Saturday, August 22, 2015
12 Killed in Afghanistan, Including 3 American Contractors, After Explosion Rocks Kabul
At least 12 people were killed and 66 others wounded in a suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital Saturday, the spokesman for Kabul’s police chief said.
Three American contractors with the NATO-led Resolute Support mission were killed, two of them as a result of their wounds, in what the mission described as an attack on their convoy from a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
The police chief spokesman, Ebadullah Karimi, said the bomber blew up his explosives-laden Toyota Corolla in the Macrorayan area of Kabul on Saturday afternoon. The convoy of contractors and Afghan civilians was the target, he said.
The explosion jolted central Kabul and broke the windows of dozens of nearby apartments, Karimi said.
It happened during the afternoon rush hour in front of a private health clinic where dozens of people gather daily to see doctors.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, in an email to media, said the explosion was not the work of the Taliban.
At least one woman was among the dead. Five women and six children were wounded, said Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a statement strongly condemning the attack.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families who suffered as a result of this attack,” the statement said. “The United States remains committed to assisting our Afghan partners in their efforts to ensure a peaceful future for Afghanistan.”
Last week, a suicide bomber detonated his car at a checkpoint near the entrance to Kabul International Airport, killing four people and wounding 15 others, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
On August 10, three separate attacks in Kabul killed more than 50 people, including 27 students at a police academy and one U.S. service member. The Taliban claimed responsibility for two of the attacks.
http://ktla.com/2015/08/22/3-american-contractors-among-12-killed-in-afghanistan-after-explosion-rocks-kabul-66-wounded/
Pakistan - Three Christians arrested under terrorism charges for using the word “Prophet” for a pastor
Three Christians arrested over alleged blasphemy accusations.
According to media, reports three Christians were booked by police under terrorism laws. The police officials have stated on Thursday, August 20 that these three Christians were detained because they used the word “prophet” to describe a dead pastor on a poster.
Moreover, a local police officer Shahid Tanveer said, “We have arrested three men, including the son of the priest, because they used the word prophet for the late Fazal Masih.”
In keeping with details, these three Christians were detained by the police in Gujrat after posters marking the 20th death anniversary of Pastor Fazal Masih were spotted with the Urdu word “Nabi” translation for “Prophet” used for him.
According to the police station authorities, seeing the gravity of the matter, local Muslim clerics along with leader of the Christian community were summoned to the police station to seek advice from them on the matter.
However, the Christians who were organising the ceremony of death anniversary finally apologised and begged for forgiveness. The Christian organisers clarified that they used the used “Prophet” for Pastor Fazal Masih in order to celebrate his precious services to the Christian community.
The Muslim clerics, on the other hand, sternly refused to accept the apology and pressed charges against the three detained Christians. Subsequently, an FIR was registered including anti-terrorism charges against the organiser and three other Christians who are currently in police custody. Even as 11 other Christians who have been named have not been arrested.
The police is yet to clarify the reasons as to why terrorism charges were brought, against the Christians although the law is regularly used in various high profile cases seeing that it ensures an access to a speedy trial process.
- See more at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/gujrat-three-christians-arrested-under-terrorism-charges-for-using-the-word-prophet-for-a-pastor/#sthash.YDRxWDIZ.dpuf
Pakistan - The Kasur Scandal - The Dark Reality
It is worrisome that we are still doubting whether the Kasur Scandal was actually a case of child abuse or not.
Let’s be clear.
It was.
The HRCP-AGHS fact-finding mission, in this regard, has also made sure that all the nonsense regarding any ulterior motives of the children should come to an end.
They have received credible testimonies, indicating large-scale sexual abuse of children over many years in Husain Khanwala village of Kasur.
For them, there is no doubt that a heinous crime has been committed against children.
Maybe, it is time for the authorities to also face the truth, that they are to blame for this as well.
Let’s be clear.
It was.
The HRCP-AGHS fact-finding mission, in this regard, has also made sure that all the nonsense regarding any ulterior motives of the children should come to an end.
They have received credible testimonies, indicating large-scale sexual abuse of children over many years in Husain Khanwala village of Kasur.
For them, there is no doubt that a heinous crime has been committed against children.
Maybe, it is time for the authorities to also face the truth, that they are to blame for this as well.
Led by Hina Jilani, HRCP Executive Council member and director of AGHS Child Rights Unit, and formerly UN Secretary-General’s Representative for Human Rights defenders, the team agrees that the crime remained concealed largely because the victims’ families paid extortion money and they were also intimidated.
Quoting accounts of all these people, they believe that the testimonies indicate that not only a large number of children had been sexually abused and exploited by the accused, but these heinous activities were continuing at least since 2010.
Making sure that there is no doubt left, they emphasised how the reports of a land dispute, become irrelevant under this.
Then why are we so bent on still trying to pin this in a way that these children are not seen as the true victims? Have we become that indifferent to violence? Or is it that the government or any other authorities just does not want to take the blame for it?
Police ignorance about the video clippings freely circulating in the area and their failure to take action lends support to charges of policemen’s collusion with the culprits.
Moreover, the team has found the role of political parties’ very distributing, ones that have made sure they remain in the dark.
Quoting accounts of all these people, they believe that the testimonies indicate that not only a large number of children had been sexually abused and exploited by the accused, but these heinous activities were continuing at least since 2010.
Making sure that there is no doubt left, they emphasised how the reports of a land dispute, become irrelevant under this.
Then why are we so bent on still trying to pin this in a way that these children are not seen as the true victims? Have we become that indifferent to violence? Or is it that the government or any other authorities just does not want to take the blame for it?
Police ignorance about the video clippings freely circulating in the area and their failure to take action lends support to charges of policemen’s collusion with the culprits.
Moreover, the team has found the role of political parties’ very distributing, ones that have made sure they remain in the dark.
We now need a plan to move forward.
Most of these children were between 10-16 years of age when they were first abused and several hundred video clippings of the sexual activities exist (for those still in denial).
It has been appalling to see how the government has handled it.
No matter how much we try to deny it, the fact remains that this was indeed one of the biggest child abuse cases of our country, as much as we try to pretend it was nothing beyond the ordinary.
Most of these children were between 10-16 years of age when they were first abused and several hundred video clippings of the sexual activities exist (for those still in denial).
It has been appalling to see how the government has handled it.
No matter how much we try to deny it, the fact remains that this was indeed one of the biggest child abuse cases of our country, as much as we try to pretend it was nothing beyond the ordinary.
A Pakistani Terrorist Got a Bollywood Film Banned for Showing Him in a Bad Light
The film will "poison the minds" of his fellow Pakistanis, Hafiz Saeed insists
An Indian movie set to be released next week was banned in Pakistan on Thursday at the behest of wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who filed a plea in court saying the film contains “filthy propaganda” against him and his organization.
The order to ban the film was issued by a judge at the Lahore High Court, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Saeed is the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa — the political wing of militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Both organizations are blacklisted by the U.S., which has a $10 million bounty on Saeed. The U.N. declared Lashkar-e-Taiba a terrorist group in 2005.
The movie, titled Phantom, features Bollywood superstars Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif and is set in the aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that Saeed is said to have been the driving force behind. The attacks killed more than 150 people.
“There is a direct threat to the life of the petitioner and his associates emanating from the content of the trailer of the film,” Saeed’s lawyer said in an Aug. 8 petition. “It is obvious that dialogues coming out of the lips of the different Indian actors and actresses will poison the minds of Pakistani public and will portray Hafiz Saeed as terrorist even though JuD has not been declared as a proscribed organization,” he added.
The ban comes at a tense time for the adversarial South Asian neighbors, with an upcoming meeting between the Indian and Pakistani National Security Advisers clouded by Pakistan’s invitation to three separatist leaders from the long-disputed border region of Kashmir.
Indian films seen as anti-Pakistan have been banned in the past, but pirated versions are often easily available on DVD.
Kashmiris and PPP are inseparable, Bilawal Bhutto tells AJK president
He was talking to Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, who called on him at Bilawal House on Friday.
The AJK president briefed Bilawal on the situation arising out after Indian aggression across the Line of Control (LoC).
President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan discussed with the PPP chairman the upcoming elections and invited him to visit Azad Jammu and Kashmir to meet the Kashmiri people. The two leaders also discussed the situation in Azad Kashmir and Occupied Kashmir.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari assured him that he would visit AJK very soon. He said that the PPP had the same policy about Kashmir that was initiated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. He said that the PPP also accords respect to the Hurriyat leaders of Occupied Kashmir and appreciates their peaceful struggle for the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.
The PPP chairman said that the party had always sacrificed for the cause of people of Kashmir and raised their issue at every forum on both national and international levels.
The AJK president appreciated the services of the PPP and former president Asif Ali Zardari, who gave special attention to the development in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and development work carried out during former president Zardari’s tenure exceeded that done in 67 years.
He said that three medical colleges and universities were established in different cities of AJK for the first time during the current PPP government under the guidance of Asif Ali Zardari. He said that Kashmiris were still sticking to the famous slogan of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, that we will fight for Kashmir for thousands of years and won’t rest until they are given their right to self-determination.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/sindh/22-Aug-2015/kashmiris-and-ppp-are-inseparable-bilawal-bhutto-tells-ajk-president