With all the horrendous events working towards scarring the already diminishing name of our motherland, the incident of five women being shot dead and buried, in Baluchistan, was no short of adding another nail to the coffin.
On 14th July, 2008, Fatima 45, Jannat Bi Bi 38, Hameeda, Raheema And Fauzia between 16 To 18 Year Of Ages, resident to a remote village of Jafarabad district, Baluchistan, were, on the charges of choosing someone (of their choice) to be their life partners and in the name of ‘honor killing’, brutally shot and buried, while they were still alive. It is reported that the conspirators involved a PPP minister and a few other prominent personal who also played a pivotal role in trying to keep the incident at a low profile and away from the media as long as possible.
The incident called on for a great hue and cry and a large audience expressed their grief and shock. Amongst them the most prominent one was, Senator Bibi Yasmin Shah from the PML – Q party, who repeatedly condemned this butchery and demanded the government to take decisive actions to deal with the accountable, harshly. However, in the midst of all this condemnation came out a cherry out on the top shocker, when Senator Sardar Israrullah Zehri, from Baluchistan, stood up to defend these honor killings and is cited to have said that ‘these are our norms which should not be highlighted negatively’. Much to one’s utter shock and astonishment, he used the word “norms” indicating that honor killings was nothing new to his cult and there could have been numerous similar unreported incidents of bloodbath and slaughter.
The Deputy Chairman of Senate, Jan Muhammad Jamali, who had earlier abstained from giving any comment, as per the Balochi mores for belonging to a different tribe, did deliberate later saying “Yasmin Shah should go to our society and see for herself what the situation is like there and then come back to raise such questions in the house.” Doesn’t need one to scrutinize the statement to realize that all infrastructure help sent to Baluchistan, apart from that devoured by the local bureaucrats , is for the Oil & Gas Exploration purpose only, maybe if some of it was sent for better education and improving standards of life of the local villagers, such tales of barbarism would have had become extinct longtime ago.
The Upper House of the Parliament, otherwise a podium where verbose speeches and exchange of fiery words from the loquacious parliamentarians on the pettiest of the matters is a day to day thing, gave away its own brand of stunners when only a couple of Senators came forward to voice their opinion and support Ms. Shah on such a sensitive issue. Senator Kamil Ali Agha said that no one could be allowed to practice such brutal traditions in presence of constitution and courts in the country. Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haidri said that Islam allowed no one to commit such brutality in any capacity. Leader of the Opposition, Jamal Leghari termed the incident against the traditions and norms of Baloch people and demanded exemplary action against those involved in the heinous crime.
Leader of the House, Senator Raza Rabbani than adjourned the meeting stating that though the matter was a provincial subject, he would take concrete steps to uncover and have the accountable brought to justice. Last that was heard about this case was postponed till the 22nd September, 2008, since accounts about the killings have varied, largely because police in the tribal region have been uncooperative. Activists and lawmakers said a more thorough investigation needed to be carried out.
It is very clear that the future of such backward, rural and uneducated women of our country remains bleak to date. So when, one fine morning, three teenage girls along with their mother and aunt having decided to defy their tribal elders and arrange marriages in a civil court, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, head out towards their destination, they are rounded by one of their very own local politicians who has them dragged in to his flashing four wheeler vehicle by six gunmen, to a remote location. There, his disciples, in the name of honor killing, severely tortures them (maybe have a little fun of their own), shoots them and then hurriedly buries them whilst they are still alive. Subsequently when the news comes out, a friend of this very politician bluntly stands up in front of the entire nation and defends these heinous acts, camouflaging them as cultural “norms” and telling everyone to back off!
It is ironic that some of us has lured back or should I say, never gave up, the very practices that were the “norm” in the time our Prophet (P.B.U.H) was born, fourteen hundred years and yet not so different from the uneducated, fierce and ignorant Arabs after all!
