Medieval mindsets

Such an oddity it is that while Pakistan is unable to tame an evil practice on its own territory, another country is able to employ strict laws against perpetrators who follow the practice. It is welcome that Pakistani-American Mohammad Ajmal Choudhry was sentenced to life in prison in Brooklyn, New York, for orchestrating the murder of two people in Pakistan in the name of ‘honour’, who had helped his daughter escape from what appears to be a forced marriage. That is the difference between a legal system that is well developed and applicable to all who violate it, versus Pakistan’s maladroit criminal justice system that lets those with medieval mindsets dating back centuries to get away with the most heinous of crimes. It is evident that certain sections of overseas Pakistanis remain trapped in time warps of sorts where they do not seem to have changed their regressive mindsets. They continue to adhere to medieval notions of ‘honour’ and backward practices, despite living in advanced societies. One regularly comes across cases of ‘honour’ killings and forced marriages that involve Pakistanis living in the West.

It is an anomaly that Choudhry, having moved to a culture that prides itself on ensuring free will for citizens, forced his daughter to marry a man of his own choice — violating her basic human rights. Prior to marriage, he had his daughter held by relatives against her will. Soon after the 2013 murder of the two innocent people in Pakistan, Choudhry was arrested in the US. However, what about the people who committed the murder on Pakistani territory? Have our own law-enforcement agencies done anything to apprehend the culprits? May there be mercy for those who cross the paths of such people because they continue to carry with them the medieval ideology of killing in the name of ‘honour’, possibly seeing no wrong in murder. We can only hope that Pakistani authorities follow in the footsteps of Brooklyn prosecutors and put the murderers behind bars. Furthermore, Choudhry’s example should be remembered by overseas Pakistanis who remain stuck in backward mentalities.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th,  2015.

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