Pakistan

The End Violence Against Women & Girls (EVAW/G) Alliance August 6 put forth a charter of demand (COD) to the Pakistani government to protect, promote and sustain the rights of women and girls, with particular focus on woman NGO workers and women’s rights activists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Read the complete story at Central Asia Online, published 6 August 2012.

In Pakistan, where instability, distrust, violence and political rivalries can impede interaction among political parties, women and young people — the majority of the population — often have difficulty making their voices heard.

According to some estimates, more than 60 percent of Pakistanis are under the age of 35. Yet women and young people seldom have leadership opportunities or seats on decision making bodies.    

Aurat Foundation and other civil society organisations, including Legislative Watch Group, Violence Against Women Watch Group and Citizen Action Committees for Women Rights, expressing solidarity with women MPAs, strongly condemned the gender-biased behaviour of the treasury members, particularly MPA Sheikh Allauddin of the Unification Bloc during the Punjab Assembly session on Thursday.

Ghinva Bhutto, the widow of Benazir Bhutto's brother Mir Murtaza, is getting to ready to join politics and contest Pakistan's general elections to rival her famous sister-in-law and former prime minister.
For more information, please visit Earth Times

One of the major reasons women are prevented from voting is that their participation in the decision-making process is against centuries-old tribal traditions. No party -- whether liberal or conservative -- is ready to challenge these traditions.
For more information, please visit OHMY News Website .

Though launched by the prominent advocacy group, Women’s Action Forum, the WCP includes eminent doctors, members of civil society, the legal fraternity, journalists and ordinary ‘peaceful’ citizens to "counter violence through peace" and as a reaction to the May 12 ethnic violence that rocked Karachi.
To read the full article, please visit IPS News

The much bruited ‘deal’ between Pakistan’s twice-elected, twice-deposed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has cast a shadow over her triumphal homecoming on Thursday, after nine long years of self-imposed exile.
To read the full article, please visit the IPS News Website.

Bhutto, 54, a former two-time premier, has always said that a crowd is the best cushion for a leader. But the twin bomb blasts that greeted her upon her return to Pakistan two weeks ago, killing at least 140 in the country's deadliest known suicide attack, have changed everything for the charismatic leader who hopes to return to her former post.
To read the full article, please visit the Chicago Tribune's Website.