Dr Aafia Siddiqui — A Pakistani Neuroscientist Subjected To ‘Sexual Assault’ In US Prison: Human Rights Lawyer
New Age
Islam News Bureau
06 December 2023
· Dr Aafia Siddiqui — A Pakistani Neuroscientist Subjected To ‘Sexual Assault’ In US Prison: Human Rights Lawyer
· Faces Of Passengers Displayed in Iranian Metro To Enforce Hijab
· Borders Blur as Jaweria Khanum of Karachi Reaches Kolkata to Marry Local Boy
· Servant of Bushra’s Ex-Husband Claims Imran Used to Visit Bushra Before Marriage
· Assamese Muslim Women inJajori Village Weave Fairy-Tales
· Guard Against CPM's Support of Inter- Religious Marriages, Says Sunni Leader Koodathayi
· Situation of Afghan Women Discussed in Meeting of Opposition Held in Vienna
· COP28 Sets Partnership to Promote Women's Climate Resilience
· UNAMA’s Silence on Afghan Women’s Detention Shameful: Female Protestors
· Afghan Pregnant Women’s Children at Risk in Pakistan: The Guardian
· In US, Some Muslim-Jewish Interfaith Initiatives Are Strained by Israel-Hamas War
· Taliban Rule ‘Made Girlhood Illegal’: Malala
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/dr-aafia-siddiqui-pakistani-human-rights/d/131265
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Dr Aafia Siddiqui — A Pakistani Neuroscientist Subjected To ‘Sexual Assault’ In US Prison: Human Rights Lawyer
December 06, 2023
Dr Aafia Siddiqui. — X/@SenatorMushtaq
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ISLAMABAD: Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith Tuesday said Dr Aafia Siddiqui — a Pakistani neuroscientist jailed in the United States for over a decade — has been sexually assaulted at least twice during her incarceration, in addition to the ill-treatment she was meted out at the Bagram jail in Afghanistan.
Speaking with Geo News, Smith, who represents Dr Aafia, said his client has been abused and tortured more often and that she informed him about the sexual assaults in a meeting. The counsel also mentioned that the Pakistani government was also aware of the two instances of sexual assault.
Smith’s comment pointed towards a report prepared by Aisha Farooqui, Pakistan’s former consul general in Houston, in 2018, citing the physical and sexual abuse that Dr Aafia was subjected to during her detention. The report also recommended diplomatic authorities take her case to the highest level and find a way to repatriate Dr Aafia.
Smith revealed that a sexual assault complaint was, therefore, filed on her behalf. “Dr Aafia was also sexually assaulted in Bagram jail,” he added. He further shared the details about the reason behind the assaults endured by his client at the United States-run prison in Afghanistan when the American military was based in the country and operating its bases on Afghan soil.
“Dr Aafia was sexually assaulted at Bagram as an interrogation tactic,” he said.
Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, who is currently in the US to meet her imprisoned sister at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Texas, confirmed that she was allowed to meet her sister for four hours “from a distance” and added that her sister’s health did not seem good.
Dr Fowzia quoted her imprisoned sister as saying that the prison staff would give her better treatment two days ahead of the scheduled meeting with her sister. However, she was not allowed to meet her according to the jail manual, Dr Fowzia added.
She added that another meeting might be arranged with her sister if Pakistani consul general persuades the authorities.
Earlier, Dr Aafia’s sister tweeted about being denied a meeting with hopes of getting to “hug” her sister. Earlier this year, the sisters met after 20 years when the elder Dr Fowzia visited her in June at a prison hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, US.
Upon her return to Pakistan, Dr Fowzia shared details of her sister’s condition during the imprisonment, adding that she could not recognise her during their first meeting. Dr Fowzia said: “Due to her condition, I could not even recognise her.”
She, along with Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Senator Mushtaq and Smith, was in the United States where they were finally allowed to meet Dr Aafia.
Source: thenews.com.pk
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1135557-aafia-siddiqui-subjected-to-sexual-assault-in-us-prison
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Faces Of Passengers Displayed In Iranian Metro To Enforce Hijab
December 6, 2023
Maryam Sinaee
A man wears a protective mask, following
an increase in air pollution in Tehran, Iran, December 5, 2023.
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Authorities in Iran’s religious city of Mashhad have resorted to displaying their facial recognition capabilities as a measure to frighten women into wearing the hijab.
Vahid Tafrihi, the social editor of Khorasan newspaper in Mashhad, was the first to bring the controversial move to public attention in an Instagram post on Monday. His post included a photo of one of the monitors that displays photos of several subway passengers taken from CCTV footage along with their age and gender.
“This is the Shariati Station of Line One of Mashhad Metro. The photo of all people who pass by CCTV cameras is shown together with age and gender information on large monitors. Can the municipality explain what it is seeking to achieve by this?” Tafrihi, whose newspaper is owned by the religious shrine in the city, asked.
Astan-e Qods-e Razavi is a massive state body under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s control which manages the shrine of the 8th imam of Shiites in Mashhad and its vast economic empire.
The Instagram post appears to have been removed from Tafrihi’s account, but a screenshot of the post is being widely circulated on social media. Arash Hashemi, another journalist from Mashhad, said in a tweet Tuesday evening that the monitors seem to have stopped showing passengers’ images and information for the time being.
The age and gender info displayed on monitors was apparently obtained from the identity documents linked to passengers’ travel payment cards.
Social media users say similar monitors that were first installed at Mashhad railway station around six months ago were employed at the city’s subway stations and airport a month ago.
Many social media users have interpreted the move, which they say reminds them of a society like the one described in George Orwell’s novel 1984, as the authorities’ attempt to show off the facial recognition capabilities at their disposal to intimidate women who refuse to abide by the mandatory hijab.
Mashhad, the hometown of President Ebrahim Raisi, is Iran's second-largest city with a population of over three million, and one of the bastions of Iran's hardliners.
“Disclosure of individuals’ personal information [such as age] is a crime and is punishable by law,” Keyvan Saedy, a conservative politician and former lawmaker, tweeted Tuesday.
“Mashhad subway’s disclosure of passengers’ personal information is an obvious violation of citizenship rights, causes loss of security and psychological peace, and destroys the ruling systems’ image. It indicates misunderstanding and insult to Islam even if it done for [enforcing] the religious duty of hijab,” he wrote and demanded serious action to be taken against those behind the move.
Speaking to Faraz Daily, an online news website, Tuesday evening, a Mashhad city council member claimed that the municipality was not responsible for the installation of CCTV cameras and monitors.
“We don’t know who is controlling them,” Hasan Mansourian told Faraz Daily, adding that the cameras that make it possible to display information on the person whose image is shown on the monitor must be somehow connected to a central server such as the state registration organization which issues national IDs and operate with artificial intelligence.
He also said the cameras are going to be turned off “until permits are issued” and the public is informed about the plan.
In late November, authorities similarly refused to take responsibility for the deployment of hijab enforcers at the capital Tehran’s subway stations which were quickly dubbed as “tunnels of horror” by opposition media and social media users.
Authorities claimed the black-veiled women who lined-up the subway corridors to inspect passengers’ hijab abidance, and the cameramen who filmed the passengers as they passed, were “citizens’ groups” carrying out the religious duty of enforcing hijab for which everyone is responsible.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202312052382
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Borders Blur as Jaweria Khanum of Karachi Reaches Kolkata to Marry Local Boy
TNN | Dec 6, 2023,
Jaweria Khanum with Sameer’s family in Kolkata
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KOLKATA: Jaweria Khanum of Karachi crossed the Attari-Wagah international border on Tuesday to marry Kolkata resident Sameer Khan after waiting for five years to get a visa. The couple arrived in the city in the evening and said they were looking forward to solemnising the marriage on January 6.
Jaweria's visa application was rejected twice. Third time lucky, Jaweria has been granted a 45-day visa and hopes the Indian government will extend it after the marriage.
Although an arranged marriage, it was love at first sight for Sameer. In May 2018, his mother Nusrat Kamal Khan had shown him a photograph of a woman who lived across the border in Pakistan. She was her cousin Ghazala Khanum's daughter. Sameer, who stays in Park Circus, gave his consent.
"In 2018, I had come home during a break from Germany where I was studying when my mother showed me Jaweria's photo and I fell in love. I immediately agreed to the marriage proposal," he said.
Given the hurdles posed by the diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan, the families had travelled to Bangkok in February 2020 to facilitate a meeting between Jaweria and Sameer. There, the marriage was finalised. But everything fell apart when the pandemic struck.
After it ended and countries resumed processing visas, Jaweria, her father Azmat Khan, mother Ghazala and her siblings: sisters Sara and Qainat, and brother Taimur applied twice in 2022, in August and December, only to face rejection on both occasions. Desperate to solemnise the marriage, Jaweria applied alone this August. On November 23, she received the visa by courier. "I am excited about getting married but am also sad that my parents and sisters and brother won't be able to attend it," said Jaweria.
Jaweria said she had grown up hearing good accounts of India from her father who had visited the country twice earlier.
Sameer's father Ahmad Kamal Khan, who has a leather business, had settled in Kolkata 53 years ago after the family shifted from UP. "I have two sons. With Jaweria's arrival, I now have a daughter. She's interested in learning Bengali and I will teach her." Khan danced to the tune of dhol on Wagah border when Jaweria arrived on Tuesday.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/band-baaja-baaraat-borders-blur-as-pak-woman-reaches-kol-to-marry-local-boy/articleshow/105767979.cms
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Servant of Bushra’s Ex-Husband Claims Imran Used to Visit Bushra Before Marriage
December 06, 2023
Khalid Iqbal
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan looks on in this image released on April 29, 2023. — Facebook/Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD: A domestic servant of Khawar
Manika, in his testimony during the illegal marriage case against Imran Khan,
on Tuesday told the judge that Imran Khan used to visit Bushra at her house
before their marriage.
Senior Civil Judge, Qudratullah, presided over the proceedings of the case on Tuesday. During the hearing, Bushra’s ex-husband Khawar Manika’s domestic servant Muhammad Latif recorded his statement after which the statements of all the four prosecution witnesses of the case were recorded.
Latif recorded his statement in the presence of the petitioner’s lawyer Rizwan Abbasi. He said the former PTI chairman used to visit Bushra Bibi at her house before their marriage. Imran and Bushra Bibi would go into a room and indulge in ‘indecent activities’. The servant said once when he entered Bushra’s room, Imran started to abuse him and told him to get out. He said he was doing that on Khawar Manika’s instructions to keep an eye on them.
After recording his statement, the court adjourned the hearing of the case till December 8 and sought arguments on whether the case was admissible or not.
It should be noted that earlier Bushra’s ex-husband Khawar Manika, Mufti Saeed and Imran Khan’s former aide Aun Chaudhry have already recorded their statements as witnesses. On Friday, the petitioner’s lawyer, Rizwan Abbasi, will present his arguments on maintainability of the case.
Earlier on Monday, Imran Khan told media persons during the cipher case trial in Adiala Jail that he had never seen Bushra before their marriage. Reacting to it, Aun Chaudhry dubbed Imran’s statement as the biggest lie of the century.
Source: thenews.com.pk
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1135562-maneka-s-servant-claims-imran-used-to-visit-bushra-before-marriage
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Assamese Muslim women in Jajori village weave fairy-tales
06 Dec 2023
Daulat Rahman
When Mahatma Gandhi said “Assamese women are born weavers, they can weave fairy tales in their cloth”, he wasn’t exaggerating. The words of the Father of the Nation are well reflected in Jajori, an Indigenous Assamese Muslim-dominated village in central Assam’s Nagaon and Morigaon districts. The only source of livelihood for the villagers is the handwoven clothes made by the Muslim women. These clothes are sold in Assam and rest of India.
There were three Burmese invasions of Assam between 1817 and 1826, during which time the Kingdom of Assam (then ruled by the Ahoms) came under the control of Burma from 1821 to 1825. It is believed that the ancestors of Jajori started settling in the village during the Burmese invasion.
Even though weaving was the only source of income for villagers in Jajori since the Ahom Empire it gathered momentum when Mahatma Gandhi gave the call of boycotting all foreign goods during India's freedom struggle in 1905. Now the entire village is dependent upon weaving.
Cotton, Muga, Pat (mulberry silk), and Eri (endi) are the main fabrics that are woven in Jajori village. Textiles like shawls, saris, furnishings, and bedspreads are usually woven from pure Assamese cotton. Chadars and Mekhalas - which is the traditional dress worn by indigenous Assamese women - are also made from this cotton.
The Muslim women in Jajori also weave out the traditional Gamosha (white towel with red patterns on both ends) which is given to elders and dear ones as a mark of respect and love on different occasions.
Initially, the Muslim artisans of the Jajori village were personally involved in weaving. In 1960-61, some local elders tried to organize these artisans and the late Jamiat Uddin, and Majlul Haque formed the Jajori Muslim Village Weaving and Cutting Cooperative Society..
The cooperative society has been run by Nechima Begum alias Mary Begum since 1980.
Gulnaha Begum, a craftswoman, said she has provided education to her two sons and arranged marriage for her daughter by weaving and selling clothes. The women of the village including Chimim Sultana, Nazima Begum, Runu Begum, Maria Nesa, Alea Begum, and Punang Begum have been involved in the weaving industry for a long time.
The state government has not provided any major financial assistance to the weavers except one-time assistance under the Din Dayal scheme.
Abdul Khayer Ahmed, a prominent social worker in Jajori village, said that when Mahatma Gandhi called for a boycott of foreign textiles in 1905, the artisans of the village cut their yarn and wove clothes for themselves and others.
The women of this area weave saris, gamochas, rihas, chadars-mekhelas, tablecloths, etc.
Even though there is an office of the Handloom and Textiles Department at Dalang Ghat near Jajori. However, the response of the department is not as expected. But the weavers are not looking towards the government.
Even though there is an office of the Handloom and Textiles Department at Dalang Ghat near Jajori. However, the response of the department is not as expected. But the weavers are not looking towards the government.
Source: awazthevoice.in
https://www.awazthevoice.in/india-news/assamese-muslim-women-in-jajori-village-weave-fairy-tales-25598.html
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Guard against CPM's support of inter- religious marriages, says Sunni leader Koodathayi
December 06,2023
Sunni Yuvajana Sangham State Secretary Nazar Faizi Koodathayi has alleged that the CPM is promoting'mixed-marriages'(inter-religious weddings) in an attempt to destroy young Muslim women's Islamic identity.
Koodathayi,was speaking at the Sunni Mahallu Federation (SMF), Kozhikode district leadership meeting at Koyilandy on Wednesday.
He claimed the CPM was actively supporting the abduction of Muslim women so as to marry them off to non-Muslim men.
"Organisations like SFI that promote irreligion on campuses will take the society on the path to destruction.
We have been noticing a trend, especially on social media, that many people are promoting the mixed marriage culture, using all treacherous means.TheConstitutiongivesaMuslimtherighttomarryaMuslimand Hindu a Hindu. But to promote the so-called Indian values and secularism, some people have been supporting marriages between Hindus and Muslims," he told the gathering of Sunny religious leaders.
"To promote this,young Muslim women are being abducted,with the active support of the CPM, DYFI and SFI, to be married off to non- Muslims.Mahallu Committees across the state must come together to
oppose this disastrous campaign which is designed to eradicate the Islamic identity.
"Mahal Committees must keep a vigil against those people who try to kidnap Muslim women. We must guard against the CPM's plans to promote mixed marriages that they sneak in with a secularism tag,"he said.
Source: onmanorama.com
https://www.onmanorama.com/content/mm/en/kerala/top-news/2023/12/06/guard-against-cpm-support-inter-religious-marriages-sunni-leader-koodathayi.html
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Situation of Afghan Women Discussed in Meeting of Opposition Held in Vienna
The participants of a meeting of opposition figures of the Islamic Emirate called for a roadmap and a framework for Afghanistan's future.
The meeting was held in Vienna.
Some of the participants of the meeting told TOLOnews that the participants discussed the situation of the women in Afghanistan.
“On day three, the agenda will discuss the presence of women in the political sector in Afghanistan because they are deprived of all their rights and discuss how women can reach their rights back,” said Fazal Ahmad Manavi, a participant of the Vienna meeting.
“The close up of the discussion of the past two days is part of the agenda,” said Sayed Baqir Mohseni, a participant of the meeting.
Earlier, Suhail Shaheen, head of the Islamic Emirate’s political office based in Qatar, criticized the meetings and considered it not in the interest of the people of Afghanistan.
The meeting was attended by the opposition of the Islamic Emirate, civil rights activists and envoys of some countries.
Source: tolonews.com
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-186353
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COP28 Sets Partnership to Promote Women's Climate Resilience
5 December 2023
On Monday, the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) launched a partnership endorsed by 68 countries to mitigate the impacts of climate change on women's livelihood and facilitate their roles in low-carbon transition.
The partnership, launched at a high-level dialogue during the COP28 held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, serves the UN gender-responsive strategies to reduce the loss of jobs and incomes among women brought by countries' green transition.
The partnership contains a package of commitments, including actions on gender-specific data, finance, and equal opportunities, that signatories will implement over the next three years before reconvening for a review at COP31.
"Climate change is not gender-neutral - it disproportionately impacts women and girls," UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 Razan Al Mubarak said at the dialogue.
The transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy will lead to both the elimination and transformation of some jobs, as well as the creation of new roles, the COP28 presidency said.
As many as 1.2 billion jobs, or 40 percent of the global labor force, are at risk due to global warming and environmental degradation, according to the International Labor Organization.
Women make up the majority of those working in sectors particularly susceptible to climate change, the COP28 presidency said, adding that up to 158 million more women and girls are predicted to suffer poverty globally due to climate change by mid-century, 16 million more than the total number of men and boys.
Noting that "the climate crisis amplifies existing gender inequalities and poses a serious threat to women's livelihoods, health and wellbeing," Mubarak called for reforming global financial architecture to invest in women's economic empowerment.
"The rights of women and girls must be at the center of climate action, including here at COP28," said Sima Bahous, director of UN Women, who also requested "a seat" for women "at the decision-making table" and their voice to be heard "clear and loud" at the global level.
Source: telesurenglish.net
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/COP28-Sets-Partnership-to-Promote-Womens-Climate-Resilience-20231205-0004.html
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UNAMA’s silence on Afghan women’s detention shameful: female protestors
Fidel Rahmati
December 6, 2023
Reports continue to highlight the poor health of female activists like Julia Parsi and Manizha Seddiqi, who are currently in the Taliban’s prisons. Tamana Zaryab Paryani, a former detainee and activist, is disappointed by the United Nations’ silence on this issue, considering it “shameful.”
Reports reveal worrisome health conditions among female protestors in Taliban prisons. Julia Parsi was moved to a hospital for treatment, and a released audio recording features Manizha Seddiqi’s mother expressing concern about her daughter’s well-being in prison.
Zarqa Yaftali, the winner of the International Peace Prize, posted on her Twitter account that “Julia Parsi, Neda Parwani, Manizha Seddiqi, Bahaar Karimi, and Parisa Azada are five women who have been imprisoned for months solely for seeking the right to education and work.”
She mentioned that due to limited information, details about the status of other incarcerated women are not available, and she expressed hope that international organizations, including the United Nations Political Office (UNAMA), would take urgent action for the release of these women and other female detainees facing challenging conditions in Taliban prisons.
The exact number of protesting women and girls in detention remains unclear. Heather Barr, the Deputy Head of the Women’s Rights Monitoring Section, had previously stated that the number of women and girls detained in Taliban prisons exceeds reported figures.
Media reports, citing human rights activists and Julia Parsi’s close associates, have indicated that she was transferred to a hospital after torture in the detention centre of the National Security Department of the Taliban due to her mental trauma. Radio Freedom also reported that another female protester, Leila Basim, had been returned to prison.
Khaama Press was unable to independently obtain specific details about the health status of female protesters detained in Taliban prisons. The sources with whom they spoke either refrained from discussing the matter or could not provide verifiable information, and the Taliban administration has not commented on this issue thus far.
Zaryab Paryani, a female protester and former detainee of the Taliban, called on UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) in a video message posted on her social media account to break their silence regarding the detention, torture, and imprisonment of female protestors.
In her message, she states that the presence of the United Nations political office in Afghanistan has allowed the Taliban to gain millions of dollars every week. Despite UNAMA not having an official mandate, she emphasizes that it can still play a positive role in the release of female protestors from Taliban prisons.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/unamas-silence-on-afghan-womens-detention-shameful-female-protestors/
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Afghan pregnant Women’s children at Risk in Pakistan: The Guardian
Fidel Rahmati
December 5, 2023
The Guardian newspaper has reported that pregnant Afghan women stranded in Pakistan are at risk of losing their children if they are not urgently transferred to Britain.
This recent report by the British media reveals that Afghan women who collaborated with the British government and are currently stranded in Pakistan while pregnant are facing a grave risk of losing their children if they are not promptly relocated.
According to the report, these women are eligible for relocation, but the process of transferring Afghan government collaborators from Pakistan to the UK is progressing slowly.
The report states that pregnant women are stranded in Pakistani hotels with minimal access to doctors. Furthermore, the Pakistani government’s deportation of undocumented Afghan migrants has raised concerns and is hindering the relocation process, preventing them from leaving the hotels.
The Guardian spoke with one pregnant Afghan woman who lost her daughter last year due to a lack of access to healthcare in Pakistan and is now carrying a child with potential medical complications. She fears losing this child as well, stating, “The same nightmare is happening to us again. If the British government had brought us to safety, our daughter would still be alive. I doubt that this baby will be born healthy here in Pakistan. I know that if we were in the UK, our baby would receive medical care, but we are stuck here, and our lives are in limbo. This situation is extremely distressing.”
Another woman, Sadaf, who worked with the British Embassy in Kabul and is now in Pakistan, is suffering from high blood pressure. She is worried that her illness might harm her unborn child and has been unable to leave her residence due to fear of detention, making it challenging to obtain the doctor’s recommended care.
The International Organization for Migration in Pakistan, responsible for ensuring refugees’ access to healthcare, has stated that their ability to manage this issue has decreased in recent months.
In The Guardian’s report, a spokesperson from the UK Foreign Office is quoted as saying that eligible individuals in Pakistan have access to healthcare services.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-pregnant-womens-children-at-risk-in-pakistan-the-guardian/
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In US, some Muslim-Jewish interfaith initiatives are strained by Israel-Hamas war
December 5, 2023
Luis Andres Henao, Mariam Fam
Shireen Quaizar was wracked with doubt. For years, the school psychologist has been active in Muslim-Jewish interfaith dialogue, but the Israel-Hamas war left her reeling.
“What are we doing with talking to each other?” she recalled thinking, frustrated by a conversation about the exact number of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike. “This doesn’t work.”
But she decided to fight that thought and tackle the hard discussions once again. Later, Quaizar, who is Muslim, met with women like Aviva Seltzer, the daughter of a rabbi and a Jewish school principal who was raised with the belief that “but for the existence of Israel, we’d all be dead.”
The two had come together for a conference in New Brunswick, New Jersey, convened by the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an organization seeking to build trust and friendships between Muslim and Jewish women.
These conversations are becoming increasingly difficult, with the war and its polarizing reverberations in America testing and straining some interfaith relationships more than ever. For many, the losses are too personal, the emotions too raw.
The latest violence, triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, is prompting some to question the point of these conversations — and how to have them — while steeling the resolve of others to keep going.
“We’re very courageous, you and I, because we don’t stop talking,” Seltzer told Quaizar. “The minute we stop talking, there’s no hope.”
Quaizar nodded and said, “We’re doing the hardest work right now.”
At the event, Sisterhood co-founder Atiya Aftab, a Muslim, told participants that simply showing up was an achievement. Next to her, Roberta Elliott, who’s Jewish and the nonprofit’s president, said she couldn’t have gotten through the previous weeks “without my Muslim sisters.”
They’ve seen the challenges mount.
There are “all these barriers now to come to the table,” Aftab said in an interview.
She’s questioned why she’s not walking away herself.
“Sometimes it seems insurmountable to have conversations with people who have a diametrically different viewpoint,” Aftab said. “Faith is what keeps me there — and hope.”
Part of the difficulty of discussing the war was underscored in responses to the organization’s public call earlier for a cease-fire. Elliott said some Jewish women would have preferred the group advocated for a humanitarian pause instead.
More recently, heated debates also erupted over what to call Israel’s military action. Tensions flared on members’ WhatsApp groups.
“We’ve had to remind people that they need to step back, that they need to take deep breaths,” Elliott said. Still, she said, “this is what we’ve been preparing for … to try to be a comfort for each other and try to achieve something together.”
But in the Israeli-Palestinian context, some critics say many interfaith efforts fall short. Detractors argue that focusing on Muslim-Jewish relationships also risks inadvertently reducing the conflict to religion, ignoring all factors at play or overlooking the diversity of communities, including non-Muslim Palestinians and Jewish supporters of the Palestinian cause.
Aftab said wading into areas of disagreement, especially after establishing trust, is necessary for meaningful interactions.
“This isn’t a religious conflict, but this conflict is sometimes clothed in religion,” she said. “I think our faith groups can inspire us to do the right thing, to remedy the wrongs, to stand up for justice, to stand up for life.”
Andrea Hodos, associate director of Los Angeles-based NewGround, another Muslim-Jewish partnership, said religion is “not the entire puzzle,” but is a piece of it and that helping people understand these things is important.
Some, she said, are saying, “‘How can you just talk right now? People are dying.’” But “if we’re not doing our work to help people see one another, we’re all going to remain in our silos and it actually makes it more dangerous.”
It’s hard for some that the group isn’t taking certain positions, Hodos, who is Jewish, said, adding that political action isn’t its role.
“We try to get people who have differences of opinion to be able to hear one another.” That way, when they are doing advocacy, they can consider more perspectives and have compassion for their side and the other, she said.
The Kaufman Interfaith Institute held a meeting that highlighted the challenges ahead, said Fred Stella, who is a member of the organization’s advisory board.
“People were looking for statements from us,” he said. “The question is, how do you respond to something like this without either offending one of the sides or simply mouthing virtually meaningless platitudes?”
His group has mostly focused on fighting antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate, which has risen during the war. “The only thing I think we in the interfaith community can do … is to continue to remind people of our shared humanity.”
Interfaith advocates say they’ve also seen bonds — old and new — nurtured.
“Even when people are in deep disagreement, there’s a great deal of goodwill and attempts to reach out,” Hodos said. “Not everyone can do it. Some of the groups have just been … very quiet and I think people have, for now, walked away from the table.”
Others are newcomers. In Teaneck, New Jersey, two high school students and friends — Rawda Elbatrawish, who is Muslim, and Liora Pelavin, who is Jewish — said they organized events for conversations and education on the conflict.
They wanted attendees to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. “The whole point … was to really understand the other perspective and why someone believes what they do,” said Elbatrawish, who was born in Egypt.
Pelavin — who has relatives in the Israel Defense Forces and a rabbi mom who’s been involved with human rights organizations — said some participants lauded the importance of interfaith events and the deeper connections of in-person conversations.
She and Elbatrawish “come from different perspectives,” she said, but both want a cease-fire.
At the Sisterhood conference, Quaizar said communicating with Jewish members has helped her through her anger. It’s OK, she said “for me to grieve for my people as well as for people on the Jewish side.”
But she recalled struggling at one point before the conference with staying in such dialogue. She then attended a Sisterhood chapter meeting, feeling in turmoil. Everyone cried, she said. That gave her hope. “They were not crying for Jews or Muslims or Israelis or Palestinians; they were crying for people who have been suffering.”
On the conference sidelines, Quaizar told Seltzer: “I have a very unfiltered way of talking” but don’t mean to cause hurt.
Seltzer reassured her: “You speak unfiltered, so that’s how we get to the core.”
Seltzer found the event eye-opening.
“A number of the speakers said you can hold two feelings in your heart at the same time,” she said. “I never knew I could do that.”
Continuing to talk, she said, was crucial.
“You want peace; you want your family; you want your home; you want your kids to grow up happy, just like me.”
At the end of the day, the two women tightly embraced.
“People are angry and people are in pain and it goes around and around. … We have to find a way to stop,” Seltzer said. “Or there will not be anything left for our children.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Source: religionnews.com
https://religionnews.com/2023/12/05/in-us-some-muslim-jewish-interfaith-initiatives-are-strained-by-israel-hamas-war/
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Taliban rule ‘made girlhood illegal’: Malala
December 6, 2023
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said on Tuesday that Taliban rule in Afghanistan had made “girlhood illegal”, calling for “gender apartheid” to be made a crime against humanity.
Malala was the keynote speaker at an annual event held by the Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, to commemorate the anti-apartheid icon’s 10th death anniversary.
She narrated how Afghan girls barred from school were “turning to narcotics”, “experiencing depression” and “attempting suicide”.
After condemning the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, she said the crises in Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan had deflected the international community’s attention from the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan.
“Our first imperative is to call the regime in Afghanistan what it really is. It is a gender apartheid,” said Malala Yousafzai. “If you are a girl in Afghanistan, the Taliban have decided your future for you. You cannot attend a secondary school or university. You cannot find an open library where you can read.
“You see your mothers and your older sisters confined and constrained,” the Nobel laureate said.
She said governments should not normalise relations with the Taliban. Malala drew a parallel between restrictions the Taliban had placed on women in Afghanistan and the treatment of black people under apartheid in South Africa.
“South Africans fought for racial apartheid to be recognised and criminalised at the international level. In the process, they drew more of the world’s attention to the horrors of apartheid,” Malala said.
“But gender apartheid has not been explicitly codified yet,” she said. “We have an opportunity to do that right now,” she added, calling for the definition to be inserted in a new UN treaty that is currently being debated.
In an interview after her lecture, Malala Yousafzai said she was concerned the Taliban would take away sciences and critical thinking even from boys.
“It’s so important for the international community to not only step up to protect access to education for girls but also ensure that it is quality education, it is not indoctrination,” she said.
Source: dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1795442/taliban-rule-made-girlhood-illegal-malala
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/dr-aafia-siddiqui-pakistani-human-rights/d/131265