With the departure, last week of Dr Shazia Khalid, who was raped in the remote Balochistan town of Sui, to the United Kingdom, a stark reality is one again facing the nation that the society has miserably failed to provide safety, security and justice to its weaker sections, particularly women, who either become victims of the inhuman brutalities or try to exercise the rights guaranteed by the religion and the constitution, to marry of their own free will.
The high-profile rape victim, Dr Shazia Khalid hit the international headlines after she was raped in a high security, petroleum company enclosure, on the night of January 2 and January 3, 2005. What followed were months of political bickering and a tense standoff between the Pakistani armed forces and the local Baloch tribesmen. And though the situation hasn’t eased a bit, Dr Shazia, accompanied by her husband, left the country for the safer heavens in London early on Friday March 18, 2005.
The tragedy came to national attention when the Nazim of Dera Bugti revealed the story. It also came to light that the victim’s employer, PPL, tried to hush the whole matter. But once it was in the open, it ignited the flames of unrest in the area.
Since Shazia belongs to the neighbouring province of Sindh, the tribal chief of the area where Sui is situated, Nawab Mohammad Akber Khan Bugti, termed the rape of ‘an honourable guest who was serving the ailing humanity in a remote area’ a challenge for the centuries old and highly cherished Baloch traditions, under which the life and honour of a guest is very important. He warned that if the real culprits were not brought to book, the situation would take an uglier turn. And it did.
Initially the local area police was not given access either to the victim nor to the place of crime. This led to speculation that something was amiss.And since the place was a high security area, speculation was also raised that some high profile people might be involved in the crime.
According to reports, on that fateful night, Dr Shazia returned to her living quarters after performing her routine duties at the hospital. After locking the outside door, she came to her bedroom, locked the door and slept. She woke up in the middle of the night as she felt somebody pulling her hair. She tried to raise a hue and cry but the criminal silenced her with a severe blow to the head. He later tied her hands and blindfolded her with her dupatta (head scarf).
The perpetrator raped Shazia, and then waited for a few hours watching television in her room and later raped her the second time, before leaving her room in the early morning. When after sometime she came out of her trauma, she dragged herself to the nearby nursing hostel, where a nurse helped her and called the high officials of PPL.
The officials and company medical personnel sedated the victim and after a few days, sent her to Karachi to a mental health facility. All this time, Dr Shazia’s family was not infromed of her ordeal.
At the same time, the situation in Sui got out of hand. Local tribesmen an the law enforcement personnel started exchanging heavy weapons fire, leaving many dead and many more injured. Mass migration from the area ensued as people fled to safer grounds. However, the whole scenario took a dramatic turn when, one night, a statement by a Captain Hammad of the DSG, the security force that protects the PPL residential quarters in Sui, was telecast on the electronic media who ‘denied’ that he was involved in any rape.
In the meantime, a high powered judicial commission, headed by a Balochistan High Court judge, was set up to probe. But before it could complete its inquiry, President Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf added yet another seemingly unending twist to the tale when he threw his weight behind Captain Hammad and claimed publicly that the accused was innocent. Nawab Bugti, on the other hand, has insisted that Captain Hammad was the son of an army general, who is a friend of General Musharraf, so he was being protected.
It recorded statements of many people, including Dr Shazia and Captain Hammad. DNA tests of the accused were carried out to match with the DNA specimen taken out from the used condom(s) found in Dr Shazia’s room. The DNAs, as reported in the media, did not match. During an identification parade Dr Shazia, as reported in the media, also could not pick out Captain Hammad as her perpetrator. The commission report confirmed rape, but failed to identify the rapist. More promises to find the culprit(s) were made. But no matter what is done, Dr Shazia’s honour and her sense of security had been compromised. Though she felt threatened and wanted to leave the country, there were reports that the couple was not being allowed to leave the country as the establishment wanted to get some guarantees from them that they, once in a foreign country, they would not ‘open their mouth’ about the incident.
In the meantime there were reports in the newspapers that, her in-laws’ family, belonging to the rural background felt, that with her rape the family honour had been violated so she be declared a kari (adulterous) and as per tradition be killed.
Eventually Dr Shazia, now in Islamabad, left for London on March 18 leaving a question looming large in many minds unanswered; how many women, who seek safety — they might have married of their free will or in this case were even raped — will have to leave their relatives and country so that they could live a life of their own choice safely?
Another question that comes to mind is that even if the rapist is identified, will he be given the punishment, as under the laws, which the human rights activists term discriminatory, four eyewitnesses are required to give the punishment! In Dr Shazia’s case, she had not even seen her perpetrator, she was blindfolded. She has reportedly said that the rapist had curly hair and moustaches, and head him speak. One wonders if that sort of identification could be enough for conviction of the rapist, even if (and that is a big if) he is caught, under the prevalent laws.
In the meantime, stern action, however, should be taken against the officials of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) for trying to cover up the incident, delaying in reporting the matter to the police owing to which some crucial evidence might have been lost or planted/fabricated — or maybe both — to mislead the investigation.
Or may be with the departure of Dr Shazia, the matter has been pushed under the rug, where it would rest for good!
With the departure, last week of Dr Shazia Khalid, who was raped in the remote Balochistan town of Sui, to the United Kingdom, a stark reality is one again facing the nation that the society has miserably failed to provide safety, security and justice to its weaker sections, particularly women, who either become victims of the inhuman brutalities or try to exercise the rights guaranteed by the religion and the constitution, to marry of their own free will.
