Indian police arrest priest & school teacher after they attempt to ‘sacrifice’ 3yr girl
Published time: 7 Jul, 2019 08:03
Edited time: 8 Jul, 2019 09:07
Police in India have saved a 3-year-old girl from imminent death at the hands of her own relatives, as they planned to “sacrifice” the toddler after getting the green light from her parents, local media reports.
The chilling incident took place in the Ganakpara village of Udalguri district on Saturday. Police arrived at the scene after they were alerted by villagers who spotted smoke billowing from the house of a local science teacher, identified as Jadab Saharia.
They became even more alarmed when they saw the teacher, along with his male and female family members, taking off their clothes after putting the 3-year-old on an impromptu altar, NDTV reports. The blood-curdling ceremony was to be conducted by a priest, armed with a long sword. The situation escalated quickly when the “priest” began brandishing his sword in an attempt to chop off the toddler’s head as part of the gruesome ritual.
All pleas to the family to stop the bloodshed were in vain, and only angered the priest, who started threatening the villagers who sought to prevent the crime, with an axe and a sword. The family was unperturbed by the arrival of media and police, and the group’s erratic behavior only grew worse, as they started hurling rocks and utensils at police and set fire to their belongings, including a motorcycle, TV set, car, and fridge.
Having exhausted all other options, police were forced to fire several shots in the air to bring the teacher, priest, and co-conspirators to their senses. Eventually, the officers wrestled the child away from the gang and placed the family members and their machete-wielding religious leader under arrest.
The child turned out to be a relative of her tormentors – the daughter of the science teacher’s sister-in-law. The toddler was reportedly handed over to the man voluntarily by her father. The girl was apparently to be killed with her own mother watching.
www.rt.com/news/463570-india-human-sacrifice-child/
Cruel Acts Against Humanity
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swamidada2
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China destroys dozens of Uighur cemeteries in drive to 'eradicate' cultural history of Muslims
The Telegraph october 9, 2019, 10:02 AM CDT
China is destroying burial grounds where generations of Uighur families have been laid to rest - AFP
Even in death there is no respite for the Uighurs, one of the world's most persecuted minorities, according to a new investigation that has revealed China is destroying burial grounds where generations of families have been interred.
Over the past two years, tombs have been smashed and human bones scattered in dozens of desecrated cemeteries in China’s northwest region, research by Agence France Presse and satellite imagery analysts Earthrise Alliance has revealed.
While the official explanation for the policy is urban development or the “standardisation” of old graves, overseas Uighurs say the destruction is part of the state’s concerted effort to eradicate their ethnic identity and control every aspect of their lives.
"This is all part of China's campaign to effectively eradicate any evidence of who we are, to effectively make us like the Han Chinese," said Salih Hudayar, who said the graveyard where his great-grandparents were buried was demolished.
"That's why they're destroying all of these historical sites, these cemeteries, to disconnect us from our history, from our fathers and our ancestors," he said.
An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into re-education camps in Xinjiang in the name of combatting religious extremism and separatism.
Former detainees interviewed by The Telegraph have recounted horrific torture, being forced to memorise Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and to renounce Islam.
Those who are free are intimidated by suffocating surveillance and restrictions, including bans on beards and veils.
A further Telegraph investigation in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in June found evidence of widespread intimidation of the local population, whether inside mosques or in family homes, including reports that officials were offering “gifts” of pork, a forbidden food for Muslims.
Beijing has long sought to control the resource-rich region of Xinjiang, where decades of government-encouraged migration of the Han – China’s ethnic majority – have fuelled resentment among Uighurs.
Last year, Uighur exile groups reported that the Chinese authorities were setting up “burial management centres” in a bid to exert control over the most private aspects of their lives.
The latest investigation claims that the destruction of existing graveyards has been carried out with little respect for the dead – with AFP journalists discovering human bones discarded at three site and other sites where tombs were reduced to mounds of bricks.
The Xinjiang government did not respond to a request for comment.
The destruction is "not just about religious persecution," said Nurgul Sawut, who has five generations of family buried in Yengisar, southwestern Xinjiang.
"It is much deeper than that," said Ms Sawut, who now lives in Australia and last visited Xinjiang in 2016 to attend her father's funeral.
"If you destroy that cemetery ... you're uprooting whoever's on that land, whoever's connected to that land," she explained.
China has dismissed the escalating global criticism of its treatment of Uighurs, denying there are any human rights issues in the region.
This week, the United States said it would curb visas for officials over the alleged abuses and blacklisted 28 Chinese facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology firms that it accuses of being implicated in the repression of the Muslim minority.
"This kind of behavior seriously violates the basic norms of international relations, interferes in China's internal affairs, and harms China's interests," said Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. "The Chinese side strongly deplores and opposes it."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ch ... 40157.html
The Telegraph october 9, 2019, 10:02 AM CDT
China is destroying burial grounds where generations of Uighur families have been laid to rest - AFP
Even in death there is no respite for the Uighurs, one of the world's most persecuted minorities, according to a new investigation that has revealed China is destroying burial grounds where generations of families have been interred.
Over the past two years, tombs have been smashed and human bones scattered in dozens of desecrated cemeteries in China’s northwest region, research by Agence France Presse and satellite imagery analysts Earthrise Alliance has revealed.
While the official explanation for the policy is urban development or the “standardisation” of old graves, overseas Uighurs say the destruction is part of the state’s concerted effort to eradicate their ethnic identity and control every aspect of their lives.
"This is all part of China's campaign to effectively eradicate any evidence of who we are, to effectively make us like the Han Chinese," said Salih Hudayar, who said the graveyard where his great-grandparents were buried was demolished.
"That's why they're destroying all of these historical sites, these cemeteries, to disconnect us from our history, from our fathers and our ancestors," he said.
An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into re-education camps in Xinjiang in the name of combatting religious extremism and separatism.
Former detainees interviewed by The Telegraph have recounted horrific torture, being forced to memorise Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and to renounce Islam.
Those who are free are intimidated by suffocating surveillance and restrictions, including bans on beards and veils.
A further Telegraph investigation in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in June found evidence of widespread intimidation of the local population, whether inside mosques or in family homes, including reports that officials were offering “gifts” of pork, a forbidden food for Muslims.
Beijing has long sought to control the resource-rich region of Xinjiang, where decades of government-encouraged migration of the Han – China’s ethnic majority – have fuelled resentment among Uighurs.
Last year, Uighur exile groups reported that the Chinese authorities were setting up “burial management centres” in a bid to exert control over the most private aspects of their lives.
The latest investigation claims that the destruction of existing graveyards has been carried out with little respect for the dead – with AFP journalists discovering human bones discarded at three site and other sites where tombs were reduced to mounds of bricks.
The Xinjiang government did not respond to a request for comment.
The destruction is "not just about religious persecution," said Nurgul Sawut, who has five generations of family buried in Yengisar, southwestern Xinjiang.
"It is much deeper than that," said Ms Sawut, who now lives in Australia and last visited Xinjiang in 2016 to attend her father's funeral.
"If you destroy that cemetery ... you're uprooting whoever's on that land, whoever's connected to that land," she explained.
China has dismissed the escalating global criticism of its treatment of Uighurs, denying there are any human rights issues in the region.
This week, the United States said it would curb visas for officials over the alleged abuses and blacklisted 28 Chinese facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology firms that it accuses of being implicated in the repression of the Muslim minority.
"This kind of behavior seriously violates the basic norms of international relations, interferes in China's internal affairs, and harms China's interests," said Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. "The Chinese side strongly deplores and opposes it."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ch ... 40157.html
Indian man accused of slashing pregnant wife's stomach 'to check gender'
CNN Tue, September 22, 2020, 12:44 AM CDT
A man in northern India was arrested after slashing his pregnant wife's stomach with a sickle, allegedly to find out the unborn baby's gender, according to police and the woman's relatives.
The attack, which took place on Saturday, caused the baby's death and left the mother in critical condition. She remains hospitalized in intensive care in the capital New Delhi, said police in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh state.
"He attacked her with a sickle and ripped her stomach saying that he wanted to check the gender of the unborn child," according to the woman's brother, Golu Singh.
The couple already have five daughters.
Police said the baby was stillborn late on Sunday and the husband had been remanded in custody.
India has long struggled with pervasive gender inequality and a preference for sons over daughters, which are often viewed as economic burdens -- reinforced by cultural practices like requiring a bride to provide a dowry.
Some couples will keep trying until a boy is born, leading to the birth of tens of millions of "unwanted" girls, according to the 2017-18 Economic Survey.
Abortion is legal in India, but sex-selective terminations, which often target female fetuses, are not. But still, hundreds of thousands of female fetuses are aborted every year in India, according to US-based NGO Invisible Girl Project.
As a result, India has one of the most skewed sex ratios in the world. For every 107 males born in the country, there are 100 females. According to the World Health Organization, the global natural sex ratio at birth is 105 males for every 100 females.
Even if a daughter is born instead of aborted, they often face higher mortality rates due to inadequate care; a 2018 study found that an estimated 239,000 girls under the age of five die in India every year due to gender-based neglect. The areas worst affected by this problem are typically in rural regions, with low levels of education, high population densities and high birth rates.
Some of the ingrained preference is due to the norms governing inheritance, the dowry requirement, the tradition of women joining their husband's households, and rituals which need to be performed by male children.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xan ... 38320.html
CNN Tue, September 22, 2020, 12:44 AM CDT
A man in northern India was arrested after slashing his pregnant wife's stomach with a sickle, allegedly to find out the unborn baby's gender, according to police and the woman's relatives.
The attack, which took place on Saturday, caused the baby's death and left the mother in critical condition. She remains hospitalized in intensive care in the capital New Delhi, said police in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh state.
"He attacked her with a sickle and ripped her stomach saying that he wanted to check the gender of the unborn child," according to the woman's brother, Golu Singh.
The couple already have five daughters.
Police said the baby was stillborn late on Sunday and the husband had been remanded in custody.
India has long struggled with pervasive gender inequality and a preference for sons over daughters, which are often viewed as economic burdens -- reinforced by cultural practices like requiring a bride to provide a dowry.
Some couples will keep trying until a boy is born, leading to the birth of tens of millions of "unwanted" girls, according to the 2017-18 Economic Survey.
Abortion is legal in India, but sex-selective terminations, which often target female fetuses, are not. But still, hundreds of thousands of female fetuses are aborted every year in India, according to US-based NGO Invisible Girl Project.
As a result, India has one of the most skewed sex ratios in the world. For every 107 males born in the country, there are 100 females. According to the World Health Organization, the global natural sex ratio at birth is 105 males for every 100 females.
Even if a daughter is born instead of aborted, they often face higher mortality rates due to inadequate care; a 2018 study found that an estimated 239,000 girls under the age of five die in India every year due to gender-based neglect. The areas worst affected by this problem are typically in rural regions, with low levels of education, high population densities and high birth rates.
Some of the ingrained preference is due to the norms governing inheritance, the dowry requirement, the tradition of women joining their husband's households, and rituals which need to be performed by male children.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xan ... 38320.html
Building of life rather than death: Mexico ‘tower of skulls’ yields more ancient remains
Archaeologists believe that many of the skulls belonged to captured enemy warriors and that the tower was intended as a warning to rivals of the Aztec empire, which was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in 1521.
SCIENCE Updated: Dec 13, 2020, 01:36 IST
Agence France-Presse | Posted by Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Mexico City
A photo shows parts of an Aztec tower of human skulls, believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli, a massive array of skulls that struck fear into the Spanish conquistadores when they captured the city under Hernan Cortes, at the Templo Mayor archaeology site, in Mexico City, Mexico.
A photo shows parts of an Aztec tower of human skulls, believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli, a massive array of skulls that struck fear into the Spanish conquistadores when they captured the city under Hernan Cortes, at the Templo Mayor archaeology site, in Mexico City, Mexico.(via REUTERS)
Mexican archaeologists said Friday they had found remains of 119 more people, including women and several children, in a centuries-old Aztec “tower of skulls” in the heart of the capital.
The new discovery was announced after an eastern section of the Huei Tzompantli was uncovered along with the outer facade, five years after the northeastern side was found.
Archaeologists believe that many of the skulls belonged to captured enemy warriors and that the tower was intended as a warning to rivals of the Aztec empire, which was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in 1521.
Some of the remains could be of people who were killed in ritual sacrifices to appease the gods, according to experts quoted in a statement released by the National Anthropology and History Institute.
“Although we cannot determine how many of these individuals were warriors, perhaps some were captives set aside for sacrificial ceremonies,” archaeologist Barrera Rodriguez said.
The tower, 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) in diameter, is thought to have been built around the end of the 15th century.
It is located in the area of the Templo Mayor, one of the main temples of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in the historic district of modern-day Mexico City.
In total more than 600 skulls have now been found at the site, which Mexican authorities have described as one of the country’s most important archaeological discoveries in years.
“At every step, the Templo Mayor continues to surprise us,” Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto said in a statement.
“The Huei Tzompantli is, without a doubt, one of the most impressive archaeological finds in our country in recent years.”
The statement noted that in Mesoamerica human sacrifice was seen as a way of ensuring the continued existence of the universe.
For that reason, experts consider the tower to be “a building of life rather than death,” it said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/science/ ... F6NTM.html
Archaeologists believe that many of the skulls belonged to captured enemy warriors and that the tower was intended as a warning to rivals of the Aztec empire, which was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in 1521.
SCIENCE Updated: Dec 13, 2020, 01:36 IST
Agence France-Presse | Posted by Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Mexico City
A photo shows parts of an Aztec tower of human skulls, believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli, a massive array of skulls that struck fear into the Spanish conquistadores when they captured the city under Hernan Cortes, at the Templo Mayor archaeology site, in Mexico City, Mexico.
A photo shows parts of an Aztec tower of human skulls, believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli, a massive array of skulls that struck fear into the Spanish conquistadores when they captured the city under Hernan Cortes, at the Templo Mayor archaeology site, in Mexico City, Mexico.(via REUTERS)
Mexican archaeologists said Friday they had found remains of 119 more people, including women and several children, in a centuries-old Aztec “tower of skulls” in the heart of the capital.
The new discovery was announced after an eastern section of the Huei Tzompantli was uncovered along with the outer facade, five years after the northeastern side was found.
Archaeologists believe that many of the skulls belonged to captured enemy warriors and that the tower was intended as a warning to rivals of the Aztec empire, which was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in 1521.
Some of the remains could be of people who were killed in ritual sacrifices to appease the gods, according to experts quoted in a statement released by the National Anthropology and History Institute.
“Although we cannot determine how many of these individuals were warriors, perhaps some were captives set aside for sacrificial ceremonies,” archaeologist Barrera Rodriguez said.
The tower, 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) in diameter, is thought to have been built around the end of the 15th century.
It is located in the area of the Templo Mayor, one of the main temples of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in the historic district of modern-day Mexico City.
In total more than 600 skulls have now been found at the site, which Mexican authorities have described as one of the country’s most important archaeological discoveries in years.
“At every step, the Templo Mayor continues to surprise us,” Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto said in a statement.
“The Huei Tzompantli is, without a doubt, one of the most impressive archaeological finds in our country in recent years.”
The statement noted that in Mesoamerica human sacrifice was seen as a way of ensuring the continued existence of the universe.
For that reason, experts consider the tower to be “a building of life rather than death,” it said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/science/ ... F6NTM.html
9 suspects arrested after rape, murder of minor girl in Khairpur
Mohammad Hussain Khan Published January 12, 2021.
The minor girl had gone missing over the weekend and her body was found from a banana orchard on Monday. — Dawn/File
Police on Tuesday arrested nine suspects after the body of a nine-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped and strangulated to death, was found in Sindh's Khairpur district, officials said.
The minor girl, a resident of Laung Khan Larik area near Pir Jo Goth, had gone missing on January 9 and her body was found in a banana orchard near her home on Monday, according to Khairpur police.
Sukkur range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Fida Hussain Mastoi told Dawn from the scene that the victim used to work as a housemaid at a house located at around a kilometre’s distance from her residence.
Her father is a motorbike rickshaw driver and has eight children, the officer said.
The girl often used to stay at her employers' house and it was in the knowledge of her parents, which is why they did not notice her absence until a day after she went missing. “But when she didn’t return home for two days they approached the family [where she used to work] and came to know that the girl had left two days earlier and did not stay there,” the DIG said.
When the parents mounted a search in the area, they found a part of her slipper and when efforts to locate her were accelerated, they found the utensils that she used to carry to bring food home.
“The parents eventually found her body in the nearby banana orchard,” DIG Mastoi added.
He said the footprints of two suspects were also found near the spot where the child's body was found.
The girl's postmortem was performed at Pir Jo Goth rural health centre (RHC), while a medical examination suggested that before being strangulated, she was subjected to rape, according to the DIG.
“Police have picked up nine suspects so far,” he said.
A case was registered against three unidentified persons under Sections 302, 376/2, 364-A and 201 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on the complaint of the girl's father at Pir Jo Goth police station.
In the FIR, the complainant said that his daughter had left home on Jan 9 to work at a haveli in Hadal Shah village but did not return for two days. He said when inquired about her whereabouts, the owner of the house where she worked said the girl had not come to their house for the last three days.
The father said he then started a search with the help of relatives and found her body in the same village. He alleged that three people had subjected her to rape and then strangulated her in the orchard.
Meanwhile, Khairpur police sent samples of the girl and blood samples of the suspects for DNA testing to the Forensic & Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS).
8 children abused per day
In August, a report by the NGO Sahil had revealed that as many as 1,489 children, at least eight per day, were sexually abused in the first half of 2020 in the country. The victims included 785 girls and 704 boys.
The abusers were acquaintances of the victims or victims’ families in 822 cases while strangers were involved in 135 reported cases, according to the report titled 'Cruel Numbers'.
The report said that in 98 cases, the victims were between the age of one to five years; in 331 cases, they were between six and 10 years of age; while the largest number of cases (490) involved victims between 11 to 15 years of age.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601123/9-sus ... n-khairpur
Mohammad Hussain Khan Published January 12, 2021.
The minor girl had gone missing over the weekend and her body was found from a banana orchard on Monday. — Dawn/File
Police on Tuesday arrested nine suspects after the body of a nine-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped and strangulated to death, was found in Sindh's Khairpur district, officials said.
The minor girl, a resident of Laung Khan Larik area near Pir Jo Goth, had gone missing on January 9 and her body was found in a banana orchard near her home on Monday, according to Khairpur police.
Sukkur range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Fida Hussain Mastoi told Dawn from the scene that the victim used to work as a housemaid at a house located at around a kilometre’s distance from her residence.
Her father is a motorbike rickshaw driver and has eight children, the officer said.
The girl often used to stay at her employers' house and it was in the knowledge of her parents, which is why they did not notice her absence until a day after she went missing. “But when she didn’t return home for two days they approached the family [where she used to work] and came to know that the girl had left two days earlier and did not stay there,” the DIG said.
When the parents mounted a search in the area, they found a part of her slipper and when efforts to locate her were accelerated, they found the utensils that she used to carry to bring food home.
“The parents eventually found her body in the nearby banana orchard,” DIG Mastoi added.
He said the footprints of two suspects were also found near the spot where the child's body was found.
The girl's postmortem was performed at Pir Jo Goth rural health centre (RHC), while a medical examination suggested that before being strangulated, she was subjected to rape, according to the DIG.
“Police have picked up nine suspects so far,” he said.
A case was registered against three unidentified persons under Sections 302, 376/2, 364-A and 201 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on the complaint of the girl's father at Pir Jo Goth police station.
In the FIR, the complainant said that his daughter had left home on Jan 9 to work at a haveli in Hadal Shah village but did not return for two days. He said when inquired about her whereabouts, the owner of the house where she worked said the girl had not come to their house for the last three days.
The father said he then started a search with the help of relatives and found her body in the same village. He alleged that three people had subjected her to rape and then strangulated her in the orchard.
Meanwhile, Khairpur police sent samples of the girl and blood samples of the suspects for DNA testing to the Forensic & Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS).
8 children abused per day
In August, a report by the NGO Sahil had revealed that as many as 1,489 children, at least eight per day, were sexually abused in the first half of 2020 in the country. The victims included 785 girls and 704 boys.
The abusers were acquaintances of the victims or victims’ families in 822 cases while strangers were involved in 135 reported cases, according to the report titled 'Cruel Numbers'.
The report said that in 98 cases, the victims were between the age of one to five years; in 331 cases, they were between six and 10 years of age; while the largest number of cases (490) involved victims between 11 to 15 years of age.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601123/9-sus ... n-khairpur
US ‘deeply disturbed’ by reports of systematic rape in China’s Uighur camps
Mayank Aggarwal
The Independent Thu, February 4, 2021, 5:09 AM
A combination of satellite images released on 1 February by Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation program, shows detention facility near Dabancheng, Xinjiang region, China. Satellite imagery shows that some of the camps have closed and others have been expanded or converted into prisons, analysts say. (AP)
A combination of satellite images released on 1 February by Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation program, shows detention facility near Dabancheng, Xinjiang region, China. Satellite imagery shows that some of the camps have closed and others have been expanded or converted into prisons, analysts say.
The US on Wednesday said that it is “deeply disturbed” by news reports of systemic rape and other sexual abuses of women in camps in China’s Xinjiang region where Uighur Muslims are kept.
The remarks by US followed a report by BBC on Wednesday that said rape, sexual abuse and torture was rampant in Xinjiang camps which China claims are vocational training centres.
The report was based on testimonies of former detainees and a guard who revealed that there was “an organiszd system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture” in these camps.
“We are deeply disturbed by reports, including first-hand testimony, of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang,” said a US state department spokesperson.
“These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences,” said the spokesperson while calling for immediate and independent investigations by international observers into the rape allegations.
In an interview with MSNBC, US’s secretary of state, Antony J Blinken, while replying to a query about the challenge from China, said: “there’s no doubt that China poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but it’s a complicated one … we have to be able to approach China from a position of strength, not weakness.”
“And that strength, I think, comes from having strong alliances, something China does not have; actually engaging in the world and showing up in these international institutions, because when we pull back, China fills in and then they’re the ones writing the rules and setting the norms of these institutions; standing up for our values when China is challenging them, including in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs or democracy in Hong Kong,” Mr Blinken said.
China, however, dismissed the allegations and said the “BBC report on alleged abuses of women's rights in Xinjiang has no factual basis at all.” It said that this is not the first time that BBC has made "false reports" on Xinjiang even though each time Beijing has refuted these claims.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, stressed that they have published “eight Xinjiang-related white papers, and the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has held more than 20 press conferences, showing with detailed figures and examples that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang live in peace and contentment, unity and harmony and that all their legal rights are effectively guaranteed.”
He highlighted that in recent years, “more than 1,200 diplomats, journalists and representatives of religious groups from more than100 countries have visited Xinjiang … they witnessed with their own eyes the unity, harmony, joy and peace of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.”
Australia foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, also demanded an independent investigation.
She said that Australia has been consistent in raising significant concerns with the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. “These latest reports of systematic torture and abuse of women are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions regarding the treatment of Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang,” she said.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/us ... 02657.html
Mayank Aggarwal
The Independent Thu, February 4, 2021, 5:09 AM
A combination of satellite images released on 1 February by Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation program, shows detention facility near Dabancheng, Xinjiang region, China. Satellite imagery shows that some of the camps have closed and others have been expanded or converted into prisons, analysts say. (AP)
A combination of satellite images released on 1 February by Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation program, shows detention facility near Dabancheng, Xinjiang region, China. Satellite imagery shows that some of the camps have closed and others have been expanded or converted into prisons, analysts say.
The US on Wednesday said that it is “deeply disturbed” by news reports of systemic rape and other sexual abuses of women in camps in China’s Xinjiang region where Uighur Muslims are kept.
The remarks by US followed a report by BBC on Wednesday that said rape, sexual abuse and torture was rampant in Xinjiang camps which China claims are vocational training centres.
The report was based on testimonies of former detainees and a guard who revealed that there was “an organiszd system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture” in these camps.
“We are deeply disturbed by reports, including first-hand testimony, of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang,” said a US state department spokesperson.
“These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences,” said the spokesperson while calling for immediate and independent investigations by international observers into the rape allegations.
In an interview with MSNBC, US’s secretary of state, Antony J Blinken, while replying to a query about the challenge from China, said: “there’s no doubt that China poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but it’s a complicated one … we have to be able to approach China from a position of strength, not weakness.”
“And that strength, I think, comes from having strong alliances, something China does not have; actually engaging in the world and showing up in these international institutions, because when we pull back, China fills in and then they’re the ones writing the rules and setting the norms of these institutions; standing up for our values when China is challenging them, including in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs or democracy in Hong Kong,” Mr Blinken said.
China, however, dismissed the allegations and said the “BBC report on alleged abuses of women's rights in Xinjiang has no factual basis at all.” It said that this is not the first time that BBC has made "false reports" on Xinjiang even though each time Beijing has refuted these claims.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, stressed that they have published “eight Xinjiang-related white papers, and the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has held more than 20 press conferences, showing with detailed figures and examples that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang live in peace and contentment, unity and harmony and that all their legal rights are effectively guaranteed.”
He highlighted that in recent years, “more than 1,200 diplomats, journalists and representatives of religious groups from more than100 countries have visited Xinjiang … they witnessed with their own eyes the unity, harmony, joy and peace of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.”
Australia foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, also demanded an independent investigation.
She said that Australia has been consistent in raising significant concerns with the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. “These latest reports of systematic torture and abuse of women are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions regarding the treatment of Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang,” she said.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/us ... 02657.html
Over 2 million Yemeni children may starve in 2021: UN
Published February 12, 2021 Updated about 11 hours ago
In this June 27, 2020 file photo, a medic checks a malnourished newborn baby inside an incubator at Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. — AP
More than two million Yemeni children under the age of five are expected to endure acute malnutrition in 2021, four United Nations agencies said on Friday, urging stakeholders to end the years-long conflict that has brought the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine.
The UN report warned that nearly one in six of those kids — 400,000 of the 2.3m — are at risk of death due to severe acute malnutrition this year, a significant increase from last year’s estimates. The report also said a lack of funds was hampering humanitarian programs in Yemen, as donor nations have failed to make good on their commitments.
Compounding the crisis, around 1.2m pregnant or breastfeeding women in Yemen are also projected to be acutely malnourished this year.
“These numbers are yet another cry for help from Yemen, where each malnourished child also means a family struggling to survive,” said David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, which jointly issued the report with the Food and Agriculture Organization, Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The crisis in Yemen is a toxic mix of conflict, economic collapse and a severe shortage of funding,” Beasley explained. In 2020, humanitarian programs in Yemen received only $1.9 billion of the required $3.4bn, the report said.
Unicef estimates that virtually all of Yemen’s 12m children require some sort of assistance. This can include food aid, health services, clean water, schooling and cash grants to help the poorest families scrape by.
“But there is a solution to hunger, and that’s food and an end to the violence,” Beasley said.
Yemenis have suffered six years of bloodshed, destruction and humanitarian catastrophe. In 2014, the Iran-allied Houthi rebels seized the capital and much of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition launched a sweeping military intervention months later to restore the UN-backed government. Despite relentless Saudi airstrikes and a blockade of Yemen, the war has ground to a stalemate.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced that the US will no longer support the Saudi-led coalition; however, reaching peace will be a difficult path.
Biden also reversed the Trump administration’s designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization. That move has been hailed by aid groups working in Yemen, who feared the designation would disrupt the flow of food, fuel and other goods barely keeping Yemenis alive.
“Malnourished children are more vulnerable to diseases. It is a vicious and often deadly cycle, but with relatively cheap and simple interventions, many lives can be saved,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1606992/over- ... in-2021-un
Published February 12, 2021 Updated about 11 hours ago
In this June 27, 2020 file photo, a medic checks a malnourished newborn baby inside an incubator at Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. — AP
More than two million Yemeni children under the age of five are expected to endure acute malnutrition in 2021, four United Nations agencies said on Friday, urging stakeholders to end the years-long conflict that has brought the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine.
The UN report warned that nearly one in six of those kids — 400,000 of the 2.3m — are at risk of death due to severe acute malnutrition this year, a significant increase from last year’s estimates. The report also said a lack of funds was hampering humanitarian programs in Yemen, as donor nations have failed to make good on their commitments.
Compounding the crisis, around 1.2m pregnant or breastfeeding women in Yemen are also projected to be acutely malnourished this year.
“These numbers are yet another cry for help from Yemen, where each malnourished child also means a family struggling to survive,” said David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, which jointly issued the report with the Food and Agriculture Organization, Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The crisis in Yemen is a toxic mix of conflict, economic collapse and a severe shortage of funding,” Beasley explained. In 2020, humanitarian programs in Yemen received only $1.9 billion of the required $3.4bn, the report said.
Unicef estimates that virtually all of Yemen’s 12m children require some sort of assistance. This can include food aid, health services, clean water, schooling and cash grants to help the poorest families scrape by.
“But there is a solution to hunger, and that’s food and an end to the violence,” Beasley said.
Yemenis have suffered six years of bloodshed, destruction and humanitarian catastrophe. In 2014, the Iran-allied Houthi rebels seized the capital and much of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition launched a sweeping military intervention months later to restore the UN-backed government. Despite relentless Saudi airstrikes and a blockade of Yemen, the war has ground to a stalemate.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced that the US will no longer support the Saudi-led coalition; however, reaching peace will be a difficult path.
Biden also reversed the Trump administration’s designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization. That move has been hailed by aid groups working in Yemen, who feared the designation would disrupt the flow of food, fuel and other goods barely keeping Yemenis alive.
“Malnourished children are more vulnerable to diseases. It is a vicious and often deadly cycle, but with relatively cheap and simple interventions, many lives can be saved,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1606992/over- ... in-2021-un
Thousands demand India's chief justice quit for suggesting accused rapist marry schoolgirl victim
AFP Published March 3, 2021
India's top judge was facing calls to resign on Wednesday after telling an accused rapist to marry his schoolgirl victim to avoid jail.
More than 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde quit after he told the government technician at a hearing: “If you want to marry (her) we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail.”
Bobde's comments sparked a furore and prompted women's rights activists to circulate an open letter calling for his resignation that has secured more than 5,200 signatures, campaigner Vani Subramanian said.
According to the letter, the man is accused of stalking, tying up, gagging and repeatedly raping the girl before threatening to douse her in petrol, set her alight and have her brother killed.
“By suggesting that this rapist marry the victim-survivor, you, the Chief Justice of India, sought to condemn the victim-survivor to a lifetime of rape at the hands of the tormentor who drove her to attempt suicide,” the letter said.
India's abysmal record on sexual violence has been the focus of international attention since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus sparked nationwide protests.
Victims are regularly subjected to sexist treatment at the hands of police and courts, including being encouraged to marry their attackers in so-called compromise solutions.
The letter also drew attention to another hearing on Monday during which Bobde reportedly questioned whether sex between a married couple could ever be considered rape.
“The husband may be a brutal man, but can you call the act of sexual intercourse between a lawfully wedded man and wife rape?” he said.
“This comment not only legitimises any kind of sexual, physical and mental violence by the husband, but it normalises the torture that Indian women have been facing within marriages for years without any legal recourse,” the letter by the rights campaigners said.
Marital rape is not a crime in India.
Bobde has not responded to the criticism. His predecessor Ranjan Gogoi was the highest-profile figure in India to face a #MeToo backlash after he was accused by a former staffer of sexual assault.
He was cleared in 2019 after an in-house inquiry, prompting protests in the country.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1610468/thous ... irl-victim
AFP Published March 3, 2021
India's top judge was facing calls to resign on Wednesday after telling an accused rapist to marry his schoolgirl victim to avoid jail.
More than 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde quit after he told the government technician at a hearing: “If you want to marry (her) we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail.”
Bobde's comments sparked a furore and prompted women's rights activists to circulate an open letter calling for his resignation that has secured more than 5,200 signatures, campaigner Vani Subramanian said.
According to the letter, the man is accused of stalking, tying up, gagging and repeatedly raping the girl before threatening to douse her in petrol, set her alight and have her brother killed.
“By suggesting that this rapist marry the victim-survivor, you, the Chief Justice of India, sought to condemn the victim-survivor to a lifetime of rape at the hands of the tormentor who drove her to attempt suicide,” the letter said.
India's abysmal record on sexual violence has been the focus of international attention since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus sparked nationwide protests.
Victims are regularly subjected to sexist treatment at the hands of police and courts, including being encouraged to marry their attackers in so-called compromise solutions.
The letter also drew attention to another hearing on Monday during which Bobde reportedly questioned whether sex between a married couple could ever be considered rape.
“The husband may be a brutal man, but can you call the act of sexual intercourse between a lawfully wedded man and wife rape?” he said.
“This comment not only legitimises any kind of sexual, physical and mental violence by the husband, but it normalises the torture that Indian women have been facing within marriages for years without any legal recourse,” the letter by the rights campaigners said.
Marital rape is not a crime in India.
Bobde has not responded to the criticism. His predecessor Ranjan Gogoi was the highest-profile figure in India to face a #MeToo backlash after he was accused by a former staffer of sexual assault.
He was cleared in 2019 after an in-house inquiry, prompting protests in the country.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1610468/thous ... irl-victim
Suit: Workers lured from India paid $1.20 per hour for years
DAVID PORTER and MALLIKA SEN
Associated Press Tue, May 11, 2021, 1:42 PM
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A view of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is seen in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A part of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is covered in scaffolding in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A view of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
A large crane stands over the under construction BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
This aerial image taken with a drone shows the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A view of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
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Hindu Temple Human Trafficking
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FBI agents were at a large Hindu temple in New Jersey on Tuesday as a new lawsuit claimed it was built by workers from marginalized communities in India who were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day.
The lawsuit accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed that agents were at the temple on “court-authorized law enforcement activity,” but wouldn't elaborate. One of the attorneys who filed the suit said some workers had been removed from the site Tuesday.
The lawsuit says more than 200 workers — many or all of whom don't speak English — were coerced into signing employment agreements in India. They traveled to New Jersey under R-1 visas, which are meant for “those who minister, or work in religious vocations or occupations,” according to the lawsuit.
When they arrived, the lawsuit says, their passports were taken away and they were forced to work at the temple from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with few days off, for about $450 per month a rate that the suit said came out to around $1.20 per hour. Of that, the workers allegedly only received $50 in cash per month, with the rest deposited into their accounts in India.
According to the lawsuit, the exploited workers were Dalits — members of the lowest step of South Asia's caste hierarchy.
An attorney representing several of the workers, Daniel Werner, called it “shocking that this happens in our backyard.”
“It is even more disturbing that it has gone on for years in New Jersey behind the temple’s walls,” Werner, of Decatur, Georgia, said Tuesday outside the gates of the complex. He said some workers were on the site for a year, two years or even longer, and were not allowed to leave unless accompanied by somebody from BAPS.
BAPS CEO Kanu Patel, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, told The New York Times, “I respectfully disagree with the wage claim.”
A spokesperson for the organization, Matthew Frankel, told The Associated Press that BAPS was first made aware of the accusations early Tuesday morning.
“We are taking them very seriously and thoroughly reviewing the issues raised,” he said.
The ornate temple, known as a mandir, is made of Italian and Indian marble, and sits on 162 acres (65 hectares) in Robbinsville, outside Trenton.
The lawsuit said workers lived in a fenced-in compound where their movements were monitored by cameras and guards. They were told that if they left, police would arrest them because they didn't have their passports, the suit said.
The lawsuit names Patel and several individuals described as having supervised the workers. It seeks unpaid wages and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
D.B. Sagar, president of the Washington-based International Commission for Dalit Rights, told The Associated Press that Dalits are an easy target for exploitation because they’re the poorest people in India.
“They need something to survive, to protect their family,” Sagar — a Dalit himself — said, adding that if the allegations in the lawsuit are true, they amount to “modern-day slavery.”
BAPS is a global sect of Hinduism founded in the early 20th century and aims to “preserve Indian culture and the Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selfless service,” according to its website. The organization says it has built more than 1,100 mandirs — often large complexes that essentially function as community centers.
BAPS is known for community service and philanthropy, taking an active role in the diaspora’s initiative to help India amid the current COVID-19 surge. But it also is linked to contentious issues in India, publicly supporting and funding the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, built on the site of a mosque demolished by Hindu nationalists.
India’s right-wing prime minister, Narendra Modi, has close ties to the organization and one of its transformative leaders, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who died in 2016.
The ongoing construction on the mandir in Robbinsville began in 2010, and the site has caught the attention of state and federal authorities in recent years.
Last month, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued a stop-work order against a Newark-based construction company whose projects included the BAPS temple in Robbinsville.
An investigation found the company, Cunha Construction, was paying workers in cash off the books and didn’t have workers’ compensation insurance, according to a release. A phone listed for the company rang unanswered Tuesday. It’s not named in the lawsuit.
In 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated after a Pennsylvania teenager was killed in a fall while volunteering at the site.
According to the website for the Robbinsville mandir, its construction “is the epitome of volunteerism.”
“Volunteers of all ages have devoted their time and resources from the beginning: assisting in the construction work, cleaning up around the site, preparing food for all the artisans on a daily basis and helping with other tasks,” the website says. “A total of 4.7 million man hours were required by craftsman and volunteers to complete the Mandir.”
___
Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed to this report.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/su ... 57567.html
DAVID PORTER and MALLIKA SEN
Associated Press Tue, May 11, 2021, 1:42 PM
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A view of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is seen in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A part of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is covered in scaffolding in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A view of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
A large crane stands over the under construction BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
This aerial image taken with a drone shows the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A view of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. A lawsuit claims workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to New Jersey and forced to work more than 12 hours per day at slave wages to help build a Hindu temple. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
1 / 10
Hindu Temple Human Trafficking
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville Township, N.J., Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the Hindu temple in New Jersey, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FBI agents were at a large Hindu temple in New Jersey on Tuesday as a new lawsuit claimed it was built by workers from marginalized communities in India who were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day.
The lawsuit accuses the leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed that agents were at the temple on “court-authorized law enforcement activity,” but wouldn't elaborate. One of the attorneys who filed the suit said some workers had been removed from the site Tuesday.
The lawsuit says more than 200 workers — many or all of whom don't speak English — were coerced into signing employment agreements in India. They traveled to New Jersey under R-1 visas, which are meant for “those who minister, or work in religious vocations or occupations,” according to the lawsuit.
When they arrived, the lawsuit says, their passports were taken away and they were forced to work at the temple from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with few days off, for about $450 per month a rate that the suit said came out to around $1.20 per hour. Of that, the workers allegedly only received $50 in cash per month, with the rest deposited into their accounts in India.
According to the lawsuit, the exploited workers were Dalits — members of the lowest step of South Asia's caste hierarchy.
An attorney representing several of the workers, Daniel Werner, called it “shocking that this happens in our backyard.”
“It is even more disturbing that it has gone on for years in New Jersey behind the temple’s walls,” Werner, of Decatur, Georgia, said Tuesday outside the gates of the complex. He said some workers were on the site for a year, two years or even longer, and were not allowed to leave unless accompanied by somebody from BAPS.
BAPS CEO Kanu Patel, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, told The New York Times, “I respectfully disagree with the wage claim.”
A spokesperson for the organization, Matthew Frankel, told The Associated Press that BAPS was first made aware of the accusations early Tuesday morning.
“We are taking them very seriously and thoroughly reviewing the issues raised,” he said.
The ornate temple, known as a mandir, is made of Italian and Indian marble, and sits on 162 acres (65 hectares) in Robbinsville, outside Trenton.
The lawsuit said workers lived in a fenced-in compound where their movements were monitored by cameras and guards. They were told that if they left, police would arrest them because they didn't have their passports, the suit said.
The lawsuit names Patel and several individuals described as having supervised the workers. It seeks unpaid wages and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
D.B. Sagar, president of the Washington-based International Commission for Dalit Rights, told The Associated Press that Dalits are an easy target for exploitation because they’re the poorest people in India.
“They need something to survive, to protect their family,” Sagar — a Dalit himself — said, adding that if the allegations in the lawsuit are true, they amount to “modern-day slavery.”
BAPS is a global sect of Hinduism founded in the early 20th century and aims to “preserve Indian culture and the Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selfless service,” according to its website. The organization says it has built more than 1,100 mandirs — often large complexes that essentially function as community centers.
BAPS is known for community service and philanthropy, taking an active role in the diaspora’s initiative to help India amid the current COVID-19 surge. But it also is linked to contentious issues in India, publicly supporting and funding the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, built on the site of a mosque demolished by Hindu nationalists.
India’s right-wing prime minister, Narendra Modi, has close ties to the organization and one of its transformative leaders, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who died in 2016.
The ongoing construction on the mandir in Robbinsville began in 2010, and the site has caught the attention of state and federal authorities in recent years.
Last month, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued a stop-work order against a Newark-based construction company whose projects included the BAPS temple in Robbinsville.
An investigation found the company, Cunha Construction, was paying workers in cash off the books and didn’t have workers’ compensation insurance, according to a release. A phone listed for the company rang unanswered Tuesday. It’s not named in the lawsuit.
In 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated after a Pennsylvania teenager was killed in a fall while volunteering at the site.
According to the website for the Robbinsville mandir, its construction “is the epitome of volunteerism.”
“Volunteers of all ages have devoted their time and resources from the beginning: assisting in the construction work, cleaning up around the site, preparing food for all the artisans on a daily basis and helping with other tasks,” the website says. “A total of 4.7 million man hours were required by craftsman and volunteers to complete the Mandir.”
___
Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed to this report.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/su ... 57567.html
‘No one’s safe in Palestine’: 10yr Gaza girl whose heart-rending clip went viral tells of ‘sad’ life under Israeli missile attacks
18 May, 2021 20:54
‘No one’s safe in Palestine’: 10yo Gaza girl whose heart-rending clip went viral tells of ‘sad’ life under Israeli missile attacks
Smoke and flames are seen following an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City. © Reuters / Mohammed Salem; 10-year-old Gaza City resident, Nadine Abdel-Taif © RT
Her dream is just to be a “regular person” who doesn’t have to fear airstrikes at night or hear people’s cries the next day. Nadine Abdel-Taif from Gaza, which is being pounded by Israel, talked to RT about her daily trauma.
Nadine has been branded the face of the suffering of the Palestinian children in the ongoing flare-up between Israel and the Gaza-based Hamas militant group since her tearful monologue went viral on social media a few days ago. Speaking in English, she shared her frustration, helplessness, and inability to understand what was going on after an Israeli missile flattened a building near her home.
“Every day, at night or in the evening, we hear the missiles. In the mornings, we hear the cries and screams of people,” Nadine told RT, describing the cross-border attacks that began a week ago.
When the strikes start, her family place two mattresses in the hallway of their home and lie down, trying to stay away from the windows and the glass door, she said.
No one can sleep at night. I try to sleep, but I can’t, because of the missiles and the cries of children. I just put a pillow on top of my head. Like nothing is happening out there. Like no one is getting hurt.
While Nadine says she tries to remain calm, she’s terrified about the safety of her younger brother, who she’s closest to. “I just don’t want him to see fear, like I’ve been growing up seeing fear,” she said. “If anything happens to him, I don't think I’ll be myself anymore.”
Nadine can’t play in the street with her friends like before, because a missile might land nearby at any moment. In fact, she tries not to go outside at all, saying, “If you come outside, the first thing you’re going to see is people lying in the streets. That just hurts my heart.”
I feel terrible for the people [whose homes were destroyed], I just want to… do something, but I can’t. I’m just 10.
And not only is Nadine in immediate danger, but the Israeli strikes also jeopardize her future by preventing her from studying. “I dream to be a doctor. And I dream to be helping my people. But how can that happen? I’m just a kid. I don’t have the right to learn anymore. So, what do you expect me to do? I’m just crying every day,” she said.
“No one is safe in Palestine. No one,” the girl said, adding, with a maturity beyond her years, that “parents don’t know how to raise their kids in this situation. It’s hard for them and hard for us.”
‘Is this really an emoji fight you want?’ Israel’s official Twitter account posts rocket EMOJIS for every missile fired at country
Nadine also confessed that she saw videos from the US, Russia, and other countries online and envied the children who, unlike those in Gaza, were simply “having fun.”
“I hear missiles every day. And I just don’t want to hear them anymore. I just want to stop my life from being sad. I just want to be a regular person like them.”
Gaza coronavirus testing & vaccinations disrupted after main lab damaged in Israeli strikes, health officials say
Israel retaliated by hitting multiple targets in densely populated Gaza, and leveled a number of towers it claimed were being used by Hamas. The IDF strikes resulted in at least 217 civilian casualties on the Palestinian side, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with 63 of those victims said to have been children.
https://www.rt.com/news/524144-gaza-isr ... abdeltaif/
18 May, 2021 20:54
‘No one’s safe in Palestine’: 10yo Gaza girl whose heart-rending clip went viral tells of ‘sad’ life under Israeli missile attacks
Smoke and flames are seen following an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City. © Reuters / Mohammed Salem; 10-year-old Gaza City resident, Nadine Abdel-Taif © RT
Her dream is just to be a “regular person” who doesn’t have to fear airstrikes at night or hear people’s cries the next day. Nadine Abdel-Taif from Gaza, which is being pounded by Israel, talked to RT about her daily trauma.
Nadine has been branded the face of the suffering of the Palestinian children in the ongoing flare-up between Israel and the Gaza-based Hamas militant group since her tearful monologue went viral on social media a few days ago. Speaking in English, she shared her frustration, helplessness, and inability to understand what was going on after an Israeli missile flattened a building near her home.
“Every day, at night or in the evening, we hear the missiles. In the mornings, we hear the cries and screams of people,” Nadine told RT, describing the cross-border attacks that began a week ago.
When the strikes start, her family place two mattresses in the hallway of their home and lie down, trying to stay away from the windows and the glass door, she said.
No one can sleep at night. I try to sleep, but I can’t, because of the missiles and the cries of children. I just put a pillow on top of my head. Like nothing is happening out there. Like no one is getting hurt.
While Nadine says she tries to remain calm, she’s terrified about the safety of her younger brother, who she’s closest to. “I just don’t want him to see fear, like I’ve been growing up seeing fear,” she said. “If anything happens to him, I don't think I’ll be myself anymore.”
Nadine can’t play in the street with her friends like before, because a missile might land nearby at any moment. In fact, she tries not to go outside at all, saying, “If you come outside, the first thing you’re going to see is people lying in the streets. That just hurts my heart.”
I feel terrible for the people [whose homes were destroyed], I just want to… do something, but I can’t. I’m just 10.
And not only is Nadine in immediate danger, but the Israeli strikes also jeopardize her future by preventing her from studying. “I dream to be a doctor. And I dream to be helping my people. But how can that happen? I’m just a kid. I don’t have the right to learn anymore. So, what do you expect me to do? I’m just crying every day,” she said.
“No one is safe in Palestine. No one,” the girl said, adding, with a maturity beyond her years, that “parents don’t know how to raise their kids in this situation. It’s hard for them and hard for us.”
‘Is this really an emoji fight you want?’ Israel’s official Twitter account posts rocket EMOJIS for every missile fired at country
Nadine also confessed that she saw videos from the US, Russia, and other countries online and envied the children who, unlike those in Gaza, were simply “having fun.”
“I hear missiles every day. And I just don’t want to hear them anymore. I just want to stop my life from being sad. I just want to be a regular person like them.”
Gaza coronavirus testing & vaccinations disrupted after main lab damaged in Israeli strikes, health officials say
Israel retaliated by hitting multiple targets in densely populated Gaza, and leveled a number of towers it claimed were being used by Hamas. The IDF strikes resulted in at least 217 civilian casualties on the Palestinian side, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with 63 of those victims said to have been children.
https://www.rt.com/news/524144-gaza-isr ... abdeltaif/
Pakistan-origin Muslim family of 4 killed in 'premeditated' attack in Canada
AFP | AP Published June 8, 2021
People and members of the media are seen at a makeshift memorial at the fatal crime scene where a man driving a pickup truck jumped the curb and ran over a Muslim family in London, Ontario on June 7. — Reuters
A man driving a pickup truck rammed into and killed four members of a Muslim family in the south of Canada's Ontario province, in what police said on Monday was a “premeditated” attack.
A 20-year-old suspect wearing a vest “like body armour” fled the scene after the attack on Sunday evening, and was arrested at a mall seven kilometres from the intersection in London, Ontario where it happened, said Detective Superintendent Paul Waight.
“There is evidence that this was a planned, premeditated act, motivated by hate. It is believed that these victims were targeted because they were Muslim,” he told a news conference.
The names of the victims were not released, but they include a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl — together representing three generations of the same family, according to London Mayor Ed Holder.
A nine-year-old boy was also hospitalised following the attack and is recovering.
“Let me be clear, this was an act of mass murder perpetrated against Muslims, against Londoners, rooted in unspeakable hatred,” said Holder.
Identified as Nathaniel Veltman, the suspect has been charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Police said Veltman, a resident of London, did not know the victims.
Waight said local authorities are also liaising with federal police and the attorney general about adding “possible terrorism charges”.
He offered few details of the investigation, but noted that the suspect's social media postings were reviewed by police.
Waight said police did not know at this point if the suspect was a member of any specific hate group and declined to detail evidence pointing to a possible hate crime, but said the attack was planned.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that he was “horrified” by the attack.
“To the loved ones of those who were terrorised by yesterday's act of hatred, we are here for you,” he said, singling out the nine-year-old in hospital.
“To the Muslim community in London and to Muslims across the country, know that we stand with you. Islamophobia has no place in any of our communities. This hate is insidious and despicable — and it must stop,” he added.
Holder said flags would be lowered for three days in London, which he said has 30,000 to 40,000 Muslims among its more than 400,000 residents.
'Out for a walk'
At about 8:40 pm on Sunday, according to police, the five family members were walking together along a sidewalk when a black pickup truck “mounted the curb and struck” them as they waited to cross the intersection.
One woman who witnessed the aftermath of the deadly crash said she couldn't stop thinking about the victims. Paige Martin said she was stopped at a red light around 8:30pm when a large pick-up roared past her. She said her car shook from the force.
“I was shaken up, thinking it was an erratic driver," Martin said.
Minutes later, she said, she came upon a gruesome, chaotic scene at an intersection near her home, with first responders running to help, a police officer performing chest compressions on one person and three other people lying on the ground. A few dozen people stood on the sidewalk and several drivers got out of their cars to help.
"I can't get the sound of the screams out of my head," Martin said.
From her apartment, Martin said she could see the scene and watched an official drape a sheet over one body about midnight. "My heart is just so broken for them," she said.
Zahid Khan, a family friend, said the three generations among the dead were a grandmother, father, mother and their teenage daughter. The family had immigrated from Pakistan 14 years ago and were dedicated, decent and generous members of the London Muslim Mosque, he said.
They were just out for a walk that they would go out for every day,” Khan said through tears near the site of the crash.
A fundraising webpage said the father was a physiotherapist and cricket enthusiast and his wife was working on a PhD in civil engineering at Western University in London. Their daughter was finishing ninth grade, and the grandmother was a pillar of the family, the page said.
Qazi Khalil said he saw the family on Thursday when they were out for their nightly walk. The families lived close to each other and would get together on holidays, he said.
"This has totally destroyed me from the inside," Khalil said. "I can't really come to the terms they are no longer here."
The attack, which brought back painful memories of a Quebec City mosque mass shooting in January 2017 and a driving rampage in Toronto that killed 10 people in April 2018, drew swift condemnation.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said in a statement it was “beyond horrified and demands justice” for the family who were just “out for a walk” on a warm spring evening.
“This is a terrorist attack on Canadian soil and must be treated as such,” its president, Mustafa Farooq, told Radio Canada.
The Muslim Association of Canada also called on authorities to “prosecute this horrific attack as an act of hate and terrorism”.
“Hate and Islamophobia have NO place in Ontario,” tweeted Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “These heinous acts of violence must stop.”
Four years ago, a 27-year-old white supremacist burst into a Quebec City mosque and unleashed a hail of bullets on worshippers who were chatting after evening prayers, killing six men and seriously wounding five others.
At the time, prior to New Zealand mosques shootings in March 2019, it was the worst ever attack on Muslims in the West.
The shooter, Alexandre Bissonette, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but that was lowered on appeal, and the Supreme Court is now reviewing his punishment.
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old man who ploughed a rented van into pedestrians at high speed three years ago in Toronto was found guilty in March of murdering 10 people and trying to kill 16 others.
Before that attack, Alek Minassian posted on Facebook a reference to an online community of “involuntary celibates” whose sexual frustrations led them to embrace a misogynist ideology.
He is to be sentenced in January 2022.https://www.dawn.com/news/1628183/pakis ... -in-canada
AFP | AP Published June 8, 2021
People and members of the media are seen at a makeshift memorial at the fatal crime scene where a man driving a pickup truck jumped the curb and ran over a Muslim family in London, Ontario on June 7. — Reuters
A man driving a pickup truck rammed into and killed four members of a Muslim family in the south of Canada's Ontario province, in what police said on Monday was a “premeditated” attack.
A 20-year-old suspect wearing a vest “like body armour” fled the scene after the attack on Sunday evening, and was arrested at a mall seven kilometres from the intersection in London, Ontario where it happened, said Detective Superintendent Paul Waight.
“There is evidence that this was a planned, premeditated act, motivated by hate. It is believed that these victims were targeted because they were Muslim,” he told a news conference.
The names of the victims were not released, but they include a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl — together representing three generations of the same family, according to London Mayor Ed Holder.
A nine-year-old boy was also hospitalised following the attack and is recovering.
“Let me be clear, this was an act of mass murder perpetrated against Muslims, against Londoners, rooted in unspeakable hatred,” said Holder.
Identified as Nathaniel Veltman, the suspect has been charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Police said Veltman, a resident of London, did not know the victims.
Waight said local authorities are also liaising with federal police and the attorney general about adding “possible terrorism charges”.
He offered few details of the investigation, but noted that the suspect's social media postings were reviewed by police.
Waight said police did not know at this point if the suspect was a member of any specific hate group and declined to detail evidence pointing to a possible hate crime, but said the attack was planned.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that he was “horrified” by the attack.
“To the loved ones of those who were terrorised by yesterday's act of hatred, we are here for you,” he said, singling out the nine-year-old in hospital.
“To the Muslim community in London and to Muslims across the country, know that we stand with you. Islamophobia has no place in any of our communities. This hate is insidious and despicable — and it must stop,” he added.
Holder said flags would be lowered for three days in London, which he said has 30,000 to 40,000 Muslims among its more than 400,000 residents.
'Out for a walk'
At about 8:40 pm on Sunday, according to police, the five family members were walking together along a sidewalk when a black pickup truck “mounted the curb and struck” them as they waited to cross the intersection.
One woman who witnessed the aftermath of the deadly crash said she couldn't stop thinking about the victims. Paige Martin said she was stopped at a red light around 8:30pm when a large pick-up roared past her. She said her car shook from the force.
“I was shaken up, thinking it was an erratic driver," Martin said.
Minutes later, she said, she came upon a gruesome, chaotic scene at an intersection near her home, with first responders running to help, a police officer performing chest compressions on one person and three other people lying on the ground. A few dozen people stood on the sidewalk and several drivers got out of their cars to help.
"I can't get the sound of the screams out of my head," Martin said.
From her apartment, Martin said she could see the scene and watched an official drape a sheet over one body about midnight. "My heart is just so broken for them," she said.
Zahid Khan, a family friend, said the three generations among the dead were a grandmother, father, mother and their teenage daughter. The family had immigrated from Pakistan 14 years ago and were dedicated, decent and generous members of the London Muslim Mosque, he said.
They were just out for a walk that they would go out for every day,” Khan said through tears near the site of the crash.
A fundraising webpage said the father was a physiotherapist and cricket enthusiast and his wife was working on a PhD in civil engineering at Western University in London. Their daughter was finishing ninth grade, and the grandmother was a pillar of the family, the page said.
Qazi Khalil said he saw the family on Thursday when they were out for their nightly walk. The families lived close to each other and would get together on holidays, he said.
"This has totally destroyed me from the inside," Khalil said. "I can't really come to the terms they are no longer here."
The attack, which brought back painful memories of a Quebec City mosque mass shooting in January 2017 and a driving rampage in Toronto that killed 10 people in April 2018, drew swift condemnation.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said in a statement it was “beyond horrified and demands justice” for the family who were just “out for a walk” on a warm spring evening.
“This is a terrorist attack on Canadian soil and must be treated as such,” its president, Mustafa Farooq, told Radio Canada.
The Muslim Association of Canada also called on authorities to “prosecute this horrific attack as an act of hate and terrorism”.
“Hate and Islamophobia have NO place in Ontario,” tweeted Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “These heinous acts of violence must stop.”
Four years ago, a 27-year-old white supremacist burst into a Quebec City mosque and unleashed a hail of bullets on worshippers who were chatting after evening prayers, killing six men and seriously wounding five others.
At the time, prior to New Zealand mosques shootings in March 2019, it was the worst ever attack on Muslims in the West.
The shooter, Alexandre Bissonette, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but that was lowered on appeal, and the Supreme Court is now reviewing his punishment.
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old man who ploughed a rented van into pedestrians at high speed three years ago in Toronto was found guilty in March of murdering 10 people and trying to kill 16 others.
Before that attack, Alek Minassian posted on Facebook a reference to an online community of “involuntary celibates” whose sexual frustrations led them to embrace a misogynist ideology.
He is to be sentenced in January 2022.https://www.dawn.com/news/1628183/pakis ... -in-canada
Editorial Published June 10, 2021
AMONG the few crimes considered worse than murder is throwing acid on someone, scarring them physically and emotionally for life. In a landmark judgement in 2019, the Supreme Court described acid attacks as a “bigger crime than murder”. In the latest instance, a woman was attacked with acid in Lahore when she refused a proposal of marriage. The woman worked as domestic help and was accosted by the attacker when walking to her place of employment. According to the police, the suspect had threatened the woman before as well. In a case last August, a man and a woman threw acid on two women in Karachi over a property dispute. This is a deeply sadistic act, where the perpetrator’s motive is to cause the victim lifelong pain and emotional trauma. And it is no surprise that, given the intensely patriarchal structure of our society, the main victims are women who choose to exercise their free will to either reject a marriage proposal or defy some other form of male dominance. Though the frequency of such abhorrent attacks has reduced somewhat in recent years, they occur often enough, mainly because the state does not have clear laws to punish the perpetrators. They are also easier to carry out since corrosive substances are easily available for sale and the attack itself does not require a lot of force or precision.
According to independent estimates, between 1994 and 2018 some 9,340 people fell victim to acid attacks in the country. Although the Supreme Court threw out an acquittal plea of an attacker despite ‘forgiveness’ from his victim, the Acid and Burn Crime Bill, 2017, has yet to become law. The delay is incomprehensible as most perpetrators are able to slip through the many cracks in the country’s judicial system. The law must be passed and the authorities must also strictly regulate the sale of corrosive substances. According to the Supreme Court judgement, “Acid attack offenders do not deserve any clemency.” Still we await a law.
Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2021
https://www.dawn.com/news/1628562/acid-attack
AMONG the few crimes considered worse than murder is throwing acid on someone, scarring them physically and emotionally for life. In a landmark judgement in 2019, the Supreme Court described acid attacks as a “bigger crime than murder”. In the latest instance, a woman was attacked with acid in Lahore when she refused a proposal of marriage. The woman worked as domestic help and was accosted by the attacker when walking to her place of employment. According to the police, the suspect had threatened the woman before as well. In a case last August, a man and a woman threw acid on two women in Karachi over a property dispute. This is a deeply sadistic act, where the perpetrator’s motive is to cause the victim lifelong pain and emotional trauma. And it is no surprise that, given the intensely patriarchal structure of our society, the main victims are women who choose to exercise their free will to either reject a marriage proposal or defy some other form of male dominance. Though the frequency of such abhorrent attacks has reduced somewhat in recent years, they occur often enough, mainly because the state does not have clear laws to punish the perpetrators. They are also easier to carry out since corrosive substances are easily available for sale and the attack itself does not require a lot of force or precision.
According to independent estimates, between 1994 and 2018 some 9,340 people fell victim to acid attacks in the country. Although the Supreme Court threw out an acquittal plea of an attacker despite ‘forgiveness’ from his victim, the Acid and Burn Crime Bill, 2017, has yet to become law. The delay is incomprehensible as most perpetrators are able to slip through the many cracks in the country’s judicial system. The law must be passed and the authorities must also strictly regulate the sale of corrosive substances. According to the Supreme Court judgement, “Acid attack offenders do not deserve any clemency.” Still we await a law.
Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2021
https://www.dawn.com/news/1628562/acid-attack
Saudi Arabia executes 26-year-old man for protesting against the government when he was a teen, human rights groups say
A photo of Mustafa al-Darwish
Natalie Musumeci
Tue, June 15, 2021, 11:25 AM
Saudi Arabia executed a 26-year-old for protesting against the government, Reprieve said.
Mustafa al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015.
Al-Darwish's family received no advance notice of his execution, according to human rights groups.
See more stories on Insider's business page.
Saudi Arabia has executed a young man over his reported involvement in anti-government protests when he was a teenager, human rights groups said Tuesday.
The Saudi Ministry of the Interior announced that Mustafa al-Darwish, 26, had been executed, according to Reprieve.
Al-Darwish's family received no advance notice of his death and only learned that he had been executed by reading the news online, the UK-based non-profit organization said.
Al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015 and charged with offenses related to his participation in protests - many of which occurred when he was 17 years old, according to Reprieve.
According to Reprieve, al-Darwish was placed in solitary confinement and "beaten so badly that he lost consciousness several times."
"To make the torture stop, he confessed to the charges against him," Reprieve said.
Amnesty International, which had called for the execution to be halted last week, said al-Darwish was "the latest victim of Saudi Arabia's deeply flawed justice system which regularly sees people sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials based on confessions extracted through torture."
Al-Darwish recanted his confession at his trial, explaining to the court that he had been tortured, but he was still sentenced to death, Reprieve said.
Al-Darwish's family called his arrest and execution a "living death" for relatives.
"How can they execute a boy because of a photograph on his phone?" the family said in a statement through Reprieve. "Since his arrest, we have known nothing but pain."
The man's family said al-Darwish was arrested with two friends in Tarout six years ago. He was released without charge, but police kept his phone, the family said.
"We later found out that there was a photograph on the phone that offended them," the family added. "Later they called us and told Mustafa to come and collect his phone, but instead of giving it back they detained him and our suffering began."
Ali al-Dubaisy, the director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, said the sudden execution for crimes as a teen exposed Saudi leader Mohammed Bin Salman's "endless empty promises of reform."
"Once again the Saudi authorities have shown that their claims to abolished the death penalty for children are worthless," al-Dubaisy added.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/sa ... 10962.html
A photo of Mustafa al-Darwish
Natalie Musumeci
Tue, June 15, 2021, 11:25 AM
Saudi Arabia executed a 26-year-old for protesting against the government, Reprieve said.
Mustafa al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015.
Al-Darwish's family received no advance notice of his execution, according to human rights groups.
See more stories on Insider's business page.
Saudi Arabia has executed a young man over his reported involvement in anti-government protests when he was a teenager, human rights groups said Tuesday.
The Saudi Ministry of the Interior announced that Mustafa al-Darwish, 26, had been executed, according to Reprieve.
Al-Darwish's family received no advance notice of his death and only learned that he had been executed by reading the news online, the UK-based non-profit organization said.
Al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015 and charged with offenses related to his participation in protests - many of which occurred when he was 17 years old, according to Reprieve.
According to Reprieve, al-Darwish was placed in solitary confinement and "beaten so badly that he lost consciousness several times."
"To make the torture stop, he confessed to the charges against him," Reprieve said.
Amnesty International, which had called for the execution to be halted last week, said al-Darwish was "the latest victim of Saudi Arabia's deeply flawed justice system which regularly sees people sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials based on confessions extracted through torture."
Al-Darwish recanted his confession at his trial, explaining to the court that he had been tortured, but he was still sentenced to death, Reprieve said.
Al-Darwish's family called his arrest and execution a "living death" for relatives.
"How can they execute a boy because of a photograph on his phone?" the family said in a statement through Reprieve. "Since his arrest, we have known nothing but pain."
The man's family said al-Darwish was arrested with two friends in Tarout six years ago. He was released without charge, but police kept his phone, the family said.
"We later found out that there was a photograph on the phone that offended them," the family added. "Later they called us and told Mustafa to come and collect his phone, but instead of giving it back they detained him and our suffering began."
Ali al-Dubaisy, the director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, said the sudden execution for crimes as a teen exposed Saudi leader Mohammed Bin Salman's "endless empty promises of reform."
"Once again the Saudi authorities have shown that their claims to abolished the death penalty for children are worthless," al-Dubaisy added.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/sa ... 10962.html
The silence on Canada’s indigenous deaths shame shows there are double standards on global human rights
Tom Fowdy is a British writer and analyst of politics and international relations with a primary focus on East Asia.
25 Jun, 2021 15:03
The silence on Canada’s indigenous deaths shame shows there are double standards on global human rights
Shoes are seen on a path leading to the former Brandon Indian Residential School where researchers, partnered with the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, located 104 potential graves in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, June 12, 2021.
As the West rounds on China for its treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, it remains conspicuously quiet as more mass graves are found at indigenous schools in Canada. The hypocrisy is breathtaking and blatant.
Yesterday 751 graves were found at a residential school in Canada, adding to a growing national scandal following the discovery of 215 bodies at a school several weeks ago.
The findings reveal a darker side of Canada’s history, one the world has known little about. Over a lengthy period of time it appears to have played host to some appalling human rights abuses. Yet all these unpleasant revelations come amid a renewed push by Ottawa, alongside others in the West, to accuse China over events in the Xinjiang autonomous region, where they argue similar abuses are being carried out.
I have previously written about this human rights stand-off at the United Nations and Beijing’s reaction to it. But the irony is that if these graves had been found in China, with such explicit evidence, it would have been universally decried by all the usual countries as a ‘crime against humanity’ or even ‘genocide’.
The deaths of 9,000 infants in Irish homes for unwed mothers proves how little value women had in the eyes of the Catholic ChurchThe deaths of 9,000 infants in Irish homes for unwed mothers proves how little value women had in the eyes of the Catholic Church
Yet in Canada, a simple apology seems to satisfy the international community, with no actual accountability for the perpetrators. The discoveries are significant, though, as they completely redefine our understanding of Canada and its past. And more particularly they shine a light into the nature of the ‘Anglosphere’ – the British Empire-derived countries Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, plus the United Kingdom.
These five countries – although perhaps less so New Zealand – are tied together not just by common heritage and the legacy of British Imperialism, but by a unifying zeal of absolutist moral exceptionalism, a self-appointed right to police and dictate world affairs and enforce their values globally.
Despite these countries having constructed themselves and their wealth on the oppression of indigenous populations, they have frequently depicted themselves as saviours in the wider world.
Canada is probably the most striking example. Even if it is not widely acknowledged, the world is largely conscious to some degree that Australia, the UK and US do not have spotless backgrounds. But few have paused to consider the fact that at its heart, Canada is a colonial state which from the 1960s onwards remarketed itself as a liberal utopia and now presents itself as a beacon of progressive and benevolent governance.
As a Brit, I was brought up on an idyllic vision of Canada, a country which at face value was innocent, prosperous and desirable compared to its more abrasive southern neighbour, the United States.
While Canada is clearly a very desirable place to live and few would question the quality of life, at what cost? The traumatic history of forced indigenous boarding schools where thousands died, and were buried in hidden graves – with records destroyed – is a shameful stain on its past.
There is the argument that Canada has evolved since then, but only in ways one can describe as superficial. Like the rest of the Anglosphere, it is still heralded by a sense of moral elitism. The country is largely unapologetic and disinterested in its crimes, and focused instead on others. It embraces the typical Anglophone attitude that atrocities ‘from the past’ no longer warrant political significance. Yet this is hardly in ‘the past’, as the school where the most recent discovery was made was still operating in 1997. In turn, the belief in one’s depiction as an absolute standard of righteousness serves to suppress remorse for these episodes.
History, as they say, is written by the winners and arguably it is the political triumph of these countries on the world stage that has relegated such dark episodes to the fringes. In international relations, there is only power that sets countries apart in how they can hold each other accountable, and, accordingly, only the losers end up paying the price.
751 unmarked graves found near former Catholic residential school in Canada, indigenous group reveals
The involvement of all five countries in the victory over Nazism in World War II was at the heart of their ‘rebranding’ from the world’s biggest exploiters to the world’s most heroic nations. The defeat of Hitler and the evil of the Holocaust allowed these countries to establish a simple narrative which their populations bought into that they were forces for good, had an infinite right to police others and that their own past indiscretions should be forgotten. You truly see that attitude in application towards countries such as China. Canada accuses Beijing of genocide, but does not in fact recognize its own genocide.
The dominance of the Anglosphere is a reminder that international justice is not uniform, and exists in two tiers. The largest and most notorious offenders of human rights historically are given a waiver for their sins, but nonetheless use human rights as an argument to advance their own ambitions towards other countries, often disingenuously or via a means of projection.
Were, for example, Canada a Middle East country it would be facing worldwide condemnation and potential sanctions. But it is not, it is an Anglosphere country, and it will express a few words of remorse and face no further consequences.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/527605-canada- ... en-deaths/
Tom Fowdy is a British writer and analyst of politics and international relations with a primary focus on East Asia.
25 Jun, 2021 15:03
The silence on Canada’s indigenous deaths shame shows there are double standards on global human rights
Shoes are seen on a path leading to the former Brandon Indian Residential School where researchers, partnered with the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, located 104 potential graves in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, June 12, 2021.
As the West rounds on China for its treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, it remains conspicuously quiet as more mass graves are found at indigenous schools in Canada. The hypocrisy is breathtaking and blatant.
Yesterday 751 graves were found at a residential school in Canada, adding to a growing national scandal following the discovery of 215 bodies at a school several weeks ago.
The findings reveal a darker side of Canada’s history, one the world has known little about. Over a lengthy period of time it appears to have played host to some appalling human rights abuses. Yet all these unpleasant revelations come amid a renewed push by Ottawa, alongside others in the West, to accuse China over events in the Xinjiang autonomous region, where they argue similar abuses are being carried out.
I have previously written about this human rights stand-off at the United Nations and Beijing’s reaction to it. But the irony is that if these graves had been found in China, with such explicit evidence, it would have been universally decried by all the usual countries as a ‘crime against humanity’ or even ‘genocide’.
The deaths of 9,000 infants in Irish homes for unwed mothers proves how little value women had in the eyes of the Catholic ChurchThe deaths of 9,000 infants in Irish homes for unwed mothers proves how little value women had in the eyes of the Catholic Church
Yet in Canada, a simple apology seems to satisfy the international community, with no actual accountability for the perpetrators. The discoveries are significant, though, as they completely redefine our understanding of Canada and its past. And more particularly they shine a light into the nature of the ‘Anglosphere’ – the British Empire-derived countries Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, plus the United Kingdom.
These five countries – although perhaps less so New Zealand – are tied together not just by common heritage and the legacy of British Imperialism, but by a unifying zeal of absolutist moral exceptionalism, a self-appointed right to police and dictate world affairs and enforce their values globally.
Despite these countries having constructed themselves and their wealth on the oppression of indigenous populations, they have frequently depicted themselves as saviours in the wider world.
Canada is probably the most striking example. Even if it is not widely acknowledged, the world is largely conscious to some degree that Australia, the UK and US do not have spotless backgrounds. But few have paused to consider the fact that at its heart, Canada is a colonial state which from the 1960s onwards remarketed itself as a liberal utopia and now presents itself as a beacon of progressive and benevolent governance.
As a Brit, I was brought up on an idyllic vision of Canada, a country which at face value was innocent, prosperous and desirable compared to its more abrasive southern neighbour, the United States.
While Canada is clearly a very desirable place to live and few would question the quality of life, at what cost? The traumatic history of forced indigenous boarding schools where thousands died, and were buried in hidden graves – with records destroyed – is a shameful stain on its past.
There is the argument that Canada has evolved since then, but only in ways one can describe as superficial. Like the rest of the Anglosphere, it is still heralded by a sense of moral elitism. The country is largely unapologetic and disinterested in its crimes, and focused instead on others. It embraces the typical Anglophone attitude that atrocities ‘from the past’ no longer warrant political significance. Yet this is hardly in ‘the past’, as the school where the most recent discovery was made was still operating in 1997. In turn, the belief in one’s depiction as an absolute standard of righteousness serves to suppress remorse for these episodes.
History, as they say, is written by the winners and arguably it is the political triumph of these countries on the world stage that has relegated such dark episodes to the fringes. In international relations, there is only power that sets countries apart in how they can hold each other accountable, and, accordingly, only the losers end up paying the price.
751 unmarked graves found near former Catholic residential school in Canada, indigenous group reveals
The involvement of all five countries in the victory over Nazism in World War II was at the heart of their ‘rebranding’ from the world’s biggest exploiters to the world’s most heroic nations. The defeat of Hitler and the evil of the Holocaust allowed these countries to establish a simple narrative which their populations bought into that they were forces for good, had an infinite right to police others and that their own past indiscretions should be forgotten. You truly see that attitude in application towards countries such as China. Canada accuses Beijing of genocide, but does not in fact recognize its own genocide.
The dominance of the Anglosphere is a reminder that international justice is not uniform, and exists in two tiers. The largest and most notorious offenders of human rights historically are given a waiver for their sins, but nonetheless use human rights as an argument to advance their own ambitions towards other countries, often disingenuously or via a means of projection.
Were, for example, Canada a Middle East country it would be facing worldwide condemnation and potential sanctions. But it is not, it is an Anglosphere country, and it will express a few words of remorse and face no further consequences.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/527605-canada- ... en-deaths/
Lauren Chen
Jul 2, 2021 20:51
Canada's international image is a kind and gentle one. But internally, this Canada Day was a reminder of the nation’s dark history
Rallies took place following the discovery of the remains of hundreds of children at former indigenous residential schools on Canada Day in Winnipeg
Usually a day of fireworks, patriotism, and picnics, this July 1 was a day of protest following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of indigenous children, a harrowing reminder of how recently Canada failed its people.
Yesterday was Canada Day, a celebration of Canada’s confederation, which occurred on that same date in 1867. Usually, the federal holiday is a day of celebration and festivities. But this year, after the harrowing discovery of hundreds of indigenous children’s unmarked graves, for many the day became a day of protest.
Canada’s dark and recent history
ALSO ON RT.COM
Queen Elizabeth II statue toppled in Canada on national holiday, marred by grim discoveries of unmarked graves at Catholic schools
In an international context, Canada is often painted as a kind and gentle nation, especially when compared to its southern neighbor, the United States. After all, Canada did not have institutionalized slavery, Jim Crow, or redlining. However, that's not to say the country doesn’t have its own moral failings, and the Canadian government’s relationship with indigenous peoples is indeed a tragic one, particularly with regard to the practice of residential schools.
Residential schools were an initiative by the Canadian government wherein indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded boarding schools, most of which were operated by the Catholic Church. The government’s goal for the children was compulsory assimilation into the majority culture, and reports that children would be beaten for speaking their native languages, rather than English or French, are common.
Over 150,000 indigenous children attended residential schools from the 1880s until 1996, with unknown numbers suffering physical and sexual abuse, and thousands more never returning to their families. In 2008, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to former students of residential schools, approximately 80,000 of whom were still living at the time, stating: “The Government of Canada built an educational system in which very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities. Many were inadequately fed, clothed and housed. All were deprived of the care and nurturing of their parents, grandparents and communities. First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages and cultural practices were prohibited in these schools. Tragically, some of these children died while attending residential schools and others never returned home. [...]
The Government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.”
Two MORE Catholic churches in British Columbia go up in flames amid ‘anger and rage’ over school mass graves
A troubling discovery
Knowledge of the horror conducted in residential schools is not as common as one would imagine, even among Canadians, but in recent weeks, the travesties have been catapulted to national headlines with the discovery of unmarked graves across the country at sites of formerly operating schools. Over 800 bodies of children have been found in graves as shallow as three feet, but reports have yet to emerge on what could have killed these children, whether disease, malnourishment, or other factors.
Such a grim discovery would be difficult for any nation, but what has compounded the outrage is the reminder of just how recent these atrocities were. Chief Jason Louie of the Ktunaxa Nation went on record to state that he, like many other members of the indigenous community, had family members who were forced into residential schools, whose abusers were yet to be held to account.
“The Nazis were held accountable for their war crimes,” Louie said. “I see no difference in locating the priests and nuns and the brothers who are responsible for this mass murder to be held accountable for their part in this attempt of genocide of an Indigenous people.”
Blame Canada (and the Catholic Church)
And so, in the midst of the nation’s attempt to reconcile with its not-too-distant past, this year's Canada Day was unusually somber as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that, in remembrance of the victims and their families, the Canadian flag would be at half-staff for the day.
But despite the government's attempts to placate the increasingly indignant public, #CancelCanadaDay was trending on social media, and Canadians nationwide went out not to march in parades while wearing red and white, but to protest wearing orange in solidarity with First Nations peoples. Monuments to Canada’s history, and specifically its colonial heritage, were also targeted, with crowds in Winnipeg going as far to topple statues of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria.
And although crowds are calling for the identification and prosecution of government officials who facilitated residential schools, some of whom may still be alive, the state is not the only institution that was involved in the project. The Catholic Church infamously operated about 70% of residential schools, but unlike the Canadian government, the Pope has yet to issue a formal apology, though he is scheduled to meet with indigenous leaders in the coming weeks.
This lack of reconciliation is what is believed to be the motive behind a recent string of church arsons, both on and off reserves, though there is no conclusive evidence of such.
751 unmarked graves found near former Catholic residential school in Canada, indigenous group reveals
A nation divided
Although Canada’s national day was doubtlessly a boiling point, the recession of protests should not be mistaken as any sign of unity or healing. The divisions that have been exacerbated by this latest controversy highlight Canada’s political, racial, and even religious cleavages, which will take more than a typical Canadian “I’m sorry” to move past.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/528268-canada- ... k-history/
Jul 2, 2021 20:51
Canada's international image is a kind and gentle one. But internally, this Canada Day was a reminder of the nation’s dark history
Rallies took place following the discovery of the remains of hundreds of children at former indigenous residential schools on Canada Day in Winnipeg
Usually a day of fireworks, patriotism, and picnics, this July 1 was a day of protest following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of indigenous children, a harrowing reminder of how recently Canada failed its people.
Yesterday was Canada Day, a celebration of Canada’s confederation, which occurred on that same date in 1867. Usually, the federal holiday is a day of celebration and festivities. But this year, after the harrowing discovery of hundreds of indigenous children’s unmarked graves, for many the day became a day of protest.
Canada’s dark and recent history
ALSO ON RT.COM
Queen Elizabeth II statue toppled in Canada on national holiday, marred by grim discoveries of unmarked graves at Catholic schools
In an international context, Canada is often painted as a kind and gentle nation, especially when compared to its southern neighbor, the United States. After all, Canada did not have institutionalized slavery, Jim Crow, or redlining. However, that's not to say the country doesn’t have its own moral failings, and the Canadian government’s relationship with indigenous peoples is indeed a tragic one, particularly with regard to the practice of residential schools.
Residential schools were an initiative by the Canadian government wherein indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded boarding schools, most of which were operated by the Catholic Church. The government’s goal for the children was compulsory assimilation into the majority culture, and reports that children would be beaten for speaking their native languages, rather than English or French, are common.
Over 150,000 indigenous children attended residential schools from the 1880s until 1996, with unknown numbers suffering physical and sexual abuse, and thousands more never returning to their families. In 2008, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to former students of residential schools, approximately 80,000 of whom were still living at the time, stating: “The Government of Canada built an educational system in which very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities. Many were inadequately fed, clothed and housed. All were deprived of the care and nurturing of their parents, grandparents and communities. First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages and cultural practices were prohibited in these schools. Tragically, some of these children died while attending residential schools and others never returned home. [...]
The Government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.”
Two MORE Catholic churches in British Columbia go up in flames amid ‘anger and rage’ over school mass graves
A troubling discovery
Knowledge of the horror conducted in residential schools is not as common as one would imagine, even among Canadians, but in recent weeks, the travesties have been catapulted to national headlines with the discovery of unmarked graves across the country at sites of formerly operating schools. Over 800 bodies of children have been found in graves as shallow as three feet, but reports have yet to emerge on what could have killed these children, whether disease, malnourishment, or other factors.
Such a grim discovery would be difficult for any nation, but what has compounded the outrage is the reminder of just how recent these atrocities were. Chief Jason Louie of the Ktunaxa Nation went on record to state that he, like many other members of the indigenous community, had family members who were forced into residential schools, whose abusers were yet to be held to account.
“The Nazis were held accountable for their war crimes,” Louie said. “I see no difference in locating the priests and nuns and the brothers who are responsible for this mass murder to be held accountable for their part in this attempt of genocide of an Indigenous people.”
Blame Canada (and the Catholic Church)
And so, in the midst of the nation’s attempt to reconcile with its not-too-distant past, this year's Canada Day was unusually somber as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that, in remembrance of the victims and their families, the Canadian flag would be at half-staff for the day.
But despite the government's attempts to placate the increasingly indignant public, #CancelCanadaDay was trending on social media, and Canadians nationwide went out not to march in parades while wearing red and white, but to protest wearing orange in solidarity with First Nations peoples. Monuments to Canada’s history, and specifically its colonial heritage, were also targeted, with crowds in Winnipeg going as far to topple statues of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria.
And although crowds are calling for the identification and prosecution of government officials who facilitated residential schools, some of whom may still be alive, the state is not the only institution that was involved in the project. The Catholic Church infamously operated about 70% of residential schools, but unlike the Canadian government, the Pope has yet to issue a formal apology, though he is scheduled to meet with indigenous leaders in the coming weeks.
This lack of reconciliation is what is believed to be the motive behind a recent string of church arsons, both on and off reserves, though there is no conclusive evidence of such.
751 unmarked graves found near former Catholic residential school in Canada, indigenous group reveals
A nation divided
Although Canada’s national day was doubtlessly a boiling point, the recession of protests should not be mistaken as any sign of unity or healing. The divisions that have been exacerbated by this latest controversy highlight Canada’s political, racial, and even religious cleavages, which will take more than a typical Canadian “I’m sorry” to move past.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/528268-canada- ... k-history/
The Daily Beast
‘Avenge Her Murder’: The Grisly Killing of an Ex-Diplomat’s Daughter Ignites a Wave of Fury Worldwide
Blake Montgomery
Sat, July 24, 2021, 6:51 PM
Zahra Haider
Four days after the headless body of a former Pakistani diplomat’s young daughter was discovered in Islamabad, her death has ignited a wave of fury across the globe and sparked calls for stronger protections for women in Pakistan.
Near the Toronto waterfront, writer and activist Zahra Haider—who grew up with both the 27-year-old victim, Noor Mukadam, and her alleged killer, Zahir Jaffer—hosted a vigil in Queen’s Park on Friday night.
Haider opened the vigil with a quote from writer Mohammed Hanif: “There was not a single day—when she didn’t see a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive... Most of life’s arguments, it seemed, got settled by doing various things to a woman’s body.”
Haider said she had known both Mukadam and Jaffer for many years, but she is speaking out now about what she knows because she fears he could get away with the alleged murder.
“He’s very well-connected. I want to ensure that he can’t use his privilege to get out of this,” she told The Daily Beast.
The body of Mukadam, the daughter of former Pakistani ambassador to South Korea Shaukat Mukadam, was found earlier this week in Jaffer’s house in one of Islamabad’s wealthiest neighborhoods. The body bore marks of torture and a stab wound in the temple, and police have recovered both a knife and a pistol from the home.
Jaffer, the son of an influential Islamabad businessman, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with Mukadam’s murder. He had allegedly attempted to attack those who first arrived on the scene, and was subsequently tied up when police and Shaukat Mukadam arrived.
“There is no doubt he did it,” Shaukat Mukadam told Dawn. “My daughter was innocent and loved animals; I have served the nation, and I want justice.”
The circumstances surrounding Mukadam’s death are not entirely clear. She had told her parents she was going to Lahore for a few days, but authorities say cell phone data shows she never left Islamabad.
Details of the relationship between Jaffer and Mukadam also remain murky. Jaffer, whose family was reportedly acquainted with Shaukat, called the former ambassador to say that Mukadam was not with him on July 20, the same night her body was discovered.
Islamabad police have requested Jaffer be placed on the exit control list, as he is a citizen of both the U.S. and Pakistan. He had previously been deported from the United Kingdom as the result of a sexual harassment and rape case against him, according to Dawn.
The grisly death, along with the deaths of two other women killed this week in Pakistan, has reignited calls for reform and greater protections from domestic violence. Mourners and protesters online organized around the hashtag #JusticeforNoor. In Lahore, demonstrators gathered and held signs reading, “Let us breath” and “Protect your daughters, Educate your sons.”
The death has also shaken Pakistan’s upper echelon. Pakistani Foreign Minister Zahid Chaudhri wrote that he was “deeply saddened” by news of Mukadam’s murder.
The shock of her death was deeply felt in Toronto, where Haider said between 40 and 50 people gathered in Queen’s Park on Friday to honor Mukadam. Some of her extended family was in attendance at the vigil, where mourners shared memories of Mukadam, prayers for her, and tears for roughly two hours.
“It was the least that I could do,” Haider said of the vigil. “I just want to ensure that it doesn’t die out.”
She said she had felt uncomfortable around Jaffer since she knew him as a child, when she said he was “very jumpy.”
“I wasn’t too friendly with him. He was always more introverted. At social gatherings, he was always in the shadows. He displayed erratic behavior when we were young,” she said.
More recently, she said, Jaffer had bombarded her with misogynistic messages. She shared Instagram messages purportedly from Jaffer from 2013 in which he called her “a slut,” “a bitch,” a “f--k face bimbotic ho.” Screenshots of the messages show someone identified as Zahir Jaffer asking her for naked pictures and threatening to “titty f--k you till I slice off your breast nipplex [sic].” She said he sent similar texts to others.
Mukadam, she said, was “a warm and sweet person who genuinely cared about other people.”
“She never said anything malicious about anyone. She was kind. She had an air of innocence about her,” Haider said, adding that she can’t stop thinking about the killing.
“We want justice for Noor and to avenge her murder,” Haider said. “It would be historical to see if he gets punished for what he did because that’s not something that happens in Pakistan.”
Mukadam had participated in such activism herself. Mourners circulated a picture of her from last year protesting a brutal gang rape with a sign reading “Hang them!”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/av ... 08660.html
‘Avenge Her Murder’: The Grisly Killing of an Ex-Diplomat’s Daughter Ignites a Wave of Fury Worldwide
Blake Montgomery
Sat, July 24, 2021, 6:51 PM
Zahra Haider
Four days after the headless body of a former Pakistani diplomat’s young daughter was discovered in Islamabad, her death has ignited a wave of fury across the globe and sparked calls for stronger protections for women in Pakistan.
Near the Toronto waterfront, writer and activist Zahra Haider—who grew up with both the 27-year-old victim, Noor Mukadam, and her alleged killer, Zahir Jaffer—hosted a vigil in Queen’s Park on Friday night.
Haider opened the vigil with a quote from writer Mohammed Hanif: “There was not a single day—when she didn’t see a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive... Most of life’s arguments, it seemed, got settled by doing various things to a woman’s body.”
Haider said she had known both Mukadam and Jaffer for many years, but she is speaking out now about what she knows because she fears he could get away with the alleged murder.
“He’s very well-connected. I want to ensure that he can’t use his privilege to get out of this,” she told The Daily Beast.
The body of Mukadam, the daughter of former Pakistani ambassador to South Korea Shaukat Mukadam, was found earlier this week in Jaffer’s house in one of Islamabad’s wealthiest neighborhoods. The body bore marks of torture and a stab wound in the temple, and police have recovered both a knife and a pistol from the home.
Jaffer, the son of an influential Islamabad businessman, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with Mukadam’s murder. He had allegedly attempted to attack those who first arrived on the scene, and was subsequently tied up when police and Shaukat Mukadam arrived.
“There is no doubt he did it,” Shaukat Mukadam told Dawn. “My daughter was innocent and loved animals; I have served the nation, and I want justice.”
The circumstances surrounding Mukadam’s death are not entirely clear. She had told her parents she was going to Lahore for a few days, but authorities say cell phone data shows she never left Islamabad.
Details of the relationship between Jaffer and Mukadam also remain murky. Jaffer, whose family was reportedly acquainted with Shaukat, called the former ambassador to say that Mukadam was not with him on July 20, the same night her body was discovered.
Islamabad police have requested Jaffer be placed on the exit control list, as he is a citizen of both the U.S. and Pakistan. He had previously been deported from the United Kingdom as the result of a sexual harassment and rape case against him, according to Dawn.
The grisly death, along with the deaths of two other women killed this week in Pakistan, has reignited calls for reform and greater protections from domestic violence. Mourners and protesters online organized around the hashtag #JusticeforNoor. In Lahore, demonstrators gathered and held signs reading, “Let us breath” and “Protect your daughters, Educate your sons.”
The death has also shaken Pakistan’s upper echelon. Pakistani Foreign Minister Zahid Chaudhri wrote that he was “deeply saddened” by news of Mukadam’s murder.
The shock of her death was deeply felt in Toronto, where Haider said between 40 and 50 people gathered in Queen’s Park on Friday to honor Mukadam. Some of her extended family was in attendance at the vigil, where mourners shared memories of Mukadam, prayers for her, and tears for roughly two hours.
“It was the least that I could do,” Haider said of the vigil. “I just want to ensure that it doesn’t die out.”
She said she had felt uncomfortable around Jaffer since she knew him as a child, when she said he was “very jumpy.”
“I wasn’t too friendly with him. He was always more introverted. At social gatherings, he was always in the shadows. He displayed erratic behavior when we were young,” she said.
More recently, she said, Jaffer had bombarded her with misogynistic messages. She shared Instagram messages purportedly from Jaffer from 2013 in which he called her “a slut,” “a bitch,” a “f--k face bimbotic ho.” Screenshots of the messages show someone identified as Zahir Jaffer asking her for naked pictures and threatening to “titty f--k you till I slice off your breast nipplex [sic].” She said he sent similar texts to others.
Mukadam, she said, was “a warm and sweet person who genuinely cared about other people.”
“She never said anything malicious about anyone. She was kind. She had an air of innocence about her,” Haider said, adding that she can’t stop thinking about the killing.
“We want justice for Noor and to avenge her murder,” Haider said. “It would be historical to see if he gets punished for what he did because that’s not something that happens in Pakistan.”
Mukadam had participated in such activism herself. Mourners circulated a picture of her from last year protesting a brutal gang rape with a sign reading “Hang them!”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/av ... 08660.html
Currently, from AT&T
Twin sisters reportedly killed in livestreamed gang execution
Thu, July 22, 2021, 7:00 PM
Instagram
Twin sisters in Brazil were reportedly forced to kneel and executed in a horrific Instagram livestream because they "knew too much" about a drug deal.
The 18-year-olds — both mothers named locally as Amália and Amanda Alves — were forced to kneel on the ground before being fatally shot, according to a report by The Sun, citing local media.
The sisters were forced to lift up their hair into a bun before the suspect fired the fatal bullets at the back of their heads, according to a report by Jornal de Brasília.
A 17-year-old boy named Mateus Abreu has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being questioned by authorities, Jornal de Brasília reported. According to Closer magazine, Abreu was already known to the police, having been arrested multiple times for illegal possession of a firearm, theft and intentional bodily harm.
Footage of the double murder has been viewed thousands of times, according to Brazilian media.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/ ... 22195.html
Twin sisters reportedly killed in livestreamed gang execution
Thu, July 22, 2021, 7:00 PM
Twin sisters in Brazil were reportedly forced to kneel and executed in a horrific Instagram livestream because they "knew too much" about a drug deal.
The 18-year-olds — both mothers named locally as Amália and Amanda Alves — were forced to kneel on the ground before being fatally shot, according to a report by The Sun, citing local media.
The sisters were forced to lift up their hair into a bun before the suspect fired the fatal bullets at the back of their heads, according to a report by Jornal de Brasília.
A 17-year-old boy named Mateus Abreu has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being questioned by authorities, Jornal de Brasília reported. According to Closer magazine, Abreu was already known to the police, having been arrested multiple times for illegal possession of a firearm, theft and intentional bodily harm.
Footage of the double murder has been viewed thousands of times, according to Brazilian media.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/ ... 22195.html
EDITORIAL
Noor murder case
Editorial Published July 25, 2021 - Updated about 23 hours ago
IT would not be an exaggeration to describe Pakistan as no country for women. This truth was underscored yet again earlier this week when the discovery of the bloodied, headless corpse of Noor Muqaddam shook the nation to the core.
The brutality of the murder, and society’s utter shock, notwithstanding, it is likely that this tragedy, like countless other anti-women crimes, will become just another statistic in a long list of patriarchal sins. Indeed, Noor’s case will be a test for the authorities in more ways than one. It is not simply about ensuring a strong prosecution team, foolproof evidence and a fair trial with a conviction and exemplary sentence being handed down to the perpetrator — something that is sorely missing in our criminal justice system. It will also be a test for prosecutors, investigators and witnesses to withstand the lure of money or the fear of clout that those who want a safe way out for the perpetrator may wield.
Meanwhile, the greatest test for society itself will be to look inwards and ask how we arrived at this point. How did the family of the suspected murderer, Zahir Jaffer, who has a possible criminal history that is said to have led to his deportation from the UK, not keep a vigilant eye on him, especially if he was mentally unsound as is being claimed? Indeed, it is dumbfounding that the suspect reportedly worked as a mental health counsellor at one controversial therapy clinic, where he received treatment. Was there complacency that his wealth and social standing would rescue him from any situation? Even one as horrifying as this? We have seen this sense of entitlement before in the Shahzeb Khan murder case some years ago. More recently, we have seen it in the early release of the man who stabbed Khadija Siddiqui 23 times in broad daylight in 2016.
Unfortunately, it is the second-class citizens who suffer most — and women in this country define that description. The fact that they are allowed to ‘exist’ at all may be some kind of a miracle given that practically every gender comparison shows the immense gap that exists between males and females. And the socioeconomic indicators are only the practical manifestations of a national opinion that sees women as unequal, sometimes as chattel, not important enough to be protected but fit enough to be blamed for all the atrocities they attract towards themselves.
Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2021
https://www.dawn.com/news/1636806/noor-murder-case
Noor murder case
Editorial Published July 25, 2021 - Updated about 23 hours ago
IT would not be an exaggeration to describe Pakistan as no country for women. This truth was underscored yet again earlier this week when the discovery of the bloodied, headless corpse of Noor Muqaddam shook the nation to the core.
The brutality of the murder, and society’s utter shock, notwithstanding, it is likely that this tragedy, like countless other anti-women crimes, will become just another statistic in a long list of patriarchal sins. Indeed, Noor’s case will be a test for the authorities in more ways than one. It is not simply about ensuring a strong prosecution team, foolproof evidence and a fair trial with a conviction and exemplary sentence being handed down to the perpetrator — something that is sorely missing in our criminal justice system. It will also be a test for prosecutors, investigators and witnesses to withstand the lure of money or the fear of clout that those who want a safe way out for the perpetrator may wield.
Meanwhile, the greatest test for society itself will be to look inwards and ask how we arrived at this point. How did the family of the suspected murderer, Zahir Jaffer, who has a possible criminal history that is said to have led to his deportation from the UK, not keep a vigilant eye on him, especially if he was mentally unsound as is being claimed? Indeed, it is dumbfounding that the suspect reportedly worked as a mental health counsellor at one controversial therapy clinic, where he received treatment. Was there complacency that his wealth and social standing would rescue him from any situation? Even one as horrifying as this? We have seen this sense of entitlement before in the Shahzeb Khan murder case some years ago. More recently, we have seen it in the early release of the man who stabbed Khadija Siddiqui 23 times in broad daylight in 2016.
Unfortunately, it is the second-class citizens who suffer most — and women in this country define that description. The fact that they are allowed to ‘exist’ at all may be some kind of a miracle given that practically every gender comparison shows the immense gap that exists between males and females. And the socioeconomic indicators are only the practical manifestations of a national opinion that sees women as unequal, sometimes as chattel, not important enough to be protected but fit enough to be blamed for all the atrocities they attract towards themselves.
Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2021
https://www.dawn.com/news/1636806/noor-murder-case
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Re: Cruel Acts Against Humanity
Madressah teacher held by Muzaffargarh police for alleged rape
Malik Tehseen Raza: Published June 2, 2025 Updated about 5 hours ago
A madressah teacher who allegedly molested a student in Muzaffargarh’s Bet Mir Hazar Khan area has been arrested, police said on Monday.
According to Muzaffargarh District Police Officer Dr Rizwan Ahmed Khan, the teacher in Jatoi tehsil allegedly raped the student and locked him in the madressah for five days to prevent him from reporting the assault.
“The teacher had invited his young student to his room under the pretext of a massage and raped him,” DPO Khan alleged. “A case was registered against the teacher and he was taken into custody.”
The Bet Mir Hazar Khan Station House Officer (SHO) said, “Such a brutal person will be punished severely according to the law and such people do not deserve any concession.”
In a separate incident, police have said that they will arrest a tailor’s son who allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl and blackmailed her with video footage of the assault six months ago.
The incident took place in the Riazabad area of Kot Sultan, where a girl had gone to learn sewing at a tailor’s house and was allegedly later raped by his son.
She alleged that the suspect found her alone at home and raped her, filming the assault. Threatening to share the footage and “make it viral”, the suspect allegedly continued raping the victim for the last six months.
The girl’s father said that when questioned, the victim spoke about the incident. A medical examination revealed that the girl was five months pregnant.
A case has been registered at Kot Sultan police station upon the complaint of the victim’s father.
SHO Haroon Raza Randhawa said that under the supervision of DPO Layyah Ali Waseem, a case was registered and teams were formed to apprehend the suspect, whom he said “would be arrested soon”.
As many as 3,364 child abuse cases were reported from all four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the year 2024, according to a civil society report.
The report Cruel Numbers 2024 by Sahil was prepared based on data collected from 81 national and regional newspapers across the country.
It showed that nine children were abused per day during the year, while a gender-divide analysis indicated that out of the total reported cases, 1,791 (53 per cent) victims were girls and 1,573 (47pc) boys.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1915016/madre ... rh-police-
Malik Tehseen Raza: Published June 2, 2025 Updated about 5 hours ago
A madressah teacher who allegedly molested a student in Muzaffargarh’s Bet Mir Hazar Khan area has been arrested, police said on Monday.
According to Muzaffargarh District Police Officer Dr Rizwan Ahmed Khan, the teacher in Jatoi tehsil allegedly raped the student and locked him in the madressah for five days to prevent him from reporting the assault.
“The teacher had invited his young student to his room under the pretext of a massage and raped him,” DPO Khan alleged. “A case was registered against the teacher and he was taken into custody.”
The Bet Mir Hazar Khan Station House Officer (SHO) said, “Such a brutal person will be punished severely according to the law and such people do not deserve any concession.”
In a separate incident, police have said that they will arrest a tailor’s son who allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl and blackmailed her with video footage of the assault six months ago.
The incident took place in the Riazabad area of Kot Sultan, where a girl had gone to learn sewing at a tailor’s house and was allegedly later raped by his son.
She alleged that the suspect found her alone at home and raped her, filming the assault. Threatening to share the footage and “make it viral”, the suspect allegedly continued raping the victim for the last six months.
The girl’s father said that when questioned, the victim spoke about the incident. A medical examination revealed that the girl was five months pregnant.
A case has been registered at Kot Sultan police station upon the complaint of the victim’s father.
SHO Haroon Raza Randhawa said that under the supervision of DPO Layyah Ali Waseem, a case was registered and teams were formed to apprehend the suspect, whom he said “would be arrested soon”.
As many as 3,364 child abuse cases were reported from all four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the year 2024, according to a civil society report.
The report Cruel Numbers 2024 by Sahil was prepared based on data collected from 81 national and regional newspapers across the country.
It showed that nine children were abused per day during the year, while a gender-divide analysis indicated that out of the total reported cases, 1,791 (53 per cent) victims were girls and 1,573 (47pc) boys.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1915016/madre ... rh-police-
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Re: Cruel Acts Against Humanity
Hafizabad police launch raids to arrest culprits after wife gang-raped in front of husband
Zaheer Abbas Sial Published June 3, 2025 Updated 2 days ago
Police on Tuesday launched raids to arrest eight suspects who allegedly abducted a couple in Hafizabad and subjected them to physical and sexual assault.
The first information report (FIR) was filed by the husband today at the Kasoki Police Station under Sections 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Unlawful assembly), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (assault or use of criminal force to woman and stripping her of her clothes ), 355 (causing hurt by dangerous means), 365 (kidnapping), 375-A (rape), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint to commit the theft), 496A (enticing away a woman) and 506B (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR said the incident occurred on April 25 around 7pm when the complainant and his wife were on a motorcycle when they stopped for a bit. As the wife got off the motorcycle, a man came towards them who verbally abused and hit her, it stated.
A group of armed men later arrived and took the couple to a secluded place near a graveyard. The FIR detailed how the couple were subjected to physical violence, sexual assault, and robbery.
The complainant said in the FIR, “We were both tied up and they made me lie down on the ground,” adding that his wife was “gang-raped despite me repeatedly pleading with the suspects to stop”.
The suspects took away two mobile phones, two tola of gold and Rs2,500 in cash, the FIR added.
It further said, “The suspects forced the couple to have sexual intercourse at gunpoint,” adding that they filmed it and blackmailed the victims.
The FIR also said, “We delayed reporting the incident because the suspects had threatened us, saying that if we took legal action or got a medical examination done, they would kill us,” adding that the suspects had uploaded the footage of the assault on the internet.
The husband requested a case to be registered against the culprits for abduction, rape, sexual assault and robbery, saying that the suspects be arrested and punished at the earliest, naming four of the total eight suspects.
Hafizabad District Police Officer Atif Nazeer told Dawn.com that a case was filed against the suspects, who will be arrested within 24 to 48 hours.
“The suspects were being identified using video footage and police raids are currently underway,” he said. “The couple has undergone a medical examination, and investigations into other legal aspects are in process.”
Despite the presence of anti-rape laws — with punishment for rape either resulting in the death penalty or imprisonment of between 10 and 25 years — cases continue to prevail in the country.
In March, Punjab police arrested three suspects for allegedly gang-raping a woman in Lahore, according to a statement by the police.
Earlier this year, the provincial government planned to increase the number of Special Sexual Offences Investigation Units (SSOIUs) across the province to investigate scheduled offences under the Anti-Rape (Investigation & Trial) Act of 2021 and offer better services to women.
Around 150 more units would be added Punjab-wide to probe the scheduled offences in this regard.
Since a large number of cases were being reported and registered, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz instructed Home Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal to enhance the number of units and appoint designated trained officers to help out women complainants.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1915209/hafiz ... of-husband
Zaheer Abbas Sial Published June 3, 2025 Updated 2 days ago
Police on Tuesday launched raids to arrest eight suspects who allegedly abducted a couple in Hafizabad and subjected them to physical and sexual assault.
The first information report (FIR) was filed by the husband today at the Kasoki Police Station under Sections 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Unlawful assembly), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (assault or use of criminal force to woman and stripping her of her clothes ), 355 (causing hurt by dangerous means), 365 (kidnapping), 375-A (rape), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint to commit the theft), 496A (enticing away a woman) and 506B (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR said the incident occurred on April 25 around 7pm when the complainant and his wife were on a motorcycle when they stopped for a bit. As the wife got off the motorcycle, a man came towards them who verbally abused and hit her, it stated.
A group of armed men later arrived and took the couple to a secluded place near a graveyard. The FIR detailed how the couple were subjected to physical violence, sexual assault, and robbery.
The complainant said in the FIR, “We were both tied up and they made me lie down on the ground,” adding that his wife was “gang-raped despite me repeatedly pleading with the suspects to stop”.
The suspects took away two mobile phones, two tola of gold and Rs2,500 in cash, the FIR added.
It further said, “The suspects forced the couple to have sexual intercourse at gunpoint,” adding that they filmed it and blackmailed the victims.
The FIR also said, “We delayed reporting the incident because the suspects had threatened us, saying that if we took legal action or got a medical examination done, they would kill us,” adding that the suspects had uploaded the footage of the assault on the internet.
The husband requested a case to be registered against the culprits for abduction, rape, sexual assault and robbery, saying that the suspects be arrested and punished at the earliest, naming four of the total eight suspects.
Hafizabad District Police Officer Atif Nazeer told Dawn.com that a case was filed against the suspects, who will be arrested within 24 to 48 hours.
“The suspects were being identified using video footage and police raids are currently underway,” he said. “The couple has undergone a medical examination, and investigations into other legal aspects are in process.”
Despite the presence of anti-rape laws — with punishment for rape either resulting in the death penalty or imprisonment of between 10 and 25 years — cases continue to prevail in the country.
In March, Punjab police arrested three suspects for allegedly gang-raping a woman in Lahore, according to a statement by the police.
Earlier this year, the provincial government planned to increase the number of Special Sexual Offences Investigation Units (SSOIUs) across the province to investigate scheduled offences under the Anti-Rape (Investigation & Trial) Act of 2021 and offer better services to women.
Around 150 more units would be added Punjab-wide to probe the scheduled offences in this regard.
Since a large number of cases were being reported and registered, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz instructed Home Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal to enhance the number of units and appoint designated trained officers to help out women complainants.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1915209/hafiz ... of-husband