PESHAWAR: A senior commander of Pakistani Taliban has been captured by Afghan intelligence personnel in a border area. Security officials said reports about Maulvi Faqir Mohammad’s arrest in Afghanistan appeared to be correct. Reports from Afghanistan said Afghan intelligence agencies had captured Maulvi Faqir, who was deputy to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakeemullah Mehsud until 2011, and his four aides when they were trying to cross into Pakistan from Nangrahar. A Pakistani security official said: “This is big news. We are reasonably sure that reports of his arrest are correct but unless the Afghans officially confirm it we would not like to say anything publicly on this. Dawn, FRC, The News, The Nation.
PESHAWAR: The City police have formed a three member enquiry committee to investigate the deadly gun and suicide attack on the office of Political Agent Khyber Agency on Bara Road Peshawar cantonment. According to Police Spokesman, SSP Investigation, Sajid Mohmand would lead the investigation team to probe this gory incident. The investigation team has collected body parts of the two suicide bombers and sent it to laboratory for DNA test. The police have registered FIR against unknown militants in the Gulburg police station and expanded circle of investigation. The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said here on Tuesday that general elections would be held in the country without any delay. However, he feared that terrorists could target some of the important politicians to force the government to delay the general elections. The minister was addressing the concluding session of a training workshop, organised by Women Media Centre (WMC) onelection reporting. The workshop was attended by journalists and students of journalIsm department, University of Peshawar. `If the elections can be held in Afghanistan and Iraq then why not in Pakistan,` Mr Hussain questioned. He said that the nation was politically aware and would not allow anyone to delay the general polls. Dawn.
CHARSADDA: A policeman was killed when unidentified persons attacked a checkpost in Kula Dher area on Charsadda-Mardan Road on Tuesday morning. The assailants opened firing on constables Azmat, who was manning the checkpost, sources said. He was killed on the spot, they added. Constable Ibad said that he was on the other side of the road to perform duty when a car stopped at some distance from the checkpost and picked up two men, who came out of the nearby fields of sugarcane. They drove the car towards the security post, he said, adding as soon as they reached near the post they opened firing on Azmat, killing him instantly. Dawn, The Nation.
PESHAWAR: Assistant Political Agent Landi Kotal, Khyber Agency, Khalid Mumtaz Kundi succumbed to his injuries in the CMH Peshawar on Tuesday. He was critically injured in the suicide attack which took place in the Khyber House on Monday during a weekly meeting presided over by Political Agent Mutahir Zaib, killing five men on the spot. The martyred APA who belonged to DI Khan had worked as Tehsildar Bara, APA Bara, and APA Jamroud and at last he was appointed as APA Landi Kotal around 15 moths ago. Sources said that APA received ball bearings in abdomen when he was present in control room due to which his stomach and respiratory system was damaged. The Frontier Post, FRC, The Nation.
PESHAWAR: A large number of foreign militants including Arabs and Uzeks have started leaving the tribal area in general and the area of North and South Waziristan in particular, The Frontier Post learnt from reliable sources. When asked about the reasons for the departure of the foreign militants, the sources close to the militants said that on one hand America, which they consider as a staunch enemy, is leaving Afghanistan and on the other, they have been recalled to station in Yemen and Somalia where the situation has worsened by the day to ‘work’ therein. The Frontier Post.
ISLAMABAD: Mehsud tribe elders decided to launch protest rally on Saturday, from National Press Club to D-Chowk in front of the Parliament House to press the government for their demands to wind up the ongoing military operation, US drone attacks in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) and release the missing persons. The protesters continued their protest camp and sit-in on the eighth consecutive day on Tuesday. They demanded of the government to order release of missing persons as they were living in miserable conditions. They asked the government to solve their educational problems and provide education facilities to the talented and intelligent Mehsud children so that they could continue their studies. The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik from Khyber Agency called on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Engineer Shaukatullah at Governor’s House, Peshawar on Tuesday. Talking on this occasion, the Governor said that it was his earnest desire to ensure peace, bring stability and normalcy in Fata and he was also making hectic efforts to make this possible. He also referred to his two day visit to Momand and Bajaur agencies and said that indeed it will be also his earnest desire to meet the tribal elders of the other parts of FATA too to take them along. Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik, who was leading a five member delegation remained with the governor for some time and discussed various matters pertaining to the prevailing situation in FATA. He also high lighted some of the problems which the people of the area have been facing and also put forward certain suggestions for their solution. The Frontier Post.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
