Pakistani city, a "rat woman

Outside a Muslim shrine in this dusty Pakistani city, a "rat woman" with a tiny head sits on a filthy mattress and takes money from worshippers who cling to an ancient fertility rite. 

Nadia, 25, is one of hundreds of young microcephalics -- people born with small skulls and protruding noses and ears because of a genetic mutation -- who can be found on the streets of Gujrat, in central Punjab province.

Officials say many of them have been sold off by their families to begging mafias, who exploit a tradition that the "rat children" are sacred offerings to Shah Daula, the shrine's 17th century Sufi saint. 

"These are God's children. We are proud to look after her," said Ijaz Hussain, the shrine's government-employed custodian, as Nadia shrieked unintelligibly and put coins in a battered wooden box at her side. 

According to local legend, infertile women who pray at Shah Daula's shrine will be granted children, but at a terrible price. The first child will be born microcephalic and must be given to the shrine, or else any further children will have the same deformity.

Indian Held Kashmir

Jammu Kashmir policewomen detain Kashmiri women during a demonstration in Srinagar, India, Friday, Sept. 29, 2006. Police on Friday swung bamboo sticks and fired tear gas at dozens of rock-throwing demonstrators as protests continued for the third straight day in the Indian portion of Kashmir against the upcoming execution of a Kashmiri man convicted of plotting a 2001 terror attack on India's Parliament.

Women tries to rebuild their Houses

Qubo Saeed Khan, Qambar Shahdatkot, Sindh - It is not every day that one can see a poor handicapped village girl in a typically male dominated society working on painting houses and community buildings. This could hardly have been possible in normal circumstances anywhere in Sindh much less in the far flung village Safal Solangi, in the Qubo Saeed Khan area of Shahdatkot in north-western reaches of the province. However, the floods of July-August 2010 have drastically changed the dynamics across the country.

Shahzadi’s StoryShahzadi is a 21 year old girl of this village lost her arm in an accident at an early age. She, however, remained active in her daily chores of helping in the fields and home. With the destruction of all livelihoods for the village residents, she joined a vocational training programme by the Indus Resource Centre (IRC), a partner of UNDP in the Early Recovery Programme. She chose the unlikely trade of painting buildings along with her brother and together they have helped in the rehabilitation of their village.

“I learnt this trade and was also provided tools to practice my skill professionally. I have worked on rebuilding of our village school under the Cash for Work programme”, says Shahzadi. This high spirited and confident girl is now teaching her skill to others in her village as well as looking forward to more projects where she can participate on the Cash for work programme. “I am now looking for work in this field and am willing to wherever similar projects are available”, Shahzadi says.

Vocational Training for villagersThere are many other females who have participated in the IRC training programmes and learnt skills like painting, masonry, and stitching, while male beneficiaries learnt skills including plumbing, electrification, masonry, painting and stitching. Under this programme 42 females and 87 males from 20 villages from district Qambar Shahdatkot have been imparted vocational training and given tools of their trade and an opportunity to work on Cash for Work programmes.

With high hopes and a will to make a difference numerous other females, young and old, have ventured in the fields of masonry as well. Allah Bachai, a 60 year old widow has helped build community latrines and buildings while Ameer Zadi and Feroza are working alongside men to help rebuild houses in their nearby village of Shah Wasaio.

These villages of Qambar Shahdatkot district lie on the border with the Balochistan province and were one of the worst hit areas of Sindh in the floods. Safal Solangi, Shah Wasaio and many other villages remained completely inundated for 2 months leaving just destruction in the aftermath. The residents of this area, while struggling to rebuild their homes and community buildings, face the biggest problem of livelihoods as the agricultural lands in the area are still not able to support crops due to excess salinity.

Rasheed Ahmed, a beneficiary of the UNDP/Indus Resource Centre vocational training programme says that his newly acquired skills of painting will help him earn a living as there is no other avenue of earning for some months to come. “I thank UNDP and IRC for helping me enter a new field where I can earn a living and I will soon be moving to nearby towns and cities to find work in painting houses and buildings”, he says.

Providing Livelihoods and Infrastructure Recovery
Besides vocational training UNDP is also many other Community Physical Infrastructure rehabilitation projects implemented by IRC in this area. Numerous schemes of water supply, drainage, and access roads are in various stages of completion on which over 150 male and female skilled workers are engaged in the Cash for Work initiative.

The future is bright for these resilient men and women of Qambar Shahdatkot who have taken innovative and unconventional paths to rebuild their villages and lives.

Women’s Action Forum expresses disappointment at the SC verdict in Mukhtar Mai’s case

Lahore: Women’s Action Forum expressed deep regret and disappointment at the Supreme Courts decision to acquit five out of six accused in the Mukhtar Mai case.Mukhtaran Mai had filed appeals against the order of the LHC, Multan Bench, commuting the sentence of one accused and acquitting the abettors involved in gang-raping Mukhtaran Mai on June 22, 2002. The rape occurred on the orders of a Punchayat (village council) convened by the influential Mastoi tribe in the village of Meerwala in southern Punjab. The Punchayat was called to seek punishment for Shakoor, the 12-year-old brother of Mukhtaran Mai. It was suggested that Shakoor marry the girl with whom he was accused of having an affair and Mukhtaran Mai marry a man of the Mastoi tribe. But the Mastois rejected this and insisted that the offence of adultery be settled with adultery. Mukhtaran Mai was called by the Punchayat to apologies for the conduct of her brother who had already been sodomised by the Mastois. She was allegedly dragged to a nearby hut and raped by four men. A case was registered against 14 accused under the Pakistan Penal Code, the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Hudood Ordinance. Four of the accused were charged with raping Mukhtaran and the rest for abetting the crime. In August 2002, an anti-terrorism court sentenced six men to death (four for raping Mukhtaran and two for being part of the punchayat). The remaining eight were acquitted. Mukhtaran Mai filed separate appeals in the LHC’s Multan Bench against the acquittal of the eight men

Woman in dhaka

A woman prays in the rain in Dhaka, Bangladesh.