Posts Tagged ‘Women’s rights’

The touchstone of the morality of a nation or a society is the way it treats its women. Women are a vital segment of any society. Without their unhindered participation in all spheres of national life, no nation can march towards its cherished goals of economic, political and moral progress or aspire to earn a respectable place in the comity of [...]

In recent by-elections in PB-25 constituency of Jafferabad (Balochistan), PPP’s Nasir Khan Jamali won by a large margin. This area is a Jamali stronghold and tribal affiliations are the determining factor in electoral victory in Balochistan. However, the most surprising aspect of this election was that a lower middle class woman, Mai Jori, chose [...]

Thanks: New Pakistan The Americans do not have a monopoly on freedom and protection for women. This is the message from yesterday's historic event in Islamabad where President Zardari signed the Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Billensuring equal rights for men and women in accordance with the Constitution. This was an [...]

Here are two news items (which remain hidden in the more important headlines) from today's newspapers. These news items once again reveal the typically hypocritical, class- and religion-centric and misogynistic nature of Pakistani society. The first story is about a protest by certain staunch Muslims against the burial of a Hindu girl (child) [...]

Rights without rights The UN theme this year for Women's International Day was "Equal rights, equal opportunities: progress for all." One wonders how to commemorate the day around the theme when rights and opportunities are simply disappearing from the lives of everyone; men, women and children. What progress is there to be claimed for all? [...]

There is no specific provision on incest in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and police, prosecutors and judges often have dismissive and condemning attitudes towards the victims Today is International Women’s Day. This day is a global celebration of the political, social and economic achievements of women. This year we are also marking 15 years [...]

In a country where extended family is important and most middle-class women rely on servants for household work and child-minding, Ambreen and Nadia may be saved some of the problems faced by women in the West. —AFP Photo ISLAMABAD: Ambreen made Pakistani history by becoming one of the country’s first female fighter pilots, but on Sunday [...]

Saudi woman jailed for being without male guardian RIYADH: A Saudi woman is to be lashed 300 times and jailed for 18 months for filing complaints against court officials and appearing in court without a male guardian, a human rights group said on Wednesday. Sawsan Salim was convicted last month in a court in Rass, in Qassim province in the north, [...]

A tale of Afghan women’s plight —by Miranda Husain The Patience Stone By Atiq Rahimi Other Press; Pp 160 Afghanistan, a nation still on fire, a nation still home to a centre-stage Taliban. An entity that still remains resoundingly more concrete than an outward manifestation of an inner descent into madness, despite its supposed [...]

Recently Punjab opposition MP Samina Khawar Hayat gave a disturbing statement while speaking on the issue of rising number of single women in the country who are in their 30’s. She gave the bizarre idea of encouraging married men to marry second time to help such women.This statement shows the mindset of female politicians in our right wing [...]

The misery on our faces Times may be hard but why add to the sum of national misery? Some of our afflictions, like the economic downturn and the war raging along the Afghan frontier, may be beyond anyone's control. But some are entirely self-created. We are not a police state in the political sense of the term. This is not a country behind [...]

It was an unusual gathering at Karachi’s Cantt railway station, where over 100 people from civil society organisations, intellectuals, political and trade union workers, and journalists had gathered for a peaceful cause. Sixty of those gathered, including more than a dozen women, were part of a Peace Caravan that left Karachi on February 13 for [...]

Women's disenfranchisement Election observers have reported that thousands of women from Lakki Marwat were denied their right to vote during Wednesday’s by-election for PF-75, which was also marked by procedural irregularities and illegal campaigning. Having visited the majority of polling stations, the Free and Fair Election Network [...]

The torture and slaughter of Shazia, a 12-year-old maid, in DHA, Lahore has caused a stir. Here are a few reports which suggest that: 1. Domestic servants in Pakistan, house maids in particular, remain vulunerable and subject to physical, emotional and sexual abuse. 2. Life and honour of a non-Muslim (a Christian girl in this case) is [...]

Do you know where God lives. God lives in that old cottage which provided the jhugga (shirt) to the women undressed by the religion / morality brigade in Phoolnagar.Do you know where the devil lives? Go no further from the CM house in Raiwind, not very far from the markaz of the Tablighi (more...)

سوات میں طالبان کا ’شادی مرکز‘ عبدالحئی کاکٹر صوبہ سرحد کے ضلع سوات میں طالبان نے رشتے کروانے کے لیے ’شعبہ عروسات‘ کے نام سے ایک الگ شعبہ قائم کردیا ہے اور طالبان کے مطابق ان کی فہرست میں [...]

Is it the kind of Shariah which Imran Khan is promising this nation? PESHAWAR: The Taliban on Friday killed two burqa-clad women in Kohat district and dumped the bodies by a roadside, officials said. It was not immediately clear who had killed the women, but a local security official said the Taliban were most likely responsible. Police [...]

Militants kill three women in SwatBy Our CorrespondentMINGORA: Three women were killed in Swat on Thursday as Taliban continued their attack on people they consider to be pro-government.The militants also blew up two government schools.The women, Zarmina, Zarbibi and Farzana, were killed and three men were kidnapped when militants stormed their [...]

Curbs on women in militancy (or Talibani Shariat) hit areas spreading to Quetta By Malik Siraj Akbar QUETTA: An increasing number of restaurants in Quetta have stopped serving women apparently after being pressured by religious elements, and (more...)

Side-effect Shabana from Swat Friday, January 23, 2009 by Harris Khalique Shabana, the artiste from Swat who used to sing and dance to earn her living and make people [...]

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:17:04 GMTA UN special representative condemns the increasing attacks on schools in northwestern Pakistan by Taliban and other armed groups.In a statement issued in New York, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN secretary general's special representative for children and armed conflict, said that she was particularly appalled by recent [...]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMMEUrgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-005-2009The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) seeks for your support for a campaign in support of the female students in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The campaign seeks the urgent intervention from the Government of Pakistan to prevent the militants [...]

Private schools in Pakistan's troubled north-western Swat district have been ordered to close in a Taleban edict banning girls' education. Militants seeking to impose their austere interpretation of Sharia law have destroyed about 150 schools in the past year. Five more were blown up despite a government pledge to safeguard education, it was [...]

From Tazeen's blog: This photograph was initially published in Daily Times, January 12, 2009. The caption read:“Women are not allowed in the market,” reads a banner displayed at the entrance of a market in Mingora. Taliban have banned the entry of women in markets and ordered the killing of women who (more...)

Rabia at Grand Trunk Road comments: A very sad article by Shaheen Sardari Ali, a Swati, and the first woman cabinet member of NWFP, which raises a lot of unanswered questions about the nature of the militancy in Swat (more...)

Swat - valley of horror and terror Tuesday, January 13, 2009 by Hamid MirThe home of Hameedullah Khan in Shakardra village of Swat was destroyed by dynamite last week. He knows who the people who did this to him [...]

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A question for the ISI's agent Imran Khan: Is this a reaction to American policies in Afghanistan? You are an opportunist politicians Mr. Khan, who are afraid of condemning the evil ideology that the Taliban represent...Taliban ban female education in Swat districtSWAT: Taliban in Swat district have imposed a ban on female education and have [...]