Islam

Lahore police in 2013 had registered a blasphemy case against Tanvir on the complaint of a local cleric. She was accused of denying the finality of Prophet Muhammad and claimed herself to be the Prophet of Islam.

In the past few months, the demand for old, rare and collectable notes has increased manifold. Collectors are now showing interest in buying collectable notes and coins even at a hefty price.

"It's a new country. It is a country in the making," says Raghida Dergham, founder of the Beirut Institute think tank and a longtime columnist in Saudi papers. What has happened over the past 20 years in Saudi Arabia, Dergham says, has amounted to "a major cleanup of extremism ... and it has not been easy."

Two Taliban spokesmen pledged that the terrorist group would protect women's rights, but only "within the limits of Islam."

Only about 60,000 pilgrims living in Saudi Arabia were eligible to take part this year.