CASE SPOTLIGHT
Nida Khyani, female Provincial Council member: attacked in a drive-by shooting, Afghanistan
Nida Khyani, a female Provincial Council member, was left in critical condition after being attacked in a drive-by shooting in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan. Nida Khyani is yet another casualty of the systematic violent targeting of women in public life in Afghanistan.
Woman Politician’s three Children murdered for declaring that she would contest for Election, India
Uma Devi of Islamnagar, Jamui Distirct, India‘s 3 children were murdered on 19th March 2006 after she declared that she would contest the Panchayat election for Mukhia. Nepali Yadav, along with his wife Uma Devi, two sons and daughter Kajal were sleeping at home in Islamnagar when Surender Yadav, a local Police dfadar knocked on the door. When the door was opened, a mob of around 14 people including the present village Mukhiya – Krishanand Yadav, forcefully picked up Nepali Yadav and Uma Devi’s children. Hearing the commotion, Nepali Yadav's brothers Devi and Raghu Yadav came to the scene. They too were seized along with Nepali Yadav and dragged to the outskirts of the village. Nepali's daughter Kajal was brutally murdered. Hearing the screams of Nepali Yadav and his brothers, the criminals took the two young boys further away, strangled them and tore open their bellies.
Deputy Speaker denied the rightful office of speaker, Nepal
In Nepal the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives was denied the rightful office of the speaker. Even though the female politician proved her abilities and rightly qualified to assume the job, political parties found various reasons to give the position to a male. The political parties considered women as unfit for top leadership due to male bias and abused the principle of gender equality.
District Councilor raped for being in Politics, Pakistan
An elected District Councilor, associated with the Pakistan People’s Party for 25 years, was the city president in 1995. Her hard work and devotion towards the party had her elected as councilor after defeating Mr Salim Aktar, a renowned politician. Mr Aktar could not accept defeat from a woman, providing him with an excuse to exact revenge on her, which he took when his brother was elected as Member of Parliament for the Muslim League in the National Assembly elections.One day while traveling in a car on the way to the village where they lived Mrs Mirza and her family was attacked by a group of veiled assailants who stopped the car and burst the tyres of the car. Her husband and son were dragged out of the car, beaten up and left tied up on the road. Mrs Mirza was also beaten and had her clothes ripped off her. The assailants then proceeded to rape Mrs Mirza and filmed a video of the assault. They burned her body with cigarettes and left her at a nearby bus-stop, threatening to expose the video tape publicly if she were to disclose any of the perpetrators’ names. The assailants’ names were only registered by the police once they were put under pressure by the PPP and the culprits were eventually arrested. Mrs Mirza was hospitalized for two months. Despite her assault she continued her work and was re-elected as councilor.
