A Glimpse of the Rule of “Enlightened Muslims”

On the morning of July 3 last year, Ms. Hasina and Mr. Rashid were cutting grass in the fields along with their daughter, Shamshad, who was 11 years old, and a group of other laborers. Shamshad carried a stack of grass to a pile across the field- then disappeared.

Villagers found Shamshad’s body a few hours later. She had been raped and tortured: There were many bite marks, and burns from cigarettes.

Everybody guessed who could have done this: the grandchildren of the local feudal lord. These grand children, in their teens and 20s, often harassed girls.

“We went to the police, and after five minutes the police said, ‘Go home,’” Ms. Hasina related. The police told the parents to forget about making accusations against anyone in the feudal lord’s family.

So M. Hasina traveled to Islamabad to appeal for assistance from the government- but she received no help and her trip infuriated the feudal lord’s family. They beat her family members and warned them to be silent.

“They said, ‘We killed the girl, and if you don’t keep quiet, we will kill all of you as well,’” Ms. Hasina explained.

A year ago on a visit to Mukhtar’s (Mukhtaran Mai) village, I wrote about a young woman named, Aisha Parveen who was fighting efforts by the police to return her to the brothel from which she had escaped.

(Mukhtaran) work has earned her many enemies, particularly among the feudal lords – and even in the government of President Pervez Musharraf, who fears that Mukhtar displays Pakistan’s dirty laundry before the world.

Most of the pressure right now is on Mukhtar’s top aide and soul mate, Naseem Akhtar, Lately Naseem’s brother was in a mysterious vehicle accident, her father was ordered arrested for no apparent reason and her own house was broken into.

(Extracted from “A Woman’s Work Earns Her Enemies”, Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, Sunday, April 8, 2007)