Timeline Refresh
"If one step I take, if that helps even one woman, I would be very happy to do that," Mai told The Associated Press.
In 2002, Mai was sentenced by a local council of tribal elders to be gang raped and publicly humiliated as punishment for her brother's perceived insult to a rival family.
Rather than commit suicide, as many Pakistani women in her position have done, Mai went public and fought all the way to the country's Supreme Court to have her attackers jailed.
Fourteen men -- the alleged rapists and the tribal council members -- were put on trial, and six were handed the death sentence. But all of them were eventually released on appeal.
Nevertheless, Mai went on to become an international advocate for women's rights and founded a charity that sponsors a women's shelter and a girl's school in her rural hometown of Meerwala.
On Tuesday night, surrounded by Pakistan's top models and wealthy designers, Mai appeared slightly shy and nervous when faced with the blitz of cameras.
Mai, now 44, wore a light green embroidered bridal shirt and silver, silk salwar, designed by Rozina Munib, with a scarf covering her hair.Munib said she approached Mai to display her designs to send a public message that, "If you have a mishap, it's not the end of life."
Mai smiled as she walked the runway along with several other models in the concluding event of the three-day Fashion Pakistan Week event. Afterward she moved around freely through the crowds, chatting with well-wishers and allowing a steady stream of admirers to take selfies with her.
"Whoever is doing this is wrong, burning of schools is unacceptable," Muzaffar Wani said.
Wani expressed "deep pain" over the burning down of schools in the Valley and made a fervent appeal to those behind it to refrain from targeting educational institutions.
Muzaffar Wani, a retired government teacher, told PTI over the phone from his residence in Tral of south Kashmir that "as a teacher, whenever a school is burnt down, my heart is set on fire."
"This is not right. Whosoever is responsible for this is doing no good to the society. A society without any education is lifeless. They do not have any identity," Wani said and made it clear that he was making this statement as a teacher and not as any leader.
"I appeal to all the people as well as agencies that whoever is doing this is not doing the correct thing. For God's sake, please refrain from such acts because education is the only thing which will help us in becoming good humans," he said.
Over 25 educational institutions have been burnt by miscreants in the Kashmir Valley since July 9, a day after Burhan was killed in an encounter in South Kashmir.
Gandhi was not allowed to enter the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where 70-year-old Ram Kishan Grewal's body was kept, while Sisodia was detained outside the hospital.
The ex-serviceman's son was detained for allegedly contacting the political parties.
Rahul Gandhi asked the police, "How can you arrest a martyr's kin? Aren't you ashamed for arresting him? What kind of a law is this?"
Congress workers protested outside Mandir Marg Police Station in Delhi as police detains Rahul. "The way the government is working since day 1 is anti-democratic, this is a well thought conspiracy to stop Rahul Gandhi wherever he goes," says Congress senior leader Ahmed Patel.
The Delhi police defended the move saying Rahul came to the hospital against their advice. The police said they wouldn't allow demonstrations at the hospital.
The BJP reacted saying Rahul was a non-serious, part-time politician.
"Let's see how long I have to wait here. I am certain that I will talk to the family. This is a strange behaviour. This is Modi's ji's country," he told ANI after being denied permission to visit the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
Meanwhile, Special Commissioner Mukesh Kumar Meena told the media here that Rahul Gandhi has been detained for trying to enter the hospital despite being advised otherwise.
"It is a hospital and not a place for demonstration. Rahul Gandhi detained at Mandir Marg Police Station for 'disruption of duty'. Democracy doesn't mean creating obstruction. Leaders must also understand that hospital is not the place to hold any demonstrations," he added.
Grewal consumed poison last afternoon. However, the cause behind Grewal's suicide is yet to be ascertained.
Speaking to NDTV, the ATS chief says while the men had no weapons on them while the encounter was taking place, they were dreaded criminals and the police can fire if there is a possibility of escape.
The eight men who were gunned down hours after they escaped from a jail in Bhopal were each shot at least twice, some of them in the back, according to post-mortem reports.
The reports reveal that the men sustained multiple entry and exit wounds on the bodies of the deceased and also that majority of the wounds were on the torso.
The clothes of the slain SIMI suspects killed in the encounter have been sent for forensic test to ascertain the distance from which they were shot.
On Tuesday, a united opposition sought an impartial probe into the death of the SIMI activists even as the government strongly defended the deaths of the "dreaded terrorists".
An ex-serviceman allegedly committed suicide over the issue of One Rank One Pension scheme at Jantar Mantar in the nation's capital, police said on Wednesday.
The 70-year-old ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal committed suicide by consuming poison at a park in New Delhi area on Tuesday evening.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was also stopped at the gate of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital when he went to meet the kin of the ex-jawan who committed suicide over OROP. "This is the first time we are not being allowed to meet kin of an ex-jawan. This is totally undemocratic," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.Fit-again pacer Ishant Sharma made a comeback when the national selection committee met at Mumbai on Wednesday to pick the India squad for the upcoming Test series against England commencing 9 November.
The team comprises: Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane (v/c), R Ashwin, Saha (w/k), Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Shami, Ishant, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav.
So, Gambhir retained, Hardik Pandya gets maiden call-up for first Two Tests of a five-match series against England starting November 9.
He also lashed out Pakistan for consistently violating the 2003 ceasefires saying the "de facto violation has become de jure violation".
Eight civilians were killed yesterday as Pakistan indulged in heavy shelling in an escalation of cross border military tensions since the surgical strikes by army targeting terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 29.
"The new normal is that India doesn't accept that Pakistan can keep sending terrorists and keep inflicting injury on India. If they do that then costs are going to be much heavier," Jaitley said.
He was asked about the "new normal" in Indo-Pak ties after the recent tensions. "2003 ceasefire was being violated by Pakistan. After all what is terrorism- you train people, you smuggle them in. Today, de facto violation has become de jure violation," he told NDTV.
"We have suffered enough in silence and we have been taking just some diplomatic initiatives. I think times have now changed and the Government of India has a more proactive approach.
"And, the proactive approach is if you indulge in terrorism in India and kill people across the border then there is a cost involved and you will have to pay a price for it. I think that policy of government of India is extremely clear."
"External position remains a credit strength," it said. "Eye India's current account deficit at 1.4% in 2016 vs 2.1 in 2015 and expect India's GDP growth at 7.9% in 2016," it further added.
It also said that it doesn't expect to change its rating on India this year or even the next year. The rating agency also said that downward pressure on ratings would reemerge if MPC is not effective in meeting targets.
Tuesday's civilian deaths are the highest on a single day in the past 13 years, after soldiers from both sides traded fire at each other's locations across the border in Jammu region.
Both sides blamed each other for ceasefire violations as tensions grew in an increasingly hostile relationship between India and Pakistan.The shelling and sporadic firing, which started in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, continued throughout the day, leaving more than two dozen people injured.
The EC received the communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan during mid October after which the EC has formally issued notices to these MLAs.
The notices issued to these 27 MLAs are different from the notices issued to 21 AAP MLAs earlier. The 21 lawmakers face disqualification from the Delhi assembly for allegedly holding 'office of profit' as Parliamentary Secretaries.
Which means the EC has issued notices to a total of 48 MLAs on the office of profit issue, which is a major political setback for the AAP.
The party however is of the view that once the EC gives their verdict, the issue may be taken up for higher legal scrutiny.
In June 2015, a major row was sparked off on the issue of 'Office of Profit' after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the 'Office of Profit' definition.
The Delhi government sought through the bill an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, so as to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the definition of 'Office of Profit'.
The advertisement blitz came as the Clinton campaign battles to contain the fallout from her latest brush with the FBI after the investigating agency revived questions about her use of a private email server as secretary of state.
Latest polls have shown Trump gaining in the opinion polls he trailed until before the announcement by the FBI. Trump and Clinton now are neck-and-neck in several national polls, and in such a situation, the swing states hold the key for them.
Given the schedule of Clinton and Trump, along with President Barack Obama, Ohio and Florida states have emerged as the nucleus of the November 8 presidential elections.
Kejriwal, a bitter critic of Modi, also alleged that the Prime Minister was "lying" that the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme was being implemented by the Centre, contending that ex-serviceman, Ram Kishan Grewal, would not have committed suicide if the scheme was being executed by the Centre.
"Both farmers and soldiers are committing suicide in Modi Raj. That means the Prime Minister is lying that OROP has been implemented. Why would Ram Kishan ji have committed suicide if OROP was being implemented?" Kejriwal said on Twitter.
The AAP leader also rued that it was "very sad" to see that soldiers have to fight against external enemy along border and "within" for their rights. The whole nation should stand up for their rights, he urged. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Kejriwal will the attend the cremation of Grewal later in the day.
Read the column in the Dawn.
Image: Indira Gandhi with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
The report says that all the men died of gunshot wounds above the waist. The bullet wounds suggest that they were fired upon from all directions. The proximity of the firing is to be determined for which the clothes they wore will be sent for testing.
The men were killed under suspicious circumstances near Bhopal, hours after they escaped from the city's central jail by killing a security guard.
Eight SIMI activists who pulled off a daring prison break and escaped in the wee hours after killing a security guard at the Bhopal Central Jail, were on Monday hunted down and killed in a police encounter on the city outskirts.
All the eight activists were killed by Bhopal Police at Malikheda on the city outskirts, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said.
Acting on the leads provided by locals, the cops tracked them down to Malikheda, where they were encircled and killed when they tried to challenge the police.
The activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India had managed to escape around 2-3 AM after killing a jail security guard and scaling the prison wall with the help of bed sheets, DIG Bhopal Raman Singh said.
The activists were identified as -- Amzad, Zakir Hussain Sadiq, Mohammad Salik, Mujeeb Shaikh, Mehbood Guddu, Mohammad Kalid Ahmed, Aqeel and Majid, a police official said.
Soon after the incident, the state government released their sketches and suspended four officials including Jail Superintendent Akhilesh Tomar. It had also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh each on the heads of the activists.
This is the second major jail break by operatives of banned SIMI in three years after the sensational escape by seven members of the group from a jail in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh in 2013.
The Union Home Ministry has sought a detailed report from the Madhya Pradesh government on the jail break whether there was any lapse on the part of the jail administration and the steps taken to check such incidents.
The 30-share barometer plunged 288.06 points or 1.03 per cent at 27,588.55 with all the sectoral indices led by metal, realty and oil in the negative zone, falling by up to 1.73 per cent. It had lost 64.90 points in the previous two sessions.
On similar lines, the NSE Nifty cracked below 8,600-level by dropping 94.75 points or 1.10 per cent to 8,531.50. Brokers said market mood took a hit largely in tandem with global sell-off sparked by an opinion poll that put Donald Trump slightly ahead of his democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the US presidential race.
Garehwals son told news agency ANI that his father had called them and informed about his deicsion to commit suicide because the government had failed to fulfill their demands related to OROP.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to visit the Garehwal family in Haryana. Ex-servicemen have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for over a year now, demanding the implementation of OROP scheme which was scrapped by the Indira Gandhi government.
Will India ever win the every day war against Pakistan? This is a must Read for hawks.
Ahmed Ramzan Khan, Zakir Hussain alias Sadiq and Shaikh Mehboob alias Guddu alias Ismail who were killed in the encounter were wanted in a case related to the low-intensity blast on July 10, 2014 in the parking lot of Faraskhana police station here in which five people were injured.
The famous Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh temple is adjacent to this spot.
were killed in an encounter in Telangana last year.
An officer of Anti-Terrorism Squad which is probing the blast case said it was trying to get custody of the three SIMI members, but could not get it as the accused were facing several cases in Madhya Pradesh itself.
With all five suspects, including the three who were killed on Monday, now killed in encounters, the case is likely to be closed, said the ATS officer.
Had we got the custody of these three, we would have been able to establish the local links of these suspects. However, now that all three suspects are dead, it seems the case might be closed, he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said "I am deeply pained over the fresh spate of civilian killings, including children and women, in border shelling and urge the political leaderships in New Delhi and Islamabad to take effective and urgent measures to de-escalate the situation and bring an end to the miseries of the hapless people of Jammu and Kashmir who are caught in the deadly crossfire."
She said the unabated border shelling has seen a tragic humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, where innocent civilians and their properties are being targeted.
Eight people, mostly children and women, were killed and 24 injured when Pakistan troops resorted to heavy shelling on border hamlets and military posts with 82 and 120 mm mortar bombs along the IB and LoC in Samba, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
Six civilian casualties took place in Ramgarh area of Samba while two women were killed in Manjakote sector of Rajouri.Pakistani mortar shells have been landing in residential areas causing civilian casualties.
The BSF along the International Border (IB) and Army along the Line of Control (LoC) have been giving befitting replies to Pakistani firings.