Pakistan

Gunfire echoes in the streets of Durra, Pakistan. Test firing a 9mm handgun or a Kalachnikov AK-47 rifle in the village’s main market is an every day sight. Read more...

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Mohammad Siddique Khan is one of the terrorists responsible for the July 2005 London train bombings. A few months before the attacks, while in training in Pakistan, the young man made this video to explain to his six-year-old daughter why he had to go fight. See the video…

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Photo of a voting slip posted online by a blogger.

The Pakistani blogosphere is bursting with accounts of electoral fraud today as increasing numbers of bloggers tell tales of trickery and blind-eye attitudes in the general elections. Particularly low participation numbers make good conditions for usurpation and in the election both President Musharraf’s party and the opposition may have taken advantage of them. The accounts have yet to be confirmed by international observers. Read more…

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Here is the most recent video of Bhutto’s assassination, released on Thursday morning by the Pakistani TV station Dawn News. According to one of the chain’s journalists, the video was taken with a mobile phone by an ‘amateur guard’- someone who should act as a human shield between an attacker and the ex-minister. Supporter’s of the People’s Party (PPP) say that this video proves that Bhutto died from a bullet wound- disproving the Home Minister's statement of last Friday- because you see her dive into the car before the explosion.

Video posted 3 January 2008

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In the midst of growing uncertainties surrounding the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto, a new amateur video of the assassination was released by Channel 4 yesterday. According to Bhutto's supporters, the video proves that the ex-Prime Minister was in fact killed by a bullet, and not a by fracturing her skull as she tried to protect herself; the explanation given by the Home Minister on Friday. One of our Observers, Awab Alvi, tells us how the video was first posted on the online network Orkut before it was found by the British channel. Read more...

Images broadcast by Channel 4 on 30 December 2007

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The Pakistani Home Minister has just concluded a press conference in which he insisted that Benazir Bhutto was not killed by a bullet. He said that her skull was smashed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle to protect herself. The minister also said that he has evidence to prove that the attack was carried out by Al Qaida. Our Observer in Karachi, Zaheer Alam Kidvai, gives his reaction to the news. Read more...

Video of the attack broadcast this afternoon on Dawn TV

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Our Observer in Karachi (south Pakistan) keeps us updated on the unfolding of events. Read more...

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The ex-prime-minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated this afternoon after an electoral meeting in Rawalpindi, a suburb of Islamabad. Our Observers give their initial reactions to the event. One of them, Rana Afzaal, was at the scene when the bomb exploded. Read more...

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Report by Team Observers

President Pervez Musharraf announced on Thursday that the legislative elections will take place before 15 February. But the state of emergency stays in place and access to non-state television channels is still blocked. However, an online protest movement is gaining speed as increasing numbers of local internet users get involved. The Observers Team has compiled some of the material produced by these citizen journalists.

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By Team Observers

Since the declaration of a state of emergency on 03 November, all the privately-owned news channels – Geo, Dawn and Ary – have been blocked by the Pakistani cable operators. But internet users have got together to circulate these prohibited programmes online.

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