Adultery, the Ground for Dissolution of Christian Marriage in Pakistan: Intersectional Constraint to Christian Women in Pakistan

Divorce from a distressful and unhappy marital alliance implies emancipation from perpetual pain, abuse, agony and violence but the social stigma attached to a divorced woman casts its shadow for life in the patriarchal and paternalistic socio-cultural settings in Pakistan. Seeking a judicial redress for dissolution of marriage is a legal right that needs to be available equally to both men and women. However, Christian married couples who apply for a divorce, are left with no options except to invoke the charge of adultery under Christian Divorce Act 1869. Proving adultery as a ground for dissolution of marriage stands as an impediment entailing character assassination of the accused and narrows the application of divorce on other grounds, such as domestic violence, abandonment by husbands and cruelty. The clergy representing Christian community fully supports the ground of adultery for dissolution of Christian marriage and vehemently opposes any position that calls for inclusion of nofault divorce. _________

Molecular Diagnosis and Phylogeny of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Ibdv in Chicken During Field Outbreaks in District Chakwal, Pakistan

Poultry diseases are a matter of serious concern and responsible for extremely large profit making crisis in poultry industry per anum. Outbreaks of infectious bursal disease (IBD) are continuously increasing despite vaccination in commercial broilers. The strains of IBDV currently circulating in Chakwal district broiler flocks are not known. Clinicopathologic analysis and reverse transcriptase PCR were used in 18 poultry farms which were situated in district Chakwal to confirm field outbreaks of IBD. The genetic analysis of the hypervariable part of the?VP2?gene was utilized to describe different features of total 6 isolates of these outbreaks. Arrangement of nucleotides, infer amino acid sequences through phylogenetic analysis of VP2 gene containing hypervariable part were used for dividing IBDV strains into two groups. According to phylogenetic analysis, 5 IBDV strains showed special signatures of amino acid in the VP2 gene as A222, I242, I256, I294, S299 and classified as vvIBDV.They showed 97%?99% identity at the nucleotide level. Furthermore, the sequencing analysis of detected field strains revealed the high similarity and close clustering with vvIBDV strains isolated from India, Pakistan, and China, suggesting geographic and temporal relationships among these strains. Interestingly, one IBDV strain clustered togather with vaccinal IBDV strains and representing 99% sequence likeness with vaccine strains which were dissipated, suggesting possible role of attenuated vaccines in the outbreaks of IBD. Our study revealed circulation of vvIBDV strains in Chakwal broiler flocks and these evidences emphasize the need of further detailed and more systemic approaches to evaluate IBDV diffusion and characterization to design effective control strategies.