Is Parachinar a part of Pakistan?

The Taliban-linked Wahhabi groups in Parachinar, Hangu District and much of the Kurram tribal agency have mounted a series of violent attacks against the region's Shia Muslims.

Militants kill 7 Shias in Parachinar

Taliban-linked militants have killed at least seven Shia tribesmen near the Afghan border as they were heading to the Kurram agency in the northwestern Pakistan

18 Eylül 2009 Cuma 13:45

The victims were returning home from vacation in the United Arab Emirates when they were stopped near Afghanistan's Paktia province on the border with Pakistan, a Pakistani official told Prewww.haber27.com correspondent on condition of anonymity.

Militants looted and then shot dead the Shia Muslims from Tori tribe, who were bound for Kurram's Parachinar district via Afghanistan, he added.

The incident comes a day after Afghanistan shut down a key route to the populated Kurram tribal region, which has raised concerns of a 'dire humanitarian crisis' in the Taliban-dominated mountainous area.

The residents of the Parachinar, upper and lower Kurram agency used to travel for provincial capital Peshawar through Afghan province Paktia and Kandahar since November 2007, when pro-Taliban Wahhabi militants cut off the areas from the rest of the country, imposing a crippling blockade on the Shia communities in the region.

Pakistan's pro-Taliban insurgents retain control of the tribal zone on the Afghan-Pakistani border, where they are preparing to launch fresh attacks against the foreign forces fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

The militants have also engaged in a massacre of the Shia community in Parachinar, Hangu district and much of Kurram agency, killing dozens on an almost daily basis over the past few months.

Local sources say more than 2,000 Shia Muslims have been killed in the region since the extremists launched a bloody war against them in 2007.

Many within the Shia community accuse certain Arab countries of funding Wahhabi terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the pro-Taliban elements, and of even going as far as providing them with heavy weaponry.

http://www.haber27.com

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14 August 2009: Pakistan celebrates its indepdence day

The PPP Government's Gift to the Nation: Far-reaching Fata reforms unveiled

By Syed Irfan Raza
Friday, 14 Aug, 2009

After amendments to the law, the powers of arbitrary arrest and detention without the right to bail have been curtailed. - APP/File photo

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari announced on Thursday political, judicial and administrative reforms for the tribal areas, allowing political activities in Fata, setting up an appellate tribunal, curtailing arbitrary powers of political agents, giving people right to appeal and bail, excluding women and children from the territorial responsibility clause and envisaging audit of accounts by the auditor general.

Addressing a ceremony held in the Presidency to mark the 62nd Independence Day, the president announced the reforms package that had been worked out in consultation with all stakeholders and approved a day earlier in a meeting. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani attended the meeting.

‘President Asif Ali Zardari tonight announced major legal and political reforms in the tribal areas to extricate them from a century of bondage and subservience and usher them into the mainstream of national life, describing it as a gift to the nation and the tribal people on the nation’s 62nd Independence Day,’ said presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

He said the reforms envisaged extension of the Political Parties Order of 2002 to the tribal areas and changes in the century-old anachronistic Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) to make it responsive to human rights.

After amendments to the law approved on Wednesday, the powers of arbitrary arrest and detention without the right to bail had been curtailed, he said.

‘The FCR was a draconian law under which there was no provision of appeal, wakeel or daleel (lawyer or reasoning) against the orders of the executive,’ the spokesman said.

The tribesmen were subject to the whims of administration officials as people were arrested and kept in jail for years without trial under the FCR, he said. A person could be sent to jail for three years without trial. The jail term could be extended indefinitely.

Under the territorial responsibility clause, women and children were being jailed.

The administration will have no arbitrary powers of arrest as checks have been placed on them. The accused shall be brought before the authority concerned within 24 hours of arrest. They will have the right to bail.

Women and children below 16 years of age shall not be arrested under the Collective Responsibility Clause of the FCR.

The changes lay down a time limit for disposal of cases.

The spokesman said a major initiative was in the field of judicial reform.

The package envisages setting up the Fata Tribunal with powers similar to those of the high courts. The tribunal shall have powers of revision of orders and judgments of the appellate authority.

The spokesman said the funds received and disbursed by political agents would be audited by the Auditor General of Pakistan.

In his address, President Zardari said Pakistan was created through a democratic struggle and it would be made strong and prosperous through democracy.

‘As we celebrate we should also pause and reflect whether and where we are going. Unfortunately, over the years as democracy was trampled, an extremist mindset was allowed to grow. I don’t want to go into who nurtured the militants and how they were aided. It is all too well known.’

The militants, he said, posed the greatest threat to the country as they were out to destroy the very fabric of society. ‘They want to impose their political and ideological agenda on the people of Pakistan through force and coercion. They reject the state, the Constitution, democracy and, indeed, our very way of life,’ he said.

He said the government had tried negotiations but the move was rejected. ‘Now they are on the run. The nation stands united and all parties and parliament have rejected militants and militancy. Our valiant defence forces stood up against this new and great threat to the country,’ he said and thanked parties, parliament, the people and the forces.

The president congratulated the nation and said that millions who had fled their homes in Swat and Malakand had started returning home. ‘But a bigger challenge awaits us. In the long run we must defeat the militant mindset to defend our country, our democracy, our institutions and our way of life.’

Praising the people of tribal areas, the president said they were being governed by a hundred-year-old obsolete system of administration that did not allow their creative potential to come into full play.

He said the law had been changed in accordance with the aspirations of the people and democratic principles. (www.dawn.com)

Alamgir and Benjamin Sisters (Khayal Rakhna)


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Abbas Zaidi: Clerks of Punjab, sell your children!

The Punjab government had decided to sack thousands of clerks who have been working on contract basis for the past nineteen years. Other than the office boys, the clerks are at the lowest ladder of government jobs, and it is very difficult for them to live respectably. This is one reason—one reason—that being clerk is synonymous with being petty bribe taking. Clerks are also known to be mean, petty-minded, and live in infamy and economic deprivation. The reason: they usually deal with the very poor and it is these poor that they have to squeeze to make extra bucks.

Now that the Punjabi government has decided to deprive them of the low salaries and petty pilfering, they have put up their children on sale because they cannot feed them. The wailing clerks beat their chests and pull their hair as their lovely little kids crying and begging the government to have pity on them and their fathers.

The government is merciless and will not be moved by the wailing or Children of Sale. One clerk, however, said something significant. He said that the economic ruin of the clerks and their families would lead to the Talibanization of the clerks, which means that pushed against the wall some clerks or their children will become suicide bombers. The clerk is right: the only language that the government understands is the language is violent as the victories of the Taliban in northern Pakistan show.

Suicide bombing as we Pakistanis know is an extremely wicked act, which results in nothing but destruction and fitna on a very large scale. Having said that, I believe that the clerks or their children will not become suicide bombers unless religion is brought in. This is why, the government will disdain the clerks, protests, and they, the clerks, will continue to protest and put up their children on sale.
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Taliban in Swat: Crippled and blind

Crippled and blind

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 The media should have been reporting – and celebrating – the eradication of polio from Pakistan years ago. We were almost polio-free as recently as three years ago, whereas today this dreadful and entirely preventable disease is spreading fast. It has just got a major boost in its bid to blight the lives of our children courtesy of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which on Sunday ordered all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to immediately leave the Swat valley, including those agencies working on polio eradication. The TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said, “They come and tell us how to make lavatories in mosques and houses. I’m sure we can do it ourselves. There is no need for foreigners to tell us this.” When asked why the TTP was against polio vaccination, Khan said, “The TTP is against polio vaccination because it causes infertility” – thereby reiterating the old and entirely-without-foundation myth in the Muslim world that polio vaccination is some sort of vast western conspiracy to emasculate and impoverish Muslim nations. He concluded by saying that he was against any operation run by NGOs and that the polio vaccine was imported and therefore could not be trusted. Membership of the comity of nations brings with it certain responsibilities. If we consider a nation as an individual, and that individual has a nasty communicable disease, we would not associate with them and would not appreciate attempts by our neighbour to infect us. This is precisely what happened in Nigeria in 2004. The Muslim northern states of Nigeria refused to participate in polio eradication programmes for the same reason that Muslim Khan is refusing to allow EPI teams into Swat. A rapid and catastrophic consequence was that polio quickly broke out, herd immunity in Nigeria was lost and neighbouring states were quickly infected. Benin, Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, all polio free, were placed at risk and then quickly infected. They ‘caught’ polio from Nigeria because parts of that country refused to get themselves vaccinated. It took years and millions of dollars to bring the outbreak under control again. We now run the risk of doing precisely the same as Nigeria did to its neighbours. A viral reservoir will be quickly built up in Swat; herd immunity is probably already lost, and given the mobility of populations in that area the almost inevitable result is that the virus will find a ready means of travelling across borders, both national and provincial. The blindness of the likes of Muslim Khan is going to needlessly cripple the lives of many.

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Pakistani bloggers' blackout on Shia killings...

While Pakistani media, politicians, civil society and most of the bloggers remain focused on the Long March, political battlefield in Punjab and perhaps certain other regions such as Gaza and Kashmir, the plight of Shias of Pakistan remains grossly ignored.



While blogging is an alternative, powerful media, I wonder why is the dominant majority of Pakistani bloggers silent on Shia killings in Pakistan at the hands of the Taliban and their allied network of sectarian and jihadi organizations.



While we spend hours and hours on discussing or contemplating the Long March, marks of Farah Dogar, attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team etc, what about the thousands of Shias who have been ruthlessly massacred by the Taliban in the last few years through numerous attacks on mosques, Imambargahs, funerals, houses, school vans, muharram processions, political meetings, jirgahs etc.

Kohat, Hangu, D.I.Khan, Quetta, Parachinar. Why are these regions and events happening in these regions not worthy of our attention?



This post is dedicated to the 4 unfortunate Shia children who were kidnapped by the Taliban on 27 February 2009.


Hangu abducted students couldn’t be recovered

HANGU: The situation in the district here remained heated and tense, following the abduction of the students and firing on the school van on 27 Feb 2009...

ہنگو کے مغوی بچوں کا پتہ نہیں

دلاورخان وزیر بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، پشاور

	بچوں کی بازیابی کے لیے سکیورٹی فورسز کوشش میں لگی ہیں

صوبہ سرحد کے ضلع ہنگو میں بارہ دن پہلے سکول بس سے اغواء ہونے والے چار بچوں کو تاحال بازایاب نہیں کرایا جاسکا۔ پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ بچوں کی بحفاظت بازیابی کے لیے قومی سطح پر کوششیں جاری ہیں۔

سکیورٹی فورسز کے مطابق قبائلی عمائدین اور علماء کا ایک جرگہ دن رات اس کوشش میں مصروف ہے لیکن ابھی تک جرگے کو ناکامی کا سامنا ہے۔

پولیس کے ایک افسر سعید خان نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ ستائیس فروری دو ہزار نو کو ایک سکول کی بس پر شہر کے قریب حملہ کر کے سکول کے چار بچوں کو اغوا، ڈرائیور کو ہلاک اور دو بچوں کو زخمی کردیاگیا تھا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ اغواء ہونے والے سکول کے بچے تاحال بازیاب نہیں ہوئے ہیں۔

ان کا کہنا تھا کہ بچوں کی بازیابی کے لیے قومی سطح پر کوششیں جاری ہیں جس کے لیےمقامی عمائدین اور علماء پر مشتمل ایک جرگہ دن رات اس کوشش میں ہے کہ وہ اغواء کاروں کا سراغ لگایا سکے لیکن ابھی تک جرگہ کی کوششیں ناکام دکھائی دیتی ہیں۔

ابھی تک نہ حکومت نے کوئی ٹھوس قدم اٹھایا ہے نہ میڈیا نے اس پر توجہ دی ہے۔ بس پہلے دن کے خبر کے بعد خاموشی ہے۔ بس اللہ سے دعگا مانگتے ہیں۔غریبوں کا اللہ کے سوا کوئی نہیں ہے۔ مغوی بچے کے والد ریاست علی

پولیس افسر کے مطابق تاحال یہ بھی معلوم نہیں کہ بچے کس کے پاس ہیں اور کسی نے اس واقعہ کی ابھی تک ذمہ داری قبول نہیں کی ہے۔ پولیس کے مطابق بچوں کے اغواء کے بعد علاقے میں سخت کشیدگی پائی جاتی ہے۔ پولیس نے سکولوں کے قریب اور سڑکوں پرگشتی ٹیموں میں اضافہ کردیا ہے۔

سترہ سالہ طلب علم سیّد حلیم شاہ بھی اغواء ہونے والوں میں شامل ہیں۔ان کے والد سید ریاست علی شاہ نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ بچوں کے اغواء کے بعد سے وہ حیران و پریشان بیھٹے رہتے ہیں۔ان کے دو بیٹے اور ایک بیٹی ہے۔

ایک بیٹا اغواء ہوا ہے دوسرا گھر میں ہے جب وہ شام کو اپنے گھر پہنچتے ہیں تو بچوں کا سامنا نہیں کرسکتے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ ان کے بیٹے کے اغوا سے پہلے جب وہ گھر جاتے تھے تو بچے ان سے پیار کے لیے آگے آتے تھے۔اب جب وہ گھر پہنچتے ہیں تو بچے رونے لگ جاتے ہیں جس کی وجہ سے پورے گھر والوں کو پریشانی کا سامنا ہے۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ وہ پولیس کی کاروائی سے مطمئین نہیں ہیں اور پولیس ان کی بات سننے کے لیے بھی تیار نہیں ہے۔ ریاست علی شاہ کے مطابق جرگے کی کوششیں بھی مؤثر نہیں کیونکہ علاقے کے ہر ایک باشندے کو پتہ ہے کہ بچوں کو ہنگو کے طالبان نے اغواء کیا ہے اور بعد میں اورکزئی ایجنسی منتقل کردیا ہے۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ بچوں کے اغواء کے بارہ دن پورے ہوگئے ہیں۔’پتہ نہیں کہ ان کے علاقے میں اس کے بعد سے لوگوں پر کیا گزر رہی ہے لیکن ابھی تک نہ حکومت نے کوئی ٹھوس قدم اٹھایا ہے نہ میڈیا نے اس پر توجہ دی ہے۔ بس پہلے دن کی خبر کے بعد خاموشی ہے۔ بس اللہ سے دعا مانگتے ہیں‘۔

یاد رہے کہ ستائیس فروری دو ہزار نو کو بروز جمعہ ضلع ہنگو کے علاقے میروباک میں نامعلوم افراد نے سکول کی بس پرحملہ کیا تھا جس میں ڈرائیور ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے زخمی ہوگئے تھے۔اس کے بعد فائرنگ کرنے والوں نے چار بچوں کو اغواء کیا اور انہیں نامعلوم مقام کی طرف لے گئے تھے۔

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/03/090309_kids_kidnap_sz.shtml

...

The following is a rare media report on the state of Shia killings in Pakistan .

Media blackout on Parachinar Shia killings

Leading Pakistani scholars strongly condemn the ‘western media censor-policy’ over the Shia Muslim killings in the northwestern city of Parachinar.

Political experts and religious scholars, attending a summit in the Iranian city of Qom, emphasized on the necessity to launch a regional media campaign to raise global awareness about the issue.

The summit held in Iranian city of Qom under the banner “Holocaust of Shias in Parachinar,” came in the wake of the killings of hundreds of Shia community-members over the past six months in Parachinar and Hangu.

Pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants, who are reportedly behind the killings, have imposed an economic blockade against the Shia-dominated population areas.

The frequent incidents have raised concerns among human rights group, while moderate Pakistani Sunni groups have described the issue as a conspiracy against the country.

Taliban leaders, who were toppled in the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, took refuge to tribal regions in Pakistan and rapidly began to extend heir influence from tribes to major towns and cities.

The pro-Taliban anti-Shia groups have launched a violent campaign against the Shia Muslims, and are stretching the campaign toward the restive southwestern Pakistan as well.

Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province has witnessed several instances of violence directed against the Hazara Shia community in recent months.

Several Shia religious gatherings have also been targeted in central province of Punjab over the past some months.

Tehran has repeatedly cautioned Islamabad over the ’silent massacre’ of its Shia community by the Taliban in the country. “The incidents that have occurred against Pakistan’s Shia community are a plot to create conflict between the region’s Sunni and Shia population,” said Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.

“We have warned Islamabad over the incidents and we will follow up on the matter,” he added.

Shia sources say they make up one-third of Pakistan’s population of nearly 160 million. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in sectarian-related incidents in Pakistan.

Also read:

Ammar360: Holocaust of Shias in Parachinar

and
The massacre the world ignored: Parachinar

SOS from Pakistan - Save Pakistani Shias Petition

Please sign this petition: http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/02/sos-from-pakistan-save-pakistani-shias.html

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4 Shia children kidnapped by Taliban in Hangu not found yet

Why is the Pakistani and international media silent on the systematic killings of Shia in Pakistan?

4 students kidnapped in Hangu not found yet

HANGU: The four students kidnapped in district Hangu have not been recovered yet.

The driver of a van was killed and four students were kidnapped in Hangu district on Friday. Two students of were injured in the attack near Moebak Kandao. The efforts of the recovery of abducted students are still underway.

Meanwhile, 12 tribesmen kidnapped in Tut Kas area of Kurram Agency a week ago have not been recovered so far. The local administration is negotiating with abductors for the release of kidnapped persons. (The News)

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=70158

......

مغوی بچے تاحال بازیاب نہیں ہوئے

دلاورخان وزیر بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، پشاور

	ابھی تک جرگے کو ناکامی کا سامنا ہے

صوبہ سرحد کے ضلع ہنگو میں جمعہ کو سکول بس سے اغواء ہونے والے چار بچوں کو تاحال بازایاب نہیں کرایا جاسکا۔پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ بچوں کی بحفاظت بازایابی کے لیے مقامی عمائدین اور علماء کا ایک جرگہ اورکزئی ایجسنی پہنچ گیا ہے۔لیکن ابھی تک جرگے کو ناکامی کا سامنا ہے۔

پولیس کے ایک افسر سعید خان نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ جمعہ کو ایک سکول کی بس پر حملہ کرکے ڈرائیور کو ہلاک گیا جبکہ دو بچوں کو زخمی کردیاگیا تھا۔پولیس افسر کے مطابق اس وقت چار بچوں کو اغواء بھی کیا گیا جو تاحال بازیاب نہیں ہوئے ہیں۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ بچوں کی بازیابی کے لیے مقامی عمائدین اور علماء پر مشتمل ایک جرگہ دو دن سے اورکزئی ایجنسی میں موجود ہیں۔ان کا کہنا تھا کہ جرگہ یہ سراغ لگانے میں ناکام ہے کہ بچے کس کے پاس ہیں۔پولیس کے مطابق بچوں کے اغواء کے بعد علاقے میں سخت کشیدگی پائی جاتی ہے۔

چودہ سالہ سید شاہی عباس بھی اغواء ہونے والوں میں شامل ہیں۔ان کے بوڑھے داد سید سجاد حُسین نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ بچوں کے اغواء کے بعد صرف ان کے والدین نہیں بلکہ پورا علاقہ غم میں ڈوبہ ہوا ہے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ یہ تو سکول کے بچے ہیں ان کا کیا قصور ہے۔

انہوں نے بتایا کہ جب ان کو معلوم ہوا کہ سکول کے بچے اغواء ہوئے ہیں۔ وہ فوراً سکول پہنچ گئے لیکن سکول میں ان کا نواسہ نہیں تھا۔ان کے مطابق کسی کو معلوم نہیں کہ بچے کس نے اغواء کیے ہیں۔ان کا کہنا تھا کہ ’ہم تو گھر میں بیھٹے ہیں لوگ تسلیاں دینے کے لیے آتے ہیں۔وہ کیا کرسکتے ہیں۔بس اللہ سے دعگا مانگتے ہیں۔غریبوں کا اللہ کے سوا کوئی نہیں ہے‘۔

ان کا کہنا تھا کہ علاقے میں حالات بھی اچھے نہیں ہےکسی بھی وقت کچھ بھی ہوسکتا ہے۔

یادرہے کہ گزشتہ جمعہ کو ضلع ہنگو کے علاقے میروباک میں نامعلوم افراد نے سکول کی بس پرحملہ کیا تھا جس میں ڈرائیور ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے زخمی ہوگئے تھے۔اس کے بعد فائرنگ کرنے والے چار بچوں کو اغواء کر کے انہیں نامعلوم مقام کی طرف لے گئے تھے

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/03/090302_hangu_kidnaped_nj.shtml
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Pakistani school children killed in ambush
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:44:50 GMT

The only fault of these children is that they are Shia.


Unidentified assailants have reportedly ambushed a van carrying Shia children to school in the troubled tribal region of northwest Pakistan.

At least four students lost lives and five others sustained injuries as gunmen fired bullets at the school van outside the town of Hangu. The driver was also killed in the attack, Press TV's Muhammad Shafiq, reported.

The report added that seven students appear to have been kidnapped by the attackers.

The school van was traveling from Hangu to Kohat when it came under attack. The bodies and the wounded were shifted to Hangu's Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, local police station chief Saeed Khan noted that authorities have closed all entry and exit points in the town, launching search operations in the nearby mountains to recover the kidnapped children and capture the attackers.

Hangu is located about 175 km (109 miles) west of Islamabad in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan and is plagued by sectarian, pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked violence.

MP/MMN

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86955&sectionid=351020401

SOS from Pakistan - Save Pakistani Shias Petition

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Tlaiban kill shia school children in ambush in Hangu, Update 28 February 2009

Pakistani school children killed in ambush
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:44:50 GMT


Unidentified assailants have reportedly ambushed a van carrying Shia children to school in the troubled tribal region of northwest Pakistan.

At least four students lost lives and five others sustained injuries as gunmen fired bullets at the school van outside the town of Hangu. The driver was also killed in the attack, Press TV's Muhammad Shafiq, reported.

The report added that seven students appear to have been kidnapped by the attackers.

The school van was traveling from Hangu to Kohat when it came under attack. The bodies and the wounded were shifted to Hangu's Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, local police station chief Saeed Khan noted that authorities have closed all entry and exit points in the town, launching search operations in the nearby mountains to recover the kidnapped children and capture the attackers.

Hangu is located about 175 km (109 miles) west of Islamabad in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan and is plagued by sectarian, pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked violence.

MP/MMN

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86955&sectionid=351020401

The incident happened on Friday morning outside the town of Hangu in the troubled North West Frontier Province, state-run television PTV reported.

The driver of the minibus was also killed in the lethal attack.

The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured children are said to be in critical condition, according to medics.

Hangu is located about 175 kilometers (110 miles) west of the capital Islamabad.

Taliban-linked militants in Parachinar, Hangu towns and the other areas of the Kurram tribal agency have killed 25 to 30 people on a daily basis during the last six months, local media reports say.

Some reports have cited grave human rights abuses against Shias in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar.

Taliban has established its rule in the restive Swat valley and its influence is also rapidly increasing its grip on the major cities and even the so-called settled areas of the country.

Shia sources say that the community makes up one-third of Pakistan's 160 million-strong population. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in violence-related incidents in Pakistan by extremist groups.

Moderate Pakistani Sunni groups believe that leaving Shias at the mercy of the Taliban is a conspiracy against the country.

Earlier, Tehran cautioned Islamabad over the 'silent massacre' of its Shia community by the Taliban in the country.

"The incidents that have occurred against Pakistan's Shia community are a plot to create conflict between the region's Sunni and Shia population," said Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.

"We have warned Islamabad over the incidents and we will pursue the matter," he added.

,,,,

4 students kidnapped in Hangu

By Abdul Sami Paracha
Saturday, 28 Feb, 2009

KOHAT, Feb 27: The driver of a college van was killed and four students were kidnapped in Hangu district on Friday.

Two students of Al Asr College were injured in the attack near Moebak Kandao. It was suspected to have been carried out by Taliban. They were sent home after treatment. Another student reached home after escaping from the van.

Abid Hassan, Asif Ali and Said Haleem Shah, all class XI students, and

Shahi Abbas of class VII, were taken by the kidnappers to Orakzai Agency.

Driver Asghar Hussain’s body was brought to Kohat for burial.

According to district police chief Sajjad Khan, a large-scale operation launched to recover the students and arrest the kidnappers ended in failure in the evening.

“We have asked the administration of Orakzai Agency to remain vigilant and help locate the missing students,” he said.

The official said helicopters were also being use to trace the kidnappers in mountains and thick jungle.

The Hangu bazaar was closed after the incident because of fear of sectarian clashes.

People in Bangash area of upper Kohat district took to the streets to vent anger over the incident.

The Bangash community threatened to block the highway if the students were not recovered by 10am on Saturday.

The deadline was given to the district administration, after a meeting held at a police station, by the chairman of the Ittehad Bainal Muslimeen group, Mahatabul Hassan, and a former chief justice of Peshawar High Court, Syed Ibne Ali.

The ambush took place at the scene of a firing incident on Ashura day when mourners who wanted to enter Hangu from Kohat amid curfew were targeted by unknown men.

A jirga formed after last year’s Muharram clashes in the area is yet to start negotiations. The government has asked the jirga to give its verdict by March 4 for restoring peace. (Dawn)

....

Pakistan Shia children 'attacked'

Taleban gunmen in north-west Pakistan have attacked a school bus, killing the driver and injuring three pupils in a sectarian attack, police say.

Some reports say several children were abducted in the attack in Hangu.

Police say the children in the bus were Shia Muslims. It follows the murder of a Shia lawyer in Hangu on Thursday.

The Taleban are active in Hangu - where there is tension between Shias and Sunnis - and have imposed their version of Sharia law in parts of the area.

Hangu - in North West Frontier Province - has seen especially violent clashes in the past between Shias and Sunnis during the Shia religious ceremony of Ashura.

The hardline Sunni Taleban say they consider the Shias heretical.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7915323.stm

....

Letter by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Shia killings on the rise again

The Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Ms Asma Jahangir, has written to The Friday Times, expressing her concerns of the rising trend of killing Shias in Quetta: “The killing of Shia notables in Quetta has sadly become a frequent occurrence. Some of the killings have been owned by an extremist organisation flying a religious standard. The number of the Shia community members killed there over the recent years has exceeded 300. The government’s failure to track down the culprits has understandably enraged the targeted community, and it has also emboldened the perpetrators to kill with impunity. Besides religious figures, liberal politicians, businessmen and government officials have been targeted”.
Quetta is an unlucky “frontline” city. It has received two sets of refugees from Afghanistan. The Shia Hazaras who have escaped sectarian prejudice in Afghanistan have been coming to the safe haven of Quetta over centuries. They became naturalised in the normal course because of the wonderfully tolerant environment of Balochistan and have arisen on the social ladder as useful citizens. Before 2001, the city was host to a large number of Afghans fleeing Taliban rule; after 2001, it was the Taliban commanders with their Al Qaeda links who were allowed to take shelter here. Sectarian violence has followed.

Quetta has additionally fallen victim to Baloch militant organisations that kill Punjabis and others seen by them as renegades to their cause. Taking advantage of the turmoil in Afghanistan and the ongoing Indo-Pak proxy war, they have taken on a sharp edge they never had before. They kill and kidnap at will and have weapons at their disposal they never had before. But Quetta is not alone in its vulnerability. In the tribal areas, Kurram has suffered Shia killing for the last two years or more. The roads coming down from there to the settled areas of Hangu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar in the NWFP have all seen their own share of killings.

The latest news from Hangu is that a van of school children was fired upon by sectarian terrorists, killing one and kidnapping six of the children. Kohat next door is not exempt from this bloodbath, so much so that the killers are now accepted as a part of the local administration. Ms Jahangir’s warning is timely. The wave of Shia-killing is not going to remain confined to Balochistan and the tribal areas. In fact, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bhakkar in Punjab are already feeling the pressure; and it is linked to Pakistan’s war against terrorism. (Daily Times)

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\02\28\story_28-2-2009_pg3_1
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Hangu: Taliban attack a school van killing 3 Shia children, kidnapping 6 Shia children

Gunmen ambush Pakistan school minibus, 3 Shia students killed, 6 taken captive

Jang

Shia children injured in a previous bombing at the Bari Imam shrine in Islamabad. Photograph: AP

27 Feb 2009 update

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Gunmen on Friday ambushed a minibus carrying children to school in remote northwest Pakistan, killing the driver, wounding two children and apparently kidnapping six others, police said.

The bus was ambushed outside the town of Hangu in the country's troubled North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan and is plagued by sectarian violence as well as Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

"Unknown gunmen fired at the school van carrying Shiite students. The driver was killed, two children were injured, while six appear to have been kidnapped by the attackers," local police station chief Saeed Khan told AFP.

"Police are searching for the attackers in the nearby mountains," he added, saying he had no further details about the missing students.

Hangu, which has been a flashpoint for sectarian violence in the past, is located about 175 kilometres (110 miles) west of the capital Islamabad.

Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups signed a peace accord in Hangu last month after days of sectarian clashes in which at least nine people were killed.

Shiites account for about 20 percent of Pakistan's 160-million-strong, Sunni-majority population.

The groups usually coexist peacefully but outbreaks of sectarian violence have claimed more than 4,000 lives across Pakistan since the late 1980s.

AFP 27 Feb 2009

Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire on a school van near the northwestern town of Hangu on Friday, killing its driver and injuring three students before abducting six other children, police officer Arshad Khan said. Those abducted were between the ages of nine and 18, he said.

Pakistan's northwest is a violent, lawless region, where criminal gangs and Islamist militants take refuge.

Associated Press writer Hussain Afzal contributed to this report from Parachinar.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD96JO5900

....

Driver killed in Hangu school van firing

Updated at: 0955 PST, Friday, February 27, 2009 HANGU: A driver was killed and two students sustained injuries when unknown persons opened fire at a school van in Hangu. The attackers also kidnapped six students.

Police sources said a school van travelling from Hangu to Kohat when unidentified persons opened fire at van near Merobik Banda area killing driver Asghar Ali on the spot and injuring two students Zafar and Farhan.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers also abducted six students. The body and injured were shifted to Civil Hospital. Heavy police contingents launched search operation for the recovery of the children.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=69844

...

12 men abducted in Hangu

HANGU: Unidentified armed men on Monday opened fire on a Peshawar-bound vehicle before abducting 12 of its passengers near Kurram Agency’s border with Hangu district, officials said. An official told Daily Times that the vehicle was on its way to Peshawar when the armed men intercepted it in Tootkas area and abducted 12 of its 15 passengers.Hangu District Police Officer Sajjad Khan confirmed the incident. He added that even though the Khasadar force was deployed in the area, the Taliban were openly operating there. saboor khan (Daily Times)

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\02\24\story_24-2-2009_pg7_28

....

Kurram Agency Toori abducted persons couldn’t be recovered

The News, 27 Feb

PESHAWAR: Even after lapse of five days twelve abducted persons of Toori tribesmen could not be recovered.

Sources said that that some armed persons had abducted twelve persons of Toori tribesmen on way from Kuram Agency to Peshawar from Tootkas area and one trying to escape was shot dead. Despite lapse of five days, the kidnapped persons could not be recovered.

Toori tribesmen have demanded immediate release of the abductees and ensuring safe travel on the Peshawar-Kurram main highway.

....

سکول بس فائرنگ میں ڈرائیور ہلاک

دلاورخان وزیر بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، پشاور

	ضلع ہنگو سُنی شیعہ فسادت کے لحاظ سے انتہائی حساس ہے

صوبہ سرحد کے ضلع ہنگو میں پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ نامعلوم مسلح افراد نے سکول کے بچوں کی ایک گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی ہے جس کے نتیجہ میں گاڑی کے ڈرائیور ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے زخمی ہوگئے ہیں۔زخمی بچوں کو ہنگو کے سول ہسپتال میں داخل کرا دیاگیا ہے۔

پولیس کے ایک اہلکار عمر حیات نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ جمعہ کو ہنگو شہر سے چار کلومیٹر دور جنوب کی جانب بہادر بانڈہ کے علاقے میروباک میں نامعلوم مسلح افراد نے سکول کے بچوں کی ایک گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی جس کے نتیجہ میں گاڑی کے ڈرئیور ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے زخمی ہوگئے ہیں۔

پولیس اہلکار کا کہنا تھا کہ اس واقعہ کے بعد ہنگو سے پولیس کی بھاری نفری علاقے میں پہنچ گئی اور مختلف راستوں میں ناکے لگا کر تلاشی شروع کر دی۔لیکن تاحال کسی قسم کی گرفتاری عمل میں نہیں آئی ہے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ فائرنگ کرنے والے مسلح لوگ پیدل تھے اور فائرنگ کے بعد فرار ہوگئے ہیں۔

علاقے میں موجود ایک مقامی صحافی نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ جمعہ کی صبح آٹھ بجے مسلح افراد نے سکول کے قریب ایک سپیڈ بریکر کے اوپر گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی جس کے نتیجہ میں گاڑی کے ڈرائیور اصغر خان ہلاک جبکہ دو بچے ظفر علی اور فرحان علی زخمی ہوگئے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ بچوں کا تعلق اہل تشیع سے بتایا جاتا ہے جو ایک گاؤں سے سکول جا رہے تھے۔انہوں نے کہا کہ علاقے میں سخت کشیدگی پائی جاتی ہے۔اور اس واقعہ کے بعد تمام راستے غیر اعلانیہ طور پر بند کر دیےگئے ہیں۔

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/02/090227_schoolbus_attacked_as.shtml

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From Children of Gaza to Children of FATA and Swat: Taliban shelling kills 11 school children in Darra Adam Khel

Taliban shelling kills 14 civilians in Darra

* Eyewitness says mortar landed on school minutes after classes ended

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: Fourteen civilians, including 11 schoolchildren, and a soldier were killed in a mortar attack by the Taliban in Darra Adam Khel, an official statement said on Monday.

The incident marks the largest number of civilian casualties in a single attack by the Taliban. According to an official statement, the Taliban were targeting security forces’ checkposts in nearby areas when the mortars hit the school.

“The schoolchildren killed were less than 15 years old. They died when two mortars hit a Girls Primary School near Qasimkhel village on main Indus Highway. Fifteen people were also wounded in the attack,” local resident Faridullah Amin told Daily Times from Darra, 45 kilometres south of Peshawar.

Timed attack: Local residents said the Taliban had been firing mortars at the forces’ positions since midday. They said at 2pm, one mortar landed in the school, mere minutes after the children had finished their classes. “As the first mortar landed in the school, many students rushed outside to see what had happened. At that time, a second mortar landed in the school, killing most of them,” Faridullah added.

“The school ground was red with the children’s blood and parents found it hard to find the remains of their kids,” said an eyewitness. “Loud screams echoed the area when the news of children killed in the mortar fire spread,” he added.

Protest: Following the attack, an angry mob of around 200 people protested the killings by blocking a highway linking the town with Peshawar. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the shelling so far. Security forces have also denied any involvement. “No military operation is currently underway in the area,” a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

However, the official military statement stated: “At least 13 civilians were killed when Taliban fired mortar shell from Mirwali direction.” It added that a soldier had also been killed in the attack.
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