It seems that the Arab Spring is now only a pestilential wind for the weak and oppressed of the region.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: A photograph published in newspapers on March 30 caught my attention. It showed a group of women activists in Tunisia, demonstrating to demand the resignation of Women Affairs Minister Sihem Badi, who has allegedly taken a position to support a kindergarten school where a three-year-old girl was raped. Just a few days back, three Pakistani origin UK citizens, who were on their way to Gaza via Libya and Egypt on a humanitarian mission, were abducted at a check post near Benghazi. These unfortunate women activists were allegedly raped by soldiers at the check post. It is reported that the father of two of the activists was also accompanying the humanitarian mission group.
News from Egypt is also not very promising. This January, the United Nations expressed deep concern after more than two dozen women were sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square during the demonstration to mark the second anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution. Later, the Egyptian government-run Human Rights Commission blamed the women for these assaults questioning their presence at such a spot.
What is all this? Is this the revolution for which the Arab world was waiting for decades — armed goons to rule and justify their barbaric acts? It seems that the Arab Spring is now only a pestilential wind for the weak and oppressed of the region.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2013.
