Tag: Oppression

  • 2 underaged girls married off by jigra as tribal fine in Jacobabad

    A jirga in Thull, Jacobabad decided to marry off two minor girls as punishment for their parents’ elopment. According to Aaj News, both the girls are seven years old.

    The jirga had decided on the case of Hajira Mangi, a 30-years-old widow and mother, had eloped with a man, Dadu Mangi, who was also married and had daughters. They were accused of committing karo kari.

    In order to appease Hajira’s family who said that she had gotten married without their permission, village head Zukfiqar Khan Sarqi was asked to step in and resolve the issue. It was decided that both Hajira’s and Dadu’s daughters from their previous marriages would be wedded off to Hajira’s brothers. Furthermore, the couple were ordered to pay Rs 200,000 as a fine. They paid Rs 50,000 and promised to pay the rest in installments.

    According to Aaj News, although jirgas were banned by the Supreme Court in 2019, there has not been a police case filed against the village head or the family for this forced marriage.

  • Pakistani men, time’s up: We will no longer tolerate another Zahir and Shahnawaz

    Pakistani men, time’s up: We will no longer tolerate another Zahir and Shahnawaz

    The age of uncertainty grappling Pakistan is rather appalling. Lately, women in Pakistan and around the world are nothing but just another hashtag. Their name, story, and pain last only till another hashtag replaces them. We as a country are still dealing with the horrors of the murder of Noor Mukadam. We haven’t healed as a nation and now we have witnessed the bone-chilling gruesome murder of Sara Shahnawaz at the hands of a man who too was raised as a result of the patriarchal world in Pakistan.

    A harrowing murder took place in Islamabad on Friday morning. The daughter-in-law of senior journalist Ayaz Amir was murdered in Islamabad. 37-year-old Sara was found murdered at a farmhouse in Chak Shahzad. According to details, journalist Ayaz Amir’s son Shah Nawaz killed his wife at their home with a gym dumbbell. After murdering her, the accused dumped her body in a bathtub. Senior Journalist Ayaz Amir expressed his grief and shock over the murder of his daughter-in-law by his son.

    In Pakistan, men get away with crimes against women, which is why they think they can even commit murder without any repercussions. Our society and justice system have failed the women of Pakistan. It is because of these attitudes that Pakistan ranks as the second-worst country on the gender gap index.

    The story of Masha Amini from across the border is equally tragic. The 22-year-old Iranian woman breathed her last days after being arrested by a police unit responsible for forcing Iran’s strict dress code for women. She was arrested for not complying with hijab rules. Mahsa Amini was beaten while inside a police van when she was picked up in Tehran on Tuesday. Photographs of Mahsa lying in a hospital bed have gone viral, showing the young woman in a coma with her head wrapped in bandages and breathing through tubes. #MahsaAmini became one of the top hashtags on Persian-language Twitter as Iranians fumed over the death of Amini. Later we saw that women in Iran protested against the death of Amini by setting their hijabs on fire. Her death sparked widespread protests in Iran.

    What is happening to women across the world is a reminder that all this is about control, power, and oppression. One of the key reasons women are marginalised is because a powerful and educated woman leads to a powerful and educated community. Women need to be empowered by those in power. We as individuals have failed. We have failed our women and young girls. The silence of the state on matters that need the most attention is rather appalling. For how long will people keep suffering? What are our policymakers doing to make the lives of people in Pakistan better? Who should the families of the victims look up to? Who will give them justice? The beasts who killed their daughters are very much alive. Who will bring solace to the plight of the mothers and fathers of the one dead at the hands of men who could not take no for an answer or whose temper was so fragile that they had to kill women when they raised their voices for their rights.

  • US to pressure Taliban if they don’t remove restrictions on women

    US to pressure Taliban if they don’t remove restrictions on women

    The United States (US) has said that it will put pressure on Afghanistan’s Taliban government if the group does not reverse some of its recent restrictions on Afghan women, reports Reuters.

    US State Department spokesperson Ned Price reported saying on Monday: “We have addressed it directly with the Taliban. We have a number of tools that, if we feel these won’t be reversed, these won’t be undone, that we are prepared to move forward with.”

    Last week, the hardline group ordered women to cover themselves from head to toe in public, expanding a series of oppressive restrictions on women that dictate nearly every aspect of public life.

    Recently, the Taliban has reportedly stopped issuing driving licenses to women. However, there has been no official confirmation. Local media reports, cited by news agencies, said verbal orders have been issued to stop giving driving licenses to women, according to the Independent UK.

    Despite the fact that the international community, has on multiple occasions, made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban administration, the group has barred Afghan girls from going to school beyond the seventh grade. Moreover, they have restricted women and girls from working and have limited their travel unless accompanied by a close male relative.

  • #DoNotTouchMyClothes: Afghan women reject Taliban’s dress code for women

    #DoNotTouchMyClothes: Afghan women reject Taliban’s dress code for women

    Afghan women have started an online campaign using the hashtag #DoNotTouchMyClothes to challenge the Taliban’s conservative female clothing rules. Many Afghan women shared pictures of their colourful traditional dresses.

    Dr Bahar Jalali, a former history professor at the American University in Afghanistan, used hashtags #DoNotTouchMyClothes and #AfghanistanCulture to reclaim Afghan women’s traditional clothes.

    While posting a picture of herself on Twitter in a green Afghan dress, she stated: “This is Afghan culture. I am wearing a traditional Afghan dress.”

    Referring to the women who wore long, fully veiled black gowns, covering their faces and hands at pro-Taliban rally, she tweeted: “No woman has ever dressed like this in the history of Afghanistan. This is utterly foreign and alien to Afghan culture. I posted my pic in the traditional Afghan dress to inform, educate, and dispel the misinformation that is being propagated by the Taliban.”

    After that, women across Afghanistan started posting pictures of themselves.

    This campaign was also in reaction to a video in which many women holding a pro-Taliban rally in the capital were seen saying that Afghan women wearing make-up and in modern clothes do not represent the Muslim Afghan women and we don’t want women’s rights that are foreign, reports BBC.

    Afghanistan’s Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani said that universities will be segregated and veils made mandatory for all female students. Earlier this month, the Taliban announced an all-male interim government.

  • Gohar Rasheed pens a note for ‘abusive’, ‘spineless’ men, cites a scene from ‘Laapata’

    Gohar Rasheed pens a note for ‘abusive’, ‘spineless’ men, cites a scene from ‘Laapata’

    Actor Gohar Rasheed has penned a long note for abusive men who think “physically abusing women is fine.”

    Sharing a clip from his drama serial Laapata, the Digest Writer star turned to social media and wrote: “I hate the display of physical abuse on television. This is why I have always refrained from doing it in at least my own characters. It’s unfortunate but it has been done so frequently on our television that it’s almost become a subconscious reality for us.”

    The Mann Mayal actor further added: “Apparently, physically abusing women is “fine” and any misogynistic, spineless man can get away with it, just like Daniyal thought in yesterday’s episode of Laapata. It may sound strange but The Thappad scene was the only reason as to why I took up the character of Daniyal.”

    “To prove that oppression is a choice. If any insecure man with his fragile ego tries his so called muscles on you, make the choice that Falak did, without any fear! One tight slap back from a brave woman to such weak man in our society would be a giant leap for women kind”, he concluded.

    “Girls like Falak rock. Men like Daniyal shock,” concluded Rasheed.

    In the video, husband (Danyal) slaps wife (Falak) and she slaps him back with a warning to break his hands if he’ll think of doing that again.

    Featuring a far-famed cast of Ayeza Khan, Sarah , Ali Rehman Khan and Gohar , Laapata airs on Hum TV. The drama is written and directed by Khizer Idrees.

  • ‘A divorced daughter is better than a dead body’: Nimra Khan breaks down amidst live session

    ‘A divorced daughter is better than a dead body’: Nimra Khan breaks down amidst live session

    Actor Nimra Khan has finally addressed the divorce controversy after her ex-husband passed derogatory comments about her in a live session. The Blind Love star stated in an Instagram live session that welcoming a divorced daughter is better than welcoming her dead body.

    She broke down during the session and mentioned that apart from her health, she does not want to talk about anything that is being speculating about her these days.

    https://youtu.be/VrCW6diz_fA

    She revealed further that she has been unwell lately as she had a stone in her urethra. The Bhool actor requested parents to encourage their daughters to stand up against atrocities and oppression.

  • President Alvi stresses that Pakistan is not against Jews or Christians

    President Alvi stresses that Pakistan is not against Jews or Christians

    President Arif Alvi on Tuesday, in an address to the Second Conference of Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO) countries, stressed that Pakistan is against genocide, not against Jews or Christians.

    “We are against genocide. We are not against Jews or Christians, but against all oppressors of humanity,” said Alvi.

    Alvi further added that Pakistan’s stance on Israel’s violations of human rights was “not anti-Semitic, but anti-Zionist.”

    “We will raise our voices against anyone who resorts to oppression,” the president said.

    He also said that labelling the freedom movement of Palestinians and Kashmiris as “terrorism” by Israel and India was an act of viewing the countries through the “prism of prejudice”.

    The president expressed confidence that the Muslim world would join hands in giving the world a strong message on Islamophobia.