The Qandeel Baloch murder
A young woman was murdered by her brother because he did not like her Facebook posts. If we find it possible to qualify our horror at a murder so foul,…
Of Qandeel Baloch & Burhan Wani
Can everyday humiliation by gun-toting soldiers allow for a calm repose to those in Indian Kashmir who are caught in the cross hairs of its unending conflict? Probably not, but…
The Qandeel case
THERE’S a passage towards the end of Sanam Maher’s riveting book, The Sensational Life and Death of Qandeel Baloch, “When Wasim returned to Shah Sadar Din after Qandeel was murdered,…
The business of forgiveness
In the decade following the enactment of the reforms of the 1997 Criminal Amendment Act, the murder conviction rate collapsed from 29 per cent in 1990 to barely 12 per…
She dared to choose
In a remote clearing near Quetta, Balochistan, two lives were extinguished by bullets, their final moments captured on camera and circulated across the country. The woman, Bano Bibi, clutched a…
No honour in this murder
A horrifying video emerged from Margat, Balochistan a few days back. A tribal jirga condemned a woman and a man for reasons still unfolding. They were led into the desert…
Blaming her
Our obsession with blaming women for their own and others misfortune runs deep in societies. ‘Blaming her’ is a cultural phenomenon dating back to the beginning of civilisation. Women are…
Discussing transgender rights
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has long been an advocate for the rights of transgender individuals. Most recently, it launched a campaign titled ‘Meri Pehchaan, Mera Ikhtiyar’ (My…
How did we get here?
In the land of the pure, the women are dispensable. To be hated upon. To be dehumanised. To be treated as second-class citizens. Their births – especially if they are…
Not TikTok, just patriarchy
“Another life lost to internet fame”, wrote a seasoned journalist on my timeline, reacting to the brutal murder of Sana Yousaf in Islamabad, as if visibility, not violence, was the…
