SECLUDED VEILS

((FREELANCE ARTICLE, WRITTEN ON SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT))

It’s an old adage that both man & woman play an integral role in the hermetic episode of life. This adage may be true for a large part of burgeoning world but it’s far from realization for a passive country like Pakistan. This Promised Land is a place where so called enforcers of social, religious & cultural norms push the fair sex behind the dark passages of secluded veils. Pakistan is perhaps the least gender sensitive region in the world. It is the only region in the world where men outnumber women. The sex ratio is 105.7 men to every 100 women. The situation is extremely alarming for rural & underdeveloped areas. In the rural areas, women are like slaves subject to drudgery. They are there just to obey their fathers, brothers and husbands. They do not have the right to decide about themselves because women are considered as foolish creatures according to the dominant social and cultural norms. Likewise marriage is also a sort of trade between different families both in the rural and urban areas. They are highly vulnerable to violation of their rights to life. Women are not only subjected to financial discrimination, but they are also victims of inhuman customs and laws such as:
Karo Kari, Qasas , Marriage to the Quran & education as a social taboo.
Karo Kari is the form of honour killings. Hundred of women are murdered every year in the name of honour. It is a matter of great dismay that almost 90 % of these cases are planned to gain petty benefits like grabbing the land of enemies, protecting the fiefdom from transferring to other family, taking revenge for committing a love marriage. A few examples of this heinous trade are enough to clarify the depth of this victimization:
In the village of Moratha(remote village of Sindh) there was a case of Karo Kari(honour killing). The motive of the killing was that the murderer wanted to marry a married woman. He killed the husband of that woman and his own innocent sister and he was released from jail after a few months.
Many of the cases of Karo Kari are related to love marriage. Recently(a few months ago) a woman with her little child of five months, husband and four other members of her in-laws, was killed because she had committed the crime of love marriage. Most of the women in Pakistan are not allowed to marry a person of their choice.
There are hundreds of such cases that are not registered. But if we go to the root cause of these honour killings we see that they are linked to the question of land, water, money and property. But again, only the women of the poor classes are victims of this inhuman custom of Karo Kari. This custom is seldom implemented against rich women.

“Qasas” is an integral part of Islamic Law but unfortunately, the way it is abused over here is intolerable. It is also used to victimize women, because under this law if a person kills somebody and the family of the victim compromises with the killer then they are paid an agreed amount of money, land and of course women by the assassin's family.

“Marriage to Quran” is another spurious law that is enough to defy all the bounds of religious and social norms. It is common in Sindh. Under this law a woman has to live without a husband throughout her life. But this law is only applied among the class of landlords who want to protect their fiefdoms from going to another family by grabbing the land of their sisters and daughters.
Education is another taboo for the girls of underdeveloped provinces like Baluchistan & NWFP. Only 10 percent of rural girls receive education in Baluchistan. In these regions, Education is considered as a social evil for the girls.

“In context of Baluchistan, they are among the few girls who go to school”
“Look in the eyes of these sweet little girls. You can see a shine of a long forgotten hope.”

WOMEN IN THE LIGHT OF ISLAM:

“Western media often distorts the image of Islamic teachings under the umbrella of extremism & terrorism”

Islam safeguards the spiritual, social & economical rights of women which can be clarified by the following verses of Quran:
‘He (God) it is who did create you from a single soul and therefrom did create his mate, that he might dwell with her (in love)’…(Quran 7:189)
“Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him will We give a new life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to the their actions. (Quran 16:97, see also 4:124).”
“When news is brought to one of them, of (the Birth of) a female (child), his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on (sufferance) and contempt, or bury her in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on? (Quran 16: 58-59).”
According to Islam, no one can suppress the women to marry against her will.

Ibn Abbas reported that a girl came to the Messenger of God, Muhammad (P.), and she reported that her father had forced her to marry without her consent. The Messenger of God gave her the choice . . . (between accepting the marriage or invalidating it). (Ibn Hanbal No. 2469). In another version, the girl said: “Actually I accept this marriage but I wanted to let women know that parents have no right (to force a husband on them)” (Ibn Maja, No. 1873).

It is a matter of common sense that no country can make a great stride without the active participation of the half of its total population. If we want to bring some change to the desolated picture of our country then we have to bring each & every individual in the main stream without committing any harassment and victimization.