 Sunday, December 07, 2008 By by Our correspondent |
| LANDIKOTAL: The body of Syed Razi Shah, Principal, Government Elementary College, Jamrud, who was kidnapped on November 29, was found in the Ghundi area of Jamrud tehsil on Saturday. Razi Shah, 50, was kidnapped from the college in broad daylight. The kidnappers overpowered personnel of the Khassadar force performing duty at the college gate and then snatched the principal. They then drove in their vehicle to an unknown destination. Tribal sources said the beheaded body of Razi Shah was recovered from Ghundi area and was later sent to his native Kurram Agency. The deceased had served as controller of examinations in the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education, Peshawar. He had also served as the agency education officer of Khyber Agency. Authorities in Khyber Agency said they had advised Razi Shah to get himself transferred out of Jamrud as the place had become insecure due to the activities of militants and criminals. The authorities informed that Razi Shah being a Shia could become a target of some sectarian outfit. Tribal and religious elders in Kurram Agency had formed a committee after Razi Shah’s kidnapping and contacted the government officials in Kurram Agency and Khyber Agency and influential tribesmen in Khyber to seek their assistance for his safe recovery. |
| http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=150950 |
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Kidnapped principal killed
Kurram Agency power supply restored after 4 months
 |
Updated at: 1429 PST, Sunday, December 07, 2008 PESHAWAR: Kurram Agency electricity supply has been restored after a lapse of four months.Kurram Agency tribal skirmishes, which continued for about two years, had taken the toll of 1600 dead and over 5000 wounded. All sorts of traffic and the supply of goods remained suspended due to the fighting, while the electricity supply was disconnected for 118 days due to the devastation of the transmission line. Tribal Area Electricity Supply Company said that electricity supply has been restored now, following the completion of two weeks of repair works at a cost of over Rs3 million. |
‘Peshawar blast conspiracy to spark sectarian violence’
By Daud Khattak
PESHAWAR: Perpetrators of the Friday’s terrorist act in Peshawar failed to achieve their aim to ignite sectarian violence in the city, officials told Daily Times on Saturday.
“The target was well-chosen and the attack was part of the series of blasts carried out in Hashtnagri (Peshawar), Orakzai Agency and Dera Ismail Khan over the previous few days,” said the official who did not want to be named.
The time selected for the bomb blast revealed that it was not a simple terrorist strike, said the official, who believed the perpetrators chose evening hours when most of shops in the congested area are closed. He said common citizens were not the target of the terrorist bid.
“Had the explosion taken place in the morning or afternoon, which is the peak timings in that area, the death tally would have been a hundred or more,” said the official while pointing at the gravity of the blast.
The Jehangira Ward, the area where the explosion took place, consists of Koochi Bazaar, Kohati and Koocha Risaldar. There are 11 small and large imam bargahs in that area, and the Alamdar-e-Karbala Imam Bargah, outside which the explosion took place, is one of those.
The target was well-chosen as the area is mostly populated by people belonging to Shia sect and a brisk reaction against people of the opposite Sunni sect was expected, said the official.
He said mostly Shia people from Parachinar area of Kurram Agency, which has witnessed the worst-ever sectarian violence in the previous months, were living in that area.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\07\story_7-12-2008_pg7_33
Death toll from Peshawar blast 34, probe begins
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: The death toll from Friday’s car bomb explosion outside an imambargah in Peshawar has risen to 34 as officials said police had launched an investigation into the attack.
Rescue workers retrieved nine more dead bodies from the debris on Saturday, SP Chaudary Asharf told Daily Times, but put the death toll at 29.
According to Lady Reading Hospital’s records, 165 victims of the blast were taken to the hospital and 34 of them were dead, while 131 were injured. Around 90 people – with 10 in critical condition – are now being treated at the hospital, the remaining have been discharged.
Twenty-one bodies have so far been identified, while 13 bodies burnt beyond recognition are being kept at the hospital’s morgue.
Most of those who died or were injured were residents of Parachinar in Kurram Agency. The imambargah, Alamdar Karbala, is also known as ‘the imambargah of Parachinar’.
Mohammad Asif, a resident of the area, told Daily Times his 12-year-old daughter died in the blast, and his house had been completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, a senior police official told Daily Times it was not yet clear whether a timed-device was placed in the car or a suicide bomber carried out the attack.
He said that the police had collected severed parts of around 10 bodies, and it was therefore difficult to say with certainty what method had been employed by the attackers.
Police officials going through the debris found the engine of the car used in the attack, and said they were trying to locate the owner of the vehicle.
Teams from the Federal Investigation Agency’s Special Investigation Group visited the site on Saturday to collect evidence.
A bomb disposal squad official told Daily Times that the vehicle was carrying more than 80 kilogrammes of explosives.
22 killed in Peshawar blast
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 06, 2008
BY
Nirupama Subramanian
Firefighters at work after the blast in Peshawar on Friday.
ISLAMABAD: At least 22 people were killed and 70 injured in a massive explosion in a crowded market in Peshawar on Friday night.
The North-West Frontier Province Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti at once alleged a “foreign hand” in the bombing. He told Geo Television that “external forces were destabilising the region”.
Officials confirmed at least 22 people were killed and 70 wounded. Television channels were quoting hospital sources that at least 20 people were killed and nearly a hundred wounded.
The apparent car-bomb exploded near a Shia community centre behind the historical Qissa Khwani Bazaar. The Imambargah is owned by the Shia community of Parachinar in the Kurram tribal agency where Shias and Sunnis only recently declared a fragile truce.
The explosion led to an electricity blow-out, and a subsequent fire damaged several buildings. There was panic as people trapped tried to flee the area and were caught in a stampede.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120661361400.htm
Car bomb kills 22, injured 80 in City, involvement of foreign hands possible: CM
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PESHAWAR, Dec 5 (APP):
A powerful bomb planted in a van ripped through a crowded Kabari bazaar situated at the backyard of historical Qisakhwani bazaar here Friday night, killing at least 22 people and wounding over 80, Medical Superintendent Khazir Hayat and local police told APP. Twenty of the wounded are in critical condition.The explosion occurred near Imam Bargah situated inside a hotel owned by Ajhle Tashi belonging to Kurram Agency. The explosive material was believed to have been dumped in a double cabin van parked along with other vehicles in thickly populated area, which exploded with a big bang.
Over a dozen vehicles were destroyed while three huge buildings caught fire, including plastic shops. The blaze also engulfed the nearby buildings and shopping markets.
The fire brigade rushed to the site and extinguished the fire after three hours hectic efforts. Black smoke engulfed the area as victims cried for help.
The IGP Malik Naveed Khan ruled out the possibility that its target was Imam Bargah. The IGP said that around 25 to 30 kilogram explosives were used in the attack.
The police chief said the explosion has created a deep crater in ground at the venue which does not happen in suicide attacks.
He said the main purpose of the elements involved in this heinous act was to disrupt law and order. “In the prevailing conditions there is
a very strong security check in the city but it is very difficult to have foolproof check on the activities of terrorists who mingle in the general population.
The explosion was so powerful that the windowpanes of nearby buildings were blown out and the whole area plunged into darkness.
The injured were immediately rushed to LRH, Hayat Shaheed and Hayatabad Medical Complex for treatment. Emergency has been declared in hospitals and doctors on leave were called in for duty.
Dr Khazir Hayat appealed to people of Peshawar and adjoining areas to donate blood as condition of several victims of the blast was very critical. “I appeal to the residents of Peshawar to donate blood in large quantity as the condition of 15‑20 victims brought to LRH is critical,” Khasir Hayat told APP.
He said that 22 bodies were brought to LRH while more than 80 persons were being treated. He said that emergency has been enforced in the hospital and doctors on leave were called in for duty. He said that situation was under control and all major operations were successfully conducted.
The Chief Minister NWFP Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Health Minister Zahir Ali Shah and other official were present on the occasion. Speaking
on the occasion, he said that complete prevention of suicide explosion however is difficult but can be controlled with better intelligence.
He said that police are being strengthened to frustrate the nefarious designs of terrorists. The Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan
Hoti earlier said that foreign hand could be involved in the heinous acts of suicide and bomb blasts to destabilize the region.
The Chief Minister said some foreign elements wanted to destabilize Pakistan for their vested interests. However, he said
these elements would not succeed in their nefarious designs as the nation was united against them.
He said that the explosion was of severe nature and hectic efforts were being made to extinguish the fire that engulfed the three nearby buildings. The provincial capital has been made target of a worst kind of terrorist act, he added.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Frontier Watch
There are mixed reports emanating from Khurram Agency/Parachinar: on one hand, there has been a peace deal between different tribes to establish a ceasefire. What the long-term effects of such a deal are going to be is anyone's guess. At least one report suggests that things are still quite bad there, with kidnappings of prominent Shias continuing. Having seen how the Taliban have treated some of their previous captives, one can only pray fervently for the safety of all such captives.
What is truly atrocious is the lack of government action in the region. It is one thing for the state to be unaware of ground realities, or to be ineffectual in its action, but to not respond militarily when the Parachinar issue has been in the news so much is criminal. I don't know the strategic imperatives of the Army, which might not want to open up too many fronts against an unconventional enemy, but regular supplies and a skeletal defense unit surely isn't asking too much for the people of the Khurram Agency.
This whole situation does shed ugly light on the modus operandi of the Talib and Al-Qaeda. If they're fanatical enough to go after the Shia, surely Sunnis of a different shade aren't too much of a stretch for them either? The strategic response of the Pakistani state depends in part on how well Sunnis realize that it is in their interest to participate fully in intercepting this Taliban threat against the Shia. Unfortunately, the Pakistani state has a track record for only the most half-hearted of responses to the sectarian threat, which is as great today than ever.
Finally, if anyone in Pakistan needs any convincing that we need the strongest resolve against the Taliban et. al., notice that they had no problem sending suicide bombers to blow up tribal leaders opposed to them. Crucially, there is no evidence to suggest that these attacks were sectarian or ideological in any way; they were simply tactically expedient. If these people have no compunctions sending suicide bombers against any of their enemies, it takes away from any scraps of a claim they had to be ideologically motivated. Moreover, it truly boggles the mind to think that a young boy can be convinced to carry out such an attack. What sort of brain-washing goes on in these camps? What are the incentives given? Conversely, is it the case that a bomber who fails to carry the bombing out is punished so severely (torture etc) that he prefers to blow himself up?
Monday, December 1, 2008
Tribal elders seek recovery of college principal
Monday, December 01, 2008, Zil-Hajj 02, 1429 A.H
PARACHINAR: The elders of Kurram Agency on Sunday constituted a 14-member committee to make efforts for the safe and early recovery of a kidnapped college principal, who was kidnapped in Khyber Agency a few days ago.
To this effect, a meeting of local notables and elders was held at the Government Degree College to devise a strategy for safe and early recovery of Government Elementary College Jamrud Principal Syed Razi Shah, a resident of Kurram Agency. The participants expressed concern over the prevailing situation of terror and growing incidents of kidnapping in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
A 14-member committee was formed to make efforts for safe recovery. The committee members held a meeting with Political Agent Arshad Majeed and Waris Khan Afridi, a tribal elder of the Khyber Agency, for the release of the principal.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Editorial: Spectre of sectarian war
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Editorial: Spectre of sectarian war
The eight persons who were wounded in a bomb-attack inside a Peshawar imambargah on Monday testify to the sectarian philosophy of certain elements in the “Taliban” movement and Al Qaeda. The bombers penetrated one of the oldest quarters of the city, Hasht Nagri, and blew up the building. This is not the first time the Shia have been targeted in Peshawar, but so far lame excuses have been invented by certain elements in the media and in the political parties to avoid naming those who are responsible. In the NWFP, other cities have been more ferociously punished. Dera Ismail Khan has seen repeated massacres of the Shia community, and the scourge has swept across the nearby Bhakkar in Punjab too.
The Tribal Areas have not been spared either. Kurram Agency has been a seat of sectarian rivalry since Pakistan began indulging in jihad. The Sunni-Shia violence was revived there by the militias that fought the state’s proxy war. The sectarian war that was relocated from the Gulf to Pakistan after 1979, simmered in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram, and has become full-blown in 2008. The communities there are stranded. No supplies are allowed to pass to them, some essentials reaching there mostly through Afghanistan. Hundreds of people have died there and the Pakistani state, despite pledges, has not stirred to defend its citizens against violence.
Now sectarian mayhem is always round the corner in Pakistan. But it is the NWFP which is today the most endangered province because of the loss of the Tribal Areas to the Taliban and the “foreigners” of Al Qaeda. The road that goes from Peshawar to Kurram is studded with training camps of anti-Shia elements. Kohat, an important air force base and a cantonment, is the most endangered, along with Hangu where there are small Shia communities. These elements have a free run there, picking up funds through coercion and abducting people they don’t like. Along Darra Adam Khel, some anti-Shia militias have gravitated to their old patrons in the Punjab.
During the civil war in Afghanistan, the militias produced by Pakistan shifted their loyalties. They killed Shias in Pakistan, then absconded into Afghanistan. The Taliban government, recognised by Pakistan when the world abominated it, refused two requests from Pakistan: it refused to recognise the Durand Line and it refused to surrender the sectarian killers in their protection. Thus Pakistan could never properly deal with the rise of sectarian violence; and Iran, greatly disturbed by the killings, never really believed that the Pakistani state was uninvolved. Nor will it now, no matter how we try to dissuade them. The fact is that we are not greatly moved by the killings.
The Serbs in the Balkans used the state to expel its rubbish periodically through ethnic-cleansing. All states to some extent do this, but the danger in Pakistan is that this is a trend that might finally undo Pakistan. The minorities are already quaking in their shoes, but there are others like Ismailis, Zikris and Bahais who are potential victims of this “ethnic-cleansing”. Unfortunately, there is a modicum of public acceptance of this function of the state on the basis of the Second Amendment of 1974 which apostatised the Ahmedi community. Take the example of the politicisation of the threat of Talibanisation in Karachi. The MQM says the Taliban are moving their terrorist hierarchies into Karachi where Shias and Barelvis have been targeted in the past. The Sindh government thinks the MQM exaggerates the threat even though the Taliban in South Waziristan have publicly declared their intent to take over the city. The ANP is caught in the middle. It is threatened by the Taliban in Peshawar but its vote bank in Karachi — where there are more Pakhtuns than in Peshawar, Kabul or Kandahar — prevents it from closing ranks with the MQM and facing up to the challenge with the help of the Sindh government. Apart from ethnic-cleansing these elements will bring to Karachi their agenda of finishing off the sects they don’t like.
The Sindh government is reluctant even after a word of advice from President Zardari. The federal Interior Ministry, after receiving information from intelligence agencies, has informed Sindh that terrorists have planned to carry out suicide attacks on a number of prominent locations. This means that the coming war is not America’s war. We should stop thinking of “taking action” against America and concentrate more on what is coming at us from the inside. The Shia community, instead of listening to the anti-American propaganda emanating from Iran, should learn to protect itself against the sectarian mayhem that has made its latest appearance in Peshawar. The state is too weak to come to their help. *
Reference:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\26\story_26-11-2008_pg3_1
http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/11/spectre-of-sectarian-war-in-pakistan.html
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