Islamabad Capital Territory: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2015

Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on January 1 ordered the suspension of Senior Superintendent of Islamabad Police Asmatullah Junejo and another officer for showing leniency to the activists of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) arrested on charges of displaying weapons, reports The News. SSP Islamabad and Acting Station House Officer (SHO) of Shahzad Town Police Station, Anees Akbar, were suspended for not booking a leader of ASWJ Mufti Tanvir Alam and his eight accomplices for displaying weapons in violation of Section 144 imposed in the federal capital, Islamabad. Instead of booking all of the arrested persons for violating Section 144, the Police authorities booked them under Sections 13, 20 and 65 separately, showing leniency toward the activists of the religious outfit. Read less...

Three special courts were formed on January 1 in accordance with the Protection of Pakistan Act (PPA) to preside over cases relating to terrorism,reports Daily Times. Five special courts are to be formed in total. The three courts have been formed in Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Lahore (Punjab) and Quetta (Balochistan) in accordance with the PPA passed by parliament in order to curb rising militancy in the country. Judge Mukarrab Khan will head the special court in Lahore, Judge Zafar Khosa in Quetta and judge Anwar Ali Khan will preside over the court in Peshawar. As many as five special courts are to be formed whereas the next phase will focus on establishing special courts in Islamabad and Sindh. Read less...

Expressing confidence that Pakistan is capable of replying to any aggression,Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif on January 3 said that India wants to engage Pakistan in a “low-intensity war”, reports Dawn. “It seems that India does not understand the language of love and peace,” the Defence Minister said outside the Parliament House after conclusion of the National Assembly session.He said that the Prime Minister had expressed the desire for having peace with India and all other neighbouring countries with sincerity, but India had not reciprocated Islamabad’s goodwill gesture. “India wants to keep us busy in a low-intensity war or low-intensity engagement on our eastern border. They are pursuing the same tactics of keeping our forces busy on all fronts and the anti-Pakistan mentality of the Indian leadership is now fully exposed,” he added. Read less...

Federal Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that around 605 students were studying in the Islamabad’s unregistered seminaries. The 27 madaris belong to the Deobandi school of thought, two to Barelvi school of thought and one is managed by the Ahle Hadith, he said. Seminaries, whose curriculum is provided by Waqaful Madaris, are registered with Islamabad Auqaf Department.Further, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in a written reply to a question asked by Pakistan People’s Party’s Sughra Imam in the Senate on January 6 that “Some madrassah are receiving financial support from Muslim countries. However, it is often difficult to trace the transaction of such money”, reports Dawn. Read less...

Supreme Court on January 6 restrained a local magistrate from proceeding on the bail application of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) 'chief' and mastermind of Mumbai 2008 attack (also known as 26/11) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi until January 7,2014, when the apex court will take up the Government’s appeal against the suspension of his detention, reports Dawn. Also, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices to Lakhvi on the appeal filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), seeking cancellation of bail granted to him by the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in the Mumbai attacks case.A magistrate in Islamabad had to give a decision on the bail application, but a two-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, stopped the judicial officer from passing any order until January 7. The court also issued notices to Lakhvi to answer the contention in the Government’s appeal, to be served upon him through the Adiala Jail superintendent, where the accused is currently detained. The court issued the notice with the observation that since there was also an IHC order in favour of Lakhvi, the court was also cognizant of the requirements of the fundamental rights of its citizens. “We will be lost if we deviate from the constitution,” Justice Khawaja observed.In a joint appeal, the Secretary Interior on behalf of the Federal Government, District Magistrate Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Islamabad Senior Superintendent of Police, had sought the annulment of the December 29, 2014 Islamabad High Court (IHC) order, suspending Lakhvi’s detention orders. The Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt argued that High Court order was not sustainable in the light of earlier Supreme Court judgments and pointed out that Lakhvi was a member of the proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who was arrested in a terrorism case.But the court observed that the allegations against Lakhvi regarding his involvement in the Mumbai attacks was not relevant to the present appeal, since the court was only concerned with the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) 1960, under which Lakhvi was currently detained. Read less...

The Senate on January 6 approved the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2015 as well as the 21st Constitutional Amendment, reportsThe News. The National Assembly had passed both the bills unopposed as 247 members voted in favour of the laws which would provide constitutional cover to special courts for the trial of terrorism suspects. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a speech at the start of the Senate session thanked the Leader of Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan as well as all political parties and their leaders who were present in Senate as well as the National Assembly session in the morning. The PM congratulated all members of parliament who voted in favour of both the bills in NA and passed it unanimously. Read less...

The Express Tribune reported on January 7 that Over 8,000 seminaries have neither been registered with the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP),an umbrella of five schools of thought, nor with the Ministry of Religious Affairs, raising a serious question over their curriculum’s legitimacy and their source of funding. Following the National Action Plan (NAP) committee’s recommendations, officials associated with provinces’ Auqaf departments are gathering data about madaris/makatib which have never been registered with the ITMP, Ministry Of Religious Affairs or with the Provincial Auqaf Departments.Around 8,249 seminaries which have enrolled 0.3 million students are not registered across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, revealed officials, who will brief Federal Ministry of Interior next week. “This non-registered madaris/makatib did not fulfil the basic criteria set by the ministry of religious affairs,” a senior official said. Around 4,135 madaris or makatib are operating without getting proper registration from the designated authorities in KP, the official said, adding that some 2,411 seminaries are unregistered in Punjab, 1,406 in Sindh and 266 in Balochistan, he explained. At least 31 madaris are not registered in Islamabad where all seminaries are built on encroached land, he revealed and went on to say that even Jamia Hafsa, adjacent to Lal Mosque, also failed to fulfill basic requirements of registration. The official claimed that “Madaris operating in KP did not cooperate with us.”The ITMP officials also confirmed that some members of seminary boards – Barelvi, Ahle Hadith, Shia and Jamaat-e-Islami – affiliated with the Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris-e-Deeniya – had also refused to comply when it came to regulating their syllabus in the Pervez Musharraf era. The problem exists in non-registered seminaries where there is no check on literature being taught there, a cleric said on condition of anonymity. The Ministry of Religious Affairs registered 26,131 madaris by September 2014, according to official figures obtained by The Express Tribune. Around 14,768 seminaries are registered in Punjab, 7,118 in Sindh, 2,704 in Balochistan, 1,354 in KP and 187 in the Islamabad. Read less...

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while addressing the inaugural session of Balochistan Development Forum organised by the Balochistan Chief Minister’s Policy Reform Unit (CMPRU) in Islamabad on January 19 said that the Government will cleanse Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of terrorists, reports Daily Times. "We will leave no stone unturned, to make sure that all areas of Pakistan, particularly Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are cleansed of all kinds of terrorists, militants and violent extremists," he said, adds Dawn. Further he said owing to neglect in the past, Balochistan lagged behind in socioeconomic development and stressed that both Federal and Provincial Governments were now taking measures to ensure growth and peaceful environment in the Province, reports Daily Times. He said that the development of Balochistan was close to his heart, and despite constraints, the Federal Government provided substantial resources to supplement the efforts of the Provincial Government to address the needs of its people. He promised that Balochistan, which is becoming Pakistan's regional hub for trade in good and energy, will be the main beneficiary under the China-Pakistan economic corridor. "These initiatives, we hope, will bring about a socio-economic revolution for the people of Balochistan," said PM Sharif. Meanwhile, the political leaders and experts at the forum were unanimous in seeking autonomy for Balochistan and ownership over resources of the Province, adds The Express Tribune. Speaker Balochistan Assembly Jan Jamali urged Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch to assert Provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment to push the agenda for inclusive development of the Province and its inhabitant. Read less...

Islamabad Police is likely to detain Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) 'operation commander' and mastermind of Mumbai 2008 attacks (also known as 26/11) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in another case, reported Dawn on January 24, 2015 (today). Lakhvi is scheduled to appear in the District and Sessions Court on February 24, 2015 in connection with the bail granted to him in a kidnapping case on December 29, 2014, Police officials said. Similarly, hearing of the new case is also scheduled in the same court. The case was registered with the Tarnol police on November 21, 2014, in response to a complaint filed by Noorul Rehman on November 10, 2014. The complainant stated that on November 10 about two dozen people riding double-cabins raided his house. “I scaled the wall of the house and escaped and informed Rescue 15 at 5pm.” He said the raiders introduced themselves as Taliban and threatened his sister and mother with dire consequences. The attackers also asked his family to withdraw cases he had lodged against his rivals Farman and Farhat Nigar. He alleged that the attackers were sent by his rivals to kill him and his family. “They should be held responsible if anything happens to me or my family.” An unnamed senior Police Officer said that the investigation of the case had been transferred to the Crime Investigation Agency (CID) and was being supervised by Assistant Inspector General- Operations (AIG) Dr Sultan Azam Temuri. He said the investigators had arrested two people in connection with the case filed by Noorul Rehman whose links were established with Lakhvi. According to details of Lakhvi current status, he was arrested in 2009 in connection with the Mumbai attack case. He was granted bail by an Anti-Terrorism Court on December 18, 2014. However, shortly afterwards he was detained on the directives of the capital administration under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) which was suspended by the Islamabad High Court on December 26, 2014. Later, a kidnapping case was registered against Lakhvi at the Tarnol Police Station on December 29, 2014, and on December 30, 2014, the Police arrested him. Afterwards he was taken into custody on physical remand and sent to Adiala jail in Rawalpindi District. Again, on January 8, 2014, the lower court of Islamabad granted him bail in connection with the kidnapping case against a surety bond of PKR 200,000. But he was again detained under the MPO for a month which would end on February 18, 2015. Read less...

A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising of Justice Noor ul Haq Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, on January 27 granted one-week time to the prosecutors for arguments against Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, and adjourned the hearing till next week, reports Daily Times. The Bench heard the appeal petition filed by Mumtaz Qadri’s counsel, Khawaja Sharif. During the hearing prosecutors pleaded the court for two weeks time for the preparation of the case against Qadri. The IHC accepting the prosecutors’ plea and gave one-week deadline to argue against the appeal of Qadri’s challenging his death sentence. Read less...

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on January 28 asked the Interior Secretary to submit details of all cases against the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) 'operational commander' and mastermind of Mumbai 2008 attack (also known as 26/11) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, reports The Express Tribune. According to details, when Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi resumed the hearing on January 28, Lakhvi's counsel Rizwan Abbasi said that the report submitted by the Inspector General of Police is not enough and requested complete details of cases from all Provinces. The judge adjourned the case. Read less...