Pak Taliban's hit list includes 70 VIPs

Almost 70 Pakistani VIPs, including the current and former chief ministers of North West Frontier Province, leaders of political parties, senior police officials and heads of paramilitary forces, are on the hit list of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, it has emerged.

"We have managed to get a new list of possible targets of TTP from a reliable source working closely with commander of Darra Adam Khel, Tariq Afridi. The militants affiliated with Afridi are mainly based in Feroze Khel, Dara Garhi and Mirbak areas," The Nation quoted sources, as saying.

The TTP hit-list includes: NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, former chief minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Awami National Party chief, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Sikandar Sherpao, Inspector General of NWFP Police, Malik Naveed, Commandant Frontier Constabulary, Sifwat Ghayyur, Director General of the Federal Investigating Agency, Zafrullah Khan, Chief Secretary NWFP, Javed Iqbal, Additional Chief Secretary Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Habibullah Khan, and Capital City Police Officer, Liaquat Ali Khan.

The names of provincial ministers include: senior minister Bashir Bilour, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Minister for Prisons, Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel, and Labour Minister Sher Azam Wazir.

"Majority of those who are on the list belongs to NWFP but the names of important politicians as well as officials from Punjab and Sindh are also included in the list," an official said.

The development came amid heightened fears of more terror attacks on VIPs in the wake of the assassination of seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost province. The bombing in Afghanistan has not only shocked many officials here but also was an open demonstration of TTP's ability to conduct operation in an area that was considered out of its reach, another official said.

NWFP IGP Malik Naveed said: "I have not received any threat but a lot of our officers have received threatening calls and letters written in Pashto and Urdu languages. We are taking every possible step to save valuable lives of common people and police officers who have frequently been targeted by the terrorists."