Former president's security detail targeted by device as it crossed into capital from Rawalpindi A bomb exploded near a convoy carrying the former president, Pervez Musharraf, in the capital of Islamabad but the former ruler was not harmed, say police. A police official, Mohammad Hayat, said the device exploded as the general was being moved late on Wednesday night from the military hospital in Rawalpindi,...
The presidential election and US withdrawal are lilkely to have complex repercussions for the region's web of invisible networks Afghan watchers in the chancelleries of a dozen different states in south and west Asia know they are in for a long, tough weekend. Alongside them are spies, soldiers and business people, all keen for clues as to how the result of the presidential elections will affect the...
Former ruler faces charges relating to imposition of emergency rule in 2007 despite claims of deal to allow him to leave country Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's once all-powerful military ruler, has been indicted on high treason charges in a court appearance, despite claims he would be allowed to escape abroad. Amid a massive security operation on Monday, the former president appeared for only the second...
Formal identification of body, found about four miles from her Newport home, still to be carried out Police investigating the disappearance of Nida Ul-Naseer, 19, from Newport, South Wales, have said that a body found near the city is the missing teenager. Gwent police said a formal identification of the body, which was found about four miles from her home, still has to be carried out. ...
Lawyer says Sawan Masih's death sentence is over incident that triggered riot among 3,000 Muslims in Lahore A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to death for blasphemy, his lawyer said, over an incident that triggered a riot in the country's second-largest city. Sawan Masih was convicted of insulting the prophet Muhammad during the course of a conversation with a Muslim friend in the Joseph...
Peace talks held in 'cordial atmosphere', though many militant groups who carry out violence are not linked to Pakistani Taliban A Pakistani government team held direct talks with the Taliban after travelling on Wednesday to a secret location in the country's northwest, part of a push by prime minister Nawaz Sharif to strike a peace deal to end an insurgency that has killed thousands of people in recent...
Salma Farooqi was tortured and repeatedly shot after involvement in Peshawar's battle against polio for four years The unusual night-time kidnapping and brutal murder of a female polio vaccinator in the troubled Pakistani city of Peshawar has heightened fears among health workers struggling to stamp out the virus in the face of violent opposition from militant groups. The body of Salma Farooqi, a...
Richard Wike: The numbers are in, and the people want their internet freedom – no matter what Putin and Erdogan say Richard Wike ...
Prolific novelist and short-story writer whose newspaper columns often infuriated the Indian establishment The author and journalist Khushwant Singh, who has died aged 99, held a particular place in Indian life as a critic of the establishment and a challenger of hypocrisy. His ability to view matters from an outsider's perspective came out of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947: he belonged...
Majority of people surveyed in 22 out of 24 countries think government censorship of the internet is an important issue. By Stuart Dredge Stuart Dredge ...
Menial workers risk losing their homes in Pakistan's capital amid crackdown on alleged militant havens In a capital city of comfortable villas and tidy streets organised on a strict grid plan, the Afghan Basti slum is an uncomfortable fit. A collection of tightly packed mud hovels, it looks like it has been transplanted from Pakistan's troubled tribal areas into what is otherwise a manicured enclave...
Legal charity urges UK to aid mother who it says was victim of heroin smuggling racket A British woman has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Pakistan for attempting to smuggle 63kg of heroin out of the country. Khadija Shah, from Birmingham, was arrested at Islamabad airport in May 2012 when the drugs were found in her luggage. She was sentenced at a court in Pakistan on Tuesday, according...
Shakil Afridi's sentence for membership of militant group reduced by 10 years after calls by Washington for his release A court in Pakistan has reduced by 10 years the prison sentence handed down to a Pakistani doctor who helped the US track down the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in a blow to his supporters who have been fighting for his release. Shakil Afridi, hailed as a hero by US officials,...
Authorities culpable over failure to provide Tharparkar region with adequate healthcare and infrastructure, claim NGOs NGOs in Pakistan say the death of at least 132 children in a drought in Sindh province might have been avoided had the government responded sooner. As government aid begins to arrive in the area, local activists have linked the crisis to long-term failures to provide proper health...
A reconstruction of a US drone attack on a household in Mir Ali, north Waziristan, Pakistan on 4 October 2010. The footage forms part of a United Nations report ...
Rapporteur says MoD has no wish to bring squadron of unmanned aircraft back to Britain after Afghan campaign ends Britain's squadron of Reaper drones is likely to be redeployed to Africa and the Middle East rather than returned to the UK, a UN official has said. Ben Emmerson QC, the UN rapporteur monitoring counter-terrorist operations by unmanned aircraft, whose report on armed drone operations around...
Parents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to get 1,000 rupees for each child who completes vaccinations after Peshawar declared largest reservoir of endemic polio Parents in one of Pakistan's most troubled provinces are to be paid to vaccinate their children against polio , the crippling disease the world is tantalisingly close to eradicating. It is hoped some 2 million children from some of the most...
Special rapporteur on human rights says states have obligation to launch inquiries into attacks that kill civilians A report by the United Nations Human Rights Council has called for independent investigations to be carried out into drone attacks after a series of strikes that result in unexpected civilian deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Most of the attacks involved US drones....
s prime minister backs reforms Israel: discrimination against women in the workplace continues, report finds Not enough women are progressing to the top levels of the civil service and private sectors, according to a report by the state comptroller, Justice Yosef Shapira , released to coincide with International Women's Day. Shapira, whose job it is to supervise and review government policies and operations,...
re lucky if they can get a minimum-wage job. We meet six refugees adjusting to a very different way of life Wahid Ahmad, 33 Was: civil engineer, Afghanistan Now: shelf stacker, north London Wahid Ahmad trained as a civil engineer in Afghanistan, where he worked in a senior role for the UN on infrastructure projects, overseeing road- and bridge-building. "I was proud of the job I was...