South Asia this week

Published February 9, 2013
Demonstrators hold placards during a protest to condemn the hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru in New Delhi. India hanged a Kashmiri militant on Saturday for an attack on the country's parliament in 2001, and security forces, anticipating protests in response to the execution, imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir and ordered people off the streets. President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a mercy petition from Mohammad Afzal Guru and he was hanged at 8 a.m. (0230 GMT) in Tihar jail in the capital, New Delhi, officials said.
Demonstrators hold placards during a protest to condemn the hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru in New Delhi. India hanged a Kashmiri militant on Saturday for an attack on the country's parliament in 2001, and security forces, anticipating protests in response to the execution, imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir and ordered people off the streets. President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a mercy petition from Mohammad Afzal Guru and he was hanged at 8 a.m. (0230 GMT) in Tihar jail in the capital, New Delhi, officials said.
A man portrays a freedom fighter from Bangladesh's liberation war of 1971 against Pakistan, as he attends a mass demonstration at Shahbagh intersection, demanding capital punishment for Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Abdul Quader Mollah, after a war crimes tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment, in Dhaka. More than fifty thousands of protesters rallied in cities across Bangladesh for a fourth day on Friday to demand the execution of an Islamist leader sentenced to life in prison for war crimes comm
A man portrays a freedom fighter from Bangladesh's liberation war of 1971 against Pakistan, as he attends a mass demonstration at Shahbagh intersection, demanding capital punishment for Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Abdul Quader Mollah, after a war crimes tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment, in Dhaka. More than fifty thousands of protesters rallied in cities across Bangladesh for a fourth day on Friday to demand the execution of an Islamist leader sentenced to life in prison for war crimes comm
A Pakistani child, whose family was displaced by 2010 floods from a village in Pakistan's Sindh province, sits on a wooden cart outside her family's makeshift home, in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.?Photo by AP
A Pakistani child, whose family was displaced by 2010 floods from a village in Pakistan's Sindh province, sits on a wooden cart outside her family's makeshift home, in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.?Photo by AP
Pakistani workers dye thread at their roadside shop in Lahore. Pakistan's central bank on Friday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 9.5 percent, as its foreign exchange reserves fell and GDP growth is expected to remain below four percent.?Photo by AFP
Pakistani workers dye thread at their roadside shop in Lahore. Pakistan's central bank on Friday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 9.5 percent, as its foreign exchange reserves fell and GDP growth is expected to remain below four percent.?Photo by AFP
Afghan people walk next to a poppy field in the Khogyani district in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Poppy cultivation is expected to increase in both eastern and western provinces of the country.?Photo by AP
Afghan people walk next to a poppy field in the Khogyani district in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Poppy cultivation is expected to increase in both eastern and western provinces of the country.?Photo by AP
An Afghan boy walks with balloons for sale on a cold winter's day in Kabul.  Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor with the lowest standards in the world.?Photo by AFP
An Afghan boy walks with balloons for sale on a cold winter's day in Kabul. Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor with the lowest standards in the world.?Photo by AFP
An undated production still photograph from the Oscar-nominated film, "Buzkashi Boys," which was filmed in Kabul, Afghanistan, shows actors Jawanmard Paiz, center, Fawad Mohammadi, right, and director Sam French at work on the set of the film. The actors were plucked from the dingy streets of the Afghan capital to be the main stars of ?Buzkashi Boys,? a coming-of-age movie filmed entirely in a war zone and nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.?Photo by AP
An undated production still photograph from the Oscar-nominated film, "Buzkashi Boys," which was filmed in Kabul, Afghanistan, shows actors Jawanmard Paiz, center, Fawad Mohammadi, right, and director Sam French at work on the set of the film. The actors were plucked from the dingy streets of the Afghan capital to be the main stars of ?Buzkashi Boys,? a coming-of-age movie filmed entirely in a war zone and nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.?Photo by AP
Indian policemen detain Kashmiri Muslims following a scuffle with Hindu Bajrang Dal activists during a protest after the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru in New Delhi. A Kashmiri separatist was executed Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001, an episode that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.?Photo by AFP
Indian policemen detain Kashmiri Muslims following a scuffle with Hindu Bajrang Dal activists during a protest after the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru in New Delhi. A Kashmiri separatist was executed Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001, an episode that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.?Photo by AFP
Indian devotees throng the banks of Sangam or confluence of the Yamuna, Ganges and mythical Sarawati rivers at sunrise during the Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad. The Kumbh Mela in the town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million worshippers gather over 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings.?Photo by AFP
Indian devotees throng the banks of Sangam or confluence of the Yamuna, Ganges and mythical Sarawati rivers at sunrise during the Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad. The Kumbh Mela in the town of Allahabad will see up to 100 million worshippers gather over 55 days to take a ritual bath in the holy waters, believed to cleanse sins and bestow blessings.?Photo by AFP
A Tamil activist displays portraits of Tamil tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009, during a protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, in Tirupati, India. Tamils in various parts of the country are protesting Rajapaksa's two-day personal visit to religious places of worship in India. ?Photo by AP
A Tamil activist displays portraits of Tamil tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009, during a protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, in Tirupati, India. Tamils in various parts of the country are protesting Rajapaksa's two-day personal visit to religious places of worship in India. ?Photo by AP

—Photos by Agencies

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