Pakistan

Pakistan: AWID statement on the post-floods humanitarian crisis.

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) is gravely concerned by the tremendous losses of life and livelihoods and ongoing humanitarian crisis triggered by the worst floods in Pakistan’s history.We stand in solidarity with all the women, men and children of Pakistan during this difficult time. In particular, we send a message of solidarity to the women of Pakistan, who for many years have contributed to upholding the struggle for peace and democracy throughout the country, and who continue to struggle for survival in the face of this unprecedented crisis

Pakistan: URGENT-Shirkat Gah Appeals for Support in Relief Work

Pakistan is facing yet another emergency situation due to severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall which, according to UN reports, has directly affected fourteen million people so far. Shirkat Gah - Women’s Resource Centre (SG)*, Pakistan, is actively engaged in providing and coordinating relief to those affected across Pakistan through its partner community based organizations in synchronization with all three Shirkat Gah offices in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.

Pakistan: 'Honour killing' suspected in murder of British couple

A British couple have been murdered in Pakistan in a suspected "honour killing" after calling off their daughter's marriage. A man and his wife from the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, named locally as taxi driver Gul Wazir and wife Bagum, had reportedly visited the country to resolve a dispute over a wedding.

Pakistan: Film Gives Women Survivors A New Take on Life

"The first film I make when I go back to my village will be about unequal wages women peasants get compared to their male counterparts," says Haseena Mallah, an unlettered farmhand in her 40s. A mother of five, Mallah is one of nine women who attended a two-week filmmaking workshop from Jul. 14–26 in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, some 143 kilometres from her village near Hyderabad. And at the premiere of the engaging 10-minute film they made, entitled ‘Half Face’, these women showed that one does not always have to be technologically savvy – or even literate – to make a documentary.

Pakistan: 'Pakistani couple face death by stoning threat after conviction for adultery'

A couple have been sentenced to be stoned to death for alleged adultery by a tribal court in north-west Pakistan, with the woman's life now considered in danger. The man involved, Zarkat Khan, has run away while the woman is in the custody of the court, according to residents in Kala Dhaka, a remote area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The death sentence, handed down in Manjakot village last month, will be carried out once the man is found, a member of the tribal court said. The woman, whose name is being withheld at the request of human rights groups, is being held in a nearby village, according to campaigners. She is married and believed to have three children.

Pakistan: Suicide bombers kill dozens at Sufi shrine

Suicide bombers devastated one of Pakistan's most famous Sufi shrines last night, marking another vicious strike by violent extremists against the moderate form of Islam practised by most Pakistanis. At least 42 people were killed and 175 injured when two bombers ripped through the Data Ganj Baksh shrine in central Lahore where thousands of people had gathered to pray, dance and listen to devotional music. The toll is expected to rise.

Pakistan: Abortion hotline faces violent opposition

An abortion hotline which has been set up in Pakistan is facing violent opposition. Islamic groups and political parties have condemned the hotline, which was launched yesterday, as "anti-Islamic" and "colonial", even though it will save the lives of thousands of women who die each year in backstreet abortion clinics. They have warned the organisers that they are at risk of reprisals.

Pakistan/UK: Woman abandoned in Pakistan by British husband

The picture shows Aqila, aged 18, celebrating her marriage in front of relatives and friends. At the time she dreamt of coming to England for a happy, long life with her new husband and his family. Two years later, the young bride is stranded in her village in Pakistan after, a court has heard, being drugged and forcibly taken back by her husband and father-in-law without her newborn baby. Aqila, 20, was dumped outside her parents' house in March without her passport and British visa, leaving her stranded with little hope of return, the High Court was told last week.

باكستان: مجزرة دموية ضد الطائفة الأحمدية

شن مسلحون يعتقد انهم ينتمون لحركة طالبان باكستان يحملون بنادق وقنابل يدوية هجوماً دموياً على مسجدين يعودان للطائفة الأحمدية التي تشكل إحدى الأقليات في باكستان، بالتزامن مع توقيت صلاة الجمعة، وذلك في مدينة لاهور شرقي البلاد. وقالت وسائل إعلام باكستانية إن الهجومين أسفرا عن سقوط عشرات القتلى والجرحى فضلا عن احتجاز رهائن داخل من بين أفراد الطائفة الذين سبق أن تعرضوا لمضايقات من قبل الحركات السنية المتشددة في البلاد، دون أن يصل الأمر إلى حد التعرض لهجمات كبيرة من هذا النوع.

Pakistan: Where were the demonstrations against those who wage war on Ahmedis?

We cannot possibly claim, as a country, that we value freedom of speech above all else. If we did so, we would choke on the magnitude of our hypocrisy. When, in human history, has the oppression of a country’s own citizens paid dividends to either the oppressed or the oppressors? In recent times, we as Pakistanis have developed not an immunity, but a resistance to the mental strain of terrorism. This is a tragedy of the times, and a triumph of our spirit. Recently, however, we encountered a new horror, one that I hope we shall never inure ourselves to: shame.

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