Speaking of Discrimination

THINGS FEMALES TAKE FOR GRANTED IN THE USA JUST AIN'T SO IN OTHER PLACES

Male-Female Race Sparks Arrests in Pakistan From Associated Press

LAHORE, Pakistan — More than two dozen people were detained Saturday after taking part in a foot race that included women, defying a ban that was issued after Muslim hard-liners attacked participants in a similar mixed event last month.

They were very disturbed when a woman won.

Asma Jehangir, the former chief of Pakistan's human rights commission, a woman, and about 30 other participants were detained at the race, police official Waqar Abbasi said. The event was canceled.

Pakistan has a human rights commission? When do they meet, the first Tuesday of the next millennium?

Authorities banned women from competing in foot races after Muslim hard-liners, who regard women's participation in sports as un-Islamic, attacked runners at a similar event last month in Gujranwala, also in Punjab province. Abbasi said police and other officials had asked organizers to obey the ban, but they refused.

Pretty soon a woman's existence on the planet will be deemed un-Islamic.

One of the organizers, Nabeel Ahmed, said that the arrests were "unjustified" and that race participants had not committed any crime. Ahmed said the runners were beaten before they were bundled into police vehicles.

This sounds like getting arrested for going to the grocery store to me. But I must not have all the facts.

Khawar Mumtaz, a human rights activist, said police dragged away dozensof people. "Police treated participants of the race like criminals," she said. "Some women were also severely beaten."

See, it IS a crime to be a woman.