India and Pakistan Meet to Discuss Anti-Terrorism Measures
28 March 2011
"Indian and Pakistani officials are meeting to discuss counter-terrorism, the 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks and the drugs trade. The two sides had long been scheduled to hold meetings in Delhi. But they come one day after Pakistan's PM accepted an invitation from his Indian counterpart to attend a cricket match between the South Asian rivals. India and Pakistan are set to clash in the semi-final of the World Cup in the northern city of Mohali on Wednesday....
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Militancy, Floods Challenge Pakistan's Fight against Polio: IRIN
28 March 2011
"Pakistan had looked to be winning its battle against polio until 2007 when 32 new cases were detected. Since then, things have deteriorated, with the president declaring a national emergency in January 2011, and describing the failure to eradicate the disease as 'criminal negligence'. The discovery of the polio virus in water samples obtained from five cities in February is believed to be just one of the reasons why the disease is spreading so rapidly...
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The Great Debate: Analysis
28 March 2011
"Religious scholars in Pakistan have issued more than a dozen conditional religious decrees against suicide attacks, stating that there is no justification for such attacks on Pakistani soil. However, in the decrees they have not failed to mention that terrorist attacks are a reaction to the government’s policies. There has been intentional evasion of talking about extremism mainly on the ideological front. This attitude of putting the entire...
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Violence in Karachi Brings City to Standstill
28 March 2011
"The death toll in Karachi is inexorably rising. According to human rights organisations, 775 people died in political and sectarian shootings and bomb attacks in Karachi in 2010. Although the government puts the figure lower, at about 500 people, Karachi has become a perilous place. And although thousands are killed every year in the north-west, the impact of the violence in Karachi is arguably no less important. The city is Pakistan's commercial...
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