Samina Baig becomes first Pakistani woman to climb Mt EverestBy Jamal Shah - Dawn newspaper
ISLAMABAD, May 19: The news about the first Pakistani woman summiting Mount Everest on Sunday morning spread like a wildfire. Text messages congratulating every Pakistani started doing the rounds only half an hour after Samina Baig reached the top of the highest peak in the world at around 7:30am. And by the afternoon, almost everyone was updating their status on …
‘Actions not Words are Needed to Enable Women to Progress’Interview with Tahira Abdullah - Dawn newspaper April 14
By Moniza Inam
What are the basic reasons for persistent poverty of Pakistani women? Several factors contribute to exacerbate the feminisation of poverty in Pakistan. These include the increasing overall national poverty rates, of both women and men; rising inflation, food insecurity and unemployment. A female/male poverty ratio of 3:1, as acknowledged by successive military dictatorships and civilian elected governments over the past …
Pakistani girl defied Taliban to play squash – as a boyBy Riya Bhattacharjee of MSN News
Maria Toorpakai received death threats from the Taliban for playing sports, which it considers un-Islamic. Now she is determined to return to Pakistan and change their minds. Maria Toorpakai was born in what is called “the most dangerous place on earth” — Waziristan, Pakistan Long a stronghold for militant groups and warlords, including the Taliban, this remote tribal region is also one of …
My Last Meeting with Slain Parveen RehmanBy Nafisa Hoodbhoy
“Did you find that religious extremism has grown in Pakistan on this trip?” asked Sheema Kirmani, sitting cross-legged in the front of the crowd, after I had finished presenting my book at a session of the Karachi Literary Festival. “Oh yes,” I responded. “But its not just religious, but also ethnic extremism that’s taken hold of Karachi. I think that …
Parveen Rahman – Pakistan Loses a Courageous Woman Working for Upliftment of the PoorDawn Newspaper - By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 15: A media-shy social worker who devoted her life to the development of the impoverished neighbourhoods across the country, was gunned down near her office in Orangi Town on Wednesday. She was 56. Parveen Rehman was born in Dhaka in 1957. She did part of her schooling in the former East Pakistan and migrated to Karachi after the …
Five College Women’s Studies Research Center'Aboard the Democracy Train' in Center's News
The Five College Women’s Studies Research Center has received two grants through the Five College Digital Humanities Project supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grants will enable our Research Associates participating in our 2012-2013 theme of “New Media in Feminist Scholarship, Teaching, and Activism” to work closely with Five College faculty, staff and students to develop gender studies courses incorporating …
UK Campaigners call for Nobel Prize for Malala YousufzaiReuters
LONDON, Nov 8: Tens of thousands of Britons called on the government on Friday to nominate Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 15-year-old is receiving specialist treatment in the English city of Birmingham after gunmen shot her on Oct 9 for standing up against …
U.S. Media Elite Honor Female Pakistani Journalist for Her CouragePosted: 11/02/2012 - The Huffington Post
Zubeida Mustafa was the first woman to work in Pakistan’s mainstream media. That was more than 30 years ago. Today, because of Zubeida’s courage to use her voice, report on other women’s voices, and argue for hiring policies that would allow women to occupy all positions in the newsroom, life is different for women in Pakistan. “I wanted to create …
Malala won’t be airbrushed outAbbas Nasir - Dawn Newspaper
“I AM worried about Malala. The whole of Swat is worried about her. But every girl in Swat is Malala. We’ll educate ourselves. We will win. They can’t defeat us.” This was a teenaged classmate of Malala Yousufzai being interviewed live on TV from Mingora. Steeped in courage, her words were delivered with indescribable resolve, a beaming face. Such resolve …
Senior Journalist Zubeida Mustafa Arrives in US for 2012 Lifetime Achievement AwardInternational Women's Media Foundation Honors 's Dawn Former Assistant Editor
Zubeida Mustafa speaks modestly about her 33 years as a journalist in Pakistan, where she worked through extreme political instability, media censorship, gender barriers and social upheaval as the assistant editor of Dawn, a widely-respected English-language daily newspaper. Her optimism sometimes subverts the challenges she faced as the first woman to work in mainstream media in her country and as …
Teenage School activist survives attack by TalibanBy Declan Walsh - nytimes.com
KARACHI, Oct 9— A Taliban gunman shot and seriously wounded a 14-year-old schoolgirl and activist in the Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, singling out a widely known champion of girls’ education and a potent symbol of resistance to militant ideology. The attack occurred in Mingora, the valley’s main town, when masked gunmen stopped a bus carrying schoolgirls who …
Accused in Fauzia Bhutto’s Murder Killed by TribesmenFormer PPP MPA Raheem Baksh Jamali Succumbs to Injuries
The News - Web edition
KARACHI, Aug 20: The former Sindh Assembly lawmaker, Raheem Baksh Jamali, who was shot and injured in a mosque in Shaheed Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah) on Sunday, succumbed to his wounds on Monday in a Karachi hospital, Geo News reported. Reportedly, unknown gunmen attacked a mosque-bound Jamlai, who was observing Itikaf – an Islamic practice consisting of a period of retreat …
Pakistani born couple Jailed for Honor Killing in LondonAFP
LONDON, Aug 3 : A Pakistani-born couple were jailed for life by a British court Friday for murdering their “westernised” teenage daughter in an apparent honour killing. Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, were told at Chester Crown Court in Cheshire, north-west England, that they would serve a minimum of 25 years each after suffocating their 17-year-old daughter …
Pakistan Pins Hopes on Woman Sprinter in London OlympicsRabia Ashiq Receives Sponsorship from Cell Company - Dawn.com
KARACHI: Pakistan’s talented athlete Rabiq Ashiq who will be competing in the 800 metres competition at the London Olympics, scheduled for Aug 8, has received a major boost with her recent sponsorship contract. Rabia was selected to participate in the Olympics through wildcard and is hoping to make an impact in the challenging event at the Games scheduled for next …
Young Woman Working for Social Change in FATA is KilledBy Asad Zia - The Express Tribune
Peshawar, July 5: Farida, belonging to the Afridi subtribe Kokikhel, was targeted on Wednesday morning at 6.30am when she left her house in Tehsil Jamrud Ghundi Kali for her office in Hayatabad. “She was cornered by motorcyclists who shot her and she died on the way to Jamrud hospital,” said witness Abid Ali. Farida was 25. Along with her sister …
Ex MNA from Kohistan Threatens Working Womendawn.com
MANSEHRA, May 5: Former Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA from Kohistan Maulvi Abdul Haleem on Saturday warned women working in non-governmental organisations against entering his district and said violators of the warning would be forcibly married off to locals. “I issued a decree during Friday sermon that getting education for degrees by women is repugnant to Islamic injunctions because if a woman …
What Choices for Hindu Girls in Pakistan?SC Verdict Throws Minority Community into Despair
By Zehrab Nabi Newsline
On April 18, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled that the three Hindu women who had been converted to Islam, Rinkel Kumari, Dr Lata Kumari and Aasha Kumari, should decide if they want to return to their parents or stay with their new husbands. All three stated that they had willingly converted to Islam and wanted to live with their …
SC Verdict Leaves Hindu Girls Conversion Issue Unresolveddawn.com
ISLAMABAD, April 18: The chief justice was in a hurry for once. In just the second hearing on Wednesday of a case related to the conversion of three Hindu women, a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, wrapped up the case and announced its judgment. The three young women present in the court were told to …
Taliban Rules Return for Afghan WomenWomen TV Presenters become the Canaries in the Mines
AFP
KABUL: Afghanistan has instructed women TV presenters to stop appearing without a headscarf and to wear less make-up, officials said, raising fears about creeping restrictions on the fledgling media. “All the TV networks are in seriousness asked to stop women presenters from appearing on TV without a veil and with dense make-up,” the information and culture ministry said. “All women …
National Assembly Votes in Autonomous Women’s CommissionThe Battle Must Go On
By Zubeida Mustafa
SUCH are the paradoxes in Pakistan’s politics, that at a time our politicians are locked in a grim power struggle in Islamabad, the same gentlemen joined hands to pass unanimously the women’s commission bill last Thursday. Whether this show of unity on a matter concerning women should be interpreted as an act of chivalry or a demonstration of ‘woman power’, …