Naked Parade in a Naked Society By Faheem Amir Shehnaz, please do not feel ashamed to face the people of your

community as they are themselves naked. Let alone your community, the entire Pakistani society is naked. Pakistanis live in a naked society a society devoid of ethics, laws, justice, eq uality, enlightenment, brotherhood, peace, patience and prosperity, a society wh ere the minority class of the corrupt in the political-military-feudal tier is f ated to rule and enjoy while the majority of simple and sincere people is subjec t to serve, suffer and die under the yoke of injustice, inequality, ignorance, p overty, degradation and humiliation. Every passing day brings with it new acts of atrocities, which would even put th e devil to shame in our land of the pure. The tears of sorrow and helplessness o ver the tragic killings of foreigners in Kharotabad, Saleem Shahzad and Sarfraz Shah in Karachi have not yet been shed by the Pakistani people when a new incide nt of savagery in Neelor Bala village near Haripur gave a new bleeding wound to our already injured hearts. Shehnaz Bibi, a middle-aged woman, was forced to parade naked on the streets of the village of Neelor Bala on the orders of a local jirga. She had to face this inhumane treatment when around 20 village elders the so-called custodians of tra dition issued the barbaric verdict in a panchayat after hearing the complaints o f four brothers Manzoor, Imran, Zahoor and Salman who accused Shehnaz Bibis son o f having illicit relations with the wife of one of the brothers. Talking to the Daily Times Owais Tohid, Shehnaz Bibi says the four, armed brother s stormed into her house: They pulled my hair, dragged me through the streets all the way to the markaz (centre) of the village. I kept on shouting and screaming and they kept on tearing my clothes. I kept on begging them; I kept on asking f or help from the villagers, my own people whom my previous generations have spen t their lives with. When there was no help in sight, I just shut my eyes. They w ere forcing me to walk in that condition at gunpoint and I wanted to die. But th en I listened to my sons wailing. He was running after me saying, ammi, ammi tum b ahot bahadur ho (mother, mother you are very brave). Imagine the feelings of helplessness, utmost pain and anger of an 11-year-old bo y who is forced to see his mother paraded naked along the streets of his village among the people of his community. No one is there to give chaadar (covering) t o his naked mother. He is crying for help. He is pleading the armed brothers to let his mother go. He is running towards the spectators of this real life drama with tearful eyes and heart-wrenching cries for help. His naked mother, who is t he only heavenly thing in this world of pain and injustice, is being dragged thr ough the dusty streets. Dust, not clothes, covers up the shivering, naked body o f his mother. One dreadful idea flashes in the boys mind and he utters these movi ng sentences ammi, ammi tum bahot bahadur ho (mom, youre very brave) just to infuse a new spirit of bravery and life in the insulted, humiliated and crushed body o f his mother. Then imagine the tragedy of Shehnaz. Her tragedy is more severe than the charact er of Josef K in Franz Kafkas masterpiece The Trial at least the innocent Josef K was relieved from his agonising situation when he was finally executed without any reason. The last words he uttered were, Like a dog! Shehnazs trial is more path etic as she has been left to die every moment of her remaining life at the gallo ws of social norms. She has exposed the bleeding wounds of her injured soul to BBC News in these mov

ing words: The whole time I was asking myself why this curse has befallen me from nowhere. What had I done? I was begging them to stop. Before all this, I was po or but I had a respectable life, I was happy. But, after something like this, my life is finished. How can I go back to a village where every single person has seen me naked? I feel ashamed even to show my face to my own brothers and sister s. Shehnaz, please do not feel ashamed to face the people of your community as they are themselves naked. Let alone your community, the entire Pakistani society is naked. Our leaders, political and military, are downright corrupt. They are suc king the blood of the innocent people without shame. These leaders have led this country and its people to the edge of failure by their bad, foolish, opportunis t and unpatriotic domestic and foreign policies. The people are insecure, illite rate, unemployed, hungry and enchained in financial constraints. Our leaders are free in plundering national resources, transferring their looted money abroad, starting new businesses up in foreign countries and bowing down before the Ameri cans to stay in power in Pakistan. In the year 2000, there was a 2,000 MW power surplus. In 2010, there was a 5,529 MW shortage. The price of milk has gone up from Rs 17.9 in 2000 to Rs 60 in 201 1 and the price of wheat has gone up from Rs 8.9 in 2000 to Rs 30 in 2011. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistans report, 791 women were kill ed in the name of honour, 2,903 women were raped, 2,581 of them in Punjab, in 20 10. In addition, 719 women committed suicide. The State of Pakistans Children repor t suggests that 187 children committed suicide and 80 attempted suicide in 2010. Even innocent girls and boys are being used as suicide bombers and sex workers in our society. According to a report published in another daily, criminal gangs across Pakistan are using thousands of children as sex workers. SPARCs State of P akistans Children 2010 report, quoting the NGO Sahil, says that in the first six m onths of 2010, there were over 1,200 cases of sexual abuse of children documente d across Pakistan 55 of these minors were murdered after being assaulted. The TT P and other militant organisations are now kidnapping children to use them as su icide bombers. The horrific story of a nine-year-old girl, Sohana Javed, is befo re us; she was kidnapped on her way to school and then forced to wear a suicide jacket without any brainwashing. Since 1992, 37 journalists have been killed. In cessant abductions and target killings are occurring in Balochistan and Karachi. According to human rights groups, there are around 13,000 missing persons in Ba lochistan. US drone strikes are killing Pakistanis. Then our security forces are killing their own innocent people. In short, the entire society is naked. So, Shehnaz, please do not feel ashamed to face the people of your community as they are themselves naked. Every Pakistani woman is filled with fear and resentm ent against male chauvinism. They want to destroy the panchayat system. Mukhtara n Mai has already given them some hope. If you stand bravely against the injusti ce perpetrated against you, you can infuse a revolutionary spirit in the humilia ted and insulted body of women and they can deal a deathblow to the already crum bling system of the panchayat. The writer is a staff member. Source: The Daily Times, Lahore URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamWomenAndFeminism_1.aspx?ArticleI D=4995

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COMMENTS 7/11/2011 4:25:38 AM Sonali This is not just a problem within Pakistan, but India too is rife with such abho rrent acts of violence against and brutalization of women. Bigots whether Hindu or Muslim belong to the same lunatic fringe and must be denounced as vociferousl y as possible. It is also commendable that in an age when the mainstream media h as almost completely sided with the rich and powerful, journalists like yourself choose to write about the lives and struggles of common men and women.

7/11/2011 4:21:10 AM Prashanth MC This is the same condition of UP, Bihar and a few other North Indian states. Unl ess we decide to punish people at every instance of injustice, we cannot call ou rselves human beings. I feel ashamed myself for not being able to save all those women from being tormented.

7/11/2011 3:46:28 AM Mohammed Hassanali Being a Pakistani, my heart bleeds at such daily incidents. This act of savagery is simply unimaginable in the west which we in the land of pure call "immoral". Where are our custodians of law enforcement? Oh, but they are the members of the same high up feudal who have created such injustices to keep these poor people under their thumbs. And the military (which has the real power in this lawless country to say the le ast) into all this? Well, I am quite sure people remember that it was the milita ry was ruling the country and it was under their that the atrocities were commit ted in the former East Pakistan now Bangladesh. I hope and wish, without any conviction that the feudal lords and the military h igher ups understand that this time, the country by the name of Pakistan will si mply disappear from the map of the world if these atrocities and injustices do n ot stop

7/9/2011 2:07:19 PM Ghulam Mohiyuddin Such a panchayat system, run by a group of jahils, must be destroyed. All they a re doing is to perpetuate and reinforce the inhuman ways of their community.