Tag: Pakistan

  • ‘We took her kids to the bushes to make her follow us,’ says man who gang-raped mother of three

    ‘We took her kids to the bushes to make her follow us,’ says man who gang-raped mother of three

    Lahore-Sialkot motorway gang-rape accused Shafqat, who has confessed to his role in the horrific incident along with absconding co-accused Abid, has made shocking revelations regarding the incident such as how did they force the survivor to follow them into the bushes off the main road.

    According to reports, the accused, while detailing the entire episode, said that key suspect Abid called him and one Bala Mistri to reach Lahore for some criminal activity.

    “All three of us left to commit a robbery but Bala ditched us on the way.”

    Confessing to the robbery and rape, Shafqat told investigators that they were intoxicated at the time of the incident and initially had planned to only commit a robbery.

    “Abid smashed the windows and injured his hand in the process,” he said, adding that after looting the victim they decided to sexually assault her.

    “We decided to bring her off-road and after stiff resistance, took away her children to the nearby bushes so she would follow.”

    “As expected, the woman followed us off the main road where we raped her,” Shafqat said and added that they have committed various crimes at the same spot.

    According to his statement to the police, he further said that they spent the next day in the Qila Sattar Shah area of Sheikhupura district. “Then I went to Dipalpur while Abid went to meet his father in Manga Mandi.”

    “We last spoke to each other three days ago,” he confessed.

    Since it was not their first such criminal activity, Shafqat told the investigators during the probe that they also tried to sexually assault a woman during a robbery in Sheikhupura, however, the attempt was foiled after police reached the site of the incident.

  • Noor Khadija becomes first female head of South Waziristan’s education department

    Noor Khadija becomes first female head of South Waziristan’s education department

    For the very first time, the South Waziristan district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province has hired a woman as the head of the Education Department.

    As per reports, the area has the lowest female literacy rate in the country.

    Noor Khadija, who comes from a family of educators and has been linked with the education department for ten years, was appointed South Waziristan’s deputy district education officer in August.

    “It was my long-standing desire to serve my community, specifically girls, to remove obstacles in the way of their education,” Khadija told a local media outlet.

    A portrait of Fatima Jinnah hangs on the wall in Khadija’s office.

    “As a woman, Fatima Jinnah proved that women could make a difference and play a decisive role to lead the society for positive change,” Khadija said.

    “I will strive to provide girls schools with all missing facilities, to empower girls through education, which is of paramount importance for a vibrant society,” she added.

  • COVID-19 cases increasing through hospitals in Islamabad

    COVID-19 cases increasing through hospitals in Islamabad

    COVID-19 cases continued to drop in the capital city in the last few weeks. It is now revealed that the virus is again spreading through hospitals.

    DC Islamabad Muhammed Hamza Shafqaat, in a recent tweet said, “COVID cases going up. We have traced each and every case in Islamabad. In the recent surge, 80 percent infection is spreading through hospitals.”

    He also urged people “to be extremely careful while visiting hospitals.”

    The total number of reported cases in Islamabad are 15,941 so far.

  • ‘I am sorry’: Lahore CCPO apologises after blaming mother of three for gang-rape

    ‘I am sorry’: Lahore CCPO apologises after blaming mother of three for gang-rape

    Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh on Monday apologised over his controversial statement regarding the motorway rape incident.

    “I apologise to the victim and all others who were hurt by my remarks. I had no intention of giving any wrong impression,” he said.

    The Lahore CCPO had earlier remarked that the rape victim should have been more careful and taken a safer route.

    “I am shocked… you are a mother of three and the only driver late at night… [she] should have taken the GT [Grand Trunk] Road instead, which is densely populated,” he had said while speaking to Dunya News.

    Sheikh went had further said that the woman should “at least have checked her fuel before taking the motorway”.

    On Tuesday night, it was reported that two robbers had gang-raped a mother of three on the Motorway within Gujjarpura police’s jurisdiction.

    The woman, along with her three children, was driving to Gujranwala in her car when she was forced to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the Motorway after running out of fuel at around 1:30 am. She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130 but she was reportedly refused help.

    In the meantime, two robbers approached the car, broke the window and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they raped her repeatedly in front of the children. They also snatched her purse that had cash around Rs100,000, one bracelet, car registration and three ATM cards. 

    The Gujjarpura police have registered a case, while motorway police spokesperson said they had not been able to take action as the incident did not occur in the limits of Motorway Police.

    At least one of the two culprits has been identified.

  • Sexual assault survivors’ virginity test will be abolished

    Sexual assault survivors’ virginity test will be abolished

    The provincial health authorities have told the Lahore High Court that the two-finger test (TFT), an old practice of examining sexual assault survivors, has limited evidentiary value and will be eliminated from the protocol of medico-legal certificate (MLC) unless required.

    The test is still used in Pakistan regardless of calls for its cancellation by healthcare professionals and human rights organisations.

    “It is not objective of the medical examination of a female victim of sexual assault to comment about the character of the examinee neither TFT is being practiced with that objective nor it has any strong evidentiary value related to the determination of virginity,” says a joint reply by the Punjab Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department, the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department and surgeon medico-legal Lahore.

    As per reports, the reply was submitted on Friday during the hearing of two public interest petitions challenging the TFT for being disrespectful, inhuman and violative to the fundamental rights of women.

    The petitions mainly plead the demeaning practice whereby medico-legal officers perform a hymen test and a “two-finger test” as part of medical evaluation of women victims is unreliable and unnecessary and has no scientific basis.

    Responding to the points raised in the petitions, the government’s reply states that only certified women medical officer (WMO) do the TFT and that too after the consent of the victim or her guardian in a written form.

    “In case of refusal by the victim, the medical examination is not conducted and the referring court is informed in writing,” it says.

    Justice Ayesha A. Malik will resume hearing on the petitions on Nov 6 when the petitioners will appear with their responses.

    One petition was filed by PML-N MNA Shaista Pervez Malik while women rights activists, academics, journalists and advocates were petitioners in the other. They include Sadaf Aziz, Farida Shaheed, Farieha Aziz, Farah Zia, Sarah Zaman, Maliha Zia Lari, Dr. Aisha Babar and Zainab Husain.

    Advocate Sahar Zareen Bandial and Barrister Sameer Khosa are the lead counsel for the petitioners.

  • Gang-rape that shook Pakistan

    Gang-rape that shook Pakistan

    On Wednesday, a woman was gang-raped in front of her children on the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway. This incident has shaken the entire country. The details of the incident are so horrific that the women of this country are feeling unsafe, especially after the shocking statement made by CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh. Mr Sheikh had the unbelievable audacity to tell the rape survivor that she should not have driven so late at night, she should have taken the busier GT Road instead of the stranded motorway and that she should have checked her car’s fuel tank before leaving the house. As if this was not enough, CCPO Lahore went on numerous channels to defend his statement, say that the survivor thought this was France and not Pakistan where society is different. And to add insult to injury, several ministers and cabinet members came to his defence.

    SAPM Shahzad Akbar stood by the CCPO’s side at a press conference and also said his statement was being turned into a controversy unnecessarily. Planning Minister Asad Umar went on to ask that should the CCPO be removed for a bad statement when he has not done anything illegal. Rallies were taken out all over the country on Saturday, asking for the removal of CCPO Lahore. He has shown zero remorse and he sounds extremely confident that he is going nowhere. While the CCPO has been issued a show-cause notice for his remarks about the rape survivor by the IG Punjab, the question remains: why has he not been removed yet? Even if his appointment was political, the government should have removed him to make the women of this country feel safe.

    CCPO Lahore’s statement has made each and every woman of this country feel unprotected and his casual sexism has laid bare the mindset prevalent in the police force about rape survivors. No wonder then that women who are raped do not report these crimes. When the police chief of the country’s second largest city is so dismissive of rape incidents, when he blames the survivor for an attack that could have been prevented with better policing and timely help, when many men on our televisions screens and online spaces are actually saying he said nothing wrong and this is what we were also thinking, how does it make a woman feel? In Punjab alone, there have been at least 2,043 registered cases of rape and 111 cases of gang rape this year. And these are the reported cases. What about those cases that are not reported because women and their families are afraid of the misogynist police mentality?

    When the government stands by a man who thinks women should not step out at night, it means that the government is protecting a misogynist. It gives a clear message to the women of Pakistan: you are on your own, we cannot protect you. Unless and until the CCPO is not removed, the police force will not change its mindset when it comes to violence against women and gender-based crimes. 

  • ARY says prime suspect of motorway gang-rape case arrested; govt says that’s not true

    ARY says prime suspect of motorway gang-rape case arrested; govt says that’s not true

    Punjab police have arrested the prime suspect of the motorway gang-rape case, ARY has reported citing sources; but the claim has been dismissed by the senior-most police officer of Punjab as well as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s aide Dr Shahbaz Gill.

    According to reports, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani has dismissed reports that a suspect in the Lahore motorway rape case had been arrested, terming them as incorrect. 

    “News on the arrest of a suspect on TV channels and social media are incorrect,” said IGP Ghani, adding that he would share any development in the case with media as he was monitoring the investigation himself.

    “Such unconfirmed news affects the case and is also misleading for the public,” said the top cop.

    He also said that pictures of the woman and the suspects being shared on social media were fake, and urged media to not run reports before confirming them. “We will soon arrest the accused and bring them to justice,” Ghani vowed.

    Earlier, ARY cited Punjab government sources as saying that search for the second suspect involved in the gang-rape was underway.

    The claim was, however, also dismissed by Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill, who said it was incorrect but the police were working hard.

    The tweet was followed by ARY Senior Executive Vice President Ammad Yousaf’s statement that the media organisation stood by its story.

    It wasn’t later that Dr Gill tweeted back.

    What do you think is going on? Let The Current know in the comments below

  • Report: At least 173 children were gang-raped in Pakistan in first six months of 2020

    Report: At least 173 children were gang-raped in Pakistan in first six months of 2020

    Child protection NGO Sahil, in a report Cruel Number released on Thursday, revealed that at least 173 children were gang-raped in Pakistan in the first six months of 2020, whereas there were 227 reports of attempted sexual assault. 

    According to the report, 38 children were killed after they were sexually abused. More than eight children were subjected to sexual abuse on average every day in the first six months of 2020 in Pakistan.  

    Sahil reported that as of June this year, 497 children were sexually abused. 57% of cases were reported in Punjab, 32% were reported in Sindh and 6% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    The report further said that more than 35 cases were reported in Islamabad, 22 in Balochistan, 10 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one in Gilgit-Baltistan.

    Out of the total reported cases, 62% were from rural areas and 38% reported from urban areas. Of the total children who were victims of sexual abuse, 53% were girls and 47% boys. 

    Sahil also highlighted that 51 cases of underage marriage were reported.

    The results were taken from 84 newspapers and cases reported in all four provinces, the capital city, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

  • Over a dozen Pakistani Hindus, who went to India for a better future, return with shattered dreams

    Over a dozen Pakistani Hindus, who went to India for a better future, return with shattered dreams

    At least 14 members of the country’s Hindu minority community returned from India after six months, saying their dreams of better economic prospects in the neighboring country had been shattered, Anadolu Agency reported.

    Speaking to reporters at the Wagah border crossing, Kanhaya Lal and Nanak Ram, the heads of the families, said they went to India hoping for better economic prospects, but it was a “farce” and they suffered great hardships.

    India recently passed a contentious law allowing Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to apply for fast-track citizenship.

    Last month, a family of 11 Hindus, migrated from Pakistan, was found dead in a rented farmhouse in the city of Jodhpur in India’s Rajasthan state.

    The daughter of one Budha Ram, who was among those killed, had registered a case with Shahdadpur police station, accusing India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) for the crime. The first information report (FIR) revealed Ram had decided to return to Pakistan to expose spy traps offered by the Indian spy agency.

    “I knew that family, and most of them were educated. But there are no opportunities for any outsiders in India,” Lal told Anadolu Agency.

    “The fact is they were living in miserable conditions and suffered from extreme poverty and there were dangerous threats to their lives,” Lal said.

    He said more than 28,000 Pakistan Hindus are stranded in Jodhpur waiting to return home.

  • ‘I was stabbed 23 times in broad daylight’: Khadija Siddiqi shuts up Lahore CCPO

    ‘I was stabbed 23 times in broad daylight’: Khadija Siddiqi shuts up Lahore CCPO

    Barrister Khadija Siddiqi, who was stabbed 23 times in broad daylight in Lahore, has reminded Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh of what happened in her case, shutting him up for his statement blaming the motorway gang-rape survivor for travelling alone with her three kids past midnight.

    “I was stabbed 23 times in broad daylight! Don’t tell us that ‘time’ is directly connected to the commission of offense!” she tweeted while also asking as to under what authority could the CCPO set “time limits” on women’s travel.

    The officer, who is also supposed to be leading the investigation of the motorway rape case, is being criticised for using language that tantamounts to victim-blaming.

    “I am shocked… you are a mother of three and the only driver late at night… [she] should have taken the GT [Grand Trunk] Road instead, which is densely populated,” CCPO Sheikh had said while speaking to Dunya News.

    He went on to say that the woman should “at least have checked her fuel before taking the motorway”.

    THE INCIDENT:

    On Tuesday night, it was reported that two robbers had gang-raped a mother of three on the Motorway within Gujjarpura police’s jurisdiction.

    The woman, along with her three children, was driving to Gujranwala in her car when she was forced to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the Motorway after running out of fuel at around 1:30 am. She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130 but she was reportedly refused help.

    In the meantime, two robbers approached the car, broke the window and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they raped her repeatedly in front of the children. They also snatched her purse that had cash around Rs100,000, one bracelet, car registration and three ATM cards. 

    The Gujjarpura police have registered a case, while motorway police spokesperson said they had not been able to take action as the incident did not occur in the limits of Motorway Police.