The Forgotten

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Wednesday October 04, 2006 17:02

by Orlaith Farrell

orlaith.farrell at gmail dot com

Fourth Rape reform ran aground in Pakistan due to conservative Islamis parties. A woman is raped every two hours and the rapists are protected by fundamentalist legislation. Where is the attention of the World Media?

As the eyes of the World focus on the ‘War on Terror’, oil prices, political scandals at home and abroad what are we missing? What is our media failing to see or choosing to ignore?

According to the Human Rights Commission a woman is raped in Pakistan every two hours, a woman is gang raped every eight hours. (These figures may be higher as victims rarely come forward.) Three weeks ago the latest Rape Law Reform ran aground. This received very little coverage in Western Media despite the enormity of its significance. At the moment rape is prosecuted under under the Hudood Ordinances, which were established in 1979 and were originally intended to make the justice system conform to Islamic Law. These Laws cover offences including Zina crimes (unlawful sexual intercourse including sexual intercourse and rape) and Qazf (wrongful accusation of Zina crime. These laws stipulate that a rape victim must provide four male witnesses to the crime or the rapist must confess other wise the victim will face prosecution herself. When victims do come forward they are met with hostility from the police and the medical exam conducted (if any) concentrates on the hymen, automatically alienating sexually active married and un-married women. The burden of proof is insurmountable and deters the majority of victims from reporting the crime. Marital and Statutory rape are not recognised as crimes at all.

Women’s plight in Pakistan is a daily struggle. Society and the police consider domestic Violence a ‘private matter’ and honour killings are rarely investigated or prosecuted. This latest reform aimed to remove rape from religious law and prosecute it as part of the penal code where normal rules of evidence would apply. The Draft was amended after President Musharraf caved into the ultra-conservative Islamic Parties, Muttahida Majilis-e-Amal (MMA) The MMA threatened to resign en masse from Parliament and the draft was amended so that rape will fall under secular and religious law. It introduced a new category of ‘lewdness’ into the penal code but established the Hudood Ordinances as the primary source of Law.

Commentators believe President Musharraf’s growing alienation from the other parties was one of the reasons he succumbed to the Islamists combined with the fact that his main support the Pakistani Army were not prepared for conflict with the Islamists over Women’s Rights.

The women of Pakistan continue to live in daily fear; burnt, battered, raped and abused. Their abusers protected by fundamentalist legislation and their suffering ignored by the rest of the World.

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Comments (3 of 3)

Do you want to fight a nuclear war?

by Ron

Wed Oct 04, 2006 17:28

I sympathise with the plight of woman in a primitive backward society like Pakistan.
I wish we could do something about it.
But Pakistan can threaten the world with nukes if anybody interferes in their internal politics.

There We Have it.

by Chris Murray

Wed Oct 04, 2006 17:48

There we have it in a nutshell, the response of the 'it's not my problem generation'

addressing these issues in our own society and consciousness raisng about issues
of violence against women is a start. Then extending the understanding of rape
as a crime of sexual violence and dominance into a situation that is other.

Best to begin with education on the repurcussions of silence in the plight of the
victim and then to understand the political implcations of laws that mitigate
against women.

leafletting or web-based protests tend to create a core protest and lobby.

i.e- focus.

Simple ways of doing this are to encourage groups like Rag, who held a day school
on the issue, or get the links to DRCC available to readers, to encourage and increase
women's voice and access to internet media.

IMC are currently inviting women to work in the area of feminist outreach and education
and the creation of safe spaces for communication on these issues so that maybe a victim
will be able to tell her own story and create more awareness of the plight of these women.

very interesting article Orlaith.

by iosaf

Wed Oct 04, 2006 21:36

You made references to several laws & parties which I don't believe would normally be familiar to an Irish or even average European readership. Would you explain to us a bit more what the Hudood Ordinances are, & whether they are unique to Pakistan? Also could you compare & contrast the progress of womens' rights especially in regards to the recognition of rape & sexual assualt in Pakistan with Iran, India & Afghanistan?
Because though you write that the hope is the "removal" of such crimes from religious ( which is generally taken to mean sharia ) law to a fully penal code, I'm wondering what is the understanding of the party you mentioned ["the Muttahida Majilis-e-Amal (MMA)"] of Sharia. In some muslim majority societies (but by no means not all) especially those with recent (less than 60 years) statehood emergence, rape when only 2 individuals are present without witnesses has been considered "adultery". Perhaps you could even explain to us which provinces the MMA hold sway in, or if they are a "national" political organisation & of course reminding us how long the state of Pakistan has exercised effective control of MMA territory.

I hope you find time to answer these questions & flesh out the details & local varients on this issue, so that we don't look aside & say nothing & moreover so that the response to your well written article doesn't dwell on Pakistani nuclear capabilities.

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Comments (3 of 3)