Pakistan: Death penalty for blasphemy on Facebook
A Pakistani court has sentenced to death a man who allegedly committed blasphemy on Facebook, a prosecutor said, in a first such case that involves social media. The conviction of Taimoor Raza, 30, came after a high-profile crackdown against blasphemy on social media by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Blasphemy is a highly […]
Pakistan’s Sindh Province Increases Security Budget to Combat Crime, Extremism
Pakistan has a plan to curb extremism and violence in a key terror-wracked province: add 10,000 police officers, flood the region with security cameras, and enhance protection of a major economic project with China. But analysts and activists question whether boosting security spending in Pakistan’s Sindh province by 10 percent in the new fiscal year […]
Pakistan’s Emerging Threat: Highly Educated Youth Gravitate to Radicalization
The on-campus mob slaying of a journalism student and the arrest of a female medical student for allegedly planning a suicide attack underscore concerns that some of Pakistan’s highly educated youth are gravitating toward violent extremism and radicalization. Security experts say the unrelated incidents show that religious militancy isn’t limited to the disenfranchised and uneducated […]
Millions of Children in Restive Pakistani Province Lack Access to Education
Nine-year-old Fahad works at a tailor shop in Peshawar with his brother to provide for their family of 11, including his six brothers, two sisters and his parents. Making just $20 a month, his job hinders him from going to school. “Every day on my way to work, I see students who go to school […]
Pakistani Islamist Leader Calls on Taliban to Join His Political Party
A Pakistani lawmaker and deputy leader of a conservative religious party, accused of links with militant groups, has invited the Pakistani Taliban to join his Islamist political party. As a three-day gathering of religious devotees and political followers got under way Thursday, the secretary general of Pakistani’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Abdul Ghafoor Haidari, called on […]
Pakistan, Afghanistan Move to Defuse Border Tensions
Pakistan and Afghanistan have issued conciliatory statements in an apparent attempt to defuse days of border tensions stemming from charges Afghan soil was used for masterminding last week’s terrorist attacks in Pakistani cities. Pakistani troops have been staging cross-border shelling to target what authorities claimed were camps of Jammat-ul Ahrar, or JuA, a splinter faction […]
Pakistan: suicide bombing in religious shrine kills at least 72, including children
At least 72 people have been killed and 250 wounded in the fourth bombing to strike Pakistan in as many days. ISIL has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out at a crowded Sufi shrine in Sindh province in the south of the country. Situated in the town of Sehwan, the popular shrine […]
Khan Wants Trump to Extend US Travel Ban to Pakistan
Pakistan’s leading opposition politician, Imran Khan, is urging President Donald Trump to ban Pakistanis from entering the United States, after he suspended immigration from seven Muslim majority countries. The controversial U.S. ban currently applies to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Addressing a rally in the central Pakistani town of Sahiwal on Sunday, […]
Christmas message leads to death threats in Pakistan
A Christmas message calling for prayers for those charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws has led to death threats against the son of a provincial governor killed five years ago for criticizing the same laws. The case highlights the continuing influence in Pakistan of Muslim hardliners who praise violence in the name of defending Islam, despite […]
US Counterterrorism Authorities Target Student Wing of Pakistani Militant Group
U.S. counterterrorism authorities are growing increasingly concerned about the activities of the student branch of a banned Pakistani militant organization that’s seen as a threat to regional and U.S. interests. The State Department this week announced it was adding the student wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The move against […]