Posts Tagged ‘Girls’

Rich tributes paid to Poet of East

RAWALPINDI – A speech competition entitled “Iqbal aur Asr-e-Hazir ka Pakistan (Iqbal and contemporary Pakistan)” was organised by Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) in connection with the 74th death anniversary of Poet of East, Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, on Saturday.
On the occasion, Government Degree College for Girls Dhoke Kala Khan Principal Dr Fareha Nighat was the chief guest whereas …

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Militants blow up Khyber school

khyber agency (ahmad nabi) – Militants blew up a state-run school for girls in Ghunadi area of tehsil Jamrud late Thursday, sources said. Extremists fitted explosives to the wall of Muhammad Jankalay Government Girls Middle School that went off, damaging it.
The personnel of law enforcement agencies rushed to the site and arrested seven suspected people, including watchman of the school.  …

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Indian Old Ravians at GCU Demilitarisation at Siachen need of the hour

LAHORE, April 20: Demilitarisation at Siachen is possible and there is a growing feeling among army men as well that people-to-people contact between Pakistan and India should increase to normalise relations and move towards development at a faster pace, said former Indian Wing Commander Iqbal Singh while speaking to reporters at the Government College University here on Friday.

Mr Singh is heading a 12-member Indian Old Ravians delegation that arrived in Lahore from the Wagah border on a five-day visit to participate in the Old Ravians Union annual dinner scheduled for Saturday (today).

Mr Singh said the Gayari sector avalanche tragedy was big and it must never be repeated. He said Pakistan and Indian army forces facing at Siachen should be reduced to minimum and then removed bilaterally.

“My message is that both countries should help each other and become friends. Like civilians, armymen also feel that people-to-people contact should be increased but they cannot
express this feeling publically,” he said.

Mr Singh said he had visited the GCU in 2004 and 2005 and always wanted to come here because “we had spent a good time of our life here”.

Stating that he was at Government College during 1942-46, he said, “We had great living memories of this college and the games at Oval”. In all, he said, there were around 50 living Old Ravians in India and most of them were in Delhi.

Oldest among the delegation was former Maj-Gen Jaidev Singh Datta who said Old Ravians always wanted that relations between Pakistan and India should normalise and become friendly. He said almost 60 to 70 per cent bureaucracy in Pakistan and India comprised Ravians.

Gen Datta said now he could see many girls in the university. “During my time at GC, there were only two girls in my class including G.D Sondhi’s daughter,” he said.

Moina Cheema, wife of Old Ravians Amer Singh Cheema and sister of Wing Commander Iqbal Singh, said it was a home-like feeling as they were in Lahore. She said it was all because of politicians that it was difficult for people to move freely between the two countries.

“Last time, I had visited GCU with my husband and he had showed me his room in the college hostel. It was quite nostalgic to come here,” she said. In Lahore, she said, she used to study at Sacred Heart School.

Maj-Gen SN Talwar (retired) said it was always nostalgic to return where one had spent the best time of one’s life.

He said that he could still remember many hockey matches at Oval, where a lots of referee’s whistles were heard all through the matches.

Earlier, GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khaleequr Rahman welcomed the Indian Old Ravians and lauded that they could plan their trip to Lahore on an invitation.

He said the GCU was following its all old and great traditions including the functioning of various societies.

In order to maintain the old building of the GCU, the VC said, the Higher Education Commission had sanctioned Rs100 million.

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Via DAWN.com

Convert girls choose to go with husbands

ISLAMABAD – Three Hindu girls, who after embracing Islam got married to Muslim boys, announced to live with their husbands and not their families.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday earlier allowed them to decide their future themselves. The girls decided their future at the Registrar Office of the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice ordered the police officials to provide security to the girls. The …

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State of education: Fafen reveals unkempt state of schools

The report released on Sunday revealed that the administration of 57 schools withheld information about the appointment of support staff. However, in schools that divulged information, a 10% average vacancy rate was observed.

As for teaching positions, the average vacancy rate was 9% in 142 schools that shared information.

The average teacher-student ratio of 1:34 in the monitored schools appeared to be satisfactory.

A regional breakdown showed that the lowest number of students per teacher (21) was in a school in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab followed with 27, 30 and 35 students per teacher respectively. However, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), this number was 41 while in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) it was 53 – higher than the government-set limit for primary schools which is 40 students per teacher.

More than half of the schools lacked playgrounds and 51 had no provision of clean drinking water. Furthermore, 50 schools did not have proper seating facilities for students while at least 75% of the monitored schools did not have staffrooms for teachers. On the other hand, 43 schools lacked electricity connections and classrooms of 56 schools had no fans.

On a positive note, 95% schools were housed in proper buildings and 91% had boundary walls. The condition of classrooms was also satisfactory as more than 80% of the schools had classrooms that were clean, well-lit, had black or white boards and chairs and tables for teachers.

In line with the government’s policy, all the schools except for two in Punjab and one in Sindh were providing free textbooks to students.

Government supervision was observed to be quite low. During November 2011 to January 2012, only 79 visits were made by elected government officials to the monitored schools.

Among elected representatives, only one visit was made by a Member of Provincial Assembly while two by other elected representatives. Executive District Officer for Education visited 28 schools while 48 visits were made by other government officials. Most of these visits were routine monitoring visits while some were made for the purpose of supervision and checking the attendance of students and teachers.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2012.

Berlusconi hired strippers in nun, Ronaldinho gear

ROME  – Girls in nun costumes and one wearing a mask of footballer Ronaldinho stripped for Silvio Berlusconi, a witness said Monday at the former Italian premier’s trial for having illegal relations with an underage prostitute.
Model Imane Fadil said the first time she went to a party she was given 2,000 euros ($2,600) in cash by Berlusconi, who told her: “Don’t be …

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Speaking out against forcible conversion

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Pakistani Hindus celebrating the festival of Holi.—AP Photo

LAHORE: Prof Ashok Kumar is not afraid of taking a prominent stance on the Rinkle Kumari issue.

Fear, he says, is secondary compared to what is happening to the Hindu community in Pakistan, in particular Sindh. “We can’t just sit back and watch what our community is going through,” he says.

The recent case of Rinkle Kumari is not altogether an uncommon occurrence. Several young Hindu girls have been kidnapped in the dead of night from their homes, and dragged off to be forcibly converted to Islam, as they and their family members have later alleged. Usually this conversion is accompanied by a signing of the ‘nikahnama’ which strengthens the kidnappers’ side of the story, but still does not provide any kind of proof whether the marriage was done under duress or not.

On Thursday, protesters belonging to the Hindu and Christian communities in Lahore, accompanied by representatives of the Joint Action Committee (a group of social organisations), gathered outside the Lahore Press Club and shouted slogans in response to the slow treatment of the case, venting anger at religious fascism, forcible conversion, and a lack of support from the government.

Ashok Kumar, a professor of Sindhi language in the Linguistics Department of the Punjab University, is one of the protesters.

There are others too, students, professionals, young women, social workers, but the turnout has not been very high.

“We only decided this last night so couldn’t inform everyone on such short notice,” said Shahtaj Qizalbash from AGHS Legal Aid.

But Tanveer Jahan, also a member of the JAC, gives a more direct reply. “When it comes to minority rights, or any such sensitive issue, one just cannot expect any mass participation in Pakistan,” she says.

“You can just forget about the masses.” She says that both sides of the picture are grim – one side which does not support, and only watches the situation passively, while the other side which does come out on the streets but does so for its own vested interests and exploitation. “It is social workers like us who are stuck in the middle.”

“Down with mullah-ism!” shout the protesters, and a small number of drivers slow down on the busy section of the Simla Hill roundabout to see what the commotion is about. While many simply shake their heads and carry on, some are affected nevertheless, like Mehr Muhammad, a contractor.

“It is a sin to take away anyone’s rights like that,” he says, as he stands by watching the protest. “No religion allows this trampling of religious freedom. These girls should not be kidnapped and converted through force…how is it even conversion?” he questions, his brow furrowing over the worrying situation.

But another man has a completely different opinion. “Isn’t it a blessing if anyone is being converted into a Muslim?” he questions.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected two petitions, one filed by Rinkle’s husband, and the other filed by the father of another Hindu girl Dr Lata, from Jacobabad.

The two wanted to meet the girls, but the apex court observed that the two girls should be allowed to make a decision on whether they want to go with their parents or husbands based on a freewill therefore they were sent to Panah, a shelter home run by human rights lawyer Dr Majida Rizvi, where they will stay isolated till the court summons them again. The matter is to be taken up again on April 18.

The matter has been tangled yet further with the alleged involvement of Mian Mithu, a PPP MNA from Ghotki, where Rinkle was kidnapped, and also one Naveed Shah, who was a close associate of Mithu.

“Even when Nafisa Shah and some other PPP MNAs tried to move a resolution against this issue in the assembly, Mian Mithu did not support it,” says Tanveer Jahan. “I simply ask if an FIR has already been lodged against these two then why are they not under arrest?”

Another girl, Asha is still missing and Dr Ashok says: “The state of the Hindu girls being converted is terrible. Since January there have been at least 47 kidnappings. Another point to observe is that this is only happening to young girls, never boys or elders.”

Peter Jacob, worker for minorities’ rights, says this forcible conversion is not restricted to just Hindus and in Sindh. “In the last five years, there have been up to 400 to 500 conversions of Christians. And something equally horrifying, I know of: forcible circumcision of young men in Punjab and one in Balochistan…where are we going, one asks.”

In feudal terms, owning another party’s woman is having the upper hand. That coupled with marriage, gives the perpetrator more strength. No one knows what becomes of many of the girls after being married. Meanwhile, many Hindus feel that they are simply being harassed so they leave the country forever.

“But this is not just an issue restricted to Sindh,” says one. “This protest is meant to be calling out to the whole nation…Why does no one raise their voices for our rights too?” he asks.

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Via DAWN.com

Baby girl’s death shows preference for sons in India

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Reshma Bano wails as she holds the body of her three-month-old daughter Neha Afreen outside a hospital morgue in Bangalore, after allegedly being battered by her father for being born a girl. -AP Photo

NEW DELHI: A three-month-old baby girl that police say was battered by her father who wanted a son died on Wednesday, highlighting the plight of millions of India’s “unwanted girls”.

Neha Afreen died from cardiac arrest at a state-run hospital in India’s tech hub of Bangalore after battling for life for three days.

“We tried our best to revive Afreen but could not succeed and she succumbed to her injuries,” hospital executive Gangadhar Belawadi told AFP.

Afreen was brought to the hospital with head injuries, abrasions and bite marks all over the body, causing national outrage that led to the arrest of her father on Monday.

“My husband was enraged with me for delivering a girl,” Afreen’s mother Reshma Banu told reporters. “He hated her. He wanted me to get rid of the child or abandon her as he wanted a son.”Afreen’s case is the latest in a string of incidents across India where baby girls have been abandoned, tortured or even killed because they were unwanted.

“The cruelty against girls is crossing all limits,” Ranjana Kumari, director of the non-profit Centre for Social Research, told AFP.

“We need to do a lot more to sensitise the society towards the worth of girls and severely punish people guilty of such crimes.”In March, an abandoned two-year-old girl died at a New Delhi hospital after suffering horrific injuries, including broken arms and a smashed skull.

Last week, a newborn baby girl in western Jodhpur was abandoned as her parents fought for the custody of a baby boy handed to them by mistake.

The parents insisted the baby was not their child and only accepted her after 11 days when the results of a DNA test were shown to them.

Married women in patriarchal India face huge pressure to produce sons who are seen as breadwinners and carers for their parents.

Girls are often viewed as a burden in traditional families as they require hefty dowries to be married off and the practice of aborting female foetuses is rampant.

The preference for male children has led to a huge and alarming gender imbalance, with 2011 census data showing just 914 girls per 1,000 boys across India — much behind the global benchmark of 952.

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Via DAWN.com

CM attaches top priority to education of women

LAHORE – Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that his government is attaching top priority to the education of women as it is a prerequisite for progress and setting up of a civilized and balanced society. He said that besides big cities, measures have also been taken in far-flung areas for the education of girls.
He said that in addition to provision of quality education to …

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Kidnapping case registered

LAHORE– City police have registered a case against unknown persons for kidnapping two girls, who went missing under mysterious circumstances from Samanabad area, police sources said on Monday.
The complainant told the police that two girls, identified as Aqsa and Mahrukh, went to their school situated in Pakki Thatti area on April 5 but did not return. They alleged the girls had been …

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Seven million children out of primary school

This is especially significant at a time when militants are blowing up schools across the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by ongoing military operations, depriving children from tribal agencies access to education.

An estimated 7.3 million primary school-aged children in Pakistan do not attend school, depriving them of their right to education, and preventing them from reaching their full potential.

A special focus is being placed on enrolling girls, who represent 57 per cent of primary school-aged children who are out of school.

Around 20 million children in Pakistan, including those of primary school age, are not in school.

“The realisation of Pakistan’s vision for social and economic development depends on the success of its education system,” said Unicef Pakistan Representative Dan Rohrmann.

“Investing in children and their education is both a right in principle and in practice due to the positive impact it has on socio-economic dimensions. It is therefore vital that all children in Pakistan, both boys and girls, have the opportunity to attend and complete their schooling,” he added.

Girls from poor families in rural areas receive just over one year of education, on average, compared with boys from wealthy urban families who receive an average of more than nine years of education.

The 18th constitutional amendment has provided an added opportunity to realize this right as article 25 a requires the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and 16, as determined by law.

“The disparities in education are influenced by multiple factors such as wealth, gender, ethnicity, geographic location, early learning opportunities, access and quality of learning,” said Rohrmann.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2012.

Militants blast girls school

Ghallanai – Militants blasted a govt run girls primary school with explosives here on Friday. According to details, unidentified militants had planted explosives in govt girls primary school located in Lakrro area, tehsil Sasi of Mohmand Agency which exploded early Friday morning. The school building was partially damaged due to the blast. However, no causality or injury was reported as the …

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Hamza for charter of development

LAHORE – The loot and corruption of Zardari government has deprived the masses of the fruits of democracy, said PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz while addressing the laptop distributing ceremony at the Fatima Jinnah Girls Degree College Chuna Mandi here on Friday.
The PML-N leader urged upon all political parties to sign the “Charter of Development” with the help of competent and …

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Militants blast girls primary school in Mohmand Agency

Anti-literacy militants blasted a government run girls primary school with explosives here in Mohmand Agency on Friday.
According to details, unidentified militants had planted explosives in govt girls primary school located in Lakrro area, tehsil Sasi of Mohmand Agency which exploded on early Friday morning.
The school building was partially damaged due to the blast. However, no causality or …

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With government unable to solve their problems, Hindus boycott state sponsored Holi

ISLAMABAD: Unhappy with government inaction over rising cases of forced conversion, abduction for kidnapping, the Hindu community on Tuesday boycotted all government sponsored functions planned for Holi celebrations across the country.

Representatives of the minority community approached the ministry of Interfaith Harmony and formally conveyed them their decision and asked the ministry to cancel all Holi-related festivities.

Akram Gill, minister for Interfaith Harmony, confirmed the development and said that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) members in the National Assembly Ramesh Lal, Lal Chand and Dr Mahesh Kumar and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Manohar Lal approached the ministry.

Quoting these minority members of the parliament, Gill said, “We are disheartened at the unprecedented incidents of forceful conversions, abductions for ransom and killings of Hindu community members in Sindh.” In protest, they asked for the cancellation of Holi-related programs.

Dr Paul Bhatti, the Advisor to the prime minister for National Harmony, told The Express Tribune that the Parliamentary Secretary of Interfaith Ministry Reena Kumari had also suggested the cancellation of Holi-related functions scheduled for March 18 (Holi).

Kumari said that throughout the country, the Hindu community was not celebrating Holi in its true spirit due to the injustices they were subjected to.

“We accepted the decision of the majority and cancelled our planned programmes on the occasion of Holi in honour of the Hindu community,” said Dr Bhatti and Gill.

PPP Hindu members disappointed with party members

Araish Kumar of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) said that his community members were in trouble and large scale migration is underway.

He said that currently there were around 100 families in Delhi even as their visas neared expiration. Citing visa regime obstacles between India and Pakistan, he said that thousands of Hindus are waiting to migrate to India.

In a meeting with MNA Lal Chand, Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah had telephoned the relevant quarters for security to be provided to the Hindu community but to no avail, he revealed.

Meanwhile, MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar said that there is a law and order situation in the province of Sindh.

He revealed his concern about the alleged negative role of his party co-worker, MNA Mian Mitho of Bharchondi Sharif for the forceful conversion of Hindu girls. “I also talked against my party MNA on the floor of the assembly and I also discussed the matter with my party leadership,” he said.

Referring to a number of incidents of target killing, MNA Kishan Chand Parwani held the government responsible for the crimes. “At least the government should keep an eye on its own party members,” he demanded, alleging local PPP leaders were involved in the murder of four Hindu doctors in Shikarpur but the government had failed to take any action against them.

“I think the PPP is not sincere over the minorities’ issues despite fetching 85 per cent of the minorities’ votes,” Parwani lamented.

Ramesh Lal of the PPP, however, was reluctant to talk on the issue, sidestepping the question by saying he was busy with preparations of the death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Larkana.

‘State of education emergency’: 3 million children out of school in K-P

“This is really a state of education emergency,” said Thomson, while speaking at the launch of the ‘K-P school enrolment campaign 2012’ in Peshawar.

The project, which aims to enrol over 800,000 children in school by 2015 in addition to building more than 2,000 classrooms, is being provided for by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

“Education is the single most important factor that can transform this province’s future,” Thomson emphasised.

The drive was formally launched by K-P Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti after he enrolled one Aurangzeb, son of Mohammad Hamza, in the Nasir Bagh Primary School.

Hoti asked the donors to strictly monitor the efficacy of the programme so that projects are completed on time and in a transparent manner.

‘Foundation of enlightened societies’

Reflecting upon the importance of female literacy in the province, Hoti asserted that after peace had been restored in Swat, girls had been able to go back to schools that had earlier been destroyed by militants.

“Educated mothers lead to enlightened societies,” he said.

“We will utilise all resources to promote education in K-P. Opening 100 schools in partnership with private firms in areas that have no middle or high schools is also a goal,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, DFID Pakistan Chief George Turkington said that it was alarming that seven million people in the province were illiterate while children who should have been in primary school were not enrolled.

A DFID statement said that the UK government will also build around 2,000 literacy centres to teach women how to read and write.

In recent years, the UK has helped around 590,000 girls to continue with their education by granting cash stipends.

Each girl receives Rs200 a month as well as a set of free textbooks in return for attending school for four days throughout the week.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2012.

FDE declares centralised examinations results

ISLAMABAD – The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) announced results of Class-V centralised annual examination 2012 and scholarship examination of grade-VIII 2012 Thursday.
The prize distribution ceremony was held at Islamabad College for Girls, F-6/2, wherein Joint Educational Advisor Rafique Tahir distributed prizes among the position holders.
The Directorate announced results and 450 …

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