The Muslim Woman

The Taliban Movement was a Sunni Islamist fundamentalist movement that successfully ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. The Taliban government has been severely condemned for violating the human rights of women. They were compelled to wear ‘burqa’ of specific length and slight variation could result in public punishment, as women were beaten with thin sticks at the ankles for wearing burqas that were ‘too short’. Moreover, the women were deprived of elementary education and voting as well. Today, there is no such regime in Afghanistan so the rhetoric situation should be… woman and man working together in all the walks of life. However, this is not the actual picture. The living condition of women folk in Afghanistan is so bleak that they prefer self- immolation since they consider it to be the only way out to escape the harshness of life in this conservative and violence-plagued country. A case like the previous one has come up again and this time, a sixteen-year-old girl has become the victim of this pernicious trend… a trend of detesting life and giving oneself to immolation. After marrying a forty-year-old man, Gulsum, a sixteen-year-old girl’s life became miserable. It started to deteriorate further as her husband, became accustomed to heroin, alcohol and started manhandling her. The abuse became worse when she confronted him about his addictions, unable to bear any longer, she took the extreme step of self-immolation by dousing herself with gas and letting herself to ablaze. This is one such case, which has become known, but there are lots of them that are still covered in the name of religion or some ‘psychological problem’. Present scenario: Statistically, there were 93 such cases last year and 54 so far this year and more than 70 percent of these women have passed away. Womankind Worldwide says millions of Afghan women and girls continue to face systematic discrimination and violence in their households and communities. However, guarantees given to Afghan women after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 have not translated into real change. These abuses including rapes, assaults and other such crimes are being committed with total impunity by government forces and armed political groups who are prepared to terrorize the civilian population in order to secure and reinforce their power bases. Who could be the culprits: While frequently claiming that they wish to ‘restore’ religious, ethnic and humane standards, those engaged in the fighting have persistently indulged in widespread human rights abuses and looting of property. Even non-violent groups such as women’s organizations have been systematically targeted for attacks. Consequent upon which, women find no shelter to shed their grievances. What could be done: 1. Issuing a clear warning to the military factions in Afghanistan that the world’s governments will not ignore abuses of human rights against women and other civilians. 2. Ensuring that standards set out in international humanitarian and human rights law designed to protect women’s rights are upheld in Afghanistan. At present, women who are working to promote development, equality and peace in Afghanistan risk imprisonment, torture and other human rights violations and abuses. 3. Publicly state their commitment, ensuring that the intergovernmental bodies which monitor human rights violations against women, including the UN Commission on Human Rights and its Special Reporter on violence against women , the UN Commission of the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, have adequate resources to carry out their tasks effectively. 4. Support education and training programs in Afghanistan designed to promote awareness of women’s rights as human rights. 5. All governments, particularly those in Pakistan and Iran, to respect fully the rights of Afghan refugees and offer them adequate protection, both at border-posts and in refugee camps. Image Read

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) declared that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto would definitely be taking a plunge into the forth-coming elections. The spokesperson of the party said, ‘Mohtarma is needed by the nation to fight poverty, inflation and unemployment and resolve the problems of the people’. In a message to a seminar on human rights she said, ‘We are seeking the right to representation through free elections, the right to association, to travel, to dissent, to justice, to food, clothing, shelter, education and health, which are basic necessities to live a life distinguished from the life of the jungle’. The party asserted that it would restore democracy and end the military operation in Baluchistan, bring peace and development to the tribal areas and solve the electricity, water, lack of roads, health facilities and education opportunities of the people under the leadership of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto no matter what the regime says or does. Image Read

The all time controversial Women Protection Bill, which was signed into law last month under the regime of Musharraf has not been welcomed by thousands of Islamic people. They came out with a rally in Karachi to show their objection towards the bill. Nearly, 10,000 supporters of the Islamist parties, chanted slogans of ‘Down with Musharraf’ and ‘Down with the Women Protection Law’ at the rally and demanded the government scrap the law. The law takes the crime of rape out of the sphere of the religious laws, known as the Hudood Ordinances, and puts it under the penal code. Under the Hudood Ordinances, a raped victim was only offered justice if she would be able to produce four male witness otherwise she would have to face the charges of treachery. Image Read

NWFP Inspector General of Police Mohammad Raffat Pasha took cognizance of the cases of mistreatment of women in police stations and warned police officers of stern action under the Police Order if they violated the laws meant for protecting women. Mr. Pasha stated that there have been a number of grievances which held that while dealing with women the police staff didn’t discharge their responsibilities appropriately either due to lack of knowledge or simply out of habit. He added that, ‘all laws pertaining to women should be clearly displayed at police stations and the police should strictly follow the rules’. He emphasized that the Protection of Women Act should be imposed strictly and in case of complaints, officials concerned would be penalized. Image Read

Pakistani women have shown to the world that they are not behind any one in nearly all walks of life. In November, Pakistani Military Academy Kakul, admitted women for the first time in history and recently, women cadets some with swords and others with guns, marched with their male colleagues in a ceremony at the mausoleum in Karachi. Eight women officer cadets from the training academy for Pakistani army officers became the first women to mount the honor guard at the mausoleum of Jinnah. General Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, has been encouraging the role of women in a male chauvinistic society where average female literacy is only 35 per cent. Image Read

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain would be discussing a policy that would protect women’s rights. Aziz said the government would remove all man made laws and practices militating against women’s rights and violating the spirit of Islam. And that the government would consult all stakeholders on laws relating to women before getting them passed from the parliament. Image Read

At a certificate distribution ceremony for the graduates of Community Technology Learning Center (CTLC) organized by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Senator Ms Yasmin Shah tagged the women’s rights law to be a great achievement as it is milestone in safeguarding the native women. She advised the girls to work hard to acquire the skill so that they could be useful for themselves and for the country as well. She commended the NCHD for setting up the CTLC and for initiating school health program, which had so far screened primary school children for various diseases and provided eyeglasses to 450 children and treatment to 1,000 others. NCHD District Manager Imtiaz Bhatti added that the center had produced 200 women and 20 men graduates, where 42 women have acquired jobs in different organizations. Image Read

In a workshop by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on ‘torture on women’, the speakers urged the government to give more powers to women’s rights protection bodies to protect the native women’s right. Addressing the workshop, Justice (retd) Zahid Aslam Nasir said that a ‘full-time’ Commission on Status of Women/Women Inquiry Committee should be made and full-time ones should replace ad-hoc members in Federal Law Commission so that timely provision of justice to women could be guaranteed. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid said during his tenure as the chief justice of Sindh High Court, he received letters from more than 15,000 women and offered relief to them, but was not able to change the system. Image Read

Women in Pakistan live in constant fear. They face death by shooting, burning or killing with axes if they are deemed to have brought shame on the family. The lives of millions of women in Pakistan are circumscribed by traditions that enforce extreme seclusion and submission to men. Rural areas of the Province are still drenched in dogmatic existence. Many men consider it an insult if their female relatives marry without their consent. Killing or attacking women and their partners in such cases is assumed to reinstate family honor. And to make the situation more worse, the offenders escape the lariat of justice just because of poor policing, corruption and legal loopholes. Lately, a young chap of 22 year old was severely battered by his wife’s relatives. His crime was that his wife belonged from so-called ‘upper caste’ family and they got betrothed against their wishes. The girl’s male relatives, around 30 in number, assaulted the man and slashed his nose and ears. Hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan every year in the name of ‘honor killings’. In recent years, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has defended his government’s record on violence against women and says he has done more for women’s empowerment than any previous administration. However, human rights groups in Pakistan say the president’s claims are not backed by adequate legislation. Ensuring activists, lawyers and women’s groups to practice their legitimate activities without harassment or fear and pursue all such threats with a view to punishment could make the life of victims a little better. Image Read

Perhaps, we would never know what’s buried behind those veils, which have metamorphosed into their graves now! For years, women in Pakistan have been denied the enjoyment of a whole range of rights including economic, social, civil and political. However, they are being victimized by an overwhelming level of violence. When would they be given human status and when they would be treated equally and humanly? If you ask this to a Pakistani woman, apparently, she would say, NEVER. The problem in Pakistan is not that women are not conscious of their rights, some of you might ponder what rights we’re talking about, it’s not that they are too meek to fight back, it’s not that they have never tried to break the chains, it’s simply because the muscles of the fundamentalist regime are too strong to consider their existence. In the absence of democracy, women not only in this part of the world, rather anywhere, would never be able to make ends meet. The rulers, or dictators to be precise, right now have other important issues like avenging the thirst for power, rather giving heed to cries of a few lumps of fleshes down the drain. Nearly 80% of the women folk experience domestic violence including, beatings, acid attacks and burnings by fire. In addition, Continue reading “No end to violence against women in Pakistan” »