Word: pakistan
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...Sahaba, a sectarian militant group from the nearby town of Jhang. A senior member, Qari Saifullah, served as Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud's right-hand man and trained scores of suicide bombers. The group's even more vicious offshoot, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, is considered al-Qaeda's front in Pakistan. The enduring and undisturbed presence of Sipah-e-Sahaba and other militant groups in central and southern Punjab has led many analysts to predict that the militants will open up their next front here. Already, the Pakistan army has said "splinter groups" from Jaish-e-Mohammad have been fighting alongside...
...Gojra tragedy has sparked outrage across Pakistan. The government has ordered a judicial commission to investigate what happened and Parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning the violence. Islamabad's gestures, however, have done little to assure Pakistan's estimated 3 million Christians, who are 60% Catholic and 40% Protestant (the second largest religious minority, after Hindus). Many now question whether they can remain safe in a country that has long neglected them and continues to have blasphemy laws that have been repeatedly exploited by violent extremists...
...blasphemy triggered violence in four different towns in Punjab. On Tuesday, two people were killed in the town of Muridke after a similar accusation was raised. In each case, says William, blasphemy laws are used as a pretext for attacks on religious minorities. Anger is now spreading in Pakistan's Christian community. On Wednesday, riots broke out in Lahore's Youhanabad neighborhood, where stick-wielding Christian protesters smashed buses and property...
...Pakistan's blasphemy laws date back to the colonial era. The late military dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq introduced a further, harsher clause as part of his sweeping "Islamization" program. Human-rights groups have long appealed to successive governments to repeal or amend the laws. The current ruling party, the Pakistan People's Party, vowed to do so in its election manifesto. As yet, nothing has been done. But presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar says the Gojra tragedy "has increased the urgency of revisiting these laws...
...TIME's Pakistan covers...