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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 ...

Men in uniforms of the armed forces went on a rampage of sectarian violence attacking and killing Shia Muslims who make up the second largest Muslim sect after the Sunnis. According to the reports from Gilgit-Baltistan, the northern district of Kohistan, where sizeable numbers of Shia Muslims reside, on three different occasions this year, members of the Shia sect were dragged out of passenger buses, asked to show identity cards and after confirming they were from Shia sect they were put in the line and killed. On the same day (August 16) when Shias were massacred in Mansehra district, in a pre-dawn attack around a dozen persons in uniform entered the well-guarded air base of the Pakistan Air Force at Kamra, 50 kilometers from Islamabad, the capital of the country. They remained there for readmore at alufaq.com

We are currently going through the holy month of Ramadan and Muslims all around the world are especially engaged in Prayers and worship. In Pakistan all the TV channels have launched special Ramadan transmissions and every channel wants to outdo the other in attaining this pious aim. To meet this objective, they have imposed all manner of conjurers on the viewing public, all in the name of Ramadan, of course. Among these experts, someone is an expert in communicating with Jinns while another is serving Islam by publically bringing people in the fold of Islam whereas another is enumerating the qualities of Bhopal to the public. In short, everyone wants to brighten the name of Islam and make the masses aware of the blessings of Ramadan by presenting some stunt or the other. On the other hand, coincidentally a few days earlier the nation celebrated her Independence Day with full traditional passion and on this occasion the entire media also launched special transmissions highlighting...