Day: July 20, 2012

By: Abdul Manan

LAHORE: The provincial assembly decided on Thursday to refer to its Standing Committee on Women’s Development to probe the allegations that Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy did not fulfill her commitments to an acid attack survivor.

The house decided to summon all stakeholders in the matter to the committee’s next meeting.

The PA session resumed on Thursday at 12:08pm instead of the scheduled time of 10am and was chaired by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan.

Sajida Mir, a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member rose a point of order and asked the speaker to form a committee to probe the allegations against Chinoy.

She said Rukhsana Bibi had reconciled with her husband and they were black mailing Chinoy.

Sheikh Alauddin, a Unification Bloc member, on Wednesday had moved an adjournment motion claiming Chinoy had promised Rukhsana Bibi Rs3 million, a home in Multan and free plastic surgery for her face to work in the Oscar winning documentary, Saving Face. The house had expressed sympathy with Rukhsana Bibi and suggested that she move a court.

Mir said, “I appreciate the house’s position but I want to ask: who will punish Rukhsana Bibi’s husband for throwing acid in the first place?”

She then suggested the house form a committee to probe the matter. She said she supported Chinoy’s decision not to provide cash to the woman since it would be used by her husband.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah agreed that the matter should be referred to the standing committee.

Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal Khan forwarded the matter to the committee. When some opposition members said the committee had yet to meet, Sanaullah said a notification would be issued soon and this would be the first matter it takes up.

Bills

Three bills, including The Punjab Motion Pictures (Amendment) Bill 2012, Punjab Metro Bus Authority Bill and Punjab Zakat and Usher Bill were introduced in the house.

They had been referred to standing committees concerned a month ago and had been cleared.

Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, the minister for education, answered questions regarding the department.

The Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2011 was passed. The ammendment exempts police officials from proceedings under the law.

Rai Shahjahan, a PPP legislator, said police should not be spared from investigation under the PEEDA act. Rana Sanaullah responded that police officials had complained that the PEEDA had a lengthy process while police had its own disciplinary laws in the Police Order 2002.

The speaker then prorogued the 39th session for an indefinite time period at the opposition’s request.

The Express Tribune

PESHAWAR: The representatives of the women rights organisation have declared the weak implementation of binding laws on protection of women rights root cause of the growing cases of violence against women in the country.

The violence ratio was considerably grown up over the past four years in the country, they claimed while releasing a report “Policy and Data Monitor on Violence against Women (VAW)” here at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday. “Women are much vulnerable to raise voice for their legitimate rights despite promulgation of the law in this regard,” said Shabeena Ayaz, resident director, Aurat Foundation.

On the occasion, PDM VAW regional coordinator, Sheireen Javed, representative from UNWOMEN, CAMP, and other co-partners of the project were present. Shabeena attributed that the report dedicated to Farida Afridi for her services in highlighting women issues. She said that the figure of VAW were beyond the reported cases as a large number of cases were not reported due to different cultural and other reasons. “Our report was totally based on media reports and registered cases in crisis centres, she informed, adding that women were deprived in getting their legitimate rights.

Though, she said that about seven relevant laws have been promulgated with the passage of time, but there wasn’t any practical implementation in this regard. The state is responsible to strictly implement the biding laws for ensuring protection of women rights, she added. She regretted that it couldn’t happen because of which violence cases are increasing every year in the country.

Besides, speaking on the occasion, Shabeena said that the District Police officers were ignorant about the promulgation of laws on women rights, how it possible to implement properly, she questioned. “Our basic objective of launching report every year to bring down VAW cases with support of media and other relevant women rights organizations, she informed.

While giving statistical details about the VAW during 2011, Sheireen Javed said that a total of 8,539 cases of violence against women were reported, out of which 694 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,316 in Sindh, 6,188 in Punjab and 193 in Balochistan and 148 in Islamabad Capital Territories (ICT).

She presented a detailed report about the cases relating to violence against women in the four provinces of the country. More than 1792 cases of violence of miscellaneous nature have been reported, relating vanni, Sawara, custodial violence, torture, trafficking, child marriages, incest, threat to violence, sexual harassment, attempted murder and land encroaching, she maintained.

About 1384 cases in Punjab, 273 in Sindh, 81 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 12 in Balochistan, and 41 in ICT have been reported of miscellaneous nature, she added. Whereas the status of FIRs about different nature cases of VAW, she informed that 5,290 in Punjab, 636 in Sindh, 495 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 193 in Balochistan and 131 in ICT with a percentage of 78.99 were registered, while 911 cases were unregistered and 883 cases were lacking status of information.

The Nation

UNITED NATIONS: A UN human rights expert has spoken out against the recent killing of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and called on the two countries govts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“The failure of States to guarantee women’s right to a life free from violence allows for violence which can end in their death,” said Rashida Manjoo, the expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council with investigating and reporting on violence against women, its causes and consequences. Manjoo, a South African lawyer, referred to the recent killing of Fareeda Afridi, a human rights defender in Pakistan, and of Hanifa Safi, a provincial head of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan, as well as the public execution of Najiba, a woman accused of adultery in Afghanistan. “Whether labelled murder, homicide or ‘honour’ killings, these manifestations of violence are culturally and socially embedded, and continue to be accepted, tolerated or justified – with impunity as the norm,” the expert said.

She urged both the Pakistani and the Afghan governments to carry out prompt and impartial investigations into the killings and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.

“The killing of women is indeed a State crime when tolerated by public institutions and officials – when they are unable to prevent, protect and guarantee the lives of women, who have experienced multiple forms of discrimination and violence throughout their lifetime,” Ms. Manjoo said.

“It is crucial to acknowledge that these are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but are rather the extreme manifestation of pre-existing forms of violence experienced by women everywhere,” she stressed. “However, women suffering multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination face a greater risk of experiencing such violence.”

In her 2012 report to the Council, Ms. Manjoo underscored that States should adopt a holistic approach to addressing the gender-related killings of women.

She recommended ensuring effective investigations, prosecution and sanctions; guaranteeing access to adequate and effective judicial remedies; treating women victims and their relatives with respect and dignity; and ensuring comprehensive reparations to victims and their relatives, among other measures.

The Nation

KHANEWAL: Rejecting the report of woman’s murder on a panchayat (village court) order, the district police said on Thursday that the woman fell prey to old enmity.

On Wednesday, Mariyam Bibi, a resident of 15/9R, was murdered and her son Sarfraz was kidnapped by their rivals, according to police. The police registered an FIR under section 302,364,148,149 and arrested Raja Mehboob, Raja Nanay Khan, Raja Arslan while a hunt for other nominated accused was on. Investigation Officer Ashraf said no village court meeting took place. He said the report was baseless. SHO Shamshad said the police would secure the release of missing boy soon.

Jhang to have four colleges: Four new colleges – two each for boys and girls will be established here in the district to provide best educational facilities to the local youth at their threshold.

In this regard a sum of Rs80 million has been allocated in the budget. Giving details about the project, DO Buildings told the reporters that a Girls Degree College would be established at Mandi Shah Jewna.

and the other one in Jhang City while the boys Degree colleges would be established at Garh Maharaja and in Mandi Shah Jewna respectively. Moreover, the district officer said that construction of the buildings for the colleges would be completed by the end of this fiscal year.

The Nation

Gender

In cold blood: Mystery surrounds woman’s death

SUKKUR: Two separate claims – of self immolation and murder – circulated around the death of a woman in Al Kutub Town near Daharki, district Ghotki this week.

According to one account Sajida, who was married to Yasin Malik, had set herself on fire on Monday after a dispute with her husband and his mother and sisters. Instead of a nearby hospital, her family took Sajida to the Rahim Yar Khan hospital instead where she died on Wednesday morning.

Yasin Malik told journalists that his wife had fought with her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law after which she had shut herself up in a room and killed herself. However, sources in the area claimed that there was a fight between Sajida and her sisters-in-law and the latter had caught hold of her, poured petrol over her and set her on fire.

An official at the Daharki police station said that the police had received information about a woman committing suicide. The officer, who chose to not disclose his identity, said that an ASI Nabi Bux Jalbani had gone to investigate the matter but the woman had been buried by then. While he claimed it was a simple case of suicide, informed sources begged to differ.

The Express Tribune