Day: December 4, 2012

Senior Advisor to US Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Robin Raphel Monday termed US-Pakistan Women’s Council a significant step to economically empower women of the country. Giving a background briefing to a select group of journalists, Raphel said, “The United States has made gender equality and women’s empowerment a core focus of our foreign policy.

As Secretary Clinton has stated, investing in the potential of the world’s women and girls is one of the surest ways to achieve global economic progress, political stability, and greater prosperity for women – and men – the world over.” Recognising that Pakistan’s stability and future prosperity depend on a robust economy in which women play a key role, the State Department and American University (AU) have established the US-Pakistan Women’s Council. The mission of the Council, launched by Secretary Clinton on September 27, 2012, is to support economic development and entrepreneurship for women in Pakistan.

“That commitment to invest in women and girls and the dynamic women entrepreneurs in Pakistan and in the Diaspora in the United States is what led Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to establish the US-Pakistan Women’s Council in September,” Raphel added. Further elaborating, she said the council will work in four areas, which included introducing young women to the workplace through internships, career counselling, and other activities, working with companies to encourage employment of more women, supporting women entrepreneurs and highlighting the value of letting women enter the workplace.

She further said that the council would also be exploring more ways to find opportunities for women like giving young women internships and giving them employments. Being a public-private partnership, she said that it will also help in bringing the American and Pakistani businesswomen together to understand each other business environment. To a question, she said Secretary Clinton, who is currently in the advisory board of the council, has agreed to remain on the position after being stepped down as US Secretary of State.

The case for the council is an economic one and it will therefore link US and Pakistani corporations, foundations, universities, and other individuals to Pakistani initiatives that advance economic opportunities for women, including by promoting female employment, providing internships and scholarships, or mentoring young women on business planning, market access, and leadership. The council will not directly fund projects. Furthermore, the council will be housed at the School of International Studies (SIS) at American University in Washington, DC. The Executive Director, a diplomat with regional experience, will conduct the council’s daily operations.

An executive committee will govern the council: American University President Dr Cornelius Kerwin and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer will serve as co-chairs. The Organisation for Pakistani Entrepreneurs for North America (OPEN), a Pakistani-American non-profit dedicated to entrepreneurship, will serve on the Executive Committee and provide access to its business networks in Pakistan and the United States. An advisory group, consisting of leaders based in Pakistan and the United States, will assist the council.

Business Recorder

By: MADIHA JAFFREY

Malala Yousafzai has been given a lot of publicity because of the devastating ordeal she went through but we must not forget other girls who go through the same (or worse) almost every day in Pakistan. Just recently, an eighth grader was shot along with her father at Shaheed-e-Millat in Karachi.

The father died on the spot and the girl, Mehzar Fatima, is in the ICU ward of a local hospital. Where is the media? Why is no channel showing anything about her? She was a student of a well-reputed school and education was a priority for her as well. It is sad that young victims of sectarian violence are not given the same kind of media attention as the victims of terrorism. Dozens of people die every day because of crimes that are sectarian in nature but the public is not made aware of this. There are many little boys and girls who die at the hands of human monsters in Pakistan. We must show them to the world also.

Daily Times

UMERKOT: A six-year-old girl was reportedly sexually assaulted and thrown at a desolate place in unconscious condition in the town of Ghulam Nabi Shah in Umerkot district on Sunday. A resident of the town, Manohar Meghwar, told Dawn on Sunday that his six-year-old daughter was playing near the house when she went missing after a while.

During a search for her, she was found lying in a pool of blood near the bungalow of a former taluka nazim of Pithoro. The victim was taken to the District Hospital Umerkot but no doctor was available at night. She was then rushed to the Civil Hospital Mirpurkhas.

The local Meghwar community appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and representatives of minorities for immediate arrest of the culprits and award of exemplary punishment to them.

Umerkot DSP Manzoor Khoso told Dawn that a team of senior police officials traced the footprints of a number of persons and sniffer dogs had also been used to catch the culprits. An FIR of the incident was not registered till the filing of the report on Monday evening.

Our staff correspondent in Hyderabad ads: Relatives of the victim girl staged a demonstration outside the local press club on Monday demanding arrest of the culprits and provision of proper treatment to the victim girl.

Carrying banners and placards outside the local press club on Monday, they shouted slogans against the culprits and police. Leading the protest, the girl’s relatives, Santosh Kumar and Dilip Kumar, said police had failed to arrest anyone involved in the incident.

They said she was not being taken care of properly in the civil hospital and demanded medical facilities for her. They said father of the victim was a poor labourer and had no enmity with anyone and urged the chief justice to take a suo motu action against people involved in the crime.

Dawn

LAHORE: Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and severely wounded an elderly Swedish woman at her Model Town residence on Monday.

Bargeeta Almby — the 70-year-old managing director of the social wing of an NGO called Full Gospel Assemblies of Pakistan (FGA Church) — was attacked when she reached her home in a car from her Kot Lakhpat office at around 2pm.

Ms Almby has been running various programmes in Pakistan, including a midwifery course and technical courses dealing with the rights of the poor, for about four decades.

SP Awais Malik of the Model Town police station said the assailants fled after shooting the Swede in her chest. She was immediately taken to Jinnah hospital by her neighbours and her condition was said to be critical. Mr Malik said the police were trying to determine the identity of the gunmen and also their motive. Chief spokesman of the FGA Church Liaquat Qaiser termed it a premeditated attack.

Talking to Dawn, he said a few days ago two men turned up at Ms Almby’s residence and beat her watchman up when he asked them to identify themselves. Quoting the Swedish lady’s maid and some of her neighbours, he said Ms Almby had just reached her residence when two motorcyclists appeared on the scene and fired a shot at her.

The assailants fled from the crime scene without taking any valuables which showed that it was not a street crime, as was being portrayed by some policemen, he added. Mr Qaiser said Ms Almby had been living in Pakistan for the last 38 years and was looking after social programmes that had nothing to do with politics.

Apparently she and her colleagues had not received any threat, he said. “Her condition turned critical because of excessive bleeding,” he said while quoting a doctor. A doctor treating the Swede said that she was initially put on ventilator as a precautionary measure. But later on, she was taken off the machine as her condition stabilised a little.

The police have registered a case under section 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Dawn