{"id":1474,"date":"2015-01-25T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T05:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afpakwatch.wordpress.com\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2015-01-25T10:55:59","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T05:55:59","slug":"crackdown-in-karachi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/25\/crackdown-in-karachi\/","title":{"rendered":"Crackdown in Karachi"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Zia Ur Rehman<\/p>\n

December 26, 2014<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thefridaytimes.com\/tft\/crackdown-in-karachi\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Law enforcement agencies have intensified operations against various Taliban groups in Karachi, in response to the December 16 killing of over 140 children at an army-run school in Peshawar.<\/p>\n

Rangers and police have killed a number of TTP militants, including Abid Mehsud, alias Mucharh \u2013 an operational commander of the Mehsud faction of TTP led by Khan Said alias Sajna \u2013 in an encounter with Rangers on December 18.<\/p>\n

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The Mehsud faction broke away from the TTP \u2013 which claimed the Peshawar attack \u2013 in late May, and was carrying out peace talks with the government through an 11-member jirga of Mehsud tribal elders, one of whom said they had agreed not to carry out subversive activities inside Pakistan and focus on Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

But on December 21, Azam Tariq, the spokesman of the faction, endorsed the Peshawar school attack and said it was a reaction to the killing of children in military operations and drone attacks.<\/p>\n

The same day, the police\u2019s criminal investigation department (CID) killed two militants of the Sajna faction. On December 22, police and rangers killed nine militants belonging to the TTP and four operatives of Al Qaeda in the Deluxe Town locality of Sohrab Goth.<\/p>\n

\u201cMucharh was the most dangerous commander of the TTP,\u201d said an officer in Manghopir police station. \u201cHe was involved in attacks on the Rangers and police and workers of the Awami National Party,\u201d he said, \u201cand was collecting extortion money from Pashtun traders.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Mucharh\u2019s killing \u201cwas a big blow to the TTP in Karachi and a great achievement for law enforcement agencies\u201d.<\/p>\n

The city and its law-enforcement officials fear revenge attacks<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mehsud tribal elders in Karachi and Tank say the recent killings have disrupted the peace talks. Background interviews with the Pashtun elders, analysts and police officials familiar with the network of the TTP in Karachi reveal that most of the Pashtun-majority areas of the city are under the TTP\u2019s influence. Law and order conditions in these neighbourhoods have worsened in the last two years, as the TTP joined hands with local operatives of banned sectarian outfits and criminal syndicates. They have become \u201cno-go areas\u201d for law enforcement agencies, liberal political activists especially those belonging to the ANP, polio vaccinators and nongovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n

The recent operations seem to be part of a genuine crackdown against Taliban groups in the city, according to them.<\/p>\n

\"tft-46-p-1-i\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation has changed completely after the Peshawar attack, it seems,\u201d said a tribal journalist who covers militancy in North and South Waziristan region. \u201cThe military has been targeting all Taliban groups, whether they were involved in peace talks or not.\u201d He said that the Sajna faction might rejoin the TTP alliance.<\/p>\n

Police officers in Karachi said that the city and its law-enforcement officials might become targets of revenge attacks after the recent executions of militants and the intensification of the operation against Taliban.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur officers have been receiving threatening phone calls from Afghan Taliban leaders,\u201d said a CID officer. He said law enforcement agencies have increased security of the offices of military and police, vital installations such as the airport, shipping ports and oil terminals, political leaders, foreign diplomatic missions, and civil society organisations.<\/p>\n

The writer is a journalist who covered security issues in Pakistan.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Twitter: @zalmayzia<\/i><\/p>\n

– See more at: http:\/\/www.thefridaytimes.com\/tft\/crackdown-in-karachi\/#sthash.EZIT838a.dpuf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Zia Ur Rehman December 26, 2014 http:\/\/www.thefridaytimes.com\/tft\/crackdown-in-karachi\/ Law enforcement agencies have intensified operations against various Taliban groups in Karachi, in response to the December 16 killing of over 140 children at an army-run school in Peshawar. Rangers and police have killed a number of TTP militants, including Abid Mehsud, alias Mucharh \u2013 an operational […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1361,1363,11,13],"tags":[648,1309],"class_list":["post-1474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-conflict-militancy","category-karachi-security","category-published-in","category-the-friday-times","tag-karachi-violence","tag-violence-in-karachi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zia-ur-rehman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}