Why Mukhtar Mai Matters

``Usually we in Pakistan expect the rich to champion the cause of the poor, we expect men to champion the cause of women, and adults to champion the cause of children.``

Nice observation! We Pakistanis expect too much. We expect corrupt bureaucrats to improve our system although we have known for decades that corruption exists. We expect politicians to be honest. We expect (and lecture) other people to do things that we would hesitate doing ourselves. But we do not desire our childern to become policemen, politicians or film actors and actresses (because these are `inappropriate` professions) although we keep whining about the lack of professionalism in these professions.

Firstly, I believe this is a fantastic discussion from the point of educating us all. It is time that we understodd the power of MEDIA, it is not only the Pakistinin media but the international media that has been very active in reporting this matter.
I love when folks pass comments forgetting the famous quote ` People living in Glass houses should not throw stones at others`.
The reality of us all is that of a Glass house. Having access to internet and satellite does not mean that everyone in Pakistan has open mindedness attitudes on the contrary most of us are HYPOCRITES. I`ll qualify the satement I`ve just made. i.e. in the West if most men saw a half dressed woman in the street would not think twice to look at her, cos this is the norm. Whereas, in Pakistan it would be the opposite.
As they say `Charity begins at home` lets start with ourselves and move forward.
Bina Shah`s article is fantastic and I hope she will keep up the excellent work.

I know one thing If Prophet had seen this day he would have stood by Mai.

Excuse MMEE! Mr. Malik Saleem,
....Mukhtar’s case was “blown out of proportion…

Oh! thank you for stating that, if that helps... people to realize the monstrous nature of the crime those landlords have committed and would have remained unnoticed if the victim did not speak up.

It is no shame to tell about the crime that have been committed against you and then live with your head up.

Shame on you all who think by not discussing this incident they are protecting the fragile fabric of their purists society.

Eight years ago, I was always depressed reading all this shit in Paksitani newspapers backhome and I thought, I saved my brain from a trauma by landing in America. I admit it was a wrong conclusion as, after all, this palce is not as welcoming to us anymore as it once used to be because we are ``Muslims``. I quit writing seven years ago but I have taken it up again because it is us who are given a gift to write to try to educate others.

Whatever the Muslims or Pakistanis are going through is a lessaon for us that it is time to start talking about evils within our scoiety and start purging them.

#112 by Pardesi on June 5, 2005 6:14am PT

You have hit the nail on the head, Mr. Pardesi. The Inshaallah Maashalla Ilam Deeni culture
Which is prevalent in Pakistan as Islam these days has nothing to do with the real spirit of Islam but is the product of Madrissa culture. These madrissas were sponsored by America to produce, what Washington Post calls ‘dogs’, to bite the Russians. These ‘dogs’ have gone mad now and have started biting not only the Americans but their lap dogs also. As far as Deene Mullah is concerned the rape stands institutionalized in the form of ‘sex-slave’ though the mullah no longer seems to be interested in it for reasons unmentionable and even got it prohibited in the Constitution of Pakistan which is called Islamic nevertheless.

Bina Shah

What a discussion! Not an iota of truth. What change the Mai`s rape has brough out in society? It has converted the rape, a shameful and condemnable operation, into an enjoyable and profitable business. Even Altaf Hussain of MQM complains why a rape case in Sindh has not been given due attention by the government as that of the Punjaban Mai. So the people who once hid the rape case are now vying with each other to get their rape publicised. One wonders why the technocratic PM gave special attention to MM when the rape cases are galor in the country. The fact is rapes are being committed in the trains even. A senior police officer is on record in a TV discussion on the subject that almost all dacoities are accompanied by rape also but the victims don`t complain about that. They say even the film star, Shabnam, was actually gang raped but she complained about it only as a dacoity. And in fact even Mukhtaran Mai did not take up the crusade herself. It was all a suo moto start up pushed up by the NGOs. I wonder to this day we have not heard any comments from the accused party who are stated to belong to the dominant Baloch tribe. So it is all one sided affair so far as media is concerned and, excuse me, only womanish comments on the Chowk.

bina:

you`re right:)

focus should be mukhtaran

i just felt harping on feudals was diverting from the core cancer

lve

t

re: ana # 140

Good post. Now, please go get ready for your finals. :)

miriam,

that is what i was getting at, but thank you for being more what`s the word, okay, i`ll just have to say, clearer for now. . .

thank you for the good wishes. and no, there`s no rest for the wicked!

jay,

i can`t argue with you anymore. i have to return to studying for my final which is in less than 24 hours. let me just say this. . . even if no one said that making the revelation of the gender/sex of a female foetus a criminal offense was a change. . it was.

the purpose of bina writing this article. . . and talking about change is that if you missed it, there are those who believe that mukhtar mai has blown her case way out of proportion, that her efforts are primarily to damage the oh so great country of pakistan. those accusations, jay, are lies, okay?

now we know that india has made progress in many areas, where people are not leaping up to say, oh this is a big change. but understand that where mukhtar comes from, what she is doing is huge. and in a country where numerous rapes have gone unpunished, where promises for change are made, and withdrawn, what mukhtar is doing is a change, for me one (i will not speak for the rest) that is inspiring. it is not about image. it is about justice. and again, if you are under the impression that educated pakistanis are not in favor of justice. . . then we should be just as indignant that you are making such a generalization. and we are. so please, as i`ve said before, find ways to have meaningful discussion if it is at all possible for you. . .rather than calling everyone from temporal to yasser, to bina a liar. like i said, it doesn`t make you all that truthful either.

Bina Shah #128: ``I am from a Sindhi landowning family. I`ve never tried to hide this. In fact, I`ve told you this on another board.``

You must have mentioned it. I must have forgot. However, again based on readers` perrogative of knowing the motivations and background of the author, I would like to ask you some questions. . ........The reason I am asking this is that one runs across families who simultaneoulsy benefit from jagirdana and feudal systems, and write against them, also, i.e. they run with the hares and hunt with the hounds........I have never been able to accept that..My aim is not anything personal for or against you:

- Are you from a landowing agricultural family, i..e your family owns large lands, where it farms, but not villages, etc.

- Or are you from a feudal family, which owns the villages on the lands also, and just pays the tillers as labourers

- Does your family (or you specifically) participate in politics and do they (and you) oppose land reforms

Rsidhar #131: ``You have not answered the question posed by some of us in this forum. What earth-shattering changes have happened in Pak`s political system folliwing the incidence in question?``

Let me answer this question, if I may.

No major changes have occured in the poltical system, due to this. The only change that has occured is at a personal level, for the afflicted party. And perhaps for someone else who may use her as an inspirational example. That`s it........

Things like this happen quite often. This includes honor killings, also. Pakistan has not been able to get a single bill passed, in any provincial or federal assembly, against honor killings. The party in opposition presents one, knowing fully well that the party in power will not approve it. When the tables turn, and the opposition is in power, they do the same thing.

The reason is simple, and comes back to the point that I have been making all along. The people in politics have a vested interest in not changing any of these customs and laws. They happen under their jurisdiction. They subtly approve of them, which can be gauged by their voting patterns in the assemblies. They, themselves, have kids who throw acid on women. They, themselves, marry their daughters and sisters of to the Quran, to maintain land holdings......

When over 60% of the elected houses get their on the basis of such jagirdarani systems, why would they change them?

ana,

let me give you an example from india. female foeticide is wide spread in india. Ten years ago at least in kerala they made it a criminal offence for doctors to tell the sex of foetus. some doctors were prosecuted. No one claimed like Bina that it has made a change in society. Then came the situation when non-doctors bought the ultra sound equipment and started telling foetus sex. now the govt has legislated that ultrsound equipment should not be sold to non-doctors. again no one claimed any social change. we are waiting now for backyard assemblers of ultra sound equipment and when that happens there would be govt action.
People like Bina are obstacles to pak progress, so are ylh, romair and and other educated of pakistan who are obcessed with image. They beleive that it is all a matter of hiring publicist while denying the rot in pakistan, by declaring spring after seeing a dead swallow.

Society changes only when the educated dares to tell the truth, and I do not see any indication of it in the pak educated.

Ana:

It is extremely important to create organizations that help women who survive rape. It will probably have to happen on a grassroots level for now just because of the systemic problems that exist in Pakistan.

But on the other hand there is the issue of making sure that this doesn’t happen again EVER to any woman. Mukhtar Mai was no ordinary rape victim. She was targeted due to tribal customs/mores (whatever you want to call them). So the bigger picture here is to ensure that these tribal customs change. Right? And how does that happen? Through education, investment in social programs, etc.. The tribes will always be there but there
customs can perhaps be reformed through “enlightenment” (is that possible?).

In other words to change the attitude of patriarchal ignorant men (and I think many women are also complicit in this) we as women or a society have to educate them or reeducate them. It has to be grassroots in the beginning but it is also important that this change be on the national agenda at some point (imho).

So ana, what I’m saying is this, politics and even economics become important at some point. I think our Pakistani women aren’t political enough. They need to play a more important role on the inside so they can get money allotted for women’s programs and make sure significant changes take place.

p.s. good luck in your finals :).

p.p.s. get some rest

jay:

again, tell me where. . . where does it say that there have been changes in the political system? how is this a lie. there have been changes in meerwala itself. do you not think that for a woman who was not educated, perhaps not encouraged to be either, that to open up a school for girls in that village so they can be educated, is not a huge change? perhaps it is not for you, but for someone who lives in a village or knows something about girls who are not educated there. . . and i know. . . this is change.

again, how has this not been a catalyst? first of all, being a catalyst does not signify immediate change. . . and yes, perhaps ``in general`` is too general a term to use, but as bina said, what mukhtaran has done can hopefully encourage other young women in her situation who to quote bina do not have to be in chains or live as silent prisoners of ``tribal`` codes. that is the sense that mukhtar is a catalyst for future change. the change that has already begun in meerwala.

i know you`re insistent in believing that bina is a liar, but i don`t want to join you in believing that. as for journalists, i don`t put much faith in them anyways. :) my hope and support rests with mukhtaran.

and i won`t assume that you understand hindi/urdu, but let me say this again, ``har ek ko apne garebaan maiN jhaaNk kar dekhna chahiye. . `` please be as indignant as you want, but calling every pakistani writer or journalist who tackles an issue a liar doesn`t make you any more a possessor or harbinger of the truth. and the truth known to many jay prakashji is that you really don`t give a damn about what happens in pakistan or pakistani society anyway. so forgive me if i don`t join you in calling bina a liar, because as badly as you think she`s expressed herself, she does give a damn.

all the best
--ana

``She fought back. She fought hard. We need to fight with her, not fight each other so that we just waste all our energy and feel like we did something when in actually fact all we did was fart, not fight. ``

Bina 128,

No Bina, you did something worse, you used the travails of that woman to promote your educated class value and concern for a good image of pakistan by claiming that changes have taken place in pakistan.

You have degraded and demeaned the valient struggle of an uneducated, like any typical pak educated, the ylh who claims that there are roads named after abdus salam, like temporal who claims that honour killing is only in tribal areas and is not sanctioned by law.

``This story has received attention all around the world, and has been the catalyst for some very important changes in not only the area of Pakistan that she comes from, but in Pakistani society in general. ``

ana, 132

Above is the line that made me indignant. What is this change that BIna is talking about. What catalyst, why this is a catalyst while millions of others did not. This is pure lie and attempt to improve pak image through lies.
There is rape in every society, but no one is claiming any change in their ``society in general`` especially when nothing of that type has taken place.

Join me in calling for truth by the journalists, especially the so called important ones as Bina in pakistan.

where in this article has it been said that earth-shattering changes ``have`` happened in pakistan`s political system? why is bina being pressed to answer a claim she never made?

it has been highlighted what mukhtar has done. . . she has used the money and donations she received in her fight to open up a school. . . she is educating people in meerwala, and in the world. . . and she is going to continue to speak out. . . and bina has already indicated what her hope is (and that hope belongs to many of us) as to what changes can be brought about if she continues, and does not back down from her goals.

this was an article about mukhtar mai. not about the static stagnant pakistani government, it is we, as a community who must fight with mukhtar, and countless women to bring about change because it is we, in this social revolution who will do it. . . not the powers-that-be, but we will bring about the earth-shattering changes. . . and that is why mukhtar and every woman with a voice and those yet to find one matters.

so if you`ve read this article, know that the main thrust of this article is not about a political system which has (not) brought about amazing change, this is about a struggle that needs to be encouraged, and embraced by all those who can. some of us know that it isn`t the political system which is going to bring about change as far as women`s rights in villages, and cities, and the country is concerned.