Dogfighters vs. the Taliban

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:

 

 

 

Dogfighters vs. the Taliban

 

ISLAMABAD-- " Thousands of villagers " attended a dogfighting

tournament in Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan on February 15, 2009,

" chaired by the social and political personalities of the area, "

Ravi Foundation executive director Ashfaq Fateh told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

" At least 34 dogs took part, " Fateh added.

A schoolteacher and prominent advocate of both human and

animal rights, Fateh had reason to be gravely concerned when the the

chief minister of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan announced

on February 16, 2009 that the Pakistani government will recognize

Taliban rule of the embattled Swat valley, in exchange for a

temporary ceasefire. The deal allows the Taliban to enforce an

interpretation of Islamic law that includes keeping women indoors

and prohibiting female education.

But the Taliban also prohibits dogfighting.

One measure of the declining influence of the Taliban in

Kabul, Afghanistan, after six years of a U.S. military presence,

is a recent resurgence of dogfighting as popular entertainment.

ANIMAL PEOPLE counted about 400 people in a New York Times photo of a

Kabul dogfight in December 2007. A New York Times photo of another

dogfight at the same site in December 2008 showed 2,000 people.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

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Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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