Pakistan in Media

The ability of elite women to define whether or not Pakistan needs feminism is circumscribed by the fact that the battles feminism would have to fight have never been battles for them at all, but rather for those women who remain invisible as much because of their poverty as of their gender

Their headscarves match their outfits perfectly, often held up by jewelled pins sporting emeralds, rubies and other precious stones. Their make-up is impeccable and a cloud of perfume follows them wherever they go. In the past few weeks of Ramazan, many have been chauffeured in their shiny sedans to taraveeh services held in venues usually reserved for weddings. Many afternoons have been spent at women-only sessions of Quranic tafseer. They follow a number of leaders, from the now internationally known Farhat Hashmi to other well-known sheikhs.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Sunday, 12 Jul, 2009
ILLEGAL though their trade may be, it must be recognised that sex workers often pay with their lives to earn a livelihood. Last week’s efforts to address the health hazards of their occupation may have taken a long time coming, but must be lauded as a significant step. The United Nations Population Fund reportedly set up a three-day training session for sex workers with the collaboration of the National Aids Control Programme to generate sexual health awareness in the community through ‘skill building and implementation of strategies’. Disturbing figures thrown up by surveys in 2007 revealed that an alarming 80 per cent of these workers have either been abused or suffer from disease. The reasons remain age-old: illiteracy, biological constitution, male domination, poor hygienic conditions in red-light localities, negligible health facilities, and most importantly, the absence of a say in safe-sex practices.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Monday, 06 Jul, 2009

A MONITORING exercise conducted by the law firm AGHS shows that from April to June this year, 122 cases of women being burnt were reported in Lahore. Of them, 21 women had acid burns while the rest were injured by direct exposure to flames. Forty victims died. Disturbingly, the figures have doubled as compared to the first quarter of the year. These cases constitute merely the tip of the frightening iceberg of violence against Pakistan’s women. The figures reported above apply to Lahore but are unlikely to be lower in other parts of the country. Indeed, one wonders how many cases go unreported. The forms of coercion range from emotional and economic abuse to gross violations of constitutional and human rights, including rape, burning and being handed over as settlement in disputes. Last year, at least two women were believed to have been buried alive in Balochistan. That a sitting parliamentarian defended the act as a ‘tribal custom’ reflects just how endemic violence against women has become in the country.
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The News International, Pakistan, Sunday, July 05, 2009
HELD SRINAGAR: The high court in the held Kashmir directed the police on Saturday to exhume the bodies of two women whose alleged rape and murder last month sparked massive anti-India demonstrations.

“The high court has ordered exhumation of the bodies for fresh post-mortem and collection of DNA samples,” Mian Qayyum, the president of Kashmir bar association, told reporters. However, the court has ordered to seek prior consent of the family before the bodies are exhumed. The high court has intervened in the case after being petitioned by the bar association.
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By Huma Yusuf
Dawn, Pakistan, Monday, 15 Jun, 2009
EARLIER this month, Nafeesa Shah, general secretary of the Women Parliamentarians Caucus, visited IDP camps to distribute relief goods. After meeting with several displaced people, Shah spoke about the plight of IDPs and the gravity of the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Frontier province.

What she did not mention were the specific issues that women in IDP camps face. The fact is, a woman’s experience in a crowded refugee camp is markedly different from that of a man in terms of medical concerns, mobility and rehabilitation. This is one crisis in which gender definitely matters.
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By Zubeida Mustafa
Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009

HAVE you noticed the invisibility of women in the IDP camps? Although they constitute a substantial number of the displaced, it is the men who speak on their behalf.

Not at all surprising. Remember for years the election commission reported areas in the NWFP where not a single female vote was cast because jirgas had banned women from voting.

Hence it was an instructive — and also humane — exercise when some women from Peshawar visited their compatriots in an IDP camp in the NWFP. Bushra Gohar, ANP’s MNA, circulated the report prepared by them. Describing it as “a joint effort” with the identities of the authors being kept a secret, Bushra said the report was being disseminated to “build sensitivity to the realities and complexities of the issues and challenges women are faced with”.

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Editorial, Dawn, Pakistan
Saturday, 30 May, 2009

THE recent acid attack in Jhang that permanently blinded the victim is illustrative of how poor police performance and the influence of the feudal elite combine to perpetuate a backward social set-up where the extremes of brutality go unpunished. The victim, Halima, was reportedly attacked by a disappointed suitor and his father. The young woman’s father claims that he was earlier set upon and injured by the same men. Although a case had been registered, the police did not arrest the assailants who apparently have connections with an MPA. Halima was subsequently attacked in her own home. A second case was registered. While the police arrested two of the nominated accused this time, the men were later released, reportedly upon the MPA’s intervention. The crime reflects an intensely retrogressive social set-up where even the smallest act of defiance can invite dire penalties. It also underscores the extent to which women in a backward patriarchal system are denied their most fundamental rights and targeted as prime victims. By default the same system condones a male mindset which hardly recognises crimes against women as punishable. Acid attacks are not uncommon after all. Neither are practices such as karo-kari, vani and swara, all of which are regularly reported from Sindh, southern Punjab and other areas.

Moreover, as the victim’s father legitimately pointed out, had the police taken action on his earlier complaint the attack on his daughter may have been prevented. Evidence of the police’s failure to perform their duty lies in that the FIR for the acid attack reportedly omitted invoking certain relevant sections of the law. This worked to the advantage of the accused party. The incident exposes the bias of the police and the manner in which the politically well connected can expect to get away with practically any crime. The rule of law invoked by political parties must be applied in its real sense. It must be ensured that lawbreakers are punished according to the gravity of their crime. Until the police and justice system are cleansed of political influence, the rights of people such as Halima will continue to be violated with impunity.

Editorial,The News International, Pakistan
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Even a decade after the Supreme Court ruled that an adult woman had a right to choose her spouse, the issue lingers on. The latest case to come up before the LHC involves Kulsoom Baloch, a 25-year-old who has a post-graduation degree, and her husband Fazal Abbas. Abbas and his family have faced repeated harassment since he wed Ms Baloch last year. The LHC ruled after hearing his wife that the latest FIR lodged against him, accusing him of kidnapping Kulsoom, was false and ordered that he be released from police custody. The court upheld the right of the couple to live where they please.

The question is whether they will be allowed to. Kulsoom Baloch's family has made it obvious they are ready to go to any length to prevent this. In the past, couples have faced death for doing nothing more than choosing their partners in marriage despite court rulings in their favour. The problem too is that the police are often unwilling to protect such couples, or succumb to bribery and the use of influence on the part of families desperate to thwart them. Couples have found they must flee the country to be safe. Even Saima Waheed, the young woman whose decision to marry her tutor led to the landmark victory being delivered in favour of 'love' marriages by the apex court, today lives overseas. In the most recent case, the LHC has offered Ms Baloch security. But this cannot be practical over a long period of time. There have been cases in which revenge has been extracted by families years after the marriage. The core issue is that of attitude. Women continue to be treated as possessions, whose lives are controlled by male relatives. The hold of patriarchy in society needs to be challenged. To do so, orders must be given to officials at local level. They must also be made aware of the law and their duty to uphold it – so they can be dissuaded from playing a part in actions that cause so much suffering to people who have not committed any crime.

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* Say Taliban destroyed their children’s schools, prevented them from going to jobs
Daily Times, Pakistan
Monday, May 18, 2009
By Akhtar Amin

MARDAN: Displaced women from conflict-hit Swat rejected the Taliban form of sharia, saying it was due to the Taliban that they faced hardships and were suffering in their own homeland.

During a visit to Mardan’s Jalala and Sheikh Shahzad camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs), women lashed out at the Taliban holding them responsible for bombing their daughters’ schools, ruthlessly beheading their sons and security forces personnel and stopping women from their jobs in the district.

“Today, we are spending miserable lives in camps and are homeless because of the Taliban,” said Naoreen, 40, a mother of five, living in a tent at the Jalala camp along with the children.

She said the women in Swat had been living a peaceful life in accordance with sharia, but the Taliban had begun targeting women in the district, in the past four years.

“Two of my daughters stopped going to school after the Taliban issued threats. Women were forced to stop their jobs and remain indoors,” she said.

Shazia, 50, another displaced woman from the Charbagh area of Swat strongly condemned the Taliban for their miseries in the camps. “First, the Taliban destroyed our children’s schools. Now they are slaughtering people and looting houses,” she said.

Rukhsana, a teenaged resident of Barikot in Swat said she was now in Jalala camp instead of in her school. “ The Taliban shattered my hopes to become a doctor. The future of thousands of female students in Swat is as dark as mine,” the girl added.

Some male IDPs from Swat – despite facing difficulties in camps and having had their houses destroyed in the operation – showed sympathies for the Taliban. “Taliban are not bad people. They were only struggling for the implementation of sharia in Malakand division,” said Mohammad Islam.

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