Muntadar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who went from obscurity to folk hero status in December when he threw his shoes at then-President George W. Bush, was sentenced to three years in jail today for “attempting to assault a foreign leader.” Zeidi said his behavior was “a natural reaction for the crimes committed against the Iraqi [...]
The Long March began today in the cities of Karachi and Quetta, and already the government is out in force to disrupt the protest. Police attacked lawyers and political activists at Toll Plaza in Karachi, arresting several high ranking leaders of opposition parties and arresting the President of the High Court Bar of Sindh Province, [...]
Mullah Abdullah Zakir is the Taliban leader in charge of operations in southern Afghanistan, the central front in the growing nationwide insurgency. But anonymous officials told the Associated Press today that the Mullah has a very interesting backstory. He got his start as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, prisoner 008 at the American detention facility at Guantanamo [...]
Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan have reportedly conducted their first joint anti-narcotics operation this week along the three nations’ mutual borders. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said that the operation resulted in a seizure and the arrests of traffickers. UN agency chief Antonio Maria Costa lauded the operation as “a very important political [...]
A US military spokesman in Baghdad today insisted that militants “are greatly reduced in capacity and numbers,” just one day after a bombing at the reconciliation conference in Iraq killed 33 people. The bombing was the second major attack in Baghdad this week – the other one killed 32 people on Sunday in an attack [...]
The imposition of emergency rule across much of Pakistan this week has led to a mixture of responses from opposition figures, ranging from condemnation to warnings and efforts by President Asif Ali Zardari to defend what many are seeing as a rather blatant power grab. The Pakistani Muslim League-N (PML-N), whose rule in the Punjab [...]
Despite claims from the Deputy Chairman of Planning that the government intends to stop the rally “at all costs” and the Punjab Home Secretary saying the army would be called in, organizers say Pakistan’s long-awaited “long march” will go ahead as planned tomorrow. The march is planned to begin tomorrow in several cities and continue [...]
Last Updated 3/11/09 10:30 PM EST With the Afghan frontier in a near constant state of insurrection, and separatist movements remaining a top concern in Balochistan, the twin provinces of Sindh and Punjab have been the stable, safe part of Pakistan. That now appears to be a distant memory. Today, the Pakistani government imposed Section [...]
Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz have been placed under house arrest today as the national government attempts to consolidate its authority in the Punjab Province against growing popular unrest. The move was just the first step in a massive crackdown on the province which included a ban on public meetings and [...]
The Pakistani government and the grand Mamond tribal jirga in the Bajaur Agency have reportedly agreed to a 28-point peace deal today aimed at securing the relative quiet of the past few days. The agreement requires the tribes to submit to the government’s authority and requires tribesmen to restrict cross-border movement and to refuse to [...]
