Pakistan: Imam fueled persecution of Christians?

The scandal of a disabled Christian girl in Pakistan, threatening the worst of death, because it is said to have blasphemed Allah takes a spectacular turn: Police have arrested an imam at the weekend. He allegedly falsified evidence against the girl before he surrendered to the authorities. The case caused a sensation worldwide. The police arrested the girl named Rimsha two weeks ago in a village near Islamabad, because it is said to have burned sites with Koran. A medical examination revealed last week that Rimsha is mentally disabled, she reportedly suffers from Down syndrome. About their age, there is no lack of documents clarity: The family says Rimsha was eleven years old, the report you wrote, however, "about 14 years". Hafiz Mohammad Zubair, a prayer caller in the mosque of Imam has, reports the news website "Dawn.com" According now testified that he had seen a man from the neighborhood of the girl had brought plastic bags of burnt paper to Imam Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti . Which have examined the content, then even two pages torn out of a Koran and placed in the bags.Zubair stated that he had tried to prevent the Imam it.This had replied that the Koran sides would strengthen the accusations against the girl and cause that they, together with their Christian family must leave the district. The bags have passed the clerics of the police.

Call for Christian persecution

Then called the Imam of the citizens of the district to help tackle the girl. The police intervened and took it into custody after a mob gathered outside his house and demanded to burn them alive. Many Christians fled from the village, the child's family is for their own protection in police custody. A court in Islamabad on Sunday imposed on remand Chishti. Even the Imam threatens prosecution because of the blasphemy laws. According to reports he had earlier sentiments against Christians, often said to have complained that the Muslim residents "interfered" with their church had. As with previous cases in which it came to the blasphemy laws, the case has become a political issue.An attorney for the man who had filed against the girl ad, threats of violence, "She is guilty. If the state sets the courts suspended, God will find a person who "does the job, he told a reporter. On Sunday, he said the authorities had pressured witnesses to testify against the Imam. Rimshas detention was extended by two weeks on Friday, the investigation continues. In the past three decades has been Pakistan, which was intended in establishing a secular state, more Islamist. Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistan after the partition of India as a home for South Asia's Muslims, but not as a religious state.On 11 August 1947, three days before the state was founded, Jinnah makes this clear in a speech to the Constituent Assembly: "They are free to go to Pakistan in their temples, their mosques or any other places of worship. You may belong to any religious caste or faith, this has nothing to do with the role of government. "

 The road to Islamization

Religious violence was virtually unknown until the 1970s, Elder remember how alcohol is sold openly. The nightlife of cities like Karachi and Lahore was legendary. 1971 Pakistan was plunged into a crisis of meaning, after East Pakistan had split off in the wake of a war with India and became Bangladesh. It lamented religious groups, Pakistan threatens to fail, because it was moving away from Islam. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto banned alcohol for Muslims in 1977, it soon General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq staged a coup from office. He was a religious zealot, declared martial law, ordered the Islamization, and thousands of madrassas were established Sharia courts introduced parallel to the normal judicial system. From 1980, the blasphemy law was tightened, now threatens to worst, death. The Islamization accelerated after the invasion of the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1979 and the subsequent war in the 1980s, as Pakistan-based field of "holy warriors" was. Today, Saudi Arabia wins in influence, so Wahhabism, a very conservative form of Sunni Islam, seeping into Pakistan.

Iran announces antiaircraft maneuvers to protect nuclear facilities

Iran will run in the coming weeks an exercise in large-scale air defense, announced the antiaircraft forces commander of the Revolutionary Guards, General Farzad Esmaili. "All the air defense systems of the Guard and the Army will be used this year" provided during the month of Iranian Mehr, between September 21 and October 21, Gen. Esmaili official IRNA agency. According to the commander, the goal of the maneuvers is to demonstrate "the ability of crisis management" of Iranian forces in the event of "unexpected scenarios." The general explained that the priority of air defense Revolutionary Guard is to protect nuclear facilities. "Most of our resources are mobilized around these facilities," he said. The announcement came amid speculation about a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel, the United States and European powers fear that Iran's nuclear program has as its goal the production of the atomic bomb, which Tehran denies, saying the plan is only civil. The agency Mehr reported on Sunday, based on another military source, Iran has strengthened the capabilities of radars, missile batteries and means of electronic warfare along the northwest frontier, bordering Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. "The equipment was installed at more than 300 points," said Gen. Rasul Rezvani-Kia, commander of air defense in the region.

Mali: Islamists advancing south

Armed Islamist fighters came Saturday morning in the city of Douentza, located in the area porous border between the southern and northern Mali.The field was open from the beginning of the Malian army, there are nearly five months. Arrived in 4 × 4, the armed men of Mujao (Movement for unity and jihad in West Africa), were immediately directed to the base of the Ganda Iso militia, known as "vigilante" who hears protect people. "Around 9 am, a resident who testifies is a camp a hundred yards from the camp Ganda Iso, we have seen move their cars on asphalt (road, Ed). They surrounded the base and entered to disarm the men. "No shots would have been fired. Iso fighters Ganda, forty people have been released after being tied up and helpless. The men were then Mujao established their headquarters in a hotel at the entrance of Douentza. After touring the city part of the day, most of the fighters withdrew, leaving behind enough men to establish a "security apparatus." In the afternoon, a delegation of local notables met men Mujao front of the courthouse a few minutes. "We're going to stay long," told Jeune Afrique head of the Brigade Mujao entry Douentza. Oumar Ould Hamaha proclaims several years membership of AQIM (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb). It appears also as the Chief of Staff of Mujao and as a military Ansar Dine (Partisans of Islam). He is known for his beard with henna and scorched his extreme fanaticism. In a video released in early August , he said: "There is only one country in the world who practiced Islam, Afghanistan is Taliban for five years. "

An Algerian diplomat executed

The Ministry of Defence, is not expected intervention of the army, whose troops are currently closest folded in the city of Sévaré, 172 kilometers Douentza. "The problem is that we can not do without orderly strategy," says a spokesman. An admission of impotence. Sunday, Mujao announced the execution of an Algerian diplomat held hostage since April 5, in a statement sent to the Mauritanian news agency ANI online . The Vice-Consul Tahar Touati "was executed this morning (Saturday) at dawn", after an ultimatum of eight days. On August 24, a message Mujao Algerian authorities had threatened reprisals if they did not release within five days three jihadists arrested on 15 August, including a leader of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Necib Tayeb said Abderrahmane Abu Ishak Essoufi. In total, seven diplomats Algerian consulate in the city of Gao in northern Mali, were abducted on April 5 by the Mujao. Three of them were released in July.

Pakistan: Air raids and violence

New air raid carried out in Pakistan U.S. unmanned drones, resulting in the deaths of four people and injuring three, in the region Ntaigkaan Ntatachel in North Waziristan. The attack took place last Saturday and the air raids are frequent goal with areas where there are pockets of rebels. Addition to two separate incidents, two gunmen killed seven Shiite Muslims in two separate Baloutsistan province in southwestern Pakistan, rather than making up far, taking attacks for attacks. Elsewhere in the country, in Bajaur, near the border with Afghanistan, two people died and three were injured last Saturday, after a mortar attack.

Prosecution withdraws charges South African miners murder

The Office of South Africa today provisionally withdrew murder charges against 270 mine workers, blamed for the deaths of 34 colleagues in a clash on 16 August with police in Marikana.   late charges only conducted once all investigations have been completed, said Nomgcobo Jiba, head of the Office.also the director of the Public Ministry said in a press conference that the charges will be filed only after the investigations of the government commission, created to effect by the South African president, Jacob Zuma.About three thousand miners Marikana platinum mine, the British firm Lonmin, began last August 10 strike to demand better pay and working conditions. Two days after the first clashes began violence that left 10 dead, including two police officers. This situation came to a head six days later when miners and police clashed with 34 people dead, 78 injured and 270 arrested, 11 were arrested in a hospital. The Prosecutor's decision to blame the miners responded to an old law of "common purpose", implemented in the apartheid period with the utility to pursue and detain citizens who opposed the apartheid regime. The South African Minister of Justice, Jeff Radebe, was forced to intervene after the indictment to calm the situation, recognizing that the measure caused "quite a stir, panic and confusion among community members and the general public." Radebe Jiba requested a report explaining the reasons for miners blame the bloody events. 's lawyers claimed the 270 accused in a letter to South African head of state to intercede and ensure the immediate release of the miners. Zuma said yesterday in a statement that no interfere with the development of the judicial process and reiterated the independence of the courts and prosecutors. tomorrow is expected to continue negotiations between the government, employers and unions miners, after two days of discussions, to find a solution to the dispute, according to sources, is only the tip of the iceberg of mining in South Africa.