"I'm Not A Malala, I'm Free In India": Kashmiri Journalist, Yana Mir, In UK Parliament
New
Age Islam News Bureau
24 February 2024
·
"I'm Not A Malala, I'm Free In India":
Kashmiri Journalist, Yana Mir, In UK Parliament
·
Sondos Alhoot, An Arab Woman Seeks To Make History
By Being Voted Into Jerusalem City Council
·
‘Iddat’ Case: Imran, Bushra Separately File Pleas
Against Verdict
·
Chennai Cop Harasses Fathima, Says Burqa Hides Her
Face
·
Female IPS Officers Lead The Charge For Peace In
Kashmir
·
Rukhshi Kadiri Elias Weaves Taajira As Network Of
Women Who Empower Each Other
·
Bilkis Bano Rape Convict Enjoyed Over 3 Yrs On
Parole Since 2008, Gets 10 More Days
·
CAIR, CAIR-Missouri Call on Girl Scouts of the USA
to Lift Ban on Troop Helping Palestinian Children
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/malala-kashmir-journalist-yana-mir-uk/d/131793
-----
"I'm
Not A Malala, I'm Free In India": Kashmiri Journalist, Yana Mir, In UK
Parliament
Yana
Mir
-----
February 24, 2024
Yana
Mir, a social activist and a journalist from Jammu and Kashmir, was honoured in
the UK Parliament with the Diversity Ambassador award. Ms Mir's speech
countering "propaganda" against Jammu and Kashmir is going viral,
where she said she is "not a Malala Yousafzai", the Nobel Peace Prize
winner from Pakistan who has taken refuge in the UK.
At an
event hosted by the Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre, UK, Ms Mir said, "I'm
not a Malala Yousafzai...because I'm safe and free in my homeland Kashmir,
which is part of India. I will never run away from my homeland and seek refuge
in your country (UK). I can never be a Malala Yousafzai."
Ms
Mir then slammed the Nobel laureate for "defaming" India by calling
Kashmir "oppressed" and said "I object to all such toolkit
members from social media and foreign media who never cared to visit Kashmir in
India but fabricate stories of oppression...I urge you to stop polarizing
Indians on the grounds of religion. We won't allow you to break us."
She
concluded her speech with a request and said, "Stop coming after us and
let my Kashmir community live in peace."
The
video has over a million views on X (formerly Twitter). Yana Mir in her reply
to the video said, "The Malala theory was given to her by her
sister".
Ms
Mir received the Diversity Ambassador Award from UK MP Theresa Villiers in the
presence of Bob Blackman and Virendra Sharma, both MPs in the Parliament.
Virendra Sharma is a British-Indian MP from the opposition Labour MP from
Ealing Southhall near London.
Several
users including actor Anupam Kher, congratulated Ms Mir on X.
The
Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC), UK, hosted 'India's Sankalp Divas' at
the House of Commons in the Parliament in London. JKSC is a think tank that is
dedicated to studying Jammu and Kashmir and the issues surrounding it.
Ms
Mir, in her speech, said on 'Sankalp Divas' she hopes, "The perpetrators
living in the UK and Pakistan would stop maligning my country in international
media and human rights forums, stop unwanted selective outrage remotely from
their cosy UK homes...Stop coming after us...thousands of Kashmiri mothers have
lost their sons because of the dark hole of terrorism."
Source:
ndtv.com
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/im-not-a-malala-im-free-in-india-kashmiri-journalist-in-uk-parliament-5114641
-----
Sondos
Alhoot, An Arab Woman Seeks To Make History By Being Voted Into Jerusalem City
Council
Sondos
Alhoot, head of the Kol Toshaveha list, running for Jerusalem city council in
the 2024 municipal elections, in a meeting with voters, February 19, 2024
(Ittay Flescher, courtesy)
------
February
24, 2024
A
week before local elections, a crowd of about 70 people crammed the living room
of a Jerusalem home for a meeting with Sondos Alhoot, head of an Arab-Jewish
slate for Jerusalem municipal council.
Since
her first appearance on the Jerusalem political scene a few months ago, the
33-year-old Nazareth native has stirred interest not only among the city’s
Palestinian residents but possibly even more among progressive Jewish voters.
“Alhoot
in Arabic means ‘the whale,’ one that will swallow the right-wingers in Jerusalem,”
she joked as she introduced herself to a mostly middle-aged audience, with a
very significant Anglo presence.
Alhoot
is the latest in a handful of aspiring Arab politicians who have run for
election to the capital’s city council — all, so far, unsuccessfully — since
Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967.
Palestinians
make up 40 percent of Jerusalem’s population but, defying Israeli rule,
boycotts have been their preferred political approach. East Jerusalemites’
participation in municipal elections has been near nil in every race since
1967. Their lack of political clout has contributed to the municipality’s
severe neglect of Arab neighborhoods, with a visible shortage of investment in
infrastructure and services.
Nevertheless,
Alhoot is sanguine that in the upcoming municipal elections, to be held
nationwide on February 27, things will be different.
The
language teacher, who was featured in a Times of Israel interview in September
discussing her participation in the Kaplan protests against the judicial
overhaul, made her first foray into the Jerusalem political scene a few months
ago, as head of a ticket comprising exclusively Arab names. The slate was
associated with mayoral candidate Waleed Abu Tayeh, the first Arab to run for
the city’s highest office since the 1967 unification of East and West
Jerusalem.
In
Jerusalem, the 31 members of the city council and the mayor are chosen
separately, with voters casting two distinct ballots on election day.
Abu
Tayeh, also a transplant from Nazareth, eventually stepped out of the mayoral
race and took second place behind Alhoot in the city council slate, called
KolToshaveha (All Its Residents).
“It
was too long a shot for an Arab candidate to leapfrog to mayor,” Alhoot
explained to her audience on Monday. “We should first focus on getting Arab
representatives into the city council.”
Some
of the slots on the original Arab-only slate became vacant after a number of
withdrawals. Alhoot managed to replace them with Jewish candidates, thanks to
the intercession of former Jerusalem deputy mayor Yosef “Pepe” Alalu, a veteran
champion of Jerusalem’s secular population who has now transitioned into her
unofficial campaign adviser. Her list today counts seven Arabs and nine Jews.
Overcoming
a seemingly unbridgeable divide
For
someone campaigning to get a say in the management of a highly sensitive city
perennially in the world’s limelight, where seemingly minor decisions can have
international repercussions, Alhoot does not come across as terribly
detail-oriented. She gave an unrealistic figure in response to a question from
the audience about the total amount paid in taxes by Palestinian Jerusalemites
and was wrong about a neighborhood she claimed to be within the municipal
boundaries but is actually under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
However,
the aspirant council member brings a vision, an energy and a message of unity
and cooperation that one could argue are sorely needed in a conflict-riven city
united only on paper.
Her
background as a language teacher of Arabic to Jews and Hebrew to Palestinians
has placed her in a privileged position to bridge between the city’s two
halves, and instilled in her an awareness of the deep rift between Jewish and
Arab residents, starting from the language gap.
While
Arab Israeli citizens such as herself are mostly fluent in Hebrew, large swaths
of the Palestinian population in Jerusalem have no mastery of the language and
struggle in their day-to-day interactions with Israelis, for instance in
communication with the authorities. Alhoot decried the mutual distrust existing
between the two communities, with people afraid to venture into adjoining
neighborhoods where they don’t understand the language.
“In
East Jerusalem, some schools employ PE teachers to teach Hebrew. When that is
the case, how do you expect kids to take the subject seriously?” she said.
A
Jerusalem resident since 2010, Alhoot recounted to her audience her multiple
relocations over the years between Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem,
overpopulated and underserved, and Jewish neighborhoods in the West, neat and
tended to but often beyond her means.
The
contrast between the two halves of the same city struck her as intolerably
unfair. Even when she resided in the upscale Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina,
which she described sarcastically as the “Las Vegas of East Jerusalem” because
it has proper sidewalks, a rarity in the city’s east, she said it still did not
compare with Jewish areas such as French Hill, where residents have parking
spaces, bike lanes, and playgrounds at their disposal.
An
end in sight to the election boycott?
Alhoot
spoke of her attempts to break the longstanding boycott of city politics by
East Jerusalemites, a major obstacle in her race.
In
conversations with Palestinian residents, including some of the city’s
entrenched clans, she said she has faced widespread opposition to
“collaborating with the Israeli occupier,” all the more so during the ongoing
war in Gaza, sparked by the brutal Hamas onslaught on October 7 that saw 1,200
murdered and 253 taken hostage to Gaza.
She
said she has often been called a traitor by East Jerusalemites, who reject her
message of coexistence with Jews at a time when Palestinians are being killed
by the IDF in Gaza.
In
response, Alhoot has strived to steer away from regional politics and center
her campaign on solving citizens’ practical concerns.
“You
call me a collaborator? You are already collaborating with Israeli authorities,
you pay property taxes to the municipality. I’m not the traitor here. At least
you should get something in return for your taxes,” she said she has replied to
some of her critics.
Despite
the accusations of “collaboration,” Alhoot claimed that interest in having a
champion for Jerusalem’s Palestinians in the city’s control room is growing.
Arab
neighborhoods suffer from chronic underfunding and institutional neglect, being
granted almost zero building permits for new construction to meet the
demographic growth while Jewish neighborhoods are in constant expansion.
In a
recent visit to KafrAqab, a neighborhood wedged between Jerusalem and Ramallah,
Alhoot recounted that local community leaders took her on a tour of the densely
populated area, entirely forsaken by municipal authorities.
The
neighborhood is formally located inside the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, but
it lies outside the security barrier that encircles the city and is past a checkpoint.
Jerusalem municipal workers do not venture inside KafrAqab, including the
city’s police forces or garbage collectors.
Consequently,
the area has turned into a squalid no man’s land, with no street lights,
unmaintained roads and sewage, intermittent access to running water, and
hourlong traffic jams on the main road leading to the checkpoint.
Local
community leaders, who reportedly declined to be photographed with Alhoot,
conveyed to her their desire to have a voice in the city’s decision-making, she
said, especially in light of the fact that many of them do not speak Hebrew.
On
Thursday, Alhoot submitted a petition to the municipality to set up a polling
station for the residents of KafrAqab, so that they will not be forced to spend
hours in line at the checkpoint to reach the nearest location to cast their
ballot.
Alhoot
insisted that a sea change is still possible on February 27, and maintained
that cracks are appearing in East Jerusalem’s long-term opposition to political
participation, particularly after October 7.
While
her joint ticket with mayoral candidate Abu Tayeh was formally denounced months
ago in a fatwa by the imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, under
pressure from the Palestinian Authority, Alhoot said that East Jerusalemites’
trust in Ramallah’s ability to provide for their needs has eroded. For
instance, the PA has not come out to support the high number of people who lost
their jobs as a consequence of the war, she noted.
The
PA considers East Jerusalem to be the capital of the future State of Palestine.
It maintains a governor in the city, has control over much of its education
system, and is still very influential among the local population. But it is
deeply unpopular among Palestinians, with nearly 60% of West Bankers demanding
its dissolution and 90% wishing for the resignation of its long-term leader
Mahmoud Abbas, according to a recent poll.
In
Alhoot’s words, the aftermath of October 7 has prompted among East
Jerusalemites a “sudden realization of the PA’s inefficiency and corruption.”
“The
PA cannot stop talking about Al-Aqsa, but what have they really ever done for
East Jerusalem?” she said.
Source:
timesofisrael.com
https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-young-arab-woman-seeks-to-make-history-by-being-voted-into-jerusalem-city-council/
----
‘Iddat’
Case: Imran, Bushra Separately File Pleas Against Verdict
2024-02-24
ISLAMABAD:
The incarcerated ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on
Friday separately filed appeals against the recent verdict in the “Iddat” case
at the District and Sessions Courts in Islamabad.
Bushra
Bibi filed her appeal through her lawyers, Usman Gill, Khalid Yusuf, and Salman
Safdar, and sought annulment of the decision, announced by civil judge
Qudratullah on February 3.
It
added that the plea of jurisdiction was rejected without assigning any reason
and that the civil court did not conduct the trial properly.
“Bushra
Bibi reserves the right to request discharge from the case,” it stated.
The
petition further said that the complainant and Bushra Bibi’s former husband,
Khawar Maneka, filed his complaint six years after she got married to Khan,
while a similar application was earlier filed by another complainant.
“The
trial court observed the rules of recourse, disregarding the Shariah on
divorce,” the plea read.
It
added that the statements of complainant Khawar Maneka and witnesses kept
changing, while Mufti Saeed could not prove his claim of a second nikkah
between Bushra and Khan.
The
delayed filing of the complaint raises doubts, while the civil judge also
misused his judicial mind, said the petition. The federal government and Bushra
Bibi’s former husband, Khawar Farid Manika was made parties in the appeal.
Source:
brecorder.com
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40290462/iddat-case-imran-bushra-separately-file-pleas-against-verdict
----
Chennai
Cop Harasses Fathima, Says Burqa Hides Her Face
Feb 24, 2024
Chennai:
A head constable was suspended on Thursday for harassing a woman and asking her
to remove her burqa as it hid “her beautiful face”. The woman had visited the
station to find out the status of a complaint about a vehicle theft.
The
woman had lodged a complaint after her two-wheeler went missing on Feb 14. A
case was registered and the vehicle was recovered after she told the police two
days later that it was spotted at Pudupet.
As
the case was registered, the head constable, Velmurugan told Fathima to get her
scooter through the court. When she was hesitant and broke down, he told her
that she looked beautiful even when she was crying and told her to remove the
burqa as it hid her face.
Following
this, Fathima lodged a complaint with against Velmurugan.
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Source:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/head-constable-suspended-for-harassing-woman-in-chennai/articleshow/107956973.cms
-----
Female
IPS Officers Lead The Charge For Peace In Kashmir
23rd February 2024
Suhail
Khan
Four
years after the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under
Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the region has witnessed several changes.
According to officials, the process of restoration of peace, women empowerment,
and developmental activities have caught pace.
A
notable change being witnessed is the appointment of female IPS officers to key
positions in areas once plagued by militancy. This move marks a departure from
conventional norms, signifying effort towards gender inclusivity in critical
positions, including countering insurgency.
Restive
Sopore
In
north Kashmir’s Sopore district, which was once a hotbed of militancy and hub
of separatism, the appointment of the first female IPS officer to head the
police district may have surprised many, but others in the small restive town
are in awe.
The
Sopore police district in north Kashmir barely saw any female officers since
its inception in 2009. However, 2024 brought a change with the first female
police officer, Divya D (IPS 2017), taking over.
According
to a senior police officer in the district, the placement of female IPS
officers in some of Kashmir’s most volatile regions not only marks a
significant change but also stands as a testament to the empowerment of women
in a region plagued by conflict.
Talking
to this reporter, Sopore superintendent police, Divya D, said that her main
priority will be making the Sopore town crime and drug-free, with a particular
focus on crimes against women. “No doubt, the main focus is always to fight for
our nation, safeguarding and securing it from the enemies,” she added.
Divya
said that she has directed the officers in police district Sopore to keep doors
open for the general public and give easy access to people so that they can
reach out with their problems.
When
asked about the situation of militancy in Sopore, she said even as the number
of militancy-related incidents has drastically come down, it is ultimately the
people who have to contemplate and prioritise their own prosperous future. “My
team in Sopore is consistently dedicated to ensuring the protection and welfare
of the local residents,” she added.
As
the militancy has started to wane, abuse of narcotics among youth has emerged
as a major challenge. The woman SP said that eradicating drug menace from her
jurisdiction will be her top priority.
Hailing
from Coimbatore, Divya was initially
posted as ACP Subhash Place in Delhi. She was later assigned to the UT of Jammu
Kashmir. Breaking barriers, she became the first female police chief to oversee
one of the volatile areas in Kashmir due to a dominant pro-separatist
sentiment.
Undeterred
by these challenges, Divya is resolute
in her commitment to combat terrorism and promote women empowerment in Sopore
town. She emphasises the importance of listening to women’s voices and
addressing issues such as drug abuse and other crimes prevalent in the region.
Divya
is also inspiring many young women in the region.
Precarious
Pulwama
Besides
Sopore, police in another insurgency-hit district, Pulwama, is under the
command of a young female IPS officer. PD Nitya (IPS 2016) was appointed to
head police in Pulwama district recently.
Nitya
has served at many places across the country, but her Pulwama posting is likely
the most precarious one so far. Nitya stands firmly to combat “the enemies of
peace”. She said the police force has stepped up efforts to fight against the
anti-national elements.
Speaking
with Siasat.com, Nitya expressed her unwavering dedication to serving her
people and the community’s well-being.
She
emphasised the need to ensure a safe environment, protecting the citizens from
the threats posed by the “enemies of peace” and the “enemies of Kashmir”.
“Women
should no longer fear voicing opposition against crimes as all police units in
the district have their doors open,” she said.
The
police chief aims to encourage more women to come forward and report any issues
they may face.
The
newly-appointed Pulwama SP echoed similar concerns over rampant drug abuse as
her Sopore counterpart did. “Our team will enforce strict measures to combat
drug abuse,” she said.
Hailing
from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, Nitya completed her BTech in Chemical Engineering
and qualified for the prestigious civil service examination, joining the
J&K Police in 2016.
She
has previously served as the superintendent of police Jammu (North).
Source:
siasat.com
https://www.siasat.com/female-ips-officers-lead-the-charge-for-peace-in-kashmir-2981973/
----
RukhshiKadiri
Elias weaves Taajira as network of women who empower each other
Rita
Farhat Mukand
23rd February 2024
“Empower
the men to empower the economically empowered women,” jokes RukhshiKadiri
Elias, an articulate lady with her mellow voice igniting the conversation. She
is the founder of Taajira – (The Businesswoman), a massive network of
entrepreneurial women creating a revolution, not only in Kolkata but in other
places bringing two different kinds of women together, to work together and
empower each other.
Warm
eyes, glowing skin with her royal demeanour, and her energy kindles hearts,
which is probably why she was able to garner a massive community of thousands
of women that all started in 2019.
Born
and brought up in a caring home, Rukhshi helped her father with his business,
looked after his office in his absence attended to his phone calls, and set up
his appointments. At that time she was in the college. During her school and
college days, she always stood up for friends.
Good
at maintaining humans relationships, she remains in touch with her schoolmates
at the Loreto School in Bowbazar and today 35 of her childhood friends are
joined in by a WhatsApp Group. Since 1974, the friends have encouraged each
other, and met each other's emotional needs, and financial difficulties, where
some were going through midlife crises. Rukhshi made a special effort to
initiate these get-togethers.
Speaking
to Awaz-The Voice, she recounts one of Taajira’s inspiring stories, “One
incident shook me. One day, a girl reached out to us on Facebook. She was a
victim of domestic violence and in a state of shambles. As I shared this with
some of the administrators in our group “Taajira-The Businesswoman”, having now
reached over 32,000 members, I was hesitant to approve her post publically.
Some of the legal advocates said she needed immediate legal help. While that
was right, I said that she presently needed strong emotional support, because
she would have to pay a lawyer if she went the legal way.
"We
decided to reach out to her and we reached her home and counseling made the
husband realize his mistake. I finally approved her Facebook post and I was
stunned to find a rush of support for this girl from hundreds of other women
with similar stories. This was a big eye-opener to me that domestic violence is
a huge unspoken issue in many homes. Most of the women do not know their legal
rights and continue to live in abusive situations for years, incapacitating
their ability to even work.
“After
this incident, Anuradha Kapoor who founded Swayam, a feminist organisation
dedicated to advancing women's rights did an online talk on Taajira’s Facebook
group which was a great success. The happy end of this girl’s story is through
Taajira, she got into a flourishing resin art business and her husband changed
realizing his failings, and supports her now, and she is a transformed woman –
what a miracle!”
I
asked her who her greatest inspiration to start Taajira was, she replied, “Way
back then in my college days, Noor Jahan Shakil, President, of All Bengal
Muslim Women's Association used to take me along with her on her outreaches to
the slums of Kolkata which jolted me out of my comfort zone. I suddenly
realized there was a big world out there where millions were still suffering
and living in deplorable unhygienic conditions. She had two centers - one for
vocational training, tailoring, and fashion designing, actively involved with
Muslim women, bringing them out of the four walls of their homes into the
world, and teaching them about hygiene and health. I still connect with them
helping them to create events.
"Noor
Jahan Shakil is an amazing lady, now way beyond 90 years, still very agile and
interested in what we are doing, coming forth with suggestions and it was her
life that inspired me to think beyond the limitations of my home.”
The
story of the inception of Taajira was set in 2019 when RukhshiKadiri Elias
found herself being added to many WhatsApp groups all seeking some sort of
sense of identity apart from their homes. It was at that point that Rukhshi
said, “Instead of adding me to different WhatsApp groups, let us get together
on one platform, let’s set up a Facebook group.” The group aimed to help women
set up businesses that networked together because the seller is also the
consumer, so in some way, they all needed each other. The biggest challenge of
this group was getting women, who were not tech-savvy to learn to use social
media and basic skills. Their first meetings started in Rukhshi’s home, later,
went on to be hosted in their newly formed restaurant, and later, also others
offered their halls.
There
was a conglomeration of all kinds of women from different strata of society
with different needs, from restaurant owners to maids. There are two groups in
Taajira, one group is an elite group who made brand names for themselves
through Taajira, and the other group is the economically deprived.
The
Elite group helps the economically weaker womem with startups, not with money
but with goods to the other group to help launch their businesses and out of
the profits of the retail rates, they pay back the elite group only at the
wholesale rates so that they make a large marginal profit. There are also
intense training programs at the Tajara Elite Club where makeup artists, teams,
stylists, bridal packages, ladies who make their organic herbal products, sari
drapers, henna designers, masseurs, seamstresses, and even taught driving,
grooming, polishing, and other crafts.
At
their monthly meet, they pair up, and here the weaker women are imparted
skills. During the pandemic, garments were sold online, but they now have their
showrooms and stores, so the elite group needed salesgirls, managers,
accountants, chefs, and other staff.
She
said,"50% of our staff from our restaurant Shaikh’s is from Taajira. While
we started as a group to financially empower women, even men were getting jobs.
Husbands, sons, and brothers as chauffeurs, chefs, cooks, and other such help
so the entire family gets help."
She
said, “We have a legal panel with lawyers and advocates, another panel for
counselling for those who need emotional help, doctors who help women with
their illnesses, lady police officers who help women with their paperwork, food
licenses, and advice. We have a marvelous doctor who runs The Soul Clinic, Dr.
Shabtab Elahi who unlocks the healing power of yoga, with her set of yoga trainers,
and focuses on weight loss.
Taajira
members from the Wellness Center hold nutritious tea parties with healthy
snacks. The focus on hygiene, health, mental well-being, and financial
stability is a big boost to Taajira’s growth because we are not just a
workforce but a caring community and like a large family with a very personal
touch."
Mysteriously,
as Taajira was established in 2019, it seemed a divinely appointed timing as
they helped hundreds of families during COVID-panic-driven days in 2020 and
beyond to tide through this rough season and come across safely. She says that
Taajira was the only online portal open those days for help to the public. Food
was the biggest need during COVID-19, and home-cooked food was delivered
directly to homes. Since there was no bread in the markets, the ladies in
Taajira started baking bread, making thalis (meals) supplying the ones trapped
at home and without food.
In
one instance, a member of Taajira from the UAE send an SOS message to Taajira
to reach out to her septuagenarian parents stranded without food. The Taajira
chef delivered food for free until a maid could look after them. Incredibly,
the Taajira team delivered not only food, but also medicines, and other
assistance to families, and college students were given money and food. In this
great season of caring, Taajira grew to be a more community-focused and
family-hearted organization.
Taajira’s
recent big venture was Titliyan, an annual big exhibition, held once a year,
with 111 stalls in the year 2022 and 175 stalls in 2023 and close to 10,000
people visited it.
Rukhshi
said with a note of pride that many exhibition curators are now getting their
ideas drawn from Taajira members getting 90% of their income through their
wares in these exhibitions. She said, “I am, after this appointment on my way
to an exhibition in Khidirpur."
Rukhshi’s
journey to create Taajira also required her supportive family, husband, and two
sons, who incidentally are great sportsmen, swimmers, footballers, and hockey
players, and her wonderful daughter-in-law. She proudly shares the addition of
her grandson to the home, now six months old whom she is very involved in
taking care of while her daughter-in-law, who is a counsellor in Loreto, goes
to school.
All
family members proudly pat each other’s backs for their accomplishments. Their
recent achievement was their famous restaurant, Shaikh’s, a 42-seater lavish
but affordable restaurant launched three years back by her sons, with its
cutting-edge culinary excellence seated in the Park Circus area in Beckbagan,
near Quest Mall, famed for its aromatic rich Indian, Middle Eastern flavors drawing
flocks of people.
As a
graduate of Fine Arts and a diploma holder in fashion design, she honed her
skills to help the processing of Taajira smoothly. Rukhshi says that the
journey to making Taajira a reality has only been possible with the assistance
and dedication of her panel of moderators, such as Zainab Saigal, Shumaila
Khalid, Ifra Nadeem, Sujata Latif, and Sumaiya Munir applauding the strength of
networking together. She said, “We have a strength of 33000 women, now, so we
need at least six women to herd them!”
An
encouraging moment arrived when the globally connected Calcutta University
asked Taajira to suggest a few names of their women to train guide and support
them technically. These ladies were picked up and it was a good venture of
collaboration to bring profit to both.
On
another occasion, a lady who makes chocolates got a huge order from the
American Consulate to supply them with 500 boxes of chocolates during
Christmas, another lady got a massive order for jute bags and a lady who makes
momos and other delicious nutritious snacks now gets regular orders from The
American Consulate, business avenues that transformed their incomes and lives.
Recounting
one amusing incident, Rukhshi said, "One day, I received a call from a
lady announcing that she wanted to work on an online business, but she was not
tech savvy. The lady also mentioned that due to her arthritis and other
problems, she was unable to work outdoors but needed the money to maintain
herself and pay for her medicines. After giving her some ideas, I asked her,
“Ma'am, how old are you?" and she replied brightly, "I'm only
73!" I visited her and got her in touch with an Anglo-Indian seamstress
who used to stitch nighties, so the lady was able to get into an online trading
business and sell nighties to meet her financial needs."
While
membership to Tajeera is free, there is a fee to join the talk shows. She
mentioned that there are women who broke away from Tajeera and started their
businesses for their reasons, but this was never the aim of Taajira whose power
lay in massive networking to support thousands to lakhs together. She said,
“Everything is changing fast. Eating habits changed where people now are more
into fast foods, apparels changed from saris to most women now in jeans and kurtis,
society is transforming quickly."
She
said, “In a strange twist of fates, the men who once mocked the efforts of
Tajeera exclaiming it was a taboo for their women to work outside the home are
now accepting women working outdoors, and even standing alongside and helping
them, and some are even staying at home and looking after the children while
their wives are out selling their wares at grand exhibitions,, isn’t it
incredible! Things have changed so much in just a few years. Each day, we are
moving towards a brighter light and now society is changing so much that when
women don’t work, people ask, “How come you’re not working?”
She
said emphatically, “Taajira has two ideologies – to help the poor and to
economically empower women and we are starting to network a revolution!”
The
day is too short for her and she said, “I still have not arrived, we are still
on the way, one target is related to another and then it opens another
dimension.”
Source:
awazthevoice.in
https://www.awazthevoice.in/women-news/rukhshi-kadiri-elias-weaves-taajira-as-network-of-women-who-empower-each-other-27311.html
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Bilkis
Bano rape convict enjoyed over 3 yrs on parole since 2008, gets 10 more days
24th
February 2024
Ahmedabad:
The Gujarat High Court has granted 10-day parole to Bilkis Bano case convict
Ramesh Chandana to attend his nephew’s wedding scheduled for March 5.
Chandana,
who moved the High Court for parole last week, is the second convict in the
case to be granted parole after all 11 convicts in the case surrendered at a
jail in Godhra town on January 21 following a Supreme Court order.
They
were convicted in a case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of
her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots.
“By
this application, the convict-applicant prays for parole leave on the grounds
of attending the marriage ceremony of the son of his sister. Taking into
consideration the grounds urged in this application, the applicant-accused is
ordered to be released on parole leave for a period of ten days,” said Justice
Divyesh Joshi in his order issued on Friday.
As
per the Gujarat government’s affidavit before the Supreme Court, Chandana had
enjoyed parole for 1,198 days and a furlough of 378 days since his
incarceration in 2008.
Earlier,
PradipModhiya, another convict in the case, was released from the Godhra jail
on parole from February 7 to 11 after the high court allowed his parole plea.
In
August 2022, 11 convicts serving life sentences were granted premature release
from jail after the state government accepted their remission applications in
keeping with its 1992 policy, citing their ‘good conduct’ during imprisonment.
The
Supreme Court on January 8 quashed the remission of sentence of all 11 convicts
ruling that the state government lacked jurisdiction to grant premature release
to the convicts, as the trial in the 2002 case was held in Maharashtra.
The
Supreme Court then ordered the convicts, who were released from Godhra district
jail on Independence Day in 2022 after being in prison for 14 years, to return
to jail within two weeks.
They
surrendered before the Godhra jail authorities on January 21.
Source:
siasat.com
https://www.siasat.com/bilkis-bano-case-convict-enjoyed-over-3-yrs-of-parole-since-2008-gets-10-more-days-2982076/
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CAIR,
CAIR-Missouri Call on Girl Scouts of the USA to Lift Ban on Troop Helping
Palestinian Children
Ismail
Allison
February
23, 2024
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Missouri chapter
(CAIR-Missouri) today called on the national office of Girl Scouts of the USA
to lift its ban on fundraising for humanitarian aid for Palestinian children
after a troop in that state was reportedly threatened with legal action if it
did not cease making and selling beaded bracelets to raise money for the
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
In a
letter sent to Girl Scouts of the USA Chief Executive Officer Bonnie
Barczykowski, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad and CAIR-Missouri
Board Chairman Yasir Ali wrote in part:
“The
troop was reportedly told to remove all references to the Girl Scouts from any
communications about the initiative for Palestinian children and was told it
had not followed the ‘appropriate policy, procedures and approval processes as
outlined in our volunteer and leader training documents.’
“They
were also threatened with legal action in a message reportedly stating:
‘Unfortunately, if this direct violation of the organization’s governing
documents and policies continues, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri and Girl
Scouts of the United States have no other choice than to engage our legal
counsel to help remedy this situation and to protect the intellectual property
and other rights of the organization.’
“This
harsh and threatening response to Girl Scouts raising funds for humanitarian
aid to children currently targeted by a genocide is extremely disturbing and
worthy of your action at the national level.
“One
has to question whether or not your organization would have issued such a harsh
and threatening response if a Girl Scout troop had been raising funds in a
similar way for Ukraine or Israeli children in harm’s way.
“It
is our understanding that there was a recent lift on the ban on fundraising for
outside causes such as victims of the recent Middle East conflict, which has
now expired. We urge you to extend the lifting of the ban so that Girl Scout
troops can raise funds for children in Gaza and others impacted by the ongoing
violence, no matter their nationality or ethnicity.”
Washington,
D.C., based CAIR’s letter asked Girl Scouts of the USA to:
Launch
an internal investigation into your organization’s handling of this incident.
Clearly
state that troops should be able to raise funds to assist in humanitarian
relief for the Palestinian people on an equal footing with initiatives
undertaken on behalf of other targeted groups regardless of ethnicity or
religion.
Apologize
to the Missouri Girl Scout troop for the harsh and threatening way this matter
was handled and ensure they are in good standing with your organization.
Offer
a professional development session for councils on the topic and the needs of
impacted girls during an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
Conduct
an audit to evaluate the presence of bias toward Arab and Muslim girls in your
organization.
Source:
cair.com
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-cair-missouri-call-on-girl-scouts-of-the-usa-to-lift-ban-on-troop-helping-palestinian-children/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/malala-kashmir-journalist-yana-mir-uk/d/131793