Taliban / Sipah-e-Sahaba kill Iran consulate official in Peshawar

Group responsible:
The jihadi and sectarian alliance between Sipah-e-Sahaba and Taliban (who usually operate under various banners such as Jundollah, Lashkar-e-Jhangavi etc).

Motives:
To damage the inter-sectarian harmony in Pakistan
To terrorize the Shia Muslim minority in Pakistan
To terrorize Pakistani journalists and media persons

Director PR Iranian Consulate shot dead
PESHAWAR, Nov 12 (APP): Director Public Relations Iranian Consulate, Peshawar Abul Hassan Jaafri was shot dead by unknown assailants in Gulberg Colony, Peshawar cantonment Thursday morning. He was immediately rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. It merits a mention here that late Jaafri had also served as reporter in Daily Frontier Post, The Statesman in early 90s and contributed scores of articles and features on various issues.

Pakistani Iranian consulate worker shot in Peshawar
12 Nov 2009 06:54:35 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Faris Ali

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A gunman shot dead a Pakistani working at Iran's consulate in the city of Peshawar on Thursday, police said, in an attack likely to compound strains in relations between the Muslim neighbours.

Police declined to speculate on a motive for the killing of consulate public relations officer Abul Hassan Jaffry, which came almost exactly a year after an Iranian diplomat was abducted in the same city. The diplomat is still missing.

"As he came out of the narrow street where his house is, an attacker on foot was waiting and opened fire and then ran away," Peshawar's police chief Liaqat Ali Khan told Reuters.

Hassan died on his way to the hospital.

"No one saw the attacker. We've just got shell casings from a pistol from the spot," he said.

Ties between mostly Sunni Muslim Pakistan and majority Shi'ite Muslim Iran were strained last month by a suicide bomb attack in southeastern Iran which killed 42 people.

A Sunni Muslim rebel group, Jundollah (God's Soldiers), claimed responsibility for the attack in which 15 Iranian Revolutionary Guards, including six senior commanders, were killed along with 27 other people.

Sunni Muslim militants like the Taliban and al-Qaida believe Shiites are infidels and often target the sect

Iran says the militants operate from the Pakistani side of the border and has demanded Pakistan hand over their leader, Abdolmalik Rigi.

Pakistan has condemned the bombing and vowed to help Iran track down those responsible, but says Rigi is in Afghanistan.

Iran's consul general in Peshawar, Abbas Ali Abdolahi, said Jaffry's killing was a plot by the common enemies of Iran and Pakistan.

"It aims to strain the relationship of the two countries," Abdolahi was quoted as saying by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB on its website.

Abdolahi said Jaffry was shot by two motorcycle riders.

On Nov. 13 last year, gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat in Peshawar after killing one of his Pakistani guards.

Peshawar is the capital of North West Frontier Province, which borders Taliban strongholds in lawless lands along the Afghan border.


...

AFP - PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Gunmen shot dead a Pakistani spokesman for the Iranian consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday as he was on his way to work, police said.

Attackers targeted Abu Al-Hasan Jaffry, director of public relations and protocol at the consulate in Peshawar, as he left for the office in his car, senior police official Nisar Marwat told AFP.

He died on the way to hospital, Marwat said. The motive for the killing was not immediately clear.

This is not the first time that an official at Iran's consulate in Peshawar comes under attack. Last year, Iran's commercial attache, Heshmatollah Attarzadeh-Niyaki, was kidnapped on his way to the consulate.

Jaffry was shot on a main road soon after leaving his home in the Gulberg neighbourhood of Peshawar, a witness said.

"Suddenly the firing started and when I reached the main road, I saw Jaffry bleeding with wounds and the attackers, probably more than two, had fled," a man, who declined to give his name, told AFP.

"Jaffry had been hit in the head and chest and his left arm was badly injured," he added.

A post-mortem examination was in progress at Peshawar's Combined Military Hospital, a police official said. A government official in Peshawar confirmed the killing.
Relations between Iran and Pakistan are close, but tensions rose last month when Tehran blamed Pakistan-based militants for a suicide attack that killed 42 people, including 15 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

Islamabad has strongly denied that the militant group Jundallah launched the October 18 attack from its territory.

Shiites, who are a majority in Iran, account for about 20 percent of Pakistan's mostly Sunni Muslim population of 167 million. More than 4,000 people have died in flashes of sectarian violence in Pakistan since the 1980s.

....

The founder and godfather of sectarianism and jihadism in Pakistan was the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq.

Read more...

Shia holocaust in Pakistan: Taliban raze entire village to the ground in Hangu

Why is the Pakistani media silent? Why are pro-Taliban fascists such as Hamid Mir, Shahid Masood, Javed Chaudhry and Ansar Abbasi silent? Where are Imran Khan, Munawar Hassan, Aslam Beg, Hamid Gul and the likes?

Is it something less important than the NRO or Kerry-Lugar Bill?

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

("First they came ..." is a popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.)

Village razed to the ground in Hangu

By Abdul Sami Paracha
Monday, 02 Nov, 2009 (Dawn)

KOHAT, Nov 1: Militants razed a whole village to the ground in Shahu Khel area by conducting a series of blasts on the third consecutive night in Hangu district on Saturday.

The village had roughly 100 houses and families belonging to a rival sect had been migrating after the Taliban started target killings and kidnappings a few months ago.

The TTP is in complete control of Shahu Khel and its militants started blowing up houses after security forces and police started operations against them and eliminated some of their important training camps and hideouts. They had planted 40 bombs and blown up as many houses on Saturday night. Earlier, they had destroyed two schools, an Imambargah, two houses and a basic health unit on Friday night.

Blasts continued since Saturday night and by Sunday the entire village was razed to the ground. No casualties were reported from the area as the entire village was empty after the migration of the entire population to safer places.

Leaders of the Qaumi Wahdat Council have been urging the government to improve its writ in Shahu Khel so that the people displaced by the Taliban could return to their village.

Security forces have often used artillery fire to stop the Taliban from blowing up houses, but with little success.

It is the same area where a renowned cleric and office-bearer of JUI-F, Maulana Muhammad Amin, was killed in an air strike in his Jamia Yousufia seminary in June last year.

At least 13 people, including children, eight women and prominent religious leaders, were killed and several injured in shelling by helicopter gunships in Hangu.

Maulana Muhammad Amin, whose 12-year-old nephew was also killed in the air strike, was also the deputy chairman of Sunni Supreme Council. During shelling at another seminary in Shahu Khel, three women were killed when a house was hit by helicopter gunships.

Read more...

The Punjabi Taliban and the Ostrich of Punjab: Shahbaz Sharif

ریت میں سر چھپانا مسئلے کا حل نہیں

عبدالحئی کاکڑ

بی بی سی اردوڈاٹ کام، پشاور

لاہور اور اس کے گرد و نواح میں ہونے والی دہشتگردانہ کارروائیوں میں درجنوں ہلاک ہو چکے ہیں

لاہور میں چند ہی گھنٹوں کے دوران تین مختلف حملوں کا ہونا شدت پسندوں کی طاقت اور ان کی منظم انداز میں کی جانے والی کارروائیوں کی بھرپور صلاحیت رکھنے کا پتہ تو دیتا ہی ہے مگر صوبہ پنجاب پر روز بروز بڑھتی ہوئی دہشتگردانہ کارروائیوں پر مسلم لیگ( ن) کی صوبائی حکومت کے بظاہر ’انکاری‘ رویے سے مستقبل میں حالات کے خطرناک موڑ پر پہنچنے کے خطرے کی نشاندہی بھی کرتا ہے۔

جنوبی پنجاب میں شدت پسندوں کی نیٹ ورک پر ذرائع ابلاغ کے علاوہ خفیہ اداروں کی سرکاری رپورٹوں پر صوبائی حکومت کی پُر اسرار خاموشی کے ساتھ یہ خوف بھی جڑا ہوا ہے کہ کہیں مسلم لیگ( ن) پنجاب کی ایم ایم اے ثابت نہ ہوجائے۔

جو انکاری رویہ آج مسلم لیگ کی صوبائی حکومت کا ہے بالکل اسی طرح کا رویہ صوبہ سرحد پر دو ہزار دو سے دو ہزار سات تک حکومت کرنے والی مذہبی جماعتوں کے اتحاد متحد مجلس عمل کا بھی تھا جس کا نتیجہ یہ نکلا کہ آگے چل کر صوبہ سرحد شدت پسندی کی ایک دھکتی ہوئی بھٹی بن گیا۔

صوبہ پنجاب بالخصوص جنوبی علاقوں میں فرقہ ورانہ فسادات اور بھارت کے زیر انتظام کشمیر میں سرگرم شدت پسندوں کا ایک منظم نیٹ ورک موجود ہے اور طالبان ذرائع کے مطابق ان تنظیموں سے تعلق رکھنے والے چھ ہزار سے زائد نظریاتی اور جسمانی طور پر تربیت یافتہ جنگجو پنجابی طالبان کے نام سے جنوبی اور شمالی وزیرستان میں موجود ہیں۔

لاہور شہر میں پولیس اور خفیہ ایجنسیوں کے دفاتر پر حملوں میں اضافہ ہوا ہے

ان میں دو قسم کے جنگجوشامل ہیں: ایک وہ گروپ ہے جو سرحد پار افغانستان میں امریکی اور اتحادی افواج کے خلاف لڑنے کو زیادہ ترجیح دیتا ہے جبکہ دوسرا جو قدرے بڑا گروپ بھی ہے ان جنگجووں پر مشتمل ہے جو ملک کے اندر ایک خاص ایجنڈے کو پر تشدد انداز میں آگے بڑھانے میں دلچسپی رکھتے ہیں۔

سرکاری رپورٹوں اور اعلی اہلکاروں کے مطابق ایسا بھی نہیں ہے کہ صوبہ پنجاب کے وزیراعلی شہباز شریف پنجاب میں شدت سپندوں کے پھیلتے ہوئے نیٹ ورک سے انجان ہیں۔ ایک قابل اعتماد اعلیٰ سرکاری اہلکار نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ جب پہلی بار امریکی اخبار نیویارک ٹائمز میں جنوبی پنجاب میں شدت پسندوں کی موجودگی کی رپورٹ شائع ہوئی تھی تو اس وقت شہباز شریف نے قبائلی علاقوں کے لیے ایڈیشنل چیف سیکریٹری حبیب اللہ کو بریفنگ دینے کے لیے بلایا۔

حبیب اللہ سے کہا گیا کہ وزیراعلی کی کئی اور ملاقاتیں بھی ہیں لہذا وہ تھوڑی ہی دیر میں اپنی بریفنگ ختم کرد یں لیکن بقول اعلی اہلکار کے کہ جب ایڈیشنل چیف سیکریٹری نے بات شروع کی تو چیف جسٹس افتخار چودھری کی بحالی اور جنرل ریٹائرڈ مشرف کے مواخذے کو اپنی سیاست کا محور بنانے والے شہباز شریف چونکا دینے والی معلومات سن کر ششدر رہ گئے اور یوں یہ بریفنگ منٹوں سے گھنٹوں پر محیط ہوئی۔ اس ملاقات کے بعد ہی شہباز شریف کو شدت پسندی کی سنگینی کا انداز ہوا اور انہوں نے کچھ عرصے بعد ایڈیشنل چیف سکیریٹری فاٹاحبیب اللہ کو ایک بار پھر بریفنگ کے لیے بلایا۔

حیرت کی بات یہ بھی ہے کہ جس دن لاہور میں تین متواتر حملے ہوئے اسی روز مسلم لیگ( ن) کی مرکزی کمیٹی کے اجلاس کے بعد نواز شریف نے میڈیا کو جو بریفنگ دی اس میں انہوں نے اس حوالے سے کچھ نہیں کہا البتہ سوال اور جواب کے مرحلے میں اپوزیشن لیڈ ر چودھری نثار علی خان کو مجبوراً اس موضوع پر کچھ کہنا ہی پڑا۔

مسلم لیگ( ن) نے بظاہر پنجاب کی حکمران اور ملک کی بڑی اپوزیشن جماعت کے طور پر اپنی سیاسی ترجیحات کچھ اس طرح متعین کی ہیں جس میں بظاہر شدت پسندی پہلی ترجیح کے طور پر نظر نہیں آرہی ہے۔ مسلم لیگ ( ن) جنرل ریٹائرڈ مشرف کی باقیات پر پارلیمنٹ میں اور باہر واویلا بھی کرتی ہے اور اس حوالے سے لانگ مارچ تک کا انتہائی اقدام اٹھانے سے بھی گریز نہیں کرتی مگر اسی جنرل ریٹائرڈ مشرف کی باقیات میں شامل شدت پسندی کی عفریت سے ملک کی جان چھڑانے میں بظاہر نیم دلی دکھا رہی ہے۔

اگر پنجاب کی صوبائی حکومت اور مسلم لیگ ( ن) کا خیال یہ ہے کہ شتر مرغ کی طرح ریت میں سر چھپانے سے شدت پسندی ختم ہوجائے گی تو شدت پسندی کی دھکتی ہوئی آگ میں جلنے والے قبائلی علاقے اور صوبہ سرحد اس سوچ کا نفی میں جواب دیتے ہیں

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’القاعدہ، سپاہِ صحابہ تعلق حملوں کی وجہ‘

آصف فاروقی

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد

’شدت پسند جان بوجھ کر پنجاب میں سکیورٹی فورسز کے اداروں کو نشانہ بنا رہے ہیں‘

راولپنڈی میں فوج کے ہیڈکوارٹر کی طرح لاہور میں جمعرات کو ہونے والے بیک وقت تین حملے ظاہر کرتے ہیں کہ حملہ آور نہ صرف یہ کہ پرعزم اور اعلٰی تربیت یافتہ ہیں بلکہ وہ اہداف کے انتخاب سے لے کر اپنے عزائم کی تکمیل تک مکمل منصوبہ بندی کے ساتھ کارروائی کر رہے ہیں۔

جی ایچ کیو کی طرح لاہور میں پولیس کے دو تربیتی مراکز اور وفاقی تحقیقاتی ادارے پر حملے میں ملوث افراد ان انتہائی حد تک زیر حفاظت عمارتوں کے بیرونی حفاظتی حصار کو توڑ کر اندر داخل ہونے میں کامیاب رہے۔

ان میں سے دو عمارتیں مناواں پولیس ٹریننگ سینٹر اور ایف آئی اے کا دفتر پہلے بھی دہشت گردی کا نشانہ بن چکے ہیں جبکہ بیدیاں روڈ پر واقع ایلیٹ پولیس کے صدر دفتر پر حملے کے بارے میں پولیس اور انٹیلی جنس ذرائع کئی روز قبل ہی متنبہ کر چکے تھے کہ یہ ادارہ دہشتگردوں کی ہٹ لسٹ پر ہے۔

حملہ آوروں نے ان اہدف کے محل وقوع اور حفاظتی اقدامات کی کمزوریوں سے فائدہ اٹھانے کی کوشش کی ہے

چوہدری احمد نسیم

صوبہ پنجاب کے سابق پولیس سربراہ جہانگیر مرزا کا کہنا ہے کہ شدت پسند جان بوجھ کر پنجاب میں سکیورٹی فورسز کے اداروں کو نشانہ بنا رہے ہیں۔’ان لوگوں کا ہدف سکیورٹی اداروں میں بددلی اور خوف اور عوام میں بےچینی پیدا کرنا ہے اور میں سمجھتا ہوں کہ اس مقصد کے حصول کے لیے صوبہ پنجاب سے زیادہ مناسب ہدف کوئی نہیں ہو سکتا۔‘

سابق انسپکٹر جنرل نے کہا کہ وزیرستان اور دیگر قبائلی علاقوں میں زیرعتاب آنے کے بعد شدت پسند ملک کے سب سے بڑے صوبے میں موجود اپنے اثاثے استعمال کر رہے ہیں۔’صوبہ پنجاب میں ہونے والی ان کارروائیوں میں ہم نے دیکھا ہے کہ کالعدم سنی انتہا پسند تنظیم سپاہ صحابہ کے سابق ارکان ملوث ہیں۔ ہمیں انٹیلی جنس ذرائع اور گرفتار ملزمان سے تفتیش کے ذریعے کئی برس قبل معلوم ہو گیا تھا کہ سپاہ صحابہ کے مفرور لوگوں نے القاعدہ کے ساتھ مراسم بنا لیے تھے اور اب ان دو دہشت گرد گروپوں کے درمیان تعلقات کار ہی صوبہ پنجاب پر آفت بن کر ٹوٹ رہے ہیں۔‘

ہمیں انٹیلی جنس ذرائع اور گرفتار ملزمان سے تفتیش کے ذریعے کئی برس قبل معلوم ہو گیا تھا کہ سپاہ صحابہ کے مفرور لوگوں نے القاعدہ کے ساتھ مراسم بنا لیے تھے اور اب ان دو دہشت گرد گروپوں کے درمیان تعلقات کار ہی صوبہ پنجاب پر آفت بن کر ٹوٹ رہے ہیں‘۔

جہانگیر مرزا

جہانگیر مرزا نے کہا کہ صوبہ سرحد میں ان شدت پسندوں کے مراکز کے تباہ ہو جانے کے بعد پنجاب میں یہ اپنے پرانے ’سلیپر سیلز‘ کو دوبارہ فعال بنا رہے ہیں۔ ’لیکن ان سلیپر سیلز کے دوبارہ فعال ہونے کے بعد ان تک پہنچ کے دروازے بھی کھل گئے ہیں اور میرا خیال ہے کہ بہت جلد صوبہ پنجاب میں بھی ان لوگوں کے نیٹ ورک توڑ دیے جائیں گے۔‘

پنجاب پولیس کے ایک اور سابق سربراہ چودھری احمد نسیم نے، جو کہ صوبے میں دہشت گردی کے متعدد واقعات کی تحقیقات کر چکے ہیں، بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ یہ تینوں اہداف بہت سوچ سمجھ کی منتخب کیےگئے تھے اور لگتا یہی ہے کہ حملہ آور کئی روز تک ان اہداف کا پیشگی جائزہ لیتے رہے ہیں۔ ’جس طرح حملہ آوروں نے ان اہداف کے محل وقوع اور حفاظتی اقدامات کی کمزوریوں سے فائدہ اٹھانے کی کوشش کی ہے اس سے صاف پتہ چلتا ہے کہ حملہ آوروں کے پاس اپنے ہدف کے بارے میں بہت معلومات تھیں۔‘

ان مربوط اور منظم حملوں نے حکومت کے ان دعوؤں پر سوالیہ نشان ثبت کر دیا ہے کہ تحریک طالبان پاکستان کے سربراہ بیت اللہ محسود کی ہلاکت کے بعد شدت پسندوں کی کمر ٹوٹ چکی ہے اور وہ راہِ فرار پر مجبور ہیں

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No operation in southern Punjab: Rana Sanaullah

Friday, October 16, 2009

LAHORE: Law Minister of Punjab Rana Sanaullah said government will not launch an operation in southern Punjab whereas several suspects have been arrested in different areas of Punjab in connection of Lahore attacks.

Talking to media on the visit of Elite Police Training Academy, Rana Sanaullah said arrests have been made throughout Punjab but exact number will be revealed later due to some reasons. He said there is no writ of any outlawed outfit in southern Punjab therefore; there is no need of launch of operation.

Rana Sanaullah said key evidences have been found about terrorists involved in Lahore attacks and sensitive agencies are working on these evidences. He said new security plan has been chalked out for Punjab including Lahore. He refused the reports about establishment of Taliban writ in any village, town and area in southern Punjab.

....

On different wavelengths

By Ayesha Siddiqa
Friday, 16 Oct, 2009

The destruction caused by the suicide truck bomber outside the Marriott hotel in Islamabad September 21, 2008. – Photo by Reuters

The recent attack on GHQ and yesterday’s attacks in Lahore and Kohat and the government’s response to these incidents reminded one of the days after the terrorist attack on Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel.

There were some in the government who referred to the incident as Pakistan’s 9/11. While that particular date in American history can be interpreted in several ways, its greatest significance lies in the fact that it brought the state and society in the US on the same page as far as fighting the war against terror was concerned. Did we manage to achieve this consensus on Sept 20 last year? Perhaps not.

But this is where the catch lies. The enemy is far more intelligent than what some of our television commentators would like us to believe. In the GHQ case, the terrorists not only understood the strategic value of attacking at the heart of the army’s power base, they also appeared to understand the chasm between the state and society and within the state at several levels. The attackers understand the civilian-military divide better than a lot of people who talk about a new era of civilian-military relations in the country and boast about the two sides being on the same page.

They probably understand that the civilian government might pretend to be powerful but that it depends on externally borrowed power and that in the case of friction between the two centres of power, it is the civilians who would back off. This was most obvious from the fact that instead of raising some critical questions after the attack on GHQ, all that the president and prime minister could do was congratulate Gen Ashfaq Kayani on the excellent handling of the crisis.

There is no doubt that the nation is saddened by the death of unarmed officers and soldiers, and supports any action to punish those who carried out the attack. But the entire event ought to be discussed threadbare without any mudslinging. Why was it that 10 men penetrated a highly guarded area and remained ensconced in GHQ for about 19 hours, especially when the army’s high command was in the premises?

There are two important issues here. First, the Pakistan Army, which is trained mainly in conventional warfare and fighting state forces, is not well trained in counter-insurgency operations. This explains why despite being armed with G3s and other types of infantry equipment the force guarding GHQ could not respond properly. Hence, this capacity must be beefed up at the earliest.

Second, the connection of the key planner Aqeel, alias Dr Usman, with the army medical stores is a reminder of the problem that could perhaps prevail in pockets inside the rest of the military. This pertains to the religio-political inclinations of individual civil and military officials and officers that directly or indirectly support the jihadis.

Aqeel’s is not a unique case. Earlier there was Major Haroon Ashiq alleged to be involved in the murder of Gen Faisal Alavi. He was linked with one of the Punjab-based militant outfits. His capture led the police and agencies to other retired officers who had split from the Lashkar-i-Taiba and were waging ‘jihad’ on their own. We must also not forget the air force officials and officers involved in the first attack on the former president Gen Pervez Musharraf. Reportedly, the agencies were forced to go deep within the PAF in search of people connected to different militant outfits or the tableeghi jamaat.

At this point, how sure are we that all older links between the jihadis and individuals

in the police or military have been snapped? Instead of eulogising the army, parliament should be carefully looking at and questioning the old linkages from the perspective of having a handle on the problem of ‘jihadism’ and what it means for the state.

ISPR director general Maj-Gen Athar Abbas stated that the attackers had planned to use the hostages to negotiate the release of about 100 terrorists. Reportedly, there are about 400 terrorists in different jails. Some of the more high-profile detainees are believed to include Malik Ishaq, head of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and Qari Saifullah Akhtar, head of the Hizb-ul-Jihad Islami. The government must now look at its preparedness and the capacity to protect its high-value detainees.

Although the military and government now seem inclined to consider other reasons for the attack, such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan trying to avenge Baitullah Mehsud’s death, the rescue of high-value terrorists seems to be the primary reason, which must not be ignored at any cost. It must not be forgotten that the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore was also meant to take hostages who could then be exchanged for top jihadis. Sources even claim that the LJ’s Malik Ishaq was involved in the earlier case and had decided to use the attack to get himself freed after the elected Punjab government failed to deliver on a mutual agreement between LJ and the PML-N leadership.

What’s equally interesting is the fact that there is an effort by those in power to ignore or divert attention from areas which are as infested with extremist militants as Fata and the tribal areas. The sudden effort to get policemen from most districts of south Punjab to deny the existence of the jihadi problem in their areas is a reaction similar to when the government denied the Pakistani connections of the Mumbai attackers even before investigating the matter. The denial is strange since most of the attacks in Punjab or the federal capital are believed to be provoked or carried out by Punjabis or Punjab-based militant outfits.

Perhaps the fear is that this might divert international attention towards Punjab or make ordinary Pakistanis think about the reasons why jihadis have spread terror across Pakistan and not confined themselves to the tribal areas as the authorities would like us to believe. Interestingly, even the ISPR’s emphasis is that the attack might have involved Punjabis but that it was carried out at the behest of the Pakhtun Taliban.

It is indeed important to fight militants in Waziristan who are influenced by Al Qaeda, but why does it have to be at the cost of ignoring the Punjab-based outfits who are proving to be good hosts for the terrorist network? Sources believe that Al Qaeda has trickled into areas bordering Punjab. These outfits operate beyond the Pakhtun-inhabited tribal areas and their threat is evident from the sectarian killings in Dera Ismail Khan and other places.

There is a possibility that the civilian government might lose the initiative in an urge to appease the military and the latter might just lose the initiative to act against those that were part of the GHQ attack for unexplained strategic reasons. This raises the question of how much bloodshed would there be before strategic re-evaluation.

The writer is an independent strategic and political analyst.

ayesha.ibd@gmail.com (Dawn)

On trail of Punjabi Taliban

By Nasir Jamal
Saturday, 17 Oct, 2009

LAHORE, Oct 16: A day after the triple-strike in Lahore, officials, counter-crime experts and academics in the province grappled with the question of how to deal with the upsurge in violence and the discourse was dominated by analysis of who the Punjabi Taliban were and what background they came from.

The province’s security agencies admitted the presence of “individual” militants branded as Punjabi Taliban in southern Punjab as well as elsewhere. “The government and its security agencies are fully alive to the threat and are taking requisite action. But it would be wrong to say that militants have consolidated their position to a level where they can operate under the banner of Punjabi Taliban,” argued a senior Punjab police official who has worked with different intelligence agencies.

This was consistent with a provincial intelligence report prepared some time ago on activities of militant groups operating out of southern Punjab. Although the report dismissed what it termed the much-hyped theory that the Taliban have “set in” in the districts (of Bahawalpur, Multan and D.G. Khan divisions), it acknowledged the potential threat of Talibanisation in some areas if “timely action by law enforcement agencies, coupled with concrete development activity, was not taken”.

The report concluded: “Poverty-stricken, feudalistic, extremely religious and illiterate south Punjab could possibly provide shelter to the Taliban and other jihadi outfits. It has potential to become a nursery or a major centre of recruitment for sectarian organisations. Talibanisation appears to be in its infancy stage. Timely action by law enforcement agencies, coupled with concrete development activity, could avert this danger.”

In a talk with Dawn on Friday, a senior police official listed a number of arrests made in different parts of the province, including southern Punjab, and recovery of arms cache in the recent past and claimed that in doing so, police had averted a number of possible suicide raids and sectarian attacks.

He maintained that militant organisations like Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami and Jaish-i-Mohammad operating out of southern Punjab had a long history of linkages with the Taliban in Afghanistan and tribal areas of the NWFP who provide them sanctuary and support.“Nobody denies that the militants belonging to these organisations have strong links with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and facilitate their operations in Punjab. But this is also true for the militants operating from many other parts of Punjab and the rest of the country,” he added.

Another senior police official surmised the term Punjabi Taliban was just a myth coined and being propagated to destabilise Punjab by the so-called friends and foes (read America and India) of Pakistan. “It’s a stable Punjab which is blocking their designs to harm Pakistan,” he said.

A senior police officer from Bahawalpur wondered: “If the so-called Punjabi Taliban from south Punjab are so big in number why none of the thousands of those arrested or killed during the recent military operation in Swat was found to be from this area.”

The Punjab police say that only one militant, Abid alias Hanzala, out of 11 who had blown themselves up or were killed in as many acts of terrorism during 2007 and 2008 was from a southern Punjab district, Rahimyar Khan.

The rest of them were Mehsuds from South Waziristan. Similarly, all the eight suspected suicide attackers who were either arrested or those who were able to escape arrest during 2007 and 2008 came from South and North Waziristan, Mansehra and DI Khan. Five of them belonged to the Mehsud tribe, according to police.

But there have surely been some signs of change this year. Analysts argue that the active involvement of militants operating out of southern districts of Punjab in a series of terror attacks during this year has brought the ‘Punjabi Taliban’ into sharp focus.

“Earlier, the Punjab-based sectarian and jihadi groups, which were either involved in Kashmir or in sectarian killings within the country, used to only facilitate militants coming from tribal areas of the NWFP by providing them logistical support for carrying out terrorist operations. Now they have become entwined with militants operating under the banner of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and changed their strategy.

“They are pursuing a different agenda, which is to challenge the state (of Pakistan) and pull it down, and are actively involved in the terrorist acts as indicated by their involvement in terror raids on Sri Lanka team and Manawan police training centre earlier this year (and multiple attacks on security installations this week),” Lahore-based defence and political analyst Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi said.

The official from Bahawalpur acknowledged that southern Punjab had proportionately produced greater number of militants because of the presence there of groups fighting in occupied Kashmir in the past. Also, he conceded, a number of top jihadi and sectarian leaders belonged to southern Punjab. But he insisted that there were no sanctuaries or training camps anywhere in the region.

On the basis of how much the official concede, shall we then say that the militants have an operational network in place in southern Punjab to build on?“That network is intact in spite of the arrests and killings of a number of militants in recent years. The area was never cleared and militant organisations and groups continue to recruit in southern districts of the province, which are also used as sanctuaries by militants after carrying out their operations elsewhere in the country,” an analyst said.

“How can you get rid of militancy without demolishing the ideological infrastructure that helps to create this mindset?” he wondered. But he acknowledged that it was a difficult task and required political consensus.

Amir Rana, an Islamabad-based analyst, said the term Punjabi Taliban was coined by Afghan Taliban groups to distinguish militants from Punjab and it became popular after the militant attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad last year.

He said the Punjabi Taliban was not a homogenous group and also included Kashmiri and Urdu-speaking people. “You would also find some Burmese and Bengali immigrants living in Karachi in the ranks of the so-called Punjabi Taliban,” he elaborated.

Dr Hasan Rizvi said that linkages between the militants from Punjab and the Taliban in the NWFP had deepened (in recent years) as the militants shifted their training camps in the tribal areas to avoid action by the government.

He said religious extremism was not confined to southern Punjab alone. “You will find a similar situation in central Punjab as well. Religious extremism is very sharply visible in Gujranwala, Faisalabad, etc. But the problem with southern Punjab is that some of its areas are not under effective state control. There are areas in DG Khan where the government’s authority is weak, which helps the militants to find sanctuary there. Further, the close proximity of these areas to Balochistan and tribal areas of the NWFP also provides the militants an easy escape route.”

Dr Rizvi, however, dismissed calls for a military operation in the region. “It (operation) is not needed because these areas, in spite of weak government authority, are not out of the state’s control. The better option would be to gather credible intelligence on the activities of militants in these areas and then take action.” (Dawn)

Read more...

Taliban kill anothe Shia leader in Quetta

JWP leader, driver killed in Quetta

QUETTA: Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) senior vice-president Dr Aslam Mirza and his driver were shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists on Tuesday. Police are linking the killing to a series of attacks on Shia professionals in Balochistan. They said Mirza was visiting a poultry farm in Akhtarabad, and had just returned to his car when he was targeted with an AK-47 rifle. Mirza and his driver were shot in the head and died instantly. “We strongly condemn the killing of such a committed political worker,” said Shahzain Bugti, JWP provincial president. He said the JWP was the only Baloch nationalist party that accommodated the non-Baloch as well. “We will protest the killing of our party leader on every platform,” he said. malik siraj akbar

Read more...

Taliban: the unholy nexus of sectarian and jihadi terrorists

Raid reveals Taliban's Punjab links

More than a hundred Pakistani civilians have died in four attacks carried out in less than a week [AFP] Officials say the latest deadly attacks reveal the extent to which the Pakistani Taliban is supported by ethnic Punjabi groups, in addition to the Pashto-speaking tribesmen of the northwestern border areas. Four attacks in less than a week have claimed over 120 lives and include a 22-hour raid on the army's general headquarters just 16km from the capital, Islamabad. The attacks show it is not only Pashtuns who are opposed to Islamabad's government as well as the Pakistani army and police force, according to representatives of Taliban. Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility on Monday for that attack, saying "it was carried out by our Punjab unit". "And we will continue to take revenge for our martyrs and will carry out more attacks, whether it's the GHQ [the army's general headquarters] or something bigger," he said. And Major-General Athar Abbas confirmed that Muhammad Aqeel, also known as Dr Usman and a former member of the army medical corps, had led the attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Aqeel is an ethnic Punjabi. Previous attacks Aqeel is believed to have orchestrated an ambush on Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team in Lahore, a failed attempt to shoot down then-president Pervez Musharraf's jet with an anti-aircraft gun, and a suicide attack that killed the army surgeon-general in February 2008, according to Zulfikar Hameed, a police investigator. Hameed says that Aqeel was recruited into Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Janghvi, armed groups based in the Punjab province. IN DEPTH Video: Security crisis in Pakistan Video: Pakistan army HQ attacked Profile: Pakistan Taliban Witness: Pakistan in crisis Riz Khan: The battle for the soul of Pakistan Jaish and Lashkar have long been blamed for attacks on Western targets in Pakistan, as well as on minority Shia populations. Both groups are believed to have had links with Pakistan security agencies, which used their members to fight proxy wars in Afghanistan and India before 2001. The Punjab connection is significant because ethnic Punjabis dominate the army and the major institutions of the Pakistani state, Shuja Nawaz, head of the South Asia Centre at the Atlantic Council in Washington, has been quoted as saying. "Their involvement means that their break with the military and the [intelligence services] is now complete. The question is: Will the military have the capacity to take operations against them?" he told the Washington Postnewspaper. Monday's suicide bombing took place in Shangla, a Pashto-speaking area of the Swat valley region. The attacker was apparently targeting a military vehicle, but most of the victims were ordinary Pakistanis. Deadliest assault TV footage of the bombing showed vegetable stands with their wares spilled on the street, two-storey buildings with their fronts torn away and several wrecked cars. The attack killed 45 people, including six security officers, and wounded dozens of others, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the provincial information minister, said. Deadly week October 12 - Suicide bomber targets security convoy in Shangla, near Swat valley, killing 45, including 35 civilians and six soldiers. October 10 - Fighters attack army GHQ in Rawalpindi. Commandos storm building and rescue 39 hostages. Nine suspected Taliban fighters, 11 soldiers and three hostages killed. October 9 - Suspected suicide car bomber kills 53 in Peshawar. About 100 people are wounded. October 5 - Suicide bomber dressed as paramilitary soldier attacks UN office in Islamabad, killing five staff members. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but it was the deadliest attack in the region since the army claimed to have cleared the valley of Taliban in an offensive earlier this year. While many anti-government fighters were killed or captured in the army offensive, others are believed to have gone to rural areas or neighbouring districts. The Taliban have stepped up attacks in the past week as the military has been preparing to launch another major offensive on the border region of South Waziristan. On October 5, a bomber blew himself up inside a heavily guarded UN aid agency in the capital, Islamabad, killing five staffers. On Friday, an attacker detonated an explosives-laden car in the middle of a busy market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 53 people. The raid on army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi began on Saturday when 10 heavily armed fighters shot their way past the front gate. They then seized more than 40 hostages and held them overnight in a building inside the vast compound. Commandos stormed the building on Sunday. The army said nine Taliban members and 14 other people were killed, mostly members of the security forces.

Terrorists wanted to take senior officers hostage: ISPR

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

ISLAMABAD Pakistan: Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj Gen Ather Abbas said, Terrorists wanted to take key officials hostage, The main target of terrorists was to take the senior military leaders hostage to get their detained accomplices released, said Major General Athar Abbas, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), here on Monday.

“They sent their demands for the release of all their accomplices after making people hostage at GHQ,” Abbas said while briefing the media about the details of the operation against terrorists after they attacked the GHQ at 11.30 am on Saturday.

The DG ISPR said the terrorists had failed in attaining their desired goals by attacking the GHQ, as the Pakistan Army responded quickly. Abbas said the conspiracy regarding the GHQ attack was hatched in the South Waziristan. “We have intercepted a conversation of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Waliur Rehman asking someone to pray for success as ‘Fidayeen’ attack on the GHQ has started,” he added.

He expressed fear that TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud could be alive. “Apparently it looks that he is alive, as many videos are pointing towards this,” Abbas said. When asked about the launch of a military operation in the South Waziristan, the military spokesman said the army had taken “principle decision” to launch operation in restive South Waziristan, as this area had become breeding ground for terrorists. But, he added, the government would finally decide the time of offensive.

“It will be decided in the best interest of the nation as more than 80 per cent suicide attacks were planned in Waziristan,” he maintained. Responding to a question about the presence of Taliban in southern Punjab, the ISPR chief said splinter groups of defunct Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were working on their own and their main training centre was South Waziristan, adding that out of 9 terrorists five were from Waziristan, while remaining four were from different parts of Punjab.

Analysis: Pakistan confronts growing terrorist menace

Pakistan's military establishment is beginning to realise the scale of the terrorist scourge in the country.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/6310245/Analysis-Pakistan-confronts-growing-terrorist-menace.html

Analysis by Saeed Shah in Islamabad
Published: 5:00AM BST 13 Oct 2009

The danger comes not only from Taliban, who are ethnic Pashtuns from Pakistan's north-west fringe, which borders Afghanistan, but also from extremists from its heartland Punjab province, who have forged a network with the Taliban.

So Pakistan is threatened by a network of extremism that has cells throughout the country, able to mount attacks seemingly at will against any target. The militants are able to mount both suicide attacks and more sophisticated commando or "fidayeen" gun and grenade assaults, using well-trained jihadists against sometimes highly protected targets.

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Such attacks have intensified in frequency to leave more than 100 people dead in the space of a week, mostly from suicide bombings which have predominantly killed civilians.

The deadly nexus between Punjabi jihadists from more established groups, and their Pakistani Taliban comrades was exposed in the attack on the military headquarters (GHQ) at Rawalpindi at the weekend. Five of the 10 assailants were Punjabis. Their ringleader, Aqeel alias Dr Usman, was from a Punjabi extremist outfit, but the training for the operation was carried out in Waziristan, according to the army.

The "fidayeen", military-style tactics could even be used against Pakistan's nuclear sites, according to Shaun Gregory, a professor at Bradford University and an expert on Pakistan's nuclear programme. This could result in installations being bombed, set on fire or nuclear material stolen.

"The only thing that stands between al-Qaeda and nuclear weapons is the Pakistan army," said Prof Gregory. "It is an incredible shock that terrorists can strike at the heart of GHQ . Terrorists could mount this sort of assault against Pakistan's nuclear installations."

The same sort of fidayeen attack was seen in the assault on Mumbai in late 2008 by the Pakistan-based Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), and the ambush of the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year. Aqeel was already being hunted as the mastermind of that attack.

While Pakistan has taken on the Taliban extremists and plans to strike their sprawling stronghold in Waziristan, the menace from Punjab, a developed and highly populated area, is much harder to tackle and so far there has been no concerted military action taken against militants operating there.

Many see the strike on the army headquarters as a "wake up" call about the threat from Punjab.

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عقیل سری لنکا کرکٹ ٹیم پر حملے میں شامل تھا

آصف فاروقی

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد

جی ایچ کیو پر حملے میں شامل نو میں سے پانچ حملہ آور کا تعلق پنجاب اور چار کا وزیرستان کے محسود علاقے سے بتایا جاتا ہے

پاکستانی فوجی مرکز پر سنیچر کو حملے کے دوران زندہ بچ جانے والے واحد حملہ آور محمد عقیل کے پروفائل نے دہشت گردوں کا پیچھا کرنے والے پاکستان کے تحقیقاتی اداروں کو تحریک طالبان پنجاب کو سنجیدگی سے لینے پر مجبور کر دیا ہے۔

عمر تقریباً تیس سال، فوج کا سابق ملازم ، پنجاب کی تحصیل کہوٹہ کا رہائشی، پنجاب میں فرقہ وارانہ تنظیموں کا تربیت یافتہ اور القاعدہ کے ساتھ مراسم۔

چند ایک تبدیلیوں کے ساتھ یہ ایک محمد عقیل کا نہیں تقریباً ہر اس فرد کا پروفائل بن جاتا ہے جسے پاکستانی سکیورٹی ادارے گزشتہ چند برسوں کے دوران پنجاب اور اسلام آباد میں دہشت گردی کی بڑی وارداتوں میں ملوث ہونے کے بعد پہچان پائے ہیں۔

سابق صدر پرویز مشرف اور سابق وزیراعظم شوکت عزیز پر حملوں کے منصوبہ ساز ہو یا اسلام آباد، راولپنڈی، سرگودھا، فیصل آباد اور لاھور میں پاکستانی مسلح افواج اور سکیورٹی اداروں کے دفاتر اور بسوں پر بم حملوں میں ملوث بندوق بردار۔ سری لنکا کی کرکٹ ٹیم ہو یا اسلام آباد کا میریئٹ ہوٹل ان سب کارروائیوں میں جتنے بھی نوجوان ملوث پائے گئے ہیں وہ سب پنجاب کی فرقہ وارانہ تنظیموں کے تربیت یافتہ بتائے جاتے ہیں جنہوں نے بعض انٹیلی جنس ذرائع کے مطابق تحریک طالبان پنجاب کے نام کے تحت اتحاد قائم کر لیا ہے۔

فوجی حکام کے مطابق محمد عقیل عرف ڈاکٹر عثمان لاھور میں سری لنکا کی کرکٹ ٹیم پر ہونے والے حملے میں براہ راست شامل تھا جبکہ سابق صدر پرویز مشرف اور میریئٹ ہوٹل میں ہوئے بم دھماکوں کی تفتیش کے دوران بھی اس کا نام بار بار آتا رہا ہے۔

صدر مشرف پر ہونے والے بم حملوں میں شامل بیشتر ملزمان پاکستان کی مسلح افواج کے ارکان تھے اور ان میں سے اکثر کا تعلق بھی ضلع راولپنڈی کے مختلف علاقوں سے بتایا جاتا ہے۔

سنیچر کے روز راولپنڈی میں فوجی مرکز پر ہوئے حملے میں شامل دس میں سے پانچ حملہ آوروں کا تعلق پنجاب اور پانچ کا وزیرستان کے محسود علاقے سے بتایا جاتا ہے۔ حملہ آوروں کا یہ تناسب تحقیقی اداروں کی پہلے سے طے شدہ اس رائے کو تقویت دیتا ہے کہ پنجاب کی فرقہ ورانہ جماعتوں نے وزیرستان میں قائم تحریک طالبان کے ساتھ تعلقات قائم کر لیے ہیں اور اس کے تعاون سے صوبہ پنجاب میں دہشت گردی کی وارداتیں کی جا رہی ہیں۔

محمد عقیل کی عرفیت ڈاکٹر عثمان بتائی جاتی ہے اور اس کی وجہ یہ بتائی جاتی ہے کہ وہ پاکستانی فوج کی میڈیکل کور میں سول ملازم رہ چکے ہیں اور راولپنڈی میں مختلف مقامات پر سرکاری خدمات بھی انجام دیتے رہے ہیں۔ فوجی ترجمان میجر جنرل اطہر عباس کے مطابق عقیل نے انیس سو نواسی میں فوج میں شمولیت اختیار کی تھی تاہم سن دو ہزار چار میں وہ فوج چھوڑ کر بھاگ گئے’وہ بھگوڑا ہو گئے تھے۔‘

خودکش جیکٹ پہنے عقیل اپنے مقصد میں اتنے سنجیدہ تھے کہ جی ایچ کیو پر حملے کے دوران وہ ایک الگ کمرے میں چلے گئے اور دروازوں میں بارودی سرنگیں نصب کر کے پانچ کمانڈوں فوجیوں کو ہلاک کیا۔ وہ شدید زخمی اور بہوش حالت میں فوج کے پاس زیر علاج ہیں۔

گو کہ عقیل اور اس کی قبیل کے لوگ پنجاب میں فرقہ پرست جماعتوں پر پابندی کے بعد ہی سے صوبہ سرحد منتقل ہو گئے تھے۔ تحریک طالبان پنجاب کا نام پہلی مرتبہ گزشتہ برس اس وقت سامنے آیا جب چکوال میں شیعہ مسلک کی مسجد پر خودکش حملے کی ذمہ داری قبول کرتے ہوئے میڈیا کے ارکان کو ٹیلی فون پر اپنا تعارف بعض افراد نے تحریک طالبان پنجاب کے طور پر کروایا

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Pakistani Christians fear more extremist attacks

Thursday, 08 Oct, 2009 (Dawn)

A man stands guard at the door to a church in Gojra.— Photo by AFP

GOJRA: Almas Hameed lost seven relatives when an angry mob burnt down his home in a rampage against Pakistan’s minority Christian community and lives in fear that more violence is looming.

Standing in the wreckage of his home in Gojra in Pakistan’s political heartland of Punjabnearly two months after bloody riots left more than 40 houses torched, he recalls the moment his family died.

‘We were hiding in our bedroom after our father was killed by gunfire. But they did not leave us — they threw chemicals to burn the whole family,’ he told AFP.

‘I lost my wife, two children, father, brother, sister-in-law and her mother in the attack,’ he said showing photos of his loved ones.

‘We are not safe here, we are hiding from extremists who want to eliminate us from this town... We are still receiving calls from the extremists, they frequently give us death threats,’ said Hameed.

Gojra, 50 kilometres from industrial hub Faisalabad, was until recently famous only for producing a number of hockey stars, with no history of tensions between the 495,000 Muslims and 35,000 Christians.

But on August 1, a mob set upon Christian homes and churches, after rumours spread that pages of the Koran had been ripped up at a Christian wedding.

The exact trigger of the deadly rampage remains unclear, but a report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and witnesses said that local mosques were spreading rumours.

‘There is a group of extremists promoting a violent version of Islam which is dangerous for the country,’ said the Bishop of Faisalabad Joseph Coutts.

Tensions and fears escalated on September 11 when about 100 people, mostly youths, attacked a Catholic church in Sambrial district near the Indian border after accusing a Christian man, Fanish Masih, of desecrating the Koran.

Masih was arrested under the country’s controversial blasphemy law but died in Sialkot jail. Police said he committed suicide but the community blames police torture for the death.

Christians, who make up less than three per cent of Pakistan’s 167 million population and are generally impoverished and marginalised, claim the blasphemy laws are used as an excuse to victimise them.

The law was introduced by former military ruler Zia ul-Haq, who passed tough Islamic legislation and whose rule from 1977-1988 was seen as critical in the development of extremist Islam in parts of Pakistan.

The blasphemy law carries the death penalty, although no one has yet been executed for the crime. Human rights activists want the legislation repealed, saying it is exploited and encourages extremism.

The government is at pains to play down the tensions amid heightened fears of widening unrest in a country already troubled by an insurgency by religious hardliners, and is trying to reassure the Christian community.

Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab province and brother of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, ordered reconstruction of the Christian homes and dozens of Muslim labourers are engaged in rebuilding the houses.

Kamran Michael, provincial minister for minorities affairs, said nearly 2.5 million dollars had been allocated for the rebuilding.

‘We will make sure that peace returns to the area,’ said Michael, himself a Christian.

Despite government assurances, Hameed and his fellow Christians remain fearful, and doubt the government can guarantee their safety.

‘Our Muslim friends are also helpless, they express their sympathies by telephone but they are conscious that their contacts with us will create problems and extremists would declare them non-Muslims,’ Hameed said.

Father Shabir, a priest in Gojra, said he just wanted the community to be able to live without fear that the blasphemy laws could be used against them.

‘The government is trying hard to normalise the situation, but we are not safe until they take concrete steps to protect us,’ he said.

Talat Masood, a well-known analyst, said tensions between the communities had risen since the US-led ‘war on terror,’ but believes the Gojra riots did not symbolise a deep-rooted hatred between Muslims and Christians.

‘It is more dictated by economic considerations like property disputes or the forcible sale and purchase of land,’ he said, adding that the blasphemy laws were often used to exploit Christians for financial gain.— AFP

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