Kainat to attend UN session on Malala’s invitation

Karachi
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has invited rape survivor Kainat Soomro to attend the UN General Assembly session scheduled from September 23 to 27.
She will fly to New York on September 23. “Malala has made me her sister,” Kainat told The News on Tuesday at the Karachi Press Club.
Her visit to New York coincides with that of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who will address the UN General Assembly.
In a society still plagued by conservative minds, Kainat, who was gang-raped in Mehar taluqa of Dadu district in 2007, has since gone on to become a symbol of inspiration for rape survivors with her aggressive pursuance of a criminal case against the perpetrators and their influential landlord.
“Initially, the police were reluctant to lodge an FIR. My father appealed to the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson Asma Jehangir," she recalled, "Finally, an FIR was lodged after nine days.”
The perpetrators had also suggested holding a jirga and offered money, but her father refused. Facing threats from those men, Kainat came to Karachi along with her brother and contacted the HRCP office.
“Activists of the HRCP, War Against Rape and the Aurat Foundation and particularly the media highlighted my case. We staged a hunger strike in front of the Karachi Press Club for justice,” she said.
There were, however, repercussions for the heroic Kainat and her family as her brother was killed in May 2010.
According to the State of Human Rights 2014, a comprehensive report compiled by the HRCP, promises are made for the protection and development of women each year but they remained unfulfilled till the end of the year.
This year has been no different. The provincial governments have announced special measures to support women but most of them were rhetoric, with no practical steps being taken for their implementation.
Despite these odds, women in Pakistan won laurels on various fronts in 2014. Malala Yousafzai became the first Pakistani and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She also received several other awards.