Day: January 9, 2011

KARACHI: “I (feel that I) have died, and with me, so have my mother and father,” says Z, who was allegedly gang-raped by four men in Khipro town in Sanghar district last September.

Z was 14 and a student of Class 8 when she was allegedly raped by the men, who reportedly not only filmed the incident but also posted a video of it on the internet.

Months after an FIR was registered in Khipro, the communities involved remain on the brink of confrontation. The case has developed into a volatile ethnic issue, as Z’s family (Bhaiyo) is Sindhi and the accused men belong to the Qaimkhani community. Sindh-based nationalist parties supported the victim’s family and demanded for justice to be served, while the police confirmed that the accused were guilty.

The FIR states that the incident occurred when Z went to a friend’s house after school, she was allegedly drugged over there and then subsequently raped at the friend’s house.

The heinous act has allegedly been committed by her friend’s brother and his three friends. Z was later found unconscious at the doorstep of her own house two days after the incident.

The victim’s uncle Dr Mohammad Amin, who filed the FIR, told Express News, “The incident is very unfortunate. I have never heard of or seen such a case. We are poor people and we appeal to human rights groups and Muslims. Such incident should not have happened in a Muslim country.”

The Qaimkhani community says that if the men are guilty they should be punished, but the community’s women should not be dragged into the case. The victim has named the three sisters of one of the accused — Danish Mahmood — in the FIR as well.

While the four accused are in jail, the Mahmood family believe the women have been named as a score-settler. The women’s brother Minhaj Mahmood contacted The Express Tribune to provide documentary evidence of their stand.

The Mahmood family claims that not only had the three accused women never met the victim, two of them were not even in Khipro on September 28 when the crime was allegedly committed. They say that one of the sisters, Tehreem, was in Tando Allahyar, where she lives with her in-laws. Another, Nayab, was attending classes at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Jamshoro that day. Minhaj claims his youngest sister Farasat and the victim did not know each other because they went to different schools and studied in different classes.

He told The Express Tribune that the two families have no known enmity but the Sindhi and Muhajir communities in Khipro have clashed previously over a murder case.

He also claimed his sisters are in physical danger. “Nayab faces threats of kidnapping at her university,” he said. “Our father has to accompany her.”

Tehreem, Nayab and Farasat obtained protective bail from the high court after being named in the FIR. Minhaj said it was difficult to hire a lawyer because no one wanted to take up the case because of the supposed political fallout as well as personal security concerns.

However, the Khipro Police say that they carried out investigations without any undue pressure from any side. The Khipro Police say they are “certain that the men committed the crime”.

The case is currently being heard at a sessions court in Sanghar. The accused were reportedly shifted to Nara jail in Hyderabad after the district jail refused to house them, citing security concerns.

The lawyer for the complainant, Qalandar Bux Laghari, has submitted an application for the case to be transfered to the Anti Terrorism Court in Nawabshah.

At the most recent hearing in December, the accused were not produced in court by the police and the next hearing has been set for January 26.

“The accused are not being produced by the police because they belong to an influential family,” Laghari told The Express Tribune.

“This is another attempt to delay the outcome of case,” he added.

“My parents and I have been wronged. I want justice,” says Z. “They (the culprits) should be given the harshest punishment so that they never do this again,” the victim added.

Source: The Express Tribune

Date:1/9/2011

KARACHI — A seventeen-year old gang-rape victim, who was declared as virgin by medica1 legal officer, seeks justice from the higher authorities.

Aasia Khoso, belonging to a poor peasant family of Jhaddo, district Mirpurkhas, Sindh, was brutally gang-raped by three men, however, the female medico-legal officer at Taluka Hospital Jhaddo issued a ‘fake’ medical report declaring that the gang-rape victim was virgin. Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan said this while addressing a press conference at Madadgaar Helpline office here on Saturday.

With the assistance of Madadgaar, Director General Health Sindh constituted a high-level medical board at the Civil Hospital Karachi, which after medical examination confirmed that the victim was not virgin he informed.

He said Aasia Khoso, daughter of Noor Muhammad Khoso, resident of Jhaddo town visited the Madadga-ar He1pline office in Karachi on January 04,2011 and told that her neighbor, Dhani Bux, took her to his home on the pretext of showing her his newborn baby; however, at his house his two aides, Bu-Ali and Sher Ali were present and they three overpowered and raped her.

Aasia informed media that the Medico Legal Officer of Taluka Hospital Jhaddo Dr Shahnaz Talpur, in convince with the accused issued her a fake medical certificate, declaring that she was virgin and the police on the basis of that medical certificate was not taking any action against the accused.

Source: The Nation

Date:1/9/2011

ISLAMABAD: To eleminate the most furious type of harrasment ‘Sexual’, civil society on Saturday strongly demanded to appoint ombudsmen in all the provinces to protect and hearing cases of women against their harrasment at workplace.

While addressing a seminar arranged by Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (AASHA), human rights activist Dr Fouzia Saeed urged the provincial governments to take swift implementation of legislation to protect women against harassment.

AASA- a coalition of around a dozen civil society organisations is working to eliminate sexual harassment and to promote women’s rights. They called upon the provincial chief ministers to immediately apppoint ombudsmen in their respective provinces under law to hear and decide the complaints of women against their harassment at workplace. It was also learnt the members asked the chief ministers (CMs) to issue directives to all ministries, divisions and departments to enforce the law so that women of the country, struggling for decades, get a ray of hope to get their just rights. Terming devolution of various ministries to the provinces as a challenge, they stressed that the provinces must develop and demonstrate their capacity to cope up with challenge posed by autonomy. They also called for immediately meeting the operational requirements of the federal ombudsmen by providing her a suitable office and required staff on urgent basis. Ms Saeed, who is also chairperson of the National Implementation Watch Committee formed to oversee the progress on compliance of the law, said she was pleased with the pace of implemetnation. “No other law has been accmpanied by such awareness camapign and community efforts and therefore we have seen visible results in a short time period,” she remarked. She said almost all the federal ministries had implemented the law and a few remaining were in the process of doing the same.

She said the Punjab chief secretary had already issued directives to all the government departments to implement the law, form three member committees to probe into complaints of women against harassment and display code of conduct at the respective

workplaces at conspicuous places. She said the Sindh government was also following suit.a
Ms Saeed said that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Higher Education Commission (HEC) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had already implemented this law and written letters to the organisations that operate under them to enforce the law. She said the implementation committee would develop a complete database, based upon the information gathered through the regulatory bodies on the status of implementation of law, the number of complaints received in different organisations and other relevant matters.She said the committee was formed in May 2010 for two years and will thus cease to exist in May 2012. She hoped that the things would be institutionalised by then.

Source: Daily Times

Date:1/9/2011

Karachi: Adviser to the Chief Minister Sindh on Information Sharmila Farooqui has said that the provincial government has taken all possible measures to protect the rights of the children and women, adding that the 18th Amendment had provided protection to children.

While talking to a delegation of the Human Rights Protection International in her office on Saturday, she admitted that poverty was a huge factor behind people who sent their children out to work or, even worse, sell them to those who used them as labourers.

The advisor added that the government passed a bill providing protection to working women against harassment at workplace. She said that abuse cases related to children working as domestic labourers were not reported and if they wee reported, police always took action.

The adviser further said that the government was serious about redressing issues related to children’s rights and people should work together to ensure children and women got their due rights and status in society.

Separately, Farooqui ordered an audit of the advertisement section of the Sindh Information Department for 2009-10.

The purpose of the audit was to eradicate corruption and implement transparency in the department, she said in a statement.

The adviser added that the advertisement section was being computerised and release orders were being displayed on the computer in order to end corruption in the department.

She said that she was making all-out efforts to maintain a close and good working relationship between the media and the Information Department.

Source: The News

Date:1/9/2011

FAISALABAD: City Jaranwala police on Saturday registered a case against two people for killing a girl who contracted marriage against the will of her parents.

Firdos Sadia, of Thatha Jalib, Jaranwala, had contracted love marriage with Saifullah of Dholika, Tandlianwala, some three months ago. Parents and relatives of the girl were not happy with her decision.

Her uncle, Mohammad Ali, along with his accomplice gunned down Firdos on Friday and injured another Abul Latif. The girl came to a court for testimony in favour of her husband when she was attacked.

The police have arrested both the accused.

Source: Dawn

Date:1/9/2011