Pakistan condemns assassination of Parveen Rehman

 

by Zia Ur Rehman

March 15, 2013

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2013/03/15/feature-01

KARACHI – Karachi police are investigating the March 13 killing of Pakistani social activist Parveen Rehman, the long-time director of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP). The OPP works on sanitation, healthcare, education and microfinancing in poor Karachi neighbourhoods.

Two men on a motorcycle opened fire on Rehman’s car on Manghopir Road, eyewitnesses said. She died en route to the hospital, senior police officer Javed Odho told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Civil society activists protest March 14 outside the Karachi Press Club, condemning the March 13 killing of Karachi social activist Parveen Rehman. Police suspect it was another Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan attack. [Zia Ur Rehman]

Nobody has taken responsibility, but police suspect Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants of being behind the killing and identified alleged TTP member Qari Bilal as a suspect, officials said.

A resident of South Waziristan, Bilal reportedly belongs to the TTP’s Sher Khan faction. Informers have identified him as the deputy commander of the banned TTP’s Manghopir chapter.

Police on March 15 conducted an operation in which they were trying to capture or kill Bilal, Ashfaq Baloch, station house officer at the Manghopir police station, said. At least one militant was killed in the operation, but details about who was killed could not be confirmed.

Although Rehman had no known enemies, her fight against land grabs and rampant water theft from pumping stations in and around Karachi might have angered those involved in those multi-million-rupee rackets, some of her colleagues said.

Karachi residents March 14 attend the funeral of Karachi social activist Parveen Rehman, who was assassinated March 13. [Zia Ur Rehman]

Scores of mourners from various NGOs, trade unions and civil society attended her funeral prayer March 14 in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Attacks ‘senseless and barbaric’

Outrage and grief followed her killing.

Civil society activists and Karachi University students March 14 protested outside the Karachi Press Club, where they held placards condemning extremist violence and chanted slogans like “Down with terrorism.”

“Rehman’s killing is a serious attempt to demoralise the forces of peace and development in the country,” said Zahid Farooq, a representative of the Urban Resource Centre, a Karachi-based civil society organisation.

Pakistani officials and civil society groups publicly condemned the act as “senseless and barbaric.”

Calling it “inhuman,” Sindh Governor Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad ordered Sindh Police Chief Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh to submit an incident report and to have law enforcement agencies examine all security camera video footage of entry and exit points near the crime scene.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the killing of Rehman in a statement that urged the public to “stand up against those who are destroying the symbols of hope.”

“Her assassination was a cruel blow to the country’s civil society and a great loss to the nation,” it read.

Devoted to helping Pakistan’s poor

Rehman devoted her life to the development of impoverished neighbourhoods across the country, to civil society and to development, her friends told Central Asia Online.

She threw herself into promoting low-cost housing plans, rehabilitating refugees from floods in rural Sindh and monitoring developers’ encroachment on scarce land in crowded Karachi, according to Farooq. The organisation she ran, the OPP, is one of Asia’s largest slum improvement projects.

Trained as an architect, she moved into aid and sanitation work and in the 1990s helped to build a sanitation system that others replicated across Pakistan, said Abdul Waheed, head of the Bright Educational Society, a Karachi-based NGO.

She never married and remained committed to her work, he added.

Militant attacks on activists a ‘crucial’ concern

Rehman’s killing highlights Pakistan’s alarming trend of militant attacks on activists and aid workers.

In 2012, Pakistan and South Sudan tied as the second most dangerous country for aid workers with 15 attacks each, behind only Afghanistan (44 attacks), according to the Aid Workers Security Database (AWSD). Somalia and Syria rounded out the five most dangerous countries.

In 2011, aid workers in Pakistan suffered 12 attacks, according to the AWSD. Before 2009, three or fewer attacks occurred annually.

NGOs and aid organisations are seen as promoting secular values and modern norms, which the Taliban vehemently oppose because of their extremist view of Islam, said Raees Ahmed, a Karachi-based security analyst. Consequently, many aid organisations have ordered their staff to restrict nighttime travel and avoid high-risk areas.

Unfortunately, the attacks are compelling some humanitarian groups to suspend their activities in the country altogether – leaving the needy to suffer, Waheed told Central Asia Online.

“Violence against aid workers is one of the most crucial humanitarian issues today,” he said.

 

Pakistan hosts training operations in North Arabian Sea

 

by Zia Ur Rehman

March 11, 2013

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2013/03/11/feature-02

KARACHI – The Pakistani navy March 8 concluded five days of multi-national training operations in the North Arabian Sea 32km from Karachi in efforts to bolster international co-operation and to ensure peace and stability in the region.

Twelve other countries took part, while 32 observed the AMAN-13 exercises.

Pakistani naval troops conduct a counter-terrorism exercise during the AMAN-13 multi-national naval exercise in Karachi March 5. AMAN-13 is the fourth in a biennial series of exercises conducted off Pakistan’s coast, the Pakistani navy said in a statement. [REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro]

Ships, helicopters, submarines and special forces conducted anti-piracy drills, surface-to-surface target practice, vessel personnel transfers and provisioning, helicopter-to-ship boarding manoeuvres, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue operations during the drill organised by the Pakistani navy, a navy spokesperson told Central Asia Online.

In one exercise they carried out a scenario in which “pirates” had hijacked a ship. After organisers fired a flare to mark the distressed ship’s location, special forces descended upon it by helicopter and speedboat to take control of the vessel after “clashing with the pirates.”

The exercises are designed to provide a common forum for information sharing, mutual understanding and identifying areas of common interest among regional actors, Pakistani fleet commander Rear Admiral Khan Hasham bin Saddique said March 4 during the opening ceremonies.

“The slogan for the exercise is ‘Together for Peace,’ and all nations participating in the AMAN-13 share a common objective of ensuring peace and stability in the maritime arena,” he said.

Sharpened skills and collaboration counter maritime threats

The key objectives of the naval exercises include displaying a united resolve against terrorism and crimes and contributing toward regional peace and stability to bridge between regions, naval officials said. The exercise mainly focused on issues related to piracy, sea terrorism, human trafficking, and protection of marine interests and international trade.

Such multi-national exercises can clear shipping routes of such threats, observers say.

“Several threats complicate the security matrix in the Indian Ocean,” said defence analyst and columnist S.M. Hali. Shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean have been plagued by attacks by Somali pirates, who have hijacked dozens of ships and demanded millions of dollars in ransom for their release.

Piracy in the Indian Ocean, supported by Al-Qaeda-backed militant groups including Al-Shabaab, has become a huge global problem that threatens the international shipping industry, Pakistani seamen’s trade union leader Amajd Ali Shah told Central Asia Online. “It needs a globally joint and concentrated effort to curb it,” he said.

“Piracy and pirates are the most rising threat, which could be countered by collaboration of navies and by sharing tactics with each other,” Saddique said.

The Pakistani navy has always supported international efforts against terrorism and piracy, and the navy and other maritime forces of the country are proactively engaged in maintaining and further improving their capabilities, he said.

Hali agreed.

Successful execution of AMAN-13 is a significant demonstration of Pakistan’s commitment toward peace and stability through collaborative maritime security between navies of the different countries, he said.

Growing co-operation

This year’s event marked the fourth bi-ennial AMAN training operation since its inception in 2007, Saddique said. It provides a platform for information sharing, for developing tactics against asymmetrical and traditional threats and for boosting interoperability among all navies working in the region.

“All continents of the world are represented in the exercise to promote peace and stability in the region,” he said.

 

 

Sindh devises strategy to protect shrines, Sufi personalities

By Zia Ur Rehman

March 7, 2013

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2013/03/07/feature-01

KARACHI – After continual attacks on Sufi spiritual leaders and shrines, the Sindh government devised a strategy to provide security to the shrines and spiritual leaders across the province.

On February 25, a blast tore through the Ghulam Shah Ghazi shrine in Marri village in Shikarpur District, killing four people on the scene and wounding more than 27 others. Pir Syed Hajan Shah – a spiritual leader and Gaddin Nasheen (spiritual descendant) of the saint honoured at the shrine – later succumbed to his wounds March 4.

Members of Sufi groups, religious groups and civil society outside the Karachi Press Club February 26 protest against recent attacks on Sufi shrines and spiritual leaders in Sindh. The Sindh government has devised a strategy to protect Sufi shrines and spiritual leaders across the province. [Zia Ur Rehman]

After news spread of Shah’s death, markets, businesses and trade centres across Sindh closed down March 5 voluntarily to honour him, media reported.

Militants also attacked the convoy of spiritual leader Syed Hussain Shah – popularly known as Saeen Hussain Shah Qambar – February 20 with a remote-controlled bomb in the Ahmed Deen Brohi area of Jacobabad District. He escaped unharmed, but the bomb killed his grandson Shafiq Shafi Shah and injured eight others.

Besides prompting more aggressive security measures, the attacks have elicited broad condemnation.

Government security measures

In a February 28 press release, Sindh police chief Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari called for reinforced security at the Sufi shrines, dargahs (a Sufi shrine built over a religious figure’s grave), mosques and imambargahs (Shia congregation halls) in the province.

“[Cell phone] jammers, walk-through gates and security barriers have been installed in all shrines, while officers in charge of all police stations have been directed to increase police patrolling in the areas where Sufi shrines are situated,” Pir Muhammad Shah, a senior police officer in Sukkar, told Central Asia Online.

Authorities also arranged meetings with caretakers of various shrines and spiritual leaders to work out security strategies, he said.

Leghari also ordered deployment of plainclothes police to be deployed and for security upgrades for spiritual leaders.

Police raids resulted in the arrests of six militant suspects in connection with both attacks, Sindh media reported. Officials are interrogating the suspects, said Parvaiz Chandio, a police official in Shikarpur.

Intelligence agencies have declared 15 Sufi shrines of Sindh “sensitive” and asked the provincial government to provide them with fool-proof security, said Nasir Shaikh, a Hyderabad-based journalist, citing some official reports.

Shrines honouring Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (Bhit Shah), Laal Shahbaz Qalandar (Sehwan), Sakhi Abdul Wahab Shah (Hyderabad), and Baba Salauddin (Kotri) are among those declared sensitive, he said.

Attacks draw broad condemnation

Additionally, the Sindh Assembly February 27 passed a resolution condemning attacks on religious scholars and shrines.

“The recent attacks on spiritual leaders in Sindh were carried out by banned organisations and were a continuation of the vicious campaign against the Hazara community in Balochistan,” said Imran Zafar Leghari, a parliamentarian belonging to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), who presented the resolution in the assembly.

“Sindh is the land of Sufis and saints who preached peace and love,” he told Central Asia Online, adding that the provincial government is devising a strategy to protect Sufi shrines and religious scholars from banned extremist outfits.

Sindh’s civil society and progressive political parties also denounced the attacks and have started a joint campaign against militancy in the province. Even before the Ghulam Shah Ghazi shrine bombing, they were reacting with outrage.

Nine progressive political parties of Sindh and civil society organisations February 24 conducted province-wide protests.

The people of Sindh typically reject aggression, militancy and extremism, said Ilahi Buksh Bikak, a leader of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz political party who attended a protest that day held outside the Karachi Press Club.

“Islam spread in the Sindh region thanks to great Sufi preachers, not because of Arab fighters,” Bikak told Central Asia Online, adding that Sufis spread a message of love, peace and interfaith harmony.

Militants target Sufi shrines

Taliban militants have frequently targeted Sufi shrines in Pakistan, especially in the Pashtun regions, and have now started targeting them in Punjab and Sindh, Sufi leaders say.

The militants justify their attacks on shrines and other cultural symbols as attempts at constructing a new culture and identity, said Abdul Majid Baqi, a Lahore-based Sufi researcher, adding that such extremists often follow a philosophy that conflicts with Sufi Islam.

End

TTP attacks unite political forces

By Zia Ur Rehman

January 24, 2013

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2013/01/24/feature-01

KARACHI – After the Taliban assassinated two party leaders and amid an onslaught of militant-driven violence against Pakistan’s liberal parties, the rival Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have united to fight terrorism, leaders of both parties say.

“We [the ANP and the MQM] are political rivals, but we stand united against extremism and terrorism,” said Bashir Jan, the ANP’s secretary-general in Sindh Province. “We have to realise that we have a common enemy that we need to combat together.”

Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders greet one another at the January 18 Karachi funeral of Manzar Imam, an MQM lawmaker slain by Taliban militants a day earlier in Orangi Town. [Courtesy of MQM]

“Friendship with the ANP is a good omen, which would help restore peace in Karachi besides removing misunderstanding between the two parties,” Pakistani Senator and MQM member Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said, referring to a stepped-up campaign by militants to assassinate or attempt to assassinate leaders in Karachi.

The longtime rival parties, who have fought bitter political battles in and around Karachi, have forged a new alliance in the aftermath of the assassinations of Manzar Imam and Bashir Ahmed Bilour.

Imam, an MQM-affiliated parliamentarian in Sindh Province who was elected from Karachi’s Orangi Town neighborhood, and three of his bodyguards were shot dead there January 17.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility.

Imam’s assassination came about a month after Bilour, a seasoned ANP leader and an anti-Taliban crusader, was among nine people killed in a suicide bombing in Peshawar.

Coming Together : 

After Bilour’s assassination, the MQM announced three days of mourning for the rival party’s fallen leader. And, in the wake of Imam’s killing, the ANP Sindh chapter reciprocated, with the ANP’s Karachi leadership participating in funeral prayers for him January 18.

“The ANP and MQM realised that the threat of militancy and terrorism requires a collective strategy to counter it effectively,” said Bushra Gohar, the ANP’s central vice-president and a National Assembly member.

Militancy and terrorism are the biggest threats to Pakistan’s liberal political parties, especially the ANP and the MQM, party officials and security analysts say.

Most recently, ANP local leader Muhammad Din Afridi and his nephew survived a January 20 motorcycle bombing in the Khyber Chowk area of Ittehad Town, but four passers-by were injured. Initial investigations led police to suspect TTP militants of committing the assassination attempt, media reported, citing police officials.

Besides targeting the ANP, the TTP also threatened the Urdu-speaker-dominated MQM, which openly denounces killings perpetrated by the Taliban.

Imam’s assassination was the second Taliban attack on MQM activists this month. On January 1, four men died and 40 other people were injured in a motorcycle bombing of an MQM rally near Ayesha Manzil.

“In the beginning, the militants from the tribal areas were in line with a TTP policy to use Karachi only for fundraising and rest and recuperation,” said Hakim Khan, a Pashtun tribal elder based in Karachi. “But now they seem to have changed their strategy and started targeting leaders of political parties.”

Already, law enforcement agencies, the Karachi Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief among them, are acting on the threats and have arrested several suspected militants in an on-going crackdown on terrorism in the city.

A CID team January 9 arrested five TTP suspects in the Ittehad Town area in connection with the January 1 bombing of the MQM rally and with the August 13 slaying of four ANP members, Ghulam Shabeer Shaikh, a senior CID official, told Central Asia Online January 10.

Curbing ethno-political violence in Karachi

 

Political analysts see the recent unity of the ANP and the MQM against militancy as a breakthrough, saying it is a step forward in improving the deteriorating security situation of Karachi.

“It is indeed a good sign,” Abdul Waheed, head of the Karachi-based civil society group Bright Educational Society, said.

“We hope the restoration of a good relationship between the MQM and the ANP will help in curbing ethno-political violence and targeted killings in Karachi.”

Politically motivated killings and clashes were a prominent feature of insecurity and violence in Karachi in 2012, according to the Pakistan Security Report 2012, published by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies. As many as 176 incidents of ethno-political violence occurred in Karachi last year, claiming 275 lives and injuring 144 people.

Taking advantage of the ongoing ethnic violence in the city, TTP militants killed dozens of Karachi Pashtun elders and political figures or those who were travelling to Karachi from KP, especially from Swat, Yousafzai said.

“The coalition partners [the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the ANP and the MQM] are not only together against religious militancy but also ethno-political violence in the city,” Najmi Alam, Karachi secretary-general of the ruling PPP, told Central Asia Online. “We will defeat the enemy together.”

Karachi police determined to eliminate terror network

by Zia Ur Rehman

December 21. 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/12/21/feature-01

KARACHI – Karachi police remain committed to fighting the militancy, cracking down on insurgents and shattering the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) network in the city, despite an increasing danger to law enforcement personnel.

Criminal Investigation Department officials November 25 present seized arms and ammunition in the Manghopir area of Karachi. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has been targeting security personnel, but police are determined to fight the militants. [Zia Ur Rehman]

“The TTP has decided to target all those officers who are involved in the crackdown against it,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Mazhar Mashwani said, “but we have decided to target it, too.”

The militants have announced huge rewards for anyone who kills police officers on their list, Mashwani said, but the situation will not deter the Criminal Investigation Department (CID)’s resolve.

“The militants target the policemen to scare them into backing out of their duties, but the law enforcers will continuously work to root them out,” Mashwani told Central Asia Online.

Incidents of violence against police

Militant outfits in Karachi killed 27 CID personnel between November 1 and December 15, Sindh Police Chief Fayyaz Leghari told Central Asia Online, adding that the attacks are in response to the on-going crackdown against the militant groups. So far this year, 113 law enforcement personnel have been killed.

The TTP is working off a hit list that includes police officers involved in the arrests and deaths of a number of militants, including its key commanders in Karachi, said Raees Ahmed, a Karachi-based security analyst, adding that the insurgents still pose a threat to security personnel.

Leghari recognises the threat but said police are responding well.

“These are dangerous times, but we are ready to deal with them,” the chief said. “The cold-blooded murders of policemen will not shatter our determination.” Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah in a December 14 meeting asked Leghari to let him know what additional resources are needed to continue the crackdown, state-owned media reported.

“The police must remain alert at all times and perform their duties with responsibility,” Mashwani said.

Attacks condemned

Leaders of various political parties have denounced the killing of law enforcement personnel.

“Such cowardly acts will not shatter government’s resolve in fight against terror,” Latif Mughal, Karachi secretary of information of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, told Central Asia Online.

In tribute to their sacrifices, Mughal said the names of the martyred law enforcement personnel will be written in gold in history.

It is because of the sacrifices of police and Rangers that the backbone of the militancy is broken today, said Khurram Bhatti, a Karachi leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).

Terrorists have become frustrated and now are resorting to such cowardly acts out of frustration, Bhatti told Central Asia Online.

Origins of TTP hit list

The TTP’s aggressive stance dates back a couple of years, when the militants set their sights on Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Chaudhry Aslam Khan. After repeated attempts over the course of about a year to kill him at his office, insurgents attacked his house September 19, 2011, killing eight people, but Aslam was not among the victims.

Two days later, TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan issued a hit list that included the names of then-Karachi Capital City Police Officer Saud Mirza and Karachi police senior officers Raja Umar Khitab, Farooq Awan, Mashwani and Khurram Waris.

Killed in the line of duty

Militants are suspected in the deaths of at least eight law enforcement officers since December 12.

Khurram Manzoor and Sohail Yousuf – two CID officers who had been missing – were found fatally shot in the Garden and Maripur areas on December15.

On the same day, gunmen riding a motorcycle shot Assistant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Mohsin and Constable Rizwan Khan in the Peerabad police jurisdiction, killing Mohsin.

Constable Ali Hassan died from gunshot wounds sustained during an attack in the Arambagh police jurisdiction two days earlier.

On December 13 in two separate incidents, men on motorcycles shot and killed Constable Syed Shamim Ahmed and Constable Kaleem Anjum.

An unknown motorcyclist December 12 killed Sub-Inspector Mukhtiar Ahmed Ghumman in the Dawood Goth area of Baldia Town. On the same day, a bomb blast killed police Constable Malik Zahid and two other people in the Landhi area.

Leghari announced a compensation package of Rs. 2m (US $20,419) and payment of each victim’s pension to his bereaved family and is offering employment to willing and capable relatives.

Rangers also attacked

The Rangers, a paramilitary force that has assumed a more active role in the war on terror, have also been targeted recently.

Four men riding two motorcycles opened fire near the Al-Asif police picket on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road on December 10, killing Sepoy Inayat Ali and Hawaldar Hakim Ali of the Sindh Rangers’ Ghazi Wing and injuring Traffic Sub-Inspector Qamar Pirzada and Police Constable Khadim. Qamar later died of his injuries.

Three Rangers also died in a November 8 bombing that injured 21 others near the headquarters of the Sachal Rangers, in the North Nazimabad area of Karachi.

Pakistan takes steps to curb sectarian violence

By Zia Ur Rehman

November 19, 2011

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/11/19/feature-01

KARACHI – City law enforcement agencies have arrested several suspects accused of belonging to banned militant outfits.

Outlawed sectarian outfits, especially Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP), have become active in the walk-up to Muharram in Pakistan’s commercial capital, targeting religious sects they despise, senior police officials and security analysts say.

Sindh Security measures for Muharram : 

Security analysts fear a surge in sectarian violence in Karachi during Muharram, which began November 16, and the Sindh provincial government has taken strict steps to avert any incidents during the holy days.

Karachi Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers November 13 present hooded suspects accused of belonging to the banned Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) at CID Gardan headquarters. With sectarian violence escalating throughout Karachi, law enforcement agencies have arrested several suspects they linked to banned militant outfits. [Zia Ur Rehman]

The Sindh government declared Karachi, Hyderabad and Khairpur the province’s most sensitive cities during Muharram and police and Rangers are working to keep the law-and-order situation under control, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said November 13.

Sindh Police Chief Fayyaz Leghari directed police officers to step up security at airports, railway stations, consulate offices and residences, important installations, government and semi-government buildings, mosques, imambargahs and public places during Muharram, a November 14 statement from Sindh police headquarters said.

The provincial government has banned 50 religious leaders and orators from entering some of Karachi’s districts during Muharram and has ordered these individuals to skip all religious gatherings and to give no speeches during this period.

Because motorcycle-riding gunmen carried out most of the Karachi killings, the Home Department November 10 also banned pillion-riding (shared motorcycle riding) in Karachi, Hyderabad and Khairpur during the first 10 days of Muharram.

Other provinces follow suits  ; 

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police have declared Peshawar, Hangu and Dera Ismail Khan the most sensitive districts in their province. Tank, Bannu, Kohat and Mansehra are also areas of concern during Muharram. KP officials are conducting aerial surveillance during Muharram to ensure timely action in an emergency, Dawn reported November 15, citing a spokesperson of KP Police.

Authorities there have prohibited brandishing and carrying weapons, pillion riding and the use of loudspeakers to broadcast inflammatory pronouncements.

In Peshawar alone, 10,343 security forces personnel will be deployed for Muharram.

Similarly, Punjab police have finalised a security plan for Muharram and law enforcement agencies have started the search and scanning operation in these areas and on the routes of the Muharram procession with the help of modern scanners, sniffer dogs and human intelligence, the Daily Times reported, citing police officials.

More than 20,000 policemen and officers will protect against any untoward incidents in Lahore, the report added.

Sectarian violence in Karachi ; 

At least 54 sectarian murders occurred in the first 10 months of 2012 in Karachi, said Taranum Khan, an officer at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which compiles data on killings in Karachi, adding that the victims included members of the Deobandi and Shia sects.

But sectarian violence flared up in November, with at least 40 gun homicides reported in Karachi in the first two weeks of November, media reported Khan as saying.

Students and teachers of religious seminaries, activists and sympathisers of religious sects, and professionals were key targets in a recent wave of tit-for-tat killings on sectarian grounds, said Muhammad Raees, a security analyst who monitors religious militancy extensively.

Banned sectarian outfits have become active: 

Outlawed sectarian outfits including LeJ, Jundullah and SMP have become active in the city, fuelling sectarian violence in Karachi, Aslam told Central Asia Online, explaining that LeJ and Jundullah are collaborating with al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, while SMP is a banned Shia militant outfit.

These groups are taking advantage of the existing ethnic and political violence to kill each other’s workers and sympathisers, Aslam said.

Officially, LeJ was formed in 1996 when three die-hard Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) supporters – Malik Ishaq, Riaz Basra and Akram Lahori – developed differences with SSP on that group’s mission, Raees said, while SMP has been linked to a number of killings and reportedly maintains close links with a neighbouring Shia regime.

Key LeJ suspects arrested : 

Police in Karachi November 13 arrested four men accused of belonging to LeJ and of planning a wave of sectarian attacks in the city, said Aslam.

“The four arrested – who were identified as Asif Hussain alias Hakla, Yasin alias Yawer, Hafiz Mohammad Mubarak alias Omar and Hazrat Ali alias Murtaza – had targeted about 15 people on a sectarian basis in Qasba Colony, Orangi Town, Manghopir, Old Golimar, Taimuria and other parts of the city,” Aslam said, adding that they were planning to carry out a bombing before Muharram to create sectarian tensions in the metropolis.

LeJ reportedly has two factions operating in the city. The faction’s nationwide commanders are Asif Choto and Naeem Bukhari.

The CID on October 5 arrested Mahmood Babar alias Durki Shah, chief of the Choto faction’s Karachi operation, and on October 17 arrested Hafiz Qasim Rasheed alias Ganja, chief of the Bukhari faction’s Sindh operation, Aslam said.

Pakistan bars militants from collecting animal hides

 

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

Oct 24, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/10/24/feature-01

KARACHI – The Pakistani Interior Ministry has banned 40 outlawed organisations from collecting animal hides and donations ahead of Eid ul Adha (October 27).

“We will offer no concession to any banned organisation as the money from sacrificial animal hides and donations is used for terror activities,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Central Asia Online October 22.

The list of banned organisations include major groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and a host of smaller outfits.

Pakistanis take animals to a Peshawar market October 23 ahead of Eid ul Adha. The government is banning 40 militant groups from being able to collect sacrificial animal hides. A similar ban last year was called effective in limiting the number of unscrupulous collections. [Syed Ansar Abbas]

Anyone trying to violate the ban will be prosecuted, Malik said.

Conferees at an October 23 meeting to discuss Eid security and arrangements decided that any organisation collecting hides will need a certificate from a district co-ordination officer or police officer.

“The order of the federal government … should be fully implemented,” an Interior Ministry statement issued after the meeting said.

Exploiting Muslim generosity

Eid ul Adha is Islam’s second biggest religious festival, and Muslims sacrifice animals to please God and donate the hides to charity, said Abdul Waheed, a social activist who heads the Bright Educational Society, an educational charity in Karachi. Believers also make monetary donations during Eid.

Religious and social charities, religious parties, seminaries and outlawed militant groups compete vigorously for the money and the hides, Waheed told Central Asia Online. The difference is that the banned militant groups use the money to fund terrorist activities, rather than helping the poor, analysts say.

Intelligence agencies investigating the collection of animal hides on Eid ul Adha have linked money laundering to banned militant groups, according to the “Financial Sources of Pakistani Militants and Religious Organisations” report prepared by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

Militant groups use animal hides as a cover to legitimise funds received from abroad, by claiming they generated the money through selling the hides, the report revealed.

A banner from an outlawed charity organisation solicits animal hide donations in the Landhi area of Karachi October 20. Pakistan has banned 40 outlawed organisations from collecting animal hides during Eid ul Adha. [Zia Ur Rehman]

“They are facing a severe financial crisis and shortage of funds in wake of the measures taken by Pakistani authorities to cut off their main source of income abroad,” Karachi-based security analyst Raees Ahmed said in explaining the effort by militant organisations to collect the hides.

Donations during religious festivals can reap millions of rupees for banned terrorist outfits masquerading under different names, he said.

The public needs to be aware of where its money is going and what group it is giving to, Waheed said.

Government’s efforts 

Besides the ban on the 40 banned organisations, the Sindh provincial government has issued a code of conduct for the upcoming holiday.

“No one will be allowed to carry arms during the three days of Eid ul Adha,” Sindh Home Department official Mukarram Ali said, and authorities will not allow calls for hides from loudspeakers from mosques, seminaries and offices.

Other provincial and local governments have similar guidance in place.

Pakistan authorities imposed similar restrictions last year, and they were deemed effective.

The Punjab government, for example, enacted a ban against militants collecting hides last year and Punjab police registered 72 cases against alleged violators, including members of the TTP, LeJ, Al-Rehmat Trust, Harkat Jihad-e-Islam and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Dawn reported October 22, citing a senior police official.

This year’s ban is already making an impact, Ahmed said, noting that the number of banners and posters appealing for hides in Karachi this year is significantly lower than it has been in past years.

Still, believers are told to be cautious in deciding where they donate the hides.

“Pakistani people are generally not aware about such extremist charities and generously donate in the name of Islam and humanity,” Waheed said. “People should donate only to genuine charities and aid organisations whose credentials in humanitarian work are known.”

End

 

Taliban frustration leads to continued attacks on peace activists

 

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

Oct 23, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/10/23/feature-01

PESHAWAR – As the Taliban continue to oppose those who symbolise peace, they are actually fanning the flames of popular desire to achieve harmony in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

That has frustrated the Taliban’s efforts to spread terror among the local residents, observers and tribal elders say. “Instead of becoming terrorised from the attack, Swati people not only condemned the coward act of targeting a young peace activist but also show their unity against the terrorism and militancy,” Swat human rights activist and analyst Sardar Ahmed Yousafzai told Central Asia Online.

A woman October 11 holds a picture of Malala Yousafzai and a candle during a Karachi rally to condemn the October 9 attack on Malala, who survived. Taliban militants in a state of frustration are attacking peace activists to spread terror, analysts say. [REUTERS/Athar Hussain]

Most recently Taliban militants in Mingora October 9 boarded a school bus and shot Malala Yousafzai, a 15 -year-old who earned international fame for blogging about the atrocities of the Taliban during their reign of terror in Swat in 2007-2009. She and two wounded schoolmates are recovering.

Though the Taliban might have temporarily silenced Malala, they have amplified her message of peace, Sardar said.

“The terrorists wanted to send a wrong message to rest of the country and the international community that there is no peace or security in Swat,” Sardar said. In reality, though, the attack on Malala sparked anger in Pakistan and worldwide support and sympathy, he said.

Militants not interested in peace process

The targeting by Taliban militants of several influential Pakistani peace-seeking figures who disagree with their version of Islam indicates that the Taliban are not interested in the peace process, Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies security analyst Muhammad Nafees said.

“Although the violence is getting utterly inhuman and sickening, there are hopeful signs as well,” Nafees said. “More and more are joining the struggle to end the menace of terrorism.”

For example, there is a broader support for peace lashkars. Ethnic Pashtuns traditionally raise lashkars (armed peace groups) or amns (unarmed peace committees) when they face a common enemy.

Over the past few years, tribes have organised lashkars in Bajaur, Peshawar, Dir, Buner, Lakki Marwat, Khyber Agency and other areas with support from the government. The Salarzai tribes have also made a more active commitment to fighting terrorists.

With the increase in militant atrocities, the Taliban have crossed the line, Salarzai peace committee member Malik Shah Zaib said.

“We’ve seen in the past in both Afghanistan and Pakistan that when the Taliban commit heinous and barbaric acts – like bombing mosques and funerals, targeting schools and killing tribal elders – it galvanises popular opinion against them,” he told Central Asia Online.

“We have paid a heavy price to maintain peace in our area as dozens of our elders and young members have been martyred by the militants,” he said. “We will not allow them to sabotage peace in our area.”

Assaults on peace activists

But taking a stand for peace carries a risk.

Although no official statistics are available, at least 89 attacks – 32 in KP and 57 in FATA – on peace activists and lashkars were reported in 2011, according to the Pakistan Security Report 2011, prepared by the Pak Institute of Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

The actual figures may be much higher, according to tribal elders, as many cases go unreported. Militants have killed tribal elders in public places, in their houses, during jirgas, and at mosques and funerals, they said.

Besides Malala, militants have conducted the following attacks on peace activists:

On October 6, at least five lashkar members in the Akakhel area of Bara Tehsil, Khyber Agency, were killed and seven others were injured.

A remote-controlled explosion July 14 killed Kamarkhel tribal lashkar head Rasheed Khan and injured his associate in the Takhtaki area of Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency.

An unknown attacker July 12 fatally shot Afzal Khan Damghar, who played a key role in maintaining peace in the Swat Valley.

Pro-government tribal chief Malik Abdul Wazah Khan was gunned down July 7 in the area of Buggan in Para Chinar. A June 19 bomb in Nawagai Tehsil, Bajaur, killed tribal elder Malik Atta Khan and critically injured his nephew Fauji Khan.

Tribal elder Sultan Baachazad was shot to death May 13 in the Mamonzai area of Kurram Agency.

And Malik Waris Khan, a pro-government Ferozkhel Amn Lashkar chief and presidential award recipient, was killed March 9 in Jalaka Mela Ferozkhel, Orakzai Agency.

 

Swat Taliban return ‘impossible’

 

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

Oct 17, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/10/17/feature-01

SWAT – Security forces in the Swat Valley have shattered the militants’ command-and-control abilities, leaving the Taliban with only the ability to create fear through hit-and-run tactics, local elders and police officials said. In their latest attempt to terrorise the public, a gunman shot Malala on a school bus in Mingora October 9. Malala earned international fame for blogging about the Taliban’s 2007-2009 reign of terror in Swat.

The attacker also shot two other girls, Kainat and Shazia, whose wounds are less serious.

The incident led to a worldwide outpouring of anger and sympathy, as the entire nation prays for the girls.

Civil society activists in Karachi October 13 protest outside the Karachi Press Club, condemning the October 9 assassination attempt against Malala Yousafzai, a young peace activist. Malala was sent to the United Kingdom October 15 for further treatment. [Zia Ur Rehman]

“Police made arrests in the shooting incident, but we can’t give any details about their numbers,” senior police official Afzal Khan Afridi said.

Sangota resident Ataullah, the suspected mastermind of the plot, has reportedly gone underground after his identity was publicised, but police are scouring various areas of Swat in pursuit of him and the other suspects, media reported October 14, adding that police are questioning his male relatives.

Taliban’s return to Swat termed ‘impossible’

Taliban militants led by Mullah Fazlullah seized Swat in 2007. Bloodshed and atrocities followed, causing the army to launch Operation Rah-e-Rast (Straight Path) against the militants in April 2009.

But the militants can’t return to Swat, officials assert. “The government has defeated militancy and established peace in the Swat Valley through unprecedented sacrifices,” Swat parliamentarian Sher Shah Khan said.

Fazlullah, head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat chapter, and his fighters fled to the Pakistani-Afghan border zone, though some of them are hiding in Karachi, Shah said.

“They want just to spread panic among local residents through such cowardly acts like attacking a young schoolgirl,” Shah told Central Asia Online, adding that such inhumane acts violate both the teachings of Islam and Pashtun norms.

Attempts to kill anti-Taliban figures

Taliban militants are targeting peace activists with hit-and-run tactics, but that is occurring at a very low level, Shah said.

Several anti-Taliban figures hailing from Swat have been assassinated by the TTP in Karachi, Shah said, but security forces and resistance by locals make it very difficult to target someone in Swat.

Still, five peace activists have been attacked in Swat in the past six months, tribal elders say.

An unknown attacker early July 12 fatally shot prominent political activist Afzal Khan Damghar. He was a hotel owner associated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz who had played a key role in maintaining peace in the valley.

Zahid Khan, a leader of the Swat Qaumi Jirga (SQJ) and president of the All Swat Hotels Association, sustained severe injuries in an August 3 attack while he was going to the mosque for Isha prayers. Zahid had vocally criticised the Swat Taliban during their reign. Separate attacks in Swat also injured peace activists Idrees Khan of Bara Bandai and Muftaiuddin of Kanju.

The most recent target was Malala.

“Political elders and leaders of anti-Taliban peace committees of Swat are a key target of the Taliban because they played a key role in assisting law enforcement agencies in the operation against the militants,” said Saifullah Khan, a leader of Nekpikhel Qaumi Jirga, an anti-Taliban armed volunteer force formed in Kabal Tehsil to keep the remaining militants at bay.

The attempt to kill Malala was meant to destroy peace in Swat, but the local population and security forces won’t allow the Taliban to do so, Saifullah said.

“Local and Swati elders are meeting regularly with the security forces and police,” he said, adding that such co-operation was vital to counter-terrorism success.

The district administration, aware of the threat, is protecting schools as well as civil society activists and leaders of various political parties and of anti-Taliban peace committees.

Parties silent about Taliban atrocities

Political leaders and analysts are concerned by the silence from religious and political parties on the Taliban atrocities, especially the Malala attack.

“Religious and political parties that fail to condemn the Taliban’s atrocities and attack on Malala are either fearful (of the militants) or are working hand in glove with them,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Forest Minister Wajid Ali Khan said.

“More than 200 schools were blown up in Swat, and it took a lot of courage for the girl to raise her voice so that they could be reopened,” he said. “That was the only reason Malala was punished.”

Meanwhile, Muttahida Quami Movement chief Altaf Hussain October 12 appealed to the people of Pakistan to refrain from offering prayers behind religious clerics who fail to condemn the Taliban’s attack on Malala.

Journalists also threatened

A small portion of the media, in covering the attempt on Malala’s life, have mentioned deficiencies of security in Swat, he said, adding they should avoid such coverage because it will embolden the militants.

Mostly, though, the militants have been severely denounced worldwide for shooting Malala and her schoolmates.

TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud has directed operatives to take action against media organisations and reporters who have criticised the Taliban for attacking Malala, BBC Urdu reported October 12, adding that the Taliban have threatened media organisations and individuals by email and phone.

Swat Police have provided security to a local journalist after learning that his name appeared on a TTP “hit list,” an October 10 letter issued by the Swat Police stated.

Karachi police crack down on sectarian violence

 

 

By Zia Ur Rehman

October 5, 2012

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2012/10/05/feature-01

KARACHI – Outlawed militant organisations are again active in Karachi, targeting residents based on their religion, police officials and analysts said.

Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Sunni Sipah Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), and Sunni and Shia groups are accused of participating in the recent wave of sectarian violence, and police are aggressively working to curtail the violence.

According to police, an August 18 bombing that killed two and injured 13 at a Shia Imamia Students Organisation (ISO) rally began the recent wave of sectarian violence.

After the August incident, several similar killings suggest that banned Deobandi (Sunni) and Shia militant groups have started killing members and supporters of rival sects, Raees Ahmed, a Karachi-based security analyst, said.

Karachi residents September 25 attend the funeral of four brothers slain September 24 in what police are calling “tit-for-tat killings,” a new trend targeting families of rival sects. [Zia Ur Rehman]

The Crime Investigation Unit (CID)’s Anti-Extremism Cell (AEC) October 1 arrested three suspected arms smugglers who supplied weapons to various Karachi groups, including banned outfits such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), AEC head Chaudhry Aslam told Central Asia Online.

Police also arrested a suspected member of the Shia Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) responsible for the September 24 attacks at the Disco Bakery in the Gulshen-e-Iqbal area, Express Tribune reported September 28, citing Deputy Inspector General of Police Akram Bharoka.

Violence targets families, individuals alike

The sectarian killings have taken a new turn in Karachi, as families now are being targeted.

The death toll from September – basically matching the count for the first eight months of the year – clearly indicates this new trend, analysts contend.

On September 5, unknown militants gunned down the chairman of the Islamic Research Centre Trust, Mukhtar Azmi, and his son Mohammad Baqir. Azmi’s grandson was injured in the attack.

On September 24, four brothers affiliated with ASWJ were fatally shot by motorcyclists near Disco Morr in the Gulshen-e-Iqbal area.

The next day, Mohammad Raza and his two sons were fatally shot and his third son was injured on their way home from their store in Jodia Bazaar. All the dead in those incidents were Shia.

“Muslims of different sects are being targeted in Karachi by the terrorists and it is a conspiracy to destabilise the country,” said Allama Abbass Komeli, a leader of Mutahida Bain-ul-Muslimeen Forum (MBMF), a religious body formed to spread harmony among different sects.

“Pakistanis are peace-loving people and condemn the suicide attacks and targeted killings that are taking place in the name of Islam,” Komeli told Central Asia Online.

The MBMF aimed to defuse sectarian strife and bring people belonging to different schools of thought closer as the latest surge in sectarian killings in the city and other parts of the country had created fear among the religious clerics, Komeli added.

The recent killings indicate that militants in various sects are engaged in “tit-for-tat killings,” intent on wiping out several generations of a family, the Daily Dawn editorialised September 30.

In addition to the families that were targeted, 24 other individuals were victims of sectarian killings in Karachi in September, according to Dawn.

Attack on Dawoodi Bohra community

Two bombings September 18 killed at least eight people, including a 10-year-old girl, and injured 24 others in the Dawoodi Bohra community in the Hyderi neighbourhood, according to police.

“The Dawoodi Bohra community, Shias by sect, have been known as the most peaceful in Karachi,” Aslam said.

Karachi police inspect the site of the September 18 bombing of the Dawoodi Bohra community. Banned sectarian outfits were behind it, police said. [Zia Ur Rehman]

“They number in the tens of thousands in the city and mainly do business,” he said, adding that police are investigating why they have been targeted.

It seems that banned sectarian outfits, especially the Sunni LeJ, are behind the attack on the Bohra community, Aslam told Central Asia Online.

Police link the recent spate of violence to Eid ul Adha.

“In the weeks leading to Eid, the militant groups like to flex their muscles … and to collect donations,” senior CID official Fayyaz Khan said.

Last year, in an attempt to reduce conflict between sectarian organisations, the government outlawed militant outfits from collecting the hides of sacrificial animals during Eid, he added.

Police have also, in the past five years, banned groups that they associate with the sectarian violence. One challenge with that is that the militants often just regroup and change the names of their organisations.

“Police and law enforcement agencies had successfully shattered those outfits’ network in Karachi in the past,” Aslam said, referring to action against the major militant groups. “But the recent political violence in the city has enabled them to re-surface.”

Sectarian violence in Karachi

Based on last year’s figures, Karachi was the Pakistani city worst hit by sectarianism, with 36 attacks that killed 58 and injured another 58.

That number represented about 32% of the total sectarian-related attacks in Pakistan, according to the 2011 Pakistan Security report, prepared by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

The report also stated that the overall incidence of sectarian violence in the country decreased significantly in 2011 but that casualties were concentrated in Karachi, Lahore and Quetta.

As many as 111 sectarian-related terrorist attacks, including five suicide attacks, were reported in Pakistan in 2011, killing 314 people and injuring 459, according to the report.

In the first eight months of this year, 34 sectarian killings occurred in Karachi, according to statistics compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.