Being an atheist in Pakistan can be life-threatening. But behind closed doors, nonbelievers are getting together to support one another. How do they survive in a nation where blasphemy carries a death sentence? Omar, named after one of Islam's most revered caliphs, has rejected the faith of his forefathers. He is one of the founding members of an online group — a meeting point for the atheists of Pakistan.

Facebook has declined Pakistan’s request to pair mobile numbers with user’s account, a move that the government argue could help overcome the issue of fake accounts on the social network. Responding to an email by VOA regarding the social media giant’s reaction to the request made by the Pakistan government, Facebook spokesperson Christine Chen said the company had declined the request in order to protect the rights of its users.

In the midst of Trump administration developing its policies on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the experts in Washington, are divided. The key question seems to be how to make Pakistan cease its support to the Haqqani Network and other militant groups that are destabilizing the region, especially Afghanistan… By Hussain Nadim.

In Pakistan, a court in Punjab province has sentenced a 30-year-old man to death over posting allegedly blasphemous content on social media. Prosecutor Shafiq Qureshi confirmed the sentence against Taimoor Raza, according to The Associated Press and Reuters. It's the country's "harshest handed down yet for a cyber-crime related offence," according to Amnesty International.

The last week of May 2017 and first week of June brought one the most extraordinary heatwaves in world history to Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

A UN committee has condemned the “widespread practice of torture” in Pakistan by police, the military and intelligence agencies in a report published on Friday, and called on Islamabad to implement urgent reforms to the law. “The police engage in the widespread practice of torture throughout the territory ... with a view to obtaining confessions from persons in custody,” the UN Committee against Torture wrote in its first report on the situation in the country, made public after months of investigation.

A Pakistani boy’s hand was cut off after his employer “taught him a lesson” for demanding food and his salary, according to local media reports. The boy, 13, was reportedly employed by a landlady, identified as Shafqat Bibi, on a salary of 3,000 Pakistani rupees (around $29) to feed cattle and work at her house in Punjab province. Last week, the boy allegedly refused to do his job until the landlady fed and paid him, as he was destitute and starving, 24 News HD channel reported.

A youth was shot dead allegedly for contracting love marriage at Bhagowal village in Tanda police precincts late on Sunday night. Police said Zaheer Butt (28), son of Liaqat Butt, a local trader, had contracted love marriage with a girl of the same village. The girl’s family was against the marriage and had been nurturing a grudge against Zaheer.

The brutal mob killing of a university student who was accused of committing blasphemy has caused outrage in Pakistan. The country has strict and controversial blasphemy laws - which human rights groups say are often used to unfairly target religious minorities or settle personal scores. Could this case prove a turning point?

Facebook has agreed to send a delegation to Pakistan to help the government in its crackdown on online blasphemy, reported Radio Pakistan. An interior ministry spokesman said the social media giant has nominated a focal person to contact the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) over the matter. “The government has received a written reply from the Facebook administration stating that they are fully aware of Pakistan's concerns over blasphemous content and they are ready to solve the matter with consultation and dialogue,” he added.

A mob beat a Pakistani student to death at his university campus on Thursday after he was accused of sharing blasphemous content on social media, university and police officials said. A group of about 10 students shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack on fellow student Mashal Khan, who was stripped naked and beaten with planks until his skull caved in as other students looked on, video obtained by Reuters showed.

Pakistan has asked Facebook and Twitter to help identify users in violation of its strict blasphemy laws. Under Pakistani law anyone suspected of blasphemy can be prosecuted and potentially sentenced to death. According to Reuters, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Thursday that an official in Pakistan's Washington embassy has approached the two social media companies in an effort to identify Pakistanis, either within the country or abroad, who recently shared material deemed offensive to Islam.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday delivered a progressive and inclusive message to minorities in the country, saying "no one can force others to adopt a certain religion". Nawaz began his speech with a message of inclusiveness, saying his foremost duty as a ruler is to serve followers of all religions and not one in particular. “God will not ask a ruler what he did for followers of a certain religion,” said Nawaz. “He will ask people such as me: what did we do for God’s creation?”

In Pakistan, nearly all of the female population has experienced some sort of sexual violence in their lifetime. Seventy percent of Pakistani women and girls have experienced physical or sexual violence, and 93 percent of women in the country have experienced some sort of sexual violence in public places, according to Zia Ahmed Awan, Pakistan’s national commissioner for children and the founder of the Madadgaar National Helpline 1098, The Express Tribune reported.

An Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge has called for a ban on social media sites in Pakistan, due to the spread of ‘blasphemous’ images online. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui also wants people found to have posted blasphemous content online to have their names added to the Exit Control List, thereby prohibiting them from leaving the country.  “I will go to every extent to bring this case to its logical end and if needed I will even ban social media in Pakistan,” he is reported to have said. 

Pakistan is no place for free speech. A justice on Pakistan’s Islamabad High Court (IHC) has threatened to shut down the entirety of social media if criticism of Islam’s Muhammad continues, declaring these “blasphemers” as “terrorists.” According to local reports, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqi burst into tears while issuing the warning for those who apparently have taken to social media to criticize Muhammad. Siddiqi made it very clear that Pakistan would not allow for such displays of free speech.

Two transgender persons, both natives of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), died on Tuesday after being subjected to torture allegedly by Saudi police in Riyadh for dressing up as women in public. Thirty-five transgender people were arrested by a law enforcement agency for cross-dressing, which is a punishable offence in the kingdom. A rest house was raided where a ‘Guru Chela Chalan’ gathering, a formal meeting of Khuwaja Sara in which they choose their Guru (leader) and Chelas (Students), was taking place.

Pakistan International Airlines is investigating how seven extra passengers were allowed to stand in the aisles on a flight to Saudi Arabia, a spokesman told the BBC. The passengers were allowed on the 20 January flight to Medina despite every seat being filled, the airline said. Details of the flight have only emerged now because of extensive investigations by Dawn newspaper. Staff had issued additional handwritten boarding passes, the paper reported.

Anila Dhawan, 17, was kidnapped last spring from her home in Hyderabad, forced to convert to Islam and marry her abductor. The police refused to intervene. Her kidnapper told them she ran away from home, and converted to Islam and married him voluntarily. But after her family pressured a court to intervene, she told judges the truth and they freed her.

The Islamabad High Court in Pakistan's capital issued an order Monday that banned the celebration of Valentine's Day across the country 'with immediate effect.' The order prohibits the display of adverts on electronic and print media that reference Valentine's Day, bans the sale of associated merchandise and states that the day cannot be celebrated in "any public space or government building."