Pak elections to get a Facebook transparency twist, and Urdu newspaper booked for publishing MQM chief’s statement. Here’s what’s happening across the border.
On 15 April, The Gender Guardian will become the first school for transgender persons, which promises to provide the full 12 years of education and vocational training.
The school, founded by Asif Shahzad, is set to be inaugurated in Lahore, with two more branches set for capital Islamabad and Karachi. These schools are being built by an NGO named Exploring Future Foundation.
The Gender Guardian will have separate wings for primary, secondary and graduate level education. The school will also host crash courses for fashion designing, beauty and hair styling courses, graphic designing, computer, and mobile repairing. The school has already admitted 40 students.
Facebook to only run verified ads ahead of Pak elections: Zuckerberg
Ahead of Pakistan’s general elections scheduled for July, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, announced Friday that any advertiser who wants to run political ads will first need to have his/her identity verified by Facebook. The ads will also have to clearly mention who is funding the message.
“With important elections coming up in the US, Mexico, Brazil, India, Pakistan and more countries in the next year, one of my top priorities for 2018 is making sure we support positive discourse and prevent interference in these elections,” read Zuckerberg’s post.
This development is expected to make online campaigning much more transparent.
Hazara minority protests for government protection
The Shi’ite Hazara minority has been staging a sit-in protest in Quetta, Balochistan, since 1 April, demanding protection from the government.
Hazaras have been the target of many bomb attacks, with almost 2,000 of them being killed in the past two decades. More than 70,000 community members have fled their homes. Hardline Sunni extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Islamic State frequently claim responsibility for these attacks.
“We have been facing a systematic genocide for the past 20 years,” a young Hazara activist, Nisar Ali, was quoted saying on Radio Mashaal. “We now want the state to protect us, to grant us the right to life.”
Although senior military and civilian officials frequently give Hazaras pledges of protection in Quetta, Balochistan authorities have not yet reacted to the ongoing protest.
Urdu newspaper editor booked for publishing statement of MQM chief Altaf Hussain
An FIR was lodged against the owner and editor of Karachi based newspaper Amn for publishing a statement by Altaf Hussain, founder of political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), on the front page on 3 April.
In 2015, the Lahore High Court had banned the broadcast of images and speeches of Hussain across all electronic and print media. After Amn published his statement, complainant Nisar Ali Khan registered an FIR against Hussain and the newspaper under section 123-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (condemnation of creation of the state and advocacy of the end to its sovereignty) and section 34 (common intention).
The police also included the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 (section 11-W relating to printing, publishing, or disseminating any material that incites hatred) in the FIR.
Nisar said that Hussain called for “separate province for Muhajirs (the term for people who migrated from the Indian side at Partition)” in his statement in the newspaper, which amounted to spreading hatred among different communities.