ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, Russia and Pakistan plan to establish a commission on military cooperation to counter the Islamic State threat in the region, accusing the United States of downplaying the terrorist group's dangerous "proliferation" in Afghanistan....
Read More »Daily Archives: February 20, 2018
Watchdog Holds Off on Adding Pakistan to Terrorist Financing Watch List, Official Says
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, Pakistan has been given a three-month reprieve by a global watchdog regarding a U.S.-led motion to put the South Asian country on a terrorist financing watch list, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said late Tuesday.Pakista...
Read More »Pakistani Lawmaker Denies China Talking to Separatists in Baluchistan
WASHINGTON, QUETTA, BALUCHISTAN, There are no talks between China and the separatists from Pakistan's Baluchistan province regarding the protection of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a senator from the province told VOA.First reported by T...
Read More »Award-Winning UK Film on Witch-Hunts in Zambia Hoped to Curb Attacks on Women
NAIROBI, KENYA, An award-winning British film about witch-hunts in Zambia could play an important role in curbing violence against women if translated into local languages and distributed widely, according to human rights campaigners.
The film "I Am Not A Witch" - which tells the story of an eight-year-old Zambian girl accused of being a witch - was named the most outstanding debut film on Sunday at Britain's top film awards, the BAFTAs.
Welsh-Zambian director Rungano Nyoni spent a month in a so-called "witch camp" in Ghana to research the low budget film about a girl banished from her village to stay with other women also branded as witches.
Campaigners said films about often overlooked abuse of women - such as female genital mutilation and child marriage � helped raise awareness about the reality of these practices and could help bust myths and false narratives spanning decades.
"Films on under reported or little known gender abuses are very important as they can bring these often hidden issues to the public's attention and force them into the light," said Shelby Quast, director of the charity Equality Now.
"Bringing these stories to light can help survivors, civil society and communities to hold their government and duty bearers to account."
Millions of women and girls in countries ranging from India and Pakistan to Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria are still branded witches - often by their relatives or neighbours - in a bid to usurp their land or inheritance, say campaigners.
In many cases, victims are elderly widowed women who are humiliated, beaten, stripped and ostracized from their communities. Sometimes they are lynched.
Children are also targeted with their parents and communities misled into battering, maiming, drowning, burning and abandoning them.
"In the African context, witch branding usually leads to alienation of women from the community and this denies her rights to own land or even inherit it and reduces her ability to fend for herself," said ActionAid Kenya's Philip Kilonzo.
"It is increasingly becoming a practice in some communities to lynch witches which leads to further violation of their rights by denying them the right to life."
Activists said it was key that films addressing these issues were seen where it mattered most.
"The use of films can be limiting in challenging such forms of violence against women as films speak to the privileged in the society, yet issues such as witch branding happen in the very remote rural areas and informal settlements in urban areas," said Makena Mwobobia, ActionAid Kenya's Head of Policy.
"However, if translated into the local languages, the same films can be used to speak to the emotions and the core of the community and hence touch on their individual character for behavioral change."
Source: Voice of America
Read More »TWO LAWYERS KILLED IN SHOOTING AT COURT PREMISES IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Two lawyers were killed in a shooting incident between two rival groups within the premises of a session court in Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday, China's Xinhua news agency reported. In the incident, two groups opened fire at each ot...
Read More »UNICEF: Pakistan ‘Most Dangerous’ Country for Newborns
ISLAMABAD, The United Nations children's agency has declared Pakistan as the riskiest country for newborns, saying that out of every 1,000 babies born in Pakistan, 46 die before the end of their first month.UNICEF released the findings Tuesday as part ...
Read More »MALAYSIA: RMN CHIEF RECEIVES ORDER OF EXCELLENCE AWARD FROM PAKISTANI GOVT
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin was conferred the prestigious Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Order of Excellence) in Islamabad, Pakistan yesterday. Nishan-e-Imtiaz is awarded to civilians and milit...
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