Our country might be one of the few nations that most frequently sees headlines about stories that are in grave violation of many principles. An example is the news story appearing on November 28 out of Chakwal, about a father ordering the rape of his own daughter. This was the statement given by the daughter, who was badly beaten and raped along with her mother, the father’s ex-wife. The father heartlessly led a 24-man gang to rape the two women after a dispute over whose choice husband the daughter would marry; the daughter wanted to marry the man of her mother’s choice, while this was not agreeable to her father. The women in the story, once again, do not seem to be recognised as human beings with feelings and free will but rather as objects to men. They are treated as subjects who must face the wrath of their family’s male members and experience severe consequences for acting on their own wills.
When will change in such men’s thinking arrive? Let us hope that it comes soon because while these radical men exist, Pakistan’s sisters and daughters continue to face injustice in the form of rape, violence and mental agony without due process of law. The men who terrorise these women are caught and released back into their jungles, regardless of whether or not they express remorse at their unlawful actions. Such men care not whether their victims are their own family members; to some, blood relationships are of no empathic significance. In fact, it seems that a high proportion of the stories pertaining to violation of basic human rights involve close family members.
In this story, one of the tragedies is that the daughter did not realise that she has the choice to marry whoever she wants without her mother or father making the decision for her — of course, not many women in Pakistani society realise this. However, most troubling is the thought of what incestuous and animalistic thoughts ran through the father’s mind before raping his own daughter. The authorities must take strict action to bring this man and his accomplices under detention and make them face proper legal proceedings. Until justice is served in such cases, we will continue to fear for our women.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (19)
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Want to discuss incest? What about the marriage of first cousins usually enforced by families everyday? This backward practice is common throughout the Islamic world and needs to be abolished.
@HH: Do you live in the West? Where are you getting this information ? I do live in the West and I can tell you that I have never heard of a father ordering the gang rape of his own daughter by 24 men. There is evil in every society, but in the West, society shows its revulsion against such evil and the evil doers are punished. Only in Pakistan is there such a profound state of denial. Wake up and open your eyes and stop getting your information about the West from sensational movies and TV series ! We cannot find solutions unless we face and acknowledge the problems in our Pakistani mindset and society.
i just doont undestand how is this possible and dont really know wht to say when someting like this as not only there are as many as 24 people willing to support a rape but there are even fathers who would lead a gang rape on their daughters. I might be leaving a comment just because it somehow gives a subconcsious feeling that I have raisedd slight amount of voice against such act which I dont think is enough at all. there are acts to which you just know how can they be corrected , how can you teach a father not to rape his own daughter !!
Its a really sad and worst news to read about this incident, no doubt our society specially young generation is getting involve in these taboos... let me share here my own experience, once i got a chance to chat with one guy on yahoo, he asked me "do you like incest?" i was not aware with this word before that day, i asked him what is "incest", he said do you love your sis or mom? i said everybody loves his family, so do i, then he started sharing his views that "i am in love with my sis", Oh my God, i got mad, he kept talking, then he said me " do you want to see my sis pic" i was speechless, then he started sharing that i do feel horny about my sis, that day is ever un-expressible day for me, i was unable to sleep whole night, but now if you go in yahoo chatting rooms, you will see that people are openly talking and inviting for incest chat, i am talking about Pakistani chat rooms, you can experience it by your own-self by visiting yahoo Pakistani chat rooms. i think social and electronic media must start a campaign to create awareness in parents about their children. parents must keep observing the activities of their children.
I completely agree with Dr Imran that these days these bloggers and journalists have nothing but to portray a worst image of the whole nation for the acts of a fraction of a society. If culprits are bad people then journalists are worst!!!!
We marry our cousins..and thats considered incest in ninty percent religions/societies/countries. Interesting?
Hilarious.
Will everyone please make sure that man made pseudo Islamic laws do not yet again let terrible crimes go unpunished, also that State prosecution of serious crime is not hampered by the absence of a complainant. The criminal in this case is the wali of the girl and also possibly in a position to intimidate the mother.
We cant we Muslims. We are something else.
Such two-legged animals should be totally isolated from a human society and confined in a high fenced Safari with an inscription: S U B - H U M A N S
"Our country might be one of the few nations that most frequently sees headlines about stories that are in grave violation of many principles"
O Bhai, open your eyes and ears. Incest and such things happens more in developed countries.
These are the things that happen when a society begins to collapse....
Will the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance rescue all the perpetrators? I am sceptical that any will be punished.
The problem arises when you quote a sick man's story to the whole men population of Pakistan and call them radical.Such criminals must be punished.Quick and fair justice ,setting an example will rectify such an evil from the society.
Nov. 25, was United Nations International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women. Creating awareness of the global epidemic of violence against women is crucial. But by taking an international perspective on the problem, as the UN has done, we risk falling into the trap of believing that the fight for female safety takes the same form in all societies and cultures. There are many different forms of violence against women. And some manifestations of these crimes are culturally rooted. In particular, many girls and women among us suffer in silence because we are afraid to name and address the problem of honour-based violence (HBV).
During a recent workshop on HBV here in Canada, I shared a university student’s story. “N” was abused for months by her family for refusing to marry a man in the old country. Her mother threw a large pot of boiling hot tea on N, resulting in third-degree burns on her daughter’s back. After a reporter mentioned the workshop and N’s story in the newspaper, a police officer came to me and requested consultation on two other cases in which boiling liquid had been thrown on young girls in similar situations.
Another young woman in Edmonton was beaten and confined to her room for refusing to leave Canada to marry a man in the old country. The daughter screamed as her father hit her face and broke her nose. The mother slept in the hallway and the father on the couch in the living room to prevent her escape. The daughter called the police on her cell phone, and the parents were both charged with assault and forcible confinement. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/11/25/aruna-papp-calling-out-honour-based-violence/
Mohammed Hanif “In our Lady of Alice Bhatti’ doubleday Canada $22.95, Hanif writes.. ”there was not a single day-not a single day-when she didn’t see a women shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or burnt alive. Suspicious husband, brother protecting his honor, father protecting his honor, son protecting his honor, jilted lover avenging his honor, feuding farmer selling their water disputes, moneylenders collecting their interest: most of lives’ arguments, it seemed, got settled by doing various things to a women’s body”
Raj you were just waiting for your note to get posted... It's so heartless to wrap the tragedy with your opinions. which I find baseless
What about the 24 men? They come from the same class. They too will order the rape of their daughters. I stop here because I am not able to say anything more.