Day: April 2, 2009

FIFTEEN women candidates have been electedas members of the National Assembly on general seats which should suffice in the representation of women, particularlywhen the men represent women as well.

Previous performance of women inducted bythe former president in the Senate and National Assembly has proved thefutility of reserve seats for women which are occupied by members of politicalfamilies and professional politicians who enjoyed pay, perks and foreignpleasure trips at public expense, and thatÂ’s all they did in their tenure.

PPP, PML(N) and ANP would do a great favourto the poor taxpayers if they are saved from financial burden of the reservewomen’s seats, by doing away with them.

SAIFULLAH KHAN SHINWARI, Peshawar
Source: Dawn
Date:4/2/2009

THIS refers to the report, ‘BRA women claimcarrying out bomb attack’ (March 25). A bomb exploded in a café in the busyLiaquat Bazaar in Quettain which four people were injured and building of the café was destroyed.

After the incident a woman called reporterson phone and identified herself as Gohar Bibi and claimed to be spokespersonfor the women’s wing of the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) and told them that hergroup had carried out the bomb attack.

This is the first incident of terrorisminvolving women in the history of Pakistan. It shows that terroristorganisations in Pakistanare now opening their ranks to new members: women. It is a strikingdevelopment. The new tactics of terror, the role of female operatives and howterrorist’s attitudes towards women have shaped and are now reshaping theterrorist cause. If this trend picks up in Pakistan, it will be disastrous.

Female terrorism is not new. One-third ofthe members of the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are womenwho, in addition to suicide bomb missions, have duties on the battlefield, inthe kitchen, and in medical camps. The Chechen Black Widows female suicidebombers led 12 suicide attacks that killed 330 people in two years.

An Iraqi woman linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq attempted suicide at a hotel weddingreception in Jordan, andother reports of Zarqawi-linked perpetrators have surfaced in Baghdad and Fallujah.

In the Palestinian territories, the groupsHamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad witnessed a surge in female bombers duringthe intifadahs (resistance movement). Syrian nationalists and Kurdishseparatists operate in this way, and women in Uzbekistan,Turkey, Lebanon, and Egypt have also joined the terrorranks

Women have participated in all aspects ofterrorism activity, but for many years there was no mass female involvement intwo lines of action: working with informers and committing suicide terroristacts. In the early 20th century the situation changed: suicide bombings began toincreasingly involve women.

In the 1940s, rebels in India sentwomen wearing grenades into British positions. However, the large-scaleinvolvement of female suicide bombers was noted only in Sri Lanka.

Female members of the Hezbollahorganisation also committed terrorist acts against Israel since the mid-1980s. In the1990s, a number of terrorist groups decided to mass-produce this phenomenon andbegan recruiting young women to become suicide bombers.

In 1974 Brian Jenkins, an Americanresearcher on terrorism, concluded: “Terrorism is theatre.” Every singleterrorist who took hostages wanted the right to speak to the media or live onthe air.

About 95 per cent of the time terroristscall media outlets after attacks and take responsibility for the crime. Femaleterrorists always enjoyed more attention from the media and the public. Thisprovides terrorists with better propaganda opportunities – they can promotetheir organisations, goals and ideologies.

In addition, preparation for such terroristacts is relatively simple: a female suicide bomber does not need to be taughtabout warfare or clandestineness. She is basically a single-use cheap weapon.

Women are considered to be better suitedfor this role – easier to control and brainwash. The security forces and thepolice pay less attention to women. It is easier for women to hide bombs.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam usedfemale suicide bombers in 70 per cent of their attacks. The Kurd Labour Partyoften sent women feigning pregnancy on such assignments. In many countries withstrong nationalist and separatist movements, terrorism has become a ‘familybusiness’.

There are numerous examples of severalgenerations of one family being involved in terrorist activity. In theseregions (for example, Ireland and Palestine), active involvement of women interrorism acts, which was earlier condemned by families and societies, isbeginning to become permissible and even approved. Maoists, anarchists andother left-leaning groups, on the other hand, criticise the male-dominatedtraditions and attract women who are unhappy with societal roles.

It is time for our political leadership tounderstand that rights of women to control her reproduction and to lead publiclives have been critical to the advance of modern civilisation. Women’s rightsneed to be not only the agenda of an advanced democracy, but should lead theagenda.

SQN LDR (r) S.AUSAF HUSAIN, Karachi
Source: Dawn
Date:4/2/2009

By: Asif Mehmood

LONDON – A startling new development in the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui has emerged following the recent release of a British resident from Guantanamo as the torture victim Binyam Mohamed in a testimony has said he witnessed Dr Aafiya during her detention at the Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, which contradicts the official position forwarded by the US Government that she and her children were not in US custody prior to July 2008.

The latest twist in the dramatic case was revealed during a meeting hosted by British peer Lord Nazir Ahmed at the House of Lords here yesterday.

Lord Ahmed is now demanding the immediate return to Pakistan of the mother-of-three and urged the Pakistan government to directly intervene with the US to bring about a swift repatriation.
After a private viewing of the forthcoming documentary “In Search of Prisoner 650” by journalist Yvonne Ridley, the former Guantanamo detainee told Ridley he was “100 per cent sure” that the female prisoner he saw in Bagram was Dr Aafiya Siddiqui.

He made his astonishing claim during his first ever television interview on the international satellite Press TV, which is on aired at 8.07pm (in UK) on Thursday (00.07am Friday Pakistan time) on Ridley’s weekly political show “The Agenda”. Ridley started her quest for the truth about Prisoner 650 in Pakistan last July and sought the help of the country’s media with the help and support of Imran Khan who organised a press conference at his party’s headquarter in Islamabad.
In this connection, Asim Qureshi from the international human rights organisation “Cage Prisoners” said, “With evidence continually mounting to suggest that she was abducted from Karachi in March 2003, the regurgitation of the same lies cannot be allowed to continue, especially in light of her prosecution in the US”.

Similarly, former Guantanamo another detainee Moazzam Begg who also spent time in Bagram detention facility praised Binyam Mohamed for coming forward to make his statement.
Source: The Nation
Date:4/2/2009

By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: Even though there has been a buzz about women’s rights lately and almost all the country seems to be actively supporting the cause, there are many women still being exploited in the name of poverty.

Attaching social taboos to sexual harassment, we tend to ignore the phenomenon altogether while the ugly predators exploit their prey without the deserved consequences. Sexual harassment is everywhere, from malls, where people simply brush past you for a cheap thrill, to work places, where the matter gets worst and the victim has to share the same space with the culprit day in and day out.

Among the unfortunate souls silently suffering at the hands of the menace are the lady health workers that are seen going door-to-door for no other reason then to ensure that our children grow up to be healthy individuals, while they make pathetic wages in the process. The women working under the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care and the Extensive Programme for Immunisation are treated shabbily by their male colleagues and they often use them to fulfil their shameful desires.

The extent to where the system is corrupt was suddenly more evident when around 22 lady health workers and Lady Health Supervisors (LHS) came forward and told Daily Times that New Karachi Town Health Officer (THO) Javed Iqbal lures many of them into his ‘be quiet or you will be fired’ trap and has sexually harassed them.

Talking to Daily Times, a lady health worker, S, said that she is a married woman and chose this profession only because she desperately needed to make ends meet. She gives details about her job, comparing it to a beggar with a somewhat higher purpose and adds sadly that the male residents of many houses are disrespectful and crude towards her. What saddens her more is that her ordeal does not end on the road, as THO Javed Iqbal and a male vaccinator, Abdul Aleem Khan, successfully reproduce the scenario at work. She shamefully admits to being a victim of their lust many a times, adding that she was also forced to entertain a group of officers with the threat to subjugate or lose the job. She said that she refused to give in and escaped the consequences narrowly.

Another lady health worker, H S, revealed that Iqbal and Khan have, on many occasions, offered to buy a sexual relationship from her. “THO Iqbal had offered to give me Rs 1,000 daily if I give in to his demands. I am a respectable married woman and I would prefer to sit at home rather than sell my honour,” she said, her voice resounding with pride.

LHS D told Daily Times that the majority of lady health workers are married women and their age groups range from 30 to 45 years. The THO and Khan have taken advantage of many lady health workers and M is one such example. Khan tried luring M with his so-called charm and when that did not work, he started putting pressure on her, when even that did not bear fruit, he resorted to threatening her and she finally had to give in. Khan, however, did not stop there. After satisfying himself, he started taking M to higher officers and finally when M could not stand it longer she left the profession that she lost everything to protect.

What is commendable is the shamelessness of the THO, as even after he was caught red-handed by his wife at 2:00 am on January 15, at a lady health worker’s residence, he still has not given up his ways and still torments the girl as it was on his influence that she was inducted.

On the other hand, Khan has been threatening other vaccinators who have been let in on his dirty secrets to remain quite or to be exposed in public for crimes they have not even heard of. He tried to force himself on S Z who resisted vehemently, resulting in nothing but trouble for her, as she was brought under the scrutiny of a five-member enquiry committee, which, too, was biased and obviously had other interests in the case.

However, hopefully this nightmare will end soon as the lady health workers chose to remain silent no more. They demand that the government give them due protection and also that the matter should be investigated by a high profile enquiry commission that is formed under the auspices of a judge from the high court. They also demanded that the Sindh High Court or the Supreme Court of Pakistan take suo motu action in this regard. They said that they have an appointment with the Sindh chief minister’s adviser for April 3 and the adviser has assured them of complete support.
Source: Daily Times
Date:4/2/2009

KARACHI: Expressing concern over harassment of women in public transport buses, Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister Sharmila Farouqui on Wednesday suggested that the ladies compartment be shifted to the back portion of the vehicles and both the compartments be properly partitioned.

In a communication to the city nazim, the traffic DIG and other authorities, she also called for deputing women drivers and ticket collectors to avoid harassment of female passengers.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/2/2009