Peshawar school reopens after Taliban massacre of students

PESHAWAR: Pakistani children and their parents returned on Monday to the school where Taliban gunmen killed 150 of their classmates and teachers, their green school blazers, Superman lunchboxes and hands clutched tightly to their parents a symbol of perseverance despite the horrors they had endured.

Pakistan has been reeling from the December 16 terrorist attack in Peshawar one of the worst the country has experienced. The violence carried out by seven Taliban militants has put a spotlight on whether the country can end the stubborn insurgency that kills and maims thousands every year. The violence also horrified parents across the nation and prompted officials to implement tighter security at schools.

For parents like Abid Ali Shah, getting ready for school Monday morning was horrifically painful. Shah's wife was a teacher at the school and was killed in the violence. Both of his sons attended the school. The youngest was shot in the head but survived after the militants thought he was dead. Monday morning they were late as they struggled with preparations previously done by Shah's wife.

"A hollowness in my life is getting greater. I am missing my wife," Shah said.

His older son, Sitwat Ali Shah, said he had managed to control his emotions. It wasn't until he saw his brother break down in tears that he did as well.

A ceremony was expected to be held at the school, but classes were not expected to be held until later this week.

Security was tight, part of a countrywide effort to boost safety measures at schools in the wake of the attack. Media and vehicles were kept hundreds of meters (yards) away from the school. The chief of Pakistan's army, Gen. Raheel Sharif, was on hand inside the school to greet students, a military spokesman said on Twitter.

For many, attending school Monday morning was an act of defiance and proof that they would not be cowed in the face of Taliban threats to attack again.

Andleeb Aftab, a teacher at the Army Public School, lost her 10th grade son, Huzaifa, in the attack. She arrived Monday wearing a black dress and black head scarf and walked briskly toward the school, where she had last seen her son alive.

"I have come here because the other kids are also my kids," she said. "I will complete the dreams of my son, the dreams I had about my son, by teaching other students. I have chosen to get back to school instead of sitting at home and keep mourning."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Pakistani military kills over 60 militants after school massacre

PAKISTANI jets and ground forces have killed 67 militants in a north-western tribal region near the Afghan border, officials say, days after Taliban fighters killed 148 people most of them children in a school massacre.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted to the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks a decision that outraged neighbouring India and called into question Pakistan’s commitment to fighting militancy.
The violence at a school in Pakistan’s northwest earlier this week stunned the country and brought cries for retribution. In the wake of the mass killing the military has struck targets in the Khyber tribal region and approved the death penalty for six convicted terrorists.

PAKISTAN MOURNS AFTER SCHOOL MASSACRE

The military said its ground forces late on Thursday killed 10 militants while jets killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander. Another 32 alleged terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley in Khyber on Friday as they headed toward the Afghan border, the military said.

Khyber agency is one of two main areas in the northwest where the military has been trying to root out militants in recent months. Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city before fleeing into the tribal region where police can’t chase them.

The other area is North Waziristan, where the military launched a massive operation in June.

In the southern province of Baluchistan, Pakistani security forces killed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader along with seven of his associates in three separate pre-dawn raids, said a tribal police officer, Ali Ahmed.

Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif late on Thursday signed death warrants of six “hard core terrorists” convicted and sentenced to death by military courts, the army said.

It was unclear when the military planned to hang the six men, but authorities generally move quickly once death warrants are signed. Such executions are usually carried out at prisons under the supervision of army officers and then the bodies are handed over to relatives for burial.

There was no information on the men or the crimes for which they were convicted.

The news comes after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases. The government has not yet carried out any executions.

The lifting of the moratorium was aimed at demonstrating the government’s resolve. But the decision by an anti-terrorism court Thursday to grant bail to the main suspect in the Mumbai attack, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, called into question that commitment.

Lakhvi is one of seven people on trial in Pakistan for the assault, but the trial has produced no results so far. It has been closed to the media.

India reacted with outrage to news of Lakhvi’s pending release.

Special public prosecutor Abu Zar Peerzada said he would appeal to the High Court to cancel the bail and said Lakhvi had not yet been released.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/

Fatwa declares Pakistan constitution a perfect Islamic document, fully Sharia-compliant

The federal government of Pakistan obtained this fatwa in order to try to stave off the Taliban, which is demanding that Sharia be implemented. The ominous aspect of the fatwa is that it ratifies Pakistan’s existing legal system, including the blasphemy law that Islamic supremacists use to victimize so many non-Muslims. “Religious decree: ‘Constitution completely in line with Sharia,’” from the Express Tribune, February 15 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The federal government on Friday obtained a fatwa (religious decree) declaring the Constitution of Pakistan completely in accordance with Islam from one of the country’s most prominent clerics, preempting any demand for the enforcement of Sharia the Taliban may voice during peace talks.

“Our Constitution is a complete document. The presence of 22 clauses proposed by the then leading religious scholars in the 1973 Constitution make it a perfect Islamic document,” observed Rafi Usmani, President of Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi.

In the three-page document which contained his recommendations, Usmani, who claims to be Pakistan’s grand mufti, condemned any move to create doubts regarding the Constitution. A copy of the document is available with The Express Tribune.

“Yes, when we talk about the implementation of Sharia laws, the government did a culpable negligence by not implementing these [22] clauses in letter and spirit,” Usmani had said after meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

However, those creating such confusions, he added, should know all sects had unanimously agreed to the 22 clauses.

The interior minister met senior clerics from Darul Uloom Karachi, Jamia Farooqia, Jamia Binoria and Jamia al Rashid, along with other leading clerics in Karachi on Thursday night.

To create confusion about sensitive documents and to damage national unity is a condemnable act, particularly at a time when Pakistan is facing worst kind of unrest, the clerics had said.

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Pakistan: Suspects in murder of Christian politician who opposed blasphemy law could go free due to jihad threats

How can the murderers of Shahbaz Bhatti be punished when so many people in Pakistan sympathize more with them than with their victim, and believe that the Christians who have been hounded and persecuted under that country’s blasphemy laws had it coming and deserved what they got?

More on this story. “Islamic Extremist Threats in Pakistan Could Quash Prosecution of Bhatti Murder,” by Jeremy Reynalds for ASSIST News Service, February 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS)

Suspects in the murder of Pakistan’s first Christian cabinet minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, could walk free due to intimidation tactics by Islamic extremists, Christians fear.

According to a story by Morning Star News, the suspects have confessed, according to Dr. Paul Bhatti, brother of former Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, who was gunned down on March 2 2011.

However, prosecution will be difficult after death threats from Islamic extremists forced Paul Bhatti to flee the country, and banned extremist groups are demanding the release of the suspects for progress in talks with government officials.

Paul Bhatti took responsibility for becoming the complainant in the case when the government’s prosecution slowed to a standstill, but he has left the country due to threats on his life by the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) terrorist organizations.

“I’ve been constantly threatened to withdraw the case, and just recently I received a letter from the Pakistani Taliban and LeJ warning me to stop pursuing the case, or else they will kill me,” Bhatti told Morning Star News by phone from Italy.

He added, “I informed the government and other concerned quarters about these threats, but I’m yet to hear something from their side.”

Bhatti has not given up on prosecuting, but Sub-Inspector Riaz Gondal, the investigating officer in the case, admitted that the suspects and their handlers did pose a serious threat to the murder victim’s brother.

“Indeed it is a serious matter perhaps this is why they hadn’t been pursuing the case,” he said, noting that Bhatti’s absence from hearings and reduced contact with investigators would impair prosecution. “We did our job and arrested the accused. It’s now up to the court to punish them. But if the complainant does not show up at the hearings, there’s little hope for the killers to be convicted.”

Bhatti said that the public prosecutor assigned by the Punjab government had refused to pursue the murder case in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

“I then hired a lawyer on my own, although it was the responsibility of the Punjab government,” he said.

Asked why the government was not the complainant in the murder case of its cabinet minister instead of the victim’s brother, especially with the case carrying such high risks, Gondal said, “I was assigned the investigation some months ago, so I can’t really say why Shahbaz Bhatti’s brother became the complainant in the case. As for the government’s role in this matter, the police are doing their job, and arrests of the accused are a testimony of their efforts.”

Morning Star News said Gondal denied receiving any information regarding the threats to Paul Bhatti.

Prisoner Release

Complicating the case is the possibility that the suspects could be released as part of an agreement for government talks with banned Muslim extremists groups.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has reportedly demanded the release of Bhatti’s alleged assassins along with other imprisoned terrorists as a pre-condition for progress in “peace talks” with the government.

Bhatti said that it was the government’s responsibility to keep the murderers of a sitting cabinet minister from walking free.

“The men themselves confessed to killing my brother,” Morning Star News reported he said. “I’m certain that they are the real culprits, because the Taliban are demanding their release. It would be very unjust if the government submits to the Taliban demand.”

Almost three years have passed since Bhatti’s murder, but the trial has barely begun. Islamabad police believe the latest threatening letters were sent to pressure Bhatti following the arrest of four Islamic extremists accused of killing his brother Omar Abdullah, Hammad Adil, Abdul Sattar and one identified only as Tanveer, who all belong to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Adil had already been detained for planning attacks on key installations in Islamabad; a vehicle laden with 120 kilograms of explosives was recovered from his residence.

Adil and Abdullah reportedly confessed to killing Bhatti and named the two accomplices, who were detained shortly afterwards.

In June 2011, then-Islamabad Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Alam submitted a joint investigation report to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Minorities saying that police had decided to shelve the Bhatti murder case as investigators could not find any leads.

The case was reopened on Sept. 30, 2013, at the request of Capital Police, and a joint investigation team was formed following the arrest of Adil.

Gondal, the investigator and officer in charge of the Sabzi Mandi Police Station, said police have filed charge sheets against Adil and Abdullah and sent them to jail on judicial remand. The other two suspects will also be formally charged soon, he added.

Gondal said he could not comment on chances of the suspects walking free as a result of a deal between the government and Taliban.
“I can’t comment on this issue, because it’s for the government to decide,” he said. “But I hope they know how dangerous these men are.”

The right-wing government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is holding “peace talks” with the Taliban. Among the preconditions set by the terrorists for a “meaningful outcome of the talks” is the release of Pakistani and foreign terrorists languishing in Pakistani jails.

Most political analysts believe that the government might release some Taliban prisoners as a confidence-building measure with the Taliban.

Prominent human rights activist Asma Jahangir said that if the government caved in to the Taliban demand and released all terrorists affiliated with the group, then it might as well set free all other prisoners languishing in jails across the country.

“The Taliban have killed thousands of innocent people and members of security forces in the last seven years,” Jahangir said. “How can the government even think of negotiating with such barbarians? The government must not accept the Taliban’s demand for release of hard-core militants, as the peace talks may turn out to be a Taliban ploy to get their friends released from prisons.”

An Interior Ministry senior official refused to comment on the eventuality of any person involved in Bhatti’s murder being released as part of a deal between the government and terrorists.

“The government has not taken any such decision as yet, but the final authority rests with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” he said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to media, he told Morning Star News that officials had received Paul Bhatti’s application for provision of security due to Taliban threats to him.

“We are looking into the matter,” the official said. “Almost every other important person is facing high risk, but it is not possible for us to provide extensive security cover to everyone given our limited resources.”

Lack of progress in the case at one time led Bhatti to lose hope that the killers would ever be brought to justice, said the former minister for national harmony and minority affairs, appointed to replace his brother.

“However, when the police announced that they had the assassins in its custody and shared the investigation details with us, I thought that perhaps my brother’s killers would be punished for their crime,” he said. “But there has been little progress over all.”

Morning Star News said he doesn’t plan to remain in Italy.

“I know we are potential targets, but we will not give up,” he said. “Those threatening us are the same people who are responsible for the murders of my brother and countless other innocent people in Pakistan.”

He said that after the murder of his brother, he left his medical practice in Italy and returned to Pakistan to continue Shahbaz’s mission. He was selected as chairman of his brother’s party, the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, and was accommodated in the federal cabinet in place of the late minister.

Since the Pakistan Peoples Party lost power last year, however, risks have increased, Bhatti said.

Two months before Shahbaz Bhatti was killed, Punjab Gov. Salmaan Taseer, a Muslim, was assassinated on Jan. 4 2011.

Morning Star News said Al Qaeda-linked militants targeted both men for their criticism of the country’s blasphemy laws and for their defense of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother sentenced to death for allegedly blaspheming Islam’s prophet. She has been waiting for three years to have her appeal heard.

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Taliban negotiators: No peace until Pakistan embraces Islamic law

This dogma in the West can only be questioned on pain of charges of “Islamophobia” and “bigotry”: the Taliban misunderstands, misinterprets and hijacks Islam, and true Muslims abhor its twisted version of their peaceful religion. Some Islamic apologists in the West even claim that the Taliban and Muslim leaders such as Maulana Abdul Aziz (pictured above) aren't Muslims at all. Yet these misunderstanding of Islam, these non-Muslims, these impious opportunists who only use religion as a cover, insist on Pakistan fully implementing Islamic law. The learned analysts offer no explanation for this anomaly.
“,” from AFP, February 5
Negotiators representing Taliban insurgents said Wednesday there was no chance of peace in Pakistan until the government embraces Islamic shariah law and US-led forces withdraw completely from neighboring Afghanistan.
The tough conditions appear to deal a blow to hopes that talks with the Pakistani government could end the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency that has rocked the nuclear-armed country since 2007.
Initial peace talks failed to get under way Tuesday when the government delegation refused to meet the militants’ negotiators, citing confusion about the make-up of their team.
The two sides are expected to try to meet again on Thursday or Friday, though no definite arrangements have yet been made.
Washington and Kabul have been deadlocked over a pact known as the Bilateral Security Agreement, which would allow some US troops to stay on in Afghanistan beyond 2014, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai refusing to sign it.
Its supporters say the pact is crucial to Afghanistan’s stability after the bulk of NATO forces pull out.

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