Edinburgh man was sentenced to death for blasphemy after writing letters claiming to be from the prophet Muhammad The family of a mentally ill Edinburgh man shot in a Pakistan prison have appealed to David Cameron to intervene in their fathers case. Mohammad Asghar, 70, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in January after writing letters claiming to be from the prophet Muhammad, was allegedly...
Lawyer says UK government has failed Asghar, 70, who has been diagnosed with severe paranoid schizophrenia Pakistani police officer shoots Briton convicted of blasphemy The family of a British man shot in a Pakistan prison where he is being held on blasphemy charges is appealing for his safety. Mohammad Asghar, 70, was apparently shot and injured by a prison guard at Adiala prison in Rawalpindi on...
Three staff working in a Pakistani news agency were shot dead when two gunmen burst into their office in Quetta, south-west Pakistan. One of the murdered trio was Irshad Mastoi (aka Arshad Mustoi), 34, secretary general of Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ). The others were trainee reporter Abdul Rasul and the agency's accountant, Mohammed Younus. All were reported by police to have died on the...
Police use rubber bullets and teargas after protesters force their way into grounds of Pakistan's parliament Anti-government protesters forced their way into the grounds of Pakistan's parliament on Saturday amid violent clashes that saw police fire teargas and rubber bullets at crowds demanding the prime minister's resignation. A man died and more than 300 people were injured, according to local hospitals,...
Move comes in week regulators rule on coverage that include claims Zaheer-ul-Islam behind attempt on life of star journalist Pakistan's embattled media group printed a grovelling front-page apology to the army on Monday after allegations broadcast by Geo TV that the country's spy chief had plotted to assassinate one of the channel's star journalists. The apology came two days before an anticipated...
Cardiologist was member of minority Ahmadi community that says it's Muslim but whose religion is rejected by state An American volunteer cardiologist was shot dead in Pakistan on Monday, a member of his minority Ahmadi community said, the latest attack on a group which says it is Muslim but whose religion is rejected by the state. Mehdi Ali had taken his five-year-old son and a cousin to a graveyard...
US president tells troops at Bagram airbase that they are 'completing the mission' in America's longest war President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, to spend Memorial day with troops still on the ground in the "last year" of America's longest war. He landed at sprawling Bagram airbase north of Kabul under cover of darkness, for his fourth visit to the country but the...
Nawaz Sharif, whose attendance at ceremony will be a first in history of two states, will also hold bilateral meeting with Modi The prime minister of Pakistan has accepted an invitation from Narendra Modi, the incoming Indian prime minister, to attend his inauguration on Monday in Delhi, raising hopes of a thaw in relations between the two south Asian nations. Continue reading... ...
My father, Ziauddin Mahmood, who has died of motor neurone disease aged 73, was a political activist, journalist, teacher and barrister who challenged social injustice. He was born in Barisal, in the Bay of Bengal, then under British rule, to ABM Mazharul Huq, who became a judge in the East Pakistan high court, and his wife, Meherunessa Khatun. Growing up in Dhaka, Zia witnessed the turbulent political...
Attacks on rebel strongholds follow air strikes the previous day in which more than 70 are thought to have died Pakistani troops began a rare ground operation against militants in the troubled North Waziristan region on Thursday, a significant escalation of hostilities at a time when the government is trying to talk to Taliban leaders. The fighting took place around militant bases on the outskirts...
Anaylsts see the invitation from India's prime minister elect as a bold step to launch a policy of regional engagement Narendra Modi, the prime minister elect of India, has invited the leader of the country's hostile neighbour Pakistan to his inauguration in Delhi next week, in what analysts have hailed as a bold step to launch a policy of regional engagement. If Nawaz Sharif were to attend the ceremony,...
Widespread calls for popular TV channel to be shut down after using Sufi song on broadcast of mock celebrity wedding Young children, religious minorities and people with mental health problems have all been accused of the crime of blasphemy in Pakistan. Now the country's most popular television station has shown that even one of Pakistan's most powerful institutions is not immune from a growing trend....
Research reveals people in Pakistan have lost confidence in the government's ability to build resilience to climate change Climate change: what is your message for global leaders? "There is nothing left here. We don't have electricity, we don't have gas, we have an acute shortage of water, so what is left for us?" This is how a woman in Lahore, Pakistan, expressed her frustration to researchers...
Pakistani military claims 60 terrorists including key figures killed in operations in North Waziristan near Afghan border Pakistani military jets and helicopter gunships have attacked suspected militant hideouts near the Afghan border, killing 60 people, the army said. The main target of the air strikes on Wednesday was Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan, the army said in a statement. Continue...
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority disowns decision by its own members to suspend Geo TV's licenses An attempt to take Pakistan's largest and most influential television station off the air descended into farce on Tuesday after the country's broadcasting regulator disowned a decision taken by some of its own board members. Three members of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority...
The intense battle for radio listeners in the Swat region of northwest Pakistan is being fought between state-run stations offering the usual fare and a rather more eclectic offering A battle of the airwaves in Pakistan's lawless northwest border region is pitting firebrand sermons by radical clerics against a mix of music, chat and celebrity gossip offered by young, state employed DJs. The clerics...
Rights activists claim the attack is evidence of rising intolerance against the minority Ahmadi community A teenager walked into a Pakistani police station on Friday and shot dead a 65-year-old man from a minority sect accused of blasphemy, the second murder involving the country's controversial blasphemy laws in as many weeks. Rights activists said the attack, and a spike in the number of blasphemy...
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As the 'Bring back our girls' campaign and the attack on Malala have shown, basic education is routinely denied to children. International efforts can begin to right this wrong Attacks on education have become visible in our world. The shooting of Malala Yousafzai , who was shot for daring to go to school, shocked us. We cheered when she won her fight for life. And now we are in new despair over the...
Charity Reprive says Pakistani Yunus Rahmatullah released from Bagram prison after detention by UK and US troops in 2004 A man who spent ten years imprisoned without trial in Afghanistan after being detained by British special forces and handed over to the US military was reported to have been released on Thursday . The legal charity Reprive said that Yunus Rahmatullah had been freed from the prison...
Meena Menon from The Hindu and Snehesh Alex Philip of the Press Trust of India given no explanation for order to leave The only two Indian journalists working in Pakistan have been ordered out of the country despite Islamabad's professed desire for better relations with India, and the probable election this week of a new government in New Delhi led by a Hindu nationalist party. The two journalists...