Staving off a protest that became as violent as it was quickly subdued, Pakistani police fired off live rounds and shot tear gas into a crowd of more than 1,000 students Thursday as protesters attempted to demonstrate in front of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. Furious over the Innocence of Muslims film that has sparked blowback across the globe, protesters burned U.S. flags and hurled objects at riot police amid fires and clouds of tear gas in Pakistan’s capital.
According to India’s NDTV, the protesters were headed toward Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave where the U.S. Embassy is located until they were thwarted by police, who set up a barrier of truck containers to block access to the embassy. “I was ordered by my boss to disperse the crowd and that is why I had to open live fire but the aim was nearby trees and not the demonstrators,” Zaman Khan, a police officer, told Dawn newspaper. Russia Today has a video of protesters attempting to penetrate the barrier and brandishing black Islamic flags:
Tag Archives for Pakistan
Pakistan: Pizza Hut Enrages Diners in Attempt to Stem ‘Gluttony’
Tries to enforce the spirit of Ramadan; gets customers who want to pig out annoyed at them.
Pizza Hut has withdrawn its all-you-can-eat offer in Pakistan for the holy month of Ramadan, prompting a furious response from thousands of families.
It says it wants to “reduce gluttony” by limiting customers to a single regular pizza in its Ramadan Fiesta offer.
In previous years, its 44-strong chain of restaurants would be packed for the evening meal of Iftar, as diners hungry from a day of fasting would fill up with pizza after pizza for as little as the equivalent of $11 – a figure industry analysts said was unsustainable.
Fast food fans have taken to social media to complain at the new, cheaper deal, which is still advertised as an “all-you-can” offer.
“Pathetic and a misleading deal. It’s only one regular pizza with bottom-less Pepsi, not all you can eat,” said one post on Pizza Hut Pakistan’s Face-book page.
“This should be ALL YOU CAN DRINK … not EAT. your deal SUCKS,” said another furious comment.
Imran Khan, a student and regular customer at a branch in Karachi, said: “We come here a lot at this time of year. The place was always packed in the evening. For a lot of people, it had become a Ramadan tradition so this change is very sad.”
Muslims in Pakistan are forbidden from eating during the day through-out Ramadan – a stricture that has been enforced by police in recent years.
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As a result, breaking fast at sun-down is often a big family occasion or a chance to entertain friends and colleagues.
The all-you-can-eat controversy has reached Pakistan’s national newspapers, forcing Pizza Hut Pakistan on to the defensive.
Marya Khan, the chain’s head of marketing, insisted that a single regular pizza was big enough for two diners and that the new, restrained offer was more in keeping with the spiritual side of the holy month of Ramadan.
“The former all-you-can-eat format served as an unrestrained invitation to gluttony and waste, colliding with the very spirit of Ramadan,” she said.
“For those who do not consider Iftar deal as a means of just gorging after sunset, then the new Ramadan Fiesta offered by Pizza Hut is a well-balanced and valuable deal to enjoy finest pizza at a value price.”
Pizza Hut in Pakistan was one of many fast food restaurants to have benefited from a move away from the traditional Iftar meal of spiced fruit salad, chickpeas and dates.
No doubt these ‘observant’ Muslim hypocrites would have bankrupted the chain, if they hadn’t put an end to their ‘All You Can Eat’ deals, so it isn’t just benevolence and trying to motivate their fellow Muslims to observe the true spirit of Ramadan, at work here. Still, have to commend them for their bravery – and their argument is probably quite sound, according to the tenets of their faith.
Hey, if First World people bitching on social media about stuff is ‘First World Problems’ / ‘White Whine’, then what is it when Third World brown middle-class people do it? Someone needs to start such a website…
In Pictures: Siachen, the World’s Highest Battlefield
A striking photo-essay, of a beautiful but deadly place.
The Siachen glacier is usually regarded as the world’s highest battlefield. With both India and Pakistan claiming the glacier, thousands of soldiers from both countries are stationed in the area. It borders the Pakistani- and Indian-administered portions of disputed Kashmir. (All photos by Prashant Panjiar)
