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December 29: At least ten people, including journalists, were injured in a clash between two sectarian groups in Khairpur District. Armed men from both sects continued aerial fire, though a heavy bout of tear gassing by the police forced many to leave. The markets in the area have been closed and Khairpur is reportedly deserted, save for the Police and Rangers patrolling the streets. Other reports claimed that there was a virtual curfew-like situation as no one was allowed on the streets. People are afraid of the clash escalating further because the tussle is between two religious groups,” said a citizen, Irfan Phulpoto. He said that the tense areas were Nao Goth, the stronghold of one group and Panj Gula, the stronghold of another sect. Some 600 Policemen and 200 Rangers officers were reportedly deputed to patrol.
According to the report, SSP has a considerable presence in Khairpur District. In 2009, SSP leader Allama Sher Hyderi was killed in the District. SSP leader Malik Ishaq is accused of killing 70 people in over 40 cases.
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December 26: ASWJ strongly condemned Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s December 25, 2011 allegations regarding the SSP involvement in the March 2, 2011 murder of former Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti. ASWJ leaders rejected the allegations levelled at their organisation declaring the statement deceiving and misleading. The organization’s Central Deputy Secretary Allama Masoodur Rehman Usmani and its Islamabad patron Chief Maulana Abdul Razaq Haidri in their joint statement said that the Interior Minister had continuously blamed their party to hide the Federal Government’s failure in solving the murder case.
According to reports, ASWJ had decided to approach the court regarding Malik’s allegations. The organisation claimed that Malik’s allegation, against them, was due to pressure from external forces. They added that this was to create a rift between Muslims and Christians and that the allegations have no credibility. ASWJ demanded that Malik should provide evidence and present it in court or else the party will challenge his allegations in court. They reiterated that their organisation had no links with terrorism, “We never talk about avenging the death of one person by killing a 100.”
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December 25: Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik said that red warrants for assassins of former Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti had been issued and soon they would be brought to justice. “The two assassins are activists of the banned outfit SSP. They had managed to reach Middle East. However, we are making efforts for their arrest and will bring them back to the country,” he said.
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December 6: Two policemen were injured when SSP militants pelted the Ashura procession in Jhang District.
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November 28: About 100 suspects from two outfits were arrested in an overnight operation, following the November 27, 2011 killings of two Security Force personnel at a Shia camp in Numaish Chowrangi area in Karachi. Rangers and Police cracked down on the SSP – that works under the new name ASWJ, and LeJ activists.
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November 27: Two SF personnel, identified as Zain-ul-Abideen and Azhar Hussain were shot dead and 11 others wounded when some participants of a protest rally organized by SSP opened indiscriminate fire on Shia camps at Numaish Chowrangi area while returning from Karachi Press Club in Karachi. SSP had organized a rally against the November 26, 2011 NATO attack in Mohmand Agency of FATA that killed 25 SFs. Abideen was affiliated with Butarab Scout and Hussain was serving for Pak Hyderi Scout camp. Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Hussain Wasan claimed to have arrested 16 armed assailants near Aalmi Majlis-e-Khatm-e-Nabowat and ordered officials to conduct an independent inquiry into the incident.
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November 14: A cadre of a SSP, identified as Abdul Rehman, was shot dead at his clinic in Babar Market within the limits of Landhi Police Station. Rehman was a resident of Zamanabad Landhi. “He belonged to the Ahl-e-Hadees sect and was said to have been trained in Afghanistan.” Some say that he was affiliated to a banned outfit. However, Inquiry Officer Abdul Latif said that it was unclear if the victim was affiliated to any banned outfit.
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October 30: The Malir town President of SSP, Jabbar Qureshi was shot dead while his companion, Imdadullah, injured in a target killing incident at Korangi Crossing in Karachi.
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October 24: Police recovered two hand grenades, detonators and 75 cartridges from the house of a SSP cadre in Dera Ismail Khan. Cantonment SHO Mohammad Nawaz Gandapur said that they were informed that Imran Ali and Jamshed Mohammad, both cadres of SSP, were hiding in the house of Merajuddin Mehsud in Gulshan Jamil Colony. “We raided the house but didn’t find the activists there. However, we arrested Merajuddin Mehsud for possessing illegal arms and registered a case against him under Anti-Terrorism Act,” he said.
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August 18: An armed clash between the activists of Sunni Tehreek (ST) and SSP claimed two lives, while four others were injured in Godhra within the limits of New Karachi Industrial Area. The clash started between two religious parties before Iftar, when two armed groups opened fire at each other. Resultantly, two persons, one Ghulam Dastagir and another Taufeeq, Mohammad Hussain, died on the spot, while four others Akhter, Shahnaz Bibi, Siraj received bullet injuries. Leader of Jama’at Ulema Pakistan (JUP), Tariq Mehboob claimed that victim Ghulam Dastagir was an activist of his party.
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July 1: SSP and Sunni Tehreek cadres exchanged fire over the control of a hospital located near Muslim Stop in Godhra area of New Karachi locality killing seven cadres and injuring seven others.
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June 30: A clash between two religious groups, Sunni Tehreek and ASWJ, formerly known as SSP, claimed three lives, including one woman, and injured 12 others in Godhra area of New Karachi.
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June 27: One Kashif Wakeel, a cadre of ASWJ, formerly known as SSP, was shot dead at Do Minute Chowrangi in the remits of Bilal Colony Police Station in Karachi.
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June 8: Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, an adviser to the Prime Minister after his visit to a jail in Haripur District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province came up with the observation that jails have become breeding grounds for extremists because outfits like the TTP and the SSP have taken their “ideological campaign” to prisoners.
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April 22: A former cadre of SSP, identified as Mohammed Nadeem, was shot dead in Sharea Faisal near Star Gate.
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March 6: A SSP cadre, Zeeshan, was killed and his friend Mansoor sustained injuries in an incident of target killing in Orangi Town within the limits of Iqbal Market Police Station in Karachi.
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March 5: The SSP ‘leader’ Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Madni, who is also the brother of slain party chief Maulana Azam Tariq, was shot dead along with his son Abu Bakar in an incident of targeted killing in the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri Police Station area of Karachi.
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March 4: A SSP cadre, Syed Muzafar Alam Nomani, was shot dead in Burmy Colony within the limits of Landhi Police Station in Karachi. Sources said that the slain cadre was the custodian of Madrassas Omar bin Abdul Aziz situated at Jumma Goth and was the vice President of the Burmy unit of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) formerly known as SSP.
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December 29: A cadre of SSP, Imran, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Sector 11-G near Nullah Stop in the limits of New Karachi Industrial Area Police station.
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December 27: Five persons, including a minor girl, were killed and three others were injured in sectarian violence in different parts of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
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November 28: A local leader of the SSP, Abdur Rehman, was killed while his friend, Mohammed Faisal, injured in the Sharifabad Police Station area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
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November 27: The Government announced a reward of PNR 10 million to anyone providing information about the TTP. “The government will make arrangements to settle the informers and their families anywhere in the country, even abroad, if they fear that the Taliban might hurt them,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. Rehman Malik said that most militants belonged to the LeJ and SSP.
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October 28: A SSP militant, identified as Abdullah, son of Amanullah, was arrested by Police under Chaki Wara Police Station area near Lyari Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.
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October 5: A teacher of the Jamia Binoria Al Almia shot dead in Site area. Police said 50-year-old Maulana Mohammad Amin was going to visit his relatives when at least four assailants fired from the front and rear at the jeep he was driving. According to the Police, Maulana Amin was once associated with the SSP as its divisional chief in Karachi and later quit the party after it was banned.
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September 24: Police arrested SSP leader Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi from Jhang in Punjab.
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August 2: Interior Minister Rehman Malik, however, accused SSP for the assassination of Haider. Talking to reporters at the Parliament House, Malik said there were reports of death threats to Haider’s life, which had been conveyed to certain senior officials.
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July 11: The SFs arrested at least 53 suspects, including the former chief of the SSP, during the ongoing crackdown against banned organisations in Southern Punjab. Sources said that Police arrested former SSP ‘chief’ Tanveer and 19 other suspects of the same outfit from Khanewal.
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July 1: A cadre of the SSP, Qari Noor Muhammad (35), was shot dead in Khokhrapar Police Station area of Karachi. Sources said Qari Noor Muhammad, a Pesh-Imam of a mosque, and his friend Muneer (35), received bullet wounds when four assailants riding on two motorcycles opened fire at them while they were sitting outside the mosque.
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June 14: A leader of the SSP was shot dead by two unidentified assailants in the Mobina Town Police limits at Karachi in Sindh.
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June 5: Unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle shot dead a SSP cadre, Shehzad (25), in Petal Wali Gali under Gulbahar Police Station area of Karachi in Sindh.
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May 28: A person belonging to the Shia community was killed and some others were wounded in a clash between two rival sects at Islam Chowk in Orangi Town of Karachi in Sindh. The clash took place between activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), the frontal organisation of SSP, and a Shia group. The slained Shia person was identified as Shehzad alias Sajju.
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April 23: A Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) cadre, Athar Jadoon, who was injured in an attack, succumbed to his injuries. Athar was shot at near the Darul Uloom at Korangi in Karachi on April 22.
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April 22: A senior cadre of the SSP, Athar, was critically injured following a shot at incident near Darul Uloom locality under Awami Colony Police Station of Korangi town in Karachi. Landhi Town SP Haider Sultan said the incident occurred in Sector 28 of Korangi where unidentified assailants opened fire on the victim Athar while he was passing by on his motorcycle.
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March 30: A SSP cadre was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists in Karachi. According to the Police, the deceased, Mohammed Nisaar, was sitting at his shop in Godhraan Camp Wali Gali, when four men on two motorcycles came over and opened indiscriminate fire at him, killing him on the spot. The four men managed to escape after leaving a motorcycle behind.
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March 11: An attempt was also made on Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, a leader of the SSP, in which he was injured, while his son lost his life. Maulana Ghafoor Nadeem was shot at on his way to the city courts near Annu Bhai Park in Nazimabad in Karachi.
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March 2: The Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the SSP and TTP were involved in terrorist activities in the country and warned of strict action against them. Referring to the SSP, the interior minister said it had close links to al-Qaeda and Taliban. Malik also added that he was facing serious life threats himself and had received threatening letters.
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November 20: In a suspected sectarian incident, the general secretary of the banned Sunni outfit SSP Karachi chapter, Engineer Ilyas Zubair, was shot dead and provincial information secretary, Qari Shafiqur Rehman Alvi, wounded at Teen Hatti under the Jamshed Quarters Police Station jurisdiction in Karachi. The two men were going to a mosque near Teen Hatti shrine, when unidentified men on a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire at them.
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October 23: Police claimed the arrest of a Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan terrorist, Qaisar Mauvia, from Sector F-12, and also apprehended 60 suspects from different parts of the federal capital Islamabad. Police said Mauvia was involved in target killing and other illegal activities in the country. Meanwhile, a senior Police officer said the Police had arrested 80 suspects in the last three days. He said the Police continued the operation on October 23 and arrested 60 suspects from Dhok Noon, Dhok Makhan, Bhatta, Sohan, Pind Warian, Khana Dak, Khana East, Koral, Ghori Town, Kalinger and other slums in the Aabpara and Margallah police precincts. The official said police had seized 22 guns, 10 pistols, two Kalashnikov rifles, ammunition and 102 bottles of liquor from them. Most of the arrested persons were from Waziristan and Afghanistan. Separately, Police arrested four alleged terrorists from Farooqabad during a crackdown on suspicious persons.
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October 19: Unidentified assailants shot dead a former activist of a banned outfit near his house in the Rehan Colony of Bahawalpur in Punjab province. Islamuddin had been divisional convener of the banned Sunni outfit, the SSP. After its proscription, he used to reportedly earn his livelihood by selling edibles on a handcart. He was coming from his house near Shama Cinema on the Multan Road when two motorcyclists shot at him and fled. He later died at the Bahawal Victoria Hospital.
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September 26: An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) was shot dead near Naeem Hospital at Malir No. 15 within the limits of Saudabad Police station in Karachi. Police said Mudasir, 30, was on his way on a motorbike when unidentified assailants shot at him and managed to escape. The victim, an area distributor of a food company, succumbed to his injuries later. The deceased was also a supporter of the SSP and was the witness in five high profile cases of sectarian killings.
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September 20: Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies are searching for 83 high profile terrorists wanted for various crimes, ranging from the attack on former President Pervez Musharraf to fanning the separatist movement in Balochistan. According to a list maintained by the Interior Ministry, 41 of the most wanted terrorists belong to Punjab, 21 to Sindh, 13 to Balochistan and eight to the NWFP. Of the 83 terrorists, Bramdagh Bugti tops the list with 31 information reports registered against him. The available data shows the majority of the terrorists belong to various sectarian and terrorist organisations, including the HUJI, SSP, LeJ and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP). The majority of the “most wanted” belong to the LJ and the SMP and are wanted in various high profile cases, including assassination attempts targeting Musharraf, former premier Shaukat Aziz and the Karachi Corps commander; the blasts at the Sheraton hotel and foreign embassies; arms smuggling; target killings of rival groups, doctors, Police and intelligence officials and personnel; kidnapping for ransom; and attacks on imambargahs (Shia places of worship) and mosques.
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September 1: Police and security agencies arrested two suspects affiliated with the banned SSP outfit and involved in arranging manpower for terrorist activities. Official sources identified the alleged terrorists as Abu Waqas and Mohammad Akram. The arrest was made during a raid by a joint team of the capital police and security agencies in Bhara Kahu. Literature regarding jihad, cellular phones and SIMs were recovered from their possession. The duo is accused of arranging potential recruits for the outfit’s cause in the capital’s rural area and its adjacent cities and towns for education and training. First, they used to arrange potential recruits and bring them to a seminary located in Bhara Kahu where they were indoctrinated. Subsequently, the selected recruits were shifted to Waziristan in FATA for training in terrorist activities, including suicide bombing, ambush and handling of weapons and explosives. The suspects recruited a large number of teenage boys and youth, the sources added.
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August 17: Armed men shot dead Allama Ali Sher Hyderi, chief of the banned SSP, along with his associate Imtiaz Phulpoto at Khairpur in the Sindh province. Sources said Allama Hyderi was returning home after delivering a speech at a religious gathering in the Dost Muhammad Abro village within the limits of the Ahmedpur Police Station when he was attacked. Police sources said one of the attackers, identified as Aashiq Ali Jagirani, was also killed in retaliatory fire by Hyderi’s bodyguards. The murder reportedly bore all indications of a sectarian killing, with the head of the local police saying “it was a targeted attack on Allama Hyderi”.
The SSP leader’s murder triggered violence in major towns of Sindh. There were reports of aerial firing and armed SSP activists forced shopkeepers to close their shops. The Army and the Rangers were called out to assist the Police in maintaining the law and order. The protesters removed the main railway tracks, suspending train link to the upcountry. There were reports that the house of the suspected killer had been torched by the people in Luqman town. Two persons were killed and another sustained injuries in firing by paramilitary forces that tried to stop an angry mob from removing railway tracks.
Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi has been named as successor to Allama Hyderi. Allama Hyderi, who hailed from Khairpur, was the fourth SSP chief to be killed since it was formed in the late 1980s. After the Sunni outfit was banned by former President Pervez Musharraf in February 2002, it was operating under the name of Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jama’at.
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August 11: The Government told the National Assembly that it had asked provinces to keep a watch on the banned Sunni militant outfit SSP, which is accused of fomenting recent violence in the Punjab province’s Jhang and Gojra towns. Interior Minister Rehman Malik acknowledged there was a lot of truth in concern voiced by an opposition lawmaker from Jhang who said the Government must act against the SSP to avoid the kind of situation it had to face in Swat valley of the North West Frontier Province after Taliban militants were allowed to thrive there. Malik reportedly said it was a fact that the SSP had had been involved in terrorist activities in the past and added “The provincial governments have been asked to keep a watch on its activities.” The PML-Q member Sheikh Waqqas Akram said all of some 200 SSP activists arrested in Jhang after a judge took a Suo Motu notice of the July 21 violence were later released “one by one” and that he learned during a visit to Gojra that members of the same group attacked Christians in Gojra for unproven blasphemy, burning seven of them alive. He also that a SSP leader had been allowed to address the arrested group’s militants in jail and to go around the country without regard to what he called restrictions for banned organisations.
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August 9: The SFs killed a SSP leader after an exchange of fire in the Malanari area of Dera Ismail Khan District of NWFP. Official sources said Miftahullah, a SSP leader who was allegedly involved in sectarian killings in Dera city, was shot dead during a search operation.
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August 5: The Government announced that 25 extremist and militant groups and welfare organisations affiliated to them have so far been banned because of their involvement in terrorist activities. In a written reply submitted on August 5 in response to a question in the National Assembly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the banned organisations included Al Qaeda, SMP, Tehrik Nifaz-i-Fiqah Jafaria, SSP, JuD, Al Akhtar Trust, Al Rasheed Trust (ART), Tehrik-i-Islami, JeM, LeJ, TTP, Islamic Students Movement, Khairun Nisa International Trust, Tehrik-i-Islam Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), LeT, Lashkar-i-Islam, Balochistan Liberation Army, Jamiat-i-Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir, Khuddam-i-Islam and Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan.
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August 2: Paramilitary troops were deployed in the Azafi Abadi village, also known as Koriaan, in the Punjab province where 10 people were killed in violence between Muslims and Christians over the alleged desecration of the Koran. Pakistan Rangers personnel took up positions in and around Azafi Abadi, a day after it witnessed communal clashes. Persons from the two communities reportedly exchanged fire and over 80 homes of Christians were set ablaze by mobs. However, despite deployment of the Pakistan Rangers, the situation in the area remained tense throughout the day as some Christians refused to bury their dead until Police registered a complaint against those responsible for the killings and arson. “We have arrested a number of suspects and exemplary punishment will be given to those involved in heinous crimes. This is a crime against humanity,” Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister of Punjab, told reporters. He said some outlawed religious groups were involved in the violence but did not name them. A Police source said that activists of the banned SSP and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) were involved in the violence. “Their armed activists from other parts of Punjab gathered in Koriaan village,” the source said. Violence erupted in the village, part of Gojra sub-division of Toba Tek Singh District and located 160 km from Lahore, when a group of Muslims alleged three Christians burnt pages of the Koran during a wedding last week. At least seven Christians, including four women and two children, were burnt alive. Three others were killed in Police firing on August 1. The Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti and provincial minister Sanaullah, however, said no Christian was involved in desecrating the Koran.
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July 16: Two more activists of the outlawed Sunni group SSP, including a guard of the group’s central leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, were killed in Karachi. One of them died at a hospital after being injured in the clash a day earlier while another’s body was recovered from Model Colony.
The body of 26-year-old Anwar Ali alias Murad, a resident of Orangi Town and the personal security guard of SSP central leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, was recovered from Malir Saudabad in the evening. He had been abducted from the RCG Ground Malir a day earlier. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Farooq Sher Zaman, said Anwar Ali was abducted when he, along with some other SSP cadres went there to force shopkeepers to shut their businesses down. “The police found his body from a railway track in Saudabad. He was brutally tortured before being killed. A single bullet was shot at his forehead following the torture, killing him instantly,” Zaman said. Another SSP cadre, Ghufran, a resident of Future Colony in Landhi, who was wounded in the violence on July 15, succumbed to his injuries at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre hospital. Ghufran is reportedly the younger brother of Hafiz Amanullah, a SSP militant who was killed on June 3, 2009 in Gulshan-e-Iqbal when he, along with his children, went out for recreational purposes. Two other SSP cadres, Saqib and Arshad, were also injured in the violence on July 15.
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July 15: Unidentified men killed the central legal adviser of the outlawed Sunni group, the SSP, Hafiz Ahmed Buksh, in Model Colony in Karachi. Buksh’s vehicle was indiscriminately fired at when he was on his way home and his driver, Nasir, was also killed in the attack. Saudabad Supervisory Police Officer Farooq Sher Zaman told that the assailants used 9-mm pistols in the attack, adding that the incident took place shortly after the deceased left the Masjid-e-Ibrahim mosque.
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June 18: In a crackdown, the Bahawalpur and Vehari Police arrested 40 people who allegedly remained associated with banned outfits and sectarian groups. Raids were reportedly conducted in Bahawalpur, Ahmedpur East, Hasilpur, Khairpur Tamewali and Uch Sharif. The Bahawalpur Regional Police Officer Mushtaq Ali Sukhera confirmed that activists of former “jihadi or sectarian groups” had been arrested during these raids. He said those people had been taken into custody whose names figured on the Police’s fourth schedule, which carries the names of those people who violate their surety bonds of good behaviour and non-participation in objectionable activities. In case of non-compliance, they are liable to be detained or face new cases on these charges, he stated. Among those arrested were Abdul Ghani, a SSP activist from Mauza Qaimpur near Hasilpur, Aamir Shahzad of Ahmedpur East and Habibur Rehman of Khairpur Tamewali, who was allegedly present on the premises of Lal Masjid in Islamabad when an operation was launched during the regime of Pervez Musharraf. 25 activists of a banned outfit were arrested during the crackdown in Vehari District. Sources said eight persons were arrested from Vehari and the rest from Mailsi and Burewala.
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May 27: Another activist of the banned Sunni outfit SSP was shot dead in the Aziz Bhatti Police limits of Karachi within three days of the murder of another SSP activist. The incident sparked tension in Gulshan Town, as armed men resorted to aerial firing, forced the shopkeepers to pull down shutters and also attacked Imambargahs (Shia places of worship) in the area. 38-year old Qari Amanullah was shot dead while his son Sufian was injured by two gunmen near a Tandur in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. According to Police, the deceased was a former Sipah-e-Sahaba unit in-charge.
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May 24: A senior activist of the banned SSP was shot dead in a target killing. 40-year old Allauddin was the Lines Area Unit in-charge of the banned Sunni outfit, and had earlier worked for the LeJ. A source in the Criminal Investigation Department told that the deceased was currently engaged in re-organising the SSP in Karachi. Following the incident, participants of Allauddin’s funeral prayers started shooting guns in the air outside Imambargah-e-Ali Raza. Subsequently, dozens of people belonging to the Fiqa-e-Jafferia gathered on the road and started rioting by burning tyres and pelting stones on passing vehicles.
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April 20: The Islamabad Police announced the arrest of two hard-core terrorists from the federal capital who were acting as planners and facilitators for carrying out terrorist acts in the city. The SSP, Tahir Alam Khan, said Khairullah Mehsud, a resident of South Waziristan, who was living in Sector G-9/2, was arrested from F-9 Park. Intelligence agencies have reportedly traced his links with terrorist groups in South Waziristan, which he developed after the Lal Masjid incident. “He was in contact with Gul Bahadur in South Waziristan and Misal Khan in Akora Khattak. During the course of investigations Khairullah made certain revelations, which eventually led to the arrest of another terrorist identified as Khurram Shahzad son of Lal Afzal who had undergone terrorism training at the camp of a banned terrorist organization,” the SSP said. He said Khurram Shahzad had visited the tribal areas as well as Hangu, Bara and Peshawar quite frequently and during those visits he had taken ‘recruits’ from Islamabad for training in camps established by the terrorist groups there. The SSP also said Khurram Shahzad and other ‘recruits’ who accompanied him on those visits, got training to handle explosive materials, especially making lethal ‘oil canister’ bombs.
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March 23: A member of the banned Sunni group SSP was killed in an apparent sectarian attack in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. Abu Khan, an SSP activist, was near his shop on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan when two gunmen shot him dead and later escaped on their motorbike, witnesses told. A boy on the street was also wounded. Local Police official Rasheed Khan said “He was an active member of Sipah-e-Sahaba… It seems to be a sectarian killing.”
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March 16: 12 activists and leaders of the outlawed Sunni group SSP were arrested in a crackdown by Police in Dera Ismail Khan. Sources said the Police had launched a crackdown on the SSP and arrested 12 activists, including principal secretary of provincial legislator Khalifa Abdul Qayyum. Raids were reportedly conducted in Alam Sher Colony, Madena Colony, Shiekh Yousaf Adda and Katch Painda Khan.
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February 2: Unidentified men shot dead a former secretary general of the banned Sunni group SSP. Chaudhry Muhammad Yousuf, also a close aide to the local Member of National Assembly Sheikh Waqas Akram, was on a morning walk when armed men attacked him near Mohallah Babrana in Jhang. Yousuf, along with Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, had founded the SSP in 1985.
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November 23: The Taliban are present in Karachi and have links with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and other banned religious organisations, but they have no intention of carrying out attacks in the provincial capital if not provoked by a political party or the Government, said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Mullah Omer.
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November 21: Malik, the Adviser on Interior Affairs said there were 17,000 seminaries in the country and 3,000 of them were in Karachi alone. He said the Government would regularise them in consultation with religious scholars of all schools of thought. He stated that al Qaeda was using the LeJ, SSP and TTP for carrying out its activities.
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July 30: Unidentified militants killed the Dera Ismail Khan District Account Officer Syed Arif Hussain Shah, police said on July 30, Daily Times reported. Two motorcycle borne gunmen opened fire at Shah, who hailed from the Shia community, near the Pir Zakori graveyard on Zhob Road, when he was en route to office. The police termed the incident a possible act of sectarian violence. While the gunmen escaped after the firing, no group has claimed responsibility for the killing so far. Angry people blocked the road in front of the District Hospital in protest and reportedly shouted slogans against the banned Sunni militant outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and the local administration. Soon after the incident, unidentified persons reportedly opened fire and wounded two activists of the Ansarullah, a branch of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), at Din Pur Chowk, The News reported.
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July 12: According to Daily Times, banned sectarian and jihadi groups are flouting the Government bar and are re-emerging in various parts of Karachi. Dawn News stated that sectarian slogans, flags and posters of defunct sectarian groups are visible on walls across the city, indicating re-emergence of the banned groups. The Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), the Shia group Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) and Mukhtar Force are the most conspicuous groups, the report added. The channel quoted sources as saying that the sealed offices of the groups have reopened, working under different identities. Some of the groups held meetings in Qayyumabad, North Karachi and Soldier Bazaar, the sources said.
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June 24: The banned SSP has once again rolled up its sleeves and started getting active across Pakistan, and especially in Karachi, but with a new name Ahle Sunnat wa Aljamaat Pakistan (ASWJP) which roughly translates into The Sunni Party. It has started by requesting Sunni people to voluntarily shut down their businesses and offices on Youm-e-Shahdat (the day of martyrdom) of Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique (RA) on the 22nd of Jumadi-Uthani, June 27. The central information secretary of the SSP and ASWJP, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem said that they had started work in the name of the ASWJP because of the ban on the SSP. “The case against the ban is in court,” he added. The SSP was banned in 2002 by the government and most of its leaders were arrested. The leaders were released in 2003-04 and started limited work under ASWJP. It organized a rally in April 2008 in Karachi after surfacing after six years.
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February 29: The banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) reportedly drew several hundred supporters near its headquarters in Karachi as it denounced the blasphemous caricatures of the holy Prophet published in some Danish newspapers, and declared jihad against Denmark and the West if they continued to insult Islam. It was the fist major public rally by the SSP since it was banned in 2001. The SSP’s protest took place after Friday prayers at the SSP headquarters at Masjid-e-Siddique Akbar in the Nagan Chowrangi area.
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February 10: The security agencies arrested 40 people suspected to be activists of banned militant groups. Sources said that the operation was launched after the list of militant activists was revised by security agencies after the suicide attack outside the Lahore High Court on January 10. The Ghaziabad police arrested 30 men from a rented house near Muhammadpura railway crossing. Separately, police raided the RA Bazaar and arrested seven suspects. The arrested belonged to the banned Sunni group LeJ and were allegedly involved in the Rawalpindi blast. During another raid in Saddar Bazaar, police arrested three members of the LeJ. The Mughalpura Superintendent of Police, P. Sajjad Manj, said Rustam Ali, who was a member of the proscribed SSP, owned the house. However, he escaped the raid. Two Kalashnikovs, three 222s, a shotgun and rifles were seized from them.
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December 9: A team of Lahore Police arrested a wanted terrorist from the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan after a two-hour long shootout in Mandi Bahauddin. Muhammad Saleem alias Hafiz Bilal, a resident of Gujranwala, had planted a four kg improvised explosive device at the Bab-al-Imran mosque in Malakwal on June 30, 2006. Police also seized two Kalashnikov rifles and more than 2,000 bullets from the Saleem’s possession. Authorities had announced a PKR 500,000 reward for Saleem’s arrest.
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August 24: In a suspected sectarian incident, unidentified assailants shot dead an activist of the banned SSP in the Dera Ismail Khan city of NWFP. 22-year old Kaleen Ullah was shot dead in the Tareenabad Colony in Cantonment Police Station’s jurisdiction.
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August 12: The provincial secretary-general of the SSP, Aslam Farooqui, was shot dead in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Alam Zeb, brother of the deceased leader, caught hold of one the attackers and handed him over to police. A police official said one Shoaib Hussain of Parachinar, who belonged to a paramilitary force, had been arrested.
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July 9: Unidentified assailants shot dead an activist of the outlawed Sunni group SSP in the jurisdiction of Shah Qabool police station in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Police officer Latif said that Hayat Khan was shot dead at around 2 a.m. outside his Nishtarabad house.
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July 7: Police in the Mansehra district of the NWFP released four central leaders of the outlawed Sunni group SSP, a day after their arrest. Hafiz Alam Tariq, Maulana Amir Mahavia and two other leaders were reportedly arrested from the district’s Ghazikot area along with two triple-M licensed guns. Sources said they were released following interrogation.
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June 7: Police at Dera Ismail Khan in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) arrested Rauf Baloch, a leader of the banned Sunni outfit SSP, who was wanted in various cases of sectarian terrorism and murder.
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April 17: Activists of the SSP are conspiring for the release of their imprisoned colleagues from various jails through violent means, according to intelligence reports submitted to the Interior Ministry. The intelligence reports revealed that SSP leaders have directed the group’s district presidents to tell their jailed colleagues to create trouble in jails. Intelligence reports said that SSP presidents of southern Punjab districts, Lahore, Gujranwala, Karachi, Sukkur and Dera Ismail Khan have been directed to help their jailed comrades escape from police custody on their way from jails to courts. 48 SSP activists have been imprisoned at Adyala Jail and eight of them are on death row. Most of the SSP activists have been detained in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, the Bahawalpur Central Jail and jails in Karachi.
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April 16: Intelligence agencies have warned that three would-be suicide bombers have set out for Islamabad to target government functionaries if security agencies crack down on the Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia seminaries in the national capital. Intelligence agencies submitted reports to the Interior Ministry a few days ago warning that the three men, including two Uzbeks, had left Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP for Islamabad to carry out suicide attacks. 20-year old Ikramullah, a resident of Gedaro Killi, Zarghun Khel and member of the banned SSP, reportedly heads the group. The group, trained at a camp located in Shawal, Waziristan, was reportedly sent by Tariq Mazid Khel, who runs a training camp at Zarghun Khel and claims to have contacts with intelligence agencies.
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March 29: SSP asks President Pervez Musharraf to help resolve the ”decades-old conflict” between the Shias and Sunnis.
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March 13: Gunmen on a motorcycle killed Maulana Farooq Ahmed, a Sunni cleric, and reportedly a member of the outlawed SSP in Dera Ismail Khan.
Gunmen injured Hafiz Ishaq, a SSP activist in Dera Ismail Khan.
March 8: A suspected member of banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) outfit, identified as Sarwar Alam alias Alami, was shot dead by gunmen at Dera Ismail Khan on March 8, reported Daily Times.
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February 24: Three suspected militants were killed at Cheechawatni near Multan in the Punjab province on February 24 when the explosives they were carrying on a bicycle detonated, The Hindu reported. Police said that two of the men were from a Madrassa (seminary) that had links with the banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahiba Pakistan (SSP).
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February 20: The Government on February 20 claimed to have traced a network of terrorists allegedly involved in the killings of former Member of National Assembly Maulana Azam Tariq (chief of the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan [SSP], provincial minister Pir Binyamin and 41 other people in various incidents that occurred in Punjab and Islamabad between 2003 and 2006. “Two members of the network have been arrested by Islamabad Police’s CID department from Sector G-6/2 and efforts are being made to catch their six accomplices who are reported to be hiding in the capital,” a senior official of the interior ministry told Dawn. The arrested were identified as Mudassar Ali alias Usman Chaudhry and Mohammad Ali alias Abbas.
The official informed that in October 2003, the accused had intercepted Azam Tariq’s car near Golra More Toll Plaza in Islamabad and opened fire, killing Tariq, his three security guards and a driver.
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December 30: Police believe a member of the SSP has entered Japan with the aim of setting up a base in that country.
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December 5: Intelligence agencies have uncovered a plot by leaders of the banned Sunni outfits, SSP and LeJ, who had directed their operatives to form suicide squads to kill Shia members of the Legislative Council of the Northern Areas.
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November 6: Security agencies in the Punjab province detain 32 of 190 activists, listed by the Government, of banned religious organizations, including SSP, during Eid celebrations from Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Faisalabad ahead of the cricket Test match between Pakistan and England.
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August 12: Despite a ban imposed by the Government on the participation of defunct extremist outfits in the forthcoming local bodies’ elections, the SSP, a sectarian outfit banned twice for terrorist activities, is actively taking part in the elections.
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July 20: Security agencies arrests Maulana Ali Sher Haidery, patron-in-chief of the SSP (now known as Millat-e-Islamia), from his native town of Khairpure Meeras in the Sindh province.
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July 18: President Pervez Musharraf accuses banned groups like the SSP and JeM of forcing their ideology upon others, although he did not link them to the London bombings.
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May 4: A leader from the defunct Sunni group SSP, Tariq Javed, is arrested in New York for allegedly lying on his immigration papers about his terror links.
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April 15: Four SSP cadres are arrested for their alleged involvement in the bombing of a Shia shrine in the Jhal Magsi district on March 19, in which at least 50 people were killed.
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March 3: An Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi acquitted an activist of the proscribed Sunni group, SSP, identified as Mohammad Faisal alias Pehalwan, in a sectarian killing case. He was accused of killing Dr Sibtain Ali Dosa and two of his associates in the Kharadar area of Karachi on May 2, 2000.
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February 15: Tatheer-ul-Islam, an absconding most-wanted activist of the banned SSP, is arrested from the Lyari area of Karachi. His name was reportedly included in the Red Book of the CID.
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February 3: The police in North West Frontier Province arrests Qari Anwar Khan, a SSP leader, from Charsadda in connection with the assassination of Shia religious leader in Gilgit, Agha Ziauddin, in a suicide bomb attack at Gilgit in the Northern Areas of PoK on January 8. The suicide bombing had led to sectarian violence that claimed at least 17 lives in Gilgit.
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January 30: Two unidentified men open fire outside the Jamia Mamoor mosque on Tariq Road in Karachi, killing a cleric, Maulana Haroon Qasmi, belonging to the outlawed SSP and his bodyguard, Aqil Ahmed. Consequently, hundreds of agitated SSP cadres, primarily seminary students, indulged in arson and damaged some vehicles and also attacked a police check post.
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October 18: Special instruction are issued to the provinces not to allow Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan (erstwhile SSP), Islami Tehirk Pakistan (erstwhile Tehrik-e-Jaffria), Khuddamul Islam (erstwhile Jaish-e-Mohammad), Jama’atul Furqaan and others banned outfits to collect donations during Ramazan and on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
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October 7: At least 40 people are killed and more than 100 injured in two bomb blasts in the city of Multan when hundreds of people had gathered to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Sunni leader and SSP chief Maulana Azim Tariq outside Islamabad.
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August 6: Police in Vehari, Multan, arrests, Qari Ubaidullah, a terrorist of the outlawed SSP.
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April 22: Waris Ali Janwari, the father of defunct SSP chief Allama Ali Sher Hydri, is killed in an exchange of fire between police and SSP activists over the issue of a plot of land in Khairpur. Hydri’s three brothers and two police personnel are reportedly wounded during the encounter.
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April 2: A Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi grants bail to Amanullah Sial, former member of the National Assembly and one of the accused in the murder case of Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of the outlawed Sunni group SSP on October 6.
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March 26: The Lahore High Court orders release of Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, chief of the Tehreek-e-Jaferia Pakistan (TJP, now known as Millat Jaferia Pakistan), who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder of Sunni leader and chief of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Maulana Azam Tariq.
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March 19: The Lahore Police arrests former Member of National Assembly, Amanullah Sial, who had been declared a proclaimed offender in the Maulana Azam Tariq (SSP leader) murder case.
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March 7: Police have registered complaints lodged by relatives of some of the 47 slain people, who named seven activists of the outlawed SSP, blaming them for the March 2 attack on Shias in Quetta, capital of the Balochistan province.
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March 5: At least two activists of the outlawed SSP are injured in a shootout with the police in Gilgit. The incident occurred when the police tried to remove the hurdles put on the road by SSP activists, who had gathered at Napura, where a procession was to be held by the rival Shia community.
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January 3: Security agencies in Lahore arrests six terrorists, belonging to the outlawed SSP and JeM, in connection with the December 25, 2003, assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi.
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December 4: Authorities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir outlaws six terrorist groups, including SSP (now known as Millat-e-Islami).
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November 21: Law enforcement agencies seal eight offices of proscribed terrorist groups in the Sialkot district, including two offices of the SSP.
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November 16: Law enforcement agencies seal many offices of three proscribed terrorist groups, including SSP, during a countrywide crackdown.
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November 15: The Federal Government proscribes three religio-political outfits under the Anti-Terrorist Act 1997, including SSP, now known as Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan.
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October 7: One person is killed as angry mourners indulged in violence in Islamabad after the funeral of Maulana Azam Tariq, chief of the outlawed Sunni group SSP, who was assassinated on October 6.
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October 6: Maulana Azam Tariq, SSP chief and a Member of the National Assembly, is assassinated along with four other persons by three unidentified gunmen in Islamabad.
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May 17: An activist of the proscribed Sunni group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, now known as Millat-i-Islam Party), is shot dead by unidentified assailants when he was returning to his residence at an unnamed place in Multan.
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April 20: Maulana Azam Tariq, SSP chief, says that he and his followers had formed a new party to work for the “enforcement of Islamic edicts” in Pakistan. He said the new group is called Millat-e-Islamia (MeI) and said it wanted to bring about an Islamic revolution.
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April 18: SSP President, Maulana Azam Tariq, asks Lahore High Court to suspend the Government’s orders freezing his party’s bank accounts and imposing functional restrictions on it, till his petition against the ban on his party is decided.
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March 7: An SSP cadre is killed in North Karachi area, under Khwaja Ajmer Nagri police station-limits, in Sindh Province.
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January 6: Four SSP leaders are arrested in Peshawar after a court dismissed their pre-arrest bail application. The accused are charged of taking out a protest procession against the killing of a person in Karachi during 2002.
