HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Cracking HIV/AIDS In Lahore Brothels

InterPress News Service (IPS) - Tuesday, August 4, 1998
Arif Shamim


------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------
LAHORE, Aug 4 (IPS) - Peer counsellors in 'Heera Mandi', Pakistan's most famous red light district, have proved very effective in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS and safe sex practices among the largely illiterate sex workers.
The results of a recent sample survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of the younger women in the brothels were aware that the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) disease was fatal, and insist their clients use condoms.

Lahore, the capital of prosperous Punjab province and Pakistan's second largest city, has a legendary red light district and daughters have been following mothers into the profession here for generations.

Eighteen-year-old Shireen (not her real name), born in 'Heera Mandi', has known no other home than the brothel she now works in. The only difference in her life so far, is that unlike her mother she has studied up to middle school.

She wants to continue in the business, she says, and hopes fervently that she will never contract the many sexually transmitted diseases that are rampant in brothels. She thinks she may have found a solution to the problem in the age-old proverb, 'Prevention is better than cure' -- clients who refuse to wear condoms are not entertained, she says.

The study commissioned for UNAIDS-Pakistan by the Social and Marketing Research Consultants, a component of the non- governmental AIDS Awareness Group (AAG) confirms that women in 'Heera Mandi' have indeed been able to demand protection for themselves.

This could be because of 'Heera Mandi's' almost historic reputation. It was amongst the best known places in undivided India for the now dying tradition of 'tawaifs' or courtesans who were patronised by the nobility and rich land owners.

According to the 1997-98 impact study titled 'HIV/AIDS Awareness Among CSWs', 93 percent of commercial sex workers (CSWs) in the brothels were able to identify AIDS correctly.

"It was a multi-purpose study and we got many interesting revelations from it," says sociologist Daud Saqlain, a senior researcher at Social and Marketing Research Consultants.

The study focussed on calculating the level of awareness among sex workers about their health with particular reference to HIV/AIDS. "It also assessed the impact of the phase-1 awareness project of AAG, which was conducted a couple of years ago, and we are happy that we have achieved great success," asserts Saqlain.

Independent groups are at the forefront of HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives in Pakistan, since the authorities here like elsewhere in the region tend to think the virus will infect only high risk categories.

'Heera Mandi', which literally translates as diamond market, is a city landmark though infuriated conservative "Lahoris", as the residents are known, consider prostitution indecent and a crime.

"The circumstances that push women into the profession may be unfortunate, but that doesn't change the fact that prostitution does exist as a profession," sociologist Saqlain pointed out. "We have to accept and respect their basic human rights, by providing, for instance, health care to them, or at least treating them as human beings."

According to the study for UNAIDS, there are 16,000 CSWs in the red light area, most of whom were reached by peer educators selected from among them who also sought to involve them in implementing the awareness raising programme better. In the second part of the programme, sex workers were selected to participate in two discussion sessions, for peer counsellors and their target audience separately. Sex workers were vocal about the need for more sessions on HIV/AIDS, the study states.

Another interesting view that emerged was that many CSWs talked of wanting to leave the profession and lead a "respectable life". What stopped them was the fear of losing their financial independence, which some of them reasoned could be dealt with if non-governmental organisations would launch micro-credit schemes for brothel women.

Considering that large numbers of sex workers are illiterate (Pakistan is among the most illiterate countries in South Asia and the adult literacy rate hovers around 24 percent for females), the survey has painted a very positive picture of HIV/AIDS awareness among the younger women in 'Heera Mandi'.

Sex workers who were interviewed, in the 15-30 year age group, listed the sources of their information as television (95 percent), newspapers (15 percent) and other printed material (23 percent), apart from peer educators and seniors in the profession.

More than 70 percent were primary school drop-outs, while 13 out of 100 respondents had studied up to the middle level, seven went up to secondary school and nine completed high school.

The large majority also seem to be taking preventive measures like safe sex. Only eight said they did not insist on clients using condoms, while 12 others chose not to respond at all -- which is most encouraging for campaigners trying to turn the HIV/AIDS tide. (End/IPS/as/an/98)

sal fan were did you get that picture from of inzi, shoaib and yoyo and does it say paragon city on yoyos shirt.

but evernew studio dnt process movies they are just studios. it is h2o lab which process films.

charizmatic said:

yooooooooooooooooooooo karachi rulezzzzzzzzz the city which never sleeeeps love u karachi

CITY THAT NEVR SLEEPS. thats lahores nick name.

if they have places like heera menhdi in lahore, wats wrong with these fashtion shows.

wen is the urmilla video/song coming out.

karachi is not the best, pakistan is the best. pakistan rulezzzzzz

its not about wer it is to be built.

it will be built were ever the company or person making it stays.

for islamabad there is even a better one being made by DHA in Defence(it will be biggest in pak).

and in lahore there is being a massive 17 storey mall opeing soon called eden towers. but without cineplex.

looks like i have started a new trend on this forum.

mehndi ofcourse

trailor looks crap and cheap.

its very differnt

is there any website for it.

StarCrescent.com

reemas next film is well. shooting is nearly finished.

it has all been made in uk.

and she said it will release on eid ul fitr.

amina haq looks nothing like ash.

theres also salman khan of pakistan. sami khan.

will they have mens clothes

yeh it runs on main channel but the ary one world chanel doesent come.

here are nausen ali pictures.

nausheen sadar will be in karachi at a dinner in pizza hut on 28th feb.

but kkusum has been running for nearly 2 and a half years now and nauseen only 22 years old plays an 18 year old girls mum in the drama and she doesent like it so she is leaving.

kkusums the best drama ever.

and nuseen ali is damm hot and sexy.

is there some kind of diesease on this forum. that every one has to post the same topic. man, keep it all in one topic.

A very nice article on the growing tourist scene in Pakistan, especially the delicious delights of Hunza.

Walking back to happiness

September 11 2001 was a bad day for Pakistan. Suddenly, from being a country not too many people cared about, it was thrust into the limelight as a frontline state in the war on terror. The number of tourists has never been that great, but following 9/11 and all the uncertainties posed by media reports of lurking Taliban, the flow soon dried up. Now there's some good news. Following the recent thaw in relations between India and Pakistan, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has relaxed its warning against travel to the country (see fco.gov.uk), and specialist tour operators are beginning to offer holidays there once again, with trekking in the spectacular Karakoram mountains at the top of the list. They know what they're doing: nowhere else in the world do mountains rise with such splendour as here, particularly in Baltistan where the giant rock and ice spires of the inner Karakoram culminate in K2, the second-highest mountain in the world at 8,611m. It was first climbed by an Italian expedition in 1954, and this summer special treks to base camp along the thundering Baltoro Glacier are being laid on to mark the 50th anniversary. The FCO still warns visitors to beware of the dangers posed by terrorists and of getting caught up in sectarian violence. That said, when I was recently in Pakistan, casually browsing the bazaars of the old city of Lahore, I didn't feel remotely threatened; people either left me alone or welcomed me into their shops for tea and a chat, anxious to know what I thought of their country and whether I was having a good time. Not once did I have to field a hostile question. It's always been so, at least since I started visiting in the mid-1980s. Pakistanis take their duty to strangers seriously, hospitality being a key concept in this overwhelmingly Muslim country.

Pakistan has much to offer - from the ruins of the 5,000-year old Indus Valley Civilisation at Moenjodaro to the Moghul splendour of Lahore; from the Buddhist remains at Taxila to the bustling bazaars of Peshawar. But the most enticing attraction for many tourists is the mountainous north: the Karakoram extend right across the Pakistani side of Kashmir, from Baltistan in the east to the central region of Hunza, linking up in the west, towards the Afghan border, with the towering Hindu Kush. The range contains the densest concentration of big peaks on the planet, as well as nurturing the longest glaciers in the world outside the polar regions. The most accessible area is the fabled Hunza Valley. One would expect that getting to the base of almost 8,000m peaks would involve an approach trek of at least a few days, if not a week or two. In Hunza, though, you literally drive between the peaks. This is thanks to the Karakoram Highway (KKH), built as a Sino-Pakistan joint venture and completed in the early 1980s. There is a fast bus up the highway from Rawalpindi, which is just outside Islamabad, direct to Hunza, covering the 550km distance in about 20 hours. It's an impressive ride but there is the much speedier option of the 70-minute flight from Islamabad to Gilgit, then on by rented Jeep or car. People have been travelling the route from Gilgit to Hunza for thousands of years - pilgrims, tradesmen, explorers, and even British soldiers, who were marched up there in 1891 to secure the remotest part of the Empire against the perceived threat of a Russian advance over the passes to the north. The invasion never came, but there was plenty of excitement, intrigue and espionage.

With mountains rising steeply on both sides and its tapestry of terraced fields fed by water channelled down from the glaciers, Hunza is an astonishingly beautiful place. The drama is dominated first by Mount Rakaposhi, whose sloping northern face is the highest uninterrupted mountain face on earth, rising to a mind-boggling 7,788m summit. I stopped at the café at the bottom to gaze at the spectacle before continuing to Karimabad, Hunza's capital. The village is dominated by the ancient Baltit Fort, once the stronghold of the mirs (rulers) of Hunza. For centuries, they sat fast in their mountain citadel, dictating the score to anyone with the nerve to pass through, their coffers regularly replenished by booty plundered from caravans plying their trade over the passes to and from Central Asia. With the independence of Hunza long gone, today it's the highway that's brought new prosperity from both tourists and trade. In contrast to other areas of Pakistan, you see just as many women as men out and about in Hunza. Since the 19th century, the Hunzakuts have been adherents of the Ismaili sect; women share the outdoor chores and are not obliged to veil their faces; instead, many of them wear a distinctive pillbox-style embroidered hat. The local economy has traditionally revolved around crops such as wheat and maize, as well as fruit. But Hunza is famous for its apricots, with no fewer than 24 varieties grown. Bags of them are piled high in the shops in the bazaar and are also served up in local restaurants, in the delicious bateringe daudo (apricot soup).

There are many other local culinary specialities, from chapatis filled with goat's cheese to a kind of pancake soup, but conventional curry dishes are also available. And along the bazaar, meat eaters can always sink their teeth into some succulent yak kebabs, which they start to barbecue after sundown. After booking into the Hotel Karim, I took a walk down the bazaar. Little had changed since my last visit, in 2000, when I'd brought the whole family along. Sher Ali was still in business, selling his shawls, capes and hats to the locals. Further down, a new place, the Café de Hunza, had opened up, complete with cappuccino machine and a bookshop selling all the classic yarns relating to the history of this part of the world, including Algernon Durand's The Making Of The Frontier and Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game. After an early night, I woke up to a breakfast of eggs and paratha, and then set out with my friend Ejaz for the two-hour walk up to the tiny settlement of Duiker, situated on a knoll high above the valley at 3,200m. This excursion is a must for any visitor to Hunza - the views are spellbinding. There's plenty more to do in the Hunza valley, including visiting Baltit Fort, which has been restored as a museum of local history and culture. Simply strolling along the tracks and irrigation canals between the fields and orchards is a delight at any time of year: in the spring for the blossom; in the summer for the harvest when the fruits are laid out to dry; and in the autumn when the whole valley turns into a burnished gold.

Trekkers are in their element, and there are some spectacular routes, including the day-long hike up to Ultar Meadow, the short and simple Rakaposhi base camp trek, and the longer and more difficult five-day tour to the summit of Rush Peak (5,098m). You can also undertake the five-day trek along the Batura Glacier, the fourth longest in the Karakoram at 56km. Independent travellers can easily link up with local guides, which I duly did, seeking out the services of Arif, and his side-kick Amin, who was to be our porter/cook. Having purchased all our provisions, including a whole chicken from the Karimabad bazaar, we set out in Manzoor Husain's bright red Jeep, the Mountain Tiger, for the trailhead at the Hasanabad nullah (ravine). The next six days were spent trekking up the remote Muchuhar Glacier, past the sky-cleaving Pute Towers, to the base camp of the south face of Batura, which rears up at this western end of the Karakoram, just shy of 8,000m. Part of the reason for taking this particular valley was that it was supposed to be full of ibex, an animal I'd never seen. But despite scouring the mountainsides with high-powered binoculars, we didn't spot a single one on the entire trek. They must be out there somewhere, but so must the tourists because we didn't see a single other one of those either. "Maybe next year", said Arif, " inshallah ".

· The Insight Guide Pakistan, edited by Tony Halliday, is priced £16.99. For more information, visit insightguides.com.

Way to go

Getting there: Pakistan International Airlines (020-8741 8066, piac.com.pk) flies from London to Islamabad from £570 return including taxes. UK-based tour operators currently offering trekking holidays to Pakistan include: KE Adventure Travel (0176 8773 966, keadventure.com); Himalayan Kingdoms (0845 330 8579, himalayankingdoms.com); Indus (020-8901 7320).

When to go: The best time for trekking is June to September, but the valleys can all be visited from spring onwards. It starts to get cold at altitude from mid-October, but the weather is usually very clear in the autumn.

Where to stay: A room at the Karim Hotel in Karimabad costs RS500 (around £5) per night. More expensive rooms are provided by the Hunza Baltit Inn, run by the Serena group (serenahotels.com/pakistan/hunza/home.htm).

Recommended reading: Aside from the Insight Guide, Lonely Planet: Trekking in the Karakoram and Hindu Kush (lonelyplanet.com) is a detailed guide to the region, with all the routes clearly graded.

Further information: All UK visitors require a visa, which can usually be sorted within a day. Visas are available from the Pakistan High Commission, 35-36 Lowndes Square, London SW1 (020-7664 9200, pakmission-uk.gov.pk).

Country code: 00 92.
Flight time London-Islamabad: 7hrs, 55mins.
Time difference: +5hrs.
£1 = 108.37 Pakistani rupees.

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/saturd...1152405,00.html

'Rs1.5bn spent on Thal project'


By Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: An amount of Rs1.5 billion has already been spent on the construction of the greater Thal canal project, Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao tells the National Assembly in a written reply submitted to the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The federal minister also acknowledged that the Sindh Assembly had passed a resolution against the construction of the waterway, saying that the resolution had been sent to the Cabinet Division. A question in this regard was fielded by PPP MNA Naveed Qamar.

The minister, while responding to queries during the question-hour in a house devoid of the opposition, said that the greater Thal canal project would irrigate about 1.5345 million acres of cultivable command area in the public and private sectors.

The earthwork for the construction of main canal had been completed upto RD-64 while the earthwork between RD-64 and RD-112 was in progress with 15 per cent work having been completed.

Total expenditure incurred till June 30 on the project amounted to Rs1,468.454 million.

Mr Sherpao said that there had been drought conditions for the past three years and the water availability was less than the actual average system uses (AASU). The share of the greater Thal canal of 1.873 million acre-foot was earmarked in the 10 daily sharing under the accord approved by the Council of Common Interest on Sept 16, 1991. The same allocation was part and parcel of the 1991 Water Apportionment Accord.

He explained that in accordance with the government procedures, the project had been approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Feb 28, 2002, adding that the CCI was not a forum for the approval of development projects.

The minister also conceded that cracks had developed in certain panels of power channel in the Ghazi Barotha Project due to the contractor's negligence, adding that defects had been rectified/repaired by the contractor at his own cost.

post all news about gwader and tourism here.

Salakhain hero to wed Humaira Arshad




Model Ahmed Butt, whose first feature film 'Salakhain' is expected to be released in May, will tie the knot with pop singer Humaira Arshad on February 19. This love marriage is taking place after a two-year long affair which both managed to keep secret from the press.

A joint Mehndi will be held on February 18 while the Walima reception will be held on 20th. The two met each other for the first time at the Lux Style Awards in 2001. An excited Ahmed said he had not met Humaira prior to their meeting at the awards ceremony.

"Our love story is such that it can be adapted for a feature film. I was eating almonds when Humaira appeared. I did not know who she was at the time. We both looked at each other for awhile before I offered her some almonds. She refused but opened up for discussion. It was love at first sight. That was our first meeting. I was shy and did not even ask her for her phone number. There was no contact between us for the next six months.

One day I met her at a function in Lahore. Then began our romance. We used to talk on the phone almost daily. Our families, initially showing some resistance, have now agreed and we are going to get married. His zodiac sign is Virgo while that of Humaira is Leo. "Marriages are made in heaven and we both believe in this saying. She is very caring and we both have a very good understanding. By the blessing of Allah we will have a successful marriage," he said.

Twenty-four-year old Ahmed says he has a surprise in store for his dream girl on the Valentine's Day. "I will take her out for a dinner. It would be Basant night and after dinner we would be together at a function where I will present her with the surprise gift," he said.
Humaira Arshad confirmed that she was going to get married on February 19.

Ahmed Butt is playing the male lead in upcoming big budget film 'Salakhain'. This film will mark his debut in Lollywood. Prior to that he has featured in the top fashion show of the country. He has also acted in two music videos and one sitcom. Ahmed said that now he would be acting in one video of Humaira's song.

soon every one here will make a film


whos next.

ydakh said:

hey...shaby...aryone world has launced uk,middle east and pakistan..
I am seeing all channal of ARY DIGITAL..
ARY has 12 channals...
also city channal launched.

on wat do you watch, and if its released then why doent it come on or why dnt ary advertise it.

naah ary always chat sh*t. nfakfan.

they said they start ary one world in september in uk, but its still not out.

mod whos swearing now.


chrizmatics a joker.

hes red and hot. .

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhaahhaahahahahahah