Revenge
The
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed credit for killing 15
paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel kidnapped last month in North
Waziristan (BBC, NYT, ET, Reuters).
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan announced that the men, whose bodies
were found Thursday morning, were killed in retaliation for the deaths
of 12 TTP members in Khyber province last month as well as the Pakistani
government's subsequent arrest of female members of the dead militants'
families. And Dawn reports that police in Karachi on Thursday arrested a TTP commander, Abdul Qayuum, along with three "companions" (Dawn).
The
Red Cross announced Thursday that a British doctor working with the
group -- a recent convert to Islam, according to the Tribune -- had been
kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the city of Quetta (Tel, ET, AP, Reuters).
Pakistanis on Wednesday observed the one-year anniversary of the
killing of outspoken Punjab governor Salman Taseer by his security
guard Mumtaz Qadri, while the Sunni Ittehad Council publicly offered
Rs100 million ($1.1 million) to purchase the "holy gun" Qadri used to
slay Taseer (ET, Dawn, ET, DT, ET, DT, ET). Also
Wednesday, the husband of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman imprisoned on
charges of blasphemy, said that his wife is doing "well" and faces "no
threat" in prison (AFP).
The
judicial commission investigating the "Memogate" scandal sent notices
Wednesday to President Asif Ali Zardari and opposition politician Nawaz
Sharif to submit testimony or appear before the commission by January 9,
while former ambassador the Washington Husain Haqqani will challenge
the legal basis for establishing the commission (Dawn, ET, ET).
U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, meanwhile, said Wednesday
that former National Security Adviser James L. Jones had "no intention"
of traveling to Pakistan to provide testimony for the commission (ET).
A court issued contempt notices Wednesday for five ruling Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) officials after they participated in a press
conference criticizing the behavior of Pakistan's Supreme Court in the
"Memogate" case (ET, ET).
In
other news, members of the Awami National Party (ANP) stormed out of
Pakistan's National Assembly Thursday in opposition to a debate about
the creation of new provinces in South Punjab and elsewhere (Dawn, ET).
Pakistan's cabinet moved Wednesday to require all people drawing a
salary from the state, including members of the armed forces and civil
servants, to declare their assets publicly (Dawn).
Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said Wednesday
that the door for military courts in Pakistan was "permanently closed" (Dawn).
And the political party of former President and military dictator
Pervez Musharraf, the All Pakistan Muslim League, has filed a request
with the Sindh high court to host a rally on January 8 (ET).
Deal progress?
Afghan
President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday welcomed direct U.S.-Taliban talks
and the creation of a Taliban office in Qatar, adding that talks would
"eliminate the foreigner's excuses for and actions to continue war and
bloodshed in Afghanistan" (Post, NYT).
However, other possible conditions of talks with the Taliban, including
the release of several prominent Taliban prisoners held at Guantánamo
Bay, are reportedly on hold (AFP).
The
Post's Ernesto Londoño has a must-read on Iran's stepped-up efforts to
influence events in Afghanistan as it grows increasingly concerned about
a post-2014 U.S. presence in the country (Post).
This effort, according to Afghan officials and others, includes
strengthening cultural and political links with Afghanistan while also
purportedly cultivating ties with the Taliban.
Afghan
authorities confirmed Thursday the assassination of a local official in
Helmand, Haji Fazel Mohammad, one of a growing number of killings of
government officials in Afghanistan's south (AP).
And finally, the AP looks at what the case of Sahar Gul, an Afghan
child bride brutally tortured by her in-laws for her refusal to become a
prostitute, says about the condition of women in Afghanistan 10 years
after the U.S. invasion (AP).
Special treatment
In
a move to increase exports of mangoes to the United States and
elsewhere, Pakistan will soon receive an American "irradiation unit" to
preserve the mangoes for sales abroad (The News).
Currently the fruit must be shipped to the United States before being
treated with radiation, a technique used to kill bacteria and
microorganisms.
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