Sindh is the second largest province of Pakistan, where i born,
grown up, studied and used to work for many years.
By Aftab Hassan Khan
INTRODUCTION:By nature Sindhis are a very loving, polite &
generous nation. They love their land, home and fields and, in
most cases, do not want to leave Sindh.. The roles that women
take on in society are very important: they are mothers, sisters
and wives. But, too often, being a woman in the Sindhi society
is a thankless task, and often very dangerous.
In Sindh,patriarchal customs of control over women include the
institutionalization of extremely restrictive codes of behaviour
for women, a practice of rigid gender segregation, specific
forms of family and kinship, and a powerful ideology linking
family honor to female virtue. Men are entrusted with
safeguarding this family honor through their control over female
family members — controlling, specifically, the female body,
both in terms of sexuality and and its reproductive ability.
Thus, when a woman’s behaviour is seen to threaten the
patriarchal order, it is her body that is punished — with
beating, burnings, sexual abuse, and murder in the name of
“honor.”
Women in Sindh are particularly handicapped by the entrenched
feudal system in rural Sindhi society, religious
fundamentalists, and the government, which is run primarily by
members of the ruling feudal caste. There are several factors
that impede the development of women in Sindh, including a very
low legal status women hold, as well as the lack of political
power and will to change the gender disparity. The status of
women reinforced by most family structures is compounded by a
general acceptance of this low status by a majority of women who
cannot even imagine the concept of equal rights. Thus women
continue to perform three distinct duties – reproductive,
productive, and community management – and are most often
treated quite poorly throughout.
Women contribute substantially to the agricultural sector, often
as part of family labor, yet the diversity and importance of
women’s roles in rural development is not yet recognized. In the
rural areas of Sindh, women normally work a 16-hour work day
including household and field duties, as well as fetching
drinking water and fuel for cooking. Their subordinate position
limits their access to and control over resources and benefits.
Women’s performance of domestic work, especially the care of
children within the home, both furthers their dependence and
subordination within marriage. (since they are the men who
actually benefit from this work) and also weakens their position
within the labour market, contributing to their low wages and
poor conditions as wage workers.
Family and Community:
Sindh belongs to a part of the world where woman’s status is
disadvantaged by systemic injustice. Human development
indicators such as sex ratio, literacy levels, educational
attainment and labour force participation are abysmally low
while the statistics for maternal mortality and morbidity,
fertility and crimes against women are extremely high. Sindhi
males, customarily, are very suspicious & mistrustful of their
sisters and wives especially. It is very normal for a man to
prohibit a stranger from talking to his sister or wife, and vise
versa. In either scenario, however, it tends to be the woman who
is then punished for the shame. However primitive it may sound –
however primitive it is – it is very easy for a Sindhi to
declare his sister, daughter or wife as shameful, and thus opt
to kill her via the practice of Karo Kari, which translates
literally as Black Black, and translates figuratively into Honor
Killing. There is very an open secret that when ever there is a
monetary ,land ,property related or other petty dispute,many
unscrupulous persons use their sisters,wives,mothers or even
daughters as a tools to have upper hand in settlement of the
dispute.This beast first kills his daughter,mother,sister or
even daughter on pretext of having illicit relation with the
person with whom he has some dispute,then announce to kill that
person to protect his and his family’s honor.The alleged guilty
person ultimately settle the dispute on the term and condition
of the killer to save his skin.The true story of that case
happened in my city Sanghar ten years ago when one of the
advisor,a lawyer by profession, of then Sindh Chief Minister
killed widow of his brother and then married her only surviving
daughter to his son so as a result easily get hold of his late
brother’s share in family property.The law does not protect
women from this, nor does it persecute the male murderers.
It is also a common practice in Sindh to marry one’s daughter to
inanimate and holy objects, like the Quran, or even a tree, for
example. The marriage with Quran is called”HAQUE BAKHISH” means”
with draw from the right to marry”.This cruel tradition runs
usually in families of agrarian landed aristocracy of Sindh.The
main purpose behind this inhuman act is to avoid the transfer of
land property out of family hands at the time of marriage of
their daughter or sister.The male members of family force the
girls to have marriage with “Holy book” and with draw from the
right to marry.One of our former Prime Minister and at the
present moment one of the leader of opposition party from Sindh
who’s party is known for it’s democratic credentials had forced
their sisters to follow this cruel tradition so that they could
have save there agricultural land.As well, it is not uncommon to
arrange a marriage between a mature woman and a 12 year-old boy,
or a young girl and an old man.
Personal jails belonging to and run by Sindhi Wadayraas (Feudal
Lords) are common in Sindh. These jails are used to imprison
Harees (poor peasants) and their families who are unable to pay
their ever-increasing depts to the landowners. Imprisoned Harees
are not protected by law and practice; and it is understood
throughout Sindh that the treatment of Harees, outside of these
jails and especially inside, is egregious.
A colleague of mine told me about a girl of about thirteen or
fourteen years old whom she had met recently. The young girl was
very thin, with a covered head. She relayed the following to my
colleague:”What worth does my body have? Does it have the
feather of the proverbial surkhab or is it studded with diamonds
and pearls? My brother’s eyes forever follow me. My father’s
gaze guards me all the time, stern and angry… If it is so
precious that it must be watched at all times, then hy must I
labor in the fields? Why don’t they do all the work by
themselves? We, the women, work in the fields all day long, bear
the heat and the sun, sweat and toil and we tremble all day
long, not knowing who may cast a look upon us. For if someone
looks at us, we may be accused of dishonouring the family, and
then be condemned kari and murdered.” The young girl continued:
“In a small village close by, there’s an old man called Karim
Dada. As a little girl I used to play in his lap. He is known
and respected by my family. The other day I was working alone in
the fields. Dada Karimoo passed by. I called out to him, “Dada,
can you help me lift this crate of tomatoes and place it on my
head. I have to carry it.” He said, “You are like one of my
daughters and very dear to me. But you should never call out to
me, never speak to me. Your brothers are extremely cruel. If I
help you put the crate on your head, somebody looking from a far
might suspect something else. Together with this old man, your
precious little life will also go to waste.” I cannot even talk
to men who are old enough to be my father or grandfather.”
She looked at herself with flaming red eyes as if she wanted to
spit out her body. She is taught to blame her body for being a
potential threat to her life.
This young girl is Meeran who lives in Khosa Goth, a small
village in Kandiyaro and Darbelo in the district Naushehro
Feroze. In this village a 13-day-old girl was recently declared
kari and put to death.
HONOUR KILLINGS :
The stories are, tragically, plentiful: In an interview with a
young woman last month, it was revealed that she had fled from
her village in the Khairpur district because the tribal elders
there declared her “kari.” The reasons for the charges, it turns
out, were that her husband and father-in-law levelled the false
charge because they were opposed to her being a schoolteacher.
The woman, Rozina, who belongs to the Ujan tribe, told she had
been forced to leave Sukh Wahan village in taluka Gambat after
her husband, Sadiq Ujan, charged her with having an affair with
a 15-year-old boy and threatened to kill her. Rozina Ujan said
she and Sadiq are cousins who were married only five months ago,
and that she was now pregnant.
The woman, who is in her mid-20s, said she had received
secondary education, and her husband and his father, Naik
Mohammad, charged her with being a “kari” after failing to
pressure her into leaving her job at a private school in Sukh
Wahan.
The woman said she and the boy, Sheral, were found innocent at a
tribal jirga convened on March 13 after her husband levelled the
charge against her on March 4.
But tribal elders held another jirga on March 28, which
denounced her and Sheral as “kari” and “karo,” she added. The
jirga ordered the boy’s family to pay a fine of Rs 80,000 to the
family of her husband, who had asked him to divorce his wife.
But although Sadiq Ujan complied, she decided to come to Karachi
because she still felt her life to be in danger.
Four-month pregnant Ms Ujjan said: “I was standing outside my
home with my sister when a 15-year-old boy of the neighbours
also came over there. My husband saw the boy standing near us
and he made it an issue for nothing.”
There are lot of girls who are declared “Kari”, but still not
killed called “DOHI” get refuge in the so-called safe house”
called “KOT” of the feudal lards where they are totally at the
mercy of the area king who and his henchmen use and abuse them
which is not very difficult to imagine.The sitting Chief
Minister(CM) is on the record to have statement that he like to
kill all the Kari-s(Monthly Herald,Karachi).It’s well establish
fact that the majority of that type of killing occur in the area
to which the incumbent CM belong,tribal clashes between Mehar
(CM belong to this tribe) and Almani clan which resulted in
numbers of deaths on the Shaista Almani marriage issue.His clan
have the one of the largest “KOT” where hundreds of innocent
girls are dumped with out any cry,just like silent birds with
severely wounded wings.
The present law protect the accused in honor killing because it
said that emotions,personal and family honor forced the persons
to do this act in fits,so it’s a bail able offence.This law was
introduced by the British colonial rulers.
The meaning of “KARO-KARI”,it consist of two words,the first
KARO means the male person and the second one the KARI stand for
female accuse.The both are called black and they are liable to
death according to this tradition.
In a recent report prepared by the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP). The centuries-old customary murders, popularly
known as Karo-kari (honour-killing) in Sindh claimes more than
400 lives every year.
FEUDAL IN POLITICS:
Not only in Sindh, but also in Pakistan generally, working for
Human rights, and/or Women’s rights, or any injustice in the
society is responded to by authorities as though the advocate is
a criminal. Thus, many human rights workers are either killed,
commit suicide, or are forced into exile. For the past many
years, families belonging to the feudal and wadera classes have
been ruling the country, whereas the poor and oppressed people
are not only deprived of their basic rights but also of the
right to rule. The country’s fundamentalist forces and the Army
Generals are the protectors of this medieval feudal system;
therefore, they are against those who speak against oppression.
Similarly, the status of women’s education in Sindh is
deplorable. For the feudal landlords, there are few – if any -
benefits that could arise from having educated serfs. The
landlords know that education of the “serfs” can only lead to
the downfall of their perverse social system, as educated men
and women will not tolerate to be treated like slaves. For this
reason, the landlord class has opposed universal primary
education from the very beginning of Sindh’s history, and to
this day, their efforts have succeeded. Rural Sindh, which is
the heart of the feudal system, has an almost non-existent
education system, especially for girls. The female literacy rate
in Sindhi villages was only 13% in the 1997 census.
The prevalent feudal system in the country has polarized every
dimension of human life, especially with regards to the
treatment of women. Until this changes, the country can neither
progress or prosper.
WHAT CAN BE DONE :
In terms of the possibility for women’s rights to be achieved in
Sindh and the rest of Pakistan, it should by now be clear to any
and all interested in the issue that the question of women’s
rights belongs to the realm of democratic and human rights.
Given the fragility of the democratic process in Sindh and in
Pakistan as a whole, the only groups with a long-term stake in
the institutionalisation of such rights are the most oppressed
strata in Pakistan society – that is, the producing classes.
These are also the only classes capable of creating a genuine
democracy in the Pakistani context. It is to an alliance with
these classes that women must turn if they are to ensure their
rights. This is by no means an easy task. Proponents of human
rights must also demand a secular society. As long as religion
continues to be interlinked with the State, any gains we achieve
will be incomplete.