Dr. Shazia Khalid
Hi everyone,
Please take a moment out of your day to read this article about yet another instance of General Musharraf's egregious treatment of rape survivors in Pakistan. If you are not yet registered at the NY Times, it only takes a second and it's free!
Then, if you are as angry as I am, please write a letter to Joseph Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1, Canada. You can send e-mail to Minister@cic.gc.ca.
August 2, 2005
Dear Mr. Joseph Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration:
As the Michigan coordinator for Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign, I represent thousands of U.S. women's human rights activists as I write to request that the Canadian government grant asylum to Dr. Shazia Khalid and her husband, Mr. Khalid Aman.
When Dr. Shazia was brutally raped, local Pakistani authorities drugged her and confined her to a psychiatric hospital to silence her. Then, President Pervez Musharraf--who is complicit in the rampant violence against women in Pakistan--locked up Dr. Shazia and her husband, Khalid Aman, keeping them under house arrest for two months.
To try to cover up the crime, authorities ordered them to leave the country, and warned that if they stayed, they would be killed - by government "agencies" - and that no one would even find their bodies. Pakistani officials then put Dr. Shazia and Mr. Khalid on a plane to London, without their son. As soon as they arrived, Dr. Shazia inquired about asylum in Canada, where she has relatives and friends. But a Canadian bureaucrat rejected the asylum application on the ground that they were now safe in Britain.
It is essential that the Candian government grant asylum to Dr. Shazia and Mr. Khalid. State complicity in violence against women is a human rights violation, and it must not be tolerated. I stand in solidarity with millions of human rights activists around the world as I call upon the Canadian government--which has ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women--to acknowledge and condemn the Pakistani government's complicity in perpetuating a cycle of grave abuse and injustices to women.
I request, again, that the Canadian government grant Dr. Shazia asylum so that she can live a life of full human dignity--in a country where her human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter soon.
Sincerely,
Christina LaRose
United States of America
Please take a moment out of your day to read this article about yet another instance of General Musharraf's egregious treatment of rape survivors in Pakistan. If you are not yet registered at the NY Times, it only takes a second and it's free!
Then, if you are as angry as I am, please write a letter to Joseph Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1, Canada. You can send e-mail to Minister@cic.gc.ca.
August 2, 2005
Dear Mr. Joseph Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration:
As the Michigan coordinator for Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign, I represent thousands of U.S. women's human rights activists as I write to request that the Canadian government grant asylum to Dr. Shazia Khalid and her husband, Mr. Khalid Aman.
When Dr. Shazia was brutally raped, local Pakistani authorities drugged her and confined her to a psychiatric hospital to silence her. Then, President Pervez Musharraf--who is complicit in the rampant violence against women in Pakistan--locked up Dr. Shazia and her husband, Khalid Aman, keeping them under house arrest for two months.
To try to cover up the crime, authorities ordered them to leave the country, and warned that if they stayed, they would be killed - by government "agencies" - and that no one would even find their bodies. Pakistani officials then put Dr. Shazia and Mr. Khalid on a plane to London, without their son. As soon as they arrived, Dr. Shazia inquired about asylum in Canada, where she has relatives and friends. But a Canadian bureaucrat rejected the asylum application on the ground that they were now safe in Britain.
It is essential that the Candian government grant asylum to Dr. Shazia and Mr. Khalid. State complicity in violence against women is a human rights violation, and it must not be tolerated. I stand in solidarity with millions of human rights activists around the world as I call upon the Canadian government--which has ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women--to acknowledge and condemn the Pakistani government's complicity in perpetuating a cycle of grave abuse and injustices to women.
I request, again, that the Canadian government grant Dr. Shazia asylum so that she can live a life of full human dignity--in a country where her human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter soon.
Sincerely,
Christina LaRose
United States of America