Latest news with #NationalCommissionontheStatusofWomen
Express Tribune
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
NCSW hosts consultative session on dowry
In line with the ongoing review of family laws, National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) convened the second national consultation on the Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act, 1976. The session is part of a series of legal reform consultations, following directives from the Sub-Committee of the National Assembly Gender Mainstreaming. The consultation was chaired by NCSW Chairperson Ume Laila Azhar and brought together key stakeholders from several ministries and divisions directly associated with the subject discussed.
Express Tribune
10-07-2025
- Express Tribune
NCSW condemns violence against girls
National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) strongly condemns the recent killings and violence against young girls in the name of honour, including technology-facilitated violence. NCSW Chairperson Ume Laila Azhar, expressed her deep concern over the alarming rise in cases of violence against young girls, particularly in the name of honour. "This brutal incident can never be called a killing in the name of honour," she said. "What type of honour is it to kill a person, take someone's life, and that too of your own daughter, over a petty issue like not deleting TikTok from her mobile?" Azhar demanded strict implementation of laws to prevent such incidents and called for a wake-up call for parents to thoroughly know the spouses of their daughters before considering them for marriage. She also highlighted the need for collective action to prevent technology-facilitated gender-based violence, which is becoming a threat to the next generation. She took notice of two recent incidents, one in Rawat, where a young girl was killed by her father, and another in Lyari, Karachi, where a 19-year-old girl was a victim of attempted murdered and is suffering from severe sexual violence issues.
Express Tribune
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Campaign calls for under-18 marriage ban
In view of the increasing trend of child marriage and its serious consequences, National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) along women's right organisations has launched a comprehensive campaign across the country calling for banning marriage before the age of 18. Addressing a press conference, NCSW Chairperson Ume Laila Azhar applauded the ICT Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025. She said that after Sindh, it is a welcome move that the minimum age for marriage of girls in Islamabad is 18 years. "We demand that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18 years across the country. We have to think about the future of our girls and boys and take steps for their education and health. We have to stop the exploitation of our children, especially girls. This is not just a matter of marriage, it is a matter of raising future generations. We will launch a nationwide campaign for this bill so that there is standard uniformity in the law regarding this across Pakistan." she said. A renowned gender expert, Fehmida Iqbal, presented relevant statistics, showing that 18 per cent of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18, while 54 per cent of young girls become pregnant before the age of 18, which proves to be a significant reason for the threat to their lives and the lives of the newborn.
Roya News
04-06-2025
- General
- Roya News
Teen TikTok star shot dead: What we know so far
Seventeen-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf was shot and killed at her home in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Monday in what police and rights activists are calling a targeted act of gender-based violence. Yousaf, who had amassed over 1.1 million followers on TikTok and was known for her lip-sync videos, was reportedly shot twice in the chest and later died at the hospital. She was originally from Chitral in northern Pakistan and had recently celebrated her birthday, as seen in her last TikTok post. Police arrested a 22-year-old man from Faisalabad within 20 hours of the murder. According to Islamabad's police chief, the suspect had tried to contact Yousaf multiple times and traveled to Islamabad to see her. When she refused to meet him, he allegedly forced his way into her home and shot her during an argument. The suspect also took her phone, apparently in an attempt to destroy evidence. The murder has sparked widespread outrage, with women's rights groups, including the Aurat March and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), condemning the killing and demanding justice. 'This wasn't a random act – it was a premeditated attack by a man who couldn't take no for an answer,' said a statement from Aurat March. Sana's murder is the latest in a growing number of violent crimes targeting women in Pakistan, particularly those with a public presence online. Activists warn of a disturbing trend in which women are punished for visibility, independence, and rejecting unwanted advances. In 2024 alone, at least 346 women in Pakistan were killed in the name of 'honour,' according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan — a number that excludes many cases like Yousaf's, where the attacker was not a family member.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Who was Sana Yousaf, Pakistani TikTok star shot dead by a gunman?
Police in Pakistan's capital Islamabad have arrested a man accused of murdering a 17-year-old social media influencer, Sana Yousaf. Yousaf, who had hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, was shot dead at her home on Monday, the latest high-profile instance of suspected femicide in Pakistan. Local media reported that Yousaf was shot dead at her home in Islamabad at about 5pm (12:00 GMT), according to a police report filed by Yousaf's mother, Farzana Yousaf, seen by Pakistani news outlet, Dawn. The report added that Yousaf was shot twice in her chest and was taken to a hospital but died of her injuries. Yousaf was a social media influencer, originally from Chitral, a city about 400km (250 miles) north of Islamabad. As of Wednesday, her TikTok account had 1.1 million followers. She often posted videos of herself lip syncing to songs. The last video posted on her account is a montage of her celebrating her birthday with her friends. On Tuesday, Yousaf was buried in her ancestral graveyard in Chitral's Chuinj village, according to Dawn. On Tuesday, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, Islamabad's inspector general of police (IGP), told a media briefing that the police had arrested a suspect from Faisalabad, a city about 320km (200 miles) south of Islamabad, within 20 hours of the murder. 'The accused is a 22-year-old unemployed man who repeatedly attempted to contact the victim. Upon her refusal to respond, he committed the murder,' said Rizvi. He added that the suspect took Yousaf's phone with him to 'destroy evidence', but that police had seized her phone as well as the murder weapon from the suspect. Dawn reported, quoting unnamed sources close to the investigation, that the suspect and Yousaf had known each other for one year. The suspect had travelled to Islamabad between May 28 and 29 to wish Yousaf well on her birthday, but the two could not meet, for unspecified reasons. The suspect and Yousaf then spoke by phone and decided to meet on June 2. When the suspect reached Yousaf's house, she did not come out. However, he still managed to enter and an argument ensued, escalating into Yousaf's murder. Yousaf's parents were not at home when the murder took place, but her aunt was present. The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), a statutory body established to examine government policies affecting women, has demanded a detailed investigation into the crime. 'We will not let this case be buried under social stigma, false narratives of honour, or procedural loopholes. This senseless killing highlights the vulnerability of women and girls, even in their own homes. We demand justice for Sana and her family, and expect the state to ensure accountability of the perpetrators,' said NCSW chairperson Ume Laila Azhar. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed the suspect's arrest in an X post on Tuesday. 'Police has recovered the pistol and the i phone [iPhone] of the deceased girl and accused has confessed the murder as well,' he wrote. Al Jazeera has not been able to independently confirm whether the suspect has confessed to killing Yousaf. Aurat March, the feminist group which organises Pakistan's largest annual women's march in multiple cities – usually coinciding with International Women's Day on March 8 – posted a statement on Tuesday. 'We, the Aurat March chapters across the country, demand justice for Sana a 17-year-old girl and TikToker who tragically lost her life to patriarchal violence,' the account wrote in the caption. 'Patriarchy feels most threatened when women & gender minorities claim voice and visibility in public by challenging the stand pat norms. In response, it turns to violence the ultimate tool to silence, control, and erase. 'This is exactly what happened to Sana who was killed inside her own home by a violent man who couldn't take no for an answer. This wasn't a random hit, this was a planned attack where a minor girl's privacy and home were invaded by a man who thought he would get away with it.' Actor Mahira Khan also posted a story on Instagram, sharing the news of Yousaf's murder. 'Disgusted to the core,' Khan wrote in the caption. In recent years, several incidents have occurred involving young women being subject to violent crimes at the hands of men they know. Many of these women also had a social media presence on platforms such as TikTok. 'Sana Yousaf's murder is part of a horrifying, ongoing pattern of violence against women in Pakistan, especially those who dare to exist with autonomy,' Nighat Dad, the executive director of a nongovernmental, research-based advocacy organisation, Digital Rights Foundation, told Al Jazeera. 'These are not isolated incidents. What connects them is a culture where women are punished for visibility, independence, and saying no. 'At the heart of this pattern is fragile masculinity and deeply rooted misogyny. When young women assert boundaries or say no to romantic or sexual advances, it bruises the male ego, especially in a society that teaches men entitlement over women's bodies and choices. This entitlement, when left unchecked by law, culture, and platforms, turns deadly,' Dad added. On January 28, a man named Anwar ul-Haq was charged with murder after he confessed to shooting his 14-year-old daughter Hira Anwar in Quetta, a city in Pakistan's southwest. The man, who had recently moved his family back to Pakistan from the US, told the police he found TikTok videos made by his daughter 'objectionable'. His daughter had been posting videos to the social platform before she had moved to Pakistan with her family. In October 2024, police in Pakistan's southern city Karachi said they had arrested a man for killing four members of his family. The four women, aged 60, 21, 20, 20 and 12 were found with slit throats in separate rooms of their apartment, according to the police. In 2022, Pakistani American woman Sania Khan was 29 when she was shot and killed by her former husband, Raheel Ahmad, in Chicago after she had posted about her divorce on her TikTok account. When the police arrived, Ahmad, 36 at the time, shot himself with the gun he used to kill Khan. Possibly the most high-profile murder case of a Pakistani woman took place in 2016, when social media star Qandeel Baloch was killed by her brother when she was 26 years old. 'Women who are visible online, particularly those who challenge social norms or exist outside the mold of respectability politics, face disproportionate abuse and threats,' Dad said. 'The backlash isn't just digital, it's physical. When platforms fail to act against hate and harassment, they enable a culture where violence becomes the consequence of women simply being seen and heard.' In all, 346 women in Pakistan were killed in 2024 in the name of 'honour', up from 324 in 2023, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). But this statistic likely does not include cases like Yousaf's, where the accused man is not from the victim's family and committed murder after his advances were rejected. In July 2021, 27-year-old Noor Mukadam was killed in Islamabad by Zahir Jaffar, whose family was known to Mukadam's. In 2022, a judge sentenced Jaffar to death for the rape, murder and beheading of Mukadam. Last week, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld Jaffar's death penalty. 'We need systemic change. The state must treat online misogyny and gender-based violence as connected threats and not separate issues,' Dad said. 'When a woman says no, and a man responds with violence, that's not heartbreak, it's abuse.'
