Daily Times

Thirty years ago, on February 12, the women of Pakistan showed astounding strength and resilience in the face of tyrannical oppression. The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) organised a protest demonstration on this date three decades ago to register their anger and opposition to the proposed Evidence Bill — in which the statement of two women is equal to the statement of one man in a court of law — in particular and the Hudood Ordinance in general. They raised their voices at a time when public demonstrations were banned and women were delegated to the back room of the country’s public sphere. General Ziaul Haq was a particularly draconian ruler and he passed many laws that, to this day, are called black laws because of their discriminatory and oppressive nature. The Hudood Ordinance proposes, through its various laws, inferiority clauses for women and a strong inclination towards male supremacy when it comes to rape — the woman is always considered the guilty party, liable to be stoned to death, until proven otherwise. The women of WAF marched out onto the streets of the capital to defy these laws and the men who pass them. They were baton charged, tear gassed and brutally beaten but they did not lose their spirit. Taken to the civil lines police station, these women kept at it and did not back down. They are still fondly remembered as doing such a great service to the cause of female rights — the kind of service that has remained unmatched to this day.

February 12 is also known as Pakistan Women’s Day but, alas, women and their rights seem to have digressed in this day and age. Pakistan is replete with reports and stories of how cruelly women are treated and how their rights have been forgotten. They are victims of abuse and violence. The Hudood Ordinance remains untouched and the laws that see women treated as some sub species remain intact. For all of the hard work and defiant protests, WAF was unable to leave a lasting mark and effective legacy. This may be because the organisation consisted of women belonging to the elite intelligentsia of our society; they were privileged and failed to band together women from all economic brackets and backgrounds under the WAF umbrella. This resulted in a brilliant idea but one that remained isolated from the barbarism that was perpetrated against women across all societal streams, leaving it intact for generations to come. While this government may have passed legislation on issues such as sexual harassment, it has failed to reform the Hudood Ordinance, which is Zia’s blackest legacy. The patriarchy injected into this society by way of its laws has seen women victimised in awful ways. The women of WAF were indeed brave but they could not change our fate. *