From Brazil under Jair Bolsonaro to Hungary led by Viktor Orbán, women’s reproductive rights are being targeted Afua Hirsch When Brazil, where I am writing from this week, became worried that almost two-thirds of its population was black or mixed race, radical steps were taken. Never mind that the blackness of its population was thanks to its own dependence on …

Editorial IT is exactly a year ago that one of the bravest daughters of Pakistan, Asma Jahangir, passed away suddenly and quietly. A redoubtable defender of human rights and democratic values, champion of the downtrodden, and fierce opponent of repressive forces, she was, true to form, fighting the good fight to the end. Even today, indeed especially today, her voice …

News Desk JAMSHORO: Women’s rights activists turned up in large numbers on Saturday at a talk on ‘Redefining consent’ as feminists discussed what “consent” meant on the part of women and that it needed to be redefined considering the fact that it was usually a woman’s powerlessness that was taken as her “consent” by tormentors. Women’s rights activist and writers, …

Editorial Even as the investigation into the Sahiwal incident continues, the country has witnessed yet another example of not so dissimilar a brutality. This past Saturday, civil and political rights activist and a college professor Arman Loni died in Loralai, reportedly after or while being beaten up by the police. Ironically, this happened at a peaceful protest by civil rights …

Protesters call for an end to intimidation of progressive political activists and removal of names of Allama Hassan Johari, Shahzad Agha, Shabbir Mayar and others from ATA’s Schedule Four. HAH Report ISLAMABAD: Political and youth activists and progressive parties continue to protest for immediate checkup and treatment of imprisoned political leader Baba Jan and against intimidation of progressive and nationalist …

 Amir Hussain Languishing in Gahkuch jail in Gilgit-Baltistan, progressive political leader Baba Jan’s appeal to the prime minister of Pakistan to allow medical examination  and treatment for cardiac disease has gone unnoticed. Baba Jan is undisputedly the most popular political leader of Gilgit-Baltistan, serving a life sentence on multiple counts of concocted political cases. Baba Jan, along with 11 political …

SC bench issues detailed verdict in TLP’s sit-in case, asking govt, security agencies not to ignore perpetrators of violence, hate HAH Report ISLAMABAD Pakistan’s top court has directed the government  to take action against those who obstructed people’s right to use roads,  damaged or destroyed property. The Supreme Court of Pakistan also directed the military top brass to take action …

MYSTERY continues to shroud the sudden death of professor and activist leader Arman Loni in Loralai on Saturday. Family and friends of the deceased allege that the police were responsible for killing Loni during a crackdown on a days-long sit-in, yet the police claim that a postmortem revealed no signs of injury. Days later, there is still no clarity on …

News Desk Karan Johar and Indian cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul are being sued for comments made about women in a December episode of talk show Koffee With Karan, according to India Today. The case has been filed in Jodhpur, but it is not clear at this point who has filed it. During the episode, Pandya was asked by …

Rights activist Gulalai Ismail was arrested by Islamabad police on Tuesday, her father, Professor Muhammad Ismail, told Dawn.com on Wednesday. According to Professor Ismail, the activist was picked up from outside the National Press Club in Islamabad while she took part in a protest against the controversial death of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader Arman Loni in Balochistan on Saturday. …

Five policemen raise their guns and fire dozens of times into a parked car at point-blank range in Pakistan. Then they reach inside, around the bodies of the dead, to pull out three crying children. By Gohar Abbas Islamabad The footage filmed by shocked witnesses to the killing went viral, sending Prime Minister Imran Khan scrambling to quell anger over …

Maria Dombrov Collapsing Glaciers in The Himalaya–Hindu Kush mountain ranges & the Tibetan Plateau From Nature: “Tibetan communities are dealing with the impacts of collapsing glaciers. In October 2018, debris dammed the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which forms the headwater of the Brahmaputra, threatening areas as far afield as Bangladesh with flooding.” Read more about how collapsing glaciers are affecting Asian communities and …

Hours after he lost his parents and a sibling in a bloody shooting on Saturday, a nine-year-old Pakistani boy exposed a blatant cover-up by police. By M Ilyas Khan  Islamabad: Hours after he lost his parents and a sibling in a bloody shooting on Saturday, a nine-year-old Pakistani boy exposed a blatant cover-up by police. Highly-trained counter terror forces had …

By M Ilyas Khan BBC News Islamabad On Wednesday, Khadija Siddiqui, a young Pakistani law student, watched the man who stabbed her 23 times in broad daylight re-convicted for the crime. It was the culmination of a three-year battle for justice that at one point saw the convicted attacker, her ex-boyfriend, acquitted by the High Court and allowed to walk …

How parents, teachers are failing their own; Society and government need to respond to red flags to prevent young from taking their own lives Memona Abbas Suicide is as complicated a phenomenon as human nature. Owing to its complex nature, it is difficult to identify if an individual is contemplating to take extreme step of ending her or his life. …