Page 21 - Pakistan Link - July 30, 2021

COMMENTARY JULY 30, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21
For the First Time, Saudi Women Stand Guard in Mecca during Haj

n By Mohammed Benmansour the Grand mosque in Mecca, rights activists.
Mecca, Saudi Arabia the holiest place. To serve the Saudi Arabia has restricted
worshippers is a very noble and the haj to its own citizens and
nspired by her late father’s honorable task,” said Mona, who residents for the second year in
career, Mona decided to declined to give her family name. a row, barring millions of other
Ijoin the military and the Saudi Crown Prince Mo- pilgrims from abroad in response
first group of Saudi women sol- hammed bin Salman has pushed to the coronavirus pandemic.
diers to work in Islam’s holiest through social and economic Samar, another soldier
sites, where they are helping se- reforms as part of plans to mod- watching pilgrims near the Kaa-
cure the haj annual pilgrimage. ernize the conservative Muslim ba, a cube-shaped structure that
Since April, dozens of female kingdom and attract foreign in- Muslims believe was built by
soldiers have become part of the vestment under a diversification Abraham, said she was encour-
security services that monitor drive. aged by her family to join the
pilgrims in Mecca and Medina, Under his reform plan, military, after psychology stud-
the birth places of Islam. known as Vision 2030, the crown ies.
Dressed in a military khaki prince lifted a driving ban on “This is a huge accomplish-
uniform, with a hip-length jack- women, allowed adult women to ment for us and it is the biggest
et, loose trousers and a black be- travel without permission from pride to be in the service of reli-
ret over a veil covering her hair, guardians and granted them gion, the country and the guests
Mona spends her shifts roaming more control over family mat- of God, the most merciful,” she
in the Grand Mosque in Mecca. ters. said.
“I am following the steps But the reform plan has been (Writing by Marwa Rashad
of my late father to complete accompanied by a crackdown on in London; Editing by Alexandra
his journey, standing here at dissent, including on women’s Hudson. Reuters)
Should You Be Worried about Covid if You’re Vaccinated?

n By Denise Chow according to the Centers for Disease your local community. It’s how much
Control and Prevention, and break- virus you’re being exposed to.”
series of recent coronavirus through infections appear to occur Vaccines can also lower the
infections among vaccinat- in just a tiny sliver of them. amount of virus in the body, which
A d athletes and government But as the pandemic lingers and may limit the ability of people with
e
staffers has focused attention on an more transmissible variants of the breakthrough infections to spread it
apparent rise in so-called break- virus circulate widely, it’s expected to others, although the effect is not
through infections. But while cases that the number of breakthrough yet well understood. More research
involving fully vaccinated people infections will rise. Yet studies have is needed to gauge what effect as-
have increased in recent weeks, shown that most cases in vaccinated ymptomatic breakthrough cases, in
experts say there’s little reason to people are mild — if a person devel- particular, have on transmission.
worry. ops symptoms at all — and research “It may be that for the vast ma-
A game between the New York indicates that vaccines still provide jority of vaccinated people who get
Yankees and the Boston Red Sox on strong protection, even against the infected, they just don’t make enough
July 15 was postponed because of known variants. virus to infect another person,” said
multiple confirmed breakthrough “The reality is that a lot of these Dr Janko Nikolich-Žugich, an im-
cases. A few days later, Kara Eaker, breakthrough infections have been munologist and professor of medi-
an alternate on the US women’s gym- vaccinated people who test positive, “If you have a lot of good anti- That’s because the vaccines act cine at the University of Arizona.
nastics team who was vaccinated but there’s a difference between test- bodies, they are potentially able to like screens to block most — but not Darnell, of Rockefeller Univer-
in May, tested positive at an Olym- ing positive and getting sick,” said bind to the virus before it can cause necessarily all — virus particles from sity, said the recent rise in break-
pics training camp in Japan. And Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with trouble, and that can mitigate or de- invading the body. Different factors through infections hasn’t been as-
this week, government officials an- the Vaccine and Infectious Disease crease your odds of getting sick,” said influence the strength of the screen sociated with a similar increase in
nounced that a White House staffer Organization at the University of Dr Robert Darnell, a senior physi- and how many tiny virus particles hospitalizations or deaths, which is
and a senior communications aide to Saskatchewan in Canada. cian and biochemist at Rockefeller are able to make it through the bar- encouraging evidence that vaccines
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca- In other words, people who test University in New York. rier, said Dr Sarah Fortune, an im- seem to be holding up well, in spite
lif., had tested positive even though positive may have tiny amounts of Still, breakthrough infections munologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan of new and emerging variants.
they had been fully vaccinated. The the virus in their bodies — enough to are expected because no vaccine is School of Public Health. The CDC initially tracked all in-
cases came on the heels of positive be detected with Covid-19 tests but 100 percent effective. In rare cases, “These variants are more trans- stances of breakthrough infections,
tests for six members of a delegation not enough to make them ill. fully vaccinated people can get seri- missible, so they’re better at getting but as of May 1, it shifted to focus-
of Texas Democrats in Washington, And because the vaccines work ously ill and die from Covid-19, but through the screens,” she said. “The ing only on cases linked to hospital-
DC. by giving the immune system a the vast majority of breakthrough other factor is how much virus is ization or death. At that time, more
More than 161 million people boost, it can more quickly recognize cases have been mild or asymptom- out there trying to get in, and that’s than 100 million people in the
in the US have been fully vaccinated, and attack any invading pathogens. atic. determined by vaccination rates in COVID, P24
Wife Hits Headlines for Performing Husband’s Funeral Rites

n By Geeta Pandey During the recent pandemic
New Delhi, India too, there were many instances where
wives or daughters were seen perform-
ndian actress and TV presenter ing last rites - sometimes because male
Mandira Bedi recently hit the family members had perished or were
Iheadlines for performing her themselves infected with the virus or
husband’s last rites. Cremations were unable to travel because of the
are traditionally done by men, and lockdown.
women are often discouraged from But Bedi breaking with tradition
even attending. But where does this upset some conservative Indians and
belief come from and what do Hindu right wing-trolls who ridiculed
scriptures say about it? h e r on social media, insisting that
With a clay pot in one hand and the pyre should have been lit by her
holding up the bier - a bamboo frame - 10-year-old son. Some pointed out
carrying the body of Raj Kaushal with that it was against tradition for a wom-
another, Bedi wept as she did the ritu- an to even visit a crematorium.
als and lit his funeral pyre. Hindu priests and religious
Kaushal, a 49-year-old filmmaker, scholars, however, told the BBC that
died suddenly on 30 June from cardiac there was no ban in the scriptures on
arrest in the western city of Mumbai. women visiting a crematorium or per-
The actress received messages of forming the last rites of their loved
heartfelt condolences and won praise ones.
for what many described as standing turies and sent out a charged and pow- back our society for centuries. Those Behari Vajpayee died in August 2018, So why are women discour-
up to patriarchy even while grieving. erful anti-patriarchy message”. shackles instantly broke as the flames his adopted daughter Namita Kaul aged from performing or attending
Popular author and columnist “When Bedi lit her husband’s from the pyre touched the sky,” Ms De Bhattacharya did his last rites. In 2014, cremations? The internet is full of bi-
Shobhaa De wrote that the image of pyre this week, unknowingly she also wrote. Pankaja Munde lit the pyre of her fa- zarre theories, including one that says
“a grief-stricken Mandira doing her lit countless fires in the hearts of men For the record, Bedi is not the ther Gopinath Munde, a senior BJP “women with long dark hair can be
husband’s last rites challenged archaic and women who believe in themselves only woman to cremate a loved one. leader in the western state of Maha- easily possessed by spirits roaming the
norms governing our society for cen- - and not in conventions that have held When former prime minister Atal rashtra. RITES, P24
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