�THE WORLD EXISTS ON HOPE� � MUKHTAR MAI

 

Ramadan Mubarak.

Many of you know the story of Mukhtar Mai, one of my personal heroes.

In 2002, Mukhtar, a Pakistani village woman, was brutally gang raped by four men of a powerful neighboring tribe, on the order of a local council; the attack was said to be punishment for an alleged affair that her young brother had with a girl from another tribe. To humiliate her further, Mukhtar was forced to walk home, nearly naked, as villagers looked on. People expected her to commit suicide; she thought about it. But instead, Mukhtar took the rapists to court. Initially, six men were sentenced to death for the rape. Then in 2011, the Pakistan Supreme Court overturned all but one of the convictions and the men were freed; they continue to live in her neighboring village.

I first met Mukhtar seven years ago when she was in Washington, D.C. for a Vital Voices event. I was asked to be her translator when she was invited to speak with Hillary Clinton at the inaugural Women in the World Summit in 2010; unfortunately she had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. In April we had the chance to meet again when she was in town for a Developments in Literacy (DIL) fundraiser.

She smiles when she greets me, remembering that we had met before; she laughs as she shares some of her stories; but it�s her eyes � her eyes can�t hide the unfathomable pain that she�s endured. Her voice is soft, I sit right beside her to hear her. She seems timid, a bit withdrawn. But Mukhtar Mai has the courage of a warrior, and a voice that has challenged centuries of brutality and injustice against women.

We talk about her typical day, her schools, her children, life for women in Pakistan, her fears, her dreams, who inspires her, what makes her so strong.

�Allah jin sey kaam laina hota hey, leta hey,� (loosely translated, �God chooses certain people to do certain things�).

Mukhtar runs the Mukhtar Mai Women�s Organisation. It includes a resource center, which deals with 500 cases of violence against women each year, and includes legal support, a hotline and a mobile emergency unit; a shelter, which started in Mukhtar�s bedroom with women sleeping beside her; and two schools, which provide free education, books, uniforms and supplies; the schools are for both girls and boys until primary, and for girls until high school.

In 2003, she used funds she won from her case to start a school for girls, the first in her village. Illiterate herself, she understood that only education could bring about change.  She laid the bricks with her own hands, she tells me proudly, and enrolled herself as her first student; she made it through primary school, she laughs, then got too busy running her organization. Now the school has 700 children; the second in a neighboring village has 300.

People used to slam the door in her face when she tried to encourage families to send their daughters to her school; now their only wish is for their girls to attend. �If they miss the bus, the parents themselves bring their daughters to school. One way or another, they have understood that girls should get an education,� she says smiling. Visiting the schools is the brightest part of Mukhtar�s day. The kids crowd around her, they all want to shake her hand; sometimes three hands hold on to hers, she says smiling. �The kids love me; the children are very happy at school. And we feel the same way. We consider them our own kids.�

The children of her rapists attend her school too.

Mukhtar got married in 2009, and has two kids of her own, a daughter who is almost five and a son who is three; she also adopted her sister�s daughter, 9. We share stories, and stresses, about our children. She fears for their security. �For myself I don�t worry; whatever happens to me will happen; I worry for my children.� She also worries that her kids are not taking school seriously; since it�s located next to their house and their mother is always there, they don�t see it as a place to study.  Mothers� worries are always the same � our children�s safety, well being, and education.

Her other big stress is funding for her schools; for the past six years, it�s been very difficult to get funds; DIL helps with some of the teacher salaries. �I�ve been so tense; I don�t want the schools to close down. I hope this mission continues.� She has faith that she will get through this difficult time too.

Mukhtar has big dreams, even if limited resources. �I want to open schools all over Pakistan,� she says, �wherever there isn�t a school.� She also wants to make a college for girls so they can continue studying. �One wishes for so many things, our dreams never stop. But what happens is what Allah wants to happen; if He wishes, then this will happen too.�

We talk about her case, and if things have gotten better for women in Pakistan. She�s frustrated that laws for women are made on paper, but not implemented. �If no one gets punished, there�s no justice. A country that does not have an effective justice system, that country will perish.�  Maybe her kids will see justice, she says, even is she doesn�t. And adds, �Omeed pay dunya kaim hay,� (the world exists on hope).Hakumat mai nai, lekin Allah pey to hai (not in government, but [we have faith] in God).

I ask her what gives her so much strength. �First of all, Allah,� she says, �what Allah wants done, he enables it to happen.� She also gains courage from her mother; and from the support of all of us. �I know that the whole world�s duas are with me,� she says.

I set aside my notebook, hold her hands, and ask her how she�s really doing. She says, unconvincingly, that she�s ok, Allah ka shukr. Adding, �Aik cheez insan key andar ajai, phir wo jatee nahi� (one thing if it gets inside you, then it never leaves you). She hasn�t been able to sleep well in 13 years. �But you have to go on; you still have to laugh; no one likes someone who cries all the time. Zindagi to gozarnee hai�(You have to continue to go on with your life).

I assure her that she�s not alone, that we�re by her side; I tell her that I will share her story during Ramadan, and that we will give generously to make sure her schools stay open; I promise her that I will pray for her children, and ask her to pray for mine.

To learn more about Mukhtar Mai�s work and to donate to her efforts, please visit:http://www.mukhtarmai.org

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India's Daughter - Full Documentary

Raped for punishment in Pakistan: Mukhtar Mai

I remember everything. It's not something I can forget - it'll always be a part of my life. It happened in 2002. I remember every single thing, even the time it happened.

I was sitting at my parent's house, and they chose me to go and apologise for what my brother had done. I lament that they chose me, but I didn't want this to happen to any of my sisters either.

I tried to commit suicide twice after the incident because I felt like I wasn't getting any justice. What happened to me is another form of honour killing.

Honour is a toxic word. Honour is only for men here, it's not for women, who are always to blame in any given situation. The owner of a woman's honour is a father, brother, father-in-law.

A girl doesn't even have her own home: first it's her father's home, then her husband's home and then ultimately her son's home.

What happened to me is part and parcel of our system. It says that there is a difference between a son and daughter: one is better than the other.

It starts from the mother. When something is cooked, food is first given to the son and father, and if there's any food left over they'll give it to the daughter.

Men and women both have rights, God gave both rights, but it's all about lack of awareness, false traditions created by society, no law. And if there are laws, they are not implemented. Girls are killed for choosing their own partners for marriage.

And they never get justice because the killer is the father and the prosecutor is the mother - this is the system and it's a vicious cycle. Why doesn't a woman ever get justice - is a woman not a human being?

After 12 years, I am still going through appeals to the courts to get justice. The court says you need four witnesses - well I have the whole village as witnesses - but it boils down to the mindset of men in this patriarchal society.

The biggest problem is feudalism and the fact that people don't get justice. When there is no hope of getting justice, then people go to village elders because the police aren't listening to them.

And the elders will make the same decisions as the decision that was made for me.

These traditions need to end: the world is moving forward, and we seem to be standing in the same place.

Things have not improved; the only difference is that women have started asking for their rights. The media has helped a lot.

A woman never used to raise her voice or leave her house, but now a woman goes out, goes to courts, goes to meet lawyers. She is seen everywhere but there is still no justice.

Since my incident in 2002 there have been no similar events in my village. There has been a shift. The feudal authorities used to make decisions, but now there is no council the way there used to be.

Now the policemen make that decision. Even child marriages have been controlled. When I used to leave the village and come back I would find out that some girls from my school as young as nine had been forced to get married.

But now we have even stopped some weddings from happening.

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ISIS�s Cruelty Toward Women Gets Scant Attention

 

Tucked away in a recent New York Times story on military operations against ISIS by Iraqi special forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga was a brief description of what these troops discovered when they entered a village in Iraq that had been occupied by ISIS fighters. A naked woman, tied to a tree, who had been repeatedly raped by ISIS fighters. Another woman was discovered in a second village, similarly naked, tied down and repeatedly raped. The fighters, it appears, are �rewarded� by being allowed to have their way with captured women.

 ISIS has received considerable world attention for its savage beheadings, executions of captured soldiers and men in conquered towns and villages, violence against Christians and Shiites, and the destruction of non-Sunni shrines and places of worship. But its barbarity against women has been treated as a side issue. Arab and Muslim governments, vocal on the threat ISIS poses to regional stability, have been virtually silent on ISIS�s systemic degradation, abuse, and humiliation of women. To the men of ISIS, women are an inferior race, to be enjoyed for sex and be discarded, or to be sold off as slaves.

From ISIS-captured territory in Syria, we saw a photograph of a line of women, covered from head to toe and tied to one another by a rope, as they were being led to a makeshift slave market. Little girls, who were going to school and playing with dolls before ISIS fighters arrived at their doorstep, were married off to men many times their age. ISIS set up marriage bureaus in captured Syrian towns to recruit virgins and widows to marry fighters, and also called on fellow jihadists in other countries to recruit brides for the fighters and send them to Syria. It is hardly likely that these �marriages� were based on consent, as is required in Islam. Where women are concerned, consent does not appear to exist in the lexicon of ISIS fighters.

When ISIS moved into Iraq, a similar set of atrocities followed. In ISIS-conquered towns, reports of women and girls having to undergo female genital mutilation spread like wildfire, until denied by ISIS�s savvy social media. Iraqi NGOs reported that scores of women of the Yezidi sect�an amalgam of Zoroastrianism and Islam�were taken captive. The older women were sold off as slaves and the young ones were kept as brides for the ISIS fighters. The nature of these forced marriages remains obscure.

Zakia Hakki, an Iraqi judge and a woman herself, says that the fighters leave behind pregnant women who, as �soiled goods,� are ostracized by their own societies, while their children are treated as illegitimate. These raped women become targets for honor killings in their own families and communities. The governments of Iraq and Syria have also failed to protect these women and give them any assistance; nor have Western NGOs been effective in looking after these abandoned women and children. ISIS�s men not only leave behind dead bodies in their wake but also women and children who are scarred for life.

In its propaganda, ISIS emphasizes women�s modesty and piety. It created the al-Khansaa female brigade to protect the morality of women and to ensure they appear totally veiled in public. The irony will not be lost on anyone.

Volunteer fighters from around the world, including from Western countries, who have joined ISIS are complicit in these crimes against women. These young men who grew up in Western cultures seem to have absorbed nothing regarding the value of human life and respect for women. Why are there are no demonstrations in Western and Muslim societies against this barbaric onslaught on women and girls? How much longer will the Muslim and Arab world watch these horrors against women and children before speaking out and acting forcefully to protect them and rid the region of the ISIS calamity?

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Mob of 200 Women Murders Serial Rapist In Indian Slum, Every Woman Who Lives There Takes Responsibility

 So I think these women are awesome. And Usha Narayane should be given a Padmashri.

 

The trial of a woman accused of organizing a lynch mob that killed a known rapist and murderer in India has been ongoing since 2004, but ten years later, the same issues that caused it are still prevalent in the country.

According to The Hindu, Usha Narayane is still on trial for allegedly organizing the massive mob that killed Akku Yadav. Since the incident, Narayane has denied that she organized the mob or that she was even there when they killed the serial rapist, but she has not come out against the killing, acknowledging that the hundreds of women from the Kasturba Nagar slum who take responsibility for Yadav�s murder did the right thing.

Reports say that on August 13, 2004, Yadav was brutally murdered by a mob of women who ambushed him at a courthouse while he was under police protection. The hundreds of women of the Kasturba Nagar slum all accused Yadav of rape, murder, and a slew of other crimes, and although the evidence against the man was overwhelming, local police refused to do anything about it. Many women claimed that when they reported their rapes to police, they were either laughed at or told that they deserved to be raped. When Yadav was actually arrested for three separate murders, he was let go each time. Yadav also continuously terrorized the community, abused the women, and continued his chain of sexual assaults for years without any police intervention.

Two weeks prior to his death, Yadav reportedly approached Narayane, who at 25 was an outspoken advocate for the women in her community, and threatened to rape her.

"He raped only poor people whom he thought wouldn't go and tell, or if they did, wouldn't be listened to,� said Narayane, who herself was educated and set to take a managerial position in the north of India prior to the incident. �But he made a big mistake in threatening me. People felt that if I were attacked, no woman would ever be safe."

The week before the lynching, Yadav disappeared from the area after hearing chatter that action was going to be taken against him. Hundreds of residents proceeded to destroy his home, and at that point, police took him into custody to protect him, the alleged serial rapist and murderer, from harm.

The women of the slum heard that Yadav was going to be given a hearing for accusations against him, but the belief was that he would once again be granted bail. Fearing for their safety, a group of 200 women went to the courthouse on the day of his hearing and brutally murdered Yadav. The rapist had two police officers protecting him when the women entered the courthouse wielding knives, but they fled out of fear for their own lives. The 200 women proceeded to cut off Yadav�s penis, repeatedly stab him, and throw stones at him until he was dead on the floor. Five women were immediately arrested, but ultimately, they were released when every single woman from the slum claimed responsibility for the attack.

Narayane said that while the mob attacked Yadav, she was actually collecting signatures for a petition against the serial rapist, but police still arrested her and accused her of planning the lynching.

"It was not calculated," Narayane said. "It was not a case that we all sat down and calmly planned what would happen. It was an emotional outburst. The women decided that, if necessary, they'd go to prison, but that this man would never come back and terrorise [sic] them."

The trial is still going on to this day, even though Narayane was reportedly released from custody in 2012. Sadly, as The Hindu�s Mythili Sundar writes, the mistreatment of women by India�s male dominated society, especially as thousands of rape cases are dismissed by authorities every year, is still as strong today as it was in 2004.

�What can be done to dent the rigid frame of patriarchal values? A change in thinking should begin at home,� writes Sundar. �Girls should be encouraged to speak, ask questions. Schools should include in their curriculum lessons on equal treatment of boys and girls. They should conduct activities encouraging equal participation. Stereotypes should be broken and boys should be sensitized [sic] on gender issues. Even if the programmes [sic] succeed marginally, the impact will be huge in the long run.�

- See more at:

How NGOs helped change Moroccan law on rapists marrying their victims

In parts of Morocco, particularly in rural areas, a girl or unmarried woman who is not a virgin, even if she lost her virginity through rape, is seen as bringing dishonour to her family. Marrying the rapist is thought to alleviate this stigma.

 Another horrific consequence of this law was that if a man wanted to wed a woman who was unwilling to be his bride, by raping her he could, in effect, force her into marriage. It took the tragic case of Amina Filali, 16, who was forced into marriage after she was raped, and who killed herself seven months into wedlock, to be the catalyst for action. Her plight caused such outrage across the country it triggered protests in several cities. Last August, several women's rights groups joined forces to tackle child marriage. We organised a so-called peace and white march � "peace" because our protest was non-violent; "white" to represent the colour of doctors' coats.

Our aim was to show how rape and forced and child marriage had a negative impact on women's health. A pair of doctors who work in our clinics joined us on the rally. We waved placards, but fell silent as we marched on the parliament building in the Moroccan capital, Rabat. Many women suffer in silence and we wanted our demonstration to emphasise that. The peace and white march was followed with a pink march � to symbolise women's rights. Each demonstration increased public interest. Victory came last month, in January, when we discovered that the law had been changed, though the clause relating to child marriage has been postponed for further consultation. Source

Morocco repeals 'rape marriage law'

Morocco's parliament has unanimously amended an article in the penal code that allowed a rapist to escape prosecution if he married his underage victim.

The amendment to Article 475 of the penal code, first proposed by the country's Islamist-led government a year ago, was amended by lawmakers on Wednesday, parliamentary sources said.

The article in question made international headlines in March 2012 when Amina al-Filali, 16, was forced to marry a man who had allegedly raped her.

After seven months of marriage to the 23-year-old man, she committed suicide in 2012. Her parents and a judge had forced the marriage to protect the family honour.

The incident sparked calls for the law to be changed. The traditional practise of forced marriage can be found across the Middle East and in countries such as India and Afghanistan, where the loss of a woman's virginity out of wedlock puts a stain on a family's honour.

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Muzaffarnagar riots: Three months on, women worse off

Comment: the country is just a hell-hole for women :(

Hindu women protesting the arrest of their men and the 'false' cases lodged against them; horrified Muslim gang-rape survivors in relief camps; harassment on way to school forcing Hindu girls to stay at home; mass 'panic' marriages of Muslims girls from victim families.

Women have borne the brunt of the September riots in western UP, which were perpetuated in the name of saving their honour. The communal violence, in which 65 people were killed and over 60,000 displaced, only reinforced the region's deep-rooted patriarchy.

Over a dozen women panchayats have taken place in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli in the past one month. "Such panchayats are adding to the tension and we cannot stop them because any mishandling of women will only deepen the crisis," says a police officer.

While local leaders justify these 'armed' panchayats, saying the women are only protesting against the injustice being meted out to their men, some dailies have published photographs glorifying the women who brandished countrymade pistols and swords as 'chandis' (goddesses) out to protect their honour.

"Women with weapons standing along with their children not only shows the sense of insecurity among them but also how divisive forces have successfully penetrated into the society," said Manju Bharti, a Muzaffarnagar-based activist. "Communalisation of women means the rift will last for generations."

In sharp contrast to these armed women are the scores of those who were sexually assaulted during the riots and who are now living in relief camps. Activists who visited these camps say rape survivors are devastated and do not want to go back to their native villages, where they were violated and their family members were killed.

Over 600 weddings have taken place in the relief camps so far. People claim, somewhat dubiously, that most of the marriages were fixed before the riots and are being solemnized now. Post-riots, new restrictions have also being imposed on the movements of girls. Attendance of girls in schools has registered a huge drop.

For the past two years, instances of sexual assault and harassment were used selectively to whip up communal passions, eventually leading to the horrific violence.

"Men are constructing 'fear' in the name of 'honour' and then using it to impose their decision on women," says activist Roma Malik, who visited the affected areas recently. "Violence against women is common in both the communities, but this time it has been given a communal colour, making it a double whammy."

Muslim rape survivors are keeping quiet, fearing stigma. Many Hindu women, their men behind bars, fear they may be targeted now. And the fear of something untoward happening is making Hindu girls drop out of schools and forcing Muslim families to marry off their daughters.

"The communal forces which instigated the riots have hijacked the khap panchayats infamous for issuing Talibani diktats against the women," says Madhu Garg, state secretary, All India Democratic Women's Association, who has prepared a report on the riots after visiting the affected areas.

All this does not bode well for the status of women. The sex ratio in Muzaffarnagar is an abysmal 889 females per 1,000 males and the child sex ratio is a pathetic 863. Female literacy is 58.69% against the average of 69.12%. Most girls drop out of school after Class 10. Crimes against women are common in the region.

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Girl crawls out of grave after being raped, buried alive

 

A 13-year-old girl has dug herself out of a muddy grave after being raped by two men who then buried her alive in Pakistan.

The teen was abducted from her local village in the Punjab province while she was walking to Koran lessons.

Her father Siddique Mughal told police his daughter had been taken, but they refused to cooperate, Outlook India reported.

The men took the young girl to an isolated place and raped her and then buried her alive as they believed she died during the brutal attack.

But the girl managed to dig her way out the muddy grave and caught the attention of passers-by who helped her to a local medical center.

After local police refused to investigate, the Lahore High Court Chief Justice�s Complaint Cell formally directed them to arrest the girl�s attackers and complete a report on the incident without delay.

A sessions judge for the local Toba Tek Singh region has also been asked to look into the matter.

Child rape remains a problem in Pakistan where local activist group Sahil said cultural myths persist such as HIV positive men believing they can be cured through sex with a virgin.

Statistic show cases of child rape have risen from 668 in 2002 to 2,788 last year,according to the International Business Times.

�We still think these statistics are just a fraction of what�s going on,� Sanihl�s executive director Manizeh Bano told the International Business Times.

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7 Cowardly Words From A Totally Sexist Stranger Sparked This Courageous Response

I was very moved by this and I have heard comments like this in the past from unpleasant men :(.

Child rape gets more media attention in Pakistan

 - It is a fact few are willing to face, but each year hundreds - perhaps thousands - of children under 18 in Pakistan are raped or sodomized, and the situation is either getting worse or being more widely reported.

According to the Islamabad-based NGO Sahil, there were 3,861 child sexual abuse cases in 2012 - a 17 percent increase on the previous year. The data is drawn from NGOs monitoring the situation, child abuse helplines and Sahil�s own media monitoring.

But, as in many parts of the world, abuse is probably under-reported. �In our conservative society rape is a taboo,� Shiraz Ahmed, survival support officer at Karachi-based NGO War Against Rape (WAR), told IRIN. �People do not talk about it, including the victims themselves.�

WAR has documented a number of cases of rape, some involving very young children, and also detailed the reluctance of victims to speak out, and their difficulties in obtaining justice when they do.

But there is some evidence attitudes may be changing. Following the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl, Sumbal, in Lahore on 13 September, there have beenwidespread protests; arrests have been made; the matter has been taken up at the highest levels of government; and a campaign has started on social media seeking justice for the child. She had been dumped outside a large hospital after the rape.

�Certainly, the Sumbal case and the amount of media attention it received has focused attention and raised awareness about the issue of rape and child sexual abuse,� Habiba Salman, programme officer/media at Sahil, told IRIN.

She also said that �more cases� of child rape were being reported after the Sumbal incident from across the country.

In a separate recent case, protesters took to the streets in Faisalabad, where, according to media reports, a four-year-old boy was sodomized by the principal and other staff members of the kindergarten he attended.

Of the 2,788 cases of child abuse reported in the press in 2012, 342 involved rape and 139 sodomy. There were a further 386 cases in which rape or sodomy had been perpetrated by more than one individual. Most victims (22 percent) were aged 11-15; 16 percent were aged 6-10, and 6 percent 1-5.

Sahil notes that in 47 percent of cases the crime was carried out by an �acquaintance� or a person �known to the victim and his family�. Women had abetted a male abuser in 168 cases.

�I would say somewhere around 10 to 20 percent of all rape cases that take place are reported,� WAR�s Ahmed told IRIN, explaining that the under-reporting was due in part to social pressures, the prolonged legal process, stigma associated with rape, and the handling of cases by police.

Dark secret

Zuleikha Bano*, 23, and her mother Abida Bibi, 55, from Lahore, share a dark secret. Eleven years ago, when Zuleikha was 13, she was raped by a neighbour.

Her mother took her to a doctor, who treated the child�s injuries and �stitched back� the hymen, assuring Abida she was not pregnant. The mother says she �told no one what had happened, not even Zuleikha�s father� because of the shame� it would cause him and the rest of the family.

Zuleikha�s facial injuries were passed off as having been caused by a fall from a swing. She was told not to mention the matter and today she is married. She has not, according to her mother, told her husband.

Sahil�s Salman told IRIN that while there was media hype around the Sumbal case there had been a general increase in awareness, partly thanks to Sahil.

�We give trainings to people, including primary school teachers in orthodox areas like Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Province and Jaffarabad [in Balochistan Province] and tell them how to recognize sexual abuse, how to talk to children about it and so on. They do respond and implement in schools what is discussed at these workshops,� she said.

There had also been an increased readiness to discuss the issue more openly, Salman said.

In most schools efforts to broach the topic have met with resistance, but attitudes, especially among the young, may be changing.

�People in my generation are quite willing to talk about rape and child sexual abuse,� said Hina Abbas, 18, a college student who with her friends has been joining Sumbal-inspired protests in Lahore.

She said the high-profile rape cases in neighbouring India �had led to everyone talking much more openly about rape, molestation, harassment and all that,� adding that some of her friends had been �shocked� to hear about how common sexual abuse of children was in an �Islamic country like ours�.

�The rape of children under 10 is on the rise and in cases of child rape the average age is down from 18 to 14,� said WAR�s Ahmed.

Cramped living conditions did not help, he said. Some Karachi neighbourhoods, for instance, have houses with several families living in them, putting the children living there at particular risk.

While child sexual abuse may be on the front pages and is being more openly discussed than ever before, it is unclear how far attitudes will change in the longer term.

�Of course I will protect my child. But I don�t think I could ever talk to her about sex or rape,� said child rape survivor Zuleikha Bano, now the mother of a one-year-old girl.

*not a real name

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