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At Karachi zoo, the sight of a woman is more exotic than the animals
Women were banned from coming here after one was harassed 18 years ago.
Women were banned from coming here after one was harassed 18 years ago. DESIGN: FAIZAN DAWOOD
KARACHI:
It has been almost two decades since women were banned from entering the Karachi zoo over the Eid holidays. This year, too, won’t be any different.
The ban was imposed after a woman was assaulted in the zoo around 18 years ago. “Since then we haven’t allowed women in for first three days of Eid,” said Dr Kazim Hussain, the director of Karachi Zoological Garden. “There are so many people that it is impossible to keep an eye on everyone. No matter how hard we try, there will be too many people to handle. But this does not mean that the ban would continue forever.”
Zoo officials say that thousands of people visit the zoo because they have spare time on their hands. Almost all of them are from the socio-economic strata which find other modes of recreation a burden on their meagre incomes.
The zoo officials have considered restricting the entry of men in the zoo but haven’t implemented it for the fear of being dragged into court. “It would have become an issue of civil rights,” said another zoo official. “We tried and implemented that at Safari Park. But I am not sure if it will work at the zoo as well.”
He said that tens of thousands of labourers work in Karachi and they can only afford to either go to Clifton beach or the zoo, where the entry fee is only Rs10 for adults.
Poor security had already made the zoo a no-go area for women, even on the week days. But the three-day Eid holidays were the worst. Former mayor Mustafa Kamal tried to improve the security in 2007 and vowed to lift the ban but nothing actually happened.
When Bashir Sadozai took charge as the zoo director last year, about 40 city wardens were deputed there to assist the security guards who were outnumbered and overwhelmed with work. The addition of city wardens helped ease the burden on the security guards who had 25 extra pairs of legs to patrol the zoo premises. But when Ramazan began, all 40 wardens were transferred by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to different road intersections to help traffic police regulate traffic.
The zoo administration has asked the KMC to increase the number of guards immediately. At present there are 33 security guards at the zoo’s payroll and they work in three shifts. This leaves just 11 guards for an eight-hour shift. There are five gates and each one is manned by one guard. “Two of them are on weekly holidays and among the remaining four at least one is always sick,” said a security official. That leaves only three guards to patrol the entire zoo at a given time. “Three men for patrolling 33 acres of land!” he exclaimed. “It’s just not possible.”
However, harassment of women is not the only security concern, says one guard. “People harass the animals even more,” he said. “They throw fruit, popcorn and even packets of juice into the cages.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2012.
Reader Comments (43)
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The following happens only in Pakistan
A woman was assaulted, so ban women.
A woman was raped, so put her in jail.
You are killing us with drones, so we will kill our children without polio drops.
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Women harrassed? Ban the women instead!
Desi totka. LOL
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So if men are restricted it would be a “civil rights issue”, but it’s ok to ban women?! I guess that implies that women in Pakistan have no civil rights! What a screwed up, backward country!!
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Sounds as if the human animals throwing things at the caged animals deserve some time caged themselves!
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Man this is crazy. Improve the security.
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The zoo officials have considered restricting the entry of men in the zoo but haven’t implemented it for the fear of being dragged into court. “It would have become an issue of civil rights,” – So women have no civil rights?!
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A typical example of not using brains …. they could make a women only day at the zoo out of the 3 days of eid … but unfortunately they dont want to do that because they dont want to limit their income during the money making days …. we need to work on getting rid of this divide once and for all.
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That’s profoundly sad. Growing up in Karachi in the 1980s I remember my mother often taking me and my siblings to the zoo by herself. Other young mothers doing the same were as common a site then as they are exceptional now. In my dozens of visits, I don’t recall a single untoward incident. How ironic that a rise in so called conservative Islamization in Pakistan has brought only such a decline in our individual and community moral standards.
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At least the officials were honest in their statements. In India they would be in serious trouble.
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so women have no civil rights in Pakistan? Is this even a question! Women can stay away but really, really feel sorry for the poor animals. They don’t deserve to be there.
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Pakistan is totally out of sync with the modern world. Zia wanted a state where religion stood first. He got his wish but everything else regressed back 1500 years.
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Everyone knows that from where these labourers come, their should be a permenant banned by the Govt of Sindh on the entry of these rouges mafia elements from KP province as being done by baluchistan people for people from Punjab
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Last Sunday , my husband and i took the kids to Karachi Zoo. I found the zoo to be pleasantly cleaned and well kept, then i had imagined. There were a lot women around and i was pleasantly surprised to see that every Wednesday women are allowed free entry. However, i did notice that there were very few zoo officials around , it would help if they got a few uniformed officials around the Zoo premises .
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Great another stupid rule . All families kindly take your children to a place where women are also invited , don’t got o the zoo on eid holidays lets see how they generate their income the poor animals will die & the zoo will SHUT Down
& as usual The GOVT takes NO NOTICE
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Wow…. what a fantastic face of our society. This shows the LAW has now POWER in Pakistan
Hats off to the administration who can’t enhance security measures. They should be replaced with new administration ASAP.
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@xoya: People you are addressing (the people who go to Karachi Zoo) probably cannot read something online and that too in English!
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Instead of complaining let’s find a solution. Why don’t we take a leaf from Dubai or the US, where teenagers volunteer/work in places like museums and zoos as tour guides and security. If the problem is lack of wardens, why not pay high school/university students half the amount that the police require and give them the authority to control the crowd–I’m sure plenty of students will love the extra cash on the side and there will be more security at the zoo allowing for a pleasant experience for all involved.
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We are a backward country and want to stay like that. There is a little hope for any meaninful change in our social behaviour.
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I nominate this article for the Funny and Horrifying Award!
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Why not banning males? who committed this act?
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Given the ullta (up-side-down) minds of our people, I’m suprised that at our zoos the humans are not kept put in cages to protect them from the animals.
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Good story. Why not reserve the third day of Eid only for females and children? Its true that there are hundreds and thousands of workers in karachi who have few recreational places, but it is possible to fix one day of Eid only for families.
Anyway, more power to Pakistani women!
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ban the men and you may find that the animals get treated better
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So I can not go into Park Towers, Dolmen Mall, Bagh e Ibn e Qasim and many other public places in Karachi on Eid, on Sundays and on many other Gazetted holidays without family but we can’t even have the Zoo to ourselves for Eid?!
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“They throw fruit, popcorn and even packets of juice into the cages.”….like Fasih Zaka once rightly said….the world needs to build a fence around us so that we don’t spread our savageness to the rest of the world.
Shameful!
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The more religious someone is, the more likely they are to be a sexual predator. Recommend
The men should be kept behind the cages with the animals. Or better yet, keep the men inside and the animals outside. I think even the animals want be safe from these people
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very wise step … women must be kept away from these rowdy animals in shalwar qameez !!!
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Nice, so banning women is okay, but banning men would be a civil rights issue?
Why is it that in so many Muslim countries, if the victim of a crime is a woman, then the woman tends to bear the responsibility and punishment for it? A woman gets harassed by a man? Well of course, ban women. A woman gets raped by a man? Well, come one, she wasn’t veiled properly….she should have had a mahram with her, etc….it’s not the rapists fault, she brought it on herself. It’s the patriarchal mindset and the stupid “culture of honor”. These things need to be eliminated.
My suggestion to the zoo: Ask for manpower from the police department. Empty out one of the animal enclosures. Place all the disgusting men who are harassing women (and the animals by throwing stuff in their cages) into the emptied out enclosure. Re-name the enclosure the “FERAL MALE HUMANOID EXHIBIT”.
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Women have no business going to the zoo on Eid day. They should be at home preparing the Eid day meals.
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//The ban was imposed after a woman was assaulted in the zoo around 18 years ago.
Islam’s solution to every problem. Ban women, Ban education. Ban this and Ban that. If a woman gets raped it is her fault so ban the normal clothes and force them to wear cloth coffins
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@abdussamad:
Do you think women are servants?
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A simple solution. Ban women from going out of their homes no matter what. A more pragmatic solution is have Eid days as family days. No man is allowed without his family. Being fair is not rocket science, if there is a will it can be done.
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The last time I went to Karachi zoo was in 1998. I was 11 years old. At that time, Wednesday was only reserved for women and children. Why can’t they do this again.
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@Muhammad:
didnt you read the article? they said if they ban males then it will become civil rights issue.
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And you wonder why Indian soaps and movies are so popular among pakistani women.
women too need entertainment you know
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i completely agree with the initial comments. Assault on woman so ban the women. and when u have to ban the men it becomes a ‘social right issue’ … Uneducated ppl demolishing Pakistan. cant find words to insult themmm!!!
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@Muhammad:
100%agreed with u bro
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@1234:
ahahhahahahahah
what a statement bro what a statement!
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Maybe they should cage the men, instead. Problem solved.
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All my friends from across the border trying to tell us about women rights please look inwards too … I guess both sides of the border have equal share of their “Jahils” !!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/23/why-india-bad-for-women
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on every Wednesday, men are not allowed in the zoo, It’s a women’s only day! Ideally there should be no ban but practically it’s really impossible for them to manage. The zoo on Eid holidays is jam packed, near animal cages, in the queues for rides, food area, ticket counters the crowd is almost out of control. Given the security situation in the city things go extremely wrong in case of even a small fight between groups of youth.
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@Baba Ji:
hahah. 100%correct
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