bore pump action, one 12 bore double barrel, one sniper rifle
and over 30,000 rounds from a vehicle near motorway inter-change
of Islamabad.
The Chief of LI, Mangal Bagh,
said that officials working to register voters and conduct a census
in Khyber Agency will be ‘sentenced to death’ unless they immediately
halt their activities. “We will continue opposing Government policies
unless the Government or its advisers begin talks with us,” Bagh
said, in an address broadcast on his private FM radio channel
in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Afghan defence officials warned
Pakistan to stop firing rockets and heavy artillery into northeast
of the country or the military will respond with force. Pakistani
Security Forces have fired 300 rockets into Kunar and Nuristan
provinces during the past five days forcing hundreds to flee their
homes, the Afghan officials alleged. Afghan Interior Ministry
Spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui did not specify who was behind the cross-border
shelling but added: “We call on Pakistan, whoever is behind the
attacks, to prevent it immediately.”
The CIA created the Haqqani network
and trained its members, not Pakistan, Federal Minister of Interior
Rehman Malik said. “We will fight the terrorists as our forces
are capable of handling them and countering any challenge,” Malik
said, adding that it was evident from combating terrorists in
Swat and other troubled areas that the law enforcement agencies
were making sincere efforts to root out the menace of terrorism.
Pakistan, which used every "legal
and illegal" means to go nuclear, shared its secret atomic
technology and equipment with countries like Iran and Libya, says
an undated ISI report obtained and released by the Fox News,
based on Nuclear scientist A Q Khan's questioning, which was circulated
among western intelligence agencies. "It is most unfortunate
that these things (transfer of nuclear technology) happened due
to the peculiar nature of the circumstances and loose arrangements
in those early days and because of the personal obligations of
previous governments to these countries," says the undated
ISI report.
|
September 26
|
A woman was killed when a stray
mortar shell fell on a house in Star Kaley village of Shalobar
area in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency FATA.
A large number of security personnel
have been deployed at the mountain tops in Mamond tehsil
of Bajaur Agency after continued cross-border shelling from Afghanistan
into different areas of Bajaur Agency.
At least 11 personnel of FC were
injured in an explosion near FC check post in Dera Bugti District
of Balochistan
Unidentified militants blew up
a 16-inch diameter gas pipeline near Pir Koh disrupting gas supply
from wells to purification plant.
Sindh Police arrested 14 people,
including ten target killers, along with their weapons during
raids in several areas of Karachi.
Pakistan’s Army Chief General
Ashfaq Kayani scrapped a visit to London as Islamabad refused
to bow to mounting US demands for action against al Qaeda-linked
Haqqani network holed up in the North Waziristan Agency.
A public acknowledgement by the
Army’s chief spokesman Major General Athar Abbas about Pakistan
having contact with the Haqqanis also appears to confirm that
the security establishment has no intention to go after one of
the most feared Afghan insurgent groups.
Even though the Haqqani network
is yet to be declared as a foreign terrorist organization, the
US has slapped sanctions against several of its leaders, an Obama
administration official said
Chinese Vice-Prime Minister Meng
Jianzhu said that China stood by Pakistan and reaffirmed his country’s
support in fight against militancy and promotion of regional peace
and stability.
|
September 27
|
A US drone missile strike killed
at least three militants in Wana of South Waziristan Agency of
FATA.
One Afghan militant, identified
as Noorullah Nooristani, was killed by Amaan (peace) Lashkar (tribal
militia) at Mandal areas of Bajaur Agency in FATA while three
others escaped towards Afghanistan.
Two people, including a child,
were killed when an explosive device went off at their house in
Jawar area of Buner in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three NATO oil tankers and a container
were set ablaze by unidentified militants in Dhast area of Mastung
District in Balochistan
American congressmen were presented
with a bill called the “Pakistan Accountability Act”, introduced
by Congressman Ted Poe from Texas, “This legislation will freeze
all US aid to Pakistan with the exception of funds that are designated
to help secure nuclear weapons,” says a transcript available on
the Congressman’s website.
China categorically extended full
support to Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial
integrity and vowed to work with it for progress and peace in
the region and the world
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that Pakistan would attack and remove Chinese militants
hiding in tribal areas.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
warned the US to stop accusing it of playing a double game with
militants, and said Washington must correct a perceived tilt towards
arch-foe India.
The Afghan Taliban attacked US
allegations that Pakistan supported the Haqqani network as a plot
to undermine the militant unity.
Hundreds of tribesmen threatened
the US with “holy war”, lashing out at demands for action against
al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network based in Pakistan.
The Senate’s Standing Committee
on Defense said that the US will never dare to attack Pakistan
however Pakistan is fully capable to retaliate if ever necessary.
The US rejected reports of disagreement
among US officials in Pentagon over Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan.
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.
|
September 28
|
Two employees of oil and Gas Company,
including an official Jameel Hussain and Ijaz Ali, and a trooper
were killed as Baloch militants opened indiscriminate fire on
the place where employees were engaged in exploring oil and gas
at Sharag in Harnai District of Balochistan. Five others sustained
bullet wounds in the shooting incident.
Advocate Abdul Salam, former President
of the BNP in Khuzdar District of Balochistan was shot dead and
his daughter sustained injures near the Government Model High
School at Khuzdar.
A Policeman was killed and three
others wounded when unidentified assailants opened fire on a patrolling
vehicle of Khazana Police Station in Peshawar District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Police claimed to have foiled
a terror bid in Peshawar by seizing an explosive laden vehicle.
A low-intensity time device, installed
in a lunch box, hanging along the handle of a bike exploded close
to a local university in B-Block area of Faisal Town in Lahore
District of Punjab.
Police said authorities arrested
an employee of the finance ministry on suspicion of links to terrorist
groups. The suspect, identified as Sardar Ali Khattak, was on
a hilltop near President Asif Ali Zardari’s residence in Islamabad
when arrested.
The LeJ founder Malik Ishaq who
was released last month after spending 14 years in prison has
been re-arrested after making inflammatory speeches against the
country’s Shia minority.
US officials imposed financial
sanctions on two leaders of Pakistan-based LeT. The US Treasury
Department named Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, leaders
and founding members of LeT, a group on the US terrorist list
since 2001.
Mike Mullen stood by his criticism
saying he could not tolerate casualties caused by militants backed
by Pakistan. “I’m losing people, and I’m just not going to stand
for that,” said the admiral.
On the directives of the Federal
Ministry for Interior, National Database and Registration Authority
(NADRA) extended the deadline for the computerization of arms
licenses to October 31.
The abducted gunman of the MNA,
Mohammad Raja, in FATA, Munir Orakzai, was found dead in Kurram
Agency of FATA.
A trooper was injured when a convoy
was attacked with a remote controlled bomb in Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency in FATA
A local TTP militant ‘commander’
Tehsil Khan and his associates narrowly escaped a roadside blast
in the Shakai area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA.
NATO and Afghan army reportedly
targeted bunkers of Security Forces with heavy weapons near Angoor
Adda from Macha Dad Kor area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA.
In Zawa area of Akkakhel in Khyber
Agency of FATA, local tribal lashkar set ablaze the houses of
six suspects, including a local ‘commander’ of LI.
In Landi Kotal, Khasadars defused
an explosive device planted along the main Landi Kotal-Torkham
Road in FATA
In Jamrud, troopers seized 15
kilograms heroin from an Afghan national at Bhagiyarhi check post.
A cleaner received bullet injuries
when about 12 unidentified militants fired in all directions to
scare away khasadars and personnel of Khyber Rifles after
they set ablaze a NATO container at Torkham border in Khyber Agency
in FATA.
Owners demolished their shops
and restaurants in Torkham after expiry of the deadline set for
them by political administration.
A US newspaper alleged that Pakistan
was involved in an attack on US soldiers in 2007 on the border
with Afghanistan. The attack resulted in the death of a US major
and injured three other American soldiers, along with an Afghan
interpreter.
Support is growing in the US Congress
for expanding American military action in Pakistan beyond drone
strikes already used to target militants in Pakistani territory,
said Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator in US.
Islamabad will have to understand
that Haqqani Network is not only a threat to America but Pakistan
too, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Grossman said.
Emphasizing that Haqqanis are a common adversary, Grossman added
that Pak-US amity would endure.
The US government is in its "final"
review on whether to blacklist the Haqqani network, which it blames
for deadly attacks in Afghanistan, as a terror group, US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said.
|
September 29
|
A wagon driver, identified as
Mumtaz, was shot dead in at Karkhano Market in Peshawar.
An unidentified body of a 26-year-old
man was recovered from a local canal at Fatoha Abdur Rahima in
limits of Chamkani Police Station in Peshawar.
One person, identified as Haider
Ali, was shot at and injured by unidentified armed men at a bus
stand on Jamrud road in KP
An official of Bomb Disposal Squad
(BDS) was killed when a bomb exploded in Chaman town of Qilla
Abdullah District
A blast ripped through the top
floor of a hotel building in the Pakistani capital Islamabad,
injuring at least six people late.
Beheaded body of a young man was
found at a deserted place in Chora locality of Jamrud tehsil of
Khyber Agency in FATA.
In Sheikhan Kallay of Bara tehsil,
unidentified persons blew up a tube well.
Khasadars Force defused a bomb
planted in a NATO tanker in Ali Masjid area of the Agency.
MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed was released
in Karachi.
US Treasury Department announced
new sanctions on five individuals it said are linked to “the most
dangerous terrorist organisations operating in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.”
The ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha
denied US accusations that the country supports an Afghan militant
group blamed for an attack on the American embassy in Kabul.
Pakistan has freed a senior al
Qaeda ‘commander’, who served as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden,
according to a senior security source, raising fresh questions
about the country’s commitment to tackling terrorism.
The Inquiry Commission on Abbottabad
Operation conducted interviews of the officers from the civil
administration and local police in Abbottabad.
Pakistan’s counter-terrorism measures
have failed to yield results in 2011 with insurgent activities
gaining ground and operational situation facing the military there
continuing to deteriorate, said US President Barack Obama to the
Congress in an unclassified report.
US State Department said that
US was single-mindedly bent on dealing a decisive blow to Haqqani
Network before anything else.
|
September 30
|
A US drone strike killed three
TTP militants at Baghar village of South Waziristan Agency in
FATA.
Suspected militants abducted at
least 34 coal miners from Kalakhel area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA. Both Kalakhel and Adamkhel are
strongholds of the TTP affiliated to the Tariq Afridi group. However,
no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Three persons including two SF
personnel were shot dead in Kalat District of Balochistan.
At least six people were injured
in an attack by militants on Quetta Express passenger train in
Jaffarabad District of Balochistan.
The Balochistan Union of Journalists
staged a demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club to protest
threats to media persons from militants and other pressure groups.
The SFs foiled a sabotage attempt
and recovered a 30 kilogram bomb and 15 kilogram explosive powder
during a search operation near Gomal in Tank District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
An ATC awarded death penalty to
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri.
US President Barack Obama said
Pakistan’s relationship to the Haqqani network is unclear, but
he urged Islamabad to curb any active or passive support for that
Taliban faction.
The US and Pakistan have been
bickering publicly during the last week after outgoing chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said a violent
Taliban faction was a ‘veritable arm’ of the Pakistani spy service.
The top US military officer Admiral
Mike Mullen, as he stepped down from his post said that there
can be no solution to the conflict in Afghanistan without Pakistan.
NATO’s chief piled pressure on
Pakistan to step up the fight against “terrorists” enjoying safe
havens in the border region with Afghanistan. NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for a “positive engagement” from
Islamabad to ensure stability in Afghanistan.
|
October 1
|
SFs arrested 50 suspected militants
during a search operation in Mandal area of Salarzai tehsil
in Bajaur Agency of FATA. The SFs also seized huge cache of arms
during the search operation.
|
October 2
|
Four Policemen were killed and
15 others injured in a bomb blast on their convoy in Torghar District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An assistant sub-inspector in
IB, Arshad Ghayas, was shot dead by unidentified militants at
Mohallah Ismailkhel in Sheikh Jana area of Swabi District in KP.
At least six mobile phone shops
were damaged in a blast in Maidan area of Lower Dir District of
KP.
In Khyber Agency, two NATO containers
were partially damaged when suspected militants targeted them
at two different locations on the main Peshawar-Torkham Highway.
At least three stray mortar shells
fell on a steal factory in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil
in FATA
In Jamrud tehsil of FATA,
Khasadar Force seized huge quantity of explosive material at the
Takhta Beg check post from a vehicle, coming from Shahkas area.
Three suspects were arrested from
Katti Pahari area in Karachi during a search operation.
Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed
assassin of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, was sentenced
to death on two counts for murder and terrorism by a Rawalpindi
ATC in Punjab.
The killer of the former Afghan
President and the Chairman of the Hamid Karazai’s High Peace Council
Burhanuddin Rabbani was a Pakistani, a statement from Afghanistan’s
Presidential palace said.
Rejecting the earlier allegation
levelled by the Afghan Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi about
ISI involvement in the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, Pakistan
indicated that Afghan security agencies might be involved in this
and other such killings.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that the Pakistanis have a point when they say that
Pakistan alone did not create the Haqqani Network. A transcript
released by the State Department, quoted Clinton as saying that
the US relationship with Pakistan was critical to the ongoing
stability and peace of the region, as well as the fight against
terrorism.
Referring to Admiral Mullen’s
Senate testimony in which he blamed the ISI for encouraging the
Haqqani Network for attacking US targets in Afghanistan, Secretary
Hillary Clinton emphasised the need to look at the issue from
a historical perspective, noting that in the war against the Soviets
in Afghanistan, the US Government, CIA funded jihadis like
the Haqqanis “to cross the border or to, within Afghanistan, be
part of the fight to drive the Soviets out and bring down the
Soviet Union”.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the Government was committed to bring peace through
dialogue with TTP in FATA.
Regarding the Pakistan-US ties,
Gilani said that Pakistan must adopt a moderate approach in its
relations with Afghanistan and the US.
Former President Pervez Musharraf
accused the US of using Pakistan as a scapegoat for its failure
in Afghanistan.
|
October 3
|
A schoolteacher, identified as
Rehmatullah, was shot dead and a passer-by woman was injured in
Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
A militant, identified as Noko,
was shot dead and his two accomplices were arrested during an
exchange of fire with Levies personnel who were on a routine patrol
in Awaran District of Balochistan.
Eight militants were killed and
three injured in a clash with SFs in Dabori area of upper Orakzai
Agency in FATA.
Eight aid workers belonging to
a US NGO, who were abducted while returning from an Afghan refugee
camp on July 18, 2011 from Surkhab area of Pishin District in
Balochistan were released by the TTP in Wana town of South Waziristan
Agency in FATA.
A 12 year old girl, identified
as Fanyaz Bibi, was killed when a mortar bomb exploded in her
hands at Lachi tehsil in Kohat District of KP.
The BDS defused a rocket shell,
RPG-7 rocket, in the old bus stand area placed by unidentified
militants in the busy area of Kohat city.
A tortured body of a man, identified
as Moin, was recovered from a grave located at Dir Colony, North
Nazimabad in the remits of Sharah-e-Noor Jehan Police Station
in Karachi.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
39 suspects and recovered weapons in raids that were carried out
at several areas of Karachi. Pakistan Rangers, also claimed to
have arrested at least 22 suspects, including political workers
and Lyari gangsters.
At least 38 weapons, including
Kalashnikovs, repeaters, short guns and pistols, as well as 2,000
rounds of ammunition were also recovered during the raids and
operation in Karachi.
Pakistan is a major source of
makeshift bombs being used by terrorists in Afghanistan, a media
report of The USA Today said. "From June 2011 through
August 2011, 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.
The TTP welcomed the Government’s
offer for peace talks with all insurgent groups. “The TTP
welcomes the Prime Minister’s offer,” Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, TTP’s
Deputy Commander and Commander-in-Chief in Bajaur Agency of FATA
said.
A TTP commander, Maulvi Faqir
Muhammad, said that his group will not blindly support Pakistan
in the event of an attack by the US.
Pakistan rejected allegations
from Afghan officials that its Intelligence Agency masterminded
the September 20, 2011 assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the
former President of Afghanistan and Kabul’s chief peace negotiator
with the Taliban.
The Parliamentary Committee on
National Security reiterated that there would be no compromise
on country’s sovereignty and warned US that its intervention will
not be tolerated.
Maulana Abdul Khaliq Haqqani,
a TTP ‘commander’ of North Waziristan Agency in FATA warned that
he will send suicide bombers to target top officials of a state-run
power utility if electricity is not restored in the area in 48
hours.
|
October 4
|
One soldier, identified as Azizullah,
was killed when a missile hit a security check post in Mazak area
of Tiarza tehsil in South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
A group of masked militants set
ablaze Pakistan Hotel near Gomal Zam Project site near Kajori
area in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
In Khyber Agency of FATA, unidentified
militants targeted two NATO containers with remote controlled
bombs, planted at roadside in Jamrud tehsil.
At least 12 people of Hazara community
were killed and seven seriously injured after unknown militants
fired indiscriminately at a bus in Akhtarabad area of Quetta in
Balochistan. The death toll of the sectarian attack
on the Hazara community rose to 14.
Unknown armed militants set ablaze
an oil tanker near Bolan District.
A Government school for girls
was blown up in Benai Baba area of Shangla District on October
4, reports Dawn. The locals said that it was the first
incident of its kind in the District and demanded early reconstruction
of the school.
The Pakistani judge of the ATC,
Parvez Ali Shah, who awarded the death sentence to Malik Mumtaz
Qadri, the assassin of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer is
reported to have gone on indefinite leave since October 1 after
lawyers attacked his courtroom and a spate of protests and death
threats.
Afghanistan accused Pakistan of
refusing to cooperate with investigations into the September 20,
2011 killing of Kabul Government peace envoy and former Afghanistan
President Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The US linked the resumption of
military aid to Pakistan with the latter’s ‘cooperation’ in the
war on terror.
ISPR Director-General Major-General
Athar Abbas also confirmed that the US had suspended military
assistance to Pakistan, but had not conveyed it in black and white.
President Asif Ali Zardari, said
that Pakistan had been paying the heaviest price in the war against
terrorism and was determined to pursue the struggle till its logical
conclusion.
|
October 5
|
Militants on a motorbike opened
fire at officials of the traffic Police on Joint Road in Balochistan
killing two Police officials and two passers-by.
Two suspected militants were killed
in a clash with volunteers of a Local Peace Committee in Akkakhel
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
The US used “local (Pakistani)
contacts” to reach the Haqqani network in North Waziristan Agency
of FATA for peace talks, a senior official said.
Unidentified militants blew up
two Government girls’ schools with explosive devices in Shamozai
area of Mardan District of KP.
US officials had secretly met
with leaders of the Haqqani network this summer, the Wall Street
Journal reported.
President Asif Ali Zardari reiterated
that it was shared responsibility of international community to
assist Pakistan in its fight against militants as this ‘Frankenstein’
was once created by the world to meet objective of defeating the
rival ideology.
The MQM rejoined the Federal and
Provincial Governments and decided to help the PPP solve the many
problems that ail the country.
|
October 6
|
Four people, including an activist
of MQM, were killed in separate acts of violence in different
parts of Karachi. An activist of MQM, identified as Kamran, was
shot dead at the main bazaar of PIB Colony. A dumper-truck driver,
identified as Noor Ali Khan, was shot dead in Sultanabad. Separately,
Police found an unidentified dead body of a man from Old Golimar
within the jurisdiction of Pak Colony Police Station. An activist
of ST, identified as Zubair Zaheer Qureshi, was killed in Samanabad
area.
At least eight suspects, including
two target killers, were arrested in separate raids in Karachi.
Unknown militants sent two text
messages to the staffers of two separate girls’ schools located
in Landhi area which resulted in panic among the children and
school administration.
Two unidentified persons were
killed and another sustained injuries in a landmine explosion
at Pehlawagh area in Dera Bugti District.
Separately, two bullet-riddled
dead bodies of Baloch missing persons, identified as Arafat and
Abdul Karim, were found in Murghab area of Turbat District in
Balochistan.
In Turbat District, unidentified
militants fired a rocket targeting Mand town.
A bomb exploded at a CD shop situated
in Pir Sabaq area of Quetta damaging the building. However, no
loss of life was reported.
Four militants, including a commander,
were killed in two different incidents in Khyber Agency of FATA.
SFs claimed that LI commander Wahid Afridi and his bodyguard Abid
were killed while two other militants were injured.
In Talo Kunj village of Kurram
Agency, an Afghan national was killed and another injured when
armed militants attacked a car going to Afghanistan.
SFs foiled a terror bid by defusing
explosive device placed behind a student hostel at Landikotal
College in Khyber Agency.
At least two SF were injured when
bomb exploded outside an NGO office in Muslimabad area of Kohat
District of KP.
Pakistan will extend its "full
political, moral and diplomatic support" to Kashmiri people,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said underlining the need to
resolve the Kashmir issue through negotiations.
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani said that the army had made all arrangements to
counter any terrorist attack from across the Afghan border.
US President Barack Obama accused
Pakistan of hedging its bets on Afghanistan’s future and warned
there were “some connections” between its intelligence services
and extremists.
A five-member special bench of
the Supreme Court noted that the Government had failed to protect
life and property of the citizens in Karachi.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
condemned Pakistan's "double game" on terrorism in Afghanistan.
Karzai nonetheless restated the view that negotiations had to
go through Pakistan in order to get to the Taliban.
Pakistan's former President Pervez
Musharraf charged that archrival India seeks to "create an
anti-Pakistan Afghanistan" as part of a bid to dominate South
Asia politically and economically.
Pakistan urged the Afghan authorities
to demonstrate responsibility in the complex situation in the
region. “At this defining stage when challenges have multiplied,
as have the opportunities, it is our expectation that everyone,
especially those in position of authority in Afghanistan, will
demonstrate maturity and responsibility. This is no time for point-scoring,
playing politics or grandstanding,” Foreign Office spokesperson
Tehmina Janjua said.
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the
assassin of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer filed an appeal
against his death sentence.
|
October 7
|
A Government officer was shot
dead while his son sustained injuries on Kasi Road in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The IG of Balochistan FC, Major
General Obaidullah Khattak, stressed the need for clearing the
provincial capital of illicit weapons and registering Afghan refugees
and unregistered vehicles.
Police found an unidentified dead
body of a young man packed in a gunny bag in Lea Market area within
the limits of Nippier Police Station in Karachi.
Crime Branch Police claimed to
have arrested a target killer, identified as Naveedur Rehman alias
Salar, from Orangi Town in Karachi and recovered a TT pistol from
his possession.
ATC-II confirmed interim bail
of Muhammad Ibrahim, an accused allegedly involved in an attack
on the Sri Lankan cricket team on March 3, 2009 at Liberty Chowk
in Lahore.
Thousands of people protested
across the country against the death sentence handed out to Malik
Mumtaz Qadri for the January 4, 2011 murder of former Punjab Governor
Slaman Taseer. The rallies were organised by several groups, including
JeI, Jama’at-e-Ahle Sunnat and Jama’at-e-Ahl-e-Hadith.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
said that Taliban “can’t move a finger” without Pakistan’s support.
Definitely, the Taliban will not be able to move a finger without
Pakistani support,” he said, without specifying if he meant the
army, the civilian Government, the feared ISI, or another part
of the state.
PML-N President and former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the Government should ban all
such political parties who have militant wings and send references
against them to the SC.
U.S and Pakistan are working jointly
to defeat the menace of terrorism, State Department spokesman
Victoria Nuland said.
U.S and Pakistan officials said
that ISI has stepped up co-operation with the CIA to hunt al Qaeda,
despite string of public criticism by the US officials.
IG of Balochistan FC Major General
Obaidullah Khattak alleged that India was using Afghan territory
to carry out terrorist attacks in Balochistan.
|
October 8
|
SFs during a search operation
killed four militants in Charbagh, Mangaltan areas of Swat District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Police claimed to have rescued
a three-year-old boy, identified as Usman, who was abducted from
Alif Khan Kallay area of Mardan District on October 3, 2011 and
arrested the alleged abductors.
Police also claimed to have recovered
a large number of explosives in two different actions in the limits
of Matani Police Station in Peshawar.
Police arrested two alleged militants
of TTP in Islamabad. Police also recovered huge cache of deadly
weapons from them.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
were found near Alam Godar in Khyber Agency in FATA.
A woman and a child were injured
when militants fired rockets at residential area of Ara Khel in
the Frontier Region of Kohat (FATA)
A NATO tanker carrying fuel for
NATO forces in Afghanistan was blown up near Landi Kotal town
in Khyber Agency (FATA)
Two leaders of the ANP, identified
as Jamal Khan and Khan Zaman, were killed outside the party office,
while another activist was injured in Sachal area of Karachi.
|
October 9
|
Hundreds of militants from Afghanistan
side entered the Barawal area of Upper Dir District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province and attacked the Kakar check post killing
one soldier. SFs retaliated immediately and at least 15 militants
were killed.
Bodies of two unidentified young
men stuffed in sacks were found in a village in Maidan area of
Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A Policeman, identified as Afsar
Khan, was killed when unidentified militants fired three rockets
at the residence of the DPO Sajjad Khan in Bannu District.
Four bullet-riddled dead bodies
of Baloch missing persons, including that of an activist of Baloch
Watan Movement (BWM), were found in Bhagbana tehsil of
Khuzdar District, and Kulanch area of Pasni District in Balochistan.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead two men in different incidents in Quetta.
A landmine placed near the tubewell
of a tribal elder, Nawab Khan, exploded when a vehicle ran over
it in Kohlu District of Balochistan killing Jumma Khan and injuring
four children.
Two security personnel, identified
as Qasim Khan and Dildar Ali, were injured seriously when their
tractor trolley ran over a landmine in the Barkhan Distict of
Balochistan
Another security man, identified
as Doctor Khan, was injured in a blast which took place in Dera
Bugti District of Balochistan
Unidentified armed militants set
ablaze two NATO oil tankers on the National Highway near Bala
Nari area of Bolan District in Balochistan.
Two men, identified as, Haji Akram
Sajdi and Ali Zehri, have been missing from Balochistan province
for the past three days.
A leader of the Karachi Goods
Carrier Association (KGCA), identified as Ghulam Ali, was shot
dead in an act of target killing near Gulbai Chowrangi in SITE
area of Karachi.
Rangers, Police and FC detained
over 60 suspects involved in unrest in the city but released most
of them after initial course of interrogation.
Rangers during search operation
in various areas arrested three alleged target killers and handed
over to Police. Police also carried out search operation in various
areas of the metropolis arresting six suspects and recovered weapons
from their possession.
After about three years, rival
factions again signed a peace agreement here to restore peace
in Kurram Agency of FATA after the Government promised to provide
security on the main highway in the region.
Three persons, including two Security
personnel, were abducted by unidentified militants from the Thall-Parachinar
road in Kurram Agency of FATA.
US officials support Afghan President
Hamid Karzai’s call for engaging the Taliban through Pakistan.
US Special Representative for
Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman underlined the need for
Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US to work together against terrorism.
JeI Secretary General Liaquat
Baloch said a humiliating defeat was awaiting the US in Afghanistan.
|
October 7
|
One web editor of The London
Post, identified as, Faisal Qureshi, was found dead at his
family house in Johar town in Lahore District of Punjab.
|
October 10
|
Unidentified militants shot dead
two former members of a peace committee of the Mehsud tribe, identified
as Hayatullah and Zakirullah, in Chadrarh village of Tank District
of KP.
Two more bullet-riddled dead bodies
of Baloch Missing Persons, including that of a BNM official, were
found from Arbab Complex area of Khuzdar District of Balochistan.
As many as 204 bullet-riddled and mutilated bodies of missing
persons have so far been found in different parts of Balochistan
during the last 14 months.
ATC remanded five alleged terrorists
of TTP to Police for seven days. The accused were arrested for
possessing huge cache of arms with intent of terrorism in Islamabad.
Elsewhere in the District, Police
claimed to have arrested a wanted terrorist, identified as Qari
Inayat, from sector G-6/1 in Islamabad and recovered four hand
grenades from his possession.
Former LHC Chief Justice Khawaja
Sharif will defend Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the murderer of Punjab
Governor Salmaan Taseer in court on October 11. Qadri’s trial
has remained a controversial one, with violent protests being
taken out across Pakistan against the verdict.
A blast on the Torkham-Landikotal
Bypass Road in Khyber Agency of FATA destroyed a vehicle and two
military jeeps carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan. A
local militant group, Abullah Ezzam Brigade (AEB), claimed responsibility
for the blast and said they would continue attacking vehicles
with NATO supplies in the area.
The TTP sent out a second feeler
sounding its willingness to accept the Government's offer for
talks with “militant groups” albeit with countries like Saudi
Arabia playing the role of mediator. TTP commander Maulvi
Waliur Rehman Mehsud said, “Our shura [council] will decide
whether and when can we enter into talks with the Government,
with the military…but I think we will like to involve countries
we trust… they are in the Arab world. Let's say Saudi Arabia.”
The Government imposed a ban on
People’s Amn Committee (PAC), a day after Sindh’s former Home
Minister Zulfikar Mirza announced to revive its activities. The
committee has often been blamed for being linked to criminal gangs
operating in Karachi’s old areas, including Lyari.
MQM-H chairman Afaq Ahmed was
charged in a case of abduction and torture along with three of
his party activists, including Raees Topi, Yameen alias Hakla
and Ejaz Babu, at Landhi Police Station in Karachi.
Saeedabad Police seized at least
five Russian hand grenades dumped in a drain in Dawood Goth, in
Baldia Town of Karachi.
|
October 11
|
SFs shot dead another 11 militants
and injured many others when Afghan Taliban militants armed with
rocket launchers resorted to cross border attack from Afghanistan
on checkpoints in areas of Laghar and Sparko Dab, close to the
Pak-Afghan border in Upper Dir District of KP.
An explosive device exploded outside
the house of transporter Javed Khan in Lakki Marwat District of
KP. However, no casualties were reported.
A number of items, being transferred
to NATO forces in Afghanistan were recovered from a warehouse
in Peshawar. The Federal Board of Revenue said that Customs Collectorate
Quetta had reported that many NATO containers were found missing
from the official record.
Two people were killed when militants
torched an oil tanker carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan
in the Dasht area of Mastung District of Balochistan. No group
has claimed responsibility for the attack but the TTP has in the
past said it carried out similar attacks.
KP Governor Masood Kausar escaped
a missile attack while six persons were injured in Orakzai Agency
of FATA when suspected militants fired rockets on a jirga.
A bus of Cadet College in Wana
town of South Waziristan Agency hit an explosive device planted
on the Wana Bypass Road, injuring the driver, identified as Hazratullah
and two Security Officials, Mohammad Ali and Khalid.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
10 more suspects from different areas of Karachi and also recovered
weapons from their possessions.
New Karachi Industrial Area Police
claimed to have arrested an extortionist namely Tariq Ejaz and
recovered a TT pistol from his possession. Police said that the
accused was involved in several cases of extortion and belonged
to a religious political party.
Rangers also conducted raids in
several areas of Lyari, including Nayabad, Mama Hotel, Kalri and
Daryaabad on a tip off indicating that Wasi Ullah Lakho was present
in the area and detained seven suspects.
Pakistan Sindh Rangers, conducted
raids in Saddar Bohri Bazaar and Banaras areas and arrested a
suspect besides recovering 17 different weapons and more than
1,400 bullets from different locations.
The IHC on October 11 stayed the
execution of Mumtaz Qadri who was convicted of killing former
Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.
Judge and Judicial Magistrate
Malik Naeem Shoukat remanded an alleged terrorist, Qari Inayat,
of TTP for three days in Police custody. Inayat is an activist
of Qari Shakeel group based in Muhammad Agency in the FATA that
is believed to be an offshoot of the TTP. Shakeel is a vice commander
of TTP in the agency and had been planning terror attack in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the prosperity of Balochistan was linked to peace, and
asked the militants to shun violence and work for the progress
of Pakistan. Gilani said that the Government wanted reconciliation
and was still ready to hold talks with dissident Baloch brethren
to find out an amicable solution to the issues of Balochistan.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
said that the US is waging 'war' in Pakistan against militants.
CIA Director pointed to a "complicated relationship"
between Washington and Islamabad.
Senior leaders of the PAC planned
to challenge in court the Government’s decision to ban it in Karachi,
the provincial capital of Sindh. “The move to ban PAC is nothing
but succumbing to the blackmail tactics of the PPPs coalition
partner,” alleged senior PAC member Zafar Baloch. The Amn Committee
now joins the list of organisations that despite being banned
continue to operate in the city under different names.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that the US remains open to exploring a peace deal,
including the Haqqani Network, the militant group that US officials
blame for a campaign of high-profile violence that could jeopardise
Washington’s plans for withdrawing smoothly from Afghanistan.
|
October 12
|
In Ziarat Khazena area of Mohmand
Agency in FATA a child was killed and two others were injured
after a mortar shell exploded.
Three people, including son of
a Police constable, were killed in target killing incidents in
Karachi. Two people, including son of a Police constable, were
shot dead and another person was injured in Mewashah Road area
within the limits of Chakiwara Police Station. A man, identified
as Javed, was shot dead near the Telephone Exchange within the
limits of Quaidabad Police Station.
Five alleged target killers and
an alleged member of the gang war were arrested during separate
raids in different parts of Karachi. AEC of the CID claimed to
have arrested two alleged target killers, identified as Obaid
Khan, alias Burst and Tariq Mustafa alias Arif Burger from a graveyard
in Islamia Colony, Orangi Town within the jurisdiction of Pirabad
Police Station and also recovered one Kalashnikov and two 9mm
pistols from their possessions.
Clifton Police claimed to have
arrested at least two alleged target killers allegedly involved
in several cases of target killings. The suspects were identified
as Daniyal and Faisal Ansari and were arrested from Zamzama area.
An official of FATA Secretariat,
identified as Javaid Akhtar, was shot dead by unknown assailants
when he was driving his car in Hayatabad area of Peshawar.
Militants from Mohmand Agency
in the FATA fired rockets and mortars on the Saro Kalli Police
Station in Shabqadar area of Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In Darra Adamkhel area of KP,
militants attacked residential parts with mortar shells injuring
four members of a family, including two children.
A journalist, Rehmatullah Khan
Derpakhel, abducted by suspected militants on August 11, 2011
was set free after a deal was struck between the abductors and
a jirga in Miranshah (FATA).
Saranan Police arrested two suspects,
identified as Pir Muhammad and Abdul Wahab, and recovered a NATO
oil tanker from their possession in Qila Abdullah District of
Balochistan.
A division bench of the BHC sought
the issuance of arrest warrants of former President Pervez Musharraf
and other co-accused nominated in the August 26, 2006 murder case
of the former Balochistan Governor Nawab Akbar Bugti.
The daylight raids and the subsequent
attacks are carried out by the “Black Night” group, a unit of
the TTP dedicated to raising funds through robberies, kidnappings
and extortion, according to a cadre of the outfit and Intelligence
Officers. Mohammed Yusuf, a cadre of the TTP who met an AP reporter
in Karachi, said two groups - the al-Mansoor and al-Mukhtar handle
much of the fundraising for the movement in the city.
MQM leader Farooq Sattar said
that the MQM has “no problem” in supporting former President Pervez
Musharraf by not running a candidate against him in Karachi for
the 2013 elections. Sattar warned that a civil war-like situation
was being conspired in Karachi to benefit a criminal nexus including
an ‘underworld syndicate’ that had links with extremist element
such as the TTP who have entered Karachi from Swat and Malakand
Districts of KP, and South Waziristan Agency of FATA.
KP Senior Minister and ANP leader
Bashir Ahmad Bilour regretted the repeated demands by head of
certain political party for holding negotiations with the TTP
and said that such statements could be given by politicians lacking
sagacity.
Pakistan has a huge stake in the
outcome of the Afghan conflict, US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said, underscoring that the US could not dispense with
its relationship with Islamabad, which must be part of the Afghan
solution. “Pakistan has to be part of the solution, or it will
continue to be part of the problem. And therefore, as frustrating
as it is, we just keep every day going at it, and I think we make
very slow, sometimes barely discernible progress, but we’re moving
in the right direction”, Clinton acknowledged.
|
October 13
|
Six militants - two Afghans and
four locals - were killed in a US drone attack on a militant outpost
on a hill in Zeba Mountain close to the Afghan border in South
Waziristan Agency of FATA.
SFs raided the house of an Afghan
militant, Hamza, in Grangi area of Mohmand Agency and killed him
in an exchange of fire. In addition, they also besieged MPA Muhammad
Ali`s house and in adjoining hujra conducted a search of
the premises and arrested six suspects wanted by LEA for criminal
activities.
Three tankers carrying fuel for
NATO forces in Afghanistan were completely destroyed in two bomb
explosions in Landikotal town of Khyber Agency. A local militant
group, Abdullah Ezzam Brigade (AEB), claimed responsibility for
both the attacks.
It has come to light that the
four militants killed in a US drone strike on in Dandey Darpakhel
village in North Waziristan Agency belonged to the al Qaeda-linked
Haqqani Network. According to details, one of them was a ‘logistics
commander’, identified as Jamil Haqqani.
Two boys, identified as Amanullah
and Abdullah, out of a group of at least two dozen, managed to
escape TTP custody and return home more than 40 days after being
abducted. The boys were abducted on September 1, 2011,
after they crossed the border into Afghanistan, from the Ghakhi
area in Mohmand tehsil of Bajaur Agency. TTP had claimed
responsibility for the abduction.
Two people were killed in target
killings in different parts of Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh. A private bank employee, identified as Salam, was shot
dead at Maymar Morr within the limits of Gulshan-e-Maymar Police
Station.Police found an unidentified dead body of a man bearing
torture marks from Lyari River near Essa Nagri within the jurisdiction
of PIB Police Station.
Four NATO oil tankers were set
on fire by unidentified militants in Shikarpur District.
Sindh Rangers claimed to have
arrested eleven suspects besides recovering weapons from their
possession in separate raids conducted in Karachi.
Police recovered two dumped hand
grenades from Patel Para within the precincts of Jamshed Town
Police. The grenades were of Russian-make.
Two militants, identified as Naeem
and Kashif, were killed. SFs in a raid of a house in Bhai Korona
area in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda District in KP.
Unknown armed militants abducted
a former union council naib nazim, identified as Mehrab Muhammad
Ali and his colleague, Muhammad Hassani from Surab Bazaar of Kalat
District of Balochistan.
Police averted two terror attacks
in Islamabad by timely arresting four alleged terrorists and seized
huge cache of weapons including kalashnikovs, pistols, guns, telescopes,
ammunition and two cars from their possession.
The US was not sincere about peace
in Afghanistan when it signalled it would remain open to exploring
a settlement that includes the Haqqani Network, one of the group’s
senior ‘commanders’ said. Earlier in September, 2011, Sirajuddin
Haqqani said that his group felt secure enough to operate freely
in Afghanistan and had no need of safe havens in Pakistan. He
said that his group would take part in peace talks, but only if
the Afghan Taliban did so as well. “The Haqqani Network is part
of Taliban and it cannot hold any separate talks,” he said.
JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman
said that the US eyes Pakistan's atomic programme. Maulana said
US is playing Haqqani card to destabilize Pakistan, adding, Quetta
Shura card can also surface within few days. The US wants
dialogue with Taliban while action against the Haqqani group.
Haqqanis are a part of the Taliban, JUI Chief said, adding, US
is against our atomic programme.
|
October 14
|
A US drone fired two missiles
and killed four terrorists in Darpakhel village, four kilometres
west of Miranshah, in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Two civilians, identified as Mahmod
Khan and Amir Zaman, were killed and six others injured when four
mortar shells fired from Afghanistan hit a mosque during Friday
prayers in Kharkai village of Lower Dir District.
A suspected militant was killed
in an encounter with Police near Manzoor Shaheed Police post in
Sarband area of Peshawar.
Police foiled a sabotage bid by
defusing two homemade bombs on the outskirts of the Lakki city
in Lakki Marwat District.
Three people were injured when
armed militants attacked a convoy of NATO tankers in Mianghundi
area near Quetta the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Pakistan Medical Association Balochistan
President Mazar Baloch and his companion were shot and injured
by assailants near Masjid Road in Quetta.
Provincial Minister and Chief
of Jalawan, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, managed to escape an explosion
near Surab area while he was on his way to Khuzdar District from
Kalat District in Balochistan. BLF claimed responsibility for
the attack.
Police and FC conducted a joint
operation in Godhra Colony in Karachi and demolished the offices
of two religious organisations, ST and ASWJ.
An influential US think-tank urged
the Obama administration 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. The report also proposed establishing a Congressional
Commission to oversee US relations with Pakistan.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina
Rabbani Khar and US Special Representative for Afghanistan and
Pakistan Marc Grossman agreed to strengthen the dialogue process
for peace and security in the region and at global level.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that relations between Pakistan and US must not be transactional,
and stressed for a long-term partnership based on mutual respect
and shared interests.
|
October 15
|
US drone strikes killed six suspected
militants belonging to local ‘Commander’ Mullah Nazir group of
TTP in South Waziristan Agency of FATA near the Afghan border.
Officials claimed that warplanes
bombed hideouts on hilltops in Baizotkhel and Mistrikhel tehsil
of Orakzai Agency in FATA, killing 10 suspected militants and
injuring four others.
BDS defused an explosive device
weighing around five kilograms planted outside a mosque in Tarakai
area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Another bomb planted at the entrance
to Quaid-i-Azam Public School, Swabi District exploded. The blast
partially damaged the building and injured the watchman, Juma
Dad Khan.
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.
|
October 16
|
The identity of the three militants,
among four, killed in October 14 US drone missile strike in Darpakhel
village, four kilometres west of Miranshah, in North Waziristan
Agency was disclosed. Out of the four militants killed in the
strike three were Egyptians linked to the Haqqani Network. A fourth
militant who was also killed has not been identified.
Unidentified armed militants set
ablaze an oil tanker of a private company at Pringabad area of
Mastung District in Balochistan.
SFs foiled an attack by defusing
a landmine in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti District of Balochistan
As many as 50 suspected militants
were detained in various parts of Karachi.
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.
Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington
Hussain Haqqani said that the democratic Government in Pakistan
was pursuing the country’s national interests while conducting
the country’s international relations, while indicating an improvement
in Pakistan-US ties after weeks of heated rhetoric appeared to
give way to the normal course of diplomacy.
A khasadar was killed and
a levies trooper injured when their convoy was hit by an IED in
Miran Talab area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
In Jamrud tehsil of FATA,
khasadar force recovered the body of a local resident,
identified as Alamgir.
|
October 17
|
At least nine soldiers of the
FC force and 14 militants were killed in an ambush in the Akakhel
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency in FATA. Three soldiers
were also wounded in the attack.
Suspected militants killed a chief
of the peace committee, identified as Azizur Rehman, of Orakzai
Agency and his four associates in an ambush on Dhodha Road in
FATA
Three people, including activists
of MQM and PPP, were killed in separate incidents of target killing
in Karachi. An activist of PPP, identified as Akhtar Raza, was
shot dead in front of his house at Siraj Colony, Lyari, within
the limits of Baghdadi Police Station. Separately, tension prevailed
in parts of Orangi Town after unidentified militants shot and
killed an activist of the MQM, identified as Masoom Ali. In another
incident, a man, identified as Liaquat Ali, was stabbed to death
in front of his house in Zia Colony within the precincts of Korangi
Police Station.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
11 people, recovering weapons from their possession. Crime branch
Police arrested an alleged arms dealer, Sher Akbar, after an encounter
in a raid at Nishtar Road.
Sources privy to security matter
said that Intelligence Agencies have warned of a possible terror
activity on October 18.
Police arrested two militants
at the Tarnab check post in Peshawar while travelling to Punjab
province from Darra Adamkhel town in Kohat District in a car carrying
a large quantity of weapons and ammunition.
The US moved hundreds of new troops
to the Afghan area bordering Pakistan's militant infested North
Waziristan Agency of FATA along with heavy artillery, helicopter
gunships and sealed movement on the border.
The abrupt deployment of US forces
near the border area with Pakistan has escalated tension in the
militancy plagued North Waziristan tribal region as US forces
immediately sealed the main road connecting Pakistan border town
of Ghulam Khan and Khost for traffic.
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 US and Pakistan constrain how they can
strike back.
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.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that the abductors are keeping Shahbaz Taseer near adjoining
areas of Pak-Afghan border and he is alive.
With the US stepping up drone
strikes in the Waziristan region of FATA, Pakistan's Defence Minister
Ahmed Mukhtar said that his Government was running out of patience
and Washington must not test its limits. Pakistan has repeatedly
protested the unilateral strikes, and the Government would unveil
a revised policy on drone attacks soon, said Mukhtar.
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.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik said that TTP and al Qaeda, had planned to abduct PPP Chairman
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Islamabad said that Afghan and
US-led forces had failed to hunt down Maulvi Fazlullah, a TTP
cleric responsible for a spate of cross-border raids despite repeated
requests from Islamabad.
|
October 18
|
Four people were killed in an
incident of targeted killing in North Karachi. The victims belonged
to the Deobandi School, but they were not very active.
LEAs claimed to have arrested
10 suspects, including three militants of TTP, during separate
raids in different parts of the city and also recovered weapons.
SIU of the CIA claimed to have
arrested three militants of the Qari Shakeel group of TTP. According
to officials, the suspects were identified as Khalid Khan, Mohammad
Jan, and Gul Wali.
Sir Syed Police claimed to have
arrested three persons Babar, Naveed and Abid and recovered two
TT pistols from their possession. In yet another raid in Mehran
Town, Korangi Industrial Area Police arrested two suspects and
recovered a rifle and a TT pistol from their possession. Super
Market Police also claimed to have recovered a huge cache of weapons
from Liaquatabad.
At least three persons were killed
when mortar shells fired by unidentified militants hit four houses
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency in FATA. In other similar
incident in the same locality, a local tribesman Khiyal Jan and
an Afghan minor boy lost their lives.
Two tribal women sustained injuries
when another mortar shell fell on the house of Zar Wali in Kalanga-Meri
Khel area of FATA. In Landikotal, a mosque adjacent to the house
of MNA Noorul Haq Qadri was hit by a rocket fired by unidentified
militants from a nearby hilltop.
In Akkakhel area, a prayer leader
Mulana Naseeb and two worshippers identified as Shafeeq and Salim
Afridi were critically injured when a mortar shell fell on Charsiyano
mosque.
Three people, including a transvestite,
were killed and two others injured when militants opened fire
on a dance party in Topai Union Council of Buner District in KP.
An official of LEA, identified
as Ansar Abbas, was killed in a landmine explosion in Pirkoh area
of Dera Bugti District of Balochistan.
Unidentified armed militants set
ablaze a container of a private company near Dasht in Mastung
District of Balochistan injuring a driver, identified as Muhammad
Irfan,
The advocate general submitted
before a bench of the (BHC) a report of the CID which stated that
an important clue had been found in the September 20, 2011 Mastung
massacre.
IG of Punjab Police informed the
SC that Advocate Asghar Ali Chaudhry had been rescued from the
captivity of his abductors as per report of Rahimyar Khan DPO.
Federal Police arrested seven
suspects for their alleged involvement in the October 6, 2011
abduction of a trader of Sector F-6/1 in Islamabad and keeping
him 'chained' in some area of Punjab while demanding PNR 5 million
as ransom from the family members of the abducted man.
Pakistan will only hold peace
talks with TTP militants if they lay down their arms first, Interior
Minister Rehman Malik said after both sides signalled willingness
to consider negotiations.
However, any deals with the TTP
could anger Washington, which has been pushing Pakistan to crack
down harder on militant groups since American Special Forces killed
Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011 in Abbottabad, where he had been
living for years. Meanwhile, COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
said that Pakistan Army had no objection over the Government having
dialogues with TTP.
The Army Chief, General Ashfaq
Pervez Kayani did not rule out the possibility of a US ground
offensive in North Waziristan Agency FATA, but told Parliamentarians
that Washington will think 'many times' before launching such
an attack. "We have made it clear to the US that we will decide
the timing of any such action according to our situation and capabilities.
We have also told them that the problem lies within Afghanistan.
If anyone convinces me that everything will be sorted out if we
act in North Waziristan, I will take immediate action," a Parliamentarian,
requesting anonymity, quoted Kayani.
A Senior Commander of the Pakistan
Army said that private militias also called Amn Lashkars have
played a commendable role in maintaining peace and normalcy in
some parts of the restive tribal regions. Malik claimed that extremist
groups have been weakened as a result of successive military operations,
and called upon the tribal elders to not allow the extremists
to regroup in their villages and towns.
A report prepared by the Islamabad
Police revealed that though the Islamabad Police and the Intelligence
Agencies were successful in foiling a well-planned terror attack
in Islamabad, the information extracted from the arrested terrorists
pointed towards a link between the Ghazi Force, which is associated
with Ghazi Abdur Rasheed's followers of the Lal Masjid and the
militants based in the North Waziristan Agency.
ISPR DG Major General Athar Abbas
said that regular army and FC have been sent to border areas with
Afghanistan to stop militants' attacks. Pakistan would not allow
militants to carry out attacks on its check-posts, border villages
and kill its civilians, Abbas said.
Afghan SF and their NATO allies
have launched a new push against the al Qaeda linked Haqqani Network
along the Pakistani border, Senior Defence officials said. U.S
commanders say the network, a faction of the Afghan Taliban, is
their most potent enemy in eastern Afghanistan and increasingly
capable of launching high-profile attacks in Kabul.
|
October 19
|
At least six terrorists were killed
and two hideouts destroyed when SFs shelled them in the Spearkot
area of Kurram Agency in FATA. Official sources said that the
terrorists killed belonged to the Mullah Toofan group of TTP.
At least five SF personnel sustained
injuries when a remote-controlled bomb went off in Jandola town
of South Waziristan Agency.
At least three militant hideouts
were destroyed when helicopter gunships shelled them in Mera Sar
and Baz Garha areas of Qamarkhel in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency.
A Government school for girls
was partially damaged in Kalanga Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil
when militants blew up its building by planting an IED.
An oil tanker carrying fuel to
NATO forces in Afghanistan was partially damaged when a time device
fitted in it exploded near Ali Masjid area.
An activist of ST, identified
as Nadeem Qureshi, was shot dead near Delhi Darbar Hotel within
the limits of Shah Faisal Colony Police Station in Karachi.
A bomb weighing 28 kilogrammes
was recovered near a car at joint parking area of a bank and a
private hospital near Jauhar Chowrangi in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area
of Karachi
A bomb exploded at the shrine
of Mian Karim Shah, situated in Naway Kalay graveyard in Swabi
District (KP). However, no casualty was reported.
If US policy makers need proof
of how little control Pakistan has over its strategic border region
with Afghanistan, they need to watch videos of militants believed
to be terrorising the streets of North Waziristan Agency available
on YouTube.
Army Chief Major General Ashfaq
Kayani told Parliamentarians that the US should focus on pacifying
Afghanistan instead of pushing Pakistan to attack North Waziristan
and that Pakistan would decide if and when to act there. He said
any unilateral US military action in North Waziristan would be
risky.
There has been a significant increase
in the Haqqani Network's activity in Khost, Paktia, Logar and
Wardak provinces of Afghanistan which are used in that order as
an infiltration route from Pakistan, to launch attacks on the
capital Kabul, a senior NATO official confirmed
Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said that the intelligence reports had revealed that terrorists,
including those behind sectarian violence in Balochistan, are
operating from prisons in the province and had contacts with banned
militant outfits in Punjab.
PML-N President Nawaz Sharif that
some among the Government allies were corrupt and some were involved
in terrorism. In retaliation to Nawaz Sharif's accusation MQM
leader Haider Abbas Rizvi accused the PML-N of supporting militant
outfits in the country.
|
October 20
|
SFs launched a targeted operation
in Malikdeenkhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of
FATA and killed 34 militants
Militants killed Captain Abdul
Qadir Khan and two military personnel in an attack on a Frontier
Corps convoy in the Shalobar area of Bara tehsil.
A Police Constable, identified
as Raziq Shah, was killed while another, Usman Ali, was injured
in an encounter with armed militants in Matta tehsil of
Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One of the armed assailants,
identified as Sabir Khan, was also shot dead in the incident and
Police recovered a pistol and two hand grenades from him.
A Professor, Sanaullah Khan Janikhel,
was killed by unidentified assailants in Bannu District in KP.
Kohat District Police and SFs
in a joint raid seized a truck carrying weapons near Kohat tunnel
and arrested two alleged terrorists, Muhammad Raza and Allah Bakhs.
Armed militants shot dead a man,
identified as Aneel, in Turbat District of Balochistan.
Nawabshah Police in Sindh arrested
three people for posting a threatening letter to President Asif
Ali Zardari. According to sources, Police arrested Maulana Abdul
Qadeer Daiper, Abdul Wahab Brohi and Aziz Ahmed Bhatti who wrote
a threatening letter on May 20, 2011 at madrassa Arabia
Khalid Bin Waleed and sent it to the Presidency.
A Maryland teenager was indicted
on federal terrorism charges that accuse him of helping the American
terror suspect dubbed 'Jihad Jane' with her plot to kill a Swedish
artist. 18 years old Mohammad Hassan Khalid, a legal immigrant
from Pakistan, allegedly helped recruit women with passports to
further the plot of Colleen LaRose of Pennsylvania and others.
Afghanistan-based Taliban leader
Maulvi Fazlullah has vowed to return to Pakistan to wage war in
his former stronghold Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and doubts
the Government is sincere about peace talks with militants.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
will plunge into new talks to press US demands for Islamabad to
dismantle Taliban safe havens, while appealing to Pakistan's deeply
mistrustful public at large.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza
Gilani called upon US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to give
peace a chance as envisaged in the All Parties Conference's resolution,
which reflects the sentiments of Pakistani nation.
Pakistan's Ambassador to Washington
Hussain Haqqani said that Pakistan and the US have a shared interest
in a stable Afghanistan but the major challenge for both the countries
is to find common ground by taking into account political realities
within Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.
Former President Pervez Musharraf
said that the relationship between Pakistan and the US is at its
lowest point and plagued by "total mistrust".
Retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan
recalled how bad he felt when he was told many years ago that
in Punjab 20,000 people with criminal record were inducted in
Police, whereas a large number of dacoits were recruited in Sindh
Police.
|
October 21
|
Terrorists armed with rockets
and hand grenades attacked the house of a prominent anti-Taliban
elder in Minzari Chinaa area, 90 kilometres northwest of Ghalanai,
the main town in Mohmand Agency of FATA, killing three people,
including a woman.
In Bajaur Agency, three militants
shot dead a member of a local peace committee in Chinar.
At least 1,000 families of Malikdinkhel
and Sipah areas left their homes for 'safer places' as the Security
Forces were ready to launch an all-out operation against terrorists
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Levies Force recovered an unidentified
dead body of a man from Dhadar area of Bolan District in Balochistan.
Four persons belonging to the
Peace Force were injured in a remote control bomb attack in Sui
area of the Dera Bugti District, reports Daily Times. According
to official sources, a convoy of Peace Force Commander Bhai Khan
Bugti was patrolling the RD 109 area of Sui, the bordering area
of Sindh and Balochistan, when it was hit by a remote-controlled
blast. Resultantly, four persons of the force were injured and
a vehicle was destroyed.
The JeI asked President Asif Ali
Zardari to utilise his special powers to grant amnesty to Mumtaz
Qadri, the self-confessed assassin of former Punjab Governor Salman
Taseer.
|
October 22
|
At least 13 commuters of a local
factory were injured when their bus came under fire by assailants
on Sakran Road in Hub Industrial area of Lasbela District in Balochistan.
Two LEA personnel were wounded
in a hand grenade attack in the Margat coal mine in Mach area
of Bolan District in Balochistan.
One NATO oil tanker carrying oil
for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan was completely destroyed
when it caught fire due to two explosions at Bakhtiarabad Oil
Terminal in Bakhtiarabad area of Sibi District in Balochistan.
SFs arrested 30 suspects and destroyed
30 militant hideouts in Landikas, Nala and Malikdinkhel areas
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Afghanistan would support Pakistan
in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the US, Afghan
President Hamid Karzai said. "God forbid, if ever there is a war
between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan,"
he said.
Afghans have long been suspicious
of Pakistan's intentions in their country, Karzai remarked. "Please
brother, stop using all methods that hurt us and that are now
hurting you. Let's engage from a different platform, a platform
in which the two brothers only progress towards a better future
in peace and harmony," he said, adding, "Peace talks with the
Haqqani Network should take place in Pakistan."
Asking the Union Government to
have an "active engagement" with Pakistan, J&K Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah said without this a permanent and lasting solution
to the Kashmir issue is unlikely to emerge.
The Pakistan Army established
check posts along the Pak-Afghan border in Upper Dir District
to prevent cross border intrusions by the militants, said Operations
Commander Dir Brigadier Saqib Rashid.
At least two Intelligence Agencies
alerted the Federal Government about a reorganisation of TTP and
other militant organisations in Balochistan after the replacement
of Police with Levies Force. The crux of the reports was that
the rolling back of Police force in most areas had encouraged
the militant outfits, including the TTP, to re-organise themselves,
taking advantage of loose policing by the Levies which did not
have the required training and the will to address such challenges.
The US called on Pakistan to take
action within "days and weeks" on dismantling Afghan terrorist
havens and encouraging TTP into peace talks in order to end the
10-year-old war.
Pakistan admitted it could cooperate
more and achieve better results in clamping down on terrorist
safe havens along the Afghan border, ruling out any question of
official support for terrorists.
During roundtable talks with anchorpersons
of various TV channels, Clinton responded to questions on Pakistan-US
relations, particularly their joint efforts to fight the war on
terror. When asked if the US was pondering to send its troops
inside Pakistan, she categorically said this option was not being
considered. "We don't want to take action unilaterally we want
to act in concert with our strategic partners like Pakistan and
other allies."
The US should be prepared to cut
ties with Pakistan if it does not do more to battle Haqqani Network
militants blamed for killing US forces in Afghanistan, said Senator
Carl Levin. "If the only option Pakistan presents us is a choice
between losing an ally and continuing to lose our troops, then
we will choose the former," said Carl Levin.
|
October 23
|
Two SF personnel, identified as
Faraz and Muhammad Hussain, were shot dead by BLA militants in
Karati Kach area of Chamalang in Loralai District of Balochistan
A person, identified as Bahadur
Khan, was killed and two others, Sher Khan and Hazar Khan sustained
injuries in a landmine blast in Behkar area of Dera Bugti District
in Balochistan.
Karachi Police claimed to have
arrested two alleged suspects, identified as Zakir Hussain and
Gul Mohammad, involved in nearly 252 target-killing cases in Karachi
Police officials also claimed to have recovered two Kalashnikovs,
two 8mm rifles, two 9mm pistols, two TT pistols and a motorcycle
from their possessions.
The LEAs have been put on high
alert to avert possible terrorist attacks in Karachi following
the threats.
The TTP threatened to attack installations
of Shell Pakistan and the state-run Pakistan State Oil if the
two firms do not pay a total of Rs 400 million within 20 days
as extortion money. "I had personally spoken to the managing directors
of the Pakistan State Oil and Shell Pakistan and demanded that
they arrange to pay us Rs 200 million each. Otherwise, I had warned
them that we would start attacking their installations anywhere
in the country," an unnamed senior TTP 'commander' said.
The US and Pakistan have 90-95
per cent agreement on a work plan to combat terrorists, US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said while reflecting on her two-day
visit to Islamabad.
Former President Pervez Musharraf
said that Pakistan has "definite reasons" for not acting against
the Haqqani Network, as such action may not be in Pakistan's current
interest. The former President did not rule out future action
against the Haqqanis, but said that he was not privy to any information
in this regard.
Pakistan has told the US that
it is ready to facilitate its talks with the Afghan Taliban, but
cannot become a guarantor to the negotiating process. 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.
|
October 24 |
A 12-year-old boy, identified
as Ali Mohammad Chandio, and a man, Abdul Hameed, were killed
while another wounded when unidentified militants opened fire
on a private car of CID SI Ashiq Khosa in Chakra Goth, Korangi,
within the jurisdiction of Zaman Town Police Station. Khosa escaped
the attack. However, his driver-cum-gunman Mutahir Hussain sustained
critical injuries.
Police and Rangers jointly carried
out search operation in Chakra Goth and its adjoining areas, arresting
53 suspected persons. LEAs claimed to have arrested four suspects
from the metropolis in separate raids. SIU arrested an alleged
member, Arsalan, of 'abduction for ransom' group from Federal
B Area. A TT pistol was also recovered from his possession. In
another raid, CID claimed to have arrested an alleged target killer.
Two persons, including a former
member of a peace committee, were killed and another was injured
in two separate incidents in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In the first incident, armed motorcyclists opened firing on Ghulam
Ayaz, former member of a peace committee, his son and a friend
in Shiekh Utar village. Ghulam Ayaz was killed on the spot while
his friend identified as Nawab Gul sustained injuries. Mohammad
Imran, the son of Mr Ayaz, escaped unhurt in the incident.
In the second incident, unidentified
persons opened firing on a cab driver when he tried to speed up
his car after they signalled him to stop on Tank-Pazo Road. The
driver identified as Mashkatullah sustained critical injuries
and succumbed to his injuries.
Police recovered two hand grenades,
detonators and 75 cartridges from the house of a SSP cadre in
Dera Ismail Khan. Cantonment SHO Mohammad Nawaz Gandapur said
that they were informed that Imran Ali and Jamshed Mohammad, both
cadres of SSP, were hiding in the house of Merajuddin Mehsud in
Gulshan Jamil Colony.
Unidentified militants attacked
a convoy and a camp of SFs with rockets in coalmine fields of
Chamalang area in Loralai District and Margat in Mach area of
Bolan District.
The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that Pakistan will face "dire consequences" if it
fails to contain terrorists operating from its soil. Clinton made
this statement in an interview with Bloomberg News two days after
she visited Islamabad, adding that Pakistan requires help from
the US and Afghanistan to battle militancy.
Hillary Clinton said that Haqqani
network has launched lethal attacks against US and Afghan targets
and it may unleash violence inside Pakistan. Clinton said she
pressed Pakistan to fully share intelligence with US forces in
Afghanistan to prevent attacks and choke off money and supply
routes.
|
October 25 |
Four people, including an anti-TTP
militia member, were killed in a remote-controlled roadside bomb
blast in Ghor Ghundai area of Samar Bagh tehsil in Lower
Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Among the victims included
a patient who was being transported to a hospital, local Police
official Sher Hayat Khan said. Aziz-ur-Rehman, the anti- TTP militia
member, and his son (12), a son-in-law and a neighbour were killed
in the blast ripping through the vehicle they were travelling
in, the Police said.
Suspected militants killed a member
of a peace body of Bara area of Khyber Agency in FATA at Matani-Shaikhan
Road in Peshawar. Sources said that Mohammad Amin, the peace body
member, was a pro-government tribesman, who had shifted to Peshawar
recently from the tribal region.
Four security personnel sustained
injuries in a roadside explosion at Malikhel Khwar area in the
limits of Janikhel Police Station of Bannu District. The landmine
planted by suspected militants exploded when a vehicle of security
personnel, on a routine patrolling. Security personnel were identified
as Javed, Muzamil, Amir and Toorkhan.
Four more people fell prey to
target killings in different parts of Karachi, the provincial
capital of Sindh. Police found bodies of two persons bearing torture
marks from an empty plot in Hassan Brohi Goth within the limits
of Surjani Police Station. The identities of both victims were
yet to be ascertained.
Police found body of a young man
from a garbage container in Ibn-e-Seena Lane within the limits
of Brigade Police Station. The victim was later identified as
25-year-old Wazir Khan, son of Ameer Jan.
Owner of a PCO, Shahzad Khan (34),
was shot dead in Wahid Colony within the jurisdiction of North
Nazimabad Police Station in the wee hours. A Police official said
the victim was the resident of same area and one of his brothers
was an activist of a banned outfit SSP while other was an active
worker of PPP.
Sindh Police arrested 10 suspects,
including eight target killers, during different raids in the
metropolis. North Nazimabad Police arrested an alleged target
killer Noman alias Nomi after an encounter in their premises and
recovered a repeater from his possession. The Police said Nomi
was involved in three murder cases and belonged to a religious
political party. The Quaidabad Police arrested two alleged target
killers Salman Ali and Salman Shah after a brief encounter at
Sherpao graveyard. The Police said the accused were involved in
the murders of four persons, including a Police constable, and
had confessed to throwing bodies in gunny bags after killing them.
Two TT pistols were recovered from their possession. In another
raid, Sir Syed Police arrested a narcotics dealer from North Karachi,
Sector 11 and recovered two TT pistols and hashish from his possessions.
DSP Altaf Hussain said the accused was nominated in several cases
of drug peddling and other crimes.
The AEC and Clifton Police arrested
five alleged target killers and an alleged member of a Lyari gangster
group. The suspects were arrested during separate raids in different
parts of the city. The five suspected targeted killers were identified
as Mohammad Adil, Mohammad Aslam, Nasir Qadri, Zain-ul-Abideen
alias Zainu and Noman Khan. The AEC officials claimed that three
of them were associated with Sunni Tehreek and two with Mohajir
Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi. The police said that they were involved
in over 30 cases of target killings.
Clifton Police arrested an alleged
member of Lyari gangsters group Nauroz Chandio. One TT pistol
and 10 kilogrammes of hashish were also recovered from his possession.
He is a close aide of Taj Mohammad alias Taju. Police sources
said that Nauroz was arrested three days before from Lyari area
by Rangers and then they handed over him to Police.
Two bullet-riddled bodies were
found in different areas of Balochistan. Sources said that local
people informed police about the presence of a body in the industrial
town of Hub in Lasbela District.
A FC soldier was killed in a landmine
explosion near Sorang coalmine field near Quetta. According to
spokesperson of FC, Mohammad Ishaq, the FC man, was clearing a
landmine near Sorang area when it exploded, killing him instantly.
The banned outfit BLA has claimed responsibility for the killing.
PoK High CJ Ghulam Mustafa Mughal
was seriously injured when unidentified assailants opened fire
upon him at Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. DSP City Yaseen
Baig told APP that the CJ was strolling at PoK University's recreation
ground near his residence when unidentified assailants fired at
him and managed to escape.
At least 18,000 people have fled
their homes in Khyber Agency of FATA, fearing a fresh onslaught
of fighting between the Army and militants, officials said. Families
streamed out of the Agency, a flashpoint for TTP and other groups
on the NATO supply line into neighbouring Afghanistan, after the
Army ordered them to leave because of military action going on
in the area. "Around 3,200 families, up to 18,000 people, have
arrived in the Jalozai refugee camp and we are making arrangements
to facilitate them," Adnan Khan, spokesman for the disaster management
authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said.
The Haqqani Network will not take
part individually in any peace talks with the United States and
negotiations must be led by the Afghan Taliban, a commander of
the Haqqani Network said. "They will not be able to find a solution
to the Afghan conflict until and unless they hold talks with the
Taliban shura," he said while talking to Reuters from Afghanistan.
|
October 26 |
A volunteer of a local peace committee
and two cadres of LI were killed in exchange of fire in Meeran
Talab area of Akkakhel in Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency in
FATA. "The incident took place at Meeran Talab when volunteers
of peace committee and activists of Lashkar-e-Islam came face
to face as the former were patrolling the area," sources said.
Malak Rahmat Jan, a pro-Government
tribal elder and member of peace committee, was killed when militants
from across the Afghan border targeted his house with missiles
and mortars in Zari area of Lowi Mamond tehsil in Bajaur
Agency. "Malak Rahmat was killed and his house was partially damaged
in the attack," officials of political administration said while
confirming the report.
Three workers of Frontier Works
Organisation were injured when their vehicle was targeted by a
landmine on Jandolla-Makeen Road near Manzai Ziarat area. The
workers of the construction company were going to Hathala camp
from Jandolla when they met the fatal incident at 8:30am (local
time).
Khasadar Force arrested an Afghan
national at Torkham border in Khyber Agency and recovered arms
from his possession. The recovered arms included rocket launchers,
mortars and cartridges.
Pakistani officials accused NATO
helicopters of violating Pakistan's airspace over the TTP and
Haqqani Network stronghold of North Waziristan Agency, along the
Afghan border. "Two helicopters intruded several kilometres inside
Pakistan territory in Datta Khel town around 2:00 am (2100 GMT
Tuesday)," a military official said.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
two persons, including chief of a peace committee, Shahabuddin
Burki, in Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to Police,
chief of Tank peace committee, Shahabuddin Burki, was in the guestroom
of a member of the committee at Civil Lines Colony, when unidentified
persons entered and opened fire at them. As a result, Shahabuddin
and Asmatullah, the son of peace committee member, died on the
spot. A TTP 'spokesman', Maulvi Farhad, claimed responsibility
for the murders and said that people who worked against TTP would
meet the same fate.
13 persons were injured in a bomb
blast in the Rampura area of Peshawar. The blast took in an area
which is frequented by daily wage workers. Eyewitnesses said that
a man had parked his motorcycle opposite a shop in the area and
that the explosion occurred after he left the spot.
Police and FC carried out search
operation in Orangi town area of Karachi and arrested four suspects,
including an injured TTP 'commander' Usman Ghani.
The ATC Judge, Pervez Ali Shah,
who awarded the death sentence to former Governor Salman Taseer's
self-confessed assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri on October 1, 2011,
has sought refuge in Saudi Arabia with his family after receiving
death threats from religious extremists.
Several hardline religious groups
ransacked his courtroom and offered a bounty to anyone who killed
him. "The death threats have forced Shah to leave Pakistan along
with his family for Saudi Arabia," said Saiful Malook, who served
as special prosecutor during Qadri's trial.
LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi,
the main accused in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack
case (also known as 26/11), has been clandestinely communicating
from prison with members of his outfit, according to intercepts
by Western Intelligence Agencies.
Hundreds of people, including
Hindus, staying in flood relief camps run by Falah-e-Insaniyat
Foundation (FIF), a front organization of the 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".
ISI provides weapons and training
to the Afghan Taliban fighting US and British troops in Afghanistan,
despite official denials, a BBC documentary quotes some people
it claims to be Afghan Taliban 'commanders'. A number of middle-ranking
Afghan Taliban 'commanders', it said, revealed the extent of alleged
Pakistani support in interviews for the BBC Two documentary series,
'Secret Pakistan'.
A video has emerged showing a
Swiss couple abducted by the TTP nearly four months ago, flanked
by four masked gunmen pointing rifles at their heads. In the video,
which has been posted on YouTube, the man holds up a Pakistani
newspaper dated September 15 and the couple speak Swiss German.
Olivier David Och (31), and Daniela Widmer (28), appear in relatively
good health and call on the Pakistani and Swiss Governments to
give into the demands of their hostage takers.
|
October 27 |
Two consecutive drone attacks
within a span of one hour killed 11 militants, including the brother
of Mullah Nazir, in Waziristan Agencies of FATA. An unmanned aircraft
attack killed five militants, including Omar Wazir, the younger
brother of Mullah Nazir, the 'commander' of Mullah Nazir group,
at Azam Warsak in Bermal tehsil, some 20 kilometres west of Wana,
the main town of South Waziristan Agency. Three of the five deceased
were identified as Hazrat Umar, Khan Mohammad and Ashfaq, while
the identities of the other two could not be ascertained.
Hours after, a second US drone
strike killed another six militants at Issakhel village in the
Mir Ali subdivision, some 30 kilometres east of Miramshah in North
Waziristan Agency.
The beheaded body of a volunteer
of an anti-TTP tribal lashkar was found in Bara area of
Khyber Agency. Officials said that militants belonging to LI abducted
a volunteer of Akkakhel tribal lashkar o October 26. His beheaded
body was found at a deserted place on October 27.
Four children including three
girls were injured when suspected militants from across the border
in Afghanistan fired mortar shells in the Kaza area of the Mamoond
tehsil in Bajaur Agency. The children were identified as Munasib,
Shazia, Palwasha and Shazia.
A Levies official Hayatullah and
a pedestrian identified as Siffatullah received injuries when
an explosive device went off near the Khyber Agency Headquarters
Hospital in Landi Kotal.
Two NATO containers were destroyed
in a blast in a parking lot near the border in Torkham border.
Both the containers caught fire and were destroyed.
Unidentified militants blew up
Amirzada Government School for girls at Mandani village in Charsadda
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, no causalities or big
property destruction was reported.
Several banned militant groups,
including the LeT and HM, opposed Pakistan's move to grant Most
Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, reports Hindustan Times.
Leaders of the groups, including Muttahida Jihad Council chairman
Syed Salahuddin, told a gathering of hundreds of supporters at
Aabpara Chowk in Islamabad about their movement to "liberate"
Jammu and Kashmir.
A spokesman who addressed the
gathering on behalf of LeT 'commander' Iftikhar Haider said his
group would take "revenge" for the killing of Muslims in Gujarat
in 2002 and the 2007 bombing of the Samjhauta Express cross-border
train.
The gathering was held in a market
located less than two kilometres from the headquarters of the
ISI in the heart of Islamabad. Jihadi leaders, including Salahuddin
and Al Badr Mujahideen leader Bakht Zameen, too opposed Pakistan's
decision in principle to grant MFN-status to India.
The US has asked Pakistan to squeeze
the dangerous Haqqani network, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said as she underlined it has been made clear to Islamabad that
trying to distinguish between "good and bad terrorists" is self-defeating
and dangerous.
Hillary Clinton told a congressional
panel that any Afghan-led peace process would have to include
the Quetta Shura and its leader Mulla Omar. "There is no solution
in the region without Pakistan and no stable future in the region
without a partnership."
The Pakistan Army told the Pentagon
that it does not have the capacity to take action against the
Haqqani network, US Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, Deputy
Commander of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said.
Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti
said that Pakistani forces are allowing terrorists to launch rocket
and mortar attacks on US troops across the border in Afghanistan
and may be collaborating with the militants. The rocket fire targeting
American forces often originates within sight of border posts
manned by Pakistan's Frontier Corps, said Curtis Scaparrotti.
Pakistan has not been taken into
confidence on the initiation of the reconciliation process in
Afghanistan, Major-General Athar Abbas, the Director General of
the ISPR said. In an interview with BBC in Rawalpindi, Abbas said
that Pakistan had neither been taken into confidence nor the Pakistani
Government had been informed about the objectives of the reconciliation
process.
The Director General termed a
BBC report, alleging that the Pakistan Army and the ISI supplied
and protected the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda highly biased and
one-sided. "We consider that report highly biased, it is one-sided,
it doesn't have the version of the side which is badly hit or
affected by this report," Major General Athar Abbas said.
|
October 28 |
At least 13 TTP militants were
killed in US drone attack in Mir Ali area of South Waziristan
Agency in FATA. Security sources said there was strong evidence
that Taj Gul Mehsud, a senior TTP 'commander' and close aide to
TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, was among the victims in the attack.
Six others were injured, Security Forces said.
Ajmeer Shah, a senior Police official,
renowned for anti-TTP operations, and his driver were killed and
two others were injured when a suicide bomber attacked them in
Risalpur Police Station in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Ajmeer Shah, Station House Officer of Risalpur Police Station
in Nowshera District, was the target, according to Senior Police
Official Israrullah Khan. Ajmeer Shah led several successful raids
against TTP in Nowshera District and his last encounter saw senior
TTP leader Qari Basit killed.
Two brothers were killed when
militants fired a rocket at a vehicle in remote Shindhand area
of Kohat. According to an official, the vehicle bringing passengers
from the semi-autonomous tribal area was hit by a rocket fired
from nearby mountains. The two brothers, identified as Hazrat
Omer and Bilal, died on the spot.
An improvised explosive device
planted by militants destroyed a music shop along with three adjoining
ones and caused injuries to a tailor in Mehbub Ali Market of Shabqadar
area in Charsadda District.
Bannu Police thwarted a sabotage
attempt by defusing two improvised explosive devices planted by
suspected militants in Saleh Khan Mandeo. The Police were informed
by locals that two bombs had been planted along a road by unidentified
militants.
Insurgent safe havens in Pakistan
are now the biggest threat to NATO forces in Afghanistan, the
Pentagon said. Overall, enemy attacks in Afghanistan in recent
months were 5 percent lower than the same period a year ago, the
Pentagon said in a report to Congress. But high-profile attacks
were up in Afghanistan, and the enemy remains resilient, it said.
Security has improved in Afghanistan but the insurgency's safe
havens in Pakistan and the Kabul Government's limitations pose
significant risks to a "durable, stable Afghanistan," according
to a Pentagon progress report released on October 28.
|
October 29 |
A person was killed and four other
arrested after an encounter between the personnel of FC and armed
men in Mangoli area of Quetta, the provincial summer capital of
Balochistan.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
member of a local peace committee, Qazi Marjan, at Rori under
the jurisdiction of Kulachi Police Station in Tank District of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza
Gilani categorically said there was no permission given to the
US to launch any drone strike against any target inside Pakistan's
territory. "There is no such permission," Gilani told a large
group of Pakistani expatriates in Perth (Australia).
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that the US drone attacks inside Pakistani territory
were "unjustified", adding that they were counterproductive and
created problems in garnering support against extremists.
"Were we not sincere, why terrorists
and extremists would be targeting our people and security forces?"
she asked. "We have lost 30,000 people including 6,500 personnel
of the security forces. Our financial losses are running in the
billions," she told the students.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani said that
military operations were not a sustainable solution to the problem
of militancy, as political process had to be initiated to bring
peace.
Pakistan's top military commander,
Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik, said that Pakistan would
act against terrorist safe havens and urged NATO and Afghanistan
to do the same. Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik, who is supervising
military operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told reporters that
his troops would not leave the area until complete security had
been ensured.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Ameer Haider Khan Hoti reiterated that if the militants surrendered
their weapons, accepted the writ of the State and guaranteed living
in peace in the future, then the Government was ready to hold
talks with them.
|
October 30 |
Six militants were killed when
a US drone fired six missiles at a vehicle near the Afghanistan
border in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
The high number of missiles used in the attack in the Datta Khel
area of North Waziristan seemed to indicate an important militant
was targeted. But the identities of those killed were as yet unknown,
said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Four persons were injured when
an explosive device went off at the shop of Nek Amal Khan in Tirah
Sakorhi village of Kukikhel in Khyber Agency.
The Malir town President of SSP,
Jabbar Qureshi was shot dead while his companion, Imdadullah,
injured in a target killing incident at Korangi Crossing in Karachi.
One Qasim Ali, the prime witness
of July 14, 2006 suicide bombing on Muttahida Majilis-e-Amal (MMA)
leader Allama Hassan Turabi, was shot dead in Malir.
JUI-F Panjgur General Secretary
Hafiz Ahtishamul Haq was shot dead in Kori Koran area of Panjgur
District. Police sources said that unidentified armed militants
opened fire at the JUI-F leader while he was standing outside
his house
Unidentified armed militants abducted
the driver and the cleaner of an oil tanker carrying supply for
NATO troops in Afghanistan from Karachi to Quetta near Mach area
of Bolan District.
The vehicle of a Police mobile
party was partially damaged in a remote controlled blast in Parmuli
Police Station area of Swabi District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However,
the Policemen remained unhurt in the blast.
A former SSG commando, Saadullah,
the mastermind behind the October 8, 2011, terrorist plot to attack
the Pakistan Parliament was arrested in Okara District by Law
Enforcement Agencies. SSG is the elite wing of the Armed Forces
of Pakistan.
ISI spied on German Security Forces
in Afghanistan, raising fears sensitive information could end
up in the hands of the Taliban, German weekly Bild am Sonntag
reported. Without citing its sources, Bild am Sonntag reported
that Germany's foreign intelligence agency BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst)
warned its Interior Ministry that Pakistan had spied on 180 German
Police officers deployed in Afghanistan to train locals.
|
October 31
|
At least four persons including
a commander of the pro-government Amn Force, identified
as Nabi Daid, were killed and five others injured during a clash
with the militants of BRA near Sui area of Dera Bugti District.
A BRA spokesperson, who introduced himself as Sarbaz Baloch, said
his organisation ambushed the vehicle of the force near Sui.
Three headless bodies were found
on Indus Highway in the limits of Domail Police Station in Bannu
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The deceased were identified as
Maulana Qari Hussain Ahmed, a resident of Sarai Naurang, Sirajuddin
from Shabak Khel of Lakki Marwat District and Noor Rehman, a resident
of Sherakot area of Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Unidentified militants shot dead
a Deputy Director of FIA, identified as Ikramullah, near his residence
on Kohat Road in Kohat District. They said that the FIA official,
Ikramullah, belonged to Tur Dher village of Swabi District but
he was presently living at Shahab Flats at Kohat Road and worked
as in-charge of its crime circle.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for
Housing and Physical Planning Amjad Khan Afridi of the PPP escaped
an attack when terrorists opened fire at him in Kohat District.
Suspected militants blew up a
primary school in Adezai on the suburbs of Peshawar.
A US drone fired two missiles
killing three militants near Mubarak Shah town about 15 kilometres
east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan Agency of
FATA.
A boy identified as Asadullah
(18), of Bajaur Agency escaped from the custody of TTP after remaining
in their captivity for two months in Kunar province of Afghanistan.
Asadullah reached his home in Erab village of Mamond tehsil
in Bajaur. He was among the 27 boys of Bajaur, abducted by TTP
on August 31, 2011 after they crossed over to Afghanistan. The
Bajaur chapter of TTP had claimed responsibility for abducting
the 27 boys and keeping them hostages in Kunar province of Afghanistan.
SFs blew up four houses of alleged
terrorists affiliated to TTP and LI at Nala and Mandi Kas areas
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
ten suspects, including three target killers through separate
raids in Karachi. According to sources, Landhi Police claimed
to have arrested an alleged target killer Hassan Dilawar, who
is also associated with a political party. Police arrested Dilawar
while he was trying to escape abroad, adding that earlier he had
visited three countries, including Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh.
A Kalashnikov, repeater and foreign currency were recovered from
his possession. Separately, Shah Latif Police claimed to have
arrested a political worker, identified as Maqbool Ahmed alias
Maqbola, allegedly involved in 12 cases of target killing. Weapons
were recovered from his possession. In another raid, Crime Branch
cell arrested at least five suspects, including Ziaullah, Irfan,
Asif, Omar and Siddiq in a raid within Jackson Police remit. In
yet another raid, an alleged member of Lyari gang war was arrested
at Khadda Market in Lyari. Meanwhile, Federal Investigation Agency
claimed to have arrested two suspects, identified as Laxman Das
and Babu Lal, allegedly involved in the illegal business of hawala
and hundi.
Islamabad Court acquitted Abdul
Aziz, the chief cleric of Lal Masjid in four of the 12
cases registered against him for crimes including challenging
Government writ by keeping illegal arms.
After accusing Pakistan's 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.
US asked Pakistan to make sure
that intelligence information does not flow to the Haqqani Network
as part of efforts to squeeze the terror group that attacked American
interests in Afghanistan. A senior administration official said
that there were a range of issues that could help to facilitate
in squeezing the Haqqani Network from the Pakistani side, and
would be very complementary to US efforts on the Afghan side of
the border.
Pakistani officials rejected a
German newspaper report that the country’s secret service spied
on German SFs in Afghanistan. Earlier on October 30 Germany’s
Foreign Intelligence Agency warned its Interior Ministry that
Pakistan had spied on 180 German Police officers deployed in Afghanistan
to train locals. A Pakistani Foreign Ministry official, on the
condition of anonymity, described the report as “ridiculous” and
“useless”.
|
November 1
|
Three people, including an advocate
and former councillor, were shot dead in separate incidents of
target killing in Karachi. An advocate, identified as Waheed-ur-Rehman
Qureshi, was shot dead near Cafe Liberty Chowk on Tariq Road,
within the precincts of Ferozabad Police Station.
A former councillor of PPP, identified
as Gull Hassan, was shot dead in Shanti Nagar, Dalmia within the
juridiction of Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
A man identified as Falak Sher,
was shot dead and a minor girl Saro injured when unidentified
militants opened fire in Kunwari Colony within the remit of Pirabad
Police Station. Officer said victim had several cases of crime
registered against him and was also linked to a Lyari gang.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
five suspects, including a target killer, from several areas of
Karachi during different raids. A heavy contingent of Police and
Rangers conducted a raid in Sector 4-D of Surjani Town and arrested
target killer Raheel alias Bhoora and recovered two Kalashnikovs
and a TT pistol from his possession. In addition, Gulberg Police
arrested three suspects, including a cop, identified as Kashif
Raza, after a brief encounter in Tahir Villa in the limits of
Gulberg Police Station.
Militants handed over dead bodies
of three SF personnel, who were abducted after the October 26
attack on a check post in Mohmand Agency of FATA, to the political
administration in the agency headquarters in Ghalanai, after successful
talks with a tribal jirga in Atmarkhel area of Baizai tehsil.
SFs demolished four hideouts and
a key base of militants in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency
during an operation. The base of LI was destroyed in Shalobar
area. SFs established a check post at the Nala Khwarh house of
LI activist Rashid Khan, who is allegedly involved in numerous
attacks on SFs in the area. In Jamrud tehsil, the local political
administration demolished the house of Stana Gul over his involvement
in the abduction of a trader. In addition, peace committee of
Akakhel demolished a militant hideout in Madakhel area.
Four of the 34 abducted coal miners
were freed by their captors in Kalakhel area in Bara tehsil of
Khyber Agency on October 31. The coal miners were abducted on
September 30, 2011.
Militants blew up the shrine of
saint Syed Allah Dad Shah near Kotal Syedan on Zhob Road, seven
kilometres from Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
No militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
US blacklisted a jailed Haqqani
Network Commander Mali Khan in a bid to block funds to suspected
terrorists. "All property subject to US jurisdiction in which
Mali Khan has any interest is blocked and US persons are prohibited
from engaging in any transactions with him," the State Department
said, adding, "This action will help stem the flow of financial
and other assistance to the Haqqani Network." Mali Khan was
detained in Afghanistan in September, 2011 raid by Afghan and
coalition forces.
The Balochistan High Court ordered
the Government to extradite former President Pervez Musharraf,
former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and former Home Minister of
Balochistan Shoaib Ahmed Nosherwani in the murder case of Nawab
Akbar Bugti.
Afghanistan urged Pakistan to
“move beyond words” and take concrete steps to curb militants
which it said were a threat to both countries. Afghanistan Deputy
Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told reporters on the sidelines of
the meeting in Istanbul that Afghanistan and Pakistan had been
trying for several years to build trust “but I think we have failed
to see results on the ground”.
|
November 2
|
Two soldiers were killed and two
others got injured when some unidentified militants attacked a
security checkpoint near Afghan border in Miangan Ghundai checkpost
in Ghalanai, headquarters of Mohmand Agency, in FATA in the wee
hours. Sepoy Rishad Khan and levies soldier Umer Khitab embraced
martyrdom in the attack while two levies soldiers were injured.
LI militants abducted five family
members of the chief of Malikdinkhel Afridi tribe Haji Amal Gul
from his house in Nala area of Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
The sources said the militants reached Amal Gul’s house and abducted
his five relatives including his grandson Rehman Gul, Shehzad
and Iqbal.
At least two personnel of Frontier
Corps were killed and six others were injured when a convoy consisting
of three vehicles while on its way to Tump area in Turbat District
was hit by a remote-controlled device planted by unidentified
militants.
Unidentified armed militants attacked
a NATO container on its way to Afghanistan from Karachi and injured
the driver at Bypass area of Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District.
An electricity pylon was slightly
damaged when an explosive device strapped to it exploded at Samungli
Road in Quetta. The device was strapped to the pylon which shouldered
a power transformer and was right opposite to the entrance of
the Saddar Police Station and about 50 yards off a highly secured
security check post manned by paramilitary troops.
Two people were killed in separate
incidents in different parts of Karachi. A man, identified as
Jumma, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants on Ahmed
Ali Shah Bukhari Road in Lyari within the limits of Baghdadi Police
Station. Police suspect the killing to be the incident of Lyari
war.
A youth, identified as Ehsan Ali
Abro, was found dead near Faqira Goth, Super Highway within the
limits of Sohrab Goth Police Station. Police officials said that
the victim hailed from Jacobabad District and lived at the flood
victims’ camp at Super Highway.
Rangers during snap checking and
raids in different areas of Karachi arrested 26 accused and recovered
arms in the last 48 hours. The raids were conducted in Shanti
Nagar, Dalmia, Qalandri Hotel Orangi, 89-Excahnge Landhi, Khadda
Lyari, Super Market, Hassan Colony Gadap.
A video of November 11, 2010 suicide
attack on a CID office building in Karachi was released showing
three young men being trained, filming their target, the heavily-guarded
premises, and appearing before the camera for interviews before
carrying out the attack. The 15-minute video has been produced
by ‘Umer Studio’, said to be the media wing of the TTP, and posted
by the Global Islamic Media Front on different websites.
One person was killed and 10 others
were injured in a bomb blast near Police checkpost in Karkhano
Market of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Around 10 vehicles were also damaged in the blast. The attack
targeted an influential Pakistani tribal elder, Malik Taj, who
was wounded in the attack, Police officer Rahim Shah said.
Police defused a powerful improvised
explosive device planted near a CD shop at Board Bazaar in Peshawar.
Police recovered two bombs from
two different places in Mardan town of Mardan District. While
one was recovered from Shugo Bridge, the other was found planted
near the tower of a cellular phone company, on Mardan Bypass Road.
Police said that they arrested three suspected persons from the
area.
Police defused an explosive device,
weighed 12 kilograms, planted on Torghar-Thakot road near Shalay
area in Mansehra District.
Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Masood Kausar urged militants to lay down arms and join political
struggle for the sought-after societal change. He further added
that restoration of peace in the FATA is the Government’s top
priority.
Police rescued 34 Afghan children,
between nine and 15 years old, from the basement of an unregistered
madrassa (religious seminary), Jamia Rasheedia in Ghanta Ghar
Bazaar of Gujranwala District. The in-charge of the madrassa
Qari Aqeel, escaped during the raid, but Police arrested his assistant,
Qari Taj.
|
November 3
|
Four bullet-riddled bodies were
found in Windar Town of Lasbela District. Two of the dead were
identified as Faraz and Umeed Ali. According to the Voice for
Baloch Missing Persons, as many as 226 corpses of missing persons
have been found from different parts of the province since June
4, 2010.
During the regular patrolling,
Police recovered three bodies from Turbat and Khuzdar Districts.
The bodies have been identified to be of Abdul Samad from Khuzdar
District and Gohram and Ayam from Turbat District.
A man, identified as Naeem Jamali,
was shot dead and two others were injured in an armed attack in
Mastung District.
A schoolteacher and prayer leader,
identified as Qari Yasin Abbasi, was shot at and injured in Kasi
area of Quetta. Abbasi, a teacher in Islamia High School, was
passing through the Ibrahim Street when gunmen on a motorcycle
opened fire at him.
CM Nawab Aslam Raisani while talking
to a delegation of journalists at the CM Secretariat in Quetta
said that an independent Balochistan is not a practical proposition
and will lead to bloodbath in the province.
US drone strike killed at least
three suspected Haqqani network militants in Darpakhel Sarai,
just outside Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency
in FATA.
A security man was killed and
two others were injured when militants attacked a checkpost near
Sadda in Kurram Agency. Sources said that militants attacked
a checkpost of Levies Force near Sadda with heavy and light weapons.
A house and a vehicle were partially
damaged when militants fired three missiles at Pewar area of Kurram
Agency.
Militants forcibly occupied the
houses of Jan Khan, Khana Jan and Sial Jan in Sipah area of Khyber
Agency. Sources said that militants also stocked huge quantity
of arms and ammunition in the occupied houses and were preparing
for a showdown with the SFs, busy in an operation in the area.
In Spin Qabar area, militants
destroyed the houses of two school teachers.
SFs arrested at least six suspected
militants and recovered arms and drugs from their possession during
a search operation in Arjali Nadi area in Bara.
A Policeman was killed and two
others received injuries when unidentified assailants opened firing
on them in Surani area of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An Intelligence Agency intercepted
a call, made on October 21,2011, to an alleged terrorist ‘commander’,
identified as Babar, in Khyber Agency of FATA on November 3, by
two militants, identified as Ibrahim Ilyas and Qari Waqas, jailed
at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Rawalpindi District. The commander reportedly
told them that suicide bombers had entered Lahore, “soon you will
get good news”. Following this security was put on high alert
across the province.
The Barrack Obama administration
is pledging robust assistance to Pakistan despite demands on US
finances and a sometimes rocky relationship with Islamabad, a
status report on Afghanistan and Pakistan reported.
NATO vowed to exert “severe military
pressure” on the Haqqani network. NATO Secretary-General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen said that despite the recent violence, the NATO
mission was heading in the right direction and militant attacks
were down in the July-September period, compared with last year.
|
November 4
|
A man, identified as Zainul Abideen,
was shot dead outside the house of a retired judge of the Sindh
High Court, Justice Zawwar Hussain Jafri in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area
of Karachi by militants. Police retaliated and arrested two persons,
Jamil and Munir, while the five others escaped. Police also recovered
a .222 rifle, a Kalashnikov, a TT pistol and seized their car,
which had a fake number plate.
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, a November 4 BBC
report said. In a new two-part series titled 'Secret Pakistan',
Bruce Riedel, the CIA officer who served as advisor to 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.
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."
The CIA agreed to curtail drone
strikes without consent of Pakistan. The CIA had made a series
of secret concessions in its drone campaign after military and
diplomatic officials complained that large-level strikes were
damaging the fragile US relationship with Pakistan.
Two US magazines reported that
the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), in charge of the storage and
security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, has started moving them
in low-security vans on congested roads in order to hide them
from US spy agencies and Indian agents all the while making the
weapons vulnerable to theft by Islamist militants.
|
November 5
|
TTP militants launched an attack
on a military convoy near Razmak, more than 50 kilometres south
of Miranshah in North Waziristan, in FATA, killing five soldiers
and wounding three others. Troops retaliated immediately with
small and heavy weapons but there was no report of TTP casualties.
Three soldiers were killed and
seven others injured in an ambush in Speen Mella area of South
Waziristan. Three vehicles of a bomb disposal squad were travelling
to Zangara check-post from Zahidullah security post when militants
ambushed them with rockets and Kalashnikovs in Speen Mella area.
The wife of pro-government tribal
elder Malak Mohammad Omar was killed and he himself, his father
and a son were injured when about 25 militants stormed his house
in Bara Kaman Gara area of Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur Agency.
Political Tehsildar Shah Naseem Khan told reporters that one of
the attackers was killed and several others injured when Security
Forces and tribal volunteers fired back.
Two Levies Force personnel were
killed and four others injured in an armed attack on their checkpost
in the coalmine area of Margat and Marwar in Bolan District of
Balochistan.
A bullet-riddled body of a journalist,
identified as Javed Naseer Rind, was found in Khuzdar. Javed Naseer
Rind worked as a senior sub-editor in local newspaper in Mastung.
According to doctors, the body had bullet wound in head and multiple
marks of torture. Rind was abducted on September 10 near his resident
in Mehmoodabad area of Hub Town in Lasbela District.
A person died when explosive materials
that he was carrying went off near Hazara Town, a suburb of Quetta.
According to a local police official, the man wanted to place
the explosive material somewhere in Hazara Town, a township dominated
by the Hazara community. “It was a failed suicide attack, the
bomber was heading to Shia population area in Hazara town,” Hamid
Shakeel, a Senior Police Officer said.
A convoy of FC troops escaped
a remote-controlled blast in Mian Ghundi on Sibbi Road on the
outskirts of Quetta. However, no one was hurt in the blast as
it took place a few minutes after the convoy had passed by.
A militant commander identified
as Gull Rehman and his accomplice were killed in an operation
launched by the SFs in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Rehman along
with his accomplices was trying to flee the SFs’ operation to
Bara Bandi via Mangoli. SFs opened fired at them and killed two
on the spot, while arrested one.
Two persons were killed in separate
incidents of violence that took place in Karachi in Sindh. In
the first incident, a youth was shot dead at a cricket ground
at Sacchal Goth within the limits of Sachal Police Station by
unidentified assailants. The victim was identified as Mohammad
Aslam.
A man was stabbed to death at
his house in Farooq Colony of Orangi Town. The deceased was identified
as Idrees Bengali.
An anti-terror court in Islamabad
indicted two Police officers and five alleged Taliban militants
over the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
(on December 27, 2007).
The Federal Ministry of Interior
released a list of 31 banned outfits. Most of the organisations
had been earlier but People’s Aman Committee of Karachi, Shia
Tulaba Action Committee, Markaz Sabeel Organisation and Tanzeem-i-Naujawanan-i-Sunnat
of Gilgit-Baltistan have been added to the list. The list has
counted several militant outfits operating under new names as
different organisations. JeM and Khuddam-ul-Islam are two names
of the same organisation. SSP and TJP have changed their names
to Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan and Islami Tehreek, respectively.
They have been mentioned as separate entities. LeT is on the list
but its changed name — Jamaat ud Dawa — is missing.
The organisations on the list
are: al Qaeda, TTP, LeJ, SMP, TNSM, Jamiat-ul Ansar, Jamiat-ul-Furqan,
Hizb-ut-Tehrir, Khair-un-Naas International Trust, Islamic Students
Movement, LI, Haji Namdar Group, BLA, BRA, BLF, LeB, BLUF and
BMDT. Some of the organisations operating under new names have
not been listed.
|
November 6
|
The leaders of a tribal lashkar,
Malak Amanullah, and two other people were shot dead when suspected
militants opened fire in Azam Warsak bazaar, about 20 kilometres
west of Wana, in South Waziristan Agency of FATA. Three people
were injured in the attack and taken to a hospital in Wana where
two of them died. Malak Amanullah had played an important role
in forcing Uzbeks and their local Ahmedzai Wazir supporters to
leave Waziristan. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
One of the attackers was reportedly killed in firing by men accompanying
the Malak.
At least 32 suspects were arrested
ahead of Eid celebrations from different parts of Karachi. 13
different types of weapons and two vehicles were seized from the
suspects. The areas where the suspects were arrested include Suleman
Farsi society, Jumma Goth, Kati Pahari, Faqira Goth, Abul Hassan
Isphani Road, Nayaabad and Maripur Road.
Federal Minister of Interior Minister
Rehman Malik invited TTP and all other terrorists to adopt peace.
In his message on the occasion of Eid, Rehman Malik told the TTP
to throw away weapons and become part of the national stream.
The youngsters, who were being misguided, have rejected the TTP,
he added.
Former President General Pervez
Musharraf said that Pakistan nuclear weapons are very hard targets
and can never be attacked by the United States. "I don't
think it is possible from my purely military perspective for anyone,
including the United States, to attack them that easily,"
Musharraf told Fareed Zakaria of the CNN in an interview.
Musharraf warned that the US withdrawal
from Afghanistan would lead to Pakistan and India struggling over
influence in the war-torn country.
|
November 7
|
Three persons, including a former
ANP tehsil Nazim, Hanif Jadoon, were killed and nine people
were injured in a suicide attack in the Malikabad area of Swabi
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Security Agencies exposed an attempted
spree of terrorist attacks in which militants had planned to carry
out multiple suicide bombings against several key state institutions
including the Presidency and the Army headquarters. Intelligence
officials received the information about the plan after detaining
a suspected militant who belongs to Miranshah in North Waziristan
Agency of FATA and is affiliated with the TTP.
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.
The Government placed no restrictions
on JuD from collecting donations and animal hides after the Eid-ul-Azha
sacrifice. The group says it has set up a hundred camps for hide
collection in Lahore alone. Shahid, a member of the JuD Information
Department, said that the group was operating roughly a hundred
camps in Lahore under the name JuD or the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation
(FIF).
Under scanner over the security
of its nukes, the Pakistani Army said that it will train 8,000
more Security Force personnel to protect the country's nuclear
arsenal and vowed to safeguard them 'at all cost'.
|
November 8
|
Militants detonated a high school
for girls in Derai of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
SFs captured a TTP Swat chapter
‘commander’, Hazrat Bilal, and his accomplice from Mardan.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik linked the release of confessions made by target killers
involved in the violence in Karachi with a formal permission granted
by the Supreme Court. Mr Malik informed the media that more than
100 hit-men were arrested and all of them had admitted to their
crimes.
Another major attack on American
interests in Afghanistan by Pakistan-based militant groups would
greatly damage the alliance with Islamabad, a senior US official
from Islamabad said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the relationship.
|
November 9
|
Two persons, a girl and a suspected
militant, were killed while a hospital and dozens of medicine
shops were destroyed during a clash between SFs and militants
in Miramshah Bazaar of North Waziristan Agency in FATA. Locals
said that militants targeted Stadium checkpost and Amin post with
heavy and light weapons from the roofs of high buildings in Miramshah
Bazaar. SFs, backed by helicopter gunships and artillery, targeted
the buildings where suspected militants were taking shelter. The
gun battle continued for over 16 hours. Sources said that SFs
blew up the Medical Complex Plaza, destroying more than 50 medicine
shops, costly machinery including ultrasound machines, X-ray plants
and other valuable electronic equipment causing millions of rupees
losses to the owners. Three children were also injured as various
blocks including dental block, Operation Theatre and medical ward
of the hospital were damaged.
Militants fired three rockets
from Tangi Zaira Raisy Mountain at Paywar village In Kurram Agency.
However, no casualty was reported. It was the second attack on
Paywar village within one week.
At least five passengers were
injured when a bomb planted on Indus Highway exploded in Darra
Adamkhel town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Militants also fired 14 rockets
at different areas of Darra Adamkhel. However, no loss of life
or property was reported.
Six militants along with 25 thousand
kilogrammes explosives were arrested from a poultry farm run by
one alleged militant Aslam Tarar in the suburbs of Mandi Bahauddin
District. The militants were arrested while preparing an explosive
device at the time of arrest. Two of them are expert in preparing
suicide cars for simultaneous attacks in Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad
Districts of Punjab. Four of them belong to Swat, Swabi, Mardan,
Dera Ismail Khan Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one
to Bhakkar District in Punjab and another one to Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan.
The suspected terrorist who was
killed while planting explosives near Hazara Town in Quetta on
November 5, 2011 was identified as Pervez Ali, son of a local
Shia leader Farhan Ali Haideri of the Jaffarabad District. In
an attempt to conceal his identity, he had listed the name of
his uncle Noor Hassan as his father on his identity card.
President Asif Ali Zardari promised
to work with the United States to “eradicate” the Haqqani network,
a pledge made during a meeting with visiting American congressmen,
according to the head of the Homeland Security delegation, Michael
McCaul.
The United States believes that
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are in safe hands, a State Department
spokesman Mark Toner said, rebutting an earlier report that Islamabad’s
atomic arsenal was vulnerable to theft. Two US publications, The
Atlantic and the National Journal, citing unnamed sources, last
week said Pakistan had transported nuclear weapons in low-security
vans on congested roads to hide them from US spy agencies.
Schools in Pakistan are using
textbooks that preach intolerance towards non-Muslim religious
minorities, a report published by the United States Commission
on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said. 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”.
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.
|
November 10
|
At least six persons, four lashkar
members and two LI militants were killed in a clash between militants
and local pro-Government militia in Akakhel area of Khyber Agency
in FATA.
The SFs intensified operation
against alleged terrorists in Bara, especially during Eidul Azha
to dismantle network of militant groups such as LI and TTP to
create durable peace and establish the writ of the Government
that it has lost for the last more than five years.
Unidentified militants blew up
a boys’ school in Khawaja Was Kor area of Haleemzai tehsil
in Mohmand Agency.
The militants attacked a joint
checkpost of Levies and Khassadar force in Sharaf Kor area of
Safi tehsil The SFs repulsed the attack and no life loss occurred
in the clash.
Two armed militants killed one
Nasrullah in Mastung District. However, the Police reached the
site and arrested the accused, identified as Ghulam Murtaza and
Abdul Khaliq, after exchange of fire.
SFs foiled an attempt of terror
by defusing a bomb planted beside the wall of the Bugti Colony
of Sui in Dera Bugti District.
The LEA are trying to trace the
militant outfit behind the suicide bomber, Pervez Ali, who tried
to attack an Imambargah (Shia place of worship) in Hazara Town
of Quetta on November 4, 2011 but blew himself up after failing
to reach his target. The suicide bomber was identified by his
father Farman Ali Haideri on November 8 in the morgue of Bolan
Medical College Hospital “My son was kidnapped four months ago
by unknown people,” said the father.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
six suspects, including four target killers from different areas
of Karachi. A target killer and a worker of one of the politico-religious
parties, Aqeel alias Tapla was arrested after a brief encounter
near Health Care Hospital in the precincts of North Nazimabad
Police Station Police said Aqeel, booked in the murder of some
20 persons, confessed to have killed seven, including five workers
of SSP and two Pushtoons. He committed crimes along with his six
accomplices namely Altaf, Hasham, Abdul Latif, Shahab, Rizwan
and Iqbal alias Papita Altaf managed to flee before the
arrival of the LEA.
Authorities also claimed to have
arrested a target killer Raheel accused in the murder of seven
people during a raid at Nayabad in Lyari area and recovered weapons
from his possession.
Police claimed to have arrested
a wanted terror suspect, Qari Gul Mohammad, allegedly involved
in the February 26, 2002, terrorist attack on Shah-e-Najaf Imambargah
in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed area of Rawalpindi. The Government had
announced PNR 200,000 head money for the arrest of Qari Gul Mohammad
who had links with LeJ. Besides Gul Mohammad, four other terror
suspects have been on the Government’s wanted list in the same
case as 14 suspects had already been captured and they are being
tried.
Police arrested wanted militant
Omar Mohammad alias Kaki during a raid in Nangolai area of Swat
District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to Police sources, the
arrested militant was wanted by the Police in connection with
terrorism, murder and other cases.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik said that Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving militant of Pakistani
origin from the Mumbai terrorist attacks, deserves death sentence.
Talking to Indian journalists in Addu (Malaysia), Malik said the
expected visit by a Pakistani judicial commission to India would
help quicken the trial of Mumbai attacks accused in Pakistan “Ajmal
Kasab is a terrorist He is a non-state actor He should go to (the)
gallows,” he said.
|
November 11
|
A constable of the Levies Force,
identified as Lal Mohammad, was shot dead near Goth Bachal in
Gandawah area of Jhal Magsi District.
Two persons sustained injuries
in a landmine explosion in the Loti area of Dera Bugti District.
A student of Balochistan Residential
College Khuzdar and a Government contractor were abducted from
Khuzdar District.
Unidentified militants blew up
two CD shops in Yar Hussein area of Swabi District. However, no
life loss has been reported.
SFs defused an explosive device
planted on Mingora Road in Sher Plum area of Swat District.
Rangers conducted a raid at Faqir
Colony in Orangi Town area of Karachi and arrested four suspects
and recovered two TT pistols from their possession. The Rangers
shifted the detained suspects to an unknown place for further
interrogation.
Saeedabad Police claimed to have
arrested two suspects, Naeem and Abdul Basit from Baldia Town
and recovered two TT pistols from their possession.
Rangers arrested two suspects,
identified as Babar and Sarosh, from Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
London Police Commissioner Bernard
Hogan-Howe confirmed the arrest of two alleged killers of MQM
leader Imran Farooq on August 25, 2011 in Karachi. Imran Farooq
was killed on September 16, 2010 outside his residence in Green
Lane of Edgware in London. The two suspects were reportedly arrested
from the Karachi Airport at least two months ago but Pakistani
Police never confirmed their arrest.
The TTP said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) leader Imran Khan is a slave of the US and Europe because
he labels himself a liberal, a BBC Urdu report said. Speaking
to BBC Urdu, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that “liberal”
was an English word, and that if Khan thinks he is a representative
of the people, he should talk in the language of Pakistanis, which
is Urdu,” adding, that Khan was not a supporter of the TTP and
neither were they his sympathisers.
Building on recent diplomatic
efforts to normalise strained relations between Islamabad and
Washington, military chiefs from both countries met and agreed
to increase cooperation to curtail cross-border movement of terrorists
on the Pak-Afghan border.
Pakistan demanded that international
forces must take action to dismantle Pakistani militants from
Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Bajaur Agency
in FATA and prevent them from teaming with militants in Kunar
and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan.
|
November 12
|
Five militants, including one
cadre of the TTP, identified as Arshad, and four Intelligence
officials were killed in crossfire in Pind Dadan Khan area of
Jhelum District in Punjab. It was reported that Police had carried
out an operation on Pir Chambal hill with the help of Intelligence
Agencies. The militants were hiding inside a shrine located on
the hill. The militants killed belonged to the LeJ outfit.
At least four people were killed
in a firing incident at Rawalpindi Court. According to sources,
three unidentified militants opened fire at a man named Chaudhry
Shaukat, his brother and his nephew who were being taken to the
court for a hearing. One passer-by, also shot in the incident,
succumbed to his wounds. The Police claimed to have arrested two
of the suspects and said that the incident was an organised crime.
At least six persons, including
two children and a woman, were killed when a mortar fired by militants
fell on a house in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources
said that the militants wanted to target a nearby check post of
SFs but missed the target and fell on the house.
Six LI militants were killed and
10 others wounded at Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency during
an encounter at a Frontier Corps check post. SF arrested all the
injured militants.
Militants refused to release the
26 labourers abducted from Kalakhel area of Khyber Agency on September
30, 2011. Militants had demanded PNR 1.5 million for release of
the abducted workers and the local committee had agreed to pay
the amount but later the abductors refused to release the labourers
so the money was not paid, a tribal elder said.
A Policeman, identified as Ayaz,
was killed and a constable Fazal Rahim injured in a remote-controlled
bomb attack on a Police check post near Dhandu Bridge at Saro
Police Station in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A former union nazim and
local leader of ANP Karimul Hadi Khan, along with his two friends
Professor Riaz and Haji Akhunzada were injured in a hand grenade
attack by unidentified militants in Kanju Township in Kabal tehsil
of Swat District.
A woman and a teenage boy were
injured in a remote controlled blast on a Police patrol near the
Bakra Mandi area in Dera Murad Jamali city of Naseerabad District
in Balochistan.
Unidentified militants blew up
three power-supplying towers with explosive materials in Kohlu
District. United Baloch Army (UBA) spokesman Mizar Baloch, claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Levis Force recovered three abductees
during an encounter with the armed captors in Mach area of Bolan
District. Armed militants had abducted them on gun point early
on November 12, 2011.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry said during a conversation with a delegation of the National
Defence University (NDU), “any action of the Armed Forces taken
without a direction by the Federal Government will be unconstitutional,
illegal, void ab initio and consequently of no legal effect”.
The Leader of TTP North Waziristan
Chapter Hafiz Gul Bahadur threatened to abandon an unofficial
peace deal with the Government, raising the spectre of more violence.
|
November 13
|
Nine volunteers of Zakhakhel tribal
lashkar were killed and six others injured when a bomb concealed
in a donkey cart exploded near a watermill in Mastak bazaar of
Khyber Agency in FATA. No group has claimed responsibility for
the blast. The Zakhakhel tribal lashkar and the Mangal Bagh-led
LI are at loggerheads since April 2011.
Two militants were killed as clashes
continued between LI and Ansarul Islam in Serhai Kandao area of
Tirah valley. Sources said that fresh clashes erupted in Serhai
Kandao area where the militants were engaged in fierce fighting
to take control of some hilltops under the control of the LI.
In Malikdinkhel area, militants
attacked a security post at midnight of November 12. Officials
said that troops repulsed the attack which caused minor damage
to the post. Nobody was injured in the attack. Troops imposed
a curfew in Malikdinkhel area and arrested about 26 suspected
militants.
In Bajaur Agency, SF arrested
five suspects and neutralised two landmines during a search operation
in Mamond tehsil. Officials said that SF launched an operation
after a roadside bomb exploded during patrolling of soldiers in
Tarkho area of Mamond tehsil. Nobody was injured in the blast.
Bomb disposal squad neutralised
a time bomb planted under a bridge in Khar Kallay of Kurram Agency.
Twin bomb blasts destroyed a major
portion of Primary Girls’ School, Shewa No 3 under Kalu Khan Police
Station in the Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The explosions
that occurred one after the other, destroyed five of the seven
rooms of the School.
Militants blew off a Girls Higher
Secondary School in Bannu. The explosion resulted in damaging
doors and windows of the building while the residences of a former
nazim union council Barkatullah Khan and his relatives
were also damaged.
The law enforcement agencies arrested
eight alleged terrorists during a raid at Shindhand camp of Afghan
refugees in Kohat District. Police said that they received information
that a group of militants was intimidating tribal families, who
were fleeing their homes owing to attacks on their vehicles on
Shindhand Road. Police recovered six Kalashnikovs and two light
machine guns from their possession.
|
November 14
|
Five FC personnel were killed
and six others injured when militants first attacked a check-post
and later an FC convoy in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency
in FATA.
A drone strike targeting a house
killed five people in Miranshah Bazaar of North Waziristan Agency.
SFs killed three militants and
injured four who intruded into Mohmand Agency from Afghanistan
overnight. They said that personnel of Khasadar Force and Frontier
Corps, manning a checkpost in the Olay area, challenged the militants
when they were entering Baizai tehsil at about 8:15 pm.
One person was killed and eight
others, including six women, were injured when militants fired
mortar shells at Jawaki area of Frontier Region of Kohat.
A mortar shell landed in the house
of Khyber Khan Afridi, which reportedly wounded a minor child
and two women inside the house at Meri Khel area of Akakhel tehsil
in Khyber Agency.
Five suspected persons were arrested
and arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession in
a search operation by SFs at Tarkho area of Mamound tehsil of
Bajaur Agency.
Two people were shot dead in separate
incidents of violence in Karachi.
A senior member of ASWJ and Pesh
Imam of Al-Manzar Mosque, identified as Maulana Abdul Hafeez,
was shot dead and another Qari Hafeez-ur-Rehman was wounded near
NIPA Chowrangi Block within the precincts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police
Station.
A cadre of a SSP, identified as
Abdul Rehman, was shot dead at his clinic in Babar Market within
the limits of Landhi Police Station. Rehman was a resident of
Zamanabad Landhi.
Police found an unidentified tortured
dead body in a graveyard of Khuchlak on the outskirt of Quetta.
Two persons were injured when
an IED went off in a busy market on Punyal road of Gilgit town
in Gilgit-Baltistan. The place of the blast is a few yards from
the central Imamia mosque, Police said.
Two low-intensity blasts have
been reported at Havaid and Miran Akundkhel areas of Bannu District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, there were no causalities. The
bomb planted at the house of Shehri Khan at Havaid was blasted
by unidentified militants with the help of remote-control device,
destroying its structure and boundary-wall. The second blast ripped
through an auto shop at Miran Akundkhel, destroying it completely.
The local peace jirga in
Swat has demanded arrest of reuniting terrorists, who had fled
the District after a military operation, to bring them to justice.
The demand was made by chief of Nekpikhel Peace Committee Saifullah
Khan during a press conference in Mingora.
TTP Chief Hakimullah Mehsud warned
that his fighters were planning attacks against the Government
and the military to wrest control of areas that they had lost
in the country's northwest.
However, he claimed that the TTP
were continuing the "open war" that was declared by
slain TTP founder Baitullah Mehsud against the Pakistani state
in January 2008 due to the country's alliance with the US.
|
November 15
|
At least 28 militants were killed
and 12 others injured during clashes with SFs in the Dabori area
of Orakzai Agency in FATA. At least 11 places said to have been
used by militants as hideouts were destroyed.
The death toll in the drone attack
in Miramshah town of North Waziristan Agency rose to seven. Earlier,
it was reported that five militants were killed.
Police found an unidentified torture-marked
dead body from Christian Graveyard in Baldia within the jurisdiction
of Saeedabad Police Station in Karachi.
Unidentified armed militants set
ablaze a container carrying military hardware for NATO forces
stationed in Afghanistan near Dasht area of Mastung District.
As result of firing, driver Abdul Majeed suffered bullet injuries.
In a joint operation, Police along
with Elite Force commandos recovered explosives and other material
under the use of terrorists near the shrine of Pir Chambal in
Chakwal District. The recovered goods included around five kilogrammes
of high explosive, plastic explosives along with live fuse attached
to it and items of personal use in four bags.
British Police working on a major
counter-terrorism operation linked to Pakistan said that they
arrested four suspects in Birmingham for fundraising in Britain
and travelling to Pakistan for terrorist training.
|
November 16
|
One Army major, Major Sikandar,
and 20 militants were killed during a clash when about 60 militants
attacked the Marazan checkpost in the central Kurram Agency of
FATA in the night. At least nine hideouts of the militants were
destroyed.
Five US drones fired up to 10
missiles into a sprawling compound in the Baber Ghar area of South
Waziristan Agency, killing 18 militants.
Nine militants were reportedly
killed as SFs destroyed six militant hideouts and a double-cabin
vehicle in Koranchi and Dapar Parari areas of Upper tehsil
in Orakzai Agency. Elsewhere in the Agency, the militants attacked
a post in Ghundai Makki. The SFs in retaliatory fire killed two
militants.
Six tribesmen were killed and
two others sustained injuries when a vehicle ran over a roadside
landmine in Spori area of Khyber Agency. The vehicle was coming
from Jani Khel tehsil to Jamrud tehsil.
SFs launched a house-to-house
search operation in Babikhel area of Haleemzai tehsil in Mohmand
Agency and recovered at least 303 guns.
At least seven persons, including
five terrorists and two Policemen, were killed in a blast in a
hi-roof van of suspected terrorists at Sea View at Clifton in
Karachi, the Provincial capital of Sindh.
One Khalid Hussain, who registered
abduction and torturing case against MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed and
four other activists of his party on October 7, 2011, was wounded
in a firing incident in Landhi area within the jurisdiction of
Landhi Police Station.
A pathologist at the Hamdard University,
identified as Colonel (R) Dr Syed Iftikhar Ahmed Abidi, accompanied
with a driver was abducted under mysterious circumstances from
Northern Bypass within the jurisdiction of Gulshan-e-Maymar.
One Policeman, identified as Irshad
Khan, was injured when militants attacked Riaz Shaheed Police
Post in Sarbanda area on the suburbs of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A low-intensity bomb, explosion
took place at Sari Naurang Police Station in Lakki Marwat District.
No casualty was reported.
Police neutralised a terror bid
by defusing a bomb under a culvert on Tajori Road near Malang
Adda in Lakki Marwat District.
ATC acquitted three sons of the
‘chief’ of TNSM, Maulana Sufi Muhammad. Judge Asim Imam acquitted
Abdullah, Abdur Rehman and Fazlullah, who were charged by the
Saidu Sharif Police with treason, terrorism and murder, after
the prosecution failed to prove its case.
Around 17 suspected terrorists,
including three TTP ‘commanders’ were arrested from Lahore, Multan
and Okara Districts. Several mobile phones and laptops were seized
from these suspects. The TTP ‘commanders’ include Qari Muhammad
Ashraf, Dr Abdul Khaliq and Mohammad Sarfraz. Sources said that
the arrested TTP ‘commanders’ previously belonged to LeJ.
|
November 17
|
22 militants were killed and 10
others injured during the fighting with SFs in Ghaljo and Sheena
Warai areas of Upper tehsil in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Nine militants were killed during
clashes with SF personnel in Amlok village in Central tehsil of
Kurram Agency.
US drones fired four missiles
at a home in the Razmak area of North Waziristan Agency near the
Afghanistan border, killing eight alleged militants.
Two militants were killed and
a Policeman sustained injury in an encounter near Mamrez Police
post at Telaband in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
A Government school was blown
up by suspected militants in main Charsadda Bazaar of Charsadda
District. However, there were no causalities.
A basic health unit was blown
up by suspected militants, using improvised explosive device,
in Mansooka area of Shabqadar.
A CD shop was blown up by unidentified
militants at Taji Kallay bus stand in the limits of Ghori Wala
Police Station in Bannu District.
A bomb was found and defused in
Sadar Bazaar in the limits of Ahmad Khan Chowk Police Station.
A Frontier Corps vehicle escaped
a remote-controlled blast in Arbab Complex area of Khuzdar District.
No casualty was reported.
The investigators 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.
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.
|
November 18
|
At least eight militants and a
Policeman were killed in clashes between SFs and militants in
Wacha Wana of Orakzai Agency in FATA.
SFs killed a militant and injured
another during a clash in Spinwam area of North Waziristan Agency.
A Government primary school for
girls was blown up in the Danqol village of Salarzai tehsil
in Bajaur Agency. However, no casualty was reported. Officials
said militants had blown up 105 schools in the agency since 2007.
Four suspected burka-clad men
of foreign origin were detained at the Saidgi check-post in the
Frontier Region Bannu. Dressed as women, the men were coming to
Bannu from North Waziristan by car. It could not be immediately
ascertained which country the suspects belong to.
Britain is looking into reports
that two UK nationals accused of extremist links were killed in
a US drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal region, the Foreign Office
said. The men were named as Ibrahim Adam (24), and Mohammed Azmir
(37), by their family and friends, Britain’s Press Association
domestic news agency reported. They were killed in the Waziristan
tribal region bordering Afghanistan at least three months ago,
it reported.
A Yemeni national and an alleged
al Qaeda ‘commander’ Abdul Moeedul Islam blew himself up with
a Russian made hand grenade during a raid by paramilitary soldiers
in Rao Israr Apartments of Gulistan-e-Jauhar area in Karachi.
At the time of the incident his four children and wife Humaira
were also present and sustained injuries. A senior intelligence
source claimed that the militant had been operating the al Qaeda
network in Pakistan. He carried head money of PKR 150 million.
Investigators of the November
16, 2011 Sea View suicide attack arrested relatives and family
members of the identified terrorists from different areas Karachi.
According to details, Police conducted raids at the houses of
Atiq Bengali and Shoaib-ur-Rehman in Nazimabad and Orangi areas
and detained around 10 people, including father of Rehman and
his uncle Shafiq, Rehman hailed from Chakwal District of Punjab,
and his brother, posted at Police Department Chakwal District,
was also arrested for investigation.
The Police on November 18 foiled
a large-scale terror bid by recovering a bomb from a passenger
van in the jurisdiction of the Serai Naurang Police Station in
Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police arrested the militants
involved in the assassination of an ANP leader, Hanif Gul Jadoon,
in a suicide attack in his village, Malikabad, in Swabi District.
Police sources said that five militants were arrested during separate
raids in Jehangira town in Nowshera District and in Katlang tehsil
in Mardan District. Sources said the three militants have their
connection with the TTP.
|
November 19
|
At least 10 militants were killed
and several others injured as helicopter gunships pounded hideouts
of militants for hours in Adokhel, Mir Kalamkhel, Jabba, Sama
Bazaar and Mamozai areas of Upper Kurram Agency in FATA.
Two tribesmen were killed when
a mortar shell fell on a house in Toor Toot area of Tirah valley
in Khyber Agency.
Unidentified armed men shot dead
two suspected militants in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil.
The suspected militants were riding a motorcycle when they were
attacked by the gunmen. The attackers managed to escape after
the incident.
A senior member of Salarzai Peace
Committee, Malik Gul Akbar, escaped an attempt on his life by
unidentified militants in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency.
Two SF personnel were killed and
three others were injured in a landmine blast in Janu Berri area
of Dera Bugti District.
A prayer leader, identified as
Maulana Abdullah Haqqani, was shot dead while his companion sustained
serious injuries when unidentified militants opened fire on them
while going to a mosque to offer prayer in Shaidu area of Nowshera
District.
Militants triggered an IED at
the house of Gul Azad in the limits of Saddar Police Station in
Bannu District, damaging the boundary wall, doors and windowpanes
of the house.
Another explosion occurred in
the limits of Hooveed Police Station where militants planted a
bomb at a bridge and detonated it. The bridge was partially damaged
in the blast.
A house was damaged when a bomb
exploded outside the house of Chaudhry Aslam in Darra Pezu Town
of Lakki Marwat District. The main gate and a portion of the boundary
wall of his residence were damaged.
A man, identified as Ansar, was
shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Hijrat Colony within
the limits of Civil Lines Police Station in Karachi.
While addressing the inaugural
ceremony of the passport office in Islamgarh town of Mirpur District
in PoK, Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik advised TTP
to furnish the children with pen and book, instead of preparing
them for suicide attacks and asked them to surrender by disarming
themselves and refrain from playing into the hands of the enemy.
|
November 20
|
At least 10 militants were killed
and four others were injured during an operation when SFs shelled
the hideouts of terrorists in Mamozai, Addu Khail and Mir Khail
areas of Orakzai Agency in the FATA. Sources said that during
a search operation in the Tasa locality of Orakzai Agency, some
militants offered resistance and opened fire on SFs, injuring
a soldier.
Six dead bodies of LI were found
in the Qamber Abad area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
According to sources, two of the killed were from the Sepah tribe,
while the other four were from the Malik Deen Khel tribe.
Two people, including a Policeman,
were killed in separate incidents of violence in different parts
of Karachi. A Policeman, identified as Sanaullah Niazi, was killed
at Essa Nagri within the remit of Aziz Bhatti Police Station.
A dead body of a man, identified
as Nasrullah, bearing torture marks was found near power plant
along the National Highway within the remit of Steel Town Police
Station.
At least eleven people sustained
injuries when some explosive material went off at Kumar cinema
located in old city area of Kharadar near Lea market in Karachi.
Four suspects belonging to the
Lashkar-e-Mehdi (Mehdi Force), allegedly linked to an attack
on the Saudi Consulate on May 11, 2011, were arrested from different
areas.
Two bullet-riddled dead bodies
of missing persons were found from Kalag Kulanch area of Pasni
in Gwadar District. The dead bodies were identified as Mula Abdul
Khaliq 33, a resident of Palari area Jiwani tehsil of Gwadar District
and Zahid Hussain Dashti, a resident of Zarainn Bug area of Dasht
in Mastung District.
Unidentified militants set three
NATO containers carrying goods for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan
on fire on Sibi Road in Dasht area of Mastung District. As a result,
all the containers and cargo were destroyed. No group claimed
responsibility for the attack.
The SFs with the help of bomb
disposal squad averted a bid of terrorism by defusing a bomb planted
at the bank of a canal in Baha area of Matta tehsil in
Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
|
November 21
|
SFs backed by gunship helicopters
pounded militants’ hideouts, killing 11 TTP militants and injuring
25 others in central tehsil of Kurram Agency in FATA.
Gunship choppers targeted militants’
positions near the Afghan border in the upper Orakzai Agency and
killed 10 militants and destroyed five hideouts.
At least 14 personnel of the Frontier
Corps, including a Major, identified as Muhammad Amir Shahzad,
were killed and 16 others got injured when their convoy was attacked
by a group of BLA militants near a coalfield in Bahlol Basti and
Kingari area of Musakhel District. The BLA claimed the responsibility
for the attack and further claimed that BLA attackers also took
away the arms of the Frontier Corps soldiers.
At least one Policeman was killed
in a blast that occurred outside the Government girls’ high school
in Shahdand Baba area of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In the incident, eight others - three Policemen and five civilians
- also got injured.
Armed militants abducted two professors,
Imtiaz Vigan and Ghulam Muhammad Mehr, of two different medical
colleges in Jacobabad District.
TTP is holding exploratory peace
talks with the Government, an unnamed senior TTP commander and
an unnamed tribal mediator told Reuters. The talks are
focused on the South Waziristan region and could be expanded to
try to reach a comprehensive deal.
|
November 22
|
A trooper and a lashkar
were killed when militants attacked a check post in Qambar Abad
locality of Bara subdivision in Khyber Agency of FATA.
In Akkakhel area, another lashkar
was killed when militants ambushed a patrol party of the local
peace body.
Militants attacked two oil tankers
supplying fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan near Charwazgai area
of Landikotal.
Bomb Disposal Squad defused a
bomb which was placed near a medicine shop in the main market
of Landikotal.
An old man, identified as Haya
Khan, was shot dead in Ittehad Town within the jurisdiction of
Mochko Police Station in Karachi.
Police found an unidentified dead
body of a young man from Nishtar Road area within the limits of
Garden Police Station. Police officials said the victim appeared
to be Irani Baloch.
An activist of ASWJ, identified
as Qari Zafar, was shot dead at his house in Wahid Colony within
the limits of North Nazimabad Police Sation.
Police foiled a terror activity
plan for coming Muharram as they arrested a terrorist, identified
as Haseeb Ullah alias Asif Ullah, from North Nazimabad within
the jurisdiction of Paposhnagar Police post.
LEA arrested nine suspects and
recovered weapons from their possession. LEAs arrested four suspects
over July 16, 2011 target killing of Pakistan International Airlines
Collective Bargaining Agent President Amir Shah.
The dead bodies of a member of
a peace committee and his companion, abducted by militants on
November 13, were found in the market of Pasni under Badhber Police
Station, the suburban area of Peshawar.
A meeting of different peace bodies
of Peshawar was held at the residence of Badhber Qaumi lashkar
chief Fahimur Rehman. The meeting condemned the killing of the
two persons and alleged that Police were responsible for the incident.
A prayer leader, identified as
Maulana Fazizullah, was shot dead by unidentified armed militants
near Moti Raam Road area in Quetta while returning home after
evening prayers in Jamia Masjid.
Workers of a private oil and gas
company, BGP, escaped unhurt in a landmine explosion in Pat Feeder
area of Dera Bugti District.
Several shops were partially damaged
in an explosion near Tariq Hospital area of Sariab Road in Quetta.
Police recovered and defused a
suicide jacket found near office of a Secret Agency close to Shakarparian
Hills in Islamabad and also issued the sketch of the suspected
person whose movement was observed in the area.
It was reported that anti-peace
jihadists have launched a hate campaign against India across Lahore.
There have been incidents of wall chalking across the city. The
slogans were written on different walls, mainly in Model Town
and canal areas.
An unnamed ‘commander’ of TTP
said that his organisation has declared a ceasefire to the extent
of Mehsud-dominated areas of South Waziristan Agency of FATA to
build confidence with the Government for holding peace talks.
A close aide to Hakimullah Mehsud, the ‘chief’ of the banned organisation,
told that the TTP had ceased all combat activities in October
and had not been attacking SFs in Mehsud-dominated area of South
Waziristan, ‘following talks with the Government’.
Pakistan Army denied news reports
that alleged that it was engaged in negotiations with the TTP.
A statement issued by the ISPR “strongly and categorically” refuted
news reports published by Reuters on November 21 that claimed
that the Pakistani Government and Army were engaging in peace
talks.
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman
Malik welcomed the TTP’s ceasefire offer and said the Government
also had received the offer. “However, any peace talks with the
TTP are subject to disarming themselves,” he added.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur fraction of
TTP, who has a peace deal with the Pakistani military, said his
fighters would not stop army engineers building a road through
territory he controls in the country’s northwest, but warned locals
working on the project would be killed as spies.
|
November 23
|
Clashes between SFs and militants
occurred in Kurram and Orakzai Agencies of FATA killing at least
45 militants in ground action and air strikes. Clashes erupted
after a militant attack in Jugai area of central Kurram killing
20 militants in the ongoing clashes between SFs and militants.
Another 16 militants were killed when helicopter gunships attacked
militant hideouts in Gawaza and Gawaki areas of the Agency. Reports
claimed that two security personnel were killed and 15 others
were injured. Later, bodies of the three missing soldiers were
also recovered.
Nine militants were killed and
three injured in clashes in the upper tehsil of Orakzai
Agency. A vehicle loaded with weapons and ammunition had been
destroyed. According to official claims, over 200 militants have
been killed in the offensive.
A NATO supply oil tanker hit an
explosive device in Landikotal town on Torkham Road near Michni
check post in Khyber Agency. The driver and the conductor of the
oil tanker fled unhurt from the scene.
An explosion damaged three classrooms
in the Government middle school Abdul Latif Kali in Landikotal
town. The blast was so huge that it smashed the windowpanes of
the whole school and the nearby houses.
LEA arrested a suspected person,
identified as Akhtar Jan, with two hand grenades from sports complex,
where Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar was witnessing
as chief guest a friendly football match between Parachinar and
Sadda teams in Parachinar, the capital of Kurram Agency.
Two people were shot dead by unidentified
militants in Jutial area of Gilgit District. One of the victims
was identified as Tahir.
The Balochistan Levies recovered
two unidentified dead bodies from the Aap Sar area of Turbat District.
TTP attacked a Police Station
in Dera Ismail Khan District killing two Policemen and injuring
seven others in gunfights. The TTP claimed responsibility for
a pre-dawn assault on Police.
The ST expressed serious concerns
over the appointment of Sherry Rehman as Pakistan’s Ambassador
to the US. Speaking to Pakistan Press International (PPI), Central
leader of the ST Shahid Ghauri said Rehman was already following
“policies of the US and the Jewish lobby as she tried to abolish
the country’s blasphemy laws.” “
The TTP spokesman refuted claims
by other ‘commanders’ that the outfit had agreed to a cease-fire
and exploratory peace talks with the Government, raising the prospect
that TTP is splitting into factions.
|
November 24
|
Twelve persons, five women and
two children among them, were injured in a bomb attack on a passenger
bus near Durrani village in the lower Kurram Agency of FATA.
SFs foiled a terrorism bid by
recovering two kilogrammes of explosive material from a pick-up
van coming from Tri Mangal area of the Upper Kurram Agency at
an internal check-post in Parachinar. SFs arrested the five people
sitting in the car.
Eighty
Afghan nationals were arrested from Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah
District for illegally entering Pakistan through the Babe Dosti
gate of the Chaman border.
The
two dead bodies that were recovered on November 23 from Aap Sar
area of Turbat District were identified as being those of BRP
Central Informational Secretary Jalel Reki, who was abducted on
February 13, 2009, by a group of armed militants from Sariab Road
in Quetta; and Baloch National Movement (BNM) activist and a resident
of Tasp area in Panjgur District Mohammad Younus.
Rangers arrested 12 suspects in
a targeted operation in different parts of Karachi. According
to reports, Rangers conducted operation in Patel Para, Site, Orangi
Town, Nazimabad and shifted the arrested suspects to undisclosed
location.
The JuD, the frontal organisation
of LeT blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, organised a rally to
protest the Pakistan Government's move to give MFN-status to India.
JuD leaders who addressed the rally accused India of being behind
shortage of water that is affecting Pakistani farmers.
|
November 25
|
SFs targeted terrorist strongholds
in Kurram Agency of FATA at the midnight, killing 35 and injuring
15 others. Four soldiers were also killed in the firefight, which
lasted several hours.
SFs killed 16 militants and arrested
two others in Dabori and Khadezai areas of upper tehsil
in Orakzai Agency. Sources said that one soldier was injured in
clashes with insurgents.
Six militants were killed when
an explosive device went off in their vehicle. Sources said a
group of militants was going to an unknown location from Dabori
area when a powerful blast took place in their vehicle near Gundital
village, killing six militants on the spot.
Militants destroyed houses of
pro-government tribal elders Malik Amin Badshah and Wazir Gul
in central parts of the agency. No loss of life was reported because
the two elders had moved to safe areas with their families.
A Shia man, identified as Ghulam
Hussain, was shot dead in a sectarian attack at his shop within
the limits of North Nazimabad Police Station by unidentified armed
assailants. Police suspected that sectarian issue could be motive
behind the incident.
Sudden and alarming rise in daring
daylight bank robberies with criminals decamping with millions
of rupees in a highly professional manner hints at Karachi being
infested with militants. Officials conducting investigations into
the recent heists, particularly in Defence and Gulshan areas,
say that the modus operandi of these criminals show that they
are not petty robbers but militants who belong to various outfits
which are involved in acts of terrorism. Senior officials suspect
that the TTP and various other militant outfits from FR Kohat
and Parachinar in Kurram Agency of FATA are committing robberies
since they have been facing a serious financial crunch in the
wake of the measures taken by the Federal Agencies to cut off
their main source of income abroad, mainly Middle East.
Two Policemen were injured in
an explosion at Khalabat Township Police Station in Haripur District
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to the Police, they received
a tip-off about a suspected car parked outside a seminary, upon
which they reached the spot and found a plastic canister fitted
with wires.
The Afghan Taliban supreme commander
Mullah Muhammad Omar is pushing Pakistani militants based in the
tribal areas to strike a peace deal with the Government and has
advised the chief of the Haqqani network to mediate between them,
an unnamed Taliban associate said.
|
November 26
|
At least 25 soldiers were killed
in a cross border attack by NATO on a check post in Salala village
in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand Agency in FATA. At least 12
soldiers were injured, added Express Tribune.
Pakistan’s acting ambassador to
the US, Iffat Gardezi, registered a protest against the incident
with officials of the US State Department.
Following the release of a hit
list including the names of four journalists, the Khuzdar Press
Club announced that the journalists of the Khuzdar District would
suspend their professional duties by November 27 for an indefinite
period of time. An armed outfit BMDA issued a hit list of four
journalists belonging to Khuzdar and said it would soon target
these journalists.
|
November 27
|
At least 12 militants were killed
and 15 injured in an ongoing operation launched by SFs in Kundital
area of Orakzai Agency in FATA. One SF official was also killed
in the attack.
A man was injured in a bomb blast
in Sultankhel area of Khyber Agency. According to an eyewitness,
some locals and Khasadar officials were returning after offering
funeral prayer of a woman when they saw a two-kilogramme bomb
planted on the way between cars. The bomb went off a when they
touched it with a bamboo. Resultantly, a local identified as Mehrab
Khan was injured.
Two SF personnel, identified as
Zain-ul-Abideen and Azhar Hussain were shot dead and 11 others
wounded when some participants of a protest rally organized by
SSP opened indiscriminate fire on Shia camps at Numaish Chowrangi
area while returning from Karachi Press Club in Karachi.
Two activists of MQM were killed
in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area by unidentified armed assailants. The
victims were later identified as Mir Sikander Ali and Naseer who
were the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan. Ali was the sector in-charge
of MQM Gilgit.
An unidentified young man was
shot dead in a sectarian attack in Ghazi Goth near Murghi Khana
stop within the limits of Manghopir Police Station while returning
from afternoon prayers from Rehmania Mosque. He said that sectarian
killings might be the motive behind the incident.
A Shia man, identified as Raza,
was shot dead near Metro Cinema in the precincts of Orangi Town
Police Station. Police said that it was sectarian attack.
Six back-to-back blasts occurred
through the railway tracks in Hyderabad District, Naushero Feroze
District and Nawabshah District of Sindh, suspending the rail
service at up and down tracks. SDLA claimed responsibility for
the explosions. No loss of life was reported.
Balochistan Levies recovered bullet-riddled
body of a person, identified as Khair Bakhsh, from Kashari area
on the outskirts of Lasbela District.
Police claimed to have foiled
a terror bid by seizing an explosive laden car in the Irrigation
Colony at Sayrab Road in Quetta. Police received information about
the presence of a suspicious car parked at a roadside in the area
and recovered 30 kilograms of explosive from the car.
The TTP said that the NATO attack
on Pakistani check posts has proved that America “can never be
a friend of Pakistan” and that Islamabad should accept TTP’s stance
after this attack, a BBC report said. Mukarrum Khurasani,
the assistant of the TTP ‘commander’ in Mohmand Agency Umar Khalid
told the BBC over the phone that Pakistan should sever relations
with the US.
The JuD, the frontal organisation
of LeT, protested in front of the Lahore Press Club– its third
demonstration in the city in a week – against the granting of
MFN trade status to India and the NATO attack on Pakistani troops.
Some 800 protestors from Al Muhammadia Students Pakistan, JuD’s
youth wing, gathered at the press club carrying banners and placards
calling for, among other things, Pakistan’s withdrawal from its
alliance with the United States.
|
November 28
|
Six Khasadar Force personnel got
injured when a powerful bomb explosion destroyed a Khasadar Force’s
vehicle in a mechanic repair store on Torkham road in front of
the Landikotal Press Club in Landikotal of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Police arrested a key militant
‘commander’ Badshah Zada during a raid on a house in the Matta
tehsil area of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Badshah
Zada was wanted by Police for the murder of lashkar Chief
Pir Samullah, as well as other terror incidents.
About 100 suspects from two outfits
were arrested in an overnight operation, following the November
27, 2011 killings of two Security Force personnel at a Shia camp
in Numaish Chowrangi area in Karachi. Rangers and Police cracked
down on the SSP – that works under the new name ASWJ, and LeJ
activists.
Pakistan vowed no more “business
as usual” with the United States after NATO strikes killed 24
Pakistani soldiers. In an interview with CNN, Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani said incidents such as the NATO cross-border attack
further alienated the Pakistani masses, leaving his Government
isolated in its unpopular alliance with the US.
President Barack Obama sees the
deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO raid as a tragedy, the
White House said, but argued that crisis-wracked US-Pakistani
ties were vital to both sides. White House spokesman Jay Carney
said Obama believed the November 26 attack which threw US-Pakistani
ties into turmoil was “a tragedy,” adding that “we mourn those
brave Pakistani service members that lost their lives.” “We take
this matter very seriously,” said Carney, adding that two inquiries
by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan
and US Central Command would examine what took place.
Pakistan denied provoking NATO
air strikes and refused to accept expressions of regret over the
cross-border attack that has inflamed US-Pakistani ties. While
rejecting NATO’s claim that Pakistan forces initiated fire, ISPR
Director General Major General Athar Abbas said, “NATO forces
should present proof if they were claiming that firing was started
from Pakistani side.”
The US military named an Air Force
General Brigadier General Stephen Clark to lead an investigation
into NATO air strikes. The chief of US Central Command appointed
Brigadier General Stephen Clark, from Air Force Special Operations
Command in Florida, as the investigating officer for the probe
that will also include a NATO representative, officials said.
Pentagon Spokesman George Little
said that he could not confirm reports that Pakistan had banned
US Government aircraft or ordered the CIA out of the Shamsi air
base, which had reportedly been used for US drone strikes against
militants.
The FBR 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. 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.
FBR has confessed before the Supreme
Court that 3,300 NATO containers loaded with defence goods and
equipment have disappeared while cases have been filed against
the alleged culprits and they will soon be apprehended. The written
reply revealed that the number of missing commercial containers
was 28,802. Earlier, after the initial report on 7,922 missing
containers, the Supreme Court had handed over the issue of investigation
to the Federal Ombudsman, Dr Muhammad Shoaib Suddle.
|
November 29
|
A bomb blast that ripped through
a funeral prayer of a local tribesman in Shakai road of South
Waziristan Agency in FATA bordering Afghanistan killed two persons
and injured another three.
A woman and a girl were killed
while three other women were injured when a mortar shell landed
in a house at Sheikhan area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Two persons were injured when
reportedly a landmine exploded in a field in Kot Azam, a village
some 15 kilometres of Tank, of South Waziristan Agency.
A lecturer of Balochistan University,
identified as Mohammad Danish Alam, was killed by unknown militants
in the Zarghoonabad area of Quetta.
A suspected suicide bomber was
killed near Quetta when the explosive material that he was carrying
went off prematurely.
Five militants of Jundullah were
arrested by the LEAs along with a huge cache of weapons that included
five TT pistols and also a map of central jail and a hit list
of prominent personalities from their possession. SIU on a tip-off
intercepted a taxi near Kamal Hospital, located within Artillery
Maidan Police precincts, and arrested five members of Jundullah.
Police claimed to have recovered
a live hand grenade from Kalakot Police limits near Al-Fateh School
situated in Lyari’s Jhat Pat Market area.
The LEAs conducted a raid at Mominabad
graveyard and recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition
stuffed in three bags. Sources said that some suspected militants
had concealed a heavy cache of weapons, which were most likely
to be used in Muharram to flare up violence.
Pakistan decided to boycott Bonn
(Germany) international conference at on Afghanistan in December,
widening its protest over NATO cross-border attacks on November
26 and exacerbating a deep crisis in US ties.
JuD vowed to convert Pakistan
into a Taliban state and to train young people to wage jihad
against America and India. JuD activists as well as school children
as young as 10 from various Districts were brought to the Lahore
Press Club in buses and vans for the ‘Taleba Jama’at-ud-Dawa’
(Jama’at-ud-Dawa Students wing) protest against the November 26,
2011 NATO attack that killed 25 Pakistani soldiers in FATA.
Students aged 10 to 15 from Jhumra
Sandal Islamic School in Faisalabad District, and Tameer-i-Seerat
Model School Sharaqpur in Sheikhupura District, said that they
had thought they were going to a science exhibition and that’s
what they had told their parents.
The Pakistan Army said that ISAF
and NATO carried out the cross-border attack on purpose and there
are no expectations of any results coming from the inquiry. The
statements were made at a media briefing by Chief of General Staff
Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad and DG Military Operations General
Ashfaq.
|
November 30
|
Darband Peace Committee chief
Haji Hashim Khan was killed while two others sustained critical
injuries when a bomb exploded in their vehicle in the Hangu city
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
ATC in Swat acquitted the sons
of Maulana Sufi Mohmmad, chief of the banned TNSM, in another
case. Sufi’s three sons – Abdullah, Fazlullah and Abdur Rehman
– were charged for involvement in a suicide attack on Mingora
Police Station in January 2009.
A 12-year old boy, identified
as Yaseen, was injured in a landmine explosion in Kuki area of
Dera Bugti District.
Gawalmandi Police arrested a suspect
and recovered unlicensed pistol and 25 rounds from his possession.
Anti-Violent Crime Cell, in collaboration
with the CPLC, claimed to have arrested two abductors and rescued
two abductees, including a professor of the Hamdard University,
identified as Iftikhar Abidi, and a businessman, identified as
Nisar Soomro. Abidi was abducted on November 16, 2011 from the
Northern Bypass while he was on his way to Baqai University. Soomro,
a resident of Sacchal Goth area of Karachi was abducted on November
25, 2011.
A cross-border incident involving
NATO and Pakistani Forces was quickly defused early with no loss
of life, The New York Times quoted Brigadier General Carsten
Jacobson, the spokesman for the US-led NATO Force, as saying.
The Pentagon rejected the 'notion'
as incorrect that the NATO attack that killed 24 Pakistan soldiers
was intentional. Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told reporters:
"It is important to let the investigation unfold, but the
notion that this was an intentional attack on Pakistani military
is incorrect."
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told
the Senate committee on Foreign Affairs that the NATO attack on
the Pakistani border posts, and the killing of 24 soldiers was
not an accident and that only an apology would not be enough.
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar
declared categorically that drones would not be allowed to fly
from Shamsi Air Base after December 11, 2011.
The Law Enforcement Agencies claimed
to have arrested ten suspects, including two target killers, from
different areas of Karachi, recovering weapons from their possession.
AVCC and CPLC claimed to have
rescued two more abductees Sher Ali and Amin Lakhani from Bahadur
Goth Afghan camp. Ali and Lakhani were abducted on November 26,
2011 from Mobina Town Police precincts. Two more abductors, Rashid
Brohi and Bakhtawar Mehsud, were also arrested.
Pakistan said that it was looking
at summoning the BBC to demand an explanation over a documentary
about the Taliban and blocked the broadcasting. Cable operators
pulled the channel amid anger over NATO air strikes that killed
24 Pakistani soldiers.
|
December 1
|
Nine militants were killed and
several others injured when SFs pounded their hideouts in Akhun
Kot, Barlas, Adokhel and other areas of Mamozai in Orakzai Agency
of FATA. At least 180 militants have been killed and 72 others
injured in the operation so far, according to the sources.
Five militants were killed as
clashes between two rival groups in Maylo village of Tirah valley
in Khyber Agency entered the second day. The Kukikhel support
the LI against the Tariq Afridi group of the TTP. The Kukikhel
and LI cadres are reported to have taken control of an important
TTP base and seized three bunkers on the hilltops overlooking
the Maylo village.
Four Constables of Justice Qasim
Khan’s squad were shot dead by unidentified assailants at Multan-Khanewal
road in Multan District. Four assailants appeared in a white car
and opened fire at the squad of Justice Qasim Khan near Pul Rangan
causing the casualties.
Three dead bodies of truck drivers
were found in Sharag area of the Harnai District in Balochistan.
The victims were among the four truck drivers abducted from the
District on an unspecified date.
Two persons of Pakistani nationality
were shot dead by NATO forces in the Bibi Jan area of Helmand
Province in Afghanistan which shares a border with the Chagai
District of Balochistan.
Seven Pakistani workers were abducted
in Logar Province. The Pakistanis, engineers and workers assigned
to a hospital construction project in Logar Province, were returning
to their accommodation after work when they were abducted at gunpoint.
An activist of the PPP, identified
as Mohammad Waseem, was found dead in Manghopir area of Karachi.
Waseem had been missing for the last couple of days.
Police foiled a terrorist attack
on Shia “Imambargahs” during Muharram by arresting four suspected
TTP militants and recovered suicide jackets, hand grenades, pistols
and other weapons from their possession.
In another raid, the LEAs arrested
nine suspects, including an underworld don, Ghulam Patni in Karachi.
Mauripur Police claimed to have
arrested three extortionists in a raid at Mauripur Truck stand.
The Sindh High Court allowed MQM-H
to continue their political activities under the constitutional
rights across Karachi. It said in its verdict: “If any hurdle
is created in the party activities, they can get help of relevant
authorities.”
Unidentified militants detonated
an IED with a remote control outside DCO office at Bacha Khan
Chowk on Charsadda Road in Peshawar, the provincial capital of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, there were no reports of casualties.
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility
for the abducting of a 70-year-old American aid worker, Warren
Weinstein, from his house in the eastern city of Lahore on August
13, and issued a series of demands for his release. In a video
message posted on militant websites, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri
said Warren Weinstein would be released if the United States stopped
airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. He also
demanded the release of all al Qaeda and Taliban suspects around
the world.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilani said that Pakistan’s decision to boycott the Bonn conference
in protest against the NATO attack and violation of its sovereignty
was final and taken collectively.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that there was no threat of either “judicial” or “military”
coup as both the institutions were pro-democracy and did not want
to derail the system.
The White House ruled out President
Barack Obama offering "formal condolences" to Pakistan,
as suggested by his top diplomat in Islamabad in a desperate bid
to salvage deteriorating ties.
Pakistan has resumed some cooperation
with NATO forces in Afghanistan following NATO strikes by working
with the coalition to prevent another cross-border incident from
escalating, a NATO spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson
said.
Pakistani military officials gave
the 'go-ahead' to November 26, 2011 US airstrikes that inadvertently
led to the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers in Mohmand Agency of
FATA, The Wall Street Journal report said.
Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani gave his troops "full liberty" to respond
to any further cross-border attacks by NATO forces in Afghanistan
in the wake of an air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The US warned Pakistani leaders
of dangerous consequences if there is another terror attack on
India that originates from Pakistan, a former top adviser to President
Barack Obama has said, asking Islamabad to give up the policy
of supporting extremist elements.
Amid an increasingly souring relationship,
the US Senate voted to attach strings to military aid to Pakistan
while an independent think tank urged policymakers to continue
‘robust’ civilian assistance.
An independent think tank, 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.
Pakistan enraged by November 26,
2011 NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 soldiers, could end
support for the US-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is
violated again, the Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said warning
that “enough is enough”.
|
December 2
|
Eight militants were killed and
a trooper was injured in a clash in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency
in FATA. The sources said that SFs were carrying out a search
operation in Tasakhel area of Dabori, about 68km north of Ghiljo,
when militants attacked them, injuring Sepoy Abbas. The SFs in
a retaliatory action shelled suspected locations. At least eight
militants were killed in the fighting.
A clash between the Zakha Khel
Peace Lashkar and LI at Narri Baba area in Tirah Valley
of Khyber Agency killed two Lashkar members and seriously wounded
another two. The clash erupted over the possession of a hill post
at Narri Baba.
Militants of Tariq Afridi group
of TTP were forced to flee from their stronghold in Tirah Valley
after its rival militant group LI took control of the Maylo base
after a fierce clash. Sources said that dozens of TTP slipped
out of Maylo village through secret routes in the night after
the LI militants took control of the TTP base in the area. The
LI also had the support of Kukikhel volunteers who were opposing
the presence of TTP in their area since long.
Torkham Custom’s officials and
the political administration sent back around 68 commercial fuel
tankers from the Torkham border, which were crossing to Peshawar.
At least seven militants were
killed and five SFs personnel were injured in a clash when TTP
militants attacked a security checkpoint at Ursoon area in Chitral
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A shop selling CD was destroyed
and four other shops were partially damaged when a bomb planted
by the suspected militants exploded in Karnal Sher Kili of Swabi
District.
A 10-year-old boy, identified
as Bahar Khan Bugti, was killed when a landmine exploded in Hafat
Wali area of Dera Bugti District.
Loralai Police arrested three
suspected militants including an Uzbek from the Loralai bypass
in Loralai District and recovered explosives from their possession.
The LEAs claimed to have arrested
18 suspects and recovered weapons from their possession in different
parts of Karachi.
A heavy contingent of Rangers
and Police conducted a raid in Naik Mohammad Goth, Orangi Town
and detained four suspects, Dost Mohammad, Abdul Khaliq, Kamran
and Ishaq Baloch.
LEA personnel conducted a raid
at a cricket ground in Government school in Pakistan Bazaar and
recovered three Kalashnikovs, three 7mm rifles and several rounds
from the water tank.
Mohammad Younis, unwittingly swept
up in a failed terror plot to bomb Times Square on May 1, 2010,
was sentenced to three year’s probation. Mohammad Younis had
pleaded guilty to charges he arranged an illegal transfer of USD
7,000 to Faisal Shahzad — money Shahzad claimed that the TTP provided
to fund his one-man strike against New York City.
A Pakistani man living in the
United States faces up to 15 years in jail after pleading guilty
Friday to providing material support to the feared Islamist militant
outfit LeT. US justice officials said Jubair Ahmad (24), posted
a propaganda video for LeT "glorifying violent jihad"
in 2010, three years after he arrived in the United States with
his parents and two younger brothers.
The Government deputed FIA personnel
at the Shamsi Airbase to compile the data of foreigners there.
“We have sent FIA personnel to compile the data of feigners,”
Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik said.
The Senate unanimously passed
a resolution condemning the NATO attack on Pakistani check posts
in Mohmand Agency which killed at least 24 soldiers. The resolution
was moved by the Leader of the Opposition in Senate, Maulana Abdul
Ghafoor Haidri and was backed by all the other Senators.
Pakistan has officially withdrawn
from Bonn international conference on Afghanistan, Germany’s Foreign
Ministry said, saying that it regretted the boycott. Pakistan
said on December 1 that it planned to pull out of the meeting
in reaction to a cross-border attack by NATO that killed 24 of
its soldiers and plunged US-Pakistani relations deeper into crisis.
US State Department has said that
America respects Pakistan’s sovereignty evident form US CENTCOM
quick steps to launch a probe into Mohmand tragedy for the very
reason.
British Minister of State, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, Lord Howell of Guildford said that Pakistan
remains an important partner in the fight against terrorism.
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, a The Guardian report said.
ISAF commander, General John Allen,
said the need to confront sanctuaries in Pakistan was “one of
the reasons we are shifting our operations to the east”.
The US Defence Department said
that Pakistan refused to join an investigation into the cross
border NATO bombing of a Pakistani check post.
As a sovereign nation Pakistan
has the right to self-defense, so does the US, the Pentagon asserted
amid reports from Islamabad that Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq
Pervez Kayani had issued direction that his commanders on the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border can return fire without permission.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain
John Kirby said that November 26, 2011 NATO bombing that killed
24 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghanistan border has had a chilling
effect on the relationship between the two countries.
A Pakistani military official
on December 2 denied a Wall Street Journal report that Pakistani
officials gave the go-ahead to a NATO air strike that killed 24
troops, unaware that their own forces were in the area.
A spokesman of ISPR said that
remarks of the COAS about PAF had been misquoted in a section
of the press. In this context, the exact quote of the COAS was,
“The response could have been more effective if PAF had also joined
in. However, it was no fault of PAF. A timely decision could not
be taken due to a breakdown of communication with the affected
posts and, therefore, a lack of clarity of the situation, at various
levels, including the Corps Headquarters and GHQ”, the spokesman
said.
The Finance Ministry is delaying
in releasing funds to the FATA Secretariat which has sought PKR
11 billion for creating 4,545 jobs, a National Assembly Committee
was informed. A FATA Secretariat Official informed the Standing
Committee on State and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) that the Ministry
had so far agreed to release funds for 1,000 posts but even those
funds had not been released. In 2009, the FATA Secretariat initiated
a case for the creation of 4,545 posts for which PKR 11 billion
was demanded. Safron Secretary Habibullah Khan said that all formalities
had been completed in this regard and only release of funds from
the Finance Ministry was awaited.
Speakers at a protest rally titled
Defense of Pakistan organised by JuD demanded that intelligence
sharing with NATO forces in Afghanistan be stopped to avenge the
killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 26, 2011 attack in
Mohmand Agency of FATA.
|
December 3
|
At least 20 militants were killed
and two soldiers were injured in an operation conducted by the
SFs in different parts of FATA. According to media reports, the
militants first started indiscriminate firing at the SFs in Anzar
Kalay area of Orakzai Agency. The SFs retaliated, and as a result
eight militants were killed on the spot, while two soldiers sustained
injuries.
SFs shelled five terrorist hideouts
in different areas of North Waziristan Agency at Zakhtan, Arhang
and Shaker Tangi and killed 12 militants.
Two persons were killed in acts
of sectarian violence in Karachi in Sindh. In one incident an
activist of the ASWJ, formerly known as SSP, was shot dead near
Dawood Chowrangi within the precincts of Quaidabad Police Station.
The deceased, identified as Mohammad Fayyaz, was going home on
a bus when unidentified armed men on a motorcycle opened fire
on him through bus window, killing him on the spot. Separately,
another man was shot dead near his house at Chanesar Goth within
the limits of Tipu Sultan Police Station. The deceased was identified
as Shahid Raza.
|
December 4
|
Six persons including three women
and three children of a family received injuries when a mortar
shell hit a house in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency
of FATA.
One soldier sustained injuries
when a convoy of SFs came under militants attack in Malikdin Khel
area.
Unidentified persons blew up an
under-construction house of a transporter in Sado Khel area of
Landi Kotal. Sources said that Sartaj, the owner of the house,
was a supplier of fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan. He was receiving
threats from local militant groups, they added.
SFs recovered six remote controlled
explosive devices, planted along the main road near Mir Ali in
North Waziristan Agency. The explosive devices were later defused
safely.
A US aircraft arrived in Pakistan
for US nationals vacating the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan. Strict
security measures were being taken place in the area and residents
were told not to leave their homes. According to sources, the
process of shifting the US nationals into to the aircraft had
started already.
US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan
have been ordered not to approach the buffer zone on the Af-Pak
border in order to avoid recurrence of November 26 air strike
that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani said that
his Government had decided to review the agreements made by the
Government of President Pervez Musharraf with the United States,
NATO, ISAF and the UN. PM Gilani said the political and military
leadership, along with the DCC, saw the strike as an opportunity
to revise the entire terms of business (ToBs) on all national
and international issues such as war on terror, security of the
region, Kashmir, made by the Musharraf Government with the US,
NATO, ISAF and the UN.
US President Barack Obama made
a telephone call to President Asif Ali Zardari “to personally
express his condolences on the tragic loss” of twenty-four Pakistani
soldiers in a NATO strike, the White House said.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton who arrived at Bonn for international talks aimed at charting
a course for Afghanistan after NATO combat troops withdraw, as
her aides played down a boycott by Pakistan.
An influential Republican lawmaker
John McCain said that the United States should link its military
aid to Pakistan’s cooperation on security.
Battered by Pakistani military
operations and US drone strikes, the once-formidable TTP has splintered
into more than 100 smaller factions, weakened and running short
of cash, security officials, analysts and tribesmen from the insurgent
heartland.
Set up in 2007, the TTP is an
umbrella organisation created to represent roughly 40 insurgent
groups in the tribal belt plus al Qaeda-linked groups headquartered
in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province.
Turf wars have flared as terrorists
fleeing the Pakistani military operations have moved into territory
controlled by other terrorists, sometimes sparking clashes between
groups.
|
December 5 |
Anti-Violent Crime Cell and CPLC
in a joint raid killed three cadres of the Punjab chapter of TTP
during an encounter in Allahwala Town of Korangi in Karachi, which
ensued in a bid to recover an abducted industrialist Ahmed Chinoy.
Two Policemen Raees Baloch and Abdul Sattar were also wounded
in the skirmish.
At least two Policemen were killed
and eleven others, including three Policemen, were injured in
a rocket attack in the Main Bazaar of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew up
an 8-inch diameter gas pipeline in the Sui area of Dera Bugti
District in Balochistan.
Seven Pakistani workers abducted
from Pul-i-Alam of Logar province in Afghanistan on December 1,
were released after five-day in captivity.
Pakistan Army engaged its 245
operational companies including regular troops and paramilitary
wings to maintain law and order during Ashura and the remaining
days of the Islamic month of Muharram in security volatile districts
and tribal region across Pakistan. The operational companies include
122 from the regular Army while those of 123 from the Frontier
Corps, Frontier Constabulary and Rangers, Army's three paramilitary
offshoots. As many as 38 Districts have been marked as security
sensitive in various parts of the country where the military has
deployed troops at brigades and platoons level on the directives
of the Government of Pakistan. These Districts include those of
21 in Punjab, six in Gilgit-Baltistan, five each in Sindh and
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Balochistan.
Despite tall claims of authorities
about improvement in law and order situation in Mohmand Agency
of FATA, only a single school out of the total 83 educational
institutions, destroyed during the last three years, has been
rebuilt so far.
Pakistan wants to rebuild its
ties with the US despite ongoing retaliation over deadly NATO
air strikes on its troops in Mohammad Agency, the PM Yousuf Raza
Gilani said, stressing that he believes "it won't take long" to
achieve a new relationship with its uneasy ally.
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani during an
interview with The Associated Press also said the country
remained committed to working with Afghanistan to bring insurgent
leaders - many of whom are believed to be on Pakistani soil and
to enjoy close relations with Islamabad's Security Forces - into
talks with the Government and allow the US to begin withdrawing
its troops as it is committed to doing.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said that it was "unfortunate" Pakistan boycotted the
Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, but said that Islamabad still
had a crucial role to play.
|
December 6 |
Twelve militants and two SF personnel
were killed in overnight clashes in the Jogi village of Masozai
in Kurram Agency of FATA on the Afghan border.
Militants fired four RPGs near
a Shia Ashura procession in the town of Kalaya in the Orakzai
Agency. No casualties were reported in the incident.
The Kukikhel tribal lashkar peace
committee expelled the TTP militants from their area of the Tirah
Valley, bordering Afghanistan. The TTP's Tariq Afridi group had
seized the homes and agricultural lands of the Kukikhel tribe
in remote Tirah nine months ago.
The beheaded body of one of the
two abducted personnel of the Chitral Scouts was found in Darashot
forest near Chitral. Afghan militants had simultaneously attacked
five check posts of the Chitral Scouts near the Afghan border
on August 29, killing 30 personnel.
Three Policemen were injured when
militants fired six RPGs from hilltops at buildings in the Hangu
town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A person was injured in a rocket
attack in Kohat District.
Two rockets were fired in Peshawar.
However, no casualty was reported.
Two bombs, placed along the route
of an Ashura procession, were defused in Mardan District.
SFs raided house of militant 'commander',
Shah Wali, in the Dhok Darra area of Upper Dir District.
Two policemen were injured when
SSP militants pelted the Ashura procession in Jhang District.
One person was injured when an
explosion occurred on the 10th day of Muharram at Kala
Pul bridge in the Clifton area of Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh.
The Sindh Rangers detained 17
suspects during raids that were carried out in the last 24 hours
in different parts of the city, including Manghopir, Gulshan-i-Maymar,
Gadap Town, Singer Chowrangi Landhi and Khayaban-i-Shujaat area
in Clifton Town.
Sindh Government deployed around
100,000 Security Force personnel, 80,000 Policemen and 20,000
Rangers men. The Frontier Constabulary will also be present at
sensitive locations and the Army has also been put on alert. Inspector
General Sindh Police Mushtaq Shah said that about 30,000 Policemen
have been deployed for the Ashura procession moving from Nishtar
Park.
At least seven aircraft landed
at the Shamsi air base in Balochistan to airlift personnel and
equipment out of Pakistan.
According to sources in the Washuk
District, American officials were likely to vacate the airbase
on December 8. The United States is evacuating the Shamsi air
base following orders from the Pakistan military incensed by a
NATO raid on the border that left 24 soldiers dead, officials
said.
The spokesman of LeJ claimed responsibility
for the suicide attack on Shia shrine in Afghanistan, reports
broadcast by Radio Free Europe in Pakistan and by the BBC's Pakistan
service. LeJ is a Punjabi sectarian outfit with a long history
of cooperation with ISI, as well as close ties to al Qaeda and
the Taliban. However, a Taliban 'spokesman', Zabiullah Mujahid,
condemned the attacks and called the perpetrators "enemies."
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. The rerouted supplies, like all that go
through Pakistan, are non-lethal items.
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.
The US State Department defended
aid to Pakistan amid calls from senators for a full review of
whether economic and military assistance there serves the US national
interest.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik commended the SFs for maintaining peace during Ashura processions.
Speaking to the media in Islamabad, he said he was thankful to
everyone, including the TTP, for their cooperation in ensuring
peaceful Ashura processions throughout the country during the
9th and 10th days of Muharram.
Pakistan temporarily recalled
some troops from border posts meant to coordinate activity with
international forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pentagon expressed hope that Pakistan
would restore all posts at Afghan border. He said that Pakistan
did not recall all of its personnel, adding that they left one
officer in each centres.
Pakistan has an important role
to play in the Afghanistan peace process, including in any negotiations
with the Taliban, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said. Speaking
in Berlin a day after Pakistan boycotted a conference devoted
to helping Afghanistan, Karzai said the two countries needed to
work closely together.
|
December 7 |
A man was shot dead in front of
his house in Bhittaiabad within the limits of Sachal Police Station
in Karachi. The victim, identified as Haji Mangal Khan (55), was
the resident of Street No 6 at Bhittaiabad.
A bomb planted at Kala Pul in
Karachi exploded when buses containing a number of Muharram mourners
passed the point. At least four passersby were injured in the
incident. Another bomb planted at A B Seena Line in Karachi exploded
shortly after the Muharram procession passed by. However, no casualty
was reported.
Launching a search operation after
recovery of two bombs near Haideriah Imambargah in Bikat Gunj
Bazaar area, Mardan District Police arrested 28 suspects.
FC detained 54 Afghan nationals
who did not have valid travelling document, FC sources said.
Pak Institute for Peace Studies
has claimed that deaths from all attacks by militants fell nearly
20 percent. 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.
SFs have handed over 608 detainees
to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government for being kept in the notified
internment centres, while around 500 more will follow them soon,
the Peshawar High Court was informed.
The bench directed him to produce
details of the detainees given in the Government's custody and
verify if any missing person whose case was being heard by the
court had been among them.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet
asked the country's political and military leadership to re-examine
the country's cooperation with the NATO in Afghanistan.
The United States urged for greater
action by Pakistan against a militant group that Afghanistan blamed
for the December 6 suicide attack against its Shia minority in
Afghanistan. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton had LeJ in mind when she urged Pakistan
to act against extremists during an October visit to Islamabad.
Pakistan asked Afghanistan to
provide evidence to support accusations that LeJ carried out the
attack in Kabul. As reported earlier, the spokesman of LeJ claimed
responsibility for the suicide attack.
Documents found in the Pakistan
home in garrison town of Abbottabad, where slain al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden was killed on May 1-2, show that the al Qaeda
leader was no longer had any role in operations, an unnamed US
expert who reviewed the evidence said.
The FATA Democratic Movement (FDM)
has rejected a proposal of FATA Grand Alliance about awarding
status of separate province to the tribal areas. "It will be better
to give representation to tribal people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Assembly as status of separate province will further add to the
problems of Fata," FDM president Abdur Reheem Afridi told a press
conference on December 7.
|
December 8 |
Sindh Rangers arrested 14 suspects
besides recovering weapons and a snatched motorcycle from their
possession in separate targeted operations at Surjani, Gadap,
PECHS, Mehmoodabad, Quaidabad and Landhi area of Karachi.
Malir City Police arrested two
alleged target killers, identified as Shahnawaz alias 'Shaitan'
and Nadeem alias 'Manhoos', during a raid. The two reportedly
confessed to being involved in the murder of over 50 persons.
Police recovered a cache of weapons in the raid, including two
TT pistol and a triple bore rifle.
Five criminals, including two
target killers were arrested in a raid in Memon Para area of Hyderabad.
The alleged killers were identified as Fahim and Kamran who belonged
to Karachi, while the others were identified as Suhail, Adeel
and Nimo from Hyderabad. According to sources, Fahim was allegedly
involved in the murder of a journalist working for a private news
channel.
The Khyber Agency coordinator
of the HRPC, Zarteef Khan Afridi, was shot dead by unidentified
assailants in Jamrud town of Khyber Agency in FATA. Sources said
two assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire on Zarteef Khan
Afridi while he was on his way to a Government school where he
worked as headmaster. Abdullah Ezaam Brigade took responsibility
for the murder. Family sources said the deceased had been receiving
threats because he was opposed to TTP activities in tribal areas
and supported women's rights. Zarteef Khan took a courageous step
during the general election of 1997 when he allowed womenfolk
of his family to cast their vote.
A shopkeeper was shot dead by
unidentified assailants in main Turbat bazaar in Turbat District
of Balochistan.
A Hindu trader, identified as
Dr Ashok Kumar, was abducted along with his driver and two labourers
in Ferozabad area, some 30 kilometres away from Khuzdar District.
At least 42 NATO oil tankers and
containers were torched after unidentified militants fired two
rockets at them in the Kharotabad area of Quetta. As many as 32
oil tankers and 10 containers, carrying fuel and military hardware
for NATO forces in Afghanistan, were parked in a terminal on the
Airport Road when a group of unidentified militants fired two
rockets, followed by intense firing.
Nine suspected militants affiliated
with TTP were arrested during separate raids in different parts
of the Islamabad's rural area.
The LeJ-al-Alami denied that it
was involved in the suicide attack on the Shia shrine of Afghanistan
and condemned the carnage.
Director General Military Operations
Major General Ashfaq Nadeem termed the NATO airstrike in Mohmand
Agency as a "pre-planned attack".
The Government decided to deploy
air defence weapons on the country's border with Afghanistan to
pre-empt fresh attacks as it re-evaluates the strategy for safeguarding
its western borders from air raids, the Director General of Military
Operations told the Federal Cabinet and the Senate's Defence Committee.
The Parliamentary Committee on
National Security sought details from the Government regarding
agreements with the United States in war against terrorism.
The HRCP launched Observatory
Annual Report 2011 on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.
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.
|
December 9 |
Three Rangers personnel were killed
while four others sustain serious injuries in a blast that occurred
near Safura Chowrangi in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area of Karachi
in the morning.
An activist of the ANP, Sualeh
Shah (35), was shot dead in Bengali Market of Korangi area in
Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
A FC officer was killed when a
landmine had exploded near the Sorange coal mines, in the suburbs
of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Balochistan Government has decided
to send back all trucks and tankers carrying oil and goods meant
for the NATO troops in Afghanistan back to Karachi for security
reasons.
One trooper sustained injuries
as an advancing contingent of SFs stepped on a landmine in the
Talai area of the Kurram Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants abducted
16 poor labourers from the Shelman area of Landikotal in Khyber
Agency in the midnight.
Suspected militants blew up a
power pylon of heavy transmission line at Gula Khan Zangali village
in Mera Balarzai area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, in the early morning.
Intelligence agencies and the
Lahore Police arrested a terrorist, identified as Saad, along
with a suicide jacket and explosives weighing 16 kilograms from
Raiwind Road near Thokar Niaz Baig area of Lahore in Punjab.
Pakistan upgraded its air defence
system along the Afghanistan border to make it capable of shooting
down aircraft in a response to future NATO attack on a military
outpost.
PM Yousaf Raza Gilani and COAS
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani expressed a firm resolve to protect
national sovereignty, and stressed that NATO attacks like the
one carried out on November 26 would not be allowed in the future.
The Federal Communication Minister
Arbab Alamgir Khan informed Senate that NATO containers movement
had caused PKR 40 billion loss to national exchequer in the form
of damage to road infrastructure.
The US Army Chief General Martin
Dempsey said there still are sanctuaries for militants in Pakistan
and that the country's influence in Afghanistan needs to be tackled.
"In Pakistan, the sanctuary for these militants persists. We have
to work hard to end its influence on our Afghan mission," General
Martin Dempsey said.
Addressing a press briefing at
the Pentagon, Press Secretary George Little said that the NATO
supply routes were important and expressed hope that the routes
closed by Pakistan could be reopened in the future.
|
December 10 |
An international NGO worker, Shah
Faisal Mengal (36), was shot dead near PIDC within the limits
of Civil Line Police Station in Karachi.
A bomb blast killed a passerby
on the Main University Road within the limits of Mobina Town Police
Station.
Police found the strangulated
body of a young man from Faqir Mohammad Durra Khan Road area of
Lyari within the precincts of Kalakot Police Station.
At least three militants were
killed and one soldier sustained injuries during clashes between
SFs and militants in the Murghan area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants killed
two tribesmen of Zakhakhel tribe in Kharhy Mela area of Tirah
valley in Khyber Agency.
The bullet-riddled body of a resident
of Shalobar in Bara tehsil was found at a deserted place.
The deceased was identified as Gul Badshah. A chit left along
the body said that supporters of the tribal lashkar would
meet the same fate. However, nobody claimed responsibility for
the killing.
Unidentified militants blew up
two shrines in the Kam Shelman area of Landikotal. The shrines
of Sheikh Bahadar Baba and Sheikh Mosa Baba, which were reportedly
a hundred years old, were blown up with explosive material.
Unidentified militants lobbed
grenades at the residence of Sandroop Khan, causing damage to
the house in Shah Kas of Jamrud tehsil.
Security Forces arrested two suspected
militants in Shah Kas. Officials said that the arrested men belonged
to Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A child was killed and three women
sustained injuries in a landmine blast in the Sham area of Dera
Bugti District in Balochistan.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a watchman, Ilahi Bakhsh, of a local private hospital near Hub
Chowki of Lasbela District. The attackers managed to escape from
the scene.
Officials of the investigation
team, probing recent remote-controlled roadside blasts in Karachi,
revealed that the militant outfit Jundullah was involved in the
blasts targeting Rangers.
The TTP confirmed that they are
in peace talks with the Government. Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, 'deputy
chief' of TTP, said the TTP were negotiating with the help of
local tribal elders in the Bajaur Agency (FATA). "Our talks are
going in the right direction," he told Reuters from an undisclosed
location.
The White House spokesperson Caitlin
Hayden said that the White House had seen reports of the TTP entering
into negotiations with Pakistan, however, she added, they "do
not appear definitive at this point."
|
December 11 |
A driver was killed and nine NATO
oil tankers parked outside a hotel on the outskirts of Dhadar
town in the Bolan District of Balochistan were destroyed in the
night when unidentified men opened fire and set ablaze the vehicles.
One driver, identified as Noman, a resident of Peshawar, was killed
in the attack.
Four NATO oil tankers, along with
their drivers, went missing near the Quetta-Chaman highway.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the Government could go to any length to assert the
country's sovereignty, saying that "I do not rule out the closure
of Pakistan's airspace to US planes".
Unidentified militants blew up
a Government school for girls in Shah Dhand village of Sardheri
area in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Militants blew up a girls' primary
school in the Srekh Banada of Jamal Ghari in the limits of Jabbar
Police Station of Mardan District.
Two militants, including a TTP
'commander', Asmatullah, were arrested by Security Forces during
a raid at a suspicious house in Hangu city.
One suspected terrorist was arrested
during search drive of the law enforcement agencies in Alikheil
and Warokai villages of Tank District while a cache of weapons
was also recovered.
Nine suspects allegedly involved
in several cases of crimes, including target killings, were arrested
during separate raids in different parts of Karachi. The CIA made
the arrests from Ibrahim Hyderi and Korangi Industrial Area.
American flag was lowered at the
Shamsi airbase of Balochistan as the US military personnel vacate
the facility. According to sources, the United States troops deployed
at the base are collecting their equipment.
Earlier on December 10, Frontier
Corps personnel arrived in Washuk to take control of the Shamsi
airbase.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan
denied that the outfit is in peace talks with the Government.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister
Masood Kausar "denied peace talks with any militant group" as
the foreign media reported, saying "it has been consistent policy
of the Government that dialogue can be commenced with such elements
who have surrendered to the writ of the government and are not
involved in any criminal activity".
Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik categorically stated that the Government was not holding
talks with TTP, as talks could not take place until terrorists
surrender themselves before the authorities.
ISAF Commander in Afghanistan
General John R Allen said that a repeat of Mohmand-type mishap
can't be guaranteed in war against terror. Talking to Khaleej
Times, he said: "You simply can't guarantee anything in war.
The conditions are difficult at the border, let the investigation
play out, we will look carefully. If we find fault on our part,
we will resolve that … we will look at every aspect of the circumstances
to make sure it does not happen again."
A senior Pakistani official said
that Pakistan will shoot down any US drone that intrudes its airspace
as per new directives.
|
December 12
|
Three bullet-riddled bodies of
BNP-M activists were found in the Zero Point area of Khuzdar District.
The victims were identified as Bashir Ahmed, his brother Sanaullah
Mardoi and Allah Bakhsh Mardoi.
An unidentified bullet-riddled
body was found in Killi Sardar area of Quetta.
A vendor, identified as Khuda
Bakhsh, was shot dead by unidentified armed militants at Seraib
Patik area.
The dead body found in Killi Sardar
area of Quetta was identified as that of a Hindu trader Ravi Kumar.
Kumar, a local trader of Quetta, had been abducted on October
22, 2011 by armed militants from Satellite Town area. The abductors
demanded PKR 20 million from the family, and ultimately reduced
their demand to PKR 10 million.
One tribesman, identified as Laakho
Bugti, sustained serious injuries in a landmine explosion in Looti
area of Dera Bugti District.
Mama Qadir Baloch the Vice President
of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons said outside the Quetta Press
Club that he had received threats from Secret Agencies.
Three Policemen, a pedestrian
and one militant were killed in a clash, which ensued when two
Policemen were abducted by militants in Karbogha area in Hangu
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At least four militants were killed
when rival militant outfits clashed in Bara tehsil of Khyber
Agency in FATA. The dead belonged to the LI. The clash resulted
from LI support for a tribal anti-TTP peace committee in the Tirah
Valley, Bara Assistant Political Agent Rehan Khattak said.
Gadap Police rescued more than
50 children, chained in a seminary of Sohrab Goth of Karachi.
According to details, all the children hail from the outskirts
of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and were kept at underground
dungeon.
TTP claimed the responsibility
for December 9, 2011 bomb attack on Rangers vehicle in Karachi
and said the TTP will continue to target the Security Force personnel.
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 that about 1,100 people
have been killed and hundreds of houses burnt in Parachinar area
of Kurram Agency in FATA in the past five years and that the operation
against “non-local militants” is under way.
The committee headed by Riaz Fatyana
of PML-Q had called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood
Kausar, Peshawar Corps Commander General Khalid Rabbani, sector
commander of the 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.
Federal Tax Ombudsman, Dr Shoaib
Suddle, said that arms from 3,400 non-commercial containers had
been unloaded in Pakistan. Dr Shoaib said that more than 3,400
non-commercial containers, meant for Afghanistan, disappeared
in Pakistan. He revealed that arms from these containers had been
unloaded in Pakistan.
The leaders of a US House-Senate
negotiating panel said that they had agreed to freeze USD 700
million in US aid to Pakistan until it provides some assurances
of assistance in the fight against IEDs in the region.
The US wants “assurances that
Pakistan is countering IEDs in their country that are targeting
our coalition forces,” Representative Howard McKeon, a House Republican,
said. The provision freezing USD 700 million in aid to Pakistan
was agreed upon by leaders of the Armed Services Committees from
both parties in the House and Senate, including McCain.
The Punjab and Balochistan Assemblies
passed resolutions, condemning the NATO attack on Salala border
post in Mohmand Agency on November 26 in which 24 officers and
soldiers were martyred.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister
Ameer Haider Khan Hoti accused American and NATO forces of harbouring
the militants who were flushed out from Swat valley in the border
areas of Afghanistan.
Hoti said that those militants
who escaped from the military action in Malakand District to Nuristan
province of Afghanistan were staging attacks in Chitral District.
He said the SFs had purged Malakand division of militants. He
said those militants who survived the military action would not
go scot-free and would be brought to justice.
The United States Ambassador to
Pakistan Cameron Munter said that the Mohmand Agency incident
was a setback for the Pak-US relations and the United States wanted
to rebuild cooperation in areas of economy, military and intelligence-sharing.
|
December 13
|
Five militants and a Policeman
were killed during an encounter at Aziz Market on Frontier Road
in Badhaber area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The head of Bazidkhel Qaumi lashkar Fahimur
Rehman said that the attackers belonged to Khyber Agency-based
militant outfit LI. They have fled Bara owing to military operation.
A Policeman Sardar Ali Khan, stenographer
at DIG Peshawar office, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
at Yakatoot area of Peshawar when he was returning after offering
Morning Prayer from a local mosque.
A Policeman, Resham Gul, who was
injured in a rocket attack in the main market of Kohat on December
5 (Ashura day), succumbed to his injuries.
Militants blew off a middle school
for boys in Kot area of Kohat District. However, nobody was injured
in the incident. Sources said that militants planted two time
bombs of 20 kilograms each at the building which went off one
after another.
Militants blew up a Government
primary school for girls in Imamkhel area of the Tank District.
The bomb disposal squad said that 20 kilograms of explosives was
used in the attack.
The Peshawar High Court was informed
that only four of the ‘missing persons’ could be traced in the
lists of around 608 detainees given in the custody of the Provincial
Government by the Security Forces and intelligence agencies and
that they were kept in the internment centres named by the Government.
Six persons, among them four children,
were killed when militants attacked houses in Shalobar area of
Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency of FATA after Security Forces
launched a search operation against militants.
A soldier was killed and six others
were injured when militants attacked some Army personnel in Shawal
area of North Waziristan Agency.
At least six people, including
two members of a Lyari gang war group, were killed in a violent
clash that erupted in the Kalri area of Karachi late in the night
of December 12 and continued till nest day morning.
Police recovered an unidentified
dead body from Shah Faisal colony No. 2.
Four people were injured when
unidentified armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire in F.B
area
Police rescued 53 madrassa students,
some as young as seven, who had been chained in the basement of
a Karachi seminary, unearthing gruesome tales of dungeon torture
and visits by TTP instructors, who some claimed were starting
to prepare them to join the terror group's jihad on the Afghan
front. Police said they were probing the institution's possible
links to terrorist outfits.
The CID Sindh claimed to have
arrested two cadres of Punjab Chapter of TTP and recovered 10
kilograms of explosives, three Kalashnikovs, two pistols, including
a 9mm one, and hundreds of bullets from the Superhighway. The
two suspects, identified as Abdul Wahid alias Lala alias Guddu
and Mohammed Shakeel, disclosed that they had buried more arms
and explosives in Haji Mureed Goth of Khamosh Colony.
One person, identified as Ayub,
was killed and another injured in a clash that occurred between
two armed groups on Fatima Jinnah road in Quetta.
Armed militants abducted six officials
of Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP) an NGO, working
in the water, health and education sector, from Barshor area of
Pishin District.
Frontier Corps Inspector General
Major General Ubaidullah Khattak claimed that 90 percent of the
Baloch missing persons were involved in criminal activities and
had been killed by their own organisations.
Police arrested three suspects
in sector G-11 in Islamabad for their alleged involvement in stealing
explosive material. The suspects were identified as Imran, Umar
and Babar.
A US Congressional panel agreed
to freeze USD 700 million in aid to Pakistan in a punitive measure
that aims to stop the spread of improvised-explosive devices in
Afghanistan, raw material for which, US lawmakers say, is smuggled
from Pakistan.
Chairman of Pakistan’s Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Salim Saifullah warned that relations,
which are already at a low point, could worsen further following
the decision by the US House-Senate panel.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria
Nuland has said that US has not cut USD 700 million civilian aid
to Pakistan while Defence Authorization bill is under discussion
in the Congress.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that Pakistan was not responsible for all the ills of
Afghanistan and the country would formulate polices keeping in
view core objectives and supreme national interest.
She further said that Afghan refugees
living in Pakistan were responsible for September 20, 2011 assassination
of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani.
US Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta
voiced confidence that the US and Pakistan can patch up their
differences, emphasising that “ultimately, we can’t win the war
in Afghanistan without being able to win in our relationship with
Pakistan as well”.
The top NATO commander in Afghanistan
Marine General John Allen said that he is seeing signs of a possible
lifting of Pakistan’s communications blackout imposed on the US-led
coalition after NATO airstrikes.
|
December 14
|
Two men, identified as Jalil Ahmed
and Pukar Khan were killed and a woman identified as Samina was
injured when unknown armed militants opened fire at a house in
Killi Kamalo area on Sariab road of Quetta.
Two Frontier Corps personnel were
killed and five others sustained injuries in a landmine blast
during a routine patrol in Mand area of the Kech District near
the Pakistan-Iran border.
Two pro-Government peace lashkar
volunteers killed and three others sustained bullets injuries
in the encounter between the militants and Khasadars along with
peace lashkar volunteers in Shalobar area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
A bomb blast injured two tribal
elders of Koki Khel tribe at Wache wane area in Tirah valley.
At least 70 suspects were arrested
and a torture cell was recovered during separate overnight search
operations in different area of Karachi.
In a series of startling revelations,
Sabiha Khatton, a widow of a killed TTP Punjab Chapter cadre,
Qari Shahid Khan, confessed that her husband was involved in the
planning of the May 22, 2011 PNS Mehran attack and that she assisted
Khan in the September 19, 2011 assassination attempt on CID Senior
SSP Chaudhry Aslam and the November 16, 2011 Sea view blast in
Karachi.
Sabiha claimed that her family
had links with militant outfit HuM, while her husband was a member
of the TTP and was involved in the planning and execution of major
attacks from 2009-2011, including the March 3, 2009 Sri Lankan
team attack.
The TTP ruled out any negotiations
with the Government and claimed to have control over most areas
of South Waziristan Agency of FATA. In an interview with a three-member
delegation of senior tribal journalists at a command and control
centre of militants in South Waziristan Agency, the key ‘operational
commander’ and ‘chief’ of Laddah sub-division chapter of TTP,
Shamim Mehsud, rejected any contacts with the Government under
the present circumstances.
The journalists were allowed to
visit various sections of the centre situated at a distance of
about three kilometres from a camp of SFs. They spent a night
there and met well-equipped TTP militants whose number remained
30 during the day and 45 at night.
‘Commander’ Shamim Mehsud refuted
the claim of security forces that the writ of the government had
been enforced in the tribal area. “If there is control of security
forces, how will we freely run our training, control and command
centres.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister
Ameer Haider Hoti said that talks with TTP are possible only if
they lay down arms and surrender to the Government.
SSP (Operations) Tahir Ayub said
that law and order situation has improved in the provincial metropolis
as the Police, Frontier Corps, FC are doing everything in their
power to fight militancy in the city.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
said that relations with Pakistan were complicated but that it
was important to maintain a relationship with Islamabad.
The ISPR said the "issue
of reopening up of NATO supply route never came under discussion".
"It would be appreciated that unnecessary speculation in
this regard is avoided", the ISPR said in a statement.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said negotiations between Pakistan and the United States would
start soon to resolve thorny issues bedevilling the relationship.
Blaming the former President General
Parvez Musharraf regime for most of the problems in Pak-US ties,
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani Pakistan will seek "surety and guarantees"
for its sovereignty under new terms of engagement with the US
during talks that would be held "very soon". "I
need the surety and guarantees for the sovereignty of my country
and such (NATO strike) unilateral actions should not be taken
in future," Gilani added.
Contending that US relationship
with Pakistan had reached a dead end, an American lawmaker said
there was a sense among Congressmen that time had come to "side"
with India to "cut off the ISI".
Pakistan has decided we're leaving.
Pakistan has decided that they can cripple the civilian Government,"
he said, adding, The US needs a stable party in the region who
has a status quo pro-civilian anti-terror interest, which is India.
"And in many ways, this is the ISI horror story, but I would
say they picked this, and we should now arrange that fate for
them."
|
December 15
|
Six militants were killed in retaliatory
fire by Balochistan Frontier Corps in Balgudar area of Turbat
District. A group of militants ambushed a Frontier Corps convoy
proceeding to Panjgoar from Turbat with sophisticated weapons
leaving two troopers injured.
Unidentified armed militants shot
dead a man, identified as Abdul Hameed, in a PCO shop in Sariab
Road area of Quetta. Hameed was the son of a religious scholar
Moulvi Abdul Aziz.
A man identified as Yasir Arafat
Hazara, was shot dead in Alamdar Road area in Quetta.
Unidentified armed men shot dead
a man in Loni area of Loralai District.
Police found an unidentified dead
body in Polo Ground area of Quetta.
Balochistan Levies found an unidentified
dead body in Murga Kibzai area of Zhob District.
Armed assailants stole oil from
a NATO tanker after locking up Security Force personnel in a room
of the Levies Force’s station in Kosak Top area of Qilla Abdullah
District.
Two watchmen, identified as Azeem
and Niaz Ameen Sheikhmal Khel Shinwari, were killed by unidentified
militants when they were patrolling the graveyard particularly
the graves of the relatives of MNA Noorul Haq Qadri in Peero Khel
graveyard of Landikotal town of Khyber Agency in FATA in the night
A newly built house was dynamited
at Sheikhmal Khel area of Landikotal. The house of Gul Ahmad Shinwari
was completely damaged in the blast. However, no casualty was
reported in the blast.
Bullet-riddled body of a 12-year-old
boy, identified as Khan, was found from the bushes situated near
National Highway within the limits of Steel Town Police Station
in Karachi.
A militant was killed as SFs and
Police opened retaliatory fire after being attacked by a militant
group with hand grenades in Mandakhel village of Kohat District
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police neutralised a terror plan
and defused two indigenously made explosive devices in a forest
near Hayat Khel village in the limits of Haibat Ali Khan Shaheed
Police Station of Darra Pezu town in Lakki Marwat District.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar while giving a briefing to Parliamentary Committee on National
Security said that the US would be responsible if Pakistan failed
in war against terrorism. She told the committee that the US Senate
had stopped USD 700 million aid to Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Khar further
said that Pakistan will fight the war on terrorism according to
its own terms and conditions and not that of the US Congress.
Khar said that she was confident because Pakistan did the internal
re-evaluation that was needed.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul
Basit said that “We believe that the move in the U.S. Congress
is not based on facts and takes narrow vision of overall situation
hence wrong conclusions are unavoidable”.
The US Embassy contradicted media
reports about “cut” of USD 700 million in military aid to Pakistan
by the US Congress. “There have been incorrect and unclear media
reports that the US Congress has “cut” $700 million in military
aid to Pakistan.
An internal inquiry by the Federal
Board of Revenue revealed that around 29,000 containers destined
for Afghanistan have gone missing inside the country. Speaking
on behalf of the Finance Minister, Minister of State for Production
Khwaja Sheeraz informed the Senate that a committee formed by
the FBR chairman had found that as many as 28,822 containers carrying
NATO and Afghan Transit Trade goods had left Port Qasim in Karachi
but never crossed Chaman town in Qilla Abdullah District of Balochistan
province and Torkham border posts in Khyber Agency of FATA.
|
December 16
|
25 militants and one soldier were
killed in clashes between the militants and Frontier Corps in
Khanki village in the Upper Orakzai region in FATA. Frontier Corps
were attacked by 50 militants while driving through the Mamuzai
area of Orakzai, the stronghold of Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader
of TTP. One soldier was killed and more than 20 were wounded.
The troops retaliated and killed at least 25 militants.
Three people, including a woman,
were killed after mortar shells hit their house in Muslim Dhand
area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Two militants and a security official
were killed in a clash in Dogra area. An official of the local
political administration said the clash occurred after Security
Forces were attacked by militants.
A girl was killed and four of
her family members injured when a mortar shell fell on their house
in Bara tehsil.
An explosive device went off alongside
a road in Kukikhel area of Tirah valley. However, no damage to
human life was reported in the explosion.
Gwadar District Hospital CMO Doctor
Naseem Baloch was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pasni
area of Gwadar District.
Police claimed to have arrested
six suspects, including the leader of the TTP al Mukhtar group,
which is also linked to al Badar Mansoor group, and recovered
a huge cache of arms and explosives from their possession.
According to Anti-Extremist Cell
of the CID, the suspects were involved in at least eight cases
of terror activities in Karachi, including the April 21, 2011
attack on the Rummy Club in Ghasmandi area of Karachi.
Considering the former leaders
of LeJ, Malik Ishaq and Ghulam Rasool, as a threat to law and
order in the country, a review board of the Lahore High Court,
extended their detention.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
asked the US to respect Pakistan’s redlines, its national sovereignty
and territorial integrity. Gilani also sought a guarantee from
the US for not transgressing Pakistan’s frontiers in the future
as happened in the case of November 26, 2011 NATO strike.
The head of the PTI Imran Khan
said the problem of terrorism that Pakistan is facing is "because
of its partnership in the American war in Afghanistan". Imran
made the remarks during a meeting with US Ambassador to Pakistan
Cameron Munter and former envoy Robin Raphael.
|
December 17
|
Three soldiers, including an official,
were killed in an IED blast at Katasarai village in Kurram Agency
of FATA.
Unidentified militants blew up
a State-run girls’ high school in the night by detonating explosive
material in Ghundi area of Jamrud tehsil. The total number
of destroyed schools in Khyber Agency has reached to 61 with the
latest blast.
The dead body of Tahsinullah,
a student of a seminary in Akora Khattak, who was abducted from
outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi District of Punjab province
on May 28, 20011, was found at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.
An ASI, Maraj Khan, was killed
when unidentified assailants ambushed a Police mobile of the Rustam
Police Station of the Charguli checkpost on Gujrat Road near the
Kandarkas village in Mardan District of Khyber Pahtunkhwa.
Unidentified militants blew up
a primary school, a house and a tube well in three different incidents
in Mandeo area of the Bannu District.
Police claimed to have arrested
a militant, identified as Raeef Khan, who was coming from Orakzai
Agency of FATA to Kohat District, at Kaghazai check post and recovered
6.1 kilograms of explosives and hand grenades from his possession.
Former female councillor of PML-N,
Fahmida Qadir Bhaksh, was shot dead by unidentified militants
in the Sengani Sar area of Turbat District.
|
December 18
|
At least 17 militants were killed
during an air assault on their secret hideouts by Security Forces
in Jawaki and Samaa areas of Orakzai Agency in FATA. Three secret
hideouts were neutralised.
A militant was killed and four
tribal people were injured in different incidents. TTP militants
killed a cadre of LI in Dwa Thoe area of Tirah valley in Khyber
Agency.
Elsewhere in the Agency, three
members of a family - Abdul Haq, his wife and his teenage son
- were injured when a mortar shell fell on their house in Merikhel
area of Akkakhel.
In a similar incident in Sipah
area, a minor daughter of Zareef Khan was injured and two rooms
of his house were badly damaged.
The representative Jirga
of tribal agencies ‘FATA Grand Alliance’ in Islamabad demanded
of the Government for making an end to the ongoing military operation
in tribal areas besides initiating peace process through dialogue
to restore normalcy in the affected areas. The FATA Grand Alliance
(FGA) meeting was held under the chairmanship of Hameed Ullah
Jan Afridi MNA Khyber Agency.
Two people, identified as Dost
Muhammad and Allah Noor, were shot dead and another injured in
a firing incident in the border town of Chaman in Qilla Abdullah
District. The victims were standing on the road when unidentified
armed militants opened fire, killing the two on the spot. A passer-by
identified as Mohammad Mushtaq was injured in the attack.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Deputy
Speaker Khushdil Khan has directed officials to deploy community
Police at schools in his constituency, comprising suburban areas
of Peshawar, owing to continuous attacks by militants on educational
institutions.
A former Unit in-charge of Sunni
Tehreek, identified as Adil Hashim, was killed at Joria Bazar
within the precincts of Kharadar Police Station in Karachi. The
victim left his house and reached at the corner of his street
after receiving someone’s phone call.
Sharafi Goth Police claimed to
have arrested two suspects, identified as Shahid Anwar and Asghar,
allegedly involved in various cases of target killings while at
least 14 suspects were detained from Orangi Town in a house-to-house
search operation. Police also recovered about 12 pistols from
their possessions.
In the Difaa-e-Pakistan Conference
(‘Defence of Pakistan’ conference) led by JuD and Jama’at-e-Ulema-Islam,
about 50,000 Islamists, including chief Hafiz Saeed, staged a
protest at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on December 18 to condemn
the US and India, while showing support for Pakistan’s military.
Saeed warned the US to avoid creating
troubles for Pakistan. Otherwise, he said, the JuD and workers
of other like-minded parties knew what action to take.
|
December 19
|
A man, identified as Muhammad
Iqbal, was shot dead in Killi Fatima area of Mastung District.
Two SF personnel were injured
in a landmine explosion in the Katisar area of Kurram Agency in
FATA.
Eight cadres of Punjab chapter
of TTP were arrested in Kalatoi area of Birmal tehsil in
Wana sub-division of South Waziristan Agency during a search operation.
CID claimed to have arrested six
suspects and recovered weapons from their possession from different
places including Korangi Industrial Area, Sohrab Goth and Saddar
area of Karachi.
Pakistan restored liaison officers
at coordination centres along Durand line, NATO said. But the
US-led coalition’s supply lines that run through Pakistan remain
closed since the November 26 NATO attacks.
According to an ISPR press release
issued, however, officers were not returning. Only a few officers
were called for consultations and had gone back. The border control
centres were set up to help NATO and Afghanistan forces and their
Pakistani counterparts on the other side of the porous border
to coordinate operations against terrorists and avoid the kind
of the incident.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik, said that the madaris which are not registered
with Wafaq-ul/Tanzeem-ul Madaris would be considered illegal after
January 1, 2012.
The minister also held a meeting
with Information Technology Secretary, PTA chairman to discuss
the issue of threatening e-mails and unwanted SMS.
A senior Baloch nationalist leader
warned that Balochistan would not "remain with" Pakistan
if extra-judicial killings and excesses by SFs in were not stopped
immediately in Balochistan. If steps were not taken immediately
to halt the extra-judicial killing of Baloch nationalists and
to engage them in a dialogue, then "Balochistan will not
remain with you", said Sardar Ataullah Mengal, a senior leader
of the BNP.
The bodies of over 200 Baloch
activists have been found across the province since 2010. Rights
groups have alleged the activists were victims of extra-judicial
killings by SFs.
A new Senate Foreign Relations
Committee report 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”. According to report, the
US has increasingly relied on the Northern Distribution Network
to send non-military supplies to Afghanistan since 2009.
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.
US spending cuts “reduce” not
“freezes” aid to Pakistan. US spending plan for fiscal 2012, which
began October 1 the House of Representatives approved the bill
on December 16, 2011 and the Democratic-run Senate approved it
on December 17.
According to a 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.
The BBC reported that the accused ANA commander conspired on the
instructions of India’s RAW and Afghanistan’s National Directorate
of Security to dismantle Pakistan’s ties with US and NATO.
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 Geneva-based Press Emblem
Campaign report named Pakistan and Mexico, the most dangerous
countries to work. At least 106 journalists were killed in 2011,
among them 20 who reported on the Arab spring uprisings, a campaign
group 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.
|
December 20
|
Militants blew up two primary
schools in separate incidents in the Charsadda District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. The first incident took place in the Matta Mughal
Khel area. The second school was blown up in Bareesa Ghundai,
where militants placed a time bomb outside a boy’s primary school.
British Police arrested a Pakistani
student at Birmingham Airport on suspicion of a terrorism offence.
West Midlands Police said the 22-year-old man was arrested after
arriving at the central England airport on a flight from Dubai.
The political administration of
Khyber Agency (FATA) warned Kukikhel tribe of strict action if
it fails to fulfil its collective territorial responsibility by
expelling extremist elements from its area. Addressing a jirga
of Kukikhel tribe in Jamrud, Assistant Political Agent Mohammad
Jameel made it clear to the tribal elders that situation deteriorated
in the area during the last few days as militants shot dead down
a human rights activist and later blew up a high school for girls.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
urged Pakistan to open up communications with neighbouring Afghanistan
even though it has thorny relations with the United States and
Islamabad’s archenemy, India.
The US put its covert air campaign
that targets al Qaeda and TTP operatives in Pakistan's tribal
agencies "on hold", in the wake of strained ties between
the two countries, The Long War Journal report said.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman
claimed that drones are still flying over tribal areas despite
what he said clear orders issued by the Chief of the Army staff
to shoot any intruding aircraft after the NATO attack incident.
Pakistan told the UNSC that November
26, 2011 NATO cross-border air strikes that killed 26 Pakistani
soldiers was a “transgression of Pakistan’s territorial integrity
and a flagrant violation of the UN Charter”. “We want the international
community to succeed in Afghanistan because this success is in
Pakistan’s own national interest,” the Pakistani envoy said.
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. 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.
|
December 21
|
At least 30 TTP militants were
killed and 18 SF personnel were injured in the ongoing operation
in Upper Orakzai Agency of FATA.
Seven SF personnel were injured
when a checkpost was hit by a rocket in Kotkai area in SWA. Security
officials said SFs were conducting a search operation after receiving
information that some TTP militants had entered the tribal agency
from across the border.
Five children of a family received
injuries when a mortar shell hit a house in Nala area of Malikdinkhel
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
Unidentified militants blew up
three shops of narcotics at Safeerullah Market in Ghundi area
of Jamrud. The Abdullah Azzam Brigade accepted responsibility
for destroying the shops.
Unidentified militants blew up
a private medical store at Karikot area in SWA and managed to
escape from the scene.
A tribesman Malik Noor, a resident
of North Waziristan Agency, decided to sue the Government of United
Kingdom for extending help to the US in drone attack in the FATA.
A legal notice was issued to UK Foreign Minister to reply till
January 12 or face litigation, Malik Noor told in a press conference
in Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
One person was killed and seven
others were injured in sectarian violence during 25th Muharram
procession in Shah Faisal Colony near Jamia Farooqia in Karachi.
Some people came out of the Jamia Farooqia and asked the mourners
to divert their procession route.
A Government-run middle school
for girls’ was blown up in Sheedo area of Nowshera District in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the evening.
United States donated four bomb
disposal vans and 100 motorcycles to KP Police. The equipment
is being provided under ‘Police Assistance Programme’ implemented
by the US Embassy’s Narcotics Affairs Section. US Consul General
Marie Richards paid tribute to Pakistan’s Security Forces at the
event, saying, “I would like to praise the courage and dedication
of the Police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. It is their commitment
to duty that protects the people of Peshawar and KP from criminals
and violent militants.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani said his country wanted new rules of engagement with
the US with a guarantee to respect its sovereignty and assurance
of "no Abbottabad-like unilateral action in future",
adding that, “In case any credible and actionable information
was available, it must be shared with Pakistan for necessary action.”
Pakistan's former envoy to the
US Husain Haqqani said American officials were "intransigent
and even threatening" after the May 2 raid that killed al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
|
December 22
|
Three people were killed and two
others injured when unidentified armed militants opened fire on
a van in the Daring-gar area of Mastung District. The deceased
were identified as Nuroz Khan, Nasiruddin and Mohammad Umar. The
injured passer-by were identified as, Ahmed Khan and Babul.
Two gas pipelines were blown up
in Sui and Pirkoh gas fields of Dera Bugti District. The BRA claimed
responsibility for the attacks.
A FC official was killed when
the FC check post came under militant attack in Malazai area of
Tank District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Four persons, including a girl
child, were injured in a remote controlled bomb blast at the private
clinic of a lady doctor in Bahadar Garhi area of Hangu city in
Hangu District.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood
Kausar said that the children in FATA are suffering due to militancy.
While speaking at a conference on “Child rights in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and FATA” organised by the Society for Protection of the Rights
of Child (Sparc), KP Governor Masood Kausar told the participants
that improving child rights in FATA was priority of the Government.
At least 16 Punjab University
students were seriously injured in a sectarian clash between Islami
Jama’at-e-Talaba and Imamia Students Organisation in Lahore. The
clash occurred over the organisation of a ceremony in connection
with Imam Hussain (AS) Day at New Campus.
The trouble began when the IJT
and ISO requested the PU administration to organise separate events
on Imam Hussain (AS) Day. The administration allowed IJT to organise
its event on condition that ISO could stage theirs as well.
The man whose body was found after
December 21, 2011 sectarian clash in Shah Faisal Colony of Karachi
was identified as Ahmad Baloch. Station House Officer Khalid Nadeem
Baig said the victim was the son of Naib Ameer Jama’at Ulema-e-Islam
Maulana Qamaruddin Baloch and was studying at Jamia Farooqia.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani
Khar said that Pakistan was committed to pursuing a constructive,
sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India,
including on the issue of Kashmir. Foreign Minister Khar said
that Pakistan continues to support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned
reconciliation process.
The World Bank said it would provide
Pakistan with USD 5.5 billion in development aid over the next
two years. “The Bank has responded flexibly in the face of the
tremendous challenges Pakistan has gone through over the past
year or so,” said its Pakistan country Director Rachid Benmessaoud,
adding, “We will continue our strong support to Pakistan, while
keeping a keen eye on implementation to ensure that these efforts
translate into real results on the ground”.
The US Air Force Special Operations
Command’s Brigadier General and investigating officer into the
NATO air strike Stephen Clark said that the lack of trust and
series of miscommunications contributed to the NATO attack on
November 26.
White House said that it accepts
responsibility for the mistakes they made, and expresses its “deepest
regret for the loss of life and for the lack of proper coordination
between U.S. and Pakistani forces that contributed to those losses.”
US State Department’s deputy spokesman
Mark Toner said that the US prepared to offer compensation to
the families of troops who lost their lives, adding that US offered
to send a team to Pakistan to brief the military on the findings
of its investigation into the NATO raid.
Pakistani military rejected the
conclusions of a US investigation into a NATO air strike. US officials,
unveiling the results of their investigation into the Nov. 25-26
incident that has enraged Pakistanis, said both sides were to
blame and said the soldiers’ deaths were partly rooted in miscommunication
and misunderstandings.
|
December 23
|
Militants killed one FC Security
Official and reportedly abducted 19 others in an attack on SFs
in the Mullazai Fort north of the Tank District. The exact number
of abducted militants could not be determined. Sources also said
that the initial number of FC personnel missing after the attack
was 23 but seven of them had returned back safely. The TTP claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified armed assailants
attacked a mobile telecommunication company franchise office at
Shadman Town in North Karachi, within the limits of Sharah-e-Noor
Jahan Police Station killing two young employees and wounding
two others.
Sindh Police claimed to have arrested
nine suspects, including three target killers, from different
areas of Karachi. Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Police arrested two suspects,
Saeed Bazmi and Sabt-e-Rasool alias Khurram, and recovered two
repeaters, a 9mm pistol and two TT pistols from their possession.
Surjani Police claimed to have
arrested a target killer Safdar alias Kala, belonging to a political
party, from Surjani Town and recovered a TT pistol from his possession.
Baghdadi Police conducted a raid
in Khadda Market, Sanghar Mohalla’s SM Plaza, and detained six
suspects along with recovering weapons from their possession.
One girl was killed and five persons,
including children were injured when stray mortar shells fell
on three different houses in Shalobar area of Bara tehsil
in Khyber Agency of FATA.
Four children were injured in
two separate incidents when shells hit two houses.
One kukikhel tribesman was injured
in a roadside bomb blast in Serhai area of Tirah Valley.
Unidentified militants blew up
Bacha Khan Foundation’s middle school in Khugakhel area of Landikotal.
The school’s building was razed to the ground.
SFs arrested four suspected militants
during a search operation in Shakas area of Jamrud tehsil. Officials
said that arrested suspects included two young sons of Haji Najeebullah,
a former local ameer of JeI.
SFs imposed ban on pillion riding
in Bara tehsil of the Agency and warned that violators
would be shot on sight. Bara Assistant Political Agent Rehan
Khattak said that the step was taken to curb attacks against SFs
and supporters of the local administration.
Prominent businesswoman Nilofar
Abadan who was abducted on March 8, 2011 from Gurdat Singh road
area in Quetta returned home. The abductors had contacted the
family and demanded a huge amount as ransom for releasing her.
COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
brushed aside all the speculations of any military takeover. “The
Pakistan Army has and will continue to support democratic process
in the country,” General Kayani declared when he spoke to troops
stationed in the forward posts in Mohmand and Kurram Agencies
of FATA.
The US said that it was committed
to working with Pakistan and pledged support for democracy, amid
friction between the war partners and a political showdown in
Islamabad.
He added, “We support the democratic
process in Pakistan we support the constitution and the rule of
law, as well as the will of the Pakistani people. This is a matter
for the Pakistani people to resolve within their own political
process.”
|
December 24
|
A suicide car bomb attack killed
five FC soldiers and wounded 12 others at Tochi Scouts' main office
on Kohat Road in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A man and three children were
injured when an explosive device disguised as a toy exploded in
their house on the outskirts of Peshawar.
Two unidentified militants were
killed and five people of Amn Force sustained injuries during
a clash in Loti area of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan. The
identities of the dead could not be ascertained.
Terrorists blew up a Government
school in the Noor Khel village in Landikotal sub-division of
Khyber Agency in FATA.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry expressed dissatisfaction over the
slow disposal of cases in ATC, delay in submission of charge sheets
and frequent adjournments being sought and granted to prosecuting
and defence counsel in trial courts.
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 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.
The US said that it will continue
to work with Pakistan towards improving bilateral relations, which
saw significant challenges throughout the year. The State Department’s
comments came amid strained relations between the sides following
the November 26 NATO cross-border attacks on Mohmand Agency (FATA)
checkposts, which resulted in the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The US CIA has suspended drone
missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan
due to tensions with that country, The Los Angeles Times
report said. 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.
|
December 25
|
At least 22 militants and three
SF personnel were killed and unspecified number of others got
injured as clashes erupted between the two sides in Jogi area
in Kurram Agency of FATA.
12 militants were killed and seven
others injured when jet fighters pounded militant hideouts in
Toor Semat, Jandri and Jabba Killi localities in Muhammadzai,
a TTP stronghold, of Orakzai Agency. At least five hideouts were
destroyed.
A LI cadre, Shafeeq, was killed
when SFs opened firing after their convoy was attacked in Nala
Malikdinkhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
Three children and a woman were
injured when mortar shells fell on the houses of Ibrahim and Haji
Mohammad in Spin Qabar area of Bara.
A mosque and an overhead water
tank were also damaged in Hissar Khan Kallay by the mortar shells.
Two armed militants shot dead
two persons, identified as Mohammad Aslam and Shahzad Bashir,
in the Manno Jan Road area of Quetta. Aslam and Bashir belonged
to Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab province and had come to
Quetta in search of work.
Two people were killed and two
others got injured when armed assailants opened fire on them at
a hotel in the Tump area of Turbat District.
A man, identified as Anwar Maseeh,
was shot dead in Shahzab Town of Quetta.
A bullet-riddled body of a man,
identified as Mohammad Nasim, was found in the Sarah Kadi area
of the Loralai District. A letter found was found on the dead
body of Nasim. The TTP claimed responsibility for the killing,
saying he was involved in spying and warned that anybody found
spying on the TTP would meet the same fate.
An engineer, identified as Hafiz
Mohammad Ejaz, of a mobile phone company was abducted in Mastung
area of Mastung District while he was coming back to Quetta from
Mangocher area.
Unidentified armed assailants
shot dead a man at Khyber roundabout in Orangi Town of Karachi.
Federal Minister for Interior
Rehman Malik said that red warrants for assassins of former Minister
for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti had been issued and soon they
would be brought to justice.
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,
The Guardian report said. 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.
|
December 26
|
Seven militants of an unidentified
outfit were killed when Security Forces (SFs) shelled the terrorists’
hideouts in the Mamozai and Khadizai areas of Orakzai Agency in
FATA.
Eight suspected militants were
killed in shelling by SFs in the ongoing operation in the Musazai
and Jogi areas of Kurram Agency.
Police killed two suspected TTP
militants in a successful 24-hour standoff to rescue three abducted
Government workers near Dera Ismail Khan town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A prominent member of Shia-Sunni
Peace Jirga of Hangu, Maulana Niazbar, was killed and his companion,
Maulana Zeenatullah, was seriously injured when unidentified assailants
on motorcycle opened firing on them in Kohat.
Unidentified militants opened
fire at Surkamar Frontier Constabulary Fort in Surkamar area,
40 kilometers west from Tank town.
Unidentified militants blew up
the main gas pipeline near a seminary in Shah Mansoor area in
Swabi.
Two persons were killed and another
sustained injuries in an incident of firing o in Bakra Mandi area
of Eastern Bypass in Quetta.
After the safe return of the abducted
Parsi businesswoman Nilofar Abadan on December 22, 2011, Rao Amin
Hashim, Inspector-General of Balochistan Police said, “Criminal
gangs are responsible for these abductions.
In connection with the December
24, 2011 abduction of a colleague, identified as Mohan Lal Meghwadh,
from Mirpukha District, the lawyers in several Districts of Sindh
boycotted the courts and said that they would continue to do so
if law enforcers do not rescue him soon.
Al Qaeda warned America, Pakistan
and Afghanistan of attacks to avenge killing of its influential
leader Tehsin bin Ali Abdul Aziz and his two aides in a drone
strike in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan Agency in FATA
on August 1.
The Parliamentary Committee on
National Security (PCNS) met at the Parliament House, with Mian
Raza Rabbani in the chair to discuss the situation arising from
the November 26, 2011 NATO attack on military outposts in Mohmand
Agency of FATA, resulting in the cut-off of the supply route to
coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan by the Pakistani Government.
US military’s 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, a report published
in The New York Times said. The New York Times report
stated that once alerted, the commander immediately halted American
attacks on two Pakistani posts.
The head of US CENTCOM urged greater
trust and communications with the Pakistani military amid the
diplomatic crisis after the NATO air strike. CENTCOM chief General
James Mattis made his recommendations after his command released
the results of its own investigation into the November 26 incident.
Mattis called for “full disclosure
of all border area facilities and installations” on both sides
of the border, with s using a shared database and map as well
as organizing coordination visits.
ASWJ strongly condemned Federal
Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s December 25, 2011 allegations
regarding the SSP involvement in the March 2, 2011 murder of former
Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti. ASWJ leaders rejected
the allegations levelled at their organisation declaring the statement
deceiving and misleading.
According to reports, ASWJ had
decided to approach the court regarding Malik’s allegations. The
organisation claimed that Malik’s allegation, against them, was
due to pressure from external forces. They added that this was
to create a rift between Muslims and Christians and that the allegations
have no credibility.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Amir
Haider Hoti, during a day-long visit to Swat, announced a development
package for the valley. CM Amir Haider Hoti said good fortune
has returned to Swat and people are once again living a peaceful
and normal life.
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December 27
|
A member of Tank peace committee,
Nizamuddin, was killed and two of his associates received injuries
when unidentified assailants opened fire on them in Wazirabad
area of Tank District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Siraj Khan, assistant director
of the Intelligence Bureau, by killed by unidentified gunmen as
he was returning home after Isha prayers on the Dora Road under
Yakatoot Police Station in Peshawar.
The Additional SHO of Badbher
Police Station, Sub-Inspector Mursaleen Khan, was shot dead as
he patrolled Musazai area on the outskirts of Peshawar.
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 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.
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.
Two persons were killed in separate
acts of sectarian killing and violence in different areas of Karachi.
A man, identified as Nayyar Abbas, belonging to the Shia sect
was shot dead near Sajjadia Imambargah in Orangi Town within the
limits of Mominabad Police Station.
A Pesh Imam (present prayer leader)
of Lal Masjid, Gulbahar, and caretaker of the seminary, identified
as Maulana Abdus Samad Soomro, was shot dead in an act of target
killing within the remit of Gulbahar Police Station.
Police disclosed the arrest of
a suspect allegedly involved in the killing of JUI leader’s son,
Hafiz Ahmed Qamar, who was killed after being abducted from Shah
Faisal Colony on December 21, 2011.
The bullet riddled body of a missing
person, identified as Gulam Qader, was found dumped in Murgap
area of Turbat city in Turbat District. Gulam Qader had been abducted
from his home in Naseerabad District on an unspecified date.
A pro-Government tribal elder
of Mamond tribe and senior leader of peace committee, Malik Fazal
Wahid (42), escaped unhurt when a remote-controlled bomb exploded
near his car in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Terror bid was foiled by SFs who
defused two remote control devices, planted at two separate spots
on the main highway stretching from Parachinar to Peshawar.
Wah Cantonment Police foiled a
terrorism bid by arresting a militant, identified as Naseem Shah,
with two hand grenades in Islamabad.
Four LeJ militants, including
the leader and senior activist Doctor Arshad, were arrested in
Chakwal District in connection with November 12, 2011 killing
of four security personnel and a civilian at Pir Chambal in Jhelum
District.
Islamabad Foreign Ministry proposed
moving heavy artillery away from the LoC. “Pakistan has proposed
to India to move 120-millimetre guns some 30 kilometres away from
the LoC,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Basit said during talks
between Pakistani and Indian experts in Islamabad on Confidence
Building Measures between the two countries, adding, “The move
would help reduce casualties on both sides”.
The US military briefed Pakistan’s
Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani on its investigation into NATO
air strikes on Mohammad check post on November 26,. 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 IHRC officially rejected the
findings of a US-NATO investigation into the attack on a border
outpost. “There is nothing new in the report,” said World Chairman
and Ambassador at Large IHRC Dr Muhammad Shahid Amin Khan, and
added the commission was expecting that US and NATO will conceal
the real facts.
A month after Pakistan had suspended
NATO supplies in the wake of alliance attack on outposts in Mohmand
Agency on November 26, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said that
NATO supplies will not be restored free of cost. He said that
the Pakistani roads were destroyed due to movement of heavy vehicles,
carrying NATO supplies.
According to 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.
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.
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.
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December 28
|
SFs pounded terrorists’ positions
in Mamozai, Khadizai and Chapar Kali areas of Orakzai Agency in
FATA and killed seven terrorists besides destroying four terror
safe houses. Over 40 rockets and a large number of landmines were
recovered during search operation in Arhang, Zakhtun and Gandi
Tal areas.
Five suspected terrorists were
killed in clashes with SFs in Kurram Agency.
A man, identified as Haji Feroz
Khan, was shot dead at Rufi Bara Market in Sohrab Goth within
the precincts of Sacchal Police Station in Karachi.
The bullet-riddled body of a Baloch
missing person, identified as Sikandar Ali Bugti, was found in
Liari area of Uthal tehsil Lasbela District.
Unidentified armed militants abducted
two employees of Health Department from Chathar area of Naseerabad
District.
Frontier Corps personnel during
checking in Akhtarabad area of Quetta arrested 20 Afghans on travelling
without necessary documents.
Unidentified militants blew up
the building of Government primary school for girls at Tahir Shah
Kalli in Somnat area of Shabqadar in Charsadda District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.
Militants blew up two schools
in Chalas area of Diamir.
The AEC of the CID foiled a possible
terror bid in the Federal Capital by arresting six alleged TTP
militants. A Senior Police Official on condition of anonymity
said that six TTP militants were arrested during separate raids
in different parts of Islamabad’s rural area Shahzad Town late
on the night of December 26, 2011, and was disclosed on December
28 because of the security reasons.
The relief extended to militancy-affected
people of FATA has led to increase the number of voters in the
region as over one million people have obtained computerised national
identity cards (CNIC) in seven agencies.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that his country will support any reconciliation process
in Afghanistan that is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned and does not
destabilise Pakistan. Pakistan does not want a repeat of the situation
at the time of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Gilani
said during a meeting with Tholhath Ibrahim, the Defence Minister
of Maldives.
JUI leader and Senior Minister
Maulana Abdul Wasay severely criticized Interior Minister Rehman
Malik over his statement about the demolition of unregistered
seminaries and has dubbed him a ‘dubious character’. The Interior
Minister was a non-entity and had been imposed on us, said Wasay
in the Balochistan Assembly.
Commenting on the Prime Minister’s
recent statement in which he declared 2012 as the year of Balochistan,
Wasay said that he expected worse days ahead for Balochistan.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah
Khan said that PML-N will never support the resumption of supplies
to NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, and would rather want
it to be blocked permanently. Sanaullah said that the people will
resist if the Government tries to resume NATO supplies.
The US indicated that it might
take action against those involved in the November 26, 2011 NATO
attack on Pakistani border posts, but only after receiving the
final report of an official US inquiry into the incident.
A Pentagon spokesperson said in
Washington that punitive action against those found guilty could
not be ruled out, but only the final inquiry report could determine
who was responsible.
Bruce Riedel, the former CIA analyst,
terming terrorism as the "toughest challenge" for President
Barack Obama said that the US needs to reset its policy toward
Pakistan to contain the ambitions of the army, the ISI and the
flourishing syndicate of terror, like the LeT.
“The group's allies and affiliates
in Pakistan, by contrast, are under virtually no pressure,"
Riedel said, adding, "Al Qaeda is on the defensive in Pakistan,
but its many allies and affiliates are on the march".
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December 29
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a tribal elder of Orakzai Agency (FATA) in Bosti Banda area of
Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
High profile Police surgeon, Doctor
Baqar Shah, was shot dead by two unidentified armed militants
while returning home from the Bolan Medical College Teaching Hospital
on Sabzal Road in Quetta.
A group of armed men tried to
abduct him from a roadside, which he resisted. He identified
them as Policemen and he used to deal with them on and off while
handling medico-legal cases.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a member of the Shinwari tribe, Talib Shinwari, the son of Khizar
Shinwari, in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
At least ten people, including
journalists, were injured in a clash between two sectarian groups
in Khairpur District. Armed men from both sects continued aerial
fire, though a heavy bout of tear gassing by the police forced
many to leave.
According to the report, 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.
Police claimed to have arrested
two accused including an alleged target killer and unearthed a
torture cell in Karachi. Jamshed Quarter CIA conducted a raid
in Chanesar Goth, Mehmoodabad and arrested an accused identified
as Jamal Khaskheli and recovered a pistol from his possession.
Senior Pakistani journalist Najam
Sethi announced on his television talk show that he has been receiving
threatening messages after raising questions about the military's
role in politics. Sethi said he had received "serious"
threats from both "non-state and state actors".
JUI-F Chief and Chairman Kashmir
Committee Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while chairing the Committee
meeting at Parliament House said that Pakistan will continue to
extend its moral, political and diplomatic support to people of
Kashmir.
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December 30
|
At least 14 persons, including
women and children, were killed and 35 others got injured in a
powerful explosion near the residence of tribal elder Shafiq Mengal,
son of former acting Chief Minister and Federal Minister Naseer
Mengal on Arbab Karam Khan Road in a suicide attack in Quetta.
BLA claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying that it was
its first suicide attack.
Five abductors were killed and
two Levies personnel got injured during an armed clash in an attempt
to rescue four abducted health workers from Malazi and Hailkalzai
Basic Health Unit in Pishin District.
An Excise Inspector, identified
as Fida Ahmed Badini, was shot dead and his relative sustained
serious bullet injuries in Essai area of Panjgur District.
Frontier Corps recovered one of
the abducted health workers, identified as Gulzar Ahmed, and seized
10-kilogrammes of explosives during a raid at a camp in the Chatter
area of Naseerabad District.
Six militants were killed and
four others were injured when jets bombarded militant hideouts
in Garium area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Two volunteers of a local peace
committee, Nawaz Khan (24) and Hazart Khan (22), were killed and
three, including a woman, sustained injuries when a remote-controlled
bomb exploded in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency.
Two persons, including tribal
leader Malik Aziz Khan Mehsud, were killed and four others sustained
injuries when unidentified militants fired a mortar shell from
unknown direction in Shakoi area of Laddah tehsil in South Waziristan
Agency.
A TTP militant was killed and
eight others were injured in an attack by helicopter gunships
on their hideout in Makeen area of SWA. Sources said that two
helicopter gunships shelled the hideout belonging to the TTP.
A militant ‘commander’, Qasim,
was arrested in an injured condition from the Government hospital
in Wana of SWA. Troops also detained his two brothers and two
TTP militants. Commander Qasim was affiliated with the Maulvi
Nazir group of TTP and was injured in clashes with NATO forces
in Afghanistan, sources added.
A Government primary school was
blown up in Ziarat Kaka Sahib area of Nowshera District in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. A teacher of the school said the explosion completely
destroyed the two-room building and its boundary wall.
Suspected militants blew up a
State-run high school for girls at Badhber on the suburbs of provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar in the night.
SFs shelled alleged militant hideouts
in the Amay Kamay mountain between Darra Adamkhel and Orakzai
Agency.
The Paramilitary Rangers started
taking possession of highly sensitive US cargo stranded in Pakistan
following the blockade of the NATO supply route by Pakistan in
protest against the November 26, 2011 air strikes. Pakistan Rangers
were directed by ‘high authorities’ to take over the cargo containing
military hardware and ammunition till the Government makes a decision
about the re-opening of NATO supply route.
JeI leader Asadullah Bhutto, fearing
that Balochistan is on the brink of no return, called for “an
end to the unannounced military operation and the role of the
[Intelligence] Agencies in the province.”
Baloch leader, Sardar Ataullah
Mengal spoke about the targeted killings of Punjabi settlers in
the province. The “protectors of the country” – the Pakistan Army
– has become an army for Punjab only, Mengal added. “If a Punjabi
is killed, dozens of Baloch youth are taken away by the agencies
illegally. People wait for years to hear about their whereabouts
and then receive the bullet-riddled bodies of their loved ones.
How can there not be a reaction?”
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.
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.
|
December 31
|
Four schoolchildren were killed
and 21 persons, mostly students, got injured in two incidents
in Khyber Agency. According to officials, a bomb went off outside
the Hujra of tribal elder Malik Rasool Jan, where a jirga
was in progress. Two students of a nearby school were killed and
14 injured. Two elders of Khugakhel tribe were also wounded. The
dead students were identified as Mohammad Ilyas and Shah Saud.
In Bara tehsil, two children were killed and five others injured
when a stray shell fell on the Iqra Model School in Malikdinkhel
area. The slain boys were identified as Shah Zeb and Khiyal Mir.
A bomb ripped through a military
vehicle killing two soldiers in at Boya village, some 20 kilometres
west of Miranshah, in North Waziristan Agency.
A security official was injured
when a convoy was hit by a roadside explosion in Malikdinkhel
of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency.
SF averted subversive attempt
by recovered a cache of arms and ammunition during a raid on a
house at Sorgar in Bara tehsil. The recovered arms and ammunition
included anti-aircraft gun, 75RR gun, 11 rounds, SPG9 gun, 299
rounds of 82mm, 450 rounds of 40mm, 233 rounds of SPG 9, SPG9
gun, 720 fuzzes of 30mm, 168 rounds of 81mm, three mortars of
81mm, two guns of 12.7 range and other explosive and ammunitions.
At least three rockets were fired
from a mountainous area on Sabzal Road, Killi Deba and Spini Road
in Quetta. However, no casualties were reported.
Levis Force thwarted a terror
bid by defusing explosives planted beneath the railway bridge
in Sibi District.
Federal Minister for Postal Services
Sardar Muhammad Umar while talking to media at the National Press
Club said that the Government has fulfilled most of Balochistan’s
demands according to the aspirations of Akbar Bugti and the people
of the province.
A Shia leader of the Pasban-e-Jaffaria,
Askari Raza, was killed and his companion, Ali Mehdi, was injured
in an assault on Rashid Minhas Road within the limits of Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Police Station in Karachi.
CID of the Sindh Police claimed
to have arrested five Punjab Chapter TTP militants (also known
as Punjabi Taliban) from the National Highway near a thermal factory
in Shah Latif Town in Karachi. The suspects were identified as
Alauddin alias Shakirullah, Farhan Khan alias Ali, Amir Shahzad
alias Mufti Asadullah, Irfan alias Mavia and Shah Jahan alias
Adnan Munna. Alauddin is the chief of the Punjabi Taliban group
in Sindh. The group is led by Ustad Aslam.
Taxila Police arrested two alleged
militants, identified as Amjad Hussain and Tanvir Ahmad, and recovered
heavy cache of arms from their possession in Rawalpindi.
The US President Barack Obama
signed a wide-ranging defence bill into law, which freezes some
USD 700 million in assistance until Pakistan comes up with a strategy
to deal with improvised explosive devices.
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