Its to be noted that once it was MQM city, where is MQM now!!!, sitting in sleeping in Governor House and President Palace.
FOB Sharana
Firing restarted @ Empress Market area, around Jahangir Park on 21 st Ramazan Procession of Shahdat-e-Imam Ali A.S.
Blast in Pakistani city of Lahore, 2 wounded - TV
01 Sep 2010 14:04:55 GMT
Source: Reuters
LAHORE, Pakistan, Sept 1 (Reuters) - An explosion hit a Shi'ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, a television station reported.
Express 24/7 said two people were wounded. There has been a lull in attacks by Taliban militants since devastating floods hit U.S. ally Pakistan just over a month ago. (Reporting by Augustine Anthony; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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Blasts kill 18 in Pakistan's Lahore, 175 hurt
01 Sep 2010 16:07:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Blasts in Lahore
* Heavy economic damage
* Wheat planting season at risk
* Stability at stake (Updates death toll, number of blasts, Taliban on terror list)
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Three bombs exploded at a Shi'ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and wounding over 100, piling pressure on a government already overwhelmed by floods.
Witnesses said a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of hundreds, after a lull in violence during the floods, the type of attack that Pakistani Taliban militants have claimed in the past.
"According to my information 18 people are dead and over 100 injured," Sajjad Bhutta, a senior Lahore district administration official, told state-run Pakistan Television.
Soon after the blasts, a mob set fire to a police station and several vehicles. People also beat policemen, witnesses said.
Pro-Taliban Sunni militants frequently attack Shi'ites as part of a campaign to destabilise the government.
The renewed violence came as millions of Pakistanis continued to struggle for food and water more than a month after the worst floods in the country's history, deepening concerns over the stability of the U.S. ally.
The floods have ravaged Pakistan's economy, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said, with massive job losses and soaring inflation expected to hurt a nation whose stability is vital to the U.S. war against Islamist militants in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"The floods have inflicted damage to the economy which may, by some estimates, reach $43 billion, while affecting 30 percent of all agricultural land," Gilani said briefing the cabinet.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, with cotton the main cash crop. The sector is one of the biggest sources of employment.
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Facing the prospect of long-term economic pain, Pakistan hopes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will soften the terms of an $11 billion loan. Pakistani and IMF officials are meeting in Washington to work out the impact of the floods.
"This economic loss will translate into massive job losses affecting incomes of thousands of families, which may have serious social implications," said Gilani, whose government was heavily criticised for its slow response to the catastrophe.
Pakistan's powerful military has taken charge of relief efforts, but Islamist charities, some linked to militant groups, have also stepped in, raising concerns they may exploit public anger.
BLACKLIST
The United States on Wednesday formally added the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Taliban Movement of Pakistan to its blacklist of foreign terrorist organisations subject to travel and economic sanctions.
The TTP is the main Pakistani militant alliance which operates from Pakistan's northwest. It has links with al Qaeda as well as the Punjabi groups and is suspected of being behind most bomb and suicide attacks across Pakistan.
Before the floods struck a vast swath of the country, the army said it had scored major gains against the Taliban. In renewed air strikes in the northwest region, Pakistani forces killed up to 62 militants, their family members and other civilians with no ties to the fighters, officials said on Wednesday.
Washington has repeatedly urged Pakistan to go after militant sanctuaries in the northwest saying these have helped boost the Afghan insurgency, now at its deadliest. Pakistan says it is doing all it can to fight the militants.
Testing ties further, Pakistan's army said on Wednesday it scrapped talks with U.S. military officials after a military delegation sent to Washington had to go through "unwarranted" airport security checks.
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it could take Pakistan years to recover from the floods with threats from water-borne disease and opportunistic militants. "The danger always is that you get groups who have an ulterior motive who provide aid to try to curry favour," he said after visiting an aid camp.
Pakistan is expected to register economic growth of just 2.5 percent because of the impact of flooding, the information minister said, trimming an earlier 4.5 percent target.
The budget deficit is expected to climb to 6-7 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year 2010/2011, compared with an earlier forecast of 4.5 percent. (Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Augustine Anthony in Islamabad and Chris Allbritton and Rebecca Conway in Pabbi, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) (For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan)
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Pakistan boosts security after Lahore bombs
02 Sep 2010 06:47:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Bombs adds to pressure on Pakistan government
* Renewed violence
* US charges confirm Taliban's wide reach
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan tightened security in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday after three bomb attacks killed 38 people and wounded 171 and pressured the U.S.-backed government already overwhelmed by floods.
The blasts which hit a Shi'ite procession on Tuesday bore all the hallmarks of pro-Taliban insurgents, who have carried out sectarian violence designed to destabilise the government.
"Security has been tightened in the city to prevent any such incident. We had called the (paramilitary) rangers after the blasts last night, and they are on high alert and can be called again any time if needed," Sajjad Bhutta, Lahore's top administration official, told Reuters.
Pakistan's government may face renewed militant violence as it tries to manage the country's worst floods and dull what is likely to be long-term economic pain caused by them, security analysts say.
The floods struck a month ago just as the army said it had made progress in the war against the al Qaeda-linked Sunni Taliban in the northwest region.
Reflecting the growing reach of the Pakistani Taliban, U.S. prosecutors overnight charged its leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December.
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The United States also added the Pakistani Taliban to its list of foreign terrorist organisations and set rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture of two of its leaders, Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman.
ECONOMY SUFFERS
Even before the floods struck, Pakistan was struggling with a failing economy. Those concerns have increased following the widespread devastation to crops and infrastructure which Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani estimated could eventually hit $43 billion.
"The gloomy picture for the economy has already affected investor confidence, and the latest bombings have shattered that confidence further," said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive officer of Topline Securities.
"Investors were assuming that because of the devastation caused by the floods, terrorism will slow down."
Islamabad hopes the International Monetary Fund will soften terms of an $11 billion loan that has kept its economy afloat.
The IMF and Pakistan will release a statement on Thursday on ongoing discussions of the south Asian country's loan.
The statement at 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT) follows a week of Washington talks against the backdrop of the floods which destroyed cropland and livestock and displaced millions.
U.S. textile groups and cotton farmers have strongly objected to proposed new trade benefits for Pakistan, saying the United States should send aid here, not U.S. jobs.
The textile industry, which will be hit hard by the crop damage, accounts for more than 50 percent of Pakistan's exports and is a major employer in the manufacturing sector.
There was some good news from the World Bank, which has increased funding to help Pakistan cope with the floods by $100 million, to a total of $1 billion. (Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz in Karachi; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) (For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan)
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Taliban claim responsibility for Pakistan attacks
03 Sep 2010 05:41:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes, details)
By Saud Mehsud
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Taliban on Friday took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore that killed 33 people.
Wednesday's blasts in the eastern city was the first major militant attack in Pakistan since floods waters tore through the country over the past month.
"It's revenge for the killings of innocent Sunnis," a spokesman for Qari Hussain Mehsud, mentor of the Taliban's suicide bombers, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"We also have videos of the fidayeen (bombers) and we may release them," the spokesman Shakirullah Mehsud told Reuters.
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Hussain is a senior leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan led by Hakimullah Mehsud, who was charged by U.S. prosecutors this week in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December.
The United States on Wednesday included TTP in its list of foreign terrorist organisations and announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and another TTP leader, Wali-ur-Rehman.
Pakistan itself had announced 50 million rupees ($590,000) each for any information about Hakimullah, Rehman and Hussain.
Commonly known as "Ustad-e-Fidayeen" or "the mentor of suicide bombers," Hussain began his militant career with an anti-Shi'ite group before joining TTP, the main Taliban grouping in Pakistan which is fighting Pakistani government forces and is also increasingly seen as direct threat to the United States.
Al Qaeda-backed TTP claimed responsibility for the failed bomb plot in New York's Times Square.
The attack in Lahore came as the government is struggling to cope with country's worst floods with millions of people threatened by malnutrition and diseases.
The floods struck just as the army said it had made progress in the war against the TTP militants.
(Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Michael Georgy and Sanjeev Miglan)
(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)
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