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Tuesday, November 3, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Too Many Dubious Convictions Say Activists
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights have called for an immediate moratorium on death penalties in Pakistan - or many innocent people may be executed.RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Teenager’s Rape – Test for New Women’s Law
Proceedings underway against 11 men accused of gang-raping a 16-year-old girl, to extract customary revenge for an elopement, will test the soundness of Pakistan's new legislation passed in December to protect women from crimes committed in the name of defending honour.HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Obstetric Fistula – Grim Reminder of Unmet MDGs
''I wouldn't have thrown her out but would certainly have remarried,'' says Mohammad Qasim easily, sitting in a verandah at the Koohi Goth Maternity Centre in the suburbs of this southern port city.PAKISTAN: ‘Gitmo Is Like Being Alive in Your Own Grave’
''Guantanamo brings images of a man in orange overalls, his face down and a soldier holding him by the neck, like a dog on a leash," says 14-year-old Zahra Paracha. "Animals are treated better,'' she tells IPS.RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: ‘War on Terror’ an Excuse for Disappearances
"A taste of their own medicine would be the best punishment for these people," says Mohammad Atif, 23, when asked how agents of the state who kidnapped and detained him for two years should be punished. "The only problem is no one can touch these people."RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: ‘War on Terror’ an Excuse for Disappearances
"A taste of their own medicine would be the best punishment for these people," says Mohammad Atif, 23, when asked how agents of the state who kidnapped and detained him for two years should be punished. "The only problem is no one can touch these people."RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Reporting the Truth Can Be Fatal
''I just reported the truth,'' says 38-year-old Dilawar Wazir Khan wearily, explaining to IPS over the telephone why he was kidnapped and tortured.PAKISTAN: Quake Victims Face Another Winter, Unprotected
Of those who survived last year's catastrophic earthquake, it is the people of Balakot district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) that are least prepared to face another Himalayan winter without adequate shelter. It took until April for the government to announce that Balakot will need to be entirely relocated.CULTURE-PAKISTAN: Mai Tells Her Tale in ‘Shame’
She is in the news again. This time appearing in a documentary film 'Shame', that tells her tale of being ordered gang-raped as retributive punishment by a village council.CULTURE-PAKISTAN: Mai Tells Her Tale in ‘Shame’
She is in the news again. This time appearing in a documentary film 'Shame', that tells the tale of a village council ordering her to be gang-raped as retributive punishment.PAKISTAN: Bill to Save Women From Religious Law Flounders
Danish Zuberi, a lawyer and rights activist is partly relieved that the government has deferred passage of a bill to protect women to build a "broader consensus". The government has fixed no dates and says it prefers "soundness over speed''.HEALTH-PAKISTAN: As Floods Recede, Epidemics Wait in the Wings
Floods and torrential rain have caused public sanitation in this port city to deteriorate to a point where health experts are not sure whether its 12 million inhabitants are going to be hit by malaria first or by gastroenteritis - conditions are rife for both, as well as a host of other pestilences.ENVIRONMENT-PAKISTAN: Rains Send Quake Victims Back to Tent Villages
Just when they thought it was safe to go home, the displaced survivors of the Oct. 8, 2005 temblor have had to quickly scuttle back to tent villages and meagre supplies - due to landslides and flash floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains affecting the country.PAKISTAN: Expats Wary of ‘Charities’ From Home
Amid reports of money collected by Pakistani charities abroad ending up in funding terrorist activity comes new research that suggests that the prosperous Pakistani-American community is extremely wary of sending money to organisations from the home country.PAKISTAN: No Hope for Women Raped and Jailed for Adultery
While a Presidential fiat grants bail to 1,300 females facing trial for various offences, it is unlikely to permanently benefit those charged with adultery under Pakistan's notorious religious-based 'hudood' laws - long criticised by rights groups as being anti-women.DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Expressway to Nowhere for Displaced People
Munira has skipped going to work because she is waiting in a queue for the municipal tanker to bring water to the residents of Taiser Town, a vast new settlement of 95,000 people, many of them displaced when their homes were demolished to make way for the Lyari Expressway in Pakistan's commercial capital.PAKISTAN: TV Debates Take on Anti-Women Islamic Laws
Filmmaker Hasan Zaidi is an optimist. He is sure that debates currently being conducted over a private TV channel could help see the repeal of Pakistan's Hudood Ordinances - a set of laws based on Islamic decrees, criticised as being anti-women.PAKISTAN: Villagers Pay the Price of Nuclear Ambitions
''We've been treated worse than animals,'' says Nazeer Buzdar, his voice cracking with emotion over the telephone. "We were the ones who helped make Pakistan a nuclear power. But now that we're suffering, there is no one to even hear us out."PAKISTAN: Village Organisations Empower
To passersby, the village of Fazal Talhani, 250 km east of this port city, looks starkly different from neighbouring ones. It has clean homes, safe drinking water, well maintained streets and, most importantly, happy and healthy school-going children.PAKISTAN: Tackling Quake Trauma With Cameras
''I fainted as the school collapsed. When I woke up I found myself outside the school. The roads were blocked. There were so many dead bodies and we had to walk over them. I was crying. Even now, tremors remind me of that terrible day. But I am not afraid because life is coming back to normal,'' said a child survivor of the Oct.8, South Asia earthquake.WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Not Enough for Regime Change
As the polycentric sixth World Social Forum (WSF) drew to a close in Pakistan's principal port city, on Wednesday, participants were left wondering what kind of impact it would have on the military dictatorship that hosted the five-day event« Previous Page — Next Page »
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