A year ago, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Hakimullah Mehsud was reported to have been killed in a US drone strike. But the most-wanted fugitive emerged unscathed. On January 12, reports emerged of his killing in a US Predator drone strike. But is it true? Amir Mir reports from Islamabad.
Inciting the public to raise funds for jihad (holy war) is not allowed to individuals or any organisation in Pakistan and is considered as treason, the Lahore high court has ruled even as it dismissed appeals of two terrorists convicted for raising funds for a proscribed terror outfit.
The Centre on Saturday ruled out the possibility of holding talks with the Taliban and said that New Delhi will only be dealing with the legitimate government led by President Hamid Karzai.India believes that Taliban is the 'antagonist and not the protagonist' and is also aware of its collusion with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba, said sources. The LeT and the Taliban are specifically targeting Indians and Indian interests in the war-torn country, said sources.
For two decades the US paid in blood and blood money for dependence on Pakistan to carry out one president's boast. Now, having been defeated by its proxies, another president will go into Rawalpindi's embrace to satisfy his constituents, predicts Shekhar Gupta.
Although the report could not be confirmed, sources in the Pakistan army said that the troops had intercepted a phone call of Fazlullah, which indicated that he was hiding in Swat.
Bilawal Bhutto's political inheritance is his biggest asset as well as the biggest liability as he tries to make his mark in Pakistan politics. Challenging the Taliban militants is part of that strategy, though it matches with his political ideology. Shahzad Raza profiles the son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.
India has a new headache on hand: Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directing the Taliban to join them in their Kashmir battle. According to reports in the Intelligence Bureau, the fight for Kashmir will get even more intense with the Taliban agreeing to join the ISI in this fight.
Residents also reported, heavy artillery, tanks and ground troops in hundreds moving towards Buner as forces sought to drive the Taliban back into the Swat Valley. The army estimates there are 400-500 Taliban militants hiding in Buner.
"The operation will continue till the last Taliban militant is eliminated," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told media persons at the Islamabad airport on his return from the US. Malik's remarks come as Pakistani army and fighter jets resumed their pounding of Taliban positions after a nine hour pause ordered to lead the trapped civilians reach safer areas.
An audio message has been released in Pushto, circulated by Taliban commanders, where Akhundzada said, "Taliban will never bow their heads and will not agree to peace talks," reports Dawn.
Taliban has come under tremendous pressure following Pakistan's military action against the militant group in Swat valley and adjoining areas, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday.
Pakistan Army on Friday said it has arrested nearly 100 terrorists and foiled an imminent jailbreak attempt to free top Al Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, sentenced to death for the murder of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl in 2002.
A video showing Azizuddin, asking the Pakistan government to meet the demands of his abductors, including the release of some Taliban cadres, was aired by the Al Arabiya TV channel on Saturday. The militants holding Azizuddin, his driver and bodyguard had demanded the release of Taliban leader Mullah Obaidullah Akhund. They have also demanded the release of five or six other Pakistani and Afghan militants held by Pakistani authorities.
At least 22 Taliban militants were killed and scores wounded as Pakistani war planes kept up their relentless strikes on the bases of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in restive Waziristan, while police shot dead five other radicals in Karachi on Saturday.
Concerns that Afghanistan and India became too close in the post-2001 period was one reason why Pakistan was reluctant to act against Taliban and Al Qaeda, according to a report, which recommends engagement with the militants to end the conflict in the restive nation.
The Afghanistan cricket team might take a roundabout route to reach Sri Lanka for their three-match ODI series against Pakistan, scheduled to begin in Colombo on September 3.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, led by Hakimullah Mehsud, has intensified its assaults on Pakistani security forces in South Waziristan.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said India considers Taliban as a dreaded terror outfit, and wants Pakistan to take action against it along with other groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
Taliban chief Mullah Omar is dead, the Afghan government announced tonight, "confirming" reports about the one-eyed extremist leader who ruled the country with an iron fist between 1996 and 2001.
A top United Nations official has blamed Pakistan of blocking reconciliation efforts with the Taliban by arresting several top extremist commanders.Admitting that there were secret negotiations going on with the Afghan Taliban, former UN envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide criticised Pakistan for the arrests of high-profile Taliban leaders, including the second-in command Mullah Ghani Baradar, which he said has 'completely stopped a channel of secret communications with the UN'.
Secret talks between Pakistani security agencies and the local Taliban have entered a "decisive" phase and both sides are hopeful it will lead to a "lasting" agreement to restore peace in the country's restive northwestern tribal region, a media report said on Tuesday.
A prominent Sikh politician in Pakistan, who was gunned down last week, was killed by contract killers hired by his miffed Hindu rival after he failed to secure a ticket for elections, police said .
Together with US sanctions, the new action prohibits any financial transaction of these terror leaders in member countries of the United Nations, which is likely to put pressure on Pakistan to initiate operation against the group
Peace talks with the Taliban, trade and security would be high on the agenda during a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Former premier Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by Taliban, a chargesheet filed by Pakistani investigators to an anti-terrorism court has said, while giving clean chit to former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf of any involvement in the case.
Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan tried to undermine the Afghan government led by ex-president Hamid Karzai for helping "India stab Pakistan in the back".
The shocking footage of the shooting incident, which took place a few days back near the border of Orakzai tribal agency, was made available to a Pakistani media outlet on Friday.
The Pakistan army, while changing its operational priorities has described 'internal threats' such as anti-state terrorist groups as the biggest danger to the country's security.
The much anticipated peace talks between the Taliban and the United States might not happen as well, a US official said, as the Special US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan left Qatar without any talks with the Afghan insurgent group.
Dulat, who was advisor on Jammu and Kashmir to the central government during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, also advocated the need for starting a dialogue with Pakistan.
The court found 4 of the accused guilty and handed down the 25 year sentence.
Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed in a United States airstrike.
"He (Shahzad) visited Pakistan seven times in the last few years and he met Hakimullah Mehsud and also met other people, (including) leaders of the Taliban," Rahman Malik told media persons in Pabbi town in the country's northwest.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has urged the Taliban to stop suicide bombings and take the initiative of holding peace talks with the Pakistan government.
If the killing of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack is confirmed, it could set off a new power struggle within the Tehrik-eTaliban Pakistan, which may conclude with the naming of Qari Hussain, the chief instructor on suicide bombers, as the new Pak-Taliban chief, according to a report published in the New York Times.
General Sharif will meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other civil as well as military leaders during the day-long trip.
No one should be allowed to use Pakistan's territory to import or export terrorism, says Hamid Mir.
Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has reportedly been killed in Pakistan, an Afghanistan private television channel has reported.
Evidence gathered by Pakistani investigators has indicated that Taliban terrorists who attacked a key airbase last month had contacts with security personnel at the facility, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Pakistan is reportedly lobbying for new government in Kabul without Hamid Karzai as president.
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