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India-Pakistan

Lal Masjid operation: Lawyer asks SC to order murder case against Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz

2013-06-09

[Dawn] A lawyer who has been pleading the cases of Lal Masjid on behalf of its holy man Maulana Abdullah proposed to the Supreme Court on Friday to order registration of murder cases against the men behind Lal Masjid operation. Former president General (retired) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... , former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao were allegedly involved in the 2007 bloody military operation in which 103 people were killed. Advocate Tariq Asad, who was assigned by the apex court on April 18 to go through the contents of the one-man commission of inquiry set up to ascertain the causes of the Lal Masjid military operation, submitted his comments to the apex court on Friday. Justice Shahzada Sheikh of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), heading the Lal Masjid commission, in his findings on April 20 gave a clean chit to the military leadership, but held Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz and his political allies responsible for the operation. The Lal Masjid conflict started when the Jamia Hafsa girls occupied the adjacent Children's Library on January 22, 2007 in retaliation to the razing of seven 'unauthorised' mosques by the city administration. The confrontation built up in the succeeding month to erupt into armed festivities when a Ranger was killed on July 3, 2007 by gunfire from the mosque. Army was called in the same night and special forces stormed the mosque after suspension of water and electricity supply to the mosque failed to subdue the alleged snuffies holed up inside. In his comments, Tariq Asad asked the apex court to also order registration of cases against persons, including the then chairman Capital Development Authoruity (CDA), for allegedly defiling the Holy Koran and books of Shariah.

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India-Pakistan

Court acquits two in Sherpao attack case

2012-10-25

[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court has acquitted two suspects charged in a devastating suicide kaboom targeting former federal minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao which had left 53 persons dead and another 137 injured when they were offering Eid prayers in 2007. The court presided over by Syed Asghar Ali Shah pronounced that the case was badly investigated and the evidence on record did not connect the two suspects, Moslem and Arif Khan, with the commission of the offence. Official sources informed that the order was announced by the presiding officer on October 22, but due to security reasons it has so far not been made public. The occurrence had taken place on December 21, 2007 on the occasion of Eidul Azha when Aftab Sherpao was offering prayer along with his two sons, Sikander Sherpao and Mustafa Sherpao, and several other people at his native Sherpao village. Mustafa Sherpao had also received injuries in the blast. FIR of the bombing was registered at Umerzai cop shoppe in Charsadda under several sections of Pakistain Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

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India-Pakistan

Terrorist releases in high-profile cases: PHC orders police to produce stronger evidence

2008-09-09

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday observed that terrorists charged in high profile cases manage to get their release on bail easily due to lack of evidence and weak investigation against them. A PHC single bench headed by Justice Dost Mohammad Khan directed the provincial police to properly investigate high profile cases and produce strong evidences against terrorists so that they could not be able to get their release on bail from courts. The PHC judge passed these remarks while hearing two bail petitions of accused in high profile cases. The intelligence agencies had arrested two accused Mohim Bacha and Ameer Bacha in precincts of Kabal Police Station in Swat district one year back, recovered heavy weapons including rocket launchers, mortar shells, detonators and hand grenades from their houses and handed them over to police. After investigation, the police stated that the accused had stolen the weapons from three police stations after militants' attacks on the police stations. The state lawyer, however, failed to present strong proofs against the accused when the court asked him to produce solid evidences. On this, the court directed the Station House Officer (SHO) Kabal to produce the record and complete investigation report against the accused within a week. The court asked the state lawyer to produce solid proofs against them in the next hearing of the case. Bail plea dismissed: Another PHC bench headed by Justice Jehanzeb Rahim dismissed a bail petition of an accused charged in possessing explosives. Muslim Shah, resident of Swat, was charged by Swat Police Station on September 12, 2006 for possessing explosives. The police also charged him under 7 Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Section 5 of Explosives Substance Act. After detailed arguments, the court dismissed the bail petition of the accused. Election petitions: Meanwhile, PHC Election Tribunals issued notices to two NWFP ministers and five provincial and national assembly members in writ petitions seeking their disqualification. An election tribunal headed by Justice Raj Mohammad Khan issued notices to PPP-S chief and MNA-elect from NA-8 Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, MPA-elect from PF-36 Swabi Sarfaraz Khan and NWFP Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah in the writ petitions seeking their disqualification. A former provincial minister and a losing candidate of ANP from NA-8 Charsadda Bashir Khan Umerzai had filed an election petition against former federal minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao. Umerzai had lost the election with a margin of 675 votes to Sherpao. He alleged that Sherpao had won the polls through rigging. Another election tribunal headed by Justice Hamid Farooq Durrani issued notices to NWFP Minister for Sports and Tourism Syed Aqil Shah and Mufti Syed Janan, elected MPA from Hangu district, in election petitions filed for their disqualification.

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India-Pakistan

Demolished mosque: Government-clerics talks fail

2007-01-26

Talks between the district administration and caretakers of Jamia Hafsa (Lal Masjid) that followed last week’s demolition of two mosques broke down on Thursday. The caretakers presented a set of demands to the administration at a meeting, which was convened by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao. The demands put forward by the caretakers included the re-construction of one of the mosques and the formation of a committee of religious scholars to decide such matters. They also sought assurances against similar demolitions. Following intelligence reports that Amir Hamza Mosque on Murree Road and another on Islamabad Highway could be used for terrorist activities, the Capital Development Authority and the town administration demolished both mosques. The Interior Ministry was told that the mosques, located along a route routinely used by VIPs, posed a real threat.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan not doing much on terror: US

2006-05-07

Pakistan is not doing enough to help root out Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders who have found safe haven in its lawless tribal lands along the Afghan border, a senior US security official said on Saturday. Most Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are in Pakistan, and while the United States did not know where Osama bin Laden was hiding, he was probably on the Pakistan side of the border, said Henry Crumpton, State Department coordinator for counter-terrorism. Pakistan, a vital US security ally, has arrested hundreds of Al Qaeda members and lost hundreds of its troops battling militants. But Afghan officials have complained insurgents were able to gather support and launch raids from the safety of Pakistani territory. Violence has intensified in parts of Afghanistan in recent months to its worst level since US and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. “Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is ‘no’,” Crumpton told a news briefing in the Afghan capital, Kabul. “Not only Al Qaeda, but Taliban leadership are primarily in Pakistan, and the Pakistanis know that,” Crumpton added. It is totally absurd: ISPR Pakistan army spokesman dismisses as “absurd” a statement by US counter-terrorism envoy that Pakistan is not doing enough to arrest Islamic militants. “It is totally absurd,” Major General Shaukat Sultan, the chief of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said on Saturday. “No one has conveyed this thing to Pakistan, and if someone claims so, it is absurd,” he said. Also, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao rejected a statement by Henry Campton regarding presence of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and said that Islamabad would take action if it had any information about the presence of Qaeda or Taliban remnants. Talking to a private TV channel late on Saturday, Sherpao expressed wonder over the statement by Campton with regard to Pakistan’s role in the war on terrorism.

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India-Pakistan

Suspects in Dec. 15 Rocket Attack Held

2005-12-29

Pakistani officials announced yesterday the capture of suspects involved in the Dec. 15 rocket attack at a rally where President Pervez Musharraf was scheduled to speak. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao said at a press conference that an undisclosed number of suspects had been arrested and were "facing initial interrogations." "In a well-planned move, security agents tracked down the culprits and swiftly arrested them without firing a single bullet," said Sherpao, adding that the suspects had been detained in Balochistan province. "We busted a few camps of the militants and recovered huge quantities of arms and ammunition," said the minister, claming that there are no more rebel camps in Balochistan.

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India-Pakistan

’MMA ready to give Musharraf short time to shed uniform’

2003-06-05

The Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has said it is ready to give President General Pervez Musharraf "a short time" to take off his military uniform so that a national crisis could be averted. I'm going to have a mental picture of a naked Perv in my head all day. Yuck. "General Musharraf should accept our position, otherwise the PML-QA government will not be safe," Maulana Samiul Haq, central leader of the MMA, said in an interview. He hoped that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quid-e-Azam would accept all the demands of the opposition. That sounds like a "or else" to me. He said he did not agree with the stance taken by some component parties of the MMA about the controversial LFO, which institutionalises military's role in the government, but he was in favour of arriving at a consensus with the government. Samiul Haq described MMA government's Islamisation policies in the NWFP as a step in the right direction. Of course he does He also claimed that the federal government was conspiring against them, and threatened "if they try to demolish our government, we will hit back in the Centre." Samiul Haq, who is also chief of his own faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI), said the resignation by district Nazims of the NWFP was part of the federal government's attempts to destabilise the MMA government in the province. "Why is the federal government releasing Rs 27 billion to the NWFP government?" he asked. He said he believed that Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmad Sherpao might have instigated the Nazims' action. Aftab better have somebody start his car for him.

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