The Way I See It
Is it a crime to be a girl?

Is it a crime to be a girl?

I can't digest the fact that many people in certain societies feel no regret when killing the unborn female fetus.

Cheryl Javed May 16, 2012

It was an hour of joy and happiness for my mother when the doctor told her she would have me in her arms in nine months. But this happiness turned into despair for my father and grandmother as they came to know that a girl would be born to their family. They forced my mother to kill me before I was born.

Daddy, please don’t kill me. I won’t make you angry. I’ll be a good daughter; I won’t ask you for expensive clothes and toys. Please don’t kill me.

But I was killed after just 30 days in my mom’s uterus.

This is what an unborn female fetus may feel when it is brutally murdered by her own family. Aamir Khan’s production, "Satyamev Jayate", that aired on May 6, inspired me by its very first episode, showing the darker side of society.

[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3WygJmiVs&feature=related]]

This opened my eyes to a problem which is both common and heart-rending. Although I realise that I live in a society where women are often criticised and used as objects to please everyone they are related to, it was still difficult for me to digest the fact that the majority of people in certain societies feel no regret when killing the unborn female fetus.

They do it just for the sake of having a baby boy who would carry their family’s name forward.The research on the show displayed a highly dismal picture regarding the survival rate of females compared with males.

After watching this show, I wondered if this was only happening in India. Is Pakistan free from this practice?

To answer my questions and satisfy my conscience, I did a bit of research and found a report by CNN called "Killing of infants on the rise in Pakistan", published in 2011, which stated that over 1,200 newborns were killed and dumped in Pakistan in that year, which was an increase of about 200 from the previous year. Statistics show that roughly nine out of 10 newborns killed are female.

I was completely shocked by the statistics presented in the report.

Man has no right to decide whether a baby should live or die. We must learn to respect this wonderful gift of God, be it a boy or a girl.

WRITTEN BY:
Cheryl Javed The author works as a Programming Coordinator at Express News.

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (70)

Vikram | 11 years ago | Reply @Kenneth John: How can a grandmother say to kill the girl. Who is the grandmother herself then even she was once a girl. She stand against her daughter-in-law to give the rights to that new born girl which the may be she never got in her young days. I remember reading some where, how an arab grandmother sings a special song before burying a new born girl. Song is just for this particular occasion. Mant arabs when asked, how many kids they have, don't include number of girls in the count.

Kenneth John | 11 years ago | Reply How can a grandmother say to kill the girl. Who is the grandmother herself then even she was once a girl. She stand against her daughter-in-law to give the rights to that new born girl which the may be she never got in her young days.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Vikram | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: "though i had promised myself not to reply anymore, but i think i have speak. I have been a victim of child abuse myself." I hope your early experinces have not made you hateful and fearful of men in general.

Vikram | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: "Now please give me one news, one story of your claim and I will support it." Just go on Internet and search "Pakistan abortions". Look a sample of what I found...... Rozina, has been performing induced abortions for more than 30 years in and around the village. She uses mainly broom straws and some opium, not hard to find in the local market. She inserts tip of a boiled broom straw covered with a pinch of opium into uterus, bursting the gestation sac. "The opium acts like an explosive and burns the sac", Bleeding within an hour indicates that the abortion has been 'successfully' performed. Another commonly used method for longer pregnancies is a bent steel coat hanger used to burst the uterus, increasing the health risk for several women who opt for illegal abortions.

a girl | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana My friend is a gynecologist in PAK and she has been practicing for 1 year. During this time she got at least 2 patients who after realizing that their foetus was a girl asked her for abortion. She however completely refused. But its common knowledge in PK that there are lots of abortion centers in big cities. They are illegal and hence no one really collects data from them. SO we can't really know what happens in the centrers Also Pakistan has one of the highest honour killing rate in the world so your assertion "kay ham itnay beghayrat nahi kay apni ladkiyon ko mar dein" doesn't really work.

Vikram | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: "Oh please Anthony, abhi hum itnay beghairat nahin huay hain jo apni larkiyon ko mar dein … I have never heard of anyone (not even one person) telling me that they have done abortion, let alone kill a daughter." You expect people will come and tell you that they aborted a girl fetus. I remember reading in News how 5 Pakistani women were burried alive for refusing to marry men choosen by their families. In some countries, Muslim girls get their sexual organs surgically modified/removed to kill their desire for sex in order to keep them moral. In some ways it is worse then killing a girl. A man was caught in US for doing that to her 3 year old girl A few Muslim girls have been killed in US/Canada for not wearing a hijab and / or dating non-Muslims. Just search Internet and you will find lot of information.

Vikram | 11 years ago | Reply @Loneliberal PK: "It’s no secret that I’m pro-choice when it comes to abortion, and I’ve been a vocal critic of India’s law forbidding doctors to reveal the sex of the fetus in order to prevent abortion." In other worls you support abortions of female fetuses. Shame on you. .

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Newman: actually according to Islamic law abortions before the 4th month of pregnancy are allowed,especially in circumstances when there is a threat to the mothers health/well being, if the fetus is very seriously deformed and in cases of rape

Newman | 11 years ago | Reply And I thought muslums didn't believe in abortion!

Nandita. | 11 years ago | Reply NGOs*

Nandita. | 11 years ago | Reply Disgusted with the men who are commenting on this blog. Leila, i think you're doing a great job working at the NGO's and I think it's women like you who will raise awareness and bring about a change in the lives of oppressed women.Kudos to you, woman !

Bilal | 11 years ago | Reply @leila - theres violence against everyone in this country not just women if you havent noticed, stopped singling yourselves out as victims all the time. How many women have died in target killing or bomb blasts in the past couple of years?

Bilal | 11 years ago | Reply @Leila - NGOs have never been effectvie at achieving anything theyr just ways for rich people to feel good about themselves. Equality is not given it is taken. And please, like any woman would ever want to do her own work in the name of equality.

Ayesha Pervez | 11 years ago | Reply @ Sana.... If I had an abortion done (God forbid)... I wouldnt even tell my mother about it... and you're talking about sharing with friends.... abortion is an extremely private and yes - somewhat regrettable decision thus no one - and I mean NO ONE admits they had one done unless circumstances are such that other people come to know.

Big Rizvi | 11 years ago | Reply @leila rage: If you have so much free time to wander ET, then why don't you step outside and try to make a difference? I have seen much worse examples than Pakistan.

geeko | 11 years ago | Reply @leila rage: Who said that Pak. women were experiencing an unprecedented wave of freedoms ? I just pointed out that social class does play a role, whether you like it or not : Hina Rabbani Khar, despite being a woman, is luckier than millions and millions of men because of her feudal background ; she could have dared to dream about being important in that society (and she ended up being important) because of what her family is. But don't you find the men-women dichotomy when it comes to sociological analysis irrelevant ? There are problems in Pakistan for women, a lot may I say, but invective like "you're a man, you can't think/understand/speak about women in Pakistan " does depict a really pitiful image of Pak. women as if from Karachi's upper-class to Khyber's peasants all women were living the same situation (and all men having the same "oppressive" role) just because of their sexual gender - no, situations are a bit more complicate than that, you perfectly know that if your name is from an influential family.. let alone play the victim and make ET blogs, you're luckier than millions of peoples in Pakistan - men and women. I'm sorry, but you make it look like there's a tax on oxygen for women, that's not really constructive feminism, and I do see myself as a "feminist" by the way, as I favour socio-economic uplift of women and their existence as individuals of their own (not a life revolving around shaadi) ; but your feminism seem to be a reverse sexism.

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Bilal: Did I complain about any of the things you listed? No. Your little rant seems a bit uncalled for. I agree that sometimes women are treated well out of chivalry. I'm not denying that. I'm just saying at violence against women is a DISEASE that has taken hold of our nation. What makes you think I'm not doing anything about it? I work with 3 different NGOs to raise awareness about and stop violence against women and to provide counselling and rehabilitation for them. But my point is that while you list all these "privileges" did it ever cross your mind that may be women wouldnt mind working as hard as their husbands, having to wait in lines and waste money on petrol if it meant equality? I would happily, joyfully give up this so-called women-favouring treatment if it meant that our country finally gave us EQUALITY AND JUSTICE.

Bilal | 11 years ago | Reply @Leila - yes im sorry i dont know what its like to have someone carry my heavy luggage an bags for me. No I dont know what its like to have a seperate free transport pick and drop by my office so i can come and go free of charge while men have to burn their own petrol and drive themselves to work. No i dont know what its like to be served first at counters and have seperate lines and not have to stand in line like the men have to. No i dont know what its like to sit home and spend the money that my husband goes through hell to earn for me. No i dont know what its like to have my brother or driver go and fix my car because I am too delicate to go to a mechanics dirty shop but I want to be all equality with men and drive my own car. No i dont know what its like to be a woman in pakistan if thats what you mean. Women have been abused for centuries, so go do something about it if you think you're equal to men. Not that im saying abuse of women is not wrong but either do something about it or stay quiet, women in the west work as single mothers and raise their kids without going around complaining. Women actually outnumber men in pakistan if you didnt know so the odds should be in your favor. And yes we are tired of hearing women abuse stories because people dont report the way girls are favored in universities by their professors and how bosses never shout at their female employees. Someone go write about that please.

Loneliberal PK | 11 years ago | Reply Ajay: "In Hinduism, in the religion, it is considered a crime worse than killing your parents or a priest to abort a child, the exception" What you believe doesn't automatically become reality. A fetus is not a child. A fetus does not recognize the difference between existence and non-existence. It doesn't sit in the mother womb with complex thoughts like, "Gee, I wonder what I'll do first when I get out of here?". How do we know that? Because it's science. You cannot have such high levels of cognitive thinking without a fully developed and functional central nervous system.. ..which is not the same as parents and priests, who are developed human beings with thoughts, dreams, ambitions and feelings. So comparing abortion with murder is embarrassingly ludicrous.

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply @leila rage: thanks for your support and i guess it is time to stop arguing :) we all wish best for our country in different ways though

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: I am truly sorry to hear all that you have been through. You have my prayers and regards. If you want me to specifically divulge an instance of female foeticide, I can only say that I do not wish to violate someone's trust and privacy. I am sorry, but I cannot go into details. Its really up to you to decide what you want to believe.

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply @leila rage: though i had promised myself not to reply anymore, but i think i have speak. I have been a victim of child abuse myself, by a doctor and also frequently by tailors. My father used to batter my mother with brooms and sticks, so i have first hand experience of domestic abuse. My friends have been victim of sexual abuses too. One of my friend's son was sexually abused by a servant. One of my other friend has been abused by her servant. I have seen photos of Mukhtara mai case so I believe that. I have seen photos of acid burnt victims so I believe and emphathise with them. Now please give me one news, one story of your claim and I will support it.

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: and before i forget, let me just add that you are so RIGHT, because even other things like child sexual abuse DONT happen in pakistan because people dont like to talk about them. And domestic violence & rape dont exist either because the people you know haven't faced something like that. And there's no stripping and parading of women in villages, because your friends have never been through that. Of course, your friends represent ALL pakistani women, and its totally appropriate to generalise from them to everyone else. thank you for enlightening me with your superior wisdom, i'm oh so grateful.

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @geeko: Sure, its only social class. Because I mean people don't discriminate in educated or well-off families right? Of course you're right. Yes, we pakistani women just love self pity and its so UNJUSTIFIED because we dont have to face harassment, lack of basic rights, abuse at all right? I mean things are just so GREAT for pakistani women that we should all just sit back and relax.

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: Okay whatever you say. Everything is just hunky dory, there is 'only' emotional and psychological abuse that women have to face. Things like female foeticide dont exist in pakistan because NONE OF YOUR FRIENDS HAS HAD AN ABORTION and THEREFORE NO ONE IN THE REST OF THE POPULATION would do that either. Fine

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply You guys are so used to conspiracy theories that you just love assuming bad things are happening. The assumption is that "no one will tell if they have done abortion" therefore there is abortion going on. I am very close to my female friends and we discuss everything, without passing any judgement. I repeat if this was common like they are showing in India, I am sure I would have come across one girl crying/depressed and confiding of the wrong that was done to her. I do not believe in kahi-suni, and I would not believe it until I hear it myself. I am not in denial. You guys are just nodding your heads without facts. So we are the same. NO FACTS but one agrees and other disagrees. Atleast we should have gotten one comment declaring this done to her, considering the identities in Tribune are no more than emails and name? All of you are so used to getting depressed that you just love to listen to sad stories and sob over it. I am done with arguments. Thanks for all the feedback and my last message to @Parvez You have no respect for woman and it is evident from your statements of calling my comments stupid and when I replied to that, you reply by saying that "it is good that I am calling myself stupid so I get marks for it"

geeko | 11 years ago | Reply @leila rage:

And no offense, but being a man you can not understand what its like for a Pakistani woman.

lol, yet again : do you really believe that it's about your sexual gender ? And not your social class ? I mean, is Firdous Ashiq Awan (she remains a woman despite technicalities) less fortunate than some man from masdoor in Multan because she was born on the wrong side of the sexual choice? Don't you think that sociological attitudes changes in regards to the social class, and that in an agricultural set-up a woman being less productive (not a labour force) so being less desired than a son, the equation's fundamentally different from an upper-class family in Lahore who doesn't really care about the gender, as it's not connected to their means of income... it makes sense, no ? And that particular sentence of yours is self-pity in its textual, archaic avatar... Keep the rhetoric bhangra up. Patriarchaly yours.

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Ali Tanoli: Why is it that every time someone highlights a problem in pakistan, some people just have to drag in the 'evils' of the west. i mean, the WEST is not our concern, as pakistanis pakistan is our concern. let the foreigners deal with their problems, why do we have to butt in and start complaining about what they are doing OUTSIDE pakistan?

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: My point being that these attitudes LEAD to female foeticide. No one is going to come up to me and you and proudly tell us that they have had an abortion because they didnt want a female child. People do not go around talking about these things and that is exactly why this is even more dangerous; such attitudes coupled with secret female abortions will inevitably lead to pakistan becoming more patriarchal and misogynistic than it already is. Finally, I mean no offensive but your comment about people "only doing afsos" is a bit insensitive. It implies that psychological and emotional abuse is just FINE because no one can SEE the scars of it, as long as we pretend not be so beghairat as to kill our daughters. Because I mean of course NO ONE IN PAKISTAN kills their daughters right? All those reports of honour killings are just in our imagination/an american/RAW/jewish conspiracy right?

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @bilal: Female self-pity? Self pity? Really? What are we supposed to do, do you think, dance with joy that a daughter isnt good enough, clap with enthusiasm when we see the emotional and psychological abuse of young girls, do a bhangra when women are being raped and murdered, or throw a party everytime there's an acid burn victim? Why don't you go and personally tell all the female victims of psychological and sexual abuse in pakistan to "get something original"? Im sorry to say but what women are doing ISNT SELF PITY. it is called raising awareness about issues and challenging the regressive way people think. And no offense, but being a man you can not understand what its like for a Pakistani woman.

Ajay | 11 years ago | Reply @Loneliberal PK: In Hinduism, in the religion, it is considered a crime worse than killing your parents or a priest to abort a child, the exception being if the life of the mother is in the balance. It is you liberals with your pro-abortion stance making it seem it is okay to kill your unborn child that contributed significantly to female feotocide. I hope that Hindu people return to the the ahimsa teachings of Hinduism and reject abortion. We have goddesses in our faith. The woman is divine and should be honored from the womb throughout her life.

Ajay | 11 years ago | Reply @Farooq Sameem: Do not blame the religion of Hinduism for what misguided South Asians are doing. In fact The 5,000 plus ancient religion of Hinduism does not allow for abortions unless the life of the mother is threatened. Having an abortion is considered a crime worse than killing your parents or a priest. Furthermore in Hinduism you have a whole range of communities from patrilineal to matrilineal. There is no more preference for boys in patrilineal Hindu societies than other patrilineal societies of other faiths.

bilal | 11 years ago | Reply oh please! enough of the female self pity articles on ET, these issues have already been beaten to death by other writers. get something original

elementary | 11 years ago | Reply Any one having abortion in pakistan should report it to sana before/after executing it.

Cpt. Obvious | 11 years ago | Reply Yes, it is a crime.

Parvez | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: Appreciate your honesty thats + 1 for Sana.

raw is war | 11 years ago | Reply its all due to bad cultures.

luqman | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: I agree with above all your point of view. but at one point i will say no one abuse her daughter at any point. People just get disapointed due to problems exist in society. Girls are as much respected as much boys are. They just have some restriction from their families e.g cant go for shopping alone, cant talk to boys, etc etc but all these restriction are for their own safety. You know culture no one get ready to marry a girl who get traped or have some thing get happend to her.

Sane | 11 years ago | Reply I agree to Sana. There is a strong customary in our neighbors to have not girl child, as this becomes burden to the parent. They think a female child does not contribute in family income, instead requires Dowry when marries. Better to kill them.... and they do. That's the reason the issue was discussed in Amir Khan's show.

QJ | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: .........Oh please Anthony, abhi hum itnay beghairat nahin huay hain jo apni larkiyon ko mar dein … I have never heard of anyone (not even one person) telling me that they have done abortion...

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply @Parvez: Call my remarks stupid rather than asinine. I had to look at dictionary to figure out you were calling me stupid.

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply @leila rage: Read your comment and you are actually agreeing with me. The first case they did afsoos only, no abortion. Second case, they kept producing baby girls, but did not kill them. Third case, the kid was mentally tortured by parents for being a girl, but not killed... so conclusion: we are not killing, but abusing females. So my stance is to stick to our problem which is mistreatment of females. I am not in denial of problems, I am saying we are criticising each and everything and making it look graver than it is. We should concentrate on primary issues first such as lack of education, poverty, corruption that are so widespread that even a blind can see, rather than demoralising ourselves to the point where we lose hope.

Awais | 11 years ago | Reply @Sunny: He didn't exactly mix female foeticide with religion, he just said religion and moaning about the west is what pakistan focuses on.

Awais | 11 years ago | Reply @Parvez: I'm guessing Mr Permal has better things to do than dealing with such asininity displayed in the form of a online comment......Or its 'sleepy time' on his side of the map ;)

Awais | 11 years ago | Reply @Awais: "Pakistan has more males than females by sex ratio" Damn typo!

elementary | 11 years ago | Reply @Farooq Sameem: Mothers are revered thats's true but it's daughters ,wives and sisters who get killed.Any thoughts on that?

Raj | 11 years ago | Reply @mr. righty rightist: You are right. But its not about our awakening. Its about those who dont read newspapers / news etc. This show has reached to the corners of India thru DD and because its a superstar. Thats where it succeeds.

elementary | 11 years ago | Reply @T: How early you can determine the gender of fetus depends on the method you are using.Commonest method used is Ultrasound;for this method to ascertain gender with any degree of certianty fetus must be 16-20 weeks (4-5 months).You are right most organs are formed by this age: terminating such a pregnancy without a valid reason is infanticide. Other less widely available tests used are CVS(chorionic villous sampling) and amniocentesis(done at 10-14 weeks) ; which is basically obtaining tissue for chromosomal analysis to determine XX or XY chromosome.

Parvez | 11 years ago | Reply @Anthony Permal: I'm waiting for your rebuttal to Sana's asinine remark to your comment.

Awais | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: Well Sana, clandestine and unsafe abortions are a common thing in Pakistan. Wait a sec.....Who would even tell someone that they had an abortion IN PAKISTAN? Sorry but you have become beghairat enough to kill girls before they're even born not to mention fathers who kill their daughters after their born (the magic words are 'honour' and 'killing' in this case, put them together and you have one helluva combination). Lastly by sex ratio Pakistan and more males than females.

leila rage | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: Oh please Sana, how deep wil you bury your head in the sand of denial? Just because YOU don't have personal experience of such things does NOT mean that they don't happen. Families (in-laws, husbands) DO force women to have abortions when its a female child---not always, but IT DOES HAPPEN. Some people are lucky and they have families or marry into families that do not differentiate between boys and girls, but others get stuck in families that are obsessed with having a boy because otherwise they think people won't respect them and no one will 'carry on the family name' etc. I know a woman who had a daughter, and while she and her husband were delighted about it, people actually came to their house to do afsos (condole) over their so-called 'bad luck' or 'misfortune'. I know another young lady who has 8 sisters, ranging from 30 to 7 years of age because her parents weren't content with having daughters and kept producing children because apparently having a son is just soooo important. I know a lady who had to grow up hearing from her parents that they'd always wanted a son instead. That's the point of this article--- to highlight how its not fair to treat the birth of females as "not good enough" and while our female foeticide problem might not be crippling the nation just yet, it does happen and is bound to become a problem unless people change their attitudes and ways of thinking.

Yash | 11 years ago | Reply @Farooq Sameem: half knowledge is dangerous my friend....pls educate urself

politically incorrect | 11 years ago | Reply Yes it's a crime to be a girl in a large part of the world; from the middle east to Bangladesh and whatever in between. The punishments they suffer are similar across this land in the form of female foeticide,child marriage,lack of education,male chauvinism,sexual exploitation and many other form of gender discriminations. But in Pakistan it may come with a additional premium in the form of elopment,forced conversion and marriage if one is born as in minority community.

Ali Tanoli | 11 years ago | Reply Its happend in libral west too when unborn unwanted pregencies by teens mams get operated and by law ...... which is also called killing the humans by catholic clergy.......

Sunny | 11 years ago | Reply @ Farooq Sameem Oh Com'n Farooq why are you dragging religeon in female fetocide, Aamir never said in his show that female fetocide in india is being done by Hindus , you know very well india has higher population of Muslims than Pakistan. it is a social problem which too exist in Pakistan but unfortunately we do not have stars like Aamir Khan to raise the voice against such crime. All Religeons in the world give equal rights to women. all Muslim conuntries have more problems with women than any other country, does it mean Islam teaches female fetocide, Pakistan has a big problem of Acid Attacks on females does it mean Islam teaches all this. Please do not bring religeon in social problems .

Sunny | 11 years ago | Reply The Only Difference between India and Pakistan, India solves problems by accepting the fact that problems exist while Pakistan never accept the fact that problem exist e.g female fetocide, forced conversion , Honour Killing ( Karo Kari ), instead always mess problems with religeon and always blame on others e.g America , how will these be solved. This is only reason why India is now Shining India and Pakistan is Downing Pakistan. I wish my country was as good as india !!

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply @Anthony Permal: Oh please Anthony, abhi hum itnay beghairat nahin huay hain jo apni larkiyon ko mar dein ... I have never heard of anyone (not even one person) telling me that they have done abortion, let alone kill a daughter. I have so many Pakistani female friends and aquaintances who have baby girls. I am sure if this was the practice we would have loads of male population in our country. While I am not denying existence of this problem, but it is not so widespread as the author is trying to report, or lets says she is trying to be Amir Khan for Pakistan

Farooq Sameem | 11 years ago | Reply India and Pakistan are two countries that are notorious for killing of female fetuses.In India,a society dominated by Hinduism,where customs and practises are geared to suit the Hindu traditions' where the males are preferred as they have a specific defined role to play in the family and in the society.Further lack of education and grinding poverty among a large segment of the population is also accountable..The dowry that has to be given when a girl is given in marriage in India is such a burden to a poor families that they are compelled to abort the female fetuses to be from the hardship.But in Pakistan such killing of female fetuses is unthinkable for in the pre Islamic Arabia the practice of burying alive the daughters was widely prevalent.Our Prophet condemned it and successfully eradicated it.Therefore to learn such practices as aborting female fetuses is taking place in Pakistan is repulsive.In Islam the mothers occupy a pride of place.Mothers are honoured and highly respected.Mothers constitute the pivot of the family.Mothers are considered so highly that Our Prophet declared in unequivocally that the Paradise lies at the feet of the Mother.When such is the honour assigned to mother, killing of female fetuses in Pakistan is reprehensible.Whether male or female a baby is a gift of Allah.A muslim loves his mother three times more than his father When this is the status of female in Islam it is indigestible and indefensible that this crime is being committed in Pakistan.

T | 11 years ago | Reply It takes a minimum of 3 months to find out the sex of a baby. You cannot know it the minute you conceive because the organs are formed in 3 months. Just a correction to your article. So those who abort their baby after finding out the sex actually murder a soul that is already formed by 3 months and has its heart running. Rest, I agree with every bit of the article.But our society is never going to learn.

Sane | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana Correct you are. Some barely spare any chance to drag Pakistan and sometimes Islam too in every discussion whether relevant or not.

Pak Tester | 11 years ago | Reply Common! how can you ask such a silly question. Don't you already know that being a girl is, indeed, a heinous crime. Oh! at least in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and all the third world countries. I wish for end of such a sorry state of affairs in these countries. I hope the peoples get wisdom and save the girl child.

Anthony Permal | 11 years ago | Reply @Sana: You're right, Sana. How dare the writer try to educate Pakistanis on their own faults.

Indian | 11 years ago | Reply You are so funny. You said you got inspiration after watching satyamev jayate. The show has 13 episodes on different social issues. It means you will get 13 blogs on them.

Hassan | 11 years ago | Reply @mr. righty rightist, And how do you propose awareness for all? Not all the people read newspapers, books and browse internet. Everyone has their own medium of information/awareness. Dont you think a TV show with the direct involvement of our emotional catharsys, is more potent in raising the point that a mere news flash on TV, or an article in the paper/internet? Plus what makes you say that the particular show was stupid? Do you think all shows on TV are supposed to be stupid? Have you even watched that show? I bet you havent.

mr. righty rightist | 11 years ago | Reply @Cheryl Javed The tragedy here is actually not the killing of fetuses. The tragedy is, that people need a stupid TV show to realize this problem. Lady, don't you read news papers? Don't you read books? Don't you watch news? Don't you browse internet? I can't believe that people can live in such darkness. If we all had awareness, then we could easily overcome this problem. But the fact that, we need a TV show to raise our awareness, shows how ignorant we are.

Sana | 11 years ago | Reply Oh please har cheez mein Pakistan ko drag kar lo

Nandita. | 11 years ago | Reply one news report -- The Madhya Pradesh Government has suspended the licence of 65 Medical Termination of Pregnancy centres in the state. The Haryana government has announced that pregnant women will have to submit a photocopy of their identification proof at ultrasound centres as a pre-condition for undergoing the test. "It would be the responsibility of the radiologist to ask for the photocopy of the document from them," the spokesman said. He said that no radiologist could do an ultrasound of a pregnant woman without the recommendation of a gynaecologist or physician. "Under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Test (PNDT) Act, strict action would be taken against any radiologist not abiding by these directions," he said. In order to check female foeticide, the state government has also announced an award of Rs 21,000 to those giving information about doctors conducting sex-determination tests in Haryana.

Nandita. | 11 years ago | Reply I love this show. " Satyamev Jayate " means " Truth alone prevails ". It's commendable that Aamir ,unlike other stars, chose to address important issues with the help of his show. 3 days after the show was aired the Rajasthan govt and Madhya pradesh govt ( states in India ) cracked down on sonography centers across their states and cancelled licences of certain centers involved in this heinous crime.Newspapers clippings are being circulated on FB and twitter..Such is Aamir's power ! I am glad he is using his star power for a good cause; to make a difference. It's unbelievable and shameful that highly educated people are involved in such acts. The Indian Govt needs to take take up the issue of female foeticide on priority. The second episode dealt with child sex abuse.Watch it as well!

Loneliberal PK | 11 years ago | Reply It's no secret that I'm pro-choice when it comes to abortion, and I've been a vocal critic of India's law forbidding doctors to reveal the sex of the fetus in order to prevent abortion. How on earth does one get by thinking he's doing the female fetus a favor by allowing it to be born in a household that will likely neglect, abuse or kill her? Isn't it more merciful to simply allow the wretched, misogynistic family to terminate the pregnancy while the fetus isn't fully formed? Of course, I'm disgusted by the idea of aborting an XX-chromosomal fetus, almost as much as I'm ashamed of the high incidence of female infanticide in our societies. The solution to it lies in educating the society, in which I expect media to play a vital role. Taking extraordinary steps to prevent abortion of fetuses without sufficient effort to educate the public, naturally translates into a higher infanticide rate and increased suffering of women.

Ayesha Pervez | 11 years ago | Reply I dont know why it is like this... females are just as capable, sensitive, religious, humane, and important to society as males then why is this world so against them...

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