WUNRN
PAKISTAN - ACID ATTACKS AGAINST
WOMEN - PHOTOS
Pakistani acid attack
survivor, Naziran Bibi, 23, attends Muslim's Friday prayers in her room at the
Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) in
____________________________________________________________
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=10317283
PAKISTAN - PROPOSED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW DIVISIVE
By Nahal Toosi
The Associated Press
Rawalpindi, Pakistan - April 8, 2010
For
seven years, her husband taunted, threatened and thrashed her, she says. After
she filed for divorce, he struck again, throwing enough acid on her face to
destroy her left eye.
Why didn't she leave sooner? Or turn to the police for help? Zakia Perveen's scarred lips are quick to explain: She would have become a pariah in her conservative Pakistani town of Jhelum.
"People
don't appreciate women who go to police stations," the 38-year-old says.
"I just thought it was my destiny, my fate."
Rights
advocates hope a proposed law banning domestic violence will chip away at such
attitudes, giving women a more even playing field and bringing Pakistan in line
with a growing number of developing nations that have outlawed spousal abuse.
But Islamist
lawmakers in Parliament are objecting, claiming the law could tear apart the
social fabric by undermining families.
Violence
against women is a widespread phenomenon in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation
of 175 million where most people are poor, only half the adults can read, and
extremist ideologies, including the Taliban's, are gaining traction.
In 2008,
there were at least 7,571 incidents of acid attacks, rapes, spousal beatings
and other violence against women, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women's
rights group. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is
likely a vast undercount.
Other
surveys have shown up to 80 percent of wives in rural parts of Pakistan fear
physical violence from their husbands, while 50 percent of women in urban areas
admit their husbands beat them, according to a 2009 U.S. State Department
report on Pakistan.
"It
happens even in good families — wealthier families," says Yasmeen Rehman,
the sponsor of the bill now stuck in a committee in Parliament. "In the
rural areas, it's almost like a habit for the men."
The bill
lays out a broad definition of domestic violence beyond assault, including
emotional abuse, stalking and wrongful confinement. Depriving a spouse of money
or other resources needed to survive is also considered a violation.
The
bill strives to cover everyone in a household, including elderly parents,
children and husbands. It also sets up local "protection committees,"
which are required to include women and empowered to file complaints on behalf
of victims.
Abusers can
face months or years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines if they
violate court protection orders, the bill says.
Under
current Pakistani law, women could turn to anti-assault statutes, but unless
they are severely beaten, such claims are hard to prove, activists say. Police
are rarely willing to interfere in domestic matters and often don't take women
seriously.
Most women
are unwilling to report on a family member, especially if he's the breadwinner,
and they give in to societal pressure to just put up with the abuse.
It's one of
the many paradoxes in a country that has tried to blend Islamic strictures with
a more secular legal tradition inherited from the British, a place where a
woman has served as prime minister and yet militants regularly torch girls'
schools.
"Laws
are very good, but unless and until you change the mindset of the people,
things won't change," said Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, who has worked on the
legislation as part of the The Aurat Foundation.
One person
these women are working hard to persuade is a leading Islamist lawmaker,
Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani.
In a lengthy
interview with The Associated Press, Sherani insisted domestic violence was not
a big problem in Pakistan until advocacy groups appeared and created the
"issue" of women's rights.
Because of
this, he explained, women became "contenders" to men in the public
realm, and were no longer content in the home. The new law led to more divorce
and disrupted family life by allowing police and other authorities to
interfere, he said.
"We
oppose this law because it is not the solution — rather it is a possible cause
of more chaos in society," he said. The solution, he suggested, was
striving for a truer Islamic society.
Pakistan
is behind many other countries when it comes to banning domestic violence.
Among the
growing number of developing nations that have passed laws against domestic
violence are Bangladesh, Indonesia and India, all of which have majority or
substantial Muslim populations.
Zakia
Perveen is supportive of the bill, even though no law will restore her face to
what it once was. With her husband on trial following the acid attack last
year, Perveen says she's focusing on her children.
"I will
teach my son to look after his wife when he gets married," she said.
"God forbid if something happens to my daughters. I will tell them not to
conceal the facts."
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