Spirit of Eid-ul-Adha!!!

The end of Hajj marks the beginning of Eid-ul-Azha as this “Festival of Sacrifice,” commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God’s command. Cattle, goats and camels are slaughtered the morning of the festival and the meat is shared with the poor.

Eid-ul-Azha brings joy to the rich and the poor alike. Even the poorest Muslim tries to wear new clothes, shoes and perfumes, before going for the congregational prayers and sacrifices an animal or takes a share in a cow, bullock, buffalow or a camel, on his return from the prayers.

The livestock sellers decorate the animals with colourful beads, garlands of artificial flowers and tinsel to attract the buyers. On arrival, the animals are feasted in the houses with chopped or unchopped green or dry fodder, grain husk and gram that the animal might not have got to eat earlier.

The nice thing about this Eid is that every family has their own traditions. Some sacrifice the animal on the first day, others on the second or third. On that day, the butcher is brought in and a prayer is said before the animal before it is cut.

The celebrations of Eid-ul-Azha in Karachi begins with the setup of bakra mandi. This year at least two hundred VIP tents will be installed in the upcoming Super Highway cattle market on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. In Pakistan several dinners are hosted and people tend to go to the homes of relatives and friends to share the happy times. Bakr-Eid is also very famous amongst children as they tend to keep animals for a week or so before they are slaughtered. On Eid-ul-Azha folks of Pakistan wear new dresses and purchase new shoes to match their lovely dress. The women of Pakistan also wear mehdi on the hands to give celebration flare to the occasion.

But the thing to be noticed this time on Eid was that there was comparatively less livestock in Pakistan as most of the livestock was affected due to the floods that occurred in our country. Moreover, the prices if the goats, sheeps, cows and buffalows reached to a very high price and these prices were not affordable to ordinary people of Pakistan. Though many people of Pakistan were restricted from providing necessary obligations of Eid.

Target Killings in Karachi!!

In the recent days, the people of Karachi have lost more than 50 lives due to the target killing. More than 5 dozen families have perished and police in this regard have failed to protect the people. There is no chance of positive outcome of security measures that are being taken in the city. The question which is mainly raised by the ordinary people living in Karachi is the reason for target killing in their city. The answer to their question is the lack of political tolerance.

The city is suffering from target killings which are mainly affecting the city to a great extent and the reason for it is difference of opinion on political, social, religious and sectarian issues which later equates to enmity. All these target killings are the result of absence of tolerance among the people of Karachi, every person has the right of disagreement with certain point of view but that doesn’t means they have no right to live. No security system can stop this target killing unless we should politically decide that we can live in a well-defined democratic manner. Security will only be efficient when we as citizens of Karachi promise to live together with different political point of views as people in developed democracies do.  

Aisam-ul-Haq as a Peace Player for Pakistan

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, one of the great talents of Pakistan as a tennis player. In September 1988, he started his career as a tennis player and now up till date he struggles hard for his career and gives fame to Pakistan by being one of the world’s famous tennis player. He proved to be a true Pakistani by promoting our country through his heart touching performance in tennis.  Moreover, while playing in the U.S. Open doubles final, he delivered a speech that being a Muslim Pakistani, he feels proud to be a player of Pakistan and play for the finals. Moreover he said, “I want to say something on behalf of all Pakistanis. Every time I come here, there’s a wrong perception about the people of Pakistan. They are very friendly, very loving people. We want peace in this world as much as you guys”.




He is now a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 40 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Monaco-based international organization Peace and Sport. In relation to Aisam-ul-Haq as a player of tennis from Pakistan, a statement issued by Peace and Sport said, “The Peace and Sport Image of the Year Award will be given to India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi – two tennis players who managed to bring the political authorities in their respective countries closer, through their own history of personal friendship and commitment”.

Early Marriages in Pakistan

"Everyday they beat me for pretty issues apparently in revenge for the murder"

Zainab Bibi, victim of a compensation marriage at the age of 1, from Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province

Throughout the world, the problem of early, forced marriages of children is considered to be a violation of basic human rights. In Pakistan most marriages are arranged by families. The boy or the girl is seldom allowed to exercise his or her will in choosing a life partner. Woman has the right to accept or reject marriage proposals. Her consent is a prerequisite to the calidity of the marital contract, according to the Prophet's teaching. It follows that if an 'arranged marriage' means the marrying of a female without her consent, then such a marriage may be annulled if the female so wishes.

In 1990 Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, which prohibits child marriages. In addition, under the Muslim Family Ordinance the girl and the boy must have attained the ages of 16 and 18, respectively, and both need to consent before the marriage takes place.

Historically, there have been no measures taken by the state to ensure that marriages are consensual and that in many instances the age of a girl will be changed on her marriage certificate in order to avoid questions raised over her being under-age. The ability of individuals to bypass the law without any fear of repercussions has also perpetuated customary practices of selling girls into 'marriage' in exchange for money, settling disputes with the exchange of girls known as 'vani' or 'swara' and the use of girls or women as compensation for crimes. 

This ancient  custom, prevalent in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, Afghanistan, and parts of Middle East, refers to the practice of forcing girl children into arranged marriages as compensation for a murder perpetrated by her family, to offset debts, or to settle other inter-clan or family disputes.

While formal laws in Pakistan do not condone these practices, courts do little to address them, allowing informal justice systems to implement a law of their own.

High levels of economic hardship and social inequality often lead families to sell their young daughters into marriages as a means of earning money. Bride prices ranges from Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 200,000 and younger girls receive higher prices.

Such sales are not legal and are not done with the consent of the girl. In some cases the decision is made by one member of the family without consulting any other members.

The recent case of the forced marriage of an eight year old girl in Karachi indicates that this custom is very common in the country, particularly in the rural areas. In the cities too, unless someone reports the incident to the police, the culprits are not punished.

Zulqarnain Haider Missing

Another shocking news for the people of Pakistan in the field of cricket came just after the match fixing scandals, and that was one of the best wicket keepers being missing during their test matches with South Africa which was held at Dubai. Zulqarnain Haider, the wicket keeper of the Pakistan cricket team, did not turned over for the final ODI match with South Africa at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The last message conveyed by Zulqarnain Haider himself was done by updating his Facebook Status message saying that “leaving Pakistan cricket because get bad msg fr 1 man fr lose the match in last game”. According to the cricketer after being interviewed by several news channels, came up with an excuse that he was getting threatening messages and calls. He was even bribed for losing the match, and according to him he was out of his mind and he didn’t know what exactly to do at that moment. That’s the reason he left everything without even telling anyone. And was found in England with his family after few hours of his departure from Dubai. According to my opinion, the reason for all this was just to give a bit importance to oneself and to be famous. Otherwise if he was even getting the threats so he must have informed any faithful person from the entire team. But he just kept everything to himself, so it means there was something wrong and fishy with him. Moreover, he said in an interview with a well-known news channel that he would attend the press conference and would talk to the team administration and would hopefully resolve all the issues and allegations which they are thinking about.