Punjab: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2004

Security agencies in Lahore are reported to have arrested six terrorists on January 3 in connection with the December 25, 2003, assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi. They were reportedly arrested from a mosque in the Chauburji area. Sources said that the six men belonged to the outlawed groups, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). Read less...

Security agencies are reported to have arrested one person from the Fathupura area in Gujrat on January 7 for his alleged involvement in the December 25, 2003, assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi. The Daily Times has indicated that the accused, identified as Saboor, was linked to the Ahl-e-Sunnat-o-Tabaat group. Read less...

The Dawn has reported that police officials have raided several seminaries in Punjab and picked up about three dozen suspects in connection with the assassination attempt on President Musharraf. The raids were carried out on seminaries at Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Bahawalnagar. Sources said that the raids were conducted on information received from some suspects already in the custody. Two seminaries, belonging to the Jamaat-e-Ullema Islam (JUI), were raided in Lahore on January 10. Seventeen people were arrested in three raids in Sargodha and seven suspects were arrested during a midnight operation in Faisalabad. Read less...

On January 11, a team of police and elite forces raided the residence of a Union Council Nazim of Bahawalgarh in the Lodhran District and arrested Malik Ghulam Mustafa Arain under suspicion of his involvement in plotting to kill President Pervez Musharraf. Earlier his younger brother, Ghulam Yasin, was arrested on January 10 because of having close contacts with Maulana Masood Azhar and other leaders of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). Read less...

On January 11, police officials reportedly arrested a local intelligence official, Muhammad Naeem, for allegedly tipping off the two suicide bombers who tried to crash their explosive laden vehicles into President Musharraf’s convoy at Rawalpindi on December 25, 2003. Naeem, an official of the Islamabad Special Branch who was detailed for Musharraf’s security at the Convention Centre, where he addressed a meeting on science and technology on December 25, allegedly tipped off the suicide bomber regarding the timing of the departure of the Presidential convoy, on his cell phone. Special forces also raided a mosque in Lahore and detained 10 persons believed to be activists of a banned terrorist outfit after the arrest of the intelligence official. A Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist was also taken into custody in Bahawalpur in connection with the assassination attempt. Read less...

A special Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi, on January 22, awarded death sentence to three men, on four counts, convicted of carrying out a terrorist attack on the Taxila Church in August 9, 2002 killing four nurses and injuring 20 others. Judge Manzoor Ahmad Mirza awarded the capital punishment to Saifur Rehman, Abu Bakar and Ayaz for attacking the church with grenades. The court also imposed a Rupees 100,000 fine on each of the convicts. The court also awarded life sentence to the three convicts, on eight counts each, for injuring the 20 people and fined them Rupees 50,000 each. Three other convicts, Ayaz, Sabir Hussain and Taufeeq were awarded imprisonment for assisting in the crime. Read less...

According to media reports, on January 30, check posts of the Pakistani Rangers and two villages came under rocket attack on Sindh-Balochistan and Sindh-Punjab border areas. The reports stated that a group of armed persons attacked the check posts established to safeguard the Sui gas pipeline and two villages, Ghulam Hussain Mazari and Shah Dost Mazari. Fifteen rockets were reportedly fired out of which eight landed near the Rangers check posts, while seven landed near village Mazari. However, no casualties were reported in the incident. Read less...

Unidentified assailants killed a prayer leader and a worshipper and injured two others after opening indiscriminate fire inside a mosque in Faisalabad on January 31. Unconfirmed preliminary reports have indicated that the killing was related to a dispute over the mosque's ownership. Read less...