MIRAMSHAH: Malak Mumtaz Khan, a renowned journalist of the tribal areas and president of the Miramshah Press Club,was shot dead in North Waziristan on Wednesday. According to sources, M a 1 a k Mumtaz, 45, was going home from Miramshahbazaar in his car when men in another car opened fire on him near his Miramshah Kalley village at about 4pm. He suffered bullet wounds to his head and chest and died on the spot. The journalist was a Malak (tribal elder) of his village. He was associated with several print and electronic media organisations, including The News, Jang, Geo TV and AVT Khyber. He is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters. The funeral will be held on Thursday. Noor Behram, president of the Tribal Union of Journalists, announced five-day mourning. Dawn, The News, The Frontier Post, Daily Times, The Nation.
JAMRUD: Unidentified persons shot dead two brothers in Jamrud Tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday, local sources said. The sources said that Mir Wali along with his brother Mir Ahmed was on his way to Pabbi to attend a Jirga when unidentified gunmen opened fire on them on Ghundi Road.The sources said that the deceased, belonging to Pabbi tehsil in Nowshera district, had migrated to Jamrud tehsil 30 years ago due to enmity.Following the incident, the personnel of the Khassadar Force reached the spot and cordoned off the area for the arrest of the accused. The News.
GHALLANAI: A Levies personnel was killed in a clash with a proclaimed offender (PO) in Prang Ghar tehsil of Mohmand Agency on Wednesday, official sources said. The sources said that a proclaimed offender, Pir Muhammad, belonging to Mardan district, along with his family had migrated to Plojohar village in Prang Ghar tehsil last year. The sources said that he was allegedly involved in robberies and other anti-social activities. Taking serious note of the situation, the Levies personnel raided the house of Pir Muhammad in Plojohar village early in the day. The proclaimed offender opened fire on the security men, leaving one of the personnel Sher Nawaz critically injured. The News.
PESHAWAR: The number of disabled persons, widows and orphans has increased alarmingly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2005 due to militancy and natural disasters, said provincial social welfare minister Sitara Ayaz on Wednesday. The minister told a news conference here that her department had registered around 100,000 disabled persons and 50,000 widows in the province since 2005 and majority of those women lost husbands to militancy. She said the number of orphans had also risen in the province. `This is very alarming situation and number of vulnerable people is on the rise because thousands of disabled persons, widows and orphans have not been registered so far,` she told a news conference here. Minister for Zakat and UshrMohammad Zarshid Khan was also present. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: The key barrier to probe into the dumping of bodies in gunnysacks in the provincial capital is non-cooperation of the relevant families, Peshawar capital city police officer Imtiaz Altaf told a Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday. `The major hurdle to our investigation into the case is lack of cooperation on part of the relatives of the dead people. They have not been naming suspects. If they cooperate with us, it will be much easier for us to arrest the culprits, Mr Altaf told Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mrs Irshad Qaiser. He said investigation into the matter had been in progress and there had been a significant reduction in such cases since the court had taken up the matter. Dawn.
ISLAMABAD: The defence establishment on Wednesday again sought to quash fears about the military`s role in the coming general election and said it had no intention of interfering in the electoral process. `There is no political or election cell in any agency, nor does the military intend to interfere in the election, Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Asif Yasin Malik told reporters after attending a meeting of the National Assembly`s Standing Committee on Defence. This was the third time over the past week when the defence establishment issued statements emphasising that it would remain neutral in the election expected in May. The repeated messaging is apparently meant to address lingering doubts about the holding of polls and their transparency. Dawn, The News.
ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Wednesday that a majority of suicide attacks in the country took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that Punjab was particularly vulnerable to crimes against property. In reply to a question put by Senator Col (retd) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the house that 57 suicide attacks took place in KP from 2010 to 2012. He said that 32 suicide attacks took placein2010,24 in 2011 and 21 in 2012 across the country. Over 8,560 incidents of dacoity took place in Punjab, 4,690 in Sindh, 218 in KP, 281 in Balochistan, 86 in Islamabad and 16 in GilgitBaltistan. About 55,225 robberies were committed in Punjab, 4,690 in Sindh, 1,257 in KP, 493 in Balochistan, 819 inIslamabad and 86 in GilgitBaltistan. Over 98,495 incidents of theft took place in Punjab, 7,786 in Sindh, 4,278 in KP, 2,387 in Balochistan, 1,030 in Islamabad and 593 in GilgitBaltistan during the past three years. Dawn.
GHAZNI: The Taliban killed 16 people at an Afghan police checkpoint on Wednesday and bombed an army bus in Kabul, highlighting a growing trend of strikes on Afghan rather than Nato targets.Details of the pre-dawn attack on an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint in Ghazni province were murky. Officials said they were investigating how the militants breached security at the post. The ALP national commander said 10 policemen and “five or six local villagers” who took part in an uprising against the Taliban in the Andar district of Ghazni had been killed. “Initial information shows they were first poisoned and then shot,” he said. The News.
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah launched the drug use prevention campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which will be carried forward in coming four months under the aegis of the Federal Government in collaboration with the United Nation’s Organization for Drugs and Crime Control. The ceremony attended by representatives of civic society and senior officials, besides students was also addressed by the Country Representative of UNODC, Mr. Jeremy Douglas, Peshawar based US Consul General, Mr. Robert G. Reed, and the Chairperson of a NGO, “Dost”, Mrs.. Parveen Azam Khan. The Governor while stressing the importance of efforts for drug prevention said that there is a need to make special efforts to reach to each and every segment of the society. The Frontier Post.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
