Suspect confesses to murder, attempted rape

Karachi: Kaleem Ahmed, an accused involved in a rape case of a teenage girl confessed that he had killed Sonia after attempting to rape her due to fear.

Ahmed was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate South recorded his confessional statement under section 164 (power to record statements and confession) that he had killed 14-year-old Sonia and dumped her body in the bushes.

In his statement he said that he tried to rape Sonia but after her resistance he strangled her and put the piece of cloth in her mouth consequently she died. He pleaded that he first kidnapped her and later took her to an unknown place where he tried to rape her.

She screamed and resisted due to which he throttled her The court after recording the statement adjourned the case with the direction to the Investigation Officer to submit charge-sheet against the accused as he had himself admitted the offence.

Ahmed, an accused said to have asked the teenage girl to come along with him to an unidentified place. She, however, refused to go. He later forcibly took her to unknown places where he tried to rape her but failed due to her resistance.

Source: The News

Date:4/26/2011

Dasti praises SC verdict in Mukhtaran Mai case

Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: While there is a hue and cry among NGOs and human rights activists against the Supreme Court judgment in Mukhtaran Mai’s case, there are a few who are ready to welcome the apex court’s decision saying that the courts are dispensing justice even when they are under pressure.

One of them is the fake degree fame PPP MNA Jamshed Dasti from Muzaffargarh who not only praised the SC over the judgment but also criticised the NGOs and human rights activists for not accepting the verdict of the court and propagating against the people of Muzaffargarh. He also termed the Mai episode as a conspiracy to defame Pakistan and Islam and alleged that billions were made by projection of a fake drama.

The PPP MNA swears by God that no such incident ever took place in Muzaffargarh. The brother of Mukhtar Mai, he said, had committed adultery with one of the girls of the Mastoi clan and in the jirga it was held that Mukhtaran Mai may be married to a person from Mastoi clan but this proposal was rejected by a few members.

He says neither Mastois were feudal nor anyone else and it was a wrong projection that feudals had given verdict of gang rape of Mukhtar Mai. When asked that one person had confessed to committing rape with Mukhtar Mai, Dasti said he had to confess to rescue all others.

While hailing the SC judgment and criticizing those who are protesting, Dasti said, “I appeal to the chief justice of Pakistan to take action against those who were maligning the apex court for a thing which could not be proved in the Lahore High Court and then in the Supreme Court”.

“Mukhtar Mai case was a conspiracy against Islam and NGOs have minted billions so far along with Mukhtar Mai, who too has become billionaire by cashing on a fake and concocted drama,” said the MNA adding that the then Lahore High Court, Justice MA Shahid Siddiqui, who is in the SC now, and Justice Ijaz Chaudhry, now the LHC Chief Justice, had penned downed the historic judgment by examining each and every aspect of the case and similarly the Supreme Court verdict also speaks of nothing but truth.

“The courts have proved that they are dispensing justice even when they are under pressure,” said Dasti adding: “The courts have cleaned the blot on Muzaffargarh which appeared as a result of this concocted story.”

Even the NGO mafia had protested against LHC judges in Muzaffargarh in 2005 and now they were protesting against the Supreme Court to prove themselves loyal to their masters. Dasti vowed to register his protest against what he called the NGO mafia in the National Assembly as well.

Source: The News

Date:4/26/2011

Violence against women: Speakers laud media for ‘positive role’

ISLAMABAD – Speakers at a seminar appreciated the positive role of media to generate public awareness addressing violence against women, and said that media is serving as catalyst in providing justice to the victims of gender violence.

Mome Saleem from SDPI shared findings from her recently conducted research which highlighted that media played a very pivotal role in addressing the violence against women. She said that they collected about 40 case studies on incident of violence against women and found out that in 25 cases, media was instrumental in influencing authorities and helping the victims.

She also narrated stories of two rape victims – 15-year-old Asma Khand and 12-year-old Anam, who were raped and denied justice but after persistent media coverage, relevant authorities were forced to act. She pointed some gaps such as juicy reporting of rape incidents and insisted upon shifting focus to punishment of culprits and projection of positive developments in violence against women. Sumera Abbasi said media can play an important role in the shaping of perceptions around women and their role in society. She said that media has definitely helped generate public awareness of the multiple problems facing women, such as violence of various kinds. Sara Duke concluded that media can and does perform two paradoxical roles in addressing violence against women. It can serve as a forum to merely reflect discriminatory attitudes and beliefs, which further propagates acts of violence against women.

Source: The Nation

Date:4/26/2011