Recently in Pakistan Category

"The carnage poses a challenge for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose party won the provincial election there on a platform of negotiating with the Pakistani Taliban to bring an end to the years of fighting and attacks there." Not an auspicious beginning. "Bombing at Pakistani funeral kills 27," by Riaz Khan for the Associated Press, June 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of hundreds of mourners attending a funeral in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 27 people. Among the dead was a newly elected lawmaker who may have been the target, authorities said.

The blast was the deadliest attack in the region since May 11 national and regional elections installed a new government in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The carnage poses a challenge for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose party won the provincial election there on a platform of negotiating with the Pakistani Taliban to bring an end to the years of fighting and attacks there.

The bombing in the village of Sher Garh near the city of Mardan killed 27 people and wounded at least 57, said a senior police officer in Mardan, Tahir Ayub Khan.

Many of the wounded were taken to hospitals in the provincial capital of Peshawar, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) away.

Speaking as doctors examined him, Azeem Khan said a local cleric was leading the funeral prayers when Khan heard a deafening explosion and was knocked to the ground.

"People were running away for safety," he said. "Mourners at the funeral were crying for help after the blast."

A witness told Pakistan's Dunya television that 700 to 800 people were attending the funeral when the suicide bomber detonated the device.

The lawmaker, Imran Khan Mohmand, ran in Pakistan's May 11 elections as an independent candidate and later supported the party of Imran Khan, the ex-cricketer. He was the second provincial lawmaker affiliated with the party to be killed since the election. The other lawmaker, also an independent who later joined Khan's party, was shot dead earlier this month.

The Pakistani military has been fighting to root out Pakistani Taliban and affiliated militants from the tribal areas, a region that borders Afghanistan. The militants have vowed to overthrow the government and have carried out a campaign of bombings and shootings, mostly in the northwest, that have killed tens of thousands of civilians and security forces in recent years.

Khan campaigned on an anti-American platform in which he blamed the CIA's drone program and the war in Afghanistan for leading to much of the violence in Pakistan. He also favored negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban instead of military operations against them, and many of his aides and supporters said the party would not allow Pakistan to be used to ferry supplies to and from NATO troops in Afghanistan....

Apparently there are not enough Infidels around to finance the jihad by means of the jizya, as Islamic law envisions. "TTP demands 'protection money' from Pakistani businessmen to sustain jihad," from ANI, June 17:

The Pakistani Taliban has reportedly asked two local businessmen to pay 'protection money' to help militants carry out 'jihad'.

A senior police official told Dawn News that the chief executive of an Islamabad-based business establishment had received four letters allegedly from the head of the banned organization Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) 'finance wing'.

The businessman has been asked to pay 25 million dollars. The letter, bearing the name of its sender, said the money was needed for jihad and it would be received abroad (in Dubai).

According to the report, the TTP threatened that its 'operational wing' would come into action if the money was not paid.

Police said a man delivered a letter and a Universal Serial Bus or USB (a data storage device) at the office of Raja Hanif, who is the father-in-law of Sadaqat Abbasi, who contested the recent general elections as a candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf from Murree.

Hanif said in a statement recorded by the police that the letter had been written on the TTP's letterhead.

Intent on appeasing their bloodthirsty god. "Pakistan militants bomb women on bus, then seize hospital in deadly attack," by Gul Yousafzai, Syed Raza Hassan and Frank Jack Daniel for Reuters, June 15 (thanks to Kenneth):

QUETTA, Pakistan -- Militants in western Pakistan bombed a bus carrying women university students on Saturday and then seized part of the hospital where survivors of the attack were taken, killing at least 12 people, officials said.

At least 19 were injured.

The gunmen in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province long plagued by sectarian violence, were holed up in the emergency ward of a hospital, engulfed in a firefight pitting militants against the security forces.

Television footage showed security forces surrounding the Bolan Medical Complex and a helicopter hovering overhead.

The attack in resource-rich Baluchistan was Pakistan's most lethal since the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office last week.

The initial blast gutted the bus, killing 11 students, and another explosion went off soon after at the hospital, the city's largest. Television footage showed people fleeing the building in panic.

A senior local government official was killed in the hospital attack, the state television network reported.

Earlier, city police chief Mir Zubair Mehmood told Reuters that the students on the bus were from various ethnic groups, including the Hazara minority that has been the target of a series of bombings this year.

Saturday's attack was the biggest since bombings in the city at the start of the year killed almost 200 people, briefly drawing global attention to a growing campaign of victimization of the Hazaras by sectarian militants.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, or whether it was aimed at the Hazaras.

The 500,000-strong community in Quetta has been subjected to an escalating campaign of shootings and bombings by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), a militant group dedicated to attacking Pakistan's Shiite Muslim minority, which includes the Hazaras....

Making sure that the Christians "feel themselves subdued" (Qur'an 9:29). More on this story. Spelling and grammar as in original: "Muslim landlord torture Christian women and parade them nude in village," from the Pakistan Christian Post, June 6 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Kasur: June 6, 2013. (PCP) A shocking case have surfaced in a village of District Kasur where Christians women were tortured and paraded nude in village while their Christian men badly treated by Muslim landlords.

The Christian women Arshad Bibi, Sajida Bibi and Saruyia Bibi were beaten by armed Muslims who entered at about 11;00 PM while they were sleeping in their house and no man of the house was present in the house except one 73 years old man Sadiq Masih and his wife Bibi Rani 70 years old. The Muslim landlords of the village Sereser Chak No.21 Abrahim, Muhammad Rafique, Munir, Ahmad, Asif, Ahmad, Abid, Usman, Waseem, Waqas and Shabir and three unknown persons after beating made them publicly naked and no one showed courage to save them from that torture.

"Few days ago some goats were entered in the fields of Muslim landlords and they made them locked up in their house. I went to requested them to give back my goats but they refused and abused me and slapped at my cheeks in front of many people on which I returned back home," told Shoukat Masih.

"On June 2, 2013, they blocked the way of my brother Shoukat Masih when he was going to his work and exchanged hot words. In revenge of this that being Christian how I dared to speak in loud voice with them, they beaten and tortured and made naked our women when we were on our work and they also tortured our 73 years old father and wounded his one leg" told Boota Masih.

"On June 3, 2013, at morning we contacted Rev. Saleem Gill, DS Pattoki Church of Pakistan and along with him approached to SHO Pattoki but he did not bother to hear our request and rejected to receive our complaint," and at evening some police officials also raided at our house along with Muslim Landlords and threatened us to make involve us in criminal case," told Shoukat Masih.

On June 4, 2013 in the morning Rev. Saleem Gill informed Advocate Sardar Mushtaq Gill, National Director LEAD, to help the persecuted family and give them legal aid in this case.

National Director LEAD went to the village and met the family and got information regarding the case, and approached to DSP Pattoki for the registration of FIR against the alleged accused who beaten and publicly made naked Christians Women and also recorded protest along with the victim family.

The FIR No.231/13 has been registered against the alleged Muslims at Police Station Sadar Pattoki under Sections 452,354,337/FI,149,148 of PPC.

The Muslim allegedly accuse and threaten the Christian family with support of Police has also got registered FIR No.234/13 under Sections 440, 379, 148, 149 of PPC so that they could make pressurized the victim Christian family for compromise.

There are some other Christians who told that they are often being threatened and treated badly and inhumane way by Muslims Landlords. They told to Advocate Sardar Mushtaq Gill that they were poor and that's why they were treated like animals.

The LEAD organization has been asking for much needed financial and moral support to continue defending Pakistan’s minority Christians. Many of our clients are very poor and unable to afford legal services. Due to this fact, many incidents go unreported, causing them to be under constant abuse from their oppressors. LEAD Advocates offers free legal aid and assistance to those unable to pay and persecuted.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Peshawar as we speak, so as to explain to the Taliban that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"‘Christian Convert Kidnapped In Pakistan By Taliban Militants,’" from BosNewsLife, June 7:

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A 16-year-old Christian convert from Islam remained missing Friday, June 7, some two weeks after he was kidnapped by Islamic militants in Pakistan's volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Christian said.

Aman Ullah was reportedly taken by fighters of a militant Taliban group on May 25 in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the former Northwest Frontier Province.

"We don’t know which of the 32 different Taliban groups operating both in Afghanistan and Pakistan is responsible," said John Taimoor, president of mission group 'Crossbearers Ministry' which works among former Muslims.

"My team, workers and disciples from Muslim backgrounds are facing pressures from many sides and physical persecution," he said in a statement. However, "We are looking to our Savior who is able to save us to the uttermost..."...

Yet the Christian who was accused of blasphemy, touching off the rage of the mob in the first place, is still awaiting trial. This is justice in the Islamic Republic. "Pakistan: hundreds accused of taking part in anti-Christian rampage released," from Catholic Culture, June 7 (thanks to Ralph):

Three months after a mob of 3,000 Muslims attacked a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, few of the perpetrators are in prison.

Hundreds of those detained immediately after the incident were released; of the 83 who were arrested, 31 have been released on bail.

“Most of the people who were stopped after the attack were declared innocent by the police and immediately released, for corruption or political pressure,” said Naeem Shakir, a Christian lawyer.

Meanwhile, the Christian whose arrest on blasphemy charges was the occasion for the rampage has gone on trial. Sawan Masih denies that he insulted Muhammad.

"Men are the managers of the affairs of women for that God has preferred in bounty one of them over another, and for that they have expended of their property. Righteous women are therefore obedient, guarding the secret for God's guarding. And those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them." (Qur'an 4:34)

This and other Qur'anic teachings create a culture of violence in which this horrific outcome is much more common than it should be.

"In cold blood: Killed for stepping out," from the Express Tribune, June 8 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

All it took was a few minutes of insane rage and an axe, and the unthinkable happened. A life was snuffed out – the life of a woman, ironically by him who was supposedly her life partner and protector, by her husband.

A man axed his wife to death and cut her body in pieces over a petty squabble in a remote village of Garhi Habib Ullah, police said. The accused, allegedly an addict, after committing the ghastly murder, threw the body parts out in the fields. According to the police, upon being arrested, he confessed to his crime.

Waqar Khan, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station Garhi Habib Ullah said that the villagers informed him about the murder of a woman in village Kashtara, some 12 km from the police station.

According to Khan, the accused Muneer, 45, has admitted to his crime in the police station, adding that his wife Nasreen Bibi, 35, often used to stay out of home. Muneer would take this as an insult and often stopped her from leaving the house.

On the Sunday evening before the heinous crime was committed, she again dared to step out. Muneer searched for her but failed to find any clue. However on Monday evening she returned home and when he inquired about her whereabouts the whole night, her answers could not satisfy him. According to SHO Khan, Muneer got angry and asked her to lie flat on the ground with her face down. “Before attacking her, the accused asked her to loudly recite the Kalimas; once she did so, he committed the horrendous act.

The Kalimas are verses of the Qur'an expressing basic Muslim beliefs.

When asked about the reason for his cruelty, Muneer told the police that he in doing so had made her a lesson for other women who do not obey their spouses.

Other side of the story

Shedding more light on the possible reason for this act, Muhammad Javed of village Atarsheesha who is the younger brother of the victim, told the police and the media that his sister Nasreen got married to Muneer some ten years back and the couple had four children. Muneer, an addict, has no permanent source of living and used to work as a daily wager.

According to Javed, Muneer would often beat Nasreen whenever she demanded food and clothes for herself and her children. About two years back, the accused had beaten her with a club, damaging her skull partially. The concussion had altered her mental balance. “We took her to our home and got her treated for several months but she never fully recovered,” he said, adding that during her absence Muneer gave his four minor children to local philanthropists who have been looking after them for the last few months.

According to Javed, Muneer sought the support of the jirga and requested to take Nasreen back home on the promise that he would treat her with respect. But a habitually violent husband, he again started subjecting her to severe battering day in and day out and her mental condition further deteriorated.

On that fateful Sunday evening, she had gone to see her children in the neighbouring village; when she got late she stayed there overnight. A petty squabble ensued which led to her savage murder....

The Qur’an calls the Jews and Christians who reject the prophethood of Muhammad “the most vile of created beings” (98:6). It says that the “polytheists are unclean” (9:28), and since it claims that Jews consider Ezra the Son of God the way Christians consider Jesus the Son of God (9:30), and that “it is not befitting for Allah to take a son” (19:35), in Islamic theology Jews and Christians are polytheists – and hence just as unclean.

And this unclean person had the audacity to slap one of the "best of peoples" (Qur'an 3:110).

"Equal before law: ‘How dare a Christian slap me,’" by Rana Tanveer for the Express Tribune, June 7 (thanks to Lookmann):

A Christian family in Kasur is accusing a landlord and 12 of his family members of beating up three of their women and ransacking their house over one of them being slapped.

The police are not registering an FIR against the men even though medico-legal reports have established injuries suffered by the women, says the family. The police told The Express Tribune that the landlord’s family were “innocent”. The Christian family, they said, was being “used” by the landlord’s rivals.

Bibi Rani, the mother-in-law of the injured women (aged 19, 26 and 35), told The Express Tribune that they were woken from sleep in the middle of the night on June 3 when Muhammad Ibrahim, Muhammad Rafique, their seven sons and four other men entered their house after scaling the boundary wall.

She said they were looking for her sons. Finding none of them home, she said, they had started abusing her daughters-in-law and beating them up. Their shirts were torn in the process, she said. The men had then dragged them out and beaten them up before they left.

It all started with a herd of goats, owned by the Christian family, entering Ibrahim’s nursery and damaging about a hundred saplings, says Shaukat Masih, the husband of one of the women. He said he had had an argument with Muhammad Munir, Ibrahim’s son, when he locked his goats in a cattle shed and refused to return them.

“We (the three brothers and his sister-in-law) went to them again to request them to release our goats,” Shaukat Masih told The Express Tribune. He said he had told Munir off when he “misbehaved” with his sister-in-law and pushed her. “Munir slapped me and then I slapped him. He was furious, saying how dare a Christian slap him,” Masih said. Elders of the area intervened then and persuaded Munir to return the goats.

Munir, however, filed an application at Pattoki Saddar police station against them. Learning about the complaint against them, said Masih, the men of the house decided to ‘disappear’ to avoid arrest.

The medico-legal certificates “establish torture”, said Masih, “My mother has filed an application but the police are reluctant to register an FIR.”

Pattoki Saddar SHO Haji Abdul Aziz said, “The Christians are accusing innocent people.” He said that the ‘goat incident’ did take place but added that “there was no truth to the allegation that Ibrahim and others had entered their house and humiliated the women”.

Aziz said the doctor who examined the women had recommended action under Section 337-F(1) (Punishment of ghayr-jaifah) of the Pakistan Penal Code “which is not a cognisable offence”. “That is why FIR can be registered”. The PPC section deals with punishment for injuries in which the skin is ruptured and bleeding has occurred (damiyah). According to the section, a court can decide a compensation that is to paid by the offender to the victim for causing such hurt. The offender can also be punished with imprisonment up to a year.

Advocate Tipu Salman Makhdoom, a lawyer The Express Tribune talked to, said that the police “must still register an FIR” for trespass and humiliation of the women.

They were coming to surrender, they said. Yeah, sure, that's it. "Three terror suspects from Pakistan detained in Uttar Pradesh," from NDTV, June 6 (thanks to Suneil):

Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh: Three terror suspects from Pakistan have been detained in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh while they were entering India from Nepal.

The three men claim they had received terror training in Pakistan and were on their way to Jammu and Kashmir to surrender.

The J&K government has an amnesty and rehabilitation scheme for men who had crossed over to Pakistan. Since 2010, when the amnesty policy was announced to rehabilitate former militants, some 1000 families have applied for return, of which 300 arrived in the hope of a fresh beginning.

In March, a man named Liyaqat Shah was arrested in similar fashion from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. 45-year-old Shah had claimed he was a militant who was headed home to J&K to surrender. The Delhi Police, however, insisted that he had entered India via Nepal to execute a terror attack similar to the Mumbai's 26/11 attack to coincide with the festival of Holi. He was granted bail last month.

"Why did they not produce for it four witnesses? And when they do not produce the witnesses, then it is they, in the sight of Allah , who are the liars." -- Qur'an 24:13

The Council of Islamic Ideology rejects DNA testing as primary evidence because it isn't mentioned in the Qur'an. The Qur'an mandates that four witnesses are required to establish sexual crimes -- zina -- and that's that. Women are victimized by this ridiculous and impossible rule? Who cares? It's the will of Allah.

"'New decree in Pak regressive, insensitive to rape victims,'" from PTI, May 31 (thanks to Lookmann):

Lahore: Pakistan's top human rights watchdog on Friday expressed "alarm and disappointment" over a declaration by the Council of Islamic Ideology that DNA tests are not acceptable as primary evidence in determining rape cases.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan described the Council's decision as "regressive" and "unkind to rape victims".

In a statement, the Commission said: "HRCP wants to unequivocally state that the latest pronouncement of the CII is regressive, brings no credit to this body and certainly not to the country, but most important of all it is exceptionally insensitive and unkind to rape victims."

Rape is a "horrendous crime, which is far too common in Pakistan", HRCP said. "Poor investigation methods and reluctance of witnesses to come forward out of fear mean that the balance is tilted in favour of the rapist as it is. In these circumstances, it would be foolish to not depend on all the evidence that is available, especially something as incontrovertible as DNA test results," the statement said.

"Rather than benefiting from scientific advances through DNA tests, which have proven to be an accurate method for identification, CII suggests discarding that without any prudent reason," it said.

The Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body that advises the Pakistan government, announced on Wednesday that DNA tests cannot be used as primary evidence in rape cases.

DNA can be used as secondary or supporting evidence in rape cases, the Council ruled.

The HRCP has long voiced support for those who find themselves in the dock because of corrupt, inefficient and tardy police and administration of justice systems.

"DNA results, however, have proven to be an irrefutable tool in helping to conclude guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Refuting its importance and much more crucially, suggesting that it is made inadmissible as primary evidence helps the rapist and no one else," the HRCP said.

It further said the Council of Islamic Ideology's recommendation refuses to take into account the rights of rape victims and the need to punish criminals who are proven guilty beyond doubt....

Clueless or complicit? Could the Obama administration, ever solicitous of its Pakistani "ally," have decided to let Afridi hang out to dry? "Obama administration to blame for jailing of hero Bin Laden doctor, says Pakistani report," by Sib Kaifee for FoxNews.com, May 31 (thanks to Lookmann):

It was the Obama administration that sealed the fate of the Pakistani doctor jailed for helping nail Usama Bin Laden, by divulging key details after the fact and dooming any chance Shakil Afridi's cover story could win his freedom, according to a confidential Pakistani report.

When former Secretary of Defense and ex-CIA Director Leon Panetta publicly acknowledged Afridi's role in the ruse which helped the CIA pinpoint Bin Laden's presence in an Abbottabad compound, any chance that Pakistani authorities could help him get out of the country vanished, according to what some have called Pakistan’s version of the 9/11 Commission, a 357-page report from an independent body set up to probe the aftermath of the 2011 raid by Navy SEALs in which the Al Qaeda leader was killed.

“The statement by the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was the CIA Director when May 2 happened, confirming the role of Dr. Afridi in making the U.S. assassination mission a success, rendered much of what Afridi told the Commission very questionable if not outright lies,” states the report, which has not been released, but which FoxNews.com has viewed.

Indeed, Panetta and others in the Obama administration were sharply criticized domestically for discussing the raid and efforts involving Afridi to obtain DNA from the compound's occupants by posing as a medical team offering vaccinations. Nearly five months before Afridi’s sentencing, while the doctor was being held and interrogated by Pakistan’s shadowy intelligence agency , Panetta spoke on record in an interview to CBS “60 Minutes” confirming Afridi's role in late January 2012. The statements came after Afridi had testified to the commission, and sharply contradicted his story.

“This was an individual, in fact that helped provide intelligence, that was very helpful in regards to this operation and he was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan,” Panetta told the program in January, 2012, in the first acknowledgement of Afridi's role.

That prompted the Pakistani commission to conclude in its report that "Dr. Afridi had been cultivated by the CIA and ultimately used in its project to assassinate Usama Bin Laden.”

Panetta did not respond to multiple requests for comment. His spokesman, Jeremy Bash, had earlier told a Fox News Channel correspondent that Panetta wasn’t willing to talk to media.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Afridi’s most vocal supporter in Congress, has been critical of the Obama administration's handling of Afridi's case. But he said he is skeptical of the report placing all the blame for his imprisonment on the U.S.

“It doesn’t take genius to figure out that the Pakistanis have been betraying us all along and Dr. Afridi is being used as a pawn in their game with the United States,” Rohrabacher said.

The Commission Report itself recommends a retrial for Afrid, who is now appealing his case. His family is holding out hope that American pressure can win his freedom, while his U.S. supporters have been critical of the Obama administration and State Department for its muted approach to the matter.

“We need to continue to put pressure on the Obama administration and the State Department to advocate for the immediate release of Dr. Afridi, not just a retrial,” said Rohrabacher, who wants the doctor to be recognized as an American hero

Afridi's lawyer in North West Pakistan has argued that Panetta’s statement further complicated an already convoluted matter concocted on trumped up charges without laying blame on U.S. or Pakistan. Afridi is serving a 33-year term in Peshawar Central Jail after being convicted by a tribal council of colluding with local militant group Lashkar-e-Islam. American lawmakers, diplomats and administration officials all believe the charges are a proxy for his role in assisting a foreign spy agency.

“The lesson from the Afridi episode is, if it suits the political purpose of the Obama administration, you’ll be exposed and placed in jeopardy,” said Thomas Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.

Panetta’s disclosure robbed Afridi of “plausible deniability” of a role in the episode. Even if Pakistani officials did not believe Afridi's account, his story may have provided cover for a diplomatic solution had Panetta not undermined it, he said.

The U.S. intelligence community was alarmed at the Obama administration's loose-lipped attitude toward the raid, according to New York Times reporter David Sanger’s book "Confront and Conceal," which claimed leaks prompted then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to angrily confront Obama’s National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon.

"I have a new strategic communications approach to recommend,” Gates is quoted as telling Donilon. “Shut the f@*k up!”...

Yet again the Pakistanis show which side they're really on. "Pakistan denounces U.S. drone strike that killed Taliban leader," by Ashish Kumar Sen for The Washington Times, May 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Pakistan on Wednesday condemned a U.S. drone strike that reportedly killed the No. 2 commander of the Pakistani Taliban.

“The government of Pakistan has expressed serious concerns over the U.S. drone attack that occurred in North Waziristan,” Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The strike reportedly killed Wali Ur Rehman, the deputy commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Three Pakistani officials told reporters that Rehman was among four people killed in the strike Wednesday morning in the North Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif has criticized drone strikes and demanded an immediate end to attacks inside Pakistan.

“The government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that the drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives, have human rights and humanitarian implications and violate the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Al Qaeda terrorists rely on the Pakistani Taliban for safe haven in the tribal Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border....

Islamic law mandates second-class dhimmi ("protected," and "zimmi" in this article below) status for non-Muslims in the Islamic state. Islamic apologists in the U.S. routinely claim that the second-class status for dhimmis is a historical relic, never to be revived again. They are, of course, lying.

"For the first time Pakistan gives representation to a Sikh in Sindh's Zimmi welfare," by Yudhvir Rana for TNN, May 25 (thanks to Anang):

AMRITSAR: For the first time a Sikh has been included in the Sindh Zimmi welfare committee, Pakistan to ensure development of Gurdwara's, the welfare of the Sikh community in Sindh along with equal distribution of funds provided by the ministry of minorities.

Chairman, Pakistan Sikh council, Ramesh Singh told TOI over phone from Karachi on Saturday, that he had been included to represent Sikhs in Sindh in the welfare committee constituted by ministry of minorities. He said that the word 'Zimmi' had been used instead of minorities as it refers to non-Muslims of an Islamic state.

Sindh has a population of around 5500 Sikh; majority of them being financially week face various problems. "We face difficulties in getting government grants, job quota's, and financial assistance during medical treatment or marriages," he said. He said the committee would ensure optimal utilization of government grant in aid to the deserving recipients, and would also recommend proposals regarding the maintenance and construction of religious places besides appropriate distribution of resources.

Not only a Sikh, but the Sindh Zimmi welfare committee has also included a Parsi for the first time; informed Ramesh Singh. "It is for the first time that Sikhs and Parsis have been included and attention is being paid towards our developmental projects."

Besides him, he said the committee, headed by the Sindhs' caretaker minorities' affairs minister, Hassan Ali Shareef, was comprised of representatives of the minority communities including, bishop Sadiq Daniel, archbishop Joseph Coutts, Parsi representative Byram Avari and All Pakistan Hindu Panchayat president, Ravi Dewani.

"Our main task is to supervise the allocation of funds to different communities and ensure that they are judiciously utilized," said he. He said the resources would be allotted as 40 per cent each to Hindus and Christians, 10 per cent to the Sikh and 5 per cent each to the Parsi and Buddhist communities.

Last summer, a Pakistani Muslim cleric said that polio vaccinations were un-Islamic. More recently, the Taliban was murdering people who were administering the polio vaccine in Pakistan. And the quest for Islamic purity continues, even at the expense of the public health.

"WHO suspends polio drive in Pakistani city after shooting," from Reuters, May 28 (thanks to Lookmann):

The World Health Organization suspended its polio eradication campaign in a Pakistani city on Tuesday after two young workers were shot as they administered drops, the latest attack aimed at the U.N.-backed operation.

The victims of the shooting in the violence-plagued northwestern city of Peshawar were aged 18 and 20. Police said both had died, but medical sources said one had died and one was seriously wounded.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, though many Islamists, including Taliban militants, have long opposed the campaign, convinced that the anti-polio drive is a Western plot to sterilize Muslims.

The United Nations in Pakistan pulled all staff involved in the campaign off the streets last December. Immunization continued in some areas without U.N. support although many workers refused to go out.

“They were administering polio drops when they were attacked,” police officer Siraj Ahmed said.

WHO spokesperson Maryam Younas said the organization was temporarily suspending its polio vaccination drive in Peshawar.

“Operations will remain suspended in Peshawar until the security situation returns to normal,” she said.

The latest violence has raised fresh questions over stability in the South Asian nation.

Critics say the attacks on the health workers are a prime example of the government's failure to formulate a decisive policy on tackling militancy, despite pressure from key ally the United States, the source of billions of dollars in aid.

Polio crippled thousands of people every year in rich nations until the 1950s. As a result of vaccination, it is now only endemic in three countries - Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Still more jihad. "UK Fighters Escort Pakistan Plane to Airport, Two Arrests," from Reuters, May 24 (thanks to Lookmann):

LONDON — British fighter jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane to Stansted Airport near London on Friday, where police went on board and arrested two men on suspicion of endangering an aircraft.

Passengers were leaving the plane and no one was hurt in the incident, a spokesman for the airport said.

Flight PK709 from Lahore in Pakistan had been due to land at Manchester in northern England with 297 passengers on board, but was diverted shortly before arrival.

Britain is on high alert after a soldier was hacked to death on a London street on Wednesday in what the government are treating as a terrorist incident.

A security source said early indications were that the plane was not the target of a terrorist attack.

A passenger who had just got off the plane told the BBC the pilot had informed passengers after landing that he had diverted to Stansted because of threats. The passenger, named by the BBC as Mr Munsif, said two men had been handcuffed on board and removed.

"We landed safely and then he announced that they had some kind of threat from someone and that's why he landed the plane," the passenger said, speaking by telephone.

"Essex Police have boarded a passenger plane diverted to Stansted Airport and two men have been arrested on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft. They have been removed from the plane," the police said in a statement. The force is responsible for the area where Stansted is located.

"The two men arrested on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft are aged 30 and 41. They are being taken to a police station for interview by detectives," the police added.

Stansted is one of London's less busy airports, preferred as a location for handling airplane security incidents. A spokesman for the airport said the plane was being held in an isolated area and that the rest of the airport was operating as normal.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said 10 fire engines had been sent to the airport....

Open season on Christians in Pakistan, and the world yawns. "Christian student killed by firing of Muslims in native village of Shahbaz Bhatti," from the Pakistan Christian Post, May 20 (spelling and grammar as in original):

Faisalabad: May 20, 2013. (PCP) A Christian village named Khushpur in sub-district Samundari of Faisalabad district came under attack of Muslims on May 19, 2013, killing one Christian student of 10th Grade and injuring many Christian by firing.

Father Felix, a European missionary who established a number of villages like Mariamabad in Shekhupura district, Francisabad in Shorkot, Jhang district in Pakistan. “Felix” is the Latin word for "happy". The village was thus given the name of "Khushpur" in Urdu, the "land of Fr Felix" or “land of Happiness”.

Many important Catholic public figures come from the village in government records shown as Chak Number 451/GB; people like Bishop John Joseph, Bishop Rufin Anthony, Ilama Paul Ernest, and Shahbaz Bhatti were born and raised in this remote village;

On informations of Muslims attack, contingents of police reached to village and prevented further killing by Muslims.

Faisal Patras, a Christian student of class 10th of High School was killed by firing of Muslims while Danish Masih who is brother of Faisal Patras and Patras Masih father of deceased was seriously injured with bullet wounds when trying to safe Faisal Patras.

After agricultural revolution in Pakistan, many Christians peasants of these Christian villages in Punjab province of Pakistan which were distributed without any cost by Catholic and other missionaries moved to cities and sold this gifted land to Muslims.

Muslim attack was on a petty dispute on a piece of land which Christian of Khushpur have sold to Muslims.

According to Samundari Social Media Network, there was killing of one Christian in other Christian village Chack Number 468/GB in this district one months ago by firing of Muslims and killers are at large, this other killing happened.

Mr. Khalid Gill, Chief Orgnizer of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance APMA have stronly condemned attack on village Khushpur and killing of a Christian student.

Mr. Gill have demanded immediate arrest of killers and security of the Christians which are under constant attack of Muslims in Punjab province of Pakistan.

Last summer, a Pakistani Muslim cleric said that polio vaccinations were un-Islamic. More recently, the Taliban was murdering people who were administering the polio vaccine in Pakistan. And the quest for Islamic purity continues.

"Gunmen Attack Pakistani Polio Team, Kill Policeman," from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 20:

Pakistani officials say gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team in the country's northwest, killing a policeman who was escorting the health workers.

The group was assaulted on May 20 in the Bajur tribal area, one of Pakistan's seven tribal areas along the Afghan border.

A local official said more than 600 teams are taking part in the latest campaign in Bajur to vaccinate 220,000 children against the crippling disease.

It is unclear whether the campaign, which had already been postponed due to previous attacks, will continue.

No one has claimed responsibility.

In December, gunmen killed at least nine polio workers in separate attacks in Pakistan.

Some Pakistani militants oppose the polio vaccination campaign, accusing health workers of acting as spies for the United States and claiming the vaccine harms Muslim children.

But the Tsarnaev brothers were A-OK. "Pakistani doctor who helped get Bin Laden was denied asylum in U.S., report reveals," by Sib Kaifee for FoxNews.com, May 17:

The jailed doctor who helped the U.S. track down Usama bin Laden was convicted by a tribal court on bogus charges, according to a classified Pakistani government report.

Portions of the voluminous 357-page Abbottobad Commission Report, which has yet to be made public and were obtained exclusively by Fox News, acknowledge Dr. Shakil Afridi’s conviction last year by a government-sponsored Jirga has undermined Pakistan’s credibility. The report calls for Afridi to be given a new trial.

The report also claims Afridi joined the CIA search for Bin Laden five years ago, while he was staying in the U.S. with a cousin. According to the report, Afridi applied for asylum after a terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Islam, stepped up its operations in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.

Afridi was reportedly kidnapped by the group in 2008 and released after his family paid a $10,000 ransom. After helping the CIA pinpoint the terror mastermind just prior to the 2011 raid in which Navy SEALs killed Bin laden, Afridi was arrested and convicted by the tribal court of colluding with Lashkar-e-Islam.

The State Department declined to comment on the report's claims that Afridi had applied for asylum while staying in the U.S.

The commission report acknowledges Afridi was subjected to harsh treatment in prison, and moved several times to various undisclosed locations by Pakistan’s spy agency. His Pakistani handlers also note his incarceration for a year without judicial process was unfair, according to the report.

In a telephone interview with Fox News last year, Afridi recounted his ordeal in prison.

“My clothes were removed and I was forced by a major to wear old dirty torn rags of an army conductor," Afridi said. "It was difficult to eat food. I had to bend down on my knees to eat with only my mouth, like a dog. I sat on the floor.”

Afridi said he was blindfolded for eight months, and handcuffed with his hands behind his back for a year.

Afridi, who helped confirm the Al Qaeda leader’s presence in an Abbottabad compound, lived for a short period in San Francisco in 2009, according to the report.

“He came to meet my brother and mother, who was not well at that time,” Afridi’s first cousin, a Californian resident and student based in Los Angeles, told FoxNews.com.

It was around that time that Afridi first agreed to work for the CIA, the report said. The deal helped lead to Bin Laden’s death in 2011, and netted Afridi a mere $13,000, according to his statement documented in the report.

Afridi is currently serving a 33-year jail term, and is appealing his conviction. The U.S. has called for Afridi's release, but his supporters say the Obama administration has not done enough to press for his freedom....

Indeed not.

What a surprise. "Pakistan's Next Premier an Islamist Comeback Kid," by Sebastian Abbot for the Associated Press, May 13:

The man set to become Pakistan's next prime minister after historic elections over the weekend could be called the Islamist comeback kid.

Nawaz Sharif has held the job twice before, but the last time didn't end so well. The 63-year-old was toppled in a coup by the country's army chief in 1999 and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia. He spent years in the steamy Gulf before brokering his return in 2007.

After serving as the country's main opposition leader, Sharif came roaring back in Saturday's elections, in which his Pakistan Muslim League-N party scored a resounding victory.

Sharif's supporters believe his pro-business background and years of experience in government make him the right person to tackle the country's many economic woes, like growing power cuts, painful inflation and widespread unemployment. He is also a main proponent of improving ties with Pakistan's archenemy and neighbor India, a step that would likely boost his country's economy.

Critics worry that Sharif, who is known to be personally very religious, is soft on Islamic extremism and won't crack down on militants that pose a serious threat to Pakistan and other countries — chief among them the Taliban and al-Qaida-linked groups.

The United States will be watching Sharif closely, since Washington relies on help from Islamabad to fight Islamic militants in Pakistan and to negotiate an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

The son of a wealthy industrialist from central Punjab province, Sharif entered politics as a protege of Gen. Zia ul-Haq, who seized power in a military coup in 1977. Sharif was prime minister from 1990-93 and again from 1997-99.

Sharif's second stint in power was cut short when he was toppled in a military coup and sent into exile by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was then serving as army chief. The coup followed an attempt by Sharif to fire Musharraf by preventing his plane from landing when he returned from a trip abroad.

In an ironic twist, Musharraf is currently under house arrest in Pakistan after returning from self-imposed exile, and it will be up to Sharif's government to decide whether to bring treason charges against the former military strongman.

Following the 1999 coup, Sharif spent seven years in exile before Musharraf grudgingly allowed him to return in November 2007, apparently under pressure from Saudi Arabia's king, an important ally of Pakistan....

"The violence was a continuation of what has been a brutal election season with more than 130 people killed in bombings and shootings."

"16 killed in Pakistan election-day bombings," by Atif Raza for the Associated Press, May 11 (thanks to Kenneth):

ISLAMABAD — Defying the danger of militant attacks, Pakistanis streamed to the polls Saturday for a historic vote pitting a former cricket star against a two-time prime minister and an unpopular incumbent. But attacks that killed 16 people and wounded dozens more underlined the risks many people took just casting their ballots.

The violence was a continuation of what has been a brutal election season with more than 130 people killed in bombings and shootings. Some are calling this one of the deadliest votes in the country's history....

Twin blasts in the port city of Karachi targeted the political offices of the Awami National Party, one of three secular liberal parties that have been targeted by Taliban militants during the run-up to the election, said police officer Shabir Hussain. Nine people died in the attack and 30 were wounded.

In the northwestern city of Peshawar a bomb exploded outside a polling station, killing at least one person and wounding 10 others, said police officer Mukhtiar Khan.

In the southwestern Baluchistan province where separatists oppose the election, gunmen killed two people outside a polling station in the town of Sorab, police official Mohammed Yousuf said.

Also in Baluchistan, a shootout between supporters of two candidates in the town of Chaman ended with four people dead, said Ismail Ibrahim, a government official.

The threats are such that the government has deployed an estimated 600,000 security personnel across the country to protect polling sites and voters. But many Pakistanis still seemed determined to cast their ballots....

On the eve of the historic vote Pakistan expelled the New York Times correspondent, Declan Walsh.

The newspaper said in an article published on its website Friday that their longtime foreign correspondent was handed a two-sentence letter accusing him of unspecified "undesirable activities" and ordering him to leave....

After all he has done for them.