Tag: trigger warning

  • Man and woman honour-killed in Kohistan

    Man and woman honour-killed in Kohistan

    A woman and a man were shot dead, allegedly by the woman’s father and brother in the Kolai Pallas area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan district in an act of ‘honour’ killing, reports Dawn.

    The police reached Bar Paro in Kolai Pallas and found two bodies lying in a pool of blood. The deceased were identified as Ubaidullah of Ghato, Sherakot, and Baloo Bibi of Bar Paro, who were allegedly shot dead by her father Angeel and brother Muhammad Islam.

    As per the FIR, the two suspects fled the scene after committing the crime, following which the police launched an investigation.

    In November, a girl was killed allegedly by her father on the orders of a jirga in the Barsharyal area after social media pictures showed her and her friend in the company of two unrelated boys in their village, an act considered taboo in the area. The other girl was rescued by the police.

    A similar incident had been reported a decade ago where five women cheering for a dancing boy in the video were allegedly killed, along with the boy’s four brothers, on the orders of a local jirga. The alleged killings captured international attention, and then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the incident.

  • Father kills son in Peshawar for planting PTI flag at home

    Father kills son in Peshawar for planting PTI flag at home

    A father has allegedly killed his son in Budhbir, a suburb of Peshawar after the younger man put up a PTI flag on the roof of the house following a bitter dispute, BBC Urdu has reported.

    A case has been registered on the complaint of Arifur Rahman, the brother of the deceased Atta-ul-Rehman, in which it is said that the father and son had a repeated and bitter verbal argument on politics, upon which the father got angry and opened fire on his son with a pistol.

    Son Atta-ul-Rehman in Qatar

    Arifur Rahman, the complainant in this case and the victim’s brother, told the BBC that his brother had been living in Qatar and was working as a sanitary worker. His brother had come home to Peshawar after taking a two-month leave and was supposed to return to Qatar in 20 days.

    Arif says that the argument between his father and brother started with the hanging of the PTI party flag on the roof of the house, which escalated to bitter words and his father shot Atta-ur-Rehman in a fit of rage. He was visibly upset when the BBC interviewed him. In his words, his younger brother Atta brought the flag home and put it on the roof, but his father did not like it. According to Arif, his father urged his brother to “vote whoever you want, but raising this flag is not right.”

    Arif says that his younger brother started an argument with his father that it was not a big deal to plant the flag and eventually the argument escalated to such an extent that Noor Rehman pulled out a pistol and fired at his son.

    According to the FIR of this case, Atta-ur-Rehman was being taken to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment, but he died on the way.

    Arif has said that his father had retired from his job some time ago. His father does not seem to belong to any political party, but the Awami National Party is supported in his area and representatives of this party are elected. He says that there is an atmosphere of sadness in the house now. Our breadwinner brother is no more and the whole area is saddened by the incident. Atta-ur-Rehman has been buried. His brother relayed that it was not such a big deal, just that the bitterness in the conversation increased so much that no one understood what happened.

    The father has escaped from the house. SP President Division Abdul Salam Khalid says that raids are being conducted in search of the accused.

  • LUMS student jumps off from 10th floor in Defence

    A 20-years-old man jumped from the tenth floor of a building in Defence B area of Lahore, killing himself instantly.

    Syed Musa was part of a group of about 20 boys and girls who were partying in a flat. Musa may have jumped in a state of intoxication, reports PNN.

    According to 24 Channel, Syed Musa had a fight with a girl during the party and then he jumped off from the fifth storey of a flat in a residential building, located at Penta Square in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase 5 in Lahore. The disagreement escalated and in the heat of the argument, Syed Musa dashed towards the balcony and jumped off from the fifth floor.

    However, Express Tribune reported that whether it was an accident, murder, or a suicide, it is unclear. Musa’s father has registered a case of murder with the police.

    Syed Musa was a resident of Islamabad but was a student of B.Sc in Lahore’s LUMS University.

    Police have detained all the participants in the party and started an investigation.

  • Girl commits suicide from coffee shop’s top floor in Lahore

    Girl commits suicide from coffee shop’s top floor in Lahore

    TW: A young girl jumped from the top floor of a coffee shop in Defence, Lahore, in what is being said was an attempt at committing suicide.

    A report filed by ARY News has said that police officials revealed that the girl fell on the roof of a parked car outside the coffee shop. Rescue officials shifted the girl to the nearest hospital in critical condition.

    According to Propergaanda, The tragic incident took place in The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf of Defence-B area of Lahore. The girl was identified as Esha Jamshaid. According to the police, Esha’s parents stated that she was under mental stress and was on medication when she went to the café with a friend on Monday.

    The video of the girl jumping off the roof has gone viral, prompting people to think about the very pertinent issue of mental health.
    A user wrote, “Psychological issues are main cause of such acts , may Allah create ease for everyone”.

  • Two lac children sexually abused by Spanish clergy, report reveals

    Two lac children sexually abused by Spanish clergy, report reveals

    In a staggering revelation, a 700-page long report released by the Spanish national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo, it has been estimated that over 200,000 minors have been abused by the Roman Catholic clergy since 1940 in the country.

    The poll conducted by the independent commission of over 8,000 people found that 0.6 percent of Spain’s adult population of around 39 million people said that they suffered sexual abuse by members of the clergy when they were still minors.

    “Unfortunately, for many years there has been a certain desire to deny abuses or a desire to conceal or protect the abusers,” said Gabilondo while addressing the press.

    Over the last two decades, the allegations against the Spanish Catholic Church have mounted to a great level often involving children. The report is also critical of the clergy as the response by them was “insufficient” thus, it recommends the state to pay reparations to victims.

    Spain’s parliament in March 2022 overwhelmingly approved the creation of an independent commission led by the ombudsman to “shed light” on allegations of sexual abuse of “defenceless boys and girls” in the Catholic church.

    The church, initially reluctant, said in June that it has discovered 927 cases of child abuse through a complaints procedure launched in 2020, and in response to that it has set up a “child protection” office.

    El Pais, a leading Spanish Newspaper, states in their investigation of 2018 dark facts dating back to 1927 about thousands of victims and alleged abusers. The recent report is dubbed as the “tip of the iceberg” by them.

    The church’s abuse crisis is rampant all across Europe-first surfaced in 2002-and these investigations stir governments to take serious steps to stop the malice. Spain has been leading the effort as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the release of the report was a “milestone” in the country’s democratic history. Child Protection Activist, Juan Cuatrecasas, commented, “This must be the start of something, not an end in itself.”

  • Britney Spears reveals she had an abortion after Justin Timberlake got her pregnant

    Britney Spears reveals she had an abortion after Justin Timberlake got her pregnant

    Pop singer Britney Spears has released excerpts of her upcoming memoir ‘The Woman In Me’ which will explore some of the most controversial moments of her career, including the conservatorship she was placed under by father James Spears.

    A clip from the extracts is going viral on social media where the singer talks about her high-profile relationship with singer Justin Timberlake which lasted from 1999 to 2002. The ‘Womanizer’ singer revealed that she got pregnant by Justin, but was later forced to get an abortion as he was “not happy” about the announcement, believing they weren’t ready to become parents yet.

    Spears wrote that had the choice been up to her, she would not have had the abortion at all.

    “For me, [the pregnancy] wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated. But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young … I don’t know if that was the right decision. If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”

    Britney also addressed the conservatorship by writing: “Thirteen years went by with me feeling like a shadow of myself. I think back now on my father and his associates having control over my body and my money for that long and it makes me feel sick … I became a robot. But not just a robot – a sort of child-robot. I had been so infantilized that I was losing pieces of what made me feel like myself … The woman in me was pushed down for a long time. They wanted me to be wild onstage, the way they told me to be, and to be a robot the rest of the time.”

    ‘The Woman In Me’ is set to release on October 24.

  • Peshawar restaurant owner imprisoned for ‘molesting’ foreign tourists

    Peshawar restaurant owner imprisoned for ‘molesting’ foreign tourists

    The owner of Peshawar’s famous Charsi Tikka restaurant, Nisar Khan, has been arrested by the Shah Gabool Police after videos emerged on social media of him misbehaving with foreign tourists.

    According to ARY, police arrested Nisar after receiving several complaints from foreign tourists, particularly foreign women. A case was lodged against him under the complaint of SI Naeem.

    The police told ARY that Namak Mandi Food Street has attracted foreign tourists and local travellers, while Charsi Tikka is a well known restaurant.

  • TW: FIR registered against landlord for raping maid, forcing her to get abortion

    TW: FIR registered against landlord for raping maid, forcing her to get abortion

    Trigger warning: rape, sexual violence

    A case has been registered against feudal lord, Ali Raza Arain by the Model Town police in Burewala, Punjab, for raping his maid for several months, then forcing her to get an abortion when she got pregnant. According to Express Tribune, Arain raped his maid on gunpoint, recording a video of the act. He allegedly continued to rape her for several months, blackmailing her by threatening to upload the video on social media.

    In the First Information Report (FIR), the survivor said she got pregnant after several months of repeated sexual torture. She was then forced to get an abortion. The survivor filed a case with the Model Town police after which an FIR was registered against Arain.

    The news follows a string of cases of househelpers being abused and tortured by their employees. On July 25, Rizwana, a child domestic helper was beaten by Somia Asim, the wife of a civil judge. In her official statement given to the police on August 18, the survivor recounted how she was beaten with sticks, iron rods and other objects.

    READ MORE: ‘Judge’s wife tortured me daily’: Rizwana speaks up

    In Sindh, the case of a 10-year-old domestic maid, Fatima, grabbed headlines when the child was found dead at the home of a spiritual pir. An autopsy conducted after exhumation of the child’s body showed extensive proof of rape and beatings. Pir Asad Ali Shah, the main suspect, remains in police custody.

    READ MORE: TW: Post mortem report shows 10-year-old Fatima was raped vaginally, anally allegedly by Pir

  • TW: Four rape cases registered in Lahore on August 28

    TW: Four rape cases registered in Lahore on August 28

    TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT.

    In a horrifying case, four women were reportedly raped on August 28 in Lahore, according to Dawn. While First Information Reports (FIR) have been lodged against the suspects, some media reports have stated that the suspects have gotteb pre-arrest bails, while others have not been caught as yet.

    Two of these cases involve the survivor being tricked on the promise of finding a job. A student of class 9, who lives in Old Anarkali, filed an FIR revealing she was gang-raped by two men in a hotel room. The survivor said she met suspect A on social media. He offered her a job abroad and claimed he knew friends who were working in big businesses in other countries. On Aug 28, the suspect offered the survivor to work part-time at a hotel for a couple of months, picking her up from Kalma Chowk, took her to a juice corner, after which she was taken to a hotel belonging to his friend in Gulberg to discuss the job offer. The survivor said she was taken to a room where the suspect and his friend gang-raped her, and made video clips to further blackmail her. The culprits threatened to upload the videos on social media if the survivor filed an FIR.

    Another girl, a resident of Faisal Town, said her friend got her in touch with a man who promised to get her a job. The man picked her up from a restaurant where she was waiting with a friend, along with another man. Both men took the survivor to a house where they gang-raped her, fleeing the scene later. So far, no arrests have been made.

    The third case was from a resident of Amir Town, who said his friend, the suspect, had offered his wife a job to work at a hostel with a handsome salary. On August 28, the FIR states, the wife was out shopping, when the suspect called and asked her to reach a location from where he could take her to the hostel for the job. When the woman reached the given location, the man took her to a house and raped her, and then fled the scene.

    The fourth case was from the Manawan area, where the suspect took a woman to a house to return her Rs 45,000, but instead when the survivor reached the house she was raped and later the suspect escaped.

  • ‘I asked is this related to the motorway incident’: Hadiqa Kiani on motorway rape survivor statement

    ‘I asked is this related to the motorway incident’: Hadiqa Kiani on motorway rape survivor statement

    Intense backlash rose on Monday when journalist Fereeha Idress revealed how the drama ‘Hadsa’ was similar to the horrific motorway rape crime, stressing that the survivor was traumatised after seeing her ordeal being depicted online without her consent. Now actress Hadiqa Kiani has responded to the backlash with a lengthy statement where she clarified that initially while reading the script, she had found a lot of similarities between the crime and the storyline, but agreed to do the project after several discussions with the writer.

    “When I was asked to do the role of Taskeen for Hadsa my first question was ‘Is this related to the motorway incident?’ ‘Is this based off the true incident?’ – I made it clear that I would not do the project if it was based off anyone’s story. The team behind the project explicitly told me ‘No’. After many conversations with the team and only after reading the script I understood that Hadsa was not related to or based off on the motorway story.”

    The ‘Janaan’ singer then shared how necessary she felt it was to do a project like Hadsa which was about how rape was a reality of the world that we live in.

    “These are the realities of the world we live in. I have sadly been exposed to so many stories like this one but I can say that Hadsa is not based off on any one’s story, but based off on a sickly common part of our reality.”

    While we appreciate the fact that Hadiqa recognised the reason behind the backlash and came forward to give her side of the story in, the reality remains that the team behind ‘Hadsa’ should have done a better job in executing such a sensitive topic. If the actress had felt in the beginning while reading the script that it was quite similar to the 2020 crime, it should have been her duty right away to step away from a project that was profitting off from the misery and trauma of a survivor, or even chosen to consult her to keep them in the loop.

    Also, ‘Hadsa’ team should have consulted with experts about depicting sensitive topics- such as calling rape a “misfortune”‘, or displaying acts of violence and sexual abuse so graphically, so that rape and sexual abuse survivors are not forced to relive their trauma.

    Actress Hadiqa Kiani is starring in a new drama series ‘Hadsa’ which depicts the life of a headstrong woman, who is raped while travelling with her son on an empty highway. Many users since the drama began airing, pointed out how the drama’s storyline was similar to the horrifying motorway rape case of 2021, when a woman travelling on motorway with her two children was assaulted and raped by two men infront of her two children. The drama is written by Zanjabeel Asim Shah, and directed by Wajahat Rauf, and stars Aly Khan, Romaisa Khan, Khaqan Shahnawaz.

    Journalist Fereeha Idress, who reported the account of the anonymous survivor, has now taken to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the makers behind ‘Hadsa’ for violating the privacy of the lone survivor, who revealed that the makers, nor the star-studded cast and crew, had approached her for consent on making a drama about a horrifying ordeal she had undergone.

    In a lengthy statement, Fereeha said the survivor, Z, had tried to keep her and her family’s identity protected, after undergoing the trauma, but was once more triggered by the depictions in the show.

    “They have made a drama on my life,” Fereeha tweeted Z told her. “As if I am nothing, no one asked me, it’s same, they are showing the same things, oh my God! Why didn’t I die before reliving this again? You know , I didn’t sleep after the incident for many many nights and it’s all back now, I haven’t slept a wink since I saw this terrible, horrendous depiction of the most terrible moments of my life which I so want to forget. It’s unbearable, I start shivering every day at 5 pm because I know the drama is coming at 7 pm. Why are they doing this to me?”.

    The journalist slammed the creators for forcing the survivor to re-live the trauma and not taking into consideration the ordeal she, her loved ones, including the children had gone through. Rather than allowing her to heal and tell the incident on her own choice, they made a drama out of it.-

    “The moment the drama episode goes on air, all comments start talking about motorway incident. Can’t they let me forget about this? They have followed my life. Isn’t this harassment? How they traced things in my life when I was so clear of keeping everything so private? My in laws must be watching it, my brother in law, my mother, my neighbours, oh my God! No one even cared to ask me? I am not dead yet! Do they want me dead? Can’t I just forget about this and move on?”

    In the next tweet, Fereeha wrote that Z, the survivor, was in extreme distress, speaking to the journalist on the phone. The drama had forced her to re-live the ordeal all over again.

    “My question is when everyone knew I never wanted to come in the limelight, why was I thrown into it again and again? So many known people, celebrities, politicians etc wanted to come and meet me or talk to me post incident, but I always declined because I wanted my privacy and didn’t want anything else but the culprits punished. Is it all about making money? Does no one care what I am going through by this triggered trauma? What my kids and husband will be going through? Do they even know how I am spending my life? Everyday is a struggle. I am being thick skinned and staying alive only for my children. They didn’t even care for my children. Do you know my kids have not forgotten..”

    Z requested the journalist to get the drama stopped, so that she would stopped being approached by public figures or being recognised as the ‘motorway wali’.

    “Can you pls get this drama stopped? Can Pak pls help me stop this? It’s like whole world is watching my misery and pain as I am reliving it. Pls tell them to make this once I am dead, I am alive right now or did they think I would have died? And pls not even after my death as I have children, they can make this after we have all died”

    There has been no response from the makers behind the drama, or from the lead star Hadiqa Kiani and the rest of the actors on this accusation.

    This is not the first time Pakistani dramas have been accused of ripping of the trials and ordeals of survivors, without taking consent from the family members or giving them a portion of the profits earned. Previously, it was Bhaagi, starring Saba Qamar, which was accused for depicting the life of the social media star Qandeel Baloch, without the consent of her family members. As Nighat Dad tweeted the father of the murdered star, Azeem Baba, was informed by other villagers that a drama was made on his daughter’s life.