Radio Mashaal - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Latest Pakistan News

Dozens Killed In Balochistan Bombing

Pakistani police say 81 people were killed in a bomb attack in the country's troubled southwestern Balochistan Province. More

The chief minister of northwestern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Amir Haidar Khan Hoti (right), in 2009

Pakistani Official Escapes Attack

The chief minister of northwestern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province has escaped unhurt after reportedly being targeted by a suicide bomber. More

Pakistan Man Dead In Diplomat Crash

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad says one of its diplomats was involved in a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a Pakistani man. More

Several Die In Attacks In NW Pakistan

Three attacks in northwestern Pakistan on February 14 have left at least 18 dead and scores more injured. More

The head of Pakistan's Awami National Party Asfandyar Wali Khan

Antiterror Agreement For Pakistani Parties

Representatives of political and religious parties in Pakistan have agreed on a joint strategy for combating terrorism at a gathering in Islamabad. More

More Pakistan News

Latest Blog Posts

Islamic cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri addresses his audience behind bulletproof glass at a rally in Islamabad on January 16.

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri: A Complex Man Full Of Contradictions

He calls himself Sheikh-ul-Islam and gets his supporters to swear allegiance to him on the Koran, but he hates to be called "maulana," a term regularly used to refer to religious scholars in Pakistan. More

Muhammad Shahid Nazir hit the big time with his Punjabi-inflected ditty to sell fish, leading to a Warner Music video released in December (pictured).

Pakistani 'One-Pound-Fish Man' Takes Show On The Road, Says No U.K. Deportation

The Pakistani fishmonger whose melodic sales pitch at a London market went viral and landed him a record deal has received a hero's welcome on his return to his native eastern Pakistan, and he's denied reports suggesting British authorities deported him. More

Blog Archive

Features & Commentary

Qazi Mehboob ul-Haq (left), the chief of Ansar ul-Islam, with supporters

Pakistan's Islamist Militia Ansar Ul-Islam And Its Fight For Influence

Recent bloodshed in a remote Pashtun region of Pakistan has thrust a little-known Islamist militia into the spotlight. RFE/RL profiles Ansar ul-Islam and the origins of the banned group's fight for influence against the most hard-line and violent Taliban faction in Pakistan.

Children run past ruined ships abandoned in sand that once formed the bed of the Aral Sea. Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan faces the danger of becoming another Aral Sea because of upstream diversion by China.

Interview: Author Discusses Asia's Water Woes

Brahma Chellaney, a professor at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research, has sounded alarms about the potential for conflict over water resources in Asia. RFE/RL talks to Chellaney about where the potential conflicts lie.

Tens of thousands of supporters of cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri gathered at a protest rally in Islamabad on January 15.

Who Stands To Benefit From Qadri's March?

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has brought tens of thousands of protesters to Islamabad and vows not to leave until the Pakistani government resigns. Who looks set to gain the most from the confrontation?

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri waves to supporters on his arrival in Lahore on December 23.

The Man Behind Pakistan's Democracy March

Influential Pakistani Muslim scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri is world famous for his 2010 fatwa against terrorism. Now, he wants to lead a millions-strong march on Islamabad on January 14 to demand clean parliamentary elections.

Veteran War Correspondent On Her Relationship With Benazir Bhutto

Christina Lamb, an award-winning war correspondent and author of five books, has spent 20 years reporting from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, and South America.

Nine polio-immunization workers have been killed by Islamist militants in the past week.

Slain Pakistani Polio Workers Remembered

In the past week, nine people involved in the polio-vaccination campaign in Pakistan have been slain. RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal spoke to family members of the two most recent victims.

Polio-vaccination is risky work in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan where militants have denounced it as "un-Islamic."

Explainer: Why Polio Remains Endemic In Afghanistan, Pakistan, And Nigeria

Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria remain the last battlegrounds for the global fight against polio. RFE/RL loks at why polio eradication campaigns have failed in these three countries.

PHOTO GALLERY: The Islamist terrorist group Jundullah has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on volunteers working to provide basic life-saving care and help eradicate polio in Pakistan through vaccination. There have been occasional attacks on health workers in the region in the past, but eight killings in several days sparked calls for central and regional Pakistani officials to better guarantee the young volunteers

Spate Of Pakistani Killings Suggests 'Humanitarian Space' Ignored

The killing of eight Pakistani polio vaccinators in the past week has raised concerns that the humanitarian space of aid workers is no longer considered sacred in parts of the region.

Radio Mashaal was launched in January 2010 in order to counter a growing number of Islamic extremist radio stations in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the border with Afghanistan.