Pakistan

"I find gay marriage bizarre"

Sophie — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:34:43 +0200

Photo: Gino Ginelli on Flickr

On June 16, California became the second American state to give the green light to gay marriage. We asked our Observers, from China to Ghana, if there's a chance of seeing the same thing happen in their own countries.

Lawyers and activists march across Pakistan

Ségolène — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:46:24 +0200

Thousands of lawyers and activists are travelling over 600 miles from Karachi to Islamabad to demand the return of judges ousted from the Supreme Court by President Musharraf. The trip was planned to echo Ghandi's "long marches" across the country. Except that this one's going by car...

The envoy set off from Pakistan's economic capital, Karachi, on Monday, and is expected to reach Islamabad tomorrow. It was launched by a group of lawyers asking for the return of the former president of the Supreme Court, Muhammad Chaudhry, along with 45 other judges who were thrown out when Musharraf declared a state of emergency last November. The travelling lawyers were quickly joined by thousands of political activists and are currently crossing the country by car, stopping at major cities along the way. Today they're in the central city of Multan. One of our Observers in Pakistan is collecting personal accounts and photos sent to him by demonstrators and posting them on a blog set up for the occasion.

Durra - the world’s largest illegal firearms market

Julien — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:36:07 +0200

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.

Durra or Darra Adamkhel, a village in the country’s northwestern tribal zone, is renowned for its weapon-making expertise and is the world’s largest illegal market. Gunsmiths in the village manufacture replicas of ammunition and popular guns, which are then sold to arms dealers across Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

Durra is part of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The Pakistani central government does not directly control this region, known for harbouring Islamist insurgents. Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are said to be active in the region. While manufacturing arms within the FATA is legal, supplying them outside the tribal zone is prohibited. Durra’s weapons industry has existed for more than a century but the Soviet- Afghan war in the late seventies helped boost it.

The farewell video of a terrorist

Julien — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:29:38 +0200

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.

The video below includes two movies shot by Khan. In the first clip, dated November 2004, Khan considers heading to Pakistan to fight the Americans. He explains to his daughter that he must carry out the Jihad, but that he will miss her. At some point after making these videos, he was redirected to London a few months later to plan the July 2005 suicide bombing that killed 52 people. In the second clip, at the end of this video, Khan introduces his “uncles” to his daughter. One of these men, Waheed Ali, is one of suspects currently on trial in the English capital.

Election riddled with rigging, says blogosphere

Julien — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:55:05 +0100

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 this 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.

Bhutto’s assassination filmed on a mobile

Julien — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:09:17 +0100

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

New amateur video of the Bhutto assassination

Julien — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:20:11 +0100

In the midst of growing uncertainties surrounding the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto, a new amateur video of the assassination was released by British 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.

Images broadcast by Channel 4 on 30 December 2007

What killed Benazir Bhutto?

Julien — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:58:21 +0100

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.

Video of the attack broadcast this afternoon on Dawn TV

This evidence needs to be examined carefully. We must keep in mind that the authorities want to rule out any rumours that suggest they were behind the attack, or at least that they did nothing to help avoid it. If Bhutto was shot, then it would be the government's fault that she wasn't properly protected. It's more difficult to get close to someone with a gun than to let off a bomb. I don't think Musharraf is behind it all, of course, but I don't see any real evidence that she wasn't killed with a bullet either. The video doesn't convince me of that. And it's the same doctor yesterday who assured us that she was wounded at the neck who tells us today that she had no wounds at all, just a fractured skull. We'll wait and see, but let's not jump to any conclusions."

Post your questions to Zaheer on his profile page.

From our Observer in Karachi: “We can’t even leave the house. They’ve already burnt a thousand cars.”

Julien — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:35:46 +0100

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

It's not only Bhutto activists in the street. A lot of poor people are getting involved in the riots too, just because they're desperate. Nobody dares go outside. Especially if there's a car, because it's bound to get set on fire. There are loads of mad theories going round about how Bhutto was killed, which are fuelling the violence even more. The funeral is in less than two hours. Everyone is scared of another attack. The government has sent out army rangers to control the situation. They've been told that if they see rioters they can shoot at first sight. It's the same all over the country, not just in Karachi where I live."

Post your questions to Zaheer Alam Kidvai on his profile page.

Bhutto’s assassination: our Observers fear the backlash

Julien — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:12:35 +0100

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.