Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Soldier martyred in Indian ceasefire violation: ISPR

2019-10-11

[DAWN] A Pakistain Army soldier was martyred as the Indian army resorted to ceasefire violations from across the restive Line of Control (LoC), the military's media wing said on Thursday.

The firing also left one civilian dead and 14 others injured, officials said.

"Indian Army troops resorted to ceasefires violation in Baroh and Chirikot sector along [the] LoC. [As a result] Sepoy Naimat Wali embraced martyrdom," the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
"Well, not exactly 'embraced'. He kinda grimaced and said 'oh shit!'. But martyrdom embraced him"
Chirikot sector is located in Azad Jammu and Kashmir
Kashmir

...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
’s (AJK) Haveli district.

In response, the ISPR said, Pakistain Army troops targeted Indian posts, damaging them "substantially". There were reports of casualties of Indian troops, the statement added.

It was believed that the soldier was martyred on Wednesday evening, when two civilians ‐ 50-year-old Perveen Akhtar and her 15-year-old daughter Saba Tariq ‐ were also injured in Seerhiyan village of Chirikot sector.

On Thursday, Neza Pir sector of Haveli district came under heavy Indian shelling from 3pm to 6pm, and resultantly two women ‐ Naseeb Jan, 40, and Robina Bibi, 16 ‐ were maimed in Chahjal Bala and Kairni villages, respectively, police official Khalid Mahmood told Dawn from the area.

Also on Thursday, the Indian army resorted to "unprovoked" shelling in Neelum district after sunset, which left an 8-year-old boy, Faizan Mir, dead and his parents, Fayaz Mir and Zahida Bibi, injured in Changan Seri village, said Akhtar Ayub, a disaster management officer based in district headquarters Athmuqam. He added that the family's house was burnt to ashes.

Another six people were maimed in main Changan village along Neelum valley road.

Link

Britain

Timeline of major terror attacks in Britain

2017-06-05

In case you lost track...
[DAWN] Manchester Arena bombing
May, 2017: A suicide bomber blows himself outside a pop concert by teen idol Ariana Grande in Manchester in northwest England, killing 22 people and injuring 116.

Seven of the victims were under the age of 18.

The attack was carried out by 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Manchester-born university drop-out of Libyan origin. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

Westminster Bridge attack
March 22, 2017: Five people are killed and more than 50 wounded when a man rams his car into pedestrians on Westminster bridge in London before crashing into the barriers surrounding parliament and then stabbing a police officer to death.

The attacker, 52-year-old British Muslim convert Khalid Mahmood, is shot dead by police at the scene. Investigators describe the lone-wolf attack as “Islamist related terrorism”.

Lawmaker murdered
June 16, 2016: British Labour lawmaker Jo Cox is shot and stabbed to death by a pro-Nazi sympathiser just days before the historic vote to leave the EU.

Far-right white nationalist Thomas Mair is later sentenced to life in prison for her murder.

London underground stabbing
December 5, 2015: A paranoid schizophrenic stabs two people at London's Leytonstone Underground station, two days after Britain's first air strikes on IS in Syria.

The knifeman, Somali-born Muhaydin Mire, 30, is sentenced to life behind bars. The police say the incident is a “terrorist” attack.

British soldier slain
May 22, 2013: British soldier Lee Rigby, 25, is hacked to death by two Britons of Nigerian descent near an army barracks in London.

Witnesses say the attackers encouraged them to film the scene and yelled religious slogans before being injured and arrested by police.

In February 2014, Michael Adebolajo, 29, is sentenced to life in prison for the murder while Michael Adebowale, 22, receives a minimum of 45 years behind bars.

Northern Ireland shootings
March 2009: The month saw a sudden resurgence of political violence in Northern Ireland with two soldiers shot dead outside their barracks by republican militants as they went to collect a pizza delivery, the first such slaying since 1997.

Two days later a police officer is shot dead by a different paramilitary republican faction.

Glasgow airport attack
June 30, 2007: Two men in a burning vehicle ram into the main terminal of Glasgow Airport in Scotland.

An Indian driving the car suffers serious burns and later dies.

The passenger, Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla, 29, is jailed in December for at least 32 years for plotting to murder hundreds of people.

Suicide bombers hit London transport
July 7, 2005: Four British suicide bombers inspired by Al Qaeda attack London's Underground network and a bus during rush hour, killing 52 people, as well as themselves, and wounding 700.

It was the deadliest attack on British soil since a Pan Am airliner blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing a total of 270 people including 11 on the ground, in 1988.

The London attack took place just a day after the city was awarded the 2012 Olympics.

Link

India-Pakistan

Man shot dead by ‘wife, nephew’

2016-12-13

[DAWN] LAHORE: A man was allegedly rubbed out by his wife and nephew in Nawab Town early on Sunday.
"Khalid, I'm leaving you. No, wait! The life insurance! I almost forgot! [BANG!]"
Police said they received a call late on Saturday that a man had been rubbed out by two faceless myrmidons for resisting a robbery in Rasoolpura village and the assailants had fled from the scene. A heavy police contingent reached the spot and started investigating.
"Muldoon, take the fat boys out there and see what happened!"
"Right, chief!"
Police said Khalid Mahmood, 42, of Rasoolpura was found dead in a room of his house.
The doors and windows were locked.
They called the 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....
Forensic Science Agency scene of the crime unit which collected evidence and also recorded statements of witnesses. Police later shifted the body to morgue for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
"Maybe I shoulda studied internal medicine, Sam!"
"Or proctology. Or podiatry. Anything but this!"
Chuhng Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Moaaz Zaffar said they recorded statements of the family and found that the victim’s wife Salma, who had alerted the police, was changing her statements. She told them two unidentified gunnies barged into their house, looted cash and jewellery and shot her husband dead over resistance.
"Dat's what happened, officer."
"They shot him once from the front and once from the back?"
"Which one shot first?"
"All three of them fired at the same time."
"How'd the doors and windows get locked?"
"They had a key."
The ASP said police took the woman into custody for interrogation who initially remained tight-lipped but later confessed to her crime.
"Dat's right! I dunnit an' I'm glad!"
Quoting Salma, he said the woman wanted to marry her husband’s nephew Asif and the two had been planning to kill Mahmood for some time.
"He vas... He vas my BOYFRIEND!"
The ASP said Salma called Asif on Saturday evening and when her husband Mahmood came home they shot him twice in the head, abruptly ejecting him from the gene pool. She collected cash and jewellery, handed it to Asif and told him to leave the scene.
"Here! Beat it, lover! We'll be fixed for life!"
He said they constituted a team led by the Nawab Town station house officer who conducted raid at a house in Chungi Amar Sidhu and tossed in the slammer
Please don't kill me!
Asif and also recovered cash, jewellery and pistol from his custody.
"Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
ASP Zaffar claimed the suspect had also confessed to his crime of killing his uncle. He said police later registered a murder case against Asif and Salma on the complaint of the victim’s brother Ashiq.

Link

India-Pakistan

Three Pathankot suspects remanded in CTD custody

2016-02-29

[DAWN] GUJRANWALA: Anti-Terrorism Court No 2 Judge Bushra Zaman on Saturday granted six-day physical remand of three suspects said to be involved in the Pathankot airbase attack and handed them over to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

The suspects had been tossed in the clink
You have the right to remain silent...
by the CTD from a rented house near Chand Da Qila bypass over suspicion that they were controllers of the attack.

Suspects Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib denied charges and were shifted to ~~some holy man's guesthouse~~ an undisclosed location for investigation.

Link

India-Pakistan

Guy who killed his sister makes bail

2015-10-18

[DAWN] A judicial magistrate on Saturday issued notice to the prosecution on bail petition of a man facing charges of killing his young sister with the connivance of his father allegedly for not making a round roti (bread).

Khalid Mahmood of Shadbagh had already confessed to killing his daughter Aniqa with the help of son Abuzar during investigation into the alleged kidnapping of the girl.

Abuzar in his petition stated that he was not present at home when the incident occurred. He said his mother in her statement before police also confirmed that he was not present at the time of the incident. The suspect asked the court to release him on bail.

The court directed the prosecution and investigating officer to submit record of the case on next hearing.

Link

India-Pakistan

35 cases against Safoora Goth bus attack suspects may be sent to military courts

2015-08-25

[

DAWN] KARACHI: The Sindh police plan to send 35 cases of terrorist activities allegedly carried out by Safoora Goth bus attack suspects, believed to be local operatives of self-styled Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, to military courts, official sources say.

Apart from the crimes committed by bus attack suspects, two more high-profile cases of Shikarpur Imambargah
...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are...
attack and murder of Jamaat Ulema-e-Pakistain (JUI-F) leader Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro had been lately re-examined by the authorities to be forwarded to the military courts, said sources.

But unlike the case of JUI-F leader, police authorities did not sound convinced to forward the murder case of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) leader Zahra Shahid Hussain as well for trial by military courts, said the sources.

"We have identified 35 incidents of terrorism and other crimes, which were carried out by the bus attack suspects," said a bigwig privy to recently held series of meetings on re-examination of all terrorism-related cases before sending them to the home department that would then forward them to military courts.

"The most brutal one was obviously terrorist attack on Ismaili community bus which claimed dozens of lives. Then comes killing of social activist Sabeen Mahmud, attacks on Rangers personnel and coppers 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...
and Hyderabad, grenade attack on a Karachi school, attacks on Bohri community people, attack on American educationist Debra Lobo and the list goes on," he said.

The Sindh police decided to 're-examine' all terrorism-related cases on the basis of severity of the crime before recommending them to the home department in the wake of Supreme Court decision in favour of military courts.

The decision was taken after detailed discussion at a recent meeting chaired by Sindh IG police Ghulam Haider Jamali at the central police office, said the sources.

"Police decided to try the suspects in Khalid Mahmood Soomro murder case in military courts as the slain leader was a main figure in a leading political party. His murder in November 2014 was marked as high-profile," said the official.

"The January 2015 bombing of Shikarpur Imambargah has also been added to the list. It's the worst case of sectarian terrorism in Sindh in recent history. So it was also marked as a case fit for military courts."

He said the Zahra Shahid murder case was also discussed at the meeting but the officials were not convinced over recommending it.

Link

India-Pakistan

Police claim arrest of prime suspect in Dr Soomro assassination case

2015-05-28

[DAWN] SUKKUR: Sukkur police on Tuesday claimed to have enjugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
the prime suspect in the Nov 29, 2014 liquidation of the then Sindh secretary general of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
...the political wing of the Pak Taliban...
Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro.
JUI-F's armed wing is the Pak Taliban, or at least a branch or two. Presumably one of the other branches found the Dear Departed lacking in piety.
Sukkur SSP Tanveer Hussain Tunio disclosed the arrest of the suspect, Lutufullah Jamali, in his messages to some journalists and later speaking to the media in his office on Tuesday.

The SSP said that acting upon a tip-off, 11 vehicles carrying a big police force crossed into 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...
to conduct a raid on a hideout in Osta Mohammed. Jamali was found present there and the police arrested him, he said, without giving other details about the raid.

He said that five suspects involved in the liquidation had already been arrested.

Dr Soomro was bumped off while he was saying Fajr prayers in a mosque next to his seminary in the SITE area of Sukkur on Nov 29, 2014.
Saying prayers at your local could cause your life insurance premiums to rise.
While the killer(s) remained on the lam for weeks after the attack, the JUI-F held a series of rallies and demonstrations in Sindh and other parts of the country for their arrest. Police picked up and interrogated scores of suspects and let off most of them until they short-listed five of them and undertook an extensive investigation into the case in December 2014.

One of the five suspects, Mohammed Hanif Bhutto, a resident of Sachal Colony in Larkana, was then declared the criminal mastermind of the liquidation. Two others, Altaf Hussain Jamali and his brother Darya Khan Jamali, were stated to be residents of Jacobabad while Sarang Ali and Mushtaq Ali were said to be residents of Qambar and Lakhi Ghulam Shah, respectively.
Mushtaq Ali, think you better slow your mustang down.
Mushtaq Ali, think you better slow your mustang down.
You been running all over the town now.
Oh! I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground.

All you want to do is ride around Ali, ride, Ali, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Ali, ride, Ali, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Ali, ride, Ali, ride.

Link

India-Pakistan

Lawyers thrash litigant in court

2015-01-17

[DAWN] A group of lawyers on Thursday gave a thrashing to a litigant in the sessions court, ignoring the presence of the judge.

The victim, Shakeel Husain, had come to the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Munir Ahmad to record his version in a petition filed by one Khalid Mahmood.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
attorneys for Mahmood did not let Husain testify before the judge and started beating him up. They, at least 25 in number, freely used kicks and fists while beating Husain whose face was bleeding while the judge and others just looked on, said an eyewitness. The advocates did not bother to acknowledge the presence of the judge and went away after completing their job, he added. The judge sent a reference to the district and sessions judge along with the case file, narrating the whole episode.

Link

India-Pakistan

JUI-F leader's killing

2014-11-30

[DAWN] THE liquidation of JUI-F's Sindh secretary-general Khalid Mahmood Soomro in the early hours of Saturday once again raises questions about the reach and deadly capabilities of Lions of Islam in Pakistain. The politician from Larkana was bumped off by person or persons unknown outside a Sukkur mosque after morning prayers. He was in the city to attend a gathering the night before his murder.

An active leader and former senator, Soomro was a known name in Sindh's politics, especially in the province's northern part. His tragic killing raises a pertinent question: if leaders of parties known to have a soft corner for the ideology of Islamist Lions of Islam -- though not for their murderous tactics -- can be attacked so brazenly, what must be the level of threat faced by social and political forces that openly condemn militancy? Though at the time of writing no claims of responsibility had emerged, while the police also did not name suspects, the JUI-F has been attacked on numerous occasions in the past by myrmidons. In fact, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the party chief, has himself survived several attacks, including suicide kabooms; the last such incident occurred in October at a rally in Quetta. Numerous JUI-F leaders and workers have been slain in Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, while Soomro was also targeted in the past.

The primary blame must of course go to the state for failing to clamp down on the perpetrators of such violence across Pakistain. While Lions of Islam might be on the run, battlefield successes have not really been followed up with active intelligence-gathering in cities to ensure Lions of Islam have not infiltrated cities and towns. A thorough probe is required to establish the facts behind the party official's murder and punish the culprits. Having said that, the JUI-F must also take a firm, unambiguous stand against militancy. Having lost so many activists to acts of terrorism, the party cannot afford to sit on the fence and go light on Lions of Islam of all shades, regardless of any ideological affinities it may share with some groups.

Link

Britain

UK Police Chief Claims '4 Or 5' Terror Plots Foiled

2014-11-24

[IsraelTimes] British police have foiled four or five suspected terror plots this year, the country's most senior police officer said Sunday ahead of a week-long campaign to enlist the public's help in countering the threat.

"We've said on average over the last few years it's been about one (plot) a year, but this year alone we think four or five," Scotland Yard commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told BBC television.

He added: "Certainly we've seen a change to the momentum... we've seen a change to the frequency and the seriousness of the types of plots that we're looking at."

More than 250 counter-terrorism arrests have been made so far this year, according to police sources.

Most recently, three people were charged in London last week over an alleged plot which media reports said included a plan to behead somebody in Britannia.

Hogan-Howe said the threat from so-called "lone wolf" attacks by individuals or small groups was causing "growing concern," and warned their ability to act quickly left little time for the security services to intervene.

But he said the public could help by being more vigilant, particularly in crowded places and transport hubs where attacks are more likely to happen.

For a week starting on Monday, police will hold a series of events across Britannia to let ordinary people and businesses know how they can help by identifying and reporting suspicious behavior.

The campaign will also urge people to question charities about where their money is going, amid concerns that some are being used to channel funds to Lion of Islams.

"If the public, the businesses and police work together with the security services then that's an incredibly powerful team," Hogan-Howe said.

The national terror threat was raised in August to "severe," meaning an attack is highly likely, but the police chief said the message was to "keep calm but be aware."

He repeated fears that Britons who have gone to fight with jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria might return to use their new training and experience to attack Britannia.

But he did not comment on a claim by an opposition Labour politician that as many as 2,000 Britons are fighting overseas -- four times the official estimate of 500.

Khalid Mahmood, an MP for the city of Birmingham, told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that in his area -- which has a significant number of Moslems -- there was a "huge problem" of people going to fight with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) group.

Link

India-Pakistan

Peshawar People Potted

2013-05-29

PESHAWAR: Two people were killed and about a dozen wounded when a motorbike bomb exploded in Peshawar late Tuesday, police and hospital officials said.

The low intensity bomb was detonated by a remote control device in the Imamia Colony on GT Road, senior police official Khalid Mahmood Hamdani said. It was a remote-controlled device planted on a motorbike which went off in a street, Hamdani told AFP. Two people were killed and about a dozen others were wounded, he said adding that the blast partially damaged three nearby houses.

The injured were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital where at least one was described to be in a critical condition. A large number of relatives of the dead and injured reached the hospital. Doctor Jamil Shah, spokesman for the citys Lady Reading Hospital, confirmed the toll. We received two bodies and 11 injured, two of them are in critical condition, he said. The device carried about four kilogrammes of explosives, chief of the citys Bomb Disposal Squad, Shafqat Malik told AFP. The bomb was planted on a motorbike, he said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan has strongly condemned the blast and directed authorities concerned to provide the best available medical assistance to those injured in the blast.

Link

Afghanistan

Six Pakistanis being released from Bagram prison

2012-10-18

[Dawn] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Lahore High Court on Tuesday that six Paks imprisoned in Bagram Theatre Internment Camp in Afghanistan were being released.

A list of the six Paks to be released from captivity was also submitted to the court of Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan.

The judge praised the efforts of the ministry and observed that this was a proof of the hard work done by the petitioner (Justice Project Pakistain) to bring Pak citizens back.

The judge adjourned further hearing till Nov 15.

The judge was hearing a petition filed by Justice Project Pakistain, a non-profit law firm, for the release and return of Pak citizens from the US captivity.

The petitioner submitted that Pak citizens had been tossed in the slammer
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
in Bagram jail without any charge or trial since 2003. It said they were kidnapped from Pakistain and removed to the infamous US prison in Afghanistan.

Initially the petition was filed for the release of seven Paks, however, later names of more 25 prisoners were included.

Link

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