Pakistan

Pakistan's Supreme court is set to hear petitions seeking the prosecution of the main opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, for murder.

According to documents obtained by the BBC, the court will hear the accusations against Mr Sharif and then decide whether to pursue the charges.

The petitions call for Mr Sharif's arrest and prosecution.

He has denied ordering the murder of an ex-army officer after an alleged political kickbacks deal turned sour.

Nawaz Sharif, twice elected as Pakistan's prime minister, has recently been acquitted of similar criminal charges by the Supreme Court.

The court's decision was made on 21 July but it is expected to begin its inquiries imminently.

Philosophy of Fasting

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

One of many purposes to be realised by religion is the purification and purgation of self, soul and beliefs. It is for this purpose that the Holy Prophet said that he was raised as a Prophet for the perfection of moral excellence. It is in this context that the ideal before the mankind is the attainment of highest moral standards, which is possible through purification of self. Going by the teachings of religions of the world, it becomes certain that every religion has highlighted the importance of spiritual purification and moral edification in one form or the other.

These days, their footage is all over the Pakistani news channels. Lawyers, dressed in black suits and ties, on the attack.

Every few days seem to bring a new incident; the beating of a policeman; a scuffle with members of the press outside the high court in Lahore.

The newspapers scream that lawyers have become a public menace. The police are incensed.

"Lawyers used to be a very gentle people," says superintendent Sohail Sukhera of Lahore police force. "They were polite and educated. But the last couple of years have converted them into an absolutely different commodity."

He says that, in the last month, there have been 18 cases of assaults carried out by lawyers in Lahore alone.

Murder is wrong. We all know that, right? So it's easy to say that it should be condemned.

We can take that one step further, when there is a murder, organisations and people should get out there and let people know they will not stand for such things. They should issue a condemnation, right?

And then when there is another murder the next day they should do the same again. The day after that too, inevitably there will be another murder. There may even be multiple murders in a day! (the world is a big place)

However this gets tiring - even for those simply reading the condemnations on a clock-like basis- and then just updating a press release on a daily basis would be crass and ignored by everyone as well, it is issues only so often.

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It’s not been great in ‘08 and it’s not going to be fine in ‘09

When George W Bush launched the War on Terror he promised it was going to be an eternal war. Now that he’s leaving office it is up to Bush’ successor to decide where the USS Overkill will dock next. And it looks likely that whoever wins the presidential election in November Pakistan will have to watch its step.

“Hmm… why Pakistan?” I hear you ask. Well, when Bush invaded Iraq and messed everything up over there he took the focus off Osama bin Laden. Instead of seeing the Afghanistan war through to its logical conclusion – i.e. catching bin Laden, destroying al Qaeda, etc – the US got bogged down in Iraq and picked up from where Saddam left off. If Barak Obama becomes US president he would refocus US priorities towards catching bin Laden.