A shameful record
Pakistani men are possibly one of the most violent in the world today – towards their womenfolk.
The writer is Editor of The Express Tribune
Pakistani men are possibly one of the most violent in the world today – towards their womenfolk. It’s not enough to harass, intimidate and abuse them, we burn our women, cut their noses and other body parts, throw acid on them and kill them on the slightest pretext. In most instances, in the name of honour.
Age is never a bar. This week, a US judge convicted an elderly Pakistani immigrant of murdering his wife in their New York home, savagely beating her over the head.
75 year old Noor Hussain, frail and beset with medical problems, believed it was his right to discipline his wife, his third marriage, when she did not cook food as per his desires. She had made Daal instead of Saalan. So he killed her.
This mindset is not exclusive to our rich and powerful. It seems this is a trait that crosses all social, ethnic, religious and cultural divides. In some ways, it unites many men in Pakistan.
In fact, that was the plea that Hussain’s lawyer took in court. She said that her client was culturally raised to believe that he had a right to discipline his wife.
Noor Hussain was unlucky that he was caught out by the American system. Similar is the case of many British Pakistanis who have tried to impose their will on their wives and daughters – in some instances killing them for the “crime” of marrying according to their wishes. Eventually many end up in jail.
In many instances, such families have had sent their daughters to Pakistan to be married against their will where they are then kept imprisoned. There is a full time section at the British High Commission in Islamabad that helps such girls return to the UK.
Not so in Pakistan. Here it seems our system endorses, if not encourages, violence against women. In most instances, the women remain quiet. Many rape victims end up committing suicide. Those who speak up or demand justice are instead punished.
Who can forget Fakhra Yunus, whose husband threw acid on her face. That husband remains scott-free. Last year he even stood for elections. She, on the other hand, committed suicide in 2012 despite support from the Italian government to help rehabilitate her.
Who can forget the case of Mukhtara Mai? She still has not gotten justice. Instead of punishing the rapists, the government was more interested in defending our image. President Musharraf said that he did not let her go abroad because she would bad-mouth Pakistan. Then minister Attiya Inayatullah and advisor Neelofer Bakhtiyar were used to bully Mukhtara Mai. Musharraf famously said once that women get raped so that they can get a visa to Canada.
This week we saw another horrifying incident. The stoning to death of a 25 year old woman, Farzana Parveen. She was attacked by 20 family members on the steps of the Lahore High Court because she married a man of her choice. While she was being attacked, the police looked on and did nothing.
During the assault she was hit on the head with bricks from a nearby construction site and died. The incident triggered outrage across the world, but not much in Pakistan. What followed was even more worrisome. Parveen’s husband Mohammad Iqbal then confessed that he had killed his first wife to marry Farzana. And that he was spared prison because he was forgiven for the act by his son. One can only wonder.
According to a non-official count 5,151 women have been subjected to violence this year in Punjab alone — among them 774 murdered, 217 killed for ‘honour’, 1,569 abducted, 706 raped/gang-raped and 427 driven to suicide. The number of women killed for giving birth to girls has gone up. In one recent incident, a man was reported to have thrown acid on his wife’s face for delivering a girl.
The “crimes” of women in Pakistani society are many and varied. Those mentioned above are the visible ones. The invisible violence is more numerous and causes greater havoc. Common forms of non-cognisable violence are preventing girls from acquiring education, the destruction of girls’ schools, restrictions on women’s mobility, denial of jobs on merit and equal wage for equal work, child marriages, forced marriages, and tendering of girls to resolve feuds. The list goes on.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2014.
Age is never a bar. This week, a US judge convicted an elderly Pakistani immigrant of murdering his wife in their New York home, savagely beating her over the head.
75 year old Noor Hussain, frail and beset with medical problems, believed it was his right to discipline his wife, his third marriage, when she did not cook food as per his desires. She had made Daal instead of Saalan. So he killed her.
This mindset is not exclusive to our rich and powerful. It seems this is a trait that crosses all social, ethnic, religious and cultural divides. In some ways, it unites many men in Pakistan.
In fact, that was the plea that Hussain’s lawyer took in court. She said that her client was culturally raised to believe that he had a right to discipline his wife.
Noor Hussain was unlucky that he was caught out by the American system. Similar is the case of many British Pakistanis who have tried to impose their will on their wives and daughters – in some instances killing them for the “crime” of marrying according to their wishes. Eventually many end up in jail.
In many instances, such families have had sent their daughters to Pakistan to be married against their will where they are then kept imprisoned. There is a full time section at the British High Commission in Islamabad that helps such girls return to the UK.
Not so in Pakistan. Here it seems our system endorses, if not encourages, violence against women. In most instances, the women remain quiet. Many rape victims end up committing suicide. Those who speak up or demand justice are instead punished.
Who can forget Fakhra Yunus, whose husband threw acid on her face. That husband remains scott-free. Last year he even stood for elections. She, on the other hand, committed suicide in 2012 despite support from the Italian government to help rehabilitate her.
Who can forget the case of Mukhtara Mai? She still has not gotten justice. Instead of punishing the rapists, the government was more interested in defending our image. President Musharraf said that he did not let her go abroad because she would bad-mouth Pakistan. Then minister Attiya Inayatullah and advisor Neelofer Bakhtiyar were used to bully Mukhtara Mai. Musharraf famously said once that women get raped so that they can get a visa to Canada.
This week we saw another horrifying incident. The stoning to death of a 25 year old woman, Farzana Parveen. She was attacked by 20 family members on the steps of the Lahore High Court because she married a man of her choice. While she was being attacked, the police looked on and did nothing.
During the assault she was hit on the head with bricks from a nearby construction site and died. The incident triggered outrage across the world, but not much in Pakistan. What followed was even more worrisome. Parveen’s husband Mohammad Iqbal then confessed that he had killed his first wife to marry Farzana. And that he was spared prison because he was forgiven for the act by his son. One can only wonder.
According to a non-official count 5,151 women have been subjected to violence this year in Punjab alone — among them 774 murdered, 217 killed for ‘honour’, 1,569 abducted, 706 raped/gang-raped and 427 driven to suicide. The number of women killed for giving birth to girls has gone up. In one recent incident, a man was reported to have thrown acid on his wife’s face for delivering a girl.
The “crimes” of women in Pakistani society are many and varied. Those mentioned above are the visible ones. The invisible violence is more numerous and causes greater havoc. Common forms of non-cognisable violence are preventing girls from acquiring education, the destruction of girls’ schools, restrictions on women’s mobility, denial of jobs on merit and equal wage for equal work, child marriages, forced marriages, and tendering of girls to resolve feuds. The list goes on.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2014.