PESHAWAR: Suicide attacks, explosions, drone attacks, military operations and even safety measures like checkposts and long curfew hours have badly affected the social and psychological behaviour of the people in troubled tribal areas and the adjacent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and thus, leading to high incidence of trauma, fear and depression in the region. This was the crux of the presentations made by the speakers, including psychiatrists and psychologists, during a seminar here on Tuesday 17september 2013. The seminar was organised by Islamabad-based Fata Research Centre on ‘social and psychological consequences of violence in Fata: issues and challenges’ at a local hotel. Dawn.
ANKARA: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had requested Pakistan to release Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as he thought it was essential to bring the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table. The Nation.
PESHAWAR: The Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), Dost Muhammad Khan, observed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should not take the troops withdrawal decision in haste and take all the stakeholders, including the federal government and Pakistan Army, into confidence and prepare a proper strategy before pulling the troops out of the Malakand Division. The News, The Nation.
ISLAMABAD: Based on a border-centric approach in the wake of repeated cross-border incursions allegedly from the Afghan side, the threat perception in Dir region did not recognise a greater danger from the local militants, to bring an ‘angered surprise’ to the military in the form of Upper Dir attack. Corresponding to this development, the military has moved to attune its operational priorities in the region accordingly following the brazen Taliban attack that claimed the lives of three military men including a general. The Nation.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was hit by the worst wave of terrorism in the last 20 months with more than 1,600 people killed and over 5,600 injured in over 2,100 attacks, the interior ministry told the National Assembly. The death toll was the highest in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Lower and Upper Dir districts, where more than 300 people lost their lives in terror attacks, including a two-star military general, Sanaullah Khan Niazi, who died in a mine-blast last week. The Express Tribune.
RAWALPINDI: Former MNA Javed Ibrahim Piracha has said that the Taliban’s Central Majlis-e-Shoora has made no demand from the Pakistan government and news appearing in this regard are nothing but rumours. Taliban’s Central Majlis-e-Shoora has been in session for many days for consultations on a ceasefire prior to talks with Pakistan government. He was hopeful that the decision of the Shoora would be in consonance with the expectations of the people. The army of today is better than the one yesterday that sold our own people for dollars. This is mere propaganda that Taliban are against female education. The News.
PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban insisted on Tuesday they are still at war with government troops because peace talks have yet to start and the military is still launching offensives against them. The statement came two days after two senior military officers were killed by a bomb in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the military is fighting militants. `War is continuing, it was started by the government and they will have to stop it,` Shahidullah Shahid, main spokesman for the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said. Dawn, The News, The Express Tribune, Daily Mashriq.
ISLAMABAD: Despite the payment of hundreds of millions from taxpayers’ money, not only the police but all the intelligence and law enforcement agencies have failed to trace extortion and kidnapping for ransom cases in the federal capital and Rawalpindi, being carried out by the Taliban. Latest official documents show that some Rs650 million have been paid to the Taliban by the businessmen of the twin cities during the last 18 months alone. The billions of rupees paid have not been reported to the police and agencies, and the businessmen have dealt secretly with the Taliban to save their lives. Documents available with The News reveal that in Rawalpindi and Islamabad alone, a list of 45 cases of kidnapping for ransom and extortion has been prepared in which Rs653 million have been paid to Taliban while billions have remained undiscovered. The News.
ANKARA: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said Pakistan would seek the help and guidance of Turkey to effectively wipe out extremism. Nawaz said this in a meeting with Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler and other high security officials of Turkey here. The prime minister said Pakistan would learn from the success story of the Turkish police as his government had taken initiatives to deliver on all fronts, a Prime Minister’s House press release said. He expressed the hope that Pakistan would implement an effective counter-terrorism strategy with the joint cooperation of Turkey.“Turkey is our trusted friend and has come out of the same crisis we face today,” said the prime minister. He said: “We have the potential to deliver, and we will deliver.” The News, The Express Tribune, Daily Mashriq.
ISLAMABAD: After some perceived reluctance, the National Assembly sprang to action on Tuesday to urge the new government to `come out in full support` of the military`s fight against terrorism, which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has lately sought to tackle through unconditional dialogue. But while the government and major political parties that became a party to the APC resolution calling upon the government to `initiate dialogue with all stakeholders forthwith` preferred silence in the house on Monday both on the Upper Dir blast and the Taliban preconditions, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani came out with a strongly worded statement affirming the military`s `unflinching commitment to fighting the menace of terrorism in accordance with the will of the people` and saying that `no one should have any misgiving that we would let terrorists coerce us into accepting their terms`. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas Tribunal took suo motu notice on Tuesday of the honour killing of three women. Sadia, her aunt Aman and cousin Asia were gunned down on Monday allegedly by Sadia’s husband, Jahangir, in Frontier Region Kohat’s Jowaki area, after a local jirga accused her of dishonoring the family. The Express Tribune, The News.
KARACHI: The nation has buried its brave Major-General Sanaullah and two other Army men who were martyred in a terrorist attack in the backdrop of Taliban’s admitting the responsibility of the gruesome act, said Kamran Khan in his programme ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’ on Monday. In the wake of the terrorist act, the nation is at a crossroads. The nation and its leaders have to decide whether talks are held with the Taliban or whether the time has come for a decisive war. Kamran Khan said that at the time of the funeral prayers of the three martyrs, a resolve has emerged that the nation is not to bow before the terrorists. The decision is to be taken by the nation, and if the time for war has indeed come then the nation knows that the Pakistan Army is fully prepared for it. The Taliban, while admitting responsibility for the terrorist act, also said that they don’t want any kind of a ceasefire. The News.
