THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016 INTERNATIONAL

India’s female fighter pilots pave way for more women in combat

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) the most challenging task in the armed physical and mental ability to handle the year it would bring women into fighting wings,” he told reporters at the event. has recruited its first female fighter forces. Our long-term objective is to stress of such deployments. roles and approved IAF plans for women “Yet, we will work towards creating more pilots, paving the way for more women work towards gender parity in the armed pilots to fly warplanes from June 2017 opportunities for them.” to be given combat roles as one of the forces.” Opportunities for women on a three-year experimental basis. The three women, who are in their world’s biggest military forces takes Prime Minister Narendra Modi also The country’s defense forces began Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in early twenties, will undergo training on steps towards greater gender parity. congratulated the women, saying it was recruiting women to non-medical posi- February went a step further announc- Hawk advanced jets for a year, before Flying Officers Mohana Singh, Bhawana “a matter of immense pride and joy” to tions in 1992, yet only 2.5 percent of its ing the country would induct women in they fly supersonic warplanes. The new Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi received have the first female fighter pilots. “More more than 1 million personnel are all fighter streams of the armed forces in female fighter pilots told reporters their wings on Saturday when they were power to them,” he tweeted. Only a women - most of them administrators, the future. Defense Minister Parrikar they were excited about the opportu- commissioned into the IAF at a gradua- handful of countries such as Britain, the intelligence officers, doctors, nurses or confirmed plans to extend combat roles nity, adding that they expected to tion ceremony in the southern city of United States, Israel and neighboring dentists. In recent years, Indian courts for women in the army and navy, adding treated on a par with their male coun- Hyderabad. , have allowed women into the have pushed the military to widen it would take time. terparts. “I always wanted to be a fight- “It is a golden day as for the first time cockpits of fighter jets. India had until opportunities for women, by giving “There are still a lot of technical and er pilot, but when we joined the option these women are going to join the fight- now kept women out of that role, and them permanent commissions, for administrative difficulties in several was not there,” Kanth said. “So when it er pilots,” Indian Defence Minister away from frontline warships and example, instead of limiting them to areas in taking more women. We need came to us in December 2015, I knew I Manohar Parrikar said at the ceremony. ground combat, citing concerns over five-year terms. to create a lot of infrastructure for was going to grab it with both my “This will inspire more women to take up their vulnerability if captured and their Modi’s government announced last women, especially in air force and navy hands.” —Reuters Popular Pakistani Sufi singer shot dead in ‘act of terror’ Mystical sect of Islam viewed as heretical

KARACHI: One of Pakistan’s best endary singer, Ghulam relatives, while TV channels of his religious views. known Sufi musicians was shot Farid Sabri who died in 1994, was broadcast recordings of his music “Our own dear Amjad Sabri, dead by unknown assailants rid- a fixture on national television in tribute. “Totally shocked to son of Ghulam Farid Sabri and ing a motorcycle in on and regularly performed on a hear the news of @AmjadSabri. nephew of Maqbool Sabri, the Wednesday, triggering an out- morning show during the ongo- May Allah bless him with Jannah renowned , was a pouring of grief over what police ing holy Muslim month of (heaven) for he praised Him & His true lover of God, life and all described as an “act of terror”. Ramadan. Prophet beautifully all his life,” that’s good,” he said. “His mission Amjad Sabri, aged around 45, In May 2014 he was asked by a tweeted Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of love has tragically been cut was travelling by car from his court to respond to blasphemy of Pakistan’s parliament. short by those who spread hate home in the city’s eastern charges following the broadcast “Shocked and saddened by in the world, and is a great loss Korangi area to a television stu- of a controversial song-and- news of the killing of Amjad for all the divided people of our dio, when a motorcycle pulled up dance routine that was set to a Sabri, not just a crime but an country,” he added. alongside the vehicle and the Qawwali piece about the wed- attack on our culture and her- Karachi, a city of 20 million KATHMANDU: Nepalese relatives of 12 victims of a suicide bomb attack react attackers opened fire, Farooq ding of the Prophet Mohammed’s itage,” added Mustafa Qadri, a and Pakistan’s economic hub, is as they pay their last respects alongside the coffins of those killed. —AFP Sanjarani, a police officer told daughter to his cousin. human rights researcher at frequently hit by religious, politi- AFP. Sabri was hit by five bullets Amnesty International. While the cal and ethnic violence. and was declared dead at Abbasi ‘Mission of love’ motive behind the killing was Paramilitary forces began a ‘Devastated’ Nepalese receive Shaheed Hospital while a com- His killing was met with shock not immediately clear, Arieb sweeping crackdown on mili- panion, named as a relative, and condemnation. Neighbors Azhar, another popular Sufi tants in the city in 2013, which the bodies of Kabul victims Saleem Sabri, was in critical con- congregated outside the singer’s singer, told AFP he believed Sabri has led to a substantial drop in dition, a hospital source added. home to offer condolences to his may have been targeted because overall levels of violence. —AFP KATHMANDU: Dozens of people, many in members, many of whom had camped out “It was a targeted killing and tears, thronged Kathmandu’s airport yester- for hours at the airport. “The whole country an act of terrorism,” Muqaddas day to receive the bodies of 12 Nepali is mourning the death of innocent Nepalese Haider, a senior police officer guards killed in a suicide bomb attack in killed in this cowardly attack,” Oli told said, without naming possible Kabul this week. The victims were among 14 reporters after placing marigold garlands on suspects. Grisly mobile phone security guards who were killed Monday in a each coffin. footage of the scene of the crime Taliban suicide blast targeting their bus as The aircraft, chartered by the Nepal gov- shot by an onlooker showed the they headed to work at the Canadian ernment, also brought back 24 other singer’s head slumped on his embassy in Kabul. Nepalese who worked as guards for Sabre right shoulder and a pool of Afghan authorities had earlier said that International, the same company that blood on the ground by the dri- all 14 were Nepali nationals, before employed the victims. “It could have been ver’s side where he sat. Kathmandu clarified that 12 of the victims me,” said former Nepal army soldier Shyam belonged to Nepal. Relatives and friends Bahadur Tamang, 47, who began working in Targeted sect broke down in tears as they approached the in 2014. “There is no security Sabri was a ‘Qawwal’, or singer pink-and-white coffins, tagged with the for us... there are many other Nepalese who of ‘Qawwali’, which is a tradition- names of the dead. “Our family is devastat- are eager to quit and return home,” Tamang al form of Islamic devotional ed,” said Sarajan Adhikari, whose brother-in- told AFP. music that is popular across law Madhusudhan Koirala was killed in the Authorities said around 3,300 Nepalese South Asia with roots tracing attack. were currently working in Afghanistan as back to the 13th century. The The 45-year-old’s death was the latest security guards but accurate figures for the music is closely associated with tragedy to hit the family. The guard lost two total number employed across the world are , a mystical sect of Islam children in last year’s massive earthquake hard to come by. Impoverished Nepal has that is viewed as heretical by that killed nearly 9,000 people in the long served as a supplier of security forces hardline groups such as the Himalayan nation. “(My sister) had told him to the world. A number of them are former Taleban. not to go (back) the last time he came soldiers with the Gurkha brigades of the The Taleban and other Islamist home. It was only the compulsion to earn Indian and British army’s while others are groups have carried out major that made him return,” Adhikari told AFP. retired Nepal army or police personnel. Four attacks on Sufi mosques and Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli Nepali guards were killed in a 2011 attack on shrines in recent years, including offered a floral tribute to the victims as he a UN compound in the northern Afghan city the 2010 bombing of the Data attempted to console distraught family of Mazar-i-Sharif in 2011. —AFP Darbar shrine in Lahore that killed more than 40 people. KARACHI: Pakistani investigators and journalists gather around the blood-stained car of famous Sabri, the son of another leg- Sufi singer Amjad Sabri after an attack in Karachi, Pakistan, yesterday. —AP

Bangladesh river eats up Nepal’s quake widows struggling to survive homes, trapping villagers KATHMANDU: Rani Maya Shrestha was working treated by society. Society does not accept me rounded by taboos in this patriarchal society. KURIGRAM: Piyara Begum once had a happy Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud told the on a neighbor’s potato farm when the first of as one of them,” the 33-year-old said by phone Like other widows, Adhikari said she was no life in Garuhara village by the Brahmaputra Thomson Reuters Foundation. Nepal’s two massive earthquakes struck last year. from the village of Gairigaon close to the the 7.8 longer allowed to attend religious ceremonies River in northern Bangladesh, but worsening A 2014 study from the International Union She rushed home to find her husband buried in magnitude quake’s epicenter in west Nepal. or other celebrations because women who erosion of the river banks has displaced her for Conservation of Nature showed that the the ruins of their house northeast of the capital Women for Human Rights (WHR), a Nepali have lost their husbands are seen as inauspi- family seven times. Now Piyara, 30, has taken flow of the Brahmaputra is influenced strong- Kathmandu. “I should have died with him,” said organisation which campaigns for widows’ cious. In some places, widows are considered shelter in Panchgachi village, 8 kilometers ly by the melting of snow and ice upstream, Shrestha inside the tin hovel that has been her rights, said women who had lost their hus- so unlucky that people steer clear of them in away in the same sub-district of Kurigram mainly in the eastern Himalaya mountains. home for the last year. “Without my husband, my bands in the disaster faced a multitude of prob- the street. Sadar. “I am always concerned about where This century, as temperatures rise, the river is life has become meaningless.” lems. “There is superstition and stigmatization. Piyara and her three children are living, and likely to see an overall increase in flows The frail looking 45-year-old woman has no Widows have no status,” said WHR’s chief Lily Destitution and enslavement how she manages her family expenses, as she throughout the year, driven by more rainfall, documents to prove her rights to her husband’s Thapa ahead of International Widows’ Day Nepal has around half a million widows. has lost everything due to erosion,” said her higher snow melt rates and expanded run-off property in the ancient town of Sankhu. She sur- today. Many lost their husbands during the war or to uncle, Abdul Majid, who still lives in Garuhara areas, the study said. vives on around 75 cents a day from knitting She said many widows lacked documents to HIV. Others were widowed when their hus- village. The loss of Piyara’s home is taking a toll Every year, the river carries silt from the mufflers and woollen caps. Twin quakes in April claim their dead husband’s property or faced bands died in accidents while working overseas on her mental and physical health, he added. Himalayas and deposits it downstream in and May 2015 killed some 9,000 people in the difficulties getting rebuilding grants because as migrant laborers. Another factor is child mar- Riverbank erosion is a common problem Bangladesh, creating myriad islands known as Himalayan nation, leaving many women to fend their marriage was not registered, as is com- riage, with girls in Nepal often married off as along the mighty Brahmaputra during the chars. When floods occur upstream on the for themselves in a country where widows face mon in Nepal. Some widows have also been teenagers to much older men. monsoon, but scientists say climate change is Brahmaputra, amid more intense bursts of hostility, abuse, discrimination and even abandoned when family members moved to When their husbands die many widows are making the phenomenon worse by contribut- heavy rainfall linked to climate change, the silt- enslavement. new locations following the disaster, she left destitute. If they remain with their in-laws ing to higher levels of flooding and siltation. ed-up river has less capacity to carry the huge Mina Adhikari says her life was shattered after added. they may be confined to the house and treated According to villagers in Garuhara, about 200 volume of water, accelerating bank erosion. she lost her school teacher husband in the disas- Although Nepal has taken major steps to like servants, activists say. In some cases the families have been displaced by erosion there Maminul Haque Sarker of the Center for ter. She is now struggling to bring up their two empower women since the end of its decade- family may even blame the widow for her hus- in the last two years. Environmental and Geographic Information sons alone. “It drastically changed the way I am long civil war in 2006, widowhood remains sur- band’s death. The Loomba Foundation, a wid- Majid fears that if the trend continues, the Services (CEGIS), a Dhaka-based think tank, ows’ rights charity, said widows could face hos- whole of the village will go underwater, ren- said the erosion rate has increased at some tility because it was sometimes believed their dering about 1,000 families homeless. But points of the river in Kurigram, Gaibandha, husbands had died as punishment for immoral some of those who want to escape that Jamalpur and Sirajganj districts. A 2015 CEGIS acts or crimes their wives had committed in a prospect cannot - because they are unable to study put the annual rate of erosion along the previous life. turn their assets into the cash they need to Brahmaputra at around 2,000 hectares in “The younger the age of the husbands when pay for their move. Abdul Malek, 45, a farmer recent years. Bangladesh’s major rivers com- they died, the greater the severity of the crime in Garuhara, had 0.4 acres of agricultural land bined consume several thousand hectares of the widows (are believed to have) committed in on the bank of the Brahmaputra, but the river floodplain annually, destroying homes and the past life,” the foundation said in a global washed away half his plot during the mon- infrastructure and leaving people landless report on widows last year. The charity says wid- soon last year. “My family had no problem in and homeless. ows in Nepal are also regularly accused of killing the past as we cultivated crops on the land to their husbands deliberately or through neglect - meet our food demand. But now we are fac- ‘Silent cancer’ including by passing on HIV. Traditionally, wid- ing trouble,” he said. Malek and his family are A 2013 study by the Refugee and ows are required to shun merriment. They are planning to migrate to another part of the Migratory Movements Research Unit at the banned from wearing red clothes and most jew- country after selling their homestead, but University of Dhaka and the UK-based Sussex elry. Many wear only white. Often forced into they cannot find a buyer because the proper- Centre for Migration Research estimated that virtual seclusion, they are not supposed to ty is at high risk of erosion. Other families in riverbank erosion displaces 50,000 to 200,000 remarry or move out of their in-laws’ homes, Garuhara village who also want to sell up and people in Bangladesh every year. Those dis- which leaves many open to exploitation. leave are trapped there for the same reason. placed by erosion become isolated from their Most widows in Nepal are illiterate and two families and wider social networks, and most thirds are under 35, compounding the risks of Erosion rates rising have no scope to return to their roots. abuse, activists say. In 2008, in recognition of The Brahmaputra is a transboundary river, Majid from Garuhara village said many of the large number of war widows and popular originating in southwestern Tibet, flowing his neighbors and relatives have already left for aversion to widow remarriage, the government through the Himalayas, India’s Assam State other parts of the country and do not see each put forward a scheme to pay men a 50,000 and Bangladesh, and out into the Bay of other even once a year. Minister Mahmud said rupee ($460) incentive to marry widows. But Bengal. Climate change has contributed to riverbank erosion works like a silent cancer and HERAT: A burqa-clad Afghan woman buys bread at a shop during the Islamic month widows protested, saying the proposal was rapid siltation of the river in recent years, can be more devastating than storms or floods of Ramadan in Herat on June 21, 2016. Throughout the month, devout Muslims must open to abuse by traffickers and would turn which is intensifying bank erosion during the because it takes everything people own, them into commodities. Nepal’s Supreme monsoon, Bangladesh Water Resources including their land. —Reuters abstain from food and drink from dawn until sunset when they break the fast with Court ordered the government to ditch the ini- the Iftar meal. —AFP tiative. —Reuters