Thursday, March 2, 2017
Pakistani Christian Woman Raped, Forced To Marry And Convert To Islam Says She 'Prays For Freedom'
Joseph Hartropp
A Pakistani Christian woman who was forcibly married, converted, abused and raped by her Muslim employer has spoken about her experience, and how she wishes to be freed from her forced marriage.
Mother of three and divorcee Fouzia Sadiq, 31, had taken up employment as a cleaner to support her family. She claims her employer, Muhammed Nazir Amjad, began making unwanted sexual advances to her. When she reported his behaviour to his daughters she says she was beaten and sent away. Days later, she was returned to Amjad's home, where she says he raped her, forced her to convert to Islam and made her marry him.
Fouzia's story, which began in July 2015, was reported widely last year. Fouzia described her experience in captivity. She said: 'I thought God had left me and wanted to end my life. I stopped praying and hated myself. I thought I was evil and had done something to make God hate me.
I felt dirty and unclean all the time the monster made me do things I am so ashamed of. But I had no choice. It made me angry that God was blaming me.
I reached my lowest point and tried to commit suicide by taking some pills. I was rushed to the hospital and the monster used the opportunity to remove my ovaries, so I would not have any more children.'
The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) has been advocating for Fouzia and her protection. The humanitarian group gave Fouzia a secret phone to use and she was able to escape Amjad and find safe refuge.
BPCA says Fouzia's chance of escaping Pakistan was denied by Pakistan's British embassy and the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Last year, under intense pressure, Fouzia's family returned her to Amjad. The BPCA assisted Fouzia in escaping again in October 2016, providing her with a safe house and protective care. Fouzia is currently safe but remains in Pakistan, technically, the BPCA says, as a fugitive from 'justice'. It said in a statment: 'Fouzia has described a despicable existence in the home of Muhammed Nazir. She was forced to cook and clean for him, was beaten and tortured by Muhhamed Nazir and his family and was required to satisfy his sexual desires at his whim.
'Fouzia spent most of her time alone and would weep daily praying for freedom. When she was returned by her family to the monster who had terrorised her so brutally, she reached her lowest point. Fouzia at that point started to engage in self harm.'
Fouzia said: 'I could not even kill myself, I felt totally helpless. I realised I was not getting out of this life on my own and asked God to forgive my mistrust in Him. I decided to use any spare minute to pray for freedom.
'The only time I felt any peace was when I prayed. God was my only company.
'One day my cousin secretly gave me a phone that the BPCA had provided, I realised God had not forgotten me. He was there for me just as he had always been.
'With the phone I was able to escape the clutches of a monster and his evil family. Now I pray for freedom from the forced marriage that I am shackled by.'
She is campaigning for an annulment of her marriage, but it is expected she will lose her case. The BPCA is raising funds for a professional solicitor to help Fouzia, and has launched an appeal for her to be granted asylum in the West.
It has also launched a petition calling for an end to abduction and forced marriages in Pakistan.
Pakistani Christian Model and Actress – Sunita Marshall
MARSHALL WAS BORN IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN TO A PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN FAMILY IN 1982. SHE IS A COMMERCE GRADUATE FROM ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE (KARACHI).
She started her acting career with a telefim named “Tere bina”. Marshall was introduced into the modeling world by her aunt. She made her first appearance in a Garnier Fructis commercial and other hair products such as Pantene, Head and Shoulders and Kuene. She was also in a drama tair-e-lahoti as Mahnoor in 2008.
Marshall returned as a model for Gul Ahmed. She worked with fashion designers such as Deepak Perwani, HSY, Bunto Kazmi and Nilofer Shahid.
Marshall was chosen by Bunto Kazmi to model her clothes in 2000 for a Milan fashion show and later modeled for Dior and Gucci.
She starred in Abrar-ul-Haq’s music video Preeto (Pretty) and in the music video for the Shehzad Roy song “Jana”.
She appeared in the television movie called Tere Bina (without you) in which she played a young spoiled girl who elopes with her boyfriend and then later learns about the responsibilities of marriage, which was followed by a role in the television drama Malika in which she plays a Fashion Model/Actress who gets ahead of her friend in show business.
In November 2010, her two dramas Bahu Rani and Aey Ishq Hamain Barbad Na Ker are currently airing on ARY Digital. She starred in the serial Mere Naseeb Ki Barishein as Maha. The serial finished in September 2010.She has worked in Mera Saaein & is now currently starring in its sequel Mera Saaein 2on Ary Digital.
MARSHALL MARRIED ACTOR AND MODEL HASAN AHMED IN JANUARY 2009, IN A MUSLIM WEDDING CEREMONY. THREE MONTHS LATER, THEY MARRIED IN A CATHOLIC WEDDING CEREMONY KARACHI (SHE IS CHRISTIAN AND HE IS MUSLIM). IN MARCH 2011, SHE GAVE BIRTH TO THEIR FIRST CHILD, A SON, RAAKIN AHMED AND 2ND CHILD NAME ZYNAH AHMED BABY GIRL
BILAWAL BHUTTO PAYS GLOWING TRIBUTES TO SHAHEED SHAHBAZ BHATTI ON HIS 6TH MARTYRDOM ANNIVERSARY
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has paid glowing tributes to former Federal Minister Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti on his 6th martyrdom anniversary observed today.
In a message on the occasion, PPP Chairman said that those who killed Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti in fact attacked our country and its quest for an egalitarian society but their nefarious designs would be foiled with full force and energy.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti fought for a cause and remained committed to it eventually sacrificing his own life.
He said that PPP was proud of Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti and he would be remembered by every leadership and workers of the Party forever.
https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/bilawal-bhutto-pays-glowing-tributes-to-shaheed-shahbaz-bhatti-on-his-6th-martyrdom-anniversary/
BILAWAL BHUTTO FELICITATES PEOPLE ON BALOCH CULTURE DAY
On his message on the occasion, the PPP Chairman said that Pakistan was blessed with diversified cultures and tradition, which makes it a distinct and beautiful country on the world map.
He said that rich culture of Baloch people has a glorifying history, which runs into several periods and is celebrated by Baloch and all Pakistanis.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP has great regards for all the gorgeous cultures cherished and treasured by diverse people. “Each culture and tradition, which is practiced and followed in Pakistan is equally respectable by every Pakistani and we give any amount of reverence for them,” he added.
He said that PPP will continue to promote each and every culture and tradition for strong integration of the nation.
https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-felicitates-people-on-baloch-culture-day/
Pakistan: Time for Reform in the Garrison State
ISHTIAQ AHMED
It is now entirely up to Pakistan’s leaders to opt out of ideological politics and choose enlightened pragmatism.
In December 2008, I met General Pervez Musharraf at the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) house in Rawalpindi. The meeting was arranged by a mutual friend, retired Colonel Aslam Cheema. Musharraf had only recently stepped down as president of Pakistan. We had a very pleasant conversation for about an hour. The bottom line in his review of the situation was that as long as the Pakistan military was strong, the existence and integrity of Pakistan were assured.
Some would question this thesis keeping in mind what happened in the former East Pakistan in 1971, when it broke away after a bitter and bloody civil war. Musharraf was probably thinking of the Pakistan that survived in the western wing, where the real strength of the Pakistan military has always resided.
It is, however, doubtful if the strong military imperative must necessarily translate into a culture of militarization of state and society. However, that is exactly what has happened. Since at least the 1980s, radical political Islam has been at the forefront of Pakistan’s external and internal politics.
A visitor to Pakistan cannot but notice that Islamist rhetoric has profoundly affected society creating a mindset that is violence prone. Terrorism is salient and wrecks lives continually in contemporary Pakistan. Government offices and buildings with armed guards posted all-round are a common sight. However, such measures are not confined to government offices. In early March 2011, I visited Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and found security guards armed with automatic firearms posted at luxury hotels, private firms and businesses. Similar scenes can be seen in the Indian capital, New Delhi, but the security arrangements are subdued and there is no official patronage of a culture of militarization.
In Pakistan, a feeling that the country is a “fortress of Islam” has been cultivated as part of national identity. Why? This question becomes all the more intriguing and perplexing when the census suggests that, at least since 1971, Muslims constitute a solid and overwhelming majority of at least 96%. Such compact majority—if ideological rhetoric about Muslim nationalism and the Islamic umma is to be believed—should have ensured cultural and religious cohesiveness, social peace and solidarity. That, however, is not the case. Who then poses the existentialist threat to Pakistan?
FORTRESS OF ISLAM
Looking around for possible candidates that could harbor nefarious intentions and designs on Pakistan, one must first discount some typical bogeys. For example, one does not find a communist insurgency in Pakistan comparable to the Naxalite movement in present-day India. Nor is there a separatist movement comparable to the Spanish ETA or the militant factions of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that in the past were able to strike targets on a recurring basis all over Spain or the United Kingdom, respectively. There is a bleeding insurgency going on in Balochistan at present, but the Baloch guerrillas have kept their ambit of activities confined to their province thus far.
In psycho-ideological terms, however, the Pakistani nation has been fed since the early 21st century on propaganda that a grand conspiracy hatched by Hanud-Yahud-Nasara(Hindus, Jews and Christians) exists. In a nutshell, the argument is that since Pakistan is the only Muslim nation that possesses nuclear weapons, it is on the hitlist of all those forces hell-bent on reducing Muslims to subjugation and slavery, and thus subverting the triumph of Islam in all nooks and corners of the world. Such an idea is most tempting to anyone believing in the eternal conflict between Dar-ul-Islam and Dar-ul-Harb.
Indeed, conspiracies against Pakistan may exist, but they can also be self-fulfilling prophecies. What cannot be denied, however, is that most, if not all, acts of violence and terrorism that spill blood in Pakistan are homegrown. Homegrown terrorism, in turn, comprises different factions and groups with anti-minority, anti-women and patently sectarian and sub-sectarian agendas.
Since at least December 2003, when an assassination attempt on General Musharraf was made, Pakistani officials and government installations and buildings, including those of the armed forces, have been targets of vicious terrorist attacks by homegrown extremist organizations on grounds that by joining the Bush administration’s so-called “War on Terror,” the Pakistani rulers have betrayed global jihad.
Homegrown terrorists cannot possibly target all of society without some help and assistance from rogue elements within the security and military forces, serving and retired. Therefore, defeating the real or imaginary conspiracy against Pakistan requires that homegrown terrorist cells and networks are uprooted and destroyed. In a renewed spate of suicide bombing missions ordered by disgruntled breakaway sections of the Taliban in the beginning of 2017, such as the Jamiyat ul Ahrar, targets have been hit in the megacity of Lahore as well as on a large gathering of devotees at a Sufi shrine in interior Sindh province.
Hawkish media channels have been accusing India as the mastermind of the recent attacks. However, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has emphasized the need for both India and Pakistan to not promote terrorism in each other’s territories, stressing the need for both countries to promote trade and better understanding.
PERMANENT FRIENDS, PERMANENT ENEMIES
It is possible that if Pakistan can successfully deal with terrorism at home and learn to behave responsibility in the regional and international domains, the perceived international detractors of the country can be persuaded to change their attitude toward it. After all, Pakistan is a nuclear power and it is never going to be easy to treat it unfairly, if it is willing to adhere to the rules of the game that apply under international law in regard to relations between states.
On the other hand, constant violation of internationally-accepted rules by a state is a sure recipe for conspiracies being plotted against it by those who feel threatened by it. It is, of course, not as simple as that, but more or less this is how states behave in the international arena. There are very few permanent friends and permanent enemies in the international system of states.
Pakistan’s geostrategic location has, in the past, been appreciated narrowly in military and security terms both by the Pakistani power elite and the major powers and superpowers. However, one can change the focus to economics, which is more lucrative than a focus on conflict and violence.
These days, the 21st century is being celebrated as the Asian Century. Actually, the Asian Century had begun to gestate as early as the 1960s and, ironically, Pakistan was one of Asia’s earliest economic powerhouses. In the first half of the 1960s, Pakistan’s economy performed so well that it won admirers in several Southeast Asian countries that studied its industrial planning and later became engines of economic growth.
But the Asian Century started out not in Southeast Asia, but in East Asia. Japan was ravaged and annihilated during World War II, but rose from the ashes to become the paragon power-horse of industrial and economic development in the early 1960s. From the 1970s onward, several Southeast Asian countries emulated Japan and embarked upon a transformation that earned them the title of Asian Tigers. The People’s Republic of China followed suit in the 1980s, and it is now the second largest economy in the world. India jumped onto the bandwagon of economic development in the 1990s and has been performing impressively since.
It seems that the movement of economic growth and development in Asia is following a western direction, and now it may be Pakistan’s turn to benefit from it. Pakistan’s geographical location ideally qualifies it to partake in the new opportunities that are emerging. Nations have to seize their moments in history and the moment seems to be now.
The recent announcement of the Sino-Pakistan deal, which would result in Chinese investment in Pakistan worth a staggering $46 billion, can be the route through which this western movement of economic growth and expansion can take place, instead of along the Attari-Wagah border with India, east of Lahore. Or rather Pakistan can doubly benefit from using both routes to enhance trade, economic growth and employment. The Chinese leadership has made it crystal clear to Pakistan that it wants the country to weed out all terrorist outfits and create a climate and environment which is conducive to investment. The Chinese have also made it clear that they do not preclude better economic ties between Pakistan and India. In fact, they have recommended the normalization of relations between the two South Asian giants.
Additionally, Pakistan’s cultural and religious links with West and Central Asia can proved to be enviable assets. Pakistan’s professionals as well as semi-skilled and unskilled workers can be interesting for many markets. Admittedly, the situation in Afghanistan is currently volatile and the Iran-Saudi Arabia rivalry is a considerable hurdle to the normalization of politics in the Persian Gulf. However, Central Asian economies have tremendous synergies with Pakistan’s. The country has a unique opportunity to focus on economics and lift the living standards of its people.
It is now entirely up to Pakistan’s leaders to opt out of ideological politics and choose enlightened pragmatism.
http://www.fairobserver.com/region/central_south_asia/pakistan-reform-terrorism-economy-southeast-asia-news-19981/
Pakistan's Duplicity And Broken Promises On Afghanistan
Anders Corr
This week, Afghanistan lodged repeated official complaints against Pakistan’s violations of international agreements, including Pakistan’s Afghan border closings and forced repatriation of Afghan refugees. The border closings are contrary to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and Pakistan’s forced repatriation of refugees breaks its agreements with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Pakistan is a member of the WTO and U.N., so these actions are the latest in a series of broken promises on the issue of Afghanistan. These are confirmation that Pakistan can no longer be trusted as a negotiating partner on Afghan-related issues. About two weeks ago, Pakistan used the excuse of its own domestic terrorism, including terrorists who caused 125 deaths, to scapegoat Afghanistan, and launch artillery strikes on alleged Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or Pakistani Taliban) and Jamaat ul-Ahrar (aka Jamaatul Ahrar, JuA) terrorist camps in Afghanistan.
This blunt strategy of cross-border artillery strikes disillusions Afghanistan for at least four reasons. First, Pakistan did not ask permission, which they should have according to the laws of war. Second, in 2016 Pakistan broke a border agreement and closed its border, precipitating armed clashes, a death, and dozens of wounded. In 2011 Pakistan initiated 470 rocket attacks on Afghanistan. These artillery strikes caused great fear at the time, and the current artillery strikes must be seen in that context.
Third, Pakistan’s attack was astonishingly hypocritical given that some terrorist camps in Afghanistan were the result of militants getting tipped off about anti-insurgent operations in Pakistan. There are a much greater number of cross-border and Pakistan-oriented terrorist camps and leaders within Pakistan’s own borders, than in Afghanistan. Jamaat ul-Ahrar terrorists, for example, claimed responsibility for two recent attacks in Pakistan. Pakistan claims that the terrorists infiltrated from Afghanistan to launch the attacks, but offered no evidence. The terrorist group has gone rogue from its roots in the Pakistani Taliban. While Afghanistan should take immediate action against this group, and any other terrorists who might be training or launching cross-border strikes into Pakistan, the far larger problem lies with Pakistani support for terrorists who launch strikes from Pakistan.
Fourth, there are plenty of terrorist centers of gravity in Pakistan that could be targeted by Pakistan. Afghanistan released a list of 32 Pakistani terrorist training centers and 85 Pakistan-based terrorist leaders on February 19. By attacking Afghanistan with the crude weapon of artillery when the terrorist centers of gravity on its own soil requires little more than arrests, Pakistan proves its antipathy against the elected Afghan government, not terrorism. The Pakistani artillery strikes were meant to mislead the public, rather than address the root causes of South and Central Asian terrorism. Had Pakistan really meant to eradicate terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, it would have gotten more traction through direct cooperation with Afghanistan. Pakistan appears to support terrorists in a misguided attempt to use them as weapons and levers of influence against India, Afghanistan, and possibly even the U.S.But the terrorist groups have gotten out of control and are now seeking localized overthrow of Pakistan government facilities, at a minimum. Some terrorist groups in Pakistan, including the Islamic State, go further to seek a larger regional caliphate as a potential long-range objective. Islamic State killed 72 in an attack on a Sufi shrine in Pakistan last month. Pakistan claimed that the terrorists came from Afghanistan, but offered no evidence.
Pakistan appears to use a duplicitous public relations strategy of reversing charges against Afghanistan and India, which are increasingly allies with each other in the fight against South Asian violent extremism. Pakistani defense analysts claim that Indian and Afghan intelligence are using Afghan-based terrorists against Pakistan. A day prior to the Afghanistan government’s release of information on 85 Pakistani terrorist training centers and 32 militant leaders, Pakistan released an underwhelming list of 76, presumably low-ranking, militants living in Afghanistan. This raises the question as to whether Pakistan had advance knowledge of the Afghan government release, and if so, how. Pakistani claims of Afghan and Indian sponsorship of radical Islamic terrorism are difficult to believe, and it is unclear how terrorism in Pakistan assists the foreign policy goals of either India or Afghanistan. Quite the opposite. More plausibly, Pakistan makes such claims to redirect international and domestic anger over terrorism away from Pakistan’s weak leaders and failed foreign policies. Tabish Forugh, former Chief of Staff, Afghanistan Independent Election Commission, said in an email that the “Pakistanis have never presented any concrete evidence to prove what they claim regarding cross-border terrorist attacks; and they have never truly wanted to solve the problem of terrorism in the region.”
Pakistan’s pro-Taliban and anti-Afghanistan activities belie its claim to be an ally of NATO against terrorism. Islamic State, which killed scores at a famed Sufi Shrine on Thursday in Pakistan, and which is one of the attacks that Pakistan is using as an excuse for border closings and artillery strikes against targets in Afghanistan, also killed 18 soldiers on the same day in Afghanistan. It makes little sense for Pakistan to target Afghanistan with border closings and artillery strikes, when Afghanistan suffers similar attacks from the same foe. According to West Point’s Javid Ahmad, “Islamabad’s duplicity is arguably the greatest cause of Afghanistan’s instability.” As U.S. officials have pointed out, Pakistan should be seeking more cooperation with Afghanistan, India, and the United States against the Islamic State, Taliban, and other terrorists. Pakistan should not unilaterally and without permission lob artillery shells at terrorist bases in Afghanistan. Pakistan should immediately open its borders to legitimate trade from land-locked Afghanistan. Only through greater transparency and cooperation with Afghanistan, India, and the United States, will Pakistan regain the trust and allies that are necessary for defeating terrorism at home.
Islamic State Takes Root, Grows Along Afghan-Pakistan Border
An Islamic State offshoot based near the Afghan-Pakistan border is expanding to new areas, recruiting fighters and widening the reach of attacks in the region, members of the movement and Afghan officials said.
Some members of the so-called “Khorasan Province” of Islamic State claimed responsibility for the recent attack on a Sufi shrine in Pakistan that killed 90 people, and IS gunmen were blamed for the deaths of six local aid workers in the north of the country, far from their stronghold in eastern Afghanistan.
Any expansion would pose a new challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump, as he considers how many American troops to keep in Afghanistan where the main security threat remains the Taliban insurgency.
Trump has vowed to “totally destroy” the Middle East-based Islamic State, yet has spoken little of Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have been posted for 15 years.
Logar Province, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan
Now he has not only the stubborn Taliban to consider, but also militants swearing allegiance to IS, although U.S. officials are generally less alarmed about its presence in Afghanistan than local officials.
“Daesh is not only a threat for Afghanistan but for the region and the whole world,” said Shah Hussain Mortazawi, spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani’s office, using a common Arabic name for the group.
The extent of direct operational links between IS in Afghanistan and the Middle East remains unclear, although most fighters in the “Khorasan Province” are Afghans, Pakistanis or Central Asians.
Still, three members of the group told Reuters a handful of Arab advisers helped direct propaganda, recruiting and identifying targets for attack.
Shifting loyalties
IS is suspected of carrying out several attacks on minority Shi’ite Muslim targets in Afghanistan, and the February suicide bombing at the Pakistani shrine bore some of the hallmarks of the sectarian group.
That atrocity, the worst militant assault in Pakistan for two years, indicated that a group based in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar could strike deep into Pakistan territory.
“Islamic State has no proper base in Pakistan, but it has sympathizers and links in Pakistan,” said one member of the group, based in Afghanistan. “Mostly the attackers and suicide bombers enter from Afghanistan to Pakistan.”
Western and Afghan security officials believe fighters frequently switch allegiances between militant groups, making it difficult to know who is to blame for violence.
“Sometimes the Taliban commanders defect to Daesh and sometimes the other way around,” said Mohammad Zahir Wahdat, governor of the northern Afghan province of Sar-i-Pul, where IS and Taliban fighters are believed to be active. “The situation is very unclear.”
Even within the group, claims are contested.
The AMAQ news agency, affiliated to IS in the Middle East, said the movement was responsible for the shrine bombing, but Abu Omar Khorasani, a senior member of the Afghan chapter who sometimes speaks for IS there, denied involvement.
He did say IS was recruiting and expanding beyond Nangarhar to northern Afghanistan.
Pakistani counter-terrorism official Raja Umar Khattab said IS carried out attacks from Afghanistan, and his department was investigating whether the shrine bomber came from there.
“We are also working on an angle that a local militant group could have facilitated IS to carry out the ... blast,” said Khattab, a senior officer in Sindh province.
Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 9, 2017, before the Senate Armed Services Senate Committee.
‘Umbrella organization’
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said U.S. drone strikes and special forces operations had killed about a third of IS fighters in Afghanistan and cut their territory by two-thirds.
U.S. officials say intelligence suggests IS is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and neighboring Kunar province.
They are skeptical about reports of an increased IS presence in the northwest, where gunmen may claim a connection to the group to boost their standing.
“Certainly if you’re a local official who’s looking for more resources, by saying that ISIS is in your area, you’re going to get more attention,” said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the main U.S. military spokesman in Kabul.
Nicholson, who has asked for thousands more troops in Afghanistan, said counter-terrorism forces planned a series of operations in 2017 to defeat IS in Afghanistan “and preclude the migration of terrorists from Iraq and Syria into Afghanistan.”
Still, bolstered by fighters from Pakistani and other militant groups and an active social media presence, some Afghan officials said it had become an “umbrella organization” for disparate movements.
The Afghan Taliban, waging war to overthrow the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, are fiercely opposed to IS, and the two have clashed as they seek to expand territory and influence.
“We have almost eliminated Daesh in Afghanistan,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Estimating numbers is difficult. Cleveland said U.S. officials believe the movement has 700 fighters, but Afghan officials estimate it has around 1,500, with twice as many auxiliary helpers and up to 8,000 less active supporters.
Those officials say fighters from Central Asian countries including Uzbekistan have come to Afghanistan, while militants forced across the border by Pakistani military operations also gravitated towards IS.
Khorasani, the IS militant, said it had thousands of fighters and was growing.
A U.S. drone strike last year killed former local IS leader Hafiz Saeed Khan, once a member of the Pakistani Taliban.
Several Afghan security officials believe a former Afghan Taliban commander, Abdul Haseeb Logari, has replaced him.
Islamic State began to be noticed in the region in early 2015, when loyalists took on the Taliban and al-Qaida in a bid to become the leading Islamist militant group, using tactics that stood out for their brutality even in Afghanistan.
Pakistan - Islamic State members hide among public in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Members of the Islamic State or Da’ish hide among the general population, using small businesses as a cover, a police official told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.
Their approach differs from the now banned Taliban, whose members used to openly establish camps in parts of Fata and even in K-P’s settled areas, according to the official.
There is ample evidence indicating that members of Da’ish have been operating in Peshawar for the past 18 months, actively preaching their point of view and trying to lure fresh recruits from various TTP factions.
“Members of Da’ish are present in the Jalalabad area of Afghanistan which is just a two-hour drive from Peshawar … It is no wonder that they have penetrated into Fata and subsequently into the (settled areas of) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere in Pakistan,” he said. They are highly experienced in sabotage and concealment” since most members had previously belonged to the TTP, he added.
“These people hide among the (general) population and we have solid evidence suggesting that they engage in small businesses such as fruit vendors, plying pushcarts, using it as a cover, avoiding suspicion … Their strategy is mostly successful,” he said, adding that these people rent houses and move frequently to avoid detection.
He outlined a worrisome trend, saying that good Taliban had also joined Da’ish ranks. “Since they know the benefits of being Afghan Taliban, they also use it as a cover.”
“All new recruits are sent to Afghanistan … Once people know that you are fighting in Afghanistan, chances are that no policeman or anyone else will touch you simply because you are (among) ‘good Taliban’,” he maintained.
“Once, such an impression is created, when they travel to another district, most people think they are off to Afghanistan,” he said.
Terming their strategy to use small businesses a clever ruse, he said that because of this, they remain concealed.
Islamic State claims responsibility for killing policeman in Peshawar
“Branding themselves as ‘good Taliban’, such as the Haqqani network’, is their most successful strategy … They use it to their full advantage,” he observed.
According to him, gaining a foothold in this ‘sophisticated and technologically advanced underground organisation’ was an uphill task.
“Most of them are educated, know about information technology and are really committed about hiding their ruthless actions,” he added.