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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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                        <description>The Express Tribune keeps you up to date with all the latest happenings from Pakistan and across the world!</description>
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			<title>Malik reveals al Qaeda, TTP plot to abduct Bilawal</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/275819/shahbaz-taseer-alive-shifted-to-pak-afghan-border-rehman-malik</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/275819/shahbaz-taseer-alive-shifted-to-pak-afghan-border-rehman-malik#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 11 03:15:52 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[zahid.gishkori]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=275819</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says Shahbaz Taseer is alive and has been shifted to the Pak-Afghan border.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that militant organisations, including al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban, are planning to kidnap Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as he visits Pakistan in December.

Regarding the mysterious abduction of Punjab’s slain governor Salmaan Taseer’s son, he claimed that Shahbaz Taseer is alive and was recently shifted to the Pak-Afghan border, most probably to North Waziristan.

Threats to Bilawal

“The TTP and al Qaeda have planned to assassinate Bilawal,” Malik told reporters on Monday. “Necessary measures have been taken for Bilawal’s security in and outside of Pakistan,” he said.

According to intelligence reports, Bilawal could be targeted by militants when he comes to visit Garhi Khuda Bux – his family’s native town in Sindh – in December to commemorate his mother Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary.

Officials associated with the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) told The Express Tribune that the cell has shared reports with President Zardari regarding the threats to Bilawal’s life. An official letter was also sent to the Prime Minister Secretariat earlier this month.

A senior interior ministry official, quoting revelations of the British Security Service (MI5), confirmed that there were threats to Bilawal’s life. The MI5 in coordination with the Oxford University – where Bilawal is currently studying – is assessing how to provide more security to Bilawal, the official said. A detailed report will be handed over to the president at the end of the month, he said. Around Rs136.5 million is being spent on Bilawal’s security in Britain, according to official sources. However, NCMC chief Brig (retd) Javaid Lodhi refused to divulge any details due to “the sensitivity of the matter”.

Meanwhile, the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), in collaboration with the NCMC, has begun investigations to foil threats against the president’s son, officials said. Nacta, with assistance from Rangers, also found some clues regarding death threats against famous politicians and personalities in Karachi, they said.

Malik also made some startling revelations in the Shahbaz Taseer abduction case, which has entered its eighth week. He assured that Shahbaz’s whereabouts will be unearthed soon. “The kidnappers’ identity still remains unclear since no militant organisation has confirmed his kidnapping yet,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Media downplaying our anger: Qadri backers</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/265539/media-downplaying-our-anger-qadri-backers</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/265539/media-downplaying-our-anger-qadri-backers#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 03 Oct 11 01:50:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rana.tanveer]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=265539</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[More protests planned for coming week, Ahle Sunnat group issues fatwa.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Hardcore supporters of Mumtaz Qadri protested against his death sentence for a second day on Sunday, but in far fewer numbers and with much less disruption to routine city life.

Some 150 people marched in a Jamiat Ahle Sunnat Pakistan (JAS) rally that culminated at the Lahore Press Club. They voiced their anger at the sentence handed to the killer of Salmaan Taseer. They held banners and placards and chanted slogans condemning the government, the courts and the media, as well as America and the Catholic Church for good measure. Clerics made speeches accusing news organisations of downplaying Saturday’s protests and made thinly-veiled threats about the security of their owners. Addressing the protestors, JAS Lahore Ameer Professor Muhammad Abdul Aziz Niazi said that the federal government had put pressure on the court to sentence Qadri to death. He said ‘Muslims’ would not accept this and demanded that Qadri be released immediately.

He said the court should change its verdict, or they would boycott the courts as well as any politicians who did not join them in their protests. He said they would not vote for politicians who supported blasphemers. He said they would not let Qadri go to the gallows, “even at the cost of our lives”.

JAS leader Qari Ghulam Nabi Chishti said the president should pardon Qadri.

Maulana Muhammad Naeem said the court verdict was meant to “appease the US”. He said the owners of media outlets would “only be spared if they start giving coverage to our protests against blasphemers”.

Qari Muhammad Nawaz said anyone who blasphemed or supported blasphemers would meet the same fate as Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti. “If killing a blasphemer is illegal under Pakistani law, we reject this law,” he said.

Munir Chishti, a JAS member from Nankana, said if Qadri were not released, “the rulers” would be assassinated.

More protests

Meanwhile, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz announced that they would mark October 7 as a “black day” and organise protests all over the country.

SIC leader Sahibzada Fazle Karim said October 7 would mark the start of a ‘Movement for Qadri’s Release’. He said the SIC would also support Qadri’s legal defence. He warned the government that hanging Qadri would “light the country in an uncontrollable fire”, and warned: “don’t play with this fire”.

The TNRM said it would hold a demonstration on Monday in front of Data Darbar at 11am. The Anjuman Talaba-i-Islam plans to protest at the Press Club at 4pm today.

Maulana Ameer Hamza, convener of Tehreek Hurmat-i-Rasool Pakistan, an offshoot of Jamaatud Dawa, said they would announce a “comprehensive protest plan” after consulting with other religious parties.

Fatwa

More than 500 Ahle Sunnat muftis signed an edict (fatwa) declaring that the sentence given to Qadri violated the Quran and Sunnah. They said that Islam permitted the killing of blasphemers and their supporters.

They said the judge should have consulted religious scholars before deciding the case. They said the president should pardon Qadri under Article 45 of the Constitution.

They said the chief justice of Pakistan should take suo motu notice, summon religious scholars for assistance, and then give a decision in favour of Qadri.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Reaction: Mixed response on Qadri verdict</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/265085/reaction-mixed-response-on-qadri-verdict</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/265085/reaction-mixed-response-on-qadri-verdict#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 02 Oct 11 04:38:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[obaid.abbasi]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=265085</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rights activists, religious leaders, lawyers express contrary views.]]>
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			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Mumtaz Qadri’s death penalty judgment divided Pakistani society on Saturday. Liberal voices hailed the verdict as a bold decision which would discourage people from taking the law into their own hands. Certain religious groups, however, expressed disdain for the anti-terrorism court’s (ATC) decision, declaring that Qadri had done no wrong.


Syed Iqbal Haider, former chief of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, welcomed the verdict. “I am happy that the ATC awarded the death sentence to him. I pray that the high court upholds it.’’ Farzana Bari, a human rights activist, echoed this view. “Being a human rights activist, I have always criticised the death penalty, but at the same time nobody is allowed to take the law into his own hands,” he said.

Former minister for information Sherry Rehman expressed her concern for the safety of the ATC judge. “It is the time for the state to show that its courts and judges are protected, and those who incite violence no longer have the cover of impunity,’’ she said.

Tahira Abdullah, another human rights activist, expressed different concerns. “I cannot comment until I read the complete judgment. However I am very much concerned about the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer who went missing and this decision should not have any impact on him,” she said.

Shuja ur Rehman, one of Qadri’s lawyers, described the decision as shameless and stated he would appeal. “I will go Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, against the decision within two days,” he added.

Abdur Rahim, chairman of the Namoos-e-Risalat Lawyers Forum Pakistan, also condemned the decision and vowed to struggle against the decision. He said the judgment was reached without a proper hearing of the defence lawyer’s position. “We will start protests from Monday and will move towards parliament against the decision,” he said.

Sahibzada Haji Fazal Karim, chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council Pakistan also questioned the court’s ruling. “I don’t understand. If someone is guilty of blasphemy, he must be killed. It is clearly mentioned in Section 95(A) of Pakistan Penal Code. So why are some people politicizing this issue?” he said.

Protests in Lahore
and Karachi

In Lahore, hundreds of workers belonging to different religious parties rallied from Data Darbar to Faisal Chowk outside Assembly Hall after the verdict.

Demonstrators also held a sit-in for three hours outside Punjab Assembly and declared Qadri “a true hero of Muslims.”

Leaders of Tahafz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz were prominent among the rally.

In Karachi, various Barelvi religious groups staged protests. The leaders condemned the death sentence also demanded that the government release Qadri in the same way they released American Raymond Davis. Religious organisations, including Sunni Tehreek and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, staged a sit-in protest in front of Karachi Press Club.

Legal community divided on death sentence

Talking to The Express Tribune, several legal experts said they hoped Qadri would not seek a pardon from President Asif Ali Zardari and instead accept the decision.

President Lahore High Court Bar Association Asghar Ali Gill said that Qadri should have gone to court instead of killing Taseer. “It is not the proper way to either get or provide justice,” he said.

Advocate Rabia Bajwa told The Express Tribune that the blasphemy laws are in place and therefore Qadri should have fought Taseer in court. She added that Qadri deserved this verdict and he should be given death sentence.

Advocate Aftab Bajwa took a contrary view. He argued that criminals should not be awarded a death sentence in those cases in which an emotional element is involved. He said that the Supreme Court has made several decisions in the past in which the murderer was not given a death sentence. He said that in Qadri’s case life imprisonment would be more appropriate.

(With additional reporting by Karamat Bhatty and Rana Yasif in Lahore and Faraz Khan in Karachi)

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2011. 

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[poll id="518"]]]>
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			<title>Verdict is in: Death penalty for Taseer’s assassin</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/265093/verdict-is-in-death-penalty-for-taseer%e2%80%99s-assassin</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/265093/verdict-is-in-death-penalty-for-taseer%e2%80%99s-assassin#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 02 Oct 11 04:35:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[mudassir.raja]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=265093</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Self-confessed killer of Punjab governor convicted of murder and terrorism.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has sentenced Mumtaz Qadri to death on two counts for the murder of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in January this year. The self-confessed killer’s defence pleas, which invoked religious sentiments and argued the accused was provoked into the act, were dismissed by the court.


Qadri was employed as one of the governor’s bodyguards when he shot Taseer dead in Islamabad on January 4. In several court hearings, Qadri confirmed his motive for murder was Taseer’s call for a review of the country’s controversial blasphemy law.

Special Judge ATC-II Syed Pervez Ali Shah declared the judgment in the high-security Adiyala Prison in Rawalpindi. The court also imposed fines of Rs100,000 each for the two convictions of murder and terrorism.

Qadri held the unrepentant look he has maintained since confessing almost immediately after the murder. Those in court reported that on hearing the death sentence Qadri smiled, thanked Allah and said his dream had come true.

Dismissing Qadri’s pleas, the judge said: “A proven blasphemer is wajib-ul-qatal (liable to be killed). He cannot be forgiven. Only the Holy Prophet (PUBH) himself can forgive him. However at this stage two questions arise. Firstly, can a person who is leading a sinful life be termed an apostate? Secondly, if he is deemed an apostate, then who will execute him? Obviously individuals cannot be given the authority to judge someone an apostate, infidel or non-Muslim. Moreover, individuals can not be allowed to execute the punishment on such persons because it will pave the way for anarchy, turmoil, restlessness and lawlessness in society. Therefore the defence plea in this regard is not helpful to the accused.”

Rejecting the defence’s plea that the murder was a result of sudden provocation, the judge remarked: “The state ments of the governor about blasphemy laws were published in 2010, and the murder was committed on January 4, 2011. Further, it was not the plea of the accused that the deceased made these remarks in his presence. The accused himself put a provocative question to Taseer as he was coming out of a restaurant in Kohsar market and it was not the deceased who provoked the killer.”

Advocate Shujaur Rehman, one of three defence counsels, complained that his side were denied the opportunity to counter the prosecution’s concluding remarks. Qadri’s lawyers were also unhappy at the timing of the judgment, claiming they were not informed that the court would announce its verdict on Saturday. “The court conveyed the verdict to Qadri in the absence of his lawyers”, said the advocate.

According to Rehman, the defence was also not given time to file an application in court arguing that terrorism charges could not be levelled against Qadri.

Since Taseer’s assassination, only one prominent Pakistani politician has openly called for changes to the blasphemy legislation. This man, the Minister for Religious Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, was also murdered, and since his death no politician has raised the issue publicly.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2011. 

_____________________________________________________

[poll id="518"]]]>
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			<title>A welcome verdict</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/264685/a-welcome-verdict-2</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/264685/a-welcome-verdict-2#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 01 Oct 11 16:29:39 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=264685</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Just because Qadri has been handed down a death sentence does not mean that the judge be given a death sentence too.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The verdict in the Salmaan Taseer assassination case is in and it comes as a pleasant surprise. Eight months after Taseer’s guard, Mumtaz Qadri, should him dead in cold blood, an anti-terrorist court has found him guilty on two counts and handed down the death penalty as punishment. Justice may have been slow but it has ultimately been served. Qadri’s guilt was never in doubt. He confessed to the assassination and a possible acquittal was dependent on either convincing the judge that Taseer essentially deserved to be killed for daring to stand up for a poor Christian woman accused for blasphemy or rousing the passions of the violent religious right to such an extent that no judge would dare convict him.

The verdict may be in but this is no time to let our guard down. Just because Qadri has been handed down a death sentence does not mean that the judge who had the courage to dispense justice should be given a death sentence too. The judge’s verdict was a brave one and he now needs to be given protection by the state. As for Qadri, his lawyers now have seven days to file an appeal with the high court. Given that he has a high-powered legal team, it is inevitable that the sentence will be appealed. The judges who hear the appeal will need to show the same bravery as the anti-terrorist court judge who found Qadri guilty despite the danger associated with coming to that verdict. There is also the possibility that Qadri’s freedom will be used as a bargaining chip by those who kidnapped Taseer’s son Shahbaz more than a month ago and one hope things do not come to that.

Now would also be a good time to reflect on what the assassination of Salmaan Taseer has shown us about the nation. That his killer was showered with rose petals by lawyers as he made his way to court, that Qadri was treated as a hero by many and that many people essentially believe that Taseer got what was coming to him is a reflection of a country that has lost its moral bearing. And while Taseer’s killer may have been found guilty, the governor’s lonely crusade to free Aasia bibi and amend the unjust blasphemy laws has not found many takers.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer abduction: Sanaullah says 'good news' soon</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/256997/shahbaz-taseer-abduction-sanaullah-says-good-news-soon</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/256997/shahbaz-taseer-abduction-sanaullah-says-good-news-soon#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 11 09:39:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=256997</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rana Sanaullah says disclo­sing detail­s of kidnap­pers could jeopar­dize Taseer's life.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah  said ﻿on Wednesday there will soon be "good news" regarding the Shahbaz Taseer abduction case and that the investigation team had informed him about the identity of the abductors, Express 24/7 reported.

He said this while talking to Express News in Mirpurkhas.

(Read: Taseer and Weinstein ‘sold by original abductors’)

The investigation team comprises of officials from Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence bureau (IB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Punjab police.

He also said that disclosing the details of the kidnappers could put Taseer’s life in danger.

Furthermore, Sanaullah said that no one had contacted Taseer’s family or the government for ransom.

Although, he had claimed earlier that Taseer was kidnapped for ransom.

Taseer was abducted on August 26 from the Gulberg area of Lahore while he was on his way to the office by at least three armed men in an SUV.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Nobody respects us, complain MPAs</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251778/punjab-assembly-nobody-respects-us-complain-mpas</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251778/punjab-assembly-nobody-respects-us-complain-mpas#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 11 20:40:50 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=251778</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Members demand exemption from security searches.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The opposition and treasury benches in the Punjab Assembly showed rare unity on Tuesday, with member after member bringing up a most-pressing concern  the lack of protocol and privilege afforded to Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs). They were also unanimous on at least one part of the solution to the problem – exempt all MPAs from security searches of their vehicles or person.


Apart from a brief question and answer session on the Board of Revenue and Colonies Department, handled adeptly by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Tuesday’s sitting of some four hours was dominated by tales of MPAs being “humiliated” by security officials who had the temerity to search them or stop them taking their vehicles into restricted areas. The Punjab Assembly privileges committee was criticised as being ineffective.

Tuesday’s sitting started one hour late at 10.40am and adjourned at 3pm.

Malik Abbas Raan of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in his privilege motion complained that on August 25, he was stopped by a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Multan from parking his car near Fort Qasim when he went to attend the death anniversary of former governor Makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi. He said the DSP had been rude to him even though he introduced himself as an MPA. He said he had complained to the regional police officer (RPO) and city police officer (CPO) of Multan, but was ignored.

A couple of months ago, he said, he had visited Wagah where Rangers officials had stopped his vehicle. When he told them he was an MPA, they thought he was a Military Police official and asked him to park a kilometre away from the gate. In yet further “humiliations”, he was barred from taking his vehicle into the SSP (Operations) office in Lahore, while his car was also searched for weapons at a military checkpoint.

Raan said that he had been humiliated as an MPA so often over the last four years that he had become immune to embarrassment (“bist-proof”). He said MPAs were not respected by security personnel or civil servants.

Saeed Akbar Niwani of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz complained about a recent incident in Sargodha where the police had entered the house of a former MPA and arrested him. He said that the privilege committee had not taken action over any privilege motion.

He said that a few months ago, a station house officer (SHO) summoned to answer a complaint moved to the committee had boasted that the members could not take any action against them and he had turned up only as a formality. He said under the previous government, civil servants and police had been scared of being called by the committee.

Sheikh Alauddin of the Unification Bloc said that he had decided never to approach the committee as its chairman was incompetent. He said that the committee’s role should be expanded and more members should be included in it.

Opposition Leader Raja Riaz (PPP) blamed the problem on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He said the chief minister showed no respect for MPAs and often humiliated them in front of civil servants, setting a bad example for bureaucrats and police.

Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel (PML-N) and Noor Haider Khan Niazi (MMA) also complained of being disrespected by civil servants.

Several members demanded that MPAs’ vehicles be exempt from searches at police checkpoints and be allowed to enter any public office without screening.

Sanaullah said that the speaker had promised to discuss all cases in the committee and to include more members in it. Malik Waris Kalo, chairman of the privileges committee, denied Niwani’s SHO story and said that the committee had entertained all motions.

Tuesday was private members day, when members can present resolutions of public interest.

Of four motions to be presented, one was withdrawn and two were not presented. Humaira Awais’s (PML-Quaid) resolution on a legal panchayat system in Punjab was passed.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>The cockroach anniversary</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251472/the-cockroach-anniversary</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251472/the-cockroach-anniversary#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 11 15:26:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[fasi.zaka]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=251472</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Patriots justifying killings in Balochistan, are quiet on other ills think honour supersedes extra-judicial killings.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[August 24 went by quietly. No one really cared to celebrate the cockroach anniversary. Compared to September 11, Altaf’s song and dance routine, and Zulfiqar’s Amitabh avatar, the 24th isn’t that important.

Last year on that date, in August, I penned a piece titled “Pakistan’s human cockroaches”, a polemic aimed not at the state, the military or any foreign power, but at the people of Pakistan. I had seen, late at night, the brutal murder of Muneeb and Mughees at the hands of ordinary Pakistanis in Sialkot on YouTube.

For several days, I couldn’t sleep. And that was the day I wrote my first article while I was in a seething rage. It set off a chain reaction, making it one of the most shared articles on social media in Pakistan, getting mentions in The New York Times and the BBC.

The reaction was overwhelmingly negative. For a while, it seemed as if I was public enemy number one. The Express Tribune had a score of articles criticising the piece; Talat Hussain suggested I move to another country.

Given the brouhaha surrounding the article, I sat down this year wondering what I had learnt from the whole episode.

First, I learned that I may never be shocked by brutality again. When I saw the video of the rangers killing Sarfaraz Shah in Karachi, I wasn’t moved. It’s as if all my empathy drained out never to return after the Sialkot murders. I think I have spotted a trend; the dead will almost always be accused of thievery or worse.

Second, I learned that things will keep getting worse. In their anger, readers missed the central point I made in the last paragraph of “Pakistan’s human cockroaches”. I wrote “Truth is, there is only one way to get change, and it’s not hanging the people who killed these boys. It is raising your voice to contradict people who advocate death for others, no matter who they are speaking of.” Later in the article I had suggested that people try it and see just how difficult it is.

By that I meant challenging the cycle of justifying extremism casually, that even ordinary people do. Kill Jews, kill Ahmadis, kill Christians or finding excuses for the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and their murderous mission. Just three months later, Salmaan Taseer is killed for trying to raise his voice, and then Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped.

Third, and this is almost superfluous, I learnt how blinkered expatriate Pakistani’s are. Their sense of patriotism seems to emanate from a flight guilt complex. Pakistani Swiss bankers wrote to express their rage, but continued to work in a country where minarets are banned. Patriots who justify the killings in Balochistan, the missing people and silence on other ills find that honour is more important than the life of someone killed extra-judicially.

Fourth, I learned that self reflection remains an elusive dream. Any argument about how bad things are at home, seem to be excused by others who suggest its worse in other countries.

Fifth, I learned that it’s getting harder and harder to express sorrow. In the multitude of excesses that has shocked people since, there is only so many times we can use the prose, “First they came for the Shias… I was silent because I wasn’t a Shia”, or the “Today I am ashamed to be a ….”

Sixth, I learned that Pakistanis who do nothing but defend the indefensible almost always absolve their guilt by pointing to the greatness and the work of Edhi and Imran Khan. Unfortunately, their great work doesn’t absolve other’s sins.

My only regret? Using the word cockroaches; at the time of writing, I did not know of its insidious use in the Rwandan context, something I am sorry for. I would now substitute the errant word with ostriches, who are incorrectly supposed to duck their heads in sand rather than face a problem.

So what did happen this August 24? Ansar Abbasi wrote a plaintive appeal to his country in the wake of the death of his mother, because he believes that his motherland is on its way to its demise if it doesn’t change. The left and right agree, one year on.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Sanaullah accused of obstructing Taseer’s recovery</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251137/punjab-assembly-sanaullah-accused-of-obstructing-taseer%e2%80%99s-recovery</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251137/punjab-assembly-sanaullah-accused-of-obstructing-taseer%e2%80%99s-recovery#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 11 22:01:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=251137</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Law minister says Taseer family on board over investigation.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan Peoples Party’s Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shaukat Mehmood Basra on Monday demanded that Law Minister Rana Sanaullah be removed from his office over the government’s failure to recover Shahbaz Taseer. He said the PPP had no hope of Taseer’s recovery as long as Sanaullah was in office.


Speaking on a call attention notice, Basra said Sanaullah had been openly patronising banned militant organisations in the province. He said had it been Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s son who had been kidnapped in a similar manner the Inspector General of Punjab Police would have been suspended by now.

Responding to Basra’s remarks, Sanaullah said the police and a joint investigation team probing the kidnapping were in touch with the Taseer family. He said the family was being briefed on updates in the investigation. He claimed that the family was satisfied with government’s efforts.

(Read: Crime unlimited)

He said the details could not be disclose at this stage as that could jeopardise the investigation and put Taseer’s life in further danger.

Basra demanded that if details about the investigation could not be disclosed due to Taseer’s security the government should at least arrange a briefing on the issue for Opposition Leader Raja Riaz in his chamber. He said the Sharif family bore grudge against late Salmaan Taseer.

He said Taseer was assassinated following Sanaullah’s provocative statements against him.

Opposition Leader Raja Riaz said investigators should take into account Sharif family’s differences with late Salmaan Taseer as an important factor in Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnapping. The session was suspended for some time after PPP members boycotted in protest against Sanaullah’s statement that President Asif Ali Zardari be asked to testify that he had no role in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Sanaullah was responding to Basra’s demand that the law minister clarify that he or the chief minister had no knowledge of Taseer’s abduction.

To a question seeking a deadline for Taseer’s recovery, the law minister said he would set a deadline if Interior Minister Rehman Malik agreed on one for the arrest of Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti’s murderers.

Sanaullah earlier informed the house that DIG (Investigation) Aamir Ali Malik was heading the police team investigating the case. He said once Taseer was recovered Shahbaz Sharif would himself come and disclose all details of the investigation to the House.

The session had started after a delay of an hour at around 4pm. The Parliamentary Secretary on Local Governments, Abdur Razzaq Dhillon, failed to respond to the questions concerning his department during the question hour. A Punjab Industrial and Commercial Employment (standing orders) Amendment Bill 2011 was also moved in the House. The session was later adjourned till Tuesday at 10am.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Taseer’s Inheritance: Arguments on Oct 4 on ‘widow’ claim</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251162/taseer%e2%80%99s-inheritance-arguments-on-oct-4-on-%e2%80%98widow%e2%80%99-claim</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/251162/taseer%e2%80%99s-inheritance-arguments-on-oct-4-on-%e2%80%98widow%e2%80%99-claim#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 11 20:46:16 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=251162</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Woman claiming to be a widow of the slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and seeking a share in his inheritance.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A civil court on Monday fixed for a written reply and arguments October 4 in a petition by a woman, claiming to be a widow of the slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and seeking a share in his inheritance. Ayesha Bukhari had filed the application in April 2011 seeking to be declared one of the legal heirs of the late governor. Earlier, the court had summoned the respondents by September 12 for their arguments. On Monday, the counsel for both sides requested the court to fix another date for the submission of replies by the respondents. Bukhari says she had married the late governor on June 29, 2004. She said they did not have any children. The petitioner told the court that the respondents, Taseer’s wife,Amina Taseer and his children, Shahbaz Taseer, Sheharyar Taseer, Sheharbano Taseer, Sara Taseer, Shan Taseer and Sanam Taseer, had sought to be declared as his only legal heirs. She also named the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the State Bank of Pakistan as respondents in this case. She requested the court to help her get her share in inheritance as Taseer’s widow.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Chinks in the armour?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/250797/chinks-in-the-armour</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/250797/chinks-in-the-armour#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 11 16:07:25 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=250797</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Has the Dawat-e-Islami, too, become a possible threat to the army?]]>
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				<![CDATA[A report in this newspaper says that the military has become alerted to a possible danger from the proselytising activities of the religious organisation Dawat-e-Islami, distinguished by the sporting of green turbans by its followers. A Barelvi variant of the Deobandi Tableeghi Jamaat, Dawat also claims to be apolitical. But the intelligence agencies have warned that “its growing influence in the armed forces will have serious implications”. It has never been under strict watch, but it is financially powerful and has its own 24-hour channel that many cable operators provide.

The Tableeghi Jamaat was considered fit for elite support because of its Deobandi orientation and patronage from the Gulf and the  Middle East. The Dawat has remained a poor man’s religious organisation, so to speak, divorced from the state’s patronage of jihad. It is surmised that the army has become sensitive to the penetration of its ranks after a policeman decided to kill Salmaan Taseer, earlier this year. Thereafter, the army confirmed that it had detained a senior officer, along with four other military personnel, for links with the banned Hizbut Tahrir. Has the Dawat-e-Islami, too, become a possible threat to the army? An intelligence report says its influence is increasing: over Rs20 million were collected from the Pakistan Air Force for the organisation during this past Ramazan. The organisation was founded by its present charismatic leader Ilyas Qadri, in 1980, when the Deobandis were getting the green light for jihad and the Barelvis were being ignored simply because the training camps — some of them run by al Qaeda — were located in Afghanistan, where the Deobandis hold sway.

The Dawat has grown powerful on its own. In October every year, it holds the biggest congregation in Multan rivalling the one held by the Tableeghi Jamaat in Raiwind near Lahore. As in the case of the Jamaat, special trains are run by the government to transport the devotees to the venue from all over Pakistan. The congregation is usually 500,000 strong or more, according to media reports.

In Multan, the venue is annually converted into a small city with all facilities provided by the Dawat to rival the annual gathering, of the Tableeghi Jamaat outside Lahore. During three days the city of Multan receives a big economic boost because of the visitors who have to eat and drink and buy their other necessities in the market. In Lahore, the biggest mosque of Dawat-e-Islami is situated on the Mall Canal Bridge near the National Institute of Public Administration academy. Often, green turbans are distributed for free to an increasing number of well-to-do devotees who throng the mosque.

Maulana Ilyas Qadri is, in the true Barelvi tradition, a follower of Ghaus-e-Azam Abdul Qadir Jilani of Iraq and Khan Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi of Bhopal. His magnum opus is the bestselling book titled Faizan-e-Sunnat consisting of 1,326 pages in small print. It is a treasury of Sunni tradition in the Barelvi branch, every page of which is properly sourced to the greatest saints in the Sunni-Barelvi school. In the Barelvi tradition, there are miracles recounted in the shape of dreams seen by the followers of the Dawat, which all true believers must accept. That said, however, it should not be forgotten that Mumtaz Qadri, the policeman who killed the Punjab governor, was also a follower of the Dawat-e-Islami and motivated to do what he did because he was told that it was the right thing to do. Similarly, several Barelvi organisations have sprung up, especially in Punjab, where they aggressively rally the local population in favour of the controversial blasphemy law and against Ahmadis and Christians. One such organisation is currently involved in distributing hate literature against Ahmadis in Faisalabad, after which one Ahmadi was shot dead in the city last week.

The military can take its precautionary steps inside its own structure and it will only be good for Pakistan; but the last time Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Tableeghi Jamaat was a nursery of terrorists, he was roundly condemned by the opposition led by the PML-N’s Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and leader of the PPP’s coalition partner PML-Q, Chaudhry Shujaat. The minister immediately denied that he ever made the statement. Let’s see what happens this time around.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Crime unlimited</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/248778/crime-unlimited</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/248778/crime-unlimited#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 11 17:34:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=248778</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Warren and Shahbaz Taseer, investigators say, have been whisked away to an area beyond the reach of security agencies.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Our society is becoming harder and harder to fathom. Each time a crime takes place, it is followed by wild conjecture as to who is responsible and why. The whole process is rather like a wild guessing game, with no assurance that the true answers will be found. We live in lawless times when guns rule and there is no sense of security for anyone. The gangs of criminals that operate are, meanwhile, adopting more and more sophisticated methods, moving far ahead of the law enforcers who seem unable to match their skill or technique.

Immediately after the kidnapping of US aid expert Dr Warren Weinstein in the middle of August and that of the son of the late Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz, a few weeks later, investigators say both men were captured by criminal gangs who then ‘sold’ them to yet another gang of hardened criminals specialising in kidnappings for ransom. The two men, the investigators say, have now been whisked away to an area beyond the reach of security agencies, presumably in the tribal belt. Admitting they are effectively helpless, law enforcers have little to offer the families. They suggest they should wait for a ransom demand and then negotiate with the kidnappers.

This is not very encouraging. Paying ransom — as the families of other victims have done in the past — can only encourage more abductions, no matter how quietly the cash is handed over. It is also not reassuring to know our agencies can do nothing to help the victims of crime against powerful gangs who may or may not be linked with the Taliban. Some reports have spoken of a percentage of proceeds from such crimes going to militants and helping them fund their own activities. Who knows what the precise truth is. But for all of us, foreigners and locals alike, it is hardly comforting to know that the police and other agencies can do nothing to protect us and, for all practical terms, we live in times when we must act alone to save ourselves or see our loved ones whisked away, as Weinstein and Taseer were. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>New assembly session begins today</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/248272/new-assembly-session-begins-today</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/248272/new-assembly-session-begins-today#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 11 02:31:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=248272</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[‘Centre’s inept handling of power crisis to blame for kidnappings’.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The 30th session of the Punjab Assembly (PA) starts today at 3pm and will likely run for three weeks as the members debate law and order, new provinces and other issues.


Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, talking to reporters on Thursday, indicated that the Karachi situation would be discussed. He said that he believed that the allegations made by former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement concerning the violence in Karachi, and vice versa, were true.

He accused the Pakistan Peoples Party of hypocrisy, saying they were demanding the carving up of the Punjab on the basis of ethnicity and language, but any mention of the division of Sindh was condemned as offensive. He said the Muslim League-Nawaz was not opposed to new provinces, but it wanted any such process to be carried out according to constitutional provisions. He said if the federal government were serious, it would set up a committee to consider the subject like it had with the 18th Amendment.

Sanaullah sought to refute a claim made by PML-Quaid’s Parliamentary Leader in the Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan that 33,000 kidnapping for ransom cases had been registered from 2009 to 2011. He presented official documents stating that there had been 1,300 such cases registered from 2006 to 2010.

He said that police investigations of these cases showed that the reason behind most kidnappings was poverty and unemployment, and these were a direct result of the gas and electricity shortages crippling industry, which in turn were the responsibility of the federal government.

Sanaullah said he was satisfied with the joint investigation team trying to find the son of slain former governor Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Taseer, who was recently kidnapped. PA Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal met with senior officials of the police, Rescue 1122 and Home Department on Thursday to discuss security arrangements for the building during the session. He directed security officials to make sure that no guests are allowed on the premises.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Taseer and Weinstein ‘sold by original abductors’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/248374/breakthrough-or-dead-end-taseer-and-weinstein-%e2%80%98sold-by-original-abductors%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/248374/breakthrough-or-dead-end-taseer-and-weinstein-%e2%80%98sold-by-original-abductors%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 11 01:04:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[asad.kharal]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=248374</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Invest­igator­s say negoti­ating ransom is the only plausi­ble soluti­on.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Law enforcement agencies investigating the abduction cases of Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain former governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, and American aid expert Dr Warren Weinstein reportedly made a breakthrough but have simultaneously arrived at a dead-end, officials privately informed The Express Tribune.

Investigators have traced the initial kidnappers in both high-profile abduction cases, and confirmed that both are kidnappings for ransom, but discovered that the original kidnappers “sold” their victims to another set of abductors at a higher ransom, sources said.

The ‘new’ kidnappers have been identified and are organised criminals, with a strong background of such abductions, but so far, no link has been established with banned militant outfits in either case, sources added.

Investigators said that the two cases are not linked and two separate gangs are involved in these abductions for ransom.

(Read: We are not all CIA agents)

The victims, however, have been moved to a location where Pakistani law enforcers and security agencies cannot act to recover them, they added.

The investigators said the only option possibly left for the abducted persons’ families is to negotiate a ransom, which is yet to be communicated.

Investigators say they have communicated to the families that going after the abductors could endanger the victim’s lives. The agencies are playing it ‘safe’ and are waiting for the kidnappers to ‘contact’ the families, sources added.

It may be weeks before any contact is established since the kidnappers know that they are far from the reach of security agencies, a senior official familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune.

(Read: Shahbaz Taseer and today’s Pakistan)

The lack of contact by the abductors was corroborated by a joint investigation report sent to the interior ministry that analysed call data records of Taseer’s family members.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer abduction: Family denies receiving ransom demand</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/246727/shahbaz-taseer-abduction-family-denies-receiving-ransom-demand</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/246727/shahbaz-taseer-abduction-family-denies-receiving-ransom-demand#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 11 05:47:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=246727</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Taseer’s family has denied reports of a ransom demand for Rs2 billion.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Taseer’s family has denied reports of a ransom demand for Rs2 billion.


Taseer’s aunt Ayesha Tammy Haq told The Express Tribune that news surfacing in the media about a ransom demand from the abductors is “absolutely baseless”. She said the family has not received a call from the abductors, adding that false reports such as these were only bound to hamper the investigation process.

A police investigator confirmed that the abductors have not made contact with the family as yet. However, he added that the police still believed that the abduction was for ransom. He said that the police are investigating the matter, but have no lead into the case as yet.

Due to overlapping fingerprints, NADRA records were unable to produce a match, he said, adding they were only able to get a match for one person who turned out to be the Taseer family’s servant, Mushtaq.

Similarly, no fingerprints were recovered from the 222 gun that the authorities found near Pak Plaza. The investigator said that records of Tracker companies have been handed over to the police and while all the data was being analysed, no major breakthrough in the case has been made thus far.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer case: Police gather details on all cars near crime scene</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/245057/shahbaz-taseer-case-police-gather-details-on-all-cars-near-crime-scene</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/245057/shahbaz-taseer-case-police-gather-details-on-all-cars-near-crime-scene#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Sep 11 04:18:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rameez.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=245057</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Authorities contact car tracking companies for records of vehicles parked in the vicinity.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In an apparent change of strategy, Lahore Police has written to car tracking companies for information on vehicles parked near the site of Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction.


As ten days go by without any information on Shahbaz’s whereabouts, a senior police official told The Express Tribune that investigators have exhausted most of their leads and are now exploring a new angle in the case.

“Many people have been questioned in connection with the case but no arrests have yet been made. In a desperate move, police has now written to five companies, demanding the records of all vehicles in and around MM Alam Road [in Gulberg, the upscale neighbourhood where Shahbaz was kidnapped].”

Sources said that police have ruled out the involvement of a black Land Cruiser and a white Toyota Corolla and said that actually two Honda City cars were used in the abduction. The gun, that was believed to have belonged to the kidnappers, was thrown on to the road to mislead the police while buying time to escape, sources said.

Shahbaz was picked up on August 26 and police had believed that his kidnappers had used a black Land Cruiser to take him away. In subsequent investigations, a gun was found from the spot and a traffic warden had claimed that he saw the kidnappers throw the gun out of their car but he eventually withdrew his statement. Last week, the police claimed they had found three mobile phone SIMs and a China-made handset which was used by the kidnappers.

Investigators say the mobile phone, which was found near Shahbaz’s Mercedes, could be instrumental to the probe although it was suspicious that the kidnappers, who seemed well-trained, would leave behind such an important clue.

“The person in whose name the SIM was registered is being questioned. We believe he is involved in the abduction,” an investigator said.

However, he did not rule out the possibility that this could be a case of kidnapping for ransom, which will be confirmed as more time lapses. “In such high-profile cases, ransom demands are made normally after two weeks.”

Meanwhile, Investigations SSP Abdul Razzaque Chema told The Express Tribune that as yet, no more fingerprint results have been retrieved by the National Database and Registration Authority. Last week, investigators said they were questioning a servant of the Taseer family whose fingerprint was found on Shahbaz’s car.

When asked of police claims that results will be retrieved in eight days, he said the process was taking longer as all data records were being checked.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz taseer’s abduction: Minorities ask govt to step up efforts</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/244943/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-minorities-ask-govt-to-step-up-efforts</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/244943/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-minorities-ask-govt-to-step-up-efforts#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Sep 11 21:06:07 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=244943</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The protesters carried banners in support of late Salmaan Taseer, the former Punjab governor.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[All Pakistan Minorities Alliance Faislabad chapter took out a rally in protest against law enforcement agencies failure to make progress in Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction case. The rally started at Press Club and ended at Katchery Chowk. The protesters carried banners in support of late Salmaan Taseer, the former Punjab governor. They demanded provincial government to step up  efforts for Taseer’s recovery.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer abduction splits Barelvi group</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/244436/abduction-splits-barelvi-group</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/244436/abduction-splits-barelvi-group#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Sep 11 05:07:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rana.tanveer]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=244436</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[‘Islam’s image will suffer if clerics don’t condemn Shahbaz Taseer abduction’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The spokesman of a Barelvi group that had called for the assassination of Salmaan Taseer is under fire from colleagues for condemning the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer, the slain governor’s son.


Ziaul Haq Naqshbandi, the spokesman for Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz (TNRM) and president of the Fikr Writers Forum, issued a press statement a few days ago condemning Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction and calling on religious parties to do the same. He said that it was un-Islamic to punish someone “for the sins of his parents”.

Naqshbandi told The Express Tribune that he had been criticised by his party colleagues and they were threatening to expel him for issuing a statement “in favour of the son of a blasphemer”.

Salmaan Taseer was gunned down in January by a member of his security detail, Mumtaz Qadri, who boasted that his motive was to punish the governor for his alleged blasphemy through opposition to the ‘blasphemy’ laws. TNRM representative Mufti Pir Afzal Qadri had at an earlier public rally declared that it was permissible to kill Taseer as he had disrespected the Holy Prophet (pbuh), and his killer would go to heaven.

Naqshbandi, speaking to The Tribune on Saturday, justified the TNRM campaign against Taseer, but added that it was unfair to target the rest of the family. He said many clerics agreed with him about Shahbaz, but some “illiterate and fanatical” clerics were demanding that he withdraw his statement. “People in my own party have been calling me and saying to my face that I have committed a blunder,” he said.

The TNRM spokesman said he stood by his statement. He said he didn’t think a religious group was behind the kidnapping, but whoever it was had committed an un-Islamic act and was not a representative of Islam. “The religious parties must come forward in support of Shahbaz Taseer’s recovery to portray the true image of Islam,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Khosa dissatisfied with Taseer investigations</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/243258/khosa-dissatisfied-with-taseer-investigations</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/243258/khosa-dissatisfied-with-taseer-investigations#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 11 17:09:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=243258</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Extends offer to bridge differences between Shahbaz Sharif.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Punjab governor Latif Khosa took the occasion of Eid to ease tensions between himself and the Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, issuing a call to bridge their differences.

Khosa, though, expressed his dissatisfaction with investigations of the Shahbaz Taseer kidnapping case.

Talking to the media at the Governor House in Lahore, Khosa said the Federal Government was fully cooperating with the Punjab government to safely recover Shahbaz Taseer.

He urged the Punjab government to use the latest investigative systems and technologies to resolve the Taseer kidnapping case.

The Governor stressed upon the need to improve security in Punjab.]]>
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			<title>High-profile abduction: Police find SIM cards used during Taseer’s kidnapping</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/242658/shahbaz-taseer-abduction-3-mobile-numbers-traced</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/242658/shahbaz-taseer-abduction-3-mobile-numbers-traced#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 11 05:47:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rameez.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=242658</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[An abductor had dropped a mobile phone while kidnapping Shahbaz.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Lahore police said on Monday that it had traced three mobile numbers that it believed were used by Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnappers minutes before the abduction.


Investigators said that a China-made mobile phone was dropped by an abductor, which was picked up by a scavenger who deleted the data on the SIM cards.

Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, was abducted last Friday in Lahore’s Gulberg area while he was on his way to work.

The scavenger was traced through the SIM cards’ International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. He was then picked up by Lahore police’s Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and was transferred to an undisclosed location.

However, investigators managed to retrieve the numbers used through the call history of the mobile phone. The data retrieved from the mobile phone companies revealed that the location of the phone was Gulberg when the calls were made. They also revealed that the abductors used the cell phones to keep each other updated regarding Shahbaz’s kidnapping.

Initially, the police suspected that the scavenger was involved in the abduction but later, it became apparent that the person had no connection with the alleged kidnappers.

Investigators said that this was a major breakthrough in the case and raids were being conducted to arrest the owners of the SIM cards.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Opposition requisitions assembly session</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/242967/opposition-requisitions-assembly-session</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/242967/opposition-requisitions-assembly-session#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Aug 11 21:21:59 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=242967</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PPP demands answers on Taseer’s abduction and south Punjab.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Tuesday submitted a requisition for a Punjab Assembly (PA) session on two issues, Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction and the creation of a new south Punjab province.


PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader in the PA Shaukat Mehmood Basra said that 103 PPP members had signed the requisition and it was the opposition’s sixth requisition. He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had attended none of the five earlier sessions.

He said that he had also submitted a call-attention notice regarding the abduction of Taseer and hoped that Sharif himself would answer questions.

He said criminals appeared to rule the province while Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was using the police against his political opponents. Patwaris, he said, were participating in PML-N’s workers’ conventions. He said that district coordination officers across the province were busy with Sharif’s hopeless schemes like Sasti Roti Scheme and Ramazan Bazaars.

Basra said the government structures of the province had been damaged. He said the Punjab government had formed nine teams to find Taseer. He said that Sharif should inform the house about his government’s efforts.

He said that Sharif should also inform the house about the grievances of south Punjab and explain why his government was not doing anything to address them.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Hoping for Shahbaz Taseer’s early recovery</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/242688/hoping-for-shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-early-recovery</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/242688/hoping-for-shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-early-recovery#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Aug 11 16:56:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[raza.rumi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=242688</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Taseer's abductors have sent a powerful message that they are stronger than the state, can pick up targets at will.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[I fervently hope that Shahbaz Taseer is back by the time these lines are published. However, the past few days have been distressing to see the Taseer family facing yet another trying phase. The young Taseer was abducted on a busy Lahore road on August 26. His case is not uncommon in a country where kidnapping is becoming a popular strategy with the state, criminal gangs and militant outfits. Hundreds of Pakistanis are missing across the country for various reasons. Despite the intervention of Superior Courts and pronouncements by the political executive, little progress has been made.

Taseer’s abduction followed the kidnapping of Dr Warren Weinstein, representative of a US consulting firm, J E Austin from his house in an affluent part of Lahore. Dr Weinstein is a 70-year-old man suffering from various ailments and his life is surely in danger. These kidnappings say a lot about the level of policing in the province. A Police Force notorious to suppress citizens especially the poor is obviously ill trained to handle such cases. In fact, the police mishandling of forensic evidence in Shahbaz Taseer’s car — right under the watch of TV cameras — speaks volumes for the incompetence in basic treatment of crime scenes. In the case of Dr Weinstein, as media reports suggest, they may have botched up the recovery process by hasty announcements about his possible location.

In his interview with BBC, Shahbaz Taseer immediately after his father’s murder shunned violence and expressed his family’s desire to live in Pakistan. A peaceful, soft-spoken young man is a target of the abductors whose identity thus far is not known. There have been speculations of all sorts but nothing can be stated with confidence. However, the abductors have sent a powerful message to Pakistanis: there are groups stronger than the state that can pick up high-profile targets at will.

Last February the son-in-law of the former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), General Tariq Majid was also kidnapped and thus far he has not been recovered. Media reports suggest that a sectarian outfit affiliated with the Taliban is responsible for the abduction and have asked for a hefty ransom amount in addition to the release of hundreds of militants. The question that comes to mind is that if a top military commander’s family is not safe then how can the bloody civilians feel safe in the nuclear-armed fortress of Islam?

Civilian men in charge of the country — the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister have assured the Taseer family that Shahbaz Taseer will be recovered soon. The chief minister has shown extraordinary interest in this case and the negative statements from the PPP side are quite unfortunate since this is not the time for political bickering.

It has been extremely disappointing to note that there are many in Pakistan who are quick to indulge in hate-mongering. On Twitter and other interactive web forums (as well as sections of Urdu Press), nasty comments on the abductions from Lahore have been made.

Needless to say that the missing Baloch and scores of other Pakistanis who have been taken away by state agencies or the militants require immediate attention of the government. Pakistan’s apparent state of free fall has to be arrested. Shahbaz Taseer is an innocent young man who must be recovered soon and the criminal gangs operating with apparent impunity should be tackled with an iron hand.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer is still alive: Khosa</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241861/shahbaz-taseer-is-still-alive-khosa</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241861/shahbaz-taseer-is-still-alive-khosa#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 11 15:06:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=241861</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Khosa said significant clues regarding Shahbaz’s abduction have been found during the investigation.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Punjab Governor Latif Khosa said that Shahbaz Taseer, son of late Salman Taseer, is still alive, Express 24/7 reported on Monday.

Khosa said significant clues regarding Shahbaz’s abduction have been found during the investigation.

However, the Punjab Governor expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation which is being conducted by the provincial government.

Khosa claimed that the investigation was being carried out at a slow pace.

Earlier, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani met Taseer's family at their residence in Lahore to assure all support for Shahbaz Taseer's recovery.

Gilani assured the family that the federal government will help the Punjab Government in recovering Shahbaz. He added that police and other security agencies were working round the clock on the case.

As yet, investigations into Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction have led Lahore police to interrogate two servants, and seven employees and guards at his company.]]>
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			<title>Taseer abduction : PM Gilani assures early recovery of Shahbaz</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241634/pm-gilani-visits-taseer-family-in-lahore</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241634/pm-gilani-visits-taseer-family-in-lahore#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 11 07:51:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=241634</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Khosa says Taseer is alive; police say they have ‘a clue’ into abductors’ location.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani visited the family of late Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer assuring them of the safe recovery of Shahbaz Taseer. However, the police still remain clueless about the abduction and have claimed to have no leads in the case so far, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.


Shahbaz Taseer was abducted from Lahore’s upscale Gulberg area while on his way to work on Friday. Search operations continue in parts of the city, while no one has been arrested yet, investigators revealed.

The prime minister, meanwhile, visited the Taseer residence where he met the former governor’s widow, Amina Taseer and younger son, Sheharyar Taseer. Gilani assured the family that the government was doing its utmost for the Taseer’s safe recovery.

Well placed police officials have said that the police have found a clue into the abductors’ whereabouts by tracing call records. However, sources said, they have yet to narrow down the list of numbers for a definite location, adding that ‘there were clear suspicions of his presence in the city’.

The officials further said that they suspect that the abductors will contact Taseer’s family in 10 to 15 days. They added that the modus operandi of abductors in such high-profile kidnappings is that they take the hostage to a safe place and analyse the circumstances before making any contact with the family. The sources added that the aspect of property dispute could not be ruled out yet.

SSP Operation Shuakat Abbass told The Express Tribune that results of the fingerprints taken from the crime scene will take at least eight more days, and are being traced through NADRA’s countrywide record. He added that the weapon, seized from the crime scene, is also being analysed by forensic experts.

Abbass reaffirmed that the police do have a clue about Taseer’s suspected location, adding that seven committees were working in their given mandate.

Shahbaz is alive: Khosa

Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Latif Khosa has expressed confidence that Shahbaz Taseer is alive. Express 24/7 reported on Monday that Khosa said significant clues regarding Shahbaz’s abduction have been found during the investigation.

However, the Punjab governor expressed dissatisfaction over the ‘slow pace’ of the investigation which is being conducted by the provincial government. So far, investigations into Taseer’s abduction have led the Lahore police to interrogate two servants, and seven employees and guards at his company.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction: Police interrogate family servant</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241452/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-police-interrogate-family-servant</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241452/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-police-interrogate-family-servant#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 11 05:09:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rameez.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=241452</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The man’s fingerprint matched with that found on a handle of Shahbaz’s car.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Investigations continue into Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction as Lahore police interrogated two servants, and seven employees and guards at his company, The Express Tribune has learnt.

“So far, we have traced only one fingerprint from his Mercedes car’s left handle which, according to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), belongs to one of the servants of the Taseer family,” SSP Investigations Abdul Razzaque Cheema said.

He said that NADRA is tracing fingerprints taken off of the gun [left behind by the kidnappers], Shahbaz’s phone and laptop. Phone records, he said, have also been checked by mobile phone companies and no suspicious called were made at the time [of the incident].

Shahbaz Taseer, son of Punjab’s slain governor Salmaan Taseer, was kidnapped on Friday in Lahore’s upscale Gulberg area while on his way to work. But forensic experts have warned that evidence collected from the abduction site may not help investigators as some police officers mishandled the evidence.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on Sunday, investigators said that police have no leads as yet in the case. They said multiple aspects were being investigated and only hypothesis seems conclusive: since no group has claimed responsibility or demanded ransom, the abduction could be rooted in a family or property dispute.

Eyewitness?

SSP Cheema said that traffic warden Zeeshan, who was said to have witnessed the entire scene, was actually told by someone that a 222-rifle is lying on the ground near Park Plaza Hotel which contradicts his earlier statement that he saw the kidnappers throw the rifle out of their black Prado.  Cheema said he does not suspect any other car to have accompanied that of the kidnappers. He added the man, who had checked out from a company guest house a few minutes before Shahbaz’s abduction, has been cleared from the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Mirza’s allegations are his personal opinion: Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241339/mirza%e2%80%99s-allegations-are-his-personal-opinion-dr-firdous-ashiq-awan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241339/mirza%e2%80%99s-allegations-are-his-personal-opinion-dr-firdous-ashiq-awan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Aug 11 18:36:54 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=241339</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Party's decision cannot be influenced by personal opinion, will decide action on Mirza's statements.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Federal Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that Zulfiqar Mirza's remarks are his personal and do not represent party-line, on Sunday.

Talking to the media outside the residence of Shahbaz Taseer, she said Zulfiqar Mirza resigned from the ministership, Sindh Assembly membership, and party portfolio prior to his press conference.

About party reaction, she said the party would decide on Mirza's press statements on Karachi situation and that Interior Minister Rehman Malik would defend himself at an appropriate occasion regarding the allegations on him.

She said the agenda of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is consultation with others and believes in political solution through dialogue by taking all stakeholders into confidence.

The minister added, the first priority of the federal government is to restore peace in Karachi.

"Party's decision cannot be influenced by personal opinion of any individual. PPP has a system of its own to take decisions and these cannot be changed an opinion of an individual."

She said the disciplinary committee of the PPP prepares a policy and  it is the leadership that ensures implementation of the party discipline.]]>
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			<title>Brazen abduction: As clock ticks, search for Taseer narrows to urban areas</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240955/brazen-abduction-as-clock-ticks-search-for-taseer-narrows-to-urban-areas</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240955/brazen-abduction-as-clock-ticks-search-for-taseer-narrows-to-urban-areas#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Aug 11 05:58:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240955</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[8 police teams investigating case from various angles; top officials insist kidnapping is case of personal rivalry.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[As investigators collect and comb through evidence for leads, senior security officials say they have narrowed the scope of the investigation in the Shahbaz Taseer abduction case to urban areas of Punjab.


Law enforcement officials informed Punjab Governor Latif Khosa that they have failed to find any clue of involvement of terrorists from tribal areas, sources in the Governor House said.

Meanwhile, the Punjab police chief informed the governor that Taseer appears to have been abducted over personal rivalry, sources added, despite the insistence by Taseer’s family to the contrary.

Law enforcement agencies are therefore focusing on urban areas of the Punjab in general, and provincial capital Lahore in particular, for Taseer’s recovery, the governor was informed.

Punjab Home Secretary and the Inspector General of Police called on Governor Khosa on Saturday and briefed him on the progress on Taseer’s recovery.

Son of former slain governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer and his widow Aamna, Shahbaz was abducted early Friday morning en route to his office in Gulberg, from his residence in Cavalry Ground.

Taseer’s mobile phones and laptop, left behind in the abandoned car after his abduction, have been sent to the forensics department while finger prints collected from the car have been sent to National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), investigators said.

Eight teams investigate 

The police have formed eight teams to investigate Taseer’s abduction case, said Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Investigation Abdul Razzaque Cheema.The abductors have not contacted Taseer’s family and no arrests have been made yet, he said.

The Kalashnikov, thrown out of the abductors’ black Prado while they escaped, is being checked for finger prints and ownership, he added.

SSP Operation Shuakat Abass said that since Taseer’s family is engaged in multiple businesses, the police cannot single out one dispute and is therefore investigating the case from multiple angles.

Deputy inspector-general (DIG) operations Ghulam Mehmood Dogar also confirmed that the police have leads in the case but refused to disclose any.

Security on the city’s entry and exit points has been tightened and cars, especially big ones, were being thoroughly checked, he added.

Meanwhile, a team has been particularly assigned to investigate whether any sectarian or religiously-motivated group, related to slain governor’ self-confessed killer Mumtaz Qadri, is involved in the abduction, sources added.

Off the record

Taseer had retuned to Pakistan from Dubai a day earlier and the investigators are probing how the information of his arrival was leaked, sources said while speaking to The Express Tribune.

Disposing the gun on the street might have been an attempt to mislead the police, they added, since there was no need to do so.

A search operation was conducted across the city including Defence, Model Town and Gulberg, and while few people were taken into custody, no arrests have been made yet, sources added.

The two people taken into custody were also released after questioning, sources said, adding that seven employees from Taseer’s company were being questioned as well.

PPP requisitions assembly session

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has submitted a call attention notice in Punjab Assembly (PA) over Taseer’s abduction. The PPP has submitted a call attention notice in the assembly secretariat , PPP deputy parliamentary leader in PA Shaukat Mehmood Basra told The Express Tribune.

According to the law, the chief minister is bound to reply to questions raised in the call attention notices, he said, adding that he would submit a requisition a PA session to discuss the abduction.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>WikiLeaks revelations: Q, N League rivalry interrupted child jockey return programme</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240980/wikileaks-revelations-q-n-league-rivalry-interrupted-child-jockey-return-programme</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240980/wikileaks-revelations-q-n-league-rivalry-interrupted-child-jockey-return-programme#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Aug 11 05:41:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[saba.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240980</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PML-N claimed it can introduce blasphemy law reforms because of right-wing credibility.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Over 1,000 US State Department and embassy cables related to Pakistan were published by WikiLeaks this week. 

The cables – which deal extensively with political developments, the state of the economy, human rights and security crises – provide an insight into the past two decades of the US-Pakistan relationship and Pakistan’s progress, or lack thereof, on critical issues.


UNICEF suspended programme over PML-N – PML-Q tussle

Tensions between the PML factions in 2009 caused Unicef to temporarily suspend a programme to rehabilitate child jockeys. A cable from the US Consulate in Lahore quoted a Unicef officer as saying that its relationship with the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) had “fallen victim” to a political battle between the PML-Q and PML-N. In January, Unicef realised that the CPWB was not returning Unicef’s phone calls or engaging with it.

“On investigation, it (Unicef) discovered the home secretary, a PML-N member, had prohibited CPWB interaction with international organisations. It appeared that he did this because the CPWB was headed by PML-Q member Dr Faiza Asghar, and preventing the bureau from functioning effectively would give the home secretary a pretext to replace her.”

The district officer of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) in Rahim Yar Khan told the consulate that the Punjab government had closed programmes to rehabilitate child jockeys. Unicef said that the programme was temporarily stopped because the CPWB could not effectively perform field activities and distribute funds, and that Unicef would select a new partner within the Social Welfare Department to continue the programme.

A Unicef officer also predicted the CPWB would be relocated to the Social Welfare Department, and then it could renew its relationship with it.

The Home Secretary also initially refused to let a political officer meet with PML-Q’s Asghar or CPWB officials. Asghar told the consulate in October that “while the PML-N government provided a budget for the CPWB, she was unable to expand her programmes or fill vacant positions. The current PML-N government used the excuse that the Home Department did not have proper documentation to support her role as Chairperson of the CPWB and was using this to stall CPWB’s work”.

The child jockey rehabilitation programme was funded by the United Arab Emirates and overseen by Unicef.

Blasphemy laws

Even though the PML-N has opposed any amendments in the blasphemy laws, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal held different views.

A cable recording a May 2008 meeting between Iqbal and the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour states: “He (Iqbal) was extremely cautious about possible repeal of blasphemy laws. At first he said the government (the PML-N was then part of the federal government) is too busy working on constitutional legislative issues that will determine the future of the state. He spoke in favour of ensuring that the laws are not misapplied to punish particular people, but said totally striking the law would be too controversial for any government to accomplish.”

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif believed the PPP could not accomplish reforms. In a 2009 cable sent by the US Consulate in Lahore, which detailed the case of a blasphemy accused dying in police custody, Sharif is quoted as telling a political officer that the “PPP was too weak on religious issues to repeal the blasphemy  law.  Only a change in administration, from PPP to PML-N, would result in a party with enough support from the religious community to institute a real change to the law.”

The cable also highlights that Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was called a blasphemer by religious parties for saying that the law should be repealed. Taseer was assassinated this January for his opposition to the blasphemy law.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Council of Common Interest: PM urges nation to support Karachi operation</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240983/council-of-common-interest-pm-urges-nation-to-support-karachi-operation</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240983/council-of-common-interest-pm-urges-nation-to-support-karachi-operation#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Aug 11 04:55:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[qamar.zaman]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240983</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Sharif briefs the meeting about efforts to recover Shahbaz Taseer.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has urged the nation to support the Sindh government’s decision to rule out military intervention in Karachi which has been plagued by political and ethnic violence.


“Karachi is now our biggest challenge. I take this opportunity, in the presence of all four chief ministers, to urge the nation to support the Sindh government’s operation. It is a provincial initiative which is fully backed by the federal government. The resolution of the Karachi conflict lies in upholding the rule of law,” said the prime minister on Saturday while addressing the seventh meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

Gilani said that while we are all engaged in efforts to strengthen democracy, anti-democratic forces and anti-state elements are carrying out activities detrimental to the country’s economic growth and stability. “We need to raise our guard against these disruptive forces to be able to move forward unimpeded,” he added.

“I am a great believer in politics of consensus and reconciliation. These attributes constitute the essence of democracy. The path is however full of pitfalls and obstacles,” the premier said. “Sacrifice, understanding, patience and commonality of purpose are required to evolve a consensus.” The Sindh chief minister thanked the prime minister for his support for the measures taken by the provincial government to restore peace in Karachi.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif apprised the prime minister of his government’s efforts to recover former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s son, Shahbaz Taseer who was abducted from a busy artery in Lahore on Friday.

The CCI agreed to work on a formula for distribution of zakat by the provinces and to expedite compensation to the people affected by last summer’s devastating floods. The CII members reached an agreement to devolve the distribution of zakat to the provinces in pursuance of the 18th amendment. The Express Tribune has learnt that the federation and the provinces agreed to equally share the financial burden of payment of the second tranche among the survivors of last year’s flood. The chief ministers were urged to provide details of each household within two weeks, so that the federal government can release the necessary funds. The CCI has asked the ministry of water and power to coordinate with the provinces regarding permission for power generation and submit its proposals within a week.

Public debt management, imposition of a new levy, the sixth housing census and privatisation of power sector entities also figured on the meeting’s agenda.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Taseer’s abduction case: ‘Frisky policemen damaged forensic evidence’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241021/taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-case-%e2%80%98frisky-policemen-damaged-forensic-evidence%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241021/taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-case-%e2%80%98frisky-policemen-damaged-forensic-evidence%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Aug 11 04:38:23 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=241021</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Expert says evidence gathered from Taseer’s abduction site may not assist investigators.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Forensic evidence collected from Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction site may not help investigators, courtesy frisky police officers who rushed to the crime scene and mishandled the evidence, a forensic expert said on Saturday.

The police arrived at the scene first, cordoned off the site and then manually searched Taseer’s abandoned vehicle, including its door handles, dashboard, steering, seats and Taseer’s belongings.

Law enforcement personnel prefer collecting tangible evidence that can be seen with the naked eye, the officer said.

Usually the clues are hidden in the forensic evidence that cannot be seen with the naked eye, he added.

But in collecting their evidence, the law-enforcement personnel unintentionally leave behind their fingerprints, making it extremely difficult for forensic experts to gather necessary and relevant evidence.

Similarly, all forensic evidence in Taseer’s case had been damaged by the time the forensic team reached the site, four hours later, he said, adding that they were informed about the incident quite late.

The forensic van, therefore, was unable to collect ‘true’ fingerprints since all potential spots were touched repeatedly by other law enforcement officials.

The evidence gathered is insufficient to assist the investigators in tracing the abductors, he said.

(Read: Shahbaz Taseer and today's Pakistan)

Legislate to preserve evidence

This isn’t the first time though that the police have been a hindrance in its own investigation. Forensic evidence was also lost in the case of American aid expert Warren Weinstein who was abducted on August 13 and has yet to be recovered.

The forensic team had to return unsuccessfully because police personnel, including senior officials, had rummaged through Weinstein’s belongings, damaging all forensic evidence, the official said.

If evidence can be preserved for the forensic team to gather properly, the experts can aid the investigators, especially in cases of abduction, he added.

The government should authorise only forensic experts to collect evidence from the crime scene, while the police should be directed to only cordon off the site, said the official suggesting legislative measures.

No one should be allowed access to a crime scene until trained forensic experts have collected the evidence, he added. This year the Punjab government established a state-of-the-art forensic science agency with 14 disciplines. The government has hired 30 forensic experts who are trained in the United States.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Watch your wallets: Malik to plead for alms collection ban as an anti-extortion tactic</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240843/watch-your-wallets-malik-to-plead-for-alms-collection-ban-as-an-anti-extortion-tactic</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240843/watch-your-wallets-malik-to-plead-for-alms-collection-ban-as-an-anti-extortion-tactic#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 21:08:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240843</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Interior minister says he cannot put ‘a deadline’ on his war against Karachi’s killers.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that he will request all political parties in Sindh, especially in Karachi, to stop collecting Zakat, Fitra and sacrificial animal skins on Eid in an attempt to root out the ‘bhatta mafia’ (extortion groups).


“It is not the political parties’ job to knock on doors and distribute slips for Fitrana or to ask people to give them the hides of sacrificial animals,” he told media personnel, after a meeting with Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) representatives on Saturday.

“There is a dire need to enact laws to stop the collection of Zakat, Fitra and animal skins in Karachi,” he said. “I will take this matter to parliament and ask all political parties to stop these activities because the extortion groups gain inspiration from it.”

Malik said that during the investigation of these groups in the last week, law enforcement agencies discovered that many criminal gangs actually began their activities from collecting the skins of sacrificial animals on Eid. Later, these small groups started using the names of political parties and continued their criminal activities in major cities in Sindh. He said that the government would issue a telephone number which people can call to lodge their complaints against people forcing them to give Fitrana and hides of the animals.

He added that banned religious parties, such as the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), also collect animal skins throughout the country and the profit from them helps to encourage illegal activities. The JuD is not technically banned by the government of Pakistan but is on a list of groups sanctioned by the United Nations. Last Eid, the JuD advertised openly under its new name - the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation - and asked for sacrificial animal skins and donations.

Of search operations and flags

Malik also spoke about the search operations against Karachi’s criminals, saying that the police and Rangers will crackdown on criminal gangs without targeting any particular political party. Police and Rangers will enter Lyari if criminal sanctuaries are reported there, without worrying about whether the area is a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stronghold.

He said that many criminals had taken the cover of political parties by encroaching important public and private properties. “These people have hoisted party flags on the buildings, plots and even on parks. We have decided to remove these flags.” He issued a 48-hour deadline for this.

Malik said that around two dozen suspects had been arrested from Haji Ilyas Goth near Liaquatabad. Police and law enforcement agencies have started interrogating the suspects. Meanwhile law enforcers must be careful whom they arrest because they will be punished if they arrest innocent people.

“The president and prime minister have given me the task to bring peace to Karachi. I will achieve it, but cannot give a deadline.”

Malik commented that he is constant touch with law enforcement agencies regarding the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of the late Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. “I think the Punjab chief minister will do his best in this case (to recover Taseer).”

Manzoor Wassan’s dreams

On the other hand, Sindh Home Manzoor Wassan still believes that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will rejoin the Sindh government and that the situation in Karachi is only getting in the way of their move back to the treasury benches.

“We want to bring peace to not only Lyari but the whole city,” he said. “It would be premature to disclose where we will start the operation, because it will create hindrances and suspects will manage to escape.”

He claims that the authorities have a lead as to where these people are hiding and will act on it soon.The home minister also believes that the situation has improved since August 23.

“It’s time we delivered results, matters have gone beyond dreams because we have to prove results now,” he said.

According to Wassan, around 378 suspects have been arrested in the search operations  and 140 weapons have been recovered from them, including two AK-47s and a light machine gun.

With additional reporting by Farhan Zaheer

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer and today’s Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240595/shahbaz-taseer-and-today%e2%80%99s-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240595/shahbaz-taseer-and-today%e2%80%99s-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 19:22:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240595</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Most credible candidate among kidnappers is al Qaeda and subordinate groups out to acquire funds for their activities.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Two cars and a motorbike were used to kidnap the son of former governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz, from Lahore’s Gulberg area while he was on his way to work on August 26. The city was gripped with panic because this was the second high-profile kidnapping, coming soon after the kidnapping of an American official from the city. Most likely, Shahbaz has been picked up by the Taliban through their affiliates such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which last February kidnapped the son-in-law of former chairman joint chiefs of staff committee (CJCSC), General Tariq Majid.

The police is considering other possibilities too. It could be Mr Taseer’s tenants in a plaza which he wanted vacated for repairs; it could be a rival real-estate tycoon seen attacking the Taseer family through a local newspaper; and it could be a quarrel within his circle of personal friends. However, the most credible candidate among the kidnappers is al Qaeda and its subordinate groups out to augment the fast-dwindling kitty of the global terrorist organisation.

Thirty-five year old Amir Malik, the son-in-law of General Tariq Majid, was kidnapped for ransom. He was picked up by armed men in August 2010 from his Faisal Town, Lahore residence. The videotaped message received later showed masked militants wielding kalashnikovs in the background. The price: Rs130 million as well as the release of 153 militants being held in various prisons across Pakistan. The American named Warren Weinstein, too, will most probably be returned after a big payment. An American officer similarly picked up in Quetta was rumoured to have been released after a payment.

It is unfortunate that Shahbaz Taseer did not think much of the security detail provided to him by the Punjab government. The Taseer family had a total of 17 police and five rangers personnel posted with them while Shahbaz himself had two police guards for his personal protection. Because his father, the late governor Taseer, was killed by his own police guard, he travelled without them on the fateful day. The family says they have been receiving threatening phone-calls from the Taliban and their extremist followers in Punjab.

Why should the Taliban-al Qaeda combine be interested in this kidnapping? It should be recalled that when the clergy led by the Barelvi school of thought went on the rampage in Punjab against governor Taseer’s defence of Christian Aasia Bibi’s conviction under the blasphemy law, the Taliban declared themselves resolved to take revenge from the governor. It should also be noted that the cleric who led the funeral prayer for governor Taseer was delivered credible threats till he fled to the UK to seek asylum there. The Barelvis simply don’t indulge in this kind of activity except al Qaeda is short of funds and has slowed down its attacks not because it’s ‘back is broken’ but because it needs to have money to buy weapons and explosives. This happens periodically and the kitty is replenished through kidnappings. These have taken place rather heavily in Karachi and Peshawar. In the latter city, rich people have been pauperised by the heavy ransom they have had to pay to remain alive. Those who collect include warlords like Mangal Bagh of Khyber Agency who have to finance their internecine wars. The last time al Qaeda ran short of funds, it got a retired army officer, Major Ashiq, to kidnap putatively rich people from across Pakistan for ransom. Use of explosives is the mainstay of terrorism in Pakistan and al Qaeda even tried to steal the Wah Factory explosives meant for the mining industry.

Pakistan’s record in foiling kidnapping for ransom is not very good. It is said that one senior Pakistani diplomat kidnapped by al Qaeda’s affiliates in Waziristan was released after a big payment. The same is true of an Afghan diplomat who has recently been released and lives in the palace of President Karzai for fear of being kidnapped again and is narrating his tale of woe to the world media. In the case of General Tariq Majid’s son-in-law, the negotiations may still be ongoing and one should be grateful that state agencies still have a way of reaching the kidnappers. We hope and pray that Shahbaz Taseer will be released soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction (III)</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240622/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-iii</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240622/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-iii#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 16:40:05 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240622</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Shame on all of us for we could not protect the child of the bravest and most courageous of Pakistanis.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Shame on all of us for we could not protect the child of the bravest and most courageous of Pakistanis. Qadris are ruling this country, they are protecting and they are investigating.

Nadeem Ahmed

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction (II)</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240619/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-ii</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240619/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction-ii#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 16:40:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240619</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In today’s Pakistan, anything can happen to anyone.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In today’s Pakistan, anything can happen to anyone. We shouldn’t feel too safe. Where is compassion? So many people have turned into such heartless beasts. We all need to read the following poem: First they came for the communists, And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist./ Then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist./ Then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew./ Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out

for me.

Mohsin Sayeed

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240616/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240616/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-abduction#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 16:39:59 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240616</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[May I ask why the police is not so efficient when it comes to the common man?]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[At the risk of sounding callous, may I ask why the police is not so efficient when it comes to the common man? I did not even know that the police in Pakistan have forensic experts and laboratories till I read what they have done in response to Mr Taseer’s tragic abduction. Of course, my expression of sympathy and prayer for his safe and quick return doesn’t take away from the fact that the police and other law-enforcement agencies work efficiently only when someone from a rich and well-connected background is the victim of a crime.

Adam Khan

Yale University,

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>No breakthrough in Taseer's abduction case</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240577/no-breakthrough-in-shahbaz-taseers-abduction-case</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240577/no-breakthrough-in-shahbaz-taseers-abduction-case#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 12:25:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240577</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[IG Punjab briefs Governor Punjab Khosa about steps taken to recover Shahbaz Taseer.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[No breakthrough has been achieved in the search for Shahbaz Taseer, while eight teams have been formed to conduct raid for recovering the late governor Salmaan Taseer’s son, Express 24/7 reported Saturday.

The Inspector General (IG) of Punjab police briefed Governor Punjab Latif Khosa about the steps being taken to recover Shahbaz Taseer.

(Read: Brazen and in broad daylight: Salmaan Taseer’s son abducted from Lahore)

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of police (SSP) Investigation Abdul Razzaq Cheema told the media that the eight teams have been formed for investigations and will conduct raids in different parts of the city.

On the other hand, fingerprints of the kidnappers have also been sent to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) crisis management cell for verification.

Earlier on Friday, unidentified men on bikes and an SUV intercepted Shahbaz Taseer’s car and abducted him at gunpoint from the Gulberg area of Lahore.

Three men dragged Taseer out of his car and took him away. His family was informed when a company employee saw his abandoned car.

PPP to launch move against Punjab govt

Pakistan People's Party Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich has said that his party will initiate a protest movement against the Punjab government from Monday.

He said that while addressing a press conference at PPP Punjab office.

Warraich said that the protest rallies would be organized at a district level to thrust the investigation and recovery of Shahbaz Taseer.

He condemned the incident and said that it has disturbed all the citizens of the province.

“The poor situation of crime and law and order situation in Punjab is now clear to all”, he added.

Warraich said that the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif should improve the law and order situation in “his province” first and then talk about other provinces.]]>
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			<title>Citizens left at the mercy of criminals: Imran Khan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240582/citizens-left-at-the-mercy-of-criminals-imran-khan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240582/citizens-left-at-the-mercy-of-criminals-imran-khan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 12:20:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240582</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PTI chief meets Taseer family, expresses deep concern over Shahbaz Taseer's abduction.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Friday expressed deep concern over the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, son of former governor Salmaan Taseer, and observed that the federal and provincial governments had completely failed to provide security to the people and left them at the mercy of criminals. 

Speaking to the media after expressing sympathies with the Taseer family at their residence, Khan said that the “NRO-beneficiary government and its supporters” could not protect the life and property of the masses as they were busy “in their loot and plunder” and had no concern with the agonies of the common man.

He said that a government which had no faith in the Supreme Court could not maintain law and order. He said that kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer after the assassination of his father was a matter of serious concern.

Consoling the Taseer family, Imran assured them of his complete support for taking up the issue at every forum available to him. The PTI chief also appealed to the captors of Shahbaz Taseer to free him as his family members were already bearing the sorrow of Salmaan Taseer’s death.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Sharif’s visit: As Lahore grapples with abduction, Punjab chief scrutinises Karachi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240526/shahbaz-sharif%e2%80%99s-visit-as-lahore-grapples-with-abduction-punjab-chief-scrutinises-karachi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240526/shahbaz-sharif%e2%80%99s-visit-as-lahore-grapples-with-abduction-punjab-chief-scrutinises-karachi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 07:59:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[saba.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240526</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Sharif suggests depoliticisation of police force, conducting ‘ruthless operation’ in Karachi.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[While Lahore’s security apparatus was being thoroughly criticised and questioned in the wake of the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer, the late governor Salmaan Taseer’s son, Punjab’s Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif held court at the Karachi Press Club to express his concern at the state of Karachi.


Sharif expressed a great deal of shock and horror at the security conditions in Karachi. “In the past three days I have met with businessmen, entrepreneurs and intellectuals.” Sharif said Karachi is the ‘gateway to and heart of Pakistan’ and pivotal to the country’s economy, and its problems needed to be resolved since this was “difficult, but not impossible”.

His solutions involve depoliticising Karachi’s police force, and conducting a “ruthless operation” against extortionists and criminals.

Sharif said his visit to Karachi was to meet citizens and understand their issues. “Lahore and Lyari, Gujranwala and Gwadar, Hazara and Hyderabad…. They all have intimate connections,” said Sharif, calling Karachi the ‘mother’ city that took in residents of its ‘brother and sister’ cities.

Sharif tried to create an air of camaraderie with the press corps, rattling off a few sentences in Sindhi with a reporter for a Sindhi television channel, and joking with others.

Even though the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is not popular in Karachi, Sharif hopes to change that and acknowledges his party was not able to play an active role in the province.

His security detail comprised Punjab police officers, which a reporter questioned, asking if he did not trust the Sindh police. Sharif shot off his reply – “Of course I trust the Sindh police”.

As soon as the press conference wrapped up, Sharif, Sanaullah and their security detail – comprising men clad in suits – and a coterie of police vehicles, sped away in seconds.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer abducted from Lahore</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239869/shahbaz-taseer-abducted-from-lahore</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239869/shahbaz-taseer-abducted-from-lahore#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 11 04:59:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239869</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[More than three men abducted son of Salmaan Taseer from near his office.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Taseer, son of late Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, was abducted from the Gulberg area of Lahore on Friday.

The Express Tribune’s Asad Kharal reports Taseer had left his house from Cavalry Ground in his silver Mercedes Kompressor (LZT-1) for his office around 10:15am. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore said his car was intercepted by a black SUV and motorbike around 600 yards from the office and up to three men dragged Taseer out of the car and took him away.

Family sources said they had been informed of the kidnapping when a company driver passing by the area saw Taseer’s car abandoned in the street.

The kidnappers headed to Firdous Market via Cavalry Flyover, which leads straight to DHA Lahore and the cantonment areas. A traffic warden in the area reported a black SUV, white corolla and a motorbike sped through the area and made a sharp turn, which resulted in a black Kalashnikov dropping out of one of the cars.

“Shabhaz was out with a friend when four unidentified people kidnapped him,” his brother Sheryar Taseer told Reuters.

“Our family has been receiving threats from the Taliban and extremist groups,” he said, adding they could be behind the abduction.

Official sources said Shahbaz Taseer had some property disputes and had also been receiving threats recently.

No one has claimed responsibility.

Taseer was travelling without any security today and is normally reported to have travelled in a silver Prado with Elite force and police guards.

Police is also retrieving CCTV footage from the area to help with investigations.

One of the guards posted with Shahbaz Taseer was taken into custody and had his weapon seized when police questioned him and he revealed another guard was on leave. He had not left the house with Taseer but had later been told to go to the office.

Two police personnal, Liaquat and Sharafat, were posted with Taseer.

Police officials said the Taseer family had a total of 12 police and five Rangers personnel posted with them.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and has issued directives to Inspector General of Police (IG) Punjab and Chief Secretary Punjab to take immediate action.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team, on the directives of Director Punjab and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, has started investigations.

A National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) team visited the office, home and checked Shahbaz Taseer’s car to collect forensic evidence. The team consisted of Deputy Director NR3C Sajjid Akram Chaudhry, SHO NR3C Ahmer Naeem, forensic expert Abdul Ghaffar and hardware engineer Muhammad Usman.

Background

Shahbaz Taseer, who is the eldest son of former governor Salmaan Taseer, is a director in several companies his father founded, including Pace Pakistan Ltd., First Capital Equities Ltd., Media Times Ltd. and First Capital Securities Corp. Ltd.

This is the second high profile kidnapping in Lahore during the last two weeks. Earlier on August 13, armed men had abducted US aid expert Warren Weinstein from his residence in the city.

Late governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer was shot dead on January 4 this year by his security guard.

A vocal critic of the blasphemy law, Salmaan Taseer showed his overwhelming support for Aasia Bibi, the woman charged with making disrespectful remarks against the Holy Prophet (pbuh), and condemned the controversial law on several occasions.

Last week, the cleric who led the funeral prayers for Salmaan Taseer was forced to flee the country following threats.

According to a report by the Press Trust of India, Muhammad Afzal Chishti, the secretary general of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Ulema wing, left the country after having received numerous threats against his life.]]>
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			<title>Brazen and in broad daylight: Salmaan Taseer’s son abducted from Lahore</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240425/brazen-and-in-broad-daylight-salman-taseer%e2%80%99s-son-abducted-from-lahore</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/240425/brazen-and-in-broad-daylight-salman-taseer%e2%80%99s-son-abducted-from-lahore#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 22:10:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[asad.kharal]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=240425</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Police arrest two suspects, seal city’s entry and exit points.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Misfortune struck the Taseer family a second time this year. Shahbaz Taseer, eldest son of slain former governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer and his widow Amna, was abducted in broad daylight from Lahore’s Gulberg area on Friday morning.

In the second high-profile case within a fortnight in Lahore, Taseer was abducted on the way to his office by at least three armed men.

The kidnapping brought the Punjab government, particularly its security apparatus, under sharp scrutiny – ironically, at a time when the provincial chief minister was in Karachi lecturing his Sindh counterparts on the worsening law and order situation in the port city.

Earlier on August 13, armed men abducted American aid expert Warren Weinstein from his residence in Model Town. No progress on the case has been reported yet.

(Read: Yet another kidnapping)

The abduction

Taseer left his residence in Cavalry Ground at 10:10 AM in a silver Mercedes Kompressor and was intercepted around 10:19 AM by a black Land Cruiser and a motorcycle, around 600 yards away from his office, close to MM Alam Road.

At least three men dragged Taseer out of his car and took him away, leaving his mobile phones and laptops in the car.

Taseer’s family was informed of the abduction around 10:35 AM when a company employee saw the abandoned car while passing by, sources said.

The kidnappers reportedly headed towards Firdous Market via Cavalry Flyover, which leads to DHA Lahore and the cantonment areas.

A traffic warden in the area reported a black Land Cruiser, a white Corolla and a motorcycle speeding through the area, taking a sharp turn, and dropping a Kalashnikov from one of the cars.

Suspects

“Our family has been receiving threats from the Taliban and extremist groups,” his brother Sheryar Taseer said, adding they could be behind the abduction.

Official sources, however, said that Taseer had some property disputes and had also been receiving threats recently. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The police retrieved CCTV footage from the area to help with investigations.

Security protocol

Taseer, who reportedly commutes in a silver Prado with Elite Force and police guards, was travelling without any police escort on Friday.

One of the guards posted with Taseer was taken into custody and had his weapon seized when the police questioned him at the crime scene.

He revealed that another guard was on leave and that he did not leave the house with Taseer but was later asked to go to the office.

According to the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Ahmed Raza, two police personnel, Liaquat and Sharafat, were posted with Taseer.

The Taseer family had a total of 17 police and five Rangers personnel posted with them, including five ladies police staffers, two assistant sub-inspectors and four head constables, police sources said.

Investigations

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif issued directives to Inspector General of Police (IG) Punjab and Chief Secretary Punjab to take immediate action. A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team under Director FIA Punjab started the investigations and a National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) team visited the office, home and crime scene to collect forensic evidence.

The federal government directed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the FIA to provide technical assistance to Punjab police for tracing the kidnappers and recovering Taseer.

Intelligence officials also visited the crime scene, and Taseer’s residence and office to collect evidence and information.

Meanwhile, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that all entry and exit points of the city have been sealed following the abduction.

All security agencies are investigating the kidnapping and a joint investigation team has been formed, he added.

Taseer, the eldest son of former governor Salmaan Taseer, is a director in several companies his father founded, including Pace Pakistan Ltd., First Capital Equities Ltd., Media Times Ltd. and First Capital Securities Corp Ltd.

Three leads for investigators

The law enforcement agencies are investigating Taseer’s abduction from three different angles, sources told The Express Tribune on Friday.

Taseer allegedly had a row with tenants at Pace shopping mall whom he had asked to vacate, owing to modifications to the mall’s basement. The tenants claimed damages and on being refused, threatened Shahbaz with dire consequences, sources said.

The Taseers also had a dispute with a major real estate tycoon of the country which came to light when both parties accused each other of malpractices through news items in publications owned respectively by them.

The second suspects are extremists, sources say. The Taseers have been receiving severe threats from extremist groups since Salmaan Taseer’s assassination. Shahbaz, particularly, had been receiving threats since August 10, 2011, family as well as intelligence sources said.

(Read: Taseer’s remarks about blasphemy law)

The law enforcement agencies are also considering Shahbaz’s personal dispute with an alleged girlfriend, sources added.

The police recovered at least three mobile phone sets including a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Nokia E Series, besides a laptop, from his car.

The three SIM cards on these phones are in Shahbaz, his father-in-law and former bureaucrat Salmaan Ghani and an alleged girlfriend’s name.

Investigators have retrieved call records of all SIM cards, and his email records, and are analysing them.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has sought report from FIA regarding Taseer’s abduction. The agency has sent the report to the interior minister and the interior secretary.

Condemnations

Condemnations flew in from all quarters following Taseer’s abduction.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan visited the victim’s house and appealed to the persons behind abduction to release Taseer.

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid also condemned Taseer’s abduction in a statement and added that around 33,000 incidents of kidnapping have taken place during Sharif’s term in Punjab.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also expressed alarm at Taseer’s abduction and called upon the government to ensure his prompt recovery.

According to the HRCP statement, Taseer’s abduction “highlights the government’s inability to afford security and protection even to those known to be at high risk.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th,  2011.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Salmaan Taseer's name. The correction has been made.]]>
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			<title>Yet another kidnapping</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239914/yet-another-kidnapping</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239914/yet-another-kidnapping#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 16:26:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239914</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[One can only hope that Mr Taseer returns home safe as soon as possible.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[We are rapidly turning into a land where opinions cannot be expressed; views that clash with the fundamentalist opinion cannot be said out aloud. When this happens, the punishment meted out is one that frightens most into silence. This is, of course, what the extremists want. In January this year former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer was shot dead by his police guard, who wished to take revenge on the courageously outspoken politician for daring to suggest that the blasphemy laws in the country should not be used to victimise people. It is not yet known if the audacious kidnapping of his son Shahbaz Taseer in Lahore, close to his office, in an upscale part of the city, is linked to his late father’s words. But it is known that the Taseer family has been facing threats in connection with the ongoing case in an anti-terrorism court against Salman Taseer’s alleged killer, Mumtaz Qadri. Since then, Qadri has been declared a martyr by extremist forces while the dead man’s alleged lifestyle is time and again mentioned in court.

Police are also reportedly exploring the possibility that Shahbaz, taken away after armed motorcyclists surrounded his car, dragged him out and drove him away in a larger vehicle, may have been abducted over a business feud. There has, since Salmaan’s death been some litigation involving business affairs. This is, of course, a possibility. But it is disturbing that a broad daylight abduction took place on a day when security was already on high alert because of Jummatul Wida. There are also other aspects to the crime that are disturbing. The kidnapping hit news channel headlines minutes after it occurred. Yet the disappearance of ordinary people, which happens day in day out in this land, goes relatively unnoticed by those in authority. Kidnappings of businessmen, traders and others — some members of minority communities — take place on what is a regular basis across the country but we don’t see the prime minister giving pledges that all state resources will be used to ensure their safe return. Some of these people have been missing for years and in most cases their families lack the influence to make their voices heard. One can only hope that Mr Taseer returns home safe as soon as possible. However, the government also needs to give a thought to the fact that lives of just about every ordinary citizen need to be made safer, whether they ride limousines or motorcycles.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Governor Punjab blames PML-N</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239983/khosa-blames-lax-attitude-of-punjab-cm-for-taseers-abduction</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239983/khosa-blames-lax-attitude-of-punjab-cm-for-taseers-abduction#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 14:43:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[saba.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239983</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Sharif condemns abduction, vows to ‘personally follow up’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction on Friday sparked a sharp exchange between top provincial authorities, with Governor Punjab Latif Khosa lashing out at Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and blaming him for the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab.

Meanwhile Sharif, who spent much of Thursday in Karachi expressing ‘shock and horror’ at its situation, condemned the abduction and vowed to “personally follow up [the case].”

‘PML-N in cahoots with extremists’

Khosa, in a press conference at the Governor House in Lahore, alleged that the abduction was a result of support the Punjab government had been extending to extremists and defunct organisations, and asked the federal government to review its reconciliation policy in Punjab.

(Read: Lahore’s growing Talibanisation)

“The PPP has tolerated the murder of its governor … they would not tolerate this abduction” he said.

Taseer’s abduction in broad daylight from an area lined with police pickets give credence to speculation that Punjab government is either involved in or supported the abduction, he said.

Citing the law and order situation, the governor hinted at an in-house change in Punjab assembly but said that the government will not impose Governor rule in the province.

If Salmaan Taseer’s assassin had been punished, Shahbaz’s abduction could have been avoided, he said, calling upon the Supreme Court to hang Salmaan’s self-confessed killer Mumtaz Qadri.

Sharif springs to action

Shahbaz Sharif termed Taseer’s abduction “regrettable” and said “it cannot be condemned enough,” while speaking to reporters at the Karachi Press Club.

“I have directed the administration and the police to find the culprits and bring them to book,” he said.

In an attempt to lay off responsibility, Sharif said that 26 security officers were deputed by Punjab government to Taseer’s family.

“I believe Shahbaz did not take his security officers with him today, which I wish he had. But this does not mean that this kidnapping should have happened,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnapping (III)</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239950/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-kidnapping-iii</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239950/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-kidnapping-iii#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 14:28:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239950</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Here’s hoping and praying that Salmaan Taseer’s son returns home safely.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[If someone as privileged and affluent as Shahbaz Taseer is not safe from being kidnapped in a busy part of the country’s second-largest city in broad daylight, what chance to ordinary Pakistanis have? This is the second major incident of kidnapping to have happened in Lahore in the past couple of weeks. While some may say this is not the time for a blame game, surely some of the responsibility for acts such as these lies squarely on the shoulders of the Punjab government. In particular I would like to single out people like the Punjab law minister whose proclivities and affections for certain extremists and sectarian outfits are an open secret. Here’s hoping and praying that Salmaan Taseer’s son returns home safely.

Natasha Iqbal

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnapping (II)</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239947/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-kidnapping-ii</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239947/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-kidnapping-ii#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 14:26:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239947</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Quite honestly, this self-centred, self-pitiful attitude of the liberals is quite disconcerting.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Going by the response of this unfortunate incident on social media websites, I have to say that most liberals have already started with their condemnation of how Pakistan is falling apart. However, many are assuming that extremists are behind the abduction, even as the police was being quoted as saying that they were exploring also the possibility that it could be linked to a business feud. Quite honestly, this self-centred, self-pitiful attitude of the liberals is quite disconcerting. That said, I hope and pray that he returns home safe and sound as soon as possible.

Ali Arsalan Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnapping</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239944/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-kidnapping</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239944/shahbaz-taseer%e2%80%99s-kidnapping#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 14:25:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239944</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[It appears that the surest way to live in Pakistan is to profess to follow the faith blindly.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[It appears that the surest way to live in Pakistan is to profess to follow the faith blindly. It’s a shame really what has happened.

Sharif Lone

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Twitter alert: Prayers, support and despair for Shahbaz Taseer</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239888/shahbaz-taseer-abducted-prayers-support-and-despair</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/239888/shahbaz-taseer-abducted-prayers-support-and-despair#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 11 08:13:12 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sidrah.moiz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=239888</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Local Twitterati expressed anger over Shahbaz's abduction.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain Pakistani governor Salmaan Taseer,  was kidnapped in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday.

Unidentified men in a black SUV intercepted Taseer’s car and abducted him. The late governor was killed by his bodyguard for his opposition to a controversial blasphemy law this year. His family has said they have been recieving threats from extremist groups.

Local Twitterati expressed anger over Shahbaz's abduction and tweeted their prayers and support for the Taseer family.

Fifi Haroon

What has Pakistan become? What state of lawlessness is this? What utter anarchy? What madness? What fresh hell? How much more can people take?

I don’t live in Pakistan but my heart bleeds four my country. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for all of you who I have never even met!

At 22 this poor girl (Shehrbano Taseer) has become de facto head of the Taseer family. To go though dad's death, now brother’s kidnapping.

Marvi Sirmed

Stay strong, as you have always been. Prayers and wishes with you Maheen Taseer,  Shehrbano Taseer, Aamna Taseer, Sanam Taseer and Sara Taseer

Please don't do this with Taseers. They deserve salutes for still choosing to stay in Pakistan after all that. Let Shahbaz come back safely.

Saba Imtiaz

Really no point in speculating over the who’s and why’s right now. Just makes you look like an idiot and hurts friends and family.

Omar Waraich

It's harrowing, particularly for the family that's already endured so much. Please can we avoid speculation about the captors' motives?

Rezaul Hasan Laskar

What on earth is Lahore police up to? First Warren Weinstein and now Shahbaz Taseer kidnapped in Lahore.

Ali Dayan Hasan

The Taseer kidnapping underscores the failing writ of state and its inability to provide security even to those known to be at high risk

Kazim Alam

They killed SalmaanTaseer in the name of Islam. Is his son's kidnapping also in the sweet name of Islam? Shariat iss bare mai kia kehti hai?

Mehreen Kasana

Wishing strength for Maheen Taseer, Shehrbano Taseer, Aamna Taseer, Tammy Haq. Hang in there. Praying for Shahbaz Taseer.

Madiha Riaz

Never say we've a hit a new low in Pakistan. Your words will come back to haunt you.

Rafaya Sufi

Utter madness. Praying for the Taseer family.

Zara Iqbal

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse ...

Ammar Yasir

It might be an attempt to free Mumtaz Qadri.

George Fulton

Our thoughts and prayers with you all Aamna Taseer, Maheen Taseer,  Shehrbano Taseer,  Sanam Taseer, Sara Taseer and Tammy Haq

DrAwab Awab Alvi

It’s scary. Shahbaz Taseer being kidnapped when already Pakistan cannot recover the kidnapped American despite full US pressure.

Jemima Khan

Oh God. Awful.

Follow the Tribune Twitterati list to stay updated or track the hashtag #ShahbazTaseer.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Murder mystery</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/238519/murder-mystery-2</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/238519/murder-mystery-2#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 24 Aug 11 17:15:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=238519</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The fact is that we need the murder cases of Shahbaz Bhatti and Salman Taseer to be solved on an urgent basis.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, the inspector-general of police for Islamabad has given the latest version of the murder in March this year of former minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti. Just days before, another police report had suggested a family feud may have been behind Bhatti’s murder. Inspector Bin Yamin has said a Taliban group was, in fact, responsible. This indeed seems likely given that the Taliban had taken responsibility right after the killing; it should not need much detection by the police to figure out who’s responsible and make arrests.

However, the standing committee has expressed a lack of satisfaction with the police briefing. What is all the more relevant is that some five months after the broad daylight killing of a serving minister we still have no idea as to who may have been behind it. There is a sense of hopelessness in the efforts by police so far; perhaps they are also not quite as determined as they should be to get to the bottom of what was one of the most sensational murders in recent history.

The fact is that we need these crimes to be solved on an urgent basis. It is disturbing that even in the case of the murder of former Punjab Governer Salman Taseer at the start of the year, little progress has been made in the trial. Too often, Taseer’s own character and behaviour has come under the limelight rather than the act of murder committed by his police guard. This is unacceptable. It is only if the criminals behind such acts of violence are punished and brought to justice that we can hope to see an end to such killings; until that happens, many others will remain at risk. The police needs to take notice of this and step up it’s efforts against the militants. The Taliban and groups which back them need to be driven out of our society. We must pursue this aim relentlessly. Otherwise, we will not see an end to terrorism and the loss of life it repeatedly brings with it in our lifetime.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>“You are free to go to your mosques…”</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/231910/%e2%80%9cyou-are-free-to-go-to-your-mosques%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/231910/%e2%80%9cyou-are-free-to-go-to-your-mosques%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 15 Aug 11 15:51:16 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[omar.kasmani]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=231910</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Living on an increasingly marshy terrain like ‘progressive’ Pakistan requires we swim from island to island.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Coffee-drinking liberals in the increasingly Islam(ist) republic often quote the oft-quoted. And I dare not preclude myself despite the fact that I prefer tea to coffee — only black though. Some like me find refuge in nice-smelling cafes where, while reeling from the ongoing metropolitan battles, i.e. of designer lawns, we pepper our conversations with all that has gone wrong in Jinnah’s Pakistan. Others, the more savvy ones I mean, have turned a new leaf, to put it literally; they are to be found rallying on pages of the world wide web. Nice-smelling cafes provide us with proof of a ‘progressive’ Pakistan, one that we have managed to neatly secure in our airtight islands. Social media pages are also useful as they too come with walls (and privacy controls). And I am, of course, not one of those who think that people like us live in our own bubbles. I have two good reasons to believe otherwise. One, the bubble, if there was any, has long burst. Two, living on an increasingly marshy terrain like a ‘progressive’ Pakistan requires that we incessantly swim from island to island. And it is in commuting back and forth across what lies between such islands that we experience a Pakistan that, perhaps, Jinnah failed to foresee. Governor Salmaan Taseer was not assassinated in the comforts of his home, neither in the secure environs of a café where he presumably took his last meal, but out in the marshes where he couldn’t stand his ground amidst souls he could not discern. Shahbaz Bhatti, too, amongst other martyrs, fell between homes on unfamiliar territory. If Jinnah envisioned a nation where religion would not be a matter of the state, as many would argue, he clearly failed to spot the crevices in his own argument.

But Jinnah, despite the portraits where his suits are painted over as sherwanis, is an image, we, the liberals of this country, can relate to with much ease, so much so we now have some signs of ‘wear a Jinnah cap day’. Distance to ritualised religion; foreignness to tradition, including his propensity to the new, perhaps makes an ideal template for the liberal Pakistani. But, more importantly, the image provides a suitable background against which our persistent colonial hangover continues to make some sense.

In a rather revisionist spirit, Ayesha Jalal has attempted to resurrect a Jinnah few in the Republic would endorse. Amidst a well-put-together audience of liberals at the Mohatta Palace last year, Jalal offered a fascinating thesis. Jinnah, in her opinion, did not originally envision Pakistan as a separate country, instead he imagined national sovereignty and self-governance for the Muslims of the subcontinent under the all-embracing Indian umbrella. Correct or otherwise, Jinnah, if given another chance, would perhaps willingly have aligned himself with the sophisticated position of Jalal. I am not concerned here with the particular form his vision took, neither do I stand to pass a judgment on history, though his own humanist position was hardly shared, let alone understood by the masses he commanded. My discontent then is not with Jinnah or with Pakistan, as it may seem. In fact it stems from the intellectual poverty of its liberals, who seek to resurrect inconsistent parts of an ideology that has long sunk into the Bay of Bengal. In response to the growing intolerance in our society, we often quote Jinnah from his admirable address of August 11, 1947: “you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of the State.” What is worth questioning, however, is how to wish away religious difference in a territory that is founded on the very discourse of cultural and religious difference, the Two-Nation Theory to be precise.

Wary of what seemed to unfold in August 1947, in a poem titled Subohe Azadi (The Dawn of Freedom), Faiz famously wrote “yeh woh sahar toe nahi” (lit: this is not that dawn). Quratulain Hyder, on the other hand, weaves a millennia of a narrative to question the cultural uprooting of Indian Muslims in her epic Aag ka Darya (The River of Fire). First published from Lahore in 1959, the novel challenged the exclusionary stance furthered by the All India Muslim League. Yet, in the new country, there was a desire to make something anew. But little space was left when it turned to those who sought to further purify this land of the pure.

In our impoverished attempts to reclaim this space, we continue to unearth the remains of a twentieth century ideology; we are eager to present history as a meaning-making whole, in narratives that espouse the grand and the romantic at the expense of the fragmentary and the marginal. Inheriting distaste for diversity and difference, and in our fear of local and ethnic grammars, we have enforced vocabularies of assimilation. If at all, we have inherited a notion of identity which is constructed on the very premise of its distinction in its opposition to an imagined Other. The Other-ing as we are witnessing has since not ceased.

To persist on the discourse that Pakistan was meant to be a secular state is to feign a belief that we have some recourse to an original moment whereby the dream can be salvaged. This is but a false pretence for hollow ideologues. More so, it is an ahistorical reading and a glossing over of various ideological forces that since its inception have fought for recognition in the State of Pakistan.

To hold on is to linger; to persist is to resist change. If there is a befitting answer to the ideology of those we fear losing our freedoms to, it is in the intellectual pursuit of an emancipatory vision, shared by all and owned by us, which is no longer tethered to the original bias of our foundation. For in Jinnah’s Pakistan, some are not even allowed to call their mosques, mosques and some not even free to go to their mosques, let alone their temples.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Timeline: Pakistan Blasphemy law cases, Jan-July 2011</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/223353/timeline-pakistan-blasphemy-law-cases-jan-july-2011</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/223353/timeline-pakistan-blasphemy-law-cases-jan-july-2011#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 11 09:22:01 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[saba.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=223353</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[List provides details of people accused/sentenced under blasphemy laws, harassment of minorities, killings of accused.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Scores of Pakistanis have been harassed and implicated in false cases instituted by misusing the country’s blasphemy laws. Additionally, allegations of blasphemy have led to assassinations, extrajudicial killings and threats to life and property. 

The list below provides details of people accused and sentenced under the blasphemy laws, harassment of minorities as well as extra-judicial killings of blasphemy accused and people connected with the issue from January – July 2011.

_________________________________________________

NEW CASES



Location
Description


Kot Addu&nbsp;

&nbsp;
January   8 – Mohammad Amjad, believed to be mentally challenged, is accused   of committing blasphemy along with his father and a relative. The case was   filed at the request of local cleric Mohammad Sajid. (Section 295-B, PPC   Section 109)


Bhakkar&nbsp;

&nbsp;
January   17 - Shahnawaz filed an FIR against Muhammad Javed of Dullewala. He   claimed that he had received text messages from an unknown cell number that   contained blasphemous remarks.


Karachi&nbsp;

&nbsp;
January   28 - Syed Samiullah, 17, was accused of blasphemy for allegedly writing   blasphemous remarks in his exam answer-sheets. (Section 295-C)


Mansehra
January   31 – Shahnawaz and another man were accused of blasphemy for   allegedly stealing copies of the Quran and burying them in a courtyard.


Okara&nbsp;

&nbsp;
February   6 - Shamsia Colony resident Shafique was arrested for committing   blasphemy, since he had allegedly tied a shoe to a flag bearing a religious   symbol. (Section 295-A)


Rawalpindi
According   to Pakistan Today, two Muslim sects clashed in Rawalpindi and   were charged under the blasphemy and anti-terrorism laws.


Multan
Noor   Khan was accused of blasphemy by his brother. Khan’s brother was reportedly   raising slogans of ‘Sada-i-Madina,’ when Khan and a man called Maulvi Idrees   accusing him of uttering “blasphemous” words about sacred personalities.


Bhakkar
February   20 –School teacher Tanveer Ahmed was beaten up by a mob that was   incited by announcements on mosques’ loudspeakers and text messages. A   student had complained that Ahmed had disrespected images of holy places and   the footprint of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).


Faisalabad&nbsp;

&nbsp;
February   16 – According to the Pakistan Christian Post, Agnes Nuggo was   charged of blasphemy by a group of Muslims who failed to acquire a plot of   land from her. (Section 295-A)


Karachi&nbsp;

&nbsp;
February   26 - Idrees Khan was arrested by the Landhi police after his   neighbours handed him over for allegedly setting leaves of the holy book on   fire. According to his father, a day before the incident, he and Idrees   visited a pesh imam of a mosque, who asked them to bury the leaves of the   Quran after setting them on fire.


Gilgit&nbsp;

&nbsp;
March   26 - Abdur Rauf lodged a complaint with the police that a man named   Yaqoob had allegedly used abusive language against Prophet Mohammad (peace be   upon him). March 27 – Yaqoob’s father shows documents to the police to   prove his son is mentally ill. (Sections 295, 296, 298, 500, 506)


Lahore&nbsp;

&nbsp;
March   30 - Shadbagh resident Qasim lodged an FIR against Irfan Rafique.   Qasim said that he had received a text message which contained derogatory   language about Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). He said that he and   three others discovered that Rafique used the number from which the text   message was sent. (Section 295-C)


Lahore&nbsp;

&nbsp;
April   8 – Case filed against Kasur resident Akhtar Hussain for tearing a   Bible outside St Joseph’s Church in retaliation for American pastor Terry   Jones burning copies of the Quran. (Section 295-A)


Gujranwala&nbsp;

&nbsp;
April   15 – Gujranwala police took two Christian men into protective   custody after people tried to spark violence by accusing them of desecrating   the Quran and committing blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon   him) (Sections 295-B, 295-C)


Mardan&nbsp;

&nbsp;
April 19 –   Ebadullah was accused by his father of desecrating the Quran. (Section 295-B)


Sargodha&nbsp;

&nbsp;
May   26 – Basharat arrested on charges of allegedly sending text messages   that contained blasphemous content about the companions of Prophet Mohammad   (peace be upon him). (Sections 295-A, 298-A)


Karachi
July   2 - 25-year-old Muslim arrested, accused of burning the Holy Quran


Karachi&nbsp;

&nbsp;
July   29 – Printing press owner and colleague arrested after being accused of   printing a book with allegedly blasphemous material. (Section 295-A)



_________________________________________________

DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BLASPHEMY LAW

&nbsp;



Location
Description


Islamabad
January 4 –   Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer assassinated by his bodyguard Malik Mumtaz   Qadri


Islamabad
March 2 –   Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti assassinated. The   Punjab Taliban and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility.


Rawalpindi
March   5 - Mohammad Imran, who was released along with Sajid Mehmood on   February 13, 2010, was sitting at a shop near a bus stand in Danda village   when three masked gunmen killed him.


Karachi&nbsp;

&nbsp;
March   15 – Qamar David, who was serving a life sentence in two blasphemy   cases, dies in Central Jail. Jail officials say he died of a heart attack,   but his lawyer said he had been in good health. His autopsy report was not   made public. (Sections 295-A, 295-C)


Lahore
July   17 – Shaukat Ali, who was serving a sentence after being convicted on   blasphemy charges, dies at Services Hospital. Jail officials say he died of   natural causes, but his family said they were unaware he was unwell.



_________________________________________________

HARASSMENT



Location
Description


Lahore
January   15 - Two Christian women beaten by an angry mob over frivolous   blasphemy allegations


Karachi
January   18 - Amar Ali and Nazia Amar, who were accused of desecrating the   Holy Quran and Hadith in Sialkot, protested at the press club and denied the   allegations


Islamabad
January 31 –Senator Humayun Mandokhel discusses activist   Marvi Sirmed in the Senate, who had invited him to Salmaan Taseer’s chehlum   and used the word ‘shaheed’ (martyr) to refer to him in a text message, which   he disagreed to. Mandokhel asked to file a privilege motion against Sirmed   since their exchange had been reported in the press. According to Sirmed,   Jamaat-e-Islami’s Senator Ibrahim also reacted to the word martyr   similarly. (Personal interview)


Lahore, Karachi
February   25 – Banners appear in cities accusing Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz   Sharif’s wife Tehmina Durrani of committing blasphemy in her 1998 bookBlasphemy.


Lahore
April   6 – An attempt by Christian workers to file the FIR of a blasphemy   case against the MD of the Solid Waste Management department dismissed by an   additional district and sessions judge.


Gujranwala
April   30 - Hundreds of people attacked a Christian seminary, a church and   houses of Christians after police release two Christians who had been accused   of blasphemy from protective custody.


Sialkot
May –   Bookseller Gulzar Masih accused of committing blasphemy after former   partner’s son says his workers burned pages of the Holy Quran. The dispute is   solved by market elders


Lahore
May   18 – Clerics attacked blasphemy accused Irfan Rafique’s lawyer at   sessions court and take an undertaking from him that he would not appear   before the court to defend Rafique.


Kahna
May   29 – Muhammad Shoaib and three men entered a church in Lakhoki   village and desecrated the Bible.


Lahore
May   30 – Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Samiul Haq) called for the Bible to be   banned on account of allegedly containing blasphemous material


Lahore
July   5 – PPP Lahore president Samina Khalid Ghurki accused of committing   blasphemy by clerics


Lahore
July 12 – 30 Barelvi clerics issued a fatwa condemning a   newspaper advertisement of the Population Welfare Department which they said   insulted the beard. On July 13, Tahafuz Namoos-e-Rasalat nominates the editors, publishers and printers of Jang, Nawa-e-Waqt and Daily Express in an application stating they committed blasphemy by publishing the advertisement. It asks that they be tried along with the other offenders under Section 295-A, while the chief minister and chief secretary should be prosecuted under section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code.


Lahore
July   22 – Barelvi clerics protest against the police for not filing an FIR   against a man accused of blasphemy.



 _________________________________________________

SENTENCES



Location
Description


Bahawalpur&nbsp;

&nbsp;
January   6 - Man sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court for allegedly   burning a copy of the Quran. (Section 295-B)


Daira Din Panah&nbsp;

&nbsp;
January   11 – Mosque imam Mohammad Shafi and his son Mohammad Aslam jailed   for life on blasphemy charges. (Sections 295-C, 295-A)


Bahawalpur&nbsp;

&nbsp;
February   3 – A sessions court handed down the death sentence and a Rs0.2   million fine to a man in Jalalpur Peerwala for committing blasphemy. (Sections   295-C, 298-A)



 _________________________________________________

BAIL



Location
Description


Lahore&nbsp;

&nbsp;
February   10 - The Lahore High Court granted bail to a man accused of   blasphemy who had been in jail for four months. (Section 295-B)



 _________________________________________________

ACQUITTAL



Location
Description


Rawalpindi
June   2 – An additional district and sessions judge cleared Hector Haleem,   Basharat Masih and Robin Masih of blasphemy charges. The case was registered   last March. The court ordered criminal action against the investigation   officer and the complainant after they could not prove charges against the   accused.



_________________________________________________

• The blasphemy law in Pakistan’s Penal Code can be read here.

• To view the cases on Google Maps click here.

• To download an excel sheet containing the above, click here.

_________________________________________________

Sources: The Express Tribune, Dawn, The News, Daily Times, Pakistan Today, Pakistan Christian Post

Disclaimer: This timeline and corresponding data is based on published news reports. Several of these cases have been verified independently; however The Express Tribune has not verified the status of each case. Please alert us of any additional cases by leaving a comment/link below.]]>
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			<title>Muslims join Christians in mourning Gojra dead</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222420/second-anniversary-muslims-join-christians-in-mourning-gojra-dead</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222420/second-anniversary-muslims-join-christians-in-mourning-gojra-dead#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 11 04:19:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[shamsul.islam]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=222420</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[None of the speake­rs oppose­d blasph­emy law, only its ‘abuse’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Two years after the tragedy, the Christian community in Gojra was joined by a handful of Muslims in commemorating the vicious attack on their neighbourhood in which seven Christians were burnt alive.


A memorial service was conducted at the Sacred Heart Church in Gojra for those who lost their lives on July 31, 2009, when a Muslim mob – incited by local mosques over allegations of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – surrounded and set on fire dozens of Christian houses.

In what appeared to be a sign of healing ties between the Christian and Muslim communities, the Catholic priests were joined by Muslim ulema. The Bishop of Faisalabad Joseph Coutts presided over the ceremony which was attended by around 350 people.

The speakers, both Christian and Muslim, spoke of a shared revulsion against violence perpetrated in the name of religion.

“All sections of society should rise above social biases and condemn such madness in the name of religion,” said Father Younis Yaqoob. “This not only defies the country’s law but also brings shame to all of humanity.”

Tahir Naveed, a member of the Punjab Assembly, spoke out against the tendency of people to exact what they perceive to be vigilante justice, particularly in blasphemy cases.

“If a person has committed a crime, he should be prosecuted in a court of law,” he said. None of the speakers, neither Christian nor Muslim, spoke out against the law itself and focused only on what they described as its abuse. Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti were killed earlier this year by fanatics who perceived them to be opposed to the blasphemy law.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2011.]]>
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