WUNRN
Pakistan-India - Women Expose
Secret Genital Cutting Rite
By Zofeen Ebrahim
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KARACHI,
Jan 30, 2012 (IPS) - "It was a dark and dingy room, where an elderly woman
asked me to take off my panties, made me sit on a low wooden stool with my legs
parted and then did something…I screamed out in pain," recalls Alefia
Mustansir, 40, of her childhood experience.
Her friend,
Sakina Haider, remembers "putting up a good fight" before she
succumbed. "I was told by my grandmother that I was being taken to the
doctor to address burning in the genital area when soap went there while
bathing!"
Both Haider
and Mustansir have refused to have their daughters undergo circumcision or
female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), the Dawoodi Bohras’ best-kept secret
until young women from the community first began to speak up against it a few
years ago.
Bohras, a
sub-sect of Ismaili Shia Muslims, are a tight-knit community, with a majority
residing in
An article
in the Dec. 12 issue of the popular Indian weekly ‘Outlook’ says: "Khatna
(circumcision) is a tradition the Bohras trace back to their origins in (north)
The Outlook
article goes on to say that "most Bohra women and men even today would
rather keep this practice a secret rather than question a custom that is now
universally seen as a gross violation of a woman’s body."
The World
Health Organisation defines FGM/C as a procedure that "intentionally
alters or injures female genital organs for non-medical reasons." FGM/C,
as practiced in some African countries, may involve removal of the entire
clitoris and labia.
The practice
persists in 28 African countries, as well as in some Middle Eastern countries
with varying degrees of cutting or mutilation. African countries that have
banned it include
Bohras
insist that their practice is not harmful since it is done with care and
moderation. Many justify it as a means to curb a woman’s sexual drive and keep
her chaste.
Haider finds
that argument "highly problematic" and sees it as a way of
controlling women.
Dr. Nighat
Shah, former president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in
"Medically
speaking," she explained, "a little snip or clip (of the clitoris)
may not affect childbirth, but it may rob the woman of sexual pleasure. It is a
very sensitive tissue."
Another
gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr. Shershah Syed, finds no medical benefit to
support female circumcision. "I am no religious scholar, so if a community
believes it is an Islamic injunction, I’d suggest the girls should at least be
old enough to understand the reason so that they can make an informed
decision."
"Why do
women’s sexual drives have to be curbed?" Haider asks. "Women who are
not circumcised are not necessarily promiscuous!" she says.
A young
Indian girl belonging to this Muslim sect, who goes by the name of Tasleem, has
now found the courage to initiate an online petition asking the community’s
high priest, Dr. Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin, to have this "cruel, inhuman
and undemocratic ritual" stopped.
The petition
addressed to the 96-year-old prelate, who is based in the western Indian city
of
"I have
blind faith in my leader. I believe there must be some goodness in this that
there is so much insistence," said Zahabia Mohammad, 38, mother of three
circumcised daughters.
Mohammad
conceded that her own experience was "gross" and
"barbaric", but justifies its continuation because "it is done
in a very safe manner today by doctors."
She was
present for all of her daughters’ circumcisions. "It takes less than five
minutes and the procedure is done under local anaesthesia. Just a very minute
bit of the clitoris is clipped off," she said.
She
acknowledged she had little information on the rite except what was told her by
an aunt "that the foreskin of the clitoris is unclean and circumcision is
for the benefit of the women."
She also
concedes that today, with a deluge of information circulating against this
practice, it is imperative to equip the community with information to enable
them to make informed decisions.
"Not
everyone will accept this blindly, not the next generation. They will question
and prod, so it is important to prepare them," she says of a rite that is
kept secret from male members of the sect.
Tasleem told
Outlook that genital cutting happens in all strata of Bohra society. "I’d
say 90 percent practise it."
Arwa
Mohammad, who is in her 20s, signed the petition because "it’s archaic and
nonsensical." She was circumcised when she was seven by her grandmother’s
doctor friend. "Just goes to show how this ritual perpetuates without
anyone questioning!"
Married a
year back, Mohammad was "not traumatised" for life for getting
circumcised, but cannot comprehend the reason still. "I have friends who
have been circumcised like me but have a high sex drive. On the other hand, she
admits to "frigidity" in bed.
"The
thought of snipping off a bit of a young child’s clitoris gives me the
goosebumps," said 37-year-old uncircumcised Amena Ali. She refuses to put
her two daughters, aged six and eight - considered the right age band for
circumcision - under the blade.
The
petition, put up last October, has opened an animated forum for discussion on
both sides of the border, perhaps for the very first time, within the community
on a subject that was taboo.
"Initially,
only the non-Bohras were signing, but once the media got into the act, many
women from the community openly began talking about their painful
experience," Tasleem told IPS in an email exchange from India.
So far,
Tasleem has been able to collect 1,059 signatures. "I will keep this going
till Dr. Syedna bans it. Raising awareness is the first step towards solving
the problem."
"Whether
the ritual will be abolished by this petition, only time will tell," says
Zainab Hussain, 49, but she feels the petition will make a difference.
"They (community leaders) may eventually break their silence and give a
plausible answer."