The Politics of Rape

since u guys were talking about the women who tried to compete in the beauty pageant in japan, here`s something that came in dawn on it in the issue of oct 6 -- omar

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Sanctimonious hypocrisy




By Omar R. Quraishi


It has to be said, perhaps a bit unfortunately, that we South Asians in general take the cake when it comes to being sanctimonious. The so-called furore - more in the pages of some newspapers and in the mind of the federal culture secretary - this last week surrounding the presence of Pakistani contestant in a beauty pageant in Tokyo has been, to say the least, in extremely bad taste.

It all started when a foreign wire service released what it said was the photograph of a contest at the Miss International Beauty in Japan. This pageant is not to be confused with other more-known contests like the ones that elect Miss Universe or Miss World but nonetheless it was being organized in Japan and had contestants from around 58 countries. It was not clear whether the contestant was resident in Japan - the country has a Pakistani community several thousand strong - or whether she had gone from Pakistan to participate in the contest. The matter should have rested at that but didn`t. At best it might have aroused curiosity in some people here, probably surprised to see a Pakistani contestant for a change.

The media in Pakistan, led by an English daily (not Dawn) over-reacted to the appearance of this photograph. A story came on the back page with the contestant`s picture and the title `Beauty queen or an ultimate disgrace?`. The article never quoted the contestant on whom it was based, automatically assuming that such a decision to take part in a beauty contest ran counter to not only religious injunctions but also to Pakistan`s cultural values.

Instead of making even the slightest efforts to get in touch with the woman - probably easy for the reporter to justify since the story came from Islamabad while the contest was being held in Tokyo - the article instead quoted Pakistan`s culture secretary whose sense of modesty and propriety seemed to have been thoroughly outraged. In fact, reading the language contained in the story a reader would have had no trouble imagining a bureaucrat huffing and puffing at a perceived slight and attack on our Pakistani `culture` just because a Pakistani woman decided to take part in a beauty contest.

A story carried by AFP two days later and printed in the same newspaper, this time from Tokyo and written in much more temperate language, said that the contestant had withdrawn after the Pakistani embassy had been asked to pursue the matter with the contest`s organizers.

Now for the specifics. The argument that this goes against our religious values is not new. However, all one has to say in response to it, and perhaps to assuage the hyper-ventilation that the federal culture secretary seems to have experienced after finding out about the contestant, is that contestants from several other Muslim countries were taking part in this competition.

Apart from contestants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon, Maldives, Egypt and even Bosnia routinely take part in international beauty pageants. Yes, there might be some opposition locally by people in these countries - and the opposition can even come from the other end of the ideological spectrum, i.e. from feminists - but it boils down to a decision of personal choice.

In fact, the reigning Miss World happens to be a Nigerian and that`s where this year`s pageant is going to be held.

As far as the cultural aspect is concerned, the federal culture secretary is not our official keeper in that regard. This might sound tedious but for the benefit of those in our bureaucracy cultures always change and evolve. Besides, different people have different ideas on even their own culture. And people should be allowed to make choices in the way they want to be identified, which is basically what this contestant was doing. If the government felt so strongly about something - something at last on which it has a definitive stand - then it could have pursued the matter in a more discreet professional manner. And, to ask our embassy in Tokyo to force a beauty pageant contestant to withdraw is not exactly the best use of our generally limited diplomatic resources.

And yes, our culture ministry would have us believe, when a woman walks on a Pakistani street, - no man dares even look at her. Those who blew this story out of all proportion should also know that beauty pageants have been organized even within Pakistan, albeit at a quieter and local level.

Just recently, Indus Music organized a face of the year contest, which was amply covered by leading newspapers. Going by the pictures that were published, it was also a beauty contest, and sponsored by some of the biggest multi-nationals. Why wasn`t there an over-reaction in this case?

Frankly speaking, local television channels, especially PTV, are littered with vulgar dances and performances that have little to do with artistic creativity or aesthetics. In fact, the majority of these performances are decidedly more sleazy than an international beauty pageant. But these shows are shown without any problem, and some of the performers wear clothes that would humble even our would-be Tokyo contestant. Why doesn`t the ministry of culture do something about this first before trying to harass a poor woman and her imagined attack on Pakistani `culture`?

In any case, it really seems quite sanctimonious of senior government officials to be acting all self-righteous just because one woman decided to make a foray in this way.

Postscript: The winner of the International Beauty pageant in Tokyo was Christina Sawaya,representing Lebanon.

(email:omarq@cyber.net.pk

nikhat #78 I find it amusing (in a disgusting sort of way) your sniffing at what you call the ``masses`` whom you distinguish from the ``classes``. The fact, my friend, is that the 3 out of 4 ``educated`` Pakistanis are incapable of using their minds. They have been brought up in a culture that rejects the right of the individual to think for himself, and in an education system that suppresses creative thinking while promoting rote learning. They respect wealth and power, have no understanding of the rule of law, and have no respect for the individual who happens to be poor and illiterate. The problem is not as simple as you think. It will take generations before we have a substantial number of Pakistanis who have the necessary character to build a civilized nation and to be a source of solutions, rather than problems, for the rest of the world.

``The government must take action against illegal rulings, whether made by tribal chiefs or religious leaders`` - What action will an impotent government take when it bends to accomodate the dictates of religious parties/ feudal lords/ industrialist / the farmers association (?) ETC in order to build its own legitimacy? I agree with Romair that the first step will be to eradicate the feudal system that allows such heinous practices to be continued. Mass education - and by that I mean not just literacy but proper education that includes religious and secular fundamentals - is an equally important first step. If the masses cannot think for themselves they will never abadon the majority of chauvinistic, corrupt and misled clergy. The mullahs run riot - the uneducated masses flock behind them like sheep. The 20% of educated Pakistanis have given up on their country and are flocking abroad. The educated lot have to push for education and take some responsibility of it, because only once people begin to question the validity of the religious clergy/ the government/ the feudal lords, will they be able to rise against them. Revolutions have always sprung up from the masses - not from the classes.

jay #32 i accidentally read one of your posts (I obviously had nothing at all to do with my time just now). I see you mention me as follows ``tahmed took refuge in the poverty and illitaracy to legitimise the honour killing``
I dont recall every trying to apologize for, or explain, the issue of honor killing. So I assume this is just another example of the imaginary world you live in. I do recall recommending you take the pills meant for your mental health a number of times. But you obviously dont listen. We`ll have to put you on electric shock treatment again! (and dont start wetting your pants at the thought - you have been repeatedly advised to take your pills if you wish to avoid more drastic treatment!!).

PM14,

There is no intended contrdiction there. It is the first time that a pakistani has posted that honour killing and stoning to death has nothing much to do with tribal traditions and islamic extremism. It is there simply because the military has allowed it to be there, simply because the great constituion of pakistan has legitimised it, simply because the educated elites of the likes of romair and ferzok refuse take responsibility for it by blaming it on the tribal trditions.

It is heartening to see an educated pakistani blaming it on their own inaction.

All along in the previous posts, the lkes of tahmed took refuge in the poverty and illitaracy to legitimise the honour killing. For once some has cited instances where lynching did not take place because the blasphemer happened to be a pakistani with US passport. Suddenly the ilks of tahmed have no where to turn to other than seeing the collusion of the military in lynch mob activity.

Beena Sarwar wrote in her conclusion:

``The government must take action against illegal rulings, whether made by tribal chiefs or religious leaders. It must ensure that no one takes the law into their own hands, pass or execute `sentences`. And, finally, it needs to ensure that its functionaries will no longer participate in such activities.``

After what has recently been done to the legality of Government and the constitution, these are indeed high expectations.

Ras

arjun #26 Such news must do wonders for your inferiority complex, given the way you parade it around. Trouble is, what you have is not an inferiority complex, but inferiority itself. And positive news about the achievements of some Indian wont cure inferiority, even if it helps soothe the complex. Nor will posting negative news about Pakistan, for that matter (ask uncle jay - he has been trying to get rid of his inferiority for a couple of years now on chowk, but it just gets worse with every posting).
Cheers!

There seems to be some confusion in regard to my previous post. I am not stating that religious parties (at least in their current form) should gain any influence in Pakistan. I am just stating that passing on every Pakistani problem to religion and religious parties, allows the other equally, if not more criminal parties of Pakistan, to get away with murder.

Relgious parties may be a problem, if they start running Pakistan. But they haven`t been running Pakistan. Hence, they cannot be held responsible for the current state of Pakistani affairs. One needs to put the blame for the panchayat type decisions on the feudal system of Pakistan. Rather than having the feudals pass it onto religion or onto the Army. Army and religious brigade should definitely be blamed for the problems they have caused. They should not be used as a convenient cover for the problems other groups have caused.

If I had Musharraf`s power, I would have spent the last three years 1) stabilizing the econmy, 2) introducting massive land reforms and thus initiating the process of taking the evil feudal out of Pakistani politics 3)straigtening out the mullah brigade. Then I would have 4) held elections, banning in anyway possible the previously known corrupt leaders. And then 5) would have resigned and move to Boston, rather than becoming an on-going President.

Musharraf did three of the above four (economy and mullah and elections). He did nothing to the feudal and is continuing on as President. Not great, but not bad either. Regardless of one`s views about the current govt., one has to support certain provisions that are coming into Pakistan due to his govt. Like joint elecotorate plus reserved seats for religious minorities. Joint seats and 17% to 33% seats for women. These are breakthrough steps for Pakistan. Pakistan maybe the only country in the world now, where religious minorities and women (at least constitutionally) are more enfranchised the other citizens of the country.

It is not a coincidence that religious minorities (and businessmen) are Musharaff`s strongest supporters, while mullahs are his biggest opponents (along with feudals and individuals who just hate the whole Army in a racist manner). Most others are indifferent towards him. I can make a bet that had an NS or BB govt. been in power, we would have not had joint electorates and the Meerwala type cases would have been shoved under the carpet. Since they are committed by the kith and kin fellow feudals of BB and NS.

There was a detailed survey carried out by Pakistani Herald magazine a few months ago. It had the following interesting results:

60% of Pakistanis support Musharraf (this number has gone down around ten percent or so, since the referendum)
30% oppose Musharraf
80% want some religion in their public life
67% (or some such figure) do not support the current religious parties in politics, however
Restoration of Democracy ranked 9th biggest problem for Pakistanis
Unemployment ranked 1st biggest problem (potential war with India ranked 2nd biggest problem)
Kashmir ranked 6th or 7th biggest problem
etc. etc.

Interestingly, these are contradictory to what many, if not most, posters on Chowk present as a picture of Pakistan and its problems. It is however, in line with what I have been stating to be the correct picture of Pakistan. The only religious problem in Pakistan are the misguided religous parties. Otherwise, all of us are pretty balanced in a religious sense. However, the religious parties have no popularity. The real problem of Pakistan is feudalism, certain over-ambitious Generals (not the whole Army, mind you), corruption, dominance of one large province (Punjab) over the rest of Pakistan, lack of education, etc.

I don`t know why we waste our precious mental bandwidth trying to portray secularism or religion as the main issue for Pakistan. Pakistan will be equally good or equally bad whether it is religious or secular, provided the above-mentioned problems are solved.

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Urstruly aka PROPHET OF GLOOM & DOOM:

I won`t hold my breath. Why ? because people are busy making the most of their lives and making ends meet and experiencing change. People around the world have alot more hope, strength, and vision than you give them credit for. The people who are hopeless, who are losers, who can`t deal with change, who have created anarchy in the past and egged others to do so, are the true troublemakers. They don`t have a vision or goal except to promote anarchy and cause destruction, because they are holding on to the past and cannot deal with change.

True, their are injustices in this world, and I fear will always be. But thats no reason to give up hope. Come on fella, do something good or at least feel and make others feel hopeful. If it doesn`t work out at least you can take comfort in the fact that you tried.

Re: Mukhtaran Bibi, I don`t think what happened to her has got anything to do with what happened in the last decade. If anything, its got to do with a centuries old culture that needs to change to be considered humane at the minimum. Just like certain practices and beliefs that certain Muslims hold about Islam need to change.

the way you talk, you should carry one of those signs saying the world will end on XX, 20Xx and walk around town. Learn to embrace and create change, not fear it.

THE COMING ANARCHY

A nation who can afford and manage to live without any legitimate legislation (and a constitution) for three years must expect worst things for their women than what happened to Mukhtar Mai. The notions of justice, law, and order are nothing but a mental luxury for such nations. Unfortunately, this system is going to continue for an extended period of time in future, not because it is particular to Pakistan but it has become the global trend now. The powers that be cannot afford at this time to familiarize people with notions of social justice, law and order because that would make their own legitimacy very questionable.

The world that was becoming a reality because of the imagination of people like Rousseau, Locke, Hume, and Hobbes is quickly vanishing. The trend of empowerment of the people has turned into empowerment of the Governments. The social contracts are quickly becoming obsolete. And this new world order is top down i.e. from the most open societies to the most conservative ones. Governments have now found ways to circumvent the freedom of speech; in other words this value has been rendered meaningless. The world has been clearly divided into two groups now- the people of the colonial powers and the oppressed people of the world. This is the new colonial order.

It did not happen over night, rather, it took a decade to shape the world as it has become. Governments, regardless of being democratic, have become extremely oppressive. The prime mover behind the actions of the governments is now to maintain the order and status quo even at the cost of disempowerment of people and not to mention stripping them of their basic human right of right to life. But the phenomenon of resistance has also emerged globally, since it is not in the nature of man to accept the tyranny of other. How can you contain anger when one disenfranchised sees that even dogs and cats in other part of the world have health insurance, whereas he can`t feed his children with a chappati. And the worst part is that he is aware that he is the one who is paying for that health insurance.

This phenomenon of Governments gobbling up all sources of power is most obvious in our part of the world whereas it is subtle and slow in First World. It is most obvious in Pakistan where people are brutally being disenfranchised and status quo is being shoved down their throats with the lubricant of sham ``deMocKracy``.

On the Indian side, if the results of recent elections in Kashmir are not an indication then what is? The status quo, however, will be maintained through brutal force despite claims of having democracy. What happened in Gujrat is an eye opener; where state machinery conducted genocide to suppress a minority and to disenfranchise them. The result was expected when a group of assailants stormed a Hindu temple in Gandhi Nagar to protest the brutality of the Government. The attitude of Government was shameless. When the rest of the world was trying to figure out whether the assailants were two, three, or four, the Government machinery was already obfuscating the issue by blaming that the attackers were Muslims and Pakistanis. Perhaps the Government officials saw the assailants flaunting their circumcised penises atop mandir roof. Nevertheless, one thing is obvious as daylight that the status quo of oppression will come at a cost.

But the situation is not that bad. A new dynamics is also emerging. The relative silence of rabidly anti-Muslim secular Hindus even after the massacre since Amarnath yatra and other attacks indicates two things i.e. either they have realized the gravity of the situation and how they were made puppets in the hands of an oppressive and un-ethical Government OR they have realized that the ``world government`` have interests of its own; and one of such interests is to maintain the status quo. So the message here is that the howling, barking, yelping, and snarling has no effect at this time. The post Kargil era has come to an end.

It is yet to be seen, however, whether this calm before the storm is because of the cognizance of worthlessness or is it in the gripping anticipation of the coming anarchy.

Ref AAmir #19

[Karachi, Sept. 30 (Reuters): Pakistani police paraded a man today who confessed to having been trained by Indian intelligence and carrying out bomb attacks in the country.

State media quoted police as saying they had arrested another man they described as an Indian terrorist and who had planned to sabotage next week?s national elections in Pakistan.]

Disrupting elections in Pakistan? You mean, Musharraf will NOT get 98% in a referendum but 97.99%, thus lowering his perceived legitimacy?

I feel so bad!

digging up dead pirs and the deconstruction of scientific theories and flights of fancy .....

........as a child, i always wanted to dig up the nau-gaza pir in quetta to deconstruct the silly myth ..........but my grandmother, who i loved dearly, really believed in this twenty-seven foot tall man ......... so i left him alone ..............

......... as an adult, i always wanted to find a ninety year old pregnant woman with a schizophrenic husband and a virgin with a son who walks on water to deconstruct the theory of human reproduction and fluid mechanics ........... but the american medical association and the wild-eyed gynaecologists and the equally wild hydraulic engineers threated to stone me to death for blasphemy, so i gave up the quest ......... it is a queer theory that defies deconstruction ........

Beena,
thank you for this article...liked your analysis.
i am somewhat hopeful that the outrage for all the violence committed against women will spread...any society that condones such violence, and hampers education for everyone in the process of thumping their chests and reinforcing their military complex and continued occupation shows no signs of moving forward...and that mythical rock of Sisyphus keeps sliding downward, especially where women are concerned.

#16 by hamidm2

1: pls send a polite note to chowk editors to fix yor nick...

2: comparing samina to hobby?...man, have you lost your glasses?...this is the stuf of grand blassphemy...here...(swoooooooosh)...that is the sound of the first stone i hurled in your general direction...(damn!...will even haave to pay to replace this window pane)

3: never mind

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Reading stuff like this actually sickens me... physically !
Looks to me like so called ``religious zeal`` plus ``frustration`` give rise to the most ``cockeyed`` judgements !! What those panchayats need is more marital bliss and less hypocrisy !! but thats just me babbling on and on !!

hari: random thoughts follow...
about miss pakistan... she misrepresented herself, as simple as that. I saw an article about her on the front page of the wall street journal a couple of months back. She had won the miss Pakistan USA contest and the article talked about the same issue, as in there are no beauty contests in Pakistan and no one recognized her `accomplishments` there. I think her name is Neelam Noorani. Regardless, the point of the matter is Pakistan has dancing girls, actresses, vulgar movies, talent contests etc. We just don`t have beauty pageants which is a phorren concept, nautch girls is a local concept. If its gonna happen it will. In the meantime, any Neeli Noorani can`t say she`s the most beautiful from Pakistan and represent the entire country. Its not fair to the other girls. Either its done right and fair or not at all-

BTW, nearly all Pakistani wimmin take part in a beauty/talent pageant of sorts before they get married.... when the guy(s) come to check them out. The guys also get interviewed... so its happening, but at another level. Chaal chalan tau Pakistani loag saalon se tole rahay hain. If they added the bikini section during marriage interviews, in addition to the chai lao beti scene, it would be so useful.

anyway... why u acting like a dick and comparing this rape tragedy to neeli`s miss world ambitions ?

saminashah: Very well said: particularly the second part of your post to which tahmed and hamidm referred to. Deconstruction of religious theories lack the standards of decontruction due to pre-supposition of them absolutley right but misunderstood as the case is with Islamists and Islamic scholars. On the other hand the old traditional left and communists pre-supposed it nonsense before embarking upon deconstruction. The pro-religion decontructionists reject or ignore empirical data that is a must in any deconstruction on scientific basis. The empirical data about religious theories in practice is abundantly available in the forms of conditions, practices and actions of the past and present. What is the point of deconstruction if 500 years of empirical data is rejected out of hand as influence of colonialism as misinterpretations of otherwise sound religious theories?
PM: No, no, no. You can`t respond on the basis of a myth that people celebrated Musharraf`s overthrowing NS. You know very well that TFT and Jang group of newspapers were against NS for their reasons. If JI, Imran Khan, or Mian Azhar supporters distributed sweets, it does not mean majority loved kicking out of NS.
Did I say anywhere that BB or NS were the best leaders god could send directly. I never voted for either of them, though having the opportunuty to vote during early nineties. I totally disagree with ``enemy of my enemy is my friend``. There is no way, I would have supported Musharraf, no matter how much I disliked BB or NS. Whenever, I support them, it is out of comparison with Musharraf in which constitutional considerations play significant role. Both BB and NS did corruption without a doubt but so is Musharraf doing. Every week newer revealtions are coming out about his hlding and his relatives enriching themselves. How come you did not notice the top secret national defense project of golf course deal, the kickbacks through his son`s father-in-law Brig (retd) Aftab Siddiqui - permanently coming to USA with loot and plunders and Bahawalpur land grabs. The King`s party is made up of the most corrupt and lota politicians.
What is wrong if I say that Musharraf, as model, provides terrible example of just and honest person. I have not even touched upon American historical saying, ``no taxation without representation``. Muxharraf does not even has the right to ask people to pay taxes. Why pay anything without representation?
Speaking of technically, he is not even COAS or a serving general. Are you going to shove all this under the rug when telling people to respect Musharraf?
Nations belong to people and a popular revolution by people is simply taking hold of their won property. Even in court of law defending property rights is leagal to quite an extent. Musharraf did not own presidency, government or country. He was a paid employee of the people`s corporation of Pakistan or whatever.

re. saminasha #9
To sameerjb, you write : ``...It seems as if the majority of the population is under siege by what you termed ``back door`` legitimacy.``
While it may be true that the psyche of the whole nation is under siege - and has been for some time now - I can assure you the it is not primarily held captive by the forces Sameerjb alleges.
It is always intersting to see Sameer saab invoking Rule of Law in a tirade against the usurping general, yet fail to admit that Law meant even less during the the (nominally) democratic period in Pakistan. In his last post he actually makes mention of this, yet fails to see the contradiction in continuing to lay all blame at the doorstep of Musharraf. He forgets that Musharraf`s takeover was widely welcomed throughout Pakistan, though it may have been, technically, unlawful. Perhaps Sameer saab would be equally unhappy at a popular revolution, since, by definiton, it would also cosntitute a circumvention of Law. haiNji?

Your observations on the jargonizing of language by religious proponents is very interesting. However, would you agree that deconstruction by other groups and disciplines is often followed by a `constructive` language of their own? I have particularly the gay/lesbian and psychoanalatic quarters in mind here. Is such (mis)appropriation of language even possible outside the stictly scientific disciplines?
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Romair,
You rock, brother!

rgds,
PM

prof hobbyty strikes again ?

``So that theories of deconstruction, historicities, symbolisms seek to make meanings accessible to all and empower, one hopes, marginalized populations (which seems to enrage those who have the most to lose) while the jargoning/rationalizing of religious theory seems to be for the purpose of empowering only those who speak that language and gain from the enshrinement of questionable principles``

............ saminashah, shame on you ! ..... and all this time we thought you were one of the good guys.......white hat and all ....... repent and give up your evil ways before it is too late ..........

...... guys, what she is trying to say is that gays marching in frisco are okay, but mullahs (even if they are queer) parading in mansoora are evil ........... i must say i agree with her ............

re. jay #10:
``it is heartening to see an article that gives some detail about the legal and constitutional system of pakistan that sustains honour killings...
For the first time you have shown that honour killing, stoning to death and other crimes cannot dismissed as tribal and deviant islamic systems, but are nurtured by the political system.``

and

``It is the beloved military of romair, the democracy of imran khan, and the constituion under which elections are held that are responsible for the sustainence of the despicable systems of pakistan...It is a disgrace to see the romairs and ferzoks of pakistan talking about the insignificance of islamists in pakistan when even the mighty mushy, a perfect dictator who can introduce a graduate only reps system will not dare to ban honour killing.``

This is interesting jay. Are you vying for some Most Self-Contradictory Poster award that i haven`t heard of?

Meanwhile, a Pakistani woman has been ``banned`` from the Ms.(Universe?) festival in Japan.

Another backward thinking model. Media reports that Pakistani establishment has been taken back by the ``shameful behavior`` of the woman claiming to reprsent pakistan.

Somehow, it is Meerawala gang rape or this Miss(ed) Pakistan contest that attracts news media and sheds a bad light on Pakistan.

Can this lady do something for Pakistan, that could be atleast Pakistan`s first? instead of lampooning her. What is wrong?

Is her daring to show her beauty is more shameful than, say, Pervez`s hijacking of govt. in pakistan or BB/NS`s looting of state coffers?

Omair:

The areas you mentioed as areas where the PPP and PML`s leaders are responsible for what happened in Muzafargarh. I would disagree those are areas where political parties and movements are the weakest. As politics became more about Ministries and maipulation by power brokers and the Intell agencies, you see them unable to promote progressive views. Of course the lack of internal democracy and proper party structures doesn`t help. case in point: Imran Khan was elected unooposed in his parties elections

Saminasha #9 you write ``the jargoning/rationalizing of religious theory seems to be for the purpose of empowering only those who speak that language and gain from the enshrinement of questionable principles.``
Great point. Jargon is the last refuge of the scoundrel, and this applies as much to religion as it does to the ``expert consultants``.

Beena,

After so much of my incessent harangue on the chowk about legal crimes, it is heartening to see an article that gives some detail about the legal and constitutional system of pakistan that sustains honour killings.

For the first time you have shown that honour killing, stoning to death and other crimes cannot dismissed as tribal and deviant islamic systems, but are nurtured by the political system. It is the beloved military of romair, the democracy of imran khan, and the constituion under which elections are held that are responsible for the sustainence of the despicable systems of pakistan.

It is a disgrace to see the romairs and ferzoks of pakistan talking about the insignificance of islamists in pakistan when even the mighty mushy, a perfect dictator who can introduce a graduate only reps system will not dare to ban honour killing.

All this ponit to a heritage that pakistan is hoping to capture exemplified by the hero worship of ghouri.

Someone said that the biggest crime of poverty is that it steals childhood from children. One may add that poverty also makes women vulnerable to assaults from the males (they cant be called men) in various forms: including rapes as in Meerwala. The biggest problem in Pakistan is not rape - it is poverty. And anything that deters from that - like high military expenditures - is part of that problem.

Beena,
Great article! I appreciated the historicity of the piece, so that the reader can place the event you began the piece within soc/pol/eco/rel contexts. I`d go as far to say that the movement of this piece is spatial as well as linear-it maps out connections.

Sameer
Its a terrible irony....that one Imam understood the true meaning of faith and injustice and one journalist was brave enough to cover the story, and so on as the writer pointed out. It seems as if the majority of the population is under siege by what you termed ``back door`` legitimacy.

The second point you bring up, the obsfucation/jargoning of religious theory is also a sobering one. While I have understood the theories of language, literature, psychoanalytic, feminist and queer disciplines to be those that deconstruct languages/gestures/cultures, the religious theorizing of which you write seems to do the opposite. So that theories of deconstruction, historicities, symbolisms seek to make meanings accessible to all and empower, one hopes, marginalized populations (which seems to enrage those who have the most to lose) while the jargoning/rationalizing of religious theory seems to be for the purpose of empowering only those who speak that language and gain from the enshrinement of questionable principles.
Hope that makes sense! (smile)

Finally, we see an article on the biggest problem of Pakistan. The problem is injustice of all kinds. While what happened in Meerwala Jatoi reveals kangaroo court justice in a deeply entrenched class society; it is a microcosm of disregard for law and order as well as widespread injustice. Once a three layered legal code - tribal, Islamic and national - is accepted as necessity and applied with utmost corruption, self-serving, incompetence and indifference, the outcome will be a law of jungle. That is what taking place in Pakistan.
The injustice is order of the day. People entering through the back door than generally accepted pathways have ruled Pakistan longer. How can anybody talk about dispensing justice when the chief arbiter did not regard the most sacred law of the land? A thief, robber, COAS or a burglar turned messiah overnight can not be trusted. Such people provide a model to copy in all aspects of life leading to might is right form of social, economic and political justice. One has to be an utterly disgusting and shameful personality to cheat, lie, commit treason and fraud, cook up data and referendum results, mastermind October election rigging and expect to be respected as model of law abiding citizen at the highest post.
What a shame, people giving him highest marks for handling Meerwali case and never to vote for PPP or PML because of feudalism and tribalism. They should have started the sentence with never to support lawbreakers of the worst kind trampling on the rights of people. Never support a thug from back door, whether you like to support PPP/ PML or not. Those who stayed home and did not vote in the referendum stands at morally much higher ground than ones who denounce popular political parties. Refusing to support Musharraf is many times better than supporting him on moral and just principles; the likeness or dislikeness of one, two or most political parties is secondary.
The honor killing has been going on unabated in Land of the Pure. Many of those criminals are involved in the political system with Musharraf supported party in NWFP, Sindh, Balochistan, Southern Punjab and tribal areas.
The mullah of Meerwala Jatoi gets full marks. There was a good article couple of days ago in Dawn by Muhammad Ali Siddiqui about mullah comparisons. No doubt there are plenty of good mullahs in Pakistan. However, the trend clearly reveals an inverse relationship with knowledge of religion. More illiterate and small time village mullahs are serving people more honesty and rationally than well-qualified in the ``art of the science of the art`` of religion. Doesn`t it say something about the whole scholarship or discipline of religion? What would you conclude, saminashah, if told that in this subject knowing less is better? What would be the rating of that subject? How can somebody apply to teach a subject, attract students, if told up front that it is dangerous to know more?

beena:

…hope you do not mind if i share my friend’s take on another impending rape…that of iraq….

lve,

t

___________________________________________________

Imperial U.S. war machine is on the move

By Haroon Siddiqui

TONY BLAIR, chief spin doctor for George W. Bush`s wars, no more convinced the skeptics with his dossier on Iraq than had the president with his the week before. Blair`s, too, was mostly a rehash of Saddam Hussein`s known crimes, some dating back to the days when he was America`s friend.

``We were expecting the evidence of war,`` said Maj. Charles Heyman, editor of the defence journal Jane`s World. ``What we got was evidence for United Nations inspections.``

No matter. Barring a miracle, a war is coming, around January. War propaganda, with all its dishonest ingenuities, is in full swing. The imperial war machine is on the move in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

U.S. Congress, swayed more by the mid-term elections in November than by growing dissident voices, including Al Gore`s, is bound to authorize war. It always does, even on phony pretexts, as in the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution that gave Lyndon Johnson a blank cheque in Vietnam.

The only issue in doubt is whether a Security Council resolution for tougher U.N. inspections in Iraq will come with the threat of force, as America wants, or without, as France prefers, so as to avoid war at least until Saddam thwarts the inspectors yet again.

War fever has evaporated domestic headlines on Enron, a shaky economy, shakier stock markets and CIA-FBI turf wars. But Bush`s brinkmanship has exacted a price abroad, if such matters matter still. A year ago, the world was with America. Now, it`s against. Osama bin Laden is gone, his ideas discredited. Yet the nation that made them possible has few friends left.

Sadder still, the world that mistrusts Saddam does not trust Bush. It is hesitant to give the president of the United States the U.N. licence he needs to make Saddam blink.

The Bush-Blair suppositions and innuendos — intelligence ``indicates`` and ``suggests`` that Al Qaeda members are ``known to be`` in Iraq and that Saddam ``may,`` ``might,`` ``could,`` ``probably,`` ``possibly`` or ``almost certainly`` acquire this or that weapon and ``may, at some point,`` try to use it or transfer it to terrorists — have left allies, like Jean Chrétien, largely unpersuaded.

More than 100 Canadian celebrities — Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, David Suzuki, Bruce Cockburn, Senator Doug Roche and Osgoode law professor Michael Mandel, among them — have signed a statement against war on Iraq.

The case against Saddam should have been a cinch. But its moral authority, long eroding under immoral economic sanctions, is weakened more not just by the staleness of the charge sheet but its inconsistencies. Blair has just conceded that ``despite sanctions, the policy of containment has not worked to prevent Saddam from getting weapons of mass destruction.``

In 1996, when then-state secretary Madeleine Albright was asked whether killing 500,000 Iraqi children was worth the price of containing Saddam, she said: ``The price is worth it.`` Turns out it was not. Not only did we help kill 1.5 million Iraqis and starve millions more, but we did so for nothing.

Bush says Saddam poses a threat to his neighbours. But the Kuwaitis, Saudis, Iranians and Turks feel no such danger. They are not the ones calling for a war. The ones who are, the United States and Britain, are the least threatened by him.

Saddam`s ``brutal repression`` of his Shi`ite minority and the poison-gas attacks on Iranians that Bush cites happened mostly when the dictator had American consent to act.

Bush`s best argument for a war on Saddam, flouting Security Council resolutions, was invoked last week by the Arab League delegate who asked: ``Why aren`t Security Council resolutions on Israel enforced? Israel has violated 28 resolutions. Why should the council not shoulder its responsibility?``

Ignoring the query, and also that Israel was flouting the latest council call to end the siege of Yasser Arafat, Bush sought congressional authority for war on Iraq ``in order to enforce Security Council resolutions.`` With an equally straight face, Secretary of State Colin Powell pontificated that ``the United Nations should feel offended`` by Iraqi non-compliance and ``should feel that something has to be done.`` Besides, as French President Jacques Chirac noted, the Security Council has said Iraq must not have weapons of mass destruction; it did not call for a regime change.

But Bush wants one, supposedly to spread democracy and ``support moderate and modern governments, especially in the Muslim world.`` The words would have carried weight had the civil liberties of American Muslims not been suspended post-Sept. 11 and America not partnered so consistently with oppressive oil oligarchies.

Democracies must at times wage war on dictatorships. But they need more honourable and plausible reasons than we have heard, so far.


__________________________________________________

read his other columns at:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?
pagename=thestar/Render& inifile=futuretense.ini&c=Page&
cid=970599109774&ce=Columnist&colid=969907621513

Finally, we see an article on the biggest problem in Pakistan. However, this article seems to have also given a religious tilt to the problem. Zia-ul-Haq`s misguidedly relgious policies did a lot of damage to Pakistan - specially the Hudood laws he put in (it is interesting to see people in Pakistani politics and on this site, who were out in front, supporting his policies when he was ruling, now all of a sudden become their biggest opponents). But the panchayat system has nothing to do with those policies. It was there way before Zia.

The panchyat type rulings, and their related social problems, are all a result of feudalism. It is a result of the PPPs and PMLs of Pakistan (this is what the author should have pointed to). It is a result of all the feudals of Pakistan, who send their daughters to Harvard, but openly or subtly support a feudal system that rapes other peoples` daughters in their lands. Muzzafargarh (Jatoi), Larkana, Kalabagh etc. where such incidents occur are the homes of PPP and PMLs biggest leaders.

Its about time, people figured out the drama all these feudal politicians are carrying out. Another group to add to this list, are the tribal Baluchi tribals - the Bugtis and the Marris and the Mazaris et. al. Had the PPP or PML been running Pakistan, not a single action would have been taken in support of the victim, in this case, since the parties would have needed the support of the local feudal.

If one talks to the feudals (which I have done), whose families interestingly all live in the poshest areas of Lahore and Karachi (as they, ``democratically`` represent their feudal peasant electorate which has never even seen Lahore or Karachi), they say that it is a century old system, that cannot be replaced. They say that, they, the feudals are slowly losing power, and it will be eliminated by itself. All lies. One has to live in these feudal areas to see it first hand. If you go to the Kalabaghs and Mianwalis of Pakistan, you will not see a single female walking outside (seriously).

People keep pointing to the Jamaat-i-Islami etc., and their narrow-mindedness about women. They point to what is happening in Iran. At least JI and Iran allow and support women`s education and allow them to walk around (albeit covered). I don`t support JI`s views, but they are still much more enlightened than those of the feudals of PPP and PML and Baluch parties, which allow women get raped, abducted abused etc. under the watchful traditions and in the lands of the Bhuttos, Jatois, Bugtis, Khars (his own son threw acid on a girl), Nawabs of Kalabagh, Makhdooms, Pirs of Pagaras, Legharis, Chandios, Fahims, etc. etc.

The biggest tragedy isn`t that all these rapes are occuring. The biggest tragedy is that Pakistan`s misguided, ``democrats`` (many on this site) keep voting and supporting these people back into power - as if what they were doing in their lands wasn`t enough, they should now legally rule over Pakistan, also. In my opinion, such hypocrite, ``democrats`` then lose all right to talk about women`s rights, and narrow-mindedness. In many cases, it is the kids of these feudals, who try to portray themselves as women`s rights supporters. Perhaps they should realize that charity begins at home, and tell their daddies to give up their lands first.

The hypocritcal and narow minded religious parties of Pakistan have no power, and even the worst of these would not carry out a rape ruling like this one. By far, the biggest problem is the feudally dominated parties, whose leaders like Bhutto (poster child of Pakistani feudalism) and Sharif (himself a non-feudal, but head of feudal party) and Bugti (poster child of Baluchi sardarism) etc. put on liberal faces in public, but whose complete support base are the idiotic feudal practices of Pakistan (like the one mentioned by the author).

There are nine off-shoots of the PML in this election, and four off-shoots of the PPP. I, for one, will never vote for PPP and PML, or any of the off-shoots of these two parties for the rest of my life. It is due to the feudals of these two parties, that rapes like the one described in this article take place (not dut to Zia`s equally idiotic policies, as the author incorrectly portrayed).

There is a simple way for all Pakistanis to ensure these things don`t occur again - just don`t vote for parties that are primarily feudal-based (PPP and PML). If you do vote for them, then I am afraid you are part of the problem and not part of the solution, because their feudal base and leadership will never allow such practices to be eliminated. Their leaders thrive on such practices and traditions, since such traditions are what gives them their exalted status of Sardar, Tumandar, Pir, Gaddi Nashin, etc. They are literally worshipped by their peasants due to such traditions. This allows them and their supporters to hand out illogical judicial rulings also, which they do on a regular basis.

I hope, after this article, the discourse on this site move from misguided religion (a minor problem in Pakistan, but apparently a major issue on this site) to feudalism (all feudalism is misguided), which is a hundred times bigger problem than religion in Pakistan, but for some reason is rarely mentioned on this site. Infact, most Pakistanis join relgious parties, when they are fed-up with what elitist feudalism has done to Pakistan, since the religious parites (as misguided as they maybe also) do consist almost completely of middle class and lower middle class individuals and are generally democratic. Remove feudalism from Pakistan, and the appeal of the narrow-minded religious parties will die automatically.

P.S. Full marks to the current govt. for bringing the culprits to book, on this issue, in a very efficient manner, even though the local feudal supported the action. Feudal PPP and PML would never have acted so quickly.

Beena:

thank you for putting this in perspective…you and others like you are a brave lot…

...even though it is a dead cliché i will flog it one more time…the core problem is ‘rule of law’…there isn’t any…oh yes we have the magistrates and judges…and we have the peerzadas and nawabzadas whose sole job is to circumvent the laws for the piper…we are supine in the face of all challenges…we struggle to survive under Army occupation without so much as a whimper…

…even Bangladeshi supreme court in a landmark verdict on feb 03 (banning fatwas as illegal and extra-judicial: citing the role of elected legislature in law making) showed more resolution than our for-sale politicians and judges…(sigalph you have details?)

… is there hope?…yes, there must be, for we still survive…but don’t ask me where…

hopelessly hopeful,

temporal

Beena,

What IS the problem?

It is one of empowerment and education. If the poor are to get an education that informs them of their rights and have the power to influence their own lives through honest elections where their voices can be heard, would these practices be still in effect a hundred years later?

When something along these lines happen today in rural India, as they still do, there is at least the threat of expulsion from caste and social ostracism in case one doesn`t accept the verdict of the panchayat. One would think that in egalitarian Islam there is no scope for caste and tribal loyalties to play a similar threatening role.

On the other hand, when the State turns a blind eye toward these panchayats and the police collude with the rich and the powerful with no fear of disciplinary action from the State, you can expect these abuses will continue.

It is very sad to read these things. We must do more to help each other or we will be finished.