MARDAN: A police constable was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on an anti-polio team in the limits of Sheikh Maltoon Town Police Station here on Tuesday, police sources said.The sources said that Lady Health Worker Farida and her husband Sardarul Haq accompanied by Constable Saeed Mohammad administering anti-polio vaccines in Khavo Killay when three armed men triggered fire on them. Saeed Mohammad sustained critical injuries and died on the spot.The police registered case against the accused and started investigation. The News, Dawn, Daily Times.
BARA: Two volunteers of the banned Ansarul Islam (AI) organisation were killed in two separate incidents in Maidan area of Tirah valley on Tuesday, tribal sources said.The sources said that Islam Gul, AI deputy chief for Adamkhel Afridi tribe, was trying to defuse a landmine planted by militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outside their bunker when it exploded. As result of powerful explosion, Islam Gul body was blown up into pieces, the sources added. Meanwhile, another volunteer of AI was shot dead by TTP militants from nearby position with sniper gun in Dreystani top. The dead was known as Saifullah, who belonged to Shalobar Afridi tribe. The News.
HANGU: Unidentified persons hurled three handgrenades into a house in Babu Tang Killay on Tuesday, police sources said.The sources said that three handgrenades were hurled into the house of Muhammad Azim, son of Izzat Shah, which caused no loss of life or damage to property. The police have started investigation after registering the case. The News.
HANGU: Three soldiers of Pakistan Amy sustained injuries when their official vehicle overturned near Doaba in Thall tehsil on Tuesday, official sources said.The sources said that the security forces were on a routine patrol in Doaba when their vehicle turned turtle. Three soldiers identified as Mushtaq, Ihsanullah and Mukhtiar were wounded.They were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital in Thall where their condition was stated to be stable. The News.
MINGORA: Three journalists survived attempt on their lives as they were fired at outside the Swat Press Club here on Tuesday.Senior journalists Fayyaz Zafar, Shahzad Alam and Murad Ali said that they were on way to the press club after dinner when armed men travelling in a white car opened fire on them. The journalists told reporters that their guards retaliated and fired on the attackers to force them to flee the area. The police registered case against the militant commander, Raja Liaqat Ali, and his brother Muhammad Ali and two unknown persons on the complaint of the journalists. The News.
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Engineer Shaukatullah has directed authorities to review and monitor the ongoing uplift schemes. He took strong exception to the continuous practice of maintaining big number of ongoing schemes being implemented under the aegis of the Works and Services and Public Health Engineering departments of the Fata Secretariat. There is also need to ensure proper maintenance of the government assets which have cost huge public funds, he added. Presiding over a briefing at Governor’s House on the working of both the departments on Tuesday, the Governor further directed to follow need based approach not only to ensure fulfillment of the aspirations of the people but also make proper and efficient utilization of resources possible. The Frontier Post.
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Interior Imtiaz Safdar Warraich on Tuesday told the National Assembly that neighbouring countries and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are behind the deteriorating situation in Karachi. “The terrorists who met defeat in Swat are taking shelter in Karachi and perpetrating nefarious activities to avenge their defeat,” he said while responding to call attention notice on Tuesday. MQM legislators Rehan Hashmi, Sajid Ahmed, Ms Imrana Saeed Jamil, Syed Asif Hasnain and Shaikh Salahudin moved the call attention notice in the National Assembly regarding illegal supply of explosive especially in Karachi. In his response, though Imtiaz Safdar Warriach blamed the neighbouring countries for Karachi situation, he did not name any country. To a question, the minister of state for interior said that locally manufactured explosive material is being used in the terrorist activities in Karachi. The News, The Frontier Post.
WASHINGTON: United States Secretary of Defence nominee Chuck Hagel had suggested in a previously unreleased speech that India has ‘for many years been using Afghanistan to fight a proxy war against Pakistan by sponsoring terror attacks inside it.’ According to a video obtained by Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon, “India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan in Afghanistan,” Hagel had said during an address on Afghanistan at Oklahoma’s Cameron University in 2011. “And you can carry that into many dimensions, the point being the tense, fragmented relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been there for many, many years,” he added. The News, Dawn.
LAHORE: A team of Afghan diplomats and officials called on Pakistan’s Foreign Office Tuesday in response to Islamabad’s decision to step up efforts for resumption of the stalled Pak-Afghan Ulema conference, with the cooperation of Kabul regime. ‘The News’ has learnt from reliable sources that the governments of both the countries are working on a new agenda that is acceptable to the religious scholars of Pakistan who had, a few days, back refused to visit Kabul during an arbitrarily announced conference whose date was fixed by the visiting Afghan Ulema without ascertaining the willingness of their Pakistani counterparts. It has been further learnt that the proposal of holding the conference in Riyadh or Cairo was also discussed in the light of Pakistani Ulema’s objections to the composition of Afghan scholars’ delegation that included members mainly from the government-sponsored lobby during their Pakistan visit a few days back. Those objections had caused the suspension of talks with the result that two important spots of veneration for the Muslims fraternity were suggested, Riyadh or Cairo with the idea of continuing the peace process without going into unnecessary debates on the Kabul moot. The News.
WASHINGTON: The US-led military coalition in Afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year, and officials said on Tuesday that there was actually no change in the number of attacks on international troops from 2011 to 2012. The corrected numbers — from the original reports of a 7 per cent decline to one of no change — could undercut the narrative promoted by the international coalition and the Obama administration of an insurgency in steep decline. A coalition spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, attributed the miscounting to clerical errors and said the problem does not change officials’ basic assessment of the war. Dawn.
WASHINGTON: Pakistan was bracing itself for the consequences of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Ambassador Sherry Rehman said on Tuesday while underlining the country’s policy options after 2014. “If there’s no negotiated resolution of the Afghan crisis, there will be terrible consequences and Pakistan will be the worst hit,” she said. The US plans to end its combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and is encouraging the Afghan government to engage the Taliban militants for a peaceful end to the conflict. The Taliban, however, appear reluctant to work with Kabul. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: A group of women rights activists and educationists have formed a forum to raise the issues of tribal women and highlight their achievements as well. The newly formed forum has been named Takra Qabailee Khwenday (brave tribal sisterhood). Zainab Azmat, a teacher at Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, hailing from South Waziristan Agency, says that Takra Qabailee Khwenday (TQK) means the voice that is raised to point out some problem. It has also several other meanings in Pashto culture, she adds. The purpose of setting up this forum is to raise voice for the tribal women and also highlight their achievements since they have remained voiceless and almost invisible so far. Dawn.
ISLAMABAD: The Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE) organised a dialogue to highlight and deal with key governance challenges and cash in on foreign investment opportunities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. The objective of the ‘Governance Compass Dialogue’ was to identify individual and joint actions that can set the right direction for improved governance in Fata with inputs from the representatives of the government, donor community, and the civil society, says a press release issued here on Tuesday. Conference delegates and participants consisted of senior representatives of the KP government and Fata, international donors representing UNDP, USAID, ADB, GIZ and the Asia Foundation, civil society organisations and implementing partners. The conference provided the stakeholders a common platform to discuss pressing issues that have lessened governance impacts, and generate ideas and suggestions for the way forward to set the governance compass aright. Dawn.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
