Ex-Pakistani Prime Minister puts Pakistani military and China on the spot

Mr. Sharif’s remarks, moreover, stirred up a hornet’s nest because Pakistan is likely to next month be put on a watch list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial watchdog that monitors the funding of political violence and money laundering worldwide. The remarks also put China in a difficult position.

Hazara killings tantamount to wiping out an entire generation, says chief justice

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday said that the Hazara killings in Balochistan are tantamount to carnage, which is why the court took a suo motu notice of the targeted attacks. A two-member Supreme Court (SC) bench, comprising Justice Nisar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, was hearing a suo motu case regarding the targeted killing of the Hazara community in Quetta.

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in April, 2018 – Shia Rights Watch

With 673 incidents of anti-Shiism during the month of April, Shia repression is on the rise. The reduction in February and March from January’s equivalent 673 incidents was too good to be true, as this month concluded with 128 deaths, 180 injuries, 236 arrests, 114 sentencing, and 18 other anti-Shia actions such as denial …

Pakistan: Hazara Shia Muslims end protest in Quetta over killings

Islamabad, Pakistan – Dozens of Hazara Shia Muslim protesters in the southwestern city of Quetta have ended a five-day sit-in against a sustained campaign of targeted killings after meeting with the country’s army chief. The protesters dispersed on Wednesday after community leaders met with General Qamar Javed Bajwa, activist Jalila Haider told Al Jazeera.

Geopolitics magnify sustained political violence in Balochistan

More than 60 cadets were killed in 2016 attack on Quetta police academy / Credit: Dawn Twin attacks earlier this week on Pakistani security forces in the troubled province of Balochistan cast a light on a sustained and violent campaign against police and paramilitary units as well as Shiite and Christian minorities.

The Saudi Export of Ultra-conservatism in the Era of MbS – an Update

Edited remarks at The Middle East and the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University and the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC 18-19 April 2018 There has long been debate about the longevity of the Saudi ruling family.

Rolling back militancy: Bangladesh looks to Saudi in a twist of irony

The plan would attempt to roll back the fallout of Saudi Arabia’s global investment of up to $100 billion over a period of four decades in support of ultra-conservative mosques, religious centres, and groups as an antidote to post-1979 Iranian revolutionary zeal.

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in March, 2018 – Shia Rights Watch

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in March 2018 February’s lower turnout of anti-Shiism did not last long, as March totaled an additional 113 incidents of anti-Shiism to last month’s 359, amounting to 472. The spike in occurrences can be attributed mainly to a mass number of arrests in Bahrain and a sharp increase in Shia casualties in …

Will the real Pakistan stand up, please?

Two headlines this month beg the question US officials have been grappling with for more than a decade: Will the real Pakistan stand up, please? Pakistan’s The News reported that the government had designated Islamabad as a pilot project to regulate Friday prayer sermons in the city’s 1,003 mosques, of which only 86 are state-controlled, in a bid to curb hate speech, extremism and demonization of religions and communities.

Saudi Prince Mohammed’s religious moderation unlikely to change Asian realities

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may be seeking to revert his kingdom to an unspecified form of moderate Islam but erasing the impact of 40 years of global funding of ultra-conservative, intolerant strands of the faith is unlikely to be eradicated by decree.