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Related post: Jalil Reki’s murder is a test case for rights champion Sherry Rehman We are cross-posting an excellent report by BBC Urdu on Abdul Qadeer Reki Baloch's sit-in for the Baloch missing persons in front of Karachi Press Club. Abdul Qadeer's struggle for the Baloch missing persons is ongoing for almost two years, and is shamelessly [...]

Editor's note: The Hafta-e-Wahdat (Week of Unity) is celebrated from 12 to 17 Rabi-ul-Awal by moderate Shias and Sunnis in Pakistan, Iran, India and other countries in order to jointly celebrate the birthday (Milad) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). We welcome all such events which unite Sunni and Shia Muslims, and suggest that the Week [...]

Editor's note: Here is an archive of articles and news items on acquittals of convicts in cases of terrorism in Pakistan. The aim is to demonstrate that a number of factors (military establishment's influence on judges, prosecutors and police to protect its Jihadi-sectarian assets, terrorists' threats to judges, prosecutors and police officers, [...]

For the last several weeks, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (Defence of Pakistan Council - DPC), a union mainly comprising two banned militant organizations Siaphe-Sahaba Pakistan (aka Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or Ahle Sunnat Waal Jamaat) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (aka Lashkar-e-Taiba), has been blatantly violating Pakistan's and international laws in full public [...]

Related posts: A war that remains unreported: The Saudi Arabian war against the Houthis of Yemen How Saudi Arabia has corrupted Yemen to spread Wahabism Editor's note: Apparently, not unlike Pakistan's Shia Muslims (in Parachinar and Balochistan) and Afghanistan's Shia Muslims (in Kabul, Bamiyan and Mazar-e-Sharif), Shia Muslims in Yemen [...]

This post is in support to the Baloch Students’ call to shut down the Pakistani news channels and Pakistani Media’s consistent bias towards Balochistan. Balochistan is in the midst of a ferocious insurgency; the fourth of its kind against the injustices leveled against the people by the federal government and its associated agencies. In the [...]

We have now spent considerable time in compiling and presenting a relatively comprehensive data on attacks on Shia Muslims in the first month of 2012. SUMMARY Total killed 58 Sindh 13 Balochistan 6 Punjab 36 KP 2 GB 1 FATA ? Total Injured 67 Sindh 5 Balochistan 0 Punjab 59 KP 2 GB 1 FATA ? Total attacks 32 Sindh 15 Balochistan 4 Punjab 7 KP [...]

Editor's note: The Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) has threatened that it will suspend transmission of private television channels across the province to protest ‘failure to properly highlight the plight of the people’. LUBP supports this protest and regretfully notes  that Pakistan's mainstream media as well as 98% of Pakistani bloggers [...]

The long-standing issue of strategically important and resource rich Balochistan requires more attention than it has received ever since Pakistan’s inception. Balochistan being country’s largest but most unprivileged region has witnessed a lot of contrite crimes against its dismantled majority leading it to a sinister climax wherefrom repeal [...]

The best kind of communication is about accuracy, clarity, precision, equality, responsibility, tolerance and participation of all communicators. Human progress is basically a history of improvisation of communication skills through freedom of thought and speech, through technological advances and through inclusion of a variety of [...]

By Naseer Ahmed

‘A Civilian Regime Will Be There As Cosmetic Cover’ The former CIA officer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution discusses developments in Pakistan ASHISH KUMAR SEN INTERVIEWS BRUCE RIEDEL http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?279640 Bruce Riedel led a review of US policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan in the early days of [...]

Recently we had suggested that instead of a suicidal confrontation with army, the elected government should tighten the ISI-backed judges' screws via the parliament and intermediaries (e.g. leaders of the ISI-backed lawyers movement Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd etc). We also suggested that the government must reject all suggestions by the [...]

Constitutional experts in Pakistan as well as internationally have termed the execution of Pakistan's first elected prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) illegal, a judicial murder which was clearly influenced by Pakistan army. On April 4, 1979, Bhutto was hanged after Punjabi judges of the Lahore High Court ordered his execution on charges [...]

Editor's note: While we are cross-posting this article, right now there is an unannounced military operation currently taking place in Kohlu, Balochistan against Baloch insurgents. According to Baloch social media activists, bomber jets have been used today (16 Jan 2012) to attack Baloch insurgents in Khujal area of Kohlu district in Balochistan [...]

We reject the judicial commission's report on the Saleem Shahzad murder case, which gives a clean chit to Shahzad's murderers and instead blames the victim. Shahzad was abducted while driving from his house to a television station in Islamabad on May 29 last year, two days after he alleged in an article that Al Qaeda had infiltrated the [...]

The career of Imran Khan, a cricketer turned politician, is full of colours, contradictions, and controversies. Since his debut in cricket in 1971 initially, and later in 1976 onward, he became known as a socialite due to his non-stop partying at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp and further gained notoriety in London gossip columns [...]

A comment by PejaMistri کبھی کبھی اکیلے بیٹھے چپ چاپ سوچتا ہوں اگر سلمان تاثیر حضور پاک صلى الله عليه وسلم کے زمانے میں ہوتے اور کسی بد زبان تند خو بد اندیش منافق مسلمان کی کمزور یہودی یا عیسائی کے ساتھ [...]

Related posts: LUBP Archive on Nadeem Afzal Gondal Chan A few months ago, I wrote a post on the distinction between Pakistan's lifestyle liberals and political liberals. Of late, I have been asked by some friends on Twitter and also via email to provide some examples of Pakistan's political liberals. Here is one such example: Pakistan MP Afzal [...]

On 31 December 2011, as the rest of the world was anxiously awaiting the midnight bell to toll, to celebrate with magnificent multi-million dollar elaborately orchestrated fireworks and other musical and cultural programs manifesting peace, harmony, and tranquility, the people of Karachi especially the Shia Muslim inhabitants of the metropolis, [...]

We condemn the Pakistan army-backed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and his tribe in the Supreme Court on their ongoing attacks on the elected government and its various ministers and officials. Supreme Court is currently hearing a reference filed by President Asif Zardari under Article 186 (advisory jurisdiction of Supreme Court) of the [...]

Related post: They used a hanka to murder Salmaan Taseer I consider it a befitting tribute to Salmaan Taseer to say a few bold, controversial things on his first death anniversary, which others may be reluctant to say. 1. Most of the tributes written in Taseer's honour are lacking both in context and content, do not specify his killers, [...]

Do you know about the 'haka' or 'hanka' technique used in colonial India to hunt tigers? That's exactly how the Punjab Governor and PPP's central leader Salmaan Taseer was killed by the right wing and (fake) liberal proxies and affiliates of Pakistan army. For starters, the right-wing left-wing binary does not apply to the context of Pakistani [...]

Source: Al Ufaq I could hardly believe my senses as the news was unfolding itself in the most atrocious manner possible but sadly, it was. It started with a red ticker reporting an incident of loud gunfire in Islamabad. It then turned out that a VVIP was being targeted in the capital. Later it was updated that the person on the barrel end of [...]

Related post: The mysterious connection between Malik Riaz of Bahria Town and jihadi terrorists: A call from Hunza We express our deepest displeasure on the federal government's decision to reward the pro-Taliban, pro-Sipah-e-Sahaba religious extremists of Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque). According to news reports, Interior Minister Rehman [...]

Related posts: HRW is concerned about the fear of judicial over-reach in Pakistan: Interview with Ali Dayan Hasan AHRC appeal: DG ISI Gen Shuja Pasha must be prosecuted for hatching conspiracy against democracy Critical readers of Pakistan's politics are aware that it is not only Pakistani generals but also their loyalists in judiciary and [...]

Kab ho gi paida phir aik aur Benazir: A Tribute to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (1953 - 2007) Note: I wrote the following tribute last year in memory of Benazir Bhutto. I am posting it again this year for my new friends and for countless admirers of BB to mark the 4th Anniversay of her martyrdom. This time, in both Urdu and Roman script and with [...]

Related post: Jang Group must refrain from harassing Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch Interviewee: Ali Dayan Hasan, Director, Human Rights Watch Interviewer: Raza Rumi Source: The Friday Times HRW has consistently commented on civil-military relations in Pakistan. Why is this aspect of Pakistan's politics so important for human [...]

It was one of the largest shows of political strength in Pakistan's political history after Benazir Bhutto's arrival from exile in September 2007 (when about a million PPP workers and supporters had gathered to receive their leader at Karachi airport). On Benazir's fourth death anniversary (27 December 2011), more than 300,000 PPP supporters [...]

ISLAMABAD - In one of Pakistan’s poorest neighborhoods Christmas lights are going up while artists paint holiday scenes on concrete walls. The decorations do little to mask the trash and sewage that litter the ground. “Life is tough here,” complains Stefan, a 30-year old Christian from one of Islamabad’s largest Christian slums. As [...]

Related posts: Social Media Summit in Karachi which never was! Aisha Aijaz and Saad Khan’s My Bit for Ahmadi Phobia I had registered myself as a guest, not as a nominee, in the Pakistan Blog Awards (PBA), obviously not expecting an award. The following is an attempt to offer an unbiased commentary on the PBA based on my personal [...]

There is great honour in martyrdom, I know for I have seen it, on a cold December 27, when Benazir Bhutto achieved it. She was a lioness charging forth, among her people that day. All those souls stood enraptured, by what she had to say. Her flailing hands and arched tone, cast spells on those people so. For had she given a call to [...]

Related post: Imran Khan’s PTI joins banned terrorist groups in pro-army rally in Lahore Last month (Nov 2011), I was so hopeful after reading Imran Khan's clear and bold stance against militant groups basd in Pakistan: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has said his party will ensure that no militant groups operate from Pakistani soil [...]

Related posts: Imran Khan’s Vice President Ejaz Chaudhry’s links with sectarian terrorists! Imran Khan’s message to the Defence of Pakistan rally in Lahore – by Hakim Hazik Imran Khan says he won’t allow any militant group to operate from Pakistan Imran Khan’s Lahore rally offers no hope to Pakistan’s religious and ethnic [...]

نواز شریف سے ایسی توقع نہ تھی خاکی وردی والے کب تک مشرف کے بوجھ تلے دبے رہتے لیکن اگر زرداری صاحب آرٹیکل چھ کو بروکار لاتے اورمشرف کو محفوظ راستہ دے کر بھگانے کے بجائے الٹا لٹکا دیتے، اگر سیاسی [...]

A Human Rights Day Feature Prelude: Often I wonder how can the Pakistani rulers and civil society be happy and content as they are, when one integral part of the country not only bleeds but is pining to cut away from Pakistan…and very few if any are much concerned about it, how can one be happy when people say Pakistan Murdabad…the very [...]

The cat is out of the bag. Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif and his associates attacked the Supreme Court in 1997 and this time they attacked judicial conventions for the second time. The great Quaid of Punjab's largest party, Sharif, entered the Supreme Court by-passing security protocols and was treated as a VVIP. These judges have short memories. [...]

Related posts: Abdul Khaliq Hazara and the ethnic cleansing narrative – by Marya Mushtaq Danish’s crime was being a Shia Muslim – by Marya Mushtaq Blood of Shia Muslims flows freely in Pakistan – by Amir Mir Intellectual dishonesty in misrepresenting Shia massacres in Pakistan Pakistan’s Shia Muslims reject President [...]

(New York, 3 December 2011) – The Pakistani government should urgently act to protect Shia Muslims in Pakistan from sectarian attack during the Muslim holy month of Moharram, Human Rights Watch said today.  In recent years, Sunni extremist groups in Pakistan have been implicated in a number of deadly attacks on Shia during Moharram, which in [...]