Posted on 11/24/2002 6:45:06 AM PST by stilts
ISLAMABAD - While Pakistan fights global terrorism alongside the United States and its allies, the country's women are engaged in their own war against the terror of escalating "honour" killings. Such murders -- where a man kills a woman he views as having sullied his "honour" -- are on the rise, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRC) says, "with more and more reported from areas where they had once been unknown".
In 2001, at least 226 women in the southern province of Sindh were killed -- usually by their husbands or brothers -- while some 227 honour-related killings took place in the Punjab, according to the HRC's annual report issued earlier this year. "The real figures are likely to be higher," says the Commission's Kamila Hyat, adding that figures were not compiled for Pakistan's other two provinces because of the sketchy nature of reports. Academic Tahira Khan, who has spent five years studying honour killings, agrees that the trend is upwards, "not only in Pakistan ... but all over the Muslim world where honour killings were occurring before."
At the heart of the killings are ingrained social attitudes towards female sexuality, and changing attitudes of women to their own sexuality through greater exposure to the rest of the world, she says. Such new attitudes have led them to "protest against forced marriages, assert their right to get married according to their own choice, or reject marriage", which can lead to a family backlash as serious as murder. But killings can occur over actions much less momentous -- a mere flirtatious look misconstrued as a sign of an illicit relationship can be a catalyst to murder.
Finding a female relative in a so-called "objectionable" or "compromising" position with another man, often meaning that the two are merely alone together in the same room, is often used to justify honour killings. Perhaps most worryingly, so-called fake honour killings are surging to the point of being an "epidemic", Khan says. Fake honour killings are when a man kills a woman, usually a relative, to cover up the real reason he has murdered another man. Alleging his honour was outraged by saying he saw them in a compromising position is enough to win him a lesser sentence under Pakistan's court system, says Shahnaz Bokhari of the Progressive Women's Association. Since 1994 the non-governmental organisation has dealt with some 5,000 cases of honour-related crimes in the region surrounding the capital, Islamabad.
"On my fingertips I can count the success stories out of these cases," she fumes. "This violence is on the rise because the prosecution rate is negligible... men know they can get away with it." The positive aspect of greater awareness is that more women are reporting crimes against them. "We can no longer say we're seeing just the tip of the iceberg," she says, estimating that around 40 percent of cases are reported. The other 60 percent of victims do not understand their rights, or are afraid of going against the traditions of their people. These are the women who turn up at hospital attributing horrific injuries to "accidents", such as a scarf catching alight over a stove, Bhokari says. "But what I have seen in many cases is the woman's sensitive parts burned -- her face, the upper part of her body, the lower body. How could a fire travel straight there?"
Bokhari is waging a separate battle to set up more support for women who fear an attack, opening a safe house four years ago for up to 35 women and their children -- the only shelter in Islamabad and adjacent Rawalpindi. "There is no support system -- this is what we have been shouting about for years," she says. Bokhari herself faces charges of "abetting adultery" filed two years ago by the former husband of a woman who left the shelter unaccompanied by a male relative.
Meanwhile academic Khan wants to see greater political will to address the issue. "I don't think (the killings) can be reduced the way the NGOs are approaching them," she says, adding that laws are already in place to deal with perpetrators. "They get to the point where they're quiet -- they don't criticise the government because they're scared... It's a very complex situation." - AFP
Religion of Peace? They sure have a funny way of showing it.
Islam-list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
They seem to arrest their development at the most volatile stage of adolescence.
Domestic violence is a widespread and serious problem. Human rights groups estimate that anywhere from 80 to 90 percent of women are victims of domestic violence. The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Women reported that violence against women "has been described as the most pervasive violation of human rights" in Pakistan, and it called for legislation clearly stating that domestic violence against women is a criminal offense. While abusive spouses may be charged with assault, cases are rarely filed. Police usually return battered wives to their abusive husbands. Women are reluctant to file charges because of societal mores that stigmatize divorce and make women economically and psychologically dependent on their husbands and male relatives. Relatives are also reluctant to report cases of abuse in order to protect the reputation of the family.
In 1997 there were hundreds of incidents involving violence against women reported in the press. For example, almost 300 cases of wife-beating were reported as of September in Islamabad and Rawalpindi alone, and human rights groups say that these figures are derived primarily from cases reported by middle and upper class women. The press continued to drawattention to murders of married women by relatives over dowry or other family-related disputes. Most of the victims are burned to death, allegedly in kitchen stove accidents. A study of 145 "stove deaths" covering the period from January to July found that almost all the fires were deliberately set. According to the Commission of Inquiry for Women, newspapers from Lahore reported an average of 15 cases a month during a 6-month period in 1997; most of the victims were young married women. The Commission noted that many cases are not reported by hospitals and, even when they are, the police are reluctant to investigate or file charges. Human rights monitors agree that most "stove deaths" are in fact murders based upon a suspicion of illicit sexual relationship or on dowry demands. Increased media coverage of cases of wife burnings, spousal abuse, spousal murder, and rape has helped to raise awareness about violence against women. Several daily newspapers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi ran front page stories on September 27 on the case of a woman from a village near the town of Gujar Khan who was mutilated by her husband because he suspected her of adultery. Nusrat Perveen told the press that her husband was actually enraged over the fact that she complained to her mother-in-law over his mistreatment of her, and that he cut off her nose and hair in retaliation. The victim stated that her relatives refused to help her after the incident, and local police pressured her into signing a statement absolving her husband of the crime.
Rape is a widespread problem. It is estimated that less than one-third of all rapes are reported to the police. The police themselves are frequently charged with raping women. In July, a woman in Rawalpindi was alleged raped by three policemen, while her companion was beaten and robbed (see Section 1.c.). According to a police official, in a majority of rape cases the victims are pressured to drop rape charges because of the threat of Hudood adultery charges being brought against them. All consensual extramarital sexual relations are considered violations of the Hudood ordinances. However, according to an HRCP lawyer, the Government has brought fewer charges against women under the Hudood ordinances than in the past, and the courts have shown greater leniency toward women in their sentences and in the granting of bail. In Hudood cases, a female or non-Muslim witness is not accepted. This means that if a man rapes a woman in the presence of several women, he cannot be convicted under the Hudood ordinances because female witnesses are not accepted. Similarly, if a Muslim man rapes a Christian woman in the presence of several Christian men and women, he cannot be convicted under Hudood ordinances because non-Muslim witnesses are not accepted.
The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Women criticized the Hudood ordinances and recommended that they be repealed. The Commission charged that the laws on adultery and rape have been subject to widespread misuse, with 95 percent of the women accused of adultery being found innocent either in the court of first instance or on appeal. However, by that time, the Commission pointed out, the woman may have spent months in jail, suffering sexual abuse at the hands of the police and the destruction of her reputation. The Commission found that the main victims of the Hudood laws are poor women who are unable to defend themselves against slanderous charges. The laws have also been used by husbands and other male family members to punish their wives and female relatives for reasons having nothing to do with sexual propriety, according to the Commission.
Marital rape is not a crime. The 1979 Hudood ordinances abolished punishment for raping one's wife. The Commission of Inquiry for Women has, however, recommended reinstating penalties for marital rape. Marriage registration (nikah) sometimes occurs years before the marriage is consummated ("rukh sati"). The "nikah" marriage is regarded as a formal marital relationship. In one 1996 case, a 13-year-old girl, whose nikah had been performed but rukhsati had not taken place, decided to divorce her husband. The husband kidnaped the girl, raped her, and then released her. The police refused to register a rape case arguing that they were a married couple.
There are numerous reports of women killed or mutilated by male relatives who suspect them of adultery. Few such cases are investigated seriously and those who are arrested are often acquitted on the grounds that they were "provoked," or for a lack of witnesses. Scores of men and women from Balochistan and rural areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces are killed annually for alleged illicit sexual relations in so-called "honor" killings. While the tradition of such killing applies equally to offending men and women, women are more likely to be killed than men. In one incident in March, seven people, including five policemen, were killed near Larkana in Sindh. A reporter who covered the story said that the trouble stemmed from prolonged enmity between two factions of a clan over an "honor" murder. The Commission of Inquiry for Women rejected the whole concept of "honor" as a mitigating circumstance in a murder case and recommended that such killings be treated as simple murder.
The Commission also drew attention to the problem of "enforced prostitution and trafficking in women," noting that women are the victims of exploitation by police and pimps, and should be treated with compassion. Most of the women in question are brought in from Bangladesh, usually under the false pretense of working in legitimate jobs in Pakistan. It is mostly a problem in Sindh province and includes Bangladeshi, Burmese, Sri Lankan, Indian, and Afghani women.
Human rights monitors and women's groups believe that Shari'a has had a harmful effect on the rights of women and minorities, reinforcing popular attitudes and perceptions, and contributing to an atmosphere in which discriminatory treatment of women and non-Muslims is more readily accepted.
In inheritance cases women generally do not receive - or are pressed to surrender - their due share of the inheritance. In rural areas, the practice of a woman "marrying the Koran" is still widely accepted if the family cannot arrange a suitable marriage or wants to keep the family wealth intact. A woman "married to the Koran" is forbidden to have any contact with males over 14 years of age, including her immediate family members. Press reports indicate that the practice of buying and selling brides still takes place in parts of NWFP and the Punjab.
In a case that was followed closely both in Pakistan and abroad, a special three-member bench of the Lahore High Court on March 10 upheld the Federal Shari'a Court's ruling that a Muslim woman can marry without the consent of her wali (guardian), which in turn takes away the wali's right to grant such consent on behalf of the woman without her approval. This decision in the so-called "Saima" case overruled a 1996 decision by a Lahore High Court judge that a woman's marriage without the consent of her parents or guardian was invalid.
There are limits on the admissibility and value of women's testimony in court.
The jump from, if your wife makes you angry, well, KILL HER, is not very far removed
Indeed, there is something wrong with Muslims mens MALENESS. Since Mohaamad himself had male body slaves('_') and was light in his sandals besides. Even a cursory reading of the Qu'ran leaves one wondering about the mentality of the writer(s). Don't even begin reading the Hadith(s)[Muslim writeings] without a sense of humor.
**WARNING- Muslim writings can make you ignorant...
The black moon god rock needs an atomic root canal.
LOL, ever hear of the 21st century?
Congratulations, you only had to set your Wayback Machine to 310 years, instead of the 12th century, the favored reference point.
But you could be right; if I have to view one more photograph of current-day supermarket, nightclub, hospital, school and bus explosions initiated by Fundamentalist Christians, I don't know how I'll bear it.
Hey, hang a witch here, press a witch there and before ya know it, the whole frikin' Wiccan-American community is ragin' your ass.
I'm a Congregationalist, we favor pressing.
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