Major News Events 2011-Pakistan

January

Jan. 3

The government enters into urgent talks with opposition parties after the Muttahida Quami Movement resigns from the coalition, depriving it of its majority.

Jan. 4

Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by one of his guards, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Malik Mumtaz Qadri and nine other personnel of the Elite Force were arrested from the scene of the crime and shifted to the Kohsar Police Station.

Jan. 4

Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab, is shot by one of his bodyguards near his home. Taseer dies of his wounds soon afterwards.[2] His killer, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, turns himself in and claims he killed the governor due to his opposition to the blasphemy law in Pakistan.

Jan. 9

Two gas wells were blown up in Dera Bugti District of Balochistan. Sources said that explosive devices had been planted in well numbers 19 and 83 which were detonated by unidentified militants.

Jan. 10

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of implementation on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan (beginning of the rights of Balochistan) package with the observation that a lot of work had been done on paper and nothing on the ground.

Jan. 13

Wali Khan Babar, a reporter of a private news channel, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Super Market Police Station area of Liaquatabad in Karachi.

Jan. 13

A reporter of Geo News, Wali Khan Babar is shot by unknown political gunmen in Karachi as target killing once again gripped the city.

Jan. 17

The MQM submitted a draft bill 'Deweaponisation of Pakistan Bill of 2011' in the National Assembly Secretariat seeking to rid the country of weapons, in Sindh.

Jan. 19

Massive earthquake of magnitude Mw 7.2 hits southwestern parts of the country including Karachi, with tremours jolting as far as New Delhi and Dubai.

Jan. 24

Another earthquake of magnitude Mw 6.3 jolts the upper parts of the country including Islamabad.

Jan. 25

At least thirteen people are killed while 70 others injured in a suicide bomb explosion in a mourning procession of Hazrat Imam Hussain near its concluding point at Kerbala Gamay Shah at Bhat Gate in Lahore.

Jan. 25

A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden motorbike into a police van at Malir 15 area of Karachi, killing at least three people while 5 people were injured.

Jan. 27

A US diplomat, Raymond Davis, kills two men on a motorbike in Lahore allegedly in self defence while a companion of the diplomat, who is also an American citizen, crushed to death a bike rider in a hit-and-run incident, following the shooting.

February

February 3

Under pressure from the PPP leadership, former Minister Sherry Rehman decided not to pursue with the draft legislation. Rehman has been advised by the Government to leave the country in view of threats to her life from the militants for drafting a Bill to amend the blasphemy law.

February 7

The FIA in Punjab named former President Pervez Musharraf as an accused in an interim criminal charge sheet in Benazir Bhutto assassination case of December 27, 2007.

May

May 1

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a US operation. US President Barack Obama confirmed that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US Army operation conducted in Abbottabad District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children," said President Obama.

May 1

Death of Osama Bin Laden: A US Special Forces killed Osama bin Laden in the city of Abbotabad.

May 9

US President Barack Obama said that he thought that "there had to be some sort of support network for [Osama] bin Laden inside of Pakistan". He said, "We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate, and more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate." He added that there were not only individual terrorists in Pakistan but "also a climate inside of Pakistan that sometimes is deeply anti-American. And it makes it more difficult for us to be able to operate there effectively."

May 20

Confidential American diplomatic cables obtained by Dawn reveal new details about the activities of US forces on the ground in Pakistan, an issue that has gained heightened sensitivity in the aftermath of the Raymond Davis incident in Lahore and the American raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. The reports reveal that US special operations forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence gathering by the summer of 2009 and deployed with them on joint operations in Pakistani territory by September that year.

May 24

Hakim Ali Zardari, father of President Asif Ali Zardari died at the age of 81 years at a private ward in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Islamabad.

May 25

PNS Mehran Base Commander suspended in wake of Karachi terror siege.

May 31

The body of missing journalist Saleem Shahzad, who worked as bureau chief for the Hong Kong based Asia Times, an online publication, and the Italian News Agency Adnkronos (AKI), was found from Mandi Bahauddin District. In the initial reports after his abduction Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged that Shahzad had been picked up by the ISI and that the ISI had threatened him last year as well when he had reported on the release of Mullah Baradar, an aide to Mullah Omar, who had been captured by Pakistan earlier.

June

June. 3

The Federal Government has raised the defence budget by 11.36 percent by allocating PKR 495 billion for the country's three Armed Forces in the upcoming financial year 2011-12 against the upward revised budget of PKR 444.495 billion in the outgoing fiscal year ending June 30. The Government had been requested by the armed forces to make an allocation of PKR 582 billion. But, the Ministry of Defence had proposed to the Finance Ministry an allocation of PKR 524 billion for the three armed forces - Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy.

July

July. 3

US Senator John McCain said the role of ties between Afghanistan insurgents and ISI needed to be acknowledged. "We have to deal with Pakistan on a basis of realism, that there are connections between the ISI and the Haqqani network and the Taliban," McCain said in a news conference. Fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said they he were concerned about Pakistani ties with insurgents.

July. 7

On the special directives of President Asif Ali Zardari Sindh Government gave shoot-at-sight orders to the Police and Rangers for normalising the city's deteriorating situation and increasing terrorist activities.

July. 9

The Barrack Obama administration will hold back about $800 million in aid to the Pakistani military because Washington is unhappy with Pakistan's expulsion of US military trainers and its campaign against militants. The New York Times, citing three US senior officials, said the United States was suspending or canceling USD 800 million in aid and equipment —more than a third of the USD two billion it gives Pakistan for security assistance. About USD 300 million in US funding is to reimburse Pakistan for deploying more than 100,000 troops along the Afghan border to combat Taliban and other militant forces.

August

August. 5

Ethnic and politically linked violence in Pakistan's financial capital, Karachi, has killed 800 people so far this year, the country's independent Human Rights organisation said.

November

Nov. 22

Husain Haqqani resigned as Pakistan Ambassador to the United States following claims of his alleged affiliation with the Memogate controversy.

Nov. 26

A NATO attack on two Pakistani border checkposts in Salala in the Baizai subdivision of Mohmand Agency in FATA kill 24 soldiers of the Pakistan Army.

December

Dec. 9

Pakistan's principle stand to boycott the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan and to review its relations with NATO and United States have been supported by all the political parties and Pakistan's importance has been increased in the international community. According to diplomatic sources, although it is tough stand to boycott the Bonn Conference and stop the NATO supply but the general public and political parties have termed it a strong and committed decision by the Pakistan government at this important moment following the unproved and uncalled for attacks by the NATO/ISAF helicopters on its border check-posts in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and officers.

Dec. 11

QUETTA/ISLAMABAD The Pakistani security forces have taken over the control of Shamsi Airbase in Balochistan, according to a source from Kharan. The source said a US plane landed at Shamsi Airbase on Saturday for shifting military equipment and American staff from there. He claimed that Frontier Corps Balochistan has effectively taken the control of the base.

Dec. 23

Pakistan rejects US air strike deaths report that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers killed