Friday, June 24, 2005

Good Morning Pakistan!!

LAHORE: GROOM LETS HIS FRIENDS RAPE BRIDE AS REVENGE ...

In an act of revenge, a woman was gang-raped with the consent of her in-laws by three people on her wedding night in Dera Ghazi Khan town in central Pakistan, police said. Ghulam Hussain, the father of the victim Kaneez Kubra, said his daughter was married to Mujahid Hussain on April 28, as ordered by a panchayat (local jury) under the wani custom since her brother Abdul Majid had sexual relations with Mujahid's sister Sumera.

After the wedding, Kaneez went to the groom's home. Her husband stayed with her in their room till 11 pm and then left. Afterwards, Mujahid's grandfather Shahroo Khan and his mother Mukhtar came in and told the bride that the wedding was just an excuse to exact revenge on Majid for outraging Sumera's modesty. Mujahid then invited his three friends Muhammad Rafiq, Shabbir Muhammad and Abdul Majid Almani, who gang-raped the bride. The next day, Mujahid took her to the house of his friend Ghulam Mustafa, who also assaulted her.

On April 30, when Ghulam and other relatives arrived to take Kaneez back as per tradition, she related the story to her father. Investigation Officer Zulfikar Ali Qureshi said the police were making raids to arrest the accused but they had left the area and gone into hiding after the case was registered against them.

Comments from colleagues ...

1. What concerns me most is it's becoming 'just another news' these days ... One of those that raises another what-are-we-becoming question ... and then we'll get back to work and will look for updates on what's happening with the lady and her family and what the police are doing and what not ... another lunch hour discussion topic.

Qs: What if the lunch hour discussion focused on what can be done?

Ans: Yes, but I get the strong feeling that the authorities are making sure whatever can be done is NOT done ... do we really have a say? Will we be heard at all?

2. Don't know what to say and feel; this is a barbarian act - what the hell is going on around us? Where is the humanity? Can we call ourselves "HUMAN"? I really doubt it. Can we do something about this? Can we set up a website to narrate these truths which don't even make it to the so-called daily newspapers?

3. Oh god, my head is spinning and am feeling like I am going to throw up :-(

My highly judgemental and possibly obnoxious responses

To Person 3: This is not about you.

To Person 2: Feel violated. Feel angry. Pissed off people change the world (Tom Peters). Those of us who are human can do our little bit. Yes, you CAN set up a website and although you have amazing programming capabilities, I'd suggest you expend your energies on research and awareness building rather than on building a site. Go to www.blogger.com and set up a new blog. It takes three steps. Speak up, write, say something. Document and archive news that does get published - at least it will serve as a resource for activists and journalists. Use the Internet and the momentum it can create for something more than helping corporations sell ice-cream and tea .

To Person 1: While I agree that the "authorities" ride rough shod over most things, do we actually say or do anything? To pre-determine that nothing can be said or done, or rather, that anything we say or do will have no impact is a total cop-out. What kind of impact are you expecting? Do you think that speaking out publically, or writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper, or marching for peace will put an end to global warfare? And if it won't, does it necessarily follow that we should not bother doing any of the above and more? It is this attitude that has contributed to Pakistan having no civil society. Meray kucch karnay ya bolnay say kiya farq paray ga? Chorro yaar, kucch naheen badlay ga, yay mulk hee baykar hai. Macro-level, seismic change will not be visible for decades but "if we don't change our direction NOW, we will land up exactly where we are headed". Margaret Mead's words, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has", are really cool to have as an e-mail signature, but it would help if people really believed in the power of one.

Posted by BeanZ | Permalink: 7:15 PM |