Posts Tagged ‘Quetta’

Taliban leader vows to kill Quetta Shura leadership

WASHINGTON – A senior Taliban commander has issued a scathing statement about the death of Maulvi Muhammad Ismail, the former Deputy Military Council Chairman for the Taliban’s Quetta Shura, who was reportedly killed in Taliban infighting last month.
In a videotaped statement sent to a Pashto news website called Taand on May 10, 2012 Mullah Ghulam Hassan, a senior Taliban commander once based in …

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Problems in Balochistan

Balochistan Communications Minister Ali Madad Jattak has said that there must be some sort of corruption in Balochistan since it is a backward province. Talking to the press in Quetta, he also said that corruption in Balochistan was less than in other provinces. Unfortunately for Mr Jattak, his facts seem as skewed as his view, the Punjab has been found in an international survey to be the least …

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No harm in corruption in Balochistan, says minister

QUETTA – Provincial Minister for Communications Ali Madad Jattak has said that there is no harm in corruption and there must be some sort of corruption in Balochistan since it is a backward province.
Talking to media here on Friday, Ali Madad Jattak, who is also spokesperson for the Balochistan government, confessed that there is corruption in Balochistan, but lesser that other provinces. He …

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PAF plane crashes in Lasbela

QUETTA – A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jet crashed in Sonmiyani area, in Lasbela district on Friday, however, pilot ejected safely and there were no casualties on the ground.
Sources said a PAF Mirag plane took off from Masroor Base Karachi and crashed in Sonmiyani area of Lasbela after developing a technical fault.
However, pilot namely Rashid remained safe. An official of Lasbela …

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Policeman killed, 3 injured in Quetta remote-control blast

One policeman was killed and three others received injuries when a remote-controlled blast hit a police mobile in Langoabad area at Saryab Road here in Quetta on Thursday.
According to police sources, four policemen were on a patrol duty when a blast hit their vehicle. The blast critically wounded the policemen, and one of them later died in the hospital during treatment, police sources …

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Blast in Quetta kills one policeman

According to DSP Sikander Khalil, the police vehicle was on a routine patrol when it was hit by the IED, which was planted in a garbage heap.      — File Photo by AFP

QUETTA: A policeman was killed and three others were critically injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded on Sariab Road in the Killi Qambrani area on Quetta’s outskirts, DawnNews reported.

According to DSP Sikander Khalil, the police vehicle was on a routine patrol when it was hit by the IED, which was planted in a garbage heap.

The injured police personnel were shifted to Bolan Medical Complex for treatment.

The deceased policeman was identified as Mohammad Hashim who died while he was being shifted to a hospital.

The conditions of the three injured policemen were stated to be critical by doctors. The policemen were identified as Abdul Hakeem, Inayatullah and Mohammad Naseem.

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Via DAWN.com

Kidnappings threaten aid work in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The grisly murder of a Red Cross worker and a video showing an American hostage pleading for his life highlight a perilous security situation in Pakistan that aid groups say is endangering their work.

Humanitarian organisations are reviewing operations in Pakistan after the killing of Khalil Dale, whose decapitated body was found on April 29, four months after he was abducted in Quetta.

The savage murder of the 60-year-old British convert to Islam sent shockwaves through the aid community, particularly as his employer, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has a reputation for neutrality that allows it to work safely even in the most hostile situations.

Aid groups spend millions of dollars on helping millions of Pakistanis, yet attacks on their staff are increasing, according to the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF), which represents nearly 50 international organisations.

Since 2009, at least 19 aid workers have been murdered and more than 20 abducted across Pakistan by militants and criminals, the PHF said.

“This trend of increased targeting of humanitarian aid organisations and personnel will further impede the ability of humanitarian agencies to provide life-saving and life-enhancing support to the most vulnerable population,” the PHF warned.

According to the PHF, at the end of 2011 there were more than 200 foreigners and 10,000 locals working in Pakistan for international aid organisations under its aegis. The ICRC is not part of the PHF.

On Sunday a video emerged of kidnapped US development worker Warren Weinstein urging President Barack Obama to save his life by agreeing to his abductors’ demands.

The 70-year-old was snatched after gunmen tricked their way into his Lahore home in August last year, and Pakistani officials believe he is being held by al Qaeda and Taliban extremists in the northwest.

The kidnapping of Weinstein in Lahore, and an Italian and a German in Multan – both cities previously regarded as relatively safe – has further rattled NGO nerves.

“A few people have pulled out of coming for monitoring visits – we’ve had auditors coming from Europe and at the last minute they’ve decided not to come,” an official with one major Western aid group told AFP.

“We’ve really tightened up our security. For Islamabad our security guy says the risk is still low, but kidnappings are increasing, and from places like Multan – we never would have expected that.”

Many in the aid community have been deeply critical of the CIA’s decision to run a fake vaccination programme in a bid to identify Osama bin Laden before he was killed last May, saying the link with espionage has endangered aid workers.

Pakistan arrested the doctor recruited by the CIA to run the programme. Bin Laden’s killing in Pakistan ignited a wave of restrictions on foreigners across the country, limiting their movements and restricting visas.

A staff member with another international NGO said that while most aid workers accepted that a certain level of danger is part of the job, the ICRC’s reputation made the Dale case all the more shocking.

“The ICRC is considered to be globally one of the most non-partisan, objective organisations. It does its utmost to tread the centre ground, so that is a concern to individuals like me,” the staff member said.

Senior ICRC officials from Geneva travelled to Pakistan after Dale’s murder to meet authorities and review the organisation’s presence in the country.

A few days before Dale’s abduction, the ICRC had already said it was planning to scale back its presence in Pakistan.

An internal source said this was to do with tensions with the authorities and problems getting visas for foreign staff, but the process could be sped up following the murder.

One option being considered, the source said, is to cut ICRC operations back to their level before a 2005 earthquake in Kashmir that killed more than 75,000 people.

That would leave just five expatriate staff in Islamabad and a hospital in Peshawar, down from about 100 foreigners at the start of the year.

Gunmen slay CID?SP in Quetta

QUETTA – Unidentified gunmen killed an SP in the provincial capital on Tuesday.
 According to them, CID SP Shah Nawaz Khan was on his way after his morning walk when armed men attacked him at Satellite Town, wounding him critically. He was rushed to hospital but he succumbed to injuries. “Two armed motorcyclists sprayed a volley of bullets on the officer and fled,” a senior …

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Bomb blast rocks Panjgur

quetta – A powerful bomb explosion rocked Panjgur, a border town near Iran, on Tuesday. Explosives planted to a vehicle in Chattan Bazaar, near Deputy Commissioner Office went off with a big bang. One person received minor injuries while windowpanes of nearby buildings and vehicles were shattered.

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Government has made ‘fake’ cases against us: Shahzain Bugti

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Provincial president of Jamhoori Watan Party Shahzain Bugti. — Photo by APP

QUETTA: Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) provincial president Shahzain Bugti claimed on Tuesday that the government had created fraudulent cases against him and his companions, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives after being presented before a sessions court in Quetta, Bugti said that the government was launching a propaganda campaign by registering  fake cases against them.

He accused that three of his companions, who were said to have been ‘kidnapped’ from Karachi by law enforcement agencies, were wrongly associated with the resistance movement in Lyari.

Moreover, he accused the intelligence agencies of kidnapping two more of his fellows.

The court subsequently adjourned the session till May 14 after a brief hearing. Bugti will be presented again in court in the next hearing along with his companions.

In 2010, Bugti and his companions were taken into custody by Frontier Corps (FC) personnel on charges of carrying illegal arms in their vehicles. A sessions court had released them on bail.

However, on 28 April 2012, Bugti, along with 26 guards,  was arrested again after a meeting at his residence with Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zafarullah Zehri following arrest warrants issued against him in the arms smuggling case.

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Via DAWN.com

SP CID gunned down in Quetta

The SP of Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Police Shah Nawaz Khan has been gunned down in the city’s Satellite Town in the wee hours of Tuesday. According to details, Shah Nawaz Achakzai came out of his residence for morning walk when some unidentified miscreants, lurking in wait for him, ambushed him with gunfire. As a result, the CID’s SP died on the spot. The miscreants fled …

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Target killing claims life of CID SP in Quetta

The slain officer was on the hit-list of various outlawed militant and separatist organisations due to his unyielding attitude towards them.—File Photo

QUETTA: Unknown gunmen attacked SP Crime Investigation Department (CID) Shahnawaz Khan in Quetta’s SatelliteTown area on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.

SP Shahnawaz Khan was outside his house for a walk in the early hours of Tuesday when he was targeted by gunmen riding on two motor cycles.

He was shifted to a hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

The slain police officer had been posted at key positions of the police department; moreover he was on the hit list of various outlawed militant and separatist organisations due to his unyielding attitude towards them.

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Via DAWN.com

US-made arms being smuggled into Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – The silence of American intelligence agency CIA and British MI-6 over smuggling of sophisticated arms from Afghanistan’s Helmand province into Quetta and Karachi has raised many eyebrows in Pakistan.Most of these high-tech arms including 8mm and 9mm calibre pistols of the US make have found way into volatile port city of Karachi and restive Balochistan’s capital Quetta, …

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Writers, artists vow to uphold dignity of people

LAHORE, May 5: Writers and artists of the country have always upheld the dignity of people, struggled for their rights and would keep on doing so.

It was the crux of writers and artists convention held at Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Tipu Block, New Garden Town, on Saturday. The event was organised by the HRCP.

In his opening remarks, HRCP Secretary I A Rehman said it was the first such convention organised by the Commission, adding such events should also be held in Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad.

He said the convention was held to assess the state of rights of literary figures and the freedom of expression they were being given. He said no issue could be properly addressed without having a discourse on it.

Veteran writer Intazar Hussain, in his keynote address of the first session titled ‘21st Century and Writers’, threw light on the role of writers in the 20th century and in present situation.

He said since 1947 Pakistani literature passed through a number of phases that gave birth to many movements. But, he said, literature for its growth did not rely on movements.

“Movements come and go but literature stays there,” he said. Dr Saadat Saeed, criticising the US, said it wanted to turn the world into a global village. He said the western theories being taught in local universities were designed to ‘poison the students’ minds’. Mr Saeed said writers and intellectuals should wage a war against capitalism.

Dr Qazi Asad from Multan said though it was not good to ape western literature, to discard good literature being produced in the West was also not wise. He said the writers had never been happy with their times and they kept writing against negative attitudes prevalent in society.

Dr Ravish Nadeem from Islamabad regretted that distorted version of history was being taught to the students at school level.

He said one could not help compare Pakistan in 21st century with the developed countries, adding the societies which were far ahead struggled for centuries to become civilised.

“Consciously or unconsciously we do follow the West because they (western nations) are models for us whether we accept it or not”, he added.

Veteran writer Masood Ashar, defending the Third World literature being written in English, said sensitive issues were also being highlighted through such writings.

He emphasised the need for introducing changes in syllabus, especially with regard to history. He regretted that students were being taught wrong history.

Poet and a former director general of Pakistan National Council of Arts, Kishwar Naheed, said Pakistani writers did not write on the issues of the society where they lived because western ideologies seemed more attractive to them.

Senior Lawyer and left-leaning politician Abid Hassan Manto in his keynote address for the second session titled, ‘The Role of Writers and Artists in the Struggle for Human Rights’ threw light on different phases of the history of human rights and efforts made by Progressive Writers Association in this regard.

Mr Manto regretted that ideological borders of Pakistan were being defended by fundamentalists. He said the country was under the hammer of capitalistic system. “What to talk of national independence, there was not even individual independence in this country,” he added.

Writer Rashid Misbah gave a sweeping statement saying 95 per cent of Pakistani writers were ‘hypocrites’ and they did not write truth.

Prof Razi Abidi said access to education was extremely important as educational rights should be given to everybody. He said women must get education to become economically independent.

Dr Arifa Syeda also pointed towards the wrong history being taught to students at the school level.

The third session, ‘Culture and Challenges of the Age’ was about performing and fine arts. It began with some melodious singing by Sara Zaman.

Dr Anwar Ahmed, in his address, threw light on the political and cultural situation of the country and how culture and cultural values were being treated by the authorities.

Prof Lala Rukh from Women Action Forum, through a slide show of photographs based on the journey of WAF, specially focusing Zia regime, refreshed memories of all those who were part of the struggle against dictatorship.

Prof Nazish Attaullah showed artworks by different artists created during the last 10 years with a special focus on Zia regime.

Writer Shahid Mehmood Nadeem threw light on the 28-year long journey of Ajoka Theatre and told the audience that it kept producing plays unflinchingly on social and political
issues of prime importance.

Screening of clips of some of the Ajoka plays was also part of Nadeem’s address. Writer Aqeel Ruby threw light on culture and cultural values. Shirin Pasha from NCA Film and Television Department briefly discussed the film history in Pakistan.

Architect Nayyer Ali Dada said culture could not be seen as an aspect of life as it was life itself. He said civility led to culture and then came poetry, art and literature. He said along with menace of intolerance, giant of terrorism was also staring us in the face.

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Via DAWN.com

SCBA forms body to pursue Baloch missing persons cases

ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court Bar Association has formed a free legal aid committee for pursuing the cases of Baloch missing persons in superior courts.
The sources said that SCBA in its three days meeting in Quetta, decided to constitute a free legal aid committee, comprising five senior lawyers to contest the Baloch disappeared persons’ cases in the courts free of cost.
Malik Jahanzaib …

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At least Six shot dead in different areas of Karachi

The three men lost their lives as unidentified armed assailants opened fire on them in the limits of Pirabad Police Station, said a police officer.—File Photo

KARACHI: In the violent incidents in different areas of  Karachi, at least six people were shot dead on Saturday, DawnNews reported.

Three people were shot dead in city’s volatile Kati Pahari area as unidentified armed assailants opened fire, police said.

The three men were killed in the limits of Pirabad Police Station in Qasba Colony, said police officer Rana Zulfiqar.

The deceased were identified as 25-year-old Muzamil, 30-year-old Riaz and 40-year-old Ghayas Shah.

Riaz and Muzammil belonged to a political party.

The killings created tension in the area; the angry protestors torched two motorbikes

The bodies were shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities.

Three dead bodies were found from the area of Metro cinema, Surjani town and Araam Bagh.

The victims were kidnapped before they were shot dead.

The police and the rangers held a flag march in different areas including Lines area in the aftermath of today’s killings.

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Via DAWN.com

SC orders recovery of missing in two weeks

QUETTA –Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Friday said that no federal or provincial authority seems to be interested in Balochistan peace, declaring the court will now use constitutional options.
The chief justice, who was heading a three-member SC bench hearing the Balochistan law and order case, also expressed annoyance over non appearance of intelligence agencies’ sector …

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