ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Saturday said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) is planning attacks on the rally of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri in Islamabad. The threat has been revealed in a communication intercept in which the Taliban leaders were heard discussing plans to attack Qadri’s rally. The interior minister said that the intercepted conversation went like this: “We have finalised arrangements for those coming to Islamabad in which some sick people are also present”. The minister said that they were taking the threat seriously as the TTP spokesman has also confirmed it. Daily Times, The News, Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Thousands of Pakistani tribesmen on Saturday protested the killing of warlord Mullah Nazir and hoisted black flags to mark his death, officials said. The protesters also roundly condemned US drone strikes, and demanded Islamabad summon the US ambassador and lodge an official protest over the militant commander’s killing this week. “All shops were closed in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan tribal district, and the tribesmen protested against the killing of warlord Mullah Nazir,” Amir Nawaz, a local administration official, told AFP. Nazir, killed late Wednesday in a US drone strike, was the main militant leader in the tribal district of South Waziristan, where he plotted attacks on US and NATO troops and reportedly sheltered al Qaeda operatives. “More than 3,000 tribesmen, carrying black flags, later marched towards Azam Warsak, around seven kilometres west of Wana and passed a resolution against the US,” Nawaz said. Daily Times, The News, Dawn.
LANDI KOTAL: Unidentified gunmen blew up on Friday night an abandoned mosque in Bara where proscribed militant organisation Lashkar-i-Islam was formed about eight years ago. Official sources said that scores of armed persons came in vehicles, forcibly opened the locked mosque in Nala-Malikdinkhel and planted explosives in it. The building of the mosque was razed when they detonated the explosives, they added. Built in early 2004 by a local elder Haji Rabat adjacent to his house, the mosque became a centre of activities when firebrand cleric Mufti Munir Shakir set up an illegal FM radio station inside it and started delivering fiery speeches against his rival Pir Saifur Rehman, a spiritual leader of Afghan origin. It was the same mosque where Mufti Munir Shakir formed Lashkar-i-Islam in December 2004 after Sipah and Malikdinkhel tribesmen announced their full allegiance to him. However, the cleric was expelled from Bar Qambarkhel area after only six months owing to his extremist views and differences with Haji Namdar, another militant commander of the area. Dawn.
SADDA: One person was killed and three others including two women sustained injuries in a roadside blast in lower Kurram Agency on Saturday, official and tribal sources said. The sources said that Haji Shindo Gul along with his family members was on way to Manduri Killay from his village, Baggan, to attend a wedding ceremony when their car hit an explosive device planted on the Zarana road at 7:45am. Haji Shindo Gul, his wife, son Janan and daughter-in-law were injured. They were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Thall in Hangu district. The News, Dawn.
WASHINGTON: The US Defence Department has prepared plans for a smaller presence in Afghanistan after the White House insisted on examining the option of leaving fewer troops in the country after 2014 than was initially proposed, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday. The newspaper said the plans now prepared by the Pentagon call for leaving roughly 3,000, 6,000 or 9,000 US troops in the country. Those troops would launch strikes against militants and continue training the Afghan army and police, who will be responsible for national security more than a decade after a US-led alliance ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said the slimmed-down force would focus on preventing al Qaeda, which was sheltered by the 1996-2001 Taliban government, from regaining a foothold in the war-shattered nation. General John Allen, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, had earlier suggested leaving 6,000 to 15,000 US troops, the Journal pointed out. Daily Times.
KABUL: The Taliban on Saturday warned of a prolonged war in Afghanistan if any foreign troops stay after the end of 2014, as Kabul and Washington prepare to discuss the “residual” US security presence. President Barack Obama and President Hamid Karzai will hold talks in the US next week on a long-term security pact between the two countries, with US troops remaining in Afghanistan at the top of the agenda. “If America wants to leave a small or large number of its troops for whatever length of time then it means war and destruction will continue in the region for that same length,” the Taliban said in a statement. “If Karzai and the Kabul regime agree with the presence of even a single American soldier then, just as presently, they shall also be responsible for all future hostilities, casualties and destruction.” The latest media reports suggest the US Department of Defence has prepared plans that leave either 3,000, 6,000 or 9,000 troops in the country, focused on striking at al Qaeda militants. Daily Times, The News, Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the provincial chief of the Al Khidmat Foundation, a charity organisation run by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), along with his driver on Saturday in Charsadda district. Zakir Hussain, provincial chief of the JI’s Al Kihdmat Education Wing, was killed along with his driver when unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike attacked his vehicle in the Utmanzai area of the Charsadda District, JI Information Secretary Israrullah confirmed in Peshawar. “Hussain was killed while he was on an inspection visit to a local school, run by the JI, in Charsadda district,” the information secretary said. Israrullah said Hussain had no personal or family feud. Daily Times, Dawn.
KHYBER AGENCY: Security forces have arrested 16 suspects during an operation in Khyber Agency. According to official sources, security forces conducted a search operation against criminals in Ghundi area of Tehsil Jamrud on Saturday and apprehended 16 suspected persons.On the other hand, an explosion was reported in Malik Deen Khel area of Tehsil Bara that damaged a mosque and nearby house. However, no loss of life was reported. Five persons were also injured when an improvised explosive device exploded in Lower Kurram area. Online Daily Times.
BARA: A mosque that once remained headquarters of the outlawed militant group Lashkar-e-Islam was blown up by unidentified persons in Nala area in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency Friday night, official sources said. The sources said that the mosque known as Mufti Munir Shakir Jumaat was destroyed after unidentified gunmen triggered a powerful explosion in Nala area that has been vacated by the Malikdinkhel Afridi tribe due to the ongoing military operation in Bara. Nobody has claimed responsibility yet for the incident. A tribal elder Haji Rabat had established the mosque in his hujra. The News.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
