Voice of Gender News From Pakistan
TOBA TEK SINGH: Three accused allegedly kidnapped a girl from Gojra here on Thursday.Sabir, a resident of Chak 361/JB informed the Gojra City Police that he along with his wife and daughter went a local market for shopping for his daughter’s marriage.
In the meantime Sharafat, Wahid and their driver reached their and kidnapped his daughter at gunpoint. The police have registered a case.
By: G Mursalin Marwat
LAKKI MARWAT: The PPP-led government took practical steps for women empowerment and protection of sanctity and self-respect of womenfolk in the country. This was stated by MPA Anwar Saifullah Khan while speaking at cheques distribution ceremony at the district council hall at district headquarters complex Tajazai on Thursday.
The Benazir Income Support Program had arranged the ceremony to distribute cheque under the Waseela-e-Haq Initiative among beneficiaries. Saifullah, who is the Chairman of District Development Advisory Committee, gave away the cheques worth Rs 5.4 million to 36 beneficiaries.
On the occasion, he said that provision of small loans under the Waseela-e-Haq would help eliminate poverty and enable females to play their role in national development. He told that by bringing women into the mainstream and providing them with opportunities of working shoulder by shoulder with males would usher a new era of development.
The lawmaker said that these loans would enable female beneficiaries or their nominees to run their own business and earn livelihood through fair means. “It will also put a significant impact on socio-economic activities in the entire country,” he maintained.
He said that besides showing confidence in the Benazir Income Support Program the international organizations efforts for poverty alleviation, women empowerment and other initiatives under the programme. He informed that the government was working on a plan to introduce debit card system to enable beneficiaries to get/receive payments without facing any difficulty.
Caution against substandard construction
Meanwhile, Frontier region Lakki Assistant Political Agent Muhammad Fayyaz Khan Sherpao warned that the administration would not tolerate any delay or use of substandard construction material in uplift schemes. He said this while paying inspection visits to the newly completed road, irrigation channels and health sector projects in Gabar, Ping Azadkhel, Kohikhula, Rasoolkhel, Adilee Koroona and Zangi areas of tribal region.
Fayyaz said that the uplift schemes had been completed at the cost of millions of rupees. He said that government was spending huge chunk of funds on uplift works in the tribal areas to provide basic necessities of life to the tribesmen on their doorsteps. He directed quarters concerned to accelerate pace of development as there was complete peace in the frontier tribal region.
By: Asad Farooq
KARACHI: White Ribbon Campaign Pakistan (WRCP), a platform working for gender equality, has launched a workshop for journalists to sensitise them in regard with gender sensitised reporting.
The workshop, held at a local hotel on Thursday, was a part of “Nationwide Journalists Engagement Program”, which is an exclusive initiative of WRCP for journalists.
The motive of the workshop was to take journalists on board for a code of ethics for gender sensitive reporting, which was developed by WRCP earlier this year in consultation with over 150 senior journalists across Pakistan. The code of ethics encompasses basic principles of media ethics, mainstreaming gender in media coverage, accountability & impartiality and gender stereotyping.
Talking on the occasion, Omer Aftab CEO WRCP said that the role of media is crucial to the issue of violence against women, both in terms of how media covers it, and how media may be used as a tool to help activists raise awareness and implement programmes on it. Keeping in mind the value of campaigning through print and electronic media, WRCP pays close attention to these media resources.
Omer further said that an effective content through electronic and print media could highlight violence against women as a crime against humanity, therefore, WRCP had started this engagement programme with journalists where WRCP would not only train and facilitate journalists on gender sensitive reporting, but they shall also be recognised nationally on their work by ‘White Ribbon Media Award’ at the ‘2nd National Conference on Gender & Media’ in Islamabad.
It is pertinent to mention here that WRCP is a project of Women’s Empowerment Group and Vision 2015, working with men and boys to eradicate women’s human rights violations. Under the programme, journalists would be trained on gender sensitive reporting. On the occasion, White Ribbon Media Awards have also been announced in different categories of print and electronic media under this programme.
SUKKUR: Two kidnapped women of the Bhutto clan were rescued by the police on Monday. They were abducted from the Bagi Bhutto village near Dokri, Larkana on September 16 by some Khokhar tribesmen to avenge a freewill marriage.
Two years ago, Munawwar Bhutto and Marvi Khokhar had eloped and married. The marriage sparked enmity between the two tribes. The Khokhar clansmen threatened the Bhuttos to either return the girl or face dire consequences. The Bhutto tribesmen succumbed to the pressure and the matter was resolved amicably, sources privy to the matter told The Express Tribune.
Munawwar Bhutto did not, however, divorce Marvi Khokhar and filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court stating that his wife was being kept forcefully by her parents. Following the court order, she was brought to the court, where she deposed in favour of her husband. The court allowed the couple to live together.
Since then, the Khokhars had been trying to settle the score. Finally on September 16, more than a dozen armed men led by Akhtiar Khokhar attacked the house of Ali Akbar Bhutto and kidnapped Humaira, 22, and Kiran, 17.
The police raided different places to recover the women, and on September 22, rescued the women from the house of Akhtiar Khokhar in Faiz Mohammad Khokhar village.
Narrating their story to the journalists later, Humaira and Kiran said that Akhtiar Khokhar and his men had kidnapped them at gunpoint. “The kidnappers beat us on the first day, but then they only started threatening us,” said the teenage girl.
A case has been registered against fifteen Khokhar clansmen, including Akhtiar Khokhar, Aijaz Khokhar, Ali Gohar Khokhar, Mohammad Usman Khokhar and others, but nobody has been arrested yet. On Monday, the rescued women were brought to the court of judicial magistrate Dokri to record their statements.
The court ordered the police to first record the written statements of the women. The case will now be heard on September 26. Meanwhile, seven police officials were sacked by the Larkana SSP when reports emerged that they had been siding with the Khokhar tribe.