The Burden
of Inequity
By Dr Shireen M. Mazari
Despite the deck being
stacked against her, the Pakistani woman shows her
true mettle whenever an opportunity is presented.
So it was a source of great pride to see that Aviation
cadet Saira Amin won the Sword of Honor at the Pakistan
Air Force at the Passing Out Parade of the 117th
GD (P) Course.
The PAF has been in the forefront of accepting women
as equal partners and the results have done both
the PAF and the women of Pakistan proud.
The success of the women cadets of the PAF comes
at a time when we have seen a shameful bartering
amongst the male political elite over the Women
Protection Bill -- as if women were simply an object
to be bandied about at will by the male population.
Instead of acknowledging women as equal citizens,
the political elite would have women being granted
"favors" of equal protection under the
law from their male parliamentarians that they continue
to elect. It is shocking to see that over the years,
civilian political leaders, who decry military dictators
publicly to notch up their democratic credentials,
are quite unprepared to undo the repressive measures
imposed upon civil society by these dictators! And
so it has been with the Hudood Ordinance. Instead
of supporting, nay demanding its total repeal, the
political elite has been bargaining over it as if
women were their chattels to whom they were bestowing
special favors. One has been watching with silent
disgust the manner in which the issue of the repeal
of the Hudood Ordinance has been reduced to the
farce of the present form of the Women's Protection
Bill. Is this what democracy has been reduced to
in this country?
Beyond the absurdity of the four-witness-to-a-rape
clause, there is a frightening clause relating to
the age at which a woman can be treated as an adult
-- a "consenting adult". This clause has
now been retained in the Bill as a result of the
countless Faustian bargains even though it is the
most evil provision because it defines a girl as
an adult after the attainment of puberty. Given
better diets and health, young girls have been reaching
puberty at a much younger age than earlier generations.
It is fairly common for girls to reach puberty between
ten and eleven years but this in no way makes them
an adult in terms of maturity. Puberty happens to
be a purely physical phenomenon and to equate it
with adulthood is simply criminal -- especially
if this implies that a girl, in the case of rape,
can be construed to have been a consenting adult
because she had reached puberty. What a travesty
of the basic human rights of a child, or is the
girl child not allowed any such right to begin with?
All mothers of young girls should have nightmares
over this provision.
Why has this been left out in the present form of
the Women's Protection Bill? Because some powerful
lobbies have argued that in their cultural tradition,
girls are eligible to be married when they reach
puberty so they have to be regarded as consenting
adults. This is certainly true but it is surely
the duty of the state to rid society of cruel, retrogressive
social practices -- no matter how deeply embedded
they may be in tradition. After all, Karo Kari and
the so-called "honor killings" are also
part of retrogressive social traditions which need
to be eliminated by the state legislating against
them. That is what progress is all about -- the
enhancement of humanity and the elimination of decadence.
Islam itself opposes these murderous social customs.
In fact the state should legislate to forbid child
marriages -- as girls of ten and eleven are simply
children going through gradual phases of physical
development as they finally evolve into adult women.
In the theocratic state of Iran, seen by many as
ultra conservative, the state has even legislated
to prevent first cousins marrying unless they have
undergone medical tests -- despite the long-standing
social tradition of such marriages.
It is time for the State to treat men and women
equally before the law and that begins by defining
them equally, in terms of age, as adults -- be it
at sixteen or eighteen. We talk now of Enlightenment
and Moderation, but in practice this has hardly
been visible since the dark days of dictator Zia.
What better place to do so than to wipe out the
man-created Hudood Ordinance in its entirety instead
of bargaining over its clauses? Then a new Women
Protection Bill can be introduced, although if the
law was to apply equally to all, and evil social
practices were declared illegal by the state, why
would one need such a Bill?
It is also unfortunate that the US has claimed it
has had a hand in formulating the Women Protection
Bill. Perhaps they really do not want to see the
Hudood Ordinance repealed otherwise why would they
try to undermine efforts in this regard by trying
to link themselves to these moves? After all, for
many of us, US designs for the Muslim World have
nothing to recommend them and the manner in which
the US has been treating Muslims -- totally outside
any legal or human considerations -- hardly commends
them as an ally of the Ummah. And, yes, many of
our own NGOs receive funding from US sources which
leads them to have US-oriented agendas. That is
why it is so essential to have more transparency
with regard to all NGO funding and agendas.
However, with or without the US factor, the Hudood
Ordinance needs to be repealed and given the mess
that political bargaining has created vis-a-vis
the Women Protection Bill, it is time the President
simply repealed this Ordinance in its entirety through
another ordinance. The rest can follow. For too
long either the lack of political will or political
ability have allowed women to be victimizsed under
the Hudood Ordinance. Since our present hybrid political
system allows the President to promulgate Ordinances,
he should do so in the interest of the women of
this country so that they are not made to suffer
at the hands of political bickering and Faustian
bargains.
Only recently, the President promulgated an ordinance
to set up a much-needed regulatory authority for
private educational institutions offering education
up to a higher secondary or intermediate level within
the Islamabad Capital Authority. Trying to set this
up through an act of parliament had been held up
indefinitely at the cabinet level because of certain
vested interests. So the President's action came
as a welcome step to afford some rationality to
the private education sector and some say to the
parents.
It is even more imperative to protect our young
girls and restore some sense of equality before
the law for the female population of this country.
If our politicians are unable to do so -- and clearly
they have shown this inability only too clearly
so far -- then the President must take the lead
by simply repealing the Hudood Ordinance. If we
are to rise to the challenge of fighting the assault
by the West against Muslims, we must first unite
as equals within our own societies.
(The writer is director general of the Institute
of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. Courtesy The
News)
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