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India-Pakistan

Hundreds of opposition workers arrested

2007-11-17

Hundreds of political workers were arrested on Friday across the country for protesting against the emergency rule and suspension of the Constitution. In Gujranwala, police arrested over 200 Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers and roughed up several for taking out a rally in connection with the long-march. Hundreds of PPP workers led by party divisional president and MNA Imtiaz Warraich took out the rally, but police baton-charged and tear-gassed them and arrested over 200 participants, according to a PPP press release. Warraich, PPP Lahore divisional president and MNA Chaudhry Manzoor, MPA Ijaz Samaa, MPA Khalid Bajwa, Malik Tahir Akhtar, MPA Lala Shakeelur Rehman, Sheikh Iqbal, PPP Sialkot President Zahid Bashir, Babar Ghumman, Malik Shumail, Tariq Gujjar, Amer Tufail, Fazl Abbas, Chaudhry Tariq and Abdullah Virk were among those arrested, the release added. More than 100 Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) supporters were arrested outside various mosques in Karachi on Friday, but police denied these arrests. The JI’s Sarfaraz Ahmed told Daily Times that more than 100 MMA and JI activists had been taken into custody. Police chief Azhar Ali Farooqui denied the arrests. In Peshawar, police arrested four Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leaders and three Awami National Party (ANP) activists from separate rallies on Friday. JUI-F NWFP General Secretary Maulana Shaujaul Mulk, former ministers Asif Iqbal Dudzai and Amanullah Haqqani and JUI-F NWFP Information Secretary Abdul Jalil Jan were arrested from a rally staged by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) activists. Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, including MMA provincial naib ameer Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, evaded arrest. At a rally in the Hashtnagri area, police arrested three ANP activists Yasir Zaman, Mohammad Zaman and Alamgir Khalil. JUI-F’s maiden rally: The JUI-F workers and leaders took to the streets in Peshawar for the first time to protest against the emergency rule. After Friday prayers, the JUI-F protesters started a march from Markazi Darul Qura at Namakmandi but police stopped them near the Cinema Road. The PPP women’s wing workers in Peshawar also protested against the state of emergency and suspension of the Constitution.

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India-Pakistan

Tribal Feud Leads to Boy’s Death

2006-05-09

Maybe Allen's the merciful and the compassionate, but his followers sure aren't. An 11-year-old boy was strangled by tribesmen after a tribal jirga ordered that the boy be married to one of their women, police in Karachi said yesterday. The marriage had been ordered in compensation for the kidnapping of the boy’s sister. Mohammad Asif was killed on Sunday, five months after his 15-year-old sister was abducted from their home in a poor part of the southern Pakistani city. The children’s father, Saeed Akbar, a rickshaw driver, who hailed from northern Pakistan, appealed to a tribal jirga, or council, for justice after his daughter was snatched. But after the jirga ordered the kidnappers to betroth one of their daughters to the boy, they began making threats, prompting Saeed Akbar to seek protection from the jirga. “But before that they killed my innocent son in revenge,” he said, describing how he saw smoke rising from his house after leaving for work and raced back to find his son’s body. “I rushed back and found the house was on fire. I called for help and we took out Asif’s body.” A post-mortem showed the boy was strangled, according to police surgeon Liaquat Memon. Three men, all brothers, and a woman are accused of murdering the child, Sheikh Iqbal, an investigating police officer, told Reuters. “We are still hunting for all four of them,” he said. Thousands of poor workers who have migrated from conservative rural areas of Pakistan to Karachi turn to elders in their clan to resolve family and other feuds instead of going to the police.

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India-Pakistan

Boy strangled over forced marriage

2006-05-08

AN 11-year-old boy was strangled by relatives who killed him rather than obey a tribal elders' order for him to marry one of their womenfolk, police in Karachi said today. The marriage had been ordered in compensation for the kidnapping of the boy's sister. Mohammad Asif was killed yesterday, five months after his 15-year-old sister was abducted from their home in a poor part of the southern Pakistani city. The children's widower father, Saeed Akbar, a rickshaw driver who comes from northern Pakistan, appealed to a tribal jirga, or council, for justice after his daughter was snatched. But after the jirga ordered the kidnappers to betroth one of their daughters to the boy, they began making threats, prompting Saeed Akbar to seek protection from the jirga. "But before that they killed my innocent son in revenge," he said, describing how he saw smoke rising from his house after leaving for work and raced back to find his son's charred body. "I rushed back and found the house was on fire. I called for help and we took out Asif's dead body." A post-mortem examination showed the boy was strangled and his body burned afterwards, according to police surgeon Liaquat Memon. Three men, all brothers, and a woman are accused of murdering the child, said Sheikh Iqbal, an investigating police officer. "We are still hunting for all four of them," he said.

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