Pakistan and the war there. - Page 43

mlurp · #**421** (**permalink**) 09-17-2012, 02:18 PM

I wonder if the idiots that made this film know how many have died of if they even care? I would like 5 minutes with him/them and a piece of Detroit iron to express myself and their action.

Quote:

.Pakistani protesters clash with police, 1 killed

Associated Press – 9 hrs ago. 17 Sept. 2012 ........

Associated Press/Ahmad Jamshid - Afghan police stand by burning tires during a protest , Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hundreds of Afghans burned cars and threw rocks at a U.S. military base …more

TIMERGARAH, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of people protesting an anti-Islam video have set fire to a press club and a government office in northwest Pakistan, sparking clashes with police that killed one demonstrator.

Police official Mukhtar Ahmad says the protesters first attacked the press club in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province's Upper Dir district Monday, apparently angered because their demonstration wasn't getting more coverage.

Ahmad says police charged the crowd, beating protesters with batons. The protesters then attacked a government office and set it ablaze. Ahmad says the protesters, many of them armed, have now surrounded a local police station.

Another police official, Akhtar Hayat, says one protester died when police and the demonstrators exchanged fire and several were wounded.

Pakistani protesters clash with police, 1 killed - Yahoo! News

5 comments.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**422** (**permalink**) 09-18-2012, 02:08 PM

to keep the readers informed...

There is plenty to read at each of these site.

Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Middle East News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Africa News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Europe News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Latin America News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Enjoy.... And my

to each reader...

mlurp · #**423** (**permalink**) 09-18-2012, 02:13 PM

I have in the past said their links with the Taliban will come back and bite them...

Quote:

Pakistan: 2 bomb blasts kill 6 people in Karachi

Associated Press – 2 hrs 48 mins ago. 18 Sept. 2012 ..........

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Two bombs minutes apart ripped through a market in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least six people and wounding 15 others, police said.
The blasts also damaged several shops in the Nazim Abad neighborhood of the port city of Karachi, senior police officer Asim Qaimkhani said.
He said the dead and wounded had been transported to hospitals, where some were listed in critical condition.
Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province.
No one claimed responsibility, but Karachi has a history of sectarian, political and ethnic violence.
Karachi has also been the scene of several bomb and gun attacks in recent years blamed on Pakistan's branch of the Taliban, some members of which are believed to be hiding there.

Pakistan: 2 bomb blasts kill 6 people in Karachi - Yahoo! News

8 comments. Plus there is more on Pakistan at the site below.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**424** (**permalink**) 09-19-2012, 02:35 PM

Get this, the people wanted to protest this film and because this one guy didn't join them he is now accused of blasphemy.. Gee it must be nice to live among so many under educated people.

Quote:

.Pakistani accused by film protesters of blasphemy

By ASIF SHAHZAD | Associated Press – 2 hrs 18 mins ago. 19 Sept. 2012 .......

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Demonstrators angry over an anti-Islam film accused a local businessman in southern Pakistan of blasphemy, forcing the police to open a case and driving him and his family into hiding, following an argument that broke out when he refused to join their protest, officials said Wednesday.

The incident demonstrates the potential for abuse of the country's strict blasphemy laws as well as the intense feelings the film, which denigrates Islam's Prophet Muhammed, has unleashed in Pakistan.

At least two people have died in protests against the film, which has generated widespread animosity across the Muslim world.

I have read where 28 have been killed.

The incident in the city of Hyderabad began when hundreds of protesters rallied Saturday. Some protesters demanded that businessman Haji Nasrullah Khan shut his roughly 120 shops in solidarity, said police officer Munir Abbasi.

When Khan refused, one of his tenants said his decision supported the film, the officer said.

The protesters claimed Khan insulted the Prophet while arguing with them, said city police chief Fareed Jan. But he said there was no evidence to suggest the insults really occurred and that police only opened a blasphemy case because they were pressured by the mob. Opening such a case doesn't mean the person is necessarily charged with the crime but that police are investigating him or her.

Protesters ransacked Khan's house, and surrounded a police station, refusing to go away until officials opened a blasphemy case, Abbasi said.

The situation became even more inflamed when religious leaders from one of the biggest mosques in the city issued an edict calling for Khan's death and announced from the mosque's loudspeakers that he should be killed, Abbasi said.

The police officer said Khan and his family members had gone into hiding in fear for their lives.

Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of defiling the holy book, or Quran, or insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad can face life in prison or death.

Critics say the laws are often abused to harass non-Muslims or to settle personal rivalries. Radical Islamist groups have also been behind some of the blasphemy accusations.

In this case, Abbasi said, police suspect some of the complaints against Khan by other shopkeepers may have been sparked more by his desire to evict some of them for late payment as opposed to any actual insults.

Abbasi said a prominent pro-Taliban religious party, Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan, and an al-Qaida linked militant group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, had been advocating against the shopkeeper.

Despite the potential for abuse, efforts to amend or repeal the blasphemy laws have failed in the past.

Last year, a minister and a governor were assassinated when they spoke out about misuse of the laws and suggested changing them. The governor was shot and killed by his own guard.

Rights activists and critics of the laws had hoped that the recent case of a 14-year-old girl charged with insulting the Quran would help bring about changes in the laws, or at least help curb abuse.

The case gained widespread attention and sympathy both in Pakistan and internationally due to her young age and questions about her mental capacity.

She was granted bail after a religious cleric was accused of planting evidence to incriminate her, and her lawyers have said they will move to throw the case out entirely.

But a blasphemy accusation, even an unproven one, can be a death sentence in Pakistan.

A report by the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies said that since 1990, 52 people have been killed by vigilantes after being implicated in blasphemy cases.

Earlier this summer a mob in one Pakistani city dragged an accused blasphemer from a police building, beat him to death and burned the body.

___

Associated Press Writer Adil Jawad in Karachi contributed to this report.

Pakistani accused by film protesters of blasphemy - Yahoo! News

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**425** (**permalink**) 09-20-2012, 01:25 PM

8 more civilians and 27 others dead or wounded.

Quote:

.Bomb in northwest Pakistan kills 8 civilians

By RIAZ KHAN | Associated Press – Wed, Sep 19, 2012. 20 Sept. 2012 .......

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A bomb targeting a Pakistani military vehicle instead struck a passenger van on Wednesday in a city in the country's northwest, killing at least eight civilians, authorities said.

Police official Tahir Ayub Khan said the afternoon blast on the outskirts of Peshawar wounded another 27 civilians, plus three air force officers in the targeted vehicle. Khan said the bomb was set off by remote control. The passenger van and the air force vehicle were driving through the area at the time.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and Khan said authorities were still investigating the motive behind the attack.

Peshawar is considered the gateway to Pakistan's tribal areas. Militants fighting the Pakistani government often target security officials in and around the city, although violence has dropped considerably in recent years.

Also Wednesday, security officials said they found the bodies of 29 militants in an area in northwest Pakistan where the military recently staged a two-week battle against Taliban fighters who came from Afghanistan. The military finally pushed the militants back into Afghanistan on Sept. 8.

A political official in the Bajur area where the fighting took place said at the time that the death toll included at least 80 militants, 18 civilians, 12 anti-Taliban militiamen and eight soldiers.

The security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media, did not say exactly when they found the 29 bodies. But a political official in Bajur, Jehangir Azam Wazir, said 19 of the corpses were discovered Tuesday.

Pakistan has complained that Afghan and U.S.-led forces have not done enough to stop militants from staging cross-border attacks from Afghanistan. Kabul and Washington have long blamed Pakistan for failing to stop insurgents launching attacks in the other direction.

___

Associated Press writer Anwarullah Khan contributed to this report from Khar, Pakistan.

Bomb in northwest Pakistan kills 8 civilians - Yahoo! News

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**426** (**permalink**) 09-24-2012, 03:07 PM

I'll allow the news story to speak for me.

Quote:

.Pakistan disowns bounty on anti-Islam filmmaker

By REBECCA SANTANA | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago. 24 Sept. 2012 .......

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani government on Monday distanced itself from an offer by one of its Cabinet ministers to pay $100,000 to anyone who kills the maker of an anti-Islam film that has sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.

The film, "Innocence of Muslims," has enraged many Muslims for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester. At least 51 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have been killed in violence linked to protests over the film, which also has renewed debate over freedom of expression in the U.S. and in Europe.

Adding to the anger in the Muslim world was a decision by a French satirical magazine to publish lewd pictures of the prophet last week, prompting French authorities to order the temporary closure of around 20 overseas missions out of fear they'd be targeted by demonstrators.

Some of the most intense and sustained protests have come in Pakistan, where the role of Islam in society is sacrosanct and anti-American sentiment runs high. But even in that atmosphere, the bounty offered by Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has drawn criticism.

Bilour said Saturday that he would pay $100,000 out of his own pocket to anyone who kills the man behind the inflammatory film, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. The filmmaker was forced into hiding after the 14-minute movie trailer rose to prominence.

Bilour also appealed to al-Qaida and Taliban militants to help eliminate the filmmaker.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement Monday that the bounty on the filmmaker's head reflected Bilour's personal view and was not official government policy.

The minister belongs to the secular Awami National Party, an ally in the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. His comments struck a nerve within his own party, which is considered anti-Taliban and has lost several leaders in the fight against the insurgency.

A party spokesman, Haji Adeel, said the statement was Bilour's personal view, and that the party had sought an explanation from him.

"We are a secular party," he said. "We consider al-Qaida and Taliban as our enemy."

Pakistan's government declared last Friday a national holiday — "Day of Love for the Prophet" — and called on people to take to the streets to protest the film peacefully. But the demonstrations turned violent, and at least 21 people were killed.

In Iran, the head of the government-controlled cinema agency said his country should boycott the 2013 Oscars and not field a candidate for the foreign film category in protest against the anti-Islam video. The agency, headed by Javad Shamaghdari, oversees the committee that makes the selection.

He was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying Iran should "avoid" the Hollywood festival.

The committee has already picked "Ye Habbeh Ghand," or "A Cube of Sugar" — a film about a family wedding turning into a funeral when the groom's relative dies — as Iran's entry as best foreign film. But the government must endorse the selection for it to become official.

.................................................. . CONTINUED ..........................................

Pakistan disowns bounty on anti-Islam filmmaker - Yahoo! News

872 comments.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**427** (**permalink**) 09-26-2012, 01:48 PM

Well one man is not a target of the Pakistan Taliban any longer. Yet last night I saw 2 TV shows about the killing of OBL and the items Seal Team 6 brought back. Al-Quadia has to do like some gangs here or overseas, seek 10% taxes from most business and taking items from trucks to sell for cash along with their drug dealing. Most of that goes to pay their fighters. So where are they oing to get near 1/2 million in gold?

Quote:

.Pakistan Taliban: 'Amnesty' for bounty minister

By ASIF SHAHZAD | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago. 26 Sept. 2012 ..........

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban announced Wednesday that they were giving a Cabinet minister an "amnesty," taking him off their hit list, because he offered a $100,000 bounty for the killing of an anti-Islam filmmaker.

Separately, a breakaway faction of the Afghan Taliban announced its own bounty for those behind "Innocence of Muslims," the film that has sparked deadly protests across the Islamic world. The group is offering almost $500,000 in gold.

Muslims have been angered by the crude, amateurish film's portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester. Dozens of people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have died in violence linked to protests over the movie.

The main figure behind the video, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, has put his home up for sale and gone into hiding since violence erupted over the 14-minute YouTube trailer for "Innocence of Muslims," which also has sparked debate over freedom of expression in the U.S. and in Europe.

Some of the most intense protests have erupted in Pakistan, where the role of Islam in society is sacrosanct and anti-American sentiment runs high. It was in that atmosphere that Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour offered his $100,000 reward Saturday for anyone who kills Nakoula.

Bilour also appealed to al-Qaida and Taliban militants to help eliminate the filmmaker, while Pakistan's government said the bounty reflected Bilour's personal view and was not official policy.

The minister belongs to the secular Awami National Party, an ally in the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. His comments drew criticism within his own party, which is considered anti-Taliban and has lost several leaders in the fight against the insurgency.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone Wednesday that the minister's views represent the true spirit of Islam, and that, consequently, the insurgents have removed him from their hit list.

But while Bilour gets an "amnesty," others in his party are still fair game, Ahsan said. Bilour could not immediately be reached for comment.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban faction known as the Dadullah Group offered eight kilograms, or 17.6 pounds, of gold to anyone who kills the film's creators. In a telephone message to the AP, spokesman Rehbar Mal, announced the reward, which would be the equivalent of about $487,000.

The group, named for a Taliban commander killed by NATO troops in 2007, broke away from the Afghan Taliban earlier this year to protest reconciliation talks with the United States. The Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban are separate, though linked, militant outfits.

___

Associated Press Writer Kathy Gannon contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Pakistan Taliban: 'Amnesty' for bounty minister - Yahoo! News

69 comments.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**428** (**permalink**) 09-28-2012, 02:14 PM

When can this country start to take care of itself?

Quote:

.Pakistan: Monsoon rains, flooding kill 422 people

By REBECCA SANTANA | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago. 28 Sept. 2012 ......

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Monsoon rains and flooding killed more than 400 people across Pakistan during the rainy season this year, authorities said Friday.

Pakistan suffers every year from flooding caused by massive monsoon rains that sweep across the country late in the summer and cause rivers and streams to overflow.

The National Disaster Management Authority said 422 people have been killed and nearly 3,000 have been injured during the season of heavy rains. About five million people have been affected by the resulting floods, according to statistics that were posted on the authority's website.

Sindh province in southeastern Pakistan was the hardest hit with 239 deaths.

An official with the authority, Maj. Iftikhar Ahmed, told The Associated Press that the rainfall this year was significantly less than in 2010, when catastrophic floods put one-fifth of the country under water and killed 1,985 people. Last year 443 people were killed in flood-related incidents.

Pakistan has in recent years struggled to cope with the chaos, caused by the rains and flooding around the country. Authorities have often relied on international help to provide those affected by the floods with food, water and housing.

UNICEF called on international donors to provide $15.4 million to help protect people affected by the flooding over the next three to six months. In a statement Friday, the UN agency said it has been helping with supplies of drinking water to people affected by floods in the provinces of Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh.
.................................................. . CONTINUED ..........................................

Pakistan: Monsoon rains, flooding kill 422 people - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**429** (**permalink**) 09-29-2012, 05:00 PM

Man these Islamic portion of the Pakistan population aren't letting this film end as they continue to protest.
More at the Asia site to read.

Quote:

.Pakistanis protest against anti-Islam film

By ADIL JAWAD | Associated Press – 11 hrs ago. 29 Sept. 2012 .......

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands of members of Pakistan's radical Islamic groups rallied on Saturday in the southern city of Karachi against an anti-Islam film that has sparked violence across the Muslim world.

"Innocence of Muslims" has enraged many Muslims for deprecating the Prophet Muhammad. At least 51 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have been killed in violence linked to the film, which also has renewed debate over freedom of expression in the U.S. and in Europe.

Chanting "Down with America" and demanding expulsion of the U.S. ambassador, the participants gathered in the heart of the city's business district, where prominent radical leader Muneebur Rehman demanded stern punishment for the filmmaker. But he asked the protesters to remain peaceful.

Protests are dying down in many countries but continue in Pakistan, home to several powerful radical movements. Since 23 people died in Karachi last week during demonstrations against the film, however, marchers appear to have heeded calls by clerics and other public figures to avoid violence.

Rehman also urged the Pakistan government to seek U.N. help in making new international laws to "protect the honor" of Islam's religious personalities.

Senior police officer Asif Ijaz Sheikh estimated that the crowd numbered more than 15,000. He said the protesters dispersed peacefully.

A similar rally was also expected in Islamabad and some other parts of the country later Saturday.

Pakistanis protest against anti-Islam film - Yahoo! News

98 comments.

mlurp · #**430** (**permalink**) 10-03-2012, 02:55 PM

More proof of what I have been saying, yet with so many under educated people in the population say the Military has to much power.

Quote:

.Civilians struggle to check Pakistan army's power

By NAHAL TOOSI | Associated Press – Tue, Oct 2, Posted 3 Oct. 2012 ..........

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The footage was startling: A group of what appeared to be Pakistani soldiers gunning down several blindfolded men in a forested area. As the clips circulated online and the U.S. threatened to cut aid, Pakistan's army chief promised a full investigation and punishment for any wrongdoers.

Two years later: Silence.

What has the inquiry found? The army won't say. Was anyone punished? Not a word. Some rights activists question whether an investigation even took place.

Pakistan has spent nearly five years under civilian rule, an unusually long stretch for a 65-year-old country prone to military coups. But as the firing squad footage and several other prominent scandals suggest, the army remains largely unwilling to hold itself accountable to the public. This despite some pressure from more active media and judiciary and despite hopes that the military would rethink its ways after the humiliation it suffered following the unilateral U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The army's lack of transparency and resistance to civilian oversight could cripple Pakistan's transition to a healthy democracy, something the United States says the country needs. But the Americans can't protest too much: Washington needs the Pakistani army's cooperation as the war in Afghanistan winds down and it already struggles to balance a strained relationship as it presses the army to root out anti-U.S. insurgents hiding in Pakistan.

"It's important to understand that generally the Pakistani military is very careful about not hurting its own people," especially as they fight Islamists trying to overthrow the state, said Ayesha Siddiqa, a prominent Pakistani defense analyst. Most ordinary Pakistanis feel powerless to take on the army, and when it comes to reining in the men in uniform, the still-weak civilian government "can't do anything," she said.

The two video clips that spawned the supposed inquiry fueled allegations that the military carried out numerous extrajudicial killings in the Swat Valley during a major offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in 2009. Bloodied corpses of suspected militants were found dumped on the streets for months after the army retook the valley from the Taliban. The army denied those killings.

The grainy footage, which came to light in September 2010, is believed to have been recorded in Swat. A nearly six-minute clip shows men in Pakistani military uniforms lining up six blindfolded men in civilian clothes, then shooting them. After a voice says "finish them one by one," one apparent soldier walks over to the men and shoots them again. The other, 53-second clip shows only the executions.

On Oct. 8, 2010, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani announced an inquiry into the matter. He noted the probe would consider if the footage was even real, but also said, "It is not expected of a professional army to engage in excesses against the people whom it is trying to guard against the scourge of terrorism."

In the two years since, The Associated Press has repeatedly asked the army about the status of the probe. At most, the answer has been that it's under way. Attempts to get army comment for this story led nowhere.

Other cases further illustrate the difficulty in holding the army accountable.

............................................... CONTINUED ..............................................

Civilians struggle to check Pakistan army's power - Yahoo! News

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