Day: January 1, 2013

By: MIAN DAWOOD

LAHORE: Rajvindar Kaur Gill, a millionaire Sikh woman, who came to Pakistan from Canada to attend a diamond exhibition on August 25 and went missing the same day, was in continuous contact with an anchor associated with a private news channel of Pakistan, her family members disclosed.

TV anchor Iqbal Hussain, however, denies any involvement in her abduction, saying she was just his social media friend and he had never met her.

While hearing a petition moved by her father, the Lahore High Court on Monday expressed dismay over the country’s intelligence agencies, including police, for their failure to recover her despite the lapse of four months. The LHC ordered Capital Chief Police Officer (CCPO) Aslam Tareen to appear in person on Wednesday (tomorrow) to inform the court of the steps taken for recovering the Sikh woman who was a banker by profession.

The CCPO on Monday tried to save his skin by submitting an unclear report, just stating, “Neither any FIR has been registered against the woman nor is she wanted by the police in any case.” Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan rejected the police report and ordered the CCPO to ensure his appearance on January 2 (Wednesday).

During the course of hearing, the missing woman’s father, Sikandar Singh, through Advocate Aftab Ahmed Bajwa, ddemanded a probe against TV anchor Iqbal Hussain and others who were in contact with her through SMS.

Singh, quoting the telephone record, annexed with the petition, told The Nation outside the court premises that Rajvinder Kaur Gill talked to Iqbal Hussain by sending and receiving dozens of SMS and also by calls before travelling to Pakistan. The calls’ record showed that she talked through SMS on four mobile numbers operating in Pakistan, however, most of the SMS were sent and received on the TV anchor’s number, her father added.

Singh did not hold Iqbal Hussain responsible in a direct way over the matter and said, “I just want users of such numbers to be investigated.”

A family member of Rajvindar, who has also reached Pakistan in search of her, says she has 5 million US dollars in her Switzerland’s bank and was keen on collecting diamonds and precious stones as well. “We are relatives of Sukhbir Singh Badil, deputy chief minister of Indian Punjab,” he said. “We have also prayed to the court to direct the police to probe them,” Singh’s lawyer said, adding it was a matter of the woman’s life.

On the other hand, Iqbal Hussain admitted, talking to this scribe, that Rajvinder remained in his contact for about two months and 28 days, but he had nothing to do with her abduction or going missing.

“I have clarified the entire situation to the Canadian High Commission and also handed them over all the conversation record, including facebook, for their satisfaction,” Hussain said.

Replying to a query, the TV anchor said she had not contacted him after her arrival in Pakistan, but before coming here, she had asked him to arrange a visit to Hassan Abdal, a religious place for Sikhs in Pakistan, for her and her three to four friends, he added.

“I am ready to face any consequence and undergo any punishment if my involvement in the case is proved,” Hussain offered. He maintained that he had many fans on social media because he was a journalist and had been associated with this profession for more than 20 years. “Will you probe me if one of my fans outside Pakistan is abducted or murdered?” he questioned. However, he warned of filing a suit for damages in the court over frequent demands of a probe against him by Rajvindar’s family. “I have clarified the entire situation. I will file a suit for damages against them if the Sikh family does not refrain from involving me in the matter,” he warned. Importantly, Skindar Singh pointed out in his petition that Sukhbir Singh Badal, during his visit to Pakistan, had also taken up the matter with Shahbaz Sharif who had ordered the police to look into the matter, but to no avail.

The Nation

By: Tazeen Javed

The gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi and her subsequent death is a horrific reminder of how women are treated in this part of the world. Though the appalling incident happened in India, it made all the women in Pakistan empathise with their sisters in the neighbouring country because it could very easily be one of them. Things are just as bad, if not worse, for the women in our society. The societies that perpetuate the archaic notions of misogyny and make excuses for such acts by pointing towards a woman’s mobility or clothing are responsible for it.

That rape incident did not happen in isolation. The crimes against women are on the rise, especially in our part of the world — be it rape, domestic violence, mental, physical or sexual abuse, threats of such abuse, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty to move around, to choose a life partner or to seek education or health care. Women are generally viewed as secondary citizens, incapable of making decisions for themselves. Women who dare to exercise that right are judged and at times punished by society for doing so. A fundamental attitudinal change in the way women are viewed by society is required. They are not viewed as active, smart-thinking individuals but as vessels that carry future generations during the gestation period, objects of desire or derision and the carriers of honour of the male members of their families.

One thing that comes to the fore in the aftermath of the Delhi gang-rape case is the need to make ethics a part of school curricula everywhere and as part of a massive media campaign because we desperately need it. We teach useless skills in schools all over the world but what about the behavioural codes regarding women in public and private spaces? What constitutes acceptable behaviour and what is deemed inappropriate? Are they taught about the consequences of inappropriate behaviour or do they believe that they will be not be apprehended because society is permissive of their misdeeds and will let them go with the attitude that “boys will be boys?” Are they taught how to approach women, which should be a taught skill in societies as segregated as ours? Laws ensuring women’s rights and safety are necessary and should be strictly implemented but they can only work when society in general changes its attitude.

It is sickening to live in a world where a medical student is gang raped because she dared to step out in the evening and wanted to use public transport or a teenage girl, Malala Yousufzai, is shot in the head because she just wanted to go to school. They shouldn’t have to become either a victim or a hero; the Delhi girl should have remained a carefree medical student and Malala should have stayed the student whose biggest problem would have been acing her calculus exam. Instead, they have turned into symbols of courage and valour. Legislation needs to be amended to ensure the safety and participation of women in society. On personal level, the least we can do is raise the next generation of men to respect women and accord them the same dignity that they seek as human beings.

The Express Tribune