Anti-US Sentiment is "Rife" in Pakistan: Expert
08 April 2011
"The deaths of 25 Afghans after nearly a week of anti-American rioting in a dozen cities across the country - coupled with a steady stream of anti-American demonstrations across Pakistan over several issues - signal new challenges for the US-led Western alliance as it tries to stabilise the region and pull its forces out of Afghanistan. [...] [T]he Pakistani establishment fears that the US will mediate with the Taliban without taking Pakistan into...
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"Culture of Impunity" on Human Rights Abuses in Pakistan: US Report
08 April 2011
"US report said Friday that Pakistan had a 'culture of impunity' on human rights abuses and stated that security forces were operating outside the control of the civilian government. An annual State Department survey on human rights reported widespread concerns in Pakistan - a key US war partner - including violence against women, child labor, corruption and discrimination against religious minorities. The report said Pakistan had not held anyone...
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Gwadar: Hub of Pakistan's Other Insurgency
08 April 2011
"Miles away from the war on terror being fought in Pakistan's north on the border with Afghanistan is another insurgency whose hub is the port city of Gwadar, located near Iran on the Makran coast. Unlike the battle against the Taliban, this uprising receives little international attention, although it is set against the backdrop of competing superpower interests, reminiscent of the Great Game when Russia and the British empire fought for control...
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Analysis: Talks with Taliban in Pakistan?
08 April 2011
"The two successive attacks last week on pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who heads Pakistan's largest religious party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), caught many observers by surprise. Yet these attacks against a strong supporter of the Taliban give credence to increasing evidence of rifts among the Taliban factions in Pakistan, whose central leadership - insofar as one can say the movement has a central leadership - is underground,...
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USAid Funds Pakistani Version of Sesame Street
08 April 2011
"In a $20m (£12m) remake of the classic American children's programme, the setting for the show has moved from the streets of New York to a lively village in Pakistan with a roadside tea and snacks stall, known as a dhaba, some fancy houses with overhanging balconies along with simple dwellings, and residents hanging out on their verandas. The Pakistani version, in which characters will speak mostly in Urdu, will feature Rani, a cute six-year-old...
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Mosque Blast Kills Prominent Muslim Cleric in Kashmir
08 April 2011
"A prominent religious leader in Indian-administered Kashmir has been killed by a bomb outside a mosque in Srinagar, officials say. Maulvi Showkat Ahmed Shah was entering the mosque when the bomb went off. At least one other person was hurt. It is not clear who carried out the attack. The cleric was close to moderate separatist leader Yasin Malik. The blast follows a lull in separatist violence in Kashmir, which is claimed by both...
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