Pakistan

Pakistan: Hijacked justice system: Women challenge men in first female jirga

When 16-year-old Tahira was murdered in a horrific acid attack last year, her poverty-stricken parents got no justice. Pakistan officials slammed the door in their faces and the police refused to listen.

Pakistan: Harassment of female voters, aid workers shadow historic Pakistan election

Pakistan just held a historic election, but civil society is protesting over thousands of women barred from the polls by Islamic radicals and the fresh killings of aid workers in the world’s most dangerous place for humanitarians.

Pakistan: Leading Pakistan politician Zahra Shahid Hussain killed outside home

A senior female member of Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party (PTI) was shot dead outside her home in Karachi.

Pakistan's once-ridiculed transgender community fight elections for first time

Naina Lal, 28, is one of a handful of candidates from Pakistan's "transgender" community standing in national and provincial elections on Saturday. Known as "hijra", a catch-all term for transexuals, hermaphrodites and transvestites but usually indicating someone born male identifying as a woman, they have faced discrimination and ridicule for centuries. Living apart, they have traditionally earned a living as dancers, circus performers, sex workers and beggars.

Pakistan: Far from home but closer to school

Fleeing home has come with an unexpected benefit - for the first time the girls are going to school.

Ten-year-old Aliya and eight-year-old Asma arrived at Jalozai refugee camp two weeks ago, after escaping a recent surge in hostilities between government forces and militants near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan: Women and Social Networks

Women in Pakistan are being harassed and are encountering hostility via social networks on the Internet. At the same time, many women's rights activists see the web as a new way to further their work.

If a Pakistani woman journalist denounces child abuse and sexual harassment on Twitter, it can happen that she is threatened with rape. "I've received vile, detailed messages from random strangers who decide to tell me my home address and then live out their rape fantasies online."

Pakistan: Statement issued by the Women Action Forum (WAF), Karachi, following the attack on Shia residents of Abbas Colony

Once again we share unspeakable horror at the carnage against citizens, this time in AbbasTown, Karachi. Once again we express our condemnation and outrage. Once again we wonder how many more times we will do this before there is resolve to deal with religious militancy.

A Pakistani born Canadian Victim's Appeal for Help!

This is an urgent appeal to help a 14-year old Pakistani-Canadian girl who's father will stand in court for molesting and sexually violating her for two consecutive years. There is a Facebook page that was created yesterday.Please see here:

http://www.facebook.com/CanadianVictimsAppealForHelp

Day 4/16 of Activism Against Gender Violence: Malala Yousafzai: A Tender Smile, A Powerful Voice

“I shall raise my voice. If I didn’t do it, who would?”

Malala Yousafzai

Pakistan: "Marrying Daughters To The Quran To Keep Property In Family

Seven years ago, Zubaida Ali witnessed a bizarre ceremony in her ancestral village in Sindh where her cousin Fareeba was married to the Holy Quran.

“It was extremely odd and, of course, very tragic. Fareeba, who is a very pretty girl and was then around 25 years old, was dressed as a typical bride, with red, sequined clothes, jewellery and mehndi patterns on her hands and feet but over all this she was draped in an enveloping dark chaddor. There was music and lots of guests but no groom,’’ Zubaida, 33, was quoted as saying by IRIN, the UN information unit in a report.