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چیف جسٹس نے عافیہ صدیقی کی وطن واپسی کی درخواست خارج کردی

اسلام آباد (ویب ڈیسک)سپریم کورٹ نے عافیہ صدیقی کی واپسی سے متعلق ڈاکٹر فوزیہ صدیقی کی درخواست خارج کردی ہے۔ چیف جسٹس پاکستان میاں ثاقب نثار کی سربراہی میں سپریم کورٹ کے 3 رکنی بینچ نے عافیہ صدیقی کی وطن واپسی سے متعلق ان کی بہن ڈاکٹر فوزیہ صدیقی کی درخواست کی سماعت کی۔ چیف جسٹس نے کہا وزارت خارجہ کو نوٹس جاری کیا تھا اور ایشو عافیہ صدیقی کی شہادت کا تھا، خدشہ تھا کہیں عافیہ صدیقی کی شہادت تو …

OPINION | Undoing a Gangster Heaven

Consensus on matters ensuring security and welfare of the common man is rarely achieved by our Parliament. Such unanimity is only displayed when their own self-interest is at stake, like approving increments in their salary, added perks and privileges, etc. In October last year all the parliamentary parties banded together to delete as many as 19 declarations from the nomination papers to be submitted by candidates for the upcoming general elections, effectively eliminating key information about their education, close relatives, …

US commission on International Religious Freedom calls out Pakistan’s treatment of minorities

According to US commission report on International Religious Freedom(USCIRF-2018), Pakistan has failed to protect its minorities. The US State Department named Pakistan as the first, and only, country on its “Special Watch List,” not only because of its hatred against religious minorities. But Pakistan is a country of particular concern, due to oppression against women, freedom of speech and controversial blasphemy laws. Increased involvement of religious extremist parties particularly Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYRA) led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, has …

British-Pakistani lawyer to lead UN investigation against ISIS

On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General appointed a British-Pakistani barrister to lead an investigation into ISIS crimes in Iraq. Karim Asad Ahmad Khan of Britain will serve as special adviser and head of the investigation team established by the UN Security Council at the request of Iraq last September. Khan who himself belongs to the persecuted Ahmadiyya community is a human rights lawyer with over 25 years experience in International criminal law. He obtained his Bachelor of Law (LLB) from Kings …

Pakistan legislators refuse resolution condemning mob attack on Ahmadi Mosque

On Friday Pakistan’s provincial assembly of Sindh refused submission of a resolution denouncing the mob attack on a historic Ahmadiyya Mosque. The resolution was tabled by Irum Azeem Farooque, an Independent member of the provincial legislature. Farooque claimed that no political party wanted to sign the resolution which called on the House to “Strongly condemn the attack on the Ahmadi prayer place”. In a tweet she said: Where are we heading? I wasn’t allowed to submit my condemnation Resolution in …

Pakistani mob attack against Ahmadi Mosque prompts global condemnation

Widespread condemnation followed the mob attack against an Ahmadiyya Mosque in the Pakistani city of Sialkot. U.S. joined lawmakers from Canada and UK to condemn the attack which resulted in the destruction of a historic 100-year-old Mosque. The attack which was led by Hafiz Hamid Raza, a member of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf happened between the night of May 23rd and early morning of the May 24th. During the attack, a mob of around 500 Muslims chanted slogans against the minority Ahmadiyya …

Oxford University’s Pakistani society refuses to screen film on Dr. Abdus Salam

Oxford University Pakistan Society has come under fire for allegedly refusing to screen a documentary on Dr. Abdus Salam, a renowned scientist who became the first Pakistani to win a Nobel prize. In a statement, organizer Noman Chaudhry claimed that: I contacted Pakistani Society two months ago about the screening. I had numerous chats with the committee members including the President at various events. I was told that they were still discussing the matter and that they had other events …

Bilawal Bhutto deletes tweet endorsing Ahmadi rights

Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto deleted a tweet on Tuesday in which he had endorsed equal rights for the country’s minority Ahmadis. Bhutto posted the original tweet back in 2013 in response to the arrest of an Ahmadi man for reading the Quran. “No greater crime vs. Islam than banning someone from reading Quran, @ijattala: Bail denied to 2 Ahmadi caught reading Quran” The tweet once again caught the attention of rights activists after a renewed campaign …

Ahmadis release new report on Pakistan’s persecution of the community

Pakistan’s persecuted Ahmadiyya community released an annual report on Saturday that detailed growing hostilities against the minority sect, including indiscriminate arrests and impediments blocking them from voting in general elections. Ahmadis are forbidden from calling themselves Muslims or using Islamic symbols in their religious practices. They face discrimination and violence over accusations their faith insults Islam and community leaders say that open vitriol and calls for violence against the community intensified in 2017. “Under pressure from religious extremists, the Ahmadis …

Pakistan’s Sikh-Muslim duo want to fight religious intolerance by reviving Punjabi culture

With religious intolerance on the rise in Pakistan, two men have taken it upon themselves to unite people around common cultural roots. Every other weekend, Nasir Dhillon and his friend Bhupinder Singh pack up their bags and travel across the dirt roads of rural Punjab for one purpose, and this to preserve their ancestor’s cultural history by interviewing the ‘displaced generation’. The generation which lived through the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. Partition of British India resulted in the largest mass …

‘Honor Killing’ of an Italian woman in Pakistan, Father, and uncle arrested

Pakistani police on Tuesday arrested the father and the uncle suspected in an “honor” killing of a 25-year-old Italian citizen, a woman of Pakistani origin who refused to marry the man they chose for her. The two men were charged with the killing of Sana Cheema in the neighborhood of Mangowal in the city of Gujrat in eastern Punjab province, police official Intisar Hussain said, adding that the police were still searching for the woman’s brother. “He is also suspected …

Pashtun demands are genuine, military ready for talks: Pakistani Commander

PESHAWAR: Corps Commander Peshawar Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt has said on Tuesday that some of the demands of Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) are genuine and revealed that an apex committee formed in a high-powered jirga, comprising politicians and local elders, will hold talks with the movement leaders. Talking to media at the Corps Headquarters Peshawar, Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt said that the decision was taken in light of PTM’s five-point demand. He said that demands of the PTM …