Free Republic

WASHINGTON D.C. (ANS) -- A human rights group is reporting that a powerful Muslim village elder and his nephews evicted about 30 impoverished Christian families from their homes in order to make way for a stable for their livestock. In a news release, the Washington-DC based International Christian Concern (ICC) said that while the stable will keep the Muslims' animals warm and dry, these 30 Christian families are now homeless in their village of Kotla Punjubaig in Sheikhupura district near Lahore, Pakistan. In an interview with ICC, a local Christian elder of Kotla Punjubaig, Boota Masih, said, “This land was...

Secretary General of the World Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri said on Saturday that Islamic unity charter has been compiled. In a meeting with Pakistani prominent Shia and Sunni ulema in Islamabad, he said the charter has outlined the commonalties shared by different Islamic sects. Referring to emphasis made by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for promotion of solidarity among the world Muslim nations, he said compilation of the Islamic unity charter is in line with the Supreme Leader's guidelines. He expressed the hope that during his stay in Pakistan, the charter...

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A series of explosions went off Tuesday in the parking lot of the Naval War College in the eastern city of Lahore, police said. A television news channel said two people were killed. Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal told The Associated Press that police are investigating the blasts and do not know yet if they were caused by bombs. Geo television network reported four explosions within minutes of each other on the war college's premises, and said two people were killed and several injured. It said the casualties were taken to hospitals in "several ambulances." The...

LAHORE: Intelligence agencies have once again arrested the Taliban Majlis-e-Shura’s former defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund along with two other Afghan nationals from Lahore, along with two other Afghan nationals, intelligence sources told Daily Times on Sunday. The sources revealed that Obaidullah had been arrested in 2006 in Quetta and was released after around nine months, after which he fled to in Afghanistan. This time he arrived in Pakistan to generate funds, the sources said, adding that he, along with Pakistani allies, had visited several cities in this regard. The sources revealed that Obaidullah had arrived in Pakistan in the...

The Pakistani authorities have confirmed the American findings that the imams of three mosques arrested on November 15 in Boston happen to be the close relatives of the founder of the deadly Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who now heads the Jamaatul Daawa. Pakistani interior ministry sources said that the three Boston-based imams — Hafiz Muhammad Hannan Hafiz Muhammad Masood and Hafiz Mohammad Hamid — are close relatives of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. The sources said they have informed the American authorities that while Hafiz Muhammad Masood and Hafiz Hamid happen to be the real brother of Saeed, Hafiz Muhammad Hannan is...

The schoolgirl at the centre of an international custody battle broke down in tears yesterday after a judge in Pakistan ordered that she be sent back to her mother in Britain. Molly Campbell, 12, who wants to be known as Misbah Iram Rana and to live as a Muslim in Lahore, wept as she was told that she had to go back to live with her mother while her fate was decided by a Scottish court. In traditional Muslim dress and a light blue headscarf, she looked visibly distressed as she was comforted by her sister and brothers outside the...

LAHORE, Pakistan - A Pakistan man killed his three young daughters Tuesday before confessing to police, prompting one officer to shoot him dead, an investigator said. Mohammed Ashraf, 38, used a knife to cut the throats of his daughters aged 3, 5 and 9 before dawn in the eastern city of Lahore, said senior police investigator Amir Zulifquar. Ashraf then went to a police station to report his crime, and was charged with murdering his daughters and placed in a cell. "As I left the police station after questioning Mohammed Ashraf, one of my guards opened fire and killed him,"...

Muslim Mob Targets Western Businesses in Pakistan Tuesday, February 14, 2006 LAHORE, Pakistan — Thousands of protesters rampaged through two cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and torching Western businesses and a provincial assembly in Pakistan's worst violence against the Prophet Muhammad drawings, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured. Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company, Telenor. U.S. and...

10 May, 2004 PAKISTAN Forced conversion to Islam fatal for Christian boy New incident reveals frightening trend Lahore (AsiaNews/Ucan) – Outrage at the death of a Catholic boy forced to convert to Islam at the hands of torturous abductors has prompted the Pakistan Catholic Bishop’s Commission of Justice and Peace, to take up the legal case. The Christian youth died of injuries inflicted by a teacher and students at an Islamic school. The National Commission for Justice and Peace declared May 4th that the incident reflects a worrying trend of forced conversions. Javed Anjum, an 18-year-old commerce student was seized...

WASHINGTON : Presidential hopeful and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry today announced he has offered Johnny Depp first refusal of the coveted VP spot in his Democratic bid for the White House. I first saw Johnny in that scissors movie, Kerry told reporters, and I’ve wanted to run with him ever since. A source close to the Kerry campaign stated that Kerry believes Depp’s charm, charisma and intense global popularity is just the thing needed to sway voter support of post-teen females, twenty-something housewives, every woman in middle-aged America and that ‘certain section of guys’ towards the Democratic ticket in November....

Islamists arrested in Pakistani clampdown By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore (Filed: 17/11/2003) Pakistani police arrested dozens of Islamist activists yesterday after President Pervaiz Musharraf outlawed three militant religious parties that had reformed under new names following an earlier ban. President Musharraf The banned groups are better known by their original names. Two are Sunni Muslim militant parties, Sipah-e-Sahab and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which have close links to al-Qa'eda. The third is a Shia party, Therik-e-Jafria. "Those who are indulging in extremist acts are harming both Pakistan and Islam," Gen Musharraf was quoted as telling senior officials. In addition, the largest extremist Sunni...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 12/20/02 - Aghala Khan, Lahore, Karachi, Cairo, Djibouti, Guessabo, Hawara checkpoint, Kabul, Meck Island, Le Bourget, Taji BREAKING: Lahore - Aghala Khan arrersted BREAKING: Karachi - Asif Ramzi grounded Aghala Khan, Lahore, Karachi, Cairo, Djibouti, Guessabo, Hawara checkpoint, Kabul, Meck Island, Le Bourget, Taji ========= Aghala Khan ========= In Aghala Khan, Afghanistan, villagers watch a film about the 911 Atrocities caused by the Taliban and al Qaeda. ========= Kabul ========= In Kabul, family outing. In Kabul, Afghan women are free, FREED BY THE USA, and here enjoy laughter and tea. ========= Lahore...

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's leading rights group said on Sunday it was shocked at the public humiliation of a woman councillor beaten and paraded naked through a village on the orders of a powerful landlord.  The News on Sunday newspaper said the incident happened on December 7 in a village near Sialkot, an industrial town north of Lahore.   It said in an ordeal that lasted several hours, the woman, the widowed mother of seven, was beaten, stripped and paraded naked through the village by the landlord and his sons after she refused to back his candidate in a...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 11/21/02 - Kabul, Baghdad, Al Basrah, Larnaca, Lahore, Quetta BREAKING: Kabul, FREED BY THE USA, Afghan girls are free to laugh BREAKING: Kabul, at the World Children's Day festival. BREAKING: US Forces Take Fire in 3 Afghanistan Incidents BREAKING: Baghdad, Iraq - Iraqis handle equipment of weapons inspectors BREAKING: Al Basrah - 3 offensive facilities taken BREAKING: Larnaca, Cyprus - Blix may ignore Palaces BREAKING: Lahore, Pakistan, Usama's PMD released BREAKING: Quetta, Pakistan - Murderer Kasi hailed BREAKING: Strasbourg - Scott Ritter as Saddam's PR agent ========= Bagram ========= In Bagram,at the...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 10/26/02 - Bagram, Bamiyan, Gholghola, Hamburg, Dahuk, Aziz taken BREAKING: Dr. Germ taken, Lahore, Pakistan, Dr Amir Aziz, Bagram, live-fire exercise, Apache Hellfire, heroes return from a sortie, Harrier jets, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, Gholghola School, Kabul cricket game, 772nd MP Company, Massachusetts Army National Guard, Kandahar, 82nd Airborne, Gaza,Akram al-Zatma, Hamburg, Germany, Terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq at trial, Arad, Israel, at the funerals caused by Palestinian terrorists, Khan Younis, terrorists practice, Dahuk, Turkey =========== Bagram =========== In Bagram, live-fire exercise with Apache Hellfire missile. In Bagram, heroes return from a sortie. In Bagram,...

Deepa Mehta directed this Indian-Canadian romantic drama, the second part of a trilogy. Based on Bapsi Sidhwa's autobiography, Cracking India, the story is set in 1947 in Lahore, where Hindu, Sikh, Parsee, and Muslim share a peaceful co-existence. Events are seen from the point of view of eight-year-old Lenny (Maia Sethna), a girl from an affluent Parsee family. Lenny's nanny, Shantya (Nandita Das), is involved with the Muslim Masseur (Rahul Khanna). When a train of Muslims arrives at the local depot and all the passengers are found murdered, the various sects turn against each other, and the city is soon...