A group of well-known Pakistani women's rights activists were stopped by police, who did not exempt the march from the ban on gatherings imposed because of the war. Meanwhile, the NGO Minority Concern recalls the tragedy of double discrimination against girls from minority groups, who are victims of forced conversions, abductions and lack of access to education and work.
The military escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan comes as the International Monetary Fund is considering the third review of its aid programme to Islamabad. The closure of border crossings, rising inflation and the energy crisis exacerbated by the war in the Middle East risk undermining an already fragile economic recovery.
Pakistani rockets continue to strike Taliban political and military targets in Afghanistan, with the UN reporting at least 66,000 people displaced and dozens of civilians killed. Pakistan also faces anger from its own Shia community following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli attacks against Iran.
Renewed fighting between Pakistan and the Taliban is further exacerbating the precarious situation of families registered as refugees by the UNHCR but without a clear pathway to permanent resettlement. Often living incognito for security reasons, they fear repatriation to Afghanistan, under a government that persecutes them. One woman pleads: "I want my children to be able to grow up without fear.”
In Karachi, several people die in an attempted assault on the US consulate. Tensions were high across Pakistan, home to the world’s second-largest Shia community, with the authorities imposing a ban on public demonstrations. Protests also erupted in India, from Lucknow to Kashmir, as well as in the Karnataka city where Iran's late supreme leader opened a hospital in 1986.
On 2 March 2011, the then Minister for Minority Affairs, a Christian, was killed in Islamabad. His life was shattered for his stance on the rights of marginalised groups and his opposition to the blasphemy laws. Despite death threats, he refused to leave the country; his legacy lives on in those who still fight against persistent discrimination.
