Day: December 8, 2012

Sir: According to reports, a 70-year-old woman from Ghotki has been accused by her husband of having an affair with a 17-year-old youth. She has hence been declared as ‘kari’, an accusation that could get her a death penalty by a tribal court if it is taken seriously. Her husband has said that she was involved in illicit relations with the son of her niece. When one digs a little deeper, it becomes apparent that the husband is trying his luck; he is a man in debt and is now blackmailing the youth’s parents into giving him money. It is a shame that we have stooped to such a low level in this society that a man will accuse an aged woman, who can hardly walk, of what is a crime in accordance with tribal customs and she will actually be fearful for her life.

We have allowed concepts such as ‘honour’ to go to our heads. No one is safe when accusations of ‘illicit’ relations are flung everywhere. This woman is so old she has trouble making it from one place to another, yet she is going from pillar to post now to seek protection from tribal laws. Shame on us as a nation for allowing such notions to triumph over common sense.

HUMA JAFFREY
Quetta

Daily Times

UMERKOT: Speakers at a seminar on Friday called for the implementation of anti-violence laws and said that the lack of implementation was responsible for the increasing number of cases of violence against women.

They were speaking at an event titled “Rights of women, violence against them and the role of youth’ organised by a local welfare organisation in Umerkot.

The assistant deputy commissioner of Umerkot, Tazmeezuddin Khehro, said that low literacy rate, poverty and ignorance of the existing anti-violence laws contributed to increasing violence against women.

He said that unequal distribution of resources, unemployment and illiteracy had put the people under incredible stress and they harmed others to relieve themselves of stress and anxiety.

The district coordinator for Unicef Pakistan, Parkash Piragani, said that in 1996 Pakistan became a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted by the UN general assembly in 1979.

However, he said, the country did little about implementation of the convention.

Mr Piragani said that the government had been advised to take preventive steps, for providing shelter, compensation and legal response to victims and educate the police, judiciary, media, bureaucrats and civil society organisations on the subject, but unfortunately the state did not pay heed to it.

He said that these factors affected the incidence of violence but government institutions were unaware of the causes, prevalence, impact and solutions of these issues.

Social activist Geeta said that violence occurred more in joint family systems, adding that for women who were victims of domestic violence divorce was a better option than a life-long trauma. The district manager of Thardeep Rural Development Programme, Ali Nawaz Nizamani, said that women should raise their voice against domestic violence, acid attacks, sexual harassment, psychological suppression, discrimination at home and work place, and come forward and plead their own case.

The speakers also demanded justice for the six-year-old who had been a victim of criminal assault earlier this week in Ghulam Nabi Shah and also took out a rally against the unfortunate incident.

Dawn