Tag: Pakistan

Pakistan – IPS: “Repeal of Blasphemy Laws Still a Pipe Dream”

Pakistan – IPS: “Repeal of Blasphemy Laws Still a Pipe Dream”
— IPS reports:
— “In 2000, then President Pervez Musharraf promised to repeal the laws. ‘He retracted when the ‘mullahs’ (religious teachers) threatened protests,’ recalled Zohra Yusuf, vice chairperson of the Sindh chapter of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).”
— “Rights activist Tahira Abdullah said mobs using the law to inflict harm on others are acting ‘like private vigilante groups,’ she said.”
— “No less than governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer has called for a repeal of the blasphemy laws. But his bold call on Sep. 16 for the controversial laws’ repeal was met with a warning from the president of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who said that his party would resist any attempt to annul the blasphemy laws.”
— “Continued state inaction on the much-maligned blasphemy laws has only reinforced perceptions that ‘the present government has no intention of repealing the laws,’ said Yusuf.”
— “I.A. Rehman, noted rights activist and secretary general of the HRCP, told IPS ‘(neither) the present government (nor any) government in Pakistan is likely to have the courage to repeal the blasphemy laws”. He added that “the state has committed the folly of making obscurantist fanatics stronger than itself.” Calling for a repeal of the law “is the only rational way out’ although ‘this demand is unlikely to be met.'”

— October 12, 2009: Karachi: Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) stages rally to oppose changes in blasphemy law

— SAP-PK: government hostage to the extremists will not abolish the blasphemy law
— Asia News reports that “Irfan Mufti, director of South Asian Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK), who tells AsiaNews that the country lacks the ‘political will’ to reject the ‘controversial law'”

— April 16, 2008 – Rehman and Gilani at Pakistan National Assembly mtg where it passes resolution calling for U.N. to impose death penalty internationally for blasphemy
—- Pakistan Daily Times: “Karim’s resolution condemned the reprinting of the controversial cartoons in Danish newspapers and demanded that the UN make a law suggesting capital punishment for blasphemy”

Pakistan — ICC report: “Pakistan Court Grants Bail to Six More Muslims Accused of Violence against Christians”

Pakistan — ICC report: “Pakistan Court Grants Bail to Six More Muslims Accused of Violence against Christians”

Previous reports of Pakistan violence against Christians in Gojra:

Pakistan Christians Call for Justice while Extremists Oppose Changes in “Blasphemy Law”

Pakistan Christian Post: “Attack on Gojra Christians was supervised by government of Pakistan”

Pakistan – ICC report: “Pakistan Grants Bail to 13 Muslims Accused of Carnage Against Christians”

Pakistan: Police issue warrant for Bishop of Faisalabad and 128 other Christians of Gojra — in retaliation for complaints of incompetence in massacre

Pakistan: Extremist blames Gojra massacre of Christians on “Western conspiracy”

NYC: Protest at United Nations HQ against Extremist Religious Oppression and Blasphemy Laws

Pakistan: Christians rally on ‘black day’ against Gojra killings

Pakistan: Christians remember victims of Gojra violence

DC: National Press Club Press Conference Announcing “Black Day”, Petition Against Pakistan Blasphemy Law

Pakistan: 17,000 in Pakistan Christian Post Poll to Observe “Black Day” Challenging Religious Discrimination

“Pakistan Muslim Groups Threaten More Violence”

Pakistan: Christians Burned to Death (including women and children), Mob Burns Houses, Church in Punjab’s Gojra — Korian Area

Pakistan: Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakistan

Pakistan Christians Call for Justice while Extremists Oppose Changes in “Blasphemy Law”

Pakistani Christians reject US aid, demand justice
— Christianity Today reports: “Gojra Christians in Pakistan, the victims of the recent attacks by Islamic militants have rejected U.S. aid, and instead demanded that case registered against 129 of them be withdrawn first and justice restored.

Karachi: Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) stages rally to oppose changes in blasphemy law

Pakistan — SAP-PK: Pak Government Hostage to the Extremists Will Not Abolish the Blasphemy Law

(Pakistan) SAP-PK: government hostage to the extremists will not abolish the blasphemy law
— Asia News reports that “Irfan Mufti, director of South Asian Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK), who tells AsiaNews that the country lacks the ‘political will’ to reject the ‘controversial law'”
— April 16, 2008 – Rehman and Gilani at Pakistan National Assembly mtg where it passes resolution calling for U.N. to impose death penalty internationally for blasphemy
—- “Karim’s resolution condemned the reprinting of the controversial cartoons in Danish newspapers and demanded that the UN make a law suggesting capital punishment for blasphemy”

Pakistan: “Islamists Attack Pakistani Christian Family For Refusing to Convert”

— ICC reports: “Islamists Attack Pakistani Christian Family For Refusing to Convert”
— “International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on September 28, Islamists attacked the home of a Christian family for refusing to convert to Islam in Murree, a town near the Pakistan capital of Islamabad.”
— “Rafiq Mashi Bhatti and his family had lived in peace and harmony with their Muslim neighbors for years. However, in the past few months, they received anonymous phone calls and letters warning them to convert to Islam, leave their home or die.”
— “In one of the letters, the Christian family was told, ‘You Christians are agents of US led forces… Therefore it is our religious duty to wipe out all Christians from Islamic Holy land of Pakistan.'”
— “The family reported the death threats to the police but the police were unable to prevent the attack. The police are investigating the attack but the unknown assailants remain at large.”

Pakistan Federal Shariat Court acquits rape convict

Pakistan Federal Shariat Court acquits rape convict
— Pakistan Daily Times reports:
— “The Federal Shariat Court on Tuesday acquitted a convict, Zahid Hussain, who had been awarded five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100,000 in a rape case.”
— “The convict had filed a jail appeal, challenging his conviction and sentence. According to the prosecution, Hussain had sexually assaulted a girl in Larkana. The trial court had found him guilty and convicted him under Section 10 Offence of Zina (EOH) 1979. He was handed down awarded five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100,000. Justice Salahuddin Mirza after hearing arguments by the appellant’s counsel, Haji Abdul Mujeeb, acquitted him”

Pakistan “Honor Killing”: “Bodies of couple found in well in Gadap Town”

Pakistan “Honor Killing”: “Bodies of couple found in well in Gadap Town”
— Pakistan Daily Times reports: “Police believe the eloped couple were killed by their families over honour”
— “The bodies of a young man and a pregnant woman were found in a 200-feet deep well in Gadap Town.”
— “Police officials believe that their families might have killed them on the pretext of honour.
— “After the residents of the area informed the police about a foul stink emitting from a well located in Yasrab Colony near Sehra-e-Madina, Superhighway, in the jurisdiction of Gadap City police station, Edhi volunteers were called in who recovered the bodies from the well and shifted them to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities. The woman was identified as Hazrat Bibi, 29, daughter of Painda Khan, and the man as Shahenshah, 25, son of Safoon Khan, both of Afghan descent.”
— “The police said the woman was married to a man named Zahir Shah, a resident of Yasrab Colony, and had two children with her husband. At the time of her death, she was four months pregnant.”

— Suspected honor killing claims 2 lives

Pakistan: “Campaign Launched to Protect Christians from U.N. Resolution”

Pakistan: “Campaign Launched to Protect Christians from U.N. Resolution”
— Christian Post reports:
— “A ministry working with persecuted Christians launched a campaign Tuesday against a U.N. resolution that many human rights groups say can be manipulated to oppress religious minorities living in Muslim-majority countries.”
— “The Defamation of Religions Resolution, backed by the 57 Muslim-majority countries that make up the Organization of Islamic Conference, is expected to be proposed next month or later this year. It seeks to criminalize words or actions that are deemed defamatory towards a particular religion.”
— “Rights groups, however, warn the resolution could be used to legitimize anti-blasphemy laws and intimidate human rights activists and religious dissenters. Critics say instead of protecting adherents of religions, including religious minorities, the resolution protects religions themselves.”
— “Open Doors, the group that launched the new campaign, pointed to the recent anti-Christian rampage in Gojra, Pakistan, where Muslim mobs killed and burned Christian homes based on a blasphemy rumor. At least seven Christians were killed and more than 100 homes were looted and burned in the Gojra attack.”

Pakistan: Extremists Justify Bombing U.N. World Food Program

Media reports on extremists’ rationalization of bombing of U.N. World Food Program in Pakistan as being “in the interests of Muslims”

— AKI: “Taliban claim responsibility for deadly UN blast”
— AKI reports Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq quoted as stating: “We proudly claim responsibility for the suicide attack at the U.N. office in Islamabad. We will send more bombers for such attacks,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. “The U.N. and other foreign (aid groups) are not working in the interest of Muslims. We are watching their activities. They are infidels.”

— AP reports: “Taliban militants claimed responsibility Tuesday for the deadly suicide bombing at the U.N. food agency’s heavily fortified compound in Islamabad, saying international relief work in Pakistan was not in ‘the interest of Muslims'” — “Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed his group was behind the bombing and lashed out at foreign aid workers.”