Friday, April 22, 2011

Parachinar students want decisive action against militants


 
Mumtaz Alvi
Friday, April 22, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Scores of students hailing from Parachinar on Thursday made an impassioned appeal to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to intervene into the militancy-triggered humanitarian crisis in Kurram Agency.

Desperation written large on their faces, the youths, who had come from Peshawar to join other natives of the tribal agency, in the protest in front of the Parliament House, wondered why the government and the security forces had so far not been able to take on the militants.

In the given circumstances with their family members under siege for so long, they complained, it was very hard for them to concentrate on their studies, as they were supposed to. "Everybody in the agency continues to feel increasingly insecure for the last four years because of diabolical activities of the anti-state elements," lamented some of the students during a chat with The News.

These youths, studying in academic institutions of Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar, are desperate to reunite with their family members in Parachinar and elsewhere in Kurram Agency. Well over 0.5 million people in the agency face day-to-day problems, from a free movement to provision of medicines, vegetables and edibles. "We have gathered here to make our leaders sitting in the Presidency, Prime Minister House and the GHQ to realise the gravity of the situation we have been in since long," they contended.

Hasan Fakhri (doing BSc honours from Peshawar Agriculture University), who is the convenor of the Youth of Parachinar, under which these students gathered in the federal capital, said they had no doubt in their mind that if the government had the will, it could restore peace in the agency within days. He said they were not asking for the moon: they were raising their voice for a decisive action against the enemies of humanity. "It is the state's fundamental responsibility to protect life and property of its citizens and the same we are pleading for here," he argued.

Zulqarnain, Muhammad Adil, Noor Nabi and Kamran Bangash and a few others, who spoke to this correspondent, brushed aside the impression that what was happening in the agency was partly the result of any Sunni-Shia rift there.

They pointed out the Youth of Parachinar consisted of both Sunni and Shia students and they had one common wish to see restoration of peace in Kurram Agency. Asked why in their opinion, the government had failed so far to drive out the militants and restore pace or at least make it the vital road link between the agency and the rest of Pakistan i.e. the Parachinar-Tall Road safe for movement, they apprehended, this could be against their interests to do so. It was learnt the only possibility now to reach the agency was by air but the one-side fare was Rs8,000-22,000, which the rich could afford and not the common residents of Kurram Agency. 
 
SOURCE: 
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=42952&Cat=7&dt=4/22/2011

Pakistan militants kill 8 of minority Shia community

Pakistan militants kill 8 of minority Shia community
Published: Friday, Apr 22, 2011, 14:51 IST 
Place: ISLAMABAD | Agency: PTI
At least 8 of over 30 members of minority Shia community, taken hostage by militants in Pakistan's restive tribal belt, have been killed and their bodies burnt by their abductors, media reports today said.
Pro-Taliban militants had abducted over 30 people during attacks on two convoys of vehicles carrying Shias in the Kurram tribal region on March 25.
There has been confusion about the exact number of people kidnapped, with some reports stating that 45 Shias were taken hostage.
Militants burnt the bodies of eight persons after ruthlessly slaughtering them, The Frontier Post newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
The mutilated bodies were handed over to members of the Shia Turi-Bangash tribe in Kurram Agency yesterday.
Another report, from the tribal region, said the militants beheaded the eight persons.
The attack last month occurred despite a peace deal signed by rival Shia and Sunni tribesmen earlier this year.
It was widely reported that the Haqqani militant network based in North Waziristan tribal region was involved in brokering the deal.
Following the attack, the strategic Tall-Parachinar road, which connects Kurram Agency to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital Peshawar, was closed.
The local political administration, security forces and a grand tribal jirga could not succeed in recovering the kidnapped Shias despite several attempts to negotiate with the abductors. The militants freed five women and seven children.
Tension has gripped the region after the attack. Local residents have expressed their disappointment and criticised the political administration and law enforcement agencies for their failure to rescue the kidnapped people even after a lapse of nearly a month. 
 
SOURCE: 
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_pakistan-militants-kill-8-of-minority-shia-community_1534849

Abducted tribesmen found dead in Kurram

 Friday, April 22, 2011

Abducted tribesmen found dead in Kurram

By our correspondent

SADDA/PARACHINAR: Suspected militants Thursday shot dead eight tribesmen out of the 45 they had kidnapped from Baggan area in lower Kurram Agency on March 25, tribal sources said. The sources as well as family members of the slain tribesmen said bodies of all the eight slain men were recovered from Shaheedano Dand in Lower Kurram. 
 
SOURCE: 
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=5474&Cat=13&dt=4/22/2011

Bodies of 8 passengers handed over to Turi elders

Bodies of 8 passengers handed over to Turi elders

Dawn Report | From the Newspaper  Today
PARACHINAR, April 21: The bodies of eight kidnapped passengers, found in Shahidano Dhand area of lower Kurram, were handed over by the political authorities to elders of Turi tribe on Thursday.
Militants had attacked a convoy in Beggan area of Kurram Agency on March 25. Three people were killed and two other injured in the attack. The attackers also kidnapped 35 passengers.
A tribal jirga that met in Islamabad on Tuesday were told about the killing of some of the captives. The jirga was convened to discuss ways and means for the release of kidnapped persons and salvage peace agreement in the restive area.
MNA Sajid Turi said that political administration handed over bodies of eight kidnapped passengers to them. They were identified as Irfan Hussain, Ghulam Ali, Laiq Hussain, Irshad Hussain, Nasir Hussain, Khalid Anwar, Nowroz Hussain while name of the eighth passenger could not be ascertained, he said.
Mr Turi said that all the bodies were headless and identified by the documents with them. He said that militants and their local supporters in Beggan were responsible for the incident. He demanded of the government to start action against them.
Meanwhile, military helicopters bombed Lashkar-i-Islam hideouts in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Thursday, official sources said.
They said that the action was necessitated after intelligence information about the presence of large number of LI activists in Khar Ghat and surrounding areas of Bazaar-Zakhakhel. Number of casualties could not be immediately known.
Meanwhile, officials of political administration claimed to have established offices for the first time in Jarhobi area of Bazaar-Zkhakhel after a tribal lashkar expelled activists of LI from there. They said that security checkposts were also set up at Ziyarhai top and Mangal Bagh Kandao.
Officials claimed to have completely cleared the area of LI activists and were now concentrating on initiating development schemes for the collective benefits of area residents.
On the other hand unidentified persons blew up a government primary school for boys in Mandathu Kuthee area of Ghundi in Jamrud tehsil on Wednesday night. Officials said the explosion completely damaged the school building.
In Jamrud, militants targeted two oil tankers and a vehicle of Khasadar Force on Thursday morning in two separate incidents.
The first incident took place near TD bazaar where a time device planted at a roadside went off when an oil tanker and a vehicle of khasadars were passing through the area. The explosion caused minor damage to an abandoned checkpost in the area while the vehicles remained undamaged.
In the other incident at Sur Kamar area in Jamrud, masked armed men fired at an oil tanker taking fuel to Nato forces in Afghanistan. The firing could not cause any damage to the tanker.
The Khasadar force also detonated on Thursday a time device planted along the road near Sakhi Pul area in Jamrud.
In Dera Ismail Khan, two policemen were killed when armed motorcyclists opened firing on them on Multan Road in the limits of Cantt police station on Thursday.
Sources said that two personnel of police Eagle Squad signalled two suspected motorcyclists in Zamirabad locality to stop. The bikers opened indiscriminate firing on them, killing both policemen identified as Asif and Naimat on the spot.
The assailants managed to escape after the incident. They also took the guns of the policemen. The bodies of the killed policemen were taken to district headquarters hospital for postmortem and later handed over to their relatives.