| October 12, 2003 | Sunday | Sha'aban 15, 1424 |
A multi-faceted woman
One is fairly certain that not just the activists but also the more thoughtful and perceptive amongst us have taken adequate notice of not just stories that report gangrape in this society, but also the alarming, sickening frequency with which they appear. It should surely be symptomatic of our collective illness creating an environment wherein the vulnerability of women to crime has grown. I am not contrasting this with all the piety that we talk about. All that talk of morality and ethics. To what end?
There was a time when crimes against women were generally unreported, and unmentioned for reasons of social censure or hypocritical values, or the timidity of women, or the inadequacy of women activists and so on. Now the focus on this is somewhat pronounced, and direct. In the awareness battle, the graph has risen. Good.
But at the same time there has been a very disturbing rise in the number of rape cases in the first six months of this year as compared to the corresponding period of last year (2002), according to the statistics of the provincial police. The rise is alarming — 21.5 per cent, says a Dawn report of 20 September. One is inclined to go along with the opinion that this is truly shameful.
The above report said that the figures compiled by the police department “do not specify the nature or crime (sexual offence) committed, but the police said that most of the cases pertained to “rape”. Keep in mind, one is reminded, that there are an unspecific number of cases which are unreported for fear of humiliation in a society, that could take a rather partisan view in the matter. In fact society tends to blame the women?
One cannot but refer to the reported case where a young couple went through trauma a couple of months ago, after they had gone to Alladin Park on the main Rashid Minhas Road. They hired a taxi, were kidnapped by three scheming men, subsequently, and then the girl was gangraped.
This particular gangrape was taken notice of by the Sindh chief minister, who had also directed the Sindh minister for women development to personally probe into the shocking matter.
In passing, one would like to recall that in the above-mentioned park another alleged gangrape incident had taken place where two staff members of the park were involved. Vulnerability of families and couples at public places, at the hands of various law-enforcing agencies, real or bogus, remains a point of concern, and even anxiety.
Let me refer to news reports that appeared in the press on 10 October on this and related subjects; and bear in mind that it was also a World Mental Health Day which was observed by the Pakistan Psychiatric Society. One hopes that our sociologists and psychiatrists are seized by the grimness and gravity of the issue. That for all that is said and done, the status of women, and their vulnerability to the insensitivity of society, has grown without much effort to tackle the issue.
One news story said that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had “demanded of the government to provide protection to a woman who was gangraped twice”. The details are, of course, saddening. There is a story from the Burns Ward of the Civil Hospital, Karachi, which says that 60 per cent of burn cases are those of women. There is also a photograph of a group of women protesting against the harassment of women at the workplace, and these women are from the Forum of Working Women, Gadap Town, who had assembled outside the Karachi Press Club. The harassment of women at the workplace remains a subject of debate and concern, and women contend that it too has not been given enough attention. Have men accepted the fact that women will and need to be part of the workforce of this developing society? It makes one wonder in doubt.
I have not finished with the 10 October issue where there is another gangrape story which says that “six men have been arrested in a gangrape case”. They were arrested by the Super Market police in Liaquatabad, and four of the men are said to be “photographers”. There are other details too, and the matter is being handled for investigation at the level of DIG operations who suspended the SHO supermarket for not registering an FIR in the matter. The FIR remains a hurdle in the crime context.
One last item that gets attention is about a Karachi University girl student who this week attempted suicide at the campus, when she got “depressed” after she was accused of having stolen a cell phone of one of her classmates.
These incidents are not all, or the sum total of what is happening on this front. They provide a glimpse into the picture, which is becoming bigger, and worrying. Of course, there are some positive signs too as women show maturity and responsibility, but then a women’s activist who has a balanced perspective in the matter, attributes a great deal to the overall moral decay that is taking place in society. To materialism, to the unsatisfactory law and order conditions, to the poor performance of the law-enforcing agencies, the absence of meaningful police reforms, frustrating failure of what are described as redress mechanisms; and above all to the easy availability of deadly weapons.
This implies the use of force and violence against women, abetted and aggravated by the mindset that believes that it is possible to violate the law and get away with it. There is no real fear, no deterrence. And this the criminal, whether solitary individual, group, or regular mafia, exploit fully and ruthlessly to their advantage. And repeatedly. They go scot free due to a variety reasons that spell out the failures of the investigating agencies, and our punitive processes. No justice? No.
Somehow most women are embarrassed to talk about these issues. One is not referring to the candour of women’s activists, and organisations that are devoted to the protection of women and their rights. But quite evidently, the battle against the status quo is a long-drawn one.
One women’s comment is reproduced here as one signs off. The working woman and the housewife are both vulnerable to criminal assault, and culprits need to be punished without mercy. No argument about it, one would add.
APART from publishing over 4,000 books and running the bookshop, Classeek, on The Mall, Agha Ameer Husain is himself an author. In addition, he has been publishing the monthly Sputnik. It is a literary journal, no doubt, but every time Agha Sahib devotes the major part of the issue to one personality who is also associated with the literary world. I have seen some covering Sufi Tabassum, Aal-i-Ahmed Suroor, Fakhr Zaman, Malik Mairaj Khalid and many others. The October issue of the Sputnik, has all the details about Begum Saqiba Rahimuddin. Although the person who has dealt with the subject, Uqsa Tasneem, is an unknown name in literary circles, she has acquitted herself well in the research work. I understand she has recently done her MA in Urdu.
Saqiba Rahimuddin is one of the highly talented woman in the country fully devoted to literary activities and social work. She is particularly interested in the welfare of children and has done great work in this regard by writing and bringing out books of their interest. She thereby strives to inculcate the reading habits in them and helps in creating a future generation of truly educated people.
Saqiba’s life history is equally interesting. Daughter of the renowned educationist, Dr Mahmud Husain, who was the vice-chancellor of both the Dhaka and Karachi universities, she was born in Dhaka in 1940. She had just appeared for her intermediate science examination when she was married off to a major who ultimately rose to be a general and the governor of Balochistan. However, Saqiba’s yen for education did not cease after marriage. She had two children when she appeared privately for the FA examination and, six years later, got her bachelor’s degree. It appears unbelievable, but the fact remains that she got a master’s in Urdu after another seven years. By then she had borne four children. Her two sons, educated at Berkeley and Columbia universities, are now all settled while her two daughters are happily married.
Although Saqiba started writing during her school days, but she took to it seriously only in 1975. Apart from several books for children, she has published collections of short stories and light essays. She has about 25 books to her credit so far. She is the founder and life-chairperson of the literary forum, Qalam Qabila, and a children’s welfare trust, Pakistan Children’s Academy. She is also the patron of a Peshawar-based organization for special children, Sarhad School, as well as Gehvara, meant for needy children, at Rawalpindi. She edits the literary journal, Qalam Qabila, as well as a childrens’ magazine, Roshni. She is also actively associated with many educational institutions. Her work has been recognized by UNICEF.
Although Saqiba is an essayist, a short story writer, a moralist, a critic and a philosopher rolled into one, she has devoted greater attention to the intellectual nourishment of children through her literary and social work. She has also remained devoted to the service of humanity, especially those who happen to be in need. This trait she has inherited from her father. After spending three years teaching at the Columbia University as a visiting professor, all that Dr Mahmud Husain purchased for his five children was two neckties, a bottle of perfume and a biscuit-baking machine. The rest of his earnings were distributed among needy students.
In her short stories, Saqiba adopts the same technique as she does while writing for the children. Brief and to the point, she has a style which touches the heart. In her collections, Dard hi Dard and Muhabbat, she appears as a person of great compassion who knows what pain is when it’s not physical. And in her book, Tehzeeb ke Zakhm, her critical, profound and penetrating essays on such diverse personalities as Shah Latif Bhitai, Ghalib, Josh and Sadequain amply speak of her talent.
H H H H H
I REALLY do not know how a person young in years got interested in graveyards and those lying there in eternal peace. A poet of Urdu and Punjabi, 1958 born M.R Shahid has produced a book of over 500 pages under the title, Lahore Mein Mashaheer ke Madfoon. It is the result of a ten-year effort during which he visited all the graveyards and cemeteries of the city, spotted the grave of almost every known person and noted its epitaph, if any. He did not rest at that; he has given a brief sketch of every late lamented mentioned in the book and the address where his kin could be contacted.
Shahid has dealt with his subject most methodically. Covering all the 105 graveyards and eight cemeteries of Lahore, he has given a list of those buried in each, separating them profession-wise. I am particularly impressed by the way he has dealt with the non-Muslims. It reminded me of so many people I have known Justice Cornelius whom I used to see in the Falettis, S. Rollo whose photostudio was a landmark on The Mall, S P Singh, who signed my matriculation certificate as registrar of the Punjab University (there was no Board those days), Rani Bamba the granddaughter of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was my neighbour in Model Town, my close friend, poet Gulzar Wafa Chaudhry and so many others.
Although, M R Shahid deserves kudos for this selfless work, I must point out where he has faltered. While writing about the last resting place of Shah Inayat Qadri, Shahid had made no mention about his association with Bulleh Shah. Further, while writing about Flt Lt Tariq Javed and Flt Cadet Raghib Husain Saga, both of whom were killed in flying accidents, he says that they first went to the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul and then to the Air Force Academy at Risalpur. This is news to me. In my days, a cadet either went to the army academy and stayed there or the air force academy from where he graduated or was discharged. There was no ‘double-maza’ those days. Maybe it has come up now.— ASHFAQUE NAQVI