Voice of Gender News From Pakistan
By: SOHAIL ASIM
There are reports of the government calling for newscasters on television to don the dupatta during broadcasts. Are they serious? Is the PPP actually considering this bewildering notion?
How on earth can they call themselves liberal when they deliberate on such petty issues? The days of forcing women into submission belong to Ziaul Haq. Are they trying to resurrect him and his Islamist ideology?
By: Sidrah Roghay
Karachi: Rape leaves the victim traumatised for a long time. Some victims are so shocked that they cannot think straight what course of action they should take to get the culprit punished. So what should a woman do if she is raped? Such victims should preserve their clothes, not take a bath and go to a medico-legal officer as soon as possible, experts say.
Cases of rape are accompanied by violence, and if the survivor knows what to do afterwards, evidence collection becomes much easier. “Even a broken piece of nail or hair can lead to the rapist, after confirmation through a DNA test,” says Abdul Hai, senior representative at the Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP).
This is easier said than done. Often when a rape victim reaches the medico-legal officer she is asked to get an FIR registered before the examination. At the police station there are issues of jurisdiction; the police insist they will only register an FIR if the rape has taken place in their jurisdiction.
The entire process, however, is not a legal requirement. “When a rape victim arrives it is mandatory for the medico-legal officer to conduct a medical examination. After the examination they should inform the respective police station to register an FIR,” says Sumaiya Tariq, a police surgeon.
The traumatised victim finds it a lot easier to narrate the crime to a female police officer. “But it takes 10 hours to arrange for one. Of the three women police stations in Karachi none is allowed to register an FIR without prior permission from the DSP. The DSP unfortunately is a man,” laments Hai.
The result is that rape victims who decide to report the heinous crime face threats to life, social boycott and false accusations. If they continue to fight undeterred they are driven to the point where they have to beg the authorities for the protection of their property and life.
When Kainat Soomro was gang-raped in 2007 she was only 12. Five years later the four men accused of the crime roam around free and her family strives for justice. Just two weeks back, she received a phone call from an unknown phone number. “Take back the case,” said the caller.
“The calls increase every time the court hearing nears,” says Hai. And she has reason to believe that these are not empty threats. There was a time when the family lost all it had back in their hometown, Dadu. They had come to Karachi for a day, and men broke into their house and destroyed the furniture and property. The family never returned. They took refuge in Karachi.
“The Karachi Press Club became our second home. We would shift every other night after these thugs found out our new whereabouts.”
In 2010 Kainat’s brother Sabir Soomro mysteriously disappeared from the court’s premises in Dadu. Three months later his body was found in Khuzdar. The family sat with the body in protest outside the press club, and demanded of the authorities to provide them protection during the funeral. The burial took place under strict security.
The family now lives under police protection. While they cannot step out of their house to earn a living, the women live on income from the sewing and embroidery they do at home.
When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, Kainat says: “I want to punish the rapists. Why did they kill my brother?” Young she might be, but she knows that her fight for her rights may take an entire lifetime.
By: Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Human Rights Day on December 10 ceremony will be dedicated to Malala Yousafzai at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organisation (Unesco) headquarters in Paris. The organisation has decided to hold mega events on the occasion that will be attended by several world leaders including Pakistan’s President, French Prime Minister, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Queen Rania of Jordan and Chilean President.
They will pay tribute to the heroic and leadership role of Malala, who was attacked on October 9 in Swat and since then under treatment. Unesco has given title of “Stand up for Malala — Stand up for girls’ right to education!” to the event. The organisation has termed it as the rallying cry of an advocacy event and it is being organised by Unesco and the Government of Pakistan. French Premier Jean-Marc Ayrault will inaugurate the event.
President Asif Zardari will visit Malala Yousafzai in Birmingham hospital before proceeding to Paris. She is admitted in the Birmingham hospital for treatment. Pakistan high commissioner in the United Kingdom Wajid Shamsul Hasan is trying very hard to take permission from the doctor for his President to be on bedside with Malala as her doctors didn’t allow any outside visitor, including British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik, to meet her as the both reached the hospital but couldn’t get the permission by the doctors to visit her.
The parents, brothers and sister of Malala have so far been allowed to see her. The president will leave for London on Sunday next before moving to Paris. He will be staying in London for two days. It will be Asif Zardari’s fourth visit to France ever since becoming the head of the state four years ago. He will be visiting Turkey before returning home and attend trilateral summit of Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan in Ankara where the latest developments with regard to Afghanistan will come under discussion. Foreign Minister Ms Hina Rabani Khar may also join the President in London for accompanying him in the trip, the sources said.
Unesco believes that the event at its headquarter will accelerate political action to ensure every girl’s right to go to school, and to advance girls’ education as an urgent priority for achieving ‘Education For All.’ The event pays tribute to Malala Yousafzai, an astonishingly brave 15 year old girl who survived an assassination attempt for her determined efforts to defend girls’ education in Pakistan after the Taliban outlawed schools for girls in her native Swat Valley. The human rights to education and gender equality were both violated by this action.
“Whenever and wherever a young girl is forbidden from going to school, it’s an attack against all girls, against the right to learn, the right to live life to the full; and it is unacceptable,” declared Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova. Indeed, there is no justification – be it cultural, economic or social – for denying girls and women an education. Humanity stands as a single community when united around human rights and fundamental freedoms,’ she added.
Unesco has emphasized that Malala’s struggle highlights a devastating reality: Girls make up the majority of the world’s one million out-of-school children. They are less likely than boys to enter primary school. Harmful practices such as early marriage, gender-based violence, discriminatory laws, prevent them from enrolling in or completing school. Educational disparities start at the youngest ages and continue into adulthood. Women represent two thirds of the world’s 775 million illiterates. Despite making breakthroughs in higher education, women still account for just 29 percent of researchers.
There can be no equitable and just society without achieving gender equality, beginning with education. Unesco is committed to the full enrolment of girls, ensuring they stay in school from primary through secondary and on into higher education. Education accelerates political, economic and social transformation, giving girls the tools to shape the world according to their aspirations. It has a positive impact on child and maternal health, fertility rates, and poverty reduction. It is a life multiplier. For example, women with post-primary education are five times more likely than illiterate women to be knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS prevention.
Malala’s passionate advocacy shows the power of aspirations for human rights to move history. Unesco’s event on 10 December draws strength from her example. There are no immovable barriers to gender equality and education for all.
Karachi: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain has called upon the muftis and leading religious scholars of Pakistan to condemn the cowardly Taliban attack on the daughter of the nation, Malala Yousufzai. Addressing the muftis, including the grand mufti of Pakistan and religious scholars, Hussain said that he would be left with no other option but to expose them in his address to the party workers if they did not denounce the dastardly attack within 24 hours.
According to a statement, Hussain warned that the MQM would introduce a bill in the NA which would allow only the honest religious scholars to impart religious education.
FAISALABAD: Gulberg police allegedly tortured on Saturday a woman and hanged her from a ceiling by tying her arms for stealing Rs5,000 about nine months ago.
A man identified as Abdullah took Rukaya, wife of Akbar of Baowala, to Gulberg police station on Saturday and alleged that she had stolen Rs5,000 from his house some nine months ago. He said he had employed Rukaya as maid and she took away Rs5,000 from his house.
Abdullah went away, leaving the woman at police station.
The victim woman told Dawn ASIs Ghulam Murtaza, Noor Mohammad, and Aslam, a retired head constable, had taken her to a room of the police station, hanged her from a ceiling hook and tortured her. The woman was finding it difficult to walk because of torture. She said the policemen forced her to confess robberies. “I refused to confess crimes. I had stolen Rs5,000 from Abdullah’s house because of a domestic problem.”
She said the officials asked her to call her husband to police station and go with him after giving bribe. She alleged that the policemen received Rs3,500 paid by her husband and allowed her to go. She said the policemen did not allow her husband to go and asked him to stay ‘till further orders.’
On being informed of the incident, Lyallpur Town SP Zahid Gondal initiated a probe into the case. Sources said after inquiry policemen searched the frightened woman with the help of her husband Akbar who was in the police detention.
The police took Akbar to his home to persuade his wife to visit police station to identify the accused. They said the woman identified Noor. Talking to Dawn, the SP said the three accused policemen had been suspended from service and put behind the bars. He said medical of Rukaya would be conducted today (Sunday).