Latest news with #Arak
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First Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Pakistan's war on women: Honour killings expose a nation built on misogyny
For countless women, Pakistan is no longer a country to live in, but a graveyard that buries their voices, their dignity, and their very existence Every year, between 300 and 1,000 women are executed by their own families in Pakistan under the pretext of honour. Image: X/@iMaryammm The recent brutal murders of Arak and Sheetal are not isolated tragedies; they are the latest entries in Pakistan's long catalogue of bloodletting carried out in the name of honour. While governments in Islamabad posture about morality and sovereignty, the reality is this: Pakistan has become a slaughterhouse for women, where patriarchal violence is not only tolerated but embedded in the fabric of society and shielded by state institutions. Every year, between 300 and 1,000 women are executed by their own families in Pakistan under the pretext of honour. These are not crimes of passion; they are premeditated executions. And they happen with such frequency, such brazenness, that they expose Pakistan for what it is: a state incapable of protecting half its population and unwilling to confront the barbarity it shelters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The killings of Arak and Sheetal are horrifying, but they are also predictable. They happened in a country where misogyny is weaponized, where women who dare to love, marry, or simply make choices of their own are punished with death. Pakistan has normalized this slaughter to such an extent that it barely registers as shocking anymore inside its borders. Instead, honour killings are treated as 'family matters,' excused by police, and whitewashed by local media using euphemisms like 'tragedy' or 'dispute.' Murder is softened into culture. Violence is disguised as tradition. Pakistan likes to paint itself as a victim on the world stage, forever crying about conspiracies from India, America, or foreign lobbies. But the real enemy of Pakistan is Pakistan itself. No outside force orders fathers, brothers, or husbands to strangle, burn, or shoot their daughters and sisters. No foreign conspiracy instructs police to look the other way, or courts to allow murderers to walk free under so-called forgiveness laws. These are Pakistani crimes, born of Pakistani traditions, sanctioned by Pakistani cowardice. The much-celebrated 2016 legal reforms supposedly 'closed loopholes' that allowed killers to escape punishment. Yet years later, nothing has changed. Families still shield perpetrators. Jirgas and tribal councils still bless honour killings as acceptable justice. Politicians still play to the misogynistic gallery, afraid to challenge the same patriarchal structures that keep them in power. Laws in Pakistan are theatre; the stage props look modern, but the blood on the floor is real. Murder Disguised as Tradition The deaths of Arak and Sheetal make clear what Pakistan's rulers refuse to admit: women in this country live in a permanent state of siege. Their bodies are not their own. Their choices are treated as threats. Their existence is conditional upon obedience to a code that sees them as property. To step outside that line is to sign one's own death warrant. And when that death comes, the killers are rarely punished. Pakistan's honour killing crisis is not a side issue or a cultural quirk. It is central to how the state operates—through fear, violence, and the crushing of dissent, whether political or personal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Just as Baloch voices are silenced by enforced disappearances, just as journalists are intimidated into submission, women are murdered to enforce obedience. Honour killings are not random crimes but instruments of control. Yet Pakistan has the audacity to call itself a democracy, a land of values, a country of pride. Where is the pride in the corpses of women dumped in shallow graves? Where is the honour in strangling daughters because they chose whom to love? Where is the morality in a state that passes laws it never enforces, that pretends progress while presiding over medieval brutality? A Graveyard for Women The truth is harsh but undeniable: Pakistan is not merely failing its women—it is destroying them. A nation where hundreds of women are killed every year with impunity cannot be called a civilised state. It is a patriarchal fortress built on blood and silence. And yet, Pakistan's rulers still try to deceive the world. They hold up reforms, quote statistics selectively, and tell the international community that things are improving. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, women like Arak and Sheetal are being executed behind closed doors. For every case that surfaces in the media, dozens more are buried, literally and figuratively, in the darkness of rural villages or urban slums. The global community must stop indulging Pakistan's excuses. Enough of the handshakes, the aid packages, the polite acceptance of empty promises. Every dollar given to Islamabad, every speech that praises its progress, is complicity in this violence. Arak and Sheetal will soon be replaced by other names—different women, same story. The killings will go on. The police will shrug. The politicians will preen. The mullahs will remain silent. And Pakistan will continue to bleed its daughters, one by one, while claiming to defend honour. But there is no honour in murder. There is only shame, and it belongs entirely to Pakistan. Pakistan has reached its lowest depths. A state that cannot protect its women inside their own homes offers them no place of safety anywhere. In this land, every wall becomes a prison, and every street a threat. For countless women, Pakistan is no longer a country to live in, but a graveyard that buries their voices, their dignity, and their very existence. As the late scholar Nawal El Saadawi once said, 'The home, the family, and the state are often the most dangerous places for women.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Nowhere does that ring truer than in Pakistan. Tehmeena Rizvi is a Policy Analyst and PhD scholar at Bennett University. Her areas of work include Women, Peace, and Security (South Asia), focusing on the intersection of gender, conflict, and religion, with a research emphasis on the Kashmir region, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Jordan News
01-07-2025
- Jordan News
Security: Poisoning Case Referred to the Public Prosecutor of the Grand Criminal Court - Jordan News
Security: Poisoning Case Referred to the Public Prosecutor of the Grand Criminal Court The media spokesperson for the Public Security Directorate announced that the investigation team in the case of poisoning caused by methyl alcohol (methanol) has completed all investigations. The case file, along with all involved parties, was referred this morning to the Public Prosecutor of the Grand Criminal Court for further legal proceedings. اضافة اعلان The spokesperson confirmed that there have been no new cases of poisoning due to consumption of the substance, and all the previously reported cases occurred in the Deir Alla district. These cases were linked to the consumption of contaminated beverages during a social gathering held last Friday, during which 32 individuals who had consumed the drinks were taken to the hospital. Investigation teams, accompanied by representatives from the Food and Drug Administration, have seized and withdrawn all products from the implicated factory from markets and placed them under custody. As of now, the incident has resulted in 9 deaths and 47 cases of poisoning, all currently under treatment, except for three individuals whose lab tests showed no traces of methanol. Below is a list of the products manufactured by the factory that have been withdrawn from the market: GOLD GOED Whisky RedSun Vodka 48 Vodka Volga GOLD & BROWN Vodka GOLD & BROWN Whisky Arak Jabalna Arak Ein Sarah Arak Sulaf Extra George Gin Arak Al-Nader Arak Al-Nawras
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel strikes unfinished Arak heavy water reactor in Iran
Israeli jets have bombed a nuclear reactor under construction in central Iran during a wave of air strikes on the seventh day of the conflict between the two countries. The Israeli military said it targeted the Arak heavy water reactor's core seal to stop it being used for "nuclear weapons development". The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the reactor was hit and that it contained no nuclear material. Spent fuel from heavy water reactors contains plutonium suitable for a nuclear bomb. Iran - which says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful - agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to redesign and rebuild Arak so it could not produce weapons-grade plutonium. Follow live updates as strikes continue What caused the latest conflict, and where could it lead? Video: How close is Iran to a nuclear weapon? BBC Verify: The secretive nuclear site only a US bomb could hit What are the risks of bombing Fordo? The following year, the IAEA said Iran had removed Arak's calandria, or reactor core, and rendered it "inoperable". The global nuclear watchdog's latest quarterly report from late May said minor civil construction work was ongoing at the reactor, and that Iran expected it to be commissioned this year and to start operating in 2026. The Israeli military said Iran's government had "deliberately ordered [workers] not to complete the conversion... in order to exert pressure on the West". "The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development," it added. Black-and-white aerial footage of the attack released by the military appeared to show a bomb hitting the domed roof of the reactor building and several large explosions from Arak, which about 250km (155 miles) south-west of Tehran and is also known as Khondab. Daytime video broadcast by Iranian state TV showed two large plumes of white smoke rising from the facility. It also cited Iranian officials as saying that the site had been "secured in advance" and that there was "no contamination resulting from the attack". Satellite imagery showed a large hole in the reactor building's roof. Also visible were what analysts identified as destroyed distillation towers belonging to the adjacent heavy water production plant. The IAEA initially reported that damage to the heavy water plant was not visible. But the agency later said it had assessed that key buildings at the facility were damaged, including the distillation unit. The Israeli military also announced on Thursday that its fighter jets had struck a "nuclear weapons development site" at Natanz. It is the location of Iran's main plant producing enriched uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel for power stations but, if further enriched, can be used in nuclear weapons. The first wave of Israeli strikes last Friday destroyed the above-ground part of Natanz's Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), where cascades of centrifuges were enriching uranium, as well as electricity infrastructure at the site. The IAEA also found indications of direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls. Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, told the BBC on Monday that the sudden loss of power at the underground enrichment halls was likely to have severely damaged, if not destroyed, the centrifuges operating there. Four buildings were destroyed in a separate attack on Friday on the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre, he said. But very little, if any, damage was visible at Iran's underground enrichment plant at Fordo, he added. President Donald Trump is said to be weighing up whether the US should participate in a strike on Fordo because it is the only country with a conventional bomb large enough to destroy it. Sources told the BBC's US partner CBS News that his mindset was that disabling the facility was necessary. In 2018, Trump abandoned the nuclear deal with Iran, saying it did too little to stop its pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions that crippled the Iranian economy. Iran retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions - particularly those relating to the production of enriched uranium. In its quarterly report, the IAEA expressed concern that Iran had amassed enough uranium enriched up to 60% purity - a short, technical step away from weapons grade, or 90% - to potentially make nine nuclear bombs. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said on Friday that it was targeting the Iranian nuclear programme because "if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time". He did not provide any evidence. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, said on Sunday that Israel had "crossed a new red line in international law" by attacking nuclear sites. He also insisted that Iran's doctrine was "rooted in our belief in the prohibition and illegitimacy of nuclear weapons". Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, although it neither confirms nor denies this. The Israeli air strikes have also destroyed Iranian military facilities and weapons, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iran's health ministry said on Sunday that at least 224 people had been killed, but a human rights group put the unofficial death toll at 639 on Thursday. Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the air strikes that have killed at least 24 people, according to the prime minister's office.
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Israeli strike damages Arak nuclear site in Iran
Israel carried out overnight missile strikes on nuclear sites in Iran on Thursday, June 20. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released computer-animated footage showing missiles striking an "inactive nuclear reactor" in Arak and the Natanz site. The IDF claimed the Natanz facility was designed to build a nuclear bomb and has now been "neutralised." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed damage to "key buildings" but stated the facility contained no nuclear material. Watch the video in full above.
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Israel strikes Iran's Natanz nuclear site in series of overnight attacks
Israel struck a nuclear site in Iran in a series of overnight attacks on Thursday (20 June). Computer-animmated footage shared by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shows missiles travelling from Israel to Tehran to strike an 'inactive nuclear reactor' in Arak. The IDF claims that the Natanz site was designed 'for one purpose: to build a nuclear bomb', which Israel said has now been 'neutralised'. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the strike on Friday (20 June) caused damage to 'key buildings', though the global nuclear watchdog said the facility contained no nuclear material.
