Islamabad: An alliance of Pakistani clerics will hold demonstrations across the country against the killings of polio eradication campaign workers, leaders said on Thursday, as the death toll from attacks this week rose to nine. Tahir Ashrafi, who heads the moderate Pakistan Ulema Council, said that 24,000 mosques associated with his organisation would preach against the killings of health workers during Friday prayers. "Neither Pakistani customs nor Islam would allow or endorse this. Far from doing something wrong, these girls are martyrs for Islam because they were doing a service to humanity and Islam," he said.
Ashrafi's words are a clear signal that some of Pakistan's powerful clergy are willing to challenge violent militants. Gunmen on motorbikes have killed nine anti-polio campaign workers this week, including a man who died of his wounds on Thursday. Some of the dead were teenage girls. Following the violence, the United Nations pulled back all staff involved in the vaccination campaign and Pakistani officials suspended it in some parts of the country.
"The killers of these girls are not worthy of being called Muslims or human beings," said Maulana Asadullah Farooq, of the Jamia Manzur Islamia, one of the biggest madrassas, or religious schools, in the city of Lahore. "We have held special prayers for the martyrs at our mosque and will hold more prayers after Friday prayers tomorrow. We also ask other mosques to come forward and pray for the souls of these brave martyrs." It is not clear who is
05:21 PM, Dec 20, 2012
Islamabad: Six Pakistani security personnel and 17 Taliban militants were killed in an overnight gun fight in the restive Kurram tribal region of northwest Pakistan, security officials said on Wednesday. A group of about 50 heavily armed Taliban militants attacked Pakistani troops while they were conducting a search operation in a village in Kurram Agency late Tuesday night. The militants gunned down six security personnel and injured four more. Seventeen...
07:53 PM, Jan 25, 2012
Islamabad: Twelve pro-Taliban militants were killed and five security personnel injured in two separate incidents in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said. Security forces killed 12 militants associated with a banned group during a clash in Kurram region near the Afghan border, officials said. Several militants and two security personnel were injured in the gun battle. Three security personnel were injured and four buildings were damaged when militants fired six...
10:07 PM, Dec 06, 2011
London: Taliban militants, who have shunned violence, are being provided monthly cash incentive of 100 pounds, besides being given amnesty for all crimes such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women. "Members of the Taliban who give up their fight are being paid 100 pounds a month and will be allowed to keep their guns in a new initiative to end the insurgency," the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported. The move,...
09:57 PM, Nov 27, 2011
Islamabad: At least one soldier was killed and seven others were injured on Sunday when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a security check post in Pakistan's restive tribal belt, where 11 militants were also gunned down by troops. The bomber targeted the Chak Malai check post manned by Pakistani troops in South Waziristan tribal area, leaving one soldier dead and seven others injured, TV news channels reported. The...
12:24 PM, Jul 24, 2011
Country claims gains against militants in the restive northwest region. ...
10:19 PM, Jun 02, 2009
Militant group takes away students, teachers, relatives in North Waziristan. ...
10:17 PM, Jun 01, 2009
The army on Tuesday ruled out possibilities of a ceasefire. ...
07:45 PM, Oct 09, 2007
