Wednesday, May 13, 2015

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China - Xi to give Modi a hometown welcome



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his first trip to China since taking office a year ago by visiting the temple where Buddhist monk Xuanzang translated scriptures after an epic 17-year journey to India.
He will be given the highest-level reception when he arrives on Thursday, with President Xi Jinping accompanying him throughout his stay in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province. It is very rare for Chinese leaders to accompany foreign guests outside Beijing.
"President Xi invited me to visit his hometown," Modi told his micro-blog followers on Sina Weibo.
Xi's family is from Shaanxi province, and when he visited India in September the trip began with Modi greeting the Chinese president in his home state, Gujarat.
"I expect to visit the famous historic city closely related to Xuanzang," Modi wrote.
Xuanzang was a key figure in Chinese Buddhism who lived during the early years of the Tang Dynasty (AD 617-907). He set off on his arduous trip to India, studied there for 17 years, then brought back many Buddhist sutras and translated them into Chinese.
"Xi'an symbolizes the two countries' cultural exchanges," said Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
"It's apparent the leaders are seeking to deepen their personal ties and highlight the two civilizations' cultural links by making Xi'an the first stop."
Hu said Xi'an, previously known as Chang'an, was a major city at the start of the ancient Silk Road, and the visit is a way for Modi to welcome China's "One Belt, One Road Initiative".
Ashok Kantha, India's ambassador to China, said: "Last year, you all saw how Prime Minister Modi warmly welcomed President Xi. This time you will also see President Xi and Premier Li (Keqiang) welcome Prime Minister Modi in a special way."
Ram Madhav, the general secretary of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, said: "The greatest impediment in India-China relations is the trust deficit. By engaging with each other swiftly, the two leaders demonstrated that they are determined to address and reduce the trust deficit.
"Managing a number of contradictions is the real challenge for the governments. In the given geostrategic and geopolitical situation, enhancing mutual trust and establishing a strong working relationship at various levels right up to the top is of utmost importance, which the two leaders seem to realize."
After Xi'an, Modi travels to Beijing where Li will host a welcoming ceremony. The two leaders will have an official meeting and attend cultural exchange events.
Modi has prepared carefully for the trip, and opened his Sina Weibo account so he could make contact with the people of China. The Indian embassy said he edited his first posting early on the morning of May 4 and asked his staff to translate it into Chinese. He wrote six pieces over the next five days and attracted more than 46,000 fans.
Modi's three-day visit will also take him to the financial hub of Shanghai, where he will meet business leaders and members of the Indian community.
Kantha said the countries are likely to agree on more than 10 projects and sign at least 20 agreements on economic and trade cooperation during the visit.
Le Yucheng, China's ambassador to India, said that if the visit goes well, the value of the deals to be signed will exceed $10 billion.
China is India's largest trading partner, with trade volume set to reach $100 billion this year.

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Anti-Shia attacks in Pakistan on the rise

Pakistan has seen a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent times, particularly against Shias — of which the Ismaili community is a sub-sect — who make up around 20 percent of the country's predominantly Muslim population. 

In the past, there have been instances of anti-Ismaili violence in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, mostly in the form of communal flare-ups. 

In 2013, a bomb attack at Karachi's Aisha Manzil killed four and injured 42 others. The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks. 

Wednesday's incident in Karachi in which 43 people belonging to the Ismaili community were gunned down in a bus was the worst anti-Shia attack in the country since January 30, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in the southern Shikarpur district, killing 61. 

Anti-Shia attacks have been increasing in recent years in Karachi and also in Quetta, the northwestern area of Parachinar and the far northeastern town of Gilgit. 

At least 1,000 Shias have been killed in the past two years in Pakistan, with many of the attacks being claimed by the hardline Sunni group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which views them as heretics. 

Ismailis are known for their progressive Islamic views. Their spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan is a globally renowned philanthropist and business magnate. 

"The dead and injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital," an official of the Ismaili National Council, a group that represents the community, said after Wednesday's massacre. 

The bus belonged to the Al-Azhar Garden Colony, an Ismaili community housing project in Karachi. It was on a regular run to Federal B Area of the port city of Karachi.

Pakistan's Shia Under Attack - Attack on Ismaili community

IT is the vibrancy and plurality of Pakistan that the militants wish to destroy. In targeting Ismailis in Karachi, the militants have grotesquely reiterated their message to the country: no one — absolutely no one — who exists outside the narrow, distorted version of Islam that the militants propagate is safe in Pakistan. The Aga Khan has spoken of “a senseless act of violence against a peaceful community”. In their hour of desolation, it is only right that the Shia Ismaili community’s supreme leader has taken a dignified line and sought to comfort what will surely be a deeply anxious community. There is though clear sense recognisable in the attack. As the Peshawar school massacre delivered a devastating psychological blow to the country, so will the Karachi attack prove to be an immensely demoralising episode. And as the Peshawar school massacre forever altered the basic school-day routine of tens of millions of Pakistanis, so yesterday’s attack will tighten the already suffocating blanket of fear over various Muslim sects and non-Muslims. The darkness continues to engulf this country.
The brutal attack against the Ismaili community also raises some very specific questions in the context of Karachi and the security policy being pursued in the provincial capital. Clearly, whatever the state has done over the last 18 months in Karachi, there is no rational expectation that no more terrorist attacks will occur or that all terrorist attacks will be foiled. But there is a sense that the militarised strategy being pursued in Karachi is the wrong one — and that the focus of that militarised strategy, ie the MQM’s militant elements — is too narrow. There are still areas — several ethnic ghettoes — in Karachi that remain effectively cut off from the rest of the city and where law-enforcement personnel only enter on occasion. A strategy based on raids, arrests and, if necessary, killings can never rescue such neighbourhoods from the militants. Then, there has been virtually no discernible action against the extremist mosque-madressah-social welfare network that serves as an indoctrination and recruitment nexus for militants. Simply breaking up existing cells of militants does little to ensure the next generation of militant cells and groups are not being created.
In addition, what of the capacity of an intelligence apparatus that has to keep track of a wide spectrum of threats in Karachi? Surely, that is a task too far for the military-run intelligence agencies alone. There are occasional noises about the civilian-run intelligence and law-enforcement apparatus being part of the operational and strategic loop, but few believe that to be the case anymore. Finally, for all the problems with a military-dominated security policy in Karachi, why has the Sindh government allowed itself to become near irrelevant? The civilian side of the state needs to be more influential and assertive in the security domain, but in Sindh it appears that the government has nil interest in such an endeavour.

ISIS KILLS 45 CITIZEN AND EXPOSED ITS PRESENCE IN PAKISTAN

The Wahhabi deadly terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, also known as IS and ISIL) has exposed its presence in Pakistan after killing 45 citizens on Wednesday in Karachi.
This is the first time that ISIS claimed its existence in Pakistan by threatening the government and Pakistan army for more terrorist attacks like the bus-firing incident of Safora Chowk Karachi.
The lethal terrorist group hurled letters, threatening to the government, Army and other Muslim sects, on the crime scene after carrying out fatal attack on the bus carrying 60 members of Shia Ismaili community to Ismaili Jamat Khana. In the incident, at least 45 people were killed and 13 wounded.
Pakistani law-enforcement agencies have found out the letters of the Wahhabi terrorists from the crime scene of the bus-firing incident, which shows the presence of ISIS members in Pakistan.
The letters are written in both the languages, English and Urdu. The federal interior minister categorically refused the existence of ISIS in Pakistan, but this incident negated what the minister had said earlier. According to reports,
This incident has become the next challenge for the military to prevent the ISIS from claiming a hold on the country. Although the Ministry of Interior insists that there is no sign of the terrorist group in Pakistan, intelligence reports have ISIS leaders traveling from the Middle East to Punjab province, where they are believed to have the support of members of Jundullah, one of a number of Pakistani terrorist groups that had pledged allegiance to ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
General Raheel Sharif is required to take action this emerging group. Pakistan has been a haven for extremists or Islamists militants belonging to various outfits, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban), al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jundallah, Jamaat ul Ahrar, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), and the Haqqani network. All of these radical groups follow the extreme political and religious views of Wahhabism or Deobandi fundamentalism. These groups have demonstrated their resilience, as they have been fighting the Pakistan army – the world’s sixth largest army – since 2004.
http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/16024-isis-kills-45-citizen-and-exposed-its-presence-in-pakistan

Pakistan - Federal Government Depriving Balochistan Of Its Rights

Federal government is taking decisions that are depriving Balochistan of its legitimate rights, learnt The Balochistan Point.
Federal government had stopped release of funds of Rs. 15 billion that were approved during visit of Prime Minister to Quetta last month.
This issue was raised by Provincial Minister Sardar Aslam Bizenjo in Balochistan Assembly on Monday.
“I have been told that these funds would be used by Federal Government for a solar energy project in Pakistan,” replied Dr. Malik Baloch, Chief Minister of Balochistan, in assembly.
“Electricity generated from solar energy project would be incorporated in National electric grid and Balochistan will not benefit from it,” lamented members of Balochistan assembly.
In separate news, vacancy of Additional Attorney General (AAG) for Balochistan has been shifted to Punjab, reported Jang Quetta on Tuesday.
Federal government had created two vacancies for AAG in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). A person from KP was appointed as AAG but the vacancy of Balochistan has been shifted to Punjab and a lawyer from Kashmir has been appointed on it.
“This is yet another example of how Federal government treats Balochistan like a colony and ignores it’s in every walk of life,” Manzoor, a Law student told The Balochistan Point.

Pakistan Shia's Under Attack - Vicious Cycle

The identities change, the locations change, the weapons change, but every few months essentially the same tragedy takes place; a peaceful minority is targeted in a deadly attack by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or their affiliates and the government stands in the wake of the carnage, dumbfounded. Perhaps the real tragedy is the fact that after each attack, the state follows a set format; the senior officials take ‘notice’, a few token junior officials are suspended, generic condemnations pour in, a joint investigation team is constituted, and an insufficient, and ultimately non-existent, compensation scheme is announced. Does the government consider its job done when it makes the correct political statements in the correct, mournful tenor? Do the lives of minorities mean so little? As the bodies pile up, the government has to answer several pressing questions.
Why was security not provided to the Ismaili transport when it is a known fact that the community is under threat and has been attacked before? Little more than a year ago the TTP released a video, declaring their war on the Ismaili and Kalash community. If security was actually provided what is the explanation for this lapse? The matter must be investigated and the results bought to the fore; an immediate suspension of the area’s Station House Officer (SHO) and District Superintendent of Police (DSP) before any facts are determined is not accountability. It show a reactionary mindset, that is more concerned with deflecting fault and appearing pro-active, rather than one that is concerned with actually fixing the breach. Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah must do more than bandy about empty gestures.
That being said, majority of the security related decisions in Karachi are being made by the Rangers, which come under the preview of the army. If they claim responsibility for the stabilization of Karachi’s volatile situation they must also shoulder the blame for the instability they are unable to control. However, the more pertinent questions lie at the doorstep of the military top brass. Despite claiming victory and remarkable progress in the military operations, the attacks against minorities continue unabated. At fixed intervals, military sources reveal the number of militants killed in the army operation – a number that increases day by day – yet no change is seen on the ground. The whole operation is shrouded in secrecy; no account is given of the military actions, no objective analysis of progress is presented. Are sectarian groups part of the operations mandate, or does the operation focus on anti-state actors? Is the ISIS threat, manifested through its affiliates – such as Jandullah, kept in check? These questions, amongst several others need to be answered.

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It’s Time to Stop Holding Saudi Arabia’s Hand


This week's Camp David summit is an opportunity for Washington to send the Gulf a tough message: We're friends with benefits, not long-term lovers.


The picture of President George W. Bush leading an aged Saudi King Abdullah by the hand through the gardens of his Texas ranch in 2005 has become both iconic and symbolic of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. For over 40 years, the United States has walked hand-in-hand with Saudi Arabia through the thicket of Middle Eastern crises.
On May 14, at Camp David, another bucolic presidential setting, President Barack Obama is convening a special summit with Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partners to begin a new phase in their relationship. But, for the first time, it appears there will be less hand-holding and more tough talk. The United States will use the summit to hear the GCC’s concerns about Iran, but will likely explain frankly to the Arab monarchies that there will be no new U.S.-GCC defense pact or blanket security assurances from the United States. If the president delivers the right messages to whomever shows up at the summit, the U.S.-GCC relationship has the potential to become more productive than ever before.
The Saudis are clearly angry about this approach. On Sunday, they announced that King Salman, the new Saudi king who took power in January, will remain in Riyadh, sending the crown prince to Camp David in his stead. (In the end, only two GCC heads of state — from Kuwait and Qatar — will attend.) Such petulance is a common negotiating tactic in these circumstances. It often produces the desired ripples in the American media to the effect that U.S. influence in the region is waning and the Saudi-American relationship is in trouble.
In part, the media’s focus is warranted. President Obama has implied that the purpose of this summit is to assuage the concerns of those countries most worried about the Iranian nuclear deal. Reassuring partners under such circumstances is a natural and normal reaction. It is certainly the traditional U.S. response to placating irritated and frightened allies. There is pressure within the government to cook up “deliverables” for the summit that might make the Saudis and their GCC partners feel loved by the United States.
But as the decision of most GCC leaders not to attend indicates, there is not much on the table that will reassure them. And that’s fine. It would be wrong to make reassurance the centerpiece of this summit — for three fundamental reasons.
First, Saudi Arabia and its GCC partners are not formal treaty allies of the United States and, moreover, they often do not act as friends. The United States is a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional democracy committed to universal human rights. Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian monarchy committed to maintaining a society based on harsh political repression, religious intolerance, and a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam at odds with universally recognized human rights. Some GCC countries are in fact often the source of both the ideology and the money that supports Islamist terrorism around the world. And GCC interests and U.S. interests increasingly diverge over issues such as Iran, Syria, the need for internal reforms in the Gulf states, and how to deal with the regional threat of political Islam. The United States, Saudi Arabia, and its GCC partners can and do cooperate on a selective basis, but their relationship with the United States will necessarily remain transactional — more a long series of one-night stands than a committed relationship.
Second, America’s commitment to Saudi and GCC security is not and should not be absolute. Since the mid-1970s, the United States and the Gulf Arab countries have been allies on a variety of security issues. But this has been based on a hard-nosed bargain: “The United States will protect you against external threats to your security and you will support America’s goals and interests in the region and help stabilize global energy markets.” Over time, this bargain has allowed the Arab states to foist their regional security responsibilities onto the United States — and then blame America when things go wrong. Regardless of the rhetoric from both sides, the Arab states get the better end of the bargain. And they need it more than the United States does. This is particularly true now that the global energy market has diversified and is less subject to volatile price spikes. Yet paradoxically, even though Gulf states’ dependence on the U.S. security guarantee and changes in energy markets should increase Washington’s leverage, American officials often convince themselves that they need to change U.S. policy more than Persian Gulf partners need to change theirs. To paraphrase former President Bill Clinton, every now and then we have to remind ourselves who the superpower is in the relationship.
Third, Washington’s never-ending reassurances over the years have created an unhealthy dependence on the United States, instead of encouraging the Gulf countries to become more independent, capable, and to stand up on their own feet when it comes to providing for their own security from external aggression. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does the United States government. The collective weakness of the GCC states has created a security deficit in the region. It is long past time for the GCC states to produce more security than they consume. As Obama has noted, “the biggest threats that [Sunni Arab States] face may not be coming from Iran invading. It’s going to be from dissatisfaction inside their own countries.” U.S. reassurances to protect these countries against external attack distract from their problems at home that include a growing population of disaffected youth, chronically high levels of unemployment, and poor human rights records. Instead, the United States should be leaning on them more heavily to enact domestic reforms.
As the GCC states become more independent, the United States will not always like the solutions they come up with to deal with regional security issues, such as the ongoing civil war in Yemen or whatever crisis might arise next. At times, U.S. officials will need to seek difficult compromises. But in most circumstances Gulf state ownership of their problems — and the solutions — will lead to better outcomes than American-led efforts, particularly military intervention.
Iran will continue to harbor ambitions for regional domination and pursue policies that pose a serious threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East. The Iran nuclear deal, if successful, will nonetheless allow the United States to begin to recast its bargain with the GCC countries, because it will remove the principal direct threat to U.S. interests from Iran. The United States will be able to insist that the GCC states assume greater responsibility for their own security — and that means the United States will be able to avoid direct military interventions in messy Middle Eastern civil wars. The willingness of Saudi Arabia to seek its own solution to instability in Yemen and the Arab League’s decision to form a joint Arab military force are positive signs of increased burden-sharing from the Gulf.
The long-term goal is not to get into bed with Iran. Rather, it is to use the relationship with Iran to get out of bed with Saudi Arabia. The United States will increase its diplomatic leverage with the GCC states if they know that Washington is playing the field. The GCC needs to understand that the U.S. goal in the Persian Gulf is to maintain a regional balance, not to allow them to emerge victorious in their struggle with Iran.
This week’s GCC summit is the perfect venue to deliver these messages. It is an opportunity for the president to demand more responsible behavior and greater cooperation from Gulf leaders instead of again reassuring them of an undying American commitment to their security. In the end, this will make for a scratchier summit, but a much more realistic, and therefore more productive, relationship between the United States and the GCC states. Hand-holding is nice, but in international relations at least, promiscuity also has its advantages.

Pakistan Christian Congress condemn killing of Ismailia community members in terror attack

Dr. Nazir s Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC has strongly condemned terrorist attack on bus carrying members of Ismaili Community for worship and killing of 47 women and men in metropolitan city Karachi.

Terrorist riding three motorbikes stopped bus carrying Ismaili community members near Safora Goath and opened fire killing 47 and injuring more than dozen according to government of Sindh.

The attackers fled from scene after target killing of Ismaili community members in a city where armed forces are conducting operation against terrorists and target killers.

Nazir Bhatti said that Ismaili community is peaceful community like Christians in Pakistan and it is sad that they are also under attack now when Christians have been target of terrorists and faced attacks on their Churches and massacre of Christian worshipers.

Nazir Bhatti demanded adequate security of religious minorities in Pakistan and expressed grief on killing of Ismaili community individuals in Karachi.

Nazir Bhatti announced that Christians of Sindh will join mourning of massacre of Ismaili community members tomorrow in Karachi.

Pakistan - Two Shias shot in Quetta

t least two Shia Muslims were shot martyred while four others including a police constable sustained injuries by the firing of takfiri terrorists of Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) on Tuesdayin Quetta, The Shia Post reported.
The incident took place when some terrorists of ASWJ shot down Ali Raza and Ashraf Ali who came to rickshaw shop, whereas four others identified as Sufian Ali, Mohammad Ismail, Sadiq Ali, Mohammad Abbas and constable Ashraf Ali got severely injured.
Martyr Ashraf Ali was an International Footballer.
According to police, the injured are under treatment at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) where the doctors stated that two of them are in critical condition.
Moreover, security personnel cordoned off the entire area to initiate investigation into the matter.
http://en.shiapost.com/2015/05/13/two-shias-shot-martyred-in-quetta/

'IS,' Taliban both claim Pakistan bus attack on a Shiite minority group

A bus attack has killed scores in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi. Two Islamist terrorist groups have claimed responsibility for the attack on a Shiite minority group on their way to worship services.
Attackers wielding pistols and machine guns stormed a bus in Karachi, Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 43 people and injuring a dozen more belonging to the minority Ismaili Shiite religious group, the latest attack in a spate of sectarian violence that has rocked the country in recent months.
Officials could not immediately confirm who had carried out the attack, as two different Islamist extremist groups claimed responsibility for it. A Pakistani Taliban offshoot which calls itself Jundullah, or Army of God, called the press to say "infidels were the target" of the killings while a Pakistani affiliate of the "Islamic State" (IS) group made a similar announcement.
"Thanks be to Allah, 43 apostates were killed and around 30 were wounded in an attack carried out by Islamic State soldiers on a bus transporting Shiite Ismaili infidels in the city of Karachi," read the statement on an IS-linked Twitter account.
Provincial police chief Ghulam Haider Jamali said that whoever was responsible, it was not an amateur attack: "These are the same people who have been doing terrorism before."
The bus was traveling through the outskirts of the city on the way to worships services for its Ismaili passengers when six gunmen boarded it, Jamali said. The attackers asked the Shiites on the bus to bow their heads before opening fire.
"Six terrorists came on three motorcycles, they entered the bus and began firing indiscriminately," Jamali told reporters.
IS claims thousands of Pakistani supporters
The bus, riddled with bullet holes, was still able to make it to the local hospital despite the driver being among the wounded, according to a security guard there.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack as an "attempt to create chaos" in a "very peaceful and patriotic community."According to an inter-governmental memo obtained by the Associated Press, IS claims to have around 12,000 supporters in Pakistan, while the Pakistani Taliban has been leading an insurrection in hopes to unseat the government in Islamabad for more than decade.
Wednesday's attack follows another anti-Shiite attack on January 30, in which a suicide bomber entered a mosque and killed 61 people including himself. About a month before that, Taliban militants killed 150 people, mostly children, at an army school in retaliation for military strikes against Talibani targets.

Pakistan - Polio case detected in Charsadda as count rises to 23 this year

A new polio case was confirmed on Tuesday from the Shabqadar Tehsil of Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where two-year-old Muhamad Rahem was dignosed with the virus, according to Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) officials in Charsadda.
With this case, the number of polio-affected patients detected in Pakistan this year has gone up to 23, of which 10 were reported from KP alone.
Sources said World Health Organisation (WHO) and EPI officials visited Rahem’s home and questioned his parents on the child’s condition. But EPI’s provincial coordinator for KP— Dr Taimur— did not confirm the fresh polio case.
He did however say that so far in 2015, nine polio cases (excluding Rahem) have been registered in the province: five from Peshawar, two from Tank and one each in Lucky Marwat and Nowshehra.
Pakistan’s fight against polio has in recent times been marred by militants who target vaccination teams, especially in the northern and tribal areas of the country, where terrorists have carved out hideouts for themselves.
In November last year, four health workers— including three women— were killed and three others injured in an attack on a vehicle of a polio vaccination team in Quetta. This resulted in other workers boycotting a provincial vaccination campaign in Balochistan.
In late 2012, six polio workers were shot dead in Karachi during a nationwide polio vaccination drive, in one of the deadliest attack on health officials in the country.
As one of the three countries in the world where polio remains a threat to date, the WHO last year made it mandatory for all Pakistanis travelling abroad to have at least one dose of the anti-polio vaccine.
Last year was one of the country’s worst in terms of the number of polio cases, with the count reaching 306, marking the first time in almost 14 years that the number exceeded 200.

Pakistan - Bilawal Bhutto condemns terrorists attack on Karachi bus

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com


Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party has strongly condemned the worst terrorist attack on a passenger bus in Karachi. “The brazen attack in the city center seems to be an open challenge to the society as a whole and the law enforcing agencies in particular,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sympathized with the victims and urged for stern action against the terrorists.

Pakistan - Former President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemns Karachi tragedy


https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/

Former President Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the barbaric and brutal attack on a bus in Karachi in which according to reports 43 innocent citizens from Ismaili community have been killed and more than a dozen have been injured.
Former President in a message called the attack despicable and barbaric on innocent citizens travelling in a bus in Karachi. He said it was a shameful act and cowardice on the part of attackers to attack innocent citizens of one of the most peaceful communities in Pakistan. He said his heart goes out with the victims’ families.
He said that on hearing the news he immediately instructed Chief Minister Sindh to proceed to Karachi and monitor relief activities. He said that Sindh Government will provide every help to the victims’ families and bring the attackers to book.
He prayed to Almighty Allah to grant eternal peace to the departed souls and early recovery of injured. He also prayed for strength and fortitude to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity.

Karachi Terror Attack: 47 Killed as Gunmen Open Fire Inside Bus, Pamphlet Claims Islamic State Role

At least 47 people were killed in Pakistan's Karachi on Wednesday when terrorists entered a packed bus and opened fire.

The police said 25 men and 16 women were killed. There were around 60 passengers, including children, on the bus, mostly from the Ismaili community.

Witnesses say six men came on three motorbikes, entered the bus and fired indiscriminately for nearly 10 minutes. Most passengers were reportedly shot in the head at close range.

The bus driver is believed to have been shot first.

"There were six terrorists on three bikes. They got off the bikes, climbed the bus and opened fire using 9 mm pistols," senior police officer Najib Khan told reporters.

A pamphlet found at the site has claimed the role of the Islamic State in the killings and has threatened more attacks.

The bus reportedly belongs to the Al-Azhar Garden Colony, which is an Ismaili housing project in Karachi. It picked up people for work and dropped them off every day.

Ismaili Shiites are known for their progressive Islamic views. Their spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan is a globally renowned philanthropist and business magnate.

This is the worst anti-Shiite attack since January 30, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in the southern Shikarpur district, killing 61.

The attack sparked protests from civil society groups at some places, including the capital, Islamabad.

Anti-Shiite attacks have been increasing in recent years in Karachi and in other cities like Quetta and Gilgit. Around 1,000 Shiites have been killed in the past two years in Pakistan.

Today's attack comes as Pakistan steps up its efforts against militants following a Taliban massacre of 150 people, mainly children, in a school in Peshawar last year.

In the aftermath the government ended a six-year moratorium on executions, passed legislation to create military courts for terrorism cases, and pledged to crack down on all militant groups.

Pakistan - 43 Ismaili Shias killed, several injured as Pro-ISIS terrorists open fire on bus in Karachi

At least 43 people including 16 women of Ismaili Shia Community were killed, and several others wounded when armed pro-Taliban Deobandi terrorists of Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) aka Sipah-e-Sahaba and Jundullah opened fire on a bus near Safoora Chowk area in Karachi, The Shia Post reports.
A pamphlet found at the site has claimed the role of pro-ISIS terrorist group Jundullah and Sajina group of ASWJ and has threatened more attacks on all Shia communities.
A leaflet allegedly from Daesh Khurasan (ISIS) was said by an official to have been left at the scene of the incident alongside leaflets in Urdu… though as yet there is no claim from the main body of ISIS.
The bus belongs to the Al-Azhar Garden Colony, which is an Ismaili Shia Community housing project in Karachi. It was on its regular route headed towards Federal B Area of Karachi.

According to a rescue official, over 65 people were travelling on their way to serve their jobs in different offices and organizations when the attack took place.
The attackers managed to escape from the scene after the incident.
An eye-witness said around eight to ten men riding five to six motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on a bus, wounding several passengers.
Security and rescue teams reached the spot. Fear and panic gripped the area after the attack.
Rescue personnel shifted the victims to nearby hospitals where an emergency has been imposed. Five of the wounded succumbed to their wounds while en route to the hospital, according to rescue sources.
The condition of several wounded was reported as critical and the death-toll is expected to increase.
A senior police official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media, told Dawn that the attackers entered the bus and shot the passengers in the head.
“The gunmen stopped the bus and first fired at it from outside,” a policeman told AFP. “Then they entered inside the bus and open fire indiscriminately. After that they checked to see if anyone was left uninjured.”
“As the gunmen climbed on to the bus, one of them shouted, ‘Kill them all!’ Then they started indiscriminately firing at everyone they saw,” a wounded woman told a television channel by phone.
Police Superintendent Najib Khan told Reuters there were six gunmen and that all the passengers were Ismailis, a minority Shi’ite Muslim sect. Pakistan is mostly Sunni.
Takfiri terrorist group Jundullah, which has attacked Shia Muslim and armed fores of Pakistan and Iran before, claimed responsibility. The group has links with the Pakistani Taliban and pledged allegiance to ISIS in November.
On 19-06-2007 Deobandi Mufti Naeem, head of Jamia Banoria Karachi, Issued Fatwa against Ismaili  Shias and declared them Kafir / Infidel.
Mufti Naeem
Mufti Naeem 2
Uzma Alkarim, a member of the Ismaili community, said the bus took commuters to work every day. The Ismailis had faced threats before, she said.
“Around six months ago, our community elders had alerted us to be careful because of security threats but things had calmed down recently,” she said.
English leaflets left in the bus were headlined “Advent of the Islamic State!” and used a derogatory Arabic word for Shi’ites, blaming them for “barbaric atrocities … in the Levant, Iraq and Yemen”.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif also arrived in Karachi hours after deadly bus attack in Karachi.
Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar is also accompanying the army chief.
The sources said that the COAS would chair a high-level meeting in Karachi where the DG Rangers Sindh and Corps Commander Karachi would give briefing over the bus attack.
Earlier this morning, Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa announced on Twitter that Gen Raheel has cancelled his pre-scheduled 3-day visit to Sri Lanka due to Karachi terrorist bus attack.
General Raheel Sharif was due to leave for Sri Lanka this evening to visit on the invitation of Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva.
http://en.shiapost.com/2015/05/13/41ismailis-killed-several-injured-as-aswj-terrorists-open-fire-on-bus-in-karachi/

Pakistan - AGA KHAN SHOCKED BY ATTACK ON ISMAILIS

The spiritual leader of the Ismaili Shia community Prince Karmim Ahga Khan expressed shock and sorrow over the attack on a bus carrying Ismailis near Safoora Chowk in Karachi which left 43 dead and 13 wounded.
"This attack represents a senseless act of violence against a peaceful community. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the families of those killed and wounded in the attack," said a statement posted on the Aga Khan Development Network website.
The statement said that Ismailis are a peaceful global community that live in harmony with various other ethnic and religious groups across the world.
The statement added that other Ismaili leaders in Pakistani are currently involved in an emergency operation to help the survivors of the attack.
At least 43 members of Ismaili community were killed and 13 others were wounded today when gunmen opened fire on their bus in Karachi today.
Ahmed Marwat, a spokesman for Jundullah which is a splinter group of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), talking to Reuters claimed responsibility for the attack.
But the pamphlets of outlawed Islamic State (IS) recovered from the bus attack site claimed the responsibilty of the brutal attack on Ismaili Shiite Community.
http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/16011-aga-khan-shocked-by-attack-on-ismailis

Pakistan - 45 CITIZENS KILLED: WHERE IS NATIONAL ACTION PLAN (NAP)

killing of 45 innocent people in the bus-incident in Karachi has once again put a question mark on the execution of National Action Plan (NAP) that was formed by the Government of Pakistan on January 2015 to crack down on terrorism.
Takfiri terrorists have once again challenged the writ of the government. They have created state within the state, where they kill innocent people without rhyme or reason.
Banned Takfiri outfits are freed to work everywhere in Pakistan. These elements recently formed an alliance with the officials of Saudi Arab in Pakistan against the decision of the national assembly on Yemen issue. The Pakistan’s resolution was to be neutral in the Yemen crisis, but Saudi kingdom, Arab leaders, Pakistani Wahhabi and takfiri clerics were against that decision. The banned terrorist group ASWJ has organized rallies not only in Karachi but also in Islamabad to show solidarity with Saudi Kingdom, but the PML-N government remained silent. The National Action Plan authorizes the foreign, finance, and other ministerial departments to reach out to the friendly Muslim countries to clamp down on financiers of sectarian and terrorist networks operating against Pakistan
Conversely, the government seems helpless in front of these terrorists hence takfiri elements, funded by Saudi Arab, are taking every step against the state. Wahhabi Muftis are issuing decrees even against high-level government officials. They are threatening them for dire consequences but no one dares to take action against them.
The NAP is considered as a major coordinated retaliation to deadly attack on school in Peshawar. And has consisted of unprecedented levels of cooperation across the political spectrum along with national and provincial governments.
The plan was provided the framework for the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan which established speedy trial military courts for offences relating to terrorism. It has also led to the resumption of capital punishment and mandatory re-verification through fingerprint recognition of all subscribers on mobile telephony.
According to the plan, “There will be a crackdown on hate-speech, and action will be taken against newspapers, magazines contributing to the spread of such speech. Financial sources of terrorists and terror organisations will be cut.
Banned outfits will not be allowed to operate under different names. Special anti-terrorism force will be raised.
Measures will be taken to stop religious extremism and to protect minorities. Madrassas will be regularised and reformed. Print and electronic media will not be allowed to give any space to terrorists. Keeping the rehabilitation of IDPs as the top-most priority, administrative and development reforms in FATA will be expedited.
Communication systems of terrorist organisations will be destroyed. Social media and the Internet will not be allowed to be used by terrorists to spread propaganda and hate speech, though exact process for that will be finalised.
Like the rest of the country, no space will be given to extremism in any part of the Punjab. Operation against terrorists in Karachi will be taken to its logical conclusion. In the interest of political reconciliation, Balochistan government will be given complete authority by all stakeholders. Elements spreading sectarian violence will be prosecuted.
Comprehensive policy will be formed for registration of Afghan refugees. To give provincial intelligence agencies access to communication of terrorists and to strengthen anti-terror agencies through basic reforms in the criminal justice system. Constitutional amendments and legislations will be carried out for this purpose.”
http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/16022-45-citizens-killed-where-is-national-action-plan-nap