The civilised world today condemns the pre-Islamic Arab practice of burying female children alive. However, the same crime against humanity is being carried out with impunity in today’s developing society of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Zohra Yusuf opines that the society does not value girls and prefers male children over them.
Every year, local rescue organisations collect hundreds of dead bodies of perceived “illegitimate” newborns, 99 percent of which are girls, from garbage dumps.
Officials at the Bilquees Edhi Foundation claim to have found over 1,100 corpses of newborn babies dumped in garbage tanks in the year 2012-2013.
In the present year 2013-14, rescuers have so far recovered 380 bodies of neonates from garbage.
Bilquees Edhi Foundation has embarked on a mass media campaign urging the merciless killers not to dispose illegitimate children to hide their own sin.
“Don’t kill innocent children, put them in Bilquees Edhi’s cradles,” reads an advertisement by the foundation.
The advert goes on to say, “Thousands of babies are strangled to death every year to hide a sin,” and urges that instead of killing these illegitimate newborns, they should be placed in Edhi’s cradles “silently”.
According to Jamia Binori Town Mufti Muhammad Naeem, “In Islamic Shariah the killing of children, legal or illicit, is an unjustifiable crime against humanity.”
He said the illegitimate babies should not to be punished for a crime committed by adults.
The religious scholar, however, criticised Edhi Foundation for ‘inducing’ people to commit a sin by setting up cradles outside its welfare centres.
“We go by the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions,” he said, adding that there is no evidence of provision of such cradles throughout the history of Islam.
“These cradles are unIslamic,” he said.
Kazmi, a personal assistant and companion of internationally-acclaimed philanthropist Abdus Sattar Edhi, says at least 335 cradles have been installed throughout Pakistan outside Edhi centres.
The placement of cradles has proved fruitful as some couples are now brushing up the courage to “silently” abandon their illegitimate babies by placing them in the Edhi cradles.
Kazmi claimed Edhi foundation had so far found at least 54 such infants alive in these cradles during the present year. In the previous year, as many as 152 abandoned newborns were recovered by the foundations’ officials.
“Majority of the abandoned children were recovered alive from Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujranwala, the Edhi official said. “Most of the dead were found in Karachi,” he added.
According to Kazmi, in the past, there were many occasions when the rescuers had found dead bodies of infants with ropes fastened around their necks. “We have even found completely charred bodies of infants,” he lamented.
Kazmi cites two primary reasons for this inhumane behaviour- illicit relationships and poverty.
“It is generally perceived that these infants were a consequence of illicit relationships,” he said.
According to officials, girls constitute a majority of these strangled or abandoned children.
“Almost 99 percent of them are girls,” says Kazmi.
This makes Faisal Edhi, a trustee of Edhi Foundation, doubt the widely perceived notion that extra-marital relationships are the cause of abandonment/killing of these infants.
To Faisal, the predominant dumping of female babies reflects the fact that our society considers girls a burden.
“Dowry is their prime source of concern,” he opined.
A centuries-old wedding custom in the subcontinent, dowry has made it almost impossible for poor and middle-class parents to wed their daughters respectably and therefore, girls are considered a burden.
Jewellery, furniture and food served on wedding ceremonies are the three highly costly expenditures that break the backs of parents when it comes to wedding off daughters.
According to All Sindh Sarafa Jewelers Association President Haji Haroon Chand, the current price of 12 ounces of gold is Rs 45,000.
“Even a poor family has to buy gold worth at least Rs 1 lac for weddings,” he said.
All Karachi Tajir Ittihad (AKTI) Chairman Atiq Mir, who owns a shop at the city’s main furniture market, said philanthropists are increasingly gifting furniture for dowry as a part of charity.
A standard five-item furniture set costs parents at least Rs 40,000 to Rs 0.5 million. “Affluent people are now frequently coming to us to buy furniture for some deserving girls they know,” the AKTI chairman said, adding that the custom of dowry is rigidly upheld by some ignorant people and comes hard on those unable to afford all the associated expenses.
Terming dowry as a deeply-routed traditional practice, the HRCP chairperson ascertains that it has led certain Pakistani parents to consider girls as a less valuable human commodity than boys.
Shedding light on the Islamic perspective of the back-breaking custom, Mufti Naeem says Islam considers girls a blessing. “Regardless of the financial status of parents, Islam does not consider female children as a liability,” he reiterated. “The volume of dowry should be in accordance with one’s financial capacity,” the cleric said.
The HRCP chairperson believes dowry is not the sole reason why girls are considered a burden. “Unfortunately, people do not value girls as much as their male children.”
“People consider boys as useful even if they are illegitimate,” says Kazmi.
The HRCP chairwoman proposes social enlightenment, particularly women’s education, as a remedy to the menace.
“A government-induced ban on dowry would not work as the same is in place in India but still women are being killed there,” Zohra said. “Restrictions lead to violations,” she added.
Though the Edhi Foundation has found and offered for adoption at least 22,000 abandoned children since 1950, the actual number of abandoned children may be higher.
The present economy-driven government does not seem to consider the welfare of these would-be builders of the nation. However, Faisal says, technological advancement has lowered the incidence of cold-blooded murders of infants.
“Ultrasound has now enabled parents to know the sex of the unborn child,” he said, adding, “If the fetus is a girl, they abort it!”
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