Finally khanabadosh gets the place!

Everyone of us try utmost to turn our dreams into reality and when they come true, one cannot express immense happiness into words. One such dream of Amar Sindhu, who is writer, women rights activist and teacher in Sindh University Jamshoro, turned into reality with establishment of Khanabadosh Writers Cafe at Sindh Museum, Hyderabad.

Having an idea of creating a space for the writers, intellectuals, poets, creative people, Amar Sindhu along with Arfana Mallah, who is also women rights activist and teacher at SU, and her team strived hard and finally she succeeded.

The idea is similar to that of Lahore's Pak Tea House and Karachi's The Second Floor (T2F), where creative people meet, share their ideas, debate on all issues including politics without any fear or restrictions.

Khanabadosh cafe was formally inaugurated in a wonderful and colorful ceremony, which was largely attended by writers, poets, intellectuals, journalists and people from different walks of life. Amongst others Naseer Mirza, Imdad Hussaini, Sehar Imdad, Tanveer Junejo, Khalid Khokhar, Taj Joyo, Qalander Shah Lakiyari and graced the event with their presence. Renowned poetess Rubina Abro shared her thoughts and poetry in the event, hosted by Arfana Mallah. Later, a musical night started with Shah Abdul Latif's sufi poetry by the performers of Bhittai's shrine, while Agha Sanaullah and Rajib Faqeer entertained the people by their melodious voice.

The cafe's place was obtained by the Culture Department, Government of Sindh, on rent and it remains opened from 11 AM to 11 PM.

Having a place like Khanabadosh in Hyderabad, where no such place exists, will prove helpful to dream collectively for the progress of society and will also bring out creativity in new comers specially the youth.

Previously, new comers specially the youth hardly find a place, where they can express themselves freely, but Khanabadosh is providing them the opportunity to not only express themselves but to also have interaction with renowned intellectuals to learn from their experiences.

Besides playing the role of launching pad for the young generation, such places can also lead to revolutions, political moments as they provide an opportunity to gather, discuss and share the ideas with each other.

Despite financial constraints and other problems, Amar Sindhu and her team took this initiative to revive the glories of past cafes and i wish them all the very best to take the Khanabadosh Cafe to the new heights and explore young creative people as it says in its slogan "Khanbadosh Writers Cafe-where creativity meets".

This write-up has also been published in Online Indus News.

Below is the link: 

http://www.onlineindus.com/finally-khanabadosh-gets-the-place/

Sabeen Mahmud- The voice of voiceless

Sabeen Mahmud, a courageous woman, a human rights defender, an inspiration, NGO  worker, a voice of voiceless people, I am speechless and clueless as to what to call her.

It was very shocking to know about murder of Sabeen Mahmud, Director The Second Floor (T2F), in Karachi, soon after hosting a dialogue on Balochistan at her office.

When I recall my meeting with her sometime ago at T2F, I found Sabeen Mahmud very sophisticated, polite, open minded and intelligent lady. A brave woman who takes decisions boldly and fight with guns alone. Sabeen loved books and believed in freedom of speech. She was also firm believer of technology as her biggest weapon to promote and fight for human rights.

During talk with her about journalism and professional work, Sabeen was very informative and a true mentor. Despite being a director of an organization, she was very down-to-earth woman and I was really very inspired by her.

In her last days, Sabeen was working on the Balochistan issue. A person, who held "Un-Silencing Balochistan" was silenced forever with the force of guns. The one who was talking about the missing persons, included herself in that list.

Her last event was attended by Mama Qadeer from Balochistan and Wusatullah Khan from BBC, in which the issue of missing persons, injustices in Balochistan were thoroughly discussed. This brave daughter of Pakistan dared to break the silence of Balochistan, aimed at highlighting the injustice with the Balochi people, but it seems this issue has become prohibited, that the one who talks about it is forced into silence.

In our country, those who raise their voice on freedom of expression, human rights, promote free speech are killed. Such list included rights activists Rashid Rehman, Parveen Rahman and now Sabeen Mahmud.

Though Sabeen Mahmud was silenced into death but she has become the voice of the world. She is a flame, which cannot be extinguished.  Her mission of bringing good name to Pakistan will be continued by other energetic and bold people like her. Sabeen will always be remembered, though, she is brutally silenced but we will not remain silent and will not allow the authorities to forget her.

This write-up has also been published in Online Indus News.

Below is the link: 

http://www.onlineindus.com/sabeen-mahmud-the-voice-of-voiceless/

Women also have right to live!

Allah made human beings with equal rights irrespective of gender. Both men and women have same  dignity, respect and treatment as defined in Islam. The Article One of the "Universal Declaration of  Human Rights (UDHR)" stated that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.  They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of  brotherhood."

 Nowadays, incidents of malpractices against girls and women have been increasing. Cases of torture,  rape, vani, karo-kari have been reported in the media. One recent case of vani was reported from Goth  Jam Samejo of Daharki in Ghotki district, where a jirga gave verdict of handing over a 7-year-old  orphan girl named Rabail as penalty to settle a dispute of just one acre of land.

Vani is a cultural custom wherein girls are compulsorily married as part of punishment for a crime committed by their male family members or to settle any dispute.

Just imagine for a second, how would you feel, if you are given to the rival party as penalty to settle dispute. One cannot bear the pain even for the seconds, but that young girl Rabail had to face it for her whole life. The young girl does not even know as to what is happening to her and how the cruel jirga system decided her fate.

The decision taken by jirga in Ghotki was shameless and is contrary not only to the teachings of Islam but also to Article 5 of UDHR, which stated that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

In different parts of the country, females continue to experience violence, inequality and injustice. Not only in remote areas but also in some urban localities, girls and women are not even given right to live according to their own wish and will. Despite having many laws and declarations, they cannot even claim their basic rights.

Such ill-practices like vani, also known as sawara, ultimately spoil the lives of women. These outdated customs are the result of disorder and mindsets of men, who treat women as commodity to settle down their disputes.

In the present era of modern technology and development, still many people behave like cave man by disgracing the women and snatching their basic rights.  The irony of the fact is approximately fifty percent of such cases neither published in newspapers not flashed in the electronic media.

Even after mass awareness campaigns, seminars against the issue of 'Vani' and other ill practices, such incidents are happening and the culprits involved in these heinous crimes go unchecked.

Laws against violence and ill practices against women will no longer serve if there is no proper and effective implementation. This also needs educating and creating awareness amongst those sitting in power or making policies, so that these outdated customs can be eliminated from our society.

Pakistan is already having bad reputation in terms of human rights and now the increasing violence and injustices against women is adding bad name to it. Provision of all basic rights to the womenfolk is the next thing to discuss, but before all that, at least the women should be considered as human. Everyone should realize the fact that they also have their right to live.

This write-up has also been published in Online Indus News.

Below is the link: 

http://www.onlineindus.com/women-also-have-right-to-live/

I wish I could delete December 16th

I wish I could delete the 16^th Dec 2014 from the calendar, from our memories and from the history of Pakistan. Many things are coming into mind but thoughts are so shattered that I feel helpless to express into words,

Whenever I saw the pictures of students on TV, newspaper and social media, pain, tears, anger, helplessness-everything arises.

These flower-like children do not deserve such brutality. They deserved a long, happy, prosperous and successful life. Not only these kids, but also the staff members, who were martyred in the worst brutal attack, do not deserve to be butchered by terrorists. Many dreams, many plans, many wishes and promises-everything buried along with these martyred.

Some of them had plans of enjoying cricket match, going out with friends, spending cheerful winter vacations after a few days, promises to achieve positions in exams etc….all this gone in seconds. Such plans, promises can never be fulfilled. Those who were saying good-bye to their fellows during farewell party, said good-bye to the world and left everyone is tears and heartfelt pain forever.

Pictures showing the situation of inside the Army Public School, Peshawar can clearly tell that brutality were at its peak as the terrorists killed everyone mercilessly. Blood stained copies, bags, shoes, papers-everything indicated that these students as well as staff members could not get chance to even understand as to what is happening, before being murdered.  

Also those who had seen the death so close, getting back them to normal life is the biggest challenges. The time they spent with their friends will be difficult for them to forget. Everyone inside the country as well across the globe is mourning the deaths and strongly condemning the attack and offer prayers for the martyred and those who are injured.

The entire nation is united in this time of extreme grief and pain, also ban on execution of death penalty also removed by the government. But this is not enough, it is high time to raise your voice and press the government to immediately implement on it and start hanging all these murderers of humanity publicly. Though, it would not bring back the martyrs, but would give a clear message to extremists that now Pakistan and its people will not tolerate any brutality anymore.  

 (Acknowledgment-Reuters photo used)

Aasoo Kolhi-The real Malala

No one can deny the importance of education for progress and development of the nations. Even our Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that “Get Education from cradle to grave”. No matter what the difficulties are faced, need of getting education has been emphasized by everyone.
 
Connecting with the context, a brave girl named Aasoo Kolhi is the real example and inspiration for us, who established her own school in her village Mina Ji Dhani, Umerkot District, to educate children of her area despite all odds and challenges.

Aasoo Kolhi lost her legs in her childhood, and she is the only female of her village, who will complete her graduation in the near future. Imparting over 200 students in her school without any government support or NGO funds, Aasoo Kolhi set an example for the world that when there is a will, there is a way.

Having an aim to complete her father’s dream to see her becoming a teacher, Aasoo strived hard and it is because of her passion and determination, that she could be able to contribute towards the education section in such a wonderful and inspiring way.

After knowing the circumstances and problems faced by Aasoo, I would confidently say that she is hope for all and the real Malala of Sindh.

Now, the Government should establish a building for school after Aasoo Kolho’s father name as per her wish and she should be appointed there as government teacher, so that she can continue her mission without further difficulties.

Iran Executes Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26-Year-Old Woman Who Killed Her Rapist

Iran has executed 26-year-old Reyhaneh Jabbari, who had killed a man who tried to rape her, despite repeated calls by rights activists for her release.

An Iranian henchman hanged Jabbari at dawn, ending her seven-year jail life awaiting execution.

Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for stabbing an intelligence officer who reportedly tried to sexually assault her.

Jabbari's mother had been informed of her daughter's impending execution. She met Jabbari in the prison for nearly an hour on the day before the execution though the exact place where she was hanged was not revealed.

More than one hundred people including family members and friends gathered outside Gohardasht prison in Karaj city where she was kept, according to local reports.

"Time is running out for Reyhaneh Jabbari, the authorities must act now to stop her execution. Applying such a punishment in any circumstances is an affront to justice, but doing so after a flawed trial that leaves huge questions hanging over the case only makes it more tragic," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa with the Amnesty International, had said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch had also urged Iranian authorities to stop the execution.

Reported by
International Business Times

Another letter to Editor on Local Bodies Elections published in Daily Times...!

 LB elections: need of the hour

Sir: It is unfortunate that an unelected dictator held Local Bodies (LB) elections, but the elected democratic government could not hold these elections in its five-year rule. Article 140-A of the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan says, “Each Province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments.” Being a citizen of Pakistan, I have a firm belief in the fact that elected local bodies are the foundation of democracy and an integral part of it. Democracy in any country cannot grow further if participation of its citizens in decisions which directly affect their daily lives is not ensured through an institutional system. Majority of the people support and have more faith in the local governments than the provincial and federal governments. The success of the local bodies system possibly lay in the fact that councillors were more easily accessible and ready to take on challenges than MPAs, MNAs, DCs and other bureaucrats. It is demanded of the federal government to fulfil its promise of continuity and protection of LB system and announce a date for holding three-tier LB polls in all three provinces. It is further demanded that LB elections be held under the Election Commission of Pakistan so that international standards can be ensured during the elections. These elections should be held on a party basis because the political parties have a central position in the democratic setup and unless these political parties become organized and strong at the grassroots level, democracy cannot be strengthened. It is also demanded of the government not to delegate magistracy powers to the Executive Officers such as DCOs, etc, because it will directly affect the independence of the judiciary, while the judiciary should be free from all political and government influence.
SHEERIN SOOMRO
Karachi

 Below is the link:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\07\26\story_26-7-2013_pg3_7

Friday, July 26, 2013

Local matters Elected local bodies are the foundation of democracy. It cannot grow if participation of citizens in the decision-making process is not ensured. People support, and have more faith in, local governments because elected members of local bodies are easily accessible in comparison with MPAs, MNAs, DCs and other bureaucrats. It is unfortunate that while unelected dictators had held LG elections in the country, elected democratic governments could not do it during their tenures. It is hoped that the PML-N government will hold LB polls in all the four provinces. Ideally, LB elections should be held under the supervision of the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure fairness and transparency. Moreover, these elections should be held on party basis because political parties have a central role in a democratic setup. Democracy cannot strengthen unless these parties are well-organized and strong at the grass-roots level. Sheerin Soomro Karachi

Below is the link:

http://images.thenews.com.pk/26-07-2013/ethenews/e-192444.htm

My Letter to Editor on LG System published in Daily Sindh Express...!

 Below is the link:

 http://www.sindhexpress.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=130056485&Issue=NP_HYD&Date=20130726

First Pakistani women paratroopers make history

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's first group of female paratroopers completed their training, the military announced, hailing it as a “landmark achievement” for the country.

Captain Kiran Ashraf was declared the best paratrooper of the batch of 24, the military said in a statement, while Captain Sadia, referred to by one name, became the first woman officer to jump from a MI-17 helicopter.

Women have limited opportunities in Pakistan's highly traditional, patriarchal society. The United Nations says only 40 per cent of adult women are literate, and they are frequently the victims of violence and abuse.

But in 2006 seven women broke into one of Pakistan's most exclusive male clubs to graduate as fighter pilots -- perhaps the most prestigious job in the powerful military and for six decades closed to the fairer sex.

After three weeks' basic airborne training, which included exit, flight and landing techniques, the new paratroopers completed their first jump on Sunday and were given their “wings” by the commander of Special Services Group, Major General Abid Rafique, the military said.

Can you believe this...:)

  Man sues Japan TV station for using too many foreign words

TOKYO: A pensioner is suing Japan's national broadcaster for emotional distress, claiming the overuse of foreign loanwords has rendered many of its programmes unintelligible, his lawyer said.
Hoji Takahashi, 71, is demanding 1.41 million yen ($14,000) in damages for the broadcaster's reliance on words borrowed from English, instead of their traditional Japanese counterparts.
"The basis of his concern is that Japan is being too Americanised," lawyer Mutsuo Miyata said. "There is a sense of crisis that this country is becoming just a province of America."
Japanese has a rich native vocabulary, but has a tradition of borrowing words from other languages, often quite inventively and sometimes changing their meaning in the process.
Most Japanese speakers do not think twice about using words including "trouble", "risk", "drive" or "parking", among many others.
Although English provides the bulk of loanwords - an inheritance of the post World War II US occupation and subsequent fascination with American culture - words borrowed from many other languages are also in use.
Thus, the word for part time work is a Japanised version of the German "arbeit", "concierge" comes from the French and the Spanish "pan" is understood as bread.However, Japan's phonic structure, in which sounds are usually made of a consonant and a vowel, renders many of these borrowed words unintelligible to speakers of the language from which they came.
The English "trouble" becomes "toraburu", for example, while the French "concierge" is pronounced "konsheruju".
Takahashi, a member of "Nihongo wo taisetsu ni suru kai" (The Treat Japanese as Important Association), brought his suit because entreaties to NHK had been ignored, his lawyer said. "He decided to file the suit because the broadcaster did not bother to reply to him," said Miyata, a former highschool classmate of the plaintiff. "This is a matter of Japanese culture, the country itself, including its politics and its economy," he said.

Alarming situation!

                  Out-of-school children

         Pakistan ranks second in the world

Pakistan ranks the second with the most out-of-school children in the world with only Nigeria ahead of it, said a child rights body on Thursday.

In its annual report titled ‘The state of Pakistan’s children 2012’, the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) said about one fourth of the 19.75 million children in Pakistan aged five to nine were out of school and factoring in adolescents increased the number to 25 million. Of them, seven million children (aged three to five) had yet to receive primary schooling.
“The country reduced its spending on education from 2.6 per cent to 2.3pc of the GNP (gross national product) over the decade and ranks 113th of the 120 countries on the Education Development Index,” said the Sparc report launched in a hotel here on Thursday.
At the provincial level, Punjab has the highest NER (net enrolment rate) for children in primary schools at 61pc followed by Sindh with 53pc, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 51pc and Balochistan with the lowest at 47pc. Pakistan has an NER of 74.lpc for all age groups enrolled either in primary, secondary or higher education.
Pakistan has the lowest youth literacy rate with 70.7pc. Only 61pc of girls are literate as compared to 79pc boys in the age group of 15-24 years.
Progress has been slowest in low-income countries, especially Pakistan, where only 15pc children received pre-primary education in 2010. It quoted a recent report saying 63pc of children aged three to five years were not receiving any education related to early childhood development.
The country ranks 129th among the 135 countries on the Gender Gap Index 2012 according to the Global Gender Gap Report. Data shows that gender parity for primary schools in Azad Kashmir is close to 1 (0.97). The GPI for Punjab stands at 0.98, in Balochistan it is 0.83 and in Sindh 0.81.
The report said 43pc children born in Pakistan were afflicted with stunting. It was estimated that 21.7pc children were severely and 21.3pc were moderately stunted.
It quoted the United Nations Children's Fund as saying that under five years mortality rate had declined from 122 per 1,000 births in 1990 to 72 per 1,000 births in 2011; far from reaching the assigned target of 52 per 1,000 births as per the millennium development goal.
More than 423,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday, and almost one in five of these deaths are due to pneumonia.
Pakistan accounted for nearly 30pc of all polio cases recorded worldwide. A total of 142 cases were reported in 2010; 198 cases in 2011. In 2012, the official reports show, 58 cases were recorded, excluding cases in the North and South Waziristan agencies.
It is estimated that 2.1 million cases of measles are reported annually in Pakistan and 21,000 of the reported cases die of complications from the disease. Pneumonia and diarrhoea account for 29pc of deaths among children under five worldwide or more than two million a year; with Pakistan ranking fourth among the countries with the highest prevalence of the disease.
A total of 55 of 96,000 infants, children and adolescents had been identified as HIV positive in Pakistan In 2012, around 5,659 cases of violence against children were reported across Pakistan from January to October 2012. These included 943 murders, 1,170 cases of injuries, 302 of sodomy; 204 of child trafficking, 410 of forced marriages and 164 of Karo-kari (honour killing) incidents, and 260 cases of missing children. Other incidents of violence included 407 cases of sexual assault, 547 torture cases, 323 child suicides, 530 kidnappings and 176 Vani cases.A total of 3,861 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in different parts of the country last year. Most of the cases were reported in Punjab (68pc), followed by Sindh (19pc), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (5pc), Balochistan (3pc) and FATA (3pc).
The report said 197 of the 3,581 victims of drone strikes since 2004 were children.

Privacy of FB users at risk

Facebook bug exposes the personal details of six million users 

Social networking site said they are "upset and embarrassed" by the bug which released email address and telephone numbers

Facebook took to their security page to apologise again today, after the site admitted a bug had “inadvertently” exposed the personal information of six million users.

The site said they were “upset and embarrassed” in a blog post when their White Hat security program detected the bug after it had already affected millions of user accounts.
Although “describing what caused the bug can get pretty technical”, the company said they wanted to explain exactly what happened, to stress that “the practical impact of this bug is likely to be minimal”.
Facebook explained that anyone attempting to download archive profile information using the Download Your Information (DYI) tool may have been provided with the email or telephone numbers of people who they shared connections with on the site. The email addresses and telephone numbers of an estimated six million people affected were given out to other users “once or twice”.
“This contact information was provided by other people on Facebook and was not necessarily accurate, but was inadvertently included with the contacts of the person using the DYI tool," they said.
“After review and confirmation of the bug by our security team, we immediately disabled the DYI tool to fix the problem and were able to turn the tool back on the next day once we were satisfied that the problem had been fixed.”
Facebook reassured users that in “almost all cases”, each email address or telephone number was only exposed to one person. “Additionally, no other types of personal or financial information were included and only people on Facebook – not developers or advertisers – have access to the DYI tool.”
They added that they had received no information to suggest the bug was malicious or that any complaints had been made from users who had noticed “anomalous behaviour” or “wrongdoing”.
The problem has since been rectified and Facebook have made regulators in the US, Canada and Europe aware. They are now in the process of notifying those affected.

so true...........!

Beautiful couple 'married' at age 4 still in love 87 years later

Marriage is not an easy thing. But some couples just work hand in glove, like the inspiring Ron and Eileen Everest. Both 91 years old, the British couple were born in the same maternity unit in Kent and their love has gone platinum, the pair having recently celebrated their 70^th anniversary. Their fathers were good friends and Ron and Eileen saw each other often growing up. In the picture on the left, they're posing as a bride and groom at a town carnival at age four. They got married for real at age 21. "We have been in love from the age of zero," said Mr Everest.

A fighter for the poor silenced...........!

Its time for the nation to awake & raise voice against brutalities and injustice!

Main kis k hath per apna lahu talah karun!

Killing of a 20-years old young boy Shahzeb Khan, the only son of his parents, has led to many questions over the system of the country in which we are living. His murder is a clear example of how the elite and influential people violate the laws and flee away very conveniently.

Think for one second, what Shahzeb did wrong? It was simply that he raised his voice to protect his sister. Was it a big crime that he was brutally murdered in posh area of the Metropolitan city of Karachi.  One wonders as the situation is so critical in the city, the lives of people have become so cheap that anyone can take it over a petty issue, just a mere argument.

Shahzeb’s father, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. Auragzeb told that he intervened in a row between those inflentials and his son and resolved the matter. When the fight was over, then why did the culprits killed Shahzeb? No one could save this young guy, who was killed over no reason. Hurdles in registering FIR of the murder of his son were also narrated by the DSP.

Here question arises that if DSP has to face such things, if such miseries are coming on the way of justice to a person who is also part of the law enforcing agencies, then what could happen to a common man? Where should they go for justice? One could easily imagine as to what he/she would face to fight for justice.

We have to realize the fact that God forbid our siblings or relatives can be at the place of Shahzeb someday, therefore, we have to stop such incidents from happening. We should unite together and raise voice against such brutality and should not let the sacrifice of young Shahzeb, the only and daring brother of his sisters, go in waste.

We want the killers of Shahzeb behind bars.

Shahzeb, a symbol of change & a motivation for the youth!

RIP Shahzeb!