September 1 – 7, 2014

September 1: Private school attacked in Turbat, Quetta

Armed men torched a private school in the Dasht area of Turbat, a western district of Balochistan. The men also set an estimated 150 textbooks on fire before escaping.

A group calling itself ‘Al Jihad’ claimed responsibility for the attack. The group distributed pamphlets after the attack with warnings that private schools should “stop imparting Western education, particularly in English” to children in the school. Express Tribune

September 3: Sikh man knifed in Mardan

A member of the Sikh community was stabbed to death inside his shop in Shaheedan Bazaar. Gagan Singh, son of Aamarjeet Singh, told the police that he found his father’s body in the warehouse adjacent to the shop. KPK’s Sikh community has faced a spate of targeted killings recently.  Express Tribune

September 5: Two shopkeepers killed in Karachi sectarian attack

Two shopkeepers were shot dead in sectarian attacks carried out in separate parts of the city. 34-year-old shopkeeper Syed Kashif Hussain was killed by gunmen while he was at his place of work. Another shopkeeper, 48-year-old  Syed Mohsin Raza, was shot dead in Yusuf Plaza killed in a similar fashion by four gunmen on motorcycles. Dawn

September 5: Polio worker killed in Rawalpindi

A man posing as an income tax officer shot and killed a 45-year-old lady health worker at her home. The deceased, Shabana Malik, was in charge of a polio vaccination team in Moorat, Fateh Jang and had earlier sustained multiple injuries after unidentified attackers on a motorcycle shot at her in July this year. Members of the local the neighbourhood tried to chase the attacker and pelted him with stones, but he managed to escape. Express Tribune

September 6: Three killed in attack on a shrine in Sargodha

A brigadier and two others were killed and seven people injured when armed men attacked a shrine in Sargodha. A Mehfil-i-Samaa was in progress at Astana Fazal when unidentified assailants opened fire at the audience, killing Subhani, the head of the shrine (Gaddi Nasheen), his brother Brigadier Fazal Zahoor Qadri and one other. Dawn

September 6: Shia Cleric’s son gunned down in Karachi

The son of the Jafaria Alliance Pakistan (JAP) chief Allama Abbas Kumaili, Allama Ali Akbar Kumaili, was shot dead in a targeted attack near Bhangoria Goth in Azizabad. According to a Mujlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen’s (MWM) spokesperson, the deceased was going home with his children and guard from his factory when unidentified armed men ambushed him. The city’s relentless violence against members of the Shia community has continued despite a much-publicised police operation in the city a few months ago. Express Tribune

September 7: Another Sikh man killed in Peshawar

Unidentified armed men, carrying guns with silencers, shot a man named Harjeet Singh at the general store he managed. He ultimately succumbed to his injuries. Harjeet became the fifth member of the religious minority group to fall victim to a targeted attack in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa withinn the last few weeks, and the second such killing in a week.  Express Tribune

September 7: School teacher kidnapped in Panjgur, Quetta

A school teacher, Mohammad Abdul Wahid, was kidnapped by a group of armed men in Gharebabad Chitkan area of Panjgur district. No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping so far. The kidnapping is the latest incident of a spike in anti-education activities by militants in the province. Express Tribune