Category: Social Issues

This category covers all news from Pakistan related Child Marriage, Gender Discrimination, Women and Education

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Rani wins Best Narrative Short Award

Pakistani cinema seems to be in a sticky situation. Even as the films make money, they do not catch everyone’s fancy. The key reason being they are still lacking in several departments; finances and the consequent production values being just two. In between, there have been films like Khuda Kay Liye, Moor, Manto, Motorcycle Girl and last year’s Asim Abbasi film, Cake, which provide us with some hope that original ideas and execution is possible.

Pakistani short films represent quite the opposite. They present greater storytelling, stronger acting and a living, breathing narrative and innovation at the heart of it. Several films have come and gone, proving this theory. Though the subject of short-films merits another article, our focus at present is on last year’s Rani, starring transgender model, actor and activist Kami Sid in the role of a lifetime.

A little over 14 minutes long, Rani not only tells the story of a transgender toy seller who decides to adopt an abandoned baby, but goes on to note the cruelty with which we treat a transgender person and the roles imposed on them in our society.

The film’s Pakistan premiere, held at the Karachi Literature Festival 2019, went house full. According to GrayScale CEO and Rani’s co-producer Akbar Allana, people had travelled from Quetta and Hyderabad just to watch the film. As Allana later told Instep, “We had a large representation from the trans community.”

While Rani’s Pakistan debut at the Karachi Literature Festival 2019 was a success, the short has won yet another award, winning in the category of Best Narrative Short Award at the 25th San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, held in California, USA, shared Allana.

Since making its way to the festival circuit, Rani has picked up a number of nominations at various festivals as well as some victories such as the Fox Inclusion Award at Outfest LA, Outstanding Writer Award at NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, and an Ursula genderbender Award for Best Short Film at the International Queer Film Festival in Hamburg.

Since KLF 2019, Rani has also been screened at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Auditorium in Lahore, hosted by Lahore Biennale Foundation, in collaboration with GrayScale followed by a panel discussion, featuring Allana, Kami Sid and moderated by Professor Nida Kirmani.

The discussion, noted Lahore Biennale Foundation’s Instagram handle, “revolved around issues of visibility in the transgender community”.

As Rani’s Pakistan run continues to take place, Allana confessed that they have more scripts in development, in-house.

“We’re still developing those; we have a few in various stages. Hopefully at least one of those will start production this year, probably one told through the eyes of a young street girl,” he revealed to Instep.

This particular film, notes Allana, is an in-house script. “It is written by our Assistant Producer Ruhina Nasir, the girl who previously directed Deception. This will be her second short film.”

GrayScale hopes to collaborate and revealed: “We’re going to be working with Ali Mehdi, the director of the superb award-winning Kachrachi.

These are in-house scripts. We are planning a blend of in-house and collaborative projects.”

Allana further noted, “We’ve also been working with a London based script consultant named Sirah Haq. She is helping us develop some of our in-house scripts. A nice mix of London indie films, and Pakistani films too,” he concluded, for now.

The News

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Legislation sought to discourage child marriage

PESHAWAR: Speakers at seminar here stressed the need for raising awareness among people about the consequences of child marriage and enactment of laws to curb the practice.

The seminar was organised by Centre for Communication Programmes Pakistan at department of journalism and mass communication, University of Peshawar. A large number of students and teachers attended the event.

Tahir Abbas, the CCPP advocacy specialist, said that the organisation was working to raise awareness about the consequences of underage marriage and push efforts for legislation regarding it. “We are working with different universities to raise awareness about the issue by holding seminars,” he added.

Shagufta Hameed, another speaker, said that as per Pakistan Demographic Health Survey, one out of four girls was married before reaching the age of 18 in the country. She added that rural areas had reportedly 14 per cent of the underage marriage cases while the urban areas witnessed 12 per cent such cases.

Speakers say early marriage often results in health complications

She said that underage marriages often resulted in miscarriages, lack of mental health of the young parent, divorces, higher rates of infant and maternal mortality, malnutrition and other health issues.

Early marriages of girls and then child bearing often created health complications, she added.

Ms Hameed said that the survey showed that maternal mortality rate in the country was 276 per 100,000 births while the infant mortality rate was 74 per 1,000 live births.

She said that major reasons of child marriages were poverty, crisis situation, incorrect religious interpretations, gap between parents and their children, and the gender roles that had been assigned by society to men and women.

Mohammad Sharif Hazarvi, a religious scholar, told the participants that child marriages were not encouraged in Islamic teachings.

“The Holy Quran says in a verse that besides attaining puberty, someone also needs to be mature enough to earn and sustain his family before getting married,” he said.

He said that someone might achieve puberty at the age of 18 years, but he or she might still not be mature enough to handle the responsibilities of a family and marriage.

Dawn

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The News: Disadvantages of underage marriages highlighted

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Man kills wife, daughter over ‘domestic dispute’

KARACHI : A man allegedly killed his wife and daughter after a quarrel over some domestic issue here in the remit of Memon Goth Police on Monday.

According to police and rescue sources, the suspected identified as Ajab Khan, hit his wife Zohra, 35, and daughter Zoya, 17 in the head with a heavy object following a quarrel at their home in Samo Goth area of Malir. Resultantly, both the woman and her daughter sustained critical injuries and breathe their last on the spot. The accused, however, fled the scene after the incident.

Memon Goth Police SHO Akhtar Hussain claimed that the accused had a quarrel with his wife some time ago and on Monday it took an ugly turn when he killed his wife and daughter.

“Initially it looked that the victims were killed with gunshots, however, the autopsy carried out at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) confirmed that iron rods and sticks were used to hit the victims that claimed their lives,” the officer informed.

The police officer said that the accused belongs to Sajawal and works at a local hotel in the vicinity.

“We have recovered the crime weapon and last location of the accused was traced at Jamshoro,” he said, adding that the police would soon arrest the culprit.

The Nation

 

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Woman set ablaze ‘by in-laws’ suffers 70pc burns

TOBA TEK SINGH: A woman was allegedly set on fire by her in-laws on Sunday in Kamalia.

According to Kamalia city police, 31-year-old Saadia Zafar told police that she had developed differences with her husband over which she had arguments with him and his parents. Later, her husband, Ali Imran, brother-in-law Adnan and sister-in-law Natasha Perveen set her clothes ablaze because of which she received serious burn injuries.

Saadia was rushed to Kamalia THQ Hospital by Rescue 1122 where doctors referred her to the DHQ hospital as 70 per cent of her body had been burnt. DHQ hospital doctors referred her to Faisalabad’s Allied Hospital.

MYSTERIOUS DEATHS: On the directions of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Faisalabad Regional Police Officer (RPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar visited along with District Police Officer Sadiq Ali Dogar the house of Muhammad Riaz in Chak 351-GB where four women had been found dead on Saturday.

He questioned locals and police officers about the incident. He was told that Riaz and his friend Abdul Aziz, who was staying in the house as a guest, were in police custody. The RPO will send a report on the incident to the CM.

Meanwhile, police sources said that during investigation, Riaz disclosed that his daughter, 16-year-old Razia Bibi, had been engaged on the insistence of his deceased wife to a relative from Jhang, but he was against it. He added that a day before the incident, he received a call from his daughter’s former fiancé who threatened him over the phone.

Dawn

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If not now, then when: Asra asks Pakistani women

KARACHI: Patriarchy is all around and one such example is Sahib-i-Asra, whose story went viral for a wrong reason, instead of the right one.

She is the Pakistan’s fastest woman, not just an imam saab’s (Islamic cleric) daughter.

The 20-year-old from Faisalabad clicked 11.60 seconds at the national championship last year. The time was actually better than Pakistan’s 2010 South Asian Games women 100m gold medallist Naseem Hameed.

PHOTO COURTESY: FATIMA HUSSAIN

However, what caught people’s eye was her father’s profession, not to be mistaken with the fact that not only is Asra the eldest child, but the main bread-winner of the family of six.

Hers is a story that should be a reminder to most people that women, especially athletes, who make the brave choice of following their dream on a sports field should not be cut to the size by the men in their lives, or in this case the profession of their father.

Asra is on contract with Wapda for Rs35,000 but being an athlete in Pakistan does not pay much, and people do not pay attention to their needs either.

It is a cycle where the girls break the stereotypes, only to find themselves thrashing harder against the social tides.

“Initially my father was against it, but he is happy for me, in fact we live in the house that belongs to the mosque my father works in, and they keep threatening him that they will throw us out if I don’t quit,” Asra told The Express Tribune. “But my family supports me, even my younger sister is a track athlete now, she is still a teenager.”

The social pressures are heavy as on the 2019 women’s day her message remains, “ab nahi tou kab (if not now, then when)” to the women who may find themselves in similar situations as her.

PHOTO COURTESY: FATIMA HUSSAIN

“I just want to tell the women who are sitting at home, repressing their wishes and dreams to become something more than their present that it is time to take action, do what they need to do, ab nahi tou kab (if not now, then when), because time passes by and societal pressures should not kill our dreams, shouldn’t discourage us,” said Asra.

Asra had faced the pressure from her parents too first, but they understood her passion, while people around her family had not been as kind. But in her words, “I just want to do the game,” gave more confidence to her family than anything else.

She began running as a sprinter in a government school that she went to and participated in the national championship for the first time in 2012 and never looked back.

Despite the lack of facilities and qualified coaches she continued to train in Faisalabad, and got help from a Nigerian coach online to better her technique, but the Athletics Federation of Pakistan do not have sufficient coaches, and her trainers at Wapda are limited too. She trains with her colleague, friend and coach Fatima Hussain at her home town.

Meanwhile, diet is another issue, as she cannot cover the cost of vitamins, or supplements that she may need for winning an international medal despite her natural talent.

“I have nothing, my salary from Wapda is not enough for me to even think of having a separate diet for myself, forget the supplements and vitamins. I don’t even have proper shoes for that matter. My father gets some money from mosque too for his services, but that is not enough,” said Asra. “If I take the diet which international athletes do that would cost me more than Rs50,000 a month. I can’t afford it.”

Even for training she travels for at least an hour and at times 90 minutes one-way to the newly-build Shahbaz Sharif Stadium where there is a track, and spends another hour to come back home.

“It is tiring, but this is what I have for now, but I know with proper guidance and facilities I can win a medal for Pakistan too, just like Hameed did, maybe better her time too,” said Asra. “But this is better than before, we used to have only muddy field to run on, without the grass.”

PHOTO COURTESY: FATIMA HUSSAIN

Meanwhile, due to the lack of sports medicine professionals all over the country, getting treatment for injuries is another challenge altogether for athletes like Asra, but she adds that she tries to be as careful as she can.

“If I go to the doctor with an injury, they only tell me not to run,” explained the national champion.

She is also going to be the only woman athlete representing Pakistan at the Asian Athletics Championship in Doha in April along with four other athletes who are male.

But getting this opportunity was not easy either, as seldom everything happens on merit in Pakistan. She had been ignored despite her improving form earlier for the Asian Championships, but now she is happy to at least get the chance.

“According to the time and the record, I am the fastest, so I’m glad they are sending me,” said Asra. “I need training abroad. I know I have potential, I fight against the clock every day to improve myself.”

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