Unprotected As Ever
The killing of Punjab female provincial minister on 20th February 2007 sends shock waves throughout the country. The female minister was shot dead by a religious extremist, when she was speaking to the local people in her home town Gujranwala.
The killer was arrested and he revealed to the police that motive behind the killing was religious, because female minister was not a good Muslim and violated the teachings of Islam, which forbids the women to take part in politics. He also revealed that he killed many women and also tried to kill PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in 1994. According to the killer no Muslim female can become political leader or minister. His views are shared by many in this Muslim Society. Religious parties and clerics openly campaign against women rights and for them every woman raising her voice about women rights and equality is westernized and immoral and needs to the killed or punished.
The murder of female minister belonging to the ruling party has exposed the tall claims of the government that women are safer in Pakistan than ever before. 4 cases of gang rapes have been reported in the press in February. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a woman is raped every two hours and gang raped every eight (8) hours in Pakistan. And this, say rights groups, is probably just under-estimation as many rapes are still not reported. There has been a marked increase of incidents of violence against women. The national and regional media is always full of these horrific crimes and violence against women everyday.
When parliament passed the Women Protection Bill 2006 in November last year, the government made the claims that this bill will protect the women in Pakistan and it will also enhance their status in the society. The government spokesmen and officials gave the impression that this law will bring revolutionary change for the women and violence against them will decrease. But last few months experience showing the contrary results. Because Women Protection Bill 2006 only enshrines the violence of the Hudood Ordinance by giving it a cosmetic makeover making it more palatable to the public at large. Its changes include cutting the crime for “lewd behaviour” from death down to five years imprisonment and fine of 200$.
Women can still be accused of adultery and judges are left to decide how to proceed with the filing of a rape case, though those four good Muslim men are no longer required as witness. The women’s bill does nothing to ensure the safety of a rape victim nor does it do away with the fact that a woman can be prosecuted for engaging in consensual sexual relations. It is best described as the Hudood Ordinance, the remix.
Prior to the implementation of the Hudood laws in 1979 by the barbaric military dictator Ziaul Haq, Pakistan’s penal code did not label fornication a crime. Adultery and pre-marital sex were considered personal sins, not national ones. According to Hudood laws, the marital rape is not a crime, so giving green light to the husbands to make forced sex without the consent of the wives. According to these laws, the crimes of adultery, fornication and prostitution was made punishable with severe punishments. Moreover, the ordinance stipulated that a person could be found guilty with or without the consent of the other party which means that women, due to medical evidence, were more likely to be convicted under the Hudood Ordinance than men. If a woman wanted to prove rape, she hade to provide four male witnesses to the crime, all of whom had to be good Muslims. This Hudood Ordinance brings misery, discrimination and horrible conditions for women, especially poor rural women.
The police, feudal lords and influential rich people used these laws to cover their rapes and violence against women. Many domestic workers in the cities and agriculture female workers in the rural areas were raped and tortured and then prosecuted under these laws, when they complaint to the police about these crimes. Police sided with rapists and arrested victims on the charges of adultery. General Musharaf himself accepted that these laws have been widely misused and needs to be reviewed. But after months of debate in the parliament and media, the government only comes out with few amendments in these laws. These amendments will not make a huge difference, as events have proved. This new law has changed nothing as far as poor rural women living in feudal and tribal areas are concerned.
On 27th January 2007, a shameful act took place in the town of Abaro in the interior Sindh. 11 men gang raped a 16 years old girl and than forced her to walk around the village naked. Her only crime was that she is the cousin of a young man, who dared to merry to a girl of a influential family without the consent of the family. The male members of the influential family felt insulted on this marriage and they decided to take revenge. They stormed the house of the victim and kidnapped her. Later 11 men gang raped and severely tortured the poor teenage girl to take revenge and to restore the honor of the family, defamed by the love marriage. After the gang rape and torture, she was forced to parade naked in the village. This is how the honour can be restored in a feudal society. When the family of the victim girl complaint to the police, they refused to register the case and even pressurized the doctor not to issue the medical report of this gang rape. When the news of this horrendous crime reported in the media, the government and the Supreme Court intervened and ordered to register the rape case. This is not the only case highlighted in the media, but there are 4 more gang rape cases reported in last month, including a gang rape in police station.
All the Islamic Fundamentalist parties, groups and clerics are opposing these harmless amendments. They have organized protests, public rallies and demonstrations against the Women Protection Bill. They are insisting that this bill will turn Pakistan into a free sex zone and will also protect the prostitution. The rise of Islamic Fundamentalism and introduction of Hudood laws has given significant rise to the crimes against women. Since 1979, the prostitution, rapes, gang rapes, naked parades, violence and sexual harassment has significantly increased, because these laws protect men and prosecute women. The women were safer before the introduction of these Hudood laws. Pakistan was not a free sex zone before these laws were introduced in 1979. There were fewer women involved in prostitution before 1979 than now. The history since 1979 shows that these laws need to be repealed, to improve the status of the women in the society.
The woman’s in Pakistan are celebrating another International woman, s day under the extreme difficult conditions. In the 21st century, the women in Pakistan are still facing the conditions, customs and traditions of middle ages in the many areas of the country. Women rights are still a crime. Even animals are treated better than females in some areas. The conditions of poor working women can not be changed or improved significantly in the presence of existing system. The feudalism, tribalism and capitalism are co- exist in Pakistan, which have created terrible conditions for working class and poor rural women.
The crimes , violence, and anti women practices and traditions can not only be stopped through laws, but the main root causes of the problems faced by the women also needs to be addressed. The feudal and tribal traditions will only end when the reactionary feudalism and tribalism will be abolished. The capitalist class has failed to abolish the feudalism and tribalism and complete the tasks of national democratic revolution. In the colonial countries like Pakistan, the working class will complete this task through a Socialist Revolution. The capitalist class is not capable to abolish feudalism and tribalism and establish a modern capitalist state, which can separate religion and state. The stages theory promoted by Stalinists internationally has no way forward for working class. To abolish feudalism and tribalism, it is necessary to abolish the capitalist system, which has strengthened and protected them. The working class is the only class capable to over through this rotten and reactionary system.
The Socialist programme based on theory of permanent revolution will enable the working masses to over through the capitalist system and to establish a Socialist system, which will free the women from repression, discrimination, exploitation and violence. Socialism will guarantee real freedom and equality to women. United struggle of working class including workers, women, youth, poor and peasants is necessary to over through the present rotten and reactionary system. The issue of women rights and equality is one the key issue faced by working class movement. No struggle for a social change can be succeeded without organizing half of the population into a working class movement. This is the task of the Socialists in Pakistan to organize the women for economic and political struggle.