Yesterday, it was reported that the Pakistani Minister for Minorities (a Cabinet-level position in Pakistan’s government) was shot by gunmen yesterday thought to be Muslim extremists. This follows the assassination of a Pakistani governor in early January, also by Muslim extremists. In the first case, the Minister was a Christian and in the case of the governor, a Muslim. They both had criticized the country’s blasphemy laws and suggested their removal or amendment. These killings follow years of harassment, persecution and violence against those accused under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. [Read more...]
Feb
28
Arab Revolutions: Changing the Guard, Business as Usual
The Arab World, as (nearly) everyone has seen, has been engulfed by popular revolutions, some successful (as in Egypt and Tunisia). Publics in a variety of different Arab countries have risen up against autocratic and dictatorial rules, fighting for rights long denied to them by a corrupt and manipulative leadership.
Jan
25
Egypt’s Day of Protest
Today, tens of thousands of Egyptians went into the streets to protest against the Mubarak led-regime. Seemingly inspired by the success of a populist revolution in Tunisia, the participants in this protest were organized on the internet using social media. Police were deployed against the protesters, but according to al-Sharq al-Awsat, they showed abnormal restraint. The protests were also spread out in multiple places across the capital and reportedly in other Egyptian cities also, giving the police and security forces less of a chance to brutally crack down on them. (Interestingly enough, the protests came on a day set aside for honoring the Egyptian police forces.)
Egyptians on the "Day of Protest" in Cairo
Jan
25
The Hizbullah Takeover Begins
New Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati
Today, we read that Najib Mikata was chosen as Lebanon’s Prime Minister, instead of the previous leader of the Sunni Lebanese parliamentary bloc and previous Prime Minister, Sa’ad Hariri. Mikata was chosen by a majority of the Parliament, led by the March 8 (Hizbullah-allied) group. In response, Sunnis across the country were encouraged to protest in a “day of rage” against their perceived slight.
(NOTE: for those that aren’t familiar with Lebanese political rules, the law mandates that the President must be a Christian, the Prime Minister–where the power lies–a Sunni, and the Speaker of the Parliament a Shi’ite. This arrangement dates from the 1943 National Pact in an attempt to avoid sectarian strife over political appointments).
Jan
24
The Palestine Papers–Real or Not?
Last night, the Palestine Papers were leaked (from where is not clear) by al-Jazeera. This collection, as reported, has over 1600 secret documents detailing negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians over the past years.
These documents, revealed in a very -Wikileaks way, were obtained by al-Jazeera through an unnamed source. Al-Jazeera says in their introduction to the collection that they cannot reveal who or how they came into possession of the papers, but the paper can vouch for their authenticity.