Zeeba T Hashmi  

To even talk about it here is taboo and to profess to it is a sure call for victimisation. This area has never been studied academically here nor has there been any data collected in this regard. The only source of information on it is through personal anecdotes and confessions, majorly from male prostitutes. This […]

Persecution in Pakistan is the culmination of stewing hate speech that has been growing unchecked in our society. Religious minorities here are the worst ones anywhere in the world to suffer the brunt of hate crimes. But what makes the persecution of Ahmedis unique is that they consider themselves Muslim but are made to sign […]

Victimising children at school is a reflection of our feudalistic mentality to discourage education, particularly that of girl students. To understand the psycho-dynamics of why children are subjected to this torturous treatment in institutions that are supposed to safeguard and ensure their future, an analogy must be created with misogyny as the reason behind why […]

The most heinous crime is the forced loss of dignity and respect of a child who cannot be rehabilitated into mainstream society, which abhors acts of sodomy and rape. Yet, despite this abhorrence, acts of pedophilia are very common, even committed in the name of tradition. The laws regarding pedophilia are very vague, hence no […]

It was on January 4, 2010 when a massive landslide hit Attabad Lake, submerging three villages in Gojal and North Gilgit, blocking the Hunza River and forming a 23 km lake that claimed 19 lives and rendered thousands of people landless, without food and shelter. It was for the rights of these people that Baba […]

During the time I spent at the UN, I experienced two major international blocks divided on the issue of human rights, showing huge differences on how the world views its conduct based on its social and constitutional norms. This is with special reference to the moratorium on the death penalty, subject to fiery discussions these […]

Life, as we know it, is the most sacred trust God has bestowed on humanity. Disrespect for life is the most heinous crime one can imagine. However, there is many a dilemma one faces in terms of social dictums. Abortion is one such dilemma. Terminating a life within a woman’s body seems a gory predicament […]

Emotionalism is a helpless state of mind that causes desperation in the absence of any reasoning. It can be caused by bereavement but, for the most part, it is due to injustice, humiliation and loss of dignity, making it impossible to look at things objectively. It is when you know that a solution is not […]

The seeds of contention lie in a misplaced sense of justice where the aggressor goes scot-free and the victim is further oppressed. The government, on the other hand, fails to deliver protection and security to those who do not fall into the mainstream and are being further oppressed by society and the clergy at large. […]

Religion is the cemented block that binds its bricks together; it can be seen mostly as bringing people of certain beliefs together by arbitrating particular sets of rules for its followers to abide by. It is a strong institution that thrives on the injunctions of reward and punishment, without the exercise of which it loses […]