Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has showed its solidarity with the militants of Indian Kashmir and has said that the Taliban are struggling for implementing Islamic Shariah not only in Pakistan but also in the region including Kashmir.
Ahead of crucial elections which will mark the first democratic transition in Pakistan's history, more than 90 per cent of the youth believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, while nearly 40 per cent think Shariah or Islamic law would be the best political system, a survey said.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's chief Hakimullah Mehsud has severely criticised the Pakistani justice system and its 'pro-American policies'. In a recently released video, he also vowed that the TTP will continue its struggle until Islamic Shariah is implemented in the country.
Despite dependence on the ISI for years of sustenance, Taliban leaders may harbour resentment over the ISI's excessive control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
Mohammed Saleem Engineer is the National Secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind, the hardline Islamic organisation that has its headquarters in New Delhi. The organisation is an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami party whose objective it is to establish an Islamic state in Pakistan that is ruled by the Shariah law.
Indian consulate officials in Dubai were on Tuesday given access to 17 Indians sentenced to death for killing a Pakistani national in UAE, even as New Delhi described the development as "shocking" and promised legal assistance to them.
Describing as "shocking" the death sentence to 17 Indians in the United Arab Emirates, the government said on Tuesday that it will ensure all possible help to them, including legal assistance, to file an appeal in a higher court.
Pakistani authorities have released 12 Taliban prisoners in the restive Swat valley as a goodwill gesture in the wake of a peace deal signed by the North West Frontier Province government and religious hardliners.
Describing the death sentence awarded to 17 Indians in UAE as a "mockery of justice", leading rights watch Amnesty International has asked the country to probe allegations of torture and ensure a fair trial on appeal.
Pakistani troops on Friday consolidated their positions in the restive north-western Swat valley and nearby areas in the wake of two attacks by Taliban fighters that killed 14 security personnel, even as militants retaliated by targeting a mosque, leaving 40 dead.
Seventeen Indians have been sentenced to death by Sharjah's Shariah court for killing a Pakistani man and injuring three others in a vicious attack last year.
The son of Sufi Muhammad, a hardline cleric who negotiated the controversial peace deal between Pakistani authorities and Taliban, has been killed in shelling in the Dir district of North Western Frontier Province, where security forces are conducting operations against the militants. Kifayatullah, the son of Sufi Muhammad, was killed while another relative was injured in the shelling at the cleric's hometown of Maidan in Dir.
Following the strict Sharia law, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have ordered shopkeepers in the Iraqi city of Mosul to cover the faces of mannequins.
The Taliban in Pakistan's restive Swat valley received US $ 6 million in compensation from the government after agreeing to a ceasefire with security forces for an indefinite period, a media report said on Tuesday.
Pakistan will not collapse immediately and the Taliban will not take over the trouble-torn country, an analysis by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has predicted.The analysis differs with the views expressed by many experts and the United States media, which has often predicted the imminent collapse of the nation.The analysis further assures that terrorists will not seize control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and Shariah will not be imposed across the nation.
Considering that Qatar is a trusted ally of Washington for decades, it is expected to be a steady influence on the Taliban leadership, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Amid furore over sentencing a Muslim woman model to caning for drinking beer in public, an Islamic court in Malaysia on Tuesday said it would review the "harsh" ruling, a move that came after a nudge by the country's premier.
India's majoritarian regime is now making a dangerously fast-paced move towards theocracy, like its western counterpart did a few decades ago, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
A hardliner religious leader led hundreds of his supporters in a peace march in the violence-hit north-western Swat valley in Pakistan on Wednesday apparently to convince the Taliban militants to honour a new pact reached with the government which envisages their laying down arms.
Pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a now-defunct peace deal between the authorities and insurgents, was arrested on Sunday in northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar for his links to militants and his role in fomenting unrest in the lawless Swat valley. Sufi, who heads the banned Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi, was arrested with his sons Ziaullah and Rizwanullah and an accomplice by a large police contingent during a raid in the City Town area of Peshawar.
"Under this circumstances, what should we do? Should we allow Muslim women to be continued to be exploited," he said.
A part-time Muslim model, sentenced to six strokes of cane for consuming alcohol, will become the first woman in Malaysia to be administered the punishment next week. An arrest warrant has been issued by a Shariah court against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, who was caught drinking alcohol during a raid at a hotel. Kartika, who pleaded guilty to consuming beer in public, will be held for a week from Monday in a women's prison and will be released after the punishment.
Taliban forces in Pakistan have announced a ten-day ceasefire in the restive north western Swat valley, as peace talks between a senior cleric and local authorities are believed to have struck a deal to enforce Shariah laws in some parts of the region.The announcement of the truce came a day after a Chinese engineer, abducted by the Taliban six months back, was set free in Swat as a 'goodwill gesture'.
Kotak Mahindra Bank is raising a total of $300 million through three separate offshore funds - an infrastructure fund, a Shari'ah fund for Muslim investors and a multi-cap fund for European investors - to tap the growing appetite of global investors.
The imposition of emergency in Pakistan has not created any pressure on the Taliban groups operating in Swat district. The radical group has not only announced the imposition of Shariah but also removed national flags from all government buildings in the areas under their control.
Observing that Islamic law is within the framework of Pakistan, the US has refrained from making any comment on the peace deal between Islamabad and a Taliban-linked group for enforcing Shariah law in the Swat Valley.
Malaysia's highest court on Thursday rejected on technical grounds an appeal by an ethnic Indian Hindu woman to stop her Muslim convert husband from seeking a divorce in the Islamic 'Shariah' court, while upholding the man's right to change the religion of their youngest son.
The interesting observation by Saeed, who has been blamed for many terrorist attacks in India and figured top of the list of wanted persons, was made during a sermon at a prayer meeting in Lahore on Friday.
The head of Malaysia's Shariat Department has asked Muslims in the country not to greet Hindus on Diwali.
'The Ulema have come out as villains against Indian secularism, impeding the secular united resistance against violent Hindutva that is backed by ministers in the government,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Oman's largest bank BankMuscat, which recently picked up 43 per cent stake in the domestic brokerage house Mangal Keshav Group
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement protests against a self-imposed morality code.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Following the incident, all flights at Stansted had to be temporarily grounded, according to British media reports.
The triple talaq bill is against the provisions of the Constitution and violates the rights of women, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said on Sunday, demanding its withdrawal.
The spiritual head urged the government to legislate a special law and ban illegal slaughterhouses across the country.
'They must take the bull of conservatism within their own ranks by its horns as much as they need to speak out against the fallacies of the non-Hindutva (or 'Muslim-friendly') political forces as well,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
'The curtain is coming down on India's leadership role as a regional power even before the drama of the Asian Century truly began,' warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The mobilisation is nothing but a political ploy -- a sort of a fixed match between Hindu and Muslim communal forces, towards polarisation, in a run-up to the next election,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
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