Pakistan minister rejects fatwa

Pakistan's Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar has dismissed a fatwa issued against her by an unofficial Islamic court in the capital, Islamabad. On Sunday, the chief cleric of the Lal Masjid Mosque issued a fatwa against her after she was pictured hugging a man following a paragliding flight. The cleric described Ms Bakhtiar's behaviour as obscene.
The mosque and two Islamic schools attached to it have been accused of promoting intolerance.

In an interview with the BBC's Newshour programme, Ms Bakhtiar said the photo was misleading. "The photograph was taken in a manner so that the whole thing was not portrayed clearly," she said. "It had the wrong caption." "In fact I am very proud of what I did, and if given the chance would do it again. "Under President Musharraf women's rights have moved on considerably," she said, "but we are still in a period of transition and negative forces are not feeling happy about it." Moreover, she said, the opinion of the chief cleric of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), Abdul Azizhad had no legal value because it did not reflect public opinion.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6540375.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6503477.stm

Pakistan has always been a harvesting field for all the renowned terrorists no matter how hard the govt denies. Be it the Al Qaeda terrorists or the laskhare taiba or even the kashmiri extremists. America is playing a safe role with Pakistan to crack down on the insurgents but in all fairness, we need not ponder too hard to make an assesment on pakistan being a land that serves as a haven for the growing muslim terrorists!!!

When the politics of a country is based on hating another country, as has often been the case in Pakistan in the past, little wonder the regressive and dark natures of people come up in ways like this. And countless other stories, often more potent than this, have come out of Pakistan that expose a society far from the "happy equilibrium" that Gen Musharaf tries so hard to potray. Radical Islam is only part of the problem in Pakistan: politics of hatred and prejudice is as big, if not bigger, of a problem in the country IMHO.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

The Doors