The Ultimate Violation

Re: # 12

Hi Mr. Madani,

You are the most honest pakistani on the chowk. I have a few, what temporal calls as the dead horses, to beat. By branding them as dead horses, he is only trying to bypass the central tenet, the surviving and the eternal spirit, of the dead horse.

There are quite a few things the educated can do, the first being to write about the reality of pakistan, rather than trying to white wash and hide the truth. Simplest will be to honour Andus salam. If I remember correctly February 27 or something like that is the birth day of abdus salam. Why not Chowk publish an article, clearly stating that it is in memeory of the dead man.

So far chowk has never done that, there have been articles, but never has any one dared to say that it is in honour of him. For a pakistani to write an article in honour of abdus is blasphemy, it is not the fear of ISI that prevents the pakistanis from doing such a imple defying act, it is because they beleive thatpakaistan being an islamic country should not honour him, and this reviles me.

There is symbolism in the act of honouring abdus salam, and no pakistani, even on the anonymity of chowk will dare to do that. i wonder if chowk editors will allow.

Being a very honest pakistani, let both of us see how this simple idea will be responded to by pakistanis.

Ms. Sarwar, I have three points to make:

1) Subjugation of the weak in general, and women in particular is a world-wide phenomenon. What happened to the lady doctor in question was terrible, of course, but unfortunately it is not an isolated event, just another manifestation of the same disease which leads to all those dowry deaths in India and the female circumcisions in Nigeria, etc. Pakistan is a special case with three parties: the army has the absolute powers of a dictatorship (which makes it absolutely arrogant, as well as corrupt), further compounded by a rooted-in-tradition feudal structure which is incapable of thinking outside the box (note the terms “pure and unsullied”, “honour”, “talk of Karo Kari”, all coming from people who are on HER SIDE, as if such terms have relevance in the twenty-first century, one would think that by now the whole world knows that rape is not a crime of sex, but that of violence), and the “all-knowing” beards (about whom the less said the better). Perhaps the media and rights organizations are hoping that this event will provide the spark which can invoke in people the courage to bring down this dictatorial, unjust set-up. However, the powers in place are well aware of that possibility and will do everything they can to prevent it. Unfortunately, the gun-powder (the outrage among the people) has been so deeply permeated through repeated abuse by those three parties, it is no more capable of lighting up. Period.

2) This really, really hurts (the idealist in me) to admit, since I so much feel for the lady doctor, but if I were a caring friend of her, my advice would be to (a) get away from that negative environment, (b) get some serious counseling to deal with the trauma, (c) pick up the pieces that you can, (d) proceed to live your interrupted life, keeping in mind that (e) life will never be the same again, but over time, your positive actions will help your injured dignity to recover. The doctor did not seek out to become a poster child for the rights groups, and if she wishes to be left alone, that wish should be respected.

3) The media has a job to do. It is doing the best it can, given the setup that exists, often at great risks for themselves. That is appreciated by the world at large and it is wished that there could be more of that inside Pakistan.

Thank you for this article as well as for your (evident) efforts in the past to keep the spotlight on issues related to injustices to women.

Dear all,

Is there any PRACTICAL way of helping the victim to get justice?

lets not waste our energy arguing with each other..i am sure ALL of us wants that criminals should be punished..so lets act..lets do something..chowk is a good plate form to use ...any suggestions?

Re: # 17

Mr. Jay... thanks for your comment.
Science has no value in masses ( masses are asses). Honestly people from subcontinent do not give damn to these people. I have never seen article about most interesting mathematician from India Mr Ram Nu Jan anywhere in india on his birthday or memoral day( was he dalit or what? I do not know). I read a english book about 21 great mathematicians it included Mr. Ram. Also we do not give damn to Mr. C S Chandrashekhar who was born in karachi. People have no value system about that. You may agree with me both Mr. Kalam or Mr. Khan are not scientist in real sense but engineering managers. No body is nominating them for any scientific achivement but most Desi feel there are ``Great Scientist``. If take pole Mr. Khan will be greatest scientist of Pakistan.
I think they can have you mentioned scientist day without any problem. No body gives damn about these things its mostly Lafangebazi.
Most people are not exposed to liberating ideas about socialism in Pakistan is problem. Socialist economic ideas have not deliverd but the liberal influence and liberating and ethos of questioning status is paramount. The middle class lacks vision as without vision is no light is condition in my country. Due to this the society has lost erotic content as as can be seen in abscence of women in crowds compared to India. The sexual content in society is very less which results in punching bottoms of women in public transport, purposeful touching of women in public places its perversion. Most men see bad moves and content in internet in cafes ( read Beena Shah`s novel) in less lighted places and they he is facing world with many freudian complexes. He becomes submissive about mother and sister but extremely aggressive about other women a typical passive aggresive. He looks at women as if he never seen female on earth, he disrobes mentally which is terrible than many things. Even good people get addicted to this type of molestations. Many young women try to make themselves ugly so not to attract perverts. Many parks are off for females unaccompied. Most pakistanis like india for sexual content in your society. I have been to India most notable thing is prescence of women , women driving scooters, walking , he likes it but at same time he feels its sexual so does not want his mother or sister do that. Its joyful experience if you are coming from interior sindh or many place of B.stan or NWFP. This same condition of young men brought up in sexual repressive society even in cities. So even if Pakistani goes to usa you can not change him mentally. He is like old dog, can not teach new tricks. He does not want to go to source of problem as then he has to go against current and conservative, ill logical timid mind can not think of going against current. I have seen many of our lucky boys they go to perdesh, do zina sex etc,drink wine and liquior, eat pork, eat larded burgers, do not pray, do not live pious life,watch bad movies and bad books brag about it, admire sexuality of women of west world but as he thinks about his own family he becomes conservative can kill his sister for infringement ( which he habitually does and boasts) he becomes conservative as if he is born in Kingdom of S. Arabia. People accept all these in fact people will give succulent reasoning for existance of system. It is to credit of Turky Pasha he changed lot he was social revolutionary in real sense. Indian cinema is liberating to some extent as it is most liked and slowly those sinful things sink down.
Basically nothing can be done realiastically due to lack of liberal ethos. Women of country are destined for miseries to come for years.
I am pragmastic and do not believe in army or man or gods miracles. They can not cure women must endure.

Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law. Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Where law ends, tyranny begins. Margaret Thatcher

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts. Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi


In Pakistan tyranny rules, the government is a law breaker and the courts of justice are dictated by the symbols of injustice.. Hence, we are left with no other option then to resort to the court of conscience…. come out on the streets and bring revolution... throw the culprits/ dictators/ law breakers out of their offices and let the proletariat rule the country.

or else, some sympathetic ex-pats/ Pakistanis/ humanitarians would keep on arranging for the exile of the innocent.. and the culprits will carry on abusing the masses/ underprivileged while being in the country..

Beena, I have asked this on unplugged, but I will say this again: the Pakistani Medical Association needs to act on this. I have myself worked in unsafe places in India, but you do it because it`s dinned into us that the patients` needs come first. But the time has come that Pakistani doctors act as a group. What have they done so far? I have read a couple of letters to editors of journals, etc, but what have they done to make sure the victim receives justice and this never happens again? Yes, I know, this shouldn`t happen to anyone at all; but many of us doctors do think being doctors somehow protects us. Time to wake up!

nb,

Not just pma, but as many Pak Am orgs as possible should be organizing/responding... Good article-I didnt know about Anaa.

Beena,

Thanks for a great article, the account by the sister-in-law was heartrending. I believe we as a nation need to take decisive steps to stop this vicious perpetration of violence against women. Steps need to be taken at the governmental as well as social levels to stop this beast in its tracks.

1) Much stricter laws for violence against women. But only promulgation of laws is not sufficient, they need to be implemented with an iron fist as well. The government is the main agent for this.

2) Watchdog organizations that pursue these cases effectively. I once volunteered for an NGO that helped women suffering from domestic violence. After about a month of attending meetings I realized that all they were interested in was talking and flirting.

3) A basic change at societal level where it is drilled into children (at school and at home) that women must be respected. That they are equals and should be treated as such. No more should a brother be given the better piece of chicken at dinnertime than his sister by the grandmother, no more should brothers be sent to better schools/universities because they have a penis while their sisters are denied a good education, as this instills in the child that he is somehow superior just because he is male.

4) The financial empowerment of women from all strata of society so that they gain independance from abusive spouses/fathers.

ijaz #15:

thanks

find this incredible The report has disclosed that the lady doctor herself stopped the PPL administration from getting a FIR registered against the alleged culprits as she wanted to wait for her husband who was out of the country at that time.

why incredible?...

1: who was/were this PPL adminstrator/s? obviously s/he they were senior member/s of the PPL...would they fail to recognise the agitated state of the victim?...would they have recourse to better counsel....would they have been threatened or manipulated to keep things under wraps...yes. yes....you were not there either...

here is more...the report say the rape occurred the night of jan 2-3...

On January 3, SHO Sui visited the hospital and did not find her in a normal condition as she was unable to give any statement to the police. The next day, the SHO went to the residence of the lady doctor and inspected the room where the rape was reported. He also took certain evidences from the scene of the crime.

...i will assume that the SHO was a busy person...so he or his deputy could not visit the scene of crime immediately...since we are in paksitan and anything can happen in pakistan...let us take this as the norm...and will also assume that the scene of crime would have remained untouched and unaltered inthe intervening 24-48 hours...

and yes, you have stated earlier we should wait for the official findings...so we will wait...btw...to reiterate this is nothing personal...you`re a good soul...we just differ...

rgds

t

ps: a digression:

as men we tend to go overboard...in fact it is almost impossible as men to put oursleves in the shoes of the victim and try it on for size...how easy or simple would be for us if we were the raped doctor to go through with this inquiry?...this statement and court appearence business...this id-ing the vicitms wither in person or on video?...

...let me confess something...i do not think if i were the victim i would go through with all this...i would wish everything would disappear and melt away...i`d rather die than....

Temperol,
Human feelings aside, I still feel that this incident will transgress into a different plot. It is just not what most of us tend to believe.

Having said this, I do not condone such a heineous crime. My community is perhaps the most effected n Pakistan. Very recently, two gory incidents took place and the administration fully backed the culprits. In the first, seven christian girls returning to Sangla Hill from a stiching factory were abducted and raped mercilessly. Nothing happened.

In another incident in Sialkot, The influentials reaptedly raped women. The victims later came to demonstrate in front of the Parliament and were put behind bars.

The culture of political elitism and nouvelle richness has brought with it a misguided sense of
greatness in such gory deeds. We here in Pakistan, have to continously grapple with this issue. Priests, bishops and the influential Christians are under constant pressure to help these poor folks, but usaully with no outcome.

Just for the heck of it and to have some fun, some people in Islamabad, had their christian accountant locked behind bars before XMas. They may have won their bet and had a good time, but the enitre family wept and lost all their spendings meant for XMas.

But in this case, the stakes are too high and I would like to get to the root of the matter.

Cheerios

This is the 6th or 7th article about this. And I`ve already written my sentiments on this crime.

Something new perspective.

I read an anthropolgical study on the rape perceptions between Indians and Fijians. I think the attitude and reaction of South Asians towards rape is unhealthy. Shazia`s family and many modern thinkers on the subcontinent have steered away from the traditional view of the victim and the crime. Overall, it the mediveal sentiments and thoughts about women and rape pervade the dirty minds of our society.

This from today`s Guardian, UK :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1419040,00.html

thanks emthree1 for the link:

ijaz:

more point to ponder:

Speaking publicly for the first time since the rape, Dr Shazia told the Guardian that officials from Pakistan Petroleum (PPL), which runs the plant, at first drugged her to cover up the case.

``Before the police came to take a statement, the [company`s] chief medical officer said: `Don`t give them any information.` Then they injected me with a tranquilliser that made me drowsy,`` she said.

Meanwhile Baluch police have re-interviewed Dr Shazia - this time insinuating she was engaged in prostitution.

``They asked me where I got the 25,000 rupees [£225] that was stolen and when I wore my jewellery. And they said that a cleaner had found used condoms in my room,`` she said.

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