Social Taboos Fuel HIV/AIDS crisis in Pakistan

A new report reveals the effect that social taboos are having on a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in Pakistan as men are forced underground due to stigmas about homosexuality:

"The report, authored by Syed Ali and colleagues from Aga Khan University, Karachi, said 'in Pakistan, seven times more men are reported to be infected with HIV than women. If unconfirmed reports are to be believed, the prevalence of HIV among homosexual and bisexual Pakistani men is reaching alarming proportions.' ... Under Islamic tenets, sex of any kind, other that between husband and wife is strictly forbidden. Homosexual behaviour can lead to stigmatisation, discrimination and ostracisation from family and friends, and even prosecution. The authors noted 'most Pakistanis tend to believe that HIV transmission through illicit sexual activity cannot be a problem in the Muslim world.'"

Say the report's authors: "One would suppose that the fear of God in itself would be enough to discourage illicit sex among men who have sex with men (MSM)...Unfortunately, the moral approach only serves to drive the behaviour underground."

Previously
Pakistan Couple Jailed As Gender Switch Plans Unravel [tr]

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The Final Moments of Benazir Bhutto

Some sad, graphic, and arresting images from yesterday's rally where Bhutto's assassination took place, along with the simultaneous and subsequent deaths of 23 others, narrated by photographer John Moore.

The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto [nyt]

1993 New Yorker profile on Bhutto [the new yorker]

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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Assassinated at Rally

Two-time former Pakistani Prime Minister and current opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday after an attacker shot her in the neck and chest before blowing himself up and killing at least 20 other people at the end of an election rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan where Bhutto (pictured here, at the rally) spoke.

The AP reports: "Bhutto's supporters erupted in anger and grief after her death, attacking police and burning tires and election campaign posters in several cities. At the hospital where she died, some smashed glass and wailed, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf."

Pakistan was set to have elections on January 8, but all was thrown into doubt today as the nation plunged into chaos amid anger, mourning, and security fears.

According to the BBC, "It was the second suicide attack against [Bhutto] in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials. Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, said her death was a tragedy for 'the entire nation'. 'It is not a sad day, it is [the] darkest, gloomiest day in the history of this country,' he said, speaking at the hospital where she was taken. The United Nations Security Council is to meet for emergency consultations shortly to discuss the situation in Pakistan after the killing...Mr Sharif said there had been a 'serious lapse in security' by the government. But an old friend of Ms Bhutto, Salman Tassir, told the BBC World Service he did not think criticism should be directed at the government. 'There have been suicide attacks on Gen Musharraf also,' he told Newshour. '... I mean it is extremism and the fanatics who are to blame.'"

AFP: "There have been more than 40 suicide attacks in Pakistan this year that have left at least 770 people dead."

The Times Online reports: "The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her. But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition."

AP via Guardian: Bullets Cut Short a Life of Epic Sweep: "Bhutto's father was hanged and a brother was shot to death. She had risen to become the Muslim world's first female prime minister, only to lose office and flee Pakistan for most of a decade in the face of accusations she was corrupt. And when, finally, she returned in October to marshal the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted by a suicide attacker. More than 140 people, died, but the 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury and threw herself into the campaign..."

President Bush, from his ranch in Texas, called the assassination "a cowardly act by murderous extremists" and called on the country to "honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."

Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects [times online]
Former premier Benazir Bhutto assassinated in Pakistan [afp]
Pakistan's Bhutto killed in attack [ap]

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Pakistan Couple Jailed As Gender Switch Plans Unravel

A Pakistani woman who has undergone a sex change operation twice in the past 16 years in an attempt to become a man so she could marry her partner and avoid an arranged marriage, has been thrown in prison, as has her partner.

Shumail Raj married Shahzina Tariq and were arrested last week after the bride's father, hoping to annul the marriage, reportedly complained to authorities about the gender of the groom.

According to the BBC: "The High Court in the eastern city of Lahore ruled that Mr Raj had earlier lied to the court by saying he was a man. 'Neither Islam nor our law allows marriages of the same sex. This mistake cannot simply be overlooked,' Lahore High Court judge Khawaja Sharif told the couple. 'Why should a case be not registered against you for committing an unnatural offence and telling a lie?' he asked."

Raj claims that his sex change operations to become a man "were not carried out properly."

Raj and Tariq have been jailed separately and await trial, where they may be sentenced to life in prison, if convicted of an "unnatural offense" (aka homosexuality).

Said Tariq: "We're not homosexuals. Ours was a love marriage. It was the fear of forced marriage which compelled me to convince Shumail for marriage. I was fully aware of Shumail's physical condition."

Pakistan 'same-sex' couple jailed [bbc]

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