Pakistan: Domestic Violence Is The Most Under-Reported Crime

Monday, 28 November 2011, 1:11 pm
Article: Asian Human Rights Commission
November 25, 2011
An Article from the Asian HumanRights Commission
Farzana Ali Khan
Violenceagainst women is a major health and human rights concern inPakistan. Women can experience sexual, physical or mentalabuse throughout their life cycle, in infancy, childhood andduring adulthood or older age. Violence against women hassevere physical and psychological consequences and as asocial problem warrants an immediate coordinated responsefrom multiple sectors.

According to the United NationsGeneral Assembly resolution the word “violence” isdefined as “any act of gender-bias that results in or islikely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm orsuffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercionor arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring inpublic or private life.”
The above definitionencompasses, inter alia, “physical, sexual andpsychological violence occurring in the family and in thegeneral community. The definition also includes battering,sexual abuse of children, dowry- related violence, rape,female genital mutilation and other traditional practicesharmful to women. The other forms of violence could beviolence related to exploitation, sexual harassment andintimidation at work, in educational institutions andelsewhere, as well as trafficking in women, forcedprostitution, and violence perpetrated or condoned by thestate agencies.”

Worldwide the most common form ofviolence against women is abuse by their husbands or otherintimate partner, generally referred to as ‘wifebeating’, ‘battering’ or domestic violence’,intimate partner violence is often part of a pattern abusivebehavior and control rather than isolated acts of physicalaggression.
A few years ago at least in Pakistan, sexualharassment and battered women were just called “part oflife”. It is only recently that the media attention hasincreased public awareness, to quite an extent.Nevertheless, it seems, sexual harassment; rape andbattering are still not considered as serious problem.However, when a woman is sexually harassed her clothes areto be blamed. On the other hand, where a woman is raped itis argued that she has asked for it. Apart from above if awoman is beaten the reason is that she couldn’t take careof her husband’s needs. In contrast, the aggressor may beperceived as behaving ‘like a normal male’ and oftenreceives a little blame.
Sexual harassment, rape andbattering can be traced to traditional masculine andfeminine socialization. Males are supposed to be aggressive,dominant and in control of the situation. Women are supposedto be ‘submissive’, yielding, unassertive. In a senseall these represent a tragic exaggeration of traditionalgender roles.
Violence, whether domestic or otherwise,includes physical/verbal abuse, rape, acid throwing, burningand killing and forced prostitution is widespread inPakistan. Few women would complain under legal provisionsrelating to physical injury.
In the province of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, violence within home is inflicted in variousways, including mental torture, by denying women food, oftenby threat of divorce or by taking another wife, separatingthe woman from her infants, forced marriages, exchangemarriages, or selling woman in marriage, especially to mucholder man.
It is not only the husband who inflictsviolence in the home, often in extended families, the wifeis violated by her in-laws. The girl child or the women maybe subjected to incest and rape in her own home, and evenforced to keep her lips sealed. Women can suffer violence inthe home from the men of the family, father, brother,husband, uncles, cousins, and at times from women of thefamily, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, mother and sisters.
Domestic violence is the most under-reported crimebecause it is generally condoned by social customs andconsidered as private family matter,
Violence againstwomen is a global phenomenon which cuts across class, race,ethnic, religious and cultural boundaries. It ismultifaceted and affects all aspects of women’s lives. Itis very hard to say, when, where and how it started? It ishappening and it has happened in almost all societies,irrespective of race, color or creed.
The oppression ofPashtun women is rooted within the system itself. In ancienttimes the women produced food for the family. In that erawomen had learned how to cultivate the land. Men used tohunt only. That is why women had a particular recognition insociety. And over a period of time she became the head ofthe family.
With a passage of time men learned thecultivation procedure and became dominant in the productiveprocess. Thus matriarchal society, a society where womendominated, withered away. The new forms of property changedthe inheritance to men and hence established maledomination. After the introduction of this system of privateownership women gradually became a commodity and hencepossessed as private property. These forms developed overtime and the exploitation of women continued in differentpatterns.
Women who report rape or sexual assaultencounter a series of obstacles. These include not only thepolice, who resist filing their claims and mis-record theirstatements, but also medico-legal doctors, who focus ontheir virginity status and lack the training and expertiseto conduct adequate examinations. As for the trial in rapecases, the past sexual history of the victim is thrownaround and touted in court to the maximum.
Furthermore,women who file rape charges open themselves up to thepossibility of being prosecuted for illicit relationship, ifthey fail to prove themselves innocent. As a result, whenwomen victims of violence resort to the judicial system forredress, they are more likely to find further abuse andvictimization.
The concept of women as an object orcommodity, not a human being endowed with dignity and rightsequal to those of men, is deeply rooted in tribalculture.
In the rural areas women are like slaves subjectto drudgery. They are there just to obey their father,brother and husband. They do not have the right to decideabout themselves because women are considered foolishcreature.
According to the dominant and cultural norms acommon view is that comparatively Pashtun women are moreprotected, they are more honored but the point is that theirphysical weakness, child bearing function an economicdependence all combined to assigned to men the role ofprotectors and providers evolving a superior status of themale over the female. A woman's right to liberty isrestricted in the name of modesty, protection and preventionof immoral activity.
Right from the very beginning or itwill be more realistic to say even before conception it isthe wish of all the families that a woman should give birthto a male child. Here it is from where discriminationstarts. Then in almost all spheres of life, in rearing, ineducation, priorities are given to a male child. Majority ofparents do not send their daughters to schools. Thisschooling is another deprivation. And after reaching pubertythey are told to wear Hejabs and observe pardah andnot to mingle with other men except their father, brothersor very near relatives.
In fact, it is the historicalsettings coupled with social and cultural norms, religiousvalues and domination of political institutions by men,which has relegated Pashtun women to an underprivileged andvulnerable position.
It is without doubt that women hadbeen the object of violence in all ages and almost everysociety. In the first instance while she is living with herparents and secondly when she is married and living with herin laws.
There is a dire need of launching an awarenesscampaign that Pashtun woman first must understand theirposition where they are. Then take steps to improve thesituation in such a way that the traditional family systemremains undisturbed but women start enjoying theirfundamental rights of choice, expression and movement andeducation.
Government, the fundamentalist; these may besome of the reasons of the downtrodden condition of Pashtunwoman but to me women themselves are the biggest obstacle inthe way of improving their situation by underestimatingtheir strong position in the society and till they arereluctant no one can help them get their actualrecognition.
On religious front there is a need ofreformation and telling the Pashtun women that they canparticipate in day to day activities like the wives of theProphet and his companions. On Pashtunwali front Pashtun menshould be educated that woman is not the sole depositary forhis honor and Pashtunwali.
The emancipation of Pashtunwomen has political dimension but its more a religious,cultural, educational, psychological, legal and socialissue. Our society, family, culture, laws, misinterpretationof religion and less opportunities of education are the mainfactors for the downtrodden situation of Pashtun women.
ARussian proverb says that it is easier to destroy than tocreate. Just as every life needs to be carefully nurturedand preserved it can also be destroyed and lost in aninstant. Perhaps due to the lack of sufficient knowledge inthis field, scientists seem strangely unable to grasp,foresee and adopt the necessary solution to prevent violenceon a large scale.
We need to build our society from bottomup and that a proper background has to be set for any changethat we want to see in our society. We must bring the changein a pragmatic and effective way.
Pragmatism with idealismand realism with vision and imagination should be used tosolve all problems and in this context the solution to theproblems of Pashtun women lies in the panacea of great ideasof democracy with its implementation in all social andpolitical spheres and the implementation of thephilosophical concepts of liberty, equality and fraternityby modern education and religious reformation andreinterpretation.
As they say “charity begins athome.” We may take start from own homes If a man’s wife,sister, mother, or daughter goes around and does somebusiness, participates in social , political and economic oreducational activities he should not feel mortified that hiswoman is talking to others or doing business with others andthat this is against his, honor (ghairat).
Though a verysmall percentage of Pashtun women who have had access toeducation, family support systems and help, have excelled inevery profession they have entered, still they are deniedopportunity, their status is totally subservient to men and the laws of the land against them. How can a society evenpretend that it even has a shred of morality when the womenof the land are reviled for demanding rights, justice andfreedom?
Some people think that only women belonging to alower class face the brutality on part of men but I havecome across well to do and educated young and middle agedwomen bitterly complaining of being severely thrashed bytheir husbands even lawyers, doctors, executives andbusinessmen have beaten up their wives.
In many well to dofamilies husband if develops extramarital affair the wifeand children get used to luxurious life that they do notwish to leave. Especially grown sons do become a protectionagainst their father depriving their mother of their rights.But still as a result woman has to suffer the trauma of hurtand pain.
The question there remain as how best to proceedwith the struggle to achieve equal rights for women inPashtun society? There is need of schooling, education andvocational training for women. Better facilities to healthand maternity centres, awareness about health and childrearing.
The ultimate goal should be to make womenemancipated and this can be achieved by making themfinancially independent, she should have right in decisionmaking in family affairs-- child spacing and child rearingetc.
If there is a will and firm determination; things canbe changed in a very cautious and gradual process. Butsudden change will not be tolerated and will fireback.
Let’s start a movement to liberate those Pashtunwomen who are prisoners in their own homes. They are bornwithin the four walls and die there without knowing theirimportance as human beings either. They are sentenced withlife time imprisonment. How can we liberate Pashtun womenfrom this life time imprisonment? Let’s think and act inthe rightdirection.
----------About theauthor: Farzana Ali Khan is a journalist working for TheNews International. She has written the above article forthe AHRC. She can be reached at farykhan@gmail.com
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commissionis a regional non-governmental organisation that monitorshuman rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates forjustice and institutional reform to ensure the protectionand promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group wasfounded in 1984.
Visit our new website with morefeatures at www.humanrights.asia.

Source http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1111/S00791/pakistan-domestic-violence-is-the-most-under-reported-crime.htm

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