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Tag: report
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Do aliens exist? NASA answers in its new report
NASA has investigated hundreds of UFO sightings, concluding that there is no evidence of aliens being behind the mysterious occurrences, however, it has said that the possibility cannot be completely discarded.
While there is no irrefutable evidence, NASA will, nonetheless, investigate UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) with improved technology and artificial intelligence.
According to the report, “there is no reason to conclude” that extra-terrestrial activity is at the back of UAP sightings, “However… those objects must have travelled through our solar system to get here,” the report added, and that there is no denying the possibility of “potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere.”
The latest report, 36 pages long, explores technical and scientific observations.
Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, stated that due to dearth of high quality data “UAP are one of our planet’s greatest mysteries”.
Which is why, even though a number of UAP have been sighted, the data is not enough to make “definitive scientific conclusions about the nature and origin of UAP”, added Fox.
NASA has appointed a new UAP research director to “establish a robust database for the evaluation of future data”.
BBC spoke with the space agency’s panel about the photos of aliens presented before the Mexican Senate this week by Jaime Maussan.
Maussan claimed that the remains were more than 1,000 years old, Maussan said they belonged to “non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution”.
However, as per experts, the legitimacy of the evidence is perceived with skepticism.
After all, previous claims by Maussan about mummies found in Nazca, Peru, in 2017, turned out to be false.
Nasa scientist Dr David Spergel told the BBC: “Make samples available to the world scientific community and we’ll see what’s there.”
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12 women raped daily on average: report
According to The News, War Against Rape (WAR), an advocacy organisation, published a report based on data taken from Punjab Home Department and Ministry of Human Rights which reveals that 21,900 women were raped in the province between 2017 and 2021. This indicates that an average of 12 women were raped daily or one woman assaulted every two hours.
However, as per the organisation, this number is only representative of a small portion as many cases are not reported due to stigma, fear, victim-blaming, and systemic biases in the justice system.
18 per cent of women are subjected to early and forced marriages. There are about 19 million child brides at the moment. Sindh has legalised marriage for boys and girls at 18 while other provinces have set the age for girls at 16.
Karachi
As per the police surgeon’s office in Karachi, there were 3,649 cases of domestic violence reported in 2022.WAR team investigated 66 cases of different forms of sexual violence from July 2022 to June 2023.
The News highlighted statistics from the report: 44 survivors were children under 18 years with the most vulnerable age group being 4-11 years; the average age of survivors was only 13 years, with the youngest survivor being mere four years old; and of these cases, 85 per cent involved women and female children.
A total of 35 of the 66 cases were of rape, 11 were gang rape cases, another 11 were attempted rapes, and nine involved incest.Additionally, in 10 cases, boys were also victims while 12 children were murdered after being subjected to sexual violence, including nine girls and three boys.
Korangi has been deemed a red alert zone as it has the highest sexual violence cases with 31 per cent, followed closely by Surjani Town with 30 per cent of reported cases.
The Saeedabad area reported 11 per cent of the cases, Iqbal Market nine per cent, Orangi Town seven per cent, Mehmoodabad six per cent and Gulshan-e-Iqbal reported five per cent of the cases of sexual violence.
Cases underreported
The official data from three major public hospitals of Karachi revealed the conduction of 1,256 medico-legal examinations (MLEs) in sexual assault cases from January 2021 to December 2022 whereas only 499 first information reports (FIRs) were filed in this same duration.WAR report stated: “This underscores the urgent need for improved mechanisms to encourage survivors to report incidents. In the first six months of 2023, Pakistan witnessed a harrowing increase in child sexual abuse cases, with an average of 12 children sexually abused daily, totalling 2,227 cases. The comparison with 2021-22 data shows a disturbing upward trend in child sexual abuse cases.”
Workplace harassment
The News highlights that the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) reveals that more than 2,000 complaints were filed between 2018 and 2022 in the government sector and around 1,400 cases in the private sector, involving both men and women.“Due to harassment, a large number of complainants end up leaving their jobs or normalising the harassment and hostile work environment. This discourages women from entering the workforce and restricts them from reaching financial independence”
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New HRCP report reveals human rights violations in Northern Sindh
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has released a fact-finding report titled “Northern Sindh: In Search of Solutions”, detailing violations of human rights in the region.
The report is based upon a mission conducted by HRCP in February 2023 in which the team conducted interviews and consultations in Ghotki, Mirpur Mathelo, Kandhkot, Jacobabad, Larkana and Karachi where they met human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, students, workers, political leaders, government representatives and law enforcement authorities.
The report reveals the lack of law and order, inaccessibility of education and healthcare, and other barriers on basic rights.
Due to lack of shelters for survivors, the conviction rates in gender-based violence including physical and sexual assault, abductions, premature burials and murders, cases are low and hence, violence is high. Many cases, in fact, remain unreported. Existing shelters lack medical care and legal assistance, where victims are kept in unpleasant conditions. The rooms are few while the management and staff lacks sensitivity as they are untrained.
Similarly, religious minorities are at a threat due to discrimination, arbitrary blasphemy accusations and faith-based conversions.
People of the province, especially those residing in kachi abadis, are vulnerable to organised crime, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and exploitative feudal power systems. This too, is linked to poor governance and lack of accountability.Conflicts are further topped by tribal feuds, stagnating the socio-economic development.
And then, the rehabilitation of flood victims and long-term climate sustainability measures are issues still unaddressed.
Over and above, law enforcement personnel and fake FIRs against journalists are used a weapon to stop coverage of human rights violations.
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Average 12 children sexually abused daily, new report says
Sahil, a non-profit organization working for the rights of children in Pakistan, has published a new report, “Six Months Cruel Numbers 2023”, revealing cases of sexual violence reported in the first half of 2023.
A total of 2,227 children have been subjected to sexual violence from January to June this year alone. This means that on an average, 12 kids have suffered sexual violence every day in these months.
The source for Sahil’s data are media reports; the actual number of cases might be higher considering all cases are not documented.
1,207 of the cases are of girls — more than half, 54 percent. While 1,020 of the cases are of boys. In the same period in 2022, the number of girls encountering abuse was the same as 2023, while cases involving boys have risen.Age bracket:
The most vulnerable to abuse are in the age group of 6-15 years, in which more boys than girls were victimised. This age bracket makes up 47 percent of the total cases recorded — 593 boys and 457 girls.
Types of cases:
Cases of abduction are still the most prevalent with 44 per cent, 13 per cent cases of sodomy, 10 per cent of cases of rape and nine per cent of cases of missing children were reported.
53 cases of pornography have also been reported that are being tracked by the Federal Investigation Agency on the dark web. As per the report, 72 per cent of victims were boys and 28 per cent of victims were girls
Abusers:
2,531 abusers have been involved in child abuse in the first six months of 2023. In most cases, they were acquainted or related to the victims or their families.
The abusers were acquaintances in 912 cases, strangers in 498 cases, and both in 215 cases.
Location:
According to the report, between January and June, the crime was committed at the “abuser’s place because the abusers trap innocent children and take them to their places”.
However, in most cases, the place of abuse remained unknown with 31 per cent committed in the streets, 11 per cent at victims’ place, four per cent in fields, and two percent at places of worship.
45 per cent cases were reported from rural areas and 55 per cent from urban areas.
As per provincial breakdown, the highest number of cases, 74 per cent, were reported from Punjab, followed by 14 per cent from Sindh, seven per cent from Islamabad, three per cent from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two per cent from Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.
88 per cent of all the cases were registered with police while 25 cases were either not filed or police refused to register them.
Violence against children:
Sahil also reveal that a total number of 963 cases of accident and/or violence were allegedly reported against the children among who 760 died: 268 drowned, 148 murdered, 144 accidents and 61 children committed suicide.
Highest number reported were from Sindh with 483 cases followed by Punjab in second place with 233 cases.
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Alarming surge in violence against women in Punjab with Lahore at top
A staggering surge has been witnessed in violence against women, with over 10,000 cases reported in the first four months of 2023 alone in Punjab.
Startling data from the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO), a research-based advocacy firm, reveals that 5,551 women were kidnapped during this period, translating to an alarming average of two women abducted every hour.
SSDO, through a ‘Right to Information’ request to the Punjab Police under Article 19-A of the Constitution, collected the data, reflecting an urgent need for policymakers and stakeholders to address the issue and devise targeted measures to combat this growing crisis.
The report revealed that between January 1, 2023, and April 30, 2023, Punjab police registered a total of 10,365 cases of violence against women, alongside 1,768 cases of violence against children. However, the actual numbers may be considerably higher as many incidents go unreported due to social stigma and a lack of trust in law enforcement.
Lahore took the lead with 1,427 reported cases of violence, with one out of every four victims being kidnapped from the provincial capital. Other concerning statistics include 2,818 cases of physical assault, with Lahore as the primary hotspot (504), followed by Sheikhupura (262) and Faisalabad (225).
Additionally, 1,111 cases of rape and 613 cases of human trafficking were documented, with Lahore again topping the list with 139 rape cases and 210 trafficking cases. Faisalabad reported a significant number of rape cases at 117.
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69 per cent of child abuse victims are boys, report reveals
A ‘confidential’ report from the home department has revealed that the number of boys facing atrocities of child abuse is higher than that of girls in Punjab.
Dawn shared the findings of the said report on Friday, revealing that during the first five and a half months of 2023, a total of 1,390 incidents of child abuse were reported in Punjab, among them 69 per cent were boys while 31 per cent were girls.
The report identified several key factors hindering the control of sexual crimes against children and it also provided recommendations to combat them.
The report disclosed that out of all the culprits facing trials in courts in cases of child abuse, 55 per cent were neighbors, 32 per cent were strangers, and 13 per cent were relatives.
Furthermore, the report revealed that Gujranwala region/division reported the highest number of child abuse incidents (220), followed by DG Khan (199), Faisalabad (186), Multan (140), Bahawalpur (129), Sheikhupura (128), Sahiwal (127), Sargodha (103), and others. The Rawalpindi region and Lahore city had the lowest numbers, with 69 and 89 cases, respectively.
“It is also concerning that many cases go unreported. Fear and cultural taboos in our society make it difficult to report such crimes,” read the findings of the report. It underscored that lack of support from family members, friends, neighbors, or the community makes it immensely difficult for the victim to speak up against the abuser.
The home department recommended that the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) play a more active role in child protection. It suggested that the CPWB should have a dedicated team of professionals, including child protection officers, psychologists, law officers, and doctors, to safeguard children from abuse and aid victim rehabilitation.
The report stressed the need for a well-defined coordination mechanism among different stakeholders, including police, parents, CPWBs, and relevant federal and provincial agencies. It strongly recommended that national and provincial legislatures review existing child protection laws and reform the existing apparatus.
The home department has sent the report to the Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) and the Regional Police Officers (RPOs) for strict implementation of provided recommendations.
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Grieving son spent two years of his life at mother’s grave
An Algerian boy has received empathy from thousands of social media users after he was found in a derelict state, living next to his mother’s grave in a local cemetery.
Ismail Beraba, a young man from the province of Adrar in southern Algeria, has been living in the cemetery for years after his mother died.
According to The Gulf report, Ismail’s mother died two years ago, leaving him suffering from intense grief. He decided to live next to his mother’s grave.
The governor of the state of Adrar has instructed the Directorate of Health and Population to take care of Ismael’s medical treatment and to examine him physically and psychologically, to determine the extent of the need for hospitalisation.
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Lahore, do you know what the biggest pollutant in your city is?
The Urban Unit of the Planning and Development Department of Punjab has released a report revealing that over 80 per cent of Lahore’s pollution originates from the transport sector.
Titled “Sectoral emission inventory of Lahore,” the report represents the first comprehensive attempt in the Punjab province to assess atmospheric pollutants resulting from human activities across six developmental sectors.
The report identifies various primary sources of pollution in Lahore. Transportation accounts for 83 per cent of the emissions, making it a significant contributor. The increasing number of registered vehicles in Lahore, including a notable rise in two-stroke vehicles such as motorbikes, scooters, and auto-rickshaws, is a cause for concern.
However, it is worth noting that vehicle figures may be inflated as anecdotal evidence suggests that many vehicles in the Punjab province are registered in Lahore.
In addition to transportation, the burning of crop residues contributes 3.9 per cent to the pollution levels, while waste burning—a common practice in the outskirts of Lahore—accounts for 3.6 per cent.
Furthermore, the report highlights that emissions from the industrial (9 per cent), domestic (0.11 per cent), and commercial (0.14 per cent) sectors primarily result from the consumption of inefficient fuels like coal and diesel oil.
The report also examines the health impact of the pollution in Lahore. The concentration of pollutants in the city’s ambient air exceeds the defined limits of Pollutant Equivalent Quantities (PEQs). Air pollution is currently the most severe form of pollution affecting the residents of Lahore.
Citing the Air Quality Life Index Fact Sheet for Pakistan, the report reveals that if the World Health Organization’s guidelines for an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 5µg/m3 are met, the average life expectancy of Lahore residents could increase by 6.8 years. Moreover, the rising pollution in the city has led to an increase in respiratory diseases.
The report emphasises the broader challenge of air pollution in Pakistan and the subsequent problems it causes. Pakistan’s air quality performance, as assessed by the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) published by Yale University in 2022, ranks 176th out of 180 countries with a score of 5.7 in air quality points. This indicates a decrease of -0.3 compared to the previous report. The World Air Quality Report (2021) by IQAir also ranks Pakistan as the third-most polluted country in terms of air quality.
Additionally, the report highlights the country’s high climate vulnerability and environmental degradation. Rapid urbanization is exacerbating exposure to pollution within Pakistani cities. Urban areas, while significant centers of energy production and atmospheric emissions globally, are particularly susceptible to climate-related disasters.
Major urban centers in Pakistan face challenges such as inadequate waste management, rapid urban sprawl, air pollution, poor access to water and sanitation, and congestion.
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Karachi 6th most affordable city in the world: Report
Karachi has been ranked as the sixth most affordable city in the world in the Worldwide Cost of Living (WCOL) index 2022 by a report published by Economic Intelligence.
The WCOL has ranked Damascus (Syria) as the most affordable city of the world followed by Tripoli (Libya), Tehran (Iran), Tunis (Tunisia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Karachi (Pakistan).
The report lists Singapore as the most expensive along with New York City.
Singapore, bagging the top position for the eighth time in ten years, remains the most expensive in the world, coupled with New York, followed by Tel Aviv (Israel), Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Zurich (Switzerland) in the list of top ten countries.
The survey was conducted between August 16 and September 16, tracking the prices of 200 goods.