Nawab of Bahawalpur remembered on his death anniversary

24/05/2016
ISLAMABAD: The fiftieth death anniversary of Nawab of former State of Bahawalpur Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi the Fifth was observed on Tuesday.
He was born on September 29 1904 at Derawar near Bahawalpur.

He ruled the Bahawalpur State from 1907 to 1966. In August 1947 he received the title of Amir of Bahawalpur.
At the time of partition all the princely states of the subcontinent were given a choice to join either Pakistan or India.
On October 5 1947 he signed an agreement with the government of Pakistan according to which Bahawalpur State joined Pakistan.
Thus Bahawalpur was the first state that joined Pakistan.
The main factor was of course the Islamic sentiments of the Muslims who were in majority in the Bahawalpur State.
Moreover Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi and founder of Pakistan Quaid i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah were close friends and had great respect for each other even before the creation of Pakistan.
The Quaid i Azam acknowledged the valuable contribution of the Bahawalpur State for the rehabilitation of the refugees many times.
At the time of independence Nawab of Bahawalpur proved to be very helpful and generous to the government of Pakistan.
He gave seventy million rupees to the government and the salaries of all the government departments for one month were also drawn from the treasury of Bahawalpur State.
In 1955 an accord was signed between Nawab Sadiq Muhammad and GeneralGhulam Muhammad Malik according to which Bahawalpur State became the part of the province of West Pakistan and de factoNawab began to receive yearly stipend maintained the title of Nawab and protocol inside and outside Pakistan.
He started his education from Atchison College Lahore and completed in England.
Nawab of Bahawalpur had a keen interest in education which was free till A level and the State’s Government provided scholarships of merit for higher education.
In 1951 the Nawab donated 500 acres in Bahawalpur for the construction of prestigious educational institution Sadiq Public School.
He also gifted his private property to the University of the Punjab King Edward Medical College (now University) and the Mosque of Aitcheson College Lahore.
Pakistan Post also issued a commemorative stamp in 2013 to pay homage to late Nawab of Bahawalpur.
On May 24 1966 Nawab Sadiq died in London.

Meet the female Muslim boxer 'bringing shame on her family'

01/08/2015

Ambreen Sadiq, one of Britain's first Muslim female boxers, tells Radhika Sanghani what it's like battling prejudice and racism from her community - and even her family 

Ambreen Sadiq is one of Britain's first female Muslim boxers Photo: CHRISTOPHER NUNN

Ambreen Sadiq is a boxer. She’s a former UK national champion, has her own business teaching students how to box and coaches in her spare time. A play telling her story is being shown at the Edinburgh Festival.

What's more, she’s only 20 years old. Oh, and a Muslim.

Sadiq has faced serious prejudice from the British Muslim community, her neighbours, her school friends and even some members of her family. They have objected because of her religion, her sex - even what she wears.

“My dad’s family are Pakistani Muslims and they’re very into their community,” she says. “It was all 'you’re bringing shame into the culture’ because I'm an Asian Muslim girl. If I was a boy it wouldn’t matter.”

Sadiq's parents, though, are supportive. Indeed, it was her younger brother and dad who got her interested in boxing in the first place, after they started doing it at the local gym.

'You're bringing shame to us'

The problem was with her aunts and uncles.
Sadiq tells me about her first boxing fight, when she was 15-years-old. Her extended family came to support her and, the day after, her parents threw her a party. But because her dad was away, her uncle stepped into the patriarchal role and approached her.
She remembers every word he said.
“You've done really good but it's your first and your last fight. You shouldn't do anymore because you're bringing shame to the family,” Sadiq recalls.
“I was like, 'I've been training for two years and at my party you tell me I can't fight'. I said: 'I'm sorry this is what I love'.
"Obviously, they weren't happy about it.”
The prejudice didn’t stop there. So successful was Sadiq, that her boxing was featured in local newspapers and even a Channel 4 documentary. The whole community knew about her.
“[Neighbours and people from the mosque] would come up to me and say 'you’re doing really good'. Then they'd go up to my mum and dad and say, 'what are you letting her box for?'”
At school it was even worse. “People said 'you're a transsexual, you're doing a man’s sport, you’ve got muscles like a man',” she says. “I got bullied quite a bit.”
When her sister made a Facebook fan page, Sadiq even received death threats.

'Why do people want to kill me?'

“I thought, 'what have I got myself into?'” she says. “The negative side was more from other women. I had loads of them saying that I was making them look bad."
Sadiq says that the reaction from other women was worse than that from Muslim men.
"The negative side was from women. I had loads of them saying that I was making them look bad."
Muslim men took a mixed view. Some told her to keep going. But many confronted her and asked her what the hell she was doing.
"I was quite scared. I thought, 'what have I done that's so bad that people want to come and kill me?'
There can be little doubt that it's Sadiq's status as a Muslim woman that's caused so much controversy. So does she think that her religion, or gender, plays a bigger role?
“A lot of Muslim people say it's about religion," she says. "But I think it's more about the culture and how people have been brought up. Men and women are treated equally [in the religion]. In the culture, it's like the women should be at home cooking tea. The men put the food on the table.
READ: Islamophobia: why do so many young men hate Muslim women?
“It's like a stereotype: people grow up and see their mum at home and dad going to work. If you don't do that, it's different and it's not allowed. [Boxing]’s stereotyped as a male sport - people are punching each other in the face and trying to knock each other out. They see fighting as a boys’ thing.”
But it isn't just her religion and gender that's caused Sadiq problems. The other issue the Muslim community has taken with her boxing is her clothing - the fact she gets into the ring wearing shorts and a vest.
It shows her arms and part of her legs. Even though Sadiq isn’t a “strict practising Muslim” and doesn’t wear a headscarf, her extended family was still up in arms.

'I don't want to look sexy'

“I told them, I'm not going in to look sexy - it's a uniform,” says Sadiq. “I even asked [the Amateur Boxing Association] to change it and let me wear tracksuit bottoms. But they said no. I have tried to change it.”
Luckily, her fellow boxers support her.
“I've dropped [knocked out] a couple of lads in my time,” she laughs. “The boxing boys are more understanding as to where I come from. They treat me like I'm a bloke really. I don't think I've ever got comments from the boxers in the gym. All the local lads come and support me.”
Her siblings – three sisters and a brother – are all behind her, too. They don’t miss a single match. But ithe lack of support from her wider community - although it has improved a bit since the early days - still bothers her.
“The hardest thing is not getting support from the Muslim community and the Asian community. It's getting [the message] out there that Muslim girls can do something different.”
She thinks everyone reacted so badly, at first, because it was a shock: “They didn't expect to see a Muslim girl box. It's like, oh my god, a woman's doing something. She’s not staying at home and just being a housewife.”
Now, Sadiq’s story is being told in a play. No Guts, No Heart, No Glory is being performed at the Edinburgh Festival and is the product of Sadiq's work with five Muslim female boxers, aged between 16 and 22. It comes as the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow saw female boxing included as a sport for the first time.

'You have to put yourself first'

“It’s great that I can get my story out there,” says Sadiq. She wants to spread the message that Muslim girls can do whatever they want – whether dance, ballet, boxing, or football. “I think girls should be doing anything they want to be doing,” she insists.
Boxing was her saviour and helped her deal with racism. “I got bullied, people said your mum’s a Portuguese this, your dad’s a Paki this,” she says. “I took my aggression out on the [punch] bag. It helped me to be a happier person.
"Boxing for a female is so different, so the fact I was breaking down barriers pushed me on.”
Now, she's calmer: “When I train I do sometimes get my aggression out, but now I love doing it,” she says. “I've never been so passionate about any other sport.”
She tells me that even if her family hadn’t supported her, she would have pursued boxing anyway.
“I still would have done it” she says. “I don't think I’d be the person I am today if I didn't box. If you don't have that support it's a lot harder but it's that chance you have to take for yourself. You have to put yourself first.”
And if she met another young Muslim girl in that position today? What would she tell her?
“I don't want to say 'go against your family's wishes'. That's quite rude. But it's making that choice as to whether or not you want to do it. It's such a hard question to answer because you don't want to disrespect anyone's feelings. Everyone's situation’s different.
“Anything that you do, there are going to be people that are negative and don't like it. You have to decide: do you want to do what you love, or do you want to please other people?
"Don't let anyone get in the way of your dream no matter who it is. Parents should respect their daughters’ feelings.”
 
 No Guts, No Heart, No Glory
By Radhika Sanghani
 

 

Real-life Chanda calls out for reel-life Bajrangi Bhaijaan

01/08/2015

KARACHI: A young girl from Pakistan gets lost in India and finds her way back with the help of a devout Brahmin, Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi. While this is the plot of Salman Khan’s latest Bollywood offering ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ real-life is not too far from reel-life.

While the character of reel-life Munni aka Shahida was played by Harshaali Malhotra, the real-life Munni is 28-year-old Chanda Khan from Karachi, Pakistan. Chanda was detained by Indian Police officials at Jalandhar railway station while travelling without a passport or any other documents.

With only some Pakistani currency in hand Chanda Khan says her passport and visa are with her maternal uncle whom she was travelling with. She says her uncle stepped off the train to get some water and never returned. She appealed to the police to help find her uncle or to put her in touch with Salman Khan (the actor who played the role of Bajrangi Bhaijaan). Chanda Khan was discovered on-board a train near the Jalandhar district by railway staff when she was asked to produce a train ticket.

When the train arrived at the Jalandhar City Station, she was arrested by the police. According to the Indian police, Chanda Khan has in her possession, 700 Pakistani rupees as well as some medicines but does not have a passport, visa or any other travel documents.

Chanda Khan has appealed to the police to inform Salman Khan about her situation as he can help her out.

Diplomatic Bhaijaan Activated

While Bajrangi Bhaijaan may not be able to help Chanda Khan get home, Pakistani High-Commission in New Delhi has become active to help Chanda get home.

According to Pakistani Foreign Ministry sources, the High Commission in New Delhi has sought Chanda’s details from the Ministry for External Affairs in India.

The Pakistani High Commission has demanded that the young girl who has been separated from her relatives be released at the earliest.

According to sources in Pakistan, Chanda Khan was issued a 15-day visa to travel to India via the Wagah border and her visa is still valid for another three days. The sources add that Chanda was separated from her Uncle while visiting the Dargah (shrine) in Jalandhar.

Flood effected family

01/08/2015

Sukkhar Pakistan: A flood effected family staying on prevention dam of river indus trying to keep them safe from rain , near rohri on Tuesday July 28.2015

Iran’s working mums face sack after maternity leave

01/08/2015

TEHRAN : Tens of thousands of working mothers have been sacked in Iran since the start of 2014 because employers found cheaper staff, an official said Friday, warning that a new maternity pay policy remains unfunded.

The comments highlight the financial pressures on families and on the Iranian government, despite this month’s nuclear deal with world powers that could pave the way for an economic rebound.

An austerity budget passed in March after a precipitous drop in global oil prices has left key Tehran ministries, including education and oil, struggling to pay wages.
A new law enshrining nine months of paid leave for mothers has been passed yet there are no funds to pay its estimated 3.2 trillion rial ($985 million) bill, according to welfare bosses.

“So far, not one rial has been allocated,” Mohammad Hassan Zeda, a deputy at Iran’s Social Security Organisation, told the ISNA news agency in an interview.

He said studies showed that from 145,000 women who had gone on a six-month maternity leave in the past 18 months, 47,000 of them - almost a third - were sacked when they tried to return.

“This is because right now due to the situation in the job market, there are many individuals with higher education who are prepared to work for lower salaries,” said Zeda, noting the trend would likely worsen.

“If maternity leave is increased to nine months, the number of women getting sacked, upon returning to work after using maternity leave, will increase much more.
”
According to the Statistical Centre of Iran, the unemployment rate was 10.
8 percent in 2014, though unofficial sources estimate the number is as high as 20 percent.

Unemployment is particularly bad among women (19.
2 percent) and youths (25 percent).

Underemployment has also become common in Iran, according to the World Bank, with a weak labour market leaving only 36.
7 percent of the population economically active.

Zeda said the nine-month maternity leave term can start if the government allocates the money, but officials are “not allowed to implement a law for which no financial resources have been provided.
”
Around 160,000 working women would be eligible for the nine-month leave, he said.

After a deep recession, Iran returned to growth of three percent last year, partly due to limited sanctions relief under an interim nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

A final deal struck on July 14 in Vienna stands to lift all UN, US and Europeans sanctions imposed on Iran as punishment for its disputed nuclear activities, raising hopes of better economic and job prospects.

Nairobi men suffer most domestic abuse as Western tops in violence against women

By JOAN THATIAH

01/08/2015

Kenyan women are nearly four times more likely to suffer from domestic violence than their men compatriots, a study shows.

An examination of data from the Economic Survey shows the most the vulnerable women are those aged between 25 to 29 years followed by 20 to 24 years.

The data also shows that men living in Nairobi and other big towns are more likely to be battered than their rural counterparts.

The findings also reveal that Nairobi, Nyanza and Western regions are leading in domestic violence for both genders.

Men living in Nairobi are more likely to be battered than those living in other areas of the county at 11.3 per cent, the study shows, while Western region is leading in domestic violence against women at 36.6 per cent.

The lowest cases of domestic violence against both men and women are experienced in North Eastern.

The findings show that the women that are least vulnerable to gender-based violence are those in the highest earning bracket, lending credence to those who have called for the empowerment of women.

This is more so because the study further found that the most vulnerable group to domestic violence is comprised of those who did not complete primary school at 30.9 per cent for women and 8.1 per cent for men.

“40.7 per cent of women have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime as compared to 10.9 per cent of men.

"This shows that among men and women of the same ages, women are 3.7 times more likely to have suffered from domestic violence than men,” Mr Kwame Owino, the executive director of the Institute of Economic Affairs said.

The study conducted by Nation’s Newsplex project together with the Institute of Economic Affairs, a public policy think tank, also found that women who have been married more than once are the most likely to experience violence.

The findings come hot on the heels of US President Barack Obama’s comments during his historic visit last week that Kenya’s growth was inhibited by the oppression of women.

The findings seem to affirm his sentiments.

MEN AND WOMEN NEED LEGAL PROTECTION

The study sought to find out whether both genders need legal protection as claimed by Maendeleo ya Wanaume chairman Nderitu Njoka.

“Although more women experience domestic violence than men, both of them need legal protection from domestic violence since they are equally victims,” said Mr Owino.

Despite the numerous reports of violence against men around the country in the recent past, the findings show that the woman is still more vulnerable to direct gender violence.

However, some experts we spoke to insisted that violence against women cuts across all socio-economic groups.

“Past academic evidence shows that gender-based violence is highly prevalent in the high earning income bracket.

"It is just less reported because people from this economic class feel like they have a particular image to maintain,” Dr Mumbi Machera, a University of Nairobi sociologist said.

Women who have been married more than once were found to be the most vulnerable to domestic violence with the study placing the probability of abuse at 37 per cent.

Widowed and separated men, on the other hand, were found to be more likely than married men living with their partners to have been victims of gender violence.

Based on residence, the research found that the prevalence of violence against women was near equal in both rural and urban areas.

Interestingly, however, among men, those from the urban areas reported significantly more instances of gender based violence.

HISTORY OF ABUSE

Dr Christopher Hart, a psychologist specialising in relationships, said most of the aggressors in domestic violence are those who have a history of abuse, perhaps going back into childhood, suggesting those who witnessed battery as children are likely to be violent when they grow up.

He added that alcohol abuse, isolation, a lack of resources and a wide difference in incomes were the other contributing factors.

“That tends to mean that it is worse in urban areas and in more economically stressed households.

"It could also be that people in urban areas are more aware of their rights and thus more likely to report,” he said.

Dr Hart agreed with those calling for equal legal protection of men saying they probably were abused just as much as women in the home, but were less likely to admit because of their pride.

“Kenyan women are probably no more vulnerable than men, the men would just not admit it.

"They are probably equally in need of protection.”

Woman speaks of forced conversion, denial to lodge FIR of rape, trafficking

01/08/2015

KARACHI: How women of marginalised communities are suffering at the hands of influential people and the state has turned a blind eye towards their misery came to light at a press conference held on Friday.

Emmi, 30, and resident of Thatta city, is now looking for justice with the help of a non-governmental body providing legal aid to women and child survivors of violence and abuse.

Ironically, however, the police have not only refused to register an FIR on one pretext or another but also sexually harassed her. There is no action from the government side either that has been informed in writing about the case, according to her.

Emmi,a resident of thata narrates her ordeal to journalists at a press conference held at madadgar office on friday

“When I took my complaint to the Thatta police, nobody took me seriously and the staff there started laughing. I was told to go to the house of DSP Makli for FIR’s registration,” said Emmi at the press conference organised by Madadgaar Helpline in its office.

She accused the police official of sexually harassing her. “I have been exploited for eight years and demand justice,” she said as tears rolled down her face.

Emmi’s troubles started when she became friendly with a man over the phone in 2008. The man that she identified as Shahbaz, a resident of Mirpur Sakro, later convinced her to meet him outside her house and kidnapped her with the help of another man, Ramzan.

“They took me to an unknown place where I was confined in a dark room for 20 days, beaten and raped. Then I was sold and taken to Nawabshah,” she said.

In Nawabshah, Emmy was forced to sign some papers to convert her from Hinduism to Islam and arrange her fake marriage with Javed Khaskheli who forced her into prostitution. She attempted twice to escape and was punished.

“I was burnt and initially admitted to a hospital in Nawabshah and later to the Combined Military Hospital in Hyderabad.

I was told that I should identify myself as the wife of Javed,” she told journalists, adding that she was also poisoned by his tormentors.

According to her, she spent about six years in Hyderabad in confinement during which she also met three girls brought for prostitution. She finally managed to escape on the second day of Eid and reached her home in Thatta. It came as a shock to her that her father, the only close relative he had, died following her kidnapping.

“With the help of a friend, I came to a court in Karachi where someone suggested that I should seek help from Madadgaar,” she explained.

She also showed a picture and the national identity card of one of his tormentors to media persons during the briefing.

Giving his remarks, Advocate Zia Awan said his organisation prepared a case for the victim and also contacted relevant police officials in this regard. But the police were not willing to register the case.

“On Thatta police’s insistence that the case didn’t fall in their jurisdiction and that the Mirpur Sakro police should be contacted, we asked the victim to go to the latter. But they also refused to register the case. Both police stations have accepted the complaint, though,” he said.

According to Mr Awan, it was after his NGO received no positive reply from the government side, including minister for culture Sharmila Faruqui, that it decided to highlight the case in the media.

“We have contacted police officials and a sitting minister to take action but all our attempts have been futile. What else an NGO could do. We are not a state,” he said in reply to a question.

“State inaction and justice denial is also a kind of terrorism. We want this case to be seriously investigated and culprits punished,” he said, adding that a number of cases had brought to his knowledge in recent months in which women were trafficked and used for prostitution.

The women, he said, were taken to Afghanistan via Balochistan.

“This case is just the tip of the iceberg. Most cases go unreported. In cases that reach us, often the victims are reluctant to talk to the media. There is a dire need to make the police and the justice system efficient,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

Press Conference WDO

WDO press conference Shaista Bukhari, Aysha Rasheed,Saima, Samsan Salamat ,Khalid Qureshi

Chakwal: Girl shot for listening to music

25/11/2014

CHAKWAL: A sixteen-year-old girl was gunned down in Matan Kallaan village located in tehsil Kallar Kahar of Chakwal district, police sources said on Monday.

Munsib Khan told Kallar Kahar Police that he left his home early in the morning for work.

His younger brother, Muhammad Gulistan, alias Gullu, came to his house at 10am.

Gullu found his niece, Rihana Bibi, listening to music on a tape-recorder with the volume turned up. He asked the girl to switch off the tape-recorder but she refused. This led to a fight between the uncle and niece.

Enraged by the girl’s defiance Gullu shot his niece.

“Two bullets were fired at the girl. One hit her in the head while the other on her face. She died on the spot,” a police official at Kallar Kahar Police Station told Dawn. The accused fled from the village after committing the murder.

Investigation Officer Ali Akbar said the killer will be arrested soon. “We have registered a case against him and are making efforts to trace him,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014

Pakistan’s Hidden Shame: Documentary reveals horrors of pedophilia in K-P

Sep4,2014

Director Mohammed Naqvi,and British producer Jamie Doran's film Pakistan’s Hidden Shame depicts the shocking reality of sexual abuse faced by small boys in the Northern areas of Pakistan.

The documentary premiered on September 1 on Britain's Channel 4 and shows the "dark reality of a society living in denial."

Set mainly in Peshawar, the film shows homeless boys of different ages recalling their experiences of sexual exploitation.

In an interview with CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, the director of the documentary told her what puts children at risk in Pakistan and around the world.

"Pedophiles by their very nature are inadequate, it's about power over children."

"Where these individuals are able to use and abuse vulnerable children, Pakistan in particular because of the poverty. That's one of the other factors that really plays here."

n the documentary, the narrator introduces Pakistan as 'one of the most important Muslim populations, a democracy, a nuclear power and a supporter of the Western bloc.' But it soon reveals the silence and denial on one of the most taboo topics: pedophilia.

The documentary alleges that 9 out of 10 children in Peshawar have been victims of pedophilia. It also contains interviews with truck drivers who have committed such crimes.

Shockingly, one of the drivers admits, without any remorse, to having raped 11 or 12 boys. 

Doran also questions Imran Khan whose party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formed the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which has Peshawar as its capital.

"It's one of the most sad and shameful aspects of our society. I am totally embarrassed by this and that we have not really been able to protect them," Khan said. 

Disturbing Rotherham child abuse report

The release of the documentary overlaps with the alarming revelations of a report released from Rotherham, the Northern English town where abuse, grooming and trafficking of 1,400 girls by predominantly Asian men over a 16-year period.

According to Reuters, the independent report last week exposed the scale and graphic nature of the crimes and raised difficult questions about whether timidity about confronting the racial aspects of the abuse had prompted authorities to turn a blind eye.

Some of the victims, mainly white girls in social care homes, were as young as 11 and were plied with drugs and alcohol before being trafficked to cities across northern England and gang-raped by groups of men, predominately of Pakistani heritage, the report said.

Those who tried to speak out were threatened with guns and made to watch brutal gang rapes. Their abusers said they would be next if they told anyone. One girl was doused with petrol, her rapist threatening to set her alight.

The report added that senior managers in social care "underplayed" the problem while police regarded many victims with contempt.

Government to legislate for the protection of children’s rights,CRM

20/11/2014

SLAMABAD: “There is no child protection system in Islamabad Capital Territory and a number of bills related to children’s right are pending at the National Assembly (NA) level,” Habiba Salman, Child Rights Movement (CRM) National Coordinator, said while speaking to participants of a conference titled ‘25 years of the UNCRC and the State of Child Rights in Pakistan’ at Quaid-i-Azam University.

The conference was jointly organised by CRM and Quaid-i-Azam University. Speakers urged the government to legislate for the protection of children’s rights. Pakistan signed and rectified United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, but is yet to make any progress towards providing protection, health and education to its children.

Ms Salman said the government needs to play a role in ensuring enactment of the national commission on Rights of Children Bill, prohibition of corporal punishment bill and child marriage restraint amendment bill. Malnutrition has become a key concern for the country, she said.

“According to Unicef, 352,000 children die every year in this country, and an estimated 35 per cent of these deaths are attributed to malnutrition,” she said.

She added that one sees no urgency, or commitment at the federal and provincial levels to respond to this situation by implementing strategies and increasing budgetary allocations.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Muhammad Zaman, QAU Department of Sociology chairman, said Pakistan’s future is linked to its children and Quaid-i-Azam University is going to include the issue of child right in its curriculum.

“At the Department of Sociology, we have designed a course on Sociology of Child Rights, currently awaiting approval, this will sensitise students to children’s rights,” he said.

QAU Acting Vice Chancellor Dr Eatzaz Ahmad highlighted academia’s role in the promotion of child rights in Pakistan. “Pakistan being party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is responsible to formulate strategies for future course for academia, society, national and international institutions and the federal and provincial governments to promote child rights in the country,” he said.

“The academicians, scholars, researchers, students and NGO activists must develop theoretical, conceptual and empirical work to analyse and understand the current state of child rights in the country,” said Prof. Dr. Aliya H. Khan, QAU Faculty of Social Sciences Dean.

Stefano Gatto, European Union Delegation Deputy Head, said the European Union welcomed Pakistan’s ratification of the most core international human rights conventions.

Barrister Zafarullah Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the chief guest, apprised participants on the steps taken by the government for the implementation of the UNCRC.

Arshad Mahmood, Save the Children, Director Advocacy and Child Rights Governance also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2014

Make prostitution legal, Indian sex workers demand

10th November 2014 
Hundreds of sex workers with their children and family members participated in a rally to demand better legal protection of sex workers, claiming that better laws will reduce human trafficking and exploitation. The rally was organized by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee. Approximately 65,000 sex workers in West Bengal state are fighting for their rights.

Honour killing: Men kill mother and step-sisters in Lahore

11/11/2014

LAHORE: In an incident of honour killing, two brothers killed their mother and two step-sisters in Township area of Lahore on Tuesday, police said.

The brothers Shehzad and Asif used a dagger to kill their mother Sughra Bibi, and step sisters Muqaddas and Amna in the name of honour, with the investigation officer saying the accused did not trust the women and quoted them as saying they had bad character and indulged in wrong activities.

The investigation officer also said that the accused have pleaded guilty to the murder and they have been arrested. The weapon has also been taken into custody.

The bodies of the deceased have also been taken to the mortuary for postmortem investigation.

Honour killing is a common practice in Pakistan that is prevalent all over the country. Recently, capital punishment was given to a man found guilty of shooting his sister in 2011 in the Ali Mir Shah village in Sindh.

Six out of 10 Indian men admit to violence against partner: study

NEW DELHI: Six out of 10 Indian men admit they have acted violently against their wives or girlfriends, with those facing financial difficulties more likely to carry out abuse, a study released on Monday said.

Some 52 per cent of women surveyed across the country reported suffering some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence in their lifetime, including being kicked, hit, choked and burned, the study said.

The report by the UN World Population Fund and the Washington-based International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) underscores the high rates of abuse facing women in the deeply patriarchal country.

“The study puts a spotlight on the high prevalence of intimate partner violence in India,” the study said.

“Regardless of age, men who experience economic stress were more likely to have perpetrated violence ever or in the past 12 months,” according to the study called “Masculinity, Intimate Partner Violence and Son Preference”.

“Educated men and women who were 35 years old or more were less likely to perpetrate or experience violence,” it also said.

India has faced intense scrutiny in recent years in the wake of a series of high-profile rapes that have unleashed a wave of public anger against its violent treatment of women.

The fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012 sparked massive street protests and led to tougher laws for sexual offenders.

Despite the laws, horrific violence against women continues to hit the headlines on a daily basis, with experts stressing the need to better educate young men about the importance of sexual equality and respect.

The study is based on interviews with more than 9,000 men and 3,000 women aged 18 to 49 and conducted across seven Indian states.

“We need a holistic approach to tackling violence and deeply ingrained harmful norms,” ICRW regional director Ravi Verma said in a blog post on the centre’s website.

“It is imperative that we reach boys at the early stages of childhood to teach them healthy and non-violent forms of masculinity while their identities are being formed.”

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014

50 villagers held over burning of Christian couple to death

04/11/2014

KASUR: Police arrested on Wednesday 50 villagers who were part of a mob which reportedly burnt alive a Christian couple in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan for allegedly desecrating pages of the Holy Quran. The woman, mother of three, was pregnant.

Kasur District Police Officer Jawad Qamar confirmed the arrests and said a local religious leader had fanned the issue. But the DPO did not disclose his name.

Police and witnesses told Dawn that announcements had been made from mosques on Tuesday asking villagers to gather at the Yousaf brick kiln where 25-year-old Shama and her husband Shahzad Masih worked as bonded labourers.

Over 1,000 charged people from three villages took out the couple from a room (where they had taken shelter) after tearing apart its roof. The mob tortured the couple before putting them into the kiln’s furnace.

The mob held hostage five policemen who tried to rescue the couple. The villagers also manhandled some media personnel and snatched their cameras.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and the latter constituted a three-member committee comprising the secretary of minority affairs, chairman of CM’s inspection team and additional IG to investigate the matter.

On instructions of the chief minister, Kasur police enhanced security of the Christian community in the village and in Klarkabad, mostly inhabited by Christians about 3km from Chak 59, the place of the incident.

Police registered a case against 660 villagers, including 60 who have been nominated in the FIR. Police also blocked all routes leading to Chak 59 and Klarkabad.

There are about 12 houses of the Christian community in Chak 59 and all the residents had left the village when this correspondent reached there on Wednesday. The local Muslim population also left the villages because police were raiding their houses. 

The village wore a deserted look and its only market comprising some makeshift shops was closed. Police were deployed at various corners of the village.

According to the FIR lodged on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Mohammad Ali of Chowki Factory Area, police received information that villagers were torturing a Christian woman and her husband. A police team comprising five personnel reached the place but about 600 charged villagers had besieged a room where Shama and Shahzad Masih had taken shelter for fear of the mob. Some villagers tore apart the roof of the room and forcibly took the couple out.

They thrashed the couple before dragging them to the kiln where 18 accused, including the kiln owner Mohammad Yousaf Gujar and his accountants Shakeel and Afzal, allegedly removed a lid from one of the openings of the furnace and threw the couple into it.

“Both Shama and Shahzad were reduced to ashes in no time,” the FIR said.

It said that 60 accused nominated in the FIR, including the kiln owner and his staff, had incited the villagers to violence by managing announcements through loudspeakers of the mosques in Chak 59, Chak 60, Chak Rossa and Chak Bhail. The accused burnt the Christian couple alive, beat up police officials and fanned a mass hysteria.

The Kot Radha Kishan police station registered the case under sections 302, 436, 201, 148, 149, 353 and 186 of the PPC and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

On Wednesday, police produced 43 of the arrested people before an anti-terrorism court which remanded four of them in police custody and sent 39 others to jail on judicial remand.

Bilqees, a local Muslim resident, told Dawn that Shama, known in the village as Saima, married Shahzad Masih about eight years ago. They had three children aged between two and seven.

She said Shama was pregnant at the time of the incident. Nazir Masih, father-in-law of Shama, was a faith healer and died a few weeks ago. After his death, Shama had burnt some of his belongings, including papers. 

Answering a question, she said Shama was illiterate.

Bilqees said a vendor who had visited the brick kiln found the pages of the Holy Quran and showed them to the villagers. Later on Tuesday morning, hundreds of villagers gathered at the kiln and burnt the couple alive without even listening to Shama.

“She was screaming that she was unaware of what the papers were about, but no-one listened to her,” Bilqees said.

Abdul Shakoor, a male member of the Bilqees family, said the mob’s behaviour could not be justified and the treatment meted out to the young.couple was inhuman and brutal.

General Secretary of the All Pakistan Brick Kiln Association, Mehar Abdul Haq, told Dawn that the kiln owner had been nominated in case, although he was not present at the time of the incident. He demanded a fair inquiry into the matter. 

Meanwhile, members of the Christian community held protest demonstrations in Kot Radha Kishan on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, November 6th , 2014

Voiceless: The unending plight of female labourers

05/11/2014

Haroon Janjua

Parveen has spent nearly a decade stitching footballs in Roras village, Sialkot at only Rs. 75 per day.

The football industry, which does a yearly business of nearly 30 million, is being run by thousands of home based workers, primarily women.

The shockingly low wage scale is not limited to the football industry alone; women labourers have faced a setback in terms of both salary and employment opportunities in other industries as well.

Muneera Bibi has been working in Kahuta-Rawalpindi as a hawker, by selling utensils in villages or bartering them in exchange for raw materials such as rubber and metallic goods that can be recycled.

“I make Rs. 200 a day and at times nothing at all. When my items don't sell I often take off the basket from my head with only one thought; how will I feed my children?” 

Tahir Manzoor, Gender Focal Person and Deputy Director Labour, Department of Labour, Punjab, said that female 'Home-Based Workers' are not recognised in the labour laws, because of this no regulations and benefits apply to them.

“Their work is not organised and they don’t have any union to present their issue at the government level,” said Manzoor adding that, “Female vendors have no wage standard. The social welfare department needs to support them financially. They don’t get any assistance in case of sexual harassment either.”

Hurmat Bibi has spent her entire life as a labourer, but her experiences in the past were comparatively better than the working conditions now.

“In the past, it was much better; there was warmth, affection and sympathy in the society.” She expressed contentment and satisfaction during her time vending and said, "Now, to venture out for earning one’s livelihood is becoming difficult for our young vending women. They get abused, pestered and frequently manhandled and sadly this has become an attitude of the general public too.”

Apart from the attitude of the employees and society, women are often forced to work by their unemployed husbands. 

Zahida, 45, is a brick kiln labourer who works with a group of eight women and girls. Her husband, a drug addict, would often beat her. She asked him for a divorce and found employment in a brick kiln factory in Kasur and has been doing it for the last six years.

“My employer gives me Rs. 100 per day but he sometimes doesn't pay me at all. He provides food and shelter but there is no fixed pay,” said Zahida.

In major cities, there are colonies of slums and shanty towns that co-exist at the peripheries of affluent neighborhoods with their posh concrete houses presenting a stark image of class divide.

United Nations Development Programme estimates that nearly 35 per cent of the urban population in Pakistan exists in slums, and squatter settlements.

The living conditions in these squatter settlements speak appalling stories of deprivation, which do not conform to the most basic requirements for a healthy human existence.

According to United Nations Agency for Human Settlement (UN-HABITAT), the global slum population may grow to two billion by 2030 with increasing livelihood and labour issues, particularly for women.

The World Bank and UN-HABITAT have estimated that over 80 per cent of the new jobs in urban parts of the developing countries will likely be low-paying jobs in the informal and unorganized sectors given that no significant economic reforms are taken. If all factors remain same, a high growth in the informal sector will be accompanied by a rapid growth of slums.

In the absence of skills and little to no education, unemployment rates will continue to rise for slum dwellers, and particularly for the women. 

The close proximity to factories and industrial waste put slum dwellers in danger of developing respiratory diseases such as whooping and chronic cough. The treatment that is opted is usually self-medication with no consultation from doctors.

Nutritional deficiencies are also common which contribute to the high infant mortality rate.

Muneera Bibi, who is also a brick kin labourer spoke about her sick child, "My five-year-old son was malnourished since childhood, he now has polio. I can’t give him all of my time because of my work; I can neither earn money for his treatment or be on his side."

Africa Union troops 'raped' girls in Mogadishu, Somalia

08/09/14

African Union (AU) troops raped women and girls seeking medical aid or water from their bases in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, a rights group says.

The troops had "misused" their power over women fleeing violence and poverty, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
One Muslim girl, aged 15, reportedly had her headscarf ripped off before being raped.
The AU, which has some 22,000 troops fighting militant Islamists in Somalia, says it will investigate the claims.
In 2012, the UN recorded 1,700 rapes in camps for displaced people in Somalia.
Many were thought to have been carried out by members of the Somali security forces.
'Raped girl paid' Last year, there was a huge public outcry following claims that AU and government soldiers had gang-raped a woman in Mogadishu.
A joint investigation by the AU and government dismissed the allegation as unfounded, even though neither the woman nor independent witnesses had been interviewed.
Most of the women who were abused lived in camps for displaced people after fleeing violence and the 2011 famine, HRW said.
"The AU can no longer turn a blind eye to the abuses on Amisom [AU Mission in Somalia] bases, as it's undermining the very credibility of the mission," said Liesl Gerntholtz, HRW's women's rights director.
It interviewed 21 women and girls, some as young as 12, who described being raped or sexually exploited by Ugandan or Burundian soldiers in the AU force, HRW said.
Only one rape case, in which the victim was a child, is before Uganda's military court in Kampala, it added.
"Some Amisom soldiers have used humanitarian assistance, provided by the mission, to coerce vulnerable women and girls into sexual activity," HRW said.
"A number of the women and girls interviewed for this report said that they were initially approached for sex in return for money or raped while seeking medical assistance and water on the Amisom bases, particularly the Burundian contingent's base."
A Burundian soldier gave a 15-year-old girl $10 (£6) after raping her, HRW said.
"First he ripped off my hijab [headscarf] and then he attacked me," it quoted her as saying.
The girl had gone to an AU base of Burundian soldiers to collect medicine for her mother who was ill, HRW said.
Somalia has been hit by instability since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Siad Barre in 1991.
The AU force was deployed in 2007, with most of its troops coming from Uganda and Burundi.

One in 10 girls sexually abused, says UN report

05/08/2014

About 120 million girls around the world - slightly more than one in 10 - have been raped or sexually assaulted by the age of 20, a UN report says.

The children's agency Unicef also says 95,000 children and teenagers - most of them in Latin America and the Caribbean - were murdered in 2012 alone.

It notes that children around the globe are routinely exposed to violence, including bullying.

The document draws on data from 190 countries.

'Lifelong repercussions'

The violence "cuts across boundaries of age, geography, religion, ethnicity and income brackets,'' Unicef executive director Anthony Lake said.

Violence against children

• 120m girls - one in 10 - are raped or sexually attacked by age of 20
• Boys also report experiences of sexual violence, but to a lesser extent than girls
• The most common form of sexual violence for both genders is cyber-victimisation
• 95,000 children and teenagers were murdered in 2012
• Slightly over one in three students aged 13-15 experience regular bullying in school
• Six out of 10 children aged between two and 14 are physically punished by carers

 Source: Unicef report

"It occurs in places where children should be safe, their homes, schools and communities.

"Increasingly, it happens over the internet, and it's perpetrated by family members and teachers, neighbours and strangers and other children.''

The study revealed that about six out of 10 children aged between two and 14 were subjected to physical punishment from their carers on a regular basis.

One in three girls, aged between 15 and 19, who had at some time been in cohabiting relationships, had been victims of emotional, physical or sexual violence committed by their husbands or partners, the report said.

Partner violence appeared to be particularly prevalent in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the report said.

Of the countries surveyed, nearly half of all girls aged 15-19 believed that a husband was justified in hitting his wife under certain circumstances, the study added.

Grim audit

Meanwhile, homicide was reported as the leading cause of death in boys and men aged 10-19 in many Latin American countries, such as Venezuela, Panama, Brazil and Colombia.

Nigeria had the highest number of child homicides - 13,000, while the US had the highest homicide rate among countries in Western Europe and North America.

Research showed that violence was "detrimental to all aspects of a child's growth... with sometimes lifelong repercussions," the report said.

It noted that while there had been growing recognition in recent years about the impact of violence against children, it largely remained underreported and undocumented.

The report stressed that violence against children in some countries remained socially accepted or tacitly condoned, and quite often victims were too afraid to report the abuse.

Never before have so many statistics been gathered from so many different countries, and together they have produced a grim global audit of violence against children, the BBC's Nick Bryant at the UN says.

Toxic ship paints affect female snails at Gadani: study

04/08/2014

KARACHI: Female snails at the Gadani Ship-breaking Yard have been found to have developed male sex organs due to exposure to a highly toxic chemical used in ship paints, a recent study of Karachi University’s Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology has showed.

Scientists have warned that the chemical contamination might have been introduced in the food chain and affecting human population.

Titled ‘Study of imposex in coastal waters of Pakistan: TBT toxicity at Gadani Ship-breaking Yard’, the research has been carried out by Safia Hassan under the supervision of Prof Ghazala Siddiqui.

According the study, two bio-indicator species of gastropods (snails), Thais bufo and T. rudolphi, collected from the Gadani Ship-breaking Yard in Balochistan showed 100 per cent imposex (masculinisation of female snails in response to exposure to certain marine pollutants).

“Tributyltin (TBT) presence and elevated levels of testosterone were recorded in the species’ examination. This indicates that the ship-breaking yard is contributing to organotin (chemical compounds) contamination in marine environment and affects the aquatic organisms despite global ban on their usage in antifouling paints,” the study says.

(An antifouling paint is a specialised coating that is applied to the hull of a vessel to slow down the growth of marine organisms that attach to the hull and can affect performance and durability of the boat or ship)

Imposex in gastropods, according to the study, is induced mainly by TBT and also by its sister compound triphenyltin (TPhT), both considered the most toxic biocide ever introduced in the sea.

“TBT disturbs the normal homeostatic relationship between free and esterified testosterone and increases the free testosterone levels as the species is more exposed to the chemical. TBT exposed imposex snails have elevated levels of testosterone, which is an endocrine dysfunction and is responsible for imposex,” it says.

The compounds of TBT and TPhT, according to the study, can be degraded by solar radiation, bacterial biodegradation or biological decomposition to their metabolites, such as, dibutyltin (DBT), monobutyltin (MBT), diphenyltin (DPT), and monophenyltin (MPT).

“The chemicals released from the paint enter the water column and are finally accumulated in sediments present in and around harbours and along shipping lanes. These chemicals in the water column or sediments are taken up by marine organisms and finally enters the food chain,” it points out.

TBT-based paints, the study says, have been in use as antifouling agents for a long time as they are inexpensive and effective as compared to other antifouling agents. Their use became widespread in the 1970s with the development of self-polishing copolymer paints.

However, as researches highlighted their toxic effects, their application was banned in the late 1980s in many countries.

“Despite the ban, many countries have been experiencing decades of unrestricted use of TBT. To overcome this problem a global ban on the use of TBT from 2003 onwards was introduced which included the removal of all existing coatings of paints containing TBT by 2008.

“The decision was taken by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 2001 and was implemented in many countries. However, there is no check on organotins released by recycling of old ships at ship-breaking yards,” it says.

On ship-breaking yards, the study highlights that the world’s largest ship-breaking yards are situated in China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Turkey, which account for 95pc of the global ship-recycling industry over the last three decades.

The ship-breaking industries in these countries dispose of large quantities of hazardous materials, including organotin, into the marine environment without any pre-treatment.

In Pakistan, it says, Gadani Ship-breaking Yard has been in operation even before the country’s independence in 1947. “Although Gadani ranks as the world’s third largest ship-breaking yard, it ranks first due to its efficiency in terms of duration required to break a ship. There is a paucity of information on the environmental contamination due to ship recycling at Gadani and the studies are mostly focused on grease, oil, and bacterial contamination with very little attention on contamination due to chemical compounds and heavy metals,” it says.

Speaking to Dawn, Prof Ghazala Siddiqui said that the phenomenon of imposex had been earlier documented in nine species of gastropods by a team of KU marine experts in 1993 in the Manora Channel.

“There was a gradual decline in the incidence of imposex in the following years as countries started rejecting TBT use following the IMO ban. No case of imposex was recorded in the Manora Channel in 2008,” she said.

Explaining how the chemical contamination might be affecting marine biodiversity and the food chain, she said: “There is evidence that extreme cases of imposex have led to a decline in the snail’s population as females are unable to lay eggs. When one species starts disappearing or completely disappear from the ecosystem, the number of other species they feed on starts increasing, thus causing harm to biodiversity. Similarly, humans are also exposed to the imposex risk through the food chain and exposure to contaminated water. The scale and nature of the problem can be determined by examining the testosterone levels in women,” she said.

According to Prof Siddiqui, gastropods are eaten in many countries and the species was chosen for the specific research because it shows visible structural (imposex) changes when they are exposed to TBT even in low concentration.

“There is a need for more studies to understand ecological issues in play at ship-breaking yards and industries.

Second, the government should take notice of TBT contamination and implement ways to tackle it as it carries huge risks for the people employed at places where old ships are handled and dismantled,” she concluded.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2014

School set on fire in Kech district

03/08/2014

QUETTA/GWADAR: Some armed religious fanatics of a hitherto unknown Al Jihad organisation set a private English medium school on fire in Turbat area of the Kech district on Tuesday.

They also left pamphlets with the name of Al Jihad in the school and in the area, warning the people of Balnigore to desist from sending their children to English medium schools to study English or risk unspecified repercussions.

“People should not send their children to schools or English language centres for studying English,” warned the pamphlet. It asked people to send their children only to madressahs to get religious education.

Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch ordered officials concerned to take steps to ensure security to all schools, language centres, students, their parents and teachers.

Official sources told Dawn that the incident took place in Balnigore area of the district on Monday night when these terrorists barged into the school premises, overpowered the watchman and set the building on fire.

The principal, Jamal Ahmed, told Dawn that 200 girls and boys study in the school

“I had been receiving threats from unknown people for the past eight months, but despite these threats we continued classes,” he said.

He said that all books in a library, furniture and computers were gutted, forcing the administration to close the school for the time being.

“A portion of the school, books, furniture and computers were gutted in the huge fire,” Abdullah Khoso, Assistant Commissioner of Turbat, told Dawn, adding that the school building was also damaged in the fire.

“It was the first incident of burning of any private English medium school in Kech district,” Mr Khoso said.

Several private English medium schools and language centres were attacked in Panjgur district In May this year, by unknown armed men and an organisation, known as Al Furqan Al Islami, had claimed responsibility for these attacks.

Owners and the administration of these private schools had been asked by the organisation to stop educating girls in their institutions. Parents were also warned against sending their daughters to private schools and English language centres.

Armed men had attacked four private schools and set fire to vehicles carrying girls to these institutions.

Around two dozen private English medium schools and language centres had remained closed for three months in Panjgur district and reopened only last month after the government assured private school managements of full security.

A school was attacked and set on fire in Panjgur a few days ago by unknown armed men. However, the school administration and the private school association refused to close their institutions.

Official sources in Turbat said that it was the first incident of burning of any private school in the Kech district.

“All possible efforts will be made to provide security to all private schools in Kech district. Around a dozen private schools are in the district,” an official said, adding that the private school association had announced that they would not close their schools and resist these elements’ conspiracy to keep the people ignorant and uneducated.

The principal of the school, Jamal Ahmed, told Dawn that 200 girls and boys were studying in the school

“I had been receiving threats from unknown people for the past eight months but despite these threats we continued classes,” he said.

He said that all books in a library, furniture and computers were gutted, forcing the administration to close the school for the time being.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014