Pakistani authorities and the local Taliban have agreed to a ceasefire in the troubled Swat valley following peace talks between militants and religious hardliners, a top official said on Saturday. Syed Mohammad Javed, the commissioner for Malakand division which includes Swat, told reporters that the security forces and the Taliban would observe the truce. He made the announcement after meeting Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a hardline cleric who is negotiating with the militants.
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.
In a country that listens only to film music, regional rock musicians are turning up the volume. Chandrima Pal tunes in.
Contradicting terrorist groups' claim that they were engaged in jihad in Kashmir, hard-line Pakistani cleric, who brokered a peace deal between Taliban and NWFP government, has said jihad is 'not mandatory' in the Indian state as people there are not demanding Sharia (Islamic law).
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.
Look at the wedding pictures!
Harshdeep Kaur from Sufi Ke Sultan was crowned the winner of NDTV Imagine's Lux Junoon Kuchh Kar Dikhaane Ka at its grand finale last weekend.
Four days after a peace pact was inked between religious hardliners and the North West Frontier Province government, leading cleric Maulana Sufi Mohammad is yet to make Taliban leaders accept the deal, to enforce Islamic laws in the violence-hit Swat valley.Mohammad, who has been holding talks with Taliban leaders, on Friday met its commander Maulana Fazlullah, who is his son-in-law, for direct talks as reports said the Taliban was demanding the withdrawal of security forces.
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.
'Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be standing next to renowned personalities and singing songs in front of them!'
Deepak Chopra remembers his friend, Michael Jackson.
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.
'This poem was written against a fundamentalist called Zia-ul-Haq, a dictator. It is interesting that fundamentalists, all kinds of, don't like this poem'
Veteran actor Mohan Joshi, Dasmodar Ganesh Bapat, who is working towards eradication of leprosy, and L Subadani Devi, Manipur-based weaver, were among those presented with Padma Shri.
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'.
IS-Khorasan was sanctioned for its links with Al Qaeda and involvement in several deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that killed over 150 people.
Ajmal's story is as much the story of hopeless poverty as of state failure as of recalcitrant regional hegemony as of misplaced concreteness.
To honour and support the cause of 'bauls', whose stringed 'ektara' is unique worldwide strumming up 'earthy' tunes embodying the soul of Bengal, we are bringing 80 'bauls' under the Rs 1,50,000 medical insurance scheme every year, Amitabha Samanta of Bolpur-based Sobuj Potro initiative, the name inspired by Tagore's confidant Promothonath Bisi's Sobujpotro, said.
'A poorly conceived reboot that's overlong, overdramatic and overdone, Love Aaj Kal simply cannot differentiate between pyaar and parody,' says Sukanya Verma.
First look on Bangladeshi leader offering prayers at the Ajmer shrine.
The BJP had replaced Raj from the North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency with Punjabi Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans.
Celebrating the maestro, who turned 52, January 6, and his music.
The Rajasthan police is interrogating some suspects, including pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin, in connection with the blast at the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer where Friday prayers will go ahead as scheduled. Some suspects are being interrogated since Thursday night but no arrests have been made in connection with the blast which claimed two lives and left 17 injured, a senior official said.
Iqbal wanted to land the smuggled goods by helicopter on the Andaman Islands. DK asked, 'Iqbal, a helicopter will bring the consignment to the island, drop it there and then return. Won't radars detect it?' 'No.' 'How?' 'Radars can't detect aircraft that fly at a low altitude. Our helicopter, after entering India's air space, will dive and fly at four feet above the sea level.' 'For that, I have a German pilot in mind. He was an ace aviator in the last world war.' An enthralling excerpt from Aabid Surti's Sufi: The Invisible Man Of The Underground.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last month, in 10 images
Over 700 top United Nations officials, ambassadors, members of US Congress, and luminaries of different faiths paid tributes to spiritual guru Sri Chinmoy, who passed away last month.
The Rajasthan police have taken into custody a man from Chanda village here for interrogation in connection with the October 11 bomb blast at the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer, the police said.
Item numbers may just have risen a notch higher. After all, it's not everyday that we see Johnny Depp gyrating to one! If things go as planned, Depp may perform an item number for Mira Nair's Shantaram.
Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami, a militant outfit based in Bangladesh, is suspected to be behind the blast at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Mohiuddin Chisti at Ajmer. Shahid Bilal, based in Karachi, has emerged as a key suspect in the bomb attack that killed three persons and injured 28 others as the modus operandi was similar to that used in the Mecca Masjid blast at Hyderabad in May this year. The banned HuJI may have been supported by Jaish-e-Mohammed.
A bomb reportedly went off inside the famous shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on Thursday. Several people are believed to have been injured in the blast.
'In one instance of the Pakistani army's violation of the Ceasefire, I ordered a far tougher response designed to deter the enemy.' 'I warned that 'unexpected damage' to their forces will be inflicted if they continued with such ceasefire violations.' A fascinating excerpt from Lieutenant General K Himalay Singh's Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo.
Pakistan on Friday summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner Gopal Baghlay to lodge a protest over denial of visas to some 500 Pakistani pilgrims to visit the famed shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.
Earlier on his arrival on Tuesday, Shankar went to the Shariqa Devi temple in downtown Srinagar and also paid homage at the adjacent Sheikh Hamza Mukhdoom's shrine.
Badiul Hassan, 80, was brought from Ajmer on Saturday and was undergoing treatment at Swai Mansingh Hospital in Jaipur. He died late Sunday night, police said on Monday.
The singer keeps Mumbai on its toes till 2 am!
'Astad had the courage to plough a lonely furrow. He made a life of his own, on his own, and created a path-breaking dance style.' 'Only a few in the performing arts could do what he did.' 'A classical dancer can fall back on tradition, but Astad created something absolutely new.'
"The government has identified the masterminds of the two attacks, they will be exposed to justice," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said.
Describing the Amarnath yatra as the most secular pilgrimage in the world, Jammu and Kashmir Governor S K Sinha said it symbolises the pluralistic ethos of Kashmir.
The actress is currently in Rajasthan shooting for Ashutosh Gowarikar's Jodha-Akbar, with Hrithik Roshan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held comprehensive discussions and took stock of full range of bilateral relations, including political and economic.
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