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Posts tagged with: Human Rights
Mar 18, 2011    |       25 comments

Shocking Attack on a Pakistani in a Hospital in Bahrain

This is an email I received from Bahrain sharing a shocking detail of Human Rights abuses against Pakistanis in these riots. I personally cannot verify the contents but talking to a number of Pakistanis based in Bahrain all attest that such incident did occur and this incident is being widely reported. What is actually happening is that there are a lot of Pakistanis in Bahrain and even a large number in the police, so when the local arabs want to vent their anger they search and identify Pakistani and then go crazy, a smilier incident occurred a few days back and this is what happened

I am a Bahraini medical staff member in Salmaniya please i want my story of what happened in Salmaniya to be told to people.

Being a human being it is my duty to let the people know the reality of what happened in Salmaniya on Saturday night and early part of Sunday 13th March 2011 in Salmaniya emergency.

I was present there in emergency, I am narrating to you the incident about the Pakistani labor workers who came to emergency, the arrival of Pakistanis beaten to death was hailed as a moral victory for narrow minded medical staff of SMC including some doctors and nurses which were chanting victory slogans as they had achieved a victory and against our king these poor labor guys were taken out of ambulances as animals with hands coughed and with oozing blood from their body were kicked and verbally abused as they had come to a prison not a hospital where patients are slaughtered.
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Mar 14, 2011    |       12 comments

Citizens for Democracy: “Silence Means More Blood” Letter signing campaign

Thousands of people from all walks of life joined hands with Citizens for Democracy (CFD), by participating and signing letters in the interfaith harmony drive “Silence Means More Blood” launched by CFD on Saturday, March 12, 2011.

At a camp set up in front of Jahangir Kothari Parade, opposite Park Towers, Clifton, Karachi, people signed and posted letters addressed to the president, prime minister, interior minister, chief justice of Pakistan, and Chief Ministers, for interfaith harmony and action against calls for violence and vigilante justice. The letter demands that notice and action be taken against the rampant lawlessness in Pakistan, in an atmosphere “in which extremist and militant forces are operating with impunity, and where calls to murder and violence are publicly made, celebrated and rewarded”.


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Feb 3, 2011    |       4 comments

Legacy of Shame

He was bundled in a stark white cloth, his head gaping through the wrapper as he was being ruthlessly carried out of the ward. He was born on the first day if this year, 2011 and died four days later – couldn’t battle long enough for sufficient oxygen. Son of Abdul Sattar died of asphyxia and breathed his last at the NICH hospital – Karachi, Pakistan.

The sight was horrific and disconcerting. However, for the medical staff it was a typical happening, which they encounter at least 4-5 times a day. As we walked through the ward the parents looked at us with helplessness in their eyes, hoping that we are some senior medical practioners. Or magical practioner for that matter – who would wand away their child’s illness and revive them back to health.

Their temporary hope was crushed back to the debilitated faculties of the ward. They were thrown back to the mercy of ill equipped and unhygienic premises – Back to the mercy of irresponsible nurses and undependable doctors. Pakistan’s public healthcare sector is under resourced and over whelmed. Physicians and nurses display extreme irresponsibility primarily due to lack of financial incentives and resources in terms of medical equipment etc.
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Dec 11, 2010    |       58 comments

Human Rights and Blasphemy in Pakistan

Today, Human Rights Day is being observed all around the world. Every year, on the 10th of December, this day is celebrated to acknowledge and honor, United Nations’ adoption of ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, sixty two ago in 1948. The theme for commemoration is different every year. This year’s theme identifies the struggle and sacrifices of Human Rights activists around the world, who risk their lives to safeguard rights of the others, against violence, women abuse, child abuse, physical torture, religious and gender discrimination etc.

Perhaps there cannot be a more pertinent theme than this for our beloved country Pakistan. Violence, Torture, physical, social and mental, Woman abuse, Child abuse, Elderly abuse, Oppression of those without power. You name a right that can be abused and we have plentiful examples in the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Yet today the Governing class will cherish the photo opportunity and there will be lot of desk banging for the sake of Human Rights. Such is the scale of sheer hypocrisy in this country that even dogs have become nauseated.

Look at the news tonight and tomorrow and you will see scores of shows and seminars were organized for this purpose. New programs were announced. Different speeches and lectured were delivered by many influential people of the country. We are all talk but no walk at all. All we can do is pay lip service. Has anyone ever thought about their personal conduct? It makes me wonder how they get a peaceful night of sleep. Don’t they have an iota of conscience left in them?
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Nov 15, 2010    |       22 comments

Child Beggars: The Future of Pakistan?

Karachi is a city of fun, entertainment and success. Many government officials have done a remarkable job in making the city a better place by investing in its infrastructure. However, what is the future of this city or if talking on the macro perspective, what is the future of this nation? Well, the future is the girl who knocks on your window convincing you to buy flowers that can buy money for a meal. The future is the little boy who walks around frantically looking for car windows that he can clean in order to save himself from getting abused by the his “bosses” running the beggary business. Instead of having these children focus on their future by providing them with education, love, motivation and support to excel in their lives, they’re given flowers and wipers to make a living at the age of 9 or 13. Yes, the future of Pakistan is on the streets.

The number of children on the streets has nearly tripled since last year. Many of these children don’t focus on how to excel in their education and make a successful career. They’re more focused on earning enough money to fill their stomachs. Instead of being a doctor, lawyer, teacher or businessman, the children have made their professional careers in begging.
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Oct 3, 2010    |       92 comments

Extra Judicial Killings by Pakistan Army

The past few days I was being forwarded a shocking video of a few Pakistan Army jawans assissinating six blind-folded shalwar kameez men. This is a low quality mobile video showing a number of Pakistani Army soldiers escorting six blind folded men to a corner, they lined them up and a high ranking officer walks to each of the six person, as if asking them to beg for forgiveness, having received none he conveintly walks back to his jawans and orders them to open fire. The uniformed soldiers raise their G-3 rifles and let loose a volley of shots killing most of the prisoners instantaneously. After the dust settles two soldiers walk up take aim to shoot the targets yet again to ensure that they are dead

This is the scene of a shocking video that is circulating on the web, every portal that puts them up is quickly blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, as it is within their policy framework to immediately remove content that is deemed abusive of the Pakistan Army.
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Jun 22, 2010    |       12 comments

Guantanamo like Prisons of Sindh

Cries of shutting down the Guantanamo prison have been around for some time now. reason being the inhuman conditions at the prison which rather than reforming the prisoners is forcing them to become hardcore terrorists once they are released. Numerous examples could be quoted in this context. Such huge global outcry in this regard had bent Obama to include the closure of this notorious prison in his election manifesto and later order to shut it down for good with detainees shifted and tried in the US.

Keeping in mind the above scenario we do have several Guantanamo like prisons in Sindh, Pakistan especially the Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur central jail, which grace the headlines every now and then for prisoners taking policemen hostage or using other means to register their protest against subhuman treatment i.e. overcrowded jails, barbaric torture, alleged extortion from the prisoners , unhygienic living conditions, jail hospitals lacking requisite facilities, inadequate quality of food, jailers receiving bribe from their relatives, prisoners not being presented before the court when due and lacunas in the provision of legal aid to the deserving prisoners.
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Jun 15, 2010    |       15 comments

Liberating Women in Pakistan – The Sane Chronicle

While browsing the Pakistani blogosphere, I found out that writing, grumbling & debating about women issues is in vogue in Pakistan’s literary circle, not considering the fact that it only adds up to an already bad impression created about the country abroad. Well, I want to rest this argument once for good! -My lame attempt to stop educated Pakistanis from maligning Pakistan either intentionally or unintentionally, on International forums. Lets use our pen with responsibility.

Presenting women with financial independence and social autonomy, is often considered the precise approach to impart them power. However, the candid perspective is, empowering women is only a dream without ascertaining two fundamentals; A Blooming Economy & A Free Judiciary. And therefore, earnest political will! Integration of women into the social fabric would happen automatically with an improved economy & amplified employment opportunities. Dynamic government policies & magnanimous economic activity leading to more job generation will indirectly lead to more & more women coming out of homes to work, and hence turning them into financially self-sufficient beings.

Furthermore, enforcing women to work without any increase in jobs will only lead to more frustration in the society as now double the number of people will be applying for the same number of jobs, totting up the competition. However, by broadly improving economy, there would be enough space for both men & women in the job market in different categories. You see men doing many odd jobs that are purely a women’s domain, only because of redundancy. If job market is improved, these chores would also be available to women and even the most conservative ones would come out without eyebrows being raised.
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May 14, 2010    |       2 comments

Ex-CIA official reveals Waterboarding Torture & the Iraq Invasion

In a video interview John Kiriakou, a former CIA counter-terrorism official reveals new information about the capture and torture of “high-value” detainee Abu Zubaydah. Abu Zubaydah was arrested in March 2002 in a joint operation with the CIA, FBI and Pakistani intelligence agents from Faisalabad, according to intelligence reports from the Bush administration who had wrongly tagged him as the No. 3 person in al-Qaeda and one of the planners of the 9/11 attacks.

Government documents declassified in the years showed that Zubaydah, in addition to being subjected to other brutal torture techniques [also reported by FBI Interrogator Ali Soufan during his congressional testimony in 2009], was waterboarded at least 83 times in a single month. There is to-date, according to Kiriakou no concrete evidence of Zubaydah’s direct involvement in the execution and planning of 9/11.
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Apr 6, 2010    |       57 comments

US are Collateral Murderers in Iraq … and they wouldn’t do that in Pakistan, will they?

Yesterday [April 5th 2010] WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff.

The video, shot from an Apache helicopter, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded, left to be taken to a local hospital

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0[/youtube]

One of the helicopter crew is then heard saying that one of the group is shooting shooting back. But the video shows there is no shooting or even pointing of weapons. The men are standing around, apparently unperturbed. The lead helicopter, using the moniker Crazyhorse, opens fire. “Hahaha. I hit ’em,” shouts one of the American crew. Another responds a little later: “Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards.” The ruthless murders then open fire on a van that drives up to pick up a wounded. [Transcript]
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Apr 4, 2010    |       106 comments

Samar Minallah Responds to Fake Flogging Video

Daily Times published today a detailed response by Samar Minallah on the fake flogging video she wraps up the article with some very touching words,” I will continue to challenge those who misuse Islam for power and politics. I will continue to raise my voice against individuals and political parties who use my religion to spread hatred. I will continue to expose and challenge the ‘conspiracy’ and ‘propaganda’ theories that try to befool the people of this country.” I give her my utmost support for the brilliant work she continues to do, and I believe the sentiments her article will be reflected in the same manner in an column I wrote for the upcoming launch of Express Tribune which set to launch this week, a link for which I shall share after its published

Mar 31, 2010    |       82 comments

Faking a Flogging Video for Military Advancements?

Almost a year back the political circus in Pakistan was up in arms at having watched a video of woman being flogged publicly. The video was released after verification by some human rights activists. Only recently The News carried a report claiming that this video was a fabrication and alleging that it was funded by an Islamabad based NGO which tried to implicate Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the perpetrators of this women’s abuse

The News 29th March 2010: A resident of Swat, who claims to have prepared the fake video of flogging of a girl in Swat, has termed it drama and revealed that he received Rs 0.5 million for doing so before the launch of military operation ‘Rah-e-Rast’.

The uproar this video generated particularly among secular elements feared that the Swat peace deal would in effect hand over Swat to the Taliban who would carry out similar brutal punishments in the garb of Islam.
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Mar 11, 2010    |       6 comments

Update on possible Quetta Karo Kari Incident

Ever since the first email at 10 am a lot has been achieved in an effort to provide security and protection to the couple in Quetta, all this mobilization has been done to prevent a possible disaster, there were no confirmed reports on this but the couple was threatened enough to alert Human rights activists in Pakistan. It is my belief that every effort must be done to prevent a disaster when a person is willing to reach out and ask for help.

If we succeed and this couple becomes a living example to have withstood these heinous traditions, it might possibly encourage other such people facing such similar threats to reach out and also ask for help. I share with you Tahira Abdullah’s email just receive moments ago
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Mar 10, 2010    |       61 comments

Raise Hell to Prevent a possible Honor Killing in Quetta on Thursday

According to a respected womens’ activist Tahira Abdullah she suspects that there is a strong possibility of an honor killing on Thursday morning in Quetta. The issue is about a family dispute regarding a court marriage of Akhtar Hussain and Haseena Bibi. Both have gone through an own-choice marriage and is being challenged by a counter-case by their family members in a counter case.

Haseena is in Dar-ul-Aman, Quetta while Akhtar Hussain has recently been released on bail from prison, the couple fear that they will be killed en-route to or from the court and they have urgently requested for protection & security.

Tahira Abdullah draws the attention of civil society activists, womens organizations and media outlets in Pakistan and across the world to draw immediate attention to this issue, if enough eyes are on this case there is a strong possibility that the culprits would hesitate before committing this heinous crime while I think we must also draw attention of the Government of Pakistan to provide protection and security for the couple with immediate effect.
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Mar 9, 2010    |       20 comments

Mai Jori’s Huqooq March ends

Huqooq March ends today on 8th March with public gathering in Gandakha participated by thousands of men and women. Huqooq March started by Awami Party on March 1st to support election campaign of Mai Jori, a peasant woman contesting election of provincial assembly of Balochistan.

The marchers arrived in Gandakha today that was received by hundreds of men and women as they marched into the streets of Gandakha. Addressing the public gathering Mai said that her election contest is the overwhelming decision of peasants, women and youth of the area. She was least worried about the election result and promised to continue struggling for the poor for their rights fighting against the big landlords and influential people who in a cowardice attempt use the government resources to influence the election.
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