Mukhtaran Mai's story inspires New York opera

15/01/2014

NEW YORK: To those who complain that opera is an elitist indulgence served up to snobs in dinner jackets, New York's latest world premiere may come as something of a shock.

Inspired by the horrific gang rape of illiterate Pakistani woman Mukhtaran Mai on orders of a village council, “Thumbprint” is a $150,000 production currently having an eight-night run in a basement theater in Manhattan.

One of the most infamous sex crimes against women in South Asia, Mai's 2002 rape, survival and metamorphosis into an international rights icon is as far removed from opera-house pomp as possible.

It may have earned a less-than-glowing review from The New York Times — “muted,” “not quite enough” — but the score is an alluring blend of South Asian and Western music, and the production starkly innovative.

With a simple backcloth doubling up as a film projection screen, a few chairs and charpoys, the simple but powerful staging evokes the heat, the dust and the traditions of a Pakistani village.

Mai, now in her 40s, was raped to avenge her 12-year-old brother's alleged impropriety with a woman from a rival clan.

Six men were sentenced to death for her rape in a landmark ruling. But five were later acquitted and the main culprit had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment: facts the opera omits.

Mai's story has fresh resonance since the brutal gang rape of a student on a New Delhi bus and her death a little over a year ago sparked international outrage about the levels of violence against women in India.

“It's inspiring,” said the opera's Indian-American composer Kamala Sankaram, who also sings the lead role.

“This is a person who was completely illiterate and knew nothing of her rights and the laws of her country and yet she had the courage to step out,” she told AFP.

There is no staged recreation of the rape, which is instead portrayed by muffled shrieks of terror interspersed with a knife slashing open bags of sand.

Sankaram worked to recreate Mai's world by combining Hindustani music, Western composition, qawwali and Bollywood.

“I am a sitar player as well as being a Western musician so I wanted to bring in elements of traditional culture but still keep it something acceptable to Western listeners,” she said.

Pakistan may be thousands of miles from New York but playwright and novelist Susan Yankowitz, who wrote the libretto, says the opera is about courage and universal vulnerability of women.

“The main question that is repeated throughout the opera is where did you find your courage... In a dry season, someone must be the first drop of rain,” Yankowitz told AFP.

“The courage is to be the first drop of rain and that's what I hope people will take away from it and inspire people to take some action they would otherwise not have the courage to do.”

Compared to the majesty of New York's Metropolitan Opera House a couple of miles up the road, “Thumbprint” is a tiny production with a six-person chamber orchestra and cast of just six singers.

Shown as part of a small chamber music opera festival in its second year, tickets cost just $25 for the 90-minute production, which organisers hope will eventually tour India and Pakistan.

Unable to find a suitable sarangi player, Sankaram's score has been written for flute, violin, viola, piano (with harmonium on the side), and a brilliant double bass and percussionist.

Most of the singers perform more than one part and the Baruch Performing Arts Center seats just 170 people.

The run ends Saturday, but it's unclear what Mai makes of it all.

Since the attack, she has set up a school for girls and won prominence in the West for her outspoken stance on the oppression of women.

Manu Narayan, the Broadway star who has won rave reviews as an all-too-realistic unrepentant rapist, welcomed the opera and the Prototype opera festival as a vital platform for young composers.

Bankruptcy forced New York City Opera to close last year. Some artists and musicians complain that original culture in New York City is being priced out of the metropolis by big business.

“I think the music's spectacular,” Narayan told AFP.

“This festival is so wonderful. It really creates a very focused platform for new works and great stories that need to be told, and the story of Mukhtaran Mai is one of the prime examples.”

Pakistan:Stepfather booked for throwing acid on daughters

04/01/2014

KASUR: The police on Saturday registering a case against a stepfather, who threw acid on daughters at Patoki, started investigation from different angles, Geo News reported.

Accused Qari Aslam was also booked under sections of terrorism, police said.

The victim daughters’ mother has alleged that the accused wanted to get his invalid son married to his stepdaughter, 15 and on her refusal he threw acid on the daughters.

Both the injured sisters are under treatment in Lahore Jinnah Hospital.

 

Women kills her 10-year old maid in Lahore:Pakistan

03/01/2013

SLAMABAD: Police in Lahore have arrested a woman for beating to death her 10-year-old maid after accusing the girl of stealing a few rupees, less than a dollar's worth.

The girl died on Thursday, after her employer had brought her to hospital.

Police official Mohammed Yousaf says the doctors alerted the police after seeing signs of abuse and torture on the girl's body. Later, the woman confessed to killing her maid with a steel pipe.

Child labor is common in Pakistan, which has no legislation setting a minimum age for work.

Children — mostly from extremely poor and illiterate families — are commonly employed in households for domestic work and often exposed to verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

NCSW hopes for better environment for working women

23/12/2013
National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz said lack of awareness about Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 was the biggest hurdle in its effective implementation.

Sharing her views on the eve of National Working Women Day to be observed every year on December 22, she eulogised the services of working women rendered for the country.

The day is observed to acknowledge the struggle of working women in securing a dignified and respectful working environment.

It is also celebrated to acknowledge the economic contributions made by women to the country as women are increasingly joining the ranks of doctors, engineers, lawyers, judges, journalists, armed forces, scientists and business administrators.

In a statement issued on Saturday Khawar said, NCSW collaborated with the Pakistan government and other civil society organisations to facilitate the women who have entered the mainstream society and are practically contributing in national economy. She said successive federal and provincial governments in Pakistan showed commitment to the cause of women and promulgation of the `Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010' was manifestation of government resolve to address the concerns and issues of working women. She said it was a landmark move to help Pakistani women work without fear of being harassed or discriminated.

The government has recently introduced the online facility for victims of harassment at workplace through Federal Ombudsman Secretariat (FOS) for the implementation of the act.

Khawar said most of the private and public sector organisations are not implementing the law in letter and spirit like the mandatory requirement to display the copies of code of conduct in English.

"The organisations may be fined up to Rs 100,000 if an employee lodges a complaint of harassment," she added.

NCSW chief stressed the need of acknowledging the rights and contributions of home-based workers and introducing policies and laws for them. The country now has a legal obligation to comply with international laws and is monitored by the International Labour Organisation's Committee on Application of Standards, she said.

Lahore woman throws three daughters into canal

November 07, 2013

LAHORE: A mentally challenged woman threw her three daughters into a canal on Thursday, rescue sources said.

The sources said that body of an ill-fated child was recovered while search for two others was still underway.

Police said that the woman identified as Razia threw her three daughters into BRB canal and was taken into custody. Names and ages of the girls were yet to be known.
 

Coaches doing their job very well

Pakistan women’s cricket team captain, Sana Mir said on Thursday that she is very happy with her coaches adding that they are doing their job very well.

Mir contradicted a news item published in a section of the press saying that they were fully satisfied with their coaches.

“It is due to our hard work and devotion of our coaches that we won the first gold in the Asian Games last year,” she told APP on Thursday.

“It is due to our coaches that women’s cricket over the years has transformed into a specialised sport.

Sana, who was Player of the Tournament at the 2008 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier, currently ranks 16th in the ICC Women’s ODI bowlers rankings.

Answering a question, Sana said that only those women can be good coaches who have played cricket themselves. Sana said that the central contracts awarded to them were a great achievement for women cricketers of the country.

“The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is having domestic competitions for women players on a regular basis and that is improving our standard,” Sana said.

Sana pointed out that the recently concluded Twenty20 Pentangular Women Cricket Tournament is a result of the PCB’s effort and commitment to the women’s game adding that women need encouragement and compensation for their hard work.

Pakistani man marries two women in one wedding

A Pakistani man's solution to the age-old dilemma of whether to embark on an arranged or a love marriage has captivated the country's media.

Television channels have provided live coverage of Azhar Haidri's decision to marry both women over a 24-hour period.

At first he refused to marry the woman selected by his family since childhood because he loved someone else.

Pakistani law allows polygamy because it interprets Islam to allow a man to have up to four wives.

Islam is the main religion in the country.

Men who take multiple wives usually do so after a period of several years - and must get approval from their first wife prior to a second marriage.

Correspondents say that while it is not unusual for men in Pakistan to have several wives, it is rare for two weddings to take place almost simultaneously under the full glare of the media.

'Lucky'

Several Pakistani television stations have carried the nuptials live - on Sunday and Monday - because of the unique circumstances.

Mr Haidri's love for 21-year-old Rumana Aslam - ahead of 28-year-old Humaira Qasim - at one point threatened to split his family apart.

"I gave this offer that I will marry both of them," Mr Haidri, 23, told the Associated Press ahead of his first marriage to Ms Qasim on Sunday in the central Pakistani city of Multan. "Both the girls agreed."

He is scheduled to marry Ms Aslam on Monday.

Both women appear to have given their consent to the compromise and say they plan to live as sisters and friends.

"I am happy that we both love the same man," Ms Aslam told AP.

Mr Haidri, a herbal medicine practitioner, counts himself lucky.

"It is also very rare that two women are happily agreeing to marry one man," he said.

Drug addiction grows among women in Pakistan

 Drug abuse is nothing new, but Pakistan is facing a two-pronged problem.

First, addicts are getting hooked earlier. The mean age of initial heroin use, according to the last National Drug Abuse Survey (2002-03), has fallen to 22 from 26.

Second, more women are using and the country refuses to take seriously the social factors that contribute to this worsening picture.

Drug addiction can start in school. Girls at one private institution used hashish in the restroom while a reporter was there. A headmistress of one girls’ college in Lahore expelled a group of her students for possessing and using narcotics on the premises.

“The problem of drug addiction among women cannot be separated from other aspects of their social conditioning … such as racism, sexism and poverty … that are essential to understanding drug abuse in women”, said Tasneem Nazir, a clinical psychologist at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital. S

he said teenage girls are likely to abuse substances in order to lose weight, relieve stress or boredom, improve their mood, reduce sexual inhibitions, self-medicate depression and increase confidence. Women who seek treatment for alcohol and drug problems report a connection among domestic violence, childhood abuse, and substance abuse.

One woman said she had suffered from physical, mental and financial abuse before turning to drugs.

“I don’t know why I didn’t realise it”, the woman, 42, said of her addiction, but “I didn’t deserve what my husband put me through”.

Nazir said that to declare addiction openly is to sign a social death warrant.

“Many addicted women refuse to go into drug rehabilitation programmes. They are outpatients because of the shame and stigma attached to substance dependence and addiction. They cannot stay in rehabilitation centres for cultural reasons and go only for medicine and advice”, said Dr. Mahmooda Aftab, a clinical psychologist running a rehabilitation centre.

Nazir suggested that the way to remedy the problem is to address violence and sexual abuse, unsafe housing, unemployment, stereotyping of sexual roles, and the lack of health care and child care, all of which contribute to the depression and hopelessness linked to substance abuse by women.

Brig. Sajjad Ahmed Bakshi, force commander of the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Punjab, told Central Asia Online that though information on women’s drug use is limited, drug addiction has increased steadily among girls and women.

“The youth of today are a pathetic sight", he said. "Greater attention is being paid to create awareness among the people about the dangers of drug abuse and the ways to avoid it”.

Bakshi said women, especially young girls belonging to “elite backgrounds”, are becoming addicts.

Some women are not aware of the drugs they are taking. Doctors prescribe a “medicine”, and some incurious users know little about the side effects.

“There is no restriction on buying (painkillers or tranquilisers)”, he said.

Many women have been taking such medicines for months or years and have become dependent on them.

“We came to the doctor for treatment. The doctor prescribed these medicines, which I used to sleep well and to ward off worries”, said Hajra, a rehabilitation centre patient whose name was changed to ensure privacy. “I didn't know the medicines used prescribed by the doctor are poison”.

Bakshi said the ANF has established wards at eight government hospitals to provide free treatment. But most patients don’t know where they can get help, either before or after the addiction takes hold.

“It is important for women to have the knowledge and skills to be a positive force in confronting this problem, especially in drug prevention”, Bakshi said. “It is an imperative of this time that all sections of society combine their efforts to eradicate drugs from our society”.

He suggested that for complete eradication, systematic education and constant community support need to exist.

“It is essential to … implement awareness programmes effectively and intelligently", he said. "Doing so would lead to a better and (more) prosperous future for each member of the society”.

Society’s view on addiction also needs to change, according to concerned observers.

“The barriers to treatment for women must be addressed because most programmes are based on male-oriented models that are not geared to the needs of women", Mahmooda said. "The need of the time is programmes must be designed to overcome the current barriers to women’s access to and participation in treatment”.

Zardari may pardon condemned Christian woman

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president may pardon a Christian woman facing a death sentence for blasphemy against Islam, officials said Saturday, as the mother of four tearfully denied the charge in interviews.

The case of Asia Bibi has  appeals from Pope Benedict XVI and human rights groups to free her. She was sentenced to death earlier this month.

Bibi appeared in a televised interview at her prison Saturday, protesting her innocence to reporters and maintaining the case stemmed from a personal dispute.

“It was just the outcome of a rivalry. I would never even think of blasphemy,” she said weeping. “I have small children. For God’s sake, please set me free.”

The verdict has drawn attention to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which critics say are used to persecute Christian and other minorities and fan extremism. They are also often exploited to settle personal scores.

Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister for minority affairs, said Saturday that President Asif Ali Zardari has asked for a report on the case and has the power to pardon Bibi.

“The president has taken notice of this case … he is concerned on this issue,” Bhatti said, adding that Zardari has the power to pardon her even ahead of the court appeal.

Gov. Salman Taseer of Punjab province, where Bibi is held, told reporters in a televised conference he believes Zardari will soon pardon her.

“I am going to take this petition to president and he will forgive her,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

International human rights advocate Amnesty International has joined calls for the release of Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi who has been sentenced to death under the country’s blasphemy laws.

Amnesty International on Friday also called on Pakistan to revise the law under which  Bibi was convicted this month.

The case stems from a dispute between Bibi and a group of Muslim women over the use of a water bowl. The other women accused her of making derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). She has been in prison for one-and-a-half years and her case has been appealed. -Agencies

Attacking women in Pakistan

Back in the spring, when the Pakistani Taliban still controlled the Swat valley, video footage of a girl being flogged became one of the most powerful images of their rule. The footage, shot on a mobile phone and circulated on YouTube, turned public opinion against the Taliban and helped lay the groundwork for a military offensive there.

In the latest spate of bombings sweeping Pakistan, women have again become targets.  First came the twin suicide bombing on the International Islamic University in Islamabad which included an attack on the women’s canteen.  Then last week, more than 100 people were killed in the car bombing of a bazaar in Peshawar which was frequented largely by women.

“It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan in two years and its target was clear: not the police, not the security forces, not political leaders, but Peshawar’s women,” wrote Rafia Zakaria in the Daily Times. ”The site of the blast, Peshawar’s Meena Bazar, as is well known in the area, is an exclusively women’s shopping area where women and children shop for clothing, household wares and similar goods. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of those killed were women and children.”“While the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have denied involvement in the bombing, investigations, the modus operandi of the attack and most importantly the target of the bombing all point to their culpability. Most significant of these factors is that the attack targeted women. It is after all females who have borne the brunt of the TTP’s onslaught since they began their reign of terror in the northwest of Pakistan. As the Taliban’s war against the Pakistani state has ensued, the marginalisation of women, the destruction of schools constructed for their education and their banishment from public spaces like the Meena Bazar have been a central facet of the Taliban’s campaign of terror and hatred. This latest attack thus fits perfectly into this grimly familiar design. The massive and indiscriminate killing of scores of innocent women and children who had dared to leave the walls of their home inculcates the very fear that the Taliban seek to instil among Pakistani women across the country.”

There are many overlapping reasons for women being killed, of which forcing them to stay at home is only one.  Misogyny, in any culture, has always been the preserve of the weak who cannot show their power in any other way. So what seems to be happening here is actually about power. By attacking women and children, along with the teenage girls in Islamabad University, the militants can prove they will stop at nothing in order to drive fear into the civilian population.My question is how this should be addressed.

In Afghanistan, the west has begun to “load-shed” the rights of women on the grounds that the environment is already complicated enough.

But what if we turn this around and say that the only way to respond to the current wave of violence sweeping Afghanistan and Pakistan is by looking at the 50 percent of the population who are women?

Old Woman by Pakistan

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.

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.

Children and Women in Crisis

Millions of children and women in Pakistan had their lives forever marked by flooding in July and August 2010, one of the worst natural disasters of the past decades in terms of the population, land area, number of households and social infrastructure affected. Unusually heavy monsoon rains that were part of an anomalous weather pattern across Asia caused the Indus River to overflow its banks, submerging one-fifth of Pakistan’s land area at the peak of the flooding.¹  More than 20 million people were affected, 7 million lost their homes, and an entire agrarian economy and way of life was altered. Six million boys and girls were severely affected. This extreme emergency, however, was only the most visible of the humanitarian crises of 2010. In northern Pakistan, a landslide in January obliterated a village and dammed up the Hunza River, creating a lake that swallowed up the surrounding villages, affecting some 40,000 people. In north-western Pakistan, more than 1.2 million people remained displaced following the 2009–2010 conflict. Pakistani families are experiencing a bewildering array of humanitarian needs rooted in ongoing instability, temporary displacement and widespread poverty. The key challenges for mounting an effective humanitarian response include frequent population movements and an insufficient number of partners able to assist the most vulnerable populations.

Britain's Muslim schools to conduct own inspections

Private Muslim schools have been given the power to police themselves, despite widespread fears over religious segregation, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

In a controversial move, they have won the right to appoint their own Ofsted-style inspectors. A new independent watchdog has been set up to be more "sensitive'' toward Islamic education.

Proponents say faith schools need specialist inspectors
The decision comes despite concerns some private Muslim schools are already failing to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.

Barry Sheerman, the chairman of the Commons schools select committee, told MPs last month local councils were finding it "difficult to know what is going on in some faith schools - particularly Muslim schools".

But religious leaders defended the move, saying the curriculum and religious traditions in faith schools demand specialist knowledge.

Under present legislation, most state and private schools are inspected by Ofsted, the Government's standards watchdog. The Association of Muslim Schools and the Christian Schools' Trust applied to the Government to set up a separate inspectorate for a small number of private faith schools.

advertisementThe Daily Telegraph has learned the Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF] approved plans for the Bridge Schools' Inspectorate last week, giving it the power to inspect about 60 private Muslim schools and 50 Christian schools.

Ofsted will still regularly vet the new inspectorate, but the move has been criticised.

Baroness Massey, the Labour peer, said any decision to set up separate inspection bodies would "reinforce differences and divisions" between religious groups.

Last night Mr Sheerman described the move as "very worrying".

Michael Gove, the shadow children's secretary, said the Tories supported faith schools for parents who want them. "It's important, however, to ensure that we build a society which is cohesive and make a success of diverse Britain."

"This is not the first time we have approved an independent inspectorate," said a spokesman for the DCSF.

"The new Education and Skills Bill currently passing through Parliament will increase the transparency of the process of approving independent inspectorates. It will ensure that in future no inspectorate is single faith."

He said this would help to promote integration.

Muslim women face 'crisis' over violence: UN official

Muslim women around the world are facing a ‘growing crisis’ as Islamic governments fail to honour commitments to end inequality and violence against them, a senior UN official has warned.
Yakin Erturk, the UN's rapporteur on violence against women, said at a weekend conference that women must demand their governments carry out pledges to grant equal rights and ensure their safety.
"There is no time left to lose any more as this is a growing crisis," she told AFP after a speech which dealt with the issue at an international conference on "Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family."
"Women must demand that their governments implement agreements on women's equality, rights and an end to violence against women, which have been signed but have yet to be carried out," she said.
"In these countries, those who speak on behalf of Islam still justify things like stoning or killing a woman for this or that reason as being part of their religion. I have heard this at the most official of levels," Erturk said without specifying which countries were to blame.

Help Women in Pakistan Survive and Rebuild

The United Nations has rated the current flooding in Pakistan as the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history. Twenty million people and over one-fifth of the country's area are affected by rising floodwaters. Already, more people are impacted by the Pakistan floods than were affected by the Southeast Asian tsunami and the recent earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti combined.  Militant groups are providing relief to survivors and complicating efforts by humanitarian organizations and governments.  And the record monsoon rains continue to fall.

MADRE's ally organization in the region, Shirkat Gah, has been working tirelessly with local communities in the hardest-hit areas to provide relief. Shirkat Gah was one of the first organizations to send field teams to help identify where large groups of displaced people had temporarily settled. They were able to dispatch mobile health units and distribute thousands of packages containing medicines, cooking supplies and a week’s worth of food for a family of six. They were also able to dispatch boats to rescue flood survivors trapped on rooftops and in trees.

Women are the most vulnerable to abuse, neglect, or oversight. MADRE's allies in the region are focusing on women's specific needs, and making sure those that have been overlooked are accounted for.  

You can help Shirkat Gah continue its vital work for women and children affected by the floods in Pakistan.  The crisis may fade from the news, but it's not over.  Help MADRE send funds to Shirkat Gah today.  Or, urge President Obama to increase US aid to Pakistan

Stop Violence Against Women Protest

Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive. The United Nations General Assembly defines "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself. Worldwide governments and organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. A UN resolution designated November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

We must never forget the Taliban horror

Saying "troops out of Afghanistan now" is based on shocking levels of short memory. How is letting the Taliban death-cult in through the back door supposed to be progressive and left-wing?

This blog has always unequivocally opposed the Iraq war and its mismanagement. Afghanistan, however, offers a radically different picture.

The recent US air-strike and the controversy over the number of civilian casualties in the province of Farah have reminded the world that thousands of Western troops are still bogged down in that country and that no end is in sight.

However, it would be difficult to deny that if NATO troops left Afghanistan tomorrow, it would probably take five minutes for the whole country to be regained by the Taliban. For some people, this isn't our problem.

Sure, "liberated" Afghanistan is still struggling with deeply entrenched misogynism and a terrifying series of problems. But as much as each US air-strike going wrong may feel like a disgrace and more should be done to avoid civilian casualties, it is also impossible to feel any sympathy for the supporters of a regime who made "WE LOVE DEATH MORE THAN YOU DO LIFE" their call to arms.

The Taliban regime that held Afghanistan hostage between 1996 and 2001 is possibly one of the most disgusting ones in living memory. Drenched in ideology, its basic tenet was an utmost state of paranoia and obsession with vice and virtue that were used to justify a mind-boggling series of prohibitions. Life in Taliban Afghanistan must have felt like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a succession of people pointing the finger at other people the other side of the road, shouting that they were not "pure and virtuous" enough.

As part of their war on women, the Taliban decided that even the Iranian chador was to be banned as "stimulating" and "sexually attractive". Women were only allowed to wear the burqa. Kept in a state of apartheid that would make 1970's South Africa look liberal by comparison, women were banned from working and even from receiving any kind of education. Households were required to blacken their windows so that no woman could be seen from outside. They couldn't even speak loudly in public lest a stranger should hear a woman's voice. All Afghani females could do was to be used as reproductive machines. Nothing more.

The feast of prohibitions, however went further. Movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events, kite flying, and beard trimming. Satellite dishes, cinematography, stereos, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures, Christmas cards. In 2001, the Taliban also issued a decree ordering non-Muslims to wear distinctive yellow patches.

It doesn't take much of a logical leap to conclude that implementing such a regime must have required industrial doses of violence, death, terror and brutality.

As recent as December 2008, the Taliban controlling the areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan issued official death threats towards any girl attending school. In the process over 100 schools were blown up and 17,000 students deprived of education.

Short memory is integral to human nature. And it must be this, and a nice set of blinkers no doubt, that is prompting some people on the left to cry that the Americans cannot and "should not bring Afghanistan into submission with bombs". The Stop the War coalition says that "only the Afghan people themselves can generate a political solution to their country’s problems".

Except that they don't explain how. So perhaps they mean the same way millions fled the Taliban regime throughout the 90s. Or a repeat of the Hazara Afghanis running for their lives. Or the way women weren't allowed to receive medical treatment.

Should we let them sort it out by themselves? Why doesn't John Pilger talk about it? Why doesn't George Galloway? Tony Benn? Lindsey German?

The question of what would happen if Western troops left tomorrow is obviously not part of their preoccupations. They've obviously forgotten that the whole country was already humiliated into submission, that the Talibani created - to quote Amnesty International - "the world's largest single refugee group", and that millions of women were treated worse than animals in a laboratory and that no American war blunder is worse than a genocidal death cult with absolutely zero respect for any human life.

Thousands of Pregnant Women in Pakistan at Risk

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) warned that thousands of pregnant women uprooted by floods all over the country are at a heightened risk of death.  The UNFPA estimates that nearly 500,000 women of the 21 million flood-affected people in the country are pregnant. Soon, some 1700 women will go into labour on a daily basis, and more than 250 of them will experience complications requiring lifesaving medical intervention. The situation is all the more alarming given that most flood victims do not have access to proper health services including skilled delivery assistance.

Noor Bano, 32, was anemic and exhausted when she made a 3-hour trek with two small children strapped to her.  Bano took shelter beneath a bridge for two days without food or water.  Thankfully, Bano was lucky enough to end up in a camp in Sukkur that's frequently visited by a United Nations Population Fund-supported medical team.  When it was time, Farzani Sarki, the midwife came to help Bano deliver her sixth baby in the family's tent. 
 
Not everyone is so lucky
The UN estimates that 320 women die for every 100,000 live births in Pakistan, during normal circumstances. This number could rise sharply in the flood-affected areas as women are exposed to trauma, malnutrition and poor hygiene.  Since early in August, UNFPA has deployed obstetricians and midwives in 23 mobile teams and 14 health centres in various flood-affected areas.

UNFPA is currently seeking $12.6 million for relief and early recovery activities in the next 12 months. International donors, however, have only pledged $3.5 million to date.  While UNFPA continues to support health authorities and non-governmental service providers in flood-hit areas, besides conducting various training courses for the people, there is more that still needs to be done. “We urgently need to scale up the reproductive health care for the flood victims,” said Dr Naseer Nizamani, UNFPA Assistant Representative in Pakistan. “The number of women who still lack assistance is enormous.”