A DISTRESSING situation is developing in Parachinar area of Kurram district where motorcyclists have often opened fire on women at various public places. Being a tribal area, Parachinar does not facilitate the life of its women in the manner that the urban parts of the country do.

Local women are victims of multiple social and economic injustices. Adding to the misery is the novel culture of pushing women out of public places if they happen to be without a male family member accompanying them. This is as worrisome as it is irritating because it is depriving women of their fundamental constitutional right to movement and life.

If people in the rest of the country think they can afford to be silent simply because it is all happening in a distant region, they need to think again and, if they can, think deeper. Today, indeed, it is happening in a remote area, but this culture will spread its tentacles and grab you before you know it.

The time to act, to protest, to slow down the process for all of you out there is now. If you think you can wait, rest assured that you are doing it at your own cost; a cost the enormity of which you cannot even imagine living in the cities.

A woman
Parachinar

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2023