Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
^ Team Bilawal? as in there is Team Zardari as well?
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
in begariton se koi poochnay wala hay ke nahin. Shayad nahin, kyon ke Pakistani PM sirf ek hijrha hay balke hijrho se bhi badtar.
Khurshid Shah terms Shikarpur blast ‘failure of intelligence agencies’ - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
SLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah on Monday claimed that the blast in Shikarpur was a failure of the intelligence agencies who he said had the prime responsibility to counter terrorist acts.
Initiating the debate to discuss the Shikarpur attack, the opposition leader also questioned the absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was present in Karachi on Friday to review the law and order situation in the province.
Read also At least 60 killed in blast at Shikarpur imambargah
“It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was present in Karachi but avoided visiting Shikarpur to meet the families of the victims who lost their loved ones in the blast,” Shah said.
He stated that it was the responsibility of the intelligence agencies to share information with police and law enforcement agencies to counter terrorist activities.
“During the ongoing circumstances, can we say that Pakistan is a nuclear state,” the opposition leader questioned.
He also said that almost all opposition parties have supported the PL-N government to strengthen democracy in the country, but the PM was not present in today’s session to explain the government’s position regarding the terrorist attack.
He suggested the PM should visit Shikarpur as soon as possible to meet the victim’s families who lost their relatives.
Shah also said that the government cannot counter terrorism without improving the intelligence network.
Meanwhile, PML-F MNA Ghous Bux Khan Mahar stated that the provincial and the federal governments had failed to counter the Shikarpur attack, which he said was a question mark on the intelligence agencies performance.
MQM MNA Saman Jafri said that the government had failed to implement the death penalty of Ata-ur-Rehman, the chief of Jandullah – the banned outfit which claimed responsibility for the blast.
The MQM lawmaker also said that the government has refused to acknowledge the presence of ISIS in Pakistan which she claimed distributes pamphlets in different areas of Karachi to kill people.
“The government should also take action against the apologists of militants who are present in our society,” Jafri added.
QWP MNA Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, PPP lawmaker Aftab Shaban Mirani and Molana Amir Zaman also demanded of the government to implement the recommendations of the National Action Plan to counter terrorism.
At least 60 people were killed and dozens of others injured on Friday after a blast inside an imambargah in Shikarpur.
The militant organisation Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack.
It was the second major attack on an imambargah in the country since the beginning of 2015; the first being an attack on Rawalpindi’s Imambargah Aun Mohammad Rizvi in the garrison city’s Chatian Hatian area.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Nisar holds provincial govt liable for Shikarpur incident | Pakistan | Dunya News
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Nisar told that Terrorist come from FATA and Afghanistan and the Shikarpur is on their route or near their route to Karachi .
Province is helpless in this respect
And no province has any ISI , IB or such agencies , They depend only on police .
Today
Security agencies close to unveiling Shikarpur blast mastermind: NisarDuring NA session, Nisar reveals details of investigation into the Shikarpur bombing and Peshawar school carnage.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
He said that all intelligence agencies including security forces and Rangers come under the jurisdiction of the chief minister.
All intelligence agencies including security forces and rangers come under jurisdiction of CM not under the power of CM Sindh. How Sindh Government is responsible?? Ch Nisar himself is responsible and should have resigned a long time ago for failure after failure.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Either Peshawar attack or Shikarpur blast, both provincial governments were helpless. ISI and IB should wide their circle and establish better mechanism or train police force, informant, and surveillance system.
Pointing finger on politicians and political loyalist is cheap shot.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
We need to keep in mind that PPP has been ruling this province off and on for more than four decades.
The tragedy of the Shikarpur blast – The Express Tribune
**Brutal as it was, the Shikarpur blast should have been a game-changer in Sindh. Sadly it wasn’t. What is more, the way the crisis was handled in the immediate aftermath is simply shameful. The victims did not have access to basic healthcare and life-saving facilities. They had to be transported to Sukkur or Larkana. Some reports suggest that they had to be carried on donkey carts or through similar primitive methods.
**
Activist Jibran Nasir and his civil society colleagues are protesting since then against the inept response of the provincial government. It is mainly due to the conscientious few like him that our attitude towards such incidents, the shameful denial we live in, is changing. He was arrested by the police while protesting in front of the CM House in Karachi a couple of days ago and after a short detention was released. It seems that the provincial government doesn’t care much about the bad press such unimaginative steps can generate. It is worth noting that the protestors are demanding nothing impossible. They are just demanding the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorists and arrest of hatemongers.
If you question lawmakers from the PPP, which is in power in Sindh, they most likely would accuse the federal government of not being helpful. They say that they were given no actionable intelligence. No federal minister rushed to the scene even though the prime minister was in Karachi. And then you realise also that there is not much clarity about the NAP’s implementation.
Trouble here is that even the prime minister’s visit immediately after the blast would have not been able to save lives. Perhaps, the VIP movement would have only exacerbated the post-explosion chaos and confusion. What we saw in this case is the absence of basic infrastructure to cater to emergencies. I was later to learn that there exists a structure that was meant to be a state-of-the-art hospital. However, there is no staff and no equipment to make it worth calling a hospital. And as if it was not enough, a PML-F member of parliament told me that as the representatives from Shikarpur are not from the ruling PPP, they are given no development funds.
**The incumbent chief minister has been in office for over six years. However, when you inquire about development during his tenure, his party starts behaving as if you have an agenda against the PPP government. Its well-wishers kept reminding it to focus on better governance and delivery when it was ruling the federation. The same defensive attitude led to its downfall at the centre. Now reduced to a single province, the party needs to learn the difference between medicine and poison. As a moderate party, the PPP still has a lot to offer. However, its inability to deliver and its habit of taking its mandate for granted keeps dragging it towards the precipice.
**
Syed Qaim Ali Shah may have been an excellent politician. I wouldn’t know. However, he is the sole surviving face of the party in office. His advanced years become an easy target of the relentless propaganda of the party-haters. It is natural to age. But it is equally reasonable to retire and make way for younger talent. Right now, Shahji has become a symbol of an aging party that is incrementally getting divorced from ground realities. What needs to be remembered is that no one is demanding removal of the provincial government. Just a new beginning which might prove beneficial for the party as well.
As for the development budget, it is an inadequate method to improve governance. The main responsibility of a lawmaker is to make laws. Development on this level is primarily the prerogative and duty of the local government. The provincial government is supposed to ensure that local government elections take place at the earliest.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case for over six years and that failure alone contributes immensely to the failing governance standards in three provinces. The PPP cannot afford any further loss of face and needs to act.
The federal government also needs to spend more time with the provinces on the issue of the implementation of the NAP. If the National Counter-Terrorism Authority was functioning the way the National Internal Security Policy had envisaged, no one could complain about absence of actionable intelligence.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
The rise of militancy in the province in recent decades remained under-reported by the media. The attack on Imambargah in Shikarpur has therefore come as a rude shock, along with a warning that extremist forces will now target liberal and secular forces.
The terrorist attack on an Imambargah in Lakhi Darr area of Shikarpur, which killed more than 60 people, has raised questions about the pluralism of Sindh where such incidents were thought to be out of question.
The members of Shia community took to the streets to protest and several cities across Sindh remained closed for three days to mourn the incident.
Shikarpur was not restored to normalcy completely till a week after the Imambargah blast. “The city is shattered. People are in a numb state; they are depressed, unable to believe that such an incident could happen in their city,” says Paryal Marri, coordinator Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Shikarpur district.
Shikarpur looks different from how it used to in the past. One can see flags of religious parties and banned organisations everywhere in the district. There’s graffiti on walls where banned organisations declare people of other sects as ‘infidels’ and give calls for jihad.
According to independent estimates, about fifty or so big madrassahs have been set up in the district in the last ten years alone.
The Lakhi Darr Imambargah incident is not the first of its kind. According to locals, extremist organisations are active in the district since early 1980s. “During former dictator Ziaul Haq’s time, extremist elements entered the district and are very strong by now,” says Paryal Marri.
Terrorist attacks are not new to the district. In 2010, scores of NATO oil tankers and trucks carrying vital supplies for US-led multinational forces in Afghanistan were blown up in Shikarpur district. Outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for those attacks.
Shikarpur is generally suffering from a worsening law and order situation. There is influx of people from the nearby Katchha area and small villages of neighbouring Jacobabad district of Sindh and also from Balochistan. And then tribal clashes are routine, due to the worsening economy, increasing poverty and decreasing natural resources. The migration of population that began in 2000 has led to rise in criminal activities including robberies at the nearby highway, murders, extortion, and even kidnappings for ransom.
Lately, the district has seen terrorist attacks. Some Sindhi nationalists blame the ruling PPP for not keeping an eye on rise in the number of madrassahs that belong to religious elements who believe in jihad. They also think the PPP-led Sindh government failed to improve basic infrastructure or provide public sector jobs, due to which poverty increased and thus the poor people in the province were attracted towards religious elements who were ready to help them financially.
This was how the radical elements started gaining ground across Sindh.
Besides, after history’s worst known flood that inundated large areas in northern Sindh in 2010, the 2012 flood in southern Sindh and the devastating drought in Thar Desert, religious groups crept into these districts silently. Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a sister organisation of banned Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD), started relief and rehabilitation work in these districts and still continues to do so.
Shikarpur is also the stronghold of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). The party’s local leadership is said to have banned playing music in any ceremony in the district for the last one decade. “We are not allowed to conduct any musical concert, which is supposed to be an essential part of Sindhi weddings, cultural events and melas at Sufi shrines. Armed people come and interrupt whenever there is music,” says Paryal Marri.
Shikarpur district has more than a dozen important Sufi shrines, where people from different sects and religions visit on a regular basis. Music is said to be the essential part of all rituals which is now banned by religious fundamentalists.
Militant group, Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the Lakhi Dar Imambargah blast. But there are several groups active in the region.
Experts acknowledge their presence in Sindh for the last many decades. Independent social scientist Ayesha Siddiqa says the jihadi elements are nothing new in secular Sindh and have been there since decades. She confirms the extremists are no one except native Sindhis. “These militants are not outsiders but Sindhis themselves who are recruited.”
According to her, in upper Sindh one finds Deobandi domination in the form of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) while in lower Sindh, especially in bordering districts along the Indian border, one sees more of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“Historically there was a deobandi influence in Sindh; so it was easy for these groups to build on it. Furthermore, in the face of feudalism, an absence of narrative, and alternative power sources, there was a gap that was filled by these militants who have traction for the middle class in Sindh as much as the middle class in Punjab,” she tells TNS.
Sindh, known for its progressive politics, vibrant civil society, Sufi traditions and tolerance for other faiths, has been facing threats of militancy for the last few years. The northern Sindh, that comprises different districts of Sukkur region, has become a stronghold of extremist forces. Here, a large number of madrassahs have recently been built and attacks by religious militants have been reported, especially in Shikarpur district. In 2013, there was a suicide attack on the election caravan of National People’s Party (NPP) candidate Mohammad Ibrahim Jatoi; there was another attack on Ghulam Shah Ghazi shrine in Marri village in Shikarpur; in Feb 2013, in a suicide attack, grandson of spiritual leader and custodian of a Sufi shrine, Dargah Hussain Abad Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah Bukhari was killed while the spiritual leader himself got injured. In 2013, terrorists attacked the local headquarter of ISI in Sukkur for which the TTP claimed responsibility.
Sectarian violence in Sindh has a long history. In the early 1960s, in an incident in northern Sindh’s Khairpur district, around more than a 100 participants of a Moharram procession were reportedly killed in an armed attack. Sindh’s second chief minister Allah Bukhsh Soomro, a native of Shikarpur city, was killed in his hometown.
Sindhi nationalists groups who believe in and struggle for the liberation of Sindh, instead of accepting the presence of jihadis in Sindh, term the attacks on NATO trucks as a conspiracy by the “state machinery” to spoil the secular image of Sindh. Sindh’s liberal and nationalist circles are still in a state of denial about the presence of militant groups in the region. Nationalist groups who are not separatists too have not reacted against the rising extremism across Sindh.
Some nationalists raise questions about the credibility of Pakistani law enforcement agencies who are quick to trace Sindhi nationalists holding separatist thoughts and abduct them, but can not locate the jihadis.
Analysts had already warned about Sindh falling in the throes of extremism. Zia Ur Rehman, a Karachi-based journalist who mainly covers security issues, thinks that the rise of militancy in Sindh was not being reported by the Pakistani media. “While militancy and violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and FATA continues to get media coverage, the northern parts of Sindh are quietly becoming the recruiting grounds for militancy,” he says.
**In his view these forces will ultimately target liberal and secular political forces in Sindh. “At this stage, they have targeted Shia community and Sufi shrines, but it seems their future target would be liberal political forces, especially the Sindhi nationalist groups, as they did in KP and FATA.”
**
Steeped in history
The streets in Shikarpur are lined with heritage buildings on both sides. The buildings have unique architecture, which varies from French to Victorian to masonry brick. Many of these buildings have exceptional centuries-old mud and wood structure, with lime work, stucco tracery and brick mosaic flooring. One sees wrought-iron religious signs of Om and statues of Queen Victoria. These archaeological buildings depict the rich history of the city and show how much the residents love it.
At many places in the city, mosques and Hindu temples stand together — a testimony of religious harmony.
According to locals, the city was once located inside a fort with around seven huge gates or entrances. Lakhi Darr is one such entrance that opens towards the Lakhi town. That is site of the Imambargah where the terrorist attack not only claimed scores of innocent people but also a centuries’ old history of tolerance.
Another entrance is named Haathi (Sindhi word for elephant) Darr. This is where, in the past when Shikarpur was the commercial hub, elephants carrying trade goods were allowed to enter.
In Shikarpur’s Dhak Bazaar (the covered bazaar) people used to keep cold water so that travellers could drink water in the sizzling summer. There is a Dewan Hotel just opposite a public park that is still known for the Hindu deity Ganesha’s name, Ganesh Park and a huge sized Bajaj Tower built in memory of Hindu businessman Seth Hiranand Bajaj.
**
Much before the establishment of port in Karachi, Shikarpur was supposedly the commercial hub of Sindh. Owing to the beauty and cleanliness of the city, it was known as the “Paris of Sindh”. But now it is a living sign of sheer negligence of government authorities. With its collapsed sewerage system, encroachments, broken streets and dirt and dust, one can not believe this is the city that had such a glorious past.
Born rat scared breathless hiding in his underground bunker in UK somewhere. Too scared to even vomit tweets while current papa Bhutto aka zardari rape PPP in every way possible and sold out jiyalas lick and shine qutba on traitor zab's tomb.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
The dirtiest politician of the world condemned at Shikarpur
Ran away when people chanted slogans against him
Tariq Durani | Feb 12th, 2015 | 7:50 pm Feb 12th, 2015 |
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Politics by usual players. Nothign to see move along.
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Peshawar ho ya Shikarpur
Dukhi log IK say khush naheen
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Which were the political parties who were against his visit?
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Aik hi aawaz aati hay abhi bhi
*جئے بھٹو
*
جئے بھٹو کے نعرے سن کر عمران خان تڑپ اٹھے
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Another attack in Peshawar
Up to mow
3 died 45 injured
Hayatabad ,
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Death toll reaches to 10
[RIGHT]پہلےخطبے سے پتہ چلتا تھا کہ آج جمعہ ہےلیکن پچھلے سالوں سےہمارے ملک میں روایت چینج ہوگئی ہے اب جس دن دھماکہ ہوتاہے تو پتہ لگتا ہے آج جمعہ ہے[/RIGHT]
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
Read more about Peshawar blast at
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/images/buttons/firstnew.png Bomb blast in Peshawar Shia mosque 10 killed
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
A REPORTشکارپور حملے میں ملؤث دہشت گروپ کی نشاندہی](شکارپور حملے میں ملوث دہشت گروپ کی نشاندہی - Pakistan - Dawn News Urdu)ایک اعلیٰ سطحی اجلاس میں بتایا گیا کہ بلوچستان اور سندھ کے سرحدی علاقوں میں موجود ٹی ٹی پی کے ایک گروپ کا ہاتھ ہے۔
Group behind Shikarpur attack identified, meeting told[TABLE=“class: media media–left media–stretch one-third palm–one-whole, width: 128”]
http://i.dawn.com/thumbnail/2015/02/54dd5e5947db4.jpg?r=828071712
LEAs held a militant group operating in the Sindh and Balochistan border areas responsible for the Shikarpur tragedy
Re: Shikarpur blast at a mosque
We never know the link between these news and reality
](http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawnnews.tv%2Fnews%2F1017008&h=uAQFBl_mnAQGPwWxZuPnQ2x_een4lQTD_aVrmF6Kmmqw2BQ&enc=AZM8uzSF1jjOquNuk76zhfNII8b_DsppUVIkKy_Wly9dK1ohqGAJ2JiECOWufKLSZ37q_dbsTMtbGCkXHeuMp0mHJsMOh7734xPDM9xrIrc1wkmpsmNukcpjsKS7tlWesI1sIu9t7MI6LIVMkdyJQ2l4o-Udl65sOYw7AYsu2S0qxQ&s=1)[RIGHT]کوئٹہ: سانحہ شکارپور کا ماسٹرمائنڈ ہلاک[/RIGHT]
www.dawnnews.tv
[RIGHT]کوئٹہ میں سیکیورٹی فورسز کے سرچ آپریشن میں سانحہ شکارپور کا ماسٹر مائنڈ مارا گیا۔[/RIGHT]](کوئٹہ: سانحہ شکارپور کا ماسٹرمائنڈ ہلاک - Pakistan - Dawn News Urdu)