Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Afghanistan

Senior TTP leader Omar Khalid Khorasani killed in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesperson confirms

2022-08-10

More on this story from yesterday.

[DAWN] Senior Tehrik-e-Taliban
Taliban

...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Pakistain (TTP) leader Omar Khalid Khorasani and two others members of the banned outfit were killed in a roadside kaboom in Afghanistan on Monday, according to Taliban front man Muhamamad Khorasani.

Omar's real name was Abdul Wali Mohmand and he previously headed the TTP in the Mohmand Agency
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
and Kunar...
bordering Afghanistan.

In a statement today, TTP officials said that the car carrying Omar came under attack in the eastern Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
province near the Barmal district on Sunday evening.

They urged the Taliban government in Afghanistan to investigate the incident and unearth "spies" who could be responsible for the death of senior TTP leaders.

Apart from Omar, the two other men killed in the attack have been identified as Mufti Hassan and Hafiz Dawlat Khan. They were among several TTP leaders who had joined the outlawed ISIS in 2014.

It is pertinent to mention here that Omar was a member of the TTP team involved in negotiations with Pak officials, Pashtoon jirgas and recently with religious scholars over the past few weeks.

Recently, a jirga member had posted the TTP leader's photo on the sideline of its meeting with Pakistain's side which had held two rounds of talks in Kabul in the first week of June and late July.

Omar and a majority of the TTP members from Mohmand agency had parted ways with the TTP and formed a splinter faction Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain Jamaat Ahrar (TTP-JA) in 2014.

The then TTP chief Maulvi Fazalullah had sacked him after he had announced the formation of his own group Jamaat ul Ahrar, which comprised of almost all the Taliban leaders from the Mohmad Agency. Omar had accused the TTP leadership of deviating from the outfit's ideology.

The group received prominence when Jamaat-ul-Ahrar front man Ehsanullah Ehsan

...formerly the front man for the Pak Taliban, then the lips and tongue of the Jamaatul Ahrar splinter group in Mohmand Agency...
grabbed credit for the Wagah border suicide kaboom in November 2014, in which over 70 people, almost all civilians, were killed.

The TTP leader's killing could be seen as a major blow to the group, especially at a time when it is involved in talks with the Pak government.

Omar was wanted by the Pak government for his involvement in a series of attacks on security forces, tribal elders and members of the peace committee in the area.

In July 2017, one of the UN Security Council’s sanctions committees, upon Pakistain’s request, had approved the addition of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar in the list of entities and individuals subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38...
the United States added Omar's name to the US State Department's Rewards for Justice wanted list in March 2018. The US had announced a reward of up to $3 million for information on him.

In recent years, several TTP leaders, including former chief Maulvi Fazallah, have been killed in Afghanistan after they crossed into the border due to military operation in the tribal areas, Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
and parts of the Malakand division. Fazlullah, who served the TTP chief in Swat, was killed in a US dronezap in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
in June 2018.

Tolo News adds:

Meanwhile, some sources said that Khurasani was present in the negotiations which were reportedly held between the TTP and Pakistani government in Kabul.

The political analysts gave various views on the killing of Khurasani.

“To gain money and weapons from the US, (Pakistan) should always declare an enemy and that enemy is now TTP. This is an enemy who could be controlled everywhere and they can eliminate it anywhere they want to,” said Sher Hassan Hassan, a political analyst.

“I think there are disagreements among the TTP. Usually, whenever there are peace negotiations, the hardliners are on one side and the moderates are on the other side. I think it is about the internal disagreements among the TTP,” said Waheed Faqiri, a political analyst.

Khurasani was the chief of Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a TTP branch that is designated a terrorist group by the United Nations and United States, according to Reuters.

Link

India-Pakistan

26 killed in suicide attack near Nadra office in Mardan

2022-07-08

[Dawn] At least 26 people were killed and 50 others injured when a powerful blast occurred near the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office on Nisatta Road in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, on Tuesday.

The attack was claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) splinter group Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
, which was also behind last year's deadly blast at Wagah Border.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
TTP central front man Mohammad Khorasani in a statement distanced his group from the Mardan attack, saying "we have nothing to do with blasts at public places," reported BBC Urdu.

The explosion destroyed the front entrance of a regional branch of Nadra.

"At least 26 people have been killed and more than 50 injured," said provincial information minister Mushtaq Ghani. "[The] condition of 11 of them is still critical," Ghani added.

The blast took place at a time when the office was crowded with people lining up to make applications for National Identity Cards (NIC).

'SUICIDE ATTACK'
Deputy Inspector General Mardan Division Saeed Wazir told DawnNews the blast was a "suicide kaboom carried out by a bomber".

The DIG added that a security guard posted at the office stopped the bomber at the gate, after which he detonated his boom jacket. The suicide attacker was on a cycle of violence

and rammed it into the gate after being denied entry, he said.

Conflicting reports suggest that explosives may have been planted on a cycle of violence parked near the Nadra office.

District police chief Faisal Shahzad said the jacket wallah was riding a motorbike. "Apparently the target was the queue as there were around 400 people standing there," Faisal said.

Some of those critically maimed were taken to the main Lady Reading Hospital in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
city.

POWERFUL EXPLOSION
Officials of the Bomb Disposal Unit that reached the scene of the earth-shattering kaboom said around 8 to 10 kg of kaboom was used in the attack.

According to initial reports, the powerful blast took place near the gate of the office and damaged doors and windows in the building. At least 40 people are said to be injured, with some at death's door.

Human body remains were strewn across the blast site.

The area was cordoned off as rescue and security sources rushed to the site. The injured were shifted to Mardan Medical Complex, while an emergency was declared at all medical facilities in the area.

The office is located on the link road that connects Charsadda to Mardan. Mardan is situated in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which has seen several terrorist attacks over the past several years — many of them targeting security officials.

SEARCH AND STRIKE OPERATION
Earlier in December, a search and strike operation was launched in Mardan, resulting in the arrest of about 327 suspected persons, including 16 illegally staying Afghan nationals, and persons involved in various crimes.

Mardan District Police Officer Faisal Shehzad, talking to media persons, had disclosed that the search and strike operation was carried out in Par Hoti, Bashkhali, Gujraat, Iranabad, Chora, Bhaijan, Surakh Dheray, Katakhet, Barikab, Galyara and localities adjoining the city.

He said they had also established checkposts jointly manned by police and army personnel at different points of the district and around 500 vehicles were searched with the purpose to take suspected passengers into custody if there were any inside those vehicles.

Link

India-Pakistan

Four policemen martyred in Dera, Tank attacks

2022-07-07

[Dawn] Four coppers were martyred in separate attacks in Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
and Tank districts on Tuesday.

Dera police front man Imtiaz Ali Janjua said unidentified button men riding cycle of violences opened fire on traffic coppers — ticketing officer Shaukat Mekan and constable Habibullah — near the New Sabzi Mandi area on Tuesday morning. They went titzup.

Following the incident, a contingent of police led by DSP Saddar Hafiz Adnan Khan and SHO Saddar cop shoppe Saleem Baloch reached the spot along with teams of Rescue 1122 and shifted the martyred personnel to District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem.

The front man said the police had cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to trace the attackers.

Later, funeral prayers of the martyred cops were offered at the Ijaz Shaheed Police Lines.

Afterwards, bodies of deaders were dispatched to their native areas for burial.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung...
three armed motorcyclists killed two Tank police officials on Nasran-Daudkhel Road near in Nasran village.

The police said constable Naheed Khan went titzup, while constable Hameed Shah succumbed to injuries while being taken to Hospital. They said the button men also took away cash and mobile phones from the dear departed.

The police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unknown killers and launched a search operation to trace them.

District police officer Waqar Ahmed along with DSP headquarters Inam Khan Gandapur, DSP rural Hussain Ghulam Bangash and DSP Jandola subdivision Alamgir Khan met with families of the martyred personnel and offered condolences.

Link

India-Pakistan

Security Forces Gun Down 3 Terrorists in an Encounter in North Waziristan: ISPR

2021-02-18

[DailyTimes.pk] During an intelligence based operation (IBO), security forces killed 3 Lions of Islam from the Aleem Khan Khushali group. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) the encounter took place in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s North Wazoo

Wazoo district on Tuesday.

"These Lions of Islam were involved in murder, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, fire raid on security forces and improvised bomb (IED) explosions," ISPR added. "Sanitisation of the area was carried out."

As told by military’s media wing the operation was carried out after the security forces noticed the presence of Lions of Islam in a compound in North Waziristan’s area Mir Ali.

The ISPR said that 42-year-old resident of Chitral Naib Subedar Aminullah and a 24-year-old resident of Landi Kotal Sepoy Sher Zamin embraced martyrdom and four other security personnel received injuries during the operation.

Previously two bad boyz were potted on 18th January during an IBO in Nargosa area of South Waziristan The military’s media wing further added to the previous operation that "During an intense fire, two Lions of Islam Usman Ali and Waheed Lashtai were killed and one was injured and apprehended".

Related from January 6:

Waziristan Militant Leader Aleem Khan Ustad Joins Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan

[Defence.pk] On December 15, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), appeared in a video released by Umar Media, the official media arm of TTP (Umar Media, December 15). This video demonstrated a continuation of the series of mergers of Pakistani jihadist groups into TTP, which started in July 2020.

The video contains footage of the bay’ah (oath of allegiance) ceremonies of two jihadist organizations from Waziristan, Pakistan, including Mulawi Aleem Khan Ustad, and Commander Umar Azzam groups. Khan is a powerful jihadist commander who joined TTP with nine commanders and dozens of fighters (Tribal News, November 28).

TTP announced the mergers of both groups into its ranks on November 27 (Umar Media, November 27). The video shows that the merger ceremony apparently took place outside Afghanistan, most probably in Waziristan’s remote areas bordering the country. The footages include video clips of both commanders’ oath-taking, holding Mahsud’s hands and announcing their pledges of allegiance to him.

WHO IS MULAWI ALEEM KHAN USTAD?
Aleem Khan is from the tribal North Waziristan district, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which served as the base of al-Qaeda for more than a decade after 9/11, from 2004 to 2015 (Asia Times, November 5). Khan was deputy to Hafiz Gul Bahadur—the al-Qaeda host and shadow governor of Waziristan (Gandhara, March 16, 2015). The Gul Bahadur group became the largest local group in Waziristan between 2008 and 2014 and even hosted TTP in North Waziristan after the organization lost its strongholds in neighboring South Waziristan.

Gul Bahadur’s decline started after the 2014 military operation in North Waziristan, when the jihadists escaping that military operation sought shelter in Afghanistan. [1] Khan disassociated from Bahadur that same year and since then has operated independently (The News, August 20, 2014).

During this period, serious differences emerged that would divide Khan and Bahadur, resulting in the latter ultimately seeking leadership of the group (The News, August 20, 2014). Bahadur alleged that Khan was in league with the Pakistani government, and in return was receiving protection for his areas and tribesmen from military operations. As a reaction to this accusation, Khan announced that he was now emir of the group, removing Bahadur, who had moved to the Afghanistan side of the border to escape military operations.

A few months later, Aleem Khan somewhat confirmed what Bahadur had accused him of when he surprisingly announced an end to the war against the Pakistani Army, and offered his group’s assistance in returning the internally displaced people (IDPs) of North Waziristan back to their homes. Like thousands of others from North Waziristan, these IDPs had left their homes due to the military operations that took place in 2014. His group had taken responsibility for restoring peace in North Waziristan and threatened military operations against all those aiming to engage in an insurgency against the state (Daily Pakistan, March 16 2015).

Thus, the merger of the Aleem Khan group into TTP is important from two perspectives. First, it is a major blow to the Pakistani Army’s efforts to coopt the anti-state militants in Waziristan for peace and the restoration of government authority in the area (Gandahara, July 24 2018). Second, Khan’s bay’ah to TTP is the first time that a jihadist group from North Waziristan is joining the organization. It is particularly signicant that Khan’s group is a strong splinter of the Gul Bahadur organization.

The TTP and the Gul Bahadur group share a history of rivalry rooted in the tribal politics of the region. The senior leadership of al-Qaeda, particularly its Afghanistan-Pakistan chief, Mustafa Abu Yazid, tried to unify the TTP and Bahadur group, but the latter did not accept it for long [2]. Gul Bahadur’s rejection has roots in the historical tribal feuds between Mehsuds and Wazir tribes of Waziristan. The Wazirs considers themselves superior to Mehsuds [3]. Thus, Gul Bahadur, being the strongest leader of the Wazir tribes, never agreed to merge into TTP, which was led by the Mehsuds.

Link

India-Pakistan

UN recognizes threat to Pakistan by Afghan-based TTP, JuA terrorists

2021-02-07

[DailyTimes.pk] A new United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
report has acknowledged the action taken by Pak government against individuals engaged in terrorist activities, adding that terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Pakistain (TTP) is responsible for over 100 cross-border attacks within three months last year.

On its part, Pakistain has consistently highlighted the terrorism threat from the TTP.

The 27th report to the United Nations Security Council, under the United Nations (UN) monitoring team that tracks Al Qaeda, Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
and other krazed killer groups, points to the arrests in Pakistain of ’individuals engaging in terrorism financing and the freezing of the assets of designated individuals and entities’.

Diplomats noted that the UN acknowledgment of Pakistain actions comes at a time when India continues to blame Pakistain for inaction against the designated groups.

Reporting on the activities of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), the UN report saw the ’reunification of splinter groups (of TTP) that took place in Afghanistan’. The report records that ’five entities pledged alliance to TTP in July and August (2020), including the Shehryar Mehsud group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Hizb-ul-Ahrar, the Amjad Farooqi group and the Usman Saifullah group (formerly known as Lashkar-e- Jhangvi)’.

The report cautions that the merger of TTP has enhanced the threat of terrorism to Pakistain and the region, as it has ’increased the strength of TTP and resulted in a sharp increase in attacks’. In this regard, the UN reported that ’TTP was responsible for more than 100 cross-border attacks between July and October 2020’. The report said that, based on estimates, the TTP’s fighting strength ranges between 2,500 and 6,000.

Last year, Pakistain handed over a dossier to UN Secretary General António Guterres

...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years...
on the Indian sponsorship of TTP and JuA. Both terrorist groups have been designated by the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the Security Council.

Link

India-Pakistan

Govt claims TLP has agreed to end protest demonstration in Islamabad

2020-11-18

[DAILYTIMES.PK] The federal government late on Monday night claimed that it has succeeded in convincing Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) to end their sit-in. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
no announcement in this regard was made by TLP chief Khadim Rizvi till the filing of this report. Instead, several of TLP activists in their social media posts termed the claim by the government as ’fake’ and said that any decision to end sit-in will be announced only by the party chief Khadim Rizvi.
The reported negotiations with TLP were held on the directions of the prime minister by a team of government officials led by Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri. The government’s negotiation party also included Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, Islamabad Commissioner Aamir Ahmed and prime minister’s adviser Shehzad Akbar.

Sources said TLP chief Khadim Rizvi insisted on immediate release of all arrested people of the party, and warned that the sit-in will continue till the release of all arrested people. Sources said most of the issues between the two sides had been agreed upon and that proper announcement by TLP to call off sit-in will be made by Khadim Rizvi after settlement of the remaining issues.

Earlier in the day on Monday, the situation remained tense in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi as Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistain (TLP) continued their sit-in on Faizabad interchange for a second day while festivities were also reported between police and TLP activists. The residents of twin cities faced the situation like in November 2017 when Tehrik-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah occupied Faizabad for 23 days. Once again, thousands of Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) activists gathered at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi to stage rally against the blasphemous caricatures published in La Belle France. They planned to hold a march up to Faizabad on Sunday to protest against the blasphemous caricatures, but were denied permission by the district administrations of both Rawalpindi and Islamabad owing to their ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful history. The supporters of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, despite the road blocks, gathered at Liaquat Bagh Sunday afternoon and after a prolonged confrontation with the riot police, they managed to reach Faizabad interchange.

All kinds of public transport including metro bus service in twin cities remained suspended due to the sit-in. The cellular services in Rawalpindi region and some parts of Islamabad also remained suspended while containers have been placed at all important roads, much to the inconvenience to the commuters. The local administrations of Rawalpindi and Islamabad warned organisers and activists of the TLP to immediately vacate Faizabad area but they have announced not to budge until their demands are met. The protesters are demanding that the government severs diplomatic ties with La Belle France and expels its ambassador. Majority of markets and shopping centers here in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad were also closed due to poor law and order situation for the last two days. There was a thin presence of employees in government and private offices because all main entries to the deferral capital were sealed. Majority of parents did not send their children to schools on Monday.

Police blocked the demonstrators as they attempted to enter Islamabad. Some chanted that the only punishment for a blasphemer was beheading, a police official said. The protesters attacked the police with bricks, stones and sticks and several of coppers were reportedly injured. The protesters damaged private vehicles by throwing stones at different roads of the city.

Link

India-Pakistan

Militant groups in Pakistan reunite to overthrow the government

2020-08-21

[KhaamaPress] Three bully boy groups in Pakistain got reunited to jointly fight against the Pakistain government, Washington Post reported.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar

...”Assembly of the Free”, they were very active purveyors of suicide and car bombs inside Pakistan after the 2014 split, sometimes teamed with ISIS-K. They slowed down in 2018...

and Hezb-ul-Ahrar

...split from JuA in 2018 over JuA’s ungentlemanly behaviour and choice of targets. Shortly after the split they released their very own soundtrack...

were the two splinter groups that split years ago from Tahreek Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
Pakistain(TTP) announced rejoining TTP on Monday.

The news was confirmed by the TTP spokesperson on Monday saying the leaders of the two factions have officially announced their allegiance to Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the TTP Chief.

TTP front man Mohammad Khurasani said that Maulvi Omar Khalid Khurasani
...intel chief of the Jamaatul Ahrar TTP splinter group, or whatever it's calling itself these days...
, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar leader and Mukkarram Khurasani aka Omar Khurasani, the chief of Hezb-ul-Ahrar pleaded allegiance to the TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud aka Abu Asim Mansoor.

Khurasani did not disclose when and where the meeting had taken place, but Taliban sources told The News that they had gathered somewhere between the Pakistain and Afghanistan border.

The bully boy groups combined when the Pak Army announced operations against the murderous Moslems were a huge success.

Pak officials said in a formal statement that operations included clearance of 46000 square kilometers of terrorist areas resulting in 18000 dead murderous Moslems and seizure of 40 tons of explosives, VOA reported.

Golly. That sounds like an awful lot — what are the real numbers?

TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar are both included in the American blacklist, it is noted in UN analytical that Pak murderous Moslems pose threat to both Afghanistan and Pakistain with an estimated 6000 to 6500 forces that some of them have affiliated with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
Khurasan.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
Pakistain has accused Afghanistan many times before for covertly supporting the insurgency in Pakistain which Afghan officials deny these accusations instead accuses Islamabad of sheltering and supporting terrorism waging deadly insurgencies in Afghanistan.

The new alliance is said to have been a fresh set of threats to Pakistain that can lead to more attacks over the governmental troops and suicide kabooms.

Related: Long War Journal suggests this reunification is Al Qaeda’s idea, and reminds us that the TTP’s international notoriety is based on the failure of Faisal Shahzad (Faisal the fizzlebomber) to blow up Times Square on May Day, 2010.
And from 2014: Al-Qaeda in Pakistain: The Org Chart

Link

India-Pakistan

Govt making efforts to arrest Ehsanullah Ehsan: Ijaz Shah

2020-02-24

[The News (Pak)] Interior Minister Ijaz Shah Saturday said the government was making efforts to apprehend the former spokesperson of the Tehrik-e-Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Pakistain (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) who beat feet from the state's custody a few weeks ago.

The interior minister was speaking to media after a tree plantation ceremony at the District Commissioner's office. Talking about Ehsanullah Ehsan

...formerly the front man for the Pak Taliban, then the lips and tongue of the Jamaatul Ahrar splinter group in Mohmand Agency...
's escape from custody, he said that efforts were being made to arrest him.

Last week, Shah admitted for the first time that the ex-TTP spokesperson had escaped the state's custody after an audio message of the holy warrior stating the same started doing the rounds on social media.

Link

India-Pakistan

News of Ehsanullah Ehsan's escape is 'true', state is aware, says Interior Minister Ijaz Shah

2020-02-18

[DAWN] The news that former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan

...formerly the front man for the Pak Taliban, then the lips and tongue of the Jamaatul Ahrar splinter group in Mohmand Agency...
has escaped from the custody of Pakistan security agencies is true, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah confirmed on Monday.
The scene: A palatial residence outside Abbottabad. The characters: Evil mastermind Ehsanullah Ehsan, under palatial house arrest, and his guard, Mahmoud.
Responding to a question during an informal conversation with reporters at the parliament in Islamabad, the minister said he had read reports of the former TTP leader having fled.
Ehsanullah: "Hey, Mahmoud! Call me a cab!"
Mahmoud: "I can't do that. Yer under house arrest!"
When asked whether there was any truth to the reports, he replied: "The news is true, it's true."
Ehsanullah: "No, I'm not."
Mahmoud: "You ain't?"
The minister added that the "state is aware" of his escape. He did not provide any details.
Ehsanullah: "Nah. They're lettin' me out."
Mahmoud: "Fer really?"
Asked by a reporter whether the state was doing anything about the matter, Shah said: "A lot is being done. You will hear good news."
Ehsanullah: "Would I lie to you?"
Mahmoud: "Well... Youse got a honest face."
The confirmation comes following around 10 days of official silence over reports of the former TTP spokesman's escape, which had been announced by him in an audio message released on social media.
Ehsanullah: "Ain't I?"
Mahmoud: "Hello? Is dis Choudry's Cab Company? I got a fare for youse..."

Link

India-Pakistan

Hafiz Saeed’s arrest

2019-07-22

[DAWN] PRIME Minister Imran Khan
... aka The Great Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
’s departure for the US has been preceded by a most timely development: the arrest of Hafiz Saeed

...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
, leader of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
and a UN- and US-designated global terrorist.

The holy man was apprehended on Wednesday by Punjab’s counterterrorism police while on his way from Lahore to Gujranwala to obtain bail in a terror-financing case.

There is a palpable sense that the government of late has moved its campaign against Death Eater groups into high gear, with over two dozen cases of terror financing filed earlier this month against JuD’s top leaders. The world is watching Pakistain’s actions closely, particularly in connection with JuD and Jaish-e-Mohammed; any perceived kid-glove treatment of them will feed into global misgivings that the country has a selective policy vis-à-vis holy warrior organizations.

The latest turn of events has therefore gone down well, with President Donald Trump

...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
hailing the arrest of "the so-called Mumbai ’criminal mastermind’ after a ten-year-long search".

Pakistain must continue to plough ahead to put Death Eater groups out of business and prosecute their members under the provisions of the Anti Terrorism Act. Otherwise, Hafiz Saeed’s arrest could be perceived as little more than an opportunistic move calibrated to coincide with an important state visit.

Even more importantly, however, such a course correction has a critical bearing on Pakistain’s internal security and its future as a responsible member of the international community.

The countrywide crackdown against Death Eater groups a few months ago ‐ in which provincial administrations in Sindh, Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
and Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
sealed or took control of hundreds of madressahs, schools, mosques, etc run by these organizations ‐ marked what appeared to be a definitive shift in the state’s approach. Interior Minister retired Brig Ijaz Shah confirmed as much at a presser on Thursday when he said the policy pertaining to suspected Death Eater organizations had undergone a change, for which the PTI government deserved credit.

It is unfortunate that such a reversal did not come about some years earlier when fears were repeatedly expressed both in political circles and the media that appeasement of certain Death Eater organizations carried inherent risks that would hurt Pakistain’s long-term interests.

History has shown that such groups cannot be ’managed’, nor their inherently violent proclivities turned on and off at will.

Moreover, all murderous Moslems at some level ‐ even those that are not pan-Islamist ‐ share an ideological affinity which leads them to enable each other, even if indirectly. Be that as it may, now that the state has resolved to eliminate them, it must close off every avenue that Death Eater outfits use to survive and proliferate. They should not, for example, be able to circumvent a ban on their activities by emerging with new names,
fake noses and henna wigs,
helmed by the same toxic individuals as before. Nor must they be mainstreamed into electoral politics unless they unequivocally renounce violence. Anything less will be a temporary reprieve.

Link

India-Pakistan

Benazir murder charge ‘politically motivated’: Ijaz Shah

2019-07-02

[DAILYTIMES.PK] Brigadier (r) Ijaz Shah, the country’s security czar, has claimed that his nomination in the high-profile murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
was politically motivated, as he opposed her deal with General

Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
to return home and partake in national politics.

Link

India-Pakistan

Fazl asks PM to step down, demands fresh elections

2019-04-22

[DAWN] Terming the recent reshuffle in the federal cabinet a move towards setting up a government of technocrats, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...the political wing of the Pak Taliban...
chief Fazl, older and even wider than he used to be...

Fazl, older and even wider than he used to be...

Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
asked Prime Minister Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems...
on Saturday to step down and demanded fresh elections to pull the nation out of crisis.

"This fake government does not have the ability and skill to govern a city, how can it run the entire country?" the JUI-F chief asked while talking to the media after a meeting of the party’s central executive council.

He said that the reshuffle in the cabinet and expulsion of ministers proved that the government was given a fake mandate and that it did not enjoy the support of the masses. He said the country’s economy was already on the verge of collapse and now the country was facing a worse political crisis.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan’s only way out is to resign and conduct fresh elections," he said, adding that an impression was created that ministers could not deliver, therefore, their portfolios had been changed. He said by giving the interior ministry to Ijaz Shah after holding the portfolio for eight months Mr Khan had admitted his failure.

Link

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