Colonel (retd) Shujah Khanzada holds a ticket of PML-N. He won the previous elections as an independent candidate. He belongs to village Shadi Khan.

Shujah’s late paternal uncle Taj Khanzada had been winning previously from this seat. Even now the PML-Q from Punjab is enjoying the same seat which they got after PML-N’s workers skipped to the party formed during the General (retd) Musharraf’s rule. He was the strongest candidate for this seat. But since many candidates are standing for this seat, his chances for victory are questionable.

Dr Ateequr Rehman is a general secretary of JUI Punjab. He belongs to Behboodi village of Chach. His father Qari Saeed became a provincial minister by gaining victory from this seat. Rehman is contesting for this seat for the third time from this area. He has the support of 2,000 clerics from the region.

He can get benefit only if votes have been distributed to many. This time votes will be divided amongst Khanzada, Raza Khan, Qazi Ahmed Akbar and Dr Naeem Aiwan due to which the benefit can get transferred to Rehman.

Qazi Ahmed Akbar belongs to Jatyal village. This is the first time his family has come from the platform of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for this seat. He is likely to succeed due to an an alliance with Amin Aslam whose vote bank is already big enough. Secondly, he is the ticket holder of PTI. He can easily get vote from the youth of Pakistan.

Dr Naeen Awan belongs to PPP. He belongs to Barazai village. He is also contesting for PP-16 seat for the third time. He has remained nazim of union council. His chances of winning the elections are very slim because of the party. In the history of Chach, not a single candidate has ever won election from the seat.

Secondly, his own vote bank is not good enough to support him. He gets the votes from his own party and the beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme can extend to him their full support.

Raza Khan holds a ticket of Major Group. He belongs to village Behboodi and is contesting the elections for the first time. This time, Khan’s position is very strong and his competition is expected with PML-N’s Khanzada.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.

“May 11 [election day] will herald a paradigm shift in Pakistan’s politics,” says PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Addressing a public rally in Attock, Imran said his party would not let Nawaz Sharif to come to power a sixth time.  “Had they (the PML-N) been sincere in changing the condition of the nation, they would have done it much earlier,” he added.

Criticising the PML-N’s flag-ship programmes as a ploy to win over the youth, the PTI chief said the Sharif brothers could not ‘purchase’ the youth by distributing laptops among them. He added that only the PTI could bring about change in Pakistan. “I honoured my promises in the past and I’ll also fulfil my promise of introducing a change.”

He accused the former ruling parties of massive corruption. “We [on the other hand] have no idea how corruption is done,” he said and promised that after coming to power, “neither will the PTI  indulge in corruption nor will it allow anybody to do it.”

The PTI chief reiterated that if voted to power, his party would hold local government elections to devolve power to the grassroots level and to rid the nation of ‘thana-kachery and patwari’ system. “The change will come 12 days after the PTI takes over,” he said.

Imran advised Nawaz to “sit in the pavilion” because his turn will never come now. He also accused the Sharif brothers for being hands in glove with President Asif Ali Zardari.  “Had the PML-N not bolstered Zardari’s government throughout the past five years, the country wouldn’t have been mired in a medley of crises,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2013.

An Eid Miladun Nabi (SAW) procession of about 400 people from different schools of thought was passing through a street when another group of about 200 people allegedly attacked them with sticks and stones.

This led to a violent clash, during which a motorcycle was also set on fire.

The Saddar police baton charged the fighters and fired tear gas at them to settle them down. The clash resulted in injuries to 19 people, who were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital. Another 25 were given first aid by Rescue 1122 officials.

Some women and children in nearby houses were also affected when the tear gas entered their houses.

DSP Abdul Hafeez Olakh said that they have launched an inquiry into the incident. An FIR has been filed against 20 people — 10 each from either group for inciting violence.

The fight follows an altercation on Thursday night, when an Ahle-Sunnat group announced to construct a stage for naat khwani at a location. This was opposed by a group of Deobandis. However, the local elders and the police intervened before the matter got out of control.

On Friday, after the Jumma prayers, when the Ahle-Sunnat group were setting up the stage, the Deobandi group threatened them, warning them not to go beyond the demarcated area or raise slogans, as agreed between the two groups in the earlier altercation.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2013.

The pilgrims expressed satisfaction over the arrangements taken by the government for their security and upkeep of the gurdwara.

Head of the Indian pilgrims, Dr Jang Bahadur Singh expressed satisfaction over the maintenance of Sikh temples in Lahore, Punja Sahib, Hassan Abdal and other parts of the country. “We will keep the message of love, peace and friendship and the warm reception given to us by the people of Pakistan,” said Singh.

“The [Pakistan] government has kept our gurdwaras in excellent condition and the love that the people showed us was beyond our expectations,” said World Muslim Sikh Federation Chairman Manmohan Singh, who came from UK to attend the ceremony. He hoped that the relations between India and Pakistan will further improve and they will have the freedom to visit the places where their parents and grandparents were born.

Deputy Secretary Shrines Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Syed Faraz Abbass said that the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and ETPB had taken all elaborate security arrangements for the safety of the Sikh devotees.

Around 1,000 police personnel, in uniform and plain clothes, were deployed to ensure security cover to the pilgrims. Close
Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and walk-through gates were also installed around the temple, as rescue and health officials remained on alert.

The Indian pilgrims proceeded back on three special trains while those who had come from other countries departed by buses.

With additional input from APP

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2012.

ATTOCK: Some people brave the raging tides of change with remarkable tenacity. A vegetable vendor in Attock is one such unconquerable spirit, who chooses to stick to a centuries-old wooden abacus for day-to-day calculations at his shop.

“Panji Baba”, as he is known in the locality, who seemed reluctant to disclose his real name, says that he inherited the antique abacus from his father Shah Gul and has been using it for the last 60 years.

Standing upright in the face of fast-paced progressiveness which constantly threatens to pilfer away the romance of the years gone by, Panji Baba thinks ‘old is gold’, and refuses to part with his abacus. He says that he can perform calculations of up to one billion on it without any difficulty.

Baba says that his father, who was also a shopkeeper, had used the abacus for almost 70 years. However, he laments that his beloved calculating device will be discarded by his technology-obsessed progeny after his death. “This abacus will become useless as
my sons and grandsons are more interested in the use of modern calculators,” says Baba.

The vegetable vendor is a diehard fan of the abacus and critical of new technology. He counts several advantages of using an abacus, saying that it needs no charging, no cells, is durable and neither is there any risk of its theft.

Edited by Faiza Rahman

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.

Nawaz Sharif used an interaction with the media at the residence of PML-N lawmaker Sheikh Aftab Ahmad in Attock to launch a frontal verbal attack on the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

“If Asif Ali Zardari continues using the Presidency as the PPP headquarters, then the next elections cannot be free, fair and transparent,” Nawaz said.

However, he warned that if the elections were rigged, then the country could never be put back on the track of prosperity.

The PML-N chief also called for unity among politicians to steer the country out of a myriad of crises. “It is high time we got united to tackle the challenges faced by the country,” he added.

Speaking about the Balochistan conundrum, Nawaz said that though the situation in the volatile province was bad, unity among politicians and people of Pakistan could bring it back from the brink.

With regard to the anti-Islam film that sparked worldwide protests, Nawaz said the movie hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world. “No Muslim can compromise on the issue. Even Christians, Hindus and Sikhs are condemning it,” he added.

At the same time, the PML-N chief said protests against the film must be peaceful. “We must not damage public and private properties during protests,” he said and condemned rioting, violence and arson attacks on Ishq-e-Rasool Day.

To a question, Nawaz said he had no plan to contest the next election from Attock district. “Like (deputy premier and PML-Q leader) Pervez Elahi, I do not believe in contesting elections from eight constituencies,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2012. 

During the ritual, Gharoli, a procession was taken out by the followers of Hazrat Baba. The procession, after passing through different areas of the city, concluded at the shrine of the saint.

Over the past week, people from across the country took part in a number of activities such as laying floral wreath on the shrine, listening to qawwalis and enjoying traditional dishes.

The ceremony benefitted the local vendors who set up stalls to attract visitors. To entertain the visitors, matches of kabbadi (wrestling) and horse dances were organised.

Security was beefed up by Attock Police while metal detectors were installed at all the entry and exit points of the shrine.

State Minister for Defence  Saleem Haider and MPA Sher Ali also laid floral wreaths at the shrine. The celebration provided a source of spiritual cleansing and enjoyment, said a group of visitors.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2012.

Nine heavily-armed militants attempted to infiltrate Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Minhas base, a vital installation located in Kamra, outside Attock. However, the audacious raid inflicted little physical damage compared to similar endeavours in the past few years.

The Pakistan Air Force said nine attackers, dressed in military fatigues and armed with rocket propelled-grenades and suicide vests, targeted the base and the adjacent Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at 2am, local time.

The militants moved through a nearby village, Pind Makhan, and climbed a
nine foot wall strung with barbed wire to break into the base, sources said. However, they were immediately engaged by a security personnel, deployed at a watchtower along the boundary wall, who informed his colleagues.

The militants, most of whom were strapped with suicide bomb vests, were unable to cross the inner security cordon. They were engaged in an operation that lasted about 20 minutes, sources in the PAF said. The attack left one air force security guard, sepoy Asif Ramzan dead, besides the nine militants, and an aircraft slightly damaged.

The pre-dawn assault, promptly claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), came days after reports surfaced of Pakistan’s willingness to launch an operation in the restive and largely-untouched North Waziristan agency – known to be a hotbed of local and foreign militants.

The operation

“There was an announcement by megaphone for soldiers not to move from the barracks,” said an officer. Special forces and police scrambled to the scene.

Security forces opened fire when militants approached aircraft hangars, prompting other militants to fire rocket-propelled grenades from outside the base’s walls, said the air force spokesperson.

“Eight miscreants were killed inside the Minhas base boundary wall and one miscreant exploded himself outside the perimeters where he was hiding,” the air force said. It said there had been a shootout “for more than two hours” and 10 hours after the assault began, spokesperson Tariq Mahmood confirmed the base was “totally safe”.

About an hour later, a series of small explosions could be heard as improvised explosive devices planted on the base by the militants were successfully control-detonated by the military. Base commander Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, who led the operation against the attackers, was shot in the shoulder, but is in stable condition, said spokesman Captain Tariq Mahmood.

Responsibility

The Pakistani Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the attack and said the planes at the base were being used to kill its fighters.

Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan dedicated the attack to late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and claimed four Taliban fighters were killed after destroying three aircraft and killing a dozen soldiers.

“We are proud of this operation. Our leadership had decided to attack Kamra base a long time ago,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Attack repelled

Despite the infiltration, the militants were able to inflict little damage at the key base. Sources said that was possibly because the base was already on red alert due to intelligence reports of imminent attack received earlier. Previous Taliban assaults on Pakistani military bases have exacted far higher casualty tolls. In May 2011, for instance, it took 17 hours to quell an attack on an air base in Karachi claimed by the Taliban. The complex, located halfway between Islamabad and Peshawar on the GT Road, assembles Mirage and, with Chinese assistance, JF-17 fighter jets.

It also houses the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, a major air force research and development centre. Other installations in the area include the AK Regiment camp in Mansar, the SSG base and Artillery headquarters in Attock.

The air force spokesman, however, said that the Minhas air base did not house nuclear weapons.  “No air base is a nuclear air base in Pakistan,” he said. The base at Kamra has previously come under attack twice, once in 2007 and then in 2009. A suicide bomber had killed eight people in an attack on a check post outside the base on October 23, 2009. In December 2007, a suicide bomber had targeted a school bus and injured at least five children of employees at the base.

Inquiry

Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt appointed a five-member inquiry committee headed by Air Marshal Syed Athar Hussain Bukhari. He also announced Rs1 million for the family of martyred sepoy Asif Ramzan.

Correction: An earlier version of the aircraft was incorrectly captioned as the photo of  an IL-78 aircraft. The correction has been made.

(Read: Attack on PAF base in Kamra)

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2012.

The Pindigheb police said Aunul Hassan, 23, was involved with Falaknaz of Jangla village. Hassan allegedly used to meet Falaknaz in secret, which her parents later found out about.

On Friday night, when Hassan came by to see Falaknaz, her father and brothers realized he was there. Muhammad Akram and his three sons took them both and tortured Hassan, before killing both with an axe. The police booked and arrested Akram and his sons Sahib Khan, Zawar Khan and Sharaf Khan for murder.

Separately, the body of one of the two children who drowned in the Indus River near Khushal Garh a few days ago was recovered from the river near Kalabagh.

Fahad Hussain and his brother Haider, both of whom were under 12, had gone for a dip in the Indus River but drowned when a strong wave pushed them into deep waters. Haider’s body remains missing.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2012.

According to Attock District Police Officer (DPO) Hilal Khan, three police officials of Rawalpindi City Police were transporting a suspected drug smuggler and motorbike lifter, Amjad Khan, to Attock Jail on a taxicab when they were intercepted by four armed men near Teen Mila Chowk.

He said that Constable Najamul Hassan and taxi driver Mudasar Ghiyas were shot dead, while Constable Ashfaque Ahmed and Sub-Inspector Jameel Ahmed Shah received multiple bullet injuries. The armed men managed to flee along with the convict on motorcycles.

The DPO said that the dead and the injured were shifted to District Headquarter Hospital Rawalpindi. He said that Sub-Inspector Shah received three bullets in the leg and lower abdomen, whereas Constable Ahmed relieved two bullets in the chest.

When inquired, he said that the taxicab was hired by the police party on the spot.

The DPO added that criminal case will be registered against four unidentified men for murder, attempted murder and police encounter after required legal formalities are completed. He said the bodies will be handed over after to the families after post-mortem.

Rawalpindi City Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Malik Umer Hayat, told The Express Tribune that Khan was arrested by Attock Khurd Police a few days back on drug smuggling charges. After verification, it was found that Khan was also wanted by the Rawalpindi City Police for lifting a motorbike from Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi. Khan had been taken to Rawalpindi on a transitory physical remand a day earlier and was being shifted to Attock Jail on a three-day judicial remand when the police party was attacked.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.