Daily Times

A very important news was highlighted on social media the initiation of Digital Pakistan with the arrival of Tania Aidrus, who quitted lucrative Google job to make Digital Pakistan a reality let’s hope for the best, meanwhile some news channels aired the news of Post mortem of the twelve year girl who girl was declared Karo-Kari and was stoned to death by parents and relatives and was buried some 12 days back in Dadu, Sindh, another case of honor killing the two news item left me with many questions queries in the context of such cases that as usual a hype will be created in media for afew days, investigations, reports postmortems and then the story will be lost in the whirlwind of other news items, with no clue of conviction or may be a delayed conviction. Ironically its happening when a campaign is in progress 16 days of activism against gender based violence all across the world including Pakistan. I was trying to relate the digital Pakistan initiative with this existing scenario that how beneficial the campaign and the digital idea is going to be for the people in such remote areas where a little girl or anyone can easily be victimized in the name of honor, and the decision too by a Jirga or Punchayat? Will it help in access to justice or will it simplify the systems to access for justice? How the masses will benefit how they will go through the transformation of attitude and behavior towards girls with the advent of technology.

Will it really enlighten the minds to the extent that the decisions these community elders will be rejected? Will it take away the onus of shame and ghairat from woman? As per reports the parents are usually also involved in such killing on the directives of Jirga or Panchayat which reflects the influences of these customs and culture plus the helplessness and oppression of the parents who may not be able to register their unwillingness to the decision taken. Looking at the list of laws for protection of womenrights its along list though mostly available in books and times the implementing bodies are unaware of the major and minor details. For instance Women have been and are still most vulnerable in our society despite multiple pro women legislations State and civil society organizations in collaboration do come up with something new, however the real impact is hardly visible and while looking at the news paper one come across multiple news of women being victims of violence, harassment killing, etc and addition is transgender now too.

Looking at the numerous legislative measures we can see a long list of laws for protection of women rights.For instance the Prevention of anti women practices Criminal law amendment Act 2011 is there to protect women from falling prey to customs and traditions all across Pakistan however Pakistan has the largest number of honor killing cases in all the four provinces and an estimated (1000 t0 5000 ) incidents are reported and in most of the cases it is the “immoral behavior” which leads to the decision? Only in Sindh 139 men and women were killed in the Karo Kari in the time period January to October 2019 feared that many of the cases are not even reported in the namesof shame.Again the data Child marriage restraint act 19 29 is there but according to the UNICEF report Pakistan has the sixth highest number of absolute child brides in the world 1,909000.

Numerous laws have been introduced since the time of inception of Pakistan, Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961, West Pakistan Family Court laws 1964, Dowry and Bridal Gifts restraint Act 1964, Women in distress and Detention Fund Act 1996, Prevention of Anti women Practices Criminal Law Amendment Act 2011,Elimination of Custom of Ghag2016, Criminal Law (Amendment) Offences in the name of Honor 2016, Criminal Law (Amendment) Offences Related to rape Act 2016, Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) Act 2018, The KP Protection Against Harassment of Women at the work place (Amendment ) Act 2018. Acid Control and Acid Crime prevention Act 2011 and what not, but the effective and real implementation of these laws is yet adream to come true.

Woman is still the vulnerable despite equal constitutional rights and various laws to protect her vulnerability, amidst multiple challenges both intrinsic and extrinsic. The challenges and current scenario are getting harder and harder with the passage of time. The challenges are intrinsic as well as extrinsic.

The patriarchal mind set can be easily seen if you watch the comments about a famous TV serial where the main female character is receiving all sorts of hatred despite the fact that the male character is equally involved in the same act of betrayal

Among the intrinsic challengesare the dominating misogynist challenges against women plus the very thought inculcated in the minds of all (family members) that a woman is a weaker and dependent gender in a hostile world with all shames and respect of family related to her. Looking at the extrinsic challenges things seem to be in a rather grim and deteriorating the idea of constitutional equality.

Patriarchy is the first and foremost biggest extrinsic challenge where the dominance and decisionmaking at home is clearly visible and women is hardly a part of any decision making asa usually she is tuned up to go through all sorts of pressures, emotional suppression even in the decision s purely related to her life. The dominance can be further seen in political decision making where the say of female MPAS is rarely taken into consideration as they haven’t reached the parliament with popular vote. The second extrinsic challenge, Culturalnorms and values often wrapped up in religious directives. Restrictions on education, movement in universities etc. Infectbarriers were already there and are still there rather many new trends popping up in the name of protection and securityof women. The third and most lethal challenge is the media.

Media is playing a havoc with the role of women, as in an attempt to show the empowered woman, all the dramatic, unrealistic situations are being created in the plays aired on electronic media and these attempts are the most damaging phenomenon at the moment. The shouting, conspiring, dictating women, the witch and the evil, involved in black magic,intolerant towards everyone are, all the negative traits poisoning the mindset in a subtle manner drifting away the audience from the real role of women in a Pakistani society.

The patriarchal mind set can be easily seen if you watch the comments abouta famous TV serial where the main female character is receiving all sorts of hatred despite the fact that the male character is equally involved in the same act of betrayal. The writer leaves no point of ridiculing humiliating the female character presenting his own and stereotypical mentality in the dialogues declaring her a witch an evil and even the little boy in the story is condemning. Same is the case with most of the Dramas going on air on prime time and looking at the female character featured nothing seems normal.

Such negative and objectification portrayal in a subtle manner are actually creating further challenges and isolation for the women a kind of slow poisoning patriarchal mindset with distrust I would say, by associating all negativities to her character. We keep quoting women to be the half of the population and this half needs to be engaged politically socially and economically if we are dreaming of a progressive Pakistan but unfortunately the way the things are unfolding and the way the terms feminism and equality are mistreated and misinterpreted, conscious or unconsciously we are pushing the female population back to isolation and with restricted roles and responsibilities. We have many examples around us of the women who despite challenges were able to come up with something different as per their capacity.

Lets promote and present those successful personalities as motivation for the females who aspire to be in the main stream. Society, family media, educational institutions have to think beyond the traditional and stereotypical notions associated with male and female interaction. A collective approach with a very visible role of Media needs to bring back the dignity meant for the majority of Pakistani women.

The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector