Celebrating Nadia Mehr

From the Malaysia Sun - First Pakistani girl gets doctorate in medieval history in Indian Kashmir:

Nadia Mehr has scripted history by becoming the first Pakistani female to complete a doctorate in medieval history from the Kashmir University here.

She completed her thesis titled: "The Development of Science, Technology, Arts and Language during the Sultanate period in Kashmir". Hailing from Kasur near Lahore, 31-year-old Mehr was selected under the South Asia Foundation programme.

See also the articles from -

The Greater Khasmir:

A Pakistani girl Nadia Mehr daughter of Mehr Din of Lahore, Pakistan has completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in History from Kashmir University. She is the first Pakistani girl to have completed the doctorate from this Srinagar-based varsity under the South Asia Foundation (SAF) program.

The KU officials said Nadia pursued the research program vide University Registration No: 52-PhD-2010 from the Institute of Kashmir Studies. She did her thesis on “The Development of Science, Technology, Arts and Language during the Sultanate Period in Kashmir”, under the supervision of Prof Gulshan Majeed, Institute of Kashmir Studies.

The Tribune:

After a difficult visa process, bouts of violence and four years of hard work, Nadia Mehr Din has completed her PhD in history from the University of Kashmir, Srinagar. She is the first Pakistani woman to have completed the doctorate from Indian-administered Kashmir under the South Asia Foundation (SAF) programme, report Kashmiri newspapers.

Her dissertation was titled “The Development of Science, Technology, Arts and Language during the Sultanate Period in Kashmir”, under the supervision of Prof Gulshan Majeed, Institute of Kashmir Studies and she received her degree on December 9.

Women in Pakistan

From the Express Tribune:

While we have seen phenomenal changes take place across the world in recent decades, the status and fate of women, who have been so badly treated through the centuries in almost all cultures, hasn’t changed much.

But in Pakistan, their situation has become worse and thus it comes as no surprise that we were recently rated as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the way we treat women. Already among the ten most corrupt states of this world, Pakistan ranks even higher when it comes to maltreatment of women. Only in war-torn Afghanistan and the Congo is their plight worse and their lives and honour more threatened.

New Face of Kashmiri Women

From the Nation:

The freedom movement in Indian Held Kashmir has received fresh impetus with its women taking up the cause of freedom. The situation in Kashmir has greatly deteriorated since the death of a 17-year-old student, who succumbed to his injuries after being hit by a teargas shell. Protest rallies have been baton charged, teargassed and brutally fired upon, with more than 50 lives being lost. However, just as the freedom struggle seemed to be stagnating, the women emerged on the streets, beating on their utensils, throwing stones at the Indian forces and chanting slogans for freedom.

Over the years, Kashmiri women have played an important role in the struggle for freedom. Names like Asiya Andrabi, who led protest rallies comprising Kashmiri women, have filled volumes. However, the image of Kashmiri women in the liberation struggle has been mostly of wives, mothers, sisters or daughters mourning over the dead body of a relative, who embraced shahadat as a result of the atrocities of the Indian army. The new face of the Kashmiri women is unparalleled. Hundreds of women and girls, many in shalwar kameez, have since been regularly out on the streets chanting “we want freedom!” and “blood for blood!” Indeed, their message is loud and clear. Although the Indian army has not refrained from targeting the unarmed women, dealing with female protesters is a fraught challenge for the police and paramilitary troops. Many women who do not directly take part in rallies carry drinking water to the protesters and also direct youths down escape routes as they flee from baton charges, teargas and gunfire.

Exasperated by the deteriorating situation in Kashmir, India’s Interior Minister P. Chidambaram has alleged that Pakistan may have instigated these protests. This is the first time New Delhi has linked Pakistan to the recent spate of violence in the Kashmir Valley that began on June 11. Earlier, India had said Pakistan-based militants were inciting trouble in the region. “Pakistan appears to have altered its strategy in influencing events in Jammu and Kashmir,” Chidambaram told the Indian Parliament during a debate on the protests. India, however, remains confident that it can foil Pakistan’s “evil designs” if it is able to win the hearts and minds of the people.

Pakistan: 2 Women Abused Every Hour

From the Express Tribune:

Every hour two women are beaten in Pakistan, according to an estimate by Human Development Foundation, a local NGO. Yet, almost a year after being cheered by the National Assembly on August 4, 2009, the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2009, has not been passed.

After years of struggle, parliament last year finally passed the comprehensive 28-clause bill moved by Pakistan People’s Party MNA Yasmeen Rahman, who is also the adviser to prime minister on women development. The bill had originally been authored by MNA Sherry Rehman in 2004.

However, two months after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who is also the minister for Women Development, had termed the passage of the bill a “big achievement,” it was rejected by the Senate, reportedly because of the objections of one senator, preventing it from becoming a law.

According to insiders, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl senator Maulana Muhammad Sherani (presently the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology) had objected that the bill was not ‘male-friendly’ and was contradictory to Islamic law.

Punjab: Violence Against Women

From the Daily Times:

From January to June this year, 2,690 cases of violence against women were reported across Punjab, in which 2,909 women were targeted.

Former MPA Misbah Kaukab said violence against women was increasing rapidly. She said this while addressing a press conference organised by Aurat Foundation at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday. Joint Action Committee Convener Shahtaj Qizilbash, human rights activists Abdullah Malik, Nabeela Shaheen and Abid Ali were also present on the occasion.

The aforementioned facts have been taken from the first bi-annual report on incidents of violence against women, titled “Situation of Violence Against Women in Punjab”, compiled by Aurat Foundation in collaboration with the Violence Against Women (VAW) Watch Group.

Out of the 2,690 cases reported, there were 913 cases of abductions, 381 murders, 102 honour killings, 377 rape and gang rape and 166 cases of suicide.

Geographically, 1,141 cases had been reported in the urban areas and 1,546 in the rural areas, while the area could not be identified in three cases. According to the status of first information reports, 2,353 cases had been registered in the police stations concerned, 96 were not registered anywhere, while there was no information regarding the registration of FIRs in 241 cases. Out of the total 3,066 victims of violence, 1,535 female victims were unmarried, 1,217 were married, 48 were widows, 39 divorcees, while no information was available for the remaining 227 victims. Almost 467 of the victims were under 18 years of age, 185 women were aged between 19 and 36, 58 female victims were above the age of 36, while in 2,356 cases, no information was available about the victims’ ages.

Maximum incidents: According to the report, the 12 districts where a maximum number of cases of violence against women were reported were Lahore with 458 cases, followed by Faisalabad with 393, Sargodha 161, Sheikhupura 157, Rawalpindi 139, Okara 134, Kasur 116, Sialkot 114, Sahiwal 88, Gujranwala 87, Jhang 76 and Multan with 71 reported cases of violence.

The six-month picture of the current year reveals that out of 2,690 various types of offences committed against women, abduction tops with 33 percent women and girls abducted in Punjab, followed by murder and rape and gang rape at 14 percent, suicide six percent and domestic violence four percent. Interestingly, the report also reflects the relationship of the accused with the victims, as the accused in all 2,690 cases had been found to be close relatives such as husbands, fathers, brothers, cousins, in-laws, besides local influentials, police or neighbours.

The cases of violence against women were collected from local sources of information, mainly local and regional newspapers, individuals and shelter homes, the report says.

UN: Bhutto Assassination Preventable

From CNN:

Pakistan's military-led former government failed to protect former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before her 2007 assassination and intelligence agencies hindered the subsequent investigation, a U.N. commission concluded in a report released Thursday.

The three-member investigative panel issued a scathing report Thursday afternoon, concluding that the suicide bombing that killed Bhutto "could have been prevented" and that police deliberately failed to pursue an effective investigation into the killings.

Bhutto had returned from a self-imposed, eight-year exile to run in the country's general elections two months before her assassination and already had escaped one attempt on her life. She was killed in December 2007 by a 15-year-old suicide bomber while campaigning in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, the seat of the country's military.

"No one believes that this boy acted alone," the report states. "A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Ms. Bhutto, and second to investigate with vigor all those responsible for her murder, not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing."

A spokesman for then-President Pervez Musharraf said Friday the government offered adequate protection for Bhutto.

"I believe the government at the time did whatever they thought was reasonable," said Muhammad Ali Saif, a spokesman and adviser to the former president.

Pakistan: Minority Women Used As Sex Slaves

From NDTV:

The Pakistani army is sexually assaulting minority women and using them as sex slaves, alleges the European Organization of Pakistani Minorities (EOPM), an NGO working for the rights of minorities in Pakistan.

In a prayer-cum-demonstration held at the UN, it said the Pakistani army is taking minority women away from their families, raping them and then using them as sex slaves.

Referring to the December attacks on Christians in Lahore, the organisation alleged that attacks on minorities in Pakistan were increasing.

Using a symbolic broken chair to highlight the plight of minorities in Pakistan, more than 100 women from different faiths lit candles at the prayer to highlight the plight of minority women allegedly being raped and killed by the Pakistani army.

Expressing concern over the plight of women of Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan, the organisers said army officials are taking them to torture camps, raping them and then using them as sex slaves.

Pakistan: Ban Bride Price

From the Daily Times:

Legal experts Sunday demanded that the NWFP government immediately ban bride price and effectively implement the National Plan of Action 2005 to combat women trafficking in the province.

The demand came at a two-day consultative workshop on countering women trafficking organized by the Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP) in collaboration with DFID (UK Department for International Development) and UNDP (United Nation Development Programme) under the Gender Justice and Protection Project (GJP). The workshop covered both legal and humanitarian aspects of women trafficking.

Niaz Muhammad and Anis Badshah Bukhari, member inspection team and additional registrar Peshawar High Court respectively, highlighted the legal aspect of women trafficking and demanded that all sections pertaining to the punishment of perpetrators must be amended and due role of police and other agencies be included so as to address the issue comprehensively. Federal Ombudsman Director Mashood Mirza said that every year hundreds of thousands of women and children were trafficked both locally and internationally to use them in heinous crimes like prostitution, bonded labor and inhuman sports like camel race. Human rights activist Rakhshanda Naz lamented the poor performance of Pakistan in the TIP report of 2009 that placed it on tier 2 watch list.

“Early child marriages, IDPs influx and rapid surge in poverty in the recent past have also contributed to the trafficking of women and girls,” she said. CAMP Chief Executive Naveed Ahmad Shinwari said that drastic reforms in laws and inter-institutional coordination among the law-enforcement agencies and CSOs would help curb the issue.

Pakistan: Benazir Income Support Programme

From the Daily Times:

Waseela-e-Haq, a scheme of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) initiated by the PPP government, will help alleviate poverty and empower poor women and the vulnerable section of the society.

Benazir Income Support Programme Chairperson Farzana Raja said this while addressing a seminar titled “BISP technology-based governance for poverty alleviation and women empowerment” here on Thursday.

She expressed the hope that Waseela-e-Haq programme would create employment opportunities for more women.

South Asian Women in Media

From the Daily Times:

The first regional conference of South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) concluded on Sunday, urging South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) organised the two-day conference at a local hotel. The conference focused on the challenges, opportunities and partnerships available for women in media. The conference asked SAARC governments to increase people-to-people contacts. It called for journalists to be allowed free movement across borders.

The conference asked the governments of South Asia to ensure access to information by adopting effective laws and regulations, ensure freedom of expression and protect women in the media performing their professional duties.

Gender guidelines: The delegates demanded media organisations to adopt gender guidelines and a code of conduct while ensuring equal opportunities for women. They demanded SAARC governments and the SAARC Secretariat to recognise SAWM as an associated body of the SAARC.

Addressing the conference, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira assured the female journalists that special attention would be paid to issues regarding the media in Pakistan.

Kaira said many women were working in the media, and efforts were being made to improve the environment.

Women: Tortured, Humiliated - Followup

Further to my post - Women: Tortured, Humilated - comes this further article from Dawn:

Phoolnagar police on Tuesday booked 75 people, including a former TMA chairman and union council nazim, for humiliating three women in Jamber Kalan on Sunday night. However, none of the accused had been arrested till 12:30am on Wednesday when this report was filed.

According to complainant Shahnaz, she had a property dispute with former TMA chairman Rana Naseeruddin and she won the case in the court. She said Naseeruddin accused her of running a prostitution ring to avenge his defeat in the court and tried to occupy her house. She said Naseeruddin reached her house along with 200 people, seized her and her two women guests and then incited the people to attack her.

She stated in the FIR that the accused cut her and her guests’ hair, tore up their clothes and forced them to parade naked in the village streets in the presence of hundreds of people for two hours. She said her teenaged daughter Asma, a student of 10th class, was missing since Sunday night. She said the accused met out this treatment to her with the backing of the local police.

Police have registered a case against 75 people, 25 of them nominated. Naseeruddin, UC Nazim Muhammad Ilyas, Intizar Hussain, Aslam, Riaz and Ayub are among the nominated men. A heavy police presence was seen in the village on Tuesday after the locals staged a demonstration against the court, which granted bail to the three women.

DPO Gohar Nafees told Dawn that Shahnaz was involved in the illegal business. He, however, denied the women were forced to parade naked in the public.

Pakistan: Protecting Women

From Zubeida Mustafa @ Dawn:

The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2009 adopted by the National Assembly in August won plaudits from women and human rights activists alike. ‘Landmark’, ‘milestone’, ‘victory for civil society’ and other such laudatory terms were lavished on it. Having been adopted unanimously, which is creditable given that it was a private member bill, the bill was a positive step in a society where women suffer the most violence. In fact violence from spouses is very often justified by conservative and orthodox elements as sanctioned by Islam.

Hence the euphoria. The sole voice of dissent came from the Council of Islamic Ideology which termed the legislation ‘ambiguous and containing few reforms’. It also criticised the draft on the ground that it would in its present form ‘fan unending family feuds and push divorce rates up’. Many saw this as a perverted form of reasoning and the National Commission on the Status of Women’s spirited response refuting the CII’s arguments is most welcome. One hopes that the Ideology Council will appreciate what the NCSW has to say. The Senate should not be deterred by the religious scholars’ objections which are not very convincing. The Senate has yet to adopt the bill which will then become law after it is signed by the president.

Christian Women in Pakistan

From Women News Network:

Although 25% of religious minority women are not considered disadvantaged, Christian minority women who live on the bottom of society face many untold limitations. A policy of “living invisibly” with family members is often the only answer for protection for many minority Christian families who suffer under the great specter of poverty in Pakistan.

Most of the families of Christian minority women in Punjab came, at the turn of the 20th century, from families that were originally from India. They came from dalit Hindu families who moved to what would later become the Pakistan region in 1947. Their legacy of isolation and separation from Indian society is ongoing. As dalits they were part of the lowest “untouchable” caste in India. This has been a nemesis that has followed them, even after they converted from Hinduism to Christianity. Basic women’s rights and human rights are often out of reach for these women who daily experience conditions of extreme poverty.

Dalit Christian women who have been severely marginalized often suffer from a shortage of even the simplest basic needs. Lack of health care is common. Slum conditions can also be found where families are forced to live on the streets or to live together in crowded poorly constructed shelters, amid garbage, toxic chemicals and refuse. Their structures often have no electricity, heat or clean water.

Because of these conditions, many dalit Christian women fall into lifetime careers as sewer cleaners, domestic servants or brick kiln workers. Payments for these positions are painfully low, or at times non-existent. Some employers give payment loans ahead to trap minority women, preventing them from ever paying the loans back as they continue to work for free on wheels of never ending debt bondage.

Benazir Bhutto

Word on the street is that former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, will be posthumously awarded the UN Human Rights Award on 10th December 2008 - UN Human Rights Day.

According to sources, the President of United Nations General Assembly, Mr Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, is in the process of informing President Asif Ali Zardari who took over the reins of Pakistan People’s Party as its co-chairman after Ms Bhutto’s murder.

Woman Brutally Murdered

From The International News:

"Women from different walks of life here Tuesday strongly condemned the brutal murder of 17-year-old Taslim Solangi, who was thrown to dogs and was forced to give birth to her premature baby in Khairpur.

While talking to ‘The News’ they expressed their extreme reaction against the barbaric act and severely criticised government and Non-Government Organisations (NGO) for just raising slogans and doing nothing in practical.

Sabiha Aftab, a woman working at a private organisation, said that the incident was mocking the Constitution of Pakistan according to which such acts were unlawful and deserve severe punishment.“The culprits should be hanged to death so that nobody in future would ever dare to commit such horrendous crime,” she said, adding that the culprit should be hanged publicly for a lesson.

Another woman Ayesha Saleem said that a woman could better imagine the pain that the poor woman (Taslim) had gone through during forced delivery. “The people who were involved in the act should not be given the status of human beings as they are worst than animals in their practices,” she said.

She termed the incident the most shocking and barbaric that could ever happen in the face of this earth as far as the human rights especially the women rights are concerned.Fayeza Shah, a housewife, said that it was failure of our state that such incidents were taking place. “What our law enforcement agencies for?” She said.She said that it appears as if we were living in the time before the advent of Islam. “There is no rule prevalent here except the rule of jungle,” she said.

Maria Hafeez said that the silence over such issues by the government and other law enforcing agencies have increased such incidents. “The politicians and members of civil society just raise slogans for their own benefit, but nothing has been done so far,” she said.

Maria quoted the example of a previous barbaric incident in which five women buried alive and nothing has been done so far to punish the culprits. “The political workers and NGOs staged protests just to get fame through media and after that they preferred to sit quite,” she said.

Javeria Musa said that it was unfortunate that we were living in a society where women were treated worst than animals and nobody including the government ever bothered to take initiatives to curb such incidents in future.“It is the time when government and civil society organisations should join hands to take some solid steps to discourage such practices by properly pursuing the cases and punishing the culprits,” she said.

Javeria said that although the president of Pakistan has taken notice of the bone-chilling incident, yet he should also properly pursue the case to ensure punishment to the culprits involved in the incident."

Ban on Jirga System

Further to my June 30th post "Ban on Jirga" comes this article from Dawn:

Signature campaign against jirga system
"HYDERABAD, Sept 9: The Hyderabad chapter of the Women Action Forum launched a signature campaign against jirga system at Allama I.I. Kazi campus of the University of Sindh on Tuesday.

More than 4,000 students, teachers, research scholars, writers, deans of the faculties, directors and chairpersons of teaching centres, institutes and departments and a majority of faculty members participated in the campaign, which was inaugurated by Sindh University Vice-Chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui.

Mr. Siddiqui said it was a tragedy that an ancient custom that encouraged treating women like chattel had been continuing through jirga system. The barbarity must come to an end now and the society should work against it in a collective manner to eradicate it.

He said that the university students should work as ambassadors and play their role against barbaric traditions and customs. He appreciated the forum’s struggle against different evils of society and called for collective efforts for the development of the society.

Akhtar Jabeen Siddiqui said that the jirga system was a challenge not only for the poor of backward areas but also for the educated people and the society as a whole.

Women Action Forum activists Professor Amar Sindhu and Professor Irfana Mallah also spoke on the occasion. Professor Sindhu said that the launch of signature campaign at the university was aimed at creating awareness among the youth who represented rural and urban areas.

She said that the list of signatures would be handed to the members of Sindh Assembly to persuade them to make laws against jirga system.

Vice-Chairman of Sindhi Adabi Board Shaikh Aziz, noted sociologist Dr. Tanveer Junejo, Dr. M.Q. Bughio, Registrar Mohammad Saleh Rajar, Dr. G.M. Lakho and Dr. Mehrunnisa Larik visited the campaign camp."

Ruqayya Jafri

Partition - one woman tells her story of not one but two political partitions that have still left an indelible imprint upon her heart.

The first partition occurred in 1947 when India was partitioned to create Pakistan. The second occurred in 1971 with the creation of Bangladesh.

"Between the two events, she progressed from a student leader to a member of Pakistan's national parliament, where she was instrumental in organising opposition to General Ayub Khan, Pakistan's first military ruler in the 1960s.

But she feels her career as a high achiever has done little to ameliorate her own plight as the forgotten matriarch of a divided house. "

Read the her story at BBC News.

Ban on Jirga

From: Dawn

HYDERABAD: MPA proposes village-based committees, ban on jirga: Violence against women
HYDERABAD, June 27: Pakistan People’s Party MPA Humera Alwani has said committees with women representatives should be formed at the village level to curb violence against women and shelters homes should be formed for women victims of violence at district level.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Friday, she said that soon a women protection bill will be presented in the Sindh Assembly.

Ms Alwani said that it was the state’s responsibility to bring about appropriate changes in social and cultural patterns and eliminate prejudices, customs and practices based on the idea of inferiority or superiority of either sex.

The MPA called for banning jirgas and punishing violators and barring them from holding public office.

She said there was a need to repeal all discriminatory laws against women and enact new ones to protect them from all kinds of violence, including domestic, besides sensitising police and judiciary.

Ms Alwani said political representation of women should be strengthened at local, provincial and national levels by providing them with due powers.

She suggested terminating police officer involved in declining to register FIR of honour crimes.

She said there was a need to create awareness among men about the impacts of violence against women and children. She also recommended making aware children of bad impact of violence through curriculum at school level. She said we needed to create financial resources to make women economically independent.

She said extraordinary power used against women or a girl with regard to physical or sexual action was violence against women.

She said in these cases accused were male family members like husband, father, brother, father-in-law and brother-in-law, cousin, close relative, same caste person and in rare cases mothers and daughters-in-law who directly or indirectly were found involved in murder or injuries to women.

Ms Alwani said at least one out of three women around the world had been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused by usually someone known to her. Pakistani women faced crimes as there was room for legislation and implementation to provide safety, liberty and honour to them.

MPA Alwani said their goal was to provide relief, justice and honour to women for living a respectable life.

She said education was a human right but unfortunately female literacy in Pakistan stood at 28 per cent, much below the Third World average of 66 per cent.

She said without literacy there was no hope to help them in understanding religion and outdated tribal and feudal customs and traditions.

She called upon religious scholars, political leaders and other segments of the society to play their active role for elimination of violence against women.—APP"


So, you may ask (and I certainly did) - what is a "jirga"???

Apparently, according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia: "A jirga is a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus, particularly among the Pashtun but also in other ethnic groups near them; they are most common in Afghanistan and among the Pashtun in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan."