I may be killed, fears Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy
September 12th, 2012 - 12:14 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, Sep 12 (IANS) "I'm scared," said Rimsa Masih, a teenaged Christian girl in Pakistan who faced a life sentence for allegedly buring pages of the Quran but has now ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Pakistani daily seeks national debate on blasphemy
September 3rd, 2012 - 12:34 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Sep 3 (IANS) A leading Pakistani daily Monday sought a national debate on the blasphemy law and demanded a "wide-ranging overhaul of laws that are clearly prone to abuse ... Read more...
Posted in World |
Insane to accuse girl of blasphemy: Pakistani daily
August 21st, 2012 - 1:20 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Aug 21 (IANS) The blasphemy law has become a death warrant at the hands of mob vigilantism, a Pakistani daily said after an 11-year-old girl afflicted with Down syndrome ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws misused: Daily
February 1st, 2012 - 12:53 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Feb 1 (IANS) Pakistan's blasphemy laws are not only being misused as a "weapon against minorities" but also being used to settle personal scores amongst Muslims or grab property, ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
International manhunt on for Pakistani minister’s killers
December 26th, 2011 - 12:25 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Dec 26 (IANS) An international manhunt has been launched for two killers of Pakistani minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti who had been seeking to reform the country's controvesial blasphemy law.Interior ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
A difficult year for Pakistan (2011 in Retrospect)
December 25th, 2011 - 2:02 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Dec 25 (IANS) The year 2011 saw Pakistan making headlines for all the wrong reasons, compounded by yearend uncertainty about the political future of a nation that is ... Read more...
Posted in World |
Sherry Rehman appointed Pakistan’s envoy to US
November 23rd, 2011 - 6:48 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Nov 23 (IANS) Former minister Sherry Rehman, known for her outspoken views, was Wednesday appointed Pakistan's ambassador to the US after Husain Haqqani stepped down over a secret ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
Judge who left Pakistan showed remarkable courage: Daily
October 26th, 2011 - 12:51 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Oct 26 (IANS) The judge who convicted Punjab governor Salman Taseer's assassin and has now left Pakistan after facing death threats showed remarkable courage when he upheld the ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Judge who sentenced governor’s killer flees Pakistan
October 25th, 2011 - 11:02 pm ICT by IANS
London, Oct 25 (IANS) Judge Pervez Ali Shah who sentenced to death the killer of then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer has fled to Saudi Arabia after receiving death threats from ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Salman Taseer’s assassin gets death sentence
October 1st, 2011 - 2:05 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Oct 1 (IANS) The bodyguard who gunned down Punjab governor Salman Taseer in January this year was found guilty and sentenced to death Saturday by a Pakistani court, ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
US worried over rising extremism, intolerance in Pakistan
September 14th, 2011 - 12:27 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, Sep 14 (IANS) The US has designated eight nations as Countries of Particular Concern for "particularly severe violations of religious freedom", but spared ally Pakistan even as it expressed ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Five held in Taseer kidnapping case in Pakistan
August 28th, 2011 - 3:44 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Aug 28 (IANS) Five people have been detained in Lahore in connection with the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of late Punjab province governor Salman Taseer, police ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Zardari, Gilani assure recovery of Taseer
August 27th, 2011 - 5:30 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, Aug 27 (IANS) Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani have assured the family of late Punjab governor Salman Taseer that his abducted son would ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
My book drumming support for father’s killer: Aatish Taseer
August 20th, 2011 - 1:42 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Writer Aatish Taseer, son of slain Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer, says the description of his father as "not a man of religion, but a brilliant ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Pak Christians say they’re being persecuted for US drone attacks
April 24th, 2011 - 2:40 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, April 24(ANI): Pakistani Christians are being persecuted for US drone attacks on Islamic militants hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, according to community members.The Christian minority, which accounts for ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
We should revisit blasphemy law: Asfandyar Wali Khan
April 21st, 2011 - 10:20 pm ICT by ANI
New Delhi, Apr 21 (ANI): Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan on Thursday said that there is a need to revisit the blasphemy law."No law is absolutely good or flawed, ... Read more...
Posted in National |
Need to revisit blasphemy laws: Pakistani politician
April 21st, 2011 - 9:01 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Treading a cautious line on the controversial laws that make blasphemy a capital crime in Pakistan, Asfandyar Wali Khan, a top leader of the ruling ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
‘Pak govt. failed to present Taseer’s murder in right perspective’
April 18th, 2011 - 4:32 pm ICT by ANI
Lahore, Apr 18(ANI): Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir has criticized the federal government over its "poor" reaction to the murder of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer."The ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Pakistan rights report highlights problems of Hindus, Sikhs
April 15th, 2011 - 12:25 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, April 15 (IANS) Stating that about 25 percent of Sikhs in Orakzai Agency were forced to leave their homes and 27 Hindu families sought asylum in India due ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
Life attacks on JUI-F chief reveal gulf between militants and sympathetic Pak politicians
April 1st, 2011 - 5:45 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, April 1(ANI): The back-to-back assassination attempts on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman depict the growing disdain of Islamic militants towards even sympathetic political leaders in Pakistan.Maulana Fazl escaped ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Pak blasphemy law reform advocate Sherry Rehman says being scared “no longer works”
March 29th, 2011 - 5:35 pm ICT by ANI
Karachi, Mar 29(ANI): Liberal Pakistan parliamentarian Sherry Rehman, who is facing death threats for proposing a bill to reform the nation's draconian blasphemy laws, has said that being scared "no longer ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Protests against Shahbaz Bhatti’s assassination continue in Lahore
March 7th, 2011 - 12:00 pm ICT by ANI
Lahore, Mar 7(ANI): Pakistan human rights activists and Christians are still carrying out protest demonstrations in Lahore over the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti.The protest demonstrations were organized by the ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Fazl vows not to let Shahbaz Bhatti’s killing to be ‘used against Islam’
March 6th, 2011 - 12:52 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, Mar 6(ANI): Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has vowed not to let the assassination of Pakistan Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti to be used against Islam and for the ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
“Lobby opposed to religious circles” could have inspired Bhatti’s murder: Fazl
March 5th, 2011 - 3:48 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, Mar 5(ANI): The assassination of Pakistan Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti is being given a religious colour to pressurise religious circles in the country on the pretext of the controversial blasphemy ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Gilani assures international community against misuse of Pak’s blasphemy law
March 5th, 2011 - 1:41 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, Mar 5(ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has reassured the international community that his government is serious about stopping the misuse of the country's laws, including the one on ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Taseer’s killer interrogated in Shahbaz Bhatti assassination case
March 5th, 2011 - 12:58 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, Mar 5(ANI): The scope of investigations into the assassination of Pakistan's Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has been widened to include Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of former Punjab Governor ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
I accept my responsibility: PM on Thomas as CVC (Lead)
March 4th, 2011 - 7:49 pm ICT by IANS
Jammu, March 4 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday broke his silence on the controversy over appointment of P.J. Thomas as chief vigilance commissioner, saying he accepts his "reponsibility" ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
“Pakistanis committing the mother of all blasphemies by keeping silent”
March 4th, 2011 - 5:35 pm ICT by ANI
London, Mar 4(ANI): Most Pakistanis are committing the blasphemy of keeping silent as the country's mullahs and muftis have managed in a very short span of time "to blur the line between ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Bhatti killers enemies of Pakistan: PM Gilani
March 4th, 2011 - 2:47 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, March 4 (IANS) The murder of Pakistan's minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was another attempt by enemies of the state to defame the country and the philosophy ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
A Pakistani law that felled a minister and a governor
March 3rd, 2011 - 6:46 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, March 3 (IANS) Pakistan's blasphemy law, which carries a death sentence for the person who insults the Prophet, has caused the killing of a minister who was a Christian ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Sherry Rehman next on terror hit list?
March 3rd, 2011 - 5:52 pm ICT by IANS
London, March 3 (IANS) With two of three Pakistani politicians who opposed the blasphemy law assassinated, friends of the third, the glamorous Sherry Rehman, now fear for her life.Gunmen have ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
If nobody stands up, extremists will win: Pakistani daily
March 3rd, 2011 - 3:16 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, March 3 (IANS) The real culprit behind the killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, the only federal minister who was a Christian, is "an extremist mindset that has spread far ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Pak Taliban threatens to target more blasphemy law reform supporters
March 3rd, 2011 - 2:49 pm ICT by ANI
Karachi, Mar 3(ANI): The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the terror outfit that has claimed responsibility for the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has threatened to attack all those advocating reforms to ... Read more...
Posted in South Asia |
Canada shocked over Pakistani minister’s assassination
March 3rd, 2011 - 11:06 am ICT by IANS
Toronto, March 3 (IANS) Expressing his shock over the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister of minorities, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday asked Pakistan to prevent the misuse of ... Read more...
Posted in Uncategorized |
UN chief condemns killing of Pakistani minister
March 3rd, 2011 - 4:30 am ICT by IANS
United Nations, March 3 (IANS) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the assassination of Pakistan's only Christian minister, calling him a "prominent advocate" for minority rights.A statement, released here ... Read more...
Posted in World |