Monday, March 22, 2021
ضلع مہند میں ایف سی اہلکار جمیل حسین طوری کی شہادت۔
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
بلوچستان کے مختلف علاقوں خصوصاً کوئٹہ میں شیعہ مسلک سے تعلق رکھنے والے افراد کو ہدف بنا کر قتل کرنے کی وارداتوں میں تیزی سے اضافہ ہوا ہے
اس واقعے کے بعد مظاہرین نے گاڑیوں کو آگ لگائی اور سڑکوں پر ٹائر جلا کر سڑکیں بلاک کردیں
پاکستان کے صوبۂ بلوچستان کے دارالحکومت کوئٹہ میں گیارہ افراد کی ہلاکت کے خلاف اتوار کو ہڑتال کی جا رہی ہے۔
شیعہ مسلک سے تعلق رکھنے والے ان افراد کو سنیچر کو نامعلوم مسلح افراد نے ایک وین پر فائرنگ کر کے ہلاک کر دیا تھا۔
اس واقعے کے خلاف ہزارہ ڈیموکریٹک پارٹی نے اتوار کو شٹر ڈاؤن ہڑتال کا اعلان کیا تھا۔
کوئٹہ سے نامہ نگار ایوب ترین کے مطابق سنیچر کی صبح کوئٹہ کے علاقے اسپینی روڈ پر دو موٹر سائیکلوں پر سوار چار نامعلوم افراد نے ایک سوزوکی وین پر اندھا دھند فائرنگ کی تھی جس کے نتیجےمیں گیارہ افراد ہلاک اور تین زخمی ہو گئے تھے۔
پولیس کے مطابق ہلاک اور زخمی ہونے والے تمام افراد کا تعلق شیعہ مسلک سے ہے جو ہزارہ ٹاؤن سے ایک وین میں مری آباد جا رہے تھے۔
پولیس کے مطابق یہ مذہبی دہشت گردی اور نشانہ وار قتل کا واقعہ تھا اور لاشوں اور زخمیوں کو فوری طور پر بولان میڈیکل ہسپتال منتقل کر دیا گیا تھا۔
بلوچستان کے مختلف علاقوں خصوصاً کوئٹہ میں شیعہ مسلک سے تعلق رکھنے والے افراد کو ہدف بنا کر قتل کرنے کی وارداتوں میں تیزی سے اضافہ ہوا ہے اور جمعہ کو بھی سریاب روڈ پر نامعلوم افراد نے ایران جانے والے سات زائرین کو فائرنگ کر کے ہلاک کر دیا تھا جس کی ذمہ داری کالعدم نتظیم لشکرِ جھنگوی کے ترجمان شیر علی حیدری نے قبول کر لی تھی۔
سنیچر کو مزید گیارہ افراد کی ہلاکت کے بعد شیعہ مسلک اور ہزارہ برادری سے تعلق رکھنے والے افراد کی ایک بڑی تعداد بولان میڈیکل ہسپتال پہنچ گئی جہاں بعض مشتعل افراد نے ہسپتال کے احاطے میں کھڑی دو گاڑیوں کو نذرِ آتش کر دیا۔
اس کے علاوہ انہوں نے بروری روڈ پر ٹائر جلائے اور پتھراؤ بھی کیا جبکہ ہزارہ ٹاؤن کے علاقے میں ہوائی فائرنگ کا سلسلہ بھی جاری رہا۔
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The real agenda of the Pakistani Taliban
The real agenda of the Pakistani Taliban
The writer is a retired brigadier who has served in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata asad.munir@tribune.com.pk
This is with reference to an article by Ejaz Haider on these pages titled“What is the TTP’s real agenda?” (February 28). Pashtun society is classified into three categories: Pashtuns, Mian Mula (religious functionaries) and Kasabgars (artisans). The leadership in the society has mostly remained with the first category, the Pashtuns. In Fata, the administration and the tribal maliks derive legitimacy and authority from the written laws of the state. The role of the religious functionary is not defined in any law of the land and is restricted to the performance of some religious rituals. However, over the years, he is not content with this role and wants to be an active member of the decision-making body of Pashtun society.
This was realised when, in November 1994, madrassa students, the Taliban as they came to be known, captured Kandahar and, within two years, took control of about 90 per cent of Afghanistan. Also, the distinction between the Pakistani Pashtun Taliban and the Afghan Taliban is not clear or well-defined. This is because, over the centuries, the Pashtun on either side of the Durand Line have never accepted the border. The British were, in fact, aware of this and granted what were called ‘easement rights’ to the tribals for cross-border movement.
Similarly, events in Afghanistan affect Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). To correct the popular perception that the Taliban came to the fore in Pakistan after 9/11, in 1998 a Taliban force had appeared in the Mirali area of North Waziristan. By 1999, they were in control of Mirali and part of Orakzai Agency. Waves of Talibanisation spread to different parts of Fata and KP and, by mid-2000, the torching of video cassettes and TVs, considered as signs of obscenity, were a common sight in parts of KP. After 9/11, the Taliban kept a low profile but resurfaced around 2003.
Their agenda is Pakistan-centric and they exploited the vacuum created by the killings of maliks and the absence of the state’s writ. Since the state did not react, the ordinary tribal had no option but to accept Taliban rule. In February 2005, Baitullah Mehsud signed an agreement pledging that his forces would not cross the border to fight Nato. The Taliban of North Waziristan did the same thing in September 2006.
The agenda of the Taliban is to acquire power and to create their own state in Fata, which they will then extend to other areas of the country. Those who think that the Taliban will lay down their arms once Nato forces withdraw from Afghanistan, and will become law-abiding citizens, are not aware of the ground realities. This will not happen, unless they are forced to surrender.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2011.
What is the TTP’s real agenda?
What is the TTP’s real agenda?
The writer was a Ford Scholar at the Programme in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security at UIUC (1997) and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy Studies Programme
Colonel Sultan Amir Tarar, better known by the nom de guerre ‘Imam’, is dead, brutally executed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The videotape of Imam being shot and his body dragged around emerged only days ago, but reports suggest he was killed in January this year, 10 months after he was kidnapped. His death, as also the earlier killing of Khawaja, provides intriguing insights into the TTP threat and its relations with the Afghan Taliban.
The details are known but here’s a quick recap.
The story started in March last year when Imam, along with two other companions, former air force officer Khalid Khawaja and British freelance journalist Asad Qureshi, went to North Waziristan. The real reason for the visit remains a matter of debate, but the ostensible one was to do a documentary on US Predator attacks in the agency for Channel 4, which had commissioned an independent film company to shoot it. Qureshi was the media person and the two former military officers, both known to be sympathetic to the Taliban, were with him to facilitate his work and use that documentary to agitate the issue in the courts and with the public.
From Bannu they went to Mir Ali and then disappeared. A series of videotapes emerged in April last year which confirmed they were in captivity. The group that held them called itself the Asian Tigers, a front for the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ). The group’s operational head was Sabir Mehsud and the man dealing with the media and holding negotiations was Usman Punjabi, an LJ member.
Three jirgas were put together to intervene with the group and secure the release of the kidnapped men. Two of them had the backing of Taliban heavyweights. They failed and Khawaja was the first to go, shot in the head. It was amazing because it showed that some groups, affiliated with the TTP, had no regard for the Afghan Taliban even as these groups have been perpetrating violence within Pakistan on the pretext of jihad.
When I spoke with Khawaja’s son, Osama, shortly after a videotape showed his father confessing to being a “spy” and working for the ISI and the CIA, he clearly said that his father was on a mission to tell the TTP that their ranks had been penetrated by hostile agencies and they should stop attacking Pakistani interests. This was also corroborated by other sources. However, for various reasons, no one was prepared to own publicly the two former officers even as efforts were mounted to get them out.
Interestingly, the demands included not just the release of TTP terrorists but also money. At some point, Sabir, the man heading the group, thought Usman Punjabi was negotiating independent of him. He got Punjabi and his five men killed. This in turn got Hakeemullah Mehsud to send his men and kill Sabir along with his bodyguards. Their bodies were found in Razmak’s main bazaar with a letter saying Sabir was killed to avenge the death of Khalid Khawaja.
After Sabir’s killing, Col Imam and Qureshi were taken over by the TTP directly. Qureshi was released after his relatives paid a huge sum to the TTP but Imam was not released. It is intriguing that the TTP, which killed Sabir ostensibly for executing Khawaja, brutally killed Imam in January this year on charges that had nothing to do with Imam.
Interesting also is the fact that the TTP charge sheet included drone attacks and some other issues, mostly dealing with the Afghan Taliban and their struggle, even as the Afghan Taliban were trying their best to get Imam released. A number of smaller details, criminal activities, operational choices, target acquisition etcetera make analysts believe that there is something deeply amiss vis-a-vis the TTP.
The loose confederation of groups and the brutality with which they have attacked Pakistan’s interests is another issue that one has to take note of; coupled with this are multiple reports about the penetration of these groups by hostile agencies.
One thing is clear: The TTP, for all its rhetoric about the Afghan jihad, is focused on Pakistan. And in that focus it has attacked, and continues to attack, Pakistan on the pretext of Islamabad being a US ally in the war on terror. Interesting it would be to find out what the real agenda is.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2011.
Ending Kurram’s sectarian strife
Ending Kurram’s sectarian strife
The writer has served as head of the ISI and MI for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata (asad.munir@tribune.com.pk)
Kurram Agency was part of Afghanistan until the signing of the Gandamak Treaty on May 26, 1879. As per clause nine of this treaty, the districts of Kurram, Pishin and Sibi, were placed under the protection and administrative control of the British government, but were not permanently severed from the limits of the Afghan kingdom. The revenues of these districts, after deducting the charges of civil administration, were remitted to Afghanistan. In 1893, the Durand line Treaty was signed and Kurram became a part of British India. Kurram’s area is 3,380 sq km and population is around 500,000. The main tribes are Turi, Bangash, Mangal and Parachamkani while Orakzai, Massozai, Alisherzai, Zaimusht, Kharotai, Ghalgi, Zadran,Muqbal and Hazara also live there. Kurram is divided into three sub-divisions: upper, lower and central. The first two are administered through the Frontier Crime Regulation, the Kohat Pact and customary law known as ‘Turizuna’, while central Kurram is administrated indirectly through tribal elders. Kurram and Orakzai are the two areas of Fata where Shia-Sunni strife causes major law and order issues. The sectarian conflict and inter-tribal rivalry are intertwined and a dispute over, say, water between two villages, can spread to the entire area.
In 1982, sectarian violence started in Sadda in lower Kurram. Sixty-eight Shia families were forced to abandon their homes and had to take refuge in Parachinar. The matter was resolved through a jirga in 1990, but the decision has still not been implemented. In April and November 2007, the worst sectarian fighting in Kurram’s history took place. The Taliban had infiltrated the Sunni area and raised a local Taliban force. Their commander was under Baitullah Mehsud’s direct control. Forty villages were destroyed, and about 2,060 houses were set ablaze. More than 2,300 families were displaced and 95 places of worship were attacked. Land mines were planted in the fields. Snipers from both sects continuously fired on their opponent’s villages. The Thall-Parichinar road was closed for Shias, who in retaliation prevented the Sunnis of upper Kurram from travelling on the Parachinar road. The political administration took some steps that defused the situation, but was not a permanent solution. In October 2008, an accord was signed in Murree.The elders and tribal chiefs of the two rivals — the Turi and Mangal tribes — signed a written agreement in the presence of the members of parliament from the Agency for a permanent peace. However, this accord has yet to be implemented. Clearly, this needs to be done.
Adequate force should be placed at the disposal of the political administration. Legislators from the agency should be involved and jirgas should be held to implement the Murree Agreement. The Frontier Corps, Frontier Constabulary and police should be deployed to block routes from North Waziristan, and in Tor Ghar Mamoo up to Hugu, so that the Hangu-Thall-Parachinar road can be made safe for travel. Rehabilitation of IDPs should also be made in phases. As a first step, elders of both sects should engage to settle the displaced Sunnis and Shias of lower Kurram. The decision of resettlement of Shias, displaced from Sadda in 1982, must be implemented through a jirga. Compensation should be paid to all whose property was destroyed during the conflict. Also, properties confiscated during the fighting, should be returned to the real owners through the jirga, comprising of elders from both sects. The crisis in Kurram is not a normal law and order situation. It needs special handling and a focused strategy.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2010.
The Pashtun and jihadi movements
The Pashtun and jihadi movements
The writer is a retired brigadier who has served in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata asad.munir@tribune.com.pk
The Pashtuns have always been at the forefront of almost all jihadi movements recorded in the subcontinent’s history. Thousands have died since the new round of jihad started in 1978. Some tribal people rose up in arms against the Saur Revolution and initiated a movement. Jihad was not an unfamiliar word to them since their ancestors had waged jihad on many occasions in the past. Independence, difficult and inaccessible terrain, tribal structure, code of Pashtunwali, badal, honour, religious fervour, possession of arms by almost each individual and so on make Pashtuns inclined towards participation in a religion-based struggle.
Pir Roshan of Kaniguram in South Waziristan, who lived in the 16thcentury, was against the religious customs practiced in the area. He was a strong supporter of equal rights for women. He also opposed dynastic rule and advocated that leaders should be chosen on the basis of their capabilities and not on kinship. He is credited with inventing the Pashtu script, alphabets and some grammar. However, he was anurmer (Burki), but he spoke Pashtu and all his followers were Pashtuns. Due to strong opposition from his own family, he left the area and preached in Mohmand, Charsadda and other Yousafzai and Mohmadzai areas. After Emperor Akbar came up with his concept ofDin-e-Ilahi, Pir Roshan rebelled against the Mughals using Tirah (in present-day Khyber Agency) as his base. He was defeated in a battle in Nangrahar but survived. Ultimately, a Yousafzai lashkar near Tarbela killed him in 1581. His son, Jajala, assumed the leadership and fought many battles against the Mughals, killing Raja Birbal near Jamrud.
Then take the case of Rohilla, a Pashtun princely state. Syed Ahmed Shaheed was from Bareilly and may or may not have been a Rohilla Pashtun, but spoke Pashtu from his childhood. He was a trusted lieutenant of Shah Abdul Aziz, who got him trained in the army of another Pashtun, Amir Khan of Tonk. He travelled to Makkah and Madina and was influenced by the teachings of Adul Wahab. He declared India as darul harab and migrated to the Pashtun-dominated area of India via Afghanistan. Local Pashtun tribals joined him in large numbers for jihad against the Sikhs. He wanted to establish a darul Islam and spread the message of Wahabism to the Muslims of India. He fought a number of battles against Sikhs but was ultimately killed in Balakot in 1831. His followers refused to accept his death and propagated that he had hid himself and would reappear at an opportune occasion. They assembled in Satana and in 1858 the British had to launch an operation to uproot them.
In 1897, Sadullah Khan from Buner, known as the Sartor Faqir and referred to by the British as the ‘mad mullah’, organised tribes in a rebellion against the British garrison of Malakand. His followers from Bajaur, Dir, Swat and Buner were convinced that he had supernatural powers and could perform miracles. He promised the mujahideen that a hidden army was waiting behind a mountain. The moment the jihad would start, Allah would unleash this army, and all the infidels would be killed. The Ghazis would be rewarded in this world and the shaheeds would be rewarded in paradise. He was able to muster the support of more than one thousand tribals. On July 1897, the Faqir attacked Chakdara and Malakand. Due to lack of planning and non-appearance of the ‘hidden’ army, the jihadis dispersed, leaving a large number of dead, including some British. The Faqir survived and continued with his jihad in different areas until he died in 1917.
The Faqir of Ipi fought a jihad against the British for 12 years (1935-47) in Waziristan and Kamal Malikdin Khel fought against the forces of Richard Warburton in Khyber for a number of years. The recent movement of Sufi Muhammad, who captured six districts in Malakand in November 1994, forced the traffic to ply on the right, left being deemed un-Islamic. In 2001, he motivated more than 5,000 Pasthuns to fight Nato, though they fled without even firing a single round. There are other numerous examples wherein religious leaders have led the Pashtuns in jihad.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.
The death of Colonel Imam
Brig. Asad Munir: The Death Of Colonel Imam
Parachinar:Taliban and Frontier Corps attack on Locals | Azadnegar International Free News Agency
Yesturday night at 11 p.m,Taliban attacked on local village Balishkhel using heavy weapons.According to informations,the Frontier Corps also help the Talibans using tanks and helicopter firing on innocent and peace lover locals.
In the fighting,Liaqat Hussain s/o Noor Hussain and Wahid Hussain martyred and four got injured while defending againt Taliban and supporters.
The FC is supporting the Taliban for last two years.They are providing every possible help when they attack on different shia villages.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Saturday, April 30, 2011
علامہ سید محمد جواد ہادی: قبائلی علاقوں میں حکومت نام کی کوئی چیز نہیں
علامہ سید محمد جواد ہادی: قبائلی علاقوں میں حکومت نام کی کوئی چیز نہیں
ڈان اخبار اداریہ: ’کرم کے حالات پر قابو نہ پایا گیا تو فرقہ وارانہ تنازعات ملحقہ اضلاع میں پھیل سکتے ہیں‘
خیبرپختونخوا کے قبائلی ضلع کرم میں گزشتہ چند ماہ سے صورت حال عدم استحکام کا شکار ہے، ایسے میں جمعرات کو پیش آنے والا ہولناک واقعہ حیران کُن...

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خیبرپختونخوا کے قبائلی ضلع کرم میں گزشتہ چند ماہ سے صورت حال عدم استحکام کا شکار ہے، ایسے میں جمعرات کو پیش آنے والا ہولناک واقعہ حیران کُن...
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ضلع مہند میں ایف سی اہلکار جمیل حسین طوری کی شہادت جمیل حسین کی لاش تو آبائی گاؤں گوساڑ کے قبرستان میں پاکستان کے جھنڈے میں لپیٹ کر سرکار...