Working Women Harassment Bill versus Khawaja Asif

Guest blog by: Humza Ikram

A key leader of PML-N, Khawaja Muhammad Asif humiliated a fellow MNA in the house. Here we are trying to protect woman in the workplace by introducing Woman Harasment bill a woman was humilated who was a part of the group who introduced criminal law (amendement bill) .

Criminal Law (Amendment) Act bill is approved in the National assembly; its a part of effort to protect working woman rights and other important bill in this regard called Working Women Harassment Bill is also expected to be presented in the parliment in next session after it was approved in Sindh Assembly. Former Minister Sherry Rehman produced this bill in the parliament last year.

NA passes bill on harassment against women

ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 (APP): National Assembly Wednesday unanimously passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2009 to amend Pakistan Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure and provide protection to women against harassment at workplace.

Minister for Law and Justice, Muhammad Afzal Sindhu moved the bill to the House as passed by the Standing Committee, and all of its three clauses were passed unanimously with opposition neither opposing it nor proposing any further amendments.

The bill provides protection to working women at workplace from sexual advances and intimidation and violators will be punished with three years imprisonment or Rs. 500,000 fine or both.

The Bill states, ‘whoever makes sexual advances, or demands sexual favors or uses written or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which intends to annoy, insult, intimidate or threaten the other person or commits such acts at the premises of workplace, or makes submission to such conduct either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or makes submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual, a basis for employment decision affecting such individual, or retaliates because of rejection of such behavior, or conducts such behavior with the intention of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or fine up to Rs 500,000 or with both.’

In the next clause the bill elaborate the dispensation mechanism for the bill where the word ‘sexual harassment’ has been included to already existing entries of ‘uttering word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of women etc.

The same clause clarified the fine amount to Rs 500,000 also elaborating that the accused will not be arrested without warrant, warrants will be bailable and the case will be presented to the court of Magistrate of First Class.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons reveals that the amendment will not only make the public and work environment safer for men and women but will open up the path for more women in particular to pursue their livelihood with dignity. It will reduce poverty as more and more women will get the courage to enter the job market.
This amendment will also open up opportunity for private and the government sector to get competent human resource that will result in better production and improved quality of service. The social benefits, as a result of providing protection against harassment will become a major contribution to the development of the country.

A win for women (The News)
Friday, November 06, 2009

It is easy to say that we have a situation in which there is virtually no governance at all. This is true in most spheres, but there are exceptions. One of these is in the passage of legislation aimed at protecting the rights of women and other vulnerable groups, including children. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, passed unanimously by the National Assembly, amends existing legislation to impose a jail sentence up to three years and a fine of up to 500,000 for sexual harassment. Previously, the crime was rather loosely defined and provided for a sentence of up to a year. The law is the second within three months which seeks to improve the situation for women victims of violence. In August a bill on domestic abuse was adopted by both houses of parliament. Another bill, seeking penalties for harassment in the work place, is also likely to be tabled within weeks.

The credit for all this goes to women activists, both within and outside parliament, who have worked tirelessly for a cause they believe in. According to the figures from international human rights groups, up to 80 per cent of women in the country face violence in one form or the other, and this goes to show how significant this legislation is. The passage of the laws highlights advantages of having a larger number of women in parliament. It is true that only a handful among them are directly elected and that a significant number are the relatives of key male politicians. But despite this their presence has resulted in issues that have an impact on the lives of women being discussed far more frequently, thus giving a louder voice to 50 per cent of citizens who so often go unheard.

Second apology follows conduct unbecoming
By Syed Irfan Raza
Saturday, 07 Nov, 2009
Source: Dawn

ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: PML-N stalwart Khwaja Asif apologised to PML MNA Farkhanda Warraich a second time on Friday for bringing her to tears the previous day and won laurels for his “high morals”.

But the grapevine said “grave reasons” lay behind his “gracious” act.

Unknown to those praising his humility, rumours said Khwaja Asif had been “humbled” overnight to tender “a proper apology on the floor of the house”. The “force” behind the demand was scary enough for him to promise to do that.

In fact he had a nightmare which scared him so much that he opted to go for another apology and even did not dare to share with anyone what happened to him last night.

Some of his neighbours and employees of the Parliament Lodges said up to 15 armed guards believed to be that of the MNA broke the entry of Suite J-401 allotted to Mr Asif and asked why he had passed derogatory remarks about the MNA.

They stayed in his room for half an hour meanwhile somebody had called the police which reached there at 10pm and mediated.

An official, who was also present on this occasion, said Mr Asif told the intruders that he apologised for whatever he had said to the MNA. The source quoted Mr Asif as saying: “She is just like my sister and whatever I have said is because of some misunderstanding.”

Some of the MNAs, who were close to Mr Asif when he passed remarks against the woman, told Dawn that she along with some other colleagues was talking to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when the PML-N leader asked National Assembly Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi that why they were mingling around him (the prime minister). On this the deputy speaker replied that may be they were from your own party (PML-N).

With these remarks of the deputy speaker all others went away except the lady MNA and then Mr Asif said: “She is not from our party, I don’t know who she is, may be a stranger in the house,” an MNA said while quoting Mr Asif.

The remarks of the PML-N leader gained attention of many, including Prime Minister Gilani and deputy speaker, and brought the lady MNA to tears. Although Mr Asif apologised shortly after the incident, with rude tone, the MNA said.

When contacted, Khwaja Asif confirmed that he had met a dreadful incident last night but he did not want to comment on the issue. “I don’t want to say anything about it,” he said.

Asked why he had not lodged any protest at any forum on what he had experienced in his suite, the frontline leader of the N-league who is known for his aggressive way of talking said: “Such ups and downs are the part of politics and I don’t want to make an issue out of it.”

The incident has also raised concerned among many other members in the parliament about how vulnerable they were at the hands of private armed guards of few other members while living in the apparently secure Parliament Lodges.
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Do you know where God lives? A real story from Phoolnagar!

Do you know where God lives. God lives in that old cottage which provided the jhugga (shirt) to the women undressed by the religion / morality brigade in Phoolnagar.

Do you know where the devil lives? Go no further from the CM house in Raiwind, not very far from the markaz of the Tablighi Jamaat.

Mob disgraces three women in Phoolnagar

Tuesday, 29 Sep, 2009 (Dawn)

KASUR: With their faces painted black and hair cut, three women were forced to parade semi-naked in a Phoolnagar village by a mob on charges of prostitution on Sunday night.

When a civil court set them at liberty on Monday, a large number of people blocked the national highway for about one-and-a-half hours.

Denying prostitution charges, the aggrieved women said the motive behind the entire episode was political rivalry and litigation over property dispute.

One of them said that her 13 years old daughter had been missing since Sunday night.

Reports said that Jamber Kalan union council nazim Muhammad Ilyas Khan and Abdul Sattar along with some 200 villagers had raided the alleged brothel of former councilor Shahnaz alias Sarajan Bibi and recovered her, Azra and Shabana while two men managed to escape.

The charged crowd also brought out the households and set them ablaze before humiliating the women in full public view. The women were finally handed over to the Phoolnagar police on Sunday night.

On Monday, the accused women were produced before a Pattoki court from where they got the bail.

The court scolded investigation officer Bashir Ahmed for giving divergent statements. The IO stated that he along with a police party raided the alleged brothel, but later he changed his statement and said that villagers had handed over the women to police.

The court ordered registration of a case under section 496 of the PPC.

Hearing about the release of women, more than 500 villagers gathered at Ada Jamber Kalan and blocked the Multan Road to protest the court decision and demanded immediate arrest of the accused women.

SP (investigation) Waqas Ahmed along with a police team reached the spot and succeeded in dispersing the protesters.

It is learnt that accused Shahnaz has a land dispute with former TMA chairman Rana Naseeruddin. The alleged brothel is said to be the disputed property.

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 (later registered as per court's orders) 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. (Dawn)

Evil on the streets

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 We hear of many appalling acts in our society. Few are as horrifying as the incident that took place in Phoolnagar near Kasur – where a mob forced three women to walk naked on the streets. There is worse to come: police registered a case against the women for allegedly running a brothel. None was registered against the men who stripped and humiliated them. Presumably the police, and other people in the town, stood and watched passively as this happened. It is obvious that influential individuals were involved. The women say the union council nazim wanted to take possession of their house and instigated the action against them. This is easy to believe. It is of course also a telling reflection on our society that while the women were targeted in so terrible a fashion for their alleged involvement in prostitution, no attempt was made to punish the men who must necessarily be a party to any such racket. The question of prostitution is irrelevant. Regardless of whether or not a business existed, what was done to the women is unacceptable. It is unacceptable in any civilized society; it is especially unacceptable in one that calls itself Islamic. Such acts suggest it has no right to call itself that. Letting the perpetrators go scot-free is one way of ensuring that other women will be made to suffer in exactly the same way. So far the criminals have not been touched. The local police have made it clear whose side they are on. The message has gone out to everyone. Only now that orders have come from higher places will any effort be made to bring the perpetrators to book. The possibility though is that they will be allowed to escape as the spotlight switches away. We must not allow this to happen. As citizens we must speak up against this atrocity. (The News)

پھولنگر:عورتوں کی درخواست

علی سلمان

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، پھولنگر

’ہمیں الف ننگا کردیا تھا انہیں خدا کا خوف نہیں رہا تھا‘

لاہورکے نواحی علاقے پھولنگر (بھائی پھیرو) کےگاؤں جمبر کلاں کی تین خواتین نے ان مقامی لوگوں کے خلاف مقدمہ کے اندراج کے لیے درخواست دے دی ہے جنہوں نے مبینہ طور پر انہیں برہنہ کر کے مرکزی شاہراہ پرکھڑا کر دیا تھا۔

شہناز عرف سراجو کے وکیل محمد فاروق ایڈووکیٹ نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ انہوں نے اپنی درخواست میں خواتین کی سرعام بےحرمتی کرنے، ان کے گھر زبردستی گھس کر لوٹ مار کرنے سمیت سنگین دفعات کی درخواست پولیس کو دی ہے اور اگر پولیس نے مقدمہ درج نہ کیا تو وہ عدلیہ سے رجوع کریں گے۔

پولیس نے ان خواتین کی درخواست پر تاحال کوئی مقدمہ درج نہیں کیا ہے البتہ ان خواتین کے خلاف جسم فروشی کا اڈا چلانے کا جو مقدمہ درج کیا گیا تھا سول جج نے ان کی اہم دفعات حذف کرتے ہوئے ان تینوں کو ضمانت پر رہا کردیا ہے۔

شہناز عرف سراجو کا گھر ایک کھنڈر کا منظر پیش کررہا ہے گھر میں موجود ریفریجریٹر سے لے کر پنکھے اور چھت کے بلب تک لوٹ لیے گئے۔

جمبرگاؤں کی متاثرہ گلی میں پہنچے تو دور سے ایسا لگا کہ کوئی جنازہ جارہا ہے قریب جاکر دیکھا تو پانچ چھ افراد فریج اٹھائے بھاگ رہے تھے

دیہاتی محمد بوٹا

تمام دروازے چوکھٹوں سمیت اکھاڑ لیے گئے۔ ایک ہمسائے نے بتایا ہے کہ شہناز عرف سراجو نے اپنی بیٹی کے لیے تقریباً پانچ لاکھ روپے مالیت کا جو جہیز اکٹھا کیا تھا وہ بھی لوٹ لیا گیا ہے۔

مستری محمد بوٹا نے کہا کہ وہ شام کو جمبرگاؤں کی متاثرہ گلی میں پہنچے تو دور سے ایسا لگا کہ کوئی جنازہ جارہا ہے، قریب جاکر دیکھا تو پانچ چھ افراد فریج اٹھائے بھاگ رہے تھے۔

شہناز عرف سراجو کا گھر جس گلی میں قائم ہے اس میں رہائش پذیر ایک سکول ٹیچرماسٹر مرزا حنیف بیگ نے کہا کہ انہوں نے پہلے ہی شہناز عرف سراجو کو کہہ دیا تھا کہ اس کے گھر پر حملہ ہونے والا ہے لیکن اس نے ان کی تنبیہہ پر کان نہ دھرا۔

انہوں نے بتایا کہ جب بلوائی ان کے گھر گھسے تو وہ گھبرا کراپنی دومنزلہ چھت سے ہمسائے کی نچلی چھت پر کودی اور پھر گلی میں چھلانگ لگائی لیکن پکڑی گئی۔

ماسٹر حنیف بیگ گاؤں کے ان متعدد لوگوں میں شامل ہیں جنہوں نے عورتوں کی برہنہ پریڈ کا منظر دیکھا لیکن وہ کسی تھانے کچہری میں گواہی دینے کے لیے تیار نہیں ہیں۔

ایڈیشنل ایس پی قصورجاوید مقامی پولیس چوکی میں بیٹھے ملے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ابھی تک انہیں ایسی کوئی گواہی یا ثبوت نہیں ملا جس کی بنیاد پر وہ کہہ سکیں کہ عورتوں کو برہنہ کیا گیا ہے یا ان کے گھر میں لوٹ مار کی گئی البتہ ان کا کہنا تھا کہ یہ تو واضح ہے کہ عورتیں قحبہ خانہ چلاتی رہی ہیں۔

ایک شخص محمد صدیق نے کہا کہ یہ عورتیں محلے کی لڑکیوں کو ورغلا کر غلط راستے پر لگا رہی تھیں اور ان کے ساتھ جو ہوا وہ درست ہے۔

بلوائیوں کی قیادت کرنے والے بااثر سیاسی افراد نے اعلان کیاتھا کہ اگر کسی نے ان عورتوں کا ساتھ دیا یا ان کے حق میں گواہی دینے کی کوشش کی تو اس کا براحشر کیا جائےگا

خواتین کے وکیل میاں فاروق ایڈووکیٹ نے کہا کہ جب سول جج نے عورتوں کو ضمانت پر رہا کیا تو علاقے کے بااثرافراد نے عدالت کے احاطے میں ہی دھمکی دی کہ اگر یہ عورتیں واپس موضع جمبر گئیں تو انہیں مار دیا جائے گا۔ اسی وجہ سے یہ عورتیں روپوشی کی زندگی بسر کرنے پر مجبور ہیں۔

پتوکی عدالت کے احاطے میں موجود شہناز عرف سراجو نے اپنا سر دکھایا جس کے بال کٹے ہوئے تھے اور چہرے پر نیل صاف دکھائی دے رہے تھے۔ شہناز عرف سراجو نے کہا ’ہمیں الف ننگا کردیا تھا انہیں خدا کا خوف نہیں رہا تھا۔‘

مقامی لوگوں نے بتایا کہ سراجو کو ننگا کرنے کے علاوہ اس کے چہرے پر کالک ملی گئی تھی اور گلے میں جوتوں کا ہار ڈال کر گلی میں پھرایا گیا اور بچوں کو چھڑیاں پکڑا کر کہا گیا کہ انہیں چبھوتے ہوئے آگے کی طرف لے کر چلو۔

مقامی لوگوں کے بقول بلوائیوں کی قیادت کرنے والے بااثر سیاسی افراد نے اعلان کیا تھا کہ اگر کسی نے ان عورتوں کا ساتھ دیا یا ان کے حق میں گواہی دینے کی کوشش کی تو اس کا براحشر کیا جائےگا۔

ان عورتوں کے کپڑے پھاڑ کر جب ننگا کیا جارہا تھا تو گاؤں میں متعدد ایسے افراد موجود تھے جو اس حرکت کو غلط سمجھنے کے باوجود آگے بڑھ کر ان عورتوں کی مدد نہیں کرسکے۔

اسی گاؤں میں ایک گھرانہ ایسا بھی ہے جسے اس کے مال اسباب کے لحاظ سے غریب ترین کہا جاسکتا ہے کیونکہ وہ پورا گھر پیوند لگے کپڑے کی ایک چھوٹی سے جھونپڑی میں رہتا ہے۔

شہناز بی بی کی ساتھیوں میں سے ایک کو جب مبینہ طور پر برہنہ کردیا گیا تو اس نے خود کو لوگوں کی نظروں سے بچانے کے لیے ایک کے بعد ایک ہمساؤں کے دروازے کھٹکھٹائے لیکن کوئی دروازہ نہ کھلا جس پر وہ بھاگ کر اسی جھونپڑی کے سامنے جاکر گرگئی۔

جھونپڑی کے غریب مالک نے بی بی سی کو اپنا نام تو نہیں بتایا لیکن کہا کہ وہ عورت کو اندر لے گیا اس کی بیوی نے اپنا جھگا (قمیض) اس کو پہنایا آنسو پونچھے، اسی دوران پولیس آئی اور اسے اپنے ساتھ لے گئی

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/09/090929_phool_followup.shtml

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Taliban style justice: Young girl lashed publicly in Swat !

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Tahira Abdullah Arrested: A Talibanist Analysis

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Taliban kill two women in Kohat

Is it the kind of Shariah which Imran Khan is promising this nation?

PESHAWAR: The Taliban on Friday killed two burqa-clad women in Kohat district and dumped the bodies by a roadside, officials said. It was not immediately clear who had killed the women, but a local security official said the Taliban were most likely responsible. Police official Riaz Khan said the slain women had a ‘bad reputation’ and were warned by people about a year ago to abandon their ‘immoral ways’. The bullet-riddled bodies of the women, about 25 and 40 years old, were dumped on a roadside. Kohat borders the restive town of Hangu and Bajaur Agency, a flashpoint for sectarian and Taliban violence. afp (Daily Times, 14 Feb 2009)

Also read a relevant column by Hamid Mir describing Taliban's brutal killing of a woman in Swat:

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-story-from-swat-by-hamid-mir.html

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Farhat Hashmi: The other side - The subtle rooting of extremism (Saudi version of Islam) in Muslim women...Facts, Fatwas and Videos...

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Extremism is a thin line (and the menace of Taliban and Farhat Hshmi)

Extremism is a thin line

By Afiya Shehrbano

SEVERAL commentators have expressed their concern and disbelief in the media, over the growing violence and escalating socio-political changes observed in Swat in the past few months.

While one can understand the common citizen’s empathy and outrage against the injustices committed by the militants, it is surprising why social scientists who are writing in the papers are a) wondering why the militants are waging such a successful war beyond the tribal areas; and b) why the Muslims of Pakistan are not protesting enough against such a blatant misuse of the Islamic agenda.

Never mind the obvious critique of how the peripheries have been ignored by the federal centre with regard to development, basic necessities and complete disregard for national inclusivity or participatory autonomy. Also let’s leave behind the sheer number of years of absence of the northern areas from the collective conscience of Pakistanis. Some elites actually wax nostalgically about the loss of a tourist destination in the fall of Swat.

There is also a certain irony in the activism of those liberals who protest the bombing of schools in Swat but never before have been troubled enough to campaign against the fact that thousands of school buildings lie empty around the country in the absence of teachers or enforcement of a decent curriculum, some right outside the cities we live in. Most have also accepted gender-segregated schooling as a necessary ‘cultural’ requirement.

In other words, it is only when extreme action is taken that our social conscience awakens temporarily only to succumb to an apolitical death. Meanwhile, we pretend that this extremism has taken place in what was otherwise normalcy. Also ignored is the fact that such social change emerges within a broader political environment that either sanctions or prohibits the momentum of such movements.

Under the masquerade of a liberal dictatorship, the last decade has witnessed the blatant project of the MMA to promote their political Islamisation programme. In exchange for their collaboration with Gen Musharraf, they earned the freedom to change the very political landscape of the NWFP. This was not only through the political access given to them by Musharraf to operate as a ‘legitimate’ government in the province but through an aggressive campaign to change its very social culture.

The MMA government delivered no development but did implant a conducive theocratic environment that is reaping benefits today, albeit for another and far more radical force sympathetic to the Taliban cause. It is naïve then to hope that censure from the supposed ‘moderate’ mainstream religious parties will somehow convince and counter the Taliban offensive anywhere in the country.

So today the federal government appeals to the mainstream religious leaders (some for a price) to declare that suicide bombing and prohibiting girls’ education is not the preferable way to legitimately pursue the Islamic agenda. However, the very cultural agenda of such parties, demonstrated over the last few years in the NWFP, institutionalised prohibitively restrictive gender roles, domestication of women and dress/appearance codes for even men.

They also were complicit in campaigns pitted against female enfranchisement and the drive for the systematic removal of women from all public visibility (including female forms such as mannequins!). The intolerance for entertainment such as music and movies as un-Islamic has logically led to the destruction of CD shops and attacks against women artists and activists. It is imperative to understand that these Islamist parties are not following some archaic agenda but are very much the product of a modernist politics and hence pursuing their vision accordingly.

Given this chain of events it is unrealistic to call upon religious parties to condemn such acts of violence. Such a strategy merely gives opportunists, such as Fazlur Rehman and Sufi Mohammad, credence as legitimate voices for the cause of ‘authentic’ Islam as opposed to the allegedly perverted version practised by the Taliban.

Indeed, such demands from troubled liberals of civil society are merely reinforcing the state policy of appeasing and negotiating with the more ‘moderate’ Islamists to counter the radical ones. This parley between what are essentially two faces of the same coin is political mockery. That’s the problem with moderates too — they want the coin alright, just the right side up. The political reality is, however, that conservatism whether in the form of religion or politics, will challenge and can easily displace the tolerant, liberal and moderate values unless the state enforces its own liberal identity categorically and uncompromisingly and civil society organises secular resistance.

Finally, what and to whom are we protesting? When the imposition of the Hasba bill was attempted in the NWFP; when Zill-e-Huma was murdered for her visibility as a woman in public service (almost as a precursor for Benazir Bhutto’s assassination); when Farhat Hashmi and other women preachers promote their own brand of privatised religion; when women running marathons is considered an aberrance; when minorities are harassed and the media is censored — all under the guise of acceptable conservatism, then it is only a fine definitional difference that qualifies the Taliban’s acts as extreme.

This concept regarding ‘writ of the state’ may be understood legally. However, how does a writ enforce itself culturally and sociologically? Even if militancy was curbed in some way, form or manner, do we really believe that the political articulation of religion is not going to continue to influence and dominate in the absence of any secular resistance?

Forget the state, most liberals are squirmish about the word and connotations and discussion of secular alternatives in Pakistan today. There is little or no possibility that some moderate reformist socio-religious formula is going to undo the conservative backlash that has just taken on an extreme expression. The question remains for those anxious Muslim reformists and revivalists whether they honestly believe the thin line between moderate, conservative and extreme interpretations of religion will ever remain adequately balanced. (Dawn)
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Curbs on women in militancy-hit areas spreading to Quetta

Curbs on women in militancy (or Talibani Shariat) hit areas spreading to Quetta



By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: An increasing number of restaurants in Quetta have stopped serving women apparently after being pressured by religious elements, and the practice is being seen as a spill-over of the Swat problem to the rest of Pakistan.

Swat has been making headlines in the media recently due to the brazen destruction of girls’ schools by the Taliban. Residents of Quetta told Daily Times the religious right believes that a man and a woman socialise only for ‘immoral activities’ and shops and restaurants that women visit become a target of their moral policing. Since the pressure from the religious right is immense, the restaurant owners do not talk to the media about the reasons for closing their businesses for women.

Certain popular restaurants have now begun to display boards saying, “For gentlemen only. Women not allowed.” As the self-proclaimed champions of Islam believe eating outside along with one’s family is un-Islamic, they have been pressuring the owners of these restaurants to permanently shut down the sections of the restaurants which were formerly exclusively for women and families.

Located on the city’s most crowded Jinnah Road, Baig Snack Bar has been one of the most popular eating places in Quetta. Keeping in view its popularity among women and children, the bar had dedicated a separate room to women and families. But the restaurant has recently succumbed to pressure from the conservative religious elements after allegations that it was being used as a ‘dating spot’ for young boys and girls.

The section reserved for women and family has now been converted into a ‘gents only’ eating room and several boards have been displayed announcing that women are not allowed entry into the restaurant.

“This is sheer discrimination. No restaurant has the right to treat women like animals. Is this what Islam teaches about women?” asked a girl student of the Bolan Medical College. She said she and her college friends visited the restaurant frequently.

Zafar Baloch, a student of the Mass Communication Department at the University of Balochistan, says most restaurants in Quetta do not welcome women. “The handful of remaining popular restaurants are also being forced to stop serving women,” he said.

Senior journalist Shahzad Shah Mir told Daily Times that Taliban and their supporters had been penetrating into Quetta and its suburbs. They enjoy overwhelming support of some sections of the population, including many ministers of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl that is a part of the provincial coalition government.

“Recently, video and CD shops and Internet cafes have been attacked by extremists with bombs, and threats have been given to those deemed to promote obscenity and shamelessness in the society,” said Shahzad. According to him, if these activities are not checked at once, Quetta could become the next Swat. “What message do we want to give to the world? It’s restaurants today, and tomorrow it will be girls’ schools and colleges,” he said. (Daily Times).
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A true story from Swat - By Hamid Mir (Taliban's treatment of women)

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Plight of women in Swat: Where are all the international and national human rights organisations and women rights groups?

Plight of women in Swat

By Khurshid Khan

THE current situation in Swat is such that any sign of peace in the valley has been washed away. The people are living through the most miserable phase of its history. No doubt, the valley has witnessed invasions, turbulence and chaos from the time of Alexander’s invasion in 327 BC to the formation of Swat state in 1917.

However, at least in living memory the present chaos engendered by militancy has no parallel. It has adversely affected the physical and cultural environment, the economy, tourism, trade, governance and social life in the valley.

Unfortunately, in all this, women have been the worst sufferers. The militants’ obscurant version of Islam begins and ends with womenfolk. According to their belief, women are the source of all sins. A cleric while delivering the Friday sermon in Marghazar village was heard telling his flock, “My fellow Muslims, listen! The prices of daily commodities are rising because women abandon their homes and loiter about in the markets.”

In fact, the Fazlullah-led militants have announced a complete ban on female education from Jan 15, 2008 on FM radio. Some days ago, they announced that no government or private educational institution would be allowed to enrol girls and that all schools and colleges should stop educating them by Jan 15. Schools found violating this ban would be blown up. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan somewhat modified the announcement saying that schools would remain closed until an Islamic curriculum was devised for imparting education to girls.

Parents and students have lost hope of schools reopening in this volatile atmosphere. The militants have usually been seen to follow up on their words and, despite the army’s presence, there have been no signs of the restoration of peace and harmony.

The militants have bombed or torched more than 100 girls’ schools and colleges to forcibly stop 80,000 girls from going to school in the district. There were 10 high schools, four higher secondary schools and four degree-awarding colleges and a network of primary schools across the district for girls and women, besides a postgraduate institution for young men and women to study at the master’s level.

Against the culture of keeping womenfolk away from development, the rulers of Swat state (1917-1969) encouraged female literacy, the first step on the way to progress, by establishing girls’ schools and colleges. The valley had the highest female literacy rate as compared to neighbouring districts.

After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, their repressive activities started getting support in the Pakhtun areas of Pakistan along the Durand Line. Swat is among the more recent victims of Talibanisation. The secular nature of Swati society is slowly and gradually leaning towards extremism.

The clergy first started speaking against girls’ and women’s education through unauthorised FM radios and at public gatherings. But as they got more emboldened, they attempted to stall female education — and eliminate the presence of girls and women in the market — through fiercer means including bomb blasts. Many schools have been destroyed in this way.

Then they turned their wrath on women doctors and the female nursing staff in hospitals warning them to observe strict purdah, confine themselves only to wards for women and not to attend calls on their cellphones. The medical superintendent of a group of hospitals complied with the order and circulated a notice to the entire female staff telling them to do as they had been told. Women patients and visitors were also advised to conform to Taliban instructions.

Militants also ordered the segregation of students at the Saidu Medical College, telling the principal to keep away women students from research labs after a certain time. Meanwhile, another college refused to take in women because of the continuous threats of the militants from 2007 onwards. Militants regularly monitor hospitals and colleges. In fact, working women and those attending school or college, or going to the doctor or in the marketplace are given a bad character by the militants.

Indiscriminate mortar shelling has hit houses and killed and injured civilians. In these, the toll for women casualties has been higher since they are more often at home, while unannounced road obstructions or curfews have made sudden medical emergencies, especially among pregnant women, difficult to be attended to. As a consequence women have lost their newborns as they have not been able to make it to the hospital in time. Besides, with their men also casualties of militancy, many of them are losing breadwinners in the family.

The threatened closure of educational institutions has proved to be the last nail in the coffin. The mindset of the militants — who routinely resort to the violation of fundamental rights in order to accomplish their goal — is clear and their misused and illegal authority has led them to establish a state within a state. Swat is not a no-man’s-land and is very much an integral part of the country. By tradition its inhabitants are not religious bigots. In fact, society in Swat is more civilised and accommodating of opinions than the rest of the Pakhtun belt. Islamabad should understand that and break its silence to take assertive action against the militants if it does not want Talibanisation to engulf the area and paralyse the entire structure of society.

Where are all the international and national human rights organisations and women rights groups? They must raise a collective voice against this victimisation of Swati women and girls. It is also time for the media to take drastic steps to highlight the current lot of Swati women whose repressive treatment should also serve as a wake-up call for women parliamentarians to take an active part in rescuing them from the spread of a venomous culture. (Dawn)

udyana64@yahoo.com
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Americans voted for Barack Hussein Obama, the rulers in Pakistan appointed Israrullah Zehri and Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani as ministers.

Our patch of darkness
Sunday, November 09, 2008
by Ghazi Salahuddin

At a time when the world is illuminated by the miracle of democracy, manifested in the election of an Afro-American as president of the United States of America, we remain imprisoned in our own patch of darkness. And a fresh reminder of this bondage was quite timely. One day before Americans voted for Barack Hussein Obama, the rulers in Pakistan expanded the federal cabinet and appointed, among others, Israrullah Zehri and Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani as ministers.

The contrast in the two unconnected events – one a monumental shift in global history and the other a typical aberration in an unfortunate land of sorrow – is remarkable. "Change we need" was the slogan of Obama's campaign. "Yes, we can," was its inspiring refrain. Obama has personified the realisation of a dream that had yet seemed impossible. In its time of troubles, America has been gifted with a charismatic leader who signifies hope in the midst of fear and uncertainty.

In our case, the rulers have effectively extinguished the hope that had heralded their assumption of power. In some ways, the yearning for change has been countered with a partial reassertion of primitive, tribal and feudal values. That is how the presence of someone like Israrullah Zehri in the cabinet becomes symbolic. What is truly incredible is that this choice has been made by the leadership of a party that had initially promised progressive social change and empowerment of the oppressed people of Pakistan.

Zehri, a senator from Balochistan, hit headlines some weeks ago when he defended the honour killing of women in his province. It related to an incident in which three women were reported to have been buried, either alive or after being killed, in the name of honour. Zehri had argued that "these are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them." Irrespective of how such remarks can be explained, brutal killings of young women who cross boundaries that primitive customs have set for them remain frequent in the domain of the tribal and feudal lords who make it to the federal and provincial legislatures on tickets awarded by our major political parties.

There has been considerable comment this week on the expansion of the cabinet – 40 of them in one go – at a time when the country is in dire straits financially. Zehri's inclusion has rightly angered our social activists. One does not know if all this criticism can ruffle a few feathers in the corridors of power. Still, it is not possible that at least some stalwarts in the Pakistan People's Party, with their professed commitment to liberal and progressive values, are not privately troubled by these developments.

The party has a number of women leaders who have struggled for the emancipation of women and against such practices as honour killing. Why are they not able to raise their voice and defend the image that their party has had? This, perhaps, is another tragedy of how party politics has evolved in our present circumstances. It was also sad to see Makhdoom Amin Fahim finally falling in line, though he too belongs to the feudal sphere of the party's influence.

Now, the choice of Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, PPP MNA from Jacobabad, as the Minister of Education also deserves attention. It goes to Hamid Mir's credit that he highlighted the incongruity of this appointment in Geo's "Capital Talk" on Thursday. It so happens that Bijarani was allegedly involved in a jirga decision to hand over five minor girls to settle an old dispute. This issue, if you remember, was heard last year by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and he had ordered Bijarani's arrest.

Irrespective of the details of that case, and even if we accept Bijarani's argument that he had been cleared by a lower court, the fact that a feudal leader should be assigned to steer the educational policies of this government is in itself very instructive. Education, we know, is the seed of social change. It has been certified that educating the girls is the most effective and fruitful strategy for modernising a society.

Consider, also, how we are caught in a pincer movement from the religious militants on one side and the tribal and feudal leaders on the other. As a consequence, the majority of women in our country are generally considered less than human. This is a tragedy that our rulers are apparently not able to even comprehend. The irony is that the PPP is the only national party we would expect to make some decisive moves in this respect. Incidentally, a symbiotic relationship between suppression of old customs and the expansion of literacy and education was properly underlined in Thursday's "Capital Talk."

I suggest that the PPP should conduct an objective analysis of what its elected members have done in their own constituencies to promote education, social awareness and enforcement of human rights. If the level of corruption in the education departments of Sindh and Balochistan is any measure, the findings of this study should be unbearable for any leader who has a conscience and a sense of responsibility.

With this focus on how our present mode of governance is unmindful of the imperative for social change, I have been distracted from celebrating the phenomenal triumph of Barack Obama. We were lucky to be able to witness this emotionally overpowering event. Let me confess that I was almost in tears when I watched Obama making that acceptance speech in Chicago's Grant Park in front of hundreds of thousands of his jubilant supporters. It had come after a sleepless night when results from different states built up a scintillating climax.

It should take some time for us to fully absorb the significance and the meaning of the historic transformation that democracy has made possible in America. One point that I want to stress is that in a deep crisis, the task of a leader is to inspire hope. This is only possible when the people from across the national spectrum, particularly the young, are mobilised into social action, to participate in the political process.

Can this irrationally bloated federal cabinet of ours generate hope and confidence in our people? Alas, the state of affairs is so grim that our loss of hope is deepening by the day. Every conversation you make with friends or acquaintances – or even with complete strangers in the bazaar or a restaurant – is infused with deep anxiety and apprehension. On the face of it, the challenges that we face are also an opportunity for our rulers, if only they have the courage to creatively respond to the needs and aspirations of our people. And they can begin with decisive action against primitive, inhuman customs that have suppressed our women.

The writer is a staff member. Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com
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