Muslim, Hindu and Christian students join forces to spread the season’s cheer

SUKKUR:
The annual Christmas event at the St Mary’s school came with a pleasant twist this year – not only did the Christian students put on a great show on Tuesday, but their Hindu and Muslim peers also got into the mix and simultaneously celebrated Diwali and Eid.
The idea to have a single event for the three religious occasions was the brainchild of the principal of the school, Sister Rosy. “We, as the elders, are hypocrites because we express solidarity for the sake of photo sessions only. But these children are innocent and we have to teach them to respect all religions,” she said.
The event kicked off with the National anthem. Clad in an eclectic variety of dresses, students from class I to class X participated in tableaus, skits and songs. Muslim students were in white with caps bearing the moon and star, the Hindu students were clad in colourful kurtas and dhotis and the Christian students were wearing coats, ties and Santa Claus caps. At one point during the event, they danced to the tune of the popular Sindhi folk song ‘Ho Jamalo’. The food stalls, which were offering different snacks including, biscuits, chocolates, toffees and cotton candy were particularly popular.
The students and the audience were equally pleased at the fact that the interfaith event had been organised. “I feel really happy to be participating in such an event. Today it seems as if there are no Muslims, Hindus or Christians – just human beings. All these religions have one thing in common – they all preach humanity,” said a student of class IX, Khizar Tariq.
“I am happy because it is the first time that such great event has been organised by our school. I now know how Muslims and Christians celebrate their religious occasions,” said a little girl called Prerna. For her the festival was extra special as she had received a prize for her outstanding results in the school’s examinations.
A fourth grader, Nimra, said that her favourite part of the event was the camel dance, which is a part of Islamic celebrations. Munching potato chips, she said that it felt like Eid had arrived because every body was wearing new and colourful dresses. “Today I have learnt to be happy and let others be happy,” said another student, Mariam. Wajiha, a student of class I, was running excitedly from one stall to another. “She could not sleep properly last night because of the excitement,” her mother told The Express Tribune. “The celebrations have momentarily relieved my tensions. It reminds me of Indian movie ‘Amar, Akbar, Anthony’,” she added.

Imran Khan urged to reschedule Karachi rally in respect of Christmas Spirit

LAHORE: A rights organisation has asked Imran Khan to reschedule Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) rally in Karachi on December 25 so as not to disturb Christmas celebrations.The Centre for Human Rights Education Pakistan wrote to the PTI chief stating that by holding a rally on December 25, he would deprive his Christian supporters of the chance to participate.
The letter said that large gatherings would disturb the festivities. “It is also likely to deprive the Christians of the chance to participate in the political process,” it said. “Since PTI is being seen as an emerging mainstream party, it should consider and recognise the multireligious, multiethnic and multilinguistic nature of Pakistani society.” The letter said changing the date of the rally would send a positive message to religious minorities. “PTI should also announce its policy … to arrest discrimination and persecution of minorities”, said the Centre’s letter.

Don’t Arrest Parents in front of their "Child"

Abdullah Khoso, the National Programme Manager at SPARC said till June 2011 there were as many as 180 children in different prisons across the country, last year there were 234. Khoso, who recently participated in a consultation by the Commission on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, said Rule 326 of the Pakistan Prison Rules states that in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a woman offender can keep her child with her till the child is six while in Balochistan the provision is for children up to the age of three.SP Shahida from the Police Department said that police should be trained to ensure that no parent is arrested in front of their child. She said police officials should make a personal effort in trying to ascertain whether there are any children present in the house when an arrest is being made. “It is unfortunate that not infrequently the entire family of the accused, including the children, is brought in for questioning,” she said.She added that if an investigation requires questioning a child, it should be conducted in the presence of a social welfare officer.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan director IA Rehman said that it was generally in the best interest of the child that it not be kept in prison along with its parents. Rehman added that bail should be made mandatory for women who are pregnant or are mothering an infant. He stressed on the need for incorporating non-custodial methods in the judicial system to ensure that rights of children whose parents are imprisoned are not violated.
Law Department Deputy Secretary Abid Reza said the core issue was the violation of the rights of the child. Reza said the Home Department and the Social Welfare Department should send their recommendation to the Law Department for policy making.

Rao Khalil from the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau said the willingness of the imprisoned mother to give up her child to alternate care is a matter of great concern which requires both counselling for mothers and suitable alternative child care. He said pre-arrest and post-arrest data should also be collected and analysed.
SPARC Executive Director Arshad Mehmood said despite Pakistan being the first Islamic country and the sixth in the world to have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children are highly neglected in the country. Mehmood said currently there are between 1,200 and 1,300 women in various prisons in Pakistan out of which almost 850 are in the Punjab. He added that it was unfortunate that these were only four female probation officers in Punjab for women offenders.
MPAs including Arifa Khalid and Deeba Mirza were present at the meeting. Khalid said there was a need to train politicians so they can take into account the technical details of issues pertaining to children of incarcerated parents.