The people in Gaza who have managed to escape death by Israeli strikes in a war that has been forced on them are now dying of hunger and starvation. Videos of bread made out of animal feed and kids collecting flour accidently spilled on the ground are making rounds on social media leading to the drive for the ceasefire taking momentum. As recently as February 20, the UN Food Agency put a pause on its deliveries in the North of Gaza until the conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions.
Families in Gaza are forced to forage for scraps of food left by rats and eating leaves out of desperation to survive with nearly five months of war and rapidly declining aid supplies leaving all 1.1 million children in Gaza facing starvation, Save the Children said.
Hind Khoudary, the Palestinian Journalist in Gaza reporting from the ground, took to her Instagram to plead to the world to airdrop food in Gaza as people have started eating leaves and are making bread out of animal feed. “People are eating leaves and animal food. “I am calling the world and all the countries to Airdrop food to Gaza,” she said in an Instagram story.
Ali Jadallah, a photojournalist from Gaza, shared how her mother, a dialysis patient, is suffering because of the food and health crisis in Gaza. Finding food in Gaza is the most difficult thing nowadays.
Videos of hundreds of desperate and hungry Gazans heckling the UNRWA aid truck emerged from the besieged strip. Many reports from Gaza have already been warning the global authorities of impending famine and loss of lives due to hunger.
Back in December, Human Rights Watch had accused the Israeli government of intentionally starving civilians in Gaza as part of its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory. “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime,” the New York-based group charged in a report.
Additionally, The Times posted a report about the famine-stricken conditions of the people of Gaza where a mother revealed how her breasts no longer produce milk because of long periods of starvation and how her children are suffering immensely. Explaining the food crisis the article explained how Gazans are forced to eat rotten food and hunt cats to fulfill their needs as famine hits Gaza.
More than a million people are displaced in Gaza but none is safe from hunger. It is rampant in Gaza, it is in the wasteland of al-Mawasi encampment in Gaza where handfuls of dirty flour are kneaded by mothers to make bread for their children.
It is in the fires, stoked with plastic bottles, which produce nothing but choking black smoke. Children in Gaza no longer play but lie around, exhausted by hunger. It is in food that is rotten and makes you sick but is eaten just the same. Bissan shared in one of her videos how people have been having the only bread they have with the salt.
The last nail in the coffin has duly been the suspension of the aid program of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, the agency provides services including schooling, primary healthcare, and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. It is important to note that since the onset of the war on Gaza, Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have accused it of fuelling anti-Israeli incitement – allegations it denies. UNRWA says it has provided aid to desperate people in Gaza and used its facilities to shelter those fleeing Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, the situation is getting worse with time.
Time recently shared in an article, the hurdles around the idea of food airdrops in Gaza. “Some experts warn that humanitarian airdrops are not as simple as they sound. Aside from the cost of conducting them (up to seven times more than land transport, according to the U.N.’s World Food Programme), airdrops tend to be less efficient and more hazardous than other methods of providing humanitarian relief,” the article read.
The biggest hurdle in Gaza’s case is the lack of safety in terms of the ongoing airstrikes of Israel and the damage it has done to the land of Gaza. Michel Schaffner, the head of air operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross, told TIME in an email that for this operation the specified land needs to be secure, large, and clean enough to be free of obstacles and people. “Once the cargo is on the ground, there need to be arrangements in place as regards who will collect it, where it will be stored, and how it will be distributed. … We do not do airdrops without these measures in place,” Time quotes him.
Even though Israeli aggression is again the biggest opposing factor in this proposed solution, it is important to note that it is not a permanent solution to this problem, a ceasefire is.
An Arabic saying implies that if someone dies of hunger, the neighbour should be charged with murder yet the whole world is watching a huge population dying of hunger and there is no action regarding that.
Google Trends offer an insight into the popularity and curiosity political leaders enjoy among the masses. As the elections are drawing near, we took a peak into the data Google Trends have recorded over the last 30 days.
The highest and ever-increasing line graph is Imran Khan’s. The highest peak was shown on January 30 with Khan hitting the record 100 score whereas his contemporaries, Nawaz stood on 15, Maryam Nawaz at eight, Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari at three, and Hamza Shehbaz being the lowest: less than one.
However, it is important to note that Imran’s progressively increasing arc starts dropping successively in the days after Jan 30.
On the other hand, except for Hamza Shehbaz, the other three is slowly on an upward trend.
Breakdown of regions
PTI founder and jailed leader Imran Khan is most popular all over Pakistan according to Google Trends.
Punjab
In Punjab, the most popular choices for Chief Ministership, Hamza Shehbaz, and Maryam Nawaz contrary to popular perception, are not being searched so much. After Khan winning with more than 69 percent of searches, Nawaz Sharif is at 17 percent while Maryam is at nine percent. It appears that people in Punjab are comparatively more interested in Bilawal than Hamza who has 1 percent searches from all over the province.
However, it is important to note that out of all the provinces, Punjab has shown more interest in PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif. Sindh has shown the most interest after Punjab, which is 11 percent, 10 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine percent in Balochistan, and seven percent in former FATA.
Sindh
After Imran Khan (69 percent) former Foreign Minister and Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is unsurprisingly most popular in Sindh with 13 percent of Google searches. Second in line is Punjab and third is Balochistan. After him is Nawaz (11 percent) followed by Maryam (7 percent).
Balochistan
Imran Khan leading the slot here with 84 percent followed by Nawaz (9 percent), Maryam (4 percent), and Biawal Bhutto (3 percent). Hamza does not invoke public curiosity even the slightest.
Gilgit Baltistan
Imran Khan has a 100 percent popularity rate in Gilgit Baltistan, where it seems no other party leader stands a chance, implying that there were minor searches of them in GB.
Former FATA
Interestingly, in the former federally administered tribal areas, only Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif were searched for, Khan at 93 per cent of searches and Nawaz at seven percent.
Though Google search and Google trends are not the ultimate parameter of a party leader’s popularity, they certainly are proof of what netizens are most interested in and the social media footing of a politician.
January 20 marked the date when a landmark verdict from a session court in Karachi changed the landscape of the judicial approach in terms of intimate partner violence.
It has been precisely two weeks since the court announced in “The State vs Javed” that the “ocular version is also supported by the medical evidence which shows that the victim was a habitual passive agent of sodomy.” Sher Bano from Karachi lodged a complaint against her husband Javed at the police station about him subjecting her to sodomy despite her attempts to stop her. About two months after their marriage, she informed her mother-in-law, who didn’t say anything to him, she said, adding that then she disclosed her ordeal to her sister and brother, after which she lodged an FIR against her husband on November 23, 2022.
Garnering a fierce debate online, this also raised a couple of questions in my mind. If this was a case of sodomy, then why is it dubbed as a marital rape? Or are they both linked? I contacted Barrister Haya Zahid from the Legal Aid Society to hear her explain the legal complexities around these terms. Haya was welcoming and answered all my questions which helped me shape this article. Legal Aid Society has now been working for the last one decade. It started as a free legal aid clinic for the marginalized sections of society, especially women and children, and has now spread all over Sindh. In the last few years, they have proceeded with over a hundred cases of sexual violence, most including charges of sodomy and rape.
Haya’s works mostly surround policy and reform. Staying true to the mission statement to connect vulnerable and disempowered end users of justice with effective and expedient services for the delivery of justice, she runs the legal aid clinic efficiently and effectively. Her team includes 33 lawyers providing free services across Sindh. For instance, she is working on Fatima from Ranipur’s case, and her team is documenting the delays and lapses of the legal system. Apart from compiling research-based data, they are training judges and prosecutors. They even assist prosecutors, as they did in The State vs Javed case, Advocate Behzad Akbar from Legal Aid Society was writing arguments for the public prosecutor because they must proceed as sexual violence is a crime against the state. They train prosecutors for such cases, helping them in preparing the case.
“The reason we are all very excited is that in the current scenario in Pakistan, intimate partner violence is more common than rapes conducted by strangers” she started by setting the premise. “Spousal sexual abuse is physically and mentally more damaging. Women usually have tended to remain silent. According to our records, they come to our legal aid office to find out what they can do and most of them opt to tread the path of obtaining ‘khula’ which is accompanied by economic disadvantages. The majority of them do not pursue cases for protection against domestic violence let alone speaking about the intimate partner violence that they go through.”
Haya made it a point to mention that most of their clients of sodomy have been male children. Their parents feel less stigmatized in fighting for justice compared to the parents of female children. Sher Bano’s plea was refreshing in a way that she very soon left her husband after the marriage, informed her family about what she had to face and that this is not normal and fought the good fight. She put up with all the medical and legal requirements and despite certain minor discrepancies in her testimony, the judge had to take a broader approach as the claims were substantiated.
The State vs Javed
In the case the victim Sher Bano filed a case against her husband after approximately four months of marriage because he used to commit oral and anal sex despite her disapproval. She confided in her mother-in-law but was ignored. She eventually took the matter home, consulted a doctor and with the support of her family, lodged an FIR against her husband. She remained steadfast during the trial as the husband and his sisters accused her of being in love with someone else and therefore wrongly blamed his husband for sodomizing her. They even tried to use piles, which she suffered from, as an excuse to prove her claim wrong. Her grit is as Haya said, “music to the ears” because she emerged victorious.
What is Marital Rape in Pakistan’s constitution?
High Court Advocate Nimra Arshad in an explainer recorded by Dawn News sheds light on the term. There is still no such term as Marital Rape defined by the law but after the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2021, the definition of rape was broadened in Article 375 of Pakistan Penal Code. Previously, the implication of the law was that rape is when a man has non-consensual sex with a woman who is not his wife but now the definition involves non-consensual sex between a man and a woman irrespective of what relation they share.
The punishment is laid out in Article 376 of PPC which can be a death sentence or life imprisonment for 10-25 years.
Criticism over three-year punishment
Barrister Haya Zahid explained that rape has more punishment in law as compared to sodomy. Because the primary abuse in this case, proven in front of the court, is sodomy, the case proceeded in line with the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2021. This law is pivotal in this case as the definition of rape was totally reformed in this amendment and was hence used in this case. According to an amendment in article 375, a person is said to have committed rape if the person penetrates his penis, inserts, or manipulates any object or part of the body to any extent into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of another person against their will, without consent, or consent being taken with coercion. Considering this a case of sodomy, it was still treated as marital rape because the victim was in a spousal relation with the offender and their marriage was intact when she filed the case. Resultantly, the court declared that the accused was not able to prove his point of any personal enmity that the victim (the wife) had an affair with somebody else and therefore, she implicated him falsely. “The prosecution has, thus succeeded in proving the charge against the accused only under section 377 Pakistan Penal Code beyond a reasonable shadow of doubt, therefore this point is answered accordingly,” the final verdict declared.
“This has become a seminal case where conviction of a spouse took place for sexual abuse,” Haya said enthusiastically.
They can recontest the conviction of three years which is much less than that of rape, but this may damage the case as it would be put to trial again and because the victim has gone through a lot, this will be draining for her too.
Response over conviction
Social media is mostly celebrating the verdict. BOL Network contacted LAS, and Advocate Safia Lakho represented them in their morning session where she not only explained the proceedings of the case but explained how this case will be a trailblazer in the legal history of Pakistan. “So many women, oblivious of the law itself, silently enduring the pain daily, have got to know about their rights through this judgment and it is a great achievement indeed,” she said.
However, some critics are saying this is not a case of marital rape, this is sodomy. Haya reinstated, “The definition of rape has changed as per law; this is rape happening in the context of a spousal relationship which is the highest form of intimate partner violence that there can be. We are acknowledging it as the first ever conviction of marital rape under the changed definition of rape which is in place since 2021”.
Interpretation of the verdict in the Islamic context
To understand the popular claims and interpretations used by the masses to either condemn or appreciate the conviction of marital rape I talked to multiple scholars including Mufti Mohammad Sohail Ahmad who is an MPhil in Usool-e-Din (Principles of Religion) from International Islamic University, Islamabad, now serving in Nottingham, UK. He delineated the basic principles as laid by the main text of the Qur’an: In Islamic schools of thought, there are two ways to go about it: Hadd and Tazir.
Hadd is equivalent to a death sentence, implying that strict action needs to be taken for the severity of the crime. Tazir on the other hand is a punishment for an offence that is culpable, and this is to be decided by the ruler or a judge according to the severity of the crime. It is strongly impermissible for a man to have sexual intercourse with his wife when she is menstruating. The other thing that is frowned upon by the laws of Islam is sodomy or unnatural sex- a crime strongly punishable by Islam.
Three-quarters of Islamic schools of thought consider Hadd to be implemented in cases of sodomy.
Image taken from @_Abdullah_Salehon X
The other scholar I consulted was Dr. Fazal-e-Hannan who is a PhD from Punjab University, Lahore and is serving as Sheik-ul-Hadith in Jamia Nazamia, Lahore. The unanimous response lays out the condemnation of the act of sodomy and applause for the verdict of the court. “It is good precedent set by the court,” Mufti Sohil Ahmad asserted, “making most of the latest medical and technological advancement to identify these crimes is a welcome change in Pakistan.”
As for the fact of a man forcing himself over his wife and inflicting pain upon her, they agreed that it is liable for a punishment. Islam stresses that husbands ought to be kind and considerate about the emotional, mental, and physical state of the wife. Allah says, “and live with them in kindness” [Quran 4:19] It is even stressed by the Prophet (SAW) as he said: “Be kind to your wives.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, in one of his lectures, emphasized that the relationship of a husband and wife is mutual and there is no other opinion about it.
However, the bottom line is that there are protocols of Islam that need to be followed for sexual intimacy. If violated, then needs to be dealt with accordingly.
Repudiation of implied consent theory
Advocate Nimra Arshad in her explainer describes that many people use religion to describe their chauvinistic views about the concept of marital rape whereas Islam is the same religion which provides women the protection, kindness and care they deserve in a marriage and if that is not given, there is a reasonable exit available too.
Pakistan’s law is essentially an extension of British law as proposed by Sir Matthew Hale who believed that a marriage perpetually gives man consent to treat his wife as a property. This implied consent theory is long been amended in the UK under Sexual Offences Act 2003 where spousal rape now falls under sexual assault, but the remnants of that law are very much intact in our country.
Final thoughts
Sher Bano has paved the way for women to not submit to unjust and violent behaviour in the name of marriage. This case also highlights the importance of support of the family which makes a woman invincible, especially in a society like ours. As much as raising awareness is the duty of the state, it is equally a compulsion for it to ensure the safety of citizens by making pertinent, pragmatic, and bold laws. Not recognizing marital rape as the highest form of intimate partner violence is a fact that remains in place till today.
Motaz Azaiza, the photojournalist called “The Eye of Gaza”, has evacuated the besieged strip after showing the world the reality of living in Palestine. He has landed in Qatar and has kickstarted the mission of taking the cause of advocating for the plight of Palestineans forward by participating in talk shows for Al-Jazeera. His absence on ground is missed.
There are plenty of journalists on ground who are risking their lives to show the world the war crimes being committed by Israeli forces and the genocide of poor Gazans.
Bisan is the leading journalist after Motaz. She is working with leading news portals and has shown daily life in Gaza since October 7. In her own words, she has been displaced more than thrice in the course of the last 100 days but is determined to keep documenting the genocide that is taking place in Gaza.
Hind Khoudary, a reporter who has worked closely with Motaz and is still in Gaza, is taking refuge in Motaz’s home reporting the havoc inflicted upon Gaza by Israel.
After watching tons of videos of standup comedians online from all across the globe, getting hold of tickets of a show in Pakistan, No Offence was such a pleasant surprise. Expectations were high and excitement was going through the roof.
First and foremost, we need to have more standup shows in the country to give a boost to the comedy landscape of Pakistani entertainment. It was thoroughly refreshing to see a live comedy show. Many in the audience, especially uncles, found most jokes relatable and laughed their lungs out.
The show was held in Ali Auditorium on Ferozpur Road on a foggy winter night in Lahore. Expected to get defrosted by the warmth and hysteria of jokes, we were introduced to Mohsin Ejaz performing for the first half. His set literally was the music to the ears. The situations he created with old classic songs had some really good laugh-out-loud moments. The way he compared the nineties music of Bollywood and Pakistan and how he made Mehdi Hassan the pioneer of stalkers because of his song “Zindagi mein to sabhee” is one such example. He proved the power of his vocal chords and the audience appreciated him by singing along. His set did take a dramatic turn towards the end which hit the right chord and made us all emotional (you’ll have to go and see to understand). The use of dark humor was done in the right proportion.
The audience was charged up when we were introduced to Dawar Mehmood, the man of the hour. He started off by acknowledging his association and training by the legendary Anwar Maqsood. The stakes were high now. He started off nicely by doing a set about PIA air hostesses and how Punjabi humour does not appeal to a Karachiite. One could sense a hint of Moin Akhtar in them. His mention of the jokes shared by Anwar Maqsood were legit taking a dig at the current political landscape had a healthy amount of sarcasm in them. The way he relayed the story of his show getting cancelled because of Lahore’s obsession with Imran Khan during the days of his arrest was indeed funny. It would have been great had he just remained there because even though, the show was meant to be inoffensive, the jokes about cheating men, the Me Too movement, and feminism were archaic if not offensive. In today’s day and age, we are past these jokes, aren’t we?
In a nutshell, it is a great attempt for a start and Kopykats deserve all the applause for initiating this.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has always remained ahead of others when it comes to the use of social media in Pakistan’s political landscape.
Data shared in a report from Digital Pakistan 2023 states that the number of internet users in Pakistan swelled to a record 87.35 million in January last year, showing a 4.4 million increase between 2022 and 2023.
The number of social media users also increased to a record 71.70 million in 2023, including 37.30 million users of Facebook, 71.70 million users of YouTube, 12.95 million on Instagram, and 16.51 million on TikTok.
Similarly, about 11.95 million people are using Facebook Messenger, 9.30 million Linkedin, 25.70 million Snapchat, and 4.65 million users of X — formerly Twitter — in the wake of an increase in mobile connections to 191.8 million in January 2023 in Pakistan.
The importance of social media is made very clear by the fact that there is news circulating that the internet might be shut down two days prior to the election. Young Pakistanis will be turning to social media for the truth on election day and if the election is to be seen as free and fair, social media will be the judge and the jury, senior producer and journalist Marium Chaudhary said while talking to TheCurrent.
The results show the importance of social media in the election arena. Its power was fully exhibited when a huge number of supporters turned up online using VPNs when the internet was down during PTI’s virtual jalsa.
Senior Journalist Benazir Shah recently tweeted that according to a google search, PTI has emerged as the most searched political party in the last fortnight. As the elections are approaching in less than a month, the party is in a crisis because they have been stripped from their preferred election symbol of a cricketing bat.
Google launches a trends portal for the upcoming election in Pakistan.
The candidates however have been issued varying symbols from a human eye to an eggplant.
PTI’s candidate Zain Pervaiz from PS-99 has been given the symbol of human eye and he used a creative way to propagate it. He made a rip-off of the famous Tahir Shah’s song Eye to Eye.
The same candidate, Zain Parvez, came up with a clip from a Pakistani Drama where the heroine is seen saying that she will only what Zain wants her to do.
As a candidate was allotted the symbol of a desi bed (charpayi), he got a charpayi painted in colours of the PTI flag. Along with that they were seen chanting the slogan, “Aye Aye Charpayi”.
The candidate alloted the sign of brinjal has taken a huge leap of creativity by releasing a “baingan song”. This symbol of is given to the candidate of PTI from NA 46.
The meme brigade were tickled enough to promote the different election symbols including a wheelchair where the punch line was give vote to wheelchair to be able to get the system back on foot.
Apart from the hilarious campaigns by PTI, the party is also seriously pursuing the upcoming elections by using social media. The party has launched an online portal containing detailed information of candidate names & symbols to avoid disinformation.
PTI Social Media Team has created a portal to search for candidate name & symbol. See video below showing a search for “NA1” & the results with candidate name & symbol. We are just waiting for data for each candidate before we go LIVE! #ChallengeAccepted#PrimeMinisterImranKhanpic.twitter.com/BhI4bOfIfJ
Green TV’s new serial ‘Breaking News’ is a rather fresh concept among the current lot of dramas currently running on television. True to the Green track record, the serial promises an out-of-the-box story. Two episodes have been released till the time this review is being written.
The story revolves around Mishaal and Hussain, a pair in love (but not madly so), equally focused on their respective careers. The boy brought up in an urban and slightly privileged background, shows restraint in his countenance. Mishal, on the other hand, is a small-town girl, ambitious and a lot more expressive. She lives in a rented place where her landlady’s teenage son has an eye for her but she is traditional enough to not share it with Hussain even though he asks the reason for her discomfort multiple times.
Mishal is played by Amar Khan and Hussain is played by ‘Fairytale’ star Hamza Sohail. They both look the part and the styling is on point for the strata they represent.
There is a parallel story of Naveed Khan played by Ali Safina, the corrupt television anchor born to a journalist father who died a terrible death after reporting against a local politician. As a kid, he was beaten for the same crime his father committed. He is a masochist- inflicting pain on himself- and conducts a completely staged show against ethical norms, only to get the ratings. He is also lenient towards his content director Hussain’s idealism which in most instances is in clash with his desire to get views and ratings.
Like other Kashif Nisar’s ventures, the drama is real and relatable but less bleak. That may prove to be wrong in the future as the teaser for the coming episode promises things turning topsy-turvy for the lead characters. The negative side of media and the risk journalists put themselves through has been shown in multiple projects including the recent ‘Ishq e Laa’, but a dedicated project to the modus operandi of media, the rat race of ratings and the rhetoric of “screen ki sage par jab sach lutta hai wo bikta hai”.
Airing twice a week, the show is a window into the optics of news medium, the 24/7 media feed culture, and the dirty politics of breaking news keeping morality at bay. The tug-of-war that goes between anchors in this industry will provide insight into how they contribute to the industry with this crisply written script.
Human Rights Lawyer and activist Moniza Kakar has been active on Twitter to show the suffering caused by the government policy of repatriation of Afghans. She has been vocal about the Pashtun community getting deported while being mistaken for Afghans. Her reporting and advocacy of the rights of refugees has gained her the ire of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which has sent a complaint to Twitter, stating that her account is posting against the policies of the state.
She posted screenshots of the email she received from Twitter on her account, stating that in the interest of transparency, “we are writing to inform you that Twitter has received a request from PTA regarding your Twitter account, @Moni-Kakar, that claims the following content violated LAW of Pakistan.”
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has requested Twitter to suspend my Twitter account because I am advocating for the rights of Afghan refugees, and according to the PTA, this is against Pakistani law.#RefugeesRightsInPakistanpic.twitter.com/tACXkYNTyl
To this, former Senator and leader of the National Democratic Movement Afrasiab Khattak responded, “HR lawyering is not easy in Pakistan”.
This the account of a human rights lawyer. Those who demand its suspension speak for the violators of the rights. HR lawyering isn’t easy in Pakistan. https://t.co/iw8W1jejvM
While talking to The Current, Moniza seemed unfazed, stating, “Aise kam karein ge to zahir si bat hai kuch to masail ka samna karna parta hai [When we do things like these, then of course we have to face some problems].”
She went on to explain that this time round, Twitter has been requested to block her account altogether. She has also posted the tweet that has been referred to the Twitter team by PTA. It was a video showing a documented Afghan refugee, outside the holding centre in Karachi, whose wife and two-month-old were picked up by the police in a raid. Upon asking if she has another account on social media, she mentioned that her LinkedIn profile is active.
