ISLAMABAD: Armed men have burnt down a yoga centre in Islamabad inaugurated by a world famous Indian Hindu guru who once offered to teach inner peace to the Taliban, police said yesterday.
The Art of Living centre was torched on Saturday night in the upmarket Bani Gala suburb of the capital. It was the Pakistan branch of a international non-government organisation founded by Nobel peace prize nominee Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Nayyer Salim, a police official said some eight to nine people were involved in the attack. “The watch man told us that some eight to nine men armed with pistols and guns came and asked for money. Then they tied up three employees on duty and spread petrol,” he said.
Shahnaz Minallah, the Pakistan co-chair of Art of Living who was in Lahore at the time of the arson confirmed the incident but declined to comment further until she reached the site.
Police said the motive behind the incident was not yet clear but they were investigating whether it was related to the centre’s connection with India. Shankar last visited Pakistan in 2012, said: “I would love to stretch my hands to Talibans because I would like them to see from a broader perspective of the universe.”
Women MPs fare well in first year
ISLAMABAD: Women members of the lower house of Pakistani parliament have fared quite well in the first year of their parliamentary stint, according to a report released by the Free and Fair Election Network.
The report, released on the International Women’s Day, showed that women legislators played an active role in the lawmaking process by submitting as many as a dozen private member bills. These 12 bills focused on issues related to governance, human rights, democracy and political development, the report said.
Similarly, 20 resolutions, 14 calling attention notices, 1,383 questions, 22 motions under 259 and raised a total of 64 points of order were singly submitted by women parliamentarians in the National Assembly during this period, it said.
Agencies
