resident Musharraf has supposedly been fighting Islamic terrorism since he took control of Pakistan in a coup eight years ago. Benazir Bhutto repeatedly justified her role in a future Pakistan by claiming to be a champion of democracy; Nawaz Sharif is also citing to his highly dubious democratic credentials at every opportunity on the campaign [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Peshawar’
70 dead as rival militants clash
August 12th, 2009 |
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PESHAWAR – Dozens of gun-totting militants were killed and more than 40 houses destroyed as a result of clashes between Taliban of Baitullah Mehsud group and those loyal to the pro-government tribal leader Malik Turkistan Betani.
As per details, the clashes started when scores of Taliban militants from Baitullah Mehsud attacked the supporters of Malik Turikistan Betani in village Shoza in Soor Ghar area in Frontier regions connecting South Waziristan Agency and Tank district of NWFP late on Wednesday night.
The Taliban militants used modern and sophisticated weapons against the Betani tribesmen and their supporters. As per unconfirmed reports, around 70 persons from both the sides were killed. Around 40 houses owned by supporters of Malik Turikistan Betani were also destroyed. The killed and the injured included women and children.
Malik Turikistan Betani when contacted confirmed the clashes, saying Baitullah Mehsud group militants had attacked the houses of his relatives in Soor Ghar area. He claimed that the attack was so far repulsed but a large number of people from both the sides were killed. He, however, was unable to give exact figures in this respect.
The local people informed that security situation in the area was tightened whereas gunship helicopters were also used to bring the situation under control.
Malik Turikistani Betani has shown disappointment over the role of security forces. He said that amidst presence of two brigades of the armed forces, frequent attacks against him and his supporters is surprising. It was the second attack against Malik Turikistan Betani in a period of one week by militants from Baitullah Mehsud.
Peshawar hit by ‘rocket attacks’
August 11th, 2009 |
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At least one person has been killed and 10 others wounded after a pre-dawn rocket attack in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say.
A senior police official said around a dozen rockets had landed in the city early on Tuesday.
Panicking residents ran out of their homes, and the office of a paramilitary force was hit, the police said.
Peshawar is the main city near the Swat valley, where an offensive was recently waged against the Taliban.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, which are rare in Pakistan’s cities.
"It is an act of terrorism, but we don’t know who the attackers are," local police official Nisar Khan told the Associated Press news agency.
He said a headquarters of the paramilitary Frontier Corps was damaged in the attack, but no-one was injured.
The capital of North West Frontier Province, Peshawar has become the front line city in Pakistan’s campaign against militants.
Bombings and suicide attacks coupled with kidnap for ransom have become commonplace.
In June, the city’s luxury Pearl Continental hotel was hit by a suicide bombing which left at least 18 people dead including two UN staff.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Valley of death
August 3rd, 2009 |
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By Orla Guerin
BBC News, Swat
They left in fear, and many are going back the same way.
The Pakistan government says it is safe for families to return to the Swat valley, and it’s paying them 25,000 rupees to do so (£180; $300).
But plenty of those making the journey to the picturesque and formerly peaceful region are not so sure.
Nineteen-year-old Adnan is one of them.
He says it was hell when he fled two months ago, and it could be again.
"Everyone’s scared to go back because they’re afraid the fighting might start again," he said.
"After we welcomed [the Taliban to Swat] and showed them love, they committed atrocities"
Nadir
But after two months living in a disused sugar mill, he and his relatives were ready to take the risk.
And so were hundreds more families who had been trapped in the same makeshift camp, near the city of Peshawar.
We found them queuing to load their belongings onto buses bound for Swat.
Camp squalor
Among the crowds was Adnan’s father Mohammed – a small, bearded man in traditional dress, clutching a tiny bundle to his chest.
It was his baby daughter, Gulalai, who was born 40 days ago in the camp.
He was determined to get her away from the squalor of the camp to the fresh mountain air of Swat.
"Now that we’re here, we are scared"
Mohammed
Returning resident
When space ran out on the buses, the family found a truck.
They were waved off by a camp volunteer called Nadir, also from Swat.
He left a labouring job in Dubai to come home and help those forced to flee.
When asked who was to blame for the chaos and carnage which engulfed Swat, his response was swift.
"We blame ourselves because the people of Swat gave the Taliban permission to come in," he said.
"After we welcomed them, and showed them love, they committed atrocities."
Others here point the finger at the government, which signed acontroversial peace deal with the militants in February.
The agreement backfired, allowed the Taliban to tighten their grip on Swat and expand into the neighbouring district of Buner.
The authorities are trying to prevent Taliban fighters slipping back into Swat, with the displaced.
There are checkpoints on the narrow roads that snake into the valley, and thereturning families are registered by troops.
It took several hours, under a blazing sun, for Mohammed and his family to reach Mingora, the largest town in Swat – a tourist resort turned battleground.
But the damage in the town is limited. Troops were under instruction to minimise collateral damage.
At a local hotel, fish tanks in the lobby were smashed, and there were bullet holes dotting the walls.
But the receptionist beamed at the sight of visitors. "You are most welcome," he said. "Sorry things are a bit uneven."
Around Mingora the shutters are going up. Schools and businesses are re-opening.
But the town remains tense and the army is still on high alert. It is still facing pockets of resistance in the region.
The militants avoid direct confrontation, according to Major Nasir Khan, military spokesman in Mingora.
"It’s a guerrilla war. The terrain is very hostile," he said, glancing up at the hills looming over the town.
"But we will take the fight to its logical conclusion."
Many doubt that the militants can be eradicated. Back in his modest home, Mohammed looked a worried man.
He sat on a rough-hewn bed, cradling Gulalai in his arms.
"Now that we’re here, we are scared," he said.
"We don’t know if the Taliban have left, or if they are still on the hilltops, and could come back. "
While the beheadings and the brutality have stopped, at least for now, Swat was terrorised and many bear the scars.
Trainee Taliban
We met five teenage boys who provided harrowing accounts of their time in Taliban training camps.
The boys are now co-operating with the army. It says children as young as nine were taken for training as informers, fighters or suicide bombers.
The boys told us they were among hundreds of children at two separate training camps, established in schools.
"When we tried to escape they surrounded us," said a boy of 16.
"They told us that if they caught us, they would shoot us, or cut our throats.
"They told us that if your parents don’t allow you to go for jihad, then you should kill them. But how could we kill our own parents"
He said that he and some of the others were taken to the camp by force.
"We were working in the fields," he said.
"These people came and said: ‘Let’s go’. I said I didn’t want to go. Then they took us. They blindfolded us and loaded us on to a vehicle."
Prayer and brainwashing
A younger boy, aged just 13, told us about the daily routine of prayer, physical exercise and brainwashing.
"We were asked to fight the army, because they are against Islam and they are the enemies of God. That’s what they told us," he said.
Before the Taliban came, the boys were bound together by a shared passion for cricket. All five were on the same team. Now they are united by worries about the future.
They’re afraid they could be tracked down and punished by the Taliban. They could also be targeted by some in the local community.
The army is promising rehabilitation for the boys, who are now back with their families.
Their relatives asked us to deliver a message to the outside world – about the urgent need for aid and investment in the Swat valley.
Otherwise, they warned, the Taliban would find plenty of willing young recruits.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
76 judges cease to hold office
August 2nd, 2009 |
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ISLAMABAD – In pursuance of the judgment of the full bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, dated July 31, 2009, the President of Pakistan is pleased to approve that the following 76 judges of Supreme Court and High Courts shall cease to hold their offices with immediate effect:
Supreme Court
Mr Justice Muhammad Qaim Jan, Mr Justice Ijazul Hassan, Mr Justice Muhammad Moosa K Leghari, Mr Justice Ch Ejaz Yousuf, Mr Justice Mian Hamid Farooq, Mr Justice Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, Mr Justice Muhammad Farrukh Mahmud, Mr Justice Shaikh Hakim Ali, Mr Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam.
Lahore High Court
Mr Justice Justice Zubda-tul-Hussain, Mr Justice Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Mr Justice Khawaja Farooq Saeed, Mr Justice Muhammad Akram Qureshi, Mr Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhindar, Mr Justice Mazhar Hussain Minhas, Mr Justice Saifur Rehman, Mr Justice S Ali Hassan Rizvi, Mr Justice Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti, Mr Justice Rana Zahid Mahmood, Mr Justice Kazim Ali Malik, Mr Justice Hafiz Tariq Nasim, Mr Justice Khalil Ahmad, Mr Justice MA Zafar, Mr Justice Malik Saeed Ejaz, Mr Justice Syed Shaheen Masood Rizvi, Mr Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi, Mr Justice Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, Mr Justice Pervez Ali Chawla, Mr Justice Habibullah Shakir, Mr Justice Nazir Ahmad Ghazi, Mr Justice Abdul Sattar Goraya, Mr Justice Syed Ihtesham Qadir Shah, Mr Justice Jamila Jahanoor Aslam, Mr Justice Mahmood Akhtar Khan, Mr Justice Jamshed Rahmatullah, Mr Justice Pervez Inayat Malik, Mr Justice Arshad Mahmood, Mr Justice Irfan Qadir, Mr Justice Syed Zulfikar Ali Bukhari, Mr Justice Ch Naeem Masood, Mr Justice Mr Justice Anwarul Haq Pannu, Mr Justice Muhammad Shafqat Khan Abbasi, Mr Justice Imtiaz Rasheed Siddqui.
Sindh High Court
Mr Justice Bin Yamin, Mr Justice Khalid Ali Z Qazi, Mr Justice Salman Ansari, Mr Justice Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada, Mr Justice Abdul Rasheed Klwar, Mr Justice Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani, Mr Justice Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi, Ms Justice Soofia Latif, Mr Justice Maqbool Ahmed Awan, Mr Justice Safdar Ali Bhutto, Mr Justice Moharram G Baloch, Mr Justice Malik Muhammad Aqil, Mr Justice Syed Shafqat Ali Shah Masoomi, Mr Justice Muhammad Iqbal Mahar, Mr Justice Khadim Hussain M Shaikh, Mr Justice M Ismail Bhutto, Mr Justice Arshad Siraj Memon, Mr Justice Amer Raza Naqvi, Mr Justice M Karim Khan Agha, Mr Justice Salman Talibuddin.
Peshawar High Court
Mr Justice Shaji Rehman Khan, Mr Justice Ghulam Mohayuddin Malik, Mr Justice Ziauddin Khattak, Mr Justice Syed Mussaddiq Hussain Gilani, Mr Justice Syed Yahya Zahid Gilani, Mr Justice M Alam Khan.
Islamabad High Court
Mr Justice M Munir Paracha, Mr Justice Syed Qalb-i-Hassan, Mr Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan, Mr Justice M Arshad Tabrez, Mr Justice Amjad Iqbal Qureshi, Mr Justice M Ramzan Chaudhry, Mr Justice Syed Intikhab Hussain Shah.
The President of Pakistan has been further pleased to approve the repatriation of following judges:
Mr Justice Sakhi Hussain Bukhari and Mr Justice Zia Pervez have been repatriated from Supreme Court of Pakistan while Mr Justice Bilwal Khan has been repatriated from Islamabad High Court.
This was stated in a Press release issued by PID late on Sunday night.
Culture wars
July 27th, 2009 |
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By David Loyn
BBC News, Islamabad
It would cost a million dollars to stage the Lahore International Arts Festival – not much to restore a sense of hope in a city that sometimes feels under siege.
The last festival was bombed in November last year, so even without the global economic downturn, the big sponsors would have shied away from connection with the event this year.
The Taliban have staged their most spectacular attacks in Pakistan recently on five-star hotels – the Pearl Continental in Peshawar and the Marriott in Islamabad – but it is the Punjab province capital, Lahore, that has faced the most constant attention.
Since the festival bombing, targets have included a cafe belonging to the Peerzada family who stage the festival, and theatres across the city in co-ordinated overnight raids.
Cultural frontline
Salman Shahid, who has a popular TV chat show, says that every time people go out for the evening, there is a danger that was not there a couple of years ago.
"Somewhere at the back of your mind there is a thought that you are taking a bit of a risk," he says.
To go backstage in one of the theatres that was bombed, I climbed a steep and narrow metal staircase, squeezing along stained walls in a side street in Lahore.
On stage, some of Pakistan’s biggest screen stars are playing parts amid the poor lighting and makeshift scenery. Their industry has failed to keep up with Bollywood in recent years.
The theatre’s owner Bilal Ahmed said: "The cinema of Pakistan has been facing a lot of crisis. There was a time when Pakistan and India were going neck to neck.
"We do not have the state of the art equipment our neighbour does. It is just hopeless in Pakistan."
Windows broken in the bomb attack have still not been repaired at the front of the theatre, but Mr Ahmed was not giving up. Like everyone I spoke to on this cultural frontline, he saw his theatre work as having a role beyond mere entertainment.
Bawdy shows
Being able to put on vulgar bawdy shows about Punjab family life was in some way standing up for a civilisation in peril from the Taliban.
"It is the best form of fighting terrorism to expose them, so that normal people will have no sympathy for them"
Younis Butt
Although his dancers were clothed from head to foot, their gyrations miming to Bollywood movies have to be passed by the censor, and the police do come and check.
It is as if the theatre is on a tightrope, and could fall off any time.
TV in contrast does not face censorship, and Pakistan has seen fierce competition in recent years. One of the most successful channels, Geo TV, like many institutions in the country, has taken a far harder line against the Taliban this year than before.
The tolerance for brave Islamic fighters was fine when they were fighting foreign wars in Afghanistan and in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
But now that Pakistan faces an internal Islamist threat, the real nature of the kind of life the fundamentalists want has brought a new unity against them.
Younis Butt has launched a comedy show specifically to respond to the Taliban threat, including a spoof Taliban TV channel, complete with a woman singer who sits in silence with her back to the camera, and time-checks made by bullets striking a bell.
Mr Butt says: "It is the best form of fighting terrorism to expose them, so that normal people will have no sympathy for them. That is only way we can isolate them, then we can fight them."
He says his lampooning of US policy has caused complaints from Americans, too.
Mainstream v mullahs
"Americans say if this truth is by Jon Stewart or by David Letterman then that is good, but if you are doing it in Pakistan then you are not doing good work," he says.
But he believes that if he is getting strong protests from both the US and the Taliban, then he is fulfilling his function as a safety valve for a society that needs to laugh.
The Peerzada family, still hoping against the odds to stage their international festival, stress Pakistan’s Sufi Islamic traditions as a counter to the Taliban.
Usman Peerzada said: "This is the moment people need the arts, need music to relax. This is the moment that people need to see drama."
Lahore is full of shrines remembering Sufi saints – a type of religion that the Taliban detest.
Faizan Peerzada has been on a long tour of Sufi areas, collecting stories, music and poetry.
‘Total war’
And he has promoted a Sufi singer, Sain Zahoor, now internationally famous.
Sain Zahoor sings ancient poetry that tells of past conflicts between the Sufi mainstream and mullahs who wanted a more restrictive vision of Islamic life – a reminder that the Taliban represent an old viewpoint, appearing in a modern guise.
All of these artists are striking back with the only weapons they have – drama, music and above all humour. And the public are responding.
The day after the arts festival was bombed last year, the open-air theatre was packed.
Lahori people walked through the debris, some bringing babies and small children, in defiance of the threat. Those who were there said the atmosphere was electric.
Sadaan Peerzada said: "It is a total war. They are trying to choke and discourage. They are bold. We have to do the same and keep doing it."
Pakistan feels like a country on a hinge of history. This year for the first time it has turned on the extremist version of Islam that it nurtured for so long.
But the decisive battles in its war with the Taliban might not turn out to be on the North West Frontier Province, but on this cultural frontier of hearts and minds, as a nation struggles with its identity in the world. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
‘Enemy of peace’ Maulana Sufi, 2 sons arrested
July 26th, 2009 |
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PESHAWAR – Chief of the banned Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a peace deal with the Taliban in Swat Valley, was arrested from a house in Sethi Town, Peshawar, on Sunday noon.
“Maulana Sufi has been arrested in the wake of threats to the ongoing peace process and a formal case against him will be registered soon,” NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said during a Press conference.
When asked that why the government arrested a person whom it had released earlier, Iftikhar said that the government had released Sufi with the hope to restore peace in Malakand. “ Now, in fact, Sufi’s activities were proving harmful to the govt’s efforts for restoring peace and writ of law in Malakand,” Iftikhar said.
Justifying the arrest of Maulana Sufi, Iftikhar said that after the launch of military action, Sufi had left his native Dir district and been residing in Peshawar and other places. During this period, there was no need to arrest Sufi as he remained silent and peaceful. But when he resumed his activities by contacting his aides and supporters and convened a meeting of TNSMÂ’s Shura, the government was left with no option other than arresting him, the minister claimed.
Iftikhar also said that Sufi had expressed his desire to go to Malakand. “All such acts on part of Maulana Sufi were harmful to peace and stability in the region affected with violence and terrorists’ activities,” Iftikhar said.
Though Iftikhar neither confirmed nor rejected the reports about the arrest of three others, his two sons and one unknown person, but the residents of Sethi Town have said that Sufi and three others were arrested during the raid.
Iftikhar also said that law-enforcement agencies would investigate Sufi and upon the completion of the investigation process a case would be registered against him. He also said that SufiÂ’s fate would be decided according to law of the land.
It may be recalled that Maulana Sufi had promised to disarm Taliban militants in an accord, signed between TSNM and the NWFP government on February 16, 2009 for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation. But after signing the agreement, Taliban militants, instead of honouring the commitment, had been extending their network towards adjacent areas of Buner and Lower Dir. In this regard, the minister also listed out details of Maulana SufiÂ’s post-agreement activities, speeches and remarks against the constitutional institutions like judiciary and the Parliament.
Staff Reporter from Islamabad adds: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has ordered the concerned authorities to constitute an investigation team to interrogate TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad.
APP/AFP add: The police raided City Town on GT Road and took Maulana Sufi Muhammad in their custody and shifted him to an unknown location, the NWFP Information Minister said in the Press conference.
Iftikhar said NWFP government had earlier released Maulana Sufi with hope to restore law and order situation in Swat but he instead worked against the countryÂ’s interests. He said that enemy of peace and the country would be tried in courts.
He said that the NWFP government had signed a peace deal with TNSM Chief but he did not reciprocate the governmentÂ’s goodwill gesture and instead worked to strengthen hands of anti-state elements.
“We released Sufi Muhammad for peace and was arrested again for the sake of peace,” he said. The NWFP government would take every decision in line of national interests and people, he added.
He said that peace is returning to Malakand Division and the government has achieved its objectives.
The aging Maulana Sufi had attracted public attention in 1994 when his TNSM movement got momentum and they blocked Malakand Tunnel demanding Adl regulations in Swat and Malakand Division.
“He killed a lot of people. Again he was planning for this. We will not allow anyone to destroy peace at Malakand and Swat,” Iftikhar said.
Iftikhar said Sufi was arrested for encouraging violence and terrorism. “Instead of keeping his promises by taking steps for the sake of peace, and speaking out against terrorism, he did not utter a single word against terrorists,” Iftikhar said, adding that the cleric’s stance ‘encouraged terrorism. It encouraged violence’.
Iftikhar accused Sufi of ‘again preparing to get more people killed’ and said: “We cannot let it happen. The price we have paid for the sake of peace, we cannot allow any person to disturb the peace.”
Iftikhar said Sufi would be investigated regarding his role as mediator between the government and the Taliban, and that a case would then be made based on that investigation.
Monitoring Desk adds: Sufi’s son Azmat Ullah, 12, told a foreign news agency that police arrived at his home in Sethi on the outskirts of Peshawar in four vans and took away his father and three brothers. “My father and brothers went with them without offering any resistance,” Ullah said.
One witness, local resident Mohammad Arif, said police fired a shot in the air to disperse a crowd that had gathered during the operation to arrest the cleric.
Sufi is also the father-in-law of the Taliban leader in the Swat Valley, Maulana Fazlullah.
NNI adds: Earlier in the day, in an interview with a private TV channel, Maulana Sufi said that he had migrated to Peshawar and living there just like the other displaced people.
He said he would not issue any statement without consulting with council (Shoora).
About the council meeting in Peshawar, he said no such meeting was held.
Sufi Muhammad, Pro-Taliban Cleric Who Brokered Swat Deal, Arrested By Pakistan
July 26th, 2009 |
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ISLAMABAD — Police arrested an influential pro-Taliban cleric on Sunday who had brokered a failed peace deal in northern Pakistan’s troubled Swat Valley, an indication the government will no longer negotiate with militants.
Authorities …
‘Godfather’ of Swat Taliban arrested
July 26th, 2009 |
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Radical cleric held in Pakistan after claims he reneged on pledge to oppose terrorism
Pakistani police have arrested Sufi Muhammad, a radical cleric considered to be the political godfather of Taliban groups in the Swat region of Pakistan.
Muhammad brokered last February’s ill-fated peace deal which allowed the Taliban to seize control of the Swat valley. The deal’s collapse triggered an army attack in May.
An elderly, black-turbaned figure with a stern demeanour, Muhammad kept a low profile after fighting erupted. But in recent days he angered provincial authorities by holding public meetings.
“Instead of keeping his promises by taking steps for the sake of peace, and speaking out against terrorism, he did not utter a single word against terrorists,” said Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for the North-West Frontier Province.
It was not clear what charges were being brought against Muhammad, who was taken into custody in Peshawar, in the north-west of Pakistan. Although his group, the outlawed Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi, claims to be peaceful, two senior officials were detained during fighting. They later died when the army convoy they were travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb.
In late 2001 Muhammad gained notoriety after he led hundreds of Pakistanis, many of them untrained farmers, to fight US forces in Afghanistan. Many were killed and Muhammad was jailed on his return.
Last year the provincial government released him to help broker peace with the Swat Taliban, whose leader, Maulana Fazlullah, is his son-in-law.
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Pakistan holds pro-Taliban cleric
July 26th, 2009 |
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A radical cleric who brokered a failed peace deal in Pakistan’s Swat valley has been arrested, officials say.
Sufi Mohammed was arrested in Peshawar, in the restive north-west of Pakistan, government officials said.
Regional information minister Iftikhar Hussein said he had been arrested on unspecified charges but had been warned against holding meetings in Peshawar.
The cleric negotiated a peace deal in February, widely seen as allowing the Taliban to take control of the valley.
Militants imposed Sharia law in the district after the agreement.
However the deal later fell apart when Taliban fighters moved into neighbouring districts.
The government’s military operation to remove insurgents from the region has displaced some two million people in Pakistan’s north-west.
Sufi Mohammad is the founder of a banned militant group, Tehrik Nizam Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM).
In June, two of his aides – who were under arrest – were killed when militants attacked a convoy transporting prisoners to Peshawar, officials said.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
33 Taliban fighters killed in South Waziristan, Malakand: Pak Army
July 23rd, 2009 |
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The Pakistan Army has killed at least 27 Taliban fighters in various districts of the Malakand division in the last 24 hours.
According to an ISPR statement, fighter jets pounded Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan killing six close aides of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud.
A military official was reportedly killed in North Waziristan when [...]
Fresh Pakistan protest over power
July 22nd, 2009 |
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There have been fresh protests in Pakistan for the second day running over frequent power outages.
On Tuesday, protests across the country turned violent, causing damage to public and private property. There are more protests planned for Thursday.
Pakistan suffers an electricity shortfall of over 1,000 megawatts (MW) a day, officials say.
The government has not succeeded in reducing the supply gap despite repeated promises.
It has appealed for calm, claiming that a power station with an extra 3,000MW will be on-stream within months.
Sporadic protests over power outages have been the norm since 2007, but this is the first time simultaneous protests broke out across the country.
Fresh protests were reported from parts of Punjab and the North West Frontier Province on Wednesday.
The protesters took to the streets, chanting slogans against the government and the power authority.
On Tuesday a strike called by businessmen in Punjab province, which houses nearly 60% of the country’s population, turned violent when spontaneous protests broke out all over the province as well as in parts of the provinces of Sindh and NWFP.
Traders and industrialists say frequent power outages are causing daily losses that runs into millions of dollars.
Industrialists complain their production schedules have gone haywire due to outages that occur unexpectedly and not according to a predetermined schedule.
The Pakistani economy grew at an average of eight percent during 2002-07, boosting demand for electricity at domestic, trading and industrial levels.
Rampage
But no new power generation projects were commissioned, creating a serious power shortage by 2007.
In urban areas, authorities are cutting power supply by four to eight hours a day in each area to ensure even power distribution.
In rural areas, such power outages range from 12 to 16 hours.
On Tuesday, protesters blocked highways and city roads, staged sit-ins and damaged public and private property.
In Jhang, a mob went on the rampage, burning three cars of a train and damaging the local offices of the power authority and the police.
Protests were also reported from Karachi and Peshawar, where protestors blocked roads and laid siege to offices of the power authority.
These protests came a day after the weekend rains in the southern city of Karachi, a city of over 16 million.
The rains caused a 36-hour power breakdown in Karachi, sparking riots.
The central government on Tuesday night put the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation on notice to explain the power breakdown. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Gunmen ambush Pakistan police
July 20th, 2009 |
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At least four policemen have been killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol van in north-west Pakistan , officials say.
The attack took place in Bara district on the outskirts of Peshawar city.
Police said about 10 attackers were hiding on both sides of the road and opened fire as the police van passed. Two officers died on the spot.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb detonated in the semi-tribal district of Bannu killed a security official there.
The attack targeted a vehicle of the Frontier Constabulary.
Seven other officers were wounded in the attack, news agency Associated Press quoted a local hospital official as saying.
No group has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, but Taliban militants active in north-west Pakistan regularly target security forces. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
UN worker shot dead in Pakistan
July 16th, 2009 |
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A UN refugee agency official has been shot dead during a failed kidnap attempt in north-west Pakistan.
The man, a Pakistani, died in hospital after the shooting at the Katcha Garhi camp near Peshawar, the UN said.
Police say a second UN official was also killed and another injured when four armed men tried to abduct them.
More than 200,000 people have been staying in camps near Peshawar since being displaced by recent fighting between troops and the Taliban. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.