Woman electrocuted on Pak village council's orders

A 22-year-old woman was electrocuted here on the orders of the village council) after she was accused of eloping with her cousin and rejecting her proposed arranged marriage.

Written on January 23, 2011 | Posted in Marriage, Oman, UN, US, unlmitie | Leave a comment

Polygamist in Pakistan thrashed by wives for planning 5th marriage

A man in Pakistan was beaten up by two of his wives for allegedly conducting a secret marriage with a fourth, and for planning to marry a fifth.

Written on January 6, 2011 | Posted in Marriage, Pakistan, unlmitie | Leave a comment

India divorce rate doubles

NEW DELHI: It is wedding season in India, the time of year when astrologers say the omens are best for a long and successful marriage. Traditionally these were arranged by the two families and the weight of social pressure ensured divorces hardly ever happened. But as it grows wealthier, so India’’s old taboos are being challenged, and the chances of this year’’s newly-weds staying together for the rest of their lives are slimmer than ever. “There has been a huge change, a drastic change and divorce rates are increasing,” Dr Geetanjali Sharma, a marriage counsellor working in Gurgaon, a wealthy Delhi satellite city, told the BBC. “There’’s been a 100% increase in divorce rates in the past five years alone.” They don”t want to put more efforts into a relationship to fix the issues” Most of those splitting up are members of India’’s thriving, urban middle class whose lives have been transformed by India’’s boom, and whose aspirations are radically different to those of their parents and grandparents. Nowhere represents those changes better than Gurgaon, which only two decades ago was little more than a village. Its buffalos and mustard fields have now made way for shopping malls, coffee shops and multi-national IT companies. A state-of-the-art metro line connecting Gurgaon with Delhi, 25km (16 miles) away, was only recently opened. And while millions of Indians might aspire to live in Gurgaon’’s high-rise apartment blocks, they are, according to Dr Sharma, populated by many unhappy couples. The pressures of the modern workplace make a bigger difference, she thinks, than whether it was a traditional arranged marriage, or a so-called “love marriage”. “I feel people are concentrating more on the careers and less on their personal lives,” she said. “I also feel they lack patience and tolerance. They don”t want to put more efforts into a relationship to fix the issues, and they feel that escapism is the solution.” India still has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world, with about one in 1,000 marriages collapsing, according to recent studies. But the courts are now seeing so many new cases that the government has proposed making divorce easier and faster, in line with other countries. As things stand, contested divorces can drag on for years. Delhi High Court is the only place where Mohit, who works for a successful IT firm, now gets to meet his wife. They fell in love as teenagers, married in their early 20s and separated three years ago when she walked out. While he awaits a final court settlement, Mohit (who did not want his surname to be made public) has been left contemplating what went wrong and why. “I was way too young to realise that being in love and being married are slightly different – in fact humongously different,” he told me. We Indian males want our wives to be really progressive, but at the same time to cook food for us” “We used to fight about pretty much everything, you know. Let’’s say that the first fight we had was pretty early, as in just after we got back from our honeymoon.” Mohit puts the failure down to a culture clash between the old India and the new. For a start, he says, his mother-in-law disapproved of their marriage, and his family also interfered. He admits that sometimes he too found it hard to accept that his wife had her own career. “Today the Indian male, as opposed to earlier, is a very complex entity. We want our wives to be really progressive, modern, so to say, which is why we married them in the first place,” he said. “But at the same time we still want our wives to cook food for us. We want our wives to be there when we get back home.” Swarupa (who also did not want her full name revealed) finalised her divorce in December. She too left her husband – which she says is only possible for women who are financially independent or who have the support of their parents. In the past this would have been more or less unthinkable. Swarupa believes that divorce has certainly become more socially acceptable in India, but there are still problems. “Personally, I don”t feel scared to tell people that I am a divorced person but stigmas are still there and it comes out in very odd places,” she said. “I”ve been house-hunting near my ex-husband’’s [home], but you know it is very difficult to get a house because people are very sceptical about giving it to a single woman.” It seems inevitable that the divorce rate is going to continue to rise – which is good news for some. Vivek Pahwa, for example, runs a Mumbai-based matchmaking website for divorcees called Secondshaadi.com. He claims to get as many as 4,000 new customers every month. “Ours is a relatively young website, but in the three years since we have started, I have seen a remarkable shift in people’’s perceptions about divorce,” he says. “It is not only limited to metros like Delhi and Mumbai. Business is good.”

Written on January 2, 2011 | Posted in 2011, Marriage, News, Oman, Social, UN, US, War, Web, ad, ads, aid, ban, cia, india, live, ngo, pta, urdu, women | Leave a comment

Pakistani Hindu families demand bill on marriage registration

Families of the Scheduled Caste Hindus in Pakistan have demanded of the government that the Hindu Marriage Registration Bill should be passed by Parliament as early as possible.

Written on January 2, 2011 | Posted in Marriage, Pakistan, US, unlmitie | Leave a comment

The Surfer: James Anderson does cricket proud

James Anderson’s appearance in the new issue of the gay magazine Attitude has confirmed his status as one of our most admirable sportsmen: clever, charming and – above all – courageous, writes Simon Briggs in the Telegraph. While same-sex marriages have become routine events across the civilised world, homosexuality in professional sport remains a forbidden frontier … “If there are any gay cricketers,” Anderson told Attitude, “they should feel confident enough to come out, because I don’t think there is homophobia in cricket. Football fans can be quite abusive and…

Written on September 22, 2010 | Posted in Cricket, Football, Marriage, Offbeat, Sports, US, ad | Leave a comment

'Honour killing' suspected in murder of British couple in Pakistan

Pakistan in a suspected “honour killing” after calling off their daughter's marriage.A man and his wife from the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, named locally as taxi driver Gul Wazir and wife Bagum, ha…

Written on August 8, 2010 | Posted in Marriage, Pakistan, unlmitie | Leave a comment

SC expresses displeasure over Shahid Orakzai’’s gesture

ISLAMABAD: Shahid Orakzai, a petitioner challenging certain provisions of 18th Amendment, on Tuesday astonished a 17-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, by tossing on ground a booklet containing the 1973 Constitution. During course of his arguments, Orakzai held the Holy Quran in his right hand and 1973 Constitution in left hand and said if anyone asked him that he could be saved from drowning if he opted for one, he would prefer the Constitution to go down and hold the Holy Quran. The gesture was responded with a strong reaction from the bench members who asked him to tender unconditional apology for his irrational move. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry warned him to tender apology, otherwise the court would proceed against him. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar sternly warned him for such action. Justice Mohammad Sair Ali said that they had taken oath to protect the Constitution but he had desecrated it. Dr Asalm Khaki and other senior lawyers also persuaded Orakzai to tender apology but he refused. The chief justice told him that he was given a chance to apologize unconditionally, otherwise they would take action against him. Orakzai said if anyone felt annoyed with his gesture, he offers his regret. Shamsahd Manget, a petitioner and senior journalist, through his counsel Hashmat Ali Habib, brought to the court’’s notice that Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists also condemned Orakzai’’s irresponsible behaviour. Earlier, he assailed establishment of Islamabad High Court and said its establishment would amount to constituting of a new province. He also criticized the criteria described in Article 175-A for appointment of judges of superior judiciary. Hashmat Ali Habib in his arguments said that Article 175-A should alternately be rephrased by deleting the executive representatives like law minister, attorney general and senior representative of bar council from the Judicial Commission. The chief justice told him that they could not re-modify it but under judicial review, could see whether it was in accordance with the Constitution. The counsel said for an independent judiciary, the minimum qualification for eligibility of a person for appointment as a judge should be revisited. Further to secure this objective, the sitting office bearers of bar associations or bar councils should be declared not qualified to be considered for appointment as judge of the superior courts, he added. Justice Javed Iqbal remarked that wisdom and acumen was not related to possession of bachelors degrees. Citing an election of PBC in Lahore, Hashmat said these elections were politically motivated and millions of rupees had been spent on campaigns. He said the 18th Amendment was a reproduction of 17th Amendment which was not permissible under Articles 238 and 239 of the Constitution. He contended that in presence of Article-A (Objective Resolution) the parliament was not authorized to amend such laws. Dr Aslam Khaki, another petitioner appearing in person, contended that with insertion of Article 175-A, the independence of judiciary had been marred by political interference. He said the people tasked with responsibility to appoint judges, should have at least calibre to do so. To Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday’’s query, he replied that there was a vast difference between the process to create a new constitution and amending it. He said the 18th Amendment was more harmful than NRO as it manifested malafide intentions of certain political forces. Khaki claimed that 18th Amendment was based upon ”give and take” tactics. The consultation process in parties had been eliminated which was a negation of the concept of Islamic ”Shura”. Justice Javed Iqbal questioned how could the process of Shura be affected. Some parties sat together and consulted, he added. The petitioner said that the countrymen could not legislate upon certain issues like marriages. He said neither the parliament nor the people were supreme but it were the Islamic laws which should govern an Islamic society. To his contention about powers of Shariat Court under Article 203-D by striking down parliament’’s amendments on touchstone of Islamic principles, Justice Ramday asked how parliament could be made subservient to the Shariat Court? “A civil court can do so and even a High Court? How can you make courts to rule over parliament?” he remarked. To his arguments over Judicial Commission, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that it was not only the ability factor which should be considered for elevation of a judge but there were certain other factors which should be considered as well. He said how could a retired chief justice or judge of the apex court could be given a role in the Commission along with serving judges. “A head of a political party thought and proposed inclusion of such retired judge to strike a balance in the Commission. Is it the criteria for a constitutional amendment?” he added. Justice Javed Iqbal replied to the counsel’’s argument by saying that it was not for the first time that a stone was thrown at judiciary but stone pelting practice was dated back. The hearing was adjourned for Wednesday. Iftikhar Hussain Gillani, counsel for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would present his arguments.

Written on July 20, 2010 | Posted in IPL, ISI, Marriage, News, War, aid, cia, elections, islam, islamabad, lahore, society, uth | Leave a comment

The Surfer: What do Indian players look for in women?

While it’s common in football to have celebrity match-ups and marriages, the WAGs trend is not quite the same as far as India’s cricketers are concerned. With such a hectic lifestyle travelling across the globe and managing their own celebrity status, many of India’s star players now prefer settling down with women who can take care of their families, as opposed to a trophy wife. Players who come from less-fortunate backgrounds make for an interesting study. There are instances of such cricketers choosing partners who are often better educated and…

Written on July 13, 2010 | Posted in Cricket, Football, Indian cricket, Marriage, Sports, india, women | Leave a comment

Year 2011 to be observed as ”Population Year”

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Population Welfare, Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan on Monday said addressing population issue is directly related to overall economic prosperity of the country. “Population is the single factor which leaves negative impact on economic indicators in the form of water scarcity, energy, food crisis, unemployment and terrorism”. To address this biggest challenge Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has announced the year 2011 as “Population Year”, and the ministry has planned to launch a number of project for creating awareness, sensitization and advocacy campaign to disseminate importance of family planning. Addressing a press conference here she said economic growth rate is directly linked with the population growth rate. She said high population growth rate is consuming our resources rapidly and stock of reserves national resources are decreasing gradually. The minister added that 48 percent of our population consists on youth and if they are trained properly they would contribute positively in national economy and become a supporting pillar for the country. She said for the next year a project for involvement of Khateeb has has also been launched under which Khateeb of 48 villages would be engage to sensitize masses regarding family planning. Firdous said under the project the Maulvis and Imam Masjids would work as national partners with population ministry. She informed that during the year 2011 Tickets for Population Welfare would be issued to ”Champions of Population Planning”. “These tickets are issued to the families that would observe small families size”, the minister said. The minister added that a campaign would also planned for the next year in collaboration with all press clubs of the country to create awareness, advocacy and sensitization of masses. She added that district level population data is not available due to which allocation of resources according to requirements cannot be determined. To cater to this problem, she said, a district level research has been conducted with the help of National Institute of Population Studies. The minister said parliamentarians are role models for people of their respective constituencies, adding, a parliamentary campaign has been launched in which parliamentarians would be engaged to conduct convention in their constituencies for creating awareness among their workers at grass root level. Dr. Firdous said the ministry has also planned to initiate a project of discouraging early marriages trend through conducting brain storming session at universities and college targeting youth.

Written on July 12, 2010 | Posted in 2011, Economy, ISI, Marriage, News, Pakistan, Politics, Terrorism, War, aid, import, islam, islamabad, uth | Leave a comment

Frequent strikes and curfews hit marriage season in J-K

The ongoing turmoil in the Kashmir valley has badly hit the marriage season, as the locals perform marriages without much pomp and show due to the frequent violence.

Written on July 12, 2010 | Posted in Marriage, kashmir, ngo, unlmitie | Leave a comment

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