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.
A massive controversy is raging in Jammu and Kashmir after a plaque with the Ashoka emblem was vandalised in the Hazratbal shrine as parties on Saturday accused Waqf Board chief Darakshan Andrabi of hurting religious sentiments by using the national emblem in the mosque and demanded registration of a criminal case and her immediate removal.
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.
'The government is saying 88 Hindus have been killed, but it could be much more.' 'Their properties are being looted, their businesses have been ransacked. I am getting distress calls from there.' 'Muslims who believe in the philosophy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are also under attack. Most of those who have fled Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's fall are Muslims.'
An anti-terrorism court in Dera Ghazi Khan district, 400 km from Lahore, on Wednesday gave the death sentence on 52 counts to Behram alias Sufi Baba, who was convicted of masterminding the attack on Hazrat Sakhi Sarwar shrine.
Two top leaders of a banned pro-Taliban group, which brokered the controversial Swat peace deal, were killed on Saturday in Pakistan's restive northwest, when militants ambushed a security forces' convoy transporting the detained extremists to a prison in Peshawar.Maulana Muhammad Alam, deputy chief of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e- hariah Muhammadi which is headed by radical cleric Sufi Muhammad, and the group's spokesman Amir Izzat Khan were killed.
From bhikshus of Ashokan 3rd century BC and medieval Sufis to Oxfam, Omidyar and Soros now, non-State actors have any real power only when they work in conjunction with a real State, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
If we really want to prove that we are all like Malala, then we have to stand up for our rights like Malala did, says senior Pakistan journalist Hamid Mir
Islamic courts have started functioning in the Taliban stronghold of Swat in north-western Pakistan as per a peace deal signed by the government with militants in the restive region a month ago.
The blast targeted a van carrying police officers outside the Data Darbar shrine, the largest Sufi shrine in South Asia.
Ramanunni had received an anonymous threat letter warning him that his right arm and left leg would be chopped off if he did not convert to Islam within six months.
The release of Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafeez Muhammad Saeed, hardcore Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdullah Aziz, and now Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed chief Sufi Mohammad has cast serious doubts over Pakistan's claims that it is seriously acting against the Taliban and other home grown terror outfits, a senior US intelligence official has said.
The grieving mourners included members of Sabri's family, friends and fans. They threw rose petals over an ambulance carrying his coffin and later followed the vehicle to the graveyard, where he was buried near the grave of his father Ghulam Farid Sabri, a leading qawwal of his time.
It was perhaps for the first time that any parliamentary panel deliberated on a film before it had been approved by the censor board.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi is now gone. But the mass appeal of fundamentalism among Pakistan's burgeoning, young, illiterate, unemployed and angry population isn't, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Other blasphemy cases were also registered against them in various cities, including Karachi and Islamabad.
'Not for the first time during this festival I was struck by the atmosphere of friendly inclusion the organisers had managed in a city where you can smell menace in the air, thanks to Adityanath's revenge-driven politics, his denigration of Muslims and ruthless use of State power against critics,' notes Anjali Puri.
Modi flagged off the first batch of pilgrims led by Akal Takhat Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib through the corridor, which was thrown open days ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on November 12.
Armed forces and the police can only ensure that violence is kept under control but for any kind of lasting peace, politicians will have to find an answer to the perception that the Indian State is anti-Islam. Therein lies the biggest challenge to the Modi government, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retired).
Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad launched to fight terrorism across country.
Pakistan's political crisis deepened on Monday with cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri giving a fresh 48-hour ultimatum to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down after a former top election commission official backed protesters' allegations of rigging in last year's polls.
Not with standing the Western nations' zeal to wage a war against the group, unless its source of funding is known and curbed, its rampage will likely continue.
India's Muslims need to assert their educational and economic upliftment and political empowerment rather than be provoked by communal remarks, says Mohammad Sajjad, reflecting on the Malda riot.
'Small bands of terrorists believe they can destabilise superpowers if they are ready to become martyrs.' 'Since the road to paradise is under the shade of swords, it is a win-win situation for those ready to die for the cause of Allah.'
Where does the religious preacher and theologian want to take Pakistan?
Jamida K is the first Indian Muslim woman to lead the Friday prayer.
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