JSQM names put on most-wanted list for first time

For the first time, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) has included the names of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) workers in its Red Book of most-wanted criminals in Pakistan.The latest edition of the Red Book, a confidential document, was printed on Friday. This time, the total number of names in the book is 42, including two JSQM members Shafi Mohammad alias Commando alias Ghulam Hussain Chandio and Khalil Ahmed Khaskheli. Their names were included after several bomb blasts in the interior of Sindh, targeting railway tracks and sensitive government installations.They join on the list the Al Qaeda’s Mohammad Zafar alias Qari Zafar alias Abu Kahafa, Umar Uzbik and Saud Memon. The list has names of men who are suspects in the attacks on the president, prime minister, corps commander and those who are accused of sectarian killings. Twenty-nine men of Sunni sects are on the list, in addition to eleven Shias linked to Sipah-e-Mohammad. The Sunni sectarian groups include Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (14 names), Harkatul Mujahideen al-Aalmi (2), Harkatul Mujahideen (1), Amjad Farooqui group (2), Jindullah (6). Twenty-one names on the list have head money totaling Rs 160 million.This is the third edition of the Red Book. The first edition (2003) had a total of 90 most-wanted terrorists/criminals out of which 52 were from Sunni sects and 38 from Shia groups. The second edition in 2004 had a total of 107 names out of which 61 were from Sunni groups and 46 from Shia groups. From 2001 onwards, the CID Sindh police have focused on sectarian killings and crimes and bomb blasts. According to their data, from 2002 to 2006, there have been 176 deaths and more than 300 people have been injured in sectarian-related violence. In 2002, twenty-nine people died (16 Shia, 13 Sunni), the next year 37 Shias and 20 Sunnis. In 2004, a total of 50 people were killed out of which 47 were Shias. In 2005, nine people were killed out of which seven were Sunnis. Last year, 51 people were killed (49 Sunnis and 2 Shias). The Nishtar Park bomb blast is counted as a sectarian incident by the CID.The CID claims that from 2001 to 2007 they have arrested 203 high-profile criminals, including 80 of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, 10 of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, 18 of the Sipah-e-Mohammad, 35 of the Harkatul Mujahideen al Aalmi and four from the Harkatul Mujahideen. From 2002 to 2006 there have been 120 bomb blasts in Sindh alone. The CID solved 52 cases and 68 are still a mystery.
Courtesy: DT

Pakistan harbouring Taliban Mullah Omar: Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan`s President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan`s intelligence agencies of sheltering fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Karzai said Omar, who has been on the run since being toppled by a US-led coalition some five years ago, is being harboured in the Pakistani city of Quetta. "We have solid, clear information indicating that," he told The New York Times. "And I`m sorry I cannot be silent about this, as much as our friends in Pakistan may not like my saying that," he said. Omar headed the 1996-2001 Taliban regime that sheltered al-Qaeda. His government was overthrown in a US-led invasion weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks when it failed to hand over al-Qaeda leaders wanted for the strikes. Karzai also blamed Islamabad for a resurgence of violence along their common border. "We have almost daily reports of suicide bombers coming from there," he told the newspaper. "If we have better cooperation from Pakistan, a great many of these cross-border crossings would stop." Pakistan and Afghanistan each have accused the other of allowing Taliban remnants to flourish within its borders since the group was overthrown. The Afghanistan leader also chided the west for having chosen to battle the Taliban in Afghan villages, instead of preventing Pakistan from financing and sheltering the fundamentalist group.
Courtesy: ZN

Tribal-militant clashes intensify in Pakistan

Fighting between local and foreign militants Friday killed 52 people, bringing to more than 200 the number of dead in recent days in a conflict between Pakistanis and suspected al-Qaida-linked extremists, a senior official said.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 45 Uzbek militants and seven tribesmen died in battles in South Waziristan, a lawless region used as a rear base by Taliban militants fighting in Afghanistan. The U.S. fears that al-Qaida is regrouping there.
Since fighting began last week, 213 people have been killed, including 177 Uzbeks and their local allies, Sherpao said.
The conflict intensified Friday after foreigners failed to comply with an ultimatum from tribal elders to leave their territory, Sherpao said.
Under pressure from the U.S. to do more against the Taliban and al-Qaida, the government has claimed that the violence in South Waziristan vindicates its policy of using traditional leaders, not the army, to combat militancy along the border.
Some analysts, however, say that militants with links to the Taliban and al-Qaida are involved on both sides of the current conflict, and that blood feuds could deepen insecurity in a region viewed as a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.
Courtesy: Indystar