Nawaz Sharif Plays Lady Macbeth

re omar...

this is just a tangent, but did you know that under islamic law there are 24 conditions that need to be fulfilled before a mans hand can be chopped of, the first of which is that the soceity in which he lives (and is being tried) should have an equal distribution of wealth? can you think of any such country in the world?

shandana

To Omar:

Pakistan needs an attaturk like it needs another karachi. Attaturk was a sham. Iran and Turkey are no better off than each other in terms of stability, education for the masses, etc. Turkey has one up on Iran in it`s views on women, but even these are pretty crazed (wear hijab, and be denied access to education, etc). So what would an attapakistan do? In the end, nothing. The masses would never support such a person.

Sadly, the masses would rather see a stone-age taliban movement take over. You can bleeb about the ``rights of man`` all you want. If the people don`t agree with you or even the state on exactly what these rights are, then you`ve lost the struggle.

This is a *big * difference between west (where there is a long history behind their notions and implementations of human rights) and east (which has politically and socially remained the same since pre-colonialist days). What`s the solution? Dropping Islam (which is too easy a scape-goat, and in reality a paper-tiger) from the public sphere is a pretty lame solution. It didn`t work for turkey (sectarian, secular and religious, violence plages turkey to this day), it won`t work for pakistan.

What did work for Turkey was it`s very, very strong investment in education. As people grew more educated, they grew more sophisticated and politically aware. If an incident like that described in the article occurred in a major turkish city, all hell would break loose. Not because they`re secular, but because they respect the law, and understand the worth of rule-by-law. You cannot expect this respect from the illeterate tribal cave-men of Pakistan, who can barely practice their religon let alone handle their social duties properly.

Secularites can blame the religious all they want. But they fool no one: they control the damn country. At the snap of a finger, the Pak. army can discend on and crush every Islamist group in pakistan. Their strength is very, very much a myth. And it`s not like the booze-running generals would give two-hoots about harming their ``bretheren``. Pakistan is a hell-hole because the people who can make a difference (who are niether overly religious nor are they part of mainstream pak society) don`t.

The Punishment should fit the Crime-Cont`d

As I write this, Pakistani Society continues its descent into Anarchy and lawless. The powerful and the rich remain acountable to no one, free to plunder the national trust.

Those who Steal electricity (starting with MNAs and MPAs) should be give one free dose of electricity at public expense. 8000 Volts of it. LIVE on PTV. Electricity theft will quickly become a thing of the past.

Those who assist students in cheating on Exams (administrators and teachers) should be immediately sent to Mental Institutions for Reeducation and electric shock therapy. This problem too will thus be solved permenantly.

Those Traders who refuse to impose GST and continue to defy the government should have all utilities cut off to their businesses until they comply. Estimated period to force compliance of 80% of the traders, 2 months. After 2 months, throw them in Jail.

Those who cheat on reporting income taxes should have rupee notes stuffed into their mouths (LIVE on PTV of course) until they CHOKE TO DEATH on them, starting with Mr.50% (we can even stuff $ notes into the biggest offenders mouths) and the Country`s biggest bank loan defaulter himself.

Basically, there are few problems in Pakistan today that the country cannot solve by itself IF the people are forced to be honest and national resources are not mismanaged, and pilfered.

As long as this accountablility is conducted LIVE on PTV, the `Reign of Terror` I propose will not be much more costly in proportion to our population than it was a France in the 1790s.

LIBERTY ! EQUALITY ! FRATERNITY !

LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION. Its time for the `RIGHTS OF MAN` to be brought to Pakistan. Those who conduct this acountability must be non-politicians, with a squeaky clean record as far as the Public Trust is concerned. Given honest men, of the non-mullah (unlike Rafiq Tarrar, who sold his soul and lifelong principles to become President of Pakistan, if he had any worth the name) variety, anything is possible.

While there are many problems that require a long term strategy (female illiteracy, exclusion from full participation in society and over all low literacy among many others) what we really need is Kemal Ataturk to de-Zia-ul-Haq-ify (like de-Nazification) Pakistani society.

But, there are also many problems which is properly highlighted by the state media can be solved relatively quickly. First and Foremost, THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD FIT THE CRIME. People must be made to understand that justice will be done, and administered quickly. They must be made to recoil from the Evils which are being punished. Rivers of blood must flow. Even hardened criminals must be made to cry like babes on PTV. In Pakistan, murder, sectarian violence, domestic violence, ‘honor’ killings, child labor, child molestation, child abuse, corruption, nepotism and overall Jihalat are the NORM. So much so that people have gotten indifferent to them. Therefore what is required is an orgy of bloodletting the like of which has never been seen before to shake the people out of their stupor and sense of complacency at the daily injustices to which they turn a blind eye. Pakistani society has reached the absolute limits of depravity now, and this is the only method left. Judges who encourage `honor` killings should be dragged through the streets.

Those who batter defenseless womyn should be swiftly battered themselves by the state with an even higher degree of callousness. If they will not fear G-Ds justice, then let them fear Ataturk’s. An enlightened version of Idi Amin and Pol Pot, an absolute Philosopher-autocrat is required. A kind of Hobbesian choice confronts us now.

The Corrupt should be hung from telephone and electric poles in the street for all the public to see that Corruption will not be tolerated, starting with the infamous Mr.50%. Taliban style. No more corruption, and no more wife-battering, Mr.50% is even guilty of that by the way. No more sectarian violence. The more brutal and heinous the crime, the more savage and barbaric the punishment should be. A firm will and a resolute boot is needed to sort of Pakistan’s problems. Genocide on Criminals. And I’m not talking about rounding up the small fry who usually are the only ones for whom justice is reserved, nor am talking about Taliban style morality. A guiding principle should be, ‘if your private conduct is not hurting society, its not the business of the state.’

If necessary, Mr.50% should be threatened with a motor chainsaw, one toe at a time until the Pakistan government has all the Swiss and foreign account numbers of looted national wealth plus other details of his loot-mar. Nor should the current P.M be spared. His history goes back to the days of being a lackey of the Zia regime in the Punjab as finance minister, then Chief minister. If the guillotine needs to be reintroduced, into Pakistan at the start of the 21st century, so be it, with LIVE PTV coverage. The punishments of being ‘drawn and quartered’ and being stoned to death can also be reintroduced for high level criminals to sever as an example. I’m NOT talking about introducing a regime bent on imposing sexual morality though, when I talk about stoning to death. I can even promise to stop Pakistanis filthy habits of spitting pan in the streets, and urinating and defecating in public by men, let alone sectarian violence and corruption. High Criminals will beg for the mercy of a quick death if my methods are followed. Reforming Pakistan requires a will of steel and the patience of Job. But it can be done, provided my methods are applied without prejudice. 1 or 2 years of this and Pakistanis can be transformed into a nation of law abiding, social evil fearing citizens.

To be fair, AAs solution of legal reform is a starting place, but without wide spread social awareness and DETERANCE, it will just be an unenforced law on the books, ignored for the most part with no social implications for societal change, except perhaps at a glacial pace if at all. Sorry, but i don`t want to read about the next Samia Sarwar, i want an end to D.V NOW. TODAY. Cutting off hands seems to deter crime in Saudi Arabia, might not be a bad idea for serious, repeat D.V offenders either, in Pakistan.

correction

HEADS BASHED INTO WALLS, REPEATEDLY.

I know Pakistani womyn who`ve had their heads bashed into walls (Pakistan), and their teeth knocked out (in the USA) and been asked by their own families to `reconcile` with their husbands ... all in the name of `ghairat`.

Whats the matter ... too graphic for you? I leave you with these haunting images of abused womyn for now ...

Dear AA:

Speedy military courts were recently held to be unconstitutional in Pk, precisely because the speedier the trial, the blinder justice gets. Innocent people and kids were hanged as a result of these courts and these courts are notorious for their bias, and the oppression of economically/ethnically marginalized groups.

RESPONSE: As it so happens, i agree with you completely and am well aware of this issue. But hey, you want stop D.V or not? My solution rests on the basic premise that, `Revenge Should know no bounds.` And illiterates, and even educated people who believe in this false family pride/honor known as `ghairat`, vested in their womyn will only understand whips and public humiliation LIVE on PTV without any class bias (as happened under Zia, that filthy scum). Womyn are generally defenseless victims in these cases and that only makes me angrier at the crime.

Violence should be confronted with Violence. Genocide with Bombs. D.V with the most sadistic possible state reprisals, because those who perpetrate D.V are SADISTS. This is the language they understand. I`m not for convicting innocent children, or people under coerced confessions which are the norm in Pakistan. But in a fairly clear case like this, a SOCIAL MSG NEEDS TO BE POUNDED into these particular heads.

I wish you hadn`t written the part about her mother being flogged. That is a disgusting and misogynistc remark. Her mother may have been coerced into having her daughter killed or had full agency in the crime. We don`t know her role in this. But bare back, live on PTV flogging, with her face showing..just reading your words make me cringe.

RESPONSE: If that is what it takes to stop domestic violence, so be it. If I have to face being called a mysogynist (thanks:) as part of the price for confronting D.V, so be it, gladly will i embrace this name. I know of some cases of D.V personally. So I`m under no illusions about its need for a cure. Don`t be soft on D.V. You ARE being soft on D.V (thats for calling ME a mysogynist of all people) Reading your article made ME Cringe and react, so we`re even A.A.



This is not the reaction I was trying to evoke by writing this article.

RESPONSE: Sorry, TOUGH CHIT. You writes yer piece and takes yer chances. Its a real messed up society, and sometimes being soft spoken about a problem is not good enough to get the msg across. Sometimes you have to be willing to actually confront and humiliate the people who do such vile things to make the point. YOU DON`T HAVE A SOLUTION, (all you did was describe the problem, are you an advocate of small, futile protests that get no serious T.V coverage about the issue, i DO mean this disparagingly) so why not try mine?

I do not support such cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment for men or women. And especially as you suggest with her face showing, what kind of a sick recommendation are you making?

RESPONSE: First of all, I`m in favor of capital punishment for certain crimes like murder and rape. I also like the irony of my justice, i hope others can appreciate it too. She killed her daughter to protect this so called `family honor`, and was complicit in her death, [WHAT KIND (YES I`M SHOUTING) OF A MOTHER WOULD DO THIS?!!] therefore we should rob her family of the last vestiges of their illusions of their so-called `honor.` A/K/A FALSE PRIDE/GHAIRAT. YEH LOOG GHAIRATMAND BANTAY HEIN!!! It SICKENS ME.

I figured after my PTV drama solution(post #2),

her own family will just kill her (the mother) upon release. That is justice in this case. And the way i make it happen is the irony. She killed for the honor of the family, and in turn gets killed for the same bastardly conception of `honor.` Though my goal obviously is to discourage d.v in a diseased culture where it is RAMPANT. I UNDERSTAND THE SCUMMY MENTALITY OF THESE DEGRADED, `SOCIALLY RESPECTABLE` PEOPLE. I ALSO KNOW WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO GET TO THEM. You can`t get to them if you`re not willing to humiliate them publically. Spitting on them is part of a solution. Make them so reviled they can`t leave the house w/o being spat on by the public.

These are the people who bash womyn`s heads in with hammers (remember the story you narrated in Sex Everywhere), and you want me not to want to bash their heads in!!! How do you plan to stop them huh ? By `turning the other cheek`, sorry this is not my philosophy of life.

While I appreciate the fact that you publicly sanction dv, and that your heart is in the right place, I sincerely ask you to reconsider your solutions regime. It personally affects me to see such a response to my article.

RESPONSE: Its meant to affect you, and others to feel the depths of these outrages of D.V.



In peace and hope. -AA

RESPONSE: Guns and bullets, whips and chains, nooses and lynchings (for the perpetrators of d.v crimes). LIVE ON PTV. LIVE.

And since i`m for gender equality, for BOTH Men and Womyn. Political Correctness to the MAX.

Sincerely, this has been a public service msg by

OMAR MIRZA

If anyone has`nt checked out the following site then please do so.

http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/countries/indx333.htm

I apologize for mis stating the date of Samia`s murder.

Re: Nameless
I don`t follow your distinction between public execution and domestic violence (dv). Domestic violence is violence in and out of the home as perpretated by family members. Isn`t it enough that Samia was killed after an abusive marriage and by family members for this to be murder/dv? The fact that it was ``public`` and in ``execution`` style should not make it any less an instance of dv or a culmination of several instances of dv.

Dowry related violence are crimes, I agree. I didn`t say it was posturing. I suggest you read that part again and Rad`s response. (Re: 6)

Re: OMAR1974
While I may agree with some of the things you say about sharam and haya, I think they need to be contextualized in a larger socio-economic framework. I disagree with your solutions completely. As it is justice is lacking in Pk, and instituting summary trials are part of the problem. This is why I specifically mention how speedy trials and enforcing the death penalty does absolutely nothing, and is discriminatorily and unjustly applied - long termed and real solutions are needed. Speedy military courts were recently held to be unconstitutional in Pk, precisely because the speedier the trial, the blinder justice gets. Innocent people and kids were hanged as a result of these courts and these courts are notorious for their bias, and the oppression of economically/ethnically marginalized groups.

I wish you hadn`t written the part about her mother being flogged. That is a disgusting and misogynistc remark. Her mother may have been coerced into having her daughter killed or had full agency in the crime. We don`t know her role in this. But bare back, live on PTV flogging, with her face showing..just reading your words make me cringe. This is not the reaction I was trying to evoke by writing this article. I do not support such cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment for men or women. And especially as you suggest with her face showing, what kind of a sick recommendation are you making?

While I appreciate the fact that you publicly sanction dv, and that your heart is in the right place, I sincerely ask you to reconsider your solutions regime. It personally affects me to see such a response to my article. In peace and hope. -AA

Re: Ras Siddiqui
Again, I do not get the distinction bewteen domestic violence and cold-blooded murders. While all cold-blooded murders are not dv cases, some can be. Government complicity is precisely my point. You are absolutely right that massive amounts of social education (and in fact a re-socialization over decades) is needed to get rid of dv. But the govt. is complict because it doesn`t call this a crime, and hence passes the message to its nation, that dv may be bad, but not criminal. This argument has been made before for many other countries which do not take a legal and political stances against dv, and there is legal literature that talks of state complicity when it lets crimes go uncalled, either through inattention and inaction or by calling these tribal or private matters.

Re: aali
Nothing, you`re right. Good legislation may do nothing in the short run. But if you agree dv is a problem, then at least get good laws on your books. How these are used will come later...

Re: kidwai
There are protests happening in Pk, the full extent of these, I`m unaware off. Petitions are circulating and people from the US and Pakistan are signing readily. Unfortunately people from certain elite classes tend to live on a cloud of their own in karachi and elsewhere.

Re: Rad
thank you for the information. I didn`t know the exact effects of the law.

``Religion in Pakistan is a tool in the hands of the reactionary patriarchical-feudal minded elements of society.`` OMAR1974

That is the crux of the problem in Pakistan and umless this sad state of affair changes, everything else will merely be an appeal to the symptoms of the problem and not the cause!

The question being asked should not be why it happened, but why was there no societal outrage at the crime.

``The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves.`` Here ended the lesson!

I agree with kidwai. And I hope that the women, and men there will realize the need to do so. Unfortunately it takes alot to shake people out of apathy and the assumption that it couldn`t happen to them.

I actually think the authors remark on India`s laws regarding dowry are right on the mark.

I remember when the law was passed and there had recently been a whole spate of ``accidents``. What really changed the atmosphere was the women. Suddenly daughters were being pulled out of houses where there was even a whisper of abuse. No mother dared say, stick it out, things will get better. The slightest mention of dowry sent shivers and caused divorces and many many people were threatened with jail.

That is what made the difference - when middle class suddenly realized what could (and was) happening to them. And it is in fact their reaction that brought about the law. Laws are not solutions in themselves but they do indicate some seriousness on the governments part and the legal systems obligation to protect women. The dowry has been used and parents have been imprisoned. And many accidents were taken to court.

What surprises me is the lack of action taken by the women in our society. I don`t know much about the protests against saima`s killing. But what sort of protest was made by the ``educated`` women of Pakistan. In cities women form a major part of the teaching profession in schools, colleges and universities. As such they can play a major role in encouraging the authorities to take up strong measures to curb domestic violence. But it has to be a collective effort at a large scale!!!!!!

AA is never one to pull back any punches. This is
another double barreled effort to shake the reader
into thinking.
Domestic Violence is a problem, but this was a
case of cold blooded murder.
By the way it was a e-mail from our Bengali
friend Jamal Hasan that first informed me about
the Saima Sarwar case with a call for action.
As far as the ``complicity`` of Nawaz Sharif is concerned, that is not warranted. Neither he nor Benazir nor for that matter any other ruler of Pakistan could do much here. A massive dose of social education is needed there. But then again are we not too busy with nukes and missiles?
Priorities are priorities right?
Keep fighting!!

Ras

I do not get it. This looks like to me a case of outright public execution sanctioned under law and not DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

In India, laws were passed against dowry related violence and murders because they are crimes and NOT FOR POSTURING. The reference to India is out of context.

I`ve said it before and I`ll say it again. [I read the article from the last link, in The News (click on Lahore) by Beena Sarwar about Saima`s brutal murder by her own family in Asma Jehangir`s office.]

In Pakistan, womyn are chattel. To be disposed of as their family wishes. The fact that another relative of Saima`s can `pardon` her killers, her own family, is another argument against this perverted `Shariat` being enforced in Pakistan to the detriment of womyn`s rights.

The Solution as I have repeatedly stated lies in creating a civic conception of society based on equality of the sexes without regard for religion. Religion in Pakistan is a tool in the hands of the reactionary patriarchical-feudal minded elements of society. It is therefore necessary to eliminate as a first step from Pakistani society all conception of `sharam` and `haya,` associated with religion, which is at the root of the oppression of womyn, and is inculcated into them from birth. Once this is eliminated, womyn will be more willing to stand up for themselves and assert their rights rather than being the objects of abuse, violence, and adopting a submissive attitude towards these, `predetermined gifts by the will of the almighty.` I have a few questions I`d like to ask godot when/if we meet. How can s/he allow this to happen? Dosteyovsky asks the same question in `The Brothers Karamazov.`

As for people who perpetrate such `honor killings`, i advocate a summary trial and a long noose for them as exemplary punishment. If these SWINES get off, it will truly be an outrage. Pakistan will truly have become a state where womyn are not even afforded the pretense of equal protection of the laws, even when killed. And I don`t mean to imply that they have ever really enjoyed the `equal protection of the laws.` I think Saima`s parents should be whipped and flogged until they beg for mercy, or failing that until they lose consciousness before being hung. My personal preference for their family`s murderous `ghairat` reserved particularly for the murderous mother ... public flogging/whipping of her bare back, shown live on PTV along with her face. Now that`s my idea of showing their family what honor means, and enforcing `shariat`. Then set her free. Her own family will probably take her life, in the name of `honor`, such people have no honor. Thats what i call `speedy justice`. Are you listening Mr.Nawaz Sharif?

They need to be dragged onto PTV and interviewed live. Their crime needs to be exposed before millions live, as does their punishment. Justice must not only be done BUT BE SEEN TO BE DONE. That is the only way to stop this lunacy. Tio make such an example out of them that no one dares do such a thing again. I`m even open to boiling them in oil, LIVE on PTV if it serves to get the msg into the thick heads of those who would dare perpetrate such EVIL atht WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS.

Domestic violence is something that people don`t want to talk about in Pakistan. I`m glad that someone decided to write about this widespread cancer in Pakistani society. Lets find a cure.