Sindh police arrest 66 militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban during 2010

Daily-Times
* 10,300 constables recruited during 2010 to address growing need of additional police force in Karachi

KARACHI: Sindh police arrested 66 alleged militants associated with Tehreek-e-Taliban in the year 2010 and killed 11 terrorists in various encounters. 

A report of Sindh Home Department issued here Monday on the performance of police department during the year 2010, further stated that the police recovered 352.5-kg of high explosives, 85 detonators, 100 hand grenades and rocket launchers, 11 lives bombs and improvised explosive devices, two suicide jackets and 229 sophisticated weapons. 

It said that assault on police by criminals in various encounters across the province was 2,275 during the period 2010 as compared to 2,250 during the year 2009. 

The statistics further showed that 2,821 murders took place due to personal enmity during the year 2011 as compared to 2,800 during the year 2009. 

The cases of karo-kari registered a decline to 141 during the year as compared to 164 during the corresponding period in 2009 while cases of kidnapping for ransom also decreased to 152 in 2010 as against 198 during previous corresponding period. 

Number of highway dacoities was 52 as compared to 54 the previous year on the national and super-highways in the province while the number of overall various cases of dacoities was recorded 1,469 as against 1,759 in the year 2009. 

The number of car theft also dropped positively to 1,085 during 2010 as against 1,350 in 2009, number of case of car snatching was 498 as compared to 518 during the previous year of 2009. 

Similarly, 4,827 motorcycles were stolen from various parts of the province as against 4,895 in 2009 and the number of cattle stolen was 616 and 749 during 2010 and 2009 respectively. 

The report further stated that 10,300 constables were recruited during 2010 to address the growing need of an additional police force in Karachi while another 5,000 recruitment will be carried out soon. 

During the year issuance of computerised arms licenses was also started in the province and government set up computerised arms license management system at a cost of Rs 20 million in the Home Department. The system was aimed to combat the menace of illicit weapons, it added. 

The only forensic laboratory of the Karachi was also upgraded with all modern gadgets with ability to check all type of electronic devices, date like hard discs, cell phones, SIM cards, memory cards, CDs and floppy discs found from the crime scene. 

The laboratory caters to the needs of all 110 police stations of Karachi and over 350 in other districts of the province, the report added.

Pakistan deadliest country for journalists in 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010; 11:40 PM



ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with at least eight media workers killed in the line of duty, a press advocacy group said Wednesday.

In its year-end report, the Committee to Protect Journalists said 42 media workers were killed worldwide in 2010, down from the record 72 who were killed in 2009.
The toll "is still unacceptably high and reflective of the pervasive violence journalists confront around the world," said Joel Simon, the group's executive director.
While murder was still the leading cause of death, a larger proportion of journalists were killed in suicide attacks and crossfire while on assignment in places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Thailand than in past years, the group said.
Six of the journalists in Pakistan were killed in suicide attacks, while another 20 were wounded.

Simon called the deaths of journalists in Pakistan "a symptom of the pervasive violence that grips the country."
"For many years journalists in Pakistan have been murdered by militants and abducted by the government. But with the rise in suicide attacks, the greatest risk is simply covering the news," he said.
Journalists were killed in 20 countries in 2010. After Pakistan, the next deadliest places were Iraq, with four deaths, followed by Honduras and Mexico with three each.

Last year's record number of journalist deaths was so high because of the massacre in the Philippines that saw more than two dozen journalists and their staff gunned down.
Simon said the failure of governments to investigate press deaths contributed to a "climate of impunity that ultimately fuels further violence."

Some 90 percent of journalist murders go unsolved, the report said.

The group said it was still investigating 28 other press deaths in 2010 to determine whether they were work-related. Seven of the deaths under investigation were in Mexico, where there was "raging" anti-press violence, according to the report.

At least five journalists were reported missing this year, including three in Mexico, it said.
Nearly 90 percent of the journalists killed in 2010 were local reporters. Five international reporters were killed this year, two of them shot dead in Thailand during clashes between anti-government protesters and the military.

In Iraq, the group said four journalists were killed. That compares to the group's tally of more than 20 journalists killed in the country each year from 2004-2007.
Pervez Shaukat, president of the Pakistan Union of Journalists, said his group's count showed 12 journalists had been killed this year in his country.

He said in the current climate of violence in Pakistan, members of the media shouldn't expect government help. "We don't expect the government to protect us as the present day rulers themselves do not feel safe," he said.

Shaukat called on media organizations themselves to do more to protect their employees.
The list from the Committee to Protect Journalists does not include journalists who died from illness or were killed in accidents that were not related to hostile action.
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