Former Pakistani military dictator and president Pervez Mushrarraf has said that the killer of Punjab governor Salmaan Tasser should be punished and not allowed to challenge the writ of the state, but pledged support for the controversial blasphemy law.
The police guard who gunned down Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was assigned to protect key personalities, including Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. Self-confessed killer Mumtaz Qadri was detailed on protection duties on as many as 509 occasions in the past three years, including for United States delegations, which are prime targets for terrorists.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's 1986 essay, centred on a case of perceived insult to the Prophet Muhammed and the violent Muslim response to it, bears immediate relevance to the issues being hotly debated today with regard to the anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan, says Yoginder Sikand
Blasphemy furore hit Pakistan again as two Christian women were beaten and publicly humiliated by an angry mob in Lahore apparently over allegations of frivolous religious sacrilege.
In an interview to Council of Foreign Relations website, Stephen P. Cohen, a leading expert on Pakistan, talks about the ongoing political crisis, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's assassination, growing sense of insecurity in Pakistan, importance of China and more.
Pakistani ministers, politicians and other prominent figures were conspicuous by their absence at the funeral prayers for 95 members of the minority Ahmedi sect killed in terror attacks on two mosques in Lahore. Most sections of the electronic media too did not cover the burial ceremony at Rabwah in Chenab Nagaron Saturday and Sunday.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said his government will not amend the blasphemy law, which has been at the centre of a raging controversy since the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer over his opposition to the statute.
A Pakistani court has sentenced an imam and his son to life imprisonment after convicting them on controversial blasphemy charges after they removed a poster containing Quranic verses, officials said.
Pakistani authorities enhanced security for Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who triggered a blasphemy furore in the country and in whose defence Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer lost his life, following reports of a threat to her life. The government of Punjab government beefed up security for 45-year-old Asia Bibi in Sheikhupura jail, where she is currently on death row, officials said.
While a police official said that over 15,000 people were present inside the sprawling ground in the garrison city, private estimate put the number of those attending the funeral nearly 1,00,000.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of ex-premier Gilani, has been recovered from Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement.
Zardari was confident that Sharif would not dare to come on the roads himself. The Pakistan government repeatedly informed Sharif about the threat of 'suicide bombers', but Sharif was undeterred.
'Chetan Bhagat is not great literature. Is that like you write third rate books and people can't do much better than to read those third rate books. Is it really an achievement?'
"The day is not far off when someone like Salman Taseer will be in the Presidency. The PPP will soon appoint the next President," Zardari said addressing a gathering of PPP workers at the Governor's House in Lahore on Monday night.
Pakistani writer Bilal Tanweer, who was on Tuesday conferred the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his novel The Scatter Here Is Too Great, was congratulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The inter-faith ceremony, where there was a traditional Hindu-style 'hawan' and chants of Sikh 'kirtan', saw participants also reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and taking oath to preserve its "socialist, secular" values.
Haider's release was the second successful instance of a dramatic rescue in a high-profile kidnapping case after slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer's son Shahbaz, who was abducted in 2011, was found in March after spending nearly five years in captivity.
'India may well be a religious country, but that is precisely why we need to avoid criminalising blasphemy,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
Embattled former Pakistani dictator General Pervez Musharraf on Friday failed to appear before a special court for his indictment in the high treason trial citing security concerns.
Indo-Pak tensions cast its shadow on the Mumbai International Film Festival with organisers on Monday dropping Pakistani film "Jago Hua Savera" in its retrospective section amid threats of protests at its screening.
'His secularism merely declared the equality of all religions in India under fundamental rights.'
The blast took place as a bomb placed inside the bus exploded when the vehicle packed with government employees reached Peshawar from Mardan.
If the parliamentary representation of radical Islamic parties goes up dramatically in 2018, what will this do to Pakistan's army?
'The army has been open about its determination to keep the PML-Nawaz out of power at all costs.' 'Both the military and the higher judiciary have indicated a preference for Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik e Insaaf,' says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'Most Indians know very little about Patel which is a great shame.'
What does Pakistan mean for a young Indian? Devanik Saha attempts an answer.
'If the bulk of the Pakistan population and the all powerful army are now against radical elements, there is indeed hope that Pakistan's India policy will be more realistic and less ideology driven,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Her book is less of a Hindutva-loving diatribe against the Dynasty than its detractors suggest, but it is still hard to agree with much of what she writes, says Vir Sanghvi on Tavleen Singh's latest book.
'Pakistan needs to be constantly at war with somebody, ultimately resulting in it waging war on itself and its own people,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Where does the religious preacher and theologian want to take Pakistan?
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.
'What we need from the civilian and military authorities are clear strategies rather than an emotional decision to hang terrorists on death row.'
'We are going to see relatively soon an executive order that deals with H-1B and other temporary visas.' 'We are also going to see an executive order on undocumented people.' 'Undocumented Indians comprise the largest population growth of all undocumented people in this country.' 'Just because India is not named in this executive order doesn't mean it won't be in the future.'
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