1 million Pakistani women abused during pregnancy: expert
LAHORE: Annually an estimated one million pregnant Pakistani women are physically abused at least once during pregnancy by their partners.
This was said by Prof Unaiza Niaz, the president of the Women Section of World Psychiatric Association and director of the Institute of Psycho-Trauma Pakistan, while delivering a lecture on Gender issues and Women’s Mental Health at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) here on Friday.
Prof Niaz said research indicated strong association between gender-based violence and mental health. Depression, anxiety and stress-related syndromes, dependence on psychotropic medications and substance use and suicide were mental health problems associated with violence in women’s lives, she added.
She was of the view that women experienced mental illnesses differently than men and the illnesses could affect women at any time regardless of age, race or income. She further said common disorders affecting women included depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, postpartum and bipolar disorders, adding that nearly twice as many women as men were affected by depression or anxiety disorder.
Prof Niaz observed that negative effects of globalisation and economic reforms on public health had hit women harder than men. “More than one billion people, mostly women, are living in extreme poverty and the change in the trend makes few experts feel the onset of ‘feminization’ of poverty.â€
She further said that in Pakistan, societal attitudes and norms, as well as cultural practices such as Karo Kari and Vani severely affected women’s mental health. Religious and ethnic conflicts, along with the dehumanising attitude towards women, the extended family system, role of in-laws, represented major issues and stressors, Dr Niaz said, adding: “Gender discrimination at each stage of the female life cycle contributes to health disparity, sex selective abortions, neglect of girl children, reproductive mortality, and poor access to healthcare for girls and women.†She stated that risk of depression in women was higher during the childbearing years. She said women were also vulnerable to depression during the period immediately after childbirth.
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UK anti-Semitic attacks rise after Gaza conflict
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
LONDON (AP) – The number of anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews rose sharply after the start of the conflict in Gaza, a Jewish charity said Friday.
The London-based Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism and works to safeguard the Jewish community in Britain, said 250 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the four weeks after Dec. 27, when Israel launched attacks on Gaza to stop Hamas rocket attacks.
That compares to 40 incidents from the same period the year before.
Dave Rich, a spokesman for the trust, said Jews in Britain are unfairly seen as local representatives of Israel—a view that fuels some of the anti-Semitic attacks.
“This is racism,” he said. “And like all forms of racism, it is unacceptable.”
The trust said crimes included assaults, damage to Jewish property, threats, hate mail, verbal abuse and anti-Semitic graffiti.
Police figures echo this rise. London police have recorded about three times the number of anti-Semitic incidents from Dec. 27 to Feb. 3 as compared to the same period last year. Though some of that increase came from a change in the way the statistics were kept, the data still reflected a surge in incidents in the capital.
Around Europe, several attacks were reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Belgium in the weeks after the Israeli offensive, Rich said.
The figures were released before an international conference Monday in London on tackling anti-Semitism.
Israel’s three-week offensive left nearly 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza dead, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.
Qaeda figure calls for attacks on new Somali govt
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
DUBAI (Reuters) – An al Qaeda leader, in a video released on Islamist websites on Friday, urged Somali militants to step up attacks against Somalia’s new moderate government, which he dismissed as U.S.-backed.
“Aim your arrows towards them…, direct your battles against them and intensify your campaign against them,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said on the video. He called for a jihad, or holy war, against the new government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who was elected late last month as president.
“Prepare to fight against the campaign of conspiracies illustrated by the recent farcical presidential election …, which America — the world leader of infidels — was the first to welcome,” Libi said.
Pakistani president admits Taliban has “huge” presence in Pakistan
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Taliban has established itself across a large part of Pakistan, forcing the country to fight a war against the hard-line Islamist group that is about Pakistan’s own survival, President Asif Zardari told CBS News.
“(The Taliban) do have a presence in huge amounts of land in our side. Yes, that is the fact,” Zardari told “60 Minutes” in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday, excerpts of which were released on Friday.
U.S. President Barack Obama said this week there was no doubt terrorists were operating in safe havens in the tribal regions of Pakistan, and the United States wanted to make sure Islamabad was a strong ally in fighting that threat.
Obama and Zardari spoke by telephone on Wednesday, the Pakistani foreign ministry said. The two discussed the surge in violence by al Qaeda and the Taliban, which has stepped up its insurgency against U.S. forces and the Afghan government.
Zardari said Pakistan had been in denial about the Taliban in the past. “Our forces weren’t increased … . We have weaknesses and they are taking advantage of that weakness,” he said.
Another sign of changing attitudes is the increasing popularity of books, movies and documentaries that explore sex discrimination, rights advocates say.
“Women do not have a proper status in society,†said Mahnaz Mohammadi, a filmmaker. “Films are supposed to be a mirror of reality, and we make films to change the status quo.â€
In a recent movie, “All Women Are Angels,†a comedy that was at the top of the box office for weeks, a judge rejects the divorce plea of a woman who walked out on her husband when she found him with another woman.
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Iran’s Women Fight for Rights
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
By NAZILA FATHI
Women’s rights advocates say Iranian women are displaying a growing determination to achieve equal status in this conservative Muslim theocracy, where male supremacy is still enscribed in the legal code. One in five marriages now end in divorce, according to government data, a fourfold increase in the past 15 years.
And it is not just women from the wealthy, Westernized elites. The family court building in Vanak Square here is filled with women, like Ms. Qassemi, who are not privileged. Women from lower classes and even the religious are among those marching up and down the stairs to fight for divorces and custody of their children.
Increasing educational levels and the information revolution have contributed to creating a generation of women determined to gain more control over their lives, rights advocates say.
Confronted with new cultural and legal restrictions after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, some young women turned to higher education as a way to get away from home, postpone marriage and earn social respect, advocates say. Religious women, who had refused to sit in classes with men, returned to universities after they were resegregated.
Today, more than 60 percent of university students are women, compared with just over 30 percent in 1982, even though classes are no longer segregated.
Even for those women for whom college is not an option, the Internet and satellite television have opened windows into the lives of women in the West. “Satellite has shown an alternative way of being,†said Syma Sayah, a feminist involved in social work in Tehran. “Women see that it is possible to be treated equally with men.â€
Another sign of changing attitudes is the increasing popularity of books, movies and documentaries that explore sex discrimination, rights advocates say.
“Women do not have a proper status in society,†said Mahnaz Mohammadi, a filmmaker. “Films are supposed to be a mirror of reality, and we make films to change the status quo.â€
In a recent movie, “All Women Are Angels,†a comedy that was at the top of the box office for weeks, a judge rejects the divorce plea of a woman who walked out on her husband when she found him with another woman.
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Israel: Two-thirds of Palestinians killed in Gaza fighting were terrorists
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
Israel says that about two-thirds of the Palestinians who were killed in the Gaza fighting were members of terror organizations who took part in the fighting, Channel 2 News reported Thursday.
These include the Hamas police cadets who were killed in an Israeli air strike at the beginning of the operation.
Channel 2 cited a report issued by Military Intelligence and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, listing 1,134 Palestinian fatalities, 673 of which belonged to Hamas and other groups.
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Only 288 were innocent civilians, the report says. The Palestinians reported 1,330 fatalities but did not submit their names.
The intense three weeks of fighting, which erupted on December 27, has killed more than 1,300 people and injured thousands in Gaza. A shaky cease-fire was being implemented by both sides and a formal deal for a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas could be signed by next week, according to Hamas officials.
Gaza victory was a miracle: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
TEHRAN – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, likened the victory of the Palestinian resistance movement against Israel in the 22-day war to a “miracleâ€.
“What really happened in Gaza was truly like a miracle,†the Leader noted in a meeting with visiting Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdallah.
“The Gaza events were in fact at the hands of God which came true through the faith and firm determination and the jihad of resistance forces and the Gaza people,†the Leader noted.
The Supreme Leader again congratulated Palestinians on their victory over the Zionist regime’s army and praised the resistance movement’s leaders for their “decisive and united†position.
“Truly, the people of Gaza took a good test and the officials and managers also emerged successful in this test for their good performance and decisive and united position.â€
Ayatollah Khamenei also said the effect of the world public opinion was very influential in the Gaza event.
Media bias, spread of religious hatred and fanatic approach
February 14, 2009 by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
To a large section of the television viewers in Asia, Dr. Zakir Naik is a known name. This is mostly because of the prominent presence of his Islamist television channel named ‘Peace TV’, which claims itself to be the ‘solution for humanity’. Dr. Naik operates this channel from Britain under the banner of an organization named Islamic Research Foundation and Peace TV runs with heavy donation and contribution by Muslims from a part of their Zakat, as well as donations from various Afro-Arab sources.
According to Islamic dictionary, Zakat or ‘alms for the poor’ is the Islamic principle of giving a percentage of one’s income to charity. It is often compared to the system of tithing and alms, but it serves principally as the welfare contribution to poor and deprived people in the Muslim lands, although others may have a rightful share. Zakat’s similar-sounding, Arabic language analog is the Hebrew word Tzedakah, the charitable obligation in ancient Israel through to present day Judaism. It is the duty of the Islamic state not just to collect Zakat, but to distribute it fairly as well. Zakat is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Read more
FBI may shift counterterror agents to anti-fraud
February 12, 2009 by SAF Desk
WASHINGTON – With thousands of fraud investigations under way, the FBI is considering shifting agents away from counterterrorism work to help sort through the wreckage of the financial meltdown.
FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the bureau may reassign some of the positions that were reallocated to anti-terrorism work after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Such a move would be a further sign of the government breaking with the Bush administration’s priorities, which pledged to assign every available resource to averting another terrorist attack.
Pistole told Congress his investigators have 530 active corporate fraud investigations, and 38 of them involve some of the biggest names in corporate finance — cases directly related to the current crisis.
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Toronto mosque offers ‘detox’ for Islamic radicals
February 12, 2009 by SAF Desk
In what is likely the first of its kind in Canada, a Toronto mosque is offering a “detox” program for young Islamic radicals who are sympathetic to the terrorist group al Qaeda.
Muhammed Robert Heft, a team member of the Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program, says the program is based on the idea that Islamic extremism can be fought by incorporating traditional teachings of the Qur’an into a “12-step Extremist Detox Program.”
Among the steps in the program offered at Toronto’s Masjid El Noor mosque:
Finding common ground, “not fighting ground,” with other faiths
In the “Open society of Canada,” how to reconcile “dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism”
Seeing the whole as one, and take into account “global challenges that affect us all.”
Actively countering extremist ideology through “education, public speaking and writing.”
“As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values,” says a document explaining the program.
Heft told CTV Newsnet’s Power Play on Wednesday that among the young radical Islamic followers the mosque is hoping to counsel are members of the notorious “Toronto 18.” In 2006, a series of counter-terrorism raids in the Greater Toronto Area resulted in the arrest of 18 alleged members of a purported Islamic terrorist cell plotting a variety of attacks against targets in Ontario.
That case, along with that of Ottawa’s Momin Khawaja who was convicted for his role in a British terror cell, have raised concerns about home-grown terrorism.
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