Gunmen kill seven Shia pilgrims in Quetta
By AFP / Express
Published: July 29, 2011
Seven people were killed and 12 injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire at the office of a transportation company in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus stand in southwestern Pakistan in Quetta on Friday, killing seven Shia pilgrims and 12 injured waiting to travel to neighbouring Iran at the office of a transportation company, police said.
A group of pilgrims were waiting to travel to the border town of Taftan when the assailants arrived at the office on Saryab Road and opened fire, Express 24/7 correspondent Muhammad Kazim reported.
The dead include two Uzbeks and one Iranian national, senior police official Hamid Shakeel told Reuters.
The transport company runs buses from Quetta to Taftan, a city that borders Iran, he said.
The injured have been injured to Bolan Medical Complex. Two of the injured are reported to be in serious condition.
Officials said the attack could be an incident of sectarian violence.
“The attackers came on motorcycle and opened fire on the pilgrims. All seven Shia pilgrims were killed on the spot,” Farid Breach, a senior police officer, told AFP.
“It was a sectarian attack. The Shia pilgrims were the target.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, which was confirmed by local intelligence officials.
A heavy contingent of police has been deployed in the area to control the law and order situation.
The attack was the latest violence in the province of Baluchistan, which is beset by deadly sectarian conflict, a separatist insurgency and Taliban militant activity.
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Seven devotees killed in Sariab road firing
Updated at: 1703 PST, Friday, July 29, 2011
Seven devotees killed in Sariab road firing QUETTA: At least seven devotees were killed and several others injured when unidentified armed men opened fire at them, rescue sources said.
According to sources, devotees were waiting for van at Sariab road when unidentified armed assailants opened fire killing four people on the spot while three succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
The police said Kalashnikovs and pistols were using in the firing incident.
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11 killed in firing near bus stop in Quetta
By Express / Reuters
Published: July 30, 2011
Unidentified gunmen open fire near bus stop, leave several injured.
QUETTA: At least 11 people, including a woman, were killed and several others were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire near a bus stop on Spini road in Quetta on Saturday, Express 24/7 reported.
“The vehicle was passing by a bus stand when gunmen riding in another car opened fire, killing at least 11 people and wounding three,” city’s police chief Hamid Shakeel told Reuters.
A rickshaw driver was also among the dead.
Another police official said it appeared to be a sectarian attack as all those killed were Shia Muslims.
No group has claimed the responsibility of the incident as yet.
The bodies were shifted to the Bolan Medical Complex where the relatives of the dead are arriving. The relatives have blocked the Barori Road in front of the hospital in protest.
The protesters set ablaze two vehicles of Bolan Medical Complex and damaged its building, while the police resorted to aerial firing to disperse the protesters.
The Hazara Democratic Party announced a strike against the shooting in Quetta on Sunday.
In a similar incident of Friday, seven people were killed and 12 were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus stand where Shia pilgrims were waiting to travel to neighbouring Iran.
Earlier, the nephew of Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani and another man was killed while 39 others sustained injuries in an explosion followed by intense firing at a football stadium in Mastung area on Friday.
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Gunmen kill 11 in Pakistan suspected sectarian attack
30 Jul 2011 04:44
Source: reuters // Reuters
QUETTA, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province on Saturday, killing 11 Shi'ite Muslims and wounding three in a suspected sectarian attack, police said.
A woman was also among the dead in the attack in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, where pro-Taliban Sunni militants and Baluch separatists are blamed for years of violence in the province that shares border with Iran and Afghanistan.
"The vehicle was passing by a bus stand when gunmen riding in another car opened fire, killing at least 11 people and wounding three," city's police chief Hamid Shakeel told Reuters.
Another police official said it appeared to be a sectarian attack as all those killed were Shi'ite Muslims.
The majority of Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims, with Shi'ites accounting for around 15 percent of a population of more than 170 million.
Both communities largely live in peace with each other but militants from the two sides have killed thousands of people in tit-for-tat attacks since the beginning of Islamist militancy in the country in the 1980s.
Saturday's attack came a day after eight people were killed and about 25 wounded in two separate bomb and gun attacks in two districts of Baluchistan.
Baluch nationalists have waged a low-scale insurgency for decades but Taliban militants with links to al Qaeda have also been active in Baluchistan, the largest but poorest of Pakistan's four provinces, and home to the country's largest gas and oil reserves.
Pakistan has seen a surge in violence since al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in a secret raid in Pakistan in May.
Militants have vowed revenge for bin Laden's death. (Reporting by Gul Yousafzai; Writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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Seven killed as Iran-bound pilgrims attacked in Quetta
By Mohammad Zafar
QUETTA: A group of gunmen killed at least seven people, including four Shias, at a crowded bus terminal on Saryab Road on Friday.
Banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed the responsibility for the killings. It said it was to avenge the death of cleric Karim Mengal in Quetta.
A senior police officer, Farid Barech, said the attackers, who were four in number, barged into the congested and crowded Taftan bus terminal and opened fire on passengers waiting for buses to travel to bordering town of Taftan.
As a result of the firing, seven people, among them four Shia pilgrims waiting to travel to Mashhad in Iran, were killed instantly, while a man was fatally hurt.
“The attackers came on motorcycles. It was a sectarian attack. The Shias were the target,” said Barech.
Another police official, Hassan Buzdar, said, “It was an incident of targeted killing.”
Those killed were identified as Asmathullah, Abdul Nabi Reki, Mazullah, Saghem Abbas, Arif Hussain, Syed Qalb Hussain and Syed Awan Raza. The injured man was shifted to the Bolan Medical College Hospital.
DIG Operations Hamid Shakeel said a search operation had been launched to nab the unidentified gunmen.
The dead bodies of four Shias were dispatched to Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab for burial.
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Balochistan CM’s nephew killed in Mastung blast
QUETTA: Two people, including one of the nephews of Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, were killed while 39 others, among them eight officials of the Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) and four policemen, were wounded in a hand grenade attack in a football stadium in Mastung, about 40 kilometres south of Quetta, on Friday.
Mastung Deputy Commissioner Noorul Haq Baloch said the incident took place at the conclusion of a ceremony held to award prizes to participants of All-Pakistan Sarwan Football Tournament.
Fourteen-year-old Akmal Raisani had come to the event with his father Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, the chief minister’s younger brother, who had to give away the awards. “The guests were leaving when the explosion took place,” said the deputy commissioner, adding that some people received bullet wounds when intense firing started following the hand grenade attack.
Akmal Raisani was fatally hurt in the attack and was rushed to the Combined Military Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The other dead could not be identified. Sources said that Akmal was getting into a vehicle at which unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade. “Siraj Raisani had already got into the car and was sitting in the front seat,” an official, who wished anonymity, told this scribe. “Siraj Raisani was the target of the attack,” he added.
Some sources held that an explosive device had already been planted under the stairs of the pavilion.
Emergency was declared in all state-run hospitals after the blast. Eighteen injured were ferried to the CMH, six to the Bolan Medical Complex and three to the Sandeman Hospital. mohammad zafar
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Government gets breathing space
Govt dispels notion of clash among state institutions
Asma warns against defying court orders
Govt to implement SC’s order: Babar
Seven killed as Iran-bound pilgrims attacked in Quetta
Balochistan CM’s nephew killed in Mastung blast
No letup in ongoing spate of target killings in Karachi
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Sectarian violence spikes in Ramazan
Published: August 6, 2011
Security officials body search people going to offer prayers at a mosque in Quetta. PHOTO: PPI
LAHORE: The eruption of sectarian violence just as Ramazan commenced has shaken the entire country.
The worst incident took place in Quetta where 18 people were killed in just 14 hours, while another man was shot dead in southern Punjab. Both incidents were allegedly aimed at avenging the death of two Deobandi leaders, killed earlier in Quetta.
On July 30, gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Quetta, killing 11 Shias, including a woman, and wounding another three in a suspected sectarian attack.
“The vehicle was passing by a bus stand when gunmen in a car opened fire killing at least 11 people and wounding three,” police officials had said. Police officials said that the incident was sectarian in outlook because all of the deceased belonged to the Shia community.
The attack came a day after seven people were killed and 25 were injured in two separate bomb and gun attacks in two districts of Balochistan.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Inspector-General Balochistan Police Rao Amin Hashim, however, said that in both incidents four Sunni people from Punjab, and another Sunni Iranian citizen, were also killed. He said a prominent Deobandi leader was killed a day before the incident. The first leader was killed about a month ago.
He added that a massive clean-up operation had been launched with the help of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and around 200 suspects had been detained. He claimed that for the first time in Balochistan police’s history, Saryab Road had been raided with the help of FC personnel.
Another senior police official claimed that incidents of sectarian violence increased before Ramazan in the same way they did before Muharram.
A local journalist said these acts specifically targeted the Hazara community. He claimed that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) spokesperson Ali Sher Haidri had claimed responsibility for various incidents.
More sectarian killings
In another incident, a Shia activist was shot dead while another was critically injured in the 14 Pul area in Khanewal district on the night of July 31.
The vice-president of the Shia Ulema Council, Punjab, Fida Hussain Ghalvi, condemned the incident, terming it sectarian violence. He urged the government to ensure the early arrest of killers, besides calling for provision of adequate security to the Shia community.
He said that three Shias had been injured as a bomb went off prematurely on the Peeran Ghaib Road in Multan, on the morning of July 18. He said the two bombs had been planted to target prominent Shia leaders who were expected to arrive there to attend a gathering. Only one bomb had exploded. He said the incidents were directly connected with the release of “dangerous terrorists belonging to banned outfits such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and LeJ”. He claimed that more incidents of sectarian violence were expected.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2011.
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Bomb blast at hotel kills 11 in southwest Pakistan
14 Aug 2011 10:15
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Suspicions of attack fall on Baluch separatists
* Baluch militants fighting for more autonomy
* Rocket attack by Islamist militants kills 3 soldiers
By Gul Yusufzai
QUETTA, Pakistan, Aug 14 (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through a two-story hotel in Pakistan's restive southwest on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding nearly 20, police said.
No-one claimed responsibility for the attack in Dera Allah Yar, a town in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, although police said they suspected ethnic Baluch separatists.
"The bomb was planted inside the hotel and it exploded when a large number of people were sitting in a hall," local police official Javed Gharsheen told Reuters. The town is around 300 km (185 miles) east of provincial capital Quetta.
Witnesses said the two-story building was destroyed. Rescue workers and police were removing the rubble to find any survivors.
Police said the death toll could rise as several people were believed to have trapped in the rubble.
Baluch militants have been waging a low-level insurgency for decades for more autonomy and control over the natural resources of their impoverished region.
The activists often target government installations, security forces, gas pipelines, railway tracks and electricity pylons.
They have intensified their campaign since the assassination of a tribal elder, Nawab Akbar Bugti, in a military operation in 2006 during the rule of military President Pervez Musharraf.
Human Rights Watch in June said rights violations in the region were getting worse as militants and security forces targeted civilians, while authorities appear unwilling to rein in lawlessness.
The government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who replaced Musharraf, has tried to pacify Baluch nationalists by announcing huge development schemes for the region, but this has failed to stop separatist violence.
Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban are also active in the strategic region that borders Afghanistan and Iran, though officials say there is no evidence that they have links with Baluch militants.
Separately, Islamist militants fired rockets at a military camp in North Waziristan, another troubled region in the northwest of the country, killing three soldiers when they were preparing for celebrations to mark the 65th independence day of Pakistan. At least 16 soldiers were wounded in the attack. (Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Alex Richardson)
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Bomb blast at hotel kills 11 in southwest Pakistan
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By Gul Yusufzai – Sun Aug 14, 6:16 am ET
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – A bomb ripped through a two-story hotel in Pakistan's restive southwest on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding nearly 20, police said.
No-one claimed responsibility for the attack in Dera Allah Yar, a town in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, although police said they suspected ethnic Baluch separatists.
"The bomb was planted inside the hotel and it exploded when a large number of people were sitting in a hall," local police official Javed Gharsheen told Reuters. The town is around 300 km (185 miles) east of provincial capital Quetta.
Witnesses said the two-story building was destroyed. Rescue workers and police were removing the rubble to find any survivors.
Police said the death toll could rise as several people were believed to have trapped in the rubble.
Baluch militants have been waging a low-level insurgency for decades for more autonomy and control over the natural resources of their impoverished region.
The activists often target government installations, security forces, gas pipelines, railway tracks and electricity pylons.
They have intensified their campaign since the assassination of a tribal elder, Nawab Akbar Bugti, in a military operation in 2006 during the rule of military President Pervez Musharraf.
Human Rights Watch in June said rights violations in the region were getting worse as militants and security forces targeted civilians, while authorities appear unwilling to rein in lawlessness.
The government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who replaced Musharraf, has tried to pacify Baluch nationalists by announcing huge development schemes for the region, but this has failed to stop separatist violence.
Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban are also active in the strategic region that borders Afghanistan and Iran, though officials say there is no evidence that they have links with Baluch militants.
Separately, Islamist militants fired rockets at a military camp in North Waziristan, another troubled region in the northwest of the country, killing three soldiers when they were preparing for celebrations to mark the 65th independence day of Pakistan. At least 16 soldiers were wounded in the attack.
(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Alex Richardson)
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GGunmen attack bus in Balochistan, 26 killed
By AFP / Express
Published: September 20, 2011
An ethnic Hazara Shia is comforted by his relative after he arrived at the local hospital in Quetta, to find a family member shot dead, September 20, 2011.PHOTO: REUTERS QUETTA: Gunmen opened fire on a bus in the Mastung area of Balochistan, carrying passengers to Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 26 Shia pilgrims, police said.
In a brutal assault, gunmen ordered pilgrims off their bus, lined them up and killed them in a hail of gunfire in Mastung, a district south of Quetta.
“The attackers stopped the bus and forced the pilgrims to get off, lined them up and then opened fire,” local deputy commissioner Saeed Imrani told AFP.
“The death toll has risen to 26. At least six people were wounded, four of them are in a critical condition,” he added, after earlier saying 20 died.
According to reports, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan has increasingly become a flashpoint for sectarian violence between Pakistan’s majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites.
“It is an emergency-like situation. We are taking the dead and injured to hospitals. Twenty-six pilgrims were killed and six wounded,” Shah Nawaz, another government official told a TV channel.
The bus driver, Khushal Khan, recounted harrowing details of the attack to reporters for two Pakistani TV channels who quickly reached the scene.
“There was no security on our bus. Eight to 10 attackers armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers stopped the bus and forced all the passengers to get off,” he recalled while speaking to the media.
“45 passengers were travelling. Some of them managed to escape. I also managed to escape,” he said.
“The attackers then fled in their vehicle,” he said.
Sources said that women and children were spared but witnessed the shooting.
Mastung is Chief Minister Balochistan, Nawab Mohammed Aslam Raisani’s constituency.
Meanwhile the Shia Ulema Council has announced a seven-day mourning in the wake of the incident.
According to Express 24/7 correspondent Muhammad Kazim, another car was also attacked by gunmen in Quetta, killing two men. The car was reportedly enroute to Mastung to rescue survivors of the attacked bus.
Earlier in June, a group of armed men opened fire on a bus carrying pilgrims from Balochistan to Iran, killing two people and injuring nine others.
The attack had occurred near the western bypass near Quetta.
The passenger coach, which was on its way from Quetta to Taftan, was carrying 50 passengers when it was attacked near the Akhtarabad area.
The assailants escaped after the attack. Police and other law-enforcement agencies took the bodies and the injured to the Bolan Medical College Hospital, sources at the hospital said.
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ALERT
Rights of Balochistan: a blatant denial by HBFC in Gwadar
By Ansar Shahoor - Feb 23rd, 2012 (No Comment)
2
The strategically important Balochistan province of the country has been pushed toward cessation by the follies of ours and our so-called saviours, Though our ‘savious’ should share the major responsibility for the mess today we are in as far as Balochistan is concerned, but our other institutions have also played their roles in creating sense of deprivation and alienation among the Baloch, who have been compelled to mull over other options than to live in the confines of Pakistan.
The Government of Pakistan with its announcement that Gwadar will be developed as a commercial port and a hub of business gave a lot of hope to the Baloch. How poor they are and what is their living standard is only known to the people who have ever visited that area. Thanks to Chinese that the dream of Gwadar Port became a reality, though it’s becoming a fully functional port yet remains a dream. Gwadar Port becoming fully operational can generate a host of economic activities and could have also made the optimal economic use of the Makran Coastal Highway. This would have indeed created employment and economic empowerment of the people in that region of Balochistan and along the Makran Coast. The commitment of the Balochistan Govt. to the project of Gwadar Port and to the people of Makran Coast is demonstrated by the fact that the Provincial Govt. of Balochistan has made Gwadar as Summer Office of the Provincial Govt. That will not be possible without Gwadar having sufficient and reasonably decent housing not only for its own people but also for those who will be coming to Gwadar to support the Port activities and the activities of the Provincial Govt.
The two financial institutions namely Pak-Kuwait and HBFC clearly realized in 2004-06 that Gwadar Port could not become an economic and business center without proving education and housing facilities there. In 2003-4 the then management of Pak-Kuwait Investment Co. approached The Citizens Foundation (TCF) to explore if a primary school could be opened there. The TCF agreed to take the challenge, and Pak-Kuwait sponsored Gwadar’s first state-of the-art first primary school in Gwadar. The school is functional there and is providing education to the poor and needy Balochs of Gwadar.
In 2005-6, the then management of HBFC realized its responsibility to empower people of Gwadar and Makran Coastal Belt for having decent housing which would not only improve the living standard of the people, but would also make available a decent housing stock for employees of the Gwadar Port Authority and other institutions like Customs, Road Transport, Govt. employees etc. which would be needed to support the Port Operations, and now the Summer Seat of the provincial Govt. HBFC initiated plans to support affordable housing schemes of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) and of the Nazim of Gwadar, by providing housing loans to the people there. For this purpose HBFC had set up its branch office in Gwadar, which was headed by a very competent Baloch. The HBFC’s loaning operations were gradually picking up to make it an active financing arm of HBFC in that coastal area of Balochistan. The then DG GDA Mr. Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri (now Chief Secretary Balochistan), and Mr. Kalamati the then City Nazim of Gwadar were fully involved in such programs and are witness to such housing programs in Gwadar.
The irony is that the present management of HBFC soon after taking charge of HBFC in 2009 closed HBFC Gwadar Office in the name of cost cutting measure, to save may be Rs 50,000 per month. The Gwadar Branch Manager of Gwadar was transferred to Head Office, who got so much frustrated from this action of the management that he later resigned from HBFC.
This is what frustrates the people of Balochistan. What percentage of HBFC’s housing loan portfolio is in Balochistan, and what were the running expenses of HBFC Gwadar Office. The present MD and his handpicked group of highly paid senior management (hired on lucrative Contracts) make frequent visits to Lahore and Islamabad, travel in Business Class, stay in 5-Star hotels and spend lacs and lacs of Tax-Payers money on their luxury. Here the management does not think of any cost cutting measures. HBFC has now Board Meetings in Islamabad’s 5-Star Hotels and fly its three Directors (out of current Board of four only) from Karachi. These Directors are getting an average of about Rupees one lac per month by way of Directors Fee (Good for a retired person as a pocket money). As against this the operational performance of HBFC is so pathetic that during last three years, average loaning is only Rs 700 million per year, which is less than one-fifth of total loans given in 2008 ( Rs 3,900 million).The salary package of MD and his team is eye opener. In 2011, HBFC’s total loaning was Rs 700 million, and to make these loans HBFC has spent about Rs 1,300 million by way of establishment expenses. One would think that Govt. would have been better off by just distributing Rs. 700 million by way of gift and would have still saved Rs 600 million of the Tax-Payers money.
It is quite upsetting to see that HBFC’s present management did find it right to save a meager 50,000 rupees by depriving the Baloch and Balochistan from having housing facilities and housing finance from the Federal Government, while making huge expenditures on account of salaries of highly paid executives, and on their very frequent travelling up country, in last 2/3 years which runs more than crores of rupees per year.
The Federal Government, the Provincial Government, and the people’s representative, and the mass media must take notice of this deprivation in the hand of a federal government’s organization.
Ansar Shahoor
Bloggers Intro
Ansar Shaoor is a political analyst, he is blogging on social and current affairs based in Quetta
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