Stop Saying Targeted Killings Protect Muslim Women
New Age Islam News Bureau
15 March 2013
Photo: Nezihe Hussain, Gazala Fasih, Sana Saleem, Jehan Ara , Asma Aziz and Salma Jafri pictured at the Intel Pakistan and Karachi Press Club Event
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• In Pakistan Woman Gang-Raped ‘By Hosts’
• Lebanese Civil Marriage Pioneers Say Their Child Will Have No Sect
• CAIR Welcomes South Carolina Jail's New Policy Allowing Hijab
• All-Girls Rock Band: A Dream Turned Into a Nightmare
• Ways Women Can Keep Their Husbands Discussed In Nigeria
• Muslim Women Jurisprudence Campaign Launched In Dubai
• UK to support 400,000 schoolgirls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
• Intel Pakistan and Karachi Press Club Tap Into the Potential of Women In Media
• Arab Women Say Time for Saying 'Spring' Is Over
• Employees Must Act Against Sexual Harassment, Say Experts
• Arab Women At Odds With Governments over Violence
• Promised UN Stand on Violence against Women Now In Jeopardy
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/stop-saying-targeted-killings-protect/d/10776
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Stop Saying Targeted Killings Protect Muslim Women
A justification for targeted killings in the Middle East was to shield women from violence. They've made it worse
BY EMAAN MAJED
15 MARCH 2013
In 2001, first lady Laura Bush discussed the need “to kick off a world-wide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by the al-Qaeda terrorist network” as a principal justification for the Afghanistan War. Following that line of thinking, President Bush repeatedly referred to “women of cover” who needed reprieve from the misogyny of Islamic extremists, and war hawks seized upon the issue of helpless Muslim women to advance conflict in the Middle East through the 2000s.
The truth is that in our post 9/11 world, Muslim women are not beneficiaries of violence in Muslim countries, but a gimmick used to justify it. Indeed, women are themselves major, underappreciated victims of the war in terror, including the recent incidence of drone strikes.
The disastrous effect of drone attacks on women is threefold. First, Muslim women themselves are killed devastatingly. Though their deaths have been largely ignored by the Western media and denied by the U.S. government, the wealth of data on drone strikes is clear: “targeted” killings murder scores of civilians, including many women and children (a report by the Investiture Bureau of Journalism put the civilian death toll between 411 and 884). In late spring 2011, the women of Mir Ali village in North Pakistan were encased in their modest stone houses when the sky starting falling. Though they did not know it then, five of those women were about to die in U.S. drone attacks that have proliferated over the past two years.
Moreover, the deaths of Muslim men have an additional negative impact on Muslim women. The male civilians killed in drone attacks (and they are often civilians) do not exist in a vacuum; they are the husbands, fathers and sons of Muslim women. They are breadwinners, community leaders and parts of families. Their killings dissolve and disintegrate whole communities. Their absence can lead to economic ruin in places where instability has already made economic prosperity impossible. Paying the resulting medical bills of men injured by strikes can put untenable financial burdens on women. Interviewees in the tribal area of Pakistan report that drones often destroy the buildings upon attack, and rebuilding these structures is another monetary strain in a region dominated by poverty.
Finally, drones exact a toll on Muslim women’s communities simply by the very presence of the vehicles. In many regions of Northwest Pakistan, drones constantly circle villages, giving rise to an atmosphere of intense fear. Sites for drone attacks have included mosques, civilians’ houses and funerals. The phenomenon of secondary strikes has contributed to further degeneration of civilians’ mental health by discouraging civilians from coming to the aid of their neighbours. Civilians are now more wary of gathering in groups for any reason and parents have stopped sending their children to school out of fear. A study done by Stanford and NYU reported one result of these drone strikes is psychological trauma in civilians.
What the dialogue on Muslim women in America has failed to capture is that they are intertwined in communities with Muslim men; and though the U.S. has tried, it’s not possible to rescue one while killing the other. Muslim women are part of Muslim countries and Muslim cities; they do not exist independently of their homes as damsels in distress for the U.S. to pick up. U.S. foreign policy for the last few years seems to fall into the trap Gayatri Spivak warned of in the 1980s; that of “white men saving brown women from brown men.”
During the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Muslim women were brought up as a major casualty, with commentators assuming that the War on Terror has been a good thing for them. In the aftermath of Malala Yousafzai’s shooting (she eventually survived), the calls for the U.S. to save Muslim women went up once again.
And yet, despite the fact that one of the primary justifications we were given for the War on Terror was the rescue of Muslim women, they lose their lives, money and sanity to the war, including the recent rash of American drone strikes. Muslim women are not only underappreciated victims of drone violence; they are victims we were supposed to play heroes to.
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/14/stop_saying_targeted_killings_protect_muslim_women/
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In Pakistan Woman Gang-Raped ‘By Hosts’
15 MARCH 2013
SARGODHA: A woman was allegedly raped on Wednesday by three men at whose house she was staying with her husband. Police said the couple had married a few days ago in a court.
They then went to Noshehra Wadison, a village near the city, where they stayed at a place suggested by friend back home.
They told police that the three men offered the woman to spend the night with some women of their family at a nearby house, while her husband stayed at the guesthouse for men. They told police that the men took her to another house and raped her. They fled when she nearly fainted.
She then went to the guesthouse a few hours later, from where the couple went to the police station. Police said they had sent the woman for a medico-legal examination and were looking for the suspects. They said they found no one at the house when it was raided.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/520326/crime-woman-gang-raped-by-hosts/http:/tribune.com.pk/story/520679/in-pakistan-ancient-and-modern-justice-collide/
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Lebanese Civil Marriage Pioneers Say Their Child Will Have No Sect
March 15, 2013
By Annie Slemrod
BEIRUT: The child of the first civil marriage on Lebanese soil will have no sect, newlywed and mother-to-be Kholoud Succariyeh said Thursday.
Succariyeh and her husband Nidal Darwish have been waiting several months for Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to approve their marriage, which was conducted by a notary public last November after the couple had removed their sectarian identities from public records.
Charbel, who originally announced he would not sign off on the marriage, is now waiting for the clarification of a Justice Ministry committee on the matter. He recently told a local media outlet that because the pair had a religious marriage in addition to their civil one, “they can have the child registered.”
But Succariyeh, now two-and-half months pregnant, called this “nonsense.”
“This is not right and has nothing to do with our case. We had a [religious] ceremony but we didn’t register it in a court because we dropped our sects,” she said.
As far as Succariyeh is concerned, even if the debate is still dragging on when she gives birth, her child will “definitely” not have a sect “until he [or she] chooses one.”
“I don’t think he [Charbel] is able to understand that we don’t follow a religious court,” she added.
In mid-February, the Justice Ministry’s Higher Consultations Committee issued an opinion that supported Succariyeh and Darwish’s contention that since they do not belong to a sect, their marriage by a notary public is valid and given the absence of a civil law they may designate one.
Many of their fellow nationals marry in civil ceremonies outside the country, but Succariyeh and Darwish are the first to do so on Lebanese territory.
Charbel has since submitted questions to the committee, and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi told The Daily Star Monday that the queries are “merely legal issues” including clarification on how the registration of a couple married civilly in Lebanon would be done. Charbel, who is on an official visit to Riyadh, was not available for comment.
The justice minister said it wasn’t clear when the committee will reply to Charbel, because its members are due to go to France soon to deal with the issue of Lebanese prisoner Georges Abdallah.
Succariyeh contends that Charbel “has no reason to say no” to her marriage. “It is 100 percent legal ... so he doesn’t have the right not to sign.”
She hinted that legal action would be forthcoming if Charbel refuses to sign, but did not go into details given that the interior minister has yet to announce a final decision.
Qortbawi said the couple could challenge Charbel if he declines to approve their marriage.
“They can go to court and ask to have the decision annulled, and the court will deliver its opinion on whether the minister’s decision was legal or not.”
Adding a baby to the mix appears to complicate their situation, but Succariyeh and Darwish are confident in how they will proceed.
Several legal experts have argued that the couple can choose its own civil law, and Succariyeh said she and her husband have chosen to use French law, and for matters of inheritance, for example, her child will fall under France’s civil code.
“We have chosen ... to follow the French law in all civil [matters],” Succariyeh said. “We can apply the French law in Lebanon if he [Charbel] doesn’t sign.”
Civil marriage expert Talal Husseini, who has been advising the couple, agreed that the child will have no sect and said their religious ceremony was irrelevant because they no longer belong to any of the country’s 18 confessional groups.
“The child of Kholoud and Nidal is a legitimate child whose parents have a legal contract. He or she will be named after them and will have the same rights and duties of any other Lebanese child,” he said. – With additional reporting by Dahlia Nehme
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Mar-15/210163-civil-marriage-pioneers-say-their-child-will-have-no-sect.ashx#ixzz2NacUxiWL
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CAIR Welcomes South Carolina Jail's New Policy Allowing Hijab
3/14/13
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/14/13) -- The nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today welcomed a decision by a South Carolina jail to allow female inmates to wear religious head coverings, called "Hijab."
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) made the request for a policy change following a complaint from a Muslim woman who was taken into custody on December 31, 2012, and was allegedly told to remove her hijab so she could have her booking photograph taken. The booking officer reportedly disregarded the woman's religious concerns and "intimidated" her into removing her scarf in the presence of a male officer. The Muslim inmate's husband was allegedly informed that "all Muslim women take off their scarves" when in custody.
In a letter to CAIR, Ronaldo D. Myers, director of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, S.C., wrote:
"As requested, we have reviewed and updated our policies to ensure clarity with our staff on the processing and searching of female detainees of the Muslim faith, and specifically have exempted the wearing of religious headwear from our facility's 'Prohibited Acts' policy."
"We welcome the detention center's decision to allow detainees to exercise their constitutionally-protected religious freedom," said CAIR National Legal Director Nadhira Al-Khalili. "We have recently received reports of denial of religious rights at correctional institutions in other states and are working to achieve similarly positive resolutions in those cases."
She said CAIR offers an educational toolkit, called "A Correctional Institution's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices," to help correctional officers gain a better understanding of Islam and Muslims.
Earlier this year, the CAIR's Washington state chapter welcomed a new policy in King County that permits hijab in all jails and courthouses.
Last year, CAIR's St. Louis chapter thanked county and law enforcement officials for agreeing to provide religious accommodation for Muslim women who wear hijab and are held in the St. Louis County Jail in Clayton, Mo.
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court ruling that said a Muslim woman "had the right to wear the scarf unless jailers could show it was a security risk."
In that case, the Muslim woman's suit cited the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which prohibits state and local governments from imposing "a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an institution."
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/cair-jail-hijab-idUSnPnDC77404+160+PRN20130314
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All-Girls Rock Band: A Dream Turned Into a Nightmare
Kashmir’s first all-girls rock band has the Indian media to thank for the fatwa issued against it
By Haroon Mirani
March 14, 2013
On December 26, 2012, during a competition known as the “Battle of Bands”, an unusual thing happened in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. After several performances by boy bands, the audience was stunned to see girls taking the stage. Are they really locals? Can they sing?, they wondered. But once the band started playing, apprehensions were gone. People loved it. The cheers and applause grew with every beat. The girls felt their dream had come true.
Full report at:
http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/al-nisr-portfolio/weekend-review/pragaash-a-dream-turned-into-a-nightmare-1.1158164
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Ways Women Can Keep Their Husbands Discussed In Nigeria
BY CHRISTIANA T. ALABI
15 MARCH 2013
Kaduna — Women in Kaduna last week joined their fellow women in the country and the rest of the world to commemorate the 2013 International Women's Day (IWD).
At the event organized by the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in collaboration with United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), they brainstormed on how to keep their husbands, and the theme of this year's celebration which is about ending violence against women.
Full report at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201303150403.html?viewall=1
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Muslim Women Jurisprudence Campaign Launched In Dubai
Activities conducted in five languages
March 14, 2013
Dubai: In support of International Women’s Day, the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai (IACAD) has launched the Muslim Women Jurisprudence campaign in cooperation with Latifa Hospital in Dubai. With activities conducted in five languages, the campaign aims to promote women’s role in society through raising their awareness of their duties and rights in society as mothers, daughters, sisters, housewives, students and workers, Aisha Al Kash, head of IACAD’s Religious Guidance Department, said.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/muslim-women-jurisprudence-campaign-launched-1.1158506
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UK to support 400,000 schoolgirls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
March 14, 2013
ISLAMABAD: The UK government has announced it will provide stipends to secondary school girls across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which will help 400,000 girls this year.
As part of the new programme of support the provincial government will introduce a pioneering system of electronic payments to provide stipends to help girls stay in school. Stipends are payments made available to girls, which cover their cost of going to school, and serve as a financial incentive to increase enrolment. The new mechanism of distributing stipends, which will initially be trialled in four districts, will bring an added degree of accountability and transparency to the programme by ensuring that payments are more efficient and secure.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\03\15\story_15-3-2013_pg11_4
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Intel Pakistan and Karachi Press Club Tap Into the Potential of Women In Media
12 March 2013
PAKISTAN, Karachi, 12 March 2013 – Intel Pakistan, in collaboration with Karachi Press Club, celebrated International Women’s Day with women in media.
The event was held at Karachi Press Club and included a panel of leading women achievers, Jehan Ara (President P@SHA and Bolo Bhi), Nezihe Hussain (Owner, SWOT), Salma Jafri (Content Marketer, Social Media Trainer and Writer) and Sana Saleem (Director of Bolo Bhi, an NGO working for freedom of expression, digital rights and women empowerment).
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2013/03/15/intel-pakistan-and-karachi-press-club-tap-into-the-potential-of-women-in-media/
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Arab Women Say Time for Saying 'Spring' Is Over
By Hajer Naili
March 14, 2013
UNITED NATIONS (WOMENSENEWS)--Egyptian female activists are looking for a better constitution and members of the Syrian opposition are concerned about the violence committed by all sides of that conflict against women.
Worsening violence against women in Tunisia is also troubling.
The long and difficult process of democratization is causing many Arab women to seek new ways to describe what their region--and the women in them--are going through.
They reject the term "Arab Spring" and instead use the words "revolution" and "uprisings."
"What we have witnessed, you cannot call it an Arab Spring," said Zahra' Langhi, a gender specialist and political activist from Libya. "The term was coined in the West and imposed on our reality. Whereas if you say it's a revolution, an uprising, it means it's a transformation."
Last week the 57th Commission on the Status of Women began at U.N. headquarters. Violence against women is the overall theme of this year's two-week-long event.
Full report at:
http://womensenews.org/story/the-world/130313/arab-women-say-time-saying-spring-over#.UUKsIheBmUY
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Employees Must Act Against Sexual Harassment, Say Experts
15 MARCH 2013
LAHORE: Speakers at a seminar held at Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) on Thursday emphasised the role of management and employees in implementing Anti-Sexual Harassment Legislation in their organisations.
The seminar was organised by Department of Social Work LCWU in collaboration with Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) and was attended by SPO Regional Director Salman Abid, Excretive Director WISE Bushra Khaliq, Amna Ulfat MPA and head of Social Work Department LCWU Irum Shahid. Speakers highlighted the salient features of Protection against Harassment of Women at Work Place, Act 2010.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\03\15\story_15-3-2013_pg13_6
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Arab Women At Odds With Governments over Violence
15 MARCH 2013
UNITED NATIONS: A dozen human rights and women’s organisations from the Arab world expressed alarm Thursday at the opposition by some Arab governments to a strong UN statement on combating violence against women.
Egypt proposed an amendment last week saying that each country is sovereign and can implement the document in accordance with its own laws and customs; a provision strongly opposed by many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2013/03/15/arab-women-at-odds-with-governments-over-violence/
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Promised UN stand on violence against women now in jeopardy
Activists worried status of women declaration will be watered down today
By Nahlah Ayed, CBC News
Mar 15, 2013
It's the kind of day at the United Nations when the unity of its members could mean something tangible for millions of women for whom the organization often seems remote.
The annual meeting of the UN's Commission on the Status of Women — which made violence against women a priority issue this year — ends today.
And yet, despite two weeks of negotiations with 190 governments, the help of some 6,000 participants, and months of planning — there was still no deal as of Thursday night.
Worse, activists were alarmed there would be a deal — but one that waters down the rights of women to please conservative governments.
Full report at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/14/f-ayed-cairo-women-violence-un.html
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/stop-saying-targeted-killings-protect/d/10776