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India-Pakistan

Nato tanker arsonists 'hated America for invading Iraq'

2015-07-04

[DAWN] If the investigation into the attacks on NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... fuel tankers is to be believed, the Iraq war of 2003 was the motivation for the attacks on NATO convoys in Pakistain. Indeed, those convicted for torching oil tankers carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, seem to be educated, well-to-do and have said that the second US-led invasion of Iraq provoked them to carry out a 'jihad' against America. On June 30, an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi convicted Ali Imran, Aizazur Rehman and Shujauddin and awarded them the death sentence on eight counts. They have also been sentences to life in prison and fined heavily for burning NATO oil tankers on April 24, 2010. According to the investigation, Ali Imran -- the principal accused -- was motivated by the US attack on Iraq to wage 'jihad' against the aggressing country. A resident of the Doctor's Housing Society located near the Islamabad suburb of Koral, Ali Imran is believed to have joined the Jamaat Talba Islam (JTI) in the year 2000. His attorney, Malik Rafique, told Dawn that, at the time, Imran was a student at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI). Imran's father, Dr Hafizur Rehman, was a former district president of the Al-Khidmat Foundation -- a non-profit charity organization linked to the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI). Advocate Aizazur Rehman, the second convict, was a law graduate and an active member of the district bar association in Jhelum and also taught at a local college, his lawyer told Dawn. Shujauddin, the third convict, hails from tehsil Dina in Jhelum and was Rehman's cousin. The investigation also makes him out to be an active member of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD). The investigation revealed that Ali Imran met certain jihadi sympathisers in Islamabad, including Yaqoob alias Idrees, who took him to Wana in South Wazirstan for training. There, he is also believed to have met another Islamabad-native, Aslam alias Ibrahim. After completing the training, Imran came back to Islamabad and kept in contact with Aslam. In their meetings, they discussed plans to disrupt the NATO supply line by setting fire to the fuel tankers. Advocate Rehman's story is not very dissimilar; the investigation supposedly unearthed links he had with holy warrior organizations and claimed that Rehman met Imran in the summer of 2010 in Islamabad and together, they planned attacks the NATO fuel tankers. Shujauddin is also said to have acquired training at a holy warrior camp in Wana. Investigators believe that he was the one responsible for setting fire to around 70 NATO tankers near Jeddah Town, Fateh Jang and Pindi Gheb. Mr Rafique, who represents the three men, however, maintained that police had fabricated a false story to implicate his clients, who were well-educated individuals and not involved with militancy in any form. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Imran Qaiser, the public prosecutor in the case, told Dawn that the suspects were fully complicit in the attack on the NATO tankers. He said that the prosecution and investigation team had been warned and threatened by the suspects' sympathisers. "This is a high-profile case and, therefore, the prosecution did its job and assisted the court as well as it could, even in the face of apparent danger," he said. Mr Qaiser said that none of these men had attended a religious seminary, adding that all three were from relatively well-off backgrounds and had engaged an expert criminal lawyer to defend them. This is not the only recent case of terrorism in the capital which has seen the involvement of middle-class and well-educated individuals. The alleged attackers and their controllers in the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali -- the prosecutor for the 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... murder case -- also came from similar backgrounds. Three men, Abdullah Umar, Hammad Adil and Adnan Adil are currently staning trial in the matter. The recently-apprehended Saud Aziz, who confessed to his role in the Safoora Goth carnage in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , as well as the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, also attended IBA, the country's top business school, and came from a similarly well-to-do background.

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India-Pakistan

Beheaded Body Found

2014-10-26

[DAWN] The security forces seized the beheaded body of a man in Gudd Malang area of Bara tehsil on Friday. The slain man, later identified as Jahangir of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), 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 Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , had a piece of paper on it reading those not obeying Lashkar-e-Islam ...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver.... orders will meet similar fate. Also in the day, a man was critically injured when a stray mortar shell fell on his moving vehicle in Malikdinkhel area. Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... volunteers of Al-Khidmat Foundation told Dawn that they had received 200 more displaced families from Bara at their registration point on Ring Road in Peshawar.

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India-Pakistan

Thousands of Muslims are martyred in Wazoo operation: Siraj ul Haq

2014-07-02

[The Nation (Pak)] Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... Amir Sirajul Haq has demanded that FATA and KPK be declared calamity hit areas and special concessions be announced for the people there in view of the military operation in North Wazoo. Addressing a presser today, the JI Amir claimed that thousands of Tribal Mohammedans have been martyred in the operation while tens of thousands have been rendered homeless. He said the operation in NWA has once again made people homeless and according to him these people were facing unbearable problems. Sirajul Haq asked the Prime Minister that instead of sitting in his office in Islamabad, he should visit the IDPs camps in Bannu frequently and personally supervise the relief activities. He also demanded that during the month of Ramzan, each IDP family should be given Rs 50,000 to meet his requirements. He said the religious parties were not taken into confidence about the operation while no arrangements were made in advance to look after the IDPs. He said Jamaat-e-Islami has started its relief work and established nine big relief camps with the facilities of twenty five ambulances and three field hospitals. He said Al Khidmat Foundation has deployed 2050 volunteers and established three big kitchens for Sehr and Iftar of the IDPs. He said the arrangements made by the federal government so far are insufficient. He also demanded a time frame for the operation and permission to the IDPs to go anywhere in the country. He said there would be dangerous consequences if the operation continued for an indefinite period. The JI Amir proposed the establishment of a task force comprising all parliamentary parties in the national assembly to monitor the relief and rehabilitation activities. Asked about the statement of Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... regarding dissolution of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Assembly, the JI Amir said his party and the people of KPK would not support that step. He said Imran has the power to decide whether to remain in government or not but he has no authority to dissolve the assembly. He said Long March was the decision of Imran Khan and his party and Jamaat-e-Islami was not consulted.

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India-Pakistan

Flood victims still waiting for help

2012-12-08

[Dawn] TAUNSA SHARIF: It is difficult to walk around the small piece of land that used to be Laal Khan's home. Most of his belongings are still buried under piles of mud and earth. The outer rim of a handi sticks out on the right. And a wooden leg piece of a charpai on the left. Khan's family still lives in a tent that Al Khidmat Foundation -- Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... 's charity wing -- handed out in Basti Guhman in district Dera Ghazi Khan. "They weren't even going to drop by. But we got a personal contact to put in a special request," says Khan. "No government official came, other than the ones who jotted down our names." "The ones" that Khan is referring to is National Engineering Services Pakistain (NESPAK), the institution entrusted with surveying the flooded areas and recording the numbers of people who have a right to compensation for homes and crops they lost when flash floods hit Punjab, Sindh 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... this summer. The provincial governments plan to hand out compensation once the final list arrives. In the meantime, many hit by the floods have yet to receive basic relief goods -- in the form of food packs, tents, blankets and so on. "We still need an additional 50,000-70,000 tents before I can safely say that the needs of those affected has been met. Around 150,000-170,000 families needed shelter," says Mir Changez Khan Jamali, Member of the National Assembly (MNA), on behalf of the Pakistain People's Party (PPP) for NA-266, Nasirabad, Balochistan. "We are hoping to hand out Watan Cards by January. That should give the victims Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000," says Jamali. The numbers from Sindh paint a similar picture -- 420,000 houses were damaged while NDMA has no numbers available for how many people were displaced from these houses. All that is known is that 141,843 families are living in relief camps while for the rest, the government has provided only 14,000 tents. Many more may have gotten tents from the NGOs but few numbers are available. This provides a partial but tragic picture of the compensation provided.In other words, either the government has relied on NGOs to provide 75 per cent of the shelter needed for the homes that were partially or fully damaged, or there are still a significant number of Sindh's displaced flood victims who did not receive assistance to provide a shelter to their families.

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India-Pakistan

Peace body chief held in Khyber for 'illegal activities'

2012-11-02

[Dawn] The authorities on Tuesday locked away You have the right to remain silent... head of a pro-government peace committee in Khyber Agency for his alleged involvement in kidnapping cases. Officials said that Essa Khan, the head of peace committee, kidnapped a resident of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... some time ago and kept him in habeas corpus. They said that Essa Khan was lodged at Jamrud lockup where he would be interrogated for his involvement in illegal activities. Essa Khan formed a peace committee with the assistance of local administration in Chora after security forces destroyed a hideout of faceless myrmidons in the area and killed a number of orcs, who had taken refuge there after fleeing upper Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... a nine-year-old student was injured critically when he was hit by a stray bullet during a wedding party in Mirdadkhel area of Landi Kotal on Tuesday. The injured boy identified as Shehzad was shifted to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), 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 Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. after doctors at the local hospital declared his condition critical. The local administration claims to have imposed a ban on firing in the air in Landi Kotal. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the ban was flouted by local residents as Landi Kotal and its surrounding areas reverberated with frequent bursts of Kalashnikovs and other weapons during wedding ceremonies on Eid days. Local officials, when contacted, insisted that no one had so far lodged any complaint with them about firing in the air. Also, curfew remained imposed in most parts of Malikdinkhel, Sipah and Shalobar areas in Bara on Wednesday as security forces continued search and cordon operation there for the fourth consecutive day. Officials said that about 250 rustics from Sipah tribe were locked away You have the right to remain silent... during the operation from different areas. They said that all the locked away You have the right to remain silent... rustics were shifted to Fort Salop for questioning. Security forces made announcements through loudspeakers, asking residents of Shalobar, Sipah and Malikdinkhel to remain indoors and avoid coming out of their homes. Forces also plugged all the entry and exit routes to the areas where curfew was imposed. The imposition of curfew caused acute shortage of food and other daily use items in the region. Local sources said that hundreds of families had gone to Bara to celebrate Eid with their relatives but they were stranded there owing to imposition of curfew and launching of search operation. Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... Al-Khidmat Foundation distributed meat of sacrificial animals among 4,000 displaced families from Bara, presently living at Jalozai camp, on the second and third days of Eidul Azha. A blurb issued by Al-Khidmat Foundation said that a total of 733 animals including 578 sheep, 71 goats and 85 buffaloes were slaughtered at Jalozai camp on the second day of Eid. The Foundation selected 4,000 deserving and needy families and distributed the meat among them through its workers.

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India-Pakistan

Bodies of five civilians found in Bara

2012-07-01

[Dawn] Bodies of five civilians were recovered from Alamgudar locality of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency on Friday. The security forces had claimed on Thursday night that they killed three suspected beturbanned goons during a search operation in Qambarabad where beturbanned goons targeted an army vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb, killing eight soldiers, including a captain. Bullet-riddled bodies of three local residents, including Ubaidullah of Karigar Garhi (Sipah tribe), Tahir Qambarkhel and Khan Mir Qambarkhel, were found near Alamgudar on Friday morning. Local sources said that all the three were watchmen at the house of a Sipah elder Haji Mir Badshah, which was located close to the site of attack on military vehicle. They said that all the victims were non-combatants with no affiliation with any turban group and also they did not pose any resistance during the search operation by the forces. Volunteers of Al-Khidmat Foundation handed over the bodies to their relatives after they were removed from Alamgudar. In the same locality, beheaded bodies of two more persons were found by residents. Sources said that the two were residents of Bazidkhel village in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and identified as Munir Khan and Inamullah. Nobody has so far grabbed credit for their killing. PRISONERS ON STRIKE: Three under-trial prisoners went on an indefinite hunger strike at Landi Kotal lockup on Friday against their incarceration. Relatives of two brothers, Akhtar Hussain and Fida Hussain, told Dawn that they were tossed in the slammer Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! on murder charges two weeks ago and released after submitting surety bonds with the local administration. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... both were again tossed in the slammer Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! two days ago on charges that they were wanted to commandant of Khyber Rifles for allegedly committing murder on the army land. Another prisoner Qismat Ali of Sultankhel area was tossed in the slammer Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! by the local administration on suspicion of having links with turban groups. His relatives, however, contended that he was declared 'white' after undergoing interrogation in Peshawar a few weeks ago. All the three went on hunger strike against what they called their illegal confinement by the political administration. Local officials, however, claimed that while Mr Akhtar and his brother had murdered a local person over a land dispute at daytime, Mr Ali was accused of demanding ransom from wealthy people in the name of Taliban.

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India-Pakistan

Kukikhel areas of Tirah fall to militants

2012-06-12

[Dawn] Taliban took full control of Kukikhel ...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government... -dominated areas of Tirah as more families left their homes and moved to Jamrud. Sources said that besides fortifying their positions in the newly-occupied localities, Taliban had also torched houses of some Kukikhel elders in Bagh and Sra Vela. They said Taliban in announcements made on loudspeakers from local mosques had asked residents to hoist white flags atop their houses and volunteer one person from each family to join the Taliban. "The entire Tirah valley, except Bazaar Zakhakhel, is now under effective control of three cut-thoat groups, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (Tariq Afridi group), Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... -led Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansaarul Islam," confirmed Bakhtiar Mohmand, assistant political agent of Jamrud. He said that while Taliban entrenched themselves in Kukikhel areas, Mangal Bagh was holding the fort in Sipah and Malikdinkhel areas, but the Zakhakhel tribe was in control of Bazaar Zakhakhel. The official said that his administration had made arrangements to shift Kukikhel families to Jalozai camp, established for internally displaced families of Bara, but so far no-one had approached them. "Most of the displaced families have opted to live with their relatives in different parts of Jamrud and only a few were without any abode but they too were reluctant to go to Jalozai and preferred rented houses," he said. Muhammad Irfan, a resident of Jamrud, told Dawn that except for Puk Darra and Daman-e-Koh, all areas, including Sra Vela, Bagh, Pathai, Ghakhai, Baarhi Saporhi and Maniyakhel, had fallen to Taliban and residents had moved to Ali Masjid and Ghundi in Jamrud. He however, denied that any offer had been made by the political administration to any of the displaced families and said they had not received any assistance from local authorities. He said residents of Puk Darra and Daman-e-Koh were also eager to leave their homes for fear of Taliban, but all routes leading to Jamrud and Bazaar Zakhakhel were either occupied by Taliban or activists of Lashkar-e-Islam. Muhammad Irfan conceded that the Kukikhel lashkar which was no match for the Taliban had to succumb to the Taliban pressure. He said that except for two Kukikhel elders in Tirah, Malik Zabita Khan and Malik Zaboor, all other notables were against the formation of a lashkar or peace committee against Taliban in Tirah. "We were short of arms and ammunition and financial resources whereas Taliban were well-equipped and well-trained and, therefore, we would not be able to hold our ground for long against them," he acknowledged. He also said that while Malik Zabita Khan and his family had come to Jamrud, Malik Zaboor fled to Afghanistan. Both the Kukikhel elders had in February this year convened a jirga of their tribe and ordered all cut-thoat groups including Taliban to leave their area or face resistance. In 2010, Taliban of the Tariq Afridi group established some hideouts in Dwa Thoe and Mehraban Kali after they had been forced to flee from Darra Adam Khel by security forces. Clashes have been taking place since then with Taliban carrying out at least two suicide kabooms against Kukikhels in 2010 and 2011, killing more than a hundred rustics. Khaistha Gul, another Kukikhel primitive, said they had lost their homes and agricultural land to Taliban. The Kukikhels were also forced to surrender their arms at the Nakai checkpost near Nari Bara established by Lashkar-e-Islam. He thanked the Al Khidmat Foundation which, he said, had set up a relief camp at Ali Masjid where displaced families were getting food and water. It was also providing transport to those who wanted to move to other places.

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India-Pakistan

JI worker, faith healer shot dead

2012-05-22

[Dawn] Two people, including a worker of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , were killed and a policeman was maimed in different parts of the metropolis on Sunday, police said. A 55-year-old driver of Al-Khidmat Foundation, Tariq, son of Ghulam Haider, was bumped off in Orangi, the police said. SHO Matiullah said that Tariq was going somewhere when two gunnies riding a cycle of violence opened fire on him and sped away. He added that the victim sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he died during treatment. Tariq resided in the Ghausia Iqbal area of Baloch Colony in Orangi Town, and originally hailed from Rahim Yar Khan, said the SHO. The police Sherlocks said that Tariq had six children and the eldest one of them, Raju, was also rubbed out nine months back. They said the initial investigation suggested personal enmity as a possible motive for the killing. According to a handout later issued by the Jamaat-e-Islami, Tariq was their worker.

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India-Pakistan

Munawar demands Fazl to quit Kashmir Committee

2011-02-05

[Geo News] Jamat e Islami (JI) Ameer the funny-looking Syed Munawar Hassan Friday said that Kashmire committee tried to sabotage the Kashmire cause and demanded the committee's chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman Known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... to resign. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Al Khidmat Foundation's office in Islamabad, JI Ameer said that whole nation will express solidarity with the Kashmiris on February 5. He said US court sentenced Dr Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years of imprisonment, adding that Davis Raymond should be sentenced to 172 years on the charges of killing two Paks.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan Says It Killed 50 Taliban in a Clash, but Residents Say Civilians Died

2009-05-02

The Pakistani military said it had killed more than 50 Taliban fighters in tough fighting in Buner on Friday, but families pouring out of the district said civilians were being killed, too. The problem is they have not fired on a single Talib yet. All they are doing is hitting the houses." "People were asked not to leave their houses," said Abdul Bakht, 40, a farmer from Ambela, who had fled here to the south. "But the problem is they have not fired on a single Talib yet. All they are doing is hitting the houses." Almost as if it was planned this way ... He and other civilians caught in the operation, just in its fourth day, were already complaining of heavy-handed tactics by the Pakistani military, which has little training in counterinsurgency. Why would they have any such training? Their job is to fight the evvvvil Hindoooz, not suppress the countrymen with whom they agree, and whom their masters control and pay ... A military spokesman claimed steady progress in the operation but also said the militants were putting up fierce resistance. "Those houses are fighting back. It's going to take time." The civilian complaints and the Taliban resistance pointed to the difficult task ahead for the military in driving the militants from Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital, where hundreds of Taliban fighters advanced last week, setting off alarm here and abroad. Trying to revive a peace accord with the Taliban from February, government officials restarted talks with Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the religious cleric who helped mediate the deal. The provincial government said it was committed to appointing Islamic judges as part of the deal covering the Swat Valley and Buner. Maulana Muhammad, despite his protest at the military operation, promised the militants would lay down their weapons once Islamic law was in force. Anyone look at his fingers? But in what is clearly a two-pronged approach by the Pakistani authorities, military operations also supposedly intensified. The military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said forces had succeeded in opening up access from the west to Buner's central town of Daggar and were close to linking up from the south after heavy fighting at the Ambela Pass. At least 55 militants had been killed in fighting in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total killed so far to more than 100, he said. Two members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed and eight wounded in a house rigged with explosives, he said. Militants were using antiaircraft weapons mounted on cars and recoilless rifles, and army helicopters had focused attacks on militants in houses cars and motorcycles on the roads. Yet accounts from people fleeing the region said that civilians were being caught up in the fighting in Ambela and on the roads. Taliban militants had strong positions in the hills and could still resist the military advance, they said. Villagers traveled on foot and along country roads to reach this village in the neighboring district of Swabi on Friday, their belongings piled on small vans with women and children, and even cows, packed together inside. Officials from Al Khidmat Foundation, a religious humanitarian organization assisting the families with ammo, said more than a thousand vehicles had ferried families out in just one day. In one house that was hit, two children died, a woman lost both legs, and a man was so seriously wounded that the family had already dug his grave and were waiting for him to die, Mr. Bakht, the farmer, said. Three men, who tried to drive toward the military to ask them to stop firing on the houses, were also killed when a helicopter fired rockets on their car, Mr. Bakht said. A fourth man was wounded. Two of those killed were government school examiners from the nearby Swat Valley who were in Buner to conduct school examinations when the operation started. One of the dead men was a friend of Mr. Bakht's. "Instead of stopping the bombardment, they fired on the car," he said. "There is still a curfew and their bodies are still there on the road." That's one way to stop school finals ... A laborer, Hakim Noor, said, "We thought if they can bring peace we are happy with the army but now it seems they are hitting houses." He who left his village Kowgah two days ago. His uncle Jamal Noor, who escaped the village on Friday, said there was shooting in the upper part of the village and helicopters were firing rockets at the houses. Helicopters were also landing in the hills behind where the Taliban had positions. "Now they will increasingly hit the villages as now they think they are empty and the Taliban will come down into them," Mr. Noor said.

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India-Pakistan

Mass migration from Bajaur continues

2008-08-17

Half of the Bajaur population has migrated to safer places and hundreds of families, including children and women, continue exodus amid the ongoing military operation against Taliban militants while the government's help to the victims is barely discernible. "Out of 0.6 million population, over 300,000 people have migrated from the area," volunteers and locals said. A pamphlet dropped from helicopters asked the people of the Taliban-infested areas to immediately leave, saying the government action was only against the terrorists. The pamphlet said the roads would remain open so the people could shift but asked the migrating people to stop their vehicles and raise their hands when they see helicopters in the air and avoid sitting under trees or else they would be hit. The Al-Khidmat Foundation's Fazl Mehmood, looking after all relief activities in the district, said they had properly registered and accommodated 60,000-plus affected people in their camps in Munda alone and provided temporary stay to over 100,000 migrants. "We have set up relief camps at Balambat, bus terminal in Timergara, Talash, Munda and Chakdara," he said. In addition, hundreds of families are staying with their relatives in Lower Dir and other districts and thousands of victims have moved to down districts. From Batkhela, the headquarters of the Malakand Agency, to Munda, volunteers were raising funds for displaced people at numerous places. The affected families -- could be seen sitting in the open, under-construction markets, bazaars, bus stands, at roadsides and in camps in a miserable condition -- from Khazana, situated six kilometres off the district headquarters, to Timergara and to Munda town bordering Bajaur Agency, waiting for shifting to plain areas. Women, children and elderly people with their luggage walked for hours to leave the troubled agency, believed to be the hotbed of hardcore militants. Tractor-trailers, vans, pick-ups, trucks and cars carrying the victim families and their household items were seen between Munda and Timergara. Residents of almost all villages along the road had set up camps, offering drinking water to the migrating families. As Al-Khidmat Foundation and other groups and individuals had provided free transport service to facilitate the migration, the transporters, as usual, had increased their fares manifold to fleece the distressed people. As choppers and fighter aircraft shelled various towns, people fled to save their lives. "Several persons were killed and houses damaged by shelling," Gul Sher Khan, a resident of Daag area and currently accommodated in government high school Munda camp, said. Another resident of the same area, Roshan Ali, said the entire Dag village had been vacated. The NWFP government set up this camp but people complained of food shortage, drinking water and absence of toilet. While taking notes and talking to displaced people, this correspondent was surrounded by scores of victims who wanted to 'enlist' their names for relief items, as they considered this scribe a government official registering names for providing relief items. Around one dozen people along with their household items were herded in every tent without the facility of power in the hot weather.

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India-Pakistan

Musharraf should be tried for Lal Masjid 'massacre': Qazi

2007-07-16

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmed on Sunday demanded that President Pervez Musharraf be tried for the killing of “hundreds of innocent women and children” in the Lal Masjid operation. “Only President Musharraf is can be blamed for the killings. He ordered the massacre to please his Western masters. Hence, he must be tried and handed down the severest punishment under the law,” Qazi told reporters during a visit to Al-Khidmat Foundation Information Centre, a non-government organisation established to guide parents of Lal Masjid students who went missing in the operation.

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