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Pak rulers moving ISLAMABAD, Mar 29: Apparently under pressure from donors and to gain international acceptability, Pakistan’s military rulers are moving to protect.....more LONDON, Mar 29: The children who shot to stardom in "the sound of music" have.....more Israel
attack Palestinian JERUSALEM, Mar 29: In a serious escalation of conflict, Israeli helicopters rocketed Palestinian .....more Afghan Taliban force students to wear turbans KABUL, Mar 29: Afghanistan’s Taliban militia have found another way to create their idea of a "pure" Islamic state.....more |
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Ershad loyalists
stake claim on ‘plough’ DHAKA, Mar 29: Owing allegiance to party chief H M Ershad, 20 Jatiya Party MPs today returned to Parliament to thwart an attempt by a breakaway faction to claim election symbol ‘plough’......more
Putin asserts control in MUSCOW, Mar 29: President Vladimir Putin has used a shake-up of his security apparatus to boost his authority and assert independence from the shadowy group that catapulted him to power, newspapers said today......more |
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Pak rulers moving to protect rights of women prisioners ISLAMABAD, Mar 29: Apparently under pressure from donors and to gain international acceptability, Pakistan’s military rulers are moving to protect the rights of hundreds of women languishing in the country’s jails. The military-led Government has said it will bring about changes in the judicial system to ensure that cases involving detention of women on criminal charges are processed within six months. There are plans to pardon all women jailed for offences other than murder, dacoity, terrorism and drug trafficking. The Government is also planning to set up separate jails for women. It has said that police would be asked not to arrest or detain any woman or girl child, without a warrant from the top district official, except if the person is wanted in connection with the above four serious crimes. According to the top independent rights watch dog, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an estimated 2,369 women are in jails across the country. Most of them are under trial. The largest province of Central Punjab has some 1,108 women prisoners. Of them, 919 are still facing trial, while 171 had been convicted. Only 48 of the more than 300 women prisoners in the north west frontier province, bordering Afghanistan, have been convicted. Rights groups point out that most of these women are likely to be eventually acquitted for want of evidence, according to past pattern. The jail term would stigmatize them for life. Pakistan has only two separate jails for women. Elsewhere, women prisoners are housed in separate sections of general prisons. According to newspaper reports in recent months, in some prisons, the separation of male and female prisoners was not being strictly enforced. Pakistan’s 82 jails have authorised accommodation for 32,514 prisoners, but these actually house some 72,714 inmates. Some prisons are home to twice as many prisoners as their authorised capacity. Newspaper accounts from inside some prisons, speak of half the prisoners spending part of the night sitting, so the others can sleep. Woman lawyer Naheeda Maqbool Illahi says the conditions of confinement for women are harsh. They have no beds, mattresses, pillows, and basic amenities for personal hygiene. Pregnant women prisoners usually do not have access to a qualified lady doctor. The women inmates are also under constant threat of physical violence and verbal abuse from male prisoners or jail staff. Illahi says that most women prisoners were jailed in connection with cases involving rape or adultery and there is need for special courts for trying these cases. These women are accused under the Islamic hudood laws relating to rape, adultery and fornication. In one of the most infamous cases in the mid-1980s, Safia Bibi, a blind woman, who got pregnant after she was raped, was convicted of adultery. Women who file rape charges expose themselves to the charge of illicit sex if they fail to ‘prove’ rape under the 1979 hudood laws, which criminalise adultery and fornication. "Most of the Islamic laws related to adultery, rape and fornication etc., have particularly placed women at risk, both as victims of rape and as accused, charged for extra-marital sex," says Shahla Zia of the Non-Governmental Organisation, ‘Aurat (Woman) Foundations. Pakistan’s constitution requires all laws to be in conformity with Islam. Rights groups argue that discriminatory laws relating to women are based not in Islam, but in sexist interpretations of Islamic law. According to leading Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir, the hudood laws do not accept the evidence of women in cases of rape or adultery. Under the law, a woman’s evidence is half that of man — two women witnesses are equal to one male witness. Pakistan ratified the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in March 1996, declaring that it would be implemented in accordance with the nation’s constitution. Rights groups are trying to tell women prisoners of their rights. Starting february, the group lawyers for human rights and legal aid, began pasting awareness posters for women in jails. These posters also tell women inmates how to write an application for bail, educate them about trial court procedures and how to file appeals against a sentence. Shanila, jailed under charges of adultery, says that these posters can be a big help to women like her who cannot afford lawyers’ fees. A main reason for the large number of women prisoners is said to be the poor state of police investigation. Pakistan’s first all-women police station was set up in the year 1996, with three such posts set up in three big cities. According to Khudeja Ahmed, who heads one of these police stations in the capital Islamabad, most criminal cases involving women relate to domestic violence and petty thefts. "I resolve these cases through counseling and consultation. Therefore only a few cases of women are referred to the courts," she told IPS. Rights activists believe that Pakistani women are still "prisoners of gender" because of their limited participation in public life. There is no woman judge in the country’s apex court. Five women judges were appointed for the first time in the country in the year 1994, to four provincial High Courts. However, two of them have since been removed and another retired two years ago. Women make up less than two percent of the lawyers in the country. The military regime claims that after the completion of ongoing local bodies elections in the country, Pakistan will have about 15,000 women councillors. (IPS) |
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LONDON, Mar 29: The children who shot to stardom in "the sound of music" have re-united 35 years later for a bittersweet reflection on the "von trappings" of fame. The stars of the 1964 film seen by one billion people worldwide returned to Salzburg together for the first time for a documentary recreating how they learnt to sing at the feet of Julie Andrews. Their lives certainly took them in many different directions — from posing nude in playboy to starring in "Spiderman" and designing Michael Jackson’s bedroom. At first they found it difficult to create identities away from their roles and felt some bitterness over the slim rewards received for appearing in such a huge moneyspinner. But they revealed in the Yorkshire television documentary being shown last night that they are now proud of their roles in the classic movie about the nun who found love and taught the Von Trapp family how to sing. Chairman Carr was 21 and way past "sixteen going on seventeen" when chosen to play Liesl. At 57, she has written about her memories in "forever Liesel" and runs her own interior design business. Among her clients was Michael Jackson. She revealed in the documentary how she and the reclusive superstar bought 17 mannequins that he wanted for his bedroom. "They are unbelievably real and it’s so weird," she said. She said the young cast were unhappy about "all the money that has been made on the sound music ... It still bugs us." Nicholas Hammond, who grew six inches during filming, went onto further fame as "Spiderman" and now lives in Australia. He said: "the world will always think of me as Friedrich Von Trapp whether I want them to or not." Heather Menzies, a Canadian ballet student who played Louisa, later posed nude for playboy as "The Tender Trapp." now happily married to American actor Robert Urich, she said: "the trip (back to Austria) made me realise what fun it was to do." Duane Chase, who played Kurt, quit films and now designs computer software for geologists. "I just decided I wanted to do other things," he said of his career switch. Angela Cartwright was already a child star when landing the role of Brigitta. Now she is a photographer and runs a gift boutique on the internet. Debbie Turner, just seven when she played Marta, became a ski racer and now runs her own floral design business. "The only bad part that i can remember was maybe the aftermath of the film — the false fame," she recalled. Kym Karath, the baby of the party when she played Gretl at the age of five, still works an an actress in New York. The documentary’s producer Judith Holder is convinced the reunion was cathartic for the cast: "they all said that not only was it a one-off, it was the beginning of the process of saying goodbye to the film — and their childhoods." (REUTERS) |
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Israel attack Palestinian bases, US criticise action JERUSALEM, Mar 29: In a serious escalation of conflict, Israeli helicopters rocketed Palestinian buildings in Gaza Strip and West Bank killing at least two persons and wounding 60 others, and the action was implicitly criticised by the US which said force cannot resolve the mideast problem. Israel launched attack last night as the Arab leaders ended their summit in Jordanian capital Amman with agreement to support the Palestinian "uprising" against Israel and demanding for an international force in the region to protect Palestinians. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres sharply criticised the final communique of the summit as "an obstacle to peace that only intensifies the hatred." "This is an attempt to unilaterally dictate policy instead of returning to the negotiating table. The world cannot accept the Arab League’s interpretation of `land for peace’, namely that Israel hands over land but doesn’t get peace," Peres said in a statement. As the heightened tension threatened to get out of control, Israeli defence forces helicopter gunships rocketed five targets of force 17, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s elite presidential guard unit, in Gaza and the West Bank. Two Palestinians were killed in the latest attacks in Ramallah, one Arafat’s presidential bodyguard of force 17 and the other a civilian woman, Palestinian sources said. The attacks followed two days of three suicide bombings and sniper attacks targeting Israelis that left two Palestinian attackers and three Israelis dead and more than 30 injured. Arafat’s seaside home in Gaza was also damaged as gunships blasted a force 17 building, used as a weapons arsenal, only 100 meters from Arafat’s house. The building had been empty for some time, but women and children were heard screaming as they possibly fled nearby buildings. Arafat was in Amman for the Arab summit at the time of the attacks. More than 60 Palestinians were injured in Ramallah and Gaza, many of them critically, media reports from Gaza said. The White House criticised both sides in the conflict and said both Israelis and Palestinians "should live up to the commitments they have made, combat terrorism and engage in dialogue." "The tragic cycle of incitement, provocation and violence has gone on far too long," a White House statement said. "The President calls upon both sides to exercise maximum restraint to calm the situation and set the foundation for a return to negotiations," it said. In an emergency security cabinet meeting last night, Israeli Government decided on a consistent, protracted action against "terrorists, their accomplices and and their commanders." "The days of restraint are over," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, adding "we are witnessing grave terrorist activities the chairman of the Palestinian authority (Arafat) has not been willing until now to control." While one of Sharon’s cabinet ministers said rocket attacks were "defensive, palestinians condemned the bombardment and predicted the fight would escalate. (PTI) |
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Afghan Taliban force students to wear turbans KABUL, Mar 29: Afghanistan’s Taliban militia have found another way to create their idea of a "pure" Islamic state — forcing students to wear turbans. Not content with strict rules about men’s facial hair and women’s apparel, officials today said that students without turbans would be expelled from universities and schools. "Wearing turbans is a tradition of the great prophet (Mohammad) and part of Afghan culture," said Mawlawi Mohammad Yunus Sidiqi, principal of the capital’s biggest school, Amani High. He said that according to an edict from Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, students from first to third grades should wear skull caps, while those between fourth and 12th grades had to don the traditional Afghan turban. Any colour was acceptable except red, he said. "Red is the colour of the devil’s clothes," he told journalists. Students and teachers wore Western clothes in Kabul’s schools for decades, from the reformist years of the 1960s until the Government was toppled by Mujahideen groups in 1992. But the fundamentalist Islamic militia which seized Kabul in 1996 has imposed a unique version of Sharia law in a bid to wipe out liberal tendencies and create a pure Mohammadan state. Although the principal said students were happily complying with the new rule, pupils said they were nervous about the threat of expulsion. "It is a matter of force. We are expelled from classes if we do not have turbans," said an Amani eighth grader as he put a white turban on his short-cropped head. (AFP) |
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Ershad loyalists stake claim on ‘plough’ DHAKA, Mar 29: Owing allegiance to party chief H M Ershad, 20 Jatiya Party MPs today returned to Parliament to thwart an attempt by a breakaway faction to claim election symbol ‘plough’. The members sought a ruling from the Speaker determining the leadership to resolve the dispute with the faction led by Communications Minister Anwar Hossain Manju over the election symbol- plough, which has been impounded by the Election Commission. The Ershad loyalits claimed that they were the majority and the mainstream of the party, floated by the former military ruler in 1986. Begum Raushan Ershad, Dr Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury, Adv Alam Chowdhury and Barrister Rabeya Bhuiyan on a point-of-order motion requested Speaker Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury to settle the issue by April 4 or 5. Taking floor after the question-answer hour, Ms Raushan said Mr Ershad was an elected leader of the party in Parliament and referred to the March 27 meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Party in which the lawmakers reaffirmed their unflinching support to his leadership. The jailed former President’s wife claimed that Mr Ershad was still a member of Parliament. Mr Chowdhury assured her that he would take decision on the leadership issue after examining relevant rules, constitution and parliamentary precedence followed at home and abroad. About Mr Ershad’s Parliament membership, he said the high court order cancelling his membership was now pending with the appellate division of the Supreme Court. "After the court’s verdict, I would give my ruling," he added. Dr Fazle Rabbi said on March 27, 19 Jatiya Party MPs in their Parliamentary Party meeting had expressed total allegiance to the leadership of Ershad. Describing as "baseless" the previous observation of the Election Commission that restrained two factions of the party from using the plough as their symbol in parliamentary by-elections, Dr Rabbi said "JP is one and Ershad is its leader". Mr Manju on a point of order read out a part of the high court judgement that rescinded Mr Ershad’s Parliament membership under article 66 and 67 dealing with vacation of seat of a Parliament member. Article 66 (1) (D) says a person shall be disqualified for election or a member of Parliament, who has been on conviction for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term no less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release. Jatiya Party chairman Ershad has been in jail following his conviction in the Janata Tower corruption case and subsequent confinement in other cases. Mr Manju also referred to another judgment of the high court that issued stay on leadership of Mr Ershad until a rule pending with the court was disposed of. Jatiya Party is a major ally of opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia’s BNP-led four-party alliance. (UNI) |
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Putin asserts control in government changes: Daily MUSCOW, Mar 29: President Vladimir Putin has used a shake-up of his security apparatus to boost his authority and assert independence from the shadowy group that catapulted him to power, newspapers said today. Yesterday, Putin appointed his close confidant Sergei Ivanov Defence Minister from his post as top security adviser and drafted in a loyalist parliamentary leader to lead the Interior Ministry. Analysts said the reshuffle had weakened the influence of the group known as the "the family", a tight-knit group of aides to former President Boris Yeltsin instrumental in Putin’s rise to Prime Minister and then Kremlin chief. "The changes considerably weaken the family," sevodnya said. "It appears the aim of putin was to distance the family from strategically important areas — the ‘power’ ministries and atomic energy. But shutting out the family completely from the decision-making process is not yet likely," the daily said. Kommersant said while the whiff of financial scandal had never been far from ousted Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov, he had been removed for being "excessively active in reaching nuclear deals with Iran". Adamov had been negotiating with Tehran to build three nuclear reactors, in addition to one under construction at bushehr on the Gulf. "With tensions rising in relations with the United States, Adamov’s Iranian projects were inappropriate," it said. Citing Kremlin sources, Sevodnya said Putin had promised Yeltsin he would not change key ministers for a year after his election victory. Two days after the anniversary, he made his move. Kommersant dismissed Putin’s claims that he had made the changes as part of a bold plan to demilitarise public life. "The president has clearly decided to strengthen personal control over the activities of the power ministries," it said. The appointment of Boris Gryzlov, parliamentary leader of the pro-Kremlin unity party, was greeted with scepticism by Interior Ministry officials, the paper said. But it said they welcomed the appointment of a top police chief as one of his deputies. Izvestia said naming Lyubov Kudelina as Russia’s first woman Defence Minister was a "real sensation". Putin was placing "like-minded people" in key positions, the paper said. It said the changes "were only preparation for more serious steps in different political and economic spheres". Troika Dialog investment house said in a daily briefing that it expected no shake-up of economic portfolios until early may. It predicted Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov would keep his job. (REUTERS) |
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