Jamrud | SilverScorpio.Com

Residents of Pak’s Bara district flee homes following Lashkasr’s warning

September 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Landi Kotal (Pakistan), Sep 19 (ANI): Following a warning issued by the leader of a terrorist organization, hundreds of Bara residents fled their houses to move to safer places before the last day of Eidul Fitr festivities.

On Friday morning, Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) chief Mangal Bagh issued a warning over his illegal FM radio station, saying that people should take cover as his armed outfit was about to retaliate the military operation in Bara, The Dawn reports.

Earlier, the militant leader had said that his private miltia would not resist the operation in the area.

Traders and shopkeepers of Bara bazaar have shifted their merchandise to safer places, it has been learned.

Meanwhile, the bullet-riddled body of Wahid son of Hanan, who was kidnapped by Lashkar activists a day earlier, was found in Jamrud Khwar area.

A note was found with the dead body saying that anyone found assisting the security forces would meet the similar fate.

Earlier, the FC media cell had appealed the locals to help security forces in their operation against militants. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: activists, ANI, anyone, area, Bagh, Bara, bazaar, body, cell, dawn, day, district, Eidul, fate, festivities, Fitr, fm radio station, Friday, friday morning, Hanan, houses, islam, jamrud, Khwar, kotal, Landi, Lashkar, Lashkar-i, Lashkasr, leader, Li, locals, Mangal, merchandise, Militant Leader, military operation, miltia, morning, note, operation, organization, outfit, Pak, Pakistan, radio, retaliate, security, security forces, Sep, son, station, terrorist organization, Wahid, warning

South Asia Media Commission condemns TV journalists’ killing in Pak

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lahore, Aug. 28 (ANI): The South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) has strongly condemned the recent killings of two TV journalists by alleged Taliban militants in the North Western Frontier Province.

Peshawar bureau chief for Afghanistan’s Shamshad Television, Janullah Hashimzada, was shot dead in the Khyber Pass, near the town of Jamrud in Khyber Agency.

He was known for his critical reporting of the Taliban.

His colleague, Ali Khan, was seriously injured in the attack. Both were Afghan nationals.

Also, a private TV channel’s correspondent, Sadiq Bacha Khan, was shot dead in Mardan on August 17.

“These were purely targeted killings for being critical of the Taliban. The killings highlight the perils of reporting from such a dangerous part of the world,” the Daily Times quoted SAMC President N Ram and Secretary General Najam Sethi, as saying in a statement.

“The Pakistan government should transparently investigate the murders and bring the perpetrators to justice so that the killers understand they cannot operate with impunity,” commission’s regional coordinator Hussain Naqi stated. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Ali Khan, asia media, bacha khan, bureau chief, frontier province, impunity, jamrud, khyber pass, killings, Mardan, Najam Sethi, Pakistan government, peshawar, private tv channel, regional coordinator, SAMC, Shamshad, south-asia, Tv Journalists, western frontier

‘NWFP, FATA most unsafe region for journalists’

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Peshawar, Aug.26 (ANI): Monday’s incident in which an Afghan journalist, Janullah Hashimzada, was brutally murdered in Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency has once again highlighted that the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are the two most unsafe areas for journalists in the region.

About 12 journalists have been killed by extremists and many kidnapped since the Taliban established its writ in the region.

Musa Khan Khel, correspondent of The News and Geo News in Swat, was killed in February this year while returning home after covering a meeting of the banned Tanzim Nifaze Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM).

Another journalist from the Valley, Mohammad Shoaib, was shot dead by the security forces for alleged violation of curfew. He was taking his daughter to hospital when security personnel opened fire at him.

Similarly several media persons, who were constantly bringing the brutalities of the Taliban to the fore, have been killed by militants over the last one year.

While the government and the Army claims that extremists have been forced to retreat and the region is now safe for thousands of displaced people to return, there still exists severe threats to the lives, properties and families of media persons in NWFP and FATA, The News reports. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: administered, agency, ANI, army, Aug, correspondent, curfew, daughter, extremists, fata, February, federally, fire, fore, frontier province, geo, geo news, Government, Hashimzada, home, hospital, incident, jamrud, Janullah, journalist, journalists, khan, khan khel, Khel, khyber, media persons, meeting, militants, mohammad, Mohammad Shoaib, mohammadi, Monday, musa, NEWS, Nifaze, north west frontier, north-west, NWFP, peshawar, region, returning home, security, security forces, security personnel, Shariat-e, shoaib, swat, Taliban, tanzim, TNSM, Tribal, tribal areas, Unsafe Areas, valley, violation, writ, year

70 killed, 100 other injured in suicide attack on mosque in Pak’s Khyber region

March 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad,Mar.27 (ANI): At least 70 persons have been reportedly killed and 100 other injured when a suicide bomber blew himself at a mosque in Jamrud on Friday.

According to The News, the attacker entered the mosque which was crowded with over three hundred people offering Friday prayers, and blew himself killing scores of people on the spot.

“It appears to be a suicide attack in which over 70 worshippers could have been killed and over 100 others wounded,” Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat Khan said.

Till now at least 46 dead bodies have been recovered from the rubble and security officials said that the casualty figure could increase.

The injured people have been admitted to the Sherpao, Lady Reading and others hospitals in Peshawar.

Rescue operations were on till last reports came-in. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: agency, Agent, ANI, attack, attacker, bomber, casualty, dead bodies, figure, Friday, Hayat Khan, hospitals, Islamabad, jamrud, khyber, lady, mar, mosque, NEWS, offering, Pak, people, peshawar, political, prayers, region, rescue, rescue operations, rubble, security, security officials, Sherpao, spot, suicide, Suicide attack, suicide bomber, Tariq Hayat Khan, till, worshippers

Radio Kyber emerges as an alternative to the illegal broadcasts of ‘FM Mullahs’

March 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 13 (ANI): Radio Khyber provides an alternative to hardline Islamic broadcasts with a medley of local news, talk shows, and music in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas that border Afghanistan.

Airwaves in this region are filled with the illegal broadcasts of the “FM Mullahs” who preach about the holy war and of recruiting fighters, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

Kishwar is one of 15 reporters for Radio Khyber, a rare non-extremist station broadcasting in the town of Jamrud, in the militant stronghold of Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas.

Radio Khyber treads carefully, trying to avoid a backlash from either the militants – who criticize the playing of music – or the Pakistani Government, which dislikes its news coverage in this sensitive region.

“Until Radio Khyber started news reporting, the FM mullahs were winning the dial wars,” says Aurangzaib Khan, the manager of Media Development at Internews Pakistan in Peshawar.

Radio Khyber broadcasts for three hours each in the morning and evening. When it first started, the government – represented in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas by the FATA Secretariat – mandated that Radio Khyber simply broadcast Pakistani pop songs and use news reports from the state-owned Radio Pakistan.

The Pashto-language broadcasts of Radio Pakistan are not transmitted throughout FATA, the CSM quoted Khan, as saying.

Residents of FATA are thus forced to choose between Radio Azadi, the Afghan Service of Radio Free Europe that broadcasts from Afghanistan, and the illegal transmissions of FM Mullahs. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: administered, afghan, Afghanistan, Airwaves, alternative, ANI, Aurangzaib, Azadi, backlash, border, broadcast, broadcasting, Christian Science, Christian Science Monitor, coverage, CSM, Development, dial, dislikes, Europe, evening, fata, federally, free, Government, hardline, holy war, Illegal Broadcasts, Internews, Islamic, jamrud, khan, khyber, Kishwar, Kyber, Language Broadcasts, manager, mar, media, medley, monitor, morning, Morning And Evening, Mullahs, music, NEWS, northwestern, Pakistan, Pakistani, pakistani government, Pakistani Pop Songs, Pashto-language, peshawar, playing, pop, radio, Radio Azadi, radio broadcasts, Radio Free Europe, radio pakistan, region, reporting, secretariat, Sensitive Region, service, station, stronghold, talk, town, Tribal, tribal areas, use, war, Washington

Militants attack NATO terminal in Peshawar

January 13, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Lahore, Jan 13 (ANI): A terminal storing NATO supplies in Peshawar came under rocket fire as security forces expanded a military operation to Landikotal tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Unidentified assailants fired six rockets at the terminal on Pusht Khera Road, a private TV channel reported on Monday.

Security personnel deployed to protect the terminal retaliated and the ensuing gun battle lasted for almost half an hour, but there were not casualties.

Meanwhile in Khyber Agency, the security forces targeted the houses of a Taliban supporter and a criminal, said an official source.

The political administration has also warned eight other tribesmen supporting terrorists and criminals to surrender.

Earlier, Pakistan had reopened the main supply route for the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan after blocking it for three days during an operation against militants blamed for repeated attacks on convoys in the Khyber Pass.

News reports said residents in the towns of Landi Kotal and Jamrud, which is located along the route, confirmed the movement of NATO supply convoys toward the Afghan border and the Afghan capital of Kabul.

So far, more than 200 people, most of them Taliban members and “criminals,” have been arrested in the Khyber Agency.

The Khyber Pass, an ancient, three-mile pass that links Pakistan to Afghanistan through the Hindu Kush mountain range, has traditionally been a key route into Afghanistan.

The route’s closure had forced NATO and US forces to use air and other land routes to deliver supplies to troops in Afghanistan. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Afghan border, afghan capital, convoys, gun battle, hindu kush mountain, jamrud, Khyber Agency, khyber pass, Lahore, Landikotal tehsil, militants attack, military operation, nato troops in afghanistan, political administration, private tv channel, rocket fire, security forces, security personnel, tehsil, terminal storing NATO, tribesmen, troops in afghanistan, unidentified assailants

Pak Taliban commander surrenders in Khyber Agency

January 5, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

Peshawar, Jan.5 (ANI): A Taliban commander in Pakistan”s Khyber Agency surrendered to the area”s political administration on Monday,even as traffic movement along the Pakistan-Afghanistan highway remained suspended, hindering NATO forces supplies.

Maulana Hazrat Nabi offered himself up for surrender through a Jirga of elders.

Sources were quoted by The News as saying that a security operation against extremists in Jamrud is still on. However, curfew has been relaxed in the area from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.(ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: administration., agency, along, ANI, area, commander, curfew, elders, extremists, forces, hazrat, highway, hindering, jamrud, jan, jirga, khyber, maulana, movement, nabi, NATO, NEWS, offered, operation, pakistan-afghanistan, peshawar, political, quoted, relaxed, remained, saying, security, sources, supplies, surrender, suspended, Taliban, traffic

Pakistan reopens NATO main supply route to Kabul

January 4, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

Islamabad,Jan.3 (ANI): Pakistan has reopened the main supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan after blocking it for three days during an operation against militants blamed for repeated attacks on convoys in the Khyber Pass.

News reports said residents in the towns of Landi Kotal and Jamrud,which located along the route, confirmed the movement of NATO supply convoys toward the Afghan border and the Afghan capital of Kabul.

CNN quoted Rahat Ullah, a political official in Jamrud, the area”s main town, as saying the road would be open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., after which a curfew would allow the military to continue the operation against militants.

Pakistan launched the operation Tuesday after attacks on NATO supply trucks and several girls” schools in the Khyber region.

So far, more than 200 people, most of them Taliban members and “criminals,” have been arrested in the Khyber Agency.

The Khyber Pass, an ancient, three-mile pass which links Pakistan to Afghanistan through the Hindu Kush mountain range, has traditionally been a key route into Afghanistan.

The route”s closure had forced NATO and U.S. forces to use air and other land routes to deliver supplies to troops in Afghanistan. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: afghan, Afghanistan, agency, along, ANI, arrested, attacks, blamed, closure, cnn, convoys, criminals, days, deliver, far, forces, Islamabad, jamrud, jan, kabul, key, khyber, kotal, land, launched, located, main, members, militants, military, movement, NATO, open, operation, Pakistan, pass, people, political, quoted, range, region, route, saying, several, supply, Taliban, three-mile, town, traditionally, troops