Ex MNA from Kohistan Threatens Working Womendawn.com
MANSEHRA, May 5: Former Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA from Kohistan Maulvi Abdul Haleem on Saturday warned women working in non-governmental organisations against entering his district and said violators of the warning would be forcibly married off to locals. “I issued a decree during Friday sermon that getting education for degrees by women is repugnant to Islamic injunctions because if a woman …
What Choices for Hindu Girls in Pakistan?SC Verdict Throws Minority Community into Despair
By Zehrab Nabi Newsline
On April 18, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled that the three Hindu women who had been converted to Islam, Rinkel Kumari, Dr Lata Kumari and Aasha Kumari, should decide if they want to return to their parents or stay with their new husbands. All three stated that they had willingly converted to Islam and wanted to live with their …
SC Verdict Leaves Hindu Girls Conversion Issue Unresolveddawn.com
ISLAMABAD, April 18: The chief justice was in a hurry for once. In just the second hearing on Wednesday of a case related to the conversion of three Hindu women, a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, wrapped up the case and announced its judgment. The three young women present in the court were told to …
Curfew imposed in Gilgit after Sectarian ViolenceThe Nation
GILGIT, April 4 – The authorities issued shoot-on-sight orders to the law enforcement agencies to maintain law and order situation after 17 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in sectarian violence in Gilgit-Baltistan on Tuesday. The attacks led to an army deployment and imposition of curfew in the city, confining the inhabitants to their homes, as the situation …
Background of Sectarian Conflict in Gilgit-Baltistanwww.pildat.org
Around 75% of the region’s population follows some form of Shia Islam, almost an exact reversal of the norm in the rest of Pakistan. This makes the Northern Areas the only Shia majority political unit in Sunni-dominated Pakistan. There are four sects in Gilgit-Baltistan; Shia, Noorbakshi and Ismaili communities believe in the offices of Imamat, according to them, runs after …
Producing Little Osamas on the RunNew Details Emerge on Bin Laden’s Life in Pakistan
AP
HARIPUR, Pakistan: It’s an ornate but not lavish two-story house tucked away at the end of a mud clogged street. This is where Pakistan’s intelligence agency believes Osama bin Laden lived for nearly a year until he moved into the villa in which he was eventually killed. The residence in the frontier town of Haripur was one of five safe …
Shia Hazaras Massacred in Balochistan – Again!UN Workers Killed in Separate Incident
By Shehzad Baloch – The Express Tribune
QUETTA, March 29: At least five people were gunned down, and six others sustained injuries, when a van carrying people belonging to the Hazara community was ambushed on Spini road in Quetta Thursday morning. Law enforcement agencies and the police put security on high alert in the city after the incident. According to a senior police official, the van was on …
Cultural Ignorance behind the Koran Burning in AfghanistanBy the ATDT Author
The Koran burning incident, which has raged in Afghanistan since the last couple of weeks, is symptomatic of the mutual misunderstanding with which the US and regional players have bumbled on for the last 10 1/2 years – with no clear goal in sight. If the US goal in Afghanistan was to train the security forces to handle their own …
Taliban Rules Return for Afghan WomenWomen TV Presenters become the Canaries in the Mines
AFP
KABUL: Afghanistan has instructed women TV presenters to stop appearing without a headscarf and to wear less make-up, officials said, raising fears about creeping restrictions on the fledgling media. “All the TV networks are in seriousness asked to stop women presenters from appearing on TV without a veil and with dense make-up,” the information and culture ministry said. “All women …
Pakistan’s Blasphemy LawsA Year after Punjab Governor, Salman Taseer's Murder
Kamila Shamsie - Censorship magazine
I first became aware of Pakistan’s blasphemy law soon before I turned 18. It was 1991, and although less than three years had passed since a plane explosion killed General Zia and subsequent elections brought Benazir Bhutto to power, the optimism which surrounded those events had already largely dissipated. Benazir’s ineffectual government had lasted less than two years before being …
A National Human Rights Commission in the MakingBy Peter Jacob The News
The News, Dec 4: Finally, the bill that shall give birth to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is on the National Assembly’s to-do List. Though it will still take some time to pass the bill in both houses, have approval of the President and put the Commission in place, yet it is good news. Many nations have found NHRCs …
Civil Society in Sindh Resists Religious ExtremismProtests against Killings of Hindus in Sindh
By Zia ur Rehman Central Asia Online
KARACHI – Civil society organisations have condemned the November 7 slaying of three Hindus in Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, calling the murders an extremist effort to destroy Sindh’s secular and Sufi fabric. Three Hindu men, including two doctors, were gunned down November 7 in Char. A Muslim cleric incited Bhayo tribesmen to attack them because they had intervened to help …
Three Hindus killed in Pakistan this WeekNov 08, Khaleej Times online
Three members of the minority Hindu community were killed when unidentified persons attacked a village in Sindh province of southern Pakistan on Monday, officials said. Another Hindu was seriously injured in the attack at Taluka Chak in Shikarpur district. President Asif Ali Zardari took “serious note” of the attack on members of the Hindu community and directed authorities to immediately …
Report on Religious Minorities in PakistanNational Commission for Justice and Peace
The National Commission for Peace and Justice has issued a report on the Religious Minorities in Pakistan in August 2011 which describes how Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria are among the countries that have anti-blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, they note that under Zia ul Haq’s blasphemy laws, the penalty includes a mandatory death sentence for …
Why are Pakistan’s ‘moderate’ clerics defending Salman Taseer’s murdererby Syed Hamad Ali, Guardian.co.uk
He was only 18 years old at the time he was hanged for blasphemy. The accusations against him included allegations that he had made statements that mocked the “holy scriptures” and all “revealed religion”. He was also said to have described theology as “a rhapsody of feigned and ill-invented nonsense”. The man in question wasn’t another Pakistani being victimised by …
Fundamentalism and Social ExclusionICSW, June 2001 - By Nafisa Hoodbhoy
The emergence of fundamentalist movements in Muslim countries, more properly known as Islamism, is being viewed by some scholars as the last wave of anti-imperialism of the 20th century. Muslim fundamentalist movements that show militancy against Western colonial influences include the Hezbollah and AMAL in Lebanon, the HAMAS in Palestine, the National Islamic Front in Sudan, the Islamic Salvation Front …
Edhi not happy over decline in donationsDawn, January 14, 1997 - By Nafisa Hoodbhoy
KARACHI, Jan 14: The onset of the holy month of Ramazan has become a test of popularity for veteran social worker Abdus Sattar Edhi whose Edhi Trust suffered a decline of 40 percent in donations last Ramazan and whose daily receipts have fallen in the same proportion over the last couple of years. Mr Edhi told Dawn that although cheques …