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	Pakistan court dismisses 11 year old girl"s blasphemy charge by Asian Human Rights Commission & agencies   21 August 2012   Pakistan"s president has called for a report after an 11-year-old Christian girl with Down"s syndrome was arrested on blasphemy charges.   Police say the girl, known as Rimsha, was arrested after she was allegedly found holding a bag containing burnt pages with verses from the Koran written on them.   A mob threatened to burn her family"s home down unless she was arrested for blasphemy.   Pakistani police say the girl was taken to a police station in Islamabad, where she has been detained since.   Police say that when they interviewed Rimsha, she could not answer their questions and she had no concept of what she was carrying.   It is believed she was holding a bag of waste containing pieces of paper which had texts from the Koran written on them.   President Asif Ali Zardari has intervened, and called for a report on the incident. He says the country"s blasphemy laws should not be used to settle personal scores.   The girl"s plight has re-ignited debate about the treatment of religious minority groups in Muslim-majority Pakistan.   More than 1,000 Christians have been charged under Pakistan"s blasphemy laws and face jail terms ranging from up to 10 years to life imprisonment, and the death penalty.   19 Aug, 2012   Tensions rise between Muslim and Christian communities amid claims that 11-year-old desecrated text.   An 11-year-old Christian Pakistani girl could face the death penalty under the country"s notorious blasphemy laws, after she was accused by her neighbours of deliberately burning sacred Islamic texts.   Rifta Masih was arrested on Thursday, after complaints against her prompted angry demonstrations. Asif Ali Zardari, the president, has ordered the interior ministry to investigate the case.   As communal tensions continued to rise, about 900 Christians living on the outskirts of Islamabad have been ordered to leave a neighbourhood where they have lived for almost two decades.   One of the senior members of the dominant Muslim community told the Christians to remove all their belongings from their houses by 1 September. "I don"t think anyone will dare go back after this," said one Christian, Arif Masih. "The area is not safe for us now." A few brave souls have stayed behind, but shopkeepers have refused to serve their Christian neighbours or supply them with water.   Locals say only about 10% of families in the area are Christian, renting cramped houses. They tend to do dirty, menial jobs such as sewer maintenance.   Relations between the communities had been simmering for months after complaints were made about the noise coming from three churches in the area during religious services. Two of the landlords who owned the buildings had already ordered an end to worship and some services were forcibly broken up.   But there was no indication that all the Christians would be forced out so suddenly until Rifta was accused of the provocative act of burning the sacred words of Islam.   It sparked immediate demonstrations by crowds estimated at between 600 and 1,000 people, some of whom blocked the nearby Kashmir highway, the major road running west out of the capital.   The police, initially unwilling to take action, eventually charged the girl with blasphemy and took her into custody. The rest of the community, including her parents, fled.   As with many other aspects of the incident, there is disagreement about exactly happened.   Local Muslim activists say that "the law should be followed". Unfortunately, the law in question is Pakistan"s blasphemy law, which has a proven track record of ensnaring people on the flimsiest of evidence and being cynically used to intimidate communities or settle quarrels over money and property.   Even though no one has yet been executed for blasphemy in Pakistan, long prison terms are common – one Christian couple was sentenced to 25 years in 2010 after being accused of touching the Qur"an with unwashed hands.   There have also been cases of people killed by lynch mobs demanding instant punishment. Daring to criticise the law is incredibly risky and few do it.   In 2011, Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab province, was gunned down by his own bodyguard after he spoke out against the case of Aasia Bibi, another Christian woman accused of blasphemy.   * 20 Nov. 2012   A court in Pakistan has announced it has dismissed the blasphemy case against a young girl who had been "accused" of burning pages from the Koran. SBS Dateline reporter Evan Williams travelled to Pakistan, where he reports those accused of speaking out against the Koran or the prophet are punishaed by death or life imprisonment.   Evan Williams discovered that many people accused of the crime of blasphemy are innocent and it’s being increasingly used as a way for extremists to increase their power.   Even for those who are ultimately acquitted, Evan hears of ruined lives and being ostracised by their communities.   http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/601660/n/In-God-s-Name   28 Aug 2012   Red Cross halts most Pakistan aid after murder of doctor, threats to aid workers. (reuters)   Several offices closed, relief projects stopped. Hopes to re-open field hospital in Peshawar.   The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday it was halting most of its aid programmes in Pakistan due to deteriorating security and the beheading of a British staff doctor in April blamed on Taliban insurgents.   The independent agency, which had already suspended operations in three of Pakistan"s four provinces in May pending a security assessment, said it would carry on working in the country "but on a reduced scale".   "All relief and protection activities are being stopped. All projects of rehabilitation, economic projects, have been terminated," said Jacques de Maio, head of ICRC operations in South Asia, on one of the organisation"s blog.   "We have closed a number of offices. We are also terminating all visits to detainees in Pakistan," he added.   The agency, which rarely suspends its operations even in war zones, has worked in the country since 1947.   It was providing mainly health services and physical rehabilitation for victims of violence and natural disasters, many of whom have lost limbs.   The ICRC said it would focus on treating patients wounded in fighting and aimed to reopen a surgical field hospital in Peshawar. It has been closed since the murder of staff member Khalil Rasjed Dale, abducted by suspected militants in January.   The beheaded body of Dale, who ran a health programme in the southwestern city of Quetta in the Baluchistan province, was found on April 29.   De Maio said the plan was for Peshawar hospital to be its "flagship" operation in the country ... "unless we determine in the next few weeks that the prerequisites are not fulfilled and therefore the conditions are not met for us to redeploy".   ICRC offices in Sindh province, where flood recovery work is now complete, and in Quetta are being closed, the agency said.   In 2011, Pakistan was one of the largest ICRC operations in the world. The delegation employed 1,300 staff who assisted hundreds of thousands of people.   "We are ready to continue helping people in need, such as the wounded and the physically disabled, provided working conditions for our staff are adequate," Paul Castella, head of the ICRC delegation in Islamabad, said in Tuesday"s statement.   A senior police officer said when Dale"s body was recovered the Pakistan Taliban had claimed responsibility for the killing, saying a ransom had not been paid.   The Pakistan Taliban have been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state since the group was formed 2007.   Pakistan is an increasingly dangerous environment for aid workers.   Gunmen in Pakistan shot and wounded a staff member of the World Health Organization and an expatriate consultant working for the United Nations health agency in July.   A month earlier, a Pakistani militant group threatened action against anyone conducting polio vaccinations in the region where it is based, saying the health care drive was a cover for U.S. spies. 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	Search for answers as South African police shoot dead striking miners by SABC, The Independent & agencies South Africa   3 Sep 2012   Miner murder charges dropped.   South African prosecutors have provisionally dropped murder charges against 270 miners whose colleagues were shot dead by police.   Following a public furore, acting national director of prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba said she had taken the decision to review the charge.   "The murder charge against the current 270 suspects, which was provisional anyway, will be formally withdrawn provisionally in court on their next court appearance," Jiba told reporters on Sunday.   A final decision would be taken on the charges after a series of investigations into the shootings, which left 34 miners dead, had delivered their findings. They include a judicial commission of inquiry appointed by President Jacob Zuma, which has until January to present its findings.   A decision and a "pronouncement on final charges to be preferred against any persons involved will only be made once all investigations have been completed", she said.   Thursday"s decision to charge the miners over the August 16 killings during a wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine, in what was the worst police violence since the end of apartheid, had triggered outrage.   The workers have been held in custody since they were arrested on the day of the shooting at Lonmin"s mine in Marikana, northwest of Johannesburg, which left 34 dead and 78 wounded.   On Friday South Africa"s justice minister demanded the prosecutors explain why the arrested miners had been charged with murdering their colleagues, who had been shot dead by police.   30 August 2012   Lawyers say 270 workers will not get fair trial over strike massacre and demand their release. (The Independent)   State prosecutors have charged 270 strikers arrested at Marikana platinum mine with the murder of 34 colleagues. The arrests went ahead despite confirmation that the victims were shot dead by police.   The strike at Marikana that called for 3,000 rock drillers to have their monthly pay increased to 12,500 rand (£940) has led to a total of 44 deaths, including those of two policemen and two security guards. In shocking scenes on 16 August, police opened fire on a group of miners, killing 34 and injuring 78.   Lawyers acting for the detained men yesterday appeared for a third day at Ga-Rankuwa magistrate"s court to argue for them to be released on bail, after it emerged that state prosecutor Nigel Carpenter had increased the charges against the men from attempted murder and public violence to murder. Meanwhile, government mediators yesterday met representatives from the mine owner, Lonmin, and four trade unions in an attempt to sign a peace accord as a precursor to wage talks.   A lawyer acting for the men, Simon Hlahla, said several of the arrested men had been assaulted in custody by police, who appeared obsessed with finding the killers of the two officers who died on 14 August.   On Monday, the South African Star newspaper published details leaked from the post-mortem reports of the 34 men who were shot dead. According to the report, in the majority of cases, the bullet exited the body through the chest, suggesting the men were shot in the back while running away.   17 August 2012   Search for answers as South African police shoot dead striking miners. (SABC & agencies)   It was the bloodiest crowd control incident in South Africa since the apartheid era, a time when security forces routinely suppressed black township protesters with bullets.   South Africans were shocked by the police shooting deaths of 34 miners at the Lonmin platinum mine on thursday. With some saying the violence spotlighted government incompetence and others saying it was symptomatic of a disdain for the poor and least powerful.   The South African Institute of Race Relations, an independent think tank, compared the killings to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre when police killed more than 60 people.   "What happened at Lonmin is completely unacceptable," the institute said in a statement. "There is evidence that policemen randomly shot into the crowd with rifles and handguns. There is also evidence of their continuing to shoot after a number of bodies can be seen dropping and others turning to run. "It would also appear as if they were not properly equipped to control a crowd."   National Police Chief, Mangwashi Phiyega defended her officers actions at a news conference Friday, saying "they had no choice but to open fire when they were charged by a mob of angry miners, some armed with machetes and sticks".   She said police had tried tear gas, water cannons, stun grenades and rubber bullets, all of which failed to disperse the miners. In addition to the 34 deaths, 78 people were injured, she said.   Graphic video footage showed miners trying to rush at police, who responded by firing at them for about two minutes, as clouds of dust obscured the scene. When the dust cleared, numerous bodies were seen on the ground.   While some South Africans defend the actions by police, others say that the officers used excessive force.   They panicked, critics said, when charged by the miners, then opened fire and kept on shooting because they feared they would be killed. The shootings took place days after some miners had killed 2 police officers and 2 mine security officers.   Police have arrested 256 miners after Thursdays incident.   In a front page editorial headlined "African Lives as Cheap as Ever," the Sowetan newspaper said the massacre called into question the quality of South Africa"s leaders.   "We wonder whether there isn"t a numbness that comes with the death of an African. It has happened in other parts of the world where wars reduced human beings to nothing more than physical particles. It has happened in this country before where the apartheid regime treated black people like objects. It is continuing in a different guise now," the editorial said.   Protests are common in South Africa and can often turn violent. Most are not about political freedom; they are more often a cry for a better life from poor people living bleak, desperate lives with little hope of improvement.   South Africa"s townships and shantytowns see frequent protests over the government"s failure to deliver decent services, and a series of protests at mines have focused on better wages and work conditions.   According to the General Household Survey (GHS 2010) it is estimated that 21,9% of South African households have inadequate or severely inadequate access to food. The rural areas of South Africa bear the brunt of living without the fundamental security of regular meals, with unemployment levels as high as 70% in some rural communities. (The national average is 25.7%).   A study done by the Human Science Research Council in 2009, revealed that 19% of households reported skipping meals, and 20% ran out of money to buy food, 35% to 70% of expenditure goes to food in poor households, 50% to 80% of households could not afford an acceptable nutritional balance and based on current prics and levels of fortification only 20% of households could afford a minimum nutritionally adequate diet.   An independent police body, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, will look into whether the police action was justified, spokesman Moses Dlamini said Friday in a statement.   "The investigation will seek to establish if the police action was proportional to the threat that was posed by the miners. It is still early in the investigation to establish the real facts around this tragedy," he said.   Phiyega, who formerly led Transnet, the state freight agency, was appointed national police commissioner in June with no police experience.   The shootings Thursday brought the number of dead in the Lonmin platinum mine strike to 44. Miners walked off the job Aug. 10 demanding a significant wage increase. The 10 killed before Thursday"s shootings included two police officers, two security guards and three officials of the National Union of Mineworkers, one of two unions struggling for dominance in South Africa"s platinum mines.   One witness, Molaole Montsho, of the South African news agency Sapa, said police had first used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades in an attempt to break up the protest.   "And then in the commotion - we were about 800m [2,600ft] from the scene - we heard gunshots that lasted for about two minutes," he said.   David Nkolisi, 37, who works as a rock-drill operator, told the BBC: "We were killed for asking our employer to pay us a decent salary for hard work deep underground."   The miners, currently earn between 4000-5000 rand ($484 - $605) a month, say they want their salary increased.   The stand-off has been exacerbated by rivalry between two trade unions, with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), a new group, seeking to challenge the dominance of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) a number of commentators have reported.   South Africa"s president, Jacob Zuma, condemned the killings but made no reference to the handling of the situation by the police. "We are shocked and dismayed at this senseless violence," he said. "We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence.. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of all who have lost their lives."   Some of the strikers wives gathered near the mine on Friday, chanting anti-police songs and demanding to know what had happened to their husbands.   "Police, stop shooting our husbands and sons," read a banner carried by the women.   * Visit the South African Broadcasting Corporation via the link below. On 17 September, news agencies reported that the striking Lonmin miners had agreed to return to work after receiving a 22% pay increase. Visit the related web page
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