Word: clericalization
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Earlier on Saturday, a military convoy carrying two prominent cohorts of Sufi Mohammed, the hardline pro-Taliban cleric the government once negotiated with, came under attack and the pair was killed. As the vehicle made its way past the notorious gun-running town of Sakhakot, a roadside bomb exploded and militants opened fire. One of the men inside was Ameer Izzat Khan, Sufi Mohammed's fast-talking spokesman, who is considered one of the most senior militants killed so far. There is confusion over whether the attacking militants were trying to rescue the pair, or kill them before the military...
Another encounter on Monday also failed to go according to Vatican plans. An evening ceremony in East Jerusalem to champion inter-religious dialogue was interrupted by an unscheduled diatribe by Palestinian Muslim cleric Sheikh Tasir al-Tamimi, who condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinians and its control over Jerusalem's holy sites. The diminutive and elderly Pope appeared a bit shaken by the outburst, and the event was cut short as the Vatican delegation quickly left the meeting hall. Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, who has been working overtime to react to events, called the Muslim cleric's actions...
...truth is that no one really understands Sadr's thinking and doings aside from the cleric himself and presumably his innermost circle of followers. The most common assumption in Baghdad about Sadr is that his long absence from sight means that he has been undergoing intensive religious instruction in Qom, Iran, the leading center for Shi'ite Islamic scholars. Through his studies in Qom, Sadr could rise from a cleric to the rank of ayatollah, giving him the authority to issue edicts taken as law by many Shi'ites. With that power, Sadr could eventually position himself to replace Iraq...
...propaganda machinery extends beyond the borders of Afghanistan. In Pakistan's Swat Valley, Mullah Qazi Fazlullah, a firebrand Taliban cleric known as "Mullah Radio," has used unlicensed FM stations to effectively paralyze the former resort area, now under militant control. Last week, an editorial from the The News International, a leading English daily, called the Pakistani government's failure to "evolve a counter-narrative to the Taliban propaganda" that fills airwaves and newspaper columns a "dereliction of the highest order...
...rights groups say the controversial legislation, approved in March, effectively sanctions marital rape and regulates when women may leave their homes. Some counter-demonstrators began throwing stones before police intervened. Though President Hamid Karzai has agreed to review the law, Mohammad Asif Mohseni, the country's top Shi'ite cleric, accused U.N. and U.S. critics of "cultural invasion." Meanwhile, on April 12, leading female politician Sitara Achakzai was assassinated in Kandahar, allegedly by Taliban gunmen...