Afia Siddiqui case is alone enough to say that ISI is like a truck of filthy garbage and must be grounded for sure. They have got too much authority to sell the country and its people. These morons are good for nothing. The best scenario for Pakistan will be if these feudal-corporatist and Khaki ruling elite keep fighting with each other and destroy each other. Then a new Pakistan can emerge out of it , more free, more justice-loving and more prosperous.

Below is a news report stating some shameful things which also tells us about the hypocritical justice system of United States of America. The details may be a bit exaggerated or some of the details might not be as they are but over all context is disturbing about her condition and her family facing problems to find details about her. But the main culprit is ISI as I don’t expect miracles from USA marines or security institutions.

We hope that people with sense of justice and humanity will stand up in United States of America and will raise their voice against this injustice.

Dr Afia Siddiqui gets pregnant, contracts cancer in US jail

By     Shahid Abbasi -

Karachi: Pakistani scientist Dr Afia Siddiqui, who is serving 86-year imprisonment in a US prison cell, has contracted cancer and allegedly become pregnant as a result of sexual abuse during her confinement.

Talking to The News Tribe, her sister Dr Dr Fouzia Siddiqui said she had come to know through Pakistani Consul General in Houston that Dr Afia Siddiqui had been diagnosed with a cancer. She added that earlier there were reports that the Pakistani scientist had become pregnant due to alleged sexual abuse during imprisonment. However, the Pakistan Embassy has not playing its role in either confirming or rejecting the reports.

She said that former Pakistan Ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani was called back the next day when he told us the condition of Dr Afia.

She quoted Pakistan Consul General Aqil Nadeem as saying that he was requesting the jail authorities for providing medical facilities to the Pakistani scientist.

Dr Fouzia said keeping in view the reputation of the Roswell jail and the nature of her sister’s disease the request was insufficient.

She urged the Pakistan Embassy to arrange a team of physicians comprising doctors from jail as well as from private sector for Dr Afia Siddiqui.

Dr Fouzia said that newly-appointed Pakistan Ambassador to US Sherry Rehman had assured her all possible help before leaving for America to take up her new assignment. However, despite making contact with her, the envoy has not given any response in this regard.

Speaking about the reports of Dr Afia’s alleged pregnancy, she said that her family was told about it after the Pakistani scientist showed some symptoms in the women jail.

Dr Fouzia appealed to the US and Pakistani authorities to arrange a telephonic conversation of her mother with Dr Afia.

Earlier, British journalist and human rights activist Yvonne Ridley had declared the long punishment of Dr Afia as just ‘one step away from death’. 

Talking about attitude of Pakistani politicians being adopted on the Dr Afia issue, she said that she would not believe in their statements until and unless her sister returns to Pakistan. Dr Fouzia complained that the politicians had only exploited the Dr Afia issue just to gain political mileage.

She said that the Pakistani scientist had been provided substandard food, which led to health problems at the jail as she had complained of it during her earlier telephonic conversations.

According to Pakistani TV anchor Aamir Liaquat Hussain, he had received information from his friends in the US that Dr Afia had contracted cancer and will be killed during confinement.

The renowned anchor said that the Pakistani scientist can be brought back through diplomatic efforts.

In a video uploaded on Youtube, Hussain said that Dr Afia had become pregnant as a result of sexual abuse in jail.

The News Tribe, a UK-based bilingual news website has approached Pakistan Ambassador to US Sherry Rehman through an email to get her point of view on the issue but received no response till the filing of this news.

Source : http://www.thenewstribe.com/2012/01/21/dr-afia-siddiqui-gets-pregnant-contracts-cancer-in-us-jail/#.Txq0L3KsQyA

Throughout the four years of covering the war in Bosnia, we male correspondents secretly feared for our female colleagues. We shared all the dangers and challenges except for one — sexual assault. That was a war where bounties were put out for some reporters and rapes camps inflicted horror for local women; as they told us tales of pat downs and searches that got more and more intimate, as anger at the media rose, we feared it was a matter of time.

Well, that time is now. Now we are fully entering into a harrowing and ghastly chapter of the dangers faced by journalists covering today’s conflicts across the Middle East and elsewhere: sexual assault against female journalists.

In one day two weeks ago in Egypt, two more western female journalists were assaulted — one by a mob in the street, the other while in custody in a police station. It has happened before in Egypt earlier this year, both in a high profile case and others not initially reported. It has sadly become an idea that seems to have taken root as a horrifying statement of anger at anyone in the path of some protestors.

Such assaults have happened before, of course, to local and foreign journalists. The difference now is the startling, brutal and brazen increase in the assaults – as well as journalists speaking out to shame their attackers and to bring light on this very real problem.

Where once journalists were considered neutrals, and harmed only when in the wrong place at the wrong time, today we are often targeted for kidnapping, execution and now sexual assault.

More than 30 years as a foreign correspondent offers much eyewitness to this dramatic shift.

In El Salvador in 1982, journalists formed a loosely organized group called the Salvadoran Press Corps Association. One primary purpose was to create a press card that was recognized by both the government and the guerillas to make the job safer. It worked. There were even tee shirts with “Journalist, Don’t Shoot” written on the back in Spanish.

(Of course, that was for FOREIGN journalists. Over the course of the war, 25 local journalists fell victim to the various death squads operating in the country.)

Interestingly, the 1980s wars in Central American were one of the breakout areas for female war correspondents for several reasons: bilingual skills, sheer opportunity and sharp journalism talent. A 1997 paper called The Marginal Majority: Women War Correspondents in the Salvadoran Press Corps Association (SPCA) underscore this historic impact.

In Central American, foreign journalists were the most part safe, unless they dressed like the guerillas they covered and could be mistaken as the enemy by trigger-happy government troops.

Along came the 1991 coup in Haiti and the dangers became more personal to all reporters. Ironically, reporters there feared most of being killed by the anti-coup side – in a macabre way to force the U.S. to intervene. Suddenly, journalists were tools for political use.

After that it accelerated. Daniel Pearl was sought out and murdered, journalists are chosen for kidnappings. The view of journalists being neutral observer, with that modicum of safety, has completely vanished. Now add a rise in sexual assaults.

The Overseas Press Club, of which I serve on the board of governors, along with other groups such as Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have recognized this under reported, growing threat. We all must work together to find ways to ensure that our female colleagues are not denied the opportunity to do what they do so well – not from concerned editors who fear they will harmed, nor from those in the streets seeking to do that harm.

A report last summer by CPJ documented this sexual violence either in retaliation for their work or during the course of their reporting. The report includes interviews with 27 local journalists, from top editors to beat reporters, working in regions from the Middle East to South Asia, Africa to the Americas. Five described being brutally raped, while others reported various levels of sexual assault, aggressive physical harassment, and threats of sexual violence. A similar range of experience was reported by 25 international journalists; two reported being raped, five others described serious sexual violation—ranging from violent, sexual touching, to penetration by hands— and 22 said they had been groped multiple times. Most of the reported attacks occurred within the past five years, although a small number of cases date back as far as two decades.

Most interviewed had not previously disclosed their experiences beyond speaking with friends or family. Journalists from all over the world said they largely kept assaults to themselves because of broad cultural stigmas and a lack of faith that authorities would act upon their complaints. But repeatedly they also said they were reluctant to disclose an assault to their editors for fear they would be perceived as vulnerable and be denied future assignments.

Is that the price that must be paid?

This weekend male reporters sharing time while on assignment talked of the insanity of street demonstrations, noting they have long saw Cairo mobs as being particularly dangerous. The chaotic public settings for street demonstration are now prime breeding areas for sexual assaults. Will they silence the messenger?

It seems not. By showing the courage to speak out, the same courage exhibited in their reporting, our colleagues are telling the world they will not stop. Now we must not just hear what has happened but to work to remove the blight.

By Muhammad Muneeb It is the first week of December and winter certainly has arrived. The strange lull and calm that prevailed over most of the last month, has been replaced by a changed wind, a hooting, bellowing wind. As I sit in my university library, under the air conditioner working at 16 C, chills … Read more

By Manzer Munir for Pakistanis for Peace

The steady stream of negative news about the twisted way Islam is being practiced around the world seems to never end. In my view, it is not how the Prophet would have wanted his followers to behave.

Just when I thought I was beginning to get used to the ridiculousness of the news coming out of Saudi Arabia, where a religious edict is trying to force women there with beautiful eyes to  completely cover up their face in order to stop the temptation of the men, along comes the grim news of Gulnaz  from Afghanistan. If you are not familiar with Gulnaz’s story, let me give you the facts.

Two years ago, in 2009, Gulnaz, a 19 year old single girl who lived with her elderly mother in Afghanistan, was brutally raped by her cousin’s husband. To describe the events, she recalls that on this day, the rapist came into her house when her mother left for a brief visit to the hospital. ”He had filthy clothes on as he does metal and construction work. When my mother went out, he came into my house and he closed doors and windows. I started screaming, but he shut me up by putting his hands on my mouth,” she said.

Afterwards, she hid what had happened out of shame and fear, as shockingly there is no difference seen between women who are raped and women who commit actual adultery.  In Afghanistan and in many conservative Muslim countries, any sex outside marriage, whether the guilty party is single or married is considered adultery by the society and the justice system.

A few weeks after her rape, she began to vomit and started showing signs of pregnancy with her attacker’s child. Instead of sympathy and proof of her ordeal, she was charged and found guilty of adultery by the courts and for having sex outside marriage and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. She has already served two years and even gave birth to her rapist’s child, a little girl, in Kabul’s Badam Bagh jail where sadly, her innocent daughter is being raised in captivity alongside the unfortunate mother.

Rather than being freed from jail and given justice for her painful ordeal, the only way out of the dishonor of rape or adultery for her is incredibly only by marrying her attacker. In Afghan culture, and indeed in most Muslim communities, this is believed to be the only way to restore a woman’s honor, by marrying the man who she had sex with, damned be the fact whether it was willingly or unwillingly!

Sadly in many Muslim countries, rape remains a common form of violence against women. In addition, women are often blamed for being the victim of rape. Islam however, views rape as a violent crime against the victim, against society, and against God. The perpetrator who commits a crime is morally and legally responsible for that crime and should be held accountable. The victim, who is an unwilling partner in the sex act and so should bear neither blame nor stigma associated with the unfortunate act. To either ostracize or condemn the victim because she was compelled to engage in sexual intercourse is against the laws of Islam since the victim was an unwilling, and therefore a blameless, participant.

As common as her story and circumstances are for a woman in Afghanistan, the world has only learned of it due to a chance foreign documentary.  Gulnaz’s ordeal came to light because of a dispute between filmmakers and the European Union who hired the crew to film a documentary on the improving situation of women’s rights in Afghanistan and the assistance that the EU has been providing in the better treatment of women in the country. It was only when the documentarians came across her story and the grave injustice being done to Gulnaz and indeed by some accounts, hundreds of women across Afghanistan in similar circumstances, that the EU decided to cancel the project out of fear of harming their relations with Afghan government and institutions. Officially the EU states that it fears for the safety of the women in the film as they could be identified and face reprisals but many human rights organizations believe it is due to the fact that the film shows Afghan justice system in a poor light and the EU is concerned about the Afghan government’s sensitivities to the situation. It is despicable that the EU is more concerned with the sensitivities of the Afghan government rather than fighting for justice for Gulnaz.

Customs such as these in Afghanistan or the recent religious ruling in Saudi Arabia warning women to cover their attractive eyes, or the continued religious persecution of Christians and other minorities in Pakistan through the egregious blasphemy laws as seen in the case of Aasia Bibi, only serve to illustrate to many within and outside Islam the tremendous challenges that exist in what is right and what is logically very wrong and goes against all sense of justice and common sense, not to mention the very essence of Islam.

I am certainly not arguing for making any changes in the Quran or interpretations of religious text or any wholesale revisions whatsoever. That would not only be blasphemous but also counterproductive and unnecessary. Furthermore,  a big part of the beauty of our religion stems from the fact that it has remained unchanged as we Muslims believe that mutations and changes in both the Bible and the Torah necessitated the need for a third Abrahamic religion, Islam,  to arrive some 1400+ years ago to “set the record straight” after all the changes over the years in the two earlier Holy Books. Instead, I believe the only thing that needs to occur is the realization amongst the leaders and countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that in this day and age, there are certain rights and freedoms that should be guaranteed to citizens of all countries of the world and this does not require any changes in the great religion but rather some simple changes in the current laws.

Aristotle once said that “You can judge a nation by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens”. You could be a Hindu or a Christian in Pakistan, a woman in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia or a homosexual or transgendered person in Iran, you do not deserve to lose your life or liberty under the guise of religious laws. Allah almighty is a just and fair God in Islam, just as he is in the Christian and Jewish faiths. He most certainly would never condone the treatment of Gulnaz, Aasia Bibi and countless other poor souls who are being mistreated under the banner of Islam.

I am not a religious scholar and nor do I profess to know everything I need to know about Islam, Christianity and many other religions. Some may even question my faith and belief in calling myself Muslim simply because I am asking these tough questions, and in their version of Islam, you never question, you simply obey. Lest they forget, Islam also clearly states to seek knowledge and to be just and fair and respectful of other religions.  “Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day and does good — they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.” (Quran 5:69)

I am however certain that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would indeed be very upset with the current state of affairs of most Muslim countries when it comes to morality, religious freedoms,  respect for other religions and the treatment of women. Sadly, I do not see the changes necessary coming into being voluntarily by these nations, I believe it is incumbent of the benefactors of these nations, such as the United Nations, United States, the European Union, China and other trading partners, to push for better treatment of women and religious minorities in many Muslim countries of the world.  It is high time that they pressure these nations into enacting basic rights and freedoms for all people, regardless of their race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. It must become a precursor to being a part of the civilized nations of the world and in being a member of the world community of nations. Freedom after all is what the Arab Spring is all about!

-Manzer Munir, a proud American of Pakistani descent, is a practicing Sufi Muslim and member of Muslims for Progressive Values, he is also the founder of Pakistanis for Peace and blogs at www.PakistanisforPeace.com as well at other websites as a freelance journalist and writer.

Filed under: Afghanistan, All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, American Muslims, Arab, blasphemy laws, Freedoms, Islam, Manzer Munir, Muslims, Pakistan, Pakistani Christians, Pakistanis, Pakistanis for Peace, Saudi Arabia, US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Veil Tagged: Aasia Bibi, Abrahamic Faith, adultery, Afghan Women, Afghanistan, Allah, Asia Noreen, blasphemy laws, Christianity, EU, Gulnaz, Hinduism, Iran, Islam, Jesus Christ, Judaism, Manzer Munir, Muslim World, Muslims, OIC, Organization of Islamic Conference, Pakistan, Pakistanis for Peace, Prophet Muhammad, rape, Religious Tolerance, Saudi Arabia, Sharia Laws, Sufi, United States, Veils, Women in Islam, Women’s rights

By Waleed Khalid Pornography in Pakistan… Seems like an oh so familiar topic doesn’t it? Well it should be after the records we have broken. I mean being number # 1 as the most porn watching country in the world as per declared by Fox News (even though the news was invalid and denials from … Read more

Let me (re)introduce you to a term called “slut shaming”, undoubtedly our most favorite pass time. This might not sound familiar to many but I promise after  I get done with the definition most of us will be able to relate fully. Slut shaming is the deliberate act of calling a woman a slut, a [...]