Will Hindus not vote for a Muslim candidate? Is that why such few Muslims are given tickets? Two constituencies in Mumbai break prevalent stereotypes about these difficult questions.
The assailants claimed they hacked Lal to death to avenge an alleged insult to Islam.
Abbasi had attacked two police constables with a sharp-edged weapon at a gate of the famed Gorakhnath temple and tried to barge into the premises on Sunday evening before he was overpowered.
Muslim Khan and senior Taliban commander Mehmood Khan, for whom authorities had offered rewards of Rs 10 million each, were arrested by security forces 'in a successful operation in Swat'
Uttar Pradesh Minority Affairs Minister Azam Khan wants the Taj Mahal to be handed over to the Sunni Waqf Board, which has jurisdiction over Muslim tombs and graves, since the iconic monument had the mausoleum of two Muslims.
A Samajwadi Party MLA and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader too joined Mayawati's party, BSP General Secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui told a press conference in Lucknow.
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley declared local Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, his spokesman Muslim Khan and five other aides as "proclaimed offenders", on Wednesday and ordered them to appear before it within a week.
The Taliban on Wednesday abducted and released 30 Pakistani security personnel in Swat Valley after the hostages promised to quit their jobs in exchange for freedom.
Taliban militants on Tuesday declared an indefinite ceasefire in Pakistan's restive Swat valley where they have been waging an armed campaign for the last two years. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told reporters in Swat that a meeting of the 'Shura' or 'council' of the militants had decided to extend the ceasefire for an indefinite period. The local Taliban led by Fazlullah had last week called a ten-day unilateral truce to facilitate peace talks.
A convoy of seven army trucks was stopped by armed Taliban militants at Qambar, a small town near Mingora, the main city in Swat valley, witnesses and Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said. Witnesses said the convoy withdrew from Qambar after the Taliban forced the troops to go back, averting any clash.
Heavily armed Taliban on Friday began pulling out from the strategic Buner town and were returning to their bastion in Swat valley after a deal was brokered by hardline cleric Sufi Mohammed, amid intense global pressure on Pakistan over the presence of militants so close to Islamabad.
A resurgent Taliban in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley on Monday vowed to enforce Islamic laws across the country while ruling out the possibility of laying down arms, following the implementation of Sharia in the region.The Sharia or Islamic law regime approved recently by President Asif Ali Zardari will not be confined to Malakand division, which includes Swat, and the Taliban wants the system to be enforced in other parts of Pakistan, Taliban spokesman said.
Taliban militants, who had kidnapped a top civil official in the restive Swat valley in North West Frontier Province on Sunday, released him only in exchange for two militants, raising question marks over a peace deal stuck between the militant group and the government. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the official, Kushal Khan, and his guards had been released in exchange for two militants who were arrested in Peshawar last week.
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'.
In a stinging attack on Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to hoodwink Muslims by talking of apology after "having allowed their carnage" in 2002 and dismissed as "baseless propaganda" Gujarat chief minister's development claims.
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