Tag: Pakistan

  • IBA Karachi expels student who reported harassment

    The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi has expelled a student after he exposed an alleged case of harassment that took place on campus. IBA, in a Facebook post said, “A student from the BS Economics program was counseled by various members of the IBA community, however despite the counseling provided to him, the student refused to adhere to the right channels that are expected to be followed by all members of the IBA faculty, students, and staff.”

    The expelled student Mohammad Gibrail witnessed the harassment case on August 25. “What I saw was extremely offensive and humiliating. I was shocked that a man could behave like that with a woman in a professional setting, that too in front of other people. Later I went up to the lady and told her that she should not tolerate this and must inform the administration,” he said in a public Facebook post.

    Narrating the incident Gibrail wrote, “This was actually the incident of workplace harrassment that took place in front of my eyes in IBA’s Finance Department where I saw a person whom, I inquired his identity late, named Tanveer yelled at a female employe of IBA in that Finance Department and bursted on her, ‘Mein Raat tak tumhe bithaonga’.”

    “These were the exact words that I heard which told alot to me about that shitty environment that would prevail over there if such is the audacity of a person who can spew his crap around, not caring the identity of a female employee in front of students, God knows what the real hell would happen behind that,” he stated.

    People on social media are calling out the university for expelling the student:

     Senator Sherry Rehman in a tweet has said that IBA needs to address the issue immediately.

  • University of Peshawar graduate doctor to head American College of Physicians

    University of Peshawar graduate doctor to head American College of Physicians

    US-based Pakistani origin physician, Dr Omar Atiq has been nominated unanimously and will be the first Pakistani origin doctor to be the next president of the prestigious American College of Physicians (ACP).

    Atiq, who founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic in 1991, is the only candidate for the post and the elections will be held in January next year.

    Pakistan’s US envoy Asad Majeed Khan announced in a tweet: “Dr. Omar Atiq becomes the first ever Physician of Pakistani descent & only the second international medical graduate to be elected as President of American College of Physicians.”

    Dr Atiq, a professor of medicine and otolaryngology is based in Arkansas and had been a fellow of ACP for almost three decades. In 2019, he wiped away $650,000 in debt for nearly 200 of his patients with cancer, reports Dawn.

    The physician earned his medical degree from the Khyber Medical College, University of Peshawar.

    The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organisation in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide.

  • 10 children sexually abused in Pakistan every day from Jan to June: report

    10 children sexually abused in Pakistan every day from Jan to June: report

    More than 10 children were the victims of sexual abuse on average every day between January and June, a report by child protection organisation Sahil says.

    The report titled “Six Months Cruel Numbers 2021”, states that the average number of children subjected to abuse has increased by two children per day in comparison with the last year’s first six months’ report.

    “This year, 81 daily national and regional newspapers were monitored during January-June 2021 to collect data on child sexual abuse, abduction, missing children, and the cases of early forced marriages,” stated the report.

    The data used in the report is collected from all four provinces of Pakistan including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), besides Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit Baltistan (GB). The report revealed that a total of 1,896 cases of child abuse were reported in the period.

    Of these, 1,084 cases were of sexual abuse against children, 523 were cases of abduction, 238 cases of missing children, and 51 cases of child marriages.

    The report further states that 53% (1,013) of the victims were girls and (883) 47% were boys.

    It revealed that “children from the age group 6-15 are most vulnerable to abuse”.

    As many as 640 children from 11 to 15 years and 409 children from the age bracket 6-10 were subjected to different types of abuse during the last six months, the report added.

    According to the report, in 1,045 cases, the abusers were acquaintances, while they were strangers in 430 cases, relatives in 49 cases, female accomplices in 47 cases, seminary/school teachers in 38 cases, neighbours in 37 cases, and family members in 32 cases.

    In addition to this, the data showed that 60% of the total cases were reported from Punjab and 6% from the ICT.

    The rest of the cases were reported from other provinces — 26% from Sindh, 5% from KPK, and 3% from Balochistan, and AJK & GB.

    Of the total cases, 58% were reported from rural areas and 42% cases from urban areas.

    Sahil has been working since 1996 on child protection, especially against child sexual abuse (CSA).

    Sahil aims to develop a society and environment where every child should be safe, secure, and protected from abuse, especially from sexual abuse.

  • ‘Rent a brother’: Startup helps people to beat loneliness

    ‘Rent a brother’: Startup helps people to beat loneliness

    A startup, ‘Rent a bro’, in Karachi has started a setup to help people cope with loneliness, especially after the pandemic hit the globe.

    The founder of the startup told Independent Urdu, “I started this service because I was doing research when I got to know that we have problems like rejection, loneliness and acceptance. So I took this initiative and it is going very well.”

    “Rent a bro is inspired by Rent a sister — a company in Japan that helps people to cope with loneliness. So I started this because I am a male and I think it is a perfect name for a Pakistani startup,” he added.

    Talking about the process, he said that an Instagram handler asks our clients why they need a brother and then we provide them this service after analysing their answers.

    The meeting can be online and in-person. It depends on the client’s preference.

  • Students protest against ‘mismanaged’ MDCAT

    Students from across the country are protesting against the management of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) for conducting ‘mismanaged’ Medical and Dental College Aptitude Test (MDCAT).

    Students claim that there were administrative problems during the test. The software and hardware used by PMC for the exams had malfunctioned. They claim that the servers used for the exams were frequently down.

    The protesters want the Pakistan Medical Commission to conduct the MDCAT again on a single day across the country.

    https://twitter.com/BeSyed_/status/1443121616314159107?s=20

    As per reports,  PMC called the students for negotiations after which a five-member delegation held a meeting with the PMC management. However, they could not reach any decision and students are still protesting.

    Students plan to march towards PM House today (Wednesday) at 6pm to stage further protests.

  • ‘Ongoing negotiations between US and Pak for airspace’: US General

    ‘Ongoing negotiations between US and Pak for airspace’: US General

    The United States Central Command (Centcom) Chief, General Frank McKenzie said that the United States (US) and Pakistan were involved in ongoing negotiations over the use of a vital air corridor to access Afghanistan, reports Dawn.

    “Over the last 20 years we’ve been able to use what we call the air boulevard to go in over western Pakistan and that’s become something that’s vital to us, as well as certain landlines of communication,” he said.

    “And we’ll be working with the Pakistanis in the days and weeks ahead to look at what that relationship is going to look like in the future.”

    “We estimated an accelerated withdrawal would increase risks of regional instability, the security of Pakistan, and its nuclear arsenals,” Chairman of the Joint Chief General Mark Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

    “We need to fully examine the role of Pakistan sanctuary,” the general said.

    “I believe Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban is going to become significantly more complicated as a result of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” said General McKenzie.

    However, in June, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, Pakistan will “absolutely not” allow the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use bases on its soil for cross-border counter-terrorism missions after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

  • Rape suspect flees from police custody during medical check-up

    Rape suspect flees from police custody during medical check-up

    A suspect detained in a sexual assault case escaped from Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where he was undergoing treatment a few days ago, Dawn reported.

    As per details, the man was arrested by the Saeedabad police a couple of weeks ago. He was sent to jail by a local court on judicial remand. He was not feeling well so the doctors recommended his treatment at the JPMC.

    Read More: Mother of two raped in Rawalpindi at job interview

    “The Undertrial prisoner was brought here at the JPMC a few days ago and being treated at a respective ward,” said an official at the Saddar police station. “On Friday, he managed to unlock his handcuffs and fled. The two constables posted to keep an eye on him have been booked [for negligence] and arrested,” he added.

    Some reports claim that the suspect has been arrested again from the Saeedabad area.

  • US wants to investigate Pakistan’s role in Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

    US senators have introduced a bill in the US Senate calling for an investigation into the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan and those groups, and people, who helped oust the Ashraf Ghani-led government, Geo News has reported.The bill was presented by 22 Republican senators.

    The ‘Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act’ also seeks to establish a task force that will focus on continued evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents and Special Immigrant Visa holders from Afghanistan.

    The presented bill states that the “support by state and non-state actors, including the Government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020, provision of sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics and medical support, training, equipping, and tactical, operational, or strategic direction” should be investigated.

    The bill also seeks to investigate the support provided to Taliban allegedly by non-state actors and the government of Pakistan into the Panjshir Valley operation by the Taliban. The bill further seeks to place restrictions on non-humanitarian foreign assistance to Afghanistan.

    Federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, while reacting to the bill, tweeted, “So again Pak will be made to pay heavy price 4 being an ally of US in its War on Terror.”

  • 40 per cent educated women are jobless in Pakistan, 1.5 million people applied for peon position

    40 per cent educated women are jobless in Pakistan, 1.5 million people applied for peon position

    The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) informed the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development that 40 per cent of educated women across the country are jobless, Nadir Guramani reports for Dawn.

    The PIDE in its briefing, stated that 24 per cent of educated people were jobless, adding that the unemployment rate in the country has reached an alarming figure of 16 per cent contrary to the government’s claim of 6.5 per cent.

    The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Chairman of the Senate, Saleem Mandviwala.

    According to the PIDE, the study was done by a company abroad as no research has been conducted by the government, although several research institutes were operating in the country.

    The study also states that 80 per cent of people get themselves enrolled in M.Phil after failing to get a job and they have not been included in the given statistics.

    The Senate committee was told that at least 1.5 million people applied for a peon’s position in a high court that was recently advertised. “Among those applying for the job included M.Phil degree holders,” PIDE officials stated.

    The officials proposed that laws should be made to grant licenses to hawkers to enable them to get a job, this would create 20 to 30 million employments for the citizens. They also debated that universities in Pakistan were approved through a “flawed” bill by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

    In June, the Economic Survey 2020-21 revealed that the spread of the coronavirus pandemic had severely affected businesses and other economic activities due to the imposition of lockdowns which left approximately 20.71m workers jobless.

  • Al-Qaeda, TTP members in possession of Pakistani ID cards: report

    Al-Qaeda, TTP members in possession of Pakistani ID cards: report

    Members of Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Indian and Afghan nationals have been found to be in possession of Pakistani Identity Cards (ID), according to a government report.

    The report was presented by Senator Faisal Sabzwari of the Muttahida Qaumi Moment Pakistan (MQM) in the Senate Standing Committee on Interior.

    It states that some arrested Afghan citizens had ID cards issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) Karachi where allegedly 50% to 60% of employees are involved in corruption.

    According to the report, Abdullah Baloch of Al-Qaeda and an Indian citizen who was involved in the Safoora Goth also had an identity card.

    NADRA chairman Muhammad Tariq Malik said that the matter is under investigation, 12 officers have been arrested and 29 have been suspended.