September 16, 2012

Saving Shahida

By: Bina Shah

In Pakistan, there is no law that exists to specifically prevent the sexual trafficking of girls and women. This, despite the fact that according to the Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation, more than one million Bangladeshi women and more than 200,000 Burmese women have been trafficked to Karachi alone, and that Pakistan serves as “a source, transit, and destination country” for trafficking in prostitution (according to a report in 2010 by the US Department of State). The numbers for Pakistani women being trafficked in Pakistan are much higher than this. And yet, while the Pakistan Penal Code contains laws to prohibit slavery, forced labour and child prostitution, in reality, there’s nothing that really prevents women and girls from being sold as sex slaves within the country.

I found these terrible facts out while reading about sexual slavery in connection with a case that’s been ongoing for the last two years, but is finally going to court on September 17 in Malir. In 2010, Shahida (not her real name), a 19-year-old girl from a small village in Punjab, was spotted by an older woman called Anila in a Karachi school where Shahida worked and Anila’s child was a student. Within weeks, Anila had wooed Shahida and her family with sweet talk, convincing them to let Shahida work for her instead of the school. But what followed when Shahida spent a month in Anila’s house is the stuff of nightmares.

Shahida was locked in a room and repeatedly raped by men that Anila procured with the help of her brother, a known pimp. She was plied with alcohol and tranquillizers, told that if she told anyone or tried to run away, her family would be killed. She even overheard Anila attempting to arrange for her to be sold to unknown buyers in Dubai. When Shahida’s family inquired about her whereabouts (Anila had not paid her salary for several months by now), Anila quickly got rid of Shahida by selling her to three men for Rs200,000.

Shahida’s family went to the police, who warned them to leave things well alone. They told Shahida’s parents that Anila reported the girl had stolen from her and demanded money from them. The FIR was finally registered, but Anila continued to threaten Shahida’s family with violence. A year passed, with Shahida continuing to be held against her will and raped by the three men who had bought her and others who paid to be able to do the same thing to her. The involvement of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee resulted in some movement forward in the case and the men who had held Shahida captive finally let her go. Drugged and traumatised, she made her way back to her family in Punjab in February 2012.

But the nightmare doesn’t end here. The police, in cahoots with Anila and her network, pressured Shahida’s famiy to drop the case, but they refused. They were shamed in their village and her parents were urged to kill her in order to regain their honour. Meanwhile, the police continued to harass Shahida’s family to the point where Shahida’s brother eventually committed suicide.

War Against Rape (WAR) stepped in to give legal assistance to Shahida and her family, and PANAH, an organisation in Karachi, provided Shahida with safe shelter, while Adal Trust, a small charity in Islamabad, has been providing Shahida’s famiy with financial assistance for the last seven months. This gave Shahida and her mother the courage to fight the case in court. But the case has been adjourned three times previously; it is obvious that the connection between the trafficking mafia and the police and other influential, connected people has caused the case to be blocked every step of the way, hardly a surprising state of affairs given that the trafficking of girls and women is a multibillion rupee business in Pakistan.

A social media campaign via email and Facebook to show support for Shahida and her ordeal has been started by Farida Moten, Shahida’s WAR lawyer, and Shahbano Aliani, who works with the Thardeep Rural Development Programme. Aliani writes, “I know Shahida personally. She has endured incredible hardship, tragedy and brutalisation, but has an indomitable spirit that inspires me to support her struggle.” Do we have what it takes as a society and as responsible citizens to save Shahida? The next court hearing will take place at the district and magistrate court, Malir on September 17 at 9:00 am. We will have to wait until then to find out.

The Express Tribune

September 16, 2012

‘Media needs to learn to deal with women’s stories’

By: Lubna Jerar Naqvi

Karachi: Women, who are considered a marginalised part of a patriarchal society, have found a part in people’s mind after their stories hit the news. Having said that, the media, primarily the electronic including social media, still needs to learn a lot on how to treat, project and highlight women related stories.

This was the main focus of a two-day workshop held by Uks – research, resource and publication centre on women and media – in affiliation with CIPE (Centre of International Private Enterprise) on September 14-15 at a local hotel in Karachi.

The workshop entitled “Powerful Women, Powerful Nation” was divided into four sessions spread over two days and was attended by female journalists representing major media organisations.

The two sessions on the second day of the workshop, both moderated by the Director of Uks, Tasneem Ahmar, focused primarily on the distinct lack of the coverage “of success stories of women in the print and electronic media in Pakistan”. Tasneem and the participants shared and discussed various case studies that have been highlighted in the media or by Uks.

The participants hailing from a varied media background, including the radio and Sindhi media, shared their views and experiences as journalists, as well as the stories they had covered or read about during their careers. Suggestions were exchanged on how female oriented stories could be better dealt with, how these stories are projected, how they should be treated and how these professional journalists will apply what they picked at this workshop in their career henceforth.

The two sessions held on September 14, the first day of the workshop dealt with understanding the portrayal of women in Pakistani media and how a journalist can use the social media to his advantage.

Tasneem Ahmar conducted the first session and there was an exchange of ideas and suggestions between the participants on how a woman is projected in the media and how she should be.

This session helped participants to understand the sensitivities on how a certain story should be dealt with and how the use of certain terms while dealing with these stories can project the right or wrong image of the subject of the story.

The second session which was conducted by the Deputy Country Director Hammad Siddiqui made quite an impression on the journalists, some of whom had shied away from the use of social media due to various reasons and inhibitions.

After the session many of the participants vowed to venture into social media, and use it as tool of journalism.

The News

September 16, 2012

Kidnap, sexual assault: Girl to continue testimony against suspects on Monday

By: Kashif Zafar

BAHAWALPUR: A special judicial magistrate on Saturday started recording the statement of a girl, who says she was detained by a man who raped her for over a year. She will re-appear on Monday to finish her testimony against the man and a couple who kidnapped her from Karachi and sold her in Jatoi.

Mukhtar Mai, who accompanied the girl to the court, told the media that she had also submitted an application to the office of the district police officer seeking action against the suspects, identified as Jano Mai and her husband Habib Ahmed.

Mai said she had received the girl at her shelter home on September 2, a week after the registration of a kidnapping FIR with Noshehra Jadeed police by Ahmed who has claimed the girl is his wife.

The girl denies that she was ever married to Ahmed. Talking to the media, the girl said she had been detained at Ahmed and Jano Mai’s house for eight months. She said Jano Mai had later sold her to the man in Jatoi who detained and sexually assaulted her for over a year. She said she finally got a chance to escape from the house when the man was away.

She said she was referred to Mai’s shelter home by some women on the way. The girl said she had been drugged and kidnapped from Karachi two years ago by Jano Mai. She said on regaining consciousness she had been told that she was in Jalalpur Pirwala. “Jano Mai introduced Habib Ahmed and said that he was my husband,” she said.

Investigation Officer Liaqat Ali of Noshehra Jadeed police told The Express Tribune that he had arrested one of the four men identified in the kidnapping case. He identified him as Raju, who he said had now been sent to the jail, and said that he had denied the kidnapping allegation.

He said he would question Habib Ahmed about the allegations the girl had made against him only if he received a formal complaint or court directions. DPO Sohail Habib Tajik denied that Mai had submitted an application to him during her visit to his office. He said he would wait for the court’s orders.

The Express Tribune

September 16, 2012

25-year-old woman killed

Karachi: A woman was killed in New Mianwali Colony, Peerabad near the F-11 bus stop.

Police said 25-year-old Zeba Khatoon was heading towards a market near her home when a man opened fire on her. She was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where she breathed her last. Zeba was presently living with her second husband, Akhtar.

She was receiving death threats from her ex-husband’s family and the police believe that she was murdered by the elder brother of her first husband, Mohammad Hussain.

The News

September 16, 2012August 20, 2013

Reporting workshop concludes

KARACHI: In a rat race of ratings and hits that are important for political talk shows and entertainment content, the media must also strive to bring to the fore stories on social issues.

This was stated by speakers on the second day of a workshop titled ‘Powerful women, powerful nation’, organised by Uks, a nongovernmental organisation specialising in research on gender equality and women development, on Saturday. The event was aimed at improving reporting standards about women.

‘Is there a distinct lack of coverage for showcasing success stories of women in the print and electronic media in Pakistan?’ was the title of the first session.

At the session, a group of women reporters and anchors from the broadcast and print media and content producers from the online media shared various experiences where they overlooked a particular story thinking that ‘it might not appeal’ to a wider audience when in reality it had significant human interest.

The trainer took the group through a lengthy, though informative, presentation where multiple ideas ranging from reports on MGDs to entrepreneurship stories focusing on women were shared. She further shared examples, be it the annual budget stories, the 2005 earthquake and other events, where female voices were generally not taken into account in news reports as ‘the women were not considered worthy of an opinion’.

“Since a young age, parents and society conditions girls to keep their voices low and their opinions to themselves. This needs to be changed. The insight university students or workers at beauty salons offer on everyday matters are quite refreshing, but one has to make an effort to reach out,” she said.

During the second half, the participants shared their personal and professional experiences that they faced while reporting.

From a school in Lyari that helps improve female literacy thanks to its flexible timings, to expatriate adoptions, jailed women hoping to change their future and to a young girl running a transport business and another rickshaw driver, the list of stories was endless. However, the discussion reinforced the impression that while there were many positive stories about women doing their bit for change, they remained hidden from the public eye.

News anchor and morning show host at a Sindhi channel Nazia Memon said that while breakfast shows were targeted at a female audience, there was always the pressure to have a ‘light-hearted, fun show’ similar to those offered by mainstream Urdu channels.

However, viewers often called in to share their problems or highlight social issues. From honour killings to domestic abuse to getting legal aid, the variety of topics discussed on regional channels show that the audience wants these problems to be talked about,” she said.

Lubna Jerar Naqvi said newspaper editors must make efforts to publish stories that ‘portray struggle, show human resilience in the face of adversity’ and truly define success. Television reporters from news channels agreed that news producers must look at stories critically and put ratings aside.

“A story of a girl studying in jail and hoping to change her life once she is released or how flood victims in small towns are rebuilding their lives would not make ‘masala’ packages, but these stories give other women hope that things can improve,” said a TV reporter.

Dawn