Mental health and stigma on September 15, 2018Stigma is synonymous to shame, dishonour and disgrace. The same narrative is what those battling mental illnesses are taught to feel – to be ashamed, to believe that their ‘personality flaws’ are disgraceful, and that their ‘inability to cope’ brings dishonour upon those associated with them. The social pressure to be ‘normal’ stems from ‘log […]
Mental health as a human right on September 8, 2018Recently, a 26-year old model committed suicide in Lahore, though there was nothing to prove it, some reports blamed her death on drug use. A young man took his own life in Peshawar and our media blamed it on ‘low college grades’. Their human rights to life, to dignity, to health – were all trivialised […]
The state of mental health legislation in Pakistan on September 1, 2018Earlier this week, reports emerged that there have been 44 cases of suicide in Chitral this year alone, the majority of which were women showing symptoms of clinical depression, but remained undiagnosed. In light of these staggering numbers, the health department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has mandated for a commission to be formed and assess the […]
Patriarchy and mental health on August 21, 2018Reports indicate that suicidal patients in Pakistan are predominantly married women, who cite the source of their struggles as conflict with the husband (80%) and conflict with the in-laws (43%). Domestic psychological abuse is just one part of the very many avenues available in society to belittle women and keep them under patriarchal control, but […]
A primordial gender binary on May 30, 2016The recent death of Alisha, a 23-year old transgender activist from Peshawar, has brought in stark relief the continuing neglect and lack of entitlements faced by the third gender in Pakistan. Despite the 2009 landmark Supreme Court judgment recognising the existence of the third gender, the absence of implementation mechanisms and protective measures for transgender […]
D-Penalty to D-Chowk on April 5, 2016There is a disconnect (and at times an overlap) between those rallying against the death penalty and those rallying against Mumtaz Qadri’s execution. Those protesting Qadri’s death for reasons solely concerning their animosity towards the death penalty as a means of execution are starkly different from those protesting Qadri’s death warranted on claims of religious […]
AIOU workshops on November 6, 2014Sir: This is apropos of a letter, ‘Deceiving the students’ (Daily Times, September 23, 2014). The writer has rightly said that educational centres that ask students attending workshops to give a ‘mandatory fee’ for organising a ‘compulsory party’ are using a means of extortion. However, the extremely shocking fact is that this happens within the […]
Parking and traffic issues on November 2, 2014Sir: I would like to make an appeal to the police and higher authorities to give at least single-line parking lots on all busy thoroughfares for example near Civil Hospital Karachi. There is a parking area there but it is always full, hence the patients who come to the hospital have to park their vehicles […]
Equal rights for women farmers on October 31, 2014Sir: Caritas Pakistan organised the Women Farmers’ Conference and an exhibition from October 22 to 24 at the Sargodha Institute of Technology under Caritas’ Agriculture Training Centre programme. More than 200 women from all over the country participated in the event, which was aimed at promoting equal rights for rural women labourers and sustainable and […]