Baithak Desi Jun 09: Trading Girls, PPP to sue author, DT editorial, Artists Framed, Metrosexual Pakistanis, News & Views, Cartoons

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It began with an errant dog,. It's culminated with the forced betrothal of 15 little girls, some of them as young as three, as compensation in a case of tribal feuding in a remote part of Pakistan. It's thought that around 20 people have died in the bitter quarrel, and the marriage offer of the girls is meant to end the bloodletting. Under a brutal custom, called Vani, the girls are being traded as settlement of a long-running dispute between two tribes. This case occurred on the border between the southern provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan, but the practice, known as Swara in some areas, isn't uncommon in rural parts of Pakistan. "The murderer gets away. It is his daughter, his sister, his niece, that pays the price," said Samar Minallah, a human rights activist based in Islamabad. "The girl has to pay the price for the rest of her life." Young Pakistani girls traded as settlement in tribal feud

June 8: The ruling Pakistan People's Party is considering legal action against the Indian author of a new book on its late chairperson Benazir Bhutto, which the party feels does not portray her in a good light. The PPP has condemned as "despicable" London-based Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia's claim in his book Goodbye Shahzadi that Bhutto had confided to him that she participated in the nuclear black market. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that the party is considering the option of legal action against Mr Bhatia for the "tasteless and scurrilous allegations" made in the book. The PPP has also expressed "surprise" at BJP leader L.K. Advani's decision to launch the book during a function held in New Delhi in May. PPP may take legal action against Indian author

Unfortunately, the case of Dr AQ Khan remains in incubation, waiting to explode and hurt not just Mr Musharraf but the Pakistani state. D T Editorial

I take an exception about the state in the quote from the editorial. Why did Najam or his team shied away from using the real four letter word? A R M Y. A Q Khan could not scratch his nose without the awareness of his "protectors."

For Central Jail’s inmates, ‘I’ve been framed’ takes on a whole new meaning

Staff Report

KARACHI: For the first time in its history, the Karachi Central Jail held a drawing and painting exhibition entirely featuring the struggles of some of its enterprising inmates.

The jail has 6,000 prisoners and 13 of them were encouraged to take part. They put on display 131 works which the public was invited to see on Sunday along with a range of handicrafts that the inmates are famous for.

Email Picture

Aamir Qureshi / AFP/Getty Images

According to spa manager Nadia Furqan, mustache-dyeing is seen now as passe. Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the senior party in the coalition government, has followed the trend and stopped dyeing his facial hair. Pakistani men sitting pretty


News & Views


Comment: A new Constitutional settlement —A G Noorani
[worth reading the last paragraph]

Maxim - Today's Cartoon