Pakistan would consider de-escalation if India doesn't carry out further attacks: FM
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Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Young Hindu girls in Pakistan turn away from centuries-old face tattoos
UMERKOT, Pakistan: Grinding charcoal with a few drops of goat's milk, 60-year-old Basran Jogi peers at the faces of two small Pakistani sisters preparing for their first tattoos. The practice of elder women needling delicate shapes onto the faces, hands, and arms of younger generations stretches back centuries in the Hindu villages that dot the southern border with India. 'First draw two straight lines between the eyebrows,' Jogi instructs her friend poised with a sewing needle. 'Now insert the needle along the lines — but slowly, until it bleeds.' Six-year-old Pooja barely winces as dotted circles and triangles are tattooed onto her chin and forehead. On the outskirts of the rural town of Umerkot in Sindh province, her seven-year-old sister Champa declares eagerly beside her that 'I am ready too.' In recent years, however, as rural Hindu communities in Muslim-majority Pakistan become more connected to nearby cities, many young women have opted out of the 'old ways.' 'These signs set us apart from others,' said 20-year-old Durga Prem, a computer science student who grew up in the nearby city of Badin. 'Our generation doesn't like them anymore. In the age of social media, young girls avoid facial tattoos because they think these marks will make them look different or unattractive.' Her sister Mumta has also refused to accept the tattoos that mark their mother and grandmothers. 'But if we were still in the village, we might have had these marks on our faces or arms,' she reflects. Just two percent of Pakistan's 240 million people are Hindu, and the majority live in rural areas of southern Sindh province. Discrimination against minorities runs deep and Hindu activist Mukesh Meghwar, a prominent voice for religious harmony, believes younger generations do not want to be instantly identified as Hindu in public. Many Muslims believe tattoos are not permissible in Islam, and even those who have them rarely display them in public. 'We can't force our girls to continue this practice,' Meghwar told AFP. 'It's their choice. But unfortunately, we may be the last generation to see tattoos on our women's faces, necks, hands, and arms,' he said. Few Hindus that AFP spoke with recalled the meaning behind the practice of tattoos or when it began, but anthropologists believe it has been part of their cultural heritage for hundreds of years. 'These symbols are part of the culture of people who trace their roots to the Indus civilization,' anthropologist Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro told AFP, referring to a Bronze Age period that pre-dates modern religion. 'These 'marks' were traditionally used to identify members of a community' and to 'ward off evil spirits,' he adds. Admiring the work on the grinning faces of the two little sisters, elder Jogi agreed that it was an ancestral tradition that enhanced the beauty of women. 'We don't make them for any specific reason — it's a practice that has continued for years. This is our passion,' she told AFP. The marks that begin dark black quickly fade to a deep green color, but last a lifetime. 'They belong to us,' said Jamna Kolhi, who received her first tattoos as a young girl alongside Jogi. 'These were drawn by my childhood friend — she passed away a few years ago,' 40-year-old Jamna Kolhi told AFP. 'Whenever I see these tattoos, I remember her and those old days. It's a lifelong remembrance.'
Arab News
3 days ago
- Arab News
KSrelief delivers aid in Asia, Africa
RIYADH: The Saudi aid agency KSrelief is continuing its efforts to help the underprivileged around the world. The agency this week distributed 1,525 food baskets to displaced families in Gezira State, Sudan. A total of 7,850 individuals benefited from this assistance, as part of the third phase of the 2025 Food Security Support Project in Sudan. Some 3,900 food baskets were distributed to vulnerable, flood-affected communities in several districts across Pakistan, helping 27,094 individuals. A total of 206 food baskets were delivered in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. The aid benefited 1,236 Afghan returnees from Pakistan, as part of the 2025-2026 Food Security and Emergency Project in Afghanistan. The aid comes within the framework of the relief and humanitarian projects provided by Saudi Arabia through KSrelief, which aims to alleviate the suffering of people in need worldwide.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Arab News
Pakistani-origin prodigy shatters A-Level records, to study medicine at Oxford
ISLAMABAD: Mahnoor Cheema, an 18-year-old British-Pakistani student, has made history by completing 24 A-Level subjects with top distinction to shatter multiple records. Cheema set a world record for the highest 24 individual A-Level subjects passed with distinction, along with an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), all undertaken through one exam, without repeating components to boost totals. She holds the second A-Level record for the highest number of A* and A grades, earning 19 top grades. The third is a combined record, with 11 A* grades in A-Levels added to her previous 34 A* grades in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) or O-Levels, making a total of 45 A* grades, the most awarded to any student in secondary education worldwide. Cheema's fourth combined record is for the highest total of individual subjects passed with distinction: 58 in total, comprising 24 A-Levels and 34 GCSEs. Born to Barrister Usman Cheema and Tayyaba Cheema who hail from Lahore, Cheema moved to the UK with her parents in 2006 when they pursued higher education at Lincoln's Inn and SOAS respectively. The 18-year-old, who switched to homeschooling for her final year after having attended two different schools in London, credited her parents for all her achievements. 'I say more than mine, this is my parents' achievement, entirely. It is a huge step that you leave your country, your family behind to come to another country to establish yourself just because your children may get a better future and a chance to pursue better education,' she said in an interview on Thursday. 'It's the biggest sacrifice anyone could make, so I am very, very thankful to my parents.' The 18-year-old, who regularly takes part in extracurricular activities and volunteers at a hospital once a week, has got an admission at the prestigious Oxford University. 'My place in Oxford [University] is confirmed. I am joining Oxford in October to study medicine,' she said, describing it as a childhood dream come true. 'It has been my childhood dream, I had never pictured any other university for myself.' In 2023, Cheema had passed 34 GCSE subjects, including a record 17 with A* grades in Year 10 and 34 A* grades overall. The accomplishments set her 5th and 6th world records. Asked about her daughter's achievements, Cheema's father said he had always described her as the 'daughter of the Pakistani nation,' congratulating people in his home country. 'My daughter has doubled the Aug. 14 celebrations for the entire nation,' he said.
