On Sunday, a man from Gujranwala, Punjab, named Ateeq burned his wife alive for not giving birth to a son, reports ARY. The incident took place in the Kot Shekju area of Gujranwala. He had three daugthers.
The man’s sister-in-law allegedly supported him in the crime. According to authorities, after killing his wife, Ateeq fled the scene with his three daughters.
Meanwhile, the deceased woman’s body has been taken to a nearby hospital for a post-mortem examination. In addition, the police have filed a murder charge against Ateeq under section 302 of Pakistan’s penal code.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Lahore, Dr Atiya Sultan has assured full security to the Aurat March Lahore. “After the disposal of our petition, we had an excellent meeting with ADC Dr Atiya Sultan who assured us of full security for the March in Lahore. We are grateful for women in public office who pave the way and understand our movement and its importance,” a tweet from the official Twitter account of Aurat March Lahore, read.
After the disposal of our petition, we had an excellent meeting with ADC Dr. Atiya Sultan who assured us of full security for the March in Lahore. We are grateful for women in public office who pave the way and understand our movement and it’s importance.#MarchTuHogapic.twitter.com/abE2AcJpH8
It is pertinent to mention here that, Aurat March Lahore filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) asking the court to protect its right to hold a women’s march petition in Lahore High Court (LHC). Earlier today, LHC observed that the administration has not stopped the Aurat march.
The Lahore High Court in our petiton Nighat Said Khan and others v. Government of Punjab has observed that the administration has not stopped us from marching.
Aurat March Lahore, in a statement on Sunday, said that on March 4, Lahore’s additional deputy commissioner issued directions to Civil Lines SSP to hold a meeting with the organizers and ask them not to take out the march.
United States embassy has nominated Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Amna Baig for International Women of Courage award. She was nominated during an event held to mark the 30th anniversary of the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, hosted by US Embassy Charge d’affaires Angela P Aggeler.
Amna Baig is in charge of the law enforcement’s Gender Protection Unit – a government initiative to facilitate women and transgender individuals in their fight against discrimination and injustice.
Chargé d’ affaires a.i. Angela P. Aggeler hosted a reception in honor of Ms. @amnaappi & the #16Days campaign. CDA Aggeler highlighted Assistant Superintendent Baig’s advocacy for human rights & gender equality for all women in Pakistan. Her work is an inspiration to us all. pic.twitter.com/M6sZTUc3c8
The award recognises women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.
“Even though gender-based violence is pervasive, it is not inevitable,” Charge d’affaires Aggeler said at the event. She also added that it was in this spirit that the embassy nominated ASP Baig for the award.
“It can and must be prevented. This is why we take this time each year to reinvigorate our efforts against gender-based violence and to call for greater collective and individual action to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women.”
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.
The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice, chaired by Senator Syed Ali Zafar, on Wednesday approved the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trail) Bill, 2021 stipulating the formation of special courts to hear rape cases.
The National Assembly passed the bill on June 10 after that it was moved by Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem on June 15. It will now be tabled in the Senate for approval, as perDAWN.
The Senate standing committee for Law & Justice passed the Anti-rape(investigation & trial) Bill. A great win for women across Law Minister @Farogh_NaseemPK & PM @ImranKhanPTI are the real force behind this. Credit to members of opposition members for a constructive role.
The provision of the virginity test has been removed.
If one is proven guilty, they could face a death sentence, life imprisonment, or undergo chemical castration.
Investigation officials could also face a penalty if they tried to mislead case proceedings in any capacity.
The suspects will be provided facilities to prove their innocence.
Instead of retired ones, serving judges will be appointed to the special courts.
Opposition reaction
PPP’s Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar suggested that the parliament must monitor the performance of special courts means that the legislature could make changes to the law if issues continue to transpire.
His party mate Raza Rabbani said he didn’t believe that constitution of special courts was required for hearing rape cases.
Furthermore, Azam Nazeer Tarar of the PML-N said similar courts were also established in the past, but they didn’t very helpful.
Prior to this last year after the motorway incident, President Arif Alvi approved the anti-rape ordinance and had said that special courts would be established throughout the country for speedy trials of sexual assault suspects. The courts would have to wrap up the cases within four months.
A case challan has been prepared by the Homicide Investigation Unit of the Kohsar police station in Noor Mukadam murder case. In the case challan, they found Zahir Jaffer guilty of murdering Noor. In addition, Jaffer’s parents, Therapy Works CEO, and other suspects have been named as accomplices of the prime suspect, Samaa has reported.
The challan will be presented next week before an Islamabad sessions court. In the challan, the police has requested the court to give strict punishment to Zahir.
Earlier, Noor’s father filed a petition in the high court against bails granted to Therapy Works CEO Tahir Zahoor and five employees in his daughter’s murder case. Sessions court in Islamabad had granted bail to six members of Therapy Works, who were called by Zahir’s mother to go over to the house after the murder took plac
Women’s Action Forum (WAF) has condemned the “reprehensible attack” at Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore. The statement of condemnation came a day after FIR was registered against 400 unidentified men for assaulting a woman.
“This is yet another painful reminder that women and girls are not safe in Pakistan, and that public spaces are increasingly becoming breeding grounds for harassment, violence, and abuse inflicted upon women. We are horrified by the inhumane behaviour the men at Minar-e-Pakistan displayed and that too on Independence day, which reflects the free reign men in this country possess to behave violently without facing any form of accountability,” the press release shared by the forum stated.
The statement also shed light on the irresponsible reporting of the incident by the local media. “Interviews given by the survivor on digital media has clearly shown how trauma is also being used to create sensationalism and it is important to remember that clips of her being mass groped may continue to haunt her in years to come.”
The forum called on Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar, IGP Punjab Inam Ghani and DC Mudassir Riaz Malik “for their blatant neglect towards women’s safety in public spaces, and for failing to provide the adequate measures that should have been in place to prevent such a dreadful incident from occurring.”
The forensic report prepared by Punjab Forensic Agency has revealed that Zahir Jaffer raped and tortured Noor before murdering her, SAMAA has reported. The report has been submitted to the Islamabad police.
As per Punjab Forensic Agency the CCTV footage obtained from Zahir Jaffer’s house showed both him and Noor Mukadam in the same premises and Jaffer’s fingerprints were present on the murder weapon.
Postmortem examination of Noor’s dead body was conducted 12 hours after her murder.
Earlier, Investigators in Noor Mukadam’ s murder case who are checking the call logs of Zahir’s mother — Asmat Jaffer , revealed that Asmat called the head of Trillium Information Security Systems, a private Rawalpindi-based security firm, several times on the day of Noor’s gruesome murder on July 20, reports Zahid Gishkori for The News.
As per journalist Fereeha idress, that Cause of death of Noor mukadam was beheading.
My blood is boiling, my heart is bleeding and my eyes are in tears after reading the detailed and extremely disturbing report of post mortem of #NoorMukadam . Cause of death is beheading so far, but extreme torture reflected via marks on thighs, knees and other parts of bodies.
District and sessions court in the Federal Capital on Monday extended the judicial remand of Zahir Jaffer’s parents till August 23 in the Noor Mukadam murder case.Interior Minister Sheikh has announced that Zahir Jaffer and his parents’ names have been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Investigators in Noor Mukadam’ s murder case are checking the calls logs of Zahir’s mother — Asmat Jaffer — who called the head of Trillium Information Security Systems, a private Rawalpindi-based security firm, several times on the day of Noor’s gruesome murder on July 20, reports Zahid Gishkori for The News.
Asmat Jaffer, who was in Karachi at the time of the murder, was also in contact with her son at 7:29pm. Noor’s murder reportedly took place between 6:30 and 7:30pm.
Shortly after this call, Zahir contacted Trillium Security’s head at 7:30pm for five minutes after which Asmat spoke to the head of the firm at least thrice. Not only this, several people that she was in contact have confirmed that she was actively moving between Karachi’s DHA, Clifton and Shaheed-e-Millat Road area and reached out to multiple people at this time. According to The News, Zahir’s mother communicated over 200 times with numerous people: her servant, neighbours in F-7/4, a few influential individuals, a security company, capital police, a welfare trust, four private firms, her immediate family members and periodically with her son, the suspected killer, officials and people involved in the case said.
These strange calls started peaking in the afternoon of July 20. She made frequent calls to Zahir a dozen times. However, the nature of these calls hasn’t been disclosed yet.
“I have nothing to do with what happened [at Jaffer House]. These are absolutely false findings. Whatever the folks are saying is incorrect, as I have no connection with this [Noor Mukadam] murder,” Trillium Information Security Systems’ owner told Gishkori.
The court denied bail to Zahir’s parents. Asmat Jaffer arrived at Quaid-e-Azam International Airport, Karachi, at 6:30am on July 21, throughout on call. Upon her arrival, she did not go to her family home. She went straight to sector F-8 for a few hours, before going to a friend’s house in sector F-6.
Cases like Noor Mukadam’s makes us wonder: what happened to the murderers and rapist of the major violence against women cases in Pakistan? We follow up on seven major cases in Pakistan.
Motorway Gang Rape Case- 2020
In September 2020, a woman was gang-raped at gunpoint in Lahore’s Gujjarpura area in the presence of her children after her car ran out of fuel. She was waiting for help on the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (M-11).
What happened to the rapists?
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in March 2021 awarded a death sentence to prime accused and co-accused – Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali – in the motorway gang-rape case. The court also awarded life imprisonment to both convicts under the charges of abduction and 14-years imprisonment to each accused under the charges of robbery. They are currently serving their sentences in prison.
Zainab Ansari-2018
Zainab, who was only six years old, was raped and killed in Kasur. Her body was found in a rubbish dump.
What happened to the convict?
Imran Ali, 24, was convicted over the death of Zainab was sentenced to death was hanged in October 2018.
Khadija Siddiqi-2016
A law student, Shah Hussain, stabbed his class fellow, Khadija Siddiqi, 23 times in Lahore in May 2016.
What happened to the convict?
Shah Hussain was sentenced to jail for five years but he was released from jail on July 17 2021 without completing his five-year jail term. He got a 1.5-year remission for “good character and blood donation”.
Kainat Soomro-2007
In 2007, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Kainat Soomro, was kidnapped and gang-raped for four days in her native village of Mehar in Sindh. After she spoke out against her rapists, the village elders decided that she should be killed for bringing dishonour to her family.
What happened to the convict?
Her parents rejected the decision; her brother was subsequently killed and her sister was divorced. She lost the court case against her rapists. The court ruled that the accused were innocent, stating that there was no corroborative evidence available on record. All four men accused of Kainat’s rape were hence acquitted.
Dr Shazia Khalid-2005
In January 2005, Dr Shazia Khalid, an employee of a state-owned natural gas firm, was raped in Sui (Balochistan). She was working at the company’s hospital for the past 18 months while living alone in heavily guarded government-provided accommodation.
What happened to the convict?
The rapist of Dr Shazia Khalid, Captain Hammad, was declared innocent by Former Army Chief and Dictator Pervez Musharraf and no inquiry report on the subject was made public.
Mukhtaran Bibi-2002
Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped by order of her tribal council as punishment for her younger brother’s alleged relationship with a woman from another clan.
What happened to the convicts?
In August 2002, an anti-terrorism court sentenced six out of the 14 accused persons to death. Four of them were sentenced for rape, while the other two were convicted as being members of the village council. Eight others were released.
In 2005, the Lahore High Court acquitted five, and subsequently released, of the six convicts while one person’s death penalty was converted to life imprisonment. Mai challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, but her appeal was rejected in 2011.
Farhana (Veena)- 1991
November 1991: Farhana, known as a friend of Benazir Bhutto, was assaulted, raped, and tortured for 12 hours at gunpoint by five men. What happened?
A court case was filed against Irfanullah Khan Marwat for being behind the rape. No evidence was found against Marwat. After Marwat’s acquittal, Farhana moved out of Pakistan.
