Punjab ignoring CID report on terror groups

Ammad Hafeez

Minister (2k+ posts)
taliban_reut608.jpg


The Shahbaz Sharif government appears to be reluctant to take action against the banned sectarian and Jihadi organisations operating in Punjab in spite of evidence that these may have been involved in many terrorist attacks in the province recently and may have strong links with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).


The Sharif government’s unwillingness to deal with the growing menace of terrorism in the province, including its southern districts, is in defiance of the evaluation by its own counter-terrorism agencies. A recent secret document based on data collected in south Punjab finds that a number of banned groups are carrying out a “sustained drive” to recruit fresh cadre from among the “poverty stricken, illiterate and unemployed” youth in the region.

‘Terrorists active’

Interior Minister Rehman Malik says that terrorists taking refuge in southern Punjab were “now active” to “destabilise the country after the defeat of the Taliban in Fata”. “They — Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Jaish-i-Mohammad (JM) — are allies of the Taliban and Al Qaeda…,” he was quoted to have said.

The minister also hinted at an operation in south Punjab on the pattern of the one carried out in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) “because nearly 700 out of the more than 1,700 people with suspected links with the banned terrorist and sectarian outfits belonged to southern Punjab”.

“Army operations are required only where there are no-go areas and there is no such situation in any part of Punjab,” Rana Sanaullah, Punjab Law Minister and a trusted aide of Shahbaz Sharif, rebuffed the interior minister. The provincial minister, who attracted wide criticism for hobnobbing with the leader of the banned SSP’s during an election campaign in Jhang a couple of months ago, dubbed Mr Malik’s statement an attempt to destabilise the province (and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government).

Rana Sanaullah has rejected demands for an operation in south Punjab, but promises to bring to justice those involved in terrorist activities like the ones that took place in Lahore during the last four days.

List of suspects

Talking to Dawn, police officials of Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan expressed their ignorance of the list of people suspected of their links with the banned sectarian and Jihadi organisations as mentioned by Mr Malik.

Regional Police Officer of Dera Ghazi Khan Ahmed Mubarrak said police had no idea of the list of the members of the banned organisations like JM and LJ in south Punjab. “Right now the police are only watching the activities of people placed in the fourth schedule rather than seeking any information about the people the (federal) minister has spoken of,” he added.

RPO of Multan Arif Ikram said the police were watching and provided figures to back his assertion: there are 275 people placed on the fourth schedule in the Multan region, besides 380 who came back from Jihad in Afghanistan.

Mr Ikram, however, conceded that an integrated system bringing together various agencies was needed to enable the police to come up with the right picture about the potential terrorists’ activities. The federal government, he observed, was being assisted by different secret agencies while the police, being run by the province, had limited resources at its command, depending largely on its CID wing. Owing to this the federal government may have more information about such elements as compared to the police, he said. He spoke of a new system that the government was introducing for the monitoring of Madressahs but didn’t elaborate what this system would entail.

A senior police official in Lahore says the government is preparing its strategy to deal with terrorism but he could not discuss it with media. “But let me tell you one thing: the involvement of some people from south Punjab in terrorist attacks does not mean that this region has become a hub of Taliban,” he said. “Far from it; there are no training centres in this region. The terrorist networks are spread across the country. Only some terrorists belong to this part of the country. Some, as in case of Abdullah, a terrorist arrested from Lahore for attacking the Qadianis, had left this part years ago and settled elsewhere,” he said.

A secret report – Talibanisation in Southern Punjab – by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) acknowledges that “the terrorist activities that have taken place in Punjab in the past couple of years invariably prove direct/indirect links with activists’ ex-proscribed organisations. This phenomenon does not qualify as spread of Talibanisation in society”.

State of denial

The question then is: Is the PML-N government waiting for a ‘standard’ Talibanisation of the area to start before it moves to control the situation?

“The Punjab government is living in a state of denial. It should first admit that the groups carrying out terrorist activities (in the province) are there and operating out of south Punjab before it can take action against them and protect people from them,” defence and political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi told Dawn on Tuesday.

He regretted that the Shahbaz Sharif government was pursuing a policy of ‘reaction’ rather than ‘action’ (against terrorists). Even if reaction is what the Punjab government must restrict itself to, doesn’t it have enough proof of a simmering situation in the south to react to? Surely, only action now can prevent a full-blown operation in future.

As is pointed out in the secret report quoted above, groups and organisations like SSP and JM and their breakaway factions like LJ and Jamaatul Furqan are quite active in southern districts of Punjab.

“Most analyses have acknowledged the presence of strong sympathies for Jihadi and sectarian elements in south Punjab,” a publicity-shy Islamabad-based security analyst said.

Until a few years back, according to him, the militant groups operating out of south Punjab and elsewhere in the province and the Taliban from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had different agenda and focus. “But the Musharraf government’s action against the sectarian Punjabi outfits and reduction in intensity of Jihad in Kashmir under the US pressure led them to seek refuge in the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and obtain financial assistance and training from the TTP. That was the beginning of their joint operations within the country,” he said.

A police official in Lahore said the police were “alert to the threat and doing our best to control it”.

Right now, the people of Shahabz Sharif’s Lahore would be entitled to say that the police’s best is not quite good enough.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...njab-ignoring-cid-report-on-terror-groups-260
 
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ALI ARYAN

Senator (1k+ posts)
Badi Ajeeb Bat hai ek taraf Khadim e Aala dawa kartay hain good governance ka or dosri taraf sectaraian or Kal-Adam Jamaton ke baray main mukamal khamoshi ikhtiyar kar letay hain. ehsas yeh hota hai ke Muhtaram in tanzeemon ke liye dil main Naram gosha rakhtay hain, Yeh In Bridaran ki Siyasi Zindagee ka shewa raha hai do rukhi or Munafiqana Policies per chalna
 

ConcernedPakistani

MPA (400+ posts)
The secret CID report says

This phenomenon does not qualify as spread of Talibanisation in society”.

But lets do what Rehman Malik says. He is an expert on this subject and knows all about it. He is also assisted by US media reports,

WALL STREET JOURNAL
OPINION JOURNAL
jUNE 01, 2010
The War on Terror Comes to Punjab

Pakistanis must remain resolved to wipe out militancy at all costs.

By FAROOQ HAMEED KHAN

The people of Lahore had only just recovered from an attack three months ago that claimed more than 50 lives when terrorists struck again last Friday. This time the perpetrators targeted two prayer houses of the minority Ahmadi community, one located in the elite Model Town and the other in Gari Shahu near Lahore Railway Station. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for this well-planned strike that left around 100 worshippers dead and scores injured.
The attack must be seen in the context of the government's campaign against the TTP, which is an umbrella organization for terrorist groups and is loosely affiliated with al Qaeda. The Pakistan Army and Air Force are now battling TTP militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. For many weeks now, jet aircraft and Cobra helicopter gunships have been pounding militants' positions in the Orakzai Tribal Agency to eliminate the remnants of those TTP fighters who fled the Army's operations in other FATA agencies bordering Afghanistan in the last six months.
Pakistan's civilian leadership and the Army are under intense American pressure to move into North Waziristan to strike Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries that allegedly support cross-border activities against NATO forces in Afghanistan. However, the Pakistan government has declared that the timing of this operation will be dictated by the available resources and ground realities. Pakistanis worry that the North Waziristan offensive could result in greater al Qaeda or TTP blowback in major cities. View Full Image


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European Pressphoto Agency Police and civilians take cover after an attack in Lahore, Pakistan last week.
The Lahore attacks may confirm these fears, but they are also a sign that the militants must be rooted out wherever they may hide. A growing nexus between al Qaeda and jihadi groups in Punjab, generally referred to as the Punjabi Taliban, is coming out into the open. In south Punjab, some banned religious extremist groups amongst the Punjabi Taliban seem to be aligned with al Qaeda and the TTP. Reportedly a few splinter militant groups of Punjabi Taliban have also joined hands with al Qaeda and the TTP and are sheltering in north Waziristan.
Most alarming is the fact that the Lahore attacks targeted a particular religious minority with brutal force to ignite a sectarian conflict that will allow the militants to radicalize Pakistani Muslims. This poses a security threat for the entire society, as Pakistan's other religious communities could feel vulnerable to such acts.
Mainstream Pakistani religious and political parties are doing their best to head off this strategy. Their leaders and the civil society have demonstrated remarkable unity and harmony to counter any attempts to incite ethnic or sectarian divides in the past. Pakistanis remain convinced that there are foreign hands behind such terrorist acts that ultimately aim to create anarchy.
Yet there remains a danger that these attacks will tarnish Pakistan's reputation as a country where religious minorities are safe and respected. The Ahmadi sect were declared "non-Muslims" through a constitutional amendment in 1974, under the government of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. But they are still afforded the same legal protections as other religious minorities.
More importantly, the attacks may have been intended as a warning to Pakistani government and the Army not to launch military operations in north Waziristan. The Punjabi Taliban-al Qaeda alliance may be retaliating in desperation against the Army's successful ongoing anti-TTP offensive in Orakzai. Or the Lahore carnage may have been designed to provoke the government into launching a military operation in south Punjab that would set the Punjab province on fire.
The emergence of the Punjabi Taliban phenomenon in south Punjab and the advisability of a major operation against them has been the subject of debate in Pakistan for some time. The terrorist attack against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2009, followed by other such attacks against government establishments last year, reportedly had strong connections to these Punjabi militants and the support of a neighboring country's intelligence agency.
The bloody Lahore massacre raises the prospects of a government crackdown against certain militant groups and their madrassas, or religious schools, in south Punjab. These elements do not enjoy public support and may go underground or try to shift toward their allies in north Waziristan.
Being the frontline state in the war against terror, Pakistan has suffered more losses in this conflict than any other country in the world. Until the war in Afghanistan comes to an end and peace is restored to the region, Pakistan will continue to bear the brunt of terrorist attacks. But Pakistanis continue to resist those who want to provoke sectarian violence, and are extremely sensitive to protecting the rights and freedom of the religious minorities which are guaranteed in our constitution. We remain resolved to wipe out militancy at any cost.


Pakistan expands war front

Amanda Hodge, South Asia correspondent From: The AustralianJune 01, 2010 12:00AM

PAKISTAN is to open up a new front in the war against Islamic militancy in southern Punjab following Friday's bloody attack on a minority Muslim sect in Lahore. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government intended to launch an operation similar to that being conducted in the country's remote tribal agencies on the border with Afghanistan.
"There will be an operation in south Punjab on the pattern of the tribal areas," local Punjabi news channel C-42 TV quoted him as saying.
Punjab police revealed at the weekend that six gunmen belonging to the Punjabi chapter of the Pakistani Taliban were involved in the attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore last Friday in which 95 worshippers were killed.
They also claimed two gunmen arrested for the strikes had admitted, under interrogation, to receiving training in the North Waziristan town of Miran Shah.




"Punjabi Taliban" a growing threat for Pakistan

Pakistan (Reuters) - The Pakistan Taliban is not the sole militant group threatening Pakistan and the region.
Punjabi groups are deepening their ties with the Taliban, representing a growing threat for a country already hit hard by militant violence.
This was highlighted by the twin attacks in Lahore on Friday - the capital of Punjab - which killed between 80 and 95 members of the Ahmadi sect. Initial investigations suggested a possible link to the Taliban operating from Waziristan.
Security officials in the region say while there are no "militant strongholds" in the province for them to enable them to operate independently - as is the case in lawless northwest Pakistan - their presence in the area, especially in southern Punjab, cannot be denied.
These militants are overwhelmingly members of banned organizations like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba, long tolerated or even sponsored by Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment. But now they are starting to turn on Pakistan, thanks to the growing influence of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its ally al Qaeda.
"Those militants who were hiding in southern Punjab are now surfacing," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday in Lahore as he visited one of the attacked mosques. "We have information they could attack the Shi'ite community."
There are more than 20,000 madrassas, or schools, in Pakistan, he said, and 44 percent are in Punjab. The government has also banned 29 organizations and put 1,764 people on its wanted lists. Of them, 729 are from southern Punjab.
All these outfits traditionally have roots in Punjab and underscore the risk militants pose to Pakistan's economically most important province and its traditional seat of power.
"These are the people who took part in the Afghan war and got training there," said Mohsin Leghari, an opposition member of the provincial Punjab assembly.
"This is the only thing they know, so it is no surprise if they develop links with the Taliban in the northwest," said Leghari, whose constituency includes the tribal belt of Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab.
However, Leghari as well as security officials in the region denied that southern Punjab is a hub of militant activities.
"This is all rumor-based information. It's exaggerated," said Ahmad Mubarik, the police chief of Dera Ghazi Khan. "This is not the hub of militants. I don't think that is true."
But the recent surrender by Hanif Gabol, an alleged commander of the Taliban hailing from Dera Ghazi Khan, has once again highlighted the militants' operational network in the region.
Gabol has reportedly told police that he trained in Waziristan and led a group of about 25 men associated with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and was involved in dozens of terrorist activities.
OMINOUS TIES
More ominous for Pakistan, these attacks in Lahore on Friday show that ties between Punjabi organizations and the TTP are not just increasing the southern groups' capabilities, but also providing cover for the Pakistan Taliban to operate outside their traditional tribal strongholds on the border with Afghanistan.
A security official in Bahawalpur, another town in southern Punjab and considered the headquarters of JeM, said there was no doubt that some of the dozens of madrassas there were involved in recruiting volunteers for the Taliban in the northwest.
Analysts and officials said Punjab's extreme poverty, as well as lack of education, makes people in the region more vulnerable to the lure of militancy.
But they also say that the presence of Islamist militants is not new, and not directly linked to the rise of the Taliban.
"There is a presence of militants in that area for sure. But it is a long-standing presence, and they were there even before the Taliban became Taliban," said security analyst Ikram Sehgal.
Sehgal said the militants in Punjab had a good infrastructure on the ground, with many organizations involved in various feuds, including sectarian violence.
"The problem is that with the collapse of the Taliban in South Waziristan and Swat, and with them being pushed on the back foot in North Waziristan and Orakzai, there are chances they will try to reactivate these cells and make them effective," he said.
(Additional reporting by Asim Tanveer; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Ron Popeski)



DAWN NEWS
On Friday Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that there would soon be an operation in southern Punjab on the pattern of that under way in the tribal areas.

Lets start a operation in the whole of Panjab. Then expand it to Balochistan. This is the strategy which is best for Pakistan. India, USA and Israel all want Paksitan to start operations all over Pakistan so why wait. LETS DO IT. It will be best for Pakistan
 

ConcernedPakistani

MPA (400+ posts)
Lets start a operation in the whole of Panjab. Then expand it to Balochistan. This is the strategy which is best for Pakistan. India, USA and Israel all want Paksitan to start operations all over Pakistan so why wait. LETS DO IT. It will be best for Pakistan
 

Ammad Hafeez

Minister (2k+ posts)
ShahbazSharifAP+copy.jpg


Pakistan is going through a difficult time and we are fighting the war for our existence: Shahbaz Sharif.

Over poor security arrangements at the Jinnah Hospital, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday showed his dissatisfaction and said the attack on the hospital poses a big question over the performance of police, the local administration and security agencies. According to an official statement, Sharif chaired a high-level meeting on the province’s law and order situation.
Sharif said he will not tolerate any negligence in the prevailing situation and added that all efforts should be made to safeguard the life and property of common man.
Pakistan is going through a difficult time and we are fighting the war for our existence,

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...ahbaz+assails+police+security+agencies--bi-06
 
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jalalamardan

Councller (250+ posts)
i thought that there was a problem in southern punjab but now that the most " competant" intereior mininster has said this ,it is a complete lie and im smelling some conspirancy.
 

ConcernedPakistani

MPA (400+ posts)
Yes there is a problem in Panjab like there was a problem in FATA and then later on there was problem in whole of the then NWFP and now PK and now its Panjab's turn. This is all about ''War on Terror''. Rehman Malik is backed by US reports so its all authentic. USA had to start this ''War on Terror'' because it was attacked by terrorists who planned it from Afghanistan and Pakistan on 9/11. It is just so simple.
 

khan afghan1

Minister (2k+ posts)
I dont think so PUNJAB govt can fight this war against the CIA Its not war against taliban .ALmost every country who have stake in pakistan has sent their agents in the country to destabalie on every aspects.The President and prime minister with their cabinet are all busy to fight JUDICIARY and to bring it under control.Pakistan Army is working alongside with their US counterpart.The people of pakistan are stupid and voted again pppp in the recent by election.The country is almot collapsed and just need announcement.Corruption is at high level in the history of the country.There is no one to rescue the country.All islamic countrie have shown cold shoulder to us.If the govt started any action in punjab that would be the destruction of this country.Those who think so are the enemy of pakitan.Governor punjab has no inteest in this country as his wife is INDIAN SIKH.Most of the time he is india.ALLAH MAY protect this country.
 

ConcernedPakistani

MPA (400+ posts)
Lets wait for the good news about the starting of US guided action in Panjab under supervision of Rehman Malik. It will be a solution to all the problems in Pakistan.
 

Ammad Hafeez

Minister (2k+ posts)
shahbaz annoyed on rehman malik for using the term Punjabi Taliban.... ley daso tey fir hor ki kahiye unhaaN nooN
 

ConcernedPakistani

MPA (400+ posts)
Rehman Malik is a man of great integrity and Shahbaz Sharif himself a man of integrity should not have doubted him and should have started the operation straightaway in Panjab. We need an operation in Panjab. Most importantly US media has supported Rehman Malik.
 

BluntMan

MPA (400+ posts)
I dont think so PUNJAB govt can fight this war against the CIA Its not war against taliban .ALmost every country who have stake in pakistan has sent their agents in the country to destabalie on every aspects.The President and prime minister with their cabinet are all busy to fight JUDICIARY and to bring it under control.Pakistan Army is working alongside with their US counterpart.The people of pakistan are stupid and voted again pppp in the recent by election.The country is almot collapsed and just need announcement.Corruption is at high level in the history of the country.There is no one to rescue the country.All islamic countrie have shown cold shoulder to us.If the govt started any action in punjab that would be the destruction of this country.Those who think so are the enemy of pakitan.Governor punjab has no inteest in this country as his wife is INDIAN SIKH.Most of the time he is india.ALLAH MAY protect this country.

Very nice post friend. I totally agree
 

Ammad Hafeez

Minister (2k+ posts)
shahbazsharif2.jpg


CM Shahbaz Sharif said that the interior minister is being dictated to make statements regarding Punjabi Taliban.

Responding to Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement of Taliban’s presence in Punjab, Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has alleged Malik of fuelling differences among provinces.

In response, Rehman Malik tweeted the following:

@SenRehmanMalik I don’t understand how Shahbaz Sharif can term my hard-hitting stance against the taliban as creation of fight between the provinces

He also added:

@SenRehmanMalik The 2 terrorist involved in lahore attacks belong from muzaffargarh and rahimyarkhan. Let somebody deny it, if it is wrong.

Shahbaz had strongly condemned Malik’s allegations stating that “Punjabi Taliban” is a new terminology for the public, and that the nation will have to stand united against such elements.

He also said that the interior minister is being dictated to make such statements.

Earlier, Rehman Malik had said that the attack on Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital were carried out by the same terrorists who attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team.

According to Rehman Malik, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were involved in attacks on the minorities’ worship places in Model Town and Garhi Shahu on Friday.

He said that the federal government has directed the Punjab government to take action against terror elements taking refuge in the province.

Later, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the Jinnah Hospital tragedy has cast a serious doubt, yet again, on the performance of law and order agencies.

He said this while presiding over a meeting held at the CM house to discuss the law and order situation in the province. He said that security agencies should utilize all resources to ensure public security, and insisted that a sense of responsibility is the need of the hour.

He also said that the nation must stand united in these difficult times. Only then the war against terror can be won.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 02, 2010

The original story misquoted Interior Minister Rehman Malik as saying both Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Lashkar-e-Taiba were involved in the Lahore attack. Malik only cited Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s involvement in the attack.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/18153/lashkar-e-jhangvi-lashkar-e-taiba-attacked-lahore/
 

Zeeshan Khan

Politcal Worker (100+ posts)
Pakistan must act against terrorist in all shapes and sizes irrespective of their location. Whether its Punjab or NWFP, we must deal with terrorist with force. Plus we need to stop differentiating between terrorists as Punjabi terrorists and Pukhtoon terrorists or anything for that matter. Terrorists are just terrorists.
 

BluntMan

MPA (400+ posts)
Pakistan must act against terrorist in all shapes and sizes irrespective of their location. Whether its Punjab or NWFP, we must deal with terrorist with force. Plus we need to stop differentiating between terrorists as Punjabi terrorists and Pukhtoon terrorists or anything for that matter. Terrorists are just terrorists.

Use your head. USA and India are encouraging Pakistan to do just that. This whole ''War on Terror'' is creating more extremism whether its Pakhtoonkha or Panjab.
 

ConcernedPakistani

MPA (400+ posts)
Use your head. USA and India are encouraging Pakistan to do just that. This whole ''War on Terror'' is creating more extremism whether its Pakhtoonkha or Panjab.

Are you kidding? USA and India are friends of Pakistan. They want what is good for Pakistan.