Punjab: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2009

Jihad will be mandatory for the Pakistani nation in case India attacks the country, a joint communiqué issued in an All Parties’ Conference said on January 5, according to Daily Times. The conference, held at Jamia Naeemia in Lahore, was attended by a number of noted religious scholars and heads of various religious and political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Tehreek-e-Insaaf, the Sunni Tehrik, the Mustafai Tehrik, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, the Minhajul Quran, the Nizam-e-Mustafa Party and the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat. The participants demanded the Government immediately convene an emergency session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). The participants also demanded the OIC issue a declaration condemning India and expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine. Chairing the meeting, Federal Minister for Zakat and Ushr Pir Nurul Haq Qadri said the two major political parties of the country should not create difficulties for each other, as that would worsen Pakistan’s current crises. Read less...

Five explosions were reported from two theatres in Lahore in the night of January 9, according to The News. However, no casualty was reported. Four low-intensity bombs exploded in the main electricity supply control room of the Al-Falah Theatre at around 8:20 pm (PST) while a high-intensity bomb exploded at the Tamasil theatre at around 10:30 pm in Mozang Chungi. A suspect was arrested from the premises of Al-Falah, who was taken to the Civil Lines police station for interrogation. Police said nobody or group had claimed responsibility for the blasts. Various news agencies, however, reported that at least six people had been injured in as many explosions, Daily Times reported. CNN quoted Police as saying that the blasts at Al-Falah Theatre had been caused by grenades hurled by a would-be suicide bomber who later tried to blow himself up, but was arrested. Declining to name a group, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Investigations), Mushtaq Sukhera, said people opposed to cultural activities carried out the attacks – “which can be considered part of a series starting from juice shops in Garhi Shahu and later targeting Alhamra Cultural Complex.” “The group believes that these places are centres of anti-Islamic activities and spread obscenity,” he said. Read less...

The Punjab Police have included names of four Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the front organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba [LeT]) leaders, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, in a list of leaders of banned groups, Daily Times reported. A private TV channel reported on January 9 that Police also issued a list of 30 suspected militants involved in extremist activities. Police sources said other Jama’at-ud-Da’awa leaders put on the list were Abdur Rehman Makki, Abu Hashim and Ameer Hamza, the channel added. Three people mentioned in the 30-name list were category ‘A’ - most wanted – and carried PKR 40 million as head money. Read less...

The house arrest of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (a front for the Lashkar-e-Toiba [LeT]) founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed has been extended for another 60 days, Punjab Additional Home Secretary Usman Anwar said on January 10, Daily Times reported on January 11. “His house has already been declared a sub-jail where he will spend the rest of the detention period,” Anwar said, adding that the Punjab Government extended the detention on orders from the federal Government. Read less...

Police on January 20 seized an explosive-laden vehicle in Lahore Cantonment, according to Daily Times. A private TV channel reported that Police received information about an explosive-laden vehicle on Tufail Road in the cantonment area. They subsequently blocked traffic in the area and found the vehicle parked in front of the North Cantonment Police station. Read less...

A rocket hit a police station in the Satellite Town area of Gujranwala in the night of January 26 but it did not cause any loss of life, The News reported. Sources said the rocket was fired from a nearby school and its target was the Station House Officer Mian Tauseef. Read less...

More than 200 protesters on January 26 demonstrated against Pakistan’s appointment of an administrator to oversee the headquarters of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD, the Lashkar-e-Toiba [LeT] front), The News reported. “Death to America”, “Death to Israel and Jews”, shouted the protesters, carrying banners and placards that read: “Cancel administrator’s appointment,” “Remove the ban on the Jamaatud Dawa” and “We condemn the UN resolution.” Abu Ehsan, a former JuD administrator, while criticizing the January 25-takeover said, “This is a wrong step. First the government, under American and Indian pressure, placed a ban through the UN and now the Punjab government has... We strongly condemn this action and ask the government to review its decision,” AFP reported. The provincial Government of Punjab has taken over the Muridke headquarters of the JuD, appointing an administrator to run the schools and medical facilities on the premises, and renaming it Punjab Welfare Institute, The Hindu reported. The Punjab Government on January 25 named Khakan Babar, a senior official in the provincial Government, as the chief administrator of the assets at the Markaz-e-Taiba, an extensive facility located outside the provincial capital Lahore. He will report to the Lahore District Commissioner. “(The administrator’s) job is to ensure that the schools and dispensaries in Muridke can continue to function, and at the same time ensure that the other purposes for which it was being used don’t function,” said Pervaiz Rashid, an adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Read less...

The plan of blowing up the offices of senior Police officers in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, was foiled when the Police recovered four high explosive bombs in the night of January 26. Police sources told The News that four bombs were recovered following a Police Rescue 15 call at around 8 pm. A senior Police officer said the bombs contained ball bearings weighing some three kilograms and time devices attached. The first bomb was recovered from outside the main gate of Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Office, opposite to the Civil Lines College. The second bomb was planted in a waste enclosure on Rettigan Road in the rear side of SSP (Operations) office. The third and fourth ones were hidden in a bucket of milk alongside the road on footpath and outside the office of Superintendent of Police (Operations) City Division. Another official said the bombs would have exploded at the difference of 10 minutes starting at 8:20 pm. Read less...

Hundreds of students protested on January 27 as a Government official took over administrative control of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD) headquarters in Muridke, according to The News. The protest, organised for the second day, came as a senior official from the Punjab Government, Khaqan Babar, started his job running the schools and hospital at the JuD headquarters. About 500 students from a school in the sprawling JuD compound in Muridke gathered outside the main office and chanted slogans against the Government. “The Government has occupied the school illegally,” they said. Witnesses said the protesters were school boys aged eight to 18, and students from a JuD-run madrassa (seminary). Protesters also gathered on the main highway linking provincial capital Lahore to the national capital Islamabad. They blocked the traffic for about half an hour before dispersing peacefully, police said. They carried banners and placards condemning “Indian pressure” and demanding that the Government lift a ban on the JuD. Read less...

Police in Rawalpindi claimed to have arrested nine suspected terrorists and seized 100kg of explosives, detonators and other material during a raid on January 29, Dawn reported. According to City Police Officer (CPO) Rao Iqbal, the suspects belonged to a group formed by a Kenyan national who himself was killed during a terrorist attack. Addressing a press conference, he said the arrests were made when police and elite force personnel raided a house in the city’s Dhoke Lakhan area. They also seized four motorbikes, one car, detonators with wires, nut and bolts weighing 20 kg, one timer, four hand-grenades and eight pistols. One of the detained suspects is Dr Abdul Razzaq of the Cantonment Hospital who has been missing for some time and his case is in the Lahore High Court in Islamabad. The CPO said the terrorist gang had indirect links with the militant group of Baitullah Mehsud in Wana. He said they had confessed to having carried out a number of terrorist attacks, including the RA Bazaar bombing in which seven army personnel were killed, assassination of Lt-Gen Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, Melody suicide attack on police force, blast outside the Danish embassy and heinous attack on Italian restaurant. The terrorists, Rao Iqbal said, were planning a suicide attack during the March 23 Pakistan Day parade. The terrorists were identified as Mohammad Ilyas alias Qari Jamil, Mohammad Rizwan alias Shamasul Haq, Faisal Ahmed Khan, Zeeshan Jaleel, Mohammad Sarfraz, Mohammad Naeem Shakir, Mohammad Nadeem and Osama Bin Waheed, besides Dr Abul Razzaq. Read less...