10.3.1
Pakistan
From the archive, 12 August 1947: Mr Jinnah, the founding father of independent Pakistan
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, centre, founder of Pakistan, with Lord and Lady Mountbatten in 1947. Mountbatten was the last British viceroy of India
Photograph: Pakistan Archives/AP
Karachi, August 11, 1947.
Mr. Jinnah, president of the Moslem League and Governor-General designate of Pakistan, was to-day elected president of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly.
His election is yet another indication of his unchallenged supremacy in Moslem politics and was referred to by his proposer, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, who said that the creation of the State of Pakistan was mainly, if not entirely, due to him. In his unemotional opening speech Mr. Jinnah declared that two functions of the Assembly were to frame a constitution and to act as a temporary federal legislature.
Appealing for tolerance and unity, Mr. Jinnah said that the biggest hindrances to India’s advance had been religious and racial divisions. But for these India would have been free long ago.
People living in Pakistan, he said, would have complete religious freedom but they must remember “first, second, and last, that they are citizens of this State with equal rights and equal obligations.”
Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan proposed the adoption of the Pakistan flag -a dark green flag with a white vertical bar at the mast, the green portion bearing a white crescent in the centre and a five-pointed white heraldic star. Representatives of the Hindu minorities asked that more time be devoted to choosing of the flag and that the minorities be more closely associated with it. They were overruled, however, and the proposal was carried. Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan said the white portion of the flag, one quarter of the total area, symbolised Pakistan’s minorities, who were roughly one quarter of the total population.
The somewhat aggressive behaviour of the Hindus suggested that they are going to be by no means docile members of the Assembly. One of them wanted to speak in Hindustani, but was politely told by Mr. Jinnah that the language of the Assembly was English, unless a member could not express himself in English, when the vernacular was permitted.
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Pakistan is becoming more and more politically unstable. The US military aid and personal recognition of its president, General Pervez Musharraf, by President Bush are not enough to boost his popularity at home after being forced to join the fight on terrorism -bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan- after September 11, 2001. Many Pakistanis are fundamentalist Muslims and still view bin Laden and the Taliban positively.
- On February 20, 2002, it was ascertained that the Wall Street Journal's
special envoy in Pakistan, Daniel Pearle, who had been kidnapped on January
23 in Karachi by a terrorist group calling itself "National Movement
for the Restoration of Pakistan Sovereignty" had been killed. A videotape
sent to the US consulate in Islamabad shows Pearl during his captivity and
his murder, possibly by decapitation. This shows clearly that some Muslims
will never forgive the Americans for attacking Afghanistan even if killing
innocent people will not change anything. A British subject, Sheikh, a former
public schoolboy and a student at the London School of Economics, has been
accused of the murder and he was condemned to death around July 15, 2002.
He said that he would appeal the sentence but he also said that Muslims would
avenge his eventual death all over the world.
- Musharraf, the military dictator-president of Pakistan, will hold a referendum
to stay five more years in power. And it will be approved even if he has to
"cheat." All this with the benediction of the US.
- About May 22, 2002, Britain decided to pull back most of their embassy staffs
out of Pakistan after direct threads following the bomb attack that caused
the death of eleven French engineers working on the construction of submarines.
The Government suggested also that all British people that could, should leave
Pakistan too.
- On June 14 there was a bomb attack on the US Consulate in Islamabad at the
hand of suspected Islamic militants. A suicide bomber drove a van towards
the Consulate but it exploded outside killing eleven Pakistanis but no American
was hurt. All the US Consulates and the Embassy in Pakistan were later closed.
- General elections took place in Pakistan in October 2002. Musharraf party,
the Pakistan Moslem League (PML), has won 75 seats, the PPP 62, and the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) led by Qazi, an extremist religious movement, 49. The
hardliner Islamic parties -MMA and others- won in the two tribal provinces
next to Afghanistan dealing a blow to the American wish to hunt down Taliban
and al-Qaida fighters hiding there. The MMA leaders now are asking, as foreseen,
that the US leaves Pakistan.
- The Americans complain that they do not receive all the help they need from
the Pakistani army in the search for the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who
are hiding in the autonomous provinces along the border with Afghanistan.
The Pakistanis say that only a handful of these fighters are hiding in Pakistan.
- One of Washington's most wanted al-Qaida fugitive, Sheikh Ahmed Salim, was
captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in July 2002 and secretly transferred into
US custody. The Kenyan, who also go by the name of Swedan, had a $25m price
on his head for his role in the 1998 bombing of US embassies in east Africa.
Since then he directed and funded Islamic militants in Pakistan.
- The Pakistani's special forces captured a senior al-Qaida member in Karachi
on September 11, 2002. Ramzi bin al-Shibh is, according to the Americans,
responsible for the planning of the September attack on New York City and
Washington DC. Two days before his arrest, al-Shibh had boasted on the al-Jazeera
television that he was the coordinator of the September 11 attack. The Pakistani
interrogated him before being transferred to the Americans.
- Ramzi bin al-Shibh, could have been the 20th hijacker but he was unable
to enter into the USA. He is now outside Pakistan in a secret location where
he is interrogated.
- If George Bush's "war on terror" had any rational in it then the
next target should be Pakistan instead of Iraq. Pakistan is more "guilty"
that Iraq on the basis of Bush's "axis of evil" criteria. Pakistan
has not only many nuclear weapons but also the means to deliver them whereas
Iraq has not. Part of Pakistan's military and intelligence services have had
close links with the Taliban for many years and their leader, Mullah Omar
is their creation. Many al-Qaida members, and possibly Osama bin Laden, are
hiding in Pakistan where they killed many Pakistani as well as 11 French engineers.
General Musharraf jumping into the US camp after September 11, 2001, explains
why he is left in peace. But it is well known that the US likes right wing
dictators when they are useful and obedient.
- The Islamic parties, which fought the October 2002 elections on an anti-American
platform, will form the government with a pro-democracy range of parties.
It is possible that Fazl-ur Rahman, one of their members and a known pro-Taliban
will become prime minister.
- A well-known Pakistani doctor, Dr. Amer Aziz, said that he treated Osama
bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders in southern Afghanistan before and after
September 11, 2001 (more precisely in 1999 and in November 2001). According
to him bin Laden was in good health and showed no sign of kidney problems,
or of being under dialysis. Dr Aziz was arrested by the FBI and the CIA that
accused him of helping al-Qaida to get arms of mass destruction. However nothing
could be proved and he was released. He also treated another al-Qaida leader,
Mohammed Atef, for a slipped disk in Kabul, one day before an US bomb killed
him.
- A radical Islamic Pakistani, Akram Durrani of the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal
or United Action Forum, a religious coalition, was elected Chief Minister
of the North West border province with Afghanistan on Friday November 29,
2002. Durrani want to keep US troops out of his territory where it is known
that Taliban and al-Qaida members are hiding. He also wants to impose Islamic
rule.
- Pakistani police arrested 9 family members on December 19, 2002,suspected
of being al-Qaida operatives. Among them there are three naturalised Americans
and two naturalised Canadians.
- At the end of December 2002 we were told that a Pakistani nuclear scientist,
Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, met Osama bin Laden many times before September
11, 2001, and that he was asked to help al-Qaida to build a nuclear bomb.
Apparently he refused although he is close to the ideology of al-Qaida and
the Taliban. Now he is under house arrest and forbidden to talk to the media.
His son talked to them in his name.
- At the beginning of 2003, the US military said that they reserve their right
to pursue fleeing al-Qaida and Taliban fighters into Pakistan. On January
4, 2003, Pakistan said officially that there is no agreement and that the
US troops cannot cross their border without a specific authorisation.
- On March 7, 2003, we were told that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a suspected
architect of the September 11, 2001, attack on the USA, had been captured
in Pakistan and that he is talking to his captors. He apparently told them
that he met Osama bin Laden within the last month along the border between
Pakistan and Afghanistan. If this report is true then it is a certain proof
that Osama bin Laden is still alive and hiding in Pakistan.
- On March 7, 2003, a report -non confirmed- from Pakistan said that two of
Osama bin Laden's sons had been arrested after a shoot-out in southern Afghanistan
in which they were injured. Nine al-Qaida members were killed in the fight
with US and Afghan troops. They are Saad bin Laden (23 years old) and Hamza
bin Laden. Saad has played an important financial and logistical role in some
of al Qaida attacks and he is on the American most-wanted list. Some 480 ordinary
members of al-Qaida have been arrested in Pakistan and most of them have been
handed over to the Americans.
- On June 30, 2003, 3 Islamic militants were sentenced to death for organising
the suicide bomb attack that killed 11 French naval technicians in Karachi
in 2002. They are Asif Zaheer, Rizwan Ahmed Basheer and Mohammad Sohail. The
verdict will be challenged in the High Court as the men insisted they are
not guilty.
- On December 14, 2003, a bomb exploded in Rawalpindi a few moments after
President General Pervez Musharraf's motorcade drove by. On December 15 it
was revealed that the attackers used about 550 pounds of explosives planted
in 5 places below a bridge. Luckily it went off after Musharraf's motorcade
had already passed.
- On December 23, 2003, Pakistan promised legal action against people involved
in sharing nuclear secrets with other countries (Libya, Iran, etc).
- On December 24, the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, agree
to leave as army chief at the end of 2004 but he will serve his full mandate
as president until 2007.
- On December 25 there was a new suicide bomb attack against the President
of Pakistan in Rawalpindi again. He escaped unhurt but 16 people were killed
and 46 wounded. This is the second attack on his life in two weeks. Some people
dislike him because he changed his support from the Taliban and al-Qaida in
favour of the Americans.
- On January 1, 2004, President General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan won a
confidence vote that will allow him to remain in power at least until 2007.
Musharraf took power in 1999 in a bloodless coup that ousted the then elected
president. Musharraf was seen as an illegal dictator by most countries including
the USA. However after September 11, 2001, the US needed his good will to
invade Afghanistan. In this way he became their friend and will remain their
friend as long as he is useful. After he probably will do the end of Saddam
Hussein.
- On January 8, 2004, Pakistani troops launched an offensive to capture suspected
al-Qaida members in the mountains along the Afghan border, a possible hiding
place for Osama bin Laden. This follows a series of attacks in Afghanistan
by Taliban and al-Qaida suspects hiding in Pakistan.
- On January 19, 2004, Pakistan has increased its investigation of its nuclear
scientists. Seven scientists and administrators at their main nuclear Khan
Research Laboratory have been detained. They are accused of giving or selling
sensitive nuclear technologies to Libya, Iran and North Korea. However Pakistan
still denies official involvement blaming individuals. Islamul Haq, the head
of the laboratory, is among those arrested.
- On January 19, 2004, Pakistan arrested seven suspected al-Qaida militants
and found weapons in an apartment in Karachi. The suspects included two Egyptians,
three Afghans and two Arab women.
- On January 20, 2004, Pakistan forbad all the scientists working on its nuclear
weapon programmes from leaving the country. Pakistan is thought to have "given"
nuclear technology to Iran, and possibly North Korea and Libya. Army commander,
General Mirza Aslam Beg, approved the deal with Iran.
- On January 28, 2004, Pakistan said that its investigation into the sale
of nuclear technology to Iran is focusing on Abdul Qadeer Khan, the popular
"father" of their atomic bomb. He is now under surveillance to prevent
him to leave the country. However it is not clear if the government has the
evidence, or the political will, to formally accuse him.
- On January 30, 2004, a hard-line Islamic coalition said that Pakistani tribesmen
might fire on American soldiers if they enter Pakistan searching for al-Qaida
members.
- On February 1, 2004, Pakistan said that 4 scientists and three retired army
officer were under investigation over the suspected sale of nuclear technology
and equipment to Iran and Libya. Abdul Qadeer Khan the respected "father"
of Pakistan's nuclear bomb is thought to be the main actor. He was sacked
as a government adviser on January 31. It is not clear yet if Dr Khan will
be prosecuted.
- On February 2 Dr Khan admitted selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya
and North Korea during the last two decades. Pakistani officials said that
Dr Khan was acting for personal greed and ambition. It is however difficult
to believe that he could do it alone and especially without the government
and secret services knowledge. Dr Khan said that he did it to get money for
nuclear research and to show solidarity with other Muslim countries. He will
probably not be prosecuted because of his popularity as the father of the
Pakistani nuclear. Dr Khan also said that President Pervez Musharraf and the
military leaders knew that he supplied the nuclear information to foreign
states for money.
- On February 4 Dr Khan spoke on the Pakistani national television to admit
that he had illegally traded nuclear secrets to other countries without the
government's knowledge. Dr Khan is taking full responsibility for his actions,
regret doing it, and is apologising to the country. It is believed that he
will not be prosecuted because he knows too much. In fact President Pervez
Musharraf pardoned Dr Khan after saying that international investigators will
not be allowed to interview him.
- On January 6, Pakistan's opposition parties demanded a public investigation
into the sale of nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea on the ground
that senior army officers must have been aware of the deals.
- On February 24, 2004, Pakistani troops blew up suspected terrorist hideouts
and arrested more than 20 suspected foreign militants.
- On March 15, 2004, the Pakistani police found a bomb placed in a van parked
near the US Consulate in Karachi. President Musharraf said the same day that
the two assassination attempts against him last year were organised by al-Qaida.
He specifically blamed a Libyan -not identified- for one of the attempt.
- On March 16, 2004, we were told that 700 Pakistani troops killed at least
24 al-Qaida or Taliban suspects in the tribal regions between Pakistan and
Afghanistan. However very few corpses were retrieved. At least 8 soldiers
were killed and 15 wounded in the village of Kaloosha near Wana at the Afghan
border.
- On March 18, 2004, the Pakistani soldiers attacked a mountain stronghold
believed to be the hideout in the Waziristan province of al-Qaida deputy leader,
Ayman al-Zawahiri and 200 militants
- On March 19, 2004, it became clear that Pakistan is doing its best to capture
and destroy the Taliban and al-Qaida militants hiding in the provinces at
the border with Afghanistan to thank the Americans for not accusing the Pakistani
government to be involved, as it was, in nuclear black market trade for many
years. And the American government knew about it all the time but kept silent.
- The deal between President Bush and President Musharraf would be that Pakistan
will do its best to capture Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri before the
American presidential elections and, in return, the US will make sure that
Pakistan is not subjected to sanctions for its involvement in nuclear proliferation.
The only goal of Bush is to be re-elected. At all cost! Of course, both countries
deny that there is such a deal.
- Colin Powell also announced this week that Pakistan would be made soon a
member of America's "major non-NATO ally club" and allowed to buy
sophisticated weapons from the USA. Not bad for a dictator considered an enemy
of the US until September 11, 2001, when his country became useful for the
war in Afghanistan. How long will it last is not known. Pakistan is the same
position that Iraq's was in the 1980s when its war with Iran suited the Americans.
- On March 21, 2004, fighting between 7,000 Pakistani troops and about 600
so-called al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents continued at the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan issued a cease-fire and a request for surrender under threat that
if it was not accepted all the people -militants and civilians alike- would
be killed. It is now doubtful that bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri,
is or was there. The delegation of elders negotiating a possible surrender
came back with three government requests:
.Free 14 Pakistani soldiers and officials captured at the beginning of the
battle.
.Hand over any tribesmen involved in the fighting.
,Expel all foreigners.
- At the end of March the Pakistani military authorities said that they have
found many tunnels, one over one mile long, leading to a dry river bed near
the Afghan border, through which many al-Qaida and Taliban, especially the
more senior ones, could have escaped from the siege.
- On April 2, 2004, Pakistan deployed 3,500 more soldiers in the North-West
Frontier Provinces to capture or kill Osama bin laden and other militants.
There are now about 13,500 Pakistani soldiers in the semi-autonomous tribal
region of South Waziristan. This follows a 12-days battle between the army
and hundreds of militants in which more than 120 people were killed and 167
captured (less that half of them are foreign fighters mainly from central
Asia especially Uzbekistan.
- On April 4, 2004, gunmen raided a police station in Karachi killing five
policemen and wounding another. One of the gunmen was also killed. It is not
known which organisation was involved.
- The American ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, threatened to
send US troops into the northern provinces of Pakistan if Taliban and al-Qaida
fighters were not hunted. Pakistan reacted very strongly to this possible
American interference.
- On April 7, 2004, the governors of the Pakistan's northwest frontier provinces
have been told that they have two weeks to expel all the militants from their
region if not the army will do the job for them.
- On April 19, 2003, we were told that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's
nuclear bomb, visited Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan between 1998 and
2002 -in addition to Libya, North Korea and Iran-, promoting the sale of nuclear
and missile technologies to these countries in exchange for uranium.
- On April 25, 2004, Pakistan released 50 tribesmen arrested last month near
the Afghan border. They were accused of helping the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters
hiding there. They were given amnesty in exchange for promising not to help
the terrorists any longer.
- On May 7, 2004, a suicide bomber killed 15 people and wounded more than
125 in a Shia mosque in Karachi.
- On May 31, 2004, more than 12 people were killed and at least 30 wounded
in Karachi when a bomb exploded in a Shiite Mosque during the evening prayers.
- Pakistan police arrested 10 al-Qaida members in Karachion June 13, 2004.
Eight of them are accused of being involved in last week assassination attempt
on a senior Pakistani, Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem Hyatt in which ten
people died. The men arrested are Checkens, Uzbeks and from central Asia;
they admitted participating in the attack and to be al-Qaida members.
- On June 18, 2004, Pakistani soldiers killed the tribal chief Nek Mohamed,
one of al-Qaida's protectors in the Waziristan province.
- On July 30, 2004, the Pakistani Prime Minister designate, Shaukat Aziz,
escaped a suicide bomb attack in the Punjab. An Islamist group thought to
be linked to al-Qaida, the Ialambouli Brigade, claimed responsibility for
the attempt.
- On August 5, 2004, the Pakistani boasted that they have arrested 450 al-Qaida
or Taliban suspects until now, including a few senior leaders. President Musharraf
will do his best to capture Osama bin Laden before the American presidential
elections of November 2 because this means money -lots of it- for his country.
Some people find it strange that the Pakistani always produces suspects when
it is useful for them to do so
- On August 6, 2004, the USA is close to reach an agreement with Pakistan
to extradite the two senior al-Qaida men, Ahmed Khalfan Ghaikani and Muhammad
Naeen Noor Khan, arrested a few days ago. Their detention and the information
contained in their computers created a terror alert in the US and put Britain
on guard.
- On August 15, 2004, Pakistani troops seized a large quantity of arms and
ammunition smuggled from Afghanistan, and arrested 13 people. The cache included
10 machineguns, two rocket launchers, two hand grenades, a radio, a telescope
and about 1,500 rounds.
- On August 24, 2004, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to collaborate in the
fight against terrorism, expanding trade ties, and establishing peace in the
region.
- On August 24, 2004, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that all Pakistanis
captured fighting for the Taliban in 2001 would be sent home once the government
is sure they do not pose a risk to Afghanistan. Four hundred Pakistani prisoners
would be returned in exchange for 250 Afghans being held for minor offences
in Pakistani jails.
- On August 26, 2004, Pakistan challenged America's Western allies to match
the 75,000 troops Islamabad has deployed to prevent cross-border terrorist
attacks along the Afghan border. Speaking in the UN Security Council, Pakistan's
United Nation Ambassador Munir Akram rejected suggestions that Pakistan was
not doing enough. "Compared to Pakistan's 75,000 troops, the Nato countries
only have 6,500 troops." Mr Akram added that the Nato was sending only
1,500 troops to strengthen the international security force in Afghanistan
ahead of October's presidential elections. The Afghan national army numbers
about 13,500. But even their combined strength is less than that of Pakistani
troops deployed in the tribal area.
- At least 50 people were killed and many more wounded when Pakistani fighter
jets bombed a militant training camp Thursday September 9, 2004. The attack
occurred in the South Waziristan tribal region. There might be civilians among
those killed. The Pakistani military confirmed the. The Pakistan Army launched
a major crackdown in South Waziristan in March in a bid to flush out foreign
militants hiding there.
- Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday September 24, 2004,
that the US-led invasion of Iraq had made the world a more dangerous place,
and complicated the war on terror. Musharraf said that even if the US succeeded
in Iraq, the region's problems would not be resolved until the Israeli-Palestinian
issue was dealt with.
- On September 25, 2004, Pakistan lifted economic sanctions in its tribal
region bordering Afghanistan imposed to punish the local population for hiding
al Qaida militants. Thousands of shops of the major Ahmedzai tribe were shut
down in Wana, the headquarters of the tribal agency, when the sanctions were
imposed in May in the South Waziristan area. The Pakistan army subsequently
deployed hundreds of its troops and carried major military operations in the
region to flush out the militants. This was the first time in the history
of the province that Pakistani forces moved in to take control of the province,
which is run by tribal councils. There were growing criticisms by Human Rights
groups of the strong-arm tactics used against the tribal population by the
Pakistan forces.
- On November 17, 2004, Pakistan police killed an Islamic militant, Asim Ghafoor,
wanted in the killing of the US journalist Daniel Pearle.
- On November 27, 2004, Pakistan said that it was doing its best to stop all
leaks of nuclear technologies. This follows the publication of a CIA report
that suggest that Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the leading Pakistanis scientist,
provided Iran with more information that previously known. Pakistan denied
the charges.
- At least 18 people have been killed in an apparent suicide bombing at a
Muslim shrine in Pakistan on May 25, 2005. Hundreds of Shia had gathered at
the Bari Imam shrine on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad, to celebrate
the end of a religious festival. More than 50 people were hurt in the blast.
Correspondents said the scene was one of utter carnage, with bodies and body
parts strewn around the area.
- On May 27, 2005, at least 20 people were killed and 65 wounded following
a bomb explosion in a Mosque at Islamabad. It seems that it was a suicide
attack.
- At the end of May 2005, Pakistan is the theatre of religious violence. After
Islamabad now it is the turn of Karachi where 11 people were killed by bombs
exploded in a Mosque for religious intolerance. In both cases the Shiite are
the victims. In Pakistan 84% of the people are Sunnite and 15% Shiite. In
Karachi the Shiite reacted burning a restaurant, seven people died. They also
attacked a hospital and some petrol stations.
- On June 6, 2005, Pakistan confirmed it has transferred Abu Faraj al-Libbi,
number three in the al-Qaida hierarchy, to the American authority. Al-Libbi,
of Libyan origin, was arrested at the beginning of May. Most of the 700 foreign
militants accused of being linked to al-Qaida arrested in Pakistan have been
transferred to the American authorities.
- On June 14, 2005, the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, repeated that
Osama bin Laden is still alive, and was hiding in the mountains near the Afghan/Pakistani
border. Until now 250 Pakistani soldiers have been killed hunting him. The
soldiers destroyed centres of communication and many logistic bases, but they
did not capture or kill bin Laden.
- On June 28, 2005, the Pakistanis, who were caught in Afghanistan in late
2001 while fighting with the Taliban against US forces, have been released
from jail in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. A further 40 prisoners
will be released later this week. Thousands of Pakistanis joined the Taliban
after the US launched military strikes against the Afghan regime. Earlier
this week, Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, ordered the release of
17 former prisoners at Guantanamo Bay from the jail in Lahore, who alleged
they had witnessed the desecration of the Koran at the US detention centre
in Cuba.
- On July 20, 2005, police in Pakistan detained about 200 suspected Islamist
extremists in a series of raids on religious schools, mosques and other properties.
The suspects are being questioned about any links they might have with militant
groups or with the London bombers. Three of the four bombers are known to
have visited Pakistan recently.
- The Pakistani army said on September 14, 2005, it has destroyed a major
al-Qaida hideout in its biggest ever operation in the tribal region bordering
Afghanistan. It has arrested more than 20 suspected militants in North Waziristan
and seized a Chinese-made spy plane used to track army movements. Some of
the men arrested were described as "important figures" and some
are foreigners.
- On December 3, 2005, it was confirmed that the No5 al-Qaida leader, Hamza
Rabia, had been killed in Pakistan near the Afghan border. He died in an explosion
in the North Waziristan tribal area. It is not clear if he died while making
bomb in a home or if he was killed by a bomb launched from a plane. Four other
people were also killed.
- On January 14, 2006, Pakistan leaders and thousand of street demonstrators
protested against the killing of at least 18 civilians by US planes (drones
or others) in the village of Damadola at the border with Pakistan. The US
is said to have targeted Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's deputy, but he was
not there apparently. The US did not yet admit responsibility and they describe
the attack as "alleged US strike."
- On January 15, 2006, US Senator John McCain defended the CIA for bombing
a site in Pakistan where Ayman al-Zawahri was supposed to be. He apologised
for the killing of 18 civilians but he said the US would do it again in the
same circumstances. Thousand of Pakistanis took to the road in protest chanting
"Death to America."
- On January 22, 2006, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned the
American airstrike that killed at least 13 civilians in a village near the
Afghan border. He said that Pakistan told the USA that such attacks must be
approved a priory by his country.
- A suicide bomb tore through a Shiite religious procession in Pakistan Thursday
February 9, 2006, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more.
The attack came on Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Shiite calendar.
Shiites turn out on this day in the thousands to mark the death of Hussein,
the grandson of the Prophet Muhammed. Conservative leader David Cameron is
calling on February 6, 2006, for curbs on prime ministers' power to declare
war or agree treaties without the approval of MPs. He wants more key decisions
to be down to MPs, rather than the prime minister. Last year Gordon Brown
called for a debate on whether MPs should have the final say on sending troops
to war.
- A demonstrator, Omar Khayam, who imitated a suicide bomber in a Muslim protest
over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad has been recalled to prison
on February 7, 2006. He is a convicted drug dealer who was jailed in 2002
and released on licence last year after serving half his sentence. He was
arrested and recalled to prison for breaching the terms of his licence. Khayam
apologised for his "insensitive" protest on Monday but said the
cartoons had offended him.
- At least three people, including a US diplomat, have been killed in a bomb
attack near the US consulate in Karachi on March 2, 2006. Many more were hurt
in the blast, which tore through a car park near the consulate in a high-security
zone. The blast comes two days before US President George Bush visits Pakistan.
He says his trip will go ahead.
- On March 4, 2006, US President George W Bush has praised Pakistan role in
the war on terror, but said more needed to be done to defeat al-Qaida. Speaking
during a 24-hour visit, Mr Bush reaffirmed a "broad and lasting strategic
partnership" with Pakistan. He also said he believed the future of Pakistan
lay in democracy. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he looked forward
to a new era of co-operation between his country and the US. There was, however,
no sign that the US was ready to provide the same nuclear assistance to Pakistan
as Mr Bush agreed to do with India, just two days previously.
- Pakistani troops battled pro-Taliban militants near the Afghan border for
a second day on Sunday March 5, 2006, in clashes, which have killed more than
50 people. About 46 militants and five soldiers died, although some reports
put the death toll at over 70. Clashes are over and the security forces are
back in control of the town of Mir Ali.
-Eight Pakistanis released from US detention facilities in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returned home Monday October 16, 2006. Two of the men had been held in Guantanamo Bay and the six others were at Bagram, the main US military base north of Kabul. The eight were arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of being terrorists following the September 11, 2001, attacks. They were taken to a jail in Rawalpindi, the garrison city near the capital, Islamabad, where authorities were to debrief them before allowing them to return to their homes. Fourteen Pakistanis remain in Bagram and five are being held at Guantanamo.
- At least 80 militants have been killed on October 29, 2006, in an air strike by Pakistani forces on a "Madrassa "(religious school) used as a militant training camp. The army said the madrassa in the tribal area of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan was destroyed by helicopter gunships. One eyewitness told the BBC that 70-80 students were inside. A leading local politician says the dead were innocent.
- On October 31, 2006, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are spending an unscheduled second day in Islamabad as part of their visit to Pakistan. They cancelled a planned visit to Peshawar in the northwest, because of fears for their safety. Demonstrations are expected there after Pakistani forces destroyed an Islamic school near the Afghan border, killing up to 80 suspected militants. They instead visited a women's college in the northern city of Rawalpindi. Clarence House said the move followed advice from the Pakistani government.
- On February 17, 2007, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a courtroom in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 15 people and injuring 25 others. The suicide attacker detonated the powerful bomb while the court was in session. A senior civil judge and several lawyers are among those killed in the bombing. An investigation is underway to determine the motives.
- Fifty-two people have been killed in fresh fighting between foreign militants and local tribesmen in Pakistan we were told on April 1, 2007. Forty-five of the dead are foreign militants, thought to be of Uzbek origin. The clashes began when tribesmen from the partially autonomous South Waziristan region began trying to eject the foreign fighters.
- Heavy fighting between Pakistani tribesmen and foreign militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida has killed 60 people near the Afghan border we were told on April 4, 2007. Local tribes turned viciously against foreigners living in the lawless South Waziristan region. The government says the violence shows Pakistan is winning its fight against international terrorism. About 50 of those killed in the past 24 hours in the South Waziristan region were Uzbeks. About 10 local tribesmen and one Pakistani soldier also died. The overall toll reported by various government and security officials is more than 250, the vast majority of them Uzbeks, Chechens and Tajiks and their local allies.
- Some 40 people have been killed and more than 70 injured in fierce sectarian
clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in northern Pakistan on Saturday
April 7, 2007. More than 70 people were also injured in the fighting. The
trouble began on Friday when unidentified people opened fire on Shiites near
their mosque in Parachinar.
- President Pervez Musharraf said on April 13, 2007, that Pakistani tribesmen
have killed around 300 foreign Al-Qaida militants near the Afghan border and
admitted that the army had helped the tribal fighters. The comments by Musharraf
come after months of pressure from the US and other nations with troops in
neighbouring Afghanistan to crack down on militants in the tribally ruled
border areas. Musharraf said there were indications that tribesmen in other
parts of the region were ready to take up arms against the foreign insurgents,
many of whom fled Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
- After a recent clash between Pakistani and Afghan troops on the border, diplomatic efforts have increased on April 21, 2007, to cool tensions between the two sides. The leaders of the two neighbouring Muslim nations have repeatedly exchanged hot words over the handling of the Taliban insurgency during recent months. Afghan President Hamid Karzai blames Pakistan for failing to prevent Taliban-led militants from attacking Afghanistan from their bases in Pakistan's tribal areas, where militancy has been on the rise over the last three years. This time the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has come forward to mediate between President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will be visiting Ankara in Turkey on April 29-3O for talks with his Afghan counterpart.
- The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, frequently at odds over how to cope with a resurgent Taliban, agreed Monday April 30, 2007, to fight terrorism and deny sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists in both countries. Brought together by Turkish leaders, the pair issued a joint statement stressing a mutual commitment to fighting terrorism after meeting at Turkey's presidential palace.
- Rival Pakistani political groups exchanged gunfire in the streets of Karachi on May 11, 2007, leaving at least 15 dead and more than 50 injured. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, suspended from his job by President Pervez Musharraf, had flown in to address a rally. But the violence meant he was unable to leave the airport.
- A suicide bomber who killed 25 people -and also wounded 32 people- in an attack on a crowded hotel left a grisly warning taped to his leg: "Those who spy for Americans will meet the same fate." The message in Pashto language appeared to be written with a black marker we were told on Wednesday.
- The UK's envoy to Pakistan has expressed "deep concern" on June 19, 2007, over comments by a Pakistani minister about Sir Salman Rushdie's knighthood. Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejaz ul-Haq's comments were widely seen as justifying suicide attacks because Sir Salman had insulted Islam. But High Commissioner Robert Brinkley said it was untrue that the knighthood was intended to insult Islam.
- A missile attack killed more than 20 people Tuesday June 19, 2007, in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region close to the Afghan border. The attack, on what they called a training camp for foreign militants, came from across the Afghanistan border, where US and NATO forces operate against the Taliban and al Qaida. A spokesman for the Pakistani military, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, denied that US or NATO forces operating in Afghanistan were involved
- Pakistan has lodged a protest with NATO over the killing of 10 tribe people by a rocket that landed in Pakistani territory from neighbouring Afghanistan on Saturday June 23, 2007. The killing of the civilians in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region over the weekend underscores the need for improved coordination in the fight against militants in the rugged area.
- The deputy leader of radical Islamic students besieged at the Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital Islamabad said on July 5, 2007, he would rather die than surrender. Abdul Rashid Ghazi's defiant statement came on the fourth day of a stand-off that has seen 19 people killed. President Pervez Musharraf has held back from a full assault but there are now reports of increased firing. He is anxious to avoid casualties among women and girls inside the complex.
- On July 7, 2007, Pakistan's president issued an ultimatum to radical Islamists barricaded inside an Islamabad mosque. He told mosque leaders to free women and children and surrender "or they will be killed". He spoke after troops outside the mosque stopped a delegation of Islamist politicians from entering to negotiate with those inside. Hundreds of people are still inside the complex, which is surrounded by troops and armoured vehicles.
- A Pakistani colonel was killed on Sunday July 8, 2007, in clashes with Islamist students barricaded inside a mosque in the capital, Islamabad. The commando officer had been overseeing an operation to blast holes in the walls of the Red Mosque when he was shot by students. Troops were carrying out the attack in an attempt to allow women and children trapped inside the mosque to escape. About 20 people have now been killed since the stand-off began last Tuesday.
- On July 10, 2007, Pakistani troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad after talks with hard-line Islamists inside failed. The army says up to 50 militants and eight soldiers were killed, and about 50 women and children rescued. Students at the mosque and its attached religious schools have waged a campaign for months pressing for Sharia law.
- At least 10 Pakistani soldiers have been killed by militants in the country's north-west, the second deadly attack in as many days. The attacks follow a week-long army siege of radicals in the Red Mosque in Islamabad that left 102 people dead and sparked fears of militant reprisals. Sunday July 15, 2007''s attack on a convoy in the Swat area of North West Frontier Province involved bomb blasts and gunfire. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed 24 soldiers in nearby North Waziristan.
- Suicide bombers struck July 15, 2007, in two areas of north-western Pakistan, killing up to 38 people, while Taliban militants broke a 10-month-old peace deal with the government along the Afghan frontier. The militants said the ceasefire agreement was being terminated in North Waziristan, where the Taliban and al-Qaida operate, because government forces had attacked the militants, failed to pay compensation to those harmed and created problems at checkpoints.
- A violent backlash against the storming of the notorious Lal Masjid mosque is consuming parts of Pakistan on Monday July 16, 2007, with around 65 people - many of them soldiers - being killed in a series of suicide bomb attacks in the northwest of the country. At the same time, Taliban militants have ended a 10-month ceasefire agreement with the Government along the Afghanistan frontier. An estimated 38 people were killed yesterday in at least two separate attacks, though there was confusion about the details. At least 80 people were wounded. In addition, 24 troops were killed in another incident on Sunday.
- Clashes between suspected militants and security forces Monday July 23, 2007, near Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan left at least 20 insurgents and two soldiers dead. The rebel fighters were killed after they attacked two checkpoints manned by security forces near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, a stronghold of pro-Taliban militants along the border. Two soldiers died in the shootouts and seven were wounded.
- On Thursday August 9, 2007, Pakistan stepped back from imposing emergency rule, after mounting speculation that President Pervez Musharraf was considering the move. There was pressure on Gen Musharraf to declare an emergency but that he had decided not to because he was "committed to democracy". On Wednesday Gen Musharraf abruptly called off a key visit to Afghanistan.
- Celebrations are taking place across Pakistan on August 14, 2007, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of independence from the UK and the creation of the country. President Musharraf defended Pakistan's sovereignty and called on the nation to unite against terrorism. India marks independence one day later. The violent partition of 1947 saw 10 million people cross borders in one of history's largest mass migrations.
- On July 14, 2007, Pakistani military vehicles were struck by a car bomb
that killed 24 troops and injured approximately 30 additional troops. Ten
more were killed in clashes on July 15 along the border region of Swat after
a number of military vehicles were hit by an IED or a suicide bomb attack.
Radical groups said that they were avenging the government's storming of the
Red Mosque and the deaths of the two brothers who ran it.
- On July 16, 2007, the peace deal that the Pakistani government brokered with North Waziristan 10 months ago is showing its fragility. Taliban fighters have renounced the deal and declared war on the Pakistani army. Fighting broke out on Wednesday, July 19, following an attack by insurgents that killed 17 Pakistani troops.
- On July 20, 2007 we were told that al-Qaida's presence is not limited to the tribal areas of Pakistan. According to the Bush's administration Pakistan is focusing too much on the tribal areas and forgets places like Quetta and Karachi where al-Qaida recruit, move resources and men, and provide training.
- A month of fierce fighting near the Afghan border has killed about 250 militants and 60 Pakistani troops, the army said Friday August 24, 2007, hours after the deaths of six soldiers in a suicide attack and roadside bombing. Violence has surged in the region since July, when militants scrapped a September 2006 peace deal after accusing the government of violating the agreement by deploying more troops and targeting their hideouPakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will give up his post of army chief if he is re-elected for another term of office, his chief lawyer said on September 18, 2007. He is seeking re-election by parliament before its term expires in mid-October.
- Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Pakistanis to wage a holy war against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Thursday September 20, 2007, saying the military siege of a militant mosque stronghold in Pakistan earlier this summer makes Musharraf an infidel.
- A woman detonated explosives hidden under her burqa at a police checkpoint in Bannu Monday October 1, 2007, killing herself and 14 others in what appeared to be Pakistan's first female suicide attack. The suicide bomber was in a rickshaw when it was pulled over by police at a checkpoint in Bannu. Militants attacked a security post in the same northwestern region later Monday and 24 policemen were feared captured.
- Gen Pervez Musharraf has easily won a vote to be re-elected Pakistan's president, on October 6, 2007, even though it is unclear if his candidacy was legal. He won all but five of the votes cast in parliament's two houses and swept the ballots in the four provincial assemblies, election officials said. Opposition MPs abstained or boycotted the vote, calling it unconstitutional.
- Pakistani troops killed 150 militants and wounded 50 others in three days of fighting in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan we were told on October 9, 2007. At least 45 soldiers also died in the clashes near the town of Mir Ali and 15 others were missing. Air strikes were carried out later on militants' hideouts in the same area killing possibly another 50 people.
- Pakistan's army said Thursday October 11, 2007, 50 foreign militants including Arabs were among 200 rebels killed in fierce clashes near the Afghan border, indicating the involvement of Al-Qaida. Tribesmen revealed that "foreigners" were among the dead during a meeting in the troubled tribal zone of North Waziristan aimed at brokering a formal end to days of intense fighting.
- Benazir Bhutto began a triumphant open-top bus procession from Karachi airport to the city centre, after her dramatic return to Pakistan on October 18, 2007. Hundreds of thousands of people are packing the streets, hoping to glimpse the ex-prime minister, who has returned from eight years of self-imposed exile. She is set to hold power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf, which could see her becoming PM again.
- Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto has accused former army officials of
being behind twin bomb attacks on her convoy that killed more than 130 people
on October 18, 2007. Ms Bhutto condemned the "dastardly and cowardly"
attack in Karachi and said Pakistan faced a battle for democracy.
- On October 30, 2007, a suicide bomb attack killed at least seven people and injured 11 near Pakistan's army headquarters, in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The blast occurred some 2km away from a secure compound containing the army HQ and President Pervez Musharraf's office. General Musharraf was in his office at the time of the attack, but was unhurt.
- On Wednesday November 7, 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto issued an ultimatum to President Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule. She called for a "long march" next week unless Gen Musharraf changed course. She insisted that he restore the constitution, hold elections and resign as head of the army. Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday after months of unrest.
- Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections before 15 February, President Pervez Musharraf said on November 8, 2007. Gen Musharraf announced the decision hours after coming under pressure from US President George W Bush to hold elections in January, as scheduled. But ex-Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto said the announcement was "vague" and designed to buy Gen Musharraf time.
- Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been placed under house arrest and her home surrounded by security forces on November 9, 2007. The move came as she tried to leave her Islamabad residence to join a planned rally in nearby Rawalpindi. The United States said she must be "permitted freedom of movement." Ms Bhutto has vowed to wage a campaign aimed at forcing President Pervez Musharraf to stand down as army chief. Police in Rawalpindi clashed with members of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) who were trying to defy a ban on rallies imposed under emergency rule.
- On November 10, 2007, Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto resumed her campaign against emergency rule, following the lifting of a detention order against her. She joined a rally by journalists against a partial news blackout, and called for a fresh wave of protests. But the former PM was stopped from meeting the dismissed chief justice, who remains under virtual house arrest.
- The Pakistani government said on November 12, 2007, a planned march by opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from Lahore to the capital, Islamabad, is illegal and Ms Bhutto would not be allowed to break the law. The march, due to start on Tuesday, is part of her campaign against President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule. The United States has been pushing for Gen Musharraf to accept Ms Bhutto into a power-sharing deal to help shore up his war against Islamist extremists.
- Pakistan's detained opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on November 13, 2007, for President Pervez Musharraf to step down. Ms Bhutto made the call after police mounted a massive security operation to prevent a protest march in Lahore, where she is under house arrest.
- On November 23, 2007, Pakistan said the Commonwealth decision to suspend it from the body because of the imposition of emergency rule is "unreasonable and unjustified". The Commonwealth had failed to appreciate Pakistan's "serious internal crisis", the foreign ministry said.
- Twin suicide car bombings killed at least 30 people and injured many others in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi on Saturday November 24, 2007. One of the blasts hit a bus packed with members of the security forces. Another explosion at a checkpoint left officers badly hurt, and there are fears the death toll will rise. It came as former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif -ousted in 1999 by President Pervez Musharraf- said he would return to Pakistan from exile on Sunday.
- On November 26, 2007, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif filed nomination papers for the country's general elections, but insists he may boycott the poll. Mr Sharif says he will not stand for election unless President Pervez Musharraf lifts the state of emergency. Benazir Bhutto has now filed papers for three parliamentary seats. There are signs that Gen Musharraf will step down as head of the army and be sworn in for another term as president this week.
- On December 15, 2007, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf lifted a state of emergency and restored the country's constitution. Mr Musharraf imposed the emergency in November, arresting hundreds of people and replacing Supreme Court justices. A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed five people outside an army base in north-western Pakistan. Two soldiers and three civilians died, in addition to the bomber. The attack, which left six injured, happened at the gates of an army services centre in Nowshehra.
- At least 50 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a mosque near the city of Peshawar in north-western Pakistan on December 21, 2007 as about 1,000 people offered prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. Aftab Sherpao, interior minister in the outgoing government, was in the congregation but was unhurt. His son was among about 100 people injured.
- Tens of thousands of people have attended the funeral of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated the day before, Thursday December 27, 2007. Mourners converged on the family mausoleum where she was buried next to her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto near their home village in Sindh province. Pakistan's interior ministry has said it has clear evidence al-Qaida was behind the assassination. Of course!
- Benazir Bhutto's supporters said on December 29, 2007, the Pakistani government's account of how she died is "dangerous nonsense". A government spokesman said her head was slammed against her vehicle by the blast from a bomb- but colleagues said she died from bullet wounds.
- Pakistan's general election is "likely" to be postponed for several weeks in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, the ruling party said on December 30, 2007 as the vote would lose credibility if held as planned on 8 January. Ms Bhutto's PPP party has begun a meeting to decide on her successor. Unconfirmed reports from the meeting suggest the leadership may pass to her student son Bilawal, 19, and her widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
- A suicide bomber in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed at least 22 people and wounded 60, most of them police officers, on January 10, 2008. The bomber targeted a group of police gathered outside the High Court building ahead of an anti-government protest. He blew himself up after being approached by police.
- President Pervez Musharraf said on January 11, 2008, any unauthorised incursion by US forces into Pakistan to pursue al Qaida militants would be treated as an invasion, warning that the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan would "regret" such a misadventure.
- Pakistani security forces on Saturday January 19, 2008, arrested 40 Islamic militants in a tribal region near Afghanistan a day after fierce battles in Islamabad left more than 90 insurgents dead.
- A 15-year-old boy confessed to joining a team that killed Pakistan opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto. The boy was arrested in the town of Dera Ismail Khan
in Pakistan's North West Frontier province. He was arrested Thursday January
17, 2008along with another militant suspect. He said that a five-person squad
was dispatched to Rawalpindi -where Bhutto was killed- by Baitullah Mehsud,
a militant leader with strong ties to Al Qaida and an alliance with the Taliban
in nearby Afghanistan.
Two civilians were killed in the attacks Sunday January 20, 2008, in the South
Waziristan region, where fighting in recent days has killed about 100 people,
most of them militants.
- Islamic militants launched new attacks on border forts in Pakistan on January 21, 2008, leaving seven troops and 37 rebels dead even as President Pervez Musharraf dismissed fears of a takeover by Al-Qaida.
- On February 8, 2008, British detectives investigating the death of ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said she died from the effect of a bomb blast, not gunfire. Detectives from Scotland Yard were asked by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to examine the circumstances surrounding Bhutto's death in December. Scotland Yard's account matches that of the Pakistani authorities. But Bhutto's party has insisted she was shot by an assassin, and has accused the government of a cover-up.
- A suicide car bomber detonated a powerful blast which killed at least 46 people on February 16, 2008, at the offices of an election candidate supported by the party of the assassinated Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. The attack came on the last day of campaigning for Monday's national elections in which the slain politician's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is forecast to win as much as fifty percent of the vote. Nearly 100 were injured in the explosion in the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar bordering Afghanistan.
- Pakistani security forces were on their highest state of alert Sunday February 17, 2008, the day before critical parliamentary polls, after a suicide car bomber killed 46 people and wounded nearly 100 at an election rally.
- Ballot counting has begun in Pakistan on February 18, 2008, after a key election which it is hoped will help end the country's crisis.
- The main party backing President Pervez Musharraf has admitted defeat in
Pakistan's elections on February 19, 2008. The two main opposition parties,
the PPP of late PM Benazir Bhutto and the PML-N, led by another former PM,
Nawaz Sharif, have a clear majority. If they form a coalition with a two-thirds
majority in parliament they could impeach Mr Musharraf.