Day: May 10, 2012

Rana Tanveer

LAHORE: An elderly woman left with broken bones in a brutal beating and robbery two weeks ago has alleged that Ghalib Market police are refusing to register a case against the perpetrator, another woman, because she is backed by local clerics.

Shehnaz Khan, 65, told The Express Tribune that her former neighbour, Samina, had visited her on April 27 to borrow some money. She said that after her daughter had left the house at around 5pm, Samina attacked her and beat her till she lost consciousness. She said that Samina had stolen Rs150,000 in cash and nine tolas of gold from her. She said that she had suffered two broken ribs, a broken nose and other injuries.

Khan said that she had tried to get a robbery case registered against Samina, but Ghalib Market police were not entertaining her application. She said that Allama Fasihuddin, the prayer leader of a mosque next to the Model Town superintendent of police’s (SP) office, had asked the Ghalib Market police not to register the case.

“Whenever I am called to the police station, some 20 clerics also turn up and tell the police officials that they are prepared to swear oaths that Samina is innocent,” she said.

Khan said that she had also approached Model Town SP Maroof Wahla, but no case had been registered. She said that while she was still unconscious in hospital after the beating, her brother Idrees Khan had submitted an application at the police station for the registration of an FIR against unidentified armed men, but she had later withdrawn it and submitted a new one identifying Samina.

Allama Fasihuddin told The Express Tribune that he did not doubt that Shehnaz Khan had been attacked in her home. “That is obvious from her face,” he said.

But he added that Samina could not be the attacker, as she belonged to a “virtuous religious family”. He said that he had conducted a “spiritual and physical investigation” and found Samina innocent, and he had tried to show this to the police. He said that her family had been visiting his mosque for 50 years and they were not criminals.

Fasihuddin said that Khan’s story was implausible. “She has accused Samina of covering her face with a pillow and then jumping on her for 15 minutes … this is a complete lie as Samina is so big that Shehnaz could not survive a single jump. It seems to me that Shehnaz has concocted a story to implicate Samina,” he said.

He said that he had only pointed out the facts of the case to the SP and not pressured him to favour anybody.

Ghalib Market SHO Amir Saleem said that Samina was from a respectable family and one did not expect them to be involved in such a crime. He said that there had been a delay in the registration of a case because the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee was involved and would decide the matter on Thursday. He said the initial medical report showing Shehnaz Khan’s injuries had been received but the final report was a couple of days away, after which they would register an FIR.

The Express Tribune

Karachi: In a fit of rage, a man strangulated his wife to death after a heated argument at their residence on Wednesday, police said. Siddiqa Bibi, 25, wife of Ghulam Qadir, was killed in her house in Ayub Goth. Later, Qadir informed his wife’s relatives about her death. The family informed police, who took the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem. A medico-legal officer at the facility has conducted the postmortem, and a chemical examination is yet to be carried out.

The News

KARACHI: Senior women activists associated with human rights bodies and other non-governmental organisations engaged in social welfare activities in Lyari, as well as other parts of Karachi, strongly condemned on Wednesday frequent waves of violence, killing of innocent people, growing menace of extortion, gang warfare as well as the botched police operation in the once most peaceful old city area.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, leaders of Karachi Concerned Citizens Forum (KCCF) including Nargis Rahman, Zeenat A. Haroon Rasheed, Nargis Hatim Alvi, Prof Shaista Zaidi, Akram Khatoon, Sabiha Shah, Mahnaz Rahman and Rana Asif Habib called for a meaningful solution to the Lyari issue.

KCCF convener Nargis Rahman described the recently launched police operation in Lyari as an attack on the fundamental rights of citizens, and said the state-sponsored action resulted in a total erosion of people’s confidence. “For the operation, a week-long siege was laid and over 1,400 personnel of the law-enforcement agencies were deployed in parts of Lyari. However, the ill-planned operation and poorly executed raids during it had to be stopped abruptly and the government came out with a promise to launch a better and well-planned operation against gangsters, mafias and militants who, according to it, were responsible for the lawlessness in the area,” she said.

She said questions were raised about the very objective of the operation during which peace-loving people of Lyari suffered a lot. She pointed out that most people in Lyari were still living below the poverty line despite the fact that a Rs2.5 billion package was announced for their uplift. “Who are the beneficiaries of the package,” she asked.

The KCCF leader called for the implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling on curbing violence in Karachi in letter and spirit.

Zeenat A. Haroon Rasheed said that residents of Lyari were the same patriotic and peaceful citizens who lived there when Pakistan came into being. She regretted that the peaceful atmosphere that prevailed there for many decades was disturbed so much that public welfare activities had to be stopped by many NGOs and their members.

Nargis Alvi also recalled the days when there was no hatred among the members of a large number of communities living in Lyari and anyone could freely move into any part of the area without any fear. Today, the situation is just opposite. Terrorism, criminal activities and corruption had spread fear in the local population while vested interest had managed
to sow hatred among communities, she said.

Prof Shaista Zaidi regretted that political elements were playing with the sentiments of Lyari people and this was turning many of the exploited individuals into criminals.

Akram Khatoon warned the government against adventurism in the low-income group people’s areas such as Lyari, Orangi, Qasba and katchi abadis, saying that the city’s industrial sector, which contributed heavily to the provincial and national economy, drew much of the manpower from these areas. Disturbance in these areas was bound to directly affect the economy, she argued.

Sabiha Shah said her NGO worked in Lyari for long but had to stop word on its projects due to lawlessness. She said that quite a large number of NGOs had been working in this area at a time and a huge number of social workers remained associated with them until recently. Lyari, she said, was seen as the only area that did not get affected while the rest of the city was hit by crippling strikes.

A woman from Lyari, Ms Jamali, apprised the media of the ordeal experienced by most families living in the violence-hit localities during the so-called police operation. “We had run out of food and water… we had to starve for eight days while there was shooting all around our houses. Many innocent people lost their lives and many more received bullet
injuries but lifting a body or transporting an injured victim to hospital was highly risky. Even police did not allow a man to pick up the body of his brother, who was caught in the crossfire in my neighbourhood.”

Following the press conference, KCCF leaders and activists staged a demonstration outside the press club to express solidarity with the people of Lyari.

Dawn

Sadia Qasim Shah

PESHAWAR: Like many other Swati women, the prolonged conflict in the region left Farida with nothing but embroidery skills to earn livelihood.

Thanks to her expertise in this traditional craft, the 40-year-old currently works with Lasoona, a nongovernmental
organisation developing handicraft skills of local women and marketing their work, including Swati embroidered shawls.

As handicrafts made by skilled women were put on display here at Women Business Development Centre, a number of such women from Swat also poured their hearts out about the crisis they faced even after the conflict was over.

Ms Farida said she got education up to intermediate but after 22 years of her life as a housewife, she was forced to step out and work with an NGO for food and education of her two children.

She said there was an old diabetic woman in Qamber village whose two sons were killed on suspicion of aiding Taliban and that she earned Rs20 per chaddar (shawl) for embroidery and it paid for her medicine.

Middle-aged Parveen, who is a mother of young daughters from Qamber, said most of the women, who were doing Swati embroidery, were either widows heading their families or so poor that they wanted to supplement income of the household with their skills. She said conflict had destroyed school and lives of Swat women and financial problems were looming in every village.

Shama, another skilled woman from Swat, said conflict had badly affected handicrafts business in Swat as tourists stopped coming to the valley and buying their handicrafts. The linkages of the women making handicrafts and those marketing it were also broken but now things are improving and women are starting to work again to earn livelihood for their families.

Seema Ajmal from Mardan district, who had also displayed her handicrafts at the crafts bazaar, said the women had skills and enthusiasm to utilise their skills for income generation but she lacked support from family and the society.

According to her, women hesitate to approach markets for selling or marketing their products. “The customs and traditions are a big hurdle in a businesswoman or skilled woman’s way to progress.

Women, who showed up at the bazaar, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, said buyers did not trust women
entrepreneurs. They said the government support was needed to provide them with exposure and marketing skills.

“Linkages should be developed so that women could access markets,” she said.

Smeda chief in Peshawar Javed Khattak said his organisation was trying to develop linkages of women entrepreneurs and had planned their visits for exposure. He said WBDCs were important in networking of skilled women. WDBCs have been proposed for DI Khan and Hazara. He said WBDC in Peshawar was trying to polish the skills of the women making handicrafts. SMEDA and Home Economics College Peshawar has signed an MoU to train skilled women in color and thread-selection, designs, choice of cloth, designing and making of gems jewelry so that their products or handicrafts could be refined and saleable in the market, Mr. Khattak said.

Semda chief executive Naseem Khokar inaugurated the crafts bazaar and asked details from stallholders about handicrafts and about the areas in which they needed help.

Dawn