Day: March 3, 2011

SUKKUR: A young woman’s nose was chopped off because she was mistaken for her sister, who had been repeatedly warned by some relatives to quit her job.

Three armed men forced their way into the house of Suhail Bugti near Thull on Wednesday afternoon. Only Bugti’s young wife Samina was home. Two men caught hold of her while the third cut her nose off. Neighbours heard her screams and rushed to her aid. They managed to catch one of the suspects but the others escaped. The accused, who was identified as Imdad Bugti, was handed over to the Thull police.

The injured woman told reporters that the men who broke into her house asked her whether she was Rabia. Rabia is Samina’s younger sister, who is a doctor in Thull town. “I was so scared and confused I couldn’t say anything and they just attacked me,” she said.

Samina was taken to a private clinic in Jacobabad. Police said they are investigating.

The arrested suspect, who is also a Bugti, was sent by some other relatives, who had allegedly been threatening Rabia to quit her job. “You are a Bugti woman and you cannot go out of the house everyday. You are damaging our name, our honour,” they had told the young woman, who refused to comply with their demands.

Source: The Express Tribune

Date:3/3/2011

PESHAWAR: Security at all girls’ educational institutions has been put on high alert across Mardan district, following Tuesday’s grenade attack on the Government Girls’ Degree College Landkhwar, Mardan which left 35 students injured.

DCO Mardan, Mohammad Shah told The Express Tribune that police personnel have been deployed at all girls’ educational institutions across the district. Shah said the investigators were working on the case, but declined to give details saying it would be premature to comment on it at this stage.

Meanwhile, an official on the condition of anonymity told The Express Tribune that nearly all the students of the college remained absent on Wednesday. He said that the college was not properly secure and prior to the attack, had only three guards deployed there, that too without weapons.

Source: The Express Tribune

Date:3/3/2011

Rabia Ali

Karachi: A five-year-old girl who was raped last Saturday barely clings to life at a government hospital, as her parents complain of neglect on the part of doctors as well as of police inaction.

“She was admitted to the hospital three days ago, but she has not yet been operated upon. Her critical condition can be gauged from the fact that she is bleeding intermittently and finding it difficult to relieve herself,” says the mother.

Little M*, who belongs to the Hindu community, was allegedly raped by an unidentified sexual predator on the evening of February 26, when she was on her way to a Dhaba to buy tea near her home in Dost Mohammad Goth in Gulberg Town. When the child did not return, her mother rushed outside and found her crying and bleeding profusely near a roadside.

The girl has been battling for her life at the National Institute of Child Health for three days – traumatised and horrified. She does not talk to anyone except at times when she needs something. With fear and horror in her eyes, her fragile body is wrapped in a blanket, covering her injuries.

“She often went to the Dhaba but never did anything like this happen. She is only five years old. Why she was abused we cannot understand. We just want her to remain alive,” her mother told The News.

When contacted, Deputy Director NICH Arshad Hussain Domki was unaware about the patient and expressed surprise over the claims of neglect by doctors. “I’ll take notice of this.”

An uncle of the girl called for immediate arrest of the culprit. “No one has been arrested, nor has an investigation been carried out. Since the girl was raped in the neighborhood, it should not be difficult for them (police) to arrest the culprits.”

An FIR (56/2011) under Section 375 of the PPC has been lodged at the Joharabad police station against unidentified rapists.

SIO Muhammad Arif told The News that they were waiting for the girl to recover in order to record her statement. “At the moment, we are gathering information about the incident.”

The majority of rape victims and survivors in 2010 were children, according to War against Rape, an apolitical organisation working on the issue of rape since 1989. Out of the 266 cases of sexual assault, 55 percent involved teenagers under 18 while 43 percent involved children less than 16 years of age, says a report published recently by the NGO. Five children were raped and murdered last year.

The president of a child-rights organisation, Roshni helpline, Muhammad Ali, called for the formation of a child support centre at every police station in order to provide proper medico-legal facilities along with special police services to the victims.

“Sexual abuse against children seems to be increasing with every passing day. Not only children are being kidnapped and abused but are later killed.”

Source: The News

Date:3/5/2011

THE United Nations Development Programme has released a report about the development of Pakistan. Pakistan’s ranking on the Human Development Index has changed from 123rd to 125th in this year.

The 54 per cent of Pakistan’s population is living under critical conditions in terms of access and provision of basic necessities of life like education, health, standard of living and so forth. UNDP calls it a ‘multidimensional deprivation’.

Why is 54 per cent of the population facing such a critical situation?

The reasons and causes beyond it can be many, but gender inequality and discrimination is also a major variable that creates hindrances and obstacles to the path of achieving improvement in education, health and low standard of living.

To be a woman in Pakistan is still considered a crime and not a human being. The woman is not given importance and status as compared to the man. She is discriminated almost in all spheres of life. She is not sent to school.

It is questioned as to why a woman’s education is necessary when she has to be a housewife. Her brother should be going to school instead.

Also, she faces more diseases in her life because she is not brought to hospitals at the first occurrence. She is given less food and is, therefore, malnourished.

These differences are socio-cultural and so they should be redefined. In this discriminatory attitude in terms of gender inequality, Pakistan scores 112 among 139 countries. Therefore, if we want to progress and improve our ranking on HDI, we have to change our behaviour and attitude towards women.

The woman should be considered a human being. She should be given all facilities and opportunities that are given to a man.

This change will lead us towards development.

INAYAT ALI
Islamabad

Source: Dawn

Date:3/3/2011