Chronology of Pakistan
November 2003 (Continued IV)
137 seminaries, offices sealed
Nov 17: Law-enforcement agencies have sealed about 137 offices and seminaries of recently-banned extremist outfits throughout the country , director-general of the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema (retired) told Dawn. Giving a breakdown of the sealed offices and seminaries, he said about 63 offices of Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan (formerly Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan), 45 offices of Khuddam-i-Islam (formerly Jaish-i-Mohammad) and 29 offices of Islami Tehrik-i-Pakistan (formerly Tehrik-i-Jafarya Pakistan) had been sealed during the ongoing operation. Brig Cheema said about 412 offices of these organizations had already been sealed about one-and-a-half year ago when they were being run under their previous names.
A.B.S Jafri passes away
Nov 17: Senior journalist A.B.S. Jafri, a prolific writer and commentator who authored at least 10 books, died after a short illness in Karachi. He was 76.
Politics by army, ISI be opposed, says Altaf
Nov 17: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has advised the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, PML-N and Pakistan People's Party to raise the slogan of 'go army go' and 'go ISI go' instead of 'go Musharraf go'. He urged them to move a bill in the assembly for a trial of those who had supported military coups and abrogation of the Constitution in the past.
LHC dismisses Hashmi’s writ petition
Nov 17: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, dismissed the habeas corpus writ petition of ARD leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and directed the petitioner to approach the trial court for grant of bail.
No power sharing with Army: Fahim
Nov 17: The Pakistan People’s Party dissociated itself from the proposal of Ghulam Mustafa Khar for power troika of politicians, people and army to run the country for a period of 10 years for political stability and averting a clash between the army and the people. "The proposal from Khar could only be his personal desire as neither the party nor the high command of the party have a support of this," said PPPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim while talking to newsmen in Islamabad.
China denies CIA report of aiding Pak Nuclear program
Nov 17: The Chinese Foreign Office has termed the report of the Central Intelligence Agency regarding China’s alleged support to Pakistan’s nuclear program as totally baseless. Commenting on the new CIA report released last week, spokesman Liu Jianchao said all nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan is only limited to nuclear power plant and it has been under safeguard and monitoring of the IAEA.
MMA gives one-month ultimatum on LFO
Nov 17: The Supreme Council of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal gave one-month ultimatum to the government warning it that if it failed to present the agreed formula on the Legal Framework Order in the National Assembly, the MMA would launch a countrywide movement of 'Musharraf hataau tehrik' from Dec 18. The decision was announced in Karachi at a press briefing after the council meeting held under the presidentship of Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani.
Three arrested over e-mail threat to New Zealand team
Nov 18: Police arrested three owners of a Lahore Internet cafe, traced the domain and e-mail address allegedly used for sending a threat to the New Zealand Cricket Board (NZCB). " It seems to be a job of some youngster(s) who did it just for creating a sensation," city police chief told Dawn. The accused hacker(s) had sent an e-mail to the NZCB threatening its management and team members with dire consequences on account of their forthcoming visit to Pakistan in Ramazan.
US pressing Islamabad for more action
Nov 18: The latest campaign in Pakistan against militant outfits also reflects an increasing US pressure on Islamabad to do more in the fight against terror, diplomatic sources told Dawn in Washington. The action followed a warning from US Ambassador Nancy Powell last week that re-named militant organizations "posed a threat to Pakistan, the region and the United States".
Pakistan elected to UN trade law body
Nov 18: Pakistan was elected, by the General Assembly, along with 43 other members on the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law for a period of six years.
Bomb blast in Taftan
Nov 18: A powerful bomb blast rocked Taftan, a township on the border of Pakistan and Iran, and injured one person. "A bomb exploded near the office of a sensitive law enforcement agency and damaged a wall of the office," said an officer of the Taftan administration while confirming the blast.
Two Pakistanis attacked in New York
NEW YORK, Nov 18: The New York city police arrested two Hispanic teenagers after they attacked two Pakistani brothers as they left a mosque in Corona (Queens). Both were charged with hate crime assault and aggravated harassment, police said.
Provinces’ share in divisible pool raised
Nov 18: The government has agreed to enhance the share of provinces in the federal divisible pool, says an official announcement after the National Finance Commission’s meeting in Islamabad. The meeting, presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, decided that "the federal government would increase the provincial share in the divisible pool to provide more resources to the provinces for development and to improve their financial position."
MI5 agent on run after disclosure of Pak HC bugging
Nov 18: A former MI5 agent, who blew the whistle on an attempt to bug the Pakistani high commission, has fled to the Continent and is threatening to reveal more about the aborted spying operation. According to a report published in The Sunday Times, he claims to have a dossier of evidence - including documents and photographs - revealing details about MI5’s espionage techniques and what information it was trying to obtain about Pakistan. The man, a building contractor, who was condemned Notation, left Britain this month, shortly before The Sunday Times revealed the spying operation.
Pakistanis freed from Camp X-Ray lead miserable lives
Nov 18: Most of the 15 Pakistanis who have been freed from the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay are suffering from health or financial problems, The News said. Another 50-plus Pakistanis are still being held in the notorious US prison for the last two years. None has been identified or charged for any crime. The Pakistan government officials who were allowed to visit the prison once have already declared that none of the jailed men was member of al-Qaeda.
Bureaucracy still reigns supreme despite LG system: SHC
Nov 18: The elected representatives are still at the mercy of district coordination officer (DCO), and the bureaucracy still reigns supreme, observed a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC), comprising Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi and Justice Zia Pervez. The bench was hearing a constitutional petition, filed by Abdul Razzak and Muhammed Nawaz Khan Abbasi, councillors of UC 4, against secretary, Local Government, Sindh, assistant chief legal of the Provincial Transition Wing, secretary, UC-4, and Naheed Akhtar Khan.
Pakistani woman jailed in US
Nov 19: A Pakistani woman, who had until recently lived in Upper Darby, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for lying to federal agents who were looking for her former husband, a suspected terrorist. Humaira Jawed, 27, daughter of a wealthy Pakistani businessman, admittedly misled agents by claiming that her former husband was in Pakistan when she knew he was driving a cab in Philadelphia, a newspaper Daily News of Philadelphia reported.
Ministry lists dead, emigres as terrorists
Nov 19: The Interior Ministry has sent a confidential list of nearly 150 sectarian terrorists, activists and leaders to the Sindh police under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, Section 11 EE, making surveillance of these suspected sectarian elements mandatory for the police. But interestingly, the list, which has also been published in the Gazette of Pakistan, carries names of some people who are dead, some are professionals, while some are already in jails, wanted in crimes other than those of sectarian nature, The News reported. The list also includes people who are no more in the city or even left the country 16 years ago, sources told The News.
Jihad Fund collection termed extortion
Nov 19: Terming the Jihad Fund collection campaign of the Jamaat-e-Islami extortion, the members of the National Assembly belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have appealed to the President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, to stop this extortion. The MNAs stated that the JI workers were also forcibly stopping vehicles in Karachi and threatening the occupants to contribute to the Jihad Fund otherwise, "Jihad would also be launched against them".
Three more outfits banned
Nov 20: The government banned three more religious groups in the country for allegedly spreading extremism and terrorism, bringing the total to six of such outfits outlawed within as many days. An interior ministry notification said the Jamiatul Ansar, the Hizbul Tehrir and Jamaatul Furqan had been banned under section 11E of the Anti-Terrorism Act. A ministry spokesman told Dawn that the federal government had asked the four provincial governments to immediately seal the offices of the newly-banned groups, two of which, he said, were linked to similar groups banned last year and the third to a foreign-based organization.
JI leader, two others killed in ambush
Nov 20: The Dera Bugti district chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Amanullah Bugti, and two other men were killed in an ambush near Sui. Amanullah Bugti was also a member of the provincial executive committee of the JI and serving as an engineer at the Sui gas plant of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).
Man dies in mine blast
Nov 20: A villager was killed when a powerful landmine exploded near Ashqai area, Sui, Balochistan. The villager, Khuda Bux Bugti, was grazing his cows when the mine exploded, also leaving five cows dead. The police said the landmines had been laid by outlaws operating in the area to restrict the movement of the police.
US officials offer no comment on ISI ties
Nov 20: Christina Rocca, US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, refused to say publicly whether Pakistan had purged pro-Taliban elements out of its intelligence services. Accusations about the involvement of ISI with the Taliban were raised at a hearing of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, with several lawmakers asking US administration officials whether Pakistan was still supporting the remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Administration officials, who appeared as state witnesses at the hearing, backed Pakistan's claim that it was doing all it could to stop cross-border movement of the Taliban into Afghanistan, but remained silent on the allegation against the ISI.
Fahim rejects Khar’s power-sharing formula
Nov 20: The Pakistan Peoples Party came out with policy statement while keeping distance itself from Khar formula for power sharing with the army for 10 years saying that the party has nothing to do with that. In a policy statement PPPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that the press reports about the so-called formula for political reconciliation advanced by Ghulam Mustafa Khar create the misperception as if the formula has the blessings of the PPP or Benazir Bhutto."Neither the PPP nor its Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has anything to do with Khar’s suggestions. The so-called formula is a figment of Khar’s own imagination and may have been designed to advance his personal political ambitions.
ECC withdraws import duty on wheat
Nov 20:The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has withdrawn import duty on wheat. There was 25 per cent import duty on wheat. The ECC meeting in Islamabad, under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, reviewed the wheat situation in the country and decided to bring down the duty to facilitate imports, if the situation warrants for it.
123 Afghans deported
Nov 20: Police deported 123 Afghan nationals to Afghanistan from District Jail Quetta, who had been arrested from the city during the last one week under the Foreigners Act, official sources said. Police also took their photographs and finger prints to ascertain their involvement in any terrorist or subversive acts in the province.
“India should stop using Afghan territory against Pakistan”
Nov 20: Pakistan said India should immediately stop using Afghan territory for anti-Pakistan activities. "Indian consulates in Afghanistan are busy in anti-Pakistan activities, which is creating problems for Pakistan," Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said in an interview with Geo TV. Masood said since long Indian secret agencies are active in anti-Pakistan activities in Afghanistan.
18 opposition leaders booked under MPO: Five PML-N men on judicial remand
Nov 21: In Faislabad, Kotwali police registered cases against 18 opposition leaders, including five arrested PML-N men, under 16 MPO. The arrested PML-N men were sent on eight-day judicial remand after failing to get detention orders against them from the district Nazim. The arrested leaders have been charged with delivering provocative speeches against the government and levelling allegations against top army brass during a protest demonstration held as a part of a movement launched against the arrest of PML-N acting chief Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.
Madaris pledge to counter govt’s takeover move
Nov 21: Madaris have taken strong exception to Punjab government’s move to control Deeni Madaris and Masjid Schools, and termed it another attempt to implement the US agenda given to Gen Pervez Musharraf during his recent visit to Washington, The News reported from Lahore. The officials of different madaris boards have pledged to counter all conspiracies with unity and determination.
5 Pakistanis freed from Guantanamo
Nov 22: Five Pakistanis held by the US military at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre in Cuba returned home, senior interior ministry official Brigadier Iqbal Cheema said. The United States has so far released 21 Pakistanis since November last year while 37 were still in Camp X-ray, officials said. The government will continue to make efforts to secure the release of all Pakistanis, Mr Cheema added. A total of 58 Pakistanis were captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 after the fall of the Taliban regime in a US-led campaign. They were suspected of being members of the Taliban militia allied with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
608 more Pakistanis return from Oman
Nov 22: Another group of 608 Pakistanis, imprisoned in Oman for illegal entry, arrived at the Karachi Port. These Pakistanis were smuggled to Muscat via Iran for lucrative jobs a few months back. During the last 30 days, more than 2,000 prisoners have been brought back from Oman.