Day: August 13, 2012

SHEIKHUPURA: The police have arrested four suspected rapists on the special direction of District Police Officer (DPO) here at Safdarabad the other day.

As per details, a woman Sughran Bibi, a resident of Nawan Kot village was allegedly abducted and later gang raped by four armed culprits. Reportedly, Sughran Bibi was busy in washing clothes in nearby Nallah. In the mean time four armed men forcibly took her to nearby sugarcane fields and where they gang raped her.

Following the incident, the woman reached Safdarabad Police Station for registration of a case against the rapists. Meanwhile, DPO Dr Haider Ashraf took notice and ordered the police to arrest the culprits immediately. The police have arrested four culprits allegedly involved in gang rape of the woman. They are identified as Asad, son of Mukhtar, Sajid, son of Ashraf, Mitho, son of Maqsood and Shahid, son of Rafique. Further investigation is underway.

I-DAY CELEBRATIONS: District Coordination Officer Asad Rehman said that Independence Day will be celebrated with full national enthusiasm throughout the district. He disclosed that all the government buildings will be decorated with bunting and national flag. He was talking to this scribe here on Sunday.
The DCO said that speech competition among different schoolchildren will be held on August 14, to highlight the importance of Independence Day and create awareness among children about Pakistan Ideology.

The Nation

By: Muhammad Uzair Niazi

MIANWALI: Every developed nation in the world has progressed by utilising the talents of all its citizens, including women. Both men and women are equipped with different skills and expertise and both have the ability to trigger change. Women in the developed world play a key role in the development process by utilising their skills in a proper way. Women in the developed world are associated with different professions and are contributing in the uplifting of their countries’ economies. In Pakistan, however, most women continue to face a multitude of problems and hurdles and this can happen at a level as basic as in the choice of profession.

As a result, most Pakistani women have to navigate for themselves a territory that is almost always controlled by males. Of course, this is not to say that things haven’t changed; they have, and now women can be found in professions like the police, the military, the media, sports, politics and so on. But a lot more change needs to take place, especially in terms of attitudes among male Pakistanis. That is an essential prerequisite for bringing women into the socio-economic development mainstream.

The Express Tribune

By: Shamsul Islam

FAISALABAD: Four officials of Peoples Colony police were sent to the Central Jail on Sunday after a department inquiry against them in a sexual assault case found them guilty and recommended their expulsion from service.

The suspects – Rizwan Javaid, Asif Mehmood, Basharat Ahmed and Ali Imran – were arrested and an FIR registered against them under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 155 C of the Police Order of 2002. They have also been suspended from service.

A medical examination carried out at the Faisalabad district headquarters (DHQ) hospital had confirmed that the victim, a resident of Lahore who had come to Faisalabad to meet a relative, was beaten up and sexually assaulted.

Superintendent of Police Tahir Maqsood, who led the departmental inquiry into the incident, said DNA samples had also been sent for chemical examination.

He said he had recommended that the suspects be expelled from service. He said there was sufficient evidence to prove their involvement in the crime.

A report in this regard would be sent to the court within a week.

In her statement to the police at the hospital, the woman had alleged that she was abducted by the suspects from a rickshaw she was riding to her relatives’ house. She said the officials had asked her for identity documents. “They started demanding a bribe to let me go when I told them that I was not carrying my identity card,” she said. She said later they kidnapped her and took her to a hotel on Satiana Road where she was sexually assaulted.

She said she was abandoned on a roadside from where a relative took her to the hospital. The relative also reported the matter to the police.

The police inquiry, however, concluded that the ‘relative’ was colluding with the suspects.

SP Maqsood said investigation had revealed that the woman was tricked. “[The complainant] took her to the hotel under a deal with the suspects,” he said.

He said witnesses had stated that the relative was standing guard in front of the hotel. He said he had later consulted a sub inspector and reported the matter to the police on his advice.

The Express Tribune

Karachi: Increasing cases of murders of women and girls in Pakistan has fully exposed the gender vulnerability in Pakistan, as 432 women have been killed in the first six months of the current year, said president Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) Zia Awan.

He said the growing gender discrimination and violation of women rights has created an alarming situation in Pakistan. Referring to Madadgar National Database report he said that from January to June 2012 as many as 432 cases of murder of women were recorded in Pakistan, whereas 736 women were killed in the year 2011.

The noted human rights lawyer said from January to June 2012, the Madadgar National Helpline received 2,808 calls of victims of violence and abuse and also handled 531 walk-in-clients, extending services to them. The helpline facilitated the heirs in 36 cases of murder of women.

Awan regretted that the rising incidents murders of women and children show the tendency of our society to take the rights of women and children for granted. He said this trend is on the rise, as the number of walk-in clients increase every year. He demanded of the government and civil society to give a serious focus on gender-related issued to create gender justice in Pakistan. He urged the law enforcement agencies to take serious steps to save lives of women and children.

Awan said ironically in many cases women are murdered by their close family members, who later try to dub the killing as suicide. Quoting a case of 27-year-old deceased Mehnaz of Landhi No 6, Karachi, he said she belonged to a poor family that married her off at an early age. She had three children, a son and two daughters. On May 22, 2012 she was brutally murdered by her husband, who hanged her from a ceiling fan and slashed her both wrists. Later, he claimed that she had committed suicide. The brother of the victim contacted Madadgar National Helpline and said that the police was not filing his case. The Madadgar helped him in not only lodging the FIR, but also in the arrest of the accused.

Quoting another case, he said 20-year-old deceased Sajida of Abbotabad married on her free will to Faisal of Baldia Town, Karachi on May 29, 2012. After a few days of her love marriage, she wanted to return back to her parents, but his husband refused. When she insisted hard, her husband strangulated her to death on June 21, 2012. Medico Legal Officer, Civil Hospital Karachi, who also referred this case to Madadgar, carried out medico legal formalities. Madadgar National Helpline pursued the case and FIR was lodged and the accused was arrested.

Awan said there are a lot of cases in which innocent women and girls like Mehnaz and Sajida are murdered cold-bloodedly and the killers go scot-free as the protection of women and girls is not on the priority of either government or society. He demanded joint efforts of government, civil society, media, judiciary, parliamentarians and academia protect the rights of the women and children in Pakistan.

Daily Times

KARACHI: Zahid Hussain Narejo, a youngster from Gambat, Khairpur, on Saturday filed a petition in the SHC, seeking recovery of his wife as well as protection for himself and the family. Narejo submitted that he had married Nadia Narejo in the City Court on April 27, 2012 and later filed a petition in the SHC for protection as his wife’s uncles and other relatives were threatening them with death. “The SHC ordered Sindh Police to provide me and my family with protection,” he claimed. “A few days later, my father-in-law Elahi Bux Narejo patched up with me and said that he wanted to take the girl home so that she could meet her family,” Narejo explained in the petition.

“However, after a few days, Bux and other influential persons of the area, including Amanullah Narejo, Rafique and Hasamuddin Shah held a Jirga in my village situated near Gambat,” he added. Talking to media after filing the petition, he said, “The Jirga has declared me a Kara and fined Rs 0.3m while my wife, Nadia has been sentenced to death after being declared a Kari.” Narejo further stated that Amanullah and Hasamuddin had hired professional killers to do away him.

Daily Times