Clipmarks | Deepti's 'pakistan' clips

Global Database of Quotas for Women

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:19:39 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Obstacles to women's political participation exist throughout the world in prevailing social and economic regimes, as well as in existing political structures. In 2005, the representation of women reached nearly 16 percent globally. Although this total has increased in recent years, the minimal progress globally means that the ideal of parity remains a long way off. Given the slow rate at which the representation of women is increasing, various methods -- such as electoral quotas -- have been proposed or implemented to address the present gender imbalance in decision-making. Consequently, governments and political parties have experimented with different types of quotas.

As the debate about the use of quotas as a tool to increase the political participation of women gains momentum, International IDEA and Stockholm University are collaborating on a research project leading to the production of a comparative knowledge and resources on their implementation and impact.

Clip Source: www.quotaproject.org

Afghanistan

27.3%

Australia

24.7%

Canada

20.8%

China

20.3%

Denmark

37.4%

France

18.5%

Germany

31.8%

India

8.1%

Iraq

25.5%

Lebanon

4.7%

Mauritania

17.9%

Pakistan

21.3%

Philippines

20.4%

South Africa

32.8%

Sweden

47.3%

Switzerland

29.5%

United Kingdom

19.8%

Sri Lanka

4.9%

Spain

36.3%

Senegal

22.0%

Rwanda

48.8%

Argentina

35.0%

Bangladesh

2.0%

Belgium

36.7%

Burundi

30.5%

Costa Rica

38.6%

Egypt

2.0%

Guyana

30.8%

Iceland

31.7%

Norway

37.9%

Tanzania, United Republic of

30.4%

Total # countries with constitutional, electoral or political party quotas:	97
Average level of representation for women countries with quotas:	19.8%

Tags: countries, women, representation, government, quota, global, database

Pakistan Elects First Woman Speaker

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:05:57 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

Pakistan's Parliament elected Fahmida Mirza, a former doctor and business woman, to be the first woman speaker on Wednesday, reports the Guardian. She has been elected to parliament three times from her constituency in Sindh. She is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the same party as Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister who was assassinated last year

Tags: pakistan, woman, speaker, first

Indian being held in Pakistan jail since 1973

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:07:34 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A 73-year-old Indian national has been found languishing in a Pakistan prison for the past 35 years on spying charges

Pakistan's Federal Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney said yesterday that he had traced an Indian national waiting for his death sentence to be carried out in a prison cell in Lahore

During a visit to Lahore Central Jail as part of his plans for prison reforms, Burney visited the various death cells and came across Kashmir Singh - now a weak, old and mentally disabled man

At the time of his arrest, he was a husband and a father of three young children - two boys and a girl. He has not seen any of them ever since then

"When I checked the jail records, I found out that Kashmir Singh, son of Sansar Singh, was arrested in 1973 on espionage charges in Pakistan and sentenced to death under the Official Secrets Act 1923 by the military court in Lahore 35 years ago. He has been languishing in a Pakistani death cell ever since," he added

Tags: india, pakistan, jail, 1973, espionage, human rights

Amendment sparks accusations

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:04:11 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: The EC notification has surfaced at a time when the Supreme Court is due to hear from today a number of constitutional petitions to decide whether Musharraf can hold the two offices of president and army chief as he seeks another term

The EC move gives the impression that it was meant to enable Musharraf to contest the presidential election directly after relinquishing the military post

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Pakistan's Election Commission (EC) said yesterday it has made an amendment to the rules related to presidential election, sparking accusations that the change was designed to pave the way for the re-election of President General Pervez Musharraf

Under the amendment, Article 63 of the constitution would not apply to the forthcoming presidential election for which the chief election commissioner would announce a schedule within the next three days, he said

The article lays down conditions for a person to be eligible to become a member of parliament and for a presidential candidate it is mandatory that he should be eligible to be elected to the parliament

The official said the change in the rules had been made in the light of two Supreme Court verdicts in 2002 and 2005 according to which the Article 63 did not apply to presidential election.

Tags: pakistan, mushrraf, amendment, constitution, law, controversy

Pakistan: Women Accused of Being Prostitutes Found Beheaded

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:53:36 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Daily India further reports that the note threatened more similar actions, saying, "Women involved in immoral activities will meet the same fate."

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

Police suspect that Islamic militants are responsible for the kidnapping and beheading of two women in Pakistan on Friday. The women, identified as Maino and Malaki, were abducted by five armed men on Thursday as they rode in an auto rickshaw, the Associated Press reports. On Friday, their bodies were discovered outside a village about 12 miles south from where they were abducted. A note found with their bodies accused the two women, who are both in their mid-40s, of being prostitutes. A senior police officer told the BBC that the note mentioned "acts of obscenity," which refers to prostitution, and a warning that the assailants "have started doing this to end obscenity in the area."

A rash of militant violence has been used in the northwestern region of Pakistan by extremists who aim to impose "Taliban-style social rules," the AP reports. Shops selling music and movies have been repeatedly targeted, and barbers have been threatened not to shave off any customers' beards

Tags: pakistan, beheading, prostitutes, violence, kidnap, women, religion, islam, culture, taliban

Mohammad Ali Jinnah's daughter moves court over Mumbai estate

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:18:36 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: The historic house was the venue for watershed talks on the subcontinent's partition between Jinnah and Indian leaders. Pakistan has repeatedly requested New Delhi either to sell or lease the house for use as a consular office. India has neither refused nor accepted that request

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

The daughter of Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has asked an Indian court to grant her claim to a sprawling home built by her father in India before the country's partition in 1947

On Tuesday, Jinnah's 88-year-old daughter, Dina Wadia, who lives in New York, approached the high court in Mumbai in a bid to gain ownership of the property, built on one hectare of land estimated to be worth about $400 million (Dh1.5 billion)

Wadia decided to go to court after the Indian government announced plans to turn Jinnah House into a centre for South Asian arts and culture

Wadia

angered her father by marrying a Parsi-Christian businessman. Their son, Nusli Wadia, lives in Mumbai and heads a large textile and real estate business

A British national, Dina Wadia first staked her claim to the property in the 1990s and has since written several letters to successive Indian prime ministers, including one this February

Tags: pakistan, india, court, new york, government

Heavy rains in India & Pakistan

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:02:37 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Aid workers battled on Sunday to provide food for 200,000 people displaced by monsoon floods in southern India, while the Pakistani city of Karachi was largely without power after a storn which killed 42 people.

In the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which was hit by two days of heavy rains, officials put the death toll to 35, but said 24,000 houses had collapsed and 200,000 people were now homeless. Officials had earlier put the death toll in the state at 45.

She said half a million food packets and a million water sachets were being handed out to people in 300 relief centres in the state where rains have since eased.

In Pakistan's Karachi, with a population of 10 million and where the annual monsoon is yet to arrive, officials said much of the city had been without power for more than 12 hours

Tags: india, pakistan, rains, death, climate, aid

Rushdie knighthood is justification for suicide attacks, says minister

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:57:51 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks:
I can't get over the fact that a parliamentarian said that....

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Britain's award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie is an affront to Muslim sentiments, and a Cabinet minister said the honour provided a justification for suicide attacks.

"This is an occasion for the (world's) 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," Mohammad Ijaz Ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, said in parliament.

"The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title," the minister said

Tags: pakistan, stupidity, knighthood, salman, rushdie, author, knight, muslims, islam

Cleric issues fatwa against fashion magazine

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 06:42:11 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: here we go again

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

The chief cleric of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) has issued a fatwa (religious decree) against the chief editor and the publisher of a monthly magazine and demanded the government punish them for publishing allegedly "nude pictures of prophet Adam and Eve" in its June issue.

"Who is willing to be next to Aamer Cheema?" Maulana Abdul Aziz exhorted his followers while addressing a gathering in the mosque yesterday.

"Aamer Cheema was a torch- bearer of Islam who attempted to kill the editor of a Denmark-based newspaper accused of publishing blasphemous pictures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)," the cleric said.

He said that according to the Islamic laws, "anyone accused of humiliating prophets by any of his/her acts must be killed. So for publishing nude pictures of Hazrat Adam and Eve in their magazine Octane in June, the editor and the publisher must be killed".

Tags: islam, muslim, pakistan, death, fatwa, cleric, insanity, prophet

Lethal heat wave hits India and Pakistan

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:11:21 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: In India, temperatures peaked on Saturday, reaching 48.9C in Ganganagar in Rajasthan, said S.C. Bhan, director at the Regional Meteorological Centre in New Delhi

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Over 120 people have been killed over the past week as a result of a heat wave that has hit northern India and Pakistan, reports said on Monday.

The majority of victims were beggars, the homeless and people working in the open who were hit by sunstroke and dehydration.

The Press Trust of India put the toll at 74, including 15 in the western Indian desert state of Rajasthan and nine in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh at the weekend.

The highest temperature in the heat wave was in the Sibi district of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, where temperatures reached 52C on Sunday, just less than the country's record of 52.2C set in 1992, a meteorological official said

Tags: weather, india, pakistan, heatwave, death, climate

Islamabad Clerics issue fatwa against female minister

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:57:10 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Clerics of Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), at the centre of a bitter row with the government, have issued a fatwa‚ or religious edict against a female federal minister, accusing her of 'obscene' conduct.

Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtair was targeted for taking part in a paragliding show in Paris and local newspapers published a picture showing her hugging a French male member of the team.

The fatwa issued with the signature of religious scholar Mufti Mohammad Younus said the minister's conduct had brought 'shame' to the nation and the entire Muslim world.

It said a woman's place was at her home and if she had to go out for any purpose permitted by Sharia she must wear proper veil and observe Islamic norms.

The edict drew strong condemnation from the government and a number of politicians and representatives of civil society organisations, which have been pressing the government to put an end to the activities of the clerics and establish its writ.

Tags: pakistan, fatwa, woman, minister, islam, sharia, women, inequality

Pakistani tribesmen vow to expel foreign militants

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 06:28:38 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Thousands of Pakistani tribesmen vowed to expel foreign Al Qaida-linked militants from their lands on the Afghan border yesterday and to punish any tribesmen helping the foreigners.

Members of all nine clans of the Wazir tribe, many of whom support the predominantly Pashtun Taliban in Afghanistan, met in the region's main town, Wana, and pledged to fight the foreigners. The Waziris are the main tribe in the region

Fighting broke out between the foreign militants, most of them believed to be Uzbeks, and Pashtun tribal fighters last month in the South Waziristan region after the militants tried to kill a pro-government tribal leader.

Government officials say more than 170 people have been killed, most of them Uzbek militants, although residents in the area say the toll has been lower.

Tags: pakistan, tribes, al qaeda, afghanistan, militants

Terrorism likely to be key issue at Saarc meeting

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:57:23 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Terrorism will figure strongly at this week's summit of eight South Asian nations, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, an Indian official said yesterday.

After a preparatory meeting of top foreign ministry officials from the region, India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said they would recommend "a very strong statement against terrorism" to the summit which will be held in India on April 3-4.

India and Sri Lanka have been battling armed insurgencies for decades, while officials in Afghanistan have repeatedly said Taliban leaders are orchestrating attacks in Afghanistan from Pakistani territory, a charge Pakistan denies.

India also accuses Pakistan of training and arming militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between the nuclear-armed neighbours but claimed by both. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the rebels it calls freedom fighters.

Tags: terrorism, topic, saarc, south asia, india, pakistan, sri lanka, afghanistan

Kashmir violence falls to all time low - police

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:44:51 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

The number of daily killings in Jammu and Kashmir has fallen by more than two-thirds, the lowest in the past 17 years, a police official said yesterday.

A halting peace process between India and Pakistan is believed to have cut the number of militants fighting Indian rule in its portion of Kashmir.

"In the past few years, there has been a considerable decline in violence. The killings have come down from 10 a day in 2001 to three a day in 2006," a senior security official said.

"This has been the lowest figure since the insurgency erupted in late 1989."

But people are still being killed in daily shootouts and occasional grenade and bomb attacks in the Himalayan region

After the fall in violence, New Delhi said last week it would set up a panel of experts to determine whether to reduce troop numbers across Kashmir.

Roughly 500,000 troops are deployed in the region.

Tags: kashmir, india, violence, death, pakistan, militants

Burqavaganza

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:04:24 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Ajoka Theatre's new play Burqavaganza, which treats the touchy issue of the veil with a generous dose of humour, opened on Monday at Alhamra Art Centre in Lahore.

Nadeem said he had tried to tackle problems faced by the youth and middle-aged women of the Islamic world who were caught in the crossfire of perceptions about the veil.

The play depicted modern youth in veil going out on dates and generally sneaking out of educational institutions, offices and homes for discreet dalliances with friends of the opposite sex.

News clips were screened in between to show misconceptions prevailing in different countries which had banned the veil in the aftermath of terrorist strikes.

Among other issues, the play sought to address the compulsive obsession to confine the female of the species to anonymity. It sought to reason that, whatever the rationale for covering women's faces in primitive or medieval times, there could be no justification in modem times for such a practise.

Tags: muslim, pakistan, lahore, play, burqa, comedy, islam, muslims