Day: September 10, 2012

MANSEHRA: A teenage boy raped and murdered his seven-year-old niece in a remote village of Mansehra on Saturday evening. Akbar Khan, a resident of Chirach Behali village, told the local police that he sent his granddaughter, Tehreem*, to his under-construction house in the neighbourhood to wake up his son, Adil, 17. When she did not return, he enquired Adil about her whereabouts, but Adil expressed ignorance and joined the family in her search.

When the family members found Tehreem’s slippers outside Adil’s room, they interrogated him and he confessed of sexually assaulting and strangling her. He said he first hid her in a cupboard but for fears of being caught, he dumped her body in a nearby stream. The police registered a murder case against Adil and obtained his three-day physical remand from a judicial magistrate. The investigation officer said the police have recovered the girl’s body and added that the FIR will be updated with details from the autopsy.

The Express Tribune

By: Hazrat Ali

MINGORA: Ten members of a jirga were arrested for ordering marriage of a 13-year-old girl to an old man. The decision had been taken to settle a dispute between two families have been arrested by the police in the remote Beshbund locality of Mingora.

District Police Officer Swat Gul Afzal Afridi told The Express Tribune that four members of the jirga were arrested on Sunday, while six others including the would-be husband were arrested a day earlier. The DPO said the arrested men were presented before the court of a duty magistrate, who sent them to jail on judicial remand. He said the men have been arrested under Section 310-A and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The case of swara, an old Pashtun custom where girls are forcibly married to men of rival families to settle feuds, came to light after the girl, Sadia*, her brothers and her father were arrested by the Manglore police on directions of a local jirga that convened at the Manglore Police Station earlier. The jirga members had decided to marry Sadia to an old man of an influential family after her brother was charged with having an extra-marital relationship with a woman from that family. The jirga members had told the girl’s family to either agree to the marriage or pay a compensation of Rs2,53,000; otherwise they will imprison all of them.

When Sadia’s lawyer approached a session’s court, the Manglore police, fearing action against them, presented the four in court. The judge sent Sadia to a magistrate’s court to record her statement, in which, she said she was being pressurised by the police and the influential family to marry a much older man against her will.

She claimed that the opposing party had accused her brother of having illicit relations with their daughter, and her brother had confessed and married in court.

The court, after hearing her statement, decided to hand her over to her family. It also directed the police to provide her protection and take action against the jirga members.

The Express Tribune

For the first time since punishments for blasphemy in Pakistan were enhanced to the death penalty and life imprisonment, an ‘accused’ has been released on bail. In the past, those released as innocent were either killed or had to leave the country for fear of their lives. This ‘holy law’ has seen innumerable people languishing in jail and having their lives ruined only because an accusation against them is considered beyond investigation or evidential proof. For years, especially since General Ziaul Haq made the amendments to the blasphemy law, civil society, rights groups and the media had been exposing its misuse and how even Muslims, and the minorities, had been targeted in the name of blasphemy. The defenders of the law would always see a conspiracy against Islam whenever a word to amend the existing blasphemy law is advised.

However, the truth is that no one, not even the late Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer or Federal Minister for Minorities late Shahbaz Bhatti condemned the law. They only cautioned against its misuse and had requested revisiting it so that all those loopholes could be plugged that have made the law a tool of harassment. But unfortunately, instead of heeding these rational pleas, the sane voices were muted forever.

Rimsha is released, but obviously her and her family’s life is in danger due to the fanatics having a field day in this country for lack of law and order and timid political will of the government to grab them. On release, Rimsha is transported to an unknown place. Interestingly, on the one hand the authorities held Rimsha in prison and on the other defended her case on every forum and now are providing her safety. This dichotomy of purpose shows the overwhelming fear of the clergy in our decision makers.

It is this fear that many think would come into play in going soft on the main culprit Khalid Jadoon, the prayer leader who tampered with the evidence and falsely accused Rimsha of blasphemy. The assassin of Salmaan Taseer, Mumtaz Qadri, was garlanded and none other but the former Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Khwaja Sharif is fighting his case and rallied a crowd to protect Mumtaz. If such be the outcome of Rimsha’s case as well, and if Khalid and his like are not prosecuted, Pakistan would slip deeper into fanaticism, allowing daring similar fraudulent attempts on the religious and sectarian front.

The timing is right for the government to reconsider the implications and outcomes of the blasphemy law. This is perhaps the first time that someone from the mainstream clergy has condemned the arrest of a young girl of diminished mental capacity on blasphemy charges. The heinous practice of misusing the blasphemy law should come to an end.

Daily Times

KALAYA: The militants blew up a state-run school in Orakzai Agency on Sunday. The sources said the militants placed explosives around the building of the Government Primary School for Girls in Tanda Storikhel village and triggered the explosions with a remote-control device early in the morning.

An official of the political administration said that no casualty occurred in the attack. He said nine tribesmen, belonging to the Storikhel tribe, had been arrested under the collective responsibility section of the Frontier Crimes Regulations as the attack took place in their area.

Meanwhile, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for destroying the school. Up to 93 schools have been destroyed in Orakzai tribal region so far.

Talking to reporters, elders of the area Shahbaz Khan and Ahmed Shah said that 10,000 kids were deprived of education due to the destruction of schools in Orakzai Agency.

The News

By: Mansoor Raza

A cursory look at the bus stops on the main arteries of the city reveals the increased number of women, over the last couple of years, waiting for gender-based public transports to take them home. The lower and lower middle-class women, unlike their male counterparts, have little luxury to own and ride motorcycles – the cheapest mode of conveyance that helps to reduce commutation time as well.

Widespread social taboos and an outdated transport policy are the biggest impediments in women’s aspirations to move independently. This not only results in an uninvestigated economic loss to the economy, but it also causes considerable stress at homes in the rapidly emerging nuclear families. Change is happening without any facilitation, but how is it taking place? Before coming to any conclusion related to the direction of change, one needs to look into the factors that are shaping this transformation.

Interestingly, till 1998, four million women were added to the women population of Karachi of 1951, which were approximately 480,000. Across the country, 22.7 million were added between the two census periods of 1981 and 1998 (though dated, it’s the often referred document by researchers) and the addition is greater than the actual women population reported in the census period of 1951-1961.

Women’s share in the total population increased from 46.22 percent in 1951 to 48.05 percent in 1998. This gigantic addition required adjustments in the policies of the state – a task yet to be accomplished. The increase in the proportion of urban women was also due to the integration of rural areas into urban circuits. This put high demand on, general as well as specific, women-related services.

An increase of 5.3 million young females between 15 to 24 years of age was added to the census periods of 1981 and 1998, which increased the population of young females from 6.8 million to 12 million. The intercensal growth rate was 77.94 percent and per annum growth rate was 3.45 percent. The contribution of this age to the total women population also increased from 17.05 percent to 19.35 percent for the two census periods, respectively. Furthermore, per annum growth rate of urban females was much higher, 4.21 percent than rural females, which was 3.07 percent.

There was a sharp decline in the percentage of married women between the two census periods. The total married women in 1981 were 15.5 million, while in 1998 their number was recorded at 23.1 million. Despite the addition of 7.6 million, the percentage of married women with respect to total women population of 15 years and above, dropped by 4.2 points. In 1981, the married women population was 70.80 percent, while in 1998, it was 66.60 percent. The sharpest decline was observed in the 15 to 24 year age group. In 1981, there were 46.6 percent females married in this age group, while in 1998 this figure dropped to 39.2 percent. It was also observed that the percentage of urban females of the same group declined from 41.5 percent in 1981 to 29.4 percent in 1998, while in rural areas, the decline was from 23.3 percent to 22.03 percent.

Female literacy rate has shown a tremendous increase. There were 4.2 million literate women in 1981 and 13.8 million in 1998, showing an addition of 9.6 million. The intercensal growth rate was 230.18 percent and per annum growth rate was 14.19 percent. The percentage of female literates with respect to population 10 and above was 15.60 percent in 1981, while in 1998 it was 32.60 percent.

The statistics further revealed that the achievements of women in educational attainment (enrollment from class one to university) over the last forty seven years (from 1947 to 1998) showed an improvement, with variations, at all levels. The enrollment of female students in primary schools was 0.14 million in 1951, whereas in 1998 it went up to 6.45 million – an increase of 6.30 million. The female primary school enrollment claimed 12.26 percent of the total enrolment in 1951.

Besides numbers, the pattern of women educational attainment has changed over the years. This change is due to changes in certain economic and social conditions. In times ahead, this change will become a cause for the transformation in thinking patterns and other social conditions of the society. This cause-and-effect relationship needs understanding and adjustment in social policies and the attitude of the state and its instruments.

1. A high growth rate in female labour force as compared to male is observed, which indicates the two changes in society: emphasis on female education and transition from feudal culture (reliance on agricultural mode of production, barter system, dependence on landholder and landholdings and responsibility of male members to feed the entire family with primitive skills) to market culture. Therefore, there are more economic pressures on women to work.

According to the Labour Force Survey 2010-11, between FY10 and FY11, 0.52 million women were added to the list of employed persons throughout the country, thereby increasing the figure of employed female population from 11.59 million to 12.11 million. The most significant increase was in rural areas, where 0.41 million females were added to the category. Interestingly, though the total unemployment rate increased from 5.6 percent to 6.0 percent, the female unemployment went down from 9.5 percent to 8.9 percent, when the two survey periods were compared.

By observing the abovementioned statistics, the following conclusions can be made:

1. There is an enormous pressure on the state to make socio-political space for the ever increasing number of women.

2. In most cases, the gender gap for educational attainment has narrowed down over the years. Enrollment of women in arts and science colleges has shown an exceptional improvement. The enrollment of women in professional colleges and universities, though increased, is still quite low and the male-female gap is also wide at the professional college and university levels. Furthermore, the gender distribution of enrollment at various levels of educational attainment needs further investigation, since mere observation reveals that it varies at all.

3. Deliberate efforts are required to make the environment of formal and informal sectors more conducive for the participation of women in labour force.

The phenomenon of sharp decline in marriage rates, increase in divorce rates and its social repercussions needs further investigation by researchers and academicians. The emergence of more and more women in public spheres is evident and they are asserting their aspirations. Today, the desire for job security is slowly replacing the earlier held concept of security associated with marriage. Craving for mere literacy has been replaced, overwhelmingly, by the desire to perform high in educational fields. At the operational level, this change in worldview demands facilitation and facilities. The river of change is bound to move forward and a thousand flowers will bloom. The transition will be much more painless if the policymakers would be able to facilitate it. Will they or not, only a future historian would have the hindsight to write about that.

The News