March 13, 2016 – Pakistan Gender News

March 13, 2016March 14, 2016

ECP indecisive about PHC’s verdict on Dir by-poll

ISLAMABAD – Election authorities are double minded whether to challenge or comply with the judgment of Peshawar High Court regarding the much-talked about issue of women disenfranchisement in a constituency in Lower Dir of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on last Thursday declared void the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to nullify the PK-95 by-poll result and withhold notification of Jamaat Islami candidate Aizazul Mulk Afkari as Member of Provincial Assembly because of disenfranchisement of women.

The ECP had declared the results of PK-95 by-polls held on May 7 last year null and void on the grounds that not a single woman voter polled a vote.
The absence of women from the election process had also raised eye brows of human rights’ activists and secular political forces.

“Before any action is taken, the KP chief secretary and the district returning officer of PK-95 Lower Dir should be directed to explain as to why and under what circumstances such deprivation has occurred,” said the ECP’s judgment issued last year after hearing the issue of denial of voting rights to females in the area.

After thorough discussions on the issue, the ECP had declared the election as null and void denying administering oath to winner candidate fielded by the religious political force, the JI.
The seat had fallen vacant on JI Chief Sirajul Haq’s resignation as he was elected a senator.

The JI moved the PHC against the judgment of the ECP and succeeded in bringing favourable verdict.

The judgment according to well-placed official sources has been termed ‘unexpected’ by election authorities.

Aizazul Mulk Afkari, district head of the JI in Lower Dir, had defeated Awami National Party (ANP)’s Bahadur Khan in the by-election.

Afkari had secured 20,288 votes against 16,439 of the ANP’s contestant.

Now when the court has called for administering oath to the MPA-elect besides declaring the polls as valid, the ECP ponders whether to approach the Supreme Court or retain the judgment.
Official sources said the ECP feels being embarrassed by the decision of the PHC as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (Retd) Sardar Raza Khan himself had taken notice of the issue of women disenfranchisement.

“We will receive the detailed judgment on Monday.
Then we will consider whether to comply with or challenge the verdict.
But I personally think the CEC will appeal for suspension of the judgment,” the official on condition of anonymity said.
Bushra Gohar, former MNA and senior ANP leader who had appeared several times in ECP in favour of re-poll in the constituency, told The Nation that the commission should go for suspension of the judgment.
“We should not undermine our female voters.
It is not coincidence that not a single female voter cast vote in PK-95 by polls,” she said.

PTI leader and MNA Dr Shireen Mazari too had urged the election commission to take notice of the issue and take immediate action and order re-polling in Lower Dir.

Mazari too had voiced support for female voters though her party in Lower Dir had supported the JI candidate.

Shumail Ahmad Butt, counsel for ECP, submitted that the high court had no jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution to decide the case in a writ petition.

He submitted that the ECP had given the decision as not a single woman cast her vote in the May 7 by-polls out of the total 53,817 female voters in the constituency.

The Nation

March 13, 2016March 14, 2016

Women Film Festival launched

BY: Aasma Mojiz

ISLAMABAD: The Women International Film Festival was formally launched on Saturday at the WeCreate Centre in Islamabad.

The festival is being organised by Women Through Film, an organisation that aims to facilitate women film and documentary makers through training and workshops.

The festival will be held on March 10 and 11, 2017, to mark the end of women’s week. According to Women Through Film founder Madeeha Raza, the festival invites films made by and about women.

Ms Raza said her main inspiration for the festival and for Women Through Film as well, was the 60 Second International Film Festival, organised by Abrarul Hassan. Mr Hassan is also the founder and creative director at Morangofilms, and alongside Ms Raza, took part in a panel discussion held prior to the launch.

Ms Raza said the festival submissions should centre on the given themes, which include gender equality, education for all, and social ills such as domestic violence, child marriage and honour killings. She said more subcategories will be announced as research into themes goes on.

Documentary filmmaker Tazeen Bari suggested that rather than films by women and about women, the festival should take in films made by women on any topic. Valerie Khan also suggested that when it comes to submissions from minors, there should be a child protection policy in place.

The festival will accept submissions in various categories, including ’music video’, ‘documentary’, ‘avant-garde’, ‘animation’, ‘six second comedy’ and ’48 hour shoot-out’.

Ms Raza said women enjoyed going to the movies together, which gave her the idea to use film as a platform to bring women together.

A panel discussion was also held prior to the launch, comprising Ms Raza, Mr Hassan, Tazeen Bari, Valerie Khan, Nida Fatima Zaidi, Noreena Shams and Kirthi Jayakumar, who participated in the discussion via video link from India.

The panel discussed how film and filmmakers can empower women, with each panelist speaking from their own professional experience.

Ms Bari said it is a key to tell all stories. “It’s not about telling a story of woe or a success story, it’s about telling a story.”

Ms Zaidi, a director and producer with PTV, said some of her most important work has been work that highlighted ordinary women with extraordinary stories to tell, particularly those who work in rural communities.

Ms Jayakumar, a researcher and the founder of the Red Elephant Foundation, said one of the biggest reasons that keep women away from tech and film was the patriarchal approach to society.

Speaking about the common problems facing women in the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan, Ms Jayakumar said it was about women helping other women. She said in her time working with women in Pakistan and in India she found it very effective to “build a sisterhood and… tell women that in many ways, you are also facing issues that they are facing except that the contexts are different.”

Dawn

March 13, 2016March 14, 2016

Child abuse law

THE passage by the Senate on Friday of the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2015 has finally put in place some much-needed sanctions against child abuse in Pakistan. The bill, which was passed by the National Assembly in December, raises the age of criminal responsibility from seven to 10 years of age, and brings in a number of important changes to the Pakistan Penal Code by taking a broader view of acts that constitute child abuse. Among the various components of the bill, sexual assault of minors is punishable by seven years’ incarceration, whereas earlier only rape was criminalised. Similarly, child pornography, which did not previously find a mention in the PPC, is now punishable by a seven-year prison term and a fine of Rs700,000. Child trafficking within the country has also been recognised as a criminal act; earlier, traffickers only attracted sanctions if they removed children from the country.

In a country where around 40pc of the population constitutes under-18s, these changes to the law were long overdue, not to mention legally required as per our international obligations. After all, Pakistan has been a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1990, but its laws were woefully, shamefully inadequate in protecting minors from sexual abuse whether at the hands of predatory adults or older children. This was highlighted time and again in the media through stories of children violated in the home, in the school/madressah or on the street. However, as is the wont of societies that are reactive rather than proactive, it took a particularly horrific case — that of the child abuse in Kasur district — to shock the country into acting against the paedophiles amongst us. In that instance, it emerged over the course of a few weeks in August 2015 that scores of minors — perhaps as many as 200-plus — had been sexually abused for years and their ordeal filmed in order to blackmail them and their families. While it is encouraging that there is now legislation in place to deal specifically with crimes against minors, there must be, as always, steps taken to ensure implementation of the law as well as awareness of the issue to make it easier for children themselves to recognise sexual abuse and report it. Maintaining a prudish silence on such matters only leaves our children vulnerable to those who would perpetrate unspeakable acts of brutality against them.

Dawn