Opinion

Forced marriage
thehighasia

Falak Noor case: a clarion call for justice and protection

The case of Falak Noor has revealed significant differences between medical assessments, legal interpretations, and the protection of minors’ rights.

It appears that both the medical board and the two-judge bench of the Chief Court were not sensitive enough or failed to fully consider the implications of child marriage and the legal definition of minors.

The core issue at hand revolves around a fundamental question: How can we, as a society, tolerate such ambiguity when it comes to establishing the age of a minor? The court disregarded the official Form B of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the birth certificate issued by the hospital where the child was born, for reasons unspecified.

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Contested Commons under Threat
thehighasia

Contested Commons under Threat

The wider Himalayan Arc, consisting of mountain ranges that incorporate major mountain systems such as the Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Himalaya, and Kun Lun Shan Mountains, is ecologically a very diverse mountainous region with peaks and plateaux. Steep mountain slopes and deeply incised valleys, glaciated areas above the snow lines, deserts and steppes, forests, rangelands, and wetlands compose a region that offers limited space for mountain communities to settle in compact oases and vast areas for extensive forms of pastoral practices herding predominantly for 16 million yaks, and much higher numbers of sheep and goats. About 60% of the Hindukush-Himalayan surface is composed of rangelands and pastures.

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Honour killing in Kharmang
thehighasia

Caught in the web of honour and betrayal

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places for women and girls. Violence against women and girls is rising throughout the country. According to human rights reports roughly 1,000 women are killed in so-called honor-related crime every year. Supposedly egalitarian societies like Gilgit-Baltistan are no exception. A girl was murdered in Kharmang, Baltistan, by her brother after a video became viral on social media.

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Sexual harassment
thehighasia

A letter: the hell of harassment

One of the reasons why harassment is so pervasive in our society is that it is often normalized and overlooked. We need to change this attitude and recognize that harassment is unacceptable, no matter what form it takes. We must encourage victims to speak up and report incidents of harassment, and we must hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.

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Gender disparity in Gilit-Baltistan
thehighasia

G-B: gender disparity and geography

Rugged terrain of the region amplifies gender disparity in work. According to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey 2019-20, the labor force participation rate for women in Gilgit-Baltistan was only 18%, significantly lower than the rate for men, which was 65%. This disparity is also evident in the education sector where the literacy rate for women in Gilgit-Baltistan is only 31%, compared to 58% for men.

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