Pakistan President says don't observe Valentine's Day as it is against Islamic culture

"We should avoid Valentine Day as it has no connection with our culture," Hussain said while addressing a gathering of students - mostly girls - on the death anniversary of freedom movement leader Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar in Islamabad.

Hussain said that a blind following of western traditions will lead to a degradation of "our values", and has led to several problems including increase in attacks against women in a neighbouring country.

Hussain yesterday also said that Pakistan could achieve progress by adopting the philosophies of its great leaders.

Hussain's rhetoric against Valentine's Day came a day after the local elected council in Peshawar and Kohat district banned its celebration.

"There is no need to designate a special day where people give cards, chocolates and gifts to each other," district council chairman Maulana Niaz Mohammad said. "Valentine's Day has become a common and unnecessary part of our culture."

The celebration on February 14 has often been criticised by Islamists as an "insult" to Islam.

Police, however, said that the ban cannot be enforced as legally there is no bar on celebrating Valentine's Day.

Most people in Pakistan celebrate Valentine's day, usually observed by a limited number of people in major urban centres, at enclosed places due to fear of attacks by Islamists. In the past several such gatherings have been targeted and disrupted by activists of religious parties.

Baloch nationalists protest in front of White House

"At least 35,000 Baloch are missing. There is a grave violation of human rights on the people of Balochistan and all this is being perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the ISI," said Mama Abdul Qadir Baloch in an interview to PTI yesterday in front of the White House.

Vice president of the Voice for Baloch Missing Person, Qadir Baloch who came from Pakistan to attend this peaceful protest in front of the White House had carried out a 3,000 km long march from Quetta to Islamabad in 2013 against human rights violations in the province.

The White House protest was organised by the Baloch National Movement (BNM) to condemn the cold-blooded murder of its secretary general, Dr Mannan Baloch allegedly by the Pakistani army in Baluchistan.

"We urge US President Barack Obama to ask the Pakistani Government to immediately stop human rights violations against the people of Balochistan. We also urge US to send NATO forces in Balochistan to save its people from the atrocities perpetrated by the Pakistan Army on us," he said.

Calling for a free and independent Balochistan that can guarantee peace and stability in the region plagued by religious extremism and terrorism perpetrated by the Pakistani army, the peaceful protestors alleged that the military is currently engaged in a bloody campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population.

"We are asking the US government to intervene and stop military aid to Pakistan as American weapons are used by them for genocide against the Baloch people," Waheed Baloch, former speaker of Balochistan Provincial Assembly said.

"Recently they killed three political leaders. There is a war going in in Balochistan. There are protests in the streets, in the mountains," he said.

Dr. Mannan Baloch was assassinated because of his unwavering struggle to end Pakistan's forceful occupation of Baloch lands, deep sea port of Gwadar, resources (natural gas, minerals, copper and gold mines) and brutal human rights violations of civilians, he alleged.

Senge Sering, president of Gilgit-Baltistan Institute, in his address supported the struggle for the independence of Balochistan.

He also condemned the brutal murder of the BNM leader Dr. Mannan Baloch. 

Former Afghan governor kidnapped in Islamabad

Pakistan is in the grip of a homegrown Taliban insurgency but the tightly-guarded capital has a very low crime rate in general and the F-7/2 sector where Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi was seized is a high security area that houses politicians, bureaucrats and expats.

Wahidi was going to a restaurant in the market with his grandson Friday evening when he was abducted by unidentified men, a police official, who requested anonymity, told AFP

The boy reported the kidnapping to the local police station and said Wahidi was in Islamabad to apply for a British visa, police said.

"We have registered a case against kidnapping of the former Afghan governor and the case is being investigated," Zia-ul-Qamar, a spokesman for the Islamabad police, told AFP.