AtlasDaily.pk

17/04/2022

The Al-Aqsa Mosque was raided by Israeli forces. The raid was carried out when Muslim worshippers gathered for their morning prayers.
The forces claimed that they entered the mosque to facilitate the routine visits of Jews because the Palestinians had created a barrier to stop them from entering.

Previously, the armed forces had detained 300 and injured an estimated 158 Palestinian Muslims during their first raid during Friday prayers on the 15th of April. According to a report by the Associated Press, two more Palestinians have been arrested.
The Israeli forces have been firing tear gas and throwing stun grenades at the worshippers in defence that were reportedly throwing stones at the armed forces.

Al-Jazeera published a report on their website in which a Palestinian cameraman Rami al-Khatib, who witnessed the raid, was quoted saying: ”They [Israeli forces] brutally emptied the compound. They were attacking the mosque staff, normal people, elders, and young people.”
“There were many injured people, they [Israeli forces] fired rubber bullets inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. They were beating everyone, even the paramedics, they hit them,” said al-Khatib, who suffered a broken hand.

16/04/2022

Ali Amin Gandapur is under fire once again for making transphobic comments against PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at a PTI rally in Peshawar on Wednesday.

Referring to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as "Billo Rani", Gandapur called him a "punishment from God for Zardari's( Asif Ali Zardari) crimes."

The statement has caused much outrage around the country. Netizens took to Twitter to express their anger over the blatant display of transphobia and misogyny by Ali Amin Gandapur.
Barrister Ahmed Pansota shared the video on his Twitter account,
"I disapprove of this shameful language used by for ", he tweeted.

He further added that " must disassociate himself from such foul language. It will seriously dent his ongoing campaign."
Former prime minister Imran Khan also referred to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as "Bilawal Sahiba" in one of his speeches in April 2019

User tweeted, "there are a hundred reasons to s**t on PPP/Bilawal, but making fun of him for being "effeminate" is not it. Attitudes like these are catalysts of the ongoing genocide of trans women in Pakistan."

Last year, Gandapur faced significant backlash over his misogynistic comments against PMLN leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif. Referring to her as "Daku Rani", Gandapur said, "you have spent Rs80 million taxpayers' money on surgery. We will slap you in the face so much that your real face will be revealed to everyone."

It's common to see prominent Pakistani politicians indulging in misogynistic and transphobic comments against their opponents, equating femininity with weakness. Often comparing their opponents to women and trans folks to shame them and directly implying that being a woman or transgender is an insult.

11/04/2022

On March 31st, people in Srilanka gathered to protest in wake of the severe economic crisis that has grappled the country. Swipe to read more >

10/04/2022

9 April 2022 marked one of the most active nights in the democratic landscape of Pakistan, with a Parliament session last for 14 hours and the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan both opening just shy of midnight. Although the situation was of high importance, the gesture of two major courts being opened unscheduled twice within eight day have rubbed the wrong way with many.

Pakistanis took to social media to share their thoughts on the events. Where many simply “memed” about the whole scenario, other simply asked if the courts had been even a fraction as active when it comes to the people of Pakistan. One twitter user @/MehdiHassain2 wrote, “According to available records, the number of pending cases in is 52,759, including more than 15,000 criminal cases and about 35,000 civil cases.”

It is to be noted that there have been multiple instances of questionable dealing in the Pakistani Justice system, the most recent being what is called a “transgender genocide” in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Activists such as the well-known Dr. Mehrub Moiz Awan repeatedly shared the occurrences on their accounts.

Whether one refers to high profile corruption cases or civilian issues, the operations of the Pakistani justice system remain under question.

09/04/2022

Saudi Arabia has recently lifted the ban on women under the age of 45 to perform Umrah without the presence of a legal guardian.

Previously women were only granted entry either with a group of women or when accompanied by a mahram. However, this year in March women OVER the age of 45 were allowed to travel and perform religious duties in KSA., and the decision to lift the ban on women under 45 was still in talks.
This ban was lifted because of the travel expenses and the unavailability of a “mahram” for women, especially those who were older, widowed, or if their husbands weren't able to travel.
The changes in the conditions will however be applied after the Saudi officials announce the verdict themselves till then the requests of women under the age of 45 are being rejected.

08/04/2022

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif came under fire on 7 April for his comments concerning the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tribe. The leader of the opposition exclaimed on live television, “That was Hi**er N**i and this is Imran Niazi.”

Comments likening political differences to the Holocaust that took the lives on an estimated 6 million Jews are a common occurrence in the Pakistani political landscape. However, Sharif’s comments wandered into the lands of tribe names, and mentioning the Niazi tribe in relation to the N**is resulted in outrage.

PTI leader Shahbaz Gill took to the media to condemn the comparison, revealing that the people of the Niazi tribe are calling for apologies before demanding that the PML-N President ask for the offended tribe’s pardon.

The incident calls into question the normalization of moral insensitivity in Pakistani politics, where a regime that took the lives of 17 million is used as a political card on all sides. While many took to social media to condemn the comments, supporters of the opposition chose to run with the accusation, with many hurling abuses towards the federal government, incorporating comparisons to N**i Germany in the mix.

In Europe, Russia currently wages war against Ukraine in a manner reminiscent of N**i Germany; an event that our foreign policy prevents us from taking part in. The question remains: in a democracy that claims to serve humanity, does a lack of participation in tragedies render us so removed from the events that to use them for political gain seems fair game?

07/04/2022

The practice of Karo-Kaari, also known as honour killing, continues unabated as a woman was killed by her brother in the name of honour in district Ghotki on Monday. Hazoora Shar was shot dead by her brother Sahib Shar after her picture went viral on Facebook. The accused fled the scene, the police confirmed.

This incident comes only a few weeks after a man shot his wife over an alleged affair in Ghotki. Chanisar Solangi surrendered himself at the police station stating that he could not control his anger seeing his wife in an objectionable condition with another man, reported the news. In yet another incident of honour killing, two women and a man were found dead in Manghophir, Karachi.

Karo-Kari has claimed countless innocent lives in Sindh. According to a report by Sindh Suhai Sath, a local NGO, 176 people were killed in the name of honour in 2021. Out of which 128 were women and 48 men. Sindh has seen a significant rise in such cases, especially in parts of upper Sindh.

Loopholes in the legal framework, lack of action from law enforcement agencies and cultural norms work together to provide complete impunity to the perpetrators. As per the official figures from Sindh police, the conviction rate for honour killing stands at two percent, while the acquittal rate is 20.9 percent.

Sources: The News and ARY news

07/04/2022

World Health Day is observed all around the world on April 7th. It is an important day to highlight the “workforce crisis” in the health sector of Pakistan. Pakistan is facing an acute shortage of healthcare workers and facilities. The current workforce can hardly cater to the 228,420,997 Pakistanis.
Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Pakistan Nursing Council, and other health sector institutes issued reports, which indicate the number of health workers in Pakistan. There are about two doctors per 1000, 1 dentist per 1000, 1 Lady health visitor per 10,000, and 1 registered midwife per 5000.
As if these numbers were not depressing enough, the existence of only 1279 hospitals nationwide puts into perspective how underdeveloped Pakistan is.
There is no denying that the health sector is developing day by day. But sadly, this rate is slower than required. And the cost of this tedious growth is that thousands of lives are lost annually.
But what exactly is the reason behind the delay?
The truth is, the former leaders of Pakistan associated with whichever party- or the military, never paid heed to public health. The required urgency towards this matter has always been and remains absent.

06/04/2022

05/04/2022

Former Taliban torturer granted the right to safety, after he sought asylum in the UK. The former intelligence commander, who extracted information from his prisoners through waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and whipping, fears his safety will be compromised if he returned to Afghanistan.
The unnamed man who claims to be 42, tried several attempts at seeking protection in the UK. The man fears he will be subjected to torture if he returned to Afghanistan. He had previously requested protection two times in 2006 and 2010. Recently he appealed infront of the Britain Government, that he was captured and tortured by the Northern Alliance, a rival group to the Taliban. This had impacted his mental stability and sought asylum to avoid the circumstances again
The man had approximately 300 men under his charge and regularly breached their rights in an humane manner to retrieve information. He was recruited as a Child Soldier by the Taliban and he served in the frontlines of the Battle of Kabul, in the Civil War of Afghanistan in 1995.
The UK had agreed to take up to 20,000 Afghani refugees since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. The Home Office has granted him limited leave under the Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights.

04/04/2022

Former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari took to twitter on Monday, just a few hours after the heavily controversial dissolution of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Replying to a statement by the Aurat March Karachi, in which the dissolution was declared to be a “sabotage against the democratic process”, Mazari stated that such statements show that the Aurat March has little to do with the genuine issues of women, and is instead concerned with “political agendas”.

As Mazari mused about foreign funding coming into play with the Aurat March’s statement, Netizens took to social media to point out that political opinions are indeed a human right, and one that women are often deprived of.

“Get a grip,” wrote Twitter user and lawyer Ayesha Ijaz Khan. “You had no problem supporting Musharraf when he gave Shamsi airbase to Americans and took American aid yet you can’t hear the truth from women activists about the man who has brought the country to its knees. Shame on you!”

Yet another Twitter user, Kinza Fatima, reminded the PTI member that feminism is a political issue, with others pointing out that Pakistan’s only Violence Against Women Center (VAWC) was suspended by the PTI government, allegedly because it had been inaugurated by PML(N).

Mazari’s comments have been the target of much criticism among a landscape of political chaos, as the masses now question the former Minister’s performance and ideology.