Students protest violence against women

Karachi: In protest against the violence and brutality towards women all over Pakistan, students of the Dawood Public School wore black scarves on Tuesday and demonstrated their grief, solidarity and outrage for girls and women who have been bombed out of their schools, flogged and beaten in public and buried alive in the name of Islam in different areas of the country.
More than 1,500 students of pre-primary, primary and secondary sections of the school took part in the demonstration in connection with the flogging of a girl in Swat. They brandished placards and chanted slogans calling for respect and rights for women in Pakistan.
Girls as young as five wore head bands inscribed with slogans such as ‘Save our rights’ and ‘We want justice’ walked with the student crowd from the secondary section to the pre-primary section of the school. “We want peace, today, tomorrow and always,” was a message on one placard while another stated: ‘Take cognizance of the teachings of Islam!’
A group from Class VI said that they were very much aware of the gender inequality in the country and that violence against women had become a routine in the society. A day earlier, the students were given a brief lecture on violence against women in Pakistan and how citizens’ protests can play a role in pressuring the government to take action against the non-stop injustice, the school’s principal, Mrs Waqar, told The News.
Source: The News
Date:4/8/2009