BANNU: Ten people, among them five police and FC personnel, were injured in what officials claimed was a failed suicide attack targeting a police station on Tuesday. DPO Waqar Ahmed told reporters that at around 5:30am a suspected vehicle was spotted moving towards the Haweed police station. The police and FC personnel manning a check-post near the police station fired warning shots in the direction of the vehicle. However, he said, the driver instead of stopping blew the vehicle up a few metres from the police station. Mr Ahmed said 10 people, including SHO Gul Nawaz Khan, were injured. A source said the attacker was killed.
Meanwhile, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan in a phone call to journalists warned of more such attacks on police because they were protecting those elements who were trying to promote secularism. Dawn, The News, The Frontier Post, The Nation, Daily Times, Daily Mashriq.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan stance regarding the release of afghan Taliban has been connected with the participation of United States in the Afghan reconciliatory process, afghan media claimed. According to foreign media group the Afghan media said that Pakistan has connected the release of Taliban with the practical steps to be taken by the United States in the afghan reconciliation process. Pakistan made it clear that unless and until United States comes up with her clear stance in the Afghan reconciliation process it would not release any of the high profile Taliban leaders including Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader. The reason for the Pakistan stance is that if the process of reconciliation fails despite the release of Taliban then the whole failure responsibility would come on Pakistan. Daily Mashriq.
GHALANAI: A security man was injured when militants based in Afghanistan fired shots on a check-post in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency on Tuesday, officials said. Security personnel retaliated and the gunfight lasted over an hour after the post of Mohmand Rifles in Sheikh Baba came under attack. Naib Subedar Shahabuddin was injured and airlifted to Peshawar for treatment.
Meanwhile, a tribesman was killed in a roadside bomb explosion, also in the Sheikh Baba area. Dawn, The Frontier Post, The Nation, Daily Times.
BRUSSELS: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s impressive and gruelling two-day effort to make friends and influence European and Nato policymakers has resulted in a wave of strong pro-Pakistan rhetoric from the likes of Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general. But talk — although diplomats, including the very articulate Ms Rabbani, clearly thrive on it — is not enough. What the EU and Nato want from Pakistan are good policies and determined action in areas as varied as relations with Afghanistan, Pakistan-India ties and domestic policies which protect human rights and help combat extremism, discrimination and religious persecution. Dawn, Daily Times.
ISLAMABAD: After more than five years, the Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed a one-man commission to probe the Lal Masjid military operation carried out by the government of Gen Pervez Musharraf. Hearing complaints filed by the heirs of 103 people missing since the bloody operation at Lal Masjid in July 2007, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry “appointed Justice Shahzada Sheikh of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) as the commission” to investigate the matter. The chief justice announced formation of the commission with the observation that the court had been issuing directives to the Islamabad Police since long to probe into the matter, but no satisfactory reply had ever come. Dawn.
ISLAMABAD: The United States agreed on Tuesday to fulfil Pakistan’s urgent defence needs in the fight against terror. “Recognising the enduring security requirements on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the two delegations agreed to cooperate on a prioritised set of Pakistan’s defence requirements,” a statement issued at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the Pakistan-US Defence Consultative Group said. Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retd) Asif Yasin Malik and the US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, Dr James Miller, led their sides at the talks held in Rawalpindi. Officials from both countries identified areas of future defence cooperation for achieving shared objectives and committed to a “strong defence relationship”. Dawn.
BARA: In sheen Qamar area of Bara tehsil Khyber Agency one man received injuries when a planted bomb went off on Tuesday. As per details bomb planted in the hilly terrain of Sheen Qamar of tehsil Bara went off when Zarkai son of sher khel was climbing on a mountain and his foot come on already planted bomb. As a result he received serious injuries and was shifted to the hospital for initial treatment. Daily Mashriq.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been placed at second position out of 158 countries in the ‘Global Index on Terrorism 2012’ which shows that the country is bearing the highest impact of terrorism after Iraq which has topped the index. Ranked 9.05, Pakistan saw killings of 1,468 people, injuries to 2,459 and damage to 458 properties from 910 acts of terrorism in different parts of the country, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) released on Tuesday. Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, the GTI is the first index to rank countries on the impact of terrorism and analyses the associated economic and social dimensions. The index is based on data from the Global Terrorism Database, collected and collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, based at the University of Maryland. Dawn, Daily Times.
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is in a fix over handling of young suicide bombers, who escape punishment due to their juvenile status, according to Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. “If a young suicide bomber is arrested by law enforcement agencies, the law treats him leniently as he is underage. But he kills innocent people if not arrested,” he said. The minister was briefing journalists after the 53rd meeting of the provincial cabinet, held on Tuesday to discuss law and order situation in the province. Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti chaired the meeting. Mr Hussain said that most of the suicide bombers were children as they were below 18. “The provincial government is in trouble as they (young bombers) are not convicted in most of the cases,” he said. The minister said that a suicide bomber was arrested by police on November 20 and suicide vest was removed from his body in front of cameras of different private television channels. However, he couldn’t be punished as he was only 13-14 years of age, he added. Dawn.
NOWSHERA/CHARSADDA: A local leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists in Nowshera on Tuesday. Police said that Maulana Hafiz Mir Wali Khan was a teacher at government high school Koterpan and also the administrator of a seminary, Tajdeedul Quran. He was going to the seminary after performing duty at school when the motorcyclists stopped him and opened firing on him. He was injured seriously. Dawn, The News, The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: Additional Chief Secretary Fata Dr Tashfeen Khan, while presenting a review of FATA Annual Development Program (ADP) 2012 to FATA Parliamentarians, said that all efforts would be made to implement development projects in Fata and Frontier Regions. He said that any resistance that undermines our attempts to benefit the people of Fata would not be tolerated. On the occasion, Secretary Planning and Development FATA Shehzad Khan Bangish informed the participants of the meeting that total FATA ADP worth Rs. 16000 million by the use of which 915 on-going schemes and 360 new schemes would be financed. The Frontier Post.
HANGU: The militants blew up another government girls’ school in the Tango Adda area in Togh Sarai on Tuesday, police sources said. The sources said that explosives weighing four kilos planted at the building of the Government Girls Middle School in Tango Adda went off early in the day. Three classrooms and boundary wall of the school were damaged in the blast. The News.
LANDI KOTAL: The border guards at Torkham fired warning shots after a jetfighter of Nato intruded into airspace of Pakistan on Tuesday evening. Officials said that guards posted at hilltops along the Torkham border in Khyber Agency resorted to firing in the air to alert their colleagues at the nearby checkposts when a Nato jetfighter entered Pakistani airspace around 5:30pm. The plane remained at the Pakistani side of the border for few minutes and then flew back to Afghanistan. Dawn, The Frontier Post.
ISLAMABAD: The Shura-e-Muraqaba, an anti-US war council consisting of five key al-Qaeda-linked Pakistan and Afghan Taliban groups based in Fata of Pakistan, is falling apart in the wake of the November 29 failed attempt by a suicide bomber to kill Mullah Nazir, aknown Taliban leader from South Waziristan. Well-informed tribal sources say following preliminary investigations conducted by the Ahmedzai Wazir tribesmen into the last week’s suicide attempt on Maulvi Nazir, it has transpired that the human bomb was dispatched to the Wana headquarter of South Waziristan by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the chief operational commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The News.
FRC REPORT
BANNU: A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle loaded with explosive materials into the main gate of Hawed Police Station Bannu in the early hours of Tuesday in which five people were injured including Hawed Police Station SHO Gull Nawaz, a senior police official told FRC field reporter. According to details a suicide bomber rammed his explosive laden vehicle into the main gate of Hawed Police station Bannu in the early hours of Tuesday which injured five people. The nearby houses of Hawed Police Station were jolted with the big bang and were damaged partially.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
