DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Hafiz Saeed Leads Mass Rally in Islamabad Against India on Pakistan's Defence Day

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Hafiz Saeed Leads Mass Rally in Islamabad Against India on Pakistan's Defence Day

Source: DTN News from reliable sources DAWN Pakistan
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 7, 2013: FROM ISLAMABAD - Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed appeared openly at a rally in Islamabad on Friday, denouncing India as a terrorist state as thousands of his supporters chanted for “holy war” against the rival nuclear nation.

India has accused Hafiz Saeed of masterminding the 2008 attack on its financial capital Mumbai where gunmen killed 166 people over three days. The United States has offered $10 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

As dusk fell, more than 10,000 people gathered in Islamabad in a show of defiance certain to enrage India further following weeks of tensions over the disputed Kashmir border.

“The United States and India are very angry with us. This means God is happy with us,” Saeed told the crowd as supporters chanted “Jihad!” (“Holy war”) and “War will continue until the liberation of Kashmir”. He did not use the word “jihad” himself.

“We are ready for every sacrifice for the liberation of Kashmir,” the stocky and bearded former professor added at the rally marking Pakistan's Defence Day.

Speaking about Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner who died in a Pakistani jail this year and was given a state funeral back home, Saeed told the crowd: “He was a terrorist. How can the Indian government give state honours to a terrorist? This means the Indian government and army are terrorists.”

India has called on Pakistan to bring Saeed to justice, an issue that has stood in the way of rebuilding relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours since the Mumbai carnage.

Saeed is the founder of the LeT, a militant group banned in Pakistan but tolerated unofficially and believed to be close to the army. Saeed has long abandoned its leadership and is now the head of its charity wing.

India is furious that Pakistan has not detained him since it handed over evidence against him to Islamabad, and allows Saeed to live freely in the city of Lahore in a villa with police stationed outside.

Relations plunged to further lows last month after the killing of five Indian soldiers along the so-called Line of Control that separates the two sides in the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

BELLIGERENT MOOD

Seeking to defuse tensions, Pakistan's civilian leaders have kept a conciliatory tone, but on Friday, as thousands gathered in Islamabad, emotions spilled into the open.

The mood was strikingly anti-Western and belligerent, with speakers openly declaring their sympathy for the Taliban fighting Western forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

“India should stop describing Kashmir as its indispensable part,” Saeed said from a makeshift stage mounted on a truck. “Otherwise every part of India would be dispensable for us.”

As the crowd cheered, two men performed a patriotic song threatening to “turn the whole of India into Mumbai”.

Others chanted “Whoever is a friend of India is a traitor” and waved black and white striped flags.

“They should know there are a lot of people here who are waiting for the conquest of India,” Hamid Gul, a former chief of the ISI intelligence service, told the crowd.

“It will be our privilege to take part in this war.”

Saeed founded the LeT, which India blames for the rampage in Mumbai, in the 1990s. He has denied involvement in any attacks.

He abandoned the leadership after India accused the LeT of being behind an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.

His charity, linked to the LeT, enjoys popular support for its humanitarian work.


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DAWN Related News;

Terror bid foiled as police detains two, seizes arms during Islamabad raid

Pakistan releases seven Afghan Taliban prisoners

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DTN News - PAKISTAN SECTARIAN VIOLENCE: Militants Attack Shiites In Peshawar, 15 Killed

DTN News - PAKISTAN SECTARIAN VIOLENCE: Militants Attack Shiites In Peshawar, 15 Killed

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AP
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 21, 2013: Militants opened fire on a Shiite Muslim mosque where worshippers were gathering for Friday prayers, and then a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside, killing 15 people in the latest attack aimed at the minority sect, police said.

The attack hit the city of Peshawar, which is on the outskirts of Pakistan's tribal area, the main sanctuary for Islamic militants. They have targeted the city with scores of bombings in recent years.

Three militants initiated the attack on the mosque, located inside a Shiite religious school, by firing on a policeman who was standing guard outside, said senior police official Shafiullah Khan. The policeman was critically wounded, Khan said.

The militants then entered the mosque, where one of them detonated his suicide vest. The other two militants escaped, and police have launched a search operation to find them, Khan said. Fifteen people were killed and scores more wounded, he said.

Zawar Hussain, who was inside the mosque when the attackers struck, said their firing set off panic among the roughly 300 worshippers inside. Then came the explosion.

"After the blast, I fell down. People were crying for help," said Hussain. "I saw bodies and badly injured worshippers everywhere."

Local TV video showed blood splattered on the floor and walls of the mosque. Broken glass littered the floor, and there were holes in the walls and ceiling caused by ball bearings packed in with the bomber's explosives to cause maximum damage and casualties. Relatives at a local hospital wailed in grief as rescue workers wheeled in wounded victims, their clothes soaked in blood.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Radical Sunni Muslims who consider Shiites to be heretics have stepped up attacks against the minority sect in Pakistan over the last several years.

On Saturday, a bomb that appeared to be targeting Shiites ripped through a bus carrying female university students in the southwest city of Quetta, killing 14 people. Militants then attacked a hospital where wounded victims were taken, killing more people.

The militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta and could be suspected in Friday's Peshawar attack as well. The group has carried out many of the attacks against Shiites in Pakistan in recent years, especially in Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital.

Although most Sunnis and Shiites live peacefully together in Pakistan, the country has a long history of sectarian attacks by radicals on both sides.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Pakistan became the scene of a proxy war between mostly Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, with both sides funneling money to sectarian groups that regularly targeted each other.

Most of the attacks in recent years have been by radical Sunnis against Shiites. Last year was one of the most deadly for Shiites in Pakistan's history, according to Human Rights Watch, which said more than 400 Shiites were killed.

This year is shaping up to be even deadlier. Two attacks carried out by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Quetta at the beginning of the year killed nearly 200 people.

The sectarian violence presents a significant challenge to Pakistan's new government, which took power earlier this month under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Human rights activists and members of the Shiite community criticized the last government for failing to do enough to stop the attacks. The new government has promised to do more, but some critics have questioned whether Sharif will follow through. His party has done little to crack down on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other militant groups in its home province of Punjab in central Pakistan, even though the party controlled the provincial government for the last five years.

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DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Imran Khan Injured After He Falls During Rally In Lahore

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Imran Khan Injured After He Falls During Rally In Lahore

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 7, 2013:  Pakistani politician and former cricketer Imran Khan was rushed to hospital with head injuries on Tuesday after falling off a lift taking him onto the stage for an election rally, his party said.

Television footage showed Khan, leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party (PTI), bleeding from the head as he was carried by aides through the crowd at the event in Pakistan's second largest city Lahore.

The dramatic development came at the end of a day that saw 17 people killed and dozens more wounded in bomb attacks in northwest Pakistan, taking the death toll in the bloody campaign for Saturday's general election past 100.

The poll will mark a democratic milestone in a country ruled for half its history by the military as the first time a civilian government has served a full term and handed over to another through the ballot box.

Khan, who won only one seat in 2002 and boycotted polls in 2008, has led an electric campaign, galvanising the middle class and young people in what he has called a "tsunami" of support that will propel him into office.

The 63-year-old, who has undertaken a punishing schedule of daily rallies, tumbled from a riser along with several of his staff, seemingly after one of them lost their balance.

"Imran Khan fell from a lifter. He has received injuries to his head and he has been taken to hospital," Malik Ishtiaq, a local spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told AFP in tears.

Another party spokesman said Khan's injuries were minor.

"Imran Khan is all right. He has been taken to the hospital for first aid. He will be back to address the rally very soon after getting initial treatment," Chaudhry Rizwan told AFP by telephone.

PTI information secretary Shirin Mazari told AFP Khan had fallen from a height of more than seven feet (over two metres).

"He had an injury to his forehead and he is conscious. He is being taken to Shaukat Khanum Hospital," she said, referring to the cancer hospital that Khan set up in honour of his mother.

Hundreds of well wishers and party supporters gathered outside the hospital, chanting "Long Live Imran Khan", an AFP reporter said.

Tuesday's attacks took place in the northwestern town of Hangu, a flashpoint for violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and in the northwestern district of Dir, where Pakistani troops crushed a Taliban-led insurgency in 2009.

The Pakistani Taliban has condemned the polls as un-Islamic and directly threatened the main parties in the outgoing ruling coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and other secular allies.

Twelve people were killed and more than 40 injured at Hangu when a suicide bomber targeted election candidate Syed Janan, said Musarrat Qadeem, information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Janan, who is seeking re-election to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly for the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, told AFP he had been wounded on his head and shoulder.

"I was on my election campaign and coming to my vehicle when the bomber blew himself up. I received some injuries but survived. Two of my guards were seriously wounded," Janan said.

Later on Tuesday a roadside bombing killed five people, including the brother of a provincial assembly candidate for the PPP who had gone door to door to canvass for votes in Dir, police said. Seven other people were wounded.

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack in Dir, but denied involvement for the suicide attack in Hangu.

"Our attacks on the PPP, the ANP (Awami National Party) and the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) will continue," Ehsan told AFP in a telephone call from an unknown location.

The number of people to have died in attacks on politicians and political parties since April 11 has now risen to 109, according to an AFP tally.

On Monday, 23 people were killed at a rally in the tribal district of Kurram, the deadliest single attack on the campaign so far.

Elections have been postponed in three constituencies where candidates have been killed. They are in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in the southern city of Hyderabad.

The national campaign race has been dominated by the centre-right -- Khan and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.


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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
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DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: I'm Proud of Kargil Operation, says former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: I'm Proud of Kargil Operation, says former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf
*Musharraf Facing Petitions Galore

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources IBN  & Dawn Pakistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 28, 2013: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday said he was "proud of the Kargil operation", during which Pakistani troops had crossed the Line of Control and occupied positions on the Indian side in 1999. Musharraf made the remarks when he was asked about criticism of his role in the Kargil issue at a news conference in the southern port city of Karachi.

Musharraf was the army chief when the operation was launched. He later toppled the government of premier Nawaz Sharif and assumed power. I am "proud of the Kargil operation," he said. The former President, who returned to Pakistan on Sunday after nearly four years in self-exile, said he had not struck a deal with anyone for his homecoming. He claimed he had returned to Pakistan in the interest of the country and the people. "I am among those people who think of the country and the citizens," Musharraf told said during his first news conference after returning to Pakistan.

Musharraf, who returned to lead the All Pakistan Muslim League in the general election to be held on May 11, said he could not say how many constituencies his party would be able to win. He said he would himself run for elections from Karachi, where he has "old relations" with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He claimed his supporters had recommended that he should contest the election from a constituency in the Defence area of Karachi. Musharraf also defended his years in power as a dictator, claiming that Pakistan had prospered during his tenure. He further claimed he had been the only leader to raise his voice against anti-state elements and elements involved in spreading terrorism.


*Musharraf Facing Petitions Galore - By Dawn Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - March 28, 2013: Difficult days seem to be ahead for retired Gen Pervez Musharraf with one petition after another being moved against him in the Supreme Court.

A reference was made in the court on Wednesday and senior counsel A.K. Dogar recalled the apex court’s July 31, 2009 verdict holding the Nov 3, 2007 emergency unconstitutional and argued that Gen Musharraf stood convicted on the basis of the judgment.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is hearing a petition of Dr Mobashir Hassan seeking that elections be held in strict adherence to articles 62 and 63 of the constitution which lays down criteria for qualification and disqualification of the candidates.

Mr Dogar read out excerpts from the judgment in which the apex court had firmly held that holding the constitution in abeyance or any other act having the effect of discontinuing the operation and enforceability of the constitution for a single moment in a manner not authorised under the constitution was tantamount to overthrowing the constitution or subverting the constitution and thereby committing the offence of high treason.

The counsel referred to another verdict of the apex court in the 1997 Al-Jihad Trust case and said the court had already held that any verdict of the Supreme Court became part of the constitution.

Later talking to Dawn, he explained that the verdict had become law of the land and that Gen Musharraf stood convicted on the basis of this declaration. Only a sentence needed to be passed against him, he said.

During the proceedings, the chief justice said any objection to Gen Musharraf’s candidature could be raised before the returning officer at the time of the filing of nomination papers, adding that the apex court had already held in the Tahirul Qadri case that it never granted relief in person-specific cases.

He observed that nobody, not even the Election Commission of Pakistan, was saying that the criteria laid down in articles 62 and 63 of the constitution for candidates would not be accepted. He rejected a plea for issuing any standard operating procedure or rules and regulations for implementing these provisions.

However, the court postponed the proceedings to next week to enable Advocates A.K. Dogar and Azhar Siddiq to seek instructions from Dr Mobashir, the petitioner, to narrow down the scope of prayers by amending the petition.

In a related development, the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi, moved on Wednesday a petition seeking a court’s order for the federal government to file a complaint against Gen Musharraf to be prosecuted under the High Treason (punishment) Act of 1973.

It also requested the court to order the government to immediately take Gen Musharraf into custody till the time prosecution under the high treason was completed for assaulting the judiciary by proclaiming the state of emergency. Advocate Hamid Khan will plead the case.

Another two petitions filed on Monday requested the Supreme Court to put the name of Gen Musharraf on the exit control list (ECL).

The first petition filed by Advocate Tariq Asad on behalf of former Khateeb of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz said that since the former president was a prime suspect in the 2007 mosque operation his name should be put on the ECL.

The other moved by Advocate Maulvi Iqbal Haider pleaded that the retired general be restrained from leaving the country till the apex court heard an appeal challenging the Sindh High Court’s order of initiating a treason case under article 6 of the constitution against him for proclaiming the Provisional Constitution Order on Nov 3, 2007.

A three-judge bench headed by the chief justice will take up Maulvi Iqbal’s petition on Thursday.

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DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Sectarian Violence From Kohistan To Karachi

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Sectarian Violence From Kohistan To Karachi
*Protests rage over Kohistan killings
*Pakistani Shiite Muslims chant slogans during a protest against the killing of their community members in Karachi on February 28, 2012. Sectarian gunmen disguised in military fatigues hauled 18 Shiite Muslim men off buses on February 28 and shot them dead in cold blood in a usually quiet region of northern Pakistan. Authorities blamed the assault on Islamist militant groups, without naming a specific organisation. The attack took place in the northern district of Kohistan, which neighbours the Swat valley, a former Taliban stronghold.

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Dawn

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 29, 2012: Gunmen in military uniform forced people going from Rawalpindi to Gilgit to disembark from buses in Kohistan’s Harban area on Tuesday and gunned down 16 of them after checking their names on their ID cards which invoked protests all over the country.

“Sixteen people were killed in the incident. The bodies were handed over to the deputy commissioner of Chilas after autopsy at Shitial hospital,” Mohammad Ilyas, district police officer, Kohistan, told reporters.

According to foreign news agencies, this was a sectarian attack as confirmed by a man claiming to be spokesman for the Jandullah faction of Taliban. He said the 16 were killed by ‘Mujahideen’ because they were Shias.

A large number of people came out on roads in protest against the killings. They burned tyres at different chowks. Shops and markets were closed. The district administration imposed Section 144 in Gilgit city and announced closure of offices and schools for three days.

Protesters took out a procession from Imamia Jamia Mosque in Skardu and marched up to Yadgar-i-Shuhada Baltistan.

Jafria Alliance Pakistan (JAP) has condemned the brutal killings and announced a three-day mourning and country- wide protest on Friday.

According to officials, the attackers intercepted four buses on the Karakoram Highway, asked the passengers to get off, shot 16 people dead after checking their ID cards and escaped.

DPO Mohammad Ilyas said 117 passengers were on the buses. Police took the bodies to the hospital.

Harban is about four kilometres from Tangier and Darail areas where security forces have been attacked for several times in recent past.

MPA Abdul Sattar Khan, who belongs to Dasso tehsil, said the carnage was apparently related to recent sectarian clashes in Gilgit.

Senior officials of the Kohistan district administration were tight lipped about the nature of the killings.

“We have registered an FIR and started investigation and everything will be clear after completion of preliminary investigation,” Mr Ilyas said.

Farman Ali Baltistani adds from Skardu: Seven victims were from Baltistan division, four from Nagar, two from Astore and one from Gilgit. The bodies of the other two could not be identified.

Meanwhile, two people were injured in incidents of firing in Sakwar village. They were identified as Zulfiqar and Abdul Mannan, residents of Gilgit.

President Asif Ali Zardari took notice of the incident and summoned a detailed report within three days.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik formed a joint investigation team.

Malik said that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been involved in similar crimes in the past.

Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah and Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah condemned the Harban killings. They said the culprits would soon be arrested.

Our correspondent adds from Shangla: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti called Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah and condemned the incident.

He termed it a cowardly and brutal act and said the elements involved would be brought to book whether they belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Gilgit-Baltistan.

AP adds: According to lawmaker Abdul Sattar the victims were Shias. He said eight gunmen were involved in the ambush, and all were wearing military uniforms, presumably to make it easier to stop the buses.

Officials initially said 18 people had been killed and that just one bus was involved.

Mr Sattar and Sher Khan, an official at the Rawalpindi bus station, said attacks had been feared on travellers after an incident last month in which an unknown number of Sunnis were killed in the Gilgit region. Sher Khan said buses were travelling in convoy as a security measure.

Aamir Yasin adds from Rawalpindi: Private transporters running buses from Rawalpindi to Gilgit-Baltistan suspended operation after the incident.

More than 50 buses for Gilgit and Skardu run on the route. Due to insecurity, people mostly use air route to go to Gilgit.

The transporters said they would not resume the bus service unless the government took adequate security measures and ensure safety of passengers. “The government should take serious steps to stop such attacks,” said Nisar Ali, the owner of
Mashabroom Tour Operators.

He said that most of the passengers on the buses were pilgrims returning from Iran and some army officers and personnel.

“Luckily, 47 pilgrims remained safe because their bus had departed one hour late,” he said.

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