The Other Side Of The Story

Today, I discovered a few things. I was actually taken aback thinking for all this while I did believe in certain things passionately but actually the real story was so different. In fact, Nadira and I have strongly written about certain stories on our blogs over the years. We spoke against the stuff things that happen in our society and it dawned upon us we were just looking at things from one side.

Though, I always say, we should never follow our media blindly but somehow even I missed out certain things. Our media is absolutely irresponsible. It does not care about the truth. It follows it's own agenda of making money, getting higher TRPs, fooling people, satisfying political parties etc. It highlights incomplete stuff. Our media never brings out in the open the entire truth...they never document things for the record also. Even I was fooled...I too just looked at one side of the coin, which was wrong.

We just shared and talked a bit on how our rangers shot an unarmed boy in Karachi who was in the park. There was a footage of it also made by a cameraman who is now getting threats for sharing this evidence with the world. Obviously, shooting that boy was wrong. There are protocols, human rights, ethics and laws that need to be followed by rangers and law enforcement agencies so that they know they are not a law unto themselves.

However, the media is just highlighting on the fact that the boy was killed. The other version of the story is that he was in the park...he was trying to rob off some family and was harassing some women in there too, which is why people caught him and handed him over to the rangers. The holy rangers were too angry and they shot him. Shot him on the leg ok...but they took him to the hospital so late that he died. The way he was killed was wrong! But why he was caught...that story is not told to the common people.

One other story about which we have written time and again is the Muneeb and Mughees case. We felt their pain how the villagers killed them, smashed their faces, hung them upside down like some animal. All of this happened in the presence of police officials. People made videos of all this on the cell phones thinking it was entertaining or some horror movie. Again the way these two boys were killed was absolutely wrong. It only shows lack of tolerance, sensibility and literacy in our society.

Sometime ago, as I was trying to find the details of this case I noticed so many posts/articles that were there earlier were no longer there. Media has been almost quiet about this case...never tells the real truth. One very strong version of this story is that the two brothers had a fight with the local villagers in Buttar one week before while playing cricket and they left the ground. The day they were lynched the brothers went there and killed one of the boys - Bilal. They were caught by the angry villagers and then whatever happened to them was wrong, needless to say. Perhaps, this was the truth...only God knows.

I feel sad that I was so strongly supporting Muneeb and Mughees all this while. If our media was responsible and truthful, we would have known the entire story clearly but we are never told anything in the right manner. Their youth was highlighted and the fact that one of the brothers was even Hafiz-e-Quran was talked about but more important things were intentionally not discussed. Human faces can be so deceiving. But if there is anything that is growing constantly - it is badness.

Anyway, how all these three boys were killed was wrong because the common people or the law enforcing agencies have no right to just kill anyone. That is what is obviously wrong. Our media remains irresponsible. And I feel sorry for believing in something that might just not even exist.

China Shuns Rushdie's Human Rights Lecture

China has reacted to Salman Rushdie's article that he wrote for The Telegraph this month in which he wrote that China is the world's biggest threat to freedom of speech.

China's embassy in London responded with an open letter titled, 'Human Rights lecture not needed'. China denounced Rushdie's call for the release of Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist who has been detained since April 3rd.

China feels this is interference in its judicial independence and violates its judicial sovereignty. China, therefore does not accept what Salman Rushdie wrote. China is a country under the rule of law. The basic rights and freedoms of Chinese citizens, including freedom of expression are protected by the law as they claim. China feels its people have immense amount of freedom to express whatever they like.

Wow, I feel China is definitely a country that does not allow freedom of speech to its people. People are locked up and threatened. They are not allowed to speak freely, use twitter and facebook openly. And Ai Weiwei detention was just another case of China's intolerance. Same goes for its treatment of animals and animal torture that takes place there more than often.

3 Days Left To Help Maryland Trafficking Victims

Two weeks ago, Maryland police entered a Baltimore hotel room to find a 19-year-old woman held against her will and violently forced into prostitution by East Coast pimp Edward Perkins.

Who knows how much money Perkins made forcing this teenager to have sex with paying customers, but thanks to a glaring loophole in Maryland law, the victim won't see a dime of it.

In this case, an asset forfeiture law would mean that the money Perkins earned from selling his victim on Backpage.com – even if he used it to buy cars, jewelry, or other assets – can be used to help his victims seek counseling, pay legal fees, and find housing.

In addition to being left without financial help, the young woman won't have any prostitution convictions removed from her record, despite being a victim of sex trafficking. That's because Maryland doesn't expunge convictions for trafficked people.

Two proposed bills in the Maryland legislature would address these serious issues, and the first committee vote is scheduled for this week -- if it fails, the bills likely won't pass until 2012 at the earliest.

HB 418 would allow Maryland to seize the profits from human traffickers and use that money to aid law enforcement and victim service providers, thus removing the financial burden of fighting human trafficking from Maryland taxpayers. SB 327 would allow the courts to order traffickers to pay their victims restitution and reverse commercial sex convictions for all human trafficking victims.

Tell the Maryland legislature to pass HB 418 and SB 327 before Friday's vote comes and goes. Victims of trafficking are depending on us:

http://www.change.org/petitions/marylanders-please-help-bring-human-trafficking-to-an-end-in-maryland?alert_id=aTMKFNKkTW_JoiZaZGCVC&me=aa

For How Long Will The LGBT Teens Suffer?

It has been a while now that the world has been discussing how sexual orientations can vary from person to person. It is natural process, an individual's choice and we should accept it but still we hear about stories where LGBT (lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals and transgenders) are treated as if they are outcasts. 

Recently, Nikki Peet wanted to discuss issues like anti-gay bullying with the students of Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, Texas. She thought it would be great to talk to a large number of students in the school and spread the message around about equal treatment for all. It is important to communicate the importance of equal treatment to the youth but she didn't know what was in store for her.

Nikki Peet

Nikki received an extremely negative response from Dr. Julia Carbajal who is Flour Bluff's Superintendent. Dr. Julia cancelled all the extra curricular clubs so that Nikki could not talk about the "Gay Straight Alliance" amongst students. It is strange to see how those who have the means to spread the message across try to ignore the significance of certain issues and not only that they try to make things difficult for those who want to educate the teenagers to prevent the society from unpleasant events in the future.

It is a fact that LGBT kids suffer greatly in schools and other places. They are bullied immensely by their peers as a result of which they suffer from depression, isolation and suicide. Nine out of ten LGBT students experience harassment in schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Two thirds feel unsafe in their classroom. LGBT teens are four times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers.

Nikki has a lot of support from the US and together they are protesting against the Flour Bluff Superintendent for her actions. If you feel you also support their cause and that everyone has an equal right to live the way they want to live you can sign up for this petition. It is not really about LGBT bullying taking place in US only - the cause is much more important that nobody has the right to bully someone for his or her sexual orientation. 

Sign The Petition To Support LGBT Kids!

Dead Baby Found In Oprah's South African School

Oprah Winfrey must be troubled and under a lot of stress because the famous TV host has always stood up for human rights and strongly supports the idea of helping one another to make the world a better place.

However, everything she does with the good intentions don't always end up the way she wants them to. Oprah Winfrey opened Leadership Academy for Girls in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recent news is that a dead baby was found in a bag in the premises of the school.

It is believed that the baby belonged to a 17 year old student of the Academy. The hospital staffers discovered the baby in her bag when she came there because of non stop bleeding. Police is investigating the case but have not filed any charges as yet. They don't think that the child died because of foul play.

Oprah has decided to not comment because a minor is involved here. This is not the first time, Oprah had to face criticism for her rather scandalized school. 

In 2007, the school's former dorm matron was accused of molesting several students. Virginia Tiny Makopo was acquitted and Oprah was disappointed. She dismissed the headmistress and said she would do anything to protect the students. But in 2009, four students were expelled and three were suspended for inappropriate behavior and sexual  misconduct towards other students.

Thus, we can see the journey for Oprah Winfrey and this school is not all that great. The fact remains, that humans are unpredictable and even if you build something with the good intention, corrupt minds and badness from within does show itself and ruins the over all big picture. But, without being so critical on Oprah we can also see things minus her star fame. Kids that age do get pregnant and often their babies die. Teachers can also be molesters because no body can guarantee what someone would do alone behind closed doors. And youngsters do engage in sexual misconduct and bullying since forever. These are otherwise wrong things that disturb the society as a whole and Oprah can not be entirely be blamed for everybody else's actions that take place in an Academy she made perhaps.

Nevertheless, Oprah is under stress because of recent developments of the dead baby discovery.

Declare 'Corrective Rape' a Hate-Crime

"Corrective Rape" is a term used to describe when a male rapes a lesbian with the aim of 'turning' her heterosexual!

This heinous crime is prolific in South Africa, especially in the "townships".

The South African government and justice system are failing the victims of Corrective Rape by letting the perpetrators out on ridiculously low bail, and taking literally years to bring the court-cases to a conclusion. In the meantime the victims have to live with seeing and being taunted and threatened by their rapists every day, as do those who help the victims.

In the last 10 years:

*31 lesbian women have been murdered because of their sexuality

*More than 10 lesbians a week are raped or gang raped in Cape Town alone

*150 women are raped every day in South Africa

*For every 25 men accused of rape in South Africa, 24 walk free

Despite all this, hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised by South African law!

Therefore, please sign up to make sure you that you think corrective rape is also a heinous crime that needs to be dealt with seriously.

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime

Help Stop Child Trafficking and Exploitation

Children worldwide suffer from abhorrent acts of violence, exploitation and abuse — horrors no child should ever know or experience. Over 300 million of them are subjected to hazardous physical labor, commercial sex exploitation and child trafficking. Others are irrevocably harmed by cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage. Without basic protections, children are at risk of death, disease, poor physical and mental development, and homelessness.

Without protection from violence and exploitation, children's basic survival and development are at risk. Every day, millions of children are denied their fundamental right to safety and security.

Every child should grow up free from fear and harm. Take action and pledge to help end child exploitation.

http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=1&campaign=ChildExploitation&ThirdPartyClicks=ETH_010611_ChildExploitation_5

Time to Celebrate - 1000 Posts

Folks it is about time...it is difficult to ignore the hard work. Our blog that started in 2008 has a good 1000 posts today. It took us a long time to get here. We have gone through ups and down during this journey and we have showed some of that here on our blog.

All in all, our main aim was to highlight the things that are happening around us in our country and around the world with special focus on entertainment, animal rights and human rights. We have tried to be honest in our journey and tried to speak up about the thoughts and issues we had on our minds.

Though, I started this blog to ensure we record our creative pieces. But, the truth is it is more of Nadzy's blog than mine and she has worked really hard on it. So, a major chunk of our celebrations are a result of her consistent work.

We would like to thank our followers and silent readers. 

Help Carmen Meija

Carmen Mejia's life is at risk because she has dared to speak out about a controversial gold mine and the impacts that local people have encountered to their health and environment. 

Stop the violence against human rights defenders »

In June, Carmen spoke about a Canadian-owned mine at a public meeting in Guatemala. But before and after the meeting, she received messages that said, "Your shouldn't defend human rights, or you'll be killed." Three weeks later, one of her colleagues, Deodora, was shot in the eye. She was seriously wounded, but survived. 


Please sign the petition and stand up for human rights and protection.


Petition Link

Ugly as hell

Just now I read this report about a murder of a 4 year old girl who had been gang-raped by 2 policemen. Although they dumped her body but right now they are behind the bars. As one of the cousins of the little girl saw these 2 policemen giving her toffees & luring her to come along with them. People wanted to burn them alive but the area police intervened.

This is nothing new. Newspapers cover such stories almost every day. In fact these crimes are even underreported as most people still believe that such gruesome crimes against children cannot happen in this country. I don’t know how long would it take to wake up stupid people. I have also met educated illiterates who say that women who are being raped are not nice women to begin with & sexual harassment is something that is being done only by the lower classes.

Also while writing stuff on gang-rape, incest & harassment, I have observed that some people go off their heads. Maybe they can’t face their own complexes & fears, & thereby they think it’s okay to bother the writer. We may not have any solution but it doesn’t mean we should ignore as to what is happening in our society.

Few years ago, there was this man Javed Iqbal who sexually abused & murdered hundreds of kids & neither the police nor the media knew about him or the missing kids till he handed himself over to the police. Later he committed suicide in jail but many believe that that too was murder. This man used to dissolve the bodies of kids in acid & when the judge said that he ought to be punished in the same manner, human rights activists had problems.

Things haven’t changed much over the years.