The violations within

A case of selective outrage

“Thy government is thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance…To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou lie’st warm at home, secure and safe;” says Kate, Shakespeare’s erstwhile Shrew once tamed.

Kate, of course used the word ‘husband’ rather than ‘government’, but alas the unhusbanded people of Pakistan, uncared for, hardly maintained, unable to lie warm at home…neither safe nor secure.

Last month, Nato aircrafts attacked two of Pakistan’s border posts along Afghanistan, reportedly unprovoked, killing at least 24 Pakistani troops.

It is as Huma Yusuf said in her column Understanding Sovereignty: ‘Other countries cannot be expected to take our state’s flirtation with the concept (of sovereignty) seriously. At times, we thump righteous fists in defence of a concept we barely understand or value. At (others) we are the first to subvert our own sovereignty by inviting foreign states to interfere in matters that ought to be Pakistan’s unique business.’

Inviting the US to meddle with our armed forces, or complaining to Britain to help resolve security issue is the best this government can do but by no means the worst, which is when it subverts its own role as the sovereign authority within a state claiming independence.

As many as 24, some say more, soldiers killed by violent means is tragic any time; if the violence is unprovoked it is criminal as well. Yet look around to see how many innocent civilians die everyday in this country because of the criminal negligence of those who are supposed to care for them.

The government asked the National Institute of Health (NIH) to stop compiling lists of dengue-related cases to avoid panic. Therefore there are no figures available for deaths this year as a result of dengue fever, but they appear to be in hundreds. These deaths, still occurring, are largely linked to the negligence of relevant authorities who failed to take appropriate measures against the spread of this virus.

The horrifying practice of karo kari (‘honour’ killing) is, according to the Ansar Burney Trust website, a ‘shockingly common practice in Pakistan’. Quoting loosely, the website says that “karo kari involves the murder of a female member of a family by a relative because she is thought to have brought dishonor upon the family. Women on whom suspicion falls are rarely given the opportunity to defend themselves. (Her) relatives have no other socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain of dishonor on the family name by killing her, the female responsible.

This violation of the code of ‘decent behaviour’ can be anything: a woman refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, seeking divorce (even from an abusive husband), having extra-marital relationships (sexual or otherwise), flirting, or even becoming the victim of rape.

Suspicion and accusations alone are often enough to defile a family’s honour and therefore enough to warrant the killing of the woman.”

News dated 3 December: a girl who had eloped with and married the man of her choice was shot dead by her uncle, right in her parents’ home in Lahore. She was lucky to be shot. Some women in such situations are burnt to death, often with acid, others are beaten and tortured until they die.

This woman was one of about 1000 women who die every year in Pakistan as a result of karo kari. Persons committing murder are punishable with death or life imprisonment under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the Ansar Burney Trust however, persons ‘who commit karo kari typically go unpunished.’

There have been many expressions of outrage following the Nato attacks, rallies in various Pakistani cities where citizens expressed their anger towards Nato and specifically the US. Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan have been closed, no Bonn, and the government has made the appropriate noises, demanding an apology from Washington which, says The New York Times, President Obama will not tender, at least for now.

Where is the outcry following the dengue, the karo kari, the target killings?

Again, and it was a man, Zaheer Iqbal this time, who suffered the consequences of a family’s ‘lost honour’. Zaheer was shot for having ‘developed illicit relations with the sister of a local man.’

The news of Zaheer’s murder in one newspaper was immediately followed by news of the Chief Traffic Officer of some area deputing wardens intelligently on the roads to maintain traffic flow outside a makeshift goat market.

The issue has been placed in the perspective in which it is viewed in this country. For this issue no righteous fists were thumped.

‘Providence, the most popular scapegoat for our sins,’ said Mark Twain. It is either Providence, or the USA; never ourselves.