Sindhi women publicly announce free-will marriages: DAWN News

Young women from the province frequently publish announcements in Sindhi newspapers declaring their intention to marry of their own free will. – Photo by Dawn

HYDERABAD: Honour killings and forced marriages in Sindh receive wide attention in the national media. What is less well-known is that young women from the province frequently publish announcements in Sindhi newspapers declaring their intention to marry of their own free will.

As a way of fending off allegations that they have been kidnapped or have committed adultery, it is a bold move by these women but is known to few people beyond the readership of these regional papers.

Shabana Khatoon, 23, of Bhango Behan in Khairpur district, declares in widely circulated Sindhi daily Kawish that her parents wanted to sell her to an older man for marriage. Ms Khatoon’s announcement is a summary of an attested affidavit she had a lawyer prepare for her and explains that she decided to run away and marry another man,

Asia’s top women keep it in the family — for now

This combo shows file photos of Pakistan's then-People's Party (PPP) leader and candidate Benazir Bhutto (L) casting her ballot during the general elections on November 16, 1988, in Naudero, Sindh province; Thailand's next leader Yingluck Shinawatra (C) gesturing during a press conference at the Puea Thai Party headquarters in Bangkok on July 8, 2011; and Philippine President Corazon Aquino (R) saluting as 1986 graduates of the elite Philippine Military Academy pass in review at a commencement exercise in Baguio, north of Manila, in March, 1986. — Photo by AFP

Thailand’s first female prime minister will this week join a long list of Asian women leaders whose power stems from family ties, with analysts saying the trend is a mixed blessing for equality.

Political novice Yingluck Shinawatra went from virtual unknown to election victor in a matter of weeks after her brother, fugitive former leader Thaksin, endorsed her Puea Thai party’s candidacy, assuring voters she was his “clone”.

Her stellar rise, set to be formally completed this week, mirrors stories from across Asia, with a collection of women whose family names — and often the death of a

male predecessor — propelled them to power.

The assassination of a husband saw Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Bandaranaike become the world’s first female premier in 1960 and, more than two decades later, thrust Filipino housewife Corazon “Cory” Aquino into the limelight.

In India, Indira Gandhi inherited leadership from her father, Jawaharlal Nehru —