Pakistan: Tenuous Control In Dera Ismail Khan – Analysis

By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty*

On July 21, 2019, a group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants on four motorcycles opened fire on Policemen at the Kotla Saidan checkpost in Dera Ismail Khan town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Two Policemen were killed in the attack. Following the gun attack, a suicide blast took place at the hospital where the victims were shifted. The female fidayeen (suicide bomber) struck at the entrance to the hospital, killing four Policemen and three civilians who were visiting their relatives. 30 others were injured in the two incidents.

The TTP ‘spokesperson’ Muhammad Khorasani, in a statement, claimed the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the killing of a suspected terrorist by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Dera Ismail Khan District on June 23, 2019. Security Forces (SFs) had killed a militant and arrested another after they threw hand-grenades at the Cantonment Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan on June 23.

On March 18, 2019, at least three persons, including two Policemen, were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion near a Police vehicle in the Parowa Sub-District of Dera Ismail Khan. The Police van was on a routine patrol in the Parowa area when the bomb, planted on a bicycle, went off.

On March 15, 2019, a CTD Police Constable was killed when unidentified assailants opened fire on him in the Muddy area in Kulachi tehsil (revenue unit) of Dera Ismail Khan District.

Sources stated that the Constable was on his way home after offering Friday prayers, when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.

On February 12, 2019, at least four Policemen were killed and a Station House Office (SHO) was injured in an ambush in the Maharah area of Parowa Sub-District in Dera Ismail Khan District. District Police Officer (DPO) Mohammad Iqbal disclosed that suspected militants targeted a Police van patrolling the area.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Dera Ismail Khan District has recorded at least 17 terrorism-related fatalities (11 SF personnel, four civilians and two terrorists) in 2019, thus far (data till July 28, 2019).

During the corresponding period of 2018, the Province registered eight terrorism-related fatalities (three terrorists, three SF personnel and two civilians).

During the corresponding period of 2017, there were 11 such fatalities (four civilians, four SF personnel and three militants), while these numbers stood at nine (six civilians and three SF personnel) in the same period of 2016.   

Militancy-related Fatalities in Dera Ismail Khan: 2000*-2019**

Year	Incidents	Civilians	Security Forces	Militants	Not Specified (NS)	Total
2000	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001	4	5	1	0	0	6
2002	0	0	0	0	0	0
2003	2	2	1	0	0	3
2004	3	4	0	0	2	6
2005	1	2	0	0	0	2
2006	2	1	7	0	0	8
2007	13	40	13	5	5	63
2008	12	42	12	37	4	95
2009	25	68	5	6	14	93
2010	8	10	5	5	11	31
2011	7	1	13	6	0	20
2012	10	22	1	7	0	30
2013	3	14	12	9	0	35
2014	12	10	6	7	0	23
2015	9	8	7	11	0	26
2016	6	6	3	0	0	9
2017	7	4	5	6	0	15
2018	4	2	5	3	0	10
2019	6	4	11	2	0	17
Total	134	245	107	104	36	492

*March 6, 2000; **July 28, 2019; Source: SATP

More worryingly, total fatalities in first six months and 28 days of 2019 have already crossed the total number of terrorism-related fatalities recorded each year, since 2016. 

Dera Ismail Khan has accounted for a total of 492 fatalities [245 civilians, 107 SF personnel, 104 terrorists and 36 not-specified (NS)] since March 6, 2000, when SATP commenced compiling data on Pakistan. These fatalities have been recorded in a total of 134 incidents of killing. 43 of these 134 incidents were ‘major (involving three or more fatalities). These major incidents resulted in the death of 362 persons (182 civilians, 72 SF personnel, 84 militants and 24 NS).

The District has recorded a total of 243 violent incidents since March 6, 2000. These include 89 incidents of explosion and 16 suicide attacks.

According to Dera Ismail Khan Police data, 111 Policemen were killed and 180 sustained injuries in acts of terrorism and targeted attacks, between January 2008 and December 2018. During the same period, seven Army soldiers were killed and 14 were injured. Besides, five personnel of the Frontier Constabulary were killed and one was injured. 474 civilians were killed in the 10-year period ending December 2018.

With a population of more than 1.6 million people, Dera Ismail Khan has long been a centre of terrorist activities due to its strategic location. It shares borders with South Waziristan, Tank and Lakki Marwat Districts in KP; Mianwali, Bhakkar and Dera Ghazi khan Districts in Punjab, and the Zhob District of Balochistan. Two of these neighbouring districts, South Waziristan and Zhob, share borders with Afghanistan. Dera Ismail Khan has served as a transit point for militants operating in these areas.

Analyst Syed Kashif Ali in a February 5, 2017, column, noted that, owing to its geo-strategic importance, Dera Ismail Khan served as a gateway for Punjabi militants fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s. During the 1990s, the District became a recruitment-centre for terrorist organisations operating out of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), which have organisational structures, recruitment centres and offices operating openly in the Dera Ismail Khan city.

The District, which had earlier served as a transit route for militants, progressively transformed into a terror hub after the emergence of TTP. The other major extremist group operational in the District is the sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). These outfits began creating havoc in the District in 2007, as in the rest of the Pakistan. Like other parts of Pakistan, Dera Ismail Khan has witnessed relative improvement, after the peakof 2007-09. However, the threat persists, as indicated by the recent surge in fatalities. As Dar Ali Khattak, Regional Police Officer (RPO) for Dera Ismail Khan, notes, “The situation is now under control, but we have to stay alert to cope with the threat.”  

Though a semblance of peace has been established in Dera Ismail Khan District, as a result of several operations launched against domestically oriented terror formations over the years, no steps have been taken to de-radicalise the wider society, which continues to serve as a fertile ground for extremists to breed and thrive.

https://www.eurasiareview.com/30072019-pakistan-tenuous-control-in-dera-ismail-khan-analysis/

شمالی وزیرستان میں عورتیں اکیلی گھر سے نہ نکلیں: ٹی ٹی پی

دلاورخان وزیر 

شمالی وزیرستان میں پولیس نے تصدیق کی ہے کہ شمالی وزیرستان کے مختلف علاقوں سے تحریک طالبان پاکستان کی جانب سے دھمکی آمیز پمفلٹ ملے ہیں مگر ان کا کہنا ہے کہ خوف کی کوئی بات نہیں اور شمالی وزیرستان میں عملی طور پر ان کے موجودگی کی کوئی اطلاع نہیں ہے۔

اکستان کے قبائلی اضلاع شمالی وزیرستان میں کالعدم تنظیم تحریک طالبان پاکستان نے ایک پمفلٹ جاری کیا ہے جس میں کہا گیا ہے کہ بغیر کسی مرد کے عورت کے گھر سے باہر جانے پر مکمل پابندی ہو گی اور گھروں کے اندر اور باہر گانے بجانے کی اجازت نہیں ہو گی جس کی خلاف ورزی کرنے والوں کے خلاف کارروائی عمل میں لائی جائےگی۔

شمالی وزیرستان میں پولیس نے تصدیق کی ہے کہ شمالی وزیرستان کے مختلف علاقوں سے تحریک طالبان پاکستان کی جانب سے دھمکی آمیز پمفلٹ ملے ہیں مگر ان کا کہنا ہے کہ خوف کی کوئی بات نہیں اور شمالی وزیرستان میں عملی طور پر ان کے موجودگی کی کوئی اطلاع نہیں ہے۔

ضلع میران شاہ میں پولیس کے سربراہ شفیع اللہ نے انڈپینڈنٹ اردو کو بتایا کہ تحریک طالبان پاکستان کی جانب سے پھینکے گئے پمفلٹ سے کسی قسم کا کوئی خوف نہیں پھیلا اور لوگ پولیس کی کارکردگی سے مطمئن ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ پولیس ہر قسم کی دہشت گردی سے نمٹنے کے لیے تیار ہے اور فوج کے شانہ بشانہ کھڑی ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ پولیو ورکروں کو کئی ماہ سے دھمکیاں مل رہی ہے لیکن پولیو مہم پر اس کا کوئی اثر نہیں پڑا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ صوبائی اسمبلی کے انتخابات کے دوران بھی دھمکی ملی تھی مگر کچھ نہیں ہوا۔

پمفلٹ میں بتایاگیا ہے کہ کسی بھی پروگرام میں ڈی جے کے استعمال کرنے والوں کے خلاف سخت کارروائی ہو گی خواہ وہ گھر کے اندر ہو یا باہر کھلے میدان میں دونوں صورتوں میں ڈی جے کو لانے والوں کے خلاف انہوں نے کارروائی کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔

پمفلٹ شمالی وزیرستان کے مرکزی شہر میران شاہ، میر علی اور دوسرے شہروں میں تقسیم کیے گئے ہیں۔ اس پمفلٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ بازاروں اور کمپیوٹر کی دکانوں میں بلند آواز سے گانا بجانا بھی سختی سے منع ہے۔

پمفلٹ میں دعویٰ کیا گیا ہے کہ ہر تین بندوں میں سے ایک ان کا ہے اور طالبان کے احکامات کی خلاف ورزی کرنے والے لوگوں سے طالبان باخبر ہیں اور وہ اس غلط فہمی میں نہ رہیں کہ طالبان کو ان کی برائی کا علم نہیں۔ پمفلٹ میں کہاگیا ہے کہ کوئی بھی عورت گھر سے باہر اکیلی نہ نکلے اور عورت کا گھر سے باہر نکلنا پورے معاشرے کے لیے نقصان دہ ہے۔

قدامت پسند سمجھے جانے والے وزیرستان کے علاقے میں ویسے بھی خواتین بازاروں میں کوئی زیادہ دکھائی نہیں دیتیں، تاہم ان تازہ دھمکیوں کا باعث مبصرین کو سمجھ نہیں آ رہا۔

پمفلٹ میں پولیو ورکروں کو بھی خبردار کیا ہے کہ وہ پولیو قطرے کے دوران صرف بچوں کے انگلیوں پر نشانات لگائیں اور قطرے نہ پلائیں اگر کسی نے خلاف ورزی کی اور قطرے پلائے تو ان کے خلاف کارروائی کی جائے گی۔

پمفلٹ میں ان لوگوں کو دھمکی دی ہے جو علاقے میں طالبان شدت پسندوں کے خلاف جاسوسی کر رہے ہیں اور سرکاری اداروں کو طالبان کی موجودگی کی جاسوسی کرتے چلے آ رہے ہیں۔ ’ان جاسوسوں کو انجام تک پہنچائیں گے اور عنقریب ہی ان کو عبرت کا نشانہ بنائیں گے۔‘

اس پمفلٹ کے اوپر سرخی کے طور پر ’عزیز ساتھیو‘ درج ہے جبکہ جاری کنندہ میں تحریک طالبان پاکستان لکھا گیا ہے۔ یہ پمفلٹ باقاعدہ طور پر پرنٹ ہوا ہے اور اس میں وزیرستان کے عوام کو خبردار کیا گیا ہے۔

وزیرستان میں اس طرح کے پمفلٹ جاری کرنے کا یہ کوئی پہلا واقعہ نہیں ہے اور ماضی میں بھی مختلف اوقات میں لوگوں کو دھمکیاں یا انہیں کسی بات سے منع کرنے کے لیے اس طرح کے پمفلٹ جاری کیے جاتے رہے ہیں۔

جنوبی و شمالی وزیرستان میں گذشتہ کچھ عرصے سے جاسوسی کے الزامات یا نامعلوم افراد کی فائرنگ میں اضافہ ہوا ہے۔ گذشتہ دنوں جنوبی وزیرستان کے علاقے شکتوئی میں سلیم نامی ایک شخص کو نامعلوم افراد نے گھر کے اندر فائرنگ کرکے قتل کر دیا تھا۔

 شکتوئی سابق طالبان کمانڈر بیت اللہ کا آبائی گاؤں بتایا جاتا ہے۔ اس طرح جنوبی و شمالی وزیرستان میں گذشتہ ایک ہفتے کے دوران نامعلوم افراد کی فائرنگ کے نتیجہ میں چار افراد ہلاک ہوئے ہیں۔ اس کے علاوہ گذشتہ روز جنوبی و شمالی وزیرستان کے سنگم پر واقع علاقہ بازی خیل میں ایک بارودی سرنگ کے دھماکے میں چار بچے زخمی ہوگئے تھے۔

جنوبی وزیرستان سے اطلاعات ہیں کہ نہ صرف مقامی طالبان کی تعداد میں اضافہ ہوا ہے بلکہ افغانستان سے تعلق رکھنے والے طالبان بھی کھلے عام مسلح پھرتے دیکھے جا سکتے ہیں جس کی وجہ سے عوامی حلقوں میں خوف کی فضا موجود ہے۔

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari constitutes five member fact finding committee to ascertain the role of Party senators in the voting on no confidence motion in the senate

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari today constituted a five member fact finding committee to ascertain the role of Party senators in the voting on no confidence motion in the senate against Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Thursday & matters related thereto. Members of Committee are; 

Yousuf Raza Gilani, Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, Saeed Ghani, Sabir Baloch and Farhatullah Babar. The committee may also co-opt other members if necessary. The fact finding committee will also make recommendations about the resignations already submitted by party senators to Chairman PPP.

In a statement Farhatullah Babar said that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had expressed deep disappointment with the horse trading in the Senate on Thursday and decided to try to get to the bottom of it, expose those who played a dirty role, find out why the joint opposition was unable to remove Mr Sanjrani despite being in majority and to punish any party senator if found guilty of defection and violating party discipline. The decision to move no confidence against Chairman senate was taken unanimously at the June 26 multi party conference in Islamabad. The members of fact finding committee are drawn from all provinces. The Party hopes that other opposition parties will also investigate the matter with respect to their senators.

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2019/08/02/chairman-ppp-bilawal-bhutto-zardari-constitutes-five-member-fact-finding-committee-to-ascertain-the-role-of-party-senators-in-the-voting-on-no-confidence-motion-in-the-senate/

#Punjab Executive Meeting Chaired by Chairman #PPP Bilawal Bhutto

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Kulbhushan Jadhav: Understanding The ICJ Verdict From A Legal Standpoint – Analysis

By Govind Manoharan

During the Independence Day celebrations in 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude from the ramparts of the Red Fort to the people of Balochistan, a vast, highly disturbed region almost 1,000 km away from New Delhi. He then mentioned the joint Indian, Afghan, and Iranian efforts in developing the Chabahar Port in Iran, when only about 200 km and three months away, the Chinese sponsored Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan, would be inaugurated by the then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Again, in September 2016, a month after the prime minister’s shout-out to the people of Baloch,the region would be mentioned by India before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to highlight Pakistan’s poor human rights record.

Even before this sustained invective from India on Balochistan, Pakistan had already invited attention to India’s alleged presence in the region in March 2016, with the arrest of a retired Indian navy officer from Balochistan, Mr Kulbhushan Jadhav. The matter of his treatment under international law plunged the two countries into a diplomatic quagmire that finally saw a resolution at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019. While a verdict of the ICJ ought to be sparingly considered to be any resolution owing to the peculiarity of its jurisdiction (being rarely conclusive or binding), the decision on the claim brought by India against Pakistan resulted in three significant directions:

a.   Jadhav should be informed of his rights and India be granted consular access to him in accordance with the applicable treaty provisions;

b.   The conviction and death sentence awarded by a Pakistani military court would be subject to an effective review and reconsideration mechanism, of its own choosing; and,

c.   Stay of the execution of the death penalty awarded by Pakistan’s military court until the completion of the review process.

India’s claim was primarily founded on the violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, which mandated that the receiving state ought to inform the detained foreign national of their right to contact the appropriate consulate, and if requested, to grant consular access to the sending state. This claim, which was decided by the ICJ in favour of India, was a sure-shot winner—based on a literal interpretation of a treaty that both India and Pakistan were party to, considering there was no controversy regarding whether any consular access was, in fact, granted by Pakistan to India (it was not).

However, the remedy sought by India for setting aside the conviction and sentence awarded to Jadhav by the military tribunal for the offences of espionage, and consequently to acquit and repatriate Jadhav, was rejected by the Court. The ICJ could not to sit in appeal over criminal adjudication by domestic courts—a settled position on its jurisdiction which the court rightly inclined towards. Instead, the court directed that an effective review and reconsideration mechanism of Pakistan’s own choosing must be employed to revisit the conviction and sentence. This direction is worth a closer look.

The ICJ, after an analysis of the remedies available to Jadhav against the military tribunal’s decision as per the applicable domestic laws viz. the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and the Constitution of Pakistan, indicated—rather uncharacteristically—that Pakistan ought to provide an effective review mechanism, if necessary, by enacting legislation.This suggestion to enact legislation (in paragraph 146), although mandated to be one of the considerations for Pakistan while undertaking a fresh review, is likely to be ignored by Pakistan as this may be perceived as a violation of the sovereignty of the state.

The Army Act also covers any person accused of committing offences under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and terrorism-related offences (apart from the members of the armed and other allied forces), and consequently, subject them to trial offences under the Act before the court martial. Meanwhile, the jurisdiction of the high courts to issue a writ is provided under the Article 199 of the Constitution. ICJ’s unusual suggestion to amend the extant laws to make it more “effective” seems to be based on a limitation imposed on the powers of the high courts in Pakistan to issue writs to judicially review orders passed by the military courts.

Similar to provisions of the Indian Constitution, Article 199 specifically provides for the intervention of the high courts in matters of violation of fundamental rights, which include the right to fair trial and the right of an accused against self-incrimination. However, the decision of the Constitution Bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court in Said Zaman Khan’s case restricts the scope of judicial review of orders passed by the court martial under the Army Act to cases where there is either a demonstrable lack of jurisdiction, malice in law, bias and/or, insufficient or no evidence for conviction.

By leaving it to Pakistan’s own choosing, with a non-effective suggestion for enacting a better law, it is conceivable that Pakistan follows the same course with Jadhav as it did in the earlier round. The crucial factor for this round of review could be the possibility of adequate and effective legal advice and assistance that India may be able to offer Jadhav once consular access is granted, which Pakistan has agreed to provide post the ICJ verdict.

If the advice is to mount a challenge to the order of the military court before the high court on the limited grounds available, whether the violations of basic procedures to ensure dignity of treatment of foreign nationals under the Vienna Convention would warrant its interference in accord with parameters set by the Pakistan Supreme Court is debatable. India, on the other hand, as well as the ICJ, may find its hands tied if the conviction and death sentence is upheld in a judicial process in Pakistan in the second round.

While victories are being paraded on both sides (as seems to be the trend), a few words of caution—in the Avena case, even though the ICJ directed the US to provide effective review and reconsideration, one of the 51 Mexicans for whom this international dispute was agitated by Mexico was eventually executed.

With allegations by Pakistan that India is meddling in Balochistan and escalation of tensions between the two, this may be a time for effective diplomacy rather than legal gambles—at the end of the day, a person’s liberty is at stake.