Gilani appreciated the measures taken by the democratic dispensation for the protection and promotion of women rights. She also pointed out that the enactment of “Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010” earlier this year was a giant step forward towards women empowerment.
The Goodwill Ambassador said that Pakistan People’s Party was deeply committed to the cause of women empowerment and all steps would be taken for their betterment and prosperity. She recalled that Benazir Bhutto kept the cause of women emancipation close to her heart and waged a sustained struggle for the restoration of their rights.
She said the passage of Anti-Women Practices Bill would put an end to the immoral and un-Islamic practices such as Vani, Swara, marriage with the holy Quran, and negation of their share in inheritance.
Gilani paid glowing tribute to parliamentarians belonging to all political parties, saying the pro-women enactments showed that only democracy could secure rights of women. She emphasised that public opinion needs to be built against such anti-women practices for their eradication. She stressed the role of media and women organisations in order to make women useful members of society.
Gulnaz, now 21, became pregnant following the attack in 2009 and her baby daughter was born behind bars. When her pregnancy brought the crime to light, she was, like her attacker, convicted and jailed for the crime of adultery by force.
She was initially sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, but on appeal, this was increased to 12 years. A further appeal last week saw that cut back again to three years.
Gulnaz’s attacker received a 12-year prison term, later reduced on appeal to seven years.
Her case has drawn attention to the challenges still faced by Afghan women, 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban regime that banned women from almost all work and education.
With foreign combat troops set to return home by the end of 2014, some activists inside and outside Afghanistan fear that women’s rights may be sacrificed in the scramble to ensure the
West leaves behind a relatively stable state. Human rights campaigners have condemned her conviction, and the court’s decision that she could go free if she married her attacker, which she later agreed to. He is still married to her cousin, but under Afghan law can take a second wife.
This requirement for her release has now been lifted, said her lawyer Kimberley Motley, of law firm Motley Legal, although she could not comment on whether Gulnaz would reconsider her decision to marry him.
“The fact that the court eliminated the portion of the sentence that says she has to marry this man is definitely something that supports the Elimination of Violence against Women law which was signed by the government,” Motley said.
“Once President Karzai chooses to grant her clemency, which I am very confident of, that will… set precedent and will show his support for the Elimination of Violence against Women act and his support for Afghan women.”
That law was passed more than two years ago, but the United Nations warned last week that there was still a “long way to go” in implementing it, and only a small number of cases have been prosecuted under the Act.
Moral Crimes
Female victims of rape and abuse can find themselves accused of “moral crimes”, and like Gulnaz, face heavy sentences, the United Nations found.
Some such offences, such as running away from home, are not technically crimes under Afghan law, but judges can interpret the law to cover them, Motley said.
Motley said she believed Gulnaz’s appeal was already setting a precedent for some moral crimes cases.
“Hopefully they can use this case… as an example to argue their particular cases in court,” she said of defense lawyers.
Motley delivered a petition with nearly 5,000 signatures, collected in less than a week, to Kabul’s Presidential Palace on Sunday, demanding Gulnaz’s immediate release.
Hundreds more signatures had been added by early Monday, some with strong words of condemnation attached.
“The whole world is watching and every decent person would be disgusted by this and other gross injustices, when the victims are punished instead of the perpetrators just because they are female,” one signatory to the petition wrote.
Motley, who worked with an Afghan lawyer on the appeal that reduced Gulnaz’s sentence, said she expects President Hamid Karzai to grant clemency as the case has a weak legal basis.
“There is not one person that I’ve talked to, or that knows about this case, that can find any justification in her sentence,” she said after visiting the palace.
“I am very encouraged by the fact that the president’s office found out about this case this week, and as I understand it they immediately called the attorney general’s office to find out more information,” she told Reuters.
The attorney general’s office declined immediate comment on Gulnaz’s case.
THE International Women’s Day was observed here today.NGOs and civil society organisation held rallies and demonstrations in the city.This year’s theme is ‘Equal access to education, training and science and technology: pathway to decent work for women.’
Hundreds of women organised rallies which terminated at Multan press Club ,They were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans in favour of women rights, equal status.Addressing the rallies the speakers said although we have been observing International Women’s Day every year, violence against women and girls has remained a devastating truth.but Pakistani women’s rights have remained a question mark for the mindset of women. Although women are seen in the roles of mother, sister, wife and daughter, they are, however, ignored the most. Violation against women has yet to draw attention of society at large. A grim situation in which women are placed can be known by the sad example that the UNPF mentions that about 5,000 Muslim women all over the world are victims of honour killing.
Pakistani society adopts a shameful attitude against women. Many are not allowed to choose their life partners of their own free will. Worse yet, many women are victims of sexual harassment or abuse.
Women’s International Day is observed so that their political and social awareness is brought out worldwide and examined in an optimistic manner. If they are given equal opportunity, they can bring about a sustainable change in education and in society.It is the state’s obligation to protect and promote women’s rights.
However, I would dedicate the theme to the women who lived in the camps of internally displaced persons. Most of the women in the IDPs’ camps across the country desperately wished to return home and did not want to rely on food doled out by philanthropists and welfare organisations. They missed their routine household chores, including cooking and lending hand in agricultural and dairy production.
Currently, the returnees are facing the dilemma of how and where to start as their homes and livelihoods have been, by and large, destroyed. For most of these women life is a struggle; there are no options except to recreate a family shelter on their destroyed houses. They deserve a dignified return to their homes with access to basic necessities such as clean drinking water,
basic health and education facilities and decent work to earn a livelihood.
The limitations of the government to rehabilitate the IDPs are obvious. However, to some extent non-governmental organisations are assisting these women to earn livelihood through income-generating activities , which encompass activities such as manufacture and sale of handicraft and agricultural products and byproducts. Overall, in Pakistan the present political and economic situation is affecting the abilities of people to secure an adequate income for their families. From this stems the need for women’s participation in complementary income-generating activities.
The important issue is how the activities are determined, implemented, maintained and sustained. The complementary activities should be according to the poor women’s practical needs.
Often these relate to the caretaking of children, elderly or handicapped family members, as well as to other domestic and agricultural responsibilities.
Our goal should be to empower women returnees from IDPs’ camps by offering them skill training, micro-credit and sale outlets for their products. This will open doors for decent work opportunities. When women have a complementary source of income for the family, they will be able to send their children to school and provide them with the basic necessities of life.
Hundreds of women organised rallies which terminated at Multan press Club ,They were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans in favour of women rights, equal status.Addressing the rallies the speakers said although we have been observing International Women’s Day every year, violence against women and girls has remained a devastating truth.but Pakistani women’s rights have remained a question mark for the mindset of women. Although women are seen in the roles of mother, sister, wife and daughter, they are, however, ignored the most. Violation against women has yet to draw attention of society at large. A grim situation in which women are placed can be known by the sad example that the UNPF mentions that about 5,000 Muslim women all over the world are victims of honour killing.
Pakistani society adopts a shameful attitude against women. Many are not allowed to choose their life partners of their own free will. Worse yet, many women are victims of sexual harassment or abuse.
Women’s International Day is observed so that their political and social awareness is brought out worldwide and examined in an optimistic manner. If they are given equal opportunity, they can bring about a sustainable change in education and in society.It is the state’s obligation to protect and promote women’s rights.
However, I would dedicate the theme to the women who lived in the camps of internally displaced persons. Most of the women in the IDPs’ camps across the country desperately wished to return home and did not want to rely on food doled out by philanthropists and welfare organisations. They missed their routine household chores, including cooking and lending hand in agricultural and dairy production.
Currently, the returnees are facing the dilemma of how and where to start as their homes and livelihoods have been, by and large, destroyed. For most of these women life is a struggle; there are no options except to recreate a family shelter on their destroyed houses. They deserve a dignified return to their homes with access to basic necessities such as clean drinking water,
basic health and education facilities and decent work to earn a livelihood.
The limitations of the government to rehabilitate the IDPs are obvious. However, to some extent non-governmental organisations are assisting these women to earn livelihood through income-generating activities , which encompass activities such as manufacture and sale of handicraft and agricultural products and byproducts. Overall, in Pakistan the present political and economic situation is affecting the abilities of people to secure an adequate income for their families. From this stems the need for women’s participation in complementary income-generating activities.
The important issue is how the activities are determined, implemented, maintained and sustained. The complementary activities should be according to the poor women’s practical needs.
Often these relate to the caretaking of children, elderly or handicapped family members, as well as to other domestic and agricultural responsibilities.
Our goal should be to empower women returnees from IDPs’ camps by offering them skill training, micro-credit and sale outlets for their products. This will open doors for decent work opportunities. When women have a complementary source of income for the family, they will be able to send their children to school and provide them with the basic necessities of life.
