The Muslim Woman

From now, onwards women in burqa would now have to reveal their face in order to disclose their identities at the UK airport. The immigration officials made such a move after it assumed that a suspected police killer might have escaped from the nation dressed as a Muslim woman. However, the move has created a spark among the community according to whom, it would impose unbearable demands on their members, particularly female officers who would be the only ones allowed looking under veils. Previously, the officers used to wave off passengers without scrutinizing because of the shortage of time but the recent incident where, an asylum seeker Mustaf Jama who was wanted for the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky escaped using her sister’s passport created a very critical situation for them. Thus, authorities came out with the idea, which would legally entitle them to ask any female passenger to lift her veil in order to verify her identity against passport photographs. In order to stress the idea, Prime Minister Tony Blair said, ‘We must find methods of allowing people to take off the veil in a way that’s dignified.’ Personally, I feel that all must be equal under the eye of law and disclosing ones, identity at the airports shouldn’t be a tough job for the women folk. After all, it is the question of our social security; moreover, the authorities have no hassles if they remain in the clad during their stay. So I guess, there shouldn’t be any kind of fuss over the issue. Read

Pakistani women have shown to the world that they are not behind any one in nearly all walks of life. In November, Pakistani Military Academy Kakul, admitted women for the first time in history and recently, women cadets some with swords and others with guns, marched with their male colleagues in a ceremony at the mausoleum in Karachi. Eight women officer cadets from the training academy for Pakistani army officers became the first women to mount the honor guard at the mausoleum of Jinnah. General Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, has been encouraging the role of women in a male chauvinistic society where average female literacy is only 35 per cent. Image Read

Minister for Women Development and Youth Affairs Sumaira Malik said on Sunday that the government is looking forward to meet out the issues of women belonging to minority groups. She passed on good wishes to the Christians community on Christmas and asserted that the government is making sincere efforts to protect the rights of minorities and their role could not be subtracted from the country’s prosperity. Malik further said that the government believes in securing equal rights to all citizens of the country. She said that her ministry is following several programs to empower women for national development, like women’s political school, IT training for women councilors and a gender action reform program. Read

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain would be discussing a policy that would protect women’s rights. Aziz said the government would remove all man made laws and practices militating against women’s rights and violating the spirit of Islam. And that the government would consult all stakeholders on laws relating to women before getting them passed from the parliament. Image Read

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Senator Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Secretary General of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Sindh, has accused the government for demolishing the MMA proposals and accused the President, General Musharraf, and his associates of blackmailing the public in the name of Women’s rights protection act. He asserted that government did not agree to MMA’s proposals regarding women’s property rights, sell of daughters, forced marriages, daughters given in compensations settlement of murders, divorces etc. He stated that the Act is completely against the spirit of Islam and Shariah, which is not safeguarding women but laying the foundation of anti- Islamic society. He urged the ulema, scholars of all schools of thought to unite and reject the act. He said, ‘we are proud to be fundamentalists and would contest against what he called ‘progressives’. The MMA had decided to fight in and outside the parliament to force the government to withdraw the act, which would not give space to the president to act freely.’ Read

At a certificate distribution ceremony for the graduates of Community Technology Learning Center (CTLC) organized by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Senator Ms Yasmin Shah tagged the women’s rights law to be a great achievement as it is milestone in safeguarding the native women. She advised the girls to work hard to acquire the skill so that they could be useful for themselves and for the country as well. She commended the NCHD for setting up the CTLC and for initiating school health program, which had so far screened primary school children for various diseases and provided eyeglasses to 450 children and treatment to 1,000 others. NCHD District Manager Imtiaz Bhatti added that the center had produced 200 women and 20 men graduates, where 42 women have acquired jobs in different organizations. Image Read

In a workshop by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on ‘torture on women’, the speakers urged the government to give more powers to women’s rights protection bodies to protect the native women’s right. Addressing the workshop, Justice (retd) Zahid Aslam Nasir said that a ‘full-time’ Commission on Status of Women/Women Inquiry Committee should be made and full-time ones should replace ad-hoc members in Federal Law Commission so that timely provision of justice to women could be guaranteed. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid said during his tenure as the chief justice of Sindh High Court, he received letters from more than 15,000 women and offered relief to them, but was not able to change the system. Image Read

From Today, on Dubai roads, the pink-colored taxis started plying on the roads of the city to carry women to different parts of the country. Behind the launch of the women-only cab service, the main aim is that to provide a safe transportation to women to ensure their free movement. Mohammed Obeid Al Mulla, Executive Manager for Public Transport of the Roads and Transport Authority, said that the move is an embodiment of RTA’s strategy to offer its service to all sectors of the community and secure a modern mass transport system enjoying the highest levels of safety and convenience. This is a part of a plan for the development of an integrated transport network in the country. In the first phase of the plan, as many as 50 taxis with pink roofs, pink seats and interiors, that would help to five vehicles a feminine look, would be deployed. These taxis were sent to the places that are frequently visited by women. For continuing the service, more than 100 female drivers had undergone extensive training programs. In the training, they did learn the skills of driving, etiquette, customer service, handling emergency cases, locations of key government entities and tourist and leisure destinations. Read

Saudi Arabia is in dire need of laws that would safeguard native women’s rights especially in the present scenario where they are being deserted by their ‘shauhar’ who generally escape the legal charges. Women of Saudi Arabia, who are married to either Saudis or foreigners, are having a tough time in their married lives. Their husbands are leaving them all unexpectedly and for no apparently valid reason. Azza Al Mihdar, a sociologist at King Abdulaziz University says, ‘Losing their husbands and their homes puts them under mental and social pressure as their families consider them a trouble’. Some face financial difficulties and/or are ostracized by their families. Al Mihdar added, ‘The social solution is that both families and relatives should put pressure on the husband either to live with his family normally or divorce his wife.’ Mohammed Al Ghamdi, head of public relations department at the Ministry of Social Affairs, revealed that generally the ministry receives a large number of cases of abandoned housewives every year. Image Read