PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban has warned shopkeepers in a popular market to stop selling “obscene films” and Viagra-style male potency pills. Shopkeepers told AFP Monday that they found handwritten pamphlets containing the warnings after opening Saturday in Karkhano market on the edge of the northwestern city of Peshawar. “Selling sex drugs, vulgar films and obscene movies are against Sharia,” said copies of the pamphlet distributed in the name of Tehreek-e-Taliban Khyber. “All those involved in this business are warned to quit this occupation and start a lawful business or face the consequences,” it said. Those who received the threatening letter spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity because of fear of Taliban reprisals. The Nation, Daily Times.
PESHAWAR: The appointment of Shaukat Ullah Khan as governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has triggered a controversy because he is not ‘a registered voter and resident of the province’ as required under the Constitution. He took oath of office on Sunday. Mr Khan who hails from Bajaur Agency was elected to the National Assembly from NA-43 in the 2008 elections. Prior to the enactment of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act in 2010, people from any other province could be appointed governor of a province. But the 18th Amendment made it mandatory for the governor to be “a registered voter and resident of the province concerned”. Article 101 (2) says: “A person shall not be appointed a Governor unless he is qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly and is not less than thirty-five years of age and is a registered voter and resident of the province concerned.” Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Suspected militants on Monday evening gunned down a doctor inside his clinic in Sardar Ahmed Jan Colony on Charsadda Road, police said. Two medical practitioners have been killed in the city over the last few weeks. An official of the city police said Dr Tehseenullah was at the clinic when unidentified men opened fire on him. He said the doctor was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital in critical condition but he succumbed to his injuries. Faqirabad police station SHO Zarwali Khan told Dawn that the doctor belonged to Ghalanai area of Mohmand Agency. “The documents recovered from his clinic showed that he last served at Ghalanai Hospital before retirement,” he said. Dawn, The News, The Frontier Post.
LANDI KOTAL: Five members of a banned militant group were killed and four others received injuries in clashes with Taliban in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Monday. Sources said that although Ansaarul Islam, the banned group, was able to recapture three from outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, yet it lost five of its members in the daylong clashes. The clashes took place in Dro Stana, Kala Woch and Haider Kandaw areas of Tirah valley, they added. Another source said that the Ansaarul Islam members when some mines planted inside a bunker in Dro Stana area exploded. The mines were planted by Taliban before their retreat from the area. Sources said that fighting between the two groups was continued in Malidinkhel area. Dawn, The Nation.
JAMRUD: Two bodies, stuffed in gunny bags, were found in Godar area in Jamrud Tehsil on Monday, tribal and official sources said. The sources said that local people informed the Khassadar personnel about the bodies, which were found dumped in a seasonal stream in Godar area. The hospital sources believed the bodies were of Afghan nationals, who had been tortured to death. The News, The Frontier Post.
ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Haji Adeel on Monday said his party had invited the country’s 26 political parties to its All Parties Conference on counter terrorism to be held on Feb 14. Mr Adeel told a news conference at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House here that the final decision on reconciliation with Taliban would be made after All Parties Conference (APC) was held. He said ANP would accept the APC decisions. The senator said his party had always adopted the way of reconciliation and was ready to forgive and forget the killing of its activists for it. Dawn, The Nation.
PESHAWAR: The Muttahida Qabail Party (MQP) has asked the government to hold negotiations with Taliban, end military operation in Federally Administered Tribal Areas and announce a financial package for rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, MQP vice-chairman Malik Habib Noor Orakzai urged the government to take concrete steps to stop drone attacks in Fata. He said that Fata should be awarded the status of a separate province. He said that military operation was not a solution to the problems of Fata. The government should hold talks with Taliban to seek a permanent solution to the problem, he added. Dawn, The Frontier Post.
RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Army has moved swiftly to finalise the Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED) policy and strategy for the growing challenges which include the increasing rate of causalities, both domestically and internationally. “A new force is being raised comprising three CIED units by the Pakistan Army,” said an ISPR announcement following an inter-agency meeting held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) here. Chief of the General Staff (CGS) Lt Gen. Rashad Mahmood chaired the meeting aimed at pursuing the CIED strategy in an aggressive manner.Identified as ‘cheapest assassins’, the IEDs are referred to as the weapons of choice requiring a ‘whole-of-nation-approach’ to counter them. Pakistan is one of the top victims of IED attacks by the militants, as during the last over one decade some 33,150 incidents of IED explosions took place across Pakistan, killing 11,250 people and injuring over 21,000. These figures attracted attention to counter this method effectively and as swiftly as possible to save people. The News, The Nation.
PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan on Monday directed the police officials to stop target killings within a week otherwise he would send them packing. He ordered the police to stop the targeted killings of Shia community and arrest the murderers of senior lawyer Malik Jarrar Hussain within a week time. “Arrest the killers and those involved in the murder of Malik Jarrar Hussain advocate and others. No leniency will be tolerated in this regard and if the police failed to nab the killers and its perpetrators, then they have no right to serve and would straightaway go home,” the chief justice warned the police high-ups in his address to a protest meeting of the lawyers’ community at the Peshawar High Court Bar. The News.
PESHAWAR: As many as 18 senior members of two religio-political groups were rounded up on Monday as the police launched a crackdown to arrest suspects involved in targeted killing incidents in the provincial capital. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Imran Shahid confirmed the raids but said eight persons were arrested. “Raids have been conducted to arrest suspects behind the targeted killings,” the SSP told The News. A source said those arrested included leaders of the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat as well as elders of the Shia community. The News.
BATKHELA: Four persons were killed and another sustained injuries when unknown persons opened fire on them in Palai area in Malakand Agency on Monday, official sources said.The sources said that Jehanzeb, Amir Bahadur, Sardar Hussain, Hukamdad and Bahadur Said were returning from mountains after collecting fuel wood when unknown persons opened fire on them in Maula Banda.Four of them were killed on the spot while Bahadur Said sustained critical injuries, the sources said, adding that the dead and injured were taken to a hospital.The security forces and Malakand Levies personnel reached the area and launched search operation. However, no arrest was made during the search. The News.
PESHAWAR: Speakers at an international conference Monday called for establishment of a centralised digital earth resource centre in the province so as to identify the sustainable utilisation of natural resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. They said the numbers of geologists in Pakistan have reached to 3,500 but their potential has not been totally transformed into resource exploration by the policy makers. The scientists were of the opinion that natural resources are contributing 2.5 per cent to the GDP of the country, but the actual potential of untapped resources is much higher than its present share in the economy of Pakistan. The Nation.
FRC REPORT
WANA: Taliban dumped a dead body in Rustam bazaar Wana, SWA, here on Monday, FRC Field Reporter learnt. According to details the dead body was thrown in the wee hours of Monday. The body was bullet riddled and bore a letter carrying a public message. The letter inscription warned all the people of the area not to lift the dead body till 2 pm. It further said that the deceased was accused of spying for the US and the same fate would be meted to those found on the same charges. The area’s Political administration confirmed the incident but refused to talk on its details.
PESHAWAR: Speakers of a seminar urged on the need of establishment of a centralized digital earth resource center in the province for identification and sustainable utilization of natural resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, FRC Field Reporter learnt. The seminar on “sustainable Utilization of Natural Resources of the Khyber Pakhtun Khwa and FATA” was organized by National Centre of Excellence in Geology-University of Peshawar in collaboration with Academy of Sciences here in pearl continental hotel Peshawar on Monday. They said the numbers of geologists in Pakistan have reached to three thousand five hundred but their potential has not been totally transformed into resource exploration by the policy makers. The scientists were of the opinion that natural resources are contributing 2.5% to the GDP of the country, but the actual potential of untapped resources is much higher than its present share in the economy of the country.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
