RAHIMYAR KHAN, 10 May 2006 (IRIN) - At least two young couples
who recently married by choice in Pakistan are today on the run and at risk of
imminent murder, says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
In
the Rahimyar Khan area of the southern Punjab province, Bushra Hafiz and
Muhammad Irfan, who wed early in March this year, fear they may soon be killed
by the family of the bride and the extended clan to which she belongs.
The pair is in hiding and have made an appeal to the media to help save
their lives by highlighting their plight.
Meanwhile, some 150 km to the
south of Rahimyar Khan, in the Ghotki district of Sindh province, the family of
a girl from an ethnic Pathan family, who married a young man from an ethnic
Baloch clan, are threatening to kill the couple. There are fears of clashes
between the Baloch and Pathan clans in the area over the issue.
In
traditional Pakistani society, especially in rural areas, marriages outside clan
boundaries are often regarded as unacceptable.
The situation is
disturbing, HRCP says, given the fact that in a landmark ruling in December
2003, the Supreme Court of Pakistan said that an adult Muslim woman was free to
marry anyone she wanted and did not require the consent of a wali (guardian) to
do so.
Since then, courts across the country have validated many
marriages, provided the bride is above 18 years of age and willing to declare
openly that she had made her choice in marriage freely and without coercion.
But, despite the legal licence granted to couples, after many years of
controversy over the issue, acute problems continue to be faced by many who defy
parental will in matters of marriage.
Late in April, a district and
sessions judge in the southern city of Hyderabad in Sindh province finally set
free a young couple, Sodi 23, and her husband, Abdul Hakeem Khashkeli, 26, after
five years in jail. The court ruled their marriage was valid. The couple, who
wed of their own free choice in October 2001, were arrested on charges of
adultery and jailed in separate prisons after Sodi's father accused Abdul Hakeem
of abducting her.
A beaming Sodi told IRIN recently: "We are finally
together. It is no crime to marry someone you love and now we can start our life
together."
Adultery is a crime punishable by stoning to death under
Pakistan's Islamic laws, although this ultimate penalty has never been enforced.
Most commonly, couples are jailed after family members opposing the
match make accusations of kidnapping against the man or allege the pair is
involved in an adulterous liaison.
In other cases, women, and sometimes
men as well, are killed on the grounds of family 'honour' after marrying without
the consent of parents or other family elders.
While the precise number
of victims is not known, according to figures compiled by the HRCP, at least 277
women were killed for honour in 2005. It is believed that many cases involved
the issue of marriage by free will.
"It's a complex situation. The law
permits adult Muslim women to marry as they choose, but often male relatives
absolutely refuse to accept this right, perceiving it as a matter of family
'honour' and either forcibly marry off the woman to a man of their choice or
intimidate, threaten or even murder the woman and sometimes the person she has
chosen as her partner," explained Saira Ansari, coordinator of the women and
children's desk at HRCP.
The hazards couples marrying by choice face can
be enormous. In 2003, a young woman from Sindh, Shaista Almani, who married
Balkh Sher Mahar, a man from a rival clan, was relentlessly pursued for months
by family members across the country and narrowly escaped death after being
declared a 'kari' (black woman) by the Almani tribe. She was forcibly separated
from her husband and taken back to her village by tribesmen. Only after human
rights groups intervened, was she granted police protection.
In early
2004, Shaista fled the country with her husband after a court validated their
marriage and ordered they be permitted to live together.
Another couple,
Shazia Khaskheli and her husband, Muhammad Hasan Solangi, also from Sindh, were
not so fortunate. The two had been lured back from the port city of Karachi,
tortured and then shot dead by a tribal jirga in Sanghar, late in
2003.
Other women have been killed for similar reasons since then. As
Saira Ansari said: "It is hard to know how many deaths have actually taken
place. Families often cover up the true reasons for acting the way they do."
But despite these harsh realties, more and more women are opting to make
their own choices in marriage. While most matches in the country are still
arranged by families, a growing number are opting to break away from this
tradition.
"I am now engaged to Salim, a young man who I met at
college," said Fyza Khan, 21. "At first my family was shocked when I announced I
wished to marry him, but then, seeing how determined I was, they eventually
agreed and are now planning the wedding," she said.
However, unlike
Fyza, only a few women find similar family support. "I cannot understand why my
father and other clan members want to kill me and my husband." Bushra Hafiz, in
Rahimyar Khan, told IRIN.
Even when new laws are made, changes in social
attitudes often lag far behind. Certainly, marriages by choice remain largely
unacceptable to families, particularly in rural areas, and it will take many
years of struggle by brave women such as Bushra, Shaista, Shazia and others like
them before such marriages are more widely accepted.
____________________________________________________________________