On the top of her election agenda is to end bonded slavery everywhere – a cause close to her heart considering her past. Veeru lived in a small hut in the Hoosri neighbourhood of Hyderabad, along with her family of agricultural workers. Wearing a traditional ghaghra and an armful of bangles like every other Kohli woman, the 47-year-old has come a long way, she explains.

Veero Kolhi Is First Hindu Woman To Contest Elections In Pakistan. She is an active member of Raising Her Voice…

 International Women’s Day and Aurat Foundation

                       …

http://ning.it/Xj604d

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday passed legislation against forced marriage of women under which the violators would face up to seven years imprisonment and Rs500,000 fine or both.

The bill aimed at the elimination of the tradition of ‘Ghag’ was moved by the Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development, Sitara Ayaz.

When the mover presented the bill containing a punishment of 14 years…

By News Desk

Published: December 7, 2012

In a moot trial on Thursday, a jury of women affected by violence called on parliamentarians to legislate for greater protection for women and better accountability for perpetrators of violence, said a press release.

The moot court, conducted at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts, was convened in a bid to collectively mark 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Girls and Women, an annual campaign that lasts between…

Shed a tear, especially men. Pakistani woman does the country proud. AGAIN. This time at the world's biggest stage. The irrepressible spirit of this woman lives on through Oscar-winning Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's magnificent work. Bless her for making a  profound accepting…

In a historic move, the Senate unanimously approved the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2012 for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The bill criminalises any act of violence perpetrated in the private domain. Interestingly, a comprehensive legislation on the same issue lapsed in the Senate in 2009. The Domestic Violence Bill was first passed unanimously by the National Assembly on August 4, 2009 but it lapsed after the Senate failed to pass it within three months, the…

KARACHL Feb 9: Speakers at a seminar on Thursday urged the Sindh Assembly to formulate legislation relating to domestic violence soon so that women and children could be given due protection.

Passing a resolution with consensus at the seminar held under the banner of Raising Her Voice (RHV) on the Sindh Domestic Violence Bill organised by the Aurat Foundation, they said that after the 18th constitutional amendment the enactment of this law had devolved to the provincial domain and…

Pakistan's track record for women's rights is dismal at best. A recent poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation named Pakistan the third most dangerous country for women based on a documented history of acid attacks, child marriage, honor killings and rampant domestic violence. In recent years, the national government of Pakistan has made some effort to provide women with more rights by attempting to amend laws related to…

* Forced marriages, acid attacks, physical violence, sexual torture against women made non-boilable, non-compoundable acts

* Offenders to get 14-year jail term

The Senate of Pakistan on unanimously passed the Women Protection Bill and Anti-Acid Throwing Bill, which envisage heavy penalties for offenders.

Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar, who had presented the bills, thanked the House for passing them without objection. The bills criminalise forced marriages and abuses like…

After being blocked twice last month, a landmark private bill seeking to penalise evils like the so-called “marriage with the holy Quran”, forced wedlock, and depriving women from inheritance finally got through the National Assembly on Tuesday, when the house also voiced outrage at the recent murder of three Hindu youths in Sindh. Some trifling objections that had stalled the Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Bill on two…

25 Apr

Farzana Ali covering the Af-Pak peace talks in Kabul/April 2011

By Pamela Burke

When journalist Farzana Ali leaves her home in the…

In 2009, the Taliban destroyed 10 girls' schools in the tribal district of Dir in Northwest Pakistan - schools which Maryam Bibi's charity, Khwendo Kor, had helped to build.

Now she and her supporters are risking their lives by working to rebuild them, organising tents as temporary…