Baquba, August 6
In a video sold in Baghdad’s souks, a group of women draped in cartridge belts and clutching pistols and rifles explained why they had taken up arms against the US military in Iraq.

“What’s stopping women?” Recently, nothing is stopping them. Even as overall violence in Iraq has fallen to levels unseen since early 2004, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of attacks by women, deployed by Sunni Arab militants as suicide bombers.

There have been 23 suicide bomb attacks carried out by women in Iraq so far this year, compared to eight attacks in 2007, the US military says.

Last week, on July 28, three women wearing explosive vests mingled with Shi’ite religious pilgrims in Baghdad and blew themselves up. A fourth bomber, also believed to have been a woman, struck Kurds protesting against a disputed election law in the north of the country.

As more male members of insurgent groups are killed or captured, more women may want retribution. “Violence by US or Iraqi forces will lead in many cases to grudges and a wish to take revenge, especially when husbands are killed. I think this is one of the main reasons for female bomb attacks,” Henaa Edwar, head of Iraqi women’s group Amal, said.

Seja Aziz, a member of the security committee of Diyala’s provincial council, said some women and girls were driven into the arms of the Al-Qaida by families embroiled in the insurgency.

The US military said many of the female suicide bombers were victims of rape, a claim that was difficult to verify.

Increased border security has made it more difficult to smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq, while a decision by Sunni Arab tribal leaders to turn on the Al-Qaida, has helped to deprive the group of refuge and Iraqi volunteers.

Female suicide bombers offer tactical advantages for the militants. Explosives are easy to hide under the voluminous black robes worn by many Iraqi women, and Arab cultural norms mean male guards are less likely to search them thoroughly

“Female suicide bombers cost little, provide ease of planning and are relatively free of risk to terror organisations. There is little chance that security forces will obtain sensitive information from them,” US military spokesman Major John Hall said. — Reuters

Johannesburg, August 6
Indian women in their traditional sarees with midriffs showing may find themselves falling foul of Nigerian law if a Bill currently under discussion in that country is passed.

Tourists in towelling wraps and Nigerian women in traditional dress with their stomachs exposed could also find themselves behind bars for three months or subjected to fines of $ 100, according to the Media24 news service here.

While the women’s rights groups have come out strongly against the proposed law, Muslim leaders are supporting the Bill, proposed by senator Eme Ufot Ekaette, who felt that nudity was driving men to engage in corruption and steal from the state in Nigeria.

“Nudity leads to corruption,” Ishaq Akintola of the Muslim Rights Watch, a strong supporter of Akaette’s proposal, told Media24.

“Nigerians are fighting against corruption, through which many of our leaders, mostly men, have stolen fortunes for their personal use. They build colossal homes in London, Rome and New York because they have to spend money on women and have to hide them in these big homes.”

Akintola said scantily dressed women were luring men. “They are being misled every time by a naked woman.” The women’s rights groups have called the proposed law “laughable”, but are concerned that the House of Representatives in the capital Abuja may push it through, since the assembly has already considered it twice. — IANS

In order to win confidence of major political parties and gain their support to form a government, Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, has re-issued directives to the Young Communist League (YCL) to dissolve its paramilitary structure promptly.

Maoist supremo Dahal has also requested his party’s sister organisations to cooperate with the party leaderships by controlling their paramilitary activities and returning the private and public property, confiscated during the decade-long armed insurgency.

Dahal’s statement came as a response to the government after the latter decided to release Rs 3.35 billion due salary and perks for 19,600 Maoist combatants confined under the UN-monitored cantonment sites across the country. “While strongly demanding with the government to implement the 7-point agreement, the party centre directs its all sister organisations, including the YCL to help implement the party’s agreement on the issues of returning the confiscated property and controlling the paramilitary structure of the YCL,” Dahal said

Although many agreements between the government and the Maoist were reached in the past, Dahal said they were poorly implemented.

“The non-implementation of the agreements weakened the basis of trust among political parties,” he said

Stating that the peace and reconstruction ministry’s recent initiative in providing due salary to all combatants in the cantonments was a positive move, he expressed commitment that the Maoist will sincerely implement all its pledges.

Islamabad, August 6
Amid efforts for his impeachment, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today approved reinstatement of eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court but the province’s sacked Chief Justice, a critic of the former military ruler, was not among them.

The Law Ministry had recommended that the eight judges, who were among those sacked by Musharraf during last year’s emergency rule, should be re-appointed and sent a summary or official notification in this regard to the Presidency. The notification was signed by Musharraf today, officials said.

The ministry is now expected to issue a fresh order regarding the reinstatement of the deposed judges. However, the sacked Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, Sabihuddin Ahmed, a critic of Musharraf, was not among the judges who were restored.

Musharraf’s move to reinstate only eight judges will not go down well with the lawyers’ movement, which had been demanding that all deposed justices should be restored through a parliamentary resolution and an executive order issued by the Prime Minister. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Beauty pageant put off on Maoist threat
KATHMANDU: Protests by the Maoists have forced the organisers of beauty pageant to postpone the event that was scheduled to be held on Thursday. Dabur Vatika Miss Nepal 2008’ beauty pageant, which was scheduled to be held on August 7, has been postponed indefinitely, following threats by the CPN-Maoists’ cadres to disrupt the show. The activists of the CPN-Maoists, who are poised to lead the next government in Nepal, said they would not allow such an “anti-women” event inspired by capitalist and feudalist elements in the country. — PTI

European woman arrived before Captain Cook?
LONDON: A skull, found on the banks of a river near Wellington, has turned out to be of an European woman who died more than 260 years back, a finding that has raised serious doubts about whether Captain James Cook was the first one to set foot on the shores of New Zealand in 1769. It was discovered by a boy, walking his dog four years back on the banks of a river in Wairarapa region of the North Island. “It’s a real mystery. We wonder how did this woman get here? I recommended they do a carbon date on it Robin Watt, a forensic anthropologist said. — PTI