An Overview of the Religious Perspective of Honour Killing in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan

This article maps the role of religion in the prevalence and promotion of honour killing in tribal areas of Pakistan. Through simple sampling method a sample size of 377 respondents, comprising of ‘Maliks’ were selected from the study universe. The collected data was interpreted and presented at uni-variate, bi-variate and multi-variate levels. Chi-square test statistics were used to draw association between dependent variable (honour killing) and independent variable (religion) both at bi-variate and multi-variate levels. The study found a significant relationship of honour killing with the importance of religion in people lives, alienation from the religious teachings, dominance of cultural values over religion, existence of honour killing in all religious sects (Shia and Sunni), and lack of factual religious knowledge about honour killing. Moreover, a non-significant relationship of honour killing was found with permission of honour killing in Islam, and religious clerics often speak about honour killing in religious sermons. Understanding of women and their rights in light of the teachings of Islam, religious clerics need to perform their true role, and killing in either shape needs to be propagated as against the religion were presented some of the policy recommendations in lights of the study results.

Analysis of Multi-Drug Residues and Their Metabolites in Meat and Milk

Modern farming practices involve administration of a wide range of veterinary drugs and biological substances to food-producing animals with the primary aim to combat diseases and promote growth. The residues of these drugs can enter into food chain either directly or indirectly resulting in serious allergic reactions in humans, and development of drug resistance in multiple strains of bacteria as in case of antibiotics. The main focus of this research work was the development of analytical methodologies for the identification of various classes of antibiotics in broiler chicken and bovine milk using LC-MS/MS. All the developed methods were validated according to European Commission Decision 657/2002/EC and parameters determined are: specificity, accuracy, precision, repeatability, within lab reproducibility, decision limits (CCα) and detection capability (CCβ). The first method developed for the analysis of florfenicol residues in chicken muscles. It was found that most of the florfenicol residues remained bound with tissues and could only be extracted with organic solvents after digestion of the tissues with strong hydrochloric acid at 95-100 °C. The bound residues of florfenicol were present in higher concentration as compared to un-bound residues in various tissues of broiler chicken. The second method was developed for the multi-amphenicol analysis in which florfenicol, florfenicol amine, chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol were simultaneously analyzed. The accuracy values were 86.4 to 108.1% and precision values were 2.7 to 16.3%, respectively. Analysis of the various raw samples confirmed the presence of florfenicol and chloramphenicol residues in few samples at low levels. Third method involved multiclass multidrug residues, in which total 68 compounds from six antibiotic classes were analyzed. The accuracy values were 70- 102.9 % for nearly 87% compounds. The developed method can be used for screening purpose to reduce the number of samples for confirmatory analysis, thus improving the efficiency of the laboratory by reducing cost and time. Lastly, prevalence of penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics was studied in bovine milk samples obtained from two cities of Punjab, Pakistan using UPLC-MS. Only amoxicillin, ampicillin, Pen G and cloxacillin were found and confirmed in 18 samples.