Subject: South Asia Daily: Pak Media Mogul Sentenced for Purported Blasphemy; Modi, Sharif Maintain Distance at SAARC; Kabul Bank Defendants Request Review
From: "Foreign Policy" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 08:39:00 -0500 (EST)

Pak Media Mogul Sentenced for Purported Blasphemy; Modi, Sharif Maintain Distance at SAARC; Kabul Bank Defendants Request Review

If you have problems viewing this email, view it in a browser. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/view/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/0a206499> Please feel free to forward it to a friend <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/forward/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/acf2dac3>.

Foreign Policy <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/UlMc6uYQJxFs8sWzD1725>

The South Asia Daily

A News Brief from the South Asia Channel <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/UqckCuYQ7G1X-q8tC4d5f>

A special project with the New America Foundation and Johns Hopkins, SAIS

Pak Media Mogul Sentenced for Purported Blasphemy; Modi, Sharif Maintain Distance at SAARC; Kabul Bank Defendants Request Review

Pak Media Mogul Sentenced for Purported Blasphemy; Modi, Sharif Maintain Distance at SAARC; Kabul Bank Defendants Request Review

 <p>  <i>Editor's Note: The  South Asia Channel will not be publishing a daily brief on Thursday, November  27, and Friday, November 28, but will resume publication on Monday, December 1.</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>Pakistan</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Pakistani media  mogul sentenced for purported blasphemy</i>  </p><br><p>  On Tuesday Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, the owner of Geo News,  Pakistan's largest media group, was sentenced to 26 years in jail for airing a  program that showed people dancing to a song about the wedding of the Prophet  Muhammad's daughter (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuTTAf9e8 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Reuters</a>).  The charges were brought against ur-Rehman after the station publicly accused Inter-Services  Intelligence of shooting one of Geo News's top journalists. Ur-Rehman, along  with the host of a morning show and two guests, were also ordered to pay fines  of $16,600, surrender their passports, and sell their properties. The sentence,  which was handed down by an anti-terror court in Gilgit, is unlikely to be  enforced as court verdicts in that region do not apply to the rest of Pakistan.  The <i>News</i>, a newspaper owned by  ur-Rehman, published on Wednesday that it would appeal to the Supreme Court  against both the verdict and sentence.  </p><br><p>  <i>U.S. drone strike  killed eight in North Waziristan</i>  </p><br><p>  A U.S. drone strike in Datta Khel in North Waziristan  killed at least eight militants, according to a security official in the area who  spoke to Agence France-Presse via phone on the condition of anonymity (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuTcA99f4 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">ET</a>,  <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuThAf389 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">RFE/RL</a>).  The identities of the dead are still unknown but militants working for warlord  Gul Bahadur and the Haqqani Network, as well as Uzbek foreign fighters, operate  in the area where the drone strike occurred.   </p><br><p>  <i>Four polio workers  killed in Quetta</i>  </p><br><p>  In Quetta, four polio workers were killed and another  three were injured on Tuesday when gunmen on a motorcycle ambushed the workers  in their truck, using handguns to kill the driver of the truck and three female  workers sitting in the back of the vehicle (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuTsAb000 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">VOA</a>).  According to police official Asad Raza, the team was on its way to meet their  police escort, but a senior police official at the New Saryab Police Station said  the team left to begin work without a police escort (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuT0Aa069 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Reuters</a>,  <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuT3Aca26 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">ET</a>).  The Lady Health Workers association in Balochistan, the province where the  attack occurred, announced that it is now boycotting the polio campaign until  adequate security can be provided (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuT9A72a5 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Dawn</a>).  The assailants escaped and no group has claimed responsibility yet. Police have  conducted raids in the area and detained several suspects who are now being  interrogated.  </p><br><p>  <i>  -- Courtney Schuster  </i>  </p><br><p>  <b>India</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Modi, Sharif maintain distance at SAARC</i>  </p><br><p>  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime  Minister Nawaz Sharif maintained distance on the first day of the SAARC summit  in Nepal on Wednesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUFA3fb7 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Livemint</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUNA61db target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">ET</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUPA7dee target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">IBT</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUWA2fe7 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Reuters</a>). SAARC is an economic and geopolitical cooperation  between South Asian nations, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,  Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Even though Modi and Sharif were  scheduled to hold bilateral talks with other SAARC members, the Indian Ministry  of External Affairs said that "no structured meeting" was planned  between the two leaders.   </p><br><p>  While Pakistan said that "cancellation of talks was New  Delhi's unilateral decision," and the "ball is now in India's court for talks  between both the countries," India's claims that Pakistan needs to commit to a  "meaningful dialogue." Earlier this year, the Indian government cancelled  foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan, after Abdul Basit, Pakistani High  Commissioner to India, met with Kashmiri separatists.  </p><br><p>  No agreements were signed on the first day of the SAARC  summit, even though three were finalized prior to the summit, as Pakistan  objected to proposals to establish a regional power grid and boost rail and  road connectivity. Modi said: "As SAARC, we have failed to move with the speed  that our people expect and want from us... Is it because we are stuck behind the  walls of our differences and hesitant to move out of the shadows of the past?"  (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUfAd28f target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">WSJ</a>).   </p><br><p>  <i>U.S. and India hold trade dialogue </i>  </p><br><p>  Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman  and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman discussed bilateral trade and  investment ties at the Indo-U.S. Trade Policy Forum, which met after a gap of  four years in New Delhi on Tuesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUlAc2fb target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Economic Times</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuUvAbd69 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Indian Express</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuU2Ab7a7 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">Livemint</a>). The India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum is a platform  to discuss trade and investment issues and was established in July 2005. While  India raised immigration issues for Indians employed in the United States,  Froman spoke about improving the business environment in India to encourage  foreign investors. Sitharaman and Froman also discussed intellectual property  rights issues and food labeling standards.   </p><br><p>  <i>Bird flu outbreaks reported in India</i>  </p><br><p>  India ordered the culling of more than 150,000 ducks and  chickens in the southern state of Kerala after laboratory tests found bird flu  strains in dead poultry, according to the World Organization for Animal Health on  Tuesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuVAAeb89 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">NDTV</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuVCAbfcd target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">The Hindu</a>). Kerala's Animal Husbandry Minister K. P.  Mohanan said: "It is estimated that around 150,000 domestic ducks and a  few chickens are to be culled and burnt in the affected areas. The sale of duck  meat and eggs has also been banned" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuVIAa130 target="blank" style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414">BBC</a>).  Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced $2.4 as compensation for each  bird killed. While the first outbreak of bird flu in India was reported in  2006, so far no cases of human infection have been reported.  </p><br><p>  <i>-- Neeli Shah</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>Afghanistan</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Kabul Bank defendants  request review</i>  </p><br><p>  Three defendants in the Kabul Bank case have asked for a  superior court to review the appellate court's ruling that increased their prison  terms and the restitution amounts against them on Tuesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuVOA55f8 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">TOLO  News</a>). So far, only three individuals have paid their debts to the bank,  according to Attorney General Basir Azizi: Hussain Fahim, Mahmoud Karzai, and  Ghafar Dawi.   </p><br><p>  <i>No new ministers  for Afghan unity government</i>  </p><br><p>  On Wednesday, Mujiburrahman Rahimi, spokesman for Chief  Executive Abdullah Abdullah, denied recent claims that seven ministers will be  introduced to the House of Representatives as part of the unity government (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuVVA4249 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">TOLO  News</a>). Rahimi said: "Such an agreement [between Afghan President Ashraf  Ghani and Abdullah] has not been made. The introduction of names and ministries  are all baseless reports." According to "sources close to the president and  chief executive," Ghani and Abdullah are disagreeing on the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, and the National  Directorate of Security, and Abdullah has demanded to keep the ministers of  defense and foreign affairs, which Ghani has not accepted.  </p><br><p>  <i>Heroin labs  destroyed in Nangarhar raid</i>  </p><br><p>  An Afghan-NATO night raid led to the discovery and  destruction of nine heroin-producing labs in the Sherzad district of Nangarhar  province on Tuesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXXvUmOh8VLVuVZAc23f style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Pajhwok</a>).  Nangarhar police spokesman, Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, told <i>Pajhwok</i> that the team destroyed a huge  quantity of drugs, including 100 jerry cans of morphine, 1000 kg of ammonium  chlorite, and 800 gallons of acid -- all products used in heroin production.  </p><br><p>  <i>-- Courtney  Schuster</i>  </p><br><p>  Edited by Peter Bergen  </p><br> 

Register <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/UoEWH8JSdj56EApzDb0a7> at ForeignPolicy.com to receive South Asia Daily Brief and other FP newsletters. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/UoEWH8JSdj56EApzE371d>   

TRENDING ON FOREIGNPOLICY.COM <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/UlMc6uYQJxFs8sWzE47ca>

Egypt’s Sisi Piles on to Hagel’s Fractured Legacy <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHXFC8Po-rO80CeQAfea6>

by Reid Standish

Picking Up the Pieces at the Pentagon <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHR6lMPo-rO8yQjTAa1dc>

by Gopal Ratnam

Budget Blunders and Funding Follies <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/VHUfvsPocp99No9_A598c>

by Gordon Adams

If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please click <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/oc/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c720wl5.1zec/36196571> to safely unsubscrib