Pakistan Powerless in Face of Shiite Attacks

Yet another attack on Pakistan’s minority Shiite sect – this time in Karachi on Sunday night, killing at least 45 people – further exposes the failure of the government to rein in a growing wave of sectarian violence.

Sunni militants killed more than 400 Shiites in targeted attacks in Pakistan in 2012 – the largest annual total – according to Human Rights Watch. An attack on a billiard hall in southwest Baluchistan province in January killed over 90 Shiites. Five weeks later a blast in a Shiite-dominated area of Quetta killed a further 84 people.

In response, Pakistan has put Baluchistan under direct government control in an attempt to curtail the action of the al-Qaeda linked militant groups that have operated freely there. The government also has clamped down on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the militant group that claimed responsibility for January’s attack and is widely believed to be behind the latest bomb attacks on Abbas Town, a Karachi suburb.

Police arrested Malik Ishaq, the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who was released from prison in 2011 after a decade in jail on charges of murder of hundreds of people, including many Shiites. Mr. Ishaq, who denies, wrongdoing had continued prior to his latest detention to make speeches inciting violence against Shiites.

But analysts say Mr. Ishaq’s arrest was an attempt by security forces to stop Shiites from planning a retaliatory attacks against him, an act...

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Few years after father’s murder, Ahmedi lawyer shot in Nawabshah

KARACHI: Tragedy struck an Ahmedi family in Nawabshah once again when the son was shot at by an unidentified man only a few years after his father was killed. The victim A*, who is a lawyer, was at his brother’s shop – taking a break from his morning work at the district courts – when a man walked up to him, opened fire and disappeared into the crowd. The incident took place at Liaquat Market Road on April 2, according to the victim’s cousin, K. “I heard a gunshot and when I reached on the spot a few people were trying to take him to the hospital in a rickshaw,” the cousin recalled. “He might have been targeted because of his religious beliefs as he had no personal enmity.” Initially, A was rushed to Civil Hospital, Nawabshah, but was later moved to Karachi. “The bullet pierced his liver and the doctors have removed the affected part in a surgery,” said MA Khan, a spokesperson for Ahmediya community, “The bleeding hasn’t stopped until now.” The doctors feel, however, ...

5 Muslim Inventions That Changed The World

Roasted coffee beans Coffee About 1,600,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed every day around the world. Billions of people rely on it as part of their daily routines. And yet, very few people are aware of the Muslim origins of this ubiquitous drink. According to the historical record, in the 1400s coffee became a very popular drink among Muslims in Yemen, in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Legend goes that a shepherd (some say in Yemen, some say in Ethiopia) noticed that his goats became very energetic and jumpy when they ate beans from a particular tree. He had the courage to try them himself, noticing they gave him an energy boost. Over time, the tradition of roasting the beans and immersing them in water to create a sour yet powerful drink developed, and thus, coffee was born. Regardless of whether or not the story of the shepherd ever really happened, coffee found its way from the highlands of Yemen to the rest of the Ottoman Empire, the premier Muslim empire of the 1...

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