Pakistani TV journalist Shahzad Iqbal was shot dead in Mianwali in the south Punjab yesterday (22 April). He was riding on a motorcycle with his brother when they were attacked by a gang of four men. The brother is in a critical condition in hospital. Police are said to be investigating the motives for the murder of 28-year-old Iqbal, who worked for SAMAA TV. Continue reading... ...
Geo News accused of libel, after allegations the military's main intelligence agency had ordered its star journalist killed Pakistan's army demanded the closure of the country's most popular television channel on Tuesday following allegations that the military's main intelligence agency had ordered an assassination attempt on its star journalist. In a three-page petition to Pakistan's broadcast regulator...
Clampdown aims to end free-for-all culture and debt problem in energy sector that forces companies to shut off power The miseries of summer have come early for Pakistanis living in towns where people have grown used to getting their electricity for free. As the government gets tough on electricity thieves, scores of towns in the impoverished provinces have been hit by power cuts weeks before soaring...
Maulana Abdul Aziz, controversial and hardline cleric, wanted to pay tribute to al-Qaida leader, 'the martyr' A Pakistani cleric who runs an Islamic seminary for girls in the capital of Islamabad has named the school's newly built library in honour of Osama bin Laden, his spokesman and a school administrator have said . The tribute is an unusual move, though there have been cases in recent years of...
The history of the hijra community's stretches back to antiquity. But now, with a new supreme court ruling, India's third gender has finally achieved full legal recognition With their glittering saris, bright makeup and a reputation for bawdy song and dance, hijras, India's transgender minority, are hard to miss. But this week, after years of discrimination, the community has finally been...
The targeted murders of journalists in Syria means that the war-torn country has entered the annual "impunity index" produced by the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ). Syria joins Iraq, Somalia, the Philippines, and others on the list of countries where journalists are murdered regularly and their killers go free. There was some (slight) good news. Four countries on the index the Philippines,...
Farman Ali and Mohammad Arif detained after newborn baby's head was found at their home in remote district in Punjab Pakistani police have arrested a second man suspected, along with his brother, of eating a newborn baby whose head was found at their home. Officials said on Tuesday that Farman Ali was detained a day after police arrested his brother Mohammad Arif following the grisly discovery at their...
Nine-month-old Musa Khan had been charged along with his whole family for attempted murder of policeman A Pakistani judge threw out charges of attempted murder against a nine-month-old baby on Saturday, lawyers said, in a case that cast a spotlight on Pakistan's dysfunctional justice system. Musa Khan appeared in court in the city of Lahore, sitting on his grandfather's lap and drinking from a bottle...
A judge in Lahore, Pakistan, threw out a murder charge against nine-month-old Musa Khan on Saturday. Musa and his adult relatives were charged with attempting to murder a policeman after clashing with gas company workers collecting money for overdue bills. Musa's grandfather fears there will be backlash from the police and land mafia who initiated the case Continue reading... ...
Election victory for BJP frontrunner could bring about readjustment in country's relations with China, US and south Asian neighbours In the heart of Kathmandu, in the narrow lanes around the famous Durbar Square, a quiet transformation is taking place. The Chinese are coming. There are the tourists almost 10% of the total visitors to Nepal in 2012 and more than eight times as many as a decade before....
International development secretary says system must be overhauled to ensure that more is done to prepare for disasters The global humanitarian aid system is being "stretched to breaking point" by climate change, war, population growth and extremism, and must be overhauled to ensure that more is done to prepare for disasters rather than merely relieve them, the British government will warn...
The prime minister's take on faith should extend to the world beyond St Mary Abbots in Kensington David Cameron gave an Easter reception at Downing Street where he talked about Christianity . A soprano sang Ave Maria (Hail Mary) surely that should have been Vale Maria (Farewell Mary) on the day the culture secretary Maria Miller resigned and he discussed both spirituality and policy. He goes, he said,...
The father of the education activist Malala Yousafzai talks about challenging patriarchal norms in Pakistan and the three steps to achieving equality Malala Yousafzai has won worldwide recognition from Ban Ki Moon to Jon Stewart to Gordon Brown for her bravery in campaigning for girls' education before and since being shot in the head by the Taliban 18 months ago. How does a teenager grow up with a...
Condemnation of attack by Taliban spokesman highlights anxiety on both sides to preserve temporary ceasefire due to expire Pakistan's government was swift to accept a Taliban denial that it was involved in a devastating bomb attack on a vegetable market in Islamabad that killed 22 people. The strong condemnation of the attack by the Taliban, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians...
Separatist group from the ethnic Baluch minority claim responsibility for the attack in outskirts of Pakistan's capital city A bomb has ripped through a fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of Islamabad killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens more in a new attack in the Pakistani capital, which until recently had remained relatively removed from the shootings and bombings that plague...
Bomb rips through fruit and vegetable market on outskirts of Pakistani capital of Islamabad, killing at least 18 and injuring dozens A bomb has ripped through a fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, killing at least 21 people and leaving dozens more wounded. The massive blast on Wednesday was the latest attack to shake Pakistan, even as government negotiations...
A Pakistani media group, Express Media, has just suffered its sixth attack in nine months, and the third within three weeks. A hand grenade was thrown at the home of Jamshed Baghwan, the Express News bureau chief in Peshawar, on Sunday (6 April). It exploded near the gate but no one was injured. Continue reading... ...
Family of nine-month-old Musa Khan say they have been put under huge pressure by police to manipulate case The family of a Pakistani baby charged with attempted murder say they have been forced into hiding after coming under intense pressure from the police, who are facing national humiliation over the incident. One police officer has been suspended and an official inquiry has been ordered into how...
Seed banks improve food security and help preserve indigenous farming practices. How can they be better supported by development efforts? While 2014 has been recognised as the international year of family farming , it's important for the global development community to recognise how useful and important seed banks can be to food security in developing countries. The goal of a seed bank is to increase...
An artists' collective in Pakistan is challenging impersonal and indiscriminate death from above with a giant image of one victim of a drone attack We hear a great deal about the ruthless ingenuity of military hardware, but this is something else altogether. It is a new device currently on deployment in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It has the power to startle an enemy for a moment...