Pakistan

Shirkat Gah (SG) organized an inter-university film festival on Thursday, 3rd of March 2011 at the Ali Institute of Education, as part of its campaign titled ‘Violence is not our Culture’. This event also marked 100 years of International Women’s Day (1911-2011). The event was attended by university students, Civil Society and NGO members as well as people from all walks of life.

Des inconnus ont ouvert le feu et tué, mercredi 2 mars, le ministre des minorités religieuses pakistanais, le chrétien Shahbaz Bhatti, à Islamabad. Les talibans pakistanais ont revendiqué l'assassinat du ministre, expliquant leur geste par ses propos jugés blasphématoires. Des hommes armés ont tiré en rafale sur sa voiture dans un quartier huppé de la capitale, a indiqué un officier de police, qui précise que les assaillants, au moins deux hommes à moto, ont pris la fuite. "Il était mort à son arrivée à l'hôpital, on lui a tiré dessus", a déclaré à l'AFP par téléphone le docteurAzmatullah Qureshi, porte-parole de l'un des plus grands hôpitaux d'Islamabad, le Shifah.

Women’s Action Forum condemns in the strongest terms the brutal murder of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, whose principled stand for justice was deliberately and maliciously distorted by extremist elements in the country in the pursuit of their own political ends. Incitement to violence in the name of religion has become widely prevalent in the country and the state has failed in its duty to curb this mischief. The murder of Salman Taseer is part of a strategy adopted since the time of Zia ul Haq to misuse religion in order to undermine democratic dialogue and to establish religious autocracy. This is unacceptable in a Muslim majority country no particular group should be allowed monopoly over religious views. 

Bibi, the Christian woman who triggered a blasphemy furore in Pakistan and in whose defence Punjab governor Salman Taseer lost his life, is facing a threat of a suicide attack inside a jail, where she is currently lodged. The "Moaviya group", a militant organisation plans to mount a suicide attack on Sheikhupura district jail, where 45-year-old Asia is being held, The Express Tribunequoted its sources as saying. An intelligence report issued last week has corroborated threat to her life.