Punjab: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2005

Pakistan on January 2 extradited two Turks suspected of links to the Al Qaeda network who were immediately arrested and charged by the Turkish authorities in Ankara. The Anatolia news agency reported that Mehmet Yilmaz and Mahmut Kaplan, who were arrested in Lahore in August 2004, were brought before a court in Gaziantep, where they are wanted for "membership of a clandestine Islamist organisation." According to Dawn, Pakistani authorities suspect Yilmaz of having fought alongside the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Read less...

Five terrorists of the outlawed Sunni outfit, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), were reportedly arrested from the Harbanspura area in Lahore on January 7. According to Daily Times, the detainees who included a woman were taken to an unidentified location for further investigations, sources said, adding that a large number of weapons including grenades, automatic rifles and bullets were seized. Read less...

A prominent Shia scholar, Syed Agha Ziauddin Rizvi, who was wounded during the sectarian clashes on January 8 at Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Rawalpindi on January 13. As reported earlier, at least 15 people had died in those clashes. Over a dozen shops and four Government offices were set ablaze in the violence which subsided after the imposition of curfew on January 9. Read less...

Dawn reports that police have traced a network of 19 people suspected of involvement in the July 30, 2004 suicide attack on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Fateh Jhang, and arrested three brothers belonging to the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Jamaatul Furqan outfits. At a press conference in Rawalpindi on January 18, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Iftikhar Ahmed, identified the three brothers as Nisar Ahmed, Abdul Basit and Abdul Muneem. Amjad Farooqi, who was allegedly involved in an assassination attempt on President General Pervez Musharraf and was killed in a shoot-out with police, is believed to be the mastermind of the attack on Aziz when he was visiting Fateh Jhang in connection with his election campaign. The DIG said that Amjad Farooqi had persuaded Obaid and Irfan, also known as Zeeshan and Shani, to carry out the suicide attack on Aziz. According to the investigation, the DIG said, Obaid and Irfan were opposed to the government's Afghanistan and Iraq policies. Irfan, who carried C-4 explosives wrapped around his waist, was among seven people killed in the suicide attack. Read less...

A 15-year-old boy is reported to have died on January 19 during a blast near Multan when he triggered an explosive device while collecting wood from a forest. The blast occurred in Khairpur Tamewali, approximately 100 kilometers from Multan, police officer, Abdul Karim, told AFP. Read less...

The Interior Ministry on January 20 declared twenty cities sensitive with respect to law and order and issued special security guidelines for the occasion of the muslim festival of Eidul Azha. Declaring Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Sibi, Gwadar, Mianwali, Hyderabad, Larkana, Multan, Faisalabad, Jhang, Mardan, Gilgit, DI Khan, Kohat, Sheikhupura and Gujrat sensitive, the Interior Ministry issued a circular to the home secretaries of the four provinces. The circular contained special security arrangements in the respective areas for the occasion of Eid and warned that extremists and terrorists of banned groups and organisations could disrupt law and order. Read less...

According to Daily Times, a Christian man acquitted on charges he blasphemed Islam was in hiding to escape death threats issued by the outlawed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Anwar Masih received the threats from LeT in Lahore, said Joseph Francis, coordinator with the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, a Christian rights group. In December 2004, a court had exonerated Masih of the charge that he had insulted Islam and ordered the man to be freed, Francis added. "The people from the militant organisation frequently visit his family and demand that he (Masih) be handed over to them," he said. Read less...

According to Daily Times, unidentified people destroyed a gas pipeline to Lahore in the Punjab province on January 28, suspending gas to more than half of the city. A bomb planted beside the pipeline – 18 inches in diameter – was blown up near Head Baloki, cutting of gas to the southern part of Lahore, Changa Manga, Pattoki, Kasur and Manga Mandi. Rasheed Lone, Managing Director of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, told Daily Times that terrorists were responsible for the act. Read less...

Security agencies are reported to have arrested three persons from Lahore on January 30 for suspected links with the Al Qaeda. Geo news channel reported that the three are being interrogated at an undisclosed location. Read less...

The district administration in Multan, Punjab province, has reportedly banned the entry of 26 clerics and outlawed 28 others from making speeches during Muharram to tackle any potential sectarian incident. Arif Nawaz, the district police officer, told reporters on January 30 that public meetings, rallies and demonstrations have also been banned. Read less...

Rail traffic on the Dera Jacobabad section of Dera Ghazi Khan district in the Punjab province is reported to have remained suspended for more than four hours on January 31 after a bomb explosion damaged portion of the track near Darwaish Lashari railway station. According to Dawn, the explosive device went off at 2.45pm (PST), two hours before the arrival of the Peshawar-bound Khushhal Express. However, no casualty was reported from the incident site. Read less...