Tag Archives | Pakistan

Dozens Of Workers Fall Unconscious During Exorcism At Pakistani Factory

By on October 31, 2013 in News 4

signs-BEINA malicious psychic presence, mysterious gas leak, mass hysteria, or some combination thereof? The Express Tribune reports:

Nearly 25 female workers of a Landhi garments factory fell unconscious in the aftermath of an exorcism to get rid of ‘evil spirits’ in the workplace on Monday.

“The factory seemed to be overtaken by a genie or evil spirit,” claimed Farzana Naseem. “A spiritualist was called to this morning to get rid of the suspected ‘jinns’ but as soon as he began reciting different verses, the workers began falling unconscious while others ran out shouting and screaming for help.”

Rescue teams were called in to the factory, Casual Sports Wear. The rescue workers insisted, however, that there was a mysterious gas leak which caused the workers to faint.

“I do not believe the workers were possessed,” said Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre deputy executive director Dr Seemin Jamali. “But this hysteric influence might have played out as a ripple effect.”

… Read the rest

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Malala’s Drone Strike Warnings Ignored by US Media | Weapons of Mass Distraction

By on October 17, 2013 in News 5

Abby Martin calls out the corporate media for its coverage of 16 year old Pakistani activist, Malala Yousafzai, highlighting her heroism promoting education against the Taliban, but omitting her important message to Obama about ending US drone strikes in her home country.

LIKE Breaking the Set @ http://fb.me/BreakingTheSet
FOLLOW Abby Martin @ http://twitter.com/AbbyMartin… Read the rest

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Pakistani Folk Art and US Drones Collide in These Ornate Paintings

By on July 13, 2013 in News 1

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Repurposing something to say the opposite is punk as fuck, and magick in my book.

via Gizmodo

Pakistani-American artist Mahwish Chishty was originally trained in painting miniatures in her native Lahore. But these days, Chishty is also emerging as a notable conceptual artist abroad, treading the potent line between Pakistani and American culture. Yesterday, in an interview with Mother Jones, Chishty discussed her paintings of American drones—which she covers in traditional Pakistani ornamentation.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan since the early 2000s, mostly in the rugged northwest. The proxy war, Chishty says, “triggered her imagination,” and she began a series of paintings that feature the familiar shapes of the MQ-9 Reaper and other UAVs covered in ornate decoration. The patterns are borrowed from a tradition amongst truck drivers in Pakistan, who cover their vehicles in rich ornamentation and color as a means of pure self-expression.

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Pakistan’s Likely Prime Minister Vows To Shoot Down U.S. Drones

By on May 9, 2013 in News 8

imran khan

Drone wars to come? PolicyMic reports:

In the lead up to Pakistan’s general election on May 11, former cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan has again vowed to shoot down American drones if elected. Given that most polls show Khan ahead of Nawaz Sharif (previously thought to be the favorite), there is a very real chance that Khan will become Prime Minister.

Drone strikes have increased dramatically under President Obama, and while Pakistan has always been publicly opposed to attacks conducted by the CIA, the possibility of a prime minister who has promised to shoot down the drones could make things very awkward for the U.S.

Khan has long been a fierce critic of the U.S. drone war in Pakistan, leading anti-drone protests and even being removed from a plane and detained by U.S. immigration officials on a trip to New York last year. According to Khan, he was “interrogated on [his] views on drones” while he was detained.

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Pakistanis are Crazy … Like a Fox

By on March 2, 2013 in News 7

image jul3sg33

What do people in Pakistan know that the rest of the world doesn’t? Every Pakistani man, woman and child is a paranoid nutcase, according to the picture painted by a recent New York Times article:

According to many Pakistanis, the C.I.A. used a mysterious technology to cause the devastating floods that affected 20 million people in 2010. Washington had the teenage champion for girls’ education, Malala Yousafzai, shot as part of a campaign to demonize the Pakistani Taliban and win public support for American drone strikes against them. The terrorists who strike Pakistani targets are non-Muslim “foreign agents.” Osama bin Laden was an American operative.

However, in an article-ending twist, the Times matter-of-factly notes that conspiracy theories in Pakistan “persist because many turn out to be true.”

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At Least We’re Not Measles: Rationalizing Drone Attacks Hits New Low

By on February 23, 2013 in News 13

Thales Watchkeeper WK450 UAV

The inimitable Matt Taibbi takes on the drones issue for Rolling Stone:

Read an absolutely amazing article today. Entitled “Droning on about Drones,” it was published in the online version of Dawn, Pakistan’s oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper, and written by one Michael Kugelman, identified as the Senior Program Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

In this piece, the author’s thesis is that all this fuss about America’s drone policy is overdone and perhaps a little hysterical. Yes, he admits, there are some figures that suggest that as many as 900 civilians have been killed in drone strikes between 2004 and 2013. But, he notes, that only averages out to about 100 civilians a year. Apparently, we need to put that number in perspective:

Now let’s consider some very different types of statistics.

… Read the rest

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Amusement Park Coming to Abbottabad, Last Home of Osama Bin Laden

By on February 4, 2013 in News 3

Exactly why someone in Pakistan decided that the town where Osama bin Laden (supposedly) met his end at the hands of U.S. Navy Seals would be a good place for an amusement park is unfortunately not revealed in this story from Reuters:

Pakistan plans to build a $30 million amusement park and outdoor activity centre on the edge of the northwestern town of Abbottabad, where U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden, an official said on Monday.

The private venture in the foothills of the Himalayas will include a zoo, water sports, a mini-golf course, rock climbing and paragliding, said Jamaluddin Khan, the deputy provincial minister for tourism.

“The project will take five years to complete,” he told Reuters.

U.S. Navy SEALs killed the al Qaeda leader in 2011 in a secret raid that humiliated Pakistan’s military – which has an academy nearby – and heavily strained ties between strategic allies Washington and Islamabad…

[continues at Reuters]… Read the rest

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Seven Countries Have Death Penalty For Atheism

By on December 10, 2012 in News 20

Stedman-hangingDon’t tell anyone you’re an atheist if you live in Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Sudan! Story via Reuters:

Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven nations can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a report issued on Monday.

The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), showed that “unbelievers” in Islamic countries face the most severe – sometimes brutal – treatment at the hands of the state and adherents of the official religion.

But it also points to policies in some European countries and the United States which favor the religious and their organizations and treat atheists and humanists as outsiders.

The report, “Freedom of Thought 2012″, said “there are laws that deny atheists’ right to exist, curtail their freedom of belief and expression, revoke their right to citizenship, restrict their right to marry.”

Other laws “obstruct their access to public education, prohibit them from holding public office, prevent them from working for the state, criminalize their criticism of religion, and execute them for leaving the religion of their parents.”…

[continues at Reuters]… Read the rest

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