Saudi cleric warns driving could damage women's ovaries

30/09/2013

Saudi Arabia: A leading Saudi cleric warned women who drive cars could cause damage to their ovaries and pelvises and that they are at risk of having children born with "clinical problems."

Sheikh Saleh Al-Loheidan's widely derided remarks have gone viral as activists claim a website urging women to defy their country's driving ban has been blocked in Saudi Arabia.

"If a woman drives a car," Al-Loheidan told Saudi news website sabq.org in an interview, "it could have a negative physiological impact ... Medical studies show that it would automatically affect a woman's ovaries and that it pushes the pelvis upward."

Explained Al-Loheidan, "We find that for women who continuously drive cars, their children are born with varying degrees of clinical problems."

The controversial comments, published Friday, were widely interpreted throughout Saudi Arabia as an attempt to discourage women in the country from joining a popular online movement urging them to stage a demonstration by driving cars on October 26.

"This is his answer to the campaign," Saudi women's rights activist Aziza Yousef told CNN. "But it is an individual opinion. The clerical establishment is not behind this."

Added Yousef: "He's making a fool of himself. He shouldn't touch this field at all -- the medical field is not his field at all."

Mai Al-Swayan, who was one of the first Saudi women to sign the online petition, called the comments "ridiculous: " and added, "I am really disappointed. How could somebody ever make such a statement?"

Al-Loheidan's words have been ridiculed mercilessly via social media since they were first reported.

An Arabic Twitter hashtag called "#WomensDrivingAffectsOvariesAndPelvises" was quickly created to make fun of Al-Loheidan -- underscoring just how widely the call for Saudi women to defy the driving ban has resonated thus far.

And while numerous conservative voices have supported Al-Loheidan, many Saudis believe this was an extremely clumsy way of trying to counter the popularity of the October 26 campaign.

"I don't think it will harm the campaign -- on the contrary, it will make it stronger," said Saudi columnist and author Abdullah Al-Alami.

Since it published online over a week ago, a petition on the website www.oct26driving.com has garnered more than 12,000 signatures from those asking authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to lift a de facto ban than prohibits women from driving.

"There is no justification for the Saudi government to prohibit adult women citizens who are capable of driving cars from doing so," reads part of the petition. No traffic law specifically prohibits women from driving in Saudi Arabia, but religious edicts there are often interpreted to mean women are not allowed to operate a vehicle.

The new petition also urges the Saudi government to present "to the citizens a valid and legal justification" for the ban, demanding authorities should not simply blame it on "societal consensus."

Many supporters of the campaign expressed dismay when reporting the website could no longer be accessed throughout the Kingdom as of Saturday.

A post on the Oct26driving.com website read, "Society wanting the ban to be lifted is apparently such a threat that the page petitioning the government to lift the ban has been blocked from within Saudi."

Al Alami wondered if the numerous conservatives opposed to women being granted the right to drive may have asked for the site to be blocked. Still, Al-Alami said he isn't too concerned.

"The message has been delivered," said Al-Alami. "This is a battle we must fight. There is no U-turn."

CNN was unable to reach various Saudi Ministries for comment.

The issue of women driving in the conservative kingdom has long been a contentious one. And while such demonstrations are extremely rare, they have been staged at least twice before.

In June 2011, dozens of women across Saudi Arabia participated in the "Women2Drive" campaign by driving throughout the streets of their cities.

In 1991, a group of 47 women drove through the country's capital city, Riyadh. After being arrested, many were further punished by being banned from travel and suspended from their workplaces.

In addition to prohibiting driving, the country's strict and compulsory guardianship system also prevents women from opening bank accounts, working, traveling and going to school without the express permission of their male guardian.

Saudi Arabia has been moving toward change under its current ruler, King Abdullah, who is considered a cautious reformer and proponent of women's rights. In January, he appointed 30 women to the Shura Council, the first time women had been chosen for the country's top consultative body. In 2011, he announced that women can run for office and vote in local elections in 2015, and in 2009, he appointed Saudi Arabia's first female deputy minister.

Religious fury alters Miss World in Indonesia

27/09/2013
Jakarta, Indonesia : Demeaning, exploitative, degrading. Beauty pageants have been called lots of things.

And it's also the line coming from Islamic hardliners, who are protesting this year's Miss World Contest, which is held in the most populous Muslim nation in the world.

Protesters in Indonesia denounce the contest where women sashay in swimsuits and form-fitting evening wear, calling it insulting to Muslims and triggering threats of violence.

Islamic groups urged the government to shut the contest down. Hardliners burned signs featuring the image of last year's winner Wenxia Yu of China that read "Reject Miss World." They also presented what they deemed as appropriate attire for beauty contestants -- long dresses and full head scarves.

"It's only beauty, beauty and beauty, but also body, body and body, so that's why we consider it as a contest that exploits women physically," said Ismail Yusanto, spokesman of Indonesia's Hizbut Tahrir, a conservative Islamic group.

In an attempt to appease religious concerns, the pageant has scrapped the swimsuit competition and replaced it with less-revealing beachwear attire.

Also, the finals were originally to be held on the outskirts of Jakarta, but angry protestors forced the event to relocate to the Hindu resort island of Bali. Members of the group, Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) tried to travel to Bali by sea from East Java, but were stopped by police.

Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the CEO of MNC Group who organized the pageant locally, disputed the government's decision to move the contest to Bali.

He said no laws have been violated by the pageant and that "everything has been adjusted to the local culture. We all know that, so no bikini."

Even before the three-week contest began on September 8, protesters slammed it as "pornography" and held signs reading: "Miss World is whore contest."

"Our demand is still the same," Yusanto said. "Don't continue this contest."

Miss World's 127 contestants competed in beach fashion, fitness, world fashion, talent and "Beauty with a Purpose" meant to honor charitable work. The top 10 models -- from Ukraine, South Sudan, Brazil, Philippines, France, Cameroon, Cyprus, England, Italy and the United States -- were announced earlier this week.

A winner will be crowned in Bali on Saturday.

Security forces will have 700 police officers for the final event.

There has been criticism of how the Indonesian government handled the Miss World controversy, that it sent a message of capitulation in favor of a vocal minority.

Indonesia is a secular country with moderate Muslims, but "a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years," according to the Jakarta Post.

"We are a complex country, so we have to balance domestic concerns with our ability to host international events," said Mari Elka Pangestu, the Tourism and Creative Economy Minister of Indonesia. "But in general, Indonesia is very open."

But not all such women's contests are so vehemently opposed.

A week ago, the World Muslimah 2013 competition was held in Jakarta, to crown a woman who applies "Islamic values in everyday life," which includes the ability to recite from the Quran. Contestants dressed in head scarves and floor-length dresses. Obabiyi Aishah Aijbola from Nigeria was named World Muslimah 2013.

Photo gallery: See World Muslimah 2013

Eka Shanty, founder of World Muslimah says the difference between Miss World and World Muslimah is that the latter is not a pageant.

"This is an international award event to appreciate young and talented Muslim women."

In addition to decrying the Miss World contest, the conservative Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir does not support the World Muslimah competition.

Arrest made in Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf 'sextortion' case

27/09/2013

 Temecula, California:A college student was arrested Thursday for allegedly hijacking the webcams of young women -- among them reigning Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf -- taking nude images, then blackmailing his victims to send him more explicit material or else be exposed.

Jared James Abrahams, a 19-year-old computer science student from Temecula, California, surrendered on Thursday to the FBI on federal extortion charges, the agency announced. Authorities say he victimized young women surreptitiously, by taking control of their computers then photographing them as they changed out of their clothes.

Abrahams appeared in court later in the day, then was released "on intensive pretrial supervision and home detention with electronic monitoring" after his parents signed bond agreements totaling $50,000, FBI spokeswoman Lourdes Arocho said. U.S. District Judge Jean Rosenbluth ruled that he could use a single desktop computer at his parents' home for school only, albeit only after monitoring software is applied.

When he admitted what he'd done in June, Abrahams said he had 30 to 40 "slave computers" -- or other people's electronic devices he controlled -- and has had as many as 150 total, according to a criminal complaint.

His arrest came six months after a teenager identified in court documents as C.W. alerted authorities. She has since publicly identified herself as Cassidy Wolf, the recently crowned Miss Teen USA. She touted news reports of her alleged tormenter's arrest on her Twitter feed.

At the time she contacted police, in March, Wolf was not a national figure -- even though she was Miss Teen California -- and lived in an apartment and attended Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

Wolf got a Facebook alert that someone had tried to change her password to the social networking site, then noticed other passwords had been changed and that her Twitter avatar was now a half-nude picture of herself.

A short time later, she received what would be the first of many messages, this one featuring pictures of Wolf at her Riverside County address and others apparently taken months earlier when she lived in Orange County, says the criminal complaint. The message explained "what's going to happen" if Wolf didn't send pictures or videos or "do what I tell you to do" in a five-minute Skype videoconference, according to the criminal complaint.

"Either you do one of the things listed below or I upload these pics and a lot more (I have a LOT more and those are better quality) on all your accounts for everybody to see and your dream of being a model will be transformed into a pornstar (sic)," he wrote.

Recalling that day, Wolf told NBC's "Today" show she started "screaming (and) bawling my eyes out."

"I wasn't sure what to do," she said in August, shortly after her Miss Teen USA win. "So it was terrifying."

The messenger had taken great efforts to hide his online identity. But investigators were eventually able to find corresponding e-mails, IP addresses and other communications they linked to Abraham. They also tied him to online forums asking about malware, how to control webcams, and hacking into Facebook accounts.

Investigators also linked him to at least eight other young women -- some of them, like Wolf, from Southern California, though others were from as far away as Moldova. The victims told authorities similar stories: of a person they did not know saying, and in some cases proving, he had nude images and making demands as a result.

The stalker claimed to have 1,000 photographs of one woman, the complaint said. When she asked, "Why are you doing this to me?" the response was, "I told you I'll answer any questions after you Skype."

As an FBI agent was speaking by phone to this young woman, she logged onto her Instagram account to find it populated by nude pictures of her, the complaint said.

A few young women apparently complied with the demands for a Skype session. The man promised not to record the sessions and he made it look like he was erasing the nude pictures of them. One such session was found on the suspect's phone, police said.

Foul-mouthed hacker hijacks baby monitor

Investigators examining e-mail exchanges found one in which an alleged victim wrote she was downloading Skype and pleading, "Please remember im only 17. Have a heart."

"I'll tell you this right now! I do NOT have a heart!!!" he wrote back, per the complaint. "However I do stick to my deals! Also age doesn't mean a thing to me."

Authorities executed a search warrant at Abrahams' home on June 4, at which time he "voluntarily agreed to speak" with a pair of FBI agents. Describing himself in that interview as a college freshman who was good with computers, the complaint said, he admitted using malware and his expertise to "watch his victims change their clothes and ... use the photographs against them."

Abrahams further admitted the e-mail accounts, VPN, domain names or other pieces of the electronic puzzle that investigators used to build a case were his, according to the criminal complaint.

Outside the court Thursday, Abrahams' lawyer Alan Eisner said that his client's family feels "profound regret and remorse" over what happened. He told CNN affiliate KTLA that Abrahams is autistic.

"The family wants to apologize for the consequences of his behavior to the families who were affected," Eisner said.

As to the now 19-year-old Wolf, she is juggling her studies at the New York Film Academy with duties tied to being Miss Teen USA.

A lifelong dancer and aspiring model, Wolf is using her platform to promote a number of initiatives -- including, given her personal experience, the issue of cyberstalking.

"It does happen," she said in an interview with CNN affiliate WPIX. "And there are ways to prevent it."

Naked scammers seduce, blackmail men on Web

Malala is Pakistan’s envoy for education,PM Nawaz Sharif

26/09/2013

UNITED NATIONS: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said his government considers promotion of education at all levels imperative for realizing socio-economic development of Pakistan.

He was speaking to UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown, who called on the prime minister on the sidelines of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Brown was accompanied by Malala Yosufzei, the Pakistani education activist.Nawaz Sharif said his vision is to build an education system that promotes knowledge economy, creativity, critical thinking and innovation.

Pakistan appreciates and welcomes international cooperation including the support of initiatives like Global Education First.

The prime minister thanked Gordon Brown for his continued support to the government’s efforts to promote education in Pakistan.

He said education was a high national priority. His government was committed to achieving all Millennium Development Goals including the goal of universal primary education.

Prime Minister Sharif also attended a meeting on “Education for All” hosted by Gordon Brown with heads of UN agencies including UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, as well as bilateral and multilateral entities such as USAID, AUSAID, DFID, World Bank, European Commission, and NGOs engaged in promotion of education.

Nawaz Sharif said that Malala was working to spread the message on education in the world and his government would help her in this regard.

He said that Malala was like her own daughter and his government would continue supporting her.

He said that Malala was Pakistan’s ambassador for education and his government supported her objectives.

National University of Sciences and Technology fines girls for wearing jeans, tights

25/09/2013

SLAMABAD: The management of National University of Sciences and Technology (Nust) has made it mandatory for female students to wear ‘dupatta’ and put a ban on wearing ‘jeans’ in the premises of the university, according to sources.

The Nust’s management, however, has denied the report, saying that students have been instructed to wear ‘decent’ dresses.

According to a notice pasted on the notice board of the university, 11 students have been fined because of different reasons, including smoking and eating in labs. As many as seven students have been fined for not wearing dupatta or wearing jeans and tights.

A document signed by Nust’s Deputy Director (Administration) Abdul Nasir shows that some female students have been fined Rs500 to Rs1,000 for wearing jeans and tights and for not wearing dupatta.

According to the document, RA, a student of BBA, was fined Rs1,000 for wearing jeans and SM, another BBA student, was fined Rs500 for wearing tights.

Another five students — ZB, HA, AT, AB and SM — were asked to pay fines ranging between Rs500 and Rs1,000 for not wearing dupatta.

All the students were checked on Sept 17 and were found without dupatta.

According to a faculty member, Nust does not allow formation of academic staff association. Talking on condition of anonymity, he said no one from faculty members would comment on the issue. The environment in the university was very strict because all important administrative posts were held by retired army officers, he added.

“Male and female students are not allowed to sit together and they are fined for violation. Teachers and students know that they will be fired and rusticated if they do anything against the will of the administration,” he said.

Another faculty member who works in the Rawalpindi campus of the university said that top management of the university was liberal, but junior officers were very strict and they were running the university like a ‘military academy’.

TALKING POINT: The Nust issue has become much talked about among the youth of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. They are sending messages on cellular phones to each other and posting their comments on social media networks.

A student posted on Twitter: “There is a separate cafe which boys can go to after 5 and separate cafe for girls….. Hide conversation.”

Another student Tweeted: “Wow.. never had an idea Nust was the taliban markaz.. thank God I didnt submit fee there.”

One student wrote: “Its the new Pro-Rector who is coming up with such awesome rules. It was bearable before.”

Nust’s spokesman Irshad Rao was contacted through Public Relation Officer Syed Raza Ali, but he refused to respond on the issue.

Mr Raza Ali told Dawn that he had seen the notice but he could not say anything about it because the management did not share such things with the media wing.

“As far as I know the management has instructed students to wear formal dresses and in case of violation they are fined. The Media wing will look into it on Wednesday,” he added.

Personal Staff Officer of Rector Col Mohsin said that students were allowed to wear any kind of dress.

However, he added, students were not allowed to wear indecent dresses. “Shorts are not allowed in university’s premises. As far as Hijab is concerned, it is up to the will of parents,” he said.

When he was asked about the notice of fines, Mr Mohsin said that he was not aware of it.

113 cases of rape, 32 of gang-rape registered in Lahore,Police

20/09/2013

LAHORE: The capital city police have registered as many as 113 cases of rape from Jan 1 to Aug 31 this year, out of which 62 have been ‘resolved’ and 86 accused arrested.

The police, however, failed to submit complete challans in 27 cases they claimed to have solved but awaited forensic evidence results or lack of evidence. In some of these cases suspects were on bail.

Similarly, the police registered 32 gang-rape cases during the eight months of which only 10 were resolved with their challans submitted and 22 accused arrested.

Official statistics available with Dawn show that out of the 113 rape cases reported to the police, 24 turned out to be ‘fake’ after investigations were conducted into them.

The police took 86 accused into custody out of 113 wanted in as many rape cases.

Of 32 gang-rape cases, only seven were discharged because of being fake while 15 others were ‘solved’ but still being probed into.

Out of 110 accused involved in gang-rape cases, police only arrested 22 during the first eight months of the year.

A senior police investigator told Dawn that mostly the victims in rape cases were teenaged girls. He said there could be several cases which were not reported to police because of the stigma attached to being victim of the crime.

He claimed the police solved a majority of cases, arresting the ‘rapists’ who were usually nominated.

The investigator said the police had to rely on physical evidence and suspects’ confessions in rape cases as eyewitness accounts were hardly available.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Abdul Rab Chauhdry said many of the incidents had their roots in unchecked access of youth to internet and cable network. Mostly parents neither properly guide their children nor keep an eye on their activities on the internet, he added.

He said as such cases are hard to investigate, it usually led to submission of incomplete challans in courts.

Non-preservation of evidence, mishandling of DNA by forensic experts and doctors, delay in collection of victims’ swabs, involvement of innocent people in cases, delay in complaints to police and compromise between victim’s family and the accused party were among major factors behind submission of complete challans in courts, he said.

Education helps improve economy: Unesco

20/09/2013

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani women having good literacy skills earn 95 per cent more than those with weak literacy skills, according to fresh data released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) on Thursday as prelude to the 2014 ‘Education for All Global Monitoring Report’.

While only 30 per cent of the unlettered women believe they can have a say over the number of children they have, the ratio increases to 52pc among women with primary education and to 63pc among those with lower secondary education.

The data released by Unesco just before a discussion on the development agenda during the coming UN General Assembly shows that education plays a vital role in giving young women the freedom to make decisions to improve their lives.

The team formulating the forthcoming Unesco report has cited Mariam Khalique, a teacher who has used education to foster the confidence and abilities of her pupils, as prime example of women playing important roles in society because of their education.

One of Ms Khalique’s many pupils is Malala Yousufzai who is now known across the world for her advocacy of girls’ education.

The analysis was released at a school in New York, where Ms Khalique taught a class full of people about the benefits of education.

“Education has unrivalled power to reduce extreme poverty and boost wider development goals,” said one of the blurbs released on the occasion to promote the ‘Education for All Global Monitoring Report’.

“Investing in education, especially for girls, alleviates extreme poverty through securing substantial benefits for health and productivity, as well as democratic participation and women’s empowerment,” said another blurb.

“To unlock education’s transformative power, however, new development goals must go further to ensure that all children benefit equally not only from primary education but also from good quality secondary schooling.”

The Unesco team led by Pauline Rose says that education also helps girls and young women to resist oppressive social limits on what they can or cannot do.

The analysis shows that education equality improves job opportunities and serves to enhance economic growth. If all children, regardless of their backgrounds and circumstances, had equal access to education, productivity gains would boost economic growth.

Over a period of 40 years, per capita income would be 23pc higher in a country with equality as compared to one with unequal educational opportunities.

According to the analysis, people with higher education are likely to use energy and water more efficiently and to recycle household waste. Across 29 mostly developed countries, 25pc of the people with less than secondary education expressed concerns for the environment, compared to 37pc with secondary education and 46pc with tertiary education.

Ms Rose adds: “Our analysis provides evidence that educated girls are far more likely to be able to protect their children from preventable diseases, and to stave off malnutrition in their children’s early years.”

Walk on burning coal track: 18 booked for practicing inhuman tribal ritual

20/09/2013

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Border Military Police have booked 18 people for holding a tribal ritual called ‘Aas Aaf’ that requires a person to walk ‘unhurt’ on a track of burning coal to prove his innocence or of a fellow tribesman or a kin in cases of adultery, theft or murder.

According to Chacha BMP officials, the ritual that is still practiced by some Baloch tribes was twice held at the residence of a local, Mureed Bukhsh Alkani, in Neelani tribal area of Rajanpur.

Sources said Alkani also charged ‘rent’ for providing his place for holding the ritual and entertaining those who attended it a couple of days back.

They said during the ritual Hasan Mohammad of Mana Ahmadani, Jampur tehsil, walked on the burning coal to prove innocence of his brother Niaz who was accused of killing a local, Sawan.

In the second case, Ameer Bukhsh Leghari facing the allegation of having relations with the wife of Lalu Zarghani of Tuman Gorchani tribal area of Rajanpur, was put to the ‘test’.

The sources said in both cases the accused were declared innocent by the tribal elders who inspected the soles of the two men to ascertain they were not hurt.

On being informed of the incident, BMP, Chacha tribal area of Rajanpur registered a case against 18 people, 10 of them nominated.

Political Assistant and Commandant of Rajanpur BMP Mr Saifullah talking to Dawn said 18 people who participated in the ritual had been booked under sections 436 and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code.The nominated accused include Mureed Bukhsh, Maoj Ali, Maulvi Ibrahim, Jan Mohammad, Bhutto Nokani, Baz Ali and Lalu.

He said Mureed Bukhsh who was host of the ritual had been arrested.

A local, Sher Mohammad, told Dawn: “Before holding of the ritual, verses from the Holy Quran are recited and then the accused (or someone on his behalf) begins 24-foot-long walk on burning coal.”

Putting men and women in separate boxes harms everyone

20/09/2013

One of the most enduring and, to me, infuriating tropes thrown up by the financial crisis of 2008 is that the crash might not have happened if Lehman Brothers had been “Lehman sisters”. The quip, which has been thrown around by the likes of IMF chief Christine Lagarde, reflects a kind of lazy, sugar-and-spice gender essentialism that sets my teeth on edge. More importantly, it reduces analysis of economic and corporate skulduggery to individual characteristics rather than the pressures that are built into the structures of capitalist systems to produce maximum returns in the shortest possible time. So the joke is not only a tedious slice of benevolent sexism, it also misdirects the finger of blame.

There is little scientific doubt that the typical man is more prone to risk-taking and competitive impulses than the typical woman, and testosterone alone can account for at least some of that difference. However, the people who are selected to spin the roulette wheels of international finance are anything but typical. People who reach influential positions in corporations do so because they have the ruthless personality, mindset and talent (if that word is appropriate) to meet the demands of their employers. It might be slightly easier to find men like that, but this does not mean women appointed to such roles would behave any differently.

Economic observers typically attribute the seeds of the 2008 crisis to a combination of reckless risk-taking and outright corruption - most notably in the collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Just as risk-taking has been laid at the door of masculinity, so too has corruption. Women, so the theory goes, are simply more honest than men. Back in 1999, the World Bank conducted a major study into political governance which suggested women are more trustworthy and public-spirited than men, and found that the greater the representation of women in parliaments around the world, the lower the level of corruption.

In some parts of the world this has been applied as a systematic policy. Women-only traffic police units have been introduced in Mexico City to cut bribery. A similar experiment in Lima, Peru has reported mixed results over the past 15 years. The gender effect has been quoted regularly in international anti-corruption policies of bodies like the UN. But is it true?

A fascinating academic paper published this week suggests that, unsurprisingly, it’s a bit more complicated. Political scientists Justin Esarey and Gina Chirillo dug deeper into the data and found strong evidence that a gender gap in corruption-related attitudes and behaviours is indeed present in democracies, but the gap is weaker or non-existent in autocracies.

They argue that women have stronger incentives to adapt to political norms because of the risks created by gender discrimination - under patriarchal systems, women are subject to greater social pressure to adhere to prevailing social expectations. Women, they say, will be resistant to corruption in places where it is already culturally and institutionally stigmatised, but behave identically to men where such practices are simply a normal part of doing business, or even expected. This is in keeping with a lot of psychological research, which has found that women are more cautious or reluctant to behave dishonestly when they know they are being observed or if there is a risk of punishment, but just as prone to mischief if they think they can get away with it.

The new research suggests that it is not the case that bringing more women into politics reduces corruption. Instead, the process of democratisation reduces corruption and simultaneously helps to bring women into politics. (I hope it goes without saying that bringing more women into politics remains an urgent and necessary goal for many, many other reasons.) By extension, it is a reasonable assumption that bringing more women into the boardrooms and trading floors of multinational finance would, on its own, be entirely ineffective at preventing future scandals.

There is one final reason why we should be wary of the Lehman Sisters logic. Underpinning it is the belief that men are inherent risk-takers or aggressive traders, and women are more naturally prone to long-term thinking or empathic and pro-social behaviour. This is the exact same logic used by sexist employers to place men in high-risk, high-returns positions and women in PR and personnel. This is not only scientifically bogus, it is politically damaging. Those of us who believe that people’s lives should not be mapped out by their gender would do well to avoid the exact same mistake.

By arrangement with the Guardian

Thousands of people protest against Quebec's charter values

16/09/2013

MONTREAL:
Thousands of people gathered in Montreal to speak out against Quebec’s proposed charter of values, which has sparked a heated debate across the country.

Multiple faiths joined together Saturday to march through Montreal's downtown core in protest of the controversial charter, which would restrict public servants from wearing religious symbols – such as kippas, hijabs, turbans and larger-than-average crucifixes – in the workplace.

The event began with speeches at a downtown park, and from there, protesters marched for two-kilometres through the city. Organizers expected 20,000 people at the event, and said it would be the first of several actions against the proposed charter.
Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal said the crowd came together to send a message: “no interference with religion, no interference with freedom.”
John Walsh, a retired Catholic priest, said he joined the march in a show of solidarity with people of different religions.
“We're in one society, we're one people, we're all Quebecers and we want the best society that we possibly can build together,” he told CTV Montreal.
Earlier this week, the province’s governing Parti Quebecois unveiled its plan to secularize and remove religious symbols from public office, a move that would affect all public servants, including government employees, doctors, nurses and teachers.

Opinion polls have indicated that there is support for the charter, but mostly in the rural parts of Quebec.
Employers will be given an opt-out grace period of five years, but the long-term goal of the Parti Quebecois is secularization.
Laila El-Hakkani, who moved to Canada from Morocco, said she was shocked by the PQ’s proposal.
“When I came here, I came here like this,” she said, pointing to her head scarf. “Why now you're obliging me to change my values?”
Mireille Paquet, an associate professor of political science at Concordia University, says that the charter reinforces strong stereotypes about Quebec.
"That is that people in Quebec would be more racist, more intolerant, and that sovereignty is also about exclusion," she told CTV News Channel.

Paquet said criticism is coming from parts of the country where multiculturalism is a valued part of society, but that other, less diverse regions favour the proposal.
"I think that it is important to realize … that for the government, it is seen as an integration policy," Paquet said. "The impact of it might lead to exclusion, but I think that it's a complicated topic."
Many from the Jewish community were not participating in Saturday’s protest because it was scheduled on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) released a statement saying that they are in favour of religious neutrality and the equality of men and women, but added the charter will unnecessarily divide Quebecers.

Protest against five years old girl rape

Islamabad: A child girl hold placard during protest against five years old girl rape

People in Karachi facing water shortage

KARACHI: Sep15 – Kids stand with their bottles as they wait for their turn to fill water from a running tap at roadside in the area of Bazarta Line, Saddar, where people are facing water shortage. - See more at: http://photos.thenews.com.pk/e_image_detail.asp?catId=2&date=9/16/2013&albumId=0&page=10&picId=77653#sthash.pd5wRaan.dpuf

KARACHI: Sep15 – Kids stand with their bottles as they wait for their turn to fill water from a running tap at roadside in the area of Bazarta Line, Saddar, where people are facing water shortage. - See more at: http://photos.thenews.com.pk/e_image_detail.asp?catId=2&date=9/16/2013&albumId=0&page=10&picId=77653#sthash.pd5wRaan.dpuf

Karachi:Kids stands with their bottles as they wait for their turn to fill water from a running tap at road side most people in Karachi facing water shortage.

KARACHI: Sep15 – Kids stand with their bottles as they wait for their turn to fill water from a running tap at roadside in the area of Bazarta Line, Saddar, where people are facing water shortage. - See more at: http://photos.thenews.com.pk/e_image_detail.asp?catId=2&date=9/16/2013&albumId=0&page=10&picId=77653#sthash.pd5wRaan.dpuf

Three women slain on FR Kohat Jirga order

16/09/2013

KOHAT: A woman, who had fled away from her house, along with her two accomplices was executed on the order of Jirga held here, Geo News reported on Monday.

 Sources said that the women coming from Jawaki area of FR Kohat was residing in Karachi from where she allegedly fled away with a man to Swat hardly after two years of her marriage. A case of kidnapping of the woman was registered in Karachi and hunt for recovery was started. Later, Swat police recovering the wanted woman handed her over to her heirs.
 Sources further said that a Jirga was held last night at Jawaki, when the run away woman and her aunt and a cousin for aiding and abetting in her fleeing from the house were cold bloodedly murdered on the orders of the Jirga.

Political administration said that investigations were in progress

Miss New York crowned 2014 Miss America

16/09/2013

ATLANTIC CITY: Nina Davuluri became the second consecutive contestant from New York to win the Miss America pageant.

Davuluri won the title as the nationally televised pageant returned home to Atlantic City.

She succeeds another Miss New York, Mallory Hagan, whose tenure was cut short when the pageant moved back to Atlantic City after a six-year stint in Las Vegas, where winners were chosen in January.

Davuluri performed a classical Bollywood fusion dance for her talent competition. She is the first winner of Indian descent.

After the traditional frolic in the Atlantic City surf Monday morning, she will head to the scene of a devastating boardwalk fire in Seaside park and Seaside Heights Monday afternoon.

No excuses, hang them

16/09/2013

On Friday, a five-year-old girl was found lying unconscious in front of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Lahore after she and her little cousin – a three-year-old boy – went missing from their neighborhood in Mughalpura. A security official posted at the gate carried the unconscious child into the emergency ward; the scene has been repeatedly seen on television scenes, the child’s white frock and limp form on the security guard’s shoulder, a harrowing sight. After the medical check up, it was concluded that the little girl had been raped multiple times, by several persons, and because of injuries to her lungs and internal organs, her condition was critical.
Her family located her after announcements from the local mosque alerted neighbours, and reports of a child found abandoned outside the hospital turned out to be the culmination of the family’s worst nightmare. Attempts to file an FIR were initially rebuffed, until the matter came to the media’s attention and attracted the ire of the Chief Minister Punjab. Finally, the official machinery swung into action. In a brief and trembling interview with a private channel, the father of the child spoke simply. He did not know who was to blame. All he wanted was justice.
Regardless of the unanimity of horror and grief expressed at the crime, it has been difficult to find words to condemn an act of such cruel and depraved evil. A child, defenceless, alone, and at the mercy of society, has been made the victim of a crime of such horror that it cannot be explained – and it cannot be forgiven. In a country where women and children are constantly subjected to some of the worst crimes on earth – ranging from trafficking to sexual assault – the mere act of addressing the press, and issuing suo moto after suo moto is not enough.
Rape occurs every two hours in our country, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, while every four to eight days, a gang-rape victim is found. It was in the winter of 2012 when the nation was shocked by the Umerkot rape incident; a six-year-old was kidnapped from Ghulam Nabi Shah town of Umerkot District and raped. Civil society was outraged, the Supreme Court vowed action and politicians issued condemnation – but at the end of the day, nothing changed.
The culprits must be caught, if it takes combing the city with a fine toothcomb to do it. Their guilt must be established beyond doubt, through a fair trial. DNA evidence, so foolishly reviled by religious councils, must be used without apology and without fear. Once guilt is established, advocating for leniency in this case is not an option. Only by making extraordinary examples of these inhuman brutes, will justice be served. Find them, and hang them. This is not for revenge, or motivated by bloodlust, or religiously inspired. Quite simply, there is no place in the world of our children, for people like this.

Female police officer shot dead in Afghanistan

16/09/2013

KABUL: An official says gunmen have shot and wounded a top female police officer in Afghanistan's south, months after her predecessor was killed.

The shooting Sunday morning in Helmand's province's Lashkar Gah district was the latest in a series of attacks on prominent Afghan women.

Provincial government spokesman Omar Zawak says two attackers on a motorbike shot a 35-year-old police officer, who he identified only as Negar, in the right shoulder outside her home.

The attackers escaped.

Negar, a five-year veteran of the department, is expected to survive.

She had replaced the late Islam Bibi as a senior investigator.

Bibi was also the highest ranking female police officer in Helmand until her assassination in July. Several prominent Afghan women have been attacked or kidnapped in recent months.

Balochistan girl scores top grades in ‘O Levels’

16/09/2013

QUETTA: A girl student of Balochistan got five A*s (90 per cent or more) and three As (between 80pc and 89.9pc) in this year’s O Level examinations given by the University of Cambridge, it was learnt on Sunday.
Rafia Durrani, a student of the Iqra Army Public School, Quetta, may be the region’s top-scorer for the examinations.
According to the information released by the British university, Rafia secured A*s in English language, mathematics, physics, chemistry and Urdu. She secured As in biology, Islamiyat and Pakistan studies.

Can Films Help Stop Violence Against Women?

Senator (r) Iqbal Haider

 

After a long time Pakistan has reasons to rejoice. To receive Oscar is an unprecedented honour received by Pakistani Director Sharmeen for her film “Saving Face”. By any standard, it is a great historic achievement that shall always be cherished with pride by the nation. The Academy Award has no doubt improved image of Pakistan in the comity of nations. Sharmeen, Dr. Wajid and other members of their team deserve all the compliments and appreciations from all section of our society. Our Prime Minister was equally delighted. He did not waste any time in rightly announcing the highest civilian award to Ms. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Our Sindh Assembly promptly offered heartfelt felicitations to Ms. Sharmeen, her team and film on winning the Oscar. I am sure, had the Senate or National Assembly been in Session, they would have also paid rich tribute on this historic achievement. The cause that is projected by Sharmeen is commendable. Defacing of women by acid is a rampant menace in Pakistan. The film will definitely promote awareness against the curse of acid attacks in our society.


In the past couple of decades, several documentaries have been skilfully made by Pakistani Directors on various issues of violence against women. To name a few are “Who will Cast the First Stone”, “Hawa Kay Naam / For A Place Under The Heavens”. BBC has also produced more than one documentary to highlight the rising incidents of honor killings in Pakistan. We don’t have a dearth of NGOs who have been consistently voicing condemnation against all forms of violence against women. Numbers of such incidents have been broadcast virtually every day by our electronic media. People from most walks of life are rightly and forcefully expressing their concern against these horrible practices continuing in Pakistan without any check or restraint.


Despite all the hue and cry by most sections of our society, the irrefutable shameful fact is that on 2^nd August 1999, Senate of Pakistan refused to condemn Honour Killing. Situation in National Assembly was even worst as the very discussion on this issue was not allowed in November 2003. Since, then I don’t know of any Houses of Parliament or Assembly passing any Resolution in strong substantive terms against such barbaric practices and uncontrolled incidents of violence against women. Regrettably even our Supreme Court last year dismissed Appeal of Mukhtara Mai, one of the highly publicized but the worst victim of gang rape. Consequently all the rapists went scot free.


I hope the Prime Minister while conferring award on Sharmeen, announces effective administrative measures to provide some relief and redress to the victims Sharmeen has highlighted in her film. The Federal and Provincial Government must also control such incidents of violence against women and ensure arrest, prosecution and punishment of the culprits. Only then would I feel satisfied that the object of the film has been achieved, if it results in improvement of the ground realities.

 

Hijab is the right of Women

Hijab is the right of Women

Cases of acid attacks on women will be tried in anti-terrorism courts, Hameedah Wahiduddin.

11/09/2013

BAHAWALPUR: Sept 11: Punjab Minister for Women Development Hameedah Wahiduddin has said the cases of acid attacks on women will be tried in anti-terrorism courts across the province.

Speaking at a function held at working women’s hostel here on Wednesday, she claimed that the decision reflected the government’s efforts towards empowering women and bringing them to the mainstream.

She said women’s service quota had been increased to 15 per cent with three-year age relaxation for their recruitment in government departments. She said 16 working women’s hostels had been built in several districts.

At a divisional na’at competition and art and craft exhibition at the Government Higher Secondary School for the Blind, Minister for Special Education Asif Saeed Manais said the government was taking measures to provide facilities of speech therapy and physiotherapy to the special children.

The government, he said, was already providing free education, uniform, shoes, books, transport and monthly stipend of Rs800 to each special child. He held out an assurance to school principal Rehman Afzal to overcome the staff shortage in the school.

POACHERS: A magistrate of Yazman, on the complaint of field officials of the wildlife department, on Wednesday issued warrants for the arrest of 10 people for illegal hunting of deer at Ahmadwala pond in Cholistan and opening fire on wildlife staff members.

Wildlife Deputy Director (Bahawalpur division) Chaudhry Afzal Hussain said Kamran Dahar, Qazi Mumtaz, Kabir and others opened fire on officials who found them involved in illegal hunting.

HOCKEY: Bahawalpur Corps team on Wednesday won army hockey championship by defeating Gujranwala Corps.

Bahawalpur Corps Commander Lt-Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat gave away prizes

Five-year old girl, gang-raped and then mercilessly left outside Hospital in Lahore

13/09/2013

LAHORE, Sept 13: The horrific case of a five-year old girl, who was gang-raped and then mercilessly left outside Ganga Ram Hospital, has left many shaken and disgusted.

The fact that there is a complete lack of a system of law and order in the country hits people each time such an incident occurs. To make matters worse, the public seems to dwell in its insensitivity and a state of denial, never raising any cries against the crimes.

“We may try to hide or justify all these incidents but the fact is that rape does exist and it will be better for us as a society if we recognise it and try to work from there,” says Irfan Mufti, deputy director of the South Asia Partnership, an NGO that tries to raise awareness about gender equality among other issues especially at the grass-root level.

“The problem in Pakistan is that we have no judicial system, we have no social system that can help avoid such crimes in future or help give penalty to the perpetrators for an incident,” he deplores.

Mufti also says a lack of awareness and care that parents have towards their children is appalling, where small children are left alone by their parents and are easily susceptible to crimes.

Diep Syeda, a social activist, views the situation as extremely unfortunate and compares it to the level of protest that took place in India after the infamous Delhi rape case.

“Not that any country in South Asia is any different but what happened at such a mass scale in Delhi shows that the civil society was still alive there. They came out despite circumstances, protested and put the government under real pressure,” she says. “Here, today the media acknowledges it but tomorrow all will be forgotten.”

She says it has more or less become fashionable only to discuss such issues but when it comes to taking to the street, people retreat in fear of embarrassment. Sumera Salim, Senior Capacity Building Officer of Aurat Foundation’s Gender Equity programme, proclaims that capital punishment would be a small penalty to pay for such offenders.

“We have discovered that for some reason these rape cases are more frequent in Punjab,” she says. “This is surprising because there is no lack of education as such but I do blame that poverty and unemployment may have a role to play.”

But Pakistan Criminologists chairman Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat refutes this suggestion saying rapists and sexual abusers are essentially “sick in the head”.

“They cannot be termed normal by any standards even of the direct reasons of a rape incident lie in family feuds, or some other causes. In fact we have done a study where many times fake pirs have encouraged men to get physical with young girls (underage) so that they may overcome their sexual weaknesses. These men never rape their own family members so they are clever enough to select their victims, too.”

Dr Burfat says Pakistan was going through an intense period of social disorganisation where the social system had ‘collapsed’ and all the institutions such as family, religion, and even police, which kept people’s behaviour in check to a large extent, had more or less collapsed. The unfortunate part was that there has been no alternate social organisation which could replace this collapse. There was only a void.

“The media has crossed all ethical boundaries and has been airing the details about the girl without realising the shame and the hurt that her family can face as a result. The media should realise that it can talk about the criminals but not about the victims in such detail.

“As for India, the civil society there is organised because they have a more collective nationalistic spirit. We, on the other hand, have divided ourselves into communities and groups. We do not fight for the same cause, even if that cause is to stand up for a minor child.”

Delhi gang-rape four men sentenced to death

13/09/2013

NEW DELHI: Four men were sentenced to death on Friday for fatally raping a young woman on a bus last December in an attack that triggered angry protests throughout India and widespread calls for their execution.

Judge Yogesh Khanna, who convicted the men for gang rape and “cold-blooded” murder earlier this week, rejected their lawyers' plea for a lighter sentence.

"“This has shocked the collective conscience of society,” he said, referring to the attack.

The four — Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma, aged between 19 and 29 at the time of the crime — had all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Everybody got the death penalty,” said A.P. Singh, the lawyer for Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma, outside the courtroom.

Vinay Sharma, a gym instructor, broke down in tears as the sentence was announced and had to be dragged out of the court.

The woman, a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist, and a male friend were lured onto a bus by five men and a teenager. The woman was then repeatedly raped and tortured with a metal bar.

Her injuries were so severe that she died two weeks later in a Singapore Hospital.

She became a symbol of the dangers women face in a country where a rape is reported on average every 21 minutes and acid attacks and cases of molestation are common.

One of the five men arrested in connection with the attack committed suicide in prison in March, while the teenager was sentenced to three years in a reformatory last month, the maximum sentence that can be given to juveniles under Indian law.

The victim's parents, who were the forerunners of the death penalty in this case, have said their daughter's dying wish was for her attackers to be “burned alive”. They claimed they would not get closure unless the attackers were sentenced to hang.

The father of the victim, who was named Nirbhaya by Indian media which is a Hindi word for fearless, said he was "happy" with the verdict.

Flanked by his wife and sons, he told reporters inside the newsroom, "“We are very happy. Justice has been delivered."

Khanna's ruling still has to be ratified by the Delhi High Court, and the four men can appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.The appeals process could take years, lawyers said.

Why India is treating its women so badly

13/09/13

The New Delhi rape case left the whole world wondering why India is treating its women so badly. In fact, discrimination against women already starts in the womb: India has some of the most distorted sex-ratios in the world. There are regions where fewer than 800 girls are born for every 1,000 boys. For many reasons Indian culture prefers sons. An expensive bride-price, or dowry, is only one of them.day-by-day, thousands of parents circumvent rarely enforced laws and have their baby daughters aborted after an ultrasound scan has revealed the sex of the fetus. It is estimated that India has been losing up to 12 million baby girls over the last three decades.

I wanted to find out what it means for a society if such a significant number of women are missing.

In one village just two hours drive outside Delhi, I met Narinder, a schoolteacher, and his family. He had three brothers and only one of them got married. There weren't enough brides, because the village has been aborting their daughters for decades.

Narinder told me that he had already reached out to an agent who would find him a bride from afar. In fact, he planned to share this bride with his brothers.

I felt sorry for Narinder, because he totally understood that his misery was due to the fact that his village has been actively selecting for sons. Still, in a quiet moment, he confided to me, that if his purchased wife would be pregnant, he'd make sure it was a son. I was perplexed. Everyone in this village knew it was wrong to prefer sons over girls, everyone experienced the problems firsthand.

And still, like sleepwalkers, they continued their way, because culture dictates that sons are a blessing and daughters a curse.

After the Delhi rape case, the whole world looked at India in disbelief, its urban middle class took to the streets. I returned to India to meet Shafiq Khan, a former Maoist rebel, who realized that violence is not the way forward. Shafiq now uses his wit and bravery to make inroads into rural India's patriarchal societies.

We hit the dusty streets, down to Haryana where Shafiq introduced me to women who do not have a voice, women for whom nobody demonstrates. They are abused and raped and sold like cattle and nobody cares. They are called Paro, or strangers. They are the sort of women Narinder will buy -- those who make up for the scores who are never born.

Akhleema and Tasleema, two sisters from Kolkata, were born into a poor family, before her aunt sold them via an agent to two brothers in Haryana, who could not find a bride. Within weeks, Akhleema was beaten so hard by her husband, that she lost hearing in her left ear. Both spend their time cooking, cleaning and tending the fields. They have no rights, no voice and, most shockingly: there is no way back. They have children with their men and it is culturally unacceptable to leave them behind.

But where are all these trafficked women coming from? In a cruel paradox, it's the poor northeastern states of India, like West Bengal or Assam, where sex-ratios aren't that skewed, that make up for large parts of all the missing women.

Assam is beautiful, even during the dry season. The Brahmaputra winds its way through the plains, quietly and peacefully.But don't be mistaken", Shafiq says. Because during the rainy season, the river erupts over its banks, destroys fields and villages. In these already poverty-stricken regions, flooding takes away the little people have. Thousands of families are pushed into poverty and helplessness. They end up in flood shelters, vulnerable and easy prey for traffickers, like Saleha and her husband Husain. Their daughter Jaida went missing two years ago. They saw a man entering the hamlet and talking to Jaida. She vanished without a trace.

In a remote village on the dusty floodplains we meet Halida. She had just turned 14, when a man kidnapped her while fetching water. For two days he raped Halida, told her that he would bring her to Delhi in order to sell her. Halida could escape, but now she cannot go to school anymore, because all the children know of the rape and tease her. The parents, day-laborers, cannot find work anymore, because they are ostracized by the whole village. The rape destroyed the family.

While the trafficker may have lost his prey, it's unlikely that he will ever be punished. The police are corrupt and the more destruction there is, the easier it will be for him to find new victims.

Thus closes a vicious circle in which millions of India's women are trapped. The prejudices against women are so deeply engrained in the cultural fabric, that only a combined effort, old and young, urban and rural, will be able to break it once and for all.

Child care home rules 'may have helped paedophiles'

13/09/13

"Absurd" secrecy rules applying to children in care homes may have helped paedophiles target them, Education Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Gove described a "wall of silence" when he tried to get information about homes.

The education secretary was acting in the wake of the Rochdale grooming scandal in which a group of men were jailed for targeting young girls.

The government is due to publish a full report on children's homes in England.Bewildering regulations'

Mr Gove described a situation where it was very difficult to gather basic information about care homes and the children in them.

He said he believed this could have hindered the police and helped individuals and groups seeking to harm children.

The education secretary said his department was unable to gather details about where children's homes were located and who was responsible for them.

The regulator Ofsted was not allowed to pass information to the police because of data protection rules and what Mr Gove called other "bewildering regulations".

Mr Gove said gangs that targeted children in places such as Rochdale did have this information.

He said: "They knew where the homes were; they knew how to contact the children - at the fish and chip shop, the amusement arcade, in the local park, or just by hanging around outside the houses.

"In the name of 'protecting children' by officially 'protecting' their information, we had ended up helping the very people we were supposed to be protecting them from.

"We shielded the children from the authorities who needed to be looking out for them. An 'out of sight, out of mind' culture developed."'Indefensible'

Mr Gove said he had been been determined to change the situation, resulting in the publication of Friday's detailed report.

He said it was "indefensible" that almost half of children in homes were placed outside their local authority area, and more than a third over 20 miles away.

"So, too, is the fact that more than half of children's homes are in areas with above-average crime levels," he added.

The report is set to reveal that councils spent an average of £4,000 a week to put a child in a home.

It will show that almost one in three homes are believed to have fallen below the government's minimum standards.

Nine men from Rochdale and Oldham in Greater Manchester were jailed in 2012 for running a child sexual exploitation ring.

The men, who exploited girls as young as 13, were given sentences of between four and 19 years.

'He drowned his daughter in a rage'because he wanted a son

12/09/13

A man in Pakistan who confessed to drowning his one-and-a-half year old daughter says he now regrets his actions. His family says it was because he wanted a son, but it highlights the grave issue, across South Asia, of female infanticide. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool met the family in Lahore.

We meet 28-year-old Umar Zaib as he waits, shackled, outside court.

"It was a mistake," he tells me. "I made a big mistake. I don't know what was going through my mind when I did it."

Umar Zaib is talking of the crime he committed against his daughter, Zainab, who was just one-and-a-half years old.

Then the police jostle him and push him towards the courtroom. He is under arrest and yet to be charged but has admitted to the police that he drowned his daughter.

He insisted it was all because of a fit of rage. But when she described the horrors of what happened, Umar Zaib's wife told us a very different story.

"It was late at night but my husband told me we all had to visit his sister, but we stopped close to the river," says Sumera, 24.

"I had both our daughters with me. My husband told me I wasn't holding Zainab properly and he took her from me."

"In front of my eyes, he threw her in the river."

"I was helpless, I started crying, Zainab was screaming in the water but when I tried to save her he beat me."

Pleading for help

On the outskirts of Lahore, we visit the place beside the powerful River Ravi where Umar Zaib has now told investigators he killed his daughter.

On the Ravi Bridge towering over the spot, devotees hurl meat for the flocks of carnivorous birds that circle close by, hoping for blessings in return.

This dirty bankside, where the stench of the brown waters mixes with that of rotting meat, is where Sumera says she last saw little Zainab struggling and pleading for help.

A short distance downstream, we find two divers still looking for her remains in the fast-flowing waters.

They are ill-equipped, and admit to us that so long after the event they have all but lost hope of finding Zainab's tiny body.

Sumera says her husband threatened to kill her as well if she told anyone, so for several days she was too scared to go to the police. But finally she found the courage to tell her parents.

They will now support their daughter and her young baby.

Sumera says she is certain of her husband's motive in killing their daughter.

"Since our first daughter has born, he wasn't happy, he wanted a son," she tells us.

"He said if I had another daughter, he'd kill our first child, Zainab. When, eight weeks ago, I did have another girl, he kept threatening more and more, then he did it."

She says her husband, a rickshaw driver, and his extended family all looked down on female children, thinking them a curse, but she says their family was not alone.

"My life is empty without Zainab," she says. "But he has forgotten her already and he told me she's gone where she is supposed to go."

The disturbingly prevalent tendency, across this region, to kill babies purely because they are female is been well-documented.

The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, has a team dedicated to the issue in Pakistan.

It says girls are murdered primarily because of cultural pressures and poverty.

But for years, rights groups in Pakistan have also accused law enforcement agencies of not taking the issue seriously.

"Yes, of course cases like that happen in Pakistan," says Basharat Ali, the investigating police officer in Zainab's murder case.

But then he suggests that Zainab's mother has questions to answer too.

"How can a mother, who sees someone else throw her daughter in the river, just leave quietly and not report it for a week?"

He may be behind bars now, he may even have admitted to killing his daughter, but in Pakistan there are no guarantees Umar Zaib will be properly punished for killing his child, apparently just for being a girl.