Federal government has formally prepared a project of providing relief in the form of funds worth million of rupees to the owners of houses which were destroyed in terrorism-related incidents. According to sources, work on 250 projects will be started that will include 40 primary schools, girls and boys, 20 colleges, one engineering college, one medical college and one engineering college. Similarly it is also decided that Fata University will also be established.
The name of the program will be Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Development Program which will be formally inaugurated by President of Pakistan and all arrangements have been finalised to kick off the programme in the month of December.
It has been told that the owners of the houses who have lost their homes will get Rs0.3million each while projects of clean drinking water and dams will also come under consideration in tribal areas. Further, the head of the program will be Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while health projects include a 100 bed latest hospital besides basic health center at the worn-torn areas. The Frontier Post.
An ambassador has said that Malala Yousufzai is making steady recovery and is starting to walk, talk and read. Jamil Ahmed Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, made the comments on Sunday after speaking to British officials and the father of Malala Yousufzai, who is in Birmingham, England. Mr Khan said she was making “very satisfactory” progress and had started “walking, talking and reading”. The ambassador gave the update at a students’ speech contest held in Dubai in honour of Malala Yousufzai. Dawn.
In a firing incident a man at village Sar Surang of Kurram agency was killed and two others seriously injured. According to details, three persons belonging to Turi tribe went from Paiwaar village to village Terimangal for buying timbre.
On their way back, some unidentified people opened firing on their tractor at Sar Surang village and killed one Dildar Hussain Turi son of Wahab Ali Turi on the spot and left two others namely Jawad Hussain Turi and Qamar Abbas seriously injured.
The injured were shifted to Kurram headquarters hospital Parachinar. The Frontier Post.
On a tip off, the Security forces raided a house in Malam Jaba Kohwa area and recovered explosives and a huge cache of ammunition while arresting the culprit. Security forces sources said that they raided at the house of Arzeb son of Pakho Muala in Malam Jaba Kohwa area last night and recovered 5kg explosives and arms from his possession. The culprit has been shifted to an undisclosed place for further investigations, the sources added. It is pertinent to mention that following a murder attempt at the life of head of the defense committee in Sair Telagram Khwar Paitay area the security forces and police have continued search operation in the area on third day after the said incident and claimed to have arrested several suspects during the search operation from Telagram to Malam Jaba areas. The Frontier Post.
The security forces raided the Afghan refugee camp No 1 and arrested an alleged member of Afghan National Army and six other refugees, sources told Dawn on Sunday. Sources said that the security personnel raided the refugee camp during the night and arrested seven Afghans, among them a suspected official of Afghan National Army. A pistol was also recovered during the raid. The arrested Afghans were shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation, the sources said. Dawn.
Khyber Agency has recorded the highest number of subversive acts during the current year as compared to other parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). The data compiled by offices of political administration in Fata shows that total 96 bomb blasts, suicide and rocket attacks have occurred in Khyber Agency between January and October this year. These incidences have left at least 100 civilians and 20 security personnel dead besides injuring 60 others, the record shows. Army and paramilitary forces have been conducting operations in Khyber Agency since 2009, but they have yet to evict militants from the area, situated at a stone’s throw from Peshawar. The volatile agency has also topped the list of kidnapping for ransom incidents among all tribal units as it recorded 40 cases in which people were picked up and taken there before making demands for money from the relatives of the kidnapped persons. Main militant groups like Lashkar-i-Islam, Tawheedul Islam, Ansaarul Islam, Haji Namdar group and Abdullah Ezzam Brigade have been operating in the area, according to sources. The infighting among these militant outfits and subsequent military operations caused mass exoduses from the militancy-stricken area.
According to Fata Disaster Management Authority’s report, around 71,000 displaced families, who left their native homes in the wake of lawlessness, had been registered with it. Officials blamed deaths and civilian casualties in Khyber Agency on artillery shelling and rocket attacks. The trouble started in Khyber Agency in 2003 when supporters of two rival sectarian groups led by Mufti Shakir and Pir Saifur Rehman respectively clashed in Bara. Mufti and Pir were expelled from the area in 2004. However, the sectarian clashes resulted in emergence of Mangal Bagh group.
Interestingly, official reports portray situation in South Waziristan Agency, the birthplace of Taliban in Fata, as relatively quite and calm. No loss of life of civilians and security forces has been reported from South Waziristan where total 20 attacks, including improvised explosive devices and roadside blasts, took place though media had reported that 30 security personnel and five civilians were killed in these acts of violence.
Also, decline has been witnessed in suicide attacks in Fata in the current year. Sources said that political authorities had confirmed four suicide attacks in tribal areas one each in Bajaur, Khyber and Kurram agencies and Frontier Region of Kohat. Militants had reportedly carried out nine suicide attacks in Fata in 2011.
Officials said that situation in Bajaur Agency was pretty normal though acts of violence had occurred in the area. According to reports, 10 blasts and 15 missile attacks had taken place in Bajaur that claimed lives of 24 civilians and 10 soldiers. Around 100 civilians and security personnel have suffered injuries in these attacks.
Situation in previously troubled Mohmand Agency also remained under control during the past 10 months after subsequent military offensives against militants. Officials said that security forces flushed out militants from villages and towns of Mohmand and consolidated government’s writ there. An official said that 39 bomb and rocket attacks had taken place in Mohmand Agency.
Situation in violence-stricken Kurram Agency is still murky, particularly in the lower and central subdivisions of the area where 50 civilians died and 90 received wounds in suicide attacks and other subversive activities.
North Waziristan Agency, the nest of various militant outfits, also remained tense because of night attacks on security installations, military convoys and roadside blasts. Around 60 attacks had been taken place in the area that killed 20 civilians and soldiers besides injuring 50 others. Dawn.
The authorities decided to launch a military operation in Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara, however, local elders were engaged in extensive consultations to avert the action, sources said. Sources privy to the consultations, spearheaded by MNA Hamidullah Jan Afridi, said that no headway was made till late on Sunday as some of the Bar Qambarkhel elders were reluctant to furnish guarantees with the security forces about the conduct of Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir, a Bar Qambarkhel-based banned group. The Bar Qambarkhel elders were scheduled to meet in Bara on Saturday but they were denied entry to the area on security grounds. Later the venue of the meeting was shifted to Peshawar. Sources said that the meeting discussed on Sunday threadbare the four demands of the government that included handing over of wanted men, expelling Afghan clerics from the area, closing down torture cells and furnishing guarantees about the good conduct of the banned group. The government has set November 5 as a deadline for Bar Qambarkhel elders to accept its demands or vacate the area so that a military operation can be launched. Dawn.
Three policemen were injured in a grenade attack in Jala Baila village on the outskirts of Peshawar on Sunday evening. Sources said that unidentified motorcyclists hurled a grenade at a check post in the area that injured three policemen identified as Fakhr Alam, Khan Said and Ali Mast. The injured policemen were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment.
In Dir Lower, unidentified militants shot dead a worker of Jamaat-i-Islami and leader of a local reconciliatory committee in Maidan on Sunday morning. Sources said that Abdul Rehman, 55, was going to his shop at Kumbar area when the assailants opened firing on him in Khro Shago area. He was killed on the spot. The deceased was a former nazim of Kotkay union council. The residents of the area said that he had survived two attacks during the last one year. They said that the deceased was receiving threats from militants. The Lal Qila police registered a case against unidentified persons and started investigation. Dawn, The Frontier Post, Daily Times, Daily Mashriq, The News.
Unknown people on Saturday night fired three missiles apparently to target a military camp in Razmak subdivision but the projectiles landed near a residential area outside the army camp and didn’t cause any human loss, official sources said. The sources said the missiles were fired from the nearby mountains in the adjoining South Waziristan Agency. “The missiles were fired from the nearby mountains and the target was believed to be the army camp. “The missiles landed outside the military camp near a residential area but luckily didn’t cause any loss of life to the local people,” an official told The News here on Sunday.
Meanwhile, unknown people on Saturday night blew up CDs shops in Miranshah bazaar. The shops were meant for selling CDs of Naat as music centres had long been closed in the area.
Meanwhile, unidentified people planted an improvised explosive device (IED) on the Miranshah-Dattakhel Road but it was defused by the bomb disposal unit. A military convoy was supposed to travel on this road from Miranshah to Dattakhel on Sunday. The News.
A child was killed when another boy allegedly hit him in the head with a cricket bat in Ashrafkhel village in Landikotal, local sources said on Sunday. Ihsanullah, 12, was playing a cricket match with other friends when the players scuffled. A boy allegedly hit him in the head and he fell unconscious. He was rushed to Landikotal Agency Headquarters Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. He was laid to rest in his native graveyard. The News, The Frontier Post
Militants blew up another school in Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency, official sources said on Sunday. The sources said the militants had planted explosives at the Government Primary School Khazina in Safi tehsil and triggered the explosions early in the day. With the destruction of the school in Khazina, the number of destroyed schools in the Mohmand tribal region has reached 109. The News.
Around 60 internally displaced women received vocational training arranged by the Women Skills Development Centre, Fata Development Authority at the Jalozai Camp. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masud Kausar distributed certificates among the trainees during a ceremony organised at the camp. Speaking as chief guest, the governor said he was pleased that 60 internally displaced women had been imparted training in tailoring, embroidery and dress designing. He said that economic empowerment was the key to sustainable development.
The governor said the government was taking special interest in empowerment of tribal women. He said efforts should also be made to impart literacy skills to women of the internally displaced families. He also requested the media to highlight the initiatives of the government for economic development of Fata. The News.
Five suspected militants were arrested and weapons seized from them, police sources said. The sources said Doaba police at a checkpoint in Karbogha area stopped a car, nabbed the five suspects and recovered four Kalashnikovs rifles, a repeater gun, four pistols and three hand grenades. The arrested persons were identified as Muhammad Nawaz, Muzzamil Khan, Habibullah, Hidayat and Malik Nazar Jan. The News.
The government is engaged in the rehabilitation of damaged public infrastructure and services in South Waziristan Agency to support the return and reintegration of displaced populations.
According to a press release issued by the Directorate of Information FATA Secretariat, in an effort to meet the urgent need for clean drinking water for returning IDPs, the Political Administration of South Waziristan Agency has rehabilitated a water supply system in the Kotkai Ishangi area of Tehsil Sararogha.
This project now caters to the drinking water needs of about 8,000 returnees to this area.
The Political Administration has also constructed a water supply system for the displaced communities of Ganra Kach area in Sararogha Tehsil of South Waziristan Agency. The Frontier Post.
The dead body of a person who went on missing three days ago was found in Mattani, suburbs of Peshawar. According to details Sahib Gul s/o Noor Gul went missing for the last three days from his home town Mattani. His family and police failed to find him out even after extensive search. However his bullet ridden body was found in Addayzai area of Mattanai the other day. Police according to the last details didn’t launched FIR against anybody and only handed over the dead body to the family. Daily Mashriq.
FRC REPORT
Parachinnar: Two persons sustained injuries while one died when unknown miscreants opened fire on a Tractor in Sarsarang village of Kurram Agency here on Sunday. The victims were accompanying a wood laden tractor from Tarry Mangal area of the agency. Some unknown miscreants opened fire on them when they were passing through sarsarang village. As a result Dildar Hussain Torry died on the spot, while two others sustained injuries and were shifted to Agency Headquarters Hospital Parrachinnar for first aid.
Parrachinnar: A number of events were organized in Parrachinnar Kurram Agency in accordance with Eid ul Azha. A large number of people from all walks of life participated. The speakers while addressing at this religious ceremony urged the people to unite against all the ills in which the country had been suffering. They prayed for the safety and integrity of the country.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHRY
