The FIA in Punjab has unearthed three child pornography rings that were uploading and selling online pornographic content involving minors. In all three cases, tip-offs — from Norwegian and Canadian authorities in two of them, and by families of victims in one — led the FIA to individuals allegedly running the racket.
‘It hasn’t even been a fortnight since seven-year-old Zainab Ansari was raped and killed but Kasur is back to its ways: ten rupees will buy you all kinds of child pornography in the bazaars of Kasur. The bestiality involved in Zainab’s rape and murder now seems an afterthought; there are ample consumers of child pornography still around… In 2015, a child pornography ring was busted, where more than 200 children of the Hussain Khanwala village were being filmed’, writes Xari Jalil for DAWN.
Maria Rashid, an Islamabad-based psychologist told DW ‘Any effective response [to the issue] has to be multipronged and must include interventions such as more effective and specific legislation around sexual abuse of minors. The implementation of laws is equally important. It involves resource allocation, sensitization and training of law enforcement agencies, health and legal officials, as well as child protection information for parents, schools and children themselves, Children are vulnerable to sexual abuse all over the world.’
‘This comes in response to the aggressive strategy followed by the Afghan government as well as the US government, which slapped sanctions on six members of Taliban and the Haqqani Network,’ Abdullah Fahimi, lecturer at Abu Rayhan University in Kabul, told Al Jazeera.
The attack comes as bad omen for Ashraf Ghani whose administration is widely criticised for not being able to provide security to war-torn country. This is why, many times to divert public attention, fingers are pointed towards Pakistan.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday pledged to challenge Beijing to stick to international trade rules and tackle the dumping of cheap Chinese steel as she makes her first visit to the country as prime minister.
‘May’s trip to China comes amid continuing unrest in the Conservative Party at home, with speculation mounting over her future. The prime minister chaired a meeting of her fractious Cabinet Tuesday morning before traveling to Heathrow for her flight to Wuhan — China’s main university town’, asserts Tom Mctague for POLITICIO.
On the other hand, ‘As she flew out to China on Tuesday, May pledged to raise Hong Kong and human rights with Chinese leaders. However, at a press conference with her host, Premier Li Keqiang, on Wednesday she mentioned neither. In fact Li made the only reference to human rights, which he said had been discussed as part of a wider conversation about topics including intellectual property rights and UK-China trade’. Writes Tom Phillips for The Guardian.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump has called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to warn him that an ongoing Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria “risks undercutting our shared goals” in the country, the White House said.
Turkish forces portrays these operations as counter terrorism operations, however Turkey has much to gain and secure. On the other hand, the presence of US forces in Syria is not to prevent the resurgence of terrorist organizations but to offset the growing influence of other great powers. Turkey’s domestic politics and the challenges country face after coup are the key factors that provoked element of mistrust towards the west, particularly US. Erdagon at every cost, will resist the US effort for the formation of new Kurdish border force that can invite insurgency in Turkey.
Kenya’s High Court has ordered the government to reopen several TV stations that it shut down on Tuesday. The country’s top three TV networks were taken off the air after they tried to broadcast a mock inauguration ceremony held by opposition leader Raila Odinga.
‘Meanwhile, the chairman of the Editors Guild and top editor of NTV was forced to spend the night in the NTV newsroom, out of fear of arrest by plainclothes policemen camped outside. Kaikai seems to have angered the government after he issued a statement revealing the threats by the government at the State House meeting. Observers say the Kenyan media, which has been touted as one of the most vibrant and free in Africa, is facing similar attacks and threats as witnessed in the 90s under the one-party rule of former President Daniel Arap Moi’.
A French mountaineer has described how she was forced to abandon her weak and ailing climbing partner in order to be rescued from one of Pakistan’s most deadly Himalayan mountains.
‘But the questions which have come out of this tragic incident are pointed inwards rather than towards these crazy foreigners who knowingly took on what people would normally describe as ‘suicide missions’. Why did it take over a day and a half to get helicopters up to Nanga Parbat? Who would have mounted that daring rescue of elite climbers such as Denis Urubko and Adam Bielecki (his first return to the mountain since suffering a horrific fall three years ago) were not available in the vicinity? Could nothing really have been done to get Mackiewicz — who has previously spent several days in a snow cave at an altitude of 6,600m on the mountain?’ Writes Gibran Ashraf for Express Tribune.
Indonesia’s parliament is drafting proposed revisions to the national criminal code that could ban all consensual sex outside marriage, sparking alarm among activists who it would breach basic rights and could be misused to target the LGBT community. The parliamentary commission drawing up recommendations to change the Dutch colonial-era criminal code has still to finalize its proposals.
‘Few Indonesian politicians have voiced support for LGBT rights for fear of alienating a largely conservative voter base ahead of legislative and presidential elections next year. Activists are particularly worried the new law may be used to target the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, which has faced rising hostility in recent years’. Writes Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Kanupriya Kapoor for Business Insider.
‘Statements from different committee members indicate there isn’t total agreement but a majority of parties appear to have swung behind at least criminalization of gay sex’. Writes Stephen Wright for Globe and Mail.
‘Rights groups and legal experts fear a profound setback to human rights and privacy in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest democracies, and the spread of vigilantism, already common in parts of the sprawling Muslim-majority nation of more than 250 million people. They are racing to organize opposition. An online petition launched this week has gathered more than 20,000 signatures’. Writes Stephen Wright for ABC news.
A White House official says President Donald Trump plans to approve the release of a classified memo alleging that top law enforcement officials were biased against the president. The official says the president is “OK” with it and will likely inform Congress of his decision Friday. The official said it would likely be released without anything edited out.
‘Democrats and other critics of the memo say it selectively uses classified intelligence to allege the Russia investigation is affected by political bias. Democrats have prepared their own memo, countering the Republican claims, but that memo is not expected to be released until later, if at all’. Writes Jeff Seldin National Security Correspondent for VOA.
‘If the president does declassify the memo, the House Intelligence Committee has more leeway to make the contents public as it chooses, and it is not required that the House be in session. Just how soon the House would release the material is not clear and some members think it might be after Saturday’. Writes Adam Edelman for NBC news.
‘Inside the narrow corridors and cramped offices of the West Wing, aides knew that trying to persuade their boss that keeping the memo private would likely be a fruitless endeavour. Even had the entirety of the senior staff counselled him against releasing the document, one aide reasoned, the president might still have remained unconvinced’. Writes Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey for the Washington Post.