Day: March 8, 2011

Karachi: The Sindh Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution moved by Power Minister Shazia Marri to pay tribute to the dynamic women of the country on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Marri requested the house to relax the rules to enable her to move a resolution under Rule 102 of the Rules of Procedure of the Sindh Assembly.

She said the women rights’ movements could be traced back to 100 years and was an outcome of discriminatory treatment against womenfolk since ages.

According to her, the movement began because women were not being given equal wages and were being discriminated socially and otherwise.

The movement, she said, was aimed at establishing a society free of exploitation, a society where women would get justice and equal rights.

Referring to Pakistan, she said more than 50 per cent of Pakistan’s population comprises women and the country could not progress until and unless the women were given their equal rights and paid decent wages.

Marri pointed out that it was Pakistan People’s Party chairperson and the slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto who signed the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1996, established the first Women’s Bank and first women’s police station.

“This Assembly is proud to commemorate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011,” reads the resolution. The resolution paid tribute to the dynamic women of Pakistan, “who strive passionately for the betterment of the country, and its future, despite numerous substantial impediments.”

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‘Home-based female workers earning a pittance’

Karachi: Home-based female workers must get a minimum salary of Rs7,000 as has been stated by the law, stressed members of HomeNet Pakistan on Monday while highlighting the plight of women in the country.

Speaking at the Karachi Press Club, social activist Farhat Parveen said that 20 million women are working in homes and are earning very little. She added that they make up 65 percent of the total number of women working in the country. Parveen pointed out that they are involved in making tube-lights, bangles, shoes, sewing and packing clothes.

“These women are the most suppressed of all workers,” she said, while reading out the recommendations made in the national policy to address the issues faced by these working women.

The recommendations include the formation of a council to deal with health issues of the workers, ensure an increase in their wages, the provision of security and the strengthening of their trade unions.

Home-based worker Rehana Yaseen pointed out that as part of the registration process initiated by the EOBI; female workers have to pay Rs420 a month to the old-age fund. She questioned how a woman who was earning a mere Rs1000 per month could afford to sacrifice such a large portion of her salary. Yaseen also said that those women earning between Rs3,000 and Rs4,000 a month may have to work for over 12 hours a day.

“These days a large number of small industries are based out of homes and in these cases, it’s the owners who benefit the most as their costs are reduced by a great deal. However, the female home-based workers suffer the most as the price they are wage for every piece they produce is meagre,” she added.

Sabiha Shah of Lyari Community Development said that in neighbouring countries, the law comes to the aid of women who toil at home. “Our government must learn and provide protection for these women.”

Source: The News

Date:3/8/2011

Karachi: Three brave women narrated their sorrowful tales to highlight the sorry state of women rights at a press briefing on Monday at the Madadgaar Helpline office on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Also, the NGO shared data of the last two months in which around 765 cases of violence against women were reported across the country.

One of the women, 18-year-old Komal, who recently escaped from a prostitution den in Safoora Goth, said she was forced into prostitution for two years by her husband.

“After my father passed away in 2006, his friend, a police inspector Akram Cheema, held us hostage, and started living in our house. He got me and my two sisters married off to the owners of a prostitution den,” said Komal. Her husband, Mohammad Razzak, had married five times.

“When I refused to indulge in such dirty work, Razzak and the rest of the men would beat me up and rape me. There were fifteen other women with me who were also forced into prostitution. The men even made videos of us.”

Komal was sent to dens in Nawabshah and Hyderabad, while in Karachi she was forced to “serve” people in Gulistan-i-Johar and Defence.

“My price was Rs50,000 for a week. The owners got the money and did not give us a single penny.”

Komal finally got a chance to run away from the horrifying life and with the help of the NGO reached the police.

“Though the police conducted a raid on the den on February 26 and many girls were recovered, my sisters were not found. I request the high-ups to save my family,” she pleaded.

Another young woman, Raisa, shared her tale of being subjected to domestic violence. “On the first night of my marriage, my husband forcibly took back the Haq Mehar money by forcing me into signing papers. That was the beginning of my bad days.”

Later, he snatched her gold jewelry, cut her hair, burnt her arm with an iron, and thrashed her every single day.

“Though he has divorced me, he continues to threaten me as I’ve moved the court to get back the dowry money.”

Shabiran, a widow hailing from Jamshoro, is fighting against the murderers of her husband. They are no other than her brothers. “It is embarrassing to say that my own brothers are responsible for messing up my life. They killed my husband, took over my property and house, and made me live the life of a scum,” she said amidst tears.

Despite the fact that Shabiran’s case reached the court twice, it got dissolved as her brother is a DSP. “I don’t know what to do. I’m working as a domestic worker to support my children.”

Out of the 765 cases of violence reported against women, 150 were tortured, 122 were murdered, 71 were raped or gang-raped and 104 were trafficked during the last two months.

Project Coordinator of Madadgaar Helpline Zia Ahmed Awan said that only 10 percent of the cases of violence against women could come to the fore.

“A majority of the women do not report cases as they avoid going to police stations and courts. The situation of women rights is very alarming, and the government has failed to provide protection and security to the women living in this country.”

He said that action should be taken against Jirgas which pass discriminatory decisions on issues relating to women.

“It is the prime responsibility of the government to empower women. Also the government should make sure that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which it has ratified should be implemented.”

Source: The News

Date:3/8/2011

ATTOCK: A judicial magistrate here gave three persons to the police on four days’ physical remand in a couple’s murder case. The accused include Khalilur Rehman, the elder brother of the deceased man.

Sources said the district police headquarters had directed the SP investigation to supervise the probe into the case.

Earlier, the Jand police registered the double murder case against Rehman and his two cousins — Mohammad Nasir and Adeel Khan — for allegedly killing Mohammad

Azeem, 20, and his wife in Mari village of Jand police on February 28. The family of the deceased was not happy after he got married with Nuzat Shaheen, 18, two years back.

The police said the accused after killing the couple outside their house took the bodies inside to give an impression that they had been killed by some outsiders after barging into the house at night.

However the police got suspicious as there was no blood in the room. Later, a police team led by SI Ahmed Khan arrested the three alleged killers on March 4 after registration of a case on the report of deceased girl’s mother, Zameer Begum.

Source: Dawn

Date:3/8/2011

KARACHI: Violence against women, especially rape cases, was on the rise in Karachi and medico legal reports confirmed that at least 20 women were subjected to rape in Karachi during last two months; said police surgeon Karachi Dr Hamid Padhiyar.

Talking to PPI here on the eve of International Women’s Day, he said incidents of abuse of women in Karachi including rape, physical and mental torture and domestic violence were on the rise. He called for changing mentality to end the violence on women. He said better education and rising awareness could change the dismal situation towards the rights of women.

Source: The Nation

Date:3/8/2011

March 8, International Women’s Day, has, since 1909, brought women from across the world together.

March 8, International Women’s Day, has, since 1909, brought women from across the world together – reminding them that no matter where they live or what they do, their concerns and problems are often similar ones. Discrimination, after all, is still suffered in one form or the other by women almost everywhere in the world and violence directed against women is not restricted to any particular group or country. While women have come a long way in terms of the careers open to them and have succeeded in all but a handful of nations in obtaining the right to adult franchise, they still face all kinds of restrictions on civil rights, dress, conduct, education and the right to choose marriage partners.

In Pakistan, of course, the majority of women who make up half the country’s population of some 180 million people, will go through March 8 without realising its significance. The limitation on education for girls is one of the key factors that stand in their way. While enrolment at schools has gone up over the decades, today less than 40 per cent of women in the country are literate. In areas such as Fata, this figure drops to around three percent, or even lower according to some NGOs who work to promote empowerment for women in the region. This lack of learning has a profound impact on many areas of life, including empowerment, reproductive health and economic rights. Talibisation has, of course, added to the difficulties many women face. The hold of ‘tradition’, which promotes practices such as child marriage or the handing over of women to settle a dispute, refuses to recede.

Despite the oppression many face, women in Pakistan have taken many strides forward, excelling in academics, in sports and in courage. A significant number has fought back from the most difficult circumstances to seek justice for themselves after falling victim to crime. Their examples inspire others to do the same and to try and throw off the darkness that still envelops too many women in the country.

Source: The Express Tribune

Date:3/8/2011