Qandeel Baloch: Slayed by all

Mufti Qavi is just one amongst many

Whilst the entire nation is glued to their televisions, radio sets and newspapers awaiting the fate of the on going prosecution against the Shareef(s), in the meanwhile the parents of the demised Fauzia Azeem (aka Qandeel Baloch) patiently face the judicial saga in hope of justice for their inhumanly slayed daughter. But who can ever imagine the pain and agony they must be going through by virtue of being complainant in a case wherein the prevalence of justice potentially could lead to a death penalty against their own son.

Every passing day the so-called phenomenon of “honour killings” (Karo Kari) takes lives of innocent souls, and it is often subjected to exploitation by clerics such as Abdul Qavi. The so called mufti after absconding from the Sessions Courts at Multan in subsequence to the cancellation of his “pre arrest bail” was intercepted and arrested by the police upon the directions of the learned judge.

Whereof, quite interestingly, just a few minutes prior to Mr Qavi’s fleeing from the courts, he passed a statement to media wherein he claimed that, “We will accept whatever decision the judiciary announces.” However, the contradiction inter-se his actions and words really makes one wonder about the moral standing of an individual who has the audacity to be referred as mufti (scholar).

Rest assured, certain sectors classify the acts of the demised actress as being the symbol of “modern feminism”; however the populous at large in essence visualise her activities as being deviant within the four squares of our religious and sociological values. Nonetheless, despite of the variances viz the respective opinions of masses along with their interpretation of the term “acceptability”; almost everyone otherwise stands cohesive qua the condemnation and disapproval of what the lady faced as a result thereof.

As per shari’ah law, the concept of “Kara and Kari” inter alia means an “adulterer and adulteress”. Whereof the combined reading of Shari’ah law(s) read with the applicable laws in Islamic Republic of Pakistan, where a man and a women are caught in an act of indecency and there exist witnesses of that effect, they face the penal consequences of “hudood”. However in the current scenario, on account of the video being viewed by million(s), the presence of witnesses is nonetheless not an issue at all. However unfortunately amongst the accomplices: one is buried under tons of soil, whereas the other is engulfed in evading the loopholes within the legal system. In fact, no legal action till date has been instated or lodged against the gentlemen on account of “hudood” anyways. After all, hypothetically speaking the adulterer is equally at fault as the adulteress, isn’t it?

The legislatures passed two legislations against honour killings post Qandeel Baloch’s murder, which hereby included: Anti Honour Killing Laws (Criminal Amendment) Bill 2015 and Anti Rape Laws (Criminal Amendment) Bill 2015. Unfortunately not only the same faced immense resilience from both the houses i.e. National Assembly and the Senate, but regrettably till date the prosecution in terms thereof is hardly to be found.

It is estimated that in the last three years alone, some 2,300 women have been killed in the name of ‘honour’, and the same speaks nothing else but the failure on part of the state organs, and in fact what else could be expected to happen in a country where the legislators, whilst utterly forgetting what they are elected for, are rather engulfed within the dilemma of power games and the race for office; be it in the shape of Panama Gate Scandal or the long marches.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely; where no one is willing to take up their designated roles, and where the law and the public functionaries merely exist to oppress the poor, then anarchy becomes inevitable. We as a nation are gifted with the unfortunate “tendency to forget”, and rest assured we will also forget the murder of Fauzia Azeem (Qandeel Baloch) just the way we forgot Samia Sawar who was murdered on score of seeking divorce from her first cousin; Ayman Udas (pashtoon singer) who was shot to death by her two brothers; Tasleem Khatoon Solangi, aged 17 and pregnant when she was tortured to death by the member of her village; Farzana Iqbal who was stoned to death in front of Lahore High Court; and many more.

Every person, from the local police official(s) to the area magistrate(s) to all those who either took pictures with the demised actress (“selfies” as they are referred to); or on the contrary were regular audiences of her indecency have a role to play in this chapter as a whole. Whilst being in a position where they could have played their pre-emptive statutory roles to stop this theatre on account of indecent-nuisance and obscene contents they were rather a member of her so called Facebook fan page. Hence, the list of indictment whether we like it or not, includes all of us as well, on the touchstone of being privy to her objectionable content and not raising a concern thereon. The functionaries such as PEMRA and Cyber Crime Wing of FIA also ought to be questioned as to why didn’t they ban and prohibit such obscene content from being aired at the first place.

The mere arrest of Abdul Qavi does not serve the purpose here. As the need of the hour is rather to arrest, reprimand, deter and alter the ideology which leads to such occurrences. Unless the masses are enlightened with the true form of socio-political awareness, sociological awareness, civic awareness and religious awareness, such occurrences shall continue.