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The
Director of P.W.A.
Shahnaz Bokhari a clinical psychologist and president of the Progressive Women’s Association (PWA), has been an active campaigner for women’s rights. In October 2000 she aided a destitute twenty-six-year-old woman seeking refuge from physical violence at the hands of her husband and harassment from her family by first using her own home as a safe house, and then setting up a shelter. Soon, Bokhari was summoned to court for an unspecified reason which turned out to be a hearing for "abetting a woman in attempt to commit adultery" under the Hudood Ordinances. The Federal Sharia Court exonerated Bukhari February 2003, after two-and-a-half years of pressure and support from partner NGO's, media and foreign diplomatic missions. Police have continued to raid Bukhari’s home repeatedly, in search of other missing women, but despite these threats and invasion of her privacy, she remains dedicated to fighting for women’s rights in Pakistan and runs PWA from her private residence. |
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Shahnaz
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| Al Huda (A female-only organization called Al Huda (Urdu for guidance) in Pakistan.... is not without its critics. Shahnaz Bukhari, who heads a Pakistani NGO in Islamabad called the Progressive Women’s Association, said the organization was “Taking women back into the dark ages”. | |
| “I call them defaced women, when they have purdah (the Muslim tradition of concealment with a veil) and cover their faces,” she told IRIN. “I have performed Hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia], where women are required to wear a burka without covering their face, and I still remember there were two or three streaks of hair on my face. I was asked by the holy men to sacrifice some goats, because the hair should be covered while performing Hajj. If, while performing pilgrimage in the holy place, said to be the house of God, I don’t have to cover my face, then why should I be defaced in my country?” she asked. Quote from Shahnaz Bukhari Link here to read the whole story.... |
| V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women - Highlight PWA as NGO | |
| "Since 1985, Progressive Women Association has fought for women's rights at the local level, to raise awareness about domestic violence, and provides a safe house, AASRA--meaning shelter in Urdu. AASRA also provides women with medical and legal support. In addition to advocating change in the nation's rape laws, the association also actively investigates "stove deaths," in which a husband or his relatives drench a wife with gasoline or kerosene and set her aflame. These incidents usually occur in the family's central quarters, and the families usually blame faulty kitchen stoves. Less than 1 percent of these women survive. Over the last nine years, the Progressive Women's Association has uncovered over 5,675 stove-death victims as part of the 16,000 cases they have documented of violence against women." Link Here to web site | |
| UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women | ||
| Amnesty International | ||
| Human Rights Watch - Women's Rights |