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Ruby Khan is a 34-year-old activist from Nepalgunj, Banke, Lumbini Province, who has remained consistent with her fight for human rights since she was 19. She came into the limelight after leading a demonstration in Sep 2020, where she along with 16 others walked for 20 days from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu, demanding justice for Nirmala Kurmi and Nankunni Dhobi. Kurmi has been missing since 2012 while Dhobi was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2021. Khan grew up in a patriarchal society where women were often oppressed and deprived from exercising their rights. They weren’t allowed to work, educating girls wasn’t a priority, and the ones who did go to school were considered a ‘bad influence’, as people in the community believed that would motivate their daughters to study too. Worse, domestic violence was a daily occurance. “I couldn’t just stand by and let that happen. I knew I had to be their voice,” she says. But it was one particular incident that drove her to do that: In 2007, a woman from Nepalgunj was burnt alive by her husband. “The incident was brutal, but sadly, nothing new in my community,” she says. With the support of Nepal Muslim Samaj Bikas Chetna Kendra, a non-governmental organization in Nepalgunj, Khan became a part of the protest, demanding justice for the victim. “We took to the street, with help from other organizations and even from the government during our fight,” she adds, “And thankfully, we succeeded.” Khan then joined the organization and that, she says, was when she officially took up activism. In all these years of activism, Khan has advocated for many women in her village. From speaking up against domestic violence to convincing people to send their daughters to school, she has remained consistent with her work. Her job wasn’t easy, but society made it even worse. Khan’s neighborhood despised her for being a working woman. Although her mother was supportive, the rest of the family weren’t happy with the decision. “People questioned my character when I returned late from work. They would pass nasty comments whenever I walked past them,” she says. 15 years later, she is now a name all too familiar for most Nepalis, mainly because of her undying efforts to fight for the rights of women in Nepalgunj. But her work has come at a cost. Khan mentions that she has nearly been murdered twice, and still receives death threats on a fairly regular basis. But it doesn’t scare her, she says, because she has seen things that are much worse.. Khan remembers the time she first encountered Nirmala Kurmi in 2009. “She was shivering and scared. She was there to file a complaint against her abuser,” says Khan. Moments later, when Kurmi was returning home, Khan received a call saying she was being taken hostage, and might even lose her life if no one intervened. “When I reached there, I could see a man holding her by the neck and dragging her through the street full of people with no fear whatsoever,” says Khan. It took her and the team five hours to rescue Kurmi. “The authorities were not supportive as the accused was someone in power,” she adds. Kurmi eventually disappeared and was later declared dead, although the dead body that was identified wasn’t hers, claims Khan. Since then, she has gone on several hunger strikes, led a sit-in demonstration for 19 days in front of the District Administration Office in Nepalgunj, and walked for more than 500 km from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu demanding a proper investigation. But the only thing she has gotten in return from the authorities is disappointment, which has strengthened its hold as the years have gone by. “Documents were being forged, evidence was being destroyed, the accused was and still is roaming around freely, and no one was listening to what the protestors had to say,” she adds. Remembering this incident and what came after is something that encourages her to remain consistent with activism, which is evident since she has been leading the protest ever since Kurmi’s disappearance 11 years ago. She has also handled many other cases. However, Khan says there have been some positive changes that motivate her.“We started with no support, but now we have so many people advocating along with us,” she says. The media too has been a great ally, she adds. That makes her hopeful of a better future for women in Nepal. Khan is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Law from a university in India. She hopes this will help her take her work further and be in a better position to help those in need. Threats and challenges aren’t going to stop this activist who is determined to do whatever it takes to ensure women’s safety, at home and beyond.

Three police personnel have been suspended after six detainees escaped from a detention room of the Mahendranagar Area Police Office in Dhanusha district on Monday. The Madhe Province Office, Janakpurdham suspended the police personnel including a custody management officer for negligence in surveillance. The District Police Office, Dhanusha said that Assistant Sub-Inspector Ashok Mandal, senior Head Constable Saroj Regmi and Constable Rohan Magar have been suspended. The District Police Office, Dhanusha and Madhes Province Police Office, Janakpur have been carrying out investigations by forming separate committee.  

Two persons died when a car and a taxi collided with each other near Satdobato, Lalitpur on Sunday. Police identified the deceased as Saroj BK and Dhan Bahadur Basnet. Both were traveling in the car. The taxi (Ba 2 Ja 3420) heading towards Satdobato from Koteshwar collided head-on with the car (Ba 4 Cha 1) last night. Six passengers traveling in both vehicles sustained injuries in the accident, said SP Yagya Binod Pokharel, Chief at the District Police Office, Lalitpur. They are undergoing treatment at the B&B Hospital.  

A suicide bomber struck Monday inside a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 20 people and wounding as many as 96 worshippers, officials said, Associated Press reported.

No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, said Saddique Khan, a senior police official in Peshawar who gave the latest casualty tolls, but the Pakistani Taliban have been blamed in similar suicide attacks in the past.

The bomber detonated his suicide vest as some 150 worshipers — including many policemen from nearby police offices — were praying inside. The impact of the explosion collapsed the roof of the mosque, which caved in and injured many, according to Zafar Khan, a local police officer.

A survivor, 38-year-old police officer Meena Gul, said he was inside the mosque when the bomb went off. He said he doesn’t know how he survived unhurt. He could hear cries and screams after the bomb exploded, Gul said.

Rescuers scrambled trying to remove mounds of debris from the mosque grounds and get to worshippers still trapped under the rubble, police said.

Khan said rescuers are trying to get the wounded to a nearby hospital. He said several of the wounded were listed in critical condition at a hospital and there were fears the death toll would rise, according to the Associated Press.

Peshawar is the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan and has been the scene of frequent militant attacks.

The Pakistani Taliban, are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and are separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in the country, the release of their members who are in government custody and a reduction of Pakistani military presence in the country’s former tribal regions, Associated Press reported.