Rs 150m price tag for Senate seat?

 

 Rs 150m price tag for Senate seat?

* Tribal candidate claims it is easy to win polls if aspirants have this much money

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Some FATA aspirants for the Senate are willing to 'pay as much as Rs 150 million' for a single seat in the Upper House, a tribal parliamentarian heading a nine-member group of MNAs from the Tribal Areas told Daily Times on Friday, but denied that seats are being sold.

"There are candidates who have money and are willing to pay as much as Rs 150 million for a single Senate seat," said MNA Munir Orakzai. Allegations over the purchase of Senate votes by tribal candidates is not anything new, but the difference this year is the outrageously high money being offered. There are 12 National Assembly (NA) seats for seven tribal districts and six frontier regions, but elections for NA-41 have not yet been held because of security problems – leaving behind 11 votes for the Senate polls.

'Simple': A tribal candidate for Senate elections from Khyber Agency told Daily Times, "It is simple to win a seat in the Senate if you have that much money." With a total of 34 tribesmen from Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai and North Waziristan contesting the polls for four Senate seats, 11 FATA MNAs will vote four candidates into the Upper House on March 4. Sources close to the FATA MNAs said that 'serious and strong Senate candidates' were to deposit 'a substantial sum in advance' and the remaining after the elections. "If a candidate who deposits money with the MNAs loses the elections, the original sum will be doubled and given back."

'Acknowledgement': MNA Sajid Hussain Toori also acknowledged that Senate seats were being sold, but said the 'price tag of Rs 150 million' this year was outrageously high.

"During the last Senate elections, a winning candidate did not have to spend more than Rs 30 million," the MNA from Kurram Agency told Daily Times. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Kashmir, asked President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday to take serious notice of the 'horse trading'. Sources said Fazl also asked the president at a meeting to discourage the alleged use of money in the Senate elections by FATA candidates. He said that the MNAs should vote to elect the four senators from FATA.

The Munir Orakzai-led tribal parliamentarians, however, rejected that seats were being sold. "We know why Fazl is saying this … we will disclose the details after the Senate polls," the group said without elaborating. Relatives of seven FATA MNAs are also among the 34 candidates. "Will we vote for our own relatives or for those who are ready to pay the money? Obviously, we want our relatives to win the Senate elections," Munir argued.

 

 

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Taliban kills Shia school children in Pakistan

 

Taliban kills Shia school children in Pakistan Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:55:58 GMT

Moderate Sunni groups and political activists protest against Shia blockade and killings in Parachinar The Taliban insurgents in northwestern Pakistan ambush a minibus carrying Shia children to school, killing three and injuring several others. At least eight other Shia Muslim children appear to have been kidnapped by the attackers. The incident happened on Friday morning outside the town of Hangu in the troubled North West Frontier Province, state-run television PTV reported. The driver of the minibus was also killed in the lethal attack. The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured children are said to be in critical condition, according to medics. Hangu is located about 175 kilometers (110 miles) west of the capital Islamabad. Taliban-linked militants in Parachinar, Hangu towns and the other areas of the Kurram tribal agency have killed 25 to 30 people on a daily basis during the last six months, local media reports say. Some reports have cited grave human rights abuses against Shias in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar. Taliban has established its rule in the restive Swat valley and its influence is also rapidly increasing its grip on the major cities and even the so-called settled areas of the country. Shia sources say that the community makes up one-third of Pakistan's 160 million-strong population. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in violence-related incidents in Pakistan by extremist groups. Moderate Pakistani Sunni groups believe that leaving Shias at the mercy of the Taliban is a conspiracy against the country. Earlier, Tehran cautioned Islamabad over the 'silent massacre' of its Shia community by the Taliban in the country. "The incidents that have occurred against Pakistan's Shia community are a plot to create conflict between the region's Sunni and Shia population," said Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. "We have warned Islamabad over the incidents and we will pursue the matter," he added.

 

Is Osama in Parachinar? by dr ghayoor

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Source: http://pakistan-observer.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-osama-in-parachinar-dr-ghayur-ayub.html
 

Is Osama in Parachinar?

By

Dr Ghayur Ayub


I was born in a village six miles from Parachinar and received my primary education in a local school. Since then, I have been visiting Parachinar off and on till the present day. During all this time, I haven't noticed any major changes in the town. The buildings, the streets and everything else seem the same. It has a close-knit community where everyone knows every other person. Z.A Bhutto fell in love with the town for its location, natural beauty and of course the militia-mess. He decided to open a medical college. A huge area was allocated for the purpose along Parachinar-Sadda road which became the only major constructions erected in the town all these years. I lived and worked in these buildings in the early eighties as surgical specialist running the surgical department of the newly built Agency HQ Hospital.
Before I come to the topic of whether it is possible for Osama to hide in Parachinar, let me say a few words about Kurrum Agency. Kurrum Agency is like a beak of a bird pecking into Afghanistan enclosing itself from three sides by that country. It is divided into three areas; upper Kurrum inhabited mainly by Shia; Lower Kurrum occupied primarily by Sunnis; and FR Kurrum populated only by Sunnis. The latter is also called 'Alaaqa-e-Ghair' making it a 'no-man land'. Here, the indirect control of political agent has lost its effectiveness. The second largest town, Sadda, sits at the mouth of this area. Parachinar, on other hand, is at the peak of the beak in upper Kurrum where the offices of the high civilian and military officials are located. So Parachinar is not only in a comparatively protected area but is also the hub of the Shia community. A few Sunni families which had been living in Parachinar for decades were forcefully evacuated at the height of Shia-Sunni strife two years ago. I saw the burnt-out and smoke-dusted rubbles in the two main Bazaars of the town when I went to contest elections for National Assembly in February 2008. The only Sunni mosque in the middle of the town was locked giving a deserted look.
There are strong built-in anti Taliban sentiments among the Shias of Parachinar. In early 2002 when Taliban were on the run, my sources told me that Osama along with his close associates might be hiding in Parachinar as it was the closest town to Tora Bora. I decided to write a book on this subject and during my research I found that at one stage in the early 1990s, he had actually rented one of our houses in university town Peshawar. I also found that the environment was too hostile for him to take refuge in Parachinar. The Shias had already killed a few Taliban and handed over others to the authorities. So, instead, I decided to write a part-fiction and part-factual novel revolving around Osama and a local Shia leader. I labelled the book 'Breaking Barriers' and published it in UK, USA, Canada and Pakistan. In my research during writing the book, I also found out that if he ever wanted to take refuge in Kurrum Agency, it could only be in the FR area close to Sadda. So when I read the essay 'Finding Osama bin Laden' in MIT International Review, published on 17 February 2009, I was taken aback.
The work is based on application of bio-geographic theories and satellite imagery. The former consists of two theories; first, the distance-decay theory which states that "as one goes further away from a precise location, there is an exponential decline in the turnover of species and a lower probability of finding the same composition of species"; And second, the theory of island biogeography which states that "large and close islands will have higher immigration rates and support more species with lower extinction rates than small isolated islands" The study is carried out by two professors of geography namely Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew at UCLA who, to my knowledge, had never been to the region.
They presume that by using bio-geographic theories and remote sensing data over global, regional and local spatial scales, they would be able to identify where Osama could be living. At global scale, they used Tora Bora as his last known location to create distance-decay probability maps over satellite imagery. At regional scale, they overlaid the distance-decay map on the city islands to identify cities with the highest probability of his presence based on island biogeography theories. At local scale, they searched the city with the highest probability of his taking shelter according to the six life history characteristics. Those characteristics include his; height; health; physical protection; privacy; body guards; and his protection from aerial view. Accordingly to these characteristics, he needed; tall building; a generator; walls over three meters; space between the structure; and trees to cover him from air viewing.
The professors concluded that OBL could only take shelter in Parachinar as the town fits the requirements they outlined, stating that 'the further he moves from his last reported location into the more secular parts of Pakistan or into India, the greater the probability that he will find himself in different cultural surroundings, thereby increasing the probability of his being captured or eliminated.' This statement is wrong on two accounts; first, OBL lived all his life moving into difficult terrains when he was chased by CIA in the nineties even before the attacks of 9/11; secondly, he had equal opportunities to move to other parts of eastern Afghanistan and take refuge with local Taliban who already went underground and with whom he had been living for well over ten years. So why to move to a new unchartered place?
Writing further, they say that OBL should be in a region inhabited by people with similar 'religious and political beliefs.' Again, the authors got it wrong as Parachinar would be the most hostile place for OBL vis-à-vis his religious cum political beliefs. Then they say that OBL has a small entourage of body guards. As I mentioned earlier Parachinar is a place where a new comer is spotted easily not to speak of a group of foreign body guards. Arguing in favour of their theory they state, that 'Parachinar has a long history of housing mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s'. Wrong again; the local Shias did not allow Mujahideens to stay in and around Parachinar during Afghan resistance in 1980s. Similarly, when a group of Shia Hazara tribe migrated and occupied a place near village Zeran in the vicinity of Parachinar, the Sunnis from nearby village of Teri Mengal, complained to Gen Fazal Haq, the then governor of NWFP, who shifted them to Quetta. In such atmosphere it was difficult to house mujahideen soldiers in Parachinar.
They also talk about OBL living in caves. The only place which has dwelling caves in Kurrum agency is Khomasay, near my late mother's village Badama which is about 8-10 kilometres from Parachinar. As a young boy I used to go to that village and play with my friends. The dwellings are so small that I can't imagine a tall person like OBL with long history of chronic illness would survive for a long time. So this theory also looses credentials. Further more, the professors contradict their own theory when they say that 'Smaller cities would greatly reduce his security and privacy, and there are only a small number of structures that appear well-protected in smaller towns'. Parachinar is a small town which hasn't changed for decades, and protecting OBL would be a phenomenal task.
Lastly, the possibility of three buildings projected as the most probable places is pretty non-convincing. Unless they suspect, the residence of political agent, governor's rest house, the residences of government officials, the militia-mess, shalowzan house, the hospital or even the jail, I can't think of any other place, where Osama could be hiding in Parachinar. Theories made on assumptions without knowing about the ground realities could be dangerous especially in the current global environment when western powers are keeping a close watch on a nuclear Pakistan which is facing destabilisation at the hands of the Taliban. And what about those people who believe that OBL is not alive. Late Benazir Bhutto was one of them. Talking to David Frost on Al Jazeera in 2007, she categorically stated that Osama Bin Laden was dead. Her statement was downplayed by the world media for reasons only known to them. The main question is; is Osama alive, if he is; where is he? I don't believe he is in Parachinar as suggested by the two professors from UCLA.

 

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Firing on school bus

 

 

وقتِ اشاعت: Friday, 27 February, 2009, 07:08 GMT 12:08 PST

 

سکول بس فائرنگ میں ڈرائیور ہلاک

دلاورخان وزیر بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، پشاور

 

	ضلع ہنگو سُنی شیعہ فسادت کے لحاظ سے انتہائی حساس ہے

صوبہ سرحد کے ضلع ہنگو میں پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ نامعلوم مسلح افراد نے سکول کے بچوں کی ایک گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی ہے جس کے نتیجہ میں گاڑی کے ڈرائیور ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے زخمی ہوگئے ہیں۔زخمی بچوں کو ہنگو کے سول ہسپتال میں داخل کرا دیاگیا ہے۔

پولیس کے ایک اہلکار عمر حیات نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ جمعہ کو ہنگو شہر سے چار کلومیٹر دور جنوب کی جانب بہادر بانڈہ کے علاقے میروباک میں نامعلوم مسلح افراد نے سکول کے بچوں کی ایک گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی جس کے نتیجہ میں گاڑی کے ڈرئیور ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے زخمی ہوگئے ہیں۔

پولیس اہلکار کا کہنا تھا کہ اس واقعہ کے بعد ہنگو سے پولیس کی بھاری نفری علاقے میں پہنچ گئی اور مختلف راستوں میں ناکے لگا کر تلاشی شروع کر دی۔لیکن تاحال کسی قسم کی گرفتاری عمل میں نہیں آئی ہے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ فائرنگ کرنے والے مسلح لوگ پیدل تھے اور فائرنگ کے بعد فرار ہوگئے ہیں۔

علاقے میں موجود ایک مقامی صحافی نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ جمعہ کی صبح آٹھ بجے مسلح افراد نے سکول کے قریب ایک سپیڈ بریکر کے اوپر گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی جس کے نتیجہ میں گاڑی کے ڈرائیور اصغر خان ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے ظفر علی اور فرحان علی زخمی ہوگئے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ بچوں کا تعلق اہل تشیع سے بتایا جاتا ہے جو ایک گاؤں سے سکول جا رہے تھے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ علاقے میں سخت کشیدگی پائی جاتی ہے۔اور اس واقعہ کے بعد تمام راستے غیر اعلانیہ طور پر بند کر دیےگئے ہیں۔

یاد رہے کہ ضلع ہنگو سُنی شیعہ فسادت کے لحاظ سے انتہائی حساس ہے۔جہاں ایک دوسرے پر حملے معمول بن گئے ہیں۔لیکن یہ پہلی دفعہ ہے کہ سکول کے بچوں کی گاڑی کو نشانہ بنایا گیا ہے۔

 

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Bin Laden not in Parachinar: Pakistani MP

Bin Laden not in Parachinar: Pakistani MP
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:14:37 GMT

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden

A member of Pakistan's National Assembly has rejected a report that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is hiding in the Kurram Agency.

Earlier, a research team led by geographer Thomas Gillespie of the University of California, Los Angeles said that Bin Laden was most likely hiding in Parachinar town of the Kurram Agency.

"I strongly contradicted the report, as Parachinar is completely different from the other tribal areas with majority of the population of Shia community, who are known as anti-Taliban," said Sajid Hussein Turi.

Thomas Gillespie's report suggested that Osama might be hiding in one of the three compounds in Parachinar, 12 miles from the Afghan border.

Turi said that it was impossible for the al-Qaeda leader to seek refuge in an area dominated by an anti-militant population, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The people of Kurram Agency are peace-loving people opposed to the terrorist activities in the region, the Pakistani MP added.
===========================================

SOURCE: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86694&sectionid=351020401

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Pakistan moves against Shia killings

Pakistan moves against Shia killings
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:29:22 GMT

Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik

Islamabad gives its security forces orders to protect Shia Muslims after hundreds of community members were killed by the Taliban allied groups.

"The provincial government has been asked to divide the Dera Ismail Khan into zones and undertake house-to-house search operation to unarm the people who were behind the deadly attacks in the town" Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad, a Press TV correspondent reported Tuesday.

Malik's remarks come after thirty people were killed and 65 others injured on Feb.26 in a bomb blast in the troubled town close to northwestern tribal region.

In early February, at least 35 Shia Muslims were killed and 50 others injured after a bomb exploded in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in the central Punjab province.

Also today, unidentified armed men have reportedly opened fire at a passenger bus in Pakistan's lawless Kurram Agency, kidnapping 14 Shia Muslims.

Taliban-linked militants in Parachinar, Hangu district and much of the Kurram tribal agency have killed 25 to 30 people on a daily basis during the last six months, according to Pakistani local media reports.

Moderate Pakistani Sunni groups believe that leaving Shias at the mercy of the Taliban is a conspiracy against the country.

Taliban has established its rule in the restive Swat valley and its influence is also rapidly increasing its grip on the major cities and even the so-called settled areas of the country.

Some reports have cited grave human rights abuses against Shias in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar.

Shias make up one-third of Pakistan's 160 million-strong population. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in violence-related incidents in Pakistan by extremist groups.

The developments come after Tehran cautioned Islamabad over the 'silent massacre' of its Shia community by the Taliban, in the country.

"The incidents that have occurred against Pakistan's Shia community are a plot to create conflict between the region's Sunni and Shia population," Ali Larijani said.

"We have warned Islamabad over the incidents and we will pursue the matter," he added.

=====================================================
SOURCE: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86673&sectionid=351020401

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Osama’s presence in Kurram Agency far-fetched idea: Turi

 

Osama's presence in Kurram Agency far-fetched idea: Turi

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 By Iftikhar Marwat ISLAMABAD: While rejecting the reports about Osama bin Laden's presence in a walled compound in Kurram Agency, MNA from the area Sajid Hussain Turi has categorically said such reports are baseless and it is impossible that Osama is hiding in Kurram Agency. Talking to journalists, Turi, who also heads the National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (Safron), strongly contradicted the report presented by a research team led by geographer Thomas Gillespie of the University of California, Los Angeles, that al-Qaeda's top leader Osama bin Laden is most likely hiding in Parachinar. Basing their conclusion on night time satellite images and other techniques, the scientists suggested that Osama may well be in one of three compounds in Parachinar, a town just 12 miles from the Afghan border. The research incorporates public reports of Osama's habits and whereabouts since his flight from the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in 2001. "I strongly contradict the report as Parachinar is completely different from the other tribal areas with its majority Shia population and known as anti-Taliban region," he commented, adding, in such situation when the entire population is anti-Taliban and anti-al-Qaeda, how is it possible that the top leaders will be hiding in this area? The MNA further elaborated that the geographical findings by Thomas Gillespie are not based on facts, saying that Tora Bora does not adjoin the Kurram Agency area, but that of hilly parts of Orakzai and Khyber agencies. He said people in Kurram Agency from both Sunni and Shia sects are peace-loving and against any terror activity in their region. He regretted that some hidden elements are behind the law and order in Kurram Agency. He termed these elements agents of RAW and KGB and said that they have held captive the minority population of some Sunni tribes from where the Shia tribes are ambushed. The MNA also strongly criticised the role of the local administration, saying that the peace accord has been breached for the fourth time since it has been signed last year following unprecedented efforts of the elders and public representatives but the administration is completely playing a role of the silent spectator over the situation. Sajid Turi also urged the Taliban leaders — Maulana Gul Bahadur, Mulla Nazeer and Baitullah Mehsud — to play role for permanent peace and tranquillity in the Kurram Agency besides ensuring lives and properties of the people travelling on Thall-Parachinar Road. The MNA demanded of the government to restart PIA flights to Parachinar at the earliest. He further urged he government to play sincere role to restore durable peace and rehabilitate the displaced families of the last year's bloody sectarian clashes. Responding to a question, he supported selective military operation against those creating law and order situation in Kurram Agency, saying that local people will completely support the government action. "Terrorism is a disease that needs a permanent cure — military operation," he said. SOURCE: http://www.thenews..com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20578

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Recovery of 12 Tori men sought

 

Recovery of 12 Tori men sought

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 By Our correspondent

PARACHINAR: The jirga of Toori tribe Tuesday demanded the safe recovery of 12 persons kidnapped on Monday. The jirga demanded of the government to make highways secure for the travellers and expressed concern over the government failure to provide security to people. Also, one Ashtar Hussain was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard. He was killed while trying to escape.

 

 

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Militants strike again near Parachinar

Militants strike again near Parachinar
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:58:01 GMT
Unidentified armed men have reportedly opened fire at a passenger bus in Pakistan's lawless Kurram Agency, kidnapping 14 Shia Muslims.

The attackers had targeted the vehicle in the Tut Kas area in the agency on Monday, a Press TV correspondent in Pakistan reported.

Unknown gunmen opened fire on the bus' tires, forcing it to stop. They then took the male passengers to an undisclosed location, local officials and residents said.

The three women on board the bus en route from the northwestern city of Peshawar to Parachinar have been left behind.

Sunday saw at least four other Shia Muslims injured in the same area when another passenger bus was targeted with a remote control bomb.

Local residents told a Press TV correspondent that the Thall-Parachinar road, which acts as a lifeline connecting the remote area to the rest of Pakistan, has witnessed the Shia community beome the target of violence on a daily basis.

Militants are kidnapping people traveling on the road only to release them after receiving heavy amounts of ransom, Hussain Afzal, a local resident said.

Most of the violence in the territory bordering the Tora Bora region in Afghanistan has been attributed to the Taliban.

Taliban militants have launched deadly attacks against the Shias settled in Parachinar and have been blocking road routes to the city since April 2007 when sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis broke out after provocative remarks by a Wahhabi against historical Shia figures.

The Taliban sided with the Sunni majority in the country, imposing an ongoing 20-month blockade which has caused serious food shortages.

The Pakistani government has on various occasions dispatched relief convoys loaded with food and medicines to the area, but most supplies are confiscated by the militants and the drivers are killed or kidnapped.

Source:  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86618&sectionid=351020401

 

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12 men abducted in Hangu

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

 

12 men abducted in Hangu

HANGU: Unidentified armed men on Monday opened fire on a Peshawar-bound vehicle before abducting 12 of its passengers near Kurram Agency's border with Hangu district, officials said. An official told Daily Times that the vehicle was on its way to Peshawar when the armed men intercepted it in Tootkas area and abducted 12 of its 15 passengers.Hangu District Police Officer Sajjad Khan confirmed the incident. He added that even though the Khasadar force was deployed in the area, the Taliban were openly operating there. saboor khan.

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