Islamabad, Pakistan
Clerics at the biggest mosque in Pakistan’s capital city have set up a Taliban-style Islamic court and threatened suicide bombings if their edicts are not followed. Some 11,000 students attend the Lal Masjid mosque’s madrasa, and many of them have already begun enforcing their version of sharia, Islamic law. Recently, female students who were veiled and armed with sticks kidnapped a woman who allegedly ran a brothel. When police tried to free her, the students took several officers hostage. The mosque’s latest fatwa calls for the country’s female tourism minister to be fired because she hugged her parachuting instructor, a man, after her first jump.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Buddhist monks’ US walk for peaceUnder the Radar Crowds have turned out on the roads from California to Washington and ‘millions are finding hope in their journey’
-
American universities are losing ground to their foreign counterpartsThe Explainer While Harvard is still near the top, other colleges have slipped
-
How to navigate dating apps to find ‘the one’The Week Recommends Put an end to endless swiping and make real romantic connections
