KARACHI: ‘Man kills wife, child’; ‘Man throws acid on wife;’ ‘Man shoots sister;’ ‘Woman kills children, commits suicide;’ The city pages of all national dailies carry such headlines as a matter of daily routine. Half a look is what the reader accords them before moving on to world affairs. Our apathy and the standards set in our society are sickening. It is obvious that not only does our domestic setup allow for men to show their strength through display of violence but that our legal system too is somnolent on the issue, hence, guilty of almost abetting such crimes. Laws governing domestic violence — after almost 55 years of existence as a sovereign Muslim state — still remain undefined or rather, ‘in abeyance’ in Pakistan. And so each day, in a number of households, violence of the kind reported in newspapers, goes on undeterred and 90 per cent of times, unreported.
The man who seared his wife had been probably pounding her on a daily basis before he decided to ultimately do what she could not endure. And despite making headlines in the newspaper the man probably is still feeling mighty proud of his manly deed. Some two years ago, the cleric who had impaled his wife never received any capital punishment for his act. The government made a big hoo haa about treating the cleric’s wife but not much happened by way of a sentence for the maulana. Governments have come and gone and the rhetoric for implementation of laws ruling domestic violence stays constant.
The cause of women is actually such an abused issue in itself. Karo-kari, too, has become a much misrepresented cause. With all due respect to women fighting from all forum(s), issues of domestic violence are what keeps many a forum alive and functioning and hence any resolving result does not really seem imminent. It was a dark day in the history of this nation when after the brutal killing of Saima by her family, the Senate failed to stand united on condemning the issue, as many a barrister had vested interests, and the murderers of the girl went free.
The Holy Quran states: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, Because Allah has given the one more (strength), Than the other, and because they support them, From their means. (Al- Nisa, Ayah 34).
Unfortunately, a minuscule populace of the male kind adhere to the combined role of ‘maintainer and protector’. If they maintain, they want subjugation of will as a prerequisite. As for their role as protectors, the definition is vague enough to be manoeuvred into different parameters on an as and when basis.
Why are the men in our part of the world so threatened by female intellect and worth? That they have at no level managed to secure the female sanctity by giving them legal cover, is proof of lurking male cowards in every law-making arena. A sound system offering safety to women is sorely needed. Amongst the unreported incidents of violence many occur in upper class households. In fact they are the ones which are never reported, as social pretences do not allow women to come out in the open. If like in the West, we too could see instant justice meted out to men for abuses hurled at women, perhaps the males in our society would think twice before raising their hand at women — a common practice in this region of the world.
The woman who kills her children only to commit suicide herself has to be suffering abject misery before she finally summons enough courage to do what she does. Yes, courage. A decision such as that too requires nerves. Our president (lead campaigner, of late) made fiery commitments when he launched a grand agenda by announcing an ambitious Human Rights package in April 2000, only to backtrack on half of his agenda points in a hurry as pressure from staunch chauvinists of various kinds came down hard on him.
I wish that the future planners of this nation bore in mind that it is the women who will be creating future leaders and pallbearers of sovereignty for Pakistan. It is the female spirit which needs to be given strength, safeguarded from persons who trample upon it just because their own might is in danger of extinction. And unless women of all strata are provided a safe haven in their homes, their strength — a much-needed resource — will remain unavailable for this nation.